The huns were advancing to the Imperial City, and on their way there they were burning homes of inocent people, leaving homeless children and women. Feeling so satisfied for making othersī lives miserable. The huns threatened the poor women and their children, and several times killed them, in their attempt to escape. Many people who refused to obey the hunsīcommands were killed unfairly including little children and babies.
That morning, Fa Zhou and the other veteran soldiers left the Bai Tao Base to guard the Great Wall from the huns. When he left, Mulan fell deeply asleep again and he didnīt want her to wake up. She was going to have a hard training day, and she needed some energy. Fa Zhou told Shang to take good care of his only daughter, and the young captain agreed.
After she got dressed in her training clothes, Mulan told Mushu about last nightīs dream.
"Do you think this boy I met could be Shang?"asked Mulan.
Mushu was thoughtful for a while, searching for a good and resonable answer to Mulanīs question. He wrapped his yellow mustache around his finger while he thought.
"How did he look again?"
Mulan shook her head. Then, she started to describe the little boy, " He was tall, and a little chubby, but I swear he had his eyes."
Mushu answered matter o factly," Then, he definately was the little boy in your dreams."
Mulan smiled to herself and covered her cheeks gently with her hands, she knew she was blushing. She could feel her cheeks burning. Sometimes, the thought of Shang made her blush and get goosebumps. Mulan stayed for a long time with a dreamy face just looking at nothing but, thinking of her beloved Captain. Mushu interrupted her daydreams,"Hum, excuse me babe, but, itīs getting late." Mulan came back to reality and put her black slippers on. Outside of her room, most of the soldiers were ready waiting for their commanding officerīs orders.
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Mulanīs father had arrived to the Great Wall. It was a quiet place filled with an uncomfortable silence; that silence you keep in a funeral. There was no sign of a village nearby the wall. The men walked through the Wall searching for traces from the huns. Some found arrows , arrows that had never been used before; other found a chinese warriorīs armor. The most outstanding thing the soldiers saw at the wall was the dry blood of the guardian of the Great Wall, who died there with honor trying to avoid the huns crossing the Great Wall to invade his country. It was strange that no one had found the corpse yet. Some were imagining the worst things. It wouldnīt surprise them that the huns were savage cannibals, and ravenously satisfied thier hunger by eating the poor guardian. The wall was kinda creepy that day, mostly because they had seen a dry stream of blood of an inocent person.
Eventhough they feared that another attack at the wall would take place, the warriors stayed there to prottect their country, their freedom, their traditions , and most important the lives of their loved ones.
The weather was chilly, it was freezing.
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During their trainig days few of the new recruits succeeded, and Shang was getting migraine because of that. Mulan tried to cheer him up, but it was very hard to say everything was going to be ok when the recruits were absolutely hopeless and the Captain was such a negative person at times.
The more experienced soldiers had really different exercises now. The worst of all was one in which the new recruits had to shoot arrows and the other soldiers had to crawl under them without getting wounded. Of course the arrows were not very sharp, but they were some cases of injured soldiers. So Shang had to teack them first aid stuff.
Mulan tried hard to impress Shang, sometimes she did pretty well, but other times she made a fool out of herself. There was this time when she got hurt in the middle of that crawling under the arrows exercise, and she commanded pleading to stop. Even if Mulan wasnīt the captain nor the general, the recruits stopped shooting arrows; of course Shang didnīt hear Mulan pleading them to stop so the first thing he did was to yell at the recruits ofr stopping when he hadnīt say so. The recruits immediately glared at the poor girl; Mulan was so embarassed. Yes it was just a little cut on her shoulder but it was impossible to crawl with the annoying pain. Mushu found that little mistake very funny.
Indeed, Shang had taken care of Mulanīs cut on the shoulder, but he wasnīt very serious about it. "I want you to take more care of yourself, " he commanded as he wrapped a bandage around Mulanīs bare shoulder.
"I will," replied Mulan pulling on her robe and the little white shirt she wore under it, to cover her bare shoulder.
"Your father doesnīt want you to get hurt," said Shang.
Mulan smiled at him and asked," Did he ask you to tell me that?"
Shang sighed and answered," Yes, before he left."
"What could be worse?" said Mulan taking a deep breath.
Shang shook his head." You know worse things can happen," Shang went on," This is only the training:"
"I know," replied Mulan as she headed to leave.
"How is your old wound?" asked Shang. His voice was a little shaky; that wound only reminded him that he had left Mulan all by herself in the mountains, a long time ago, only because he was mad at her . His madness had put Mulanīs life in danger.
