Part VIII
by SwordSkill
Author's Notes: (gulp...there's a mob after me!) Gomen nasai, minna-san! (oh dear, I'm in the wrong language...all comes from indulging myself to too much anime ^^;;;) I mean, I'm sorry everyone! To keep you waiting and all (so many reviews! I never expected anything like this! Arigato!). I mean, seniors really must have one hectic life, geez. Oh, and to anyone who's interested, my batch prophecy was a hit! Yeah, they loved it! (does a jig) OK, that's settled, now on with the story! Please, as usual, R/R!
"The messenger's here! The messenger's here!"
Mulan could feel her family's eyes boring into her as she ate her dinner. She glanced at them, laid down her chopsticks, and said, "What?"
"Don't you have anything to say to General Shang?" asked Fa Li.
Mulan shrugged. "Well, yeah. But I'm not that much of a hurry. I hope you're not expecting me to jump for joy now that the messenger's here.
No one said anything.
Mulan's excitement was starting to get the better of her. "Excuse me," she said, rising from the table and making a beeline for her room.
She could hear her family's soft laughs as she grabbed the letter by the bed.
Well, this is it...She rolled it into a cylinder and tied a piece of red string over it.
"I'll be back in a while!" she hollered, running for the door. She could feel her heart beating fast as she dashed to the main gate.
I hope he understands..., she thought.
She flung open the gate. There were about fifty people huddled, yelling, shouting over a bent figure right at the middle of the crowd.
"What..." Mulan quickly threw her way in the crowd, brushing past many hot bodies to finally be faced with...
"Yao?"
The short, stocky soldier tried to stand up as someone shoved up a letter down his mouth.
"You're the messenger?" Mulan asked, her eyes widening.
"Hey, wait your turn, capeesh?!" yelled Yao, spitting out the piece of paper in his mouth. Turning to Mulan, he said sheepishly, "Guess who lost the bet."
Mulan grinned amidst the noise of the thinning crowd.
Yao looked suddenly uncertain as he said, "Now gimme whatever you wanna give to Shang so I can get my butt out of here."
Mulan gave him the rice parchment and he quickly snatched it from her.
"All right, that's it," he muttered, turning his ankle to leave.
"Yao?"
"What?"
"Anything wrong?"
"No, hehe...what makes you say that?" Yao gave a nervous smile.
"Right." Mulan said suspiciously. Yao had never been like this to her. Something was definitely up. Better play along first. She looked away and said, "So, uh, how is..."
"Shang?" said Yap a bit too quickly.
"Yes..."
"Oh, he's...he's great. He's great." Yao reddened and started his exit. "Never been better, you know? He's doing fine...fine."
Bingo.
Mulan grabbed Yao before he could run away. "You're not leaving until you tell me what's happened to him."
"Nothing, I told you." Yao shook his arm away. "I'm late; I have to go!"
"Yao." Mulan's voice was final. Ya forced himself to look at her. "What happened to Shang. Tell me."
Yao didn't answer.
"Yao, if you were ever my friend, if you were ever Shang's friend, you will tell me."
"It's exactly us being friends that I'm...I'm telling you that Shang's...Shang's...fine." Yao coughed.
That did it.
"Something bad happened to him, am I right?"
Yao chose to look away.
"Am I right?" Mulan repeated.
After making sure that no one was listening, Yao mumbled something and turned away.
"What?" she asked, grabbing his shoulder and whipping him to face her.
Yao said wearily, "I said, he's poisoned, all right?!"
...
"P-poisoned?!"
Yao winced at Mulan's ghostly gasp.
"How...what..." Mulan fought for composure. She was suddenly sweating and breathing heavily, her palms clammy and her breath labored. She gulped a few breaths of air and said shakily, " You're kidding, right, Yao? I mean, you're always a funny guy...well, trying-to-be-funny guy, and you're up to your tricks again, aren't you? You thought I'd fall for that? No way. There is no way Shang can get poisoned. 'Fess, up, Yao, that was corn..."
"Mulan!" Yao grabbed her shoulders. "Stop!"
Mulan stopped her blathering.
"It's true, okay? I'm not kidding," Yao said. "The army's getting depressed already because there's the general down and...
"Down? DOWN?" Mulan's pitch jumped an octave higher. "He's dead?"
"Thank the gods, no," said Yao. "The head medic says he has a fifty-fifty chance to live. If they can stop the poison from getting to the vital organs, he'll be fine."
"Is...is there an antidote? A cure? Just tell me and I can work on it. I'll get the herbs and start mashing..."
Once again, Yap had to restrain her. "The medics are working on it. Thankfully they've found some herbs at camp that should make the antidote."
There was silence. Then, "How did it happen?"
Yao wiped his brow and said, "We were ambushed by the Huns, a whole army of them. They were about twice our size."
"Then?"
"I'm not sure how it happened because I was busy fighting for my life too, but after two hours of battle, the Huns retreated and we went back to camp. That's when Shang came in looking drunk and he fainted. He was carried away and the medics told us that they found a thorn sticking out of his neck. It was blown out from a blowpipe, and it carried a very lethal poison that spreads through the victim's organs and eventually kills him. Luckily, when the medics discovered it, it hadn't spread to any vital organs yet. There's still a chance, Mulan, so don't look like that!"
Mulan had paled at the mention of thorn. She pursed her lips, closed her eyes, and whispered, "How is he?"
"Balances between consciousness. You know, wakes up, faints, wakes up, faints...he's been going like that for days.
When Mulan didn't answer, Yao quickly jumped in, "This is secret matter, okay? So far, you're the only one who knows about this. Don't frighten his mother or anything."
Mulan nodded and said, "No on will know."
Yao looked relieved when he said, "Good."
"Because I'm going back with you."
Yao was prepared. "No."
"Yes."
"Not on your life."
Mulan's eyes went ablaze. "I will. I've run away to the army before; I can do it again."
"I just told you, Mulan...no!"
"I will go!"
"Forget it."
"Yao!"
"Do you think Shang would want that?"
Mulan couldn't answer. She knew he wouldn't.
"He's got enough troubles already about the recruiting Huns, and now he's got you to worry about."
Mulan blinked the tears stubbornly and before she could stop herself, she said, "He needs me."
Yao's eyes widened, then his weather-beaten face softened. He said, "That will help. Very much. I'll make sure to tell him that."
"I am going."
Yao paused, looking as if he was about to relent.
Then he cast his eyes down, and he mumbled, "Forgive me, Mulan."
"Wha...!"
She saw a great fist hit her between her eyes, and everthing went black.
P.S. To anyone who's ever read Anne by L M Montogomery, I bet you have a gut feeling on what's gonna happen. But mine has a twist. Kind of tragic, but just leave it to me...it'll be just fine. Oh and don't expect chapter 9 to come out real quick. I'll be out for a while (stopover at Japan! Yea! Animecountry!) So it'll come out probably by mid-April-May, something like that. Ja ne!
