Dragon's Heart by kathryn **All usual disclaimers apply [ ] - indicates character thoughts The normally suave Hiko Seijuro was no less arrogant, but quite a bit colder than he cared to be. As the blinding snow howled around him, he uttered a heartfelt curse. He'd been sure the storm wouldn't roll in until after midnight, and Hiko was not a man who enjoyed being wrong. With another curse on his lips, he paused to get his bearings. His hand shielded his eyes as he spied the low, dark form of a small building through the trees. Ahhhh...yes. That run down-old cabin would offer a few hours shelter and allow the storm to break. Then he could continue his journey. It was barely nightfall, and his (most of the time keen) weather-sense told him that this blizzard was furious but brief. Storm or calm, this was one journey he was determined to complete. As he entered the cabin and forced the door closed against the wind, he was aware of the rooms' other occupant. He calmly leaned back against the door, and surveyed her with no outward show of surprise. She rose gracefully from the low stool that was the room's only furniture. She let fall the heavy blanket she had been huddled in, and straightening her shoulders, she returned a gaze no less arrogant than his own. "Love, I know you couldn't bear the thought of not seeing me, but you would have been warmer at the inn." He added with a wicked smile, "I would have been there before morning." Arching one elegant brow, she favored him with a pitying look and replied, "Knowing how anxious you were to see me, I thought it best if I met you here, least you freeze off something important in the snow." His eyes narrowed as she continued with a smirk, "It would be terrible if your...toes...were to suffer frostbite." The silence stretched out between them as each savored the sheer pleasure of the others' presence. Finally, she crossed the room to stand before him. "Anyway," she said with a shrug, "You were late!" With a sigh, he smiled down at her. "Woman, you always were the impatient one!" "Since when have we let a little thing like a snow storm come between us? Besides," she pouted, "I was tired of waiting." She took the final step to bring her into his arms. As his arms closed around her, she lay her head against his broad chest with a small purr of contentment. After a moment his gentle embrace tightened, causing her to look questioningly up at him. "Koishii, he breathed, "it IS good to see you again!!" His mouth lowered as his lips began to rub back and forth against hers. At the slow caress, both could feel the banked fire of their passion beginning to stir. His hands stroked across his chest as she reacquainted herself with the rippling muscles she found there. Her fingers trailed up to his shoulders and down his arms to his wrists. She lifted his hands and placed them on her body, molding his long fingers to cup her full breasts. "I was tired of waiting," she repeated as she gazed unflinchingly into his eyes. As he returned her steady gaze, he gave her the answer she most wanted to hear. "I think we've both waited long enough." Releasing her, he swept his mantle from his shoulders and spread it on the floor before them . Without another word, he simply held out his hand in silent invitation. With shock on her face she hesitated, then placed her hand trustingly in his. "Hiko...your mantle...?!?" "My love, it's never served a better purpose." Her eyes traveled slowly from the heavy white mantle, spread so inviting on the floor, back to his face. Deep blue eyes gazed into warm brown as they shared a memory nearly 20 years old. That mantle... Pulling her into his arms, he molded her slender body against his muscular frame. Gently his fingers loosened and began to comb through her long hair. It flowed like a dark, silken waterfall down her back, past her hips. His hands cupped the back of her head as he tilted her face for his kiss. She rose on her toes to meet his mouth. After long moments, their mouths parted as she boldly stroked his lower lip with the tip of her tongue. As she began to nibble at his lip Hiko groaned into her mouth. His breathing labored, he ran his hands across her shoulders, down her back and past her waist, to grasp her hips and pull her tightly against him. With a soft whimper, she rubbed her body against the hard evidence of his desire. His mouth left hers to graze across her cheek, and bit gently at her earlobe. "Koishii," he mummer huskily, "Aishiteru." She shivered at both the physical sensations his mouth invoked and with the emotion that his words stirred within her. His hands had been busy dealing with her clothing, and suddenly she felt cold air replace his warm caress at her breasts. Her nipples tightening in reaction, she raised her hands to shield herself from the cold. Instead her fingers tangled in his long hair as he bent to take her into his mouth. Her spine arched her body against him as she sought to deepen his touch. Her hands fisted in his soft hair as he drew as much of her breast as he could into his mouth, his tongue swirling repeatedly around the taunt and aching peak. She cried out as his mouth left one breast to trail across her body to the other. As he worshipped at her breasts, he was skillfully removing the remainder of her clothing. As the last garment fell away, the cold air traced a shiver down her spine. Then his roaming hand found it's way between her thighs. As he gently parted her legs, his arm was a warm support across her back. His thumb caressed the bud of her womanhood, before a long finger slid along her damp folds and gently thrust into her. Her hands clenched convulsively on his shoulders. As his hand thrust again, she gasped. As her knees buckled, he gently lowered her body to the soft inner lining of his mantle. He left a trail of kisses down her body and across her stomach. He paused a moment to savor the sight of her lost in passion - her head thrown back, her body arched to meet his touch. He gently spread her thighs and bent his head to her. His mouth closed around her, his tongue swirling and darting. Gradually he increased the tempo and pressure of his caress until waves of pleasure crashed down on her body. Her arms held her safe and protected as she sobbed his name. After a moment her eyes opened, and she cupped his face in her hands. "Come with me," she whispered against his mouth. The remainder of his clothing seemed to magically disappear as he pressed his magnificent body to hers. Boldly she reached down to caress and guide him. With a groan he buried himself deep within her embrace. Her body welcomed him home