Dragon's Mate

Author’s Note: Close to being done! Just a few more chapters and the story will be complete. And I think I may need to edit this page later, but I’m feeling weird and can’t tell right now.

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In the middle of packing Yuya stopped and looked around wildly as though he expected the Karura to appear right in the middle of the room or something. Abandoning his effort he left everything where it was and headed towards the door. Was he really just going to leave everything here?

“Our time is short; those things don’t matter.” I suppose that when you had the threat of being eaten hanging over your head you didn’t stop to spend time worrying about material possessions. Not that I would know anything about that of course. Damn it…

“We’re going to the airport.” I guess it was ‘nice’ of him to include me in his speech, but it wasn’t like I had any choice in the matter. If he wanted to drag me around the world I couldn’t exactly say no to him without experiencing extreme pain. I hated having no control.

Yuya headed down to the main lobby in a power walk I had struggle to keep up with. This guy could really move when he wanted to and I was grateful that he wasn’t actively trying to abandon me. I’m not sure I’d be able to keep up with him.

He asked the concierge to call a cab for him and didn’t even bother with faking the hotel bill. It’d be a while until they went knocking on his door and by then we’d be long done. Not to mention that no one would have expected him to skip out on it while his stuff was still here. I wonder how many times he’s done this…

It could be countless.

Yuya paced impatiently in the lobby of the hotel, not wanting to risk going outside and getting caught by the Karura. Maybe there was something more to this but to me it seemed like he was just being extremely paranoid. Then again before I died I didn’t even believe that things like dragons or karuras could possibly exist, and now here I was with a dragon as my killer/lover and a karura trying to hunt him down and kill him.

I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. It would be ironic justice for Yuya to die the same way he had killed me but I didn’t really want him dead. Just because I was still pissed at him didn’t mean I wanted to kill him. I wasn’t one of those people who thought that taking a life for a life was righteous justice.

What good would it do? In the end there’d only be two deaths instead of one and what purpose would that serve? To make even more suffer through loss? I couldn’t comprehend such a thing.

I couldn’t very well torture him either. It would do well to appease any sudden bouts of anger I had but in the end it wouldn’t do anyone any good. And if I ever completely forgave him I’d only feel guilty about it later, especially with knowing that he had only killed me because he had to.

The cab pulled up about 20 minutes later and he piled in, leaving the door open longer than what was necessary and I realized that he was making sure that I made it inside. Touching his arm he shut the door and shouted off directions at the driver in French. I couldn’t understand a word of what he said but I was guessing that we were going to the airport, which brought me back to my previous question; Just where the hell were we going?

Squeezing his arm I got his attention and although we couldn’t communicate he seemed to know what I wanted to say. Replying, he spoke in a mutter that made it seem like he was talking to himself. “Strongest talismans are in China.”

We were going to fucking China?

It would only figure that I’d get to travel like this once dead. No, I couldn’t travel like a normal person; I had to run around naked with a fucking dragon! I glared at Yuya though he couldn’t see me and muttered to myself.

The least he could do for me was get me a seat.

Yuya did in fact get me a seat; right next to him in first class too. I thought he was just being extravagant before I realized that by sitting in first class he could watch everyone as they came on board. If the Karura was anywhere among them he would see it. Though I didn’t know why the Karura would go through so much trouble just for one dragon.

Then I realized that if there were so few dragons left in the world that there would be even fewer karuras since they fed on them.

Who knew how long he would follow Yuya around, until he either caught him or Yuya got this talisman and escaped. I was hoping for the later rather than the former. What exactly happened to a soul when the person they were bound to was killed? I didn’t particularly want to find out.

It took a long time for the plane to take off and by the time it did I was gripping Yuya’s arm in death grip. What the fuck would happen to me if I passed right through the fucking plane?! I was glad that I hadn’t thought of this before or I wouldn’t have wanted to get on it at all, though I would have been forced to anyway.

Yuya acted like nothing was wrong but I could tell he wanted to say something to me. He couldn’t though because then the people around him would think he was crazy. That’s just what they needed, right? To be stuck with a crazy dragon on the plane?

