Be a Dragon: Chance Meetings (ch.3) (Patreon)

The harsh contrast between her last memory and her current comfort was enough that it broke through the sea of fog that was sleep. Her training told her to slowly observe her surroundings with her hearing first to not alert potential captors, but Hinata couldn't bring herself to. Not when her last memory was confessing her love to Naruto-kun then… a hand went to her chest, only to feel smooth skin. The wound was gone. As were her clothes, including her underwear. 

With well-practiced ease, she turned her attention to the room to find it empty. The decorations were foreign to her -- the floor was covered in some kind of wool fiber, the dressers were of a different look while something that resembled a television screen was hooked on the wall facing the bed. Not so different that she couldn't recognize things, but decidedly different than things she was used to. 

Tenderly, Hinata pushed herself up, moving the covers to inspect her chest to see that not so much as a scar remained. With the kind of wound she suffered, the only people that could manage such a feat were the Hokage-sama, and Sakura-chan. Given the lengths that the Hokage-sama went through to preserve the lives of Kohona's citizens during the opening move of Pain's attack, it was far more likely that it was Sakura-chan that had saved her. Considering the window that she would have had, Hinata could assume that something significant happened after she blacked out. 

She kindled hope in her chest that something was Naruto-kun freeing himself and handily defeating Pain. Though, that didn't explain her location or her lack of clothes. 

Or, she continued, why the metal plate of her headband was resting on a bedside table rather than stitched into the dark blue cloth it spent the past few years attached to. 

Hinata swung her legs out, trying to pay as little attention to her body as possible, as she rose to her feet. She didn't feel any kind of weakness; no fatigue, lightheadedness or feebleness, so it was unlikely she had been drugged. Also considering her lack of restraints, it was unlikely that she was a captive. Useful to know, but that didn't answer her questions. 

Cautiously, Hinata activated her Byakugan, veins bulging around her eyes as her field of view grew. The walls were thin enough that she could see through them -- her range was pathetic compared to Neji-niisan's, and to her little sisters, but she could see the household with relative ease. Her focus zeroed in on a well-built man downstairs that was making erratic movements...? Katas? Not likely -- his chakra network was underdeveloped to the point he was likely a civilian. Beyond him, there was no one else around but rather than be reassured by that, Hinata's concerns grew. 

She didn't recognize this home. It was unlike any that she had seen in Kohona. Perhaps...it was a rebuilt home? Pain had reduced the entire village to a crater, so perhaps the design plans had been updated? It was a pathetic reasoning, but one Hinata found some comfort in simply because it meant she wouldn't be trapped in an unfamiliar place with a strange man downstairs without any clothes on. Taking in a calming breath, Hinata found her center and focused on the task at hand. 

First, she needed to dress herself. There wasn't a pile of clothes already laid out for her, so she was forced to dig through the drawers and closet. She found a serviceable pair of pants that were stretchy enough to not hamper her movement, though they were too tight for her comfort, a large jacket with a convenient open-ended pocket attached to the front that could conceal the pair of scissors she found. It wasn't a kunai, but the makeshift weapon’s presence did wonders for her nerves. 

Giving the room one last look over in case she missed anything, Hinata cracked open the door silently. She didn't make a sound as she walked down a hallway covered in hardwood floors, the walls dotted with art work. Down below, a masculine voice echoed, heavy as brass, though not in an unpleasant way. 

"This is so cool," the man said with obvious excitement, still moving in a kata like way. "Now, I really gotta come up with a name for you...right. Edge. All-consuming dark flame of hidden darkness? A bit on the nose. And wordy. Okay...something...one word. Uhh…" the voice trailed off, and despite his completely underdeveloped chakra system, it sounded as if he were naming an attack. Kiba-kun went through the same process. 

Silently, Hinata made her way down the stairs, peeking through where the hallway and stairs met, she spied the man. Tall, his powerful frame suggested explosive power over speed. He didn’t dress like a ninja -- the shirt with rolled-up sleeves, the pants and shoes were poor for maneuverability. Most notably, however, was the light pink hair he sported. Her hopes soared that perhaps that she was still in Kohona -- the only family that had pink hair were the Haranos, and while Sakura didn’t have a brother, perhaps he was a cousin?

Then he shifted, letting her see a black flame that danced in response to his movements and her heart stilled in her chest. That, Hinata knew, should be impossible. She doubled checked his chakra network and they were completely and utterly underdeveloped. Unawakened, so he couldn’t be using chakra, yet that black fire was clearly moving in response to his will. Technology? Possible, she had heard of tales about Naruto-kun’s adventurers in the land of Snow, so it was a possibility. 

However, unless it was stored in a watch on his wrist, that too seemed unlikely. 

