It was the soft sound of low murmuring nearby that pushed itself into Jaejoong’s awareness and brought him to a slow, hesitant consciousness.  Lying on the relatively hard surface, he groaned quietly and waved at whoever the speakers were to quiet down, wondering why they were crowded in his room anyway.  His head ached horribly and he wanted nothing more than to banish the strange dream that was plaguing him.

                “He’s coming around,” a familiar voice urged quickly as shuffling sounds erupted all around Jaejoong.

                “Jaejoong?”  That had to Junsu’s voice; it was too soft and sweet to be anybody else.

                “Jae,” another speaker urged, probably Yunho, which explained the hand on his shoulder shaking him gently.

                “What?” Jaejoong mumbled, rolling onto his side and scrunching his face in pain when the headache continued to bother him.  Why did his head hurt?  He hadn’t had that much to drink… wait.  Wasn’t there something else that had happened recently?

                “Are you alright?” Yunho asked, keeping his hand on his shoulder.  Someone else touched his leg and it was an eerie sensation when he wasn’t expecting it, though it grounded him further to the moment.

                Jaejoong cracked one eye open warily, coming face to face with… Yoochun who was leaning over him, brow furrowed in obvious concern.  “When did you get here?” he asked in confusion, wincing at the pain in his head before he began pulling together bits and pieces of what had to be reality, unless this was part of his dream too.

                “Eh?” Yoochun blinked in surprise, glancing over Jaejoong’s shoulder to someone else.

                Still confused and determined to wake himself up, Jaejoong pinched the back of his hand.  “Ow…” he mumbled frowning at his skin as the white mark faded away.

                “Maybe they hit him harder than we thought,” Changmin suggested quietly, the hand on his leg shifting.

                So that’s who was touching him.  Then the sentence actually sank in and Jaejoong tensed up, “Who hit what?!”  The image of something hard and wooden flying at his face made him jerk upright with a startled cry, nearly knocking his head into Yoochun’s who flailed backwards reactively.  “!” Jaejoong groaned when the sudden shift sent a wave of blood to his head, exacerbating the already present pain and making him woozy.

                “Easy, Jae,” Yunho’s calm voice urged with hands coming to rest against Jaejoong’s arm and lower back.

                “Are you alright?” Junsu asked, his soft voice low and worried, accompanied by a hand on his shin.

                “He got hit in the head with a big stick,” Changmin answered for him before Jaejoong could.  “Of course he’s not alright.”

                The remark would have gotten a laugh out of the blonde, if he didn’t already know it would hurt like hell, and then Junsu retorted, “I was just asking!”

                “Calm down, Su,” Yoochun soothed, the even tone contrasting sharply with that of the younger members.

                “Cut it, Minnie,” Yunho whispered harshly, fingers pressing against Jaejoong’s back just a hair firmer.

                Jaejoong stifled the irritated mutterings on the tip of his tongue and straightened up carefully, sliding his hands down his face.  No.  He was so not alright.  With the sole exception of having found the guys, or them having found him, or however it had turned out, everything else was completely ed.  With blurry eyes – well that – he blinked around the rest of the group and tried to make sense of the current situation.  “I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say this isn’t just a really… really bad dream,” he sighed, letting his gaze linger pitifully on Junsu’s worried expression.

                The shorter male managed a wan smile of encouragement, bright despite the query.  “Yeah, no,” Changmin grumbled, shifting in place uneasily, the sound grating on Jaejoong’s ears as he managed a glance over his shoulder to peer at the youngest of their group.

                “So…” Jaejoong started to trail off, swinging his head to the other side so that he could locate Yunho before the question was picked up automatically.

                “What happened?” the leader filled in for him.  Jaejoong nodded… carefully.  “Well, we’ve been talking it over and-“

                “How long have you guys been here for?” the blonde interrupted, looking around in confusion.

                Junsu shrugged helplessly and none of the others could give him a definite answer either way.  “Since sometime after sunrise?” Yoochun offered as a vague estimation with a glance at the light shining through the cracks of whatever house thing they were in.

