A world Beyond (Fadereaper and Kuro_Bara)

Now that she was comfy in the bed and dressed he turned to look at her a small smile creeping onto his face when she said that to him and he could feel a bit of nervousness take him as he would slide under the covers next to her, the bed forcing him to slide a little closer so that he had sufficient cover on his side his side touching her gentle hip looking down at her gentle face. She looked so beautiful especially by the standards of humans, he could never get enough of speaking with her and being in her presence and after all this time he couldn't see himself leaving her side now he enjoyed her company far too much. He became quite close to her and even now he wondered about what Mary said, should he really make his move so quickly I mean it would be a bit hasty and he had no idea what her opinion of him was. "Good good, now would you like anything before I settle in and get some sleep?"

Clara felt the bed sink a little as he slid in beside her and felt his hip brush hers making her blush yet again. At this rate she might very well melt through the bed she felt so warm. She gazed at him silently after her asked his question, her emerald eyes dancing from the firelight behind him. There was something she wanted and now that she was beginning to understand her feelings better she felt brave enough to ask it. Staring into his eyes she whispered very softly. "A kiss."

kuro_bara said:

Clara felt the bed sink a little as he slid in beside her and felt his hip brush hers making her blush yet again. At this rate she might very well melt through the bed she felt so warm. She gazed at him silently after her asked his question, her emerald eyes dancing from the firelight behind him. There was something she wanted and now that she was beginning to understand her feelings better she felt brave enough to ask it. Staring into his eyes she whispered very softly. "A kiss."

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He looked at her a reddish coloring taking to his face when she asked him that and he was uncertain of whether or not to comply or not, he had never kissed anyone I mean it isn't something you can do as a dragon right? He didn't know exactly how to do it but he took a deep breath swallowing a mouth full of air as he tried to calm his mind, he felt his heart beat racing as she asked this of him not wanting to tell her no. He cared for her greatly and he didn't want her to think he didn't so it was time to show it completely and utterly, puckering his lips he would lean closer to her.

His own lips poised at the ready he held his arm under her back as he leaned closer, pressing his lips firmly against her own and nestled them around her own upper lips and gave her a gentle kiss on her lips. Waiting for a bit before he would even think to pull back from kissing her beautiful lips with his own, it felt so right no matter what he tried to make himself think he enjoyed it greatly and felt so appropriate.

Clara was a little surprised when complied with her request though very happy that he had. Her eyes slid closed as his lips gently pressed against hers and her arms wrapped loosely around his neck. It felt as though they stayed there for a very long time though in reality it was only seconds. When he moved away she smiled at him and hugged him tightly, burying her face against his collarbone. "I...I wasn't sure if you felt the same way I did..." She murmured, realizing suddenly she felt immense relief that he returned the feelings she had been developing all along. "I'm very glad." Clara said in a soft voice, when she looked back up at him her eyes were over-bright as if she were trying not cry.

The kiss had been very nice and Clara found herself leaning towards him to steal one more when the door to the room burst inward, the frame cracking under the force. Clara jumped and pulled the covers up in surprise as the man from early stomped into the room holding a drawn crossbow. He kept it aimed at Casavir and waved impatiently to Clara. "Get out of the bed." He demanded, his steely eyes fixed on the man beside her. "I knew you wouldn't be able to keep your filthy claws off her." The man growled.

Clara made no move to do as he said, instead her arm looped around Casavir's and she curled up close to him trying to hide from the hunter. The man looked completely outraged that she didn't listen to his commands. "Do you not know what he is lass? I said get away from him." He strode forward and reached past Casavir to grab Clara by the arm, after which he hauled her bodily out of the bed. Clara let out a small cry as she was jerked uncermoniously foward onto the floor with a painful thud.

He looked at the door as it flew open the hunter entering as he would fight to grab Clara and despite his trying to keep her in his grasp and keep her safe she was torn from him by the man and who seemed to know what he was, he stood up and would move closer to Clara as she was pulled from him and thrown onto the floor quite painfully he didn't pay the man as much attention he knelt next to Clara wrapping an arm around her and he said. "You presume a lot about my identity I doubt you have anything logical to say so I'll hear you out, what is it you think I am you ruffian?" He said hoping that the man wouldn't know he was really a dragon and that if he did, that she would believe it was a ruse he thought that if she did know that she would reject him and his existence out of fear just like the other humans.

The man sneered at Casavir as he knelt to wrap an arm around Clara. "Your a beast." He said in a harsh tone. "A monster from myth come from the mountains to hunt for your prey." He took a threatening step forward, his crossbow still aimed at Casavir.

