A/N: Another story from rare pair week. I adore dragons so this was one of my favorite prompts. Royalty/Dragon.
Home
Nana's family found out she was a dragon caller when she was a little girl. The day it happened, she remembered her father telling her a story about dragon callers, describing their powers, how it felt to draw it out, and their relationship with the dragons, as a bedtime story. That weekend, the time her father gave her and her brother time to rest from training, she went outside and sat in the grass trying to feel something like what her father described.
"A well of power that is gentle yet commanding." She muttered to herself. She wanted a friend that wasn't her older brother, Tashiro. No matter how much she cared for him he was still seven years older than her and had his own friends.
"Dragon come here." She called out when she thought she found that feeling. She could feel her voice in the air, resonating with something. She thought it was loud but when she turned to look at her house there was no movement from inside.
She looked up waiting for anything to come by. Any sign that she actually was a dragon caller, that she had a reason to feel that this village was too small for her and she should be doing something else.
The figure she saw flying towards her made her jump up in excitement. It was a dragon, smaller than the ones that usually flew overhead, that was as red as the sky at sunset. When it landed in front of her she could see the black scales that ran down its back to the top of its tail and peppered throughout its body. It reminded her more of a dahlia up close.
"Did you call me." She heard in a language that the few dragons she had seen spoke in. It sounded young and friendly.
"Yes I did! My papa was telling me about dragon callers and I wanted to see if I was one."
"Well you certainly are one. Only dragon callers and other dragons can understand us in this form."
"I heard dragons have a human form. Do you have one?"
"Excuse my manners." The dragon transformed before her revealing the form of a young boy. He had a long black braid of hair that he threw over his shoulder and black cautious eyes. "I didn't know if anyone was here waiting to capture me. Some dragon callers aren't as nice as you are."
He held out his hand. "My name is Fon."
She took the offered hand and shook it. "I'm Nana. What does my call sound like."
He beamed at her. "It sounds like coming home."
That was her first meeting with the person who would be the one of the most important people in her life.
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Leaving
Nana and her brother left the village when their father was killed one night. His neck was cut and then his body was left to bloat in the river.
Her father, Mashiro, was a good man. A strict teacher who would not let his kids slack off in training but he also told the best stories. Ones of his days in the army of Vongola and the dragons he had met and commanded. He made his money by being a carpenter which he also passed down to his children.
He had enemies in the kingdom they settled in. They were careful to not use their family name and, they tried not to show their fighting style by pretending to be weaker than they were. They knew enemies would come eventually. Nana was a budding dragon caller after all and her father would not hinder her from practicing her powers just to protect himself. The people of the village could not miss that dragon figure constantly coming to their house, the kingdom would eventually send someone out to check what was going on. They just wished they had more time.
She calls Fon the day his body was found.
"My brother and I are leaving this village. My father was killed last night."
He hugged her and didn't push for details. "If you need somewhere to go, my master should have a place nearby and you can train with him."
"Thank you. I will call you."
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Masters
Nana has had five masters so far in her young life that taught her to fight and refine her powers. Her father was her first one and then the man Fon recommended her. She followed rumors for months to find the next one. She picked up things quickly and then she was off to find another master to train under.
At fifteen she realized that she and Fon were flirting but, it did not happen the way she heard the village girls say it usually did. There were no secret glances or dressing to impress. They sent letters recommending people to train under because they were taking their training seriously. Every time she got a letter from him telling her about a new style and where she could learn it she would write down the location and quickly finish her current studies. They encouraged each other to improve and, when they met up, they would greet each other with a spar. She enjoyed every one of their interactions and was always excited for the next one.
Her brother would tease her about those letters. Tashiro gave up on fighting years ago and took up carpentry like their father did so he did not understand most of what they gushed about in the letters but he said it was obviously flirting. Even though he gave up fighting, Tashiro traveled with her wherever she went and made money with his crafting in any town they could. He was her biggest supporter.
She was only good at carving figurines and designs in the wood. The way the knife carved through the wood fascinated her and made her search for a teacher that could show her knife work. When she found a teacher that taught her how to use a knife he also taught her how to use a quarterstaff. It was then she found her preferred weapon. She still liked hand to hand combat and the other weapons, but the staff gave her a longer reach and she enjoyed putting on shows with it for some extra money.
At seventeen she called Fon out for a spar and for the first time their fights didn't end in a draw.
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Temper
In her first three months of knowing Fon she found he had a temper. In his human form he would scowl at her and storm off ignoring her yells for him to come back. When a dragon's emotions ran high in their human form, their eyes would glow, and his eyes glowed dark red.
