**First Day**
(Ryu's P.O.V)
As I flew over a street, I adjusted my shoulder bag. The school lights came into view, then the sign. It read:
Mountain Ridge University Home of the Eagles
I sighed, beat my powerful, jade colored wings, and said out loud, "Another uneventful day."
(Ari's P.O.V)
I glanced around nervously, then behind me to see my mom make a "go on" gesture with her hand in the car. I turned back to face my new school, closed my eyes, shook my lemon-blond hair, took a deep breath, opened my orange eyes, then exhaled.
"You can do this, Ari. Just try not to get scared or surprised", I whispered to myself. I tightened my grip on my box that had my notebook balanced on top with both hands and pushed open the double doors. The second I walked in, it felt like everyone's eyes were on me. I ducked my head, used my hair to hide my unusual colored eyes, and walked quickly to get breakfast. As I approached the lunch lines, some girl yelped really loud near me. On reflex, I flinched. I could already feel them trying to come through. Good thing I was wearing I calmed myself by breathing in and out slowly and they retreated. Grinning, I got breakfast and sat on the floor in front of the library. Luckily, it's near the front door so I can see some of the kids who go here, maybe some potential friends. I bit into my sausage kolache and opened my notebook. The front is uninteresting, just an ordinary blue composition notebook, but inside is what pulls people in. Inside, I draw. But not like bowls of fruit or scenery, no. I draw dragons. I've loved dragons ever since I was little. As a child, I was always quiet. That's good if you're going to watch dragons in the wild. I was also patient, which is great if you wish to befriend the skittish, wild reptiles i've grown to love. I've witnessed a dragon hunt, mate, give birth, and, i've seen a dragon hatch. I drew every single one of them in my notebook. I flipped to a recent drawing. It was of an emerald-green serpent dragon. He or she had four strong legs, a prehensile tail, and a pair of gorgeous green wings. But, alas, the dragon flew off the ledge it was perched on before I could get in the details of the wings. I only got in the outline and basic features, like the thumb-like clawed appendage on the main joint of each wing. It was the most beautiful dragon, no, reptile, i've ever seen. All of a sudden, someone burst through the double doors of the entrance. Everyone, including me, looked up, then everyone, but me, shuffled away. I couldn't look away…
(Ryu's P.O.V)
I landed next to the flagpole with a heavy thud. Parents looked my way and instantly glanced away. No doubt scared. 'Typical humans', I thought. I walked across the circle drive, between a car and a van, and up to the big double doors. I pushed open the twin doors so hard, they bounced off of their stoppers and slammed themselves shut. I had stepped out of the range of their hinged onslaught and was inside the school by the time the doors were shut once again. As usual, everyone within earshot of this incident flinched and looked at me with wide eyes. I just glared at them and they continued on with their lives. Mentally, I smiled. Everyone in this school is afraid of me, even the teachers, A.P's, and the principal! Good. No one should get involved with me. I shook out my hair to tame it from the flight back to school. A heavy lock of black hair fell back down to hide my right eye from view. The white tip just brushed my jawbone. No one in this school knows that I can become a true dragon, and no one ever will. They would either kill me, or test on me, or both. I stretched, popping my neck, back, then stretched my wings. And ABSOLUTELY no one will know i'm gay. No one! I glanced to my right a bit to see, huh? Someone is staring at something. It's a young man sitting in front of the library on the floor, probably either a freshman or a really smart sophomore with almost shoulder length blond hair. His eyes met mine and I could see that they were the color of embers. Wait, HIS eyes didn't catch mine, MY eyes met HIS. The something the boy was staring at was…me. Hm, he's kinda cute. Meh, I can't get too attached. He's probably just new here and never seen anyone like me before. He'll be terrified of me before the date rolls over from the things I just know these other students say about me and my friends… I turned away from the kid, breaking the gaze, shrugged and whistled for Jess. She came galloping towards me and gave me a friendly hug. She looked at the kid I was apparently staring at before, then up at me.
"Ryu, who's he?" She had a hefty country accent.
I waved my hand.
"No one. New kid. Let's go." I started to walk away. She trotted to catch up to me then slowed her pace to match mine. I looked at the boy through the lock of bangs that covers my right eye. He was looking from his notebook to me, back to his notebook, then up at me again. He had this look on his face like he just found the cure for cancer. Something about this kid intrigued me. I turned around the corner and, when the boy disappeared from view, the bell rang to dismiss the students to first period.
