My Dragon Husband

A Rurouni Kenshin fanfic by Raberba girl

Summary: Transformed into a horrible beast, Kaoru is miserable until her husband suddenly shows up. Unfortunately, he doesn't recognize her, and she must win his heart again before it's too late. KK

Part 1

Kaoru shivered as she made her way down the street, clutching her shopping basket tightly in one hand and her shawl closer around her with the other. She hated the cold with a passion, but of course it had been a long time since she had been able to travel somewhere warmer. Stuck here now, in this horrible little village, she sensed the people passing by her on either side, most of them silently giving her wide berth. They did not hate her as she hated them, but they knew instinctively that she was different, and avoided her accordingly.

She could not stand it anymore. She needed to find a place to warm up before completing her journey home. Twilight was falling on this harsh autumn day, and she was not looking forward to another cold, lonely night.

With the reputation she had for being a bit uncanny, she doubted she could just take refuge in the inn's common room; she had to buy something so that they would not throw her out. Sullenly, she set down some coin for a mug of ale, which she then placed in front of a depressed-looking man who seemed to want it more than she did. Then she huddled by the fireplace and stared unblinking into the flames, thinking as always of the one she loved and had lost.

After a long time, when her body was finally starting to relax in the embrace of the fire's heat, snippets of the conversation around her began to trickle into her preoccupied mind.

"You can't be serious!"

"It's true then? That monster's come here?"

"Aye," someone who apparently enjoyed storytelling was saying with relish. "It was the Hitokiri, sure an' enough. Set light t' half our village afore we lost 'im, but gor! That devil was somethin' t' see. We lost six good men to 'im; we ain't gonna rest 'til 'is head is mounted in the square!"

There was a surge of laughter, and Kaoru shuddered. Hearing people talk like this disgusted her. It reminded her of how creatures were hunted mercilessly for nothing more than defending their rightful territory. If she had cared about the conversation, she would have preferred to reserve judgment on this "Hitokiri" before knowing both sides of the story. These people were prone to exaggeration, deception, and selfish arrogance.

That night she lay curled in a nest of blankets and clutched a pillow in her arms, gazing out at the moon. 'I miss you,' she cried out to him in her heart. 'My love, my love, I miss you so much...' No matter how loudly or how often she called to him, he would not hear. How could he, if he had never come for her?

In the morning she was sleepy and sluggish as she usually was in cold weather, and she did not venture out of her comfortable nest until the sun had long risen. Then she dressed as warmly as she could and set off for the mountain slopes, meaning to gather more herbs today. It had taken her some time to get re-acquainted with them, for they seemed to look and taste different now, and she had had to learn how to find them all over again.

On her way up the path she passed a freckled child who stuck his tongue out at her as she passed, a shepherd boy with his family's small flock of goats. She hissed in response, and he yelped as if she had struck him, scrambling backward and making the sign to ward off evil. She turned away in disinterest and resumed walking.

She almost did not pause at the boy's shout behind her, but then the light wavered slightly as something passed across the sun. Kaoru's steps slowed and she glanced up, squinting. Something was flying past, some creature that flashed ruby-red in the sunlight-

Kaoru gasped. Then she dropped her basket, hitched up her wretched skirts and ran, desperate to keep the creature in her sight. 'It can't be...it can't be...!'

She was breathless as she followed the creature, not from the exercise, but from anticipation. It could fly much faster than she could run, and the distance between them was lengthening rapidly. "Oh please," she sobbed. "Oh please, wait..."

It was circling now, flying lower and lower, and hope rose within her. 'The lake,' she realized. It meant to come down for a drink. She put her head down and ran faster, now that she knew the way and did not have to keep her eyes on her quarry.

Bursting out from the bushes around the lake, Kaoru panted for breath and gasped in relief when she saw that the creature was still there. It was finished drinking and had spread its wings to take off again, but it suddenly went stock-still when it caught her scent.

Her steps slowed as her eyes drank it in. Lengthwise, the creature was a little bigger than her; standing, its head came about to her breastbone. Its scales shone a brilliant, almost blinding shade of red in the sunlight, the color of fresh blood (that's right, he had always seemed immaculate, the blood of his prey blending in with his beautiful scales). It was a dragon, there was no mistaking it, and her heart pounded with joy as she met its eyes - but then she received a jolt.

The eyes were not the warm violet color she remembered. They were a harsh, piercing gold, devoid of either recognition or intelligence, and they struck terror into her human heart.

"My love...?" she whispered.

The dragon opened its mouth and snarled at her. Suddenly choked by fear, Kaoru stumbled backward and tried to run, thinking distractedly in the back of her mind that the smell of her terror would only excite the creature even more. Already she knew it was hopeless, but the dragon suddenly came snaking toward her at terrifying speed, and she sobbed when she realized she was going to die in his jaws, and he would never know. To him, she was only prey now. "I love you," she whispered. Even if he could no longer understand, she wanted it to be the last thing he heard from her lips.

His snapping jaws were only inches away from her legs when a sudden thud cracked through the chill air. The dragon reeled back with a howl, and turned venomous eyes to its attacker. Kaoru sat there, gasping in shock, then scrambled around and saw the stupid little goat boy standing higher up on the slope. The child was breathless and flushed with fear and excitement, clutching another rock to throw. "Get out of here!" she shouted angrily at him. "Go!"

Behind her the dragon roared, preparing to charge at this new prey, but then the bushy slopes suddenly seemed to explode with moving figures and furious yells. Kaoru's eyes widened when she saw most of the men and some of the women from the village, their eyes gleaming with battle fury. The boy must have summoned them-

Kaoru realized with a wash of cold horror that this dragon must be the Hitokiri. He had slain humans, and now they were here to avenge their own. "NO!" she shouted.

No one heeded her. Some were flinging rocks at the dragon, as heavy as they could find; others surrounded it with pitchforks and scythes; arrows came showering down on it from above. Two or three of these missiles lodged in the Hitokiri's wings, and it roared in maddened pain as it tried to take to the air and could not. The air was filled with the flame of its breath, but that did not stop the merciless tide of human attackers.

"Stop it!" Kaoru shouted. "Leave him alone! Stop it!" She tried to run to him, but someone pushed her roughly back.

"Get clear, Kaoru-san," he said roughly. "We've got him now, you're safe."

"That's not what I WANT!" she cried furiously, her eyes burning with anger.

The crowd around the dragon was thickening. Its hot, steaming blood singed the grass, and its howls suddenly rose into agonized shrieks as someone plunged a sword into its breast.

"NOOOO!" Kaoru screamed.

To be continued...