"Speaking"

"Thoughts"

"Memory Speech/thoughts"

Memory

Shin ah never meant to stick so close to Zeno, it just seemed to happened. It was not really a conscious decision on his part to constantly almost hover around the smaller dragon. It was just that Zeno reminded him so much of her that it was literally painful at times and he had to escape for a little while to get himself back together. He was lucky no one had followed him yet. So, no, he never means to end up so close to Zeno, but there were times when he thought that the other dragons did. He did not mind most of the time, but occasionally he wished that they were more willing to let him handle his own problems.

He returned from finding firewood to see that dinner was ready, and the others of the Happy Hungry Bunch were gathered around the fire—leaving the only gap right next to Zeno. He settled into what had become his usual place at the fire without complaint—unconsciously leaning in just slightly towards the blonde—and nodded in thanks when Yun handed him a bowl of food.

"You took a long time getting that firewood, Shin ah," Jae ha commented slyly as he paused eating to watch Shin ah settle down to eat, and noticing him lean subtly against the newest addition to their crazy group. A familiar smirk popped up on his face, one that caused Shin ah to shift nervously in place.

"He's right, you were gone for quite a while, is everything ok," Kija—having also seen Jae ha's smirk—cut in quickly. His voice held a worried tone that the green dragon's voice had not. Shin ah blinked, "Had he really been gone for so long," and nodded to try and dispel Kija's worry. When the white dragon failed to look reassured, Shin ah decided this was one of those times when words were necessary,

". . .Is fine, . . . just thinking." His words drew the attention of Yona and Yun, Hak having been silently following the conversation and Zeno still enamored with his food, who shared a curious look before Yona took the initiative and asked what they were all probably wondering,

"Thinking about what, Shin ah," she asked with a tilt of her head. He just shrugged, not willing to risk talking about what had been bothering him, and hovered a little closer to Zeno as he purposely shoved the thoughts that Yona's question had brought up away. He was not going to break down here in front of the others. His actions brought an awkward silence as the other five members of the group stared at him, Zeno finally looking up from his food under the weight of the others' stares. Zeno followed their gazes to Shin ah, who was still hovering unusually close and was also incredibly tense as he—visibly from Zeno's perspective—fought to control the almost desperate urgings of his instincts to bolt. With a frown, Zeno placed his hand gently on Shin ah's arm to reassure him and ask a silent question at the same time. Shin ah felt himself begin to tremble slightly under the strain of the comforting, sunny, aura Zeno was projecting. He saw a realization in the other's eyes and received a barely perceptible nod before he was gone and was desperately running and running, ignoring the calls to come back. Shin ah had no way to know how far he had run before he regained control of his instincts, but he knew it was far enough that he could no longer see the camp. He was in a small clearing, close to a small water source he could only just hear over the gentle breeze. He took shallow, ragged, breaths as he pulled his mask and fur off—pilling them on the ground. Shin ah leaned heavily against the trunk of a tree as he turned his face to the moon, still shaking. Tears slipped down his face silently as he was overwhelmed by different memories of her.

Two small children sitting quietly underneath a tree, each working hard on a top held in their hands.

Him on his back, looking up at her, she straddling him—a devious smirk on her face that was offset by the loving look in her eyes.

The ground exploding around them from shallowly buried charges of gunpowder, both with a sword in their hand, and she caught his eyes with her own and he found a silent promise there, "We'll be fine."

Waking up to the sounds of her thrashing in her sleep before she awakes, gasping desperately for air and look franticly for him before embracing him like he's the only thing holding her on Earth.

The two of them laying on their backs in a grassy field, watching the stars and the moon in silence, their fingers interlocked.

The smile covering her face as she told him all about the Dragon clans before the war, arms waving about as she talked.

Her face grim and eyes hard as she stared down at the assassin that at attempted to kill him, the man's sword still buried hilt deep in her chest.

Her sad smile as he came across her for the first time again, a smaller blonde held protectively in her arms as she finally explained the depths of her own curse to him.

"Each Dragon only has two Warriors at any time, but Ouryuu has only ever had two."

It is Zeno appearing in the clearing to return Shin ah from his darkening memories. He had slid down the tree trunk and was sitting on the ground. The smaller man seems worried, cautious (and Shin ah has to force away the hurt of any of his friends being afraid of him) and undeniably surprised when he finds Shin ah without his mask on. Shin ah does not care; he is too exhausted to care. He knew his eyes could never hurt another Warrior, especially not one of Ouryuu's. He meets Zeno's eyes without flinching, though Zeno did from whatever he found in them. Shin ah returned his gaze to the stars, hesitated reaching out with his aura—searching for some form of comfort. Zeno starts again—Shin ah forces himself not to look—and suddenly he has a lap-full of the small blonde who murmured comforting words in a language Shin ah knew but at the same time didn't and he was hugging the smaller dragon and silently crying into almost familiar silken hair. Neither knew how long they stayed that way before Zeno moved to sit beside Shin ah, the two still leaning comfortably against each other. Finally, Zeno asks the question he had been wondering since he had met Shin ah,

"Who?"

Shin ah looked at him, his beautiful golden eyes like liquid gold in the moonlight. She sighed, a sad half-smile on his face now as Shin ah tried to find the words to describe her. There was so much he could say, so much he wanted to say, but he knew that would have to wait until later. After a few minutes of searching, Zeno waiting patiently at his side, Shin ah spoke what could have been the truest sentence he could ever say regarding her,

". . . She is the most extraordinary being a soul could ever hope to meet." Zeno cocked an eyebrow at his sentence,

"That's pretty high praise." Shin ah smiled down at him,

"Oh, she is definitely worth it." The two settled down beneath the tree, and Shin ah began to tell the far older dragon about the woman who had made it her mission to save the damaged dragon blood scattered across the country. He talked the night away, the most he had ever talked in this life, and Zeno stayed quiet as he absorbed this new information like a sponge. The animals rose with the sun, and Zeno stiffly got to his feet before offering a hand to Shin ah. He took it, the older man easily pulling him up despite the size difference, and the two headed back to camp with Zeno in the lead and Shin ah picking his fur and mask up off the ground as they left. As the two pulled closer to the camp, an angry and worried Ao raced up to them and quickly scaled Shin ah to rub against his cheek. He reached up a hand to soothe his small friend as the three of them reached camp, where the rest of the Happy Hungry Bunch were milling about worriedly. Hak, somewhat unsurprisingly, noticed them first and soon all five of camp inhabitants surrounded them, obviously concerned. Shin ah felt very overwhelmed and between Zeno and Yun the two managed to brow beat everyone into as close to order as this bunch could get. All of the morning excitement dealt with, the group is settled down for breakfast by a huffy Yun and this time no body comments on how close together Shin ah and Zeno sit, nor how Shin ah's hand is still shaking just a tiny bit until Zeno's presence raises just a fraction and the shaking stops. So no one says anything, even though everyone notices.

Shin ah never meant to gravitate towards Zeno, but as he looked down from the stars and to the small Warrior on his left who was listening intently to the same stories he had once listened to in a similar manner, all alone in a nearly empty cave system, he found that he didn't mind. He may not have planned on receiving the older man's companionship, but now that he had it he would make sure that the other knew that he no longer had to be alone. Neither of them did, and that, that was a great thing.