A/N: Hey everyone. Once again fate has intervened. I had actually planned to post this much earlier, but I caught the flu and was stuck in bed for a week, then had AP tests to study for. Anyway now that AP exams are done, I promise to be a good authoress and update regularly. Sorry again for the late chapter. This is a semi-transitional chapter that has been troublesome (I rewrote it twice), so I hope it's good. I also wanted to use a different view point so I put alittle of Blake's perspective on things. Hope you like it. Anyway... read, hopefully enjoy, and review.

Disclaimer: Don't own Power Rangers or HawkSong.

This fic is inspired by HawkSong by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes

Wind and Thunder ch.4

"He isn't coming!"

Blake watched as Hunter wore a path in the floor in front of him.

"I was an idiot to ever believe that he would come. I can't believe I even considered trusting that dragon!"

The younger thunder prince had had enough. "Hunter. Stop and listen to yourself." Blake was relieved to see his brother finally stop pacing. "Don't you think you're jumping to conclusions?"

Hunter turned away. "I went to him on Monday. It's been two days since then, he would have come by now if he really wanted peace."

Blake loved his brother, but this conversation was starting to wear on his patience. Stalking up to his brother, he spun him around and stared the jaguar in the eyes. "I can't believe you're giving up so easily, I thought you wanted this!" Looking away, voice going soft, "Just…. give him a little more time."

The jaguar sighed. He knew his brother was right, but he still hesitated. "I'm sorry. As much as I want this to work out, I'm still having trouble trusting him. He's a dragon after all, it's hard to forget that a week and a half ago it was the dragons that were killing our people."

"I know, but the conference in the avian palace was your idea, besides a week and a half ago our people were killing the dragons. You must have seen something in him that made you invite him here. All I'm asking you for is a little more time. If he doesn't show up, then we'll come up with a different plan. Please, just a little more time."

"Alright, I'll give him one more day. If he doesn't show up tomorrow, we'll figure something else out." Hunter paused at the door as he was leaving. "Thanks Blake."

"No problem, bro." Blake watched as his brother left. He could understand how Hunter felt.

The war had gone on for generations with no end in sight. Now that they had a chance to end things, it was almost too good to be true.

Hunter must have seen something in the dragon prince though. He wouldn't have gone to him all those nights if he hadn't.

His brother had told him only that morning about where he'd been disappearing to after so many battles. He was surprised and a little hurt that Hunter hadn't trusted him sooner, but the knowledge made Blake all the more determined to keep Hunter from giving up on the chance for peace.

Blake himself had seen hope for a better future in Cameron Watanabe when he met him in the Dragon's Nest and again at the conference in the avian city. It was the same hope that the panther saw in his own brother.

Blake hoped for all their sake that his trust in the dragon prince was not misplaced. As he followed his brother out of the room, the younger thunder prince sent a silent plea to the heavens that, for the sake of both kingdoms, Cameron Watanabe would come.

Cam was ready to scream.

When he had found the ring on his finger Tuesday morning, he immediately started getting ready for the trip to the thunder kingdom.

His preparations lasted all of five minutes. Shane had come in to get his help in testing the new Dragon's Claw recruits. Despite the lack of dragon abilities and traditional training, Cam was one of the best fighters in the Nest. This was a fact that all new recruits learned fast as Tori, Shane, and Dustin often sought him out to help with training.

/Flashback/

Cam's eyes roved scanned over the sparring recruits taking in each ones fighting ability and skill before moving on to watch the next one. There were some promising dragons in this group.

He continued to scan until his eyes came to rest on two of the hopeful dragons.

Marah and Kapri

Turning to Dustin, he voiced his concern. "Hey Dustin, did they give their reason for wanting to join?" Although Cam wasn't close to his two cousins, he knew them well enough to know they hated hard work. That and the dragon prince had a natural mistrust of anyone that sided with Lothor, and the sisters were known to follow anything the dark dragon said.