                “God dammit!” Jaejoong growled, past the point of irritation.  He quickly held his hand up to forestall any conversation as he spoke, “So in short, we were captured by half- people,” he didn’t miss Junsu blush spectacularly, “after being stranded on a deserted island because our boat sank from a freak storm and we were rescued by dolphins?”

                Yunho coughed into his hand and hummed quietly in response.

                “Does that sound about right?” Jaejoong prodded, giving Yunho a sidelong look at the younger male floundered for a response.

                “That about sums it up,” Yoochun nodded in agreement, reaching over to keep Changmin from commenting again.

                “God I need a drink,” Jaejoong huffed, slumping where he saw as his companions gave him a reassuring pat.  “And a cigarette.  And another drink.”

                “You and me both,” Changmin finally interjected, slapping the blonde on the back firmly, hard enough to sting but just shy of pain.

                Jaejoong reached back his left hand, pointing his index finger back at the maknae without looking at him as he grumbled, “We are not soul brothers right now.”  Mutely, he rubbed the fingers of his other hand against his temple, hoping to soothe the pain in his skull.

                There was a very brief pause before he heard Junsu his breath in sharply, giving him the barest of warnings.

                Whack!

                “!” Jaejoong yelled sharply, jumping to his feet as his back tingled unpleasantly, the ghost outline of a handprint still pulsing where Changmin had slapped him.  “Minnie!” he spat, rounding on the younger male with his shoulders tensed up ridiculously.

                “Shim Changmin!” Yunho chided, glaring at the taller male before he looked at Jaejoong worriedly while Yoochun and Junsu just stared at the proceedings with wide eyes.

                “What the hell was that for?!” the blonde barked, flailing with both hands to either side of him.

                “I bet your head doesn’t hurt anymore,” Changmin responded with the hint of a smirk, even if it was a teensy bit worried.

                For just a second, Jaejoong paused to evaluate the comment, and quickly dismissed it.  “Seriously?” he mumbled with a deadpan expression.  When Changmin actually had the audacity to grin at him, he threw himself at the maknae with a muted cry.  Not only did he still have a headache, but now his back hurt and it was all Minnie’s fault.

                “Yah!” Changmin yelped, realizing his danger as he scrambled to his feet with the rest of the group immediately behind.  “Help!” he shrieked, pulling Yunho in front of him as Jaejoong angrily reached around the impromptu barrier to swipe at his original target.

                “Wait!” Yoochun and Junsu cried at the same time, grabbing Jaejoong around the waist as they tried to pull him back in the restricted space.

                “Let…”

                “Just calm down, Jae,” Yunho urged, atempting to corral the flailing arms.

                “Me…”

                “It was just a joke!” Changmin cried futilely.

                “Go!” Jaejoong demanded, holding onto Yunho with one arm while he reached towards Changmin with the other, all the while he was nearly being lifted off the floor by Yoochun and Junsu.

                All five of them froze when the door that had been closed since they’d been put in the room opened rather suddenly, briefly blinding them with the incoming sunlight before that too was blocked out by the wiry frame of a middle aged man with a dark glower on his face.  Immediately, Yunho and Changmin slipped in front of the rest of the group, leaving Jaejoong to fall back into the arms of Yoochun and Junsu as they caught him frantically.  “Stay back!” Yunho warned, raising his hands before him in a semi-aggressive posture, ready to react if need be but unwilling to make the first move.

                The dour looking male, who was a couple inches shorter than Yunho, regarded Yunho and Changmin with an unimpressed expression as the latter gestured with his hands.

                “What do we do?” Changmin whispered out the side of his mouth without taking his eyes off the stranger.

                “Just stay calm,” Yunho whispered back, jumping with his companions when the stranger motioned at them and barked out something in their direction.

                “Eh?” they all murmured in confusion while the male impassively waited for a response, slowly growing more and more annoyed.

