Summary: Begins with a bit of backstory (mostly made up but based on what Yun's childhood might have been like). Yun gets sick one night and Hak and Yona find out the next morning and take care of him.

Disclaimer: I don't own Akatsuki no Yona

Author's notes: Please enjoy and reviews are always appreciated. Please point out any spelling or grammar errors and please comment on my writing style, dialogue techniques, and in general anything you like or dislike about the story.

Yun couldn't say when he first took up healing. Probably when he met that irresponsible, clumsy priest. That's what he always claimed, anyways, but the truth was he knew a bit about medicine even before that. Not much; after all, there was only so much an eight year old child could do, even one as pretty and clever as him. But he had learned to recognize local plants and had seen others crush them up or heard the midwives say "Use crushed nettles in tea to relieve aching joints" or "Wrap the wound with a few of these leaves and their fever will be down in a matter of hours". Even as a little boy Yun would play doctor, gently rubbing salves on the broken wings of a bird he found in the road and carrying handfuls of precious water to a toad drying up slowly in one of the village's frequent draughts. He always kept these actions hidden from the rest of the village, as he would be scolded for his naive sensitivity and for wasting the village's precious resources.

After meeting Ik-soo, Yun's skills only got better. That idiot priest was always tripping over his own damned feet and falling. Or, even worse, he'd come home half-starved or even beaten, from either neglecting to care for himself (he was forgetful that way!) or being attacked and robbed by the poor, desperate people he encountered on his travels. Yun would lay him day on the straw mat that he had woven himself using nearly the same skills he had to braid Ik-soo's sandals, and put salve on his blistered heels and bind herbs to his wounds to reduce swelling or staunch bleeding. His learning arose out of the necessity to treat the latest scrape Ik-soo had gotten himself into, as well as some of the medical books and scrolls the priest had managed to bring back for the boy.

In addition to healing, Yun was a great homemaker. He could cook decent meals with only the barest of supplies and he knew how to sew and braid sandals and other things out of straw. He was also a terribly neat and organized person, frequently cleaning and reorganizing what little they had. But it seemed it was his skills as a healer that played the largest role in his life. After all, it was after he helped Ik-soo recover that he began to form a friendship with the kind and gentle priest and eventually came away to live with him. His life took an even more drastic turn one year later, after he managed to drag two badly injured travelers back to their home and help them recover, bringing one back from the verge of death. He hadn't known then just how much those two would change his life, the red-haired girl with the intense gaze and the man with the giant sword.

Now he had been on the road for a few months with these strangers and along the way they gained more companions: a pale, delicate man with the power of a dragon in his right arm, a silent, masked warrior with paralyzing eyes, a charming ex-pirate with legs strong enough to practically let him fly, and a sunny-haired, cheerful individual who speaks like a kid but hides the wisdom of a man who has lived for generations. Although Yun would never admit it to any of them, he had come to care for them all deeply, and he had never felt so much a part of a family. They were such an odd bunch, these rare beasts and their princess, and there was no end to the amount of trouble and danger they got themselves into, but Yun had come to accept it.\

The dragons, in particular, caused Yun a lot of grief. Zeno had informed the group that the dragons had weak immune systems, which meant that in addition to all the injuries they sustained while fighting and protecting each other, they also seemed to catch every minor cold and any possible virus they encountered. Yun was constantly preparing soups and teas to help fight their sicknesses and even worse, struggling to keep them in bed. The problem with these beasts is that they never seemed to know when to give it a rest, often rising to the bait of their fellow dragons and Hak even while sick in bed. They were all so vexing sometimes!

It came as a bit of surprise, then, when it was not one of the dragons twisting feverishly in their sleep that woke him up that night, but himself. Rising groggily from his sleep next to Yona, he sat up and looked blearily around the dark interior of their tent. He felt dizzy. On reflex, Yun put his hand to his forehead. It felt a bit warmer than usual, although it was hard to be sure. His headed pounded dully, and Yun mentally cursed as he recognized some of the symptoms of a fever coming on. Apart from his healing skills, Yun prided himself on his strong immune system. Despite all the time he spent caring for the sick, Yun rarely got sick himself, partly because of the precautions he took and the good hygiene he endorsed and partly because he came from a rough background with poor drinking water and frequent sicknesses that his body had already fought off.

I shouldn't lay next to Yona, he realized, as he made to lie back done again. Grabbing up his blanket, he moved to the far corner of the tent. Ideally he should sleep somewhere else, but the only other option was outside and Yun knew the chilly night air and cold wet dew wouldn't help his condition at all. Feeling cold despite the warmth beginning to radiate off his brow, he drew his blanket up to his chin and settled into a restless sleep.

Hak had always been an early riser and a light sleeper. These habits came with his occupation as a general and had only been heightened ever since he had fled the palace with Yona. He had learned to catnap, taking short, restful naps throughout the night and during the day when possible, so that he would have the energy and concentration to keep watch at night. Still, Hak wasn't usually the only person up early. Normally Yun was also awake, quietly rolling up his blankets and preparing breakfast for the group. Today the cold morning air was still and void of even these hushed activities. Hak frowned to himself as he observed the silent campground. Rising from his position on ground, where he had slept with his back to a tree, opting out of sharing the larger tent with the dragons, he got up and quietly drew back the canvas on the big tent. Inside all dragons lay asleep, sprawled in such a way as they wouldn't be caught dead during the day. Zeno had squirmed his way between Shin-ah and Kija and had pulled Shin-ah's fluffy fur piece over his face. Shin-ah slept with Ao tucked beneath his arm, his mask, even worn in sleep, askew. Jae-ha's long green hair tangled with Kija's silver, and one arm was draped over the other's chest, in an unconsciously protective gesture. Hak smirked to himself, and resisted the temptation to wake the dragons, if only to see the looks on their faces. Instead he dropped the tent flap and turned towards Yun's and Yona's tent, a shadow of worry crossing his face at the idea of anything having happened to Yona.

