Thanks for the reviews everyone! Again, alibi girl: I did use spell check- the one on the computer. The thing is, if the word is spelled correctly, the spell checker won't catch it even if it's the wrong word. I need to go and read the chapters over myself, but I don't always have time. :(

I'm sorry if there are missing words. I read it myself this time and spell checked it. However, about halfway through, I tried to save and my computer froze. It was saved as a temporary file and I couldn't open it in my word processor. Instead, I had to open it in word pad and copy and paste it. It was really annoying because the paragraphs were messed up and words were missing. I tried to make it all right, but I may have missed some things, after all, I'm only human. (Yes, I admit it).

Disclaimer: still the same.

Last time:

"Good, it fits." The Emperor said, pleased. "Now, you two should be off." Shang and Mulan bowed once more to the Emperor and mounted their horses, Mulan with a little help from on of the servants. Shang took the lead and they galloped out of the palace grounds and out of the imperial city.

They traveled all day until the sun was directly overhead. Then, they stopped for lunch. They allowed their horses to roam a little to graze and to drink at a nearby pond. They didn't stop for long, though, because Shang needed to get back to get things ready. After about fifteen minutes, they mounted up again and continued down the path.

"Where are we?" Mulan asked. The forest was starting to look almost angry. It was darker because they were in a heavily wooded area. This meant that not much sunlight got to the forest floor to there were no plants growing there and many of the lower branches on the trees were dead. It had looked the same when they were ambushed. "Are we going back through the rebel territory?"

"Yes, but this time just on the edge." Shang answered. "We should be fine." Mulan was still a little nervous. Shang could sense it but refused to say anything. Soon the trees seemed to look normal again. Light was able to filter through and there were fern-type plants growing.

"Will Ling, Yao, and Chien-Po be there?" Mulan asked suddenly.

"No." Shang answered without and explanation. Mulan flinched at his sharpness but did not ask for a reason.

"Shang, I need a break." Mulan told him about a half-hour later. Her shoulder and leg were aching from the jolting of riding a horse. She could almost see the look at exasperation as he faced away from her. He stopped, though, and got off his horse to help her down.

"We can't stop for long." He said. This time, it wasn't snapped at her. In fact, it almost seemed gentle, like he was concerned for her. Mulan nodded in agreement and sat on the ground for a few minutes. The change of position did her some good and she was able to get back onto Khan by herself. They had only stopped for about five minutes.

After two more hours Mulan was finally recognizing her surroundings. They were going to the same camp that she had started at. She knew they were only about twenty minutes away and couldn't wait to get there. The soon came to the top of a hill overlooking the camp. There were only a few tents because the recruits were not to come until the next morning. The only ones that were up were Shang's, the cook's and the medic's tents. Mulan suddenly thought of something.

"Shang, I don't have a tent!"

"Don't worry about it." They rode down the hill and stopped if front of Shang's tent. He got off his horse and put his bag in his tent then he helped Mulan get off Khan. She reached up and detached her bag from the blanket. They then walked over to the cook's tent.

"Sung?" Shang opened the flap. Inside, they found a large man wearing an apron sleeping in a chair. "Wake up, Sung." Sung snapped awake and stood to greet the General. "Mulan is back. We would like some dinner." The cook bowed and walked out to the back to the tent to begin making rice.

"Umm... about my tent-"

"I said, don't worry about it." Shang snapped. "I want your stitches checked." They then walked over to the medic's tent. He was also sitting in a chair, only he was reading a book instead of sleeping.

"Welcome back, General." The medic stood and bowed.

"Hello, Deng." Shang replied. "Mulan has two wounds from arrows. One is on her right calf muscle and the other on her right shoulder. They were stitched this morning but we had to ride here from the imperial palace so I want them checked."

"Yes, sir." Deng complied and bowed. "I must ask you to step out of the tent." Shang nodded and exited the tent. "Mulan," he bowed. After having Mulan remove her armor and shirt, the medic removed bandages and examined the stitches on her shoulder.

"They're not going to have to be redone, are they?" Mulan asked nervously.

"Nope, not these. I am more worried about the ones on your leg, however." He reached down and gently pulled up the pant leg. After removing the bandages there he got a concerned look on his face. Mulan knew they would have to be replaced, but she wanted to ask to make sure.

"What about those?"

"I'm afraid that the straining of your leg muscle while riding has pulled half of them out. You didn't feel this, of course, so you couldn't tell. I'll have to remove the other half and redo them all."

"Okay..."

"Don't worry, taking them out won't hurt, it'll only feel like I'm tugging at your leg. It will feel a little odd, though." Deng told her. She nodded a little and he grabbed an object that resembled tweezers. After the other half of stitches were taken out, he went to get a needle.

Mulan was starting to feel lightheaded. She tried to push it away, but it wouldn't work. The sight of the needle caused her to go extremely pale. She looked away as the doctor began stitching her wound. She whined in pain, but managed not to scream. Her jaw was clenched again and her eyes were shut tight, causing tears to form in the corners.

