Author: liz_Z
E-mail: liz_Z@secret-agent.com
Category: Drama, Humor, Angst
Rating: PG-13
Timeline: Takes place immediately after the seventh book
Spoilers: Plenty for the seventh book, and allusions to several of the others
Disclaimer: I don't own the Dragon Knights manga; that right is reserved for Mineko Ohkami. But I wish I owned Rath.... *sigh*
Author's notes: I've had this story idea ever since I read book seven. And now that I own the book and can mine it for all it's worth, I've decided to write this story down. The whole idea of the Spring of Purification causing amnesia caught my eye and really made me sit up and pay attention, so I decided to put my own little spin on that particular storyline....
Dorion didn't consider himself a rogue yokai; he simply didn't feel the need to join Nadil's army when the demon it was named after had been decapitated, making him merely a figurehead in both the figurative and literal sense.
His twin beliefs that Nadil would ever be resurrected and that Dorian was powerful enough to take on any of Shydeman or Shyrendora's minions were what kept him from running fearfully back to the supposed safety of the demon army, but a niggling anxiety that his beliefs might be circumvented kept him in hiding. Still, for all that he wanted to keep a low profile, Dorion still couldn't resist the desire to feast on warm flesh, be it human or dragon-clan. And because his hiding places were always in remote, out-of-the-way areas, he was always hungry.
A group of Nadil's minions had discovered him recently; he had been forced to fight his way free and find a new hiding place. Currently, he was lurking in a small cave located near a spring. It was safe, but seemed to be devoid of even small animals. Dorion's stomach growled. He was so hungry that he would even be willing to eat a rat.
Suddenly, the smell of fresh meat assailed his nostrils. There were people nearby, two of them. It was hard to determine whether they were human, dragon or something else entirely, but right now Dorion didn't care whether they were a horde of demons. He slinked out of his cave and maneuvered silently toward the spring. Tonight he would eat very well.
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"You didn't have to throw me!"
"Wow! You're fast."
"That hurt!" Cesia lunged up out of the water, apparently heedless of the fact that she was covered only by her long hair, and glared at Rath with fury.
Rath shrugged nonchalantly and leaned backward. "It couldn't have been that bad. Are you going to come out of there or do I have to drag you out?" For all his bravado, he preferred that Cesia left the Spring of Purification on her own. For one thing, she was completely naked. For another, the powers of the spring unnerved him.
The reason they had come to the spring -- for the second time, in fact -- was because it had the power to lift curses from anyone who bathed in its waters. However, if someone bathed there too long it could also wash away their memories. Rath had already seen it happen to Cesia once and he was in no hurry for it to happen again.
"I'm coming," Cesia snapped. She stepped out of the pool, quickly pulled on the clothes Rath handed her, then picked up a large rock and smashed it down on his head.
Rath grimaced. "Ow." He rubbed the lump that was rapidly forming on the back of his head and said, "You really need to work on your anger management." That, of course, only served to make Cesia angrier. She raised the rock above her head in preparation for a second blow, but Rath's eyes narrowed and he held up a hand. "Wait." He had just caught a glimpse of a moving shape in the bushes across the spring.
The intensity of Rath's command must have caught Cesia off-guard because she stopped, still holding the rock in mid-air, and gave him a questioning look. "What--"
"Shh." Rath held a finger to his lips and stood up. His hand strayed to the small bell attached to his belt and it transformed into his sword with a single thought. "We've got company."
Cesia lowered the rock and looked around warily. "Where?" she whispered, her expression immediately serious.
Rath frowned. That was the question of the hour. "It was on the other side of the spring, but now...."
"Ahhh!" Cesia screamed as clawed hands lunged out of the bushes and began to drag her back into them. Rath leapt forward and latched on to her waist, dragging not only her but a yokai out onto the bank of the spring.
"That wasn't nice," the demon snarled, letting go of Cesia and straightening to its full height. It was tall, with long silver hair that seemed to branch off in all directions.
Rath was far from intimidated. He stepped in front of Cesia and held his sword at the ready. "I'm not a nice guy."
"I'm sure you'll taste nice," the yokai said, the corners of his mouth turning up in a many-toothed grin. "You look like you have nice, sweet meat on your bones. The girl looks even sweeter." He licked his lips.
Rath laughed, but his expression was completely devoid of humor. "If you want her you'll have to get through me. And that's never going to happen."
"You seem awfully sure of yourself for a stupid Dragon." The demon's eyes narrowed. With a howl, he lunged forward and swiped his long claws at Rath's face.
Rath swept his sword upward to parry the yokai's attack, but was surprised when instead of giving way the demon's claws clashed against his sword with a metallic ring.
