WARRiOR (Akatsuki no Yona Fanfic)

1. Tea Boy

Unable to deny the harsh words, Sang chuckled dryly, casting his gaze to the corner of his vision. He tapped restlessly on the edge of the tray, not meeting any eyes.

"Reminds me of a certain someone," Guen swiped a glance at Zeno, who made a whine in response, starting somewhere with 'I told you, I'm not a fighting type--'

"As usual, this tea stinks," Shuten snorted, sipping his tea gratefully but spitting crude words.

"You just don't understand how to appreciate good tea, wild animal," Abi snarled.

"Oh, that's it, you and I are taking this outside!" Shuten tossed down his cup of half-finished tea, leaping up and raging with his glaive in hand--

"And there they go again," Zeno threw his hands up in defeat. "Are you sure you should be here instead of joining the rest of Shuten's faction in training drills?"

At that, Sang curled his lips in almost guiltily.

"How is it that you're always here with us," Guen dropped a rough forearm on top of 'tea boy', lolling his head around like a toy, "and King Hiryuu apparently doesn't mind?"

King Hiryuu smiled, "it's fine, isn't it? Sang hurt his wrist the other day, so he needs a break."

The boy in question only managed an awkward smile, raising his left hand from the tea pot. Under the sleeve of his plain green clothing, his hand, from the edge of his knuckles to the middle of his forearm, was wrapped in bandages, smelling faintly of medicine.

"Tea boy!" abruptly Shuten and Abi yelled, "cake!"

Actually jumping in fright, Sang almost dropped the tea tray he held on the ledge, then reached clumsily for the other tray he'd put aside, uncovering a dish of tea cakes the chef had baked in the morning.

Hesitantly he held it toward the two raging dragon warriors who swoomped it right out of the plate so quickly they'd barely even tasted it.

...were they having an eating battle now?

"Are you sure you should be carrying trays and stuff with that wrist?" Zeno asked, concerned, "the palace dishes and ornaments are all pretty heavy."

At the concern, Sang managed a smile, and shook his head, bowing in thanks for the consideration. He shook his injured wrist around a few times, twisting it around to assure the dragon warrior that it was fine.

"Hah?!" Shuten shot around with a rather annoyed groan, spear forgotten and cake choked out, "haven't you heard the protocol for injuries? Get healed or get out! If you're in my faction, ya should've'd that drilled into ya on day one, moron!"

Sang squirmed under the reprimand, Shuten's face coming uncomfortably close to him as he all but talked him to the ground.

"He's right," Abi added in (although the tea boy was literally a kicked puppy at this point,) "Shuten's faction are a bunch of musclebrains, but they get the work done. If you fail to keep up, you will end up nothing less than a burden on the field."

Finishing the last bit of his tea, Abi demanded seconds on his cake.

"You two never agree on anything other than the king, but tea boy's the exception, eh?" Guen teased, earning a few snappy retorts from the two.

"Don't bully him, he's not a fighting type too," Zeno stood protectively over the boy, puffing up his cheeks in protest, "and Tea boy gave us cake! Where's your thank you?"