For those of you who have waited ever so patiently, I say thank you and I will not take any more of your time.
On with the next extra long chapter!
A Dragon's Heart – Chapter 29
Mikan had only been away from Natsume for a few hours and already she was almost out of her mind with worry for him. She did not like this, not at all. It was almost driving her crazy being separated from him when he was clearly going to be in danger and it took most of her will not to turn around and swim right back at him.
Arrgh that man! Sending me off on some errand like a child being sent to their room during grown up talk! She ranted in her head, but there was very little conviction to her thoughts. She knew that keeping her away from Natsume's grandfather was necessary and for the best, but that did not mean she had to like it.
What made things more difficult for her was the changes in the bond between them. She could feel the tether between them as surely as she could feel her own heartbeat. The invisible connection stretched out like a bungee behind her steadily growing thinner and weaker with every passing moment, while at the same time it was constantly trying to pull her to back to him. She never expected the mate bond to have such a powerful effect on her. She was not sure if that was due to her peculiar wording during their mating spell or if it was because she was just so stupid in love with the big jerk.
Mate.
Gods, she did not know if she should squirm, blush, be angry, or laugh at herself. It was still hard for her to believe she had a mate. All those awkward attempts at dating or being hated for the most part by any magical being she met. She had almost accepted it as truth that she was never meant to mate. All of those times that she had suppressed her own needs and nature because she was so sure there was never going to be someone out there who she would want and was going to want her back. Yet here she was with a handsome sexy mate that she could barely keep her hands off of and could make her do and feel things she had never even dared imagine.
Heat rushed through her despite the cool water gliding along her skin. Natsume was right, a handful of hours is not enough to properly celebrate a dragon mating she muttered silently to herself and then almost laughed at herself at the frustrated thought. Her need for him was just insane and completely unexpected. Who would have ever pegged her as the sex-fiend type?
She felt a dark ripple along their bond and knew that Natsume had picked up the direction of her thoughts regardless of the growing distance between them. Although she could not actually hear the words, she knew he was teasing her about her wicked thoughts of him and was also adding his own wicked promises in return. His mental presence filled her mind and brushed against it like an intimate caress causing her pulse to quicken. Reluctantly, he pulled his mind back to where he was and what he was doing, leaving her with a throbbing, empty ache.
Well it was her own fault if she was aching and feeling sexually frustrated. She was the one who let her thoughts wander where they should not be and dragged Natsume...
All of a sudden her thoughts did a quick one hundred and eighty degree turn when she realized that her wayward mind had just drawn Natsume's attention when he needed to be focusing to what he was doing. Stupid she thought angrily. Stupid, stupid, stupid! Stop distracting him with your selfish needs! She mentally yelled at herself and continued to call herself all kinds of nasty names. The very last thing she should be doing is disrupting his focus.
Giving herself several good mental kicks in the arse, she forced her attention on where she was and what she was doing.
Currently she and Ji-chan were swimming through the Philippine Sea and moving as fast as Mikan dared to push the old man and Nobara. Mikan gave the old sea dragon a careful look to assure herself he was not straining himself too much. Once she had confirmed that he was alright, she gave the same measuring gaze to her passenger.
Mikan had never met a snow woman before, but she had certainly heard of them. They were a psychic vampire type that created blinding snow storms and fed off of the unwary travelers that became lost in the frozen whiteness. To Mikan, they had always sounded horrible, but she had found Nobara to be a very sweet, gentle creature that was almost painfully shy.
What really surprised her was seeing a snow woman with her magical power of ice and snow mated to an air dragon. Serio, like the rest of his kind, was extremely sensitive to freezing temperatures. By Mikan's way of thinking, she figured they must really be in love to be able to overcome their natural incompatibility.
Unlike the dragons, Nobara did not possess the ability to travel long distances. She could, if necessary, transform herself into a snowstorm and travel along the winds, but that left her with little control over her destination and vulnerable to other elements.
Given that they were in a tropical climate and nearing the equator, the snow woman would have to travel extremely high up in the atmosphere to not melt away. At that height, she could literally be dumped anywhere the wind currents took her. They were aiming for the Solomon Islands, but the snow woman could just as easily end up in Greenland.
Instead, Nobara encased herself in some sort of ice shell that looked far too much like a coffin for Mikan's liking. She was leery of the safety and wisdom dragging something like that behind her underwater, but Nobara had assured her that she could keep her ice shell from melting apart in the warmer ocean waters. Apparently she also did not need to breathe as frequently as most creatures with her vampire longevity, because there was definitely not enough air in that ice coffin for a normal human.
Warily eyeing the disturbing capsule, it was hard to tell if the occupant inside was in distress or not. She appeared to be in some kind of stasis or trance which to Mikan made it look even more like a coffin with a dead woman in it so it was very hard to tell if she was okay or not.
Well since said ice coffin was still all together and looked the same as when they left, Mikan guessed that Nobara must be using her magic to keep it intact. By that logic, the woman inside was probably okay.
'Mikan.' Her uncle Tono called to her and she noticed an odd tone to his mental voice.
Yes? She asked cautiously.
'Something is wrong.' He said with absolute certainty and Mikan could feel his worry.
What? What could be wrong? She asked looking around her again.
'I should be able to feel Tsubasa by now but I can't reach him. You were always closer to Sumire than I was, can you try to reach her?'
