The Boy With the Bandanna
Prompt: 046
Pairing: Guan Ping/Xing Cai
Rating: K
Xing Cai walked silently behind the boy sitting in the grass and pulled his bandanna strongly enough to make him lie on the green leaves, dropping the book on his hands and muttering a not really painful “ouch”.
“Guan Ping, want to play?” she asked in her childish 6-year-old voice.
“Xing Cai, I have to study”, he replied in his voice almost as childish, but not quite.
“You can do it later!” she said, dragging him to his feet, and he didn’t complain because, really, he could do it later.
Xing Cai walked silently behind the boy sitting in the grass. He was dozing after a hard day of training in that summer afternoon. She lightly pulled his bandanna and he opened his eyes, startled.
“Guan Ping, you shouldn’t be sleeping under this sun”, she criticized with her almost grown-up 12 years old voice.
“Oh, I didn’t notice” he said in his husky 15 years old voice, holding the same book of six years ago.
“We should go back home. And you should get some rest once in a while”.
He smiled at her and nodded.
Xing Cai walked silently behind the young man sitting in the grass, but this time she didn’t pull his bandanna. Instead, she sat beside him and rested her head in his left shoulder.
“Xing Cai, you shouldn’t be so worried”, he said, but there was a tint of uncertainty in his voice. “It should be a quick campaign, I’ll be back in no time.”
“I know”, she said. But what was that feeling of agony in her heart?
“Can you do me a favor?” he took his bandanna off. “Keep this for me. I’ll get it back right after we come back from Jingzhou.”, and then smiled “I have just cleaned it, if that’s what you’re thinking!”
Zhang Fei’s young daughter took the bandanna with both hands. The fabric felt good and soft and warm in the tip of her fingers and she could smell orange and jasmine and green tea from it... and the lad standing right by her side.
“I understand.” she said, returning his smile and holding the bandanna tight in her hands. “I’ll keep it under my utmost care.”
Xing Cai walked silently to where Guan Yu’s son used to sit to study, rest or just think. The one boy that he loved, the one boy that was no longer going to come back. She held his bandanna with hands trembling with anger and sadness.
“You liar”, she whispered. “You said you were going to get it back!”
She sat in the grass and watched the sun setting, watched the full moon rise and the stars shine bright. She watched the skies until the tears that had fallen in the green bandanna dried out and disappeared as if they had never been there.
-----
I’m really out of fresh ideas. I really wanted to write anything about Guan Ping’s charming bandanna (but without the golden plaque), but couldn’t really find a nice context for it. And Guan Ping’s bandanna was really the only thing I had in mind. I just kept writing randomly as the ideas came up in my mind, so for something that showed up in my mind as I was writing, I think this one fic is pretty... passable, I guess. It might be needing a nice grammar review, though. And once again, I’m destroying the veracity of the Three Kingdoms, since Guan Ping only joined the Shu kingdom when he was 17 years old. Back then, Xing Cai probably wasn’t even born. I blame Koei on that one.
Pairing: Guan Ping/Xing Cai
Rating: K
Xing Cai walked silently behind the boy sitting in the grass and pulled his bandanna strongly enough to make him lie on the green leaves, dropping the book on his hands and muttering a not really painful “ouch”.
“Guan Ping, want to play?” she asked in her childish 6-year-old voice.
“Xing Cai, I have to study”, he replied in his voice almost as childish, but not quite.
“You can do it later!” she said, dragging him to his feet, and he didn’t complain because, really, he could do it later.
Xing Cai walked silently behind the boy sitting in the grass. He was dozing after a hard day of training in that summer afternoon. She lightly pulled his bandanna and he opened his eyes, startled.
“Guan Ping, you shouldn’t be sleeping under this sun”, she criticized with her almost grown-up 12 years old voice.
“Oh, I didn’t notice” he said in his husky 15 years old voice, holding the same book of six years ago.
“We should go back home. And you should get some rest once in a while”.
He smiled at her and nodded.
Xing Cai walked silently behind the young man sitting in the grass, but this time she didn’t pull his bandanna. Instead, she sat beside him and rested her head in his left shoulder.
“Xing Cai, you shouldn’t be so worried”, he said, but there was a tint of uncertainty in his voice. “It should be a quick campaign, I’ll be back in no time.”
“I know”, she said. But what was that feeling of agony in her heart?
“Can you do me a favor?” he took his bandanna off. “Keep this for me. I’ll get it back right after we come back from Jingzhou.”, and then smiled “I have just cleaned it, if that’s what you’re thinking!”
Zhang Fei’s young daughter took the bandanna with both hands. The fabric felt good and soft and warm in the tip of her fingers and she could smell orange and jasmine and green tea from it... and the lad standing right by her side.
“I understand.” she said, returning his smile and holding the bandanna tight in her hands. “I’ll keep it under my utmost care.”
Xing Cai walked silently to where Guan Yu’s son used to sit to study, rest or just think. The one boy that he loved, the one boy that was no longer going to come back. She held his bandanna with hands trembling with anger and sadness.
“You liar”, she whispered. “You said you were going to get it back!”
She sat in the grass and watched the sun setting, watched the full moon rise and the stars shine bright. She watched the skies until the tears that had fallen in the green bandanna dried out and disappeared as if they had never been there.
-----
I’m really out of fresh ideas. I really wanted to write anything about Guan Ping’s charming bandanna (but without the golden plaque), but couldn’t really find a nice context for it. And Guan Ping’s bandanna was really the only thing I had in mind. I just kept writing randomly as the ideas came up in my mind, so for something that showed up in my mind as I was writing, I think this one fic is pretty... passable, I guess. It might be needing a nice grammar review, though. And once again, I’m destroying the veracity of the Three Kingdoms, since Guan Ping only joined the Shu kingdom when he was 17 years old. Back then, Xing Cai probably wasn’t even born. I blame Koei on that one.