Title: Princess and Dragon
Author: Tuliharja
Summary: A dragon falls in love. Fairytale AU. One-shot.
Disclaimer: BLEACH belongs to Tite Kubo. I'm merely writing fan fiction about it. I don't either own the cover art of this.
Dedicated to: My dear friend Ice Prince Hitsugaya alias Lil'Prince! Happy birthday dear! I hope your birthday will be as magical as this fic.
Author's note: I wanted to give this fic fairytale-like feeling and there why I decided to break some 'general' writing rules that a person never should. (Yet I did anyway, so...) This is also somewhat inspirited by "The Enchanted Forest Chronicles" book series, though I wanted to give my own twist to everything. There is too few fics about strong princesses and dragons. While I wrote this, the story just kept going on and on, so in the end I just ended it where I did. Maybe one day I'll continue this fic, who knows? I just love fantasy genre like this one.
Thank you Coolfire30 for betaing this.
🌸 Princess and Dragon 🐉
Once upon a time, there was a princess. But make no mistake dear reader, this princess wasn't your typical one. Oh no, this princess was untamed, fierce and wild. She would rather spend her days climbing trees, causing havoc among the servants, and tricking poor nobles rather than sitting inside doing the extremely dull and mundane task that is lacework. She was a highly mischievous person and thus caused a notably large amount of headaches to her parents –quite regularly in fact. The king and queen were deeply concerned over the fact that their daughter, Yoruichi, would never display the ladylike qualities that were expected of a person of her standing, and be married to someone that befits a person of her position and rank –hopefully, some prince. After all, the last few hundred princes and kings had been running away from the castle, screaming and vowing never to come back, all because of the stunts Yoruichi had pulled during their stay.
Oh, the poor king and queen. Not even Yoruichi's personal servant - Soi Fon, from a faraway eastern land, could stop her, despite the fact that she tailed Yoruichi everywhere. And certainly, that stable boy wasn't any good comp-…
"Excuse me, author, yes, you there," the blond man, better known as Urahara Kisuke waved his hand.
"Could I be like a warlock or something? I mean really? A stable boy? Or even an inventor could do…"
Ehem, and even certainly, that even childhood friends…
"Childhood friends? Really? What next? Will I-…" Kisuke started just as an apple hit him over his head, knocking him out.
So, where were we? Ah, yes, and certainly that childhood friend of the princess who was trying to become a famous inventor wasn't any help to manage and keep the princess at bay. After all, his head was full of dreams, just like the princess' herself. Both of them made quite a pair, and that's why if there was trouble somewhere, it was more than likely the duo had devised, planned, and created it.
So, went the princess' life until a terrible misfortune struck her family, which would flip her whole world upside down. And from here, my dear readers starts the true riveting story of a princess who managed to capture the mightiest of beast's heart. A beast so vici-…
"Rangiku, what are you mumbling in there? Never mind, you're needed now," suddenly a booming voice could be heard, the strawberry blond woman lifted her head up to gaze. The huge dragon peered down at her witch cauldron which seemed to have some type of liquor swirling inside of the mixture. It twisted and turned before sending small light balls up and exploded with sizzling sounds.
"Were you just talking to someone through your cauldron?" The dragon, better known as Toshiro asked. He knew Rangiku could communicate with other witches through her cauldron if she happened to remember the correct spell. In most cases, her spell failed and ended up in an explosion. Rangiku wasn't the best witch around, but she was still their witch, which meant she still held great value to him, them, his kind - to everyone really.
Throwing something inside the cauldron, she shook her head quickly, muttering nothing that could be sanely deciphered by the beast.
"Just mumbling to myself! Haha, you know how lonely it can get when I'm too wrapped up in my job," she laughed, obviously trying to hide what she was truly doing. Toshiro decided to ignore that since they were already running late and he didn't want to get chastised by Genryuusai more than they already would.
"Just come," he merely grumbled, before he slowly backed away from Rangiku's cave.
"Of cour-…Prince, look out!" she shouted her warning too late as Toshiro accidentally smacked Rangiku's cottage with his lengthy tail, knocking the roof away.
