The Imperial Ten Drabble Set 1

The Imperial Ten Drabble Set 1

By Arecus. Conberma (Liyu Conberma)

--

Argument of an Old-Married Couple
Couple: Tian (peacock, son of Shen and Mui)and Hannah (white tigress, daughter of Po and Tigress)

After 3 hours of intense training, the members of the Imperial Ten wanted to have a rest. One white tigress would love to take a nap.

"Well, I'm going to take a nap." Hannah announced as she stretched as far as she could.

"Very well, but don't sleep in my meditation room, again." Tian ordered.

"Awww~ but your room is so cozy and comfortable!" Hannah exclaimed and tried to use her "cuteness" to change the teen peacock's mind.

Sadly, the peacock was not convinced. He gave her a not-amused look, "I don't care. Remember what happened last time?"

"Oh come on, that was a long time ago. Get over it!"

"It already happened YESTERDAY. And I still have this bruise on my face that will last for a week at least!" Tian exclaimed as he strongly pointed at the claw marks under his chin.

Hannah looked away from the slight angry peacock, knowing very well that it was fact. She pretended whistling to cover her guiltiness, and said, "Yea, well...you could have just left me to sleep without the blanket."

Tian snorted, and crossed his arms, "Fine, don't come back to me when you catch a cold and complain about that I didn't put a blanket on you." Tian

"OK! OK! Geez, you sound worse than my dad!" Hannah argued back, and left to her room.

Tian was slightly irritated, and then he turned and was faced smug faces from the rest his teammates. He arched his frown, "What?"

Hai, his younger twin brother, snickered, "Oh nothing, just...enjoying the show, that's all."

"Yea, like an old-married couple." Jade teased.

"Oh, shut up." Tian scowled.

--

The Beauty in White Hair
Couple: Jade (panda, son of Po and Tigress)and Yuan-fen (peahen, daughter of Shen and Mui)

It was when Jade was 7 and Yuan-fen was 5; It was another day when the Jade Palace masters went to visit the peacock family at Tian Shen Village, mostly to their children's delight getting to see and play each other again.

Among Shen's children, Yuan-fen was a special one. Not that she inherited Shen's albino color, but she had a long white hair. When I say long, I mean LONG. This visit, Yuan-fen's hair had grown to her talons.

To the children in the village, especially girls, found that curious and jealous of the length. Girls would ask her to offer her to tie her hair, and the boys would stupidly requested her to do something with her hair, like used it like feather ink pen to write etc (which Yuan found it very unpleasant).

Yuan-fen was worried more when the little panda was dangling on a tree. "Jade, get down from there. You will get yourself hurt!" she cried out, worry began to sink into her..

"Nah! I'll be fine! You should try!"

"Nuh-ah. I just combed my hair!"

"Yuan, I've got to say you need to have a haircut." Jade commented.

"And I told you I can't."

"Why not?"

"Because last time I had my hair cut, it just grew back overnight." Yuan-fen explained, while playing with her hair.

"Wow! That's some magical hair of yours!"

"Nei Nei says that my hair is special."

"Well, if I were you, I would----"

CRACK!!

"WHOA!!" with a cry, he fell from the tree due to his panda weight.

Yuan-fen panicked as she ran toward him, "JADE!!" he cried worriedly, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine..." Jade stubbornly denied, he was in pain as in hell.

Then he heard a horrific gasp from the peachick, she cried, "You're bleeding!" Jade then looked at his hurtful part of his body, and saw blood pouring out of his broken knee; the panda cub had to keep his breathe because of his pride, he didn't want to sound panic in front of Yuan-fen or letting her know that he's afraid of blood a bit.

Before he could say anything, Yuan-fen untied her hairband and used her hair to cover the wound to avoid its continuously bledding. "Here, this would help!"

"B-but, it's your hair! My blood will get it dirty!" Jade protested, but apparently Yuan-fen was just as stubborn as he was.

"Don't care! Must stop the bleeding first!"

Then Yuan-fen hummed a soothing melody. Not that Jade wasn't enjoying it, he was just curious of her action. "What are you doing?"

"Try to get you distract from the pain." with that, she sung a short song seemed to get her hair glowed. Jade gawked in surprise at this, until he could see the glow reached to his wound, he felt the injury patched up by itself.

