Disclaimer: As usual, own nothing except my people.

CHAPTER TWELVE – Forming the Consortium

A/N: Okay, some very...interesting reviews. Thank you to Skymouth, baka-onna2003, and Orion Kohaishu for their reviews.

belle, thanks for your review on the Emperor quote, which does make sense, but I want the Emperor to seem much more friendly when he's with friends like the Gang...so...

I might or might not kill Chien-Po off and I'm not evil because of it. :P

Also, thank you to my loyal reviewers: pepe ok, sumayyah, Angel452 and A Cute But Psycho Bunny.

Also...BIG thank you to mess531y for her first review and then for her second, very supporting, review. I am going somewhere with Chien-Po's illness. Thank you so much anyway!!

And for future reference...the girl who was buried in the snow and was in the beginning part of Chapter Nine, is a real person and the house-fire actually happened so...SHE IS NOT A DREAM! NOR IS SHE ANY PART OF THE NIGHTMARE MULAN HAD!!!

...Just so you know. :D

"I need some food," Yao said, digging around in his pack. "Where's all my food?"

"You ate it last night," Chien-Po said, biting on a cold egg roll. Mulan was sitting opposite him, on a rock, pulling a face. "What's your problem?"

"You know what my problem is. Cold egg rolls? Urgh!" She stuck her tongue out.

"You think this is bad?" Chien-Po said, waving the egg roll around. "You eat weirder things! I saw you-! Hey!" Chien-Po turned to see Yao's hand in his pack, trying to find food. "Get out!" He slapped Yao's hand, which withdrew immediately.

"Okay, fine, fine," Yao scowled and looked over at Ling's discarded pack. "Let's see what Ling's got!" Yao went over and started rooting around in his pack. Fung frowned, from his seat on a rock next to Mulan's.

"Why didn't you bring your own food?"

"I did! I just...ate it all," Yao said, sheepishy. He drew out an egg roll. "An egg roll!"

"More cold egg rolls?" Mulan exclaimed. "What is it with you people?"

"Egg rolls are nice," Yao said, swallowing the whole egg roll whole.

"Also, what is with guys having to swallow everything whole? You can't spare a tiny bit of energy to actually chew something and then swallow it, like a normal person?!" Mulan snapped.

"Hey, we do chew things! We don't swallow everything whole!" Fung complained.

"Like what?"

"I don't know!" Fung said, taking an egg roll from Yao's hand and swallowing it.

"We have more food, right?" Chien-Po asked.

"I haven't," Yao said.

"Yeah, me neither," Fung said, brushing his hands. "I just finished mine,"

The three of them turned to Mulan. "What about you?" Chien-Po asked.

"I don't know," Mulan said, searching her bag. "Actually, I do have a stash of Shang's honey biscuits that I stole from him," She said, pulling out a small bag, containing several small golden circles.

"Honey biscuits!" Fung yelled, delighted. He snatched the bag from Mulan's hand, opened it and poured half the contents into his mouth.

"Fung!" Mulan cried. She grabbed the bag away from him, before wiping the opening of the bag on his cape. "Urgh..."

Fung made a noise and began to cough.

"Having some trouble swallowing?" Yao sniggered. Fung nodded, his cheeks bulging and his throat was stuffed with biscuits.

"Give us one," Chien-Po said, holding out his hand. Mulan chucked him the bag.

"Just leave me one," She said as Chien-Po ate a few. He threw the bag to Yao, who ate the remaining biscuits. "Or not..." She said, catching the empty bag.

"Guys!" A voice yelled. They all turned to see Ling and Shang running over, Tiao Zao on Ling's shoulders and a small frame was cradled in Shang's arms.

"Huh?" They all said, getting up from their rocks. As Shang and Ling drew closer, Ling asked Yao to get some bandages, which Yao did.

"What? What is it?" Chien-Po said.

"Oh my god, is she all right?" Mulan said, horrified. She watched as Shang took off his cape, placed it on the ground and lay the girl on it. "What happened? Where was she?"

"Buried in the snow," Ling said, setting Tiao Zao down on a rock.

"Here," Yao said, giving Shang the bandages.

"What are these for?" Shang said, looking at the bandages lying in his palm.

"I don't know, Ling told me to get them," Yao shrugged.