“Ah, I’ll figure it out later,” the man dismissed, letting the fire fade. “I...should probably make something to eat for when she wakes up. I think we still have some eggs…” the man muttered to himself and the more he spoke, despite his abilities, Hinata found it harder to believe that this man, whoever he was, meant her harm. He was too open with his words, completely vulnerable -- a flick of her wrist would be all it took to send the scissors in her pocket into his neck. If he had taken her captive, then he was making a very poor attempt to make sure that she remained a captive. 

Unless he was putting on a front to lure her into a false sense of security, it was likely that he didn’t view her as an enemy, nor did he expect for her to view him as one. In the end, she wouldn’t get her answers standing here. Without making a sound, she crept down the stairs, crossing the threshold of some kind of living area towards a kitchen. The man hummed to himself, looking inside a rather sparse refrigerator. She heard him tsk to himself before he reached in, grabbing something before closing the door-

“WHAT TH-” The man shouted, jerking back in shock so badly that a carton of egg that was in his hands flew upwards, sailing through the air before the made a crash landing on a counter, yellow yok splashing out as eggs broke on impact. Hinata could have grabbed them, but she found that she couldn’t. 

He...had a mole underneath one of his eyes. And his eyes were a deep amber, the pupil slit much like a cats. A bloodline ability? His expression displayed naked shock, a hand going to his chest as if he was worried about his heart. The spell only seemed to be broken when he looked away sharply. 

“You scared the crap out of me,” he informed, looking embarrassed as he cast a glance at the carton of broken eggs. Then he quickly looked back at her, and Hinata found herself looking at the mole on his face as if her eyes were drawn by a magnet. “Are you okay? I mean, you were pretty hurt when I found you, but-”

“You found me?” Hinata echoed, not so distracted that she couldn’t follow along with the conversation. Her heart settled heavily in her chest, dread gripping it as the man nodded. “I was injured?”

“Yeah, you were, ah, you had a stab wound in your chest. I used some mojo magic stuff to heal it- well, it’s more like I destroyed the wound, but that’s just semantics,” the man explained but Hinata barely heard him. Dread slowly filled her heart, filling it like lead that dragged it down to her feet. Sakura-chan hadn’t healed her-

“I know you have a lot of questions,” the man said, bringing her attention back to him. He had a nice face, she decided. He wasn’t as handsome as Naruto-kun, though no one was, but he was handsome even as he wore an expression of concern. Hinata supposed that she hadn’t schooled her expression well enough. “And I’ll answer all of them to the best of my ability, but, the thing is, some of the answers I don’t have for myself...and I don’t think you’ll like some of the ones that I do.”

A tense silence was born between them -- his expression was serious but emphatic. He seemed earnest, which earned him some points in his favor. 

“But, first, would you like something to eat? We have...cheese...and tortillas. And water? Maybe tea too, but I’ll have to check,” he offered, giving the eggs a sideways glance with a small grimace. And, as if to answer for her, Hinata’s stomach growled lightly. Despite the situation, Hinata felt herself blush down to her toes, but thankfully she didn’t feel lightheaded enough to faint. 

“Thank you,” Hinata said with a small bow, though she resolved to watch his hands as he cooked. She took a seat, a hand firmly on the scissors once her hands were obscured by a counter, and her mind started to race as the man fetched ingredients -- a thin flatbread and finely shredded cheese. He poured the cheese onto the flatbread, folded it then put it on a pan to cook. A simple recipe. 

"Well," he started as the food began to melt, "would you like me to start at the very beginning or just skip to the parts that relate to you?" He asked, and as tempting as it was to get immediate answers, picking the former option was the smarter option. It would give her a chance to find any inconsistencies in his story.

"The beginning, please," Hinata requested.

"Okay. Well, about twelve hours or so ago, I became a dragon -- scales, wings, the whole nine yards," he started, his gaze landing on the cooking flatbread and cheese wrap. At the very beginning, his tale sounded outlandish but Hinata resolved to hear him out. "I kinda freaked out a bit, flew around, because flying is pretty awesome, but I was worried about people freaking out about a giant dragon flying around their city." Which would be a reasonable concern, Hinata admitted with a small nod. If he had flown around Kohona, he would have been killed with certainty, and she couldn’t imagine another village would respond differently. 

"I touched down in a forest and, like, willed myself into a human form, or something? I don't know because this isn't my original body -- I used to be about half a foot shorter, never had pink hair before and I have dragony eyes," the man explained. He also had a mole beneath one of his eyes, Hinata added. "Not only that, but I was totally naked," he added, and that would explain her own nudity as well. 

