The Ritual.

[DragonMasterX]

Yay! Development for the win! I hope I didn't go overboard with the ninja archer! X3

[Ferro Cordis]

Yeah, This story is long as hell, lol. but non the less, Awesome. and yummy dragons. but I have a request. XD PUT IN FURS! xD not just Scalies :P Still, awesome story, can't wait to see more!!!

[Crimson Fox]

It's long, yes, but that's a good thing. It gives the story room to develop it's characters and settings. Besides, the reward at the end (hawt picture) was well worth it. Can't wait to read the next part.

[DragonMasterX]

You guys are making me feel like the only reason you're reading this is because of the fanart picture ;_;

Dot: Aww. There, there. You still are a decent writer. *Reaches to pat DMX*

DMX: *Jumps up in euphoria* YAY! It means I'm so awesome my concept writing created an incredible female character everybody's gawking at! WOOHOO!

Dot: Well, I'm glad to see his ego keeps being as incredible.

[Kurtz]

Hey, if you create a story that in the end makes someone gawk at the character and admire, that's showing you you're doing something really good with the character to make them give that effort....

Yeah. I know I'm saying this about a dragoness ninja with great bewbage. x3

[DragonMasterX]

Stop that. She's gonna nom you guys o;

[DragonMasterX]

A reward for the patient ones!

-----------------------------

Part 3:

Shiburo sat at his throne. The black scaled dragon emperor was now clad in quite a resemblance of his previous clothes, showing just how fast his word was attended to. His outfit simplistically comprised a bodily, long-sleeved robe tinted a light-blue color with a black obi. Other than this, Shiburo wasn’t the type to decorate himself with accessories, much to a big contrast with his late father. His long, dark-hair easily flowed down on his back, missing out due to him being sitting against the wall, lost deep in thought.
“I have everything I ever wanted,” he mused to himself all of a sudden, closing his eyes as he visualized “An impressive body… an immortal one at that. An entire region, soon to be the whole country, in my claws,” he re-opened his eyes briefly to stare at his powerful hands, balling them into fists as he returned to his thoughts, “Why is this not enough?” he mentally questioned himself, Misora’s image repeatedly dancing in his head, “Why does she torture me so? I’m destined to have everything at a single whim. Why does she oppose me with such defiance?! That father of hers was useless to the very end! His only use was turning us into gods!” He began growling all of a sudden, losing his composure for a moment, causing him to smash the wall to his side with a fist. Shiburo’s eyes suddenly opened, a piercing glare of a fierce animal looking out and hoping for a target that would receive his anger, fortunately for who was about to come Shiburo had collected himself already by then.

Theo carefully made his way into the throne’s chambers. The old man seemed wary and less sure of his surroundings. The sorcerer softly spoke to his emperor, “Is there something amiss, Master Shiburo?” This caused Shiburo to give him his undivided attention.

“Everything is, Old Man.” The black dragon growled back at his counselor. Shiburo took a moment to calm his inner rages down and stood up, both of his impressively bulgy arms joining together by their claws on the dragon man’s back as he padded over in front of a large window, the one which had been used as an alternative escape route by his current, most-wanted treasure. Shiburo’s clothes did little to hide his imposing, incredibly thick and largely built frame, but they managed to remain fitting despite his occasional involuntary flexes which had torn through most of the previous tryouts. The emperor looked off into the distance, his eyes showing his regained calmness via his reflection on the window. Theo took note of this and continued.

“Master… I’m aware that you plan on taking as little risk as possible in wounding that woman,” Theo began, picking his words carefully, “It is true that she has nowhere to go in this world, but to be on your side, she will no doubt be back her eventually, for that reason or the other. However,” that sole word made Shiburo shift looks and stare daggers at the old man. Theo’s heart-skipped a beat, an angered nine foot tall beast of a man was the last thing he would be able to see, “…I believe we could take a different approach, m’lord,” he then said.

Shiburo’s interest was piqued. Normally, he would have tried to torch the insolent, but it was an undeniable fact that this emperor’s anxiety and lust were waging battle with his mind, and winning by miles no less. “Continue,” Shiburo casually said.

“Master Shiburo,” Theo once again started, becoming slightly more confident in his speech, “Our guards are excellent at tracking. It will surely take them very little time to find Misora Kaen,”

“Hmph.” Shiburo brusquely interrupted; smoke fuming out of his nostrils, “You shall not bring her against her will,” his commanding voice firmly ordered. Theo revered at this.

“Of course, Master Shiburo, but you see… We could try coaxing her into coming here. In a more… gentle manner.” Shiburo’s eyebrows lifted in surprise, he allowed Theo to continue this time, “I am fully aware of your plan to destroy the Kaen clan so she has nowhere else to stay. However, it has been an entire day and no shinobi from the school have been found yet. It is to my understanding our Lady might have thought ahead of you,” Theo silenced himself. That had been a dull move from his part; the pressure had been too much. A big black claw seized the old man by the neck, lifting him off ground to face Shiburo eye-to-eye.

“I’m not in the mood for one your sermons, Old Man.” Shiburo snarled, his powerful, pearly-white fangs baring in front of the gagging sorcerer.

“M-Master! I am truly sorry! Forgive my foolishness!” Theo squirmed, losing his breath quick as his weak, fragile hands dropped his staff and tried to hold himself up by gripping Shiburo’s vascular arm. “I… I have a plan… get… the woman!” he said in-between gags.

