Emblazon

^_^ Gah, I love my reviewers! I have an account on FFN under the username CHARbones, and that's where I have my Naruto Yaoi AU. This was also going to be another AU SasuNaru, but the Naruto characters just didn't seem to fit in their roles in this universe very well, hence the Original status.
Thank you for the reviews, please don't hesitate to speak your mind, any ConCrit you can offer will be taken very graciously and THANKfully :D (and depending on how well the concrit is understood, it will be applied as best I can to future chapters and so on and so forth.) Locations are fictional except for US states.


Chapter 3 (no title/Title pending :P)


When Strife woke up body relaxed and warm, he almost let himself believe the lovely conclusion he had come to about the, for some reason, out of place feeling. That conclusion being the past few months had never happened.
 He was safe in his creaky bed at the boy's home, waking up after a night of gorging himself on the black bean enchiladas served every Wednesday.

Perfectly content to doze off with the comforting thought that the past couple of weeks were a trippy dream byproduct of an over consumption of black beans, Strife started to sink back into blissful unawareness, waiting for the sounds of the house around him to start waking up as well.

It was an odd epiphany, when he realized drowsily that he was normally unfailingly the last one out of bed.

CrrrAAAWK!

Strife winced at the sound, and his carefully fabricated dream crashed around him leaving him bitterly conscious, with the realizations that, yes, the last two years happened. Yes he’d been surviving almost no contact with another human for over a month and Yes, he’d been captured by a black dragon who by now was probably bored with the whole ‘Bonded’ farce and would probably eat him.

Strife clenched his eyes tighter shut.

At least, he mused, the stupid loud death crow was still alive, and annoyingly awake early in the morning.


 
When Citadel woke up, the first thing he did was glance down at his little blue eyed beauty of a flamer.
The sight reflected in his pitch black eyes had him thanking whatever greater powers had seen fit to gift him with such an exquisitely made flamer. The deep browns and reds of the furs curled around the human accented and flattered his sinfully tan skin. Pink full lips boasting a healing cut parted as the boy breathed, gaunt dirt smudged cheekbones coupled with a pert slightly rounded nose and those eyes...

The only thing rivaling the celestial quality of those blue eyes was an ocean of crystalline water reflecting the suns light deep to its depths.

Citadel leaned his snout over the boy’s forehead and exhaled, tossing the blond bangs from his face.
The boy was too thin, he noted with trepidation. But when he'd have the proper nutrition, he'd undoubtedly have a runner's physique, long limbs and corded muscles coupled with natural slenderness. Still, he was too thin now, and that could be remedied. Citadel blinked leisurely running his eyes over the boy. He'd made arrangements the day before, which was why he'd had to stop at this safe house/cave between the major human and Unseelie populated city Brealtyme, and his mansion home in the rugged less populated northern region of Idaho.

 His very essence purred at the close proximity of his bonded, and the pulses of power that literally drenched him every time Strife experienced an emotional peak were euphoric. The human child practically radiated power from the gate. It was unprecedented. And Citadel was a being that could appreciate extraordinary occurrences.

He watched as the boys chest rose and fell with deep steady breathes for a while, then shifted from his position and stretched his wings. When Strife had finally fallen asleep last night, Citadel had allowed the fire to burn itself down then extinguished it by sucking the flames back into his stomach. He'd then shed the human shell he'd taken and returned to his preferred form.

The beacon bird squawked itself into awareness and ruffled it's feathers spewing dust into the air around it. Citadel stiffened when Strife's breathing gradually quickened. His little one was awake.

And again, he was terrified. The fear burdened the air and caused Citadel's hackles to raise somewhat.

“Little Strife.” Citadel rumbled.

“You're a dragon again. You freak. Pick a form and stay in it.” Citadel blinked down at Strife's annoyed tone. Strife's eyes were clenched shut and his body was tense.

“Are we at the stage of our relationship were we test each other's boundaries little one? Do you mind if I do the same?”

“Fuck you.”

“Now, I think, is not the time.” Citadel chuckled and slid from the bed area. He turned to look back at Strife. Strife sat up and glowered at the dragon.

“I don't think I should believe in this 'bonded' crap. I think as soon as I get fatter you'll eat me. I feel obligated to tell you that you shouldn't waste your time, I'm going to starve myself to death and you'll have to settle for the bruised fruit taste.” Strife took in a deep breath. He narrowed his eyes at Citadel. Citadel raised an eyebrow and matched his stare.

“I see.” Citadel said. Strife gulped at the emotionless tone and crept back off the furs to stand on his legs, muscles tensing to run.

