Author's note: I do not own Bleach or its characters. This is AU.

How to Tame a Dragon

Once upon a time there was a dragon. Or at least, that was what Nanao had been told. She wasn't sure she believed it. Nanao Ise was all of seven years old, but she wasn't stupid. She knew very well that sometimes adults told children things that weren't true, and Nanao had never seen any evidence of a dragon. However, it wasn't like she could really question anybody about it. She had no relatives or family in the village. Not since her sister had died last year. Nanao had been cared for after that, but it wasn't like she actually belonged to any of the families.

She was also quite aware that it was also probably the reason that she had been chosen to appease the dragon. This also didn't make sense to Nanao. She would hardly make more than a mouthful for a dragon, unless it was a very small dragon. If it were up to her, she would have been long gone. Dragon or not, she was not the type of girl who sat around and waited to get eaten. However, the villagers had clearly thought of this, and they had tied up both her hands and her feet before leaving her on the top of the rocky hill about five miles from the village. So Nanao was stuck until she could get herself free, someone came along and helped her, or a dragon showed up and ate her.

There were times when Shunsui really disliked the duties that came with being a guardian. Somehow it had ended up being his turn to deal with whatever appeasement scheme the villagers had come up with this time. There had been a time when all of the people in the land knew that they were under the protection of the dragons and knew the proper customs. Anymore people had some very idiotic ideas. Typically once every ten fifteen years, some village would get some stupid idea that they had to appease the dragon in order to get rid of bad luck or some such thing. They would leave some poor girl trussed up on a hilltop as an offering.

Sadly, what that actually meant was that one of the dragons would have to come and take the girl to a new home. They couldn't go back to their own village. Dragons were shape shifters by nature, so it wasn't hard to pull the operation off without giving anything away. But finding a new home for the women could be tricky and time consuming. It was duty that Shunsui tried to avoid if possible. He didn't like dealing with weepy women, and quite frankly, he'd rather be napping. But Jyuu had talked him into doing it this time, and Shunsui was stuck.

As he reached the top of the hill, Shunsui frowned and fought the urge to swear. It wasn't a young woman this time. Instead, the village had decided to sacrifice a child. He hated it when they did that. Her head was bent over her hands, and he couldn't tell if she was crying or not. Her head shot up when he approached, and Shunsui realized that she'd been trying to remove the rope around her hands with her teeth. The girl had more spunk than most of the sacrifices he met. And then he saw her eyes.

Gorgeous violet eyes that would never been seen in the face of one of the villagers. Her eyes told him more than anything that she wasn't human. But for a dragon to be in human form at so young of age implied on of two things. Either her mother had been forced into human form while pregnant and she had been born that way or the girl had remarkable control for one so young. Most hatchlings couldn't stay in a shifted form more than a day or two.

While all this was running through Shunsui's mind, the girl had been sizing him up and had clearly decided that he wasn't a threat.

"Are you going to help me or are you just going to stare?" Her voice was young, but the exasperation that tinged it would have been more appropriate in adult.

Shunsui blinked. "Of course, sweetheart."

It was the mere work of seconds to get her untied. Shunsui scooped her up in his arms before she try and get away from him. She really was just a little thing, but Shunsui could easily sense her tightly coiled power.

"What's your name, little one?"

She gave him a stern look. "Nanao."

"Well, Nanao-chan, I'm Shunsui Kyoraku. Where are your people? You're real people I mean, not the ones who left you up here."

Nanao seemed to shrink in on herself. "It was just my sister and I. She died. Her name was Lisa."

That would have been Lisa Yadomaru; Lisa was not a common name for dragons. Shunsui had met her a time or two before. She had been something of a wanderer. He would have to see if there was anymore of her family still around, but for now Shunsui was going to take Nanao home with him.

He kissed her forehead. "Don't worry, sweetheart. You're safe now. I'm taking you back with me."

She frowned a little at him. "Back where?"

"To my lair to start with. We'll see if we can find any of your people, but you'll be welcome there even if can't." Shunsui smiled at her. "We don't have any hatchlings as young as you, but no one ever really minds another hatchling."

Her nose wrinkled up, and she continued to frown at him. Shunsui was faced with the realization that Nanao might have no idea what she was. And out in the open was perhaps not the best place to work on enlightening her. In fact, Shunsui decided that they shoulder probably get out of here sooner rather than later. It would not be good if he got caught making off with the village's sacrifice by some curious villager who decided to make sure that the sacrifice went well.

"I'll tell you the story later, sweetheart. Let's get out of here before someone decides to stop us."

