what a warrior would do | a Mulan au

1| gentle lovebirds

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◾~Nya's POV~◾

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I quickly straightened out the creases in my long sleeved red and teal kimono as I hurried through the yard towards the gate of the house. By how the person on the other side was knocking, I could tell who it was. I was very familiar with the rhythmic tapping which had been adopted as a signature to indicate this person's arrival a long time ago.

Smiling, I undid the lock on the gate and pulled it open. As expected, a boy with auburn hair and blue eyes greeted me, raising a cloth-covered tray to my face.

"Hi, Jay," I chuckled, stepping back to let the boy in.

"Hey, Nya!" he cried, uplifting my entire mood which had been sour a few moments ago. He was a year older than me but he still acted way younger, making me look like a grandmother in front of him. But I didn't mind. I liked people who were young at heart no matter how old they got.

"Look what I made this morning!" Jay announced, excitedly gesturing at the tray in his hands. After I gave him a confused look, he dramatically removed the cloth and displayed his creation. "Ta-da! Red bean cakes!"

"Aww!" I couldn't help but giggle at the cute, bun-shaped cakes on which were dabbed streaks and beads of icing to make them look like little kittens.

When presented with such creativity as this, I did not care if it was a woman's place to cook or bake or a man's place. Many of my friends had told me to show interest in a guy that had a more rough and tough personality. But I had been always attracted to the gentler ones.

I was about to take a bite from one of the cakes when I was interrupted.

"Nice going, Walker."

Me and Jay looked around to see Skylor, my sister-in-law, stepping down into the yard with a smirk on her bright face. Her red hair and orange garments flowed behind her as she approached near, making me wish I was as graceful as her. I had always been more of a messy, jumpy type.

"You better make a move soon before you start running out of recipies as an excuse to meet Nya," Skylor said, causing me to go red and pout in her direction.

Jay made a face that confirmed is indignance. However, when he replied in a fidgety way, it didn't seem too convincing.

"Whaaaaat? Pshhhtt, no way! That was never my intention."

This ended in an awkward silence in which me and Jay looked everywhere but at each other while Skylor smiled teasingly at us. This was probably the most annoying thing about her but it was also one of the things that made her the most fun person to hang out with. If I'm being honest, she's the sister I never had.

She was married to my older brother, Kai, and was two years older than me. It had been a year since their marriage and Skylor hadn't lost a single touch of her playfulness. I, on the other hand, felt like I had lost all my high spiritedness in a day and I hadn't even been assigned a match yet.

By sheer coincidence, the talk turned to that.

Jay looked very serious and glum when he asked the dreaded question. "So, how did it go with the matchmaker?"

I sighed, trying to find a way out of answering him but failing. "It went horrible!" I finally blurted out. "I set the matchmaker's butt on fire and threw hot tea all over her to put it out."

Skylor giggled. "You could say the matchmaker looked like a 'hot mess'."

Jay winced, eyes bearing sympathy for no other than the poor matchmaker of course. He and the entire village knew: me and Kai were the most troublesome, clumsy and unpredictable children ever. At this point, whenever something went unusually wrong, everyone would say it's the Smith siblings. Mom and Dad are not too happy with it but they know we can't help it.

Skylor grabbed my shoulders from behind and gave them a friendly squeeze. She glanced at Jay. "Of course, Waterlily ruined it all. She'd rather marry you than any other doofus that matchmaker lady hooks her up with. I mean, that's what I did."

I rolled my eyes, grinning. If there was ever someone who was next in line to break the Smith record, it was Skylor. Despite her grace and sophistication, she's a wild one.

"Anyway, I'd better get going," Jay spoke, a pink shade tinting his cheeks. He handed me the tray which I took. "Give some to Kai for me. Something as a 'get well soon' gesture."

I nodded. "Yep, I'm sure he would feel better biting off the heads of these poor kittens."

Jay laughed at that, a sound that warmed me to the core. Soon after, he said goodbye to us and skipped out the gate. I was probably grinning and waving like a simpering idiot because Skylor kept making hearts with her hands and bumping them into my face.

"Come on, lovebird. I think Kai's ringing his bell."

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