"I ran into someone that, ah, was willing to help me out. She took me here and let me stay here while she's off working." Hinata felt there was more to that story but judging by the faintly embarrassed expression on his face, it didn't seem to be the time to ask. "About an hour ago, I look out from my balcony and I saw you bleeding out in the dirt. A stab through your chest." Hinata stiffened as a sinking feeling formed in her gut. 

"I freaked. I didn't have a phone to call an ambulance or anything. I was just putting pressure on the wound, panicking, and I thought you were going...to die,” he continued, looking distressed. Hinata gathered that death wasn’t something he had a lot of experience with. “Then this stuff happened,” he continued, holding up a hand before a small black flame hovered over his palm. 

Hinata’s eyes widened a fraction, and only her training prevented her from reacting with deadly force. After a second passed, it was clear that it wasn’t some kind of attack because the man continued, unaware how close he had come to having a pair of scissors jabbed into his eye. 

“I don’t know how I did it, but this stuff destroyed the wound? If that makes sense?” He questioned, looking uncertain as he glanced at her. Then he returned his attention back to the wrap to flip it over. 

It didn’t make sense. Very little about this made any sense, but… “Thank you for saving my life,” Hinata said with a small bow. She didn’t understand the circumstances, but this man seemed as lost as she was and he had saved her life. 

“Oh, no problem. Couldn’t just let you bleed out, you know?” He said, making a small smile tug at Hinata’s lips. That was an attitude few shared in the Elemental Nations. Saving a comrade was given, but a random stranger?

Then the man grimaced, his lips pressing together into a thin line as he seemed to take a bracing breath. “But, the thing is...when I found myself here...I’m pretty sure that I died.”

Hinata’s hands tightened into fists, her heart squeezing painfully in her chest. “...What?”

“I got hit by a truck. And I’m pretty certain that I died. Then the next thing that I know, I’m by an ocean as a giant dragon. I don’t know why we’re here, what brought us here, only that I know that this place isn’t even close to my home,” the man admitted, running a hand through his pink hair. “To be honest, I’m kinda worried that all of this is some delusion as my brain shuts down before I die.”

He was right. Hinata didn’t like some of those answers. Her stomach did flips inside of her as the man placed the melts cheese wrap in front of her. It smelled as good as bread and cheese could, but she found that her appetite had vanished without a trace. 

“Are we in the Elemental Nations?” She questioned quietly, though she knew in her heart what the answer was. This foreign house, the technology that seemed more advanced than her home...However, the pill wasn’t even close to being the hardest to swallow. If he had died to arrive here, wherever here was, then...did that mean...she had died too?

“No,” the man answered gently but shortly, like ripping off a bandage. Hinata nodded softly, expecting that answer but it didn’t make it any easier to hear. 

“I…” Her throat closed up with emotion, her training failing her. The Elemental Nations was the continent that made up her entire world. Unless there was another landmass somewhere, then...and no one would look for her because they would think she was dead. 

A heavy silence fell between them, both of them mourning what they lost before the man let out a quiet sigh. “I’m sorry. I wish I had better news, or more answers for you,” he said, sounding genuinely remorseful. His words made her swallow a lump in her throat, trying to regain control over her emotions even as tears burned at her eyes.

“Do you have a plan?” Hinata said, taking a steadying breath. Naruto-kun wouldn’t let something like this get in his way, and while she was far from him in terms of willpower, she couldn’t just give up at the first obstacle. “You said that this home belonged to someone else?” 

The man nodded, “right now I’m trying to figure out what my abilities can do and how to use them. After that...make some money since no matter where you are, money always talks. Grease some palms, take in the sights to get a lay of the land and take it from there.” He explained, and while it was rough, it was a serviceable plan. “You’re welcome to stay here of course. I don’t know Kitten too well, but if she picked me up then I doubt she would turn you away.”

Hinata considered the offer. Waking up naked in a strange place was a feeling she never wanted to experience again, but there was no soreness that would suggest she had been sexually assaulted while she was unconscious. And the man didn’t strike her as the kind of person who would do something like that. Which was a weird thought about someone who’s named that she didn’t know, but if he could be believed, then he had the benefit of the doubt from her. . 

She bowed lowly, “thank you for your hospitality,” she offered her thanks quietly. She didn’t want to stay here. She wanted to go home, to the Hyuuga compound, in Kohona. The worst part of it was that she didn’t know what happened after...after she died. Had Naruto-kun won? Hinata wanted to think so. If she could be the only casualty of that tragic day then Hinata would be glad for it even as her heart ripped apart in her chest.

Because she...would never hear Naruto-kun’s answer. 