                From the back, Yoochun questioned, “Did we ever figure out what language that is?”  Beside him, Junsu shook his head and he didn’t get a response out of anyone else, largely because Yunho and Changmin were otherwise focused, and Jaejoong didn’t seem to have heard the inquiry.

                Standing upright with an iron grip on Junsu and Yoochun, since the sudden activity had prompted additional pain and wooziness, Jaejoong hissed, “Does anyone have any idea what he said?”

                “Is that a serious question?” Yoochun responded with a hint of nervous irritation, focusing on his companion with a sidelong glance.

                Before they could wonder further, a female voice interjected into the mix, and the strange male made a face at the sound.  Unless Jaejoong didn’t know better, he thought she sounded vaguely familiar.  “I think I know her,” he tilted his head to the side as he spoke, trying to peer around the various people in his line of sight.

                The male barked an irritated response over his shoulder, followed immediately by the unseen woman again.  Even more confused, the five looked at each other and Junsu whispered, “Are they arguing?”

                “I think so,” Yunho answered, relaxing marginally, though a measure of tension reappeared when they heard the cry of another masculine voice throw something in, to which their enigmatic person snorted.

                While the five members watched in bafflement, with Jaejoong continuing to try and peer over Yunho and Changmin, using his two supports as props to raise himself higher, the pair at the doorway continued to argue until the woman said something that prompted laughter from a great many other people on the other side of the barrier.  Apparently, they had a larger audience than they thought.

                The response made the male shake his fist at the woman, or perhaps it was at everyone watching, before he spun around and stalked towards their group again, causing Yunho and Changmin to jump to attention.  Their opponent looked between the two taller males, completely undaunted by their appearance, and promptly focused on Changmin before he grabbed the younger male by the front of his sleeping shirt and promptly head butted him.

                “Ah!” Changmin yelled, falling backwards like a felled tree.

                “Yah!” the other four cried in unison as Jaejoong, Yoochun, and Junsu struggled to catch the stunned youth while Yunho brazenly threw himself at their attacker.  It took less than two seconds for the leader to find himself on the ground from an unexpected body toss, groaning as the wind was knocked out of him.

                In that moment, with the strange, aggressive male leaning over Yunho with a puzzled expression and absolutely nothing else blocking his view, Jaejoong saw the woman from before – at least he thought she was the same as before, lack of shirt and all – standing a few feet from the doorway.  As the trio struggled to take care of Changmin, he noticed her gesturing with her hands, a slow calming motion, and Jaejoong jumped on it.  He surged forward to place himself directly in front of the stranger and shouted, “Wait!” with his hands held before him in a stopping motion.

                “Jae!” Junsu and Yoochun hissed at the same time while the former moved as if to stop him and the latter bore the brunt of Changmin’s not-inconsiderable weight, holding the dazed young man up determinedly.

                Immediately, the stranger stood upright and regarded Jaejoong with a stoic, suspicious expression, completely blocking sight of the woman behind him.  The situation was made even more uncomfortable by the fact that it was absolutely silent: no one was saying anything.  Their opponent grunted some sort in question, at least it sounded like a question, and took a half step towards Jaejoong, giving him a critical once over with murky green eyes.

                Caught under the weight of the male’s stare, Jaejoong was damn near shaking where he stood, though he finally had a good opportunity to see his appearance, which both added to and helped make him not so intimidating at the same time, as contradicting as that was.  Really, he wasn’t that different from Jaejoong in build: slightly shorter, though his frame was more compact and rather wiry, with a dusky complexion possibly caused by the sun, or birth.

                He looked… aged too under the roughly cut mop of sun-kissed, brown hair.  His skin no longer had the vibrancy of youth and there were lines etched into his wary expression that had nothing to do with how he was looking at Jaejoong currently.  Other than the strange loincloth thing around his hips and the decorative adornments in his ears and around his neck, in the form of shells and what looked like serrated teeth, he was unimpressive in dress but he wore authority like a mantle and it clung to every fiber of his being.

