“Whoa!” Yesung yelled, flailing out in a blind attempt to knock the ball away, managing by chance to catch it with the palm of his hand, diverting the projectile from her face as she shrieked and ran away while Henry and Eunhyuk followed after.

                “Luna!  Are you okay?” Henry asked in a rush.

                “Sorry, sorry, sorry!” Eunhyuk flailed, running close and flailing awkwardly since it was his fault the ball had gone awry.

                “Yes!  I totally ninjaed that ball!  Take that!  Hiyah!” Yesung congratulated himself, doing some strange martial arts poses before he belatedly blinked after the trio and hurried over to see what was going on.

                “I’m okay!” Luna gasped hurriedly, waving her hands in front of her as she tried to allay their concern, heart racing fast in her chest.  “Good job, Yesung,” she laughed breathily, placing her hand over her heart and then resting her fingers on her cheeks with a wide eyed expression.

                “Aish,” Henry chuckled, rubbing her back soothingly as he smiled at her, glad she was unharmed.  “You have the worst luck some days,” he shook his head, looking at her with a raised brow.

                “You’re telling me,” she nodded in agreement, smiling with a slightly goofy expression.

                “I’m glad you okay,” Eunhyuk grinned, waving at her with both hands, looking at Henry for confirmation.

                “Me too,” she assured him, giving him a tentative high five.  “I think I’m going to call it for now,” she waved at the trio, pointing back towards the sleeping hall doorways.

                “Sounds good, Luna,” Yesung grinned with a nod, watching her start to depart before they heard the sound of Joon, Siwon and Jonghyun all heading out from the men’s locker room with damp hair and bare-chested, their soiled shirts slung over their shoulders as they conversed.  In her sports bra, Amber jogged out and caught up to them hurriedly, scolding them for trying to ditch her.

                “Maybe I’ll just go this way,” she pointed instead, doing an immediate one eighty and heading for the cargo hold entrance… quickly.

                “Bahaha!” Yesung laughed, leaning on the slightly distracted Henry’s shoulder in his amusement and hiding his face in the crook of his arm.

                “She’s hopeless,” Henry smiled as he tore his attention from the group as well, patting Eunhyuk’s arm reassuringly when he just looked confused.  “It’s nothing you need to worry about, Hyukkie,” he promised.

                “Ah…” he murmured, clearly not understanding but just as fine with that.  As long as she was okay, then so was he.

                After the morning’s entertainment and close call, Luna wanted nothing more than to make it through the day with nothing else happening.  To that end, she avoided heading to visit the other MCs because Kris would probably be there and tried to keep to herself.  She knew as well as anybody else though, how likely that was to be full proof…

                While Kris seemed content to leave her alone for the rest of the day, Jonghyun shadowed her, trying to make small talk and keeping her entertained as he knew best.  Henry was nearby for the most part too, and she noticed Donghae pop in briefly a few times, but Yesung was suspiciously absent, which automatically prompted her curiosity.

                “Hey Luna!” Siwon called, waving the young woman over to the pool table in the entertainment room.  “I need a partner and Jong’s terrible at this game.”

                “Hey!” Jonghyun grumbled, folding his arms over his chest and moving close to watch as Luna accepted the pool stick uncertainly.

                She wasn’t particularly good either but neither was she one to do all the trick shots Jonghyun liked to try.  “I’ll see what I can do,” she smiled, settling into their comfortable camaraderie with ease.

                “Henry!  You’ll play with me, right?” Jonghyun called at the young man currently playing on one of the arcade games.

                “Yah!  Wait a second!” he called in denial when Jonghyun practically dragged him away mid-game, both of them laughing at the treatment.  “Come on, Jong.  Try this one first and then I’ll join you, neh?” Henry asked with a nod at the fighting game the computer had just finished him on.

                The afternoon wore on and the groups cycled out, eventually migrating to the dining hall and then splitting up at last with Jonghyun looking decidedly smug and the others more relaxed.  Luna wandered back to the sleeping hall next to Henry, a thoughtful expression on her face.  “Have you seen Yesung since this morning?” she asked, looking at her taller companion curiously.

                Henry thought about it for a moment before he shrugged and shook his head.  “Can’t say that I have.  Why?”

                “I don’t know.  It’s just odd is all.  I haven’t seen Kris either…” she trailed off, more confused about that.  Lately, if Jonghyun was in the area, the dragon would have been and vice versa.  His sudden lack of appearance was startling if nothing else.  “You don’t think they’re upset do you?”

