Tomoyo and the Dragon
Being a Dragon isn't what you'd think it is, especially given the
books that are written today. We're still around, for one. We
haven't left for some alternate magical world, or died out, or become
people. Modern day people just don't see us, and they don't believe
anyone who does.
It's dreadfully annoying. I fly over Baltimore, and it's just
another passenger jet. I eat a few cows, and it's aliens. I grab a
virgin, and it's a runaway teen.
Oh, wait. No, I see your face. No, I don't grab a virgin to eat
her! Oh, never. It's hard to describe why we snatch virgins.
Sometimes it's for the conversation, sometimes for the purity, and
sometimes even we don't know why.
I remember a time two hundred years ago when I plucked one pretty
lass from the street. She fainted as soon as she saw what had
grabbed her, and all I did was fly around with her in my grasp for
half an hour, and then I sat her down on a hill near her home. I
still don't know why. I'm afraid the Freud of dragons has yet to
be hatched, but I look forward for when he is.
The other day, I was winging along over Tokyo - I think the people
below thought I was some sort of ad-balloon - and saw an interesting
pair of girls walking home from school. I could see one of them was
a virgin, and the other no longer was - although it had been a
recent thing from the look of her. I slowed my glide to follow
along with them, and listen.
"Sakura-chan looks different," the virgin said. "What's happened?"
"Different?" said the non-virgin, who I guessed was named Sakura.
"What do you mean, Tomoyo-chan?"
Tomoyo stopped, forcing her companion to stop as well. She
considered her friend carefully, looking her over top to bottom, her
dainty chin cradled in her hand. I think it was that image of her
that cemented my decision to snatch her as soon as she was alone.
"It's a little like being smug, and a little like joy, and a
little," the girl hmmed, "a little guilty, I think. It's very new."
Sakura blushed. "Well," she stammered, "Syaoran and I did, ah, get,
um," and then her voice trailed off.
Tomoyo's eyes widened slightly. "You didn't!" She cried out
softly, her voice just every-so-slightly scandalized.
Sakura could only look at the ground and blush.
The virgin clamped onto her friend's arm. "You got your picture
taken together!" She mock-frowned, saying "And you didn't have me
do it for you!"
Sakura's face just fell, the sudden shift in topic apparently
preventing her from being able to control her body.
Tomoyo laughed. "No, I know what you mean. How was it?"
Sakura opened her mouth, closed it, got her feet under her properly,
opened her mouth, and then just said "Hoeeee" with a dreamy look on
her face.
Her friend continued to laugh. "Oh! My, that sounds promising."
She sounded happy, but for a moment I thought I saw a look of
disappointment wash across her face. Afterwards, I wasn't even
sure if I had seen it. "So, is 'it' everything the books say it
is?"
Sakura nodded, not trusting her voice.
Tomoyo shook her head. "I'm not going to get any details from you
for a few days, am I? Ah, I'll just have to imagine it, the person
I love doing 'this' and 'that'," her voice trailed off.
Sakura's face relaxed from its blush, and she looked a little
frustrated. "Who is it? You've been teasing me about this for two
weeks now! Who are you in love with?"
Tomoyo daintily stuck her tongue out at Sakura. "Sakura-chan knows
very well that when you figure out who I am in love with, I will
tell you."
Sakura nodded, the frustration still on her face. "It's not, it's
not Syaoran, is it?"
Tomoyo laughed. "Oh, that would be trouble, wouldn't it? No,
Syaoran isn't it."
Sakura pantomimed a gigantic sigh of relief. "Good!" They stopped
at a crossroads. "Well, I'll talk to you later, Tomoyo-chan."
"See you later, Sakura-chan!" The girls waved at each other, and
then started walking in different directions. I banked quietly and
followed the virgin on her way home.
Her home apparently was a large house, surrounded by a high stone
wall. Perfect snatching conditions! I waited until she had
slipped out of sight behind the wall, and then swept down, snatching
her ever so delicately in my claws, my wings beating energetically
to pull us up into the sky.
"Let me go!" screamed the virgin, wiggling in my claws.
When I was much younger I once dropped someone doing that, but I've
since learned how to hold on tight to my guests. I looped my long,
slinky neck down so that I could talk face to face as we flew.
"Stop wiggling like that! I could drop you!"
She stopped. "Put me down!"
I laughed. "Or what? No, I'm afraid you've been well and truly
captured!"
The virgin made a face and pulled out a toy of some sort. I laughed
some more at the sight of it, I thought she was a little young to be
playing with toys like that, but then I realized that it was some
sort of phone. "Sakura," she said into the phone, "Help! I've been
captured by some sort of dragon!"
Disgruntled at her fooling me like that, I gave her a little shake,
which caused her to drop her phone. I watched it fall and shatter
against the road underneath us, and gave a big grin. I wasn't
feeling that happy, but the sight of so many teeth does have a
tendency to frighten guests into being quiet. That done, the rest
of our trip was made in quiet.
