Chapter 2:

Arashi

"We all face storms in life. Some are more difficult than others, but we all go through trials and tribulation. That's why we have the gift of faith."

-Joyce Meyer

He was free. He was falling. He was alive. It was a miracle.

As he fell Ryura's mind was overwhelmed with emotions. In the swell of his emotions, fear stood at the head. It was a fear so great it was threatening to drown him, to suffocate him, to kill him, to bury him alive. It was a fear of the unknown.

How long would it take for him to walk his former path? How many days, minutes, or even seconds would it take for him to revert to how he was before? He had lived a life of chaos and destruction for so long he barely remembered anything else. It was hard for him to remember life before his world was destroyed, but meeting Touga was at least a little bit helpful. The Daiyoukai turned Kami had awakened long forgotten memories and emotions, and yanked them back to the surface.

The warmth of his mother's embrace. The soothing, quiet voice she would hum in when putting him to bed. He had been so terribly young when she was ripped away from him, and he remembered her smile the most. The smile she would give to his father whenever she saw him. His father...

Ryura began to remember the man for the first time in centuries. His father was proud and strong, a Daiyoukai of his own standing, much like Touga. He ruled over the Eastern Territories of Nippon while Touga had control over the Western portions. The two families, the House of the Moon and the House of Storms, had been close friends and allies for many generations. Touga and Ryura's father had been no different.

He and Sesshoumaru were born roughly two years apart, with Sesshoumaru being born first. He began to remember growing up with the small Inu-youkai that would eventually grow up to surely become a being even more powerful than his sire before him. He remembered the fights they would get into, and how his father and Touga would have to pull them apart. They didn't hate each other, but they were children, and children fought. Especially male children at that young of age.

The mirror of his mind that replayed his long locked away memories shattered as Ryura finally stopped falling. Feet first he landed into a thankfully deep body of water. The force he hit the surface of the water with sent tsunami-like waves crashing in every direction around him, and Merciful Kami above did it hurt. He felt an aggravated growl ripped from his chest and as quickly as it came, it was gone, replaced by rushing water.

He fought against the current made from his landing, and he barely had time to expel the water from his lungs and inhale deeply before he was pulled back under. His body twisted and turned, being thrown around like a rag doll, and he found he was powerless to stop it.

Did he literally fall from the heavens? Had Touga just kicked him out of where ever he was and leave him to his own devices?

Ryura pushed that from his mind and focused on getting out of the raging water as fast as he could before he drowned. He was an Air Dragon Daiyoukai of the House of Storms, a man who could control the elements of wind and lightning, not water. That was a whole different type of Dragon. But...

Dozen of feet into the water, the ocean judging by its salty taste, Ryura suddenly grinned. He couldn't control the water, no, but the wind could, if it were powerful enough. He worked then on gaining his bearings, trying to feel which way was up and which way was down. As disorienting as it was, he finally figured it out by letting the water take over his body for only a short moment in time. He felt himself floating one direction and immediately he knew which way the sky would be.

Holding his arms out to the side, Ryura commanded his body to still itself, and when it did he floated in the water, a solid, singular figure that betrayed the fury of the water around him. His held tilted back, eyes falling shut as he floated in a star position. Within him he could feel the faint traces of his youki, still weak from his recent revival, and he silently hoped it would be enough. He only had so much time remaining and it was taking everything in him to fight against the raging current to keep himself still enough for what he needed to do.

Inwardly he told himself he would never be able to beat the current by swimming and make it out of this alive; even Daiyoukai could drown. By the feel of the water around him, it wasn't only his impact that stirred the waters into the frenzy they were currently in, but possibly a large storm was overhead, feeding the anger of the water around him.

With a strength only a Daiyoukai could possess, Ryura flung his arms forward until his palms met with a thundering clap. Around him the water shuddered, bending and giving way from the force of Ryura's actions. He rotated his palms together until the fingers of one were pointing east and the fingers of the other hand pointing west. His hands parted then and forcefully made their way through the water yet again, each heading in the direction they were pointing.

Ryura jerked his arms inward until his elbows rested against his ribs. Again he rotated his wrists until his hands were pointing north and south and with one final grunt, Ryura thrust his arms high above his head, using the last of his air to yell, "Storm of the Dragon God!"

His cry was muffled by the water, but the words still seemed to deliver the intended results. Bright white energy began to leak from his body, escaping into the water towards the sky as if it were droplets of blood. He felt his youki, the white energy, pierce the surface, and before he could enjoy the feeling, his youki began to rip and tear at the water above him.

A miniature hurricane was being formed with the eye, the calm center of the hurricane, laying right over him. Further and further the eye of the storm descended upon him until his head was free of the cursed water. He quickly filled his lungs, coughing to expell any left over water. When his body was free he allowed the wind generated from his hurricane to lift him up and toss him high into the sky.

His feet found the air currents and he mentally took a hold of the wind and used it to keep himself aloft as he went repeating the motions from before, but in reverse to calm the steadily growing hurricane. He had no intentions of falling back into the water, not now that he had his mind about him. Before he couldn't feel his energy, his natural youki, but it slowly had returned to him the longer he was living once more.

A crack of lightning followed by the booming sounds of thunder let him know he was correct in his earlier assumption about the storm. He turned his eyes to the black clouds above him and shuddered. It was a good thing he calmed down his part of the storm, else Nippon would be in for one hell of a storm besides a "simple" typhoon.

With the strength of the storm, Ryura could guess it was late summer. Only at the end of warm seasons were storms this strong birthed on the oceans. He let out a hummed 'hn' and folded his arms over his chest, having no fear of the lightning coming alive around him. If anything it seemed like the lightning was avoiding him, its jagged forms coming dangerously close to his form, only to streak suddenly in a completely opposite direction.

It was hard to pinpoint his location, even given his sharper eyesight. All he could see, surrounding him for hundreds of miles, were raging ocean waters, a darkened sky and a fierce storm. The wind felt like it was angrily flowing around him in all directions, distorting the way he would normally tell one direction from the other. Ryura's red eyes turned to the dark sky above him again as a thought struck him, leaving a ghost of a grin on his lips. He took off higher into the sky, the braid his blue hair was in violently whipping about his body, followed closely by the billowing white of his clothing. Only his armor remained stationary, which Ryura was grateful for. It would do him no good to suddenly be knocked out by a flying part of his armor.

He pushed his way easily through the black and grey clouds until he saw nothing but clear sky with the roaring storm resting at his feet. By the looks of it, twilight had just passed and night was quickly falling. In the west the fiery colors of the sun were beginning to disappear, leaving in its wake the inky blue-blackness of the night sky, littered with brightly glowing dots of light from stars and the waning crescent shape of the moon.

The moon...

He should probably go see Sesshoumaru, once he figured out where he was. The Daiyoukai Lord would possibly attempt to kill him, but he at least wanted to let Sesshoumaru know of Touga, even if it inflated the man's ego to a new height.

With a shake of his head, Ryura chuckled and gave into his instincts. He would follow them, and surely they would lead him to Nippon, the land of his birth.