“No need to thank me or anything like that. Just...maybe get some rest and eat something? You seem fine now, but you...were dying about an hour ago,” the man gestured to her plate that she still hadn’t touched. Hinata felt like her head was filled with fog as she gave a small nod, thinking that was a good idea. She...needed time to think. To collect herself. She wasn’t Naruto-kun, who could take any emotional blow without so much as flinching and continue forward toward his goal. No matter how much she might want to be. 

“And my name is Nero,” Nero introduced himself, throwing on a friendly smile that only looked a little fake. 

“Hinata Hyuuga,” Hinata introduced, trying to return the smile but she knew she failed. Like she did so very many things. 

“I wish we could have met under better circumstances,” he said, his amber eyes becoming soft. “Go get some rest, eat something and go take a nap. When you wake up we’ll take it from there.” He ordered, but his tone made it a suggestion. Hinata was glad for the excuse to leave. She needed…

Hinata didn’t know what she needed as she grabbed the plate and silently made her way back to the room she woke up in without saying another word. 

…

Byuakugan was a lot creepier in person than it was in the anime. Her eyes were a solid white with only a thin black outline that marked where her iris was, leaving the rest of her eyes the same color as her scalea except for the barest hints of lavender. It didn’t look bad -- with her blueish black hair, her Asian features and beauty, it was something that I was going to get used to in no time, but it was still jarring. Especially when she popped up out of nowhere, right behind you. 

Freakin’ ninjas. 

“I messed that up,” I decided, leaning against the counter as I took a sip of my coffee. I should have told her the whole truth -- that I knew who she was, and that I had a good idea where we were, but that knowledge would open a can of worms that I don’t think she was ready for. Hinata wore her heart on her sleeve, and it was obvious that she wasn’t handling the news of her death well. Dumping that she was a fictional character in a book and that she was cheated a Good End on top of everything else?

I couldn’t do it. Not just for her, but I hated delivering bad news. I would give her some space, and all the time that she needed, before I brought that topic up. She’d probably be pissed for me keeping it from her, but hopefully, she would understand. 

There was nothing that I could do about it now other than maybe find some answers -- chief among them what was a Naruto character was doing in DC comics? I know that reality was treated as a light suggestion here, but that was a pretty big jump. The only thing that made any sense was that whatever brought me here brought her as well. 

The question that brought up why I didn’t appear in this world looking like hamburger meat if Hinata came here with a stab wound that I knew killed her in the Naruto series if that orange-haired guy hadn’t brought her back with his eye powers. I looked down at my hand, willing a black flame into existence. The only thing I could think of that could explain it was this stuff had destroyed my injuries like it had with Hinata. 

But, looking beyond that, I think it destroyed a bunch of other things too. Like my height, for example. I capped out at 5’11 and a half inches. And that bothered me -- not that I wasn’t tall, or anything, but that I was so close to being six feet tall and yet I was missing that half inch. It was annoying when my little brother proved to be a freak of nature and was 6’4 at sixteen years old. It was a minor annoyance that I barely ever thought about, and yet now I was taller. 

Then there was my fitness. I sucked at running. Even me at my absolute fittest when I practically lived at the gym, if I was told run a mile, I’d die at the finish line. 

I think that the flame stuff destroyed every single body issue that I ever had, even though I didn’t give a crap about them anymore. Naturally, that raised the question of how I got this black flame stuff, and how connected it was to my true form. Did the black flames come with being a dragon, or had I somehow used the flames to turn myself into a dragon? It was a chicken and egg situation. 

Finishing off my coffee, I washed it out and cleaned it off before putting it up. This place wasn’t exactly home yet despite Kitten giving me full reign of the place. 

“Well, no point is standing around,” I muttered out loud, falling on an old habit of to help me get my thoughts in order. Right now, I need money. I was surrounded by wealth, but without cash I wasn’t going to be able to do a lot. Food, gas, get a phone, more clothes because as much as I enjoyed looking like a trust fund child, I still had my own sense of style. And I needed to get stuff for Hinata as well...and possible for anyone else that shows up. 

My feet took me back up the stairs to the bedroom that was meant to be Kitten’s fathers. My gaze lingered on the door that marked Hinata’s room, an urge to knock at the door just so she had someone to talk to, but I resisted the urge. She needed space, and I was a random dude to her. I’m pretty sure that would look pretty sketchy given that she was an actual ninja -- she could assume this entire thing was a gaslighting situation so I could get some secret out of her. 

Instead, I focused on the task at hand as I stepped back into the room, my gaze landing on a painting above the bed. I had two ways to get money -- the first was the simpler option. In a place like this, there had to be a safe of some kind. I find it, loot the contents and hope that no one cares. 

