11
Himura

They traveled southwest for five days, until they reached Kenshin's hills. It was rugged land, a gradual uplift on the face of the earth that was broken by deep gorges, high ridges and buttes, and strangely-shaped rock formations.

The land was also a dark green because of the thick forest. After leaving the vast plains, the sight of so much timber was amazing.

It had been raining recently, and large pools had formed on the ground, reflecting again the trees and sky as they rode through the forest. It was a beautiful place, and it was in this place Kaoru saw a dragon for the first time.

Even when Kenshin had told her that dragons took on human forms for most of their lives, her head had still been full of storybook illustrations of giant lizards and beasts. She didn't expect the small boy with tiny, silver horns poking out of his wispy hair that darted across her path to be more along the lines of truth.

The boy looked to be around eight or ten years old. Small, immature fangs were in his smile as he looked at them. He had very long black hair and his eyes were a dark, smoky red, reminding Kaoru of the color of wine.

"Hello, Pup," Kenshin said greeted, his face soft as he looked down on the dragon boy.

The child, grinning, brandished a spear. "State your face-name and your business, Stranger."

"Kenshin," he introduced himself. "And with me, my wife, Kaoru."

The boy's jaw dropped, as almost did his weapon. "You're Kenshin?"

"I am."

"Oh!" The kid leaned against his spear. "I guess you can pass, then, since you're our Brother and all." His ruby-colored eyes drifted to Kaoru. "I know she's your mate because she has your scent all over her, but…did you have to marry a Newcomer, Brother Kenshin? I'm not sure they'll even let her in the village."

"They'll let her in," Kenshin said flatly, but Kaoru's trepidation doubled as they moved their mounts past the young ward.

The boy waved his weapon in goodbye. "I'm Lui! Welcome home, Brother Kenshin."

"Thank you, Lui."

There were a lot of people in the village with horns like the young boy they encountered. Most also had fangs. A few even had wings folded on their backs, either soft and feathered or leathery and batlike. There were plenty of ordinary-looking people as well, but their eyes weren't any gentler on Kaoru than those of the dragons.

"New Woman," they muttered, stepping out of the way as Kenshin and Kaoru led their horses through dusty streets.

This was going to be a little difficult at first, Kenshin could see as he walked, Kaoru's hand held tightly in his.

It had been a long time, and he saw few familiar faces. Those faces he recognized didn't seem to know him in return. Not that he had been expecting support or a welcome exactly, but…

His village had become a little harder and a little colder in his absence. It was difficult for him to smile reassuringly at his worried-looking wife as well, because he was so distracted. Along every street, around every corner…

Sis.

He held his breath, quickening his steps.

Sis…

When the sun went down it always stained the village red. She had liked the effect, the colors. How she had always loved color. Avoid always blacks and whites, but seek out yellows, reds, blues, greens, richer, brighter, darker, whatever your pleasure, as long as it was color…

Oh, Sis…

"Do you love me because my hair is red?" he teased, grinning up at her as he swung his weight on her arm.

She grinned down at him, then suddenly scooped him up and bounced him in the air once before settling him on her hip, planting a kiss between his eyes.

"I would love you if your hair was as dull as mine," she told him.

"Your hair isn't dull! You should love your colors, too," he scolded. He could never stand for anyone to disrespect his sister, even his sister herself.

She pressed her cheek, smooth and cool, to his. "Even if our colors were reversed, if my eyes and hair were bright, and yours were dark brown instead, I would still love your colors more, Little Brother."

He blinked, feeling a gentle, warm hand make its way across his shoulders, and found himself looking into Kaoru's concerned face.

"Are you all right?"

He nodded, but she narrowed her eyes, not believing him. "Who said there should be no secrets between us?"

"I was remembering my sister," he said softly.

"Good memories?"

"Always."

His cabin was still standing.

He stood with his hand on it, unable to believe it. But it was still here. Someone had been seeing to its cleaning, its repair--and that it had stayed empty--but who…?

Then, suddenly, he knew who. It was the one coming toward them now. Kenshin reached out a hand toward Kaoru, felt her step to him immediately, felt her tense, felt her looking over his shoulder, at him.

"What are you doing here now?"

