Disclaimer: I own my own people.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN – Insomnia and Mercy Killing
Dedicated to: Rache (one of my best friends) and another of my best friends who left our school…you gotta know who I'm talking about now…I love you both loads!
A/N: Thank you to Sakura Priestess, Yoshie, Rache (I am using the same plot from the coach :D), celest4, arie, mess531y, Maegmel, Dragon Spirit Fighter, Avey, lobsstaceyters, Carolinus Took and Angel452 for reviewing!!
And to burst the happy bubble people had, I'm not going to have Shang and Mulan get together anytime soon. They are going to, eventually, but much more important stuff is happening and they sort of don't have time for it.
While I'm on that, I'd just like to tell you that this story is going to be split into two Parts: Part I and Part II. More details on that later, but Shang and Mulan do get together before Part II starts.
Mulan waited anxiously outside the door. The doctor had his hands full with Chien-Po's illness and Mulan's mother's pregnancy. Mulan had never made any indication to show that she acknowledged she would soon have a half-sibling. As far as she was concerned, she wanted nothing to do with the child as it was Tao's.
Two days had gone by since the funeral and that night, Mulan woke up with a splitting headache. It wasn't anything new; she had been getting them ever since her kidnapping, which was about a month ago. (A/N: No idea of time and distance and weeks, you know…go with me :D) She was still haunted by nightmares of walking corpses of her father, of Huns being executed, a devil child springing from her mother and of more Huns attacking villages.
She scrambled out of her bed to get a drink of water when she heard a thump.
FLASHBACK (Earlier that night):
"What the hell was that?" Mulan thought, placing the glass of water back on the dressing table. She looked over to see that Mushu and Cri-Kee were still sleeping. Mushu was stretched out on her pillow and Cri-Kee was nestled in a fold of her dress.
She pushed the door open and stuck her head out into the corridor. The only sounds she could hear were snoring; Shang's room was next to hers and Fung's was opposite. Shutting the door quietly behind her, Mulan padded across the corridor and listened again. She couldn't hear anything this time, so she opened Fung's door.
She could see a lump in the bed that had a few hairs sticking out the top. Closing the door behind her, she pushed open the next room's door.
Chien-Po was lying on his back, on the floor, unconscious. She gave a small cry and hurried to his side. He was too heavy for her to lift by herself, so she ran out the door, into Fung's room and shook him to wake him up.
"Fung! Fung! Wake up!" She snapped.
Fung, groggily, stuck his head out of the covers and looked at her out of bleary eyes. "What do you want?" He suddenly sat up. "What the hell are you DOING here?"
"Chien-Po fell over!" She answered.
"So what?" Fung said, disappearing out of the covers. Mulan yanked them off, like Mushu had done to her. "Oi!"
"I think he fell over because of his illness. He's unconscious, come on!" She cried, frantically.
"All right, all right," He said, getting up and pulling some sort of dressing gown on. He left his room and went into Chien-Po's. He bent over Chien-Po's frame and laid a hand on his forehead. "He's freezing,"
"Shall I go get the doctor?" Mulan said, standing up from where she had been crouching next to Fung.
"Why don't we take him there?" Fung suggested. "Then he won't have to move supplies,"
"Chien-Po is much heavier than any of us, Fung," Mulan said, scornfully. "Do you honestly think two of us could lift him?"
Fung blushed. "Oh yeah…Well, you go and get the doctor while I'll stay here and make sure he's okay,"
END FLASHBACK
The doctor had sent Mulan outside of Chien-Po's room, as well as Fung. Fung, being tired and lazy, went back to bed after making sure that Mulan would tell him if Chien-Po's condition got worse.
"Men…" She thought.
The door finally opened and the doctor smiled at Mulan.
"How is he?"
"He's fine now, he's sleeping,"
"What happened to him?"
"He lost all of his strength and energy, so he just collapsed. I think that this will be his last week. He's not going to be able to get out of bed from now on, I think the strain on his legs would be too much," The doctor said. He started walking down the corridor, when he stopped and turned back to Mulan. "What is it?"
"What's wrong with him?" Mulan asked.
