Sapphire Scales, a Rurouni Kenshin fanfic by Raberba girl
Chapter 3 - The Next Morning
It was cold out here. Kenshin shivered, not relishing the thought of having to spend the night sitting out in the woods, especially right next to a dragon cave. Speaking of which...
He eyed the cave mouth warily. To tell the truth, he was not terribly anxious to return to that moody creature either, but...the cave was warm, and the dragon had showed little sign of hurting him. Of course, he did not know what to make of that truly horrible moment when it had put him in its mouth, especially when it had then taken him out again. It did not make sense for the dragon to suddenly feel hungry, try to take a bite out of him, then randomly change its mind. It had seemed too upset to be merely teasing, either.
Perhaps it was some sort of test, or perhaps it had just wanted to see his reaction, or maybe it had wanted to hear him beg for mercy. Whatever the case, it had let him go in the end- No, not just let him go. It had dumped him out here as if it wanted him to escape.
And it had been crying. There was no denying that, even if he could not wrap his mind around the possibilities of why a dragon would weep.
It wasn't like he had nowhere else to go...but returning to the village would be pointless, especially since he had no token of the dragon's demise; and if he returned to the Ishin Shishi, there would only be more assassination orders waiting for him.
Kenshin's mouth tightened. No. No more, at least for a while.
He pounded his fists against his head, then took a deep breath and ventured back inside.
After a few steps, he came back out again. It had NOT been fun, the last time, to have been suddenly struck by an unseen force, and then have to stand there helplessly waiting to be torn to pieces. This time, he was going in with a torch.
After fashioning this useful object, he went into the cave yet again, taking his steps with care. The firelight flickered wildly on the rocky walls, disorienting him a little. It was difficult to see, but much better than walking blind, so he forced himself to keep going until he reached the dragon again.
He could see the cave continuing farther and found himself thinking unpleasantly of things that might be hiding in the dark back there, but luckily he did not have to go on. Instead he stopped by the huge (to him, anyway) niche where the dragon was lying. The creature was curled up in a sort of nest, mostly consisting of hay that he suspected had been stolen. The dragon looked almost endearing at the moment, with its nose tucked under the edge of its tail and huge tears still leaking slowly out of its eyes.
'Poor thing,' Kenshin found himself thinking. Then he shook his head in disgust. Who was he, to be pitying a beast that was so much bigger and stronger than him? For all he knew, it was crying out of remorse for letting breakfast escape.
Sighing, he sat down against the wall and laid the torch on the dusty ground. It would probably go out soon, which was a shame, but there was nothing else to do with it. In the last of the light, Kenshin gazed at the dragon, watching its scales glimmer in the torchlight like waves of the sea. It really was a beautiful creature, with a sleek streamlined body and magnificent wings, now folded close along its length. He wished idly that he could someday admire a dragon at his leisure, without being distracted by pesky emotions like terror.
Even now, his heart was pounding at the thing's proximity; its heat enfolded him, so that already he felt sweat trickling down the side of his face. It looked docile enough now, but he knew that any second it could suddenly spring up and pounce on him. He found himself focusing on the tears, hopeful evidence that the creature might possibly have a soft spot. Why would a dragon cry? Why would it reject a perfectly good chunk of meat? Kenshin had no clue, but the unknown answers to those questions gave him hope that it had not been a mistake to feel sorry for this dangerous creature.
Preoccupied with his thoughts, he did not notice when he drifted off to sleep.
o.o.o.o.o
The next morning, Kenshin was rudely awakened by a roaring noise and the feel of himself once again being scooped up in dragon claws. He snapped to full consciousness immediately, and noticed distractedly that the cave was no longer black. The cave mouth glowed bright with morning sunshine, which reached inside a surprising distance and paled the blackness beyond. The next second they were out in that sunshine, where at the dragon's emergence, a host of birds immediately flew out of the treetops, shrieking. The dragon held Kenshin up in front of its face and roared.
Pressing his hands over his ears and squeezing his eyes shut, Kenshin realized that its roar the night before had only been a mere raising of its voice. This was an insanely loud bellow, a sound that struck his body and thundered down into his ears despite the meager protection of his hands clamped over them. Just when he felt like he was going to be ripped apart by the sound alone, it finally stopped.
