A/N So- hey there XD not sure how any of you feel about Mia's death, no one brought it up so I'm guessing you're not that bothered? XD I mean at least it wasn't Tsu, right? hahaha *nervous laughter*
~Third person POV~
Tsukiko still sat clutching Mia's body, tears still falling down her pale, freckled cheeks. Jae-ha had finally stopped the tears that were trickling down his face, Mia wouldn't want them to cry.
"Come on, Little Lady. Smile for her." Jae-ha crouched down next to the trembling girl. Slowly she let go of the older girl, and turned to face the green haired man.
"Jae-ha....I'm sorry..." She whimpered out, covering her face with her hands. Jae-ha's face softened and a gentle smile spread onto his face.
"It was in no way your fault, Little Lady. She knew what she was doing. She saved someone she cared about. She may not have known you long, but she thought of you as her little sister." He pulled her into a hug, holding her tightly.
"We all think of you as our little sister. We'd do anything to protect you." Jae-ha pulled away from the hug, and cupped her cheek gently.
"Now we have a fight to finish. For Mia." He stood up, holding his hand out for her to take. She stared at his hand for a bit, her tears had dried up. Slowly she reached out and placed her hand in his.
"But...what about Mia..? We can't leave her here..." Her quiet voice spoke up.
"We'll put her on a life boat and let her drift out to sea." Jae-ha smiled, as he pulled her to her feet. She only smiled and nodded, watching as he lifted Mia into his arms, and then gently set her down into a boat. Pulling the rope, the boat dropped down into the sea and slowly began drifting away.
"Don't let her death cause you pain. Celebrate her life. Live for her. Smile for her. Laugh for her. Keep her in your heart, and it'll be like she's not even gone." Jae-ha smiled, as he walked back into the battle. Shin-ah had been holding them off for them.
"You came for us!" Yona shouted happily. Of course she wouldn't be too worked up over the death of Mia, she wasn't as close to her as Tsukiko had been, but a person was dead, you'd think she could be a little bit more sad.
"I thought the Thunder Beast would come." Yoon spoke, his tone of voice slightly dull. He as well, was not close to Mia, but she took care of Tsukiko, that alone gave them some kind of bond. The need and want to protect the tiny Princess.
Tsukiko stood beside Yoon, her hand clutched in his, a smile on her face, but anyone that knew her, could tell that it was fake.
"Hak is an important member of our fighting force. So I, who can jump, and Shin-ah who can see in the dark, came instead. Well, those two were the ones who wanted nothing more than to rush out. They wanted to come, but..." Jae-ha trailed off, knowing that they would get what he was talking about. The pair could not come, they were needed there.
~Tiny little time skip~
Tsukiko, Yona and Yoon, had moved during the battle, now they stood hiding behind a secluded part of the ship, occasionally they would peak around the corner to see how things were going. But they were careful not to be seen.
"They're having a hard time fighting the mercenaries from the next boat." Yona spoke up, her face set in a stern gaze.
"I wonder where Kum-ji is?" Yoon asked, the name making Tsukiko tense up, which didn't go unnoticed by Yoon, who still held the young girls hand.
"It's wrong to think he's nearby his cargo. If he's not on this boat...he'll be hiding on a boat...that has a lot of mercenaries protecting it.
~With Kumi-Ji~
"Lord Kum-Ji!!"
"Four mercenary groups have been annihilated."
"The majority of the pirates can't move either....But monstrous men have been sinking one ship after the next....The merchandise too..."
"...What?" Kum-Ji asked, anger lacing his voice.
"...The boat that has the merchandise has been taken, too." A member of Kum-Ji's crew answered timidly.
"Damn you, Gi-Gan!" Kum-Ji shouted, slamming his fist onto the table next to him.
"We don't know the full details...but we hear someone from within the shipment guided the pirates there..." The crew member spoke again.
"From within the shipment...?" Kumi-Ji trailed off, thinking back to the girl he had seen, with bright red hair.
"It also seems that the girl you took has managed to escape as well."
"She what?! How?!"
"She escaped sir. One of our men heard banging and when he opened the door, she evaded his attacks and managed to lock him in the room with a chair." The crew member answered.
