Special thanks to Estelli ( mulanxiaojie at tumblr dot com) who had beta-ed this piece. My very first Mulan fiction :-)

Mulan and its character belong to Disney

Any human anywhere will blossom in a hundred unexpected talents and capacities simply by being given the opportunity to do so.

-Doris Lessing-

The twists and turns of your life can be so unexpected, and that's a good thing to learn.

-Christina Baker Kline-

A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.

-Winston Churchill-

"UNEXPECTED"

There was a lot of unexpected things that happened in Shang's life. First was when he heard the Huns killed his father. Sure, everyone was mortal, so was he. Besides, by living life as a soldier, getting ahead of death was his rice and noodles – until his luck ran dry.

And then he met Ping, a soft, naive and lanky young man in his regiment. To say he was a little bit clumsy was an understatement, for Ping was phenomenally klutzy and catastrophically uncoordinated. At some point in his training, Shang actually thought the Huns had used Ping as their tactical maneuver to destroy his regiment from inside. Shang couldn't ever see the legacy of the illustrious General Fa Zhou in him even if he squinted, riveted, or observed him upside down. In fact, pretty would be the closest word Shang could come up to best describe Ping. He owned delicate facial features, his muscles were close to nonexistent, and his self-defense skills went from running away from his comrades to accidentally whipping them with his bo-staff during the drills.

But unexpectedly, weeks later, the same boy saved him from death! Ping even managed to kill most of Hun's entourage with his quick thinking.

Ping's triumphant pursuit cultivated a strange sense of pride in Shang. He had trained this boy and they had gone through hell together. But his sense of pride was decimated when, unexpectedly, a shocking revelation unraveled before him.

There was never a Fa Ping. For he was no one but a fictional character made by a woman, whose filial love for her father was too great to let him die in the battlefield, leading her to masquerade herself as a man.

Lost in confused duty and contradictory feelings, Shang made a decision to leave Mulan in the depths of snow. Later on, he regretted his poor judgment but was glad he had a chance to make things right.

Unexpectedly, Mulan saved his life again…. Together with the life of the Emperor and the future of China. She had become a hero. Unexpectedly.

But despite the string of unexpected events, Shang would never have expected to fall in love with a girl who could wield her sword better than a cooking knife, a girl who could rival him in combat and challenge him in archery. A girl whose life had been an embodiment of what relentless courage could do, whose life had revolutionized how men in China treated and valued the fairer sex.

Mulan was undeniably hard to talk to.

Being the great strategist that she was, Shang knew he couldn't just whip a conversation out of thin air or pull strings of thought out of nothingness. He would never win against her witty rebuttals. Their conversations had to be planned out, sometimes days in advance. He would come up with possible scenarios, conjecture her reply, and craft numerous possible rebuttals she might say to challenge him…or possibly silence her completely!

Was that his manly pride and masculine dignity talking? Maybe.

Mulan had dented his pride and ego repeatedly, but Shang knew he occasionally needed the admonishment.

But yes, she was hard to talk to.

So was he.

So after days of meticulous formulation and preparation of his plan, Shang headed to the Fa's house to…. return Fa Zhou's helmet (of course!). All throughout the journey from Chang'an his mind continued to rehearse the words he had arranged weeks before. Shang made a quick stop at his father's grave, asking for his blessings for whatever he was about to pursue.

"Great, she brought home a sword," Shang heard the raspy, vexed voice of an old lady talking to another woman,"If she asked me, I say she should bring home a man!"

"Excuse me," he said edgily, "Does Fa Mulan lived here?"

The two stunned ladies just gestured vaguely towards a plum tree where his eyes quickly identified the familiar figure he hadn't seen for days.

"Thank you." Even when his heart pounded loudly in his ears, Shang didn't forget his manners. Thankfully.

Behind him, he heard the old lady say she would like to sign up for the next war. Shang could just imagine the kind of unexpected surprise waiting for him in the next training!

Seeing the old veteran standing there, Shang went on to politely greet him, but Mulan beat him to it.

Truth be told, Shang had never fallen in love. In fact, he never planned to. Not in a battlefield full of bloodshed, torment, brutal men and vile language. He had not just lost his father to war but his innocence as well. Only a true war veteran would know there was no hero in a battlefield. But unexpectedly, the most unlikely place and circumstances were where Shang had discovered the subject of his affection.

