A/N: I'm still alive, see?
My amazing beta: Cstorm86 - go check out her story Selkies and Sirens.
The Miko's Tempest
The walk home was a rather uneventful one, but it sure was long and tiring. Kagome always thought she was rather fit, but walking uphill for so long, part of the way traveled by a road and part down narrow and uneven forest paths, And the pace Inuyasha set was almost too much for her after first half an hour of walking. The air in the forest was humid, heavy with heat and scents, almost drugging and luring into drowsiness.
But finally, she managed to get home. She was sweaty and panting after the hike, but she was at the shrine again. Inuyasha led her out of the forest and towards the back of the house, as quiet as he had been for almost the entire walk. Overhead the hot summer sun got obscured by heavy clouds that had been the reason for Kagome not to complain about the brisk pace of their walk, it wouldn't be nice to get caught in the rain.
"Okay, I need to go to the bathroom," Kagome put the bucket on the engawa and climbed up on to it herself. When she took off her shoes and walked inside to put them away before going to the bathroom, Inuyasha leaped at the wooden floor of the engawa to stay guard over the little dragon. The baby seemed to be asleep, drifting near the center of its container, its eyes closed. For the entire walk she had been letting her reiki purify the water, Inuyasha had suggested it as a means to calm the little creature and keep it strong. Of course, exerting spiritual power had been only adding to her fatigue, but it was worth it to see the cute thing's scales shine with energy and its movements getting calmer. Kagome smiled just thinking about the tiny supernatural creature that she had saved from the grumpy old man's pond.
As soon as her shoes were where they should be, Kagome ran to the bathroom, thanking the gods that she could finally relieve herself. Peeing in the forest, with Inuyasha nearby, didn't feel right.
Soon, the girl emerged from the domain of porcelain furniture to grace the world with a refreshed smile. She went to where she had left the bucket to find out that her grandfather was standing next to it, peering inside. Inuyasha was lying lazily on the other side while the little dragon was anxiously making circles in the water that no longer glowed with the light of her reiki.
"Hi, grandpa, we're back," Kagome greeted and gestured towards the bucket. "We took him out of the pond and I want to keep..."
"A dragon," whispered the old man, not even glancing her way. "Quick, Inuyasha, take it away."
Kagome gasped at the urgency in her grandfather's voice. Inuyasha didn't even flicker an ear. The dragon let loose a cloud of bubbles and swam around in more erratic way. 'I wonder if it can understand..' a part of Kagome thought. 'I guess it might, after all it responded to me earlier.'
"Grandpa!" Kagome made the last few steps to reach the engawa. She knelt beside the bucket and offered the nervous creature in the bucket a calming smile. She touched the side of the container to send some soothing reiki to it. "We can't throw him away."
"The dragon must go. Inuyasha..." the old shrine keeper said with a grim expression, but without anger. Kagome blinked when she saw a faint pink aura around his hand, a finger pointing at the scared creature in the bucket.
The dog stood up and growled at him, his ears laying back, his ruff fluffing out. He stepped next to Kagome and over the bucket, his fiery eyes focused at Hiro. Thunder rumbled somewhere in the distance and a strong wind shook the forest surrounding the shrine.
"Inuyasha...? What's...?" Kagome grabbed onto his fur, knowing that if he wanted to leap she couldn't hold him down.. But luckily the youkai didn't move to attack, just stood there.
'That was kotodama,' the dog growled. 'But he no longer holds power over me.'
"Oh," Kagome looked between the annoyed dog and her grandfather, who was no longer looking at the dragon, but at them both. His eyes were full of fear and concern.
"I'm sorry," Hiro muttered. "I didn't mean to, but... The dragon... You know it has to go."
Kagome felt the tense muscles hidden under Inuyasha's lush fur relax and flex. His ears were still laid back, but in a less threatening manner. The shrine guardian was still irate, but she knew he wouldn't do anything - he wouldn't jump to snap around her grandfather's ankles in a show of anger and warning, nor would he run away to sulk for days. Inuyasha was collared but for sure not tamed.
"Alright," Kagome sighed. "Grandpa, why can't we keep it? I mean if other humans find it they might hurt it."
"Kagome," her grandfather glanced at Inuyasha before he sat down a bit away from them. "Dragons come with storms and they grow with them. They might bring rain and floods. Thunders strike where dragons are nesting and when they take to the skies tornadoes form around their coils. The dragon is dangerous to the shrine and to us all and when it starts to grow it will call up a storm."
As if to prove his point fate decided to let a thunder grumble across the darkening clouds overhead.
"But this one is so tiny!" Kagome put a hand against the lip of the bucket. "It won't cause any trouble for a while and when it gets big enough to fend for itself we can..."
She stopped talking when the dragon nuzzled her hand, and blinked at the creature. Its pearly body filled almost the whole bucket, the water spilling over the edge whenever the beast flexed its serpentine neck to look around. Two golden bumps were sticking out on top of its head and two whiskers were now hanging from its tipped nuzzle.
When she was taking in the sudden changes in the creature, it moved a bit more and rested a small paw adorned with three claws. The dragon leaned in, propping itself on its paws to stretch its body, nearing Kagome's face. The dragon opened its mouth, showing tiny sharp fangs and long tongue...
...A curtain of red appeared just before the dragon could lick her nose. Kagome blinked and looked up, recognizing the red fabric as the sleeve of Inuyasha's kimono. The dragon hissed at the hanyou, who in return growled softly. Kagome grabbed Inuyasha's arm in both hands and lowered it, glancing at the dragon pouting in its bucket.