Clara glanced up into her companion's face expecting to see fear, confusion but his look was guarded and rather calm. She heard him ask the man what he seemed to believe he was. She felt a the first tickling of dread and wasn't really sure she wanted to hear what the man had to say.

The hunter picked up on the conflicted look on her face and his sneer grew wider. "You are dragon come to steal away the women of this village." He declared look victorious.

Whatever Clara had been expecting, a dragon had not been it. She was expecting the hunter to name him a murder or thief or some other deplorable thing. A dragon was something from myth and legend and last time she checked they did not look like handsome young men. One of her mother's stories tickled at her memory but she pushed it aside. Pushing herself to her feet she laughed lightly and shook her head, the hunter was clearly ill of mind if he thought Casavir was a dragon. "You have obviously made a mistake sir, clearly this man is as human as you."

This, apparently, was the wrong thing to say. The man's face contorted with rage and flushed red with the power of his anger. "I am nothing like his kind! They killed my family, stole my daughters! I will hunt them all down!" He let a bolt fly from the crossbow though in his anger his aim wavered and the bolt headed straight for Casavir's shoulder.

This was another one of those fools who rationalize all dragon's fates on the actions of the few and this was a tiresome occurrence, he was tired of this and knew he never hunted humans he never even ventured to their lands but he knew of other dragons whose wicked ways were to attack and destroy the lands of the humans and their villages. When she stood up he would do the same but the motion was met with a brutal shot of the man's crossbow the bolt wedging painfully in his shoulder and he grumbled at his attack, "stop this you daft fool I'm not what you think I am and I have never even met you let alone stolen any daughters." He looked at Clara but he knew it was true he still feared what she would say if she knew it was true, "please sir just..." He said stopped by the pain of the attack on his shoulder, he was trying to bide through the pain his fragile human form was suffering.

Clara let out a small scream as the bolt buried into Casavir's shoulder and she ran to his side. "Why are you doing this?" She shouted at the man. "Are you insane?!" Her cries must have drawn attention as Mary's husband and several other villagers appeared in the doorway.

The innkeeper looked furious, his face mottled with anger. "What is going one here?" He demanded looking at his injured guest, damaged doorway and the seemingly insane hunter. "Why are you harassing my guests?" He looked to Clara and Casavir, his concern of their well being evident on his face. "Clara are you alright?"

She nodded but pointed to Casavir. "He needs a doctor, this man shot him!"

The villagers all grumbled angrily moving into the room and grabbing the hunter. The bearded man struggled against them shouting things about a dragon in human form, and how he was going to kill them all. The villagers hauled him away leaving just the innkeeper. The man shook his head. "To think we let that beast of a man stay under our roof. I am so sorry Clara, Casavir, I'll send for the doctor right away though with the weather he may be a bit."

Clara nodded. "Can you bring hot water and clean towels?" She asked. "And possibly a sewing kit." The innkeeper nodded and left them alone. She took Casavir's hand hers and squeezed before leading him to the bed and sitting him down, he was clearly in a lot of pain. "Just hold on okay." She said touching his face gently.

Casavir growled as he for the hard part removed the bolt from his shoulder and he knew that this wasn't going to be good, thanks to his dragon heritage he was going to heal remarkably fast and he had no explanation for it other than that. As everyone cleared he motioned for them all to leave and looked to Clara, slowly moving over to the bed and he would sit down slowly as he rests his hand on the bed motioning for her to sit down. "I think I'll be fine but thank you, I don't know where he got that idea in his head that I am a dragon but he could be trouble he seems to be quite persistent."

She winced watching him tear the bolt out of his shoulder but followed him and sat beside him looking concerned. He seemed to be putting on a very brave face considering he had been shot and than removed the bolt as if it had been nothing. As she looked at his wounded shoulder she felt distinctly sure there should be more blood, the ripped cloth was bloody but only around where the bolt had pierced the skin. She tore her eyes away from it and looked up at his face when he spoke. "Yes...what an odd notion. The poor man is clearly mad, and you are right if we aren't careful he may try again." She had a dreadful thought. "I hope he doesn't know where the farm is, it would be dangerous to be caught out there alone with him. Here we had help out there..." She trailed off looking worried.

With his uninjured hand he placed it on her shoulder smiling as she started rationalizing the worst situation with him being alone with them on the farm and having no aid, "we will be fine I promise besides we will only drive ourselves nuts if we think about every worst possible outcome I think we should just be thankful that this didn't end a lot worse." He said with a smile as he would lean closer to place a small kiss on her cheek resting his forehead on her own, "I'm just glad that you are safe." The wound was helping itself and when the doctor showed up he knew he was going to be perplexed by how this happened and he would have no means, to explain it to the man.

