Promise of a River

By: LadyRainStarDragon

Chapter 16: Revenge of Dragon

Rain owneth not ye Spirited Away, nor ye Inuyasha.


Days later found Kohaku chasing after children at breakneck speeds through the play area. A prominent spirit had brought her family with her, believing that they all could use healing. Of course, as children do, once well they became restless. Very restless. The most unlikely implements became drums, little frogs went flying through the air, and the kitchen staff were cornered in the refrigeration unit. Hence, the young spirit had been drafted into babysitting duty.

He didn't mind, he liked playing with children anyway, and they did get themselves into some interesting predicaments. Today, their favorite game was tag of a particularly physical variety. He was just glad it wasn't hide and seek, he could imagine being treed, and then the tree being gnawed down by tiny teeth as he gave up playing by the rules and flung himself into the sky.

Suddenly, the wild pack of wolves, er, dear children, turned on the young dragon. Now they had decided to play 'Hang on Haku.' The object of the game, of course, was to see how many of them could hang off of various parts of his body for as long as they could or until he fell over. All 20 of them swarmed the poor young man, leaving a milling mass of flesh attempting to stay standing in the field.

Lin had come out to check on Kohaku and to give him a break. He hadn't told her abut the head injury that he had received on his last mission, and had only found out when one of the laundry girls had washed his bedclothes. Having built up a surprising tolerance to pain, the idiot had probably forgotten all about it, but she was going to keep an eye on him anyway.

Following her ears and the sound of his melodious laughter, which just grated on her today since she was mad at him for getting hurt and not letting her check it, she blinked in amazement.

"Hey now, trying to knock my feet out is cheating."

"We're going to beat you Haku."

"Oh no you won't."

In answer, the score of wolf pups began rocking back and forth, some chewing on whatever they could reach, trying to throw him off balance. Lin sat down on the grass to watch. She didn't want to miss seeing the 'great warrior' get bested by some scraggly little kids. The 'battle' went on for a good five minutes, occasional hysterical fits of laughter coming from one throat or another as either Haku was being tickled, or he was fighting back in turn.

Suddenly, there was the swift sound of a foot connecting with soft flesh, the oof of painfully expelled air, and a suspicious crunch. Twenty 'uh-oh' cries rose to the heavens like a flock of birds, and the children pulled back to leave the man doubled over on his knees in agony.

"That . Was . Cheating."

The high pitch only confirmed Lin's guess as to exactly what had been damaged. Grimacing in sympathy, she rose and made her way through the crowd of tiny whimpering bodies. Wolf pups were notoriously rough when it came to play, the only rougher pups were dragon pups. So, it had basically been a recipe for disaster from the start.

"Ouch. Lose the ability to give Sen children, or just your pride?"

The heated glare promised her a painful and agonizing sparring match after the guests were asleep. She had deliberately voiced the two things that he would never admit to, and she knew it.

"M fine."

"Wow! You mean he's that Haku? Cool!"

"Dad says you're the bravest spirit he knows of, petitioning to guard a human. Course he also says you're the stupidest for wanting that much trouble to deal with, but . . ."

"Is she really as pretty as they say, or was that all rumors?"

"Did she really help Kamigawa-sama?"

Just what he needed, a pack of hero worshipers.

"No, she couldn't have. Humans are all smelly, mean, and want to ruin the land with their tek-no-lo-gie. Except for Kagome-sama, but Ayame thinks that she has been dead for hundreds of years. She probably just tricked him into helping her."

Okay, so there's a bad apple in every bushel. That one also happened to be rude. Lin was sorry she'd said anything. She knew she should've been nice for once and just asked if he was going to be ok. She assumed control of the situation.

"Yes, he's that Haku, and she's a plain runt with a very pretty and kind soul. I was there, so I can tell you she did help that river god. She actually smelled really nice once we got rid of that smell from her world. She wasn't mean, really wanted to help, and I'm pretty sure she was too worried about her parents to do any tricking. Now, go in for supper, your mother wanted you to eat with her."

The pack of ookami-youkai pups stampeded into the bath house to their mother's rooms.

"One is all I'm ever having. What about you Haku?"

His response was a rude gesture.

"That's what you get for not telling me you cracked your skull open. You may be very pretty, but you're stubborn. No girl wants to sleep with a stubborn man."

One would have thought that, having said she only wanted one kid, the weasel would have stopped taunting the vexed dragon. Dragons, by nature, are fertility spirits no matter what element or natural feature they control. So pissing one off probably isn't a good idea. He had regained use of his legs by now, and so rising stiffly, his determination showed clearly.

Lin misinterpreted it as an effort to save face.

Stalking carefully over to the weasel, he placed an arm on her shoulder and muttered something. His brilliant smile blinded her, and she felt something warm settle in her body. When he drew his hand back with a satisfied noise, she knew that she was in trouble.

"Haku, what did you just do?"

"Oh, nothing much. I wouldn't worry about it for a few years."

"What did you do?"

"Remember, sparring after the guests are asleep. My swordsmanship isn't going to improve on its own!"

Smirking to himself, the revenged river dragon followed after the children to make sure they went where they had been told. Lin stayed behind, watching him saunter back, his whistles amplified by a wandering wind kami. The dragon had cursed her or something, she just knew it.

Haku knew that when his little 'gift' came to pass, he was going to be in big trouble with the quarrelsome spirit. After all, she had said she only wanted one kid. And one child was what she was going to get . . . at a time. And because there had been twenty little witnesses, well, she was going to have a total of twenty little reminders that it isn't wise to mock a fertility spirit's fertility.

Something else was going to come of his 'blessing' as well, and it was even better. In a few years, Yoruiki was going to be one harried dad.

Revenge is sweet.