Author's Note: I almost died while writing this chapter. Well, it may have taken a long time, but I hope you guys like it. First, I'd like to clear up something. You may be wondering why no one's addressed the possibility of Yona getting pregnant. Well, for the sake of this story, I'm ignoring that possibility (unless I decide to change my mind). Is it suspiciously convenient? Yes. But is it contrived? Also yes. Second, apparently at some point I decided to give this story a plot? I mean, it's threadbare, but it's there. So, yeah. There's definitely going to be another chapter after this (Hak still needs his time in the limelight, after all), and possibly (read: probably) another one, but after that, I'm not sure. I guess it depends on if you guys have any requests that I'd be interested in. In any case, thanks for reading this far, and I apologize in advance for any OOCness you may find.

Warnings: More smut ahead.

In the morning, Yona found her mind occupied by two warring desires: to stay under her blanket with the fresh memories of last night replaying beneath her eyelids, and to apologize to the innkeeper for her gross misconduct as a guest, never mind the fact that she was (or had been) royalty. She knew, of course, that she would do neither, but that didn't stop her overactive imagination from sabotaging itself.

What a thorough fool she was. A thickskulled one, to boot. Had her good sense abandoned her last night? It seemed that since this whole charade began, she'd either gotten more brazen or less careful. Or more perverted. Yona found it hard to distinguish a meaningful difference between the possibilities in her current state. Not that she regretted what she'd done with Kija, per se, but…

Now that was a dangerous train of thought. At this rate she'd be unable to leave her room for the rest of the day.

As she redressed and tidied herself, Yona caught a glimpse of a person's shadow encroaching from beneath the door. Upon further inspection she was unsurprised to see Hak sitting cross-legged at her feet, cheek pillowed in his palm. Yona couldn't help the stifled giggle that escaped.

"Good morning, Hak," she greeted as she leaned over him. "What brings you here so early?"

"To make sure you hadn't slipped again and killed yourself, of course," he smirked. "I can't leave you alone for too long, given your apparently preternatural clumsiness."

Yona released an undignified huff. "Is that so? Well, this preternaturally clumsy girl avoided tripping over you, didn't she? If that's the case then your accusations hold no water." She bit the inside of her cheek, worrying the skin just as a nagging question worried at her mind. "Say, Hak…have you been there all night?"

Hak rolled his eyes. "Of course I have." He glanced at her and saw something that evidently made his attitude change. "I didn't listen to you and White Snake, if that's what you're asking."

Now that was hard to believe—but for the life of her, she could not read his expression. Had his mask always been so thick? "Oh. Well, I'm not. I was just curious, that's all. All of us don't get enough sleep as is."

"Whatever you say, Princess," he shrugged as she stepped over him. He stood up behind her, stretching his arms over his head as he released a loud yawn. She kept staring. Yona couldn't say why the thought of him listening to her and Kija made her feel insecure. He'd definitely seen her in a more vulnerable position. But somehow it was more voyeuristic to imagine him sitting outside and listening to the two of them than when Shin-ah told her he was watching her the first time. Was it because Shin-ah's action had been unintentional (at first)? How was Hak's any more intentional? And why hadn't she thought about this before last night, or even during?

"Hak…are you…?"

"A bit tired, are we, Thunder Beast?"

Yona flinched and avoided Hak's gaze as the green-haired man sidled up to them, his long locks freed of their usual ribbon. "Good morning, Jae-ha," she said, forcing her question to the already unbearably noisy back of her mind. "You look comfortable. Are you planning on going to the hot springs?"

"I was, as a matter of fact. Though I love being with all of you, a life lived in constant travel isn't always hygienic. Perhaps you could join me, Yona dear."

Though the innuendo made her blush, the thought of taking a bath caused her to release a longing sigh. "I haven't been to a hot springs in forever. That sounds nice. Are the others still asleep?"

"Yes. As tired as we all were last night, I'm worried that they might have slept too well," Jae-ha said cheerfully, "as I'm sure you must have, if Kija-kun's demeanor was anything to go by."

