Chapter Nine – A Minor Setback
"You will have to stay in this week, Kagome." They were the exact words she hadn't wanted to hear, and Kagome groaned, covering her face with her hands as Kotono stood over her futon, a gentle expression on her face. "I can't stay in all week," she responded stubbornly, sliding her hands down her cheeks. "I have to go to my lessons." Kotono was shaking her head before she'd even completed the sentence. "I apologize, but you cannot." Her head tilted to one side as Kagome huffed. "It is naught but a minor setback, little one," the dragoness soothed, eyes soft. "If it helps, I'll play a game of Go with you." She produced a board as she spoke, one brow raised in what was almost a challenging manner. "You knew I wouldn't like this," Kagome accused as she sat up, eyes narrowing. With a delicate shrug, the lady moved to the low table in the center of the room and set the board and two small pouches on its surface. "I thought that you might be...reluctant...to agree with me, yes," she responded, settling on the tatami and fixing Kagome with a small smile. "But certainly you wouldn't pass up a game?" Kagome sighed. 'Sometimes I hate being a woman,' she thought, resisting the childish urge to glare down at her lower belly as it tightened painfully in response. She blew her bangs out of her eyes and pushed her covers away with begrudged acceptance. 'It's not like I can blame anyone for this,' she reasoned, folding her covers and rolling her futon. 'Besides, Kotono did tell me last night that there was the possibility of momentarily suspending my lessons.' Her cheeks flushed a little, and she ducked behind the privacy screen in the far corner of her room, recalling—in vivid detail, might she add—the carefully polite expression Kotono had plastered to her face the night before. 'She'd known what I was going to say before I'd even said it,' she groused to herself, shedding her sleeping yukata and adjusting the leather straps around her hips before reaching to remove the absorbent cloth held in place between her legs. It was, as she'd expected, heavy with her blood, and she grimaced mildly before putting it in a black cloth sack to be washed and grabbing a clean cloth from the pile folded against the wall. 'Why can't I go out though?' she wondered, rubbing her fingers lightly against the soft cloth. Absently, she pushed it into the shallow cradle formed by the bands of leather between her legs, readjusting the straps on her hips and pulling her yukata back onto her shoulders. "Hey, Kotono?" The dragoness looked up from the board as she stepped from behind the screen, cocking a brow in question. "Why can't I go out?" The dragoness made a noise in her throat, waving her over. She had been playing against herself, Kagome saw when she settled across from her, and was plucking the pieces from the board in quick but graceful movements. "It is only a precaution," she responded, holding out hands that were clenched into fists. Tapping the back of her right hand, Kagome accepted the black piece revealed to her and took the silk pouch, licking her lips as she watched Kotono settle more comfortably. "A...safety precaution? Or...?" With a thoughtful hum, Kotono placed a piece on the board and looked at her, the twist of her lips revealing that she was considering the best way to respond. Finally, with a shrug that Kagome knew would bring with it the embarrassment of some bit of frank commentary, she responded, "Male youkai find females during their monthly bleed to be highly irresistible. If you were to go out now, my lord would no doubt take you, and I presume that you are not ready for that at the moment." Wryly thinking that she'd been correct about the forthright response, Kagome cleared her throat and placed her piece. "Oh." Kotono waved an elegant hand as though to dismiss the nuance of embarrassment that even Kagome could hear in her voice, and then delicately placed a piece in the board. For a while, they played in silence, and Kagome's mind wandered to the lord of the shiro, whom she hadn't seen since the evening he'd given her the chopsticks nearly three days before. A coil of discomfort wound in her belly, adding to the dull ache of her monthly bleed. 'I hope he isn't upset that I didn't say thank you,' she thought, remembering quite clearly that she'd been too surprised to show her gratitude. 'Yeah, wonderful job, Kagome.' A mental eye roll was the last thing she contributed to that train of thought, and, turning her attention back to the game, she forcefully quashed any further musings. It was perhaps a half an hour later when the game finally ended, and Kagome counted up her pieces. "Thirty." Kotono pouted. "Twenty-eight." Kagome didn't bother trying to hide the grin that spread across her lips. "I win." "Ha!" the dragoness huffed, scooping her pieces back into their pouch as Kagome did the same. "I let you win." "Ah ah ah," Kagome tittered, wagging a finger at the youkai in a motion of mock scolding. "Lying isn't good." Kotono smiled and shook her head. "I would never lie, even if I could." Emerald eyes twinkling, the youkai flicked her fingers at her in a playful gesture. "I simply didn't want to harm your delicate sensibilities by beating you this