Okay, so I decided to ignore popular opinion and just go with the dragon story. nya nya. This is written in first person. But BEFORE you stop reading! I ALSO hate first person. But PLEASE give this one a chance, I think you might find you will like it.. A LOT more than you think. I wrote it in a way that I think is more appealing than most first person.

Title: Dragon Infatuation

Summary: Ichigo is a half dragon/half human. When he first met the human girl Rukia, He wasn't too impressed, but something about her fiery personality draws him, in ways he can't explain. An unwilling partnership between the two will throw them both head first into more than they could have ever bargained for.


Goddess

That's not the word I would have used the first time I met her. Definitely not. If I were to quote some of the first adjective's I thought when I first met Rukia Kuchiki it would have been; short, pretentious, amusing, or quite simply brat.

The catalyst that caused me to make the acquaintance of the aforementioned woman was quite simply a customary gathering of my kind. Dragons tend to fall into two different categories; clans and rogues. Clans are usually led by a stronger alpha dragon, either male or female, who acts as a governing head of a group of weaker subservient dragons. To put it simply; weak, small, and generally simple drakes make good clan member material. Rogues are usually strong or clever dragons who haven't settled down and formed a clan, or chose to pursue a more solitary life. I am the latter or the two. Proudly renowned for my shear size, and brute strength; however... slightly lacking in cleverness.

Dragons gather every ten years to socialize, take a census, and reiterate drake law to the younger generation. We try exceedingly hard to govern our own species and assure its survival; all while coexisting with the ever growing population of humans, and keeping the majority of them ignorant to our existence.

Coexistence would have been near impossible if not for our kind's ability to shape shift into a human form. Subsequently making us somewhat compatible with humans as well, though highly frowned upon. Its not unheard of for dragons to adopt humans into their clans either as servants, or merely members of a family. Rukia was one such human.

If the hearsay is true, she was taken in by the distinguished Kuchiki clan some time after their alpha took her older sister as a mate. Taking a human as a mate is incredibly inappropriate, and this instance wasn't any exception. It caused quite a stir amongst fellow dragon clans and their elders; but Kuchiki clan-leader, Byakuya, wasn't going to hear any of it. He went ahead and married the human woman, and adopted her sister into his family to top it all off.

I don't care much for clans, and I feel for Kuchikis even less. But in a debate I'm inclined to stand on Byakuya's side of the fence concerning human mates. See I'm a half-breed, the spawn of a human and a dragon. That means I live about the life-span of a human, which is a quarter of what a dragon lives, and that's coupled with the self-control of a teenage male. Needless to say, I can't control when I shift from human to dragon very well; I act on instinct more often than not; and I'm prone to go on a rampage from time to time. With that knowledge it's probably easy to see why I prefer being a rogue.

While I don't exactly take pride in my human heritage, I wouldn't be alive today if it weren't for my human mother. You could say I was born biased. So the fact that Rukia was not a dragon was never an issue. The thing that set me off about her was quite simply just her.

The Gathering was hosted at Lord Hitsugaya's estate in Hallowed forest. Hitsugaya was a feared ice dragon that dwelled in that region for the better part of a hundred years. At one point he even accumulated a cult following from a nearby village that perceived him as some sort of winter deity. Hitsugaya had a humble estate the same way you could claim that lions were small felines. To put it lightly he owned a very old fashioned mansion located on many many acres of cleared land, and many more acres of overgrown forest.

As a rogue, I travel light, and I arrived to The Gathering days before most other dragons and their clans made their appearance. It was on the second day that the Kuchiki clan arrived, the entire clan. I was basking in the spring sun amidst an incredible rose garden located in the front courtyard. The brilliant light of mid-morning reflected off my ashen grey scales, and warming my naturally cool blood. I feigned disinterest in the procession before me, but watched them none the less.

Rukia never waltzed into my life, what she did was more of a tango, or a flamenco. Something feisty laced with a bit more fire, and less class. I never liked dancing so maybe that's why we never got along so well, and still don't. She was new to the whole dragon-thing, her wide-eyed expression gave it away despite her best efforts to hide it. I saw her following after the main collection of high-ranked dragons. She may have been the younger sibling to the Clan-leader's wife, but her humanity awarded her a humble status just above servantry. She was a token; Simply a piece of jewelry to be admired or looked at, but never given much significance.

