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Mai and Miyu had just celebrated their fifth birthday when the black-robed people appeared at their door. They had watched, quietly, as Kaa-chan and Tou-chan had opened the door and greeted them warily.
Kaa-chan and Tou-chan were, unlike most people, magic. Tou-chan was a witch, and Kaa-chan was a wizard—and Kaa-chan had said that it was silly that mundanes—or people who didn’t have a lot of magic—thought that all witches were women, and all wizards were men. They were just different types of humans who used magic.
While Miyu had shown signs of being magic, when she had made things float to her, Mai hadn’t shown any signs at all. She tried not to let this upset her—Kaa-chan and Tou-chan said that it was fine if she wasn’t already magic, because there was still some magic that she could use.
But right now, Mai’s concern lay in the way the volume of the conversation between her parents and the black-robed people was slowly rising. Miyu whispered softly beside her. “Should we go down?”
Mai was terrible at whispering. She warily shifted her shoulders as she considered. Their parents definitely wouldn’t want them to go down, but what if something was happening?
But, then again, she was Miyu’s onee-chan, even if it was just by a few minutes. She had to protect her.
And then the decision was taken away from them when one of the black-robed people swung their staff at Tou-chan with a crackle of red lightning. Kaa-chan looked up at that exact moment, met their eyes with terror, and they heard her voice in their minds—Run!
Miyu didn’t hesitate to back away, but Mai couldn’t help but say, “We can’t just leave them!”
But her exclamation had drawn the attention of one of the black-robed people.
Kaa-chan distracted them by flinging her hand into the air, and a wave of amber light blocked off the staircase from the entrance.
Mai was horrified.
Miyu grabbed her by the arm and said, “Let’s go! Kaa-chan and Tou-chan can fight, but we can’t!”
The thing was that Miyu could fight, but Mai had made it harder for them both when she’d spoken.
She was a failure as an older sister.
They ran into their shared room upstairs and shut the door, locking it. Then Miyu looked at a chair and sparks of a slightly darker shade of amber gathered around it as she used her magic to move it in front of the door. Afterwards, she fell to her knees and collapsed and Mai, who had simply looked on nervously, immediately kneeled beside her.
“Are you okay?” she asked worriedly.
Miyu panted slightly but nodded.
More bangs came from downstairs, muffled through the closed door. Then, a scream, another shout afterwards…and nothing.
Mai met her sister’s eyes. Her own expression of terror was reflected in the identical gaze.
Kaa-chan’s voice spoke into their mind, again. Stay there…you two…we…love you…
She fell quiet. Mai didn’t want to think about what that meant.
Miyu looked at the door.
Mai grabbed her wrist. “We can’t. Kaa-chan said…”
“What if they’re hurt? You can’t help, but I can!”
Mai shook her head. “You can’t do all of the same things, only a little bit of it.”
Miyu scowled. Then, they heard another crackle—except this time the crackle was in their room, and Mai felt terror flood through her again. Both of them slowly turned their gaze in the direction the sound had come from—the mirror.
It was glowing a pale green. Nothing like the angry red of the black-robed magic people downstairs, Mai vaguely sensed. That still didn’t mean they could trust her, but her terror lessened.
“Hello? Hello, Taniyama clan residence? This is Lu of the Trinity enclave, currently in residence at the Dogenzaka coven in Shibuya—”
“Lu,” Miyu murmured. “I’ve heard Kaa-chan talk about a Lu—that’s her friend. But how do we know it’s really—”
But Mai knew that her instincts earlier had been right. They were safe, now, and Miyu had just confirmed it for her.
She went to the front of the mirror and without thinking, tapped the glowing glass. “This is Mai and Miyu. Kaa-chan and Tou-chan were fighting other magic people downstairs.” She said, more calmly than she felt.
“What are you doing!?” Miyu hissed at her.
The light in the mirror cleared up to show a foreign-looking woman, with a kind face, golden hair in short curls that framed her face, and vivid green eyes that resembled the glow surrounding the mirror.
Her expression was sad as she spoke. “Oh, you two…the last time I’d seen you, you were just babies…” she sighed softly. “I was too late, then.”
And that was how Mai and Miyu lost their parents and were taken in by the Davis clan on the same day.
Lu, whose full name was actually Luella Davis, was married to Mar, whose full name was Martin Davis. They weren’t the same type of magic that Mai and Miyu’s parents were.
They were dragon riders. Mai hadn’t even known that dragons were real until then.
Mundanes couldn’t see dragons. They traversed through parts of the world that were hidden from mundane eyes, which was how Mai and Miyu later ended up spending time in England with the Trinity enclave, where Lu and Mar lived.
