title Nesting (1/2)
summary Tall, dark, and scaly handsome
pairing itasaku

The ground rumbled. Dark clouds filled the sky, lightning punctuating the heavens.

"Now that I've gathered all Five Blood Runes, my plan is complete!"

Another deep noise thundered up and down the valley. The dry soil cracked. Magma began seeping up through the earth's open wound. Hissing and sparking as it consumed the grass and the flowers.

"Rise, Ancient One! Rise and do my bidding!"

As the man's shrill laughter rang out, the cracks in the earth began to widen. The soil became a fragile mosaic, shattering and sinking. The earth shook even harder now. Nearby buildings began to collapse atop one another.

And a demonic roar exploded from beneath the ground. Cleaving the heavens.

From the spewing lava came a black claw. It slammed into the ground, pointed talons crushing the stone into fine dust. With another mighty roar, a second claw emerged. The lava flowed off the black scales like water down the back of a duck.

"Human," a voice grumbled. It sounded like a thousand rocks tumbling against each other. From the steam, two crimson eyes gleamed. The irises flecked with black, slitted pupils narrowing as they found their target.

"You dare to summon the Terrible Fell Dragon?" it demanded.

"Yes! I've bound you with my summons! Now go forth and co-"

With one sweep of its claw, the dragon crushed the summoner into a hot pulp of blood and bones. He huffed, steam hissing from his nostrils.

"Pathetic. As if such weak magic will hold me," he scoffed.

He forced his muscular body through the ground. The cracks growing and spreading. He shook the lava from his body. And as his scales cooled, they turned black. As glossy and dark as obsidian. He flexed the muscles in his back, unfurling his leathery wings.

"It's been such a long time since I've woken. Time to see what's worth destroying this time around," he sighed. With a powerful sweep of his wings, he took off. Fire spraying from his great jaws. Incinerating the sides of the valley. Just to watch it all burn and turn black.

Kakashi ran his finger down the board.

"Hm... we could defeat some mythical monster in the forest?" he read out loud.

Naruto made a face. He leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms behind his head.

"Last time we did that, the 'beast' ended up being a pregnant boar," Naruto complained. Kakashi rolled his visible eye. He turned back to the board.

"We could escort a merchant party?"

"Pass. I still get nightmares about the time that Sakura almost threw me off that insane rope bridge," Sai piped up. Naruto smirked.

"Only because you asked her if it was her time of the month. I still kind of wish she had," he retorted.

"Naruto," Kakashi warned.

"Yeah, I get it. I'll be nice," Naruto grumbled, closing his eyes.

"Oh. This one looks easy. Deliver a package to the Citadel. Shouldn't take more than a week's time," Kakashi suggested. His eye gleamed as he read the offered reward amount.

"No way," Sakura declared. She set the tankards down on the table, sloshing a little onto her hand. She wiped it off on the edge of her skirt.

"Have you seen the reward for that? It's definitely something suspicious. Think a little, Kakashi," she scolded. Kakashi's drank from one of the tankards. Foam clinging to his upper lip when he lowered it. He wiped it off with the back of his hand. Kakashi rested his cheek in his hand, slumping.

"Fine. I guess we'll all starve to death," he sulked. Naruto and Sakura grimaced together.

"Ew. Old man, stop trying to be cute," Naruto grumbled.

"Yeah. Literally no one feels bad for you right now," Sakura added.

"Have you heard? About the smoke coming from the west?" they overheard a man at another table say. Sai leaned in a little closer, straining to listen.

"Rumors of a huge dragon rampaging," the man went on.

Sakura leaned against Sai's shoulder, listening too. They exchanged looks.

"I heard someone say it might even be the Fell Dragon Itachi."

"I thought he was sealed away ages ago! What kind of fool would awaken him?"

Sai and Sakura turned to look at Kakashi, grinning from ear to ear.