When the glow slowly faded away, Yuan-fen gently unwrapped her hair away from the wound, which was completely healed.

"Wow!"

"Cool!! Your hair has healing power!"

"Yea, Mama told me that's all she figure out about my hair."

"Awesome..."

"But you can't tell anyone!"

"Can I tell my sister?"

"I trust them, and you."

Jade blushed at her statement, knowing how much she trust him. He shuffled his feet nervously and looked at the ground, he muttered, "Ya know...you look pretty like this."

The little albino peachick heard it and a faint flush on her cheeks. She nervously played with her hair, and asked sheepishly. "You really think so?"

"Honest truth!" Jade declared when he took a deep breathe to make his chest more visible than his belly, proudly.

Yuan-fen laughed at his gesture, she smiled gently and hugged the panda cub. She whispered in his ears, "Thank you."

--

Ice Child with a Big Heart
No couple, just focusing on Hai (peacock, son of Shen and Mui) and Shen, father-son bonding

Winter was here, and everybody was busy preparing for the annual Winter Feast. And every year, the peacock family, and every kung fu master would gather at the Dragon Warrior's noodle shop at the Valley of the Peace.

Everyone couldn't wait to see each other again. And since it was a cold weather, people would wear thinker coats, scarf, hat, and gloves to keeping themselves warm. Well, all except one particular peacock.

Hai, people said he's the Ice Child. Mostly because he was unlike other peafowl, he liked swimming, held his breathe really long under the water, especially under cold condition. But what’s most of all, was his very cold hands (or wings, whatever). His hands were so cold that even snowflakes wouldn't melt in his palms, which were why he would always wear gloves only.

Not like his parents didn't want him to get sick if he didn't wear any coats on him, but he said he like it better this way. He loved when his body connected with the cold air and the snow tickled in his skin and feathers.

And honestly, sometimes Hai couldn't help feeling he was repelled from the others. He'd always be the cheerful one in the family, but sometimes his carefree personality was just a mask to cover his isolation. His family would always love no matter what he was, that cheered him up a little bit. Shen, especially, saw himself more in him than the rest of his children. He was like himself when he was young, feeling couldn't fit into the group, and also had a passion for inventing.

During the feast, everyone was enjoying their time. Hai watched his brother and sister playing with the Jade Palace children, still feeling isolated, even from his own siblings. Hai sighed as he silently walked away from the crowd and on the snowy floor instead.

It hadn't snowed yet, he let out a foggy breathe, he had a thin coat on him since his family didn't want people saw him to wear nothing during the winter. He soon walked himself the back of the noodle restaurant, which it was faced the half snow-covered bamboo forest.

The turquoise peachick sighed deeply; his moment of silent peace was broken until he heard a familiar voice. "What are you doing out there, son?"

Hai glanced back slightly enough to see the figure, he saw his father, Shen, standing at the backdoor of the noodle shop. He closed the door behind him to block the noises from the feast.

"Hey, dad." Hai greeted, not cheerfully at all.

"Why aren't you at the feast? I thought you and your brother and sister are glad to play with the kids."

"We do, I'm just...not in mood that's all."

There was an awkward of silence, to be honest. Shen didn't know where to start. He had been at Hai's position before, and his father didn't know what kind of words to sooth him. Now he knew how that felt. The albino peacock uneasily started, "You know...I was like you before."

"Huh?" that got Hai's attention.

"I was the only one who's albino in the peafowl clan, I felt people saw me as weird or cursed peacock. Even my parents tried to tell me that they were not true and would always love me. *chuckle*I knew that. But I couldn't help feeling...isolated from the others."

Hai's eyes widened, that's exactly what's he feeling right now.

Shen grinned amusingly at his son's reaction, then he continued, "So you see, son. I want you to previous every moment you have, do NOT go onto the path I did before. I regret it that I didn't cherish my childhood. But YOU still have time to create happy memories for your childhood."

Hai was speechless, he didn't know what he should say. But he knew his father was right, he could not go on mopping like this for the rest of his childhood. After all, everyone only live once in a lifetime, right?

Suddenly, a snowball hit him in his thoughts. He turned and saw his older twin brother, Tian, and the other children were looking at him. "Hey, Hai. What are you doing here? Come on, we're having a snowball fight! You're in my team, are you in?" Tian called out for his younger brother.