In his dragon form he would growl and, with a sweep of his wings, would send dirt and grass in her directions. By the time she rubbed the dust out her eyes he would be gone. She would stomp her foot at yell in childish anger and run inside.
In her younger years those fights made her absolutely hate him. She refused to use the dragon call on him because she didn't want to see him.
Their first fight was over the village children.
"They're hurting you. Let me scare them and you won't have to worry about it anymore." Fon shouted.
"This is my business, I can handle it." She scowled.
"Then handle it! You can fight." His eyes started to glow red.
"My dad taught me to fight to protect people. Not to hurt them." They were just getting to know each other. She couldn't tell him the real reason that her father was one of the last practitioners of his style and had enemies.
"Then maybe the way your dad taught you was stupid." He scoffed with his arms crossed.
"Take that back!" She howled, holding herself back from attacking him. If she did that she couldn't prove her point of only fighting to protect others.
"No! My master taught me to protect myself."
"The way your master taught you was stupid." She mocked.
By now both of their faces were flushed red in anger. Without a word he turned around and walked off.
"Come back here. You can't just leave like that." She shouted after him but he didn't respond. "Fine then, leave you stupid dragon." She yelled in the direction he went.
Nana held onto her anger until day three when she started wishing he would come back. After five days of waiting he came back. Tashiro sat them both down and made them both talk about why they fought until they came to an agreement.
They fought many times after that but he always came back in five days and Nana always stopped being angry at him in three. They would both stumble over each other apologizing and then they would hug and discuss what made them angry with each other in the first place. It was a system that gave them a tight bond that couldn't be broken.
As they got older, their masters taught them to control their emotions better. If one did upset the other they would challenge the other to a spar to work out frustrations. After the fight they would talk. On the arguments that were about the best fighting style, they would fight with the style they had chosen and talk about the styles techniques after.
Of course they could still break each others composure and have one of their shouting matches. Fon would storm off but, when she was on the road, after five days she would call him back and they would apologize with laughter.
When they both joined the Vongola army their fights made them stand out and feared among the ranks. No one thought she had the guts to fight a dragon but, she never backed down.
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Shiva
Her dragon caller powers were being worked on through these years. She learned how many dragons she could call at once and what commanding and calming them meant. She learned the distance she can call them from and she learned a part of her power that frightened her.
Dragon callers are only able to have control of dragons in their dragon form not their human form.
She was seventeen when she came into town. She wanted to help people with Her dragon caller powers and she heard of a dragon attacking the village.
A dragon named Shiva was attacking a village. When a dragon stayed in their dragon form for too long, those instincts of territory and what's yours is mines started to take over. Feral dragons usually had no regard for the lives of humans and saw them as beneath them. She didn't want Fon to ever end up like that.
The village of Hopper was one that looked as if the Ester kingdom had abandoned it. There were the gaunt hungry faces of the people, partially burned fields, and there was not one soldier stationed in that town in response to their cries for help. The lord of that village did what he could to provide for his people but it wasn't enough. The dragon never killed anybody but he took what he wanted.
Shiva swooped down days after Nana came into town. He was a black dragon with yellow rings going up his neck and down his front legs. She drew upon that power, easier to get to now that she knew what it was and had worked with it, and called to him. "Stop. Transform." She learned earlier on she didn't have to shout because the dragon call resonated with the instincts of the dragon it was directed towards.
He transformed into a scruffy brown and silver haired thin man and, with a snarl and crazed blue eyes, tried to snatch a child to aid his escape. "Don't move." She called still using the power and he froze. And it was heartbreaking seeing the parents pull their children away not only from the dragon but from her too. She took the dragon with her and didn't look back into town.
Shiva pledged his loyalty to her for bringing him back to himself. She wondered if there were many others trapped in their dragon form.
Even though she feared this new part of her power, she never stopped listening out for feral dragons and bringing them back from the edge. Her help was not always welcome and she had to learn to take down dragons on her own before joining the army through trial and error, but it gave her life long friends. She came to the army with dragons willing to fight by her side and others around the world willing to aid her.
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Vongola Army
At age 20 she joined the Vongola army. Usually dragon callers were not on the frontlines but she joined as a soldier, hiding her dragon caller abilities. She would spend days inside on guard duty when she only wanted to be on the frontlines fighting.
A month after she arrived she proved herself in a spar with the commander of her squad who she believed to be incompetent but a good enough fighter. He sent her to the squad that guarded the dragon callers. At first she was excited to see the dragon callers in the army but, seeing them, she was embarrassed that they called themselves dragon callers. If a dragon transformed to their human form, the army's dragon callers would be vulnerable because they just could not defend themselves.
