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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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He hung back and observed for now, leaning against the far wall of the chamber, watching her and the medic. In time, when he sent both the medic and commander away and was alone with her he would speak with her about the pregnancy. He didn’t for a moment believe that the miscarriage was an accident; she was much too smart for that even if she was naïve. No, she drank that tea in an attempt to avoid having the baby. What he didn’t understand was why. Did she think that he would have abandoned her or killed her because of it?

Before he ever touched her he knew that she’d never been with any man before him. Many men that he knew liked a virgin; but he found them to be more work. His preference was an older, more seasoned woman normally. But it wasn’t work with Mulan. She had been so natural and curious; he experienced the newness of it all over again through her eyes and it was thrilling.

They weren’t in love. He had come to care for her and there was an odd bond between them now, but it wasn’t love. It was an understanding that they had formed between them, a mutual respect and caring for the other’s humanity. And it was a kind of truce too, a bargain that had been struck without words. She had given herself to him to help the commander escape. He knew that. And for them the bed was a battlefield, a game of wits. If nothing else she was a challenge and it was fun.

Mulan had something to hide. He still hadn’t placed where he knew her from but the more time he spent around her the more he sensed that she had something on him. How did she know that his army had been destroyed? The commander might have told her; but why would he be discussing it with her? Chinese women were not warriors and Chinese men were not in the habit of making their women privy to matters of war. She claimed that the commander found her in that village they’d destroyed at the Tung Shao Pass; but that still didn’t explain it. He had a sharp memory; he remembered the faces of every single person that he killed in battle, as well as those of the people that lived in the villages that lay in the path of those battles. He would have remembered her if he saw her in that razed village.

Everything was too coincidental and he could spot it in a heartbeat. She and the commander knew each other; and now this medic that just happened to be around in the market was also acquainted with her. The man had known about that injury underneath her bandage and had set to removing the stitches from it as soon as he’d finished treating the bleeding. Shan-Yu couldn’t get a good look at that wound yet because the doctor had been bending over her. But in time he would. She was always so skittish when his fingers pried at the bandage, he couldn’t help but be curious.

He snapped out of his thoughts, suddenly realizing that Dr. Kong had risen to his feet and stepped back. The commander was now kneeling beside the bed, speaking to her in a hushed tone. Shan-Yu listened carefully to everything they said.

“I’m sorry, Mulan.”

The commander spoke so softly it was almost impossible to hear. He had to strain to pick up his words.

“For what?” she asked softly, sounding clearly confused.

“For everything. I’m sorry for the way I spoke to you. And…” his voice dropped to a half-whisper, “for almost…I almost killed you…”

“You had every right to. I came where I didn’t belong.” Her voice was dull, emotionless. “Maybe I would have been better off if you did.”

“No. I don’t believe that for a minute and neither do you.”

Her gaze fell on Shan-Yu and she tugged nervously at the commander’s arm. He looked at her with a puzzled expression then turned, his gaze following the direction of hers. Shan-Yu stepped forward to speak with them.

“Commander, Dr. Kong, there are two large chambers next to this one. You will both be made comfortable.”

