Chapter five

I passed the whole day with Haruki, watching her sleep and feeding her when she woke up. Earlier Hiro brought back a certain quantities of dried meat and milk. I looked at him questioningly but he only said I would need it. Now I understood.

Aisu helped me, showing to me how pre-chew the meat and how to heat the milk quite a lot so that it matched the baby's temperature.

Staying most of the day with the pregnant miko, we spoke a lot. Under her icy appearance, Aisu was a soft woman and, despite of the pain, was ecstatic to be a mother.

A few days later we heard screams outside and I gave a sleeping Haruki to Aisu before stepping carefully outside.

In the middle of the village was a dragon, bigger than the one I met in the forest during my arrival.

His scales were golden, like the dragon I met and Haruki. His mane and eyes were silver, glinting under the sun like his scales and his horns were yellow, twisted and thick.

His spines, to finish, were black, contrasting with the yellow, silver and golden colours.

He seemed in a bad mood and Hiro was at the brink of transformation. The villagers were running to their hut with their children in their arms.

"Where is my granddaughter!" boomed a voice "Don't dare hide her from me."

"We aren't hiding anything." Replied calmly Hiro "Are you talking about the hatchling that was born a few days ago?"

"Don't you dare lie to me!" cut the dragon, furious "You killed my daughter and are keeping my granddaughter as an hostage! I will not tolerate it!"

"Ie!" I yelled, running to him and Hiro.

"Haruko." Said warningly Hiro, moving protectively in front of me.

"It's okay." I said quietly to him, walking around him to stand in front of the dragon.

"We didn't kill your daughter nor are keeping your granddaughter as an hostage. Please, hear my story." I begged.

The dragon looked at me with suspicion but finally lay down to listen to me after a few agonising minutes.

I narrated him my story, leaving the time travel part apart. When I finished, I waited for him to say something. At a moment I though he didn't believed me but he sighed before saying:

"You seem truthful, but can you give me a proof?"

I was totally caught unprepared and was searching frantically when a formidable wail came out of Aisu and Hiro's hut

Without thinking, I turned around and hurried back in the hut. The moment she saw me, Haruki stopped her cries and called to me, trying to get out of Aisu's arms.

I took her and she calmed instantly, snuggling into me before falling asleep again.

I apologized to Aisu and got out again, nearing the dragon with Haruki in my arms.

"This is your granddaughter." I said, showing him the baby "Her name is Haruki."

"How do you know she is a girl?" asked, intrigued, the dragon;

"Her mother told me." I replied shortly.

"Does she call you mother?"

"Hai, I tried to refuse but she was vehement about it."

The dragon seemed thoughtful for a long time before asking another question:

"What is your name little hatchling?"

"Haruko."

The dragon observed me longly before declaiming solemnly.

"My daughter, Aiko, trusted you to raise Haruki, my granddaughter. Her soul merged successfully with yours and you're now part dragon. I can take you as my ward and teach you how to master your powers. Haruki will also need education when she's older. What do you say?"

I was silent for a moment before deciding to dig a bit more.

"What being your ward implies?"

"As my ward, you will have my mark and protection until you mate." He replied "In return you will respect and obey me."

I twitched at the mention 'obey', but put it aside and asked another question.

"Mate?"

The dragon looked surprised and Hiro answered for him.

"Mating is the equivalent of marrying. The only difference is that the mating creates a much deeper and stronger bound."

I had still many questions about it, but decided that it wasn't that important (I was only 19, which was meaning two in demon age). But I asked one last question:

"And what if I refuse?"

"I will not force you to come with me. But I have to take Haruki with me."

Fear gripped me and I looked worriedly at the baby sleeping in my arms.

"Okay." I said half heartedly, seeing a lot of advantages going with this solution "But I also want to stay here. I am the apprentice of Shizen, the head healer of the village. And Aisu will soon have her baby!"

"Hn." Said the dragon "I suppose I could keep you and Haruki with me for a given time and then let you at the village for the reminder of the year."

"Where I am from." I suggested "Scholars have their main holidays in summer."