(Ari's P.O.V)
I looked at my notebook. The guy that just burst in had wings that looked like the green serpent dragon in my sketch. Ah! He's looking this way! He was a heavy built guy, but not heavy as in fat, heavy as in muscles. Damn! He shook out his hair, which when he burst in, was a bit tousled. The ebony strands settled into place and a thick lock covered his right eye. I looked closer and could see that his hair was black most of the way down, but as it neared the tips, it quickly faded to snow white. It framed his mature face perfectly. I focused my eyes on his face. The one eye I could see was his left. It was the color of fresh leaves in the sunlight. A thick black slit ran from the top to the bottom of the iris and served as his pupil. His mouth remained a straight line the entire time I was gazing at him. It never moved… His ebony mane continued down his neck and came to a rest on his broad, muscular shoulders. My gaze continued south to his chest. His spine curved inward just so slightly to give his already sculpted abs and pecs even more definition through his red shirt. My eyes continued downward, but their journey came to a complete and total halt when I saw his bulge. He wore dark blue blue jeans that were cut off just above the knee. They looked a bit worn but nevertheless new jeans. And I know from experience that if you can see a man's package through new jeans…i'm speechless.
He stretched his back then his wings. They were attached to his shoulders by, I would guess, a ball-and-socket joint. Around that would be extremely strong, yet limber muscles and are cloaked with jade scales by the looks of it. The first wing bone is short, then it's jointed to the longest support bone in most dragons' wings with a hinge joint. This bone ends with a structure similar to a human wrist. It forks two ways. One to the thumb-like appendage that possesses a sharp-looking, shiny ebony claw. The other way goes to the "palm", which again forks, but into the "ribs" of the wing. The ribs are attached to the wing membrane, which catches and pushes down on the air and allows the dragon to fly. Each of the four ribs end in a small claw, which are most likely used in battle. On the back of the wings, one couldn't see the ribs, only the membrane. The membrane was also on the underside of the thumb-like appendage and was fused to part of the first rib. Using this gorgeous man as a model, I began to sketch in the details of the wings of the green serpent dragon that had escaped me a few days ago. I had filled in the details and was shading when a whistle was heard. I looked up and, oh my god, a female centaur ran up to the guy! I knew dragons existed and I know a few other mythical creatures existed, even centaurs, but I never, in my lifetime, thought I would ever see one! However, my happiness faded as soon as I saw the two hug. He had a girlfriend… 'Well, Ari, what'd you think? You think a beautiful guy like that is just gonna come up to you on a silver platter?' I thought to myself. My situation is kind of weird at the moment, so finding a boyfriend is really hard… They chatted for a bit, then walked around the corner adjacent of me.
As soon as they were out of sight, the bell rang, dismissing breakfast. I slung on my backpack, adorned my two duffel bags, picked up my box, and balanced my precious notebook on top of the cardboard lid. It was then that I realized that I had a hard-on. I walked cooly into a nearby men's room, walked into a stall, set my stuff down, unzipped my pants, and grabbed hold of my cock. I sat on the toilet seat and threw my head back as I stroked myself. As my hand went up and down my foot-long, I thought about that guy. I thought about his lovely chest, his powerful wings, his breathtaking bulge… I realized that I was jacking off really fast and before I knew it, I came. Globs of the white cream spurted out of the slit and hit the locked door of the stall and slowly slid down. After I caught my breath, I stood up, cleaned myself off, pulled on my skinny jeans and stuffed my spent member back into my briefs. I tore off some toilet paper and cleaned up the milk on the door and tossed the wad into the camode. I flushed and, once again, packed on my stuff and walked out of the men's room. At that moment, I discovered that I didn't know where my dorm-room was! I looked around, located the office, and walked in.
"Yes?", asked the secretary without even looking up.
I was taken aback a bit by her ability but regained my composure and asked, "Yes, i'm new here. This is my first day." I leaned on the desktop. She looked up at me and her eyes locked with mine. Perfect. "I don't know where my dorm is. Do you think you could help me find it?" My orange eyes flashed and her dark brown eyes went slightly dull.
"Yes, of course. What is your name?"
"Ari. Ari Star."
She got up and fetched a folder with a piece of paper taped to the front that read, "Q-T". She opened it to the "S" section and found "Star". I was the only one with the last name "Star". Her finger pointed to my name, then slid it across the page to the other side.
