HakYona

HakYona is the het ship between Hak and Yona from the Akatsuki no Yona fandom.

Canon
Hak and Yona share a deep bond that was built from their childhood and into the hardships they have experienced through their adolescence. Hak was appointed Yona’s personal bodyguard by her father, King Il, a highly prestigious role. Since then, he has remained absolutely devoted to her and will follow and protect her no matter who he makes an enemy of. For much of their childhood, Hak and Yona shared a very close friendship with Soo-Won, the current king. Yona was in love with Soo-Won and it was generally expected that Yona might end up marrying him and become king and queen of the kingdom. Hak happily accepted this, because of his love for both of them, and wished to serve them. However, it is eventually revealed that Hak always had feelings for Yona but simply held them back.

In their childhood, Hak had first met a very young Yona when he took her hand to show her a cat, which was the first time Yona was allowed in the castle gardens. Hak was often brutish and initially uninterested with being Yona’s bodyguard. Although he valued her as a friend, he could often feel annoyed being at the castle with her because of his general dislike of the nobility there. Nonetheless, he cared for her deeply and slept by her side when she fell sick after they had played in the snow. On one occasion, he took her outside the castle to visit a festival in the town. Whilst there, she was kidnapped and Hak managed to track her down and save her. On another occasion, he protected her from the advances of Tae-Jun, son of the Fire Tribe general. Immediately after his intervention, he agreed to King Il’s earlier offer of being Yona’s personal bodyguard that he had initially declined. Yona would later discover that King Il had chosen Hak to be her bodyguard because he desired for someone to be by her side who would never hurt or betray her. He did this because he knew Soo-Won would come for his life one day and thus did not wish for Yona to be left alone in the world.

From then on, Hak and Yona developed a fun love for one another that was defined by their sarcastic comments and playful teases. They valued each other immensely and their relationship was so close that they could make frank remarks about each other. Such was their closeness, Yona instinctively claimed that Hak was her betrothed to Soo-Won in hopes to make him jealous. Hak ultimately came to prioritise the princess above all else, skipping out on returning to his home, the Wind Tribe, just to spend time with her, and bailing on a tournament because she was sent to her chambers, by herself, just to be with her. Yona, from her childhood into her adolescence, always desired Soo-Won and thus never considered Hak more than just her best friend. Often when she was in danger, she would call for Soo-Won but Hak tended to be the one that saved her instead, but would still hug him tightly and thank him. When he became her bodyguard, she was more than accepting of this and came to rely on him.

Both their worlds changed for the worse when Soo-Won, who they both considered their most precious friend, murdered Yona’s father, King Il. Soo-Won seemed prepared to have Yona killed too until Hak’s intervention. The two managed to escape the castle and Yona was left in complete despair at the loss of her father and the betrayal of the person she was in love with. Hak was thus left with uncontrolled anger towards his former friend, Soo-Won, and even brutalised his guards and the Sky Tribe’s general just to try and kill him for his actions before Yona calmed him down.

Whilst on the run, Hak would protect and care for her as much as he could. He loathes being separated from her and can even become unusually distressed if she's in danger and he cannot do anything. Once he arrived at the capital of the Wind Tribe, and resigned as the tribe’s general, he had intended to leave her and flee, trusting his home tribe to look after her. However, Yona refused to accept this and demanded he take her along. Reluctant, he gave in and the two continued their journey that led to them meeting and befriending the four dragons and a young boy named Yoon. They lived their lives as a group to resolve the kingdom’s numerous issues. Yona is very fond of Hak referring to her as “princess”, and only wishes for him to call her that as he is the only person she has from the time when she was happy living at the castle with him and her father. She even told Ying Kuelbo not to refer to her as “princess”. Ying, himself, eventually met Hak and noticed he refers to Yona as “princess” and deduced that the two were in love.

Their relationship has remained extremely strong since they were ousted from the castle. Hak is openly flirtatious and teasing of Yona, not afraid to make sexual remarks towards her, and often causes the princess to blush. Regardless, the two can regularly banter and laugh at one another. Hak also decided to train Yona at archery and a little at swordplay so she can ultimately defend herself. Yona has stated that she desires to learn these skills so she will be less of a burden to him and can give Hak’s freedom back. This mindset eventually caused a misunderstanding between the two that led to Hak feeling he is no longer wanted or needed by her. But the matter was cleared up after Yona realised her mistake and Hak told her bluntly that its his own choice that he wants to be by her side before then confessing his feelings towards her. Yona was left blushing at the confession and initially struggled to deal with this revelation, despite her own feelings for him. Hak admitted to her that its fine if she does not love him back, not aware she feels the same way. Unlike Yona, Hak handles his feelings without issue, he was fine in her presence and did not feel awkward or unnerved, effectively carrying on as normal.