The second was I try to sell jewelry, or a car or something. The issue with that, they were so high class that any pawn shop wouldn’t take them without proof of purchase. Even if I could find a chop shop or something, they would assume that they were either fake or refuse to take them because they would be too hot. Not to mention, breaking the law when there were actual heroes flying about struck me as a bad idea. 

However, it seemed we could go with option one because when I pulled the painting of several shades of blue down, there was a high-security safe behind it. I guess the movies hadn’t completely let me down. Right. No point in trying to guess the passcode because I knew I wasn’t going to get it no matter how many guesses I had. 

“Don’t burn the money,” I told the black flame that I conjured in the palm of my hand as if it could obey me. Swallowing thickly, I pushed the flame forward, desperately hoping I wasn’t about to burn the entire house down, and the flame splashed over the surface of the safe, flooding into the cracks. Slowly, wary of what I was about to see, I grabbed the handle and gave a small tug to have the door swing open with ease. 

Where the lock mechanisms were meant to be was bits of metal that looked like someone had taken an eraser to them. Which was neat, and all, but nowhere near as neat as what was in the safe. 

“...seriously, what does Kitten’s dad do for a living?” I asked, picking up what could only be described as fat stacks of cash. Thumbing through it proved that all of them were hundred dollar bills. I did some quick mental math and deduced there was a shit load of money in the safe. Maybe even two shitloads. 

And I just destroyed the safest place for it to be just in case this place did get robbed. Right. My gaze landed on the bed, an itch that just needed to be scratched. I hadn’t slept in the bed yet, but I would soon enough, so it was my bed...even though I knew that underneath the bed wasn’t the safest place to hide something, a lesson I learned through experience, I stuffed the two shit loads of cash underneath it after peeling off a thousand dollars to stuff in my wallet. 

Huh. I was rich now, wasn’t I? I was dressed like I had a trust fund since the day I was born, I lived in a nice house and the garage was full of expensive cars. I was living the dream, wasn’t I?

“Sweet,” I said, tucking my thicc wallet back into my pocket, I let out a content breath. Now it was time for the second step of the plan -- get a lay of the land, find out which version of DC comics I was in. Was I in the Teen Titan show? Young Justice? The Comics? Pre or Post Flashpoint? Was I in the golden, silver or modern age? Which universe of the comics was I in?

Depending on the answer to that question, step three of the plan was going to be to pay someone to build me a multidimensional portal to get me out of here. 

Maybe…

I walked out of my room, heading to Hinata’s door as I lightly rapped on it. “Hinata? I’m heading out to try to figure out where we are. I was wondering if you wanted to come with? It might help you take your mind off things?” I spoke, and was only faintly surprised when a few seconds passed without an answer. “I’m coming in, so let me know if I’m about to see anything indecent.”

Again, there was no answer. The cause for it was the fact that the room was empty. Hinata had left. Right. Of course, she did. 

But that was okay. Hinata was a big girl that could defend herself. She’d just have to poke a guy in the neck and he’d explode like a water balloon or something. I didn’t have to worry about her physically. It was just mentally that I spared a concern about. 

I stopped watching Naruto ages ago, and it had been what came immediately after the Pain arc that killed it for me. Just pretending that Hinata’s confession hadn’t happened, just completely not addressing it at all, had infuriated me and I hadn’t even shipped them. Not to mention the sheer gall it took to undo the deaths of characters like Kakashi with some handwavy nonsense. What I knew about it was from osmosis -- Marada being a thing, Nine-tails becoming a bro, the war that apparently dragged on for something like six years, or something then the bad guy does a fake-out so another bigger badder guy that came out of nowhere appears. I also heard that the new show was hot garbage. 

Still, I knew that Hinata was in Love with Naruto, capital letter, and she confessed that love before dying in front of him. So, I’m guessing that her head wasn’t a happy place right now. 

“Guess I’ll just leave a note,” I muttered, closing the door and walking down the stairs to leave on on a post-it note. I wasn’t worried that she would do something as drastic as killing herself, or anything -- she just needed some space to get her head on straight. I wasn’t too worried that she wouldn’t come back either because she was as lost as me in this new world. If she didn’t show up...well, that sucked but I was hardly keeping her captive here. If she found her own place and whatever, then more power to her. 

Leaving the note in an obvious place, telling her that I was out and would be back by a certain time, I walked down the steps that lead to the garage. A sense of giddy excitement ran through me as I came to the bottom, eyeing well over dozens of cars, and each one was worth more than all the money I had ever seen down to the last penny. There was a small thing with car keys dangling off of it, the one that was missing must be Kitten’s car. 

As much fun as a Lamborghini was, I was a classic man. I picked an old school muscle car that was a two-seater. Sliding into the nice leather seats, I slipped the key into the ignition and the engine roared as it came to life. It was even topped up for gas, too. I felt the engine purr and, for a moment, I wished I was a car man because whatever this thing was, it felt goooood. 

