"How can it be that the almighty Anya of the cobra force couldn't even complete a simple task?" Mei mocks. She was secretly jealous of Anya's accomplishments and always posed challenges to her at every turn. Other than their competitions, they were sworn sisters. Mei, who was considered one of the best female assassins in their camp, wasn't as good as Anya, hence Anya got chosen for most of their dangerous operations because she was swift, stealthy and unpredictable. Killing the general was supposed to be easy, everything was carefully planned out by their leader. Getting into the general's mansion was easy, thanks to the help of the domestic staff, their leader managed to buy off. All Anya had to do was swoop in and get the job done. But things weren't quite as simple. By the time she got into his bed chamber, she perceived the strong scent of burning incense which was all over the room, and although she was wearing a mask, she wasn't entirely immune to the potent scent. Knowing how dangerous it would get if she inhaled the scent for too long, she chose to risk it. They only had this one chance, she needed to make the most of it. She thought she had some time to swiftly get the job done and be gone. But then, the general suddenly grabbed her from behind and all effort to get out of his strong hold proved abortive. She realized with dismay that she wasn't as sleek as she thought she was. In their weak state, they both did things to each other, things that should never have happened.

The leader of her gang, commander Chen Xu, knew instantly that something was amiss when Anya failed to show up in camp at the appointed time. Since she didn't exit the general's mansion when she was supposed to, it was naturally assumed that things had gone awry and if they were not careful, they would all get exposed. There was no doubt that she had failed the mission. Xu believed that she had been captured, tortured and possibly executed. He told the rest of the gang to brace up. They all waited for news from the mansion, but nothing came, no news about an attempt on the general's life, and there wasn't any news about anyone getting caught for breaking into the mansion either. It was quiet as though nothing happened. He knew how long it took to get this chance, but he wasn't entirely surprised that the mission failed. Now that things are this way, it would be even more difficult to take down Iroh.

The only chance they had had just gone down the drain, completely wasted. Being a cautious man, when he saw Anya the next day, he didn't believe her story, even though he had no reasons to doubt her. He started to suspect that Anya might have been compromised and this disappointed him greatly. He didn't think she would fail so easily. That was why he sent her. She was his best weapon yet. After her steamy ordeal with the general, Anya managed to knock him out and snuck away. Too embarrassed to face anyone just yet, she went straight home. Sneaking back into her courtyard. She quickly changed out of her black undercover clothes and instructed the maid to draw her a hot bath, citing insomnia as an excuse. She needed to scrub everywhere the general had touched clean. She had just lost her virginity in the most cruel way possible and to the person she aimed to kill. What was worse, every time she closed her eyes, all she saw was his naked toned body, as if he was permanently etched at the back of her eyelids. She couldn't erase the memory of how he fiddled with her breasts before taking them in his mouth one after the other or how he touched her everywhere else and, although it felt good at the time, she was repulsed by the mere thought of it now. She spent the entire night scrubbing and hating every fiber of her being for responding to him the way they did and wishing there was a way to scrap everything off. Every part of her body hurts now. That man was such a beast, taking her in the most brutal way possible, just because he hadn't been with a woman before doesn't mean he couldn't be a little bit gentle.

Anya had a restless night, as series of questions ran through her mind. She wondered if she had walked right into a certain trap. Her sadness ran deep, that she was unaware of the tears flowing from her delicate eyes. Who could have done such a despicable thing and why? Why was she sent to his bed chamber on the same night that he was drugged? Was there another group that wanted to kill the general as well? Are they trying to force themselves into his life? Or did the general have a secret fetish where he do that to himself? What was she supposed to report to the commander? It wouldn't be wise to report everything as it happened, better to leave out the crucial reason why she failed. This way, she could still save a little face. As she bathed, she thought about the things to say and tried to get her story straight. She would say that she was ambushed. That wasn't a complete lie, given that the general had indeed captured her. She just wouldn't admit that she was humpted, that would be too embarrassing.

It was the first time she would fail a mission, and she was not happy about it. Her hatred for the general just soared to a higher level, and she swore to get her revenge no matter what it took. Killing him just became a personal task. She would see to it that nobody killed him before she did.

"Well, you know what they say, you can't be a hundred percent perfect," she tried to brush it off, but deep within, she was seething with rage at being reminded of her failure. She did a smart thing by convincing the commander. She hoped he would give her another chance soon. Although she had doubts that he believed her story, she was willing to trust him. To redeem herself, she would take on even more dangerous missions while she secretly planned her revenge on the general. He had to die at her hands. That was the thing that would appease her bruised ego. Who knows when the general would begin to boast about how he bedded the assassin that was sent to kill him? By then, she would have no place to hide.

"Huh, if I was sent instead, that man would already be dead by now. I always do a better job than you, just that the leader thinks highly of you because you are the Minister's daughter." Mei scoffed, in scrutiny. Although they were sworn sisters, they never agreed on the same thing.