"Fool," the demon cackled, "my claws are as strong as any sword." It took a second swipe, this time at Rath's stomach, and grinned when it managed a grazing blow. "You're not going to survive this fight, Dragon."
"That's where you're wrong, Demon." Rath sent a stream of fire rushing up the blade of his sword and felt a rush of grim satisfaction when the demon pulled back, cursing and attempting to put out his suddenly aflame sleeve. "You see, I'm not your average dragon."
"And I'm not your average demon," the yokai said as he retreated back into the spring.
Rath hesitated.
"What's the matter, afraid of getting wet?" the demon mocked. "Afraid the water will douse your pretty flames?"
Rath's eyes narrowed. "I'm not afraid of anything."
"Not even death?" the demon asked, a flicker of fear running across its face.
"Not even death." Rath gazed at the demon, waiting for his words to take their full effect, then charged at it with a loud battle-cry. The fight had begun in earnest.
The demon was surprisingly strong, and for a while it seemed he and Rath were evenly matched. But gradually a change seemed to come over the yokai. He dropped his guard, a look of blank confusion in his eyes. Rath stabbed his sword deep into the demon's chest, but the monster gave no reaction except a puzzled groan. Then it slid off the blade and into the watery depths of the spring.
Rath stared down at the demon, wondering why it had given up so easily, and abruptly realized that he didn't even know why they had been fighting. An overpowering numbness began to fill him. Somewhere in the fight he had managed to lose a fair amount of blood. He was tired, so very tired.... He let out an exhausted sigh and sank beneath the surface of the pool.
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Cesia gasped when she saw Rath fall into the water. He hadn't been hurt that badly, had he? She charged forward into the spring and began to search frantically for his body.
There, there was something.... She plunged her arms into the water and seized hold of a head, dragging it up by its hair. She realized too late that she had grabbed the head of the dead yokai. "Damn...." She dropped it unceremoniously back into the water and continued her search. After what seemed like ages she lifted Rath's head above the surface and pulled him back to shore.
"Damn you, Rath," she said as she pushed rhythmically on his chest, trying to force the water out of his lungs so he could breathe. "I... told... you... I'd... never... let... you... die. And... I... am... keeping... my... promise!"
As she finished her sentence, Rath coughed up a great deal of water and took a rattling gasp of air. Cesia heaved a sigh of relief and sank to the ground beside him, tired out from her rescuing efforts. "See? You're not going to die on me today."
Rath's breathing gradually returned to normal. Cesia sat up expectantly and worked up an appropriately angry face. There was no way she was going to let Rath see that she had actually been worried about him. After all, if he thought she liked him he would start to hate her, just like he hated everyone else who cared about him. And despite any insistence she might make to the contrary, Cesia did not want Rath to hate her.
Rath's eyelids fluttered open and Cesia promptly began her tirade. "Damnit, Rath, you need to be more careful! Why did you have to go and do that, it was completely idiotic. If you'd gotten killed, that demon would have come after me and...." She trailed off as she noticed Rath's expression of sheer bewilderment. "Why are you staring at me like that?" she yelled, placing her hands on her hips and pursing her lips in a reproachful manner.
"Why are you yelling at me?" Rath replied. "And... who are you, anyway?"
Sweatdrops broke out on Cesia's forehead. "What do you mean, who am I? It's me! Cesia! Don't you remember?" She stopped, blinking at her own words. Rath and the demon had been fighting in the Spring of Purification. And they had fought there for a long time.... "Oh, no," Cesia moaned, running a hand through her hair. "You don't remember, do you?"
Rath shook his head. "Nope. In fact...." He paled. "I don't even remember my name!" He leapt to his feet and began to run around in a panic. "Oh, damn! Hell! Shit! I don't even know my name!" He stopped running as abruptly as he had started and turned to Cesia with a quizzical look on his face. "Wait. You called me Rath."
Unsettled by Rath's rapid changes in mood, Cesia nodded in a shell-shocked manner.
Rath tilted his head to the side, then smiled as if he found her response satisfactory. He flopped down on the ground and propped his chin up on his hands, looking for all the world like a little boy who had just found a new plaything. "You know me."
Cesia nodded again.
"Good!" Rath smiled broadly. "Tell me all about myself."
Cesia was sweating more than ever. 'I don't care how cursed I may end up,' she thought. 'I am never coming back to this spring again.'
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OK everyone, another author's note here: I've been having serious doubts about whether or not I should continue this story. So if you want me to continue then let me know, OK? I'm still not sure whether I should really have started writing this story in the first place.