                “Upset?  What?” Henry laughed, giving her a quizzical expression.  “Why in the world would either of them be upset, Luna?” he asked, patting her back reassuringly.

                She shrugged mutely and quirked to the side.  “No clue.”

                “I’m sure they’ll show up before too long.  We know where they sleep after all,” he chuckled as they entered the sleeping halls.  Donghae was curled up on his bed, bent over a sketchpad with a focused expression on his face as he put the pen to paper, but there was no sign of Yesung when they entered.  Granted, it was still relatively early, since both had caught an early dinner.

                “You talking about Yesung?” Donghae mused without looking away, mouth thinned in concentration as he sketched.

                “Neh,” Henry answered with a speculative glance at his sibling.

                “Last I saw, he was in the cargo area with the other MCs actually,” he shrugged, a tentative smile playing on his lips.

                “Okay then,” Luna breathed, hopping onto her bed with her usual enthusiasm, reaching to the dresser beside her desk and retrieving the Mythical Creatures Compendium she’d been poring over again lately.

                Henry glanced at it and laughed, “How many times have you read that thing now?”

                “Five?” she answered, peering over the top and flipping the page with a sheepish smile.

                “Hopeless.”

                “Curious,” she retorted quickly.

                “Whatever you say,” he snorted, dragging out his laptop and hunkering over it, settling in for a short round of gaming versus the computer.  Online gameplay with anybody was not an option since they couldn’t connect to any servers outside of the base but he’d gotten pretty good at playing the AI if nothing else.

                Both Henry and Luna failed to immediately notice when Yesung returned later in the evening with a huge grin on his face.  He saw the focused Henry staring at the computer screen, intently planning, while Luna’s eyes drooped heavily as she turned the page, the book leaning precariously on her chest.  Donghae cracked an eye from his bed, mostly finished sketch held close against his chest, and then rolled over.

                “Hello!” Yesung called, bouncing to his bed and hopping up, looking like a kid in a candy store.

                The book abruptly fell forward and Luna flailed to catch it while Henry sat upright, startled.  “Hi,” the former responded, closing the book and setting it aside as she sat up, rubbing at her tired eyes to smile at Yesung.  “We missed you today.”

                “Yeah, well…” he shrugged, unable to wipe the grin off his face.

                “Why are you so happy?” Henry laughed, saving his progress and closing the laptop down.

                “Because I got to ride the dragon today!” he flailed, bouncing on the bed.

                “Eh?” Henry asked while Luna gasped and gave him an incredulous stare.

                “I don’t know how Kris tolerated him to be honest,” Donghae murmured from his bed, amusement clearly evident in his tone.  “Crawling all over his back and wings like a little kid,” he chuckled.

                “Hey!  I wanted to tell them that,” Yesung pouted.  “But yes!  He was practically rolling over when he let me scratch his wing ridges too,” he grinned smugly, nodding at Luna in an exaggerated fashion.  “I can see why you like to do that,” he winked.

                Luna flushed at the comment and glared at him indignantly.  “I like to because I know he can’t reach and it feels good.  Like an itch you can’t scratch.  Well,” she grumbled, still flushing.  Even in dragon form, he really did get a ridiculously relieved expression, large golden eyes rolling back and lower lids sliding up in pleasure.

                She’d initially discovered his weak spot after she’d convinced him to let Yixing heal him a couple weeks ago.  Even after it was healed, the injury site was still itchy and she’d watched him having the hardest time trying to reach it, the angle awkward, before simply taking over.  He was fortunate they’d only been in the cargo hold area, subject to the amusement of the other MCs because he had pretty much melted at the sensation, flushing profusely when she stopped and he was able to regain his composure.

                “Uh huh,” Yesung murmured knowingly, expression still smug.

                “Oh shut up,” she muttered, grabbing her pillow and hiding her face behind it.

                “So aside from using Kris as a jungle gym, did you get anything else accomplished?” Henry asked, crossing his legs on the bed.

                “Maybe,” he answered slyly, looking around the room rather than the occupants.

                “You’re not going to tell us are you?” Henry grumbled, throwing his hands up and falling back on the bed when Yesung just looked at him smugly and shook his head.

                “I can’t believe I was actually worried about you,” Luna rolled her eyes over the top of the pillow before she frowned and smacked it back down on the bed.  Hesitantly, she looked over at Yesung and quietly asked, “But he was alright this afternoon, right?”

                Yesung tilted his head to the side, expression quizzical.  “Who?”

                Luna pouted and blinked at him.  “Kris.”