Shiburo again was struck by anxiety. What had he to lose, either way? Regardless of if this plan failed, Misora was pretty much like him: She wouldn’t die no matter how many squads were sent after her. Yet, he couldn’t be too careful, the ritual as per regulation was supposed to bless one person. And now he wanted her by his side. He didn’t want to wait anymore. Ideals and desires conflicted in the dragon emperor’s mind, before he let go of Theo, the old man falling to the floor with a big thud. “See that Misora Kaen is brought here with the least damage as possible,” he suddenly said, putting emphasis on ‘least’ while turning his back to Theo. “Execute any plan you have in mind, but mark my words: If her beautiful body is ever so slightly tarnished…” His head turned to face Theo again, his slit pupils thinned-out, “There will be severe consequences.” He finished and then walked back to his throne as Theo practically crawled out of the room.


Misora and Myurin had finally descended from the mountains. The female dragon frowned as Myurin gasped for air on the ground, as if he had escaped from an underwater prison. “Myurin, you have never really gone that high up in the mountains, have you?” she asked, her arms crossing under her voluptuous chest.

Myurin had taken his mask off and he wasn’t as agitated as it seemed, but he still was gasping. “Uhm… n-no, not really. As you know I’ve lived most of my life in the forest…” he admitted, “B-but I’m fine! I’m fine… really!” He smiled and tried to sound cheery. Misora faked a smile, nodding to him.

“This boy’s gonna kill himself someday” thought Misora as she rolled her eyes, starting to take the time to look at the trail before them. They had to take another treacherous road to reach the northwest of Torusawa, where their destination awaited.

Misora waited for Myurin to fully recover to allow him to keep a good pace with her. To her surprise, the boy wasn’t slow when it came to trotting or running. His stories about being a decent hunter back in his former home apparently weren’t bluffs. She was happy that she had a good archer by her side at the least.
It wasn’t very long before the pair finished the mountain trail, making it to the short road that connected the trail to the forest and a remote town. Misora had considered stopping by the town to acquire some supplies, but that would have to wait until they at least had gotten money. Plus she wouldn’t be able to get information with her new appearance either. She contemplated their destination: The woods. Was this right? She was going to ask for the help of an old acquaintance of her dad’s, and to probably involve him in something big. Daigo Hanekoma… Would he help her? “This is no time to doubt, Misora.” She heard her father’s voice in her mind. That was what he would tell her in similar situations. She put a paw next to her belly as she heard her stomach rumble, “But maybe it’s time to get some food.”

“Something wrong?” Myurin finally said, having remained silent while contemplating Misora in her deep thoughts. The mention of food also made him hungry. That’s right: They had been up since morning and had taken a hike high up in the mountains and down, plus the trek towards the forest’s entrance path. Both of them were in need of food.

“I wonder what can we get around here…?” Misora said out loud as she looked left and right. Maybe they could catch some wild animals… but that would probably have to be inside the forest. She was about to walk ahead into the woods before Myurin stopped her.

“Wait, Lady Misora!” he said, “Heh. You can leave this to me!” The young boy pointed at himself, “I’ll get us some food.”

“Uhm, are you sure, Myurin?” Misora said, trying not to sound condescending. Myurin sounded quite decisive, however.

“Yep! You take care of getting the fire ready. I’ll go hunt.” The blonde boy nodded with a smile, his hand reaching for his back where his bow was strapped on in-between a closed wooden-arrow quiver. With the strong wooden bow in one hand, he gave a friendly wave to Misora from a distance with the other, before heading into the forest.

Misora was impressed at the boy’s tenacity and determination. She decided she would allow him to take the spotlight; after all, he was trying to be nice to her. The dragoness found this opportunity to be an ideal time to check herself out since she finally had gotten some privacy. Misora quickly looked down at her paws, her claws were probably huge to others, but they felt nice and harmless, she had proved the harmless part by carrying her late father’s body and Myurin without a scratch. She let out a frustrated sigh as she tried examining her mid-section and legs, but found her massive cleavage blocking her view. She resorted to feeling herself with her paws. Going down she realized how trim and fit she really was, and how curvy she had become in contrast to her past self: When she reached under her waist, she parted her claws’ way to feel her hips from either side, pausing to feel her firm, muscular thighs through her snug clothing while very slowly pressing her digits onto her strong flesh from under the garment, letting out a small gasp as she circled backsides to feel her ample heart-shaped behind. She gave herself a light squeeze just to feel the plump butt cheeks, finding them to be soft at the touch, but firm at the feel. When one of her thumbs brushed along the base of her tail, however, she let out a small, cute squeal, blushing from embarrassment.
Misora looked around the forest’s entrance, Myurin was indeed gone, and there wasn’t anybody in vicinity, so she resumed her self-exploration. Once being able to feel around the base of her tail, Misora continued eliciting small moans from herself, wondering if she could move this extra limb she had gained. She found out by experimenting with her own will that her tail was a flexible new extremity which she could easily manipulate. Placing the long appendage on the base of her claws, she giggled to herself. That tail felt warm, it was another part of her, and it was cute. Her small laughter caused her large wings to involuntarily flex and expand, which made her remember about them. Misora’s tail slid off her paws and went back to hanging under her as she gained a new interest.

What Misora saw on one of them, or to be more precise, what she didn’t see in one of them astonished her slightly. The membrane which was supposed to have a hole or at least be dented was all fine. Had she regenerated somehow? She had to be true to herself: Misora had completely forgotten of the sheer pain that had once literally incapacitated her from fighting, let alone maneuvering easily. Yet, right now, she felt like that pain had never been there, and she had felt the same for a while now. Was it part of adapting to her new body? She didn’t know, but she found that her will could manipulate her wings to flap around. A day-dream of her hovering above the ground and soaring through the skies made her smile, could she somehow master these two extremities to fly like a bird? That was something she had to experiment with. That’s when something else came to her mind. She put a paw above her large bosom, looking down at her paw as she tried to remember when she felt the burning sensation in the palace. She felt like she was going to burst, and she remembered how she had been able to release torrents of flames from her maw. Was this another thing she could manipulate with sheer force of will? She concentrated and closed her eyes, attempting to inhale as much as she could, before she exhaled powerfully. Nothing came out, however, save for exchanged air. “Hmph. Maybe it isn’t as simple as it seems…” She told herself, slightly disappointed. Misora blinked a bit, finding that the light around her was dimmer. She hadn’t realized it before, but time had continued on despite she felt like it had stopped so she could explore herself. That’s when she was reminded that she had a duty to perform while Myurin was hunting out. “The fire!” Misora exclaimed, hurrying to look for dried wood.