"Itīs fine," lied Mulan. Yes, even if some time had gone by the flesh in her ribcage was a still very sensitive because the scab of the dried blood had fallen like a hundred times, and she had a big scar.
"Does your family know about it?" Shang hesitated, he knew it was a very unpropper question to ask. Anyway, Mulan wasnīt offended by the question, she simply told him the truth,"Never said anything. They would worry too much." Surely, her parents wouldīve worried like any other parents when their children are sick or hurt. They loved her too much, she was the most important thing in their lives.
"They should know," said Shang.
"Itīs ok, like that," Mulan joked," If they knew about it, I would still be in bed."
Shang didnīt find anything funny in Mulanīs little joke, it was serious stuff. How could sheīd been hiding this all this time?"
"Donīt tell them," Mulan begged him," Please, Shang, it would only make things worse. Mulan made a sweet pleading face Shang couldnīt resist. He immediately accepted her proposal. "Besides, what could go wrong? it is fine now."
Shang nodded.
Late at night, Mushu started to bug Mulan because of the little disaster she had caused that day. It wasnīt very annoying indeed, once you found the funny point of view in it like Mulan she laughed as she remembered herself making the soldiers stop shooting the arrows and other soldiers getting shot as they stood up and complained(Yao was among them), but what was even more better that although Shang wasnīt in a mood for disasters, he didnīt get mad at her, instead, he took care of her cut.
"Shang never gets mad at you, now that he knows you are a girl," said Mushu.
"Iīm still a pain in the neck though," Mulan went on," but he has been nice to me."
"Thatīs because he likes you," assured Mushu.
Mulan sighed," I donīt think so, Iīm not a perfect bride with no brain."
"What makes you different makes you beautiful babe," declared Mushu. "What do you think lucky bug?"
Cri-Kee chirped something that meant," If he is wise, heīll know you are his heaven sent match." The little cricket sounded poetic and wise; so Mushu laughed at him and said,"Youīre right Confucious."
Mushu translated Cri-keeīs chirping so Mulan could understand what was he trying to say.
"Did you ask Mr. Big Muscles if he was the little boy you met like more than a decade ago?" asked Mushu.
"Not yet," she answered-
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Faraway from the Bai Tao Base, thousands of huns were sitting around a fire. They were planning the next dayīs attack.
"How does the girl look like , Fon Shui?"asked Kin Wen.
Fon Shui remembered Mulanīs face as if he had just seen her a few minutes ago. He had her portrait on his head most of the time, because he hated her madly. "She had this eyes that have this...vitality... and blazing fire like sparkling stars in them, sheīs a tiny little thing you should see her beside the Great Shan Yu, sheīs only half his size."
Kin Wen grinned confidently, his features looked even more disgusting when he did that," Then it wonīt be that hard to finish her off."
The huns burst into laughter almost as annoying as Kin Wenīs grins.
The men were cooking dinner at the little fire they were all sitting around. They had stolen some cattle from chinese farms they had burned out that day. Those farms belonged to people who never did them anything, they just took advantage over them with weapons and threats to fill their needs.
"Be patient little destroyer," Kin Wen muttered," Weīre going to make you suffer, just like you made our leader suffer."
The huns started to cheer and to worship their new leader. Some of them kissed his dirty feet and bowed. Kin Wen was much more younger that Shan Yu, he was around Shangīs age, maybe younger. His age gave him the advantage of being much more stronger than Shan Yu, because he had more energy and vitality. Kin Wen was the same height Shan Yu was and a little less fat than that monster, he resembled him as if he were his son.
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In the middle of the night, Mulan woke up from her dreams because of a strange noise she heard coming from outside her room. She put on her robe and ran outside to see what all the fuzz was about.
She saw blazing fire being shot from somewhere. "Shang!" Mulan screamed desperately, "someone is burning this place!"
"Would you be quiet, " she heard a voice she knew very well saying,"Iīll stop it ."
Mulan sighed , it was only Mushu playing around shooting fire in the dark of the night
"What the...?" Mulan was interrupted by Mushu.
"I was only working on my shooting fire skills, Iīm getting more powerful babe."
Mulan crossed her arms and said,"Well, youīre going to wake up everyone in here, and I donīt think itīs going to be a very nice scene when they come and yell at me." Suddenly, Mulan heard that someone was approaching to them, she was so sure it was Shang. "What am I going to do now?" she thought to herself.