Shunsui didn't give her a chance to protest. He just started walking. Half an hour later, Nanao had convinced him to let her walk. There was something about this little hatchling. She was stubborn, opinionated, and acted like she was centuries older than her actual age. Shunsui didn't think he'd ever met another hatchling like her. She couldn't be over a decade old, a mere infant really. But he could that she was something special. If he couldn't find any family of hers, Jyuu and Retsu would make good surrogate parents, and Shunsui knew that they had been thinking about adopting a hatchling since they didn't seem to be able to have one of their own.

At this rate, they weren't going to get back to the lair for at least another date. That was fine with Shunsui though. He wanted the chance to talk with her and make sure that she understood that she wasn't a human before they got around other dragons. It would be an interesting conversation to say the least. Shunsui had a feeling that Nanao would take some convincing. He was also hoping to be able to coax her into shifting forms at least once before they arrived at the lair. For one thing, it would give him a better idea of how old she really was. Their age didn't necessarily translate to human form well. He smiled as he glanced down at the little girl beside him. As much as he disliked these jobs, this time it had definitely been worth it.

Shunsui Kyoraku was not like any other man she had ever met. He definitely was not like any of the men in the village, not even the priest. And he wasn't like any of the merchants that had passed through either. For one thing, there was the way he was treating her. Yes, he was treating her like a child, but he wasn't treating her like she was stupid. Another thing was the fact that he had actually helped her get away. No one from the village would have done that. Nanao wasn't even certain that a traveling merchant would done it either.

He also didn't talk like anyone she'd ever met either. Well, there was an odd turn of phrase that almost sounded like her sister at times, but Nanao honestly didn't remember her sister as well as she wanted to. Still, she couldn't quite figure out what was going on with this man. He hadn't tried to hurt her though, and Nanao was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt for now. She could always leave if she felt it was necessary.

Around dusk, Kyoraku turned off the road and led the way to a small cave. Nanao assumed they were camping here for the night. Kyoraku didn't appear to have much in the way of camping gear, but Nanao figured he had some sort of plan. She did hope he had food of some sort. She hadn't eaten since before dawn this morning, and she really was quite hungry. Nanao had gone without food before, but it tended to make her cranky and irritable.

Kyoraku arranged a circle of stones for a fire, and Nanao gathered up what kindling and wood she could find. He took them from her with a smile, and once the wood was arranged to his satisfaction, the man snapped his fingers. Flames immediately leapt from the wood. Nanao blinked.

"How did you do that?" she demanded.

He grinned and wiggled his fingers at her. "I have a knack with fire. It's not one of my main talents, but it's useful."

Nanao had no idea what that meant and continued to frown at her. Kyoraku sighed.

"I guess we'll start at the beginning. What did your sister tell you about your family, Nanao?"

She bit her lip. Lisa had never really talked about their family. Nanao had some very vague memories, but that was it. Her strongest memories of their life before they came to the village involved smoke and fire.

Kyoraku sighed again. "Clearly not enough. Well then, I'll start with the basics. I didn't really know your sister, though I had met her at least once before, and I do know of her. We're probably very distantly related, but then all of us are."

His smile was gentle. "But the reason I know of you sister is because we're both the same species, and so are you. Neither of us are really human, Nanao, even if we wear their shapes well. We're both dragons."

Nanao let out a disbelieving snort. "Are you like a crazy person then?"

Shunsui just shook his head. "I'll prove it to you if you give me your word that you won't run off on me."

Nanao doubted anything was going to happen, but she was willing to wait it out.

"I give you me word."

Kyoraku moved towards the entrance of the cave. His form began to blur and to melt together and expand all at once. Nanao blinked, but the changing form was still there for another minute for it solidified into a large bronze dragon. Nanao gulped. He was quite easily larger than most of the houses in her village. Oddly enough, she didn't feel threatened by him. He was rather beautiful. Without really thinking about it, Nanao reached out a hand to touch the bronze scales. The dragon made an amused sound and turned his head to nuzzle her cheek.

:I told you, my adorable Nanao.: The voice echoed in her head.

Nanao made a face. "Like it was that believable in the first place."

The dragon blurred, and once again the man she had become familiar with stood before her.

"But it is true. Now that we've established that, shall I continue with the story?"

Nanao nodded. Kyoraku came and sat down beside her by the fire.

"I don't know what happened with your family or why you and your sister were sticking to human form. You're rather young to be able to do that for very long, but then again, you seem to have extremely good control for a hatchling. Though I would like to see if we can get you back into your original form."

"Why?"

He smiled at her. "Well, for one thing, you're going to have to do it sooner or later, so it might as well be sooner. For another, some things are easier to tell when you're in draconic form. For example, I'm not quite sure how old you are, and I have no idea what your affinities are."

