Hi! It's Breeze. This is my first fanfic on the site, so if you would be so kind as to review this first chapter that would be great!

The fanfic is, basically, an expansion on Kkat999's pairing of Shinata (my character) and Ash. I loved this idea I wanted to start my own fanfic about them. (If you haven't read her fanfic, Trials of Lore, I suggest you go and read it. It'll be better to understand who the characters are.)

DISCLAIMER: I do not own DragonFable or anything else I may pull up. The only thing I would own is my character, named Shinata. Kitlyn and Yuuki are my friends' property.

Enjoy!

Falconreach Beginnings

Chapter One - Dragons and Introductions

In the town of Falconreach, there was a temporary feeling of peace. It was a nice change from the chaotic air that settled often on the town. During the peaceful time, a hero of Lore would find themselves in a relaxed state. Such was the case for the two heroes who were taking refuge in Serenity's Inn.

Serenity moved about, taking orders and handing out bills. The feeling in the Inn was warm as the sun shone outside. The waitress made her way to a table in the back.

"Would you like anything else?" she asked the two heroes who were at the table. One of the heroes, a silver haired rogue whose hair was in a ponytail, shook her head and replied, "I'm fine."

Serenity nodded and turned to leave. As she started to take her first steps, she heard someone call her name. The waitress turned around. It was the other hero, a warrior with short blonde hair. She held out her empty cereal bowl. "Could I get some more cereal?"

Serenity nodded once more. "A new bowl of cereal, coming right up," she said, taking the hero's bowl and bustling to the kitchen.

The rogue looked over at her friend. "Another bowl?"

"Hey, I'm hungry, okay?" the other hero replied in defense. "Is that a crime?"

"Yuuki, we have to watch our money," the rogue reminded the warrior. She held up a wallet. "We only have so many coins."

Yuuki grumbled, "Alright, alright. This is my last one." She placed her head on the table. "Shinata, there's nothing to do. All this peace in Falconreach is nice, but could we at least fight a few sneevils or something?"

Shinata smiled. "You always want something to do, Yuuki," she said with a small laugh. Yuuki shrugged. She was about to reply when there came a scream from outside. Shinata stood up. "Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Yuuki asked, looking around. "A scream?"

"C'mon." Shinata took out her daggers and ran out of the inn before Yuuki could say a word of protest. Yuuki sighed in frustration. "Shinata," she murmured under her breath. "Getting into unneeded trouble."

The warrior ran after her friend. Serenity, who had just arrived with Yuuki's new bowl of cereal, watched as the hero ran out of the inn, confused. "Miss Yuuki?" she called after the warrior. There was no response.

Shinata skidded to a halt in front of the sight she saw. There was a fire dragon in the middle of town. It roared ferociously, causing the few people in the square to scatter. The scream came again, causing Shinata to look over to where it came from.

A girl in a pink dress cowered, cornered by the dragon. Her blonde hair was ruffled, and her blue eyes had a look of terror in them. She screamed once more.

Yuuki finally caught up with her friend. Her sword was out, and she looked ready for battle. The warrior was about to strike when she stood up and murmured, "Huh."

Shinata stood up and looked at her friend. "What is it?" She looked over at where Yuuki was pointing.

"We're not the only ones who are trying to stop this," the blonde haired warrior noted. As Shinata saw what she was talking about, she agreed in her head.

A young boy with brown hair and hazel eyes was confronting the dragon. A long sword shook in his gloved hands. He looked as if he was telling himself words of encouragement. They didn't seem to be working, Shinata noted to herself as she watched the boy continue to stand.

"That's not how you hold a sword," Yuuki murmured. "He looks like such a newbie." Shinata looked over at her friend and asked, "Do you really have to be a critic at this time?"

"Why yes, yes I do," the warrior retorted, looking slightly offended.

With a huff of annoyance, Shinata ran past her friend. She jumped into the air, daggers at the ready. The two blades scratched the hide of the dragon, catching its attention. With a growl, the dragon turned around and faced the rogue.

With a running start, Shinata leapt into the air. She used her daggers to cut deeper gashes into the dragon's skin. The daggers had failed to implant themselves deeply enough, which caused Shinata to fall to the floor. She quickly recovered and got to her feet once more. Barely managing to avoid a blast of fire from the dragon, the rogue tried for a third time to take the beast down. She jumped and prayed for an easy way onto the dragon.