The cave I had picked out, well, I don't know what you humans call
it, so I can't tell you exactly where it is. There's no easy way
for people to climb up there. It wasn't my cave, mind you - I have
a much nicer one. But we dragons share our residences among
ourselves, and so I had a place to stay while in Japan.
I set the girl down on the floor while I flapped outside, and then
climbed into the cave myself. The opening wasn't that large, but
inside the cave opened up to a nice large lounging room. I
stretched my slightly sore wings and settled down on some
comfortable rocks. "Welcome to my home."
The girl blinked. "Well, thank you for having me. You better let
me go!"
"I will, eventually. But first I want to talk to you."
"You do? About what?"
I grinned. "Sakura-chan."
Her face twisted into anger. "You don't get to call her that! You
don't know her!"
"But you do. Who is it that you love, Tomoyo?"
"Call me Daidouji-san." Her voice was curt, and she no longer faced
me, instead just looking out the entrance.
"Daidouji-san, then. Who is it that you love?"
"Why do you care?" She stressed the 'you'.
"I don't know. All I know is that I saw you walking with your
friend," I was careful not to use her name, "and I knew I had to
talk to you."
"Can't you use a phone?"
"Look at me! Come on, look at me!" She reluctantly turned. "What
phone would reach between my ears and mouth? Besides, you've only
had phones for what, half a century? I'm four-hundred years old!"
Tomoyo looked at me a moment, and then broke into laughter. "What,
can't I teach an old dragon a new trick?"
It took me a moment to catch the joke, but then I joined her in her
laughter. "Tell you what, little virgin. If you can make me a
phone to use, I'll try to learn to use it in the future."
She looked at me curiously. "Why do you call me that?"
"What, 'little virgin'?"
She nodded.
"Well, because that's what you are. Small, and a virgin."
She blushed. "You can tell?"
I nodded. "It's something dragons can do. Unicorns are good at it
too, although in their case they don't so much see virginity as a
lack of virginity. Which, truth to tell, repulses them."
"And Sakura-chan isn't a virgin anymore, is she?"
Her tone of voice told me that it wasn't so much a question as a
statement, but I confirmed it anyway. "That's right."
This time the disappointment did show, as she sat down on a nearby
rock. "I was hoping she was teasing. I knew she wasn't, but I was
hoping," her voice trailed off.
"I'm sorry, little virgin." I watched her reaction. "I think I can
guess who it is you love now."
"I've told her before. When we were younger. But she didn't
understand then, and doesn't understand now. I started telling her
I was in love with someone to try to get her to realize, but she
doesn't. She's happy, though. I can be happy because she's
happy, right?"
"Sure, little virgin. I'm sure you can."
She began to cry, and I lightly laid the very tip of my wing against
her back, trying to comfort her. Humans are very fragile, and I
couldn't help but think that this one was in an odd state right now,
where the wrong touch could cause her to shatter like glass.
"Don't worry. You'll wake up in the morning and this will all have
been a dream."
She sniffled, and looked up. "It will?"
I nodded; glad to distract her with a new topic. "Sure! You've
been captured by a dragon! Dragons don't exist because magic isn't
real. Magic isn't real, ergo you're dreaming!" This is the point
where my guests often become a lot chattier. After all, why worry
about what you say when you're dreaming?
"But magic does exist!"
"Eh? Don't be silly." I felt truly ridiculous, trying to convince
someone that I don't exist. It hasn't been this difficult for a few
centuries now - unless you get a really young virgin. I wondered
if that was the problem, but her curves wouldn't let her be any
younger than a mature 14, and more likely 16. "Why would you think
that?"
She grinned, the sort of smile that tells you that the grinner knows
something you don't. "Because Sakura-chan can do magic. In fact,
I bet she's looking for me now!"
I laughed more nervously than I intended, looking out of the cave.
There was a black speck, a flying bird at great distance, but
nothing else. I shook my head, telling myself I was silly. "There
hasn't been any great magic for centuries, little virgin. How does
your friend do her magic?"
She leaned back, resting against the cave wall. "With Sakura cards,
of course."
I laughed, relieved. "Sakura cards, eh? Well, for a moment there
I was afraid you were going to say they were Clow cards."
Her eyes narrowed, relishing the moment. I felt a cold stab of
fear. "That's what they used to be called. Before Sakura made
them hers."
Blast and damnation! I hadn't heard that the cards had become
active again. And here I'd grabbed the card master's best friend!
I looked outwards again, and saw that what I had taken for a distant
bird had resolved into the virgin's friend, standing on top of a
wand that had wings growing out the back. Oddly enough, she was
rubbing her bottom. "Oh, hell."
"Do you see her?"
I turned to look at her. "Look, you've got to tell her I didn't hurt
you! I didn't want to hurt you at all! I'm a dragon, we do this
sort of thing!" Panic had taken hold of me. Dragons on the whole
are fairly resistant to magic, but Clow's encoding of archetypes
into cards were a level of magic that even we feared.
