Pairings:2+5, 6+4
Warnings:AU, angst, sap
Symbols:
//... ...//     flashback
Italic     thoughts
##      minor scene change
*****     major scene change

Part 1

            1937. Shanghai, China.

             A striking young man in his early 20’s was looking around the ship dock with a light frown. He had just arrived from the ship sailing from America. With his long, straight platinum hair and eyes in the color lighter than ice blue, he was attracting attention of everyone around, and those curious glances were starting to get to him as his partner remained no where to be found.

            “Yes! Yes! I won!”

            He immediately recognized the loud cheer coming from a crowd formed by half drunken American sailors and some local goons. His frown deepened as he walked towards that direction and heard more of the conversations, which were quickly developing into quarrels.

            “No, you cheated!”

            “Hell, I did not. I win, fair and square!”

            “I said, YOU CHEATED!”

            The one that lost in the gambling raised his fist to emphasize his point, but it was blocked before it could reach the slender boy in front of him.

            “Zech!” The boy called out with a smile, “You saved me just in time!”

            “Duo, I am not here to save you.” Zech grumbled. “Why don’t you return whatever you have won to this ~gentleman~, and we can get going.”

            Duo pouted, looking down at the silver coins he just won.

            “Duo~ we don’t want to miss the person that came to fetch us!” Zech said firmly, ignoring the pitiful look Duo was giving him.

            “Okie!” Duo was back to his cheerful self, and he returned the money to the wary man in front of him. “Here you go. Now, I would like to stay for another game, but, as you can see, time doesn’t permit. Maybe next time.” He flipped his long braid to the back and walked away with Zech.

            “I am surprised you let it go so easily.” Zech commented.

            “Oh well,” Duo smiled, taking his right hand out of his pocket. On his palm, there was a small moneybag. “You only asked me to put back the money that I ‘won’; so I kept the money that I ‘borrowed’.”

            “You mean ‘steal’?!” Zech grimaced, trying to keep his voice low as he hissed at the younger boy. “Do you know how much trouble you could get us into? You have no clue who these people are! Shanghai is a very dangerous place! They might belong to a triad and what you just did could get you kill! Duo, I cannot take care of you forever, you have to have some sense sometimes … …” Zech was cut short of his lecture as a figure approached them.

            “Mr. Marquise, right?” The boy smiled at both of them, “And I presume this would be your assistant, Duo Maxwell? I am Quatre Raberba Winner, the owner of Shanghai Daily News.”

            “Nice to meet you, Mr. Winner.” Zech took the young man, or rather, the boy’s hand. He was surprised that his boss was so young, and so … incredibly beautiful. The blue eyes, the sweet smile … Stop checking him out, Zech!

            “Please, call me Quatre.” Quatre smiled sweetly.

            “Then, I insist that you call me by my first name too.”

            “Alright, Zech.”

            Duo rolled his eyes beside Zech. Oh Yeah, he is ALWAYS this polite and civil to anyone but me!

            “I’m so glad to have the two best reporters joined our team here. This way please. The car is waiting.”

             Half way into the city, they were stuck in a completely stall traffic jam.

            “Look’s like something is going on.” Quatre said, getting his camera ready. “Oh my, it’s a gang warfare.” He explained to his new team members, “Look, those wearing red were reinforcement for the Phoenix Mop. Their ‘big boss’, Madam Yang, was not very well lately. She had handed most of her businesses and responsibilities to her only daughter, Meiran Yang.”

            “Wow~” Duo had accepted this job mainly because Zech wanted to come, for reasons that wasn’t revealed to him, but now this was getting very exciting. A big crime boss that’s a woman, and her successor was also a woman?

            “Who are they fighting against? Can we go and get a closer look?”

            Quatre stared at him for a moment, “Well, I am glad I recruited a brave young reporter like you, but I don’t want him to have bullet holes on the first day he arrived. No, you don’t get close to a blood feud between triads, especially if Phoenix Mob or Dragon Group are involved. Not unless you have a death wish.” Then, he smiled, “But, I guess it would be headline news if we could get one or two pictures. Let’s go.”

            “Mr. Quatre, No!” Rashid, Quatre’s driver tried to stop the insane youngster, but he had already left with his two crazier new recruits.

            They climbed onto the roof of a house that had perfect view of the battles going down there, each snapping quite a few pictures.