"She's unconscious and is probably freezing to death," Chien-Po said, taking the bandages and putting them in his bag. "She has no need for bandages!"

"Actually, she does," Mulan said, pointing out the very noticeable cuts, scratches and blood clots on the girl's face.

"Oh yeah..."Chien-Po said. He hurried began dressing the girl's wounds, pulling the bandage wrap apart with his teeth.

Ling knelt down next to Shang and brushed the girl's hair away from her face. "What are we going to do?"

"Well, hanging around here won't help her," Fung said. "Come on, we have to leave her and get to Wu Zhong, or anywhere where we can warm her up. Being stuck in the mountains won't help,"

"You're right," Ling said. "I'll take her,"

"Okay," Shang picked her up, wrapped his cape around her and waited for Ling to get on his horse, before handing her to him.

Mulan was talking to Tiao Zao, who was still sitting on the rock. He was still in tears because of his sprained ankle. Shang rolled his eyes. "This is going to be our future emperor?" He thought.

"Come on, Little Flea, you can be strong, can't you?" Mulan said, wiping his tears. Tiao Zao shook his head. "Come on," She picked him up and put him on Khan. Shang caught hold of her arm.

"Why are you so soft with him?"

"Excuse me?"

"He's the Emperor's grandson. He's a boy. He shouldn't be crying because of a sprained ankle!" Shang hissed. "Sure, I'd expect this from a girl-" He broke off at Mulan's glare. "I mean..."

"Shang, leave it. He's in pain and he's only young,"

"He's been pampered all his life. He's got to learn to..." Shang paused. "To be a man!"

"'To be a man'? Shang, he's six years old!" Mulan frowned.

"At six years old, I'd already be training!" Shang snapped.

"Guys?" Fung called from his horse. They both looked over and he gestured to the girl, who was being cradled by Ling. "Hanging around is not going to help her,"

"Right," Shang said, letting go of Mulan's arm and clambering on his horse, Mulan doing the same.

--------

Wu Zhong hadn't changed. The hundreds of tents that were there the last time Mulan had been there, were still there, the cross of High Ranked Officials, and Mulan, tents were still there and the arrow in the pole was still there too.

As soon as they arrived, Shang, Yao and Fung went straight into the medical tent, taking the girl and Tiao Zao with them. Mulan, Yao and Chien-Po went to leave the horses in the paddock.

"Do you think she'll be all right?" A worried Ling asked Mulan. Ling wanted to go with them, but Shang said that the tent would be too crowded. "How come Yao got to go and see whether she'll be all right?"

"He got there first, I guess," Chien-Po said. Ling sighed.

"I don't know whether she'll be all right. According to Shang, they reckon she's been buried in the snow for a day or so," Mulan said, patting Khan. "I wouldn't get your hopes up too high, Ling,"

"She will be," Chien-Po said, with conviction.

Ling rounded on him. "How do you know? How do you know she won't die because of pneumonia or some other disease? How do you know her limbs won't just drop off-?" Ling cried. He sat down on a bale of hay and his shoulders slumped forward. Mulan and Chien-Po sat on either side of him, grimacing.

"Ling, don't worry so much. She will be fine," Chien-Po patted him on the back.

"I hope so,"

-------------

"Can you pass me another blanket?" Shang asked Fung, who tossed one at him.

"You'd think she'd thaw out in this afternoon heat," Fung joked. Slowly, everyone turned their heads to him and glared at him.

"Okay, I take it you're not ready jokes," Fung said, getting up and slowly, backing out the tent.

Shang removed the girl's shoes and socks and grimaced at her black toenails. He rubbed her feet and then wrapped them with the blanket. By now, she had been stripped to her undergarments and was lying in a thick layer of numerous blankets. Her pulse was still weak. Yao had given her some tea, but they had to pry her lips open to get some down.

"Will she last?" Yao asked Shang, who shrugged.

"I don't know," He said, brushing the remaining snow flakes from her forehead.

"I think she will," Tiao Zao said, from his seat on the floor. He was bandaging his own ankle with bandages, in an attempt to stop the pain.

"How do you know?" Yao asked. Even Shang looked puzzled.