The little virgin looked up at me, tilted her head slightly, and
cradled her chin in her hand again. I'd seen the same posture back
when she was looking at her friend, and I felt something in my heart
again. Such a cute little thing. "All right, I'll tell her. But
you'll owe me a favor."
I nodded rapidly. Then I heard her coming, and looked out.
Sakura was sitting astride her wand again, swooping towards the
cave. She looked very mad, the Shield on her arm, and the Sword in
her hand. Even from this distance, I could feel the desires of the
cards: The Shield wanted to product Tomoyo, and the Sword just
wanted to cut. I retreated back into the cave, waving the little
virgin forward.
Sakura landed on the floor, looking first at me, then at her friend.
"Are you alright, Tomoyo-chan?"
I swear if the little virgin were any happier at seeing her friend
she would have split her face smiling. "Yes, Sakura-chan!" She ran
up to the card mistress. "I'm so glad to see you!"
Sakura's face was a mix of emotions. I could see joy, anger, and a
strange sort of regret. "Good! Now I'm going to teach this dragon
a lesson!" She walked towards me, and I imagined I could see the
tip of the Sword begin to vibrate with its desire to cut into me.
"No, Sakura-chan," Tomoyo said, putting her hand on her shoulder.
"He didn't hurt me. I'm all right. Let him be."
Sakura stopped, but she didn't lower her sword. I briefly
considered breathing fire towards her, but I couldn't. For one, it
would hurt the little virgin. For another, the Shield card would
love nothing else but to protect the humans from me. "But, he
hurt me."
Tomoyo gasped lightly. "He did? What? What did he do?" Her
voice grew angry, and I could feel the end of my life approaching
like a freight train.
Sakura turned slightly, dipping the Sword, facing her friend. "He
took you away from me. When I heard what had happened to you, I
felt," she paused, "I felt like the world had ended. Tomoyo-chan,
I was so afraid you were dead!" A tear trailed down
her cheek.
Tomoyo hugged her friend close, and I breathed a sigh of relief.
Maybe I would survive this.
"I'm sorry," I said as gently as I could. "I just needed to talk
to her. She's something special."
Sakura looked up, and for a moment I thought I saw jealousy there.
Then she turned to her friend, and pulled her towards the entrance.
I thought they were going to leave, but then Sakura started to
whisper to her friend.
That doesn't do much good, by the way. We dragons have excellent
hearing.
"Tomoyo," she whispered, "I think I can guess who you love."
Tomoyo looked a little worried. "You can?"
Sakura nodded. "When I heard you were gone, how I felt, I can't
describe. It was like someone had torn out a part of me, a part
of my heart. All I could think about was finding you and getting
you back."
Tomoyo's face smoothed, her eyes wide with wonder. "You did?"
Sakura nodded. "I can guess who Tomoyo-chan loves. And it's
someone who loves her back." And then, before anything else could
happen, they kissed.
I wiped away a tear. I'm such a romantic.
"Can I fly you home?"
"What?" Sakura gave me a nasty look again. I guess I couldn't
blame her for being suspicious.
"Look, it's a nice wand, but it's a little snug for two I'd think.
You could ride on my back."
They looked at each other, and eventually they agreed. It took a
little longer to fly them back - I didn't want the girls to be
swept off of my back by the wind. But as they climbed off my back
in Tomoyo's yard, she told me to look for her in a month.
The month went by fairly quickly, as I warned my brothers that
the Clow cards were back. Most of them didn't believe me, but
what can I do? They at least have been warned. Not that I think
we'll have too much trouble with this Sakura, but it's best to
be sure. When the time was up, I flew back into town. Tomoyo was
waiting inside of her yard, in a secluded area near the fence, and
I barely managed to fit as I landed. I looked about. "Is your
friend here?"
Tomoyo shook her head. "She's with Syaoran. Her boyfriend."
I raised an eyebrow. "I thought you and her?" I didn't really
want to complete the sentence, because I realized I wasn't entirely
sure what the two had decided on.
Tomoyo sighed. "It's complicated. I love her, and she loves me -
but I'm afraid she also loves him, and he loves her. I don't know
what will happen."
"I'm sorry."
Tomoyo shook her head. "Don't be. Now, at least, something will
happen. I'm grateful for what you did, really. But still," and
here she picked up a large box by her feet. "This is for you."
I blinked. People aren't generally in the habit of giving gifts to
my kind, and I opened the box. Inside was a large object, and it
took me a few moments to realize what it was.
"It's a phone for you," Tomoyo said, seeing my confusion. It
should fit your head?"
I picked it up, and held it to my head. An odd noise came from the
earpiece.
We spent some time, her teaching me how to use the phone, and her
phone number. I thanked her, and gave her a gentle hug with my
wings. "Don't worry about Sakura, little virgin," I said.
"Whatever ends up, she does love you, like a knight and his lady
fair."
She smiled, and gave a kiss to the end of my snout, and said
goodbye.
And that is why I'm the only dragon with a cell phone.
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