#abiten

“My name is Abi.  As you aware by now, I am the warrior chosen by the Blue Dragon god.”

“Heh.  You sure do talk big for someone who collapsed on the battlefield.”

“Now, now, Ryokuryuu, that is the power of Seiryuu.”

“I took out hundreds of more scoundrels that you and Hakuryuu combined.”

“She has a point, Ryokuryuu.”

“Ah… So these are the people the gods have chosen.”

That was the first time they spoke to each other.  The battle to save their new master was over, and they had run with Hiryuu thrown over Hakuryuu’s shoulder.  Their red-haired king, a dorky-looking guy by Shuten’s standards, was smiling as he tried to learn everyone’s names.  Ouryuu was tending to the fire, his blue eyes wide & his grin small, but it was difficult not to notice how his hands shook while he poked the firewood with a stick.  Hakuryuu, a huge old man that Shuten already didn’t like, was staring at Hiryuu with an uncomfortable amount of reverence.  And Seiryuu, or Abi as she called herself, was scowling at Shuten, obviously ready to fight him even though she was still paralyzed from the battle & had yet to thank him for carrying her from the danger.  Shuten didn’t like her too much.  Sure, she was pretty and her eyes were breathtakingly gorgeous, but that were her only good points.  “Don’t really need a warrior that gets useless so quickly,” he muttered.

"What about you, Ryoukuryuu?" Hiryuu asked, trying to stop a fight.  "What's your name?"

"Shuten!" he answered.  "Don't know about all this having to serve you bullcrap, but being a dragon's pretty fun."  Hiryuu's smile faltered, but he managed to laugh.

"We don't need a warrior who squanders his duties," Seiryuu snapped.

"Shut your fucking mouth," Shuten grumbled.  Not even his mother ever talked to him that way!  What a brat!  If he didn't have something against hitting an ally when they were down, he would've had Seiryuu's face meet the blunt end of his spear.

"And I'm Zeno!" Ouryuu shouted, surprisingly upbeat for someone so obviously shaken by the battlefield.  “I’m just a priest-in-training, so please take care of me!”  Ouryuu bowed comically.  Well, he was a pipsqueak and obviously useless, but Shuten figured he could at least try to get along with Ouryuu out of all these stupid dragons.

“You have a nice name, Zeno,” Hiryuu commented.  A small blush appeared on Ouryuu’s cheeks.  Nope, Shuten wasn’t going to get along well with him at all.

Hiryuu turned his head to look at Hakuryuu, who jumped at the sudden eye contact and shyly dodged his gaze.  Shuten wanted to vomit.  “What’s your name, Hakur--”

“Guen!” Hakuryuu shouted before Hiryuu could finish his question.  He smiled, wide and bright (and disgusting), and bowed deeply to Hiryuu.  “I will be your warrior and servant from here on.  It is my greatest pleasure to be able to serve the gods this way.”

Hiryuu moved to his knees and bowed, though not as deeply as Hakuryuu.  “A pleasure to meet you, Guen.  I am excited to know more about you, the man my White Dragon brother chose.”

Hakuryuu rose up only to bow again, this time to the dragons.  “It is wonderful to meet you all, as well, my brothers.”

Yep, Shuten was going to vomit.  “Yeah, let’s all get along,” he grumbled sarcastically.

(He would later regret his decision to not hit Seiryuu, because as soon as the blue warrior was able to move, Shuten’s cheek met the blunt end of her sword.)

A year into their journey, traversing broken states to claim the land for Hiryuu’s kingdom and finding followers of Hiryuu, Shuten figured he understood his so-called dragon “brothers” pretty well.  For all his kowtowing and exuberance towards Hiryuu, Hakuryuu had a short temper and terrible taste in food.  He could be ridiculously nice, but that never stopped him from being completely brutal on the battlefield.  He was the eldest of four kids, so he instinctively took care of everyone younger than him, and since he came from a village in the middle of nowhere, he had the strangest tastes in food (Shuten had never known anyone who could eat meat completely raw until he met Hakuryuu).  Overall, though, if they were both drunk and in the mood for finding some ladies, Shuten could get along plenty well with him.

