Ari awoke to a sobbing sound, and a sharp stinging through her arm.
"Chihiro?"
The little ghost girl looked up at her through tear soaked eyes.
"Quit crying already. I'm fine." Ari assured, getting up into a sitting position.
"Your..*sniff*..arm..*sniff*"
For the first time, Ari noticed the white towel clamped around her arm. She unwrapped it, and nearly retched. The inside of the towel was no longer white. It was a deep red. The horrible smell emanating from it was the worst part.
"Yuck," she noted, and then used the clean side of the towel to wipe her arm and hand clean of the remaining blood. The stinging in her arms started to fade, replaced by a strong tingling sensation. She watched, as the puckered weird lines that were carved up on her arm turned black and expanded. Then the tingling disappeared altogether.
Standing up, she walked over to her dresser and looked into the mirror that was attached at the top. Her large emerald eyes stared back at her, highlighted by the deep violet of her hair, which fell in gentle waves down to the middle of her back. But there, between her finely shaped eyebrows and slightly above, was a symbol of some sort. Studying it, she realized it looked like a sun with a half formed moon inside of it, complete with flames on the outer rim of the circle. The black etching made her look even more alien than she already did.
Her dragon hatchling jumped up onto the dresser. Absentmindedly, she stroked it, taking note that the fuzz on the dragon's body was actually a thin layer of tiny feathers, and they were differently colored than what she had originally thought. The body feathers were actually a deep blue, and she could see through them well enough to see the immature scales underneath them were red. The membranes of the wings were pretty thin, but the layers of feathers on them were thicker than on the rest of the body, and were actually a silvery shade of blue. Four alien looking paws kept the dragon hatchling upright. They had the solidity of a lion's paw, yet the tiny black claws protruding from them were more bird like.
Chirping strangely, the dragon leapt lightly onto her shoulder, cat-like in grace and accuracy. Catching sight of the markings on her arm, slowly Ari turned. With her other arm, she reached over and stroked the dragon's soft neck and head.
"What did you do to me?" She whispered. At the point on the back of her hand where the dragon had bit her, two thick half moon markings stood back to back. Erupting from them could only be described as the thick outlines of an upside down flame. Within the flame the markings curled and twisted gracefully.
"It suits you perfectly," Chihiro said, beaming. Chihiro. Ari turned and marched up to where she was sitting on the bed.
"You knew something about this." It wasn't a question. Chihiro cast her eyes to the floor, twisting her legs around themselves nervously.
"I couldn't tell you."
"Yea, well you better start telling me. Everything. Now."
Chihiro looked up at Ari cautiously. She let out a sigh.
"Okay. The truth is, I've already cross over to Soul Society. Soul Society is where you go when you die if you haven't committed terrible crimes during life. I'm three hundred and seventy-five years old. I lived in a part of Soul Society called Rukangai. District 33." As she said this, the gaping hole on her head dissolved, leaving a normal looking scalp. Ari opened her mouth, but Chihiro shushed her with a finger to her lips. Chihiro did indeed seem to have become much more mature as she continued talking.
"My family and I harbored the very last true dragon eggs in the entire universe. There are five of them. When a dragon's master is born, the egg starts to hum in response. It works like a homing signal-the louder the egg hums, the closer their master is. A dragon cannot hatch without the touch of their master."
"Now, the dragons and their masters were the original soul reapers, so to speak. They came into existence when the universe did. It's only been within the past couple of thousand years that the soul reapers you see today came into existence. Anyways, the dragons and their masters were the models for peace. They were courageous, endearing, gentle, and strong. Everyone in all the worlds knew the markings given to the Dragon masters. They were loved by their allies and those they protected, and hated by their enemies. However, there came along a dragon master named Rafael. He had been a youth when a dragon had chosen him, and as his training continued, the higher ranked dragon masters saw he had great potential. When he was deemed experienced enough, he and his dragon were sent out to destroy a hollow that had been destroying cities in the place you now call London. He and his dragon were victorious, but not before the hollow had managed to infect him with a piece of its soul. That piece of hollow soul corrupted Rafael's, and with his soul corrupted, so was his dragons-because the souls of a dragon and its master are intricately intertwined. The hollow's bloodlust consumed him and his dragon. Perhaps if he and his dragon had been older, it would not have affected him. However, it did. As such, when Rafael returned, he caught the other dragon masters unawares, and slaughtered four dragons and their masters before retreating."
"Now you'd think that four masters and dragons wouldn't make that big of a difference overall, but it did. To begin with there were never more than fifty dragons and their masters in the worlds-ever. And at this time, the newer Soul Reapers and their zanpakto were well established, and numerous. This slaughter brought an uproar-this was a serious danger to the universe, as dragons and their masters were far more powerful than any Soul Reaper with a mere zanpakto could be. It was decided sorrowfully that Rafael and his dragon would be put to death for the safety of others. However, Rafael and his dragon were cunning in their bloodlust, attacking when all was calm. In total, the pair killed twenty five masters and their dragons, countless humans and innocent souls, and about three hundred Zanpakto wielding Soul Reapers. The dragons and their masters tried desperately to quelm the situation. But nearly every pair of dragons and masters they sent out had been slaughtered. The newer soul reapers had had enough. Though no single zanpakto wielding Soul Reaper could face off a dragon and master, or even ten, they were far more numerous than the dragons and their masters. And so, in huge numbers they sent an army to destroy Rafael and his dragon. After a long and strenuous battle lasting three days, they succeeded. However, to prevent this from happening again, it was secretly decided that all Masters and their dragons were to be put to death. A large celebration was held after the defeat of Rafael and his dragon. All the remaining masters and their dragons were invited to attend."
"A poison was slipped in the dragons' and masters' drinks. To remain undetected, the poison would not activate until later that evening, when it was too late to raise alarm. And so the dragons and their riders died. A few supportive families grabbed the few eggs that generation of dragons had laid, and fled."
"Why were the dragons and their masters so much stronger than the regular Soul Reapers?" Ari asked. Chihiro looked at her, the knowledge brimming from her eyes unfitting to her youthful appearance.
"A regular Soul Reaper holds its zanpakto's spirit within their own body. As such, there is a limit to how much power one Soul Reaper as that can hold. However, when there are two bodies, especially one that can hold as much power as a dragon can, it multiplies the spiritual power limit at least three or four times."
Ari nodded, staring down at her dragon, who had taken to sleeping on her lap contentedly. Suddenly the little girl Chihiro came back.
"Now sleep, silly! You have school in a few hours!" She said, giggling.