Feeling slightly panicked, she screamed out at the top of her mind for both Tsubasa and Sumire hoping to reach either one.
Just like Tono had said there was no response from Tsubasa which sent a cold feeling of dread through her. She did however get a response from Sumire that sounded like bad radio reception, both close and distant at the same time.
'Mikan!'
SUMIRE! She called back desperately and she could feel Tono piggybacking her thought trying to add his strength to hers.
'It is a trap! Hunters everywhere… caught us by surprise… still fighting… wearing us down… No Koko!'
Sumire! SUMIRE! Mikan and called and called again but there was no answer.
'They are close.' Her uncle stated and Mikan could tell he was trying to control his alarm. 'REAL close, but something must have happened to them because they should never have been defeated in open water. Mikan, call the water and find out where they are, I'm going to try and fly higher to see if I can see anything.'
Mikan gave him the mental equivalent of a nod and broke off to concentrate on the water. Ancient brothers and sisters of the deep, please hear my call and answer my plea she prayed fervently and felt the spirits of the water restlessly stir and shift at the urgent tone of her call.
Somewhere in these waters there is someone hunting our beloved family. In her mind's eye she broadcast not only her blood relatives, but Hotaru, Luka, Youichi and as many of the others as she could give a clear picture of. Please show me these most vile of poachers and lend me your strength to stop them from hurting our brothers and sisters!
The open ocean did not often hear a call from sea dragons but it was no less eager to answer her call than the water near Natsume's estate. Instantly, her mind was carried south east from where their current position was. Through the vision of the water she found them.
To her, it looked like something out of one of her worst nightmares. The small group appeared to be trapped on an even smaller island that was surrounded by hunters, human and dragon alike. By Mikan's count there were at least a dozen boats and almost as many dragon hunters flying in the sky around them. Quickly, she broadcast what she was seeing directly to her uncle and asked the water to let Ji-chan know what was happening as well.
Why are they not trying to fly away or burning the boats? With Tsubasa, Sumire and Misaki alone, they should have been able to get away easily. She wondered.
'They don't even look to be attacking.' Tono added his own thought and Mikan could see he was right. At that point Mikan watched as Hotaru shot a strange looking gun at them and noticed the discharge crashed into an invisible wall. 'A barrier?' Tono called out with alarm.
Have they have been caged on the island? Mikan speculated.
'No look, the humans' weapons can penetrate.' He noted and they continued to watch for a few moments while continuing to move closer to the island. Mikan watched with growing horror as the hunters continued to pelt the island with projectiles from the boats. Every now and then one of the hunters would add a flash of fire into the mix. On the island, Natsume's group appeared to be doing nothing more than reacting to the attacks as they came.
Something doesn't seem right. Mikan said finally. There was something very odd feeling about the fight, but she was having trouble putting her finger on it.
'Why are the hunters are not moving in to capture them? They just continue to hover outside of the barrier. Without closing in.' Tono observed.
Once he said that, Mikan could see it too. The people on the island looked worn and beaten; several were already unconscious including Tsubasa she noticed. So why were the hunters not moving in to capture them?
'It must be the barrier they are using. Perhaps it only allows passage one way.' Tono thought.
That meant the evacuees could only defend themselves from the attacks but were unable to use an effective counterattack or even run away. She focused on the island again and could see those that could still fight looked like they were at the limits of their strength while on the outside of the barrier unharmed, their attackers continued to pick them off one by one. It was only a matter of time before the hunters wore them down enough to move in and capture them.
Like shooting fish in a barrel Tono said angrily.
Normally a gentle person by nature, Mikan felt a surge of rage that she never would have believed she was capable of. It was one thing when she had gone to help Natsume and not known him at the time, but she knew these people now. She knew how kind they were, how devoted they were to Natsume and knew how much he cared about them in return. The only thing they were guilty of was wanting to live free of the king's oppression.
The dragon king. Of course.
She had been a naïve fool again. After all of the things she had learned and heard about him, she still had never expected he would stoop so low as to employ dragon hunters and greedy humans to eliminate his enemies. It should never have surprised her but it did.
The king wasn't just a bastard, he was pure evil. Creating the kind of spell that could discriminate what would and would not pass through was not an easy task. It would have taken years to make it just right yet by the look of the hunters, they were quite practiced with using it. It was quite likely she was looking at the reason that Japan no longer had any sea dragons. Hell, this is probably what happened to all of his enemies.
Still tuned in to her thoughts, the water that was had been showing her the visions reacted to her feelings. Somehow without her intention, the spirits of the deep were able to follow her logic and accepted her conclusion that these humans and hunters had caused the loss of so many its children in this part of the world.
In her vision, the water started to become violent. Large waves started appearing out of nowhere tossing the boats about like toys. The waves were not big enough to capsize the boats, but they certainly made their ability to target the people trapped on the island harder.
'Are you doing that?' her uncle asked, still flying high above her.
The water is reacting to my, and possibly Ji-chan's feelings. Mikan explained, and felt more than saw her uncle start to spiral down towards her.
'We're closer than I thought, at this pace we will probably reach them within the next thirty minutes or so. If they have any brains they will be equipped with radar and sonar so we will not be able to sneak up on them slowly.'
