DragonHeart | Minsung

XIV

Two more days had passed since Jisung had discovered that he shared a heart with a dragon, and that the dragon was Minho.

Those two days had gone without any more incidents. Their interactions were still very awkward, and they hadn't spoken much, but they were otherwise okay.

Jisung woke up before Minho. They had still lost sleep over the paranoia that arose from the dragon-slayer attack, which led them to sleep in.

The Prince decided that he'd let Minho sleep while he went down to the stream to wash up.

It could've been ideal to set up their camp along the stream, but they hadn't been able to. They could do it on foot, but it was too steep to bring their horses, and there was no trail leading down to it. It would've been difficult to bring their things downhill without the horses, so they settled nearby instead. They couldn't see the stream from where they were, but they could hear the flowing water.

While Minho was fast asleep, Jisung began making his way down the hill. He lowered himself to the ground to shimmy down at the most steep areas, grabbing onto small trees and such to stable himself. He eventually got to the bottom just fine, but he was glad they decided to not try to do that the night before.

The stream wasn't very big, and the water was cold, but it was also pretty clean. He'd make it work.

Jisung pulled his shirt up and over his head, discarding it on a rock near him and gently placing his mother's ring on top of it. He did the same to his pants, leaving him in his underwear.

He checked for the soup bar that's he'd put in his pocket, hoping he hadn't dropped it on the way down. Luckily he hadn't, so he took it out. There were one bits of leaves and grass on it, but that was easy to wash off.

The water was only deep enough to barely cover his legs when he sat with them crossed. He did his best to get clean, or at least as clean as the circumstances would allow. It wouldn't be as good as a warm bubble bath back at the castle would be, but it wasn't so bad after adjusting to the cold temperature. The soap helped too.

While reaching around to clean his back, he noticed a patch of skin that seemed to be really tough, and dry. Not having his usual lavish routine of bathing and skin care seemed to be taking its toll. There was nothing he'd be able to do about it, so he moved on.

It didn't take him long to finish washing up. He was about to get out of the water, but he heard rustling behind him. The sound startled him, so he quickly turned around.

He was met with the sight of a mountain lion. The big cat had her ears pinned back, teeth bared, and large claws on display.

"Shit!" Jisung yelled. He was taken aback by the animal, fear striking through him. He didn't know much about mountain lions, but he knew he was in danger.

He jumped back when he was startled, but that only caused him to trip over a rock, falling backwards into the shallow water. He tried to catch himself with his arms. That did prevent him from hitting his head, but his back still collided with the rocks below.

Jisung yelled again, this time in pain from the fall. The mountain lion still kept it's defensive stance, glaring eyes glued on the man in the water.

"Go! Get away from me!" He yelled at the animal, flailing his arms at it as he managed to get back up on his feet.

He slowly began backing up, being careful as to not fall this time. The cat lunged at him, still keeping her distance, but clearly giving him a warning. He was worried that the next one wouldn't just be a warning.

He knew that he could be over dramatic at times, but he was sure he'd be done for. Tears began to well up in his eyes, but before he knew it, the familiar blue scaled creature was standing sliding down the hill to his defense.

Minho rushed to put himself between Jisung and the mountain lion, his large claws splashing water on both of them. He held his ground, long, sharp teeth bared and the spikes along his back stuck up.

The cat didn't think twice before standing down, and Jisung didn't blame her. It was terrifying. Minho was terrifying.

After the cat was out of sight, Minho turned back to Jisung. "Are you okay?"

His eyes were filled with worry, but Jisung couldn't look at them without shivers shooting up his spine. He was used to the soft brown eyes that had caught his attention when they first met. The harsh blue iris's and vertical-slit pupils were an unsettling sight.

Minho noticed that the fearful expression on the other's face hadn't faded. At first he thought that he had just been so shocked by the mountain lion, but his stomach dropped when he came to the realisation that it was him. That fear in his eyes was for him.

He took a couple steps back, giving Jisung the space he needed to collect his bearings. While he was getting out of the water, Minho shifted back into his human form, to make the Prince more comfortable.

"I'm fine..." Jisung said after gathering his clothes. He stepped back into his pants and pulled the shirt back on, wincing from the pain in his back as he did so.

As the adrenaline wore off, he became more aware of the pain caused by his fall. Minho felt it as well. It was the pain from Jisung's back striking the rocks in the steam that had woken him up, but it had already begun to fade on his end.

"Let's get back to camp..." Jisung muttered.