Lu’s dragon was a pretty green dragon, fitting in with the pattern of her magic’s color—maybe that was why her magic was green, and not her eyes—and Lu said that she, or Elle, was small for a dragon.
If that was small, Mai didn’t want to know what a large dragon looked like.
Mar’s grey dragon, Art, was slightly larger than Lu’s as they would come to find out later, but still, apparently, not the largest dragons could grow to.
Art and Elle were apparently a couple just like Mar and Lu. Mai found this very romantic.
Lu had asked them, initially, if they would rather like to stay with the Dogenzaka coven, but the thing was—
“We don’t know them,” Miyu said flatly. “But Mai trusts you two, so I think it’s better so stay with you two, even if it’s a whole different country.”
Lu had looked sadly at them but nodded. “Mayu did say you were showing signs of being a witch, Miyu—there are dragon riders who are witches as well, that can help you train, at the enclave.”
Miyu tried to hide the thrill she felt at this, but Mai could see it clearly in her expression. She felt sad, for a moment, once again—that she was a useless sister again. It wasn’t something Miyu had ever said to her, or their parents, but she felt it all the same.
Mai and Miyu had settled in for a rather hectic week when Lu had come to tour them through the enclave. There were so many people, from so many different places—people of all skin and hair and eye colors that Mai hadn’t even known existed. She could hardly keep up, and neither could Miyu, who was trying her hardest to put up a façade of being mature.
The enclave itself was underground and above ground, a massive complex and castle-like structure that again, was hidden from mundanes by magic. The inside was both rustic and modern in turns—some parts seemed older than others, but none of it seemed unsafe—just rather charming.
“And this,” Lu said with a flourish, “is the incubation hall.”
Mai stared at the rows and rows of large, multicolored eggs in makeshift cloth nests on long tables. Most were about half the size of herself. “Are they…all baby dragons?” she whispered loudly.
She still wasn’t very good at that. But she didn’t know if dragon babies in eggs could even hear her.
Lu chuckled slightly and said, “No need to whisper, it isn’t as though they’re sleeping.”
Miyu, in a slightly louder tone but still soft, said, “Why is that one so big?”
She was pointing at the large black egg that was probably just a little over Mai’s own height, which she had also noticed upon entering the hall.
“Ah, that one…” Lu sighed. “It was an abandoned egg that we found, with no mother’s nest nearby. Dragon fathers in the wild don’t usually participate in child-rearing, you see, so we figured it’d be better to take it in and care for it rather than risk it being destroyed in some way before it could hatch in the wild.”
“Oh,” Mai said softly. They’re an orphan too, she thought, and felt a slight tug somewhere inside her. She blinked.
Lu continued. “The dragon hatchling in that egg doesn’t seem to have found a rider it likes among the people we have here, so we’re considering asking some visitors from other enclaves…would you two like to see it up close?”
She asked this after noticing the way both twins seemed mesmerized by the egg. They both nodded rapidly, and Lu guided them through the hall to the large, gleaming egg that was located at the back.
As they neared it, Mai felt the tug within her grow stronger, and when both twins were right in front of it, Mai reached her hand out to touch it, and saw Miyu do the same, at the same time. As both their hands brushed the egg, Mai heard a hint of a crack.
Lu gasped. “You two—”
Another crack.
Mai looked at Miyu and Lu, panicked, and Miyu had the same expression.
“Did we break it?” Mai cried.
Lu shook her head quickly. “No, you’ve been chosen—”
And a few more cracks ensued, and Mai suddenly felt a wave of emotions that did not belong to her.
Discomfort—irritation—possessiveness—foundfoundfoundminemine—human—soft? Found—
The shell of the egg fell apart, and a small, black, leathery thing tumbled into Mai’s arms—she only barely managed to catch it, and it fit as though it were one of her old dolls.
It was…it was a baby dragon. Mai was holding a baby dragon. Her own baby dragon!
Own, the foreign feeling in her mind repeated. She looked at the dragon and saw deep, slit-pupiled, indigo eyes, flecked with violet and blue, looking back at her. The moment she met the little dragon’s eyes, she felt a feeling she’d felt before, but never like this.
I love you, she thought to the dragon. The dragon seemed confused by this sentiment but echoed a repeat of its previous sensation of Mine.
Mai learned soon that dragon names were not something that one gave, but that somehow…came, as the bond solidified after the initial hatching. Her little black dragon was named ‘Naru’, and he very much did not like being called little.
