Disclaimer: I don't own Mulan or the other characters.

Chapter 8

When Fa Jiaying woke up the next morning, she instantly felt better. "Maybe he didn't put enough to kill me," she thought, thinking back to their unusual visitor. Fa Jiaying knew something was off when she met him, but she had confidence in her son's judgment. "A little too much, huh," she thought regretfully. As she was getting out of her bed, Fa Zhou entered her room.

"You need your rest, Mother," he exclaimed as he hurried to her side.

"I am your mother; therefore you have to follow my orders. I am the general of the family after all, and you are just a soldier." Fa Zhou said nothing, but when he thought Fa Jiaying wasn't looking, he rolled his eyes quite dramatically. "Just because I'm not looking doesn't mean I didn't see that."

He gave a defeated sigh and replied, "Yes, mother."

Fa Jiaying noticed that Fa Zhou was staring off into space, not even worrying about his poor, starving mother. "Fa Li," she called out, "can you come see for a moment, please?"

"Yes, grandmamma," Fa Li said as she entered the room.

Fa Jiaying smiled, not missing a beat in her plan to make Fa Zhou feel bad. "It would seem that my son has forgotten that I need to eat. Would you be kind enough to cook something for me?"

"Fa Zhou, how could you forget something like that," Fa Li exclaimed, looking at Fa Zhou. He looked confused, for she exclaimed, "Oh, never mind!" She turned and looked at Fa Jiaying and said, "Breakfast will be ready in a few minutes." Fa Jiaying watched as Fa Li walked out the room, eyeing the tiny bump that was showing, but not saying a word. "How does no one see that," she asked herself as she went to go eat.

Mulan was happy to see her grandmamma feeling better than before. She no longer looked like she was dying, instead she had mischievous smile back like she knew something that no one else knew. "She probably does," Mulan thought quietly as she poured her grandmamma some tea.

"Mulan, watch where you are pouring that at," her mother exclaimed, as Mulan almost poured tea on the table instead of the cup.

"Sorry, mama! I was thinking of something else," was Mulan's mumbled response. Hearing her grandmamma chuckled; she turned toward her and asked, "What?
"

"Oh, nothing," her grandmamma replied quickly, "you were probably just thinking a certain someone…or a kiss with…." Her grandmamma trailed off when she noticed everyone staring at her and then at Mulan. "I'm just kidding," she said with a wink. Luckily, everyone left it at that, and Mulan was able to eat the rest of her breakfast in peace from her grandmamma's endless teasing.

Mulan thoughts were interrupted when her mama cleared her throat. "I have some good news," she quickly said, "I'm pregnant." Everyone but her grandmamma looked surprised at the news.

"'That's great," Mulan cried out loudly as she went and hug her mama. Mulan, her mama, and her grandmamma looked at Fa Zhou expectantly. After waiting for what seemed like forever to Mulan, when it was only a minute or two, she blurted out, "Will you say something already?"

But still, Fa Zhou said nothing. At last, he spoke only five words, "I'm going to go pray," before getting up and leaving.

"Someone got their panties in a twist," Fa Jiaying said a moment after.

Mulan hugged her mama saying, "Don't worry about baba…he'll come around."

Her mama nodded, turned to Mulan, and asks, "So about this kiss I heard of?" To their enjoyment, Mulan turned the brightest of reds and muttered something about having to go do chores.

"Shang and Mulan… kissing in a tree… k-i-s-s-i-n-g…"

"Mushu, shut up," Mulan yelled when she understood what he was saying. "And for your information, it wasn't a tree. Now can we please change the subject?" Mulan, with Mushu following close behind, walked to their fields.

"So…do you want to talk about Shang's soft lips?"

"Mushu! Stop listening to me talk when I sleep," Mulan stated angrily.

"But, it's the only way you tell me things anymore…," Mushu trailed off, using one of his saddest faces in order to make Mulan to feel bad.

Mulan sighed, "Your right, Mushu."

"Like always," Mushu smugly said.

"I can still kick your butt," Mulan said in reply. Mushu made a sound like as if he didn't believe her. "He's gonna regret that," she thought as she picked him up and through into the stream.

"Oooh! All right, that's it! Dishonor! Dishonor on your whole family," he yelled as he climbed out of the stream.

"And yet, you said I couldn't kick your butt."

"Oh Shang! I wish you didn't leave…you should have went after me…you have such soft lips…." Mushu continued, not realizing that Mulan had left long ago.

Fa Zhou was still in shock as he made it to his ancestor's temple. "Why now," he asked himself, "why not years ago? Why not before the war?" Fa Zhou couldn't stop the questions and thoughts running around in his mind. "Honorable ancestors, what do all this mean? My mother was on the verge of dying and now my wife is pregnant. Will you please tell me what the future holds?" Fa Zhou got up and left the temple, before he was able reach the house though, a messenger stopped him.

"Does Fa Mulan live here," the messenger asked.

"Yes…," Fa Zhou was handed a letter and the messenger left just as quickly as he came. Fa Zhou walked in to his house and gave the letter to Mulan. After noticing his mother and Mulan acting strange, he asked what was troubling them.

"Remember that stranger," Mulan spat out. Fa Zhou just nodded and motioned Mulan to continue. "Look what grandmamma saw on his arm." Mulan shoved the paper toward him. Fa Zhou stared at it wondering where he knew the symbol ¥ from. "It means someone working for the Huns, or who is a Hun themselves." Fa Zhou had trouble processing her words.

"Wait so you mean that I let a Hun sleep in my house for two weeks," he roared when he finally understood what Mulan was saying.

"Not only that, but he was the reason why grandmamma was sick yesterday…she was poison," and with that Mulan walked out.

"What have I done," Fa Zhou said over and over again until Fa Li pushed him to bed.