Love is a Battlefield

Love is a Battlefield
By Sara Cooper

There is one thing in this lifetime that is absolute; war. War was always going to be there and so when there was a chance to fight for peace, I took it. I didn’t know it but I would meet someone who would change my life forever. He was beyond intelligent and fit for the battlefield.  He did have a bit of a chip on his shoulder when dealing with women. That never stopped me from wanting to be fighting by his side.

The first week of being a recruit, I was carrying stuff to my dorm like room. I was a loner for the most part. Girls seemed to dislike me and it was a mutual feeling. I was almost there when someone decided to block my entrance. It was a rather fit male who looked Chinese in nationality. I stopped walking immediately wondering what he was doing by blocking my way.

“Can I help you…?” I asked after a few minutes of silence. He was somewhat glaring at me before responding.

“ I wasn’t aware that females were going to be here as well. Tch..” the male looked annoyed at me even being there.

“Well now you are…mind moving out of the way now?” His attitude was starting to piss me off. Who did he think he was? The gender police? He did not budge.

“It seems someone needs a bit of a attitude adjustment,” He snapped at me.

“Talking about yourself are we?” I snapped right back before, a higher up soldier appeared out of the blue, to see what the hold up was.

“Mr. Wufei, Miss Karashimu, is there a problem? I would move out of her way, her brother is here too, the one you seem to not like,” the man said, glancing at us both before Demetri walked up.

“Artemis, aren’t you supposed to be setting up your room?”

“I haven’t been able to go in there, SOMEONE wouldn’t get out of my way,” I glared at this Wufei guy as I said this. The jerk glared back before stepping aside with a huff. I made a point to trip him and kept on walking. Demetri grabbed my shoulder.

“What the hell was that about? Are you trying to get in trouble on the first day here?”

“No, but he definitely needs a swift kick in the ass,” I frowned then heard a somewhat angry voice say something.

“Care to repeat that?”

“I said that you definitely need a swift kick in the ass, do I need to say it again?”

“Artemis Marie Karashimu! What did I just say?!”

“You don’t need to mention my whole name Demetri!!! You’re not our dad! He was killed in this war and I refuse to let any jerk tell me if I am not allowed to fight in his honor!” With that I slammed the door shut in both of their faces.

They both just stood there without saying a word. Soon enough Wufei walked away while Demetri sighed slightly. I sat on my bed, angry and thinking of that promise I had made dad.

“Dad! Please don’t go!” I could hear my last words as he lay on the ground bleeding.

“Don’t stop fighting for what you believe in, princess, please promise to never change who are for anyone else…you’ll find a guy to settle down with…don’t…forget…”

“Don’t worry daddy, I promise to make your sacrifice not be in vain and not to change who I am…I promise…” with those words said, I felt his body fall limp. The pain of that day was immense…

I snapped out of the memory to see my room had been set up. I looked around confused before my eyes meeting the eyes of the culprit; Wufei. I blinked slightly wondering why he helped me.

“It’s time for dinner to start, your brother is worried about you, let’s go.” I felt him grab my wrist and start walking. I merely nodded quietly wondering why he had helped me. Before long, we reached the mess hall. I could see Demetri standing beside the door waiting for us.

“Thanks Wufei…” I said to which he nodded before walking off leaving me with Demetri.
“I miss dad…” I muttered while we got in line. “I keep thinking about those last moments with him…Demetri, why does it have to hurt so much…?”

“Because you loved dad just like Victoria and I, losing him hurt us all so much, but you were closest to him…it is to be expected…”

I nodded without knowing whom overheard the conversation. As we sat down, I noticed that Xavier Maki, a guy whom wouldn’t take no for an answer, walk up. I tried my best to ignore him but when he sat down and put his hand on my leg, I felt uncomfortable.

“Hey Artemis, you are looking good as usual.”

“What do you want Xavier?”

“Can’t a guy be allowed to merely say hello to a beautiful girl?”

“It is still a no, I will not date you.” I heard someone standing up from beside the table. I looked over to see Wufei pulling Xavier’s hand off my leg and pulling him away slightly.

“That is sexual harassment, the boss saw and wants you to report to his office immediately after dinner.”

“Why do you have to always butt in on everything?”

“If you would behave yourself, I would not get involved, plus her brother is higher than us both, I am sure he would agree with me.”

“Stay away from her, Xavier, or you really will not like me.” Demetri glanced at him before nodding a thank you to Wufei.

“Thanks…” I nodded at him as he nodded back while dragging away Xavier in the process. I heard Demetri sigh before my new roommate walked over. Caroline was a friend of mine from the Academy. She is a great person and soldier all at once.

“Hey girl! Guess who gets to be roommates~” Caroline was just as excited as I was.

“I can not wait! We will do our best to honor our leader and this movement!” I nodded, not knowing that Wufei had walked back over right as I said this.

“I am sure that you both will with that kind of attitude,” Wufei said causing us to look at him. He was very high up in the military movement.

“Our leader has given us a new way to bring justice to those whom need guidance, it is a definite honor to be here.”

“Yes, we would be lost without such a great leadership,” Caroline nodded, making both Demetri and Wufei smile slightly. What we did not know was that our leader had heard our words.

