The Dragon's Pearl Chapter 2
CHAPTER 2
Cool breezes lifted Akihito’s soft brown hair as he ran after the little bird with beautiful blue and gray feathers. He had spotted it in a tree and tried to talk to it, but after giving him a long, curious look, it suddenly flew off, alighting moments later on a nearby shrub. He cautiously approached it again, and this time the bird let him get so close that he could see its beautiful golden eyes. Then it was off again, soaring so high he thought it had vanished into the clouds, only to reappear behind him, catching him by surprise and making him laugh. And on and on their little game went until Akihito tripped on a piece of rock and went sprawling face-first onto the grass.
“Ugh...” He gasped, the bird and their game forgotten as he realized that he had lost the treasures he had been carrying in the fall.
“Ooh...” Brushing at his scraped knee he decided that it didn’t hurt all that much and began to look for his cherished possessions. He let out a cry of joy when he spotted one of them lying in the grass, a beautiful green marble that his cousin had given him the last time he came over to visit. Then he saw his blue marble a few steps away, the sun glinting off the white vein that ran through it. But the purple one with grey spots, his second favorite after the one he had put in the dragon’s boat, proved more elusive. Akihito looked around desperately, his scraped knee beginning to bother him. Suddenly, the blue-and-gray bird reappeared from behind a shrub and began to circle a spot right next to it. Following the bird’s movements with his eyes, Akihito spotted his purple marble on the ground beneath its wings. He carefully picked up the marble and put it inside his kimono top along with its mates. When he looked up again, the bird was looking at him from a tree branch just ahead. Their eyes met and Akihito, reassured by its friendly demeanor, resumed his pursuit.
“Where are you going?” He cried when the bird made a sudden turn and sped away. “Birdie, come back! Come back!”
But the little bird had disappeared among the trees’ thick foliage, and when Akihito looked around, he became aware that he was standing on the bank of the Dragon’s River, and that he was very, very thirsty. He knelt down by the clear stream, dipped one hand and then the other in the cool water, then bent down and took a drink from his cupped hands.
“Oh is that...?”
His eyes widened at the sight of the familiar wooden boat floating silently toward him. It was the dragon’s boat! The one he had helped put offerings in the other day, only now it was empty and somehow bigger, and getting bigger the nearer it came. Then it stopped right in front of him and Akihito saw that it was much larger than the last time he had seen it, certainly large enough to carry him, and although he had never been on a boat before, he stepped confidently into it and his heart swelled with excitement as the boat began to move.
“Ooh, ooh, fish!”
Fish of all sizes and shapes and colors began to appear out of nowhere, seemingly attracted by the boat’s presence. Leaning over the side of the boat, he tried to touch the biggest and prettiest of them. Then he heard a splash followed by another, and another. - and realized with a sinking heart that his marbles, which he had tucked inside his kimono top, had fallen into the water. With a panicked cry, he plunged both arms in after them, causing the boat to tilt on its side, and he felt himself falling over. Cool water enveloped him. He tried to grab the side of the boat but missed, and water rushed into his nose and mouth, cutting off his cry. He squeezed his eyes shut, gasping desperately for breath and trying to clutch at something, anything, but finding nothing but water.
Suddenly strong hands grabbed him and pulled him against a warm chest. Akihito took in big gulps of air, crying and sobbing with shock and relief, and the first thing he saw when he opened his eyes again was a pair of golden eyes...