Ignite The Dawn |Akatsuki No Yona React Fanfic|

Chapter 5: I'm Just Breathing

"Aren't you going to eat? Princess?" Hak asks.

Jaeha snorts. The rest of the Happy Hungry Bunch also snicker.

"Why?" Geuntae asks, not getting the joke.

"Oh, nothing, just that our barbaric Thunder Beast over here isn't the best at cooking and Yona's least favorite food happens to be half-roasted fish and burned food," Yoon explains dryly. "Make one guess why that's so."

(A/N clarification: I got this detail from the YOTD fanbook!)

As chuckles break out, Hak shamelessly admits, "well, the food quality did increase a lot when Yoon joined."

'You weren't kidding when you said you could do everything," Geuntae says.

"Obviously," Yoon replies frankly. A bit too frankly.

Humility is overrated anyway.

Yona stares blankly, her appearance disheveled and her face grimy. She doesn't respond when Hak asks her a question, nor when he urges her to eat up.

She's becoming more and more weak as time goes by, Hak thinks grimly.

The princess on screen and the one Lili and Taejun know cannot be more different. Like day and night – one wallows in darkness and sorrow, the other lights up their lives with the warmth of dawn.

Both are Yona, just her at different stages of her life.

The scene cuts to Yona bathing in a glistening lake.

The men all cough, turning away as their cheeks heat up. And by the men... Lili sighs, realizing once again that she's the only female in the room.

"If I catch anyone looking I will take that you're giving up the rights to your eyes," Mundok growls, though how he'll do that is a mystery since his own eyes are firmly shut.

Kija goes an extra step further by covering his eyes with one hand and slapping his clawed hand onto an unsuspecting Jaeha's face, eliciting a surprised grunt out of the latter. "E-everyone look away!" he demands – even his ears are starting to turn red.

Hak finds his gaze being cast downwards as well, even though later it would be him on screen tending to Yona since she got attacked by leeches.

Lili rolls her eyes. "There is nothing –" she emphasizes the word " – to see over here. Yona's body isn't on display because it's blurred."

Kija slowly opens his fingers, his eyes half-closed as he peeks through the gaps to see that Lili is right. Jaeha slaps his hand away, grumbling under his breath.

The flush slowly dissipates from the men's faces, glad that they haven't witnessed anything inappropriate. They certainly don't want to come across as lecherous or debauched, regardless of their actual sentiments towards Yona – even Kyesook. No, it's especially because Kyesook is who he is that he must maintain a proper distance from Yona.

It's not just physically, Hak notes. Even after all this time, she has been unable to face the reality of His Majesty's death... or Soowon's betrayal.

Taejun nods seriously. "I can understand why she refuses to believe it. If it were me... Well, it'd be like telling me to believe that Brother killed Father to steal the position of the General of the Fire Tribe, except I saw the whole thing so he was coming after me to kill me too!" He falters. "Hmm, except I'm obviously not in love with Brother..."

Kyoga shoots him the stink eye.

"Eh, was that not a good analogy?"

"No," Kyoga snaps, his tone withering. "I do not appreciate being compared to Soo – errrr."