Chapter Text
The entire world was burning, not literally, of course, everything Eijiro had known was going up into flames. The forest surrounding Eijiro’s village was assaulted by the orange and red flames, not even the moon or stars could be seen through the thick blanket of smoke.
Eijiro had never run so quickly in his life, each footfall was fast but careful, he couldn’t afford to stumble now. He thought about taking to the skies but he knew he’d be shot down even under the concealment of night. All throughout his twelve years of life Eijiro had been prepared for something like this, his mother’s words now echoed in his mind.
Run Eijiro, do you hear me? If trouble arises you run as far and as fast as you can. Don’t come looking for me or your father, you run until the morning’s sunrise.
And he did, his life depended on getting as far away from home as possible.
“Fan out and search the forest, leave no survivors!”
Fear froze his veins. Eijiro was much faster than humans but the King’s horses were much faster, he had to hide if he was ever going to have the chance to live. Eijiro glanced back, making sure that he wasn’t being followed, and ran into something causing him to fall back. Looking up, Eijiro realized that he hadn’t run into something but someone, a human. Scrambling back, he tried to escape but his body was frozen. Move! Move now!
The human, a boy about his age by its look, just stared at Eijiro in confusion. “Are you a dragon?”
Without thinking Eijiro nodded his head. This was the best he could do, keep the boy talking so he didn’t kill him. “Half-breed,” Eijiro whispered.
“I’ve never met a dragon before.”
“Half-breed!” Eijiro said with more confidence. Real dragons were nearly extinct now but there were still a few dozen villages where the half-breeds resigned, his father had fallen in love with a dragon shifter, his mother, and thus when Eijiro was born he had turned out more like his mother than father. He was always promised that when he grew older he would be taught the ways of shifting, now he was lucky if he grew to see the coming sunrise.
“Here let me help you up.” The boy leaned down and held out his hand but Eijiro flinched away. “I’m not going to hurt you,” He said with an innocence only a child could possess.
“You’re- you’re not going to kill me?”
“Kill you, why would I do that?”
“Because that’s what humans do to us, they hunt us down and kill us!”
The boy opened his mouth but then promptly closed it, choosing to instead sit next to Eijiro. He seemed to think over Eijiro’s words, deciding what to respond with the utmost consideration. “I cannot speak on behalf of mankind but I would never hurt you, friends don’t do that.”
“Friends?”
“Yes, friends, that is what we are now.”
“You’ll never see me again,” Eijiro promised, he intended to get out of this god-forsaken country if he could manage it.
“That doesn’t make our friendship less valid.” He looked down then snapped his head up and excitedly pulled out a simple gold necklace, its pendant in the shape of the royal family’s crest, and held it out to Eijiro. “My father said this brings protection to its wearer so you must take it!”
Eijiro looked at the necklace warily but took it, clasping it to his neck and tucking it under his tunic. He looked around, trying to find something to give the boy in return, finally he held out his arms and delicately plucked out one of his dragon scales. It was shiny and black, the color all dragon children are born with, his adult scales would grow when he reached maturity and could be any color under the rainbow. Carefully he grabbed the boy’s hand and placed the scale in his palm, closing his fingers on top of it. “For you, keep it safe as it can heal a lot of human ailments.”
“Really?” The boy asked excitedly.
Eijiro nodded and stood up. “I have to go.”
“It was nice meeting you…” He trailed off.
“Eijiro.”
“Nice meeting you Eijiro, I’m Katsuki.”
Eijiro nodded. Both boys jumped at the sound of cannon fire, the fear and severity of the situation set in again and Eijro took a step back, preparing to run. Katsuki looked back at him then at the burning sky, seemingly trying to make up his mind.
“I’ll distract them, just get out of here!” Katsuki said and that was all Eijiro needed to hear before fleeing back into the forest.
XXX
Eijiro had just disappeared into the trees when General Enji trampled into the clearing. “Your Highness,” He said, kneeling.
“General what’s going on?”
“Dragons, Your Highness, they're causing havoc.”
