Chapter 3: Kija
Zeno heard gentle voices whispering as he came to. Blearily he opened his eyes and saw the soft morning light flitter across the room. Jae-ha was sitting across the room in a tub looking a lot like a drowned kitten, though Zeno was very surprised to not have heard the splashing sounds as the boy was manhandled and washed by two lovely looking women, both of which looked to be twins with long tan colored hair and matching almond colored eyes. As the two continued to wash the flailing youngster, Zeno stretched in the bed he had been sleeping in and slowly sat up.
"Ahh!" Jae-ha's cry caught Zeno by surprise causing him to stand quickly, his legs wobbling in the process. He looked up in time to see that the women had dumped a bucket of water on the child. Zeno chuckled causing said child to glare at the noise; which caused Zeno to laugh louder.
"Don't laugh!" Jae-ha yelled at him as a frown crossed his visage. "You're next big brother!" He threatened the golden haired man.
"Yes, yes." Zeno agreed, having already thought it'd be prudent to get cleaned. He looked at the two women as he approached the tub. Jae-ha was now standing in a foot of water. "Is it possible if Zeno could get some clothes similar to what he's wearing?" Zeno had seen the clothes that the people seemed to wear here and decided that he just couldn't pull it off.
"Yes." He heard an old voice from the doorway. He turned his head towards it and saw and old woman being carried by six young men on some sort of platform. "Thank-you." He said with a bow.
"That is unnecessary Lord Ouryuu." She stated with a wave of her hand. "Everyone here calls me either Elder or Granny; you and Lord Ryokuyuu may call me either." She saw the boy had squatted down into the tub to hide himself. She smiled and chuckled.
"Zeno's name is Zeno." He stated with a bright smile. "Zeno doesn't mind if people call him by his name instead." he saw the older woman's eye twitch at that and snickered inwardly.
A gasp from Jae-ha caused both to turn towards the child. The boy had fallen out of the tub, his cheeks bright red and hands covering his privates. "B-Big brother!" he cried out with wide eyes.
"What happened?" he asked the two girls who were both giggling at the obvious embarrassed Ryokuyuu.
The taller of the two women turned towards Zeno. "We were only cleaning between his-" she began.
"She touched my privates!" Jae-ha yelled, by now his whole face was bright red. "Bath is done!" he announced with venom in his voice before turning away from everybody to hide his embarrassment.
Zeno took off his jacket, placed it over Jae-hat's shoulders and then turned towards the women. "Okay.. Zeno's turn for a bath."
The older woman chuckled. "Okay ladies, let's leave them be." she clapped her hands causing the girls to pick up the dirty water buckets and finish filling the tub with cleaner water before leaving. The door slid close, leaving the two alone.
As Zeno began to undress, Jae-ha lifted the jacket off of his head and looked at the older man. Once the shirt was off of Zeno's back, Jae- ha spoke up. "Zeno," he looked at the yellow haired man once again and noticed that as old as Zeno acted his body was quite young looking and that he had no scars anywhere on it. "how old are you?"
Zeno peered over his shoulder at the youth and smiled. "Zeno is seventeen." he stated happily for it was the truth, sort of. His body would never age, even if he did mentally.
Green eyes peered up at him from under long green bangs. "Are you lying?" Jae-ha asked with a frown.
"Half-truth." Zeno stated as he began to untie his pants before looking over at Jae-ha over his shoulder. "Turn around."
"Why?" Jae-ha asked with a frown.
Zeno chuckled a he recalled the boy's previous living condition. His predecessor probably didn't tell him to look away when they had bathed. he thought before scratching his cheek. "Zeno is shy." he said with a blush.
Jae-ha rolled his eyes. "We've got the same stuff." he stated but did as he was told. As soon as he heard the splash of water he turned back around. "Zeno, are we staying here?"
"For awhile." was the golden haired dragon warriors answer.
Jae-ha lifted his head when he heard a soft knock before walking over to the door to open it. "Why?" he asked as he pushed the door open. Looking out it he found the hall empty, but two sets of clothes sat on the floor. Picking them up he padded back into the room, Zeno's jacket still on his shoulders as he walked around causing the Ouryuu to think he looked like he had a dress on and chuckled causing Jae-ha to look at him.
"Hakuryuu is here." was his answer causing the boy to look at him and roll his eyes. Cute! Zeno thought with a smile. "We will talk to him and then decide."
Sighing Jae-ha gave a nod before shoving the jacket off of his shoulders and getting dressed in the clothes. After dressing Jae-ha looked at himself with a frown. The clothes were long on him. The brown pants were covered by a long pocketless long sleeved jacket that was green with a long bright green and golden serpentine dragon on the back with its long tail wrapping around Jae-ha's waist with a cord. The boy soon was glaring at himself in the mirror. He hated the clothes and looked at Zeno. "I. Do. Not. Like. This." he punctuated each word.