“Thank you. But I would like to remain here and keep an eye on her for a little while longer,” Dr. Kong told him.

~~~

The palace was oddly quiet on this night, and it wasn’t due to the time of the night. There was always activity, even after the midnight hour and into the wee hours of the morning. But not now. He knew Boke was occupied, probably plotting with his men; and his own men were busy watching them.

Shan-Yu paced back and forth in the palace garden brooding, Suren perched vigilantly on his shoulder. So, he had killed the Imperial commander’s father. And it was this commander then who had been leading the small troop that came to the Tung Shao Pass where they were waiting, expecting the reinforcements to the regiment they’d destroyed. His army should have crushed that small band of men with ease; instead the field of play had been leveled by that small snip of a soldier from the commander’s army.

He’d had to admire that little soldier’s courage; the lone figure had come charging on foot toward his vast army of men on horseback, fearless and ready to confront his sure death head-on. The sight of his face up close had been startling; the soldier had been a young boy, no older than fifteen but probably younger. He was puzzled at first when the boy fired that cannon, uselessly it seemed, at the chest of the mountain peak. His gaze had followed its trajectory and it wasn’t until the snow began to fall from the impact, slowly in small amounts at first and then tumbling down in a torrent, when he realized what the boy had done. Before he knew it, a wave of white was pouring down, beginning to cover most of his army, and rolling rapidly toward him.

Those were all good men that he’d lost. He’d wanted nothing but to lash out at that little soldier in revenge, though a part of him felt regret at having to put an end to the life of so fearless a boy.

The Imperial commander’s half-whispered words rang in his head still, as did her sullen reply to them.

“I almost killed you.”

“You had every right to. I went where I didn’t belong.”

Mystery surrounded her, it always had, and this only served to heighten his curiosity. Why had this commander almost killed her? What did she mean when she said that she went where she didn’t belong? Was she talking about being in that village? Once again that also brought up the question of how she knew about what had happened to his army.

By now the medic and the commander would have finally succumbed to exhaustion and turned in, leaving her alone. Now would be a good time to go in; he wanted to ask her if she thought that he would have harmed her because of a baby. Making the decision to return to the chamber and speak with her, he turned on his heel and left the garden. Altan and Qulan were in the corridor at their posts when he reached the hallway leading to his room. He nodded at them and went inside, striding directly to Mulan’s room.

She lay on her back in the dimly-lit chamber, slumbering peacefully finally after hours of weeping on and off. Whether she had intended to miscarry or not, it was obvious that she was painfully devastated by the experience and he felt for her. Finding her asleep now he made up his mind that he wouldn’t disturb her; he would talk to her in the morning.

Easing himself down onto the edge of the bed carefully so as not to cause her to stir, he bent over her and gazed into her face intently as she lay still, as if all the answers to his questions about her would come to him if he stared for long enough. She was like a little porcelain doll, even without the typical makeup that Chinese women wore. He slowly brought a hand toward her cheek and tenderly caressed it, his skin just barely touching hers. She trembled ever so slightly at the touch and her lips parted a tiny bit but she remained asleep.

His gaze drifted from her face down to her slim torso. She was half his height and probably a quarter of his girth. He rested a hand lightly on her chest, feeling her heart flutter in that tiny frame, then let his hand slide along the side of her body and the curve of her hip. As gently as he could he closed his fingers around the material of her short tunic and slowly lifted it up toward her chest, revealing a bare white stomach and the curious injury across it that she’d been hiding underneath the bandage. It was an odd-looking jagged wound and his brow furrowed in confusion. It looked like a cut that would have been made by his sword. But that couldn’t be. She was a woman; where would she come to be in the path of his sword? He stared at the wound for a long time, then his eyes wandered back to her face. For a long time he stared at her visage and thought again of every detail of that village in the Tung Shao Pass and the battle in the mountains. He suddenly saw the resemblance now, the realization crashing through his head, and he leaped to his feet with a start, appalled, his mind reeling in disbelief.

Blinding anger overtook him and he almost grabbed her by the neck, wanting to yank her up off the bed, howling in fury, rousing her so that she would be awake when he killed her. Something stopped him, whether it was a hesitancy to harm her or plain shock, he didn’t know. He stared down at the sleeping figure in unbelief, his mind attempting to process what he now knew to be true.

She was the soldier from the mountains. The Imperial commander was her regiment leader.

Every moment that he’d spent with her in the palace came back to him with perfect clarity in just a split second, and his mind examined each of those moments from a new perspective.

He’d always had a sense that she viewed him as the enemy. She knew martial arts and this was why she had taken that defensive stance when he met her. She was a trained soldier. He didn’t know how. There were Hun women who were warriors. Chinese women were not, and they didn’t join the army.

This was an odd trick, a nasty game that the fates had played, sending him this innocent girl for him to become intrigued with, who then turned out to be the soldier that had felled his entire troop. Not with brawn, not with a sword, but with that incredible mind of hers. It had been his large, well-armed army destined to win easily against their miserable little band of foot soldiers and with one single shot she had completely turned the tables on him.

What the hell was she doing there? Is that why the commander almost killed her? It made sense. The Chinese had a different attitude from his people about many things, including women. She had been disguised as a man and she must have been revealed when he wounded her.

“I did get you!” he whispered in the dark, remembering how he’d looked down from his horse at the small soldier, knowing that his army was about to be buried by him, and sliced his sword through the air with a vengeance, swearing to take this soldier with him and the rest of his men. He didn’t have time to see if he’d actually wounded him; he had to stay ahead of the avalanche.

If he had heard about this from someone else, about another man’s army, he would have been quite delighted by the story and he probably would have laughed. Even in his anger he still had to admire her. What she had done was nothing short of brilliant.

No, he couldn’t harm her. He had to ask her every question that was in his mind and receive an answer. If for nothing else but his own satisfaction he had to know why she was there. She was his now. He was her first and only man and he could own her.

His eye caught sight of the little red dragon that had suddenly climbed out from under the covers and was now blinking at him with glowing eyes. He’d forgotten about the guardian; but it didn’t matter. Nothing had happened yet.

~~~

Mulan’s eyes flew open as she was jarred awake by the sound of an anguished roaring howl that reached her within the walls of the small chamber. She sat up with a start, glancing around anxiously, finding that she was alone except for her guardian.

“Mushu?”

He withdrew from his niche underneath her pillow.

“Did you hear that?”

“Yeah.”

“Was that Shan-Yu?”

“Maybe. He was in here before. Looking at your stomach.”

She lay back down and closed her eyes, letting out a shaky, terrified breath.

~~~

His fury released for the moment, Shan-Yu left the garden and went back inside, once again pacing back and forth impatiently in one of the corridors. Suren remained perched on his shoulder, watching his back, faithful as always. A part of him hoped that Boke or one of his men would attack; he wanted to fight someone.

Suren’s wing began to flutter agitatedly. Having his master’s attention now, he began to swoop toward the end of the hallway and the back of the palace. Shan-Yu followed him and as he reached the corner he caught a glimpse of three figures in dresses disappearing through one of the doors along the back corridor.

“Concubines, Suren,” he muttered to the falcon.

And ugly ones, he’d concluded even from the quick glance he’d gotten of them.

Suren squawked and shook a feather at him. It suddenly crossed Shan-Yu’s mind that one of the figures had been incredibly large for a woman. And there were balconies all along that hallway. He strode toward the door where the three had disappeared and pushed it open.

He found himself facing what appeared to be three of the ugliest women he’d ever seen in his life. Only they weren’t women.
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Shan-Yu's Victory