JE-united surprise fic for thanku4urlove
Gift fic for thanku4urlove
Title: Evil dragons and knights in shining armor
Pairing: Takaki Yuya/Chinen Yuri
Rating: PG
Warnings: Fantasy AU. A bit of fluff, not enough romance. Inaccurate use of lore.
Summary: Kill the dragon, save the village. Simple, wasn't it?
Notes: Dear Recipient-san, I really hope you can find something to enjoy in this. I usually don't do plot, but this was really fun to write. Thank you for your interesting themes proposals! All my love to H, because she's the best and helped me a lot to figure out how to get from A to B. And THANKS to my last minute beta! <3
Takaki didn't really want to be a hero, hadn't even wanted to be any kind of warrior to begin with. He just happened to be in the right place at, maybe, the wrong time, and inadvertently saved a princess from being kidnapped, stopped a war before it had begun and saved the whole kingdom from impending doom. Of course, he was there only to deliver a cake from his family's bakery at that time, but facts were facts. Takaki also had the kind of charisma that made girls swoon and men follow him -and he looked really good in armor. So, the King had knighted him.
At that time, he hadn't really thought much about it. Status and money for his mother and proper suitors for his sisters seemed like a good trade for wearing a cute uniform and parade around the capital wielding a sword. But nobody ever told him anything about dragons. Least of all killing them.
Apparently though, the fact that a village had fallen under a curse was reason enough for the hero of the Kingdom to slay the devilish dragon responsible. Never mind that Takaki had never slain a dragon -or anything else- in his life.
And here he was, in the middle of a creepy forest, searching for the lair of a Golden High Dragon Takaki absolutely did not want to find. And the forest wasn’t cooperating either.
So far he had only managed to get lost, and night was quickly approaching. Takaki shivered at the idea of camping alone here, amidst mean looking trees that seemed to hate him.
“Are you lost, young traveler?” A voice asked suddenly. It was kind of high pitched, and the words didn’t quite matched the tone that pronounced them, but Takaki didn’t notice any of that, too busy jumping out of his skin and reaching out for his sword.
“Who are you?” Takaki asked the young man before him. “What are you doing here?”
The young man in question was short, shorter than Takaki for sure, and his face seemed perpetually locked on a mischievous smile. Black hair, pale skin, eyes the warmest kind of brown; he was blinking a lot as he looked up to Takaki. He was pretty adorable.
“I live here,” he said, ignoring Takaki’s request for his name. “What are you doing here?”
“I’m here to slay an evil dragon,” Takaki explained, feeling cool, and sheathed his sword; the young nameless boy didn’t really look as a threat. If anything, Takaki felt like petting his hair or taking him into his lap.
“What did this dragon ever do to you?” The boy asked, and Takaki could swear he saw a flash of gold cross his eyes.
“He cursed a village down the river. The people there is getting sick and will die if I don’t kill it.”
The boy fixed Takaki with an icy stare Takaki didn’t like at all.
“Why do you assume it’s the dragon’s fault? Did you ask them?”
Takaki burst out laughing, it was a good joke, even if it felt out of place at twilight, at the creepiest place he had ever been in, and told by a complete stranger who had no business being there at all and could easily be a thief or something worse. Was the boy even alive?
Takaki’s laughter froze. He noticed then that the boy wasn’t even smiling.
“You aren’t kidding,” Takaki stated, taking a deep breath and stealthily checking if the boy’s chest rose and fell too. “Well, it wasn’t my idea, you know? And I can’t even find this Golden Dragon anyway, much less ask it stuff.”
“The dragon is not an it,” the boy replied, a grumpy grimace twisting the corner of his mouth. “And you have just found him.”
Takaki paled and turned around, expecting to find the huge beast behind him and ready to eat him, or kill him, or any awful else dragons did to their victims. Takaki hadn’t really studied their habits before leaving the castle. Maybe he should had.
But there was nothing there, just the beginning of darkness already engulfing some of the trees and bushes.
“Oi!” Takaki called out at the boy. It was rude to play those kind of tricks onto someone who was already a bit frightened. “Don’t scare me like that for nothing.”
Takaki didn’t like the boy’s deadpan either.
“I am the dragon.”
“Right…” Running away was beginning to appear like a good choice. This wild boy living in the forest could be a psychopath killer after all.
“You don’t believe me,” the boy scoffed.
“Aren’t you a bit…” Pretty? Adorable? Sweet? “Too tiny to be a dragon?”
“I am too cute for a dragon, yes. But…”
The boy’s eyes turned fully golden and that was just the beginning of it. His plain clothes grew wide and spun around him, ablaze with light in the middle of the forest’s almost total darkness, and Takaki had to cover his eyes, because the brightness hurt him a little.
When Takaki dared looking again, a full size dragon stood before him. Three stories tall and huge in every sense; his wings spreading out beyond Takaki’s field of vision. It was a magnificent sight. Metallic-looking scales protected it like an armor made of pure gold, but Takaki suspected they would be tougher than the noble material. He also wondered if they would be warm to the touch of cold as a snake’s.
Takaki wanted to touch them so badly...
Enthralled, he took a step forward, oblivious of the blazes that rose to protect the dragon from his approach. Full golden eyes without a pupil stared at him, and Takaki felt the warning in his bones. But he didn’t reach for his sword and he didn’t back away.
The flames grew taller, hotter around him, but Takaki took another step forward. He reached out with his left hand, his fingertips almost brushing the dragon’s scales, and the pain of his charring skin was almost an afterthought.
“Beautiful…” Takaki whispered.
And then he fell to the floor, unconscious.
***
Chinen looked at the sleeping human before him and sighed.
It had taken Chinen hours to heal the more nasty looking injuries on his fragile skin and had given up on the smaller ones some minutes ago. Chinen was no healer; he was a golden dragon, and golden dragons were supposed to burn things, not put them back together. Stupid human.
