Yona was surrounded by a lot of branches and an overflowing amount of greenery. She should have been so pleased with what she'd accomplished but she was feeling far from ecstatic. She sighed, quite irritated by her dilemma. This was silly. She'd been up in this tree for close to a good hour now, clinging for dear life to a branch that, luckily for her, seemed fairly stable. She tried to remain positive. Well, at least the baby bird she'd found at the bottom of the tree and climbed all the way up here to put away was safe and sound now. It was all just too bad the same couldn't be said for her.

She wasn't sure where Hak and the others were, or if and when they would come looking for her. After all, she'd told them she was headed to the river to bathe and that she didn't want anyone trailing after her. Just her luck, she thought. Yona tried moving a little to the right but it really looked like the branch was starting to droop from her weight. She froze in fear and didn't dare breathe. When she tried looking downward to gage how far she would drop if she accidently slipped, she grew dizzy. No, that wouldn't do. She was apparently up much, much too high for her comfort. Her mind had been so preoccupied with the safety of the little animal, until now, she hadn't even realized how far up she'd climbed or how she had managed to come to be in this particular spot. She only knew that she was stuck.

Telling herself to calm down, Yona attempted to relax her breathing. A thought suddenly crossed her mind. She had been hoping to be rescued but if the others came along now and found her in this state, how were they going to react? Shin-ah probably wouldn't react much but the rest were most certainly going to have a thing or two to say. Most probably, Yun would give her a good, long lecture while Kija would worry himself to death over her scrapes and bruises. Then…there was Hak. He would be the worst of all with his rude comments and endless teasing, she thought. Maybe it was best to risk the fall? She told herself to stop being so ridiculous.

Just as Yona was, for what seemed to be for the millionth time, running through the few options she had in her head, she heard someone calling her. Hak. Her initial reaction was that she had spoken of the devil a little too soon but then she thought better of her situation and sighed a big sigh of relief.

"Hak! Hak, I'm up here!"

She was too afraid to look down so she couldn't see him but she heard him approaching the base of the tree.

"What…the…"

Yona was already starting to feel her face turn warm with embarrassment.

"Princess, what are you doing up there? " He called up to her, amusement quite apparent in his voice. "Were you planning to sit up in a tree all day? Come down."

"I've been trying but…I don't think I can," she admittedly called down to him. "I'm stuck!" When Hak burst out laughing it didn't surprise her much. Yona had the urge to throw something down at him. Too bad there wasn't anything around except leaves.

"Seriously, how did you get yourself up there in the first place?" Hak asked in between laughing and trying to catch his breath.

"Hak, it's not very funny," she said in exasperation. "I found a baby bird, and…and I was trying to put it back."

"As reckless as ever. You're always so concerned about everyone else, princess. Maybe think about yourself too at times like this."

She knew his reasoning was sound but she also felt she hadn't done any wrong by choosing to do what she did.

"I wasn't going to let it die," she argued, hearing him sigh heavily.

"Things like that happen all the time. It's part of the natural cycle of nature."

Yona wanted to argue against that but she knew he had a point. Nevertheless, something burned deep within her, refusing to let her stand by while others suffered. She would never allow that to happen. Ever.

"Anyhow, " she heard him saying. "Try moving to the right."

"I already tried that."

"What about to the left or down?"

"I can't."

She heard Hak pace around until he was right beneath her.

"You know, princess…if you don't hurry…I'll get my fill of this view."

She was wondering what he was talking about when she heard him casually state, "I can see up your dress."

Yona froze. She felt her face heat up in flames. How dare he! Frantically, she tried to clamp her legs together and almost lost her balance in the process. She cried out, clutching at the branch in front of her even tighter. Hak gasped, then held his breath, preparing to catch her. She heard him swear.

"Don't move!" he shouted, his tone now laced with apprehension. "I'm coming to get you." She heard him scuffling down below and then several minutes later, his black hair, head, and broad shoulders appeared next to hers. He reached out with an arm to pull her close.

"Hak, I can't believe you would look up my dre-" Yona began reprimanding him then paused, her annoyance momentarily forgotten when she glimpsed his expression. She was somewhat startled by what she saw. His blue eyes, his face was filled with deep distress.

"Sorry," he stated softly, surprising her as his gaze shifted through hers. "I shouldn't have played that prank on you."

Oh, so it was a prank. Yona gave an inward sigh of relief.

"I'm alright now." She smiled gently at him. For a long moment, Hak stared at her. She had no clue what was going through his head but there was such an amazed, resplendent look on his face that she suddenly wanted to know what he was thinking. Unfortunately, he destroyed the mood by smiling mischievously.

"So the brave and courageous princess who went out of her way to save an animal couldn't manage to get herself down from a tree. Tch, now she's in need of some rescuing herself."

"You just had to open your mouth, didn't you," Yona muttered. "That's not cute at all, Hak."

"Here, hold onto me and I'll help you," he said. Putting his arms around her, Hak slowly helped her back down the way he'd come. Secure within his protective arms, Yona realized as she was climbing down that she'd completely forgotten about being fearful. Before she knew it, she was already almost at the bottom of the tree.

Hak jumped off first and reached up to assist her. As she was reaching down for his arms with one hand, the branch her other hand was grasping suddenly gave way and her feet slipped from underneath her. Crying out, she fell. She felt Hak's arms come up around her, and his muscular body help to break her fall as she tumbled on top of him. Yona found her face against his neck, their bodies pressed together, and her dress tangled up with his legs. As quickly as she could, she sat up and got off of him, so embarrassed it left her speechless and breathless. Her savior didn't appear the least bit disturbed, however.

"What, not even a word of thanks?" he teased. Yona scowled at him. Hak got up, brushing himself off, and said, "Come on. We'd better be getting back before the others start to worry."

Picking up his hsu quandao* that he'd left leaning against the side of the tree when he'd climbed up after her, he began walking back toward camp. Yona was just starting to follow his lead when he glanced back over his shoulder at her.

"You're safe now, princess, so try to relax," he said. Sauntering away, he added, "Your face is turning the shade of your undergarment."

That halted Yona in her tracks. Wait a minute. How did he know what color...? Hadn't he said it was just a prank?

"Hak…?" Yona thought about it for a second then she became alarmed and entirely flustered as she hurried along after him. "Hak, wait! Just what…wh-what are you talking about?! Hak, come back here!"

~FIN

A/N: I don't claim to be a great writer or anything. In fact, I don't recall that I've ever written a fan fiction before in my entire life. The HakXYona pairing has forced me to do something I've never done before so that speaks a volume for how much I truly love and adore them. Anyhow, even though I'm quite inexperienced with this, I hope you've enjoyed this story just a little. Feel free to comment and criticize as you see fit. I'd love to know what my strong points are(if anything) and what I need to do to improve. Thanks ^^

BTW, Jae-ha and Zeno weren't mentioned in here because this was before they came along. If Jae-ha was here, I'm sure he'd easily get up in that tree to save Yona but we wouldn't want that to happen in a fluffy Hak/Yona story now, would we?

*hsu quandao: the official name of Hak's spear