Those of Us Alone

Chapter 13: I'm as Clueless as You are in This Situation

Midori's POV

I stared at whom I assumed to be my captor. He stared back. It had been like this for the last few minutes.

Mustering up my curiosity, I asked, "Who are you?"

Soft laughter filled the room, "Didn't you already figure that out? I'm Hakuryuu."

"Well, yes, but," I said slightly embarrassed, "that's not your name, right?" I looked down at my lap to see a fresh, blue kimono.

"Wouldn't have asking my name been less time consuming?"

I twitched before spitting, "Well are you going to tell me or not?!"

Laughter once again echoed throughout the room. The sound—as well as the joking atmosphere—helped calm my nerves. That was apparently the reaction he was going for as he gave me a smile before saying, "Thank goodness. You seem to be livelier now."

"Eh?" My eyes widened as I realized how comfortable I was sitting here joking around with him.

"I am Kija. I have the white dragon's power within my right hand." Now that I looked, his right hand was bandaged and seemed to be a white color.

We made eye contact again and I introduced myself, "I'm Midori." I blinked before continuing, "I guess I have the, uh, blue dragon's power?" I got a nod in response to my intro. Deciding it was safe, for the moment anyway, I asked, "Where am I?"

Kija-san's bright blue eyes filled with delight with this subject change, "You're here in Hakuryuu Village!" He spoke on and on about his village, and as much as I wanted to, I couldn't retain a single thing he said. Well, until he said, "Would you like a tour?"

"Eh? Ah–Sure?"

~~~~~

The village was rather lively, but I passed that off as a normal thing because Fuuga was always really noisy. Kija-san escorted me around the village telling me all about those he succeeded and how the village came to be.

I thought I had heard yelling in the distance—something about 'Why do you get a guided tour while I'm stuck in a cage' or something like that–but seeing as how we weren't near the voice, I passed it up as part of the ruckus.

"It's weird to see the village so lively," Kija-san commented glancing around at the slightly hyped-up villagers.

I glanced over to him, my eyes filled with surprise, "Really? I thought that would be normal."

"HAKURYUU-SAMA! HAKURYUU-SAMA HAS DISAPPEARED!" My eyes widened as the older sounding voice screamed for the man who stood beside me.

"Who?" I asked looking toward my guide.

He was shaken up and looked scared, "Oh, that's my–uh–grandmother."

I blinked, "It may be a good idea to go check-in with her so she'll stop worrying."

"Y–yeah," Kija muttered, "if you need anything, you can ask anyone in the village, they'd be more than willing to help another dragon."

I flinched at my new occupation, "O-of course." With that he dashed away towards the voice of his grandmother, and I headed for the giant tree near the middle of the village.

~~~~~

Much to my delight, when I got to the tree, I met up with the rest of my group: Yoon, Yona, and Hak.

"Hello. . ." I said, catching the attention of those three. The were surprised—I guess they thought I was being held captive, or something.

The most surprised was Yoon, "Where were you?!" My eyes widened, "I woke up tied up in a cage without you!"

I gave a sheepish laugh, "Uh. . . Well. . ."

"Well?" Yoon prodded.

"I may–or may not–have wokenupinabedwithmywoundstreatedandthengivenatourofthevillagebytheguywecameheretorecruit. Ha ha," I said quickly, hoping not to anger him.

"Can you repeat that?" Yoon said annoyed. As I took a deep breath, prepared to say it the exact same way, Yoon cut me off, "Slower."

"Boo~" I said pouting. A glare from Yoon caused me to sigh, then repeat what I said at a reasonable speed, "I said: I may or may not have woken up in a bed with my wounds treated and then given a tour of the village by the guy we came here to recruit."

The three of them blinked three times simultaneously. Then, the reality of the situation sunk in, "Eh?!?!"

"How on watery did that work out?!" Ah, Yoon was mad. I knew it.

I through my hands up in surrender, "Hey! Hey! I'm as clueless as you are in this situation!"

"Well he had to have told you something!" Yoon was fuming and had smoke coming out of his ears.

"Look. All I know is apparently I'm like half-descendant of the blue dragon, or whatever, and he realized that and treated me nicely," I said emphasizing what little I knew.

.

.

.

"What?" Asked Hak, incredulously. He was the first to break the silence that followed my explanation.

Yona, on the other hand, looked ecstatic, "Really?! You really are?!"

I blinked looking up, finally getting the time to think about the title that was thrust upon me, "I guess. . . Ik-su said that I was a descendant of one of the dragons, but didn't specify to which."

"You said you were half-descendant earlier," Hak pointed out. He looked a little concerned with my new title.

"Ik-us said I had a brother who basically splits the power with me–or something like that," I said softly. I heard footsteps and began to feel a familiar, bright presence: Kija-san.

I walked over beside Hak and held onto his sleeve. He seemed surprised, and fore good reason too–I guess. I hadn't done that since we were little.

"Midori. . ." He whispered.

I clutched his sleeve tighter before whispering back, "I'm afraid." He stiffened with surprise. "How will I control my power? It's awoken, but there's always a catch, right? I don't want to hurt anybody."

He pulled his arm away causing me to let go of his shirt, but then caught my hand in a reassuring squeeze. He whispered back to me, "We'll figure it out. I'll help you train with your new power."

"You can be nice when you want to be, Hak," I joked, hoping to somehow brighten up.

"Being mean is the way we communicate best, Midori. We're siblings, that's what we do."
___________________________

Whelp. . . What do you think?

New perspective on the Hakuryuu village, huh? I did that with my other AnY FanFiction as well.

. . . I should really update that story soon. . .

But I want to get to the Awa Arc. . .

Dilemmas, dilemmas.

If you haven't read that story yet, I recommend it. It's like my longest story, and something to read while you're waiting for an update on this one.

Thanks soooooooooo much for reading! Please keep it up!
~Ashley