as he began the slow steady rhythm that he knew drove her wild. She felt the tension begin again, low in her stomach. As her body tried to quicken the pace, his hands grasped her hips, holding her to the rhythm he had set. Slowly he let the sensations build. Her nails dug into his back, her head thrashed from side to side as she fought for control. He caught her face between his palms, forcing her eyes to meet his. As she drowned in the passion she found in his gaze, he said one word. "Now." He rotated his hips against her, and she was lost again in the estacy he always brought her. Her muscles clenching around him pushed him over the edge as he joined her in the seemingly endless rush of pleasure. As his head dropped to her chest, she pillowed it against her breasts, and took a moment to revel in the fact that she had returned the pleasure that he had brought to her. He rolled to curl at her side, and she pulled the blanket over them both. As he pulled her into his arms, he drawled, "Well...was it worth waiting for?" "Arrogant ass," she growled in mock annoyance as she lightly slapped the side of his head. "Go to sleep. A man your age needs his rest." She nearly laughed aloud at the disgruntled look on his face. Then, with a contented sigh, he snuggled his face against her neck and closed his eyes. As he slept, she ran a hand across the mantle underneath them. Her mind traveled back to the first timed she'd seen him with that mantle... She'd been 15 years old when she came to the mountain to live with her grandfather. She'd come to study the ancient shrine there, not to meet a boy, until she'd seen HIM. At 18 years old, he'd already had a man's body, and was working to perfect it. He was deep into his training and treated her with the same distant courtesy he had shown to all the other girls who gravitated to him with their hearts in their eyes. His only true love was Hiten Mitsurui Ryuu, and he pursued it with steadfast devotion. Walking back to her grandfathers' house early one evening she'd come across him practicing his technique in a clearing. As he leapt and turned, barely seeming to touch the ground, she could only stare openmouthed at the fluid grace and beauty of his movements. Suddenly, he paused and stared directly into her eyes...and she was lost. She turned and ran home through the darkening woods, with burning cheeks and a feeling in her body she'd never known before. She smiled in the darkness at the memory of those first turbulent emotions. She'd been too innocent then to even understand what her feelings signified. The next day when he greeted her with his normal distant courtesy, she wondered if she'd imagined the passion she'd seen in her eyes. As she shyly returned his greeting, she decided she would do her sighing in private, and not be one of the ninnies who gathered to watch for him to pass by. She hid her feelings, and over the years they'd become friends, comfortable in each other's company. It had been a crisp autumn evening nearly 5 years after that fateful realization in the woods that he had come to find her with blood on his hands, dazed grief in his eyes, and that mantle in his arms. He'd mastered his succession technique, and in the tradition of Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuu, he'd taken his shishou's name and his life in one stroke of his blade. As he clung to her in heartsick desperation, she shared with him the only solace she knew how to give. As she boldly released her long held love for him, he responded to her like a drowning man to an extended hand. She'd been so innocent... Her lips curled as she recalled how there'd been no hesitation or embarrassment between them as he'd spread the mantle on the ground and loved her for the first time, there under the trees. She helped him find an affirmation of life in the face of death. He'd hurt her then, and had tried to draw away, but she hadn't allowed him to leave her. She'd kissed him through her brief tears, and arched her body against his as she wrapped her arms around him, holding him close. And they'd brought each other the pleasure then that they continued to find all through these years. They'd seen each other discretely through that fall and winter, as he began to come to grips with who he was and what his destiny would be. She'd left the mountain soon after the spring thaw, but returned not long after that to find that he'd taken a student. As they watched the small red-haired boy practice in the warm summer sun, they'd shared a sad smile, knowing at least one grief the boy would someday have to face. She'd wondered how that boy would ease his pain when the time came. With a surprising inheritance from her grandfather, she was able to travel as she pleased. She loved to seek out ancient legends and forgotten places. She'd gained quite a reputation as a scholar over the years. So she traveled. But she always found her way back to the mountain eventually. As she studied his sleeping face, she wondered at the choices she'd made for herself. She'd known from the beginning that she would never had a normal life with Hiko. The daily routines of home, children and a wife were not in his future. But she'd loved this man more than half of her life, her heart still followed the choices she'd made so long ago. She shook her head ruefully-- she could never deny her heart where he was concerned. And she'd never had any doubt of his love for her. He'd shown her his other self, the true soul he kept hidden from the outside world behind a mask of sarcasm and conceit. So tomorrow she'd continue her travels, and her studies. He'd return to his kiln and his solitude. But it wasn't tomorrow yet... As she brushed the hair from his face, she softly called him by the name he'd had when they first met, "Ryo...annatta..." Their eyes met in a moment of anticipation before he energetically pulled her back into his arms. "Not bad for an old man," she laughed. "I'll show you old..." he growled against her neck. The blanket fell away, but neither noticed. If she has any regrets, she doesn't feel them now. She is here with her lover--her mate. He is Hiko Seijuro in all his grace and arrogance, and she feels she might well be the luckiest woman in the world!!! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ NOTES: Thanks to Tracy Lim and her fic "Midsummer Night's Dream" for the name "Ryo". Thanks to Madam Hydra for putting an ancient shrine on Hiko's mountain in "That Which Lingers." Thanks to Joy and Callista-chan for the pre-read and words of encouragement Free, fast e-mail accessible anytime, anywhere http://www.imaginemail.com