Yona stiffened. "O-Oh," she stuttered. "Sorry about that. I hope…" 'I hope the sound of us fornicating didn't interfere with your sleep?' If I said that, I'd have to drown myself in the hot springs. It seemed she was still prudish after all. Well, at least she hadn't lost all of her dignity yet.

"Not at all—as a matter of fact, I rather enjoyed seeing him in such a state when he returned to our room. I've rarely seen him let his hair down, so to speak, so it was a nice change of pace. Right, Thunder Beast?"

Glancing back towards Hak, Yona readied herself for the man's merciless teasing or ridicule, and was surprised when she saw neither on his face. He had gone unnaturally quiet. "Hak?"

She didn't know what she had been about to ask, but it turned out not to matter, since he sent her a casual smirk before she could finish her sentence. "What is it, Princess?" he asked, his smile inscrutable.

What is he thinking? I can't tell… "Nothing," she said, mirroring his expression. "I must be overthinking things again. I think I'll go to the hot springs after all. That should take a load off my mind..."

As she and Jae-ha walked away, she tried to keep her gaze forward, to not notice the whitening of her bodyguard's knuckles on the hilt of his quandao, or how his smile didn't quite reach his eyes.

If nothing else, being submerged in the steaming water forced Yona's muscles to relax. Her mind was still racing, unfortunately. She wondered if Kija was faring well after what happened last night. She could only hope his nerves didn't get the better of him and cause him to regret what they'd done, as she was certain he'd torment himself endlessly if that were the case. Resolving to check up on him later that day, Yona sighed, leaned against the stone at her back, and tried to think.

First, I have to get my thoughts in order. What's happened since this all began? There was Hak and Jae-ha…and then the festival, where Shin-ah and I…well. And then there was Kija. I still hope he can forgive me, even though he said he wasn't angry, but…

But then there's Hak.

Yona closed her eyes. I wonder…he's jealous, isn't he? It's not like it was with Kija, though. It doesn't seem like he's frustrated with himself. He's had a thorn in his side since this began, not that I can blame him, I suppose, but it was much more obvious earlier. This is all new to him, just like it is for me. For all of us—well, maybe not Jae-ha. I…don't want him to feel like he's excluded. He's always…

"What are you thinking about, Yona dear?"

The young woman jumped, splashing water onto the nearby rocks as an unmistakable sultry voice addressed her. "J-Jae-ha?" she asked. "Where are you?"

His amused giggling drew her eyes to the wooden boundary between the men and women's sides. Quiet splashing noises reached her ears, followed by silence, and moments later she stared open-mouthed as Jae-ha surfaced a few feet away from her.

"Here I am," he said coyly. "There was a small space in the portion of the wall beneath the water, just large enough for a person to fit through. The innkeeper should really have it fixed, shouldn't she?"

"I would say so." Yona sunk deeper beneath the water and tried to calm her racing heart. "You scared me half to death," she mumbled, her skin flushed. "I was thinking."

"What about, if you don't mind my asking?" He waded closer to her, taking a seat against the wall. Yona tried to avoid openly staring at his body as he did so.

"It's…Hak," she said quietly. "I think he's mad at me."

She saw Jae-ha staring at her out of the corner of his eye. "Ah, so you noticed it this morning as well? I thought he was just cranky at first, but now that you mention it there does seem to be a pattern."

"A pattern?"

"Well, there was his reaction when I first proposed our arrangement. Don't tell me you didn't notice that, Yona dear."

"O-Of course I did…"

"The first time we had sex he was especially clingy towards you. Disappointing, really—I would have liked to have gone further with him myself."

Yona blushed. "Well, I suppose he may have been…"

"And he was visibly angry when you and Shin-ah came back from wherever you went at the festival. If what happened was as obvious to him as it was to me, then fear for your safety may not have been all that was bothering him. That's not even mentioning his behavior both this morning and last night—poor Kija-kun had to deal with his abrasive attitude as well."

