"Noooooonaaaa! Noona, noona, noona!"

 

Kahi was jolted from her sleep to the shouts that belonged a oddly alert Sungjong. For a moment, his voice sounded happy, excited, like he'd made a discovery and was in awe of what he could do with it, but, as she became more and more aware, should could pick out the worry. It took her all of thirty seconds to scramble out of bed, throw on jeans and a sweatshirt, and bolt down the apartment hall where she found the young blonde and three others from their crew -- Jaeseop, Dongwoon, and Kwangmin -- gathered around the television. 

 

She took a deep breath -- relieved that no one was in any immediate danger -- and watched as Dongwoon turned to her for a moment before the TV stole his attention once again. Upon closer inspection, Kahi could see what they were so focused on. She walked over in front of the couch and motioned for one of them to move, taking Dongwoon's seat when he moved and turning back to the screen.

 

There was fire and smoke, black smoke, and a lot of it; she wouldn't have been surprised at all if she could see it from her bedroom window. After watching for a moment, Kahi realized not only that it was an oil reserve, but that the damage to the metal exterior was too severe to have been caused by a normal explosion. Her first thought was that someone from the Northern Guard had finally had enough and decided to strike them, but she knew their leader well enough to know that something like this had consequences even the devil would think cruel. This, in fact, was the doing of one of her own. 

 

"Did Hoya and Victoria come in last night?" Kahi's thoughts leaned more towards Hoya, because his physical abilities were far beyond that of the girl. 

 

Kwangmin, their quiet and reserved maknae, was the one to reply. "Yeah. Vic is helping Jaejoong with breakfast and Hoya is sleeping."

 

Kahi inhaled again and stood up, hands on her hips as she thought for a moment; the other four watched her carefully After checking off the list of names in her head, she came to the conclusion that Seungho, her second in command, was out on guard duty, which meant she was alone in serving up punishments. 

 

"I suggest... that you four go join Vic and Jae in the kitchen."

 

Without Seungho there as her voice of reason, Kahi tended to become a bit of a loose cannon with very little self control. Anyone who had undergone her punishments in Seungho's absence knew very well what it was like. Even watching, she'd been told, was scary. But she did what needed to be done and used as much force as she deemed necessary. 

 

Once the four boys had made their way into the kitchen, Kahi her heel and made a beeline down the hall to the room where Hoya slept. She yanked him out of bed and quite literally threw him out in the hall, yelling at him to get his into the living room before she did it for him. Her anger was all the motivation Hoya needed to scramble back to his feet and down the hall before plopping down on the couch to wait for an explaination -- or not. 

 

"Would you like to explain to me what this is?" Kahi snapped as she motioned at the television and the videos and images that continued to flash across the screen. 

 

Hoya glanced to the screen for a brief moment before turning back to the elder, giving her a derisive grin. "Well, Miss Park, that would be an oil reserve that is in flames. You see, when-"

 

"This is no time for sarcastic games, Hoya." Kahi ground out as her intense gaze bore down on the younger boy. "You tell me what the happened or I'll have Kwangmin transport you to the middle of the arctic without clothing. Then we'll see if you want to talk after you freeze your balls off."

 

Hoya was deadpanned as the older girl threatened him, trying to show that he didn't fear her when, really, he knew she wouldn't hesitate to keep her word. "I had no choice."

 

"Like hell you didn't!" Kahi snapped, her outburst causing the younger boy to flinch; that small reaction told her that she was getting to him. "There's always a choice, Hoya, and you have to think about which one is best for everyone. Not just the Guards, but the entire district, the entire country." 

 

"I didn't have time to think about all that. The bastard I was fighting was going to-"

 

"Stop making excuses, Lee Howon!" The young boy froze at the sound of his full name, the name his parents had given him. No one ever called him by that, except for Kahi, but only when she was exceptionally pissed off at him. "There is no excuse for this. I've trained you to make snap decisions, to have to think about /every/ possible consequence within a split second." And now she had to make a choice; it wasn't one she liked making, but it's what she did when incidents like these occurred. "Lee Howon, you are suspended from missions and guard duty for the next week." 

 

"What?! That's not fair. You ca-"

 

"Two weeks!" Kahi upped the suspension without hesitation; no one yelled back and questioned her judgement without consequences.

 

Hoya kept on. "C'mon, Jiyoung! What-"

 

"Three! Would you like to go for four, Mr. Lee?" Kahi was half tempted to give him the four weeks anyway, just for using her real name against her. Only specific, special people were allowed to call her 'Jiyoung', and Hoya was not one of those people.

 

Hoya fell silent, dark eyes glaring up at the older woman with something that was akin to, but not quite hatred. Kahi could see it, and she knew he'd be trouble for the next few days, but she would handle whatever was to come when it came -- and hand out more punishments if need be. 

 

"There are boundaries, Hoya, and you need to learn them before I let you out in the field again."

 

The younger boy scoffed and pushed himself off the couch. "I'm going to go sleep." His voice was monotone as he sauntered off down the hall. Kahi badly wanted to send a storm after him, give him a little shock or black cloud over his head, but she refrained, thinking of the mess, plus the angry calls they would recieve from neighbors about all the noise. 

 

Kahi sat for a moment, rubbing her temples, and just as she was about to go join the others, Seungho came in through the front door. He looked wind blown and short of breath, two traits that had Kahi beginning to go into panic mode. She stood up, but didn't move towards the younger boy as she waited for news, instructions, something, anything. 

 

"The North's leader-" , why couldn't he remember his name? "-said he'd liked to speak with you."

 

Kahi looked at Seungho for a moment. "Oh." Just... oh. "You could have called to tell me that." Instead of leaving the streets unguarded. 

 

"Cell phone battery died."

 

"Pay phone?"

 

"No money."

 

Kahi huffed and rolled her eyes before a playful grin spread across her face. "Remind me, again, why you're my second in command." 

 

"Because I'm the only one who puts up with your crap without whining about it first." Seungho said without hesitation. Those words coming from anyone else in the Southern Guard would have earned them an kicking from the leader herself, but Seungho was one of those special people who could get away with almost anything. 

 

"Right." Kahi replied with a chuckle. "I guess I should go then. Send AJ and Sungjong out on guard duty when breakfast is finished. And don't let Hoya leave the apartment, unless he goes to train with the others." 

 

Seungho asked no questions as he nodded in understanding and watched as their leader shuffled back to her room. After a short moment, the sounds of chaos came from the kitchen, and Seungho debated between slipping out to avoid it or acting like the responsible person he was. Responsibility won over and he took a deep breath before heading into the other room to deal with whatever mess the other members of the South Guard had created.