                “Oooohhhh,” Yesung grinned, leaning closer in her direction.  “Is someone missing her dragon?” he teased.

                “N-no!” Luna retorted immediately, the flush on her face a dead giveaway.  “I was just worried about him too,” she nodded firmly, arms crossed over her chest.  “Guys…” she pouted again as Henry and Yesung exchanged glances and couldn’t help but laugh.  “Ugh!  You’re both terrible.  I’m going to bed,” she mumbled, crawling under the covers and pulling them over her head.

                “Luna,” Henry chuckled, hopping off his own and approaching hers, patting her shoulder on top of the covers.  “We’re just teasing,” he reminded her gently.  “Sleep well,” he urged with a warm smile before retreating to his bed again.

                “Sweet dreams, Luna,” Yesung teased in a light singsong voice.

                “Give it a rest already, Yesung,” Donghae mumbled from his bed, turning over just enough to peer at the elder male with one partially open eye.

                “Well good night to you too, Hae,” he gestured dismissively before finally settling in for the evening, a smile still tugging at his lips.

            Frustratingly enough, for the following two days, Luna didn’t see much of Kris and even when she did, it was brief with him lingering long enough to acknowledge her presence and then disappear again.  One day was bad enough really; two was bloody maddening.  Jonghyun, on the other hand, had no such reservations and while he seemed abundantly happy to be able to monopolize her time without the dragon around, she couldn’t help but think about Kris.

           Of course she was flattered by Jonghyun’s attention and really did enjoy his company, even if he did like to make her blush more than she was accustomed to, but it was odd too.  After the progress she had made with the dragon in getting him to open up and come out more, if felt strange for him not to be around.  Worse still, every time she looked at Yesung, he had this smug smile on his face and she couldn’t help but feel he was taunting her for his own progress with the dragon.

            “Hey Luna?” Jonghyun caught her attention at the lunch tables again, leaning close so that he could see her face better, their arms nearly touching when there was still plenty of room around the table.

            “Huh?” she blinked and drew her thoughts back to the meal at hand.  “Neh?”

            “I said there was a movie playing this afternoon and was wondering if you’d like to come?” he asked, frowning at the rest of his team when they heckled him good-naturedly.

            “I’d say yes if I were you,” Joon winked, adding in a conspiratorial tone, “It’s about the only time you’ll ever see him going to a chick flick.”

            “Ugh…” Amber rolled her eyes and shook her head.  “Really Jong?”  She looked at the table and hit her head with her fist as she tried to remember the movie’s name.  “Wasn’t it something like The Holiday or whatnot?”

            “Ease up guys,” Siwon chuckled, eyeing the shorter male in amusement.  “If he wants to embrace his inner wo-”

            “Siwon…” Jonghyun warned, scowling at all three of them before turning his attention back to Luna.  “So.  You interested?” he asked hopefully, charming smile and happy expression nearly impossible to say no to.

            “Eh… sure,” she smiled somewhat reluctantly.  She’d actually been intending to go see if she could corner Kris but apparently that was going to have to wait.  Irritatingly enough, he seemed to always be on his way out or off somewhere whenever she was heading his way or in the area.  She expected such actions from Yesung occasionally but it bothered her when coming from Kris.

            “Have fun you two,” Yesung grinned, getting up before the rest of them as he started to head for the door first.

            “Where are you going?” Luna asked, watching him intently.

            “To visit the MCs.  There was something I forgot to ask Kris,” he winked, letting his eyes linger on Luna’s for a few seconds more.  She quirked to the side and sighed as he walked off jauntily, whistling under his breath; or rather trying to at any rate.

            Jonghyun turned his attention back to Luna and placed a hand against her back, leaning close again.  “You know, it’s really good of him the way he’s sort of befriended the dragon.  It’s good for him,” he nodded assuredly.

            “Um, right,” Luna hastily nodded, not entirely sure she felt the same way he did.  She’d been the one to get him this far…  Mostly anyway.

            “Well.  We should get going then.  I think the movie’s supposed to start soon,” Jonghyun urged, slipping free and offering his hand to assist her.  Blushing at the attention, she accepted and waved after the group in parting, unsuccessfully trying to pull her hand back as he guided them out of the hall.

            “Have fun, Luna!” Henry grinned with a wave, reaching over to retrieve their trays to her chagrin.

            “Enjoy the movie, Jong,” Amber called while Joon and Siwon melodramatically pretended to be the main leads of a sappy romance, holding their hands and staring into each others eyes as they slowly moved closer.