The doctor frowned. "We are not sure. All we know is that something is inside his head and is causing him pain,"
"I have headaches,"
"No, it is much more severe than a headache. His blood pressure has gone right up and he has lost his appetite lately,"
Mulan bit her lip. "Thank you, doctor,"
The doctor bowed his head and disappeared down the corridor.
Mulan waited for a bit before going back into her room. She sat down on her bed and looked gloomily at the floor.
"I've made a big fuss over nothing, haven't I?" She thought. "Here I am, fussing over the history of my family where Chien-Po had a terminal illness. He never complained about it, he got on with his life and he helped me," She wiped a few tears away from her eyes. She looked around the room and miserably sighed. "I want Tao," She whispered quietly. "He's been through something like this…He thought he was a Hun, my family started them…" Mulan bit her lip again.
Suddenly, she stood up and looked at the glass of water.
Her fingers fumbled around the clasp of her necklace before dropping it into the glass. It began to glow.
"Show me Tao," She thought. Like before, the colours merged into a picture on the surface of the water. Mulan watched as a man, wearing a brown hood, pushed his way through woodland. She couldn't see his face but his arms and legs were severely scratched.
"Oh my god…" She whispered, staring down at the image. In the reflection, Tao bent down and picked two white flowers. Mulan could see that they had three petals each but she didn't recognise what kind of flower they were.
As she watched, Tao tucked the two flowers into his pocket and he carried on, pushing his way through more undergrowth. Mulan reached into the water to retrieve the pendant but as she put her hand into the water, the image didn't distort and it simply carried on showing Tao walking.
Mulan hung the pendant back around her neck and watched as the ripples on the surface disappeared. Smiling to herself, she flopped back on the bed and lay back on the pillows. She was glad that Tao was okay and just seeing him again made her smile.
Mulan looked down at the dark green pendant. "I wish he'd come back," She went on thinking. "I really miss him,"
-----
"What happened to Chien-Po?" Fung demanded. "You never came back to tell me what happened!"
"You told me to tell you if he got worse but he didn't! That's why I didn't tell you," Mulan snapped back.
"I wanted you to tell me what happened to him!" Fung went on.
"Guys! Guys!" Yao said. "What are you talking about?"
It was the following morning and Fung was mad at Mulan for not telling him about Chien-Po. They were sitting opposite each other, at the breakfast table in the dining room, and they were almost yelling at each other.
Shang was sitting next to Fung, drinking tea. He was not taking the slightest notice of the two arguers. Tiao Zao was with Ming Hua, Chien-Po was in his room, Yao was sitting next to Mulan and Ling and Shui Jing were somewhere in the Palace Gardens.
"Last night, I heard a thump come from Chien-Po's room so I went to see what happened," Mulan started.
"Yeah, then she comes barging into my room and yells at me to go help her,"
"You went into his room?" Yao sniggered. Mulan glared at him. "…sorry,"
"Anyway, it turned out Chien-Po had fallen over because he lost his strength," Mulan said. "The doctor told me that he's got about a week to live,"
"A week?" Shang asked, shocked. "Seriously?"
Mulan nodded. "He's in too much pain to walk around now,"
Fung bit his lip. "I didn't realise it was that serious, and so soon,"
"Me neither," Yao said. "Before we went to see Minhae, he said he'd have about two weeks to live,"
"That was about five days or so ago, Yao," Shang said.
"He said two weeks,"
"I don't know…"
"What are we going to do?" Mulan asked.
"I don't think there's much we can do," Shang went on. Mulan looked over at him. For the first time in days, he met her eyes. "All we can really do is just not to talk about it when we visit him and just be there for him,"
"Yeah…that's probably the only thing we can do," Fung said, chewing the end of his chopstick.
"Is there no cure for his illness?" Mulan asked.
"There's none that the doctor knows of," Yao replied.
"Can we trust that?" Fung said. "This doctor says that he doesn't know what's wrong with Chien-Po so how can he be sure that there's no cure for it?"
"What started it?" Shang asked. "Was he injured by the Hun attack, a month and a few weeks back?"
"I don't remember him being injured when we were around," Fung said, screwing up his face in an effort to remember.