We will have to go in hard and fast? She asked. She may not have followed in the family business, but she had still learned a thing or two, and Tono's mind was one of the best when it came to planning and strategy. Even if it was obsessed with girls eighty percent of the time she thought quietly to herself.
'We are going to have to. Hold up and get the old man and the snow girl to join you. We need to set up a plan of attack. If you can convince the water to keep up those waves, it should distract the hunters until we can get there.'
Mikan did as she was told and it was a rather strange battle council with the four of them treading water in the middle of the ocean, miles away from anything. Actually, only Mikan, Ji-chan and Tono were treading water. Nobara kept herself afloat on a block of ice. She had offered to make the block big enough for all of them, but two of them were sea dragons that would much prefer the water, and one was half sea dragon and would always choose water over a miniature iceberg.
"We will only have one chance to catch them by surprise so we should try and take out as many opponents as we can at once." The others had been listening intently for the past several minutes as Tono outlined his plan. As strategies go, his was a fairly simple one, but like most of his plans, it sounded solid. Once he was done explaining he gave his niece a hard look.
"Now Mikan, this is serious, you can't do this half-assed." He warned, knowing she was not a big fan of killing anything or anyone. If she did not attack with all of her strength, everyone would be in danger.
"I'm aware of that." She answered back grimly. She still did not want to kill, but she knew these hunters had probably been picking off mystical creatures for decades. She had to aim to kill because her opponents would have no moral objections to killing her if they got the chance.
Her uncle nodded grimly at her. "Good. What about you? Do you think you can handle what we need you to do?" Tono asked, while looking at Nobara. "If you think you are going to have problems say so now."
Nobara silently shook her head unable to meet his eyes. "No." she said finally "I should be okay. If I get tired, I will have enough hunters around that I can feed off of to regain my strength."
"Good thinking girl." Ji-chan praised, and Mikan looked at him.
"How about you Ji-chan? Can you handle attacking the boats with me?" The old man gave her a haughty and slightly insulted look.
"Trust me girlie, I've been swimming these waters for a long time. By the time I'm done there won't be anything left afloat. Other than Nobara-chan of course." He added with a smile to the snow woman.
"But what about you Mr. Tono? Won't my ice hurt you as well?" The snow woman asked quietly and Tono gave her a charming smile.
"Aw sweetheart, you don't need to worry about me," he flirted, until Mikan sent a wave over to smack him in the back of the head.
We are here to rescue Natsume's people, not get you killed by her mate, Mikan growled mentally at him.
Tono gave her a hurt look and schooled his features. 'Sorry, natural reflex around beautiful women.'
Yeah, well knock it off.
"You don't need to worry about me because my mother was a sea dragon. Thanks to her I can tolerate cold temperatures better than other air dragons. It also helps that they are mostly weaker colored dragons to my black. So with your help I should be able to take them down. Once I pull them out of the sky, the ocean can do what it wants with them."
Convinced everyone understood what they had to do, Tono continued. "One of those boats is probably controlling the barrier but we can't possibly know which one until we attack."
"What do you mean?" Mikan asked, and her uncle gave her a look like she had asked a ridiculous question.
"Once we start attacking, the flying dragons will most likely move to try and protect wherever the barrier is coming from. So make sure to attack anything they look like they are protecting."
"Oh, right."
"Any other questions?" Tono asked and the others all remained silent. "Alright, let's go. Mikan, can I get a quick lift? I can't take off in the water." Without any more comment, Mikan transformed back into her sea dragon form and used her tail to fling Tono into the air high enough to transform and fly off. Her uncle and Ji-chan sped off towards the south east and she added a silent prayer for their safety.
Mikan turned to find the Nobara with a harsh, fierce look that was at odds with her cute, sweet features. Mikan watched for a few moments while the other woman once again sealed herself in a block of ice. This time the shape made her think of a missile more than a coffin. Grabbing the end of the rope that was secured inside the ice, she submerged them both underwater to hide their presence, and took off.
In less time than the sea dragon had expected, she started to sense the hunters' boats in the water. The waves against the boats and the sounds coming from the people on those boats sent vibrations through the water helping her to map out her targets before she could even see them clearly. Using those vibrations, she identified one of the larger boats on the western side of the island and rocketed towards it at top speed.
Just as she was about to collide head on with it, she dodged just a little to the side and let go of the rope she was holding. She heard and felt the impact as Nobara's ice did a small reenactment of the Titanic, smashing hard into the hull and piercing it.
The sound of the crash was shocking, and Mikan wondered about Nobara's assurances that she could make the ice hard enough for her to survive the collision. Not that she could do anything about it anyway because she could not spare any time to look back and make sure that she alright since she was already crashing into the boat next to it.
Mikan slammed her body with all of her might against the hull of the boat closest to the one Nobara crashed into. She felt the metal hull cave like a crushed soda can and called the ocean water to follow her will and push its way into the weak spot she had created. The small hole quickly turned into a giant hole that was filling with water faster than it normally ever would. The vessel would be completely underwater in half a minute.
Not wanting to give the hunters a chance to react, she quickly dived down and then shot back up to crash into and punch open another hull nearby.
Sounds of alarm and vibrations rang through the water. The hunters were aware of their presence now and Mikan pulled back to survey what was happening. Her sea dragon's eyes allowed her to clearly see what was happening above the surface without distortion from the water.
