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, other minor shippings will be mentioned as the story goes

Rating: T+, may go up later

Chapter 2: Fugitive

Seto's month of duty was almost up. He was flying down to his usual sentry spot, to see that Jou was already waiting there for him, with a pile of catfish at his talons.

"Why haven't you left yet?" Seto asked the black dragon, trying to sound annoyed.

"Annoying you helps me heal faster. You're pretty much a fledgling with the attitude of and angry elder." Jou said jovially, pushing a few catfish Seto's way. The black dragon's underbelly scales finally scarred over, it wasn't a small or pretty scar, but it was better than open skin and hopefully it would fade with time. His tail wasn't splinted anymore, there was a crease where it had been bent, but it was moving independently as a unit. His leg was still splinted, it taking the longest to heal. Jou was still gaunt, but he was rapidly gaining bulk back as he recovered.

Seto crunched up his snout - fish wasn't something he indulged in often, usually he only did while he was on human form. "You'd heal faster if you'd shift to your human form." Seto told him, swallowing a large catfish whole, trying to not savour the fishy taste. The dragon form was good for surviving massive traumatic wounds, but when it came to illness or rehabilitation, really anything that required an extended healing period, their human forms were better. The topic made Jou almost flinch as he looked away. He learned, that for some reason, the other was touchy when it came to the form shifting subject.

Seto settled down onto his stomach as he ate, wings furrowed, the other dragon mirrored him. In the time he'd been stuck with the scatterbrain, he learned that Jou was like him - a hybrid.

"I'm actually from the Rafter of the Shadow Forest." Jou had explained.

"Isn't that Rafter made up of Darkstalkers?" Seto had asked it made sense with Jou's stealth style and black lusterless scales, however Darkstalkers don't have fire as an element, they usually had shadows as an element, which they used to either escape or hide, or literally melt into the shadows.

"Yeah, I'm only half Darkstalker though," Jou said, opening his jaws wide and revealing a flap in the back of his throat before quickly shutting his jaws closed again "My mother is from the Rafter of the Misty Swamp, a Bogcrawler." Bogcrawlers were semi-aquatic dragons that lived in swamps and ate primarily fish or bigger prey when they came for a drink in the swamp, similar to crocodiles, their element could be either water for their environment, or fire to ignite the methane that swamps were known to produce in mass. The flap in the back of the throat was a trait from Bogcrawlers, it was a flap that sealed the opening of their throat when they were submerged in water.

"At least you know what your other half is." Seto muttered "I have no clue what my mother is."

"Probably another mountain or plains type dragons. Would explain the lightning." Jou offered "Or a Stormbringer, they're considered sea-faring but really they're nomadic. I've seen a few in some Scrums. They're not Wyverns"

Seto had hummed in thought, and considered it. But really the only one who could confirm this was his mother herself.

Jou didn't want to talk about why he was so heavily injured before, and why he kept himself hidden when Seto explained his leader wouldn't mind taking him in especially when he was weakened, or even why he wasn't with his Rafter anymore. He liked talking though. Just. Talking.

Right now in fact he was rambling about the catfish.

"The usually come out at night you know, so they were easy to learn how to catch when I was with my Rafter because no one else in my peerage wanted to learn how to fish. My dad didn't like the fish but he seemed glad I was embracing my Bogcrawler side. The ones here are huge too, you guys should really consider to learn how to fish. Yeah freshwater fish taste a little like mud, but if you cook them just right and rinse them before cooking they're pretty good when you're used to it."

"Whatever." Seto muttered, partially listening to Jou's rambling.

"Hey… can I tell you something?" Jou suddenly said, sounding serious… Worried, almost.

"Like what?" Seto asked, swallowing the last slimy catfish. It settled into a sloppy pile in his stomach with the rest. Hopefully it wouldn't be giving him digestion problems later.

"Well… I know you're off this duty soon. I can't leave yet though, and I need you to make sure at least no one knows I here." Jou said, tail dragging.

