Opening Remarks
I've been enjoying Yona of the Dawn immensely over the past year as well as all the lovely works by fans of the show, but never considered getting on the bandwagon myself until recently. For a bit of fun, I decided to complete BaneIsMyDragon's kiss prompt list for characters in the Yona realm. I plan on keeping these short, stand-alone pieces using a variety of characters from the series, though I plan to focus on Hak and Yona a lot. There will be no real ordering of these, not even chronologically, but I do plan on producing a lot of fluff. :D Below is the first installment for the first prompt: Cut You Off With a Kiss. There are 21 more prompts on the list and I plan on collecting them all here, each as their own chapter. I hope you enjoy it!
Many thanks to Tuvstarr's lost heart (Author ID: 5179633) for beta-reading this for me! Be sure to check out some of her work when you get the chance!
Cut You Off With a Kiss
New jobs can be stressful. Gotta impress the boss, right? The boss has the power to make or break your career, after all… It doesn't help one's nerves much when the boss happens to be the king… of the whole kingdom. You know, just THE most powerful boss in the nation. So when the big boss assigns one the job of protecting his one and only daughter – the beloved princess – from any and all harm, one has got to take it all in stride. All part of the job, right? No pressure…
It didn't help matters that he'd only recently discovered that he had certain feelings for the princess… feelings that he had resolved to bury… but burying something that was ever-present was proving to be an arduous task. Now that he was seeing her every day, he was being reminded of those feelings with every word she uttered, every gesture she made, and every moment they spent together. Each day he felt just a little bit guiltier that he had stolen another day at her side, a place that was reserved for Soo-Won.
He had discovered a few methods and tricks he could use to alleviate the stress of upholding the delicate balance of staying close enough to the princess to guard her and keep her happy while maintaining a safe distance to protect their hearts. One of his favorite methods was to encourage her reading habits. While the crimson-haired lady was engrossed in a tale, she would leave him well-enough alone, lost in her own thoughts. Occasionally, she'd pause her reading to inquire as to a word's meaning or to express with great emotion a moving scene she'd just read. Each time, he was happy to answer. It wasn't perfect silence, but it was enough to keep him relaxed. At least, usually it was… until one of her questions rattled him.
"Hey, Hak? What does it mean to 'silence someone with your lips'?"
He had to do a double take at that. Until then, he'd been peaceably leaning against his glaive as the princess devoured her newest novel – one she'd found in her late mother's section of the library. Usually he was able to answer her questions readily, but he'd never heard the expression before. He thought he could more or less guess what it meant, but the situation it seemed to be describing…
'No, jumping to conclusions would be unadvisable given the precarious topic.' Hak pondered to himself. Rather than answering, he asked her to clarify by reading the rest of the sentence with it. She complied, reading in a moderate, steady voice: "Nervously, I continued to state my reasons for resistance, but as his strong, stately form approached, I felt my confidence wavering. Before I could continue my list with resolve renewed, he silenced me with his lips, and my arguments faded into memory."
Hak felt his face grow beet red. So the queen had one of THOSE kinds of books in her collection. The king would have his head for this. If only he'd been paying closer attention when she picked out the book, he could've prevented her from stumbling across such forbidden literature. He was only vaguely aware of Yona's elaboration of her question: "What I don't get is why it isn't just written that he told her to 'shut up', if that's what it truly means… But what else could 'silencing someone with your lips' mean? But It just doesn't seem to add up with how he's acting up to that point… He seemed so happy up to that point and 'shut up' is such an angry expression. What was she resisting? Why wouldn't she want to see her friend; they've gotten along so well up until this point!"
Hak was certain her string of questions would've continued, had he not leaped into action and snatched the book out of her hands.
"Hey! Give it back!" She protested, hoisting herself up and trying to grab the book, which he now held out of her reach.
"Sorry, Princess, but it seems like this book is too advanced for you right now. I'll just hold onto it until you're a little older then…"
"Meannie! If you'd just explained the parts I don't understand, I could manage just fine!" She made a lunge for the book, forcing him to retreat against the wall.
"One does not simply explain things like what you just asked." He insisted, standing on tip-toes for good measure as the girl strained with all her might to reach the book, even going so far as to step on his toes to gain a little altitude.
"Well if you can't tell me with words, you'll just have to show me!" she huffed, face now close to his own.
He choked on his own spittle, taking the hit out of left field head on. He could barely think straight after such a declaration, let alone formulate an appropriate response, so he was quite proud of himself when he managed a strangled, "You don't know what you're asking, Princess."
Changing up her tactics, Yona retreated a step back and crossed her arms as she pouted, "You always treat me like a child."
"Trust me," He huffed, thankful for the space and opportunity to catch his breath. He hated to admit it, but her words, though there was no way she had meant them, had triggered a slew of mental images he was ashamed of, for he'd entertained the idea of giving her exactly what she asked for. Curse the effect she had on him and curse his repressed feelings for resurfacing! He'd let his guard down today, and now it had cost him. "It's a good thing in this case."
"I don't know what could possibly be wrong with it, since it belonged to my mother. You're just teasing me, aren't you? Admit it!"
"…Yes and no… You see, the… 'friends' in that book are very close, yes? Hence this concept you're wanting me to explain can really only be explained by a friend who's just as close as those two are in the book. So… It shouldn't be me who shows you. If anyone, you should ask Soo-Won to show you."
"But Soo-Won isn't here! Besides, it'd be embarrassing…"
'Embarrassing?' Hak mused, 'How could she know this concept is embarrassing? Don't tell me… has she been leading me on the whole time just to taunt me? No way… she's not that crafty… and that would mean… that she'd actually want me to… There's no way that's true.'
Recovering from his momentary panic, Hak asked, "Why would it be embarrassing?"
"Because it would only make me look like a child, this lack of knowledge…" Her face was now saddened, and he could kick himself for not handling this problem more smoothly.
He was uncertain what he should do at this point. A part of him wanted to coddle her, reassure her that her innocence wasn't a bad thing… Another part of him wanted to see her grow up, to face her own struggles… just… not through this book. No matter what response he thought of to help comfort her, he felt that he'd be over-stepping his bounds too much… He'd resolved to keep his distance for the sake of Soo-Won's and Yona's happiness, but he didn't know how to make her happy in this moment without jeopardizing that.
He was saved from having to answer when Min-Soo entered to retrieve the used lunch dishes, and Yona, ever insistent on not wanting to be treated like a child, lunged at him with artificial sobs and desperation, "Min-Soooooooooooooooooo, Hak is being so meeeeeean! He won't let me finish reading 'Twilight Passion'!"
The look Min-Soo gave Hak matched his own. He hadn't known the book had such a flagrant title. Hak began fantasizing what his funeral would look like, for if word of this incident reached the king's ears, Hak feared he'd be terminated… in more ways than one.
Closing Remarks
Next up will be Kiss it Better, featuring Shin-ah!
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