The moment Jonghyun stepped into the yard, a knife flew past and he caught it. He looked up and saw a tall guy walking towards him. The guy stopped in front of him and smirked, "Well well who's this? He caught the knife well, a new recruit?" Jonghyun was about to say something but Suyeon glared at him and said, "He's not a new recruit, Minho." The guy called Minho looked at him like he was deciding his fate.

"So who are you?" he asked. Jonghyun stared at him and replied, "Leader of the Warriors, Kim Jonghyun." After Minho heard that, he said, "From China?" Jonghyun nodded. "Soft-spoken for a leader, huh." he said. "Anyway, nice to meet you." he said as he sheathed his sword. He held out his hand and said, "Choi Minho, leader of the guards." Jonghyun looked at him suspiciously but he accepted the handshake.

"Why is he here, Suyeon?" Minho turned towards her and asked. Suyeon replied as she gripped the hilt of her sword, "The Emperor of China sent a letter, requesting that his family and the Warriors come over for a stay. Jonghyun delivered the letter here." She glared at  Jonghyun. "What? Was it my fault that I was sent here?" Jonghyun argued. She rolled her eyes and continued, "So, since he's here, the Emperor said that we should let him have a tour of the palace first."

Minho's face lit up instantly and said, "Oh really? Then-" "I'm his partner, Minho. The Emperor said that." Suyeon quickly said, frowning at him. "Fine." he huffed. 

Minho then turned towards the group of teenagers practicing sword fighting in the yard. "Everyone! Come here and introduce yourselves!" The group broke and walked towards them and stood around them. Jonghyun counted the number of them. There were strangely only four of them, all about the same age. 

"This is Jonghyun, everyone. He came over on the orders of Emperor Leeteuk. Be nice to him okay?" Minho said as he patted Jonghyun's shoulders. Jonghyun then realised that Minho wasn't that bad after all. "Introduce yourselves please. Kris, would you kindly start?" he asked .

A boy standing at a corner looked at him and nodded his head. "Hi! I'm Kris. I just got here a month ago." the boy said as he stared at Jonghyun as if he had come from outer space. There was something more than just curiosity in his eyes - hatred. But he smiled again and the weird light in his eyes disappeared, so Jonghyun thought he was hallucinating. He smiled and waved to the boy.

Minho moved to the girl standing next to him. Jonghyun saw that she had short hair, really short hair and she looked very tomboyish. "This is Amber." Minho said. The girl rolled her eyes and then said, "Yeah hi. I'm Amber and Minho oppa shouldn't have introduced my name for me. Don't mind Minho, he's always annoying." Minho glared at her but if Amber noticed, she didn't seem to care. "And um I'm also in charge of weaponry." she continued. Jonghyun nodded. 

"You don't have to feel sorry. It happened so long ago."

"What about your mother?"

She hesitated and then replied, "I was taken from her when I was a small child. Kidnapped. I don't know where she is." Her face was stormy, as if a lot of feelings were passing through her. Jonghyun could understand her.

"You know, my father also died when I was young."

"How?"

"War."

-pause-

"Your mother?" she asked. Jonghyun wanted to cry when he thought of his mother. The memory was still so fresh in his mind. "After my father died, I had a step-father. My mother had to do everything he wanted. He was terrible." Jonghyun said bitterly. "One day, he was drunk. He came home and beat my mother. She pleaded with him to stop, but he continued."

Suddenly, the nightmarish screams of his mother came back into his mind again. It was so comforting in a way, but so... haunting at the same time. "Then?" she asked. "She died from his beatings." It was like a grenade that dropped. Suyeon had this look that was so shocked. It would have been funny, but Jonghyun wasn't in the mood to laugh. "That's terrible!" she said finally. "I know right. I ran away from him. Not that he cared anyway. The days after I left, I grew so hungry, I almost died from hunger. But a kind lady took me in. She was like a second family to me." Jonghyun said. He said it quickly, like water gushing out of a flood gate. After he said it, he realised he felt much better.

Suyeon nodded her head. "How did you become a Warrior." "If there was one thing I learnt from my mother's death, it was never to be defenseless. From that day on, I swore that I would learn to fight. I practiced archery first. The lady that took me in saw that I had an interest for archery, so she bought me a bow. A few years later, there was a message saying that recruits were needed for the Warriors. I signed up, and I passed." Jonghyun said.

"Mine was different." Suyeon said. "After I got kidnapped, I managed to escape. I did not know where I was going. Along the way, I naturally learnt how to fight. Somehow, I ended up at Korea. The Emperor was having a walk at the borderline at that time. He saw me and after I explained everything to him. He asked me to show much fighting skills I had at that time. I showed him, and instantly took me in."

"The lady that took you in must have been very kind..." Suyeon muttered. Jonghyun heard that and laughed, "Well she was. Anyway, I'm glad that I'm not the only one that's an orphan." She smiled at him and looked away. She stared at the horizon for quite a while. Suddenly the words she said earlier flashed through her mind, "I can't believe I thought you were the one..."

"There's something wrong with you." he decided. Suyeon turned her head and looked at him. "What's wrong?" she asked. "You've been looking at me weird since you met me, and you said 'I can't believe I thought you were the one...'. So, either I look really bad, or there's something that you know about me." She looked at him and said, "There's nothing wrong." Then she blinked her eyes repeatedly. Strange, she had been doing that since just now. Jonghyun looked at her and saw her eyes glinting. Oh... No wonder. She was tearing, but she didn't want to cry in front of him.

"You're lying." Jonghyun said. Suyeon took a deep breath and glared at him, "No I'm not! There's really nothing wrong." "Sure?" "Yes." "Double sure?" "Yes!" "Then why are you tearing up?" As if on cue, a tear fell from her eyes. "There. I told you." he said as he watched the tear land on the floor. She glared at him but then another tear rolled down her cheeks.

"You're not going to tell me it's nothing right?" he asked. Suyeon wiped away the tears and sniffed. She looked at him and asked, "Do you believe in prophecies?" Jonghyun laughed and said, "Yes! But they don't really happen, right?" He looked at Suyeon and stopped laughing. She was glaring at him, the worst she glare she had given him yet. "Laugh for all you want." she said in a soft voice as her expression softened. "When I was young, I was told that a Warrior, an archer, to be exact, would reunite me with my mother."

Jonghyun pondered on that for a while. "But, it can't only be me right? I mean, like there's quite a few of them that hasn't come yet." Suyeon shrugged, "I don't know. Maybe." She stood up and said, "Let's go back. It's late." Jonghyun nodded and followed her. He looked at her expression on her face and knew that she was not telling him everything, but he didn't want to ask, in case she really skewered him this time.

Before they stepped into the house, Jonghyun asked, "So what do I actually call you?" She turned around and smiled. "Just call call me Sica."

Okay this chapter's done! Please comment and subscribe! Thank you~