Chapter 4 Home With You

It took them a little more then two weeks of traveling this way to get down out of the mountains of China and into Mongolia. Sometimes making love, sometimes not if they were too tired from the steep climbs down the mountainside.

Shan Yu was able to purchase a rather large, sturdy horse with obvious Mongol origins from a big but gentle hearted stable master and farmer and his slender formed husband.

They thanked them, Shan Yu securing their belongings on the horse's wide rump before swinging himself up astride the animal, reaching out and down for Shang's smaller hand.

Shang smiled up at Shan Yu, placing his hand in his.

Then he was up on the horse and seated in front of Shan Yu, the Hun's muscular arms encircling his waist, his big hands holding the horse's reins securely in front of them both.

Shang waved to the kind couple with a brief grin before placing his hands atop his lover's, Shan Yu nodding to them before nudging the horse to begin walking.

Shan Yu smiled, pleased when Shang leaned back against his broad chest with a happy, contented sigh, his body loose and drifting with him and the horse as they watched the scenery go by.

"This country is so beautiful, Shan Yu. I know that I will be happy here with you."

"Your China is beautiful as well. But I am pleased to know that you will be happy to live and love here with me, Shang, for I love you very much. You are mine. You are me."

"And you are mine, my love," Shang replied softly. "I am you. Yes, China is beautiful. Like a black widow spider. Wrapped in tradition and pretty silks. Masked by incense. But beneath all that it is rotten. A gilded cage. A prison for those who are different. I never would have been truly happy there. I thank you for saving me, Shan Yu."

"Of course. I never could have left you there, my Shang. My conscious would not allow for it. But more importantly, my heart would not. I would be lost without you."

"And I without you."

One Week, Three Days Ago

Mulan looked for signs of Shang, cursing the delay in her search.

But she also knew that there was nothing she could have done sooner, as the mountain had been unsafe precisely because of the recent avalanche that had swept Shang's hand from hers.

She finally stumbled, exhausted and frozen, into a small cave.

Mulan sank to her knees beside a stone fire pit, long cold, but with several logs of scraggly wood beside it.

As she tossed the logs into the pit she noticed a folded piece of paper wedged between two large stones, pulling it out before lighting the fire with her flint.

The cave began to get warmer as the flames spread over the wood, but her hands were still shaking from the cold while she unfolded the paper carefully, her dark eyes widening while she began to read.

Dear Mulan,

Thank you for trying to help me.

I wanted you to know I was not injured by the avalanche, other than bruises.

I was able to rescue one soldier from the snow. Shan Yu.

He is truly not as bad as we thought.

I cared for him while his injuries healed, and we have bonded. I love him.

I know you will likely not believe me, but I truly, deeply, love him.

We are traveling to Shan Yu's homeland, where we will live together in his village.

He has told me that relationships such as ours are common in his country, so I am in no danger.

Say nothing of this to my family. Let them believe that I perished.

It would be less dishonor in their eyes then to know they have a son who loves another man.

I will miss you, Mulan.

Please, burn this letter.

Your friend,

Shang

Mulan sighed, tossing the letter into the now-hot flames, her face intense as she watched the fire consume it's words.

She waited until she got warmer before going outside to gather more wood for the night, resolving to rest before following the two men at first light.

She needed to see for herself that her friend was truly happy on his chosen path.

Present

Shan Yu and Shang finally stopped for the night at a small inn in the fourth village that they saw.

His Chinaman was exhausted, leaning back against Shan Yu tiredly with drooping eyelids where they sat atop the moving horse. He swung down off their big horse to the ground, catching Shang in his strong arms when he fell sideways toward the Hun.

Shan Yu smiled, lowering Shang's legs to the ground and placing his left arm around his shoulders, causing his lover to rouse a little from his stupor.

Shang smiled at Shan Yu sleepily, rubbing his own face with one hand before reaching for their horse's reins.

They led the animal, which for some reason Shang had fondly named Ping, over to the nearby stable.

They checked him in and paid for his lodging, food and water for the night before unloading their packs and heading for the inn.

Shan Yu booked the two of them a room before leading Shang up the stairs by his right arm, gently guiding him into it and locking the door behind them.

Shang set down his pack and sank down onto the soft mattress, sighing in relief at finally being able to rest. Shan Yu set down his pack and retrieved some of their food, coming to sit beside him so they could share a quick meal together.

After that they climbed into the bed and each other's arms, Shang laying his head on Shan Yu's chest and drifting into sleep almost immediately after murmuring, "I love you, Shan Yu. My Hun," and hearing his reply of the same. "I love you, too, Shang. My Chinaman."