"Okay, I'm done." Deng said. Mulan opened her eyes slowly and looked up at him. She was still extremely pale and looked as though she was going to pass out at any second. "I'll go get Shang." Mulan put her shirt back on with shaking hands and pulled her pant leg down over the bandage.

"Is she okay?" Shang burst into the tent, followed closely by Deng who was trying to keep him from going in right away. When he saw that Mulan was dressed, however, he relaxed a little.

"I don't feel good." Mulan whispered, afraid to open her mouth.

"I think you should lay down." Deng told her. "Does she have a tent?" Mulan was about to tell him no when Shang spoke.

"Yes," Shang answered.

"Good, I'll take her there." Deng answered. He lifted Mulan off the table and followed Shang to her tent, which was right next to Shang's. He laid Mulan down on the mat and covered her with a blanket.

"How long do I have to stay here?" Mulan asked.

"I'll come check on you later." Deng answered. "Get some sleep to help heal those wounds." Mulan nodded and closed her eyes. She was feeling a little tired and decided that a little extra sleep couldn't hurt.

Shang was setting up the camp. He got together some of the sticks they used (it's called a bo). He also got some bows and arrows. As well as the wooden buckets and filled the bags that they carried over their shoulders with sand. Each time he finished with one chore, he found himself wandering towards Mulan's tent. He would almost look in but caught himself and found something else to do. By the time Sung, the cook, had gotten dinner ready, Shang had worn a small path leading almost to the entrance to Mulan's tent.

"Shang, Mulan's fine." Deng told him. He had just gone in and checked on Mulan and Shang was approaching the tent yet again. "Stop worrying."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Shang snapped. He knew the doctor was right. He wiped the look of concern off his face. The doctor smiled sadly at him and went back to his tent.

"Stupid doctor." Shang muttered to himself. "Why would I worry about her?" Little did he know, Mulan was awake and could hear him from inside her tent. She was confused; if he wasn't worried, then why did he keep coming to her tent? She soon heard Sung tell Shang that dinner was ready.

"Mulan?" Shang peeked his head into the tent. His eyes were cold. "Dinner is ready." She nodded and managed to push herself into a sitting position. Shang reluctantly offered her his hand and he pulled her to her feet. (The tent was big enough that even he was able to stand upright).

They slowly made their way to the cook's tent where there was a table set up for eating. They sat down and ate a large meal. There was, of course, the white rice. Along with it, there was a chicken dish and a beef dish. Sung had made extra to heat again for the next day. When the meal was finished, Mulan was told to go back to sleep. Shang took her back to her tent.

"I want to write to my parents." Mulan said to him. "So they know where I am." Shang nodded but didn't say anything. He left her in her tent, wondering if he cared. Although she wasn't very tired, she knew that she couldn't get up. She laid there thinking about her parents for a while and fell asleep.

Shang, too, went to bed after taking Mulan to her tent.

In his mind, he ran over all the training sessions for the new soldiers. He knew them all by heart, but he didn't start with shooting the arrow into the pole. He still didn't know what he wanted to do instead, but he didn't want to do that; it wasn't challenging enough. He'd have to come up with something quickly. He soon found himself drifting off to sleep.

Mulan woke up before the sun was rising. She rolled over to try to go back to sleep, but found that she couldn't. She sighed and sat up. Her shoulder didn't hurt nearly as much as the day before. Her leg still hurt a lot, though. She reached over to get her shoes and found a stick with a note on it. It read:

Mulan,

I know you aren't going to stay in bed. Please use this if you must walk around without help. I think your shoulder should be able to take the strain. I'll check your stitches again, too. Take it easy

-Deng

Mulan smiled and pulled herself to her feet. The stick branched off at the top and her armpit fit perfectly there. She leaned on the stick every time she needed to put weight on her right foot. It worked out great! She was excited because she wouldn't have to rely on Shang to get anywhere now! Not that she really minded, but she knew that he did.

Mulan walked out of her tent to find Khan. She hadn't seen him since the day before and she didn't know where he was. She found him easily, though. Since the last time she had been here, they had built a corral for the horses brought by soldiers. Khan and Shang's stallion were both in the corral.

Khan noticed her and trotted over, hoping for some extra food. He was disappointed when Mulan merely reached out to pat his forehead. His ears drooped slightly as did his head. Mulan noticed.

"Now Khan," she lectured him. "It wouldn't be fair to the other horses if you got more food than they did." He seemed to sigh and turned back to the center of the field to graze some more.

Mulan suddenly heard yelling coming from the camp. It was Shang yelling at the medic because Mulan was missing. He wouldn't let Deng explain the stick. Mulan decided to walk back to the camp to rescue the doctor from Shang's wrath. Shang had Deng by his collar and was about to lift him off the ground when Mulan walked up behind Deng.

"Shang!" Mulan exclaimed. "Put him down!" He did so immediately.

"Mulan! Where have you been?!" Shang demanded and moved towards her. She slowly backed up; she hadn't expected him to be angry with her.

"I was visiting Khan." Mulan answered. "Deng gave me this walking stick, so it's fine. He was trying to tell you, but you wouldn't let him!"

