The Varied Path (Akatsuki no Yona Fanfiction)

Chapter 81: Battle Scars

It had been a couple days since she told them of the incident. Since then, they all begrudgingly agreed to stay out of it, so long as she respected their conditions.

Which she did. For the most part.

Shin-ah had caught her trying to sneak off on more than one occasion but she never made it more than two feet. He had taken to trapping her in his arms to prevent her from going on off alone, no longer caring if the others saw them.

Tucking hair behind her ear sheepishly, Calista tilted her head up to see her brother, an amused Jae-ha and a very disappointed Kija staring down at her.

"I'm sorry, really..." She beamed up at them, trying to divert their attention with a blinding smile but none of them were buying it.

Hak scoffed, leaning against a tree. "You don't sound too sorry, Bat-Ears."

She held up her hands apologetically, but the smirk suggested the exact opposite. Kija started to lecture her, not realizing that she had tuned him out.

Calista shifted in Shin-ah's lap, trying to get more comfortable. Curling herself into him further, he brought up a hand to gently brush her hair out of her face. She blinked up at him sleepily, the simple action somehow calming her to the point of tipping off into unconsciousness.

Her eyes shot open at the sound of two identical snickers, glaring at a way too smug Hak and Jae-ha. Kija had wandered off to where Zeno was inviting him to sit when he finally realized she wasn't paying attention to a word he was saying. The sun patch where the yellow dragon was at seemed much more appealing.

The green dragon's sly smirk didn't die down. "Well, aren't you two precious."

"I prefer her like this, when she isn't throwing knives at me." The ex-general added on, scanning their surroundings casually. "I don't think I've ever seen her so calm before, when it looks like she might fall to the ground at any second."

When Shin-ah wouldn't let her up to start a fight with them, Calista hissed, "Would you two like to keep breathing? Because if you would, I suggest you stop."

The two troublemakers ignored her, and continued to tease them.

Jae-ha's expression only held amusement. "Calista dear, that's not very nice."

"I'm not a very nice person." She retorted flatly.

Shin-ah nudged her, arms tightening around her in protest. "I think... you are..."

Each word got quieter, coated in timidness and she internally cooed at how cute he was being. But the second the others started laughing loudly, she sent a knife spiraling towards them.

Jae-ha leaped up, clearly it easily and Hak just sidestepped the blade. It embedded itself in the trunk of the tree he had been resting against, but was a millimeter away from where his shoulder had been a second ago. He grinned as he saw that, well aware of the fact that she wasn't actually going to hurt either of them.

"Go away." Calista seethed. "You're making Shin-ah uncomfortable."

Jae-ha waggled his eyebrow at her suggestively, gesturing to where she was sitting on him. "I don't think we're the ones making him uncomfortable, Calista dear."

She nearly threw another knife at him for that comment when Shin-ah poked her side questioningly. Her cheeks reddened at the implication that wasn't understood by the blue dragon and then flushed further in aggravation when they chortled loudly.

"Recently, the number of violent officials has gone down." Yoon gazed off into the distance, breaking them out of their petty spat just before she could escape Shin-ah's hold. "I wonder if it's because of the second son's leadership."