Mature Content Warning: None except a little foul language and comedic bathroom scene.

Author's Notes: I had not planned to update this today, but I wanted to get it out there. I won't be updating again as I need to finish up a chapter of Galataea and Origin today. Also, you'll probably have a crap ton of questions about events in this chapter. I'll answer some but may not be able to answer all without spoiling a lot. Some might be answered in the Origin chapter update as well.

Chapter 10.1: The Girl Next Door

The soft sounds of a sleeping woman whose heart was filled with joy is a wonderful sound to hear. However, if that sleeping woman has the strength of ten men and holds you tight with no intent to let you go the situation changes.

Blackthorne attempted to slip free of her iron embrace once more, but Sonja mumbled, “No, Puppy...” and hugged him tighter before smacking her lips and returning to her slumber.

The black dragon, terror of midnight, shadow of death, turned his head toward her sleeping face then sighed softly. She’d had a hard life and he did not want to cause her any reason to feel sad, but he really needed to go empty his bladder.

He tried to slip free once more and she made a cute little whimper and then pouted in her sleep. “Dammit...”

What sort of lord of darkness allowed his slave girl to imprison him in such a manner? Blackthorne grumbled to himself for a moment. This was ridiculous. He had managed to coax her into putting her apron back on at least, but she had caught him before he could escape through the door.

He remembered how she cried out a few times when he wanted her to let him go, but she refused. The slave seal upon her lower back reacted to the intensity and desire of the master when orders were given. He became a little more insistent each time, and she felt a little more pain with each command that was refused. However, she was adamant about cuddling and had eventually won out. He had relented for a single night. He did not like to hear her cries of pain and she promised to calm down a little.

His eyes darted to the left. They then darted back to the right. Finally, he looked straight ahead. He knew one way out of the situation, but it could potentially harm Sonja, so he did not want to do it.

That left only one solution. He had to go to sleep and little miss grab-and-snuggle could just pray that his annoyed draconic bladder did not unleash its contents before he returned.

Blackthorne closed his eyes. It took a while but he eventually fell asleep in the dream and awoke in the real world. When he awoke he was quite sleepy. The cold medicine was still in effect.

He yawned delicately then blinked. The room was radiant with rainbow fire flickering around various objects. “No...”

He looked down at his snout then raised up a clawed hand. “Yes.”

Scott grinned. “This is cool, but I wonder what the people at work would think?”

His team mates at work had asked all manner of questions yesterday. Why were his eyes red? Why did he dye his hair? His answers had been prescription contact lenses, and because he wanted to do so.

The true form of their co-worker was different now. He was a black dragon roughly the size of a mid-sized dog, but with a tail that stretched out several feet behind him.

Scott, the shadow of death, worked his way out of his sheets and hopped off of his bed. The effects of the cold medicine wore off quickly. He figured that it had something to do with his biology now. After reaching the floor he realized that he still had to use the bathroom. “Man, I can’t catch a break.” said the baby dragon.

He dragon-waddled out of his room then made his way to the bathroom. He stood up on his hind legs then stared at the toilet. His left eye ridge rose much like a man lifting an eyebrow. How was he supposed to make this work?

He could transform into his human form, but that could take a while and he had to pee right now. The dragon reborn moved around quickly in order to find a means of using the toilet. He might need to do this again sometime, so it would be better to work out the mechanics of it now.

Scott ended up standing with one foot on the rim of the toilet, another foot on the tank, his left hand gripped the lid, and his tail pressed against the tub to help provide support. His free hand was used to help direct traffic, so to speak.

The dragon closed his eyes and loudly relieved himself. A cute little *Graaw--eeenk!* sound escaped his mighty jaws. During the process he happened to notice himself in the bathroom mirror. He took in the sight of the black dragon pup who stood on the toilet while using four points of contact for balance. His left eye ridge and cheek, at least he thought of it as a cheek, twitched. “Holy Shit... I am adorable.”

After he finished he thought about the process for a moment. How would it work when he was bigger? “Maybe I should just do this outside when I’m in dragon form...”

The adorable little lord of darkness hopped up on his bathroom sink then washed his hands. He admired himself in the mirror once more than flashed a toothsome fanged smile. “Who the dragon?”

He lifted his hands then pointed his clawed thumbs back toward his direction. He made a clicking noise with his tongue and offered the mirror a cheesy wink.” You da dragon, man. You da dragon.”

Scott decided to see how much more he could do as a dragon without returning to human form. He went to the front room and headed toward his kitchen. He opened the refrigerator door easily enough, but the freezer proved to be an issue. The cute little lord of darkness stood up on his hind legs and reached toward the freezer door. He groaned a little. The poor thing was simply not tall enough.

Frustrated, he decided to jump for it. He gripped the freezer handle held tight while he gripped the fridge handle. He tried to open the freezer, but sadly his home was not as level as it should have been. When the freezer opened, the refrigerator door opened as well. He immediately went sideways.

He flailed his arms and legs a little but nothing stopped the process. The entire refrigerator started to tilt over and he released the doors and fell to the ground, hard.

A single stick of butter was dislodged during the process and it landed on the floor, a pale yellow testament to the result of his previous decisions. “Yeah, make meals as a human. Snack as a dragon.”