From where she was, she could easily spot her uncle Tono among the other dragons. Not only was he the only black dragon in the sky, he was larger than the others with the exception of a single silver dragon.
She could see that her uncle had managed to set two boats on fire before the flying dragons had converged on him. Blue, green, brown and bronze hunters were swarming around him trying to torch him at multiple angles. Tono dipped and spiraled in the air, displaying the kind of agility that was necessary to be a great thief, but the hunters proved to be no amateurs either. They had decades of practice hunting their own kind and their swimming cousins. Mikan winced when she saw a fireball hit his left wing causing his flight to wobble a bit. Thankfully, he recovered quickly before any of his opponents could take advantage.
Wait, where is the silver? She wondered when she noticed it was nowhere to be seen.
From her vantage point she could see the other lesser colors continuing to attack him, but the silver had suddenly disappeared. She found the silver quickly, high above her uncle, in a hard dive, ready to attack his unprotected back.
Tono behind you! She screamed at him, but she may as well have not bothered because the silver never made it to him. The bright tropical skies were suddenly taken over by an insane blizzard that knocked the silver way off course and stunned the other hunters. Tono took advantage of the situation and moved to attack the silver head on.
Having lost the advantage, the silver shot fire at him and tried to get away but her uncle was all over him. Mikan did not need to watch anymore to know who was going to win that particular fight. Like he had mentioned before, Tono did not have to fight the cold as much as the other air dragons and these hunters looked like they lost their nerve when fighting one on one.
I guess that means Nobara is okay she said to herself, and spotted a boat not too far away from the one the snow woman had first crashed into. It was covered in icicles and the people on it were encased in solid blocks. Yup, she looked to be just fine.
It looked like the first part of Tono's plan was working well. With the dragon hunters being systematically knocked out of the sky one by one, while Nobara had secured one of the boats just in case they needed it for injured. In the water she could feel more that see Ji-chan ripping open hulls and washing people overboard without restraint. Now it was her turn.
Having watched a bit of the battle in the air for those few moments, she was able to notice that there was one group of three boats that the flying dragons seemed to hover around more than the others. Certain that the source of the barrier had to be on one of those three, she sped off towards them.
By now she was sure they had to be tracking her so she had to decide on her first target quickly. Going by the logic that the two outer boats were probably acting as guards, she charged straight at the larger, middle boat causing it to lift right out of the water.
Up on deck, she could hear how the impact had sent the humans tumbling all over. As an added bonus, she used her tail to create a wave that washed many of them off into the unforgiving water.
Swiftly before the guard boats could retaliate, she pulled back out of attack range. Rats, I wasn't able to break open the hull, she ranted to herself. Unlike the first one, this metal did not have any give in it. It must have been reinforced with something other than plain steel. She was sorely tempted to send a huge wave that would capsize all three boats, but a wave that size would most likely hit and drown the people on the island as well.
Looking down, she flexed her claws and wondered if they would be enough to tear a hole in the reinforced wall. It would be tough though. She would have to be belly side up to do it since her legs did not have the kind of reach that air dragons had. Well there is only one way to find out.
Switching directions, she shot towards her target, gaining momentum as she went. Just as she passed under one of the flanking 'guard boats' as she called them, it dropped something into the water at her. Thinking it was an explosive or mine, she quickly dodged the compact cylinder figuring she was safe with that.
Contrary to what she thought, the metal object did not explode, but she might have been better off if it did. Instead it started emitting this horrible, piercing, high pitched wail that amplified and reverberated through the water.
AHHHHH! Tono! She screamed in her head. Gods, what the hell was that? It was like fingernails on a chalkboard mixed with sound system feedback and multiplied a million times over. Was this what it felt like to be attacked by a siren? The wailing not only penetrated her brain, the water conducted the sound so it felt like it was stabbing her everywhere at once. Even her bones and teeth were rattling from the sound. The way her skull was ringing, her brain would be pudding soon.
'Mikan hang on!' She heard her uncle call out to her, but she was unable to respond. Her body twitched and writhed in agony. The noise was so penetrating it sent her muscles into uncontrollable spasms that prevented her from running away. She was literally blinded with searing, stabbing pain, she could no longer tell which way was up or down much less what direction she was moving. The torturous sound continued to echo through every cell in her body and a part of her wished she would just die so she did not have to endure the pain anymore. There was not a single part of her that did not feel like it was exploding.
She was half convinced her skull was about to burst like a rotted fruit when she heard Tono scream at her Mikan look out! A second later, a new burning pain bit into her side and she tasted her own blood in the water.
The pain was so unbearable it was almost impossible for her to even think, but she managed to scrape together enough logic to realize that she had just been shot while she had been thrashing about. The burning pain in her side was barely noticeable compared to the brain melting pain in the rest of her body.
It no longer mattered anymore because what little vision she had was starting to grow black around the edges. Mikan was totally powerless to stop herself from sliding into unconsciousness, and in a way she welcomed the sweet, empty oblivion.
Falling, falling, falling, falling…
Hmm…
Strange…
Shouldn't she be out cold by now?
For some strange reason no matter how much her body wanted to slip into a coma and no matter how much she welcomed it, she just could not completely get there. Somehow a frantic tugging at the back of her brain kept her in the here and now and in pain. At first she resented the annoying tugging that was keeping her buried under a mountain of agony until she recognized the source.