The voice was no different that he remembered it. Kenshin relaxed his shoulders, turning slowly to face this man, the only sort of father he had ever known.

"Is this no longer my home, Master?"

Hiko snorted. "And here I'd thought you had been the one who decided it wasn't. I asked you what you're doing here."

A year ago, Kenshin might have imagined a new argument in trying to convince Hiko to let him lead the village back to the mountains. Now, it was far too late in the year to even consider it.

"My wife and I believed we might stay the winter," Kenshin said softly.

His master's eyes immediately moved to Kaoru with new interest. Kenshin felt a little burst of pride when Kaoru merely lifted her chin slightly, holding his gaze. Master could be imposing at the most gentle of times.

"You went off to fight the New People, and then you've brought one back as a wife," Hiko said dryly.

Kenshin stared at the much taller man a moment. He considered getting angry, either for himself or for Kaoru, or both of them together. But he felt the solid wood of his childhood home against his back and Kaoru's hand in his and decided that perhaps it wasn't worth the energy.

"Who is responsible for the upkeep of my sister's house?" he asked instead.

"I am," Hiko said, confirming Kenshin's guess. "Don't look at me like that. I'm only fulfilling a promise she forced me to make, a long time ago when you first became my apprentice."

"What promise?"

Hiko turned and began to walk away.

"Master! What promise did Sis--"

Hiko half turned, eyes shut in irritation. "She made me promise that if something happened to her, that you would always have a home to return to. She's gone, you've come back, and your home is still here. Is that spelled out clearly enough for you?"

Kenshin didn't notice Hiko leave after that, only registered Kaoru's inquiry with a small squeeze of her hand.

Sis had gotten Hiko to promise something like that? After so many years, after she had been gone for so long…she had still found a way to take care of her little brother.

The coming days were difficult at first for Kaoru, but at the same time, they passed quickly.

When she first followed Kenshin into his sister's old cabin, she had watched his face pass through several emotions, agony being the most prominent. This feeling, she shared in a way, because hanging there on the wall was a intricate, splendidly beautiful tapestry of a soft-eyed young woman with long braids holding a small, red-headed boy in her lap. Love, closeness, and color had have been woven into the scene with devoted hands, and suddenly Kaoru knew just where Kenshin had learned the lessons of affection he had in turn taught her.

Staying in his sister's cabin might have kept open some tender wounds, but Kaoru busied herself trying to ease that pain. She left his sister's tapestry alone, but started making the rest of the little place "their" home, rather than Kenshin's sister's home. It was easy enough to do, since there wasn't much for furnishing in the place.

She seldom left the security of the cabin except to relieve herself or gather wood and water. Whenever she went out, she felt stares on her.

"They will pass," Kenshin assured her. "The drake people don't hold grudges, and once they get used to you sight and scent, they'll begin looking further than the place of your birth."

He went hunting in the mornings, trying to stock up his lodging for the winter. He usually returned in the afternoon, and from there her education in his people and their ways would continue.

He tried to teach her how to cook drake-style. Most of their food was meat. The dragons needed large quantities of meat in their diets, and their humans followed suit. Most food was broiled or boiled, and some things baked in a hole in the ground. Before the New People came, boiling was accomplished in a bovine's paunch, but now most of the village women had a cast iron kettles. Kaoru learned how to jerk venison. Jerky was a staple of life in the higher lands; easy to prepare, it lasted indefinitely. Sometimes it was cooked, other times, especially by the dragons, it was eaten off the rack.

Kaoru came to like the cabin very much. It was small, a single room, but comfortable, snug, and warm. Kenshin kept the firewood right outside the door, along with pots and pans and water skin. He always seemed to bring in the right kind of wood for a sweet-smelling fire, and when she asked him why out of her curiosity, he looked surprised, and then sheepish, explaining that this had long been a habit from when he was a pup; he always brought in willow and aspen to please his sister's developed sense of smell.

