Red & Blue, Black & White
Summary: REWRITE. Dragon AU! Seto Kaiba is the lieutenant of the Rafter of Domino Peak, living his days in frustration after the death of his father. Not only is he second-in-command to his lifelong rival, and the only caretaker to his hatchling brother, but his attitude towards his leader has 'earned' him solo patrol duty for the next month. On one of those patrols, he comes across an odd, aggressive black dragon who comes with his own set of baggage.
Pairings: Kaiba/Jounouchi, Yugi/Anzu, Honda/Otogi, Ryou/Marik(not Yami Marik), Yami/Yami Bakura, other minor shippings will be mentioned as the story goes
Rating: T+, may go up later
Chapter 9: Civic Duty
"Uncle Kaiba, Uncle Kaiba, Uncle Kaibaaaaa." Mana Bakura chanted behind him as she bounded after the white dragon. Seto rolled his eyes but said nothing through the mouthful of buffalo fur in his jaws. "Uncle Kaibaaaaa." She called again, butting her head against his tail.
Sighing, he dropped the young buffalo and threw a glare over his shoulder "What is it?" He asked impatiently. The fledgling had been harassing him for well over a league at this point.
"Is it true your element is lightning?" She asked; her tail was raised up high, which was enthusiasm in young dragon body language; most adult dragons grew out of that habit because it was seen as a sign of arrogance.
"Yes." He confirmed, rolling his eyes "Why?"
"Well," she shuffled her talons around almost bashfully "can I see it?"
"...Why?" He asked, raising an eye ridge.
"Almost every dragon in the Shadow Forest has shadows as an element," She explained, wings twitching "the Diamondtooth and Hirutani had fire, and dad had wind," he assumed she meant Yami "I have wind too but no one would let me use it."
"...No one would let you use it?" Seto inquired "Why not?"
"Because wind would rustle the leaves too much," She said, then her tone got quieter "and the others kept telling me that real Darkstalkers only use shadows."
That made sense. The education of the fledglings was dealt with by the Academic Council of a Rafter; and while the Diamondtooth had the ability to pick who was in the Council, there was no real way of them enforcing what was taught. While most modern Rafters had a standardized testing system in place to make sure Fledglings were being taught the bare minimum at the very least, The Rafter of the Shadow Forest most likely had the archaic dragon education system in place. This old system was basically that Fledglings would increasingly take on every day duties such as hunting, patrolling, fighting, gathering, ect, taught by different adult dragons, up until they themselves became adults.
Teachers discriminating against outsider or hybrid dragons was commonplace back in the days. Not in a modern Rafter like Domino Peak, though.
Seto sat down and faced the young fledgling "Lightning can't be used the same way as wind," he explained "it's entirely volatile, much like fire, and has almost no practical application like wind or shadows."
"Practical?" She inquired, tilting her head.
"Wind is partially volatile and partially a booster," Seto explained "dragons with the wind element can use it to attack directly, or infuse it with their physical abilities."
"Like what?"
"Most notably, speed and flight. They use the wind to push them when they fly, but they can also decrease wind resistance and drag when they fly or even move."
"So can I use it with running?" She asked, eyes wide.
"Of course you can - with training. You should ask Otogi, he's one of the more skilled dragons when it comes to use of wind."
"But who's the best?"
"Yugi." Seto admitted; her eyes glimmered.
"Do you think he'd teach me?!" She asked excitedly, jumping onto her feet.
Seto opened - then shut his jaws. Yugi had a considerable amount of anger and resentment against her father Yami and opted to stay away from the family entirely because of it. "Well, he's the diamondtooth, he's very busy." He answered simply.
"I ask him!" The wyvern chirped, then appeared flustered by the hatchling sound as she looked back to her shuffling talons "Can I still see your lightning?"
He shook his pale head "No," he answered simply "lighting is different from fire in the sense that it has to have a target, it will choose one regardless if you meant for one or not - it can't just go as far as the user wants like ice or fire, it will connect to something eventually. Whether it be a tree, the ground or another dragon."
"Oh." The young wyvern replied simply. Seto turned back away and picked up the buffalo again, continuing to carry it to the camp. It had been several weeks since he'd helped Jou regain control of his Rafter, and he returned without too much of a hitch - Yugi wasn't happy with his sudden departure for a hunting trip that yielded relatively little prey for the amount of time he was gone, but it wasn't like Seto going off and doing his own thing was new.