"How much do you think the King would reward us for a dead dragon, Kakashi?" Sakura asked. Kakashi rubbed his chin.

"We don't have enough health potions," he muttered.

"Then it's decided. We'll stock up on supplies and then head west!" Naruto announced, clapping his hands together once. Sakura and Sai bumped elbows and then fists.

"Excellent!" Sai declared, rubbing his hands together.

"Imagine how much food that would buy," sighed Naruto. Face suddenly dreamy.

Sakura cracked her neck.

"Maybe I can afford to sleep at an inn far away from you idiots," she grumbled.

So they gathered supplies. Sai using all his charm to woo the merchant's wife into giving them a discount. Bags laden with healing herbs and dried food, they mounted their horses. The map spread out in front of Kakashi. As they made their way down the road, Naruto made a face. Crossing his arms behind his head.

"I feel like... there's something we're forgetting," he said. Sai tilted his head as he thought. Kakashi scratched his chin.

"Ah. We forgot to pay the innkeeper," Sakura realized.

"Shit. Let's get going before he wakes up," Naruto hissed. They urged their horses on faster. Laughing into the night about the gaff.

By the time their party arrived in the valley, it was already burnt to a crisp. The nearby villages and towns were still smoldering. The cinders of collapsed homes still glowing red on the inside. Most of the surviving villagers had already fled. And the remaining ones could say little about the whereabouts of the monster who had destroyed their homes.

Still, Kakashi did some snooping. In the middle of the night, he returned to the camp, stinking of mead. He had found out that there were reports of similar destruction sweeping up through the mountains. They set out in a hurry. Naruto still half-sleeping on his mount. He had dressed in the dark and his cape was on backwards. Sakura attempted to tie her hair as her horse jostled around the rocky ground. She gave up after three failed attempts.

When they reached the sleepy mountain town three days later, it was the same story. Smoldering ruins and the smell of burnt livestock everywhere.

This time, before they could ask too many questions, a roar shattered the skies. Crows exploded out of the nearby trees, taking off in a panic.

Sakura grinned.

"I smell trouble," she remarked. Snapping her reins, she urged her horse on.

"Hold on! Sakura! Wait for us!" Naruto screamed as he went after her.

The horses took them deeper into the mountains. The trees flaming like huge sticks of incense. Their blackened trunks sizzling and popping. When they fell, showers of sparks erupted into the air. The smoke that clogged the forests was dense and nearly black. Naruto raised his cowl to cover his mouth and nose. Eyes watering, he followed Sakura's voice, barely able to see.

Towards the peak of the mountain, he could see her atop her horse. Rushing forward.

With a terrible screech, the massive dragon rose through the smoke. Flames ripping up his throat. Filling the air with unbearable heat. Naruto's horse whinnied, shying away.

"Use your magic, you dunce!" he heard Sakura yell, pausing to glance over her shoulder. She waved her axe at him before she continued running into the flames.

Naruto smacked his palm against his forehead. He muttered a few words. Summoned a pocket of cool air to envelop both him and the horse. And when Kakashi and Sai caught up, he extended the shield around them too.

They picked their way up the side of the mountain. Squinting through the blurring barrier and the smoke. They passed Sakura's horse, which fled downhill. Away from all the fire and chaos.

Finally, when they reached the peak, they found Sakura standing there. Her axe touching the ground. She gaped up at the huge creature. At the flames that flickered underneath the scales as the fire burst up from his throat.

"Sakura! Get behind the barrier!" Sai shouted, hands cupped around his mouth.

Sakura's eyes sparkled as she turned to look at her party. She grinned.

"Isn't this great?" she yelled.

"HUH?" the three men said in return.

Sakura advanced.

It took a while, but the dragon finally seemed to notice the tiny human approaching. A laugh thundered out of him, shaking the mountainside. He lowered his scaly head to stare down at her. Crimson eyes gleaming. Sharp, branch-like horns extended from his temples.