With a press of a button on the clicker, the garage door opened up, letting me drive out. And once I was certain that everything was locked up, and that I had a house key, I drove down towards the city. The wind was killer on my hair, making it fly around like crazy, but I noticed as soon as the wind stopped, my hair flopped into its normal position. Anime hair was kinda awesome, all things considered. Even if it was pink. 

It didn’t take long to reach the city limits, and I spotted a sign hanging above the main highway. “Welcome to Jump city, indeed,” I muttered, looking around. I don’t know what I was expecting, but for the most part it looked like a normal city. Though, the people that went about their day were wearing a lot of hero merchandise. I guess heroes were like sports teams or something. 

I didn't trust parking on the side of the road in a car like this, so I found a parking garage. Though, I did slip the attendant a hundred, both because I didn't have any smaller bills and to make the guys day. If I was having such a great day, then I wanted to speak those good vibes to who was a fellow wage slave up until yesterday. Yesterday, I would have blocked a bullet for the car of a man that ripped me a hundred bucks. 

Locking the door, I made my way out of the parking garage, standing on the street...and it was only then that I realized I had absolutely no clue what to do next. How did one scope out a city? I needed...information. What I wouldn't give for a smartphone. Or quarters, I thought, my gaze landing on a newspaper machine. 

Walking up to it, I have it an experimental tug to see that it was locked. Right. While pretending to check my pockets and feeding quarters into the machine, I summoned upon the...black flame to destroy the lock so I could take a newspaper. Still needed to find a name for that thing. But, for now, I looked at the front page, and as expected, I saw superheroes on the front cover. 

Superman, looking as heroic as ever with his red cape fluttering behind him as he punched a giant robot. Wonder Woman was on the cover as well, looking fierce and fine as all hell. Seriously, what I wouldn't give to have my head buried between those heavenly muscular thighs. Oh, and the rest of the Justice League was there too, I guess. The usual line up -- Batman, Flash, a Green Lantern that I'm guessing was Hal Jordan given the lack of dark skin or red hair, Aquaman, the hawk people, and Green Arrow. 

"Metropolis nearly destroyed in an alien invasion," I read the headline out loud, my mind turning that over as I quickly skimmed the article. It didn't exactly give me a straight answer but from what I gathered was that alien invasions happened before, but they weren't an every Tuesday occurrence. Which was good news, as far as I was concerned., still that didn’t address my main concern. 

Because if I was in pre-Injustice universe, then I was going to swerve left so fucking hard that I made a U-turn and I wouldn’t stop until I left this universe behind me. 

“I guess I do need to get a smartphone.”

…

You could take a man out of poverty, but you couldn’t take the poverty out of a man, I realized as I couldn’t bring myself to purchase the most expensive phone that I could find. I read over what it could do -- the download speeds, the coverage, camera, and every other gizmo in the thing. I couldn’t do it for a few reasons. 

For starters, I somehow understood the numbers and acronyms it was throwing at me. Somehow. Unless my black flames could somehow destroy my ignorance of technology, then that wasn’t something that could be tucked away underneath the ‘because I’m a dragon’ rug. 

Secondly, I realized I would be paying hundreds of dollars for a brand. And I just couldn’t do it. 

“As you can see, the L-phone has-” A salesman said, my outfit working against me because as soon I entered, this guy started hounding me like a dog after a bone. He threw the most expensive phones in my face, even though previous models that were on display pretty much did the same thing and were about three hundred dollars cheaper. 

“I’m good, I’ll take this one,” I said, deciding on a phone made by some random company. There was a phone made by Wayne Industries available, but buying a phone made by Batman’s company, a man renowned for his inability to understand privacy, didn’t seem like a good idea. If I met the man, and he had easy access to the porn I would be looking at, then I would actually die of humiliation. 

“Er,” the man blanched but recovered well. “Uh, sure thing. Right this way, and I’ll check you out.”

Several hundred dollars poorer but one phone richer, I began my...Lexing… I started with Jump city, since it was where I was, and learned that the Teen Titans were a new thing, relatively speaking. Heroes were a thing for some time -- as far back as WWII, only to be disbanded. They resurfaced about a decade ago with Superman, Flash and Wonder Woman reappearing. The Teen Titans were around for a couple of years at this point, long enough that there were two seperate teams. 

The Titans -- Nightwing, Kid Flash, Trioa, Tempest and Arsenal. There were other members that were added later one, but they were the founding team. Then there were the Teen Titans, a second generation of the Titans. Weirder, the lineup wasn’t one that I recognized -- Robin, Starfire, Raven, Terra, Wonder Girl, Blue Beetle, Beast Boy, Kid Flash, and Cyborg. Perhaps a transitional time? Or was there some universe that I was forgetting about? Because I couldn’t remember a time when their roster was so large. 

