Hi! Thanks for reading up to this chapter! Hope you enjoy it~

-Akane

He stood in front of me, arms crossed in front of his chest. "Are you ready to receive your punishment?"

"Yes, Sei." I answered politely. I prepared myself for the worst to come.

"You will be the co-manager of the Teiko basketball team along with Momoi."

"I beg your pardon?" I was bemused. The co-manager? Wasn't that quite a small and simple punishment for such a thing that I did?

"You will have to come to every practice, create strategies and suggest training regimens, memorize other teams' player identities and information, collect data and train those less competent skills of yours. It sounds simple, but I will need you to stay where I can see you while you are not with Atsushi or his mother. Momoi is coming right now to teach you about this job."

I was left standing there in puzzlement as he walked out of the gymnasium, standing tall and straight. I raised my hand to my temples and rubbed them in confusion. Such a small punishment… Was he being soft on me? Surely he would've given a larger risk?

"…ne-chan! Akane-chan! Are you listening to me right now?" Momoi woke me from my thoughts and I dipped my head in embarrassment.

"Forgive me, Momoi-san, I was lost in thought." I sat up straight on the desk and read through the information of our players, being careful to memorize every word, though it was rather easy, since I had good skill in remembering things. Wait… I could always remember everything that I read and wrote and saw as well as every single memory since I was born, so how on Dragonia (world of dragons) had I forgotten all the memories related to Sei, my fiancé? It was impossible for me to forget the one who had always stayed beside me.

"Akane-chan! This is the sixth time you've spaced out! Is being a manager that boring?" She started to sob.

"Ah, um, forgive me, it's just that I'm tired from lack of sleep. Please don't cry!" She wiped her tears and I sighed in relief. The longer I stayed in this world, the more politeness and dignity I lost. My usual and formal way of speaking was beginning to lessen and I became worried. If I were to lose at least half of my senses of formality and dignity as well as courtesy, I would not be able to show my face in front of my wonderful and gracious mother.

All the things I thought about as I read became strangely contrasting to another thought. One moment I would be thinking about my fiancé, the next I would be missing my mother, another I would be plotting to avenge my father, and another I would be thinking of training regimens. Strange…

-Basketball practice-

The day training to be a manager was exhausting. There were so many things to memorize, not that it was hard, but rather boring to read and observe. Luckily, Sei and the coach allowed me to participate in the exercises and training, but of course not the practice games, since I didn't know how to play basketball. This got my stamina a little higher each time, since I trained as hard as Sei.

Sometimes, Sei and I would still be running extra laps around the gymnasium while all the other members collapsed of exhaustion or stopped running because they finished.

We as dragons needed a lot of stamina and training in order to stay strong and powerful, or we could've been attacked by one of the adults of powerful elders that despised the royal family and their relatives.

Usually, if I were not collecting data with Momoi-san, I would be practicing my human fighting skills with one of basketball players that were available. Sei had made it necessary to do this with all the members, a different one each day, since it also helped them with their leg and arm muscles as well as reaction time skills.

The only thing I didn't like about training fighting with the other members was that I had to hold back my punches and kicks, or I would've broken their bones or worse. Training while being a dragon in a human form was not easy at all. I couldn't train to my heart's satisfaction.

The coach was pleased with what I was doing to help in the basketball team, and I became a well-known person within the school for being extremely strong and fast with plenty of stamina. I felt happy to make new friends, but I always kept my mother's words in my mind. Each and every word was embedded into my brain and echoed throughout my soul whenever I was around other humans.

-After practice-

"Minna! (Minna means everyone) Let's take a group photo!" Kise-san's voice was happy and cheerful. He looked like a dog wagging its tail all the time.

I really wanted to save a memory with my new friends, so I walked over politely and took a polite standing position next to Sei. Mura-kun, Aomine-san, Kise-san, Momoi-san, Kuroko-san and Midorima-san were in front of us, striking a so-called 'peace sign', except for Midorima-san. He was adjusting his glasses.

The photo was taken as a 'selfie' (what a strange name) and we all gathered around Kise-san's phone to take a look. It was a cheerful picture with lots of hair colours.

"Eh? Akanecchi isn't in the photo!" Kise-san arched an eyebrow, puzzled.

"That's weird, why isn't she there?" The others also looked at the photo.

"What are you talking about? I'm right there." I pointed to where I saw myself standing next to Sei.

"No you're not, and Akashicchi isn't there too! What's going on?!" He whined.