He wondered again why he didn’t simply kill him. After all, he would have slain Chinen if he had found him in his dragon form. Or at least tried to. Chinen glanced at the sleeping man’s hands, at his arms and briefly at the rest of his now almost naked body.
He was clearly no warrior. Not enough sharpness in him, even if his arms were strong. The man’s hands also lacked the callousness of extensive swordplay. That did make Chinen feel a bit better about not letting the supposed knight burn and die when he had the chance.
It was past high noon when the man stirred up finally. He turned around on the floor and the pain from the burns Chinen hadn’t had the will to heal must have finished awaking him, because he was on his feet and staring panicked at Chinen in no time.
“Are you going to kill me?” The human asked, and Chinen felt his own face contorting into a baffled sneer.
“Why would I wait for you to wake up to kill you?” Chinen snapped.
The human seemed to consider this, then relaxed a bit. And then he seemed to notice there was only a dirty rag covering his nether body and blushed. He looked cute blushing, Chinen thought.
“There are clothes for you to your left,” Chinen said in a sigh.
The man hurried into the loose pants and linen shirt Chinen had brought for him, for once glad of useless gifts and tributes the villagers had presented him with over the years. Chinen just stood there and watched the sunbeams play with his hair.
He had restored the human’s hair. The human had great hair.
And there was that feeling again, the one that had made Chinen actually talk to the dashing knight who had trespassed on his forest -and that he should have left to die there in the first place. Great hair wasn’t enough to cause this, Chinen thought. But the stranger’s eyes were kind in spite of the sword he had tried to wield -and that now lay forgotten somewhere in Chinen’s lair. He was also really handsome.
Chinen sighed again.
“I need a name to call you by, other than stupid human,” Chinen said.
The human took no visible offense.
“Takaki Yuya,” he said, and smiled so bright Chinen had to blink several times to adjust.
“Yuuyan~” Chinen tried, and felt a little better about himself when Takaki cringed. “Follow me.”
“Where are we going, Dragon-san?” Takaki asked, and Chinen rolled his eyes at the dash of fear there. Stupid human was starting to sound like a good nickname for someone who still thought Chinen was going to eat them. Even after Chinen healed and clothed them.
“We are going to pay a visit to the wizard responsible for the curse to the village,” he replied. Then added, “and call me Chinen.”
***
They walked for long hours getting deeper and deeper into the forest, but, for some reason, Takaki didn’t feel like the trees and bushes wanted him out of there right now, dead or alive.
Maybe it had to do with the dragon, never mind his human form, walking by his side, but he wasn’t sure. It seemed like the paths opened in front of them naturally as they walked.
“This forest used to be creepier,” Takaki said, finally, because he just needed to break the silence.
“The woods protect me…” Chinen explained, absentmindedly. “Without me you’d get lost and die.”
He seemed to know which way to go by following the scent in the air. Every once in a while he would stop, sniff around once or twice and scratch his nose before continuing leading the way. Takaki had giggled every time.
“Are we looking for a lost wizard? Or a dead one?” Takaki shivered. He didn’t exactly like magic-users of any kind, much less if they were dead.
“I struck a deal with him... some time ago.” Chinen’s tone was deliberately vague. Takaki didn’t press the issue. “He can roam my lands freely, but I can trace him. He’s going north now, hasn’t stop moving. He’s a couple of days ahead of us.”
“Why would an evil wizard run away after cursing a village?” Takaki wondered aloud. “Wouldn’t he like to be around to contemplate his work? Or ask for ransom?”
Chinen sniggered.
“Yabu isn’t evil, he’s just too powerful and careless. That’s part of what the quarrel was about.”
“Quarrel?” Takaki asked, trying to figure out things. Chinen wasn’t very forthcoming.
“Hika and Yabu quarrel a lot. Sometimes bad things happen,” Chinen sighed. “The important thing is that he didn’t mean to curse the village.”
Takaki tried to close his mouth, but the idea of someone so powerful that one of his tantrums could doom an entire village to a slow death left him simply dumbfounded. Then again, he was traveling alongside a dragon. Life had become really complicated in a really short time.
***
“Don’t you have, you know, magic?” Takaki asked, as he tried to start a fire for their makeshift camp. Trying being the operative word. “You could help me a bit.”
Chinen had also instructed him to gather the wood in the first place while he sat and waited.
“I don’t need fire to keep warm,” Chinen sneered.
Chinen also blinked some subtle magic in Takaki’s direction without him noticing, and Takaki’s clumsy technique finally produced a spark and, subsequently, fire. The goofy accomplished smile that took over Takaki’s face was an unexpected reward.
This Takaki human was really interesting, Chinen thought. For starters, he didn’t seem to mind that Chinen was a dragon. Once he had learned that Chinen wasn’t responsible for putting the village in danger he just had stopped thinking about killing him.
Takaki didn’t seem keen on killing anything. In fact, he hadn’t wanted to hunt for his dinner and was now cooking some kind of soup made of roots, mushrooms, and herbs. It smelled good too, as good as human food could smell, anyway.
“Do you want some soup?” Takaki offered. And after Chinen’s decline, he added, “you don’t really eat humans, do you?”
“Maybe,” Chinen answered, smiling impishly.
And Takaki laughed.
It wasn’t a clear sound made of tiny bells and wind chimes; it was dorky, and unrefined, and wonderful. And Chinen found himself laughing too.
“You look so young,” Takaki said afterwards, between sips of his soup. “Aren’t dragons supposed to be thousands of years old or something?”
Actually, Chinen was around 1500 years old, but he had spent most of that time napping. He sometimes woke up for the annual tribute ceremony the dwellers of the villages near his forest held in his honor, and maybe once or twice a decade to fly around his domains for a bit. He just didn’t care that much about humankind or the world.