Most cabins were exactly like Kenshin's, small, functional, and simple. He had instructed her on a cabin's etiquette, which was a bit different than back at home. If the door was left open, friends felt free to walk in uninvited. If the door was closed, they called out or knocked until invited inside. Two sticks crossed over the door meant the owner was away or desired to be left alone. Strictly as formality, men usually sat on the north side, and women on the south. When entering another's cabin, a man moved to the right to his designated place, and a woman to the left. When possible, it was polite to walk behind a seated person. If passing between someone and the fire, it was proper to ask their pardon. Guests were expected to eat everything put before them. To refuse would be an insult.

Although most of these customs weren't quite so different from those she had known at home, she still found the last bit of advice harder to accept than she might have. There were many items in a dragoner's diet she found repulsive. They were partial to eating hearts and tongues and kidneys, as well as liver. She would dutifully eat what was offered, swallowing the urge to vomit. It got easier when Kenshin, who himself didn't like the taste of liver, taught her a simple trick of passing small bites over the tongue without having to chew, decreasing the taste. Clever Kenshin. It was important to try to be accepted, to give him no reason to be ashamed of her.

The drake people were polite to her. They included her in their feasts and ceremonies; women invited her along when they went looking for vegetables and nuts, yet Kaoru knew they still considered her an outsider, an intruder. Enemy. It was only because they respected Kenshin that they accepted her at all.

Kenshin's name was shockingly well-known, usually also connected with the memory of his sister, both of them as fearless fighters, as accomplished hunters and trackers, and even looked on with favor because they were more educated than most. Kenshin never returned from a hunt empty-handed, and he was generous with the meat he brought back, unselfishly giving way portions to those in need.

"What is this village called?" Kaoru asked him once when it crossed her mind that she didn't know.

"Himura," he had answered. Himura. It was a good name, Kaoru thought, and she also thought it suited Kenshin well. A red-haired man living in a red village.

They had been there for three weeks when the first snow fell. Kenshin had filled in any spaces in the cabin's logs with prairie grass for added insulation. The cabin, heated by a small fire, was warm and cozy. There were many days after that when it was too cold to go outside for more than a few minutes, days when it rained without respite or snowed from dawn until dark. On these days, Kenshin and Kaoru passed the time in each other's arms. Kaoru found herself falling deeper and deeper in love with the kind, soft-spoken man who was her husband. He never grew angry with her, never raised his voice. He answered her questions patiently, never ridiculing her, never making her feel ignorant because she didn't understand his ways.

One of the most confusing things were the use of kinship terms even when no actual relationship existed among the drake people. Young people often called their elders "my father" or "my grandmother". Younger persons were referred to as "my son" or "my cousin". And all humans living in the village were called Brothers or Sisters of Dragons, which seemed to be a source of honor and pride.

Kaoru marveled at the way the dragons still cherished their humans even with so many of their kind on the outside intent on hunting and exploiting them to extinction.

With her only clothes wearing out badly, Kaoru found herself perhaps in need to start dressing more like a drake woman, because that was what materials would be provided for her. She spent several days making clothes out of a deer hide Kenshin had brought to her. He had showed her how to strip the hair from the hide and to tan the skin until it was a soft, pliable, creamy white.

She felt very domestic as she sat beside the fire, needle in hand, while Kenshin tended to his weapon. The cabin was very warm, filled with the scent of sweet sage. Rain made a soft tattoo on the roof, there was an occasional hiss from the fire. She felt a thrill of contentment swell in her heart when his soft, violet gaze lifted to meet hers. His eyes were so beautiful, and in them she read the promise of undying love.

Kenshin didn't say a word as he laid his sword aside. Rising to his feet, he crossed the short distance between them and took her work from her hands. Then, sitting down beside her, he took her in his arms and, very gently, his lips began bestowing kisses on her eyes and nose and throat, on her hands, the delicate skin along her inner wrists, up the length of her arms. As his passion grew more intense, he placed a hand behind her head, his fingers lacing through her hair, his mouth descending on hers in a fiercely possessive kiss that made Kaoru's stomach quiver with delight.

She didn't resist when he pressed her to the ground, his hand sliding over her calf, the curve of her thigh. She watched his eyes, loving the way they burned with a deep inner glow, the way he regarded her, lovingly, adoringly.

Then there were just the two of them, and there was no hatred in their world, only the timeless magic of two bodies with one heart, one soul.