                Reacting to that authority, Jaejoong did the only thing he could think of and bowed deeply, managing to keep his head up just enough to glance at the stranger out of his strained eyes.  “Hello?” he murmured questionably, wishing he could brush his blonde hair away from the side of his face where it was tickling his cheek.

                Again, he got a response he couldn’t understand but this time, it didn’t sound as agitated; mostly just curious.  “Watch out, Jae,” Junsu whimpered from behind him when the male stepped forward to stop just in front of Jaejoong.

                “Oh god…” Jaejoong cringed, closing one eye as he anticipated some sort of attack.  It never came.  He nearly flinched when the stranger pulled at his hair instead, puzzled by it, if his expression was any indication.  “Ow,” he mumbled in pained confusion when a sharp tug relieved him of several strands which the other male peered at intently.

                “What’s he doing?” Yoochun asked, leaning carefully, slowly, around Junsu’s body so he could see better.

                Very hesitantly, Jaejoong started to pick himself up into a standing position.  “I have no idea,” he answered breathlessly, talking through his teeth.  When he was upright again, the strange male actually poked him in the chest with his finger: hard.  “Ack!” Jaejoong winced, covering the spot reactively and taking a step back.  That really hurt.

                “Jae!” Junsu and Yunho both cried in reaction, though the former moved to steady him while the leader was still prostrate on the ground, looking between the doorway and his party.

                The result was unexpected.  Their aggressive antagonist, who had done nothing more than bark at them in a strange tongue and actually attack their party, laughed.  He didn’t just chuckle, but grinned hugely and roared his amusement, placing one hand over his abdomen as if it hurt.

                “What the hell?” Yunho grumbled from the ground, meeting the eyes of the rest of his companions in utter confusion.  They looked just as lost as he was and before they could figure out what was so funny, the stranger waved at them dismissively and stepped over Yunho to go back outside, giving what sounded vaguely like some sort of amused announcement.

                The next thing the boys knew, they heard delighted squeals of laughter, both masculine and feminine, before their tiny enclosure was abruptly filled with a lot more bodies.  Panicked by the intrusion, Yunho scrambled to his feet and, along with his group mates, they all squished to the back of the room, flattening themselves against the rough wood as they were… corralled by the… natives?

                “Hey!” Yunho barked in surprised complaint as he was poked and prodded the most, being the primary target in the front with no shirt, though that didn’t stop them from picking at the fabric of his stretchy pants – still relatively whole and useful.  “Stop that!” he commanded, brushing prying hands away as best he could.

                “Yah!” Changmin yelped when someone grabbed a lock of his hair.

                “That tickles!” Junsu giggled, clinging to Jaejoong with both arms when someone tried to pick his shirt up to see what was underneath.

                Yoochun chuckled at the similar treatment until someone got really curious and tried to look down his pants.  “No!” he flailed, throwing himself back against the group, jostling everyone.

                And then there was Jaejoong who, not only had a headache that refused to go away and a knot on his head to accompany it, was also smashed behind Yunho and shirtless himself, turning redder and redder by the moment as his blonde hair got a considerable amount of focus, though he could do nothing to push the hands away as he kept his own firmly on his failing attire.  “Please tell me this is a dream,” he pitifully begged, fingers clenching into the fabric of his shorts.

                “Not li-kely!” Yunho answered, responding appropriately to a pinch he was not expecting.

                Jaejoong was about to respond until he noticed the crowd part somewhat and then a large, strong hand latched onto his wrist and pulled.  “Oh !” he cried, yanked from the relative safety of his haven with the guys, who were soon treated similarly, as he was dragged through a sea of exploratory hands, grinning faces, and then… her.  He was veritably tossed in front of the young woman he’d seen initially with a group of four men closing him off from the rest of the villagers, as well as his friends.

                “Jaejoong!” Yunho cried, ever the good, concerned leader, though he had his own problems to deal with.  “Hey!  Would you stop that!?” he growled, finally growing annoyed.