Hiryuu was an idiot, but Shuten loved him.  Sure, it was definitely the dragon blood that drew him to the god-turned-human, but Shuten figured he would’ve liked Hiryuu regardless of if he had been chosen to be a warrior or not.  He knew so many things, from the age of mountains to the origins of rituals, and he worried for Shuten more than anyone ever had, so Shuten loved him.  He would give anything to stay by Hiryuu’s side forever.

Ouryuu was useless, in every sense of the word.  Couldn’t fight, couldn’t run very fast, didn’t even have powers!  He only knew simple things like how to skin animals, farming, and everything related to priesthood.  The only thing Shuten found remotely interesting about him was the fact that Ouryuu knew how to read, a skill Shuten never had the time to acquire.  But there was no way in hell Shuten would bother to ask Ouryuu to teach him, not when Shuten was already going out of his way to teach Ouryuu (and Hiryuu) how to fight.  But Ouryuu was also easy to talk to, always had an ear open for listening, and reminded Shuten of home sometimes.  Shuten would never admit it, but he didn’t mind Ouryuu’s presence in the slightest.

Seiryuu was the enigma.  She was a puzzle that Shuten couldn’t quite figure out.  Despite her noble status, she wielded a sword with skill and precision, so much so that she appeared to be dancing while in battle.  Despite her power easily being the strongest of the group’s, she could couldn’t use it often unless she was scouting.  Despite her cool exterior, she would fight with Shuten at the smallest of jabs.  It was like walking into enemy territory everytime Shuten engaged her.  And she only kept surprising him.

“You can call me by name,” she suddenly said one day while Hiryuu was at the market with Hakuryuu and Ouryuu.  Hiryuu’s castle was in the beginning stages of being built, and Seiryuu insisted on watching over its progress.  Shuten, with nothing better to do and nothing to buy, was walking the castle grounds with her.

“I already do,” Shuten responded.

“I mean my birth name, imbecile,” Seiryuu snapped.  “The one I told you when we met.”

“No way,” Shuten immediately replied.

Seiryuu furrowed her eyebrows, her mouth turning into a tight frown as she looked up at him.  “Why not?”

“Because it’d be weird to start calling you Abi after a whole year of Seiryuu.”

Seiryuu sighed, aggravation heavy in her breath, and stared at the path ahead of her.  “That is fair, I guess.  After all, it took me quite a bit of practice for me to become accustomed to saying your name.”

“Eh?  Which one?”

“Shuten.”

Shuten decided to ignore the way his chest tightened at the sound of someone other than Hiryuu calling him by birth name.  “It’s gross hearing you say that.”

Seiryuu scrunched her nose.  “Now that you mention it, I believe I’d be disgusted hearing you say my name, too.”

“Do you wanna fight?” he asked, immediately irked.

She shook her head.  “You’ve been letting me win lately.”

“Like hell I am!”  Sure, he had been going a bit easier on her, because he didn’t want to hurt her, but there was no way he’d let her win.

“Either way, it’s boring to keep winning.”

“Oi, you’re asking for it now.”

Before Shuten could grab the back of Seiryuu’s collar, she stopped and turned his way.  He stepped back out of surprise.  “I changed my mind,” she said, her face trained into its typical impenetrable expression.  “I want to know what my name sounds like coming from you.”

He stared at her, waiting for some sign that she was lying, but when he found nothing, he chuckled.  “What’s this all of a sudden?  Don’t tell me you’ve fallen for me, Seiryuu-chan.”

“Call me Seiryuu-chan again and I’ll murder you.”

He laughed and decided it wouldn’t hurt to at least give it a try.  “Abi.”

Her eyes widened, eyebrows raising, a tint of pink appearing on her cheeks.  If he was any other person, Shuten would’ve kissed that expression.  Before he could try anything, though, a fist suddenly collided with his cheek, and he heard Abi shout, “Disgusting!” before running away.