Yona’s feelings for Hak took longer to manifest, and for the longest time she was indifferent to other women’s interest in him, which led to Hak dealing with unrequited love. However, Jae-Ha eventually pointed out to her that she has the habit of looking at Hak frequently. This realisation that she often turns to Hak makes her curious as to why she does so. From then on, she starts to blush a bit more in his presence and becomes more fond of seeing him smile or laugh. She also tends to look for him if he has wandered off and frequently has late night talks with him whilst the others sleep. Even on occasion, the two have slept together in the same bed. Yona has openly admitted to Hak how much she wishes for him to stay by her side and does not tolerate anyone trying to take him away from her, even rebuffing Shin-Ah’s initial attempts to do so. She frequently becomes distressed if he has been hurt in battle and was worried for him when the two were forcibly separated by Kye-Sook. When she was reunited with him in the Sen Province, after she was kidnapped, she cried tears of joy at finally being able to see him again.

Gradually, her feelings for Hak intensified and whilst talking to her friend, An Lili, she admitted that she is in love with him. At the time, she was unaware of his feelings for her as well. Yona struggles with her love for Hak, to a degree, and can often give him mixed signals of how she feels because of her inability to control them. This has even led to confusion for the other members of their party, with the exception of Jae-Ha, who is fully aware that the two love one another. Jae-Ha even warned Ying Kuelbo that he would face Hak’s wrath should he continue to manhandle Yona, which eventually came to pass. Before she separated with Hak to try and convince Soo-Won not to go to war with Xing, she instinctively pulled Hak towards her and kissed him. Before he could say anything she immediately left, leaving him confused. When Hak saved her from Gobi and the engulfed building she was in, she tried to pass water to him via mouth-to-mouth but the two ended up passionately kissing each other. Due to the smoke Yona inhaled whilst the building she was in was on fire, she lost her voice. This led to her being carried around the Fire Tribe’s encampment by Hak for food and water. Eventually, after she was given medicine to return her voice, she confessed to Hak in front of numerous people that she is in love with him.

The two have become separated due to her reluctant alliance with the king, Soo-Won, and Hak’s well known desire to kill him. The people of the kingdom are also under the impression that she is engaged to Soo-Won. Hak, although valued as the kingdom’s strongest being in a 1,000 years, has been forcibly kept apart from her and has instead joined the Sky Tribe in order to climb his way back to being her personal bodyguard. Yona has become somewhat depressed at her separation from Hak and the others, and reluctantly refused Jae-Ha’s offer to take her to him incase he is put in danger before she falls to her knees in tears as she calls out his name. The two were almost reunited when Yona was wandering the palace and stumbled upon Hak and his fellow Sky Tribe soldiers. She smiles and wishes to go towards him but is well aware she is being watched and runs away after Hak notices her. Whilst hiding, she hears Hak call out, “Princess”, and starts to cry.

The two are finally reunited after Hak is imprisoned and will be potentially executed for discovering Soo-Won's terminal condition, however, Yona intervenes and convinces Kye-Sook to spare Hak, explaining his value for the upcoming war. Now together again, the two share yet another passionate kiss and hold hands through the cell bars. Hak then dismisses her claim that she no longer needs a personal bodyguard and tells her she does not need to go so far for his sake. Having put up a confident front for the sake of her role as princess, she finally confides in Hak her frustrations and her relief that he is well, but becomes annoyed when he tries to hide the severity of his wound from her, wanting to bandage it up herself.

Fanon
The pairing is very popular amongst fans and there is a great expectation that the two will end up together. On AO3, it is the most written ship in the Akatsuki no Yona fandom. Despite its absolute popularity, there is plenty of ship rivals due to the presence of numerous men in Yona's life, this includes each of the four dragons and even the current king, Soo-Won.

Hak and Yona have received great popularity due to Hak's devotion to her and the intensity of their relationship that is defined by their mutual love for each other. The fact that they have been each other's closest friend since childhood and their determination to protect each other has also added to their popularity.

Unlike other possible pairings, Hak and Yona have both confirmed their feelings and have admitted them to one another. They have also kissed each other and are now effectively seen as a confirmed pairing by the fandom unless the author changes direction.

Fandom
FAN FICTION
 * Hak/Yona tag on FanFiction.Net
 * Hak/Yona tag on FanFiction.Net

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