Mulan: A Parody-Chp10

CHAPTER 10 – TRYING TO DO WHAT’S RIGHT

The Primal City was filled with lights and happy cheers as Rukawa Kaede’s troop was paraded through the city. Everyone had heard about their victory in defeating the Shirogane Clan and soon everyone was looking forward to see those young heroines in person as word spread fast in Primal City. When the troops stepped into the Primal City, they were immediately greeted with cheers and congratulations and were showered with thanks for defeat another threat towards this sacred island.
Unfortunately, their happiness was not shared by Rukawa’s troop. They seem to look pretty gloomy and guilty for taking all the credit. Everyone has disregarded their sullen looks as a sing of fatigue after fighting a great battle, but if only they knew that all this victory was achieved by only one soldier, and a man at that. They didn’t know what to say or do to make themselves feel any better. They just silently let the crowd parade them.

By far, the most uncomfortable person among the troop was Rukawa Kaede himself. He looked at all the happy, grateful faces that were before him and had the slightest feeling that he didn’t deserve these thanks. These thanks were not meant for him; they were meant for the best soldier in his team Sakuragi Minako. He then realized that the Sakuragi Minako he knew wasn’t there at all, but a man named Sakuragi Hanamichi who put on a hoax to enter the team. He couldn’t believe that he actually had thought about Sakuragi taking him as a husband. He’s not gay! He’s as straight as can be! He likes girls just like other men do! But he had fallen in love with Sakuragi…His heart felt really confused and disturbed about all this. Did he like Sakuragi because ‘she’ was a woman or did he like Sakuragi for who he is…? He didn’t know what else to think.

Hikoichi, on the other hand, seem to be enjoying all the attention, though.

Suddenly, the ever familiar whinny of Oukutsu echoed along the way. Everyone turned to see Sakuragi riding his blonde mane stallion towards them, his face showing a trace of anxiousness and a little relief to see them all here. He rode past his girlfriends, ignoring their calls “Minako!” and followed along beside Rukawa. Rukawa glared at him with his usual cold blue eyes.

“What are you doing here, Sakuragi Hanamichi?” Rukawa asked with a grudging tone.

“I’m here to warn you guys,” Sakuragi replied. “The Shirogane Clan are not all entirely dead. There are some of the members still alive. I saw them! They came out of the snow and they’re heading this way right now to conquer Queen Ayako!”

“Why should I believe you?”

“Because I’m telling the truth this time! This is not a hoax! It’s true! I saw them with my own eyes!”
“Right, like I should trust you after what you have done to my troop. You almost made my troop lose its honour because you,” Rukawa said as he rode away from Sakuragi. Sakuragi scowled and brought his horse right in front of Rukawa’s.

“It’s true! I saw those men coming out of the snow. They are unstoppable and they will stop at nothing to take over Amazon Island and its women,” Sakuragi urged as he went closer towards Rukawa. “You baka kitsune! Baka, baka kitsune! You said you trust Minako, why is Hanamichi anything different?”

Rukawa stared at Sakuragi for a minute or two before looking away and rode off, obviously not wanting to have anything to do with him. Sakuragi let out a sigh. If talking doesn’t work, he might as well do things his way. As Haroko, Fujii and Yuki passed by him, he warned again, “Keep on a lookout, girls. They might be among us.”

He waited until the parade has entered the domains of the Prime Castle, the Queen’s home, before riding after them. He put Oukutsu at a corner and squeezed his way through the crowd to go closer towards the castle. He saw Rukawa’s troop walking up the steps of the Prime Castle towards the Queen who had just came out of the castle. If you had a digital camera and can zoom it towards Queen Ayako’s direction, you’ll see that she was a marvel to behold. Her dark curly hair ran down towards her waist and she was wearing great make-up. Her tiara sparkled under the moonlight and her royal black gown matched perfectly with the long gloves that ran up to her elbows. The gown was really long and as it dragged onto the floor, beautiful sparkling tiny beads and crystals the size of a pinhead twinkled like stars. She was wearing a beautiful necklace—which was obviously priceless—and the slightest light it caught immediately dazzled and illuminated her beauty even more. Many were fooled by her majestic look as they didn’t know that she fight as gracefully and strongly as she was beautiful. At the entrance of the castle door stood her first and second husband, namely Miyagi and Mitsui respectfully, also dressed as richly as she was.

Hikochi went up the remaining stairs quickly towards Queen Ayako and knelt down before her, taking her long skirt and kissing its beads as a sign of respect. Rukawa came later and did the same. The rest of the troop remained knelt before her. Out of nowhere, Queen Ayako produced a paper fan and hit Hikoichi lightly on the head with it.

“You have been away for so long, you naughty man!” Queen Ayako giggled naughtily as she hit him again. “Your replacement was so not reliable at all. I was thinking that if you stay away from this castle a little longer, I might consider throwing him into the gallows! Oh ho ho ho ho ho ho ho~!”

Rukawa and his troop sweatdropped. Her attitude practically contradicted the charismatic look she had on her. They didn’t expect this from a very respectable Queen who made her way up to the top of the throne.

“Forgive me, my Queen,” Hikoichi replied with a smile, obviously used to Queen Ayako’s sudden humourous gestures. “May I present you, the heroines that have helped save the island from the Shirogane Clan.”

