I wanted to try my hand at writing a love story and developing solid characters for the first time.

+++++________========
Walking through the forest for two hours was something Braxton never thought he'd be doing, and yet here he was. He did not harbor any dislike for the lush, green and brown setting, but he had forgotten his weapons back at home and he was aware of this place's wildlife. His only protection was the jacket, jeans, and sneakers he wore and the other human he was following, who seemed to be moving at a faster pace.

"Um, Lev, what's the point in dragging me out in the middle of the woods?" Braxton asked him, having had enough of the two-hour silence between them. He wondered just what it was that made the man so excited he had to have him along.

"Patience, Braxton," the black-cloaked man in front of him responded. "You asked me before, and I said that you had to wait."

"Can't you just tell me? We've been at this for two hours now." Braxton wished he still had water in his canteen. He drank it over an hour ago, and he was getting thirsty again. His feet were aching, forcing him to walk as lightly as he could.

"That would be spoiling. Besides, words wouldn't do the sight justice." Braxton looked up at the sky. Through the foliage in the way, he could see that the sun was beginning to set. He stumbled over an unseen branch and wondered if they would ever be able to get back to the town before they were forced to fumble in the dark.

"It's getting l--"

"There it is! Come on!" Lev shouted, sprinting forward. He sighed and shook his feet before taking off after him. To his relief, he didn't have far to run before they came to a stop in front of what looked to be a large hole at the base of the mountain. Braxton looked at it and shuddered. There was something about this place that seemed... otherworldly, but he wasn't sure what it was. "It's just in this cave. I couldn't believe my luck when I saw it, and I wanted to share it with you."

"What's in there?"

"Only one way to find out, now c'mon." Lev pulled him in and pulled out a flashlight, clicking it on and pointing forward. "Believe me, it'll blow you away." He found himself stumbling as he struggled to keep up with the other human's pace. The fact that Lev was in such a rush was bothering him. Why wasn't he taking his time guiding him to whatever this thing was? It didn't help that Lev seemed to be dodging his questions, and it was almost as though... He stopped his train of thought when the two of them reached a path adorned with white orbs on the walls that served to illuminate the area.

"It's just down this way," his companion said, speaking in a hushed tone. He let go of him and began moving at a much slower pace, taking his time through the corridor. Unsure why he was moving slowly, but not wanting to upset him, he followed suit as ideas of what would be at the end went through his mind.

"What is?" Braxton briefly considered leaving Lev to his own devices when the man did not answer his question yet again. It seemed like he was just here as a witness. After all, Lev did claim to have done such feats as dive off a waterfall unscathed and go back in time, but since he had no witnesses, he was seen as mad by everyone else. Said madman stepped aside and gestured for him to go forward.

"After you." Braxton eyed him for a second before proceeding forward, only to trip and fall. Instinctively, he shut his eyes and shot his arms forward to catch himself. He was surprised when his hands did not immediately collide with the stony floor.

"...Huh?" he wondered. "Why haven't I hit the floor yet?" He received even more of a shock when he opened his eyes and saw how much larger Lev had become. It was as though he... he had... "No, it can't be... it's something else... did I actually... shrink? How is that possible?"

"Ah, I knew it," Lev stated smugly. "That dragon booby-trapped this place, just as I imagined. Figured she would try to get by on a technicality, but I saw this coming."

"Technicality? Wh-what? What's going on here?" Braxton finally fell, but the surface he fell on was not as hard as he expected. In fact, it actually felt plush and smooth, much like a pillow. He quickly realized he was in a prison of some sort when he tried to reach out to him, only to encounter an unseen barrier. "Dragon? What are you going on about? Hey, Lev! What are you doing?" To his frustration, just as before, his words went ignored. He could only watch as the man walked forward and stopped in front of a large stone slab. Pushing against the prison, he soon learned that it was spherical in nature, and he found himself slowly rolling across the room. When it finally came to a stop, he didn't bother getting up, slightly woozy from the motion.

"Here it is," Lev muttered, feeling the barrier. "Just one more step and... aha!" As he spoke, the slab faded away until it vanished entirely. "It's just like she said. So much gold, and it's mine, all mine!" Lev disappeared into the chamber and, from what Braxton could imagine, began stuffing his pockets with as much of whatever was in there as he could carry. Regaining awareness, he groaned to himself as he put together how this would all play out. If, supposedly, there was a dragon around here (he scoffed at the notion), he would be the one facing her wrath. Lev would have been long gone, and, if the myths were to be believed, he would likely not have a chance to explain himself. Of course, even if he could, his story would be dismissed as an excuse made by a would-be thief.

"Ah, I see you have finally arrived." The voice was gentle in tone, and it echoed all around his prison. He was on his feet in an instant and looked around for the source. "I am pleased you could come to my home, Braxton." Despite the calmness of the voice, and how happy the speaker sounded, Braxton was very much unnerved. There was no doubt that the voice was that of the supposedly female dragon Lev mentioned, and this thought both puzzled and terrified him. How did she know his name? And why did she sound like she wanted him to be here? He was left with little room to ponder this, as something large and thick wrapped around his prison and pulled him out of the room. At that point Braxton soon found himself face-to-snout with his captor.

"Wh-what's going on?" In spite of his terror, he was able to identify that he was in the claws of an enormous dragon with a long, serpentine body. It was primarily covered in dark green scales and had a brown mane that ran from head to tail. The underside was a dark brown color, and two blue, trident-shaped horns jutted out from the top of its head. It had two blue whiskers that seemed to have a life of their own, floating this way and that. It had a bipedal stance, but looked capable of standing on four legs as well. The mischievous purple eyes seemed to be the most entrancing part, and he found himself unable to look away as they bored into his very being. What threw him off the most was the fact that it was smiling. Not a hint of malice lied in its features.

