Pet Shop Of Horrors Fan Fiction ❯ A Sentimental Man ❯ Chapter 1

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Disclaimers still do and always will apply to any of our work. These fics are a work of fan-fiction, therefore Akita and I lay no claim to the characters or places of Pet Shop of Horrors. All rights belong the Estimable manga-ka, Matsuri Akino and whoever’s lucky enough to hold the publishing rights. (ToykoPop and Ohzora, respectively.)

A Sentimental Man

“…I’d like to raise you high
Cause I think everyone deserves the chance to fly…
And helping you with your ascent
Allows me to feel so parental…

“For I am a sentimental man…”

(Excerpted from ‘A Sentimental Man’
From the ‘Wicked’ Soundtrack
Decca-Broadway Records)

The shop was small and hidden in the shadows of larger shops. Unlike them, there was no flashy neon in unreadable Chinese kanji. The sign was tasteful and neatly lettered in English. He almost turned back, but something kept driving him. This was the only place he might find what he was seeking. He had been to a hundred or more shops and the few that hadn’t laughed him out had told him the only place he would find the object of his quest would be here. One Chinese man had said with a serious look, “I can’t help you. The only person who could possibly help you is the owner of the pet shop. If he can’t find it, there is no one anywhere in the world who can.”

So here he stood, shivering in spite of the unseasonably warm weather. Finally he swallowed and stepped to the elaborately carved doors, past the sign that said simply Count D’s.

“Welcome. We have a selection of the rarest and most unusual pets to choose from. Please come in and have a look around.” He would have thought it was a woman save for the voice. The voice was smooth and mellow and as masculine as the owner was not.

“Are you Count D?”

“I regret that the title is not mine. It was bestowed on my ancestor long ago. I am merely the proprietor of the store.”

“Oh.” He hesitated, unsure now. “Um, I don’t know if you can help me, Mr.- I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your name.”

“I am D.” As he processed this unnerving statement, the speaker came out of the shadows. The first impression of a woman was still strong, but some things were strikingly different, and it wasn’t just the lack of breasts beneath that strange, heavily-embroidered Chinese robe. What caught him most were the mismatched eyes gleaming at him through the fall of night-black hair. One was as gold as the eyes of the cat lounging in his arms. The other was a strange twilight shade of blue-violet, a shade he had never seen outside of designer contacts.

As he stood frozen, the creature who called himself D sighed and gestured at one of the low couches. “Would you like some tea? Then perhaps you can tell me what made you seek out my humble shop.”

“Uh, yes, please.”

A few moments later he was seated on the same low couch with a cup of far too sweet tea in his hand and an assortment of pastries spread before him on an elegant rolling tray. D smiled at him and stroked the head of the oddest beast he had ever seen, some strange blend of tiger and sheep (or was it goat?).

“I saw a creature,” he admitted at last. “By chance, I guess, I saw it dancing against the sun. Since then, it’s been haunting my dreams constantly. I don’t know what it is, but I have to find it.” His words came faster and faster as he blurted out a garbled description of the creature.

D smiled patiently at the young man seated across from him. “I’m quite sorry. I’m not sure where you may have heard such odd rumors, but I have nothing like that in my shop.”

“Just tell me what it is! I have to know!” The young man pled.

D sighed and stroked Totetsu’s head. “Describe it to me again. And, please, more slowly this time.”

“It was long and serpent-like, like the Chinese dragon there.” He pointed with a trembling finger at a painted shoji paper screen. “It had wings, though, like a European dragon and it had a flowing mane. It was all as golden as the sun, except for its eyes. They were ice-blue but not cold. They were warm, almost human.”

D nibbled delicately on a teacake. “Interesting. Did you happen to dream how many claws it had?”

“Five. Like a human hand.”

“What you describe sounds like a little like a royal dragon. Only the Emperor’s family can wear an emblem of the five-clawed dragon. As you can see, that one only has four claws. Was the creature holding a large gem, like a pearl?”

