O.K. Here's the next bit! (did back up a bit...).
I'm not really happy with it yet, but am stumped as to how to make it
better. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated, or if it's o.k. as
is, then let me know. ^_^

Enjoy!

Windlily

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



	Nijikawa stopped and cupped his hand around the lighter flame that was
being very uncooperative in the stiff sea-breeze that had sprung up. The
end of the cigarette finally caught and he inhaled and closed his eyes,
then breathed the smoke out a through his nose, just like a dragon.

	*Just like a dragon.* He frowned to himself as he resumed his amble
back through the trees and toward the beach. He still very was
uncomfortable with the idea of real dragons and didn't much want to see
them. They gave him the heebie-jeebies. So he had gone back to the
Bronco for the clothes when Amaru had announced his brothers were
returning.

	Tita had come up behind him as he dithered and told him he'd better
hurry back as she passed and gotten in her car. He had glance her way as
he swung the bag over his shoulder and could see her talking on a car
phone. He hoped she was making arrangements for a nice soft bed and
dinner.

	There was an uneasy feeling in the air, then static electricity raised
the hair on his arms and he felt his scalp tighten as his hair fluffed
up. The following flash of lightning momentarily blinded him and he
winced as the deafening boom vibrated the ground under his feet.

	*What the hell?*

	His amble turned into a flat out run. He took in the situation with a
glance as he cleared the trees and groaned to himself. Why did they have
to be so bloody big? The Blue Dragon was still quite a bit off-shore yet
he filled Nijikawa's whole field of vision. And he didn't sound very
happy.

	Lighting jumped from Amaru's outstretched hands and arced to dance
around the Blue Dragon, driving him back for a moment. Nijikawa had
absolutely no idea why Amaru was attacking his brother but knew that the
best thing to do was to get away from this family confrontation as
quickly as possible. He hated domestic squabbles! They were the calls
that always got officers hurt. He started to turn, every instinct
telling him to get the hell out of there, when the Blue Dragon seemed to
have had enough.

	He caught the gesture out of the corner of his eye. The Dragon waved
one front foot, like he was brushing away an annoying insect. Nijikawa
saw Amaru get lifted, doubled forwards over himself and thrown
backwards. He told himself he was being an idiot as he changed
trajectory, heart and feet pounding to get himself into the path of
Amaru's hurtling form before the boy plowed into the trees. This was
going to hurt...



						***


	"TREES!!!" Shinkai roared and tried to pull them all toward the left.

	Elenora didn't answer, just kept plowing straight up the narrow strip
between beach and tree line. She didn't have the time or breath to waste
to tell this fool reporter that trees would offer no protection from
Amaru's Change or the Blue Dragon King of the East. In fact, she had no
desire to be anywhere near those trees when Amaru's power hit them. They
would become nothing but sharp, splintered projectiles riding his power
wave.

	Shinkai had one arm, Elenora the other, and both were trying to drag
her different ways as they ran. Matsuri tried to wrench her wrist out of
Shinkai's grasp and suddenly one foot was lower and trapped. She let out
a little shriek, both Shinkai and Elenora's hands coming loose as she
went sprawling forwards onto hands and knees. Pain stabbed through her
ankle as she tried to get her feet back under her to push off. Tears
sprang into her eyes as she gasped and went back to her knees.

	"Matsu..."

	Her head snapped up as Elenora's concerned yell was cut off. They were
about ten meters past her. Elenora had her arms crossed over her head,
Shinkai going from hands and knees flat to the ground as the blue-white
power crackled around the pale lavender of Elenora's ward and it shrank
under that attack. Elenora went to her knees as she watched. She could
see her trembling with exertion from here. What was Hajime doing to
them?

	Gravity! That was one of the things his Dragon controlled! Was he
trying to squash them? She rolled over onto her rear and swallowed hard
and scooted backwards a bit in instinctual fear. Hajime's was so close
that he had to turn his head to look at her. She could clearly see the
Shadow that clung to him like black velvet moss. Gods! What was it? And
he was hurt! She stretched out her hand, wanting to touch, to help.

	"Hajime-san? What wrong? Why are you doing this?"

	*Wrong? Why nothing, Matsuri-chan. In fact, everything is going to be
very right in just a few seconds. I'm going to be free of you! No matter
what it takes!"* The roar that accompanied his mental voice left her
ears ringing.

	*Free of me?* Hajime was planning to kill her. She knew it, saw it in
the ruby fury of his glowing eyes.

