Sheesh, I'm already up to 25 chapters? I had figured I would be done by now for sure! Wishful thinking on my part.

A Dragon's Heart – Chapter 25

Everything was progressing fairly smoothly. Tsubasa and one of the air dragons named Sakurano had been able to come up with a decent reason to gather most of the people that would require help during the evacuation. So far they had managed to gather all of the kids and most of the non-combatants under the guise of having a beach party in honor of the visiting sea dragons. For the most part everyone played their part well and looked like they were enjoying themselves. They ate food grilled on an open fire, played in the water, and lounged on the beach. It was only when you looked closely at the adults of the group that one might see a tense edge to their happy expressions.

To avoid risk they unanimously decided to not let the younglings know anything until after they left.

By now the afternoon shadows were growing long and people were starting to move their play up to the sandy beach where they had just started up a bonfire. The plan was going quite smoothly if you didn't count the fact that they were being watched.

Tsubasa strolled up to his new mate and embraced her from behind. "Hello gorgeous." He said quietly into her ear. Misaki rolled her eyes in a great show of exasperation but the effect was ruined by the way the corners of her mouth wanted to curve up. His woman was always like that. She was strong and tough on the outside but once you got past that hard exterior she was actually pretty soft and fragile on the inside. Even though they had already exchanged oaths, she still had difficulties coping with displays of affection. It did not matter; he had a whole lifetime to assure her that he was the one for her and he was not going anywhere.

"So what did you find?" she asked quietly.

"That Imai girl was right. There are eight men hiding to the north of the beach. I had to stretch my shadow a bit, but I was able to find them all."

"Did you do anything to them?"

"No, I did not want to alert anyone just yet. I should be able to take them all out with my shadow control when the time comes." The whole conversation was kept in low tones that barely made it to the other's ears.

He had been more than a little disconcerted when the strange Imai girl had come up to them and not only told them she had the entire estate on surveillance, but that they were being watched by the king's men. He had expected as much, but he was not expecting there to be as many as there were. It might make things tricky when they wanted to leave.

Several minutes later Luka with both of the Imai siblings and a couple whose names Tsubasa had to struggle to remember as Yuu and Nonoko, approached him carrying plates of food.

Luka moved in close to him "I saved you some food." He said loudly before sitting down close to them. Tsubasa had to hand to the kid. He had heard about the girl being taken and he had known just by their scent alone when he met them that they were lovers. The shadow manipulator gave the blond draman a critical eye and could see the strain from being separated from his lover Aoi. Luka looked much more haggard and worn thin. The loss was written in the hard lines on his handsome face, but he was still working hard to support this evacuation.

Does this kid have that much faith in his brother? He wondered.

This Natsume guy that had a thing for his niece evoked quite the loyalty from his people. Tsubasa did not want to admit it, but he was growing to like the jerk.

Once Luka was close enough, he started talking low under his breath "We have found the people hiding along the western length of the beach. The Imai's and Nonoko have cooked up some sort of tranquilizer dart and smoke bombs that should be able to help us."

"Good. Where are they?" Tsubasa asked in just as low a voice while taking the offered plate and picking at it in a show of eating.

"We have already distributed them among our guards. Are you sure you will be okay handling the boats?"

"Once we are in the water, nothing can compete with us. Is there anything else?" he asked quietly.

The older Imai, Subaru, came closer to them. "Shuichi mentioned that bear of yours."

"Mr. Bear? What about him?"

"He says he has been acting strange. He attacked one of the children."

Damn. Tsubasa had tried to impress the importance of what they were doing to Bear, but obedience was never in his nature. The best one could hope for was temporary cooperation, but Bear had been pretty annoyed about Mikan leaving him alone again. He would have to try and talk to him again but once the bear was in one of his moods, no one was truly safe. "Which kids has he attacked?"

"The one sitting off to the side with the dark hair." That didn't seem right. Only one kid? Strange. Bear was certainly a hazard to children, but in a non-discriminating way. With the exception of Mikan and himself, he hated everyone equally. It was more plausible that he would attack everyone rather than one kid. Did the kid do something to antagonize him?

"Only the one?" he asked, causing Subaru to nod. "I'll talk to him." He agreed.