"What's this?" he boomed. Sakura stopped. Handle of the axe over her shoulder. She stared up at his massive body. At the tail that whipped around, slicing through the tops of the flaming trees.

"Is this the best warrior humanity sends after me? This insignificant boy to slay the Terrible Fell Dragon?" he continued to laugh.

Sakura's cheeks colored. She fumbled with her chest plate. It fell to the ground with a heavy thud. And then she ripped her helmet off. Throwing it somewhere into the darkness.

"I'm a woman!" she screamed in return.

The dragon laughed harder. The ground trembling with the force of it all.

"No matter. If you wish to die so badly, so be it," he growled.

He opened his jaws. Pointed teeth gleaming with saliva. The back of his throat glowed. And then flames exploded from his mouth, engulfing Sakura.

"Perish!" he laughed.

The spot where Sakura had stood filled with smoke. But as the winds carried it away, it revealed Sakura still there, quite unharmed. Save for the fact that the leather bits of her armor had burned away. Clicking her tongue, she glanced down at herself.

"I had that custom made in the Citadel," she grumbled.

The dragon's eyes narrowed into slits.

"All that sleep must have made you dull, Fell Dragon," scoffed Sakura.

She hunched over, crossing her wrists. The skin over her shoulder blades split. Instead of blood, red light spilled out, engulfing her body. And the light expanded into a swirling ball of heat. It exploded outwards, rocking the edges of Naruto's barrier.

The dragon swung a leathery wing over itself to block the worst of the blast. He squinted out through the bright light. It slowly dissipated.

Sakura bared her teeth. Shaking her head from side to side. Her scales were smooth, shimmering red with hints of iridescence. Her black horns spiraled back from her temples, like those on a ram. When she opened her eyes, they were gold, flaked with green and blue, like some kind of alien gem.

"You can't even smell one of your own kind," she sneered.

In this form, she was still smaller than him. He towered over her. But the terrible Fell Dragon seemed frozen. He slowly lowered his wing. Gaping at her.

Sakura stretched out her body. Her black underbelly glittering by the light of the burning mountainside.

"Kick his ass, Sakura!" Naruto cheered. Sakura glanced back at him.

"Sure," she replied.

And then she opened her maw. A screech resonated up her throat. Shaking the trees and echoing through the mountain range. She threw herself at the Fell Dragon, her jaws snapping at his throat.

To her surprise, he didn't dodge. He fell under her weight. Crushing the stone face of the mountain. The debris sliding down the incline in a great shower of dust and rock. Naruto's barrier barely held together and she could hear him swear.

Sakura pinned the Fell Dragon down. Her teeth dripping. Black claws digging into his flesh. And when he opened his eyes, they gleamed.

"Finally. I've found you," he said.

Sakura's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean?" she growled.

"The one worthy of being my mate," the Fell Dragon declared.

Sakura sat back on her haunches. A laugh exploded from her mouth. Reverberating up and down the mountains. Swelling like great waves that bent the trees.

"You? A mindless beast that wanders the lands like a mad dog?" she mocked.

With a little concentration, she phased back into her human shape. Her skin still steaming lightly as it adjusted to the temperature change. She fluffed her hair, like she was oblivious to the fact that she was completely naked. She stood on the belly of the dragon, one hand on her hip. And he had to bend his neck to look down at her in this tiny form.

"Look, I like humans. I think that they're funny little apes," she said, pointing.

"We like you too, Sakura!" Sai called.

"Don't look!" Naruto shouted. She could hear the blond cleric grappling with the mage. Probably trying to cover Sai's eyes.

"Anyway, your whole thing of razing their villages really isn't my thing," she went on. And then she scowled.

"By the way, can you even shift into a human form?" Sakura demanded.

"Uh... no," he confessed. Sakura made a face.

"Ugh, you're at least... three hundred years old and you can't even manage that?" she asked, counting the rings on his horns.

And it almost looked like the black dragon was blushing.