Natsume.
Even if their bond was still too new for her to be able to hear him with words, she knew he was screaming for her. She knew he was somewhere, far from where she was, going completely mental with panic.
Natsume. Right. She had something important to do. What was it again? It was so hard to think. Her head felt like a scrambled egg. The pain. Oh gods, it was so hard to focus with the pain but she was sure she needed to for some very important reason.
With her mind, she clung tightly to the invisible tether that joined her and her beloved mate. She focused on that link until it became her only reality. She used it as a distraction from her all encompassing pain.
Drawing strength from their bond, she forced her eyes to open and to look around her.
The first thing she noticed was that in the short time she had been incapacitated, one of the hunters boats had come alarmingly close to her. So close she could see the cold determined faces of the humans on board getting nets and ropes ready to grab her. Acting more on instinct than thought, she lashed out with fore and hind claws to tear huge gaping holes along the side of the boat.
Over the mind crushing noise in the water, she could hear the yells of the humans. Most were yelling in surprise because they had thought she had already been subdued and were not expecting her to put up a fight.
Who says I can't fight she thought stubbornly but her second wind was fading fast. That noise. She had to get rid of that gods' cursed thing that they had dropped in the water before she lost control of her wits again.
Straining to focus the last of her strength, she called the ocean currents to sweep away the hateful thing that was causing that torture. She ordered, demanded, begged and pleaded with the spirits of the water to drag it down to the deepest depths where the enormous weight of the ocean would crush the thing to harmless bits and sweep away the cylinder it did soon to be lost in the depths.
She felt bad for any poor unsuspecting animals that might accidentally swim past that thing while it was being swept away, but for herself, she was feeling better by the second.
Once the vile noise had left her hearing range she heaved a great sigh of relief. Thank you Natsume, my love, she sent along her mate bond and flooded it with feelings of love, gratitude and relief. She did not care if she sounded like a total sap right now. Even without the words, she needed him to know just how much she loved and appreciated him for saving her life. Without him calling to her, she would have blacked out for sure and who knows what would have happened to her from there. From far away she felt his overwhelming relief and knew she had just earned herself a lecture and a bone crushing hug when he saw her next.
But she was by no means free and clear yet. She was still in the middle of a fight and her uncle was fighting like a mad man trying to destroy as many boats and dragons as he could before pulling back.
'Mikan are you alright? Answer me!' He screamed in her head, and she had the impression he had been screaming like that for several minutes.
I'm alright, I'm… ow she hissed and remembered they had shot her and she was bleeding from a wound on her side. She quickly asked the water to help speed up her healing and continued to explain to Tono. They dropped some sort of sound weapon down here. It hurts like hell, but I managed to get rid of it. They also managed to shoot me while I was out of it.
'Are you alright?'
I'm bleeding but I'll be fine. She stated, and then thought of something. How is Ji-chan? That sound probably hit him as well.
'Not good. He was hit pretty badly and he is not exactly young either.'
Worried, Mikan silently asked the ocean to send its help to the old sea dragon. Unfortunately, she could not spare time to go over and see him herself. She still had a several boats left to take down and who knows what kind of attack they might throw at her next. Without another thought, she charged headlong at the boat that had initially dropped that horrid sound device.
This time she did not even pause when the hull of that boat was torn apart, she just flowed right into attack the boat next to it which was the one she figured was controlling the barrier. Like she had planned before, she charged directly at it and did a quick last moment barrel roll in the water in order to drag her claws along the bottom. It was indeed tougher than the other boats, but she was still able to tear open huge holes that would send it to the ocean floor it in no time.
Not far from her, another boat had dropped something into the water again. Unlike the sound weapon which looked like nothing more than a plain metal cylinder, this one looked like a metallic hedgehog but she had already learned her lesson. Not taking any chances with this one, she used her tail to create a wave that sent the item up and out of the water, back at them.
The spiky metal thing had almost made it back over the boat railing when it went off, shooting metal spikes in all directions. Mikan was safe where she was in the water, but the hunters on the boat did not fare as well against their own weapon. Mikan flinched at the sight of one human toppling overboard dead with several spikes sticking out of him. Eww.
The next thing to drop almost on top of her head was a frozen air dragon and Mikan let the ocean take it away without remorse.
The ease with which she allowed her enemies to die should have shocked and horrified her, but right now it was either her people that died or their people and she could not afford the luxury of morals. One day, months or even years from now she might suddenly start to bawl her eyes out in remorse for the lives she so coldly ended but today could not be that day.
Silently she moved in to rip open another boat but was surprised when it instantly went up in flames. Mikan looked up at the sky and found a black dragon that was not her uncle hovering in the air above her.
Eyes the color of amethysts regarded her coolly before flying back towards the island. Mikan was not the least bit surprised when the dragon landed and transformed itself into Hotaru. Mikan was tempted to smile at her. I'm really beginning to like that woman's style.
With a quick glance around her, she discovered she had no more hunters left to fight. It appeared that not only did she get rid of the barrier, but those of Natsume's group that could still fight were all too willing to even the score once the barrier was down. Some were still fighting, but most were just cleaning up what was left of the hunters.