Shan Yu woke Shang early the next morning with a heated kiss to his lover's lips, drawing it to a temporary end only when they both needed to breathe.

"Mmm, Shan Yu.." Shang murmured, smiling up at him sleepily and slipping his arms around the big Hun's neck loosely. "What time is it?"

"Early yet, my love. We need not leave for a while. I am sorry to wake you, Shang."

"Tch. I would have you wake me thusly every morning," Shang teased gently. "What did you have in mind, that you woke me at this early hour?"

"You mean that you can not guess from my kiss?" Shan Yu teased him back with a grin.

Shang's soft laughter in response was pleasing, like ringing bells, his eyes clearly amused as he smiled up at Shan Yu from where he lay beneath him. "I prefer to dream, to weave a fantasy, rather then to know your exact plans to bring us pleasure together."

"Is that so?"

"Yes."

"Well, then. I will just have to surprise you, my Shang."

Shang nodded, blinking rapidly when he was abruptly flipped over to his belly beneath the larger man. His shirt was removed and the blankets shoved to the bed's foot, his pants yanked down around his slender ankles.

His body quivered already, his physical reaction instinctive as he felt Shan Yu's thick fingers carefully part his butt cheeks to allow cooler air to swirl around his sensitive entrance.

Shang inhaled sharply when he felt something hot and wet touch the opening to his body, his spine arching in response to the pleasurable stimulation.

"Shan- Shan Yu! Ohhh, what are you- ohhhhhh, doing?"

Shang turned his head to look back over his own right shoulder, his eyes widening when he realized that Shan Yu's face was buried between his cheeks.

Which meant that what was giving him so much pleasure was Shan Yu's tongue!

Oh gods, his mate was licking him!

Never, not even in his wildest imaginings, had he ever envisioned that making love with another man could include this!

And it felt so good!

He was somehow melting and getting hard at the same time.

"S-Shan Yu, ohhhhhh! Please, do not stop!"

Shang only lasted a few minutes more before he gasped raggedly and shook under his lover's attention.

Shan Yu withdrew his mouth to quickly flip Shang onto his back, his dark eyes intense while he watched Shang as his body tensed and his cock quivered and then pulsed hard and fast, releasing over his bare chest and muscular belly.

Shang's eyes were dark and hazy with pleasure, his lips slightly parted, and so much love was in his gaze as he stared up into Shan Yu's eyes that it was almost painful.

"That- That was.." Shang panted softly with still dazed eyes. "It f-felt.. wonderful. But why would you?.."

"You are my lover, Shang. I love you. I want to do everything with you. I want to taste you in every way possible. I have barely even begun to share with you all the passion and love that I hold for you, my Chinaman."

"Shan Yu.." Shang whispered, his eyes welling up with moisture at his mate's unexpected, tender statement. "I love you. I want all that with you as well."

Shang's hands reached up with trembling fingers to gently touch Shan Yu's face, shifting up onto his elbows and pressing his lips to Shan Yu's in a deep kiss that was wet from his tears of joy.

"Shan Yu.." Shang whimpered, his chest rising and falling as he gasped for air after pulling back reluctantly from their kiss. "I want you.. inside me. Please, my Hun."

"As my Chinaman wishes," Shan Yu growled before renewing their intense kiss while removing his own clothing.

Shang shivered and moaned into Shan Yu's mouth when the larger man lowered himself back down onto him, pressing their naked bodies close together.

Then he whimpered and cried out, his hips shifting needily as he felt one of Shan Yu's big, saliva wet fingers press against and circle his already quivering hole.

"Nughhh, yes! Touch me, Shan Yu! Touch me inside!"

Shan Yu's finger shoved deep into his opening, Shang yelling out in response, unable to keep the loud keening cry inside himself.

Shan Yu groaned in his low voice while adding a second finger rather quickly, thankful for how almost unbearably hot and tight his lover always was.

Shang gasped softly in surprise when Shan Yu withdrew his fingers and abruptly flipped their positions so that Shang sat atop his muscular husband's stomach.

"S-Shan Yu?.." Shang inquired shakily, uncertain as to what his man's intentions were.

"I want you to ride me, my sweet lover," the dark haired Hun explained to him huskily. "Take me into yourself, my Shang. Rise up for me."

Shang blinked, his thighs quivering visibly at Shan Yu's request where he straddled the bigger man. "I- I will try."

Shang lifted himself up, feeling awkward as he squatted over his husband's hard cock.

But before he could make contact his body seemed to instinctively flinch away, causing him to fall backward onto his butt on the bed at Shan Yu's feet.

He realized only then that he could feel himself shaking under the Hun's confused, dark-eyed stare.

