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Shan-Yu's Victory	By : lightbird Category: +M through R > Mulan (Disney) > Mulan (Disney) Views: 16642 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own the cartoons of Disney Studios, nor any of the characters from them. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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Mulan placed her hands against her head trying to shut Mushu out as he continued to press her with questions. She needed to make sense of everything, and in order to do that she needed quiet.

“You’re really scaring me, Mulan,” he continued to nag. “Did he attack you?”

She shook her head. “Mushu, please just be quiet for a minute.”

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

“Look, I’m just worried about you. Tell me what happened. You know I’m on your side, no matter what.”

“I know.”

She sat up and he climbed up, hugging her.

“What’s this?” he exclaimed suddenly, examining her neck and gesturing frantically. “Is that a bite mark? He bit you?”

Mulan gave him a look and he backed off.

“Alright, alright, I’m sorry. I’ll just listen and I won't give you a hard time.”

“Shan-Yu’s men used the falcon to track Shang. He led them here.”

“Of course. He was here.”

“Yes. And then he flew onto my shoulder and started squawking.”

“He did…?”

“Yes. I think he picked up Shang’s scent on me.”

“On you?” Mushu leaped up. “Just how close did Shang get to you? Is he the one who bit you?”

“Mushu. Shang grabbed me from behind when he came in here. I thought he was one of Shan-Yu’s men attacking me and I fought with him. He pulled me onto the floor and he was on top of me. So his scent was on me.”

Mushu was staring at her through narrowed eyes. She ignored his expression, continuing her train of thought.

“Or else the falcon recognized me. From the mountains. When Shan-Yu came in and asked me about it…I thought it would be better to tell him that Shang had come to get me out of here instead of letting on that the falcon might have recognized me.”

“And?”

“And that’s it.”

He folded his arms and stared at her. “You wouldn’t be so upset if that was it. Did he rape you?”

“No!” she exclaimed quickly.

He eyed her suspiciously.

“No,” she repeated, her voice softer. “He didn’t. But he thinks that I chose to stay here with him instead of going with Shang…because I wanted to be with him.”

“He thinks you like him like that?” he asked, his voice two octaves higher than usual.

“Yes…that’s what he thinks,” she answered, her voice almost a whisper.

Mushu still kept his steady, concerned gaze on her.

“I have to go to sleep, Mushu. It’s been a very long night.”

There were certain things that had to remain unspoken, things that she just couldn’t tell her guardian or anyone, things that she could barely explain to herself.

She lay back down and Mushu darted under the covers, remaining quiet and leaving her be. She put an arm around him and held him against her body as if she were a little girl cuddling a stuffed animal.

She remained awake for a long time, the tears flowing from her eyes again, trying to understand herself, lost in confusion and mourning over the loss of something that had been inside of her that was gone, something she couldn’t put her finger on.

It did start out with him grabbing her into an embrace and pressing his lips against hers before she knew it, but Shan-Yu hadn’t forced himself on her. He did seem to think that he had a right to her because she had chosen to stay there with him instead of escaping with Shang. But she did very little to try to alter that viewpoint. She gave in with much less of a fight than she should have, she thought with a stabbing feeling of guilt and self-disappointment.

She had been completely infatuated with Shang for a long time now. That hadn’t changed, though she knew he hated her and though he had been on the verge of executing her. His look of anger and hatred of her as he stood over her in the mountains and his obvious disapproval of her cut her much deeper than the sight of him holding a sword over her head. It was the expression on his face and the look in his eyes that haunted her dreams, not the fear from her near death.

When they were fighting earlier in his room the moment he leaned in close her heartbeat and her breath quickened, she felt her skin grow hot and her chin quivered. It was completely involuntary. Even when they were on the floor struggling, his body pressed against hers and his lips almost touching her, barely brushing her ear, there was no denying how Shang made her feel and the feeling had somehow stayed with her.

She had fought Shan-Yu at first because she knew she ought to; but the truth was that kissing him wasn’t unpleasant as she thought it would be. She actually found that she liked it. And everything else he did. He just seemed to know all the right places to stroke her and kiss her, and exactly the right way to do it. Her flesh still hummed with the memory of the sensations.

