Kicks

Kicks

A/N: ... BEING KICKED IN THE SHIN WAS SO UNCALLED FOR.
I ONLY FORGIVE YOU UNDER THE PRETENSE OF COOKIES.
*nomnomnom*

Oh Camui you're so full of crazy imaginative ideas, just where do you come up with this crazy stuff?
Oh dear fans, it's all just to keep you interested and keep my creative juices flowing.
Oh Camui, it's so ingenious! So many genres all wrapped into one! Comedy, action, romance, sci-fi!
Oh dear fans, it's the least I can do, I just hope you all enjoy it.~
Oh Camui, we enjoy everything you wri----
*gun shots*

x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Sae was still rooted to the spot, but his eyes were darting around frantically. Bam was picking off the enemy one by one, his skills as expert as a sniper, and from behind a squad car a few cops were looking like they were faced with the most difficult college trigonometry question they had ever seen. One that didn't even have an answer, it was just an endless equation that went on and on and on... and the result was always zero, no matter how many numbers or letters you plug in.

Sirens were blaring and finally Bam stood from his crouching position, dropping his gun onto the hood of the limo. The weapon slid off the shiny surface and rattled on the ground, Sae flinching, but relieved when it appeared all of the ammo had been used. He stood up as well, shaky, flipping on the safety of his own gun and tossing it to the ground as well. Blood was pouring into the streets and people were still screaming in the distance, and azure eyes blinked as the teen's chest grew tight.

"Bam..." he said, taking a step forward, the cops still watching them carefully, guns poised.

Great, now the law probably saw them as a threat.

Sae reached into his pants and pulled out the glocks, tossing them onto the street as well. Dirt and ash smudged his slightly sweaty features, side effects from the still-blazing hotel. Perspiration was dripping down the side of his face, his hair wet from the condensation. The heat from the inferno was intense and reaching them even at a hundred feet away. The young Prince's eyes finally met Bam's, and not only did Sae's chest grow tighter at the sight, he found himself becoming short of breath.

Crimson. Blood red. Bam's eyes were no longer the crystalline, serene blue that they usually were. The pupils were barely visible, and with Bam's parted, panting lips a glint of some fangs could be seen. Sae clenched the front of his shirt, the pain in his chest becoming more and more apparent with each passing second he spent staring at the older man. That... this wasn't Bam. Where was the sparkle in his eyes? Where was the rugged, charming smile? Where was the cheesy joke after a horrible situation?

A step forward, and Sae fell to his knees. His head was clogging, he was like a fish out of water, trying to take in the air that was refusing to pass through his lungs.

Asthma.

It hadn't acted up for years. He continued to tug at his shirt, his face contorting in pain as he dropped forward onto the pavement, elbows barely supporting him as he coughed and choked on the air. Instantly Bam was at his side, hefting up the young Prince easily. The sound of screeching tires reached Sae's ears, followed by hurried foot fall. Something was pushed between his lips, and he inhaled, and oh God he could breathe again. It was like dying and coming back. His eyes fluttered and he coughed, taking another puff of the inhaler that was forced in his mouth. He could hear people talking, shouting, but couldn't decipher what was being said.

A few more gun shots, and he registered being put in the back of a vehicle, before the car jerked to life and sped away from the scene of the heinous bloodshed. With the fresh air in his lungs the oxygen moved to his brain, and he started to function properly once more. He could hear a man talking and Bam grunting, and when he opened his eyes, he saw the blurry outline of someone that looked so familiar...

"Park...?"

Said man in question turned to glance at Sae, looking slightly apprehensive. He placed a warm hand on Sae's forehead and smiled weakly, before he turned a glare towards the bluenette.

"What were you thinking?" Park reprimanded, and Bam kept his gaze fixated out of the window. Somewhere he had gotten ahold of sunglasses, and Sae was briefly wondering if he had imagined the red eyes. "In public like that? You should have just gotten the Hell out of there!"

Sae could see Bam's fists clenching, his fingers gripping the material of his slacks tightly. Why was Park here? How did he have any authority to reprimand Bam like that? The teen sat up slightly, only to be gently pushed back by Park, who gave him a warning look.

