Jaejoong had been taught by Ji-Ho, former Captain of the palace guards, that sleep was the best way to get back one's strength. But one must always sleep with caution especially when enemies were everywhere. So, Jaejoong trained himself to be a light sleeper, to instinctively feel the presence of danger even as he slept.

Such training proved useless this morning. He awoke to find himself face down and staring at the hard earth accompanied by a pain on his behind.

He raised his head and found Dara with her arms crossed and her grey eyes full of murderous intent as she stood before him like an executioner. He sat himself on the ground and faced the angry woman. He felt eighteen again. Because it was at that age when Dara began this habit of kicking his behind. He thought that he had gained enough skill and experience to avoid such fate this time around, he was wrong. His power of foresight had also failed to warn him of the incoming danger from the woman.

Or maybe because he was never really in any danger. A kick on the wouldn't really kill him. And though anger blazed clearly in Dara's eyes, she had yet to kick him again.

"I presume that wake-up kick was because I took you inside my tent instead of leaving you in the cold outdoors?" he asked quietly.

"Should I thank you then for carrying me to your bed?" her voice tinged with sarcasm.

"Why in the world are you angry?!" he exclaimed. Most women, he could understand, but Dara was one of a kind. He had never met any one like her, probably never will. Circumstances had turned her into the most unique woman in Haldor. Mixed in with her comely features were brains, attitude, pride, lethal fighting skills and a fearlessness equivalent only to his own.

"You took me to your bed! You-"

"You prefer that I let you sleep on the ground? Or that I sleep on the ground when this bed is big enough for both of us?" Part of him wanted to tease Dara, but memories of her unpredictable temper and fighting skills silenced him, for the moment. He needed to asses the situation first before making a move.

"I am not one of those women you could just take to your bed-" she continued.

"I know that," he cut her off, "because if you belong to those kind of women, we won't just be sleeping in my bed. We would be having midnight exercises." A grin eased across his face before he realized it, thus earning him more of her ire.

"You think this is funny? Yoochun was setting up a tent for me!"

"I didn't know that. It was too dark for me to see that there was a third tent," he sighed. "You are being overly sensitive and emotional about this simple thing, Dara. Can't you just look at this situation in a calm and mature way? There is nothing wrong if two comrades sleep in one bed. After everything we've been through, we had come to the point where we should be able to trust each other and form some kind of friendship," he paused and studied her reaction before adding, "and friends sleep together without malice. And I never did anything to you. You are still wearing your clothes when you woke up, right?"

"Sleeping on the ground with other people around us is different from sleeping with you on your bed inside a tent! This is totally inappropriate! We might have fought and travelled together for months, but I am still a woman that needed to be given respect!" she stared down at him.

"I am well aware of that."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Nothing!" he quickly added before letting off another deep breath. "Dara, you should stop being a prude. And Yoochun, Junsu and Bom would all understand the practicality of what I did. I can assure you that they would not tell anyone that we have slept together."

"Could you assure me that Cloud would not go gossiping this incident to anyone who would listen to him?"

"Well..."

"Your future wife, Lady Krystal, would definitely not understand what you did!" she blurted out.

Understanding finally dawned on Jaejoong. Dara wasn't angry at him because they shared a bed during the night. She was angry because she had found out about his engagement to Lady Krystal! But because of her upbringing and personality, she wasn't even aware of the jealousy gnawing on her. Getting angry at the culprit who told Dara about Lady Krystal was useless. This was bound to come out sooner or later. Any other man would simply braced himself from Dara's anger, but Jaejoong knew of another way to cool down her anger.

"And don't you dare use as an excuse the fact that you and her a