The meal was delicious, and when all of it was gone, since there was no chance to reject the second or fourth serving…well… it just wasn’t the right thing to do.

So, even with the stomach of a dragon, Lei was stuffed now.

They wouldn't let her stay over, which Lei didn't want, anyway, but they did seem to like her, at least.

At some point, it was relaxed enough that the conversation flowed a bit more freely.

Additionally, Lei had not asked to stay over and Yu neither!

That didn’t mean that they might not stay together tonight, however as their pacing was fast enough already, it was time to tone it down a notch.

Still that they had not been very near each other during the meal gave each a tug of yearning on their heartstrings.

The evening had been a success, so much so that, as far as Lei was concerned, there should be no opposition.

And well, Yu's father was impressed that she had dared to ask permission first.

He was still settling into the current time period, but he was already aware that things had changed in that regard. This was why, he really admired her, for being so brave, especially since Lei had not known him or his wife beforehand.

He could've guessed it, though, if he had known, that she was actually older than him.

Yu didn't say anything, but she definitely indicated it with her eyes, what her father's true thoughts were. Lei was very delighted now. The non-verbal hints of her girlfriend had encouraged her a lot.

 A couple of hours after the ritual Yu, who had slept until dawn, still felt like she had been run over.

But her nosebleed had stopped.

Finally, and when she was awake, her mum had put a cold compress on her forehead.

"Hahhh.... Mum..." - "Oh ? Now it's mum... You waited very long for us to return right? My little fox.", instead of answering her mother, she nodded and opened her arms, so that her mum would hug her.

And she did.

"We missed you, too. You didn't visit us enough.", her mum was a bit upset with her and bonked her back lightly, to undermine her dissatisfaction.

But overall she was not angry.

"I missed u too. But I met... I met someone." - "Speak properly please, the new jargon is hard on my ears.", Yu's mum complained, before letting go of her, and was waiting for her to speak again.

"I have met ...", she hesitated before saying someone again- because that was simply not true.

"I have met the one.", she said and was about to continue, not seeing the astonishment in her mother's face.

"Or rather she found me. Suddenly, she stood there and I don't know why... It's so different than before." - "Wait what... when? Little one, what happened?" - "I invited her here in a fortnight...", an enormous smile spread across Yu's face and her uncomprehending mother started laughing heartily.

"Who was it? Can you show me a picture on your pocket phone?", her mother requested and because she was the sunshine of the family, which was the reason, why Yu had told her first - she radiated happiness, due to her daughter finally having found it.

How many times had she tried to encourage her child to travel the world? But she had never left the land of the morning sun and yet the light had stumbled right in front of her.

It was very funny how it went, and it also rendered Haeun’s ambush, she was about to plan with Yu’s aunts and cousins, well, obsolete.

Yu showed her a picture of Lei.

In the picture she wore a red blouse and had a pair of glasses ontop of her nose, while she was reading the script and below the picture, it was written that her manager had snuck up on her for this authentic work-mode situation to be captured as a photo.

And exactly this authenticity was supposed to be her first impression on Yu's mum, in Yu’s opinion, and Haeun nodded in approval.

"Very pretty. But an actress?" - "It's not like that, it's only temporary, she is immortal as well, and she said she will stop." - "But you don't want to? I remember you dreaming about people knowing about us?" - "Yes, but if Lei says she doesn't want that, it's okay, and I mean the magick community decides this in the end.", Yu wanted to talk more, but as she was still exhausted, she limited it to just answering questions.

"Well I know you will do what you want with your band. I really like that you combine classic with modern music. But please stop practising until you hurt yourself. If your father hadn't been sure, I would've postponed the ritual. Don't exhaust yourself so much.

We are immortal, but not invincible." - "Yes mother.", Yu nodded and finally got up from bed and followed her into the kitchen.

"How is your headache?", the voice of her father rang out like the cold blade of a Katana. Yu nodded. Her father moved his head to indicate, where he had put the painkiller and continued to read.

A smile lingered on Yu's face and she started to eat one of her favourite breakfast dishes, which had been prepared by her mother. The ‘Omurice’ was crispy and soft at the same time and helped her with gaining energy.

Shortly after she took the pill, and downed the juice- She looked at her mother and then nodded to her. But she also knew, she should tell him separately instead of letting her explain, and so she did.

"I would like for you to meet the woman, who I would like to spent the rest of my time with.", her voice was calm, but her father wasn't. The newspaper flew to the ground and the spoon he had held in his hand, also clattered next to the custard that he had tried to eat in peace.

But that was impossible now.

"I will grill her. I will test her. I have prepared questionnaires for this..", he mumbled after a solid 5 minute silence. "What... no. Dad please, don't you dare. Wasn't it you, who was so frustrated after the situation with my crush? Even though it was and always had been one sided?" - "But she could've said no. Not revealing your own preferences or identity is fraud." - "Says the fraud.". his wife interjected. "Well, not fraud, but busy.", he defended himself.

Yet, this was not the time for this story and so they changed the subject.

"One question. I will ask her, whether it was your idea or her's to speed this up so much, and then I will know, whether it is really the love as you say it is. And don't spoil it for me foxling...”, he admonished and Yu raised her hands in defense.

"I won't but don't be too mean to her, she is already so nervous.", the request was spoken calmly, but her eyes didn't allow any kind of negation or retort. Usually, her father would then say that this was the glare of her mother, but as his wife also had this gaze, as his eyes swift over her and her mimick, he just nodded, picked up the spoon off his table and ate the new found dessert.
 