It wasn’t long before Myurin came back, three dead but clean hares hanging by their ears, attached to his obi. Myurin appeared pleased with himself, unlike Misora who was struggling with two dry stones trying to set some twigs and branches on fire in the traditional way. “Curse this vile excuse for a makeshift kitchen.” Misora grunted to herself, feeling quite useless as nary a spark came out from the friction she tried to create between the two little stones.

Myurin smiled sympathetically, approaching Misora from the side, offering his help. Misora refused, and insisted that it was the least she could do since he had caught their food. She tried and tried, becoming more and more frustrated with each new failure. Myurin would continue trying to offer her his assistance, but Misora, with her rising anger, soon burst and roared loudly, hurling the rocks away in fury. Myurin fell on his butt as the area lit up brightly all of a sudden. The fire in the middle of their camp was lit now! Misora felt accomplished, but coughed some smoke after gagging slightly, her face having slightly blackened due to the blown ash as well. “Tee-hee.” She giggled a bit dumbly. Turns out she could breathe fire normally, she just needed some concentration and focus on ‘setting something on fire’.

“I-Impressive…” Myurin, completely astonished, gasped, this time to recover his composure at what he had just witnessed, “I’ve never seen such a trick before, Lady Misora!” He then immediately sat up, “You HAVE to teach me how to do that! Is that some sort of special Kaen-jutsu?” He grinned widely. Misora felt sort of appalled at the question, but shrugged.

“I don’t think that was any jutsu, Myurin.” She giggled a bit. The two’s stomachs growled quite audibly, making Misora propose to cook the food. Myurin stopped her at a single whim.

“It’s okay, Lady Misora! You must be exhausted from before, our hiking and the trek, I’ll cook for you!” Myurin smiled widely, holding the hares in his hands. Fortunately, when he had fallen back earlier he had been careful not to let the clean prey to get dirty again. “Plus… since I’m starving, I wanna be able to eat.” He thought to himself, making sure he didn’t actually say it out loud. And so, the young boy started making preparations with the big fire to cook their food. He had also found a small current of fresh water while hunting, so he had also brought two filled canteens. It was time to enjoy some peace and quiet…


Misora lay back on a tree, chewing on her second hare. “Hmmm! Myurin! This tastes absolutely fantastic!” She then giggled. Myurin barely had been able to finish through eating his own prey, but he understood Misora’s incredible hunger due to her new form and size. She probably needed twice as much food as he did to satisfy herself.

“Thanks! I actually didn’t do much with it, but I did add a few herbs and leaves to enhance the flavor,” the human shinobi explained. Misora seemed to be paying dear attention to him as her left cheek bulged with the food she was chewing and while staring at him intently. “Uhm. Well, I could’ve done more, but y’see, we didn’t really bring anything with us, save for the water canteens.” He finished with a small laugh, trying not to sound too arrogant.

Misora giggled, “Well, I’m glad you cooked this time! But next time will be my turn; I’ll surprise you with some of my super secret recipes!” the dragoness playfully declared. Myurin suddenly gulped down forcefully.

“It will be a surprise, alright,” the blonde boy softly agreed. “Oh, by the way, if you still are hungry, I can,” he saw Misora put a paw in front of his mouth to silence him, actually managing to cover his entire face with it.

“Shh.” The light-blue haired dragon had turned serious. She was staring at the floor deep in focus, Myurin could tell as much by watching her from a small gap in-between her fingers. As she released Myurin, who had fell silent, she saw him making an inquisitive expression. Misora made a hand gesture to suggest there was somebody approaching their way, and weren’t very far by the sound of it. The ambient wasn’t going to help them either, much less considering it was already darkening. “Myurin,” she softly spoke, trying to lower her tone so only he would listen, “Get ready. It’s more than just one.”

Myurin didn’t need anybody to tell that to him now. His honed hunter’s senses had been put to work as soon as she had silenced him earlier. He stood up, getting his equipment ready after having cleaned the grease off his hands and put the fire out with the other canteen to use the darkness to their advantage. He put his mask on to conceal his breathing, Misora unfortunately couldn’t fit one due to her muzzle now, but she put a claw behind herself, resting it on the handle of Mugen Ryu to ready herself for anything.

“…Misora Kaen,” a nearby voice said. Walking in on the camp entered a group of three imperial soldiers, two of them holding torches to light their way. Myurin cursed low at the loss of water, but remembered he could refill it later at the small stream he had found before. “We have come here to extend an invitation.”

Misora’s grip on Mugen Ryu didn’t loosen; she intently fixed her gaze upon the three newcomers. “Invitation?” she inquired.

“Indeed. Our Emperor, Shiburo Tora, has commanded us to search for you…” The one responsible for the speech was trembling slightly, apparently he unnerved by Misora’s form, “t-to extend an invitation from Master Shiburo. He… he hopes you will accept,” he finished.

“…Is this a joke?!” Misora retorted. “What is that fool trying to do, sending you out as if he was sending a present?” She fumed, Myurin seemed too confused at the whole deal to even make a retort or back her up. The first guard slightly trembled again, much to the indifference of the other two holding torches.

“W-we were ordered to take you back if you resist!” And then, all three took their weapons out. The one in charge of the speech held a pike, the other two unsheathing long katana. “W-well?! What will i-it be?!”

