Disclaimer: If it's in Disney Mulan, it's theirs. If it's not in Disney Mulan, it's mine. Cheers!
CHAPTER TWO – Back at Wu Zhong
A/N: Thank you to all my lovely reviewers!! Big thanks to narfgirl, Angel452, Julie, Dragon Spirit Fighter, alibi girl and JB who reviewed Chapter One before I wrote Chapter Two. But thanks to everyone who's reviewed!!!!
Oh, I have no idea of military ranks so; pardon me if I get them wrong! Shang is the highest, then Loon Fung, then The Gang. Thanks!
The following morning Mulan woke to the sound of ringing bells. Startled, she sat up suddenly to see Mushu using Cri-Kee as an alarm clock. Giggling to herself, she picked up her socks and threw them at Mushu.
"Oi, oi, oi!" Mushu snapped, pulling the socks off his head. "You may think you smell divine, but believe me, not all of us share that view," Mushu hurled the socks back at Mulan, who caught them.
"Alright, alright. Where are my clothes?" Mulan pushed the blanket off her feet and started scrabbling around the tent looking for her training clothes. After dressing she went out of her tent to get a bit of air.
Mulan's tent was the left side of a square. Chien-Po was next to her, as the top, Yao then as the right side of the square and then Ling as bottom. Shang's tent and another was in the middle. There was supposed to be some sort of theory behind the extraordinary placing of the tents, which Chien-Po had tried to explain to her last night.
FLASHBACK (Last night):
"That's your tent," Chien-Po pointed at the tent, while walking around, Mulan trotting after him. "That's mine, that's Yao's, that's Ling's and that's Shang's,"
"We look like a big cross," Mulan commented and looked around. "Whose is that tent?" She pointed to the one next to Shang's.
"That's the Commander's. He's supposed to be arriving tomorrow as well. He's directly under Shang, in rank, so he's got to be next to him,"
Mulan rolled her eyes. "Stupid layout,"
"Yeah, I guess," Chien-Po said. "There's a theory that the General has his best soldiers around him, for protection,"
Mulan giggled. "I'm one of his best soldiers?"
"Sure," said Ling. "He said, 'you fight good', remember?" Ling sniggered.
"You heard that?" Mulan said, outraged.
"Oh yeah," Ling sniggered again. Mulan frowned at him.
"That, and Shang wants to be near you, because he's so in luurve," Yao cooed. Mulan flushed and made moves to punch him when Shang looked over from his tent.
Oh god, please tell me he didn't hear. Please, please, please!! Mulan prayed.
"What's going on?" He asked. Mulan dropped her fist and allowed Chien-Po to pull her back from Yao.
"Nothing," They all answered sullenly. Shang raised his eyebrows, but turned and left.
"Not going to punch me infront of lover boy?" Yao cooed again. Shang, this time, did hear. He turned around, his face going the exact same shade of red as Mulan's. Yao sniggered to himself.
A long silence stood there. Both Mulan and Shang were staring at the ground, their faces lobster-red. Yao and Ling were giggling and Chien-Po just stood there.
Oh god. This is the longest silence EVER! Someone talk! Anybody!! Mulan cringed and shuffled her feet.
What's she thinking? Oh god. What the hell did Yao mean? Lover boy? I thought he called me 'Pretty Boy'. Oh god. Oh god. Someone talk! What do I look like? I'm going the same colour as my cape! Shang thought to himself.
"Yeah, well, I'm off to go set-up my tent," Chien-Po said, breaking the silence.
Thank God for Chien-Po. Mulan breathed a sigh of relief. "Yeah, good idea. I'm going to go do that too," She stuttered hurriedly, then rushed off to the sanctuary of her tent.
END FLASHBACK
×××
"What's up with you, Mulan?" Ling snapped.
"Huh?"
The Gang and Mulan were sitting in the eating tent. The recruits were meant to be arriving soon, but they had a few minutes for breakfast.
The eating tent was the largest of all the tents. It had ten sets of tables with benches on either side. The top table was reserved for the General and High Ranked Officers, but Mulan sat with them anyway.
"You're squishing a piece of rice in your chopsticks," Ling answered.
"Hmm,"
Suddenly, they heard hooves clipping over the bridge and pounding feet on the ground. The Gang and Mulan all looked at each other, then simultaneously got up and ran out the tent.
Shang was standing at the entrance of the tent, waiting for the lone rider to join him. His cape was waving in the breeze, and he looked very fit and muscular. Mulan could feel her heart melting slightly.
