.:Curse of Dragons:.
.:By: Darkwolfgal:.
.:Chapter 4: A Bargain Struck:.
"Naraku." Hissed the voice, icy cold with a seething rage.
The lord smiled, his crimson eyes, half-lidded, opening fully as he turned to face Kagura, his white baboon pelt flowing over his naked shoulders.
"I trust you found someone, Kagura, I do not tolerate failure." He murmured softly, but his chill words carried to the woman who knelt at the base of raised, cushioned dais that was his bed.
"I have not found anyone, because there was no one to find! They flee, they know what I want, and Kanna shows nothing." Kagura hissed. "That silver dragon is more trouble than he is worth!"
His eyes narrowed and he couldn't help summoning the black orb into his hands, the black orb that held the woman's heart.
"Silence, it is I who make the decisions here." He growled, tapping the black crackling ball. Kagura winced and he sneered before allowing the ball to disappear.
"Kanna." He said clearly, and the smaller girl emerged from the shadows, though if she had been there all this time they would never know.
"Who can tame this silver dragon? Show us." He ordered and the girl shifted the mirror she held in her hands, her lifeless eyes turning to its glimmering surface.
The mirror glowed slightly, whirling before settling on the image of a girl, fuzzed at the edges, but clear all the same. It was that same girl; the one he had been forced to recall after none of his other dragon boys could get near the beast.
"Who else." He snapped. It was an order not a question.
Kanna stared at her mirror, and it went blank.
"Show me." Naraku snapped again.
"The mirror has nothing more to show." Kanna said, her voice devoid of emotion, as always.
Kagura narrowed her eyes and he had to admit, she had been right, but he didn't like it. Instead he was forced to cover up his unknowing.
"Very well than, the girl will have to break the dragon. She will handle it and train it, and I don't care if she gets tossed the moment he decides to fly." Naraku ordered before lying back in his cushions, closing his eyes in obvious dismissal.
Kagura got to her feet to leave, Kanna disappearing within the shadows, when Naraku spoke again.
"Make sure I don't have any appointments tonight, I have a project to oversee."
---------
She awoke all at once, as she had always done on the streets, and groaned as the light fell into her eyes, squinting them shut at once.
Why was it so bright? The streets weren't this bright… she slept in the shadows… if she was in the open, the riders, the Shikon no Tama…
And then it came back to her, Inuyasha, the lord Naraku, and her jobs now, and her bed, she was in a bed.
Speaking of Inuyasha, she needed to get his morning meal. Strange how something so humanoid had to be fed, and fed by her. Well, she had seen him hungry before; she didn't want to repeat that experience again.
With a yawn she changed into the fresh kimono she found in the drawers, pulled on some sandals, and pulled open the sliding door to enter Inuyasha's stall.
"Took you long enough." He snapped, shifting in the sand, the loose chains jangling as he did so.
"Well I don't see you going all feral on me." She yawned in reply, heading for the door.
"That's because I'm only hungry, not starved." He growled in reply, amber eyes rolling in an exact imitation of human exasperation. She exited the stall.
- - -
"Kagome! Kagome!" A bubbly voice called and she turned, just exiting Inuyasha's stall. She shut the door, silencing Inuyasha's rude eating habits, and turned to an excited Rin who had raced down the hall.
"Rin, calm down, don't we have to worry about the dragons?" She asked as the smaller girl, dressed in a cheerful orange-splotched kimono, pulled to a halt.
"Kagome, you won't believe it!" Rin said, only slightly softer and with no less enthusiasm. "Lord Naraku made you the Silver's trainer!"
Kagome stared at her and from her blank face Rin burst into explanation while dragging her towards the dining room.
"Dragonboys and dragongirls are just like stable hands for the horses. Above the dragonboys and dragongirls are the handlers, who are in charge of most of the dragon's exercises and meals. Above them are the trainers, who have authority over the handlers, and who train the dragons." She said as they stood in line for porridge.
"Trainers also give their dragon's names, since they need to be called something-Oh Kagome I can't believe you impressed Lord Naraku so much he made you a trainer!" She bubbled, grabbing Kagome and sitting down at an unoccupied table.
"But Rin!" Kagome interjected as soon as the girl slowed down. "I don't know anything about training dragons, I haven't even been able to get chickens to hop off their eggs! How could Lord Naraku want me?"
