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Living with a dragon was surprisingly uneventful.
The most surreal part being that Chihiro was indeed living with Haku, sharing a cramped but comfortable apartment close to her university and closer still to the ocean. It took some time for the two to fall into a semi regular pattern, but as Chihiro stood in the middle of a furnishing store picking out rubber mats to place below the bedroom window (Haku had a penchant for forgetting about doors and ze was always, always soaking wet) she could not help but feel particularly proud by How Very Adult the entire situation was. It wasn’t even that she was living with another person, a person who shared her bed and would ease out the knots in her back with gentle hands, it was more a quiet sense of accomplishment over subconsciously knowing how to shop for two, for keeping up with her checkbook and remembering to lower her voice when getting ready for school as to not wake up her slumbering partner.
Chihiro eventually settled on a plain green mat before shuffling over to the checkout, running through her mental list of errands as she absentmindedly handed over the change to the tired looking checkout boy, smiling as she grabbed her bags and humming a tune that played on the radio as she was brushing her teeth earlier that morning. The rain that dripped onto her uncovered head as she stepped outside startled Chihiro from her reverie and, bracing herself against the cold, she wrapped the thick wool sweater she nabbed from Haku’s closet tighter around her chilled body before making the trek home.
Home, Chihiro contemplated as she turned the key into the lock and shoved the door open with her hip, was a fairly new concept to her. After returning from the spirit world she unsurprisingly moved into her new house with her parents, started her new school, made new friends, wrote letters to her old ones, and generally tried to move on with her life by becoming a functioning human being. However, though she tried to forget about her time at the bathhouse, something fundamental seemed to be missing from her life.
Once when Chihiro was sixteen she walked into the woods behind her house and just kept walking, not really caring where she was going but some part hoping to come across the red plaster building she remembered from so long ago. It took two days for the neighborhood watch to find her, and her mother cried and cried and asked what she and her father could do to make Chihiro happier. It was then that she decided she couldn’t waste her life on memories forever, instead throwing herself into her school work and her family, going out with friends and some more-than friends, always resisting running back into the forest screaming for things she could hardly recall.
That was all well and good, but as Chihiro moved into the city to start college she was filled with an overwhelming sense of panic that this action was her cutting ties with that part of her life for good, and so it seemed almost ludicrous for Haku to be leaning against the hallway as she walked out of lecture, head leaning against her friend’s as they whispered about the professor. Hir eyes had been fever bright, wide and set with determination, and Chihiro would have walked past without noticing hir if it hadn’t been for the large puddle of water surrounding hir feet as she walked by, shoes slipping on the linoleum, hands braced for impact against the ground before the overwhelming smell of earth and wet grass filled her nostrils, strong arms supporting her -always, always supporting her- as she stared up into eyes she could only recall when the rain beat against her window.
That was then, and now was a slightly clean apartment with quiet neighbors and a marimo named Clarence on the mantle above the fireplace. Chihiro shoved the door open with her hip, flicking on the lights to the entry way and shrugging off her jacket. “I’m home!” Rather than echoing into the empty apartment, Chihiro’s voice seemed to sink into the crowded space, melting into the futon and being absorbed by the eggshell blue walls. Damp boots were pulled off before being neatly placed in the entryway closet, sock covered feet padding into the living room with Chihiro’s recent purchases hanging in the crook of one arm. She crouched down and adjusted the mat, humming contentedly now that she wouldn’t have to scold Haku for getting the floors wet when ze wandered in in the middle of the night.
The rain pattered softly on the window, Chihiro watched for a while as the droplets merged into each other; almost dozing off against the windowsill before an errant thought of homework jolted her into alertness. Her spine popped as she stretched out her arms and yawned -like a little cat, Haku would pique from over hir coffee mug- shuffling into the bedroom to retriever her backpack and laptop. The sheets were rumpled in a way unlike how she had left them, so obviously Haku had gotten up at some point after she had left a fleeting kiss against hir sleep furrowed brow on her way out the door this morning. Heading into the living room for the second time that day, her thoughts were occupied with upcoming deadlines, and so was not paying attention when she ended up stepping on something that left a sharp pain in the bridge of her foot not unlike a stray lego piece.