“No.” He shook his head.

“Hmm.”

“What is it?” The young man demanded. “Please, you have to tell me!”

D rose suddenly, disturbing Tetsu. “I am not certain. Come back in a week and I will perhaps have more information for you. I must do some research first.”

The young man rose, babbling mostly incoherent thanks. D waved him through the doors and locked them behind him. He really wasn’t in the mood to deal with any more customers today. Not after this. He leaned against the doors with an irritated sigh.

“Why didn’t you show me to him?” Asked a deep, familiar voice from the shadows. A tall figure detached itself from the darkness and leaned casually on the back of the low sofa. Tetsu glared but said nothing, only growling softly under his breath.

D turned to bestow the speaker with a glare that would have cowed Tetsu in full hunting mode. It had no effect, save a small impudent chuckle. “You let yourself be seen?” It wasn’t really a question, but D got a nod in return anyway.

“What’s the point of having wings if you can’t use them?” He was asked insolently, ice-blue eyes meeting his own mismatched ones in clear challenge. “I needed to fly. I was going stir-crazy.”

*WHAP!*

“Ow! Dammit, D, what the hell did you do that for?”

D glared angrily at the speaker who was rubbing his head irritably, with the paper fan he had just used as a weapon still clenched in one hand. “Only you would speak to me so disrespectfully. You know better than to let yourself be seen! Fool.”

An arm was draped across his shoulders and D found himself meeting those overwhelmingly deep blue eyes up close and personal. He was about to duck free when he was treated to an impertinent grin. “Why don’t you sell me to him?”

D froze, torn between anger and shock. The paper fan fell from suddenly nerveless fingers. “You…you want to be sold? To leave the shop?” The word ‘again’ hung unsaid in the air between them.

The grin this time was full of mischievous pleasure. “I’ll come back.” He was assured cheerfully. “I always come back, don’t I?” Blue eyes darted to a small, framed picture high on the wall, in stark contrast to the rest of the Chinese décor.

D found his own gaze drawn to the frame and his voice dropped to a whisper. “Yes. You came back. You always did.”

“So let him see me. I’ll go. He’ll break the terms of the contract. They almost always do.”

“But what if he doesn’t?” D knew his voice sounded stricken but he ignored it. Tetsu snarled to hear him sound so upset, rising to his feet to confront the taller figure. “Shut up!” The Totetsu growled furiously. “Before I eat you for upsetting him!”

“Back off.” Tetsu was forced back by the blue eyes that met his. Calm and unruffled, they held a core of steel that had never changed, even if the body that held it had. “Remember, I have teeth now, too, T-chan.”

“Who said you could call me that?!”

“Both of you, calm down.” D interjected wearily. “Please.”

“Count…” Tetsu protested.

“Please.”

Grumbling, the Totetsu obeyed, resuming his seat.

D turned back to the cause of this whole thing. “And what if he does not break the terms of the contract? What then?”

“Even if he doesn’t, I’ll come back. I promise. He’s mortal, with a limited lifespan. Very limited.” Blue eyes glanced at Tetsu. “Tetsu can attest to that too.”

Tetsu grumbled but nodded, eager not to upset the count again. “He’s right. That human smells of sickness. He’s dying, even as he hunts for the creature of his dreams.” Tetsu finished with a disdainful snort. “He won’t last long, even with that pathetic excuse for a dragon looking out for him.”

D met the compassionate blue eyes that had captured him long ago and slowly nodded. “So be it then.”

He was rewarded with a grin. “Let him have a little happiness before he dies. After all, that’s one less human to hate.”

D’s familiar, inscrutable smile returned. “You have the right of it, my friend. One less human.”

Tetsu growled as D leaned against the taller figure for a moment before sending him on his way to prepare. “Are you sure about this, Count?” He asked after a long moment.

D sat back down and stroked Tetsu’s arm. “No. But I can’t change his basic nature. I wouldn’t, even if I could. It was that odd mix of compassion and determination that caught my interest the first time he wandered into my shop. He is worthy of the form he was granted.”