"You are absolutely correct, and you could also have ended up dead, you know?" Anya said, shrugging her shoulders in surrender. She had no strength left to argue with Mei further, she likes to argue too much and could go on arguing blindly. Anya needed to get back home because her parents had informed her they would be having guests over.

At home, Anya was the perfect daughter, an ordinary, sweet and innocent daughter of the Finance Minister. She was well-bred, educated and acted accordingly. She had no reason to own a sword, let alone wield one. There also was never a reason for her to get into physical fight because her father already provided her with two bodyguards who protected her from the shadows. How does she then manage to get past all these layers of security and make it to the rebel camp? How come no one in her house ever suspected that she was leading a double life? Easy, she was sly and absolutely cunning, she could do anything once she sets her mind to it. Her sense of justice led her to Xu's camp. She believed that they were doing the right thing by riding the country of corrupt officials and chose to train with them, she joined their cause three years ago. At first, nobody trusted her, but she proved them all wrong and with time, they all realized she was an asset.

The purpose of their camp was to get justice for the people and give them new hope. A thing that the government officials had failed to do. The people idolized them. They had forced a number of corrupt government officials into retirement, killed dozens of those who tried to play smart. All of these accomplishments convinced Anya that she was on the right track. She also took an oath to never reveal her secret to anyone and, so far, she was doing great. There was a list to execute people in power and at the top of that list was Iroh's name. All the things he did wrong were far too many to be overlooked. He was believed to be the most corrupt official and would do anything to get what he wanted, hence the need to take him out before he forcefully took over the country from the king. With their failed attempt, it was only a matter of time before he started picking them up one after another.

Private Ké was hovering above the general's bed and intently stared at his sleeping boss. He was trying to ascertain if he were still alive by monitoring the gentle rise and fall of the general's chest. Why wasn't he waking up? Was he paralyzed? His thoughts ran wild, but he dared not feel his pulse, for he feared he might not live to tell the story. For the first time in years, this was the first time he would see the man sleeping so peacefully. Normally, Iroh wakes up at the slightest foot movement and then, he would punish anyone who disturbed his sleep. But the private had reported himself twice now and the man had yet to respond, so it was either that the general didn't hear, which was highly unlikely, because he tried to be as loud as possible. The only plausible reason would be that he was passed out and in need of medical attention and that was why he was standing so close to him. Just when he was about to call a physician to check his pulse, the general spoke up. Was he also watching him secretly?

"Wipe that look off your face, I'm not dead yet," said the general groggily, shedding his eyes from the bright sunlight that penetrated into the room and shone directly in his face. "And close those curtains, will you?" He said without opening his eyes and the private hurriedly did as was told.

"Yes my lord," he said smartly and came to hover above him again, "Are you alright, sir?" The private asked worriedly and this time he opened his eyes ever so slowly, he was having a bad headache as the event of the previous night began to roll in his mind. Sitting up abruptly.

"Where were you last night?" he asked sternly.

"I went to Zhang Chu, like you asked. When I returned, the light was turned off, and you were sleeping, so I didn't dare to disturb your sleep." That was the whole truth, but now that he said it. He wondered why the general never stirred when he walked into the room the night before. He had walked in to see everywhere in a mess. He thought about leaving things the way they were, but knew he would throw a fit the next morning, being such a neat freak. Carefully and quietly he tidied everywhere and left as quietly without thinking too much about it. It was only now that everywhere was bright that he saw the red blood stain on the white sheet, "My lord, are you hurt? You seem to be bleeding," he said with concern, and Iroh followed his gaze with his eyes. Sure enough, there was a patch of blood stain on the sheet. This meant that everything he thought he had dreamed about actually happened. Who was the woman in his room last night? And why did she resort to such dirty tricks just to lay with him? Iroh was seething with rage.

"Who was on watch last night?" He asked, getting out of bed instantly. Even though Ké had gone to carry out his orders, he was not completely out of the water yet. To him, everyone is a suspect until proven innocent. How was anyone able to sneak into his room without getting caught? What were they all doing last night?

"I think it was the third platoon sir," the private replied, getting the general a fresh set of clothes.

