Disclaimer: I don't own Yona of the Dawn!

Chapter 7

As the sound of fierce fighting filled the forest, Yona tried to keep a good hold on Sumi. The fox girl was squirming about and wriggling, her tail fluffed out and lashing. "Sumi, calm down."

The fox girl stopped for a moment and then started shoving her paws against Yona's hands.

"I think she wants to get down," Yoon said.

"I guessed that, Yoon."

"How's the fight going, Seiryuu?" Zeno asked from his spot beside Shin-Ah.

"Kija just punched someone into the river…"

"He always overdoes it," Yoon said, already imagining the exhaustion that would come over the white dragon later. Kija never went easy in a fight. He was always all in when it came to battles while at least Shin-Ah and Jae-Ha reined themselves in. Had to hand it to hi, though, no one could ever say that Kija was a slacker.

"Oops!" Yona lost her grip on Sumi as the girl shifted. The six-year-old ducked when the princess reached for her and darted around to Shin-Ah's side. The blue dragon's hand automatically fell on her shoulder, keeping her in place, but apparently he didn't have to worry. She clutched at his robe and peeked out around him with wide golden eyes. He glanced down at her and then covered her eyes, causing her to flail about and pluck at his fingers.

"Curiosity," Yoon said, rolling his eyes, "I'm starting to think that's her main problem. She can't help herself."

"That's not the worst fault," Yona said.

"It'll get the little one into a lot of trouble one day," Zeno said, amused.

Meanwhile, Shin-Ah and Sumi were silently fighting over whether or not she was allowed to watch the fight. She was trying to pull his hands away from her eyes while he struggled to keep them there. Finally, the girl shifted back into her fox form, but Shin-Ah snatched her up and handed her back to Yona.

"Stay," he ordered, patting her on the head. The fox girl puffed her fur out but seemed to finally accept her fate. The fight with the ambushers wasn't going to be a part of her entertainment for the day. She settled down and tucked her head into the crook of Yona's arm, apparently annoyed enough with all of them that she didn't even want to look at them.

The sound of laughter and battle banter drifted over the clang of weaponry and the yells of the bandits. There was no contest between the group of criminals and Hak, Jae-Ha, and Kija.

"You're slowing down, White Snake."

"There's no one left!"

"There's one right there."

"Yes, but Jae-Ha's dealing with it."

"Kija's right, if he punches him and I kick him, this guy will probably explode. It'd be so messy, Hak."

There was a splash as the last bandit went into the water with a high-pitched shriek and went floating down the river.

"It's all clear," Hak called from the riverside, "You guys can come down now."

"That was fast," Yoon said as they grabbed the packs and gear and headed down to the riverbank, "Might be a record."

"Do we keep records for that sort of thing?" Yona asked. In her arms, Sumi was still pouting, but at least she wasn't hiding anymore.

"Well, we do have a quickest-to-join record, currently held by Zeno—"

"Do I get a prize?" Zeno asked with a grin.

"You get food on a semi-regular basis," Yoon said, rolling his eyes, "That's your big prize. Tada."

"I guess that'll do," Zeno said. He looked over at Yona and held out his hands. "I can carry the little one, miss."

"It's all right, she's not heavy," Yona said. Besides, Hak was the one who always got to hold her when she was a fox, which wasn't fair. Sumi was precious as a human girl but she was so adorable when she was in her little fox cub shape. Yona was valiantly resisting the urge to squish her against her cheek and make baby noises at her.

Kija appeared on the path, and he automatically took a couple bags from Shin-Ah. He looked exhilarated and pleased, obviously happy with the outcome of the fight. "I took out the most bandits," he said with a smile, "Hak wasn't as efficient as I was. He tries."

"I can hear you, you know," Hak said.

"The Thunder Beast has the special ability of always knowing when people are talking about him," Yoon said.