"I-I can learn!"

"Whatever. I've gotten better offers from nests from the south," Sakura snorted. And then she cast a disdainful look over him. From head to clawed toe. "Much better offers." She hopped off of him. She stooped to retrieve her axe. Her melted armor wasn't worth salvaging.

"Kakashi, lemme borrow your cloak," she called.

"Ah, yeah. Hold on," the thief replied.

"Wait!"

Sakura looked over her shoulder at him.

"What?" she retorted.

The dragon had his head low to the ground. Steam hissing from his nostrils as he stared at Sakura.

"Where are you going?" he grumbled.

"Yeah! Where are you going?" Sai asked, his voice a little muffled through the barrier. Sakura swung her head around to look at her party. Naruto barely looked at her, fingers over his eyes. She lifted her arm to point at the dragon.

"This guy isn't even worth slaying. He's annoying," she scoffed.

"But Sakura. All the gold," protested Kakashi. Naruto nodding furiously beside him.

"Fine. I'll pillage a bandit hideout or something next week. Happy?" she offered.

Usually, all it took in her dragon form was to roar and throw around a few people before bandits gave up all their gold. They weren't known to be particularly strong in the face of a fire-breathing beast.

Kakashi sighed.

"Yeah, I guess," he conceded.

Naruto lowered his hands. His barrier dissolving all around them. Kakashi slid off his mount. He stepped over to Sakura to drape his tattered cloak over her. Sai reached over to offer his hand to her. Sakura grasped his forearm, letting him haul her up onto his saddle.

"Man, I'm hungry," announced Naruto as they began their way back down the mountain.

"Yeah, from all the shrieking in terror that you did," Sai retorted.

"It might take a while to find an inn that hasn't been burned down," Kakashi warned.

"Or one that we haven't forgotten to pay for," chimed in Sakura.

"Uh... Sakura?" Naruto said.

"Yeah?"

"He's following us."

The party looked over their shoulders. And indeed the black dragon was walking down the side of the mountain with them. On all fours. His red eyes focused just on Sakura. She clicked her tongue.

"I am not paying for a room for that," muttered Kakashi.

Their party traveled the countryside mostly on horseback. They never recovered Sakura's horse, so they stopped in a town to buy another one. Along with several sets of clothes for Sakura. She noted this in a loud voice, directing glares at the dragon who still followed alongside them. And it almost seemed like that scaly face was filled with regret.

When they built the campfire at night, the Fell Dragon Itachi curled his immense body around them. His tail resting against his forelimbs to create a sort of barrier. The first time he had done it, Naruto had gone into a silent panic. Clinging to Sakura's arm and shaking it. Whispering that the dragon was trapping them to eat them in the night. Sighing, Sakura walked up to the end of his tail and gave it a few good slaps. One of his eyes cracked open. And he said nothing as he flicked it aside to let her pass through.

"He's trying to show me that he would be good at protecting a clutch. That's how we sleep in our nests to protect our eggs," explained Sakura into Naruto's ear. He waggled his eyebrows.

"Is it working?" he whispered in return. Sakura shoved him.

In the morning, the huge dragon stirred. The rumbles his movements caused rousing the entire party. And with a great flap of his wings, he took to the air. Within about half an hour, he returned with a moose or even a bear limp in his jaws. Depositing the carcass at Sakura's feet, he offered her a bloody smile.

"Let me guess. Trying to prove that he's a good hunter?" Kakashi asked. Sakura nodded.

"Is it working?" Naruto nagged. He dodged Sakura's first shove, but not the second. It sent him sprawling ass over teakettle. He laughed as he sat back up.

As the fall turned to winter, the party began looking for caves to find shelter in at night. They traveled the mountain passes, camping in the natural depressions in the stone. And Naruto frequently announced his contentment at the warmth radiating from the Fell Dragon's huge body. If the temperature dropped too much at night, Itachi took to releasing a great, steaming breath that melted the worst of the nearby frost. Naruto pointed all of this out, elbowing Sakura until she threatened to break the offending arm.

