Ladies and gentlemen! I humbly welcome you to the twenty-second chapter of this story!
Please enjoy and review!
Kaito glanced at the windows and for the second time this day was tempted to just leave through it to try and escape from all that was going on around him. He was already feeling emotionally drained with far too many questions buzzing through his head. But he knew staying was the better choice. In fact, not staying would be equivalent to running from getting answers. And that was obviously the opposite from what he wanted, right?
His mood has not improved as he glared at the contents of the last wardrobe. Choosing a pair of socks and underwear was easy enough, since he didn't care much about it but the outerwear was a different story. Because apparently, among all other flaws, one Hakuba Saguru had a terrible sense of fashion. Or rather - lack of thereof.
Kaito rubbed his temples in annoyance. What he had really hoped before opening the wardrobe was to find his own clothing, or at least a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. But apparently Saguru didn't have a casual bone in his body!
Well, alright it might have been a little unfair, as all of the clothes inside the four wardrobes were really nice. And that was actually the problem - they were just too nice. The entirety of the selection pretty much only consisted of suits and button-up shirts made out of expensive, slick materials, in a variety of colors. It wasn't hard to guess that, much like the bed, Saguru had it prepared with KID in mind but it was definitely not what Kaito liked wearing outside of heists!
After what felt like a small eternity, Kaito had finally managed to dig out a single cotton suit. He gratefully took the gray pants from it (he had no intention of wearing the attached vest and jacket). To match it, he picked a pinkish wool shirt and put it on, without fastening the last two buttons and leaving the hems hanging over the pants. Figuring this was the best he could achieve, he glanced into the wardrobe mirror grimacing at his sickly pale skin and turned to leave the room. There was no point regretting that he didn't have access to his make up kit when there was nothing he could do about it.
The manor itself didn't impress him much. Not only had he already seen it on the surveillance videos, he had previously explored far more magnificent establishments during his heists. That being said, he did appreciate the softness of the carpet under his soles, as he navigated through the hallways adorned by boring portraits. What he was surprised by was the height of the hall. He hadn't really noted it when he viewed the footage of the place but the corridor was of normal height, unlike the room he was previously in. Kaito was tempted to take a peek into the rooms he was passing by but figured that it didn't really matter all that much right now. With a mental shrug he figured that he could just re-watch the footage back at home and just resumed walking.
Funnily enough, he didn't really need to recall the layout of the place to find the dining room. The fragrant smell of food, waiting for him there was more than enough to lead him to it.
As expected, Saguru was already there, sitting at one end of a table, while busying himself with reading a book. The angle wasn't right for Kaito to peek at the title on the cover. More annoyingly, he found it impossible to ignore what was on the table itself. His stomach was churning at the divine smell, so inevitably his gaze slipped to glance at the freaking lobster dishes just sitting on top of the two plates, each set right before Saguru and a free chair.
His host had noticed Kaito entering the room and greeted him with a smile, as he set his book aside on a small cart beside him. Kaito in turn returned it with a flat glare. Not that he really had the room to complain. The lobster on his plate glistened with a thin, butter coating, looking simply delicious and it wasn't often that he had the opportunity to eat something like that. He would have liked to just gratefully gobble it up whole but he couldn't help the feeling like Saguru was trying to buy him off with food. As well as all the previous luxuries. And that wasn't something he would just accept in silence.
Oblivious to his thoughts, Saguru raised an eyebrow seeing Kaito's glare, while watching the other slowly stalk towards his designated chair. "I'm happy that you didn't change your mind about coming. But it seems like something is bothering you? I hope that everything was fine with the medical check?" Saguru asked with concern.
Kaito's leg was starting to hurt by now. During his short walk from the room he made sure to avoid limping but that in turn put too much pressure on his hidden injury. He couldn't help but feel relieved when he finally reached his chair and was able to lean over it. However, he did not sit in it just yet since he wanted to make it obvious that there was a lot in fact that had bothered him. Hearing Saguru's question he was tempted to insinuate and taunt how the other was making his staff paranoid but thought better of it. He didn't want to cause Jerry any potential harm, so he figured that he shouldn't note how the doctor seemed to be afraid of Kaito before he found out that it was safe to mention at all.