"Damn it!" He slammed his fist down on the table next to him.
"It seems as though she was with the pirates." Kum-Ji did not reply, he scowled deeply.
"They're already closing in on this boat!"
"What are we going to do, Lord Kum-Ji?!"
"LORD KUM-JI!"
"Quiet, you incompetent fools. I won't let that old hag, her pirates, or a mere girl...destroy everything I built...after all these years." He smirked, a anger mark appearing on his forehead.
~With the gang~
Jae-ha and Shin-ah had moved onto another boat to fight off the officers, when suddenly Yoon was shouting.
"Jae-ha! Shin-ah! It's that boat! Kum-Ji is probably in the hold of that boat!" Yoon shouted pointing to a boat not far from the one himself and the two Princesses were on.
"Yona!" Yoon shouted at the girl, seeing that she was just standing there.
"Help us tie up the officers." Tsukiko spoke quietly as she herself, tied a rope around a small group of officers.
"...Yona/Yona-nee...?" The pair called out again when they did not receive a reply from the red haired female.
Meanwhile Jae-ha had landed on the boat that Yoon had pointed him to.
"Prepare yourself, Kum-Ji!!" He shouted as he kicked the cabin door down. Only Kum-Ji was not in the room, it was eerily empty. He had escaped on a boat with a single crew member.
"Well...It would be fun to tear them limb from limb, but I won't let it worry me. I'll return to my estate and re-organise my company." Kum-ji spoke to the officer that was paddling the boat.
"Y-Yes." The officer replied, turning to face Kum-Ji.
"Using a subordinate to escape...that's not pretty, is it?" Jae-ha spoke as he leapt off the railing of the boat and towards Kum-ji.
"Lord Kum-ji, he's coming! We can't run away from his feet!" Kum-ji's officer shouted in fear.
"The man rumored to be the soaring dragon? Bring it on." Kum-ji spoke as he stood, picking up his bow and an arrow.
"I tried shooting him down once." He aimed at the green haired man, pulling back the bow's string. Jae-ha in turn, took his hidden kunai and threw them at the two men on the small boat.
"Uaaaaggghh." The officer shouted as he was hit by two of the three kunai. At the same time, Kumi-ji shot his arrow, it landed it's mark in Jae-ha's right shoulder, and holding his new injury he plopped into the sea.
"JAE-HA!!" Yona and Tsukiko screamed, horrified that their new friend had just been downed by the horrible man.
"Ku ku ku...he even aimed for the boat-man. That's a splendid arm he has." Kum-ji spoke to himself as he pulled the Kunai from his right leg. Gasping for breath, Jae-ha's broke from under the water.
"But...If you've fallen into the ocean, you can't jump around anymore, can you?" He taunted, aiming his arrow at the green dragon again.
"It's a shame I couldn't keep your silver haired friend. She was a lot of fun, for such a small thing." Kum-ji smirked as Jae-ha's eyes widened in horror, his face twisting into a deep scowl. Suddenly Kum-ij snapped his head up, a chill running through his spine. Looking up he spotted Yona, her eyes blazing with a deadly fire, her arrow aimed, ready to fly towards it's target.
He reached out to her, concluding that she indeed, was the missing Princess, and as this thought came to mind, he was hit, square in the chest, and fell into the sea.
Everything was silent. The fighting stopped. They stared at the red haired Princess, eyes wide and surprised. Her companions watching her in awe. Tears came to Tsukiko's eyes as she admired her older sister.
"Captain! Captain Gi-gan! Kum-ji was shot and now he's in the sea..." A pirate shouted happily as he rain towards the Captain. Looking over at all of the captured Officers, Gi-gan let a small smile come to her face.
"The night...has dawned, hasn't it..."
A/N I shall leave it there. I'm planning on adding some scenes between the dragons and Tsukiko during the next chapter. So hopefully it'll make up for this one being shorter than the chapters usually are.
I hope you enjoyed. Don't forget to comment your thoughts! I love to hear from you all!
Thank you for reading!
Disclaimer: I do not own Akatsuki no Yona, Kusunagi Mizuho does.