She really wasn't very good at hiding her interest. I saw her staring at me from a mile away. I'm not the prettiest dragon. I don't boast exotic colors, or a sleek majestic form. I'm what you would call a brawler. I have a long face, and from my forehead down to my chin my scales sport an ivory color with red markings starting just above my eyes and running down over my cheek bones. I have two long angular, hook-shaped horns that run parallel with my snout, similar to the horns of a bull. From the back of my skull and corners of my jaw starts a blazing mane of spikes that run down the back of my long neck, and taper off between my shoulder blades. The rest of my body from the underside of my neck to the tip of my tail is an ashen grey; except for my forearms and legs which are an ivory just like my face. All this was accented with a number of scars; trophies I hoard and collect from the various fights I frequently take part in.

She could have been staring at me because of my shear awesomeness. Or she could have been admiring me. Given her noble status though she might very well have just been taken back by my unsightliness. But that was neither here nor there, because as soon as she noticed me catch her in the act of staring, I grinned at her, a wide toothy smug grin. She responded by wrinkling her nose and giving me a haughty eye-roll. Despite turning her head away and pretending to ignore me, I still saw her scrutinizing me out of the corner of her eye.

So I gladly scrutinized back. She was short, barely four-foot-seven, and she looked scrawny like a kid. Her ebony hair was clipped to the side with an ornate butterfly pin, except for on stubborn lock of hair that fell draped between her violet eyes, resting lightly againt her nose. The rest of her was nothing special; curveless, skinny, and nearly flat-chested. Which is quite fortunate that it was concealed nicely under flattering red and violet formal robes.

Come to find out later when I had the displeasure of meeting her face to face, what she lacked in size and physique she made up for in shear attitude and personality. I watched her follow her clan into Lord Hitsugaya's mansion and out of sight, and I didn't even try to be subtle about it. When it was all over I laid my large head back down atop a soft mound of grass and proceeded to maim my host's prized rose bushes with my teeth.

0000

As fate would undoubtedly have in for me, it wasn't long before I happened upon miss pretentious again. That very same day, after the Kuchikis had settled into the estate, I found her in the library. She was reading something that looked exceedingly boring all the while managing to look completely absorbed by it. It took several long minutes for her to register my presence even though I was standing not more than a few feet away. When she finally lifted her eyes and acknowledged me it was with a look of amiable curiosity.

"Well hey there," I greeted. I gave her the same grin I did before when our eyes had met in the courtyard. "We have a chance to introduce ourselves now." I added in a condescending tone.

She just leveled me with a look of confusion, and I was a little taken back by the lack of recognition in her gaze.

"Excuse me?" She asked. "Have we met before?"

Duh, see this is why I stake no claim over being clever or insightful. It occurred to me that she wouldn't recognize me from this morning because I was in my dragon form. Now... well now I looked like your run-of-the-mill teenage human flunky. By that I mean I'm tall, almost six foot. I have an angular face, and amber-colored eyes settled beneath a brow that is almost always furrowed into a scowl. All that is topped with the most outstanding messy mane of orange hair you'd ever lay eyes on. Literally, I kid you not, I got hair the color of a god-damned fruit. To top it all off I was dressed like an urchin today, baggy green cargo pants, and a baggy white shirt with a black stripe across the front of it. This was a stark contrast to what the female before me was wearing, seems she never changed out of that fancy formal attire.

I scratched the back of my head rather embarrassed about my initial greeting. "Oh... uh..." I was being quite articulate today. "I saw you before in the courtyard," I explained. "I was that really handsome dragon in the rose garden. You were looking at me... and stuff."

"Oh." Her tone became flat. "It's you." I saw her wrinkle her nose and lift her book as if to ignore me and return to reading.

"Che. Excuse me princess~" I wrinkled my nose right back. Despite the bumpy start, I decided to press forth and introduce myself. "The name's Ichigo, I didn't seem to catch your name."

"That's because I didn't grace you with it."

"You little brat." I hissed under my breath.

"Oh~ so I'm a brat, am I?" She looked up from her book and managed to look down her nose at me. It was quite a feat given that she was naturally vertically challenged, coupled with her sitting position.

"Forget this shit." I growled. I'm not very cultured, and I'm short on patience and manners. I blame my humanity for that. Instead of continuing our conversation I stormed out of the library and left her to her boring book. Before I left I noticed her face form a look of guilt, and she opened her mouth to say something, but I wasn't in the mind to listen anymore.

00000

Dinner that evening was served in a large expansive dining hall. Dusty old tapestries decorated the walls from floor to ceiling in regular intervals, and there were two large braziers on one side of the room where various members of the kitchen staff roasted ducks, chickens, venison, pork, and prime cuts of beef.