"He must have met a few Huns when he was coming to help us out of the dungeon (A/N: Chapter 7 and 8) What if he was injured before he freed us?" Mulan said.
"Wouldn't the doctor have seen a wound?" Yao went on. "He checked us all,"
"He might have dressed the wound, but it could have been poisoned or…" Mulan said.
"The Huns have flaming arrows, I don't know whether they have poisoned ones," Shang said.
Mulan sighed. "Screw it," She muttered before standing up. "I'm going to see how he's doing. Anyone coming?"
"Yeah, I'll come," Shang said, also getting up. Fung smirked to himself.
They both looked to Fung and Yao. Fung gestured to his bowl of rice and Yao shrugged.
"I'll check up on him later," Yao said.
"Okay," Mulan said, walking out the room.
-----
"Hey, Mulan?" Shang jogged to catch up with her brisk walk.
"Yeah?" She slowed and turned to look at him.
"I'm sorry," He said, casting his eyes downwards.
"For what?"
"For being a jerk to you," Shang said, his eyes still looking at the floor.
"When were you a jerk to me?" She asked.
"When I was ignoring you,"
"Oh yeah…" Mulan giggled. Shang looked up, startled. "It doesn't matter, Shang. I started it; I was ignoring you for no reason,"
"Fung said that-" Shang said, before he could stop himself. Mulan's eyebrows shot up and she looked annoyed.
"What did Fung say?" She demanded.
"Uh…nothing," "Crap," He thought. He looked at Mulan and wilted under her gaze. "He said that you didn't want to feel things for anyone,"
"Shit," Mulan thought. "Damn you, Fung, can't you ever keep your big mouth shut?"
"Uh…" Shang started. "If you're not comfortable around me then could you just…sort of say so? Otherwise, I'll be a jerk to you again and I wouldn't really want you to…think that of me. You know?"
"Yeah, I know what you mean," Mulan said, through gritted teeth. She was still mad at Fung. "I'm not, don't worry," She looked up and smiled. Shang smiled back.
"Are we okay now?" He asked. He stretched out his hand to seal the deal, but Mulan reached up and gave him a hug. A little startled, but still pleased, he put his arms around her and hugged her back. Mulan nestled into his body and shut her eyes. She wasn't completely out of it as she felt Shang's lips lightly brush her head. She grinned to herself.
-----
"Guys! Guys!" Tiao Zao yelled.
Ling and Shui Jing turned to see Tiao Zao hurtling towards them. He ran straight into Shui Jing. Ling caught hold of his collar and yanked him off her.
"Hey, Tiao Zao," Shui Jing smiled. Tiao Zao grinned back.
"What's up?" Ling asked, still holding the struggling boy by the collar.
"Well, if you let me go, I'll tell you," Tiao Zao said, wriggling out of Ling's grip.
"Oh yeah, sorry," Ling said, releasing Tiao Zao's collar.
"What is it?" Shui Jing asked.
"Have you heard about Chien-Po?"
"No, what's up with him?" Shui Jing asked.
"He's in bed and he probably won't get up ever again. The doctor said he had about a week to live,"
"A week?" Ling burst out, horrified.
Tiao Zao nodded.
"Oh god…how did you find out?" Shui Jing said.
"Grandpa told me. The doctor told him this morning,"
"Come on, we better go see how he's doing," Ling said, starting to run back up to the Palace. Shui Jing hurried after him, holding Tiao Zao's hand.
-----
"How you doing, buddy?" Mushu asked, sitting on Chien-Po's pillow. He and Cri-Kee had got the full story off Mulan when they saw her and Shang going into Chien-Po's room.
"I don't really know, to be honest," Chien-Po said, rubbing his forehead. "Can you pass me some water?"
The whole Gang, Mulan and Shang were sitting in Chien-Po's room. Tiao Zao and Mulan were sitting on different sides of his bed, near him. Fung and Shang sat behind them. Yao was on a chair which he dragged near the bed and Shui Jing and Ling were on a sofa which had also been dragged closer to the bed.
