Chapter 14; Secrets

“Oh my god, Kyungsoo, shut up!” Su Min screams, pulling at her hair in aggravation. Hours of aimless wandering has made the groups leader even more irritable than usual. And, of course, Kyungsoo never helps the situation. “Can we get rid of him, please?” she requests, looking to Xiumin and Tao for help. They both snicker slightly and shake their heads.

“You see,” Kyungsoo starts, “I’m a Divine Force, so you need me.”

Su Min grumbles and mumbles a curse under her breath before padding forwards. The crash of a river fills their ears, and they all rush forward, desperate for fresh water. Sure enough, a wide stream runs through the rugged mountain, and the water is clear and fresh. Fish swim through the water, their scales varying colors. All of them dazzling.

The group shoves the water down their throats, basking in the cool liquid and savoring every drop. Xiumin, who has a special connection to all things colds, practically jumps in with all of his robes on. Luckily, Tao stops him. The immature boys begin stripping right in front of Su Min, who, upon noticing, begins screaming. “I’m sure there’s not much to see, but I still don’t want to!” she screams, shaking her head as she squeezes her eyes shut.

The boys, obviously desperate to take a much need bath, usher her out of the way before bathing themselves. Su Min, meanwhile, searches for an alcove where she can wash in peace. Intruders are not welcome when she’s washing--that’s for sure. Nearly an hour later, she finishes bathing, and after re-dressing in her robes, she goes in search of the boys.

Somewhere down stream, Xiumin’s screaming at Tao about how he refuses to shower with the younger boy. Su Min, of course, avoids that trainwreck. Kyungsoo, however, has already finished and is sitting on a large boulder, running his hands along it. “Do rocks turn you on or something, Dirt Boy?”

“Oh, yes, everyday.”

The smallest bit of a smile finds it’s way onto her face as she nudges him with her elbow. Any normal person would be gentle, but Su Min isn't normal, so her “nudge” nearly makes Kyungsoo fall of the boulder. But he soon regains his balance and looks out over the tree line before turning his gaze to Su Min. “Your hair,” he mumbles, staring at the long, dark brown locks that fall down her shoulders. “It’s not up.”

Su Min blinks and runs her hand over the damp hair, surprising herself. She must’ve forgotten to put it back up. “Oh,” she notes, “I just didn’t put it up, I guess. I’ll do that now.”

“It looks nice,” Kyungsoo comments, blinking his wide eyes. Su Min appears to be stunned for a second, but as she regains her mentality, she pushes Kyungsoo off the boulder with a sudden shove before standing up.

“Don’t even think about it.”

- - -

“You know what,” Su Min says, “You’re not as tough as I thought.”

Tao looks up, his cheeks puffed out with food. “Eh?” he asks. “What do you mean by that?” he continues.

“You insisted upon bathing with Xiumin, and you’re a kid.”

“I’m only a year younger than you,” Tao retorts, chewing his food and swallowing it as his eyes narrow at Su Min. “And just because I’m scared of drowning does not make me not tough!” he retorts, his voice becoming whiny and high-pitched.

“Sure, whatever you say,”

Tao opens his mouth to retort, but it snaps shut and he simply sends a look of disdain her way. “Where are we going next?” Kyungsoo asks, eyebrow raised as he gives Su Min an unsure glance. She’s not very good with maps, or directions, so this whole mission consists purely of wandering around. She smirks however and lifts her hand above her head, stretching.

“Hell,”

Xiumin smiles. “So we’re going to your house?”

Su Min casts him a short look. “Funny, but I’m not laughing. Actually, I don’t know where we’re going. If you haven’t noticed I’m not God, so I don’t know everything. It’s quite humorous, isn’t it?” she says, giving each of the boys a pointed glance. “And if you all plan on coming along, shouldn’t you be helping me out? Where are we going?” she asks, looking to Tao.

“I just got here. And I’m a kid.”

T.Y.P.I.C.A.L.