Hai looked at Tian, then at Shen, who titled his head to Tian. Hai smiled and nodded at him. He then stood up proudly and cried, "Of course I'm in. You just got yourself the Champion of Snowball Fight!"

Tian pretended to roll his eyes, with the others giggled behind his back. Tian then said and motioned Hai to come over to him, "Show off, now come on!"

With that, Hai ran off and joined the group. But he gave Shen a hug before he ran back, "Thanks, Baba." he muttered and snuggled in his warm clothes.

Shen watched silently at his son playing with the other children, smiling and laughing with glee suited Hai better than the one he just talked to. He had prevented his child to go on the same childhood fate like he did before, he might not have a wonderful childhood in the past, but he would try to make it happen to his children in the present.

Suddenly, a snowball hit the back of Shen's head. He quickly turned and saw his wife, the soothsayer, Yong (Wolf Boss) and his wife, and the Jade Palace masters. Mui, his wife, tossed a snowball as she was tauting her husband. "The kids have their snowball fight, doesn't mean we can't have our own."

"You're in?"

Mui handed Shen her snowball, he tossed it a few times, until he threw hardly on Yong's smug smile enough to fall back on the snow.

"I'll take that as a yes."

"It's on!!"

"This is gonna be AWESOME!!"

The makeshift families were having a great snowball fight fun under the snowing night. The isolation wall was broken, and that's all that mattered. For the father and son both knew that they would always have a supporting family and friends behind your back.

But just because he loved cold weather and more unique than other peafowl, doesn't mean he is cold-hearted. No, he accepted he was the Ice Child, only with a big warm heart.

--

My Life Purpose
No couple, but BIG brotherly fluff, and this is Tian's POV, and slight TianxHannah

Ever since we became the legendary The Imperial Ten, Protectors of the Dragon Royal Family of the Dragon City, which was mostly the Protectors of all China. It is a great responsibility. Not to mention, since I'm the eldest among the team, the masters and my parents ask me to take good care of my friends/teammates/siblings when we're at the city.

Of course I promise them to do so. I love them, too. Even most of them aren't my blood-related siblings, but our friendship bond is as strong as sibling bond. Plus, we've known each other since we were chicks and cubs.

But it is a huge pressure.

Every time when we go on a mission after receiving a report about bandits invading some random villages, my heart would always worry for my team. Because I am the oldest, I get more trainings than the others, not that I mind, I love training. But the others are just not ready to face such dangerous tasks.

Call me a mother-hen or an over-worried father of the team, I always check if there’s any injury after each battle we had, my teammates actually find that annoying since I’m taking care of them like babies like our parents do. Well, now that they say, I kinda have to agree with them…but that does not stop me protecting my family.

Despite there’s a cook to do the meal for us, I’d always insisted on do the cooking for the team. Knowing that we don’t deserve such luxury. The others help as well, just for the sake of good old times and ceasing homesick within us.

I love being the big brother of the team. Even they might irritate you once in a while, but it’s hard not to forgive the other after a few hours, and some “revenges” back. I always make myself have time with each of my teammates.

Hai, my younger twin brother and the Element of Ice. He certainly inherits our father’s creative mind; he loves to create new weapons (not made for invading China, or a massive weapon) for each of us, or ask us to be his experiment on his weapons. I find his inventions fascinating and he’d love to share his ideas with me, and I would give him some suggestions to advance or correct it. After all, we are twins. Our minds basically nearly the same; the only difference is that he’s the cheerful and mischievous one in the family, and I’m the calm and concerned one. And he loves to create, while I love to design.

We make a good team when it comes creating. But not that he’s an inventor and an excellent swimmer, but he also knows how to do music composing! I swear, and I’m not trying to brag or boast anything, but my siblings and I can be the most talented peafowl within our clan. Don’t you think so? I will do anything within my power to keep him the same way he is. For he is my little brother, the icebreaker of the family.

And next there’s my little sister and Element of Light, Yuan-fen. She’s the second youngest of the team. Despite she inherits Baba’s albino, she has stronger immune system than he was when he was a chick. I love my little sister a little bit more than the others (no offense, guys!). Not only because she’s kind and brave, but also has a strong mind. We all know that not people would see albino as a curse or plague that they are afraid of coming near to Baba or Yuan-fen, sometimes I even overheard their insults and mocking on us.