Ah well, at the very least it ruled a lot of the worse case scenarios. No pre-Injustice, it wasn’t the golden or silver age lineups so I didn’t have to worry about those shenanigans. Which was good. Great really. So, I wasn’t in the early days of superheroes, and I wasn’t in the newest generation. That was good to know. 

While I was still uncertain which exact universe I was in, it seemed that I wasn’t in one of the dreadful ones, or in the negative universes that were all varying shades of awful. 

Right. Now what…?

What else did I need to be here? If this was going to be my new life, then what would I need?

Bank account, proof of income, credit score because there was no telling that Kitten was good with me staying at her place forever...when did I become an adult? I just turned eighteen!

“Ugh…errands…”

But someone had to do them. 

…

The card in my wallet was magic, I decided, a new debit card in my wallet. I just handed over the blank card, an excuse that I didn’t have the other forms of identification on my lips, but the woman simply took the card, made flipping motions like she was going through some papers, then handed me back the card like it all checked out. So, she didn’t just see a form of ID on there, but other stuff as well. Whatever she needed to see to set me up a bank account that I deposited five hundred bucks into. 

Now I just had to worry about building up my credit score enough that I could get an apartment on my own in case Kitten decides I can’t live at the mansion anymore. Actually, given the nature of this world, throwing around stacks of cash without an explanation for how I got it sounded like a good way to get the wrong kind of attention from heroes. I...should look into buying some stock in companies. Wayne and Luthor Industries seemed like safe bets, or maybe I should look into buying a business, or something. 

I just needed a way to justify my spending beyond ‘I slept with a girl once and she felt like giving me millions upon millions of dollars.’ Because I was there when that stuff happened, and still barely made any sense to me. 

“Now...food,” I decided, figuring that I should load up on food while I was out here unless I wanted to eat tortillas tomorrow. Which is how I found myself wandering through the isles of a supermarket, slowly filling up my buggy with ingredients. Like, actual ingredients. To make real food with. Partly because I wanted to cook actual food, but also because I had a sneaking suspicion that something was up with my cooking skills. 

Kitten nearly had an orgasm with the food I made it was apparently so good. Unless she was just blowing smoke, then there was another mystery afoot. 

“I should do asian,” I decided, my mind wandering to Hinata. I don’t know if she would be back in time, or at all, but if she was then it could help cheer her up. Something that I’m guessing that she sorely needed. So, with that in mind, I loaded up on rice, spices and herbs, pork, fish, leeks, and chopsticks-

I was in the middle of grabbing a bottle of soy sauce when I heard someone...sniff me. Like, full on taking as deep of a wiff as they could. I jerked back, turning around and my jaw dropped when I came face to face with an orange-skinned alien, her long red hair flowing down, her glowing green eyes gazing into mine that was hidden behind a pair of sunglasses. 

“You smell most excellent, the man of pink hair!” Starfire, otherwise known as Kori, announced in an excited tone. She beamed at me, floating on the ground as she clasped a basket filled with what appeared to be random ingredients. Her purple outfit left little to the imagination, covering most of her torso while her arms and legs exposed powerful orange skin. 

Until this very moment, I never really got the attraction to aliens that were just humans with a recolor. Now, though? Now I totally did. 

“Uhhhh…!” I started intelligently, gaping at her as she smiled brightly at me, taking another whiff. This...this is why I didn’t want to go to the Titans Tower when I first arrived here. I could feel myself freaking out, even as I tried to play it cool. An actual superhero was in front of me! This was awesome! I-

“Star, if you don’t stop smelling him, I’m taking a picture and sending it to Nightwing,” a voice announced, making Starfire jerk away from me. We both looked over at the source to see a tall man whose body was more metal than flesh to the point that the few places that were flesh, like half of his face, almost seemed out of place. Cyborg. 

“Do not do that friend Cyborg! I did not intend to do the cheating -- he simply smells most delightful!” Starfire gushed, lifting what seemed to be about fifty pounds of groceries easily as she gestured wildly at me with obvious panic. So Kori and Dick Grayson were a thing. That was good to know. 

Cyborg simply smirked before he turned his attention to me, giving a small nod, “sorry about her. She just does her own thing sometimes.”

Oh my god, a superhero was talking to me. Suddenly, Beliebers made so much sense because I wanted to squeal like a pubescent teenage girl and jump up and down. 

