Awkward-Shit? Good-Shit

He was like a furnace, walking around nearly nude apart from the plum colored robe he wore when he wasn’t in his true form of a fiery creature from mythology. A step up from the way he pranced about naked the first month, finding your flustered nature about the whole thing rather cute, thinking you were just shy. However he also found that you fought less-sitting like a statue instead of actively trying to bite and claw at him- when he tried to hold you while he was wearing clothes.

‘Anything for you, love.’ Is what he would say.

Anything but what you truly wanted. Anything but your freedom. The exact thing you had been trying to gain and had lead to your current predicament.

It had taken weeks to get the materials you needed. Not even a full kit, but enough to feel confident enough to get down the mountain without serious injury. Small knives and daggers that looked as if they belonged in museums to help dig into the ice and snow. Gloves and shoes made from clothes and skins to protect from the biting cold and stone alike. Nothing that would pass in even the most obscure worlds of fashion but enough to get the job done for what was needed.

He was supposed to be gone for three whole days, from the morning of the first to the afternoon of the third. Plenty of time for what you needed to get down. The forest would do enough to cover your tracks if you traveled through the river, though it would be an up upstream battle the entire way. Going downstream would only lead you further into their territory, and even if it meant going the long way to loop around their expanse of land the prospect of running into one of the beast he had described as his friends was less pleasant. Creatures with fangs and claws that came out at night and would slowly tear you apart, enjoying it all the while. At least Nobunaga was quick with his kills.

But of course he had to come back the second morning, having started just as the sky turned grey to get as much daylight climbing in as possible. Who knew how long it would be before you reached a shelf out of view to rest on. Something deep enough he wouldn’t be able to smell or see you flying overhead. The irony was that if you had started the day before you might have been able to actually make it a good amount of the way even though your skills were a bit rusty after all this time, but fear that he was trying to trick you and would come back the same day lingered, leaving you to wait a full twenty four hours to make sure he was gone.

So much in a panic upon finding you that he crashed into the side of the mountain while trying to grab you, feeling the entire thing shake under the impact as your grip was lost. Desperately scrambling to find purchase it was no use as you were sent into a free fall, stomach dropping as you plummeted towards the ground. It was only with a few dozen feet to spare did Nobunaga manage to swoop in and grab you, his claws digging into your skin in his panic.

He didn’t let go until you were back in the cave, quickly stripping you down despite your protest. One glare was enough to let you know how much trouble you were in, his normal fretting and talkative nature set on the back burner as he moved with a silent efficiency.

Once bare and ever inch of your skin inspected, he was quick to start a fire, the flames leaving his mouth in a steady stream to catch the wood without the need for kindling. The brightness of them told of his mood, a simmering anger that went with the violet flames as opposed the almost blue hue they took on when he was in a better mood. Something you had only just begun to be able to decipher and from the looks of it you were screwed.

It was for this reason you didn’t fight as he dragged you into his lap, fingers prodding your sides where his claws had dug in while applying a balm and bandages before moving onto the smaller scraps and bruises.

The entire time he worked in a suffocating silence, the light of the flames dancing along the stone walls. It would have been better if he was yelling, scolding you like a child as he often did whenever he was displeased. Your acts of defiance had only ever been treated as little more than tantrums. And why not? How could they be when you posed no real threat to him in either form.

His lithe body was deceptively strong, and his healing factor made it nearly impossible to do any damage that would last longer than a day. You’d nearly bitten his tongue off once the first time he’d tried to shove it down your throat while kissing you, hanging on by little more than a small strand of skin, and even then it had healed by the next morning. All that had happened then was his apology for surprising you, but it was clear should the mistake be repeated again he wouldn’t be as forgiving. The next time he did the same action his class dug into your sides, a reminder of what he could do should you anger him.

It was easier to let him think of you as someone naive and shy to affections, letting you push most things off. You were a survivor after all. Adapt and overcome.

Despite everything it was easy to soothe his temper. Even the simplest of returned affections put a dopey look on his face that made you want to gag. There were days he would come back in a bad mood, so worked up he wasn’t even able to change forms, stomping about with legs that would easily crush you, jets of fire so hot they melt away the stone outside the entrance and melted entire piles of metal into molten obstacles, only adding to his temper. Yet it only took you calling this name in a soft tone, doing your best to curl in on yourself while also hesitantly approaching and looking concerned, for him to calm down. He liked when you held him close as he complained, running your hands through his long hair to soothe him.

You doubted it would be enough this time.

“Do you have any idea what could have happened!?”

Nobunaga finally breaks the silence, spinning you around to face him. If the fire had been warm in warding off the chill that permeated the cave then his gaze was blazing, dark eyes glowing with a purple light that told you he was one wrong word away from shedding his human skin.

This was not the time for pride to get the better of you. Treading carefully was the only course of action even if it turned your stomach to bend to his whims.

And so, you concede.

Something you would never have thought of doing upon first being taken. How long ago that time seemed now. Almost like a dream.

___________________________

There were times you loved your job. It was the picturesque vision that everyone who saw it from the outside thought it to be. Beautiful views, fresh air, and all the freedom you could wish for. Even if the adrenaline that had once flowed with every foot gained up a steep incline had faded to a mellow buzz, only jumping in the rare instance you found yourself slipping or realizing the safety rope had become twisted in the wind, it was still something to look forward to every day. Much better than being stuck in an office and slowly being driven crazy by endless mountains of work, though you had to admit it would be nice not to have to consciously think about putting money into a retirement.

There were plenty of things that you hated about your job as well. Namely the people you had to deal with a majority of the time. Anyone who was serious about climbing and being a guide wouldn’t book anything with your services unless they were looking to gain an internship and learn the ropes, to which you would direct them towards one of the agencies that could help them. They were too full of themselves most of the time for you to want to deal with them, though it was nothing compared to some of the customers. Those with deep pockets looking for a bit of weekend fun who got offended when they weren’t allowed to climb near sheer cliff faces and would inevitably have to be saved as they swung a couple dozen feet off the ground by their safety rope.

This was one of those times where it was a rare combination of both. No whining and complaining or endless questions, just you, your gear, and the hundred-foot drop down the snowy mountainside. It would be too much to hope that the snow at the bottom- a dozen feet of powder- would break your fall. It would be a mercy if that was it. Worst case scenario you broke a leg and had to wait to freeze to death. This area was a service dead zone. Even your satellite phone might have some trouble, and it was doubtful that anyone would be able to get to you in time to be of any help.

It was outlandish to be doing such a climb by yourself, and any other guide who did so you would suggest being checked if everything was alright up there.

In your defense the original plan had been go up with two other. A couple you worked with frequently and knew to be competent and even more experienced than yourself. Some of the only ones willing to traverse the terrain. With them by your side there should have been nothing to worry about, however one had fallen and broken a leg the week before after tumbling down the stairs to their house. It was an almost laughable way to get hurt considering the nature of the job, but it put them out of commission nonetheless and their spouse refused to leave their side as they needed help getting around the first few weeks.

The plan had been to call the trek off and refund the client with hopes he wouldn’t leave a bad review but instead he had come personally to beg you not to.

His sister was missing, gone for months, and everyone else had given up on the search. Hundreds of miles of wilderness that had been explored yet not even putting a scratch on where her plane could have been knocked off course. It was more likely she was dead at this point even as he claimed there she was experienced in some of the survival camping he took part in, the area notoriously dangerous and avoided due to disappearances and strange happenings. It was like the Bermuda Triangle for hikers, and only those dumb enough dared to venture in. There was a reason only those with permits were allowed to even think about it, though when you got to the experience level you had to obtain one most people knew better than to try.

He begged on hands and knees for you to find her, even if it was just a body or bones. Anything to help put his mind at ease, already having spent all his resources trying to track her down but with nothing to show for it. Unfortunately your work hadn’t turned you completely immune to compassion, and so with an uncertain reassurance you told him you would try your best.

That’s how you found yourself clinging to the side of a mountain. The map stuffed in your pack showed the areas that were already searched, as well as where to avoid at all cost. If anyone had gone there they were good as gone with no hope of getting them back.

The initial intention had been to search the forest at the base. Two days of searching in and your instincts woke you in the dead of the night, a sense of unease telling you something was very, very wrong. It would have been easy to brush it off as just the situation getting to you but after years of working as a guide you learned to trust your gut, and it was telling you to hightail it out of the area.

And so you continued onward, forced up the mountain by means of the forbidden areas on either side of you and whatever was giving an uneasy feeling behind. If the girl had come this way there was a chance she had done the same. It wasn’t the worst idea to take the mountain over the woods. High ground that could give better lookout for approaching danger. Apart from the snowy peaks there seemed to be enough vegetation and small animals halfway up for someone who knew what they were doing to survive.

The footpath was easy enough to follow, and you made great progress by the time the sun had come up. Or rather what you had initially thought to be the sun based on the sudden light of the creeping dawn sky, though it seems off.

Looking back, the area of forest you had previously been occupying was now ablaze. Purple flames consumed around a mile stretch, everything within already turned to a blackened char.

Above, outline only by the interruption of stars, glides a shape bigger than any bird you’ve seen. More akin to an airship, though you’ve never seen one move with such precision and speed. It’s difficult to see as the light of the fire dies out, the flames having consumed nearly everything they could leaving nothing but an obsidian mar behind, standing out against the lush green of the trees.

Well. Mountain it is.

Not like you have a choice in the matters now with whatever that was flying around. In all the years you spent outdoors you’d never seen anything like it, and you never wanted to again.

The footpath you had been following was eventually blocked by what looked like a rockslide. Taking a break, your eyes scan the rock around you as you take a lengthy drink from your water bottle. It was hard to imagine anyone could have survived here. After just a few days you were ready to get out, and supposedly this girl had been out here for months?

You’d found evidence of a camp two days ago. Nothing fancy but with all the hallmarks of someone who had at least a vague idea of what they were doing. There wasn’t much hope for it as the place had clearly been long abandoned for at least a month, already starting to be taken back over by nature. If the claw marks on the trees and rocks of the surrounding area were anything to go by then the area was also occupied by something else. The sizes were consistent with a rather large bear but the marks didn’t have the right drag to them, and none of the other signs of bears in the area were apparent. If there was any hope of survival then it would have been at the mountain where less dangerous beast lurked.

On the other side of the range was another forest, spanning a few dozen miles. Beyond that your evac point. It was unlikely that she would have made it through the mountain herself to the other side, but for you it would only take three days to climb and descend. It was rather unfortunate, but nothing could be done. You’d told her brother that there was no guarantee that you would find her and as much as you wished to be able to bring him some sort of comfort or closure it wasn’t in your interest to keep looking and put your life in danger looking for ghosts.

So now here you were, halfway up the mountain and looking for a good resting point. It wasn’t necessary to go all the way to the top, most mountains having passages that allowed you to travel across the majority of it without having to go vertical, but with the range so uncharted you felt blind. From the estimate of what you could see from the base there should be such a space a mile to the east, but getting there was proving to be a difficult task as the air grew increasingly cold and thin.

You are just about to call it a night, wanting to play it safe with the light of the sun fading over the horizon as a fog moved in, when your eyes were drawn away from the anchor currently being placed for the hanging tent.

There was a small ledge with just enough room to lay on your side- though your feet would hang off the end- and was relatively protected from the elements by a slight slant above it. Yet the small lip wasn’t enough to block the flicker of light that caught your eye, drawn to the presence as every human was on base instinct.

Flames meant the presence of others, highly doubting there was anything that would be catching fire in this terrain and weather.

It could be the girl.

An absurd thought, but with a slim hope. The better question would be how she got all the way up here without any climbing equipment. With the source so close, just a few dozen yards up and to the left, it was too abnormal for you to be able to brush off as something natural. The climb was a bit frightful to complete as the sun had now completely disappeared and only a few lingering echoes of light remained as orange faded to a deep purple, the stars beginning to peek from their blanket of darkness.

The last stretch has to be done without any anchors, the bumpy rock without any crevices, nubs sticking out just barely enough to get your hands and feet on. If you fell it would be a rather painful swing before the last one caught you, halfway between your previous rest and the new one.

Hand curling around the lip of the ledge, you haul yourself up with a huff, rolling onto your back to take a breather. This shelf is wider, allowing more room to stretch out. It was quite the climb even with your own experience, and you would surely feel the effort in the days to come. You make a mental note to go on some more difficult climbs, not wanting to get too soft with the easier treks you normally take clients on. Lingering out in the open isn’t a good idea, so getting to your knees with a groan, you continue.

There’s a rather large opening in the side of the rock leading into what you can only assume is a cave. The edges are smooth and almost seem dripping, as if melted to make the mouth wider before opening to a larger more jagged space. While under normal circumstances it would be dark even in the daytime, a light burns from deeper within the mountain, drawing you like a moth to a flame. The depth is impressive, curving a dozen yards back as you keep one hand on the wall.

The light is nearly blinding at this point, having to shield your eyes the further back it goes. It’s tempting to think that its a bunch of obnoxious LEDs, but the tone isn’t quite right, and the air is heated to a near sweltering degree. Whereas outside it had dropped to the point your toes and fingers had begun to feel numb, in here it was the opposite. It was tempting to take some of your layers off as heat began to make your head swim. Like being outside on the hottest day in summer, rendered useless and only able to just take the abuse of the sun, movement feeling like a chore.

It was in this clouded haze, as well as still being blinded, that you tripped over something solid, failing to catch yourself as you went down. The stone scraped your hands leaving bloody scratches, your knees only protected by the thick pants, still likely to have a bruise or two on them. A fumble that had you cursing but at least the light had dampened a small amount. It allowed you to crack your eyes open a bit more, hopefully now able to see where you were going.

It would be most logical to conclude you’d hit your head as well. Or maybe a rock had fallen from the ceiling and given you a concussion. That was the only explanation for what sat before you now.

From tip to tail you would guess around eighty feet long, though it was hard to tell with the way it was curled up. Deep lavender scales gleamed in the light of what you now realized was flames, of which rose around the edges of the room. It was only in the shadow of the large beast could you see. Now you were allowed the luxury of having a up close and personal look at teeth the size of your arm. They had nothing on the claws, inky shards that looked to be made of obsidian and matching the curving horns and spines that ran along its back. The only thing you couldn’t see was its eyes.

Despite your loud intrusion the creature had remained asleep, snoring gently as it’s massive body rose and fell under the blanket of membrane that made up its wings, curled over it’s body.

Backing away, you treated it as you would any other wild animal. That was to say, with the utmost intention of staying as far away as possible.

Once, in the earlier years of your career, you had been hiking through the woods to get to your climbing spot. The weather was nice and the intention was to meet one others at a spot just up the mountain, doing a bit of soloing on one of the easier walls.

With your lack of awareness, too content with enjoying the wilderness for what it was, you had allowed yourself to sneak up on a bear, only alerted by the chuff it released while ambling out of the woods behind you, nearly the size of a cow.

Everything you ever learned had immediately been thrown out the window, running for your life as the creature gave chase to the rocky wall that loomed a dozen yards ahead and the bear being far enough back to get a head start did you survive.