Mushu ran to hide in some bushes nearby.
"Whatīs going on in here ?" demanded Shang. His eyes were smaller than usual, Mulan had awaken him, oh she was so embarassed.
Mulan stayed quiet looking for the perfect excuse to explain all this mess, she opened her mouth to say," I...I heard this strange noise and I..."
"Who were you talking to?"asked Shang. He didnīt sound very happy, was it because he was sleepy and someone had interrupted his dreams. He sounded upset.
"Oh...it was only...er...erm...hum... Mushu," explained Mulan. Now she was blushing bright pink and regretting about what she had just said. She knew he was going to ask her who was Mushu and stuff of the sort.
"And, who is Mushu?"
"Heīs only my guardian," replied Mulan.
"Mulan, I think you should go back to bed," said Shang patting Mulanīs shoulder softly. Mulan didnīt move from the place she was standing on and narrowed her beautiful eyes at Shang," You donīt believe me, right?"
He stayed thoughtful for a moment thinking what to say, it was so impossible to be true. A guardian was a childīs fantasy, was Mulan so inmature? Shang hesitated," I...."
Mulan cut him off, "You donīt believe me, just like when you were going to kill me and just like when we were in the middle of that stupid parade and you didnīt want to listen to me when I said that the huns were alive. Right?"
Shang shook his head and tried to explain, but it was kinda late because Mulanīs eyes were filled with tears, he had only hurt her feelings so much. Did he deserved her forgiveness after everything he had done to her, and she had tried to erase from her memory but he only reminded her when he got mad at her.
"Mulan listen to me," Shang commanded softly.
Mulan covered her ears and yelled," Mushu come here."
A tiny red dragon walked out some bushes and said,"Here I am, precious."
"See," Mulan said pointed at her guardian," Heīs Mushu." He had hurt her feelings deeply, she wasnīt a liar, just because she had lied once , anyway, was it worth it not to believe her when she said the truth just for one secret she had kept once.
"Iīm so pleased to meet you unbeliever," said Mushu sarcastically as he climbed to reach Shangīs shoulder."I... me too," replied Shang.
Mushu climbed down and went into Mulanīs room so she and Shang could finish thier argument. Although, he was going to spy them.
"Why didnīt you tell me before you had a guardian?" asked Shang.
"Because you never asked me," replied Mulan still irritated because he didnīt believe her. Sometimes, she wondered how could she be so nice to him and still like him when he considered her an inmature woman.
"Look, Mulan, Iīm very sorry," Shang went on," I know everytime I think youīre wrong, it only, I mean... I screw up."
Mulan rose her eyebrows, and then smiled at him lopsidedly." Iīm the one that screwed up I guess," Mulan confessed," I disguised myself and..."
Shang trailed her off,"It was for the best. I know you did it to save your father and I trust you."
"You donīt seem to," muttered Mulan loud enough so he could hear her. Then she turned her back on Shang and walked towards her room. Shang followed her just when she was about to enter, he stood in front of her and placed his heavy strong hands on her shoulders. "Let me get this straight, please," he begged her. How could she be mad at him when he was begging her that way, getting into her level , trying to be as humble as he could? Mulan suddenly felt a little pleased by it, he looked so irresistable.
"Go on," said Mulan allowing him to explian himself.
"Well, Iīm sorry for not believing you in the past because you get crazy ideas and I promise I wonīt do it again," said Shang. He stretched his hand to shake Mulanīs to seal the deal. Instead, Mulan walked towards him put his hand down and kissed his cheek. "I wonīt give you reasons to regret." Both of them blushed and said goodnight to each other.
When Mulan was inside her room, she couldnīt sleep just thinking how did she dared to kiss him; of course she thought she was not capable of doing such thing because she was extremely shy when she was around him.
"I saw you," said Mushu crossing his arms. Mulan giggled a bit. Mushu did the two thumbs up sign and winked one eye at Mulan.
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Meanwhile, Shang rubbed his cheek gently and couldnīt get Mulanīs kiss out of his mind. It had been just a brief moment, but yet so wonderful. He knew she had forgiven him all the clumpsy things he usually did.
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Mulan had her eyes shut and she could hear Mushu singing a really funny song that didnīt even rhyme. It said something like this:
Baby, why did you grow up so fast?
Love is knocking on your door now
Iīm going to miss you and you will never come back.
"Shut up," Mulan hissed," I canīt sleep."
"Whatever you say so," replied Mushu, then he kept with the noise.
Donīt go baby,
Donīt grow....