He closed the fridge and sniffed the butter. “Wrapper’s still on it...”

He opened the refrigerator back up then tossed it inside. He had mopped the floor only a week ago, so surely it would be fine...

Scott dragon-waddled into the living room, hopped up onto his couch then started to manipulate his remote. It was a slow going process as the device did not have buttons designed for dragon claws.

Everything went well until he heard a knock at his door. Scott glanced toward the entranceway then frowned. He made a decision. If they were still there by the time he finished metamorphing, he would answer the door. Otherwise, he would just hop onto the internet for an hour or two.

Several minutes passed while he focused on the man he used to be. When he completed his transformation, he realized that he was only wearing a pair of cotton boxer briefs. “Well, whatever.”

He strolled over to the door and opened it. Scott blinked when he saw who it was.

“Hi, neighbor! I... Uhm...” said Shara.

Scott blinked. “Shara...? Why are you here?”

The mild-mannered girl shook her head and stared at the nearly nude man before her. “I... just moved in next door and wanted to meet my neighbors...”

“You live next door?” Scott pushed past her and looked at the formerly abandoned house. He was surprised to see that it had a perfectly cut lawn and a fresh coat of paint.

“Yeah! Wow, what an amazing and unexpected coincidence.” she said cheerfully. She then pressed her glasses back against her face.

Scott nodded at her. “Yeah, no kidding.”

Shara glanced at him again then her nostrils flared a little and her face began to heat up. “Do... Do you always answer the door this way?”

Scott looked down then blinked. He had not noticed it, but his flab had disappeared. “Holy shit... I’m buff!”

Shara laughed loudly. “You act like this is news to you.”

“Uh...Yeah, right... So, you just moved in?” asked Scott in an attempt to change the situation.

The red-haired girl nodded her head. “Yes, yes I did. Guess that makes me the innocent and mild-mannered girl next door.”

Scott blinked then smiled. “Yeah, I guess so.”

She smiled at him for a moment then framed a cute pout. “Seriously, this is all that you are going to say to me?”

Scott was taken aback. “What do you mean?”

Shara frowned at him then snorted. “Come on, you really don’t know?”

He shook his head. “No...”

“I don’t look familiar at all?” she asked. She leaned her head from side to side while trying to give him a better view.

“No, should you be?” What was up with her?

Shara’s eyes began to shimmer and she looked away. “I can’t believe that you forgot me...”

Scott’s left eye widened and his eyebrow rose into the air. “What are you on about woman?”

She sniffed a little. “Come on, Shara... Shara Ardente! You don’t remember me?”

He shook his head slowly but stopped mid-shake. “Wait...”

Her eyes lit up and a small smile crossed her lips. “You do remember me, don’t you?”

“Shara Ardente! You were friends with my sister... We used to play together when we were kids.” exclaimed Scott in surprise.

“Yes! You do remember that I’m your childhood friend!” exclaimed Shara with excitement.

“Oh, I can’t believe that I didn’t recognize you.” said Scott. Man, no wonder she had been so insistent on speaking with him earlier. She wanted him to remember her. He felt like such an ass for not recognizing her now.

“It’s OK. I suppose there have been a few big changes in my life.” She said sweetly.

Scott could not help but notice two of the larger changes that had occurred. “No way, little Shara can’t possibly be you.”

Shara pouted at him. “Why is that?”

“Well, she was such a tomboy. She liked to run around and catch frogs. She even...” Scott’s face turned slightly red when he recalled one other thing that Shara had done as a child.

“Yes... What did little Shara Ardente do with her childhood friend?” she asked gently.

Scott laughed nervously. “We were just kids... and it wasn’t funny.”

“Yeah, it was.” she said with a laugh.

“You think so? I held up a frog and told you to kiss the frog so that you’d have a handsome prince to marry.” said Scott.

“Yeah, and since you said kiss the frog, I kissed you.” said Shara with a laugh.

Scott rubbed the back of his head then looked away. His face burned a little when he remembered that moment. She had been strangely intense, like the kiss had mattered for some reason. “Man, those were the days, huh.”

Shara smiled at him softly. “Yes, yes they were.”

Scott’s smile faded after a moment. “You heard about Liz, didn’t you?”

Shara nodded. “Yeah, I found out too late to do anything; and... also what eventually happened with you.”

Her answer seemed a little strange to him, but he dismissed it. Scott closed his eyes and sighed. “After your family moved away, my father passed on... How mom could go from a guy like my father to... ... that ...”

Shara reached over and took his hand then leveled an intense and sincere gaze upon him. She spoke in a sweet, yet bitter, tone of voice. “If I’d known about Liz and all that, I would have done everything in my power to help. She’s my friend and I love her.”

Scott looked at her in confusion for a moment then released a tired smile. “You’re the only one. I couldn’t do anything.”

The mild-mannered girl smile softly up at him then leaned forward. She gave him a soft kiss on the cheek. “You’re my friend, and I love you, too.”

He nodded slowly and then felt a tiny, hot, trickle on his cheeks. Shara kissed his tear away then gave him a warm hug.

Scott fell into that hug and closed his eyes tight. For a moment, one brief and innocent moment, he chose to accept something at face value when someone spoke to him.

***