"Assemble everyone in the yard in two minutes," Iroh barked, and the private scurried out to carry out his order, but not before he heard the rest of the order "If one person was not there by the time I left this room..." he left the rest of the words hanging and Ké knew for sure that there was trouble brewing. Iroh's memories from last night were still a little foggy, but his satisfactory feelings towards everything remained unchanged. It still doesn't mean that whatever happened was okay. He remembered that he had gone to the king upon his emergency summons. The king had then expressed his desire to send him offshore to deal with the Chua people who were trying to invade the palace. Iroh had no problems agreeing. After all, he was living to fight the king's battle. It doesn't matter that he just returned from defending the northern gate against the insurgency and, as usual, he came back a hero. He also knew why the king was in a hurry to send him farther away. Not that he had any problems with going to the battlefield. In fact, Iroh loved fighting and killing his enemies more than anything. He was still mulling over the best way to get Chua's to succumb to his tactics when he arrived home. Everything was as it should be, or so he thought, and he asked that his meal be served to the others, since he already had a meal with the king. By the time he got to his room, he had decided what he was going to do, everything seemed perfect at first, and he was preparing to turn in for the night when he noticed something was indeed amiss. His body suddenly started to get hot, and he knew instantly that he had overlooked the most important thing by allowing himself to get drugged. How foolish? Thinking it could be food from the king, Iroh sat crossed-legged and began the process of detoxification. It was only an aphrodisiac, nothing serious, he thought to himself. But by the time he realized that the incense was lit inside his room, it was already too late as he had inhaled a considerable amount of the vile scent, and this was why, when he tried to detoxify, he only got weaker. As soon as he got up, a figure clad in black approached his bed. He knew from the body frame that it could only be a woman, all he had to do was hold her down until one of his men arrived, but all his senses went haywire the moment he grabbed her plus she kept moving seductively against him, it was only natural that he gave her what she came for. It had been so long since he saw a woman's delicate skin and last night felt particularly special. Everything about the girl just provoked him even more, and he knew he couldn't hold it in any longer, so he did what he had to do to relieve himself. Now that he thought about it, it wasn't clear if she was pushing him away or holding him close. Too bad, he couldn't remember what she looked like now that he was fully lucid, she was sweet and... Wait, why was he thinking this way? She drugged him to sleep with him, he would fish her out and make an example out of her as soon as possible to deter others from having similar thoughts. What made things even worse was the fact that there were no females in his camp, so how did she get in? All his men were waiting when he got out of the room. Iroh was too angry to look at them, so he told them to do squats. This was only something he did when he was in a bad mood, but now he encouraged the entire camp into doing the same. There was grumbling and murmurs around because the majority of them didn't even know why they were being punished.

"Listen everyone, line up according to your platoons and carry out your punishments," Ming Yue, one of the general's right-hand men called to the already grumbling soldiers.

"Did I ask you to arrange them?" Iroh asked irritably, he was getting angrier by the minute because not only had they not started the squats, but some of them had the effrontery to grumble before him.

"Sorry, my lord," Ming Yue said, but the general's fist already connected with his face, sending him reeling backwards. The soldiers immediately began to squat for fear that they might be the next target. If he could punch his right-hand man in the face, then their lives were nothing before him.

"Lang Fé!" He called and a tall, heavily built man stepped out of line to kneel.

"Yes my lord," he said in a slightly rough voice.

"Gather everyone at noon, we are going to war offshore," Iroh said and walked back into his room. He had thought that he would just punish them and then find out who betrayed him, but when he saw their reluctance to carry out a simple task, he decided the best punishment would be to drag them all back to war. He was sure the culprit would try something again and when they did, he would wait.

"Miss, your father requests your audience at the pavilion," said Xiao Fei, her personal maid. Anya knew they would come for her, she had just settled into her room and pretended to be reading scripture when the maid knocked.

"I will be right there," she replied and made her way out to see not one but six hefty men waiting for her. She didn't think her father would take such extreme measures just to get her to attend to his guests. It's not like she will run away, or will she? Seeing the men, ready to bundle her if she tried any trick made her even more determined to do just that. From all indications, the intention of the meeting was clear. Her father was trying to match her up with another son of a prominent person again and this time, they planned to force her to attend the introduction by any means necessary. Anya tried to test the men's speed by suddenly breaking into a run, only to get surrounded at once. She was now standing between them as if she were a criminal, with nowhere to turn, she let out an exaggerated sigh.

"Relax guys, I wasn't trying to run or anything, I just want to see if you could catch up," she said cheekily, but nobody was laughing. They escorted her to her parents' courtyard where it seemed as though a party was in procession.

"Father," she greeted meekly, and his face lit up, he was worried that she might get away again and miss the chance to meet her future in-laws.

"Come, my dear," her father said in high spirits and in a much lower tone he whispered to his wife standing next to him,

"See, I told you sending those guys to fetch her wasn't a bad idea." But Mrs Guo wasn't convinced, she knew her daughter all too well and knew what she was capable of regardless of what anybody says. When her husband suggested getting their little girl married, she immediately agreed. This was the third time her parents had set up her marriage and this time, they planned to succeed. Whatever it took, after all, she had attained adulthood, most of her age mates were all married and possibly nursing their first child.

"Ma Hua, my friend, this is Anya," he said, introducing his daughter and turning to Anya, he said sternly,

"Pay your respect to the elder," he had to be stern for his daughter to understand that Hua was not someone they could offend. Anya, being the perfect daughter, paid her respect humbly and acted like she had no clue what was unfolding.

