Notes: Oooh, "Master" used to be such a respective title, and now it's tainted for me. ^^;; Just remember that when the title "Master" is used, it's not in a kinky way. ::sweatdrop::
Disclaimer: I own the dragon and Miyako's outfit! Or I wish I did. ^^;; But nothing else! And I like it that way, so nya! ^_^;
Bewitching the DragonPart One -- Chapter FourBy: Hanae Michiko===============
A slight
breeze blew through the humid night air, ruffling Daisuke's hair and his dragon
companion's mane as Daisuke chattered about his life, his family, and his home.
"I live
with my older sister Jun and my parents, but they aren't home often. I didn't even have to tell them I was
leaving, because they're out on business. But it's okay, because Jun takes care of me. As much as she pretends to hate me, I know how she really feels."
Ken
listened intently, making various grunts and nodding every one in a while to
show he was paying attention and wanted Daisuke to go on. Ken liked listening to the redhead
talk. He had a lot of interesting
stories to tell, and a nice voice to boot. Ken only wished he could speak back to him, let him know what he really
thought. Though at the moment, Ken was
too engrossed in the feeling of Daisuke riding on his back and Daisuke's breath
against his neck, and thought that if he had a voice, it would have certainly
failed him.
"Sora's a
real nice person. She treats me as a
friend, but she doesn't tell me much. I
have to infer a lot about her…like how she's courting her advisor Mimi. But Sora would never tell anyone that. The relationships of the town's leaders do
not need to be shared with the public."
Ken felt
Daisuke's arms tighten around his neck and had to resist the urge to collapse
from the overwhelming feeling of butterflies in his stomach. The knight's lips were on his neck now, and
he could feel them moving as Daisuke continued to talk. The dragon felt as if he were going to melt.
"Man, I'm
tired. I only slept in a proper bed
once! All I want to do right now is
find your home, steal your bed, and get some shut-eye!"
Daisuke
laughed, and Ken felt the reverberations of the laugh on his back. It made him shiver. Daisuke only kept talking in an effort to
keep himself awake.
"Jun's
totally in love with this," Daisuke yawned, "…this blonde guy from back where I
live."
Daisuke
laughed again at the memory of his sister, and continued.
"I didn't
even care enough to learn his name. She's always 'falling in love' with these guys from town."
As Daisuke
removed his hands from around Ken's neck to form quotes with his fingers, he
nearly slipped. Ken started and turned,
ready to catch Daisuke by the waist of his pants if the boy were to fall. Daisuke clasped his arms around the dragon's
neck again just before he toppled over completely, and hung about a foot from
the ground. He threw his head back and
laughed at himself, trying to get around to Ken's back again. Ken brought his head under Daisuke's body
and nudged the boy's bottom with his snout, the scales on his face heating
up. He would have been blushing if he
could.
"Thanks,
buddy!" Daisuke exclaimed, resuming an even tighter hold around the dragon's
neck. Ken nodded, grunted, and kept
walking.
"So, as I
was saying, Jun thinks I should find myself a lady to court. She says it's about time I fall in love and
find a nice girl to spend the rest of my life with."
Daisuke
took a deep breath and sighed, hesitating before going on.
"The thing
is, I don't really like…"
Daisuke
trailed off as Ken stopped in front of a large palace. Mouth hanging agape, Daisuke brought his
gaze from the base of the palace to the very top, slowly and in awe.
"This is
your home?"
Ken nodded
and set Daisuke on the ground in front of the door.
"Should I
just…knock?"
Ken nodded
again, and Daisuke brought a hesitant fist to the door. Slowly but firmly, he knocked three times
and waited for someone to notice. When
no one came, he knocked again, a little louder and with slightly more
confidence than the first time. After a
few moments, the door opened just enough for a blonde head to pop through the
opening.
"May I help
you?" the boy on the other side of the door asked.
"Yeah,"
Daisuke started. "I've got something
that belongs to you."
The knight
gestured behind him to the dragon standing ambiguously and nervously a few feet
back.
Daisuke saw
the blonde's eyes widen and he gasped.
"Master
Ken!"