“Yes,” Chinen said, and left it at that.
Takaki just smiled and finished his soup in silence.
***
Takaki tended to space out when looking at the fire. Chinen realized this on the third night of their journey, after Takaki finished eating and during a particularly long silence.
Chinen didn’t mind silence, he wasn’t really used to conversation, having lived alone his whole life. But Takaki was always asking questions, and his curiosity was kind of adorable. So, even though their silences were far from awkward, Chinen had begun noticing them.
“You like fire? Even after being almost burned to death?” He asked, waking Takaki up from his reverie.
Takaki looked at Chinen and there it was, the goofy smile and the sparks in his eyes, the slight blush Chinen was able to just smell in the air; Takaki’s wonder-filled expression that seemed to shine like the stars above.
“I like the way the flames dance. It’s beautiful,” Takaki drawled. He looked at Chinen, a brief glance Chinen just knew Takaki wanted to go unnoticed. He averted his eyes almost immediately, visibly embarrassed.
Chinen hadn’t known dragons could get butterflies in their stomach.
***
A week later, Yabu finally stopped moving north.
“We can catch up with him tomorrow at dusk,” Chinen informed Takaki with a neutral tone he hoped that hid how sad he was.
Takaki nodded. Resolution clear in his face; he’d save those people he knew nothing about or die trying. It was commendable, and Chinen admired him for that. He wouldn’t be able to care that much for strangers. But Chinen was a dragon. And they were supposed to be cruel.
“I don’t have any weapons,” Takaki seemed to realize then, with a start.
“You won’t need a sword with Yabu.” Chinen didn’t point out that, if the wizard wanted to hurt Takaki, a sword wouldn’t be of any use anyway. Takaki seemed nervous enough.
The rest of their day was spent walking in silence and they camped in silence too. Takaki barely eating anything and spacing out more than usual.
Curiously, all Chinen could think about was Takaki’s hair, how it looked smooth and silky even after many days of traveling. How much he wanted to touch it.
He got closer to Takaki, who didn’t look up until Chinen was beside him. Even then, the look in his eyes was warm and trusting. Chinen had a heart, he felt it beating deeply inside his chest even in human form.
“Are you okay?” Takaki asked, a smile playing at the corner of his lips for the first time that day.
“Is your hair magical?” Chinen’s hand didn’t wait for the answer to pet Takaki’s hair lightly.
Takaki closed his eyes and let Chinen continue his ministrations for a while. He was tall, but now he was sitting on the ground and Chinen was standing and it was a nice feeling being trusted this much, Chinen thought.
Then, Takaki’s arms circled his waist from below, and it felt even nicer. Chinen knelt down, his own arms circling Takaki’s shoulders.
“You are cold,” Takaki whispered. “I thought that being made of fire would make you warm all the time.”
“It’s not the fire’s fault that you are too warm,” Chinen retorted, but he was almost purring.
Takaki was warmer when he slept, cuddling Chinen, and for some reason that felt nice. Chinen didn’t need to sleep, at least not then, and he didn’t really want for the night to end either.
***
This Yabu guy didn’t really look like a wizard, not to Takaki, at least.
He had opened the door of his very rustic cottage with a friendly smile on his face, and his expression was still the same now that Chinen was explaining why they were there.
“You need to stop cursing things every time Hika is a neurotic around you or you’ll be cursing whole kingdoms until the day you die,” Chinen was scolding Yabu, patiently. Which looked hilarious given their difference in heights. Yabu was tall, maybe taller than Takaki.
“I am sorry…” Yabu’s expression was turning serious now, and Takaki had a bad feeling about what was to come. “And I am really sorry about that village too,” Yabu said, looking at Takaki. “But I can’t lift that curse so easily.”
“Blood magic?” Chinen asked, his tone dark.
“I am sorry,” was all that Yabu said.
“Sounds pretty serious for an unintended curse.” Takaki didn’t know what blood magic was, but it had the word blood in it and that couldn’t be good. Blood was never good.
“He needs the vital energy of a willing living being to break the curse,” Chinen explained, through clenched teeth. His brow was furrowed too and he looked older, darker.
“How much?”
“All of it,” Yabu answered with a sigh.
Takaki could tell that Chinen was pissed. He went on telling Yabu he shouldn’t let him live in his forest anymore, and Yabu kept apologizing. Takaki just ignored them.
The situation was clear. They wouldn’t be able to find other humans beings in miles around. As far as Takaki knew, the cursed village was the nearest human settlement and it was too far away, they didn’t have the time to get there. Willing living beings discarded animal sacrifices, and they couldn’t use Yabu, because he would be performing the ritual. And that only left one choice, didn’t it?
“I will do it.” Takaki’s voice sounded deep even to his own ears. He was glad it didn’t shake.
“You’ll die,” Yabu grimaced.
“I’m a Champion,” Takaki explained, terrified, but knowing he was doing what was right. “This is what I was sent here to do.”
Yabu slowly blinked his acceptance and Takaki closed his eyes. He wished he could have said goodbye to his mother and his father, he wished he could have let his sisters know he loved them. And also, and this startled him, he wished he could have spent more time with Chinen.
He felt Yabu drawing closer, and then he saw a bright light even through his closed lids. The light enveloped him. It didn’t feel dreadful. If anything, he felt peace.
He heard Chinen yelling, but it was far away and like hearing him through water. He was sleepy, and a bit cold, but nothing unbearable. And then he was falling, to the ground, to oblivion, he just didn’t know.
So this is dying… He thought, as he lost the last bit of his consciousness. Goodbye Chinen…
***
When Takaki woke up.
His head ached so much that, at first, he couldn’t place the weird feeling he got at waking up. Then he remembered that he wasn’t supposed to.
