Please see the last chapter 'Dedication' for the background of this fic. For now, I will be editing chapters from the beginning so while there won't be much in the way of new content, I can't promise some little things won't change along the way.

This is take two on revamping this series, once again I plan to change the chapter titles as they are edited. Please look for that, and I would appreciate any pointers you may have.

-Lucky

Chapter 1

Two long days of travel finally brought Lu Xun to a nearing end of his remarkably tedious trek. With all his worldly possessions in one bag, he had set off for his new boarding school and home by way of a train, two buses and what was meant to have been a third, if he had not missed the last circuit of the day. The optimism of finally getting to see Han High was being worn down by the sudden downpour that had been holding up all day. Grey skies hung low over head, crackling every so often with sinister clap of thunder and brief flashes of lightening.

Xun hadn't thought to even own an umbrella in the first place and for the time being didn't own a rain jacket either but the winding drive to the school was only getting more drenched with time. Pulling his hat lower on his head and shrugging his shoulders up against the rain he'd set out at a steady, brisk pace into the growing storm. His bag thumped heavily into his leg with every step but he was making good time and within minutes had rounded the first bend from the main road.

A strong gust of wind coupled with the pooling of water in his hat finally ripped the cap from his head to fall at his feet. Before Xun could, the wind grabbed his hat and sent it rolling from the path and out toward the woods beyond. He dropped his luggage and took off in a mad dash after it. Of all his possessions, nothing was more important than that hat and with a final dash he caught the now mud-encrusted hat and dropped it back on his head.

When he finally reached the front door of the school he paused just under the overhang to try and tidy himself up. His dark trousers were soaked through at the bottom and flecked with mud all the way up to his thighs. The white collared shirt clung to his skin with moisture and was disheveled from the long days of traveling. No amount of brushing himself off could make him presentable again and after a moment he gave up. Reaching up for the handle he made to knock but he was surprised to hear voices nearing the door from the far side.

"Give it back, Ning!"

"You'll have to catch me first!"

The heavy doors swung open without warning, and Xun wasn't quick enough to step out of the way. The door struck he forehead and knocked him back on his rear on the steps. The boy who had thrown open the door paused mid-step to look over at Xun, startled. He was tall, with spiky hair and a bell tied to his belt loop. He was wearing a uniform of dark red trousers and a white button up shirt with the loosened tie that had flipped over his shoulder more like a cape than it's original purpose.

"Whoa! You alright?" The boy asked, cocking his head to the side.

Next to come through the door was a boy even taller than the first, but with longer hair pulled back in a low ponytail and the beginnings of scruffy facial hair along his jaw. His own uniform was more in order than the first's but he didn't notice Xun at first, instead catching the first in a headlock and snatching a book the first had been holding and tucking it into his own pocket. This done, he finally looked to Xun.

"...Ning, what did you do?" The taller boy raised an eyebrow.

"WHAT? Why do you immediately think it's my fault?" Gan Ning wailed.

Glaring at Ning he knelt so he could meet eye to eye with Xun.

"Is your head okay?" The taller boy asked calmly.

Xun nodded, the soreness under his gently probing fingers promised a bruise in the near future. Suddenly Gan Ning's face pushed the other out of Xun's vision and was leaning in uncomfortably close.

"His forehead's a bit red and he might get a black eye but he'll be fine." Ning announced oh-so-professionally.

"You just got here right? Did you miss the bus?" The older boy looked into the rain for a moment.

"Y-yes, sir." Xun said quietly.

"Don't call Meng 'sir.' He may look all uptight and serious but he's really just a kid underneath it all" Ning grinned and clapped Xun on the back.

Ning instantly found himself with a textbook imbedded in his forehead that would probably take surgery to remove. Xun's eyes grew wide, but Lu Meng went on as if he hadn't just tried to kill his friend. Meng helped Xun up to his feet.

"Is this your bag?" Meng asked, lifting it without any trouble "C'mon, I'll show you to the office."

Xun was still staring wide-eyed at Ning so Meng used one arm to carry the muddy luggage and another to steer the alarmed boy. Turning from the ornate main hall they turned down one of the smaller side corridors and paused in front of a small doorframe.

"This is the Office, good luck with the test." Meng said, setting down Xun's case by the doorframe.

Xun was quiet a moment before frowning. "A test? I thought I had passed the entrance exams."

" It's just a placement test to see which house you're in. It's easy. I promise." Meng held up a calming hand.

"O-oh, sorry." Xun mumbled, shuffling his feet.

"That's alright. I never caught your name though."

"My name is Lu Xun"

"Alright then, Xun. Good luck."

The sounds of wailing from Ning had died down and Meng turned back toward the main hall again. Xun watched him go then turned back to the office. He lifted a hang to knock an announcement of his entrance when a familiar swing of wood on hinges approached his face.

