Author says: Lots of talk talk talking in this, sorry, I hope it's not too boring. But dragon! Cool, right? :) Let me know what you think of the direction I'm taking this. Enjoy!
Xia: Chinese female name, meaning, as far as I can tell from google, 'glow of the sunrise' and also the first dynasty of China. Seemed appropriate.
Temujin: Known later in life as Genghis Khan. I promise this will not turn into Mulan.
Other note: I am basing the next arc of this story, the taking of Beijing, roughly on an actual chinese event, though it took place in 1214, long before the '500 years' that Kagome went back in time. I'm taking a little creative liberty with that.
Kagome awoke to the worst headache she'd ever felt in her life. She cracked one eye, whimpering, and judging by the darkness it was either night or she was underground. She tried to sit up and cried out as her head spun agonizingly. Despite the pain, she managed to rise to her knees. Someone was saying something. Huojin? She gritted her teeth and opened her eyes all the way, and his concerned face swam into view, lit by a dancing orange glow that had to be fire. With effort, she managed to focus on his words.
"...you all right? Xia here forgot about our weak human ears," he was saying. She frowned.
"Xia?" It came out as more of a croak. Suddenly she stiffened. "Inuyasha! Oh, no where is he?" She heaved herself to her feet but the movement sent a shock of fire through her skull and she fell to her knees, gagging. Suddenly two cool, strong hands touched her temples; they felt like the hands of a statue, chill as marble. She started to flinch away, but stopped as wave of... something washed through her body. "Ohh," she moaned, feeling near tears as her pain dissipated. The touch went away. She took a deep breath and stood up again, to her surprise, feeling no pain at all.
"Oh, good," said Huojin, materializing by her side with a look of relief. "You're all right now. So is everyone else," he added hastily, pointing. She looked and saw all the others laid out carefully on the floor of the small hut. They appeared to be sleeping peacefully; she sighed as she saw no wounds.
She shook her head, blowing out a huge breath, still half expecting that fiery pain to reappear. "What happened? It's nighttime- how long have I been out?" I feel woozy as hell, almost drunk, she thought in confusion.
He shrugged. "A while, I guess, I just woke up a little while ago."
"How did you fix my headache?" she asked curiously.
He raised a brow. "Not me, Kagome, the dragon." She gaped at him. He grabbed her by the shoulders and turned her around, putting her face to face with another woman. The memory of the gigantic white shape and the earsplitting laugh came back to her suddenly.
"Oh," she gasped. "Dragon- what- who are you?" The woman regarded her stonily with bright sky-colored eyes set over pronounced cheekbones. She was short, even shorter than Kagome, with a wild mass of unruly curls the color of smoke falling to her hips. She's the most beautiful person I've ever seen. Next to her, even Sesshoumaru in all his exquisite elegance would look like a dirty peasant. Kagome wrapped her arms around herself, feeling rather like a bug under the woman's laserlike gaze.
"Thank you," she said slowly. Is she- is she wearing Huojin's shirt? She looked at him, for the first time realizing he was shirtless. He caught her glance and shrugged.
"She didn't have clothes when she transformed, I guess," he murmured. "Bit, ah, awkward."
Kagome clutched her head again. When the woman spoke, she jumped. "You may call me Xia. I have need of you all," she told them in a voice so impossibly melodic and lovely that it became obvious she wasn't human, despite her perfect body.
"O-Okay," Kagome answered her, deciding she might as well be comfortable and warm despite all this weirdness and sitting down next to the firepit. It also put her casually between the woman and Inuyasha, and closer to her bow. "Uh, is- is everyone okay?"
"They will awake when I allow them to," the dragon said smoothly. "First I need your aid."
"With what? You're a dragon. What on earth is there that you can't take care of?" Huojin marveled. She turned her gaze to him and gave a long, slow and distinctly reptilian blink.