“We’re in dragon country?” Katsuki didn’t remember crossing into dragon country this morning while on his and his father’s hunting trip.
“More like they’re in our country and they’ve broken our peace agreements.”
Katsuki wanted to believe the general but Eijiro’s words came back to him.
Because that’s what humans do to us, they hunt us down and kill us!
He’d never seen a dragon until tonight but he heard stories about the dragon shifters and humans living peacefully, what happened to change that?
Katsuki shook his head, he had to protect his friend. The scale in his breast pocket burned his skin, General Enji would surely kill Eijiro if he found him. “So what are we to do?”
“King’s orders were for you to retreat.”
“What! But I want to stay with father and help out our men!” It wasn’t a complete lie Katsuki did want to stay with his father and help out but he wanted to help in healing not killing.
General Enji shook his head. “We need to go, no arguing.” He grabbed Katsuki’s hand and led him in the same direction Eijiro had run. Katsuki dug his heels into the ground and tried to wrench his wrist out of General Enji’s grasp. “What’s wrong?”
“We can’t go that way I… I heard a noise!”
“A noise?” General Enji asked unconvincingly.
“Yes a noise, a big scary noise so we must go this way.” Katsuki pointed in the opposite direction.
“But-”
“Are you questioning me? You’re supposed to protect me, you can’t do that if you’re dead! We’re going this way.” Katsuki marched off and General Enji had no other choice but to follow. He quickly took the lead and Katsuki let him. He looked back to the forest and smiled softly.
Go my friend, I believe in you.
XXX
*TEN YEARS LATER*
Eijiro, Eijiro, Eijiro. That name had long since been lost to time, he still kept it close but the name that had once been given to him by his parents, a name which held a high honor must now be hidden away from everyone.
“Kirishima, are you even listening to me?”
Kirishima shook his head, clearing away the thoughts that were distracting him, and looked down to his friend. Denki Kaminari had been there for Kirishima through thick and thin. They had met shortly after his village was burned to the ground. Kirishima never had the heart or the strength to go back, to see if anyone survived, because he knew what would be waiting for him: ashes and bones. Denki never cared that Kirishima was a half-breed and their mutual need to survive outweighed any other concerns the two boys might have for each other.
“What are you thinking?” Denki asked, following Kirishima’s eyes, trying to see if he was looking for something.
“Nothing, I’m assuming you have a plan?”
“I saw a party enter the tavern tonight, looked like they carried a lot of coin.”
Kirishima had seen them too, he never got a good look but from what he did see Kirishima knew that Denki was right, they had money to spare. But what Kirishima also saw was something dangerous and not to be messed with. Kirishima loved Denki as if he was family but he had a tendency to dive into things without thinking and that meant that Kirishima had to constantly bail them out of shitty situations.
“I don’t know man, I think we should go for our usual targets.”
“And let them go? No way we hit them and we will be eating like kings for the rest of the month, we might even have a real place to stay for the night!”
As if they would ever let me in.
Kirishima no longer looked like the dragon children he grew up with, sure he still had the glowing red eyes and scales lining his face and limbs but that was all he could claim. His tail and wings were missing entirely, cut off and burned to make sure they never grew back, one horn had grown normally but the other was sawed off half an inch from the base, his claws had been shortened to look more like human nails. He was a monstrosity and would never be accepted into human society.
“You better have an amazing plan or else I’m ditching you and hitting our usuals,” Kirishima sighed.
Denki grabbed a stick and started to draw out his plan in the dirt. “I say plan 57 I will take out the two on the right and you take out the two on the left then you go for the blonde he will be so scared that he will drop all of his money!” He looked up, pleased with himself, “It’s perfect!”
“That’s it? That’s your plan?”
“We’ve done this hundreds of times, we don’t need plans anymore.”
“You truly are an idiot.”
“Come on, we have the basics down, we'll just make it up as we go!”
“Did you not hear me when I said they were dangerous!”
“I heard you, I just don’t care.” Denki placed a hand on Kirishima’s shoulder. “Come on man I can’t do this without you.”
