Author's Note: I'm on an upload roll right now lol Getting close to Chapter 40! Can't believe it!

VampireSiren- I like the whole sibling thing. It's one of my favorite things in this story. I can't get enough. But the fluff between Shin-Ah and Skye is so precious.

Enjoy!

Chapter XXXV

Bandits

The sun had begun to set before I had managed to find my way back to where the others were gathered. I watched as Hak walked away from the three dragons before I reached them myself. I couldn't help the feeling that there was something that had happened when I was away. But I wouldn't bring it up unless they wanted to tell me. I felt the burn in my legs from all the running I had done when I gave chase to Zeno. Somehow he had managed to go out of my sight. I was exhausted from my exercise.

"Skyrah, you're back. Did you have fun chasing the Yellow Dragon?" Jae-Ha greeted me as I walked towards Shin-Ah. Ao jumped from his hand to his shoulder just before I let myself fall into his arms. It felt good to just be held by him after running around in a forest for a while. He hadn't hesitated to wrap me in his arms so that I wouldn't fall.

"That brat is fast," I mumbled in Shin-Ah's chest before a moved my tired arms to wrap around his middle. I snuggled my head closer and closed my eyes.

I heard Jae-Ha chuckle, "Sounds like he wore you out. You do realize that there are better ways to wear yourself out. Right?" I knew where he was going with that one.

I pulled away slightly from Shin-Ah's embrace to look over my shoulder at the perverted dragon with an unamused face, "I'm not interested in that."

Kija looked between the two of us, "What? Interested in what?"

Jae-Ha turned to Kija with a smile, "Now, now. The adults are talking."

"I am an adult! And I am older than Skye!" Kija shouted, getting angry. "I demand to know what the two of you are talking about."

"Sex," I said out loud. I could feel all of their eyes on me. "He is talking about sex. Because he is a big ol' pervert."

Kija's face was all kinds of red as he stammered, "Wh-wha…? That's not appropriate for you to say, Skyrah!"

I narrowed my eyes at him, "You're the one who wanted to know."

Kija's eyes shifted, "But… I…" He turned to Jae-Ha, "How could you think about such a thing?!"

"What is… sex?" Shin-Ah's soft voice spoke causing everyone to pause and look at him. Everyone but me because I refused to look at him about such a topic. I was already embarrassed enough as it is. Why did I have to open my damn mouth? That word coming out of his mouth was just too much already. What had I done?

"Well, you see…" Jae-ha shifted closer to Shin-Ah, wrapping an arm around his shoulder, "When a man and a woman love each other they…"

He moved his mouth closer to Shin-Ah's ear and whispered. I couldn't hear anything he was saying but Shin-Ah's body had become stiff as he held me. When I looked up at him I could see the little parts of his face were turning red. Oh, this wasn't good. What exactly was Jae-Ha telling him? I hope it wasn't something too perverted. Please don't corrupt him. Unfortunately, I was too tired to pull the two of them apart.

After a few minutes, Jae-Ha moved away from his ear, "And that is how you please the woman you love." He had a smile from ear to ear and he winked at me.

I glared at him, "What the hell did you tell him? It better not be something perverted!"

He shrugged his shoulders, "It was a secret between us men."

Kija crossed his arms, muttering, "Glad I wasn't involved. These things are inappropriate to be spoken about." He would not last in Sex Ed. I could just imagine his reaction when a teacher would ask him to put a condom on a banana. I almost laughed at the ridiculous thought.

"Kija, it is only natural," Jae-Ha said, now draping his arm around the White Dragon, "I could teach you a few things."

"Absolutely not!" Kija said, moving away from Jae-Ha to shout at him.

"Pfft," I bit my lip trying not to laugh as the two of them bickering. I shook my head and snuggled in Shin-Ah's chest again.

"Are you tired?" I heard him ask me.

I smiled and lifted my head up to look at him, "Hm. All that running really tired me out. I'm so sleepy." He pulled away from me causing me to feel disappointment. But he took my hand in his to guide me to the building where we would all sleep. "Ah. You want to sleep now?"

"Yeah," he answered without looking at me, "It's been a long day."

As if it were a proper response, I let out a yawn. Once we were inside, we settled ourselves on the floor. Shin-Ah detached his fur to place it on top of us to keep the two of us warm while we slept. He laid down on his back while I snuggled into his side, placing my head on his chest. I found comfort from listening to his heart beating. I felt his arm wrap around my waist, bringing me even closer to his warm body. I smiled at the small action. Ao slept on to of his stomach, I gave her a pat on her head.

"Goodnight, Ao," I said to her. I closed my eyes, feeling the exhaustion hit me like a wave, "Goodnight, Hero."

"Goodnight, Skye," was the last thing I heard before I fell into a deep sleep, safe in his warm embrace.