Oh, she was definitely asking for it.  “Get back here so I can beat you up, Seiryuu-chan!” he yelled after her.  Sure enough, Abi turned around and started storming right at him.  He dropped his spear and held up his fists, ready to absolutely not let her win.

(He would much rather their relationship stay like this forever, anyway.)

Hiryuu was dead.  They had little reason to stay anymore.  Especially after Abi was-- ah, it still hurt him just to think about it.  She was kidnapped for her eyes, almost killed for it, and he had heard her cry all too much ever since.  One snowy morning, the dragons said their goodbyes, brothers until the end, but no longer together.

Shuten wasn’t sure who he missed more, Hiryuu or Abi.  He was glad he was able to see both of their faces before their respective departures, and that he could still sense Abi, see her light when he closed his eyes, but it wasn’t the same.  Old age had made him such a sap, he could barely believe he used to want to fight her rather than hold her.  What an idiot.

He grabbed his cloak and pulled it tighter around his body.  He was never good with the cold.  He grew up near the sea, where the winter came with a few weeks of snow before a long period of temperate cool.  Living so far inland had exposed him to one too many long, freezing winters, and the cold had come to hurt him down to his very bones.  To think he would get to live until this miserable state.

Luckily, the snow wasn’t very heavy that day, so he could find a place to settle down and warm himself up by the afternoon.

So caught up in his thoughts, Shuten almost didn’t notice Abi’s presence coming closer and clearer in his mind until she was right next to him.  He started, nearly jumped away from her, but he managed to stay put.  “What the hell are you doing here, Seiryuu?  I thought we were going our separate ways!”

Abi was silent for so long, he nearly began to believe she was just a figment of his imagination.  But then she reached for her blindfold and pulled it off, revealing the gorgeous eyes that could only ever belong to her.  They were a bit red around the rims from her crying, but she was so pretty regardless.  “I wanted you to promise me something...” she said, so softly he had to move close to her just to hear.

“What is it?” he asked, planting his spear into the ground so his hands could be free for her.  He didn’t know why, but he felt more comfortable without anything in his hands when he was around her.

“Promise me that you’ll come find me.”

“What?  Is something wrong?”  Her words were dangerously close to asking him to save her.  Did she sell herself for protection during her travels or something?  Did she make a huge mistake and needed someone to rescue her?  His mind was racing with answers, each one worse than the last.

“I simply...” Tears welled up in Abi’s eyes again.  “I simply am not ready for this to end.  I don’t want to let go of you all so soon.”  The tears began to fall from her eyes, and Shuten clasped his hands on her cheeks, as if trying to stop the flow.  “Promise me you’ll come see me someday soon.  I don’t want my last memory of my brothers to be so bitter.”

Despite the situation, Shuten found himself chuckling.  “That’s all?”

“Why are you laughing?!” Abi shouted.  She hit him on the head, but he didn’t mind.

“You were serious, I was worried you had sold yourself or something else terrible.”  Shuten sighed his relief and pressed his forehead to Abi’s.  “Of course I’ll come see you soon.  I don’t want to let go you, either.”  He closed his eyes and smiled.  Somehow, he felt so much warmer just because she was there.

“Since when were you so cordial?” Abi asked.  Despite the anger in her tone, her hands came to hold his, keeping him close.

When I fell for you, he thought.  “Who the hell knows?” he said with a snort.

Abi chuckled softly.  “I like you better when you’re this way.  Try not to change again.”

“Aye aye, Abi-chan.”

She released one of his hands to hit his head again.  He laughed and moved to hug her.  She accepted his embrace with her arms around his neck.  “I’ll only welcome you if you stop calling me Abi-chan.”

“Not a chance.”

“Then I guess I’ll have to get used to the name.”

              Shuten felt nearly faint as Abi half-collapsed on him, fingers digging into his shoulders as he steadied himself on his chest.  The aftershock of pleasure was way too good, Shuten couldn’t help but think to himself, and Abi looked damn incredible on top of him. It was a shame that currently everyone was so busy that they could only get in quickies, but like the desperate teenagers they were (even if Abi was an uptight bastard he still couldn’t deny teenage hormones when they got the better of both of them).

