Hetalia: Haircuts.
Title: Haircuts
Rating: G
Genre: ?
Characters/Pairings: China, Hua Mulan (Historical figure)
Summary: When all is at war, there are some things which stay routine.
Words: 380+
Notes: Written for
hetalia_contest 's week 21 prompt: Haircut. Yes, I couldn't find a better title. All necessary things are in the footnote, I believe.
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The two of them stand in front of a mirror; a general and a soldier, side by side. Her head is barely level with his shoulder, and as he looks, he wonders how on earth he missed it. He is supposed to know all of his country, all of his men.
Men, he thinks to himself laughingly, as he hands her the knife.
Yao watches her take it with knowing expertise, as her slim (and weathered and torn and post-bloody) fingers almost caress the handle before resting it on the top of the dresser.
His eyes trained to the slip of Mu Lan's sleeves, exposing a creamy expanse of skin, he absently wonders how on earth she keeps it that way, even through war and hardened leather and arrows which pierce skin. Her hands reach up to undo the standard top-knot of all soldiers in the army and as her hair slips down her shoulders, smooth, silky (once matted with blood, he reminds himself), tumbling and seemingly going on forever, Yao finds himself holding in a breath he forgot he held.
She looks up at him, a smirk on the corner of her lips.
"A man's hair seems to grow faster than a woman's," she says, quite conversationally, as her hands slip through sections of hair to brush them out. Yao almost laughs at the joke, because really, it's the funniest thing he's heard in a while, and she of all people is the one saying it, brushing her hair out like a true woman.
But he says nothing and watches her more, as her hands clasp the bone-white grip of the knife, as it slices through her hair. The cut strands flutter to a rest and as one brushes her hand, he wonders again, how on earth he could have not known. But then he remembers that, ah yes, it's what she wanted. She wanted the country to only know her as a man, and as Wang Yao, China, would only have known her as such.
He smiles down at his favourite girl, done with her hair (with the precision and care only a female could ever hope to have), and presses a kiss to her cheek.
"Both men and women need haircuts," he reminds her. "And man or woman, it couldn't matter less."
Footnotes:
- Hua Mu Lan ( 花木兰 ) is a famous female heroine who joined an all-male army, in place of her father. She was first described in the Ballad of Mulan.
- Although the exact time period which the poem is set in is unclear, it's suspected that Mulan lived during the Northen Wei Dynasty (386-534).
- Actually, the man issue in the Ballad of Mulan is usually taken as filial piety, and not the actual issue of gender (Mulan went in place of her ill father, after all). However, many modern uses of the character of Mulan (case point: Disney's movie, Mulan) focus on other aspects of her act, which somewhat affected my own views on Mulan. Either way, she fought for China, as a woman, in disguise of a man, and that's pretty much all that matters here.
- A topknot, as far as I know, is how most soldiers in Chinese armies did their hair back then. There should be a picture of it in one of those links. Women, on the other hand (again, limited by my lack of research and own personal knowledge) also had long hair, but longer than the men, with more elaborate styles.
- However, there is a lot of discussion on whether Mulan existed at all. Some say that she's a mere fictional character, while others make mention of her being real; no one can prove either, as of now.
- All that being said, I have to say that I have a great deal of respect for Hua Mu Lan, and her actions, no matter what might have driven her to them. Also, these are my two favourite lines from the ballad: [ But when the two rabbits run side by side, How can you tell the female from the male? ]