            “I will,” he told them gruffly, resulting in their unanimous laughter that nearly had them on the floor when they overbalanced and flailed comically to right themselves.

            In the movie room, Jonghyun remained close and attentive, lightly holding the hand he’d initially captured.  Eventually, he worked his arm around her shoulders and kept leaning close to murmur some sort of comment or other in her ear.

            Luna didn’t mind the holding hands so much; it was comfortable and a friendly enough gesture.  She could even justify the arm around the shoulder, since it really did feel very nice, even if it wasn’t what she’d intended or asked for.  The talking though…  In point of fact, she hadn’t actually seen the movie yet and it was damnably hard to focus when he kept commenting on the characters.

            For the most part, she ignored his commentary, unless asked a direct question, and tried not to give him much to go on, hoping he’d figure it out.  When he didn’t, she leaned closer, “Jong.”

            “Yes?” he asked immediately, telling her very quickly just how much attention he’d been paying to the movie.

            “Have you seen this before?” she asked with a raised brow.

            “Of course not.  Why?” he responded.

            “Because neither have I and I’m having a hard time following the story,” she explained, trying not to be too… rude, but also wanting to get her point across.

            “Oh.”  He looked at the screen and then back at her, noticing she was back to being focused on the movie again.  “Sorry,” he murmured after a moment, pulling her just that much closer against him and finally falling silent.

            After the movie, the duo emerged with Luna beaming like a love-sick fool and Jonghyun following along at a more sedate pace.  “Did you like it?” he asked when they made the hallway after he held the door open for her.

            “Neh!” she nodded, bouncing happily.  “It was so good!  The ending!  The romance!  Everything!” she squealed, twirling in place.

            “I’m glad,” Jonghyun nodded, taking a hesitant step closer.  “Hey Luna,” he started to say, smiling when she couldn’t seem to hold still.

            “Yeah?” she asked, pausing and then freezing when she saw the intent expression on his face.  Uh oh…  “Oh!  What time is it?” she asked, frantically looking for some sort of clock or watch.  “I completely forgot there was something I needed to do before it got too late!” she gasped, looking up and down the hallway.

            “Eh?” he tilted his head to the side, confused.

            “Thanks for the movie, Jong.  I’ll talk to you later!” she waved, hurrying off and leaving him in the hallway as she fled for the safety of the sleeping hall.  “Ayah…” she murmured, flopping onto the bed and noticing the obvious absence of Yesung, Henry and Donghae.  It wasn’t really that late but where were they?

            Curiously, she got up and poked her head into the hallway, making sure the way was clear.  Holding her breath, she hurried out and turned right, making a beeline for the observation deck instead where Jiyong was on duty.  “Hey Ji!” she grinned, waving cheerfully as she moved up to him.

            The redhead swiveled in his seat and gave her a bright smile in turn.  “Hey there Luna.  To what do I owe this pleasure?” he flirted shamelessly, giving her a quick wink.

            “Oh stop it,” she giggled, waving at him with one hand.  “I need your help,” she admitted quickly.

            “Oh ho!  A mystery?” he asked, leaning forward.

            “Not quite,” she shook her head.  “More like hide and seek really.  Where are the guys at?” she asked, figuring he’d know who she meant anyway.

            “Let’s see,” he mused, flipping through cameras.  “Donghae’s with Victoria in the labs; Henry’s… with Amber in the shooting range,” he chuckled appreciatively.  “Good for him.”  Luna nudged his shoulder and he grinned.  “And Yesung is in the dining hall.  With Yixing,” he tilted his head to the side.  “He’s certainly keeping strange company lately…”

            “Where’s Kris at?” she asked, leaning closer.

            “In the cargo hold,” Jiyong answered automatically.  “Where else would he be?” he asked as the screen showed the dragon resting in his natural form, shiny gold and red hide gleaming in the interior lights.

            “And Jong?”  Jiyong snorted at the question but found him in the sleeping halls for the military personnel.  “Thanks Ji!” she gave him a quick and excited hug.  “Gotta go,” Luna waved, hustling for the door that opened to the labs first and then to the cargo hold.  This was probably her best chance in two days to figure out what the hell was wrong with her dragon and she wasn’t going to just let it slide by.

(a/n: So apparently this is going to be a fourshot.  >.>  They just keep getting longer!  lol  But hopefully I'll have the final installment up before too long.  Thank you for reading and please look forward to the next update!  Fingers crossed I get it done before Friday.  Stupid month end work schedule.  -_-)