XX

I rubbed at my eyes with my free hand while the other one was preoccupied with being dragged along to a village with the others. Why did we have to go adventuring so early in the morning? Zeno was on the other side of Shin-Ah, enjoy the boy's fluffy fur. His energy level was through the roof. He was giggling and jumping happily around. I was shocked that he had so much on account of when I had chased him the previous day. I still felt sleepy. I wanted to pull Shin-Ah back and go back to cuddling.

"Now I understand why you like being so close to Blue Dragon!" Zeno said in his usually cheery manner, "His fluff is so soft!"

I let out another yawn, "Nope."

"What? Really?" Zeno asked in surprise.

"I don't use him for his fluff," I answered him. "I keep telling you that he is my best friend. I'm not using him for stupid reasons like that."

"Because you love him, right?" I almost tripped over my footing before my head snapped in Hak's direction. He was smugly smirking at me.

My cheeks flushed, eyes glaring at him, "Shut up. No one asked you. Stop eavesdropping." He snickered at me before turning his back on me to keep walking ahead. "I'm starting to miss being an only child…" I whispered under my breath.

"What are you guys doing here?!" I heard Yun shouting in front of us once we were all gathered to see what it was that the boy was doing in the village.

"You left so suddenly," Yona said, "I got worried."

"I accompanied the Princess," Kija added.

"Zeno came along with Blue Dragon's fluff! And sister!" Zeno declared happily.

I sighed, "I more or less got dragged by them all."

"Go back!" Yun yelled at us.

"Yun, I'm hungry," Hak said as he stepped closer to the boy.

"Yun, could you make some porridge?" Jae-Ha added.

"I am not your mother! Go back you good-for-nothings!" he yelled back at the two.

"But you are helping out the village, right?" Yona asked him as she stepped closer, "We'll help you."

"You can't! You will attract too much attention!"

"We will do our best not to."

"That's impossible! You attract attention just by being alive! The only one that looks anything close to normal is Skyrah! And she looks like she's about to fall asleep!"

I felt all eyes fall on me. "Hi," I said with a small wave and a sleepy smile.

Hak leaned down to look at me, "Yeah. Why are you so tired? Didn't you go to sleep with the Blue Dragon earlier than the rest of us?" His lips widened, "Unless you two did something else last night." I did not like the implication.

"These jokes are really getting old," I said, straightening up, "I'm fine. Just tired from running after my brother that's all."

I felt a sudden tug on my shirt. I looked down to see a little girl smiling up at me, "Can I play in your hair, Miss? Please~."

I blinked at the cute child in front of me. I let go of Shin-Ah's and so that I could kneel down to her level, smiling at her. I patted her head, "I'd love that."

"Yay!" she said, before pointing at Shin-Ah, "Can we play with him too?"

I stood up to look at him. He looked from the child to me but remained silent. I offered him my hand to take if he wanted to join me to go play with the village children. He took my hand. I turned to the girl with a gentle smile on my face, "Where shall we play?"

XX

"The Dark Dragon and Happy Hungry Bunch?" I asked, dumbfounded as I stared at them all looking at me like they had been caught with their hands in the cookie jar. "What are you talking about?"

Yun sighed, "You really missed a lot." It seemed to happen to me quite a lot lately. "Officers from the Fire tried were here and these idiots," he pointed at the others, "decided it be a good idea to start something with them. Long story short, we are all bandits now."

I blinked at them all, letting the words sink in, "I wasn't even gone that long!"

A while ago, I had excused myself from playing with the children, leaving Sh-Ah to play with them on his own. He was surprisingly really good with kids. Anyway, I went to check on my right hand. It had been feeling off since this morning but I didn't want to cause concern for my friends. When I looked at it I realized these strange black vines wrapping around my wrist like a tattoo. It wasn't painful but it did feel uncomfortable. I had been lucky that no one had noticed and quickly covered it up with a glove that I sometimes used for training. I guess I would have to start wearing it all the time. I couldn't let them see it and get worried. I wasn't sure what it was and I didn't need them to know and cause a fuss over it. But when I got back it seemed that my friends had gotten themselves into trouble again.

"Didn't you want to become bandits anyway?" Hak asked me. I recalled the joke I had made a few weeks prior after we had been pirates.

I held my forehead to my hand and let out a deep sigh, "There's no going back now." I looked at Yun, "But who decided on the name?"

"Don't look at me. I had no part in this," he said as he looked away from me.

This marked the first time that the Dark Dragon and Happy Hungry Bunch made an appearance. Since then we appeared in many different villages to lend them a hand and to protect the villagers. I had used my ability a few times to help those that needed it while Yun helped with the food and medicine when needed. The others used their strengths to protect and defend the village. Surprisingly, we made quite the band of bandits.

Author's Note: The Dark Dragon and the Happy Hungry Bunch have made their appearance! Yay! And Skye missed it all because of a weird rash or...? What could it be? What could it mean? I wonder if she will miss any more important scenes! Hope not!

See you next chapter!