Sei and I looked at each other, realising why we didn't appear.

"Of course we're not there. We ducked before you took the shot." Sei lied.

"Ehhhhhh~?" Kise-san looked hurt. "Do you not like photos?"

"Y-yes, I think so…" My eyes shifted to the side. I didn't like lying unless I was in a life or death situation.

"Anyway, I'll send this to all of you. Akanecchi, what's your email?"

"Ah, I don't have a phone."

"EH?! You're lying!" His eyes were wide. Of course it was strange for a high schooler to not have a phone.

"I'll print off the photo for her to keep~" Mura-kun offered as he munched down on his 'maiubo' stick thing.

"Ah okay!" Kise-san seemed happy again. "Akanecchi, if you need a phone, just ask me to by one for you, ne?"

"Okay Kise-san. Thank you very much." My formal speaking was coming back and I sighed inwardly in relief. At least I could still be polite.

Aomine-san was already out of the gymnasium, claiming that he had to get home quickly, though we all knew that he just wanted to fool around somewhere. Momoi-san had also gone out chasing after him, calling "Dai-chan" loudly until I heard an annoyed tone shout, "Stop calling me that in public, Satsuki!"

I smiled at how close they were and saw Midorima-kun holding his 'lucky item' for today; a toy that lit up in an array of colours when he held it. It was silver and round, about the size of his palm. It looked enjoyable to hold.

We said goodbye to the remaining members, almost forgetting Kuroko-san and went out, where Mura-kun's mother was waiting.

Sei stepped forward. "I will be taking her for tonight, for my father wishes to meet her. She can also train in a large place with no humans at my house."

She thought carefully about this and was about to decline, but reluctantly agreed when she saw my eyes light up when he said I could train. "You better bring her back in one piece and happy, or I will definitely get you."

"I understand. She will come back to you healthy and happy. Please do not worry."

Mura-kun was stroking my head gently and placing a sweet snack in my mouth. "What kind of training do you do?" He tilted his head a little.

"Secret~" I smiled and placed a finger on my lips. Mura-kun was someone that I could always be cheerful around, no matter what. Unless of course, he ate my food, in which I scolded him before, and he never ate my food again.

He smiled lazily and walked with his mother to the car. So carefree.

"Well, let's go." Sei took my hand in his and walked me to the black sports car that waited for us to take a seat inside.

"Akashi house." He ordered the driver as we sat down on the soft black leather of the seats. The touch of it reminded me of the skin of my favourite food back home. I was a little bit tempted to rip of a small piece and take a bite, but I knew that it would be bad for my health to eat such a processed thing and I immediately stopped craving for it and sat up straight and dignified, like I always did when I first got to the human realm. I wouldn't want to lose my pride as a royal.

-Akashi's land/house—

It was truly magnificent. I never bothered to look at all of the surroundings last time I was brought here, but I could see that the Akashi family was obviously rich and powerful.
The garden was filled with a beautiful selection of many flowers and stones, and the mansion and pathway seemed to shine brightly, though it was almost past sunset.

As we walked through the huge doors we were greeted by many men in black formal clothes and women that walked around in uniform black dresses with different items, trays or trolleys.

I wasted no time in asking about this place. "Who are all these humans?"

"Maids, butlers and servants. Pay them no attention unless they ask for you." He answered swiftly and continued walking.

I trailed behind him in a dignified manner, keeping my back and shoulders straight, not making a sound with my feet.

In front of me, Sei seemed very much like a royal. His family was a very close with ours, and everyone respected each other. Our families were well-brought-up, and the firstborn of this generation were chosen to be married. Luckily, I had fallen in love with Sei, so we had no problems with staying together.

Soon, Sei and I reached a large wooden door and he knocked three times evenly before a deep husky voice came from inside. "Enter." It said.

Once inside, you could smell how rich it was with the scent of paper and books.

"Father, here is my fiancé, Akamine Akane." He bowed deeply.

"Good Evening. I am Akamine Akane, first and only daughter of Akamine Kasai and Akamine Mizumi of the Akamine Royal Family of Dragonia. Pleased to meet you, Akashi-sama." I bowed sincerely.

"Good Evening, Akamine-san. I am the current head of the Akashi family." He stood up and bowed. "I don't suppose you have anything to speak to me about?"

"I want to say that it is a pleasure to meet you, Akashi-sama, for you are a highly respected dragon among all others. I am also grateful for the marriage plans between Seijuro and I."