"Has anyone come up with a destination?" Luka asked quietly and all but Tsubasa gave the draman blank looks. Clearly they were hoping to be in a situation where Natsume would be making the decisions. Either that or they were too scared to think far. With that in mind, he cleared his throat.

"I spoke with my brother Tono a while ago. He had already planned out an island to the south of here to retreat to after he completed his job. It should suit our purposes for now as well."

The others all nodded to show they were listening.

"It might be a bit far for the younger flyers, but we should all be able to get there easily enough. It sounds like it is isolated enough for us to hide out during the day before we move again at night."

Again, he got another round of mute nods and he resisted the urge not to sigh. It looked like he was the one that was going to have to do all the work.

"When we move, we will have to separate into smaller groups, but all groups should have at least two fighters with them in case we are chased. Misaki, Sumire and I are all very capable of fighting in the water so we should be okay but it wouldn't hurt to have a few dragons that the younger ones recognize in order to keep them calm. Yuu, if you and your mate Nonoko could come with Misaki and me it would be a great help. And if you Subaru, and your mate could travel with Sumire and that kid Koko that keeps hanging around her that should be enough support for them. Luka, you are free to come with either one." He said, but something told him the draman would not be traveling very far with them. If he were in the guy's place, he would probably see that everyone got away before doubling back to where his woman was.

"As an added bit of security, I'm going to hold off giving you the coordinates for the island until after midnight. By then we should know if we are being followed or not.

After that, everyone dispersed and they continued with their charade of a beach party while waiting for night.

Whew. Everything was mostly going according to plan. With any luck they might just pull this off.

Mikan instantly dismissed the Luna woman's suggestion as stupid. Because that is what it was. Stupid. Really, did this woman think she had no life of her own that she would just drop everything to become their backup god and protector? Ridiculous.

The woman should just stick to being a… pet? Lover? Plaything? Well, whatever it was that she did. She was certainly no help to Mikan.

In the back of her mind she could feel the approaching sunset and imminent evacuation of Natsume's people. She gave him a quick look. Even though he was not openly showing it, she knew the same thoughts were not far from his mind either.

He was here for her sake when she knew he would rather be somewhere else. The least she could do was speed up the process.

"I hope you will forgive me Hime, but I do not have much time. The reason I came here was to talk to someone who knew my mother. I really do appreciate the wonderful hospitality, but I was really just hoping I could talk to you and Ji-chan alone for a few minutes?" she faltered for a moment wondering how rude that sounded. These people really had no need to know about Natsume's clan business, kidnapped girls or evacuations. It would be best to keep things simple and leave it at that simple request.

A small throbbing vein at the temple of the woman on the dais was the only indication that Mikan had that the woman had even heard her. Judging by the way the vein was throbbing; the woman was not pleased with the request.

After a few awkward moments of silence, Hime turned to the woman who first guided them in. "Shizune, can you please have someone go over to open up Yuka's place? The rest of you leave us."

Most of the women filed out showing only the slightest amount of disappointment at being unable to visit with the new comers. A few gave Natsume hopeful looks that Mikan was sorely tempted to slap off their faces but their target was not even looking at them to register their interest. He was looking at Luna who had yet to move from her spot. Is she hoping to stay and listen? Mikan wondered to herself.

"Uhm… excuse me? If you don't mind, could you give us a few minutes of privacy?" Mikan directed the question to the pet/plaything at the foot of the dais. The woman Luna looked at Mikan with surprise then looked up to give Hime a pleading look. She looked like a child looking for permission to stay up after bedtime.

It surprised her that the woman would be so openly rude and nosy regarding Mikan's private affairs until she felt the tingle of magic bump up against her nullification. Without really thinking about it, she nullified the magic and was not very surprised to find the source was near the dais. Was the woman really that nosy to resort to some sort of trick?

Hime returned Luna's look and ordered "Leave us." At which point, Luna seemed quite shocked and swiveled to give Mikan an odd look. The moment was quickly covered though with an obedient expression. In a smooth motion, she rose to her feet, bowed and left without further complaint.

As soon as Luna had left, there was a quiet cough from the other side of Natsume. Mikan was a little surprised to see that the man calling himself Serio, his mate Nobara, and Narumi had yet to leave. "If it is alright, we would like to stay. We might be able to add a few details." Hime gave Mikan a look deferring the decision to her.

