Standard Disclaimers Apply.







This is the story of the bravest girl to grace her world,
and the trials of her life.

Based very loosely upon the story of Mulan, a true heroine
in her own right.



Heroine
A Serena and Darien Alternate Reality Fic

by Moni-chan

monichan@telus.net




Chapter 1



The winter air was crisp. Darien trudged through the fresh
snow, ignoring the hustle and bustle around him. He hated
snow, hated its pureness and beauty. He preferred rain and
thunder, for it was during those times that he could think
undisturbed.

He never noticed all the girls giving him admiring looks,
as he walked the path to military camp. Personally, he
thought them artificial and annoying. Of course, all girls
were interested only in their looks, their wealth, and
potential husbands.

That's why there was that law in the first place, which
did not allow girls to be schooled with boys. He'd met
a lot of women in his life, and to this day, he'd never
met a single one that could concentrate on anything other
than themselves for over an hour. That was why he always
ignored him, hoping that they'd ignore him back.

Little did he know, his brooding nature only heightened
his appeal to women, as their vapid eyes followed his
every movement.

Darien had just bought himself some herbs, knowing that he
couldn't afford to get sick when signs of war were
approaching. Sighing at the thought of more fighting, he
quickened his steps.


He was roused out of his thought cycle, when he felt some
nimble fingers in his pant pocket. Quickly, his arms moved
in a martial arts move, only to reach ... air.

With a well-chosen expletive, he turned around, dismayed
to find that a couple of young boys were running off with
his wallet. Well, he had quite a bit of money in there,
and luckily he'd already spent most of it on the herbs.
But there was no way he would let them steal his wallet
without a fight. Why, he was Darien Chiba, Captain of an
army camp, and they were just some little kids!

"Come back here!" He yelled as he pushed through the
crowd. "When I get my hands on you little ... "
He stopped.

An annoying man was blocking his way. He tried to move
around him, but the man kept blocking him.

Darien vented his exasperation on the man.
"What the hell are you trying to do? I have to go chase
those kids!"

But the lanky young man in front of him paid him no heed.
"You will do nothing of the kind." He said in voice
surprisingly brash. "I will not let people like you punish
harmless and innocent young children."

Darien fumed. He'd give this guy a dose of his own
medicine later. Right now, he could still see the kids.

Growling, he pushed the young man angrily to one
side, preparing to chase after the children again.

WHAM!

Darien felt himself flying through the air, felt
himself slamming into a nearby pole. He felt the
sudden pain hit ...

It wasn't until a few minutes later that he could
get up.

"What on earth just happened?" He asked himself.
Groggily getting up, he slowly realized that the
young man had punched him.

What a punch! It was delivered by a boy, no less,
probably not any older than twenty.

His anger only grew. Nobody hit captains of army camps
if they wanted to live. Darien vowed that he would get
that man back for what happened, no matter what.

It was strange, his mind thought for a fleeting moment.
Strange, because he'd always been a calm person. Plenty
of people had stood in his way before, yet he'd always
wait patiently and either outsmart or outwait them. He'd
never felt so frustrated before. Why was this certain
young man so annoying, and how did that man so easily
break his calm?

Slowly, Darien looked around at the people staring at him.

He glared at them. "What do you think you're looking
at, go back to your own business!"

They continued staring. What Darien didn't know was
that he currently had an enormous black eye.



-----------



Serena skipped down the road happily. After making
a successful getaway, she was on her way to army
training camp.

She regretted leaving in the fashion she did, but
it was one way of not having to see the stricken
looks she knew her father and mother would have
on their faces. Serena hated hurting her parents,
and she knew that they were hurting right now. But
she had to save her father.

The little imp in her talked again.
Are you sure you're so noble?
Maybe you just wanted a change in lifestyle.
You've always liked fighting.
An army camp is the perfect way for you to practice
without chores.
Selfish girl, covering up your own
wants as a crusade for your father.

Sighing, she admitted silently to herself that it
was partly true. She hadn't thought about it when
she ran away from her home two nights ago, but now
she knew she was excited to be joining the army.
People would think of her as a boy, just like she
always wanted to be thought.

Nobody suspected anything yet, she reflected happily.
Her golden blonde hair was in a tight bun at the top
of her head, in the fashion of all the young men in town.
It easily made her seem like she had a lot less hair
than what usually cascaded down her back. She was tall,
luckily, so nobody would think her as very different.
She'd worn some padding under her armor to seem a little
more muscular, but she knew she was still too skinny to
pass for a strong young man.