He was twenty-three, and Mulan was merely eighteen. Both of them had come to battle with their own purpose in mind. Even though Shang never read trashy romance novels or spent his time in lustful gossip, he was positive this was how falling in love felt like. Right after he saw her in Chang'an, he noticed how his breath seized every time she emerged; how he smiled dreamily on every mentioned of her name and how he got tunnel vision whenever she spoke to him.

Such as now.

"Mulan? A….."

How could an experienced captain like him, who had been in a fight with the hulking Huns, act like an inept fool, tongue-tied, in front of the girl he fancied? It didn't help when Shang noticed a subtle blush creeping under her tan skin. Perhaps… showing she felt the same connection too. His heart fell to his feet and days worth of scrupulous planning, speculating and second-guessing was thrown out of the window.

Thankfully, all ended well. Shang stayed for dinner. From then on, he worked to win her iron heart until he dared himself to ask for her hand in marriage.

xxxxx

Mulan knew she would never be the quintessential traditional wife every Chinese man talked about…. or sang in their song. But neither would she imagine marrying a stubborn, assertive and haughty man like Shang.

They argued almost all the time, from battle tactics to what they should eat for supper. It was their thing, what kept them attracted to each other. Disagreement was the glue of their relationship.

Mulan liked her voice to be heard, but she wouldn't want Shang to agree all the time (even when she was agreeing). Shang appreciated the friction as well. She was the force that fettered his tyrannical attitude because sometimes, even as the youngest, illustrious Army General, he deserved a good verbal castigation every now and then. For Mulan, Shang was the balancing act that held her fantasy to the ground because she could be downright idiotic sometimes. Often time she just aimed for the victory, never the cost, and without Shang, she might have been killed years ago.

Despite the adversarial nature of their interaction, Mulan and Shang agreed on one thing: The flower that bloomed in adversity, facing tempest trial, opposition and struggle, is the rarest and beautiful of all, and so was their love.

xxxxx

Ever since they returned from the war, Mulan became prone to nightmares. No one blamed her. She had frequently watched soldiers like Shang and herself kill other human beings in the name of honor and pride of their country. She thought it was despicable. For many men, the atrocity of the battlefield would be tattooed into their minds and imprinted on their hearts forever.

Now the country was at peace and the wind outside their room was a gentle, calming breeze, one which almost could break any insomniac defiance. But Mulan found herself waking up again.

She decided to watch her husband sleep. Shang was a sound sleeper. After being a soldier almost all his life, it was natural to think he would be able to lull to slumber under any kind of sleeping condition, no matter how rough. Mulan found it therapeutic to watch him sleep. His countenance looked so peaceful, placid and gentle. The imperious scowl that was persistently glued to his face when he was awake bore no evidence. His eyebrows that framed his mysterious eyes which frequently curled sternly and made him look serious all the time now seemed to relax under the spell of dreams. His commanding lips had rested into a gentle, endearing curl, and the tide of his breath pounded like a flawless rhythm.

Mulan would watch him with a strange mixture of envy and passion. She would study him until her heavy-lidded eyes had enough, and she drifted to join him.

xxxxx

The signs were getting obvious. At least to Mulan. Finally, she found the culprit of what had been keeping her awake during the night. She glanced at the almanac and made a counting gesture with her finger.

Bingo, she had been missing something important for two months.

She needed to tell someone. She couldn't bear to keep it all to herself.

Waiting for Shang would be too long; he was on a foreign assignment. Even the ancestors didn't know when he would be back.

With a chest filled with exploding emotion, she contemplated.

Her mother? That was the most sensible, but she planned to let Shang know before her parents.

Mushu? After all, he was her best friend. But he was too…. gossipy. His mouth was definitely bigger than his body.

Chien-Po? Ling? Yao? None of them lived close by. She would need to journey the whole day to meet them, and Mulan didn't feel like her body could take a soldier-like voyage at the moment.

Grandma Fa? She probably would let the whole of China know.

Aha!

In an unsociable hour in the morning, Mulan sneaked into the stable with a carrot in her hand. Khan was obviously happy to see her, especially after smelling the goodies.

