Courting the River Maid Collection

Games

By: LadyRainStarDragon

Takes place between when Kohaku and Nushi were recombined and when the river began to flow in 'Rivers Never Die.' A window on what they did while waiting for the funds to move the really big rock.

The day that Tatsu and Fujiyama discuss can be found in 'Promise of a River.'

Click.

Yang placed itself on the squares of the game board, met moments later by Yin joining him, blocking his objective. Her taunts were sweet and served to increase his excitement. Yang smiled and placed himself before her once more, leading her attention away from another of his options.

The old priest was in the corner, reading the newspaper. His life force flickered and flared as he came across something that disturbed him, then smoothed out as he read something that was soothing. The dance was distracting, and the young god was not playing at his best because of the constant string of unconscious prayer streaming from the old man.

The volcano dragon wasn't much better. For once, he was doing something quiet, but the odd snicker that came from him on occasion alerted the river lord that something was amiss. The constant scratch of pencil on paper pierced the deep silence of the room, and the dewdrop of drool at the corner of Ryu's humanoid mouth somehow went right along with the lecherous smirk. At times, he would glance up at the American woman and sigh.

For her part, the American woman was ignoring her dragon protector. She was almost fully absorbed in some imported romance novel, erotica of some kind if he could judge by the way the male was holding the female on the cover. Every once in a great while though, she would look up at her personal kami and give him a pointed glare. Whatever he had done this time, he might as well go and build himself a dog house for all the luck he was going to have even sitting near her. Other times, she would look up at his Miko with an enigmatic smile.

Chihiro was absorbed in the game between herself and her own kami. Minutes would pass by as she ran every possible strategy through her head, as well as every counter strategy. Eventually, when she could no longer think of other possibilities, carefully she would place one of her polished dark river pebbles on a square. While he waited for her next move, he pondered the ripe pout of her lips, the sweet scent that wafted from her body, and the porcelain arch of her neck as it swept down to her modest breast. Such a rare and delicate flower, he would be happy to keep her untainted forever and enjoy her innocent smile and bodily perfume. No male would ever hope to win her love, because none were worthy of her.

Kohaku was jolted from his draconian dreams by the soft click of granite on marble, averting his gaze to its proper place on the Go board to see that she had blocked yet another of his lines. He thought that he had set up enough false leads on the board to disguise where his main goal had been slowly building, yet somehow she had seen it. Never had he thought that his little Chihiro could be so vicious at anything. The playful smirk and confrontational gleam in her eye contradicted the image of the pure innocent that he had built in his mind since the very first time he had held her tiny form in his arms and resisted the urge to stroke peach-fuzz hair.

"Your move Haku. Good try."

It was war then, and he decided to stop going so easy on the cheeky human who held him under a thrall unknown to herself. No longer would he allow himself to be distracted by her pink lips, or by how her eyes danced with merriment, nor by the musical laughter that wrapped itself around his head and stirred his blood. Certainly he was going to ignore the hormones that were reacting to the slow change in her scent, the primordial beckoning of fertile fields begging the coursing river to water herand bring growth.

Hurriedly, as if to wipe away the seemingly impure thought, he placed his own polished milky quartz pebble on the board, blocking her own dark sweep of victory. The smirk of overconfidence fell on the table as she heaved in a great breath, only worsening his problem as he watched her breast rise and fall. Two days now had her scent summoned him, and his Aramitama Haku purred in its lushness, content to wait for a little while and enjoy and get to know his charge again. Nushi, his Nigimitama was also content to let things lie between them for a while, making no move that was not called for. The two remained blended together in their agreement, watching the maiden's reaction to their move.

"You stinker. Ok, if you want to play that way."

Moves blurred into each other as each bent low over the board, determined to best their opponent. BlowingWind put down her book at the increase in pace and heat of the game, smirking as both heads unconsciously drew closer together, unheeding of anything but the game. Ryu looked up from his sketch of BlowingWind, pulled out of his thoughts by the spike in the scents of the warring kami and miko. Koji, too, began to watch the Battle of Yin and Yang to find Balance, neither being able to secure a Victory, nor did they find Satisfaction.

As she scooted nearer to the table in her concentration, Chihiro's leg brushed Kohakunushi's, causing him to drop his stone in surprise, which landed on the board and ended his turn. The lone pebble sat mockingly out in the corner and far away from the mass of pebbles, which had begun to take on the look of a great dragon as the pair had fought for dominance and victory. Kohaku was having trouble controlling his thoughts, the mere brush of her leg having been enough to stir memories of dreams and night-time projective visits best left forgotten for a single young god.

Chihiro was unaffected and unaware of the effect a single touch from her could have on the young male she called friend and master. With a great cry she placed her final piece, jumping up in victory and raising her hands over her head. Of course, it had the effect of raising the mark of her womanhood proud for him to see, stretching her modest kimono tight. The line of five dark stones went unnoticed to him, as his eyes were glued to her ecstatic victory dance. Dance was one of her many gifts, and she gave herself over to it completely, the kami taking it as his consolation prize and trying to prevent his imagination from running wild. If it was this tough for him now, what would it be like when she re-enacted the events of the Winter Solstice in honor of the spirits in only a few short months?

Ryu coughed into his hand, attempting to hide the full out grin lighting his face. He knew just what was going through the river dragon's mind. Even if his face and the tiny trickle of blood on his lip didn't betray his thoughts, the sharp change in his scent as it answered his miko's would.

"Chihiro won! Chihiro! You beat a spirit."

Ryu fell over laughing at BlowingWind's amazed observation, hoping all the while that said Shaman wouldn't catch his thought. The new drop of blood only confirmed that Kohaku had, and his hurried exit brought tears of mirth to the volcano dragon's eyes.

