Summary: Mulan, an Army woman comes home after two years of being in the battlefield. Throughout the two weeks, she befriends a local girl, Aurora. Loosely based off 'Dear John' MODERN AU: SLEEPING WARRIORS.

Kind of a filler chapter but it's something that starts to connect Mulan and Aurora

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own anything!

Chapter 2: Through Dinner

As dinner came, Aurora straightened her dress slightly to male herself look presentable in front of the Hua family. Aurora rang the doorbell and the door opened revealing Mulan in a nice dress.

"Hi there, come in" Mulan made space for Aurora to come in.

Aurora came in and greeted Hua Zhou who was on his way inside the kitchen, "Hello Mister Zhou" Aurora gave a smile and a wave to the elder man

"Hello, 'Rora. Dinner ready in minutes" Hua Zhou said with a thick Chinese accent trying his best to make Aurora understand his speech.

"Let's go upstairs for a while" Mulan was already heading upstairs, Aurora followed right behind Mulan, who entered her room.

"Your room is very nice" Aurora mentioned as she saw Mulan's army uniform hung on her closet door. She touched the uniform, only wondering the warfront experience Mulan had. "Are you leaving anytime soon?" Aurora asked while looking at her last name on the uniform, Hua.

Mulan hesitated, "I am. In 12 days."

"Oh" Aurora said, "After two years, that you've been in the army... You only get a 2 week break?" Aurora sat down next to Mulan.

"Well, this is reality. What can you do?" Mulan replied leading them to an awkward conversation. "What about you? What do you do?"

"I'm in my fourth year of college, graduating in a few months" Aurora gave a huge smile and thumbs up.

"College. I never finished" Mulan laid down on her bed placing a pillow on her head.

"Why not?"

"I decided not to"

"What made you have that decis-"

"Dinner ready" Aurora's speech got cut up by Hua Zhou's voice who called the girls down to eat.

"We should go" Mulan gave Aurora's shoulder a few pats, "Coming father!"

Aurora looked at Mulan's uniform one more time and followed Mulan downstairs.

"Mulan favorite dessert. Eat. Yummy" Hua Zhou placed down two bowls in front of the girls. "Sai Mai lo" Hua Zhou used his native tongue.

"Wow, thank you" Aurora told Hua Zhou, "What is it?" She whispered to Mulan.

"Basically, Tapioca Pudding. The little balls are tapioca, it has milk. It's good. You should add sugar to make it sweeter" Mulan opened the little Splenda pack, poured half on hers and handed the other half to Aurora, who copied Mulan.

Aurora ate the soup like pudding and was amazed on how delicious it was.

"Thank you for the meal, Father" Mulan said as she dropped her spoon down to the bowl. She rose up and carried as much dishes as she can to the sink and started cleaning.

"Oh, here, let me do it" Aurora grabbed her bowl and placed it down at the sink.

"No way, I can't let you do that" Mulan started the water making sure it's in a nice temperature before she starts.

"Here, give it to me" Aurora pushed Mulan off slightly, "The least I could do for serving my country"

Mulan eyebrowed her, "Fine" Mulan grabbed a towel and dried the plates, "Fine" Aurora replied.

Hua Zhou watched as the girls worked together on the dishes, he stood up and walked out to his garden by the backyard.

"Thank you for having me over for dinner tonight" Aurora waved from the backyard door to Hua Zhou, "It was yummy!"

"Bye, Rora. Seeyou"

Aurora smiled at the elder man, "I'll walk you home" Mulan offered.

"I can walk myself home, it's only across the street" Aurora decided, she didn't want to bother Mulan anymore, she probably wanted rest after those two tough years.

"You never know what kinds of dangers lurk around" Mulan said, "C'mon, don't be stubborn"

Mulan and Aurora stepped out the house, Mulan accompanied Aurora down the street, "I'll be fine from here, you can go back home now, I don't want to bother you anymore" Aurora said halfway through. Mulan ignored her and kept walking by her side, keeping her hands warm inside her pocket. "Seriously, Mulan, I'm fine"

Mulan just smiled to herself and kept walking, Aurora stopped persuading her to go home.

"Thanks for walking me all the way here" Aurora fumbled with her keys.

"You live alone?" Mulan asked, it was a surprisingly big house for one

"Yes, I do"

"In this big house"

Aurora just gave Mulan a nod and nothing else about the topic.

"Well, I'll be seeing you around then" Mulan smiled slightly balancing around the heels of her her feet. "Goodnight"

"Uhm... Mulan?" Aurora grabbed her attention before she could walk far, Mulan turned around and faced the girl, "Do you want to go around the city? I mean, it's been two years since you've been gone, you probably haven't seen much of the city for a while now. If you're not busy or anything over the next few days"

"Nope, I'm not doing anything during my stay here, it would be nice" Mulan smiled at Aurora under the porch light. "I'll call you tomorrow, I'll grab your number from my dad"

Aurora just nodded and headed inside. Mulan carefully made her way back home grinning widely, never had this happened to her.

"Table for two" Aurora rose two fingers up to indicate herself and Mulan.

The waiter led the two girls into a small booth. "Thank you" Aurora told the waiter as he left.

"So, beer?" Aurora asked, "Then get some food at the same time?"

"Sure, I guess" Mulan just dropped down her menu. Aurora ordered their first round of beer deciding to get food in a bit.

Mulan's lips into a thin line watching other people drink and mess around with their friends. This is different, very different. Mulan was used to the life where she's near a campfire, usually under the stars, sitting down on the ground. They would cheer if they're successful, toast their beer bottles to their people near them. They would still drink at times if they did not complete or successfully do the mission, they would sit there and sulk because it feels like such a big disappointment.

Right now, Mulan sees men just drinking because they can, enjoying life. They don't know anything about war, their jobs are simple, yet they complain, on Friday nights, they drink because they can.

If she didn't join the army, what would her life be? Would she be like everyone else?

"Mulan... Are you okay? You seem like you're in deep thought"

Their first round came, Mulan grabbed her bottle and slightly raised it up, "I'm fine" Mulan gave a small smile. Aurora raised hers up towards Mulan's bottle.

I made a few chapters in advance but I'm still fixing a bunch of errors and making revisions on some of them because this story can basically go anywhere for now.

This isn't going to be a very long story that reaches up to 40 chapters, I'm guessing 20 at most, or around there.

R&R

Tumblr : Sleeping-warrior (two dashes)

-SleepingWarriors