Dragon’s Love

 

Chapter One

 

Flashback: Wufei and Jade first meet

 

It was summer in Hong Kong.  Wufei walked along the streets of the old city.  It had lost its splendor during the wars.  Though it was not completely destroyed, little remained of the old times.  Wufei saw more of the old traditions on his colony in space, before they dropped it to Earth.  Out with the old, in with the new, he supposed...  That was the way of things.

He shook his head as he entered one of the shops.  Naturally, it was full of ‘tourists’.  Bah...Tourists, nowadays, consisted of either people who had nothing better to do than go from city to city collecting ‘souveniers’ from the war  or politicians who cared nothing for the citizens or to see what they had to offer.  And of course, natives found that there was money to be made in selling objects that they had no use for.

Even tradition became something commercialized.  Not even his own people cared for tradition as much as the money that was to be made in it.  It disgusted him.

“I’m sorry,” he said, nearly backing into a woman behind him, trying to dodge some obnoxious American with a big head.  He turned to apologize face-to-face with the woman but stopped, staring down to her.  He couldn’t help it.

“Iss okaayy,” she said, rather annoyingly, thinking she was speaking to one of those stupid tourists.  She liked to speak horrible English to them.  It made them feel all the more superior, and kept them coming into her shop.  “Oh,” she said, looking up to Wufei.  “Forgive me,” she said in Chinese.  “I, uh, heh.”  She blushed and looked down.

He smiled, understanding.  He didn’t smile much those days, but the woman had a charm about her.  He couldn’t help but smile.  He started a reply, but her attention was taken by a customer.

“Oh, yess, you wan tree o tose gasses?  For fo fife dollar? Only tree?  Okaayy.”  She picked up three glasses that were painted with some scene or another.  She carried them up to the front counter and pushed a couple of buttons on an ancient-looking cash register.  “Tat be ten American dollar,” She said.

The man on the other side slapped his hand on the counter.  “Ten dollars for three?  You said four for five dollars, why are only three twice as much?”

“You bye for, you get fo fife dollar.  Less dan tat, fo regoolar price.  Tree dollar and tirty-for cent apiece.”  She nodded, matter-of-factly.

He handed her a ten dollar bill and started to say that he wanted four instead, before she spoke, putting the bill into the register drawer and closing it.  She, then, handed him a sack with the three glasses.

“Ten dollar?  Okaayy, you take tree gasses.  Bye-bye, now. Ness cussomer!” she hollered and the man was shoved aside by another tourist, a Frenchman.

Wufei couldn’t stop himself from chuckling as the dumbfounded American was shoved out of the shop by other customers.  What a way to work them.

She saw him chuckle and smiled in return.  “I love working them that way.  They’re such idiots, I can’t help myself,” she told him.  “Come back around six?  Let me buy you dinner?”

He shrugged, smiled, and nodded before being shoved toward the exit, himself.

 

He walked back up to the shop just as she was locking the front door.

“Another day, another dollar, huh?” he asked.

“And another idiot who thinks that I am the idiot.”  She laughed a minute.  “That American came back with an interpreter.  The interpreter and I had a long conversation before he managed to convince the American that all Chinese are idiots and it was likely that he wouldn’t get his money back.”   She sighed a moment.  “How else would we make a living?  Everything’s gone up in price so much that we have to be dishonest in order to live.  Americans think they own everything.”

He nodded.  “Maybe they’re not as stupid as we make them out to be.”  Of course, he thought, some seem to be.  He thought back on the pilots, and Duo Maxwell.  Duo was smarter than he made himself to be, than he even thought himself.  But, Wufei wasn’t about to admit that to his face.

She shrugged.  “Maybe.”  She looked up at him.  “Jade,” she said.  “Chen Jade.”

“Chang Wufei,” he said.

“You’re not from around here, are you?  Your accent is a strange one.”

“No.  I’m from L-5.”

“Ah,” she said, seemingly disappointed.  “Is space really as cold as they say?”

“Colder.  Much.”  He looked down as they began walking.  As are much of the people living up there, he added to himself as he looked up.

“Which colony?” she asked.

“One that no longer exists.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it.  It happened a long time ago.”  A small fib.  It was quite some time ago, but not that long.  Five years.  Had it really been five years?  It seemed like a lifetime, since he had no one to share that time with.

Many mistook his fondness for Sally Po as love, including Sally.  But she was only an ally, a co-worker.  He was fond of her, but not in the way she wanted.  And, it drove her away.  No one knew where she went, or even exactly when she left.  No one’s been in touch with her in over two years.

He and Jade remained silent for several moments before she asked him where he would like to eat.  He informed her that, since he wasn’t from around here, he wasn’t familiar with the eating establishments.  He suggested that she choose a place.  After all, she was paying for it.  Of course, it was a shot at his pride, a woman paying for the meal.  But, he figured the best way to get to know this woman better was to let her do things the way she wanted to do them.

 

She ended up taking him to an American restaurant at the end of the street.  It was a favorite of hers.  Run by an American family, it was there that Wufei saw that she spoke almost perfect English as she spoke to the older man behind the counter.  She asked about his ill wife, how his oldest son was handling schooling in China, things of the like.  He replied that his wife was getting better, but far from well.  His son was still having trouble in the language department.  Pronunciations were throwing him off.  He was almost sent home one day because he accidentally insulted a teacher.

“I think I’m going to send him back to Boston,” he said.  “My brother still lives there.  He can house him until he graduates.”

She smiled and nodded.

In the restaurant, they had their conversation in English.  She didn’t ask much of Wufei’s life, but she talked rather frequently about her own, throwing a question at him here and there.  How old was he?  Twenty.  What brought him to China?  Vacation.  How long was he here?  Only a few days more, then he had to go back to work.  It was then that she asked what he did for a living.

“I’m a Preventer,” he said.

“Oh, how exciting!  See much action since the war?”

He shrugged.  “Some.  Things are slowing down these days.  That’s a good thing.  It’s allowed all of us to take some time off.”

“What will you be doing when you return?”

He shrugged.  “I will probably get my assignment the day I get back.”

 

He spent the next week with Jade.  Night and day.  A few times, however, he awoke to find her gone.  The next morning, she said that she had an emergency to attend to at the store.  He nodded.  It could happen.

The day of his departure, he asked her to come back with him.  She declined.  She said that she would never leave China, unless the situation was dire.

He nodded and vowed that he’d return to her every chance he got.

He returned several more times throughout the year.  The last visit, they were married.  The ceremony was ‘secret’.  He wasn’t yet ready for any of his colleagues to know about Jade.

He asked her again to come to America.  She still was unwilling to leave China.  Their marriage was observed from afar.  Even from afar, they were happy.

 

Two years later, he was in Hong Kong on assignment.  He and another Preventer were assigned as bodyguards for an American senator attending a conference.  They were walking down to the conference center when they were attacked.

The younger Preventer was dead in a matter of seconds, giving Wufei just enough time to secure the senator, before the assailant went for the man.  Wufei intercepted the attack and a battle of skill was occurring.

The senator, by now, had been ushered into the conference center by local security.  Authorities were moving the crowds of civilians away from the area as they fought.  The assailant was thrown over Wufei’s shoulder and before he managed to gain is sense of direction, hit the concrete side walk with a grunt...a rather feminine grunt.

Before she had time to regain her stance, Wufei was on her, pulling the black mask off.  He was shocked at what he saw.

“Jade...,” he whispered.

“Next time, Wufei,” she replied before dropping a small orb to the ground, releasing a cloud of black smoke.

Wufei’s grip slipped as he coughed and hacked until the smoke cleared.

She was gone.

“Damn it!” he shouted.