Chapter 30: Smart Dragon

A/N: Oh my goodness I haven't posted in forever! I am so sorry :'(

Haku held Chihiro to his chest, the star happily nuzzled her nose into the crook of his neck.

"You're going to hate me for this," he murmured to her, Chihiro's eyes yanked themselves open with alarm and she pulled away from his embrace.

"Nigihayami Kohaku Nushi, do not dare tell me you froze the bathhouse again," she scolded, she glared at him and he laughed heartily.

"Nothing like that," his eyes glinted with mischief at first, but then sadden again, "I just need to go to my river again," he said; Chihiro's eyes saddened and she frowned.

"Again Haku? It's only been a week since you last went," she wined; Haku felt a wince in his heart at his poor little star.

"I know but something hasn't been going well, besides, you could always come with me," he suggested, Chihiro crossed her arms over her chest and scowled at him unhappily, Haku was aware of her changing mood.

"We've discussed this Haku, the last time I went some very interesting things happened that I do not believe I am ready to do again," Chihiro warned, Haku gave her a lazy grin.

"Too bad," he said, "I was hoping you were," Haku ran a hand over her leg, causing shivers to go down her back.

"Such a seductive dragon you are Haku," she said as his hand began to linger in places that were very sensitive to any woman. Haku smiled again, this time his eyes were darker with lust and he began to advance on her. Pinning her back to his bed, Chihiro was felt helpless against the dragon.

"Well this is nice," she replied as Haku's body began to shadow hers, his knees pinned her hands to her sides. His sheer weight kept her legs still and he leaned forward, using his hands to balance himself.

"I wonder how long you will keep me waiting my little star," he cooed, Chihiro giggled a little and put her index finger to his nose.

"Well considering that I have eternity, I'll take my time," she laughed, Haku growled seductively at her as she wriggled free of his grasp.

"You little…" he started, "Get out of here before I lock you in here for a week," he threatened. Chihiro pulled a face at him and leaned forward to kiss Haku on the nose.

"Whatever you say Master Haku," she teased, Haku flashed his slightly canine teeth.

"Do not tease me little star, I know about those human fetishes between boss and worker," Chihiro laughed again, she hopped off from his bed and pranced over to the door until she realized that Haku's eyes were following her curvaceous body.

"Something wrong dragon?" she asked, Haku smirked and pounced at her. With a rather girlish scream, she twirled out of the way, using a spell to allow herself to phase through his arms. He growled again as she passed through the door.

"You're getting too good at using your magic," he huffed; his only reply was the bell like laughter of the one he loved ringing in his ears.

"So I'm guessing that you'll be going to the human world again while Haku is out?" asked Meridy, Chihiro nodded in agreement, her friend had come to know her patterns quite well in the past few months.

"It's about time anyways, and I want to see how my mother is doing," she said wistfully, it'd been almost 4 months since she last saw her mother, she wondered how the pregnant woman was doing so advanced into her age. Meridy nodded and said.

"So I'm guessing you want me to run things around here?" she asked, Chihiro nodded thankfully and the fire spirit sighed, "You know with all this spare time, you and Haku should take a holiday," she suggested thoughtfully.

"I don't really think I'm ready to sleep with Haku again," she replied. In return, Meridy gave her a grin that stretched from ear to ear.

"Technically, that wasn't even Haku's river. Secondly, that Fragment and Haku most likely have some technical differences…in…size if you know what I mean,"

"Okay! Let's change the topic to something that does not involve Haku's manhood," she said, Meridy laughed and Chihiro spun on her heel, throwing her hands up in defeat.

Chihiro stomped away from her friend, still steaming; she did her rounds about the bathhouse. She collected paperwork, did some records, went to say hello to Kamaji and check on the herb storages, and she even went out to the town nearby to look at the newest herbs that Kamaji could use. By the time she had finished, it was possibly around midnight.

Chihiro pulled the lever to the elevator and hummed as she watched the floors pass by. She tapped her foot and waved as she saw the radish spirit and finally sighed in relief when she found her way into the tastefully decorated hallway of the last floor. Her bare feet padded softly against the carpet floor, she stopped and knocked softly against the door, only to find no response.

She slowly turned the knob to open the door, she peered in cautiously and walked in.