"Come on," Yao grabbed her arm and pushed her along, until they were level with Shang. He didn't turn to look at them. Mulan sighed and looked as the man dismounted off his horse.
He looked very similar to Shang. Both were young, dark-haired and muscular. This man had a small moustache growing, a sharp nose and dark eyes. They reminded Mulan of Shang, but she felt none of the deepness and mysterious that she always felt when she looked into Shang's eyes. Mulan giggled to herself.
"Loon Fung!" Shang went forward and embraced the man. Loon Fung gave Shang a hug back, and came out with a stream of fast Chinese.
The Gang looked at each other and raised their eyebrows. Yao coughed loudly. Shang and Fung broke apart, both grinning. It was a rare thing to see Shang smile; he was too serious a man to smile often.
"This is Commander Loon Fung. He was my best friend when I was growing up. Fung, these are the Captains: Chien-Po, Ling and Yao," Shang paused. Mulan frowned at him. "Oh, and this is Fa Mulan," Mulan sighed.
"This is a great honour," Fun smiled at the Gang, and then turned to Mulan, who was still frowning. "Fa Mulan. This is a bigger honour. It's quite a something to meet the heroine of China," He gave a short bow. Mulan bit her lips to hold her giggles in.
"Thank you," She replied. Yao sniggered. Mulan trod on his feet, causing Yao to cry out in pain and shock. Everyone turned to him, whose face was going red.
"Nothing," He said, hopping away. Ling and Chien-Po went after him, leaving Mulan, Shang and Loon Fung.
"Yeah, well. I'm going to go," Mulan smiled at both of them. "Nice to meet you," She turned and left, her hair rippling in the breeze.
Shang watched her go. He couldn't help but stare at her small figure, her waving hair, her delicate way of walking. He knew that he felt affection for her, but because it was so new and fragile, he didn't know if it was love or fondness for a comrade.
Fung followed his gaze, and grinned. "What you looking at Shang?" He asked mischievously. Shang turned quickly towards him and shrugged.
"Nothing,"
"Yeah, yeah. I saw you. What are you feeling for her?"
"Nothing,"
"Come on Shang! I saw the way you were looking at her. I haven't seen that look since we were twelve years old and you had that crush on May-Lynn!"
"You knew about that?!" Shang burst out, horrified.
"Everyone knew about it!" Fung replied. "Apart from her, of course," He added, as an after thought, rubbing his chin.
"May-Lynn was a long time ago. Come on, I'll show you your tent," Shang walked off in the direction of the tents, Fung trailing behind him.
"Come on Shang. Don't you want to talk about it?" Fung asked.
"There's nothing to talk about," Shang answered stiffly.
"Shang, she saved your life twice! Are you telling me you don't feel anything for her?" Fung snapped. Shang turned towards him angrily.
"Look! Of course I feel things for her! She's a friend, and all, if any, affection I feel for her is a friend!" Shang yelled.
Unable to control his brief anger, his yell had echoed around the camp. The Gang stuck their heads out from the eating tent, a few grains of rice falling from Ling's open mouth. Mulan came out from her tent, her eyes wide, her mouth slightly parted. Shang flushed bright red, his head dropping down to his chest. Fung began to smile.
"Uh...Shang and I are going to have a quick talk, okay?" Fung quickly said, pushing Shang into his tent.
The Gang turned to Mulan, who was blushing herself. She shrugged and walked back into her tent.
×××
As she sat down on her blanket, her thoughts drifted to what Shang had said. "Of course I feel things for her! She's a friend, and all, if any, affection I feel for her is a friend!"
"Is that it?" She asked Mushu, who was sitting on the floor next to her. She could feel her eyes beginning to brim over. "Is all he feels for me, is a friend way?"
"Oh, come on babe. You know he likes you more than that," Mushu said.
"How do I know? He's everything I've ever dreamed of, ever since I was a little girl," Mulan said, a few tears dripping down. Mushu handed her a tissue, and Mulan blew her nose dolefully.
"Honey..." Mushu clambered up onto her knee. "Tell you what. If worse comes to the worse, I'll marry you," Mushu grinned insanely. Mulan began to laugh hysterically.
Her laughter carried out from her tent, drifting into the eating tent and Shang's tent, where Fung and Shang were.
×××
"She seems to be handling it well," Fung said, listening to Mulan's laughter. Shang glared at him.
"Handling it?! She's just got the wrong end of the chopstick!" Shang snapped.
"Its wrong end of the stick, Shang," Fung corrected him.
"God!"
"Look, why are you so worried about it? She's your friend, she'll understand,"
"I just...I just don't want her to know about anything," Shang answered, hesitantly.