Serena made a face. She'd have to buff up more,
especially if she had to fight that man again.


Serena giggled at the thought of the man she'd just
punched. Those little boys that she'd just saved were
enjoying a nice big lunch at that little cafe at the
end of the block. Well maybe she'd just mosey over
and eat something herself.

She had barely sat down before she saw the boys paying
for their meal from a big black wallet. Children didn't
carry wallets around, not in their day, especially
expensive ones. They usually carried a few dollars in
their pockets and that was all.

Suspicious, she glanced furtively at them. Perhaps they
had stolen it from their parents, little devils they were
... or perhaps,

She gasped in horror as the thought came to her. What if
.... that was that man's wallet.

If she had tried to stop him because the kids stole his
wallet, then she had been a big bully. He was much more
powerful than she, and the next time he saw her, he'd give
her living hell for sure ....

"Oh no no no.... Serena, stay calm." she told herself.
"Maybe it isn't what you think it is. Just go check
it out. Calmly."

Quietly, she walked over to the boys' table and quickly
snatched the wallet from their greedy little hands.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing?"

"Yeah! That's ours!"

Serena ignored their indignant protests, and flipped
through the wallet. Not much in it; some money, an
identification card or two, and a picture.

It was a sweet picture, probably taken when the man was
slightly younger. He and an elder lady, most likely his
mother, were seated, and smiling sweetly at the camera.
Serena wondered why he'd keep a picture of his mother in
his wallet ... perhaps he was just a sweet guy.

She was now feeling incredibly guilty.

"This is the wallet of the man you just stole it from."
She told the children firmly. "I know that you have
already ordered your food, but you are now not going
to have the money to pay for it, as I am now taking
this wallet away from you."

The children cringed in fear of the young man with the
stern tone, awaiting their full punishment.

"If you don't want to get into major trouble with the
store, you'd better call your parents here to pay for
the meal. You wouldn't want to dishonor your family,
would you?"

And with that, Serena turned around and left.



-----------



Serena felt horrible. Her head hung low as she
guiltily recounted every minute of her encounter
with the poor man. He didn't deserve any of it,
she knew. It was all her fault for jumping to
conclusions.

She remembered him yelling at her

"What the hell are you trying to do?" he had said.
"I have to go chase those kids!"

At the time, she'd only seen the boys bump into him
and quickly leave. She'd also seen him perform a
deadly move that would have had the boys in a deadly
vise had they been taller.

She knew he would chase after the children. That was
why she had to stop him.

But how could children be so nasty? In her village,
all the kids were so sweet; In this large town, they
all seemed to understand more and plan more. They must
have been trained pickpockets, to be able to steal
wallets so easily.

Unconsciously, her hand went to his wallet.

"Oh what a horrible start," Serena mumbled to herself
miserably. "I've only just come to this town, and I've
already made my first enemy. Things can only get better
than this ... I hope."

So, first things first. She would have to find that
man and apologize to him. He'd understand, hopefully,
and they maybe would be able to part as friends. He
seemed nice. Rather, his wallet seemed nice.

Serena laughed at herself, envisioning the moment she
would return his wallet to him.

"Actually," she would say, "I recovered your wallet,
and thought that your wallet was really nice. So I
thought perhaps you would match your wallet and be
really nice as well. I'm sorry for the way I acted."

He would reply with, "No problem at all. I'm sorry
I was so harsh with you. You did jump to conclusions,
but you've learned your lesson now. Would you like
to join me for lunch?"

Serena snapped out of her reverie. Where had that
last bit come from?

Join him for lunch?

She blushed. He'd never ask her to lunch; after all
she was dressed as a boy. And if anyone found out
that she indeed wasn't a boy, her family would be
disgraced and the entirely family would be executed.

Once more, she took out his wallet. Specifically,
she examined his I.D. card. Darien Chiba. Military
official. Well, that was a start. No wonder why he
was skilled in the martial arts.

"Hmph." Serena said to herself quietly. "I doubt he
could be better than I. After all, my father's such
a famous hero; he's the best teacher anyone could have."

She had to report to army camp in a few hours. Maybe
then, she could ask people if they knew who he was.