"Khan...you are good at keeping secrets, right?" She emphasized by waving the carrot in front of the beast. Khan made a low, secretive neighing sound that Mulan interpreted as a yes. She leaned closer until Khan could feel her breaths tickling his ears.

Mulan scanned over her shoulder before turning back.

"I think I might be -" She stopped mid-whisper, her mouth was very close to kissing the lobe of his ears. Abruptly, Khan held his breath while looking pointedly at Mulan's abdomen. His expression changed from a tranquil to a feverish mood to looking like he was about to gallop and jump out of the stable. However, as wise as he was, he managed to maintain his composure. Mulan felt amazingly relieved after telling Khan, feeling like she was just relinquished from the duty of escorting the Emperor's daughters all over again.

xxxxx

Finally, Shang was home, and Mulan's stressful wait had come to an end. However, thinking about breaking the news to him struck her like a thousand arrows.

The two of them sat for dinner. Mulan took the honor of serving the food onto Shang's plate and pouring his tea. But the words of admittance bubbled in her mind every time the candlelight caught his profile, causing her to lapse in focus and end up pouring soy into his cup and not the tea. Mulan hastily apologized while Shang stared at her, completely lost and bewildered.

Even then during dinner, their gaze would collide and he would randomly smile at her. Mulan's heart stopped and her mind completely seized with terror. She wondered if Shang already knew somehow since he looked suspiciously elated even though she hadn't breathed a word.

The truth was Shang always smiled that way for his beloved wife. Mulan clearly had become paranoid about keeping her secret from her husband.

Then Shang pulled out assortments of goodies from Chang'an and generously piled them on Mulan's bowl for her to savor. After nearly three months of eating the same food every day since she was unmotivated to cook, Mulan clearly couldn't resist the temptations laid before her. Shang's lips curled into a contented smile as he watched his wife insatiably devour the food. Table etiquette was definitely not on the menu tonight. Usually Shang would tease and remind her that she wasn't Ping anymore, but tonight he stayed silent and just observed her with a longing look in his eyes.

xxxxx

The two of them sat on the front porch. The clear spring sky enabled them to watch the constellations throw a party against the twilight. The reflection of the moon danced on the river, adding the finishing touch to the beautiful masterpiece mother nature had brought before them.

Both of them leaned on each other, enjoying the pregnant silence that was filled with the reverberating sounds of crickets and howling creatures. Shang's voice broke it off. "You're exceptionally silent today, Mulan." He was using his stealthy kind of tone that he often used to cajole a revelation out of her.

"I'm just busy digesting," Mulan quipped.

Shang laughed at her mediocre excuse. "But you are digesting with your stomach, not with your mouth." He looked at her with a distinct smirk decorating his handsome face as if declaring he had detected her fib. "Besides, your stomach has been trained to eat a lot of food for quite some time now, it should have grown used to it."

Mulan nearly fell off her seat. She had no idea how Shang knew about her unexplainable, voracious appetite. Had she gained that much weight? Did her mother gossip behind her back? Mulan tried to ignore the nervous feeling that was clawing its way up her throat and inadvertently causing her to shiver. Shang eloquently pulled one layer of his robe and placed it gently around her shoulders before girding his strong arms around her. This kind of chivalrous affection invited a burning flush onto Mulan's cheek. She leaped out of her seat so he couldn't see how embarrassed she was and ended up nearly tripping over the uneven surface of the floor.

"Careful!" Thankfully Shang's mighty reflexes saved her. "Mulan, are you okay?" His overly concerned voice cornered her.

She tried not to cave in and decided to pull another maneuver. "I think I just need to be in bed… it's been a long day." Shang looked at her again with a completely perplexed expression.

Xxxxx

In their bedroom, both of them were occupied with their own things. Shang changed into a more comfortable robe. Mulan combed her hair, meanwhile stealing glances at his winsome figure. The sound of the wind rustling the leaves of a willow tree right beside their chamber softly filling the silence with gratuitous whispers.

Unwittingly, their eyes connected. Mulan couldn't help but notice the lovesick, longing look he bestowed upon her. She smiled as she approached her husband.

"I'm sure you missed me," she tittered softly, "because I missed you too."

Shang just hummed a note of agreement before sweeping her into his strong arms and carrying her bridal style. He deposited her gently and the bed sunk slightly under their weight.

