ZenoYoon Drabbles/One-Shots

by koizumicchi

Prompt Five

Synopsis: The human boy, Yun, and a yokai named Zeno continues their serendipitous adventure in search for food.

Setting: AU, a summer trip to the mountain located in Hitachi-no-Kuni (presently known as Chiba Prefecture)

Genre: Mainly friendship, but there's that ounce of romance if you squint.

Sunshine of Rain II

"Zeno isn't human." They yellow haired boy, with even stranger clothes and eyes like the water of the river, grinned at him. But now, Yun could make out one lone fang glimmering under the sunlight. "Zeno's a yokai."

"W-What?" Yun stared, deciding what to do. Should he believe him? Or is this a ploy to ridicule him? Back in the city, kids his age mock him, saying he's a witch with his extensive knowledge of herbs. Psh, as if. And witch is a term used for the opposite sex anyway.

"I won't eat you though, if that's what you're worried about." Zeno scratched his cheek. "I kind of live off plants but I do eat meat too!" He said cheerfully. "But that's for special occasions." He smiled, stomach growling again, and frowned. "Shall we find food? Zeno hasn't eaten in days."

"Oh. I'm not scared of you." Yun suddenly said. "It didn't cross my mind that you'd eat me at all."

At this, the yokai was taken aback. Children were scared of him, whenever he appeared in towns. But apparently this boy wasn't.

"I was only surprised of what you said... Is it true, that you're a yokai?"

"I am." Zeno said monotonously. Would this boy run away screaming too? His mouth curved to a frown at the thought. He didn't like that one bit.

"That's marvelous." Yun said with a smile grazing his lips. "It's the first time I met one. My grandfather was infatuated with yokai, in a way. He has told me several stories about them." His gaze softened in nostalgia, running a thumb on the golden medallion he was holding. "I'm sure grandpa would've loved to meet you."

"You're not scared?" The yellow haired boy blinked in disbelief.

"Apparently so." Yun said, pocketing his grandfather's memento before unceremoniously taking the hand paler than his and tugging forward "Doesn't matter. Let's find some food for you."

But to Zeno, it did matter. He smiled. Perhaps, his most genuine one in a century. "Let's go~"

...

Their quest for something to fill their stomachs proved rather difficult for the human boy. First, he had forgotten this wasn't his world; every plant they came across had a magical characteristic of its own. Second, each greenery was damp with dew, including the path they were taking. And third, Zeno was set to devour any plant he deemed edible at sight. It was taking a toll on Yun's rather thinning patience.

"Oh, what about this one?" The yokai said, plucking a berry dripping with water, which resembled a bumblebee in both color and shape. He proceeded to pop it into his mouth before Yun could even react. In less than a second, Zeno's bright yellow mane turned to a light blue.

Yun audibly groaned and leaned on a nearby tree. "How many times do I have to tell you, we need to examine the plant first before eating it!?"

"But that's troublesome. They're edible, see?" The yokai said as he chewed another bee berry, his light blue hair changing into a sickly green.

"That's it. No more!" Yun forcefully tugged the other boy away from the bushes. "Edible!? You mean berries that change the color of your hair is edible!?"

"But Zeno's hungry and not particularly familiar with this place since the last longer I've been here." The yokai pouted, his stomach growling for the nth time.

For a brief moment, Yun wondered just how many years his yokai companion had meant, but that ended abruptly when he saw the other boy feed another weird fruit (this time a hairy one) inside his mouth.

"Zeno!" He admonished.

The yokai had been rattled at the outcry that the fruit he'd eaten went down to the wrong pipe. He coughed repeatedly.

Yun gasped, "Sorry!" And helped the other boy out by rubbing his back and offering moral support. "Don't die on me now."

Zeno coughed one last time; the fruit literally flying out of his mouth. It has wings, oh my god.

"Please don't eat anymore weird things." The human boy pleaded.

At this, the yokai nodded.

...

After a while, the two decided to settle with just nuts and a few mushrooms. Yun was the one who selected and picked them, based on knowledge at hand and approval from the yokai. Surprisingly, Zeno was at his best behavior all the time, just standing and acting as a guard behind Yun. He would suggest which to pick next but otherwise did nothing different. When they finished, they settled down on a green clearing (as suggested by Zeno) circled by five big tree stumps.

As Zeno chewed on a half-eaten mushroom, he asked, "Bouzu, do you know these stumps make up a fairy circle?"

Yun looked up from the nut he was picking with his nails. "Huh?"

As if on cue, a flutter of wings went past the human boy's ears. A tiny giggle went next. Soon, the clearing was filled with small buzzes and a decent number of fairy folk were fluttering about. One or two touched Yun's nose with a tiny dainty hand and another sprinkled golden dust to his hair. He watched in awe, eyes sparkling in time with the new amount of fairy dust raining down on him and Zeno.

The yokai smiled widely, his fangs glimmering. "It's an apology for before. For making you worry."

"Ah," blushed the human boy. "I wasn't worried or anything."

One yellow fairy lowered a small crown made of pink and white flowers on Yun's head. It was too small for his head that it ended up looking like a halo more than anything.

Zeno laughed lightly at the sight, hands coming together behind his head, and called the boy by his name for the first time, "You're an adorable boy, Yun."

...

The fairy circle was the neighbor of the mouth of the river that led Yun to this world. The river flowed out from the gigantic waterfall, glimmering under the warm sunlight. The whole place was the embodiment of serenity; Yun admitted peace comes just by looking at it. He stared in awe.

"Everything's wet." The human boy commented, taking in the several groups of grasses submerged in little puddles, the plants much greener than those they'd passed by, and the slippery mud around them.

"That's because this is the new dwelling place of the water yokai." Zeno explained, bringing a handful of water to his lips for him to drink.

Yun stood not far from the other boy and remembered the sound of bubbling brook that led him here, the river which almost took the medallion, the humidity which seemed to always hover above their heads, and the evident wetness in one floria to the next. It was easy for the ten year old genius to piece everything together, saying, "Ah, that explains the two weeks of rain in grandma's village..."

"Zeno came to tell them the place they had chosen were already out of season. They are all stubborn." The yokai continued. "Zeno wanted to remedy it for the meanwhile."

Yun's eyebrows knitted in confusion. "Remedy it? How?"

"By bringing the sun, of course!"

His mouth opened. "You...bring the sun with you?" He said slowly. Was that possible, even for a yokai?

The other boy looked sheepish at this. Scratching his unruly mane of a hair, he replied, "Well, not really? But the sun follows Zeno around. Isn't that just the same?" He tilted his head to one side in emphasis.

There was a blank look on Yun's face.

"Ah! Zeno's a sun spirit!" He said with a wide smile as if that alone explains everything. At the statement, it seemed like the sun itself had descended, with how bright Zeno had become.

A/N: Ummm, hi? I updated, hehe. Sorry if it took too long! Don't look at me like that. After I'd written part one, I continued with part two (which didn't continue because of writer's block)...then forgot about it. I just remembered this year when I saw a new review, so I rushed to find the draft I made... I can't find it *cries* So I started from scratch uwu Here's part two. Part three is work in process and somehow I'm stuck again *nervous fidgeting* But I hope this update made you smile. I tried to make Zeno still adorable (because that's just who he is) and Yun a bit mature for his age (because this is Yun, the genius) and I hope it went well. Thank you for reading, for continuing to hope for an update, and most of all for waiting two long years.