The Power of Love: Chapter Ten

Disclaimer: I don't own Disney's Mulan.  I'm not making any profit by writing this story.  I do own Ta-Ni, Yi-Pek, and Ma Ti.

By: Susan

Summary: Mulan is kidnapped from her wedding in order to save the honor in Shan Yu's family. Can she show Shan Yu's brother what true love is? Will she still marry Shang?

A/N: This is a sequel to my story, After Dinner, although you don't really need to read it in order to grasp the concept of the story ;)  Enjoy. ;)

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Early the next morning, Mulan dressed herself in a simple red dress for the ceremony that would bind her to Yi-Pek. She heard a knock at her door, and Shang's voice.

"Can I come in?"

"Sure." She stretched her arms backwards to try and button the back of the dress.

"Allow me," Shang said softly, buttoning the back of her dress closed. She loved the feeling of his hands on her bare skin.

"Has your plan followed through?" Mulan asked him quietly, taking his hands in her own. She could tell immediately by the look on his face it hadn't.

"I'm so sorry," Shang said, pulling her close to his chest and kissing her forehead. "I love you. Maybe one day Yi-Pek will realize what he's done. When that time comes- we can marry."

Mulan ignored him and turned away. She began applying some white makeup to her face.

"Isn't your mother supposed to help you with that? Do you want me to get her?"

"I told her not to- She's upset enough as it is. Her and my grandmother just might like you more than I do." Shang just looked at her and laughed. "I'm not kidding- Either that, or my mother was so happy that I found a good husband, one who wouldn't beat me when I burned the rice or something. Either way, she loves you like her own son. So does my father."

"I know. I'll watch over them for you." He looked into her face, which was white and chalky with the creamy makeup.

"I'm ready. I won't wear the dress my mother made me, and I won't wear a veil." Mulan stared up into his eyes. "Look at me- the whole time. The whole ceremony, keep your eyes on me. I want to remember how much you love me, because I won't be seeing you again."

Shang was silent, not wanting to argue with her. He couldn't let her put her family in jeopardy just so they could be together. It would be too selfish of him.

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It was almost noon, and Shang and Mulan came into the kitchen, where Fa Li and Mulan's grandmother were standing. Yi-Pek and Ta-Ni had stayed at an inn on the other side of the town for the night, and planned to meet them at the town square just after noon.

Silence greeted Mulan and Shang in the kitchen. Fa Zhou then entered, and he just stared at Mulan.

"I refuse to go and watch this," He said, turning away. Shang began to follow the elderly man.

"Fa Zhou- please go. Go for Mulan. She's doing this for you, she just wants you to be safe."

"General," Fa Zhou said quietly. "You'll have to help me through this. I can't go on much longer without her."

Suddenly Shang just wanted to stand up and scream. Didn't anyone understand what he was going though? This wasn't some arranged marriage, some wife he didn't care about. He was letting the love of his life marry someone else, to save Fa Zhou and his family. Why couldn't he go and watch and see how much his daughter loved him? He wouldn't let her give up her family for him! Besides, Mulan's mother and father would still be able to see her, but it was improper for woman and men to associate unless they were married, or related. He turned toward Fa Zhou, and hiding his anger at everything, and nodded slightly.

It was noon. Taking Mulan's hand, with her father, mother, grandmother, and the Emperor of China following, they proceeded to walk to the town square.

The Emperor felt helpless as he followed the Fa family down the dirt road. Here he was, the Emperor of China, and he couldn't do anything. Once again, Mulan was ready to sacrifice herself for the lives of others. No doubt she was one extraordinary girl, with a strong family. His guards had been shocked when they heard he was staying with the Fa Family, living like a peasant. But, in truth, he loved how normal they were, how they didn't have servants, and guards, and all sorts of extremities like the palace did. Mulan was one to admire, and her family's strength was just as admirable. Hoping against hope, praying to his own ancestors that Shang's farfetched plan might possibly work, he continued down the dirt road.

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Shang and Mulan shared a long kiss before she was seated beside Yi-Pek in front of the Emperor, the Fa family, Shang, Ta-Ni, Yao, Ling, and Chien Po, (all three of whom had stayed at a nearby inn for the past couple of days), as well as many fearful, yet curious villagers. Mushu still had not returned.

The marriage ceremony was less complicated for the Huns, in Mulan's opinion. Although Yi-Pek had wanted to live in China and be accepted by the Chinese, his blood and family were still Huns, and he did not deny it. Each had to read a poem, then a minister began the ceremony.

