Chapter 52: Revelations
Early morning was met with the early bird songs, dew on the grass, the soft glow of the morning light peeking through the trees and the arguing between Jae-ha and Kija. Jae-ha had learned of Hakuryuu's greatest fear, bugs. He was teasing the silver haired man for it, which had started an argument between them; which at first was funny, but now was borderline annoying as Kija couldn't stop finding reasons to be afraid of bugs.
Finally Hak had, had enough. "Shut up!" He growled at both of them. Yona sighed in relief, as did Yun.
"Droopy eyes stop teasing snake boy." He smirked as both men glared at him.
"Snake boy!" Kija screeched. "I'm a mighty dragon warrior with the arm of the Hakuryuu. Not a snake!" He sounded so put out on this that Yona had to cover her mouth with her hand to stop herself from laughing.
"Droopy eyes?" Jae-ha questioned. "When did he start calling me that name?" He smiled. "Are you coming up with nicknames for all of us Hak?"
"Tch." Hak retorted back. "Only for those that annoy me." He said as he passed the two.
Yona's shoulders were shaking with her silent laughter. She had also been getting annoyed by the two but now she was quite enjoying this. It definitely made up for having to get up at the crack of dawn. She suddenly felt Shin-ah tug gently on her hand to gain her attention. Turning to look at where he was pointing she saw oval shaped huts lining up next to a river with a pathway made out of stones. Zeno stepped forward and smiled. He recognized this place to be the village Shin-ah had lived in when his predecessor had been alive. He recalled the paper ball he had given the then child Shin-ah to play with when passing through.
"You lived here Shin-ah?" Yona inquired as she looked at the empty village. They had traveled for three days to come here.
Shin-ah's ever silent voice spoke up. "Ao helped raise me here." He stated.
"Ao?" Yona asked as she looked at the tiny squirrel on Yun's shoulder who squeaked at hearing her name spoken.
"Ao taught me how to fight." He explained gaining another questioning look, this time from Yun.
Zeno began to chuckle. "Not this Ao." He said picking the squirrel up and rubbing her belly. "His predecessor. Right Shin-ah?"
Shin-ah gave a nod. "He taught me many things." He stated. "Then he...died." He said sadly. "We left here, but came back a few times during the warmer months. Then left in the colder ones." He explained.
"That's why Granny and the other elders couldn't ever keep track of the Seiryuu village." Kija explained as he brought out another map, this one with markings on it. "Granny said that each of the blue markings were where the village was last seen or known to be." He pointed to one. "We're at this one, but nobody is here."
"What's the next area we need to search?" Yona asked as she looked over Kija's map.
Shin-ah pointed to another blue marking that was a couple hours away. "We sometimes stayed here if the winter wasn't harsh that year." He thought for a moment and looked forward towards that area. His sight was better than it once was and he could see for miles, but he couldn't see that area due to the mountain ranges around it. He took his mask completely off and stuffed it into the dark blue fur lined haori he was wearing over his light blue top and slacks. Rubbing a thumb over his eyes he pushed his sight to see if it were possible to look passed the mountains and soon found himself straining. Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath and looked down at Yona sadly and shook his head.
"It's okay." She said before looking at the map at the green mark that was closer to their current position. "You know, Jae-ha's village is nearby. We could go there first."
Jae-ha shivered at the thought of returning to that cursed village. He suddenly felt as if he couldn't breathe and leaned against a tree to regain his bearings. Yona sad how pale Jae-ha had gotten at the mere mention of his village. She approached him and took hold of his hand with hers before reaching up with her free hand and touching his cheek. Jae-ha leaned his forehead against hers. He only needed a moment. Yona had seen the scars on his wrists, it was why they were always covered. She knew something bad had happened to him, but didn't fully understand what really happened to him.
"So we go to Ryokuryuu's village, then continue the search for the Seiryuu village?" Kija asked before turning and witnessing the tender moment between the two.
Jae-ha looked up at Kija and sigh. "Yeah, but I'm staying out of that village." He stated. "I'm sorry, but I just can't go in there."
Kija was about to ask why when Yona's voice spoke up. "That's okay." She said. "Something bad happened there to you and I understand that; but I must go there and speak to the elders."
Jae-ha took a deep breath. "They probably won't listen." He stated looking away from her.
"Then they'll be punished." She responded causing him to look at her sharply.
"They may end up hurting you." He said softly.
Yona smiled. "I have everyone protecting me. I'll be okay." She said and as he looked at her, he believed her words and he knew there would be a fight in that village.
He took a deep breath. "Well, I can't let my beautiful wife do all my fighting for me, now can I?" He chuckled mournfully.
An hour later it was noon and most were a bit tired for having to be on the move all morning. Jae-ha looked around them, his nerves were on fire and his instincts were telling him that danger was nearby. He swallowed constantly as he was straining to keep still. He knew it was because he was near his village, his cursed torture chamber. He heard Yun yell out that they were going to rest for lunch and decided to see if he could tell how far away they were from the village. He wished he hadn't.
Jumping from the ground to a high branch he found himself able to see the first lookout tower that was barely a mile away. In the tower were two men, like always, and they had bows on the backs. Jumping down, Jae-ha found his hands were shaking. He felt a hand on his shoulder and almost jumped out of his skin. Turning his head he saw Kija looking at him with worry etched on his face. He waved his friends worry away.
