Chapter 26

"It tried to WHAT!"

"Relax, nothing happened… in fact, that curse is still on fire" Suiryu had to explain to Kitsune the next day as to what happened, when she heard about the curse that tried to transfigure Yuuji, she became rather pissed off! She stared off into the open field where a fire pit of all things had been made. Children had gathered around and were roasting marshmallows. "He just stopped screaming this morning too." Suiryu said with a smirk on his face.

"But it tried to harm young master through transfiguration!" she protested. "It can't be helped now. I need to take him to the land of divine."

"Huh? Nothing happened! What has you so worried?"

Kitsune glared at him. "Despite nothing happened, there was an attempted on young master's well being. You do understand what is happening to him right now is a different level of transfiguration do you not?"

Suiryu froze. "Wait… it is?"

She sighed aloud. "What is happening to young master, it's the transfiguration of the soul. He's being turned into a dragon from the inside out." She explained. "The soul is being prepared to become a dragon, however, it won't if the body does not match or meet the expectations needed to become such a divine creature!" she said in a lecturing tone. "SO, as such, I have to take him for a check up. He should have one anyways"

Suiryu was silent on the matter, in fact, he felt down right confused on the notion! However, if she is concerned, he won't argue with her. After all, he knows what Mahito can do. What if something did happen when he grabbed on to Yuuji? He sighed in defeat and nodded. "Very well then, I should go with him…"

"You can't. Not with your curse energy. However, young master would benefit from someone going along with him…"

"I think we BOTH know who is better for that job" he said.

"Yua/Choso" they announced. Yet Suiryu paused. "Yua? You want to take Yua with you?!"

"Why not? The divine know of her, in fact she is considered a hero among them! Why should I bring Choso?" she questioned back.

"Despite not being able to understand Yuuji, he does."

"Yua speaks dragon,"

"Choso gets to the root of the problem faster. Yuuji can say he's fine, but if he doesn't feel it. Choso will let you know"

They bickered back and forth for a short while, until the two they were speaking of happened to he standing there, watching on with curiosity to this little argument.

"AHEM!" called Yua as she aggressively cleared her throat. They came to a stop in conversation. "We could hear you all the way to the fire pit." She said. "And to save yourselves the trouble, I suggest Choso go along with you, Kitsune. As Suiryu said before, Yuuji could lie to you, claiming to be fine. But he can't hide that from his brother."

"Indeed, and I do feel like he isn't in the best of moods as of late. I know he has gained weight since yesterday and is not pleased about it." Choso explained.

She nodded. "Then I will start making arrangements. I suggest you try and settle young master for a while and get his spirits up. I will have the best healers on hand to look him over." With that, she vanished in a burst of fire.

Suiryu sighed aloud. "Let me see if I can convince him to get out for a little bit. Even if I have to drag his ass out of the room, he's not becoming a hermit!"

#

It took some convincing… and a slight physical kick in the ass to get Yuuji out of his room. Suiryu insisted that they go and inspect Mahito and see how much he has burned. "You know I made a fire pit around him, most of the morning the students have been roasting marshmallows around him."

'Is that even safe?!' Yuuji asked.

"No one got sick and besides, despite his vast curse energy, whatever fire is eating away at him is really doing a damn good job!"

It was enough to peek his curiosity, not to mention make certain that Mahito is indeed done for!

So with that, they ventured to the fire pit and found the curse was still alive… sort of. But in a very weak state and begging for death. "Please… please… kill… me…" he whispered faintly to them.

The children appeared to have had their fill of toasted snacks, and left Mahito to burn. Suiryu decided to get a closer look at him. Part of his body were indeed breaking down and turning to ashes, at the same time, Suiryu was satisfied with how much he has suffered. "Not bad, not bad at all…" he said offhandedly. "But you are still alive, so we will let the fire do its thing…"

"KILL ME!" Mahito screamed.

"We are… just… very slowly." Suiryu replied with a smart ass grin.

This sight pleased even Yuuji, after all, Mahito has harmed many before his eyes, this was a very fitting punishment in his mind.

"Come on bro, let's go to the field. It's supposed to be nice and sunny today!" Suiryu called.

#

He spent the rest of the afternoon at Yuuji's side, it was a rather quite day and those are few and far between for them now. Yet as Suiryu stretched himself out, he paused, as Yuuji appeared to have sensed something. "What is it?"

