Ryū no Ojyo {Akatsuki no Yona}

Chapter 1: The Dawn Awaits pt. 1 RE

A/N: Well it looks like the prologue was enough. Eh. Anyway, the RE stands for recreated, revised, reedited, whatever.

Anyway... Shall we begin?

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Chapter 1: The Dawn Awaits

A small girl sighed as she carefully sat down on the cold, stone bench in the tiny little cottage. She seemed to be around the age of five, with long, dark brown hair that reached her mid-thigh. Seemingly-black eyes peeked out from under a low fringe; the light of curiosity igniting the otherwise empty hues. A pale hand supported the child's chin as she huffed out a sigh. Her legs swung over the side of the low stone bench, and her eyes snapped shut in a quick blink.

"Hey, Ao..." The girl sighed as she quietly inclined her head slightly to the side, her eyes almost making their way to an older man with dark blue hair. "Why are we here? The villagers all hate us, even when we protect them! Can't we just leave this place and let them protect themselves?" 

The question came out in a quick, short breath. The second the last syllable left her mouth, the man's large hand covered it. She glanced up at the man that slightly glared at her, but she knew that he wouldn't dare hurt her. She was, after all, his darling daughter. The girl silently laughed as the thoughts left her mind. He wouldn't dare hurt her, but it was because of the respect he held for her after his wife passed away, wearing the sweetest smile as her fragile hand softly rested on the newborn's head.

"We won't leave until they tell us to," her father answered gruffly. "That's that, so stop thinking about leaving this village behind!" It was silent for a second, before the girl nodded as much as she could - what with a hand covering the lower half of her face.

The girl sighed and looked down, saying, "Yes, Ao... I'm sorry..." The man released his hand as she heard the sound of the flap in the door open, granting the man's passage out. She sighed again, proceeding to then stand up and go to the corner of the dark room. She carefully tiptoed her way over to a small bale of hay.

She started to speak her thoughts, saying, "Why am I even here? I mean, since Ao's only supposed to be taking care of Seiryuu, shouldn't I be able to do what I want? Not what he wants me to do?"

She laid her small body onto the scratchy hay and sighed again. "Then again... Ao is my father... But what does that have to do with anything?" Sighing yet again, the little girl closed her eyes. Minutes passed and she calmly listened to the wind blowing and the villagers walking, occasional snippets of hushed gossip about the hut she rested in.

She opened her eyes when she heard the angry stomps of her father and the timid steps of her little brother figure.

"I told you to not go outside! Why didn't you listen to me!" Ao said angrily. He dragged the little boy to the same bench below the closed window that she had been sitting at earlier.

The boy looked down with his gray mask and said, "I'm sorry, Ao. But... I want friends..." The girl sighed softly, thinking, 'And here I thought that we were friends... I guess I'm just not enough, huh?'

"So... Do you think you can make any friends? You can't! If you understand, you'll stay at home!" the man said. The little boy with the blue hair and the mask that went to his nose fell to the floor, and had a small frown on his visible little face. "I swear, you're nothing but a pest," Ao said gruffly.

In response, the little Seiryuu said, "Ao... You're the previous Blue Dragon, right? Why does everyone in the village run from us? Is my power...cursed?"

"Those who see the Blue Dragon's eyes turn to stone," Ao stated. At this, the little boy looked up in surprise. Again, the little girl closed her eyes and turned onto her side. She didn't want to hear this again. "It's a made-up rumor the villagers believe. You will not turn to stone. But the Blue Dragon's eyes will paralyze the nerves of those who see them. It can even paralyze their hearts. Either way, it's a creepy power."