He looked around. If this was what death looked like, it was boringly similar to the cottage of Yabu, the wizard, only that Takaki was on the bedroom instead of the hearth room.
“Am I dead?” Takaki asked Yabu when he saw him enter the room.
Yabu looked at him -okay, so he wasn’t an invisible ghost-, and smiled.
“Good morning, Takaki-kun, I’m glad you woke up.”
Yabu handed him a tray with bread and milk and Takaki realized he was starving. Not dead then, not even undead. Zombies didn’t eat bread, right?
“I don’t understand,” Takaki said, confused, when he finished eating. “Is the village safe?”
Yabu’s smile grew wider and exploded in wrinkles around his eyes that almost swallowed them.
“Yes,” Yabu beamed. “The village is safe, my careless spell is broken; no one died.”
“So you didn’t really need all my life force,” Takaki prodded.
“I would have, if it had been you,” Yabu explained. He was being so vague that Takaki wanted to cry.
“Why am I alive?” He asked then, simply, directly.
He had been willing to sacrifice himself, willing to give his life for people he didn’t know. He had faced dead and embraced it. Surviving that was very confusing.
“Chii saved you.” Yabu informed. “He revealed his real name when I casted the counter spell, before I could ask you yours. The spell drew from his life force, because it didn’t have access to yours. You see, powerful magic like this needs to be directed, and the only way to do that is knowing someone’s full real name.”
“But I… passed out, I felt the light…”
“Chii’s work. He knocked you unconscious so you couldn’t give me your name. I think he believed you would have stopped him.”
Takaki felt tears scorching his eyes and tried had to contain them. Of course he would have stopped him. Chinen wasn’t responsible for any of this, it was Takaki’s job. He had no business dying in his stead.
“Where is he?” Takaki asked. He couldn’t force himself to ask about Chinen in terms of a dead body.
“In the hearth room,” Yabu said, and there was a bit of surprise in his tone, but Takaki ignored him
Of course, Yabu would never understand why a warrior could care so much for a dragon. A Golden Dragon. Warriors were supposed to kill those evil creatures, right?
But Chinen wasn’t evil or dreadful, he hadn’t even been intimidating in his human form… most of the time. And Chinen’s heart, dragon or not, had been generous. He had helped Takaki even though he didn’t have to and he had saved his life, sacrificing himself to do it.
The body lay on a made up gurney on the floor, facing up. Takaki approached him reverently, and knelt down beside him.
Chinen was cold, colder than he remembered from their stolen night by the campfire. Takaki took Chinen hands in his.
“I am sorry,” Takaki whispered, resting his temple against Chinen’s cheek. “I know you probably would have hated it, but I would have wanted to protect you. Always.”
He kissed Chinen’s forehead then, and a lonely teardrop escaped from Takaki’s eyes and rolled down his face and beyond, landing beside Chinen’s nose.
And Chinen stirred. His eyelids fluttered open lazily, and he yawned.
“Yuuyan, your tears tickle,” Chinen dragged out, a bit of annoyance in his voice.
Takaki screamed and backed away in panic, his heart hammering and his blood pounding. His extremities felt numb, and it took him a while closing his mouth and stop screaming so he could hear Yabu’s amused laughter.
“You told me he was dead!” Takaki whined, trying to get his breath back.
“No, I told you the counter spell used his life force. And that’s true.”
Chinen sat up, looking dizzy and disheveled. He seemed different, but Takaki couldn’t pinpoint how.
“He survived,” Takaki marveled, happiness beginning to prickle his soul, chasing the numbness away.
“He gave his whole life force. His whole dragon life force.”
Takaki heard Yabu’s voice and tried to understand what he was saying, because he knew it was important. But Chinen looked too adorable rubbing his eyes.
“He’s mortal now,” Yabu said then, and Takaki snapped to attention.
He looked at Yabu, at his serious expression, then at Chinen. He knew what was different. And it hurt.
“I’ll go make some tea,” Yabu awkwardly excused himself, and left them alone.
Takaki stood up. He was still shaking, from the scare, from the giddiness, from being alive. He walked on trembling legs and sat down beside Chinen, on the gurney.
“I am sorry,” Takaki began, without looking at Chinen’s face. “You had to give up being a dragon to save me. I am very sorry.”
“I didn’t want you to die.” Chinen blushed, and Takaki thought that mortality became him. Chinen looked cute blushing, and dragons didn’t blush.
“Thank you,” Takaki said, clumsily bumping his shoulder with Chinen’s.
“I’m cold,” Chinen complained, a tinge of weird confusion there. “How do humans stand this cold?”
“Come here.” Takaki turned a bit and stretched his arms. Chinen understood.
Chinen’s body temperature was as low as ever, but Takaki was warm enough for both of them.
“I am not made of fire anymore,” Chinen whispered against Takaki’s chest. Takaki could swear he was pouting.
He wasn’t dense, he knew exactly what Chinen meant but didn’t want to ask.
“You are beautiful,” Takaki said, forcing his words past his chronic embarrassment. “And cute.”
“Yup, I am.” Chinen’s voice betrayed his relief, though.
Takaki smiled.
They sat entwined in the comfortable silence Takaki was used to by now. He indulged in petting Chinen’s hair now that he knew Chinen couldn’t fry him with a stare and a thought. And Chinen seemed to like it.
After long minutes, Chinen’s stomach made a noise that startled Chinen and made Takaki laugh.
“I’m hungry,” Chinen realized, staring wide-eyed at Takaki. “Feed me.”
Takaki smiled. Chinen had saved his life after all, he was responsible of taking care of him now. And he was astounded to find out that he was actually looking forward to it.
“I’ll see what Yabu has to cook,” Takaki said, standing up.
He would take Chinen back to the Capital, show him his parent’s bakery and the rest of the city. He wanted to take care of Chinen from now on. And, as he took Chinen’s hand to take him to the kitchen, he suspected Chinen would let him.