"It was fine. What I can't wrap my head around is why are you so determined to feed me seafood," he grumbled with a heavy sigh and pinched his nose bridge. This allowed him to close his eyes and stop looking at the tempting food, as it was getting hard to resist just launching himself at it. Too bad he couldn't close his nose as well…
"Why not, dare I ask?" He heard Saguru ask with what sounded like poorly hidden amusement. "Aoko-kun assured me that it is to your liking. And it's not like it resembles fish."
Kaito stiffened his muscles to prevent himself from shivering at the word and glared at him, not bothering to hide his annoyance. "That's exactly why I hate talking with you," he grumbled with spite.
Saguru laughed wholeheartedly and entwined his fingers over his chest. "My apologies, I just can't seem to get enough of seeing cracks in your poker face," he admitted with a shameless grin.
Kaito huffed and sat down at the table. He supposed he had to admit to losing that one. While the exchange would normally be fun enough, as he enjoyed bickering, it did nothing to reassure him. The reply was pretty much a non-answer that only strained his nerves further but he refused to admit it. He leaned over his balled fist, prompting his elbow on the table, instead of starting to eat with an annoyed look on his face. He knew that it made him seem childish but it was either that or embarrassing himself. The real reason being - he had no idea how to get around eating the lobster. Aside from trying to rip the thing apart with his bare hands, that is. Sure, he had lobster before, but it was in a commercial bar where what he really received was just the meat. And here it was the whole thing, with the shell uncracked in any visible place. To make matters worse, at the sides of the plate there were tools which he could only vaguely recognize - an odd-looking fork, something that resembled a nutcracker more than anything else and a scalpel-resembling thing. With the divine smell still assaulting his nostrils, Kaito's stomach agreed that this was plain torture.
Saguru hummed with a pleased tone and turned to his plate. He first tore off the pincers, then took the cracker and broke the shells on them. Afterwards he whipped his hands with a napkin and picked up his own fork and scalpel, slowly and easily digging into the lobster. "Tell me please," he started in a curious tone, his eyes focused on his meal as he carefully carved the flesh inside of the shell, "Do you know what was the cause that made you collapse, Kuroba-kun?"
Slightly annoyed to have his question deflected by another question, Kaito observed Saguru discreetly while contemplating his answer. There was probably no benefit to him in feigning ignorance. Fairly certain what he should do, he sighed theatrically and straightened in his seat, picking up the same set of silverware. Slowly and carefully mirroring Saguru's movements while doing his best to keep a relaxed expression.
"According to your doctor it was malnutrition," he replied simply and closed his mouth around a bite-sized piece of lobster meat. He had to struggle to keep himself in check to not let pleasure show on his face. The food was just as tasty as it looked and smelled, simply melting in his mouth 1).
"Mhm, that's true. But I'm assuming that you find the idea ridiculous at best?"
Kaito glanced at him and was annoyed to see that he had failed to notice when Saguru set aside his cutlery to just stare at him with a smirk on his lips. The smug bastard. Kaito refused to get intimidated by him and just continued eating as he shrugged. It was definitely not because he couldn't resist the taste. Not at all.
"Not really. It does make sense," he said calmly and was pleased to hear Saguru shift in his seat, betraying interest. "In the end, I have never in fact eaten anything while in my other form and it's not like I could ever hope to fill the needs of a much larger body without going deep into obesity." That was at least the only way it made sense to him. Just like Jerry said before - his human body was in top condition, so it wasn't possible that he was missing out nutrition wise. The problem was reserved for the dragon form, making it easy to guess that it also held the solution.
"Huh, that's an interesting take…" Saguru mumbled in astonishment, making Kaito actually look up at him. Seeing that, the host cleared his throat. "Sadly it's not that simple, although I do believe that it would be good for you to try eating in your true form. You might find it quite enjoyable actually as I'm assuming that loongs might also have a different range of senses than in their human forms."
"I'll think about it," Kaito said simply, already deciding against it. In fact, the more he thought about it, the more unsettled he felt about transforming again at all. There were just so many reasons against it, the biggest being his lack of control over it or his emotions, which had already resulted in an accident. He chewed on another morsel to better hide his expression, deciding that he definitely didn't need anymore incidents like that in his life.