"I'm fine." He assured him, but deep down he knew that wasn't true.
"Was it truly that bad growing up in your village?" Kija asked his worry still there.
"Let's just say that after I escaped that I saw beauty in a different light." He said. "Your village is like heaven to mine being hell."
Kija felt a ball of fire ignite in his blood causing his anger to begin to boil. So Yona's assumption that some of is were abused was correct. His dragon claw fisted causing the muscles to bulge slightly. Kija rarely got angry, but his protectiveness for his brothers and master was so great that sometimes it overruled his common sense.
"They hurt you." He stated because he did not need to ask in order to know.
"Hurt?" Jae-ha asked. "If only..." He said with a sad look coming into his eyes. "My predecessor beat the living snot out of me. The elders forced him to chain me to the wall of our hut. I was starved on some days and on others given only enough to ensure I'd live. I remember freezing during the winter and only having this hole filled blanket to keep me warm with." He smiled suddenly. "I do remember waking one morning to find a dirty, but very warm cloak put over me when I was around ten years old." He chuckled. "I thought Garou had taken pity on me and given me something warm to cover myself with." He shook his head. "He came in the hut and found it on me and began to beat me. He thought I had somehow left the building and taken it from one of the villagers. He almost broke my leg for that one."
Jae-ha saw Zeno starring at him out of the corner of his eye. The young man had tears falling from his eyes. "Zeno didn't know that would happen to you." He stated. Jae-ha raised an eyebrow. "Zeno was traveling by himself then. The Miss hadn't been born yet. He went to the different villages of his brothers to see how they were fairing." He looked down in shame. "When I saw you, you were shaking so badly in your sleep. I couldn't see very good, but I could tell you were cold. So I gave you my cloak. It was then I saw the chains. I-I was so ashamed when I saw them. I thought how stupid of them to think they could chain Ryokuryuu like that. That you belonged free." He lifted his eyes to see Jae-ha looking upset. "I was about to destroy those chains when somebody grabbed me and threw me out. I never saw who they were, but I was going to try and help. I shouldn't have given up so easily." He looked away from his friend.
Jae-ha bit his lip and calmed himself down before speaking. "You were a kid yourself-" he began knowing Zeno was way older than he looked but wasn't quite sure how old.
Zeno's eyes looked at him sadly. "You and I both know that is a lie." He stated.
Shin-ah and Kija looked at Zeno a bit shocked. "Zeno," Jae-ha began. "Exactly how old are you?"
Zeno thought for a moment trying to remember exactly how old he really was. "I was ten when Kouka became a country. I was seventeen when I drank Ouryuu's blood and promised to protect Hiryuu."
All three men looked at him with shock covering the faces. "WHAT!" They all yelled in unison which caused Yona, Hak and Yun to look up from making lunch.
"What's going on?" Yona asked as she walked over to them once she got the campfire going. Yun and Hak watching her as she approached the four men who were circled around Jae-ha who had been leaning against a tree.
Kija's cheeks were bright red from embarrassment at his outburst. "Z-Zeno just said, he just told us - that is." He began to get flustered which had Zeno chuckling.
"Yona, my dear," Jae-ha stared with quirk of his lips. "Zeno here just told us his age and it's got us a bit flustered."
Yona giggled. "You mean how he's been alive since Hiryuu was King?" She asked laughter dancing in her violet eyes as all four men gaped at her.
Zeno shook his head. "Zeno- I should've known you would know." He said as he looked at her.
Yona hair bounced as she moved from foot to foot. "That's because the dragons told me a long time ago." She said. "I use to see you when I was dreaming. You'd be curled up on a step sleeping while Guen, Shuten and Abi taught me things that I'd need to know in the future." She smiled at him. "Hiryuu sometimes would talk to me and tell me things as well."
"You spoke to the dragons of old?" Kija inquired.
"What did they say?" Shin-ah inquired quite curious as to what his ancestor may have said to her.
Yona smiled at Shin-ah. "I remember Abi, the Seiryuu, saying to be patient when you finally appeared. He said that your fears would one day make you stronger. That your eyes were not a curse, but a blessing to be used in times of great danger." She looked at Kija. "Guen said that you'd be the arm that protected the brothers and keep them together, even after my time was up in this age and beyond it." She smiled. "It's why I believe Hakuryuu has a new meaning in life and that's to protect each dragon warrior that comes after us. It's also why there needs to be punishments for the abuse that others have done to my other two precious warriors."
Shin-ah looked at her. "I wasn't abused-" he began.
"You were separated and made into an object to be feared by your village." She said before looking at Jae-ha. "I don't know what you went through as a child, but as both your wife and Queen, I will see to it that any Ryokuryuu that comes after you will never suffer the way you did." Her eyes burned with a fire that seem hotter than that of the sun. Jae-ha suddenly no longer felt afraid for himself but for those who had been cruel to him as a child. "Beside's my anger, you have Hak's on top of that. Kija doesn't just call him Ankokuryuu for nothing." She turned around away from them and returned to help prepare their lunch.
M-Angel: Phew that was a longer chapter that what I was planning to post. Okay, so now everybody knows Zeno'a age and the other dragons know of Jae-ha's abuse as a child. Next chapter the group enters the village and chaos ensues. Also if anybody is interested I have a new story on archiveofourown called A Princess' Hurt, A King's Love. It's a Yona/Su-won story. It's got two chapters so far, but it will have ten.