"The dragon lords have forbidden us from bringing the rain, and our land are dying. I myself cannot disobey the lord's decree. However, I will not sit idly by and watch my lands wither away." Her eyes slit dangerously and Kagome felt a chill pass over her. Judging by Huojin's shiver, he felt it too. "I am going to explain to you why this decree was passed, so listen carefully. Long ago, the Jade Emperor made a deal with us. In return for calm rains and our stewardship of this land, he would send us the best and the strongest of his warriors and the most faithful and pure of his priestesses to bear our young. These young would guard his human subjects and protect the lands. In return, we would gain the offerings of the humans our young protected and no others would be allowed entrance to our mountains. It was peaceful, for a while, for the whole land." Her voice had dropped into a rhythmic storytelling cadence, and Kagome and Huojin were both starstruck, gazing at her like little children.
"And?" Kagome said eagerly, chin on her knees as the firelight flickered against the dragon's inhumanly beautiful face.
"And we were betrayed. The Emperor began sending us unworthy candidates. He allowed our legend to die out. We do not leave our mountains; we did not know for many years, until our offerings stopped coming. In retaliation, we stopped giving the humans our children. The Emperor grew tired of the chaos; without our halfblood children to keep order and educate them, his human subjects grew stupid and angry. Wars broke out everywhere. He broke the treaty a second time then. He let in our worthless cousins from the snows of the far north to breed with the humans in our stead."
Huojin and Kagome looked at each other; his dark brows were raised thoughtfully. This story matched all the information they had gathered so far. It fits with what the dire wolf said, what Sesshoumaru said, all of it, Kagome thought, quirking her mouth at him.
Xia gave a surprisingly human sigh. "Are you listening?" They both jumped and nodded like scolded children. "Good. These inferior northern worms are little better than the most common youkai. They should not even hold the name dragon. When they bred with the humans, the results were... unpleasant. The offspring were bloodthirsty beasts with too much power and too few morals. Humans grew to fear the children of the dragons. This is when the murders became even worse. Both the offspring of the northern beasts and our own children were shunned and murdered." She hissed the last word, clenching her delicate fists. "We drove out the northern dragons, but the damage remained. Our children, the ones born to protect the humans, are all dead, from the eldest to the newborns."
Kagome put a hand to her mouth, horrified. This is just as bad as what Inuyasha went through, or Jininji, or even Huojin... this is so sad! Xia looked at her directly, eyes serious under slim gray brows.
"This cannot go on. The Lords made the decision to stop the rain to punish the Jade Emperor for his misdeeds and lies, but the drought will not bring back peace; it is affecting the whole world, as all the demons of our country flee. I cannot defy the decree of the Lords, but that does not mean I cannot put in motion the means to save my land. That is why you were brought here."
Kagome cast another glance back at Inuyasha to check on him. "I don't- Xia, how on earth could we help with this? I feel for you, I do, the way hanyous are treated is absolutely awful and wrong, I've seen it first hand. But if the dragons and the Emperor are fighting- you are both so powerful. How can we help?" Beside her Huojin was quiet and thoughtful, close to the heat of the fire as he stared at Xia.
"I know of your exploits," the woman said with a flick of her hand. Kagome gave her a look that was equal parts skeptical and confused. "I am a dragon, girl, does it surprise you that I know? You are a priestess with great spiritual strength, the slayer with you has the blood of a thousand years of warriors in her veins, the monk is- well, filthy, but also a man of great faith. The nekomata has fought more evil than you know. As for the two hanyous with you, one is the powerful son of a dog lord who was longtime ally to my species, and the other is a distant son of my brother. You are a party with great strength." Kagome felt her eyes widen and with a sudden, spastic movement Huojin grabbed her arm, face working furiously. He started to speak, but Xia held up a slim finger.