"My house!" the witch cried out, quickly pushing herself past Toshiro to her house.
"This is already the third time this week!"
"I wouldn't always hit it if you weren't always late!" Toshiro argued back as he finally managed to back himself out of the narrow cave.
"So it's my fault? You're so mean priiiiince~!" Rangiku whined, faking the crocodile tears that were starting to accumulate on her eyes as Toshiro merely looked to the side.
"I'll fix it," he grumbled while muttering to himself, "Like always."
"This time can I get…."
Toshiro cut her off, "No."
"But-"
"Rangiku, having a roof that is made of gold is ridiculous. Not to mention expensive," Toshiro told her in a frustrated manner, making the dragon-witch pout at him.
"And no, it doesn't have anything to do with the fact, dragons are greedy or the fact I could care less…"
"So, you do care!" The strawberry blond cheered loudly, making Toshiro let out a white puff of steam from his nostrils before he leaned down and gently picked Rangiku up by the collar. This easily made her go silent as Toshiro lifted her high in the air before twisting his neck and putting her on top of his back. This mere action was enough to make Rangiku coo happily and wrap her arms around his neck. She barely reached even halfway around the circumference of his thick neck, but the gesture told Toshiro volumes.
Soundlessly, he nuzzled the tip of his muzzle against Rangiku's cheek.
"I still want-"
"No," Toshiro sighed, before lifting his head away from Rangiku and looking in front of himself. "Are you seated comfortably?"
"Yup," the witch confirmed as she grasped her fingers around Toshiro's mane that was snowy white.
On top of Toshiro's back, was a small human-sized seat where Rangiku and all other of his favourite humans could sit, while he would carry them from place A to B. Though Toshiro really only showed such courtesy to only a select few, as carrying other beings top of an imposing dragon such as himself was a slightly humiliating task. It usually gave the foolish humans the image that the rider had managed to tame the dragon they used as their method transportation - which wasn't true, no, not at all. No one could tame a dragon, unless the dragon, themselves allowed such a thing. And such a feat was as rare as it could get, even Toshiro knew only a handful of fellow dragons who had permitted to let other creatures than their own kind tame them. The act itself was, after all, very intimate.
As silently as a dragon could go, which was surprisingly very silent, Toshiro half slithered, and half glided through the tunnel that leads outside. A bright sun welcomed both him and Rangiku as Toshiro opened his wings from his sides. They were extremely long and elegant looking as they glittered under the sunlight like stars upon the night sky.
Without further ado, Toshiro jumped off the high cliff and dived down. They dived lower and lower until the slight breeze finally managed to hold back Toshiro, and he felt like he could ride along with the currents of the wind. Sure, he could flap his wings like some common bat, but riding along with the wind was less taxing. So, using the wind to his advantage, he advanced towards his destination and decided on the perfect airflow that would lead them to the top of the mountain and his secret passageway. It was the only other pathway inside the mountain that wouldn't be as confusing as the rest of them.
Inside the mountain; known as Dragon Mountain, held a large expanse of labyrinths, where many dragons lived along with the princesses that they had captured. Of course, not all of their humans were princesses, since there were female dragons too, but almost all dragons had some sort of noble, serving them. Some nobles had gotten lost upon the Endless Forest that surrounded the Dragon Mountain, while some had come to rescue the princesses. One thing led to another, and the dragons either kidnapped those poor souls or just made a deal with them. These days there were quite a lot of lesser nobles that were more than happy to be dragons' servants rather than rule some province. All in all, in most of the cases the dragon lived quite happily and content with their servant or princess, or both.
The rules had changed over a time, and now a single dragon could have as many attendants as they pleased as long as the dragon in question could ascertain that they could support them. The only rule that hadn't changed though, was the law pertaining to the amount of princess you could take under your wing, no pun intended. You could only possess one princess. It was a law that couldn't be disobeyed. Not even Toshiro, who had been chosen as the dragon prince could disregard nor disobey this. Though there wasn't any worry about that since so far Toshiro didn't have any or even a servant inside his cave. And this was the exact reason why Genryuusai; the current King of all dragons, had called each and every dragon into a gathering, along with their witch.