"Yeah," Tiao Zao said, taking a glass from the besides table and filling it up with water. He gave it to Chien-Po, who stared down into the bottom of it instead of drinking it.
"Not thirsty?" Ling asked.
"Not much," Chien-Po said. "It's good to know that I can still hold a glass so not all my strength has gone,"
Mulan smiled sympathetically. "Are you sure there's no cure?" She persisted. Fung rolled his eyes.
"None that I know of," Chien-Po said.
Mulan looked around at the rest of the Gang.
"How the hell are we meant to know?" Yao said.
"There's got to be something," She went on. Chien-Po smiled and gave Tiao Zao the full glass back.
"Can you do me a favour?" He asked Mulan.
"Sure,"
"I left my book in the library, will you and get it for me?" He asked.
"Okay, sure," Mulan got up and left the room.
"So, how are you doing?" Yao said, looking over at Shang.
"Huh?"
"Are you still mad at Mulan, first?" Fung asked.
Shang looked at Chien-Po who grinned back. "Did you send her out so we could talk about it?"
"Pretty much, yeah,"
"Were you mad at her?" Shui Jing asked.
"Sort of. We're okay now though, we talked about it before we came in here," Shang said.
"So, are you ever going to tell her?" Ling went on.
"I don't know," Shang said.
"Come on!" Ling snapped. "You can't let it go on forever. You'd feel better after you told her,"
"I don't know," Fung said, interrupting. "She's got a lot on her mind right now, maybe this would just mess with her mind,"
"What things?" Shang said, as he did not know that Mulan's family were once bandits and the whole story. "Is it still about her father's death and all that?"
"It's not just 'all that', Shang," Shui Jing snapped, defending Mulan.
Shang rolled his eyes. He didn't like Shui Jing that much, he found that she was too much of a gossip and enjoyed finding out things that didn't concern her.
"Don't roll your eyes at her!" Ling snapped, jumping in to save Shui Jing.
"Guys, guys, we're going off the subject of Shang and Mulan," Chien-Po said. He looked over at Shang. "Do you like Mulan?"
"I do," Shang said.
"He's already practising for the wedding," Ling sniggered. Yao began to laugh, as did Fung and Shui Jing.
Shang glared at them. "Sorry," They all muttered.
"How is it so hard to tell her that then?" Tiao Zao asked.
"I don't know! People keep walking in whenever I try to, or I lose my courage or I get my words all muddled up," Shang sighed. "I suck at this, don't I?"
"It's just occurring to you?" Yao said, sarcastically. Shang hurled a pillow at him. Yao chucked it back before Shang threw another one that hit Shui Jing in the face.
"Hey!" She yelled, picking up another cushion that lay on another sofa in the corner and throwing it at Shang, who ducked and it hit Fung instead. Fung threw it back at Shui Jing, who picked up two and threw them at Yao and Shang.
Within seconds, a full scale pillow/cushion fight was taking place. It ended when Tiao Zao knocked the glass of water all over Chien-Po's pillow.
"Oops. I'm sorry Chien-Po," Tiao Zao said, picking the glass up.
"That's okay," Chien-Po said, smiling. "I haven't laughed like that for a while,"
"But I got your pillow all wet," Tiao Zao said.
"It doesn't matter. I just won't sleep on that side, that's all,"
-----
"I've never been here, have you?" Mulan said, turning to Mushu who was perched on her shoulder.
"How could I have been here?" Mushu said. "I've been with you most of the time, girl,"
"Hmm. All the same, I don't like it. It's too…"
"Quiet?" Mushu suggested.
"Yeah,"
"Come on then, find the man's book and let's get the hell out of here,"
"All right, all right,"
Mulan walked over to the nearest desk and rummaged around. "He did tell me what the book was even called?" She asked Mushu, who was walking around.
"I don't think so, babes,"
"Shit. Well, how I am meant to find it then?"
"Maybe he just wanted you out of the room,"
"Charming," Mulan sat down on a chair behind a desk and flicked open some pages of a book that was lying on the desk infront of her.
"What you looking at?" Mushu said, scrambling up to see.
"I don't know," Mulan shut the book and leaned back in the chair. She yawned.
"Tired?"
