Wow! I reached 100 reviews! Thank you to everyone who sent in reviews! I love you all! I appreciate everyone being so patient for this chapter. It took a lot longer than I thought.
A Dragon's Heart – Chapter 10
Natsume hadn't actually planned on kissing her. All he was planning on doing was mussing her up a bit to make it look like they had been having a hot make out session. As soon as Imai had said that his uncle was coming he knew who had sent him and why.
His grandfather would not demean himself by coming to people, people came to him. Even his visit to the clinic was almost unprecedented. It was rather obvious Persona was probably sent to fetch Mikan, and Natsume had no intention of letting her go if he could help it. His quick mind figured that his grandfather might lose interest if he thought that Natsume had already had her. The old man's pride would never let him be second with anything especially women.
He made one huge miscalculation though.
He never figured kissing her would be like this. Hell, he didn't think kissing could be like this! Oh god did it feel good. Kissing her was everything kissing should be. His only thought if you could call it that was more… closer… more. When she made a little whimpering sound, it sent little electric shocks down his spine, through his belly and into his groin. Desperate for more, he grabbed a handful of her soft hair and pushed past the seam of her lips. Her taste was intoxicating and instantly addictive.
The deeper kiss hitched up his already tightly coiled lust like a spring, but he still wanted more. As tightly pressed together as they were, he still wanted to be even closer to her. The clothes between them, even their skin felt like an intolerable barrier. He wanted to soak her right into his skin; he wanted to be under her skin, he wanted, very much, to have her right there on the table.
He was thinking of moving them into a more workable position when an annoying sound distracted him. What the hell was that? It took a few more moments to recognize the noise as a rather impatient cough. With a rather painful wrench, he pulled himself away from her just far enough to breathe. It was a bit difficult because she was clinging to him almost as tightly as he was holding on to her. He was a surprised to find her in his lap because he couldn't remember pulling her onto him.
Now more aroused than he had ever been in his life, he pulled away a bit more and surveyed his handiwork. If he was hoping for mussed, she was well and truly mussed. Her hair was a mess, her sundress looked rumpled and was riding scandalously far up her thighs, her lips were kiss-bruised and there was a rather adorable blush flagging her cheeks. He wanted her so bad right now it hurt. Fucking asshole Persona, you just had to interrupt.
Once Mikan's glazed eyes came back into focus and she saw that they were no longer alone in the room; she gave a cute little embarrassed squeak and scuttled back to her seat.
"Uncle, this is an unexpected surprise." He growled, not having to feign irritation at being interrupted. He made a deliberate show of adjusting the tight fit of his pants over his obvious arousal. Let his uncle think what he wanted to about that. With extreme luck, Persona would feel uncomfortable and leave them to continue what they were doing.
"Natsume. I see our guest is feeling much better." He said smoothly. If he was irritated or embarrassed about walking in and finding Natsume and Mikan practically laminated together, he didn't show it.
"Hello. I'm Serio Kuonji, Natsume's uncle, and son of the man whose territory you are in."
"Mikan Sakura. Pleased to meet you." She said in a chipper, but slightly strained voice. She gave an awkward little bow in her seat and her cheeks stained a deeper red. Whether by design or by accident, she looked very much like a young woman who had been caught making out with a young man and for that, Natsume was extremely grateful.
His uncle gave her a small nod "Natsume was supposed to inform us when you had recovered. My father would like to extend an invitation to dinner at the main house."
Mikan looked a little startled by his request, and flicked a look at Natsume. "Oh… well… I… uh…" she dithered, clearly unsure of what she was supposed to say.
"She and I have already made plans for the evening." Natsume told him while blatantly dropping his hand onto her knee and fondling it. The young woman flinched and sucked in a quick breath the moment his hand made contact. She then tried to slide herself away from him, but he squeezed her thigh hard in warning. You have to keep playing along. He said silently in his head, praying that she would remember.
