Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or any of its characters.
He feels like an idiot for just staring, but he is unsure of what to say. Not that he can speak in this form.
But he feels foolish for not moving a single muscle either. Though his lack of action is perfectly justified in his mind.
He has finally met her! She is seated before him, she is watching him, she is finally aware of his existence!
"Hey!" he is suddenly shocked by her snappish call to attention. The wonder and awe that had been in her eyes previously are now no longer present; she only looks irritated, and slightly confused."I asked you a question. What the hell are you?"
It is laughably endearing to hear her make demands, because it is most definitely like her to not display any fear, even when facing a giant beast for the first time. Yet he is faced with a dilemma.
How should he answer when he is unable to talk? He absolutely refuses to disgrace himself in front of her by drawing letters on the ground with his snout...but there seems to be no other way.
Gritting his sharp teeth in an effort to calm the humiliation, he slowly glides towards the sandy earth.
She watches in complete fascination as he slowly begins to write in the human language with the dirt.
'Please do not be alarmed. I mean you no harm.'
She rolls her eyes.
"Well, that much is pretty obvious, genius. I mean, you did just save me from drowning." After a slight pause, she says in a rush, "Thanks for that, by the way."
She assumes the strange grumbling sounds she hears are laughter, though she does not understand why he, or she - it? - would be laughing at her remark.
To him, it is extremely funny that she can insult him with her sarcasm and thank him, though only slightly sincerely, in the same sentence.
"Anyway," she continues, "I still want to know who you are."
He notices her switch from 'what' to 'who.' Apparently, being able to communicate with her makes him less inferior in her book. She is so simple.
'I am what I appear to be. A dragon.'
She stares at the writing for a moment in complete disbelief, before clearing her throat.
"Uh-huh. A dragon. Of course."
It is clear from her tone that she thinks he is lying. And he finds this amusing. How on earth can he fake being a large, scaly monster that is able to glide through air and control water as though it is a weapon?
And who will go to such lengths to play such a trick on her, especially after she has just experienced such a horrendous encounter?
But he has always assumed, because of her personality, that she has never been trusting of strangers, even though he has never seen her interact with those she is not familiar with. Apparently, his speculations are correct.
"And tell me, oh almighty dragon, what exactly are you doing in such a secluded part of the area at this late hour?"
Her sarcasm brings out his cheeky side, which has not surfaced since he was a young hatchling.
'I could ask you the same question.'
It is fascinating to watch the red marks appear on her cheek at his reply.
"T-that is none of your business," her voice becomes more firm, despite the stutter at the beginning. She looks as if she is both aggravated and embarrassed at the prospect of answering and childishly says, "And I asked you first."
He does not want to answer, because he is positive that will lead to many questions about why he has never revealed himself. Which, in turn, will surely lead to a confession that he has been watching her since her youth.
And he absolutely refuses to be labeled a sexual predator by her before they even begin anything remotely resembling a friendship.
'Apparently, I was saving you.'
He feels wretched for bringing up the incident – the slight look of horror that returns to her eyes makes him growl menacingly towards the blue-haired figure lying only a few feet away – but they do need to take care of the bastard as quickly as possible.
He whips his tail, which is submerged in the water, to capture her attention with the splashes. When she meets his eyes, he sends her a determined look and lowers his face to the dirt once again.
'Would you like me to take care of him?'
He wishes direly that she accept his proposal. He knows many different ways to end the man's life, or perhaps cause his disappearance without arousing any suspicion towards the two of them.
She just gapes at the question at first.
"Why would you care what happens to him?" she wants to know.
He scowls. How could she even ask?
'Because he is vermin.'
She eyes him curiously, before shaking her head.
"No. I'll just hand him over to the men in our town. They'll lock him up." The scowl on her face slightly drops to a saddened expression. It is to be expected; her childhood crush has been harshly ended after all.
In a hush, she mumbles, "I guess this means the wedding's off. Yuzu will be crushed."
It scares him that she is taking the incident so lightly. Even if he knows she is a strong, confident woman, the idea that she does not even bat an eye at the fact that she was almost assaulted is worrisome. She needs to fear for herself more.
When she pulls herself out of the water completely, he feels the loss deeply. He used to be perfectly content with his isolated lake that was usually overlooked by many and left alone, but her taste is so much fresher than even his clear waters.
