Chapter Four:
Mulan wondered vaguely how it was that guys could tear through clothing so quickly. Her fingers tugged at the end of the needle, pulling it through the course fabric. Many of the new recruits had already dropped off a pile of clothes for her to mend, and it wasn't even the end of the first month yet! Shaking her head, she sat the pants that were finally finished down so as to turn her attention to the shirt that had been dropped off with it. Out of all of her duties, she felt that this one was the most tedious. She could basically do it in her sleep, if she wanted to.
The tent flap swung open as Shang walked in, carrying another bundle of clothes. Walking over to her, he dropped the bundle in front of her. "Here. Try these on." He turned to leave, leaving Mulan sitting there bewildered.
"Wait! What are these?" Mulan sat the shirt that she was about to work on to pick the bundle up.
"Clothes. For you. Meet me outside of camp, near that grove of trees that we noticed when we arrived here." Shang left the room, leaving a bewildered Mulan behind.
Mulan frowned, as she lifted the piece of clothing on the top to examine it. It was a dark, jade green colored simple cut dress...at least that was her first impression. Upon looking closer, she noticed that the sides in the skirt were cut off so that it looked more like a shirt with a long front and back than an actual dress. Sitting it to the side, she picked up and examined the other piece of clothing. This time it was a pair of tan breeches. Now very confused on why Shang would want her to wear such an odd outfit that was pushing propriety a bit too much. Figuring that she might as well change, mainly so that she can find out exactly what was going on with Shang.
...
Mulan ran a hand down the side of her new shirt, dress, she wasn't sure what to call it as she approached the place that Shang had indicated. He was pacing as he waited for her, his shirt already off and hanging on the low tree branch on one of the trees. Glancing up at her, he moved to grasp her hand, before leading her into the clearing. "War is a dangerous place. Especially if you don't know how to defend yourself. We'll just go over a few basic moves today...maybe for the next week or so. Once I feel like you have that down, we'll move onto more complicated ones."
Mulan arched an eyebrow upwards, now very confused. "Training women how to fight isn't how things are done."
"I'm not training you. I'm teaching you how to better defend yourself in case I'm not around to do it." Shang paused, turning to face her. "I will have no reason to worry about you once we move out if you know how to defend yourself and can keep up with the rest of us as we march."
Mulan gave a slow nod, still confused on why he was determined to train her, even if he claimed it wasn't training. "Do you think you can teach me how to shoot? That way I can handle things from a distance."
"Sure. I don't see why not." Shang shrugged. Mulan stared at him, now sure that he had lost it completely.
...
Shang swung his staff, only for Mulan to dodge him hurriedly. "Try to hit me...at least my staff!"
Mulan huffed as she swung her staff in a wide arch...somehow managing to hit Shang in the chest, causing him to double over in pain. "Sorry!"
"Ok...let's move on to archery."
...
Mulan shook her head as she looked down to the tomatoes, and then across at the tree where three tomatoes where pinned by three different arrows. "You want me to toss a tomato into the air and then try to hit it with an arrow...and hit the tree with the same arrow?"
"Yes." Shang nodded, arms cross as he waited for her to fire the arrow.
Mulan stepped onto the lever that the tomato was resting on, sending it into the open air. Pulling her bow back, she let lose an arrow...and missed. Again and again she went through the steps, missing both the tomato and the tree. Eventually, on her twelfth attempt, she got the tree...but not the tomato.
Shang shook his head, before gesturing for her to follow him. "Let's move onto some basic martial arts moves."
...
Mulan crashed into the tree behind her, Mushu appearing long enough to wipe her sweat off with a damp cloth. Gasping for breath, she lunged to her feet, moving again to try to get the upperhand with Shang. This is nowhere near as easy as everyone makes it out to be...
...
Mulan jogged after the men, feeling the weight of the supplies that she carried bearing down on her shoulders. Not noticing a rock that was on the ground in front of her, she tripped, spilling her load in front of her. Mushu and Cri-Kee darted out, trying to help her get back up on her feet despite how much bigger they were than her. Suddenly, they dove back into their hiding spots as a familiar hand reached down and plucked up her load as if it weighed nothing. Mulan lifted her head up to see Shang looking down at her. Instead of the scowl that she knew that he had a tendency to give his men when they don't meet his standards, he was calm, a small smile on his face. "Perhaps you should take a break and meet us up at the camp. You've gone far enough."
Mulan felt disbelief slip through her as she stared at him. If she didn't know better, she would think that he was going easy on her just cause she was a woman! Anger flared up as she slowly turned around and headed back to camp. She was going to show him exactly why he shouldn't go easy on her. Besides that...she knew where he kept the tomatoes and bow and arrows.
A/N: Done! So yeah, upon realizing that by having Mulan work closely with the army, he had inadvertently placed her in harm's way, Shang decided to train Mulan for solely self-defense reasons. What he didn't expect was for Mulan to catch on that there are some, called all, things that he expected her to be nowhere near as good as his men. Unfortunately that train of thought isn't one that Mulan likes so next time she will be doing the end of the song I'll Make a Man Out of You. And make friends with Yao, Chien-Po, and Ling.
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SkyTalon