The reason Naru’s egg had been so big was because it had actually contained twin dragons, and Naru’s twin, who Miyu had declared was named ‘Jin’, had bonded with Mai’s twin. The two dragons, however, like Mai and Miyu, despite being identical twins, had very different personalities.
Jin was playful and mischievous, in contrast to the rather serious Miyu, but as opposed to the somewhat clumsy but friendly Mai, Naru was rather cold. The dragon did not like being touched by anyone but Mai—Jin was permitted, if he was in a good mood, as was Miyu, but the one time Lu had tapped him lightly, Mai had just barely stopped him from biting her.
Naru also did not like not being held by, or near Mai. He curled himself around her neck most of the time if she wasn’t able to hold him, and refused to leave her—it had been embarrassing and difficult to explain to the dragon that humans only used the bathroom in private and that he had to wait outside. He had been rather sulky afterwards, even as he’d clung to her neck again.
It was after about a year with Naru that he finally started being able to properly speak to her—in her mind, of course, but in full sentences instead of just through feelings and sensations. This was apparently rather prodigious—most dragons took several years after hatching—but alongside Naru, Jin had started speaking not long after.
Mai understood soon that Naru’s initial confused reaction at the sensation of love was…normal, for him. He didn’t seem to understand what it meant to love, though he knew what it meant to care and to own something, or someone.
She had thought this was maybe normal for dragons, except that Miyu had looked at her oddly and told her “Yes, Jin tells me he loves me all the time—it’s a little annoying, honestly,” and then Jin had loudly fake-cried in an attempt to be consoled by Mai. This attempt had been rapidly foiled by Naru, who whacked his brother with his tail and emanated the feeling of annoying.
In the end, Mai had decided that it was okay if Naru didn’t ‘love’ her the way she loved him, because he still cared about her, and was protective of her. That was basically the same as love, right?
Mai and Miyu soon had to start schooling, but neither were very good at English yet, and both had two little dragons that were very clingy. Lu opted to send them to an international school, for that reason, and Elle and Art had taught Naru and Jin how to shift their forms into smaller forms, so that they could hide in their human companions’ clothing.
While Jin was fine with peeking out of Miyu’s pocket occasionally, Naru had firmly decided to play the role of necklace for Mai. He disliked the sensation of feeling as though he might fall out of the pocket, apparently.
The school that they attended was a mundane one—there were magical schools too, apparently, but they were further, and Lu didn’t want to separate the two of them just yet. She had explained to them that eventually, Miyu would need to go to a witches’ academy, but that wasn’t until she reached her teenage years.
Mai wasn’t looking forward to that. She had put it out of her mind.
Naru did not like the concept of Mai making friends that were human children. You have me, and you have Miyu. Why do you need more?
Most humans like having a lot of friends.
Miyu does not.
But Gene does.
I don’t.
We’re just different kinds of…people? Dragons? I don’t want to be alone, you know.
You will never be alone. You have me.
But you aren’t human.
Mai had felt a cryptic sensation from Naru, after that. Somewhere along the lines of anticipation and irritation and impatience. She hadn’t learned why until later, during her enclave classes on dragon history and rearing.
Dragons, Mai learned, were born with all the knowledge they would ever need about themselves. They were born knowing their race, the traits of it, their magic…and how reproduction worked.
The colors of dragons were symbolic of their heritage, as not all dragons were quite of the same race. More specifically, black, gold, silver, and white dragons were of a slightly different race than the other colors of dragons—green, blue, yellow, red, among others. Purple and pink dragons were also a different matter.
Aside from the first four, all dragons who chose a rider were likely to mate with the dragon of their rider’s chosen partner. If their rider’s partner was not a dragon, then they would most likely end up either not mating or mating a wild dragon. Wild dragons rarely mated for life, as opposed to tamed dragons, but exceptions could be found.
However, in the case of the first four types—they rarely ever mated with other dragons. The reason for this was rather simple—they were capable of achieving a human form. That was, upon eventually reaching what would be puberty for humans, they would develop the ability to transform into a human—or an approximation of a human with draconic features, anyway.
The reason for this had to do with their origins, but Mai had stopped paying attention to the lesson the moment she had realized what exactly this meant for her and Naru. Naru seemed rather smug as he curled his tail tighter around her waist—he was currently curled up in her lap, head tucked between his stomach and her own.
You—you can turn into a human!?
Not yet, he responded, sounding annoyed, but soon, yes. Then you will always have me, and you will not need them.
‘Them’ was said in a tone reminiscent of a sneer, and came accompanied by images of Mishe and Keyik, Mai’s school friends. Naru did not like either of them and did not discriminate based on gender—anyone who cut into his time with Mai was considered an enemy, except for Miyu, who had been with Mai since she was born and didn’t count, and Jin, who was his own annoying twin and birth companion.