"We do not have much time. This is what I need." She leaned forward, looking ghostly and haunted as the flames lit her face from below, casting harsh shadows. "Far the north there is a great leader, Temujin, of the Mongols. The human emperor of this land has been at war with him for two years, but I have seen defeat in his future. The Mongol barbarians will take Beijing and slaughter every man, woman and child inside the city unless we stop them. Those beasts could have been pushed back years ago if only our children were still among the humans to give strength!" Her full lips were pressed together. "Kagome, if Beijing falls, the Mongols will sweep across this land and the death of it will be complete. You must travel to the north and fight Temujin. You must make a hero of the hanyou, you must show the nation through deeds they cannot ignore that demon blood is a gift from the gods, not a curse. You must turn the tide of this land and give back to the people a worthy hanyou to follow and love, so that we can bring our children back to guard the people. The day those with demon blood are welcomed is the day the Lords will return the waters to revive the land."
As she said the last few words, her dulcet voice urgent, a pulse of power swept out from her like a tsunami in a pond. Kagome actually saw Huojin's hair blow back. The dragon hesitated for a moment, then stood up gracefully, looking almost like a child in Huojin's baggy homespun. "Please, help me," she said, sending out another wave of strength, seemingly without even realizing.
Kagome and Huojin looked at each other, expressions indescribable. Neither even knew where to start, and Kagome sneakily pinched her arm to see if she was dreaming, because the fact that the most powerful being she'd ever met was begging for her help to save China was just... it was ridiculous. She had to be dreaming; maybe she was still passed out. She pinched herself again, harder, but nothing happened and she gave a heartfelt groan, pulling distractedly on her fair.
"Okay. Okay, um, okay, but I- there's only five of us! Six, counting Kirara."
"Seven. Changchang," Huojin broke in, looking more than a little dazed and confused. She eyed him incredulously, wondering if Xia had broken him permanently.
"Uh. Seven. What are seven of us supposed to do against an entire country?" she moaned. "We just got done fighting the same asshole that took us two years to kill. We almost died. Please don't make us do this." She didn't realize it at first, but she was crying.
The dragon looked at her with such compassion in those liquid blue eyes that Kagome began crying even harder. "I know you are scared," she said in her silvery voice, walking around the fire to lay a cool hand on both their heads, like a benevolent goddess. "But there is such a thing as destiny, and such a thing as fate. You are all tied together and that thread cannot be broken. If you do not do this, no one will, and I cannot promise you that your family or your world will be the same when you next return, Kagome. You chose to come here, to help, and that decision has led you to greater things than you ever imagined." She pulled her hand away and it was like the sun leaving the sky. "You can do this. I will help you however I can; look for my aid." She paused, and said very quietly, "I will try to protect you, but I cannot promise you all will survive this."
Then she turned and walked out of the hut, gray ringlets glinting multicolored like a sunset sky in the light of the fire, and with a breathtaking rush of power and a gust of wind that shook the walls she was gone. All Kagome could see as the fire was blown out was a sweeping sliver of something massive and white and beautiful curling away to the sounds of Changchang's startled hooves. She was crying even harder now, shock and confusion shaking her from the inside with sobs. Huojin gently flicked stray coals back into the firepit beside her and began coaxing it back to life, not saying anything besides a wordless croon to his horse, waiting outside.
"I have fire," she hiccuped, rummaging for her backpack in the dark. She shakily managed to light a match. Ten minutes later, the fire was alive again and her tears were subsiding as she poked Inuyasha. He rolled over with a sleepy grumble. When she tried Miroku and Sango, they didn't wake up either, but her priestess senses only brought her a feeling of exhaustion and dreams when she probed them. Asleep? Really? Xia may have overdone it. She did forget about our weak little human ears and knock us out by saying hello, of all things. She sighed, returning to the fire and Huojin. To her surprise, Kirara came stumbling alongside, her pink eyes large and curious. "Long story," Kagome sighed, patting her as she curled up and went to sleep again, apparently still just as tired as the others.
Deep in her thoughts and fears, she started when Huojin spoke. "Did you hear her? I'm a dragon. That was my aunt." He mouthed the words lowly, carefully, as if they were made of spun glass, and she looked at him.
"That's right. I forgot." She pulled her knees to her chest and pulled her opalescent bow next to her like a security blanket, staring into the fire. "You have her eyes," she added, and he almost cried too.