"Fairly,"
"What's up?"
"Insomnia," Mulan answered. She looked around the room and then frowned. "Mushu…"
"Yup?"
"What can flowers do?"
Mushu raised an eyebrow. "They can smell nice, they can attract insects and they can look nice…"
"No, I mean, can they cure illnesses and things like that?" Mulan asked.
"I think only a few can," Mushu said. "It's a pretty rare thing for a flower to cure an illness, I think they can only slow the pain or get rid of it,"
Mulan sighed. "Damn it,"
"Why?"
"Nothing…just been thinking,"
-----
Mulan couldn't sleep. It had been two days since she found Chien-Po lying on the floor of his. She was worried about him and she was also starting to worry about her mother and the child. She was still angry at Tao but she was slightly more forgiving to him now, though she couldn't say the reason why. Ever since she had seen him in the reflection, her attitude towards him had changed somehow…she didn't seem as mad as she was before.
Another thing that had been worrying her was that the pendant seemed to be growing lighter. It wasn't so much of a worry as it was still nearer dark green than pale green, but she knew that it meant Tao was nearer to her than he was before. Whenever she did fall asleep for a few minutes, he would wander in and out of her dreams and throw white flowers at her. She had no idea what they were; except that she had seen Tao pick them in the reflection.
Her mother had had a check-up on the baby, which was just the doctor listening to the baby by pressing his ear to her stomach and feeling the kicking, and was told that the child was doing fine. Mulan had her doubts on that, after all, the doctor had no idea whether the child was okay or not, he couldn't see it. Her mother was now about six months pregnant and the lump was really showing. Mulan couldn't help but cringe whenever she saw it but it was nothing compared to the reactions of others. The Gang, Shang and the Emperor knew that Fa Li was raped by Tao but Ming Hua and other residents in the Palace didn't and they, except Ming Hua, didn't waste time to show their disapproval at it.
Mulan didn't like them saying cruel things to her mother, but she knew that if she were one of them, she'd be thinking the same things. It didn't look too good: a woman in her late-forties (A/N: I don't know Mulan's mother's age…let's just say that she's in her late-forties) with a dead husband, a daughter who had joined the army and a six-month child inside her.
The most immediate worry Mulan had, as did everyone else, was Chien-Po. The doctor didn't think he had much time to live anymore. Whenever any of the Gang, Shang and Mulan had any time, they would sit with Chien-Po and read to him. Tiao Zao had been banned from the room by Fung and Shang as he kept bursting into tears whenever he saw Chien-Po and how pale he was. Both Fung and Shang and told him that Chien-Po didn't need a lot of sympathy right now, he needed people to be strong for him but as Tiao Zao couldn't help but cry, they forbade him to go into the room.
"Mushu?" She hissed into the darkness of her room. When no one replied, she whispered again. "Mushu!"
"Yeah, what's up honey?" Mushu replied, yawning half-way through.
"I can't sleep,"
"I noticed," Mushu said, his voice muffled as he was sleeping with his face in the pillow.
"What?"
"You haven't slept at all for the last two days," Mushu said.
"I know," She snapped back, folding her arms. She leaned over and lit the candle. Mushu sat up, blinking in the sudden light.
"What are you doing?"
"I might as well do something instead of trying to force myself to sleep," Mulan said, looking for her book. Snatching it up from her nightstand, she flicked the pages open and settled behind it's covers to read.
Mushu had no choice but to fall asleep with the light on. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't sleep with the candle shining in his eyes, so he gave up and stared at the ceiling, sulking.
"What's your problem?" Mulan said, looking up from her book.
"I want to sleep," Mushu said, huffily.
"Well, sleep then," Mulan said, disappearing behind her book again.
"I can't. Your stupid candle is shining in my goddamn eyes," Mushu snapped angrily.
"You're grouchy," Mulan said, not moving.
"Ahh…shaddup," Mushu said, slurring his words together.
-----
"Do you reckon Mulan and Shang will ever get together?" Shui Jing said, turning to Ling.
