Chapter 19: "And I'm damn proud of it!"
I opened my eyes and saw Matt sitting worriedly in front of me. I lifted my head and looked at my wing. It hung at a strange, painful looking angle and I wasn't about to try and move it.
"Hiei!" Matt got up and whined.
/Yeah, yeah, I get it. You were worried./ I couldn't help but have a cold-edge to my voice. I was mad about the other dragons. I stood up and looked around.
Suddenly, the desert reminded me way too much of Makai and I felt homesickness sweep over me. In a strange way I called Makai my home… but it wasn't the Makai I wanted right now. I felt sick at staring at sand and emptiness. I wanted to go to the Ningenkai.
Matt didn't jump onto me but ran in a circle around me, studying where the worse wounds were.
I started walking and she realized I was about to leave her behind. "Hey! Hiei--!"
/Come on./ I said impatiently. /If we're caught out in the open like that again I'm not going to be able to save us again./ Matt stared at me for a second then followed.
She walked next to me the whole time we went to find a town.
"Hiei, if we go to Mik's, she could help your wing." I looked at her then at the town we were by. Suddenly I realized why she mentioned Mik. This was the town she lived in.
/She can help/
"Yeah. She can fix your wing. Hiei, you're a dragon right now. If you can't fly to fight or escape you'll probably get yourself killed."
/Hn./ My sight was blurring again. My wing hung limply from my side and every rock and stone that bumped it sent a new wave of nauseating pain up the new limb and all the way up my neck and down my back. I felt physically sick now.
We made it to Mik's and Matt told me we had to go around back. I walked to the back and looked around. It reminded me slightly of the ningen farms except for one huge difference…
There were dragons everywhere.
"Mik raises orphaned dragons and eggs and she heals injured dragons."
/Oh…/ I said, not really paying attention. For some reason I was scanning the place for dragons that looked like me. I gave up as Mik approached.
"What happened to you, blarner?" she asked.
/Why the hell does she call me that/ I asked.
"Um… Well, it means bastard."
I glared at Mik but she didn't seem to care. "So you broke your wing? Hm, it's fixable." She walked around, studying the rest of my wounds. "Well, you got lucky. Although, it would have been easier if you hadn't gotten yourself into a fight in the first place."
/Like I meant to./ I growled at her.
"Don't you growl at me."
I suddenly felt immature and snapped at her.
She easily avoided that. "Blarner!"
/And I'm damn proud of it/ I blinked. What the hell? My emotions were getting the better of me. My emotions never got the better of me. /Just fix my wing up and I'll be out of here./
"Hn. Fine." She walked into her house and came out with a bag. I had laid down and she carefully extended my wing. She walked over to study the wound on my neck. "Dragon's heal up pretty fast… I think I'll just wrap these up and let 'em heal on their own-- Matt! Quit teasin' the dragons!" Matt lowered her head sheepishly and walked over to watch.
Mik grabbed something but I wasn't paying attention. I was watching all the other dragons around me. Suddenly I felt a sharp pain in my side. I growled and got up quickly, turning to face Mik.
She held an empty needle and smiled in an annoyingly innocent way. "Had to drug ya."
After a moment I got really sleepy and everything went black.