“Please, please, please, girls,” Queen Ayako said as she waved her hands upwards. “Stand, all of you. No need to be so formal and all. You are our saviour after all. Dozo, dozo!”

The troop did as they were told. The Queen then turned to the citizens and suddenly switched to the majestic mode and said, “My people! My children! We have lived in this island for many, many generations now and we are rest assured that we’ll continue to live here for generations to come! All thanks to our heroines of the Amazon Island!”

Everyone cheered, much to the troop’s discomfort. They still couldn’t help feeling that they didn’t deserve all this credit. Queen Ayako turned to Rukawa and handed the Primal Sword, a token of war from the castle, to him and said, “I know your mother well. She was a great general and a great warrior, and so are you. You have fought hard for this war and risked your life to save my people. Your mother would be very proud.”

Rukawa nodded, but somehow, deep inside him, he wanted to clear all this misunderstanding. He didn’t deserve this sword. He shouldn’t be the only one awarded with the Primal Sword and be the only one to honour the family. He had to say something—at least just something to make him feel better about himself. He turned towards his troop and they all had the same look on their faces. ‘This is it,’ he thought. ‘I’m going to tell Queen Ayako the truth!’

Before he could say a word, suddenly the huge parade caterpillar tore open. Out came the surviving Shirogane Clan members Uozumi and company. Without even breaking a sweat, Sendoh, Kyota, Fujima, Maki, Hanagata and Koshino beat the girls off and rushed towards Rukawa and asked simultaneously, “Where is the beautiful redhead??”

“Now is not the time, boys!” Uozumi yelled, grabbing the Queen Ayako by the throat, pointing a knife threateningly at her jugular. “Cover me while we all go inside the castle! There’ll be plenty of time to find that redhead!”

The men did as they were told. Firing arrows and using their strength, they barged their way through the people who tried to keep them out of the castle. As soon as they were inside, they barred the door shut and the troop was left outside banging in vain at it. They decided to try and get one of the statue of luck placed near the door and make a break in.

Meanwhile, Sakuragi was trying desperately to get people to listen to him and tell them to find help, but unfortunately, he was a boy and boys’ words are often disregarded. When he, Mido and Noma saw that the Queen has already been taken hostage and that the door was being barred, he began to worry.

“They’ll never get to the Queen in time!” Sakuragi groaned as he saw the troop banging the statue of luck against the door. “Time for some drastic measures!”

Holding Mido and Noma under his armpit like a rugby ball, he barged his way through the anxious crowd, knocking them over like bowling pins. He ran all the way up the castle stairs and towards the troop who was still trying to break the door open. He let out a loud whistle and Rukawa, Haroko, Fujii and Yuki turned to look at him.

“I’ve got an idea!” Sakuragi exclaimed. “If you wanna get inside the castle faster, you’ll have to come with me!”

Haroko, Fujii and Yuki looked at each other for a while, considering whether to go with Sakuragi or not. After a few seconds, they let go of the statue and followed suite. Like they have said, man or woman, Sakuragi Minako or Sakuragi Hanamichi, the redhead was still their friend and forever will be. They ran together with Sakuragi to one of the secluded walls of the castle where there were many poles for them to climb and be able to sneak in.

“First, you’ll need a disguise. You’ll have to pretend to be the Queen’s male concubines,” Sakuragi said, much to the girls’ horror.

“What?! Pretend to be a man?? How degrading can we go??” Haroko practically squealed in protest.
“You wanna go save the Queen or not?” Sakuragi asked. The girls nodded hesitantly.

“But how are you going to make us into men? Our faces look nothing like a man!” Yuki said.

“Leave that to me. Just close your eyes,” Sakuragi replied as he picked Mido up. He whispered to the bronze-eyed cat and asked, “Can you give them a sex change that doesn’t anything of that no blood shed crap?”

“Well, I can lighten the magic a little and make them into men for about…say, 10 minutes,” Mido contemplated a little.

“That’ll do great!” Sakuragi said and held Mido close to their noses. “Alright, girls. Remember, don’t rub your nose. This sorcery is from that old friend of mine I mentioned. You won’t feel a thing.”

One by one, Mido licked their noses and made them sneeze. Immediately, their breasts shrank and their faces changed from that feminine look to a masculine kind of look. Their hair became shorter and they became slightly taller, with broad shoulders and flat chests. An Adam’s apple grew under their throat and when they open their eyes to feel their you-know-what, their faces screwed up in mixed feelings of horror and awe.

“My…My…it’s…long! I, uh, what is this sorcery??” Fujii was the first to say it.

“It’s a lighter version of my sex change magic. Don’t worry, it’s temporary, for about 10 minutes,” Sakuragi said as he tossed them some scarves. “Here, take these and we can go inside and fight.”

They obligingly and awkwardly took the scarves, still feeling a little out of place for being in an ordinary man’s body instead of the usual strong body structure of a woman. Sakuragi was impressed. He then took out a scarf of his ownand draped it around the pole, just like the way he did during training. The girls—now boys—did the same. A few minutes later, they saw Rukawa joining in. Words need not to be spoken. They were thankful that the captain has finally joined in their quest to save the Queen.

Together, the foursome and Rukawa inched their way higher and higher up the pole and getting closer and closer towards one of the castle windows.