"You survived the Silver." Rin pointed out, gulping down a huge spoonful of porridge.
"That was dumb luck." Kagome replied, moving the wooden spoon slowly through the porridge, her appetite lost.
"Couldn't have been, otherwise the others would have been able to survive too." Rin pressed.
"But what's so special about me?" She insisted and Rin shrugged.
"I dunno, but apparently Lord Naraku sees something in you. I'll tell you what the trainers do though." Rin said, her tone ending the current topic.
When both had finished eating Rin began to explain.
- - -
"What are you doing back here?" Inuyasha growled, raising his silver head from the sand. "You should be doing the chores or something, can't adragon have any peace around here?"
"I supposed to be your trainer now, so I can't let you get lazy." Kagome replied and Inuyasha growled, rumbling deep in his chest for several minutes at least.
That meant Naraku still wanted to use him, Naraku wasn't giving up, and this girl was just helping the piece of filth. Sure it meant Naraku thought he was a dragon, but how was he ever going to escape now? He had been hoping the fleabag would give up and leave him to rot in some far off place, underestimating his draconic strength, but apparently not.
"What are you so unhappy about?" Kagome asked, or perhaps it was more of a demand.
He snapped at her, jaws clacking together hardly a yard from her hair. She didn't even flinch and he snarled. He'd liked her better when she could be frightened so easily, but now it seemed she had realized he wasn't about to kill her.
"None of your business." He snapped, turning around in the sand, his head resting on the straw outside the wallow.
She was silent for a long while and he thought she'd finally left him for his peace when she spoke yet again, but this time it wasn't with that oh-so-annoying defiant voice.
"I want to get out of here too, you know." She said, her tone neutral.
He whirled back around to face her, his eyes narrowing. How had she guessed?
"Face it, you could have someone worse than me." She continued, in the same tone.
"What are you suggesting?" He snapped.
"A bargain. You cooperate and I help you get out."
He laughed at that, his tail flailing behind him.
"Like I could use your help, the second you get me out of this stall I'll be gone!"
"And I'll go straight to Lord Naraku and tell him all about how you can talk and that you kept talking about Kikyo." She said, crossing her arms and screwing her face in what she hoped was an all-knowing smirk. She didn't think he would care, she was pulling on aimless strings, but apparently she had struck gold.
"You wouldn't dare!" He roared, getting to his feet, snapping at her yet again.
"I've got a letter with all of that information waiting in my room, addressed to Lord Naraku. If you kill me they'll find it, and then you'll still be stuck here when they come for you." She lied easily, hiding her fear that she was wrong, but she was right yet again.
He froze, glaring at her, and she couldn't help but smirk.
"I'm not asking you to trust me." She pointed out.
"As if I have a choice in the matter." He rumbled in reply, but he was settling down again.
"So do we have a deal?" She pressed, knowing the answer.
He glared at her.
---------
The Lord growled, his eyes narrowing in anger. He had come so close, so close. He had been so sure he had gotten the right spell, but all he had here was an empty husk.
He stood over the pit of flaming coals, staring down at the beautiful, and naked, figure that lay above them. Pity though, for it was only a figure, a soulless piece of junk, however finely he had made it.
Something had gone wrong in the creation; something had been lacking, or had been too much of. Something had gone wrong, and he didn't know what.
The body of clay and graveyard soil was empty, devoid of a spirit, devoid of a soul. It wasn't human, it would live off the souls of others, but to keep the souls from taking over he had contained them, and now he had this, this empty husk that lived yet did not. It was lacking something to give it life, however well it lived off souls.
His eyes widened in realization. It was missing a soul of its own! It was missing its soul!
And then his eyes narrowed again in frustration. That was stupid, the soul would have been infused in the spell. It was there in the script, the creature would live, and it would have its soul.
What had gone wrong? He had done everything to the letter, he had had exact amounts of the clay and soil, the life giving herbs ,and he had plenty of power! Why did the thing not have a soul?
Unless, of course, the soul required was not readily available.
He had never believed much in reincarnation, but the theory was sound, he had seen it proven in his books. So the soul had manifested another vessel, though removal would be simple enough. Of course, he needed to find the vessel.
"Not to worry, I'll bring you back yet, Kikyo."