And now she found that she had thoughts of both men in her head at the same time.

It didn’t even hurt, as she expected her first time would after listening to the things her mother told her. If she was a truly honorable woman, she would have been with her husband first and only, as she’d been taught. She wasn’t even supposed to be thinking about these things yet alone doing them. But it didn’t matter really; there would be no husband for her. She was never suitable wife material, not before and certainly not now.

Just like Bi and the girls that she took in off the street.

She sighed softly, a dull ache in her chest as the memory of her mother’s words made her think of home and the dishonor that she had brought upon herself and her family because of everything that had happened, something that didn’t even seem to make a difference anymore now that a stranger had seized the throne and she had no hope of ever going home again. After all, Shan-Yu wasn’t going to execute her for being a woman who joined the army. But he probably would keep her there; at least until he either got tired of her or killed her because he discovered who she was.

At least Shang was safe. She was glad about that. But it made her sad that, in a way, so many other things didn’t seem to matter anymore.

“Mulan?” Mushu’s soft voice broke the silent darkness and interrupted her brooding.

“What, Mushu?”

“Did Shan-Yu see your bandage?”

“He knew it was there. He felt it whenever he put his arm around my waist, and I could tell he was curious about it.”

“What did he say when he saw it?”

“Nothing. He didn’t ask about it or anything.”

“He may. What will you do then?”

“I’ll tell him I was injured in a fall.”

“What if he tries to remove it?”

“He wouldn’t.”

~~~

Powerful Khan galloped steadily away from the city and by the time the sun was coming up he was already beginning to ascend the mountains. The steed seemed to accept what Mulan’s guardian had said about them helping her, and he followed Shang’s commands even though he wasn’t his master.

The others would be several days getting to the Imperial City, being on foot, at least according to what Mushu had said. He would meet them first. He stopped by a stream to let Khan drink some water and graze. Mulan’s packs were still saddled on him and Shang removed them and rifled through them for supplies that he needed. He found flints and some dry food in there along with her armor and her soldier’s tunic, covered with the dried blood from her wound. A stab of guilt and regret swept through him and he felt an ache in his chest. He shoved the tunic down to the bottom of the pack so he wouldn’t see it again and shook his head, swallowing hard, pushing aside the feelings that the sight had stirred up.

He caught a fish for himself and started a fire to cook his breakfast. Khan finished drinking and glanced back at him, snorting at him enigmatically while he ate his meal. Shang didn’t know what to make of it. He had always noticed how loyal and protective Khan was of ‘ Ping’. He wondered if the steed recognized him as the one that had held the sword over his mistress’s head.

He sighed and shut his eyes, forcing the image and the nagging guilt away from his consciousness.

He mounted Khan after he’d eaten his fill and put out the fire, continuing up the mountain, stopping only to let Khan graze and get more water.

He found a place to rest for the night after the sun had set, in an area of the mountain that was thick with trees. The small tent that Mulan had slept in at camp had also been packed on Khan along with a couple of blankets. He pitched the tent and tossed the blankets inside, crawling in and lying on his side, drawing his knees up toward his chest so his feet wouldn’t be sticking out of the opening of a tent that wasn’t long enough for his body. He set his father’s sword on the ground beside him.

He lay awake for a long time, thinking about Wu Zhong. He remembered standing in the middle of the camp some nights among the tents belonging to all the soldiers, staring curiously at this small tent that belonged to ‘ Ping’, all the way up on the hill, removed from everyone else. It had always puzzled him the way Ping had isolated himself from the others all the time. Now he knew why.

The image of Mulan in the small chamber came to his mind and he made a silent prayer that Mushu would see to it that she was alright. He still couldn’t imagine why she would insist on staying in the palace with Shan-Yu instead of escaping with him and he felt uneasy with the fact that he’d left the city and hadn’t taken her with him. She seemed more concerned about his life than about her own and he couldn’t understand that at all. Why did she want to help someone who had almost killed her by his own hand, and that had then so callously left her in the mountains to die instead?

She had survived, though. She had persevered with the same dogged determination and courage that she’d had at camp. But she’d done more than just survive. She had actually risked her life and had come back to help him and her comrades instead of just going home. She really was like no other woman, no other person he’d ever known.

He remembered Mushu’s words suddenly, that he didn’t know what she saw in him. What was that about?

He suddenly felt desperately worried for her now, trapped in that room with Shan-Yu. He hoped that Mushu would do a better job at protecting her than Jie had done for his father. Though if the dream he’d been having had been any indication of reality, it wasn’t Jie’s fault. Dream or no dream, he knew it was true that his father was just too sure of himself and it would make sense that he didn’t listen to advice, even from a guardian.

“I know he was arrogant,” Shang muttered to himself bitterly. “He even had to have a sword that was different from anyone else’s.”

He sighed and pulled Mulan’s blankets tighter around him, noticing that they smelled like her. The same way her hair had smelled when he had wrestled her to the floor and lay on top of her the night before, bringing his face close to hers to whisper in her ear.

It was morning suddenly and Shang was waking before he even realized he’d fallen asleep.