As he approached the nesting area, he saw the two adult Bakura's were walking together and conversing, neither of them having their offspring with them but Ryou was carrying a hare and Bakura was clutching a pile of plants, probably herbs as Darkstalkers can't subsist on plants. For being from a traditionally backwards Rafter, Bakura had assimilated relatively effectively, the only quirk he seemed to retain was he and his older children would occasionally retreat from the main nesting grounds to the forested border much as their diamondtooth had when he was there. The silver dragon had explained that he wasn't comfortable being the in the open plains, he felt too exposed.
Considering just how suffocating the Shadow Forest was, Seto couldn't quite blame him.
Dropping the buffalo at the prey collection point, Seto continued to his own nest, his wings and jaws sore; with winter approaching he and all of the other able-bodied adult dragons were rushing to make sure they had secure provisions for the winter; the human side of the Rafter was working day in and day out to make sure their crops were stored and their livestock were strong enough for the winter. Last winter hadn't been a kind one, for a scrum of roving outsiders decided in the early days of winter to raid them, and although they drove them off without any casualties they loss a good amount of live stock, and they were near starving in the last days of winter.
So this year they were proverbially on their toes about it.
Mokuba was basking in the nest; when he saw his older brother approached he sprinted out with a squeak, practically tackling his brother in the chest, "Hello to you too, little brother." Seto greeted tiredly, setting down in the nest to get some rest before he would continue to hunt and forage. The dragon chick whined for his attention and bumped his chest again.
Sighing, Seto pulled the other small dragon close and focused on his elemental core, he looked down at the chick and made the hatchling-attracting keening noise in his throat to prompt his tiny sibling to look back up at him. When their eyes met, his own eyes started to glow, and as did Mokuba as he supplemented him with magic. Mokuba made a happy squeak in response.
Seto rested his head on his talons and closed his eyes, not quite sleeping but relaxing his entire body nonetheless, just barely paying attention to his surroundings.
"Dad, dad, dad!" He heard Tozokuo chant as he bounded after one of his parents. He wasn't as energetic as his sister, but he was clingy in comparison, likely being a bit of a slow grower compared to his twin. There was an 'oof' and a tumble sound coming from Bakura, likely his fledgling son tackling him to play fight.
Seto cracked his eyes open enough to see Bakura frustratingly try to shove Tozouko off, but also resigning to play fight back. Mokuba was watching as well, seeming intrigued. Perhaps he wanted to join them, as Seto wasn't one to play fight.
"Go you dad!" Tozokuo growled playfully, wrapping his front talons around the back of Bakura's neck, who simply rolled his eyes.
Mokuba suddenly looked back at Seto, his blue eyes wide "Dad?" He squeaked.
Seto's eyes flew open and he practically jumped onto his feet at his brothers first coherent word.
"Dad!" Mokuba squealed happily again, as if to set in to stone that Seto had in fact heard him correctly the first time.
"I'm not your dad." Seto told the white dragon chick, almost flustered "I'm your brother, Mokuba. Can't you say 'brother'?"
"Dad!" Mokuba repeated, likely not understand completely what family roles were. He was too young to comprehend guardianship and siblings, all he did know was that other hatchlings called their male caretakers 'dad' so he wrongfully assigned his older brother that title. Also, he wasn't developed enough in his new verbal skills to even say the word brother.
"Oh just… quiet down you." Seto grumbled, pulling the hatchling between his talons and tucking him by his side under his wing, draping it over him so he'd take his mid afternoon nap. He ignored the weird feeling in his chest that continued to grow and spread as Mokuba continued to squeak the word he just learned.
Seto walked carefully down the cobblestone street of the village, carrying Mokuba in his arms. Both of them were in their human forms with Seto wearing an off-white long sleeve robe, and Mokuba in a similar garb just smaller, the boy wasn't an infant anymore so he couldn't just be swaddled.
In human form, Mokuba actually looked more like their father Gozaburo than Seto; having the same black hair with stormy blue highlights, and stormy blue eyes, although his skin was tan rather than the pale that both Seto and Gozaburo had, so Seto assumed it must have come from their mother. His hair was starting to grow out more, and beginning to get a spiky look to it, but it was too early to tell if it would stay that way or not.