"Ah-ha! So you do feel something!" Fung grinned. "And it's not just affection for a comrade now, is it?"
"Maybe you're just letting your imagination run away with you. I do not love Mulan, she does not love me. End of story!" Shang snapped.
Suddenly, the tent flap opened and the Gang stuck their heads in.
"Sorry to interrupt, but we wanted if you guys had time for a chat," Chien-Po asked. Without waiting for a reply, Yao and Ling marched in and sat down on either side of Fung.
"So, what's happening?" Ling asked as Chien-Po sat down next to Yao.
"Shang thinks he's falling in love with Mulan," Fung said before Shang could say anything.
"Fung!" Shang yelled. The Gang burst out laughing.
"You love Mulan?" Yao spluttered.
"No, I don't!" Shang snapped.
"I bet you do," Ling smirked.
"No, I don't!" Shang repeated. "She's my friend, okay?" The other four didn't say anything, but Shang could see them smirking. "Alright, don't believe me. I know me, and you don't," Shang sauntered out the tent, pleased with his last words.
In the distance he could see Mulan sitting on a fence-post next to the paddock, with Khan, her horse. He stood there watching her.
"Do I really not love her? She makes me feel tingly inside whenever she's near, but that could just be nerves." Shang tilted his head and looked at Mulan again. "Nerves! God, you ARE stupid Shang. It's nothing to do with nerves. Or is it? No, don't be silly. Probably because you're not used to being around women. Yeah, that's it. You don't love her. Of course, you don't love her. She's your friend. That's fine. Nice Li Shang. I've just sorted the whole problem out. Oh yes!" Shang punched the air, and then wandered off to the training grounds, a big smile on his face.
×××
Mulan, Mushu, Cri-Kee and Khan had spent most of the day in the forest, relaxing, talking, laughing and generally having fun.
When Mulan rode back to Wu Zhong, the new recruits were already there and settling in. Mulan couldn't help but stare at the transformation of the camp. Hundreds (A/N: Maybe not hundreds, but you know what I mean!) of white tents were placed in lines, forming a giant white square in a field of green. The post that Shang was to shoot an arrow into was in front of the eating tent, the paddock was at the far end, next to the bridge and the stream.
"Are you going to marvel at the beauty of this stupid camp, or are you going to move your butt down the hill?!" Mushu snapped angrily.
"Sorry!" Mulan answered, digging her heels into Khan's side. They galloped down the hill and over the bridge, where Chien-Po met them.
"There you are!" He gasped.
"Yes indeedy-oh. Here I am! Why, what's up?" Mulan asked.
"You where meant to be here about an hour ago! Shang's already going crazy. He's been yelling and all that," Chien-Po said. Mulan gulped.
"Where's he now?"
"He's in his tent. You better hurry. I'll take Khan for you," Chien-Po offered.
"Oh, thanks!" Mulan breathed a small sigh of relief. She jumped off Khan and ran into Shang's tent, without bothering to knock.
×××
Shang was sitting on a pillow when Mulan cam rushing in. One look at her breathless face and hair sticking up at all angles told him she had obviously been told that he was looking for her and had run to his tent.
"Where have you been?"
"I was in the forest. I'm sorry, I didn't know you were looking for me," Her face looked genuinely sorry and Shang could feel his anger ebbing away.
"That's okay. Just...just next time, tell someone where you're going," Shang smiled at her. Mulan grinned inside. "Okay, so much for going crazy. Thank god he's not mad,"
"I did tell someone. I told..." Mulan started then her voice drifted away as she was about to say 'Mushu'. She frowned.
Shang didn't believe her. "Well, just beware. Next time, I'll have to punish you," He couldn't help grinning.
"You seriously think you could punish me? Me? Little Mulan?" She fluttered her eyelashes then stopped. "Oh my god. Am I flirting? God, I flirted! Argh! What? Why? Oh god, he's going to think I'm an idiot!"
Shang looked at her, confusion on his face. "Oh my god, did she just flirt? God, she just flirted! Argh! What am I meant to do? Am I meant to do anything? Oh god, she's going to think I'm an idiot. Do something! Anything!"
"Sure..." The response sounded lame to his own ears. He flushed. Mulan looked at him, puzzled. Silence drifted around the room for a few minutes before Mulan broke it.
"What did you want to see me for?"
"Huh? Oh, do you and everyone else want to give me a hand training the new recruits?"
"Oh sure,"
"Good. Meet me at the pole in about...five minutes,"
"Sure,"
Mulan left the tent. Mushu bounded up to her as soon as she came out.
