Sapphire Scales, a Rurouni Kenshin fanfic by Raberba girl
Chapter 2 - The Dragon
She didn't feel good. That probably was not the sheep's fault... It had tasted normal, so she did not think anyone had poisoned its fleece or anything, but she had not been able to manage the second one. After watching it bleating pitifully for a while, she had finally opened her claws and let it go, watching it scramble off into the woods. Though the sight had not done much for her stomach, it had cheered her up a tiny bit. It was nice to see a creature escaping a miserable fate, though she did find herself envying its agility. Her own body was so massive that the only time she did not feel like a fat, clumsy monstrosity was when she was in the air.
At the thought, she closed her eyes and thought of flying. It was the only thing she liked about her life now, the only thing that did not drive her farther and farther into this maddening darkness of the heart. The bleakness of everything felt like a weight, pressing down on her and stifling her. If her spirit was a flame, she had been feeling it dwindle lower and lower over the years, so that now it was practically only an ember. Everything just seemed so hopeless...
For a while her spirits lifted a little by the flight back home, and she had even forgotten her queasy stomach - but then finding that red-haired man staked in front of her home sent her guts churning again, this time with panic and anger. Was he supposed to be bait, meant as a distraction so that she would not notice the hunters leaping out at her? In that case, why a man? Why not a beautiful maiden fainting with terror, as was the usual custom? Perhaps he was himself one of the hunters, falsely bound and ready to plunge a blade into her when she was lured close.
Yet she sensed no other humans nearby, and the scent of his fear was untainted with any sort of excitement or bloodlust. She checked him out just to be sure, finding that the fear was accompanied by frustration and anger (though not at her, surprisingly). The scent of his spirit told her more, more than she wanted to know, actually. There was a strong odor of guilt, but underneath that an even stronger, startlingly fresh smell of courage and a love of life. It reminded her of the smell the forest had, when it sang in the night after a rainstorm. This was a good man, probably, and she suddenly did not want to have to deal with him anymore. He must have ticked off some corrupt village leader, and his goodness was now being punished, which was making her feel angry and helpless. Even worse, she could not bear the thought of a good man to actually have come here, literally within her grasp, because inevitably he was going to walk away without ever knowing the truth, and the disappointment would crush what little remained of her heart. She had given up hope long ago that things could be any different.
His shout startled her. It was not often that they tried to get her attention. She stopped and looked back at him, angrily steeling herself for whatever abuse he meant to yell at her, but was surprised when he instead demanded release from his bonds. The thought of eating him was sickening and did not do good things to her stomach, so she yelled back at him, angry at his assumption that she meant to kill him. Why did they always think that? Oh, beware the big scary monster, its mindless rage leaves no survivors, it chomps up helpless girls without a speck of remorse. Just because she was bigger and stronger and uglier than them; she hated it.
Yet...he probably had been tied up for a while, and it seemed a little mean to just go off to bed and leave him here all night. Come to think of it, she wouldn't be able to sleep if she knew he was still out there, probably cold and hungry on top of being uncomfortable.
Sighing, she turned around and went back over to him, annoyed at and ashamed of her lumbering gait. When she was alone she was sometimes able to forget about it, but in the presence of a human, she felt like the ugliest thing alive. If he wasn't so afraid of her, he would probably find her disgusting. Well, why should she care? She was never going to see him again anyway, unless he came back at the head of a mob intent on destroying her. 'Time to pack up and move again,' she thought resentfully. 'No thanks to you, you little jerk. I probably should leave you out here all night, and give myself time to escape.'
Yet it was only an idle thought, and she leaned over to pull the wooden pole out of the ground. Of course his hands would need to be freed, too. 'Now how am I supposed to do that?' she thought irritably. The rope was tiny. Her claws were huge. However he was no delicate maiden, and the sword probably meant that he was a warrior and not unaccustomed to pain. 'Guess he'll just have to suck it up,' she thought, and pushed him down so she could get at the ropes.
She was a little surprised that he did not struggle, and she was soon grateful for his stillness as she worked to slit the knots. It was tricky, trying to slip a large claw between his arms and cut the ropes without hurting him, and she did not quite manage it in the end. The sight of blood welling up out of his skin made her wince. This evidence of her own monstrousness and ineptitude made her sad, so she turned away and headed back into her cave. Tonight would be her last night here for a while, since she needed to be gone before the intruder came back with his mob.