With winter approaching it was time to keep Mokuba in his human form so his survivability was more assured, but this year would probably be another nightmare of Seto struggling to balance his duties as a Lieutenant and finding proper care for Mokuba, because as a human toddler he couldn't be left in a nesting area like a dragon chick could.
"Hey Kaiba!" He heard behind him; he turned to see the healer Marik approaching with haste, not quite running but clearly in a rush.
"What is it Zephyr?" Seto asked, Mokuba stirred and buried his cherubic face into his brother's shoulders, murmuring but staying asleep. Seto adjusted how he was holding him as Marik caught up to him.
"The diamondtooth is requesting our presence, there's a political situation going on and Yugi wants all of his consul." The healer explained; Seto groaned aloud.
"I can't leave Mokuba alone." Seto explained, although it was partly an excuse because he didn't like handling political situations - at least, not in a group setting. He always felt like when he was merely part of Yugi's consul in a political climate he was nothing more than a figurehead, something meant to always stand besides his leader but never having much of a say in any matter. He much preferred it when he was sent to handle foreign relations on his own.
Marik put his hands on his hips "Just give him to either Ryou, or Yami Motou, for the night, just like you did last year." He rolled his eyes.
Mentally cursing, Seto merely nodded "Where is this meeting, the council hall?" He asked, already deciding to give his brother to Ryou for the night, because he knew Yami's mate Bakura didn't have the patience for children that weren't theirs.
"No," Marik shook his head, tucking a stray strand of sandy hair behind his ear "the diamondtooth den."
"The diamondtooth den?" Seto repeated, blinking. The diamondtooth den was seldom used for political reasons unless…
"This is a meeting intended with all present in dragon form, the visiting party is of the Rafter of the Shadow Forest."
In the old days before dragons truly embraced their human sides, they all lived in scattered nests and caves across their respective Rafters territories. In current times, dragons stayed in villages at night in their human forms, there would be a nesting area but this was mostly for dragons who had eggs, or who were taking care of chicks outside of winter. This system worked because it helped them advance in a community setting where they could farm and trade better, and kept them in relatively the same area so communication was also made easier.
However, even modern Rafters still had a dedicated diamondtooth den; this was almost always the biggest den or cave in the territory. For the Rafter of Domino Peak, this was a large cave in the middle of Domino Mountain; a large outcropping that jutted from a cave entrance at least four times the height, and twice the width of the average adult dragon.
The cave inside was spacious, with stalactites hanging from the ceiling and stalagmites sticking up from the cave floor. At the end of the cave there was a rushing waterfall that fed a large pool of crystal clear water and branched off into several venous streams of water that intricately weaved around the cave floor. Above the waterfall, there was another stone outcrop, but this one was smooth and relatively flat. This was where the diamondtooth would sit or sleep if they regularly used this den in dragon form.
Now, however, Yugi sat between a near perfect semicircle of stalagmites as he addressed the fellow diamondtooth and his emissaries, at least that's what Seto saw as he walked into the cave. Marik would be joining him soon, he went to drop off Mokuba with Ryou, and said he also needed to 'grab something' before he came to this meeting.
Seto saw that standing near Yugi was his mate Mizaki, and the Lorekeeper Ishizu, not conversing with the officialdom of the visiting Rafter as they waited for the rest of their consul. "Ah, my Lieutenant, Kaiba, has arrived." Yugi said dryly to the visiting Rafter; the tricolored dragon always tried to seem more mature and professional around visiting ambassadors, but he hadn't yet grown to suit a serious tone and always seemed to sound annoyed when he tried.
The white dragon saw he had the backs of the Shadow Forest dragons facing him, and he instantly recognized Jou; who kept his eyes on Yugi but his wing twitched a little, by his side was a lusterless brown-to-tan gradient dragon with black markings around his golden eyes, and at his other side, surprisingly, was the dragon he recognized as 'Miho'.
Silently Seto walked up to be on Yugi's side; he nodded respectfully to the three visiting dragons but dare not look Jou in the eyes lest he hint to their familiarity. In the weeks since Seto had seen the Shadow Forest dragons, they all looked much better than before, even Jou had an air of brazen confidence and tenacity. Miho had recovered greatly from her captivity, having regained size and now stood tall and proud besides her diamondtooth, her eyes almost as intense as his.