I almost wanted to ask him why he just didn’t fly there himself but I didn’t know if I’d be able to stay on him, even if he was telling me the truth about being a dragon. Not to mention that it was a long ways away and we’d probably end up taking longer going that route that we would on a plane. And as much as I hated to admit it the plane was much safer, though for me that wasn’t by much.

Once we had reached cruising altitude and nothing happened to me I relaxed my grip and let Yuya take his arm away to rub it. He had bruises where my hand had been and I was a bit excited about that. I was having more of an effect on him than before.

After calming down I then realized that I was stuck on a plane to China, with a dragon (couldn’t forget the dragon part), and I had absolutely nothing to do. I couldn’t listen to music or the in flight movie, since people would freak out if they saw floating headphones, and I couldn’t even read a magazine. My fingers would pass right through the pages.

It sucked but I still hadn’t gotten complete control over this whole touching thing. I could do things like bruise Yuya but I couldn’t even turn the page of a fucking magazine. Yeah, thanks for killing me.

I smacked him and he gave me a bewildered expression that I couldn’t blame him for since it wasn’t like he could see or hear me. Still, it was his entire fault, up to the whole Karura thing anyway.

An hour or two into the flight I was bored out of my mind. Yuya had been kind enough to put my tray down and spread out a magazine, turning it whenever I poked him, but that had only been entertaining for the first hour or so until I had read every magazine there was. I’d probably end up going over them again later but right now I just couldn’t muster up the energy to make myself do it again.

I should probably be resting, conserving my strength to have more of an effect, but I had too much on my mind to do that right now. Was Yuya really a dragon? Was he really being chased by a Karura? Was I just completely insane and none of this was actually happening? I wasn’t sure which of those questions were true, but I hoped for my own sanity that I’d find out soon.

Even if I were alive no one would ever believe me. I’m not even sure if I believe me. Whatever god there was out there that had made this happen I bet he was laughing his ass off right about now. I wanted to punch the fucker in the face. Bastard!

Clenching my fists I decided to get up and walk around the plane. Maybe that would help me calm down and ease my boredom. I passed through Yuya on my way up and he shivered, seeking me out without making it obvious. I placed a hand on his shoulder for a moment to let him know I was alright before continuing. It’s not like I could tell him what I was doing anyway.

He shifted nervously as I left but I knew he wouldn’t come after me. He couldn’t, not without attracting unwanted attention and once again seeming crazy. That was probably the last thing he needed right now.

Side stepping the stewardess I slowly made my way to the back of the plane. I didn’t know how I’d affect humans and didn’t want anyone freaking out about the plane being haunted. It technically was at the moment but the last thing I needed was for someone to try and exorcise me. I wondered if other ghosts felt like this or if I was just unique.

Well, of course I was unique, how often did someone get eaten by a dragon and come back bound to them? Not very fucking often, but wasn’t I the lucky one? I scoffed and tried to put those thoughts out of my mind. It wasn’t doing me any good to brood now anyway, though I did have the time for it.

The back of the plane, amazingly, was just as boring as the front of it and I wondered what the hell I was doing. It’s not like I could actually get to the back without straining the distance limit—something I really had no desire to do, ever. Sighing I was debating about just turning around and going back to my seat when I saw a flash of red out of the corner of my eye.

No fucking way.

Moving closer I saw that what I had feared to be was true. The Karura was on the fucking plane. How the hell did he get there? We were watching as everyone got on, he couldn’t have slipped by without us noticing—not with that hair! I wondered if he had the ability to change forms like Yuya did and sincerely hoped he didn’t. I didn’t think I could handle the paranoia that’d follow.

As I stood in the aisle outside his seat he slowly turned to face me and I looked around for what had caught his attention. Seeing nothing I turned back only to find him still staring at me. There was no way he could actually see me, could he?

I waved my hand and watched as that same predatorial smirk from before spread across his features before he returned the gesture. Fuck! He looked me over and then gave me a sultry wink. Double fuck!

Turning around I practically ran back to first class and could feel his eyes boring into me the whole time. That whole thing about feeling like everyone’s eyes were on you was nothing compared to their eyes actually being on you. I really wished I had on some pants.