Mikan nodded thinking it might be better to have them around since Ji-chan had already drained two sake bottles. He certainly did not act like a god.

She was about to ask her first question when Natsume spoke first. "The first thing I would like to know is about this challenging Yuka's mate. My grandfather has always been a traditionalist. He would not have taken a sea dragon for a mate.

Hime gave him an irritated look, but it was Narumi who answered his question. "Perhaps I phrased it wrong. When I said that the king challenged Izumi to be Yuka's mate, it was more along the lines that the king did not recognize Izumi's claim as her mate because she already belonged to the king."

That one statement sent Mikan's head spinning. Her mother belonged to the king? Just what was she to him? Everything her mind could come up with sounded unpleasant.

"The story of Yuka, Izumi and Kuonji is a rather complicated one." Hime told them quietly. "Naru, if you would explain."

"Yuka's story starts about thirty years ago. She was still quite a young dragon then, only in her late teens. We were good friends at the time" He began, and Mikan's mind conjured an image of a young woman who looked just like her and about the same age.

"Back then creatures had already begun to flock to Inari and the sea dragons that lived in the lakes around here as protection from the king. We had Hime's barrier hiding us, but we knew he would eventually find us. At the time we did not want to wage any kind of war with him so we tried to negotiate some type of truce."

From beside her, she felt Natsume wince. He probably knew his grandfather better than anyone here but even Mikan knew his track record for rejecting truces.

"As expected, he rejected all of our envoys right up until Yuka." Mikan watched as a flicker of grief slid cross his features before disappearing. Given the look and the way Naru had held MIkan when they first met; she was willing to bet the incubus had strong unrequited feelings for her mother.

"I sh-shud nevrrr haf leeet herrr go." Ji-chan slurred next to her, and regret tinted his drunken tone.

"She was too young and too inexperienced to take such a duty, but she was convinced that she could get the king to listen to her."

How in the world did she think she could do that? She wondered when Natsume asked virtually the exact same thing out loud. At this point Hime took up the explanation.

"Yuka had figured she could attract Kuonji's attention because she had a rather unusual gift that she hoped she could use as a bargaining tool."

An unusual gift?

Mikan felt a horrible sense of foreboding wash over her. It can't be. Her heart started pounding heavily in her chest and she was having trouble breathing. Inside, her mind was trying to reject its own thoughts but somehow she just knew what she was thinking was true.

Mikan already knew she had her nullification from her father, enough people had said they had seen him do something similar to explain where it came from. But there was that other thing in her that she just could not explain. The thing whose existence she refused to even acknowledge. It was only in the very darkest corners of her mind she had wondered what it was and where it had come from.

The number of people who even knew about it could be counted on one hand and the number of times it had happened would probably be close to the same number. At least until today that is.

Most times she deliberately forgot it was even there. After all, she was freaky enough without having something like that. But when she saw her mate (lover her mind corrected) was about to kill the only lead to her mother she had kind of acted without thinking. She had never wanted to show that ability to Natsume, and she had tried to hide it, she could tell he was not fooled. Eventually she was sure she was going to have to tell him about it.

Next to her, Natsume was giving her an odd look like he could read her fears. He knows alright. When this was over she would have to try and explain to him just how much of a misfit she really was among dragon kind. And hope that he would not run screaming in the other direction.

He had been so sweet and wonderful about her nullification, but she wondered how far would that sweetness extend? Gods, please let him understand. The longer she was around him the harder it was not to call him her mate. He had never said anything, but she had felt it nonetheless. If he walked away from her now she was quite sure it would break her heart.

Her mouth and throat felt dry and constricted so it was almost impossible to speak. The sound that came out was only just audible. "What gift was that?" she whispered causing Naru and Hime to give her strange looks.

"Did no one tell you of this?" the woman asked, looking perplexed.

Mikan shook her head and cleared her throat a little. She reached out a shaky hand and quickly took a sip of the tepid tea in front of her to help wet her dry mouth. "She died within hours of my birth and if she had any family, I have never met them." She explained, and kept her eyes focused on the woman in front of her. Hime gave her a knowing look and nodded.

"Your mother had the ability to steal the magical ability from other creatures." She said quite simply and Mikan's whole world rocked on its foundation.

Beside her she felt Natsume's shock ripple through their bond. "She what?" He demanded with an odd pitch to his voice which shook her world even more.

