Through The Fire And The Flames (1/20)
Title: Through The Fire And The Flames
Author: thanku4urlove
Pairing: Hikaru-centric, side pairings to come!
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Um... Dragons?
Genre: Fantasy AU
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Summary: The village where Hikaru and his friends live has a bit of a dragon problem. While most of the people in the town want the dragons wiped out, Hikaru believes that there has to be some good in the creatures. Through a shocking near-death experience, he comes to find that there is more to the dragons than even he could imagine.
A/N: This is a bit of a monster! I wrote it for National Novel Writing Month, which is all about writing 50,000 words (the minimum length for a work to be considered a novel) in one month. I finally got through editing the whole thing, so I decided to to begin posting it. The idea was taken a bit from How To Train Your Dragon (if you care about that idk) and I hope you enjoy it! Banner cred: ryosukekoibito
As a strong woman who ruled a large coastal village with an iron fist, Yaotome Katsumi was steadfast and almost completely unshakeable in her beliefs. She knew what she wanted, and she knew the best way, morally and effectively, to get it. She knew what had to get done, and how to do it, whether it be something as simple as cleaning the dishes after a meal or something as complicated as coordinating a peace treaty.
So, as her youngest child, Hikaru found it his calling, birthright, and moral obligation to disagree with her a large majority of the time. Well, not exactly-moral obligation was a bit on the extreme-but he had inherited her mental strength in the same way he had inherited her dark hair, brown eyes, and her height. He was as sure of himself as she had taught him to be, and as he grew through life and began to think for himself more and more, it became increasingly difficult for them to see eye-to-eye.
A large majority of their squabbles weren’t loud or angry, usually over things small and inconsequential like how to prepare sheep-"meat was not meant to be boiled, mother"-or whether or not Hikaru should grow his facial hair into something substantial, an idea that she was excited about and he was adamantly against. Squabbles turned into stronger fights as Hikaru progressed into his teenage years, getting worse when Hikaru’s older sister moved into the city with her husband and newborn baby. There was usually some yelling, but there was always an apology, with either one side conceding or a compromise being reached. The house never stayed too tense for too long.
There was one topic, however, that they had never reached an agreement on. Because of this, Hikaru always tried as hard as he could to simply swallow his tongue when it was brought up. They were on opposite ends of the spectrum about the matter, but Hikaru didn’t speak out against her for fear of their relationship being shaken into something unstable. That thing was dragons.
Dragons had been a part of Hikaru’s life for it’s entirety, and not necessarily in a good way. The beasts lived somewhere across the ocean in the east, and spend nine out of the twelve months a year touching down on their edge of the mainland and doing some damage. The word ‘attack’ seemed too vicious in description, because their raids on their village were never particularly malicious, in Hikaru’s opinion. No lives had been lost in the past fifteen years due to the dragons coming, but livestock was shamelessly taken, and entire barns of grain or animals were sometimes burnt to the ground.
To Hikaru, it seemed ridiculous to stay in an area that was known for dragon activity. Sure, he loved his home; the access to open water was one of the best things about the peninsula, and the loud bustle of human activity was considerably less in this town than in the city. But the city had countless defenses to keep the dragons out, defenses that had proven incredibly effective. It would be smart to install some of those devices on the peninsula, but the sloping land and soft grass would make recreating the tall stone walls that the city had extremely difficult. They had watchtowers and cannons that were decent for warning ahead and initial defense, but that was about it. Once the dragons had landed, all the protection they had was hand-held weapons. Swords and spears and pickaxes were simply poor planning against a creature that had claws, teeth, wings longer than your body, and an internalized flame thrower.
Despite their deadly anatomy and their apparent willingness to use it against him and his neighbors, despite the need to protect everyone and the fact that yes, dragons were dangerous and quite destructive, Hikaru couldn’t just buy into the idea that dragons were mindlessly brutal killing machines, like his mother did. She was sold on the idea of them being nothing but bad news. He understood why, and he understood why most of the town was behind her on that decision--in her mind, protecting her people was her first priority, and dragons threatened that commitment. To her they weren’t fascinating, awe-inspiring animals, and trying to understand them on any level would be a waste of time. They were only life-threatening evil. But Hikaru couldn’t just succumb to that idea. They were still creatures, and all creatures were compassionate on some level, weren’t they?
