Title: Dragon Trainers Chapter 4

Author: Alta Lemur!! (Latinam Amate!)

Rating: PG-13

Pairing: J/S eventually

Spoilers: none

Disclaimer: Technically, I do own a copy of "Dragon Companion," but I do not own the rights to it. Neither do I own YuGiOh, but I like to think I own the rights to Blue Eyes' personality. Also, I'm probably going to end up stealing terms from various other dragon books. ^_^ Aw well.

Summary: AU Shounen ai. Romance and angst. Night falls and the sun rises. Watch the rising and falling of love in a world of magic and dragons. (Probably not going to be as sappy as summary).

Finally! With a victory whoop, Jou threw the devious scrubbing brush into a pail containing other malicious cleaning materials. Striking what Jou no doubt thought to be a victory pose, he surveyed the now clean dragon chamber. One of Jou's least favorite chores was to clean the rooms where the dragons of the dragon training ground lived, the dragon chambers. This particular room belonged to one of the messiest dragons Jou had ever met. The room had been worse than even Honda's room could get!

The floor was cleaned. The dragon's bedding, in that dragon's case an arrangement of rocks into a nest, were shifted and then cleaned. Off on the other side of the room were the dragon's personal items, which Jou wouldn't touch for fear of the territorial dragon's wrath. And the doorway, magically assisted to merge with the wall when not used, was re-attached after the boisterous dragon had somehow broken it. That had taken a lot of time and some help from Yugi for the magical part of it. Unfortunately neither of them was an expert, and they hoped it would stay attached until the senior Motou came home.

Oh yeah, he was definitely finished. With a great sense of freedom, Jou picked up the pail with its cleaning materials in it along with another pail of water and suds. He had opened the door and was walking out of the room when suddenly a pointy tri-colored head popped out of nowhere. Luckily the shorter one side stepped in time to not be hit by the swinging arms trying to re-establish balance.

"Gah! Yugi, watch where you're going. You almost ran me over," Jou said when he finally found his balance.

Yugi looked a bit sheepish for a moment, but then remembered the reason he had almost barreled into Jou. "Jou! Listen, a visitor has come by and he has a dragon. Could you prepare a room for the dragon? I need to prepare a room for the human to stay." After his last word Yugi was about to run off again when Jou caught his arm.

"Hey wait a minute. What now?" Then Jou grasped onto the fact that he would have more work ahead of him. His shoulders slumped considerably as he looked at Yugi with pleading puppy dog eyes. "Tell me I didn't just hear you say I have to go clean another room."

Yugi's empathetic heart ached at the look Jou gave him, but he saw no other way out of it and did not budge. "Sorry Jou, but they're guests, and they look like they traveled some way. It shouldn't take too long. The dragon is up the corridor. You can ask her how she wants her room." With that, Yugi left to go prepare Seto's room.

Jou's distaste for doing more chores and feeling of duty to help dragons warred briefly in his mind. Then he gave a great sigh and walked to where the dragon waited. She stood tall with her head held high to survey the walls and inspect the creases where doors would open. When Jou came to where she stood, she finally turned to him and stared at him in that scrutinizing and steady gaze that dragons often had. It unnerved Jou, and he thought of something to say to get the dragon's deep eyes off of him.

"Um, so, would you like just any room or are you claustrophobic or anything?"

The dragon just looked at him more with a considering look at this question. Jou thought that she was thinking over his question, but then he remembered that not all dragons were adept at human languages. He wasn't that good at mind speech with dragons other than his dragon, Ember, but he was going to try with this one.

'What kind of room do you want?'

Nearly as soon as Jou thought it, Blue Eyes shook her head violently and gave a derisive growl. Jou quickly backed off before she could hit him or even bite him. When she was done with her shaking, her neck was no longer holding her head elegantly lofty, but was descended in order to give him a threatening growl.

In English slurred by a dragon tongue she spoke to him. "You can't speak to me. You are a stranger who has no right to my mind. Speak to me aloud if you must." With this said she abandoned her wholly aggressive stance and assumed her former lofty posture, if a more rigid version. "And I would like a spacious room."

Eyes wide with shock, Jou took a moment to blink away his fright. Then he composed himself and went to go prepare the temperamental dragon's room. Was she a psycho or something? He resisted the urge to turn around and look at her. It'd be best of he just got the room ready quickly and got the heck out of her presence. As he was arranging materials for bedding, Jou made a prayer to any god that was listening that the traveler and his dragon would be done with their business and leave soon.

***

Seto didn't want to be there. He ran his hand again over the plush comforter as he sat on his bed. It was better than the one he had been using while camping and traveling. But still, the soft material couldn't take away the edginess he was feeling. He didn't know if he was feeling edgy because of his natural suspicion of unfamiliar places, or if he was feeling homesick.

That Yugi had been friendly enough. While the boy had been putting linen down and giving the room a good sweeping, he had talked almost non-stop to the journeyman. Seto didn't find much wrong with Yugi, but listening to his high, cheery voice and looking into the innocent and happy eyes reminded Seto too much of his little brother so far away from where he was. He had felt a very strong pang of homesickness then.