"Come on, she's survived this long, in an ice cold climate. She's been buried in snow for, like, a day and she's still alive! She'll live; she just might be weak for a while,"

"The kid has a point," Mulan said, coming in, followed by Fung, Chien-Po and Ling. "How's she doing?" She sat down next to Shang and bent over to look at the girl's pale face.

"Not that much better," Shang said. He looked sadly at the girl and frowned at her uneven breathing.

Ling choked back tears. It was loud, everyone heard and everyone looked at him. "What's up man?" Mushu said, surfacing from Mulan's collar.

"Nothing," Ling's sullen reply was.

"Seriously, what's up?" Fung echoed.

"I'm just worried for her, that's all," Ling said, looking down at her pallid form.

Right on cue, the girl began to move slightly.

"I think all those blankets are restricting her movement," Mulan said. She peeled off half of the first layer of blankets and stared at the others. "How many did you put on?"

"Lots," Fung said, holding back his sniggers.

"It's best for her. She needs to regain her warmth," Shang explained.

"I guess," Mulan said, putting her arm around Tiao Zao, who had crawled over to her. Shang bit his lip and avoided looking at them.

"How long do you think it'll take for her to get better?" Mulan asked, after a few minutes of silence.

"A few days?" Fung estimated. "Yeah, probably about that,"

"Days?"

"Just under a week? I don't know," Fung shrugged. Mulan bit her lips, in an effort to stop yelling objections out loud. "Mulan, can you wait to see your father?"

Everyone turned to look at her. She chewed her bottom lip thoughtfully. "I guess I'll have to,"

"You could go on your own," Chien-Po suggested.

"Actually, that might not be a good idea, you know," Ling put forward. "When she-," He jerked his head towards the girl. "-wakes up, she might want some female company,"

"Trust Ling...always thinking of the girls..." Mulan glared at his back. "Don't be selfish Mulan! This poor girl has been buried in the snow...and has probably gone through some very traumatic times, so deal with it! So what if your meeting with your father is put off by a week or so? He'll still be there," Mulan shook her head.

"Are you all right babes?" Mushu hissed in her ear. Mulan watched as Ling re-dressed the wound on the girl's arm.

"Yeah, I'm fine,"

"You worried about your father?" Mushu murmured.

"Is it that obvious?" She replied, chewing her thumb now.

"Is what obvious?" Fung said, looking up from the mass of heads that were engulfing the girl.

"Nothing," Mulan gave him a grin back and couldn't help frowning as Fung bent down to look at the girl again.

"Are you jealous because of all the attention that she's getting?" Mushu said, slithering out of her collar and perching on her shoulder.

"No, I'm not," Mulan said. Her tone was confident so Mushu had no reason to doubt what she had just said. "I just...don't want to be held up. I need to talk to my father...I don't want this anger he has at my mother to last any longer than I can help," She turned to the little red dragon, who was looking sympathetically at her.

"Don't worry so much, babe," Mushu patted her head. "It's going to be okay. We'll just wait for this chick here to wake up and then we'll be off to see your dad,"

"Won't she need time to recover? She was buried in snow for a day!" Mulan said, frantically.

"Yeah, probably. Come on babe, give her a week and a bit and then she'll be fine," Mushu grinned.

"All right, all right," She grinned back.

"Mulan, why are you talking to yourself?" Shang said, looking up from the girl. Mulan shoved Mushu back into her collar.

"I wasn't. I'm just going to see my tent," She got up, followed by Fung and Chien-Po.

"Yeah, I have to see if I left some stuff here too," Chien-Po's stomach rumbled. Everyone looked at him and held back their laughter. "Sorry..."

"Shang, you coming?" Mulan asked him.

"Oh...nah. I have to watch over her," He pointed to the girl.

"I thought you came with us because you needed to pick up some stuff," Mulan said, confused. Shang's face went bright red. Fung, who was standing behind Mulan with Chien-Po, quickly gestured for him to leave the tent.

"Oh yeah...that stuff! Yeah, I'll go get that now..." Shang stood up and left the tent at a run. Mulan watched him disappear into his tent, giggling.

--------

The girl stayed unconscious for the rest of the day and the night. Ling was constantly at her side, drawing sniggers, rumours and suspicions from the rest of the Gang and Mulan. No matter what the time was, Ling would be in tent, normally accompanied by Shang.