"I needed to protect Sae," Bam said, his voice still rough, low and gravelly. It sent shivers down Sae's spine. He had never heard that timbre in the man's voice before.

"Don't you ever think about protecting yourself!? The cops and the media are going to have a hayday with this! 'Shin Hae Joo; body guard or mindless thug?'. I can see the tabloids now," Park said, making gestures with his hands in the air outlining an invisible magazine.

"It shouldn't matter because we are alive," Bam snapped, finally turning to look at Park.

Sae paled; he hadn't imagined the fangs. The older man's canine's were slightly elongated, and the clenching of his jaw could be seen underneath his tan skin, as if he were itching to bite down on something.

"Are you...?" Sae finally spoke up, and both of the older men turned to look at him. The young teen noticed that Park's eyes were no longer clear emerald green; they were the same color as Bam's. Oh God. They're... They're...

"Sae, you're going to need to stay calm," Park said, reaching out to touch Sae.

The teen caught sight of Park's hands - his nails looked like they had grown about two inches and looked frighteningly sharp, and Sae was suddenly fully alert as he scrambled to the farthest corner of the seat, pressing himself against the door, fingers reaching for the handle on instinct.

"Don't even think about it, Sae, we're moving at eighty kilometers an hour and it would be stupid to throw yourself out of this car!" Park demanded, retracting his hand and closing his eyes, placing his hand over his features as he tried to collect himself. Bam was still hidden by the sunglasses, but his own clawed fingers reached up to pull them off. He left his eyes closed for a few seconds, before they opened and landed on Sae.

The breath was sucked out of him again and the teen panicked, feeling the blood rushing through his veins with the new surge of adrenaline. These couldn't be the two men in the world that he had come to trust most; these were...

"Monsters!"

Both men looked shocked at that word and genuinely hurt, but quickly Bam's look dissolved into irritation as he reached over and smacked Park upside the head.

"You should have fucking knocked him out, Jujak!"

Sae's momentary panic was placed with confusion. Jujak... the red phoenix? Then Bam must be...

"Cheongryong, calm down, it's not like he's--"

"Azure dragon...?"

Both men turned to look at Sae, who was pale as a ghost and looking like he'd just seen one. Sweat was dripping down his features again and his sapphire eyes were wild as he took in the pair in front of him, trying to comprehend. Those were just nicknames, right? The Vermillion bird and the Azure dragon. Code names. Kicks was a code name. Bam was a code name. Surely they had their own code names for each other since they've been doing this for a helluva lot longer than Sae himself.

"He's old enough now, he's got to understand what's going on," Park insisted, and Bam pounded a fist on the seat, making both Park and Sae jump in surprise and slight fear.

"Two more years we're supposed to wait and your big mouth had to ruin it!" Bam seethed, and Park rolled crimson eyes.

"If I'm not mistaken, you're the one that went bat-shit on those thugs back there," Park said, his voice completely condescending.

"We don't even know why those people were here in the first place, or what they want with us!"

"What don't they want with us!? Jesus Cheongryong it's like after all these years you still don't understand just what we are to some people!"

Silence reigned after that comment and Sae raised a hand.

"I don't understand what you are," he said meekly, and both older men snapped.

"Shut up."

The teen nodded and shrunk back into the door, and Bam rounded on Park once more.

"Don't talk to him like that, you'll sincerely regret it." The bluenette looked like he was visibly shaking with rage even though he too had told the teen to be quiet, and Sae tried to silently put all the pieces to the puzzle together.

Park and Bam had been rivals for years. Neither of them look their age. Neither of their appearances change... at all. Bam's still scruffy, but he never shaves and never grows an actual beard. Park never shaves and has baby-smooth skin. Their hair hasn't grown. It hasn't changed colors. They're Princes of ancient families. They are ultimately skilled in combat.

Blinking and frowning, Sae sat forward and spoke to the carpet.

"You're re-incarnates."

The two men stopped what they were doing - Park in a headlock and Bam viciously giving him a noogie - and stared at the young Prince. They disentangled themselves from each other and straightened themselves, neither saying a word.

"Of the azure dragon and the vermillion bird. It makes sense... odd, completely impossible, sense..." Sae continued to stare at the floor. "You don't age. You don't get hurt. Either you're re-incarnates or you're..." his voice dropped and he licked his lips, finally looking up at the pair. "... or you're the real thing..."

