The next few days sort of blurred for Kaoru. She was slowly growing used to her 'pet' and all the things that came with it. Misao had dropped by once to see 'the lizard' as she called him, and scowled when Kaoru had refused. Kaoru had apologized to her friend, who had frowned at her for a moment before grinning and handing over a bag full of useful pet things (Kaoru had promptly thrown all of them out, since Kenshin wouldn't need a chew toy) and stuck around so that by the time she left she was attempting to sear a steak she had found hidden in the back of her fridge to feed her dragon. She faintly wondered the count had told her she had bought...but...she wondered. Kenshin really didn't say anything, alright he never said a word, but his expressions said it all.
He clearly disapproved of their sleeping arrangements. She would wake up and shove the gigantic blanket that she had gone out and bought in an attempt to keep from using the comforter her mother had bought her, and find him staring at her while she slept. There was something in his eyes as he watched her pick her blanket up, all rumpled from sleep; that made her nervous. He never said anything, not that she really expected him to, as stumbled off to the shower. In fact, he was almost better than any alarm clock she had ever met. When she climbed out of the shower, bacon would be sizzling and the smell of coffee would permeate her kitchen. She wasn't sure that dragons were supposed to cook, but his one apparently had the knack for it.
He never cooked the eggs, though. He left that up to her. He would still eat half a dozen slices of bacon; however, he had only tried her coffee once. She would attempt to fry him some ham slices when she thought to buy some, but he would watch her cook something once and then the next day, mimic the motions. His food always came out better, though, and she was completely jealous.
He would pick up after her when she got distracted, and when she came home from shopping, or sulking in the library, he simply trailed after her and picked everything up she dropped and gave her an assessing glance. Sometimes she would curl under her blanket and hide from the world in general and when Misao and Megumi came by, paste on her fake smile. Kenshin always retreated to the bedroom when her company arrived, but sometimes she thought he knew what was going on anyway. There was always a slight tang in the air, as if he was unhappy about something but he never, ever made another sign of it.
She knew Misao and Megumi were attempting to cheer her up, Misao had attempted to help her pay for Kenshin, (she had gotten an itemized ticket from Count D, hand written, and had blinked rapidly. She had thought it would have been much higher) but she didn't want to 'go back to living' and take up her classes again. Her life as an art teach no longer held the appeal now that her mother was dead, and her attempt to help run her fathers Dojo for an after school program hurt to much to think about. Her bokken was hidden somewhere and her sketch and art books were in a box. Under the bed. In the room she pretended didn't exist. There attempts to remind her what she was missing only managed to remind her who she was missing and she general felt the need to curl up under her blanket on the lumpy couch and hide.
Whenever she was ready to come out of her little tent and face the world she generally had to face her dragon first. If it was later she would sigh and apologize and go and round him some grub. Those angular features seemed so much more expressive than a human's. Sometimes he was the best thing that had happened to her. She would get the giggles and laugh herself to tears on more than one thing; the first time he tasted coffee, the first time she introduced him to American football, the first time she asked him where she was going to get him a nice girl dragon. The expression of horror, bafflement, and downright disgust on a face that looked like it belonged set in smug satisfaction was enough to have her track down new things to see if she could get a replay.
It got to the point that she wondered if he knew all her little habits, her reactions to situations, what she needed; better than she did.
She found he had two obsessions: learning and cleaning.
She had a small bookshelf that held a complete set of encyclopedias and several books she had bought from National Geographic. It wasn't so much that he flaunted that he could read them; she would just notice that they were...displaced. Nothing large, but a little displacement, as if he had attempted to put them back; so she started picking up books she thought he might like and leaving them on the coffee table for him.
She wouldn't even be aware that she had dirty laundry, because most of it just got shoved into the hamper in her bathroom and left there. She didn't know when he went in there to collect it, because she never saw him; but the laundry basket she would throw her clean clothes into to sort would have folded, neat clothing she had worn a few days earlier that was wearable again. Dishes that she made mental notes to clean would be put away before she could wash them.
The only real complaint she could have was that he hogged the shower and used up most of her hot water. The memory of explaining to him how to use the shower still put a smile on her face, and his expression when she brought home manly body-wash was just as amusing. She had noticed more than once that he had a very sensitive nose and she had attempted to find something that wouldn't bother him. He never said anything, but she noticed that the bottle was used. She knew, somehow, that if it had bothered him that he would never have touched it. Even if it was to simply pout it down the drain to keep her happy. She doubted his self-control went that far.