~~~

Shan-Yu sat beside her on the edge of her bed again that night. Mulan tensely glanced toward the closet.

“I won’t hurt you, Mulan. You know that. You enjoyed this as much as I did. And I’m glad that you did.”

He reached over and began to massage the back of her neck.

“You see? Even though you think I’m the enemy, I can be nice. Nothing is so black and white.”

She silently gestured to the falcon, perched on top of her closet, his new permanent post.

The deep rumble of laughter that she was becoming accustomed to filled the room. It was almost a musical sound.

“He won’t hurt you either,” he whispered, moving his hand from her neck to her face and stroking her cheek gently.

“He’s guarding me.”

“No, he’s here in the event that the commander shows up back here. My men are still looking for him in the palace, but I’m sure he has made his way out of here, probably even out of the city.”

His hand left her cheek and suddenly his arm snaked around her waist, pulling her against him. She caught a glimpse of Mushu who had poked his head out from under the pillow and stared at her. He was about to crawl out and make himself known but she shook her head slightly. He gave her a questioning look and disappeared. She sighed inwardly, knowing that she was going to hear it from him later.

“I know that he will return for you. And when he does, I will be ready for him.”

His fingers moved over her torso to where her bandage was and he ran his hand along the edge of it through her clothing. Her hands moved quickly to remove his.

“What happened to you?” he asked softly, the first time he’d spoken aloud of it.

Her mind froze in its tracks for a moment, then she remembered what she had planned to say if that question came up.

“I was injured in a fall.”

He was watching her closely, scrutinizing her. She returned his intense gaze, studying his face. The first time she ever saw him she thought he was fierce-looking. She didn’t think so now.

His hand made its way back to the bandage and she felt his fingers stroking the area again.

“Don’t. It hurts.”

He moved his hand and she decided to change the subject and get his mind off of it.

“What else will you do?” she asked.

“What?”

“Well, you’re the Emperor now. The leader of our country. How will you lead us?”

“Ah, another game to distract me?”

She raised her eyebrows, trying unsuccessfully to appear as if she didn’t know what he was talking about. But she was genuinely curious to know what his plans were.

“I really want to know.”

He chuckled and spoke in a low, smoky tone. “Okay, we’ll play the game your way for now.”

She watched him, waiting for him to respond to her question.

“Well, I haven’t thought about it yet,” he finally answered, frowning slightly. “It will be different.”

“You’ve been concentrating on getting revenge against the former Emperor. Now that the conflict is all over, you’re not sure what the next step is. You don’t know what to do now that there’s no fight. Is that it?”

He stared at her in disbelief.

“Who are you, Mulan?”

She looked at him quizzically and he laughed, shaking his head.

“The things you ask and say. You really are unique. Not what anyone would expect from one of the Emperor’s concubines. But then again, I realized right away that you were not one of the Emperor’s concubines.”

She remained quiet, still staring at him with curiosity, and his laughter subsided after a few moments.

“No, I’m not sure what the next step is,” he conceded, answering her question.

He was gazing at her quietly, wonderingly, and she hoped that she hadn’t ticked him off again.

“You are a very unusual woman, Mulan, and you raise a very interesting point. But it is something I will discuss with my men. There are other things I’d rather discuss with you.”
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Shan-Yu's Victory