“Let’s prepare for the start of the morning after dinner, Artemis!”

“Sounds good to me.” With that being said, we finished dinner and went to prepare for the morning of martial arts training. I was already a triple black belt in Karate but Caroline was almost at the black belt stage.

When we left the table, Wufei looked to Demetri and said, “I see she has the same fighting spirit you do, the leader overheard their proclamation and has high hopes for both of them,” Wufei looked at the leader and nodded, “Let’s hope they can handle this to the best of their ability.”

“She always has…her need to get vengeance for our late father has only multiplied that fighting spirit. “

“I take it she was rather close to him…?”

“That’s only putting it mildly…she held him as he passed. She never has truly recovered from this loss…”

“I see…” Wufei seemed deep in thought at the sound of those words. They finished dinner and went to their own dorm room. They actually shared one together which neither one liked at first.

That next day, we were all on the martial arts training field. I had been paired against Wufei as Caroline was paired with Demetri.

“You can do it Caroline!” I shouted to her as I began my spar with Wufei. He was extremely skilled but I soon found myself getting the upper hand. The entire class had stopped to watch us. Unfortunately I lost my footing and ended up on my back. He held a hand to help me up, which I took.

“Not bad, I see you are a triple black belt, as am I.” we both were breathing fairly heavily. The leader had been there watching us the entire time.

“I would like to see you both after class,” He said before walking off. We exchanged glances at each other.

“I hope we aren’t in trouble…” He put his hand on my shoulder. I was so worried that I was going to be yelled at. Soon the class finished and we found ourselves in the office of the leader. 

“You wanted to see us sir?” Wufei asked as we stood before the leader.

“Yes, I would like to offer you both a proposition, it seems to me that you both have the same skill level and I propose that you both team up which would make you both the same rank level. What do you both have to say about this?”

“I wish to follow your commands sir, if you want this, I see no problem with it.”

“I agree with her sir,” Wufei said, noticing the leader smiling at them both.

“Then it is settled, you both may leave.” With that they left, both fairly surprised about the proposition but were going to follow all orders. Upon returning to the room I shared with Caroline, we both saw Demetri there.

“Are you both okay?”

“She has been promoted and we both are to work as a pair during missions…” Wufei stated causing both to be extremely surprised.

“Well this is a very surprising development…what happened?” Demetri asked looking at a very quiet Artemis.

“He saw us sparing and thinks we work well together,” Artemis said, “I think that this is surprising to both of us just as much…”

“Yeah, just try to improve more and more, and he will be happy.”

“I know that, Wufei, I did not expect this…”

“Same here. Well it is time for lunch.” With that being said, we all walked down to the mess hall to get our food. I could hear people whispering about the new set up. Word travelled quickly it seemed. Those were all females.

“How did she get to be his combat partner?”

“I wonder that too….he never works with females much…”

It seemed that he heard this conversation as well. He turned to them and said, “We are following direct orders from the leader, you would do best to not disrespect this as you would disrespect him.”

With that said, he pulled her up and away from the females. Artemis looked at him as they got their lunches.

“I wonder what that was about…”

“They have been trying to get set up as my combat partners, which is why they seem to be jealous of you being put as the partner…”

“Ah, girls already hating the set up?”

“Caroline has been pretty much my only friend…literally…no one wanted to be friends with me growing up which is why most people don’t like me…” Artemis felt the memories of her childhood beginning to resurface…

“Look who it is, the spoiled child of Saultin Karashimu~” one kid shouted as everyone gathered around to poke fun at her.

“Leave me alone!”

“Awww what’s wrong? Can’t handle a conversation…?”

I faintly heard my name being called before snapping out of it.

“My bad…was just remembering those kids…some of them are here…those girls were from my childhood…” Artemis felt her heart drop as she felt Wufei put a hand on her shoulder.

“It will be okay, just focus on the mission ahead and you will be fine.” He said as Demetri nodded in agreement.

“I knew they looked familiar…don’t let their pettiness get to you sis. Just think about calling mom tonight to give her the news of today…”

That night, I called my mother to give her the good news. Everyone was in the room so I put her on speaker phone. The phone rang a couple of times before she answered.

“Hello sweetie,  how is everything going up there?”

“Very well mom, I actually have some news to tell you,” Artemis was very excited which made everyone chuckle, including Wufei.

“Oh good, is Demetri behaving?”

“Mom!!!!” Demetri pouted slightly. She laughed slightly as did the rest of us.

“Mom I was promoted, I actually got partnered up with someone as well, some girls don’t seem to like it though,” Artemis chuckled.

“I take it was a male?”

“Yeah, are you up to saying hi…?”

“Hello…” Wufei casually said before her mom said anything.

“Hello, you wouldn’t be Wufei would you?”

“Yes…” he seemed surprised.

“Ah, so you are the one Demetri told me that someone has a bit of a crush on…”

“MOM!!!!!” Artemis couldn’t be more embarrassed. She put her hand in front of her face as she was trying not to get red faced. Wufei seemed rather surprised even after the conversation. He turned to see her putting her face into a pillow.

“A crush huh?”

“Someone please kill me now…” with that it was time to go to bed.