"Congratulations, Chihiro. I'll . . . just go and collect that prize for you."

After a moment, Ryu stopped laughing, and excused himself to go and help Kohakunushi. A quick look around revealed the spirit to be chafing at the edge of his still dry river. Apparently, he had forgotten that the spring had not been opened yet, and his plan had been to swim off his problem in the freezing waters before giving in and getting some chocolate for his miko. As the volcano dragon drew abreast of the river dragon, Ryu could see Kohakunushi holding his nose and waiting for the nosebleed to subside.

"Problem Haku?"

"It is wrong!"

The vehemence behind the statement could have almost been a palpable force. Self-loathing stood etched into every angry line of his face and twined around every wildly tossing hair that stood on end on the still night. Ryu was confused, surely what had happened in there shouldn't evoke such a strong reaction.

"What's wrong?"

"My attraction to her! I held her when she was but a baby. I am ancient compared to her. I delivered her great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandmother's children. I watched her ancestors first come to my river. I have never felt like this about any female, no matter what race, and for a while, she was like my own child."

The river kami sat on the ground, scowling at the earth between his feet. His great robes spread around him, pools of frozen water waiting for the thaw to rejoin their river as the stars blazed away.

"Times change, don't they? There was a time when none of that would have mattered. Now, in this world where humans seem to control everything, we spirits find ourselves pulled into their prejudices. Haku, what did you feel when you first saw Chihiro?"

"There was this connection between our souls, like nothing I had ever encountered."

"Then what is there to worry about? I've seen the way she looks at you when you aren't looking. She feels it too, and I know you can smell when she reacts to you, although she tries to hide it."

"But it is forbidden."

"Is it? Or do we spirits usually shy away because it is hard to watch them grow old and die? Sometimes we become so enmired in the situation that we forget what we desire is to wrap around the soul and coil within the heart. Show me where in the rule book it says you can't mate with a human. Discouraged heavily, yes. Expressly forbidden, no."

The sharp tang of boiling yang eased as his need faded away.

"How do you do it Ryu? I know you haven't finalized your claim on your female. But how do you control yourself?"

Ryu looked around conspiratorially, then pulled out a picture from the pocket of his jeans. It was a very well executed sketch of BlowingWind, holding two beautiful children. She and they were dressed in traditional Apache garb, and the features were so clear it was as if the artist had been looking right at the subjects when drawing.

"Does she know that you drew this?"

"No, and that's how I keep in control. If she knew I'd seriously thought what our kids would look like, who knows what she would do to me.

Besides, if my father found out that I'd allowed my heart to be stolen by a human who hadn't proved herself to him yet, then I'd be stuck back under that stuffy mountain again until she moved on. Now, since you got tricked into betting chocolate on your game, lets go get it before they catch us out here actually being ourselves."

Beneath Mt. Fuji, Tatsu and Fujiyama were discussing their sons over a game of Go.

"I hear your boy has been helping with the excavation of my son, Fujiyama."

"Is that so? He had told me that he was courting an elusive female the last that we spoke."

"Elusive female? I did not know he liked to chase after challenges."

"Let's see . . . Her eyes are the daytime sky and sparkling sea, two jewels set in a sea of blonde pine. The very earth is her hair, though she keeps it short in mourning. Her temper is the gale of the fiercest storm, and her smile is the calm eye of the typhoon. When she stomps her foot in wrath, all run from her gaze as her words fall like fire to scorch the earth. The melody that she draws from the strings soothes the wildest soul. Or some such rubbish."

"Hmm. Sounds daunting, is he sure he can handle one like that? We all know how terrifying the onna are."

The two men paused their game as they tried to imagine what this ryu-onna must be like, neither realizing that the clever young dragon had in fact been describing a human woman.

"Blue eyes."

"Brown mane."

"Breathes fire."

"Her temper was described as a gale. A wind dragon."

"Huge."

"Yellowish scales."

The thought bubble that the two formed contained a creature even more terrifying than Red or Blue to the two males. They were awoken from their shared nightmare of femininity by one of Ryu's younger sisters, a little wisp of red and black barely two feet long.

"Are you going to finish the game? Or does mom need to bring more sake?"

The males shook off the tendrils of their terror, great respect in their hearts for one so young who would seek to tame such a terrifying creature. Little did Fujiyama know that it was worse than he imagined.

One very grouchy human female by the name of BlowingWind.

"We're fine little one. Arigato."

Tatsu watched the pup scurry out of the room and back to the mother, when a stray thought whapped him in the head.

"What if he was talking about a human?"

"Nonsense. He knows that it is very unlikely for such a weak race to give him many pups. Besides, most still pay no attention to matters of Spirit or the environment."

Tatsu took his turn, one fang hanging over a lip in doubt. Silence filled the room as the two continued their game. Fujiyama broke it after a while though, a question that had been bothering him for some time now spewing to the surface.

"Just where did you hide that day, Tatsu?"

"Down the stream from my son, in the very bottom of the channel amongst the reeds. I used some mud to hide my mane."

"What is taking those two so long?"

Koji only shook his head at BlowingWind. She had begun pacing back and forth, making the old priest think of a caged wind dragon chafing for her mate to come release her from the trap.

Reviewer's Corner

NitenGale - Nope. Lemons. Personally, I like a little raw lemon, but a whole lemon I thought made a good punishment.

Jaded image - Thanks.

TranquilMoon - Queso will probably find himself in a few tight predicaments. Just the nature of his character.

Jojo - Thank you.

Alaina - Much sorryness for the sucky compie.

Tippy-chan - Thanks.

Rakasha - what can I say, he's gotta get it somehow.