To be honest, there was one time I wanted to give them a piece of my mind, but Yuan-fen just simply told me that they were not worth my anger with a small smile. I know she was hurting on the inside then, but she is and was strong not to show the hurt on her face. She already lost a leg in a battle when she was young, and that just made her act impresses me even more from a little one in the family. But what admires me the most is her voice, even when she was a chick, her voice is already sound like a soprano. She has the voice of an angel, and I would do anything to protect that angelic sound of hers. For she is my little sister, the light in the family.

And there’s Shadow, Element of Darkness and the fourth oldest in the family. His father is a good friend of my father, like brothers; he’s also the well-known Wolf Boss back in those days. Despite he’s a wolf, I see him like a little lost brother. When I say lost, I mean literally. He’s blind. Tragic that he was born with blindness, never got a chance to see variety of color and magnificent sights he’s been missing. I pity for him, but I know his wolf pride wouldn’t take any pity from others, so I stay low profile. It takes me a while to know that he has a gift of reading aura, so it would allow him to “see”.

For a blind wolf, he is tougher than I thought. One time when he was wrestling with Hai, every time he fell, he would always get up. He would never give up until he won. And eventually, he did. Hai got several bite marks on his body, we couldn’t blame Shadow honestly, he didn’t know his canine teeth were growing. He apologized to Hai for an entire week even we all knew he wasn’t the one to be blamed. Hai even joked about how cool to have scars in his body, when I compare mine to his, his are just child’s play. But anyway, there’s also one thing to know about Shadow is about his fur, his is darker any other wolf, suite his name really well. Therefore, his strongest is stealth mode as he blends into the shadows. And when one of us gets depress or feeling a bit hopeless, he would jump in and gives encouragements. “Real courage is when you overcome the fear.” That’s his motto and I will always remember that. For he is my brother, the courage in the family.

Rin, the only cheetah in all of China (long story short, she was found and adopted by Master Mantis from overseas bandits) and the Element of Wood. Her speed is well-known for her specie, and I love challenge her on racing. Of course, she’d always win, they don’t call her specie to be the world’s fastest animal ever. She really a close friend to Yuan-fen, maybe because they have the same problem: differences from others. Yuan-fen’s albinism and Rin’s un-retractable claws plus her specie both frightened people; and they both are around the same age, but Yuan-fen’s still younger than Rin. But watching her grow up with us really shows us that time does fly by. It was almost like yesterday she was the shortest in our group, and within a week, her hormones allowed her to growth ten times, she’s almost as tall as me! Dear Buddha, we all grow up so fast…

Other than that, her spirit would always bring hope to the team, much like Shadow when he brings courage to us. The two of them could make a cute couple, I can tell how Rin looks at him, if only Shadow could notice, which it’s a problem since he can’t see anything but aura. I swear to keep the hope lighting up in our herd. For she is my little sister, the hope of this family.

And there’s Tie, the youngest and Element of Iron. Despite he is the son of Master Monkey and Anna the White Vixen, he isn’t as fast and flexible as them. Maybe because of his element, his body weight is heavier than average monkey, no matter how his figure looks normal. But you know what? We help him to train him by giving him some special treatments, classified, sorry but can’t tell. Anyway, it took us TWO MONTHS to get him move faster and more flexible, which close to Master Monkey’s ability. Among us, Yuan-fen and Jade loves to play with Tie most of all; Yuan-fen has already wanted to have a baby brother to play with, and so as Jade.

But one day I’ve found another interest of Tie. It turns out he likes the art of blacksmith. It suits his element really well, because whatever or what kind of iron, he can work his magic and turns them into arts, accessories, weapons, you can name it. I even ask him to help me re-design the decoration on Yuan-fen’s prosthesis every time she broke it or its checkup. And yet, he inherits his father’s pranks as he and the guys often have a prank war of their own, even I involve sometimes; the girls, well, let’s just it’d be a slaughter if we ever prank on any of them. Never mess with the girls, trust me, we all learnt it the hard way. Tie keeps getting us to have fun, making us feels like childlike, his laughter is contagious as we would follow. I will protect that child within him and all of us. For he is my little brother, the laughter in the family.