"Mhm… Well anyway, while it is still unknown where the difference in mass between the two forms come from, they are basically one body and the condition of one should directly correspond with the other." Kaito frowned at that and put away his tools, wanting to focus on Saguru's explanation fully. "That is only if all the necessary micronutrients are present."
"But I don't have any deficiencies. Elliot-hakase confirmed it as well," he asked carefully. Sure, he was showing his lack of knowledge but he already crossed that bridge with his previous guess.
"For a human you don't," Saguru pointed out and took a deep breath. "You see, outside of differences in mass and general shape, your true form has an additional limb, scales, horns, claws and more developed, specialized organs." While it wasn't the first time for Saguru to call the dragon form the 'true' one, it was starting to make Kaito feel more and more uncomfortable. "To grow those, you need to have very specific nutrients stored in your cells. If you don't, they will be borrowed from other tissues - muscle, skin and even organs. Because you are fit as you are, although this process weakened you, you were still able to move and even use simple abilities like flight. Sadly, healing Aoko must have torn even more tissues from your essential organs, causing you serious damage."
What Saguru had said sort of made sense. At least as much as it could, taking the topic into account. But at the same time Kaito felt even more confused. "Shouldn't me turning back just fix everything like before?" Saguru raised an eyebrow at him, urging him to clarify. Kaito wasn't really willing to but figured that he had little choice if he wanted answers. "I mean, I kind of did pass out after each transformation anyway. The only difference being that I always seemed to be able to change back before fainting."
Saguru pursed his lips, his gaze slipping down onto the table seemingly staring into the void as he contemplated the new information. "That's… concerning. But I suppose not that surprising. We still don't know what you need to be able to stay in the air. You see…" Saguru's eyes snapped back towards Kaito, as he started vaguely gesturing. "The nutrients that I said you borrow for your transformation are transferred back to where they were taken from through your bloodstream when you turn back into a human. The process does use up some additional calories but aside from that it isn't that dangerous as long as you use it sparingly and are generally healthy. However, using abilities is different as that process either forges the microelements into specific strands of protein that are eventually expelled from your body or simply uses them up right away. This makes them obviously inaccessible for you to reabsorb and thus makes recovery harder or impossible, depending on what was damaged. A good example is draco's fire breathing." He touched his dewlap as he explained. "In the organ called a flame sack, that is located around here, we synthesize a liquid organolithium compound which ignites when exposed to air. If some of the liquid is left when one transforms back, it is reabsorbed into the bloodstream and then is broken down in the kidneys, where it's neutralized in urine and then expelled from the body."
Kaito listened carefully to the explanation and it did make sense. But only to some extent. "Isn't all of it just magic?" The question slipped out of his mouth before he could think better of voicing it.
"Magic..?" Saguru asked slowly with a doubtful expression.
Kaito clicked his tongue in annoyance and proceeded to argue agitatedly. "I mean, alright, the fire breathing thing is simple chemistry. But you said it yourself that you have no idea where the difference in mass during transformation comes from and your other form weighs, what? Half a ton? Maybe more? And while I might be smaller in my other form, I don't have wings and fly anyway. Explain that."
Saguru sighed. "Well, I guess it is common to label as magic anything that is incomprehensible. Allow me to try to explain with an example you might be more familiar with. I'm sure you know of electric eels, right?" Kaito glared at him. While annoyingly he could see some resemblance, if Saguru was about to call him just a glorified, huge, flying eel he was going to throw a fit. "While bioelectricity is common for all complex living organisms, being able to produce a current strong enough to hurt or even kill other organisms should by all means be impossible. However, it is possible for those eels as they are able to do just that thanks to a special organ that only their kind really has. Or three organs to be precise, each for different types of currents. But still, it doesn't just happen. To produce the energy they need a lot of positively charged sodium ions. In that aspect, both loongs and dracos are similar. We also have special organs that allow us to do things that would be otherwise impossible. Like transforming energy into mass. I'm assuming that you haven't noticed it but during the transformation, both you and I, gather electrons from the environment. Or rather they are stripped from whatever molecules are close enough. If a living organism is too close to you, you will hijack their bioelectricity as well. The electrons then gain enough velocity to create matter. Or at least that is what can be perceived with external measurement and observation. As far as your abilities go, at this point I can only make guesses," he added with a helpless shrug." You are right that there is much that is unknown but while it is troubling you must realize that such knowledge is not easy to come by. Most of it comes from many cruel or outright deadly experiments made in the name of science or simple morbid fascination."