SMACK!

Lu Xun was once again left to hold his painfully beaten face while someone ran down the hallway yelling all the way. Screaming for anger or joy, he could not tell nor particularly cared to figure out. This time his cheek had taken the brunt of the door but he hadn't fallen.

"What a loud kid. How irritating... oh, you just arrive, kid?"

Standing in the doorway was an amazon of a woman. Stark white hair stood out over remarkably pale skin in a clash that didn't seem genetically possible. Not at her apparent age, which couldn't have been later than mid-thirties by any stretch in Xun's mind. She had fixed Xun's with a curious scowl but a general disinterest.

"Y-yes, ma'am." Xun stammered.

A slight smile shone through her scowl, "At least you have some manners, come on in."

She walked back through the door and Xun made a move to grab his bag but she motioned for him to leave it and hurry up. Xun found himself in front of a grand wooden doorway with carvings of wild beasts on the frame. The lady opened the door and gave him a shove into the office. Xun stumbled and crashed into a chair, but managed to stay on his feet and keep the chair from tipping.

"Augh...! Why are you so late? The entrance exam was scheduled for over two hours ago! Do you think you're important enough to take up my time? Stupid kid! You look too scrawny anyway, you won't last a day in my school!"

The room was dim, the only light sifting through the yellowed lampshade in the corner. The man by the desk was huge in girth if not in height and looked extremely out of place in the office setting. The suit he was wearing was too small for him and a pair of clawed gauntlets seemed to take precedence over the paperwork on his desk. A nametag on the desk read 'Principal Meng Huo.'

"...Alright, take the test. I'll give you two minutes. Better hurry up now, brat!" Principal Meng threw a paper to Xun then turned away to polish a trophy balanced on a shelf behind his desk.

Xun assumed the paper on the desk that Huo had nodded toward was his test and he picked it up. It was actually very easy, just like Upperclassman Meng had said. Xun had finished it just a few seconds after the "deadline" set by the principle. He had been instructed to take the 30-question quiz out to Mrs. Zhu Rong, the secretary. It took only a quick glance after the paper was handed over for her to give him the answer.

"Congratulations, you're in Wu. Family means a lot to you, blah blah blah. Just head up the main staircase to the third floor and down the left hall. The red carpet and decorations should lead you right to the dorms. Your classes start tomorrow, so don't say we didn't warn you. Now move along." She said blandly.

"Th-Thank you, Ma'am."

Taking the paper with him he shuffled out of the office to find his bag was still sitting in the corridor. Taking up the case he set off back toward the main hall, his shoes squeaking the only sound in the quiet halls. It was late, so he supposed many of the students may have been asleep or otherwise occupied studying. This time he looked up at the grand stairs and for the first time realized how dauntingly tall they were.

The marble stairs were precarious with the water still dripping from Xun's clothes. More than once his feet slid his balance would waver for a moment before he righted himself. But as he was nearing the top step he got hastier and in a rush to get off the staircase he rushed too fast and the toe of his shoe caught on the top stair and in a moment of horror he realized he was pitching backwards. His bag slipped from his hands as he flailed to try and save himself from a painful fall.

Before he fell, a hand snagged his wrist, hauling him upward and away from the seeming abyss behind him. Another quick individual had caught his bag before it too plummeted.

"Careful there, these stairs can be treacherous."The long-haired boy holding his bag warned.

Xun looked from the boy holding his bag up at the other boy who was holding Xun up by his arm. Both looked to be older than him and in the same red uniforms, but a third the face just behind them WAS familiar.

"AH HA HA HA HA HA! You're just a walking accident ain't ya, little guy?" Ning laughed uproariously from sitting on the banister.

Taking back his bag, Xun stood straight as a pin with both hands clasped on the handle of his case infront of him and his head bowed as his ears burned red in embarrassment.

"You know him, Ning?" The boy holding Xun's bag asked, ignoring the laughter.

"Sorta, I kinda," Ning rubbed the back of his head, "Maybe might have opened a door in his face earlier."

Rolling his eyes, the boy who had caught Xun too seemed to decide ignoring Ning was a good course of action. Turning back to Xun he grinned and thumbed toward his chest then the others in turn. "I'm Sun Ce. That's Zhou Yu, and bell-boy over there is Gan Ning. You just got here right? Did you already take the test? Did you get placed yet? Where're you from? What's your name? What house are you in? Is-"

"Let him speak, Ce" Yu interrupted with a chuckle.

"Oh, sure." Ce shrugged sheepishly.

Everyone then looked over at Xun as he was trying to straighten his hat. He'd been thankful that the conversation had diverted away from him but was alarmed to find everyone staring once again. Truthfully, he hadn't caught most of the questions, which left him at a loss as to what he should say.

