~Chapter 7 – By Your Side~

            It took them an entire night and a majority of the day traveling (of course with breaks and food stops along the way) before the entire group was finally able to reach the third town. It was clear to say that they were all exhausted but at the very least Sehun was satisfied with the distance that they were able to cover, with this much ground covered it would take a while before Kyubok would be able to track them down again if he was to continue his pursuit.

            The six of them had just checked themselves into another inn for the night, everyone looked tired but the four ninjas had all been through worse so they could handle this.

            "We traveled for so long it's already night outside," noted Kyungsoo as he peered out the window of their tiny living room. They were in luck this time and managed to check into a larger room that had two bedrooms attached to it.

            "Yeah, so what's the plan now aside from rest and sleep before we head off again?" asked Luhan as he peered over Sehun's shoulder while the younger sat at the small table in the corner.

            Sehun looked over at Luhan and nudged the older away from him slightly, "You're blocking my light."

            Luhan pouted at Sehun but moved over regardless, choosing to sit on the floor by Sehun's chair, "What are you looking at anyways?"

            "Just the map, we only have about five more towns and we'll reach Healer's Fields Kingdom. Let's hope we won't run into any more problems until then," answered Sehun as he began rolling up the scroll and stuffing it back into his pouch.

            Yoona, who was laying on the sofa beside Sooyoung, climbed off and came towards Luhan who opened up his arms for the little five year old immediately. Without hesitation Yoona walked into Luhan's embrace and settled herself on Luhan's lap.

            "Big brother Sehun, can we go get something to eat? I want to eat noodles," asked Yoona curiously as she felt Luhan play with her hair.

            Sehun looked towards the little girl who stared back with big brown eyes, "Yeah, we can get noodles to eat but let's not risk eating outside anymore, two of us can go to get food and bring it back to the room."

            "Where's big brother Kai?" asked Sooyoung suddenly as she sat up and looked around the room.

            Everyone stopped with what they were doing and looked around.

            "Sooyoung's right, where is the goof?" asked Luhan as he stood up with Yoona in his arms.

            Kyungsoo had a blank expression as he walked away from his spot near the window and went to peer over the back of the sofa. Kyungsoo clicked his tongue as he took in the sight of Kai sprawled out on the floor, mouth hanging wide open as the other slept on, "I knew it, Kai's passed out behind the sofa. Leave him there."

            Sehun sighed as he stood up, "Of course he is, okay Luhan and I will go buy the noodles then. Kyungsoo you take care of these three and we'll be back soon."

            "Okay," replied Kyungsoo as he opened the door for Sehun and Luhan.

            With Sehun and Luhan gone, Kyungsoo turned back towards the princesses, "Let's get cleaned up a bit before they come back with the food. Sooyoung and Yoona, you both can go take a bath first and then afterwards… do you two want to help me wake Kai up?"

            "Okay!" chimed in Yoona immediately, liking the idea of helping out.

            Sooyoung nodded although she wasn't sure what Kyungsoo had in mind.

            "Great, let's wake him up after we clean up then," grinned Kyungsoo as he peered over at the still passed out Kai. This will be interesting…

            After the three of them finished with their needs in the bathroom, they sat around Kai's passed out body with contemplating expressions.

            "How should we wake Kai up?" wondered Kyungsoo aloud.

            "Maybe we should shake him awake?" suggested Sooyoung.

            "Hmmm, we could but I think there's a much more entertaining way," replied Kyungsoo mischievously as he stood up and grabbed the little pail of ice they had on the table that was provided by the inn, "Want to see how high Kai can jump?"

            Sooyoung's eyes widened as she realized what Kyungsoo had in mind, "You mean you're going to-"

            Yoona stifled her laughter, "Let's wake big brother Kai up!"

            "Gladly," replied Kyungsoo as he took a small handful of ice, "Ready? Three… Two… One."

            Kyungsoo shoved the handful of ice in his hands down Kai's shirt. The reaction was almost instant as Kai's eyes shot open and he jumped up from the floor, hopping around the room as he squealed, "OH MY GAWD! COLD! WHAT THE HELL!"

            Kyungsoo, Sooyoung, and Yoona bursted into laughter at bunny hopping Kai as the other tried dislodging the chunks of ice from his shirt. As Kai finally shook the last of the ice out of his shirt, he collapsed on to his knees while looking at the other three who were rolling around and chuckling.

            "Unfair! I was asleep!" whined Kai, "Sneak attacks shouldn't be allowed!"

            Sooyoung and Yoona laughed louder while Kyungsoo smirked, "Just be grateful I didn't slap you through six walls like I wanted to before."

            Kai frowned and tilted his head in confusion, "You wanted to slap me through six walls? What did I do this time to gain an extra wall?"

            "Lots of things Kai, lots of things," answered Kyungsoo.

            Kai nodded his head slowly as he took in Kyungsoo's words, "I see… At least I know it'll be a slap of affection since you obviously cared enough to react to my weirdness!"

