Chapter 20: Kami-Ouryuu

Guen looked at the pot that the young man was stirring, his stomach rumbling at the scents coming from the stew. "Don't think about it." came a warning off to the side from Hak. "If you want to continue eating you won't touch that."

"What you'll stop me?" he asked, a grin appearing on his face before another one appeared on the younger mans face.

"Yun has his way of ensuring nobody touches his food unless he lets us." Hak looked towards the younger man who was cleaning his cooking tools in one of the pools created by the running stream that went through the western side of the old temple.

"What? He'll poison you?" Shuten inquired off to the side.

Hak shook his head. "Worse, Yona will cook." he saw the two old men pale before they looked at the sleeping girl.

Abi was standing at the foot of the the sleeping group. "Is this normal?" he asked, feeling slightly jealous; though he'd never admit to such a thing.

"Oi, that's not fair." Shuten complained.

"They shouldn't be that close to her!" Guen cried out in shock.

Hak smirked. "It's normal." he stated. "Those four will migrate to be next to her in their sleep. It use to be annoying, but Yona assures me that it's like a big hug in her sleep and that she feels nothing but friendship towards them." he suddenly smirked. "The first time she woke up with them on top of her was quite funny, though I did beat droopy eyes for holding her a little too tightly in his sleep."

"A dragon pile." they heard from behind them as Hiryuu and Akemi came into the room, the queen's clothing looking a bit disheveled as a light flush was on her face. "My brothers and I always did that when we slept." he openly admitted.

"What do you mean?" Shuten inquired with a glare.

"We slept with each other." the red haired king admitted causing Hak to suddenly laugh as the other three looked horrified. Akemi grasped his arm and pulled him down to explain what he just implied. Hiryuu laughed nervously before rubbing the back of his head. "Not like that." he waved a hand at them. "We just liked the comfort having one another close by gave us." he chuckled. "If anybody would've been like that, it would've been the twins Hakuryuu and Ryokuryuu."

"WHAT!?" Shuten and Guen yelled loudly before looking at each other and taking a step away from one another.

Hiryuu began laughing as Akemi covered her mouth to smother her laughter. "Y-You tease!" Guen accused the king.

Hiryuu laughed. "You both walked into that one." Abi stated, his own mirth appearing on his face.

Yona was having a nice dream. She was nice and warm on all sides. Her dragons and friends were surrounding her in a protective warm barrier. Opening her eyes she saw that she was in a field with a bright golden light high above her. Squinting she saw that the light wasn't a light at all but was a golden dragon. Beside her, she heard a groan as Jae-ha sat up but he looked different.

"Jae-ha!" she cried out in surprise. "Your hair!" she pointed at it.

The once green haired man stared in shock at the long brown hair that was on his head as he ran his hand through the strands and found them to feel very real. Beside him, Jae-ha saw that he wasn't the only one changed. "Kija."

The once silvery haired man looked at them as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes with his right hand. He suddenly stopped and looked at his hand with wide eyes. "I-Impossible!" he cried out, his heart seizing in fear. The dragon claw was gone and a normal human hand was in its place. He touched his head and found black strands in his hand as he pulled a few out of his head.

Jae-ha pulled his pant leg up to reveal that the green scales were in fact gone. "T-This can't be." his voice shook.

"Why can't I see?" came Shin-ah's voice.

Yona pulled off his mask to reveal her face. "Shin-ah?" she said his name and gasped to find the markings on his face were gone and his golden eyes had vanished; instead blue eyes looked at her with unshed tears filling them. She saw that his hair was no longer blue, but a soft auburn color that was quite striking on him.

"Yona." he whispered before hugging her tightly, his shoulders shaking as he cried.

Yona suddenly found herself being hugged from behind and from the side as Kija and Jae-ha both grasped her body and pulled her into hugs. "Missy?" Zeno's voice caused them all to look towards him.

Zeno had changed most of all by aging to that of a grown adult. Gone was the childish looks, with a soft masculine look. His voice was deeper, as his hair color was no longer the bright yellow blond but a soft sandy color. He ran his large hands over his head and was shocked to find the sand colored strands fall back. "My hair."