Kirishima rolled his eyes and pushed Denki’s arm off. “Fine but if you get in trouble I’m not bailing you out,” He warned.
“Deal!”
XXX
Night had approached and the town was either asleep or drunk. Kirishima and Denki had been here for a little over three weeks, during the day Denki would go in and look for odd jobs, taking anything even for one measly coin and Kirishima stayed in the forest surrounding the village. But the setting of the sun was when their real work began.
Kirishima hated stealing, even as a child he thought the act was repulsive and represented all the other dragons poorly, but now he had no choice if he wanted to eat he had to take it from someone else. They still had morals though, the pair studied the townspeople before making their rounds. Families, children, homeless people, and many more who were just like them were safe. But the people who waste their money or are awful to their neighbors often leave with their pockets significantly lighter.
This group fit that bill perfectly, while their clothes looked plain from a first glance, upon further inspection there was a kind of craft only the nobility could afford. Quality leather, clean linen, real gold buttons, and buckles all showed signs of wealth. The wealth that was soon to be Kirishima’s and Denki’s.
They waited on either side of the path, the trees and foliage concealing them from view, Kirishima could hear the group before they entered his sight he nodded to Denki, who nodded back, and they both drew up their hoods and face cloths. The last thing they needed was to be recognized. Kirishima blew out a quiet but steady stream of smoke, in seconds the entire area was clouded by Kirishima’s smoke, and both men easily overpowered their opponents. They carried small coin bags and Kirishima slipped them into his pocket, at least they would have something if their big prize got away.
Speaking of the big prize, Kirishima could hear the unsheathing of a sword and instinctively ducked, the blade nearly missed him and Kirishima jumped back pulling out his own blades.
“Where are you, you thief?”
Treading on light feet, Kirishima snuck up behind the man and pressed one blade against his neck the other against his stomach. “Struggle and these blades will end your life,” He whispered in the man’s ear. “Now drop your weapon.”
A second later and Kirishima could hear the thump of the sword hitting the floor. He wasn’t expecting him to give up so easily but still kept his guard up, there was a high chance he had another weapon on him. “Now we have two options: either you give me your money willingly or I kill you and take it, what do you say?”
“You think I’d just give everything I have to a petty thief?”
“You speak boldly for a man who has a sword against his neck.”
“You won’t do shit.”
“What makes you say that?”
“Because if you wanted to kill me you would’ve done it by now.”
“I don’t like killing people.”
“I have a hard time believing it.”
Kirishima pushed the man down, he hit the ground hard, and before he could scramble away, he put his entire weight onto the man’s chest and stabbed one of his swords in the man’s shirt, pinning him down. Kirishima glanced down at his opponent and his eyes grew wide in shock.
The momentary distraction was all the man needed to overthrow Kirishima. He rolled to the side, ripping his shirt, and picked up his fallen blade charging at Kirishima. The man swung but missed by mere inches. Kirishima picked up his dual blades and charged. The sound of clashing metal rang out in the dead of night, neither could find the advantage against the other.
Damn it Denki where are you?
If Denki wasn’t around to help out that could only mean one thing, he was in trouble. Already knowing Kirishima was going to break his promise, he jumped out of the man’s reach and bolted away. He wasn’t going to give up that easily though and soon the man gave chase. Little did he know that was what Kirishima wanted.
Using his size to his advantage, Kirishima stopped suddenly and used his momentum to punch the man. He wasn’t expecting the sudden attack and couldn’t dodge it in time, Kirishima’s fist made contact with his stomach and the man doubled over in pain. Kirishima shoved the man against a tree and tied the man to it using some rope he carried on him. He was about to leave when Kirishima turned and ripped a strip of cloth off of his shirt to use a makeshift gag.
“You’re really going to leave me here?”
“Don’t worry someone will find you.” Kirishima smiled, “Eventually.”
“Why let me live, why not kill me?”
“Because I don’t like to kill people.” Kirishima looked down to his chest and pulled out the small gold chain he still wore around his neck. “And besides, friends don’t do that.”