After an hour of arguing, we finally agreed that during autumn and winter, I would study with the dragon, whose name I learned was Akio, and during spring and summer, I would stay at the village, studying with Shizen.

But before that, Akio decided he would wait for Haruki's tenth anniversary. At that time, the hatchling would know at least how to grip a spine to stay on someone's back during the fly.

During that time, he also asked me to master my transformation (apparently I could transform into a dragon) and to learn how to fly.

After Akio departed, the village's life returned to normal, the only difference being the more reserved look the villagers were directing toward me.

A few days later, Aisu lost her waters.

At that moment I was with her, feeding Haruki with hot milk when Aisu gasped in pain, clutching her swollen stomach in her hands. I saw a puddle of something transparent and sticky under her feet.

"Haruko! Quick! Go fetch Shizen, and Hiro!"

I secured Haruki in my arms and ran outside. Fortunately, Shizen was in her hut, mixing some herbs.

"Shizen-sama!" I yelled "Aisu! The baby! Lost her waters!"

In a second, Shizen had put together her remedies and was out, walking rapidly to Aisu's hut.

Hiro was a bit more difficult to find, but I localized him in the farthest field from the village.

"Hiro!" I puffed, putting my weight on my knees to regain my breath.

"What is it calf?" he asked, curious.

Having finally regained my breath, I said quickly:

"Aisu's giving birth!"

I had barely the time to finish that he was already gone, so I put myself up and ran back toward the hut.

There I found a little crowd, attracted by the painful cries of Aisu and Hiro, in front of the hut, walking back and forth.

He was breathing heavily, like a buffalo, and was wincing each time Aisu screamed.

I made my way through the crowd and put a hand on his arm. He looked down at me and I smiled reassuringly before passing him Haruki who was sleeping now, stunned by her recent meal.

With that done I entered the hut and immediately worried.

Aisu was extremely pale, sweating and breathing with difficulty. Furthermore, Shizen was preparing her knives.

"Shizen?" I whispered, seeing one of them enter the flame of a candle.

"The baby's too big to be birthed in normal ways." She said, still looking at her knife "But I can't open her."

"Why?' I asked.

"Because the energies are too instable." Replied the old demoness "If I was to do it, both the child and the mother would die."

"But if we do nothing, they will die too!" I said, panicked, having checking her rapidly "Her body will not resist any longer."

Shizen said nothing, only looked sadly at the dying woman.

'No.' I though 'This can't end like that.'

My hand wandered on her belly, and I now could clearly see the conflict of energies.

'Why can't they merge, why?'

"Why!" I exclaimed, frustrated, angered and desperate.

This was when I felt a change and a soft white glow got out of my hand put on Aisu's belly.

I didn't understand what was happening, but the results were flagrant.

Soon, the two fighting energies began swirling together in a never ending circle. They formed at the end the yin and yang symbol and calmed, settling.

I felt suddenly very tired and barely noticed when Shizen put me aside on a cushion and fell asleep in the middle of Aisu's cries.

I woke up much later with a yawn and noticed Haruki was at my side, looking at me.

"Okaa-san!" she exclaimed happily.

I smiled and petted her when all came back to me.

'Oh no' I gasped, standing up abruptly.

I did it too abruptly so I had to sit back, dizziness washing over me. But I had the time to see Aisu sleeping peacefully in her bed, Hiro sitting near her with a bundle in his arms.

"Ah, you're awake." He said when he heard my none too discreet wake "Come and see."

He was smiling, a rare event, so I deduced everyone was alive and got up to look at the new born.

He physically looked exactly like his father. Even if he was a baby, he was very big. But his hairs and eyes were more his mother's. His hairs were dark chestnut, curling around his head and his eyes were deep brown circled with a ring of black.

I could see clearly that he was an hanyo by his two tiny horns at the top of his head. The only false note was that the horns were pure white.

He cooed when he saw me and his hands, young yet strong, gripped my finger with force.

"He's beautiful." I whispered, not wanting to disturb the wonderful peace I felt in the room.