Always.
Title: Evil dragons and knights in shining armor
Pairing: Takaki Yuya/Chinen Yuri
Rating: PG
Warnings: Fantasy AU. A bit of fluff, not enough romance. Inaccurate use of lore.
Summary: Kill the dragon, save the village. Simple, wasn't it?
Notes: Dear Recipient-san, I really hope you can find something to enjoy in this. I usually don't do plot, but this was really fun to write. Thank you for your interesting themes proposals! All my love to H, because she's the best and helped me a lot to figure out how to get from A to B. And THANKS to my last minute beta! <3
Takaki didn't really want to be a hero, hadn't even wanted to be any kind of warrior to begin with. He just happened to be in the right place at, maybe, the wrong time, and inadvertently saved a princess from being kidnapped, stopped a war before it had begun and saved the whole kingdom from impending doom. Of course, he was there only to deliver a cake from his family's bakery at that time, but facts were facts. Takaki also had the kind of charisma that made girls swoon and men follow him -and he looked really good in armor. So, the King had knighted him.
At that time, he hadn't really thought much about it. Status and money for his mother and proper suitors for his sisters seemed like a good trade for wearing a cute uniform and parade around the capital wielding a sword. But nobody ever told him anything about dragons. Least of all killing them.
Apparently though, the fact that a village had fallen under a curse was reason enough for the hero of the Kingdom to slay the devilish dragon responsible. Never mind that Takaki had never slain a dragon -or anything else- in his life.
And here he was, in the middle of a creepy forest, searching for the lair of a Golden High Dragon Takaki absolutely did not want to find. And the forest wasn’t cooperating either.
So far he had only managed to get lost, and night was quickly approaching. Takaki shivered at the idea of camping alone here, amidst mean looking trees that seemed to hate him.
“Are you lost, young traveler?” A voice asked suddenly. It was kind of high pitched, and the words didn’t quite matched the tone that pronounced them, but Takaki didn’t notice any of that, too busy jumping out of his skin and reaching out for his sword.
“Who are you?” Takaki asked the young man before him. “What are you doing here?”
The young man in question was short, shorter than Takaki for sure, and his face seemed perpetually locked on a mischievous smile. Black hair, pale skin, eyes the warmest kind of brown; he was blinking a lot as he looked up to Takaki. He was pretty adorable.
“I live here,” he said, ignoring Takaki’s request for his name. “What are you doing here?”
“I’m here to slay an evil dragon,” Takaki explained, feeling cool, and sheathed his sword; the young nameless boy didn’t really look as a threat. If anything, Takaki felt like petting his hair or taking him into his lap.
“What did this dragon ever do to you?” The boy asked, and Takaki could swear he saw a flash of gold cross his eyes.
“He cursed a village down the river. The people there is getting sick and will die if I don’t kill it.”
The boy fixed Takaki with an icy stare Takaki didn’t like at all.
“Why do you assume it’s the dragon’s fault? Did you ask them?”
Takaki burst out laughing, it was a good joke, even if it felt out of place at twilight, at the creepiest place he had ever been in, and told by a complete stranger who had no business being there at all and could easily be a thief or something worse. Was the boy even alive?
Takaki’s laughter froze. He noticed then that the boy wasn’t even smiling.
“You aren’t kidding,” Takaki stated, taking a deep breath and stealthily checking if the boy’s chest rose and fell too. “Well, it wasn’t my idea, you know? And I can’t even find this Golden Dragon anyway, much less ask it stuff.”
“The dragon is not an it,” the boy replied, a grumpy grimace twisting the corner of his mouth. “And you have just found him.”
Takaki paled and turned around, expecting to find the huge beast behind him and ready to eat him, or kill him, or any awful else dragons did to their victims. Takaki hadn’t really studied their habits before leaving the castle. Maybe he should had.
But there was nothing there, just the beginning of darkness already engulfing some of the trees and bushes.
“Oi!” Takaki called out at the boy. It was rude to play those kind of tricks onto someone who was already a bit frightened. “Don’t scare me like that for nothing.”
Takaki didn’t like the boy’s deadpan either.
“I am the dragon.”
“Right…” Running away was beginning to appear like a good choice. This wild boy living in the forest could be a psychopath killer after all.
“You don’t believe me,” the boy scoffed.
“Aren’t you a bit…” Pretty? Adorable? Sweet? “Too tiny to be a dragon?”
“I am too cute for a dragon, yes. But…”
The boy’s eyes turned fully golden and that was just the beginning of it. His plain clothes grew wide and spun around him, ablaze with light in the middle of the forest’s almost total darkness, and Takaki had to cover his eyes, because the brightness hurt him a little.
When Takaki dared looking again, a full size dragon stood before him. Three stories tall and huge in every sense; his wings spreading out beyond Takaki’s field of vision. It was a magnificent sight. Metallic-looking scales protected it like an armor made of pure gold, but Takaki suspected they would be tougher than the noble material. He also wondered if they would be warm to the touch of cold as a snake’s.
Takaki wanted to touch them so badly...
Enthralled, he took a step forward, oblivious of the blazes that rose to protect the dragon from his approach. Full golden eyes without a pupil stared at him, and Takaki felt the warning in his bones. But he didn’t reach for his sword and he didn’t back away.
The flames grew taller, hotter around him, but Takaki took another step forward. He reached out with his left hand, his fingertips almost brushing the dragon’s scales, and the pain of his charring skin was almost an afterthought.
“Beautiful…” Takaki whispered.
And then he fell to the floor, unconscious.
***
Chinen looked at the sleeping human before him and sighed.
It had taken Chinen hours to heal the more nasty looking injuries on his fragile skin and had given up on the smaller ones some minutes ago. Chinen was no healer; he was a golden dragon, and golden dragons were supposed to burn things, not put them back together. Stupid human.