It was only by the skin of your teeth that you made it in time, practically leaping up the wall as the creature slammed into it a moment later, claws mere inches from your feet as they scrambled for purchase.

That was much like the situation you were in now. The same bone-chilling fear, blank minded survival that drove years of evolution and higher thought and reasoning turned to nothing in the face of something much larger and stronger than you, once again reduced to prey as base instincts took over. Instincts that didn’t notice the pile assorted trinkets and treasures stacked behind you, shuffling feet bumping it just enough to knock a single coin from the top.

It landed on the ground with a delicate clink, rolling in on itself until it settled. Less noisy than you had been entering the cave with puffing breath and stumbling steps. It shouldn’t have been an issue. And it wasn’t. Not until you felt a warm stream of air hit your back, slowly turning to see the once closed eyes of the beast staring at you. Like endless darkness they bore into you, sharp as any fang and surrounded by a silver glow. As if the very scelera were made of molten metal.

There was a flash of light so sudden and blinding it stole your breath almost painfully, blowing your hair back. All at once it felt as if your face had been superheated, the smell of melted nylon fabric following.

This is how you die. Burned to a crisp by a creature from fairytale. You just hadn’t been expecting to be conscious for so long at the fact. Maybe you had already passed on and the blinding light was the afterlife.

Yet as the light faded you were once again found standing in the cave. Face to face with a creature who seemed just as perplexed as yourself- if you could call it that- head tilted as its eyes widened. Its tail shifted like a tree trunk falling to crush whatever was below, and that was the only thing needed to break you from your stupor, turning and sprinting out of the cave.

The beast roared behind you, the sound of its body shifting and running into the stone walls, causing the very ground beneath your feet to tremble, only prompting you to run faster. Compared to the sweltering heat of the cave you welcomed the outside air with reverence, even more so due to the fact it meant getting away from whatever that thing was.

So in a rush, the shaking of the ground not having let up, you didn’t even stop to properly attach the rope, lashing it around your waist in a knot you hoped would hold and all but jumping from the ledge. It cut painfully into your skin as it caught your waist but that was a much lesser concern, more focused on how it promptly swung you back toward your original resting place. Your fingers grabbed the stubby handholds, climbing like a true mountain goat getting away from a predator, hardly even feeling your knee bash into the rock when you slipped.

The descent was little more than a blur in your mind, fueled by sheer adrenaline and panic as you half stumbled half climbed. There had been another path lower. It didn’t look the most promising, taking longer to get up the side of the mountain as opposed to a climb, but it’s where you headed regardless. It would through a number of trees and outcroppings, offering plenty of places to hide. The smaller the better, especially as you heard a shriek that sounded far too close for comfort as you made it to solid ground and dashed down the path, leaving a considerable length of rope behind as you stumbled through the dark, tripping more than on any hike you’d been on. If the moon wasn’t covered it might have made things easier, but the waning crescent was half hidden by thick clouds and left you in near total darkness.

You stumble upon a small clearing, unable to ignore the sounds of danger approaching. Your eyes dart about looking for a hiding spot, squinting to see anything that stands out in the muddled shadows. A hollowed log or particularly dense bush. Anything that could give you cover as you pray it wasn’t tracking you strictly by scent. There was nothing to do if that were the case, options on direction and weapons limited.

Eventually you find what you’re looking for.

Pulling your legs under you, there’s a low-laying opening about two feet off the ground. Not enough room to even crouch but plenty to slide under. Most importantly out of sight from above, or to anything over ten feet. It's cold and damp with a few bugs skittering about. Nothing you even batted an eye at as you pulled your knees to your chest, trying to calm your breathing as your heart beat so erratically you were sure it was about to come out of your chest. So loud that you nearly missed a similar rhythmic thumping approaching.

The sound of wings. Like that of eagles when you would fly too close to their nest. Only this is much louder, kicking up wind so strong it might as well be a storm. Small rocks and dust fly everywhere, stinging your skin as trees bend under the strength of the gust.

Under the pale light of the moon you see a shadow pass, the same shriek as earlier ringing out, forcing you to clasp your hands over your ears in fear of them bursting. A constant ringing erupts, sharp, high, and grating as you nearly scream in pain, body clenching and begging for it to stop. It doesn’t, only continuing on and on in a demonic symphony until at some point you must have passed out, a mixture of fear and exhaustion catching up as adrenaline finally runs out, unable to keep production up with what your body demands.

———————————————

You wake to grey skies and a sore body, filtered light not quite able to reach you so far back in your little cave. It’s hard to feel anything, even relief, as your mind struggles to process everything.

All your gear was still on, backpack clenched in front of you like a shield while your pick dug into your thigh. Your hat was gone and the top section of your hood was charred from the shoulders up leaving your shoulders bare as the fabric hung loosely. The tight compression shirt worn under all the layers was the only thing to stay in place, though it now resembled more of a strapless top.

Your fingers ran along the burnt edges, mind flashing back to the cave.

You should be dead. That thing should have roasted you alive, yet here you were; living, breathing, and cowering under a rock like some mouse. While the thought of being fireproof was tempting, the experience of having been singed more than once while arranging logs on the fire debunked it. It was impossible to even start theorizing why it hadn’t hurt you. You weren’t a scientist or fairytale specialist, though you had trouble deciding what would be more useful in this situation.

Roll with the punches. That’s what your mentor had taught you. Nature was wild and unpredictable no matter how much humanity thought they could tame and understand it, though you highly doubt he had this in mind. The fact of the matter was that there was a dragon or whatever out there, and that wasn’t going to change. The question that remained was how you’re supposed to make it over the mountain with that thing out there, likely still flying around.

A part of you could only hope that it was nocturnal, but there was no guarantee. Hypervigilance would be needed traveling during the day, and it was doubtful you’d be able to get any true restful sleep at night knowing it was out there.

Climbing was out of the question. You’d be a sitting duck ready for it to fly by and snatch you like a takeout meal. Traveling along paths meant more opportunities for cover, though it would take significantly longer. With only two cushion days to make it to the meetup point it would be close, but a new sense of determination rose. This area had taken many experienced guides and explorers, and you were not going to be another.

The skittering of rocks caught your attention, body tensing, thinking it to be the creature coming back or some other predator roaming the mountain, only to turn confused as a pair of legs comes into view. They’re lean but well muscles from what you can see, but most importantly distinctly human.

“Hello?” A voice calls, pulling you from your stupor. You must be imagining things, cracking under the pressure. Who in their right mind would be all the way out here?

There’s no time to react as you come face-to-face with a man.

He’s crouched down, kneeling as he peaks under the ledge. A part of you wonders how he even found you until your eyes dip lower, spotting a thin trail of blood running along the ground, right to where you were hidden. It could have come from any number of cuts that adorn your body, your haste to get away making you reckless. A small price to pay even if you now felt stupid about being so obvious. But then again it had led you to finding someone else. Someone you didn’t know. But that fact is tossed out the window, too happy to see another person after everything you’ve experienced in the past twelve hours to question it.

Scrambling from under the ledge, you all but trip over yourself as you get to your feet, nearly knocking the man over in the process.

“Easy there.” He says, placing two strong hands on your shoulder, holding you up as your knees threaten to buckle, legs sore from being kept in one position for so long. “Are you alright?” He eyes your wounds, brow furrowed, but that’s the least of your problems. Right now, you’re more focused on getting out of this place and away from whatever that was.

“How are you here?” The question is a bit more forceful than you intend, but the sheer absurdity of finding someone way out here has you bewildered.

“I’ve lived on this mountain a long time.” He says, hands moving to grab you, stopping short as you jolt away. He swallows thickly, voice a bit tighter and eyes wide. “How are you here?”

“I’m supposed to be finding someone who crashed here.” Would it be too much to hope he had seen her?

There wasn’t a guarantee she’d even made it this far, but if he could survive then why couldn’t she? Or maybe he was some kind of crazy killer who eats people, and that’s why nobody makes it out of here alive. What if there was a whole group of them like some kind of sick horror movie plot?

Your hand inched towards the pick at your waist, trying not to make the movement too obvious. If he thought he was going to kill and eat you he had another thing coming.

With the way his brows furrow in thought it’s hard to see him as dangerous, seeming more upset than anything. He suddenly perks up, fingers snapping as you can practically see the lightbulb go off. A name escapes, your turn to be surprised at recognizing it for belonging to the very person you’re looking for.

“You’ve seen her!?”

“Yeah.” He huffs, almost amused as he runs a hand over the back of his head, posture a picture of ease. “Found her out here a few months ago. The others of her group didn’t survive but she somehow managed to hold on.”

Despite your excitement you don’t let it get the better of you, filing the information away and going back to your interrogation.

“How did you get here?” You ask, not allowing him to evade the question of his origins. The last thing you need was to stumble upon some cult that had been here doing who knows what.

“Similar situation really. Never thought I’d meet anyone else here.” That tracked, even if you still had your suspicions. More than one plane had gone down in the area, and there was still the plethora of novice hikers who got lost. All of whom were never seen again.

A shadow passes overhead and you jump, eyes scanning the sky and ready to dart back into your hiding place. The man only seemed unconcerned, stepping between you and shortening the already small space.

”If you’re worried about the dragon don’t be.” His head tilts, a look of amusement gracing his face. “He’s not flying around right now. Won’t be for a while.”

“And how do you know that?”

He shrugs, seeming too casual for someone who knew exactly what was out here. “Been around a while. I know his pattern like the back of my hand.”

“We have to get to the other side of the mountain.” Checking your gear, you make note of all the things that still remain in your kit. The rope is severely depleted, a small portion left behind from your frantic descent, but everything else seems good for the most part. You stuff the remainder of the coat in your bag as best you can, slipping on the one extra shirt you’d brought. It was warm enough to not need much during the day, especially as you got moving, but come nightfall the temperature would likely plummet again and you’d have a bit of trouble.

Pulling out your compass and a rough map of the area, you try to chart a path.

“Can you take me to her? I have a pickup scheduled in three days.” A shadow looms, looking up to see the man blocking the sun, entirely too close. A part of you wants to spit at him to give some space, but it’s probably been a while since he’s been in society. His clothes are well worn, the soft lavender fabric patched in areas, tied around his waist with a cloth belt while his legs remain bare. A pair of sandals that look as if they’re going to fall apart are the only protection he has from the rocky ground. Not the most ideal for hiking but if that’s all he had when he was stranded then you couldn’t judge.

“Of course, you can come with us. I’m sure you have family that’s looking for you.”

It would be best to take him. If he had survived for this long than obviously he was doing something right, and with an unknown factor thrown into the equation it would be nice to have another set of hands. Besides, he was the only one that knew where the girl was, and even if it was a lie you could hardly leave in good conscious without checking.

He doesn’t say anything, only continuing to stare and making you more nervous. Just as you think he’s truly gone and fallen asleep standing he abruptly turns, leading the way further into the mountain.

———————-

Nobunaga, as he had introduced himself, seemed perfectly adept at traversing the mountainside.

Long jumps and steep inclines seemed to be no problem for him despite his lanky appearance, and you wondered just how much muscle he had hidden under his baggy clothes. You had plenty of climber friends who looked like shrimps and were stronger than someone who looked like they were about to bust out of their shirt. It made you wonder just how long he’d been out here, though he only responded a vague ‘few years’ when asked. He didn’t dodge questions or hesitate when asked, so you’re inclined to believe he was telling the truth with the ease of which he answered. Maybe he didn’t even know the number himself.

But as much as you tried to needle and feel him out, he turned everything back around, seeming far more interested in you than anything else.

”You seem quite…capable.” He said as you hauled yourself up the ledge, ignoring his outstretched hand. You were careful to keep him in front of you, leading the way to wherever it was you were going. It wasn’t heading across like you had hoped but rather along the ridges, making you nervous as you got closer to the dragon’s cave.

”It’s safest there.” Nobunaga explained when you voiced your concerns. “Less predators creeping around.”

It sounded simultaneously logical as well as crazy. Like jumping in snake filled waters to avoid the tiger on the shore. Sure it worked for the immediate problem, but there was always the threat of something worse.

”I mean it’s kind of my job.” You say, pulling out your compass and making a mark on the map. Hopefully enough to help you get back should anything happen to your companion, either by nature or your own hands.

”So you put yourself in danger a lot?” Nobunaga frowns, looking over his shoulder.

“I guess? There’s not much I can’t handle nowadays though.” You can’t help but be chatty, the few days of isolation making you a bit more open despite the concern of drawing attention. He seemed to have an air about him that put you at ease, likely having to do with his own lax nature of the situation though he could have shown at least a little more excitement at the prospect of finally being rescued.

He doesn’t seem to like your answer, frowning as he mumbles to himself.

When sunset hits you decide to make camp for the night, sore from your trek with minimal breaks.

Nobunaga points out a cave, thankfully much smaller than the last, and apart from a few bugs there’s no other occupants. It smelt faintly of iron and leaves you wondering if the minerals were present in the rock.

You were quick to start a fire, knowing the risk it brought of drawing attention but unable to simply sit there and freeze. Not only had the temperature dropped with the sun, but you’d also climbed higher as well as further across the mountain, reaching the delicate point of frost touching the surface of everything, the snow capped peaks not far off. You’d been struggling to find your flint and striker, digging through your bag, only to turn and see Nobunaga with the kindling already blazing.

“I’m pretty good at starting fires.” He must have used some sort of friction method given the lack of starters in his hand. The rocks around here wouldn’t work even if you tried. Regardless, the heat was enough to have you crawling near, eager to warm yourself as you catch a smug grin on Nobunaga’s face. He must be tickled pink to have someone to show his skills off to with the way he seemed to swell at your obvious amazement.

Dinner wasn’t anything fabulous. Dried jerky, fruit, and some cashews that were just barely above being considered a dust, pulverized by your journey.

“You sure you don’t want me to try and catch anything?” Nobunaga asked, eyeing the dry meat with distaste. You’d offered it out of consideration for your new companion, feeling awkward eating without doing so. There were enough extra provisions to last longer than you predicted you would need, a precaution you always took, but with two and soon to be three people in the group it would be stretched thin.

Evidentially he had gotten used to eating fresh caught food out here and it was amusing to watch him scowl at the food as if it offended him. Who knew being stranded in the wild could make you a picky eater. Still, while on the lean side he didn’t seem to be starving which spoke to his hunting skills. Maybe you could ask him about it at a later time.

“It’s too late for snares to catch anything.” You shook your head, too tired to even think about venturing out.

The day had been run at a rather brutal pace by your own insistence, wanting to get to the girl and get off the mountain as soon as possible. Nobunaga grumbled and you worried you’d offended him and his knowledge, but he just chewed on his dinner, offering the last bit to you and claiming he wasn’t that hungry. Maybe his time in the wild has shrunk his stomach or maybe he was just trying to be polite. Either way, you weren’t going to let it go to waste.

He offers his own contribution. A green plant that smells faintly of mint. Potentially a distant relative or variety that grows here despite the difference in appearance. He’d gathered it from somewhere just beyond the mouth of the cave. You’d accepted it of course, but only ate a bit when you saw him do the same. It was actually rather sweet, laying pleasantly on your tongue. A suitable substitute for the bar of chocolate you’d lost in your scramble to get away, the remaining half previously the only thing to look forward to at the end of the day, a piece broken off each night to help keep your spirits up.