Stupid little red-haired girly-man. She had forgotten what she looked like, but he was probably prettier than her even with that scar slashed across his face. Of all the stupid things, finding herself still capable of being attracted to a human was humiliating by now. And if he could look so handsome even with the scar, even when he was angry and frightened, what might he look like when he smiled or laughed? 'You'll never find out, so it doesn't matter. Find something more useful to daydream about,' she grumbled silently to herself. This was even more depressing than usual.
She had settled down in her nest and lay brooding, waiting for sleep, when the sound of footsteps startled her. She jerked her head up, astounded to realize that the little human had followed her into the cave. Was he stupid? Or did he intend to attack her?
Growling, she leaned half out of bed and batted him away, knocking him to the ground. His sheathed sword clattered to the floor and she swept it up, tucking it away against the wall so that he would not be able to reach it. Then she glared, but he did not seem threatening at all now.
He had scrambled back to his feet and now stood with one arm raised, breathing hard as he stared wide-eyed. His gaze was oddly blank, and he was looking in the wrong direction. She suddenly remembered that humans could not see in the dark; he was probably blind in here.
Her fear and anger suddenly dissolved, and her heart softened. Poor little man, he probably thought he was going to die any second. 'Well, what did you expect, strolling into a dragon's lair?' she thought irritably. He looked almost pathetic, that spindly little arm raised as if it could offer him any protection from her. She could kill him so, so easily, it would not take any effort at all.
Sighing, she scraped a pile of burnable items together and shot a small spout of flame at it. The cave was suddenly illuminated, the flickering darkness a little irritating to her vision. The man had started at the sudden light, but when he saw her still lying down, currently making no move to hurt him, the smell of his fear receded. He lowered his arm and held her eyes for a long moment, then drew in a sharp breath and looked away. The sound of his voice startled her. "I'm sorry...for intruding."
She growled in acknowledgement. 'You'd better be.'
He winced, but continued after a minute. "I meant...I came..." He looked at her again, his expression helpless. "I don't know why I came."
Her eyes widened. They stared at each other for a long time. Then, to her amazement, he took a few steps closer to her. "I'm sorry I frightened you."
Her gravelly laughter came bursting out of her, along with uneven puffs of smoke. He was apologizing for frightening her? Granted, he had frightened her, but...well, she had never in her wildest dreams expected a human to-
Well. She had never expected a human to talk to her like another human being, much less apologize to her for anything. Something about that realization hurt, and she found her eyes burning. A couple of huge steaming tears came welling up. Hearing him gasp, she angrily blinked the tears away.
To her astonishment, he was hurrying even closer. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean-"
'To make me cry?' she thought furiously. Suddenly hating him, she lowered her head down to his and growled menacingly.
He stopped in his tracks, but though the smell of his terror was strong again, he did not back away. After a moment, he swallowed and spoke. "I'm sorry. None of this makes any sense..." He laughed weakly. "You are nothing like what I expected."
'And you aren't like anything I ever even dreamed I could expect.' She was crying again. Stupid little man, why wouldn't he run away?
She got to her feet and picked him up, heading back for the entrance, but after a few steps she slowed and stopped. When she carried animals and (every once in a great while) people, the feel of them struggling frantically in her claws made her sick, even worse than the limp feel of her meals when they were dead. She had never before carried unresisting living flesh.
Raising the man up to her face, she looked at him in bewilderment, and he stared back. One of his arms was pinned to his side, the other rested almost casually on her claw. He seemed...not comfortable, exactly; she could feel how tense he was, could still smell the fear in him. But there was something else as well, and she was shocked when she finally realized what it was. Trust. No creature in her grasp had ever trusted her not to hurt it, but here was this little man acting as if he didn't expect to get eaten any second.
'How do you know?' she thought furiously. 'Just because I haven't eaten you yet, how do you know I'm not saving you for later or something? Stupid! Stupid little man!' Vengefully, she raised him to her mouth and actually closed her jaws around him, then waited for him to scream.
He didn't. He didn't wriggle nearly as much as she expected, either. As seconds passed and her teeth did not pierce flesh, she felt his panic fade away, though he still remained conscious.
Finally she took him back out of her mouth and looked at him again. He was damp from the humidity of her mouth and gasping for breath, looking a little haggard as their eyes met. 'Yes, my breath stinks,' she thought defensively. 'I eat raw meat, you know. Sorry it doesn't smell lovely enough for you.'
"Thank you for not eating me," he croaked at her. "I offer my deepest apologies for offending you in any way."
'Oh, shut up!' Continuing on, she came to the cave entrance and deposited him on the ground outside. 'Go,' she thought at him irritably. 'Run, be free. I won't bother you again, which is probably more than I can say for you.' Then she went back to bed, feeling worse than before.
To be continued...