“Captain, she hasn’t made a move yet…” One of the torch-holders ascertained, trying to calm down the lancer. The captain nodded to their subordinates, it all looked too ironically comical to Myurin, but once the trio took an offensive stance his smile faded.

“Feh! As if you guys needed an answer!” Misora growled defiantly, getting into position along with her companion to smite her opponents.

“Then we shall take you back by force, Misora Kaen!” The captain, with reaffirmed will, declared vehemently. Soon the three charged, one of them immediately kneeling down as an arrow impaled through his leg.

“Guh! Dammit!” Growled the first sword man as he quickly stuck the arrow out of his leg and struggled to get back up. He had fixed his eyes on Myurin, and was ready to charge at him with fury and vengeance.

Misora had to take care of the lancer and the other sword man. She quickly back-stepped to put some distance between her and her opponents, unsheathing her katana and holding it down in front of her defensively, she would wait for them to strike first. The swordman was first, and as his katana came down to strike Misora she growled “That’s useless!” and she clashed her blade with his’. From the swordman’s side, however, she saw the lancer approach her, she was open. An arrow came to her aid at that moment, impaling itself onto the lance’s shaft, thus throwing the lancer’s aim off. With this chance, Misora quickly and effortlessly pushed the swordman away with her superior strength and spun around to deliver a strong roundhouse at the lancer, effectively sending him onto a tree with a large thud. Misora quickly looked for the responsible one for the arrow and smiled, “Myurin!”

“I got you covered, Lady Mis,” But before the blonde ninja could finish he was caught by the wounded swordman “Ugh! Damn!” Myurin growled as he was seized by the collar of his suit.

“No!” Misora gasped in helplessness as her partner was now being held against his will with a katana at his neck.

“Drop your weapon!” The injured swordman groaned, the leftover pain being evident in his raspy voice. “You will submit and come with us to Master Shiburo’s palace, Misora Kaen!” he proclaimed.

“G-guh! S-sorry, Lady Misora…” Myurin groaned as he fruitlessly attempted to free himself. His bow was on the floor and his hands were clutched around the guard’s armored arm, his inferior strength no match for the muscular swordman.

“Grrr…” Misora began growling in anger. She wouldn’t be able to tackle the other ninja and avoid getting Myurin hurt in the process, but what else was she supposed to do? She couldn’t give up. Not after they had gathered such a strong resolve to go on!

“I said drop your weapon!” The guard repeated, shouting. Misora heard Myurin screech slightly as his neck was being strangulated against the taller guard’s chest. Mugen Ryu fell to the soil. “Now come with me!” With that said the other two guards quickly got back up and surrounded Misora.

The captain seemed satisfied although his body was bruised from the earlier impact. “M-Mission complete…” He sighed in relief.

“Let Myurin go!” Misora commanded, but her demands fell onto deaf ears. She balled her fists, shutting her eyes tightly as she heard the guards laugh. Had their journey come to such a prompt end…?

Misora’s eyes shot open all of a sudden as she heard a piercing scream of agony. As if someone had prayed for the two, a streak of yellow passed through the triangle surrounding Misora. Myurin fell to the ground to the floor unharmed as he was released, but the other three fell down in succession, one by one, with a long, bloody cut running from their spines to their respective waists. “What the…?!” Both Misora and Myurin said in almost perfect unison. Misora kicked the ground, bouncing Mugen Ryu and catching it in her right paw as she hurried to Myurin, who had also picked his weapon back up, and both of them gave each other their backs. “Who’s there?” asked Misora, looking left and right for any signs of the mysterious assailant. From the look of the bloody cut on the soldiers’ back they had been slain by a sharp weapon, and from the looks of it the weapon was huge.

From the shadows walked a man clad in a yellow sleeveless hakama with a blue obi tied around his waist. “Your name.” The male said. Misora couldn’t distinguish his face as the light had dissipated somehow. She guessed this guy had probably done it. But, how had he done it so fast? It was ludicrous to think that somebody was capable of moving that fast, much less with a weapon capable of dealing such a swift but brutal death to its targets. “Now.” The voice coaxed, and the murder weapon was presented in front of Misora’s face, the edge of an incredibly long, fresh-bloody katana pointing at her.

“Misora… Kaen.” The dragoness softly said, left with not many options. She was in a tight spot, and this guy was way too fast for her to attempt disarming him by conventional means. Misora had decided to play this one safe.

“Hmm. Thought so,” the mysterious swordman said, his tone having softened as he retracted his katana, batting it slightly to get rid of the blood only to later sheath it on his side. He walked forwards and explained to her, “They mentioned your name several times, but I never expected my hearing to be this clear anymore.” The man then walked out from the shadowy trees, completely revealing himself.

“Why did you help us?” Misora carefully asked. Myurin was now standing behind her, trying to watch the scene from a safe spot as he gripped his bow with his trembling hands.

“I don’t like people stirring trouble in my forest. Neither do I like cowards that resort to such treacherous acts as they did to win a battle.” The man folded his defined arms together, firmly staring up at the dragon woman. “Misora Kaen.” He then said, “I can’t say I expected this farce to be true.” He narrowed his eyes, the brown irises barely noticeable either way.

“Farce…?” the dragoness quizzically asked.

The man proceeded vehemently. “Your father, Yuuichiro, dead, the whole Kaen clan, destroyed and finally, you…” Although firm and collected, he sized the beautiful scaly woman up and down, “No longer a human.”

“Uhm, I’m part of the Kaen clan!” Myurin waved an arm childishly, as if trying to attract some attention to himself. “Myurin Sakamoto,” he said, introducing himself.

On the contrary, Misora gasped in surprise, “Who are you?! How do you know so much?” she demanded to know.