The doctor came in looking rumpled and a bit grouchy at being woken up. He cast a brief cursory look over Clara before striding over to Casavir. "Let's see it." He grumbled waiting for Casavir to uncover his shoulder. When it was he leaned in closer looking over his glasses, after a moment he frowned and straightened up. "The way Richard was going on I thought your arm was going to come off." He said. "It looks like it barely grazed you. The doctor glanced at Clara oblivious to the surprised look on her face. "Clean it up and throw a bandage on it, he'll be fine." He declared. "Now I am going back to bed unless you have a splinter or something you want me to look at."

Clara shock her head wide eyed and watched the doctor leave, grumbling to himself about youth having no backbone. When he was gone she sat and stared at Casavir her mind trying to wrap around what the doctor said. "That bolt...I saw it." She started reaching out and touching his bare shoulder. "It was a good three inches deep." She said wonderingly. "How...I don't understand?" There was no fear in her voice only a wondering curiosity at how it could be possible.

He sat down next to her when she began to stammer on in confusion about the wound he suffered he knew as well as she that it buried itself in his arm and was not a graze, he healed very fast and that was because he was simply not human and looking at her he would say hoping that if he told her this that her opinion would not be lessened. "I know it isn't possible for me to heal like this, well it wouldn't be if I was actually a human." He said as he rubbed her hand gently thinking that he had become clear now only saying it in the confidence that they were alone, "I just want you to know that despite what I am that my opinion of you and everything that has happened is all real but that man when he called me a dragon wasn't wrong." He reached his hand up to place itself on her cheek, "it is what I am this form is my human form."

Clara's eyes grew rounder with each word he spoke but she sat and listened, even leaning into his hand as it rested on her cheek. The story that had been tickling her memory rushed back, she could picture her mother sitting by her on the bed reading it with a smile. A story about a dragon who took human form and married a human woman. It had always been one of her favourite stories from the book of fairy tales. At least she thought they had been fairy tales. All this went through her mind in a split second as she looked into his eyes. "Why...are you telling me?" She asked softly placing her hand over his. Clara forced her mind to think through everything he said, he was a dragon yes but he was also the person who had come to her farm, lived, ate, laughed and worked with her for the past three months. She had just realized her feelings and now he was telling her a secret he had obviously been trying to keep to himself. After a moment she shook her head and threw her arms around him burying her face against his non-injured shoulder. "I don't care!" She declared. "Your still Casavir, I still..." She paused for a moment. "I still love you no matter what you are."

He smirked when she said that and he would hold his arms around her in a tight embrace of a hug and when she called him Casavir he realized that he didn't actually say his real name, "actually my name isn't Casavir I used that as a means to hide my real identity." His hands rubbing against her back gently he would add, "my name is actually Dromorphial but that name is a bit of a mouth full so Casavir will suffice, I just thought you should know my true name." When she said she loved him he didn't know what to think but it was something he was happy to hear, it made him happy and he never thought that he would have ever had this kind of relation with a human since he always felt they feared him. "I don't understand though, I expected nothing but fear and anger from humans to know what I am like that hunter."

She pulled back a little so she could look up at him. His true named sounded oddly appropriate but she was glad he would keep using the one she had come to know. "What do I have to fear from you?" She asked gently. "You have been a blessing in my life...the farm wouldn't have made it through the winter without your help. You have never done a single thing to harm me or anyone near me. I have no reason to fear or hate you." Clara was quiet for a moment. "Have you ever hurt people...like the hunter said?" She asked in a soft voice. There was still no fear in her eyes or her body language, she was asking because a part of her needed to know.

He shook his no when she asked him that he had only ever hunted for food and that was the wildlife of the mountains where he lived, he was never lacking for food only venturing as far as the forests to eat and not finding any desire to attack humans for their livestock no doubt like that hunter claimed. However there were those of his kind who did and they were the ones who gave him a shameful title, "no I haven't I only ever attack animals for hunting so I may eat I have never attacked human villages in fact this is the first time I have ever ventured as far as the forest near my mountainous lair." He said holding his hands on her sides, "I suppose I was tired of the isolation and sought humanity for companionship to fill my lack of any, my kind rarely interacts with each other we are too spread out." He was glad this was off his chest now, he had wanted to say something for a long while now but had to bide it back. "I have scarcely interacted with any humans, the only ones who I have killed were those who wished to carve a reputation out of my hide to be one known as a dragon slayer."

