Underwater Savior

Chapter 17: Greed, Dragon, and the Treasure

by: LadyRainStarDragon

Not mine. I can only wish. If you've seen the movie, then you know which characters aren't in it. Hey, at least the plots in my stories are mine!

Kohakunushi was feeling rather sick. His waters hadn't been this low in a very long time. The flow into his river had been slackened, and it wasn't enough to completely replace what was now flowing to the sea and his mother. To top it all off, he knew that somewhere down the line, more water than necessary was being drawn. The problem was, all he was finding was irrigation pumps.

The river's god allowed the waters to calm once again. He needed to rest. Something was pulling at him, calling him, begging his attention the way a neko will with a child who has fish. The dragon found himself a nice sandy bar to lounge on while he rested.

The other kami had already turned back, staying in their own areas of protection. Those of the river who could not fight were safe in the underground river, the plant spirits of the rich earth resigned to stunted growth or death. The river plants and regular fish would all die though, and there wasn't much he could really do, save forestall it.

He was about to head back upriver, when the wind brought to his ears a voice only echoed in ancient memories, deep and smooth as a hatchling's sleep.

Dragon young shall lose his Pearl.

Water spirit shall save the girl.

River lost, child must guard,

For evil demon plays his card.

'Since when does Father sing? If I'm hearing his song, that means that he's come to the surface for the first time in centuries. That's bad, he never goes aboveground anymore unless someone important is going to die.'

The wind kami then hurled one more thing in to the dragon. A child's screams returned his flagging energy, sending him flying through the water, undulating wildly to increase speed.

Greed had untied the struggling child, knocking her out before doing so. Somehow, he felt this child would be a threat to him if awake, but he wasn't sure how. Deciding to heed his instincts had been what provided for him, whereas squelching them had put him in this half-life.

He would not kill her yet though. That would be a waste. First, he must figure out how to get from her the river's heart. In his mind, the Celestial Pearl of the dragon and his heart had become synonymous, and who better to guard it than a small child. No one would think of the hiding spot. Somewhere, she must have it.

As he lifted the now unconscious child into his arms, his long white hair fell forward, a curtain veiling a living shintai within a befouled shrine. The once shining hair became coarse, more like the coat of a dog than the silken tresses of man. Intent upon the goal of reaching his jizo, it remained unnoticed of the mononoke elevated to youkai status. Not only did the child have the potential to channel the power of the river god for the benefit of man, she also, by the very nature of her soul's state, was a channel for the oneness of the Absolute.

Her soul had a secret weapon as well, though the Pearl's shell lay helpless in the arms of its captor. The very love inherent in children and the Shining Ningen had the potential to weaken and break the evil magic that had held this other soul captive for so long. Balance and order always found ways to assert themselves, male and female, dark and light, love and hate, greed and generosity.

The child's life would now be in the balance, soul of a shrine child lost so long ago, destined to return to perform the Kitoshi services necessitated by the greed of one male sorcerer from the house of Mahou.

The predator had enjoyed his hunt greatly, but what he was enjoying even more was the sight of the child, now bound and gagged, placed before his own altar, a sacrifice from himself to himself. With any luck, he would be completely free and avenged. Even if something went wrong, and he was thrust completely into the realm of death, it would be preferable to his existence.

Unbelievably, the hardened men at the spring had finally gotten the engines of their machines running again. A bit of WD-40, some toweling before hand, and many creative curse words and the water was being sucked out and trucked away. In addition, the retaining wall had finally been finished to specs, and a more suitable cap put on

Oddly, the outflow from the spring had begun to dwindle, suggesting that there did indeed exist the fabled underground river. As a result, the river's level was dropping noticeably now. Luck seemed to be with the men. The gathering storm clouds went unnoticed, their work now miraculously ahead of schedule.

From behind a tree, silent figure, robed in raiment of highest clouds, watched sadly as the humans bled the spirit who brought them life of his very blood. The spring was not his, nor was the river. The rules of their kind explicitly stated that although a dragon may visit the realm of another, he may not interfere directly in the affairs of the other's holding. Furthermore, all defenses launched in this case must be seen as natural, leaving the spring and river guardian few attacks where their realms overlapped.

The water that trickled sorrowfully into the river seemed to panic as it met the rest, mirroring the emotions within the keeper.

'So the first stanza's ending now begins. Fate's hand will hopefully bring my son back to me, through the child's salvation.'

Having risen up from the sea's concealing waters, Nyuuhakushoku, daughter of the sea weeds and ocean tides, link between waters of sea and sky, mounted her clouds, her green and blue fading and mixing with their shadows. So skillful was she with this art of camouflage, she mimicked closely the jewel whom her king had named her after, changeable with the light.