"Where is Marik?" Yugi asked his Lieutenant.
"He'll be here shortly." Seto answered simply.
Yugi grunted, then looked to the visiting diplomats "These dragons are the leadership of the Rafter of the Shadow Forest," he began, unaware of Seto's true knowledge "Diamondtooth Jounouchi, Lieutenant Nosaka, and Sunset Shin." Yugi introduced, Seto narrowed his eyes but not in a display of intimidation, but because he was confused, wasn't Kujaku the Lieutenant?
"We've come to collect our healer." Jou began, his voice was surprisingly smooth, like creek water over river rocks, and he had a little bit of a soft, if cocky, grin, and unreadable eyes; Seto guessed this was the tone of voice and demeaner he chose to use for diplomatic missions. It was quite the change up from the playful jabberer he was used to seeing.
"Marik should be collecting him and his mate." Yugi said, Seto noticed him glance a bit to the corner, likely not ready to address his brother by name.
"Ah, Yami is from here isn't he? He resembles you." Jou said, flicking his tail.
"...Yes." Was all Yugi could say.
'They look like they were hatched from the same egg' Seto thought sarcastically, wrapping his tail around his talons.
"But I digress," Jou stated, looking to his Lieutenant and Lorekeeper "I am back in control of my Rafter and the dictator who drove them away is no longer a problem, so I've come to personally assure them they are welcome and safe to return."
"Are we, mutt?" A voice from the mouth of the cave said, harsh but slightly soft; Ishizu gasped softly to herself, not expecting such a tone directed at a diamondtooth of all dragons. Seto looked over to see Marik had returned, and he had Bakura and Yami in tow.
"Bakura." Jou greeted, he was unbothered by being addressed so disrespectfully, in fact he seemed relieved. Silently but with sureness in his step Bakura padded over, side-by-side with his mate. "It is good to see you again."
"It's good to see your dumbass didn't get yourself recklessly killed in the name of pride." Bakura greeted back, the other Shadow Forest dragons seemed indifferent to his blatant disrespect, even if the Domino Peak dragons were perplexed at this shameless display of insubordination.
"You know me." Jou shrugged, walking over and brushing his cheek against the taller dragons, who merely rolled his eyes - Bakura must have been the only dragon in the Shadow Forest who wasn't physically affectionate to the 4th degree. "The Rafter is safe now, Hirutani is dead and his close followers are banished, you can come home now." He assured, looking to the dragon pair.
Bakura looked down to the ground slightly than back at his mate; Yami nuzzled his neck comfortingly and twined his tail with his, as if to encourage him. Bakura gave Jou a long, hard, although sad, look, before he finally said "I'm sorry alpha."
Silence.
Jou blinked his red eyes softly, perturbed "Sorry…?" He inquired.
"We won't be coming back to the Shadow Forest." Bakura stated, for once he seemed tactful with what he was saying. Misaki and Jou gasped, but Shin didn't seem surprised, the older dragon was wise in his years and experience after all, he probably saw this coming.
"But Bakura you- you're a Shadow Forest Dragon, a Darkstalker you're- you're our Underbrush." Jou almost stammered.
The silver dragon sighed sadly, his head hung slightly low "I was the healer for many years. I have been nothing but loyal, alpha." He lamented "I may not have been the kindest dragon, but I have always been a healer before anything else. I've personally treated almost every dragon in our Rafter, even the ones I couldn't stand. I treated them all equally, unbiased in their medical care. But..."
Yami nuzzled his shoulder as he paused.
Bakura took in a deep inhale "But the courtesy was not extended to me." He ended off his statement in a growl "It was bad enough that even when the alpha position was shifted away from Pegasus, the bigotry was not, you may have cracked down on it, but it didn't go away. Dragon who'd lived long enough continued to treat my mate and my children, especially my daughter, wrong. Do you know how many times she would come into my den, crying or upset, because the other fledglings, adults even, pushed her around for being a wyvern, or forbade her from using her own element because it was wind?"
Seto frowned to himself, perhaps this was why the young fledgling was so energetic and precocious now that she was in the Domino Peak Rafter - she was far more Windrider than Darkstalker compared to her brother, she didn't have to be ashamed here.
