Elements United

-Chapter 12-

The next morning, Sakura had woken up before me, as I smelled fish as I began to wake up.
"Morning Yuki," said Sakura.
"Morning," I said, rubbing my eyes. As soon as I opened my eyes, I saw Sakura putting out a fire that she had most likely used to cook breakfast, and more importantly, the fish that she had caught and cooked.
"I went ahead and got breakfast together," she said as she picked the fish up. "I wasn't sure what you'd like, so I went ahead and caught two freshwater trout. It should be plenty of food."
I nodded. "Yeah, fish sounds amazing," I said, licking my lips.
Sakura gave me an odd look. "Um, Yuki, are you okay?"
I nodded. "Of course I am. Why do you ask? I mean, I do love fish," I said, resisting every urge to lunge out and grab the fish.
"Well," Sakura said with a sigh. "I'm not sure if you know this, but you became your human-dragon hybrid form."
"I...did?" I asked before I hit myself with my tail, confining what she had said. "Ouch...I shouldn't have done that so hard..."
Sakura slightly giggled. "You can be so funny, you know that?"
I sighed. "Yeah. Anyways, if you can't already tell, I kinda love to eat fish."
Sakura smirked. "I can tell."

She then set one down on her quiver, most likely to keep it from getting dirty. With the other one, she took her hand back, and threw it at me.
With no hesitation, I leaped and grabbed the fish in mid-air, and downed it in one foul swoop. "Mmm, very good," I said before changing back to my full-fledged human form.
Sakura sighed as she picked up her own fish. "Man, I never knew a dragons were so...crazy for fish. Regardless, we should get moving. If we start moving now, we might be able to get there in three days, as we will be going uphill."
I sighed, picking up the Kage no Katta, putting it back in its sheath. "Well, I can get us there in about four hours or so."
Sakura finished her fish, and gave me a look. "...are you suggesting that we fly there?"
I nodded. "Exactly. We need to get up to the top of the mountain as fast as we can. But before we get going, how well do you handle the cold?"
She shrugged. "Pretty good, I guess. I mean, as long as it's above fourty or so."
I bit my lip. "...in that case, you'll probably be really cold. It's almost always below freezing in the Fubus Mountains. I mean, if you want, I can give you my jacket."
Sakura nodded. "That sounds like a good idea."
I then gave her my jacket, and became my dragon form.

Once Sakura had gotten herself situated, I began to trudge through the forest a bit, as I knew that there was a clearing up ahead, as I recognized this area from when we were heading down the mountain.
A few minutes later, I spotted a large rock, and just as I had remembered, it was in the middle of a clearing that was large enough for me to take off from. With a sigh, I climbed up on the rock.
"You ready?" I asked Sakura.
"Ready when you are," she said as she wrapped her arms around my neck.
I nodded, and took to the sky.

It seemed like a long time, but about five or so hours later, we arrived at Mount Blitz, and a feeling of relief coursed through my body as I landed on the snow covered ground.
"Feels good to finally be back," I said with a sigh.
I then felt Sakura jump off my back. "So this is where you and Fubuki live?"
I nodded. "Yeah. It is. In-" I then cut myself off, as I felt something...odd. "Hey, do you feel that, Sakura?" I asked as I looked around.
She nodded. "I do...but I don't know what it is..."
I then sensed something coming from the east, which was odd, considering there was no mountain or anything for an avalanche to happen. "Sakura! Get behind me! Something is coming from the east!"
She did so, and almost immediately, I was hit by a beam of ice, and collapsed to my knees with a grunt of pain. "Nnngh..."
"Y-Yuki! Are you okay?!" Sakura said with a gasp.
I nodded, quickly returning to my feet. "Yeah. But...only Father and I are able to do things like that," I said, slightly trailing off. "Father! Where are you?" I then called out.
"Yuki?! Is that really you?" I heard him call out from the distance.
"Yeah! It's me! Are...are you okay?"
There was about a minute of silence, and then he flew down and landed in front of me. "Yuki...you hadme so worried. Why did you run off?"
I looked down. "Father...I'm sorry...there was nothing I could do to help, so I just ran..."
Father sighed. "It's fine, son. I was able to fend off Moeru. But...I'm glad that you've returned. Have you made a trip to Sanda yet?"
I nodded. "I have, Father."
Father then swept his tail and motioned at Sakura. "And who is this? I assume she's from Sanda, yes?"
I nodded. "This is Sakura, the daughter of the Captain's Guard."
Sakura smiled, and slightly bowed. "I-it's a pleasure to meet you, Fubuki."
Father nodded. "And I can say the same to you, Miss Sakura."
She smiled. "Thank you."
"Wait a second...how did you know that she'd understand you...?" I asked, very confused.
Father sighed. "It's...Yuki, Sakura...there's a lot that needs to be explained. We should probably head back to our cave."
I nodded. "Right. Sakura, hop on my back. It actually isn't too far from here. At most, it'll be five minutes."
Sakura nodded. "Right," she said before jumping on.
Father looked at the both of us. "Are you ready, Sakura? I don't know if Yuki's told you, but I like to go fast!"
Sakura let out a shaky sigh. "Yeah. I'm ready. Just...don't go too fast. I don't want to end up getting sick..."
Father slightly chuckled. "I promise you won't get sick, alright?"
"O-okay..."
Father gave me a slight nod before he took to the sky, and I followed suit, and we began making our way to the cave.