Dragon Sitting

Futch sighed again and sat down on the bed. Bright crawled up into his lap and squawked happily as it curled up and fell asleep. The brown haired boy looked down at the dragon and smiled.

After he had finally been convinced to lay Black's ghost to rest, he had learned to love the little white dragon currently sleeping in his lap. But even love had its limits and his patience had run out.

He needed a break away from Bright, but the problem was, who could take care of a baby dragon without its knight? He lay down, careful not to wake his companion and pondered this question.

'Who here can deal with animals? Well Kinnison is one, but Shiro has already tried to eat Bright once before.'

He grimaced recalling the memory of the terrified dragon and the extremely apologetic Kinnison. Futch didn't see Shiro for a week after that incident.

'Yuzu could do it. She always takes care of animals, and most are bigger than her!' But then he thought of the reason Yuzu did what she did and what happened to all those 'little cuties'. 'On second thought, she's a bit too busy..'

Bright had shifted positions and he rested a hand on the little dragons back, between the wings, and scratched. He swore he could feel the purr that resulted through his entire body. He laughed.

"For something so small and cute, you sure do cause me a lot of problems." The dragon grunted, but didn't wake up and Futch went back to pondering his dilemma.

"Yoshino? No, Bright would destroy the laundry for the entire castle and I could do without seeing some people naked." He shuddered as images entered his mind.

"Chaco? Nope, Bright is not quite ready to fly.."

"Feather?" He thought of the Griffon's patience with all the kids that hung off him all the time. But then he also remembered how the same Griffon chased off all the flying squirrels when they got too close. It seemed the patience extended to humans alone.

He sighed. What was a Knight to do? Wait! His head shot up.

"A knight!" He lifted Bright off his lap and smiled happily at the grumpy dragon. "You're going to stay with some friends for awhile, okay?"

Bright squawked and wagged his tail.

***

Camus stared at the young man in front of him, holding onto a little white dragon.

"You want me to do what?"

"I need a break from Bright, or else I'm going to get too fed up with him, for us to be able to learn to work together, so I need someone to look after him for a few days."

"Why me?" Futch looked at him with big eyes and pleaded.

"You're a Knight and therefore I know I can trust you to keep your word. I really need this break but I don't want to leave Bright alone with someone who would put him in danger."

Camus thought of Bright with Sid or even Viki and winced. He understood what Futch was saying. He, like many others had seen how much time Futch spent with the little dragon and how it was affecting his sleep and attitude. Maybe a few days wouldn't hurt.

"All right Futch, I'll take care of Bright, but just for a few days, no longer." The young knight's face lit up and he hugged the older man, careful not to squish the mentioned dragon.

"Thank you so much Camus! I won't forget this, I promise." He handed Bright to the Red Knight and patted him on the head. "You behave while I'm gone, okay?" The dragon just blinked wide blue eyes and then curled up in Camus's arms and drifted off to sleep. Futch beamed. "See! I knew he would like you, and thanks again."

Camus smiled.

"No problem, now go on. See you soon." Futch nodded and walked out of the room, looking back once. Camus sighed and looked down at the white bundle curled in his lap. "This shouldn't be too hard, right?" The dragon didn't reply.

***

A few hours later Camus wished he could take back those words. Bright had woken up rather quickly once he realized that Futch wasn't around and had started screaming. Not squawking, but literally screaming his head off. Camus has covered his ears, but when that didn't work, had tried to calm the little creature down, with no luck.

The screams had soon attracted his entire section of the castle and the red knights that had followed him had run into his room, thinking he was in danger.

Needless to say, they were surprised to see their Captain trying to get a baby dragon to fall asleep, by rocking it back and forth. After making sure their Captain was safe they had made a hasty exit, leaving Camus alone with the noise.

Finally he was fed up and grabbed one of his belts and tied the dragon's snout together, stopping the noise and causing him to get a confused look from innocent blue eyes.

"Don't look at me like that! You know what you were doing, and it's not going to work. He needs a break, so all your screaming won't bring him back right now, got it?" the little thing looked close to tears and Camus sighed.

"Why don't we see if there is something out there to help you fall back asleep, they say babies need lots of sleep right?" Bright only looked at him, jaws still tied shut. He picked up the little dragon and headed out of his room and down the hall. Ignoring the looks he was receiving he tried to think of someone who could help.