"Haku?" she said in a loud ringing voice, she heard a loud rumble and felt huge gusts of wind. She walked quickly over to the double glass doors to find Haku getting just getting in. She gasped at his magnificent beauty of her dragon; she'd forgotten how perplexing he was. The glistening pearly scales, long sea green mane, and then his famous emerald green eyes gazed at her lovingly.

Haku snorted, obviously aware that Chihiro hadn't seen him as a dragon in a very long time. He walked over to her with some discomfort; Chihiro noticed this and scratched him behind the ear.

"Are you okay Haku?" she asked, Haku snorted in that who-do-you-think-I-am kind of way that made Chihiro concerned. She continued to scratch him behind the ear; Haku was blissfully unaware that she was using her magic to find the source of his discomfort. She felt the irritation coming from a spot under the base of his long white neck; she then started to add a sleeping spell.

Haku felt his eyes droop and immediately knew what his little star was doing; he then skillfully coiled his body around the spirit.

"Haku!" she gasped, Haku tightened his tail around her, surrounding her like a snake would his pray. His head rested neck to hers and Chihiro was forced to sit, he blew air from his nostrils, "Just let me see what's wrong!" she insisted. Haku's jaws opened and his tongue lolled out to one side in a teasing kind of face.

I insure you nothing is wrong, he said, Chihiro was at first surprised that she heard Haku, not in her head, but aloud.

"I-I can hear you…" she stuttered. Haku rubbed his muzzle into Chihiro's hair and she could feel the energy of laughter.

Dragons tend to be able to understand dragons, he said to her, Chihiro felt a blush creep up on her cheeks. She'd forgotten about her own dragon abilities, an extremely amusing idea popped into her head.

Chihiro closed her eyes and breathed deeply, she released her energy in a mushroom puff explosion. She felt herself change, and Haku saw it before him, little scales gathered around her in a huge barrage. He took steps back and ended up knocking a vase over with his tail.

What he saw before him was a vision of pure beauty; Chihiro was a dragon, the same size as him. Instead of white scales, Chihiro's scales were light silver, her mane was longer than Haku's and it was a glittering blue, her eyes were a striking ice blue.

Haku's eyes were pinned to her; he did not expect Chihiro to pounce at him, flying swiftly at him. But experience influenced Haku and he flew out the window with Chihiro tailing behind him, Meridy was looking out the window with Seijun, Lin, Sora, and their children. All 4 of the adults laughed at the two chasing dragons.

"So they are taking a holiday," laughed Lin as she realized the direction they were flying in.

"Seems that way," replied Sora as he gently rocked his son.

"I feel old somehow," said Seijun, "Master Haku and Chihiro seem like children in some way, the way they chase one another,"

"Aren't we all older than Haku?" asked Meridy, everyone shrugged, their real age lost to them, "I hope everything turns out okay between the two…" she sighed in a longing way.

Chihiro sliced through the air, her body gliding in the crisp clouds while tailing Haku. She'd flown before, at her home in the stars, but this was a new sensation, the thrill of the chase was coursing through her spirit blood. She didn't even feel tired; Haku on the other hand was starting to lose his breath as the star pulled up beside him. He saw the glint of mischief in her icy blue eyes and he laughed to himself, how could he underestimate this spirit woman?

"Give in Haku! You're too old to race!" she roared to him. Haku shook his large white head in response, his ivory horns flashed in the light.

"As if!" he roared back, "I am in a perfectly fit, 20 year old body!" this caused Chihiro to snort through her nostrils. She dipped down low, curving upwards into the air, right in front of Haku. But Haku was too focused on her eyes, he didn't notice her tail trailing behind, it curled itself wickedly around his body and tightened considerably.

Chihiro then dragged the unwilling dragon down to a mountainous area, the tops caked with snow. Haku was about to change back, but he knew that Chihiro would somehow get him to turn back. They landed in a surprisingly grassy plain; Chihiro sniffed the air and found no one in miles of this place. She was about to huff with victory when she noticed a river. Icy blue water that was warm to the touch, silver sands, and formations of rock crystals.

She shook herself mentally, she'd worry about that later, "Now leg me look at those scales," she growled at him. Haku sighed and lay down on the sand, "Don't even try to pull that with me, I know it's at the base of your neck. Come on, roll over," she huffed.

