Chapter 7: Games

Yona liked playing with everybody around her, servants including. Her most favorite game was hide and seek. They would seek her out and she would hide without even realizing she was playing the game. She wondered everywhere in the palace and could get into a room if there was a single hole open for her to do so. Her dresses usually came back with black and dirty knee prints on them from her crawling everywhere. Yes, she could walk, but only when she wanted to. Her philosophy to this was, why walk when she could move so much faster if she crawled?

Peering around a corner, she watched as the green haired man she had started calling Shu, was calling her name, but she just kept quiet and crawled onwards, away from him. She crawled through a hall with white polish floors and bright red walls. Large green, blue and yellow dragons danced on the ceiling as she crawled under their watchful gaze. Looking into an open door she saw the blue haired man, Abi, reading through several mountains of paper, a constant frown was on his face. Turning away, she quickly crawled off with a bright smile on her face just as golden eyes looked towards where she had just been, never seeing the tiny child that had moved passed his room.

Turning down an outdoors walkway, Yona saw the steps below her. Going down them backwards, she came down to the landing standing on wobbly legs before dropping to her butt and crawling off. Crossing the walkway that went by the koi ponds and green garden she quickly moved herself until she came to new halls. A noise in this building caught her attention. Finding the door inside was parted slightly, she saw old men yelling and arguing with each other. At the head of the room was Hiryuu and her brother Yak-shi, both looking a bit annoyed with all the arguments.

Yona smiled brightly as she finally found the one she'd been looking for. Crawling passed two guards, who didn't even see her, she went by yelling and arguing councilors. She didn't catch what they were yelling about, but it really didn't catch her attention. Too focused on Hiryuu, she didn't see the councilors get up and begin throwing papers across the floors, though she did see the papers once she'd crawled on them.

Yak-shi was the first to notice her, his body going stiff as he watched her crawl towards them. He had known about her for three months now. Yona, his little sister, had a spark of his father's spirit in her. That's what his father had said when he had explained her hair color and her violet eyes that matched his own. Hiryuu only noticed once she was at his feet, holding her arms up to be placed on his lap, though for some reason the councilors hadn't noticed her at all. Hiryuu picked her up off the floor, up onto the raised platform where he sat and waited for the council to quiet down and take notice.

Yak-shi was smirking as his father lost interest in the council's arguments and began playing with his daughter on his lap. Yona gave a sudden giggle as Hiryuu playfully tickled her stomach and sides. Hiryuu smiled brightly at her soft giggles and found himself wanting to join such innocent joy. It was then that he noticed that the room had gone oddly silent. Looking up, Hiryuu found every eye in the room looking towards him. The council's slack jaw reaction was enough for him to realized he'd been caught not paying attention. It wouldn't have been embarrassing if at that moment Yona hadn't looked right up at him and spoken. "Da-Da." her arms were held up to him, expecting a hug or something.

One of the councilman spoke up. "Your majesty, we didn't know that you had taken another wife."

Hiryuu glared at the older man, his normally kind eyes turning steely towards the councilman. "I haven't." he spoke sternly, his voice taking on a hard tone. "Yona is my daughter from a concubine that has since left." he told them as Yona tugged on the front of his robes.

Yak-shi lifted his eyes towards the councilors. "My father has stated it before, that he will not be remarrying, so why does it come as a surprise that he took a concubine?" he smiled at his little sister. "Yona was born as a product of my father's love towards another, that woman did not return his love; therefore she shall remain anonymous and left alone."

Hiryuu took a deep breath as he felt fatigue come over him. Since Yona's appearance, he had noticed that his strength was returning to him. He still felt tired as old age began to set in, his bones even creaked as he walked, though it was his joints that seemed to cause him the greatest discomfort, but after Yona had appeared he had begun to regain his stamina, even being able to sit through these meetings without wanting to fall asleep. Was Yona healing him? Was it because their souls were connected, if so, was her soul influencing his need to stay alive? He wasn't certain, but it allowed him to stay a little bit longer so he could ensure that Yak-shi was ready to take over when the day came for him to return to the heavens.

Standing from his seated position, he waved off any help from his son. "I am tired of these proceedings." he told the men in the room. Looking at his son, before Turning back to the councilors, he continued. "I am handing things over to my son. He is turning sixteen soon and in two years I plan to hand over the kingdom to him. It time I begin handing over more responsibilities to him to ensure the transition is easier for him."