                The blonde had little chance to be too concerned as he focused on the young woman who had a female friend with her this time.  The new one was grinning at him broadly, giggling to the first woman in that strange language of theirs.  She was dressed in a plainer manner, not quite as adorned as the first woman, and it was the latter who drew his attention again for she was eyeing him, and then his lower region once more, with intense scrutiny.

                “Hey.  Stay back,” he warned, retreating a half-step when she moved towards him, rattling off a series of questions if the furrowed brow was any indication.  He was stopped by a hand against his back, keeping him from retreating further, which didn’t really matter when the intent, young woman got close enough to touch him and immediately reached for his modified pants.  “No!” he yelped reactively, pushing her hands away.

                She looked annoyed more than anything else, her lips pursed and hazel eyes narrowed at him in a very tell-tale sign.  Speaking at him brusquely, she swatted at his hands, continuing to fight him persistently.

                “Dammit woman!  No touching!” Jaejoong growled with a finger in her face, thinking she was worse than some of the fans they had to deal with…

                Abruptly, as the men and her female friend started to laugh at her attempts, the thwarted young woman stood upright and rammed her fists on her hips, glaring at Jaejoong and… chastising him.  What?

                He looked at her in confusion, baffled by her behavior, and then yelped when she called in assistance.  Large hands grabbed onto his shoulders and arms, giving him the feeling of entrapment, and Jaejoong looked to either side of him to see two of the men who had been corralling him effectively holding him in place.  They were slightly taller than him, probably around his age, very physically fit, and apparently under her control.  “…” he exhaled, nearly choking on an indignant shriek when she stepped close again and actually managed to get a hold of the fabric.

                Wriggling in place uncomfortably, it didn’t take him long to realize that she wasn’t interested remotely in what was underneath which, in his experience, was… odd.  Rather, she was staring at the fabric, stretching it between her hands and rubbing it experimentally between her fingers.  All the while, she was muttering under her breath while her female friend chatted with another of the males and pointed at him, laughing every now and then.

                Personally, Jaejoong didn’t know whether to be insulted or relieved, though the side commentary was definitely making him feel like he should be embarrassed.  In puzzlement, he watched her compare the fabric with a piece of her own woven skirt and then she roped the other free male into the mix by drawing him over for a similar comparison.  He looked both annoyed and bemused but did as requested and he and Jaejoong shared a moment of mutual discomfit.

                Abruptly, she jumped up with her hand in the air and grinned, crying out in some delighted manner.  Talking animatedly to her companions, she finally pointed at Jaejoong and motioned for him to move.  “Eh?  Where are we going?” he asked, looking around in confusion, first at his new group and then as he searched for his companions.

                He saw them not that far away, in a similarly surrounded position, and he would have tried to wade towards them through the small crowd of people between them but his two ‘friends’ slung their arms over his shoulder and around his waist, effectively guiding him the way the young woman wanted him to go.  “Oh come on,” he groaned, letting his shoulders slouch in defeat as was led along.

                Then again, when he heard Junsu wail, “Hey!  Give me back my shirt!”  He figured there were worse possibilities.

                Changmin’s shrill yelp of startled surprise indicated as much.  A quick, concerned glance at the tall young man showed him to be dancing backward with a panicked smile locked in place while a veritable gaggle of giggling women, both young and old, followed him around.  “Yah!  Stop it!” he cried pitiably, fending them off as best he could, though another yelp indicated he wasn’t quite as successful as he hoped.  “Hyungs!  Help!” he wailed, finally plopping onto the ground to protect his… assets.

                Yep.  Jaejoong nodded to himself, both amused and a little bit guilty about their maknae’s embarrassing but not altogether harmful predicament.  It could certainly be worse.

(a/n: So this one definitely took me longer than I intended but it's been a hell of a week - or couple of weeks if you'll give me that.  hehe  But, here it is!  I hope you chuckled and that you look forward to the rest of the continuation.  I'll explain the villagers more shortly and we'll get a better look at what's going on before too long.  haha  Thanks for reading and have a great day!)