A running theme with dragons, we like to eat, and we like watching our meat. We especially like smelling it cook. There were so many dragons packed into the dining hall that we had to come and go in intervals. And this wasn't even all of us, a handful of other clans and many more rogues had yet to arrive, and would probably do so within the next few days.

When I finally entered the dining hall it was around the time that most of the humans were allowed to enter. Being a half-breed means I get treated a cut above humans, unless of course I throw my weight around. When dinner time is concerned its best not to pick any fights, lest the main course find its way to the floor.

I didn't even have a chance to seat my behind before I was bombarded by a couple of familiar faces. The first was a red-haired individual, obnoxious and brash doesn't begin to cover his behavior. If I had to describe him in one word I'd settle with "dumbass." He's roughly my size and we share a rivalry from time to time, but he sold out as a mercenary to the Kuchiki clan half a decade ago, and that pissed me off. In his dragon form he's very serpentine, with a hide formed of bone-like plates.

The other friendly face is a woman. She's known commonly as a vixen in both her human and dragon form. Given that she's a strawberry blonde with a curvaceous body and breasts large enough to suffocate a man, it's not hard to see why. There was a time when I had the hots for her, but I think I can safely admit that it's passed. Maybe. I digress, as a dragon she's well known for her feline-esque appearance, and fox-like face. She's what you'd call a furry beast-based dragon, and unlike most that spit fire, she can breath ash. Searing hot ash that blinds you, chokes you, and cakes all over your body. It's a wicked tactic in a fight.

"Rangiku, Renji." I nod to each of them and even clap Renji on the shoulder several times.

"Well look who finally decided to show up." Rangiku brought her hand up over her shoulder to toss her hair to one side. She never did it conciously but most of her movements came off as teasing and sensual, this caused a lot of conflict as most guys assumed she was flirting with them. It was even more convoluded because sometimes she actually was.

"I've been here for a few days now." I defend myself. "Where in the hell have you been?"

"Given that she's Lord Hitsugaya's underling she should have been right here." Cut in Renji. He lifted one of his crazy tattooed eyebrows at the blonde, prompting an explanation.

"I was here!" Rangiku defended, balling her hands into fists. "I was just busy and stuff." She finished her sentence with a pout.

"I'm sure." Scoffed Renji.

I rolled my eyes as the two began bickering back and forth like an old married couple. They were so into it that I couldn't find an opening to get a word in. I occupied my short attention span by scanning the dining hall for other familiar faces. I saw Lord Hitsugaya entertaining a few of the more noble guests, what better time for him to schmooze then now I guess. Then there were Yukichika and Ikkaku, those two were common followers of the rogue known as Kenpachi. Speaking of which, I wondered idly to myself when the big brute would show up. If there was any dragon that could out-class me in size and strength it was him. He was as mountainous as a dragon as he was in human form. He tended to travel with a small human girl who took a liking to him a few years back.

"Oi Renji!" I interrupted their persnickety little bicker battle. My eyes settled upon one particular girl seated on the other side of the room. She was nested amongst several other members of noble clans, but she didn't seem to be talking to anyone. I knew exactly why she was there, simply for show. A trophy. No doubt the kuchiki clan strategically placed her among those nobles simply to garner attention. Maybe if they were lucky, they could marry her off for more affluence and influence.

Renji finally peeled his attention away from Rangiku to find out what I was looking at. "That's Rukia," He unnecessarily explained, leaning against my shoulder.

"Is that her name?" I would've liked the way it sounded if it didn't belong to her. "What do you know about that brat?"

Renji recoiled away from me like a snake. "Brat!?" His brow furrowed, "She's not a brat! She's tenacious, and talented, brave even. She's not afraid of anything." Renji seemed to daze a bit, and his eyes got a far away look. I took a moment to elbow Rangiku and smirk knowingly at her as he continued. "Rukia knows her way around a fight better than most men, and she even kinda acts like one. And then her eyes..."

"We get it Renji~" I cut him off before he started reciting a sonnet about her.

"Oooo~" Teased Rangiku, "Someone's in looove~" Much to Renji's chagrin she brought her hand up to her lips and pretended to hide her obvious smile.

"Am NOT!" Despite his denial, we both saw his cheeks flush the same color as his hair. I tried to stifle a chuckle, but Renji heard it and promptly added, "Aaa, go to Hell. Both of you!"

"Hey hey hey man," I tried my best to placate him. "It's not my place to judge if you have the hots for a little human brat."