"Oh, um, my name is Lu Xun. I just came from the office wh-where I took my placement test. Do any of you know where I can find the W-Wu dorms?" Xun asked hesitantly.

"ALRIGHT! You're in our house!" Ning shouted with a triumphant arm pump.

Xun's eyes grew wide, startled by the sudden outburst. Ning bounded over before Xun could try to evade him and took Xun's arm and started dragging him down a corridor with Ce and Yu following along behind at a slower pace. Xun couldn't really tell what hallways they were going through or who they were passing but he caught a blue of a green uniform. Finally, Ning paused by a large door with gold plated letters spelling Wu hanging proudly upon it.

"Here we are." Ning announced grandly, oblivious to Xun's dizziness as he struggled to stop seeing double.

Throwing open the doors revealed a large rectangular room boasting an eccentric decorative tendency toward hues of bold reds and accents of gold. Students were lounging about, socializing and relaxing before having paused to see what Ning had thrown open the door about. A crackling fire burned in a fireplace to the right and across the far end of the room two different halls led to what Xun presumed were the dorms respectively by gender.

"Oi! We've got a new kid!" Ning belted out.

Xun dropped his gaze down to his feet again, straightening his hat on his head.

"C'mon, Xun We're gonna introduce you to everyone." Ning continued as loudly before becoming unsure for a moment. "Alright, everyone, this is...Liu Xun?"

"LU Xun, Ning, Lu Xun." Meng cut in, standing from his seat and correcting Ning as he approached.

"Oh, right. I knew that. Anyway, Xun this is Wu. There's the Sun family of Sun Ce, Sun Quan and Sun Shang Xiang. The Qiao sisters: Da and Xiao. Then there's Taishi Ci, Ling Tong, and Zhou Tai who kinda are just here. Why are you guys here anyway? Isn't Wu supposed to be all about family?" Ning joked.

"Shut up, Ning, you don't exactly have any direct family here either." Tong shot back.

The room seemed to drift back to their original tasks and let Xun drift from their current focus. He was glad and let a relieved sigh escape him.

"You didn't smack him around anymore right, Ning?" Meng asked suspiciously, noting the swelling of Xun's cheek.

"Nope! He almost fell down the stairs though; Ce caught him before he became part of the carpet." Ning patted Xun's shoulder.

Meng's face blanked for a moment before a slight grin overcame his mouth which he tried to cover with a cough and his hand.

"Let's get your luggage up to the dorm room before anything else can happen, alright?" Meng offered.

Xun nodded, and followed Meng's lead through the left dorm hallway. Through the door was a single room with beds lining the walls, each with its own three drawer cabinet. The beds all had the same red blanket and white pillows and while some were made, others were not. Meng pointed out an empty bed, explaining some of the basic protocols and apologizing for the fact that Xun's bed was between Ning's and Tong's. Xun's bag was still soaking wet and he pulled out the clothes and books within, lying them out on the bedcover to dry.

"You walked in from town, didn't you? That's quite a stroll in this weather." Meng pointed out.

"Yes, but I missed the bus." Xun shrugged.

"So you just up and decided to march out here anyway?"

Xun paused, looking over at Meng in confusion. "Why wouldn't I?"

"Couldn't you have stayed overnight in a motel in town then come out tomorrow?"

"I was already late. There was no point in delaying."

Xun stood form kneeling on the wooden floor and brushed himself off. Meng dismissed himself back to the common room and Xun checked his own clothes to see if there was anything dry enough for him to change into. When he checkedthe drawers, he found there were already three school uniforms in there and he pulled out one out and left to change in the bathroom. Finally dry, he decided he couldn't put off facing his new classmates any longer. He faced the common room dorm, running through what he could say in his mind as he reached for the door handle.

SMACK!

It was fair to say that Xun was having time issues when it came to opening doors.

"Huh? Oh, sorry Xun. I didn't see you there." Ci peeked around the door.

"Th-that's ok, sir." Xun mumbled, holding his nose, "S-sorry."

Ci hurried past toward his own bed to rifle through his belongings with another quick apology and Xun stood straight. He readjusted his hat on his head and caught the door before it swung closed again. He rubbed his nose again but lowered his hand before finally stepping back into the common room. No sooner had he shown his face before he was whisked off toward the fire and deposited in an armchair.

"Alright, we should give you some major pointers." Shang Xiang stated.

The three girls of Wu stood side by side blocking out any chance Xun might have had to escape. Their semicircular formation was remarkably formidable. The guys were split between laughing at his predicament and shaking their heads but all held a universal lack of incentive to help him from his current captors.

"O-ok?" Xun agreed hesitantly.

"Be careful of the other teams. Han High students are split into three teams which are in competition with each other throughout the school year. You're in Wu, so students from the other teams will be out to sabotage you but you can rely on Wu to back you up. When in doubt, you'll be safe in the dorm." Da explained.

