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A Dragon's Heart – Chapter 9
Much to Natsume's surprise their late lunch turned out to be more like an early dinner and a far more elaborate affair than he expected. He had figured his group would just arrange for something simple, but nice. Instead, they brought out a multi-course feast. They had set up the large dining area with flowers and music and had opened the screens to the outside garden and koi pond. The view wasn't as pretty as when the sakura trees were in full bloom, but it was a nice view none the less. It did annoy him a bit to see they had brought in and joined extra tables to make one large one. He still wasn't eager to share Mikan with anyone, but he didn't have a good reason to tell them to leave without looking like an idiot again, so he was stuck with them. Of course he made sure that he was the one sitting next to her at the end with the rest of them sitting in a random order that completely disregarded their ranks.
Anna, Koko, Kitsuneme and Mochu who took on the roles of chef and servers, brought out the first elaborately plated dishes and placed it before them. He was just about the begin eating when Anna let out a soft gasp. Looking up, he saw Anna looking like she was about to cry. "Oh no! I'm sorry! I didn't think! You probably don't eat fish! It would probably be like cannibalism!" she exclaimed in horror.
Natsume looked at the woman sitting beside him with curiosity. He really had no idea what a sea dragon would eat.
Mikan blinked at Anna a few times before bursting out into laughter. The others around the table gave her varying odd looks. "I'm sorry," Mikan said waving her hand in a dismissive gesture "I would have never thought of that." She explained, still giggling before she calmed down "Ahem, you can be rest assured that sea dragons are just as much carnivores as air dragons. I'm sure you must have heard tales of giant sea monsters attacking and eating hapless fishermen. Those were probably ancestors of mine. I even have some distant cousins who made the Bermuda Triangle famous because they would eat just about anything that would drift into their territory. Once the area became a popular resort location though, they had to learn to adapt like the rest of us." Mikan then made a show of eating the fish in front of her to reassure Anna.
They ate the first few dishes in an awkward silence after that with no one really sure what to say before his sister attempted to strike up a conversation. "So Sakura-san, was there anything you were hoping to see while you are in Japan?"
Mikan gave her a surprised look. "Goodness, I don't know. I guess I didn't really think about it. Do you know of anything good to see around here? And please call me Mikan. It feels weird to be called Sakura-san."
"Well for obvious reasons we like to keep to ourselves so there is not much out here other than a hot springs which we own. If you like more exciting things like amusement parks and shopping you would be better off going into the city."
At this moment Koko chose to pipe up. "Oh! I know! I heard there was a festival going on in the city. You might like that."
"That sounds like it would be nice." Mikan said with a small smile while Natsume gave him a murderous glare.
Why on earth would the idiot suggest taking her to a place crowded with annoying, smelly humans? He knew Natsume hated crowds and he knew he hated human crowds more! He was tempted to singe the mind reader's hair when he caught the significant look Koko was giving him. The idiot looked at Natsume, rolled his eyes meaningfully to Mikan, then back to Natsume while making an odd expression with his eyebrows wriggling crazily. What the heck was wrong with him? He wondered, and looked at Aoi and Luka to see if they could understand what was going on with Koko.
Do either of you have any idea what is wrong with that idiot? He asked them with his mind.
The only idiot here is you Natsume. Luka said with an exasperated tone. Natsume's brows came together. What was with everyone today? Normally Luka respected the difference in their ranks, but he was still technically his older brother by a few months and he wasn't above pointing it out to Natsume when he was acting stupid.
Aoi rolled her eyes at him. Honestly Natsume! If you are interested in her, you should ask her to go with you to the festival! His sister said, with a tone that suggested he was the densest person on earth. The idea threw Natsume off. He had never been on a real date. With the exception of school he had never really interacted with anyone outside of his clan and he was like a prince to them, so he had never had the opportunity to actually date. How the heck do you ask for a date?
"If you would like to go," he began slowly, feeling like a total dork "I… we… I would be willing to show you around." By the gods of fire and air that sounded so stupid.
Mikan gave him an odd look again and nodded slowly. "Sure, that sounds okay." She answered neutrally. Her lack of enthusiasm was painfully apparent to Natsume and he was tempted to strangle Koko for putting him in such an awkward position.
"Great! Maybe we could all go together tomorrow!" Aoi exclaimed excitedly and then continued to prattle on through the different courses. By the time dessert was being served, he had learned a few more interesting points about sea dragons.
It surprised him that their society was matriarchal. In air dragons, males were the stronger gender and ruled. They even had control over their fertility and deciding when their mates would conceive. The only exception to that rule was when they coupled with human women. For some reason, such a union almost always ended with the woman carrying a draman baby.
In sea dragons, the reverse was true. Female sea dragons were stronger and the women could pick and choose when they would conceive.
Fertility wasn't exactly normal acceptable dinner conversation, but Dr. Imai and Aoi kept peppering her with questions about her kind and Mikan ended up just blurting it out. A revelation that almost had Natsume and several others a bit dazed and shell shocked. Clearly she was more open and blunt than he expected.
Another interesting fact about her was that she was only a few weeks younger than him. He was not so sure why it pleased him so much to be right about her age, but it felt like he had somehow solidified his right to claim her as his own.
"So your family lives in California? It must be nice there." Aoi asked.
"Actually, my family lives all over the place. I'm staying in California right now because that is where I go to university."
"Really? What are you taking?"
"Nursing."