"You're still trespassing you know," Seto reminded him "this is my Rafters territory, and it's an established border even if most of us don't come to this part of the territory."

"Maybe I should just show you..." Jou muttered, partially to himself, he lifted his wings up "Wait here." He requested, leaping into the foliage before Seto could say anything.

The white dragon huffed, but waited as requested.

Jou soon returned, his head hanging low and his jaw closed shut.

"Well?" Seto inquired. Jou stared at him, worry evident in his eyes "Jou?" Seto further pressed. Jou slowly trudge over to him until they were a few few apart. "What are you trying to show me, how much you don't respect personal space?" Seto asked.

Jou sat down on his belly like the leucistic dragon, he seemed to think for a minute before he opened his jaws. Seto was confused, but this turned to shock when he saw a tiny black tail flop out from the long jaws of the red eyed dragon.

Jou lowered his head to the ground, opening his jaws fully, and a tiny chirping dragon chick stumbled out onto the ground.

"What the-" Seto sat up, a singular talon brought up to his chest as the tiny black baby dragon stared up at him with a singular eye, the other one still being shut closed.

Jou curled his tail over and used it to pull the chick between his front talons "This is Shizuka." He introduced. The hatchling chirped.

And it clicked. This was the real reason Jounouchi was so aggressive but also silent during their first meeting. It wasn't just because he was hurt, but he was literally holding a hatchling in his jaws. Seto hadn't expected it because unlike more aquatic dragons, Windriders do not carry their young in their mouths like crocodiles.

"This?" Seto said, staring at the tiny black dragon. She must have been a true newborn, because her wings were still drawn close to her sides, and only one of her eyes was open. She didn't have the same plated scales, spines, and spikes yet, but her undeveloped structure seemed very close to Jou's, her scales were an identical lusterless black, the only discernible difference between her and the adult black dragon was that her red eyes had a deep magenta shine to them. She looked as much like Jou as Mokuba looked to Seto. "You could have told me sooner," Seto said, looking back up at Jou "I have a newborn sibling too, you know."

"Oh-uh..." Jou's wings furled, he knelt down to nuzzle the chick "Shizuka's not my sister. She's my daughter." Seto's eyes widened - Jou may have been an adult, but he had the be the same age as Seto, if not slightly younger. And although yes, both of them were biologically old enough to have chicks, most dragons wait until at the very least the equivalence of their mid twenties to early thirties to start families.

"Your daughter?" Seto repeated, something twisted in his belly, he hoped it was just the catfish "Aren't you a little young? And what about your mate?" Unless if Jou's hybrid status allowed him to reproduce via budding, he had to have a mate.

"I know I'm too young..." Jou admitted, wrapping his tail protectively around Shizuka "It's just that… there's this tradition in my Rafter, and I can't explain it without explaining too much. Her mother..." His voice became sad "She's great. I love her. But as a friend. We aren't mates… I'm pretty lucky to have Shizuka actually… the rest of her clutch-" His voice seemed to catch in his throat, he looked away from Seto, pulling his chick into him, and Seto knew that he had to collect himself.

There was a pang in Seto's chest. Being a father at such a relatively young age couldn't be easy, especially if Shizuka seemed to be the lone survivor of her clutch, by the sounds of it.

"...Why are you showing me this, Jou?" Seto finally asked, when Jou finally got himself back together to looked to him.

"I have to stay here until my leg is better, I wouldn't stay here if I didn't have to, I swear… But I can't be dragging Shizuka all over the region when I'm the only one who can keep her safe, not when I'm not at full strength. Please, don't let others find us… Please, Kaiba." Jou begged desperation clear. Seto realized the other dragon was casting his pride aside for the sake of his young daughter.

"... Fine." Seto agreed "I'll make sure this area is clear… But if anything, and I mean anything happens to you and your hatchling, come to my Rafter for care. I don't know or care what your mission is and why it prevents you from coming to the Rafter of Domino Peak for protection, but I'm not going to play games with either your well being. Am I understood?" Seto told him. Flatly.