Somehow, nothing Jae-ha said was surprising to her, though she wasn't sure she would have been able to articulate it herself. "I think you're right," she said with a frown, biting her lip, "though I'm not sure that jealousy is all there is to it. I want…to talk to him about it, but I'm not sure how to approach him. What do you think, Jae-ha?"

She glanced at him expectantly, and he met her intense gaze with one that was an odd mixture of baffled and amused. "Ah, forgive my rudeness, if it comes across that way…but you are aware that we're currently sitting naked together in a hot springs, aren't you, Yona dear? If you can converse with me in these circumstances it seems odd that you'd be unable to have a heart-to-heart with the Thunder Beast. And excuse my presumptuousness, but I don't believe there was a lack of conversation between you and Kija-kun last night."

Yona blushed, suddenly feeling self-conscious of her nudity. "This is because…well, we've already…you've already…"

"I understand. I've already seen you naked, so you don't feel uncomfortable around me. But what makes talking to the Thunder Beast so different from talking to Kija?"

"That's…" A good question. I was able to put aside my own insecurities in order to clear the air with Kija. Why can't I do the same for Hak? He's been my dear friend since we were children, so why does the idea of talking to him about this terrify me so much? "I think…it's because I'm afraid of what he'll say. I don't want him to be angry with me, because…he's always been by my side. He knows me better than anyone else, and…" If he were to get angry and tell me harsh truths, I wouldn't be able to dispute them. "I'm a coward."

Jae-ha inched closer to her, placing a firm hand on her head. Brushing a lock of wet hair behind her ear, he said, "You are many things, but you are no coward. Everyone is afraid of what the people closest to him or her think. As much as we may try to deny it, the opinions of those we care about matter to us—even the most stoic man worries what his wife thinks of him in bed."

That's…an odd but fitting example. "I know that. But it's not only my feelings at stake here. Right now he probably thinks I'm selfish—and I can't blame him, since I didn't even notice Kija's feelings until last night. I can't imagine that you haven't thought I was being selfish, not even once. I want to show him that I can do better. I want to show all of you."

"So you want to show us that you aren't selfish?"

Yona nodded.

Jae-ha cupped his chin between two fingers. "Well, for a start, it would help if you were more adept at distributing your affections. You're new to this. You've likely never considered having to be romantically involved with more than one person at once, so your behavior is understandable. The most direct way of rectifying this would be initiating something, like you did with Kija, and being honest about your feelings."

"But—"

"But," Jae-ha continued, "since you chose Hak first to begin with, that makes his situation a bit more complicated. I would say that for him, reciprocation is more important."

"Reciprocation?"

Jae-ha sent her a lewd sideways glance. "Exchange of pleasure, Yona dear. There are other ways to please a man besides the traditional way of making love—what you and I did is but one example."

Yona recalled how she had touched Jae-ha the first time, and blushed at the reminder. "I see…what are some other ways?"

"Would you like me to show you firsthand?"

She only then realized how close he had gotten, how his lips lingered but an inch away from her own, and felt her body flush hot from head to toe—though that could have just as easily been due to the hot water. "Here? Someone could hear or walk in on us, couldn't they?" How hypocritical of her.

If Jae-ha noticed this hypocrisy, he didn't dare point it out, but he did pull back an inch or two, wry grin intact. "If that's what you want. I was just teasing you."

Yona would bet her foot that if she'd just said the word, his "teasing" would have elevated to something far less innocuous than spying on the women's baths. That being said, she hadn't seen any other female customers around. "I'm just…"

"Nervous?"

"Of course I am! But I do want to." She paused, frowning as something occurred to her. "Besides, you're the only one who hasn't actually slept with me, aren't you?" It took a moment of Jae-ha staring at her in abject shock for Yona to realize what she'd just said. She resisted the urge to dive beneath the water, returning his stare with a rigid expression she hoped didn't look too much like a grimace. "Ah, I mean—"

"Yona dear, don't take this the wrong way, but I think this is the most attracted to you I've ever been."