time." Kagome giggled. "Well, fine. Let's play again then." "As the lady wishes," Kotono responded with a grand bow and a wave of the voluminous sleeve of her robe. Kagome laughed outright now, shaking her head at the demoness' antics. As the game began again, Kagome cocked her head to one side. "You really can't lie?" Kotono hummed. "No, I cannot. It is the price of being a dragon." Interested, Kagome took a little of her attention away from the strategic placement of smooth pieces and focused it on the youkai across from her. "What do you mean by that?" Pausing mid-reach, Kotono withdrew her hand and curled it in her lap after dropping the piece she'd held into the pouch on the table. Her regal features took on a thoughtful look, and she tapped her clawed fingers lightly on the tabletop. "Well," she began after a moment, "I suppose I should tell you first of how dragon youkai came to be; would you like to hear the story?" Nodding eagerly, game forgotten in the wake of this tantalizing turn of events, Kagome placed her own pieces to the side and leaned forward, resting her elbows on the table and cradling her chin in her palms. Eyes sparkling with amusement, Kotono lifted her hands and began to move her arms in great, sweeping motions. Pictures burst to life in the air between them, and Kagome gasped as, drawn and obviously controlled by the dragoness, the images began to move. "Long ago, there was a god named Taro, and he was the kami of fire," Kotono murmured, throaty voice inviting Kagome to listen in rapt attention. The figure that her fingers created loomed tall and imposing over their heads, features cast in reddish light. Flames licked at his feet, and his armor gleamed black in the flickering illumination, eyes as dark as coal. "But even though he was a god, he was very lonely," Kotono continued, the masculine face above them falling to an expression of melancholy. "One day, as he was watching over a fire built by a band of travelers—he was very fond of travelers, because they always gave him something to do—he found himself drawn to the struggles of a woman; a woman who was having trouble lighting her fire. It was nearly winter, and nighttime, and because Taro craved company, he came down from the heavens and visited the woman. "She was frightened, at first, but since it was cold, and since this strange man had offered to help her, she swallowed her fear and allowed him to do so. He, of course, asked her why she was out alone, and after some persuasion, she told him the tale of her life." The images that accompanied the story flowed smoothly from one scene to the next, the lines shifting and moving fluidly to their next position with no hesitation. Kagome could clearly see the wary fright in this woman's eyes, and the deep loneliness in the gaze of the kami of fire; she found herself leaning forward even more, eager to hear—and see—the rest of the story. "It was a moving tale," Kotono resumed, the woman in her picture hunching her shoulders and crying into her palms as the masculine bulk across from her reached out to place a gentle hand on her shaking shoulder. "One of a harrowing journey into the unknown world, alone and without family or friends to help. Any other person would have given up by now, he knew, and Taro was surprised and pleasantly pleased at the woman's tenacity. "Having fallen in love with her story and her bravery, the god asked her if she would like to be taken away from the world to live with him, where she would be forever happy. But the woman—" The picture shifted again, and the woman shot angrily to her feet, hands clenched at her sides—"was not going to be swayed by pretty words and pretty men. She refused him and demanded that he leave her, and, unwilling to cause her any further distress, he did as she bid. "However, Taro couldn't get the woman off of his mind, not even after he'd done everything he could to forget about her. He was intrigued by her, drawn by her, and so he helped her in any way he could without upsetting her. She would never be without the warmth of a fire the comfort of a flickering flame. He watched over her, and little by little, the woman found herself attracted to her watchful protector. "One year after they met, he descended from the heavens and joined her once more. This time, she wasn't frightened, and boldly told him that her name was Kaoru and that if he still wanted her to leave her world and go with him to the realm of the kami, then he would have to court her as any other man would do. At first, the god was angry at her. How could she demand that he act as some common mortal? But he had fallen in love with her kind soul and gentle spirit, so he quelled the emotion and accepted her offer." Kagome sighed lightly as the tall form of Taro knelt at the dainty feet of Kaoru and bowed, touching his forehead to her toes and kissing the tops of her feet in an intimate gesture. 