Days began to pass by more slowly, with storm following storm, and the snow drifts rising higher and higher. Kaoru felt like she was living in a cold white world, and she wondered if the sky would ever be blue again.

There were days when the wind buffeted the land, when thunder rumbled through the heavens and shook the earth, when great spikes of lightning rent the blackened skies, and the rain beat on their home with such fury she was amazed it didn't come crashing down on their heads.

And then, miraculously, it was spring. The snow disappeared, the sky was as sapphire as Kaoru's own eyes, flowers exploded everywhere.

The village became a flurry of activity as everyone moved outside to enjoy the color and sunshine, eager to rid themselves of the powerful cabin fever that had been gripping them toward the end of the season.

It was still early in the spring when a runner from a village on another hill arrived. Later, Kenshin told Kaoru the bad news.

Another attempt at trying to solve matters with words had failed. The famous red armor drake leader Jomei had been invited to come to a council held by the New People, whose leader in turn had offered to buy the hills from him. Jomei had been stunned and had, of course, refused to sell. Even so, he knew that what the New People knew: there would be war.

"What do they want the hills for?" Kaoru asked shakily. "I don't understand."

Kenshin looked grim. "Taking the hills for themselves would first of all force the dragons to leave and spread out over the world. At least here, we know our land well and know how to defend it. Our dragons would be easier to catch outside. But also, I think they've discovered gold in the nearby rivers and feel the need to dig in the hills for it."

Typical New Person greed. So, there would be war. But it would not come for a while.

For Kaoru, the days and nights were like nothing she had ever known. Just when she thought she couldn't love Kenshin more, she found there were still depths to fall into just by staring for too long into his eyes. Through him, she found herself growing more fond of the ways of the Wild People, more tolerant of their customs, more understanding of the simple, uncomplicated way of life they favored.

Before she new it, she had somehow ceased to be regarded as Enemy or an outsider. She was Kenshin's wife, and her actions and innate kindness had earned the respect of the drake people. She worked hard, her home was clean and well cared for, her man was happy. Not every native-born female in this world could say all of those things at once.

Now when the women went gathering wood or water, she was one of them, able to laugh at their jokes and converse with them easily. Daily the sight of horns or wings became very commonplace, as was their absence when the same dragon person didn't feel like sporting them on any given day. Kaoru found herself gaining a favorable reputation: respected by the women and admired by the men.

Kenshin usually went hunting alone, but occasionally some of the males asked him to hunt with them in their packs, and these hunts always ranged wider and took longer. When he was absent on these long pack hunts, Kaoru began to pass time by sewing him a new shirt, and surprised him with it when it was finished.

Kenshin had stared at the garment presented to him at first with a slackened jaw. Kaoru had done her best, making it in a dragoner's way. Made of the best available material, buckskin, the sleeves were long, widely-knit at the seams. She had worked an intricate design across the back, patterns that pleased her and were based off the shapes in the bordering of Kenshin's sister's tapestry in their home, worked in dyed porcupine quills. It had taken a long time, and she had asked a lot of advice of more experienced hands, but she was proud of her accomplishment.

Still, Kenshin, continued to stare, his eyes moving again over the shirt until Kaoru began to grow nervous...

But then he looked into her face, his face glowing. He took the garment from her so carefully, as if he thought it might come apart if he touched it, then held it between them as he pulled her to him. The kiss they shared was so long and so sweet. Air was unimportant, as were chores and other duties for the day, thrust aside as Kenshin made certain two sticks were crossed over his door, and Kaoru spent the entire day learning just how pleasantly he could give his thanks.

Of course, Kaoru was delighted her husband liked her gift, and even more delighted with his very elaborate thank you, but it wasn't until she had spoken to an elderly old fur drake named Mareo, who had known Kenshin since he was a baby, that she began to understand why he had loved the shirt so much.

