The Concubine's Cannon

Chapter 5: Not so appropriate

"Are you sure you want to do this?" He knocks on the bathroom door again to the dismay of Mulan. "It was your idea. Besides, I only need to do enough to get someone to bring up my idea. They criticize you for being too young, Baba for having a limp, and me for being a woman. We need someone easy to influence but who's also influential." Her brain begins to work as several options come to mind. A general would be the obvious decision. If she was brave enough she could most likely go after someone who's married. Maybe bored with their spouse? She nods to each one as she goes through the checklist in her mind, the perfect candidate becoming painfully obvious.

"Are you done yet? We need to do this quickly before... before." His mind goes to mush. A flurry of a blush crosses his cheeks as she steps out. "Maybe it's too much?" She combs through her loose hair, the only thing in it being a metal flower comb. She looks down at her painful feet. If she wanted to do this right, she needed to wear these shoes. She continues to comb through her hair, for each second he's quiet the more anxious and aggressive she becomes with her combs. "Stop that." He finally speaks and brushes her hair away from her hands and behind her ear. "It's going to get ruined if you keep that." His hand rests there for longer than needs to but she doesn't seem to mind, rather finding it quite pleasing to her cold ears.

Her face grows warm the longer they're like that. No one in the room to bother them. No one even knowing he's here. "You should get going before it gets too late." His hand finally falls and she nods her agreement. She walks past him and he follows her out. "Who are you planning on recruiting?" He says it as if she's hiring people for a job. Technically she is but it doesn't make it any less odd to her. "His name is Mang. He gets into a lot of trouble so it'll be easy to just pass this off as a rumor. Very friendly from what I can tell. He's a bit of a drinker but he has no anger issues which will make it easy to slip in and out without needing anything to be done." She smiles at the amount of information she remembers about him though Shang is a little more skeptical than that.

"If he's drunk he could do something. If he's friendly he could slip up about this. If he's a trouble maker then that may just be pranks rather than actual scandals. You need to be careful, you're a woman after all." Mulan opens her mouth to protest but quickly closes it. A smirk plays across her face. "You do! He could be dangerous. Or you could get caught. Or..." His words stop as the smile just continues to grow. "You said woman," she points out. "You said you were a woman so I called you a woman. Are you not? And stop smiling this is serious!" He crosses his arms with a huff but she just keeps ongoing.

"I'll keep an eye out for anyone sober coming." With a nod, she glides into the room, all her confidence going out the door.

The door creaks open and she steps in. "I didn't call for a servant." The short man raises his glass and takes a sip. "I know. I'm here for something else." She steps over to the thin man, having to tap over bottles. How much had this man drunk? "Then what..." His words trail at the sight of the girl. A thin, five-foot-tall, glorious looking woman just happened to wander into his room? She must want something. "Did you need something?" He stands up to reveal all four foot eleven inches of himself. "It is not what I need but what you need." She places a hand onto his shoulder and lines his back.

"I am but a woman. All I am good for is something to play around with. You are a man and an influential one at that." He seems to stand taller from the compliment. "I'm sure you can guess what I want. And I'm sure you can guess what I'm willing to offer." She takes a seat over to the sofa he was on moments ago. Crossing her legs it only brings up the skin a bit but even that seems to riyal people up. "So what do you say? You get the people on my side during the next conference and I'll do whatever you want tomorrow night, no matter how much I scream.

"How do I know you'll fulfill your end of the deal?" She stands up and walks over to the halted man. A hand motioning flicker from behind him. "You're the one with the power. You could spill all this if I don't fulfill my end, you can take back your words too. I can not take back my body." She whispers this in his ears and leans in to kiss his cheek.

The door opens and closes creaking again. "What happened?" The anxious man asks. "What do you think? Business. But we'll have to get his answer tomorrow." She had no idea how she was able to do all that, but she did. Now it's just time to wait.

"We should start training. I don't want to become rusty." She looks back to the still halted man. He looks just as shocked as she felt from what she just did. She sighs and strolls back over to him, a hand on his shoulder. "I'll be fine." She smiles and kisses the general on the cheek.

"What just happened," the soldier breathes.
                ______________________

"Stay still," the commander orders.

"Then stop touching my neck," she hisses and gets another yank of the neck. "OW!"

"I told you to stop moving." He holds the length of hair in his hand and settles the sword just above the shoulders. "I'm about to cut it." He lifts the sword to the hair. Easily it slices off and falls into his hand. "It's off." She shivers at the cold night air, the absence of her honor, but thanks him. "Thank you," she mutters, a weight lifting off her shoulders. "We should start our training."

They go through the same training. Simple moves, using brooms, attempting to climb a pillar, and carrying buckets of water. They go through everything with ease, her hair now allowing her freedom from the warm drips of liquid. Shang would even argue that she's improved since their first meeting. Being able to actually focus on the work rather than on the heat of her head must've helped.

The night grows long and their training ceases.

"You improved." He gives her a proud smile though she still pants as she changes her clothing. "Would you say I'm as good as you?" She chuckles and he rolls his eyes. "I'd say you're at least as good as my troops. Though that's not saying much." She laughs and though it's supposed to be an insult to her, she can't get the thought of someone else failing to climb the pillar out of her head. "Be glad you don't have to deal with those... those..." He trails off with a gulp as she steps out in her usual garments. He had already thought she looked pretty with it short while in the uniform, he hadn't stopped to think how it would look with a dress.

"Pretty..." It's meant to be whispered to himself but he easily fails at that. She blinks for a moment stunned at his forwardness. Then she laughs. "Thank you, General. Shall you escort me back?" She gives a mocking bow though he doesn't seem to notice. He stammers for words till he finally just gives a sharp nod.

"Come on, Pretty boy." He finally blinks out of his trance to give her a glare. "Where did that come from?" He raises a brow but she just pulls him along. "Are you saying it's not true? Because you should be lucky you don't hear half the things people call you." He gives her a firm frown only for her to tilt her head to him. "All good things. Not that they're appropriate. But they're good."

Author: Fun fact! It was actually a dishonor for women to cut their hair. I hope I did Mushu well, Cricket should be in the next chapter. Sorry they don't have their regular names but I thought it would be best to give them human names. I also wanted to add in stuff with the Great Stone Dragon and wanted him to have a similar name to Mushu. Anyways I hope you have a good rest of your day! :)