Demesne ¦¦ Hunhan, Taoris, Kaisoo, Baekyeol

Chapter one

The wind ruffled his blonde hair and blew strands of it in his face. Despite this, he remained still, staring at the boy in his knees before him. The kneeling boy looked at the man with pleading eyes as a drop of red liquid dripped slowly from his brow. "Please, please..." A scream broke out through the room before any promise could be made.

_______

1 year earlier

A figure darted around the corner, never minding the shouts of the woman he just about ran into. His robes flowed behind him elegantly despite the stupid grin on his face.

"Oh Sehun! You come back here right now!"

Sehun laughed and continued to run, clutching a satchel to his chest. As he made his way down the street, another boy, a shorter one, turned the corner. As he spotted the retreating figure, he pointed, "Stop him!" Seeing as nobody did so, he continued to chase. "Oh Sehun!"

His laughter grew in volume as he turned another corner only to run straight into a towering figure. "Yo! Kris, move out of the way!" He shouted frantically. Kris grabbed his shoulders to prevent him from escaping. "Why are you running?"

"I'm--"

"SEHUN!"

"Fucked."

The shorter boy finally rounded the corner, heavily out of breath. "You.... son of a .... bitch." He managed between gasps. Sehun giggled and tried to wrench himself from Kris' death grip. Kris just stared at him dumbfounded. "Xiumin?" He glanced back at the flushed face of the shorter boy looking for an explanation.

"He... took my... books," he pointed to the satchel in Sehun's arms before falling onto the ground to lay on his back. "I'm...too old... for this."

"You're 24, shut up-- ow!" A smack to the back of his head cut Sehun off. Kris snatched the satchel from his arms and tossed it onto Xiumin's stomach, receiving a loud 'oof' sound as the wind that he had just gained back was knocked out again.

"Don't be a piece of shit, Sehun."

"Oh come on! You're no fun. It was just a joke!" He pleaded his case to Kris' back as he walked away.

"Still, don't be a piece of shit." He stepped over Xiumin and waved as he went off to do whatever it was he planned to do before running into the troublemaker. Xiumin sat up slowly, "Yeah Sehun, don't be a piece of shit."

"Shut up." He laughed as he helped his brother to his feet and ran to catch up to Kris. Xiumin followed after throwing the satchel back over his shoulder where it belonged.

"Where you going Kris?" Xiumin asked, mimicking Sehun's position of throwing an arm over Kris' shoulder, although it wa more like a hand on the shoulder due to the height.

"To the temple."

"Ohh~" Xiumin and sehun cooed sarcastically, simultaneously.

"Shut up, if you don't want to go, don't follow me."

"Nah, we'll just walk with you there to annoy you." Sehun smirked.

"Wonderful." Kris flicked Sehun's hand off the shoulder of his white robe and shrugged of Xiumin's.

"Oh don't look too happy to see us. It's only been, what, a month since you last looked our way?"

"It's because of him promotion. 'High and Mighty' comes with a price of of ignoring his friends." Xiumin pokes Kris' side. It was true. Ever since becoming a priest, Kris had much less time to just joke around with his friends. He regretted it a little, but then again, he was very important now. "I wouldn't expect a little scholar to understand, much less even a soldier." He elbowed Xiumin and Sehun respectively.