It Means "Dragon To Be" Ch. 02

She thought that she might cry.

They gathered their things a little later and it happened pretty much the way that she imagined it. Within five steps, once he'd led her under the eaves of the forest, she was lost, seeing almost nothing. After a few minutes, he stopped and put his hands on her shoulders.

"I'm not going to blindfold you, Silke," he said, "since I don't really have anything but my own soaked shirt. I'm sure that you can't see anything of where we are anyway."

She nodded and kissed him quickly.

"What was that for?" he asked.

He felt her shoulders move as she shrugged, "I needed it."

As he led her through the dark, there came a point where she felt herself easing under something thick and stringy and then she was in a place where the quiet sounds that they made came to her ears with a touch of reverberation. She noticed that immediately. She also noticed that they were out of the rain. It was a little cool where they stood and she wondered about it.

"How much farther?" she asked, "When can I open my eyes?"

"Why did you close your eyes? I didn't ask for that," he said.

"You said that this wasn't for outsiders. I respect that," she smiled.

"Only a little farther then," he answered, wondering how it was that she hadn't stumbled. But he knew that she was being truthful and in a few moments, he brought them to a stop and told her to open her eyes. The air was warm here and the place was lit by a low fire in an old pit. Tatsuya added some wood and she could see better as she turned around in a bit of wonder.

The walls were lined in a rather rustic way with objects which were at first foreign to her. They had the appearance of well-used and worn agricultural implements. Silke looked at him and she still felt no threat. She also still felt the emotion that had built up in her toward him over the afternoon. "What is this place?" she asked him.

He shrugged, "Really ancient history," he said. "At first, long ago, this was a hiding place where one could disappear for a time. It was added to, and there are other chambers beyond this one. Now?" He looked around himself and smiled a little, "it's more of an exhibit, I guess. It's a place of comfort to me and others. I've spent time in here for periods of my whole life."

Tatsuya looked back over his shoulder a little to her, "There was a time long ago when this was such a secret that for only being here, your life would be forfeit – mine as well for bringing you."

He smirked, "Even so, there will be questions asked of me – and you, later, I suppose, but I know enough about you to say that you need answers to some things in your life and perhaps you seek some new ways to help you deal with them. This place wasn't made for that, but you may find some of your answers here."

Silke understood only a little of what he'd told her, though the parts that she did grasp made sense. She stepped forward and pressed herself to his body, looking around the chamber from a little behind his shoulder as she enjoyed the scent of him. "You come from here?" she asked, as she slid her arm under his so that she could pull herself closer to him.

He nodded, "I wasn't born here, though I've always felt that I should have been, so It's almost, though not quite my birthplace in my heart. This belongs to my clan – what's left of it. There have been times when I've lived here alone as I sought my own answers. I live in both countries – Japan and the states, and sometimes it feels as though I've got about the longest commute in the world."

Silke didn't question beyond that; not yet, anyway. The whole day felt like such a gift to her that it was difficult to put the pieces into place in her mind, but she knew that it would come later.

He felt her soft kiss on the back of his shoulder and he sighed, knowing that he'd done the right thing to bring her here.

"Are you hungry, Tatsuya?" she asked, "If the rain hasn't gotten to everything, I have some sandwiches in my pack."

Her question brought his focus to her body and he grinned, "I can go a long time without food. But I know that you're starving now. I could eat," he nodded, "and I think that you ought to."

As though his words had some control over her body, it answered him at that moment with a growl from her empty stomach. "Let's sit and eat then," he smiled.

Her sandwiches were indeed still dry and they sat close together, touching as they shared. Sadly, she had only brought enough for her, not knowing what would come to pass later, but he smiled, "The amount doesn't matter to me. It's that you offered and we ate together. There will be more food for us later, I think."

The statement would have sounded absurd t her in about any other circumstance, but Silke wouldn't have been surprised at all if he'd just snapped his fingers in the air and a pair of four-course meals arrived out of nowhere. Still, she had to ask what he'd meant.

"I'm here on a sort of vacation myself," he said, "I'm struggling over an issue and I came to seek my answers in the place that is much like the heart of my family." He stood up and walked to a simple table. There was a hurricane-style lantern there and he lit it using a match from a little wooden box.