"What can soothe a baby to sleep?" He continued walking, dodging the castle folk who were going about their business and waving 'Hi' to people he knew. He was passing one of the doors when he heard soft singing coming from the stage. He stopped.

Music! Perfect. He changed directions and headed for the stage where Anallee, Alberto and Pico were just finishing off. He snuck in the back and waited for them. When they showed up Anallee smiled at Bright.

"Oh! It's our baby Dragon! How is he today, and where's Futch?" Camus smiled.

"Futch needed a break, so I'm dragon sitting, but Bright is a little upset by his Knight's disappearance." Alberto walked up to them

"That's too be expected, Futch is the only one he's really known since he was born if what I've heard is true."

"It is. So I was wondering if you could help me get him to sleep."

"You want us to sing to a dragon?" The Red Knight used puppy eyes on the singer and pleaded.

"Please? He's so scared right now and hearing your beautiful voice might help him feel safe."

Anallee smiled. "Well if you think it would help.. What do you guys think?" She turned to her two other band members. They shrugged.

"Why not? The practice would do us good."

"So it's settled, we'll try and help you put Bright to sleep." Camus smiled and sighed in relief.

"Thank you so much, oh fair lady." Anallee laughed and Pico shook his head.

"Don't let Nanami hear you talk to another lady like that."

"She won't. Because you won't tell her and besides, Anallee knows I'm just doing my duty as a Knight, right?" TH singer nodded her head and Camus heaved a sigh of relief for it was true, his Lady Nanami had very little true self confidence and he didn't want her harmed in any way. But back to the task at hand..

As the three musicians retuned their instruments, Camus made himself comfortable and positioned Bright in his lap and untying his snout, thankful that the baby no longer showed signs of ruining everyone's hearing. He relaxed as the music started and he let the three in front of him weave their spell.

***

"Camus."

He shifted in his sleep.

"Camus." The voice seemed to be getting annoyed, but still Camus didn't open his eyes.

"CAMUS!! WAKE UP!" This was shouted into his ear and he jumped up with a yelp and glared accusingly at Miklotov.

"Did you have to shout?" the solemn Blue knight nodded. "But I was so comfy and relaxed."

"I would have left you to sleep but I've been told that Bright is your charge and well, look outside." His eyes widen as he realized what his friend was saying. He shot over to the nearest window and looked out into the square.

"Oh no.." He groaned. There was Bright all right, covered in mud and trailing what looked like all of Yoshino's laundry all over the grass. Kids were trying to chase after him but the baby dragon seemed frightened and was moving quickly away from everyone, dodging people and running into everything else.

He didn't stay up there to watch more, instead making his way quickly down and out of the building and moved directly in front of Bright's path. The dragon now had a sheet covering his face and he ended up running right into the Knight's legs. Said Knight wasted no time in reaching down and scooping up the little thing and untangling it from the mess.

Big blue eyes looked up at Camus and a little whimper could be heard.

"No wonder Futch can't discipline you properly, you're too cute." He sighed and smiled softly, but the smile soon turned into a frown as Yoshino arrived on the scene. She took one look at the mess and then noticed Camus and Bright and headed over to them. She looked at the baby dragon and too everyone's surprise smiled softly and patted him on the head.

"Babies always getting into messes when they're scared. Yoshino just has to clean up again." She smiled at Camus and started gathering up her laundry. People started helping and soon all of it was back where it belonged and ready to be cleaned again.

'Freed really is a lucky guy.'

The Knight sighed in relief and walked over to where his fellow Knight was standing. Miklotov looked down at Bright and then at Camus.

"So how did you get involved with this?"

"Futch needed a break away from Bright and wanted to leave him with someone he could trust."

"And that's you?"

"Hey! This was an accident!" the Blue Knight just nodded and took the little dragon out of Camus's arms.

"Come on. You both need to eat." He perched the dragon on his shoulder and held its tail gently so it wouldn't lose balance. Camus stared after his friend in surprise. Was Mik actually smiling?? He shook his head and followed them to the restaurant.

But even the restaurant didn't hold relief for the Knight. As soon as Bright smelled the meat he took off into the Kitchen and started eating the food that was waiting to be prepared.

Hai Yo yelled at him and tried to shoo him away but every time one piece of meat was denied the baby dragon he went after another until Camus finally chased him down and caught him.

But by then, no food had been left unspoiled and the two Knights left before the now hungry crowd turned into a mob. Bright seemed quite content, with his own belly full, and settled into Camus's arms. Red Knight looked at Blue and both just shook their heads.