Perhaps it was that Yugi saw the feelings behind Seto's eyes. Perhaps it was the sympathy in him that made him chat away about things that didn't particularly matter. Whatever it was that Yugi could sense in him, he had left Seto's room with a kind or even understanding smile saying something about letting Seto get comfortable in his room.

At any rate, Seto was sitting on his bed, looking at the empty packs with all contents put away, and in contemplation of what to do next. He couldn't just stay in his room. He needed to get rid of this nervous energy, or perhaps even stomp out its cause. He wanted to see how his Blue Eyes was doing. Her presence would no doubt calm him some. Maybe he should get a look around the training grounds? Surely no one would mind his wandering.

With something to do planned out in his mind, Seto went to become more familiar with this strange place.

***

This was definitely the worst day Jou had ever had. After he had gotten the dragon's room all cleaned and arranged, that snooty priss-priss had told him that she slept on hay, not the normal soft coral stones that nearby cliffs provided for most dragons. He would be completely exhausted by now if his anger didn't fuel him. He smelled like cleaning solution and sweat. He was definitely looking forward to a bath and then a nice big lunch.

He was trudging up the wide stairs at the entrance of the dragon chambers when a figure caught his eye. For some reason, something felt odd about it and Jou stopped to look. At first he wasn't sure what he was looking at. Before him was a human, to be sure, but seemed more like a dragon or a great force of nature than anything. This person stood tall and elegant with features too precise to be real. The otherworldly effect was amplified when Jou looked into his eyes. No human had a right to have such deep eyes.

Seto wasn't sure what to do. He had been wandering around when he finally found what must be the entrance to the dragon chambers. But before he even descended the large spiral steps into the large dragon chambers, or ascended to the smaller dragon chambers, he was confronted by the second stranger he had met in this house.

The other boy was different from anyone Seto had seen before. Although he was covered with a thin layer of dust, Seto could see the soft features below it. His skin looked like crème and his lips created a soft line across the gentle curves of his face. His hair was like wheat tempting someone to play with the wild tresses. All in all, he seemed very inviting.

Seto knew he wanted to talk to the other boy, to ask him something. But all he could manage at the time was to slowly walk to the boy. Somehow his movements startled Jou out of his stupor. Jou wasn't sure if moving in such a glide proved this other boy to be human, or if his fluidity proved him to be a sea nymph. But when the other finally came up to Jou, he noticed the crest sewed onto the other's tunic. It was the insignia of a dragon trainer, but the number of stripes told Jou that he was a journeyman.

Seto was thinking of whether to ask this person his original question about his dragon's location, or if he would ask about him when the blond beat him to it.

"You're a dragon trainer?" Jou asked. Then something else occurred to him and his earlier anger rose again. "Wait, is that white psycho of a dragon yours?" Jou had the accusing tone in his voice almost as soon as he had said the words. When he saw the other dragon trainer's features become stiff and cold, he definitely knew he had said the wrong thing.

"If you mean my Blue Eyes, then she is not a psycho. She happens to be a refined and polite dragon," Seto said stiffly. And that was the truth. Blue Eyes' family was distinguished where she came from and her parents had instilled some old fashioned manners in her. If she had acted abrasively then it was because this other dragon trainer had rude been to her.

Jou wouldn't believe what was happening if he weren't seeing it. Before him the once nymph-like boy was becoming as haughty and snobbish as his dragon. Jou scoffed irritably at the new resemblance.

"And I suppose trying to bite my head off for asking her a question isn't considered acting psycho." Jou crossed his arms over his chest, assured that he was right.

Seto took on a mix between a contemplative look and that of irritation of his own. "She doesn't snap at people for no reason," he said pointedly. Seto was considering the possible reasoning of his Blue Eyes. "Did you try to mind speak her without introducing yourself?" He asked accusingly.

Jou was taken aback by the way Seto said something so surely as if it should have been common sense. "What are you talking about? Just because I was talking to her doesn't mean she had to bite my head off. She might as well have been a basic dragon for the way she was acting."

Seto couldn't believe that this upstart of a dragon apprentice was calling his beautiful Blue Eyes one of the mindless basic dragons who were no more than animals. Seto narrowed his eyes dangerously and pulled himself to his full height.

"If there is anything basic here it is you, you slob. Now get out of my way." With that Seto pushed past the offending dragon trainer apprentice, hitting the other's shoulder roughly. He would simply follow the guiding sense in his mind to find where his Blue Eyes was.

Jou stared angrily at the retreating back of the Seto. He clinched his fists angrily and bit his lip since he couldn't think of something to say. But when he finally did think of a good remark, Seto's figure had long since turned the slowly winding corridors of the dragon chambers. Clenching his fist even more tightly, Jou stomped off in the opposite direction. He was having a very bad day.

A/N: At this point I hope you all either hate this story or love it. If you're confused about the corridors, just bear with me. You've read, now review.