Mai didn’t know how to react to that, and so chose not to respond. Instead, she returned her attention to the lesson and noticed that Miyu seemed to be having a similarly flabbergasted internal dialogue with Jin. She was thankful she was not alone in this respect.
The lesson continued, and Mai learned why black, silver, white, and gold dragons who had riders rarely mated with other dragons. This was because they typically opted to choose their riders as their partners, instead. Mai had the sudden realization that Naru’s possessiveness and touchiness with her could then be perceived in an entirely different light.
Um, Naru…do you…do you want to get…married to me, when we grow up?
Human marriage is not the same as mating. But if that is a way to prevent other humans from trying to mate with you, then yes.
Her face turned bright red as she realized there had been no hesitation in his response. Have you always just thought we would be—a couple? In the future?
What else would we be? You are mine and I am yours.
We—we’re kids!
Yes, he agreed. I do not feel that sort of desire now, and neither do you. But we will feel it when we are older. Then you will understand.
Mai didn’t understand a thing, and her head hurt. Naru, sensing this, rose up slightly from his curled position on her lap and tucked himself against the curve of her neck. His warmth was reluctantly soothing.
And Mai thought, without meaning to, but you don’t love me.
Naru heard, of course. She regretted it as soon as she thought it, because she knew that not understanding ‘love’ was a sore point for her dragon. I care for you. My failure in that respect is something I am working on.
Mai flinched. You’re not a failure. I know you care, even if it’s not the same. But couples love each other, so I don’t know how you want to be a couple, even if you don’t love me.
His voice was quieter when he responded. You love me. And I care. Is that not enough?
Mai didn’t know how to answer that. So again, she did what she always had—she squeezed him in a slight hug and did not respond.
Around four years after Mai and Miyu had first arrived at the Trinity enclave, Mar and Lu called them in with rather serious expressions from a private discussion.
Sitting in Mar’s office—he worked as a professor of law in both the mundane and magical worlds, and thus apparently had both an office at home in the enclave and at a university in the mundane world—both of the twins’ adoptive caretakers looked at them somberly.
Miyu was the first to speak. “You said you had something to tell us about our parents?”
Mar nodded. “I trust you two can recall the events that brought you to us?” His hands were folded in his lap, and as usual, he wore a grey suit with a somewhat silly-looking tie.
Mai was the one to nod. Hopefully, she asked, “Are they…are they alive?”
For a long time, she had hoped that they might have left too hastily and that maybe their parents had been captured instead of…
She felt Naru send her a surprisingly gentle sensation of reassurance. She appreciated it. Miyu looked at her with a similar, but much smaller, hope in her eyes.
But the expression on Lu’s face made it clear that there had been little point in holding onto her hopes. “I’m sorry, Mai. They…the people who came to your house that day, they were sorcerers.”
“Sorcerers?” Mai asked, confused.
But Miyu had a horrified expression of understanding, and Jin, entwined around her arm, hissed angrily. “Sorcerers eat other peoples’ magic,” she said quietly. “They’re not like witches, who have magic in them, or wizards, who naturally gather ambient magic.”
Mai assumed this was something she had learned from the witch she was temporarily apprenticing with at the enclave, Madoka. Madoka Mori was a pink-haired—apparently natural—witch with soft brown eyes, and a pink dragon companion by the name of Kemi, who was even smaller than Lu’s Elle.
“So…they ate our parents’ magic!?” Mai exclaimed. “But…why does that mean…”
“For those who are witches and wizards, magic is their lifeblood. They cannot survive if it is entirely depleted,” Lu gently explained. “The same is true of sorcerers—they must consume magic to live, but at the price of others’ health—though there are sorcerers who do so in moderation without causing undue harm, they are rare. They’re akin to magical vampires.”
Mai wrinkled her nose at the concept of vampires, which she wasn’t too fond of, and even less now that their less-bloody counterparts had apparently murdered her parents.
She was surprised by the hint of wrath she felt echo from Naru at that thought, but appreciative, nonetheless.
“Have the sorcerers been caught?” Miyu demanded now, looking at Mar.
“They have been apprehended, yes, and brought to trial. While you two were requested to stand witness, we denied them permission—there are many other families that have lost people to them as well that can do so, and both of you, are, frankly, too young to be standing in that court.”
Mai felt a sense of relief at that, even as she saw a hint of anger war with the same relief on Miyu’s face. “What will happen to them?” she asked.
“The penalty has yet to be decided,” Lu said, looking sharply at Mar before he could speak. “We just wanted you both to know—that it is safe for you to return to Japan one day, if you so wish.”