"I know this isn't entirely your fault, Jonouchi." Bakura continued, sighing "This bigotry existed the entire time our Rafter has, and twenty years isn't enough to get rid of it… But when that bastard Hirutani stepped over you, the other dragons either flocked after him or were too afraid to say anything about it, and he wasn't even a diamondtooth." He straightened up, looking down at Jou "For years I gave everything I could to the Rafter of the Shadow Forest… but even with everything I did for them, they couldn't stand up for me or my family. And I'm not going to take that."
The silver dragon rested his head ontop of his shorter mates head, draping his wing over him as well, Yami nuzzled back likewise, placing his talon ontop of his "I'm sorry, alpha, but the Rafter of the Shadow Forest betrayed my family, so they betrayed me. It is no longer our home."
Yugi's eyes were wide even for him at the bold statement the now ex-Underbrush was making.
Yami looked over his shoulder at his younger sibling "If you would take us Yugi, we would like to stay here. We will leave if you do not want us to, though." He said, his tone was respectful and soft.
"I..." Yugi began, Bakura's renouncement of his Rafter had caught him off guard, but remembering where he was and who he was with, Yugi regained his composure "You and your family are always welcome here, Yami." He said, standing up straight; Seto caught a glimmer in the young leaders eyes. Perhaps he was starting to forgive and forget? Or maybe he didn't want the thought of leaving an entire family to fend for themselves for the winter. Only time would tell what his intentions were.
For a minute Jou just stared at the ground, his diamond teeth gritted together, however, he exhaled sharply and lifted his head back up "I respect your decision, Bakura." He finally said, morose "I wish you would stay with us, I wish I could prove to you that our dragons can change, that we can change for the better. But I'm not going to force you back when your priorities are with your family."
The red-eyed dragon walked forward and affectionate rubbed the top of his head under Bakura's chin, although the healer did not push him away he rolled his eyes again.
"Don't be so sentimental on me, you stupid mutt." The healer said, although he sounded annoyed there was a hint of something else in his tone, something even he couldn't hide; no matter what he said, he could never completely deny that he would miss his old home, any maybe even Jou himself.
"I'll miss you too you rude cunt." Jou said back; Bakura started to chuckle and brushed his chin against the top of the alphas head before pulling away.
Yugi cleared his throat, Jou snapped back to where he had been earlier "I'm sorry this meeting held no real benefit for you, Jounouchi."
Jounouchi nodded, still downtrodden "We don't have a healer now… Bakura had no living students." Seto saw Yami and Bakura both flinch at what he said; healer students were picked when they were fledglings, meaning that if Bakura did have a student, considering his age, they must have died while still young.
"If we manage to survive this winter, times will change.. We're trying to advance, but it hard to catch up to other Rafters when we're so far behind on times." Jou trailed off, shifting his talons.
"You want to modernize?" Yugi asked him, Jou nodded.
"I think we've been stuck in the past and our own traditions for too long." He confirmed. "We thought that sticking to our outdated practices made us stronger than the other Rafters… but it's killing us now." He sighed "Too many innocents dragons have suffered..." There was pain in his tone, Seto wondered if he was thinking about his destroyed clutch and their mutilated dame.
Yugi hummed "I think there's a situation in which we can all benefit..." He began, looking up at his fellow Diamondtooth, shooting sideglances at his own counsel.
"And what situation is that, Motou?" Jounouchi asked, wrapping his tail around his talons as Miho narrowed her eyes a little at the wyvern before them.
"What if our Rafters allied?"
"I can't believe you would make such a big decision on the spot like that, without consulting us first none the less!" Seto angrilly said to Yugi as he stood with a more solemn Marik and Ishizu; all of them were in the council hall of their village in human form.
The tricoloured man crossed his arms over his plate covered chest "I did not realize Bakura would decline returning to the Shadow Forest Rafter." He simply stated, although his tone was firm and even, his right hand fiddled nervously with the dagger hanging around his waist.
"Your concern is noble," Ishizu told their leader, her arms behind her in an almost parade rest "but with this winter ahead of us, having over one hundred additional dragons is… a strain." She said.