"Hair?" Jae-ha inquired. "You've grown!"

"Princess," Kija began. "what's going on?"

Yona looked up at the yellow dragon. "Let's ask him." she pointed towards the dragon that was obviously Ouryuu. "What is going on?" All four young men looked up to find themselves in Ouryuu-Kami's presence.

"A gift for them to see what could've been." Ouryuu-Kami answered. His eyes looking over Yona's form. "You have grown since we last spoke Hiryuu."

Yona frowned. "I'm not Hiryuu. I'm Yona." she corrected him.

A chuckled was her answer. "Whatever you wish to call yourself in this life or the next or even the one after that one, you will always be my youngest sibling; Hiryuu." he replied. His eyes turned towards Zeno who was still looking at himself in shock. "Do you still regret your choice boy?"

Zeno looked up at him. Looking down at his body before looking at each of his brothers and Yona. Zeno smiled. "I may have hated that everyone seemed to know what my power was before I did. That I'd never grow old, go to heaven and be reborn; but I'm not regretting my choice any longer." he answered Ouryuu-Kami.

The large golden dragon humphed at that. "Even if it meant you'd loose your wife." Yona frowned at the dragon Kami for that low blow.

"I-" Zeno felt his throat tighten. "I may have been regretful a long time ago; but once I realized that Hiryuu would be reborn, I knew why I was left behind." he touched his chest. "This body doesn't age nor can any sword pierce it because Hiryuu needs my protection as the last line of defense against his enemies."

"Not quite." Ouryuu-Kami said. "But also, not wrong either."

He looked at Jae-ha. "You always saw your leg as a curse. I removed it, giant that what you've always wanted?"

"Tch." Jae-ha scoffed. "Many years ago, but once I met Yona I knew she'd need me." he looked at her. "I'm her beautiful green dragon. I like being that."

"Humans are so odd." Ouryuu-Kami stated. "You pray for one thing, but then want another." he looked at Shin-ah and Kija. "Without the eyes that mark you or the dragon claw that makes you different, both of you could live normal human lives. No more sleeping where bugs can get to you. No more cold lonely nights."

Kija flushed. "Maybe, but I'd go through a million bug infested places if it meant I could protect Princess Yona." Kija stated with a brave tone. "She makes me feel as if I can do anything. I worry about her safety and the safety of my friends. Even if I don't have the dragon claw any longer, these are my brothers. I'd still protect them, like they'd protect me."

"I don't want to leave Yona's side yet." Shin-ah said his voice only just above a whisper. His blue eyes looked up at Ouryuu-Kami. "I may have been an outsider with my eyes, but Yona brought me out of that dark life. I'll never return to it. The eyes help me to protect her and keep my friends safe."

Ouryuu-Kami chuckled. "Are you going to return what you've taken?" Yona asked him with barely contained anger.

Ouryuu-Kami saw the fire in her that wanted to lash out at him. "I cannot return what has not been taken." he told them. "This is a dreamscape. Your bodies are back where you left them. How you see yourselves here is what your spirits look like." he smirked when he sensed Yona's anger diminishing. "You came here for help."

"How do we return to our own time?" Yona inquired. "We're stuck in the time with Hiryuu alive."

"I know." the golden dragon sighed. "In the far future somebody has punched a hole through time. By doing so, they have created other holes throughout the timestream. I have been busy fixing this mistake. You're not the first to slip through, not even the first reincarnation of Hiryuu." he looked her group over. "I will return your group to your time, but those in Hiryuu's time will forget you existed; Hiryuu being the exception."

"So our group will remember?" Jae-ha asked with a grin.

"Yes." he answered. "Now wake up." One by one each vanished from the dreamscape except for Yona. "Yes?"

"I've got a request." she said with a grin as she swayed her body back and forth.

"Oh?" he inquired.

"It's about Zeno..." she began as she started to talk about her request. A smile spreading on the old yellow dragon's lips as she told him how he could help her. Afterwards she too vanished from the dreamscape.