-----------




The first impression Serena had of army camp was its
emptiness. She'd never seen a place more barren and
sparse in her life.

There were cabins made of wood for lodgings. The trees
were few, probably used for making cabins, she noted
wryly. The ground was covered in snow, so it was hard
to tell what the texture was. She couldn't see the
peeks of grass anywhere. All there were were cabins
and cabins and more cabins.


Somehow, it did not seem to be quite what she had
envisioned it to be.

Still, she bounced excitedly towards the little
table where the admissions people were waiting.

"You're rather early." One man's tone was dripping
with sarcasm. "You must be so excited to be here."

She noticed the tone in which he was speaking, and
immediately toned down her enthusiasm.

"Yes sir!" She made sure to use her best "guy"
voice.

"It says on this notice that Ken Tsukino is the
man they asked for. Who are you?"

"Uhh ... I'm his son ... Ren Tsukino."

"His son? The national hero had a son?" Surprise
was evident in the man's tone. "Why, we've only
ever heard about his daughter. I wonder why no
one ever mentioned anything when he gave birth
to a son?"

The officer looked closely at Serena, and she held
her breath in fear. Her heart was pounding
furiously. She'd forgotten that her father was
such a famous figure. People would be scrutinizing
her all the time, to compare her with her father.

"Please," she prayed to herself, "please let me
pass this first test."

"Well," said the officer with new found respect
for the son of a national hero, "You seem to look
like him. Go on ahead."

"Yes Sir!"

She turned around, heaving a deep sigh of relief.

"Halt!"

Uh oh. Once again, she turned around, trying
to show none of the worry she was feeling inside.

The man at the table grinned at her. "You need
to know which cabin to go to, obviously."

Sheepishly, she nodded.

"First cabin on the left is where all of your
group is meeting with your group leader. You're
very lucky. You've got the entire camp leader
as your group leader. He's also the most powerful,
so suck up to him, and you'll be fine."

Serena smiled brilliantly at the man, happy to
have made a good impression, and restrained
herself from skipping off to find the cabin.

The man at the table was speechless. That smile.
It was almost .... beautiful ...

"Had a rather beautiful son, Ken Tsukino did, and
probably wanted to protect him from the world,
so he kept it a secret. His skin is too smooth
to have had done much rough work in his life.
Ah well. Rather scatter brained, this son of
his is."



-----------


Serena could see men of different ages mingling
around the cabin as she approached it. Most were
young, perhaps in their twenties. A few were
older, in their forties.

She noticed a few in the corner, men who needed
canes to walk, men who were weak, men who were
old. If they were to fight, they wouldn't stand
a chance, she knew.

And with that Serena resolved that those people would
be the first people she would befriend. She walked
over to them but before she could strike up any sort
of conversation, attention was called.

"Your camp leader will say a few introductory words."

With growing horror, Serena watched as a man with
dark hair and a distinct black eye walked up in front
of them.

He hadn't glanced her way yet, and was already
starting his talk. Serena's mind was whirling,
unprepared for this sudden surprise.

"Welcome, men, to training camp. You are here to
fight for our country. We are here to help you become
strong ...."

She never heard a word he said; only thought about
what she would say to him afterwards. He didn't
seem to happy about that black eye, and she knew
he losing face about it.

Two men standing behind her snickered quietly.
"Look at our Captain, he has a black eye! Some
fighter he must be. Wonder what the fight was
about."

"I heard that he is the best fighter in the country."
The second man was perplexed. "Who do you figure
could have punched him so hard?"

"Probably a woman," returned the first. "I've heard
he's a major heartbreaker. He never pays attention
to any of the girls. Perhaps one of them finally
got mad at him for being ignorant. Hehe"

Serena felt worse, hearing them. The black eye that
she had given him was causing him to lose reputation.
Yet another cause for him to hate her.

Still, she felt sure that he would be nice enough to
forgive her. She'd just go up to him afterwards, and
return his wallet, and all would be well.


".... and that is all. Thank you, and good luck to
you all. You will find sleeping and training arrange-
ments posted on the far left wall."

The talk had ended. Darien was walking towards the
exit and the other men were crowded around the posted
signs.

Darien felt a gentle tap on his shoulder. Very gentle.
He turned around, and gaped.

There was the young man that punched him! What was
that prankster up to now? He smirked inside. The
young man was in his camp and he was the leader. He
could now start planning his revenge.