Both Mai and Miyu looked at each other for a moment, and reflected in her twins’ eyes was that exact wish—to one day return to the country that was their shared place of birth.
Mai was fluent in English, by the time she was eleven, and had gone on her first proper dragon ride. Naru was no longer small enough to curl in her lap—not in his natural form, anyway. He was still able to shift smaller occasionally if he wanted to travel to mundane areas with her.
But now, she somewhat understood what Lu had meant when she said Elle wasn’t all that large for a dragon, because Naru, at a fifth of Elle’s age, was the same size as her now. Of course, the same was true for Jin.
Riding Naru through the skies of London was an unbelievably thrilling experience, with the wind in her hair and the dew of the clouds against her flesh. Below, she could see the lights of both mundane and magical London, and for a moment, she had thought of what it would be like to fly in Shibuya, her first home.
(The home she still missed, sometimes.)
I will take you there, one day, Naru had said to the thought, and we will learn what it is like to fly there as well.
She had felt overwhelmed by her fondness for him. She loved him dearly, even if his affections took on a slightly different form.
Let’s finish this ride first, she had thought back, with joyous laughter. She had felt Naru’s pleasure at her joy.
It was not long after that, however, that Lu began discussing schooling for Miyu, and Mai realized they would both soon age out of and graduate from the international elementary school they both attended, and Miyu would have to go to a witches’ academy.
Mai had yet to show any signs of magic at all. She was fairly sure if she had any, besides that of her dragon rider bond, it wasn’t much more than that of a mundane. Naru had always insisted that she did have her own powers, his aside, but she simply could not feel them as he could. Yet it mattered little—she would still be separated from Miyu. At least she had Naru, and Miyu had Jin.
And that was when Mai had…realized, for lack of a better word, the opportunity she could take here.
She asked Lu, “Can I go to school in Japan? In Shibuya, where I used to live?”
Miyu looked surprised. The witches’ academy she wanted to attend was in the U.S. If her twin was going to go to a foreign school on her own, then Mai didn’t she why she couldn’t also.
Lu looked hesitant. “Dorming may not be an option…”
But Mai was determined. “I can learn to live on my own!”
Mar was the one who responded this time. “You’re too young for that, right now—legally, I mean. How about this—once your Naru is able to take on a human form, we’ll allow you to go to high school in Japan?”
Mai considered this. “Just me and Naru?” she asked.
Lu shook her head. “No, that would still be quite the risk—we’d be sending Lin with you.”
Mai felt irritation rise up in Naru. He respected Lin, but he did not particularly like the man. Lin was a wizard who was often a bodyguard for the twins, and the partner of Miyu’s witch-mistress, Madoka. Lin was not a dragon rider himself.
Mai, who was for the most part unable to defend herself in comparison to Miyu, understood why the Davises would want Lin with her as a guardian—and frankly, being entirely alone, even with Naru, was a bit scary. Naru was like a part of her at this point—he was very much not an adult.
She nodded. “Okay.”
Naru successfully managed to become human for the first time shortly after Mai turned twelve, and Miyu had left to attend the New Orleans Witches’ Academy—colloquially known as the NOWA—which Lu was apparently an alumnus of. Jin had yet to achieve his human form, before they’d left, but Mai had a feeling he’d probably be in human form the next time they met.
Naru as a human was a very pretty—and very tall boy. Tall for their age, anyhow, and Mai had a feeling he would only get taller.
She didn't like that.
He had the same sharp indigo eyes, with slit pupils belying hints of bright blue and flecks of violet spread throughout. Black scales peppered his skin in patches, and he had pointed ears—apparently these were features he could hide if needed in the mundane world, along with his eyes. His hair reached his shoulders, straight and the same shade of black as his scales—he would later get it cut by Madoka, who could only do a bowl cut, but it hardly mattered because it seemed he was the type of person that looked pretty no matter what.
He also still had a tail, which he’d kept out of preference, but again could hide if needed. Mai had no idea why—the thing was twice as long as him—until he had wrapped his tail around her and picked her up when she’d been protesting something with him, and then she’d gotten a whole new level of angry.
His facial features were reminiscent of both European features and Japanese features. The shape of his eyes implied Japanese heritage, but his nose and cheekbones were clearly more European—Lu had in the past, seeing their draconic features, wondered if the twin dragons might be of mixed regional draconic origins as well. Naru and Jin were rather long for European dragons, and it was a trait more commonly seen in East Asian dragons.