Over the time the dragons had realized their magic wouldn't be enough to cover their mountain with an illusion spell as, despite the fact they allowed some people into their mountain, it didn't mean they wanted armies and such roaming inside their mountain. It had already once happened in the past, which had almost destroyed the whole dragon race. Hence, the reason for the whole dragon population sheltering Rangiku. The remaining dragons had decided to get a witch to protect them, which had resulted in an alliance between the dragons and the 'good' witches. Every few centuries when the last expired, a new witch would travel up the dragon mountain to protect the dragons with their spells. In exchange for that, dragons would give witches ingredients they would need for their spells or share the seemingly abundant amount of knowledge that they held. Not only did dragons love gold and treasures, they also loved knowledge, wisdom, and the thrill of learning it all.
And now for the past few years, Matsumoto Rangiku had been the dragons' witch, protecting and advising them as best as she could. Most of the time, though, she ended up creating trouble which Toshiro had to cover up. Just like now, when Genryuusai was questioning as to why they were late. Technically, it had been Toshiro's fault, yet the older dragon wouldn't hear them out as he wanted to move into more important matters; which was Toshiro's future.
"To be a prince, you must have a princess," Genryuusai breathed out, embers flying out of his mouth each time he talked.
"Each year, you have proven your worth many times, which in turn translates to your ability to function with the title 'prince', and maybe even in the future the title of the Dragon King. But if you keep staying princess-less, I've no other choice than to appoint the second-best dragon as the Dragon Prince. Do you understand me, Toshiro?"
The ice dragon - Toshiro, merely looked down, feeling equally irritated and frustrated. It wasn't his fault he hadn't managed to get a princess to himself. After all, picking out a princess was an extremely important task, since they would be as close to you as even your mate.
"I could look over this if you had a mate and other humans, but since you don't have…" The eldest dragon shook his head, more embers dropping from his mouth.
"I've decided to give you time until midnight. If by then you haven't found a princess or a mate and a human, you will lose your title. Is that understood?" Defeated, Toshiro merely nodded his head.
"I announce this meeting to be over. You're dismissed!" Genryuusai roared before he turned on his claws and started to head towards his chambers. Almost all other dragons followed suit falling behind the king, withdrawing back to their own chambers. The only ones who stayed behind were Rangiku and Rukia; a smaller female dragon. Rangiku stayed only due to the fact that going through the labyrinth would be extremely exhausting, and Rukia, since she actually sympathized with Toshiro, because of her own situation.
The diminutive female approached Toshiro cautiously, knowing his mood was more than less likely terribly sour. It must not have been easy to hear such news, especially when despite being 'mate-less' and 'princess-less', he was one of the top dragons in their fellowship.
"Toshiro…" she started, before glancing at Rangiku who sighed deeply at the suddenly unfolded situation.
Placing a determined look on her face, the voluptuous witch walked in front of Toshiro. "Do you want to be a prince or not?" she asked from him, hands on her hips, while slightly leaning toward him. The male dragon blinked his eyes once and then twice, before slowly nodding his head.
"Then let's go out and find your princess!" Rangiku declared with a determined expression.
"You realize the possibility of me finding a perfect princess in such a short span of time is next to impossible?" Toshiro questioned in a dry tone, making the strawberry blond huff.
"In that case, I shall use my magic!" she declared, before pulling her wand from between her huge breasts.
"Ta-dah! I'll just do a little spell in heeeere~ and we are good to go!"
"Matsumoto, no. Last time you used your magic all the dragons got the flu!" Toshiro huffed, while Rukia sweat dropped at the reminder.
"B-But, Toshiro…with all due respect, a little bit of magic could help you," Rukia suggested, glancing toward her witch friend.
"If we are going to use magic, we'll use dragon magic," Toshiro finally agreed, making both females gape him. Dragon magic was extremely ancient and really dangerous. Only a few dragons could handle it well enough to have the result be something other than pure destruction, in most cases it only caused that; destruction.