	A part of her soul wailed. She didn't understand! Tita had said he
loved her, more than life itself! She was to remember that! It had to be
that Shadow thing! She closed her eyes against it, against the thing he
had become.

	*Please, help him!* She prayed that with all her might.

	She got very hot and dizzy, like she was going to faint, felt the tug
at her cloths as the Dragon inhaled and her hair came forwards to whip
around her face. He would not hurt her. He would not! She believed that
with every fiber of her soul.

	
						***

	All it would take was one small breath and the torment would be
extinguished forever. It was such a simple solution. He wondered why he
hadn't thought of it before. He blinked in surprise as translucent
golden wings appeared behind her, beat the air forwards into his face as
the rest of the bird formed, it's head hovering over hers. He hissed his
amusement. It was pathetic. He breathed in, ready to end this.

	The scent that rode the wind was more than a mere aroma. It was taste
and sensation and radiated through every fiber. It was as subtle as the
scent of desert air after rain, as overwhelming as a cherry orchard in
full bloom. He froze as he realized what this was!

	*Matsuri-chan?* It was a stuttered, stunned and confused whisper.

	*A lie! A trick! She does it just to hurt you some more!* His voice
told himself.

	No! This was real! He took another breath, hummed with pleasure. This
was real! It was Matsuri's scent!

	His voice laughed. *You are such a pathetic creature! So easily
tricked! It is the thing behind her!*

	For the first time Hajime became aware of that other voice which had
been whispering to him. He turned his awareness inwards and
faced...himself. Yet it was not. It was like looking into a blotched and
tarnished mirror.

	*Who are you?*

	*Why, yourself, of course! Now, let's get this finished so we can get
on with the agenda, shall we?*

	Hajime shook his head. This was not him! *Who are you?!*

	His mirror-image laughed. It was an evil, insane sound. *I am you! In
body and spirit!*

	*NO! You are not!*

	*Oh, but I am! How can you deny me? But of course you will. For to do
anything else would be to admit that you had such thoughts on your own.
And how could the noble Lord of the Go do such things to his brothers,
to his lover, to the world he has sworn to protect? So, if it makes you
feel better, then believe what you will. But it is not the truth. And we
know how important the truth is to those of the Dragon's blood, don't
we?*

	He mentally reeled, confused, and trapped in his own warped logic.

	"Hajime?!!!"

	It was a far away call, distorted with distance. But the voice was one
he would know anywhere. Matsuri! Had he truly been ready to kill her? A
part of him withered as he realized that yes, he had been. And if it had
not been for her scent, he would have done it without a second thought.

	"Hajime! Fight it! There is a Shadow on you! Please!"

	Shadow? Tsuzuku and Owaru had said something about a shadow. He focused
on that other part of himself once more. A shadow? The shadow grinned at
him and bowed.

	*Took you long enough to figure it out! But then the Go have always
been too slow and too late!*

	*Get out!!! Get out of my head!!!*

	*No. I like it in here! There is so much to play with!* The Shadow
giggled.

	*Get OUT!!!* He attacked it, screamed as the pain he inflicted on it
was reflected back on himself. For a moment the pain overcame him and he
couldn't breath, couldn't see, couldn't think! A quiet dark void opened
under him and he felt the pull of it.

	*That's it. Relax, Hajime! You've fought your fight, the shadow is gone
and now you can rest!*

	It would be so easy to believe it...so easy...too easy...

	*Enough!!!*

	He steeled himself and struck again. The pain didn't matter! Out! It
would be out...of...HIM!!!

	Then he was alone. Truly alone. It was a strange feeling. He hung,
exhausted, and aghast with disbelief as he realized what he had done. To
Amaru, to Owaru...oh, Gods...to Tsuzuku!! No! It wasn't true! It
couldn't be! But it was. Oh Gods, help him, it was! He would never
forgive himself! Never...


					***

	Hajime's roaring bass screams made the ground shiver under her. The
agony in those sounds squeezed her chest and made it hard to breathe.
Matsuri reached out once again as his head whipped back and forth and he
writhed and coiled in the air, just like a snake did when it's head was
chopped off. It was a stupid and futile gesture, she knew it, but she
couldn't help herself.

	Then the Shadow moved. It pulled in on itself, starting at the tip of
the dragons tail and clawed toes and moving up until it was concentrated
around his head, hiding the glow of his eyes and muffling his screams.
He froze, began to go limp and for a moment her heart stopped beating.
The dragon jerked, clawed at his head, his talons raking gashes in the
blackness and the blue hide under it. But it came off! Slowly, like
cooling tar, it stretched out and down to puddle on the ground twenty
meters in front of her.