"Oh... Uhh... okay." Shang answered. "Time for breakfast, then." He turned towards Sung's tent with out an apology to Deng. Deng sighed and fixed his color before following Shang to the tent.

"I'm sorry, Deng." Mulan said, walking with him. "I should have told someone where I was or left a note of something."

"It's okay, Mulan. It's not your fault he's like that." Deng smiled at her. Mulan nodded and they entered the cook's tent.

Just as they finished eating breakfast, the new recruits started arriving. They were as rambunctious as the ones Mulan had started with. Many of them were only about seventeen years old. Some were older, though, and they were calmly talking. The younger ones were busy bragging about how accurate they could shoot already and such things. There were, however, no catastrophes like the one Mulan had caused.

"Recruits!" Shang bellowed over all the noise. All activity stopped and everyone turned to their General. "Form your line!" They complied and Shang introduced himself, Deng, Sung, and finally, Mulan. After each person he introduced, the recruits bowed. When it came to Mulan, though, only half of them bowed. She guessed her story didn't reach all of the small villages so not all knew who she was. Shang didn't notice that not all had bowed.

"The first order of business will be for you to all set up your tents." Shang glared at them all. "How many of you did not bring tents?" No one stepped forward. "Good. No one will be sleeping out in the cold. You have ten minutes. If any of you are late, you will not eat tonight. Dismissed." The recruits ran off to set up their tents.

Mulan was shocked that Shang would not let a man eat dinner for not setting up his tent in ten minutes. She didn't feel that it was part of training to set up a tent. However, she didn't say anything to him about it.

Shang asked, or rather ordered the medic to take a look at Mulan's stitches again. Mulan followed Deng to the medic tent to allow her wounds to be checked. Her stitches were still in place and her shoulder was healing quickly. Her leg was another matter, though; Deng suspected an infection. Her leg was swelling a little and the skin around the would was not the normal color.

"What happens if it's infected?" Mulan asked.

"Well, I have antibiotics to give you. They should work, but it may take a few days to get the infection under control. I will give them to you because I want to catch the infection before it gets worse."

"Okay. What happens if it gets worse?" Mulan asked hesitantly.

"I'd rather not think about that right now." Deng answered. "Don't worry, though. We have caught it in the earliest stages. In a few days the swelling should be gone and you shouldn't have any problems."

"I hope so." Mulan answered. The antibiotic was to be taken with tea. It would dissolve in the liquid and she would, of course, drink it. She would need to do this two times a day for three days. Then Deng would check her wound again.

The days went by slowly for Mulan. She couldn't help with the training yet because she wasn't able to move fast enough. Shang rarely talked to her because he was too busy training the recruits. If he did find time for her, it was only to make sure that Deng was treating her wounds correctly or to ask her to get water for the troops. The three days finally passed and Deng examined her leg again.

"Well, I believe the infection is gone." Deng told her. "I don't see any swelling left and the skin around the would is a good color."

"That's good." Mulan answered. How long do you think until the stitches can come out?"

"Well, I was going to remove the ones in your shoulder today." Deng replied. "The ones in your leg, however, will have to stay in longer." He reached over for his pair of tweezers. Beginning at one end of the stitches on her shoulder, he gently tugged them out. They came out easily and painlessly.

"There," Deng put the tweezers back. "All done. Be careful, though. Your shoulder is still tender."

"I will!" Mulan was so excited that she would be able to do archery now. And that's what they were about to start! She stood up from the table in the medic's tent and put her shirt back on. She didn't need the crutch anymore, so she walked out to find Shang. She was sure he would be happy that her stitches were out.

"Shang?" Mulan searched for him. They weren't in the camp so she went to the archery range. She found them here, starting to shoot at tomatoes onto targets on the trees, like she had done. None were succeeding. One soldier managed to hit a tomato, but it didn't hit the tree.

"What are you doing here, Mulan?" Shang asked harshly.

"I got my stitches in my shoulder taken out." She told him, unfazed by his harshness.

"That's good." Shang replied distractedly. She was a little hurt, but she understood that he had to train the new soldiers. She sighed and turned to walk back to the camp. It would be dinnertime soon and she figured that Sung would want some help making food for all the soldiers.

She took two steps and turned back around. Unnoticed by the soldiers, she picked up an extra bow and five arrows. She put five tomatoes on the board and hit the other end with her foot, sending them flying into the air. Mulan quickly took aim and shot all five tomatoes onto the targets on the tree. The recruits all stopped dead and stared down the line at her. All wanted to see who had succeeded.

"Mulan!" Shang yelled at her. "This is no time to be showing off!" She took a step back as he marched towards her. "I don't need distractions! Go back to the camp!" Mulan threw the bow at him and he managed to catch it. She turned and walked as fast as she could with her injury back to the camp.

Instead of going to help Sung with the cooking, she went to her tent instead and threw herself onto her bed. She couldn't believe Shang had yelled at her in front of all the soldiers! Her intention was not to show off; she didn't know how he had thought that! Tears formed in her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. She would not cry because of something Shang said; it would be weak.

On no! Is Mulan starting to think like Shang?! That would be really bad, wouldn't it? Please review!