Ninja Dragons

Without purpose Amalie entered a pet shop in the middle of a narrow street riddled with little stores, cafés and bars. A tall, slender young woman with blond manga hair and largely Gothic clothes caught her immediate attention. Amalie's mouth slightly opened, as she was seized by insane head tingles. The middle-aged woman behind the counter greeted her friendly. Amalie greeted her back. Like she was observing herself from the outside, she approached the manga hair Goth and said the following words, totally in control:

"Hey..." Her hand lightly tapped her shoulder. - "I know this comes out of the blue, but I love your style! Your hair... Your long, black, shiny leather jacket..." A soft giggle. - "Your DeviantART purse."

"Why, thank you," the woman said, before her previously serious face burst out in a wide smile. Amalie reached out her hand:

"My name is Amalie."

"Henriette," the woman said. The two shook hands. Amalie could not stop smiling. She looked at her long finger nails, which were painted black.

"Your style is so... thorough, Henriette," Amalie said. - "Even your nails are... Wow...!"

"Thank you," she said with a giggle.

"People compliment each other way too seldom these days," the middle-aged woman said from behind the counter.

"Totally true," Amalie said seriously. Henriette concurred. She looked around the small pet shop, feeling her cheeks boiling. She resisted the urge to lead a shivering hand through her hair. To be frank, she was so nervous right now that doing so would probably cause her to poke her eye out.

"Yeah, your compliment totally made my day," Henriette said. - "Was it Amalie?"

"M-hm," Amalie said, flattered that she remembered her unusual name. - "You're not from around, are you?"

"No, I'm just passing through town," she said. - "I'm gonna catch a plane tonight. I'm from Norway."

"Norway? Wow. That's a coincidence. I just read a Norwegian short story collection not one hour ago." Henriette let out a 'hm!'. - "So... You have a plane to catch? Wanna... grab a coffee in the mean time?"

Henriette stood there contemplating for a brief moment.

"Yeah, coffee sounds like a good idea," she said.

"There's a place called Isola only fifty meters from here," the woman behind the counter said. - "A very cozy place with great coffee, cookies, smoothie and 1930's music."

"Wanna go there, Henriette?" Amalie asked. Henriette nodded with a smile.

"It's so great when people come together like this," the woman said with a smile on her face. - "You two have a nice day!"

"Likewise," Henriette said. Amalie sent the woman a quick look, something vaguely resembling a smile appearing on her face. She followed the tall, slender young woman out of the tiny shop, so nervous that she had to take deep breaths to avoid panicking.

"Are you a cat or dog person?" Amalie asked in a bid to avoid what she interpreted as awkward silence.

"A lover of felines," Henriette said with a short giggle. - "I just bought a toy for my cat back home to play with." She took it out of her purse. It was a small, fluffy Planet Earth. Amalie smiled as she touched it, touching the soft skin of Henriette's milk-white hand in the process.

"It's fluffy," she said with a giggle. - "I like it. Your cat's gonna love it."

They entered Isola. Generic piano music was playing in the background. The smell of coffee filled the air. The premises were half full, and most the clientèle were people in their 20's, just like Amalie and presumably Henriette.

"Let's sit over by the stairs," Amalie said.

"Oki," Henriette said.

Amalie took off her black winter coat and placed it on the chair. Henriette took off her black, shiny leather coat and white-striped scarf. She had a black leather choker around her neck, from which a small, rectangular dragon pictogram was hanging. The two paved their way through the many tables, heading over to the counter. Behind the counter a petite, red-haired girl was standing, dressed in a red dress with white dots.

"Good morning, what can I get you?" she asked with a smile. She was wearing braces.

"A caramel latte, please," Amalie said.

"A cappucino milkshake," Henriette said.

Soon the two were seated by their small table by the stairs.

"Are you on DeviantART?" Amalie asked, looking at Henriette's purse.

"I am," she replied, taking a slurp from her milkshake through a black straw. - "I study computer graphics at the University of Battersby. First year. Right now me and five others are busy developing a computer game for cell phones."

"Cool!" Amalie exclaimed intrigued. - "What kinda game is that?"

"Ninja dragons!" Wide, threatrical eyes. A warm giggle. Amalie giggled herself as well.

"Ninja dragons? How's that even possible?"

"In my world, anything's possible." She took out her tablet from the purse. - "Wanna see my DeviantART site?"