"Kenshin is a strange one," Mareo began as she sat across from the community fire, where women often came to meet, hands ever busy with her own bone-needle sewing. "Most of the time he is gentle and dutiful, and at times, very sweet. But he also has a very rare trait not common to either man or dragon at all. The reason he is so successful in combat is because he has a sort of inborn sense that tells him when to be tough. When the critical moment is upon him, something happens inside him that he becomes lethal creature that can't be stopped until it accomplishes its objective. When push comes to shove, that boy always shoves first, and those who shove back regret it." Mareo stopped there, scratching an itch behind one of her gnarled, twisted horns. "But even at the critical moment, there was always one whose voice could reach him, however deeply he had become entangled in it. That was his older sister. I suspect you, too, have such a power over him. Your gift was both one of thought and design, and given to him for absolutely no reason at all, just as she used to do for him, and he associates that all as love."

Later, when Kaoru walked home she thought of Kenshin's sister.

Kenshin's sister… She stopped walking a moment, surprised, realizing that she had no idea what her husband's beloved sister's name was. No one, not even Kenshin, had ever said it. He called her "my sister" or, very informally, "Sis". On rare occasions when he spoke of her to others he sometimes referred to her as oneesama, and even the biggest fool in the village knew better than to speak of her with anything but all the respect that Kenshin meant by that title.

When anyone else spoke of her, they called her "Kenshin's sister". Always. Never by a name.

Puzzled, she hurried home, and when Kenshin returned that evening she immediately asked him what his sister's name was.

He didn't answer right away, and the cheerful expression he had been wearing vanished all at once.

She only had a moment to wonder if she'd done something wrong when he said, "Even among dragons, there is injustice."

He had gone still, his eyes a little cold. She wondered, in the small silence that followed, if she ought not to just leave it alone. Still, she asked, "What do you mean? What does that have to do with your sister's name?" Was it a bad name? Was that why no one wanted to use it?

"She didn't have a name," he said softly, to her great surprise.

"Didn't have a name?"

"No. In the past, half-breeds weren't honored with names." His fists clenched at his sides, jaw setting in that way he had when he was angry and not immediately able to do anything about it. "That little tradition carries on. And my sister…she never complained. Never. Not about that, not about anything."

She never complained…not about anything. Even if his sister accepted the injustice, Kenshin could not.

"I gave her a name, though," he said, softly. "Right after she died."

Kaoru licked her lips, and waited for a few seconds before she said, "Will you tell me?"

"Yes…but repeat it to no one." He cast an angry glare at the door. "After making her go nameless for so long, they don't deserve to know now."

She nodded, agreeing, if not entirely with his logic, than the fact that if this was the only way he knew of to achieve justice, she would keep the name a secret. "Tell me."

"Taura," he said after another long pause, easing both syllables out of his mouth like they were the most precious he had ever uttered. "I named her Taura."

Taura. "Many lakes". Kaoru thought it was a worthy name.

There were a lot of feasts and ceremonies and dances. It seemed like as soon as one ended, another would begin.

When Kaoru commented on this, Kenshin smiled and said, "Well, food is well-abundant here, and song is certainly not subject to drought."

And he was right. Besides, it was fun, more fun that she could have ever had at the fair she had once dreamed of when she still lived on her uncle's farm.

Dance Night was always the most popular. Young women dressed in their finest attire to attract the young men. There were dances to celebrate victories in battle, when the men would dance in the center of a circle formed by women dancing quietly on the outside.

The Wild People were very musical. They loved drums and flutes. Their drums were made to sound deep, and flute music was sweet and sad.

Kaoru was shocked into speechlessness the first time she saw Kenshin join in a dance.

The first dance he joined she found out later was required. Every warrior who attended moved around the community fire with their hands behind them, palms flat on the smalls of their backs while they did a simple two-step with their feet that even their most graceless fighter could perform with ease.

That one he had to do whether he particularly wanted to participate or not, but Kaoru couldn't help but admire the way he looked. As usual, he was much smaller than the other men, practically dwarfed by the huge, broad young armor drakes dancing in the circle, but he still stood out, was still the most magnificent of them all with the firelight gleaming off his long red hair and fierce, violet eyes.

Yet, he surprised her again by joining in another dance, this time his choice alone. It was a fast, almost dangerous, and certainly complicated one.

She watched, mesmerized as he moved in perfect sync with the others, nearly all of whom were dragons. He performed with his eyes closed. The dance was repetitious, but that didn't make it any less interesting. It began with the arms outstretched, dancers moving in circles to gain speed, then suddenly switching directions to spin the other way, but in the midst of spinning the second time, the footwork changed, knees coming up higher in more of a march, one after another until the dancers, bending low a the waist, suddenly flipped into the air, a graceful somersault with a slight walk with the feet as the passed through the air that made them look as thought they were walking right on the stars before they landed again and started over.

