[SEQUEL TO KHAJIIT GOT YOUR TONGUE]
Chapter 4: A Different Kind of Dance

"Ja'kal, what are you doing?"

Serana swore this was the question she asked every day - dare say even the most-asked question of her entire life. She looked down and watched his hands as he tugged the lip of her tunic and corset to be higher up, uncomfortable with what he was doing. Sort of. The corset tightened over her breasts and her tunic wrinkled unflatteringly as it covered her collarbones.

"You wear gloves and a hood to shield your skin from the sun," Ja'kal murmured, his brow wrinkling with concentration as he tried to fix her clothes. "But you have this big hole on your chest. It makes no sense. So Ja'kal is fixing it."

"That..." She thought about it for a second, then looked down again, mumbling sheepishly. "That's... A good point..." She tried to fix his fix by smoothing out the wrinkles and folds, but her clothes were tailored specifically that way. He groaned and she smirked when she tugged everything back down to fit the corset to her body the way it was meant to. "I can't breathe like that. When we reach Winterhold, I'll see if there's something else that appeals to me." She looked up in thought at that, ideas racing in her brain. "Actually... It would probably be a good idea for both of us to get rid of these clothes-"

"Ja'kal approves."

"Try again." Serana rolled her eyes, ignoring the part he undoubtedly approved and continued. "As I was saying, we should get rid of these and fetch new clothes, so that we won't be recognized by the Dawnguard or father's acolytes." She watched him just as intensely as he watched her, and she crossed her arms when his whiskers flared. She smirked when the end of his tail flicked nervously.

"This is the part Ja'kal approves of, of course."

"Of course," she chuckled dryly. "Nice save. Much better."

Ja'kal's ears perked and his chest puffed with pride. His whiskers flared in a fangful grin and he grabbed her hand, tugging her as he grabbed their makeshift traveling bag he made out of a potato sack. She laughed when his impatience showed itself much faster than usual the moment she hadn't walked at his exact pace, and his tail snaked around her waist for an extra pull.

"Hurry, hurry," he urged, "Ja'kal hears water and wants to dance with you."

That made Serana double back and arch her brow. "Dance? Are you sure you've got the right person for that?"

"What? Of course." He slowed down as his tail drooped to her thigh, and he looked over his shoulder with worry. "Does Serana not like to dance?"

"Um... I mean, I have danced before." In formal fashion, which she suspected that didn't exist in Ja'kal's vocabulary. "But usually it was in the court - and with music."

Ja'kal grinned. "It will be the exact same thing then."

Yeah.

No.

Serana was fairly certain it would be nothing like what she had to do before. Once again she was carried away by this carefree cat's whims, wondering if there will ever be a time he'll pick up even a modicum of responsibility from the obligations that have been thrust on to him because of his power. She could relate to not wanting that power, she could, but that didn't mean the desire not to have it meant she was absolved of the duty that came with it all. He whirled around, abandoned their traveling sack, and walked backwards as he insistently pulled on her hands, his tail wrapping around her waist again. He slid side to side, bopping with his head and rolling his shoulders as he did. There was absolutely no rhythm to his movements.

"What are you doing?" Serana chuckled, thoroughly amused by his interpretation of-

"Dancing!" He slid again, his grin growing ever wider.

"Uh huh. And to what music?"

"The birds, and the ma'jota, and the wind brushing through the leaves." Well, that explained the lack of rhythm at least. "Try it with me. Come on. Dance, pretty please?"

"Ja'kal..." She sucked in the flesh of her cheek when she was hit with pleading eyes, and if she could actually see that far more clearly - swirling in the milky blue hues - then it was a safe bet to gauge just how badly he had wanted this. She sighed and swallowed her embarrassment as she tried to copy his movements, though her muscles held on to it's rigid technicalities from how she was taught to dance all 'proper' in court. She hadn't slid the way he did and stiffly stepped to the side, hoping it was enough to sate him.

Of course it wasn't.

"Loosen up," Ja'kal let go of her hands and squeezed her shoulders, flexing his knees as he dipped smoothly in another slide. He applied pressure on her shoulders in an effort to make her copy him, but she was still tense. He had actually rolled his eyes at her and let go, nimbly leaping back and finishing it off with an elegant somersault that betrayed the lack of grace his movements had a few seconds ago. "Let go of the expectations you hold of yourself. Come on, it cannot be that hard; it is just a different kind of dance than what you are used to. Do you think Ja'kal cares if you look silly?"

"Well..."

"Ja'kal is looking forward to it so that we both laugh." He deftly jumped up and caught a tree branch, then turned upside down and hung by his tail, swinging comically. "Just like how you were smiling when this one was being silly, yes? Serana is so serious all the time, she will get gray hairs tonight, at this rate."

Serana crossed her arms, an amused smile tugging the corner of her mouth even when she tried not to. "You know vampires don't age, right?"

"Did you start aging before you turned, then?" Ja'kal pointed, but there was no way of telling exactly where he was pointing. "I see a gray hair and a wrinkle."