Tetsu snorted. “If you ask me, that oracle was out of her ever-loving mind.”

D cracked a genuine smile. “That is the venue of oracles, is it not? Madness breeds their peculiar form of wisdom.”

Tetsu grumbled softly. “That one was more than a bit whacked in the head. She had to be a basket-case.”

D smiled at Tetsu’s familiar plaint. “The oracle didn’t make the choice, she only pointed him in the right direction. The choice and the change had nothing to do with the oracle.”

Tetsu shook his head. “But to tell that idiot in the first place…? That’s what I don’t get. I wouldn’t have told him anything.”

D chuckled and stroked his hair. “I know you would not have, but the oracle would not have told him did she not think it was the best outcome. It is not our place to question the oracles.”

“Are you two talking about me again?”

D’s smile was full of mischief as he turned toward his chief troublemaker. “What makes you think we were talking about you, hmm? The world does not revolve around you alone.”

A snort of laughter was his response. “It doesn’t? Really? That’s news to me.”

Tetsu growled under his breath.

Pon-chan darted out of the back to clamber up the back of the couch. She was so excited she couldn’t hold still. “Is it true? I heard you were going to be sold! Why? What are you going to do? Who’s the customer? Did you get tired of living here with us?”

Strong arms scooped her up and swept her onto a bare shoulder, where she clung with a shrill squeal of laughter. “Just for a bit, Pon-chan. I’ll be back before you know it.”

“You promise? I don’t want you to leave us. You won’t, will you?” Her huge eyes were serious. “Please don’t leave us. I don’t want to lose another friend.”

“Oh, Pon-chan…” Gentle fingers stroked her blond curls. “I’m not going to leave you. I’ll be back, I promise.” His blue eyes were sad too as they met hers. He tipped her chin to face him and told her seriously, “You won’t lose me like you lost him, okay?

She nodded and flung her arms around him in a hug. “Okay. You promised, remember that!”

He set her down with a gentle smile and watched her scurry off to pounce on a sleeping Ten-chan. The nine-tailed fox caught her in mid-leap, gaining another squeal of laughter. That was her favorite game, one she had yet to win. She hadn’t ever caught Ten-chan by surprise, but she kept trying.

“After all these years, she still misses him. ‘Course, so do I.”

D reached up to pat his arm. “We all do. T-chan, too, though he will deny it to no end.”

“I know. I used to watch them play together too, D.” He sighed. “There’s really no going back, is there?”

D didn’t try to disguise the sadness in his own voice. “No. Do you honestly think he would know you now, even if it were possible to see him again?”

“No. But I could still wish otherwise.”

D paused before giving voice to one of his fears, but now, with a departure looming close, he had to. “Do you regret your choice now?”

“Regret?” Blue eyes registering surprise, he leaned down on the back of the couch. “I made the choice, D. I don’t regret it. My only remorse is that one, and you said it yourself. It’s not possible.”

D shook his head in doubt. He was unprepared for the firm grasp on his shoulder and looked up into those impossibly blue eyes, the same eyes that had so recently captured a young man’s fancy. “I chose this long ago, D. Long before the oracle; long before anything else. The choice was made that day I woke in the hospital.”

D smiled a little then, lacing his fingers with the ones on his shoulder. “That’s good to know, my dear dragon.”


One week later, D found the young man waiting on his doorstep when he opened the shop. Sighing, (how he reminded D of someone else) he let him in and served him tea. The youth was in no mood for tea, eager to know if he had unearthed any information on the creature of his dreams.

“It took much effort, and a great deal of time, but I have acquired the creature you seek.” D told him finally. “In my knowledge, it is unique, the only one of its kind.”

One of his teacups nearly suffered disaster, but the youth managed to catch it before it hit the floor. He apologized and begged to see the creature.