Flicking his tail, Toshiro gestured for the duo to follow him as he started to swiftly walk toward his chamber. Quickly scrambling after him, Rangiku promptly tucked her wand back in the wedge between her breasts, while Rukia made sure Rangiku wouldn't get squeezed by either of them as they went down the tunnel. The tunnel was extremely long and had some side tunnels that branched off the main passageway and lead into other dragons' chambers. There were also small doors for humans and others alike to enter and exit the cave. Yet none of them paid any attention to any of this as they carried on until Toshiro made a sharp turn. Instead of going into his chamber, like the two females had thought, he started to head toward Retsu's. It puzzled the two females. Retsu was an old dragon, but that didn't mean she was a weakling. In fact, she was one of the fiercest dragons that still lived.
Stopping front of Retsu's chamber's opening, Toshiro let out an icy breath to announce his coming. Each dragon announced their presence by letting out a stream of their natural breath that mostly took some sort of elements' shape or its subcategory. It was both an easy way to tell other dragons who had or was visited or visiting them, and not to mention it was also a polite action. After all, no one could ever be sure what the dragon or his or her human was doing. Most of the dragons were extremely private and if one dared to disturb them without a very good reason, there could be a hell to pay. Especially with older dragons who possessed more power and knowledge, which consequently allowed their standing in their societal hierarchy automatically already raised higher than normal. Yet somehow Toshiro had managed to reach that stage early on and even the next highest status after the King of Dragons. Therefore, it wasn't any wonder Toshiro was hailed as a prodigy.
A small, and smelly cloud soon greeted Toshiro, telling him it was fine to proceed. He glanced at Rukia, who nodded and settled at the chamber's opening. The male dragon then started heading toward the inner cavity of the chamber, with Rangiku quietly following after him. Small lights were lighting her path which Rangiku was thankful as while dragons could rely their sense of smell, she would have more than likely slipped several times down the path if not for the lights.
Soon the duo came into a large cave that could easily house five large dragons. They noticed the chamber was covered with silk pillows and fabrics were scattered here and there, while there were also piles and piles of books that were thoughtlessly distributed in the room. There was also a small table and sofa for humans and a door that obviously leads to Retsu's human quarters. So far, the elder dragon that they are visiting was in the leading position of who had most nobles as not only did she have a princess, she also had a prince. It was a fact that many admired her, but then again, Retsu was one of the dragons you absolutely didn't want to mess with. Despite the fact she was a bit smaller than average for a dragon, her speed, extremely sharp spikes, and even sharper claws made that up. She truly was an admirable dragon.
Bowing his head in greeting to Retsu, Toshiro couldn't help but notice that Shunsui and Juushiro were there. The latter's presence was surprising since Juushiro was one of the weakest dragons and therefore stayed mostly inside his own chambers. But it was understandable why Juushiro would be here now since both Retsu and Shunsui were his best friends and he was sure they were more than likely talking about him.
"Raise your head, Toshiro. How may I be of help to you?" Retsu asked, glancing over at Rangiku, who waved to her. Silently, the black dragon made a gesture with her tail toward the human-sized sofa where her prince, Starrk, was sleeping. Though despite the fact he was a prince, he was the laziest one Toshiro had ever seen. He had only ever seen him a few times awake because most of the time the human was just sleeping.
"Retsu, I've come here for a request," Toshiro started, watching as Rangiku nudges Starrk's sleeping body, before just pushing him down to the floor. Surprisingly the man still slept after the push.
"No need to be so formal, Toshiro," Shunsui abruptly stated. He was an extremely big dragon, but not as big as Genryuusai who was the largest of all. Shunsui also held an unusual colour of scales –pink. Yet no one dared to make fun of that fact after witnessing Shunsui in battle, they knew better than to anger him. The pink dragon was almost as deadly as Retsu.