"What are affinities?"

"Well, mine are air and earth with a smidgen of fire, which is how I can do that trick with the firewood. Your affinities dictate your abilities other than the basic ones of shape shifting and flight which all dragons have."

Nanao nodded. That made some sense. It would explain why various stories about dragons differed so much in what the dragon could do. "So how would I shift forms?"

"Dinner first, Nanao. It will be easier with a full stomach."

Within twenty minutes, Kyoraku had several rabbits roasting over the fire. It wasn't perhaps the best meal Nanao had ever had, but she was grateful for the food. She finished the portion he had handed her quickly and was slightly startled when the man gave her more. Seconds had been next to unheard of for her back in the village. Once she was pleasantly full, Kyoraku began to explain just how to shift forms. Some of it sounded very odd to Nanao, but given that it clearly was possible, she was willing to trust him on it. Once, Kyoraku was sure she understood the concept, he let her try it.

Shunsui found himself proved right again about just how extraordinary this little girl was. After two false tries, Nanao managed a complete shift. He had been right that she was young. In her dragon form she wasn't any larger than a large herding dog, making her only seven years old. That was remarkably young to displaying the abilities and the maturity she did. Nanao's scales were a delicate pearl grey with a lilac tinge which set off her violet eyes beautifully. She was going to gorgeous when she was fully grown. Even down, she was enchanting.

Her build was light and slender and clearly indicated that she had some water dragon ancestry. But Nanao's affinities were mainly air and fire. There was a little water, but Shunsui doubted she would be able to do much with that. Still, Nanao was packing quite a bit of power in her little body. And she was quite advanced for her age. He was definitely going to need to find her teachers once they got back to the lair. Shunsui had the feeling that Nanao was going to be one of those hatchlings that could get into all sorts of trouble if left on her own. She probably wouldn't mean to, but given her intelligence and abilities, it would happen anyway.

"Very good, Nanao. Can you get back to human form?"

It only took her one try to do that, but then at this point, that form was more familiar to her. Nanao settled back down in front of the fire beside him.

"Well," she gave him a look, "what did you find out?"

Shunsui chuckled. "You're seven years old, you have affinities for air and fire, and you're adorable."

She sniffed at him. "I could have told you that I was seven."

"I suppose so." Shunsui pulled off one of his haoris and wrapped it around the girl. "Try and get some sleep, Nanao."

Nanao made a face at him, but she cuddled into the pink fabric. She really was quite adorable. Shunsui smiled. He doubted she would stay awake much longer. It had been a long day for her, and he doubted that she was used to spending most of her day traveling. Even such an extraordinary little hatchling had her limits. As he had expected, Nanao was asleep with ten minutes. Shunsui smiled and made sure that she was warmly covered by the haori. This one time he didn't mind deal with the villagers' latest appeasement scheme.

Jyuushiro Ukitake bit back a smile as he watched his adopted daughter bully his best friend into dealing with the paperwork at hand. Dragons didn't actually go in for much paperwork, but some records were required, and Shunsui had always hated dealing with it. And he had been quite good at avoiding it. At least, until he had brought home a little hatchling five decades ago.

Nanao was a bright little hatchling, and Jyuu and his mate had adopted her almost immediately. Shunsui had always had a soft spot for her, in part because he was the one who found her. And oddly enough, Nanao seemed to have developed a fondness for him, even if the older dragon constantly exasperated her. Shunsui had actually ended up teaching her when it came to her affinity for air as he was only one in their lair with a comparable strength in that element. And Jyuu hadn't been able to help but notice the wistful look that had started to appear on Shunsui's face when he thought that Nanao wasn't looking.

The two of them were really a well matched pair. Nanao made certain that Shunsui dealt with the necessary things he was all too apt to avoid, and Shunsui kept Nanao from taking life too seriously. Jyuushiro had honestly expected one of them to make a move before now, but then again, Shunsui had probably been waiting until Nanao was completely considered an adult. Of course, Nanao was nearly a decade past that now. She would be fifty-seven on her next birthday, and fifty was the end of a dragon's adolescence. So hopefully, Shunsui or Nanao would do something about their relationship soon. At this point, the entire lair was in on the betting pool, and it had to pay out sometime.

It was a little ironic though. Nanao had been left where Shunsui found her in order to deal with the dragon that they had thought was causing their troubles. And they had attracted a dragon's attention, even if the situation wasn't what they thought it was, and Nanao had been the right choice of sacrifices. Because, really, the only way to truly tame a dragon was to have him fall in love with you. And Nanao was the only one who had ever managed to tame Shunsui.