“I’ve reliable sources, despite me living in this secluded forest.” The sword man put a hand under his chin, looking rather pensive, “But regardless, this is not the place for you to hang out about. I’m not the only one with a broad intelligence network as you might have guessed.” He softly bowed his head to check the bodies of Misora’s persecutors, allowing the dragon girl to see his short gray hair, before he looked back to her and her companion, “Let’s move over to my house. We’ll be safe in there,” he said, turning his back on her and making gesture with his arm to follow him.

“Wait!” Misora stopped him, “Just… who are you?” she somberly asked, almost dreading for the answer.

The man stopped briefly to simply say: “You set out to look for Daigo Hanekoma. Is that right? Well…” silence took over for a few seconds, before he continued, “…You’ve found him. Now let us go,” he urged, setting off running. Misora felt her heart lighten and a smile drew across her muzzle, even Myurin was happy they had already found the person they were searching for and that he had turned out to be such a help from the get-go. As both of them put their weapons away, the duo then set off to follow Daigo over to his house in the woods.


Daigo’s forest house was actually a modestly sized hut with only two windows and a single door. Its outside seemed quite battered, but at the same time sturdy, showing it had been there for quite a while and had no intentions of crumbling apart anytime soon. Daigo hadn’t remodeled outside on purpose. The trio sat around soft floor mats and exchanged versions, Misora clarifying some facts and Daigo arguing others. The dragon girl was impressed at Daigo Hanekoma for being an extrovert mature man, listening to her with patience and making his own arguments after she was done. In a way, Daigo reminded her of her grand father. Daigo explained that by helping people from remote towns with his blade to fight invaders off, he had gained many an ally, and at the same time, had built quite a large information network. In turn, he had always asked to remain anonymous. He said that he loved the quietness of the forest, but wished not to remain out of the world’s affairs as he firmly believed in helping his fellow man in need. Misora was truly impressed by each and every of his stories. On the other hand, Myurin uninterestedly nodded his head, casually making a remark about the swordman’s deeds but never really doing it with gusto. The boy’s ego must’ve been hurt at such a manly influence in front of Misora, but regardless, he was going to be their new ally… or was he?

“That’s right!” Myurin interrupted the talk, “Master Hanekoma! Misora and I came to request your assistance!” The young shinobi said, Misora blinking and then glared slightly at Myurin. She apparently was enjoying the stories.

Misora turned her look for Daigo, asking him about her grand father’s request. She suddenly felt uneasy as she saw Daigo folding his arms and sternly closing his eyes.

“No,” the sword man finally said. Misora seemed depressed, her tail barely twitching behind her. Even Myurin appeared to be shocked, having expected the complete opposite.

“But… Master Hanekoma. We need your help in bringing Emperor Shiburo Tora down!” the girl said, her voice becoming shaky as she mellowed.

“I’m afraid confronting the Empire in the current conditions is only asking for suicide.” Daigo explained, “I’m not fully aware of your bodily condition and your new abilities, but risking our lives for your cause is very selfish.”

Misora was about to reply with a tear rolling down her cheek, but was boldly interrupted by Myurin. “Hey!” yelled the boy, “Don’t you get what Lady Misora is trying to do?! She’s risking her own life to save others from suffering!” He growled, “She just lost her father, who also was a father to many like me, to the hands of an egocentric bastard trying to rule all of Japan by force!” He continued, standing up and pointing in Daigo’s direction, “How can you say she’s selfish when she’s going through all of that to bring Shiburo Tora to justice for his actions?!” Daigo never uttered a word to the boy’s speech, never even batted an eye to him.

Misora, on the other hand, had been moved by it greatly, tears of pride streaming from her pretty blue eyes, “Myurin…” she softly spoke. The boy seemed ecstatic, she wanted to stop him from arguing, but somehow she couldn’t bring herself to do it. That’s when she heard Myurin snarl louder than ever.

“You probably are scared because you’re old and your information doesn’t suggest anything to help you with this!” Daigo grunted at this, but his eyes never opened. The swordman had apparently taken a blow below the belt finally. “Grr.” The boy truly was trying to pick a fight, but in the end he turned his back on a static Daigo. “Lady Misora, let’s go…” He said. Misora, this time, had no other choice but to listen to Myurin. Arguing with Daigo Hanekoma wouldn’t get them anywhere, and crying over disappointment would only make her look weaker than this person had already marked her as.

Misora and Myurin left the hut, walking away without uttering anymore words to each other for a while. It was then that, with both their heads bowed, they apologized in unison, “I’m sorry for…”

They looked at each other, “What?” Misora asked softly. Myurin shook his head.

“No, um… What were you going to say?” the blond shinobi asked back. They both blushed from embarrassment, and then laughed a bit. He continued, “I’m sorry I insulted him. I don’t know what got over me… It’s just…”

“It’s alright,” intercepted Misora with a smile, “I’m sorry I was so weak to be unable to come up with anything better than tears at the time.” She giggled slightly, “Wow, Myurin, I never expected you to be so talkative when you’re defending someone.”

Myurin blushed a lot. “Oh, uhm… Well… I couldn’t bear him insulting you either and I don’t like seeing girls crying, either,” he confessed. They both looked at each other as they stopped walking, Myurin looking up and Misora down. They both were flushing a deep crimson, not even Misora’s red scales could hide it. They both then turned their heads sideways to look away from each other. “So what now?” Myurin quickly asked Misora.

Misora shook her head to rid herself of the embarrassing feelings and came back down to Earth. She remembered about their earlier trip, how they had passed a nearby town. What they needed were supplies and information about someone who would aid them in their journey, their best bet was to pay a visit to that town. Fortunately, Daigo’s home wasn’t too far from the dark forest’s entrance, so they resolved to hurry before it became late in the day.

The pair eventually reached the exit, the torch lights from the town making it easy to spot from their current spot. Misora stopped Myurin before they got too close, however. They couldn’t go in.