When Naru finally managed to become human, Mai had felt as though a clock had begun ticking, somewhere in the recesses of her heart. She hadn’t truly understood, back then, when she was little. It hadn’t seemed real.
The way his eyes focused on her, sometimes, however, reminded her.
You are mine, and I am yours.
The first time her dragon boy kissed her was not smooth. It was clumsy, and a bit awkward, and Mai learned that his teeth were still sharp in his human form. Mai also learned that he had no qualms about licking her lips clean of the blood from when his teeth had scraped them just a bit too roughly. She was mortified.
“That’s dirty!” she’d protested.
“It’s just blood,” he’d said casually, as though it had been a perfectly normal thing to do. And perhaps for him, it had been, given that he was still somewhat feral at times.
Still, the second time he kissed her, he was gentler, and Mai had felt her body warm in an unfamiliar way as he’d wrapped his arms around her. Sensing what she felt, she felt a responding sensation of smugness from Naru, and then the word mine echoed in her mind—a familiar call, for her, now. It almost felt as though it was Naru’s way of showing affection, in truth—Naru did not see the point in lies, and thus never said ‘I love you’ to her, but he showed his care in a multitude of other ways.
Mai understood him, in that respect. Yet Naru, it seemed, had almost developed a complex in this regard. It had taken a while, but he had finally agreed to discuss his…emotional difficulties (he hated when she called it that) with Lu and her dragon, Elle.
Lu was contemplative, after Mai explained the issue to her. “Mai,” she started. “Do you know what it means to be aromantic?”
Mai nodded. She was fourteen, and it wasn’t as though there was a lack of diversity in the adults surrounding her—of course she knew what it meant. “And I know that it’s okay to feel like that too, but Naru doesn’t think so.”
Naru glared at her, but then corrected her. “It is not the same. Aromanticism refers only to being unable to feel romantic love. I do not feel that…sense of…overwhelming…I cannot explain it, but while it is not lying to say that I care, it would be untrue to say that I love anyone, including both Mai and Jin.”
Lu hummed. Then she looked at her dragon. Mai heard Elle’s voice echo in my mind, after a pause. I have heard of this, in dragons. It is more common amongst wild dragons than tamed dragons, but it is no great character flaw. By no means are the dragons who do not love as others do unable to care for others—as you yourself can see. It should not cause you undue distress—it is a part of you that you must accept and walk forward with. Your rider has already accepted it, and cares for you regardless.
Naru stared up at Elle. “Why should I accept that I am incapable of this one thing most others are capable of, when I have excelled at any other activity that I put my mind to?”
Mai resisted the urge to smack her face with her palm. “Naru…” she sighed.
Lu interrupted. “Why should you see it as being incapable of loving, and instead not as showing care in a different manner?”
Mai nodded rapidly. “You aren’t me or Jin, so you show things differently. That’s okay, you know—Miyu is like that too.”
Miyu, he spoke into her mind abruptly, is still capable of showing and feeling love. I will not have you feeling as though you are somehow not of the same value to me, as I am to you.
Mai blushed at that but protested out loud. “Naru, I know how important I am to you—we literally both live in each other’s heads!”
Lu laughed at that statement, and Elle’s expression seemed amused as well. “Should we leave you two alone, then?”
Naru’s glare read ‘yes’, but Mai, in her embarrassment, instead tugged them both away from Lu’s room and dragged them both back to her room. As she did, in her mind, Naru responded to her statement.
It is because I can feel your mind that I can also sense that you are still insecure.
Mai groaned. I’m an orphan! I’m always insecure!
She could almost feel Naru’s scowl. I don’t like it. You should not be.
After she shut the door of her room behind them, she turned to look at him, putting her hands on her hips.
“You can’t help me with every negative emotion I feel—just like I can’t make you less crabby in the mornings.”
He frowned at her. “This type of pervasive emotion is not healthy for humans.”
Mai grimaced uncomfortably. “That’s…true, but it’s not all about you, you know. There’s…other factors.”
“Do you require more human companionship? You have not spoken to Mishe or Keyik since your graduation, and you do not often interact with those in your new school.”
She sighed. “No…and Mishe and Keyik, we just kind of became distant. I’m okay with that—we’re different people, now. There’s really no point in making friends here anymore, since I’ll go to Japan soon.” She had a year left, until she could finally attend high school in Shibuya.
“And will you find human companions there?”
“You hate it when I make human friends,” Mai said accusatively. “Why are you okay with it now?”
“Because they provide you with something I cannot give you. I can acknowledge that, now.”
“That…that’s not why I make friends! You’re you and they’re them! I can make all the friends I want, but there will never be anyone who is the same to me as you are, or as Miyu is!”