That was enough to make her heart skip a beat. "What? No you don't!" She looked around for any body of water, but there was none to be found. Didn't he say he heard water? Was this yet another one of those times where it may as well have been on the other side of Skyrim? She narrowed her eyes when Ja'kal started laughing, rich and loud enough to fill this entire forest; she knelt to pick a handful of twigs to throw at him in revenge, but there was no stifling the smile that swept over her face, infected by the contagion that was his boisterous mirth. His swinging slowed and he wiggled his finger for her to come closer, to which she did just so that she could push him, laughing when he yelped as he swung away.

It backfired when he crashed back into her, though his arms snapped around her before she fell. His heavy breaths echoed in her ear and she winced when claws protracted and sank into her thighs, wondering just how long they truly were if he still had something that couldn't be pared off. She patted his hands and tried to pry off a finger. "Ja'kal... Claws. They're still sharper than you think."

"Urada, Serana," he whimpered pitifully, releasing her as he swung idly. The two stared at each other upside down, and she smiled. It set off the curiosity in his eyes and his whiskers twitched as a reaction, smiling too. "Why are you smiling?"

"I don't know," she lilted playfully. "Why are you?"

"I do not know." He reached up and poked her cheek. "Because you are."

They stared again. She truly did not know why she was smiling, and the natural inquisitive part of her did not appreciate her shrugging it off. She framed his head, kissed his chin, and claimed his lips as she sought solace and the courage to say thank you for just being him, however flawed and frustrating he could sometimes be. But so could she - and it was surprisingly comforting to know that she needn't be perfect, especially when they became perfect when they were put together.

By the gods, this cheesiness overload was a bit much, even for her - and she didn't dare say any of it out loud. She hoped he felt it well enough as she pressed harder against his lips, her tongue dipping into the crevice of his mouth as her fangs teased his upper lip. He groaned, and soon enough the claws found themselves stretching and sinking into her thighs again.

"Ja'kal," she warned as she tapped his hands, but she never stopped kissing him. It stirred the incorrigible desire lurking deep inside of her as she grew rougher and thrust her tongue deeper in his mouth, swallowing their groans as she ran it along the long spines of his tongue. Tingles flooded her mouth and somehow hardwired a path straight to an ache growing between her legs; it nearly forced her to eat her own words from yesterday when she had chastised Ja'kal for being frisky with her at every chance he could get, and now here she was, instigating it all.

"I hope you can forgive me for doing this despite what I said yesterday," she blurted as she worked the buttons of his shirt, coaxing her fingers through the trimmed fur of his chest. He chuckled against her lips and stopped her from stroking him as he pressed and held her hands against his chest. She could feel every heartbeat, and grew squeamish for the coming cheese when he craned his neck back to look at her.

"It is amusing whenever Serana asks for forgiveness." He nuzzled his cheek against hers and pecked a chaste and cheesy kiss on her nose. "Even when there is no need to ask for it in the first place. It is Ja'kal who must ask for it when he has not focused on loving you the way he should have all along." He dropped down from the tree and unsurprisingly landed on his feet, rising to take her hands and rest them on his chest again. He nuzzled his other cheek against hers and she chuckled at the strange sensation, and the even stranger - warm - feeling that bloomed inside of her when he placed a hand on her hip, gently swaying from side to side as he stayed glued to her. "Do you have ideas as to why Ja'kal loves you, Serana?"

"I... Don't really know, no."

Ja'kal's chuckles purred and rumbled lowly. He shook his head against her as he held her hand tighter, their sways growing with more momentum. "Ja'kal knows you do not know - for you always tell yourself you do not know, even when you do; but Ja'kal knows you are a thinker, yes? Surely you have ideas."

Serana sucked in the corner of her lip and nibbled on it, a wry quip tumbling out to hide the discomfort. "Are you asking me to compliment myself so you know what I like to hear?"

"That too," he admitted honestly and playfully, and it wrought a brief laugh from her. She fell quiet and her head landed on his chest, staring at their hands before her eyes slipped shut, dancing to the tune no one could hear but them. Warm breaths sank into her scalp when he burrowed his snout against her hair, lulling her with his relaxed rhythm. "You saw a blind khajiit, and you did not shun me as others always have; instead, you listened and talked to me. You put up with my questions and curiosities and mistakes. You were patient and understood. You painted pictures and made new traditions. You helped me conquer my fear, and you were not afraid to conquer your own." He sucked in a sharp breath, his voice dropping to be a mere shell of itself. "You were hurt, and still you were so brave as to trust this impatient one - again and again and again - with the trust that was broken in the first place."

With every confession, she grew ever more squeamish, struggling to figure out how to respond or where to even start. She had wanted to shout how the intimate act of his turning may have tampered with his emotions towards her, or at least amplified them. If this was all just an illusion, it fooled even her; she hadn't known where her own feelings began and where the tampering may have ended - if it had even tampered the giver just as much as the receiver. It wasn't a subject she was familiar with, having never actually turned anyone before.

"Serana is intelligent, and fierce, and brave, and captivating, and hum... Humor... Humorous - that is the right word, yes?"