"Jae-ha!"

"Don't get me wrong—I just didn't expect you to say it so unashamedly. It caught me off guard."

"Me too." She watched as his fingers crept up her bare arm, the tips softened by the water. She glanced at his face, but he seemed conveniently distracted as he rubbed lazy circles into her shoulder. "Jae-ha…you really aren't worried about being caught?"

"I wouldn't worry about that—I can always duck under the water if someone else comes out. Besides, doesn't the risk of getting caught make it more exciting?"

Why she would have expected him to say anything different was beyond her. Yona squeaked when his other hand gently, but suddenly, gripped her hip beneath the water, while the one on her shoulder slid up to clasp the side of her neck. She released a breathy gasp as he pressed her against the wall, a knee deftly slipping between her legs and brushing against her inner thigh.

"Jae-ha…"

"I am an opportunist," he laughed, pressing their foreheads together, "and this is the perfect opportunity to have you to myself for a while. Perhaps you can even use what you learn here on the Thunder Beast later."

With that, he stole her lips into a kiss. He pressed his knee harder against her, though still gentle, and swallowed her reflexive exhale. Lightly pruned fingers stroked the side of her neck and reached around to tease the base of her scalp. They kissed for a while, with Jae-ha shifting his hands every so often (though if he thought she couldn't tell that his right hand was dipping gradually past her collarbone, he was sorely mistaken).

Yona sought to return the favor. She parted her legs and bent her knee, bringing him closer; he hummed favorably against her lips, tongue slipping past teeth and twisting against hers. Her eyelids fluttered open, distractedly glancing into the crystalline water, and caught a flash of vibrant green. I wonder if…

Well, Jae-ha had told her she should reciprocate, and taking the initiative seemed to be a good enough place to start. She extended her foot and gently stroked the green scales with her toes.

That got a reaction out of him. He shivered, jerked, and pulled away to stare at her. Yona didn't pull her foot away. As she held his gaze, his momentary shock gave way to the usual grin. "What do you think you're doing, Yona dear?"

"Reciprocating."

"Is that it?"

Shrugging, she brought a hand up to hide her flaming cheeks—a bit redundant, given the water's temperature, but it was a nervous reaction. "Well, you seemed sensitive there, didn't you? Kija was as well, so I thought I'd try it. Do you not like it?"

"That's not it."

In that case, he wouldn't object if she were to keep doing it, would he? Her toes slowly inched down the back of his calf, Jae-ha's body twitching with each stroke. As she raised her foot to repeat the process, a firm hand clamped down on her wrist. Startled, she stared at him, and he stared back.

"Yona," he said, "if you keep doing that—"

"Get out of the water."

He blinked. "Pardon me?"

Yona flushed, aghast at her sudden rudeness. "I'm sorry. That was rude of me. I would appreciate it if…you would let me see your leg."

"…Where is this coming from?"

A demure shrug was her best response. "I'm not sure. You always hide it from us, so I'd like to see it. I guess I'm an opportunist."

Yona was somewhat embarrassed to admit that it felt good to throw his words back at him, and got some satisfaction from seeing the realization on his face. As always, however, Jae-ha was astonishingly good at masking his emotions. "You know I can't deny you when you ask so earnestly."

She tried not to openly stare as he stood up and sat on the ledge. His calves were partially submerged, but Yona still had a first-class view of Jae-ha's body in all its glory. Simply admiring his appearance didn't do him much justice, though she could have said the same for the others in their group. Up close and without the water barrier, the scales on his leg were even more striking. Like the wings of an iridescent butterfly. She could have stared at them forever, if the temptation to touch them wasn't at the forefront of her mind. She reached out with shy hands, and both her and Jae-ha shivered when her fingertips skimmed over them. It felt more intimate than it had with Kija, and she wondered if that was because Jae-ha felt the self-conscious need to hide it from them.

"Why?" she asked.

"…No doubt it stems partly from vanity," he said, "but I've always felt it was an ugly thing. Perhaps it also reminded me of what I tried to escape."