"Sure."

Henriette opened the website. Amalie cast an impressed look at her drawings. They were so clean-cut and consistent. And maybe overly dramatic as well. One drawing named "Self Portrait" showed Henriette as a hybrid between human and dragon, flames coming out of her nostrils, tears coming out of her eyes. Amalie's mouth slightly opened.

"That is beautiful...!" she said. - "You're a great artist, Henriette!" She briefly touched her shoulder.

"Thank you, Amalie," she replied with a modest smile. - "My dream is to become a computer game developer, a graphic artist. For some huge company like EA or Remedy." She looked at Amalie, her kind, green eyes twinkling in the grayish daylight coming in through the old-fashioned windows of the premises. - "How about you? What do you do?"

"I'm a math teacher." Henriette let out an intrigued 'hm!'. - "Right now I teach at some island just off the coast of Sersby."

"The Shadow City?" Amalie made a brief nod. - "Yup, I've heard about that. It always rains there. And some raging alcoholic named Adolf Lupino lives there too." She shuddered. - "Never been to that city. I don't plan on going there either. It has a certain... reputation."

Another slurp from the milkshake. Another sip from the caramel latte. Amalie looked at the pendant from the black leather choker that Henriette was wearing.

"I like your necklace," she said. Henriette smiled as the played with it.

"Thank you," she said. - "My best friend back in Norway has a necklace just like mine, except that she has a pictogram of a werewolf on it. I like dragons. She likes werewolves." She then leaned over the table. - "What's your fetish?"

Amalie blushed all the way to the bone. A playful, teasing glimmer in Henriette's green eyes.

"F-fetish?" she asked.

"Yeah... You know... Are you a dragon person? Werewolf? Vampire?"

"I..." She swallowed. - "I'm not really into fantasy creatures... You know..." A jovial laugh. - "I'm more a scientist than a fantasist, more down to earth than sky high." Her world salad made no sense. She felt sweat breaking. - "I like cats, though." Another laugh. - "What kind of cat do you have?"

"Norwegian Forest Cat." She took out her classy cell phone. - "Wanna see it?"

"Sure," Amalie said and leaned over the table. Henriette showed a picture of her cat. It had gray and white fur and was lying in a brown, comfy couch. - "Aw, it's adorable! What's it called?"

"Einy," Henriette replied. - "Named after my grandfather Einar."

"Einy... That's so cute." She looked at Henriette's blond hair, and how it cutely hid her left eye. - "Its fur kinda look like your hair."

"Actually it's a wig."

"Really?"

"Yup. My natural hair color is dark brown." She slightly adjusted her blond wig. Amalie could see strands of dark hair under it.

"Why do you wear a wig?"

"I color my hair pitch black, and I haven't done it for some time. I want to hide the aftergrowth. Doesn't look good at the moment. I'm gonna color my hair when I get home." She looked at Amalie's long hair. - "Are you a natural blonde?"

"I am."

"Your hair is very nice." A smile.

"Thank you...!" A wide smile. - "Thank you!" She played with her hair. She gazed at Henriette's cell phone. - "So... Going home on holiday?"

"My mother's aunt just died, so I'm attending her funeral." She put her cell phone back into her purse. - "Since it's spring break from university, I'm staying home for two weeks."

"I'm sorry about your great aunt," Amalie said sincerely.

"Thank you." A slurp from the milkshake.

Amalie took a few deep breaths that she hoped Henriette would not notice. With movements that did not feel like her own she picked out her own red cell phone. She regretted that she had absolutely no pictures on it to show her. She had nothing in her life worth photographing. Absolutely nothing.

"Where in Norway are you from?" she eventually asked in order to break the catastrophically awkward silence.

"A place outside of Oslo, by the Oslofjord. It's a town called Sandefjord. About 40,000 people, way smaller than Battersby. But we have our own airport." She played with her dragon necklace. - "Are you from Battersby?"

"Yeah, from South Battersby. Born and raised there." She led a slightly shivering hand through her hair. - "But I lived for a year abroad. Mainly in Italy. Have you been to Italy?"

"No, but I've been to Denmark. I lived there for a while. I spent most of my second year of upper secondary there, an exchange student. A city called Randers on the Jutland peninsula. About 60,000 people, way smaller than Battersby. But I liked it there. Lots of nice people. Mostly."