Granted, it definitely did not feel that way right now, Hikaru pressed up against the wood of a barn wall with one of those winged reptilians approaching, its big eyes open wide, the three feet of space between them inching closed. Hikaru’s breath was shallow in his chest, every sense hyperaware, his heartbeat loud and panicked at the base of his throat. He couldn’t decide if it would be more dangerous to stoop and grab his sword, which lay on the ground only inches from his left foot, or to maintain eye contact.
The dragons had flown in together as the sun was setting, their silhouettes black against the reddened horizon, announcing themselves with high-pitched screeching and fire. As soon as the warning bells began chiming from the watchtowers, children were pushed into safe underground cellars and the cannons were manned, everyone else drawing out their weapons. The dragons couldn’t have been on the land for longer than a few minutes, but Hikaru had already managed to scorch his entire left shirtsleeve, tattered fabric blackened and hanging from his elbow.
Though he was minutes away from being sliced into ribbons, Hikaru still found himself admiring the grandiose animal in front of him. It was huge and magnificent, its smooth scales a mix of blue and startling white, its wide wings half-folded into its sides and shaped more like a bird’s than a bat’s. Hikaru’s lack of movement had made it pause, and he could see it slowly calming, the frill of scaled skin around its neck flatting down, muscles losing their tension. It took a small step towards Hikaru in curiosity more than malice, its icy eyes blinking.
Foolish human curiosity was spurring on a desire to touch the dragon in front of him, simply to see what it felt like, to see if it really was as smooth and powerful as it looked. He reached forward hesitantly, extending his arm slowly, not keen on losing a hand. The dragon seemed to understand his intention and maybe even more, Hikaru feeling surprised and slightly triumphant by the intelligence in its eyes. He was positive the dragon could tell Hikaru wasn’t going to hurt it, and was going to return the favor, taking another step forward and extending its neck in Hikaru’s direction. Dragons were smart, and could be gentle. He knew it.
Maybe it was the winter air, and the fact that his fingers were numb from the cold, but the dragon scales were warm to the touch, smooth and hard. The epidermis between the scales very warm, giving a little flexibility with the slight pressure Hikaru applied.
A second after Hikaru’s palm made contact with the dragon’s muzzle the creature jolted and spun, turned completely away from him. At first, Hikaru assumed he had spooked it, but the dragon hadn’t fled, and there was another dragon in front of them now, colored with dark reds and browns. He had to duck around the blue dragon to see it though, because the blue dragon’s wings were opened wide enough to shield Hikaru from view. It was strange. Was he being protected?
Apparently the arrival brought with it some communication to leave, because a few moments later the red dragon was gone, the blue dragon following into the sky without looking back, its wings spiraling air into Hikaru’s face, blowing his hair about and sending a chill up his spine. All the dragons were retreating, the sky clear within a matter of minutes, the strange, familiar calm that always occurred after an attack settling over everything.
“Body count!”
The sharp voice of the Chief rang through the masses, the silence and the stillness broken as everyone jumped into action at once. Looking around, Hikaru breathed a sigh when he didn’t see a sickeningly still body lying anywhere. Relief surged through his bones as he caught sight of his friends, alive and seemingly okay. He ran to them, wrapping one arm around each and bringing them close to his body.
“Watch the arm!” Inoo yowled, Daiki bursting into laughter as Hikaru released him and backed away, lips spilling out rushed and slightly horrified apologies. Sure enough, Inoo’s upper left arm was bleeding rather badly, the red stain making its way all the way down the fabric of his sleeve, blood on his fingers, face, and even his hair, sticking together a few of the thick black locks. Inoo was wincing, only part of his face visible through the bangs that fell over his eyes.
“Don’t worry too much.” Daiki said, still laughing a bit. “It’s not actually that bad. He just swung his sword across his body too far and hurt himself.”
That did lessen Hikaru’s concern, Inoo giving Daiki an indignant look.
“You’re not sticking to the story!” he protested, hitting Daiki’s chest with his free hand. “I took on a dragon, remember?”
Daiki just laughed some more, raising an eyebrow. The scene was sobered up considerably as Hikaru was pulled into a strong hug, causing Daiki and Inoo both to fall silent.
“Thank goodness, you’re safe.” The fierce affection could only belong to one person, Hikaru relaxing into his mother’s embrace and curling his arms around her shoulders, hugging back.
