Baekhyun’s POV:

                I tied the yellow sash around my waist and fixed the armor around my shoulders before picking up my jade mask. I looked over my shoulder seeing Junhong’s sleeping form on the bed. I sighed in content and walked over to him. I patted his hair lightly and pulled the bed covers up higher to his chin. He stirred slightly, holding onto his matoki bunny more tightly in his arms. He mumbled something incoherently before falling back into a comfortable position. I smiled and kissed his forehead before leaving the room.

                As I entered the living room there was a mop of frilly orange hair that appeared above the couch and some heavy snoring that came from it. I walked over and raised a brow. This idiot…

                “Chanyeol.” I smacked his head.

                “W-wha…?” He snorted and instantly woke up. Once his eyes had adjusted and saw me he groaned, “Aw, Baek…wae?”

                “We have another mission, remember?”

                “Aigoo…” His body fell back onto the couch and he sprawled his limbs out lazily, “I don’t want to.” He whined.

                “Let’s go.” I left him in the living room and continued my way down to the main house hallway. After locking the door, Chanyeol ran to catch up to me.

                Once he was by my side he groaned and rubbed his face with his hands, “Damn… Why does Grandpa Suho always make us take the morning missions? Jeez, it’s like freakin four in the morning!”

                I ignored him and pushed my hair back. I then placed on my mask seeing Chanyeol was doing the same. He was rubbing his eyes again and faced me.

                “So, um, anyway…how are you with, you know…Junhong’s punishment?” He kind of mumbled.

                I kept my composure and continued looking ahead of me. I thought back to what had happened yesterday evening with Princess Sulli and Junhong.

Flashback:

                “I’m here to deliver Junhong’s punishment of course.”

                She looked back up and locked her eyes with mine. I tilted my head downward and nodded. She continued to play with Junhong’s hair while she stared me down with her unmoving eyes. My eyes flickered briefly to Junhong, who was still looking at the floor. I guess he didn’t want to look me in the eyes yet. I looked back to Princess Sulli, who still hasn’t said anything to me. The silence was starting to irritate me a little. Just tell me already! I just hope it isn’t going to be what I think it’ll be…

                Finally she spoke with that monotonous voice of hers, “Junhong is required to go through another full examination as his punishment.”

                I widened my eyes and clenched my fist in anger, “What, another examination? They told me he didn’t need to do anymore examinations because he didn’t give good results.” I scoffed loudly, completely losing my composure, “It won’t make any difference doing another one on him!” I then began to babble away in anger, “No, Junhong, he can’t. Last time he was so sick. No, I just...I CAN’T ACCEPT THIS!”

                Princess Sulli narrowed her eyes, “Are you defying the Kage-dono’s orders then?”

                I clenched my fists harder, “I-I…I…” Damn it! I hung my head and gritted my teeth, “No.”  If the order was given from the Kage-dono then I have no choice, but to obey. Defying them will only make it harder for Junhong-ah.

                She nodded her head in approval, “Good.” She then motioned a hand to her maid. The maid scurried over to her and quickly bowed before giving her a rolled up parchment. Princess Sulli handed the parchment to Junhong, “Your examination date is written in there along with the crime that you had committed. Make sure to bring this to the lab on that date. Once your examination is done one of the elders will sign you off and you will take this and report it to Onew-ssi. Ara?”

                “Ne.” He said quietly still looking at the ground.

                Princess Sulli looked up to both Chayeol and I, “I will be taking my leave now.” She then nodded to her maid, “Amber.”

                The maid quickly bowed to the both of us and opened the door to let Princess Sulli through. Chanyeol and I bowed to the princess as she made her way to the door. Before walking out she turned her head towards me, but not completely.

                “Baekhyun-ssi, I don’t necessarily agree with Junhong-ssi’s punishment as much as you do, but you should never forget your place. Do you understand?”

                I felt stupid since just awhile ago I was lecturing Chanyeol about Kimiko and knowing our place in the hierarchy and here I was acting like an angry fool in front of the princess, “I understand.”

                Chanyeol and I both stood up after she had finally left.

                “Baekhyun…?” Chanyeol said quietly.

