Foxes & Dragons | Akatsuki no Yona

Episode 16

Episode 16
'She'll Be Back'

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Hak gave an irritated sigh as he comforted Yona about the disappearance of the silver-haired goddess. This would be the 4th time he's had to repeat these words to someone since everyone had been worried about the woman-gone-missing.

"How are you so sure she'll come back?" Yona queried with a pout. She was extremely distraught about the situation, but not as nearly distressed as the Blue Dragon was when he found out about the incident.

"I just do, and my assumptions are never wrong, princess." Hak reassured, continuing to sharpen the head of his spear, occasionally touching the tip of it to test out its sharpness. "Don't worry so much; you'll get wrinkles."

Yona panicked at his statement, whining as she anxiously touched her face to search for nonexistent wrinkles. "Hak! You're so mean!" The 19 year-old just snickered at her naive personality, enjoying the reaction she provided him with as he continued to tease her.

Shin-ah, however, was curled up against the trunk of a tree. Seemingly normal, the dragon in reality was mentally a mess. His worry and confusion was overwhelming him and all he could do was curl up, waiting for a return that might never happen (*cough* like my return to writing *cough*).

"Seiryuu?" Kija said curiously as he glanced over at him. He was given no response. This worried Kija as he deemed himself the big brother dragon to the others due to him being the first dragon to be found by Yona and her gang. "What's the matter?"

Kija was still given no response. "Perhaps I'm over thinking this," he thought. "I mean, it isn't unnatural for him to be silent. He usually never talks." This was the conclusion the 21 year-old came to and he left Shin-ah with a pat on the shoulder before joining Hak and Yona's squabble, attempting to come to Yona's rescue.

Shin-ah just huffed a breath, using his far-sighted eyes to scan the land around them for any sign of the fox goddess.

———

Saya ran. She ran, and ran, and ran, and ran and didn't stop even as the soles of her shoes tore apart, leaving the bottom of her feet raw as they moved along the hard surface of rocks and dirt. Even as she was scratched by the branches of trees and the twigs from bushes. Even as she drew blood that ran down her legs and arms in a streak. She couldn't stop. Yona's scent was fading and it was already difficult to follow the painfully faint trail her scent left behind.

Their party was moving, traveling closer to a destination she didn't know. Through the different smells of nature around her, Saya could pick up a hint of salt. Sea salt. The ocean. A port town, she concluded in her head as she continued running.

As she continued tracking her master, the immortal couldn't help but think, "I seem to run after this girl so often." She smiled at the thought, looking up into the sky, peering further ahead as if she could see the heavens itself. "Seems like I'm still chasing after you Hiryuu."

Saya continued to run, rarely taking a break and only resting a brief couple a minutes per break before she was up and running again. She couldn't waste precious time with the possibility of Yona being in danger again like in the Blue Dragon village.

Finally, after what seemed like eternity, Saya reached a town. As she thought, it was a port town. The scent of the ocean filled her nose making it more difficult to distinguish different smells. Disgruntled, she entered the town assuming Yona and the gang would be in it, not knowing that only Hak and a green dragon roamed the area.

———

Hak groaned aloud as he heard the screech of a woman in distress. "Don't get involved," he told himself. "Don't get involved." The woman screamed once more. "Goddammit."

The ex-general launched himself at the Awa guards, punching the harasser square in the face along with someone hitting the guard with a powerful kick from another direction and another punch from a different direction.

Hak briefly glanced at the other two 'heroes' before snatching the woman's wrist and fleeing with more guards and the heroes in tow. One was cloaked in a shabby cloth covering a soiled and dirty but expensive looking dress, the other being a tall, droopy-eyed man with startling dark green hair tied back in a low ponytail except for the bangs covering his left eye.

Hak turned sharply, pulling the woman into his chest as he pressed his back on the side of a building, the people who helped him following his lead while the Awa Port guards ran past them.

The cloaked woman let out a sigh of relief as the guards lost sight of them and the green haired man began to talk to the woman who was saved, excessively flirting with her.

Cloaky, the name Hak deemed the cloaked woman, turned to face him (great job Hak. Cloaky. very original). A moment passed before she revealed herself, shocking Hak.

———

Saya couldn't help herself as she punched a man that seemed to be an officer of the port town. Neither, it seemed, could two other men. Who could if they saw a woman being harassed and had the power to stop it?

When the chase was finally over as they pulled into an alley between two buildings and lost the guards, Saya saw the two other people who helped out the harassed woman. She was startled and her mind took a double-take as she looked at both men.

One was her ex-general buddy, Hak, and a man with long green hair. Saya could tell as she faced the green haired man, he was the green dragon. Her eyes began to water but she blinked it away.

Her head turned in the direction of Hak once more, waiting a moment before she uncloaked herself. Hak, it seemed, took a double-take as well as his eyes widened in shock. The green dragon, as well, found her identity a surprise, seeing as she was a woman that fought off a guard in a restricting and dirty dress.

"Where's Yona?" Was the only thing Saya could say in the moment, her desire to know her master and friend reincarnate was safe.

***

Hello...
It's me, RinnieSan.
I'm on a road trip right now and in my desperate need for entertainment, I opened the Wattpad app and wrote this chapter. I'm not back, no, but you may see random updates similar to this in the future. Thank you for all the support you've given my story. Happy Belated Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year, and Valentine's Day!