"We support you, after all," Juushiro pointed out, the smallest among the trio. While both Retsu and Shunsui were typical Western looking dragons, Juushiro resembled something of an Asian type, perhaps he was descended from one? His body was serpent-like, and his legs were short. Yet he did have white, petite wings, unlike typical Asian dragons. He was the most harmless beast amongst the whole community and liked to think things through. Maybe that was the reason why most of the adventurers, heroes, or princes decided to stick with him after a long chat? Whatever reason was, Juushiro was holding the highest amount of humans so far, he had four non-nobles and one princess. Originally his human score had been larger, but unfortunately, some other dragons had snatched his humans away by challenging him. One of such dragons had been Rukia, but Toshiro knew, in reality, the fight had just been a show for Genryuusai. The old dragon was somewhat extremely old-fashioned in some cases, like the fact that you couldn't give your human to another dragon. If you want another's human, you must be willing to fight them.
Shaking his head, Toshiro turned his attention to the trio.
"Very well then, I'll go right to the point. I need dragon magic to find myself a princess," Toshiro told, going straight to the point. The three dragons merely looked at each other, before Shunsui sighed in a defeated manner along with Retsu.
"You really know your fellow Shiro-chan, Juushiro," Shunsui commented as the white dragon let out a toothy smile.
"Why thank you Shunsui!" he thanked warmly, which made the duo merely shake their heads.
"Did I…did I miss something?" Toshiro asked, confused tone as his tail made a shape resembling a question mark.
"We had a little bet over the fact if you would ask help finding a princess or not. Shunsui guessed you would be too prideful to do that, while I guessed Matsumoto would help you," Retsu replied, making her glance at the witch who was currently sulking whilst narrowing her eyes at Toshiro.
Pouting, Rangiku crossed her arms underneath her bosom while muttering under her breath: "He didn't accept my help…"
"And Juushiro here guessed you would ask help and from us oldies," Shunsui concluded, making Toshiro let out a puff of icy frost.
"What? When you live as old as us, you will understand there is very little entertainment these days. Especially when Genryuu-jii is as stuck up as he is."
"Shunsui, that isn't nice," Juushiro told his friend, shaking his head.
"But it's true. We haven't had drama ever since Rukia won that boy from you and Byakuya was ready to tear that boy apart," Shunsui whined, making Juushiro push gently his friend with his claw.
"Not having a drama is a good thing Shunsui, trust me," Juushiro pointed out, which only made Shunsui groan even more. Retsu merely decided to ignore her companion as she looked at Toshiro once again.
"Using dragon magic is very dangerous, which I'm sure you know. But since I'd rather have you as our Prince than Sousuke…We'll help you," the black dragon agreed as she flicked with her tail toward both Juushiro's and Shunsui's way to tell them to be quiet. Silently, Retsu stood up, while the two male dragons followed quickly suit. The trio looked each other, before nodding in agreement. They then turned toward Toshiro, who merely stayed on his ground as he wasn't really sure how 'actual' dragon magic that wasn't of the fighting sort worked. Even Rangiku's gaze had turned keener as they both looked the older dragons.
At first, Retsu approached Toshiro, lifting her paw and pressing it against his chest.
"I shall impart to you a steely resolve," she told, as once she pulled her paw away from him, Toshiro noticed it had left a black paw print where she had touched. But it slowly faded away. Next was Shunsui, who pushed his paw at the same place where Retsu's had been a moment ago.
"I shall give you change," he said as once again when the paw was pulled away, a print was left behind. This time it was pink.
The last dragon, Juushiro, approached now Toshiro and gently pushed his small paw against his chest.
"And I'll provide you with insight," Juushiro answered as his paw print was barely visible as it was too white, just like Toshiro himself.
After that, the three dragons settled in front of Toshiro, before blowing toward him. It alerted both Toshiro and Rangiku, as a dragon's breath could be as dangerous to both to human and dragons alike. Yet for some reason, the breath they exhaled was like a cloud of mist and vapour, made of billions of stars and filled Toshiro with a feeling of something that he could not explain.
"Toshiro! Are you all right?" Rangiku asked, concerned, having rushed up to his side the moment the veil of haze disappeared. Shaking his head few times, he opened his turquoise eyes, which he had unknowingly closed for a mere moment. In those eyes held a steely resolve that certainly was not present there before. The look on his face was strong and determined, it showed wisdom and a newfound knowledge indicating to all in the cave that Toshiro had an idea what to do, an idea that could lead him to his princess. It was enough to make Rangiku glance at the elder trio in a questioning manner as if asking just what exactly they had done to Toshiro.