It was all too easy to consume given the last forty-eight hours, though Nobunaga didn’t seem to mind, even offering the rest of his share.

You made sure to keep the embers low, heating a few rocks and wrapping them in a few of the bandage rolls you had. Your coat was little more than a small blanket now and you opted to use it to put something between you and the cold ground, even putting some of the heated rocks underneath.

As you settled on to your little spot you noticed Nobunaga watching you get ready for bed, realizing you didn’t have anything extra for him to use. A singular, well insulated sleeping bag was all you had, your tent material tacked to the opening of the cave with room to let the smoke out while keeping the heat in. Still it was rather cold, you yourself shivering even as Nobunaga didn’t seem all that affected.

While manners dictated you offer to share you still felt a bit awkward. This man was practically a stranger even if he hadn’t done anything threatening so far.

The choice was made for you as Nobunaga crawls closer, stopping just at the edge of the fabric.

“Do you mind if we share for the night? You look cold.” His words carry a tone of worry. Odd, as normally you’re the one fretting over unprepared hikers.

“And you’re not?” Your eyes dart down to his bare legs, not even a trace of a shiver or gooseflesh. Meanwhile your own teeth threatened to nip your tongue, curled in on yourself as you rubbed at your arms.

“I’ve lived here a long time. I’m used to it.” He waved his hand. “I’m practically a space heater, or so I’ve been told.”

You hesitate, debating on just giving him the sleeping bag and making due with the fire. But with the way he looks at you, wide eyed and almost concerned, makes you cave. Best not to anger the man you’re stranded in the woods with in any case.

Lifting the edge of the sleeping bag in invitation, you're startled at the speed with which he moves, practically diving in. Whatever position you expected to sleep in- back-to-back or even sitting up- was thrown out the window as he settles himself behind you, pulled into his arms as he settles down.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?!” Your surprise shout escapes before you can stop it, face scrunching into a glare as you peer over your shoulder even as the blanket is pulled around you.

All movement is halted as heat swaddles you almost immediately, nearly suffocating. Not just from the blanket and fire, but radiating from the man currently holding you.

“Holy shit.” You mumble under your breath. It comes off him in waves, like a beacon drawing you closer. His hands are like irons fresh from the forge as they wrap around your own, brining feeling back into the frozen tips.

“Told you.” Nobunaga sounds almost smug as he eases you both down into laying position, arms still wrapped securely around you. He doesn’t even flinch when your icy feet touch his, the heat seeping through your thick socks.

“You may know how to navigate the wilderness, but I know how to survive it.” He hums, resting his chin on your head. Begrudgingly you have to admit he has a point. It wouldn’t be the first time you’d shared a sleeping bag for warmth but all those people you had known and didn’t have to worry about ulterior motives and wandering hands. Thankfully Nobunaga’s remain firmly around your own, verging on being too tight.

“You could have at least warned me first.” You huff even as you sink back deeper into his warmth. His strength and ease of movement from earlier makes more sense as you feel the rigid and hard outline of muscle against your back, twitching with every movement.

There were worse things than being stuck sharing a sleeping bag with a handsome man, even if you did wish it were different circumstances.

Your eyes feel increasingly heavy, drunk on warmth as you watch the flames flicker. A thought to put more wood on the fire for the night briefly floats through your mind but can’t muster the energy to even move, limbs feeling like they were already asleep.

Nobunaga only seemed to curl further around you, a deep rumble vibrating along your back.

‘He must be a snorer.’

“Do you know anything about dragon fire?” You whisper- hesitant to wake him should he be sleeping- the memory of the cave and what had happened leading to your current situation rearing back to the front of your mind. He might not even know anything about it, but it was worth a shot. To put at least one piece of the puzzle in place even if you had no intention of finishing it. One less thing to keep you up and wondering at night.

For a moment you think he must have already fallen asleep, nothing but the sound of the crackling fire and flapping of the tent along the entrance, but a mumbled ‘yes’ prompts you to continue.

“When….when I saw the creature before I thought I was a goner. I should have been. But the fire didn’t seem to do anything. It burned my jacket but I was fine.”

Nobunaga hummed, his breath tickling your skin as you shivered.

“It means that you're very special.” Is all he says, grip growing even tighter.

‘Special how?’ you wanted to ask but your tongue felt too heavy to move, mind clouded. It was the last conscious thought you had.

———————————————

Waking up, it felt as if you’d been out on the town on the ultimate bender. The heat was nearly suffocating, like baking all day in the summer with all the doors and windows closed. Not to mention your neck had a kink in it that promised to be a pain all day.

Head pounding and limbs like molasses, it was tempting to just fall back asleep, intent on doing just so, but when you shifted to roll over the distinct sound of metal scattering jolted you out of your stupor. It was a struggle to raise yourself enough to consciousness to crack an eye open, but with great effort you did so, groaning as you were greeted with light.

Shielding your eyes, it took a moment to adjust before you could look again, but as you took in your surroundings you wished you had kept them closed.

You were in the cave. Not the one you remember falling asleep in. This one was much larger, filled with piles of metals and gems that reflected the heat of the fire burning along the walls. One you had only seen once before and never wanted to again.

Yet here you were, nestled in a crater of treasures of all kinds, your sleeping bag wrapped around you and providing only the barest protection from the harsh metal and stone edges beneath you.

Your first thought was ‘How did I get back here’.

The second was ‘Where is Nobunaga?’.

The man was nowhere to be found. Even if you hadn’t known him for long, his death would be a heavy weight on your conscience. He hadn’t seemed all that bad. Friendly even. All that time spent surviving out here only to get the axe when you showed up.

A much more concerning thought butted in before you could think much more of the missing man. The last time you were here there was a dragon that was now missing, and you were sitting in a suspiciously dragon sized hole. Each movement seemed obnoxiously loud, metal shifting and tinkling like a hunting trap with bells.

‘It found us while we were sleeping and ate Nobunaga, then brought me back as a midnight snack. It’s probably still pissed from last time.’

It was the only thing you could think of to explain it, but were you really so exhausted that you hadn’t heard the man shout or woken even for a moment on the journey back? You weren’t a heavy sleeper by any means, and you only became more perplexed. And all that didn’t explain the fact that you were currently in just your underwear. How did that happen?

An increasingly familiar shriek pulled you from your spiraling thoughts, like a siren proceding a tornado.

There was a shudder of the ground, wind whipping in from what you knew to be the entrance. From around the bend- like some kind of horror movie- a snout emerged, followed by a head, then a body, and finally a tail. All the while you could only remain frozen, watching the creature lumber into the cave, shaking its wings free of the remaking snow that clung to them.

It walked with an awkward gait, a large stag clenched in its front claws that it was clearly trying not to turn to paste under its weight.

Maybe you could sneak away? The creature was so large and the cave and items so expansive. Surely you could hide long enough for it to lose interest. Like trying to find a singular ant in a decently sized apartment. But the moment you shifted to crawl away, the treasure pile under you did as well.

Glowing eyes locked with yours, tearing away any hope of going unnoticed as its head snapped in your direction. You remained looking at each other, unblinking, waiting for the first move. It was only when it took a deliberate step towards you did your limbs decide to work once more, scrambling for purchase against the shifting ground as you tried to get out of the small crater. But the sloped sides only sent you tumbling back down again and again, like trying to climb a dune composed of nothing but loose sand. All the while you could feel the beast getting closer, panic raising rapidly as bile burned in the back of your throat.

“Nobunaga! Nobunaga!” You called out, hoping with your entire being that the man was still alive somewhere in the cave and could hear you. That he could come to your aid and help you out even if you doubted you’d do the same. Who would run towards an approaching dragon and not take the opportunity themselves to get away?

Yet you continued to call to the only person you knew who even had a chance of being close by, desperation growing as tears welled. A cascade of coins behind you told you that the beast was now at the edge opposite of where you were. Close enough to lean down and touch you if it so wanted.

You were going to be eaten. Swallowed whole and left to be killed in the dark by stomach. That was, if its teeth didn’t poke you full of holes first.

Cursing, you had never wished to go back in time more and slap some sense into yourself. You met some crazy man in the mountains and trusted him enough to lead you who knows where and fall asleep with your guard down. Chances were he worshiped the dragon and you were just another addition to the long line of sacrifices.

There was a sharp crack, accompanied by a blinding light and the overwhelming scent of smoke, choking as you tumbled back down. Trembling all you could do was kneel and wait, accepting fate as your legs refused to move, head bowed, pressed into the cool metal. You didn’t want to see it coming. It would only scare you more. Maybe make your meat taste bad. You’d heard once that it was the same with other animals, how you wanted ot keep them as calm as possible.

You hope you tasted awful.

It wasn’t teeth that met flesh but rather the familiar feel of a hand on your back, rubbing soothing circles and whispering comfort as you were brought into a bare chest. The skin contact left a familiar buzzing feeling. Enough to draw your attention away from your rapidly approaching panic attack.

“Nobunaga?”

The man stood over you, that easy, dopey smile he had worn every other time you looked at him still in place. Though at the time it hadn’t seemed so threatening as it did now.

It was also that moment that you realized he lacked any clothing as well, bare as the day he was born and not seeming to mind in the least. You tried to jump away from him only to have his hands lock around your waist.

“Where are you going? You called me.” He purred drawing you closer, the handsome curve of his nose burying itself in your neck.

“We have to get out of here!” You insisted, remembering the reason for doing so. “The dragon, it-“

Head snapping back and forth, looking for the lumbering mass, you’re instead greeted with nothing. As if it had up and vanished in a snap. A figment of your imagination.

“It’s gone?”

Impossible! It had been right there only moments ago before all that smoke!

“I wouldn’t say gone.” The words were whispered into your skin, pulling away a fruitless endeavor as a chill ran down your spine.

Slowly, you turn back to face your previous traveling companion. Yet it’s not the same black eyes from before that greeted you. This time they burn with a golden light, molten heat bubbling around narrowly slotted pupils.

The eyes of the dragon.

Before you can react, the fabric you’d been holding around your shoulders is torn away, thrown off to the side and leaving you without its shield from prying eyes which greedily drink you in. He seems utterly pleased with himself, smoke billowing from his nose as he gives a hearty sigh, the plume filling your own lungs as you try to wave it away, coughing.

Falling back, you’re pulled to the ground with him, landing on top of super-heated skin that had once felt heavenly, now burning in the already sweltering cave as you attempted to get away. Yet again you’re denied, the muscle that had allowed him to so easily traverse the mountainside allowing him to hold you with the same effort even as your nails dig into the skin.

“I’m so glad I found you. I was worried you would get away.” An arm locks around your waist, a singular hand enough to hold both of yours, legs intertwining with your own in what could be considered a lovers embrace, now only serving to constrict you further. Like a snake getting ready to devour its meal. It’s now that you feel something smooth against your skin, cranking your neck to see lavender scales scattered across his body. Previously hidden by his clothing, they maintain a contrast to his skin where they emerge from the pale flesh, barely able to contain the monster that lurks.

”Let me go.” You say, barely able to keep the quiver from your voice. It might have been something to be more proud of if the words also didn’t cause him to only pull you closer, burrowing into the quicksand of treasure.

”How could I ever let you go now that I’ve found you? I’ve waited centuries.”

You struggle, brain trying to tie whatever ends he had linked in his own mind. Apparently, he had decided you were something. Something he wanted to keep. Better than being eaten, but still not ideal. Especially if you had anything to say about it.

”If you had, I might have had to send Shalnark after you. He’s a great tracker after all. But he’s not the most gentle, and I would have been upset to not get you back all in one piece. It would have been even worse if you’d gotten to illumi’s forest." Nobunaga sighs, nuzzling closer to your skin. “Your mind would never be the same again.”

You swallow thickly at his words, trying to calm your rapidly beating heart. Who the hell was Shalnark? Illumi? What pieces would you have been missing?

”Don’t worry. I’ll take care of you.”

He leans forward, head resting on your shoulder. From his mouth erupts a thin jet of violet fire, engulfing your clasped hands and melting the metal underneath. You flinch away on instinct, expecting pain, yet only a pleasant warmth licks your skin. Evidence of how out of hand the situation has truly gotten.

”You’re meant for me after all.”

————————————

Nobunaga’s grip doesn’t let up, bruising as he forces you to face him while your mind races for an answer. Sure you had thought of the possibility of being caught, yet every excuse flies out of your mind as he glares, smoke pouring from his mouth.

“I was worried about you.” You whisper. The first thing you could think of. “You said you would be back but when you weren’t I thought something might have happened.”

“I wasn’t even gone two days.” His growled, though his words held less of their previous venom. He always said it was hard to stay mad at you, but there was clearly a limit.

“Really?” Putting as much confusion into your voice as you can muster, your head tilts as and brows draw together. A picture of innocent confusion. “I’m sorry. There’s no clock up here and with it so dark with all the storm clouds I thought it had been at least four. Time always feels so long when you're gone.”

Wrapping your arms around his neck, you bring your foreheads together. Your nose brushes his, knowing the gesture was familiar to him in both his forms. It was quite sensitive either way, and while he didn’t relax he still leaned into the contact, just as starved for your touch as always.

It seemed as if you stayed that way forever, listening to the crackle of the fire while his hands rubbed up and down your sides. An action not intended to sooth you, but rather himself.

“Are you mad?” The slight wobble to your voice isn’t entirely acting. Not when you’d seen this man burn anything within a fifty-foot radius to a crisp with one breath, crushing the skull of a full-grown charging moose like it was nothing. And that wasn’t even when he was in his ‘true form’. Neither is the way your fingers grip the front of his robe like a lifeline, desperate to grasp onto anything that could help you in the situation.

It seems enough to bring him out of whatever deliberation he was in, pulling back to face you. The glow of his eyes had faded so at least that was something.

“I’m still upset that you put yourself in such danger, but I was more worried than anything.” He finally says.

“I’m sorry.” You’re not. You’d do it again in a heartbeat. Next time with more planning. But even so you place a kiss on the side of his mouth, unable to voluntarily kiss him fully but still trying to salvage what you can of the situation.

“Just don’t do it again.” He says, and you feel relief at the fact he bought the explanation. You’d worked hard to get to this point with him.

It used to be that he would lock you in a rather large chest like one of his many other treasures, a singular hole poked in the top with one of the lances he called claws. Not enough to climb out unfortunately, the memory of spending hours cramped in there unpleasant to say the least. You’re not even sure your back has fully recovered yet.

Nobunaga stands, not even allowing you the opportunity to do the same as he carries you like nothing in his arms towards the back of the cave. While the rest of the space maintains a dry warmth, it gets increasingly muggy the further you go before opening up to a sudden drop off filled with water.

A light steam escapes from the surface, heated by underground vents. A natural hot spring. Something you might have been excited for once upon a time to stumble upon. But now you’ve grown to hate it, the only place where you can’t justify wearing clothes and are at Nobunaga’s full mercy.

There was nothing to remove now, stripped of your coverings the moment he got his hands on you, and his normal bareness that accompanied every time he melted from one form to another.