"I'm not exactly sure how her ability worked, since I had only witnessed it a handful of times, but Yuka was able to extract the magical ability from others and transform it into a gemstone. She figured the king would be interested in her stealing ability and negotiated our safety in exchange for herself and her ability."

No, no, nononono this could not be happening. Oh gods how did this get so complicated? When she was young she had been so sure it had to be her that had uncovered the mystery of her parents' death. In her mind, it was a simple matter of a little investigating, but she had been so horribly naïve.

It had never once even occurred to her that the king might already know her or know about the stealing alice. It had never occurred to her that with her very presence she would put others that she barely knew in danger or that they would have to flee their homes. Gods of water and earth, where was her head? Just what made her think this would just be a simple mission?

"So she was the king's…" Mikan did not even know how to describe her mother's role.

"She was the like the king's secret treasure. She was correct that he was interested in an ability that made him stronger than his adversaries. So he accepted her offer and kept her at the estate with him. It was during that time when she had met Natsume's mother Karou and the two had became good friends." Mikan did not want to look at Natsume, for fear that she might lose her resolve and leave without hearing everything to the end. But even as she tried to fight it, she found her head turning to look anyway.

He kept a bland expression on his face, but she could feel his thoughts were churning almost as much as hers were. For just a second, their eyes met and he reached out to squeeze her hand. She let out a breath she did not know she was holding. She had not lost him yet. No matter what he had heard so far there was nothing but affection and support in those eyes. He is really just too beautiful.

Darn it. What little resistance she had left regarding him was a token one at best because she was afraid and unsure of his feelings but even that resistance had dissolved. She could not lie and say she was falling for him, she had already fallen. He was her true mate and she had no idea how she was going to convince him she was the right woman for him, but she did not care. She would find a way.

Serio chose that moment to disrupt their moment to add his own thoughts "I remember when Yuka first came to the estate. She was so shy and quiet that she was an easy target for some of the older dragons. Being father's tool, offered her some protection, but there were a few who resented having a sea dragon in the clan. Thankfully Karou-nee took and instant liking to her had protected her." Serio gave Mikan a small smile. "She actually helped me with my alice. When others were afraid or disgusted by it, she was kind to me and removed enough for me to live unaffected by it." Now that surprised Mikan. It was the first good thing she had heard regarding the stealing alice.

"The Yuka and Karou would often sneak back here when the clan became too suffocating." Narumi added. "Yuka even supported Karou's courtship of Hyuuga and would often cover for her when the couple needed some private time. The pair of them were actually the ones who started hiding and smuggling supernatural creatures through this place and out of Japan."

Natsume shook his head in denial. "It is not like the old man not to interfere with such things." He said with a disbelieving tone. "He would not have allowed an asset like that so much freedom."

"Well for the most part he did not do much of anything. It would be my guess that it was because Yuka had continued to amass quite a collection of magic gemstones for Kuonji while she was trapped in his service." Hime speculated. "As long as she did her job he was willing to allow her that little bit of freedom."

Natsume looked unconvinced, but he stayed silent.

From here Naru had picked up the conversation. "That is, until Izumi arrived." He said somberly and they all nodded. "He never did tell anyone why he was in Japan, but when he and Yuka first met the effect was almost instantaneous. On the surface they fought like cats and dogs but they were almost always seen together. It became pretty apparent that there was something going on between them." Narumi's voice became an odd mixture of fondness and regret. Mikan could only guess how hard it was for the incubus to watch the person he cared about loving another.

"At the same time there had been an issue regarding Karou and a gold dragon" Hime explained causing Natsume to stiffen next to her. Mikan poured love and support back through their bond knowing that the 'issue' was his illicit conception. "We were able to use the event as a distraction to hide Yuka's escape from the clan. It worked for a short while and we were able to hide them inside my barrier, but eventually the king started looking for her and Karou who was pregnant at the time was unable to cover for her for long."

"They would have fled at that point, but by then Yuka had also become pregnant so they tried to wait him out." Narumi explained.

"Why did they not try a boat or a plane or some conventional means of travel?" Mikan asked. The question had been plaguing her for years now as to why they waited so long to leave.