Zeno chuckled. "I'll talk to Granny." he stated before looking for the towel and grabbed it before standing and quickly wrapping it around his waist. Stepping out of the bath, he began to dress quickly. His clothes were the same in design only the pants were orange and the jacket was bright yellow with an orange and white dragon on his back. Okay, he'd agree that the clothes were less than appealing. They're comfortable though. he thought as he tied his green scarf up in his hair like always and reattached the dragon pendant on he side of his scarf.
Jae-ha looked at his brother and almost laughed. "Zeno, you don't look very pretty." he said trying to hold back his laughter. "You kind of look like a big ball of yellow that had been puked up." the boy began to laugh at that point.
Zeno smiled at the boy, happy that he was laughing; even if it was at his expense.
After the two got dressed, they decided to explore the village they'd be calling home for awhile. Jae-ha scratched and itched his body the whole time. The clothes were not comfortable in his opinion, which he voiced; often.
When the two found themselves at the big tree in the center of the village, Jae-ha promptly sat down under it. He was done exploring for awhile and he wasn't in a very good mood anymore. Looking at Zeno he was about to voice his displeasure once again when he saw a dozen people approaching them from behind Zeno. Standing he quickly hid behind Zeno after he had turned to speak to the people approaching them. "Can Zeno help you?" he asked sounding confused.
A young man with sandy colored hair spoke. "We've seen you exploring our village and wanted to give you some food." he stated pointing to the women behind him.
"We want our visitors to be happy." A young woman stated as she pushed the young man out of her way which had others pushing forward to get the two visitors attention.
"Zeno..." Jae-ha said his name as if he was frightened.
Zeno frowned before stepping forward. "We appreciate your generosity," he began when he saw a silvery white haired man appear behind the crowd. "but Zeno could never eat all this with brother Jae-ha." he smiled happily. "Perhaps everybody will join us?" At those words the young women pushed at each other to sit next to Zeno, who gently pushed Jae-ha behind him so much that the boy didn't get hurt accidentally.
A throat cleared causing the women to turn their heads, everybody bowed instantly. "Lord Hakuryuu!" several cried out.
"May I join?" he asked his voice gently washing over the young women.
"That would be great!" Zeno yelled. "Brother Hakuryuu is always welcome." he smiled.
Jae-ha poked his head out from behind Zeno. He then pulled Zeno's sleeve causing the blonde to look down at him. "Do girls always go crazy like that?" he asked a bit loudly causing Hakuryuu to laugh as he sat down next to the two much younger boys.
Zeno blushed before looking at the now embarrassed young women. "Not always." Zeno stated."This is a first for Zeno."
"Zeno?" the older man spoke his name softly. "That's not a name you hear much these days." he said as he drank some juice the women poured in a cup and handed him. Zeno and Jae-ha were served some as well.
Zeno looked at the cup of grape juice and smiled with a somewhat nostalgic look in his eyes. "Zeno was named after his grandfather, who received his name from his father." he answered with some sadness in his voice.
"A familial name." Hakuryuu stated as he began to drink from the cup. "I see." he said after a moment.
"What is brother Hakuryuu's name?" Zeno asked, genuinely curious.
"I am no longer Hakuryuu." he said with sadness in his voice. "I do not always remember the name my parents gave me." he looked at Zeno with sadness in his eyes. "They call me Zen. It is in honor of the first Ouryuu and because that is all we remember of his name."
Jae-ha suddenly stood up and began looking around himself. His eyes wide and hair being blown around by the wind. "Jae-ha?"
The boy touched his chest. "I-I feel...something here." he pointed to his chest. "Its…warm."
Zeno chuckled. "That's the connection of the warriors." he said. "It allows you to always sense one another."
Jae-ha suddenly spun around. "There's one coming." he said.
"Hakuryuu." Zen said as he stood up. "I'm not allowed to be near him. My anger gets a hold of me when we are too close right now." he then left the group just as a woman with a silver haired baby came into view of the two other dragon warriors.
Zeno stood up and as the boy was revealed to him and Jae-ha, he felt the strength in the boy. Slowly he was gaining the strength of the dragons and as Zeno saw the Hakuryuu claw he heard Jae-ha ask for his name. The woman smiled softly. "Kija." she said gently as she didn't wish to awaken the sleeping child. Zeno smiled. Slowly the warriors of old were coming together. Now if only he could find Seiryuu and their family would almost be complete.
M-Angel: Poor Kija's dad. I'm always sad when I see that scene with him. It makes me cry.