"I am not a dog Chihiro! Do you want me to stick my limbs in the air as well!?" he whined to her, she gave the best grin she could while in her dragon state, her light silver whiskers flowing behind her. Haku tried to plead with her, but all in vain. He finally rolled over, Chihiro held her breath at the red irritated scales. Cracked and splintered, Chihiro hissed at them and scolded Haku.

"What in the world did you do?! Stick your neck in a pile of nails?" she asked.

"Possibly," he replied in pure sarcasm. Chihiro huffed and bent over Haku; she sniffed the blotch of irritated scales and blinked tears onto them. The scales hissed at the contact with the tears, Haku blinked with pain as the outer layer of his scales began to dissolve away.

"Ow ow ow…" he hissed, Chihiro chuckled at Haku's discomfort.

"My poor little river dragon," she chided, Haku huffed as the pain began to dissolve, he rolled over and slowly began to shrink back into a human form. His black plain t-shirt exposed his alabaster skin, his grey loose pants were slightly dirty with sand, Haku stood up and dusted the silver grains from himself.

"I wish you'd shown me what you'd looked like earlier," he cooed, Chihiro trotted forward and pressed her muzzle to his hand, "You look beautiful," he said to her. Chihiro's eyes flashed and also began to shrink down into her human form. She smiled happily at him and waved her hand toward the lake.

"So did you really roll in a bed of nails to get me here?" she asked, Haku chuckled and closed the distance between them. He wrapped his arms around her waist and gazed longingly at Chihiro, her eyes were deep chocolate orbs that could melt the coldest of hearts, he unwrapped one arm and pointed upwards.

"Your stars are up there, you can go if you want," he said, but he gave her a sideways glance, "After you see my real river," he said insistently, Chihiro sighed and melted into his embrace.

"You are possibly the most insisting dragon in all of the Lands of Life," she teased, Haku laughed with his velvet voice.

"I just want you to see all of me, not some illusion of a place a fragment of my soul created," Haku huffed, he then took Chihiro by the hand, "Let me show you," Chihiro trailed behind him.

Haku lead Chihiro down the silver sanded beach for several miles, the distance meaning nothing to either of them. Chihiro took in the sights; Haku's river ran between large snow capped mountains. Though down by the river itself there was warmth in the air. A little bit further down, there were thick woods that the river cut through, after a while, Chihiro took off her shoes and held them in one hand and in the other held onto Haku.

"Haku?" she asked.

"Yes?" he responded. He turned his head to see a happy Chihiro, her eyes were trying to capture everything that surrounded her, she turned them away from the scenery to train them on Haku.

"After this, will you come to my home?" she asked, Haku stopped in his tracks, Chihiro bumping into his well muscled back.

"Chihiro, do you know how serious a question that is?" he asked her, his back still turned from her. Chihiro smiled and squeezed his hand a little more tightly.

"Don't think of it that way Haku. It's just that you've always shown me every side of you. You're telling me that you love me every day; I want to show you a part of me too," she smiled warmly at her dragon, he turned to look at her once more to find himself lost in her gaze.

He frowned slightly, he couldn't understand this woman, he knew his feelings were reflected from Chihiro. She too loves him, but she was never able to say it the 3 simple words, I love you, and now she was offering her home to him. A dragon's lair was one of the most private things to a dragon, they would keep their treasures and secrets there.

"Haku, you don't have to if you're not okay with it…" the young spirit trailed her sentence off at the end. Looking uneasily at Haku he realized that he wasn't breathing.

"Its fine," Haku brought his arms around her waist and embraced her tightly; Chihiro slipped arms around his torso to tangle her fingers in his long sea green, nearly black long hair.

"You don't seem fine," she said, looking up at him with deer eyes. He broke away his embrace and turned toward the water. It reached for the two in a smooth waving motion.

"We're here," he said, Chihiro made a mental note to ask Haku about this again, "My river…it hasn't really seen you in a very long time, you might feel some interesting things," he told her, Chihiro laughed and pecked him on the cheek.

"Don't worry about me," she insisted, "Sometimes you have to trust me Haku, I'm not human anymore," Haku stroked her long chestnut hair and smiled.

"You're always reminding me," he held onto her hand and she gave him a cheeky grin, he caressed her face lovingly.

"Ready?" he asked.

"Ready."

A/N: Thanks to all my viewers and don't forget to check out my Kiki's Delivery Service fan fic!