Disclaimer: I don't own spirited away.
It all goes back to water in the end. Bonds of love, and bonds of blood, and sand.
Chihiro awoke slowly, as if still caught in a dream that she couldn't quite shake. Flashes of dancers and music that was not sound -but heart beat, that came to her unbidden -and her body hummed with the remembrance of movement.
Her blood still pounded in time.
And when she finally brought herself back into her own head enough to rise, she discovered their futon littered with dirt and leaves, flowers and flora that caught in the folds of her rumpled kimono -serving more as a blanket than as clothing now in its state of disarray.
Her feet were caked with mud that crawled and splattered up her knees, and dirt encrusted her hands. Chihiro hadn't felt so young in years.
And all around her was the dirty-smeared form of Kohaku, still wrapped around her -rumbling softly in sleepy coils, his head was laid heavily against her belly.
She didn't bother to quell the urge to softly pet the large furred expanse of his forehead languidly, letting her fingers weave into his feathery soft mane -slowly waking the dragon from his slumber.
"I want to visit the village," she told him -voice raspy from sleep and song. "I need to see what they've done to fulfill their promise."
The dragon opened his jaws to yawn, and fog rolled through the space -pouring through the opened doors of their pavillion into the gardens beyond. "I will take you, little dog."
Note: This chapter would have been done hours ago if not for the migraine that sent me hiding under blankets in the darkest room of our house for a long while. So I'm sorry for the delay in posting, but I hope you all enjoy this quiet interlude of dragon cuddling. And as always, reviews are a wonderful thing to leave.