He drew back the opening flap and let out a short sigh of relief at seeing Yona, tightly wrapped in a bundle of blankets and sleeping soundly. It took him a minute longer to find Yun. The boy was asleep in the corner of the tent. That was a bit unusual, as Yona and Yun tended to sleep together, but perhaps not as odd as it seemed. Yun was, after all, a teenage boy and he had been somewhat anxious about sharing a tent with Yona initially. Hak turned to go, calm now knowing they were okay when a short harsh gasp stopped him. He turned back towards Yun, and lightly crossed the tent in a few short steps. Looking down, Hak could see that Yun was trembling, drawn up into a tight ball, and sweating profusely. Hak swiftly stooped down and placed his hand on the boy's forehead, jerking it back in surprise at the heat he felt radiating off of it. The boy mumbled something unintelligible in his clearly restless sleep and Hak felt a flash of pity for him. Shit, he thought, what do I do now? Hak knew almost nothing about caring for the sick, but clearly he should do something. First thing, Yun was shivering like mad. Hak left the tent and returned a second later with his own blanket, which he drew over the boy's thin frame. What else? Hak wondered. Spotting Yun's bag in a corner of the tent, he went to it and began rifling through it, not entirely sure what he was looking for.

"Hak?" a sleepy voice questioned him. Hak turned around to see Yona, sitting up amidst her blankets and wearing a sleepy expression on her face and a case of bed head so bad she resembled Ao's tail. Hak couldn't hold back a snigger.

"Good morning princess," he said. "Don't you look ravishing today?"

Yona frowned at him in confusion then raised a hand to touch her hair. Blushing furiously, she pulled her blankets up around her face and retorted heatedly "What are you doing in here, anyways?"

Hak quickly turned serious. "I'm looking for some medicine for Yun. It seems he's caught a cold or something."

Yona's eyes widened slightly and she quickly scrambled out of her covers, embarrassment forgotten, and made her way over to Yun.

"Yun?" she asked softly, brushing his hair away from his eyes gently and placing a hand on his forehead. She didn't remove her hand, but her eyes widened in surprise as she felt his hot skin. "Wow…" she whispered. Her violet eyes shone with worry. "He's got a really serious fever, Hak."

"I know."

Yona watched as Hak finally drew a small bottle out of Yun's bag and came over to them. "This is what Yun gave that white snake when he got sick last week," he said, kneeling beside Yun. He glanced at Yona. "Should we give it to him now or wait until he wakes up?"

Yona hesitated. "I think it would be better to give it to him soon," she said slowly. Hak nodded, then frowned. He hated to do this.

"Yun. Yun, wake up."

Yun struggled for a few seconds, stirring under his blankets and dragging his eyes open to see Hak's and Yona's anxious faces looming over his.

"Guys…?" he asked, his voice sounding raspy and feeble and oddly disconnected to his own ears.

"You've got a fever," Yona explained. "Hak wanted to give you medicine, so we decided to wake you up. Is this the right medicine, Yun?"

Yun's vision was blurry and his head was swimming, but the last thing he wanted was to ingest the wrong thing, so he made an effort to sit up and squint at the bottle. "Yes" he replied tiredly. "There's a little spoon I use to measure in my bag…"

Hak nodded once and retrieved it, carefully measuring out the medicine. Then, quickly and without asking, he slipped an arm around Yun's back and helped him sit up enough just to take the medicine. Yun opened his mouth obediently as Hak spilled the contents of the spoon inside, then helped the boy lie back down.

Yun let out a shaky, breathless laugh. "I give that stuff…to all those stupid dragons…they always complain…but man, it is shit…"

Hak smiled slightly as he drew the blankets back up over the boy so as to cover him completely. He did it brusquely, Yona noticed, making nothing of it, but the gesture was really sweet. Hak's really a good guy, she thought to herself as she watched him stow away the spoon and bottle in Yun's bag.

Yona gently stroked Yun's sweaty face as his eyelids began to flutter closed. From outside the tent she heard the start of the morning commotion of the dragons rousing themselves, and laughed to herself as a muscle twitched in Hak's cheek at the racket they were making. Yun was too exhausted to be bothered by the noise, but she was pretty sure Hak would probably pick a fight with them anyways, especially Jae-ha.

Hak left the tent, and sure enough in a moment there was a pause, then the murmur of Hak's low voice followed by an angry retort from Jae-ha, indignant stammering from Kija, and happy chirping from both Ao and Zeno. Yona sighed to herself and prepared to leave the tent, but first she paused and looked down at the sleeping Yun. He really was pretty, and quite adorable, all small and wrapped up in blankets and sleep. Poor Yun, she thought. Yun, who had seen them through all their sore throats and coughs and runny noses. This time, Yun, we'll take care of you.