On the morning of the second day at Wu Zhong, the girl awoke, but she had never opened eyes, she just tossed, turned and whined softly. When she awoke, Ling was sitting next to her, with Shang.

Shang looked over at Ling, who was washing her cuts, and wondered for the millionth time why the man would never leave the girl's side.

"Hey, Ling," He said. Ling looked over, his arm still moving and still dabbing the cut with a wet cloth.

"Yeah?"

"I...sort of...have a question for you..."

"Well, is it a head or a heart question?" Ling asked, turning his attention back to the girl's cut.

"A what? 'A head or a heart question'?" Shang asked, confused.

"Yeah. Oh, it's just a thing my mother had with me. If I had to ask her something, she'd ask if it was a head or a heart question. Head questions are like... 'Mama, have you seen my hat?' or 'Mama, can I go over to Duan Jian's house' or 'Mama, do I have to wash the dishes today?'," Ling explained. Seeing Shang's raised eyebrow, he went on. "Head questions are practical ones. Heart questions are...mushy questions to do with life, love, fears and my growing up issues,"

"...okay," Shang said. "Okay...it's a heart question,"

"Shoot,"

"Do you like this girl?" Shang nodded to the sleeping girl.

Ling flushed and twisted the cloth in his hands. "What do you mean?"

"Well, you've been hanging around her all the time, changing her bandages every five minutes and making her tea. I figured you must care a lot for her or something...because..."

"I don't know Shang. The thing is," Ling looked down at her face and smiled. "I don't know why, it's just so easy just to sit here and watch her. I don't what it is about her that makes me never want to leave her...but I don't. I don't even know her name but I can't help but feel I know her already. She just...looks so peaceful and calm, despite her being unconscious," He stroked her hair. Shang smiled.

"I know what you're feeling," He said.

Ling looked up. "You do?"

"Yeah...I actually haven't told this to anybody, but the night before last-"

Ling cut him off. "Which one was that?"

"The night before the banquet,"

"Do you mean the one when Mulan had her nightmare? When we tried to give you advice on how to tell her that you love her?" Ling sniggered. Shang frowned at the emphasis Ling had put on the word 'tried'.

"Yes. Well, later on that night, I went back into her room, just to see if she was doing okay..."

FLASHBACK (The night Mulan had her nightmare):

Shang couldn't sleep. The haunted look that was on Mulan's face when they had burst in, was right in front of his eyes every time he shut them, regardless of the fact that it had been well over two hours since she had woken everybody up.

Abandoning his plan to try and sleep, he rolled out of bed and pulled on a shirt. He left his room, padded down the corridor and let himself, quietly, into Mulan's room.

He looked over at her sleeping form and couldn't help but marvel at how calm she seemed. She had screaming her head off, and her face had been wearing a terrified look.

He sat down gently next to her on the bed and brushed the locks of hair, that were falling over her face, back behind her ears.

"She is so beautiful...how could I never have noticed before? I've been lying to myself for so long...how could I not admit to myself that I love her?" He smiled.

END FLASHBACK

"Whoa..." A very moved Ling asked.

"Yeah. I mean...I shouldn't have been in there, but it really was worth it...just to look at her," Shang smiled at the memory.

"Whoa..." Ling repeated. "I didn't realise you were capable of such deep feelings...General," Ling sniggered. Shang threw a bundle of bandages and grinned.

"Leave it out. Well, I didn't know I could feel that sort of stuff either. I've only ever felt it twice. Once, with Mulan, obviously, and when I was twelve I had a crush on a girl called May-Lynn,"

"May-Lynn?!" A stunned, and slightly horrified, Ling cried, causing him to drop the wet cloth right on the girl's face. She whimpered.

"Yeah?"

"Do you mean that really bitchy girl who kept insulting Mulan?"

"Yeah..." Shang's shoulders slumped and he gave a yawn. "How can you not be tired? You've been watching her all around the clock!"

Another small whimper came from the girl. They both looked over, Ling took away the cloth, to find the girl's eyes wide open, revealing glistening dark brown pools.

"She's up!" Ling said, excitedly.

The girl looked around and her gaze fell on Shang's sword. She opened her mouth and let out a piercing shriek.

"Holy crap!" Shang yelled. Ling quickly covered the girl's mouth and Shang pinned her arms down to the ground, as she had been waving them and kicking out wildly.

