I thought about this while watching Disney's Mulan today :P I don't own Mulan, Disney does.
Confusion
It had all started out innocent enough. He was a soldier, then he was a Captain. He trained the new soldiers now.
One soldier stood out in particular. He called himself Ping. He was the unknown son of Fa Zhu.
He was thin, small, and weak. He showed time and time again that he had no hope of making it through any battle. He picked fights, he cheated, and he couldn't manage to do anything useful. The only thing that he could manage, it seemed, was to get under Shang's skin.
He couldn't really tell you when he first felt the stirrings of attraction. It could have been when he sensed the young soldier's vulnerability. Maybe when he'd first started improving. Most likely when he threw the arrow down from the pole.
Shang was very confused.
He'd catch a glimpse of Ping looking at him with an odd expression, or hear him talk in a weird voice that sent tingles down his spine.
"For what it's worth, I think you're a great captain."
He needed to take his own advice and be a man. That did not include… lusting… after his soldiers. Ping's a man too, damn it!
Ancestors, help me!