The Black Dragon hummed, pleased, as he eyed the glow of the fading 
fires on ground beneath him. He rose back into the storm, moved to 
gather up a few more of the rain filled clouds from the edge of the 
small hurricane and pushed them inwards to add their moisture toward 
extinguishing the one remaining stubborn hot spot. This was one of the 
tasks he had always enjoyed, herding the clouds and bringing the rains. 
His brother's fury filled snarl came to him on the wind.

	He dropped his head bellow the clouds once more, drawn by the pain and 
exhaustion he heard under that anger. The Black Dragon rode the wind 
down to his brother's side as he watched the Red Dragon scan the waves. 
He grumbled, thunder echoing him as he saw the wound along his brothers 
side, dodged back as the Red Dragon whipped his head to snap at him, 
warning him off. The Black Dragon understood. The Red Dragon was hunting 
the one who had hurt him yet was unwilling to enter his brother's 
domain. Water weakened him. He knew the rain that beat against the fire 
dragon was a draining torment and gave a hissed sigh at his brother's 
stubbornness to abandon his hunt and rise above the rain into the dry 
air above the clouds.

	The Black Dragon arched and slid under the waves, let out an echoing 
sound of pure exultation as the ocean welcomed him home. For a moment he 
almost succumbed to the call to just go and play with the pod of 
dolphins that sang back, but he could not. His brother needed him. He 
sent out another call, this time listening carefully as the echoes came 
back. There was nothing here that did not belong here. The prey had 
escaped. He left the water with a bellow of regret, moved to hover nose 
to nose with his brother. He sang a single, pure, coaxing note. The Red 
Dragon grumbled, hissed in warning once more, unwilling to be coaxed. He 
dropped suddenly toward the froth tipped waves, his shape flickering as 
his strength finally failed him. The Black Dragon dove to catch the 
small, limp shape of his brother's Other, made a safe cradle for it 
between both taloned claws then turned back toward the cliff.

**********************************************************

	Owaru let go of Matsuri's waist, chewed at his lower lip. Hajime's glow 
had gone back down to a flicker but he still wasn't sure if it was safe 
for her to be here. He wasn't sure if it was safe for him to be here!

	"Where are Elenora and Jasmine?" Matsuri demanded as she leaned 
forwards to shield Hajime's battered and torn face from the rain. She 
didn't know what else to do for him. She didn't know how he was still 
alive.

	"I don't know! Jasmine stayed to take on her sister, I think, and I 
lost Elenora somewhere in the fire. I hope she's O.K." He straightened 
and turned in a slow circle, wanted desperately to see either of those 
girls form out of the rain. "What are you doing here? I thought you were 
supposed to stay with the van!" He demanded back.

	"Well, I thought it would be a good idea to get it closer." She said in 
a soft, ashamed voice. "I was going to tell you I'd moved it but the 
com-links went down, so I had to come and find you." She looked up, her 
face pleading for him to understand.

	"Well, it was a good idea." He admitted grudgingly. "We're going to 
have a hard time moving Hajime, period. I think you should go and get 
it."

	She looked down at Hajime, unwilling to leave him but she was the only 
one who knew where the van was and they needed to get him out of the 
rain and away from this place. Gods alone knew who would be showing up 
to check out what was going on.

	"What about Tsuzuku and Amaru?" She asked as she carefully put his hand 
back down to the ground. At least the rain had stopped. But she still 
heard it. She looked out, saw it falling steadily ten meters beyond her.

	"I don't..." Owaru was answering as she frowned, wondered why it was 
raining there and not here.

	His sharp gasp brought her head all the way up and she swallowed hard 
in shock. Gods! He was so big! And so beautiful!

	"Amaru-kun?" She whispered as the Black Dragon hovered over them, for 
the moment shielding them from the rain with his body. She hoped she 
knew what he held so carefully between his claws, smiled with relief as 
he put Tsuzuku's human shape on the ground a few meters from them. He 
looked at them, turning his head so he could see their small shapes. 
Matsuri felt herself try to shrink as she watched that huge black muzzle 
full of long crystalline teeth dip toward them, felt Owaru's knees touch 
her back as he stepped close to protect them from his brother if need 
be.

	"I'll be all right, Amaru-kun." She jerked her eyes away from the 
dragon and looked back down to Hajime, wondered if she had really heard 
that soft whisper or not.

	The movement of air snatched her focus back to Amaru. She watched wide 
eyed as the dragon's belly scales passed close over her head as he 
coiled up and away from them, heading back for the sea.

	"Hey, Amaru! Wait!"

	She heaved a huge sigh of relief as Amaru finally cleared them and 
Owaru jumped over Hajime to chase his brother.

	"At least make it stop raining!" She heard Owaru grouch as he stopped 
after a few meters, hands on his hips as he stared after the dragon.

	"Well, now we only have to worry about how to get Amaru Changed now." 
He called to her in a lighthearted tone as he backtracked to Tsuzuku. 
She wondered how much of it was for her benefit. She saw him pale as he 
squatted down on his heels beside his brother, felt a twinge of fear as 
she watched all of the light go out of his face.

	"Owaru-kun?" She asked, trying to keep the anxiety out of her voice.

	"This isn't supposed to happen." He looked up at her, fear touching his 
features. "When we Change, we're supposed to heal."

	So, Tsuzuku was hurt. She watched Owaru reach out to touch his 
brother's shoulder then brought his hand back to clench both tightly in 
his lap.

	"What do we do, Matsuri?" He sounded lost, uncertain, frightened. Just 
like she felt. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath. *Get it 
together, Matsuri!*

	"O.K." She put on her best brave face as she looked one last time at 
Hajime. "I'll go get the van and see if I can't spot Elenora and Jasmine 
on the way." That neither of the sisters had shown up yet really 
bothered her. She hoped they were O.K. "You try to figure some way to 
get Amaru to Change back and keep your eye on Hajime and Tsuzuku."

	"Hai! Hurry, Matsuri. O.K.? And be careful." She winked at him as she 
rose, fought to keep her smile steady. It fled as she heard the beat of 
helicopter blades.