Suddenly, he felt it too, a pressure that refused to allow him to stand. "Shit, what the hell!" he protested, the sun was suddenly blocked from them. Peering up, he stared at a rather large, black dragon that stared back down at them! "Oh… shit…" he muttered. The dragon was the size of a plane to say the least, well… bigger than that. If anything if they desired to, it could consume Yuuji, all the students here and himself in a single mouthful!

"Language!" the dragon scolded. He instantly knew the voice, and yet for some reason she came to them in her true form? "I wanted to check on my boys." She said rather smugly. "And no, none of your friends can see me, despite my current state," she said rather proudly.

Suiryu wondered how on earth that was even possible, but then again, sensing her power he knew better than to question it. "What are you doing here mom?" Suiryu shouted, but then froze. He felt the color drain out from his face.

Did… did he just call her mom?!

"Fuck! Sorry, I didn't mean it mom… Goddamn it!" he scolded himself. He stunned himself.

Why the hell did he just call her mom!?

However she wasn't upset that he called her such a thing, in fact, she merely smiled… do dragons smile?

Her head came down but then she gave one sniff over them. "Someone is due for a bath…" she said offhandedly.

Yuuji rolled his eyes. 'Figured as much, I better go get cleaned up…' he said in his dragon voice. Suiryu nodded as he got up and was about to help Yuuji to his feet when the dragon scooped him!

He could only watch on as Yuuji was plucked off the ground, and stripped naked! He was squealing in his dragon voice. 'HEY, STOP IT! PUT ME DOWN… MY PANTS! SUIRYU DO SOMETHING!'

Suiryu was doing everything he could to not laugh at him as his brother was stripped naked and placed carefully between the dragon's claws.

Then, it happened.

The dragon's tongue went right up his back!

The look of utter humiliation and fear was etched on his face as time and time again her tongue dragged over him! Yuuji tried to squirm out of her clutches claiming he could bathe himself but it was no use. She wasn't letting him go until he was clean by her!

"PPPPFFFFFF HAHAHAHAHA!" Suiryu cackled aloud to his misfortune.

'NOT FUNNY, HELP ME!' Yuuji shouted at him.

Suiryu however waved off his plea. His sides were splitting as the laughter of a mad man erupted out of him. He couldn't stop himself! Tears soon flowed from his eyes as he gasped for air. "I… hehe… I… I can't bro, she's got you good. I'll come back when you're done though… hehehe" he snickered. "Oh God, my abs are killing me…"

Suiryu began to walk away until he felt something stopping him. Around his waist the tip of the dragon's tail coiled around him! He was suddenly wrenched back and pulled towards her, he was lifted off the ground as he danged in the air for but a moment. He stared into her eyes before she stated. "Where are you going? You're next!"

He froze. "Wait, WHAT! I AIN'T YOUR KID, NOR AM I A DRAGON!" he protested.

She quickly finished up with Yuuji, before placing him off to the side on a small blanket that came out of nowhere. "You wait right there, young one. Until I finish with your brother," she said gently.

Suiryu then felt his clothing become stripped off his body! "HEY, STOP IT! WAIT! WHAT ARE YOU DO! I AIN'T NO DRAGON! STOP, STOP!"

#

They sat there, embarrassed, wet and naked.

Suiryu and Yuuji were tacky from their 'bath' the dragon however smiled, as she smelt them over once more. "Much better, now, your clothing will return the moment you are dried off. Let it happen naturally, the barrier will remain until you are clothed again." she said gently. "Now, stay out of trouble and don't get dirty" With that, as quickly as she appeared. She was gone in an instant!

This was the reason why she came to them? To give them each a bath!?

Neither one spoke to each other. Suiryu noticed Yuuji's hair slicked back as was his, he tried to brush it forward a little but to no avail, his hair was still slimy and wet. He sighed aloud to it all, until he saw his brother's hand extend to him. "Binding vow?" he asked.

'Yeah'

"We never speak of this again?"

'Damn right'

"Like hell I want Satoru knowing this happened, and like hell I am making sure you make sure I never say anything!" he put a binding vow on his hands too, when they shook, they were locked in an agreement. Neither one will ever breath a word of this again!

