InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Seven Feudal Fairy Tales ❯ Bouncing on Dragons ( Chapter 23 )

Disclaimer: These characters belong to Rumiko Takahashi and other associated companies.

 

Chapter Twenty-Three: Bouncing on Dragons

 

The biteless, warm embrace of a summer morning greeted Kagome as she stepped through the door, gladly leaving the chilly touch of autumn behind her. A smile grew on her lips as her brightening eyes explored the sprawling landscape around her. Towering ahead was the steep, rocky rise of a mountain, its peak reaching high into the sharp azure of the clear sky. Jutting outcrops cluttered its slopes, clutches of trees twisted and warped by the wind nestled within them. The dead, empty limbs of fall were the nature of the trees before her, but as her gaze traveled up, they soon took on the downy, pink blossoms of spring and at the crest, the rich greens of summer. Carved into the face, a narrow set of earthen stairs ascended, subtly snaking around the boulders and up past the summit. A curious breeze brushing against the skin of her legs under her skirt caught her attention, unfortunately drawing her sight down to her feet.

 

Her breath caught in her throat as she stared at the strangely solid air beneath her and beyond that, the thick, coiling wisps of clouds floating in the distance. Peeking between their vaporous tendrils was the honey and brown of a deep canyon and the thin, gray ribbon of a meandering river at its bottom. The school girl stood motionless, her mind easily conjuring what a wrong step would likely result in. She did though take some solace in that she would have ample time to curse out everyone she needed to before she met her unlucky and rather flattening end.

 

“Move, miko,” a familiar baritone ordered from behind her as she heard the welcome arrival of the soft rustling of silk.

 

“What if I fall?” she exclaimed, gesturing to the openness around her.

 

“You will not fall.”

 

“That's easy for you to say. You can float at will.”

 

“I will carry you then,” he said with a faint sigh, reaching towards her.

 

“No, no, no,” Kagome quickly answered excitedly, her feet unexpectedly finding the courage to move. A fall to her death suddenly seemed pleasant next to the embarrassment of being tossed over his shoulder again. “I'm going. I'm going.”

 

“Good.”

 

She moved hesitantly at first, her slow, bouncing steps carrying her across the cushioning air towards the nearby ledge at the base of the stairs. But, by the end, she was grinning unabashedly and taking long, deep strides to spring even higher on her invisible net of bubbles. Then finally, she landed with a pout on the disappointingly firm rock of the outcrop. The tai youkai followed her joylessly, easily deciding to use his aforementioned ability to fly. Sesshoumarus do not bounce.

 

Settled on the hard ground, they approached the earthen steps that cut harshly into the mountain. More worried about being left behind by the swifter youkai than running into any danger, Kagome quickly brushed past him to take the lead in the first of many steps. Traveling in a comfortable silence, they scaled the stairs with little trouble, their eyes often wandering to the surrounding mountain ranges, the seemingly liquid detail resembling that of a beautiful watercolor painting instead of real rock and earth.

 

“Is there any scent here,” the school girl asked after a long moment, her hand reaching as it often did to the rocky wall, steadying her on the precarious climb. She heard a long, light sniff behind her.

 

“No,” he replied finally, satisfied with his answer. “It would seem Shiro-sama's power does not reach here.”

 

“Shiro-sama's power?”

 

“As you likely heard,” he pointedly remarked, alluding to her eavesdropping when he and Shiro had spoken earlier while he crafted the mortar, “When the first travelers entered this scroll, they unleashed his youkai strength. He has since been using it to weaken the magic that binds him here.” He finished with a slight smirk of admiration. “Not many can hold sway against the power of a god.”

 

“So, he was responsible for the few scents that existed in the story?”

 

“Yes, and is likely the reason we appeared in our true forms to his eyes. The neighbor and the villagers only saw us as the old man and his old wife.”

 

“He really is amazing.”

 

“He is the lord of my clan.”

 

“Too true,” she laughed and then sobered to a soft smile. “It's hard to believe though…”

 

“Hmm?”

 

“It's just that… despite how powerful Shiro-sama is, why would Susanou create a scroll with seven fairy tales to imprison one tai youkai in a single story?”

 

“That question has crossed my mind as well,” he answered with a frown. “But we have learned too little to surmise the answer.”