D rose and motioned him to the back of the store. The young man scrambled awkwardly to his feet and followed D into the rear of the shop. Where the curious corridors and doors would have baffled anyone else, he was far too much a bundle of eager nerves to even notice. D led him to a pair of arched doors, carved in an elaborate pattern of dragons coiling one over another in a bizarre dance. Only the truly observant would have noticed that the dragons were not all Chinese; instead being a mix of various European and other types as well as the traditional Chinese serpents. D paused before the doors and turned back to the young man, who all but bounced on his heels with impatience.

“Beyond these doors is the creature you sought. Approach with caution, I implore you. Remember that it has never been tamed. If you are satisfied with the pet, we will discuss the terms of the contract then.” Steeling himself, D pushed open the doors and waved the young man through.

The room beyond was softly lit and perfumed with a strange smell of incense. An immense tumble of silken pillows filled one corner. As he approached, a vast head arose from the pillows to regard him. True to the magic of the shop, the creature appeared according to the wishes of the young man that confronted him.

The head was nearly as long as the young man was tall, with a tapered muzzle that lacked the traditional tendrils of the Chinese dragon that it closely resembled in bodily structure. It had a mane of molten gold and razor-edged scales of the same true gold color. Long, slender wings were folded neatly against its serpentine sides. It watched the young man approach with eyes the color of glacial ice. Five-fingered claws rested calmly atop a pillow as the great head lowered to study him.

The young man was enraptured, frozen in contemplation of the creature that faced him. “He’s beautiful.” He whispered reverently. “Just beautiful.”

Tetsu, who lingered quietly in the shadows behind the count, snorted in disgust. “He thinks that great lump of wasted space is beautiful? He needs his eyes checked.”
“T-chan,” D scolded quietly, though his heart wasn’t really in it. “All of my pets are beautiful in their own, varied ways.”

“Count…” Tetsu said questioningly. His golden eyes were concerned. “Are you sure you want to do this?”

D’s mysterious smile faltered. “The choice is not mine at this time. I can no more cage him than you can become vegetarian.”

Tetsu subsided, but his troubled expression remained. D spared him a small, half-hearted smile and stroked his cheek with gentle fingers. “Do not look so worried. I am fine.”

The young man remained where he was, thoroughly enraptured. The dragon regarded him with a tolerance very rarely displayed, though the tiny twitch at the very tip of his tail displayed his impatience with all this. D noted the tremor with concern and hurried to intervene. “If the pet is to your satisfaction, let me draw up the contract.”

Both heads turned to face him, the dragon with mild annoyance mixed with relief and the young man with a surprising look of shock on his face. “Contract?”

D moved to a small enameled table against the wall and drew out a contract from the drawer, waving the young man over.

He stared at the piece of paper with dawning comprehension before firmly shaking his head. “No, you don’t understand.” He said. “I don’t want to own him.”

D could not hide his surprise. “I’m afraid I fail to understand. Is this not the creature you have been seeking?”

“Oh, yes. He’s even more magnificent than I dreamed, but I can’t take him from you. It wouldn’t be fair to him. I don’t have all that much longer to live and I wouldn’t want to subject him to that. I only wanted to see him one more time before I died. I remember how I felt when I first saw him. It made me believe that anything was still possible. That my dreams didn’t have to die with me.” He sighed and gazed up at the massive head with a wistful smile. “Maybe to see him fly once more, free, but no more than that. Maybe I’m being sentimental, but that’s what I want.”

D regarded the young man with surprise that almost bordered on respect. “That’s all you wish? Truly?” He was rewarded with a nod and a sweet smile.

D glanced up at the large head looming over the young man’s shoulder and saw approval and agreement in the blue eyes. “Perhaps that can be arranged.”


He left Tetsu to amuse his visitor while he made arrangements. Some doors in his shop could open anywhere and he made use of that feature now. He opened a door onto a high, wind-swept cliff over a churning ocean. He jumped in surprise when a firm hand rested on his shoulder. “This place? D, are you feeling sentimental too?”