"Let's go," Toshiro told Rangiku, before nodding his head in thanks to his fellow dragons. After that, he turned around and left, Rangiku quickly scrambling after him. Because of this, the duo didn't see how Retsu, Juushiro and Shunsui merely smirked to each other, before making a new bet as to how Toshiro's impromptu quest would go.
"Where…we…are…going?" Rangiku huffed as despite Toshiro being quite big, he could be very fast when wanted. He practically speed-walked which was from Rangiku's point of view – being a human and all, was that Toshiro was running.
"At least slow down!" the strawberry blond whined as this seemed to get through to Toshiro, who slowed enough for Rangiku to get at his side.
"Where we are going?"
"To the forest," he replied back, making Rangiku give him a pointed look.
"I'm not sure what exactly happened…but once I opened my eyes, I got this feeling I have to go there."
Rangiku merely hummed, it was obvious she was a bit cautious, but she flashed him an encouraging smile anyways, despite her slight wariness towards the whole situation.
"Maybe it's your dragon instincts telling you some extremely beautiful princess has stumbled upon the forest!" the witch suggested while winking in a rather suggestive manner to Toshiro. He merely huffed to this as he decided it would be best not to say anything at all to that. He was quite sure Rangiku would end up twisting his words and make him regret he had said anything at all.
The duo soon came back to the chamber's opening, seeing how Rukia was still waiting for them.
"How did it go?" she asked, barely holding her obvious anxiousness as she looked between Rangiku and Toshiro.
"Well, Retsu, Shunsui, and Juushiro did some dragon things and now Toshiro has a slight inkling as to where a pretty princess might be!" Rangiku declared, making Toshiro resist the urge to roll his eyes.
"Really? That's great!" Rukia cheered, her eyes sparkling at her friend who merely sighed.
"You two are getting ahead of things. I'm not sure what exactly those three did and whether this feeling I have will lead me anywhere…but it's something," he states slowly as he pushed past Rukia who quickly stepped aside.
"Honestly, it seems a bit sketchy. Especially when they didn't ask anything back."
"Well, Juushiro is really nice," Rukia started as Rangiku nodded agreeing to this. "So, I don't doubt his sincerity."
"What about Retsu and Shunsui?" Toshiro asked, making the two females glance each other, before Toshiro.
"Retsu has always been…fair, and Shunsui is wise, not to mention they've always been reliable," Rukia stated rather diplomatically as Toshiro let out a small, low chuckle.
"You just sounded like your brother," he stated, making Rukia's eyes sparkle from happiness at his statement.
"Why thank you! Brother has been teaching me how to be a 'proper' dragon," Rukia told excitedly; she really looked up to her big brother Byakuya.
"How exactly someone can be a 'proper' dragon?" Rangiku inquired, making Toshiro glance at Rangiku in a way 'you just had to ask?', as Rukia started her monologue. It was obvious Byakuya had drilled things into her skull. It went on and on until they reached one of the cave's openings.
In front of them spread a lush forest that seemingly had no end or beginning, depending which point you look at. Both dragons eyed the vast stretch of greenery in a somewhat proud manner, they and almost all other dragons felt like the forest was theirs, which wasn't that far from the truth. After all, the forest did surround Dragon Mountain. Yet as they were watching it in silence they suddenly heard a loud crash, making Toshiro's ears twitch while Rukia tensed. The sound obviously wasn't loud enough to be heard by mere human ears, as Rangiku still looked on at the scenery before her serenely.
"I'll go check it," Toshiro informed, before going to the edge of the opening.
"Check what?" Rangiku asked, puzzled manner as Rukia proceed to tell her they had just heard a crash as Toshiro dived into the air.
Whilst free falling Toshiro couldn't help but wonder what had caused the crashing sound. Just before he could impact the trees' highest branches, he opened his wings and gave a powerful flap. He soon got more height as he flew higher and higher before starting to fly towards the direction of the racket.