 

With the next few steps, they crested the mountain, their conversation ending with the stairs. Spread below them was a massive valley with a shimmering, blue lake at its center. Flecks of white sunlight reflected across its broad surface and rich green conifers bordered its shores, radiating up the steep sides of the valley, their usually tall stature dwarfed in comparison. On the far side, dark and sinister, a charred black mountain loomed, overlooking the lake with an almost ill intent.

 

“Do you know the fairy tale?” Sesshoumaru asked after a space of time, his sight shifting to the young woman at his side.

 

“A bridge laden with serpent. Only the fearless may pass,” Kagome repeated the first lines thoughtfully. “But, I don't know of any stories about snakes and bridges.”

 

“Hn,” he snorted and began to step down the slightly worn path leading into the waiting forest. “We shall know when we find the bridge then.”

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Stepping on the soft beds of needles and gazing up at the dappled boughs above her, the forest felt unerringly like the one in the Kintaro legend, drawing Kagome's thoughts back to the first story. It seemed like an eternity had come and gone since then. How long have they been trapped? What were Inuyasha and everyone else doing right now? They were probably searching for her, but that was if time was even passing for them.

 

“Sesshoumaru-sama?”

 

“Yes?”

 

“How long do you think we've been in here?”

 

“I do not know. Time moves strangely here.”

 

“Shiro-sama said his last visitors came sixty years ago.”

 

“Hn.”

 

“What?”

 

“Shiro-sama does not know of time outside his story, miko. Here, he can only measure his deaths. He has died sixty years worth of deaths since his last visitors. What that means outside of this realm is impossible to know.

 

“Oh,” she murmured, her curiosity suddenly sidelined by another pressing thought. “Who do you think it was that came to him then?”

 

“My father,” the tai youkai answered with a soft sigh, unable to think of a reason to deny her the truth.

 

“Really?” she nearly exclaimed, unable to suppress her excitement.

 

“Yes.”

 

“Who do you think was with him?”

 

“More than likely, no one you need to concern yourself with.”

 

“You're no fun,” she pouted.

 

“I believe I can live without that,” he replied uncaringly, then gave her a brief glare that begrudgingly sent her protruding tongue back into her mouth.

 

“You know—“

 

“Hush, miko,” he interrupted sternly, his voice dulling to a near whisper. She flushed hot with anger with an objection pressing at her lips, but his wary looks into the forest and the more intent stares towards the nearing bend of the broadening path quieted her brimming rage.

 

As they cautiously closed the distance, she could see the brilliant red of an easy-arching bridge through the thinning trees, linking the banks of a wide river. Then her mouth dropped. Dozing across it, laid the largest, most magnificent dragon she had ever seen.

 

They slipped behind a thick clump of bushes, peering over the top at the giant serpent. It was draped leisurely over the length of the bridge, its teal tail and orange flourish of fin at the tip, not unlike a burning flame was coiled around a distant post at one end and his heavy, red-maned head lay settled on the final planks closest to them. A gust of wind picked up, waving the dapple shade of the overhanging branches over its aquamarine body, a few scales shivering unhappily at the cool touch of the breeze. Creaking under the strain, the bridge complained loudly as the beast twisted its upper body onto its back, revealing the light yellow of its long, horizontal, belly scales. The rest of it stayed unnaturally upright except for its head, which now only the crest of its cream-colored chin could be seen, the rest hidden by the short, red beard bordering around its muzzle. The long tendrils of the two vermillion feelers that protruded below his blue, camel nose hung down in coils on the ground. Sparks of floating embers shot out in soft puffs from the creature's nose and maw as it sighed the comfortable breaths of slumber.

 

“A bridge laden with serpent. Only the fearless may pass,” Kagome mumbled, her mind at work. “Not a snake, but a dragon.”

 

“So it would seem,” the youkai lord answered boredly, beginning to wonder why he was even hiding from the beast. He had slain dragon-like youkai with ease in the past. What trouble would the real creature be?

 

“A king without hope. His children stolen by night. A hero must choose,” she said shaking her head in disbelief. “It has to be him.”

 

“Who?”

 

“The dragon king,” she said with finality and then looked over at the unimpressed demon at her side. “I can't think of anyone else it could be.”