"Yes, your dorm number is 6-K. You do have a roommate. Is that OK with you?" She glanced up at me obediently. Intriguing, a roommate…
"Male or female?"
"Male."
"Name."
"Ryu Tsuchi."
I smirked. "Sounds nice. Any classes together?"
She scanned over my schedule with her eyes, then flipped to, my guess, Ryu's page and analyzed his. She shut the folder and set it on the desktop.
"Biology and Art. You and quite a few other students also seem to have a…seventh class. It's a class only for students with…abilities, for honing your skills. Sound good?"
I knew that I had put her in a trance to get the information that I wanted, but I was still surprised at what information I get with this ability. Even in a trance, she still hesitated to tell me what the class was. That usually meant that if she wasn't in a trance, she would've merely looked over my schedule, noticed the extra class, and just hand me the paper. Staff secret maybe? I shifted the box into one hand, took the paper gently in the other, and nodded to the secretary. "Thank you very much ma'am." And, with that, I walked out of the office, breaking the trance. When I closed the door behind me, I turned and looked at her again. She was looking down at her desk with a very confused look on her face, probable trying to figure out why the "Q-T" folder was out on her desk. I grinned and walked away. Once I was a pretty good distance away from the office, I looked at my schedule. I had calculus first period, technology second period, biology third, history fourth, lunch, then art, english, then that honing class… Only three classes shared with my roommate? Aww… I wanted to get to know him better. We do live in the same room so it would help if I got along with him, right? I looked around and noticed that the halls were completely empty. I remembered my dorm number. 6-K. I looked around some more and found a directory. 'Well, it IS a college. It wouldn't be good if new students, like myself, got lost now would it?' I thought to myself. Let's see… first and second floors are classrooms and third is dorm-rooms! I climbed the stairs and walked around the rectangular hallway layout, looking for the "K"'s. It looked like it went from "A" to "J" and the numbers went from "1" to "9". No 6-K… I didn't know what to do. I went back to the directory and looked closer at it. I noticed that it had tiny typed writing on the bottom. "**For our gifted students, a separate dorm building is available past the football field**" Hmm…well then, they thought of everything now have they? I wonder why the regular students are able to mingle freely with the, as the directory said, "gifted students." Meh, i'll find out if I really need to. I shifted my bags more onto my shoulders and walked the distance to my dorm building.
When I walked in, I gasped. the first floor was a wide-open space, furnished with only a large tan circular shag rug that looked as soft as a cloud in the middle of the room, a dark burgundy couch with matching love seat that were placed somewhat on the rug, two beanbag chairs, one table, and two little violet cushions that were underneath the table a bit. One beanbag chair looked like a patchwork quilt of 10 different animal print fabrics made into a beanbag. The other was rather cute. It was all white with black sewed-on "cat ears" and a sewed-on "cat tail". It even had a cute little kitty face sewn into the beanbag face. The floor was short cropped carpet in an off-white beige color, the color of pretty sand. I looked where the furniture faced and saw the biggest TV I have ever seen! It was complete with 3 different video game systems, surround sound, DVD player, and cable! I looked to my left and saw a door that had a horseshoe design that spelled, "JESS". I looked to my right and saw another door, but this one looked like it had been mauled! It had gash marks in the wood that looked like claw marks! I took a closer look and realized that the scratches spelled something. I followed the lines with my finger and said each letter outloud to myself. "K-Y-L-E. Kyle." Upon looking up, I saw railings as if there were rooms up there, and as I looked around, I saw a staircase going up to the second floor to the right of the television. I walked up to the staircase and could see that the TV was up against the back wall. I bent my back back a little and saw that to the left of the TV, there was another door. I padded softly up to it and nudged it with my foot. It swung slightly in. I pushed it open and saw the dorm's kitchen, but it looked more like a restaurant's kitchen. It had four islands, an eight-burner stove. two ovens, two double sinks, three refrigerators, and three deep-freezers! My mouth was gaped open, but soon after my discovery, I felt the weight of my luggage. I walked as fast as I could up the carpeted steps. The staircase ended almost at a door. I was startled because this door didn't have a name etched into it or a design spelling out a name, but I knew it all the same. A bronze number and letter, 6-K, was nailed into the wood. I turned the knob, expecting it to be locked, but it opened right up. The first thing I saw was an empty bed so I dumped all my stuff, except for my schoolbag and prized notebook, onto it and walked out, shutting the door behind me.