For a while he lay limp in the dragon's foreleg, panting as he tried to recover from the audial assault. His ears were thick with the echo, and he knew he would be virtually deaf for a while. Finally, he cracked his eyes open and nearly closed them again when he saw the dragon glaring at him. Its sapphire gaze was huge and piercing, almost too bright to look at. 'Is it going to eat me now?' Kenshin thought in despair. 'Did I go too far this time?'
Then he frowned. 'Too far in what, exactly? What is it even mad about, anyway?' The dragon's thought processes were utterly foreign to him, so, with nothing else to say, Kenshin finally managed a wobbly, "Good morning."
The dragon made a deep snorting noise and then stumped off, walking ungracefully but firmly on its hind legs. Kenshin wrapped his arms around the nearest claw and held on for dear life, eyes wide as he watched trees whizzing by with each step. Then he was suddenly being held out in the air, no longer close to the dragon's body. "Wait!" he cried. "Don't drop-!"
The claws opened and he went hurtling down. He had just opened his mouth to yell when he was suddenly struck by a sheet of icy cold wetness. His ears were still ringing so that he did not hear the splash, but it was immediately quite obvious that the dragon had decided to throw him into a lake.
Thrashing desperately, he fought his way back to the surface and gasped in mouthfuls of air (along with a bit too much water than he would have liked), trying to swim for shore. He made it in the end, no thanks to the dragon, which was crouched cat-like on the shore and watching him intently with narrowed eyes. It was extremely disconcerting. Kenshin, sopping wet, glared back as he stomped up to dry ground. "What was that for?"
The dragon growled. It was unfortunate that it could not speak human language, since Kenshin would really, really have liked an explanation. "Well?" he challenged. "Are you ever going to get around to pouncing, or do I have time to dry first?"
Looking disdainful, the dragon eased back and sat up, still glaring down at him. Kenshin shook his head and then started pulling off his soaked clothes.
The effect on the dragon was odd. At first it simply tilted its head and looked at him in a puzzled way. Then, as his bare flesh began to emerge, it suddenly snorted and hurriedly backed up, looking comical in its dismay. Kenshin frowned, watching it as he continued to undress. Was he offending its modesty or something? It couldn't be startled by the removal of his clothing - surely a beast as intelligent as the dragon would realize that Kenshin's outer coverings were not actual parts of his body, right?
As Kenshin, now naked, untied his hair and began to squeeze the excess water out of it, he watched the dragon flying away after an extremely clumsy takeoff. "Very strange," he muttered as he spread his clothes out to dry in the sun.
About an hour or two later he saw the dragon flying back, and noted that it landed around where the cave was, rather than where he was still sitting by the lake. Even though his clothes were still a little damp, he dressed again and made his way back to the cave-
Where he found the dragon eating breakfast.
Kenshin froze, his eyes riveted to the sight of the beast chewing on a cow. Blood ran freely down over its chin and claws, and thick strands of slimy gore dripped down with every bite it took. The dragon froze when it noticed him as well, and they stood staring at each other for a long time. Then the dragon slowly began chewing again, its brilliant blue eyes still fixed on his. When it had finished, having eaten the entire cow bones, hide, and all, it sat back and belched, hugely and defiantly.
Kenshin found that he had his back pressed against a tree. He closed his eyes for a minute, then opened them again and forced himself to walk forward. He had seen battle, he had performed assassinations; it was not the sight of the blood that so unnerved him. It was the horribly vivid image of himself in the cow's place, and the helpless ignorance as to why he was still alive. "Any chance you've saved some breakfast for me?" His casual tone was obviously not fooling either of them.
The dragon's eyes narrowed - and then it pointed down with a claw. Kenshin stared, amazed at the anthropomorphic gesture, then shook himself and looked where it was pointing. There was a smoking animal carcass lying on the ground, next to a crumpled heap of leaves, broken wood, and apples. He stared, unable to believe it.
The dragon had brought him breakfast, as best it could anyway. The carcass was unrecognizable beyond the fact that it had four legs and was about the size of a dog, but Kenshin was rather touched that the dragon had "cooked" it for him. The apples were a nice addition; the dragon had probably taken the smallest branch it could find from an orchard. It was a very strange sort of breakfast, but incredible when he considered the fact that the dragon was actually taking care of him. "Thank you," he said weakly. Its only response was to snort and head back into the cave.