Her daggers dug into the leathery skin. Shinata grimaced at the roar of the dragon, and the blood which trickled from the two wounds. With much effort, she hoisted herself onto the dragon's back. With unsure footing, the rogue made her way to the dragon's neck. The creature swung its head in rage, looking for its enemy. Shinata could feel multiple pairs of eyes on her. She told herself grimly to ignore them. The rogue couldn't be distracted as she carried out this task. As she searched herself, though, Shinata knew this would be harder than it seemed. She had left her daggers in the dragon's side. Of course, because when all was going well something had to happen.

Grumbling under her breath, Shinata searched herself for something to use. Her hand touched something which felt useful (it had pricked her finger). The rogue grabbed a blunter part of the object and pulled it out. It was, to her surprise, a spearhead. She wondered for a few seconds why she had an object like this in her inventory, then switched her focus to the task at hand.

Shinata crouched on the leathery skin, getting herself closer to her target. Taking a deep breath, she plunged the spearhead into the back of the dragon's neck. The rogue ignored the second cry of pain from the fire dragon and dragged her spearhead across the neck, which widened the cut.

The hero had doubts about her plan's effectiveness. She was starting to wonder if it hadn't worked when the dragon went still. Her surprise grew as the beast fell to the floor. With a look of slight shock, the rogue stepped off of the dragon.

The girl who had cowered in the corner ran off into the inn, tears of joy falling from her eyes.

"You're welcome!" Shinata called after the weeping girl. Sometimes, the residents of her town confused her so much. Shaking her head, the rogue walked back over to where Yuuki was watching. Shinata stood beside Yuuki, keeping her gaze on the dead dragon in front of them. "Some help would have been nice, you know."

The warrior shrugged and replied," Hey, you seemed to know what you were doing."

"Right," the other hero replied slowly. Both heroes watched as the Falconreach villagers slowly came back to the square. Some of the more strong villagers were getting together, talking about attempting to move the dragon.

Yuuki coughed. "Shinata. You seem to have some sort of…company."

"What?" the rogue asked. Her friend pointed to somewhere behind Shinata, who turned around.

It was the boy from earlier. He seemed to look a little more relaxed from earlier, yet there still seemed to be an air of nervousness around him. Shinata smiled.

"Hey. You're the one who was trying to fight the dragon, right?" she asked in a friendly tone.

The boy looked up at Shinata. His eyes locked onto her face, and his cheeks began to color.

"Um, yeah, th-that was…me," he said, stumbling over his words. Yuuki quietly watched the blushing boy, biting her lip to prevent herself from erupting into laughter. Even so, a few chortles slipped.

Ignoring the warrior, Shinata continued to talk with the boy. "Well, that was pretty brave of you. Not many people can stand up to a dragon. So, what's your name?"

"My n-name?" the boy asked, the color of his cheeks growing more obvious. "Uh, it's, um… Ash. D-Dragonblade."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Ash," Shinata greeted." I'm Shinata." She outstretched her hand. Ash's cheeks were the color of a ripe tomato as he looked at Shinata's hand, dumbfounded. He looked back up into the rogue's face and smiled a small, nervous smile. The two shook hands, with Shinata beaming at Ash, who was still smiling nervously, his cheeks a deep red.

"Oh! You two have met each other! Twillies is so happy!" Both Ash and Shinata looked down. A friendly red moglin was smiling happily.

"Twillies was wondering when you would find the hero of Lore, Ash!" Twilly continued. Ash looked at Shinata, his face showing surprise.

"You're the hero of Lore?" he asked. The rogue nodded. She was about to explain when Yuuki cut her off.

"Hey, what do you mean, 'the'? I'm a hero too!" the warrior exclaimed, pointing to herself.

"Oh, sorry Yuuki!" Twilly said apologetically. He looked back at Ash and Shinata. "There are actually three heroes of Lore."

"Yeah, and the three heroes need to go do hero stuff," Yuuki retorted. She added as she walked back to the inn, "And we really don't need some blushing newbie like you weighing us down."

"Ignore her," Shinata said." At times, Yuuki gets in a…mood. But she was right, we have to go do some things. I'll see you around?"

Ash nodded. "Uh, yeah." With a wave, the rogue left the boy and followed her friend. She smiled to herself. Well, he seemed pretty nice. Sure, he stuttered a lot. But in a way, it was kind of…cute.

Shinata looked back one more time at Ash. She hoped that she would see him soon.

Thanks for reading! Sorry for the odd ending, one would say I was getting lazy. Chapter 2 will be posted in about a few weeks' time or so. I hope you liked the chapter! Review if you want to see more.

Peace off, Breeze.