"You're in combat class right? Be careful not to tick off Lu Bu." Xiao added excitedly. "Combat class if required so I guess that was a silly question though. Lu Bu hates everyone so there's not much you can do but endure it."

"Never trust a Public. Lu Bu has a long-standing rivalry to Dong Zhuo, one of the teachers there so if you can beat them, it'll usually keep Lu Bu in a better mood." Shang Xiang interrupted.

"There are lot of competitions between teams in academics and sports and the like. You'll have to be ready for just about anything." Xiao advised. "Curfew is at 10 at night on weekdays, and you'll get in trouble if you're caught outside the dorm."

"Can't get in trouble if you don't get caught!" Tong corrected.

Da rolled her eyes but the rule listing continued for at least half an hour covering various topics from classes, to lunch menus, teachers, and individual students. It was mostly small things, the sort of judgments made from experience that Xun accepted he would learn for himself with time. Eventually Quan came to Xun's rescue.

"You three are going to scare Xun into running away if you keep this up." Quan reasoned

Xun flinched at Quan's words and looked down at his clenched fists in his lap. After getting out of the chair he relaxed visibly, finally free of the trio's intense, if well-meaning, attentions. Tong and Ning were having an argument about whose prank on one of the teachers the previous week had been better: shoes glued to the floor or car painted pink. What the teacher could have done to have deserved this, Xun didn't know. Suddenly Xun's hat disappeared from atop his head.

"Xunnie's hat is so pretty!" Xiao giggled, placing it on her own head.

"Lemme see that." Ning said before snatching it.

"No fair! I had it first!"

"Where'd you get it Xun?" Ning asked

"I-it's-"

Tong snagged it from Ning.

" 'S mine now!" Tong yelled, dodging Ning's attempt to grab it back.

"Wha? P-please give it back!" Xun panicked.

"Go ahead and try to get it, shorty!" Tong grinned.

The hat was tossed around the room in a light-hearteda game of Monkey in the Middle primarly between Ning, Tong and Shang but just about everyone in the room took a turn possessing the cap. A couple times Xun almost got it back but he was just a little too short to reach it as it flew over his head. Eventually the throw was off and it hit the ceiling fan before dropping down to the ground where Xun scooped it up and placed it back on his own head protectively.

"Aw! You're ruining the fun, Xunnie!" Xiao pouted.

"He didn't seem to be having much fun" Meng piped up from his position in the corner where he was reading.

Truthfully it had been kind of fun, realizing that Wu hadn't been intending anything damaging upon it. It was all a big game and Xun hadn't acted so childish in almost three years. Wu was so open and accepting without even knowing who he was, where he came from, what sort of life he'd led. He'd just wandered in, and already they were accepting him into the fold. Including him in games. It was too early to tell but Xun could help feeling like the warmth of the fire was soaking into him.

A voice cut through from outside the dorm out in the corridor. "Anyone not in their dorm rooms WILL get detention!"

Xun turned to walk to the dorm room but froze when he noticed nobody else appeared to be threatened. They were instead...laughing?

The door was opened and two figures strolled into the room. The smaller of which, still fairly muscular in stature, looked remarkably like an older version of Ce. He had the same cheerful aura as his oldest son without the brashness of youth. The second looked to be only a few years older than the first, but had a gruffer look to him, a solid, immovable sort of strength about him that years of wisdom did not dampen.

"Hey, Pops." Ce greeted with a wave.

"That's Sun Jian, Shang Xiang, Quan and Ce's dad, and behind him is Huang Gai. They're the house heads." Ci explained quietly.

"Why can't you guys listen for once? If the Principal knew I was such a pushover I'd be out of a job." Sun Jian mocked sadness.

"You're not a pushover, you're just better than the other team's house heads." Tong grinned.

"Ha ha ha, if only. However, it is time to head up to bed, there still are classes tomorrow." Sun Jian said with more authority this time.

There was a collective groan but the students grudgingly started drifting off to the dorm rooms for bed. Xun made to follow along when he felt a strong hand on his shoulder.

"I don't recall seeing your face before, are you the new student?" Sun Jian asked when Xun turned.

"Y-yes, sir. M-my name is Lu Xun." Xun mumbled.

"Speak up, you won't accomplish anything by mumbling."

"Yes, sir." Xun said louder.

Sun Jian smiled, nodded approvingly, and walked back to where Huang Gai was going through some papers on the desk and mumbling to himself. Xun quickly turned to trot and catch up with his new classmates in the boys' dorm room. As long as today had seemed today, tomorrow would be even more trying on his nerves. He needed all the rest he would get, because even with Wu on his side, Xun wouldn't help the premonition that his life an Han High was only going to get more difficult with time.