Bad language warning ahead
A Dragon's Heart – Chapter 6
Natsume had every intention of returning to his own comfortable bed that night. He certainly did not intend to fall asleep in a hard chair while watching a comatose sea dragon, but that was exactly what he did.
He wasn't sure what time it was when he fell asleep. The last thing he remembered was thinking she smelled nice. Buried under the smells of blood, antiseptic and residual seawater was the sweet scent of cherry blossoms mixed with something tangy and citrusy. Her scent. One that was unique to her and her alone.
The next thing he knew, he was jerking awake with a monster of a kink in his neck from sleeping in a weird position. Disoriented, it took him a few moments of bleary eyed blinking about the treatment room to remember where he was and what he was doing.
Owww… shit, neck is killing me… huh? The clinic? Was I hurt? No wait… right… sea dragon…woman… wait… WHERE THE FUCK IS SHE? He wondered as his scattered thoughts finally came together.
Leaping from his chair fast enough to cause it to fall back and clatter on the floor, he ran to the front waiting room only to find the front door ajar and a nighttime breeze whistling through it. That must have been what woke him up.
Stupid woman! Where the hell does she think she could go in her condition?
Clearly not that far since he was able to spot her about a dozen paces away shuffling awkwardly towards the back of the compound.
Natsume could feel that dawn was still over an hour away and he growled at the idiot that was probably going to kill herself by stumbling about in the dark while injured.
Stalking up to her "Oi, just what do you think you're doing?" he yelled, and then realized she might not speak Japanese. "No! Stop! Wait!" he yelled in English trying desperately to get his still sleepy mind to piece together a full sentence in a foreign language.
He couldn't see her face in the dim light. She was bent over and her matted hair fell all around her face hiding her expression. But he could see how badly she was shaking and could hear her labored breathing along with a frequent hiss of pain. "You are hurt. You must come back now." He ordered in English and grabbed her arm to guide her back.
The woman hissed painfully again and almost collapsed against him. "Waterrr…" she slurred then whispered "mmm… mizu… mizu… water… need… watrrr." She faltered again and for a brief moment she tilted her head back and what little Natsume could see of her eyes were trying to roll back into her head.
She must be delirious. But at least she knows some Japanese. "All right, I'll get you some water, just come with me." He said in the same tone he used for Youichi. He started to guide her back to the clinic, but she pushed away from him.
"Water… umm… ocean… gtt… oooshannn." She demanded weakly waiving her arm unerringly in the direction of the cliff that overlooked the water. As soon as she finished talking her energy completely ran out and she would have fallen if Natsume hadn't been there to catch her.
Without another word Natsume picked her up with and arm around her back and one under her knees and took off towards the cliff at top speed.
This is so stupid! What am I doing? If I let her in that water she'll probably end up with all kinds of nasty infections. Imai will probably lecture me every day for the rest of my life for abducting his patient. His freaky sister will probably blackmail me bankrupt under god knows what excuse. Luka and Aoi will think I've lost my mind… just what the hell am I doing?
Regardless of the nonstop ranting in his head, he never once changed direction. His steps remained fast and true towards the cliff he had been standing on the previous morning. As he passed the last of the buildings on the estate and the gate leading towards the cliff he hoped that as her element, the water could somehow help her.
The young red stopped a few meters from the cliff face and gently put her back on her feet. "I'm going to change, and then I can glide you down to the water." He explained while taking a few steps back for his transformation.
Once he was away from her, the woman stumbled faster than he thought she could move and sent herself over the cliff's edge.
"NO!" he screamed transforming and launching himself after her. His movements were just a hairsbreadth too slow though. He watched helplessly as she tumbled limply and crashed hard into the water.
Desperately, he pulled himself higher and scanned the surrounding water. Now that he knew what he was looking for, his dragon eyes would be able to spot her underwater even in the dark.
There! Slightly further out from where she fell, Natsume saw and felt the woman's energy surge and change her into her sea dragon form. Damn, if the sight of her sleek dragon body didn't send his blood stirring.
A disruption of the air around him and the distinct flap of a wing had him spinning in the air ready to attack only to find Sakurano and Dr. Imai in their dragon forms behind him. Only an Imai could pull off making a dragon face look disapproving. Rolling his eyes he returned to watching the sea dragon relieved that the water appeared to be helping the sea dragon. Imai made a snorting sound but Natsume continued to ignore him. He knew that taking her out here was a big gamble on his part and he just didn't feel like arguing with the doctor about it.
The sea dragon's movements started out sluggish. She flopped around and jerked awkwardly for a good fifteen minutes but then her movements started to smooth out and look more fluid. After a good half hour she was bending and coiling back on herself in intricate yet carefree patterns. The playful nature of her movements and her maneuverability in the water was almost something to make a flying air dragon envious. He watched her entranced, as she spun, swam, made loops and figure eights with her body playing with the waves around her.