Naru…froze, for lack of a better word. “You…do not seek romantic companionship?”
“What…?” Mai was confused. “Naru, you kiss me all the time. I thought we were dating.”
“I do it because it is pleasurable for me, and you enjoy it as well. But I assumed with my…deficiencies, you would seek romantic companionship elsewhere…”
“No!” Mai shouted. She was officially angry. “I would—that’s cheating! I wouldn’t do that to you!”
“Polyamory is an acceptable—”
“That’s not the same! I—Naru, even if you don’t feel it back, I love you! You’re the only person I like, like that! And I’ve never felt it for anyone else, so don’t—don’t—” Mai realized she was tearing up.
She felt panic from Naru. He did not do well with her tears. He quickly wrapped his arms around her and began stroking her hair gently, as though mimicking something he’d seen someone else do.
Mai brought her hands to her face and wiped away her tears with the back of her fingers. Then she held Naru back. He smelled like rainwater and cedar—an unchanging scent that had been present since the first time she’d hugged him in human form.
“You said that you’re mine and I’m yours. I’m saying that too, no matter what.”
She felt Naru nod against the top of her head. Then he pressed his lips to her forehead. “I understand.”
Mai gasped as Naru bit her neck.
They had been residing in their shared apartment with Lin in Shibuya for about a month, now. Lin had a bedroom to himself, whereas Mai and Naru shared, as they had for most of their lives. The walls, thankfully, were not thin, because Lu and Mar spared no expense in making sure the twins were comfortable, and since Naru, it seemed, had finally decided to properly give into the throes of puberty.
Not that Mai wasn’t equally as culpable, of course.
Over time, Naru had become more…careful, with his teeth. As he was able to shift them blunt, he had done so for a while, until Mai had admitted, mortified, that she preferred the sharp teeth. It was embarrassing! She could hardly handle the way he’d smirked at her after that.
Naru rarely smiled, and when he did, it was always a small, closed-lipped, smile. After that particularly embarrassing incident, he had begun to show just a hint of his teeth when he smiled at her, as though teasing her. The worst part was that it worked, and she thought of him biting her almost every time. Some days she wished he couldn’t read her mind.
Still, it wasn’t as though Naru was the only one who got to embarrass the other. Mai knew for a fact that Naru was extremely fond of her neck. She didn’t quite get it—she felt it had something to do with the ‘vulnerability in a predator’ dynamic of being a dragon—but she could always feel his attention when she wore her hair up or clothing with a low collar.
So she’d cut her hair short, which he’d been somewhat annoyed about—he often toyed with it—for only a moment before his focus had gone right to her neck—as she’d planned—and then he’d realized exactly why she’d done it. It was a simple way to distract him and it worked like a charm.
But sometimes, when they were alone, it led to moments like this, where kissing became a little more intense, and hands wandered, and his mouth moved lower down her neck until it reached her collarbone, and his hand slipped under her shirt and cupped her breast.
They hadn’t gone all the way, but they had come fairly close. His other hand was holding her wrists in place above her head, pressed against the headboard of their bed, while his thigh was pressed between her own spread-apart legs.
She whimpered as he flicked her nipple with his thumb, lightly. Sometimes, I’m not really sure if you like pain or not. She could sense his amusement.
It’s—she gasped as he sank his teeth into her neck again, molding her breast at the same time as he teased her nipple again—not the pain itself—just—“Ah!”
I am fond of the way your pleasure is visible even in your thoughts. You’re so very honest.
She whined out loud, but in her mind, the only thought she had in response to that was a protesting call of his name. Naru!
“Out loud,” he murmured against her neck. “Why don’t you call for me out loud, my-Mai?”
You—haven’t called me that—in years—“Naru!”
But you liked it, yes?
Unfortunately, she had liked it—she had felt herself warm up as he’d called her after literally telling her to moan his name.
You’re a tease! Mai decided that just letting Naru do whatever he wanted was going to go to his head, and thrust herself against his thigh, where it was pressed against her crotch, rubbing against it. This worked easily in distracting him, as he wore only a set of boxers, and she was in nothing but her pajama shorts.
His grip on her hands loosened, and she slipped one out to stroke along the fin-like parts on the sides of his torso.
The thing was that dragons who took human form did not have nipples. They had a large amount of scale in that area instead. Not all dragons had fins, either—those who did were either river or sea dragons or had some amount of ancestry from them. Naru was the latter case, and he was particularly sensitive around his fins.
He groaned. “Mai…” I’m the tease?
