Disclaimer: I don't own Yona of the Dawn/Akatsuki no Yona. Oh my gosh, but I really love all the characters, they're fantastic.
A/N: Basically a story about the gang briefly gaining a younger sibling for a little while and exploring their parental or big sibling sides. This story takes place after the last episode of the anime plus the first OVA, but it's not necessary to have seen the OVA in order to understand this. Also, I'm currently reading the manga, so some spoilers might make their way into the story, but currently I'm just at the point where they met Jae-ha in the manga.
The Lost and Found
Chapter 1
"It's so pretty!"
"More like blinding. My eyes might never recover."
"Hush, Hak." Yona slapped Hak on the arm for insulting the beautiful little town laid out below them.
Their group was traveling through the Earth Tribe's hill country, and they had seen many villages, but this was the most impressive one so far. It was nestled in-between three different hills, and there was a wide, sparkling river running through the village. The houses and shops were built on various levels, but everything sloped down toward the river. Each building seemed to be a different hue, creating a happy, bright effect throughout the town.
"The map says this place is called Cedar Cove," Yoon said, tapping a spot on his well-worn map. He glanced over the top of the paper at the town and frowned. "That's not a cove. And these aren't cedar trees."
"Maybe there used to be cedars here," Zeno suggested with a grin.
"Whatever," said Hak, "We just need there to be supplies in the town. I don't care if they have cedars or not."
With winter on the way, they needed to make sure their group was outfitted for snow and ice and all the trappings of the cold season. Hak was pretty sure that if it came down to it, they wouldn't freeze. Yoon would probably weave coats for everyone out of Shin-Ah's mask fur or the dragons would develop fire breath or something, but he didn't want to push their luck. Yona definitely needed winter gear if she was going to survive in the bitter cold.
"I think we should all go into town," Yona said, her eyes glancing over Yoon, anticipating an argument from him. Sure enough, he crossed his arms over his chest.
"Oh sure, because that won't draw attention," he said before gesturing at the rest of them in turn. "Scary mask, princess, weird hand, ex-general, green hair, goofy-looking blond. Plus a squirrel. Do you want everyone to stare at us?"
"Don't say that Shin-Ah's mask is scary," Kija said, "It's just intimidating."
Hak smirked. "That's not any better, White Snake."
"Don't call me that!"
"We won't stay long," Yona said, making a face at the bickering young men, "Besides, we need winter clothes, right? So we all need to go pick those out for ourselves."
"You just want to dress everyone up, Princess," Hak said.
"No, I do not."
"I actually wouldn't mind that," Jae-ha said, earning him glares from Hak and Kija.
Eventually Yona won by sheer will power alone, and the entire group made their way into the town against Yoon and Hak's better judgment.
Cedar Cove was a clean town with well-swept streets, banners and flags hanging from storefronts, and late autumn flowers springing up in front of houses and shops. While some of the townspeople looked at them wide-eyed, others smiled and a few shopkeepers even called out to them. Honestly that just put Hak on edge, but he could tell the others were enjoying civilization, especially the ones that had spent most of their lives away from the rest of the world.
Kija was looking at a display of fruits imported from the Kai Empire while Jae-ha leaned against the wall beside him, explaining what each one was. Yoon stood at a storefront that had herbs hanging in the doorway while Zeno was drooling at a streetside stand. Understandably apprehensive about the ravenous-looking yellow-haired weirdo staring at the kabobs he was cooking, the standowner was watching Zeno like a hawk.
"Let's go look in here, Shin-ah," Yona said, looping her right arm around the quiet young man's left arm and dragging him into a store. Ao bounced from Shin-ah's head to Yona's shoulder and burrowed into the princess' hood.
Hak followed the two, deciding to keep an eye on them. Besides, Yoon would most likely make sure the others stayed in line and didn't make too much of a scene.
The inside of the store was dim and stuffy. Shades had been drawn over the windows, and there was a fire cracking in an iron pot in one of the corners. However, something felt off about the whole place.
"We're closed," came a rough voice from a back room.