"Hai." Whispered back Hiro with a soft glint in his eyes and an equally soft smile on his lips.

I felt overwhelmed with happiness and peace and smiled softly too.

"As he a name yet?"

"Ie, we're still searching."

I looked at the sleeping baby, trying to help them.

"He needs a strong name." I said "How about…Kiseki?"

"Miracle?" said Hiro, testing the name "…Yes, it fits him."

He told me afterward that when I fell asleep, Shizen successfully operated Aisu and helped Kiseki out, saving both mother and son.

Aisu, exhausted, fell asleep and was since sleeping deeply. So Hiro took care of the baby and Haruki for us.

We waited for a few days before Aisu woke up with frequent visit from Shizen to make sure the mother and son were healthy. She approved of the name and we slowly came back to our routine life, though it took time for Aisu to recover fully from her birthing.

There was a point I forgot to say when Aisu birthed Kiseki. The strange white glow I saw was in fact my void power. It was very powerful so it was normal I was tired afterwards and when I woke up, a few days later I noticed my eyes and hairs had changed again.

This time my hairs were pure white, glistening under the sun and my eyes were glassy white with hints pale pink and lilac reflections.

I had to wait five full years before trying to fly because Haruki was too dependant on me. But after those five years, she was able to walk properly and for a quite long time. She was also a bit more independent and I began to leave her with Kiseki, who was now one year old in appearance.

So when Haruki became a bit more independent and with the help of an eagle demon, I learned progressively how to fly.

At first flying was very difficult, there were a lot of currants in the sky and I had to know how strong, where and when they were. I also had to learn clouds and weathers, as they could influence the fly.

I was curious of what I would look in my dragon and was answered when I finally mastered the transformation.

In fact, my scales and eyes were respectively the colour of my hair and human eyes. My mane was golden, my horns browns and my spines lilac purple.

Four years after my lessons started, my sensei deemed me ready and stopped abruptly to teach me. To not loose the habit of flying, I decided to fly one hour per day, getting farther faster with each passing day.

In her eighth year, Haruki took the habit of accompanying me on my flights, clinging on one of my spine in the hole between my back and my long neck. There she was protected from the wind and the cold.

We were currently in one of our daily flight when Haruki called to me:

"Look okaa-san!"

She was pointing downward and I followed her mussel to an old man who was on the little path on the side of the mountain, looking around helplessly with big protruding eyes and scratching the back of his scalp.

'He looks lost.' I wondered 'Perhaps he needs help?'

I flew down carefully because of the powerful gasps of winds between two high mountains and touched softly the ground beside the man.

The man turned to look stupidly at me, saying nothing, only gaping. Haruki climbed down. "Sir, are you lost? Can I help you?"

The old man continued to gap and I was getting irritated when he finally spoke:

"You-You're a-a dragon!"

"Err, more or less." I replied, unsure.

"Can I have some of your scales and mane?" he suddenly asked, nearing me in a second.

"I don't know.." I hesitated "If you want a few hairs of my mane, I'm okay, but my scales…"

"Hm, only your mane then?" said the old man "I'll take it. It's not everyday that I meet a dragon."

I transformed quickly and he took a few strands of golden mane before asking for my name.

"My name is Haruko and this is Haruki. And what is your name?"

"I'm Totosai, the blacksmith. I create every kind of weapons for powerful demons."

"Are you lost, Totosai-san?"

"Hai." Said the old man, embarrassed "I was walking home and lost my way."

"Perhaps you could get on my back." I proposed "From the sky you could locate your home."

"Good idea." Totosai said, nodding his approval.

I transformed and let Totosai and Haruki climb on me before taking off.

I did bigger and bigger circles around the point I found Totosai and soon he pointed a space in a crater.

The volcano wasn't awake, but the crust of earth was very thin and crackled. I couldn't land on the ground so I stopped a few meters above it. I was searching a way for Totosai to get on the ground when he jumped down, landing on the earth with a loud thump.

"Thank you!" he yelled from under "Come and see me sometimes!"

I nodded and flew higher to get back to the village. We were gone for too long.