Through The Fire And The Flames (4/20)
Title: Through The Fire And The Flames
Author: thanku4urlove
Pairing: Hikaru-centric, Keito/Yuto
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:Things finally get exciting in this chapter!! Or at least, I'm excited. Banner cred:
ryosukekoibito
Previous Chapters: 1 | 2 | 3
Their late staying up caused a late rising as well, the sun already high in the sky when Hikaru opened his eyes. The dragons weren’t in their reptilian form, instead sitting cross-legged and picking at a roasted sheep. The sight of the almost strangers brought everything from the night before flooding back. Hikaru shook Yabu gently awake, and after his third face-poking did he finally stir.
“I had this dream about…” Yabu’s voice was slow with sleep, cutting himself off when he saw Keito and Yuto sitting together. “Or it wasn’t a dream.”
Hikaru laughed. “C’mon. Let’s eat.”
They got smiles from both Yuto and Keito as they approached.
“Good morning!” Yuto declared happily, making Hikaru smile back.
“Good morning.” He and Yabu both gave greetings, the four of them making slightly awkward and rather irrelevant small talk as they ate breakfast. When they reached a lull in conversation, Keito opened his mouth.
“I’ve decided I’m going to leave and get help.” He said. Hikaru understood the full implications of his decision, and he was surprised. Keito was going to leave, and he and Yabu were being trusted not to hurt someone that he cared for quite a lot.
“However… I’m going to have to either take your weapons with me, or have you drop them into the water before I go.”
Well, not entirely trusted. Hikaru could understand him though, so he nodded.
“Okay. We understand.”
Completely losing their weapons to the sea below was an option neither of them really wanted, so once Keito had his wings and a breath of fire, they handed their weapons off. He grabbed them from their hands, and with a wave of his wings he was into the air, the three of them watching as he flew up and out of sight.
What Hikaru hadn’t anticipated was how awkward it would be with just himself, Yabu, and Yuto alone, the young man sitting at the edge of the precipice and humming to himself.
“I have another question.” Yabu said, breaking the slowly forming silence. Yuto turned happily, eager to answer.
“Yeah?”
“Well… Aren’t you guys all supposed to be sleeping? Dragons usually sleep through the winter, don’t they?”
That was a good question. Winter was completely upon them now; as far as they knew, the dragons would always curl up in their dens and sleep through the cold months. At least, that’s what Hikaru had been told.
“We usually do.” Yuto agreed. Then he shrugged, his next statement coming off much more lighthearted than it actually was. “We just weren’t able to find enough food to last us all the way through the winter this year.”
“Oh.”
That made Hikaru wonder more about where the dragons lived. It was a land somewhere in the east, not visible from the shores of his home, and all he knew was that it was a rather terrible place. He had assumed it was terrible simply because it housed a clan of dragons--could it not sustain life well?
“Is that why you guys attack our land so often?”
The question came out much more negatively than he had meant it, making him clamp his mouth tightly and offer Yuto an apologetic look. Yuto waved it off.
“Yeah, if that’s how you want to put it. Our rocky piece of land is no good for actually living on.” He explained. “We can’t really grow crops, and there’s barely enough room for livestock. Most of the area is just little dens like this one where everyone lives and stores whatever treasures they’ve collected. We’re just a bunch of hoarders. Am I talking too much?”
Hikaru shook his head. He was fascinated by everything coming out of Yuto’s mouth, and he wanted to know more. “Hoarders?” he asked.
“Dragons are notorious collectors. I’m not sure why.” Yuto made a little contemplative face. “It’s just… You see something, and you know you have to have it. Most of us have stashes of jewels or gold hidden away--you know, the usual sparkly stuff--but I collect glass. Glass is incredible, it can change the color of light, and when it’s bent and you look through it…” Yuto trailed off, as though realizing he was straying off topic. “My collection is pretty important to me. That’s how most of the dragons feel.”
“Have dragons always been able to turn into people?” Yabu asked. Yuto made another face, twisting his lips into a look of contemplation.
“We were people first, I think.” He responded. “I’m only a fourth generation dragon, so…” he counted on his fingers. “My great grandparents were just human.”
“Then how are you able to transform?”
“No idea, honestly.” Yuto let out a laugh. “The story we are told is that, when exiled, our leader Masahiko became so angry that he turned himself into the creature most feared by his enemy, but we all know that isn’t true. And if it is, I’m grateful he wasn’t afraid of moths, or something.”
