Disclaimer: don't own characters and most mythical creatures, though some creatures I did come up with myself. I do own the setting and plot, though.

Warning: I tried to get everyone's personalities correct, but most will still be OOC.

Among Dragons

Chapter 1

yoki shinai

unexpected

"Are you leaving, Blaerno?" Ruki asked the gold dragon before him. The dragon turned its head to look at him. Blaerno was a huge dragon, about the size of a medium-sized house. He had a long, muscular neck with a beautiful golden head atop it. He had a rounded, medium-legth snout and whiskers like tentacles protruding from the end. His twin horns that protruded from the back of his massive head were very smooth and metalic. His body was large and muscular, as were his legs. His wings shot up from his shoulders, and got shorter as they went down his long tail. His millions of gold scales glimmered in the sunlight.

"Yes, but I promise to be back in time for your magic lesson, Ruki. The gem stealer should not be too hard to track," Blaerno replied. His voice was deep and powerful, almost sounding as if it echoed.

Blaerno turned his head back around and extended his wings, crouching down.

"See you later, then," Ruki said.

"Farewell and be safe, Ruki," Blaerno replied before lifting into the air. With a couple powerful flaps of his wings, he was high in the sky.

Ruki watched him fly away. He almost looked like a kite from afar. His wings trailed all the way down to the tip of his tail, giving him a triangle shape if you looked at him from below. His wings rippled like paper in the wind. He was truly a breathtaking creature, and Ruki was blessed to have been saved by such a creature.

When Blaerno was merely a speck in the sky, Ruki turned around and walked into the dragon's lair that was also his home. He took a hair tie out of his pocket and put his dreadlocks in a ponytail as he walked.

His home was a long and grand hallway, the floor made of smooth, stone tile, and the walls and ceiling made of carved out stone, as the place used to be the side of a mountain. Large light bulbs hung from the celing, lighting the place up. The hallway was full of all different types of art: paintings, sculptures, pottery, and many other undefinable pieces. Stone doors littered on both sides of the hallwat, and a huge double-door was located at the end. The entrance was usually blocked off by a boulder, but Ruki decided to leave it open that day. He needed the fresh air.

As Ruki noticed a painting on the wall, he stopped walking to look at it.

'That's new,' he thought as he stared. The painting was of a woman. Bundled up in her arms was a baby. She looked at it with love in her gaze.

The painting reminded Ruki of what he wished he had: a mother. Ruki was from a terribly tragic past. When he was merely 2, his parents were murdered in his own home. Luckily, the murderer never found him, but he was doomed to death without anyone to take care of him. So, he was left alone for 6 days with no care at all, and he became dangerously unhealthy. But, on that 6th day, a man happened to pass by Ruki's home, and he sensed that something was wrong. The man entered the home to discover Ruki's parents' dead bodies and Ruki's weak body. Without a second thought, he took Ruki to his own home and showed him his true form: a gold dragon. Ever since then, Blaerno has watched over Ruki and protected him from whatever may cause harm to him. Now, Ruki is 25, and still lives with the mighty creature. He is usually alone, though. Blaerno is usually out somewhere vanquishing evil. He has yet to find Ruki's family's murderer, but he is still searching. He is teaching Ruki magic so that Ruki can help him to defeat evil, but Blaerno is usually too busy. It was amazing how devoted gold dragons are to defeating evil.

Ruki then turned away and began sleepily walking down the main hall again. It was only 8 o'clock. Ruki could have slept longer, but Blaerno's echoing footsteps had woken him up earlier than he had hoped. As he walked, his ankles were suddenly grasped by something protruding from the floor. He tripped and fell on the tile floor HARD.

"Ow, what the FUCK?!" Ruki shouted angrily, turning to look behind him. Two hands were firmly gripping his ankles, making it impossible for him to stand up. He struggled in an attempt to make the hands let go, but he had no avail. His heart pumped frantically as he found himself helpless in this situation. He then looked ahead of himself to find himself face-to-face with a human head.

"Boo," it said and Ruki screamed. The hands on his ankles released him, and he scrabbled to his feet. He ran to the closest room as fast as he could and shut the door, locking it behind him.

Through Ruki's frantic breathing, he could hear the sound of hysterical laughter. He recognized those laughs, especially the one that sounded like a dying monkey.

Full of rage, Ruki swung the door open, making it hit the wall beside it with a BANG. He ran down the hallway and tackled the two idiots in his hallway to the floor.

"I'm going to KILL you two!" he yelled in their ears. They merely laughed.

"But I thought Daddy told you not to kill," the redheaded one teased.

"Well 'Daddy' isn't home right now!" Ruki shouted his reply, pushing harshly on the men's backs so that they were pressed to the floor.

"Alright! ALRIGHT! We're done! Could you get off us now?" the black haired one asked, struggling under Ruki's weight.

