AN: Hey, guys, I know it's been a while. ;) All I can say is thank you so much for being patient with me. You guys are the best! So without anymore blabbering, here's Chapter 11 of 'Taste of Magic.'
Chapter 11
"Ah-un…?"
Kagome unconsciously spoke, her voice vibrating throughout the room. Her eyes widened at the familiar sight of the dragon she had once taken care of multiple times in the past and vice versa. 'Why is Ah-un in the competition?' she thought as her mind raced with reasons as to why the stoic lords dragon was in captivity and where was the stoic lord himself?! Does he even know that he's missing his dragon?!
Did they capture it? If they did, when and where? The last time she had seen Ah-un was about 300 years ago. Apparently due to the fast progress of society, Sesshoumaru had to take him away and hide it somewhere. She never heard from them again. Although she was curious as to why Ah-un was there, one thing was for sure, she was going to have a long and serious talk with the Ministry of Magic.
Just seeing Ah-un in chains and being put in a game to protect one little freaking egg was pissing her off. She mentally scowled. The things she would say to him if she ever saw him!
All eyes were on Kagome. Bartimus looked up to her and cleared his throat. "Uh, Y-Yes, Ms. Kagome, the name of the dragon is Ah-un." He confirmed as his gaze uncomfortably shifted around the room and back to the pouch.
Kagome felt eyes targeting her from all angles. She glanced up and smiled a little. "I read it in a book at the library."
Some were quick to dismiss it, but some did not quite easily give into her simply explanation. By some, one of them was the boy-who-lived. Harry shifted his gaze to her and then back. Something about her was eating at him and that's why he couldn't wait to get this task over with so he could have a talk with Hermione. He had a feeling that Hermione had found something huge about this mysterious woman. Whatever it was, it could help shed some light on her background and on his conscious as well.
As the champions were picking out from the pouch one by one, Ah-un turned to her direction, instantly recognizing the aura and started shooting out fire from its nostrils. It started purring in recognition as it tried to fly over to her.
This directed more looks of curiosity and suspicions her way! Great, now they think that this was a set-up, a cheat, or something. Cedric looked at the dragon and then her then the dragon and then back to her.
"Um, Kagome, I think that dragon…is, uh, trying to fly over…"
Cedric didn't finish his sentence before Kagome cut him of. "Don't mind it, just pick from the pouch already."
He slowly nodded as his hand reached inside the pouch. He winced as he pulled out the Swedish short snout dragon.
'Ah-un, you're not helping here!' She thought as she tried to look away from the struggling dragon. She looked at the dragon and mouthed, "No, no, stay, Ah-un, stay!" she even added in small hand gestures. It seemed the mouthing and hand gesturing the dragon made it worse when he bit Fleurs finger and flew over to her. This was one of them times when she wished that dragons could talk and understand human language.
Fleur shouted in pain as she pulled back her hand. "Ouch! The dragon just bit me!" Her expression turned bitter as she violently reached for the dragon. "Oh no, you don't!" she shouted. Fleur roughly grabbed its small tail and forced it back into her hand. "Now stay, stupid dragon." She whispered.
Kagome eyes widened as she chuckled sarcastically. "Oh, you are definitely going to pay for that." One thing she learned about Ah-hun was that it really hated it when someone tried to overpower it, like its owner, for example!
Fleur scoffed as she ignored her comment. By this time, A-hun's round eyes has turned to slits. Kagome couldn't but not feel sorry for what Ah-un was going to put her through.
In the end, everyone got their own dragon. Fleur got Ah-un, Cedric got the Swedish short snout dragon, Harry got the welsh green dragon, Krum got the Chinese fireball, and she got the Hungarian horntail.
She was already familiar with the dragons. It was the same dragons they used for the first task in previous tournaments. But what she doesn't know was how they maneuvered during battle; she only witnessed it.
She smiled as she nuzzled the dragons' neck. It purred at her touch. The smile quickly disappeared. 'Damn it.' She thought. If it took a liking to her, it won't attack or harm her. Quickly, she retreated her hand.
Cedric noticed this and smiled. "Uh, I think it already took a liking to you. Does everyone who come by you always take a liking to you?"
Kagome simply stared at him. "What's that supposed to mean?"
Cedric noticed her change of expression. "I mean, you make everyone feel special. You must make them feel indebted to you for making them feel that way…"
A scoff left her lips as her eyes hardened. "Let me stop you right there. I never meant to make anyone feel like they owe me. Why do people think that just because I'm sincere towards them and their problems that they want to compensate me, or something. So, no, not everyone I met liked me. Just for me." Her voice lowed at the last part.
Cedric was about to say something but stopped when the sound of the cannon went off.
"Mr. Diggory, you're first." Dumbledore announced.
Cedric sent a nod his way before glancing at Kagome. He cleared his throat before making his way to the arena.
Before you knew it, only she was left. Cedric, Krum, Fleur and Harry were done with and they all got their golden egg. And of course, the longest one was Fleur. Ah-un made her pay dearly for that rough treatment earlier. She came back looking like a pile of shit. At least, she passed it, right?
She came stretched her muscles while waiting for her name to be announced.
"…Kagome Higurashi…!" At the call of her name, the crowd was almost silent. Some were cheering loudly for her. Others were just on edge about what and how she was going to handle this task. Were they doubting her?
Kagome entered the arena and looked around. It was much, much bigger than she thought it would be. Well, probably because she's the one fighting the dragon now, not cheering for it. First things first, she surveyed her surroundings, taking note of the strongest and weakest points.
