Kari- a 14 year old girl who is often treated like a servant and is always being punched by her family. She channels her sadness through a jade flute she found at a river. Lives in the Tokebi Village.

Rushiki- a dragon who has been asleep for a thousand years. He has mystical powers that allow him to breathe fire, ice, and wind. This power also allows him to transform into a human to conceal his true form. He resides in the ruins near the Tokebi Village.

Prolougue

In the time where gods played and humans obeyed, is where this mysterious plot is unfolded before you, the reader. The story starts with the arrival of an enchanted child. Near Tokebi village, a warrior of the village looks for what caused a noise that made the village tremble with fear. Before him, a river full of crystal clear water. He searches for the noise’s core, he finds a child with the finest silk used as a blanket. He presumes that this was a sign of god’s good will toward the village. Accepting this thought of his, he carried the child back with him to the village. “Who wishes to claim this child as their own to care for?,” said the warrior. He hadn’t thought of this earlier, who would care for the child. All of a sudden, a couple came forward. “We shall take care of the child,” said the couple. Wondering why they, of all people, wanted the child. Before he could ask why, they had taken the child back to their hut. The warrior stopped asking himself why and began his patrol around the village.

Chapter One

“Kari! Have you started our breakfast?!,” said Memonse, Kari’s mother, who worked at a restaurant as a hostess. “Coming Mother!,” came from an exhausted girl clothed in a very old and dirty yukata. She started whipping up some soup, vegetables from their garden, and beef she bought from the local market the day before. This took a brief time of ten minutes to put all of the food on the fire, cook them, and serve them to her parents. “Breakfast’s done!,” she said hoping to receive approval of the meals she prepared. Instead, she was slapped by her father. “Can’t you cook something without burning it? Do better next time and as punishment, you won’t eat breakfast today. Now, go attend to your daily chores.,” came from Kanesh, her father, who worked on the farm and sold his vegetables to the local market. Kari walked in pursuit to go to the stables. “Memonse, why did we raise her?,” said Kanesh. Memonse replied by saying “Because she was a sign from our God, that’s why.” Kanesh finished the meal and swayed away leaving the table. He was going to go to the local market today which left Memonse with Kari together at the house. Kari, at the moment, was feeding the three horses in the stables. “I thought I did a good job on the meals today, guess not,” she said to Gin, her horse that her parents let her use. She often did this because there was no one else to talk to. Even when she went to the local market, she talked to no one and no one talked to her. She was scared her parents would scold her for talking to anyone. She lived in constant fear of them, always cautious of what she did and what they did. She spent the next few minutes brushing the horses’ manes to get out the tangles. Back in the local market, Kanesh was approached by a man, about the same age as him, who asked him if he had an unmarried daughter. Kanesh thought of what to say until he came to a conclusion of saying, “Yes, I do, she is of 14 years and is very pretty.” Hoping for a reply from the man, “I have a son who seeks a wife, may we meet your daughter? I will pay you for her if my son accepts her.” said the man. Kanesh was very happy to hear this, he could finally get rid of Kari and get some money. “My house is not that long from here, you and your son may come with me there as I leave,” said the overly eager Kanesh. The man agreed and left him to get his son. ‘This shall please Memonse when she hears this.’ After a few minutes, Kanesh, the man, and his son were traveling to the house. Kari was now preparing dinner for her mom, dad, and herself. She made sure not to burn anything this time. Memonse was picking flowers outside to put in a vase on the table. The meals were put on plates that lay on the table. Kari waited for her mother and father to get inside before she called for them. All of a sudden, Memonse was inside and grabbed Kari and told her, “Kanesh has brought home guests, find something nice to wear and fix two more meals, GET TO IT!!” As fast as she could, she put her up in a bun, changed into her kimono, and prepared the other meals. She wondered why Father had brought guests, especially so sudden while she waited for Father. Kanesh appeared with what seemed to be (in Kari’s opinion) a man who was about 45 years old and a boy about 16 years old. She immediately bowed when they noticed her presence. “Hello, nice to meet you, my name is Kari.” The two gasped by her politeness, because usually people were a bit unfriendly in Tokebi village. “It is very nice to meet you Miss Kari,” said the old man. Memonse motioned them all to the table for dinner. The