“Oh, it’s all good. Don’t worry about it,” I said, trying to keep my cool. Starfire, however, took that as permission to lean in and start sniffing me from every angle that she could find. My hair, she leaned in to sniff my neck, collar bone, and I was worried she was about to bury her nose in my armpit or something before Cyborg cleared his throat. 

“You, ah, mind giving me the name of that cologne you’re wearing because it looks like it works wonders,” he commented, sounding amused. 

“You smell like a fierce Dorgnalback!” Starfire exclaimed as if that made absolutely any sense. 

“I think it’s called Au Eu Scent, or something like that? Something french,” I said, trying to recall what I dumped onto myself when I was going through Kitten’s dad’s stuff. “And, uh, big fans?” I tried to bring it up non intrusive because this was a million times better than meeting a celebrity. I mean, I’m pretty sure that Starfire could throw me into the sun and that was hot as hell.

“A fan! It is a most joyous occasion to be making your acquaintance,” Starfire greeted me, grabbing my hand and giving it a shake as she smiled brightly at me. “Would you like the decorative name?”

...squeee… “I’d like that, but I don’t have anything -” I started only to be cut off as Starfire let go of my hand.

“One moment, I will fetch Beast Boy because he is giving the decorative names,” Starfire informed before flying upwards and...that was pretty whoa. She was flying. I mean, I could do that too, but she didn’t need wings. 

“Sorry about that,” Cyborg said, stepping forward with his buggy full of groceries. “She can get pretty up in your face. Alien mannerisms, you know?” He offered as an excuse as why Starfire was sniffing me like a scratch and sniff. 

“Seriously, don’t worry about it,” I dismissed with a wave of my hand. “I’m just stoked to meet you guys.” Right, was this my chance? Wait, was there a subtle way to bring up the fact that I was a dragon and would a hundred and ten percent be on board with being a superhero? I wasn’t particularly heroic by nature, but I could be, if that's what they wanted. Which, as a group of heroes, they probably did. 

But, before I could find a way to stick my entire foot in my mouth, Starfire returned carrying a grass green mouse in her hands that jumped off her to transform into a short green teenager. His hair was a darker green than his skin, while his eyes were an even darker shade than that, but he was almost entirely green. 

I smiled to greet him, only for it to fall a fraction when his eyes narrowed into a glare. 

“...you...are seriously wearing sunglasses indoors?” He asked, trying to keep his tone neutral but there was a scornful edge to it. I was taken back by it, and I wasn’t the only one. Cyborg admonished him with a sharp ‘dude’ while Starfire looked like someone had just kicked a puppy in front of her. 

Wait...I was a dragon and Beast Boy was pretty much the entire animal kingdom. If there was such a thing as an apex predator, then it had to be a dragon. And that probably meant that when Starfire was sniffing me, she wasn’t smelling my cologne. A dragon musk of some kind that was making Beast Boy react on instinct. 

I gave a small shrug, caught flat footed by the unfriendly greeting from what was generally considered a total goofball. “It’s because the sun is always shining on me?” I tried to banter back, only for Beast Boy to let off a small scoff as he looked away from me. 

Starfire frowned at him before looking at me with some suspicion now. Friendly as she might be, she knew Beast Boy while I was a guy that she just met that smelled good. Of course, she would trust him over me. I felt the chance to bring up that I was a magical dragon to join the team slip through my fingers like sand. This entire chance meeting had fallen apart rather quickly.

“...right, well, it was nice meeting you all,” I said, throwing the three of them a friendly smile and a head nod before I exited stage left. I half expected one of them to stop me, but it seemed that they were too busy speaking with Beast Boy in low tones, likely trying to figure out why he was acting like a bit of a dick to me rather than his friendly self. 

A small disappointed sigh escaped me as I pushed my buggy to check out, wondering what I could do about Beast Boy not liking me. I was hardly soul crushed or anything, but I was a little worried that failed meet and greet would have a cascading effect. Given the technology this place had, Cyborg was likely running my face through a scanner right now to pick up on any warrants or anything. 

Which would lead them to the fact that I didn’t have a social security number or a birth certificate. Outside of a bank account, I was a ghost. And that wouldn’t look well when a trusted member of the team already showed obvious dislike for me. 

“Could that have been any worse?” I asked myself, pushing my buggy out the front door to load up and go home. I spotted my car in the distance, far away from anyone else to avoid an accident because I wasn’t sure the car was insured or not. 

Just in time to see my precious car get flipped over by a punk-ass midget held up by a pair of robot spider legs. Five others walked with him, steadily making their way to the mall, but outside of noting that the one leading them had pink hair like me, I paid them no attention. 

“And...you’re dead,” I decided, pushing my buggy to the side and striding forward to meet them halfway. 

I wasn’t cut out for that hero crap anyway.