He only had to fly a little bit further, before he noticed an area that seemed to look like something, or someone fell rather inelegantly and destroyed a few trees and some of the surrounding landscape in the process. Yet what picked at his interest the most was the fact that it appeared as the 'thing' that had intruded on their territory came from the sky into the trees. So far, he hadn't heard nor seen any humanoid creatures being able to fly, except faeries and witches. Other than those little-winged creatures and the witches with broomsticks, most of the two-legged beings stayed down the ground. Of course, some would use some mythical creatures to fly, but that was very rare, and this object seemed man-made. So, it was only natural that Toshiro's interest would be rearing its curious head at the sight before him.
Slowly, he circled around the area before landing on a patch of slightly torched grass. A few of the trees that were knocked down inevitably became obstacles to his landing, but that didn't really hurt as he had absolute control of his body. Once down the ground, he could hear a male shouting to another that 'they had better run, or the dragon will eat them' while the other one, a female, told the male to promptly 'shut up'. It made Toshiro sweat drop. Despite the fact that dragons were huge creatures and known for their mighty powers, most of them were rather nice and sophisticated. He could remember how once Rangiku had referred them as cats; as long as they were entertained and not irritated, they wouldn't attack. It holds some true, at least in some dragons' cases, Toshiro had agreed.
As quietly as he could, Toshiro started to edge toward the crash and saw a blond man hanging upside down from ropes, while a well-dressed and absolutely stunning woman was trying to get them down from the machine.
"Yoruichi! Don't look behind yourself, but there is a dragon!" the blond man whispered or tried to, rather loudly to the female he now knew was named Yoruichi. Toshiro could hear him as clear as day. A dragons' hearing was extremely sharp after all, sharper than most at least.
Not obviously caring for her companion's words of warning, Yoruichi spun around to see Toshiro. Upon watching her twist her body and turn towards him, only now Toshiro could see Yoruichi better.
She had long, exotic looking purple hair, dark chocolate brown skin and most stunning golden eyes that Toshiro had ever seen. All in all, Yoruichi was very beautiful for a princess. Toshiro knew Yoruichi was a princess despite just meeting due to the fact that all dragons seemingly had a sort of sixth sense that could tell whether someone was a princess, royal, or not. It was a somewhat odd ability, but it came handy when one needed to find a princess.
The couple stared each other for a while before Yoruichi strolled up to Toshiro. The time seemed to slow around them and the noises in the background disappeared, making the two just look each other curiously. Somewhere back of his mind, Toshiro pondered if all dragons felt like this when they meet what they called as their 'destined princess'. A princess that would belong to just them and only to them alone, they would be their perfect match. In humans' terms, it meant to love, but for dragons... such a term was too mild, too broad. After all, such a connection between the destined princess and their dragon was much deeper than love.
"I've been looking for you," Yoruichi stated, a wicked smile gracing her lips.
"Well, maybe not exactly you, but a dragon."
Tilting his head, Toshiro gave Yoruichi a look that told her to carry on.
"I'm tired of being a princess. Tired of holding everyone's expectations. Tired of shooing away my suitors," she told Toshiro, before shaking her head.
"I must sound crazy, huh? I mean, don't all princesses hope to find their prince charming?"
To this Toshiro couldn't help letting out a grumbling laughter at what Yoruichi just told him, amused him greatly.
"You would be surprised, if you knew just how many princesses are bored with such a lifestyle, Yoruichi," Toshiro answered back to Yoruichi.
Blinking her eyes, she soon let out a brilliant smirk.
"Heee~? Does that mean you'll accept me as your princess? Since doesn't it work like that? A dragon can accept a princess as their princess?" she questioned, making Toshiro a bit taken aback at the fact that Yoruichi knew so much about dragons' and their rituals.
"Well, yes, but we usually…kind of snatch them?" he stated weakly, making Yoruichi chuckle.
"In that case, please snatch me away, o'mighty dragon!" she begged teasingly, making Toshiro look away. He didn't really know what to reply to that.