Then one day she got a surprise.
Digging through her clothes basket she found a bundle of hair ribbons. They were similar to the ones she used to tie her hair up but they were much nicer. She wasn't an expert but she was almost sure that they were silk. And that a few of them were hand embroidered. The colors were stunning: pale pink, blood red, hunter-green, indigo, and a pale yellow. The pale pink and yellow had jewels the size of sugar grains sewn into the patterns, and the green had a gorgeous fringe on the edges that she ran her fingers through for several long moments.
Ribbons like these were expensive. Not like the cheap ones she bought to hide the elastic in her hair. She gathered them up and was surprised that it almost took two hands to carry them to a drawer. She put them away, trying to figure out where they came from. The only other person in her apartment would be Kenshin...yet...
She didn't say anything and he didn't watch her with anything new in his expression so she decided that Misao must have hidden them on her last visit. Her friends really had to stop. Perhaps she could sell the ribbons to someone to help lighten up the load on her budget.
Most of the meat in her freezer had been quickly devoured by a hungry dragon. The bacon and the ham weren't exactly expensive but in the mass quantities she found herself buying them in, she was starting to have to wonder about future rent.
Misao and Megumi's visits were always so…interesting. The last one, where Megumi was demanding to know if Kenshin had fleas had almost been her undoing.
"Fleas?" Misao repeated while Kaoru coughed up her coffee. "Lizards don't have fleas, Megumi." There was a sulky note in her voice that suggested she wasn't happy that Kenshin was still hiding.
Megumi sniffed a little bit and took a careful sip of her drink. "That's not what I have heard. I think maybe you should buy him a flea-collar or something, Kaoru. And I don't understand why you keep him hidden away in that tank in your room. I want to see him." She exchanged a glance with Misao. "We both do."
Kaoru shook her head. "The pet shop I got him from said he would spook easily and that I should keep out of company sight while I had him. He might bite someone and he only goes to his...tank...when there is company. Otherwise he just wonders around so he might not be in his tank if I were to take you in there and I would hate for you to get bitten."
Misao chewed on her cookie as if she was attempting to hide her laughter. The idea of Megumi being mauled by a lizard, Misao still hadn't forgiven her for picking a lizard, was rather amusing. Kaoru had to bite her tongue several times to keep from blurting out her secret. However, she was a woman of her word.
Megumi looked skeptical but continued. "If you say so...but Kaoru didn't you mention that he keeps leaving you surprises?"
Kaoru thought back to the ribbons and shrugged. "I suppose."
Misao looked horrified. "He poops on your carpet? How big is lizard poop?"
Megumi sighed. "Have you attempted to paper train him yet? What deodorizer do you use? It must be much better than the brand that Misao used when she was training that monstrosity of a dog she calls Sunshine."
Misao looked offended. "Sunshine is a beautiful animal and I still say he doesn't have fleas."
"You say that while scratching your hair," Kaoru pointed out. "And no, he doesn't err...leave me present on the carpet."
They had left soon after that, and she barely managed to keep from laughing until they had, but when she turned around to see Kenshin's clearly affronted expression, his brow cocked up at her as if to ask about his bathroom habits, she lost it. She giggled until she couldn't breathe and even then it took several long moments before she could get a hold of herself. When Kenshin handed her brown paper sack to breath into, clearly showing that he clearly thought her in danger of hyperventilating; that she went off again. By the time she finished she was forced to clutch her gut from the twinges there and she snickered her way into the kitchen to cook him something for dinner. It was rare that she managed to make it into the kitchen before him and it was even rarer that she didn't have to chase him out with a knife.
The next day she found his next stash. She was cleaning out the bottom layer of her coffee table when there was the unmistakable clinking of coins. Moving the books she had been staring at a small pile of old gold coin; and they startled her enough that she had swung her eyes to the man doing the dishes. He didn't turn her direction but she got the impression that he was paying attention to everything she did. It was the way the air caused the fine hairs to raise on the back of her neck.
So she did the only thing she could.