                I was too troubled over Junhong’s punishment to give Chanyeol a reply. Another examination? Junhong’s body is already too frail. He can’t handle another examination. Examinations are basically experiments that are conducted on Exotics. The elders say that the data they collect is used to try to enhance our spiritual abilities as well as other research that may become beneficial to us in the future, but these kinds of examinations aren’t like simple checkups at doctor visits. I’ve never witness what goes on during these examinations, but I’ve heard that the subjects usually end up in immense pain. Sometimes their bodies give way and they die.

                The experiments are usually done on the servants, but there are exceptions to those that are considered special like Junhong. His spiritual demon is kind of an anomaly that is hard to understand. He is my younger brother, but he has a different father than I. His father wasn’t from the Inu Clan. He was actually from the Neko Clan. Obviously my mother is from the Inu Clan. When they had Junhong, he ended up being born with a neko spiritual demon. Like Kyungsoo, not many members of the clan are fond of Junhong since he’s also kind of an oddball. The elders have been trying to conduct experiments on him to see why he was born with a Neko demon instead of an Inu one. They know that it’s partly due to genetics, but in all of Exotic history, never once did a child live being born under parents of two different demonic clans. They always died. Junhong is the only child who has ever survived.

                He probably would have been killed off already if it weren’t for my family name. I still worry a lot for him though. Every time he goes to another one of those examinations I can’t help but feel like that may be the last time I’ll ever be able to see my younger brother again. He may be different, but he’s still my little brother.

                I felt a small tug on my pants. I looked down and tried my best to smile.

                “Hyung, mianhae…”

                I crouched down and looked him in the eyes, “It’s alright, Junhong-ah. I’m not angry at you.”

                He quietly nodded his head and looked to the floor again. I could tell he felt terrible. He was probably scared knowing that he has to go through another examination. I held his face so that he could look at me and I tried smiling again. I’m never one to smile often, but for Junhong, my dear younger brother, I’ll do it.

                 I pulled him into a hug and ruffled his hair, “Don’t worry, Junhong-ah. Everything will be okay. Hyung promises you.”

Flashback End

                “Baekhyun-ah?” Chanyeol nudged my arm making me come back to reality.

                I sighed tiredly, “I’ll be okay, Chanyeol-ah.”

                “O-okay.”

                We finally got to the meeting room and walked in. Suho was in the front of the room speaking to Onew-hyung. Sehun was sitting in one of the chairs, his head hanging backwards off the edge with some drool coming out from his mouth. I sighed. This lazy maknae… This is definitely from Chanyeol’s bad influence.

                I walked over and smacked his head, “Sehun.”

                “W-wha…?” He gurgled back some of his saliva as he sat up. I grimaced a little. He blinked his eyes and when he saw me he groaned, “Aw, hyung…wae?”

                I shook my head. He’s definitely been spending way too much time with Chanyeol.

                “Pay attention.” I smacked his head again.

                “Ara, ara. Sheesh, you don’t have to hit me all the time.” He grumbled while fixing his hair and wiping the left over drool.

                Chanyeol walks over to Sehun and pokes him on the cheek, purposely speaking with a lisp, “You missed a spot, Sehunnie.”

                Sehun whacks Chanyeol’s hand away angrily, “YAH, HYUNG!”

                “Would you two stop it?” Suho says while dropping a manila folder on the table in front of him, glaring mainly at Chanyeol. Chanyeol mocks him quietly, but Suho ignores him.

                Onew-hyung chuckles at Chanyeol before stepping forward. He slides another manila folder towards me across the table top. I stop it and pick it up.

                “Your mission might be a bit difficult this time.” He begins saying.

                I opened the folder and read the contents over briefly before raising a brow, “Are you serious?”

                Onew nods his head, “Yup.”

                I close the folder, “So the thing that attacked Chanyeol and I when we left to capture Kyungsoo that day really was an Exotic?”

                Chanyeol’s head perked up, “Chincha? It was an Exotic?” He yanks the manila folder out from my hands and opens it up, “But, I didn’t sense any kamui when it came.”

                Suho looks over to Onew, “What does this mean?”