"Excuse me, sir. " Serena began timidly. "I wanted
to..."

"Who the hell do you think you are, boy?" Darien was
not going to wait to say what he had to say. "You
had no right to go around jumping to conclusions the
way you did this morning. Did you know in fact that
those kids had stolen my wallet? Would you rather
kids not be punished when they have done wrong?"

"But ..."

"The world needs honorable men. Men who understand
what is right and what is wrong. You need to learn
more about the world, which is why army camp is going
to be good for you."

"I ..."

"You should not go around meddling in other people's
affairs, in the first place. It is one of the basic
rules of life to mind your own business. The easiest
way to get into trouble is to bother others. What
might have been nothing important might become a
disaster."

"You ..."

"I shall say nothing more to you. I hope you have
learned your lesson and will improve your manner in
the future."

And with that Darien walked away, leaving Serena
standing there speechless, staring at his retreating
back.

Serena was fuming inside. He'd never given her a
chance to speak or to explain herself. He'd just
assumed she was what he thought she was. What a
selfish, egotistical jerk!

"I guess he wasn't the nice person I thought he
was either." she said to herself. "We'll see if
I ever give this wallet back to you."




-----------

They're not off to a great start, are they? ^.^



Below is the original poem, which is the basis of
the entire legend of Mulan (a real heroine, not
just a myth). She wasn't quite the heroine as
portrayed by Disney (rather unrealistically, though
cutely), but she definitely made a big contribution
to China's winning of the war during that time. My
story does not follow it very exactly (though I
wanted to).

I'm currently translating it from Chinese to English
myself, into what I hope is a more elegant form of
the poem. I'll have that up with the next chapter
or two.





Moni-chan


The Original Poem
Anonymous (5th or 6th century AD)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tsiek tsiek and again tsiek tsiek,
Mu-lan weaves, facing the door.
You don't hear the shuttle's sound,
You only hear Daughter's sighs.

They ask Daughter who's in her heart,
They ask Daughter who's on her mind.
"No one is in Daughter's heart,
No one is on Daughter's mind.

Last night I saw the draft posters,
The Khan is calling many troops,
The army list is in twelve scrolls,
On every scroll there's Father's name.

Father has no grown-up son,
Mu-lan has no elder brother.
I want to buy a saddle and a horse,
And serve in the army in Father's place."

In the East Market she buys a spirited horse,
In the West Market she buys a saddle,
In the South Market she buys a bridle,
In the North Market she buys a long whip.

At dawn she takes leave of Father and Mother,
In the evening camps on the Yellow River's bank.
She doesn't hear the sound of Father and Mother calling,
She only hear the Yellow River's flowing water cry tsien tsien.

At dawn she takes leave of the Yellow River,
In the evening she arrives at Black Mountain.
She doesn't hear the sound of Father and Mother calling,
She only hears Mount Yen's nomad horses cry tsiu tsiu.

She goes ten thousand miles on the business of war,
She crosses passes and mountains like flying.
Northern gusts carry the rattle of army pots,
Chilly light shines on iron armor.

Generals die in a hundred battles,
Stout soldiers return after ten years.
On her return she sees the Son of Heaven,
The Son of Heaven sits in the Splendid Hall.

He gives out promotions in twelve ranks
And prizes of a hundred thousand and more.
The Khan asks her what she desires.
"Mu-lan has no use for a minister's post.
I wish to ride a swift mount
To take me back to my home."

When Father and Mother hear Daughter is coming
They go outside the wall to meet her, leaning on each other.
When Elder Sister hears Younger Sister is coming
She fixes her rouge, facing the door.
When Little Brother hears Elder Sister is coming
He whets the knife, quick quick, for pig and sheep.

"I open the door to my east chamber,
I sit on my couch in the west room,
I take off my wartime gown
And put on my old-time clothes."

Facing the window she fixes her cloudlike hair,
Hanging up a mirror she dabs on yellow flower-powder.
She goes out the door and sees her comrades.
Her comrades are all amazed and perplexed.
Traveling together for twelve years
They didn't know Mu-lan was a girl.

"The he-hare's feet go hop and skip,
The she-hare's eyes are muddled and fuddled.
Two hares running side by side close to the ground,
How can they tell if I am he or she?"



Here's a link to the Chinese verson of the poem.

http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Bluffs/8536/poemc.html