A monstrous roar was heard over huge boulders across from her. Mischievously, a smile appeared on her face. "Well, let the games begin." She whispered before she leaped on the left side, dodging a huge, hot ball of fire that appeared above her.
One thing she was thankful for was that the dragon wasn't showing any sign of sincerity towards her. It gave her the chance to prove herself and plus, she needed to get in shape again. It's been a long, long while since she hasn't had this kind of exercise. Somehow, it felt great to have excitement course through her body again.
Kagome hid behind a huge boulder. She immediately expanded her aura to get a 'glimpse' of the field. Her eyes widened. It was right on top of her. She immediately broke out into a sprint when she saw a huge jaw clamp down on where she was, followed by rains of fire.
She sprinted 180 around the arena until she was directly behind the dragon. When she noticed she was in a bad position, she cursed aloud. "Shit."
It immediately turned to her when it noticed she wasn't there anymore. It snarled at her as it slowly bent down, signaling it was ready to attack. It knew it got her cornered. It was too late to dodge it. She had to figure something out, quick.
Suddenly, a crazy idea popped in her head. She was going to attack it, head on. "Why not, I've done crazier things before."
When she crouched down in a sprinting position, she heard the crowd gasp at what she was about to do. They were in an absolute uproar. They should shut up and think if they were in her position, they would probably do the same thing. Well, probably.
Dumbledore and the guests from Ministry of Magic were on their feet. Bartemius was the first to speak. "Dumbledore, what does she think she's doing? She'll never come out of it alive if she plans to…"
Dumbledore glanced at him. "The Ministry of Magic may have heard about her but we have seen what she's capable off. Do not doubt her, Bartemius." He said as his attention went back to the girl.
Bartemius processed what he said before doing the same.
She focused her aura around her form to give her a good blast of energy. Her eyes started to glow an ominous gold blue, which flowed along with her aura. The dragon roared as he dove for her.
Immediately, she released her energy as she sprinted towards the egg. Her sudden blast of energy sent the dragon a few feet back, which surprised everyone. Her eyes widened when huge claws were coming right for her. In quick thinking, she slid down as she arched her back to avoid the coming force. She couldn't breathe for a moment when she saw huge claws above her pass her by, inches from her face.
Everyone was on edge. Well, almost everyone.
She saw the tail, ran and grabbed onto it. She held on to it with a strong grip as the dragon tried to wiggle her of. At one swift jolt of the tail, she let go. She was freefalling, diving in headfirst. The dragon snarled as it opened its mouth, shooting out fire. Kagome swiftly and effortlessly dodged each and every one of them. That is, until something, or someone, caught her attention as she was descending.
"What the…" she was cut off by a bright, red flash of light. Her eyes widened as she failed to dodge the attack. She screamed in pain as she roughly slid down its neck. "Damn it." She murmured as she checked out her arm. It was severely burned.
"My left arm is now completely useless." Kagome gripped onto a scale with her one usable arm. The dragon flew around the arena, crashed into a few boulders and shot fire from its nostril just too try to get her off.
Kagome saw one area on the ground that looked like a soft landing. And plus, it was near the egg. Leaving it to chance and luck, she jumped off and landed rather roughly on the ground. Nope, it was not soft whatsoever. It left bruises on her back and legs. But, the bruises didn't phase her one bit.
She got back up and sprinted faster than before towards the egg. She came to a halt when she felt the ground began to rumble violently. Turning around, she saw the horntail take flight. It went higher and higher until the chains that bounded it broke.
Closing her eyes, she steadied her breathing. The dragon roared in rage as it zoomed towards her. She smirked as she cracked her knuckles. One thing Kagome was sure of was that one off them was going to lose. And it wasn't her.
Kagome slowly opened her eyes, revealing pure golden pupils. A smile appeared on her face as her demeanor changed. She grinned as the dragon got closer and closer. She balled her fist when the dragon clamped its mouth shut, about to swallow her whole. That was the thing they saw before smoke enveloped the arena.
Immediately, the crowd was in an uproar. Most were screaming because they were scared. Others looked away. Few fainted on the spot.
Hermione had to pull Souta away from the railing. If not, he would've fell off. He frantically searched the area for any sign of her.
"No, Kagome! Kagome!" He screamed as he gripped the railing. Hermione looked at him before she laid her hand on his shoulder. He turned around and saw Hermione smiling at him.
"Souta, she's fine." Hermione whispered as she stepped closer.
"How do you know?" He asked. Doubt filled his voice.
She leaned in. "Because we both know that she's more than capable. This…this is nothing to her."
Just as Hermione finished, the crowd started to cheer. The smoke cleared. It revealed her standing with the egg and an unconscious dragon. Souta smiled as he relaxed a bit. He glanced at Hermione.
"See, I told you so." She whispered.
"Yeah, you did." All he could do was smile. While on the other side, a certain male redhead was fuming with jealousy.
Kagome sighed as she held the egg. "All that shit for a damn egg."
She finally got the chance to get a good look of the stands surrounding her. The crowd cheered her on. Or at least, cheered her on for surviving. Taking one last look, she held up the egg in victory.
Before she turned to leave, she turned to look up at the stands again. 'Wait a minute. It can't…' she thought, her eyes scanned the crowd. Her eyes landed on one of the stands. Preferably where the 'guests' were. Kagome took one step forward and arched her brows in familiarity.
All she saw was a smirk before she muttered darkly. "Bastard."
Honestly, it's my first fight scene. I hope you guys understood the transitions and everything. Lol If not, complete fail! _ Anyways, leave a review on your way out! Much appreciated! Thanks! ^_^
KagLover684