The Concubine's Cannon

Chapter 3: A Woman Soldier

"No." He says it swiftly and bluntly. "But Captain..." She pleads her voice trailing off as she follows him. "I said no. Final answer and only answers." "Captain, they need more defenses it's a brilliant idea." She pleads but he hisses. "It's a stupid idea with many faults in it. You should be lucky I won't be telling anyone you even asked." He walks away from her. He can't see her expression but he knows it's not a nice one. It bores into him with a growl.

"Captain." She says again, her feet firm in the ground. "Stop calling me that, I have a name. And if you must call me General." She shrugs with a sigh, her features lighting. "Fine. I suppose I'll just have to speak with the emperor." This causes the young man to pause, not quite turning around but at least tilting his head. "Tell him what?"

A smirk crosses her face and she turns back to him. "Just that I made a mistake. I mean if you can't use your forces correctly then why use them at all? That's why I left the conference." His brows furrow and he turns to her, walking closer. "You wouldn't." He whispers the threat, though it comes out closer to the pleads she had said before. "I would." She smiles and draws her arms over his shoulder. He shivers at the unnecessary touching. He's ready to pull away when she finds her way behind him and locks his wrists together.

"What the..." He trails off getting slammed to the wall beside him. "I'm also skilled in martial arts. It wouldn't take too long to train me considering the small amount of time we have. It'll take two weeks to get all the preparations for the troops to head out and an extra week to actually surround the Pass. So what do you say?" The general grumbles and opens his mouth to speak. She loosens her grasp ready to proclaim victory when he flips her to the wall instead, sinking his hands into her shoulders.

"You're a girl." His voice is stern but not a growl, it seems as though her presence effect has started to wear off, only slightly though. "Ow ow. OW! That hurts." Her voice is meck. He let's go over her only to fall back, onto his back. His eyes close from the impact and when he opens them again he's unable to move. His face grows red. She had him pinned to the ground, between her legs. He gulps at the sexual position.

"I'm a woman. Not a girl. I can take care of myself, but you sure can't take care of yourself. So train me." Her features furrow and though it's supposed to be threatening it's cuter than it is scary. "Get off." He tries to command her like one of his soldiers but it comes out more like a mouse pleading for a cat not to kill it. "Train me. Make me one of your soldiers." She ignores his question altogether. "Someone might see us." He curses under his breath, wishing she would just listen.

She blinks in surprise, her grasp slipping and he's finally let out. He slips from underneath her and takes a seat across from her, not that there are any. "You think I care if someone sees us? It would be a blessing to not have to worry every night about..." Her words pause. A shiver goes through her body. "You don't like being a concubine?" Though his wording is stupid, she understands what he means. With a shake of the head, she explains. "I didn't come here of my own will. While I was never forced to come, I much rather be home than here, even with its finery. He shakes his head in confusion. From what he had gathered it should've been a girl's dream to become the concubine of someone with such high power. He doesn't blame her though. Who would want to be the concubine of a skinny old man anyways, even if he is the emperor?

"They won't listen to me nor my father and I doubt that they'll listen to you." Though the insult stung it's true, or at least during the meeting it was true. "This is the only way to keep the emperor safe. So will you help me or not?" Her voice was soft now, sincere. With such a heartfelt look it's hard to say no. "Do you ever give up? Fine." She throws herself over to him into a hug. "Thank you. You won't regret it." He blinks for a minute till she finally let's go and stands. "I...I'll need a few things." He finally gets himself together and stands along with her. She nods. "Whatever you need I'll get it."

"Are you a street merchant?" He raises a brow and with a chuckle, she shrugs. "Am I, General?" She giggles and he shakes his head. "Call me Shang."

"Shang then."

After telling her everything that he needs they depart, only to meet again soon.
                ________________

"Number one, how did you get me on the night shift? Number two, where did you get all this stuff from? Number three, where did you get the uniform from? And number four, don't answer any of the previous questions." Mulan laughs and Shang rolls his eyes. "Just come out." He covers his eyes just in case she wasn't done. The rustle of the ferns alerts him that she's finished along with the hand over his. "You can look now." He opens his eyes one at a time and to his surprise, she actually looks like a guy now. Well almost.

"Your hair is too long. You'll get questioned plus it'll be hot." He crosses his arms to the concubine but she just fans it off. "It's night time. No one will be able to tell the difference. Plus it's cold." Once again she gets a roll of the eyes this time being paired with a remark. "Girls."

"I'm a woman!" With that, they begin the training. Using detached brooms and mops as staffs and swords, they hung buckets of waters as weights, and even the porcelain pillars as a replacement to the usual wooden pole. Once again to Shang's surprise, Mulan is actually not that bad at the workout. She's not good either but she's no worse than any of the men when they first started.

They continue with the workout, finally reaching the end of things with the running with the weights on their shoulders. They're nearly back where they started when the small girl collapses, the buckets fall on top of her and clank to the ground. "Mulan?" He turns his head towards her and jogs back towards her. He hadn't realized she was already exhausted.

"I'm fine." She immediately trembles and attempts to get up. She slips back down from the water on the ground. She looks pathetic. "I shouldn't have pushed you. I shouldn't even have agreed to this." He sets down his buckets and kneels over to help her stand. "I'M FINE! Just treat me as one of your troops" She screams and hits his hand away. It's not a punch, it doesn't hurt, but it pains him. "What would you say if this happened to one of your soldiers?" She pants but somehow finds a way to yell. "Go back inside. Demote me if you want." He grabs the buckets and broom handles. "I said to treat me like a soldier not bring up the promotion." She curses him and goes over to finish their training.

"Give me the buckets back. I can finish it." She pulls on the broom handle in his hand but he just snatches it away from her. "I said go in. If you want to be treated as a soldier then that's an order." She growls at his abuse of the term. "You're just a girl."

"I'm a woman. How many times do I have to tell you this?" She growls to the general but he doesn't seem to mind. "A girl is naive and stupid. A girl is young and inexperienced. A girl does not get respect because she does not know what respect is." Her teeth grind together at his ignorance. He's not even paying attention. "A WOMAN CAN BE NIAVE BUT IS ALWAYS SMART!" This gets his head to turn as he tries to hush her. "Mulan," he hisses. "A woman is ageless and experienced. A woman does not get respect, not because she doesn't know what it is, but because she is a woman because she knows what it is." With that, she turns away. Pulling out her hair tie she changes back into her own clothes.

Author: UGH! This is one of my favorite chapters, I love the end of the chapter❤️❤️❤️ I had such a hard time in later chapters trying not to call the other women girls. There are girls in the group but I wanted to keep with Mulan's idea. Honestly I feel with the last line Mulan said, it could really go with a lot of different groups.