I decided to walk around the second story of this dorm building. I turned right and walked down the hallway, then had to turn left to follow the hallway. There was only one door on this hallway. There was a laminated piece of paper nailed into the door. On the paper was a drawing. The word "Moleute" was drawn like fire, the word "and" was drawn like vapor, and the word "Tsumaru" was drawn like ice. There were red and pink hearts all over the remaining white space. Wow, must be a couple. They must be very close. I walked to the other hallway, passing my dorm room, and to another door. This design had me scratching my head. The door itself was a really dark purple color and it had what looked like Theben letters painted on with lavender paint. I knew they were Theben because I had dipped my feathers into Wiccan before. The symbols were arranged as if they spelled out four words, but I couldn't decipher it. Like I said, I dipped, not submerged. The first word had four letters, the second had three, and the third had four letters like the first. Now that I look at the first and third word more closely, the first three "letters" seemed to be the same. The third word had no letters in common with the first two words. The fourth word was six letters long and the first, third, and last "letter" were the same as the first letter of the second word. The second letter wasn't seen anywhere else. The fourth letter was the same as the last letter of the second word, and the fifth letter was the same as the last letter in the first word. Hm, I hope the person who occupies that room will tell me what that means. I walked back down the stairs and out the front door.
(Ryu's P.O.V)
Hypnotic, yet soft orange eyes clouded my thoughts so much that I almost flew into the railed bridge that ran across two parallel hallways on the second floor, joining them. I managed to cut it close but not without buffeting other students with the gust of wind that trails me when I fly. I turned my head to make sure no one was hurt. Good, no one was. The last thing I need is attention drawn to me. I turned my head forward again, only to realize how close I was to the school's live mascot and my friend. The lemon-colored eagle banked left to narrowly avoid me. I nodded sheepishly to the avian.
"Thanks Kyle."
"No probe, Ryu." He focused his light blue eyes on me. "You lost in thought?"
"Hai…"
"About what?"
I shook my head to try to clear it of those flame-tinted orbs. No luck.
"Nothing", I breathed. I glanced sideways at him and slightly smirked. "All right teacher's pet, why are you an eagle?"
Kyle grinned real big and flapped his wings.
"Gotta represent, baby!" He opened his smooth beak and laughed.
"Easier than putting on a costume, huh?"
"Yeah, I feel sorry for Kirk."
"The human school mascot?" I had stressed "human".
"Hey, i'm human!" he protested. "Sorta…"
"A human who can shift forms." I commented.
"But my neutral form is human." he whimpered, then sighed. "We need a different person to wear that god-awful bird suit. Kirk hates it. He's fixing to quit."
For some reason, those piercing orange eyes invaded my thoughts once again.
"Yeah. Wait, who told you that he's about to quit? Yuki or Yuko?"
"Pfft! I don't know! I wasn't paying attention when I heard it. One of them said it. Whichever sees the future."
"I think both of them can."
"No, I do know that only one sees the future. One can attack and do mind control and one can do forcefields and see the future. They both are telekinetic and telepathic. Right?"
I laughed, which came out as a small chuckle. I don't laugh a lot. "Sounds like you've been studying them…"
"No! It's just I get pissed when they give me that look when I get it wrong."
"What look? They never change they're facial appearance!"
"You'll know it when you get it."
"IF I get it! I know them. Well, as much as they have shown us. Who knows what else they can do with their powers…" I glanced again at him and noticed a patch of black and white fur on his feathery back. "Heneko?" I turned my head to look at her.
A young-looking feline with a white face, two black ears, and big shiny emerald-colored eyes looked up. She gave me an apologetic grin then hid her furry face in her mate's feathers once again. I looked at Kyle.
"Why is she a kitten?"
"Someone in the halls scared her. She called for me so I flew as fast as these wings could get me here and picked her up. You know me, she calls, i'm here. I love her and she loves me." Kyle turned his head back a bit and looked at his girlfriend with sapphire blue eyes. "Right, Hene?"
Heneko stretched her neck forward and kissed Kyle's beak. "Yep!"
I smiled at the young couple with mixed feelings. One feeling was of happiness for my two friends. The other was of sadness, grief that I have no one to love. I mentally shook that thought from my head. 'You don't need anybody with you at the moment, Ryu.' I thought to myself. 'You need to get you shit straightened out first before you even think of a relationship! They're already watching you closely because of where you've been going. Don't push your luck!'