"What's going on?" Mulan said, running in.

"Who died?" Yao stupidly cried, running in after her, followed by Chien-Po, Fung and Tiao Zao.

Seeing all the other military men enter, with swords, the girl screamed again and kicked Ling in the stomach. The rest of the Gang dived forward.

Yao pinned her left leg down, as Chien-Po held her right. Tiao Zao got her right arm and Shang gripped her left arm. Ling held onto her head, keeping one hand over her mouth. Mulan bent over her and was shocked at the fury and fear that was in her eyes.

"Shh...shh..." She said, as if to a baby. "No one's going to hurt you..." She gave her a smile and the girl gradually calmed down.

"What's going on? Where's my family? Oh my god...Ju Hua! She's dead...she was burned alive..." The girl lay back down and broke into tears. Mulan moved past Ling and took the girl's hand.

"What's your name?" She asked her gently.

"Shui Jing," She said.

"That's a pretty name," Mulan gave her another smile. "'Crystal'?"

Shui Jing nodded. She looked around at the men and gave them a weak, watery smile. "Who is everyone?" She said, turning back to Mulan. Mulan seemed to be the only person she trusted, or was willing to talk to.

"Oh, I'm Mulan. This is Tiao Zao," She pointed at the little boy, who gave Shui Jing a wave. "This is Yao, this is Chien-Po and this is Loon Fung," They all smiled at her. "This is Li Shang," Shang nodded. "...and this is Ling,"

"Hi," Ling gave her a smile.

"I recognise your voice," Shui Jing said.

"Yeah...Ling's been sitting next to you ever we found you," Shang said, grinning.

"Since you found me? What? Where was I?" Shui Jing sat up sharply and clutched at Mulan. "What happened?"

"Shh..." Mulan sat down, cross-legged. The others followed her lead and sat down properly, instead of kneeling. "We found you about two days ago..." Mulan explained to Shui Jing about how they had found her, how they had taken her from the Pass to Wu Zhong and cared for her. Shui Jing stared blankly forward, taking in all the information. There was a long silence after Mulan had finished the story.

Tears started to stream down Shui Jing's cheeks, her eyes were red but she never made a sound. Ling crept forward, pushing past Mulan and he looked sympathetically at Shui Jing, who clutched at him and began weeping into his chest. Ling put his arms around her and laid his head on hers, made crooning noises and 'shh-ing' sounds.

Fung got up and left the tent, everyone else following. Ling watched them go, and when Mulan paused at the tent flap, he gave her a nod, which she returned and then left, the tent flap waving the slight breeze.

--------

"Pretty intense, huh?" Yao remarked.

"Give her some slack, Yao, she had just been buried alive. She's probably missing the 'Ju Hua' person," Shang said, pulling at some blades of grass.

The Gang, except Ling, with Mulan, Tiao Zao and Shang, were sitting under a tree, near to the cross of tents. They were sitting in a circle, Mulan and Yao leaning against the tree. Shang was sitting next to Mulan, Fung on his left, with Tiao Zao on his lap and Chien-Po was in between Yao and Fung. Shang was pulling out blades of grass and chewing them, as were Fung and Yao. Mulan was sitting with her arms crossed and Chien-Po was massaging his temples, in an effort to stop his head from throbbing.

"She said that this Ju Hua person was burned alive. What do you think happened?" Mulan put forward.

Shui Jing's village and Yong Yuan's house were on the other side of the Tung Shao Pass and as Shang, Mulan, Tiao Zao and the Gang hadn't passed the burned house and village, they didn't know what her scream had meant. No survivors had been left, except her, and it was in such a remote place in the Pass, far away (A/N: far-ish away) from the original Burned Village, no one had seen the wreckage and reported it to the Emperor.

"Maybe it was a Hun attack," Tiao Zao guessed. It was surprising how much the little boy had learnt about Huns, attacks and war, just from hanging out with the Gang and everyone.

"It might have been," Shang weighted out different possibilities in his head.

"We don't know any other enemies who burn places," Yao said.

"Mongols do," Fung said.

"What about the Japanese?" Tiao Zao asked. Shang shook his head.

"Japan hasn't attacked China for years. I wouldn't count them in, it's most likely a Hun attack," He said.