Shang ignored everything except Mulan. Her eyes were so red, her face so sad, yet she still looked amazingly beautiful to him. Wishing that she hadn't killed Shan Yu, that she hadn't joined the army didn't make sense. Though, if she hadn't killed Shan Yu, they wouldn't be in this mess with his family, he wouldn't have known her if she hadn't joined the army and done so, and he wouldn't have fallen so deeply for her if she hadn't fared so well. Everything happened for a reason, and he was so just grateful that she was in his life, even if it was for such a short time. He hoped she knew that she'd changed him in so many ways. He was in a trail of lost thoughts, with Fa Zhou's hand on his shoulder, when the minister lit a candle for each of them, and a woman's voice was heard.

"WAIT!" A slim, yet strong woman approached the crowd around Mulan and Yi-Pek. "Please, wait- Please! Let me speak." Everyone went silent. Yi-Pek's eyes went wide. The woman's hair and eyes were dark and pretty, but she had a rough physique, as if she had done years of labor.

Shang had never seen the woman before, yet immediately, he knew who she was. His heart leapt from his chest, but he tried to calm himself, just in case. A little red dragon approached him, and leaped up onto his shoulder.

"Mushu!! Goodness, I've never been happier to see you in my life," Shang said happily. "That's her?"

"Yep, buddy, that's her. The key to saving Mulan. Happy now?" The woman began to speak, and Ta-Ni turned to Shang, completely in shock.

"My name is Ma Ti," she said softly to the crowd, then made eye contact with Yi-Pek. "Many of you don't know me, but the few of you who do know of me as the late Shan Yu's love." She stepped closer towards Yi-Pek. "Those of you know of me as that are wrong."

Mulan was shocked. There was absolutely no way-

"I'm here to save this girl from a terrible fate, proving to you that not all of the Huns of Northern China are evil, and that many just want to make their way in the world," She glanced at Yi Pek, "Although some do not know the right way of doing it."

"She's good, isn't she?" Mushu said to Shang. "Trained her up myself, told her everything to say, coached her-"

"Mushu," Shang whispered, not believing a word he had said, "Be quiet."

"Yi-Pek, I must confess to you, that I myself did not know how to make my way in the world." Sadly, she said, "Shan Yu promised me a lot of things, Yi-Pek. He told me he could give me everything I ever wanted, everything I dreamed of, if I was to come with him. A child at the time, only seventeen- I followed him. As soon as I left, I realized- Everything I ever wanted was what I left behind."

Yi-Pek stared at her in disbelief. "You-"

"I love you Yi-Pek- I always have, always will. I was ashamed to come back to you- But here I am."

"I-"

"Don't throw your life away, don't throw her life away. I know you're confused. You want to make something out of the mess Shan Yu left you in. So do I."

She came closer to him, and took his hands in her own.

"I- I can't believe-" He said softly, as their faces crept closer together. "I- I love you." Ma Ti stretched up to kiss him full on the mouth, and he pulled her into his arms.

The crowd surrounding was silent. They separated, and Ma Ti whispered gently into his ear.

"Give it up, you have me now- We can make a name for ourselves anywhere." He leaned in to kiss her again, and it was enough for Mulan. She knew the two weren't separating anytime soon.

Mulan jumped straight out of the chair, off the stage, and into Shang's outstretched arms.

"Shang!!" She knocked him straight down to the ground, kissing him happily. "Shang, I can't believe you- This is the- You're unbelievable!" The villagers around them began to cheer and applaud.  Shang pulled himself to a standing position and cradled Mulan, who had her arms around his neck and was kissing his lips. "You're the craziest man I ever met!" she shouted, "And for that, I owe you my life." He began to laugh, and tenderly placed his lips upon hers, for a very romantic kiss. She pulled away from him, feeling a prick of pain on her arm, and saw Mushu's grinning face looking straight at her.

"Hey now, what's this, no love for the dragon? Hey, without me, your plan would've been- oh wait you would've had no plan without me!! Whaddya say? A kiss for Mushu?"

Mulan wrapped one of her arms around Shang's neck, and the other around Mushu's tiny body. She planted a kiss on Mushu's dragon cheek.

"You are the greatest men in the world! I love you so much."

"Aww.Baby, I love you too!" He glanced at Shang nervously, "Not trying to interfere on your relationship, we've had enough of that as it is," he told Shang. "Now the only person whose gonna marry you is him, Mulan. You two little lovebirds, you!"

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A week later was Shang and Mulan's wedding. There was an outdoor party with dancing and music on the Fa Family property. Shang, to Mulan's complete surprise, was the most hopeless dancer she'd ever seen. She'd figured with all his martial arts abilities he'd be able to twirl her around without even thinking. He was unbelievably clumsy, which just made it even more fun.

However, Shang was nowhere near as clumsy as Yao and Ling, who had both decided to compete for Ta-Ni's heart. The two were stepping all over each other, interrupting, sweet-talking the poor girl. The one whom she was interested in, however, was Chien Po; ironically, the only one who hadn't tried to seduce her.

Indeed, the most ironic pair of all was that of the Emperor and Grandmother Fa. She was the one teaching the stiff, regal Emperor how to "boogie woogie," as Mushu called it.