When they reached the riverbank, they found Hak going through the bandits' belongings and what they had stolen. There were also a couple horses tied to a nearby tree, and Jae-Ha was near them, stroking one's neck. As they put down their gear in the middle of the clearing, Sumi jumped out of Yona's arms and shifted back to human. She dashed over to Jae-Ha and the horses, spooking the gelding Jae-Ha was trying to calm down. The green dragon held the gelding's halter as the horse gave a half-hearted rear, and Sumi hid behind his legs until the horse calmed down then stepped back to his side.

"Not so fast, kiddo. They startle as badly as you do," Jae-Ha said, looking down at the girl. He noticed again that her dress was threadbare and patched. She needed new clothes… "Hak, is there any cloth in those bags?"

"Probably," Hak replied, "There's a lot of stuff here. We could sell it all and the horses at the closest village."

"Or, better yet, we could try to find out who it was stolen from," Yona said, her hands on her hips. "I bet most of it belongs to the nearby villagers."

"Finders keepers," Hak said, and a moment later, he and Yona were wrestling over a piece of pottery.

"Give it to me, Hak, we're not keeping it."

"I don't want to keep it, I want to sell it."

"We can't, it's not ours."

"Wait, so you really want to go to all of the villages around here and ask everyone there if this is their stuff?" Yoon asked, his eyebrows creeping up his forehead in surprise and dismay, "Yona, that could take weeks, and there's no way of telling if people are telling the truth. And, you know, they'll probably just think we're the bandits."

Yona frowned. "It wouldn't feel right if we kept it, though. I think we should at least try the closest village."

"Maybe they'll be so grateful to us for getting rid of the bandits that they'll throw a feast!" Zeno suggested, his mouth watering at the prospect.

"It's the honorable thing to do," Kija said, "We should give back as much as we can."

Jae-Ha walked over to them with Sumi following along behind him. He had found a little jeweled box in one of the horse's saddlebags, and now the little girl was playing with it, turning it over in her hands. She held it up to Yona so that the princess could see.

"It's pretty," she said, smiling at the little girl.

Sumi nodded and fiddled with the box, opening and closing its clasp.

Jae-Ha stepped over to Hak. "Where's that cloth you found?"

Hak rolled his eyes but pointed at one of the bags. "We can't use it anyways. The princess said so."

"That's not what I said," Yona said, making it a face at him. She reached over and tugged his cheek. "Don't make things up."

"Don't try to make me question my morals, then! You act like it's terrible to keep some stuff we stole from thieves."

"Which they stole from someone else!"

Jae-Ha turned and grabbed the bag Hak had pointed at. He riffled through it until he found a light blue cloak, one that could easily be turned into an outfit for their little fox. There was another cloak, this one brown, that could be turned into trousers for her.

"Yoon, do you think you could make Sumi a new outfit out of this?" Jae-Ha said, holding up the bag. Yoon peeked inside and nodded.

"Yeah, no problem. It'll be easy. I was planning on making something for her anyways, once we found somewhere to get cloth."

"Yona dear, can we at least use these two cloaks for Sumi?" Jae-Ha asked.

Yona nodded. "Okay, but only those…"

Jae-Ha pulled out the blue cloak and tossed it over Sumi. She froze and then popped back into her fox form, the cloth deflating around her. Jae-Ha chuckled as she raced around under the cloak. He picked up a corner of the cloak, and she dashed out, racing past him and jumping onto Hak's arm.

"Hey, troublemaker," Hak said, reaching up to scratch between her big pointy ears. "You know, if we go into town, you're going to have to choose whether to be a fox or a girl while we're there." She couldn't switch back and forth in a new village, since that would most definitely cause chaos. It would be that fastest way to turn her into a target.

Sumi huffed, nuzzled his hand, and then leapt down again. She trotted over to where Ao was digging through one of the bags and then she pounced on the squirrel, starting a game of chase.

"Hak…" Yona started, but he held up his hand.

"Fine, we'll take this stuff back to town," he said, "But if no one claims it, we're keeping it."