The water stings as it seeps around your wounds, resisting the urge to cry out even as you tensed. It would only provoke more coddling from Nobunaga and you weren’t sure how much you could take before you snapped.

Doing your best to relax, you allow him to wash your wounds, accepting every kiss whenever you flinch without fuss. You even leaned into the touch as he washed your hair. Something that seemed to take the last of the tension from him, hands loosening just a bit, nails not digging into your scalp quite as harshly.

“I’m glad you weren’t trying to escape.” Nobunaga sighs, pulling you closer. Head tilting back, you allow an expression of innocent curiosity to take over your features. He was building up to something. You could tell by the trace of excitement that lingered under his words, nearly rushing to get them out.

“I’m taking you to see the others next week.”

You freeze like a rabbit in the maw of a beast, breath catching. Ever since he’d trapped you here there hadn’t been a glimpse of another person.

Once, about two months in, you’d heard a voice calling from the entrance. At first you’d assumed it to be a hallucination brought on by your isolation and sheer hopelessness of the situation. But as they called out again Nobunaga was quick to react, planting you firmly in one place with a command not to move. And you didn’t, wanting to keep up appearances to appease him, but it didn’t stop you from trying to lean and get a peak of whoever it was. From the sounds of it they were friendly and the fact Nobunaga remained in his shifted form said they weren’t a threat. Anybody who was a friend of his definitely wasn’t one of yours, and the deep timber of the voice set your hair on end.

“You’ve been so well behaved I thought you deserved a reward.” He said, tracing his nails along your skin, gooseflesh rising despite the heat of the water. “You’ve been the easiest by far. Even if they don’t say it, I can tell the others are jealous. Everyone is always eyeing a dragon’s greatest treasure.”

You roll your eyes, glad to be facing away as there was no way you would have been able to hold back.

Nobunaga was easy enough to manipulate as long as you played along, but it got exhausting at times. Thankfully he found your ‘shyness’ endearing, and could get away with the occasion behavior. Though each time you bashfully turned away and blushed, stumbling over your words, you felt like vomiting. As if you were some sort of love interest in a drama. Like he hadn’t seen you competent and capable before, that image tossed out of his mind and replaced with the current one he obviously favored.

Once again, your acting skills were put to the test, turning and wrapping your arms around his neck, resisting the urge to strangle him as your fingers flexed.

“I’m so excited!” Smiling, you play with the loose hair that hangs along his back, reaching for the soap to wash it. “If they’re important to you then they’re important to me.”

He sighs, allowing himself to lean back and close his eyes as your comparatively blunt nails drag along his scalp, hands on your hips and keeping you in place as you wash the soap from his hair.

Once finished he drags you both out, drying you off with a fluffy towel- gifted upon your request in return for allowing him to wash your hair- before heading back out to the main area. You already know how the time will go, curled up with his collection surrounding you, reading or trying to think of a way to escape.

Nobunaga slept a lot. Something about mass and energy. It was difficult to say which form you preferred him in. The beast was easier to hate and dissociate from, yet was more terrifying as you fear one day he may roll over and accidentally crush you. But when he was in his humanoid figure it was nauseating the way he seemed that much more loving. You could close your eyes and pretend the hands around your waist were someone else’s. An old boyfriend or some long-harbored crush. It was nice to pretend, but also dangerous. Because pretending put you into a mindset of complacency, the facade of acceptance nearly slipping into something more real. That things truly could be easier if you were to give in.

As Nobunaga settles you into the heart of his horde, tucking himself in and pulling you close like you belong there, it’s easy to pretend you don’t feel the way he clings himself to you. Your mind is too occupied with other things.

A trip off the mountain means a chance of escape. The vague map from before is permanently etched into your mind, always lingering day and night. Depending on where you went there was a chance. And you’d take that chance over an easy life any day. Maybe you could even help some of the others that you had heard him talk about in passing, including the one you had originally come for.

For all that he was, Nobunaga wasn't a liar. The girl was indeed close by but seemed to be kept by one of his own deluded friends. A werewolf.

How fun.

“I love you.” Nobunaga purrs, chest rumbling in the way you’ve come to learn means he’s blissfully happy.

He expects an answer, even if it’s a lie, and what’s one more when that’s all your existence is? A carefully constructed facade to appease the temperamental man.

He was like a furnace, walking around nearly nude apart from the plum colored robe he wore when he wasn’t in his true form of a fiery creature from mythology. A step up from the way he pranced about naked the first month, finding your flustered nature about the whole thing rather cute, thinking you were just shy. However he also found that you fought less-sitting like a statue instead of actively trying to bite and claw at him- when he tried to hold you while he was wearing clothes.

‘Anything for you, love.’ Is what he would say.

Anything but what you truly wanted. Anything but your freedom. The exact thing you had been trying to gain and had lead to your current predicament.

It had taken weeks to get the materials you needed. Not even a full kit, but enough to feel confident enough to get down the mountain without serious injury. Small knives and daggers that looked as if they belonged in museums to help dig into the ice and snow. Gloves and shoes made from clothes and skins to protect from the biting cold and stone alike. Nothing that would pass in even the most obscure worlds of fashion but enough to get the job done for what was needed.

He was supposed to be gone for three whole days, from the morning of the first to the afternoon of the third. Plenty of time for what you needed to get down. The forest would do enough to cover your tracks if you traveled through the river, though it would be an up upstream battle the entire way. Going downstream would only lead you further into their territory, and even if it meant going the long way to loop around their expanse of land the prospect of running into one of the beast he had described as his friends was less pleasant. Creatures with fangs and claws that came out at night and would slowly tear you apart, enjoying it all the while. At least Nobunaga was quick with his kills.

But of course he had to come back the second morning, having started just as the sky turned grey to get as much daylight climbing in as possible. Who knew how long it would be before you reached a shelf out of view to rest on. Something deep enough he wouldn’t be able to smell or see you flying overhead. The irony was that if you had started the day before you might have been able to actually make it a good amount of the way even though your skills were a bit rusty after all this time, but fear that he was trying to trick you and would come back the same day lingered, leaving you to wait a full twenty four hours to make sure he was gone.

So much in a panic upon finding you that he crashed into the side of the mountain while trying to grab you, feeling the entire thing shake under the impact as your grip was lost. Desperately scrambling to find purchase it was no use as you were sent into a free fall, stomach dropping as you plummeted towards the ground. It was only with a few dozen feet to spare did Nobunaga manage to swoop in and grab you, his claws digging into your skin in his panic.

He didn’t let go until you were back in the cave, quickly stripping you down despite your protest. One glare was enough to let you know how much trouble you were in, his normal fretting and talkative nature set on the back burner as he moved with a silent efficiency.

Once bare and ever inch of your skin inspected, he was quick to start a fire, the flames leaving his mouth in a steady stream to catch the wood without the need for kindling. The brightness of them told of his mood, a simmering anger that went with the violet flames as opposed the almost blue hue they took on when he was in a better mood. Something you had only just begun to be able to decipher and from the looks of it you were screwed.

It was for this reason you didn’t fight as he dragged you into his lap, fingers prodding your sides where his claws had dug in while applying a balm and bandages before moving onto the smaller scraps and bruises.

The entire time he worked in a suffocating silence, the light of the flames dancing along the stone walls. It would have been better if he was yelling, scolding you like a child as he often did whenever he was displeased. Your acts of defiance had only ever been treated as little more than tantrums. And why not? How could they be when you posed no real threat to him in either form.

His lithe body was deceptively strong, and his healing factor made it nearly impossible to do any damage that would last longer than a day. You’d nearly bitten his tongue off once the first time he’d tried to shove it down your throat while kissing you, hanging on by little more than a small strand of skin, and even then it had healed by the next morning. All that had happened then was his apology for surprising you, but it was clear should the mistake be repeated again he wouldn’t be as forgiving. The next time he did the same action his class dug into your sides, a reminder of what he could do should you anger him.

It was easier to let him think of you as someone naive and shy to affections, letting you push most things off. You were a survivor after all. Adapt and overcome.

Despite everything it was easy to soothe his temper. Even the simplest of returned affections put a dopey look on his face that made you want to gag. There were days he would come back in a bad mood, so worked up he wasn’t even able to change forms, stomping about with legs that would easily crush you, jets of fire so hot they melt away the stone outside the entrance and melted entire piles of metal into molten obstacles, only adding to his temper. Yet it only took you calling this name in a soft tone, doing your best to curl in on yourself while also hesitantly approaching and looking concerned, for him to calm down. He liked when you held him close as he complained, running your hands through his long hair to soothe him.

You doubted it would be enough this time.

“Do you have any idea what could have happened!?”

Nobunaga finally breaks the silence, spinning you around to face him. If the fire had been warm in warding off the chill that permeated the cave then his gaze was blazing, dark eyes glowing with a purple light that told you he was one wrong word away from shedding his human skin.

This was not the time for pride to get the better of you. Treading carefully was the only course of action even if it turned your stomach to bend to his whims.

And so, you concede.

Something you would never have thought of doing upon first being taken. How long ago that time seemed now. Almost like a dream.

___________________________

There were times you loved your job. It was the picturesque vision that everyone who saw it from the outside thought it to be. Beautiful views, fresh air, and all the freedom you could wish for. Even if the adrenaline that had once flowed with every foot gained up a steep incline had faded to a mellow buzz, only jumping in the rare instance you found yourself slipping or realizing the safety rope had become twisted in the wind, it was still something to look forward to every day. Much better than being stuck in an office and slowly being driven crazy by endless mountains of work, though you had to admit it would be nice not to have to consciously think about putting money into a retirement.

There were plenty of things that you hated about your job as well. Namely the people you had to deal with a majority of the time. Anyone who was serious about climbing and being a guide wouldn’t book anything with your services unless they were looking to gain an internship and learn the ropes, to which you would direct them towards one of the agencies that could help them. They were too full of themselves most of the time for you to want to deal with them, though it was nothing compared to some of the customers. Those with deep pockets looking for a bit of weekend fun who got offended when they weren’t allowed to climb near sheer cliff faces and would inevitably have to be saved as they swung a couple dozen feet off the ground by their safety rope.

This was one of those times where it was a rare combination of both. No whining and complaining or endless questions, just you, your gear, and the hundred-foot drop down the snowy mountainside. It would be too much to hope that the snow at the bottom- a dozen feet of powder- would break your fall. It would be a mercy if that was it. Worst case scenario you broke a leg and had to wait to freeze to death. This area was a service dead zone. Even your satellite phone might have some trouble, and it was doubtful that anyone would be able to get to you in time to be of any help.

It was outlandish to be doing such a climb by yourself, and any other guide who did so you would suggest being checked if everything was alright up there.

In your defense the original plan had been go up with two other. A couple you worked with frequently and knew to be competent and even more experienced than yourself. Some of the only ones willing to traverse the terrain. With them by your side there should have been nothing to worry about, however one had fallen and broken a leg the week before after tumbling down the stairs to their house. It was an almost laughable way to get hurt considering the nature of the job, but it put them out of commission nonetheless and their spouse refused to leave their side as they needed help getting around the first few weeks.

The plan had been to call the trek off and refund the client with hopes he wouldn’t leave a bad review but instead he had come personally to beg you not to.

His sister was missing, gone for months, and everyone else had given up on the search. Hundreds of miles of wilderness that had been explored yet not even putting a scratch on where her plane could have been knocked off course. It was more likely she was dead at this point even as he claimed there she was experienced in some of the survival camping he took part in, the area notoriously dangerous and avoided due to disappearances and strange happenings. It was like the Bermuda Triangle for hikers, and only those dumb enough dared to venture in. There was a reason only those with permits were allowed to even think about it, though when you got to the experience level you had to obtain one most people knew better than to try.

He begged on hands and knees for you to find her, even if it was just a body or bones. Anything to help put his mind at ease, already having spent all his resources trying to track her down but with nothing to show for it. Unfortunately your work hadn’t turned you completely immune to compassion, and so with an uncertain reassurance you told him you would try your best.

That’s how you found yourself clinging to the side of a mountain. The map stuffed in your pack showed the areas that were already searched, as well as where to avoid at all cost. If anyone had gone there they were good as gone with no hope of getting them back.

The initial intention had been to search the forest at the base. Two days of searching in and your instincts woke you in the dead of the night, a sense of unease telling you something was very, very wrong. It would have been easy to brush it off as just the situation getting to you but after years of working as a guide you learned to trust your gut, and it was telling you to hightail it out of the area.

And so you continued onward, forced up the mountain by means of the forbidden areas on either side of you and whatever was giving an uneasy feeling behind. If the girl had come this way there was a chance she had done the same. It wasn’t the worst idea to take the mountain over the woods. High ground that could give better lookout for approaching danger. Apart from the snowy peaks there seemed to be enough vegetation and small animals halfway up for someone who knew what they were doing to survive.

The footpath was easy enough to follow, and you made great progress by the time the sun had come up. Or rather what you had initially thought to be the sun based on the sudden light of the creeping dawn sky, though it seems off.

Looking back, the area of forest you had previously been occupying was now ablaze. Purple flames consumed around a mile stretch, everything within already turned to a blackened char.

Above, outline only by the interruption of stars, glides a shape bigger than any bird you’ve seen. More akin to an airship, though you’ve never seen one move with such precision and speed. It’s difficult to see as the light of the fire dies out, the flames having consumed nearly everything they could leaving nothing but an obsidian mar behind, standing out against the lush green of the trees.

Well. Mountain it is.

Not like you have a choice in the matters now with whatever that was flying around. In all the years you spent outdoors you’d never seen anything like it, and you never wanted to again.

The footpath you had been following was eventually blocked by what looked like a rockslide. Taking a break, your eyes scan the rock around you as you take a lengthy drink from your water bottle. It was hard to imagine anyone could have survived here. After just a few days you were ready to get out, and supposedly this girl had been out here for months?

You’d found evidence of a camp two days ago. Nothing fancy but with all the hallmarks of someone who had at least a vague idea of what they were doing. There wasn’t much hope for it as the place had clearly been long abandoned for at least a month, already starting to be taken back over by nature. If the claw marks on the trees and rocks of the surrounding area were anything to go by then the area was also occupied by something else. The sizes were consistent with a rather large bear but the marks didn’t have the right drag to them, and none of the other signs of bears in the area were apparent. If there was any hope of survival then it would have been at the mountain where less dangerous beast lurked.

On the other side of the range was another forest, spanning a few dozen miles. Beyond that your evac point. It was unlikely that she would have made it through the mountain herself to the other side, but for you it would only take three days to climb and descend. It was rather unfortunate, but nothing could be done. You’d told her brother that there was no guarantee that you would find her and as much as you wished to be able to bring him some sort of comfort or closure it wasn’t in your interest to keep looking and put your life in danger looking for ghosts.

So now here you were, halfway up the mountain and looking for a good resting point. It wasn’t necessary to go all the way to the top, most mountains having passages that allowed you to travel across the majority of it without having to go vertical, but with the range so uncharted you felt blind. From the estimate of what you could see from the base there should be such a space a mile to the east, but getting there was proving to be a difficult task as the air grew increasingly cold and thin.

