Kami Cursed (Dragon and Phoenix) Read Free Page B

I
could look at them for hours.  Sometimes I wanted to leave, and the dragon
wouldn’t let me- but I was never scared.”
    Ryuu’s smile
faded.  “Dragon?  I never put a dragon in there.”
    I stared at him
for a minute.  “What?”
    He shrugged and
rubbed the back of his neck, looking embarrassed.  “When you went under- when
you were cursed,” his eyes met mine.  “Or crazy, or whatever,” he waved his
hand dismissively, knowing that I would argue the point.  “I couldn’t get near
you when you were awake.  Other people were fine, but the minute you saw me…
well, you wanted to kill me.”
    I stared at him. 
“I wouldn’t do that.”
    He laughed. 
“You almost strangled me the first time.  After that we knew what to expect, so
the staff was more careful.”
    He reached out
and took my hand and I had that moment of right-wrongness again.  It felt
familiar, holding his hand, but it felt all wrong.  “I know it wasn’t you,” he
said seriously.  “It was that thing inside you.  The curse hated me.  And it
got worse the longer you were under.”        
     He paused,
tilting his head to the side, considering.  “I think it knew somehow.  I think
it sensed that I could drive it out.”
    I shook my head,
struggling to make sense of even half of what he was saying.  “And the
flowers?”  I tried desperately to bring this odd conversation back on track.
    “Right.  Well, I
found out that the only time I could be with you was when you were sleeping. 
The thing seemed to go dormant for a bit and I could sit here and watch over
you.”
    He sounded so old.  Something about the way he said watch over, like I had been in
danger, made the back of my neck tingle as if someone was watching me right then.
    Ryuu didn’t seem
to notice that he was freaking me out.  “Well, I thought since it wasn’t trying
to kill me when you were sleeping, maybe that meant that I could reach you on
some level.”  He shrugged and looked down at his hands.  “So I talked to you. 
I built you a garden in my mind, and I tried my best to…I don’t know, send it to you.”  He looked up, excitement overtaking his embarrassment.  “I can’t
believe it actually worked!”
    I frowned at
him.  “So you think you- what, made my dream?”
    He nodded,
ignoring my raised eyebrows.  “Sorry.  I was younger.  I tried to make it as
girly as I could.”  He scowled.  “But I didn’t put a dragon in there.  That
must have been your subconscious.  Or maybe it was part of the curse.”  He seemed
completely oblivious to how insane he sounded right now.  “Did the dragon try
to hurt you?”
    I shook my
head.  I didn’t have a clue what to say.  “No.  It mostly left me alone.  It
was a smoky silvery color, like a ghost, and it would prowl around the edges of
the field where it was dark.  If I tried to leave, it would block me.”
    I shrugged. 
“Every once in a while there was this guy; I could never see his face, but he
had long black hair in a pony-tail.  And he wore these weird white robes.  When
he was there, the dragon would wrap itself around him and they would walk
around and around the edges of the field together.” 
    I picked at the
seam of my jeans.  “Weird, huh?  But when I was dreaming it all felt normal.  I
knew the guy and the dragon weren’t going to hurt me.  I wasn’t scared of them-
in fact, I felt better when they were there.  But at the same time, I knew that
I really didn’t want to make them mad.  So I just stayed where they wanted me
to stay.”
    Ryuu muttered to
himself.  “Huh.  Some sort of guardian… it must have been protecting you from
the kami’s curse.”
    He frowned,
looking a little deflated.  “You never saw me, though?  In your dream?”
    I shook my
head.  “Was I supposed to?”
    He shrugged,
suddenly looking younger again.  I was starting to get used to the way he
shifted back and forth, but it was still a little odd.  “I