Ryumiko's head was drowning in new information by the time Haku had finished explaining the Dragon Clan to her in the morning.
"Why is this so complicated?" she groaned, putting her hands to her forehead, trying to take in the entirety of what she was told.
Yukaoi, who had arrived early that morning and Retsu were in the kitchen, waiting for Haku to finish explaining the affairs of the Dragon clan to the girl.
Yukaoi was pouting ever so slightly, upset that Retsu had ruined her little spot of amusement by telling Kohaku that it was okay to tell Ryumiko everything about the dragon spirits. It was just more fun that way if there was more mystery. Though whether or not Ryumiko was a spirit could be a sufficient pot of mystery in itself.
Although, neither Retsu nor Yukaoi knew that Haku had decided to leave out the small detail about the two separate prophecies. Haku thought that the whole problem of supposedly being a spirit was already enough to worry about, it seemed slightly too much for Ryumiko to handle in his eyes. So as it were, Ryumiko had no idea that the Dragon clan was protecting her because they thought she was the one who was going to defeat Yubaba, instead, the blue eyed girl believed that they were protecting her because she was the relative of their savior, Chihiro.
Ryumiko frowned, trying to sort out all the information in her head, "So we need to find Chihiro then huh?"
Haku nodded, both as confirmation of her statement and a dismissal. The two walked out of the bedroom and into the kitchen, met with gold and silver eyes that watched the girl's expression carefully to see what she felt about the ordeal.
Ryumiko had nearly as blank an expression as Haku did, with only a hint of confusion lingering in her gaze.
"So you two are kind of like my temporary guardians?" the blue eyed girl asked the dragon siblings, under pretense that they were there not because of her but because of Chihiro. The sibling spirits nodded their confirmation; under the pretense that she knew that she was the girl in their prophecy.
"And due to the fact Yubaba has your power; Haku is the strongest dragon spirit at the moment, assuming I'm not a Noble?"
They nodded again.
"Hmm. Then we should go make sure Haku isn't the only dragon spirit with power, at once!" Ryumiko declared, spinning to face the door in a ripple of teal green fabric. Yukaoi had chosen it specifically to match Haku's mane so that Ryumiko could camouflage as they travelled. The white haired lady noticed her brother's silent disappointment that the dress was not red.
Retsu blinked at the girl's readiness to find out if she was a spirit or not. And she'd even insinuated that she wanted to fight alongside Kohaku if necessary. He was sure that last night she'd seemed so unprepared to face such a life-changing discovery. He wondered if she was just covering up her indecisiveness with confidence or if she'd really come to terms with herself over night.
Ryumiko was definitely covering up. She was nervous as hell, but this was the only thing she could do to make sure Chihiro got here safely. If she wasn't a spirit, great! She could live on the way she always did and find Chihiro as soon as possible. If she did turn out to be the last of the long lost dragon species, then fine, she may not be able to leave the Spirit World, but she would probably have power to her advantage somewhere inside her and she would use that to help her fellow spirits as best as she could, then decide what to do for the rest of her living days...
"Alright, let's go," Haku mumbled, as the other two dragons stood to follow. Rin had been ordered to stay behind in case Chihiro returned. Ryumiko had told them it was highly likely for her cousin to arrive any day now; seeing as Ryumiko had been missing from home all this time, her Aunt would have probably told Chihiro by now that she was gone. Ryumiko also had a sinking feeling that Chihiro would know exactly where she was, opposed to being kidnapped or murdered as people in the Living world would assume. Although this was good in terms of the overall view of things, on the other hand, her cousin was sure to blast her ears off with scolding. She half-wished she was an ancient dragon spirit so that she'd have an excuse for being unable to come home and thus avoid the wrath of Chihiro.
As the four left Rin's home, Haku turned to Ryumiko for last minute instruction, "The same rules apply as last night's, with one extra rule. Do not, under any circumstances, try to ride me like a horse again!"
She smiled lightly and laughed, "Don't worry I won't. Not after what happened last time!"
And with that, they were soaring into the sky.