two men sat and talked while they and the others ate. The old man to be known as Gaku said, “Kanesh, Kari is beautiful and very polite, she will make a perfect bride for my son, Masaya.” Masaya lit up a smile toward Kari when he said this. Kari, in her mind, was asking herself what to do. “Kari, why are you being so quiet?,” said Kanesh making Kari stop thinking. She slowly lifted herself out of the chair and said, “Please excuse me for a moment.” Her father nodded and she walked out of sight of the guests. Inside she was crying, she didn’t want an arranged marriage! She did the only thing she could do to avoid her parents and the marriage, she grabbed her jade flute she kept hidden and she ran toward the river she often went to for refuge when something went terribly wrong. There, she played the flute until dark. “What should I do now? It’s too dark to go back now,” said the worried Kari. She knew it was never a good idea to be alone when it’s dark. ‘I should find somewhere to sleep or at least to stay warm.’ She was thinking of where to go when she heard a ‘SNAP’ come from her left side. “Little girl, are you lost?” she heard from an unseen person ’Oh no! maybe it’s a bandit! I’ve got to try to get away from here.’ She began running away from the river and near that person. She kept running until she reached an unfamiliar place, the ruins. ’I can stay in a cave while I wait for morning.’ Looking right in front of her, she saw a cave that looked like nothing had been in it for a while. ’This looks safe enough, I’ll play my flute while I keep lookout in case he finds me again.’ Kari walked over to the cave and sat on a rock inside the cave playing a low pitched song. Farther inside the cave something was awoken to what seemed to be a flute. Kari, unaware of the other inhabitant inside the cave with her, continued playing until she fell asleep. Coming near, coming fast, a dragon was making its way toward the person who awoke him. When the dragon saw who it was, he decided to wake the girl and ask why she was here. He transformed into his human form and walked to her. “Girl, awake, explain why you are here.” It did not work as he thought it would. So, he crouched down near the girl and softly shook her shoulder. Kari woke up and slowly turned to see what woke her. She almost screamed when she a strange-looking man adorned in a blue kimono shirt and black hamaka pants embroidered with gold at the feet. He put his hand to her mouth trying to silence her. “Do not scream, I only wish to know why you are here, not to harm you I promise,” he whispered to her. She pushed his off her face and replied by saying, “I ran away from my home. I went to the river for a while. Someone was about to hurt me so I ran away and ended up here. I was going to stay here until dawn. I’m sorry if I disturbed you, Sir. I’ll go if you want.” “No, stay here, it’s too dangerous out there for you to be by yourself. I’ll let you stay until morning if you play your flute for me,” he said trying to courteous to the girl. “What do you want me to play?,” making sure to be extra nice to the man. “The tune you played not long ago and you can call me Rushiki,” he said. “Rushiki, you can call me Kari,” she said before playing her flute. He had a small smile on his face while he listened to the soothing flute. About two hours later, Kari was asleep and shivering from the coldness. Rushiki noticed this and went to her and put his white coat on her to stop her shivering. In moments, she was laying in Rushiki’s lap. He didn’t mind that much because he understood that she was only seeking comfort because of her previous events. Soon, Rushiki was asleep with Kari in his lap. They stayed like this until Kari woke up. “Ah! The sun is so refreshing!,” she hoped this gesture would wake Rushiki, but it failed miserably. She went over to where Rushiki was, up against the cave wall, and looked at him wondering what to do next. ‘He seemed like a nice person last night, should I risk the chances of upsetting him or let him stay there? Hey! I can look at his face without him suspecting me to be strange, I mean he’s just so beautiful!’ Her plan was perfect, except when she started singing. Rushiki was pondering on the thought that Kari was staring at his face and also thought of what to do next. “Rushiki’s face looks so soft, I want to touch it!,” she said just loud enough for Rushiki to hear. Kari slowly lifted her hand up to Rushiki’s face and gently touched the smooth face. Rushiki opened his eyes a little, but still not enough for Kari to notice, and grabbed her hand. This made Kari jump back, she thought he was asleep!"Good morning Kari,” came from the slightly smirking Rushiki. Instantly, Kari blushed, she replied by saying, “Hi, um, about last night, thank you for letting me stay with you. I’m sorry if I have been a burden to you.” Astonished to hear that she thought she was a problem to him, he stood up and said, “Kari, you are no burden to me. I actually enjoy your company. If you’d like, you could come travel with me all over the middle east.”