	Her gaze searched for any patches of Darkness on him as her heart
resumed it's frantic beat. He hung in the air above her, this time
totally limp, his great head swaying back and forth on the ocean wind.
The normal incandescent blue of his aura was a sickly phosphorescent
glow that barely rimmed his outline. But she couldn't see any trace of
the Shadow! He made a little sound, almost a whimper. Then there was a
flash that hurt her eyes, but she squinted around the tears and watched
Hajime reform out of the flickering blue-white sparkles. For an instant
he stood tall and straight, then collapsed with an almost boneless
grace.

	"Hajime!" She tried to get her feet under her once more, bit back a
yell as her ankle protested loudly.

	She started to crawl, determined to reach him! She stopped and gulped
when the pool of Shadow ick pulsed. She froze and stared in horror as it
pulled in on itself once more and rose, shaping itself into something
human shaped. Something Hajime shaped! She swallowed hard on the wave of
sickness that threatened.

	"Matsuri-chan!" It called in a whispered croak.

	She shuddered at the ruined sound of Hajime's voice. It called for her
again. That broke her shock and she scrambled backwards as fast as she
could, but it wasn't fast enough! The thing seemed to flow forwards,
reaching for her, whispering her name. There was a sharp, loud bang and
the thing flinched and hissed. Still, it came for her.

	Gunshots! She recognized the sounds as the Shadow jerked again and
again, loosing substance with each impact. It lunged for her with a
scream of fury as two more bullets went into it. She screamed too as it
came at her, felt something incredibly cold burn the side of her face as
it lost it's substance right in front of her and swirled around her and
into the wind as a fine white dust.

	She found herself gulping for air and shuddering, her supporting arms
threatening to go out and pitch her forwards onto her face.

	"Toba-san?"

	Mizuchi. He was next to her, alert and scanning the surroundings for
any other threat, the silver glitter of a gun in both hands.

	"Go check the others!" She started to crawl again, once again focused
on Hajime.

	He scooped her up and carried her to him. He helped her roll Hajime
over and she heard him take in air as he saw the blood slowly seeping
from the torn flesh of his chest. He waited, as tense as she was as she
put her fingers to the pulse point on Hajime's throat. The beat was slow
and faint, but there.

	"He's alive." She felt light-headed with relief.

	Mizuchi gave her a strained smile and pulled his shirt over his head,
folded it once and put it over the wound.

	"Keep pressure on it, Matsuri-san. Helps on the way."

	She nodded at him, too exhausted to get words out and put both of her
hands on the shirt and pressed firmly. He was alive! That was all that
mattered! The Lieutenant rose and patted her shoulder on his way to
check the others.


						***


	The crushing pressure was gone! It was a miracle to pull air into his
lungs easily and he realized he was starting to hyperventilate. He gave
the unconscious form of the youngest Tanaka sister draped along his
chest a gentle hug even though it hurt every bruised muscle in his body.
She had saved his life! She had put herself over him, driven to her
hands and knees but no further. He had tried to whisper encouragement to
her as she had shaken with the strain of keeping enough of the pressure
at bay so it didn't grind them into pulp. When the pressure had lifted,
she had collapsed on top of him. But she was breathing regularly and her
heart was pounding fiercely under his hands.

	"Shinkai?"

	He opened his eyes and focused on Mizuchi's upside down face.

	"You O.K.?"

	"No, I'm not O.K." He growled back. "But I'll live. So will she." He
answered Mizuchi's concerned study of the girl over him. "The others?"

	"Amaru's out cold, Nijikawa's pretty banged up but O.K. Tita's with
him. For once all his extra padding came in handy!" Mizuchi actually had
the gall to wink at him.

	"Hajime and Matsuri?"

	The amusement that had sparkled for a moment in the Lieutenants eyes
fled.

	"Matsuri's O.K. Hajime is in pretty bad shape. But we've seen them in
bad shape before, right? I mean, they're Dragons! They heal super fast,
right?" There was worry in his voice.

	"I assume so, Mizuchi. Has Jasmine and Tsuzuku shown up yet?"

	Mizuchi shook his head no.

	"Well, go look for them!" *Idiot*

	"O.K! O.K.! Jeez! What a grouch! You must be O.K. to be so
foul-tempered!" He grinned and winked again, then turned and trotted
away for the beach whistling and calling for his dog.

					***