You are just about to call it a night, wanting to play it safe with the light of the sun fading over the horizon as a fog moved in, when your eyes were drawn away from the anchor currently being placed for the hanging tent.

There was a small ledge with just enough room to lay on your side- though your feet would hang off the end- and was relatively protected from the elements by a slight slant above it. Yet the small lip wasn’t enough to block the flicker of light that caught your eye, drawn to the presence as every human was on base instinct.

Flames meant the presence of others, highly doubting there was anything that would be catching fire in this terrain and weather.

It could be the girl.

An absurd thought, but with a slim hope. The better question would be how she got all the way up here without any climbing equipment. With the source so close, just a few dozen yards up and to the left, it was too abnormal for you to be able to brush off as something natural. The climb was a bit frightful to complete as the sun had now completely disappeared and only a few lingering echoes of light remained as orange faded to a deep purple, the stars beginning to peek from their blanket of darkness.

The last stretch has to be done without any anchors, the bumpy rock without any crevices, nubs sticking out just barely enough to get your hands and feet on. If you fell it would be a rather painful swing before the last one caught you, halfway between your previous rest and the new one.

Hand curling around the lip of the ledge, you haul yourself up with a huff, rolling onto your back to take a breather. This shelf is wider, allowing more room to stretch out. It was quite the climb even with your own experience, and you would surely feel the effort in the days to come. You make a mental note to go on some more difficult climbs, not wanting to get too soft with the easier treks you normally take clients on. Lingering out in the open isn’t a good idea, so getting to your knees with a groan, you continue.

There’s a rather large opening in the side of the rock leading into what you can only assume is a cave. The edges are smooth and almost seem dripping, as if melted to make the mouth wider before opening to a larger more jagged space. While under normal circumstances it would be dark even in the daytime, a light burns from deeper within the mountain, drawing you like a moth to a flame. The depth is impressive, curving a dozen yards back as you keep one hand on the wall.

The light is nearly blinding at this point, having to shield your eyes the further back it goes. It’s tempting to think that its a bunch of obnoxious LEDs, but the tone isn’t quite right, and the air is heated to a near sweltering degree. Whereas outside it had dropped to the point your toes and fingers had begun to feel numb, in here it was the opposite. It was tempting to take some of your layers off as heat began to make your head swim. Like being outside on the hottest day in summer, rendered useless and only able to just take the abuse of the sun, movement feeling like a chore.

It was in this clouded haze, as well as still being blinded, that you tripped over something solid, failing to catch yourself as you went down. The stone scraped your hands leaving bloody scratches, your knees only protected by the thick pants, still likely to have a bruise or two on them. A fumble that had you cursing but at least the light had dampened a small amount. It allowed you to crack your eyes open a bit more, hopefully now able to see where you were going.

It would be most logical to conclude you’d hit your head as well. Or maybe a rock had fallen from the ceiling and given you a concussion. That was the only explanation for what sat before you now.

From tip to tail you would guess around eighty feet long, though it was hard to tell with the way it was curled up. Deep lavender scales gleamed in the light of what you now realized was flames, of which rose around the edges of the room. It was only in the shadow of the large beast could you see. Now you were allowed the luxury of having a up close and personal look at teeth the size of your arm. They had nothing on the claws, inky shards that looked to be made of obsidian and matching the curving horns and spines that ran along its back. The only thing you couldn’t see was its eyes.

Despite your loud intrusion the creature had remained asleep, snoring gently as it’s massive body rose and fell under the blanket of membrane that made up its wings, curled over it’s body.

Backing away, you treated it as you would any other wild animal. That was to say, with the utmost intention of staying as far away as possible.

Once, in the earlier years of your career, you had been hiking through the woods to get to your climbing spot. The weather was nice and the intention was to meet one others at a spot just up the mountain, doing a bit of soloing on one of the easier walls.

With your lack of awareness, too content with enjoying the wilderness for what it was, you had allowed yourself to sneak up on a bear, only alerted by the chuff it released while ambling out of the woods behind you, nearly the size of a cow.

Everything you ever learned had immediately been thrown out the window, running for your life as the creature gave chase to the rocky wall that loomed a dozen yards ahead and the bear being far enough back to get a head start did you survive.

It was only by the skin of your teeth that you made it in time, practically leaping up the wall as the creature slammed into it a moment later, claws mere inches from your feet as they scrambled for purchase.

That was much like the situation you were in now. The same bone-chilling fear, blank minded survival that drove years of evolution and higher thought and reasoning turned to nothing in the face of something much larger and stronger than you, once again reduced to prey as base instincts took over. Instincts that didn’t notice the pile assorted trinkets and treasures stacked behind you, shuffling feet bumping it just enough to knock a single coin from the top.

It landed on the ground with a delicate clink, rolling in on itself until it settled. Less noisy than you had been entering the cave with puffing breath and stumbling steps. It shouldn’t have been an issue. And it wasn’t. Not until you felt a warm stream of air hit your back, slowly turning to see the once closed eyes of the beast staring at you. Like endless darkness they bore into you, sharp as any fang and surrounded by a silver glow. As if the very scelera were made of molten metal.

There was a flash of light so sudden and blinding it stole your breath almost painfully, blowing your hair back. All at once it felt as if your face had been superheated, the smell of melted nylon fabric following.

This is how you die. Burned to a crisp by a creature from fairytale. You just hadn’t been expecting to be conscious for so long at the fact. Maybe you had already passed on and the blinding light was the afterlife.

Yet as the light faded you were once again found standing in the cave. Face to face with a creature who seemed just as perplexed as yourself- if you could call it that- head tilted as its eyes widened. Its tail shifted like a tree trunk falling to crush whatever was below, and that was the only thing needed to break you from your stupor, turning and sprinting out of the cave.

The beast roared behind you, the sound of its body shifting and running into the stone walls, causing the very ground beneath your feet to tremble, only prompting you to run faster. Compared to the sweltering heat of the cave you welcomed the outside air with reverence, even more so due to the fact it meant getting away from whatever that thing was.

So in a rush, the shaking of the ground not having let up, you didn’t even stop to properly attach the rope, lashing it around your waist in a knot you hoped would hold and all but jumping from the ledge. It cut painfully into your skin as it caught your waist but that was a much lesser concern, more focused on how it promptly swung you back toward your original resting place. Your fingers grabbed the stubby handholds, climbing like a true mountain goat getting away from a predator, hardly even feeling your knee bash into the rock when you slipped.

The descent was little more than a blur in your mind, fueled by sheer adrenaline and panic as you half stumbled half climbed. There had been another path lower. It didn’t look the most promising, taking longer to get up the side of the mountain as opposed to a climb, but it’s where you headed regardless. It would through a number of trees and outcroppings, offering plenty of places to hide. The smaller the better, especially as you heard a shriek that sounded far too close for comfort as you made it to solid ground and dashed down the path, leaving a considerable length of rope behind as you stumbled through the dark, tripping more than on any hike you’d been on. If the moon wasn’t covered it might have made things easier, but the waning crescent was half hidden by thick clouds and left you in near total darkness.

You stumble upon a small clearing, unable to ignore the sounds of danger approaching. Your eyes dart about looking for a hiding spot, squinting to see anything that stands out in the muddled shadows. A hollowed log or particularly dense bush. Anything that could give you cover as you pray it wasn’t tracking you strictly by scent. There was nothing to do if that were the case, options on direction and weapons limited.

Eventually you find what you’re looking for.

Pulling your legs under you, there’s a low-laying opening about two feet off the ground. Not enough room to even crouch but plenty to slide under. Most importantly out of sight from above, or to anything over ten feet. It's cold and damp with a few bugs skittering about. Nothing you even batted an eye at as you pulled your knees to your chest, trying to calm your breathing as your heart beat so erratically you were sure it was about to come out of your chest. So loud that you nearly missed a similar rhythmic thumping approaching.

The sound of wings. Like that of eagles when you would fly too close to their nest. Only this is much louder, kicking up wind so strong it might as well be a storm. Small rocks and dust fly everywhere, stinging your skin as trees bend under the strength of the gust.

Under the pale light of the moon you see a shadow pass, the same shriek as earlier ringing out, forcing you to clasp your hands over your ears in fear of them bursting. A constant ringing erupts, sharp, high, and grating as you nearly scream in pain, body clenching and begging for it to stop. It doesn’t, only continuing on and on in a demonic symphony until at some point you must have passed out, a mixture of fear and exhaustion catching up as adrenaline finally runs out, unable to keep production up with what your body demands.

———————————————

You wake to grey skies and a sore body, filtered light not quite able to reach you so far back in your little cave. It’s hard to feel anything, even relief, as your mind struggles to process everything.

All your gear was still on, backpack clenched in front of you like a shield while your pick dug into your thigh. Your hat was gone and the top section of your hood was charred from the shoulders up leaving your shoulders bare as the fabric hung loosely. The tight compression shirt worn under all the layers was the only thing to stay in place, though it now resembled more of a strapless top.

Your fingers ran along the burnt edges, mind flashing back to the cave.

You should be dead. That thing should have roasted you alive, yet here you were; living, breathing, and cowering under a rock like some mouse. While the thought of being fireproof was tempting, the experience of having been singed more than once while arranging logs on the fire debunked it. It was impossible to even start theorizing why it hadn’t hurt you. You weren’t a scientist or fairytale specialist, though you had trouble deciding what would be more useful in this situation.

Roll with the punches. That’s what your mentor had taught you. Nature was wild and unpredictable no matter how much humanity thought they could tame and understand it, though you highly doubt he had this in mind. The fact of the matter was that there was a dragon or whatever out there, and that wasn’t going to change. The question that remained was how you’re supposed to make it over the mountain with that thing out there, likely still flying around.

A part of you could only hope that it was nocturnal, but there was no guarantee. Hypervigilance would be needed traveling during the day, and it was doubtful you’d be able to get any true restful sleep at night knowing it was out there.

Climbing was out of the question. You’d be a sitting duck ready for it to fly by and snatch you like a takeout meal. Traveling along paths meant more opportunities for cover, though it would take significantly longer. With only two cushion days to make it to the meetup point it would be close, but a new sense of determination rose. This area had taken many experienced guides and explorers, and you were not going to be another.

The skittering of rocks caught your attention, body tensing, thinking it to be the creature coming back or some other predator roaming the mountain, only to turn confused as a pair of legs comes into view. They’re lean but well muscles from what you can see, but most importantly distinctly human.

“Hello?” A voice calls, pulling you from your stupor. You must be imagining things, cracking under the pressure. Who in their right mind would be all the way out here?

There’s no time to react as you come face-to-face with a man.

He’s crouched down, kneeling as he peaks under the ledge. A part of you wonders how he even found you until your eyes dip lower, spotting a thin trail of blood running along the ground, right to where you were hidden. It could have come from any number of cuts that adorn your body, your haste to get away making you reckless. A small price to pay even if you now felt stupid about being so obvious. But then again it had led you to finding someone else. Someone you didn’t know. But that fact is tossed out the window, too happy to see another person after everything you’ve experienced in the past twelve hours to question it.

Scrambling from under the ledge, you all but trip over yourself as you get to your feet, nearly knocking the man over in the process.

“Easy there.” He says, placing two strong hands on your shoulder, holding you up as your knees threaten to buckle, legs sore from being kept in one position for so long. “Are you alright?” He eyes your wounds, brow furrowed, but that’s the least of your problems. Right now, you’re more focused on getting out of this place and away from whatever that was.

“How are you here?” The question is a bit more forceful than you intend, but the sheer absurdity of finding someone way out here has you bewildered.

“I’ve lived on this mountain a long time.” He says, hands moving to grab you, stopping short as you jolt away. He swallows thickly, voice a bit tighter and eyes wide. “How are you here?”

“I’m supposed to be finding someone who crashed here.” Would it be too much to hope he had seen her?

There wasn’t a guarantee she’d even made it this far, but if he could survive then why couldn’t she? Or maybe he was some kind of crazy killer who eats people, and that’s why nobody makes it out of here alive. What if there was a whole group of them like some kind of sick horror movie plot?

Your hand inched towards the pick at your waist, trying not to make the movement too obvious. If he thought he was going to kill and eat you he had another thing coming.

With the way his brows furrow in thought it’s hard to see him as dangerous, seeming more upset than anything. He suddenly perks up, fingers snapping as you can practically see the lightbulb go off. A name escapes, your turn to be surprised at recognizing it for belonging to the very person you’re looking for.

“You’ve seen her!?”

“Yeah.” He huffs, almost amused as he runs a hand over the back of his head, posture a picture of ease. “Found her out here a few months ago. The others of her group didn’t survive but she somehow managed to hold on.”

Despite your excitement you don’t let it get the better of you, filing the information away and going back to your interrogation.

“How did you get here?” You ask, not allowing him to evade the question of his origins. The last thing you need was to stumble upon some cult that had been here doing who knows what.

“Similar situation really. Never thought I’d meet anyone else here.” That tracked, even if you still had your suspicions. More than one plane had gone down in the area, and there was still the plethora of novice hikers who got lost. All of whom were never seen again.

A shadow passes overhead and you jump, eyes scanning the sky and ready to dart back into your hiding place. The man only seemed unconcerned, stepping between you and shortening the already small space.

”If you’re worried about the dragon don’t be.” His head tilts, a look of amusement gracing his face. “He’s not flying around right now. Won’t be for a while.”

“And how do you know that?”

He shrugs, seeming too casual for someone who knew exactly what was out here. “Been around a while. I know his pattern like the back of my hand.”

“We have to get to the other side of the mountain.” Checking your gear, you make note of all the things that still remain in your kit. The rope is severely depleted, a small portion left behind from your frantic descent, but everything else seems good for the most part. You stuff the remainder of the coat in your bag as best you can, slipping on the one extra shirt you’d brought. It was warm enough to not need much during the day, especially as you got moving, but come nightfall the temperature would likely plummet again and you’d have a bit of trouble.

Pulling out your compass and a rough map of the area, you try to chart a path.

“Can you take me to her? I have a pickup scheduled in three days.” A shadow looms, looking up to see the man blocking the sun, entirely too close. A part of you wants to spit at him to give some space, but it’s probably been a while since he’s been in society. His clothes are well worn, the soft lavender fabric patched in areas, tied around his waist with a cloth belt while his legs remain bare. A pair of sandals that look as if they’re going to fall apart are the only protection he has from the rocky ground. Not the most ideal for hiking but if that’s all he had when he was stranded then you couldn’t judge.

“Of course, you can come with us. I’m sure you have family that’s looking for you.”

It would be best to take him. If he had survived for this long than obviously he was doing something right, and with an unknown factor thrown into the equation it would be nice to have another set of hands. Besides, he was the only one that knew where the girl was, and even if it was a lie you could hardly leave in good conscious without checking.

He doesn’t say anything, only continuing to stare and making you more nervous. Just as you think he’s truly gone and fallen asleep standing he abruptly turns, leading the way further into the mountain.

———————-

Nobunaga, as he had introduced himself, seemed perfectly adept at traversing the mountainside.