"Mostly?"

"Yeah, something bad happened." Henriette got an unmistakable look of discomfort on her face.

"Something bad?" Amalie leaned even closer to her, looking at her with eyes of empathy. - "Something you wanna talk about?" A faint smile. Her hand softly touched Henriette's hand.

"Some guy was stalking me," she said, looking visibly uncomfortable just recalling that event. - "I saw this loner in our class and I invited him for an ice cream at the nearby café. He essentially poured out his life story to me. When he blurted out that he loved me, I said 'okay, this is a bit too intense for me'. From that day he stalked me."

"I'm so sorry to hear that, Henriette." Amalie sighed. - "The same thing happened to my best friend. She did the same thing as you, and her stalker became so intolerable that she had to leave the country."

"My stalker wasn't that bad," Henriette said. - "Luckily my friends managed to scare him off. At least he stopped coming to school one morning. We never saw him again." She shuddered. - "Creepy people..."

"You wanna talk about something else? Something more... uplifting?" A friendly smile.

"Chocolate?" she blurted out, followed by a warming laugh. Amalie giggled, stroking her hand across Henriette's exposed shoulder (she was wearing a white T-shirt with the picture of a dragon on it, the shirt exposed both her shoulders). She looked Amalie in the eye for a couple of seconds, before looking down with a smile on her finished milkshake. - "That shake was darn good."

"Pretty good this latte too," Amalie said. Her stomach let out a barely audible growl. She held to it. - "Hmm... I'm actually quite hungry." Henriette's green gaze met hers. - "Think I'm going to go somewhere to grab a bite. A Chinese restaurant."

Henriette observed how Amalie started putting her black winter coat on.

"Can I come with you?" she asked with a friendly smile. Kind green eyes.

"Yeah, sure," Amalie said with an equally friendly smile. - "You like Chinese?"

"I love Chinese!"

"I kinda figured out, since you like dragons."

Henriette got up and put her black leather coat and scarf on. Amalie put her hand on the small of her leather-covered back as the two exited the café. Henriette cast her a quick side-look, but otherwise she did not appear to mind being touched like that. The head tingles nearly caused the blonde to black out, it was like she was walking on clouds, like she was in a dream. Should she pinch herself to control if she was just dreaming? No for two reasons. One: It was a myth that you could not feel pain in a dream. Two: Suddenly pinching yourself would look a bit weird. Weird was the last thing Amalie wanted to be. The two were now walking through the streets holding hands. None of them said a word. Henriette's breath was heavy, but regular. So was Amalie's. She could have sworn their breathing was synchronized.

"Here it is," Amalie said. The two were standing right outside a Chinese restaurant which Amalie had not been to before. It was small and cozy, a perfect place for gastronomical intimacy. The two entered the restaurant. There was a large dragon painted on the red wall.

"Aww, this place is so cozy!" Henriette purred. Amalie guided her over to a table for two. - "I'm glad I came with you, 'cause I'm starting to get really hungry."

"So am I."

Amalie was seated by the wall, Henriette was seated on her right in an angle. Soon a red-haired, rather unattractive woman in her late 20's came out of the kitchen. With a smile that was contrastively beautiful she handed the two menus.

"Good afternoon," she said. - "Would you like anything to drink?"

"I'll have a pint of pear cider," Henriette said. Amalie's mouth slightly opened.

"Me too," she said hastily.

"Two pints of pear cider it is," the woman said. - "Just let me know when you've decided what to eat." A beautiful smile, before withdrawing back to the kitchen.

Amalie and Henriette were the only guests in the small restaurant. Traditional Chinese music was playing in the background. The smell of rice and wok vegetables filled the room. Henriette let out a relaxed sigh, leaning back on the chair. Amalie was so nervous that she felt like eating the table cloth. Was this a date?

"I love Chinese restaurants," Henriette purred. Her green eyes rested on the large dragon drawing on the wall. Typical Chinese style.

The red-haired woman came with two pints of pear cider.

"Thank you," Henriette said with a smile. Amalie let out something that sounded like a spastic grunt. The woman smiled back, sending Amalie a brief look, before greeting two customers who just arrived. It was an elderly couple.

Amalie browsed the menu. She was hungry like a wolf, a female wolf. A wolfette. Chicken with cashew nuts? Chicken with curry? Duck with ginger sauce? Pork with the restaurant's special sauce? Fish with egg noodles? So many choices. Henriette took a sip from her cider. Amalie did likewise, although her sip was more a frantic guzzle.