A chain that couldn't be cast away no matter how hard you tried. She could understand that. "I don't think it's ugly at all."

He smiled down at her. "I wouldn't think so."

Returning the smile, her eyes were drawn from his leg to his face and down again, the heat in her cheeks increasing the lower her gaze fell. When it landed between his legs, the hand on Jae-ha's leg shifted to his knee, and she pushed herself up until the waterline rested comfortably at her waist. The air was cold, but she was certain this wasn't the only source of her shiver. Jae-ha scoured her form, though what he was searching for she couldn't tell, and reached down to absently brush a strand of wet hair from her face.

"Jae-ha, I want—I want to…" She bit her lip. "I—last night, Kija did—he touched me with his…" Just spit it out already, she chided herself. Now's not the time to turn into a nervous wreck. "He touched me with his mouth."

Jae-ha's eyebrows nearly shot to his hairline. "Did he? I wouldn't have thought he had it in him—though I suppose it matches his servile nature."

Why does nearly everything he says make me blush? "So I was wondering if I could…do that for you. It didn't occur to me last night, but I should be able to, right?"

For once, he had the good grace to appear surprised. "You want to? Are you sure? I wouldn't want you to feel obligated, Yona dear."

"I don't. Well, maybe a little, but not because I feel like I owe you. I just want to. Before, when I touched you, I liked it. It…" She averted her gaze. "It felt nice, seeing you like that. I want to do it again, but better this time. If it felt that way for me, then surely…"

Yona yelped as he pulled her upwards by the wrist and leaned over, positioned above her as she knelt between his knees. Her cheeks flamed as she glanced downwards briefly before meeting his gaze—that smirk was back in full force as he raised her chin to kiss her. It was anything but chaste, the way he practically stole the air from her lungs, but she didn't have any desire to complain. "If you ever want to stop," he whispered against her mouth, "don't hesitate to tell me."

The nerves she had previously ejected from her mind crept back when she lowered her head. That she could feel him staring at her didn't help, but she wasn't about to back down now. When she took him into her mouth, her first thought was that it was underwhelming. It wasn't that his member was small; Yona's chief concern had been that she would feel disgust or aversion, followed by guilt—but there was none of that. Much like he had been with her hand, Jae-ha was solid and warm, and relatively tasteless, most likely due to the hot spring. Even if she would have been put off by the mere notion of what she was doing, those kinds of thoughts fled from her mind when she heard Jae-ha sigh contentedly above her. The vibrations from his shaky exhale ran through his whole body and extended to her. Above all else Yona felt satisfaction as his fingers curled in her hair.

It seems like he's enjoying this. Her cheeks pinked as she projected last night's experience onto him. Was she making him feel the same way she'd felt then? Intoxicated, with a warm feeling sunk deep within the pit of her stomach…

She dug her nails into his skin, dragging one hand along his knee and the other along the side of his stomach; his muscles twitched under her touch, and Yona took him in deeper until it felt as though she would gag. (She didn't, fortunately.) She ran the tip of her tongue across his shaft, applied light suction, wondered if she was being seductive—he was certainly acting as if he liked it, but how much of that was due to her own skill?

"Yona," he rasped, dropping the usual honorific as he gently pulled at her hair.

She released him. "I'm sorry," she said automatically. "Was it not…working for you?"

"It's not that," he said, his cheeks flushed with a healthy shade of pink that made Yona glow faintly with pride. "You don't have to be so skittish, Yona dear. A bit of pain might be a nice touch, coming from you."

"O-Oh…" What a relief.

She tried to do what he said, applying a bit of force with her teeth, and Jae-ha responded by stroking her scalp in a way that made her hands shake. She kept at it for a bit longer, and just as she felt his abdomen tighten beneath her hand he was pulling her away again.

"Jae-ha? What's—"

Yona squealed when she was lifted entirely out of the water. The world spun around her as Jae-ha reversed their positions, placing her down in shallower water a few feet away from her original spot. Every inch of her skin was covered in goose bumps from the sudden shock, though the fact that their naked bodies were pressed together was likely a contributing factor.