Suddenly, Mulan felt his warm lips greeted hers and she gladly welcomed them. Mulan managed to steal a quick glance, admiring her husband's rugged feature, his sharp-hewn face, and his captivating smile before he kissed her again. And again.

She felt her body become limp and powerless, bounded by the spell of his expert kisses. Mulan firmly believed that while she could beat Shang in a sword fight, his tongue skills were completely beyond her league.

Then Mulan sensed his hands eagerly disrobing her, which was expected considering the time she had been absent from her wifely duties and how long he had suffered from abstinence. Hungrily, his fingers traveled and explored the land of privilege that had been robbed from him the past months of separation. Mulan found her body answering to his call, devouring the tenderness of his passionate touch. But then she realized what usually happened by the end of this.

She desperately needed to reveal her secret to him, and he deserved to know.

"Shang, I need to tell you about something." She gently nudged him and subsequently extricated herself from his intimate hug.

Shang's face suddenly became serious and intense. "Yes?" He was hopeful and breathless. A certain twinkle in his eyes betrayed every hidden thought with a hint of quiet excitement.

"It's…It's kind of important."

Her words felt like a slap on his face. An arduous string of expressions flooded his countenance as dozens of speculations rammed his head. Then he noticed Mulan's red bloodshot eyes, complete with dark circles underneath.

"Have you…Have you not been sleeping?" His voice dropped like he had committed a heinous crime for leaving her for months with a crisis hanging between them.

"No-no...I mean, yes. Y-… No. That's not what I meant." Mulan stuttered incoherently.

"Mulan." The sharpness in his voice sounded like a warning. "When we married, you promised me there wouldn't be any secrets between us." He sounded almost accusing. Mulan didn't answer him, not because she didn't want to, but more like she didn't know how to best express herself.

"Are you… not well?" he asked further, running his fingers affectionately through her hair.

"No. It's not that."

"Does this… have something to do with...us?" Shang inquired. His voice grinded with reluctance on edge, as if he didn't want to hear her answer.

"You could say that." Her muttering was almost unheard. A worried look strangled his face. Mulan almost felt guilty for torturing him this way.

"You know there are no other girls in the army right?" He sounded deceptively calm as he hid the irritation from reflecting in his tone. "And those men are like brothers to me."

Mulan shook her head expectantly and paid him a knowing smile. She witnessed a blast of relief repel his anxiety and wipe his perturbed expression in a blink. No, Mulan knew Shang hadn't cheated on her. In fact, he wouldn't ever. She knew it.

She paused, clearing her throat before selecting a string of words to say. "What do you think of us, moving?" Mulan said diplomatically. She wouldn't just blurt out the news, instead hoping Shang would read the hidden clues she insinuated.

Shang blinked; his jaw went slack. Mulan imagined Mushu would be able to fit in there if he was here.

"So, is that all? You want a bigger house?" He raised his voice, clearly incredulous.

"No, no. I don't want a bigger house, but good point, because we will need more space. And being closer to my parents would be helpful," Mulan answered.

"Space?" He cocked his head like a mindless idiot. By now Shang sounded completely lost. He vaguely swept his gaze around the room, begging his brain to find a clue relating to his wife's nonsensical demand to have more rooms in the house. They only just moved to this four bedroom property less than two years ago.

"Space? For what? For Khan? But he had a large stable here." Shang was thinking out loud.

"No."

"For Little Brother?" He made a second guess.

"Ugh, no."

"Then what? Your parents and Grandma Fa had a spare room each in this house whenever they come for a visit. Even Mushu had his private quarters." His patience was wearing thin or his rationality was dwindling by now.

When Mulan said it was hard talking to Shang, she wasn't joking. He could be insensitively stupid sometimes.

"Aha!" He slapped his hand on his knee, before spitting his winning deal, "Your dead ancestors? We don't have a space for them! We could build them an..." He just about to say an altar in the backyard facing the river would be good but his wife's reaction clearly instigated he had missed the point completely.

By then Mulan had her hands on her face, laughing at her husband expense. "No Shang!" She wiped tears from her eyes. Shang was relieved to see she wasn't actually sobbing.

"It's for your baby! You are going to be a father!"