The black hybrid dragon nodded, seeming relieved "Thank you so much Kaiba... " He said, bringing his head over to nuzzle his cheek against the white dragon - Seto growled at him before twisting his head away from him.

"I don't know why you're so touchy, but don't do that ever again." Seto demanded. Jou simply laughed.

"You don't have to open your mouth that wide to feed him, you know." Ryou told Seto, sounding amused, as the lieutenant attempted to collect Mokuba between his teeth.

"I'm just… trying something." Seto grumbled, collecting the chirper between his upper and lower jaw. His and Jou's heads weren't particularly different in size; length, width or height, and Jou had explained he could fit up to, apparently, 14 in his mouth, so it wouldn't make sense if Seto couldn't also carry a chick that way.

Mokuka peeked out from between his brothers razor teeth, chirping excitedly. He couldn't close his jaws all the way closed, but Mokuba wasn't a newborn like Shizuka.

"That's an interesting method of obtaining unusual prey." Ryou rumbled a purr, curling his long tail over his talons.

"Thut up." Seto muffled, walking back over to his own nest. He was lucky that Mokuba was staying to the front of his jaws; he didn't have a throat flap so if Mokuba went back and stimulated his throat he'd end up retching the chick and his dinner. He dropped the hatchling into their shared nest.

Mokuba looked up at him with wide, loving eyes, and a warm feeling pooled in Seto's chest like warm honey. Taking care of a chick was a handful… but he didn't mind it so much as he used to. The white dragon chick chirped at him loudly and rolled around. "Wanting to play?" Seto asked, the chick chirped - Mokuba was getting better at responding verbally even if he was too young to use words yet, and Seto was getting better at understanding the meaning of individual chirps chirps. "Alright." He said, lowering his head so Mokuba could climb onto it. "Let's go for a walk."

Once Mokuba climbed over his head, and settled on being carried on the the junction between his neck and back, Seto go up and started walking out of the nesting area. He saw parents of the Rafter with hatchlings were still up, trying to sooth their chirpers enough to go to sleep. He really was glad he only had one chick to worry about, because most dragons of his rafter had anywhere between 3-6 eggs per clutch; one large, seasoned female even had 10 currently, and he didn't even want to imaging what she and her mate had to go through in order to care for such a lot.

He came to the trail that lead to the village; he wasn't really going to walk the whole thing when most dragons preferred to just fly there, but he would walk down enough of it until Mokuba went to sleep.

Mokuba chirped excitedly, some of his chirps even beginning to sound close to babbles. Yes, a little over a year old now Mokuba should soon be moving on to the stage where he'd be using his first words.

Dragons lived for centuries, being some of the longest lived creatures known, and although their hatchling stage was comparatively fast (reaching chick to fledgling took about 11-13 years) from then on their aging slowed considerably, and they aged 1 year for every 10, and reached adulthood at about 180 years. Seto was about 20 in human years, but a little over 200 chronologically.

He stopped in his tracks when he heard talking. Yugi? Seto whipped his head in the direction the sound of conversation was coming from, and saw near a patch of boulders a few figures were standing. Narrowing his eyes, he slowly trudged his way over, trying not to over excite his brother who was drowsy by now.

He saw Yugi, Ishizu, and Marik all in their dragon forms talking to a strange dragon whose back was turned to him.

"Oh, hello Kaiba." Ishizu greeted - Ishizu was a tall, slim wyvern with a very minimal amount of spines and spikes, only having a few spurs behind her back ankles, and spines along the length of her tail. Her scales are very dark blue with a speckles of pearl luster, and her eyes were ghostly silver like the full moon.

Her brother Marik, in his dragon form, looked very similar to her, but he was bigger, more bulky, and he had a very dramatic amount of spines and spikes, the most prominent being a large double pair of back-pointing horns. His luster was like a gold dusting along his entire body, and his eyes were molten orange, like the sun.