Daisuke
raised an eyebrow and quickly turned on his heel to face the dragon.
"Master
Ken?"
Ken looked
downward as if ashamed, and Daisuke turned red. The way he had acted around Ken was nothing like the way one
should act around nobility. He had been
too informal! Daisuke immediately got
down on one knee and bowed his head before Ken. Dragon or no dragon, he was still superiority.
Ken gazed
at Daisuke a moment and felt a smile tugging at his mouth. The outward result looked awkward, seeing as
how dragons didn't have lips, but he was smiling nonetheless. Something he hadn't done in ages. He couldn't simply tell Daisuke that
kneeling before him was unnecessary, so he leaned forward and nudged the
redhead with his snout. Daisuke stood,
and Ken shook his head. Grinning
broadly, Daisuke nodded his understanding and turned back to the blonde at the
door.
"Hey, wait
a second," Daisuke thought aloud. Blonde hair, blue eyes, a fisherman's hat clutched tightly in one fist…
"Are you Takeru?"
The blonde
tore his gaze from his master to raise an eyebrow at Daisuke.
"Yes, I
am."
"Great! I have a note for you from a kid named
Iori. He gave it to me to--"
Before Daisuke
could finish, Takeru had swung the door open and jumped outside, grabbing at
the piece of paper the redhead had just pulled from his pocket.
"Excellent! Thank you so much!"
Takeru was
about to tear the letter open to read it, but then remembered the task at
hand. He sheepishly put the paper in
his back pocket and turned pink.
"So, Ken
told me there was someone here who knows what happened to him. Would that person happen to be you?" Daisuke
asked, trying to get back on topic.
Takeru's
gaze immediately fell to the floor sadly.
"Yes."
"Could you
help us out?"
"Well,"
Takeru rubbed at his neck nervously as he looked back up at Daisuke. "See, there's a witch in Tamachi named
Miyako, and she's in love with Ken."
Daisuke
felt a pang of something in his chest, but ignored it and listened intently to
Takeru's story.
"However,
Ken doesn't…um well, he prefers…well, you see, he…"
The dragon
made a noise from the back of his throat that sounded vaguely like a cough, and
Takeru laughed sheepishly.
"He
couldn't fall in love with Miyako," he finished hastily. Daisuke raised a curious eyebrow, but Takeru
shook his head and continued. "Miyako
thought Ken wouldn't love her because she was a witch, so, angry, she turned
him into a dragon to get revenge."
Daisuke bit
his lip and slowly absorbed the information Takeru had just given him.
"Okay," the
redhead finally said. "This is going to
take some thought. But first…do you
have any food?"
Takeru
laughed, and Daisuke thought he heard a chuckle-related noise come from Ken, as
well. It made him smile happily and
blush embarrassedly at the same time.
"Of course,
of course! Where are my manners? First off, hello, I'm Takaishi Takeru, Ken's
right-hand-man. Sort of."
Takeru
smiled crookedly, and Daisuke laughed gently.
"Hi, I'm
Motomiya Daisuke, sent here from Tokyo to slay the dragon, having failed
miserably."
Takeru
shook his head in amusement.
"Come on in
and…actually, I'll bring the food out to you," Takeru amended as he took
another glance at Ken. He disappeared
behind the closed door.
Daisuke
turned back to Ken and smiled shyly.
"So you're
in charge here, huh?"
Ken nodded.
"That's,
um… That's pretty cool."
Ken made a
shrugging motion with his head.
After an
awkward pause, Daisuke grinned.
"Don't
worry, we'll get that Miyako chick! You'll be human again in no time!"
The redhead
found himself wondering what Ken looked like as a human and hoping he would
have the same stunning violet gaze that had been burned into his retina and his
memory forever. The sound of a door
opening startled Daisuke out of his daydream, and he jumped, turning to face
Takeru.
"Here you
go," Takeru said, placing a humungous tray of food on the doorstep. "I don't know what dragons eat, so I got a
bit of everything."
Daisuke
plopped down onto the ground in front of the tray and winked his thanks. Ken slowly got down on his stomach and
elbows, eyelevel with Daisuke for the first time since they'd met. Daisuke's breath caught when he looked over
at Ken. Piercing violet met warm brown,
and Daisuke found he could not pull away. Takeru's voice startled him back to reality.