Something about the way she moved, so unconsciously sensual, sent his heart hammering in his large chest and made his tail curl and twitch. Her dragon form really was a sight to behold. He didn't know when the pair of dragons behind him got bored with the view and returned to the cliff. Didn't know, and didn't care. His eyes were solely focused on the water below him. Natsume continued to admire her play until he felt dawn approaching, as much as he wanted to stay close, he decided it might be better to watch from the cliff. The whole shoreline down to the beach was part of their estate so most times they were usually left alone, but like the previous morning, that didn't always stop humans. No need to tempt fate and attract attention.
As things were, he could be in his human form and still watch the object of his obsession. Despite having the whole ocean as her playground, she didn't seem the least bit inclined to travel too far from the cliff. He would like to think it was his flying above her that kept her there but he quickly learned that wasn't the case. At one point during her play her snout had come out of the water and she looked straight at him causing his heart to beat even faster as he hovered in the air waiting. He endured her gaze as she tilted her head and gave him a curious look. She continued to look at him for a good solid minute before flipping her head back into the water. The move caused her neck and the rest of her sinuous body to break the surface then submerge in one long, continuous arc until her tail finally became exposed and disappeared with a flick.
What was she thinking when she looked at him? Could she tell he was the same red dragon from yesterday? How could she just dismiss him as if he were no more than a passing curiosity? More than one woman has told him that he looks impressive in his dragon form. A few even told him it was beautiful.
He tried not to think about the disappointing sting to his pride knowing that he clearly didn't have the same effect on her as she did to him.
Returning to the cliff, he was surprised to find Imai and Sakurano had left and several others from his group had taken their place. He was so distracted watching the sea dragon that he didn't even notice their approach. A bit scary when he realized they could just as easily have been from his grandfather's people.
Natsume landed only minutes before the sun broke through and night fell to day. For dragons, this was always a time of power. With the exception of Natsume, it was the time when their fire returned and the air throbbed with magical energy. For the people on the cliff who were sensitive to it, the power built, crested, and then drifted away leaving the warmth of an early summer day.
"Wow she's so pretty!" Aoi exclaimed breaking the silence. "I've never seen that color on a dragon before! It makes her look like she's covered in gold and jewels!" She sighed wistfully. "Oh, I'd give anything to look like that in my dragon form."
"Your scales look pretty in the sunlight too." Luka mumbled behind her, blushing madly. Natsume just shook his head at him while Kokoro Yome and Kitsuneme stood behind him making feeble attempts to hide their snickering.
Luka scowled at them "I'm serious!" he announced defending his statement as something more than drabble from a love struck idiot. "The red tint in her bronze makes her look like shiny copper in the sun."
Aoi apparently liked the comparison, because she gave him a small peck on the corner of his mouth. "Thanks Luka, that was sweet."
The young draman stood there shocked before melting into a blissful haze that no amount of teasing from the idiots could break him out of.
So they chose to tease Natsume.
"Aoi has a point though, she really is something."
"Yeah. I never would have guessed sea dragons would look so sleek and sexy."
"Not bad Natsume. Not bad at all."
"Her human body was pretty sweet too. Hey Natsume, if you're not interested, you mind if I take a shot?" Koko asked casually, while getting prepared to dodge. Natsume didn't bother to answer or even look at him. Instead, he summoned a fireball as big as his torso and shot it at the idiot. It was quite gratifying when he heard a yelp from that direction.
"Hey! That one almost got me!" Koko protested while Aoi made disapproving noises about boys, barbarians and idiots.
A cold voice off to the side of them interrupted their complaints. "Either keep it down or find somewhere else to watch. You're disrupting my work." Hotaru declared snapping photo after photo of the sea dragon with what Natsume guessed was a camera. Although it looked like no camera he had ever seen. After about the fiftieth click, Natsume's curiosity got the better of him and he wandered over just to see what kind of pictures she was taking.
Wow he thought, while his mouth went dry.
He wasn't sure how the creepy inventor managed to modify her camera, but the picture looked like it was taken from a few feet away rather than a several dozen meters. The way the sun and water sparkled on her really did make her look like she was made out of gold and jewels.
"Fifteen thousand yen per shot."
"Fifteen thousand?" he choked. "Bloody robbery."
The younger Imai gave him a bland look that told him she knew he would pay it even if she asked for fifty thousand.
