Choices - A Perfect Pair Prince of Tennis Fanfiction AU

Chapter 4

Summary: Yu Feng seeks sanctuary in Yu Qing. Dayong is taken during the night. Qiao Chen/Xu Xingzi here. Golden Pair if you squint. Also from now on, you'll just have to guess who's PoV it is :)

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Lu Xia blocks Qiao Chen's attack, spinning away. He strikes at Qiao Chen's stomach, who jerks backwards. Lu Xia leaps at him again, this time tripping Qiao Chen and holding his knives at Qiao Chen's neck. 

"Help . . . me . . . up!" Qiao Chen grunts. Lu Xia offers him his hand, which Qiao Chen takes to pull himself up. 

"You're getting better, Lu Xia," Qiao Chen wheezes. Lu Xia notices with a small glimmer of pride that Qiao Chen didn't call him 'xiao.'

"But!" 

Lu Xia frowns. "But what?"

"You're still not as good as me. I was just distracted."

"Distracted by thinking about Xingzi?" A new voice says. They both whirl around to find Jiale, grinning from ear to ear. It looks like he dragged along poor Dayong, too.

"No!" Qiao Chen says quickly. "I, um, I was thinking about . . ."

"About . . .?" Jiale asks mischievously. 

"Uh, geese!" Qiao Chen blurts out. "Roast geese!"

Jiale does not look impressed. "Geese."

"Yes, geese!"

"Whatever." Jiale turns to Lu Xia.

"So what's this I hear about you and xiao Ying?" Jiale says in a tone Lu Xia Does Not Like.

"Nothing," Lu Xia says. In truth, for some strange reason, every time he thinks about Qi Ying, sees her, or someone says her name, his heartbeat quickens. He does not like that at all. Even more than he dislikes Jiale's current tone.

"You're blushing," Qiao Chen says, jumping right in, as if he forgot about what they were talking about previously. Lu Xia shoots him a hard glare.

"Whenever we talk about Yu Feng and Xingzi, you blush," he retorts. Right on cue, Qiao Chen turns red.

Jiale turns to Lu Xia in delight. "How did you do that?"

Lu Xia shrugs. "I just say Yu Feng or Xingzi." This time, Qiao Chen narrows his eyes. 

"ANYWAY," Qiao Chen says loudly, "look! There's a whole bunch of people coming. It looks like . . . "

"It's Yu Feng! Look, I see Xingzi! She looks positively radiant," Jiale says gleefully, rubbing his hands together. 

"We should go ask what they want," Lu Xia interrupts before the situation gets out of hand.

"Yes, let's go," Qiao Chen says immediately, grabbing on to the lifeline.

Jiale looks disappointed, but doesn't argue.

***

"Greetings, Yu Feng," Lu Xia says civilly. It's quite strange how different he sounds from when he was talking to the Guo Zi messenger, he reflects.

"Greetings, Lu Xia," Xu Ziping returns. "We ask for a favor. Xing Yao has driven us from our home. We seek shelter."

They finally notice how tired and bedraggled the Yu Feng citizens look. They have a weary look in their eyes, and their clothing is dirty.

"Of course," Qiao Chen says. 

"We'll take you to Siyang, and we can work out a spot you can stay in," a new voice says. It's Chi Dayong, who immediately beelines towards Jiale. He smiles gently. "I'm sorry that you have suffered."

Of course, kind Dayong always has something conforting to say.

Xu Ziping looks relieved. "Yu Feng gives Yu Qing their deepest thanks."

Lu Xia notices that Qiao Chen isn't listening to the conversation anymore—he only has eyes for Xu Xingzi, who seems to be staring at Qiao Chen. 

"Come," Dayong says lightly, "let's go to the throne room to present you to Siyang." He leads the Yu Feng civilians through the iron gates.

Qiao Chen trails after them, as Jiale bounds to the front to sling an arm around Dayong, leaving Lu Xia alone. 

***

"You really have to stop doing this."

Baiyang scowls. "Doing what?"

It could've been stop injuring himself, stop getting into fights, or stop rushing into battle. Or maybe all three.

Zhiming examines Baiyang's arm, which dangles at a crooked angle. Of course it hurts, but Baiyang isn't about to admit that. 

"Injuring yourself every week," Zhiming replies. "It's not good for your health and repeated injuries will hinder your training process."

"I'm not doing it on purpose!" he defends himself. "They just target me, that's all."

"Do they?" Zhiming says, which isn't an answer at all.

"Yes they do!" Baiyang erupts. Qi Ying, who's been organizing potions, squeaks in alarm.

"Perhaps you should . . . never mind," Zhiming quickly adds, seeing the murderous look in Baiyang's face. "At any rate, you need to take this potion."

Zhiming holds out a sparkling clear elixir. It looks relatively harmless and water-like, but looks can be deceiving.

Rather than to wait and dwell on it, Baiyang uncorks it and throws the contents down his throat. Seconds later, Baiyang is fighting nausea and is fairly sure his face is turning green.

He is most angered when the potion works in record time, healing the broken arm bone in less than two minutes. 

"Off you go," Zhiming says.

Baiyang stumbles out, still choking from the disgusting taste of the healing elixir.

***

Lu Xia awakes in the middle of the night for the second time in a row. And of course he bumps his head on the cot above him again.

This time, it's Jiale who's screaming. 

Sobbing on the stones outside the barracks, head lifted to the sky.

Lu Xia immediately knows what's wrong. Because there's no Dayong. No Dayong shielding Jiale protectively, murmuring into his ear, comforting Jiale.

So it must be Dayong who was taken.

Zhuo Zhi is out of his cot in a flash. His face pales, because it's a mirror image of the night Zhuo Yu vanished, but without Siyang.

"Dachi!" Jiale wails to the sky, tears pouring down his face. 

Everyone stays silent, because no one knows what to do. Not even Zhuo Zhi, who's Jiale's second-best friend. Qiao Chen and Baiyang stand still, perhaps knowing that this is not the time to squabble. 

"Dachi . . . " Jiale whispers to the unknown, tears splashing on to the cold, unforgiving stone. 

Whew! That took way too long to write. Anyway, I'm going to stop using the '---' and '[]'. From now on, it'll just be '***' and for Author's note and Summary, just look for the words in bold. Hope you enjoyed! If you did, it would mean the world to me if you voted on it! Thanks!