"How come we didn't see this burned village?" Mulan asked.

"There are only a handful of villages in the Pass, as it's such an...inhuman place to live. The sun hardly ever reaches there, you can't go crops and what have you. All it is is snow, snow and more snow," Fung said. "The Burned Village, which you found on your last visit to the Pass, is the largest. Most of them are small,"

"She can't have been a Burned Village survivor. She must be from a smaller village which was attacked by Huns," Yao said, thoughtfully. "I wonder why they haven't been going for others,"

"I don't know and to be frank, I don't care," Mulan said, running her fingers through her hair. "As long as they don't do it again, then that's fine,"

"Yeah, you're right," Yao agreed. "Do you think she's okay now? What was her name again?"

"Shui Jing," Chien-Po said. He rubbed his head. "I need something to drink. I'll go and check on the girl and she's whether she's okay after I've got myself some tea,"

"Oh yeah, Chien-Po?" Shang called over to the departing figure.

"Yeah?"

"Could you get me my biscuits? They're in my bag," He asked.

Everyone instantly looked at Mulan, who turned away, her cheeks going pink.

"Uh-oh..." Fung murmured.

"Shh..." Tiao Zao, jabbing his sharp little elbows into Fung's ribs, who winced.

"Well, this has been great. But, I've got to go use the Gents," Shang said, getting up.

"Actually, me too," Yao said.

"Guys! Look who's up!" Ling's cheery voice came from behind them. They all turned to see Shui Jing coming towards them, supported by Chien-Po and Ling. She was wearing one of Mulan's dresses as hers was drying out. Chien-Po had only got around to washing it an hour or so ago.

"Hey, you're up! That was a quick recovery," Mulan said, going over to her. Shui Jing gave her a small smile back. "Very quick," Mulan thought.

"How are you feeling?" Shang asked her, hopping up and down.

"I'm okay, I guess," Her quiet reply was.

"How come you're up?" Shang asked, still hopping up and down. Fung caught Mulan's eye and they both turned away, grinning.

"Not much to do in that tent,"

"Surely you need to rest?" Tiao Zao said.

"I've done plenty of resting. I need to move about a bit, I have really bad cramp," She jiggled her foot to prove her point.

"Come on, let's go for a walk," Ling said, taking her hand. However reluctant she was to leave Mulan, the only other girl, Shui Jing curled her fingers around Ling's and allowed herself to be led off. As soon as they had started walking, the whole Gang wolf-whistled. Ling's ears went red and his pace quickened. Shui Jing ignored it but her shoulders were shaking, she was laughing too.

"How come she's up?" Mulan said to the rest of them. They all shrugged.

"Maybe she feels better,"

"That was a quick recovery," Mulan said to Fung, the rest of them had gone off. "Do you reckon she's okay?"

"She might have just wanted to recover quickly. She might not have wanted to feel like an invalid, where people have to come and feed her, she might have wanted to get up, regardless of her true condition," Fung suggested.

"I guess. Do you think she's okay?" Mulan persisted.

"You just asked me," Fung said wearily. "Come on, I mean-,"

"URGH!!!!" Several voices yelled out loud.

Startled, Mulan and Fung whipped around and ran to where the noise had come from. Shang, Chien-Po, Yao and Tiao Zao came out of the toilets, a towel wrapped around each one of them. It wasn't enough to hide the liquid dripping down their legs.

Mulan and Fung took one look at them and burst into hysterical laughter. Shang and Chien-Po's frowns deepened and Tiao Zao and Yao went bright red and glared at them too.

"What's going on?" Ling said, running up, Shui Jing just behind them. She could run just as well as if she wasn't ill. Ling looked at Shang, Chien-Po, Yao and Tiao Zao's legs and began to laugh like crazy, Shui Jing following.

"Dude, did you wet yourself?" Mushu said, bobbing up from Mulan's collar and began to laugh at them as well.

"No! I have self-control, you know! Some bastard put some cloth over the seat and it sprayed everywhere," Shang snapped.

Mulan's stomach was hurting, she was laughing so hard. Tears were leaking out of Fung's eyes and Shui Jing was hanging onto Ling.

"Brilliant..." Mulan wheezed. "That was the funniest joke I've ever seen," She raised her hand and slapped Fung's in a high five.