How did Futch deal with Bright everyday?

***

The rest of the day passed by without incident for which Camus was grateful. But there would still be two more days till Futch came back. He looked at Bright sleeping beside him and hoped nothing more would happen.

But he wasn't holding his breath.

***

The next morning Camus kept Bright by him at all times, letting him wander a bit but never out of his sight. It seemed to be working and they had come to a truce of sorts. But by suppertime, Camus's attention was drifting and he forgot about Bright for a minute.

Wrong move.

Bright had wandered down to the main hall and was headed towards Viki who seemed to be muttering something. Curious Bright walked over to the absent- minded mage and nudged her robe. This broke her concentration and there was a flash of light. When Viki looked down to see what had bumped into her, nothing was there.

***

"I'm bored, Culgan!"

"I noticed." The older man tried to go back to his paper work but seed's constant pacing in front of him was a little more than he could handle right now. "Seed?"

"What?" The red haired young man turned and looked at him.

"Go spar with someone, get supper, just do something! I need to finish this okay." Seed sighed and nodded. He left the room, but not before he heard Culgan sigh in relief. Resisting the urge to stick his tongue out at the close door, he turned and walked down the hall. He didn't get very far before he heard a small cry.

Curious he changed direction and followed the cry. It was coming from one of the closets. He figured one of the servant's kids was playing cruel games again and he opened the door to let the poor kid out. But it wasn't a kid. Instead a small white dragon sat there, shaking with fear. Seed knelt down so that he was level with the dragon and reached out to it.

"Hey there. I won't hurt you, you're only a baby." The dragon looked curiously at his hand and then sniffed it. Seed wondered what was so interesting until he remembered he was wearing his gauntlets. The little thing was probably staring at it's own reflection. He smiled, boredom forgotten and picked up the little baby.

It squawked in surprise before settling down, claws lightly clutching his coat. The red head smiled down at it.

"I don't know where you came from, but how about joining me for dinner?" It seemed to purr and Seed took that for agreement, heading to his set of rooms. Culgan and anyone else could wait; he had a guest.

***

Camus looked around the castle frantically for any sign of the little dragon, but no one had seen him recently, not since supper. He searched all night, but by morning he had to admit defeat.

Bright was no longer in the castle and Futch would be coming home that evening.

"What am I going to do.." He moaned. Miklotov looked over at his friend and sighed.

"I'm sure he'll show up sooner or later."

"But, but.." Mik held up his hand to stop the worrying Knight.

"Just relax, we'll think of something." Camus sighed and spent the rest of the morning resigning himself to the fate of telling Futch that he had lost his second dragon.

A knock on the door later that day startled him and knowing it was still too early for Futch to be back he opened the door. Shu stood there with a little white dragon in his arms. Bright squawked and jumped into his arms.

"Bright! But how?" Shu said nothing just handed him a letter.

'I'm assuming this creature belongs to someone there as everything else seems to have gathered in that castle. General Seed found him last night and while that was fine at first it became something of nuisance. The things energy combined with Seed's temper and attitude was a deadly combination and you have succeeded in throwing the castle in to chaos. Congratulations on a well thought out strategy. Culgan'

Camus read the letter again and smiled.

"I guess it was Viki." Shu nodded a small smile on his face.

"It seems even they had a hard time dealing with Bright and he pointed to an object Bright was holding in his claws. It was a battered and worn Highland flag, and Bright seemed quite happy with it.

Camus smiled and went downstairs to wait for Futch.

***

He sighed and walked through the gates, waving to the guards as he did so. They waved back, recognizing the young Dragon Knight. Futch smiled and headed to the main hall, where Camus and Bright waited.

The little dragon saw him first and struggled out of Camus's arms and raced for him. He laughed and picked up his little dragon and hugged him. Bright latched on to him and purred. He walked up to the knight and rewarded him with a smile.

"So, was he any trouble." The knight shook his head.

"No, not at all, but I wouldn't want to do it again." Futch smiled.

"I know what you mean, and I have to admit, I probably won't do that again. It was nice to get away for a while but I worried too much to fully enjoy it. Thanks again." Camus smiled politely and Futch left to go outside, not noticing the sighs of relief from everyone who had heard him.
A/N: Just something to get rid of boredom, no real point to the story at all and not very well done but hopefully someone enjoyed it ^^.