"Really. The door wasn't locked," Hak said.
A middle-aged man appeared, stepping out from behind a curtained doorway. He looked haggard and worn, dark circles under his eyes. His arms were covered in bandages, but Hak could see a bit of blood seeping through. "Really. Now get out."
Instinctively, Shin-ah subtly stepped closer to Yona, ready as ever to make sure she was safe. She glanced up at him before looking back at the shopkeeper.
"Sorry, we were just looking for winter clothes. I noticed some cloaks through your window—"
"I was just coming to close up." His voice was terse and edged with danger.
Hak didn't move, but he tensed. "We were just leaving." What he really wanted to do was knock the guy around for interrupting the princess, but they were trying not to attract too much attention. Besides there were other places to shop.
"Ao!" Yona reached for the squirrel, but she had made a flying leap from the princess' shoulder to one of the tables. The chubby creature darted down to the floor and dashed into the back room.
"Make that thing come back, it can't go in there," snarled the man, his eyes sparking with anger as he stormed after Ao.
"Ao, come back," Yona called, but the squirrel ignored her as she slipped under the curtain to the back room.
"Ao…" Shin-ah said, but the squirrel didn't even come back for her favorite human.
Meanwhile, the shopkeeper had grabbed a broom, which he doubtlessly meant to use against Ao.
"Doing some cleaning?" Hak said, his tone cool and wry. In a moment, he had moved between the shopkeeper and the doorway to the back, one hand closed around the broom.
"Get out of my way," the shopkeeper snapped. He tried to pull the broom out of Hak's grip, but it didn't budge.
"Let us get the squirrel, and we'll leave." There was no way they were leaving without Ao anyways, and if the shopkeeper swiped at Ao with the broom, Hak wasn't sure what Shin-ah would do.
"Move," the man growled.
With a cheerful chitter, Ao reappeared, but she wasn't alone. A flash of reddish orange sprang out from behind the curtain, right on Ao's tail. Great, there went Shin-ah's pet, destined to be eaten by some crabby guy's cat. Ao raced over to Shin-ah and scrambled up his leg and torso and onto his head, but the reddish blur climbed up onto Shin-ah's boots and huddled against his ankles.
It was a tiny fox cub, a trembling little mess of red fur, big ears, and bushy tail. There was a frayed bit of rope attach to its front right paw. It curled its tail over its face, as if it could hide behind the fluffy, white-tipped puff.
"No!" the shopkeeper shouted, and he let go of the broom to lunge at the creature curled up on Shin-ah's boots. All right, so the situation had gone from tense to weird. So the shopkeeper had a fox problem.
In one swift agile move, Shin-ah scooped the creature up and unsheathed his sword. He stood with the blade pointing toward the man, hovering inches away from his chest. While Shin-ah's mask covered his eyes, Hak had been traveling with him long enough to tell he was angry just by the set of his jaw.
"Shin-ah?" Yona reached out and put a hand on Shin-ah's arm, trying to calm him.
"It's…she's not a fox," the blue-haired young man said softly. He held the quite-obviously-a-fox-cub out to Hak.
Er…
Hak wondered if Shin-ah was feeling all right, but he took the scrawny little creature. He looked down into its big, frightened golden-brown eyes, aware that Yona was hovering by his elbow, also looking at the cub.
"You don't understand, it has to be kept away from people," the shopkeeper said, glaring at them but not moving beyond Shin-ah's sharp blade.
The fox cub squirmed, its legs flailing in the air. Suddenly it went still and the air around it seemed to shimmer and blur, and Hak felt it shift in his hands and slip out of his grip. He automatically reached down to catch it, but instead came face to face with a little girl crouched on the ground where the fox should have been falling.
She looked to be about six years old with bushy red hair, amber eyes, and golden freckles across her face. Two fox ears poked out of that wild red hair. Dressed in rags so dirty their original color was indiscernible, she bounced up and dashed for Yona, disappearing into the princess' cloak, her hand holding on to the princess' skirt.
What… Hak stared. What was going on?