A few days passed and Shiro became paranoid. He thought he saw Ichigo everywhere. He went out for a walk and could've sworn that the torch he carried had become orange hair. Shiro sat down for dinner and out of the corner of his eye he thought his saw the man dancing – but always when he checked Ichigo was never there.

After a few weeks the man had invaded his dreams. Sometimes even when Shiro woke, he thought to have seen Ichigo in the window. It got so bad that Shiro stayed up all night… The only good thing that came out of this was that his nightmares had disappeared.

There was no more screaming, no more fire or burning or bad smells. Everything was just gone and life was peaceful, except for Shiro's usual routines as a Dragon Slayer.

Another month later found Shiro in his room. He'd fallen asleep, leaving the window open in hopes of letting some cool air into his room. As the moon gently touched the trees, a man garnished in a black robe slipped in through the window. His face was covered by the hood of his cloak and the shadows it cast. He lay down on top of Shiro, a knife slipping out of his pocket and clattering to the floor. Shiro woke and yelped when he saw the stranger who quickly silenced him with a gentle kiss.

Shiro reached for the man's hood and yanked it off, revealing spiky orange hair and cocoa brown eyes. Ichigo sat back and grinned, licking his lips. "You kissed me back… did you miss me?"

Shiro blinked several times before pushing Ichigo away. "I haven't seen you in weeks and you suddenly show up like this? How the hell did you even know where I live?"

Ichigo smiled. "Easy, you smell of beautiful vanilla…"

There was a questioning glint to Shiro's eyes.

Ichigo silenced himself but it was already too late. Shiro connected the dots and drew his blade. Ichigo took his dagger from the floor and pressed it to Shiro's sword.

"You came here to kill me, didn't you? Where's your nest?"

"I didn't and I don't have one…" Ichigo replied, although sounding a little hurt.

Shiro pressed harder with his blade making Ichigo stumble onto the bed. "Why should I believe you?"

"What reason would I have to lie?" Ichigo frowned and slowly lowered his knife. "I don't want to hurt you… I swear this was just for protection in case I ran into someone else." He let the dagger fall onto the floor boards.

"Someone else…" Shiro repeated, not moving his sword. "You were looking for me? I don't understand… I've been at that village for a month now, daily. If you wanted to find me, surely you would've stayed there? But I guess… since you are not a human…"

"You can say it," Ichigo interrupted.

"Dragon…" The word left Shiro's mouth like it was scum.

Ichigo looked away. "I couldn't approach you in the village because you weren't alone. Don't you ever get tired of slayers following you around everywhere?" Ichigo sighed and decided he'd better just stretch out across the bed. "Besides, you're very good at hiding your Dragon Fire. It was almost impossible to tell you and another Slayer apart. What if I'd gotten you mixed up with a slayer? I could've been killed-"

"Did you just say Dragon Fire?" Shiro questioned, and Ichigo nodded. "That belongs to dragons and dragons alone…" Shiro's grip on his sword began to fall. As his curiosity with Ichigo grew, his sword lowered. "I'm not a dragon, so if that's what you were looking for then it's no wonder why you didn't find me."

Ichigo smirked. "Oh? You mean you don't know? There's definitely dragon in you… a large amount, too. I, being an orange dragon, can look right into your soul and tell apart dragon from human. You are most definitely a dragon. In fact, the only human in you is an illusion!"

"I am no monster!" Shiro shrieked.

"And neither am I-"

"Get out, now! You have five seconds before I slice off your head!"

The hurt in Ichigo's eyes was covered up by his grin. "You can never catch me~! Orange dragons are also very fast!" He ducked out of Shiro's way and ran to his window. There, he shifted into a magnificent orange beast and flew off.

Shiro tossed away his sword. "He's a dragon… I can't believe it…" He lay down in bed. There's absolutely nothing in our studies that says dragons can mask themselves as humans. I should tell someone, but it can wait until morning… As he stared at the retreating moon, he fell asleep and was plagued by nightmares once again.


Shiro woke with a shudder. He felt a deep sorrow in the pit of his stomach, and no amount of tossing and turning would get rid of it. It suddenly stopped when there was a knock at the door.

"Hey, Shirosaki, you ready to go?"

Shiro sat up and stretched out. "Where are we going, Renji?"

"You mean no one's told you?" Renji questioned. "We're moving! There hasn't been a dragon raid here in ages, yet there's war at the home front. In other words-"

Shiro grinned. "We're getting a promotion!?"


A week later they arrived at the Imperial City. Thick walls of stone built ten times the height of Shiro boxed in a city made for war. Battle ready towers sat at the corners of the wall, armed with a hundred dozen men in total, the only ones to survive the last attack from the Dragons.

Shiro's jaw dropped at the giant iron gates, one at either side of the tunnel as if a Dragon would dare to just walk though. The gates were surprisingly silent when they opened and closed for Shiro and his allies.

The streets were narrow until they opened to a Market Place. Each building, Shiro noticed, was made of stones and bricks. Probably to prevent them from catching fire, he thought. On the other side of the Market's square site was the castle. It wasn't tall, but still it held an intimidating quality. It was like a lion, squat down to blend in, ready to pounce…

Shiro was interrupted from his thought when Grimmjow elbowed his gut. "Oi, ya done staring and ready ta get a move on?"

Shiro growled gently at him. "I was not staring."

"You're wrong, Grimm," Renji but in. "It was more like Shiro was droolin'."

"Don't make me hit you!" Shiro warned, chuckling when the two idiots ran off. He sighed and followed them towards the castle. They were immediately separated from their core leader and brought to a small building left of the castle. Inside were rooms laid out in a very military fashion. In each room were two beds, meaning they were supposed to share. Shiro wound up with Hirako Shinji as a roommate.

For a week, the Dragon Slayers were not permitted to leave the court yard. Another month passed and all the Slayers were allowed to do was train. Six months later had Shiro's aim mastered and he acquired the rank of Dragon Tamer.

That day, when visiting the market place, he heard a very loud commotion.

"DRAGON! RUN!"

While fire erupted around him, and citizens ran screaming past him, Shiro drew out his bow. Upon looking straight into orange eyes, he froze. The dragon stopped almost instantly. It sniffed Shiro once then lowered its head submissively.

Shiro gulped, not entirely sure of what he should do, when he heard, "It went this way! Kill it!"

'Change,' Shiro half spoke, half mentally willed. Next thing he knew, the orange dragon had mutated back into the boy he'd met long ago. Shiro threw his cloak over Ichigo and carried him away from the scene. For the first minute, Ichigo was clinging onto Shiro and never dared let go, after a bit he collapsed from pure shock and drifted into unconsciousness.