Chapter 3

The previous day……

The sweet taste of mocha latte filled his senses as he took another sip and set the cup back down on the table in front of him.

This really is a great little coffee shop Yuto thought to himself; looking up from the newspaper he had brought with him. He often came to this place for a mocha before going in to work, it helped to give him a so called "boost" before the work day. Today was no exception, and he felt perfectly calm and relaxed by the atmosphere. The sudden breeze that swept through the room from the open front door caused him to glance in that direction.

Walking into the shop was a tall slender man in a dark trench coat, hair charcoal black and a face that held no emotion. Yuto perked up with sudden interest. Perhaps today was a bit of an exception to his typical work day. It wasn't often that he had the chance to talk to Seishiro Sakurazuka but it was just his luck that they had both decided to go to the same little corner coffee shop this morning.

How fun Yuto thought to himself merrily He's such a sinister looking character, he must have the most fascinating stories to tell. Yuto watched as Seishiro bought his coffee and turned to leave the shop. Unable to resist a chat, Yuto waved and called out to him, beckoning him to come and sit down. Seishiro, one corner of his mouth raised in a curious and intrigued half smile, walked calmly over to Yuto's table and took a seat across from him.

"What are you drinking this morning?" Yuto asked warmly as he took another sip of his cup.

"Coffee," Seishiro stated with disinterest. "Black coffee."

Yuto couldn't help but laugh at that. "Of course you are. How silly of me to think you'd have anything else."

"What do you mean by that?" Seishiro asked coolly, somewhat perplexed by the strange dragon of earth who always sported a pink suit with a white trench coat.

"Nothing really." Yuto replied with a smile. "Its just that it suits you. So what are you doing today? Anything of interest?"

Seishiro leaned back comfortably in his chair and took a long sip of his coffee. "I had thought about paying a visit to a dear friend of mine, but Im not sure the time is quite right for that just yet. Not that its any of your business dear Yuto."

Yuto ignored the last part, somewhat mystified by the idea that someone like Seishiro would have any sort of dear friend, but he had said it with such callousness that Yuto almost felt sorry for whomever this friend might be. Almost.

"This friend of yours wouldn't happen to be a dragon of heaven would he?" Yuto asked in curiousity. Seishiro simply nodded as he continued to drink his coffee.

"And this friend… You care about him?" Yuto pressed, still probing.

This time it was Seishiro's turn to laugh. "Oh Yuto. Both of us are dragons of earth and yet we are so very very different. You make me sound as though I have feelings. But the truth is, emotions are wasted on someone like me. Especially emotions such as love or compassion; they are a joke, even to most humans."

"Why do you say that?" Yuto asked, still fascinated by this conversation.

"Why just take a look around you. People like to think that they are good and decent; that they are charitable and honest, but the truth of the matter is that they only care for one thing, and that is themselves."

"You speak as though you know from experience." Yuto said quietly.

Seishiro turned his head to look out the coffee shop window.

"I am the ultimate example of what Im talking about. I kill without remorse and without a care. Whether someone lives or dies, it doesn't matter. Surely you must be the same way. You hide behind a friendly façade but behind the mask you are just the same as I. As a dragon of earth you know as well as I do that humans are a plague to this world and therefore we must cleanse the earth of them. And as we start to, you begin to see the panic in their eyes, their once "charitable" natures vanish and they become soulless cowardly creatures who would do anything to save their pitiful lives. And that's when you see that emotions like love are merely illusions that don't really exist."

Yuto leaned back in his chair, digesting what Seishiro had said. He certainly did have a point. In fact, he was dead on about humans being a plague and most of the time he did hide behind a friendly façade. Most people do he figured. But was he right about people's capacity to love? Looking back on his own past experiences, Yuto found that he couldn't really recall a time that he had really seen or felt "love".

The image of Kanoe flickered in his mind, but was quickly discarded. If they were honest their relationship was one of lust and a simple desire to have someone and nothing more. He then thought of Setsuki and her morbid affair with The Beast, could that even be called love? He doubted it. Or even her crush on himself, which of course he was aware of, but he doubted that to be love.

Even his job as a public servant was a testament to what Seishiro said being true. He saw couples on a daily basis asking for marriage licenses only months or years later come to him for divorce papers. Is there really no example?.... Hmmm. A sudden thought caused his face to light up in a cynical smile.

"I don't know about that Seishiro." Yuto finally stated.

Seishiro couldn't fight the grin that spread across his own face at the bold statement.

"Oh? Really?" Seishiro replied perplexed.

"If you're not paying a visit to your friend for a while, perhaps we should embark on a little experiment." Yuto gleamed.

"Such as?" Seishiro asked, now quite intrigued himself.

"I've come up against a dragon of heaven, who, is without a doubt one of the most interesting people I've met. He's a young monk from Mount Koya, of all things, and yet you'd never guess that by his behavior, such an exuberant young fellow he is. But in our 'meetings'' Yuto said the word smiling sarcastically, "I've noticed that he seems to have a strong connection to another dragon of heaven who I haven't really had the pleasure to "meet" formally."

Seishiro cocked his head to the side, as if to say, "and?"

Yuto smiled, "You say there is really no such thing as love, but I think…that perhaps these two, could prove you wrong. What do you think Seishiro? Care to test your theory?"

Seishiro thought about it for a moment and then returned Yuto's smile with a merciless one of his own. Reaching into his lapel, he pulled out an item that Yuto recognized as a paper spell. Laying it on the table, he placed his hand atop of it and spoke an unutterable chant under his breathe. As he removed his hand from the table a beautiful silver necklace laid where the paper spell had once been.

With some degree of awe, Yuto reached over to touch the necklace. Seishiro's hand shot out to grab his wrist before he could make contact with the item and brushed it away.

"Careful. Once contact has been made the spell will bind itself to that person making it almost impossible to be removed. It will then slowly begin to drain you of your energy and life force, quickly escalating to the point that it will eventually kill you." He said without a second thought. "You say this monk has "a connection" for his comrade?"

Yuto nodded.

Seishiro then slipped on a pair of dark gloves and picked up the shiny necklace. An angry red gleam of a pentagram symbol burned hot and bright for just a moment on the delicate star pendant that hung from the chain before vanishing completely, leaving only the solid silver star pendant once more. Slipping it back into his lapel pocket he then looked back up at Yuto.

"Well then, I accept your invitation. Lets test this theory of mine." And with that said, Seishiro rose from his chair, grabbed his coffee and headed towards the door.

Yuto watched for just a moment before following in suit. Something in him almost felt bad for what was about to happen to the two young dragons of heaven they had singled out. Almost. But this was just going to be too much fun….

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