She put the books back exactly as they were and pretended it never happened. Then she spent the next day locked up in her local library searching up draconic habits and trying to figure out if most people with dragons ended up with little hordes of coins and pretty ribbons. She couldn't find any people who had pets (well besides the story of the one that turned into the cat and the other one that was fed too much and blocked the access to the treasure) so she supposed she was going to have to wing it. Most of the tales surrounding dragons were completely ridiculous ones that involved them taking a maiden and their instinct to horde things.
She supposed that was what he was doing. Hording her things. Or his things. Or collecting a horde and storing them in her house. She just hopped it wouldn't become too obvious a problem. She already had a drawer full of ribbons and a coffee table hiding a bunch of gold coins. Coins that probably were worth more than her home and college education put together and belonged in a museum.
By the time the set of pearl jewelry ended up on the couch, she was slightly prepared for it. This time he did watch her reaction, his eyes never leaving her face as she dumped the bag open on her lap, shoving her bangs out of her eyes. His eyes were swallowing her. Drinking her in and pulling her into the dark violet depths were a shadow sometimes raged to be free. Instead of looking up to meet his gaze, she concentrated on the jewelry in front of her. The necklace was double stranded, while the two bracelets had three strands and beautiful shell clasps. The combs were beautifully polished and the earrings were wonderfully dangly. Taking a deep breath she had carefully put them back into the careful velvet bag and licked her lips.
"You don't have to," she told him gently. "You know. Thank you, for the gesture, but...they're not necessary." His eyes darkened but never left her face and she wondered vaguely if she had offended him. Perhaps she should apologize. Before she could open her mouth; he had smiled, this little secret smile, and gotten up to start the bacon. She must have gotten her point across because he stopped leaving things around the house. Well, that she could see. However, he seemed to turn his attention to other things, like the laundry and making sure when she took random cat-naps that she was covered with a blanket. Little brushes of slender fingers against her skin to reassure her when she was struggling with things. Eventually it fell into a sort of pattern finally fell into some sort of she grew comfortable enough with her dragon that when he sat down on the couch next to her at night she didn’t pick her feet up and move so he had room, but allowed him to put her feet into his lap until she fell asleep. She didn't worry about her hair in the morning and ran almost on automatic when it came to making the bacon.
"This," Kaoru declared impishly, "is pizza!"
The dragon standing next to the table with a confuse expression on his face as he peered down at the masterful creation, was nothing new. Yet.
"Now," Kaoru continued. "This is your half. See, pepperoni, Canadian bacon, and sausage; better known as the Meat Lovers Pizza. Count D said no veggies; he never mentioned the evils of bread or cheese. I even had them create it with no sauce incase your allergic to tomatoes. This is my half. See that? That's a bell pepper. That's a vegetable. Do not eat this half."
Kenshin continued to stare at the pizza until Kaoru sighed and picked up a piece and dropped it onto his plate. "That is rootbeer. I am hoping that it is also on your dietary list, and as such; I apologize if it is not. Pizza does not exist without rootbeer."
Kaoru reached down, scooped up her slice of Supreme Pizza, and sighed in bliss as she munched quietly. Opening her eyes she watched as the Dragon mimicked her motions, as if he was slightly unsure as if he was doing things correctly; and then the surprised look that crossed his features.
Kaoru nodded at him, attempting to ignore the way his eyes devoured her expression. "See? The god of pizza is a blessing for all who partake. Try the rootbeer."
Kaoru supposed she shouldn't feel guilty. What was there to be guilty about? Looking around the library she made sure that no one was looking her direction. Kaoru blew her bangs out of her eyes in exasperation.
It wasn't like she was looking at dirty magazines.
Perhaps it was because she had already done a massive search for material once. Perhaps it was because it was almost like she didn't trust him anymore. She hadn't found anything new about his possible culture since she had left Count D's and yet here she was, looking at another insipid title, struggling to figure out why.
Pulling open the first book her eyes scanned the cover page, and she snorted. She highly doubted anything in this particular book was going to do her any good but at least she could try, again. A notebook half-filled with various notes lay sitting open next to her, and she cringed to see she had chewed a bit to much on the eraser again.
"This is why you always had pens in High School," Kaoru reminded herself darkly. She scanned the content of the book, occasionally writing something down. There really wasn't something new to be looked over. Dropping the books she laced her fingers together and glared at the table.
"Dragons are throughout all human folk-lore," Kaoru mimicked Count D's voice as she could. "Right, then why the hell can't I find out anything?" Sighing she massaged her temples. It wasn't that she felt some undying urge to learn everything, but there were...things, about her dragon that were starting to get under her skin.