“Ow! What was that?” Chihiro leaned against the wall she was closest too, bending her throbbing foot up against her other thigh as to examine what had embedded itself in her skin. There was a shining white scale, about as long as her pinky finger and a few inches wide, digging into the arch of her heel. Disgruntled, she plucked it out and examined it. One of Haku’s scales gleamed up at her, the shiny surface reflecting the overhead light as she rubbed the sting from her foot with one hand.
It wasn’t as if it was a novelty to see Haku’s scales around the apartment, although they were usually observed attached to hir body. While Haku didn’t have a true preference what form ze liked to present hirself as, it was usually more practical to not have a twenty foot coiling serpent lounging around the apartment. There were the occasional days where Haku would be found in all hir dragon glory, thrown across a pile of pillows and twisted up on the ground. Chihiro usually liked to worm her way in the middle of the setup, leaning against the steady rise and fall of Haku’s belly as she did her assigned reading or browsed the internet for funny videos. Ze couldn’t really talk back when ze was in that form, but Haku would sometimes let out little rumbles or hums as Chihiro chatted hir ear off, sometimes thwapping her leg with hir tail when she said something particularly ridiculous.
It was a bit unsettling she thought, casting a discerning glance at the floor and noting that there were other wayward scales besides the one she had stepped on. They had been living together for half a year and she had never noticed any signs of.. molting? Pushing herself off the wall, she half limped around the room while gathering up the rest of the sharp pseudo mines, dumping them all into a bowl on the kitchen counter before contemplating how to approach this when Haku got back.
There was of course the humorous approach, “I thought we agreed no pets that shed?” or the concerned “Is this some spirit disease do you need to go to a spirit hospital does chicken noodle soup even work on dragons?” or maybe she would just go and pluck through the stack of magazines in the bathroom, finding a nice DIY project to made a lampshade out of your partners dead skin. While tempting, she doubted that Haku would appreciate the sentiment.
The clock above the kitchen table read just a little past seven, so Chihiro busied herself with little chores like wiping down the table and starting on dinner. It was as she was dicing the mango that she felt arms wrap themselves around her waist. Haku nuzzled hir face into Chihiros warm neck, and she elbowed hir lightly in the side as her shoulders shuddered slightly. “When did you come in? Your nose is cold. Remove it.” Haku seemed to press closer at her nagging, huffing out a breath that tickled the hair at her nape.
“Good evening to you too. And just now actually, what are you making?” Chihiro turned her head slightly to give a peck to Haku’s mouth, smiling to herself as ze hummed contentedly.
“Salmon with mango salsa and a vinaigrette salad.” Haku blinked slowly and stared at the colorful array of foods that Chihiro was sweeping into a mixing bowl.
“That’s oddly fancy for you, did I forget the date?” Haku’s brow furrowed and motioned as if to remove hir arms from around their comfortable position against Chihiro’s tummy, wanting to flee the scene if this was going to turn into a How Dare You Forget What Today Is argument. Chihiro lifted a hand from the knife and readjusted Haku’s arms so that ze were snugly secured before she reached over to wash her hands.
“No, don’t worry. You didn’t forget an anniversary or something. That Brazilian exchange student I was telling you about invited me over the other day and she and her girlfriend gave me cooking lessons. I thought you’d appreciate something that wasn’t takeout for once. I’ve just been really busy with school.”
Haku relaxed against her spine and nipped playfully on her ear. “Can’t say that I’m sad to not be eating instant noodles again. I’m going to go change, do you need help with anything?”
Chihiro nodded her head without looking up from where she was tossing the salad. “No, go ahead. I went ahead and ran a bath for you so the water should still be hot if you jump in now. I’ll call when dinner’s ready.” She didn’t resist as Haku removed hirself from her person, glancing up briefly to watch as ze walked into their shared bedroom. Chihiro shook the cobwebs from her mind and turned to sizzling the salmon in the frying pan, trying to remember the list of seasonings Martina had attempted to beat into her head a few days ago. She turned the heat down to let the olive oil simmer while she set the table, laying down the plates and grabbing two wine glasses from the shelf. Haku padded into the room just as she was filling their glasses, towel hanging from hir neck and hair still dripping. Chihiro walked over to hir and lifted the towel up from around thin shoulders, running it over damp hair and laughing at Haku’s disgruntled expression as she manhandled hir head. Chihiro bopped hir on the nose before turning around to sit herself at the table, grinning as ze tried to get hir messy mane under control.