“What do you mean we can’t go in?” Myurin said, Misora letting go of Myurin’s arm as she looked down at him, placing her paws on her wide hips.

“If we do, we’ll have a lot of explaining to do to a LOT of people…” The girl said, her tail softly swishing in air as she saw Myurin’s eyes were fixed on her cleavage again, “that’s why you are going on your own.” She finally said, paying little mind to his perverted antics.

“Yeah. What?” Myurin then looked up at Misora’s face, “Are you sure?” He babbled, “I may be stealthy and a good hunter, but I know nothing of…”

“It’s fine!” Misora gingerly smiled, eagerly turning Myurin around and pushing him towards the entrance of town, “Just ask around for clues about any mercenaries. And if there’s any request that has a reward in cash, be sure to take it!” she ordered, leaving many of Myurin’s objections unattended. Misora quickly made her way behind the largest tree she could find, attempting to camouflage herself, which was very hard considering she had to keep her tail still and fold her wings to prevent them from spreading widely as usual.

Myurin felt sweaty all of a sudden as he walked into town. Sure, it seemed like a peaceful little remote town, and thankfully he didn’t strike a lot of suspicion on the population now that he had removed his mask, but he had never really hoped to find what he did.

“Yes. A big red dragon,” said an armored imperial guard in front of a mob of citizens. “We believe she may be around here, since we sent a party of soldiers to catch her and ever since no one has heard of them.”

Myurin quickly slid out of sight and onto a building’s wall, pressing his back to it to be able to overhear the conversation without being spotted. The guard talking to the few gathered citizens wasn’t the only one. Myurin could spot more than three of them making rounds in the town, some others questioning and informing the farther spread citizens.

“Lord Shiburo plans on ridding us of the beast, so your cooperation will most likely be rewarded,” Myurin heard the guard say as he lifted a hand to gesture something, “We also suspect the dragon may be traveling with a traitor to the kingdom, the male is rumored to be this tall and to be carrying a quiver full of arrows on his back.” This wasn’t good. The entire town had been occupied while they had been to the forest and had now been made aware of them. He had to run outside and inform Misora so they’d be able to escape without being noticed.

Turning around, Myurin made for the exit, but didn’t notice a stand selling fruit in his way, so he loudly crashed onto it. “Shit!” Myurin cursed, the owner of the stand yelling some incoherent insults at the young boy, who paid little attention to them as he became more preoccupied at the people who had been alerted by his accident.

“It’s him!” The lancer Myurin had been spying on cried, “The archer that’s helping the dragon beast!” He then yelled: “CAPTURE HIM, MEN!”

Outside of the village, Misora was becoming impatient. She peeked over the tree, unable to believe her eyes as she clearly distinguished Myurin surrounded by a mob of imperial guards. “No!” she shouted to herself, and then made for the town. Screw stealth! “Myurin!” Misora shouted, alerting the guards who saw a huge streak of red leaping over them and landing next to the young shinobi armed with a bow. Myurin couldn’t say anything, nor even apologize, as suddenly he saw Misora raise one of her paws and smash the floor with something. The entire place was clouded by a thick curtain of smoke as she put an arm around Myurin’s waist, then leapt over to the opposite exit of town.

“N-No!” Misora gasped as she abruptly came to a stop, an inconceivable amount of guards were already waiting for her at the end of the town. There were a total of twelve guards, four sword men in the front, four lancers in the middle and four archers as a back-up. The other group of soldiers had closed in on her since the smoke curtain had already faded. She was again surrounded. “D-damn! We’ll have to fight, Myurin!” Misora declared as she put the boy down on his feet.

Myurin got his bow ready and nodded to Misora. “I’ll cover for you, Lady Misora…” His eyes then widened at what he saw “Watch out!” Myurin yelled, and with a sudden, unbelievable powerful thrust managed to push Misora away as an arrow came her way. In turn however, the projectile impaled his arm. “Aaaargh!” Myurin cried out in pain as he fell to the ground with a pierced left arm. He was effectively disarmed now.

“Myurin!” gasped Misora as she quickly got herself up to her feet. The guards kept closing in, more arrows pointed their way, and she hadn’t even drawn her sword yet! “N-no! No!” she grunted, quickly standing up while growling sharply. She prepared to launch her fire-breath attack and she aimed at the closest group, little embers starting to spark out of her maw as flames gathered.
She breathed, but almost at the same instant, she bent to the side in sudden pain, throwing her attack’s range off. The guards were alerted and the stream of fire missed, in turn hitting a hut and setting it on a violent fire. Misora could hear the inhabitants of the house on fire running outside and screaming in fear, yelping something about a monster along with the many startled people who had remained for the sole purpose of watching the imperial guards smite the large dragon woman. She cursed at herself, feeling weak as she looked down, noticing an arrow was protruding from her shoulder. The pain was nearly unbearable, and she ended up falling to one knee while moaning in agony.

The captain of this unit cursed, “No! Our orders is to bring her alive, you nimrods!” The burly man growled at and commanded his troops, “Seize her at once, make sure to remove that arrow from her body and get rid of that traitor! NOW!” he commanded. Misora was now completely surrounded.

She felt like this truly was the end. Daigo was nowhere to be found this time. Nobody would come to help them now that the entire town’s eyes had been tinted the wrong way about her. She had just set a house on fire, albeit on accident but who would believe her now? She felt like her strength was being sapped away. And Myurin… he was in pain, and she wasn’t able to help him after all he had done for her! She felt powerless at that moment. Had she failed…? “Father… Grandfather… Myurin… Forgive me…” she closed her eyes, but then a voice rang in her head, calling out for her.

