ENTITLED. I Was Never Your Destiny
FANDOM. Akatsuki no Yona
LENGTH. 1,000 words
SETTING. As if you came here fore the scenery.
DISCLAIMER. If I were in charge, there would be kissing. This is literally my therapy.
NOTES. Hang in there, buddy.
SUMMARY. Hak's life is an endurance exercise, everyone is laughing at him, and Yona is probably killing him on purpose. The maidenly blushes make it hard to tell. Additional testing required. — HakYona

Pathetic.

"I-I don't need your help!" Yona cried, struggling to her feet. She tugged down her long skirt, which had ridden up when she fell to expose her bloodied knee, and a generous sheath of creamy white thigh that—

She sniffled.

"Oh, does it hurt? Little cry baby?" Hak purred.

"No!" Yona cried, and even stamped her foot. She froze immediately after doing so, quivering with pain. Hak felt a little bubble of amused tenderness swim up through his chest, looking at her. Gross.

"My lady!" Kija screamed, and nearly threw his dragon comrades to their deaths as he shoved his way up the cliff-side path. "My lady, you are injured! Please, do not make this treacherous journey whilst you are injured! Allow me to carry you!" he ended this grand proclamation with his chest puffed out as far as it would go.

"Er—" Yona began, looking alarmed.

"Don't trust him princess," Hak droned. "This one likes to moan your name in his sleep."

"I HAVE NEVER DONE SUCH A THING—" Kija screamed, then stopped, his eyes widening in horror. Some profound internal crisis was obviously raging within him.

"How would you know," Hak sneered. "You're asleep!"

Kija clutched at his face in a state of agony. From the back of the line, Yuun yelled, "Would you useless mythical beasts please march?!"

"Miss? If Miss has a cut, Zeno will kiss it!" Zeno piped up from the back of the line. Hak twitched. Zeno smiled in the way that a baby angel would probably emulate.

"Thank you, everyone, but I'm fine. Really. Yuun is right—"

"That is extremely obvious and should always be assumed," Yuun interrupted.

"—we should be on our way."

"Oh, princess," Jae-Ha literally swooped in. "Please. I simply cannot bear the stress of this any longer. Come, into my arms."

"W-wait," Yona cheeped, as she was dashingly manhandled. Hak had very nearly managed to unwrap his halberd by the time Jae-Ha tossed his and Yona's packs into Hak's face, and leapt into the sky.

"See you at the inn!" he called smugly, as he flew away.

Hak, his arms full of bedrolls, ground his teeth.

"Why didn't you stop him! We can't leave him and the princess alone in an inn together!" Kija wailed, and sprinted along the mountain path, shouting threats to the heavens.

Hak sulked. Shin-Ah, who was now passing him, paused for a moment of silent contemplation, patted Hak once upon the shoulder, and continued his silent march.

"Tone down the machismo already, it's too easy to mess with you," Yuun sniped as he drew closer.

Hak twitched. "I am not easy to mess with."

"I pity you," Yuun informed, and dumped his pack on Hak for good measure.

At the inn, Yona and Jae-Ha were awaiting the rest of the group in matching bathrobes. Yona smiled. Jae-Ha smiled wider. Hak, without making any particular fuss about it, punched the other man in the head.

"Hak!" Yona roared, her eyes burning and her hair practically rising in flames around her. "I traveled across the entire kingdom to find my brave dragon warriors! I won't have you killing them!"

"Ha!" Jae-Ha crowed, now rubbing his injury and leering. Hak's stare became murderous. A lot of soldierly discipline was at work in keeping Jae-Ha alive.

After spending five hours punching a tree (now tragically reduced to mere splinters) Hak felt calm enough to return to civilized company. By that time it was late enough to assume most of the inn's residents were asleep, and so he picked his way silently down the hall, nodding once to Shin-Ah, who lurked in the rafters like some guardian bird of prey.

Hak poked his head into Yona and Yuun's room, spotting the pair of them immediately, both turned away from the door. He stared silently at the back of Yona's neck until she abruptly rolled over, catching him with her enormous, considering eyes.

She made a very soft noise, a sort of low squeak. Hak narrowed his eyes. "Can't sleep?"

"I sensed your killing intent," she said solemnly. Hak thought he might have heard Yuun snort.

"Sorry to wake you."

"Mm, dismissed." Yona said airily, her eyes already closing again. She always spoke most like a princess when she was tired.

"You're such a creep," Yuun groused the next morning. The boy was crouched over his breakfast, hair sticking up sporadically. He kept his eyes (red rimmed, squinty) directed firmly towards Hak's face. "And do you even sleep? I don't know how Yona stands you."

"Hak is a very sexy young man! I've always thought so," Jae-ha spoke up at once. Hak wondered whom to silence first. Yona, barely five feet away, appeared to hear none of this, though Hak was now in the habit of assuming such.

"Every night, he has to come check on things! As though we're going anywhere!"

"You have gazed upon the lady Yona as she sleeps?" Kija hissed, in outrage and poorly disguised envy. Then he frowned at Yuun. "Aren't you a little old to be our lady's bed fellow?"

Yuun raised a single, exquisitely groomed eyebrow. "Should I abandon her to him?"

"Inexcusable. You are correct. I apologize."

"Princess," Hak said loudly, "That's not food."

Yona looked at him blankly for several seconds, and then pulled the errant leaf from her mouth. She blinked, and then nestled into Shin-Ah's furs for a nap. The silent boy quivered with joy.

"Xeno wants to sleep too!" Xeno cried from his bedroll.

Yona's sleepy hand clutched at Hak's sleeve. He looked at her white fingers for a moment, felt tender, hated himself, blushed, and then stared suspiciously towards the heavens, feeling certain that someone, somewhere, was laughing at him.