It was amazing.

Once it was over, Kenshin came to her and she jumped into his arms, grinning from ear to ear. "I didn't know you could dance!"

He was flushed, either from the exercise or from a bit of bashfulness. "Well…my sister made me learn. She said it could only benefit a swordsman."

But Kaoru had a feeling that it had less to do with Kenshin's swords training, and more to do with Taura just wanting to see him do it.

But there would be a ceremony to come to pass in the summer that Kaoru would not look on with such fondness.

The time nearing this had almost gotten Kaoru caught up in the spirit of it, in the stirring and excitement charging in the air. But this was brought down when Kenshin took her aside late in the afternoon before the ceremony.

He began with, "I don't want you to--" then stopped, hesitated, and rephrased. "You can attend tonight, my love, but I would prefer that you didn't."

"Why?"

Again, a diffident pause. "This is not like the dances, Kaoru. This time, it's not for fun at all. This a bloody ceremony."

"Bloody?" she repeated.

"Yes. There is going to be fighting tomorrow night."

"But why?" Kaoru said, trying to make sense of something Kenshin didn't seem ready to explain.

He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "This is the most sacred of ceremonies for my people, but it will be unlike anything you've ever seen. It will be harsh, brutal, and may frighten you. I would very much prefer if you stayed behind this time."

He stopped there, trying to allow this to sink in. "Will you be…involved?" she asked slowly.

"I will attend, but I couldn't participate if I wanted to. This is for dragons only."

"So the dragons are going to spend all night fighting each other?"

"That's an indelicate way of putting it, but yes. Most of them will be pups who have gotten old enough that the bloodlust is difficult to control without some means of outlet."

The bloodlust. This more than anything else, Kaoru thought, was what truly separated dragon from man. The instincts that stirred in them, the sheer ferocity, a lurking predatory animal within that was frightening when one thought too long on it.

Perhaps this was why her people thought the way they did, was why the feared them.

At first, Kaoru thought she might listen to Kenshin and stay behind in their cabin, but several of the women came to collect her that night. They seemed so excited and enthusiastic…it couldn't really be as bad as Kenshin thought, could it?

But it could. It really could.

Her first surprise was to see Hiko. Kenshin's master didn't look exactly happy to be there, but he was, standing in his daunting, unfriendly manner on one side of the circle. Exactly on the opposite side was Kenshin, who stood just as still and unmoving. There were other human warriors helping them to form the circle, but somehow, only the both of them really stood out.

It was there, in the ring they formed that Kaoru saw the Purest Form for the first time. Her next surprise was to see young Lui step into the ring on Kenshin's side, while an opponent, another pup named Akeno, came in through Hiko's side. Both boys wore nothing but simple wolf skin clouts.

The transformation was astounding. It was fast and fluid. Hands grew into claws. Bodies expanded. Tails sprouted and elongated, thrashing in the empty air. What little clothing they wore ripped and fell away as their bodies grew.

Lui was a gorgeous creature. Still skinny and ungainly with youth, he looked like he still had much growing to do. He was only as large as Kaoru's own horse, though perhaps twice as wide. He had narrow, foxlike features, sharp, triangular ears, and reddish-brown fur. Only his eyes were the same, the odd ruby color of them glinting in the firelight. For all his youth, the glistening fangs and twitching claws looked no less lethal.

Akeno was an armor drake. Lizardlike, his scales were speckled black and silver. Unlike Lui, who in his Purest Form stood on all fours, Akeno remained on two legs in his, flexing his more slender arms, rolling his shoulders in preparation. His face was blunt and rounded, eyes large and black like flint. Lui's form could be said to be cute, but Akeno's was downright frightening. Akeno also had one more advantage over Lui: he had two spikes on the end of his tail, which Kenshin had said once was a rarity.

She blinked in disbelief. They were going to allow these two pups to fight like this? And putting Lui, a gentle-natured fur drake against Akeno, a fiery-tempered armor drake with so many more natural weapons? It didn't seem right.