That made both Hikaru and Yabu laugh. Hikaru would never have guessed that the actual existence of dragons was such a new development, but he figured that they had been in his life so regularly that it was difficult to imagine a world without them.
“Am I talking too much yet?” Yuto asked again, and to that Hikaru again shook his head.
“Are we asking too many questions?” Yabu asked back.
“Nope.” Yuto smiled. “All I’ve been able to do is rumble and snort for the past two days, so this is nice.”
“I, actually…” Hikaru didn’t really realize how awkward his question was until it was halfway out of his mouth. “I was wondering about you and Keito.”
Yuto didn’t shy away or clam up, which was what Hikaru expected; there wasn’t a trace of embarrassment anywhere in the smile lighting up his face as he answered.
“I love him.”
However, that was all he had time to say before a slapping sound and a triumphant yell rang out from behind them. Hikaru recognized the voice, but he was completely unable to believe who his brain thought the voice belonged to. There was an arm in sight, gripping tightly to the cliff’s edge. Soon, a head, torso, and legs finally pulled themselves up, and the stocky body collapsed.
“Daiki?!”
Hikaru ran to his friend, completely bewildered by his appearance. How had he gotten here? “Did you just… Climb all the way up?”
Daiki rolled on to his back, exhausted but smiling when his eyes found Hikaru’s.
“Hey.” he said in greeting, sitting up slowly. “You’re alive, thank god.”
Sinking to his knees, overwhelmed with relief upon seeing Daiki, Hikaru pulled him into a fierce hug. Daiki squeezed just as hard back, a shout traveling up to them a few seconds later.
“If you don’t throw that rope down now, my arms are going to fall off.”
“Inoo?”
Hikaru looked over the edge to see a tiny boat at the very bottom of the steep rock face. Takaki was standing in it and had his arms extended, as though ready to catch Inoo. Inoo himself wasn’t very close to the top at all, looking up with gritted teeth.
“Wait, really?” Yabu ran up next to Hikaru, smiling and waving and shouting down.
“Yabu!” Takaki called, waving back.
“Rope!” Inoo yelled. Daiki had a rope--the one Inoo was yelling for, Hikaru assumed--tied around his waist, and he scrabbled with it, untying it and taking it off. He handed some of it to each of them, and once they all had a firm grip, he threw the rest of it down.
“Got it?”
A few moments of silence, then the answer to Daiki’s question.
“Yeah!”
“Pull!”
They did, Yuto latching on behind Hikaru to help. It wasn’t very difficult with four people all tugging, and before long Inoo was yanked into view. They repeated the process again for Takaki, and before too long they were all standing around, sharing hugs and disbelieving exclamations.
“What are you guys doing here?” Yabu asked, one arm around Takaki’s shoulders. “How did you find us?”
“Well, when we saw you guys getting carried off a few days ago, we decided that if we didn’t go look for you, who would?” Daiki said with a smile. Inoo was rubbing his arms, wincing and giving Hikaru a look.
“Seriously Hikaru, you’re lucky I love you enough to save your sorry ass all the time--”
“You didn’t even help with rowing!” Takaki exclaimed at him.
“Anyway,” Daiki continued loudly. “We had been coasting around offshore when we saw that blue dragon that snagged you flying away from this island. We figured if there was something up here, we could at least bring your skeletons back home.”
That was a grim thought.
“Everyone is worried about you guys.” Takaki said. “Hikaru, your mom is a bit of a mess.”
“Oh.” Hikaru felt terribly guilty. “We’ve been perfectly fine up here.”
“Well, we’ve been a little cold and thirsty, but otherwise fine.” Yabu corrected.
“How--”
Whatever Takaki was going to say was cut off by Inoo’s question.
“Who’s this?”
He pointed at Yuto, just now noticing him, surprise completely unrestrained. Yuto smiled and gave a small wave, expression a little nervous.
“I’m Nakajima Yuto.”
The three stared, waiting for more information.
“I--Well, it’s…” He trailed off for a moment, not sure what to say or how to explain. “I’m a--”
“He’s here with us. He’s injured.” Hikaru said quickly, diverting attention away from Yuto and back on to himself. The truth about dragons and the fact that Yuto was one definitely needed to be addressed, especially before Keito came back, but Hikaru was completely clueless on how to go about it. He glanced at Yabu, who understood and gave him a tiny nod. He had an idea.
