Chapter Fourteen: In the Moonlight
Chihiro couldn't sleep; a pale moon shone its light upon the restless girl. Her bracelet started to glow and she smiled.
Haku, um is there a reason why you are contacting me? She asked.
Uh none I guess, I just wanted to talk to you. He replied sheepishly.
Well I had my first lesson today, Hikari came along; her father asked her to at least according to my teacher.
Hmm, that sounds nice of him to let her attend lessons with you. I don't know, it doesn't seem right for some reason, why Hikari? Besides he did abandon her along with my mother, it never occurred to me that he would regret that decision. Well maybe he did, but still he would give her some time to get used to living in the palace before giving her lessons. He always does that, you were an exception though, it was important that you get your training as soon as possible.
Well, he did give me a few hours or so to rest and get used to the place.
That's not very long; he gave me two weeks before I had my lessons.
Oh, now that you mention it, it does seem a bit fishy. Well um you probably don't know, but your dad decided to restore your, Hikari's, and Yoshiro's rivers.
Maybe he did regret abandoning her after all; well Yoshiro is nagging me that he has some important things to tell me, I think I will listen to him for a while. Bye then Chihiro.
Bye Haku. Chihiro absentmindedly touched her bracelet. A silvery dust lined it, glistening in the moonlight. Silently one by one they flew into the air, creating a silvery veil. Sleepily she yawned and fell asleep. A lone dragon was seen flying in the moonlight, its golden mane illuminated by the large moon. Gracefully, it flew creating intricate patterns.
Hikari, like Chihiro, had a hard time falling asleep. She liked flying, it helped her calm down a bit. The wind blew past her; her mane flowed gently with it. She flew towards the palace, she was getting tired. She landed in her room and changed back into her human form, yawning she went to sleep. No one noticed a dark dragon heading towards the palace. It smirked as it saw the form of Hikari; it had come to take something from her. A single opal reminiscent of the first Dragon of Nature, sister to the opal of the opal pendent, Hikari had been right when she thought that the opal would be of use in the future. A pale moon shone its spiteful light on the dark dragon, it seemed to plead with those of the palace to wake up and help the young dragon. As the dark dragon touched her, she flinched and moved away from the probing finger.
"Give me the opal, I will put it to better use than you ever could." It whispered in her ears. Hikari grumbled and her eyes suddenly flew open. They flashed angrily in the moonlight when they spotted the dark dragon.
"There's a dark dragon in my room!" She shouted and changed into her dragon form, eager to battle the hated creature. It took a while for Chihiro to understand what her friend was shouting about. Footsteps were heard running towards Hikari's room, inside were two dragons fighting each other. The dark dragon tried to bite Hikari, but she escaped out of the window. Roaring, the dragon followed hungry for blood and essence.
Their battle illuminated by the moon, their blood looked like shining ruby, their essence flowing veils. Blood lined both dragons' fangs and claws as they tried hard to gain an advantage. The dark dragon searched for the opal that Hikari was supposed to have had. Snarling when it did find it, it bit Hikari one more time on the neck and flew away.
Hikari weakly roared happily and flew back to the palace, lack of blood and essence made her faint on the way. A silvery dragon plummeting towards the earth, her faint silvery aura surrounded her form. "I've got you." A dragon murmured when he saw her falling towards him. Instantly changing into his dragon form he caught her. Her eyelids opened to reveal her brilliant emerald eyes; they stared for a moment into his blue ones. Snorting, she flew upwards towards the palace, towards her family, towards her friends. She fell back down, still too weak to fly, and was again caught by the dragon.
The dragon gently nuzzled her and flew her to her family, its eyes flashing happily. It gently placed her in her room, were her parents were waiting for her. They gasped as a single drop of blood fell onto the floor, and Hikari continued to bleed. Quickly she was transported to infirmary, there her wounds were treated.
"Thank you for bringing back my daughter." The Dragon King told the dragon bowing.
Blinking in surprise it replied. Your daughter, I never knew, well I am just glad that she'll be okay. Bye then milord. Hard as it was, he bowed and flew away. The silvery wind flowing past him, reminding him of her, sadly he reminded himself that he would not be able to see her again and mourned silently when he got home. In the distance, the dark dragon watched, hissing in distaste at the scene.
"Let them go, there will be other chances to get the opal. You say that she didn't have it, hmm interesting perhaps she hid it. Tomorrow go and search for it, do not fail me." The Evil One told his loyal servant. The dragon nodded and flew away into the darkness and the shadows.
Chihiro stared out into the moonlight, and the darkness beyond it. A large storm cloud was growing on the horizon, lightning streaked it and the occasional faint sound of thunder came from it. Silky clouds flew past the moon, in a hurry to join their brethren. Beyond the cloud somewhere, she knew that there was a dungeon where Haku and the others were trapped within the darkness where light could not reach them.
Rin watched her motionless form for a moment, before shaking her head and heading back to her own room. Chihiro sighed and looked outside one last time; an image of the dark dragon filled her mind. Frowning, she went back to sleep, only to be tormented by the evils that lurked within her dreams.
Hikari, in the infirmary, was reminded by a dream of something in her past.