Instead of joining the others on the beach, she swam over to Ji-chan's location to check on his injuries and to help him ashore. The tides helped her carry him and in no time they were both in their human forms with her carrying him to shore, with the occupants on the island rushing out to meet them. Mikan was extremely relieved to see the dragon born doctor among the ones coming out to meet her.
The draman with the brush cut (Mikan could not remember his name. Mochi or something like that) used his ability to move things with his mind to gently pluck the old man out of her arms and carry him towards the doctor. She knew that Tono and Nobara were somewhere near to her but she did not move to speak to them. In fact she did not pause to greeting anyone; she just marched right up and spoke directly to the doctor.
"They used some sort of sound weapon to stun us and then shot at us. I managed to get the water to begin healing our wounds, but his is still bleeding badly." She told him anxiously. Whatever they had hit him with had left a deep wound that ran from the centre of his belly up and across his chest. It looked awful and blood was still flowing freely from it, but as far as Mikan could tell all of his major organs were intact. With a wound like that, the water should have been able to help him, but instead the old sea dragon's skin looked a horrible gray color and his breathing did not sound right.
The young doctor began to raise his hand to use his healing While Mikan knelt next to him. After a few moments the old sea dragon's color looked a tiny bit better and he was no longer bleeding as bad, but he was not looking good either.
Mikan looked up at Hotaru's brother and he gave her a grim look. "You said you were studying to become a nurse." He said quietly, and Mikan could feel the question in his voice. She nodded at him feeling uneasy about his topic of conversation.
The young doctor gave a brief look at his patient then gave her another serious look. "I can give him something to make him feel more comfortable, but his body has reached its limits. It has become too old and can no longer use magic to heal itself from all the damage he has taken. It is unlikely he will last to sunrise."
For a moment Mikan felt like her heart had stopped. Sunrise. That meant that Ji-chan only had a few hours left. She was sorely tempted to start crying, but crying would not get her anywhere right now. "But you have a healing gift! Surely you can help him!" She whispered harshly finding it hard to talk.
The raven haired doctor shook his head without a trace of his feelings showing on his face. "We have been fighting for hours already and there are still people who are injured who need me. I don't have a lot of power to spare on what would be a token effort at best."
A token effort. Gods, he said that so coldly. Like Ji-chan was already dead. Now instead of crying, Mikan felt like punching the doctor out, but she knew she could not.
Now his question about her becoming a nurse made sense. He wanted her to see him as a fellow person who was dedicated to the health and care of others. He wanted her to understand and realize that as much as he wanted to save everyone there were always limits and times when someone could not be saved. He wanted to call upon her understanding as a future nurse that this was one of those times.
Well he could just go to hell.
Mikan opened her mouth, ready to tell him just what she thought about him and his 'token effort' but she was distracted when a frail wrinkled hand reached up and took a hold of hers and stopped her. "Don't be wasting your time kid. It is already too late." The old man whispered in a thin voice.
"Ji-chan, this man is a dragon born doctor with a gift for healing. He can help you." She explained urgently to him. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Nobara drop down on the other side of his legs and heard her offer her own encouragements.
"I'm already dying. It'd be a waste of his and my time to try and stop it now." The old man said with a smile.
"No Ji-chan!" Nobara choked and Mikan felt tears stinging the backs of her eyes.
You can't leave me yet, I have so many things I want to ask you. Mikan thought to herself but knew it would be incredibly selfish of her to say such a thing right now. It was all so unfair, she had only just met him. He could not possibly be leaving her yet.
The old man took hold of the snow woman's hand with his free hand and gave them both weak smiles filled with pride. Nobara had started to cry in earnest now and Mikan's throat was closing too tight for her to speak.
The old man gave them both a kind smile. "Hey, shhhh, don't be like that. I knew I was getting close to my time and that this might be a one way trip but it was worth it. Saving these people, these kids, was worth it." He assured them gently.
"I don't want you to go. I just got to meet you." Mikan managed to croak out in a harsh whisper. Next to her, Nobara continued to sob quietly.
Old man Inari gave her a kind smile "I'm sorry that I have to leave so soon, but it seems my time has come. I am so happy to have waited long enough to see a sea dragon return to Japan's waters." He said quietly.
Once he said that, Mikan was unable to stop the sob that escaped her own throat. It was quite common for elderly or sick dragons to be able to feel their own impending death. If Ji-chan said he could feel it, then Mikan knew there was nothing any of them could do to stop it from happening. He was dying and Mikan could not help but blame herself. She knew how old and frail he was, surely she could have done something to keep him from trying to fight.
Somewhere in the middle of all of that Youichi had approached her with Mr. Bear in tow. The boy tapped on her shoulder to catch her attentions. "Mikan-nee? Did you want Mr. Bear back?" he asked with a somber look on his face. There was seriousness and a maturity that did not fit on a face as young as his. Kids like him should not have to see the things he has probably seen.
Instead of answering him, Mikan pulled him into her lap and hugged both Youichi and Bear tightly. "I want you to meet someone." She told him, forcing the sound past the lump in her throat. "This is Ji-chan or some people also call him Inari. He came to help me get you. Ji-Chan, this is Youichi and Mr. Bear."
Youichi gave the old man a serious look "Hello Ji-chan-Inari thank you for coming." He said seriously causing the old man to give him a weak, but clearly happy smile.