She proved herself in these battles, sometimes single handedly taking down enemy and rouge dragons with only a small use of her powers.
She quickly rose in ranks and she was too valuable to not be on the frontlines when she finally revealed herself. As soon as she could, she took over the dragon caller training and made sure they knew how to protect themselves and fight back.
Fon joined the same time she did in the dragon part of the army. Training with the foot soldiers and the dragons. As a dragon he was out fighting on the front lines earlier on in his career. Fon would not let anyone but Nana ride him, and no dragon caller was strong enough to command him or his squad so, when she was high enough in the army that she could be a dragon rider, he was the first one she chose.
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Arcobaleno
Fon joined a subdivision of the dragon army called The Arcobaleno. Nana would visit their den often and got to know them.
Reborn, the dangerous dragon that did assassinations for the kingdom. He was intelligent and charming and liked to tease the others. Nana enjoyed talking to him about the different kingdoms. His dragon form was yellow with black and orange spots on his tail and back.
Verde was involved in making new weapons for the army. He allowed her to be the first to test some out and she found herself discussing types of weapons and their uses with him and Lal. Reborn wound join in when he wasn't being disagreeable. His dragon form was a light green with darker green on his back legs.
Skull was funny and liked to entertain the civilians of the city when he had the time. Sometimes they would take walks through the town or put on shows together in the town square. He may look unimposing but he was fast in his dragon form, able to make the quickest turns and do dangerous stunts. He was also a skilled trackers and was sent on missions to find missing humans. Nana often found herself dizzy when flying with him. His form was purple with white on his head and stomach.
Lal Mirch doubled as the bodyguard of the prince when he went out of the kingdom and trained his guard that watched him in it. They bitched about the prince together and discussed the army and different weapons. Humans and dragons alike feared her. Her form was blue with swirls of purple on her side.
Colonello had a boyish charm that the civilian girls adored. He was the last to join, following in Lal, who he says is his one true love, from the prince's bodyguards. They would go bar hopping on their downtime and she would watch as he charmed his way into shows and free drinks. His form was a lighter blue than Lal's and got lighter until it was white up to his tail.
Viper did the finances for the army and for all the Arcobaleno. Nana would talk to him about battle expenses and they would discuss what can and can not be done with the money they were allotted. Those talks would soon devolved into Nana throwing out numbers and Viper saying what they could buy with that amount. His dragon form was violet with a lighter violet at the tip of his tail and his front legs and a darker violet on his head and down across the bridge of his nose and above.
Luce led the subdivision. She baked and walked the town with the prettiest clothing when not on duty and Nana liked that about her. They would be in Nana's small house cooking and dancing around. Other than her brother, Nana mostly talked to Luce about Fon. When Nana took over leading the dragon army, talk about strategy and battle plans would be added to their topics. Luce was a dark orange dragon with white legs.
When the arcobaleno fought it was a sight to see. They moved in sinc and were a rainbow of colors. They took down the enemies swiftly and protected those they fought with. They normally did not let humans ride them into battle but, Nana was an exception.
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Date
Fon asked her on a date when she turned 21.
"Why did you wait so long to ask me out. We've been dancing around this since we were young."
He laughed sheepishly. "I wanted to wait till you were of age."
She hit him and gave him a playful scowl. "We're the same age. Most people have been married for years at our age."
He winced and rubbed the spot. Nana knew he was faking, she didn't hit him that hard. "So is that a yes?"
"Of course it is."
They went out in the town for dinner at one of their favorite taverns. It was loud and merry, a place where the soldiers and the civilians mixed. It was filled with familiar faces that greeted them as they walked by. After some stilted conversation, they sat in awkward silence at a table for two only until the tavern owner, Higura, passed by to chat.
"Nana, Fon, my two favorite customers. It's strange not seeing you two sitting at the bar." He pointed out as he stopped near them.
"We're kind of on our first date." Nana said. She couldn't look Fon in the eyes and could feel the blush rising.
"Really? You mean to tell me you two haven't been dating all this time." They both looked and could see the genuine confusion on his face. They looked at each other and couldn't help but laugh.
"No we have not." Fon giggled and Nana could not help thinking that he was really cute and she loved him with all her heart.
"Well your spot at the bar is waiting. First drinks are on me." He turned from the table and addressed the tavern. "Hey everyone you wouldn't believe what I just heard. This is their first date, they were never dating before." He shouted.