"I am fighting myself over many issues," Silke said as she looked down, but then she looked up and smiled at him, "but I have found at least one answer. It might sound a little silly, but I have discovered that underneath all of my troubles, I am still a woman."

She smirked, "Not very profound, I know, but lately I think that I've become a little bit removed from what I am at the heart of things. "

He reached for her hand, "Would you like a bath? This place is a bit rustic, but there are at least a few civilized amenities."

Silke nodded and took his hand so that he could lead her into a dark opening. As they walked through what appeared to be a passageway carved into the stone, the sound of running water came to her ears and a moment later, she stood in a little amazement as the passageway opened up to a rock pool under a cascade which poured down from above them to disappear into another opening on the floor of the cavern. Setting the lantern down carefully on a ledge, Tatsuya stepped into the pool and under the stream. She watched him shower quickly and taking a deep breath, she stepped into the cold water. "This is, ..." she struggled for the rest, but she saw him nod with a smile.

It was about the most businesslike shower of her life.

"I know," he said quietly in her ear, "Come this way now." He took her hand and picking up the lantern in his other hand, he led her to another chamber.

It was as though she'd entered another world. There was a square bath set into the floor. It was perhaps ten feet square, surrounded by a bare wooden deck. The air was warm here and very pleasant. He gestured toward the gently steaming surface of the bath, "Please, make yourself comfortable. I'll be back in a moment. I want to hang up our clothes near the fire."

Silke found herself alone a moment later. She was about to step into the bath, but she thought that she heard quiet speech - strange whispers which seemed to come from the passageway where he'd gone, back toward the chamber with the waterfall. Stepping closer to the opening, she heard his whispers as he conversed with someone – two others, she decided. She wondered why she wasn't alarmed, but decided that since he'd said that this place belonged to his clan – whoever they might be, so the possibility that there might be others here didn't seem to be a stretch. The reticence of many Japanese to intrude on the privacy of others was one of the things which had impressed her about these people. Her own culture was capable of this same behaviour at some levels. She inched forward just a little.

Tatsuya stood, still naked, near the cascade. Facing him in the darkness were two figures, both smaller in stature than he was and wearing dark capes with the hoods up. She saw nothing of their faces. Their conversation was earnest, though not very animated. Silke withdrew and walked back to the bathing room. She stepped slowly into the hot water, deciding that at this temperature, a quick entrance was out of the question and she sank down slowly into a cross-legged position with a long sigh. It took her a couple of minutes, but it felt wonderful.

Tatsuya joined her a few minutes later, sitting on the edge with his legs in the water as he admired her.

"We are not alone here?" she asked.

He shook his head, "We were, and will be again, soon. The others were just, ... 'passing through' would be a good term, I think." He thought about it and smiled, "I have learned that there will be no questions of us tonight."

She wondered about it and he held up his hand with a quiet laugh. "I know that all of this must seem very mysterious to you, and I'm very surprised myself. It seems that you and I have a pair of well-wishers. I was expecting my aunt to stop by, since she told me earlier that she'd bring a meal for me. She came with my cousin and they've brought more than the simple meal that I was expecting. Our clothing was already hanging when I got there."

"Doesn't your family live in regular houses?" she asked.

He shrugged, "Usually, but for hundreds of years, some of us have lived in shadows at least part of the time, in places like this and others. If you were born into a family such as mine, all of this," he said, indicating the room with his hand, "wouldn't even raise your eyebrows."

Silke nodded as she leaned forward and moved closer to him on her hands and knees with her long hair hanging into the water. When she got to where he was, she sat back on her heels and she reached for him. She laid her head on his thigh and her fingers caressed his maleness lightly.

"Sooner or later," she said quietly, "I know that I will have to wake up from this dream, Tatsuya. I find that I have no wish to at all. I suppose that I'm a normal woman who has had a few lovers in her time." She smirked, and he felt her cheek follow the motion against his thigh as she continued the thought.

"Maybe I've reached the end of the cycle which seems to be normal these days. I fell in love and married. Now I'm alone and so lost. Until today, I think that I've been trying to just ignore everything. All that I felt was that I've failed in something important somehow and don't know how to correct anything anymore. I wonder if I even want to."

