Title: I'll make a man out of you
Author: Scout Graham
Pairing: Ping/OC
Rating: No idea yet
Disclaimer: I do not own Mulan... sooo don't sue me just because I made Mulan gender confused, besides she's a cute boy!!
Summary- Mulan with a Trans twist... if you don't like stuff like this don't read it. 3

A/N: Ok this is where I'm going to start varying the timeline and details... buckle your seatbelts. Also don't hurt me if my translations are off because I'm only going on a couple of websites worth of information. And speaking of things that are off, if at any time my portrayal of a trans person is off, feel free to tell me, because once again I have no experience with being transgendered (unless you count cross-dressing for fun every now and then). I don't have time to do the intense research that this deserves...

Chapter Four- I Hope He Doesn't See Right Through Me... Part 1

Ping. It had come to her in a dream. Her name would be Ping. It meant stable.

"Ping." saying it aloud in her still gravelly and sleep-filled voice sounded stable and sturdy like one of the great stone statues in the village. She cleared her throat and repeated it. It sounded so... right. This pseudonym fit so well with the personality living in side of her that it wasn't a pseudonym at all. Ping replaced Mulan completely, and not just name wise. The other personality, the happy one, was here and he was Ping. Ping was free! Saying his own name over and over again just proved how free he was. That is until he realized he had an audience:

"Now what do you think you're doing?" Mushu. Ping remained silent, how could he explain? "You wake me up at the butt crack of dawn saying some name over and over again, what am I going to do with you Mulan, you're really going to need that lucky crick-"

"Ping. Call me Ping please." He said focusing only on the new name.

"I had a best friend named Ping growing up! Of course he did steal my gir-"

"We should start cooking breakfast. I want to be to camp by noon." said Ping, who was already out of the tent before Mushu could reply. The dragon gaped at the tent flap, and Cri-kee only shrugged.

As soon as the excitement of this new name had moved to the back of Ping's mind, he remembered what he would have to do today. Would they be able to tell that he had the wrong body? What would they do to him if they found out- no he wouldn't think about that. He would just have to keep busy and not let himself think about the upcoming day.

- - - -

Ping was walking straight into the camp, attempting to hold his head up despite feeling as if his stomach was about to fall out of his butt. People were going to see him. Oh god... he should have prayed more. Mushu didn't seem to notice the agony that Ping was going through because he and Cri-kee kept on arguing about something….. maybe luck? Ping couldn't listen to them. He couldn't think of anything, his heart was just about hammering out of his chest. It was surprising that his traveling companions didn't hear it. Twenty feet left, twenty feet to turn and run, twenty feet to escape the dishonor and physical harm that would follow if this didn't work. Ten feet now, he could still turn around no one had seen him, Mushu climbed into his shirt so as not to be seen. Five feet, no he was going to do this. He needed this he had been waiting his entire life for this. He was inside the camp, strong, brave, and courageous soldiers were all around him, and none of them were paying attention at all. A man walked out of a tent and glanced at him, his heart stopped, and then the man looked right past him. He hadn't noticed!! Ping smiled; maybe he wouldn't be killed brutally after all.

"Find somewhere to sign in or they're gonna know somethin's weird!" Mushu said from his new position. Ping grimaced at the thought of talking to people but was emboldened by passing as his true self for the first time. He surveyed the camp, it all seemed surreal; how could they not notice him?

Now where the hell were they hiding the sign-in area? He walked into a tent and was surprised to find a huge altercation in progress.

"You better run!!" Mushu whispered from his perch underneath the shirt. Ping tried his hardest to escape the brawl but his efforts were futile. He ended up right in the middle of the fight underneath what looked like three men knocking over a rice pot. Suddenly a louder than life voice caused the raucous to cease.

"Soldiers!" The voice yelled. Suddenly the group separated and Ping found all fingers pointing at him.

"He started it." Was the collective response of the soldiers.

"I don't need anyone causing trouble in my camp!" yelled the voice which Ping could now see belonged to a man who looked around his age, maybe a little older, and very angry. Ping stumbled with his words this was the first time he was talking to someone as a man.

"Sorry. Uh, I mean sorry you had to see that…" Ping couldn't help the nervous words coming out of his mouth and knew that he sounded like a complete idiot, "…uh, cook out doors."

"What's your name?" the man asked and Ping almost lost his cool for a second but regained his composure at the last second.

"It's Ping." He said only semi-confidently.

"Let me see your conscription notice." Ping nervously fumbled with giving the paper to him. "Fa Zhou! The Fa Zhou?"

"I didn't know Fa Zhou had a son." Said another important but funny looking man.

"Um he doesn't talk much about me." Ping heard funny looking mumble something to angry man.

"Okay Gentlemen, thanks to your new friend Ping, you'll spend tonight picking up every single grain of rice. And tomorrow your tests begin." There was a collective grumble in Ping's direction from the recruits. Ping could hear Mushu from under his shirt saying:

"You know, we have to work on your people skills."

Ping didn't care about the rice. He had just realized that he had again passed. He had even talked to one of his commanding officers and NO ONE had noticed. Ping tired to contain his smile as he got to work on the rice.