He wondered again why he didn’t simply kill him. After all, he would have slain Chinen if he had found him in his dragon form. Or at least tried to. Chinen glanced at the sleeping man’s hands, at his arms and briefly at the rest of his now almost naked body.
He was clearly no warrior. Not enough sharpness in him, even if his arms were strong. The man’s hands also lacked the callousness of extensive swordplay. That did make Chinen feel a bit better about not letting the supposed knight burn and die when he had the chance.
It was past high noon when the man stirred up finally. He turned around on the floor and the pain from the burns Chinen hadn’t had the will to heal must have finished awaking him, because he was on his feet and staring panicked at Chinen in no time.
“Are you going to kill me?” The human asked, and Chinen felt his own face contorting into a baffled sneer.
“Why would I wait for you to wake up to kill you?” Chinen snapped.
The human seemed to consider this, then relaxed a bit. And then he seemed to notice there was only a dirty rag covering his nether body and blushed. He looked cute blushing, Chinen thought.
“There are clothes for you to your left,” Chinen said in a sigh.
The man hurried into the loose pants and linen shirt Chinen had brought for him, for once glad of useless gifts and tributes the villagers had presented him with over the years. Chinen just stood there and watched the sunbeams play with his hair.
He had restored the human’s hair. The human had great hair.
And there was that feeling again, the one that had made Chinen actually talk to the dashing knight who had trespassed on his forest -and that he should have left to die there in the first place. Great hair wasn’t enough to cause this, Chinen thought. But the stranger’s eyes were kind in spite of the sword he had tried to wield -and that now lay forgotten somewhere in Chinen’s lair. He was also really handsome.
Chinen sighed again.
“I need a name to call you by, other than stupid human,” Chinen said.
The human took no visible offense.
“Takaki Yuya,” he said, and smiled so bright Chinen had to blink several times to adjust.
“Yuuyan~” Chinen tried, and felt a little better about himself when Takaki cringed. “Follow me.”
“Where are we going, Dragon-san?” Takaki asked, and Chinen rolled his eyes at the dash of fear there. Stupid human was starting to sound like a good nickname for someone who still thought Chinen was going to eat them. Even after Chinen healed and clothed them.
“We are going to pay a visit to the wizard responsible for the curse to the village,” he replied. Then added, “and call me Chinen.”
***
They walked for long hours getting deeper and deeper into the forest, but, for some reason, Takaki didn’t feel like the trees and bushes wanted him out of there right now, dead or alive.
Maybe it had to do with the dragon, never mind his human form, walking by his side, but he wasn’t sure. It seemed like the paths opened in front of them naturally as they walked.
“This forest used to be creepier,” Takaki said, finally, because he just needed to break the silence.
“The woods protect me…” Chinen explained, absentmindedly. “Without me you’d get lost and die.”
He seemed to know which way to go by following the scent in the air. Every once in a while he would stop, sniff around once or twice and scratch his nose before continuing leading the way. Takaki had giggled every time.
“Are we looking for a lost wizard? Or a dead one?” Takaki shivered. He didn’t exactly like magic-users of any kind, much less if they were dead.
“I struck a deal with him... some time ago.” Chinen’s tone was deliberately vague. Takaki didn’t press the issue. “He can roam my lands freely, but I can trace him. He’s going north now, hasn’t stop moving. He’s a couple of days ahead of us.”
“Why would an evil wizard run away after cursing a village?” Takaki wondered aloud. “Wouldn’t he like to be around to contemplate his work? Or ask for ransom?”
Chinen sniggered.
“Yabu isn’t evil, he’s just too powerful and careless. That’s part of what the quarrel was about.”
“Quarrel?” Takaki asked, trying to figure out things. Chinen wasn’t very forthcoming.
“Hika and Yabu quarrel a lot. Sometimes bad things happen,” Chinen sighed. “The important thing is that he didn’t mean to curse the village.”
Takaki tried to close his mouth, but the idea of someone so powerful that one of his tantrums could doom an entire village to a slow death left him simply dumbfounded. Then again, he was traveling alongside a dragon. Life had become really complicated in a really short time.
***
“Don’t you have, you know, magic?” Takaki asked, as he tried to start a fire for their makeshift camp. Trying being the operative word. “You could help me a bit.”
Chinen had also instructed him to gather the wood in the first place while he sat and waited.
“I don’t need fire to keep warm,” Chinen sneered.
Chinen also blinked some subtle magic in Takaki’s direction without him noticing, and Takaki’s clumsy technique finally produced a spark and, subsequently, fire. The goofy accomplished smile that took over Takaki’s face was an unexpected reward.
This Takaki human was really interesting, Chinen thought. For starters, he didn’t seem to mind that Chinen was a dragon. Once he had learned that Chinen wasn’t responsible for putting the village in danger he just had stopped thinking about killing him.
Takaki didn’t seem keen on killing anything. In fact, he hadn’t wanted to hunt for his dinner and was now cooking some kind of soup made of roots, mushrooms, and herbs. It smelled good too, as good as human food could smell, anyway.
“Do you want some soup?” Takaki offered. And after Chinen’s decline, he added, “you don’t really eat humans, do you?”
“Maybe,” Chinen answered, smiling impishly.
And Takaki laughed.
It wasn’t a clear sound made of tiny bells and wind chimes; it was dorky, and unrefined, and wonderful. And Chinen found himself laughing too.
“You look so young,” Takaki said afterwards, between sips of his soup. “Aren’t dragons supposed to be thousands of years old or something?”
Actually, Chinen was around 1500 years old, but he had spent most of that time napping. He sometimes woke up for the annual tribute ceremony the dwellers of the villages near his forest held in his honor, and maybe once or twice a decade to fly around his domains for a bit. He just didn’t care that much about humankind or the world.