            “Who is that lady in red?” Duo couldn’t help but ask. There was a beautiful lady, couldn’t have been older than 15. Her expression calm, almost to the point of cruel as she fired mercilessly at her enemies; their blood splashed on her cloth, making it redder under the burning sunlight. Duo swore he could see an invisible smile at the tips of her lips as more of her enemies fell.

            “Meiran,” Quatre whispered.

*****

            “Meiran, I’m displeased with you. You lost 36 members in today’s fight for the new location of XX Dance Club. We cannot afford to suffer lose like this.”

            “But mother, I’m …”

            “Shut up.” Madam Yang stared at her disobedient daughter. “You DON’T talk back to me. Understand?”

            “Yes, mother.”

            “And looked at this!” Madam Yang picked up the newspaper on the table, throwing it at her, “ ‘LADY in RED’!! Couldn’t you lay low key? I don’t want you to appear on the newspaper holding a gun shooting somebody.”

            “It’s not like that’s a secret.” Meiran complained.

            “I know,” Madam Yang nodded, “But we are trying to get into the ‘main stream’ business. I don’t want to be forever controlling prostitution, gambling etc. etc. I want to move our business into those that are more ‘legal’, those that have more ‘respect’. Do you understand?”

            “Yes, mother.”

            “Good. Look at Dragon Group, a good example. Not only they are into banking, they also do import & export business with the French, British and Americans, while at the same time maintaining their power in the ‘illegal’ industries. Unlike us, they have a good, positive image in Shanghai. I envy Master Chang. He has an efficient successor. His son handled things much better than you. You should learn from him.” Madam Yang said, completely ignoring the angry look on her daughter’s face. Closing her eyes, she dismissed Meiran, “Leave. I need some rest now.”

##

            Meiran was angry. Very, very angry. How could mother praise that jerk?! I am better than him. I handled things better. Much better! And I will prove that!

            “Yrrrrr~~~~” Meiran shove everything on the table to the floor. Listening to the shattering sound of valuables, she forced herself to calm down, and stared at the newspaper on the floor. Damn it! I’m going to butcher that reporter like a chicken for causing me to be scolded. Who is it anyway? She took another look at the news article.

            “Actually I looked pretty in this picture…” Meiran smiled to herself, “Hm… Duo Maxwell…maybe you could be useful to me…”

##

            “Duo, NO!” Quatre firmly stated his objection, “No, you are not going to ‘interview’ Meiran Yang. That’s crazy.”

            “Why? It’s going to be a challenging assignment.” Duo argued, “Didn't you notice how the article ‘Lady in Red’ boost the newspaper sales?”

            “That’s true. But is that really the reason you want to write about her?” Quatre might be a bit too young to be a boss, but he had accurate observation.

            “Well, I admit there’s some personal interests. A lot of personal interest actually.” Duo admitted, “But she is an interesting figure with much to be discovered.”

            “And in the process of discovering, your body will be found floating on the HuangPu River!”

            “Not really. I usually preferred to feed the body of those I killed to my pet crocodiles.” A feminine voice interrupted them.

            Duo and Quatre looked up, and saw Meiran Yang standing outside of the door, wearing red again.

            “Geez~ It’s you!” Duo exclaimed. “You look even more beautiful up close.”

            Meiran smiled.

            Duo and Meiran sat in the only small office. While other employees pretended to be working hard, they were all throwing glances at them.

            “Looks like my appearance caused quite a disturbance among your colleagues, huh?” Meiran said.

            “Well, yeah!” Duo smiled, “You couldn’t blame them. They are probably wondering if you are going to burn down the building or something?”
            “They shouldn’t be worried.” Meiran removed her gloves, her fingers tapping lightly on the table, “I wouldn’t ‘burn’ the building while I am inside of it.”

            “That’s right…so why are you here?” Duo was curious.

            “I overheard that you want to interview me?”

            “Yes!” Duo almost leaped from his seat, “Would you agree to it?”

            “Your enthusiasm is purely business? Or is it more personal?”

            Duo was sure he heard the tease in her voice. “Well, both.” He shrugged.

            “Tell you what. I will let you interview me, and maybe… even go out with you,” Meiran paused, almost laughed at Duo’s happy reactions, “But, on one condition …”