Yona peered over Hiryuu's shoulder as he walked towards the door over the room. "Shi!" she cried out as she waved at him as they left the room. As soon as the two were gone from the room chaos exploded as the councilors demanded to know how this could've come about without any of them knowing of the birth of the first Princess of Kouka.

Hiryuu laid in the front room of his chambers with a bliss filled sigh as his joints and bones were allowed some form of rest. He truly was tired. He felt Yona begin to play with his hair as he laid on the comfortable bedding, the pillows surrounding them. The front room doors were open to the gardens. Shuten and Guen were training there as Abi and Zeno were sitting across the way talking and sipping tea. Feeling his hair being tugged a little too hard. He pulled the strands of hair out of Yona's hand. "Can we take a nap?" he asked her.

Little violet eyes looked at him before pink lips spread into a smile. "Da-Da." she said happily as she snuggled into his chest.

There was that word again. Da-Da. He gave a great sigh. He knew he should correct her, but as his eyes closed he found that he really didn't have the willpower to do so.

Zeno looked across the window into King Hiryuu's rooms and saw his majesty sleeping with Yona playing next to him. "He's staying awake longer these days." he heard Abi state. Looking across from himself he could see worry in those golden orbs. "I worry not for the King, but for Yona." he told his blond companion. "Once the King is gone, what will happen to her?"

Zeno frowned. "What do you mean?" he inquired, not quite sure what Abi was saying.

Abi took a Sig from his cup of tea as in the distance the clang of weapons could be heard. "To ensure they have control over his highness, certain people will go to great lengths to ensure there is no competitors for the throne." he told his friend, the serious tone of his voice told Zeno just how serious he was about this.

Zeno's eyes widened. "But she's the King!" he argued. "She's his reincarnation. We all felt it." he couldn't fathom someone trying to hurt her, but he knew it was possible.

"I don't know why she is even here, but I am certain we will learn the truth sooner or later." Abi took another sip from his cup and frowned as he realized that the drink had started to become cold. Sighing, he sat it to the side. "It is because of who she is that Shuten, Guen and I have begun to talk amongst ourselves about taking her away after Hiryuu's death." he looked sickened at the thought of flooding his dearly beloved king and friend.

Zeno nodded in agreement. It might be best. "I will stay then." he spoke with such conviction that Abi knew Zeno had been thinking about this as well.

"You should talk to Hiryuu, you are his favorite." Abi told him before standing up and leaving the Ouryuu there to think about what they had just talked about.

Hiryuu woke up earlier than normal for having taken a nap. He usually slept from three hours straight, but he knew it was early because the sun was still high in the sky. He probably only had slept a full hour or two. Sitting up, he found that his back pain had diminished greatly. His room, however, was not the room he'd fallen asleep in and the four in front of him were not his guardians, but his brothers. "Have I returned already?" he asked with great sadness.

"No." the great golden dragon responded. His golden scales shimmering in the sunlight as he moved about the room. "Something is wrong brother. Time is not what it should be."

Behind him he felt the blue scales of Seiryuu move. The blue and white undertones looking like pure amethysts and diamonds as the body moved. "We have been feeling it..." his brother told him as his head came to rest upon Hiryuu's shoulder, the great blue and white muzzle pressing against his face. "Something is disturbing it to the point of chaos erupting along the timestream."

The two tightly curled smaller dragons, Ryokuryuu and Hakuryuu looked so tired compared to their usual energetic selves. Green eyes peered out of the tangle of body parts. "We have been trying to fix it, but our strength is limited to what we can do." Ryokuryuu told him with great sadness in his tone.

Silvery blue eyes looked at his brother. "The girl is your reincarnation. Her appearance alone in a time where you still live is upsetting the balance." Hakuryuu told him, his voice coming out like a hiss.

Hiryuu looked at his brothers sadly. "I know. I have sensed my strength returning when it was beginning to wane." he looked at each of their faces. "I am human, what can I do?" he asked them.

"We do not know." Ouryuu told him, his voice echoing in the chamber. Being the eldest amongst them, it brought them all great shock to learn that he did not know what to do. "I fear that something horrible must happen in order for time to be restored, but I do not wish to voice what that may be." closing his eyes he laid his large and heavy body down next to his youngest brother. "Let us just hope that those who have messed things up can fix them, and quickly." His words left all present to feel uncertain about themselves and the future.

M-Angel: As promised, I updated this story; even if it's a day late. Hope everybody is enjoying this story. ^_^