Arriving back at my seat I plowed through Yuya and then shook him as much as I could without causing a scene. He gave me another bewildered expression before looking around and asking the lady in front of him if he could borrow her makeup mirror. She gave him a weird look but did so anyway and he angled it in a way so he could see me.

Taking out one of the airplanes pens he waited for me and then wrote down what I told him, which was one word, ‘Karura.’ I then pointed towards the back of the plane and he froze, finally understanding my message. Thank god I didn’t have to mime it out for him.

Then I did something I hadn’t been planning on doing.

“Why the fuck can he see me and you can’t?!” He looked at me with confusion, not being able to read my lips when I was talking so fast. So he still couldn’t see or hear me then. Why was it that the Karura could? I almost wanted to go and ask him but I didn’t think that would be a good idea.

Sighing I pointed to the word ‘Karura’ and he nodded to show he understood before I pointed at my eye. Yuya wrote down ‘see?’ and I nodded in confirmation before pointing to myself, telling him that the Karura could see me.

Yuya froze again when he realized what I was saying and looked away in a distinctively guilty gesture. I narrowed my eyes at him and wondered just what the hell he was hiding. So I was right before, he was hiding something from me. But just what the hell is it?

It could be any number of things and I really didn’t want to spend the rest of flight guessing what it was but I couldn’t really do anything about it. Avoiding the questions I’d ask him Yuya returned the mirror to the lady and busied himself by staring at his magazine. I squeezed his shoulder tightly to let him know he wasn’t going to get away with silence forever.

“I know.” He whispered and didn’t offer up any further explanation than that. It pissed me off but then again so many things pissed me off now a days that I was just so tired of dealing with all of them. Fine, keep your secrets for now, dragon. But I will get them out of you sometime, and soon too.

Facing the window I tried to relax as much as I could. There was nothing I could do about the dragon and the Karura right now so I might as well sleep. I just hoped I would be able to with all the thoughts rushing through my head.

I awoke to the sound of the overhead luggage being taken down and scrambled to my feet before I realized that Yuya had yet to go anywhere. He was looking back at my seat nervously and I placed a hand on his shoulder to let him know I was up and he didn’t have to yell like a crazy man just so he wouldn’t end up leaving me behind. He jumped and relaxed slightly at my touch, though he was still strung tighter than a freaking piano string.

Rubbing his back he relaxed into my touch and then looked guilty about it, but didn’t move away. Whatever it was that he was hiding it was something big, something big enough for him to show guilt this easily. It was then that I realized that even though he still looked like Drago he wasn’t acting like him. In fact I think he might have dropped the persona altogether once the Karura had appeared. His eyes were even still green.

We had to rush as the people in first class piled out of the plane I had to make a few very uncomfortable moves by passing through several people in order to keep up with Yuya. I didn’t stop to look back and see their reactions but if the surprised shouts were anything to go by I was having more of, if not the same, effect on humans as I was on Yuya.

The Karura was different because he could actually see me. I still wasn’t sure how that had happened but I was pretty sure Yuya at least knew something about it. Otherwise why would he look at me with such guilt?

After practically running through the airport Yuya hailed down another cab and gave directions in fluent Chinese. Just how many languages did this guy speak? Staring out the window I kept my hand on Yuya’s wrist to let him know I was still here. He hadn’t stopped searching for me every few seconds since we had left the aircraft and I was getting tired of reassuring him. Just where did he expect me to go anyway?

The streets were extremely crowded and it took a long time for the cab to get anywhere. On the plus side there was a lot of interesting things to look at on the way. In a strange way the main streets weren’t much different from France, except for the cultural specific architecture that is. I didn’t know what I was expecting, maybe strange looking settings with oriental flavor just hanging in the air.

Nothing was ever what you expected it to be.

Yuya moved his wrist out of my hand and then clasped it in his own. I couldn’t feel it like I had when I was alive but at least I could actually feel it now. And now Yuya could feel and touch me as well, though I wasn’t sure how far this would extend or how long it would last. I really didn’t want anything to happen to him—however much he deserved it. I think he knew that as well and it was eating away at him.

