Title: Chao, Chibified
Fandom: KO 3an Guo
Rating: G
Words: 2336
Notes: De-aging, set somewhere in the mid-twenties. Extremely ancient, never before posted fic now cleaned up enough to actually post somewhere.



Ma Chao ran. He didn't know where he was running to, he just knew he had to get away.

"Get back here, boy!" the man hollered behind him but Ma Chao kept running. He was faster than the grown-ups, he just had to keep going. He broke into a main street and he groaned; this would slow him down as he tried to avoid running into anyone. On the other hand, he could hide better with all the people around.

Glancing back he saw the man with the weird thing on his face making his way through the crowd in the distance and he put on some speed. A girl yelped and he looked up to find he'd run into someone. About to apologise, he sagged in relief as he recognised the face. "Qiao-jie," he gasped. She wasn't Zhong-ge, who he would have preferred, but she was a familiar face and she was Zhong-ge's friend. Everything would be okay now.

"There you are!" she exclaimed, cupping his face. "We've been looking all over for you, are you alright?"

He nodded hurriedly, glancing back over his shoulder to find his chasers still behind him. "Qiao-jie, we have to go," he told her. "Or they'll get us."

"No one's taking you again," she said firmly, resting her hands on his shoulders now. "I promise. Now get behind me."

"But--"

"Now." He obeyed, ducking behind her as she downloaded her fans. "Li Ru," she muttered. "Of course it was."

Was that the man's name? He'd never known what it was, they'd been very careful not to use names around him so he never knew who anyone was.

"Xiao Qiao, get out of the way. The boy's a thief."

"I am not!" he protested, upset at the blatant lie. He went to go back to where he'd been standing but Qiao-jie stepped in front of him, forcing him behind her again, much to his dismay.

"You know very well he's not," she retorted and her fans made a quiet swishing sound as she moved them. "You're not having him."

"You can't stop us." That was the woman, the one with the glasses. Behind her were several people wearing yellow turbans on their heads. It seemed to mean something but he didn't know what. "Not without Wu Hu Jiang to help you. What's left of it."

Qiao-jie didn't reply but she also didn't move from in front of him. The street had emptied at the prospect of a confrontation so it was just him and Qiao-jie against his former captors and he didn't like their chances. He didn't know how good Qiao-jie was and while he thought his Hollow Fist might get them out of this, he'd promised himself he would never use it again after what happened to Bo Ren, that he would never fight again. But what would happen if he didn't? He swallowed hard as the men in yellow started advancing on them, his breath starting to come faster as panic took hold. He didn't want to fight, but he didn't want to go back to them either.

The man Qiao-jie had called Li Ru raised his hands and Ma Chao snapped. He didn't know what the man was planning but he couldn't let him hurt Qiao-jie and he darted round in front of her, his hands already moving through the motions of the Hollow Fist, the break in his training not enough to make this less familiar.

"What do you think you're doing?" the glasses woman demanded. "Stop him!"

"Chao, no," Qiao-jie hissed. "Get back."

Before she could pull him back, though, he lifted his hands in the final step of the move, power gleaming in front of his eyes before he pushed his fists forward, letting the power fly. Li Ru went flying through the air to crash into a far wall, several of the men in yellow knocked back as well. He felt sick to his stomach as he took in the damage he'd done - again - and Qiao-jie pulled him back behind her once more, her fans at the ready.

"He's only a child," the glasses woman hissed. "How can he have that kind of power?"

"Wouldn't you like to know," Qiao-jie retorted. "Unless you want to find out the hard way, Mei Niang, I suggest you leave."

"This isn't over," she warned, jerking her head at the people still standing who started helping those who'd been knocked down. Li Ru wasn't moving, though, and Ma Chao felt even more sick. He hadn't wanted to kill him, he'd only wanted to stop him.

He ignored the quiet beeping sounds of her Siman as she called the others, clinging to her free arm as his legs went weak. He needed to sit down. Or maybe throw up.

"The others are coming," she said eventually. "We just need to wait for them to get here. Are you okay?" He shook his head and his knees started to give way. "Okay, we'll go sit down while we wait, alright? They shouldn't be too long."

---

When he finally spotted Xiao Qiao, Zhong was greeted with a speeding child crashing into him, wailing his name. All of the tension he'd been carrying eased as he hugged his de-aged friend tightly, relieved to have him back.

"Zhong-ge, I'm sorry, I'll never wander off again. Never ever ever."

"It's alright, as long as you're okay." He was more annoyed with Fei letting him out of his sight in the first place, but the gut-churning fear that had come with Chao's disappearance was easing now that he was back. Unfortunately still a child instead of his usual self but that was a small detail, really. "Are you hurt?"

Chao shook his head against Zhong's chest, his tiny hands clutching his shirt. Alright, then. Not hurt, maybe, but that didn't mean that Chao was fine, because he definitely wasn't.

"I didn't think the sweet cotton punch could be that powerful," Yu commented, eyeing the wall Li Ru had apparently gone flying into, but Xiao Qiao was already shaking her head.

"It wasn't that, it was something else. I've never seen him use it before."

Zhong looked at her sharply, shock shooting down his spine.

"What was it then?" Fei asked. "He doesn't have any other attacks like that, right?"

"Xiao Qiao," he said softly, getting everyone else's attention in the process. "Did it look like this?" Bringing one closed fist up to his right ear and bringing the other to chest height, he then jerked his hands forward as he released non-existent power.

"That's right," she nodded, pointing a finger in his direction. "It was just like that, only you could see the power in an arc between his hands."

