Author Note: You guys are so awesome! The overwhelming support for this story that I have received amazes me. It has only been posted 3 days and already has 34 reviews and over 3,000 reads and it makes me really happy and fuzzy inside! It's times like these that I really find myself happy that I can take some obscure story out of my brain, put it into words, and have it be enjoyed by so many wonderful people. Thank you guys for your love, this chapter is for you!
P.S. I will try to update once a day, but that is a very ambitious promise (since I'm making this up as I go), so I can only say that I cannot guarantee that updates will always be that regular.
Over the next few weeks Ah-Un continued to plague Kagome's existence like a bad, very persistent rash, but if she had to be honest ⎯ and she usually was ⎯ she had grown sort of fond of the dragon...thing.
"Who's a good dragon? Who is?" She cooed, scratching the big brute's belly as it grumbled in absolute satisfaction. "You are! You are!"
Un's tongue lolled out of its mouth in a toothy grin, Ah simply closed its eyes and reveled in the attention. They were like a big puppy...sort of, which was ironic, seeing as they traveled with the biggest dog in all of Japan.
Shippou wished that he had a cool lizard-friend, but Ah-Un only had eyes for Kagome.
"I think Kirara's jealous that no one's scratching her belly," Shippou said, eyeing the cat mischievously. Kirara's ears flattened, her eyes widening in terror. One look at the kit and she took off running as Shippou pounced, determined to hold her down and pet her into oblivion. "Wait, come back!" He called, giving chase.
Sango eyed the two fondly, as they ran in frantic circles, and chuckled to herself. It was nice to have an afternoon to themselves; Inuyasha and Miroku had gone off to do what men do best ⎯ hunt, fish, and pee on things ⎯ and they would not be back until nightfall.
"Isn't it just so...weird?" Kagome said, bring her friend out of her internal musings. The miko continued to absentmindedly scratch the dragon, its leg twitching in the air. "I mean, I just don't understand why."
"Why Ah-Un visits you?" the demon slayer asked.
"Well, yeah," Kagome said, her brow furrowing.
Sango shrugged. "I have not the slightest clue, Kagome. Dragons are very rare ⎯ I have only heard stories of them as a child, though, the dragons of lore were much bigger and decidedly less tame than our friend."
"What did the stories say?" she asked, intrigued.
"Well, most legends told of terrible, evil beasts who ravaged villages and ate little children who wandered too far from home," Sango explained, finding it very hard to believe that Ah-Un were capable of any thing of the sort. "But it is the same in all tales ⎯ that dragons are fiercely loyal, incredibly manipulative, and surprisingly good judges of character. They also covet precious things, and would rather die than to give them up."
Kagome had a very unsettling image of Ah-Un sitting on top of her like some strange, fleshy pile of treasure, growling at anyone who dared come near.
"Well, none of that really explains anything," Kagome sighed, her arm finally telling her, 'no more dragon scratchies or I'm going to amputate myself and never come back.'
"Does it not?" Her friend asked, raising a brow. "Ah-Un likes you, Kagome. You are an exceptional person in many ways, obviously you have earned yourself an admirer."
The priestess laughed disbelievingly. "I doubt that a creature who admires Sesshoumaru would find anything to admire about me ⎯ we're nothing alike!"
"Perhaps you are more similar than you may think?" Sango offered with a shrug and a face that clearly said, 'and maybe hell has frozen over'.
Kagome slumped, letting her eyes lazily drift to the now slumbering dragon heads. "Or maybe they're just manipulating me to get something that they want...but what could a two-headed dragon want from me?"
