Chapter 8: Departure
"That was close!" Mulan exclaimed breathlessly as she ran out of the lake. Ling, Yao and Chien-Po had just come very close to finding out her secret. And she'd gotten a glimpse of Yao that she was sure she could have lived without and hoped to never see again.
"No, that was vile!" Mushu replied in disgust. "You see? I told you not to go swimming at this time of the night. Someone was bound to show up. What would have happened if I hadn't been here to bite Ling?"
"I thought they'd all be eating dinner. Besides, you were supposed to stand watch and warn me. But I promise, from now on I'll only do it in the middle of the night." She began to giggle at the memory of Ling's expression on seeing the 'snake'. Who would have thought that tough men would be so scared of little Mushu? Or a snake.
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Shang clenched his jaw, trying to control his temptation to punch out Chi Fu. He'd called him in to discuss his report to his father, which, as Shang had expected would be the case, contained nothing but everything that went wrong at the camp. Shang argued that there had been things that went wrong at first but they had gotten past them. The men were ready to fight.
"You think your troops are ready to fight?" Chi Fu mocked, snorting.
"They completed their training," Shang answered, trying to remain calm.
"Your troops are a bunch of trouble-makers and ruffians. All of those boys are no more fit to be soldiers than you are to be their captain. Once the general reads my report your troops will never see battle."
Shang stood up, angrily and grabbed the toad's slate, wishing it was his neck. "We're not finished."
Chi Fu pulled the slate away and sneered at him. "Careful, Captain. The general may be your father, but I am the Emperor's council. Oh, and by the way, I got that job on my own. You're dismissed."
Shang glared at him, then stormed out of the tent, hating the slimy man with every ounce of his being. Mulan was standing out there, her face darkened again, and Shang felt himself blush crimson at the sight of her.
"Hey," she greeted him.
Shang pushed past her and kept walking. He was fuming; and she was the last person that he had wanted around to hear Chi Fu insulting him, especially after the view he'd had of her at the lake just before. He didn't know why one thing had anything to do with the other, but somehow they were intertwined in his mind.
A moment later she called out, "For what it's worth, I think you're a great captain."
He stopped at that and started to turn toward her.
"For what it's worth," she repeated.
An involuntary half smile started to play around his lips. Then he turned away and continued to walk off. He reached his tent and turned back, looking off toward where she had been standing. A dreamy smile stayed on his lips as he thought of the sight of her at the lake.
Shang stood there daydreaming for several minutes, forgetting that he was angry at Chi Fu, forgetting that he was angry at her. Then he roused himself, turned and entered his tent, scolding himself for acting like such a fool.
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Mulan gazed longingly after Shang as he walked away. He had started to smile when she spoke to him. He hadn't smiled at her in many days, always angry at her now. Always hating her.
"I saw that," said Mushu, pulling her from her reverie.
"Saw what?"
"You had just better stop looking at him like that. You're going to give yourself away to everyone else if you keep this up. Go to your tent," he ordered.
Mulan took one last wistful look toward where Shang had gone, noticing that she now thought of him by his first name. She would have to be careful that she didn't slip and call him that by accident. He was the captain and she was just a soldier; at least for now. She was not supposed to call him by his first name. She smiled as she turned and walked away. But she didn't return to her tent. She headed toward the forest and her special spot. Well, his special spot, too.
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Shang was too angry and restless to stay in his tent. He hated Chi Fu. The man was so vindictive, so envious. And for that, he was refusing to send his father a favorable report about the troops. Shang knew his troops were a fine, excellent regiment now. Chi Fu's report was going to give his father the idea that, not only were the troops incompetent, but that he had not done his job and was inept. It was an out and out lie.
Shang walked toward the training field. Night had fallen and the field was dark, but it didn't matter. He needed to work out and let off steam.
He sat down on the grass and began to warm up. As he was stretching he caught sight of her. Mulan was strolling across the field, heading toward the forest. He watched her for a moment, then leaped up and hurried toward her. He followed her to the far side of the lake, then called after her.
She whirled around.
He caught up to her. "Mulan."
"What?"
"Mulan, I want to talk to you. That was a really stupid thing that you did before. Do you realize what might have happened?"
"What are you talking about?"
"I'm talking about going into the lake when the other soldiers are around. Yao, Ling and Chien-Po almost discovered you!"
He saw her eyes widen. It hit him suddenly that she realized that he had seen her - really seen her. He felt his face turn red.
"You need to be careful," he said, softly, turning away from her, embarrassed.
"Thank you, Shang," she said, softly, "but I can take care of myself."
She'd called him by his first name. Not 'Captain' and not 'Sir'.
She turned and began to walk away from him, toward the boulder, but he reached out and grabbed her arm. He pulled her toward him, grasping both her shoulders. She stiffened in his grip, staring at him. He suddenly realized what he was doing and let go of her. She stared at him, still in shock.
"I'm sorry," he muttered, turning away from her, feeling ashamed. He didn't know what had come over him and he was afraid of himself. There was something so intimate and personal in the way she'd said his name and he'd already been thinking about her so much of the time now. He'd felt an overwhelming desire to pull her to him, to feel her body against his, to feel his lips on hers.
She still stood there, but he couldn't look at her.
'Mulan,' he pleaded desperately in his mind, 'please go home. Please. Leave this camp before you drive me insane.'
"Captain! Captain!"
Shang stiffened at Chi Fu's voice. Chi Fu came down the path toward them.
"Captain! Urgent news from the general! We're needed at the front!" Apparently, Chi Fu had forgotten everything he'd said to him earlier about the troops never seeing battle.
Shang's eyes widened. He headed toward camp, Chi Fu and Mulan following him. He summoned the entire troop and the soldiers assembled in the middle of the camp, Mulan joining the rest of them. Once they were lined up he announced to them that they had been called up to the front and ordered them to have their things packed and to be ready to move out first thing in the morning. He glanced down the line at the girl. She looked calm and prepared. She was apparently not afraid of the prospect of going into battle. But Shang was terrified for her. The front was no place for a young girl, whatever her training. This was madness. She was mad and she had obviously driven him mad as well that he had allowed all of this to go on. It was too late for her to leave camp now. And she was too stubborn to.
He realized that his troops were staring at him as if he had two heads, waiting for him to continue and probably wondering why he was staring so intensely at one soldier that they merely knew as a boy named Ping. He dismissed them and went to his own tent to prepare for their departure, pushing away with an effort the memory of what had just happened with Mulan before in the forest and resigning himself to the fact that she was going to be there, in the middle of the battle.