'It's all so romantic,' she thought, only to jump back in surprise as the picture erupted in flames. Biting her tongue to keep from crying out, Kagome watched in mild horror as the fire receded and left behind the sprawled and bloody form of Kaoru, Taro bent over her in obvious anguish. Kotono's voice was somber when she spoke. "Not long afterwards, group of bandits attacked Kaoru's village, and she was greatly wounded in the skirmish. Taro had been busy with trying to help calm the fires that had consumed most of the forests of Nippon, and he did not notice her cry for help; he tried to blame himself, but Kaoru wouldn't allow it, knowing that it wasn't his fault and that he shouldn't take the stigma. "However, Taro would not let her die so easily." The flames returned, but in a smaller, controlled burst that sprouted from Taro's upturned palm. He pressed the hand to Kaoru's chest, and she instantly arched her back until she was held up only by the tips of her toes and the top of her head. "And so he healed her and made her promise that he could take her to the heavens that very same night." Slowly, Kaoru's body lowered back to the ground, and then a brilliant flash of light brightened the room. "But Taro knew that Kaoru could not stay the same." A newly healed Karou was helped to sit up by a relieved Taro, and then the scene shifted once more. Sitting across from each other, Taro and Kaoru spoke, Taro making grand gestures with his hands and Kaoru interrupting with short, small movements that belied her frustration. "You see, Taro wanted to turn Kaoru into something else, something that would be better suited to living in the realm of the kami. He knew that her fragile human body would never be able to withstand the power that ran rampant in the heavens, and after a very long talk, he finally persuaded her to allow him to change her." Kaoru's shoulders lifted and fell in a heaving sigh, and she nodded, only to have Taro leap across the space between them and gather her into his arms. "In order to change her," Kotono resumed, "Taro explained that they would have to join as mates, and since she had wanted him in that way for quite some time but was far too shy to admit it, she agreed." Kagome felt her cheeks flush as the image shifted to one of something she had only heard of, but before she could get too embarrassed, Kotono went on, a slight smile in her voice. "They made love for the first time that night, and just as Taro took Kaoru as his mate, the fire of his soul melded with the gentleness of her own. When it was all over, Kaoru was changed, and together, she and her new mate ascended to the heavens." For a moment, Kagome stared at the pictures as they faded from sight, and then sighed and settled back on her heels. "So Taro made Kaoru into the first dragon youkai, and their children are your ancestors?" Kotono nodded. "Then why can't you lie? Is it because the father of your race was a kami?" "Mostly," the dragoness responded. She leaned forward and cupped her hands, and Kagome watched in awe as a small flame sprung to life in her upturned palms. "But it is also our fire that keeps us honorable." Markings glimmering in the flickering light, Kotono smiled gently at her, and then lifted her hands and blew at the flame cradled there. Instead of moving as Kagome expected, the fire solidified and burst into a multitude of shimmering red-orange fragments. "You see," Kotono continued, the pieces swirling in a wide circle around her hands and melding together again as they went, "fire does not lie, simply because it does not benefit it to do so. It has its own agenda, whether it is to destroy life or to sustain it, and it won't be bothered with changing its plans to suit those of our own. And therefore, because of the fire in my soul, I cannot lie." As she spoke, the fragments melded once more in the palms of her hands, and Kagome watched in rapt attention as they formed a delicate water lily that floated just inches above her skin, perfect and shining lightly in tones of reds and oranges and yellows. "Do you want to lie sometimes?" Kagome asked, reaching forward to run her finger over a curved petal. The structure was warm to the touch, and smooth as silk. "When I was younger, yes. But now, I do not feel the compulsion." Kagome looked up from the lily, only to find Kotono's eyes locked on the fragile flower and shaded with the darkness of a warrior's ghost. Kagome felt her heart clench at the bleak twist of her companion's lips, and eager to erase whatever dark memory she'd unintentionally dredged up, she reached forward and touched the flower again, pretending not to notice the small jerk of Kotono's head as she shook off whatever thought had plagued her. "How old are you anyway?" Kotono chuckled at the question, and then transferred the lily into one palm, offering it to her in a graceful sweep of her hand. "When that flower dies, I'll tell you," she answered, her voice light and teasing. Kagome pouted, but accepted the flower nonetheless, cradling it in her palms and staring at the shimmering petals. "That isn't fair, obaa-chan." A gasp of mock outrage crossed the space between them, and Kagome looked up, setting the flower carefully onto the table and fighting back a giggle at the open-mouthed shock the demoness was displaying. "You wound me, little one," she whispered, one hand pressed over her heart in feigned anguish, and Kagome did laugh then, unable to help herself. 'Maybe staying in this week won't be so bad after all,' she thought with a smile.
Author's Note: Thanks for reading!
~Aubrey