He watches her as she heads over to her previous mate. An amused low growl meant to be a chuckle escapes his lips as he watches her nudge the man's face with her feet, to check if he is truly unconscious. Soon, she starts checking his vitals to make sure he is not in any immediate danger from the mixture of alcohol and attacks.
After all, dragging a half beaten body into the village would raise too many undesired questions.
"Yo, Mr. Lizard-"
'I am not a lizard. I am a dragon.'
"Right. Same thing." He suppresses the growl making its way to his throat. "So, what are you doing here?"
Undesired questions like that.
She is so hellbent on discovering the answer to the question that she refuses to drop it. Maybe if he avoids mentioning his daily activities that take place when she arrives – he can't see that conversation going over well – he can make it through the exchange unscathed and uninjured.
'...this is my lake.'
She is so surprised she drops the head she has lifted into her hands to check for head injuries from the fall.
"What do you mean your lake?"
Instead of writing the long explanation out, he decides to show her. Slowly lifting his body into the air, he glides gracefully out to the center of the waters. He channels his powers to spread throughout his body. The effect is instantaneous.
The lake feels hi energy, remembers his presence, and reacts accordingly.
She watches in awe as he swims circles above the surface of the lake, and the water actually follows him. It slowly rises and, as his speed increases into an imperceivable blur, the water spins so rapidly that there is suddenly a large tornado of water spinning atop the peaceful lake she has always loved for its tranquility.
"Oh my Kami," she whispers in amazement.
When he finally lands in front of her again, she is still wide-eyed.
"T—this is...really happening, isn't it?...I think I need to sit down for a while."
She allows herself to flop down to the ground, staring at it as if it will suddenly tell her she is dreaming. Or maybe mental.
He watches her cautiously. This is not a good reaction, but it is expected. At least she didn't faint.
"This cannot be real. Dragons don't exist. Dragons are a fairytale Mom used to tell me so I wouldn't go into the woods alone," she pauses in her conversation with herself to snort, "A lot of good that did."
After taking a deep breath, she finally musters the strength to look at him directly.
"So you really are a dragon?" she asks him, though she still looks incredulous.
He nods his head. She flinches at his response, perhaps because it is the final confirmation that this is reality.
"Okay. That's...cool, I guess." After gulping a couple of times and taking a few deep breaths, she shakily stands up. "Well, I guess I should be heading home now. I'm sure everyone is really worried."
He watches her closely as she bends over the blue haired scum that is now snoring loudly.
She grabs him by the arm, and begins to drag him forcefully. Despite his large size, she manages because she is pretty strong. However, she takes no care in avoiding the rocks and twigs on the path, so that her attacker is subjected to many scratches. He feels an odd sense of pride.
She is half the size of her load, and he enjoys the slight crinkle that appears in her forehead as she tugs with all her might. Not to mention the way she digs her heels into the ground in order to lean as far back as possible and pull. And when she makes grunting noises as she heaves. In short, he finds the entire scene very cute.
When she pauses in her efforts, he is disappointed.
"Hey, Mr. Dragon? If I come back here tomorrow, will you still be here?"
He hesitates. It is not a smart choice to mingle with her longer than he has already today.
But he really wants to. And she looks so hopeful. He does not want to crush her hope.
When he gives a curt nod, she smiles widely.
"Perfect. I have so many more questions!" And she disappears into the cover of the woods.
Terrific. He will definitely be looking forward to that.
Just how much should he tell her? How much is he allowed to tell her? If he tells her too much, it will only put her at risk. But he does not want to straight out lie to the woman. He does not think he can anyway, even if he tries.
In addition, he feels extremely foolish by conversing through drawing patterns in the ground. It aggravates his snout, and, of course, he does not want to face the further embarrassment of communicating by sticking his nose into the dirt.
And then he is struck with the most obvious idea. The kind that makes him wish his dragon arms were slightly longer so he can smack his forehead for not having thought of this sooner.
'Why didn't I just talk to her in my human form!'
I made Karin speak in modern dialect so she sounds more boy-ish. I hope that didn't effect anybody's perception of the story/setting/time period. It's because in my new story, Armistice, I have her speak without using any abbreviations or apostrophes (in the present timeline) and while that makes her sound more formal and set in the time period, it takes away from her rough and tomboy personality, so I changed it up for this story.
I hope you enjoyed this chapter!