“Yes,” Chinen said, and left it at that.
Takaki just smiled and finished his soup in silence.
***
Takaki tended to space out when looking at the fire. Chinen realized this on the third night of their journey, after Takaki finished eating and during a particularly long silence.
Chinen didn’t mind silence, he wasn’t really used to conversation, having lived alone his whole life. But Takaki was always asking questions, and his curiosity was kind of adorable. So, even though their silences were far from awkward, Chinen had begun noticing them.
“You like fire? Even after being almost burned to death?” He asked, waking Takaki up from his reverie.
Takaki looked at Chinen and there it was, the goofy smile and the sparks in his eyes, the slight blush Chinen was able to just smell in the air; Takaki’s wonder-filled expression that seemed to shine like the stars above.
“I like the way the flames dance. It’s beautiful,” Takaki drawled. He looked at Chinen, a brief glance Chinen just knew Takaki wanted to go unnoticed. He averted his eyes almost immediately, visibly embarrassed.
Chinen hadn’t known dragons could get butterflies in their stomach.
***
A week later, Yabu finally stopped moving north.
“We can catch up with him tomorrow at dusk,” Chinen informed Takaki with a neutral tone he hoped that hid how sad he was.
Takaki nodded. Resolution clear in his face; he’d save those people he knew nothing about or die trying. It was commendable, and Chinen admired him for that. He wouldn’t be able to care that much for strangers. But Chinen was a dragon. And they were supposed to be cruel.
“I don’t have any weapons,” Takaki seemed to realize then, with a start.
“You won’t need a sword with Yabu.” Chinen didn’t point out that, if the wizard wanted to hurt Takaki, a sword wouldn’t be of any use anyway. Takaki seemed nervous enough.
The rest of their day was spent walking in silence and they camped in silence too. Takaki barely eating anything and spacing out more than usual.
Curiously, all Chinen could think about was Takaki’s hair, how it looked smooth and silky even after many days of traveling. How much he wanted to touch it.
He got closer to Takaki, who didn’t look up until Chinen was beside him. Even then, the look in his eyes was warm and trusting. Chinen had a heart, he felt it beating deeply inside his chest even in human form.
“Are you okay?” Takaki asked, a smile playing at the corner of his lips for the first time that day.
“Is your hair magical?” Chinen’s hand didn’t wait for the answer to pet Takaki’s hair lightly.
Takaki closed his eyes and let Chinen continue his ministrations for a while. He was tall, but now he was sitting on the ground and Chinen was standing and it was a nice feeling being trusted this much, Chinen thought.
Then, Takaki’s arms circled his waist from below, and it felt even nicer. Chinen knelt down, his own arms circling Takaki’s shoulders.
“You are cold,” Takaki whispered. “I thought that being made of fire would make you warm all the time.”
“It’s not the fire’s fault that you are too warm,” Chinen retorted, but he was almost purring.
Takaki was warmer when he slept, cuddling Chinen, and for some reason that felt nice. Chinen didn’t need to sleep, at least not then, and he didn’t really want for the night to end either.
***
This Yabu guy didn’t really look like a wizard, not to Takaki, at least.
He had opened the door of his very rustic cottage with a friendly smile on his face, and his expression was still the same now that Chinen was explaining why they were there.
“You need to stop cursing things every time Hika is a neurotic around you or you’ll be cursing whole kingdoms until the day you die,” Chinen was scolding Yabu, patiently. Which looked hilarious given their difference in heights. Yabu was tall, maybe taller than Takaki.
“I am sorry…” Yabu’s expression was turning serious now, and Takaki had a bad feeling about what was to come. “And I am really sorry about that village too,” Yabu said, looking at Takaki. “But I can’t lift that curse so easily.”
“Blood magic?” Chinen asked, his tone dark.
“I am sorry,” was all that Yabu said.
“Sounds pretty serious for an unintended curse.” Takaki didn’t know what blood magic was, but it had the word blood in it and that couldn’t be good. Blood was never good.
“He needs the vital energy of a willing living being to break the curse,” Chinen explained, through clenched teeth. His brow was furrowed too and he looked older, darker.
“How much?”
“All of it,” Yabu answered with a sigh.
Takaki could tell that Chinen was pissed. He went on telling Yabu he shouldn’t let him live in his forest anymore, and Yabu kept apologizing. Takaki just ignored them.
The situation was clear. They wouldn’t be able to find other humans beings in miles around. As far as Takaki knew, the cursed village was the nearest human settlement and it was too far away, they didn’t have the time to get there. Willing living beings discarded animal sacrifices, and they couldn’t use Yabu, because he would be performing the ritual. And that only left one choice, didn’t it?
“I will do it.” Takaki’s voice sounded deep even to his own ears. He was glad it didn’t shake.
“You’ll die,” Yabu grimaced.
“I’m a Champion,” Takaki explained, terrified, but knowing he was doing what was right. “This is what I was sent here to do.”
Yabu slowly blinked his acceptance and Takaki closed his eyes. He wished he could have said goodbye to his mother and his father, he wished he could have let his sisters know he loved them. And also, and this startled him, he wished he could have spent more time with Chinen.
He felt Yabu drawing closer, and then he saw a bright light even through his closed lids. The light enveloped him. It didn’t feel dreadful. If anything, he felt peace.
He heard Chinen yelling, but it was far away and like hearing him through water. He was sleepy, and a bit cold, but nothing unbearable. And then he was falling, to the ground, to oblivion, he just didn’t know.
So this is dying… He thought, as he lost the last bit of his consciousness. Goodbye Chinen…
***
When Takaki woke up.
His head ached so much that, at first, he couldn’t place the weird feeling he got at waking up. Then he remembered that he wasn’t supposed to.
He looked around. If this was what death looked like, it was boringly similar to the cottage of Yabu, the wizard, only that Takaki was on the bedroom instead of the hearth room.