As he continued listening, to avoid staring at Saguru, Kaito turned his attention to his plate and was currently pushing a decorative piece of carrot with his fork around while considering what Saguru had explained. He was alarmed hearing that by changing he could hurt anyone nearby. And although Saguru made it sound like something minor, it was another reason against transforming ever again. Trying to distract himself he thought of the other person who claimed to use magic. Maybe witches weren't humans either, or were another breed of human? Not like he would risk speaking about it with Akako…
Saguru returned to his meal but as the silence stretched, he eventually smirked and spoke in a 'by the way' tone: "As a side note. I don't actually weigh 'half a ton' in my true form. It's actually 928 kilograms and 540 grams, or at least it was a month ago, during my yearly examination. And after carrying you, I'd estimate your weight to be around 250 kilograms. Give or take."
That was enough to break Kaito out of his thoughts. "What? You weigh a ton?! Jeez, you're fatter than I thought~" he added with a snort.
Saguru glared at him with a bemused expression. "I'll have you know that my weight is perfectly normal for my size." Kaito openly chuckled at the offended tone, "But more importantly, do you now understand why I am so 'obsessed with feeding you seafood'?"
"Because you're stubborn like that~?" he replied with amusement and snorted at Saguru's annoyed expression. "I mean, you said it yourself. You don't know what I really need. For all you know, having me eating extravagant meals like this might as well turn out worse for me," he said with a shrug and to make a point he jabbed the carrot with his fork and popped it into his mouth wiggling his eyebrows at the other.
Saguru smacked his lips. "It's not just a guess, but a calculated conclusion. While you are right to say that I cannot know the answer for sure, what I do know is that loongs are semi-aquatic. This would suggest that your ancestors diet was, at least partially, based on aquatic creatures. Taking your phobia and tastes into account, most likely non-scaly aquatic creatures. That aside, I don't really see how this kind of diet could negatively impact you. You're just being stubborn about simply not wanting to admit that I might be right," he finished his deduction with annoyance. "And I don't see anything wrong in allowing yourself to have something more on the extravagant side every once in a while."
Just to spite him, Kaito popped another vegetable flower into his mouth and crunched on it loudly. Saguru just chuckled and shook his head before returning to his meal. It was annoying just how accurate the guy has gotten at pushing Kaito's buttons.
"That aside, I think you asked me out for lunch to explain why you had to travel the world in search of a species that you couldn't even be sure still existed," Kaito pointed out after swallowing the decoration and internally wondered whether he should continue eating the lobster. It was delicious but he wasn't really used to eating such large portions in one sitting.
Saguru paused for a moment to just look at Kaito only to move his gaze back towards his plate and return to dismembering his lobster while answering. "I think that I might have misspoken. I was certain that loongs existed. I only wasn't sure whether I could find any. Anyhow, what I actually hoped to achieve over lunch was to clear any misunderstandings you might have about me. So would you be so kind and instead tell me what reason do you think I had for searching someone of your kind? I promise that I will tell you my true reason after this," he added quickly before any objections could be made..
Kaito glared at him wondering what was the point in asking a question only Saguru knew the answer to but decided to comply regardless and instead of arguing wondered about it. There seemed to be really only two possible solutions he could think of. One was that Saguru wanted or needed Kaito to use his abilities for something but seeing how he was kind of clueless about what a loong was capable of it didn't seem to be the case. And second was…
"I'm guessing that you're after my pearl?" Kaito tried but seeing Saguru nearly snap his neck as he looked at him with utter shock, he shrugged and added: "I mean for your hoard or something?"