"You did this?" An indignant Yao asked.

"Yeah, the day that you and Ling had that big argument," Fung gasped.

"You put it over the toilet, so it would spray everywhere?" Tiao Zao yelled.

"This is the second time that you've caught me with this stupid trick! I thought we agreed that we'd never do practical jokes again!" Shang yelled at Fung, who looked confused.

"When did I ever agree that?"

"After..." Shang's face went red. "The time when we were both five and I was scared at getting caught again...so I put my hand in..." Shang's voice trailed off again.

"Urgh..." Shui Jing said, but it wasn't heard over everyone else's laughter.

"You put your hand down the toilet?" Chien-Po choked.

"I'm not proud of it..." Shang quickly said. "It wasn't full anyway!"

"That's sick!" Tiao Zao said. "But funny," He added, as an afterthought.

"Okay, before we go onto discovering other disturbing habits about our weird General, I suggest you guys go wash up," Fung said, gesturing to their legs.

"Oh yeah..." Yao ran back into the toilets, closely followed by Chien-Po, Shang and Tiao Zao.

Mulan turned to Fung, who was still chuckling weakly. "Not bad for an afternoon's entertainment,"

"Yeah, it was good. We should do it again sometime,"

"Not the same one," Mulan said.

"No, not the same one, obviously," Fung said, dragging Mulan away from Ling and Shui Jing, who were about to go back on their walk. "What others could we do?"

Mulan grinned.

--------

Shang lay back in his tent, tired. He had been watching Shui Jing ever since they had found her and now that she was up, he was taking a well-earned break. Delighted at his absence, Ling had taken it upon himself to teach Shui Jing everything about himself and the rest of the Gang. Now, Shui Jing couldn't look at Shang without feeling sorry for him; she had heard from the Gang and Tiao Zao about his attempts to tell Mulan that he loved her. She decided to give him a hand in helping to tell her.

Yawning, Shang decided to get up and go get something to eat. It was the same day, but now evening, that Shui Jing had got up and, like Mulan, he couldn't figure out how she got well so fast. Mulan had confided in him earlier, saying that she didn't think that Shui Jing was well as she still walked with a limp and still seemed weak. Shang had to agree with her, Shui Jing still looked pale.

Pulling off his cape and tugging on his casual outfit, which happened to be exactly the same as the training outfit, Shang got up from his bed and stuck his head out the tent flap. Shui Jing was sitting under a tree, with Ling next to her, as usual. Judging by the noise from coming out of the eating tent, Mulan, Fung, Tiao Zao, Yao and Chien-Po were all inside. Shang slid his feet into his shoes and felt his feet submerge into a sticky, liquid substance.

"URGH!!" Shang yelled. Looking down, he could see a yellow liquid seeping out of his shoes and over his feet.

"What? What is it?" The Gang, Mulan, Tiao Zao and Shui Jing ran in.

"There's..." Shang looked down at his shoes in disgust and gently lifted his foot out, yellow, goopy, strands dripping down from his bare toes. "...soup in my shoes,"

Everyone, apart from Shang and Chien-Po, took one look at Shang's soup filled shoes and covered feet and burst into crazy laughter. Angry, and slightly appalled, Shang glared at them, as their laughter simmered down.

"What? How is it funny?" He snapped. He looked around at all of them, and noticed at once, that Fung looked guiltier than everyone else. "Did you do this Fung?" He asked, waving his foot around, sending soup everywhere.

"Why'd you ask me?" Fung demanded. "But...yeah...I did,"

"Why? You know I hate practical tricks! They're really mean and it makes everyone laugh at one person, not all together!" Shang yelled at Fung, who raised an eyebrow and looked indignant.

"Hey, it wasn't just me! Mulan gave me the idea, I just got the soup!" Fung said. "...oops," Mulan kicked his shin, hard. "Ow!"

"So much for the 'Don't-tell-on-each-other' plan," Mulan snapped.

Shang looked at her. "It was your idea?! Was the covering of the toilet, your idea too?"

"I am not going to lie to you, Shang. But, I am going to run away from you," Mulan said, before slipping out the tent and darting over to the paddock. She was surprised that no one had followed her.

She sat on the post of the paddock and whistled for Khan to come over. He came trotting over to her, his mouth moving in a chewing motion.

