'Destiny' by Laurae

Disclaimer: I do not own Disney's "Mulan" or any characters affiliated with it. I do however own Shang's bride, Yu Tien, and Shaiming.

Enjoy:

A cool breeze caused Captain Li Shang's tousled hair to blow about. It was his wedding night and after his new bride, Yu Tien, had fallen asleep, he slipped away from her and come outside.

The cool night air that was usually so soothing and thought clearing was doing nothing for him. All he could think of was his wife lying alone in bed, while he stood outside thinking of another woman. 'I'm not being fair to her,' thought Shang, 'she hasn't done anything wrong. But then again, neither have I." Shang looked up to the sky. "Why me?" He murmured.

He didn't hear the soft footsteps creeping up behind him. "Husband, what is wrong?" Yu Tien stood before him concern in her quiet eyes. "Have I done something to upset you? If I did I, I did not mean to. I am sorry." She looked down at her feet when he tried to return her thoughtful gaze.

"Yu Tien," he began watching her stare at her slipper-clad feet, "would you look at me when I'm talking to you?"

She looked up startled. "What? But, that would be-"

"Look, if I'm going to have to be with you everyday that I'm not in service for the rest of my life, I'm going to have to talk to you and you're going to have to answer AND we're going to do this like equals. Do you understand?"

Yu Tien closed her eyes. "Shang," she said tentatively opening one eye to see his reaction. "I just, well, I was in love. But, then my father told me that he had found a match for me and they started planning my wedding, our wedding, around me. And all I wanted was to run away with him, to escape and never have to deal with this mess. But, now I'm here, and I'm yours, like a teapot or a vase."

Shang groaned. He couldn't tell her about Mulan, it would hurt her even more. "I don't own you, you know. You could go to him I wouldn't stop you."

Yu Tien laughed bitterly. "Do you honestly think that I would be accepted in my village again?" She settled down on a stone bench. "I would be packed up and sent back to you, so I will save myself the trouble and stay here."

She watched as Shang began to pace back and forth in front of her. He seemed to forget that she was there as he moved away from her and picked his sword. It slid smoothly out of its sheath and seemed to be an extension of his arm as he executed the complicated forms. Yu Tien watched in awe as her new husband moved with his sword. It was like nothing she had ever seen. Her childhood had been that of a wealthy girl and she had been kept well sheltered from the harsh reality of the world. Shaiming was the first boy she had met that wasn't family and he was not the type to practice swordplay.

Carefully, Yu Tien curled her small feet up beside her. She neatly smoothed out her robe as she sat watching Shang dance with his sword. "Husband," she called out watching him wince at the name. "It is getting cold, you should go inside before you make yourself sick."

"I like the cold." He said curtly as he continued moving through the sword forms barely glancing at his wife. The blade of his sword flashed in the moonlight making the blade seem sharper than it could ever possibly be.

The motion of the blade began to blur as Yu Tien watched. Her eyes began to droop and her head nodded forward slightly. By the time the first fat raindrops began to fall from the sky, she was lying down on the bench, her breathing even, and her eyes closed. Shang slid his sword back into its sheath and turned to see his wife asleep on the stone bench. His expression softened as he hung his sword from his shoulder by its strap. He moved towards her and gently lifted her small body cradling her carefully.

Shang slowly moved into the house carrying Yu Tien up to their bed. He laid her down upon the scarlet sheets still in place from the obligatory consummation of their marriage. Yu Tien moved slightly causing her robe to pull open just the slightest bit. Seeing the shift that she had pulled on underneath it, Shang carefully slid the robe off and looked at her, the ivory silk of the shift was as pale as her skin in the moonlight, and, she was beautiful, even if she was not his Mulan. Shang draped the robe over a chair back and climbed into the bed beside his wife. In her sleep she moved towards the warmth of his body and he tentatively wrapped his arms around her. He gently laid a light kiss on her forehead and closed his eyes to drift off to sleep.

~*~

So, what do you think? Shall I continue? Please, feel free to review. If there are any issues with spelling or grammar, let me know please. Thank you for reading!

The names of the two original characters are actual Chinese names, 'Yu Tien' means 'Rainy Day' and 'Shaiming' means 'Sunshine'. I would like to thank my friend Ivy for helping me pick them out, because without her help, they would be anonymous.