I felt his lean muscled finger jab me straight in the chest, and I let out a cough in protest. "THAT little human brat, is a member of the combat tournament committee."

That bit of information struck me like a bag full of bricks. I cleverly changed the subject to hide my surprise. "A tournament huh. I'd probably dominate that."

"Uh-huh." I heard Renji scoff at my comment. "Dream on. You need a recommendation from at least one of the three committee members to even be considered for the tournament. And given your... uh.. condition, they aren't likely to give you one."

"My condition?!" I knew exactly what condition Mr. Asshat right here was referring to. Being a half-breed means that I get left out of a lot of official dragon business. It seems this tournament will be no exception.

"Hey Ichigo, you know I have nothing against it." He immediately went on the defensive.

"Except for making it sounded like a friggin' illness." I suddenly didn't feel very hungry anymore. Instead I stormed out of the dining hall in a childish huff. One thought permeated my irritation with Renji though. If I want to join that tournament, I need a recommendation from her.

00000

I didn't see her at all the next morning. I spent the whole time challenging other dragons to brawls in a large clearing located behind the manor. Naturally I won every match. In dragon form I'm about 20 feet in length from nose to hind leg. That doesn't even include my 12 foot long tail. I'm what you call a wyrm, a dragon whose front legs are wings intead of arms, this gives me phenominal upper body strength. That and most other dragons are a good 5 feet smaller than me, or more.

The sound of shrieking came from my current competitor who I had pinned into submission, my teeth firmly clamped around his throat. The noise meant he had admitted defeat, and I released him to let loose my own bellow of victory. It ripped from my lungs with an eery, hollow, echoing sound, which was another side-affect of my humanity. My dragon noises sounded like a demonic leopard snarl, but from underneath water. Unsettling was probably the most accurate way to describe it, but it was a great intimidation tactic against others who've never heard a half breed before.

One moment I was in my zone, victorious, powerful, and smug. The next she was there, watching me, observing my battle prowess. Looking back, if I had been intelligent I should have played it cool, and been a little humble. But I wasn't, and I didn't. I decided in that moment to do a very brash thing, a very human thing, an incredibly teenage thing. I decided to show off.

Once my competitor had slinked away like the loser he was, I puffed up all the spikes around my neck and shoulders and pranced around the yard like an over-sized peacock. Or a rooster, actually it was more of a rooster. Peacocks are pretty.

I made snorting noises, and I lashed my tail back and forth. My teeth bared and my muscles rippling from raw power. I hate to admit it but I wanted her to see me, I wanted her to look, and my actions begged her to notice me. It would be a whole day later before I'd even admit to myself that i was smitten.

Rukia was watching me of course. Her eyes followed all my movements, I could tell even though she was a fair distance away. She had her arms folded over her chest, and she lifted one eyebrow in utter amusement at my antics. From day one she was never impressed by me, but I was at the very least entertaining to her.

She watched me decimate a few more challengers before I finally called it quits. The reason I decided to stop wasn't because I was tired, it was due to my lack of focus. I realized after the third fight that I was doing a lot worse than I oughta be. I chalked it up to the ebony-haired brat watching. She was just so annoying that it was throwing me off.

I went to go lay down and take a break across the yard from her, so that I could watch her without being conspicuous. She didn't stick around for too much longer. Two matches later she left and returned back inside Lord Hitsugaya's mansion. I don't really blame her though, it was rather warm outside. I waited just the proper amount of time, so that it didn't look like I was following her. Then I proceeded to shift back into my human form, and head into the manor to track her down.

Rukia was in the tea room this time. I knew it was her before I even entered the room. There's just something about her voice, I can't explain it. She was conversing with one of Hitsugaya's servants, a mousy young boy with hair as black as her's. The tea table she was sitting at was antique, made of polished maple. The legs were intricately carved, and she was seated in a matching chair cushioned with powder-blue upholstery. When the servant saw me enter the threshold, he cut their conversation short and scampered away. Needless to say, that did not please Rukia. Instead of being polite and taking a seat to talk to her, I decided to be a pompous ass, and I leaned against the door frame grinning.

"Hey Princess." I greeted.

She shot me a look of contempt in regard to my nickname for her. "My name isn't, Princess." She hissed. "It's Rukia Kuchiki." She proceeded to pour herself a cup of tea and squeezed a lemon wedge into it.

"Rukia~" I let the name roll off my tongue. No, it wasn't because I liked how it sounded. I also wasn't about to tell her I'd already figured it out from Renji."I saw you out back earlier. Did you see my fights?" I tried to feign ignorance like I hadn't been fully aware of her eyes on me the entire time.