"Summit, Zephyr, Diamondtooth." Seto greeted in return. The strange dragon turned to him. This dragon was quadrupedal rather than a wyvern, and the minute his beady, rat-like dark blue eyes met Seto, the white dragon already didn't trust him. This dragon was very spiny, but he had no horns or spikes, and his scale colour was from top to bottom a gradient from black to navy blue, and had no luster. His wings were worse for wear, appearing to be burnt and frayed at the edges, with the corner of his left wing bent. "Who is this?" This dragon looked to be a fledgling group or two older than Seto and Yugi.

"And what's this broodhen doing here?" The strange dragon asked dismissively, seeing Mokuba on Seto's back. Seto snarled at him, making the stranger take a quick step forward away from him; his mouth parted slightly, Seto could see his teeth were covered in blackened soot.

"You have some nerve, I am the Lieutenant of this Rafter." Seto told him, his sharp teeth extending in threat.

"Whatever." The stranger said, turning back to Yugi who was frowning at the exchange, Seto wasn't sure if he was disappointed at him, or displeased with this strange dragon for his rudeness towards his Lieutenant "As I was saying, if you find this dragon, you should kill him on site, or at least capture him and bring him to us so we may deal with him."

"We are not executioners or jailers, Hirutani." Yugi told him.

"Yes, yes… I forget Northern dragons are more… 'progressive', these days." Hirutani said, sounding fake polite. "However, he is a wanted criminal to my Rafter, so be sure to tell me if you at least see him." Before Seto could ask a further question, the dragon spoke up again "Have a good night, fellow Diamondtooth." He said to Yugi, before taking off into a sprint and then flight, his flight being wobbly because of his damaged wings.

Seto blinked, and looked expectantly to Yugi, discontent clear in his eyes. Yugi cleared his throat and explained "Hirutani is the Diamondtooth of the Rafter of the Shadow Forest." Yugi explained, Seto quirked an eyeridge; "He's looking for a fugitive criminal of his Rafter." The blue-eyed dragon tried to keep his face clear, but he knew that was Jou's original rafter.

"Criminal?" Seto inquired, keeping his voice clear and even, even if his mind wandered back to the red-eyed dragon hiding at the West border.

"Yes." Ishizu confirmed "Hirutani says the fugitive tried to challenge his leadership about a month ago, but cheated in their fight, and ran away before he could face the consequences. They last scented him a few leagues away from the West border."

"Have you seen any outsiders lately, Kaiba?" Marik asked "You've been guarding the West border for that period of time."

Seto's heart pounded a little; dare he lie to his leader, lorekeeper, and healer all in one go? "Not at all," He replied, face and voice straight "It's always been dull over there." He added to the authenticity by snorting dismissively.

"I see..." Yugi trailed off, nodding. "Hirutani's a new Diamondtooth, last time I checked the Diamondtooth for the Shadow Forest Rafter was Maximillion Pegasus; he must just be trying to assert his dominance over challengers. That region always was a bit more… Traditional." Yugi said the word as if it left a bad taste in his mouth just to say it.

"But, what's this fugitive look like?" Seto asked, still thinking back to Jou and his daughter.

"A black lusterless dragon with red eyes," Ishizu explained "Hirutani says he's a Darkstalker hybrid."

"That's not never specific, aren't most Darkstalkers a dark color?" Seto snorted, although the sinking feeling in his chest didn't leave.

"The fugitives name is Katsuya Jounouchi." Yugi finally finished.

To be continued...

Authors note: Yes, in this story not only have ages been swapped around, but some family trees have been shifted. Here, Shizuka is Jou's daughter rather than sister. Wonder who the mother is..?

Seto doing the things Jou shows him in an add-on to show that Seto is a very adaptive dragon, who wants to learn anything that would make him better, he's not so traditional he'd only learn things taught in his own Rafter. In fact, he prefers learning things from other Rafters to give himself an edge over the other dragons in his Rafter because this way he knows techniques they don't.

Looks like Jou's a fugitive running from the law! What's our favorite blue eyes white dragon going to do now?

Please review!