Okay. Deep breaths. Take it easy. Try to get out of your head. You are way too much inside your own head at the moment. Be in the moment, not in the past. Not in the future.

The clock on the wall by the kitchen was a quarter shy of two in the afternoon.

"When does your flight leave?" Amalie asked with a surprisingly relaxed voice.

"At seven thirty tonight," Henriette replied. - "I'm gonna take the airport bus at five thirty from the bus terminal." She looked at the clock on the wall. - "I still have plenty of time." A friendly smile. - "So, you're a teacher? Shouldn't you teach now? It's the middle of the week." A teasing glimmer in her beautiful verdant eyes.

"I... I'm having a day off," Amalie said. In fact she could have many days off, for all she knew. At least until the urine sample came back. - "I... I'm..." I'm completely unable to come up with a good explanation. She looked down with a whimper, leading a shivering hand through her hair. Henriette looked at her curiously.

"Is there something wrong?"

"No, no, I'm fine!" Her voice sounded like the whimper of a dying cat, a high-pitched murmur. She took another big sip of her pear cider. Henriette took a way smaller sip.

"I think I'll have duck with ginger sauce," she said after a short while of awkward silence. Amalie still had not settled on what to have. The red-haired woman came over to the table. Henriette placed her order.

"Naturally," she replied with her beautiful smile. She turned to Amalie. - "And you, madam?"

"Chicken with cashew nuts," Amalie replied with a barely audible whimper voice.

"Pardon?" the woman asked. - "I couldn't quite catch that?"

"Chicken with cashew nuts!" Amalie cried, this time with a shrill voice that echoed in the small room. Henriette flinched and the elderly couple turned their heads.

"O-okay," the woman said with a polite, albeit surprised, smile. She withdrew to the kitchen to give the cook the order.

A moment of silence so awkward that it could be cut with a knife. Amalie felt like leaping out the window. Henriette had an awkward look on her face, fondling with her beautiful dragon pendant. Her gaze rested out in the room, although she sent Amalie brief side-looks. Eventually she turned to the blonde, who frankly looked like she was falling apart.

"Are you sure everything's alright, Amalie?" she asked. - "You seem a little bit... I don't know... tense?" Curious eyes. Amalie led a cold, clammy, trembling hand through her hair.

"I'm... I'm not very good at this," she answered with a frail, whimperish voice, on the verge of crying.

"Sitting by a table?" Henriette asked with a calm voice. For some reason that question made Amalie laugh like a drain. It was like somebody removed all the tension in her. She went from being rock solid to being soft as butter. Henriette laughed as well, the two leaning in on each other.

"I'm good at sitting by tables!" Amalie exclaimed, laughing.

"So am I!" Henriette's hand rested on Amalie's shoulder. The blonde was seized by head tingles so massive that it was like she levitated from the chair. Amalie's mouth slightly opened. Henriette looked at her with doe eyes, her mouth opening in the same manner.

With a finger that did not feel like her own, Amalie gently stroked Henriette's soft, warm, milk-white cheek. Her cheek curved as a smile came upon her face.

The two leaned towards each other. Henriette let out a small moan as the two's lips met. The elderly couple raised their eye brows as the two young women exchanged a soft, tender kiss. Then they shrugged. Why not? It was 2013.

Amalie leaned back on the chair. Henriette was looking down with a wide grin, playing with her necklace. Licking her lips. A soft giggle.

At that same moment the red-haired woman came with two plates of dinner, landing them on the table. It was like she somehow knew what had just happened. She sent them a secretive smile, before walking over to the elderly couple.

"Well, the food's arrived," Amalie purred softly.

"Yeah... It has," Henriette purred similarly. - "We should eat."

"M-hm...!"

Henriette's hand disappeared under the table. A fraction of a second later Amalie could feel her long fingernails scratching on her knee. She let out a breathy giggle, nearly swallowing the fork. Henriette sent her a teasing smirk. Her hand reemerged. The two started eating. Or, at least, they attempted to eat. Amalie's hand disappeared under the table only ten seconds later. Henriette let out a small vocalization as Amalie's fingers touched the inside of her warm thighs. Amalie had an almost out-of-character devilish smirk on her bespectacled face. Her fingers slowly moved upwards. Henriette's eyes widened, her cheeks blushed. She twisted her tall, slender body as Amalie was very close to her groin. Henriette stopped her hand.