Keiko was laughing as Hikari splashed water on her. "Hikari, stop it you're getting me wet!" She shouted happily. Hikari considered her demand for a moment, before splashing her one last time and changing into her human form. She sat on the bank next to her friend; in her hand she could fell something smooth and hard. She did not have to be told what it was, because she knew, a single opal.
Hikari showed her friend the opal, "I'm going to hide it, I don't want to lose it or anyone find it and take it from me. Want to help find a good hiding place in my river?" Keiko nodded, and Hikari changed back into her dragon form the opal safely placed in her mouth. Together they swam below the water, occasionally breaching the surface of the river so that Keiko could breathe. Hikari looked around, trying to find a good place to hide it; she searched underwater caves, but could not find a place where the opal would not be swept away by the current. Finally they came to cave that contained the portal to the Spirit World, looking around she was glad to find many tunnels in which to hid the opal. Smiling she picked a random tunnel and cast a spell on it, forbidding anyone, even her, to enter. She threw the opal into the tunnel, and heard a plunk as it settled on the ground.
Snorting with satisfaction, she head back towards the bank. Keiko's clothes and hair was wet from the swim. "My mom is going to be so mad when she finds out." Keiko told her friend, smiling. Hikari looked at her thoughtfully and flicked her tail at her friend, she instantly dried.
"How did you do that?" Keiko asked amazed. Unable to talk in her dragon form Hikari snorted.
"Okay then, tell me tomorrow. Bye Hikari!" Keiko shouted and left. Hikari looked at her friend for a moment and swam away towards her bother's river, Haku was waiting for her there. His emerald eyes looking intelligently into hers, only then did it occur to her that she would away for many weeks and would not return. She had forgotten to tell Keiko! She looked behind her and sighed; shaking her head she followed her brother.
Hikari suddenly opened her eyes, she remembered the opal. The opal that he was talking about, he wanted to steal her opal! What did he mean by he could put it to better use than she ever could, did it have magical powers? Sora suddenly walked into the room, "So you decided to wake up, I think it would have been better if you stayed asleep and died from your injuries." Hikari rolled her eyes and fell back asleep.
"What I am only telling the truth, you're only a worthless dragon after all." Sora smirked.
"I am the guardian of the opal now leave me alone." Hikari hissed, in the short time that had passed she realized that her opal must be linked with the opal pendent.
"What opal? You a guardian, I think not."
"The opal that is linked to the opal pendent, a gift from the Dragon of Nature to his daughter Sakura so many years ago when she married a human, it was thrown into a river that was frozen for safekeeping."
Sora frowned, "How did you know that Sakura's the Dragon of Nature's daughter? I didn't even know that until now, are you making this up?"
Hikari snorted, "No, read the scrolls of the Dragon of Nature and you'll see. I read them when I was younger." Sora stared at her in shock and stormed out of the room, enraged. Hikari smirked and closed her eyes moments later to be woken again by her father.
"I know that it would be best if you sleep." Her father started. "But I want to know if you really did read the scrolls of the Dragon of Nature. They were hidden in his dwelling place, and protected by magical charms and spells."
Hikari groaned, "Yes I did, with my friend Keiko. A dark spirit approached us one day while we were in the Spirit World and asked us to lead him to the Dragon of Nature."
"A dark spirit approached you? I never knew that."
"Yes a dark spirit approached me, so I was curious about this Dragon of Nature, my grandmother helped me find where the scrolls were located and we read them. I don't want to say what happens next, it's not bad or anything, but I think people like the Evil One would use such knowledge for evil purposes."
"Ah I see, okay then, but how did you get through the building and read the scrolls."
"I put countered those spells and charms with one of my own, Keiko did the same. When we reached the scrolls, I put a spell on them that would freeze anything that would happen if we opened the scrolls."
"Yet you were able to past the last spell, a spell that would erase your memory interesting."
"There was a spell that would erase your memory? I don't think I passed that one, I didn't remember about the building and scrolls until now."
"What caused you to remember?" The Dragon King asked quite worried.
"The dark dragon asked for an opal, it's a special opal that I took from the building. I hid it in a cave in my river, the opal released an essence, and I thought that it might be of use in the future." Hikari said. The Dragon King sighed and left, Hikari had done something that many of her kind could not. She was a special type of dragon, he was sure of it and that would require special training. Sora, who had overheard Hikari's conversation with their father, glared angrily at her sister.
Hikari looked at Sora, who was still looking at her angrily, and shook her head. Haku was right, she was mean and snobbish. Sighing she fell back asleep, Sora looked haughtily at her before walking away, muttering to herself, "I will prove to father that I am better than this Hikari. He did abandon her, and I am going to show him and abandoning him was a good idea."
An elderly spirit saw Sora and smiled, "Talking to yourself again Sora, you must be very angry I suppose." Sora stopped and turned around, frightened. Behind her was Hikari's teacher, his amber eyes were gleaming fiercely.
"Ah you are correct sensei, my apologies I am just leaving." Sora said bowing.
"You are surprised to see me, young one."
Sora hissed in distaste before continuing, "Yes sensei, I shall leave now." When she reached her room she turned around to make sure that he was not following her, she sighed in relief when she saw that he wasn't. She entered her room, and the moonlight illuminated her sleeping form as well as many others that were affected that day.