“Am I dead?” Takaki asked Yabu when he saw him enter the room.
Yabu looked at him -okay, so he wasn’t an invisible ghost-, and smiled.
“Good morning, Takaki-kun, I’m glad you woke up.”
Yabu handed him a tray with bread and milk and Takaki realized he was starving. Not dead then, not even undead. Zombies didn’t eat bread, right?
“I don’t understand,” Takaki said, confused, when he finished eating. “Is the village safe?”
Yabu’s smile grew wider and exploded in wrinkles around his eyes that almost swallowed them.
“Yes,” Yabu beamed. “The village is safe, my careless spell is broken; no one died.”
“So you didn’t really need all my life force,” Takaki prodded.
“I would have, if it had been you,” Yabu explained. He was being so vague that Takaki wanted to cry.
“Why am I alive?” He asked then, simply, directly.
He had been willing to sacrifice himself, willing to give his life for people he didn’t know. He had faced dead and embraced it. Surviving that was very confusing.
“Chii saved you.” Yabu informed. “He revealed his real name when I casted the counter spell, before I could ask you yours. The spell drew from his life force, because it didn’t have access to yours. You see, powerful magic like this needs to be directed, and the only way to do that is knowing someone’s full real name.”
“But I… passed out, I felt the light…”
“Chii’s work. He knocked you unconscious so you couldn’t give me your name. I think he believed you would have stopped him.”
Takaki felt tears scorching his eyes and tried had to contain them. Of course he would have stopped him. Chinen wasn’t responsible for any of this, it was Takaki’s job. He had no business dying in his stead.
“Where is he?” Takaki asked. He couldn’t force himself to ask about Chinen in terms of a dead body.
“In the hearth room,” Yabu said, and there was a bit of surprise in his tone, but Takaki ignored him
Of course, Yabu would never understand why a warrior could care so much for a dragon. A Golden Dragon. Warriors were supposed to kill those evil creatures, right?
But Chinen wasn’t evil or dreadful, he hadn’t even been intimidating in his human form… most of the time. And Chinen’s heart, dragon or not, had been generous. He had helped Takaki even though he didn’t have to and he had saved his life, sacrificing himself to do it.
The body lay on a made up gurney on the floor, facing up. Takaki approached him reverently, and knelt down beside him.
Chinen was cold, colder than he remembered from their stolen night by the campfire. Takaki took Chinen hands in his.
“I am sorry,” Takaki whispered, resting his temple against Chinen’s cheek. “I know you probably would have hated it, but I would have wanted to protect you. Always.”
He kissed Chinen’s forehead then, and a lonely teardrop escaped from Takaki’s eyes and rolled down his face and beyond, landing beside Chinen’s nose.
And Chinen stirred. His eyelids fluttered open lazily, and he yawned.
“Yuuyan, your tears tickle,” Chinen dragged out, a bit of annoyance in his voice.
Takaki screamed and backed away in panic, his heart hammering and his blood pounding. His extremities felt numb, and it took him a while closing his mouth and stop screaming so he could hear Yabu’s amused laughter.
“You told me he was dead!” Takaki whined, trying to get his breath back.
“No, I told you the counter spell used his life force. And that’s true.”
Chinen sat up, looking dizzy and disheveled. He seemed different, but Takaki couldn’t pinpoint how.
“He survived,” Takaki marveled, happiness beginning to prickle his soul, chasing the numbness away.
“He gave his whole life force. His whole dragon life force.”
Takaki heard Yabu’s voice and tried to understand what he was saying, because he knew it was important. But Chinen looked too adorable rubbing his eyes.
“He’s mortal now,” Yabu said then, and Takaki snapped to attention.
He looked at Yabu, at his serious expression, then at Chinen. He knew what was different. And it hurt.
“I’ll go make some tea,” Yabu awkwardly excused himself, and left them alone.
Takaki stood up. He was still shaking, from the scare, from the giddiness, from being alive. He walked on trembling legs and sat down beside Chinen, on the gurney.
“I am sorry,” Takaki began, without looking at Chinen’s face. “You had to give up being a dragon to save me. I am very sorry.”
“I didn’t want you to die.” Chinen blushed, and Takaki thought that mortality became him. Chinen looked cute blushing, and dragons didn’t blush.
“Thank you,” Takaki said, clumsily bumping his shoulder with Chinen’s.
“I’m cold,” Chinen complained, a tinge of weird confusion there. “How do humans stand this cold?”
“Come here.” Takaki turned a bit and stretched his arms. Chinen understood.
Chinen’s body temperature was as low as ever, but Takaki was warm enough for both of them.
“I am not made of fire anymore,” Chinen whispered against Takaki’s chest. Takaki could swear he was pouting.
He wasn’t dense, he knew exactly what Chinen meant but didn’t want to ask.
“You are beautiful,” Takaki said, forcing his words past his chronic embarrassment. “And cute.”
“Yup, I am.” Chinen’s voice betrayed his relief, though.
Takaki smiled.
They sat entwined in the comfortable silence Takaki was used to by now. He indulged in petting Chinen’s hair now that he knew Chinen couldn’t fry him with a stare and a thought. And Chinen seemed to like it.
After long minutes, Chinen’s stomach made a noise that startled Chinen and made Takaki laugh.
“I’m hungry,” Chinen realized, staring wide-eyed at Takaki. “Feed me.”
Takaki smiled. Chinen had saved his life after all, he was responsible of taking care of him now. And he was astounded to find out that he was actually looking forward to it.
“I’ll see what Yabu has to cook,” Takaki said, standing up.
He would take Chinen back to the Capital, show him his parent’s bakery and the rest of the city. He wanted to take care of Chinen from now on. And, as he took Chinen’s hand to take him to the kitchen, he suspected Chinen would let him.
Always.