"Eat up,
and if you need anything else, I'll be right in here."
With that,
the blonde left again, closing the door behind him.
"Okay!"
Daisuke shouted, hopping to get rid of the butterflies in his stomach with some
good old fashion binging. "What do you
like? Chicken?"
The redhead
held up a fair-sized chicken leg and held it in front of Ken's face. The dragon sniffed at it before bringing his
tongue out to taste a sample. Approving, he nibbled at it as well as a dragon could possibly
nibble. Daisuke held it for him the
whole time. When only the bone was
left, Daisuke reached down and pulled out a cluster of grapes. Ken stuck his tongue out for Daisuke, and
the boy placed on it a couple grapes. Ken chewed, swallowed, and shuddered, obviously disapproving of the
fruit. Daisuke laughed and finished off
the cluster himself.
"How about
cheese?" Daisuke asked, holding out a triangle of cheddar cheese for the dragon
to try. Ken leaned forward, sniffed,
and began eating out of Daisuke's hand, enjoying the dairy product almost as
much as he enjoyed the poultry. He
licked Daisuke's hand to get the last remaining bits of cheese, and Daisuke
flushed a deep cherry red.
"Do…do you,
um…like bread?"
Daisuke
lifted a full loaf, and Ken sniffed it, shaking his head before even tasting
the food. Daisuke smiled and tore off
bits for himself to eat.
"What about
these noodle things?"
Knowing forks
would do nothing for Ken, Daisuke reached into the pile of noodles and grabbed
a handful, wrinkling his nose and laughing at the way they felt in his
palm. Ken licked the noodles from
Daisuke's hand and shrugged, showing that he didn't like them as much as the
other food. Daisuke smiled and grabbed
two more chicken legs, one for Ken and the other for himself.
The two of
them eventually finished off the whole platter in front of them, Ken even
having licked the crumbs and leftover juices from the plate as Daisuke held it
in front of his face, laughing.
Daisuke
yawned.
"We've had
quite an excursion today, I say we get some sleep before try to think."
Ken nodded
in approval, and Daisuke stood up to knock on the door and talk with Takeru
about sleeping arrangements. The blonde
came to the door, looking very elated and excited. He had obviously read his boyfriend's letter.
"We'd like
to get some sleep for now and figure out what do in the morning," Daisuke
proposed.
Takeru
nodded.
"Of
course! I'll prepare you a room and…"
he bit his lip as his eyes met Ken's. "I guess Ken will have to sleep out here."
Daisuke got
a sinking feeling in his chest and he turned to look at Ken. The dragon shrugged to show he didn't mind,
but Daisuke did mind. He turned
back to Takeru.
"Could you
just bring some blankets and pillows out here? I'd like to stay out and keep Ken company…"
Takeru
smiled, a hint of hope shining in his azure eyes.
"Certainly,"
he said, disappearing for the third time into the corridors of the palace. He returned momentarily with an armful of
blankets and pillows. "Here! The most comfortable ones we have," Takeru
offered with a proud grin. "Have a nice
night!"
"Thank
you," Daisuke said, walking back to Ken. "Let's find a nice comfortable spot on your lawn to make a bed out of,
all right?"
Ken nodded
and got to his feet, and the pair walked around until they found a soft patch
of grass. Ken settled onto it first,
and Daisuke covered the dragon with all but one of the blankets. The knight then put a few pillows under
Ken's head, which Ken accepted gratefully. Daisuke placed another pillow in the crook where the dragon's front
haunches connected to the rest of his body and settled against Ken's warm body,
pulling the last blanket up around his chin.
"Good
night, Ken."
Ken grunted
in response, wishing more than anything in the world that he could have told
Daisuke "Good night."
* * * * *
The hot sun
beating down on everything resting on the earth roused Daisuke to alertness in the
morning. Noting vaguely that sleeping
against Ken had given him one of the best nights of sleep he'd ever had in his
life, Daisuke sat up, removing the blanket from his uncomfortably warm body. The boy began thinking, bringing a hand to
his mouth and chewing on his fingernails unconsciously.