"Are you sure you know what you're saying or are we about to have another misunderstanding like erotic succubus, Ja'kal?"

"I am sure now," he grinned as he squished his mouth against her forehead, his warmth and the cocoon of safety it nested within her hadn't helped with that buzzing inside of her. "You are so serious, but that does not mean you have forgotten how to laugh and make light of life, even when shrouded in darkness. You are cute, and serush, and most definitely zaji; but all of those things are still not the most important reason as to why Ja'kal loves you."

"This gushing is kind of starting to get a bit much," she admitted; she wasn't at all prepared to hear this much, and she had a bit of trouble believing some of it. The rest she'd gotten a head start on it at least, but things like zaji were most definitely still going to take a long time before she had ever considered herself that way, much less be comfortable in that aspect of herself.

It was like wearing a skin that didn't belong to her.

"This is why Ja'kal loves you," he breathed against her ear, gently nibbling on the tip of it. She hadn't expected it at all, and though she was mildly confused by what he meant, she was fixated on the scrape of his fangs along the shell of her ear. "It does not matter how many times Ja'kal says all these things - you are still humble and do not forget yourself. You are connected, but you are disconnected at the same time."

"...Is this supposed to not make sense, like the thjizzrini? Q'zi no vano thzina ualizz? Is my contradiction the reason why you love me - because I'm like the khajiit now?" She smirked, both sheepish and proud, when she goaded a laugh from him. He embraced her tightly and disrupted their rhythm until their entire bodies swayed from side to side in a sorry excuse of a 'dance', but she no longer cared. It wasn't like anyone was judging her - except and only herself. She was more confident in the sincerity behind what Ja'kal thought of her than her own saboteur mind.

"That is yet one of many more reasons, Serana-ro."

"Ah... Now I understand. Is that why it's amusing when I ask for forgiveness?"

"No," Ja'kal chuckled, "I meant it when I say it is because there is truly no need for it. Yesterday was not something I will hold against you - but it is something I will hold against myself. I have a responsibility that I neglected, and I am lucky to have been reminded rather than lose you because of it."

"Responsibility? Never thought I'd ever hear that word come out of your mouth." Serana teased, and she drew her head away as she looked up at him with a wicked smirk. "Hold on, don't say anything else. I need to first figure out if I'm dreaming, and then I need to commit this to memory regardless of it being a dream or not."

It was Ja'kal's turn to roll his eyes, and it spurred her on. He smirked back though, and leaned down as he nibbled the tip of her ear until he elicited a shiver from her, echoing words she once said to him. "Duly noted." The laces of her corset were undone with practiced speed and he snuck his hand under her tunic, gently raking his claws down her spine until he drew a more aggressive shudder from her body. A wave of chills chased after the goosebumps that broke out on her skin and she arched into him, reminded of the ache growing between her legs.

"You didn't neglect anything," she barely managed to say without croaking pitifully, wrapping her arms around his shoulders in a meager attempt for support; she knew the strength would be sucked out of her legs soon enough, and her knee buckled on her when his claws burned a path down her back.

"Still so kind, thinking of Ja'kal's feelings," he nibbled his way down to her throat, his hands growing ever more rougher. "I do not want the illusion you had to paint in the castle, Serana. I want you raw and untamed; the good and the bad, even if you are angry." He tore out the laces of her corset and wrestled it off of her, granting better access as he raked his claws up her stomach. If she hadn't held on to him, she'd have slumped into a puddle right then and there, and the fiery pain only served to stoke the flame inside of her.

Ja'kal took his hand out - much to the displeasure she didn't think she'd have - and took hers, curling her fingers against his chest as he claimed her mouth with such tenderness, it made her cry outrage and want for something far more than this softness neither sincerely felt. She wanted it just as raw, and she raked her nails down hard enough to pull a hiss out from his lips. There was a slight glow glossing his eyes, a speck of amber buried in the depths. It flared and shone brighter every time her nails paved a new path on his skin.

"There," he nodded, encouraging her hands by pressing against them even harder. "I want you to make me yours all over again, just like the night you turned me. Claim me." He stretched and exposed his neck to her, making her fangs itch as that powerful memory called out to the vestiges of the euphoria she vividly remembered that night. "I want you to loosen up, Serana. Let go."

She smirked as she rose on her toes, fangs scraping the spot she favored to sink into. "This was never about dancing, was it?" She may have not seen his smirk, but she heard it.

"Of course it is. It is just a different kind of dance than what you are used to."

Serana laughed. "I don't know why I didn't see this coming."

Author's Note

Sorry for taking so long on this update, and that it's a short one. I'm working twice the amount of shifts this month, but at least September is almost over! Hope you enjoyed this humble and slightly naughty dose of Ja'kal & Serana. Have a lovely day and cheers :)

Translation

Ma'jota - insects

Urada - sorry

Serush - beautiful

Zaji - sexy

Thjizzrini - foolish concepts

Q'zi no vano thzina ualizz - when I contradict myself, I am telling the truth