It was the next morning and Ling and Shui Jing were out in the Palace Gardens, walking around. One of them was rarely seen without the other and people had started rumours about them. Most of them started out to be correct: Ling and Shui Jing were in love with each other and Ling already had marriage plans in his head.
"I should think so," Ling said. "I don't know if it will be any time soon, they both got a lot to deal with right now,"
"What's Shang got to deal with?" Shui Jing asked. Shui Jing didn't like Shang much either, she thought he was too pompous and up himself. Their feelings were mutual as Shang didn't like Shui Jing much also.
"Well, Chien-Po…" Ling paused.
"Mulan's got to deal with Chien-Po and her mother's pregnancy," Shui Jing said.
"I know…why are we talking about them anyway?"
"I just find it weird…you know? Two people who clearly like each other…and yet neither of them say it," Shui Jing said, carefully avoiding Ling's eyes.
Ling didn't say anything either, he didn't want to sound stupid. "I guess…" He said, after a while. Shui Jing looked disappointed. "Maybe he's just waiting for the right time," Ling suggested.
Shui Jing brightened. "Maybe he is…but he should say something in the end,"
Neither of them seemed to be talking about Shang and Mulan anymore.
Ling smiled and held out his hand. Shui Jing took it and smiled back. "I think he probably will someday…if he doesn't chicken out,"
-----
Fung and Mulan were sitting in Chien-Po's room. Fung was sprawled on a sofa, his eyes closing. Mulan, who had been sitting on a chair on the other side of the bed, had walked over to Fung and pinched him hard on the cheek.
Fung's eyes shot open. "Ow!"
Mulan began to laugh.
"Guys! Guys!" Chien-Po snapped. "You got to let me sleep!"
"Sorry," They both muttered.
"Why are you guys here?" Chien-Po said, looking over at them. His face was pale and his eyes were slits, he couldn't open them fully anymore. Under his eyes was a thick line of purple and above, a red line was bordering his upper eyelid. He was sweating also as the doctor was turning to 'sweat out the fever'. Fung said that this was a stupid technique: Chien-Po didn't even have a fever.
"Just…keeping you company, big guy," Fung said.
"Great company…" Chien-Po snapped.
"Do you want us to go?" Mulan asked. "We won't be offended,"
"It wouldn't really make a difference-" Chien-Po started before going into a huge coughing fit. Mulan jumped up with a tissue for him to cough into and Fung gave him a glass of water. Chien-Po gulped it down, despite Fung's protests for him to 'sip it gently'. Mulan bit her lip and moved towards the bin to dump the tissue when a spot of red caught her eye.
Opening the tissue, she found it covered in blood.
"I thought he was just coughing…" Mulan looked over to where Chien-Po was handing the glass back to Fung. "He's coughing up blood?"
"Hey, Fung!" Mulan jerked her head for him to come next to her.
"Yeah?"
Mulan shoved the tissue into his hand. Fung looked down at it and grimaced.
"Is this Chien-Po's tissue?"
Mulan nodded. "What are we going to do?"
"I don't think there's much we can do…" Fung said, his voice trailing off. Mulan narrowed her eyebrows.
"What?"
"You probably wouldn't approve of it…"
Mulan paused as Fung dropped the tissue into the bin. She turned to Fung, who was straightening up. "Mercy killing?"
Fung, grimly, nodded.
"No way!" She hissed. "You can't kill him!"
"It would-" Fung started, before looking over at Chien-Po, who had his eyes shut. "Come on,"
He dragged her outside before carrying on. "It would spare him a lot of pain,"
"It's murder!"
"No, it's not! It's…yeah, it's mercy killing. The man would be in tremendous pain. Have you ever had that? The sort of pain he's going through would crush anyone!"
"It's still murder! We're talking about killing him!"
"This thing he has is going to kill him anyway!" Fung snapped.
"We don't know that!" She yelled.
"For god's sake Mulan! Open your eyes and look at him! Can't you see how much pain he's in? He's trying to keep a brave face, but you've seen for yourself what it's doing to him! A normal person doesn't just cough up blood! It wasn't just drops of blood, the whole tissue was soaked in it!"
"I know it was!" Mulan yelled back. "How do we know he'd want to be killed?"
"You'd ask!"