Kenshin ate slowly, thinking. There was something about this dragon that was making it more and more impossible for him to simply walk away. The dragon was...almost a person, and not a very happy one at that. It felt wrong somehow to just leave it here alone, when it was obviously upset and lonely and had so far shown little sign of murderous tendencies. There was a mystery to it that would plague him if he were to leave now and likely never see the creature again.
Kenshin sighed. Then he wiped his mouth and hands clean, and went after the dragon yet again. It was closer to the entrance this time, nosing around the floor. In the sunlight, Kenshin could see that the cave was not empty except for the dragon's bed, as he had previously thought. There were various things scattered around the walls: a few bits of rusty armor or pieces of jewelry with some of the jewels knocked out, broken spear shafts, a tattered-looking flag. Kenshin even spotted that stupid sakabatô, and smiled a little as he went to retrieve it.
As he was picking it up, he jumped when he heard a low, heavy growl just over his shoulder. Even though his heart was pounding, he deliberately continued his movements (albeit a little slower) and turned to look at the dragon - his host. It was probably worried he would try to attack it if he had a weapon. "Look," he said, carefully drawing the sword and holding it where the dragon could see. "The blade's reversed." He smiled a little, shaking his head. "Imagine how much damage I could cause with this."
The dragon blinked and made grumbling noises, as if not entirely satisfied but unable to think of a good argument. It was disconcertingly human behavior.
Kenshin hesitated. Then he slipped the sakabatô into his belt and smiled again, more warmly this time. "Thank you for the meal," he told the dragon, gazing right into its eyes. The grumbling abruptly stopped, and it pulled its head away. "Listen!" he called up to it, not wanting it to go away.
It paused, not looking at him.
"I mean it, I really am grateful. You have treated me very kindly, and it is to my shame that we have not yet been introduced. My name is Himura Kenshin, and it truly is an honor to make your acquaintance."
Now it was looking at him, this time in shock.
"I...I realize that this is an extremely unusual situation...but, if I may, I would like to intrude on your hospitality a little while longer." He waited a bit nervously for a response.
After a minute, the dragon raised its head and emitted a brief spat of flame.
Kenshin winced, but then it dawned on him that he was going to have to learn to understand this dragon as it understood him, since they were unable to speak each other's languages. He thought a moment. "Either you're saying that you've got a sore throat, or you are pointing out that it would be foolish to hang around with someth- with someone who could hurt me so easily."
The dragon rolled its eyes, which was interesting but not particularly helpful. "Well...well, you're right. I don't know what to say to that, except that...that you haven't really hurt me so far, even though you could have killed me at any time."
It seemed that he had gotten it right, because the dragon was staring at him with wide eyes. Then the foreleg hesitantly reached down, and Kenshin braced himself as the claws curled around him. To his relief, the dragon did not pick him up this time, but sort of hugged him with its foreleg before withdrawing again. Did that mean he could stay?
"We have an agreement, then?" he called up. "If so, I will need something better to call you than 'Dragon.' What about Sapphire, since that is the color of your scales?"
The dragon hesitated. Then it reached down its foreleg again and began scratching in the dirt with its claw. Kenshin went over to look, and after a minute his eyes widened in amazement. For there in the dirt floor of the cave, the dragon was laboriously carving three katakana characters, obviously the easiest system for it to write in. "Ka-o-ru," he sounded out. "That's...your name?"
He peered up at the dragon, frowning. A suspicion had occurred to him, a rather unpleasant one if it turned out to be right, considering that he had earlier stripped off all his clothes in front of the dragon. His eyes automatically moved to a certain area of the dragon's anatomy and registered that certain glands were lacking.
His eyes widened. "You're...a female," he realized. Then his face turned beet-red as he realized what he was doing and he looked away hurriedly, but too late. Kaoru emitted a piercing dragon-shriek and her foreleg came slamming down at him. He threw himself to the ground and covered his head, yelling, "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Her claws furiously raked the ground around him, and then she gouged out a chunk of dirt and flung it on him.
She was long gone by the time he managed to struggle free of the mountain of dirt she had buried him under. "Ugh," he groaned. "I'm such an idiot."
Yet there was something more serious to think about, the fact that this dragon was squeamish about nudity. There was only one explanation for this that made sense, and Kenshin realized that if he was right, there was no way he could leave Kaoru until he had done everything he could to help.
To be continued...