"That sounds exciting. I keep thinking I would like to go to university because I'm not really cut out for the family business." Aoi said, causing Natsume and several others to stiffen.
"Aoi." He said in warning. His sister was saying too much. The clan business stayed within the clan, and their clan business was mostly assassination and mercenary work. Certainly nothing to be discussed openly with just anyone. He slid a look at the sea dragon beside him, but she was giving Aoi a sympathetic look.
"I understand what you mean. I have met several air dragon cliques and almost all of them had similar businesses." She said bluntly and almost gave everyone at the table a heart attack.
"You seem to know a great deal about air dragons." Natsume said cautiously.
"That's because I'm part air dragon."
Natsume's eyebrows shot up and he almost choked on his food. He had started to become accustomed to her open, blunt way of speaking but he wasn't expecting that! She was part air dragon? Other than the handful of draman in the compound, he had never heard of half-breed air dragons, much less air/sea dragons! Up until thirty seconds ago, he had never even considered the possibility.
Across the table he heard Luka choke out a "Really?" the blond suddenly looked far too interested in her for Natsume's comfort.
"My mother was a normal sea dragon, but my father actually a half-breed sea and air dragon."
"So what did that make him?" Natsume heard Mochu ask. He could sort of understand why the draman were so curious about other half-breeds. In their clan they were considered servants completely inferior to even the weakest full blooded dragons, but he still hated the extra interest in her. Stop drooling on her you lechers, I saw her first.
"His dragon form was that of a gold air dragon, but he had several brothers and sisters of both kinds."
"Where are they now?" Luka asked.
"My parents died when I was very little so I usually live with my grandparents." She said quietly, and Luka apologized quickly for prying. "It's alright. My grandparents, who are still very much in love, had a whopping twelve kids. My father was the second oldest, and the youngest is only four years older than me. With such a big family, I grew up with a slew of aunts, uncles and cousins who are almost like brothers and sisters to me."
"That must make an unusual clique." Aoi commented.
"We don't all live together like a normal air dragon clique would. I honestly don't think our mixed lot would be welcome in any of the major cliques. Like your clan, most cliques frown on diluting pure bloodlines." She said simply, like being an outcast didn't bother her.
"I'm sorry. I should not have said that."
"No it is alright. My family is great. We may not all live together on one estate but we do stay close contact with one another unlike normal sea dragon families." Mikan told them with a far off look and winsome smile. It was clear she cared deeply about her family. He would be willing to bet that even when they were fighting, her family would still care deeply for one another. Oh how he envied her. With the exception of the people in the room and a few others, he couldn't stand his clan.
"So where is your family from if not from California?"
"My grandmother's ancestral home is on the shores of Loch Ness in Scotland, and we usually visit there in the summer. The cousin that I was talking to on the phone, lives there most of the time with her parents and comes over to see us at least once a year. Over on the North American continent, we have three homes along the coastline between Vancouver Island and Northern California, and two on the east coast that we all sort of shuffle back and forth from."
"Wow." Aoi breathed. "I've never heard of a dragon clan being so widespread. Don't you get in trouble with the clique whose territory you are in?"
"For the most part, no because we are rarely all together in one place. A king will usually overlook a few dragons in his territory as long as they abide by his rules. It would be a different story if we were all together. It would probably look like an invasion." She said laughingly.
"That sounds amazing, travelling place to place, free to do as you please." His sister said wistfully.
Natsume had to agree. It sounded like paradise compared to his life. His mind began wandering off on its own again, imagining flying under the cover of night and seeing the sun rise in a new location. It would be great to have the ability to just pick up and leave whenever the urge hit him. And maybe there would be a sea dragon in the waters below him to greet him at the shore when he landed. I did not just think that. He told himself rather firmly.
"Actually, it is kind of a pain. If you are in school you have constantly change-" Mikan's thought was overridden by Hotaru's voice.
"Hyuuga, Persona is coming." She said, causing everyone but the sea dragon to go rigid.
Shit! He swore mentally. His uncle couldn't find them all like this sitting casually together. He would tell his grandfather, and the old man had strict rules of conduct for 'lesser beings'. "Shit." He swore again. This time aloud. "Get the extra dishes and tables out of here. Leave only her plate and mine." He commanded tersely and everyone started to move at once in a flurry of activity.
Next to him the sea dragon looked about with a confused expression. "Is something wrong? Should I leave?" she asked around, clearly confused. He reached over and gripped both of her shoulders a bit harder than necessary; forcing her to look at him.
"Listen to me. If you have even an ounce of self-preservation in you, you will play along and follow my lead." He told her harshly, unbuttoning the top few buttons of his top. "I don't have time to explain right now, but you have to trust me and play along." He pulled at the shoulder strap of her sundress but she smacked his hand away.
"Just what so you think you are doing?" she hissed at him, looking offended.
"Look, I told you that you have to trust me. I need you to do everything you can to convince the person coming through that door that we have every intention of having sex." He whispered urgently while his people cleared away all traces of their presence.
"You want me to what?" she asked, still looking offended.
There wasn't enough time to convince her, he could hear his uncle outside. Quickly, he grabbed her shoulders again and this time he pulled her in for a rough kiss.
And then his brain shut down completely.
tbc
Ack! Stopped when it was just getting good. Nasty, aren't I? The next chapter is probably going to be a bit tricky, so I am not going to make any promises about when it will be done.
Happy Birthday to Mikan, and Happy New Year to you all!