Squeezing his hand he gave me a small, pathetic smile before turning back to stare out the window as I had been. I really wish I knew what he was thinking. I didn’t want to think it possible but I couldn’t stop the thought that passed through my mind; What if he was thinking about letting the Karura eat him?

I remembered what I had thought about earlier when Yuya first told me he was a dragon. It seemed like so long ago now but in reality such little time had passed. I have been dead for less than two weeks and look at everything that had happened already.

Yuya had told me about how he was forced to live among humans, the ones who had destroyed his home and family, and I couldn’t help but think about how much longer he’d be able to handle living like this. Wouldn’t it be easier for him to just let that Karura eat him? Something that simple would end it all. It’d be so easy, like suicide.

I didn’t like that thought at all and involuntarily tightened my grip on his hand. He turned back to look at me but I could see he was still lost in his own thoughts. His eyes were looking but his heart just wasn’t behind it. It frightened me in ways I couldn’t comprehend.

I wanted to say something to him to get him to snap out of it and get rid of that expression but it’d have no effect. Once again I cursed our inability to communicate. Just like Kian, was there no way for me to help him?

We arrived at the temple and Yuya cast some sort of mind altering spell on the driver, as he had with everyone else, making him think he had been paid. He drove off without giving us any problems and I followed Yuya inside, not bothering with the formal greetings he was giving since they couldn’t see me anyway. A few glances my way made me think otherwise and I hoped I was just being paranoid.

It sucked to be stuck as a naked ghost but it would suck even more to be stuck as a visible naked ghost. Tugging on Yuya’s arm I tried to get his attention but he ignored me. I hated being ignored.

Waiting until we were in some sort of rock garden with only one other person I put all my energy into it and yanked on his arm. He would not ignore me, damn it! He stumbled at then stopped but didn’t turn around to face me, probably wearing that guilty expression he had had on earlier.

“Why the fuck can all these people see me and yet you can’t? What are you hiding from me?” I demanded of him but he didn’t answer, giving no indication that he had heard me at all. It pissed me off.

“Oh, poor boy, did he not even tell you?” A voice mocked. Startled I turned around to face the Karura. How the fuck did he know where we were going? How the fuck did he get here so fast?!

I could feel Yuya tense in my hand and I ignored him, feeling good to be giving him a taste of his own medicine. Whatever it was he was hiding this Karura knew what it was and if I couldn’t get it out of Yuya himself then it’d have to come from someone else, even if that someone was trying to kill him.

Releasing his arm I let him go to run off and get his talisman or whatever but he didn’t move. He merely turned to face the Karura and the look in his eyes made me shiver. It wasn’t like the look he had given me before and during sex, it was dangerous; the look that someone had when they could and would kill you if they had to. That look frightened me.

“Tell me what?” I tried to ignore Yuya’s glare but it was hard, even though it wasn’t directed towards me. His eyes were once again glowing in a bright, vibrant green. It was the look of a predator, a dragon.

The Karura laughed and I found his voice annoying, though that might just be because I was so on edge. He looked me over with a smirk in a way that would have gotten me interested if I weren’t already dead and incapable of such acts. I could have sworn I heard Yuya growl behind me.

“He didn’t tell you that you’re his mate, did he? He should be able to hear and see you as well but since he can’t it must mean he’s denying your bond. Poor, pathetic boy, I wonder why?” He mocked in a sing-song voice that made me want to punch him in the face before his words caught up with me.

Whoa, wait a fucking minute.

Mate?!

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Author’s Note: I’ve never been to France or China so I’m only guessing on appearances according to what I’ve seen in a few photos! If anyone has actually been there then feel free to educate me about it. (I’m more into Japan than China or France, as you can probably tell.)

Reader: I don’t think he really understands it himself but hopefully that’ll become a little clearer later. It was never in Jaidyn to begin with to torture someone even if they did deserve it; he wouldn’t have done it while he was alive so he certainly wouldn’t do it while dead. Anyway, thanks for the review!