"I was glad to be here son." He said truthfully, still smiling. At that point Mikan felt a hand on her shoulder and knew it to belong to her uncle.
"Mikan, I know you don't want to hear this right now, but we have a few things we need to take care of."
Ji-chan gave her as stern a look as he could in his condition. "The boy is right, you need to go save that mate of yours." He grumbled harshly. "Don't worry, Nobara-chan and I will be just fine here for a while.
Mikan shut her eyes tight. He was right. Ji-chan, Tono, Dr. Imai they were all right, but that did not make it feel right. Natsume. She needed to somehow make sure Natsume was okay.
With her eyes still tightly clenched, she locked the part of herself that wanted to selfishly stay close to Ji-chan away. Firming her resolve, she gave Ji-chan a kiss on his cheek and left him with Nobara and Youichi. As she was leaving, she was pleased to see a few others walk up to him and introduce themselves. The old sea dragon would probably like having a bunch of dragons close during his last hours.
Following where Tono guided her, she ended up with Misaki, and Sumire, both of whom looked pretty beaten up. Lying in front of Misaki was a still unconscious Tsubasa and the woman's face was etched with worry over her new mate. A feeling Mikan could understand all too easily.
"We should get him into the water," Tono said and Misaki gave him a few blinks of incomprehension before she realized who it was that was standing next to her. It was obvious she was too worn out with fatigue and worry to even think straight. Another feeling Mikan was beginning to understand all too easily.
Actually, it was probably better to get them all into the water since all three sea dragons looked bad. Tono gently picked up his younger brother and carried him into the shallows while Misaki hovered about nervously. Once in the water though, the effect was almost immediate. Misaki let out a heartfelt sigh and seemed to come back to her senses quickly. Almost immediately the woman started cursing Tsubasa for his recklessness while simultaneously issuing all kinds of ridiculous threats to Tono if he dropped her mate.
Mikan chose to leave the healing of Tsubasa to his mate and tried to coax Sumire towards the water as well. The only problem with that was that she was glued to one of Natsume's air dragons.
Sumire was holding the guy's head on her lap concealing part of his face from Mikan, but she could tell he had caught the bad end a fire attack from one of the hunters. Most of his burns were superficial but she could see he had some serious second degree burns and a vicious cut along his scalp. Both of which would need to be treated.
As she moved up close, and was almost up into her cousin's face, Mikan noticed that Sumire's lips were moving. The sound was so low that it almost did not carry past her lips but after several seconds Mikan was able to make out what she was almost saying under her breath: "stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid," over and over again.
"Hey Sumire?" she asked with false cheer. "Maybe we can take him out to the water? You might be able to help him." The water might not work so well on an air dragon, but even a little help was better than no help. She would have to swim over to the boat Nobara had taken over or one of the sunken ones. Surely there had to be a first aid kit in one of them.
Like Misaki, Sumire gave Mikan a few clueless blinks before returning to reality. "Mikan? Mikan you're here!" she looked like she wanted to jump up and hug Mikan but she was reluctant to let go of her precious burden either. She looked down at him and then back up at Mikan. "He's hurt." She finished simply.
Mikan gave her a look of understanding. "How about we try and ask the water to help him?" she suggested. Her cousin could not find any fault with her suggestion and nodded, allowing Mikan to help pick him up and support him with an arm around her shoulders.
Getting everyone healed enough to travel spent the bulk of the remaining daylight. Mikan had kept herself busy helping the deeply tired and those with minor injuries, saving the more serious injuries for Subaru Imai. At one point the doctor looked like he was about to pass out and his mate Sakurano dragged him over to her to ask for the ocean's help.
She was so busy that she had almost managed to successfully distract herself from the knowledge that Natsume had begun his own fighting. Almost being the key word there.
Sunset was less than an hour away and by now the bedraggled group looked a little better and they had now been informed of the true nature of the dragon king's power.
Many were terrified to learn that Natsume's grandfather had multiple versions of himself. As far as everyone was concerned, one was more than enough. However, like Inari's group, what really frightened them was knowing they had one of his copies with them.
As per Natsume's instructions, Goshima had been kept heavily drugged and out of it for most of the day. During her explanation about the clones, Mikan had walked over to him and had nullified the illusion that was keeping him disguised as a young boy. The demonstration had served to convince the others better than anything else.
The person that called himself Goshima was identical to the one that she had seen disguised as Luna, but as some had noted, he looked very little like the current king. Mikan had explained about Narumi's theory that even the king's appearance was a disguise to keep his agelessness a secret and the others speculated that if they went far enough back, there was probably a time when the king had used his own face, but it was probably long ago.
As dusk crept closer and Mikan knew that her mate had already begun fighting, she started feeling more and more anxious. By now it was all she could do just to sit still. She needed to do something soon, or she would go completely crazy with worry. In desperation to do something to help him, she came up with the idea of questioning the clone.
"We need to find out what he knows." She stated, trying to convince the group sitting around her.
Currently, Tono, Tsubasa, Miskai, Sumire, Koko, both Imais and their mates were sitting in the sand in a rough circle. The notable absence was Luka who had, not surprisingly to anyone, slipped off to return to the estate shortly after they had stopped for their second break. According to everyone else, it was pretty obvious that Luka was unwilling to be apart from Aoi, so when he suddenly disappeared, no one was worried. Once they were attacked though, they had all begun to worry but they had no way of confirming if he was okay or not. The only thing they could do was hope he was safe.