"I think this will benefit us in the long run," Yugi pressed "You see, we've been trying to expand our village for years, but we lack the most needed resource for housing - wood. Their territory is made up almost entirely of the stuff when our own only has a few clusters of spindly softwood here and there. Their Rafter is so archaic they don't have a human village or the basic knowledge on how to build one."
"I don't know… You saw what they did to Bakura and his family, what they did to themselves in the face of a dictator, who's to say they won't mistake our kindness for weakness?" Marik pointed out, biting his lip.
"Haven't you ever heard to keep your friends close and your enemies closer? Mana and Tozokuo are already loyal to us and they've barely been here for two months, as is Bakura and he's a stubborn adult." Yugi continued, he sat down on the chair reserved for the leader, resting his elbows on his knees and his chin in his hands.
"And just how are we going to keep an eye on them? They're known exclusively for being sneaky and conniving." Marik challenged "Especially that leader of theirs - look how young he is! He's bound to be impulsive and brash."
'You don't know the half of it.' Thought Seto ammusingly.
"We need to keep Jounouchi especially close," Yugi lamented "in the end, the Rafter of the Shadow Forest is still a Rafter - they follow their leader."
"Alpha." Seto corrected automatically on impulse.
"-.." Yugi raised a brow at him, but cleared his throat and continued "They follow their alpha, they will always follow the dragon that's in charge, that's how all dragon groups are from the most basic fledgling scrum to the largest society on this continent. If /he/ if on our side, so will they."
"And how are we supposed to do that?" Seto asked impatiently - he knew that Jounouchi meant no harm to them, but it didn't mean he was going to look the other way when a sudden alliance was made.
Yugi looked up to his tall Lieutenant "You." He answered.
"-What?" Seto replied.
"You are the best when it comes to political relations," Yugi said, standing back up as he walked over to his peer "you've always been able to negotiate or straight-up intimidate other dragon groups into doing things in our favor. If you personally keep an eye on the Shadow Forest diamondtooth, he's bound to not flip on us."
Seto stared down hard at Yugi, perplexed, his blue eyes widened in the surprise of the order.
"I need you to just keep a close eye on Jounouchi, and the progress we make with integrating the Shadow Forest Dragons into our ways. If you personally feel like something is amiss, I want you reporting back to me, and from there we will decide if they're worth rehabilitating or not."
"I can't believe you'd just drop all of this on me." Seto growled, standing over Yugi threateningly; the shorter man was not swayed.
"I'm not doing this out of spite, Kaiba." Yugi said, looking up at him in the eyes "I'm doing this because you're the best option we have."
"And you're not?" Seto challenged, hands curled at his sides.
"They could see an vulnerability in our command structure if I'm always busy with them and not with the affairs of own Rafter, not to mention… You're the only dragon besides me who's strong enough for this job. Jounouchi maybe younger than us… but he's still a diamondtooth; all of his physical magic abilities were boosted the moment his teeth changed to diamonds. You're the only non-diamondtooth dragon who comes close to that type of strength." Yugi admitted, obviously begrudgingly. Seto was angry, but the validation to his skills still stroked his less than modest side.
"I see I again barely have a choice in this matter." Seto sighed, he looked back to Ishizu and Marik.
"Best case scenario, our Rafters ally to the point of joining and we become much stronger than before, and the Shadow Forest Rafter survives" Yugi told his council.
"And what's the worse case scenario then?" Marik asked.
Yugi's magenta eyes flashed "The Shadow Forest Rafter dies out."
Authors note: Another long chapter. In this one, Bakura lets his true feelings show (him and Yami are actually quite the physically lovey-dovey couple, but this is again probably because the whole Shadow Forest Rafter is very physically affectionate)
Mokuba thinks that Seto is his dad! Really this is a nod to the Japanese version when Seto as a child says he will have to be Mokuba's father. Here however Seto finds it flustering. He himself probably didn't even call Gozaburo dad when he was alive.
Looks like Miho is the new Lieutenant of the Shadow Forest Rafter! What happened to Mai? And how will Kaiba handle having to deal with the integration of the Shadow Forest Rafter?
Also, Seto is really strong for a normal dragon. A diamondtooth dragon gets a boost in abilities when they become a diamondtooth, but Seto is pretty much at their level without a boost if that will tell you how strong he really is. I mean, he's the blue eyes white dragon for gods sake.