A/N: chapter 4! And a big thanks to all who reviewed!
(Sorry for being late...)
Disclaimer: 'Mulan' belongs to Disney; plot is mine!
Mushu: I'm back....
So? how did it go?
Mushu: stone dragon is fixed....if you'll excuse me...I'm gonna lie down....
OK, good job! Are you all right?
Mushu: I'll be fine, I'm gonna rest.... (Vanishes to the shrine)
Sadly, Mushu'll be out of shape for sometime (meaning, he won't be calling me names...) and so on to the story!
(A/N: these little things in the begging or end of chapter has nothing to do with the stories, it just my little imagination...)
A chance
Chapter 4
Both had their horses taken when they arrived at the palace.
A servant came and directed Shang to the men's bathhouse to clean up because the emperor wanted them to attend dinner.
A woman servant came and stated to say, "Follow me, Miss Fa," but Mulan stopped her and just said, "Don't worry, I'll manage."
The servant just gave Mulan the directions and set off.
When she got there, she hearts chatter, laughing and such, and she entered the women's bathhouse.
All who were talking stopped and glanced at her.
She just smiled and politely said, "Good evening."
But now she remembered she was dressed as a soldier, a MAN soldier, and a man was what those women saw.
Suddenly all screamed and grabbed their robed and all but fled from the bathhouse; they screaming "Man!" vanished in the background.
"Well, I guess I should've expected that." She said to herself as she untied her hair. (Mushu and Cri-Ki decided to be in the saddlebag that contained food, "Don't worry, we'll be back later" reassured her Mushu, as the horses were taken away.)
"Yes, you should have." Said a voice behind her and Mulan turned around, surprise showing on her face.
The speaker was a girl, probably around Mulan's age, who was sitting in the huge bathtub, her long black hair floating the water and her black eyes twinkled as she smiled at Mulan.
Mulan smiled back, "You weren't fooled." She said as she discarded her armor and her clothes and got to the tub.
"Of course I wasn't fooled! Anyone could see you're not really a man." She explained and Mulan started liking that girl.
"I'm Fa Mulan." She introduced herself.
"And I'm Chun Shui." Said the girl," but everybody calls me just Chun."
(A/N: pronounced choon shooie)
"Nice name." said Mulan in earnest.
"Thank you, your name is nice too, Mulan." Chun returned the compliment.
After that they talked, while bathing, Mulan loved the bath, especially after riding all day long on a horse saddle.
And it was discovered that Chun was, indeed, the Emperor's great niece, "But since I lived near the subjects all my life, I don't look down like some nobles do." she said cheerfully.
Well, that explains why she isn't behaveving so royally towards me, Mulan thought and smiled.
When both finished Bathing, and cleaning themselves, servants came and took their discarded cloths, promising the worried Mulan that the clothes will return clean, and handed them beautiful robes to wear.
Shang talked to some of the noblemen in the grand dining room when Mulan arrived, talking to another girl in green robes.
"Shang!" she called over to him and he came to them, eyeing her in her bright blue robes, he thought she looked beautiful, with her shoulder-length hair shining like mahogany.
"You...look...n-nice." He managed to finally stutter and she smiled her lovely smile at him, her rosy cheeks becoming even rosier.
"Thank you, you look handsome yourself," she said, you always look handsome, she thought and that made even grin wider.
"Shang, this is Lady Chun Shui," she presented the girl by her side, "Chun this is my former commanding officer, Captain Li Shang," she told Chun.
"I have a question for you, Captain." Said Chun.
"What is it?" Shang asked politely.
"How could you possibly have believed that Mulan was a man?" she asked, her eyes twinkling in mischief.
That certainly wasn't something he expected and "Uh..." was his intelligent answer.
Chun just rolled her eyes and said to Mulan,"Men!" and both burst into a fit of giggles, and went to where they both sat (Chun insisted that Mulan would sit by her side).
By the time the Emperor arrived, everything has been quieted down.
"It's good to see you again, Li Shang and Fa Mulan." He said and continued, "I assume you are hungry from your travel, so eat and I'll talk to you later on." He ended mysteriously.
They ate and drank and in the end of that magnificent feast the Emperor wanted to talk to Mulan and Shang in private.
"What did you wish to about, your Excellency?" asked Mulan.
"About this, Shan-Yu has been defeated and the Huns were driven back, but not all of were."
The pair started to have a bad feeling about this.
"A new leader has risen among the Hun army, this time it's Shin-Yu, his niece."
"Niece?!" both simultaneously asked.
"Yes, and I'm afraid we will go to another war, that is why I summoned you, a Mulan,I want to train under the command of General Li to become a commanding officer."
Mulan has listed to all that but then she turned with wide eyes to Shang,"General Li?' she asked.
Shang smiled a shy smile, "I got promoted." He modestly said.
"Your excellancy, you're letting me, a woman, train in the the army?" Mulan carefully asked.
"I see no reason why not, after all, you, a woman, saved China." The Emperor smiled at Mulan in a grandfatherly way.
Mulan smiled, "Thank you!" she cried and hugged him as she did once before and he was reminded greatly of his Great niece.
Speaking of which,"Mulan, have you talked to Chun Shui?" he asked as all three got up from their seats.
"Yes, we have a lot in common, we became friends right away." Mulan answered and smiled.
The Emperor just smiled back.
The bedroom which usually occupied only Chun, now occupied by two cheerful girls, talking while sitting on their beds.
"So you're going to train in the army again?" asked Chun.
"Yes." Answered Mulan, and a reply came from behind her shirt collar, "Don't think you're going alone, girl!"
"What was that?" asked a confused Chun, trying to figure out who just talked.
Mulan sighed, Mushu and Cri-Ki had come back from their own 'dinner' at the food supply saddlebag, and now the dragon chose the time to wake up.
"Mushu!" she hissed too late, she looked over to the other girl and sight again, and she reached behind her neck and got Mushu out and put him in front of her.
"Chun, this is Mushu, the guardian from my ancestors." she introduced him.
Chun looked closer, "Your ancestors sent a little lizard lo help you?" she asked what Mulan asked the first time she encountered the little dragon.
"Why do people keep saying that?" Mushu asked rhetorically and looked at the other girl, "I'm a dragon, dragon! I don't do the tongue thing."
"Tiny, aren't you?" she poked him, and he got irritated.
"I'm travel-size! Ok?!" he snapped and Chun smiled at Mulan.
"He's cute!"
"I suppose." Was Mulan's response, "Let's go to sleep, we have a long day tomorrow," she said and when all settled down,"Mushu, next time warn me when you decide to wake up." She told the little dragon who took some of Mulan's robes to be his blankets for tonight, (Cri-Ki decided to spend the night in the imperial gardens, Mushu told Mulan that "lucky bug'll come back tomorrow morning.")
All were quite in the Imperial City.
A/N: to be continued on chapter 5!
Mushu :( from somewhere) ....urge...to...kill...a certain author...rising...
Be quite, Mushu.
Anyway, please review!
Chun Shui in Chinese is 'spring water'; just Chun is 'spring'.
Shin-Yu is just my variation of the name 'Shan-Yu',(I tried for it to sound more feminine)