Persona flicked a glance at Natsume's bold touching and then gave them both a flat look. "Indeed, well perhaps you would be available tomorrow."
"Well actually, Natsume said he would take me to a festival in the city tomorrow. Perhaps the day after?" she suggested and Natsume gave her inner thigh a tiny pinch. Idiot woman, if the old man didn't lose interest by then, he would hold her to that promise.
"Perhaps then." His uncle said with a non-committal tone and walked out.
As soon as he was out of sight, Mikan slapped Natsume's hand away and got up to stalk out of the room. Using his speed, he beat her to the door and blocked her path with his arm by holding it against the doorjamb while he casually propped himself against the opposite one.
"Move." She ordered not looking him in the eye.
"Where do you think you are going? Things were just getting interesting between us." He said, leaning in to nuzzle her neck. Her scent made his spine tingle. In response, she leaned as far away from him as she could until she had to take a step back to get away from him.
"Back off. I'm warning you." She said. Out of the corner of his eye he saw her hands and fingers dance in strange patterns.
Okay so maybe his first move was a bit aggressive and unexpected, but she clearly liked it so what was the problem? He likes her, she likes him, and all that is left is to get naked right? "You seemed to like me just fine a few minutes ago, when your tongue was in my mouth." He purred, leaning into her again but she just gave him a disgusted look and flicked her wrist at him. A second later he was slapped in the face with something wet.
What the hell? He wondered wiping the back of his hand across his face. What just hit him?
He started to move his head to look for whatever had hit him when his slippery little sea dragon tried to sneak past him. He snapped his arm out and grabbed her before she could escape. "You aren't getting away that easily. You and I aren't done yet." He told her smoothly.
"That is where you are wrong. I'm leaving, now let me go or else." She hissed between clenched teeth.
"Or else what?" he asked, calling her bluff. She wasn't in the water, so he was fairly confident that he was stronger than her. Not that he wanted to force her to do anything, but it would be too dangerous for her leave now. "Were you going to kiss me to death? It might be an interesting way to die." He said suggestively. There was no doubt that she had to stay, but it would be so much better if she stayed in a bed with him.
"I said BACK OFF!" she yelled and with a flick of her wrist, his feet were swept out from under him. He landed hard on the wooden floor and found himself being pulled along the floor away from her towards the outside. For just a moment, he thought that she possessed Mochu's gift to move things with her mind until he realized that he was soaking wet. That was when he realized that she was somehow controlling the water from the koi pond. The water had somehow crested in a wave to wash across the floor and was now pulling him back.
Aoi must have heard all the yelling because she came running in to see what was wrong. Natsume couldn't even imagine what the scene looked like to his sister's eyes. "What is going on here?"
The water let go of Natsume and returned to its small pool allowing him to stand. "Look Polka-dots, you may not like it, but you can't leave now."
Aoi gave Mikan a stricken look. "You're leaving? Now? But you can't!"
Mikan's gaze shifted back and forth between the siblings and Natsume could sense her growing unease with them. "Look, I don't know what it is you think you are up to, but you will get out of my way or I'll drown the lot of you." She warned, while her hands and fingers swished and swirled at her sides in what Natsume now realized was her controlling water. From outside, Natsume was hoping that he was just imagining it, but he was sure he heard the sound of huge waves crashing against the take off cliff. He already knew water was her element, but it never occurred to him that she could control water like he could control fire. More importantly, it didn't have to be sea water and she didn't need to be in the water to control it.
"You wouldn't." he said calmly.
"Try me."
"You said it yourself. You are not a killer." He didn't know why he was so sure of that, but he was certain she would not hurt them. "Look Polka-dots-" he began.
"Mikan." She corrected ominously.
"I'm trying to protect you here. My uncle thinks we are having hot steamy sex right now. It would spoil the illusion if you left now." He explained carefully.
Aoi shot him a shocked look. "You did what?" her voice was reaching piercing levels. "Natsume, how could you?"