Long jumps and steep inclines seemed to be no problem for him despite his lanky appearance, and you wondered just how much muscle he had hidden under his baggy clothes. You had plenty of climber friends who looked like shrimps and were stronger than someone who looked like they were about to bust out of their shirt. It made you wonder just how long he’d been out here, though he only responded a vague ‘few years’ when asked. He didn’t dodge questions or hesitate when asked, so you’re inclined to believe he was telling the truth with the ease of which he answered. Maybe he didn’t even know the number himself.

But as much as you tried to needle and feel him out, he turned everything back around, seeming far more interested in you than anything else.

”You seem quite…capable.” He said as you hauled yourself up the ledge, ignoring his outstretched hand. You were careful to keep him in front of you, leading the way to wherever it was you were going. It wasn’t heading across like you had hoped but rather along the ridges, making you nervous as you got closer to the dragon’s cave.

”It’s safest there.” Nobunaga explained when you voiced your concerns. “Less predators creeping around.”

It sounded simultaneously logical as well as crazy. Like jumping in snake filled waters to avoid the tiger on the shore. Sure it worked for the immediate problem, but there was always the threat of something worse.

”I mean it’s kind of my job.” You say, pulling out your compass and making a mark on the map. Hopefully enough to help you get back should anything happen to your companion, either by nature or your own hands.

”So you put yourself in danger a lot?” Nobunaga frowns, looking over his shoulder.

“I guess? There’s not much I can’t handle nowadays though.” You can’t help but be chatty, the few days of isolation making you a bit more open despite the concern of drawing attention. He seemed to have an air about him that put you at ease, likely having to do with his own lax nature of the situation though he could have shown at least a little more excitement at the prospect of finally being rescued.

He doesn’t seem to like your answer, frowning as he mumbles to himself.

When sunset hits you decide to make camp for the night, sore from your trek with minimal breaks.

Nobunaga points out a cave, thankfully much smaller than the last, and apart from a few bugs there’s no other occupants. It smelt faintly of iron and leaves you wondering if the minerals were present in the rock.

You were quick to start a fire, knowing the risk it brought of drawing attention but unable to simply sit there and freeze. Not only had the temperature dropped with the sun, but you’d also climbed higher as well as further across the mountain, reaching the delicate point of frost touching the surface of everything, the snow capped peaks not far off. You’d been struggling to find your flint and striker, digging through your bag, only to turn and see Nobunaga with the kindling already blazing.

“I’m pretty good at starting fires.” He must have used some sort of friction method given the lack of starters in his hand. The rocks around here wouldn’t work even if you tried. Regardless, the heat was enough to have you crawling near, eager to warm yourself as you catch a smug grin on Nobunaga’s face. He must be tickled pink to have someone to show his skills off to with the way he seemed to swell at your obvious amazement.

Dinner wasn’t anything fabulous. Dried jerky, fruit, and some cashews that were just barely above being considered a dust, pulverized by your journey.

“You sure you don’t want me to try and catch anything?” Nobunaga asked, eyeing the dry meat with distaste. You’d offered it out of consideration for your new companion, feeling awkward eating without doing so. There were enough extra provisions to last longer than you predicted you would need, a precaution you always took, but with two and soon to be three people in the group it would be stretched thin.

Evidentially he had gotten used to eating fresh caught food out here and it was amusing to watch him scowl at the food as if it offended him. Who knew being stranded in the wild could make you a picky eater. Still, while on the lean side he didn’t seem to be starving which spoke to his hunting skills. Maybe you could ask him about it at a later time.

“It’s too late for snares to catch anything.” You shook your head, too tired to even think about venturing out.

The day had been run at a rather brutal pace by your own insistence, wanting to get to the girl and get off the mountain as soon as possible. Nobunaga grumbled and you worried you’d offended him and his knowledge, but he just chewed on his dinner, offering the last bit to you and claiming he wasn’t that hungry. Maybe his time in the wild has shrunk his stomach or maybe he was just trying to be polite. Either way, you weren’t going to let it go to waste.

He offers his own contribution. A green plant that smells faintly of mint. Potentially a distant relative or variety that grows here despite the difference in appearance. He’d gathered it from somewhere just beyond the mouth of the cave. You’d accepted it of course, but only ate a bit when you saw him do the same. It was actually rather sweet, laying pleasantly on your tongue. A suitable substitute for the bar of chocolate you’d lost in your scramble to get away, the remaining half previously the only thing to look forward to at the end of the day, a piece broken off each night to help keep your spirits up.

It was all too easy to consume given the last forty-eight hours, though Nobunaga didn’t seem to mind, even offering the rest of his share.

You made sure to keep the embers low, heating a few rocks and wrapping them in a few of the bandage rolls you had. Your coat was little more than a small blanket now and you opted to use it to put something between you and the cold ground, even putting some of the heated rocks underneath.

As you settled on to your little spot you noticed Nobunaga watching you get ready for bed, realizing you didn’t have anything extra for him to use. A singular, well insulated sleeping bag was all you had, your tent material tacked to the opening of the cave with room to let the smoke out while keeping the heat in. Still it was rather cold, you yourself shivering even as Nobunaga didn’t seem all that affected.

While manners dictated you offer to share you still felt a bit awkward. This man was practically a stranger even if he hadn’t done anything threatening so far.

The choice was made for you as Nobunaga crawls closer, stopping just at the edge of the fabric.

“Do you mind if we share for the night? You look cold.” His words carry a tone of worry. Odd, as normally you’re the one fretting over unprepared hikers.

“And you’re not?” Your eyes dart down to his bare legs, not even a trace of a shiver or gooseflesh. Meanwhile your own teeth threatened to nip your tongue, curled in on yourself as you rubbed at your arms.

“I’ve lived here a long time. I’m used to it.” He waved his hand. “I’m practically a space heater, or so I’ve been told.”

You hesitate, debating on just giving him the sleeping bag and making due with the fire. But with the way he looks at you, wide eyed and almost concerned, makes you cave. Best not to anger the man you’re stranded in the woods with in any case.

Lifting the edge of the sleeping bag in invitation, you're startled at the speed with which he moves, practically diving in. Whatever position you expected to sleep in- back-to-back or even sitting up- was thrown out the window as he settles himself behind you, pulled into his arms as he settles down.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?!” Your surprise shout escapes before you can stop it, face scrunching into a glare as you peer over your shoulder even as the blanket is pulled around you.

All movement is halted as heat swaddles you almost immediately, nearly suffocating. Not just from the blanket and fire, but radiating from the man currently holding you.

“Holy shit.” You mumble under your breath. It comes off him in waves, like a beacon drawing you closer. His hands are like irons fresh from the forge as they wrap around your own, brining feeling back into the frozen tips.

“Told you.” Nobunaga sounds almost smug as he eases you both down into laying position, arms still wrapped securely around you. He doesn’t even flinch when your icy feet touch his, the heat seeping through your thick socks.

“You may know how to navigate the wilderness, but I know how to survive it.” He hums, resting his chin on your head. Begrudgingly you have to admit he has a point. It wouldn’t be the first time you’d shared a sleeping bag for warmth but all those people you had known and didn’t have to worry about ulterior motives and wandering hands. Thankfully Nobunaga’s remain firmly around your own, verging on being too tight.

“You could have at least warned me first.” You huff even as you sink back deeper into his warmth. His strength and ease of movement from earlier makes more sense as you feel the rigid and hard outline of muscle against your back, twitching with every movement.

There were worse things than being stuck sharing a sleeping bag with a handsome man, even if you did wish it were different circumstances.

Your eyes feel increasingly heavy, drunk on warmth as you watch the flames flicker. A thought to put more wood on the fire for the night briefly floats through your mind but can’t muster the energy to even move, limbs feeling like they were already asleep.

Nobunaga only seemed to curl further around you, a deep rumble vibrating along your back.

‘He must be a snorer.’

“Do you know anything about dragon fire?” You whisper- hesitant to wake him should he be sleeping- the memory of the cave and what had happened leading to your current situation rearing back to the front of your mind. He might not even know anything about it, but it was worth a shot. To put at least one piece of the puzzle in place even if you had no intention of finishing it. One less thing to keep you up and wondering at night.

For a moment you think he must have already fallen asleep, nothing but the sound of the crackling fire and flapping of the tent along the entrance, but a mumbled ‘yes’ prompts you to continue.

“When….when I saw the creature before I thought I was a goner. I should have been. But the fire didn’t seem to do anything. It burned my jacket but I was fine.”

Nobunaga hummed, his breath tickling your skin as you shivered.

“It means that you're very special.” Is all he says, grip growing even tighter.

‘Special how?’ you wanted to ask but your tongue felt too heavy to move, mind clouded. It was the last conscious thought you had.

———————————————

Waking up, it felt as if you’d been out on the town on the ultimate bender. The heat was nearly suffocating, like baking all day in the summer with all the doors and windows closed. Not to mention your neck had a kink in it that promised to be a pain all day.

Head pounding and limbs like molasses, it was tempting to just fall back asleep, intent on doing just so, but when you shifted to roll over the distinct sound of metal scattering jolted you out of your stupor. It was a struggle to raise yourself enough to consciousness to crack an eye open, but with great effort you did so, groaning as you were greeted with light.

Shielding your eyes, it took a moment to adjust before you could look again, but as you took in your surroundings you wished you had kept them closed.

You were in the cave. Not the one you remember falling asleep in. This one was much larger, filled with piles of metals and gems that reflected the heat of the fire burning along the walls. One you had only seen once before and never wanted to again.

Yet here you were, nestled in a crater of treasures of all kinds, your sleeping bag wrapped around you and providing only the barest protection from the harsh metal and stone edges beneath you.

Your first thought was ‘How did I get back here’.

The second was ‘Where is Nobunaga?’.

The man was nowhere to be found. Even if you hadn’t known him for long, his death would be a heavy weight on your conscience. He hadn’t seemed all that bad. Friendly even. All that time spent surviving out here only to get the axe when you showed up.

A much more concerning thought butted in before you could think much more of the missing man. The last time you were here there was a dragon that was now missing, and you were sitting in a suspiciously dragon sized hole. Each movement seemed obnoxiously loud, metal shifting and tinkling like a hunting trap with bells.

‘It found us while we were sleeping and ate Nobunaga, then brought me back as a midnight snack. It’s probably still pissed from last time.’

It was the only thing you could think of to explain it, but were you really so exhausted that you hadn’t heard the man shout or woken even for a moment on the journey back? You weren’t a heavy sleeper by any means, and you only became more perplexed. And all that didn’t explain the fact that you were currently in just your underwear. How did that happen?

An increasingly familiar shriek pulled you from your spiraling thoughts, like a siren proceding a tornado.

There was a shudder of the ground, wind whipping in from what you knew to be the entrance. From around the bend- like some kind of horror movie- a snout emerged, followed by a head, then a body, and finally a tail. All the while you could only remain frozen, watching the creature lumber into the cave, shaking its wings free of the remaking snow that clung to them.

It walked with an awkward gait, a large stag clenched in its front claws that it was clearly trying not to turn to paste under its weight.

Maybe you could sneak away? The creature was so large and the cave and items so expansive. Surely you could hide long enough for it to lose interest. Like trying to find a singular ant in a decently sized apartment. But the moment you shifted to crawl away, the treasure pile under you did as well.

Glowing eyes locked with yours, tearing away any hope of going unnoticed as its head snapped in your direction. You remained looking at each other, unblinking, waiting for the first move. It was only when it took a deliberate step towards you did your limbs decide to work once more, scrambling for purchase against the shifting ground as you tried to get out of the small crater. But the sloped sides only sent you tumbling back down again and again, like trying to climb a dune composed of nothing but loose sand. All the while you could feel the beast getting closer, panic raising rapidly as bile burned in the back of your throat.

“Nobunaga! Nobunaga!” You called out, hoping with your entire being that the man was still alive somewhere in the cave and could hear you. That he could come to your aid and help you out even if you doubted you’d do the same. Who would run towards an approaching dragon and not take the opportunity themselves to get away?

Yet you continued to call to the only person you knew who even had a chance of being close by, desperation growing as tears welled. A cascade of coins behind you told you that the beast was now at the edge opposite of where you were. Close enough to lean down and touch you if it so wanted.

You were going to be eaten. Swallowed whole and left to be killed in the dark by stomach. That was, if its teeth didn’t poke you full of holes first.

Cursing, you had never wished to go back in time more and slap some sense into yourself. You met some crazy man in the mountains and trusted him enough to lead you who knows where and fall asleep with your guard down. Chances were he worshiped the dragon and you were just another addition to the long line of sacrifices.

There was a sharp crack, accompanied by a blinding light and the overwhelming scent of smoke, choking as you tumbled back down. Trembling all you could do was kneel and wait, accepting fate as your legs refused to move, head bowed, pressed into the cool metal. You didn’t want to see it coming. It would only scare you more. Maybe make your meat taste bad. You’d heard once that it was the same with other animals, how you wanted ot keep them as calm as possible.

You hope you tasted awful.

It wasn’t teeth that met flesh but rather the familiar feel of a hand on your back, rubbing soothing circles and whispering comfort as you were brought into a bare chest. The skin contact left a familiar buzzing feeling. Enough to draw your attention away from your rapidly approaching panic attack.

“Nobunaga?”

The man stood over you, that easy, dopey smile he had worn every other time you looked at him still in place. Though at the time it hadn’t seemed so threatening as it did now.

It was also that moment that you realized he lacked any clothing as well, bare as the day he was born and not seeming to mind in the least. You tried to jump away from him only to have his hands lock around your waist.

“Where are you going? You called me.” He purred drawing you closer, the handsome curve of his nose burying itself in your neck.

“We have to get out of here!” You insisted, remembering the reason for doing so. “The dragon, it-“

Head snapping back and forth, looking for the lumbering mass, you’re instead greeted with nothing. As if it had up and vanished in a snap. A figment of your imagination.

“It’s gone?”

Impossible! It had been right there only moments ago before all that smoke!

“I wouldn’t say gone.” The words were whispered into your skin, pulling away a fruitless endeavor as a chill ran down your spine.

Slowly, you turn back to face your previous traveling companion. Yet it’s not the same black eyes from before that greeted you. This time they burn with a golden light, molten heat bubbling around narrowly slotted pupils.

The eyes of the dragon.

Before you can react, the fabric you’d been holding around your shoulders is torn away, thrown off to the side and leaving you without its shield from prying eyes which greedily drink you in. He seems utterly pleased with himself, smoke billowing from his nose as he gives a hearty sigh, the plume filling your own lungs as you try to wave it away, coughing.

Falling back, you’re pulled to the ground with him, landing on top of super-heated skin that had once felt heavenly, now burning in the already sweltering cave as you attempted to get away. Yet again you’re denied, the muscle that had allowed him to so easily traverse the mountainside allowing him to hold you with the same effort even as your nails dig into the skin.

“I’m so glad I found you. I was worried you would get away.” An arm locks around your waist, a singular hand enough to hold both of yours, legs intertwining with your own in what could be considered a lovers embrace, now only serving to constrict you further. Like a snake getting ready to devour its meal. It’s now that you feel something smooth against your skin, cranking your neck to see lavender scales scattered across his body. Previously hidden by his clothing, they maintain a contrast to his skin where they emerge from the pale flesh, barely able to contain the monster that lurks.