“Don’t give up!” the voice repeated. It was unlike anything she had heard before, the tone and the reverberations were otherworldly, completely foreign to her. But she was sure she was the only one hearing it. The guards had their arms around her; the arrow had been removed from her shoulder. Misora felt stronger all of a sudden, like she was gaining energy, but something wasn’t right with her. She felt like she would explode! Her eyes finally re-opened and she looked up. The full moon was bathing her wounded body, making her glow. Power flooded her body! She knew she was regaining her strength and energy, but she felt she was becoming stronger as well!

Misora suddenly lifted her arms as her clawed feet dug onto the ground; both of her limbs lifted the guards who had been carrying her off-ground. With a swirl of her powerful arms both men were sent flying away. She ignored the others’ reactions and focused on Myurin, who apparently had been knocked unconscious by the sheer pain of his impaled arm and was about to be executed by one of the swordmen. She let out a bestial roar and with a swat of her arm knocked everybody who stood in her way as she hurried for her unconscious friend, but bent down onto a knee again as soldier after soldier literally hurled themselves onto her to push her down. She roared again as the swell in energy drew to a close. She shut her eyes and batted everyone away again, and this time, she clutched her mid-section. She felt all tingly, but also light-headed. Misora continued asking herself what was wrong with her, before she finally found out she was growing: She had added inches at first, which barely had been noticeable, but now she was two full feet taller, and growing. The soldiers slowly started backing away from Misora as her body expanded. She clutched harder, feeling her already stretched clothes tear audibly.

Misora felt her prominent chest rise and fall with each of her powerful breaths, but her breasts would remain where they had been at the moment of the inhaling. The dragoness’ bust tore through what was left of her top as she quickly ascended to twelve feet tall. Misora moaned as she gasped hotly, her eyes seeing blurry as lust took over her mind all of a sudden. She felt herself changing, her already massive body had already been taller than the tallest, but now she was growing more and more without any intentions from her body of stopping. As her claws slid down she felt the poor lower parts of her clothes being finally torn by her wide hips, her magnificent wings spreading as the aroused female let out a roar full of need. By the time she could stop herself from caressing her sensitive body, Misora had reached twenty feet in height. Her massiveness continued without stop or moderation, her tail snaking across the floor as she happily stood up straight and threw her arms behind her head, stretching her body in pleasure. She could feel the stares she was getting as she doubled in size, her large breasts bouncing as she flexed her growing form, and she only had her mind set on becoming larger and greater. Ten feet later, the expansion finished, leaving Misora at a staggering 50 feet.

Misora inhaled deeply, feeling the bliss this sudden change had brought her. After dully recovering from the brusque change in perspective, she deviously stared below at her aggressors who seemed shocked beyond belief at the pair of small mountains on the scaly giantess’ chest. Misora bent forwards, giving the ones behind her a clear sight of her rump as she grabbed the lot of guards in her right paw, careful not to squish them by mistake. Misora had enough of her lust-free conscience to know she wouldn’t indiscriminately murder, as she was unsure if she had also picked a nearby citizen in her paw at the same time. With the guards immobilized, Misora turned to another of her worries: The hut on fire. They had been lucky the wind had not been very strong that night, or else it could have spread onto the other houses, effectively starting a huge fire in the entire town. Misora then carefully stepped through the place, being careful not to smash or crush things under her feet or tail, although certain parts of her were telling her to do otherwise. Fighting her newly acquired urges and lust, she used her free paw to grab a nearby water container which thankfully was not very far from where she had started the fire. Heaving it and depositing its contents on the house, the giant Misora was able to douse the fire and not only that, but she had also managed to avoid destroying anything around her and save Myurin from a certain death as well. Speaking of the boy, she looked down, scooping the wounded and unconscious shinobi in-between her thumb and index, lifting him in front of her face, holding him in her palm. “Myurin…” she softly said, a single tear falling on him as she felt responsible for what had happened to him. The tear was large, but it only did as much as soak part of his body. Rage built inside Misora as she turned around, the executor running away among a mixed crowd of civilians and other guards. She wanted to stop them all which had been her main reason for having a handful of humans in her occupied paw, since letting go of guards would mean reinforcements would come eventually. With her new size, that would probably mean an entire army, and she didn’t want to risk her luck with fighting as a giant now, not with so many innocents around.

The clouds had amassed in the sky, with everyone hearing a crack of thunder. This was her chance, being so big would allow her to quickly flee and if it rained, it would provide an advantage for her, but before she could take another step she was forced again on her knees. Misora was quick to react this time, however, as she let go of everybody at once to avoid crushing them under her paws when she landed. Misora felt tingly again, but this time, she felt as if her energy was being sapped from her again. Instead of growing even larger as part of her mind was hoping, Misora’s body started to slowly, then very rapidly shrink. Misora groaned as her perspective normalized, and when she could realize what was going on she was on her knees on the ground, surrounded by the weary guards ready to catch her again. This time, however, Misora felt too weak to continue. She only prayed Myurin would make it alive out of this, and passed out, collapsing.

There only remained four duty-strong guards, who while still didn’t entirely believe what they had just witnessed. However, they still attempted to carefully carry out their job. Maybe now that the dragoness was asleep they would have a much easier job capturing her. They hoped the earlier scene would not repeat itself, but before they could even lay a finger on Misora, a flash of lighting blinded everyone. Thunder roared shortly afterwards.

A shadow loomed over Misora’s unconscious body as the four guards dropped dead on the ground without so much as a small grunt. A strong arm reached down to lift Misora by her left arm and softly threw it around the mysterious helper’s back, who started to carry her over to a nearby hut. The town had become completely deserted, preventing any unwanted visits, at least for a good while.

“Y-you!” came Myurin’s voice from not too far away. “Mister Hanekoma…”

Daigo Hanekoma smirked as he looked over to Myurin. “Feh. Thought you were dead, kid.” He closed his eyes, smiling to himself. Myurin snarled and rushed over to him.