Fa Zhou and Fa Li danced slowly and romantically in the moonlight, making Mulan smile. They had never been too romantic, after all, their marriage was arranged, but the incident with Yi-Pek and Ma Ti seemed to really teach them something about marriage and love, and the respect they had for each other seemed to grow to a new, unseen emotion.

Yi-Pek and Ma Ti had left the night after she had come, to find a town to settle in to start their new life, the honor newly restored to their family name.

Late that night, as the guests started leaving for the inns nearby, Mulan was getting ready to leave for Shang's house, which was now her house as well. She grabbed the bag of dresses, nightgowns, and other garments she had packed the day before from the hallway, ready to go find Shang outside. Mulan was sad to leave her home. She loved it so much. She hoped her parents would be all right when she left. Mulan looked out the window at their silhouettes dancing in the moonlight. She knew they would be fine.

"Where are you going?" Shang said, banging into her, as she turned down the hallway.

"I was looking for you," Mulan said, wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him. "Are we going to leave for your house soon?"

"Actually," Shang said, "We aren't leaving for my house anytime soon. Not at all tonight, in fact. Not ever, actually."

Mulan looked at him, confused. "But I don't understand- don't you want to spend our wedding night in our home?"

"Well, we are."

"If we aren't going to your house, how will we spend our wedding night at our home?"

"Well- See, our home- Well, it's not my house. It's your house." Mulan looked at him, still confused. "Your mother wants us to live here," Shang said to her, "and I think it's a good idea. I sold my house and its property to the man who lived next to me. Your mother and I went to look at my mother's furniture and dishes and items yesterday. We took a lot of her things back here, and all my father's medals from the army. It's all in your barn."

"Oh Shang, you're amazing. You've always got something up your sleeve. But where will we sleep?" Mulan asked him. She was awfully tired. He took her down the hallway to her own bedroom, and opened the door to it. Instead of her own small bed with the tiny headboard, there was a larger bed, with a beautifully carved headboard. She ran over to it, running her fingers over the carvings. It said her name, Shang's name, and there was a flower and a sword between them. The vines of the flower were wrapped all around the sword.

"Shang, this is unbelievable!" Mulan said, not willing to take her hands off of it. "Who made this?"

"Now Mulan, I may be a failure at dancing, but I'm not a failure at lots of other things. One of those things is woodcarving." He sent her a crooked smile, and gave him a big hug.

"Thank you so much!" Mulan said, giving him a hug.

Shang just smiled at her.

"Now, if you'll excuse me, my wife, I'm going to go find the emperor. I have to speak with him, it's very important."

"All right," Mulan said softly, as he left and closed the door behind him. She couldn't believe the headboard, and how the room was decorated. She couldn't believe she had missed everything that happened. Mulan pulled a nightgown out of the set of drawers to change into, and draped her beautiful wedding dress over a chair.

She wondered if Shang was leaving tomorrow, and if that was what he had to speak with the emperor about. Most likely it was. Her father had married her mother, then left the morning after their wedding night to report to the army. And he was only a captain then. She was surprised that Shang, the general, wasn't leaving right now. He opened up the door, interrupting her thoughts. Shang looked straight into her eyes, smiling at her.

"You look so beautiful."

"Oh Shang, I'm a wreck. Look, I have lots of makeup all over my face," she ran her hands down her face, rubbing much of it off." He sat down on the bed beside her and nuzzled her cheek with his nose.

"You're my wife, and I think you're the most beautiful woman I've ever seen." Mulan blushed a deep red, and he smiled sheepishly at her, "Well, you do have some makeup right here," He said, licking his finger and rubbing it hard on her face.

"OW! You're hurting my eye!" She pulled away from him as he tried to get the makeup off, but he held her down on the bed below him and kissed her. He kneeled over her, then leaned and put his weight on her.

"Now you're trapped," He teased, as she pushed hard on his chest.

"It's not my fault that you're huge, with tons of muscles!"

"Shan Yu didn't stop you," Shang said, laughing as she struggled to get out from under him.

"That's it," Mulan said mischievously. She began to tickle his stomach, and he pulled away immediately. "Oh- look at the big, strong captain now!"

"MULAN!" Shang said, laughing hysterically. She threw him off of her, and he toppled off the bed onto the floor. Mulan couldn't control her laughter, and the door opened, just as Shang climbed up on the bed and attacked her.

"Mulan? Shang?"

"Grandma? What are you doing?" She sat up, shocked, as her grandma smiled back at her.

"Just wanted to see if I could catch you in the act." Mulan sighed at her, and her grandmother whispered to Shang, loudly, "Mulan's been looking forward to this night for a long time!"

"GRANDMA!" Mulan shouted. "OUT!"