"Come closer child, I have no doubt that my Tianyue would like you very much," an elderly round woman standing beside the old man said in appreciation, even though Anya was repulsive of their fake show of affection, she didn't show it and just did as she was told. The party went on for another hour and during that hour, the old couple kept loading her plate with extra food.

"You need to eat more to grow more flesh," the woman said,

"Don't worry, once you join our family, we will make sure to feed you well, you won't have anything to worry about." She said and Anya managed a little smile. Anya struggled to remain seated as she was constantly reminded of the trauma of the previous night, everything she went through was still fresh in her memory and she couldn't wait to soak in hot water one more time. By the time the last guess left, she didn't wait for a chat with her parents and just went back to her yard. After her bath, she planned to go straight to bed. Commander Xu hadn't sent for her, which meant she could catch up with her missed sleep.

"Miss, I would like to go serve you when you get sent to your new family after the marriage," her maid said dreamily as she helped Anya with her night dress. Anya didn't have to discuss her plan with the maid, who would go right back to her parents to report everything. She had learned the hard way never to trust anyone but herself and that was why she kept everyone at arms' length. If she wants to get anything done, then it was better to keep it to herself and let the results speak for themselves. She understood that her parents were already familiar with her old tactics of acting out of character in front of her future in-laws. Doing the same wouldn't work this time. But Anya has a couple of more tricks up her sleeve. Her parents were doing everything it took to ensure the wedding this time would take place. They had also chosen an auspicious date for the wedding. Anya knew what she had to do to get her future husband to hate her enough to break off the engagement. She only needed to find him first. Satisfied with what she needed to do, she hummed a happy song and got into bed. She wasn't going to think about anything and only focused on sleeping. But her night was restless, and she only dreamed of general Iroh's body.

*************************

Somewhere offshore, Iroh, adorned in his military regalia, halted his men. They would set up camp in the woods and rest for a bit. They had been riding their horses for hours now. Even the poor animals needed rest. The journey would resume again the next day.

"My lord," Ké knelt on one leg in front of the general, he had brought some snacks and water for him. But Iroh declined the snacks and went for water instead. He had gone days without food, and today is just the first day.

"See to it that the horses are well-fed and watered," he said, and dismissed the private before going back inside to face the third platoon soldiers. He had called them all into his tent for questioning. The sergeant, Shang Li, was the leader of the group and the one Iroh directed his questions. But the more he asked questions, the weirder it gets.

"Who else came near my quarters last night?" He probed, since no one had permission to go near his room, let alone go into it, except Ké and two others. While packing up for his trip, he notices a tiny hole in one of the screens. Somebody had poked a small hole there and the remnant of the incense stick was stuck there. From all indications, it was an inside job, but then again, could the girl have done that and come around sneaking in? Where were all the guys then?

"As far as I can tell, I didn't see anyone go in or out of your room last night except Ké," the soldier said, trying to remember if he witnessed anything out of the ordinary.

"My lord, was something missing?" Shang managed to ask because he was the first one on watch last night, he didn't see any burglar getting in.

"Yes, someone took something from me last night," as soon as he said that, there were gasps of shock from the soldiers, who all looked at each other in surprise.

"Tell me what it was, and we will find it," now that Iroh heard that, he knew he hadn't given them much to work with. What happened last night doesn't feel like they took something from him, it was more like he did all the taking, but the guys don't need to know that, as a matter of fact, they don't need to know anything. The lesser they knew, the quicker it would be to fish out the main culprit. He wasn't going to tell them that the thief was a woman either.

"If I knew this earlier, I would have checked the surroundings for clues," the sergeant said confidently, but Iroh shook his head. No need, he would catch the culprit himself. There was no doubt in his mind that the one who led the girl into his room was one of the guys staring at him, he just had to figure out the shiftier one out of the group.

"Don't worry about it, I will find it myself, you are dismissed," he said, and they all saluted before filing out of the tent. Iroh had gotten what he needed.

"Zhi Feng," he called into the empty space and a man clad in black suddenly appeared before him.

"I need you to follow Yang, if he as much as breath too loudly, I want you to report to me immediately,"

"You humble servant obeys," the figure said and went away as if he had just disappeared. Iroh had such capable servants, he just never called for them. When he awoke in the morning and was preparing to meet the men, he had questioned what Zhi was caught up with to allow his master to get drugged. But in Zhi's defense, Iroh had personally given him the night off before going to meet the king. He had such great confidence in himself and certainly didn't think anyone would play such tricks on him. Iroh sat on the chair to think. He wanted to discuss his plan for attack tomorrow, but instead the image if a rather fragile girl appeared before him and he had to slap himself back to reality. In all his years of fighting war, this was the first time he is thinking of something other than killing the enemy.