"You can't just ask someone whether they want to be killed!"
"Not outright!" Fung snapped. He looked around at the door and sighed. "He's probably heard us,"
Mulan's anger disappeared. "It's too harsh,"
"I know it is," Fung said, smiling sadly. "But we're going to have to be happy throughout all of it, just for Chien-Po. It would be ten times harder for him if he knew that we were freaking out about it and crying, you know?"
"I know it would be,"
"Mercy killing is the only thing I can think of doing to help him," Fung said. Mulan winced and Fung noticed it. "It's not the best option but it's the only one I can think of,"
"I don't think we should suggest it to him now. Give him another day or so and see how he copes," Mulan suggested.
"Good idea," Fung said, distractedly. He looked back over his shoulder at Chien-Po's door. "Do you reckon he heard us?"
"You said he did and we both yelling pretty loudly," Mulan said. "Should we go back in there?"
"I'll go," Fung said. "You've been with him since you got up, you need a break,"
Mulan nodded. "I'm worried about him, Fung. I…what?" Fung was staring at her neck.
"There," He pointed towards the pendant. "It's a lighter green, I swear. It used to be really dark,"
Mulan looked down and saw that the pendant was much lighter. She frowned.
"Really? I didn't notice anything," She said, before walking off. No one, besides Tao and the Emperor, knew about the pendant and how it could change colours. Mushu and Cri-Kee had heard Tao telling Mulan how it could change, but they didn't know that it had anything to do with the pendant.
-----
"Hey! Shang!" Mulan called.
Shang, who was practising battle techniques in the Palace Gardens, looked up and smiled. He pulled his jacket (A/N: That white jacket thing he wore before 'I'll Make a Man Out of You')
"Hey," He said.
"What are you doing?"
"Just practising. I've been a bit bored lately, so I thought I'd train to…you know, get exercise and to take my mind off things,"
"I know what you mean," Mulan said, picking up a stick and throwing it up and down in the air.
"Huh?"
"Just…a lot of things have been bothering me. Chien-Po's illness, mainly,"
"Ah,"
Mulan watched as Shang did a few more moves with another stick.
"You know what?" She said, standing up. "I'll fight you, I'm bored and I'm sick to death with doing nothing,"
"Okay, sure," Shang grinned.
They both bowed to each other. Mulan was a better attacker, but Shang was considerably taller and heavier than her which gave them both advantages. Mulan hit out with the stick which was blocked by Shang's. She jumped around him and was about to hit him from the back, when he twisted around and swung at her head.
She fell backwards, onto her back. Rolling over, she got back on to her feet to be swung at again by the stick. Dodging it, she swung at his feet and managed to trip him up. Shang got back on his feet and was about to hit Mulan when someone yelled for them.
"Shang! Mulan!"
They both turned to see Tiao Zao running towards them. When he got to them, they both saw he was crying.
"Little Flea? What is it?" Mulan said, reaching out to him.
"Yeah, what's up Flea Boy?" Shang asked. Mulan glared at him.
"It's Chien-Po," Tiao Zao sobbed. Shang's grin disappeared immediately. "They think he's dying now,"
"What?" Mulan gasped. Shang's face went pale.
"Come on," Shang reached over andscooped Tiao Zao up. He began to run back to the Palace, Mulan next to him.
-----
They shot through the corridors, not bothering to say 'sorry' when they barged into people.
"Where's everyone else?" Shang asked Tiao Zao.
"They're outside his room. The doctor won't let anyone in," Tiao Zao said, sobbing.
Shang ran ahead with Tiao Zao in his arms, Mulan slightly behind.
Then she stopped. She was looking down a corridor which opened out onto a balcony. She could hear Shang's disappearing footsteps but she chose not to follow him to where Chien-Po lay, dying.
She walked forward and out onto the balcony, recognizing it as the one where she had nursed Tao. In the middle of the balcony, lay two white flowers with three petals on each of them.
A/N: You should get what the white flowers mean...and if you don't go back and read the chapter again. And it turns out I did update before Christmas...so yay! So...Have a Merry Christmas and very Happy New Year!!! - Ellie xxx