The air shimmered around the dragon, he reared up to stand on his back legs, Strife flinched.
In this posture, the thinner fore legs easily resembled arms with sturdy fingered hands and lethal looking curved talons on each finger.
The bat like membrane wings folded against the dragon's sides seemed to push and stretch over his back, the sinewy abdomen shrunk as the dragon's snout flattened, the ridges over his eyes melted down into a more familiar human looking brow and black hair fell past his now human chin to his shoulders. His black pupils were stretched down unnaturally like a cat's eye, but other than that, Strife could see no features to the now human body that would alert anyone of Citadel's true form.
The dragon's human face some how resembled his dragon face. His chin was pointed, he had a strong jaw and a straight nose that was proportionate to his face, it might have been long on anyone else. Citadel's eyes were set beneath black eyebrows, his facial structure was narrow yet broad. He was a very handsome male. Broad chested and standing at 6 feet, he was built like a quarterback, hell he was built like a guy who could turn into an effin dragon.
Strife wanted to break his stupid nose.

Strife's eyes wandered down over the smooth planes of chest down past the thin waist, widened then shot up as his cheeks tinted red. A scowl crossed his face as Citadel somewhat smugly reclined on his heels and crossed his arms over his chest.

Fucker. Go figure, Well endowed. Fucking dragon. And, he had no hair down there, just a few glimmery black scales... freak. No seriously...really fucking weird. Strife turned, still immensely peeved.

“You hungry?” Citadel's rumbled voice asked.

“Starving myself to death, remember?”

“Unacceptable.”

Don't friggin care, la dee doo... Strife examined his toes and ignored the dragon, pretending he had no cares in the world.
Because Strife had a plan. It was possibly a dumb plan, but hey, better than no plan at all. He was not going to starve himself to death, no. He was going to eat... just very small barely noticeable portions. And he wouldn't gain any weight and the dragon would get bored and fly away.

Ok... so he hadn't thought it through all the way. Whatever, the beauty of this plan is that he could change it depending on the situation because the real goal of this plan was to give him time.
Dumb Dragon flies off to find him food, he'd start building a ladder out of the logs the stupid dragon left behind for the fire. Having no access to nails or rope or tools in general would not stop Strife! He'd survived a year and a half relatively alone in the wilderness... suburban wilderness, he could escape from this situation. Definitely.

“I have a friend in New Bethel that was supposed to bring some human food to my home in Oakland. This cave is a midway point, we'll be flying home soon. I'd suggest you get ready. You can eat on our next stop.” Citadel murmured from very close behind Strife.

In Strife's mind's eye, all thought and plans screeched to a halt, spontaneously combusted and burnt into figurative little whorls of despair and curiously purple tinted smoggy frustration. He twitched and whirled around to come face to face with Citadel.

“Woah!” Strife tumbled back, tripped over a fur and tilted backwards. Citadel stepped forward casually caught him and pulled Strife's body up over his shoulder. Citadel walked to the spring of water and plopped Strife down right next to it.

“Drink your fill, wash your self up. Do it fast as we haven't got all day. The sooner we fly out the sooner you get fed little one.” Strife's eyes were wide with outrage, his mouth opened and closed, then he bared his teeth at the dragon's amused face and promptly started washing his hands and arms and legs and feet, deciding to ignore the spectating dragon. He took a few gulps of water and shook his hair free from clinging drops. Strife blinked in realization as he ran his wet fingers through his shoulder length hair.

“I could use a haircut.” He mumbled, tugging a thatch of hair in front of his eyes.

“And a bath.” Citadel smiled at Strife's glance upward.

“Yeah... a bath would be nice too.” Strife slowly muttered as he rose to his feet. Citadel's smile widened.

“Ah, so my little one can be agreeable? I am most relieved.” Strife considered pushing Citadel into the cold spring water.

The rebellious scowl on Strife's face prompted a laugh from Citadel, Strife scowled in what he hoped was an even fiercer manner and all he got for it was a chuckle.

“Why did you shift into your human form if you're in such a hurry to fly us out of here.” Strife growled, trying to get Citadel's mind off of his amusement. Strife did not appreciate being laughed at.

“For your comfort little one. And so you could get a good look at me in the light.” Citadel smirked at Strife's reluctant blush.

“Also, I couldn't kiss you very well in my Dragon form.” Strife stiffened at the husky tone and tried to back away but was caught in a strong unrelenting grasp before he even took a step.

“Ah shit, look I'm pretty certain I'm not into gu-mmph!” Cut off from speech Strife closed his eyes tight and pretended he'd run smack into a warm growly wall. It was a blessing in disguise, he figured, as his panicked slightly horrified voice had sounded less than masculine.
Thank you dragon wall, for shutting me up before we had the chance to add utter humiliation to the list of stressful emotions I've felt this morning.

Strife would have giggled if his mouth wasn't under siege.

Citadel's pitch black eyes which had been half open from the start stared at the interesting colors his bonded turned at random intervals, from a burning red, to a pale white. Citadel raised an eyebrow, amused and a little annoyed with the lack of attention Strife had. Citadel started licking his tightly shut lips.

Freaking dragon, kissing me, a male, he's male too, I saw. He's definitely male. Whats his problem anyways. Holy shit I need AIR!

Strife jerked his chin up and clocked Citadel's lower lip as he gasped for breath.