The prophecy was coming to be, and her son would need what time he could gain in order to find and protect the child. Her son, prideful as he could be, may choose to forsake the child and defend the river. She should have told him of the prophecy when he was old enough to understand. Foolishly, she and her mate had not, seeking to hide the knowledge in the hopes that it would not come to pass.

Now, if he did not find her, she would lose her only son. In the guise of the rain, she would give him the energy he was now lacking for his battle.

Ni felt the change in air pressure. It seemed that the expected storm was on it's way. Unfortunately, his 'kitsune senses' were on overtime. In addition to the pissed off river dragon now headed back upriver, he felt two worried older dragons on their way. The dragon from the Holy Mountain did not worry him, as he held no power in Kohakunushi's drainage.

What did worry him was the sea dragon riding the approaching clouds, charging the clouds with the electricity produced by her emotions. As the Sender of Rain, she could choose to place her water directly into Kohaku's care, extending his time in this world.

How was Kohaku supposed to wed and be happy if everybody helped him hide from women? Honestly, didn't anybody realize he was trying to help the darn dragon meet someone that didn't send him running for the nearest body of water?!

He was going to hide in the building until all effects of the storm were passed. She'd probably eat him otherwise. Yeah, hiding sounded good.

The wind kami was almost literally dragging Kohakunushi by his whiskers to where the shrine-child lay. In other words, he had left the safety of the river, now flying invisibly mixed with the wind to wherever her spirit was calling to him from.

He found a decrepit house in the old style, cloaked in parts with nature's bounty, and sections falling in. Landing, hind legs became humanesque while his form straightened and shrank, obscured in the place between times where the transformation always took place. His sword was on his hip, and a hand touched it for reassurance as he melded with the shadows, making his way around the outside.

In the back yard, bound and gagged, lay his Treasure, his Pearl, his Child. True to the vibration in all life, her chest rose and fell, bringing in the needed air while dispelling the used air. From where he was, he could see the angry bruise forming on the side of her head, rage filling in him seeing her hurt so. Koji was nowhere to be seen, hopefully not laying dead wherever they had been when attacked.

He should have been with her. Instead, he had chosen to fight in a battle whose outcome would not change the outcome of the war. His river was lost, only waiting for the merciful death blow to be struck. Plants and animals would die who would not survive without his environment. However, there had been someone he could help, and he had failed her.

His rage clouded his reason, and something inside of him broke, torn between two equally important charges. Had he not been so busy with other matters, and possibly sat through a psychology class, he would recognize in himself the beginning of a dissociative disorder. Too bad he hadn't.

The inu came out of the building, and the very last shred of reason was torn from his grasp, fluttering away like a Macaw swept up by a monsoon. His Child had begun to stir, and the pain in her grey eyes called to something deep inside himself, something dark and dangerous that all nature spirits tried to leave unprovoked.

His eyes, once the lovely greed of the jade hidden beneath the gravel or of the nutritious grasses his servants ate from the river bed, now were as the rubies and garnets, filled with wildfire. His roar caused the lands around to tremble, although it had only issued from a seemingly human throat. The winds picked up, feeding from negativity now streaming from the nature spirit. Midnight banners streamed behind him, waving and writhing, seeming as snakes of deepest hue. He may have been a god of sorts, but he was certainly not perfect, and his race's emotions could always be their downfall.

The dog-man looked to where the noise had originated, and was pleased to see his enemy. His enraged enemy at that. It would be easy to defeat him if he did not regain control of himself.

Greed had never seen a god mad. It struck him as odd that the only difference between a god, spirit, youkai, and mononoke was power level, and then they were all called kami. Go figure.

"Unbind her."

The voice from the young man was not the accustomed one, deeper and coarser, more like the groaning of buckling iron sheets on a ship far out to sea as some giant iceberg plays mumblety-peg with the hull. It was as if it issued from the deepest pits of the dragon's mind, as indeed it may have, the sleeping beast within having awoken.

"Make me."

The kami lunged at the youkai, sword flashing in the night, a silver death streaking towards its victim. The demon dodged, taking advantage of the dragon's forward momentum, sending him off balance.

"It seems, River Lord, that you have kept your darker side captive for too long. It can throw a good temper tantrum, but it makes a poor fighter now."

The dragon-man saw his point, the fury channeling itself into the blade, senses never before used now coming into play. Few gods these days encountered things that could sent them into this state, the kind and gentle parts now being quashed under the heel of his own mind. This was not about protecting a friend, this was not about a child. Nay, it was a challenge to his territory, even though within a short space of time as it passes for spirits there would be nothing to fight over. Chihiro was part of his territory, and would be one of the few pieces of it that would move on and have a future. He had to calm himself further if he didn't want to fall for any tricks.