“Come on, before your plate gets cold.” Haku yawned, covering hir mouth with hir hand before sitting down next to Chihiro, thighs touching under the table. Ze leaned over to press a kiss to her temple, before picking up a fork and digging in.
Haku’s eyes widened considerably at the first bite. “Are you sure you made this? You didn’t just buy it from the store and dress it up to make it look homemade?” Chihiro kicked Haku under the table in annoyance.
“So ungrateful. Yes I made it myself. If you make any more snappy remarks I’ll take it away and make you cup ramen.” Haku didn’t respond, but acknowledged the threat by taking even measured bites of the food, pausing only to take a sip of red wine. Ze turned to hir girlfriend who was chewing absently, eyes unfocused.
“How was your day today? The place looks like you tidied up. I saw that you bought a mat for under the window.” Chihiro hummed in acknowledgment, placing her shoulder against Haku’s bonier one as she responded.
“I went to the store after school today, I’m just trying to find things to keep me busy while I procrastinate on this project. And I was cleaning, only because the place was a mess.” Chihiro heaved herself up from the table, moseying into the kitchen as Haku gave her a quizzical look. She retrieved the bowl full of scales and placed in in front of Haku’s finished plate. “I’m all for exfoliating, but I’d rather not step on your evidence. Your scales are pointy.” Haku plucked one scale from the obnoxiously large pile and sighed sheepishly.
“It’s usually around this time every year that I shed my old coat. My winter one is much thicker; I don’t fly as much during the cold months so the scales don’t need to be as thin and aerodynamic.” Chihiro started to rub the tension from Haku’s shoulders, ze flicked tired eyes up at her in silent thanks.
“Does it hurt? Having your scales fall out?”
“No, it’s just a nuisance. And it feels kind of itchy when some patches are still the old scales and some are new. I feel off balanced.”
Chihiro unraveled a particularly hard knot at the nape of Haku’s nape, and ze groaned. “Do you want me to do anything for you? Would grooming help?” Haku considered her words before responding, leaning back into the movements of her fingers.
“If you could just check to see if there’s any loose ones and then take them off for me? It won’t hurt and it would make the molting go a lot faster.” Chihiro patted hir lightly on the back, standing up herself and popping her back with a grunt.
“Well, let’s take this party to the bedroom then, shall we?” Chihiro tossed an exaggerated wink over her shoulder, sashaying ridiculously into the bedroom. She heard Haku pick up their plates and put them in the sink before following after her, shutting the door and turning off the main light as Chihiro had already flicked on the bedside lamp. She patted the pile of cushions that were splayed in the right hand corner of their room, and Haku quickly changed forms before slinking over, resting hir head in her lap. Chihiro petted the sea foam colored fur that traveled down hir back, and left out a soft “Oh!” noticing for the first time the silvery grey colored scales that were spread in patches along hir torso.
“You look like a Dalmatian. I didn’t realize they’d be a different color.” Haku huffed out a puff of smoke, rolling one eye back to look at her unamused. “It’s true! I didn’t say I didn’t like them though. The color is very pretty. Grey is just so in season right now.” Chihiro felt a warning prickle of claws against her thigh and giggled. “Okay mx grumpy gills, be still.”
The next few hours passed in relative silence, Chihiro spent her time smoothing her calloused hands over Haku’s back and belly feeling for anything that was sticking up slightly. By the time she was done, her fingers ached from the numbing task and Haku was now almost completely covered in opal-esque grey, long torso resembling a storm at sea, curling in on itself and roiling with dark waters. The fallen scales surrounded their bodies, littering the floor like apple blossoms, and Chihiro’s eyes dropped.
“Hey, Haku?” Chihiro prodded her partner with a gentle hand, twisting her head to observe hir closed eye leads and measured rise and fall of Haku’s sleeping chest. “Never mind.” Chihiro stretched up as carefully as she could as to not wake hir, flicking off the lamp and blinking as the room was thrown into darkness, the only light seeping in in the form of fractured moonlight. Chihiro snuggled down into the sleeping form, neatly adjusted one clawed limb so she didn’t spear her stomach while she slept. She hadn’t realized how tired she was until she let all the stress from the day melt off, petting Haku’s hair absently before yawning out a tired “Love you. ‘Night.” Haku slept on, but the end of hir tail wrapped loosely around Chihiro’s ankle, and she smiled in her sleep.