Itachi even accompanied them on their quests. From the great battles to the small errands when they were low on gold. He never interfered, often settling a good distance away, pretending to sleep. Cracking one eye every once in a while to check on the situation. Feigning disinterest when they returned with their bags heavy with gold.

The only time the dragon opened his eyes was when Sakura's screech pierced the heavens. And then he crept up on all four legs. The spines on his shoulders and back standing up as he watched her transform. Fire spilling from her jaws as she roasted their enemies to a crisp. Steam puffing from his nostrils as he watched her spiked tail smash through obstacles.

"Do dragons get erections?" Sai wondered out loud one day.

Unfortunately, Sai hadn't known Sakura for as long. And he never managed to dodge her punches like Naruto did.

One night, after Sai and Naruto had fallen asleep at the fire, and Kakashi had gone to gather more firewood, Sakura wandered over to the dragon. He rested his snout on one of his claws. Just his eyes following her. She sat in front of him, crossing her legs.

"How long are you going to follow us?" she queried.

He blinked. And then his voice rumbled out, surprisingly soft. "Am I hindering you?"

Sakura twisted her lips to one side. She crossed her arms over her chest.

"I suppose not. But this has to be boring for you," she answered.

"I've spent the last 200 hundred years sealed underground. This isn't a bad change of pace," he replied.

"What about your home nest?" asked Sakura.

Itachi closed his eyes.

"Dead," he simply said. And then, he queried, "Yours?"

"Mine too. Most of my brothers and sisters were devoured by a pack of wyverns before they could hatch," Sakura stated.

His eyes opened.

"That is unfortunate," he mused.

"Yes."

Kakashi returned with the firewood a good while later. And while he could see Naruto and Sai drooling and snoring, he couldn't see Sakura. It was only after some searching that he realized that she was slumbering away, curled up on the forearm of the huge dragon. One hand under her cheek. Her chest rising and falling in an easy rhythm.

"I lived in a deep valley far to the east of here. It was a very secluded place. We'd lived there for many generations with little danger," Itachi told her one night.

They had camped on a cliff overlooking a huge lake. The surface of the water rippled and glittered under the moonlight.

"And one night, poachers arrived. My younger brother was just a hatchling."

He closed his eyes. She read the tightness in his face, letting out a long sigh.

"Hence the rampage?" she guessed. He didn't say anything. But she already knew his answer. She reached up and patted his snout a few times.

"They're not all bad. But the ones that are... it's beyond words," she added.

"Yes," he conceded.

Sakura tilted her head to one side. And then she stood. She pressed her forehead to his snout. Listening to what sounded almost like a purr rumble out of him.

"I'd like to see your valley someday," Sakura stated.

It surprised no one in the party when, a few months later, Sakura announced that she was retiring from adventuring. While Kakashi grumbled about needing to hire a replacement warrior, he hugged Sakura tight. Wished her the best. And they stood watching her trudge away through the mist. The huge steps of the black dragon shaking the ground. His great tail swishing back and forth like a pendulum behind him.

A few years later, they heard rumors of something to the north. Deep in the mountains, along a treacherous, winding path prone to avalanches and sudden snows, they found tunnels dug deep into the stone. And inside, they found a massive horde. Piles and piles of gold. Rare jewels and relics stacked atop one another. Three little whelps squealed as they wrestled with one another among the treasure. And across the main entrance of the cave was a massive black tail.

Naruto patted the tail a few times. It shifted. He squinted, leaning closer with his torch. And he could make out the shape of two dragons curled together. One with sparkling gold eyes, the other darker than the deepest night, eyes like gleaming rubies.

"Y'know, we still never paid that innkeeper," Naruto called.

And Sakura's laughter echoed back down at him as she rose to greet her old friends.