            Kyungsoo's eye twitched as his cheeks lit up a light pink, Sooyoung and Yoona had to stifle their laughter as they watched Kyungsoo's reaction with intent.

            Kyungsoo pulled the ice pail closer to him as he gritted his teeth, "Do you even know what you're saying half the time!?"

            Kai gulped as he realized he hit Kyungsoo's embarrassed meter to the max. Oops.

            Kyungsoo picked up one of the ice cubes and tossed it at Kai, hitting the other in the chest.

            "Oof! That hurts!" whined Kai but stopped when he saw Kyungsoo reach back into pick up another ice cube, "Wait, no! Don't throw more!"

            Kyungsoo completely ignored Kai's plead and was going to grab another ice cube but his fingers only touched water, looking into the bucket Kyungsoo saw that the water was left over from the melted ice. Kyungsoo frowned, "You got lucky the ice melted."

            Kai cheered out loud but the sharp look from Kyungsoo turned that cheer into a sheepish grin.

            "Big brother Kyungsoo we need ice for the water though, the water's all warm from our traveling," reminded Sooyoung.

            "Oh, right. I'll go get it then, the machine is just down the hall anyways," replied Kyungsoo as he stood up.

            "Can I come too?" asked Sooyoung, she didn't really care for getting the ice but she did like looking at the vending machine that was beside the ice machine.

            "Sure," replied Kyungsoo as he made his way to the door with Sooyoung. But before he opened the door to leave, Kyungsoo turned towards Kai who was now on the sofa with Yoona beside him, "Sehun and Luhan should be back soon, clean yourself up and fill the cups by the table with water and Sooyoung and I will be back with the ice in a few minutes."

            "Got it! As long as I won't get pelted by anymore ice cubes," negotiated Kai.

            Kyungsoo gave Kai a blank look, "Hn, we'll see. Just do it."

            With that said Kyungsoo and Sooyoung left the room, leaving a pouting Kai and Yoona behind.

            "Okay, let's fulfill Kyungsoo's orders," said Kai as he stood up from the sofa.

            "Okay!" added Yoon as she got off the sofa, "I can fill the water cups!"

            "Uhhh, are you sure you can handle that?" asked Kai unsurely.

            Yoona nodded her head vigorously, "Yeah! I'm a big girl, I can do it!"

            Kai smiled and patted Yoona's head, "Alright then, I'll leave it up to you! I think we put the water bottle in Sehun's bag, it's by the table."

            "Oh okay," replied Yoona as she and Kai walked up to the table.

            Kai pulled the six cups closer to the edge of the table so Yoona would have better access to it, "Here you can fill up each cup halfway since we'll add ice to it later okay?"

            Yoona nodded and grinned, "I got it!"

            Kai ruffled Yoona's head, "You're the sweetest baby ever! I'll go clean up okay? I'll be out soon but if you need anything knock on the bathroom door okay?"

            "Okay," nodded Yoona.

            "Great," Kai made his way to the bathroom as Yoona pulled Sehun's bag out and opened it.

            Reaching in, Yoona pulled out the water bottle that they had bought on the road, "Uh-oh, there's only a little bit left…"

            Yoona pursed her lips as she thought about what to do, looking back into Sehun's bag Yoona took notice of another bottle wrapped up in brown paper laying there, "Oh, there's another water bottle in here too. Yay, there'll be enough water for everyone to drink. I'll just pour the rest of this into Sooyoung's and my cup and I'll open the new one for the big brothers."

            With careful hands, Yoona poured the water in the first bottle into both her sister's and her cup, emptying out the first bottle Yoona threw it away in the trash and then went to grab the second bottle. "This is a weird cap," said Yoona as she pulled the cork off of the bottle, "Oh, it smells sweet… Is this juice? Big brothers can drink the juice then since they've been working really hard! Sooyoung and I will have water."

            Yoona proceeded to pour the liquid evenly into the last four cups, being sure to separate the two cups of water from the two cups she thought were filled with juice. Yoona put the cork back on the bottle as tightly as she could and placed it back into Sehun's bag, she smiled happily at her accomplishment, "All done!"

            Just as Yoona took a step back from the table, Kyungsoo and Sooyoung came back into the room with Sehun and Luhan right behind them.

            "We're back," said Luhan as he held up the bag of food before placing it on the table near the cups as Sehun began taking the food out of the bag.

            "Yay noodles!" cheered Yoona as Sooyoung came up to her with the pail of ice.

            "Where's Kai?" questioned Kyungsoo as he looked around.

            "He went to the bathroom to clean up," answered Yoona as she helped Sooyoung fill the cups with ice.

            "Oh, okay then," replied Kyungsoo as he moved Kai's portion of food to the side.

            Sooyoung placed the ice pail on the center of the table as Sehun handed her a box of noodles, "Thank you."

            "You're welcome," replied Sehun as he turned back to throw the bag away.

            "Did you set up the water Yoona?" asked Luhan as he picked one of the cups up.

            Yoona smiled brightly, "Yeah! Big brother Kai let me pour the water!"

            Luhan returned