It seemed the signal was to be given by Hiko. He only said, "Go." And the pups charged each other.

A hand flew to her mouth as she watched for several minutes in growing horror. Kenshin had said she shouldn't come, and she should have listened!

Like animals fighting to the death, Lui and Akeno were ripping each other with tooth and claw. Their blood flew, and snarls and growls and roars made the ground beneath her feet vibrate as they went at it. But it wasn't until Akeno finally sank his tail spikes into Lui's ribcage that Kaoru knew she was going to have to get away.

She threw one glance at Kenshin and saw him staring back, his features tight with worry, not for the pups, but for her.

Unmindful of what the others might think, Kaoru left the dance arbor and made her way to a shady glen some distance from the fighting.

Until today, she had readily accepted Kenshin's people's way of life, but this--! This was bloody and barbaric. They were children. Children become animals, slashing, swiping, bleeding, clawing at the hard-packed ground beneath their feet. The roars and snarls were worse on her nerves than the loudest thunderstorm had ever been.

And everyone, the adults, those responsible for the dragon pups, and even Kenshin, they just stood and watched.

"Kaoru?"

She hadn't heard his footsteps, but suddenly he was there, and as she stared at him, she thought he looked more Wild than she could ever remember. For the ceremony, he had doffed his shirt, leaving him in only his buckskin leggings and sandals, and a pair of bands on his arms above his elbows. His hair had been loose and touseled, representing something free and natural.

"Did Taura ever do that?" she demanded.

Kenshin's eyes were a little wide on her, as if he genuinely couldn't understand why she had spoken to him in that tone. "Yes, she did," he said quietly, with a trace of pride. "My sister was a dragon and a warrior. She overcame every opposition and was always the last one standing when she fought."

"Was she cut to little bloody ribbons by the end?" Kaoru asked, her voice high and shrill in her own ears.

Kenshin's eyes saddened, more now by Kaoru's reaction, her upset, than by the memory of his sister's injuries. "She always took some time to recover, and there were some scars. But she, a half-breed, gained respect and admiration early, and it only grew as her prowess in combat did. There is only pride to be had in her."

"Pride, but not a name?" Kaoru said flatly.

He didn't answer then, still staring at her with those same wide, sad eyes.

"I still don't understand why!"

"Why what?"

"Why do this? Why are those…those babies cutting each other apart? Why is everyone watching like its some sort of game?"

"I have tried to explain this."

"Try again."

"It's necessary sometimes for a dragon to spill blood, to be in a real combat situation that will make their spirits run high. It has to be done, or else the eternal flames burning within them could cause them to go mad. The pups aren't in any danger, Kaoru-dono. There are adults watching."

"And when the adult themselves start to fight?"

"Then they are also being watched. No one has ever died in a ceremonial fight."

He seemed to sure of this. Talking patiently and calmly, as if it was all simple logic.

Suddenly, he seemed a stranger to her now, this man that stood so firm in the traditions of his people, who was himself raised as and by a dragon. Before, she had not truly understood why her people called these people Wild. But now she did. No truly civilized race would react so calmly in the wake of such a thing.

Kenshin watched Kaoru's face, saw the anguish in her eyes.

All of the sudden, he wished he had someone to go to, someone he could speak to of a situation like this, because he had no idea what to do now. His sister would have been ideal. He certainly couldn't go to Hiko. He probably didn't know anything about women anyway.

Kenshin wanted to take Kaoru into his arms and try to kiss away these new fears he saw in her eyes, to try to assure her that their love was enough, that it wasn't necessary that she understood everything all at once.

Instead, he only watched her another moment before he turned on his heel and left her standing there. Somehow he knew that she had to decide for herself the path she would follow.

It saddened him terribly, but he knew she had questions now that she hadn't thought of before in her deep innocence. She had seen such little violence, didn't even know the terrible things that her own people were capable of. This was why he had wanted her to stay away, at least for maybe the first few times this ceremony took place.

It shocked her, as he knew it would, and now, he could only guess at what she was thinking.

And he knew, whatever she was thinking would not come into a decision overnight.