Clara's face lit up with a smile. "See, nothing to fear." She hugged him again, and suddenly laughed lightly. "I...guess I don't need to be so worried about that hunter coming back do I?" She asked with a little smile. He could obviously protect himself and as much as it hurt her to see it happen he would heal if he was injured. Somehow the knowledge made her feel better. "I think we should return home tomorrow while the village still has that lunatic in their custody."

He had said he had come here seeking companionship because his kind rarely found it among one another. "It sounds like a lonely life...being a dragon." She murmured softly, running her fingers along his arm. "I am glad you came here."

He smiled holding her hand in his own placing it gently against his chest as he thought about it although he was optimistic he could hold his own he was still vulnerable in human form and although he heals fast he could not heal a mortal blow and that would be his undoing, but he didn't want to bring that up not now of all times. "Yes I would like to return home, especially if he does try anything I might need the space to grow or perhaps I could show you regardless so you can understand what I look like." He said kissing her hand gently, he didn't know if the man could get free of his arrest but if he did he was afraid that not only would he be in danger but Clara. "I just hope he doesn't try anything else, I didn't harm him I don't know why he thinks I did but other dragons don't share my idealism."

Clara's eyes widened. "You...you will let me see what you look like?" She murmured, she felt honoured that he would share that side of himself with her. The idea scared her just the tiniest bit but she resolved to accept all parts of him and this was one of them. She frowned when he mentioned the hunter. "He sounds like a man twisted by grief and desperately trying to find a way to fill the hole in his heart." She said softly. "Sadness and grief can do terrible things to a person and some handle it differently. He obviously thinks by killing all dragons it will somehow relieve the pain he feels but it won't..."

He was sure she was right with the man's reasons for hunting him but he didn't understand how he knew what he was or guessed so accurately, although he misunderstood the intentions of Dromorphial he only wanted to protect Clara and would never harm her. Holding her hand tenderly in his own he would say, "but the hour is late we should try to get some sleep before the walk back to your farm." He said with a smile cupping her cheek with his hand and leaning closer to place a soft kiss on her lips, "I don't want to keep you up too late but I am glad that we have got all this out in the open now."

Clara kissed him back gently and laid back on the bed. "I am glad as well." She murmured pulling him down beside her. "I think it is something we should keep between ourselves though." She added with a smile. "I don't think the rest of the village will be nearly as understanding as I was." She wondered if her acceptance of him had something to do with her parents. They had always taught her to have a respect for the old legends and she never understood why. Her mind tried to latch onto the though but now that she was laying down, sleep was tugging at her and making her eyes feel heavy. She nuzzled lightly against his arm, a small smile on her lips as she quickly drifted off to sleep.

He didn't find sleep nearly as quickly as she did and he would watch as she drifted to sleep, her beautiful eyes slowly falling into a closed state signifying that she was either asleep or at least trying to sleep but soon when her breath became more slow and made silent breaths showing that she was in fact asleep. He pressed his index finger against her neck gently so as to not wake her up and leaning closer to her he placed a gentle peck on her cheek before he would feel tire grasp him from his waking hours, feeling the tug he would finally fall asleep after he would say quietly almost a whisper. "Good night Clara, I love you." It was a simple phrase but for many it always meant so much, he didn't expect her to hear him but he wanted to hear himself say it especially since she had already said it to him and he didn't want to make her feel he wasn't as invested she was. All of these thoughts flew away, when his eyes drifted closed and he found the soft embrace of sleep.

The next morning dawned cold and bright, snow drifting across the small dirt roads that lined the village. Clara and Casavir left the in early after breakfast and spent a good portion of the day making their way back to the farm. Part way there Clara stopped and peered down what looked like an over run hunting trail. With a grin she grabbed him by the hand, her breath curling up in the air like smoke.

"Come on, lets do something fun today!" She quipped pulling him into the woods. About a mile in the woods opened up on a small pond that was frozen over. She smiled at him and slid onto it like an excited child spinning as she went.

He enjoyed his breakfast at the inn before they would make their journey back to her home and following her down the path that would take them through the woods, giving her a look when she mentioned 'something fun' and was practically dragged along the snowy forest floor until they came to a small pond. He had never did this before not on ice and he was a bit nervous trying it, he placed his foot on the icy surface to see if it was safe and he began to take steady step after step being careful not to fall but he was a bit off balance. "This doesn't seem safe," he said as he would stumble a bit and lowered himself so he didn't fall and break the ice this was definitely not his forte.