”Let me go.” You say, barely able to keep the quiver from your voice. It might have been something to be more proud of if the words also didn’t cause him to only pull you closer, burrowing into the quicksand of treasure.

”How could I ever let you go now that I’ve found you? I’ve waited centuries.”

You struggle, brain trying to tie whatever ends he had linked in his own mind. Apparently, he had decided you were something. Something he wanted to keep. Better than being eaten, but still not ideal. Especially if you had anything to say about it.

”If you had, I might have had to send Shalnark after you. He’s a great tracker after all. But he’s not the most gentle, and I would have been upset to not get you back all in one piece. It would have been even worse if you’d gotten to illumi’s forest." Nobunaga sighs, nuzzling closer to your skin. “Your mind would never be the same again.”

You swallow thickly at his words, trying to calm your rapidly beating heart. Who the hell was Shalnark? Illumi? What pieces would you have been missing?

”Don’t worry. I’ll take care of you.”

He leans forward, head resting on your shoulder. From his mouth erupts a thin jet of violet fire, engulfing your clasped hands and melting the metal underneath. You flinch away on instinct, expecting pain, yet only a pleasant warmth licks your skin. Evidence of how out of hand the situation has truly gotten.

”You’re meant for me after all.”

————————————

Nobunaga’s grip doesn’t let up, bruising as he forces you to face him while your mind races for an answer. Sure you had thought of the possibility of being caught, yet every excuse flies out of your mind as he glares, smoke pouring from his mouth.

“I was worried about you.” You whisper. The first thing you could think of. “You said you would be back but when you weren’t I thought something might have happened.”

“I wasn’t even gone two days.” His growled, though his words held less of their previous venom. He always said it was hard to stay mad at you, but there was clearly a limit.

“Really?” Putting as much confusion into your voice as you can muster, your head tilts as and brows draw together. A picture of innocent confusion. “I’m sorry. There’s no clock up here and with it so dark with all the storm clouds I thought it had been at least four. Time always feels so long when you're gone.”

Wrapping your arms around his neck, you bring your foreheads together. Your nose brushes his, knowing the gesture was familiar to him in both his forms. It was quite sensitive either way, and while he didn’t relax he still leaned into the contact, just as starved for your touch as always.

It seemed as if you stayed that way forever, listening to the crackle of the fire while his hands rubbed up and down your sides. An action not intended to sooth you, but rather himself.

“Are you mad?” The slight wobble to your voice isn’t entirely acting. Not when you’d seen this man burn anything within a fifty-foot radius to a crisp with one breath, crushing the skull of a full-grown charging moose like it was nothing. And that wasn’t even when he was in his ‘true form’. Neither is the way your fingers grip the front of his robe like a lifeline, desperate to grasp onto anything that could help you in the situation.

It seems enough to bring him out of whatever deliberation he was in, pulling back to face you. The glow of his eyes had faded so at least that was something.

“I’m still upset that you put yourself in such danger, but I was more worried than anything.” He finally says.

“I’m sorry.” You’re not. You’d do it again in a heartbeat. Next time with more planning. But even so you place a kiss on the side of his mouth, unable to voluntarily kiss him fully but still trying to salvage what you can of the situation.

“Just don’t do it again.” He says, and you feel relief at the fact he bought the explanation. You’d worked hard to get to this point with him.

It used to be that he would lock you in a rather large chest like one of his many other treasures, a singular hole poked in the top with one of the lances he called claws. Not enough to climb out unfortunately, the memory of spending hours cramped in there unpleasant to say the least. You’re not even sure your back has fully recovered yet.

Nobunaga stands, not even allowing you the opportunity to do the same as he carries you like nothing in his arms towards the back of the cave. While the rest of the space maintains a dry warmth, it gets increasingly muggy the further you go before opening up to a sudden drop off filled with water.

A light steam escapes from the surface, heated by underground vents. A natural hot spring. Something you might have been excited for once upon a time to stumble upon. But now you’ve grown to hate it, the only place where you can’t justify wearing clothes and are at Nobunaga’s full mercy.

There was nothing to remove now, stripped of your coverings the moment he got his hands on you, and his normal bareness that accompanied every time he melted from one form to another.

The water stings as it seeps around your wounds, resisting the urge to cry out even as you tensed. It would only provoke more coddling from Nobunaga and you weren’t sure how much you could take before you snapped.

Doing your best to relax, you allow him to wash your wounds, accepting every kiss whenever you flinch without fuss. You even leaned into the touch as he washed your hair. Something that seemed to take the last of the tension from him, hands loosening just a bit, nails not digging into your scalp quite as harshly.

“I’m glad you weren’t trying to escape.” Nobunaga sighs, pulling you closer. Head tilting back, you allow an expression of innocent curiosity to take over your features. He was building up to something. You could tell by the trace of excitement that lingered under his words, nearly rushing to get them out.

“I’m taking you to see the others next week.”

You freeze like a rabbit in the maw of a beast, breath catching. Ever since he’d trapped you here there hadn’t been a glimpse of another person.

Once, about two months in, you’d heard a voice calling from the entrance. At first you’d assumed it to be a hallucination brought on by your isolation and sheer hopelessness of the situation. But as they called out again Nobunaga was quick to react, planting you firmly in one place with a command not to move. And you didn’t, wanting to keep up appearances to appease him, but it didn’t stop you from trying to lean and get a peak of whoever it was. From the sounds of it they were friendly and the fact Nobunaga remained in his shifted form said they weren’t a threat. Anybody who was a friend of his definitely wasn’t one of yours, and the deep timber of the voice set your hair on end.

“You’ve been so well behaved I thought you deserved a reward.” He said, tracing his nails along your skin, gooseflesh rising despite the heat of the water. “You’ve been the easiest by far. Even if they don’t say it, I can tell the others are jealous. Everyone is always eyeing a dragon’s greatest treasure.”

You roll your eyes, glad to be facing away as there was no way you would have been able to hold back.

Nobunaga was easy enough to manipulate as long as you played along, but it got exhausting at times. Thankfully he found your ‘shyness’ endearing, and could get away with the occasion behavior. Though each time you bashfully turned away and blushed, stumbling over your words, you felt like vomiting. As if you were some sort of love interest in a drama. Like he hadn’t seen you competent and capable before, that image tossed out of his mind and replaced with the current one he obviously favored.

Once again, your acting skills were put to the test, turning and wrapping your arms around his neck, resisting the urge to strangle him as your fingers flexed.

“I’m so excited!” Smiling, you play with the loose hair that hangs along his back, reaching for the soap to wash it. “If they’re important to you then they’re important to me.”

He sighs, allowing himself to lean back and close his eyes as your comparatively blunt nails drag along his scalp, hands on your hips and keeping you in place as you wash the soap from his hair.

Once finished he drags you both out, drying you off with a fluffy towel- gifted upon your request in return for allowing him to wash your hair- before heading back out to the main area. You already know how the time will go, curled up with his collection surrounding you, reading or trying to think of a way to escape.

Nobunaga slept a lot. Something about mass and energy. It was difficult to say which form you preferred him in. The beast was easier to hate and dissociate from, yet was more terrifying as you fear one day he may roll over and accidentally crush you. But when he was in his humanoid figure it was nauseating the way he seemed that much more loving. You could close your eyes and pretend the hands around your waist were someone else’s. An old boyfriend or some long-harbored crush. It was nice to pretend, but also dangerous. Because pretending put you into a mindset of complacency, the facade of acceptance nearly slipping into something more real. That things truly could be easier if you were to give in.

As Nobunaga settles you into the heart of his horde, tucking himself in and pulling you close like you belong there, it’s easy to pretend you don’t feel the way he clings himself to you. Your mind is too occupied with other things.

A trip off the mountain means a chance of escape. The vague map from before is permanently etched into your mind, always lingering day and night. Depending on where you went there was a chance. And you’d take that chance over an easy life any day. Maybe you could even help some of the others that you had heard him talk about in passing, including the one you had originally come for.

For all that he was, Nobunaga wasn't a liar. The girl was indeed close by but seemed to be kept by one of his own deluded friends. A werewolf.

How fun.

“I love you.” Nobunaga purrs, chest rumbling in the way you’ve come to learn means he’s blissfully happy.

He expects an answer, even if it’s a lie, and what’s one more when that’s all your existence is? A carefully constructed facade to appease the temperamental man.

If not, you’ll have to find a different way to make it to Nobunaga’s place.

He seemed friendly enough. If you were a few minutes late, surely he’d understand. You were not close enough to invite him over, go inside his home, or let him drive you anywhere, though that is just how you are with all males you casually know. It’s nothing personal.

There are two bright lights a small distance away, and at the sight you raise your hand and wave.

By some miracle, the bus stops and opens its automatic doors.

You take a few steps as you close your umbrella and make your way up the stairs, being careful not to slip. You slip a few quarters into the little slot beside the driver and sit down on a seat near the window.

Taking off your hood, you ruffle your wet bangs out of your face, using your reflection to attempt to get them back to looking presentable. It doesn’t really work, but what does it matter? You’re just there to give Nobunaga some notes his friends wanted to give to him and leave. 

*~*~*~*

“You’re [First], correct?” Chrollo asks, putting his right hand out towards you.

You take out your earbuds, fixing your posture as you nod. A blonde man sits next to you on the bench before Chrollo could, smiling and giggling like he is some gossiping schoolgirl.

“Dang, you’re cute!” Shalnark exclaims. 

“Shal, what the hell are you doing?” Uvogin had started to stomp over. His mere size was enough to keep your eyes on him and not the others. Even the one girl who was with them didn’t draw your attention, despite her hair being unnaturally bright pink.

“Saying hi!” Shalnark put an arm around you. On instinct, you squirm a little bit, not noticing how Uvogin rolled his eyes in response to how Shalnark smirked at him. Once you were out of his loose grip, Chrollo politely cleared his throat.

“I was wondering if you could do something for us, Miss [First]. For the gang, I mean.” 

The gang? From what you knew, Chrollo’s group was always causing some sort of rule-breaking but Chrollo himself stayed at the top of the class with superb grades and plenty of attention from girls. It is like no one knew they were connected. They seemed like bad news, but all of your interactions with them had been positive thus far. Did Nobunaga put in the good word for you?

“Um… sure?” As long as it was something that didn’t land you in prison or the hospital, you decide to go along with what Nobunaga’s leader asks of you. It is probably a bad idea to reject, and maybe you’ll get something good out of it in exchange.

“I’d like you to give Nobunaga some notes he missed. He’s been out. Sick, most likely.” You didn’t notice the small piles of books he was carrying until he made them closer to you, wanting you to take them. “Surely you have noticed? He talks to you a lot, I hear.”

“Yeah.” You decide to put them on your lap for the time being. The notes weren’t as heavy as they would have been if you were carrying them. “Is… he doing better?”

“Not sure,” Uvogin says, attempting to pry Shalnark off the bench. “He hasn’t been answering his phone, you see.”

“I don’t wanna!” Shalnark whines.

“Shut up, Shal. You’re gonna make us look bad in front of Nobu’s girlfriend.”

Girlfriend?

“I’m… not his girlfriend…”

They don’t seem to hear you. You’re not exactly the loudest person, after all. You have been teased for having a soft voice and having to speak up. These people wouldn’t ignore you, you think. Shalnark and Uvogin are play fighting, and Chrollo is talking to that magenta-haired woman. They wouldn’t ignore you, you’re just being too shy. They wouldn’t ignore you, they are Nobunaga’s friends. Nobunaga wouldn’t ignore you, why would they?

“I’m… not his girlfriend.”

Uvogin is the only one to give you a response after hearing it. He shoots you a confused look before continuing to tickle Shalnark. No one else seems to notice your words.

After a few more tries, you decide to give up for now. Looking at the notebooks in front of you, you decide to open the top one up. There are just standard mathematical problems as well as some doodles and words of encouragement in the vacant spaces of the looseleaf. 

‘Go get them, tiger!’

‘Don’t die on me now!’

‘Remember one plus one?’

‘♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡’

At first, you think that it is Nobunaga’s girlfriend, but you shake your head to erase it. No. The gang thinks you are his girlfriend. 

Perhaps Shalnark then? From the times you sat near him in your chemistry classes, his handwriting was a mess. It took some effort to realize that he was simply drawing and not paying attention to the professor in the slightest. However, his favorite things to draw were bats and computers. Would he really draw hearts and not those things so Nobunaga could know it was him? 

Maybe it was an inside joke. You’re not going to ask because you don’t want your question to come off as disrespectful, though you were slightly curious.

You’ll just do what you were told and go right back home.

*~*~*~*

Shalnark texted you the address of Nobunaga’s place a few hours ago, but if you were being honest it took a while to decipher what he was saying. In between every five or so memes or videos he sent you there was a number or letter, maybe three at most if you were lucky.

You sat there with your phone in your hands for what felt like forever, not having the guts to ask Shalnark to just tell you straight up – because he wouldn’t, you know that.

From what you managed to gather from your online map, it seemed that Nobunaga’s place and Uvogin’s place were near each other, no more than a fifteen-minute walk at most. If they lived so close to each other, why didn’t one of them just visit the other? That was the third red flag you didn’t say anything about… and came to regret only half an hour later.

The electric sign attached to the entrance of the bus flickered from time to time with varying degrees of brightness. One person complained openly to the driver that the screen was so dark they did not know that they had missed their dormitory’s building. He didn’t care, only shrugging his shoulders and telling the student that ‘that’s life’. They got off murmuring curses you could hear from the middle part of the bus. Once again, he didn’t care. Like Shalnark, the driver wouldn’t take anything you say seriously; so you just used your online map to count the stops ahead.

“Hey.”

“Next stop: Aster Road, Thirds Street.” The automated message from the bus speakers loudly said, glitching a little after the word ‘Road’.

“Hey.” 

You failed to notice who was behind you as you were too busy counting the stops ahead on your phone.

“Hey.”

“Next stop: Ritas Street, Wilds Complex.”

“Hey.”

“Next stop: Neo Road, Neon Green.”

“Hey.”

“Next stop: Romeos Road, Kiki Terrace.”

“Hey.”

“Next stop-”

You failed to hear the name of the stop because the hand that tapped your shoulder startled you and made you turn your neck around to the seat behind you.

You see a familiar face despite the fading light – or should you say, a familiar body.

“O-Oh… hi… Uvogin.”

Satisfied you had finally noticed him, Uvogin puts his hands behind his head as he smirks. 

“Fancy seeing you so late,” he begins, looking down at your black bag. “Going to Nobu’s place, ain’tcha?”

“Yeah… you?”

“Basketball.”

Was Uvogin on the team too? If you remember correctly it was only Phinks, Feitan, and Nobunaga who were on it. Perhaps he just wanted to watch? Oh well. It’s not any of your business.

After remembering your last conversation with him yesterday, you decide to ask him why everyone thinks you are Nobunaga’s girlfriend – you only talked to him when necessary, in the classes you shared with him, but to be fair he also escorted you around the building most days.