"I- I can not do it.." Shang whispered, beginning to tremble harder then. "I am sorry, Shan Yu. It just does not feel right somehow.."

"What do you mean?" Shan Yu inquired while sitting up and reaching out to draw the other man into his warm, comforting embrace. "Do you not want to be with me this way right now, my love?"

"No!" Shang assured him in a firm voice despite his visible trembling. "That is not it at all. I love you, Shan Yu. But.. to be above you like that.. I can not. It feels wrong."

"..Shang?"

"Yes, Shan Yu?"

"Is it because you wish for me to be in control of our love making that it feels wrong to you?"

"I.."

"Shang. I need your honesty here. Talk to me."

"Yes. That is what I want. What I need. To lose all control in your arms. To lose myself in you, Shan Yu. It feels so right that way, like that felt so wrong. I could not do it. I am sorry."

"Never apologize for following your instincts and your heart, my Shang. If something does not feel right to you, for any reason. Or even if you do not know why it feels wrong, just that it does, then do not do it. Am I understood, my love?"

"Yes. I trust you, Shan Yu."

"That is good, because I love and trust you as well. But I am speaking about trusting yourself, Shang. Your family may have loved you in their own way; I can not speak for them. But what they also did was suffocate you with silk. They took away your independence, Shang. As your lover it is my duty to help you take that independence back, not make you dependent on me. If you say that you can not live without me I want it to be because you love me, not because it is true in that negative way. Do you understand the difference, sweet heart?"

"Yes. I do," Shang replied, his voice a soft murmur as he stared into his Hun's eyes with clear longing. "Will you make love with me now?"

"Always."

Shan Yu claimed Shang's mouth with his, pressing his large hands to bare skin, his left hand to Shang's right shoulder and his right hand to Shang's muscular, quivering belly, guiding his now calm and relaxed lover to lie back on the bed with his head against the pillows.

His Chinaman's long black hair gleamed, shining like silk amid the plain white cotton pillows, his eyes open, wide and clearly needy as they kissed long and deep.

Shang panted for breath, his bare chest rising and falling with the motion, when Shan Yu pulled back from their kiss briefly to look down into Shang's eyes.

Shang stared up at Shan Yu silently, his need for the other man clear in his eyes as he spread his thighs, opening his legs for his lover with a soft sigh of clear longing for the emotional and physical pleasure of their joining.

"Please," Shang said simply, his dark eyes watching, wanting him as he spoke. "Please, come inside me, Shan Yu. I need you within me."

Shan Yu inclined his head, his eyes dark with love and lust as he moved closer between Shang's legs, pressing their bare chests together while Shang's hands came up to grasp at his lover's broad shoulders.

Shang groaned, his eyes rolling back in his head and his fingers tightening their hold instinctively as Shan Yu's big hands gently shifted the position of Shang's slim hips slightly.

Shang gasped and whimpered as Shan Yu slid deep into the slick opening of his body, his eyes tightly shut as the tight, hot muscles his passage pulsed around his lover with the sweet agony of being united once more.

Then he slowly reopened them, black lashes fluttering, his eyes dark in his face with his need, desire and love while staring up at his husband's face adoringly.

"Oh yesss, Shan Yu!" Shang purred seductively, quivering beneath his Hun and shifting his hips to let Shan Yu in deeper. "I love you! When you touch me, when you hold me.. When you are inside me, everything feels.. perfect. It is perfect."

"Yes, it is perfect, my love," Shan Yu replied with a pleased, seductive smile. His low voice was crooning and deep, inducing shivers of intense passion within his Chinaman's slender, moon pale and alluring naked form. "Are you ready for me to move?"

"Always. Yesss!"

Shan Yu began to move, thrusting into him carefully and slowly building up speed, smiling when Shang gasped breathlessly and clutched his shoulders tighter with a loud moan of passion.

"Shan Yu! Ohhh yes! Please, harder!"

Shan Yu groaned in response to his lover's plea and began to thrust into him faster, his strong hips moving him powerfully inside Shang's writhing, sweat damp body.

It did not take long at all for them both to find release together, relaxing in the soft bed of their room at the inn in comfortable silence after Shan Yu cleaned them up gently.

"I love you, Shan Yu.." Shang said, sighing softly with clear pleasure when the Hun's lips lightly pressed a kiss against the sensitive nape of his neck. He was spooned up close behind his slender Chinaman's warm, tired and sated body, his large arms wrapping around his slim waist and drawing him in closer as he replied in his low tones tenderly, "I love you, too. We will be home soon, Shang. A week and a half at the most. Ping has increased our traveling speed quite nicely."

"I am glad, my love," Shang replied with a contented smile. "I want to be home, Shan Yu, my heart. Home with you."