“Leave Lady Misora! She doesn’t need you!” As Myurin tried to trounce the grown man, he felt the world suddenly go upside-down as he was easily swept off his feet by Daigo’s sheathed blade. “Yeeowch!” The young boy grunted as he hit his head on the floor. The pain reminded him of his impaled arm from earlier and he quickly inspected his injury. The hole in his arm-guard still was there, someone had apparently removed it earlier. However, there was no blood on his wet arm, not even a wound. Wait, it hadn’t rained, why was hit arm wet? He shook it off his mind whatever that meant, being healed wasn’t something to complain about. More importantly, he looked back at Daigo, “You.”

“Relax, boy. I’ve come to help.” Daigo sighed in disbelief, “She’s exhausted and she needs to rest. I wouldn’t want her to catch a cold with the storm that’s brewing up there either. Not now that you two are going to get company soon thanks to the escapees,” Myurin swallowed his pride and stood up, lending his hand to help the sword man in carrying the sleeping dragon over to one of the abandoned huts.

Once inside, they both laid Misora on a large bed mat comprised of two smaller ones. The eight foot tall dragon girl seemed to be sound asleep, fortunately unscathed. They had covered her in large blankets to keep her from getting cold, and now the two males were in a separate room, sitting across from one another, staring at each other’s eyes.

“Why did you come back?” asked Myurin, breaking the ice.

Daigo took his moment to reflect on the recent events, folding his arms as he usually did when he looked pensive. He then stared at Myurin right in the eyes with a confident smile, “Let’s just say a youngster lecturing me isn’t something I could live with.” Myurin blinked at this, had he really come back just to get back at him? “…But…” He continued, “She’s my best friend’s daughter. I can’t allow myself to leave her to die like this. Not that she seemed like she needed help until the last moment.”

“‘Until the last moment?’” Myurin repeated, that’s right, he had been unconscious for most of the skirmish. “What went down in there?” he asked. Daigo seemed embarrassed to tell, but explained how he had seen Misora try to fight but had become momentarily incapacitated. He then added that just before he was going to jump in to help she had undergone some sort of growth process. It all seemed incredible and really astonished Myurin, who would repeatedly watch over Misora’s room while blushing. “I- I see…” Myurin softly said.

“The important thing is that she’s safe and sound.” Daigo then finished. He then sternly gazed upon Myurin. “You, Myurin Sakamoto. I’ve seen you battle in two occasions…” Myurin’s eyes opened wide as he heard Daigo so quickly change subjects on him. “…You’re weak, kid. You will not be able to protect Misora as you are right now,” he declared truthfully.

“What?! But I’ve…”

“Failed miserably in both attempts, and got yourself into dangerous situations that otherwise would have allowed Misora to end the fight by herself,” he finished for Myurin, making the boy cringe.

“What are you suggesting?” Myurin quickly asked, not feeling so joyous about the new topic. Daigo seemed to deeply breathe, before he continued.

“You are weak. So you must strengthen yourself.” Daigo suggested, “You cannot rely on your bow alone, kid.” He was not staring at Myurin, but at the aforementioned bow. “It may be a great weapon of choice, but not one likely to help in close-quarter combat. Did Yuuichiro not teach you how to use a katana?” he inquired.

“H-he did… but I’m pretty much new to it.” Myurin lied. Misora had taught him so he would catch up quicker, but he still didn’t know how to defend himself or effectively put the required hand pressure to deal swift blows.

“Hmm. Can’t be helped.” Daigo then sighed. Myurin had a quizzical look in his face, “I’ll be your new Master, kid.” He then announced to the fledging shinobi, “I’ll train you in my own kenjutsu.”

“Wait, what?! Hold on!” Myurin objected, “First off, I don’t like you. Second, I’m training on my own. Third, I’m travelling with Lady Misora; I can’t stay in the forest and let her go on her own!” he quickly explained.

Daigo counter-attacked “First, I don’t like you either, kid. Second, you clearly can’t master a kenjutsu on your own. Third…” he nodded, solemnly closing his eyes, “I’m travelling with you two from now on.”

“Huh?” Myurin’s eyes kept blinking in disbelief, “But, didn’t you say…”

Daigo interrupted, trying not to explain himself much, “I’m afraid circumstances have changed, kid. I’ll travel with you two, help Misora in her quest, and shape you up to be a nice swordman. That’s all there is to it.”

“Wait, I never said I wanted to be your disciple, I,” But before Myurin could object any further, Daigo put a hand to his mouth, causing him to talk in a muffled way.

“You’re going to wake her up. Here, let’s go out and get new clothes for her. I’m afraid her late growth spurt tore through them all. She’ll need a resistant obi for her things as well.” Daigo explained, letting go of Myurin while heading to the exit, briefly watching the allotted amount of Misora’s belongings they had brought from outside along with her.

Myurin followed and groaned, giving in to the swordman. “Look, fine, I’ll let you teach me one thing or two about sword play, but on one condition!” Myurin rose up his index finger to emphasize.

Daigo turned around, eager to get rid of the young boy’s defiance. “What is it, kid?” he asked in annoyance.

Myurin took a small breath and then, making sure he closed the door to the house, “STOP CALLING ME A KID! I’m sixteen, dammit!”

Daigo chuckled. It was going to be a long journey.

Chapter 1: The Ritual, END.

[Erethzium]

Chapter 1: The Ritual, END.

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Wow. After reading so much, this is just the beginning? xP

[Crimson Fox]

Evil dragon emperors aren't overthrown in just a day. :P

Anyways, I enjoyed it. The detail you've put into it and the inclusion of a new character made this a good finish to chapter 1.

Hmmm, I'm curious just how far Misora would have explored her body if she didn't have to worry about the fire. >:3 /obligatory perverted comment

[DragonMasterX]

I bet she would've lost time looking for a comfy bed, probably! :3