"Dear God…" he muttered and leaned back in his chair, covering his face with one hand. "I suggest that you don't read any more legends, Kuroba-kun," he whispered with an aghast voice and shook his head when Kaito tried to argue. "Please don't take my reaction as an offense, but you just don't know what a 'dragon's pearl' is." Saguru lowered his hand to stare into Kaito's eyes, as he explained with a grave expression and tone. "It's… I guess some would believe that it's a miracle cure, although I can only see it as a gruesome trophy. And despite what legends might have you believe, I sincerely doubt that it has any 'magical' properties. You see…" He paused and licked his lips. "It is allegedly made from a certain specialized organ. One which loongs have. It's located near their hearts. To make a pearl out of it, you carve it out from the body, cut off all the unnecessary veins and fat, dry until it's hard enough and then shape what's left into a sphere and polish it. " He swallowed thickly and raised an eyebrow. "I most certainly hope that you do not believe that I have any interest in such… things."
Kaito felt frozen in his seat. That was… unexpected. And it effectively crossed the idea of searching for people who might know more about dragons out of his mind. He already had enough people gunning for him as it was, thank you very much.
His eyes flicked to the side, as he swallowed and asked quietly. "Um… how do you know about something like that?" He wasn't sure whether he wanted to know the answer.
Saguru let out a bemused snicker and looked down at his hands, as if he was contemplating his answer, before he finally spoke quietly. "Believe me, I'd rather not know anything like this. You see, when I was still searching for any information regarding your kind, I found it incredibly difficult to find any reliable sources. Of course there were a few elderly dracos who were willing to share some stories with me about their encounters with your kind. Sadly, those were mere anecdotes that only served to assure me that loongs weren't mere figments of the imagination. Human legends, much like those you have read, I believe, while interesting, couldn't really be called reliable. I have seen enough about dracos to attest to that. So the only reliable source I could get my hands on were books made by and for hunters." He swallowed, still not raising his gaze to meet Kaito's. "It's basically a manual for killing and carving their targets," he explained, finally raising his eyes. "While it would be something I'd prefer to never exist, it does contain a lot of valuable knowledge about loongs. Aside from details regarding anatomy there are some specifics regarding physiology, habitat and behavior. I could offer you to read them but I doubt you would find it an enjoyable lecture."
Well at least the dilemma whether he should finish eating the lobster was over. After hearing all of this his appetite was gone for good. Also now he knew what happened to a dragon who 'lost their pearl'. He gave a grim snort at the offer. "Yeah, I think I'll pass for now." That being said, it would probably be good if he would at least look through it some time in the future. But that wasn't something the current Kaito wanted to think about now. "That sure turned dark," he mumbled with a wry smile. "I think that you should stop asking me to make assumptions. Unless the real version will turn into an even more gruesome story, then I think that I would rather pass on that," he added hastily with a tease in his tone making Saguru chuckle as well.
"Fortunately that is not the case. On the contrary, it's actually pretty boring and simple. If not somewhat embarrassing, which is why I was stalling so much," he confesed with a shrug. "You see, to put it simply, I was feeling sort of lonely as I didn't exactly fit with the other dracos."
Kaito was about to quip that they weren't similar either in any aspect but noticing how sincere and vulnerable Saguru looked he decided to bite back his tongue and stayed quiet. Instead of saying anything he just motioned for the other to continue.
"Right… Um, I think I should explain a little first. You see, dracos aren't raised by both of their parents at the same time. For the first 100 years it's the mother's role. And mine, while not negligible, was very young when I hatched and didn't really know what to do with me. So instead, she tasked her human servant with raising me and only overlooked my progress. The woman eventually had a child of her own, so I grew up with not only a human mother but also a human sister. Not that I would complain about it," he added hastily. "On the contrary. I recall those days very fondly." A small smile crept onto his lips, as he stared beyond his plate, seemingly lost in his memories.
"So what happened?" Kaito prompted softly.
"Oh, nothing drastic, I assure you. You see, dracos meet every decade, with younglings being introduced for the first time only after they are around 50 years old. That's also when they meet their fathers for the first time as well as others of their kind."
Kaito made sure to keep his face neutral, only nodding ever so often to show interest but he felt the anxiety coil in his stomach. He had already suspected that Saguru could have been older than 18 years but it was starting to look like he was much older.