               Abi somewhat grimaced as he moved off and made a move to stand up off the bed. Shuten hooking his arm around his waist and resting his chin on Abi’s shoulder stopped him from completing that action. Abi gave him a look, gold eyes shimmering and nearly liquid. Shuten still could never get over how pretty they looked casting rays in the sunlight.

               “Where do you think you’re going?” Shuten asked him (more rhetorically and somewhat hopefully), and Abi turned and gave him a rather blasé look (as if he hadn’t been moaning a few moments ago he was a sneaky bastard like that, always able to cover up his feeling in the blink of an eye). His pale skin was still faintly flushed, and Shuten could smell his own scent in his hair. Abi’s lips twisted a recognizable grimace.

               “Well considering that I feel disgusting I was going to wash up,” Abi told him with a scoff.

               “Seiryuu, you wound me, can’t you stay a little longer?” Shuten told him, pressing his mouth against Abi’s neck. For a moment he almost relaxed into Shuten, before suddenly going rigid.

               “Oh no—!” Abi yelped before suddenly turning. Shuten was suddenly off the bed, pushed with little regard and hit the floor with a yelp. Shuten at that moment had his legs still on the bed, was in a serious level of undress, and was currently glaring at Abi who was primly and properly perched up on the side as he pulled on a robe.

               “What the fuck Seiryuu!” Shuten exclaimed, rubbing the bump that was now forming on his skull and glaring as he tried to sit up.

               “Get under the bed, and get under it now,” Abi ordered sternly and Shuten couldn’t help but gape at him.

               “What—?!”

               “Now!” Abi nearly spat. “Hakuryuu is coming up the hall.”

               “Fuck, I’m going to jump out of here then,” Shuten argued reaching for his own robe to pull it on, hopping to undo himself from the tangle of sheets and smacking into a lamp which sent it skittering on the floor.

               “What?! No! There’s no time!” Abi yelped. “Stop being an idiot and get under the bed and properly hide!”

               “I am not hiding under a fucking bed are you kidding me?” Shuten half shouted at him and then leaped—

               At this moment, Abi apparently took it upon himself to be the ruiner of everything ever. Though Shuten’s dragon leg was powerfully sending him out the window, Abi had dove and latched onto his very human ankle just as he was out the window. Suddenly momentum turned back, Shuten yelped as he smacked against the side of the castle and landed heavily on the ground below.

               “Ryokuryuu?!” Abi cried and was suddenly joined by Guen jutting their heads out the window and staring at him. Pain was now shooting up Shuten’s arm, tingling in his fingers and leaving him to feel weak, and he glared,

               “You fucking broke my arm you asshole!” Shuten snapped, fiercely guarding his right arm which was clutched to his chest. “I hope you’re proud!”

               “I did not break your arm, you broke your arm! If you would only just listen to me and not have been a complete idiot this wouldn’t have happened,” Abi nearly screeched back at him indignantly.

               “Wait,” Guen said suddenly looking between Abi and Shuten obviously very confused, “Seiryuu what was Ryokuryuu doing in your room?”

               “Nothing!” Both Abi and Shuten exclaimed in unison.

               “Are you okay, Ryokuryuu?” Zeno asked as he rushed out from the palace with Hiryuu close behind him.    

               “Yeah, yeah, sure I’m just great,” Shuten said sarcastically as pain continued to come in waves. “Really just peachy.”

               “That was completely and utterly your fault, Ryokuryuu,” Abi called with a huff before storming back into the bedroom.

               “Oh fuck you too you prick!” Shuten snapped back before giving an involuntary wince and trying and failing to move his fingers. “Shit, I think I really did break my arm.”

               “Not all of you is dragon-armored,” Hiryuu reminded him with a patient smile. “Come on then, let’s get you seen by the court physician.”

               “I’m going to go take a bath first, send him in to see me there,” Shuten said as he stood up (ignoring the weakness of his own legs, and the complaints of both Hiryuu and Zeno as he marched off).