"All right, all right, I can tell when I'm not wanted." She shut the door, giggling.

"That could have been embarrassing," Shang said, pulling off his shoes and cape.

"She wouldn't have done that if I didn't like you so much," Mulan said softly, flopping back on the pillows. He lay next to her, and placed his arm on her waist, nuzzling her ear and neck.

"I love you." She stared into his dark eyes; eyes she wouldn't see until he came back from training the extra troops.

"Are you leaving tomorrow?" Mulan asked outwardly.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Shang asked her.

"I want to know if this is the last time I'll see you."

"How about we don't think about that, and we enjoy tonight?"

"That means yes, you're leaving."

"Mulan, it's not like I'm leaving forever, I'm going to go set up camp, train some men, just in case. We're not going into battle; the emperor just wants an army ready."

Mulan was silent for a moment, then she began to speak quietly.

"You know, I never in my life thought I was going to marry someone like you? I mean, you're perfect, look at you! You've got more muscles then there are stars in the sky, you're smart, you're sweet, you're handsome, you're respected! You're perfect. And then, you followed me home, you wanted to be with me. That's the best part, that you love me. But, you don't love me enough to stay home, do you? You love fighting and war more than me."

"Mulan, it's only for a couple of weeks! Don't say that!"

"You loved me enough to follow me home and bring me an extra helmet back. And you asked me to marry you- but it's not as good as general, huh?"

"Mulan-" Shang sputtered at her, so shocked but the words coming out of her mouth.

"I still haven't figured out where you got that helmet from, but you went through the trouble of finding a helmet and bringing it to my house and staying and marrying me- wouldn't you rather stay with me then go train more troops?"

"MULAN! I didn't ask for this job, okay? I was given this job by the Emperor of China! How could someone turn that down? A job from the emperor!?!?"

"I turned it down," Mulan said quietly, turning on her side to look out the window.

"Mulan, look at me," Shang said, leaning over her to meet her eyes. "When I was 15, I was arranged to be married to a girl in the village I lived in, but my father told me that I had a choice. I could go to train in his camps, or stay and get married. Mulan, I was the general's son, but I went to school, and I was teased like you wouldn't believe. I was so far from this "perfect person" you're telling me I am. I was skinny, I wasn't athletic- I wanted to impress my dad, I wanted to make people look up to me. Look, this is what I've always wanted- and the emperor said it's only for…" He trailed off when he noticed Mulan wasn't listening. "Mulan?"

"Shang! I don't want you to go! We just went through this whole mess with Ta-Ni and Yi-Pek, and now you want to leave me?"

"I never said I wanted to leave you! Don't say that! I just want to make my dad proud! It's what I always wanted as a kid."

Mulan just closed her eyes and turned away from him.

"It's only for a week or two at most. I didn't leave you with Yi-Pek, and I won't leave you for long."

"Do a bad job so he fires you," Mulan said softly, settling under the covers.

"Don't be angry with me- And don't say I don't love you- I gave up everything for you, Mulan, you're my whole life!"

"I'm sorry- I don't want- what if we have a baby, and you aren't there? What about a family? Don't you want a family? How can we have a family without you?"

"Mulan, we aren't going to have any children until we- well, you know," Shang said, suddenly awkward at the slight suggestion of intimacy. "But if we ever get around to it- doing- you know- having a child- I mean- Oh, Mulan I can't make any promises, except that I love you and I'll always be here for you. Isn't that good enough?"

"I love you, and I just want you to be around if we have a family. I don't want children without a father, I want you to be there for them!"

"MULAN! You're overreacting! I'm not going to quit this. It's everything I've ever wanted!"

Mulan sighed, and closed her eyes once again.

"Can't we just forget about this, and enjoy tonight? Most husbands and wives treat consummation as a chore- but I love you so much- this is so different."

"Will you promise me that you will leave your job as general if I realize I'm with child?"

"Of course. You're making this bigger than it is. I want a family just as much as you do, but I can't say no to this job- not yet."

"I understand," Mulan said softly. "I really have become selfish since I met you."

"It's finally someone to live for," Shang said quietly. He rubbed her cheek with his hand. "Can I kiss you, or are you still angry with me?" Mulan kissed him softly on his lips.

"I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize. I know how irresistible I am, you just don't want to share me with the army," he said laughing.

"I hope someone pops that ego of yours with a sword," Mulan said dryly, and Shang began to laugh.

"I love you- and I don't want you to have a problem with this. If you don't want me to-"

"Shang, just go for it," she sighed, "You're right, it's the chance of a lifetime, why give it up, it's everything you ever wanted. Don't let me get in the way. I'm sorry, I'm just tired, and I'm scared-"

Shang just kissed her very tenderly, and wrapped his arms around her body. She melted in his arms, enjoying the feeling of security and love. How had she ever lived without him? How would she live without him after tonight?
 

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