"And while everybody I was introduced to then was nice enough, it became apparent that my, ah, 'sentiment' towards humans was viewed as nothing more than a childish phase. As it became apparent, while cruelty towards people is heavily frowned upon, most dracos don't have much respect towards them. There were, of course, those who had a more open approach towards humans but that was only as long as they were of use to the draco. To my astonishment, this was the day that I learned that it applied to my mother as well. Before the gathering, I had seen her interacting with people and I was sure that it was because she genuinely enjoyed it. Turns out she just liked to check new recruits to make sure that they are worth the effort to teach them. But I guess that it is the best choice from a pragmatic point of view. She, along with a few of her friends, actually initiated Draco Occidentalis Magnus Medicinae, so I understand why she would be so interested in keeping it elite." He cleared his throat. "Anyway, I think I'm getting off track here, excuse me."
Kaito shrugged easily, actually grateful for the added information as it gave him more information. "I don't mind. So what? You felt dejected and decided to search for friends elsewhere?" he inquired with a raised eyebrow only half joking.
Saguru smiled at that. "Not immediately, no. After I finished feeling angry about the injustice of it all and calmed down, I had come to the sad realization that there was little I could do about it. At least for the foreseeable future. So, I decided not to focus on others and once I became independent, I would spend my time living among people and simply endured the gatherings, hiding where my true alliances lay to avoid being ridiculed. It was simple enough and I was happy with that decision. Until reality hit me. My other mother died. It wasn't anything sudden, like a murder or an accident. She was just old and became sick… Nothing really unusual. I should have seen this coming but I guess that it was easier for me to live without thinking too much about this. But when it did happen, I noticed that my 'sister' has advanced in years as well. And while I didn't want to let this bother me too much, more often than not I found myself thinking that it would have been nice to have someone in the world, sharing similar sentiments, who I could turn to at least from time to time."
Kaito swallowed thickly, just barely hiding the shaking in his hands. Because this, exactly this, was something he was trying to push out of his mind and keep himself 'not thinking too much of'. That being a dragon didn't only mean troublesome transformations and the ability to fly. It also meant longevity. A lifespan so long that from a human point of view could as well mean immortality. One which others didn't possess. Not Jii, nor Aoko. And witnessing his best friend growing older and more fragile was something he feared more than dying prematurely himself.
Unaware of his inner turmoil, Saguru continued his story in a melancholic tone. "Now don't get me wrong. I never thought that I was the only draco who viewed things differently but since such sentiments are frowned upon in my society, nobody is willing to admit them. Which made finding others like me extremely difficult. And frustrating. Then one day, during a casual conversation with an elder I learned of loongs." He shrugged with a smile. "I figured that it was worth a shot. Especially that my father did have some territory in Japan. After a long dispute, I managed to persuade him to burrow it to me until I reached 100 years of age and would take over the land he promised me in France. His only condition was that I had to learn to speak Japanese fluently. It sounded reasonable enough, so I agreed. What I didn't expect was that it would take me over 19 years to finally pass his test and be allowed to move here," he finished with a heavy sigh.
Even if he didn't show it in his expression, the ending surprised Kaito. He knew that Japanese wasn't an easy language to master but 19 years seemed excessive. Especially for someone like Saguru. Despite what Kaito liked to say, he knew the guy was smart and learned fast. There was probably a story behind it as well but he figured that was just a minor detail.
"I guess you were right, the story was kind of boring~" Kaito replied with a smirk but failed to actually nail the humor. "So, I'm guessing that you're actually older than 18 years old?" Aas if that wasn't obvious, causing Saguru to laugh. He figured after hearing the story that the other was actually closer to a 100, probably around 70, or rather 80.
"Yes, a little bit~ I'll actually turn 98 this year," he replied with a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes, as he seemed far too focused on judging Kaito's reaction to the revelation. The other on his part hid his surprise the best way he knew - with a sly smile.
"Huh, so that means you're not only fat but also old~? Lord Powell..?" Kaito hung his voice, allowing Saguru to fill the obvious gap, who in turn laughed heartily.