"So what happened?" He sounded very eager.
"What do you mean, 'what happened'? You were there, you were listening," Mulan snapped.
"I was not listening! I don't do that kind of thing!" Mulan stopped and looked at Mushu.
"Are you kidding?"
"No! Man, it was funny when you flirted," Mushu giggled, then subsided when he saw Mulan's raised eyebrows. "Okay, I listened. Just because I knew you would never tell me!"
Mulan stomped on the little dragon.
"Ow! Ouch! Mind your feet!" Mushu croaked. Mulan bent down next to him, picking up his limp form.
"Stop it, Mushu," She said.
"Alright, alright," He nodded, twisting himself out of Mulan's grasp. He landed on the floor with a surprisingly loud thump for such a small dragon.
×××
Shang looked at the new recruits. They definitely weren't 'war' material. Hopefully, days and days of vigorous training would sort out that problem.
"Soldiers!" He cried. The chatting and laughing immediately stopped, and the air was thick of tension and nervousness.
"This is Commander Loon Fung. He is my immediate inferior and you will show him respect and listen to his orders. These men are Captain Chien-Po, Yao and Ling," Shang paused again. Mulan frowned. "Trust Shang to forget me...again!" She thought to herself, grinding a stone under her shoe.
"And this is Fa Mulan. You will show her respect and take every order from her, or anyone else here, as you would from me. Is that clear?"
The soldiers nodded. Yao cleared his throat.
"I said, IS THAT CLEAR?" Yao bellowed. Shang turned to him in disbelief. Fung, Mulan, Chien-Po and Ling began to laugh and so did several of the recruits.
"Yao!" Shang snapped. He looked very angry. Mulan, Fung, Chien-Po, Ling and the recruits quickly stopped laughing.
"Just making sure..." Yao's voice trailed off and his face began to go pale. Shang glared at him. Yao shuffled behind Mulan, who was biting his lips to stop her laughing.
"Soldiers!" Shang turned his attention back to the recruits, who were sniggering amongst themselves. "Our first activity is poles across the water. Run to the river!" He yelled. The recruits began to run to the river, many laughing at the Yao incident.
Shang turned to the four officers, and Mulan.
"I'm going to ignore that incident Yao. I hope you use your new position for some good, not flaunting it. Now go to the river," He ordered. They nodded, and walked to the river.
×××
The river had a small waterfall at the end, where the recruits were lining up to cross the poles. The dark water swirled beneath them, making all of them uneasy. It wasn't that deep, but it was cold and the blackness of it made it look deep.
Fung stepped forward.
"Gentlemen!" He called out. They all turned towards him. "Each person will run across the poles and stop on the other side, forming an orderly line. We will now watch Captain Ling as he demonstrates this exercise,"
It was unfortunate that he should pick Ling because he was slightly afraid of water and wasn't all that good at the exercise.
Swelling up his chest, Ling walked forward, aware that everyone was watching him.
"I bet he falls in," Mulan hissed to Yao.
"I bet he won't," Yao said. He regretted saying this almost immediately because he knew of Ling's fear of water.
"If doesn't he fall in I'll do all the punishments that Shang gives you," Mulan said, spitting on her hand then holding out her hand to Yao. Yao spat on his own hand then shook Mulan's.
"Deal. If he does, I'll do all your punishments,"
The both turned back to Ling. He was staring at the poles, measuring the distance between each of them. Taking a deep breath he leapt onto the first pole then the second then the third and then...
SPLASH!
Ling had lost his balance on the fourth pole and had toppled into the water. This was greeted with gasps and laughter. An embarrassed Ling came up from the bottom of the river, pushing his wet hair out of his eyes.
Yao turned to Mulan as Chien-Po, Fung and the rest of the recruits went to help Ling out. Mulan was smirking.
"Does the bet still stand?" He asked her nervously.
"Of course. You have to do all my punishments now!" Mulan grinned. Yao glared at her and walked away.
×××
After the pole exercise, Fung had taught them archery. A disgruntled Ling demanded to be excused from this exercise. Fung had excused him and it made everybody laugh hysterically as they watched him traipse back to the tents, water dripping down from his tunic.
None of the recruits had any success in archery. Fung picked Mulan to demonstrate this exercise and she put on a much better demonstration than Ling by getting all her plums on the arrows to hit the targets.
As the recruits attempted to fire their arrows, Mulan, Fung, Chien-Po and Yao walked around giving them advice. In the end only one recruit managed to fire an arrow that hit a plum and his target.