It took a half hour for them to dry off, and true to her word, clothing just appeared on their bodies. Suiryu was rather stunned as he was given a black scale kimono to wear as Yuuji got his usual outfit of black pants and sweater yet made of scales like Suiryu's clothing. "Weird," Suiryu muttered. "I'm going to walk off this trauma, you want up to go to your dorm?"

'Please,'

Suiryu got Yuuji to his feet, from there, they went their separate ways.

#

He just passed the barrier.

Taking in the forest that hid the mountain rather nicely, Suiryu stopped at a spring and tried to figure out what the hell that was all about! "Why did I get suckered into that? It's not like I'm one of them… Ugh," he muttered.

He was about to try and clean himself a little more, perhaps the water will cleanse him, yet as he was about to reach for some he heard. "YOUNG MASTER, GET BACK TO YOUR ROOM THIS INSTANT… HOW DID YOU LOSE ALL THAT WEIGHT!?"

He sighed aloud. "Very funny Kitsune," he snapped back. Slowly he turned to confront her, yet as he did, he found it odd that she froze at the sight of him. "What?" he demanded.

She stared at him. "How dare you wear young master's offerings!"

"News flash, this was given to me, see!" he said and raised his arms. "No extra sleeves!"

Once more, she was taken aback until her sights turned to her right. There, little creatures appeared before her. "You said you sensed another, where?" she asked.

They pointed towards Suiryu. "Huh? What are those things saying about me?" he demanded.

Kitsune froze as she slowly turned and stared at Suiryu.

"You see them?!"

"Yeah, they look like little imps." He then paused. "Wait… I can see them?" he said aloud. "Normally reverse jujutsu only shows me light, not actual figures and faces…" he leaned down to get a closer look, they were clear as day, little creatures with human like qualities but small and with big eyes.

The imps turned to Kitsune and nodded to her. She however glared down at them. "I do not appreciate tricks like these, you know that!" she scolded them. "That there, is a clone of Sukuna! He reeks of him!"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever…" Suiryu muttered as he turned back to the water. Before he could reach for some, he froze as he heard something deeply inhaling his scent.

He slowed turned and found Kitsune was the one doing it! She was taking deep, long draws of his scent before looking utterly confused. "This… this make no sense!" she protested.

"What? I reek! I get it! Jeeze, back off will ya!"

"But that's the thing, you don't smell bad anymore."

This made him pause as he turned away from the water and confronted the fox woman. "What do you mean? You never hesitate to tell me I reek. I stink of Sukuna, that's your favorite line to use on me. What are you saying now?" he demanded of her.

She was just as confused as he was. Once more she smelt him and shook her head. "That's the thing… you don't smell like Sukuna anymore."

He shook his head to it all. "Now, you're the one playing the sick joke. Whom else would I smell like huh?"

Kitsune hesitated to speak for a moment, until she said. "You don't have a scent… it is as if it were hidden for the moment."

His heart froze for a moment. "Wait, what?"

"Young master is the same way right now, he has no scent."

"Impossible!" he protested. "How the hell can I not have a scent?"

"That's what is confusing me too," she whispered and tried to think. "How… could your smell have altered in such a short time?"

"Fuck if I know," he muttered. "I just came here to wash up,"

"Wash up?" she asked.

"Can't speak any farther than that," he muttered.

Kitsune however was curious as she took a closer look at him, her eyes then turned to the black kimono he wore. Gently she touched it, before realizing what it was made from. Then, a smile grew on her face before a snicker followed. "You were bathed!" she giggled. But then stopped. "Wait, she BATHED YOU!?"

He refused to speak of it, binding vow and all. Also, he doesn't want to talk of it. "Moving along," he demanded. "Why are you here anyways?"

She turned to the imps. "They told me, they sensed another dragon. I had to see for myself, and felt it for but a moment. But then it vanished just as quickly as I sensed it…" her eyes then pierced into his. "Suiryu… is there something you are not telling me? Are you planning on following young master's lead?"

"Hell no!" he protested. "It's bad enough taking care of ONE baby dragon, you think anyone there could handle two? Yuuji still needs to do his second and third feeding, we need all the help we can get for that."

Her suspicious look didn't vanish the least bit. "I will keep an eye on this and you from now on… this seems odd to me, yet at the same time…" she paused. "I do suggest you do not try and clean yourself now. You have been bathed already, you will offend the dragon who took her time to clean you in such a way."

"Tch, fine…" he muttered.