"You need passports to travel internationally and the king held Yuka's. Izumi had a fake one made for her, but every time they had tried to leave with it, they found the king's people waiting for them. It turned out he had psychics watching the airports and harbors." Narumi explained "By then word had reached him that Yuka was pregnant which must of infuriated him because he started putting pressure on the remaining sea dragons in order to flush her out."

Sometime during the conversation, Ji-chan had stopped drinking and the human alcohol had burned too quickly through his system for him to maintain his drunken stupor for long. "Whole families just vanished in an instant." The old man whispered harshly, and Mikan was surprised to see a single tear slide down his wrinkled cheek.

Narumi gave the old man a fond look and cleared his throat. "No one really knows what had started the events that led to Izumi's death. We know news had reached them that the king was close to finding them so they tried to run in order to protect everyone else here. It was then that Kuonji caught up to them. Ji-chan was the only one with them when Izumi was killed."

The old man's paper thin voice broke into the conversation "I still say there was something wrong with that fight." He announced "That kid didn't look right when he was fighting I tell you! He could barely fly or even use fire during that fight! That sneaky snake did something to him I'm sure of it!" Although the rest of the room could hear him, Mikan got the impression Ji-chan was speaking more to himself than them. His aged eyes had a far off look like they were trapped in unpleasant memories. Finally, he seemed to shake himself free of the thoughts that held him and he gave Mikan a grave look.

"When the kid died, it was close to dusk and your mother was in a terrible state of shock. I tried to call the ocean to sweep the bastard out to the deepest depths, but somehow he managed to get free and survive. I thought he was dead, but the strapping kid's mother called us and told us he was back at the clan's estate. I still don't know how he did it." He muttered looking deeply troubled by that detail. "Anyway, your mother and I prayed together for your father's soul at dawn to cross over and I asked her what she wanted to do. She said she needed time to think and when I came to check on her an hour later she was already gone."

No one needed to hear the rest of the story. They all knew that Mikan's mother had fled to America. Mikan could not help but wonder if Yuka was even in her right mind when she had left. Did she expect or plan to die on that journey? Or was she so far gone in grief for the loss of her mate that she just mindlessly fled to the only safe place she could think of?

Mikan gave her own would-be mate a look and tried to picture herself in her mother's place but the picture would not come. She honestly could not imagine what she would do if she suddenly lost Natsume. She had become a part of her in such a short time. Losing him would be like losing half of herself.

Old man Inari gave a big gusting sigh that broke the negative tension in the room. "It is getting late. The sun is about to set and you young lady obviously need to swim and rest." He ordered Mikan and Natsume pulled her to him and put his arm around her protectively. The old man gave him a dismissive gesture. "No need to growl at me boy, I'm just stating the obvious."

Mikan could feel the weight of Natsume's glare towards Ji-chan for another few moments before he nodded to himself and let the old man's words slide.

With that they all got up and Naru offered to show them to her mother's place where they could rest.

Tbc

Blech, this chapter is loaded with information, but light on action. I'll have to see if I can liven up the next chapter.

Thank you always for reading and reviewing! I usually try to personally answer back to my reviews especially those that have comments or questions but I often forget to add a few words for those who review but don't sign in. So to cover a few comments and questions:

To Zai-Zai: You know, I've had a few reviews from you and it just occurred to me I have never responded. Eek I'm terrible. So is there enough clues to the past here for you?

To not my name: Interesting handle you chose there. I'm challenging myself to write a strictly 'original character free' story while at the same time challenging myself to add as many characters as I can. I won't lie to you. It has been harder than I thought. I have not found a spot for characters like Yuri, Shiki or Goshima yet and there are not many places I can put them. I think I may be at my limit.

To no one important: Boy and I thought the name before was odd. Have a little confidence in yourself will ya? Okay, Mikan first uses the name Sakura as an alias. Given that she comes from a family of thieves and smugglers, I don't think it would be that hard for her to use a fake name when she is in a strange situation. Wanna guess what Tsubasa's alias is? Right in one guess, it's Ando.

I also need to welcome a handful of you like Curiosity Insists, ZaiLiaLis and Mystic Melody girl who have only just started into this story and read it all in one go. The mind quails at the thought of trying to read all of this at once. Just remember, when the words start blurring or moving on the screen, it is time to step away and come back later. Don't worry, I won't change the story on you in the meantime.