Dragon Knights Fan Fiction ❯ Twenty Themes ❯ Transparent Feelings ( Chapter 17 )

This is for the 20 Themes challenge on Live Journal. Theme 10 is Transparent Feelings.

Warnings: Raseleane/Lykouleon, nudity, false hope

Size: 8.81kb

Given A Suitable Bride this should have been an obvious choice. Nearly done with this challenge. Thanks to everyone who's stuck it this far. Hope you enjoyed reading some of the stories on the way.

The sun's rays slowly creeped into their hideaway, its fingers tickling her toes and then crawling up her leg as she dozed on. He stirred. A breeze following the heat of the sun trickled up his back and raised goosebumps on his bare flesh. He squeezed her closer and nestled his face into her long, dark hair. Drool soon matted his springy pillow.

Restless as always, she turned in her sleep, her head remaining behind as her naked body moved, trapped by her lover. She twitched and jerked her head several times, the motions growing stronger. He snorted and lifted his head. "Sum'tin up, Ras'leen?"

Her eyes flashed open. "We did it again," she moaned, before grabbing her hair and pulling it out from under him. He rolled over while she blinked outside, into the light. "We fell asleep!" she said. He grabbed her and buried his face in her lap.

"Oh well," he muttered, "might as well enjoy the lie-in."

She tensed her muscles, turning her comfortable lap into thighs of rock. "Again, Lykouleon!" she groaned. "Again! Do you remember what happened last time? Do you remember the trouble it caused?" She cast her eyes about, scanning the ground surrounding the soft, white blanket they'd spent the night on. "Do you know where my clothes are?"

"Clothes!" He jerked bolt upright and banged his head on the root ceiling that kept them from view. A rough edge opened a cut on his forehead although he ignored it as he lifted up the blanket and checked under it, as though the flat pile could have hidden his evening suit. Three drops of blood dripped down from his head and spotted the blanket.

They had slept under a tree whose roots had formed a Traveller's Rest: a hollow away from rain and prying eyes, where weary travellers or courting couples could attend to their needs in safety and privacy. Lykouleon crawled through to the edge of the root mass and looked through the gaps in their wooden wall to scan the area outside. "I don't see..." he muttered, before tensing suddenly. "There's something white over there. It could be clothing!"

"Quick," urged Raseleane, pushing him out of their hole. "Before someone comes."

Lykouleon ducked, checking left and right before running out to grab the mystery, white, possible clothing. Raseleane watched him, blood rising with her lover's every naked step. She winced as he started to hop and limp alternatively; the ground had many sharp rocks and twigs. She fidgeted, running her fingers through her hair, wincing again as they got stuck in the tangled mess of knots and fuzz.

"Crap," she said, working her fingers from the bottom, pulling and teasing the hair apart.

As she fought with a stubborn knot, Lykouleon hit the dirt and rolled under a bush, feet away from the unknown garment. Raseleane hunkered down, unable to see what had startled him, even as his hand crept out from under the bush and inched toward the clothing.

The low buzz of conversation drifted over the plants and through the branches of the trees to Lykeouleon's ears. He squeezed his eyes shut and stretched further, raising furrows in the rough dirt as it scraped his skin. His fingertips brushed sodden cotton as the voices grew clearer.

He cursed into the dirt with Alfeegi's laugh. Fingers spasmed and released the cotton as his body exhaled every last drop of energy. He lapsed, breathing in fungus spores and the heady smell of earth, awaiting the inevitable 'Your Highness!' Eyes twitched and energy returned to his head, enough to lift his gaze as it failed to materialise. Alfeegi's laugh carried over to him once more, along with light, soothing tones and the perfumed smell of false flowers: the scent of a woman.

The Dragonlord, Lord of Draqueen, Lover of Raseleane and Employer of Alfeegi slid out from under his bush and crept across the open ground to the dubious cover of another plant that was closer to Alfeegi. The cotton garment remained behind.