"You shouldn't be taking photos of anyone in their dragon form anyway. If any humans got a hold of them…"
"They would probably try and sell it to another less than credible tabloid which may or may not print another story about 'mysterious creature' sightings. Relax Hyuuga, as far as humans are concerned, we are an urban myth. Besides, I have yet to see the hacker that can break through my security."
The red and the black dragon had a small war of wills until Aoi broke it up.
"Oh no! Is she leaving us?"
Natsume's head spun so quickly that it wrenched the kink in his neck from earlier. "What?" he yelled out, which ended in a hiss of pain.
Sure enough, the sea dragon had swum out to deeper waters and was now barely visible from his vantage point.
"I've got her." Hotaru said flatly.
"What? How?" he asked and her screen once again showed and close up view of her submerged just below the surface. Then the inventor touched a button on her camera and the view from the camera was somehow below the surface of the water.
"What the hell is this?"
"This is the new security system you ordered." She said holding out the palm of her hand. An insect about the size of his fingernail landed in her hand. "I had already begun to make them so we could keep an eye on your grandfather, but this way we can watch the whole estate.
"They can be positioned as we need them, the wings act as solar panels to recharge them during the day and they can run continuously for several months. Their life can be extended indefinitely if we set them to motion activation, and are completely fireproof and waterproof." She droned like the world's most boring infomercial before nodding her head out to sea. "She's moving."
Natsume watched a bit anxiously as the sea dragon slowly made her way up the coast swirling and playing the whole way. When his vantage point from the cliff was no longer useful, he boldly dove off and transformed after being assured from Hotaru there were no humans close.
Come back.
Come back… to me. He thought trying to somehow get her to return by sheer force of will. Again he wondered what the hell was wrong with him and how could she hold such power over him.
His enormous red body swooped low over where she was swimming. If she was startled by the sight of his shadow hovering over her, she didn't show it. As he passed her he dragged his claws and tail through the water creating an impressive cascading wake in the water.
It was an invitation. At least, he hoped she saw it as an invitation. It was an invite to play or talk or anything just as long as she didn't leave him yet.
Hoping that his message was received, he flew towards the same beach he pulled her out of yesterday and waited.
And waited, and waited, and waited.
His sister and the others brought out some food and some blankets to sit on. The others talked and laughed and looked to any who might see them like a group of teens on a planned trip to the beach. It was only when one looked at the brooding young man with the black hair that anything appeared to be wrong.
Dammit! Why isn't she coming back? He wondered. It was hours after dawn and he was still sitting there, brooding at the sea. They could still barely see her so he knew she was there. She just wouldn't come to shore. He wondered for the thousandth time if she misunderstood his invitation. Or maybe he should swim out into the water and meet her half way. Maybe he should fly out.
No. He had lost enough of his pride chasing after her. A man needed some sort of acknowledgement in return. So he waited, and brooded.
Wait, was that last splash closer? He watched carefully as the next flash of scales against sunlight did indeed appear to be closer. His heart rate picked up a bit as he watched each subsequent sign of her appear closer and closer to him.
"Hyuuga, she's coming in" Hotaru announced causing all play on the beach to stop. If any of them thought that her approach might be another false alarm their doubts were quickly quashed when they felt the telltale power surge of a transformation.
For Natsume it felt like his stomach had been invaded by a flock of psychotic butterflies. With every ounce of will he managed to keep his outward expression bland but nothing could stop the nervous jittering inside of him.
When a human head broke the surface of the water and started swimming to shore, his feet took off on their own and carried him along into the shallows. Thankfully the others chose to stay back, because they didn't hear the hitch in his breathing when the water was shallow enough for her to stand and her head and shoulders came out of the water.
The sun must have thought he hadn't quite suffered enough that morning because it chose that inopportune moment to shine in his eyes and render him blind. Squinting, he saw her as a shadowy image that emerged a few more steps before she stopped and looked down at her open hands. Her head whipped back and forth scanning the surrounding water as if looking for something. After a few looks around, she held up her hand with her index finger pointing skyward; the classic symbol for 'give me just one minute'.
With only the smallest splash she took off at a speed that Natsume couldn't follow leaving him stunned. Should he wait? Should he go back to shore? What the hell just happened?
From behind him he heard the soft tread of his sister against the water's edge. "Natsume, I-" whatever she was going to say was cut off by Hotaru.
"She's coming back."
Natsume had barely enough time to pick out the object that was rocketing through the water at impossible speed before she was suddenly there. She was standing right where she was before like her brief disappearance was just an illusion. Except now he could see her clearly.
Ho-oo-ly-yy Sh-ii-ii-it. His mind reeled. Definitely more than what he expected.
Yay! Mikan is finally in the story! Well, that is she was always in the story, but now she's an active participant. Everyone who is not Natsume can heave a sigh of relief. I'm still not done torturing him.