"Aw, you are so adorable, little one!" Kagome pushed Inuyasha's arm out of the way and reached a careful hand to rub the dragon between its forming horns. The creature gurgled and closed its eyes. "You're the cutest!"
Behind her Inuyasha scowled.
"Keh!" he grumbled when another distant thunder had his ears twitching. "Better end your petting, wench, the old man has one thing right, the scaly brat has to go soon. A storm is already nearing."
"What? No, he is too small to fend for himself!" Kagome shook her head and the dragon hissed at the shrine guardian again. "See? He doesn't want to go yet either."
"Dear," Hiro said, glancing to the darkening clouds lazily making circles overhead. "Dragons are wild and intelligent, and as soon as they are able to leave the water..."
"I'll call you Tempest, little guy, do you like it?" Kagome asked. The dragon happily gurgled and slithered out of the bucket to rest its long body partially around the smiling miko. The creature was almost as long as she was tall. 'Oh, so maybe he isn't a little guy anymore...'
"Wench," Inuyasha growled, crouching near them and watching the dragon stretch itself across the floor. "It doesn't need you to stay safe anymore, you know. It got big enough and we should take it to some secluded body of water in the forest before the storm hits."
Kagome watched the dragon bending his neck in a graceful manner. In the dim light the pale creature seemed to shine. Thunder rolled over the mountainside, rumbling and echoing over the forest. Inuyasha's ears flickered back and forth. Tempest tilted his head to observe the distant lights of thunder bolts flashing over the mountainside. Kagome wondered about what he was thinking. For some reason the dragon looked more like an adult pondering a problem than a youngling admiring the sight. 'They mature so fast...' she thought in amazement. Just mere hours ago Tempest had been the size of her hand.
"Kagome..." Hiro said softly. "I think it'd be best to have Tempest move to a place a bit away from the buildings. As I said before, dragons grow with the storm and they ascend to the heavens in a tornado. The shrine won't survive it."
Kagome turned her head and was about to tell her grandfather that Tempest was too young to just go and be on his own, but a sudden gust of cold wind pushed her hair in her face. She sputtered and smoothed her hair back,. When she looked at the dragon, his face was mere centimeters away from hers. His big eyes were looking straight into hers with serenity and fondness.
"Tempest?" she whispered and the dragon nuzzled her cheek before moving away. It was easily the size of Inuyasha's inu youkai form when it moved off of the engawa and into the drizzle that came after the first strong gust of wind. "Hey, buddy..."
The dragon didn't even look back at her, his head lifted as if he was studying the storm clouds shifting and listening to the low rumbling of thunder. Kagome made a move to follow him, but found herself held by Inuyasha.
"Stay, it isn't safe," he warned her. The drizzle suddenly changed in a downpour.
"What? He won't attack us and some rain..." she started. Her grandfather shook his head.
"Let him go, Kagome," he said. "You can't hold a dragon like you can't hold a storm."
"But Inuyasha... You wanted to bring him to the shrine to keep him safe from humans," Kagome argued, her eyes following the ever growing body of the dragon moving in the darkness and thickening rain.
"Because I didn't know how long it would take for him to be strong enough to call up his own storm!" Inuyasha growled over the howling wind. "I didn't know you'd feed him so much of your reiki so fast!"
"You told me to charge the bucket and the water inside!" Kagome argued. She wanted to make sure Tempest was alright. Maybe he was upset that those two wanted to get rid of him? She couldn't free herself from Inuyasha's hold.
"Yeah, but till today you never used so much of your power at once!" the hanyou barked.
"Children!" Hiro shouted over them. Kagome and Inuyasha looked where the old man was pointing his finger.
A pale streak of coiling light was encased in swirling wind and water. The wind couldn't cover up the roar of excitement that came out from the great mouth when the dragon stretched his body upwards, his claws reaching for the clouds. Just as the tips of shining, golden horns were touching the low canopy of clouds the huge head turned, two pale blue eyes looking at the three spectators.
Then a lightning struck, running down the serpentine coils all the way down to where the tail of the dragon rested against the ground.
Kagome cried out and covered her eyes at the lightning and it took her a while of blinking away tears and dark spots before she could look back where Tempest had been.
There was no dragon rising from the forest, only the gray and blue rolling clouds.
"T... Tempest?" she whispered, her voice not able to rise over the sounds of the wind rustling in the leaves and the rain hitting the ground.
Inuyasha's hold on her loosened, but she didn't move away from the warmth of his body. Suddenly she felt cold and weak.
"He... He disappeared," she whispered.
"Dragons' instinct is to ascend as soon as they are able to summon a big storm or a typhoon with their power," Hiro explained, resting his back against the wall of the house. "I guess you fed him a lot of your strength."
Kagome shrugged. "I guess. I really hoped he'd stay longer, he was so cute..." she rested her head against the warm and rough fabric covering Inuyasha's shoulder. She opened her eyes just to see a pair of yellow ones staring down at her. Blushing, she straightened her back. "Um, sorry."
"Feh," the hanyou stood up and looked away as if to make sure the last lightning hadn't set anything on fire. "At least the shrine is safe."
Kagome sighed and looked at the clouds moving away from the mountain. 'Maybe we will meet again one day,' she thought drowsily. She deserved a nice long nap.