Bam and Park exchanged glances, before they sighed.

Things just got a little more complicated.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

"I'm the WHAT!?"

"I really don't think it's the best idea to tell him this now," Bam said, elbow on the table with his forehead in his hand, his other bringing a cup of coffee to his lips as he regarded the shell-shocked teen.

"Well he's going to know now or later, and we don't have a choice but now," Park said a bit snootily, folding his arms over his chest.

Sae slumped in his chair and stared ahead, shaking his burgundy head a couple of times. It was bad enough that he had to come to terms with his Princely heritage practically overnight, but to learn that he was something else was just putting the icing on the cake. The frosting on the cookie. They had made it to one of Park's mansions and were sitting in the kitchen around his dining table, trying to be as comfortable as possible.

Park and Bam's appearances had returned to normal, eyes emerald and cerulean respectively, teeth devoid of fangs and fingers absent of claws. Sae was still worked up. Apparently their family lineage, their 'genetic defect', was being direct descendants of ancient Asian deities. The blue eyes, the slow aging, the unnatural power. With a huff, he straightened and glared heartily at the older men.

"How can you guys just drop this on me?! How can you just be like 'oh, you're a Prince, you'll fit into the role nicely'; 'oh, you're the reincarnation of a fucking white tiger god thing, you'll get used to the thought'. You can't fucking just tell people that with no pretense!! That's not fair! I already have my responsibilities lined up for me and after tonight my image has been smeared irrevocably! I can't go back and change the fact that I had to get out of my limo with a fucking gun in my hands, shooting at people!" His voice was raising with every accusation, every sentence, and soon enough the teen was standing. "I can't change the fact that my right-hand man went crazy and killed a bunch of people! I can't give Georges another fucking birthday with a hotel that won't catch on fire!" His hands moved to his hair and he tugged on it in frustration, tears starting to brim in his eyes.

"My life was simple before you," he rounded on Bam, "decided to kidnap me off of my fucking front porch! I was going to school, I had dreams, I was a fucking normal kid! And you just had to take it all away from me!" He knew he was being a bit unfair in saying those things, but he was so angry things were rolling off of his tongue without a second thought.

Bam's eyes went downcast towards the table, and Park was staring in stunned silence.

"And you two! Both of you!" Sae flailed wildly, gesturing at both of them. "Grow the fuck up! I don't care if you've been rivals for twenty years or a thousand years, you're adults and need to get over yourselves! You want me because he has me," he pointed at Park. "And you want me because you have nothing else!" He pointed at Bam. "Stop acting like fucking children and take responsibility! The entire nation, the whole world knows who we are and we're on international news blowing shit up and speeding away in an unmarked car!" He flung his arm towards the television that was on the news channel, muted, showing pictures of a bloodied Sae and a manic-looking Bam.

"I am done cleaning up after your mistakes!" Sae declared, pounding his fist on the table. "You two can deal with whatever the Hell you need to deal with. I've got the media to straighten out and an overhaul of an entire clan to deal with."

Shoving his chair into the table so hard everything jolted, Sae stormed out of the kitchen while whipping his cell phone out of his pocket. Park and Bam were left at the table, both staring at the polished wood as the house echoed the eerie silence that was left in the teen's angry wake.

"Mind if I stay here for a bit?" Bam broke the silence, rubbing the back of his neck as he stared into his coffee.

Park swallowed and nodding, standing up and moving into the kitchen in search of his vodka.

Neither men had seen Sae explode like that...

... and it was probably the scariest thing either of them had witnessed in their millenniums of living.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Once home, Sae burst open the front doors to the mansion, kicking off his shoes impatiently as he moved into the foyer. Penny was there to greet him, her expression worried as the sound of the news blared in the background.

"Your Highness, the phones have been ringing off the hook!" A nameless assistant greeted the Prince and he shoved past her to move into the kitchen, grabbing a glass and filling it with ice water. He drank it down and filled up the glass again, storming into his office and slamming the door in the assistant's face, leaving her looking quite shocked.