"Are you still eating? You're like Tiao Zao, but in horse form," She patted Khan's nose and giggled as he made a 'hrrmph' sound.

"'Sup babe?" Mushu said, coming out from Khan.

"How did you get there?" Mulan asked Mushu. "Where's Cri-Kee?"

"Lucky Bug's in your tent. He says he feels ill," Mushu said. "I think he ate too many of those biscuits,"

"I knew that some of them had gone!" Mulan said, narrowing her eyes at Mushu. "You ate my biscuits? What's wrong with you, you bottom-less pit?"

"You stole those biscuits from Shang. What's wrong with you, stealing from your secret crush," Mushu sniggered.

"Be quiet," Mulan said, giggling all the same.

"What did Lover Boy think when he found you had put soup in his shoes?"

"He didn't actually find out that it was me, Fung sold me out. He said it was my idea, which it was, and I did put the soup in his shoes, but Fung took the blame for that. We have this thing, whenever we get found out for a trick, I take the idea and he takes the actual setting up the trick for blame. It's a good idea,"

"Are you guys some sort of club? A Trick Club?" Mushu asked.

"Not so much, a club. More of a ... consortium," Mulan said.

"Isn't that just a fancy word for 'club'?" Mushu asked.

"Yeah...but The Consortium sounds so much cooler," Mulan said, shrugging.

"This Consortium...it's just you and Fung, right?"

"At the moment, I guess Tiao Zao will join soon," Mulan said.

"Ahh..."

"Anyway, I've been thinking. Now that Shui Jing is up, do you think they'll mind if we go to my father now?" Mulan asked him.

Mushu pulled a face. "I don't know. Everyone thinks she is still pretty weak, which she is." Mulan nodded at his statement. "So they might not want to move her around too much. By the way, how's she doing with Ling?"

Mulan grinned. "I think they like each other. They'll always going around with each other," She said.

"Hmm...Babes, why don't you go on your own? It'll probably be quicker anyway. She won't need any 'female company' as she's hanging out with Ling more than you, or anybody. Just go by yourself," Mushu suggested. Mulan's eyes lit up.

"That would be great," She grinned again. "Come on, let's go tell people now,"

--------

The following morning dawned bright and early. Shang woke up early, like he always did. Fung and Shang had been training or involved in army life and they had always been woken up early. Chien-Po used to lie-in all the time, but with his illness he had been waking up earlier every morning as headaches came frequently. Many a night, he didn't get to sleep a few hours before dawn.

Mulan had left the afternoon before, wanting to get home while it was still light. She had said that she would probably stay at home for the night and maybe the following day. Shang had been reluctant to let her go alone, he was still wary about Huns and he was worried about her. He began to regret confiding in Fung about his worries for Mulan's vulnerability to Huns and other enemies, but Fung had promised not to pass it on, which he hadn't...yet.

Crawling out of bed, Shang pulled on his clothes and left his tent. He was about to go into the eating tent, where he could hear the rest of them, when he heard hooves. Looking around, he saw Khan, with Mulan on top, coming over the bridge and going into the paddock. Puzzled at why she was here, Shang ran over to where she was.

Mulan was sliding off her horse, her face hidden in Khan's side. Mushu was perched on Khan's head, looking gloomy.

"Mulan?" Shang turned her around by her shoulders. She kept her face down. "Mulan, what is it? Where's your father? What happened?" A thousand more questions popped up in Shang's head but he kept them bottle down.

Mulan looked up. Her face was white but her cheeks were red. Her bottom lip was trembling and her eyes were red. As Shang looked down on her, the first tear trickled down her cheek.

"Mulan? What happened?" Shang asked her frantically.

Ignoring his questions, Mulan shook her head, a few more tears falling. Shang pulled her into a hug and stroked her hair. She leaned her head against his chest and felt a tiny bit comforted by the steady beating of his heart.

The Gang, who had heard the hooves and immediately left the eating tent, was assembled a little while away from Shang and Mulan. Tiao Zao looked up at Fung.

"What's wrong with Mulan?" He asked him.

"I don't know," Fung replied.

A/N: Another chapter done! I apologize for spelling and grammar mistakes but it's late and I really can't be bothered to check. Thanks anyway!