Kiss of the Dragon God

Old folk said the flood was the worst in living memory. They believed the Mizuchi, the dragon god who controlled the ebb and flow of the Kawashima, was angry. Some sages suggested the Emperor’s erecting of banks along parts of the river in order to prevent floods angered Mizuchi. Rites and ceremonies were preformed to appease the god, but so far they came to naught. Mizuchi raised more storms and the river continued to swell.

As Princess Kusaka watched the raging torrent, something moved beneath the yellow water and white foam. An arching back rose from the depths. The Princess realised she was looking at some colossal creature swimming down river, a serpentine form that threw itself into a series of loops. It was hundreds of feet long. As a child, Princess Kusaka had seen a dead whale washed up on the coast of the Seto Inland Sea. The thing now moving down the Kwashima was far, far longer. The muscular snake-like body was covered with black scales that shone with a metallic, bluish tinge. A crest of spines like immeasurable rose thorns ran down its back. As more of the coils moved into view, she saw the creature’s wings unfurl from its back, like ornate fans as large as the sails of a warship.

At the very moment she realized she was looking at the dragon god, his massive head broke the waves. It was the size of a peasant house and somewhere between a horse and a crocodile in shape. The head was crowned by branching horns the size of small trees. The jaws gaped, showing rows of teeth longer than swords. Red barbels, like those of a catfish, sprouted from the upper jaw and trailed thirty feet. His green eyes burned like angry lanterns. The god’s nostrils flared as he shot vapour in twin jets to the sky, where it condensed and fell again as lashing rain.

Princess Kusaka should have been afraid. She realized, with a mixture of horror and excitement, that she was aroused. The play of the muscles beneath the god’s shining scales, the burning green of his eyes, and the constant writhing of his facial barbels stirred her in a manner she was not accustomed to.

The Princess tried to check the rising heat between her legs but could not. She was a Princess, but she was attracted to a monster? No, not a monster; a god. Was it not said the lineage of the Nipponese Emperors began with Jimmu, who himself was said to have descended from the goddess Amaterasu? Yes, the lust she felt was perfectly natural. The seed of the gods had been in her blood, as it was her father’s, and all of the royalty before him. That was why she found no interest in mortals. She herself was a goddess and she needed a god to satisfy her.