Sitting down at his desk, he had about two seconds of silence to breathe deeply before the phone started ringing. He stared at it for a few rings, and then picked it up, calming himself considerably.

"Sae Rang Joo."

"Your presence is requested at the police station, Sire," the man on the other line said, and Sae grumbled.

"We were prepared for defense and my bodyguard did what he had to do to protect me. Call my lawyer for further questions." He hung up the phone, only to have it start ringing again.

Reporters, different police stations, other Princes -- people from all around the world all of a sudden had his number and were wanting to get word about what happened. Why was there a bloodbath? Was it connected to the hotel fire? Was Prince Georges the target and Sae just got caught up in the wrong place at the wrong time?

Sae didn't know. He didn't have a clue. He didn't know much of anything, at the moment, and he hung up on most of the callers within ten seconds of them talking. Finally he unplugged the phone from the wall, jerking the cord violently from the socket and tossing the entire phone itself across the room, the sound of it breaking the most satisfying thing he'd heard all day. He slouched over his desk and buried his face in his hands, and that was the position Soo Mi found him in ten minutes later.

"Your Highness," she said softly as she entered the office, and he gave a soft grunt. She shut the door behind her, Penny hovering over the woman's shoulder worriedly. "You need to get that taken care of."

He pulled his face away from his hands and stared at his bicep, which was still inflamed and unclean from the earlier bullet graze. He glanced over at his cousin and wasn't surprised to see a first aid kid in her hand, and he sat back and let out a sigh as he started to unbutton his shirt. Wordlessly Soo Mi cleaned and dressed the wound, the occasional sounds of discomfort from Sae being the only noise he made. The raven-haired woman stood and clucked behind her surgical mask, making Sae roll his eyes and scoot forward to his desk, pretending to scan over some documents.

"This is a big deal, Sire." Sae snorted. "I don't know what's going on, but... Wait. Where's Bam?" She glanced around the room, and Sae snorted again.

"He's on a break." Clearing his throat, Sae straightened the documents and set them aside after putting his signature on them. He glanced up to the woman, and in that moment he looked much, much older than his nineteen years. "Is there something you want?"

A little put off by his callousness, Soo Mi merely shook her head and bowed, exiting the room. Penny stayed, however, and hugged Sae tightly, earning him the shivers.

"Sae..." she said softly, reaching up to move some of his matted hair.

"He has no right to drop these heavy bombs on me all the time, Penny," Sae said, sounding tired and worn out from the day. Exhaustion was catching up with him. "I'm just a kid. I can't handle it." She said nothing and continued to pet his hair, the coolness of her presence feeling good against his heated skin. "One step at a time. I still barely know what I'm doing. I can't be told that I'm some re-incarnate... not after I've been told that they've been waiting for me for thirty years to run the clan. It's just ridiculous. Some days... I just wish I could roll over and wake up and have it be a dream." He buried his face in his hands again. "The press, the publicity, the fame. I used to want that stuff - I used to want to be a singer, Penny." He chuckled darkly. "Now I just want a private life again... to be a nobody..."

Penny cooed softly and brought him into her chest, shivers making his teeth chatter even though he was appreciating the comfort.

"They're lost, Sae," she said, pressing a kiss to the top of his head. "They need you. And you need them. I need you." She pulled away and tilted his head up to look in his eyes. "Don't punish them for seeking your guidance."

He calmed a bit, but snorted. "Shouldn't I be seeking guidance from my elders? Not the other way around."

She knocked him on the head and stuck out her tongue. "Don't take your anger out on everyone else."

"Aw," he pouted, "then what's my outlet?"

Her blond head tilted a bit, and she shrugged. "Hot sweaty man sex with that gorgeous hunk you're currently pissed off at?"

Sae blinked, then laughed. "Which one?"

"Oh, well if there's two, that's even better!" Penny winked and floated out of the room, leaving Sae with a small smile and a slightly guilty conscience.

Maybe he had been a bit harsh on the older men.

But... they could stand to bond for a bit, anyhow.

--
A/N: I'm think I'm the Queen of Fillers.
Or something like that.
Blah blah more sex -- I mean action -- to come in the next chapter.

Poor Sae. I almost feel bad for him.
Almost.
Muwahahaha.

So, about that cookie...~