"I have to say, Yona dear, that was quite evil of you. Did you really think I'd let it end that quickly?" His breath blew across the shell of her ear, and she shivered at the contrast of warm breath, hot water, and the cool air nipping at her neck and shoulders.

"I..." What had she been about to say? She couldn't remember.

Lithe hands ran along her sides and came to a full stop at her thighs, and Yona was complaisant in allowing Jae-ha to wrap her legs around his waist.

"Relax," he coaxed her, his voice muffled as he kissed her neck. "You're so tense…"

"Because you scared me," she panted, finally finding her voice.

"Fair enough." He continued stroking her thigh, humming in approval when she wrapped her arms around him, her nails finding purchase in the skin of his back. "How do you feel?"

"Warm."

"Hmm…I can make you warmer, if you'd like."

"Jae-ha…"

"Hold on to me," he whispered into the hollow of her throat. "I wouldn't want you to slip and get hurt."

She did as he said and tightened her grip, but almost let go when he slipped a hand between her legs. Dexterous fingers played with her, tracing small teasing circles, applying pressure in all the right places, and she sighed her appreciation into his ear.

"What was that? I couldn't hear you…"

"Jae-ha." She imbued her voice with a warning.

"That's better," he purred with a laugh. Without another word, he lifted her out of the water, her legs still wrapped around his waist, and pushed into her.

Thanks to his prior ministrations, she was practically aching by that point, and the sudden sensation of fullness caused her to moan piteously into his neck. He brought her back down into the water, and wasted no time in lavishing her body with slow, steady thrusts. Perhaps it was because of the intensity of said thrusts, despite not being particularly fast or hard, or because of the way he kissed her neck, or how his hands gently palmed her breasts, but Yona lost her voice once again. All that came out were clipped, rapid exhalations and the occasional mouthing of Jae-ha's name.

Her body felt unbearably taut. Jae-ha's hands caressed her back as she stretched out of the water, keeping her from hitting her head against the ground. His body followed, bending over hers. She opened her eyes to see the sky above almost completely eclipsed by his face; strands of green hair that had slipped free from their bind tickled her cheeks as he leaned down to kiss her.

"You should see yourself right now," he panted, breaking the kiss. "It's quite something."

She couldn't answer. She didn't want to. How on earth was he still able to form coherent sentences? Her legs were shaking badly enough as it was, the pit in her stomach verging on that merciful crescendo…

Jae-ha pressed his lips to her collarbone while absentmindedly rolling his thumb across her nipple. "You're close. I can tell…"

She cried out weakly as the penultimate thrust washed over her, which turned into a moan as Jae-ha's pace became tortuously slow.

"Ah-ah," he said teasingly. "Not so fast…"

"Jae-ha!" she cried out, frustrated. She was burning, nearly in pain, and bit her lip to keep from yelling.

"All right, all right…"

In the instant before his next thrust pushed her over the edge, Yona caught the glint in his eyes, the only evidence of his own desperation, but that small sense of triumph was overshadowed by her ensuing climax. Her nails and heels dug into him, and her legs shook as she keened.

She could vaguely hear Jae-ha above her. "Beautiful," he said quietly, his voice shaking as the next few thrusts brought him his own orgasm.

Yona lay with eyes closed for the next few moments, blissful as Jae-ha played with her hair and stroked her bare skin, leaving small kisses wherever he could reach. The water felt almost cool against her skin, though she knew it must have still been steaming.

"Now that's interesting."

"Hmm?" she droned, her eyelids fluttering open. Jae-ha was looking over his shoulder, and she shifted so that she was leaning back on her forearms. "Jae-ha? What's wrong?"

"Oh, nothing, Yona dear," he assured as he turned back around. "But it appears we've got an admirer."

I'm starting to wonder if I should just end this story with everyone having an orgy. I can't tell if I'm being sarcastic or not.

-Vicious Ventriloquist