*: Thank you, thank you for your fantastic reviews! I'm so sorry I haven't written this in forever but I've been busy and in truth I hadn't really thought about it. Please continue to review with comments or ideas if you like it or if you hate it, I really appreciate it, plus it stimulates me to keep writing. :D

P.S. I gave Mushu a bit of a sick mind, not bad in my mind, but sorry if you take offence or anything, he's just joking' around to distract her.

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It was early, FAR too early in a certain young soldiers eyes. Not for the first time she wondered where this bright idea of hers had come from. The sun hadn't even braved the horizon yet, it was just giving off a dim light from below it, casting a dreamy shimmer across the early morning fog and the dewdrops. The training yard in which she waited, stifling a yawn, was deserted except for herself.

Stretching out her stiff limbs she prepared to work. The early morning combined with the layers of sleep that still hung over her left Mulan paying little attention to her surroundings and focusing mainly on her stretching. . . that, and not falling over and falling asleep then and there.

"Mulan."

She jumped in surprise, jolting herself out of the stretch she had been using and spinning swiftly to meet the intruder in a fighting stance. Mentally she chastised herself for not using her senses, she should have known someone was approaching long before they got the drop on her.

Shang looked amused and, much to her annoyance, as if he were suppressing a chuckle. "Good morning," he said calmly, emerging completely from the shadows he'd slunk up to her in.

"That's an oxymoron," she replied, easing her body into a normal stance.

He raised an eyebrow but said nothing in response to that one; in truth she still caught him off guard every now and then. Instead he simply began his own stretches.

Mulan leaned her back against a tree, waiting for him to limber up.

"You better stretch," Shang told her lightly, in his Captains voice that she had become far too accustomed to during her original training. "Otherwise you'll pull something."

"I've already stretched," she replied. "That's what happens when you get here on time."

Shang shot a surprised look up at her before catching himself. If he was going to waist time sneaking up on her then he was going to pay the price.

Mulan didn't bother to make much of an effort in hiding her amusement; they were on even grounds again.

"Ready?" she asked as he straightened out after completing his stretching.

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Back in her tent she had just under half an hour before she would address the troops.

It had been a good training session that morning; she'd forgotten how good it was to work with people. Plus she felt more prepared and confident to face the troops for the first time, although nothing could remove that nervous, sick feeling that was still stowed in the pit of her stomach.

"I still remember the first impression that Shang made on m - us."

"I'm not surprised," Mushu muttered to Crikee.

"I just hope that I can make half that on those soldiers."

"You'll be FINE," Mushu replied confidently, slipping up her arm to rest on her shoulder. "I mean, you wont have the advantage to takin' off your shirt - "

"Mushu!"

"Although that would certainly make an impression, although not the one I think you're goin' for."

Mulan burst out laughing, shoving Mushu off her shoulder. "You are SO not helping."

"Hey," Mushu replied from the pillow he'd landed comfortably on, "I'm just breakin' the tension, here."

"Uh-huh," she replied sarcastically.

"Fine, we'll discuss something different," Mushu replied mischievously. "Li-iii-ke," he drew the one little word out to its fullest extent, "maybe that private training session of yours that I wasn't invited to."

"You were asleep."

"Yeah, sure," Mushu replied distractedly. "Meanwhile who took off- "

Mulan clamped a hand firmly around Mushu's mouth. "I don't even want to know what you were going to say."

"I'm just SAYING," Mushu managed to free himself. "You and Shang, alone, working up a sweat."

The hand came down again, clamping more firmly over the struggling dragon's mouth. "You have a sick mind," she informed him, not allowing even the slightest chance for escape this time.

Mushu squirmed, trying to speak again but all that came out was muffled against her hand.

"No," Mulan replied firmly, not releasing him. "I'm warning you one more thing and I'm going to be forced to hand feed you that soap of mine that you already tried to eat."

The dragon stiffened.

Slowly Mulan drew her hand away far enough for him to speak.

"You wouldn't dare."

"Try me."

Mushu considered this for a moment, reflecting on the terrible taste and the bubbles that he'd been left with and, apparently, decided that it wasn't worth it.

"Hey, well I don't see you worrying about addressing the troops!"

Mulan winced, that was also true. "Well I was focusing on the two things at once," she lied. "It's called multitasking."

Her hand shot out to clamp down over Mushu's mouth again before the look on his face could be translated into words.

"Eeeeew!" Mulan exclaimed, drawing her hand away. "Did you just lick me?!"