Next up is Jade, a panda warrior and Element of Earth. Oh pluck my feathers! Where should I begin with this guy? He’d probably the most stubborn, hotheaded panda I’ve ever seen in my life! It’s still hard to believe that he’s the youngest and first son of Master Po and Tigress, and the LITTLE brother of Hannah!! He’s not so “little” to me. Among us, he’s one of those who I spend most time with. Not only because of his temper, but he really needs guidance. He got Master Tigress’ strength, a good and bad thing at the same time; he often loses his temper and control of strength, and I’d always be the one to calm him down, sometimes I need to sacrifice something in order to do so.

However, despite all his temper, he does have one good heart, and loyalty to this team and family. He’s a good brother; he just needs a little guidance and a small push. We may argue often, but usually we hang out each other, he likes hanging out with Hai as well. Sometimes I would have mistaken that Hai and Jade were twins, they clearly can act as one; we are like makeshift triplets. Jade usually do the roughhousing with me, like arm-wrestling, weapon sparring, anything that involves breaking your bones at the end; but with Hai, those two can be the unstoppable prank team, they may as even as Tie’s prank skills. Great… I may be getting grey feathers no thanks to them.

But still…he is a great friend, a brave warrior, a good brother, and loyal to the team. His undying loyalty never doubts me and I never do since the day one when this team was formed. I will always trust him, he may be a bit brutal, but he will never turn his back on us. He will protect us, with me by his side with our life; nobody gets left behind. For he is my brother, the protector of the family.

Oh, and there’s Lilly and Azure, viper twins and Element of Wind and Water. Comparing them and me and Hai, they are more sticking-together than us. I can see them like a pair of conjoined-twins every time I see them; they are glued to each other. Which make them work together like a dream team. Of course, there’s small difference between. Lilly is oldest, and she’s just her father, Master Crane, brave and active. On the other hand, Azure resembles her mother, Master Viper; she’s shy and often sensitive.

Sometimes, Lilly would act like she’s the big sister in the group even I’m older than her. But she’s good at controlling their behavior since she’s sort of teaching her “kids” some discipline and a good advicer when it comes to our personal issues. And I notice Azure becomes more attach to Hai, not that I have any complain, those two make a cute couple; their elements are both similar and Hai has a small interest on Azure, and I know Azure has a crush on him (she told me one time). I swear, we have to do all those matchmaking works for them; we often give each of them a push to get some guts to confess.

But overall, Lilly is like the second mother hen after me. And Azure would be a little sister with her confidence issue, but her innocence just gives us the idea of her being naïve, not in a bad way; but she will always get our mind on track and calm if we have trouble. I will guard Lilly and Azure’s innocence with my life. For they are my sisters, the guidance and the innocence of the family.

Finally there’s Hannah, second oldest in the family and the Element of Fire. I don’t know where I should begin. She’s a sister to me when we were young. Heck, I still give her a piggyback if I have to or she asks. We are and were close still. But with her, I feel something else than sibling bond; it is something stronger, weird yet delight. This is crazy, I think I fall in love with her, a white tigress (not racist), and daughter of the Dragon Warrior and Master Tigress. They would kill me if I ever court with their precious daughter. It’s already given them a time of tension when they give her under my care when we left to take the positions being The Imperial Ten.

She’s quite like Hai, mischievous and active, but she’s more passionate, like fire. She’s the big sister in the family and love my siblings like her own. The look of her beautiful face and her flawless emerald eyes gives me sense of nervous and shiver. When we train together, I can feel my lightning element creates a spark with her flames, there’s no denying that she feels it too. We keep our dates in secret, well, our teammates already see it coming and there’s no surprise for them. She becomes the flame of my life, and I will keep that light flames on. For she is my lover, and the passion in the family.

Well, that’s my “siblings”, they’re all I have when we are parted from our parents. They make me have a purpose and a full life; I swear to protect them with all my life, not because of I promise our parents to do so, but because I love them dearly.

I’d take the bullets, I’d take the blames, and they all cause me hundreds of scars marked in my body. But I don’t care any of bits. If I actually prevented my family from getting harm, these are nothing. I don’t care of the nicknames they give me, I’d take those as mocking compliments. To me, it’s an honor to be their big brother.

Protecting the city is easy, but being a good brother is a difficult task.

---

End of Drabble Set 1