"Your jerk of a brother made me look like some kind of slut in front of that man, and he is an idiot to think I'm going to sleep with him." Mikan growled. "Now get out of my way, I'm leaving." She started to move towards the door again, but Aoi stopped her. She was careful not to touch the other woman or invade her personal space, but she still effectively blocked the door.
"Please! Don't leave. Look I know my brother can be a bit abrasive sometimes, but he is telling the truth. We really are only trying to protect you."
"I can take care of myself." Mikan said in almost the exact same tone she used with her cousin on the phone.
Aoi shook her head sadly. "Not if you intend to be anywhere in Japan you can't"
"What?"
Natsume walked up to her and tried not to be angry by the way she backed away from him. He was very much hoping that he didn't have to explain things to her. Hoping that maybe she would have wanted to stay with him of her own free will but his uncle's visit had spoiled all of that. "There used to be several dragon clans in this country. It stayed that way for millennia until he took over ruling our clan. Now whatever is left of the other clans is either broken and scattered, or he has taken them over completely. Pretty much all of Japan is now my grandfather's territory."
"And I care about your politics because… why?"
Aoi reached over to take her hands "Our clan is not like those cliques you are used to. Up to about World War II our kind was revered as gods. People would come to us to pray and give offerings. My grandfather was raised in that kind of environment."
"Stop making excuses for him Aoi and get on with it." Natsume grumbled.
"He considers anything in his territory as his." His sister blurted out quickly.
Mikan looked back and forth between the siblings again with a puzzled look on her face. Finally after what he was sure was at least half a minute, realization dawned on her face. It was a marvel at how slow she was to catch on. "You don't mean... He doesn't really…" she kept faltering on what she was trying to say so Natsume spelled it out for her.
"He's taken an interest in you and wants to make you one of his playthings. Your only real chance of escaping that fate is if he thinks I have already had you."
Mikan stared at him while she processed what he said. Eventually she made nasty sound in her throat "Argh, I've been around my family too long. The males in my family always treat me like a sister or daughter. I had almost forgotten that male dragons are little more than a life support system for and over-sexed penis." She gave Natsume a dark look and he returned one in kind. He was trying to be insulted, but at the moment, he felt the description was just a little too close to the truth. Ever since he had pulled her out of the ocean, the bulk of his thoughts happened below his waistline.
"Look I appreciate your concern," she said with a sarcastic emphasis on the word concern "but as I said before, I can take care of myself. He is not the first dragon I've met that can't take no for an answer."
"Idiot!" he yelled at her, "This isn't a joke! Unless you have the will to back up that death threat, you are no match for him!" he did not like the idea that other males had been sniffing around her. Logically they would have been before he met her, but he was still annoyed at the idea.
"And that is all the more reason for me to just go back to the water and come out somewhere else!"
"As long as you are anywhere in Japan you are in his territory. And as long as you are in his territory, he has the right to take what he wants." He told her.
Mikan scowled at him. "So what makes him any different from you? A moment ago you were trying to take what you wanted."
Natsume scowled back at her. Now he was pissed. He didn't like being compared to the old man at all. "The difference is that I was giving you a choice."
"You call refusing to let me leave a choice?"
"You don't want to continue what we started? Fine! But your best chance to keep you out of his hands is to have him believe that you and I spent the whole night tearing up the sheets!" He bit out harshly before stalking through the door. Just as he passed the threshold, he turned and gave her a sour look. "And don't even try and pretend that I was the only one affected by that kiss Polka-dots. You wanted that every bit as much as I did!" He said, before storming out of sight.
He needed a shower. The smell of the water from the koi pond was all over him. What was worse was that under it he could also clearly pick out her scent all over him which did nothing for his raging hormones. He really needed something to burn off all traces of lust.
AN: Right, Natsume's thoughts are starting to get… err… bolder so this will be moved to 'M' rating on Monday. I probably should have done it sooner but I always feel ridiculous calling a story mature when the content is relatively tame.