“Listen… about that time…”

“What?” Uvogin turns his head, cupping his ear with his hand. “Speak up.”

“About Nobunaga and me…” You look down – at the books, at your cold wet hands, at the heels of your feet bouncing up and down. Your gut tells you that you’re making a mistake if you talk to him about you and Nobunaga’s relationship, or lack thereof. Your brain goes against it, saying that clearing things up will lead to less trouble down the line. 

Your heart is beating too fast to accept or reject the possibility. 

“Nobunaga and me…”

“You’re still talking too low,” Uvogin interrupts, his stare near-lethal to you. When you flinch at his words, his annoyance seems to disappear. “Hey, you can tell me. We’re friends, aren’t we?”

Yeah. Yeah, you’re friends or at least acquaintances. Saying the truth won’t hurt him and won’t hurt you. Maybe Shalnark’s teasing will go away. Maybe Chrollo won’t give you a task again. Maybe Nobunaga won’t be confused when he comes back to school.

“Nobunaga and me… aren’t dating-”

Uvogin’s expression changing wasn’t as fast as before, but his glare intensified as he stood up.

“Next stop: Nightstar Avenue, Owl’s Place.”

Your ears felt numb after you heard the ‘beep’ sound of someone pressing the stop button. Your eyes felt numb as you tried to see the details of Uvogin’s scowl in the dark.

It was Uvogin. He made the bus stop. But why?

It then hits you; this is the closest stop to Nobunaga’s place.

“Stop requested.” The speaker stated. The bus started to pull over next to a tall blue sign.

“Woah, the bus got here so quickly,” Uvogin says, going to the exit doors. When he didn’t hear you stand up too, he turned in your direction. “Don’t tell me you don’t know the directions to your boyfriend’s house?”

“Please exit through the rear door.” Another automated message. Uvogin presses on the door and it lets him out. After a few more seconds you follow him – your gut tells you that you must.

He helps you down with his much larger hands despite you not really needing it – there are handrails on the doors for that.

“What were you saying?” Uvogin asks. “Something about Nobunaga?”

There is a lit street lamp above the sign. It doesn’t flash like the ones near your dormitory and is much brighter. Despite the weather still being stormy, you can see houses a small distance away – not just the street. 

You can see that Uvogin is smiling again.

“Nothing… It’s nothing.”

“Oh?” He sneers, his smirk getting even bigger. “You didn’t want relationship advice?”

“No…” You reply, your hands going to your backpack’s zipper to make sure the notes don’t get too wet.

“Nobunaga likes mochi. Maybe you can get some for him next time. Daifuku especially. He’d be so happy, maybe he’ll stop skipping class with me.” 

A sigh comes out of both of you at the same time for much different reasons. 

“But I don’t want that to happen… hmm.”

*~*~*~*

The outside of Nobunaga’s house wasn’t the house that stood out the most in this neighborhood. It had rather small walls that had peeling white paint in places closer to the ground, and cigarettes and used needles were thrown all over his dead lawn. The only thing you somewhat liked was the rusty gold sign beside the front door that read 251 – and only for the styling of the numbers.

“Here’s the place,” Uvogin says, patting your back as a way to gently push you forward. “Go on, doorbell's right there.”

You were forced up the steps with a force you knew was gentle for Uvogin but not for you. A trembling finger approaches the button slowly – as if using it would make you lose it via a guillotine’s blade.

Doing so didn’t because this is reality, but the pain in your heart feels similar to such a fate anyway. After a few more seconds and the door still being closed, Uvogin knocks loudly.

“[First]’s here!” His yell almost made you cry.

Your name may as well have been the password because Nobunaga opens the door right away. He pants a little like he was running to greet you two.

“Oh fuck, you made it! I thought the storm woulda scared you away.”

Nobunaga didn’t look very sick; he wasn’t wearing a shirt, had his hair down, and only his boxers covered his lower half. He didn’t look very sick; he actually looked quite well. Those signs scared you more than Uvogin’s subtle threat – if his glaring was intended to be such, that is. You don’t step past the doorway, leaving Uvogin to stand in the rain as you take off your backpack. But when you try to undo the zipper, you feel both of their hands touching you up and down as their grins widen.

“Stop that,” You murmur, attempting to step back. Your spine was greeted by Uvogin’s front half. You feel something pressing into you. Once you figured out what it was, you started to go under one of Uvogin’s arms. His leg caged you in then.

“She’s cute, Nobu.”

Nobunaga doesn’t answer in words – he only chuckles and continues to have his hands resting on your hips.

“Listen. Your notes are here, Hazama.” You say, making an effort to still be nice, to still be understanding. You don’t want to scream because what if you’re misreading something? You don’t want anyone to… be framed for something they didn’t do, right?

“It’s Nobunaga.”

“Huh?”

“Call me Nobunaga,” You’re pushed and pulled more. Before you can blink, you’re thrown on the couch’s back. Uvogin is the one who lets go of you and the one who locks the front door, Nobunaga is too busy feeling the back of your thighs. “I’m your boyfriend – it’s normal to call each other by our first names, right?”

Boyfriend?

Was… Was he…

Was he the one who told his gang you’re dating?

“I missed you, baby.” He murmurs, leaning down and pecking your neck. 

He doesn’t seem to note how you’re trembling now.

“Stop.” 

Uvogin simply gets closer. He doesn’t touch you, but he crosses his arms smirking as he leans against the sofa’s frame.

“Stop,” You repeat, trying to push Nobunaga harder off of you.

It’s not an order either of them recognize, so Uvogin continues to stare and Nobunaga continues to kiss your body.

“Stop!” Your tone makes Uvogin slightly shift. He frowns and his arms uncross. 

He takes a few steps towards you. 

“Nobunaga.” Uvogin’s voice is cold now, like how it was when you were about to get off the bus. You freeze. Nobunaga doesn’t stop – he doesn’t even look at Uvogin. “Nobunaga.”

“Stop, Haz-”

“Watch it.” Uvogin glares at you. “It’s ‘Nobunaga’ for you.”

He’s not… He’s not going to help you?

“Yeah.” Nobunaga agrees, pulling you further into his embrace.

“Let go of me!” You snap and push harder than you did before – and manage to finally ply him off of you.

Nobunaga stares down at you. He is now still. He doesn’t blink. His smile has slightly faded, but it is still there. There are subtle movements in his hands. His fingers are curled up. They want to grab something again.

They want to grab you.

“Don’t joke around like that, princess,” Nobunaga finally says, taking a few steps too close to you. “Not many guys are willing to forgive their girl for pushing them away like that. You almost screamed my ears off.”

“I’m not joking!”

“You are.” Uvogin interrupts, stomping his feet. “You are and I am starting to get annoyed. What about you, Nobu?”

“I’m just here to give notes Lucilfer told me to give to Hazama! I’m not here for anything else.”

Nobunaga’s gaze lingers on your backpack for a few silent moments after you say that. “Really… nothing else?” 

“No, she’s here to cheer you up, Nobu,” Uvogin says, attempting to give a warm smile to his best friend. “She’s… just shy.”

The glare he gives you when Nobunaga’s eyes aren’t on him makes you feel like you are about to see God.

“...Right, [First]?”

You don’t respond right away, but Nobunaga does. He giddily smiles like a child on Christmas morning.

“Oh, you!”

He hugs you – his skin feels akin to slime and his hair clings onto your neck in little bunches. You feel unbrushed knots and his heart beating fast with adrenaline. When your own heart mimics the motion, Nobunaga thinks you are simply being shy – Uvogin had once again fed his delusions.

“She brought you the notes you missed. Even wrote a few cute lines in the blank spots.” Uvogin smirks as you look at him in horror. “She wanted me to come with her. Was anxious about missing your bus stop, sweet thing.”

He walks over to your backpack and grips onto the zipper. You attempt to stop him, walking a bit forward and trying to raise your hand, but Nobunaga’s grip is too strong. Within only a few seconds, the stack of notebooks Chrollo had given you is in Uvogin’s hands. He opens a page and starts reading aloud the cute notes someone else had written.

“Go get them, tiger.” 

He turns to another page. 

“Don’t die on me now.”

Then another.

“Remember one plus one?”

Then another.

“A whole bunch of hearts here…”

He then turns to a section you hadn’t looked at before – the back page.

“With lots of love, your one and only girlfriend [First].”

Oh shit. Oh shit.

Did his gang set you up?

…They did. They did.

This is bad. So very bad.

“I never-”

“Stop being so shy with your boyfriend, [First].”

“Why are you being so difficult?” Nobunaga asks, slightly frowning as you protest.

You have to get out of here – fast. If you distract them enough, maybe you’ll be able to make it outside. But they’re faster than you, just better overall when it comes to physicality-

Uvogin’s hand rests on your shoulder, silencing any thoughts or ideas he does not approve of.

“I know what she wants.”

“Huh?” You and Nobunaga ask simultaneously with two distinctly different tones.

It then dawns on both of you what he means – because his shirt is tossed on the couch before you can even take a step toward the front door.

“I know what she wants.” Uvogin repeats.

He wants nothing more than to put you on your knees as he unzips his pants and as Nobunaga keeps you down. He wants nothing more than for Nobunaga afterward to have a turn – or he could go first if he wishes. One of his fingers and one of Nobunaga’s own will be forced into you after your own clothes are discarded. Two tongues will slather all over your pussy like thirsty dogs – and after a few pictures are taken you’ll stay the night with Nobunaga while he makes his way to tell Chrollo that his idea was a success.

“I really couldn’t have done it without you, boss.”

-You try to scream and Nobunaga’s hand muffles your mouth’s cries.

“Don’t go being such a brat,” Uvogin continues, “When all you really want are two bodies to love on you.”

Your arms are grabbed and you are dragged up the stairs.

In a last attempt to get out of here, your legs spread out on the stairs and kick around at Nobunaga – but the fight is short-lived because they thump so roughly with each wooden step and it hurts; Nobunaga makes a note to finally get rid of any rotten oak once you leave.

The bedroom isn’t as spacious as Uvogin had hoped. Clothes were scattered all over the place already; most Nobunaga’s but others were clearly from past flings or some of yours that he had managed to steal. Your dorm was nicer despite it being the same size as the bedroom and your bed being even smaller. But at least yours had a frame and covers.

Maybe later Uvogin will stop by to see you crying yourself to sleep and to take some trophies.

Your white panties were a favorite of his, but Uvogin wouldn’t mind a little bit of change in his collection. A few bras perhaps or a few black thongs. He hopes for whole lingerie sets, but he knows it will only happen if he is lucky that particular evening.

Uvogin sits on the bed first. He thinks about pulling on your hair to make you sit on the dirty floor, but he dismisses the idea. That would be hurting you more than he has to and Nobunaga would be upset at him inevitably having long strands on his palm.

“Hey Nobu,” He says, unzipping his pants and boxers as he quickly tugs them both down to his ankles. “Make sure she’s comfy as we do this, okay?”

It took a while for you to stop crying after that. It took a while for you to do a lot of things Uvogin and Nobunaga wanted you to do. It took a while for you to take just the tip of Uvogin’s penis. Nobunaga had told Uvogin to take it slow when you had finally clamped your lips around him.

“It’s her first time, Uvo – be gentle, okay?”

Uvogin almost laughed at the irony he managed to leave unsaid.

He didn’t want Nobunaga to get upset with all the information he had attained while stalking you for months. You were supposed to just be his little secret he pinned down once in a while, but then Nobunaga just so happened to share a few classes with you.

He fell for you too. Uvogin had never felt any negative emotion for Nobunaga ever over their years-long friendship, but the slight tinge of envy he possessed the moment he found out could almost count.

Oh well, he thinks. I still have pictures of you that he does not. Pictures I would rather not have him see and you probably don’t either.

Just for future reference in case you acted up too much, though Uvogin could always take the more physical route.

Though once again he remembers that Nobunaga is in the picture now. Though their bond is as strong as forged steel, he knows that his friend has always been a bit too controlling when it comes to what he has and loves.

Whether that be simple instant ramen or expensive bottles of brandy, Nobunaga has always had a habit of stowing his possessions away where no one can even look at them.

Uvogin understands although Nobunaga had said nothing about you being something to own. Uvogin understands because he sees how he looks at you.

It’s not disgust he feels. It’s something much less potent, but he cannot put his finger on the exact word. Machi had described it perfectly once when they were all in their mid-teenage years.

He doesn’t bother to remember right now.

You are more important.

You look prettier than he had ever seen you – precum is leaking a little from your lips as little noises come out of them too.

Please. Please.

Please.

You’re not in tears right now.

Uvogin is glad. You in makeup is nice to look at, but he knows that since it is absolutely pouring outside you didn’t want to put some on. Either for that reason or because you knew that Nobunaga was just a friend, despite what Nobunaga in return has told the Troupe. It’s cute, really.

Maybe later he can pull this when he inevitably breaks into your dorm or even in a study room in the university’s library. You’ll have makeup on when you feel like it or when he forces you to. He can ask Pakunoda about how to apply mascara and stuff. She’ll teach him. As a bonus, she won’t tease him like Shalnark does daily.

Thinking more about the idea, Uvogin makes the mistake of letting go of your face.

You cough louder than he had expected. Your spit is now all over the wooden floor Nobunaga has to clean up later. The floors are water resistant. But not waterproof. Uvogin has to remember that there is in fact a difference. Hopefully, it won’t stain and rot like the stairs did, but if it does Uvogin wouldn’t mind paying for the damages.

He wouldn’t mind paying you to keep silent about this too – or he’ll make the cops silent if it came down to it.

“Oh,” Nobunaga rubs your arched back as you squirm and saliva runs down from your clearly sore jaw. He sounds disappointed, but trying not to let it show. It’s not successful. Every person Nobunaga has ever crossed can read him like a book, not that Nobunaga knows about it. Or maybe he does and just doesn’t want to admit it. “You spat it all up. Didn’t wanna swallow it?”

You don’t respond. Uvogin is getting used to that by now. Not Nobunaga though.

“Shh… it’s okay.” Nobunaga senses your distress but thinks it is just shyness. Uvogin is getting used to that too. “It’s okay… you did such a great job.”

“Home,” You choke out. “Please… let me go home now…”

“What are you talking about, sweetheart?” Nobunaga asks, turning his head a little. “We’re not done here.”

“Please… Please, I-”

“Shh.” Uvogin interrupts. Now it is his turn to play the good guy here. “Nobu still hasn’t had his turn, remember? Thankfully he won’t use your mouth.”

A blend of hope and fright is in your gaze. Uvogin didn’t have to get used to that one. He has seen it too many times with all sorts of people. Chrollo loves that look. Feitan loves it too. Maybe their partners’ eyes are like that as well. A ginger-haired girl avoids Chrollo like the plague and Uvogin hasn’t seen that look particularly on her. Apparently, she does in fact beg him for things. With how prideful she acts, Uvogin would pay money to see that.

“He’ll use his,” Uvogin says. He stands up, zipping his pants back to how they used to be. There are a few white stains here and there, but nothing the laundromat wouldn’t fix. “Then you can go home. Okay, princess?”