It didn't take long for Haku to develop a strong wish that he could be struck with a sudden loss of hearing. Ryumiko, for the first hour or so, was content with watching the scenery that went by, but she soon was growing tired of doing so, and had turned to talking like there was no tomorrow. It had gotten to the point that even Retsu was amazed that the girl hadn't lost her voice from exhaustion. It was only until they stopped for a short break that Haku was able to say anything about it.
"You forgot the fourth rule," Haku growled, massaging his aching forehead.
Ryumiko smiled, "Ah but the fourth rule is, 'You are to keep as silent as humanly possible unless warning me of potential danger coming towards us'!"
Haku rolled his eyes, "Exactly."
"You said 'humanly', I may not be human remember?" she pointed out before munching on some of the food Rin packed for them.
Haku felt the need to murder someone.
Retsu smirked at the other dragon's defeat and sat next to Ryumiko with his own snack. They ate in silence for a bit before their conversation started up.
"Last night you said that only the dragon leaders were supposed to know about the Noble race, how come you and Yukaoi know then? You gave us a very obscure answer when I first asked," Ryumiko asked. "If I remember correctly, you said it was because you two were different kinds of dragon, but what has that got to do with anything?"
"Our family comes from a long line of Noble supporters, so we've had those stories told to us for centuries as if the Nobles could be kept alive through words, if not in physical forms. Another reason is that-" Retsu paused a while, wondering how to articulate his next words, without revealing anything. "You remember what I said about dragons gaining power from certain things? That each dragon is 'tied' to a landmark?"
"Mmhmm, like Haku is tied to theKohakuRiver!"
"The things Yukaoi and I are 'tied' to, have memories, if that's what you'd call them. When we were born, we gained the memory of those things, and those things had been witness to the age of the two dragon races. Though the memories were hazy and unclear when we got them, it was easy to connect the dots," he explained. "Say for example, a house could stand for hundreds of years, with many different people living in it over time. If a house had memories, and you could take those memories out, you'd be able to see everything that lived or happened in that house. It's like that for the things Yukaoi and I are tied to. Does that make sense?"
"Sort of. How does a dragon become 'tied' to something?"
"Normally, when a dragon spirit is born, the thing it is tied to is created at the same time. So theKohakuRiverwould have been created, the day Kohaku was born. Ours was - again - a little different. The things we are connected to had other spirits tied to it before we were born. When those spirits died, we were born, and we inherited that thing."
Ryumiko sighed. She was asking questions with more answers than she could register in her mind. Before she confused herself some more, she stopped talking, knowing she'd want to ask more questions if she did.
"What kind of person is your cousin?" Retsu asked, deciding it was his turn to ask questions.
Ryumiko nearly giggled when she saw Haku sharply turn his head in their direction from the corner of her eye.
"We look almost exactly the same, except she has a light brown hair and these beautiful big brown eyes. She's also much taller than me, but I guess it's because I'm three and a half years younger than her. Chihiro's learning art at college right now."
"College. What is that?" the dragon asked, testing the strange word on his lips. His eyes stared questioningly at Ryumiko through the vivid red locks of hair that fell over his face.
"Uh... I guess you could call it a big school for people who want to learn more about a particular subject," she answered, not really knowing how to describe the concept of a college to a dragon.
Retsu gave a soft 'hnn' before he stood. Ryumiko tilted her head slightly as she watched the dragon. It was only now that she noticed the unusual way Retsu moved. At first glance, he looked smooth and had an air of grace and elegance, much like Yukaoi. But to her closer observations, she noticed that he was always slightly tense, as if he were expecting someone to jump out at them at any second; although, his robe-like clothes did well to hide this from her blue eyes. In fact, now that she was aware of it, everything about the red dragon had a subtle predatory edge to it; everything from the way he moved, the strong muscle that showed on his arms and his golden eyes that seemed to bewilder their prey. Ryumiko knew that it was obviously because he was a dragon; however, none of this scared her or made her wary of him at all.
She realised that those very sharp golden eyes had seen that she was staring at him. Before she could embarrass herself in coming up with an excuse for her behaviour, he offered her a hand to help her to her feet. He knew she was openly staring, but he didn't want to discourage that curiosity. In all truths, he was somewhat pleased that he was often the focus of that curiosity. Though he'd never admit it to anyone.