"I've got
it!" he exclaimed, waking Ken from his sleep.
Daisuke
turned around, noticing Ken had awoken, and explained his plan.
"We have to
go see Miyako!"
Okay, so it
wasn't exactly a master plan, but why not go for the easy way out?
Ken
recoiled immediately, obviously not too happy with the idea of going to see
Miyako.
"Ken, if we
go see her, I'm sure I could persuade her to turn you back. I'm excellent at persuasive speaking,"
Daisuke assured the dragon, beaming a little too proudly.
Ken shook
his head. He didn't care how well
Daisuke could speak, he wasn't going to go see the witch who had done this to
him.
"Ken,
please. I have a gut feeling that it
will work! You have to trust me! I…I'd never let anything bad happen to you…"
the knight told Ken honestly, blushing a light pink.
Ken
thought, mentally biting his lip and sighing. He rolled his eyes before finally agreeing to Daisuke's plan.
"Great! Okay, we'll let Takeru know what's going on,
and then we'll trek on over to Miyako's place."
Having said
that, Daisuke made his way around to the palace's front door and knocked on it
heavily. Takeru appeared at the door
seconds later.
"Would you
like some breakfast?" was the first thing the blonde asked.
At the
mention of food, Daisuke felt his stomach grumble. 'Well, can't persuade on an empty stomach!' he concluded.
"Sure! And after we eat, we're going to go to
Miyako's home and have a talk with her."
Takeru
stiffened noticeably.
"Are you
sure that's such a good idea?" the boy asked warily.
Daisuke
grinned confidently.
"Well, it's
not a bad one."
Takeru
frowned but nodded.
"I…I trust
you to bring Ken back."
Daisuke
smiled.
"Thanks,
that means a lot to me."
Takeru
nodded.
"Okay, I'll
bring out your food and then tell you where Miyako's home is. I wish you two the best of luck, and try not
to get into too much trouble."
After
bringing out breakfast for Ken and Daisuke, giving Daisuke brief direction's to
Miyako's house, and wishing the two of them luck again, Takeru headed into the
castle to write a letter to Iori letting him know what was going on in Tamachi.
Daisuke and
Ken ate quickly, Daisuke too excited about his plan to savor his meal, Ken
being forced to eat at the speed Daisuke fed him. Once finished, they got to their feet, and Ken bent his head down
to let Daisuke climb onto his back.
"No, that's
okay, I feel like walking today," Daisuke said with a wide smile. He still kept an arm on the dragon's
shoulder the whole way. Staying in
contact with Ken made him comfortable and relaxed, for whatever reason.
"Okay,
Takeru said it's not very far, but still at least an hour's walk away."
Ken nodded,
very familiar with the distance between his palace and Miyako's home.
"Do you hate
Miyako?"
Ken
shrugged.
"The reason
you couldn't love her wasn't because she was a witch, was it?"
Ken shook
his head.
"What was
it, then?"
Ken
shrugged again. Daisuke bit his lip, a
little peeved at the fact that Ken couldn't speak to him. He wondered what his voice was like.
"Was she
just not your type?"
Ken made a
gesture that seemed to say, "You could say that."
"What is
your type?" Daisuke asked. It had
seemed like an innocent enough question, but as soon as it left his mouth,
Daisuke found himself hoping that Ken's type was…something he could fit the
description of.
Ken only
shrugged again, looking as if he was growing increasingly uncomfortable with
the situation. Daisuke sighed.
"Jun always
tries to hook me up with girls from the town, mostly her friends, but none of
them are my type, either. She keeps
asking me what I want in a woman, but I can't really tell her because…well,
truth be told…I don't want a woman…"
Daisuke
looked down, slightly embarrassed at his confession. His attraction to other males was something only he knew about,
but it felt necessary to share with Ken.
Ken felt
his heart leap in his chest and begin palpitating at twice its normal
speed. He didn't know why he felt this
way…after all, he was a dragon. But that hadn't seemed to bother Daisuke. The boy treated him as if he was already in his human form.