D leveled a slightly annoyed glare at the smiling dragon behind him. “It seemed like a good idea at the time. However, now I have my doubts.”

He yelped in surprise as he was swept up in a bone-crushing hug. Blue eyes laughed down at him. “Don’t act so upset. I like when you’re sentimental.”

D staggered back as he was released.

“Go get him,” He was told with a grin. “I’ll treat him to some fancy flying he’ll never forget.”


The young man laughed with unadulterated happiness as he watched the great dragon twist through the air, pulling off maneuvers any pilot would give a leg just to be able to duplicate, and all for the sheer joy of doing it. Corkscrew spirals, abrupt dives and once in a breathtaking movement, an insane trick that would have tied a less agile creature into a knot. In mid-coil, the dragon abruptly folded his wings and nose-dived through the circle formed by the curve of his own body, plummeting toward the ocean.

Even D gasped at that, sure he would not be able to untangle himself from his own body in time to open his wings and save himself from a fatal plunge. At the last moment, translucent wings snapped open and the dragon banked upward so sharply that his trailing tail brushed the water, sending rainbow shards flying. Even Tetsu gave an impressed whistle as the dragon neatly did a wingover, gliding for a moment in a completely inverted position.

With a rapid flip of his wings, he righted himself and powered upward into the glare of the sun, leaving them to stare after him. D shaded his eyes and squinted to catch a glimpse of gold scales against golden sunlight. A rapidly growing dark spot resolved itself into another death-defying dive. The dragon pulled up and dropped neatly to the ground just behind D, flipping his wings closed and lowering his head until his muzzle just brushed D’s shoulder. D reached up and stroked the scaled nose, heedless of the razor-edges of the tiny scales.

The young man stared at them in wonder, tears filling his brown eyes. “It was all I ever dreamed of. You truly are all you were made out to be, Count D.”

D looked on in concern. “This is all you truly wanted?”

He was given a breathtaking smile in return, a smile so full of joy it lit the young mans face and made the worry lines and ravages of illness vanish. “More than I wanted. I never dared to dream that I could see that.

“See, I write fantasy books. A few best-sellers, but mostly, the tales of strange animals and weird magic that I dreamed up when I was still a kid. Except for my editors and one or two close friends, most people I know think I’m crazy. But it doesn’t matter when I’m writing. Only the magic in my head and the words on paper matter to me. But when I found out I was dying, the magic-it just went away for me. I hadn’t written anything for months and my agent was getting antsy. So I decided to try one more time and took my laptop out to one of my favorite places, hoping that would provide the inspiration for something. It wasn’t working. The outline remained an outline and the screen was still blank.”

He paused for breath and grinned at them. “That’s when I saw him. Skydancing like he did today. I must have watched for close to an hour, just staring into the sky like a child. When he vanished into the clouds, I sat there numbly for a minute and then started typing faster than I had in my life. That day and the next I pounded out a three hundred page rough draft. The next week was spent polishing it and sending it to my editor.

“I’ve finished the rough draft for two more books since then, even while I was looking for my dragon Muse. I’ve signed on for three more since the first one was a smash hit.”

D had to admit to being a little lost, but he felt an amused touch in his mind. “So basically, he’s saying I inspired him to write another best-seller. Funny what a little fancy flying can do.”

D shot the massive head a look as the young man continued, oblivious to the silent exchange. “I gave a proof to my best friend from college. He loved it, said it reminded him of a place he used to live when he was a kid. Said that the main character was just like someone he used to know. His older brother, who had gone missing a while back, he told me. He showed me a picture and I very nearly died right there. His brother-well…” He grinned at a frozen D. “I can’t wait to tell Chris that I saw a dragon with his brother’s eyes.”


A/N Aren’t we evil? Now, before you kill us, we promise to go back and fill in the gaps. This one was written first and we felt you should read it before we went back and explained about how he met the oracle and became a dragon. As always, review or e-mail. We love to hear you thoughts on how we can improve.