“Hey, so don’t freak out, but--”
He had barely managed to catch their attention before four huge dragons landed on the cliff’s edge in a clattering of talons and wings. Daiki let out a loud yell of surprise, jumping back; none of them had seen the dragons approaching, too caught up in finally seeing each other again. Takaki drew his sword out but then faltered because really, what was one sword going to do? The dragons took no notice, bypassing their existences entirely, and Yuto jogged to catch up with them, heading into the cave. There were three new dragons, and they all looked drastically different: one of them had a similar build to Keito himself, but the coloring was of blended purples and pinks, spine topped with spikes, reminding Hikaru of a flower with thorns. The second dragon was thin and solid green, its legs spaced far apart on its long body. It had a fanning tail and horns, and was rather small--though it may have just looked that way because the dragon behind it was huge, red and brown and absolutely volcanic. Hikaru recognized that dragon. It was the one that Keito had protected Hikaru from the very first time they had interacted.
“Is he crazy?” Inoo hissed, standing completely still, watching Yuto’s disappearing back. “What is he doing? They’re going to spit-roast him!”
Keito, Yuto, and two of the dragons went deep under the rock overhang, the large red and brown one sitting in front of the opening and spreading his wings so that the five of them couldn’t pass into the cave, even if they wanted to. It didn’t move once assuming that position, staring into the ocean and not paying them any attention.
“Why aren’t we doing anything?” Takaki asked. “We can’t just stand here and let those dragons eat him.”
“They’re not going to eat him.” Hikaru said. “Listen, we need to explain something.” He had no idea how to say what he needed to without sounding crazy--because honestly, it was completely insane--so he decided to be frank. “Dragons are okay. Yuto is a dragon. They can shape shift, and turn from dragons to people.”
He got blinks and deafening silence in response. Finally, eyeing him suspiciously, Inoo put his palm to Hikaru’s forehead, as though checking for fever.
“How long has it been since you’ve eaten?” he asked. “Are you sick? Dizzy?”
“He’s telling the truth.” Yabu said. “I know it sounds weird, and we were surprised too, but…”
There was a deep bouncing grumble coming from where the dragon was sitting, and when Hikaru looked at it, there was something that could only be described as amusement on its features.
“Could you give a demonstration, or something?” He asked. Inoo hit Hikaru in the chest.
“Don’t provoke him!”
“I do want to believe you guys, don’t get me wrong, but…” Daiki shared a hesitant look with the group. “You do realize how insane you sound, right?”
“We know, we know.” Yabu said quickly. “But their skin and bones just… And then its…” He gestured vaguely, unable to think of a way to explain. “And then bam. Dragon.”
“There isn’t a bam.” Hikaru felt the need to add. Takaki looked about ready to share a rather unkind part of his mind when a young man, unfamiliar to all of them, peeked out from the dragon’s right wing and began walking over. Despite the long brown pants and a white knit shirt he was wearing, it was obvious in everything from his physical appearance to the way he carried himself that he possessed an extreme strength. Wind-tousled hair framed his symmetrical face, dark and parted to the right.
“Who’s…” Daiki sounded a bit starstruck as he spoke.
“Where did he just come from?” Takaki asked, and Hikaru couldn’t do anything but shrug.
“Hello, I’m Yamada Ryosuke, and from what I understand only some of you actually know what’s going on.” He was brief and to the point, crossing his arms in front of his chest. Slow, synchronized nodding came from Inoo, Daiki, and Takaki.
“Great. Have these two told you anything?”
“Only a weird thing about shape shifting dragons or something, which is completely--”
“That’s correct.” Yamada cut Takaki off.
“But--”
Another stranger emerged, small in build and stature, shorter than Yamada was. He was followed out by Keito and Yuto, Keito now in his human form and Yuto sporting a great deal of bandages wrapped around his upper arm and shoulder blade.
“Okay seriously, where are these people coming from?” Inoo asked, sounding slightly frustrated. Then the red dragon shrunk down, folding in on itself, the red scales turning pink and smooth and fleshy. Once he was both completely human and completely dressed he jogged up to the group that was standing in front of Hikaru and his friends, brushing his bangs out of his eyes. Glancing back, Hikaru saw astonishment, shock, and even a bit of fear in the eyes of the newcomers.