 

“Who is the dragon king?”

 

“He's from the fairy tale called My Lord o' Bag of Rice. The human son of a lord goes out in search of fame and fortune before he is set to take over his father's lands. He comes to a bridge with a dragon sleeping across it. Knowing there is not another way to cross the river for many miles, the man attempts to slip pass the serpent. Unfortunately, no matter where he goes, he's blocked by the beast. So he steps on the animal, waking it. Wa-wait, where are you going?”

 

“I am going to step on it,” the tai youkai answered as he rose to his feet, scowling as he brushed away the leaves and debris that had caught on his clothes while he knelt.

 

“Are you out of your mind? You can't just go step on him?”

 

“Why not?”

 

“He's the dragon king!”

 

“And?”

 

“And, well,” she stalled weakly, “There is a possibility that he might not be the dragon king.”

 

“You said it was.”

 

“I might be wrong, I mean. The dragon in the story laid across the bridge width wise. This one doesn't even have to do that to block the way. Maybe this is another story where if you step on the dragon, it wakes up and eats you. Have you thought of that? Either one of us would fit quite well in that mouth of his.”

 

“I'm going.”

 

“Wait—“

 

The youkai lord was no longer at her side, but casually strolling toward the serpent. She watched apprehensively as he approached it, pausing to take a moment to consider the very large animal before him. He gathered a lock of hair in his hand while he thought, toying with it absently. Kagome watched on in potential horror, the idea of the dragon quickly snapping up the pondering tai youkai seeming not all that farfetched a concept to imagine. “Damn it,” she tried to both yell and whisper, managing a garbled mix of the two, “At least draw your sword.”

 

Sesshoumaru shrugged unconcerned and then nudged the beast in the nose with his boot. The school girl quickly closed her eyes and covered her ears, expecting the sickening crunch of the dragon's jaws on the tasty youkai morsel before them, but instead she was greeted with the loud rumble as the serpent yawned, its fork tongue curling and its white fangs glinting harmlessly before it shut its mouth in satisfaction. The unexpected spectacle was swiftly followed by the disappointed snort from the still very alive and well, yet distinctly unimpressed demon.

 

Not intending to be thwarted so easily, the youkai lord leapt onto its chin, walked down its jaw and along its long, exposed throat. He paused by the comparatively short forearms that hung comfortably in the air at the beast's sides, the black claws of its talons curled slightly. Thinking this was as good a place as any, he jumped.

 

“What are you doing?” she yelled at the tai youkai as he continued to bounce on the dragon's belly, much to his own consternation. He really did loathe the lack of dignity associated with such an act.

 

“I am attempting to wake it.”

 

“Don't jump on it,” she called out to him in exasperation. “You're just going to piss him off. What are you going to do if he wakes up and wants to kill you? He's bigger than you are, even when, when you're, you know, big.”

 

“I have slain larger beasts than this without trouble,” he responded, annoyed by her lack of confidence. “No matter if I was “big” or not.”

 

“Well, then what about me,” she exclaimed, rising to her feet. “I can't fight something that big. I can't even dodge something that big.”

 

“The only thing you cannot dodge, miko, is a kiss,” he remarked impassively, inwardly pleased at the dig. “I doubt it will attempt to do that, although I would not be entirely surprised if it did.”

 

“How dare you!” she roared, storming up to the face of the dragon to glare at the demon still hopping about as gracefully as possible a ways down its body. “It's not my fault that everyone keeps kissing me when I don't expect it. I mean, what the hell is wrong with the people here? First, I get spanked by a stupid rabbit. Then the princess kisses me for no reason.

 

“Miko.”

 

“I don't even like girls. Then you almost kissed me, which was very inappropriate of you, by the way.

 

“Miko.”

 

“And then Shiro-sama did it, which I can almost understand. Fifteen hundred years is a long time to go without, not that I ever think about that sort of thing.”

 

“Miko.”

 

“What?” she answered finally, breathing heavily and contentedly. This particular rant had been pending for some time.

 

“Look.”

 

Confused, she followed his line of sight down to her brown loafers and the unhappily waving feeler pinned beneath one of them. Her gaze then traveled up to the prostrate face of the serpent as the narrowing slit of its red eye focused on her.

 

“Shit.”