Right now though, their concern was focused on Mikan's urging to question the clone. Not one of them was eager to wake the clone up.
"Mikan," Tsubasa began gently, "if this is one of the kings clones, talking to him might just kill him like the other one."
"I know that! But I have a feeling that we should talk to him." She snapped, and jumped to her feet to pace nervously. "He might know where the other clones are or how close they are to Japan."
"There is no way he is going to tell us that. A question like that would get the clone killed for sure." He continued to explain, but Koko interrupted him.
"Actually, if that is all you want to know, we might be able to get the information."
Mikan raised her eyebrows at him. "Huh?" Sumire gave Koko a look that was bursting with great secret while the rest of Natsume's group all started nodding in understanding leaving Mikan and the rest in the dark.
"Koko can read minds." Hotaru explained, spoiling Sumire's fun moment of knowing something her family did not.
The others were still leery, but they eventually agreed that knowing where the clones were was worth the risk. They also all knew but did not talk about the fact that this one question was all they were probably going to get answered because the clone would be dead afterwards. Koko was going to have to get into his head quickly and get what they needed before the clone died.
Hotaru quickly rigged up restraints using the materials found on the hunter's boat and then her brother used his healing to help the clone purge the effects of the drug in his system. In almost no time the clone's eyelids started to flutter open. The first person he saw was Tsubasa so that might have been the reason he tried to keep up the illusion that he was still a boy.
"Mr. Tsubasa?" he asked with a puzzled tone and then realized the sound of his voice was off. He looked confused for a moment and at that point, Mikan walked into his line of sight with a disgusted look on her face. Who the hell did he think he was still trying to fool? By the time she was finished, the whole mystical world would know the truth about him.
The moment he saw Mikan, the clone gave up his ruse. The clone's face instantly twisted into a condescending smirk. "Oh-ho? Did your mate leave you all by yourself? How sad, is the honeymoon already over?"
Mikan clenched her teeth in irritation. She did not want to get into a battle of words with this man. The first reason was because he was a galactic sized creep and talking to him made her skin crawl. The second reason, though she was loathe to admit it, was because she knew that she was not very clever when it came to situations like these, and this man had a few hundred years experience on her.
"I want to know where the clones are and what they are doing." She stated flatly.
"Oooo such a scary face." He said mockingly then gave her a smile that made her blood go cold. "Now why on earth would I tell you that?"
As much as she wanted to look over at Koko who had stayed out of the Goshima's line of sight, she resisted. Alright Mikan, just like Tono said. The longer he pays attention to you, the better chance Koko has of finding out what we want to know. And whatever you do, don't look at anyone else but him, she reminded herself. The moment she looked at Koko, the clone would realize he was not alone and he would be dead.
Standing up straighter, she gave him a look that she hoped he interpreted as haughty even though she did not feel it. "Fine then, tell me where the king is and what he is doing right now." She ordered, stalling for time. She must not have been very convincing, because his eyes narrowed at her in suspicion and then suddenly widened.
He had time to make a gasping breath before he slumped forward in the chair, dead.
Crap. Someone please tell her they got the information before he died.
Looking over at Koko, she knew the question was written all over her face. He on the other hand, looked like he was having a panic attack.
"What? You couldn't get it?" she asked alarmed.
"No, it's worse." He whispered and by now he had everyone's full attention. "I got where the clones are, but I also know where the king is. And he is not where Natsume thinks he is."
tbc
Someone call the police I want to report the theft of the month of September. I took my eyes off it for a moment, and poof, it was gone.
Someone has stolen my September and I want it back.
Did anyone else lose their September?
Well until someone returns my missing September to me I guess I'll just have to make do with October. Yuck.
So recently I've been getting questions about families so I thought I might use this time to clear up a few things:
Mr. Yukihara & Mrs. Yukihara
Gold air dragon & Sea dragon
(Mikan's grandparents)
V
V
Kazu Yukihara, Kazu's twin sister, Izumi Yukihara, 3 unnamed boys and 4 unnamed girls, Akira (Tono) Yukihara, Tsubasa Yukihara
Yes you counted right, the Yukihara's have 12 children of both air and sea dragons. With the exception of Tsubasa, generally the girls were sea dragons and the boys were air dragons. Kazu Yukihara's twin sister is Sumire's mother, and of course, Izumi is Mikan's father. Tono and Tsubasa are the youngest of the bunch which is why their nieces are so close in age to them.
Natsume's family tree is a little difficult to draw out in this format, so I'll summarize it this way:
Karou Hyuuga + Unnamed gold dragon
V
Natsume
Human woman + Unnamed gold dragon
V
Luka
Karou Hyuuga & Kaito Hyuuga
V
Aoi,
Natsume (adopted by Kaito)
Natsume will never refer to the gold that sired him as his father. Given that the man practically raped his mother, he will not even lower himself to call the man by his given name for he was not worthy of a name. As far as Natsume is concerned, his only 'father' was Kaito Hyuuga who raised and loved him as his own son. Natsume carries the name of Hyuuga proudly out of respect for the man who raised him. It also annoys the hell out of his grandfather that he refuses to use the name Kuonji.
So does that help anyone who was lost?