“Yeah Mom, I’m fine.”
She released him, holding him from her body at arm’s length, looking over him with the careful eyes that had been attuned to spotting any ailments or injuries over the years. “I saw you getting cornered, and I just didn’t know…”
“I’m okay, really.” Hikaru insisted, knowing that trying to squirm free would be no use. But he didn’t have to stand there long, Katsumi nodding and drawing back when she saw he was right.
“Inoo’s the one that needs help.” Hikaru added, gesturing to the two on his left.
“Inoo?” Her eyes grew instantly concerned and she turned to him. Her eyes latched immediately to the wound on his arm, the one that Hikaru was talking about. “Inoo! What happened?”
“He took on a dragon, Chief.” Daiki said with the utmost seriousness, face completely steady. Hikaru hid his snort of laughter by coughing into his hands, nodding along, and the three of them were dismissed, walking to the infirmary together. The building was long, skinny, and rather busy, as it always was after a storm of dragons flew in. There must not have been anyone in a life threatening state though, because despite how minor Inoo’s injury was, he was called over by a nurse almost immediately.
“That should be the last dragon attack of the year.” Daiki said as the nurse began bandaging Inoo’s arm. “Winter is on its way, so the dragons will start sleeping soon. We won’t see them again until the spring begins. How is it that the cold and boring winter months became my favorite?”
“Because they’re boring.” Inoo answered, wincing and hissing, the nurse not being in the least bit apologetic as she wrapped his arm a little tighter. “It’s wonderful. No more bursts of fire headed for your face, no more razor-sharp claws or piercing horns for your impending impalement…”
“Oh come on. No one has ever been impaled.” Hikaru countered, cutting off Inoo’s over-dramatic lamenting. Daiki raised an eyebrow at him under his raggedly cut bangs.
“Are you sure?” he asked. The question made Hikaru doubt himself.
“I don’t think it’s happened.” Hikaru wasn’t sure, but people being shish-kabobbed didn’t sound like anything he had heard of before.
“That’s what I would do if I were a dragon.” Daiki said. “Just put my head down and run.”
Inoo made a face at that, Hikaru laughing, the nurse saying they could go. Now sufficiently patched up, he hopped down from the bed he was on, the three of them making their way to the exit. When Daiki opened the door, the three of them came face to face with a worried Takaki Yuya.
“Takaki!” Daiki exclaimed. As the son of the head doctor for their village, it wasn’t strange to see Takaki in the infirmary. He appeared to be on a mission though, strolling through the door with a purpose. He gave them a small smile in greeting, stopping when Daiki asked him a question.
“Did you accidentally hurt yourself, like Inoo did?”
“I took on a dragon.” Inoo insisted. That made Takaki laugh, and he shook his head.
“It’s not me, it’s Yabu. He actually did take on a dragon, like the idiot he is.”
“Wait, are you serious?” Hikaru asked.
“Yeah, he ran after one that was trying to steal Yamashita’s pigs. The pig is still gone, and so is a little piece of his shoulder. It’s not that bad though,” he added quickly, seeing their worried expressions. “He’s being taken care of at his house already, so I’m just grabbing some more stuff.”
Then he continued on his way. The three of them did the same, stepping out into the dusk.
“Should we go visit him? You know, to see if he’s okay?” Hikaru asked. He wanted to, but his friends weren’t as enthusiastic.
“Maybe.” Inoo shrugged with one shoulder. “Not right now at least, because there are probably a bunch of people there already. Besides, we don’t really know him that well.”
That was true. Hikaru had only spoken to Yabu a handful of times, despite him being a mutual friend.
“Plus, Takaki didn’t seem that worried, so he’s probably fine.” Daiki concluded. “If you really want to, we could stop by tomorrow, or something.”
Yabu and his family were relatively new to the town, only arriving eight months prior. His father was a doctor, and people with medical training were in much higher demand on the peninsula than in the city, which was the reason for their moving. They were all friendly and already had combat training, causing them to fit in rather instantaneously. Though the conversations Hikaru had had with him were few and far between, there was something about him that Hikaru liked, though he couldn’t put his finger on what it was. Yabu seemed to be doing well and had a good friend in Takaki Yuya, so Hikaru’s curiosity had stayed just that, and no large effort had been made to befriend him.