"The pleasure is all mine, Akamine-san. Please take care of my son." Though his answers were polite and formal, there was no doubt of the way he eyed me carefully. I knew that he was checking me for any flaws, both in my well-being and etiquette.

If I were to show and imperfections in front of him, he would surely have someone tutor or train me to perfection, no doubt. He was a strict man, after all, and Sei would often meet me a little exhausted. Even if I did make a mistake and get lectured, I would accept it, and train myself with no complaints.

"Father, Akane wishes to train, as there is nowhere to be in her full form, so she has to do alternative practices like flying back and forth and running many laps, which only helps but a little. Would you mind if we used our facility?"

'Facility?' I wonder what that was.

"Not at all if she needs to keep her skills polished, but I would like to take a look at her dragon form if you do not mind." He stood up again from his chair and led the way to the 'facility'.

-The facility-

The facility was an enormous area of land with extremely tall concrete walls around it, reaching up about 300 meters high. I could tell that it was big enough for more than 25 adult dragons lined up horizontally and vertically on the grass. An adult dragon was roughly between 25 – 30 m long (minus the tail), 35m being the large species of dragons. They were usually 40-50 meters tall from the foot to the head, not including any spikes or any of the like on the head. (Now imagine how big it is!)

Dragons like Sei and I, around the age of 7 to 8, were only around 20 to 30 meters tall and long. Thanks to that, we could fly around the entire area with a bit of freedom.

"Do you want to train flying or fighting first?" Sei asked me, the wind blowing through his slightly long red hair and brushing his fringe out of his scarlet and golden eyes.

"Flying. I'll need to keep my stamina up for any kind of purpose or situation. It will also be good to fly as a warmup for fighting." I decided, taking in my surroundings and breathing in the smell of fresh grass that reminded me of Dragonia. There were giant hollow boulders that could be used as caves for Sei and my dragon forms, and they looked rather warm too. The had already set, but the moon was more than enough to see all the way to the end wall with our heightened senses.

"Good choice." Akashi's father said and nodded in approval.

"Well, shall we begin?" Sei began to be slowly covered in flawless red scales with hints of yellow. His face was also covered and his entire body grew and changed shape until he was standing 24 meters tall. I admired his wings that shone under the gentle moonlight, the tips, not sharp, but not blunt either. His body limbs were strong and powerful, but not too thick. His stunning eyes were relaxed, one scarlet, and one golden yellow. His face was well-shaped and his teeth were white and sharp and in perfect alignment. He was the ideal dragon that all the females chased after.

I started to change into my form as well, Sei's father doing the same. I could see his hidden surprise at the sight of my pitch-black scales and a blood-red colour dusting the ends of my wing tips and colouring my abdomen and wing flaps. The red on my wings and abdomen made me look like I had killed a dragon and bathed in their blood. Anyone would be able to see why I was feared more than other black dragons. I stood 22 meters tall. Not too much shorter than Sei, but the 'perfect height difference of a couple', according to the gossip I often heard from nearby females a while ago in Dragonia.

Sei's father's colour was a dark grey dusted with silver. He was 43 meters tall, close to twice Sei's and my height. His wing tips were not too sharp and his wing flaps were silver. I wondered how his colour was silver when his surname had red in it. It was strange.

"I see that you are the one that most of the young dragons feared."

"Yes. It was a little bit lonely when Seijuro wasn't with me." I didn't call him Sei here in front of his father since it would be considered informal.

"Let's train." Sei spoke up. "You'll start here. You will fly at a relatively casual pace to the other wall and back. You may start when you're ready."

"Okay." I beat my wings once and was immediately in the air and flying effortlessly towards the other concrete wall. The wind was soothing and felt good on my body, like cold water on a hot day. I had already reached the other side in less than a minute. 'Ah… too fast…' I thought to myself, and went slightly slower back.

I was greeted by Sei again and given another instruction. "This time, go a bit faster, but not too much. Keep going back and forth, each time going faster and faster. Only stop when you are completely out of breath. We'll see how much stamina and speed you have."

I nodded and flapped away when I heard his father speak quietly. "Do you think she will go far?" I used my exceptional hearing ability to listen in on their conversation, and I was still able to hear it even from the other wall. (It's between 750 and 800 meters away)

"I cannot tell. Whenever we did our laps at practice she always did an extra four hundred, and sometimes more, but she was always stopped by the coach to train something else and always looked unsatisfied."

"So 700 laps? Since your training at school is 300. But doesn't that seem like a low number?" He questioned.