                Onew cleared his throat, “Well, we’re still not sure exactly, but we can assume that whoever it was has to be an Exotic because of the residue we found on both Baekhyun’s and Chanyeol’s uniforms. The residue contained four different traces of kamui, two obviously from Baekhyun and Chanyeol. The third one was identified as Kyungsoo’s and the other was identified as an unknown.  The unknown source was really strange though. All I can say is that it doesn’t look natural.”

                “What do you mean?” Suho asks.

                “It just looks strange like it was fabricated together by different kinds of materials.”

                Sehun raises his hand, “So are you saying that this could be a genetically engineered Exotic?”

                The room became quiet afterwards; all of us contemplating whether or not it could be possible.

Suho looked over to Onew with a worried expression, “Do you think the Neko Clan is capable of doing this?”

                “It’s possible. We aren’t the only clan that conducts experiments. That’s why for your mission you have to go back to Sakura Park to find any more traces and track down that Exotic. It’s a dangerous threat to us right now. If the Neko Clan really is behind this then we need to find out as soon as we can.”

                “Ne.” Suho quickly motioned for us to leave.

                Sehun and Suho put on their masks and we all left the meeting room. Once we left the main house gates Chanyeol rubbed his hands together and smirked.

                “I have a feeling things are going to be interesting today.” He said.

---

Taemin’s POV:

                “AND DON’T COME BACK WITHOUT MY PERMISSION!”

                I stumbled out the front door before hearing it slam behind me. When I regained my balance, I turned around and pouted. That little punk…this is how you treat your favorite cousin?

                I kicked the door and stuck my tongue out not caring if the little punk could see it or not, “Fine, be that way!”

                Kai is such a meanie. He didn’t have to forcibly kick me out of his house. Jeez, it was only dumplings and they were leftovers! But those dumplings were hella good though… Aish, whatever! It’s time I head over to the main house anyway.

                I started humming mindlessly to a random song that popped into my head as I walked down the street. I then came to a cross section and glanced at the people around me. I wonder where Kyungsoo ran off to after he left. I shook my head. Where is this sudden feeling of worry for Kyungsoo coming from? I continued walking finally nearing the main house gates and sighed. Key-umma is gonna end up yelling at me for being late again huh?

                I shrugged and entered the main house grounds, looking around cautiously for any signs of Key. I finally got to the main hallway and smirked to myself. So far so good, I haven’t bumped into Key-umma yet. I walked a little more confidently now as I headed my way over to my squads meeting room. My eyes then darted to the left and I started smiling like a fool.

                Sulli was in the flower garden speaking to Kimiko. I continued to stare at her having a warm feeling envelope my body as I did. She always looks so dazzling and beautiful. She was wearing her blue hanbok today. The one embroidered in gold ts and darker blue flower designs. A familiar white sash was wrapped around her waist. The material was made from silk and there were similar flower designs imprinted into the fabric. I felt my heart racing a bit. I remembered giving her that sash for one of her birthdays. Suddenly out of nowhere I felt someone tug harshly on my right ear.

                “LEE TAEMIN!”

                “Yah, yah, yah…ah, that hurts. THAT HURTS!”

                “Damn right it hurts you pabo!”  Another harsh tug, “You’re late!”

                “Aish…!” I start to whine, “Key-umma…”

                He ignores my pleading and drags me down the hallway by the ear. I glance back over to where Sulli is and to my horror she was looking directly at me. I face palm myself. Aigoo, so embarrassing… I force out an awkward smile and wave timidly in her direction. She quickly hid a part of her face behind her sleeve. Yup, she was definitely laughing at me. Ugh, wae, Key-umma? Why did you have to show up? I look so uncool right now…  

                Suddenly another arm wraps around my neck followed by a laugh I recognized immediately as Jonghyun-hyung, “Yah, Taeminnie? Are you still flirting around with Princess Sulli?”

                Key stops pulling on my ear for a split second as he turns around to face me, “BWOH? Yah, Taemin-ah, is this true? How many times do I have to tell you, hah? You can’t be going around flirting with the Princess.”

                Jonghyun smirks at me while he jabs my cheek with a finger, “Unless you want Minho-ah to beat you up to a pulp.” He continues to jab my cheek.