- - -

“Does she have a soul?” Tao asks Kyungsoo, genuinely curious.

Kyungsoo shrugs and smiles. “We don’t know. I’m sure she’d kill any of us without a second thought if we weren’t so vital. Actually, she could kill you, since you’re not a Divine Force or anything.” he reasons, smiling as the tall boy’s eyes widen in fear. He came on this trip expecting adventure and escape, he never imagined that he would be greeted with death--let alone by one of his so-called “comrades”.

But, let’s be honest, Su Min is no one’s comrade.

Speaking of the devil, she leads the group forward, with Xiumin quietly walking by her side. The rather short boy listens to her ramblings, occasionally tuning out when she decides to bad mouth them. And she really has a bad mouth--someone taught her some very unlady-like words. “Hey,” Su Min suddenly speaks up. Xiumin glances upwards, surprised to find her looking directly at him. Su Min is rarely the one to spark up a pleasant conversation. “Tell me about your family.”

“Why?”

She simply shrugs. “I’m curious. I met your sister and your parents. Do you have any other family members?” she asks, large brown eyes blinking and giving her a surprisingly innocent look. Xiumin is unsure at first, because, if this girl ever goes insane, she could do things to his family that he’d rather not imagine. Not that he sees her going insane anytime soon--but it could happen.

“An older brother, I have an older brother,” he confesses. Su Min nods, a pit of jealousy growing in her stomach. She always did want a sibling. “My brother is, well, perfect--the pride and joy of my family. He left for military training awhile ago, sometimes he sends letters telling us about how good he’s doing. My parents are proud of him...I’m proud of him. But, really, when they found out that I had powers, that was the first time that they ever really cared about me.” he explains, looking pained.

“My brother always stole the show. He’s handsomer, stronger, smarter, everything he does is better than me. This is the first time that I’ve ever been better at something than him. It’s nice.” he says, a light smile on his face as he turns to Su Min. “What about you?”

Su Min’s breath catches in and she looks behind her, glad to see that Kyungsoo and Tao are occupied at the moment. “I’ve never told anyone this before. Can you keep a secret?” she asks, entrusting one of her deepest secrets with the puffy-cheeked boy. He’s sweet, really, and he seems like the kind of person that will go to the grave for a friend. He nods. “My parents died when I was a child. They died to protect me from bandits. I was found by the Master of my camp, and he adopted me, taking me in as his own. Honestly, I think of him as my father.” she confesses, looking deeply into Xiumin’s eyes as she talks.

“Were the bandits--those monsters--ever found?”

Su Min smiles crookedly, almost evilly. “They will be soon.”

Author's Note;

► I procrastinated...a lot. And I'm sorry ;A; Spring break is coming up soon, so I'll be able to write a lot. So, yeah. And ohmehgerd did Kyungsoo just do that...WHATISLIFEWHATISMYHEART. -ze feels-

Xiumin and Su Min have a nice little chat too. ANDALLTHEYBATHINGSCENES -winkwink- No, but really, I've taken to making ship names. KyungsooXSu Min = Kyungmin. XiuminXSu Min = MinMin. (we're not gonna attempt to do the 2Min, okay?) TaoXSu Min = Taomin? SuTao? What is this? Ze Pedo Couple? Who knows!

► Peyton

P.S. LET'S JUST TAKE A SECOND, GUISE, TO APPRECIATE EXO'S COMEBACK TEASERS. HERE YOU GO:

They would be amazing and ...but then we look at Luhan's hair and it's a total buzz kill. like what the who made that happen. Can I just ing murder them? Why would you do that. ;A; Why. Meanwhile, Suho is ING BLONDE. XIUMIN'S HAIR IS PINK.AND BAEKHYUN AND CHEN (my two top biases-lolsorrybaekhyunbutilikechenmore-) ARE ING GORGEOUS. UGH, EXCUSE MY FRENCH BUT I AM DIEING.

Peyton is out. Peyton is effing done with life.