"What would you do with her?"

"She fascinates me. How could a human distract a kami so? How could a kami establish such a strong bond to a mere child? How could a human child have captured a river's heart, a source of immortality if used properly?"

"Why do you want to know?"

Greed struck at him, hoping again to catch the young dragon off guard. All he was rewarded with was a slice of the lord's flowing robes, a split in the stream of white sleeve. It left Kohakunushi an opening to return the favor, seeing the large gap on his enemy's side his blade flicked toward the target, caressing the flesh and licking up the blood with silver tongue.

"To bring about the fullness of my revenge against my family, against the Tsuni whom my master had despised, and against you, who brought them such wealth. To that end, I will take what is precious to you, and when I am done, she too shall feel my wrath."

The shouting and clashing of the men and their metal had roused the young prisoner from her personal oblivion. Two brown-grey eyes opened upon the violent scene, taking in the blood flowing from the man-beast's side, and the tattered and dirtied robes of the one whom fate had bound her to. Searching his eyes for some trace of comfort, wanting only to know that it was a nightmare, and that everything would be alright, instead she was greeting by the glowing red eyes, the eyes of the kami who had once supposedly eaten an invading army in an era long ago. The eyes of the enraged dragon, now falling upon his territory, his young charge, flickered to the stony green that she knew, and then back as he fell upon his opponent once more.

'I'm sorry, Chihiro. I swear you will not remember this night.'

Wind issued from within, carrying with it the communication of its master to the ears of the one being whom he now despised beyond all things. This one would harm an innocent for such a measly thing as vengeance. He would meet his punishment, and hopefully be sent to the deepest depths of the Fires of Purification before continuing on his soul's path.

"She shall endure no such thing!"

Centuries of training now kicked in, bequeathed to him by his honorable father, and from before that his father's father, stretching all the way back to when the Nigihayami family first earned from the Dragon King they owed their allegiance to the right to bear a Sea Sword. He had learned the skill so well, that even in his deepest sleep his strikes would prove true.

Just as he was winning, ready to end the current phase of life for the mongrel before him, the tides turned. The humans, stubborn as they are, had managed to drain the river past its safety point after all. Less than half-full, so to was the River Lord's life force, while his opponent was considerably fresher than he in comparison.

The child witnessed the blood of her protector spill to the ground, his own red blood now feeding the ever thirsty ground.

Kohakunushi got back up from where he had fallen, determined to keep the dog away or die trying. Sadly, his loss of strength made his blocks and dodges much less effective. Steadily, he was losing his ground.

The final blow fell, the dog's low quality weapon still piercing his ribcage like a child will do to a grape, sending almost the last of his precious blood to dye his lovely white haori red. Consciousness escaped Kohakunushi, just before thunder clapped and rain began to loving wash his face.

The child the battle had been fought over began to cry from behind her gag, and as the demon began to approach her, her own childish aura began to flare its defense. The pale white pearl lay close to her body, as short spears of light poked towards the demon, soft and only effective against the weakest of nightmares.

Words

neko - cat

shintai - sacred object believed to house a kami

mononoke - animal spirit, demon

youkai - demon able to assume human form

Kitoshi - exorcist. Usually a male's job as sorcerers are usually female. Can be performed by women though, and generally the services seem to be thought to work best when the opponents are of opposite sex.

Mahou - sorcery.

Ningen - human(s)

Nyuuhakushoku - opal. Nyuuhaku - milky white or lactescent, Shoku - employment. Links to the job of wet-nurse in that aspect (rainmaker, water of life, nature's breastmilk took forever to figure out a good name for her).

Dissociative disorder - a condition where the person feels disconnected from reality. Types range from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder to Multiple Personality Disorder.

Macaw - type of parrot.

Mumblety-peg - A knife game where you strike the ground in between fingers, going faster with each pass until reaching an agreed upon ending time or cutting yourself. Do not try this at home (trust me, it can hurt, don't make my mistake).

Reviewer Corner:

Fyraga: I hope you like this too.

Placid Snowflake: Thanks

Aharah Musici: This is what will happen.

NitenGale: No, he wasn't always sickly, one just usually doesn't expect a cat mangled by a passing truck at the age of one to live very long, much less 11 additional years. Poor cat had been squashed, received broken bones and nerve damage, injuries to his digestive tract, and made to wear a cast so he could heal. Two weeks later, he uses the cast on his leg as a springboard to the counter. Amazing with all of that that he kept on going. Sometimes we also called him 'Energizer.'