Ruki gave a small growl, but obeyed, standing up so that they could, too. The two intruders were friends of Ruki. The one with the long, dark red hair was Die, and the one with the shoulder-length black hair and the laugh that sounded like a dying monkey, was Kaoru. The two loved pulling pranks on unsuspecting people. They picked that trait up from the copper dragon with whom they lived with.

Their story is a lot different than Ruki's. They met when they were 16, and found that they were in love with each other. When they told their families, they were utterly disgusted, and had no respect for the two lovers. Die and Kaoru got so fed up with their families that they ran away together. While they were traveling, they came across a dragon's lair, not knowing that there was an owner of the home. They rested there for awhile, and eventually the owner of the lair came along. Rernon, the copper dragon who owned the lair, discovered the two, and decided that he liked the two's personalities. He took them in and allowed them to live with him. Rernon is a good friend of Blaerno's, so Ruki met Kaoru and Die when he came along with Blaerno to visit the copper dragon. Ever since then, the three have come to be close friends, but their pranks can get on Ruki's nerves a lot. Overall, copper dragons are very kind creatures, but they find much pleasure in pulling pranks on unsuspecting victims. Die and Kaoru picked that trait up from Rernon. Rernon is also teaching Die and Kaoru magic, but only the kind that is good for pranks and jokes.

"So, what's for breakfast? I'm starving," asked Kaoru as he walked into Ruki's kitchen with Die right behind him.

"What? Why don't you guys ever eat your own breakfast? Why steal my food?" Ruki complained, following Kaoru and Die into his kitchen.

"Because all Rernon ever brings home is snakes and scorpions. Sounds tasty, right?" Die replied sarcastically.

"Then buy your own damn food. All Blaerno ever brings home is pearls and gems, and you just know humans can digest that, right? I just go into town to get food," Ruki retorted. He was surprised that Kaoru did not go buy food. He is not naturally lazy like Die. Heck, he did enough work for both Die and himself.

"Oh well, we feel like eating here," Die replied, raiding Ruki's cabinets as if it were his own kitchen.

Ruki sighed in defeat. "Fine, what do you guys want?" he asked in an exasperated tone.

"Waffles," both said at the same time.

"Jinx, you owe me a soda," Die said before Kaoru could.

"Damnit," Kaoru said in defeat.

Ruki sighed again. 'Those two will never grow up,' he thought.

Ruki then walked across the kitchen and reached up at the cabinet that the waffles were in. He reached as high as he could, but he could only brush the knob with the tips of his fingers. As he kept trying, he felt two arms go around his waist and lift him off the floor.

"Need a little help, chibi-chan?" Die said teasingly as he held Ruki up. Ruki whacked him across the head.

"Put me down!" Ruki ordered. Die laughed, but obeyed, setting Ruki back down on the floor. Again, Ruki reached for the cabinet. Die and Kaoru watched in amusement. He still could not reach. Kaoru and Die laughed at his attempts to reach the cabinet. Ruki growled.

"I am not short!" he yelled at them. "I'm just unnaturally not tall!"

"You keep telling yourself that, chibi-chan," Kaoru replied, laughing that dying monkey sounding laugh of his.

Ruki flipped the taller man off, and began trying to reach the cabinet once again. He reached, and reached, and reached, and reached, but he still could not reach that damn cabinet.

Ruki sighed. "Alright, help me up," Ruki said in an annoyed tone. Die laughed, wrapping his arms around Ruki's waist, and lifting him up once again. Now Ruki could reach the cabinet, and he opened it and grabbed the box of waffles.

IWANNABEANANARCHISTTOOIWANNABEANANARCHISTTOOIWANNABEANANARCHISYTOOIWANNABEANANARCHISTTOOIWANNABEANANARCHISTTOO

"So, what have you two been up to lately?" Ruki asked the Kaoru and Die. They sat at the small table in the middle of Ruki's kitchen. Die and Kaoru were eating the waffles while Ruki just had a cup of coffee.

"What have we been up to…?" Die thought for a moment. "Oh, yeah! Just the other day, we pulled a prank on Bou-san."

Kaoru immediately started laughing. "Oh, I remember that! That was priceless!" Kaoru said in between laughs.

"What'd you guys do, now?" Ruki asked. He was curious of what the duo had done to poor Bou this time. Bou was a very feminine blond boy, who was one of Die's and Kaoru's main targets. They had met him when they went into town one time. At first, they thought he was a girl, and Kaoru and Die urged Ruki to go and flirt with 'her.' They wanted to find out if Ruki was gay or straight, for he had never been attracted to either a girl or a guy. Ruki repeatedly refused, but eventually gave in out of annoyance. He was very taken aback when Bou stated that he was actually a guy.

"We switched his hair shampoo with green hair dye," Die answered to Ruki's question, laughing as hard as Kaoru.