Yu was still nervous as well, even though she now knew her parents reaction, but she was still afraid of her father putting on a show.

It was his thing and she accepted this, but it was also mean, and who knew, maybe Lei would tell her father's about it and then plan some kind of repayment...

While she was ruminating about this, she still practices, regardless of her mother’s words - but she tried not to do it too much, it was her passion soo...

Similiar to her studies it was all she could focus on, and or in case of her being too nervous, ultimately distract herself with.

Another problem was that she didn't know what to wear, or what her mum should cook, but the day she could tell her mum what to and what not to cook, would not arrive anytime soon.

But she could tell her that Lei was vegetarian, and partially vegan. This didn't make it particularly hard on her mum, she would just eat her liver at a later point, this was at least what she joked with, much to Yu's embarrassment.

As the day arrived, Yu spent hours on her skin-care, make-up and hair. She was so focused in fact that the bell rang, and she was still wearing the silk night-gown. She looked through her closet and suddenly she hated everything, knowing that now that Lei waited, her expectations would grow. Yu bit her lower lip... this was a disaster...

But she was a witch and an illusionist - still, she rarely tapped into this, as turning illusions into reality, required a lot of magic, due to the fact that you needed to drag the thing, from one plane of existence to another, without creating a wormhole, and since she was recovering from the ritual, she really shouldn't... However....

Her breathing came rapidly and her heart was racing, like she was running a marathon again and not simply putting one leg in front of the other, trying to as elegantly as possible move down the stairs.

She wore her hair half open and half up, pins bejewelled the waves and strings dangled from them.

The Yukata she wore was dark blue, but the fabric shone like it was liquid.

Lotus flowers rested, neatly placed on the dress, and they really seemed like they were blooming, depending on the light illuminating Yu.

They were prints though and this lotus theme could also be found between her brows and as motif of her jewellery.

Meanwhile, they perfectly fit with the green dress, the shade complemented Yu's blue, and Lei's gauze and fabric was scattered with magnolias.

When Yu saw that, she almost stumbled down the stairs, how could they match so well?

Yu took a deep breath reminding her to not make it obvious and calm herself.

This didn't stop her from chiding her father, but he behaved himself, and finally asked the question he wanted to.

Lei ruminated a bit over this question as it was so long ago, at least it seemed an eternity away, but then she replied as honestly as she could recollect.

"I think one of us said it first, but we probably thought it at the same time, and that's what counts more in my opinion. As to who said it first, I cannot quite tell you. But we might've said it both at once. I hope you don't hate this answer.", her voice drifted off, as she tried not to look at Yu, but sustained the eye contact with Yu's father.

"Not at all. Thank you for your honesty.", he said a hint of content in his voice, before he coughed and waited for a subject change. His wife grabbed his hand underneath the table and squeezed it encouragingly and gratefully, before getting up to get the tea ready and the desserts.

It was a rather short ride, in theory, but the moment Lei got picked up by her manager and Yu had insisted to at least accompany her home, it turned into days. They were laughing sometimes, about how silly and awkward this all felt, but they were also glad that there was no big opposition. Again, they hadn't assumed it anyway, nonetheless it was a delight, to not be proven wrong.

"I'm sorry he was so stern, sometimes he just wants to play the tough one, and he is, truly, but beneath that ice sheath is someone, who loves to be a dad and this sometimes entails to upset people and really play the dad. I told you that I am their only kid right?", she inquires and after an affirmative nod, she continues. "Well, not because my mum can't, but the council only granted him one child. He had turned the monarchy into a bit of a mess some hundred years ago...", a chuckle left her lips. "Anyway they probably didn't know this would escalate like this, or they thought better I was born than Nihon pushed into further chaos. I'm glad to take the rap for the country." - "Thank you, my brave warrioress.", Lei encouraged her, her smile halting, because the car had stopped now.

After a moment of silence and looking at each other, they both left the car and Yu walked Lei to the door of her room.

As well as into the apartment building and into the elevator and up to her room.

"So..", Yu's voice was quiet like an accidental nudge at a guqin string. As Lei had a keen ear she turned around and looked at her.

"We are not engaged yet.", Lei's voice was firm, she was not the most modern, but also not the most traditional and still she had felt the urge to say this.

"Well than this never happened.", a cheeky reply from a sly fox caught Lei off guard, and she was in shock shortly after, as soft and cool lips had brushed her own for a miniscule of a second, before in absolute fox manner Yu just disappeared into thin air.

Lei put her fingers slowly on her lower lip and her heart quivered, as if a gust of wind had twirled it about like a toy.

She had rarely experienced this, and even if she had, these dragonfly wings had left a hot mark on her, which would linger for a while.

And it had only been a graze, almost like an accident. What was ‘more’ supposed to feel like? Would her heart and mind be able to fathom it? Or even be capable of reciprocating it without freezing into a mountain?

Lei didn't know, but what she knew was, that this was a once in a lifetime kind of situation and she would have to muster up the courage to be able to handle it - just because.

Author's Note

~Okay soooo I would like to say something:

In the other universe of the wormhole they would've had to fight for the blessing. But not in this one, because I don't like it.

I know this is all very ideal and for those, who strive for drama and conflict, in case you read this far, please be aware that that won't happen, not in the classical sense.

This is a very fluffy story. Mostly.

But first and foremost it is about adult women, who know who they want and what they want, this wouldn't change in the wormhole, where patriarchy exists and of course it's no different in this AU.

Lei.exe stopped working. Yu really needs to find a restart button, otherwise, she will have to resort to marrying a ghost.. owô

Anyway our ancient dragon, will be able to come back.