"We're in a restaurant...!" she said quietly. Her pupils were massively dilated, her cheeks boiling, her breath heavy. Amalie slowly removed her hand.

"Sorry..." she said quietly. - "I'm not very good at this..." She looked down.

"Bullshit," Henriette said and took a sip from her cider. - "You're very good at this, that's why I stopped you." Kind, dark eyes.

She leaned over to Amalie, put her hand around her head and gave her a kiss. The two started making out before the big eyes of the elderly couple and the red-haired woman. Amalie moaned nearly all the time, her moans sounding like those of a cat in heat.

Somebody cleared their throat. Amalie and Henriette interrupted their oral caressing, before turning around. There the red-haired woman was standing.

"I just wanna remind you that this is a restaurant," she said. The elderly couple looked awkward, borderlining uncomfortable. Amalie was so horny that she could sexually assault a statue. Henriette bit her lips, her face red as blood. - "It's great that you found each other, but... Not in here, please." A polite smile.

"Sorry..." Henriette said. Amalie was too embarrassed and aroused to say anything.

"Okay?" the woman asked.

"Okay," Henriette said quietly.

The two continued eating, as far as the circumstances allowed. The deep, swollen ache tormented Amalie; she felt like doing another cathartic primal scream performance. It ached so much! Seeing beautiful Henriette sitting there blushing with her blond manga hair, her dragon leather choker, her verdant eyes, her black, scratching fingernails, her tall, slender figure... My God! She was trapped on the doorway between Ache Hell and Release Heaven, forbidden to enter Heaven.

"You're going to be..." Amalie started, but she interrupted herself by swallowing. Henriette turned towards her. - "You're going to be gone for two weeks, right?"

"Yeah...!" she murmured. She was just as violently aroused as Amalie, no doubt.

"We should exchange numbers...!"

"Yeah, totally...!"

"Then we can text. You can text me when you're back in town...!"

"Yeah...!"

"We should definitely meet again...!" A soft giggle.

Henriette leaned towards her and kissed her. Her warm, slippery tongue had the faint taste of chicken and cashew nuts. This time the two forced themselves to interrupt the kissing before the other people in the small restaurant reacted. It was like stepping away from the most beautiful, most wonderful thing on Planet Earth. Like stepping away from an oasis when one was lost in the desert and had not tasted water for days. Amalie picked up her red cell phone and handed it to Henriette.

"You know what to do," she said with a breathy voice so unlike her regular speaking voice. It was sensual. Calm. Sexy. Today she was Sexy Girl! Yeah! Henriette dialed her number. Amalie stored her in her contact list, before she called the number. Henriette's classy cell phone rang from her DeviantART purse. She took out her phone and stored Amalie. Doe-eyed she put the phone back in her purse.

"I'm so glad I met you," Henriette said softly. - "So very, very glad." A wide smile. - "I wish I didn't have to catch that plane..." She bit her lips. Their hands intertwined on the table. - "You know, when you first approached me back in the pet shop, I got kinda freaked. I thought you were a seller or something. But then you turned out to be nice. You're a really nice person, Amalie. Your eyes. They're so kind. You have such positive vibes."

Amalie did not know whether to laugh or cry. She chose not to do anything at all. External validation! Approval from another human being! She savored the moment, feeling like she would burst from pure joy. That was what she needed! The one thing she was unable to achieve on her own.

"Thank you," she whimpered. - "Thank you!" She lifted Henriette's hand to her mouth and kissed it. She rested her mouth and face on her hand. She worshipped her!

The two started making out a third time. This time the restaurant employee demanded that they took their virtual love-making someplace else. The two walked hand in hand out of the restaurant after having paid the bill. They left behind two half-finished dishes and two nearly finished pints of pear cider.

Later Amalie followed Henriette to the bus terminal. They had spent the remainder of the afternoon window shopping, including a visit to a store that sold board games, comics and various kinds of geek paraphernalia. The two exchanged one last kiss before the manga-haired, tall, slender girl entered the bus. Amalie felt like her very heart and soul left her body as the bus left the station.

The strongest love was the love that was not consummated. A sore, longing whimper in the descending afternoon sun.