TIAN DI【天地】

ch.12: keep you safe

p.o.v. xianliang

This Xuhuan-jun is getting weirder day by day. I was just trying to enjoy my breakfast, but he constantly made some passive-aggressive comments towards me, which is such an unusual behavior for him. It just doesn't fit his personality or the image that I had of him inside my head.

,,Clan Leader, Clan Leader Qin!", a guard suddenly ran towards us screaming.

,,What is it?", Yusheng asked slightly annoyed and stood up.

,,The Ying Clan...they've been sighted at the bottom of the hill that leads to our clan's gates!"

,,Close all the gates and get everyone inside the main building! Xuhuan-jun, Master Hanyu, you're coming with me.", the young clan leader ordered, his mood took a whole turn.

The guard nodded and ran back to the gates, Yusheng made us follow him to the backside of the main building.

,,Hey, what's the matter? Where are we going?", I asked confused after we hid inside one of the sheds used for horses.

,,You two have to hide, you can't let them see you.", he whispered.

As I was looking to my left, I faced a shaking, terrified Xuxu. What is he so scared of? It's not like they know his face, which is the case for me.

,,Uhm..hey, is...something not right?", I carefully asked, not knowing what to say.

,,What if they..they try to capture me..again..?"

,,What...?" Right, he mentioned something like that on our way back home from the temple..

,,Can you stop talking about this? Can't you see how uncomfortable Xuhuan-jun is?", Yusheng was pissed and peeked around the corner to see if any Ying Clan soldier was nearby.

,,I didn't even say anything..'' ,,But I can tell what you've been thinking.'' Someone's salty, wow..

,,Someone's coming..'', Xuxu suddenly said when I was about to pick a fight with Yusheng. ,,Hanyu, take him somewhere safe. I'll take care of these guys.''

Kind of overwhelmed with information I looked at Xuxu. Without saying anything he grabbed my hand and started running, pulling me with himself.

,,Got you!'' A Ying Clan member appeared in front of us screaming. Xuxu turned around to me with a helpless gaze. I pushed him behind me and started a fight with the soldier, trying to not get stabbed by his sword.

All I could do was kick and punch him, which worked kind of good. I was getting too confident with myself, so karma hit me - and so did he, a good punch in my face.

I was trying to regain my balance, now kicked and punched again, finally hitting a sensitive spot in his stomach with a kick. As soon as he fell down, Xuxu and I continued running.

We found a place to hide outside the Qin Clan's front gates, inside a forest.

,,Xuxu, can you finally tell me what's going on with you?"

,,My past is catching up on me.."

,,In what way?"

Strengthlessly he sat down onto the ground and let out a weak sigh. ,,You know, I once told you Emperor Ying treated me very bad and screwed up my mental health."

,,Tell me more about it, maybe you'll feel better then. Keeping it all to yourself is not a good way of coping with it."

,,I'm..too scared to even think about it. Saying these memories out loud is unimaginable..." Again, Xuxu started shaking.

,,You can't keep on keeping it all to yourself forever.." Carefully I grabbed his hand and slowly brushed over it with my thumb.

,,You will think I'm weird...These things..I swear I didn't want all this to happen..he-"

,,Xuxu.", I interrupted him by pulling him into my arms.

,,Hanyu...", was the only thing I could understand trough his sobbing.

What horrible things must he have endured to be acting like this? Did Emperor Ying do things to him..like he did to his current lover?

I could feel his tears soaking through the fabric of my robe, could hear the little hickups from crying so much. His weak hands were crawling into my skin as he was laying inside of my arms, it felt like he used all of the energy he had left to hug me.

,,How can this small, fragile body of yours keep inside so much pain and sorrow?"

,,He took it all away from me...", he softly said.

,,Who? Who took what away?"

Slowly he moved out of the hug and looked up, into my eyes. ,,His Highness Emperor Ying, he took my spiritual powers."