snarky_panda (snarky_panda) wrote in mulanficspace, @ 2007-07-21 00:55:00 |
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Current mood: | content |
Current music: | Kim Possible |
Entry tags: | 30_kisses |
30 Kisses: Mulan and Shang, Part Eight
Written for the 30_kisses challenge.
Title: Rumors
Author: snarky_panda
Fandom: Mulan
Pairing: Li Shang/Fa Mulan
Theme: #2, news; letter
Disclaimer: All characters, etc. from the Disney movie belong to Disney.
It didn’t take long for the news to spread throughout the village, nor for the gossip to start.
Fa Mulan - the clumsy girl who had set the matchmaker on fire, the disgrace whom the matchmaker publicly declared would never bring honor to her family, the outrageous girl who had stolen her father’s armor and had run away from home to impersonate a man and a soldier – Fa Mulan was going to be a bride. And she wasn’t getting married to just anyone; she was marrying the very handsome and renowned General Li Shang, a noble gentleman with means and a very impressive lineage.
How a girl like that had ensnared such a man was anybody’s guess; but many ventured one anyway.
“She seduced him,” declared one person.
“Oh, come on,” snorted someone else. “How would she seduce a man? A girl that knows nothing about being graceful and feminine.”
“Anyway, they’re together all the time. And before the wedding.”
“Rather disgraceful, if you ask me.”
“Completely improper. I didn’t see it for myself, but I heard it from a very reliable source that they were kissing, too.”
“Hmph, and I’m sure they did more than that in his camp. Why else would he have spared her life?”
Snickers and tsk-tsk’s could be heard from the swarm of gossipers whenever conversation turned to that detail. Everyone knew that when Mulan saved the Emperor in the Imperial City she had appeared as a woman; which meant that she’d been found out before that, in the general’s camp. He had been merely a captain then, but he was still the commanding officer. The law called for her execution after her deception and treason. And as the highest ranking officer of the troop it fell to him to carry out that law; yet he hadn’t.
Of course he didn’t execute her, the tongues wagged. As loyal and traditional as he might have been, he was still a man, with needs; vulnerable to a woman’s beauty and wiles. And that’s why he was marrying her. Perhaps he really had fallen in love with her afterward, seduced by this ripe young girl who gave herself to him in exchange for her life. Maybe she was expecting a baby and he was doing right by her, was another supposition. It was well known that General Li Shang was a very honorable man who always behaved in an upright and considerate manner.
Or maybe Fa Zhou had threatened to run him through with his own sword if he didn’t do right by his daughter and marry her straight away. Sure he was injured and lame; but he was still a father.
The young bride-to-be knew what was being said about her. Often she was tempted to speak up but refrained. It would only make things worse. Had her parents or grandma heard any of this? Were they aware that the entire village talked about her in this way?
And what about Shang? A sense of alarm swept through her when she thought of her fiancé overhearing the scathing remarks about her, most of them completely false but one of them painfully true. She never told him about that day at the matchmaker’s. He probably thought she’d passed the test like any other honorable and worthy young woman. Her deepest source of shame was coming back to haunt her thanks to a bunch of malicious, gossiping hens. They already had plans to get married; but would he change his mind if he knew that she couldn’t recite the final admonition?
“What’s wrong?” Shang asked as she passed through the gate to their home one day after they were engaged. He’d arrived while she was in town and had been waiting for her to return. Her face softened and the corners of her mouth turned up slightly when she saw him.
“Nothing. I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Are you sure? You look so upset.”
She studied him thoughtfully for a moment. He loved her; and it was silly of her to believe that he would stop just like that. Besides, it was better that he hear it from her than from gossiping villagers, she decided.
“Shang,” she began nervously. “If you’re in town, you may overhear talk…I never told you about what happened when I went to the matchmaker.”
He stared at her with his characteristic quizzical expression, one eyebrow raised. “No, you didn’t. I would assume it was routine…”
“No,” she answered softly, shaking her head. “It wasn’t.”
An amused glint came into his eyes and he smiled. “Well, now you’ve piqued my curiosity. You have to tell me.”
She nodded and swallowed hard. Gesturing toward the magnolia tree, she began to walk in that direction. Shang fell into step beside her and they sat together on the stone bench underneath the tree, looking down at the pond.
Her face was already hot with the humiliation she felt just preparing to talk about it. Mulan closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She opened her eyes and smiled when she felt Shang take her hand and squeeze it. Then she began to recount the events of that fateful day.
(Link here to continue)