Mulan let her words sink in and gave him time, respecting his struggle with his internal thoughts. At first, his eyebrows furrowed, giving him that serious look again. When the news fully seeped through him, he pulled his lips into a faint unreadable smile. Now, it was Mulan's turn to be worried. She knew he wanted children at some point in their life but what if that point wasn't now?

"Shang…Say something!" she urged, her voice gushed with a fantastical mix of trepidation and curiosity.

And all the plum blossoms seemed to bloom, and the sun began to rise on his face. He smiled and planted a warm kiss on her forehead.

"Thank you, Mulan."

Mulan observed him, trying to decipher his expression and extrapolate the meaning behind his words of gratitude. Her hands were still clutched on the edge of the blanket to conceal her bare chest. Obviously, Shang couldn't ignore that the room was a little chilly, especially when they just sat unclad doing nothing. His offhandedly helped her with her robes while Mulan studied the untypical soft look radiating from her husband's eyes.

"By the way, sorry I interrupted our… ehm….intimate moment. You could resume, if…. If you want and not… to tired, of course." Mulan sputtered and fumbled between her words. She felt her cheeks burning with the flame of a thousand lanterns, which was weird considering that both of them had slept together dozens of times. But Shang? He was still fastening her sash, his mind clearly floating elsewhere else, until Mulan jabbed his side.

"Shang! Are you listening?" Mulan stared at him with a twisted look.

"Ugh yes – yes. Of course," he blurted, but he reached down to the floor to grab his robe and begin dressing himself. Mulan frowned and her tightly crossed arms gave away her annoyance and contempt at Shang's blatant deception.

"What?" His face turned grave in a comedic way. "Oh...that!" Now it was his turn to laugh. He gathered his apprehensive wife into his arms. "Mulan, I didn't marry a whore." Seeing Mulan's scowl deepen, Shang rectified his blunder. "Ugh, that came out wrong. I mean, I'm not saying you're not attractive of course, but… I love you far more than – "

By then the bitterness in her face had vanished. "Sex?" Mulan completed with a conspiratorial whisper while her finger danced mischievously on his bare chest. In addition to that, the way she was leering at him like a temptress made him shiver in cold sweat while his body fell limp under the spell of her touch. Shang swore he would rather fight the Huns any day than face his unpredictable wife.

Mulan noticed how much Shang blushed; even his earthen complexion could barely obstruct the pinkness underneath. For a good few seconds, Mulan enjoyed watching discomfort and abashment take control of his usual debonair, cool facade.

"You are such a seductress, Ping!" he taunted back, making use of her other name.

"And you are a weak-hearted man, Captain!" Mulan bantered. "Scared to make a woman out of me?"

Both of them laughed.

Shang took a long, pensive drag after the peal of laughter subsided. "But honestly," his posture turned serious, "I wanted us to make sure everything is okay before we…. mmmm…" He hesitated. "Resume our intimate activity." He uttered lowly, hiding his embarrassment from staining the quality of his words.

For once, Mulan didn't antagonize his decision and nodded obediently. She was pleased her husband was far more understanding and mature than she predicted.

Shang cleared his throat to compose himself. "Tomorrow first thing we need is to find a midwife to check you." The authority and the aura of supremacy returned to his voice.

"So, I take it you are happy with the news?" Mulan quipped. Even when all signs showed he was positive, Mulan needed to hear it out loud.

"Of course, why wouldn't I be?" Shang shrugged in an animated way that Mulan had almost never seen him do. But the next hard question surfaced in her mind.

"But, what…what if it isn't a boy?" she inquired haltingly. While Mulan knew she didn't care about the consensus and society's general perception, Shang's approval was very much crucial to her.

Shang looked over his shoulder, completely incredulous. "A girl from you and me? Are you kidding me? The Huns will have a hell of a nightmare!" By then he was grinning like a madman with a victorious smile firmly plastered across his face as if his daughter had already slain their arch-enemies.

"I couldn't think of anything better." Mulan tittered softly as she watched her husband's eyes and squealed with silent delight. Perhaps he imagined himself tumbling around the garden, frolicking under the sun, and playing swords with their daughter.

"How do you think Grandma Fa will react to this?" Shang asked.

Her mood suddenly swung the other way, her face growing pale and tense as if seeing a monster from a mythical legend come to live.

"Don't ask! You'll be seeing all of China one of these days."

"At least that is expected."