"We should keep going, we're not far," Yukaoi said, eyeing her brother as he helped up the young girl. Pale lashes closed slowly over silver irises as the dragon woman sighed. She'd need to have a word with Retsu, or things would get much too complicated.
As soon as Haku agreed, they all got ready to leave again.
The first thing Chihiro saw when she woke up, were sunlit bed sheets. She knew she had slept in, she didn't know how long though. Closing her eyes again, she took a deep breath. The will to get out of bed had left her the moment she had entered it. She hated this saddened and defeated behaviour of hers, but all of her hopes of living a normal life again had been dashed the moment Allen had broken things off with her before they began. She had spent so long trying to forget her adventures in the Spirit World, to turn the memories into fairytales. It hadn't worked for years.
Right there in college, was supposed to be her last chance before she gave up completely, to find a means of living in the world, get some human friends beyond relatives and more importantly, to let go of Haku. Or Kohaku she should call him. Wait, why should she even care how she should call the dragon that'd left her hanging for eight years? She beat her pillow in frustration. Now instead of moving on, the Spirit World had dragged her back in, taking Ryumiko as its hostage.
Though she couldn't really blame her cousin. When they were young, Chihiro had shown her little cousin the entrance to the Spirit World, thinking that it would be fun to tell her 'stories' in front of it. It was only when her cousin began to full-blown sprint through the tunnel that she realised what could've happened. What if Ryumiko got trapped there? Forgotten her name, turned into a pig...? Nobody there knew Ryumiko. Even when Chihiro had gone there, Haku had known who she was and helped her escape.
Ryumiko would have no such help.
This was why Chihiro was so worried now. Past concerns had resurfaced, and Chihiro had no idea whether or not her cousin was safe. She still had a few more days until she left for home and the Spirit World.
Ryumiko, you better be alright when I get there...
We're getting there fellas! Sorry this took FOREVER, but holidays are over and now I can write! :)
Why? It makes more sense to write more during the holidays, you say?
Well you see, I can't really write without a reason, and my reason to write, is to procrastinate against schoolwork. And to stop me writing in my exercise books but same thing really :3
OH! And do tell me if something doesn't make sense! I'm not sure if I'm good at explaining things so please tell me if nothing made any sort of logical or comprehensible sense to you!
SO MANY REVIEWS AGAIN! Biggest love heart ever.
Many thank-yous to:
anime-otter (Oh yes. There'll be LOTS of Ryumiko/Retsu moments later on, hehehe x3 Thank you for the review!)
pepsipiggy (Thank you for your review! :3)
Moongirl12121 (Agreed... Allen is a dweeb. xD Chuck Norris... It was a part of a TV series and he was made out to be ridiculously invincible, defeated a bear with his bare hands and the like. He's just all around epic. But dorky at the same time. Just like Allen. Thank you for reviewing!)
simplyluckystar (Hehe, I love you too for reviewing :3 Sorry for not updating earlier!)
Haku-lover24411 (Yay! I'm glad I didn't re-cap for nothing! :D Thank you for reviewing and laughing at Ryumiko's silliness!)
Mysticbreeze327 (Thank you for reviewing! Don't get upset with your story! Your writing is good! [I've read it but haven't had a chance to review yet :D] You just need to keep writing to build up experience! I've written so many terrible stories before this one, and even this one goes through much editing, but it's all about experience!)
SeraphicUrbi (Thank you for reviewing!)
Laugh. While. Crying (Yeah they're a little awkward about it, mostly 'cause neither one has fallen in love before [I haven't mentioned that about Retsu but shhh...] but they'll get there in the end! I'm delighted you like this chapter too, thank you!)
Mi-chan1991 (Thank you for your review!)
lovethestory (I'm positively happy you enjoy the story so far! Thank you!)
InkWoven (Good to see the summary was helpful for people! Haha! I've actually started writing the scene with Haku and Chihiro, [It's not the next chapter just to clarify :D] and I've had to cut out a LOT of violence... not because it was gory but because there was soo much of it xD Thank you for the review!)
AFTER ALL THIS TIME
DO I STILL NEED TO CLARIFY WHY I LOVE REVIEWS
& WHY YOU SHOULD REVIEW?
It's because I'm worth it.
Kidding! Kidding! But it does give me a warm fuzzy feeling :3
PLEASE? The button is here!
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