"Well, I guess that it's a matter of perspective. And actually I am legally 'Hakuba Saguru' as I was adopted into the family. Nonetheless, I congratulate you for finding out my original family name. The full name is Powell Samuel," he explained with a nod as he introduced himself.
"Well then, Powell, do I understand correctly that you have 2 years of stay left?"
Saguru nodded. "2 years and 2 and a half months, yes. I hope you now understand why I had grown so desperate when I finally found you. Again, I'm terribly sorry for scaring you. But to be completely honest with you, I'm still baffled as to why you were as scared of me… I would understand it if it was only an initial reaction but that doesn't seem to be the case…" He hung his voice, silently asking for an explanation, his eyes carefully searching Kaito's poker face for any cracks.
Kaito would have loved to think that there were none for him to see. Sadly, he wasn't able to fully contain a small flinch when his newly found phobia was brought out. Because of it, he figured that there wasn't much sense in trying to hide his discomfort over the topic, so he pursed his lips and returned the searching stare with a steel glare. Still he didn't want to answer that silent question. Not yet at least. He didn't know if the vision he saw in the flames was even true and wanted to at least try and confirm it himself before he told anyone about it.
After a few moments of silence, Saguru finally relented and dropped his gaze. "Well, I guess the reason doesn't matter for now. As baffling as it is, it might be actually useful in teaching you how to transform on your own."
Wait, what?! Kaito blinked in surprise and just gaped at Saguru who continued talking, as if he hadn't noticed anything. "I have actually an idea how to figure out a diet for you that would cover your needs-"
But Kaito had enough and shook his head, cutting Saguru off, while trying and only half succeeding at sounding polite. "Yeah, thanks for the offer but I'm not interested."
Saguru clicked his tongue and tried to reason with him. "Kuroba-kun… Look I understand that it isn't ideal as it would be better if there was another loong willing to teach you. Sadly, it doesn't seem like it will be possible." While Kaito was kind of grateful for not having his mother mentioned, it did serve as a painful reminder of how little he could count on her. It was pushing him past his limit and apparently Saguru was determined to cross it as he continued: "And while I understand that it will be highly stressful for you to be quite literally scared into transforming-"
Kaito felt hair on his nape bristling as he growled angrily. "What part of 'no' you don't understand?"
Saguru opened his mouth, only to close it again and lower his gaze apologetically. "I'm sorry, I have probably overstepped my boundaries and pressured you too much. But could I ask you to at least explain why you oppose this idea so strongly?"
Kaito shrugged and pushed himself off the table to get to his feet, as he desperately tried to regain at least some semblance of calm. "Does it really matter? I'm just not interested, that's all."
Not interested in having his life flipped upside down again. Not interested in not being human. It cost him a lot of effort to keep himself from grinding his teeth. All he knew was that he needed to leave. Now.
Saguru just nodded with a disappointed expression and moved to get up as well. "I understand. Well then, allow me to call-"
But Kaito was having none of it. Couldn't. "I'm walking home. Thanks for the meal and all that but I don't need anymore help. I'll return the clothes later this week," he said as he started to turn around to leave only to have his leg remind him of the stitches that apparently needed to be removed from his dragon form. It took a lot from him to keep his expression neutral and not grind his teeth in anger. "See you at school I guess." He would have to figure out this later.
"Yes, see you. And thank you for listening, Kuroba-kun," he added quietly with a hint of sadness.
Surprised, Kaito glanced at him over his shoulder but Saguru only showed that ever-so-polite smile, with the book he had been reading before already back on his hand. Maybe he was just tired and misheard the tone.
With nothing else to do, Kaito braced himself to walk without limping and left the manor.
1) Yes, as you might expect your dear author was pretty hungry when she was writing this xD And no, I have never actually eaten a lobster and have no idea, aside from what I read on the internet, how to properly and elegantly eat one, so I hope you will forgive me if I made a jarring mistake in my description ?
I hope that you will forgive me but you might end up waiting a little bit longer for the next chapter as I will be busy irl next week and on top of that I'm currently working on a one-shot (keep your fingers crossed~!)
If you liked the chapter or have anything to say about it please do consider leaving a comment - reading them makes my day, so I would greatly appreciate it! :D
Hope to see you next chapter *bows*