"I will put it out there that the perimeter of the gym we use is roughly 90 meters and that the Generation of Miracles were able to run 300 in 10 minutes whilst the normal elite members finished it in between 15 to 20."

"How many minutes did she take to complete those 700 laps?" His eyes narrowed.

"Eight."

His father's eyes widened considerably. "Impossible…"

"It is true father. She ran slightly more than twice as fast than the others, and managed to complete more than two laps in the time that the members of the Generation of Miracles completed one, and was still unsatisfied at the end."

"Wouldn't she have at least bumped into another person?" He inquired, bemused at the information.

"Just a moment." Sei smiled. As I drew near after going back and forth for the twelfth time (I was only going at 100 kph then) he stopped me and I landed gracefully. I saw him change into his human form again and I did the same, as well as his father. He pointed to a boulder 100 meters away. "Run back and forth at the same speed as when you do laps at school or faster if you desire. My father and I will stand in the straight path that you will follow. You have to dodge or avoid us while you run. You can go beside us, or jump above, but you cannot go underground, since that is a bit stupid. But, you can only stray a quarter of a meter away from the path or our bodies."

I nodded, taking my place in front of the wall and facing the boulder. Even if I was in my human form, it could still train my stamina quite well. Sei and his father took their positions in the invisible path that I was to follow on the grass. His father had a wary expression, obviously a little bit worried about what would happen if I accidentally rammed into him, though he'd easily be able to tell my mother.

Sei nodded and I dashed forward at 120kph. Impossible for a human, yes, but a dragon who trained like me? Satisfying.

I was a blur to them. The only time they could see my form without a blur was when I jumped over them, sure to not go more than 25cm from their bodies. Sei often put him arm or leg out in an attempt to make me crash or trip but I avoided them with ease. After about 20 seconds of the laps I sped up and I could see the shock in Sei's father's eyes, though his expression was the same.

I was going at 150kph for 10 minutes, back and forth, forth and back, dodging and jumping, though I slowed down to 120 every now and then just not to tire out too quickly. After a little less than 250 100m laps (I'm pretty sure I calculated that right (I only calculated for 150kph) but correct me if I was wrong), I stopped running in the middle of Sei and Akashi-sama.

"What's wrong? Tired already?" Though he was probably impressed by what I had done so far, he acted as though he were disappointed. "I thought that you'd run a good 750 laps more."

"I can still run more, but I was wondering if you two were getting bored, standing there." I didn't seem to be panting or sweating at all, surprising him while Sei smiled to himself behind me.

"Please continue until you run out of breath."

"As you wish." I bowed and continued to run, faster this time, at a speed of 180kph. Of course, Akashi-sama was shocked, and even Sei's eyes widened a little, but I did rest for about 10 seconds. That was more than enough time to carry on.

I ran for another 40 minutes at the same blurry speed, and even Sei couldn't calculate how many laps I ran, let alone myself.

After that, I slowed back down to 150kph for 20 minutes, then 120 for another 20 minutes, then 80 for 10, then 50 for 5, going down to 20 for 3, descending to 10 for another 3, 5 for 8 minutes, then 1 for 1 minute before I fell to the grass at Sei's lap, as he sat down quite a while ago.

I had run for exactly 2 hours straight and was completely satisfied with my training. It was 8 o'clock when I collapsed.

I could feel Sei's warm hand stroking my head and I instantly fell into a deep slumber, covered in exhaustion.

-Akashi and his father-

"I didn't expect her to run that much, that fast, for that long, I must say." The head of the Akashi family, the strictest one, had said this.

"Neither had I, but it proves how hard she had trained when her father had gone away." Sei was clearly irritated at my speed and stamina and how it surpassed even his limits, where his highest score was 1h 25 minutes with the speed of 110kph being his fastest speed. It also irked him how his father was surprised at me.

"Though she can beat you in speed and stamina, will she be able to surpass you in fighting skills, chants and seals?" The tone in his father's voice was stern and displeased.

Sei chuckled. "I'm not sure about chants and seals, but I'm definitely not worried about fighting skills and power."

"Good. That is one of the most important attributes you must have and be more competent at." He nodded slightly.

Sei looked at the sky as he continued to stroke my long, black and red strands of hair. "It is very late now, but we must still eat dinner. Is it already prepared?"

"Yes. Get Akamine Akane changed into more suitable clothes and wake her to eat dinner after that."

"Yes, father."