Her fingers wrapped around the shaft of him as it rose up in response to her tender touch. With a soft kiss, Silke lifted her head so that she could look at it without crossing her eyes.

"So beautiful," she sighed, "just like the rest of you. After all of this day, I still want to love you. I've never done anything like this, never wanted to for this long. But inside me, now I don't ever want to stop."

She looked up, "This is like a fantasy or,.. or a dream to me. I don't want to wake up anymore. It's a little sad that I find someone like you. I know nothing about you and already I am sad to have to go back to my life next week. I just had the thought and I want to cry. If I could have one wish, ..."

He put his hand on her shoulder and he smiled softly. "Tell me your wish then, Silke, and I'll tell you mine."

"Could you make it come true?" she asked, already knowing that likely reply.

"I don't know," he said, "You haven't told me yet. " He sighed as he leaned down to kiss the top of her head. "Probably not, but that doesn't mean that I'm not willing to try. I'm not foolish enough to want to walk away from something like this without at least knowing more."

"I don't really know," she said, "but I know how I feel inside. If I could – if anything were possible, I think that I would like to stay like this with you forever. I'd want to live in a more simple way without all of the complications and schedules which I know are waiting for me." She moved the side of his penis so that it brushed her cheek and she closed her eyes for a moment.

Then she opened them again and looked into his, "In my complex world, I am a prisoner. Here, and in this moment, I am happy and content. Right here, in this old and simple place where you have brought me, I think that I could live and devote myself to you if I knew that I could have, ..."

She drew her head back and kissed the end of him wetly, not so much to be sensual about it, though the sensuality was there unmistakably. She did it to express her feelings.

She shook her head. "Nobody loves like this in my life," she said, "I can easily feel that this is not usual for you either. I guess that I am saying that if you wish for my heart, ... I have no idea how the practical side of things might be accomplished for two people like us, but if ..."

She closed her eyes, fearing that she'd said too much, praying that she hadn't just ruined this by expressing her wish. Besides, he hadn't said what she was listening for. This was still a loving out of nowhere for her in so many respects. But after a second she knew that she hadn't ruined anything from feeling his fingers in her hair and they were quiet for a long minute before he spoke.

"I am in the same place – if there is this cycle which you speak of, Silke. I feel the same way. I have the same thoughts about things. From the way that you sound to me when you speak, I know that the truth of it is that we are in one place now when our lives are in two places on almost opposite sides of the world. I don't care about anything in that world right now. I have no wish to be anywhere else but here with you. I don't even know what we have, other than each other right now."

He lifted her chin and she raised her head, throwing her arms around his neck. They kissed very slowly and he pulled away after a time, leaving her with soft little kisses which told her that he didn't even really want to stop long enough to speak.

"We shouldn't even try to think about later for now," he said, and before she could come to any conclusions, he said, "but I want very much for you to know that I wish for there to be a later."

Silke decided that from a practical side, the odds were long against what was here between them even being able to survive away from this magical mountain. But she'd never made love like this before with anyone. Before today, she'd never have believed that something such as what they'd done was even possible. All that Silke knew was that neither of them wanted this to end. She still hadn't heard what she was listening for and had a doubt that even like this, that it could ever exist, but it changed nothing for the moment. She wet her lips and took him into her mouth.

Long minutes later, she took his seed from him again, swallowing and searching for more with her fingers as she looked up at him. He slid into the water and lifted her so that she sat on the edge and she watched as his face came slowly closer to her chest. She felt her heart lift as though it wanted to soar away when she held him against her and his lips sought for her nipple.

"I came here this time," he said after a time as he caressed her body, "because I was in a lot of pain which wouldn't leave me or grow weaker over time. I sought the comfort that I've always gotten here. The wound has healed, but now, ..."

His words stopped and he looked up. They looked at each other for a moment and then she leaned down a little and kissed him.

"Ssh. Just tell me that you are mine for now," she said, "we have this for the moment. I don't want to talk for a little while. I just need you against me."

Sometime later, he told her to sit back and he kissed his way to where she offered herself then. When she couldn't hold herself up any longer, he reached and laid her onto her back gently before he returned to finish what he'd begun.