"Isn't it obvious? I had you brought here by that other human." The dragoness's muzzle moved only slightly as she spoke, indicating that she was using some sort of magic to speak to him. He couldn't deny the existence of such when the evidence was holding him inside a ball.

"You can hear me?"

"What an odd question. Of course I can, silly," it explained with a chuckle. "You might be in one of my orbs, but anyone can hear you just fine. I, especially, can hear some of your thoughts, and you're very flattering, if a bit pessimistic." Braxton looked away in mild embarrassment.

"I'm..."

"No need to apologize. We will talk about them later, but right now I have business to attend to." The dragon pressed him close to her neck, embedding him within her scales, and entered the hidden chamber. Braxton was shocked to see so much gold at once, but he was more concerned about where Lev had gone. "Aha! There he is." His keeper dug into the pile and pulled out her quarry a second later.

"A statue?"

"It's not just any statue. It is a platinum statue! I hear platinum is the new gold in this day and age," the dragon said. "This guy had been after my hoard for several weeks, but I must say, this result was wholly unexpected." Braxton took a closer look at the statue and stepped back in shock.

"That's Lev! But... how?" He knew he should not have been asking such a question, but he just couldn't help it.

"It seems he wasn't joking about you knowing him."

"Regrettably, I do, but only in passing, thankfully. Lev's the only reason I'm here... at least, I thought he was. He led me here with the promise of showing me something amazing... n-not that you're not amazing, o-of course," he added hastily.

"I understand your point of view. Do not worry. Anyway, I suppose I owe you an explanation." The dragoness removed him from her scales and set him on a pile of gold.

"Is he still alive?" As much as he didn't like being treated as an item, he did not wish harm upon anyone, especially since they were not being malicious.

"And kicking... minus the obvious. Still, I never expected he could be so greedy as to turn into platinum, but at least he got what he wanted. I'll turn him back eventually, assuming I don't just decide to offload him elsewhere first."

"Hmm..."

"Just joking. Now, onto the explanation. Here goes..." She took a deep breath and lied down before continuing. "I have been observing you... for a while, Braxton," she confessed, surprisingly nervous. "At first it was out of boredom, but the more I watched you, the more I wanted to actually meet you."

"Oh, my... I don't know what to say," he replied bashfully. "I didn't think I could actually seem interesting, especially to a dragon. I never thought I'd see one in person."

"Well then, today must be our lucky day. That human-- Lev, was it?-- had been coveting my hoard for several weeks. Usually I foiled his attempts, but every so often he managed to get away with something. One day I managed to devour him, and it was then that I came up with my plan to bring you here." He was startled that she supposedly did that, but he tried to focus.

"You let him live in exchange for bringing me here?" The dragoness shrugged.

"Something like that. I never planned to kill him, merely scare him into leaving my things alone. I promised to let him go if he brought you here, and to give him more incentive I was going to share a little bit of my hoard." She grabbed the platinum-fied Lev by the head and glared at him. "If you had just been a little more patient and less greedy, you would have learned why I didn't want you to take anything." Braxton was starting to get a little uncomfortable in his confines.

"Um, excuse me, miss?"

"Oh, how silly of me! In all my excitement, I forgot to introduce myself. Please, call me Yuki. Now, what's wrong?"

"Will you let me out of here?"

"In time. I want to ask you a very important question later, but explanations come first. I enchanted my hoard so that it expands when a greedy person touches it. What they turn into depends on how much greed my spell has to work with. Their clothes are unaffected, funnily enough."

"I see." Yuki picked up Braxton and carried him to a large pile of moss and feathers. She tapped the ball with a talon, and in an instant it dissolved, relinquishing its prisoner. Free from the spherical prison, he was glad to see everything at their normal size again. Yuki still stood several feet taller than he did, but did not look nearly as imposing as before. "So what happens now?" She coiled around him and looked him in the eyes for several seconds.

"I like you... very, very much," she finally said, breaking the silence. "I might even say that I... love you, even if that doesn't quite match how I feel. In a slowly worsening world, you're the type to look for the better side to everything. Faith can be difficult to maintain, but you are determined to get a positive outcome. What makes that really shine is how aware you are of your boundaries."

"...Wow." He blushed and looked away, once again at a loss for words.

"I only hope you'll forgive me for everything I have done. I simply couldn't resist."

"Yuki, I--" Before he could finish his sentence, she grabbed him and pressed her muzzle to his lips, doing her best to simulate a kiss. She broke away only a second later, making sure it was a quick kiss. "Yuki..."

"Please stay a while, Braxton," she pleaded. "I get lonely from time to time, and I could really use your company." Braxton looked into her eyes and saw genuine love in them. She, unlike the other girls he had encountered in his school days, was definitely serious about her feelings, which caused him slight anxiety. He wasn't sure if he was ready to try another relationship, especially with a dragon, of all things. On the other hand, he likely would not have even met her were it not for the deal she made. If Yuki exposed herself, she would have stirred up a panic throughout the world. "I'll take you back to your town tomorrow, I promise."

"Okay, I'll do it," he agreed, concluding there was no way Yuki was lying. Braxton rested against her as she draped the tip of her tail on him. "Just one question. How much about me do you know?"

"I only know your personality. I studied you as much as possible without disturbing your memories. I hope to one day earn your trust." Yuki pressed the tips of her barbels against his face, and he soon found himself growing drowsy. Moments later he was out like a light.