Sei lifted my light body, one arm supporting my back, the other under my legs, and walked to a room with a closet of female clothes and dresses. He laid me on the bed close by and picked out a long, thin dress the colour of the night sky with a hint of red at the end of the sleeves. He also chose a pair of soft black 'flats' (as I see others wear them) for my feet.

"Wake up, Akane." He ordered as he walked to me with the outfit in hands, but of course, how could I wake up so easily after completely collapsing from training? Sei understood this (luckily, since I didn't want to be violently shaken or forced to smell something utterly horrible to wake me up) and dressed me himself.

We, unlike humans, had no need to feel any shame in being naked. After all, since when does a dragon wear clothes? So technically, all dragons are naked. The only thing about our physical bodies we would ever be able to feel shame in are our weight (quite normal like humans) and how our colours, scales, wings and head features looked. Claws were not worried about; every dragon needs to fight at some point and get their claws flawed, whether early or late in their lives.

After dressing me and putting my own clothes somewhere safe, he carried me back out of the room and to the dining room.

-The dining room-

He placed me down on the chair and sat opposite to me on the other side of the table. His father was at the head, to my left, and Sei and I were only a seat away from him, since every other person in the mansion had already eaten and gone to do their work long ago.

There were but a few dishes on the table, untouched and ready to be eaten. If only I was awake…

"Do you have any ideas to wake your fiancé up?" Sei's father eyed me with an arched eyebrow as I slept silently, unmoving except for the rise and fall of my chest.

"Not any that come to mind. Whenever she slept, whether in Dragonia or school, she would not wake up until her energy was replenished, not that she ever fell asleep at class, luckily."

His father sighed and took out a piece of leather-like skin with a bit of meat that looked similar to human fish still attached to it from a small container. He held it front of my nose with chopsticks, and my nose twitched at the smell, my mouth opening a little bit to take in the scent (a habit as a dragon). He put the food in my mouth. I chewed it while still unconscious and also swallowed it and my eyes fluttered open at the familiar taste.

"Fiemil?" (A fish-like creature with leathery skin and the meat has the texture of fish. It tastes sweet and creamy. A delicacy)
A/N: This creature is also made up. Who needs to research about dragon food when there isn't any detailed information or any at all anyway?
The sweet taste of my favourite food brought me to my senses. I immediately stood up and bowed deeply. "Forgive my collapsing back in the facility. I pushed myself to the very end, for that satisfies my hunger to be stronger."

"That is fine. I got to witness your stamina and speed. What is the speed of your fastest flying?" He inquired when I raised my head.

"2300kph." I stood straight and tall. The maid who had come by (also a dragon) had almost dropped the platter of food she was about to place on our table at the said speed of my fastest flying. Sei had also looked at me with disbelief.

"Meri," Sei's father spoke to the maid, "Is she lying?" I didn't take the fact that he didn't believe me too personally.

"Though it is exceptionally fast for a dragon, she is not lying." This maid seemed to have to power that can see through truth and lies.

I sat back down and began to eat politely, saying Thanks before grabbing anything.

-A certain dragon's lair-

A dark dragon appeared before a pitch black one that was large and mighty. "The girl and the boy are together. They are in what they call 'love'."

"HAHAHAHAHA!" The pitch black dragon guffawed. "Foolish royals! Love? That is what always hurt them! Unless it was me… HAHAHAHA!" He broke into booming laughter yet again.

"Should we attack?" The dark dragon gazed at the black dragon.

"No, no, this is getting too interesting to destroy. Leave them together for now. The sight of the two idiots is hilarious." He was still sniggering.

"But they will be training very hard to destroy you. Are you sure abou-" The dark dragon felt a sharp flick cut their left cheek and they tasted blood.

"Are you questioning my judgement, slave?" His voice was menacing and echoed throughout the cave. "Leave! Follow them! Report back to me in 2 human weeks. Then I will decide whether to anything or not."

"Y-yes, master." The mysterious dark dragon slipped out of the cave, lost in his fear.

The black dragon hummed to himself. "Hm hmm… I wonder if my niece will recognise me~"

Hi! I made a super long chappie this time! Please leave a review and say anything that you want to be added, or liked, or disliked, or if you just enjoyed my story. Please favourite and follow if you want more sooner! Also, please tell me what your preferences are for how long my chapters should be, cause they might end up in totally different numbers.

Thanks for reading and I hope that any Shugo Chara fans out there can check out my other story!

-Akane