Ruki could not help but give a small laugh. 'Bou with green hair would be a sight to see,' Ruki thought. 'But that was a cruel prank. I wonder if he ever got the dye out…'

Suddenly, a huge BANG and CRASH was heard, followed by a loud roar, interrupting Ruki's thoughts. He immediately dashed out of the kitchen and into the hallway to see what had happened. When he looked before him, he froze. A huge skull dragon was cornering two boys in his hallway. A stone sculpture that had once been in the corner was now on the floor, shattered into hudreds of tiny pieces. The giant dragon growled as it loomed over the intruders. Ruki could not move an inch. He had never seen a skull dragon in person, and never wanted to, either. They were purely evil dragons that would kill almost anything.

The dragon was not as large as Blareno, but still quite big. It had a lot less muscles than Blaerno, too. Instead of a muscular body, it looked as if it were just a skeleton with black, scaley skin flapped over it, but Ruki knew it was stronger than it appeared. Its too small wings were folded on its sides. Its huge head was the reason it had the nickname, 'skull dragon.' It's eyes were set back in its head and it hardly looks like there was anything but skin and bones in its face. Two long horns protruded near the back of its head, curled foward, and almost reached past its long snout. Its lips were brout back into a snarl, its sharp teeth clearly visible.

"I finally caught you pests! I'll kill you just like your friend!" it shouted at them. The dragon's voice was raspy and hoarse, but had the slightest hint of feminism. She glared down at the two intruders, not even noticing Ruki staring at it in shock. Acid drool dripped from her jaws, landing on the floor and just barely missing the two boys in the corner. The acid burnt through the tile, leaving a hole of dirt in the floor.

As the dragon opened her jaws to the intruders, Die jumped out in front of the petrified Ruki, holding his hand out in front of him. "Kerchyrona!" he shouted. Smoke emitted from Die's hand, and a huge copper dragon charged out of it. It was a bit bigger than the skull dragon, and a lot more muscular. It had a more rounded head than the skull dragon or Blaerno, and it had broad, flat horns that looked plated. Under its jaw was membrane, much like wing membrane, that was known as 'jaw frill.' Its wings were somewhat like Blaerno's, for they, too, went all the way down the tail, but had more bend to them. It had a reddish, coppery color with some green markings at the tip of its wings.

The copper dragon ran towards the skull. Once she saw the copper running towards her, she immediately backed away from the two intruders and attempted to run from the copper dragon. She was only a few steps away from Ruki's home before it caught up to her. A visible gas emitted from the copper dragon's mouth and engulfed the skull dragon. The skull dragon stopped dead in her tracks. It seemed as if she was trying to run away, but could only walk slowly.

Taking this chance, the copper dragon bit down hard on the skull dragon's neck, making the he skull dragon cried out in pain. A flock of black feathered creatures quickly flew out of a nearby tree as the skull dragon's acid green blood burnt the tree's trunk. The tree fell over and was about to fall on top of the copper and the skull dragon, but the copper swiftly moved out of the way and it fell on the decaying carcass of the skull dragon. The whole entire tree was reduced to ash in mere seconds. Even the ground on which the skull dragon's green blood touched burnt and disappeared.

Once blood had ceased pouring out of the dead dragon, the carcass laid in a large hole in the ground. The copper dragon stared at the sight. Its expression was emotionless.

"Thank you, Rernon," came Kaoru's voice as he walked over to the copper dragon. Kaoru gave one glance at the dead carcass, and then quickly looked away.

"You're welcome," Rernon replied, taking his eyes off of the dead dragon to look at the two intruders who were now standing a few meters away. "But how did a skull dragon find its way here?" He glared at the two boys suspiciously.

Only one of the boys looked up at Rernon. He had blond hair and a silver band across his nose. The boy who did not look up had long dirty blond hair. He had his face in his hands.

"Who are you two?" asked Ruki, walking out of his home and approaching the two intruders. The one with the silver noseband looked at him with striking blue eyes. Ruki soon found himself with an odd feeling in his stomach. 'What is this? I've never felt this before.'

"I'm Reita, and this is Shinya," Reita answered, looking at Shinya with a concerned look. "Shinya, are you okay?" Shinya merely shook his head.

'Is he crying?' Ruki thought. "What happened?" he asked.

Reita looked back at Ruki. Ruki tried to avoid staring into his eyes. "The skull dragon took Kyo. We think she threw him in her lair. We're not sure if he's still alive," Reita answered, sadness clearly visible in his expression.

"Show us to the lair," said Ruki. "We'll help you."

IWANNABEANARACHISTTOOIWANNABEANARACHISTTOOIWANNABEANARACHISTTOOIWANNABEANANARCHISTTOOIWANNABEANANARCHISTTOO

EOC gawd dat took forever to type. I hope u like it. Plz RnR