"This is very nice and all, but could you two lovebirds help me down? The blood is starting to get into my head!" the blond man complained, making both the woman and dragon look at him.
"What? Jealous~?" Yoruichi hurled back, making the blond man sigh deeply before Yoruichi started to laugh merrily.
"All right, all right. Just wait a sec Kisuke and I'll get you down~."
Yoruichi strolled up to Kisuke, lifted the hem of her dress and snatched a dagger from a strap around her upper right leg. This surprised Toshiro. He was starting to get the idea that Yoruichi wasn't a typical princess.
"Now hold still," the dark beauty commanded, before throwing the dagger skillfully at Kisuke's direction, which cut the rope that had been holding him captive. A small thud and moaning of pain could be heard as he fell unattractively to the ground.
"Stop whining!" Yoruichi ordered, making Toshiro feel a pity toward Kisuke. It was obvious who was the one in charge in that relationship if they even had one. Toshiro hoped not, it could complicate things...but just slightly. He could after all just 'snatch' Yoruichi, she would have no problem with that, having just moments ago practically and quite brazenly ordered him to do that to her.
Turning around, Yoruichi made a small curtsey toward Toshiro.
"I'm Shihoin Yoruichi, a princess. This is Urahara Kisuke, my childhood friend," she introduced themselves.
"You could have at least added to my introduction 'handsome, very charming genius inventor'," Kisuke complained as he slowly got up, brushing his patched clothes.
Rolling her eyes, Yoruichi merely waves her hand to her childhood friend. This merely made Kisuke sigh lightly, before the duo turned to Toshiro fully.
"So, will you accept me?" Yoruichi asked.
Tilting his head slightly once again, how many times had he done that just this past hour? Toshiro brought his muzzle down to Yoruichi's head. Blinking her eyes several times, she touched Toshiro's scales bearing an astonished demeanour. A huge grin appeared on her lips before pressing a cheek against the scales.
"Erm, what just happened?" Kisuke asked, confused manner, looking the pair as they stayed like this.
"Shh, you'll ruin the moment," suddenly a voice spoke right next to Kisuke, which startled him. Turning to his side, he noticed a buxom witch, who merely smirked to him. The witch then turned towards the sky, winking her eye.
"And thus, my dear reader, the dragon found his destined princess," Rangiku narrated.
"You're breaking the fourth wall, again," Kisuke commented, making Rangiku merely nudge his side.
"As if you weren't," she commented back, just as there was a clearing of a throat.
"Who is she talking to?" Yoruichi questioned as Toshiro sighed.
"Ignore her. She has exploded her magic potion a few times too many times," Toshiro answered to Yoruichi, which made Rangiku pout heavily.
"So mean!" she complained, which only made Toshiro let out what sounded like a chuckle.
"And don't you laugh at me, Prince!"
"You're a prince?" Yoruichi asked now surprised tone as Toshiro merely flicked his tail lazily behind himself as if embarrassed at the fact.
"Something like that. Let's take you to Dragon Mountain, so I can explain you everything, though…" Toshiro turned his head now toward Rangiku. "How did you get here, Matsumoto?"
"Magic?" she suggested with a fake laughter, making Kisuke fake a cough lightly and mutter 'using the power of the author' which earned a sharp elbow to his side.
Deciding to ignore this, Toshiro crouched down to the ground.
"Hop on," he told Yoruichi as he still had his saddle on his back. Looking curiously at the saddle, before looking at Toshiro, Yoruichi nodded her head and climbed on top of him. She was soon joined by Rangiku, making the dark-skinned woman glance at her with a questioning look painted on her features. The other woman merely gave her a wink, before Toshiro got on his feet and pushed himself off the ground. They started to gain more and more distance between themselves and the ground, which made Kisuke shout after them: "What about me?!"
Yet none of them cared as the two women cheered Toshiro on, as he made his way towards the Dragon Mountain.
"To the Dragon Mountain," Toshiro said.
"To the Dragon Mountain!" Rangiku echoed, while Yoruichi laughed merrily as they flew high in the air toward the mountain which would from now on too be her new home.