"I'm not sure." She responded, she didn't even lift her eyes to look at me. "Were you behind the puffed-up peacock I saw out there? 'Cause it was pretty hard to see passed that." I watched her take a sip of her tea, and I bit back a snicker when she made a face and added a few sugar cubes.

"A peacock," I hummed. "It's revered as a gorgeous bird, handsome even." I gave her my most dazzling smile.

"Piss off."

I blinked at her for a moment, taken back by her crude language. It's not something I came to expect from a member of a noble family. I assumed only I talked that way. Then again, she had only been adopted into it recently. "Yeah well you aren't bad looking yourself." I decided I should probably compliment her too.

In response I recieved a whithering look before she turned away and continued to fail at ignoring me. Of course I didn't give her the opportunity to succeed, and marched my way to the seat opposite from her. Unceremoniously I planted my behind into the chair and relaxed into its well-built comfyness. When I finally looked across the table at her she was still trying to ignore me, but I caught her stealing a glance my way over the top of her teacup.

I doctored my own cup of tea, all the while letting her watch me two or three times. When the awkwardness between became a squishy kind of tangible I met her gaze and wiggled my eyebrows. She immediately tried to focus her attention elsewhere, and I had to chuckle when her cheeks tinged a soft pink.

"Hey," I started, "What's a guy like me gotta do to get a recommendation from you. Ya know, for the tourney." I tried to wave my tea cup around for emphasis, but only proceeded to slosh it into my lap. I saw Rukia snigger when I clutched my crotch in pain. I suppose it was kinda funny.

"You," She motioned unnecessarily at me with her book. "want my recommendation?" She scoffed at that and set her teacup down. "Why? I'm the lone miserable human, my recommendation should mean shit to you." I could tell from the start that the Kuchiki's had ground humility into her. Telling her that her humanity meant she was worth less. Just like me. Crap, don't bond with her.

"Look... Rukia." It was still rather awkward saying her actual name. "I'm not sure how familiar you are with dragons, but I'm what you call a half-breed. My father is a dragon, and my mother is as human as they come. As a result... I get left out of a lot of dragon-related things. I'd really like to be a part of this tournament..." God I hated to admit this... Put your pride away. Put it away. "I need your help to do that."

I watched her face for a few moments, and she appeared to be mulling over what i said. Finally she met my eyes and asked, "what do I get out of helping you?" I don't know what kind of witch-craft Rukia had imbued into her eyes, but I felt transfixed under the full force of those violet irises.

"The satisfaction of doing something nice for once?" In hind sight that probably wasn't the best thing to say to her.

She narrowed her eyes at me but brushed off my question. Instead she posed an agreement that would change the course of our relationship forever. "I need a buffer for the next few weeks. My brother-in-law, Byakuya, is hell bent on tying up loose ends. Regrettably that includes me." I could see the hurt in her eyes. She was a strong person caught in political conflict between dragons. That was enough to make most humans feel helpless. "I'm quite certain that before this gathering has ended... I'm going to be signed off to some other noble family. All to further the Kuchiki ambitions."

"I..." She held up a hand to cut me off, so I clapped my yap shut.

"I need someone to interrupt awkward situations I might be forced into. I also need a partner to attend most of the social functions with, so that Byakuya has no one to pick for me. And lastly it needs to be someone who's intimidating, someone who can hold his own. It'll give me some peace of mind." When she finished she gave me a pointed look, obviously now it was my turn to speak.

At first I knew what I wanted to say. Now that I had the conversational baton, my mouth felt a lot dryer that it had a minute earlier. "Uhhh... Does that mean I'm supposed to be your date or something?"

"I would call it my own personal social body guard." I notice she was quick to correct me.

My face twisted away from confusion, failed at forming a different emotion, and just flopped into dejection. "You just don't wanna call me your date."


So now that you've finished it, I'd love some detailed feedback on what you all think. This was really different than most anything I've written yet.

This story makes reference to a Hitsugaya/Rukia fanfic called "My Sweet Sacrifce." That story is written by the talented author Hikari-chanX. I commissioned her to write me the story awhile back and she is doing wonderful things with it. I implore you all to give her stories a read.

Also there will be a part two. I'm so terrible at oneshots. So here's ANOTHER doubleshot.

R&R with thoughts and feelings. Did I pull off first person in a satisfactory way? Did Ichigo seem in character enough for an AU?