                “ARGH, HYUNG STOP!” I pull away from Jonghyun’s grip and somehow managed to get Key’s fingers to release my ear.  I gave out a loud huff then fixed myself a bit before looking back to both of my hyungs, “Just because Minho is engaged to her doesn’t mean that I’m gonna stop trying to show her that I have feelings for her.”

                Key smacks the back of my head, “Tsk, you pabo! Their marriage is arranged under royal law. There’s no way you can be with her. Why are you so persistent you stubborn child?”

                I rub the back of my head, “Wae? There’s no harm being in love with someone.”

                “No harm?” Jonghyun-hyung starts to bawl out in laughter, “Taeminnie, you fell in love with the wrong person. Minho is definitely going to beat the crap out of you.”

                I pout, “Sulli doesn’t even like Minho.”

                Key whacks my head again, “It’s ‘Princess Sulli’ to you, Taemin-ah, not just Sulli!”

                Jonghyun pokes my head after patting Key’s shoulders, “But Taeminnie, you can’t forget, even if Princess Sulli doesn’t like him, Minho still likes her.”

                “What about me?”

                We all turn our heads to the voice. Minho was standing next to Onew-hyung with his usual expressionless face. I roll my eyes and give him my usual glare. He narrows his eyes back in response and we both stay like that for awhile, just glaring at each other. Onew-hyung gives a nervous chuckle, “Ah, ha, ha…well, uh, Taemin-ah, why are you late, huh? You were supposed to be at the meeting an hour ago.”

                I pursed my lips not wanting to stop glaring at the frog eyed man that stood in front of me, “I was visiting someone.”

                Key-umma crossed his arms across his chest, “Visting whom?”

                Minho sighs in annoyance, “It doesn’t matter who the pipsqueak was visiting or what he was doing. Let’s proceed with the meeting. We have a serious matter to discuss.”

                He pushed his shoulder against mine and I scoffed. That frog-eyed bastard…

                To be honest, I have nothing against Minho-hyung. I respect him, to a degree, but he’s just so…so…argh! I don’t even know. I would never say it out loud, but I’m just jealous of him.

                I watch his back as he walks down the hallway to our meeting room. I glance back to Sulli’s figure in the flower garden. She was still talking to Kimiko, now holding a bundle of fresh daisies.

                I give out a sigh. I’m jealous because he’s engaged to the only girl I’ve ever loved. The only one I think I’ll ever love.

---

-A/N:

Aww, poor Taeminnie TT^TT Author-ssi is cruel to you…

Well, hey guys it’s been a really long time. Sorry for neglecting updates, I had to move houses at the last minute and I didn’t have any internet connection for a really long time. I finally have it now, but it’s so slow. It makes me sad. T^T

I hope you guys haven’t forgotten what has happened so far in this fic. Lol. I have so many things going on in this story that I’m going crazy trying to keep it together to make things as clear as possible so it makes sense.

It’ll also be awhile before any Kaisoo interaction. *Sighs* you can go ahead and throw rocks, gulls, buffalos, etc. for making you guys wait for your Kaisoo, but  I have to set things in motion in order for the story to continue. (I also want to apologize to you, my lovely reader Jeeezee, for saying that I was going to put the reason why Kyungsoo kissed Kai in chapter five in this chapter. It was originally planned to be put in this chapter, but it would have been dragged out too long so the reason why they kissed will be in the next chapter. Please forgive me.)

I’m also really happy that I’ve finally introduced all of SHINee (and finally Sehun in EXO-K lol) ^^ I hope you like their personalities. Yea, Minho and Taemin don’t get along… >.>

I’m predicting at least three more chapters or so before EXO-M is introduced. So be patient for their appearance. =)

There’s a lot of important information in this chapter that’ll pertain to the next so I hope this chapter wasn’t confusing. If it was you can always ask me to clarify. ^^

Alright, I wrote too much. -___-

Thank you for subscribing and for those who are still reading! I’m always thankful to you guys! <333 There are also some of you who subscribed to my other Kaisoo fic ‘Red Yarn’. I’ll be updating that a bit later today as well, so expect it. =)

Enjoy your day! ^^

<3 dububrit-on

P.S. I changed the font and things around since I felt like it. I also took out the character profile thingy I had on chapter one. It's not like anyone reads those things so I thought it would have been better without it. Lol.