"Ryu!"
Kyle's voice derailed my train of thought.
"Nani demo?" I asked.
"We're here."
I looked ahead. A door was ahead of us; a 2nd story classroom. Kyle flew ahead. Mid-air, his shape quivered, then his entire form began to alter. The feathers laid down flat and were absorbed by the skin. The hind legs knee's popped then reversed direction and the sharp talons grew tame and became human feet. The tip of the wing-bones split into five and grew into fingers. More joints formed and soon, he had human arms to go with the rest of his body. He was wearing a white T-shirt with a shark printed on it with the words "BITE ME!" and a pair of khaki shorts. He had blond, shoulder-length hair, striking blue eyes, yet a calm and playful face. He was barefoot. He went everywhere barefoot. Heneko had jumped off Kyle's back when he started to transform and she landed on the hallway floor, as a little girl, a freshman in college at a tender young age of 18. She now had short, choppy white hair that was, surprisingly, naturally flecked with black with her black neko ears poking out of the strands. She still had her big green cat eyes with the slit pupil that matched her green tank top. The rest of her looked like a normal girl until you got to her long black cat tail that poked out of her navy blue skirt. She, like Kyle, was barefoot, her small feet only touched the floor on their balls. The shapeshifter and the neko linked hands and walked into the classroom. I landed on the hallway near the door. I sighed, blowing a small tongue of orange flame. It curled in on itself, making itself into a ball. I gazed into the pyre and, once again, saw those beautiful orange orbs that keep sliding into my subconscious. I gripped the fireball in my left hand and pushed it into my chest, where my heart was. I felt the intense heat but welcomed it. The fire slid into my flesh without burning, searing, or scorching, just warmth and determination. I felt the fire wrap around my heart, encouraging the memory of the eyes in. The muscle took and held it. Why in my heart and not my brain where all memories are usually kept? Because I just knew then that my heart was where this particular memory needed to go. Like I will tell Them one day, sometimes you just need to go by what you feel, and not by what tradition tells you. I smiled and walked into the classroom.
(Ari's P.O.V)
Long black white tipped hair, determined green eye, full pink lips, strong arms, a sculpted chest and abs, and b-e-a-utiful wings floated around my thoughts like a draconic cloud. But what really has me about this guy, is that thumb-like appendage he shared with the jade dragon that had escaped me a few days ago.
RRRIIINNNGGG!
The second period release bell scared the first row of feathers from my forearms. Luckily, the whole class was hovering over by the door and had bolted as soon as the bell rang, so no one saw them. I breathed in deeply then exhaled, calming myself. The feathers retreated. I gathered my stuff and was turning to put it in my book bag when my elbow hit my prized drawing notebook, causing it to crash to the floor. It opened on a page. I glanced over to see what picture it had opened on. The jade dragon.
I packed my stuff, slung on my backpack and picked up the notebook, keeping the page. As I walked out of the classroom, I used my free hand to fish out my schedule. I unfolded it with well-oiled speed and looked at it. Third period is Biology. That's one of the classes that I share with my roommate, Ryu! I glanced down at the the drawing of the dragon. That one guy's wings looked a lot like the wings of the jade dragon's. Except the guy didn't have thick red armor scales on his human shoulders and wing shoulders, knees, and on the back of his neck going down his back and down his tail. Well, the guy doesn't have a tail… Could they be the same being? I've never heard of humans who could turn into dragons, but there is that legend my mom told me about when I was little… Hell, i'm a 20-year-old man who can, when he is startled, grows yellow-tipped feathers from his forearms and we gets extremely angry or scared, and this is SO cliche, turns into a-
"Well, hello!"
A voice popped my thought bubble. I looked up accusingly at the culprit and saw a man about in his late 20's or early 30's. I looked around. My subconscious had lead me to my Biology class.
"Hello, you must be Mr. Star, the new student here at Mountain Ridge. How do you like it here?"
"It's great, a little confusing but nice. And, please," I caught his eyes. "call me Ari." My eyes flashed and his widened, then blinked a few times. I walked away while he was blinking and sat down in the back and began to get my stuff out. A few seconds before the bell rang, someone slid in the door quickly. I looked up and saw the one person who has kept my head in the clouds all day.