WARRiOR (Akatsuki no Yona Fanfic)

8. Warm Wind

"HUH?!"

Tae-woo very damn near turned the house upside down when he heard about it. He tripped over a raised plank and emptied a basket of dirty laundry on top of Han-dae.

"Yep," Ayame folded her arms as she promptly repeated, "she-- he, is definitely a boy."

Tae-woo and Han-dae looked utterly confused, so she repeated.

"The girl we picked up is a boy," she clarified, counting off her fingers as she listed other definitions of the word, "a guy, a male, a man, a dude, a not-female..."

Tae-woo flushed, "how on earth did you find out?! Did you see?!"

Han-dae covered his eyes without his fingers, "did he have it?!"

They freaked out, running circles around each other. Ayame blushed bright red, sputtering as she justified herself. Seriously, these boys always teased her!

"You absolute perverted cretins!" she swore at them, embarrassed, "of course I didn't! I wanted to help her-- him, change, then she, I mean he told me himself!"

Everything stopped.

"He told you?" Tae-woo's confusion calmed him down. He put a hand under his chin as he contemplated, "so, she-- he can speak after all?"

"Is she-he just shy?" Han-dae asked.

"Ah, no," Ayame told them, shaking her hand, "he didn't talk to me. He signed it."

Another moment.

"You know sign language?!" Tae-woo and Han-dae responded in disbelief.

"Geez, you two!"

-

It was decided that Tae-yeon, in all his adorable glory, would be the one to ease the newcomer out of their shell.

"Hey, pretty big brother, how old are you?" Tae-yeon pestered as the boy got changed into decent clothing, classic wind tribe male civilian clothes.

Noo-ri found the child endearing. Raising five fingers, one on his left hand and four on his right hand, he showed them to the child.

"One, four," Tae-yeon read them out, then brightened up when he understood, "fourteen? That's like Tae-woo and Han-dae!"

Noo-ri couldn't help the smile that bloomed onto his face.

Crouching down, still half dressed, he gestured toward Tae-yeon. Tae-yeon blinked back curiously-- then understood.

"Tae-yeon is four years old!" he declared proudly, raising four fingers.

Noo-ri patted him on the head for a job well done, then stood up to continue tucking in his inner wear.

The most simplistic wind tribe clothing-- a long sleeved inner shirt, a pair of trousers, and a coloured vest for those with a ranking. They were stiff, not the most luxurious, but were warm and easy to move in.

"Hey pretty mister big brother," Tae-yeon spotted something intriguing, "why are you covering your eye?"