Searching (AnY Fan-Fic)

Chapter 9

Later that night Ji-ah and Ik-soo were the only two left sitting near the waterfall. They had been sitting in silence for a while, both a bit lost in thought.

"Ik-soo?" Ji-ah was the first to break the silence. 

"Hm?"

"Why didn't you tell them?" She asked. "About the fifth dragon, I mean."

Ik-soo finally turned his head to look at Ji-ah. Her face was blank, or at least the part that you could see was, and she was facing the direction of the waterfall as she spoke. 

Ik-soo suddenly smiled. 

"Because you didn't," he answered simply. 

Ji-ah tilted her head his way, and the priest could just barely tell that her eyebrows had furrowed. 

"That's all?" Her tone was confused. 

"Sometimes," Ik-soo started. "Some information is best left for the person it's about to explain. Sometimes, it's the only way for others to truly understand." Ik-soo suddenly changed tones. "Besides, I'd never want to incur the wrath of the mighty warrior that the Momoiryuu has chosen~"

Ji-ah let out a laugh that echoed throughout the night.

There were very few that knew about her having the blood of the Momoiryuu, but Ji-ah was glad that Ik-soo was one of them. Out of all the priests that she had met over the years, he was definitely one of her favorites. 

"Believe me, Ik-soo, it would take a lot more than that to incur my wrath." Her amused face softened as she spoke. "But thank you."

"Of course."

****

Ji-ah spent the rest of the night out on that cliff ledge, even after everyone else was long asleep. 

No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't find it in herself to fall asleep, too engrossed in old memories to even think about it. 

She thought about all sorts of things ranging from the time she had 'accidentally' pushed Kan Tae-jun into a pond to the first time that she had met Ik-soo. 

She had met Ik-soo a lifetime ago, and, in her case, that was said quite literally. 

You see, Ji-ah was indeed the reincarnation of the Momoiryuu, but she was a bit different from the other four dragon warriors that served Hiryuu. For one, she had nothing that bound her to the other four or Hiryuu. She was a lone wolf, or dragon, after all. Her hair also wasn't pink, signifying that she was the Momoiryuu. Instead, her eyes would always take on a brilliant pink hue that no matter where she went would always attract attention. 

The main difference, however, was what happens when she dies. Whenever the Momoiryuu was reborn, she would always regain her memories of every single past life she'd had before. The memories didn't always come right away. Sometimes it only took a few months while oftentimes it would take years. 

She may not be immortal like the Ouryuu, but Ji-ah was still the first generation Momoiryuu.

No matter how many bodies she went through, her soul and her spirit always remained the same. 

It was in one of those many past lives that Ji-ah had met Ik-soo. She had been friends with his predecessor and had known the blond since he was but a wee child. It was one of the reasons that Ik-soo still called her 'Miss.' He had never broken the habit from when he was a child. 

Ji-ah sighed, laying back onto the ground as she took her blindfold off, revealing her bright pink eyes that could in fact see everything perfectly fine. Clutching the piece of cloth in her hand, she stared up at the starry night sky.