"Raider?"

"….."

"Raider…"

"……….."

"Raider!"

"Grrr, yes Chihiro?"

A very grumpy wolf lazily opened one eye to glance up at a snake-like dragon. It had taken Chihiro at least an hour (by her estimates, more likely fifteen minutes) to find the midnight-hued beast dozing beneath a giant rain forest tree. The sun had risen a few hours before. Chihiro was eager to find Haku.

"Wolf ogres simply do not function before the sun is halfway done," he said, rolling over.

Chihiro frowned at this.

She sat on her haunches, feeling awkward because her front legs were still positioned as if she were standing, her body was simply too long. Well, if she was indeed his "Mistress", then didn't she get to decide when they got up?

She left.

She returned five minutes later and stood directly over the beast.

"I'm warning you," she spoke through magic.

"Grrr."

Within two seconds, a large amount of water soaked the beast, and a black streak shot up fifty feet of bare tree and onto an empty branch accompanied by a very undignified yelp.

Two eyes the color of a blue sky glared down at her with a look of death. The individual who was the focus of the nasty glare simply stuck her snout in the air and held her tail high. Walking away from the raven-hued beast, she called back, "Just to be fair, I did give you plenty of warning."

The wolf ogre did not find that amusing.


later that day

"You'll find that you really don't eat as much as you should expect for such a large form. A dragon's body feeds primarily off of the world around it. In your case, you will need to try to stay outside at night, or at least somewhere that will give you access to the moonlight."

"Even when the new moon is out?" she interrupted him. Raider was enjoying her lack of knowledge of the spirit world a little too much. His wolf-face frowned. Raising his chin a little higher, he continued.

"Yes, although the energy from it might not be quite as strong, since you appear to be a light moon dragon."

"Oh….Kira, she was a dark moon dragon?"

Raider gave a half grin.

"You're catching on."

"So, back to Haku, when do we leave?" There was a dark look that flashed across Raider's face which Chihiro did not miss.

"Chihiro, I just received news from a raven spirit friend of mine. I've already requested an audience with Kohaku's mother, Mara. She is a very vengeful spirit and hates the human that stole her only male offspring's heart. She'd kill you, given the chance," he solemnly spoke.

"Does she know where I am?"

"No."

"Does she know I'm a dragon?" Raider had to smirk; she was already adopting many dragon traits, including pride in herself.

"Nope."

There was a draconic grin about her features, a look that would have sent Yubaba running. Too bad Raider had seen her sister with the same smile.


Slightly Haunted : Maybe I'll add just one more chapter today...I like to break them down...please feed the review-eating dragon spirit that lives in my computer, thx.