Crawling under the new bush, a joyously leafy hedge of some sort, he parted the leaves enough to frame Alfeegi and his companion. The green-haired Dragon Officer leaned easily against a low stone wall, nodding and smiling as his friend - a young, dark-haired woman that Lykouleon didn't recognise - nattered away, mouth moving faster than Rath when he'd broken something old or expensive. Her story came to some sort of conclusion when Alfeegi bowed and she clapped - her cheeks flushed. Alfeegi rose again, standing straighter and taller than he ever had before. He reached behind the wall and broke off the stem of a fern. Twirling it in his fingers, he said something that his friend hadn't heard. She leaned closer and he flicked the stem, lashing her gently on the ear with the feathery fern. She jumped back, clapping her hand to her ear and giggling helplessly. Alfeegi advanced on her, fern outstretched and she ran away, glancing behind to make sure that Alfeegi was following, slowing down when he did and speeding up when she realised his trick.

Lykuoleon watched as much as he could from his vantage point, mouth slipping further and further open, until it scraped the ground. Eventually he rolled out from under his hiding place and retrieved the cloth garment. It turned out to be a cotton shirt, with lacy collars and tiny buttons that his fingers fumbled over. He pulled it over his head, grimacing as the damp cotton clung to his body. He ignored the collars, letting them fall open as he checked for the next item of discarded clothing, hoping for breeches.

Suddenly catching sight of furious waves from Raseleane he turned around to see Ruwalk.

"Your Highness," said the smiling man, the Dragonlord's longest friend.

"Ruwalk!" Lykouleon hailed him and scooted closer, a pasted smile echoing his Officer's.

"Anything I can do for you?" he asked, quirking his eyebrows.

"Actually..." Lykouleon coughed and leaned over the hedge. "Have you see any clothing?"

Ruwalk's smile dropped and he hit his hand with an open palm. "You haven't done it again, have you?" He looked at his silent friend, before rising up on tip-toes and slowly peering over the hedge.

The Dragonlord pushed him back "Of course not!" he exclaimed. "Not after everything that happened last time. I uh, just saw Alfeegi running past and ... he was ..."

"Ah," said Ruwalk.

"I was hoping to cover for him. He deserves a break, you know?"

Ruwalk nodded. "I'll keep my eyes open and if anything's found, I'll send it back to him."

"Yeah, thanks," said Lykouleon, his face freezing for a moment. "A-ha, well, you look that way," he pointed toward the lake "and I'll look around here some more."

The Dragon Officer clicked his heels together, saluted and wandered off, leaving his Lord with a pained expression on his face. He retreated back to his love nest and his wife.

"There's something about a man in a loose shirt..." said Raseleane, snuggling up to her beloved before recoiling.

"Dew," sighed Lykouleon. "It'll dry."

"No trousers?" she asked, picking up the blanket and shaking it out.

"Not yet," he admitted. "The shirt on its own isn't really useful for me. Do you want to wear it? In case we're found out."

"That's okay," she said, shaking her head. "I'll just wrap the blanket around me. It'll work as a dress from a distance." She pulled the blanket around her and tucked one corner under her arm, but stopped before folding the opposite side into place. Instead she stared at the drops of blood that spoiled the pure, white fleece.

"Something wrong?" he asked, reaching out and stroking her arm.

"Nothing," she said, tucking it into place and hiding the stain in the blanket, but not the light in her eyes. "Everything's fine!"

Yes, I wanted to write some Lykouleon/Raseleane porn. Well, not porn, but then the ending hit me and I realised that it suited Transparent Feelings, then thought that it didn't, then started to write another, but finally gave in. How confusing.

Basically, I didn't want to up the rating for a single story, so there's not much sexiness. Didn't the last theme have a naked Rune in it? Man. I have to get that M fic out of me.

Until then, plese read Dragon Knights Sentai. It's a thirteen chapter fic that's being edited and posted. I'm fond of it now, but I'm sure that in a year, I'll think that it's crap. There's no M rating on it and no yaoi. Het goodness, all the way... Except possibly for the end, but that's only if you read between the lines.