It was with those exclamations of disbelief from everyone in attendance that they moved to the bar and were brought round after round by the patrons of the tavern.
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Proposal
She was the head dragon caller, a dragon rider, and led the army into battle. She was close with those in the subdivision of Arcobaleno. She had her own clan of dragons that was loyal to her. The people of the town knew and respected her. She had long light brown hair in a braid, imitating Fon's own hairstyle, and soft brown eyes. Fon told her she looked beautiful though she didn't need him to tell her a fact she already knew.
She could see why the prince of Vongola, the dragon prince with a beautiful orange and red form, saw her as an appealing candidate for marriage and to bear his children.
"I will give you anything you want if you give me just one date." Iemitsu almost begged.
Nana stared at him dispassionately. "You are the prince of this kingdom and soon will be its king. You can ask me for anything but I will not marry you. You shouldn't beg, it's unsightly." She only found begging cute on Fon and children, though she would not say those two at the same time to him.
He sighed. "Then just a child. You are the only one I can ask who would keep this quiet."
She narrowed her eyes. "And why exactly do you need a child?"
"I need an heir but I can't let the child have a mother that can't protect it. If you show up with the child anywhere no one would say a thing because people fear and respect you. Plus we work together to lead the army and you never blab to anyone when I make a mistake."
"I am in a relationship and I do love my partner. Our relationship is open but I will not have him as some side plaything and marry you. I am also not interested in court politics. I will discuss it with him and you do have to ask him yourself but, I am willing to bear your child." She nodded to herself. At twenty seven years of age she was planning to have a child. She did wish she could have one with Fon but a very fierce battle left him sterile.
"Who is your partner so I can talk to him?" She saw in Iemitsu's eyes that he was making plans to bribe her partner.
She smiled at him knowing a bribe would never work and relished the horror in his eyes when she said who he was.
"Fon of the Arcobaleno squad."
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The prince's son
Fon agreed to let her have the Prince of their kingdom's child only after threatening Iemitsu to not hurt her. A year later she gave birth to a beautiful boy named Tsunayoshi Vongola. She loved the baby as soon as she saw him and so did Fon. He had the softest brown hair and cutest button nose. When he cried his soft brown eyes would glow a molten orange. Her brother would have loved to see him and would have instantly cuddled Tsunayoshi and give him a nickname if he didn't get killed by bandits two years ago.
"I'll call you Tsuna. Just for Tashiro." She cooed.
Her baby boy was a dragon and not just any dragon. He was a pure gold dragon. Only one gold dragon existed at a time. They were known as the leader of dragons and the only ones capable of opening the gates to the dragon city, Valenwood, that was shut after the last gold dragon died.
Iemitsu could show of their son but he could never show him off in his dragon form. People started to believe that Tsunayoshi did not have a dragon form. It was rare for a child born with dragon blood to not have a dragon form and even in the kind kingdom of Vongola people still looked down on them.
It didn't matter what people said. He was her baby and she would make him strong.
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Nana's son
When Tsunayoshi turned three Iemitsu was killed protecting him. Iemitsu would usually take their son out in a protected area of the courtyard that Nana could look over from her office in the castle.
There were three of them she saw at the time who came at him. She used her dragon caller powers to stop them. There was a hidden one in his human form up a tree and Iemitsu threw himself in the way of the arrow that was shot. The poison got to him before she could and she killed three of the men and kept the last one alive.
She didn't stay for the killers execution or the prince's funeral. She just took her son and left.
She settled in a small village in an ally kingdom and, when she was ready, Fon was the first dragon she called to her.
He landed in front of her. His dragon form fully grown from when they met. Instead of being weary and not transforming like the first time they met, he instantly transformed and wrapped her in a hug.
He gave her one of those deep long kisses she loved and rested his forehead against hers.
"Wherever you are is home and I'll always come back here."
Nana laughed as she pulled back. "Don't ever forget that."
Fon didn't quit the army and she didn't want him to. She would rather he stayed there and keep an eye on everyone.
Occasionally she would get visits from her old dragon squad and the other dragons she saved. Fon never told the Arcobaleno her location and she never told them where she was in her letters to them but Skull found out and he didn't tell either.
She trained Tsunayoshi in this quiet village for the rest of her life with Fon coming over as often as he could get away.
She made sure he knew how to control his dragon form early on and to never fly out of her eyesight or too high. Her also had her dragon caller powers and she made sure he knew how to use it.
Nana still looked for feral dragons to save even after leaving the army because that is what she loved doing and, when her final days came, Tsunayoshi would have dragons all over the world willing to help Nana's son.