First of all where those little presents he had left around her home; gold coins, hair ribbons, and pearls. What was he attempting to prove? She had read that dragons supposedly collected hordes, had known that, but what on earth did that have to do with her living room? It wasn't a dragons cave and it certainly wasn't somewhere she would want to leave priceless artifacts lying around. For certain, she had a hard time leaving anything around anymore.
Then there were all these…stories about dragons and maidens. And the authors were very, very clear about the woman needing to be virgins. Rolling her eyes she put the second largest piece of evidence against him wanting to do…well, collect a horde for. She wasn't a virgin and hadn't been since at least six months after her eighteenth birthday. She remembered that encounter and the half-dozen accounts since. She wasn't as promiscuous as someone like, Misao, but she had occasional felt the need for the occasional activity between the sheets when she had found someone she wanted to be with.
Misao had gone through boys like toilet paper in college, and while the meeting of her current boyfriend had left her clinging to only one man, Kaoru couldn't doubt that the dreamy look that was in her eyes these days had quite a bit to do with him. Shaking her head, she stacked up the books and closed her notebook.
Time to admit what was really bothering her.
Sometime she wished he could talk, because she had the feeling that it would open up a large communication gap between them. It just wasn't his eyes, although those caused her all sorts of problems; it was his hands as well. The casual little touches at the small of her back, on her shoulder, the way his fingers would ghost across the back of her neck when she was distracted or upset. The way his eyes would swallow her whole if she let them some nights. Occasionally there was something in his violet eyes, some shade of a shadow that utterly stole her breath.
Just how pathetic had she become, when she was starting to image the impression of a large predator in the eyes of helpless dragon who couldn't even talk to complain about how she cooked his meat?
"Get a grip, Kamiya." Kaoru scolded herself. "He is...well, a lizard masquerading as a man and your just lonely.’ Except she wasn't. Not since a dragon had started making her coffee and doing her laundry, offering her a comforting presence against in some part of her house while she hid from her own shadow at night. He was her pet. Well, he had been bought from a pet store, but she wasn't sure he was a pet. But whatever he was, her half-starved libido was just going to have to get over it.
"Kaoru, what are you doing here?" Misao's delighted voice broke through her mental bashing and she looked up in surprise as the small girl dropped a stack of books on the table and grinned at her.
"Reading," Kaoru said without thinking and blanched when Misao looked down and picked a book up.
"Tales of Dragons?" Misao questioned blinking a bit. "I read this in seventh grade...why would you...it's that lizard isn't it?" Misao questioned as she flopped into the large chair next to her. "Has you wondering what else is out there." She dropped the book with a grin.
Kaoru swallowed a bit. "Something like that, what are you doing here?"
Misao picked up a book, with two half-naked people sprawled out on the cover. "Getting reading material; Aoshi is supposed to be gone this weekend and I am going to need something to do."
Kaoru wisely kept her mouth shut. "That's nice." She looked down at her watch and made a show of wincing. She just didn't feel comfortable talking to Misao with all this stuff just lying down for her to look at. Had to be that guilty conscious again, "I really need to be getting back. I have some bills I need to make sure and get out today and I think I forgot to feed Kenshin."
Misao grinned at her, completely at ease. "I told you having a pet would make you come back to us. You sure you don't want to take any of this home with you?"
"And have Kenshin take one look at it and raise his brow in that fashion that clearly indicates he thinks I am being silly," Kaoru thought mildly. "No, not really, I decided they really weren't worth the read after all."
Misao nodded in agreement. "The problem with most stories involving dragons is that the dragons are always the bad guys. Always raping and plundering helpless virgin maidens or having large tempers and eating everything human within sight." She grinned. "Personally, I always thought it was amusing that people always offered them the virgins. I would have thought they would have liked someone a little broken in, you know? Less screaming and crying." She shrugged. "Of course I always wanted the dragons to be the good guys as well."
Kaoru both found logic in her friend's words and felt a bit of a blush rise into her face at her crude phrasing. She did not want to think about dragons liking people a 'bit broken in' nor did she want to think about them eating people. She was having a hard enough time wrapping her brain around other things. Important things.
"Just keep chanting that one," Kaoru scolded herself as she began the walk back to her car. "Perhaps eventually it will sink in."
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