Kenshin treated Kaoru politely in the days that followed, but didn't share her bed, never took her in his arms as he used to, and spoke but rarely. He spent his days with the other warriors, stayed out late at the community fire. Each day he hoped Kaoru would come to him and tell him that she was his, body and soul, and that his people were her people, but…instead, each night the gulf between them grew wider and more difficult to bridge.

Summer gave way to fall, and still no decision was made. Kaoru seemed to sink deeper into despair. Kenshin would have given anything to know exactly what she was thinking. Was it this hard, having seen what she saw? Was it so difficult for her to decide whether she could accept his way of life, his people's beliefs and traditions? To become harder to the sight of blood, expect it as a thing of everyday life? It wasn't as if she hadn't seen him kill before--and the ceremony didn't even involve any killing. In fact, it took place to prevent actual killing later. Without these fights, hot-blooded pups and younglings could very well go mad, or cause harm with bloodlust-shortened tempers. It seemed so simple, to him.

As much as Kenshin longed for someone he could go to, someone older and more experienced in such things, he knew she had no one to go to for advice either because there was on one who could see her viewpoint. She was even more alone in this.

And what if she decided she couldn't embrace this life? He couldn't live without her. If she said she couldn't stay with him, he would have to go find a nice, comfortable place to curl up and wait until his end came. Maybe he would go to the lake and lie by the water where he had let his sister go so many years before.

Kenshin began to regret not leaving when the first winter had ended, but Kaoru had begun to look like she was enjoying living in Himura and Kenshin had hoped…

Time continued to pass by miserably. Winter's breath blew across the land again, making travel impossible. Deep drifts of snow covered everything, turning the whole world into a fairyland of white-laced trees and snow-covered hills.

There was a lessening of tension between them since any decision Kaoru could make would be put off until spring when the roads would be passable again.

It was during this waiting time that the New People's army sent an ultimatum to the Wild People that stated, in part, that any dragon or dragoner who had not moved from the hills by the end of the winter would be deemed hostile and treated accordingly by the military. The order was dated one short month before the time it had arrived in their hands.

"The Enemy wants war," Kenshin said upon hearing the news. "Our leaders aren't going to make their people leave the homes they've kept for countless generations and go out into an increasingly hostile world in the middle of winter with no safe place to go. And it's in this season that most armor drakes must hibernate. They wouldn't be fit to travel any distance."

"But…you can't win!" Kaoru blurted. The idea of war and the fear for Kenshin's life had knocked the tact from her words, but it certainly wasn't that she didn't believe them. "Kenshin, you don't have to go!"

He took her hand, the first time he had touched her in so long. He squeezed gently, his face serious. "I must fight," was all he said.

Kaoru stared at him, the full implication of his words hitting her like a physical blow. Kenshin was going to follow the war bands. He was going to fight. She didn't want to be a part of it, didn't want him to be a part of it. She knew, as he knew, that in the end, the Wild People could not win. Not every Wild Person could do what Kenshin and Hiko could do. The New People had more men, complicated weapons that more often than not baffled the simplicity-loving Wild People and dragons, endless supplies of food, an generally more of everything. In the end, the dragons would be driven away from the higher lands entirely.

Yet, it had been this winter that Kaoru had chosen to listen the most, and to understand why his people hated the New People so. Kenshin and Master Hiko were rarities in that they could both read and write, but the drake people had no written language of their own and therefore no records except for stories that were retold every winter.

She listened to stories of injustice, of broken promises and brutal murders and terrible enslavement.

She even heard the story of the murder of Kenshin's sister. She listened in agony as they told of how she was caught in a "metal snapping-trap" by one of her legs and couldn't pry herself out of it before the men came. How the men, had cut her throat and held the stream of her life over skins to collect her blood, because the believed her blood would be profitable medicine.

Kenshin had not stayed, had not been able to listen. He had walked away the moment she was mentioned, and the others had looked away in respect for him. She was, after all, his sister, and her murder was something that would never leave him.

She could hear the anger in their voices, the bitterness, the sense of betrayal.

Slowly, the winter dragged on as if not impressed by the heat of their anger, and the time Kaoru had been dreading grew closer at hand. Then it was spring once more, and it was time to move on to the war camps.