Her challenging eyes met his, and suddenly his lips were locked against hers, the hand that had been holding her wrist interlocking its fingers with hers instead, and the hand that had been toying with her breast sliding down to between her thighs, under her cloth of her shorts, stroking along the outer edges of her labia.
She couldn’t help but squirm at the delicate touch, and the fact that she could feel a hint of his usually shortened claw alongside the touch. Wait, wait—he froze immediately at her protest, and she changed her tone—no, it’s fine, I just want to take my shorts off—
He pulled away from her, giving her space, and she shimmied her shorts off quickly as he watched her, eyes heavy with intent. As he pressed closer again, he asked slowly, “This…is okay?”
Mai leaned back and smirked at him. She cupped his cheek, and then said, “It would be, if you’d also take those off,” and her eyes flicked to his boxers for a moment before they flicked back up.
He understood.
He pulled back and mimicked her motion from earlier, and then he was quickly pressed against her again, except now more of their skin was touching than ever before, and the finger that had teased the edge of her labia was now teasing along the inner lining, pushing away the curls of her hair.
His lips pulled away from hers and he latched his mouth to her breast, the same one he had been teasing earlier. His other hand fondled her other breast, and Mai dug her own hand into his soft, slightly wiry hair, her other running along the fins on the opposite side from the one she’d been stroking before.
As he flicked her nipple again, she squeaked as he slipped a finger inside of her, still stroking gently, and as his thumb pressured her clit lightly. “Na—Naru!”
She gasped as she moaned his name, not entirely intentionally. Her thoughts were only partially coherent, but it was with a distant sense of relief that she registered that Naru seemed to be equally hazy in his mind.
Another? He asked in her mind. It was only half a question, the other half a plea. She sent a feeling of assent towards him, and felt him slip another finger in. It was…it wasn’t enough, she thought.
Go faster, she couldn’t help but whine in her thoughts, and whimpered when he slid the two fingers out for a moment before jolting as he thrust them back in, setting a quick pace. Ah—wait—
But he didn’t pause, now, as he could sense her eagerness and pleasure. Seeming to understand her unspoken request, he added yet another finger as he continued to thrust his fingers in and out of her, wetting his hand further with each thrust. Mai could feel the pulse in her lower half, the way she was instinctively clenching around him when he slid in and the instinctive protest when he slid out.
He pressed down, hard, on her clit and sank his teeth into the mound of her breast when he slid in the fourth finger, and Mai felt as though she would burst, as though she could not hold back anymore—and at the moment, he stopped and pulled his hand away, leaving her feeling cold and whimpering.
“Naru!” She half-shrieked in protest. You—
“Not on my fingers,” he said aloud.
Mai only had a moment to think Oh— before something much larger was sliding inside her, ridged and hot and stiff, and she could hardly believe the sounds coming from her mouth were her, because she sounded like someone—she sounded—
You sound like music, she heard Naru’s voice within her mind say, uncharacteristically metaphorical and poetic. But Naru did not lie, as dragons rarely did, and so she knew he meant it genuinely. Naru didn’t care for music. But this, to him, was a type of ‘music’ that he could care for.
He continued to thrust into her, one hand gripping her thigh as the other gripped her waist, and Mai couldn’t help the way her arms reached for him, wanting to hold him close. He lowered his torso slightly, sensing her want, and she could just barely grip the nape of his neck.
This was, in the end, still their first time. Neither had a great deal of patience, and they were teenagers at that. It didn’t take long before Mai was once again at the peak she’d been at earlier, and she could now feel Naru cresting that same peak—it wasn’t as though he hadn’t been aroused before, but it hadn’t been to quite the same extent earlier as it was now. She came first, feeling as though she might black out from pleasure, and felt him come, the sensation echoing within her mind as her pleasure echoed in his, and physically as he spilled inside her.
At that moment, she only vaguely remembered the existence of—
“Condoms,” she blurted, and then was immediately mortified by her timing. Naru, shockingly, laughed out loud, something he had only done perhaps once before.
“I can’t get human STDs, nor can you get pregnant from me. I think we’re safe.” He was smiling at her, widely, a smile that she had never seen on him. She couldn’t help herself. I love you, she thought.
He paused, but she didn’t sense that same mixture of conflict distress self-loathing that she usually felt when she said those words to him. Instead, he looked at her gently, and lowered himself so he could press his lips to the hollow of her neck.
Ah. She realized that this was his way of reciprocating. Here was a surefire, clear way to demonstrate that he cared for her, that she would be hard-pressed in feeling upset or distressed during.
She said it out loud. “I love you.” Then she looked at him expectantly.
As though he knew what she was doing, he looked at her with amusement. Then he pressed his lips to hers.