"DAMNIT! Dumb, Dragon bastard! Son of a BITCH! GAHH!" Strife clenched his teeth and lowered his chin. Then he blinked. He was, he was almost a head shorter than this molesting dragon... his eye line was just below Citadel's fucking chin!

Somewhere inside Strife's head his masculinity shrank into a midget with anger management problems. Somehow, being smaller and shorter and thinner made him less of a man than this a dragon.

Citadel frowned and tongued the inside of his bottom lip. It was bleeding a little.

"Ow." He said.

"Shaddup." Strife replied.

"... ...Little one, I think we're going about this the wrong way." Citadel sighed at Strife's complete and utter lack of response.

"We have alot of time to figure this out, Don't worry." he said in a comforting tone while nuzzling the side of Strife's face, Strife bat him away with his hand absently. Citadel slowly released Strife then walked to the patch of dirt illuminated by the light from the hole in the cave ceiling.

"I'm changing forms now little one, You will be up on my back for the better part of our flight. I won't let you fall but you probably shouldn't squirm around a lot. Understood?" Strife glared, Citadel blinked.

"Yeah. ok. That's great." But inside Strife danced with glee and cackled... yes. He cackled.

Flying? Flying is goood. Why? Fly over some random lake or body of water and, if low enough, the extent of damage taken from a fall(leap) would be a large red welt. Hopefully nothing malicious would be dwelling in the body of water and Strife could hopefully escape before Cita-the dragon, noticed he was gone...

The more Strife thought about it, the less his inner angry midget danced with glee. Because... Dammit, the whole idea was a pretty stupid one.
It wasn't ideal, too many 'ifs' and too many scary conclusions. An angry dragon was not something Strife really wanted to see. Strife sighed and glanced up, noticing that Citadel had finished changing and the narrow ridged dragon head was pointed at him, eyes expectant.

"Time to go Strife." the warning in the tone was evident.

"Time to go Golden Flamer! Time to fly o'er distant peaks!" The crow added it's two cents and fluttered down to sit on Citadel's head.

Strife rolled his eyes muttered a sulky "Traitor." Then for the first time approached the dragon of his own free will.

Rather like a disobedient child Strife plodded over and Citadel choked back his amusement.

Citadel then distastefully lowered his upper body to the dirt so Strife could climb up between his shoulder blades, the position Strife found himself in was a lot like he was piggy backing the dragon, as his legs were braced against Citadel's shoulders. Strife suppressed a nervous chuckle and clung to the scales between unfurled wings, finding that the dragon's scale texture was very slippery in some places.

"Hang on, little one." Citadel roared, the huge wings beat against the air, thudding against strife's eardrums, Strife swallowed trying to relieve the pressure. His ears finally popped and he blinked then yelped and held on as Citadel sped from the entrance and into the open air. He shrieked (rather like a girl) when a tiny black cannonball shaped object hurled itself into his shoulder.

"Whoa-AGH!" Citadel glanced back and snorted as Strife squirmed against his back, the crow burrowed itself deeper into Strife's shirt using it's clawed feet to push itself against Strife's chest.

"Stupid thing! Why didn't you do this before we took off!" Strife yelled then shrieked as Citadel dropped altitude suddenly.

"Sorry little one, we have to fly close to the ground from here til our next resting point. UN patrolled areas are so troublesome." Citadel rumbled. Strife's eyes watered and he buried his face against the scales. His hair whipped around and stung his cheeks and eyes so he closed them tight and just concentrated on hanging on.

There was no way he was going to jump off. They were going way to freaking fast!

"Try looking around Strife. You might like the view." Citadel rumbled.

Strife, desperate to distract himself opened his eyes.

There was something intrinsically breathtaking about the combination of cutting through the air and watching the scenery fly by. Breathless, and suddenly completely unafraid, Strife slowly raised his head, eyes wide on the landscape.

Everywhere, there were trees, the horizon was emerald. The trees swayed beneath them, the sky was so blue and depth less it was dizzying. Strife took a shuddering breath and blinked.

Citadel had never seen anything quite as beautiful as the fledgling flamer wide eyed and breathing in time with the beat of his wings.
There was an unbridled wonder shining through Strife's blue depths, it made Citadel want to flip and cut intricate patterns through the air. Triumphant rapture bubbled in his chest and was let loose in a resounding roar that singed the leaves of the trees passing so quickly beneath them.
Strife let loose a yell that Citadel had no doubt would be what freedom sounded like if it had it's own voice to yell with.

Strife threw his head back and laughed then howled like a wolf on Citadel's back, yelling against the wind, Citadel continued to cut a path through the air, his heart beat in time to Strife's wild laughs. They passed over lakes and streams, more leafy trees and occasionally a settlement where humans and eldritch alike would duck and cower.

Strife was oblivious to most of it, he enjoyed the flight, the nipping wind and the disarray of thoughts that tumbled into his head and were greeted with the elation of boundless excitement. Strife didn't want to ever be land bound again. This was freedom in essence! He had to convince Citadel to take him flying as often as he could! Strife tightened his arms around Citadel's neck and grinned.

Dragons were amazing.