"I've
always…well, for the longest time, I've been the prince, the hero, the knight
in shining armor, and I've always wished that for once I could be the one
finding his prince, and not the other way around."
Ken
continued to walk calmly, but was nearly having a heart attack. 'I'll be your prince!' his mind
screamed, and Ken ached with the need to speak to Daisuke. 'I'll be your knight in shining armor who
will rescue you and woo you and love you! I can be that prince!'
Ken
clenched his jaw tightly, cursing Miyako and thanking her all at once. If it weren't for the fact that she had
changed him into a dragon, he never would have met Daisuke. But because he was a dragon, he couldn't
speak to Daisuke and tell him all that his heart screamed to tell him.
Dammit.
"Is that
it?"
Ken looked
up at the hut in front of them and nodded.
Daisuke
tilted his head to one side. It looked
friendly and humble enough. Shrugging,
Daisuke approached the front door and knocked. After a few moments, a lavender-haired young woman who looked as if she
had lazily draped herself in black satin came to the door. She quirked an eyebrow at Daisuke and, after
looking him up and down, smiled approvingly. However, she didn't speak.
"Are you
Miyako?"
"Yes, and
who are you?"
"My name's
Motomiya Daisuke, and I've come to request something from you."
The witch
laughed icily.
"I don't do
requests."
Daisuke
felt his cheek twitch, but he remained hospitable.
"I believe
you've made a mistake."
"Mistake?!"
she screeched. "What the hell do you
want?"
"I want you
to turn Ken back into a human," Daisuke bit out.
Miyako
growled upon remembering Ken.
"That was
no mistake."
"No, it was. You thought Ken didn't love you because you
were a witch, but you were wrong."
Miyako
snarled, her upper lip curling upwards slightly.
"Then why didn't
he love me?"
"Well,
seeing as how he's a dragon, he couldn't exactly tell me that, now could he?"
Daisuke responded cockily.
"I don't
believe you. I don't believe you! All of you, you're filthy liars!"
Daisuke
tilted his head to one side. All…?
"No, it's
the truth! Really. And besides, what does it matter now? You've had your revenge, Ken's
miserable! He hates being a dragon."
"Good! That was the point. He's not supposed to enjoy it."
"Are you
suffering still from Ken's rejection? Are you that pathetic that you can't move on?!"
Miyako
opened her mouth to respond, but closed it again, thinking.
"You come
here treating me like this and expect me to grant your request? What kind of a person are you?"
Daisuke
didn't know how to answer that question without falling into a trap, so he
avoided it.
"Please…please,
just change him back."
Miyako
smirked. The boy has resorted to
begging…how interesting.
"Why should
I? What am I going to get out of
changing him back?" the witch asked incredulously, glaring daggers at Daisuke.
"Gratification
that you know you did something right?"
Miyako scoffed.
"What use
have I for gratification?"
Daisuke
thought again, biting his lip.
"Our
undying gratitude?"
Miyako
laughed, but the sound was more closely related to the screech of a hawk before
it dove on its prey.
"What use
have I for undying gratitude?!"
Daisuke
took a deep breath, clenched his jaw, closed his eyes tightly, and
thought. What would she get out of
it? What could she get out of
it? So far, Operation: Talk to Miyako
wasn't working out as planned.
"Anything."
Daisuke
opened his eyes to see Miyako eyeing him interestedly.
"What?" she
asked, leaning against her doorframe.
"You can
have anything you wish to have, anything at all, if you change Ken back."
Miyako
licked her lips in thought and grinned.
"Anything
at all?"
Daisuke considered
the question. What was the worst that
could happen?
"Anything
at all."
"Okay, I'll
return Ken to his true form," Miyako finally agreed.
Daisuke
turned around to face Ken and whooped.
"Yes! I told you I could do it, Ken! I told you that you could trust me!"
"If…"
Miyako interjected quietly.
Daisuke
plastered a neutral expression on his face and turned to face Miyako again.
"If?" he
asked, still mentally celebrating. He'd
already broken out the wine and was dancing with a human Ken in his mind.
"If…you
marry me."
~End Chapter Four~