Zhong shook his head, feeling suddenly cold. While Chao as he normally was had eventually come to terms with what had happened ten years before, this Chao was only nine years old and still grieving the loss of his friend. What could possibly have driven him to use the Hollow Fist when he wouldn't even use it as an adult?

"Zhong?" That was Yun and he looked up to find his brothers and Xiao Qiao watching him expectantly. "What is it? You recognise it, don't you?"

He sighed and looked around for Chao, who was with big brother and Ah Xiang, currently in the middle of getting ice cream all over his face. "It's the Hollow Fist," he said, wishing he had something to keep his hands occupied. "It's been passed down through his family for generations. He hasn't used it since Bo Ren died, even now he won't use it." He shook his head again, wishing he had Li Ru in front of him so he could get some answers. "Bo Ren's really recent for him right now as well, I don't know what would make him use it when he swore he'd never use it again."

"Who's Bo Ren?" Xiao Qiao asked curiously and he winced. He'd forgotten Xiao Qiao wouldn't know who he was.

"I'll tell you later," Yun murmured and she nodded, still looking bewildered.

"What does it do, this Hollow Fist?" Yu asked, head tilted to the side in curiosity.

Zhong drummed his fingers against the table as he frowned. "One hit is the equivalent of a thousand normal blows," he said finally and the others all stared at him in shock. They had no idea, he thought. No idea at all about the kind of power Chao had, or how much he fought within himself because he was afraid of hurting people with it.

"I didn't think he had that kind of power," Yun said softly and Zhong shrugged.

"He doesn't like fighting," he pointed out. He would now, if it was necessary, whereas he wouldn't before but that change had been a long time coming. "He's happy being underestimated. Besides, if more people knew then he'd have had even more people challenging him before we met you and it would never stop."

He'd never liked it when people came to challenge Chao. It wasn't fun watching him get hit over and over, even if it didn't hurt him, and while Chao himself might not care, he did and he was glad those days were over. If it meant he could have Chao back to himself again, though, he'd go back to those days without hesitation.

-------

Zhong woke slowly, stretching lazily. He didn't have to be awake just yet, he could enjoy lying in bed a bit longer. Distantly he registered the warmth of someone else lying at his back, but it didn't inspire any burning desire to wake up any faster; it would only be Chao, anyway. He'd gotten used to having little Chao squirreling into his bed, even if he'd never actually caught him in action, and he wasn't entirely upset about keeping his friend right where he could keep an eye on him and protect him until he was back to normal. Li Ru and Mei Niang weren't taking him again, not even over his dead body.

It took a few moments for it to sink in that the warmth at his back wasn't limited to his back, instead extending all the way down his body. The arm slung around his waist was also bigger than it should be. He opened his eyes and stared fixedly at the wall in front of him before slowly looking over his shoulder. Chao was there, as he'd thought, fast asleep beside him. His Chao, back to normal and no longer a child. He felt his eyes widen in surprise and he couldn't stop the yelp escaping his mouth as it registered.

Chao's eyes flew open and he gave Zhong a look of complete bafflement before toppling off the bed onto the floor. "What're you yelling for?" he demanded sleepily, stifling a yawn. "You woke me up."

Zhong leant over the bed to stare down at him, drinking in the sight of Chao being back to himself. "You're back!" he said gleefully. "You're really back."

"I didn't go anywhere," Chao grumbled, running his fingers through his hair as the door to Zhong's room banged open.

"What's going on?" Fei demanded, looking dishevelled but ready to take on anyone.

"See?" Chao pointed out. "You woke everyone up with your yelling."

"Chao?" That was Yu, standing on his toes to get a better view of his friend. Fei and Yun didn't bother craning their necks, they just moved to stand at the edge of his bed.

"This is great!" Fei announced, fist pumping in the air. "You're back!"

"Why is everyone saying that?" Chao asked, confusion all over his face. "I didn't go anywhere."

"Well, I suppose that's true, in a way." That was the last member of their group, Liu Bei, who was looking thoughtful. "I guess whatever Dong Zhou did has finally worn off."

"Da Ge," Chao pouted. "That doesn't make sense."

"Yes, it does," the others chorused and Zhong nodded along with them in agreement.

"Chao." Yun said his name slowly and Chao looked up at him expectantly.

"Yes?"

"Where are your clothes?"

Zhong did a double take as Chao looked down at himself, then blushed, his face going almost as red as Yu's as the flush spread down his neck and past his collarbone. Huh, how had he not noticed that Chao was completely naked?

Chao laughed nervously, rubbing at the back of his head awkwardly. "Where are they?" he muttered and Zhong felt around under the covers until he found what was left of the pyjamas little Chao had been wearing. While Chao's clothes might have shrunk with him when he'd first been de-aged, clearly it didn't work the other way around. He held up the remains and Chao frowned. "They're a bit small, Zhong."

Zhong sighed and gave his friend a quick summary. It didn't change the bewildered expression on Chao's face but at least now he knew what had happened even if he didn't entirely understand it.

"We'll go and get you some clothes," Yu told him, reaching down to pat Chao on the shoulder companiably. "At least we don't have school today."

"How much did I miss?"

"About a week," Zhong told him. "We just told everyone you were sick so they didn't start asking questions." Which worked for everyone who wasn't Dong Zhou, Li Ru or Mei Niang, all of whom had been obnoxious, especially in the time Chao had been missing. Chao nodded, then winced.

"How much work do I have to catch up on?" he asked, looking as if he hoped the answer would be 'not much'.

"Quite a bit," Liu Bei told him, grinning as Chao's face fell. "At least you have the weekend to catch up, though."

Chao nodded glumly and Zhong leant forward to clap him on the shoulder. "We'll help, don't worry."