Dustin understood Cam's reservations. "Chill dude, when they signed up we wondered too, but they actually seem to want to join. Besides they're tryin' hard. I talked to Marah earlier and she seemed really nice. I think we should wait to get to know them a little better." The earth dragon had a goofy grin on his face as he watched the brown haired girl that said how interested he was in getting to know her.

"Alright, we'll give them a chance." Despite Cam's reservations, he couldn't deny that his cousins were skilled.

They'd keep an eye on the two. With the decision made, Cam moved on to the next pair of combatants.

/End Flashback/

Although he often helped with training, testing potential recruits was usually left to the dragon king. Shane filled him in that this was to be part of his taking on of the king's duties.

These duties were what kept the dragon prince from leaving, and were tied to the current cause for his desire to scream. All day had been hell.

Cam had spent all morning listening to peoples' complaints and problems, finding answers and ending disputes. This hadn't been all that bad, but when every dragon had been met he was forced to attend a conference with the leaders of the army to discuss the war effort.

It was more like listening to children squabble over whose idea was better. If it wasn't considered inappropriate for social setting, Cam would have sighed. Instead he rose to his feet, putting up an impassive mask, and prepared to put the matter to rest.

"—need to strike now, before they start attacking again." Seriyu, the commander of the Dragon's Fire, the main strike force, was arguing a case that had been discussed for hours and still no one could decide what plan of attack was best.

Cam needed to stop this before they could take it any further.

"No. There won't be any assault."

The dragon prince suppressed the urge to fidget as the full attention of the chamber settled on him. He wouldn't though, showing any emotion was unacceptable.

Lothor was the first to speak, barely concealing his disdain for his nephew. "If we aren't going to attack, then what are we going to do? Wait until the thunder whelps are at our doors?" Some of the other generals muttered their agreement.

"A plan has already been put into progress." At this Cam could see the barely concealed surprise in many of the faces. Most of the commanders didn't think highly of their prince because of his lack of dragon abilities, this caused them to believe he was unable to formulate plans of any kind.

The dark dragon smirked. "And what, dear nephew does this plan entail?"

He couldn't reveal his meeting with Prince Hunter yet. "Because of the sensitivity of the arrangement, I cannot reveal the details yet. I can say though, that if it is successful the war will be ended."

"If it doesn't succeed?"

Cam forced himself to keep his emotions in check. "If it doesn't succeed…. then a full assault will be allowed as a last resort."

At this point, King Watanabe spoke for the first time throughout the meeting. "You will take my place on the day after tomorrow. I will allow you to continue with this plan but you must reveal the details at that time."

Bowing, Cam prepared to leave. "Thank you, sire." Hopefully everything would work out.

Cam woke the next morning an hour before dawn and quickly prepared to leave. He was lucky, today was a market day. It was common for the dragon prince to spend all day in the market place on days like these and no one but his three friends would notice if he disappeared for the day.

After dressing in comfortable traveling clothes- tan cotton pants and a forest green shirt- and putting on his amulet, Cam took a candle from his remembrance alter and placed it on the trunk at the foot of his bed. It was a sign to Tori, Shane, and Dustin that he was fine and not to go looking for him.

Cam and Tori had first developed it when the three dragons had been assigned to his personal guard as way to let them know he wasn't missing.

He was ready to leave, but was stuck on the decision of taking a weapon or not. It would be risky to enter thunder territory without a weapon to help protect himself, but this was supposed to be a peaceful meeting.

Putting away his dagger, Cam left for the gates, blending in with the crowd of the market, and quietly slipped out.

The trip into thunder land was surprisingly easy, no troops or patrols were met on the way to the Lion's Den.

Cam was only a mile or two away from the Den when thing changed.

Before he could sense their presence, two pure white leopards emerged from the bushes on either side of him.

Shifting back to human form the two ninja slowly surveyed the dragon.

"Well, well, well. It's not everyday we find a dragon in our lands." The speaker was beautiful woman with snow white hair. The other had the same white mane. "What do you think Aiden? Should we kill him now or wait 'til we get back to the Den?"

Cam paled. So much for guards that wouldn't threaten him. "Please, I was invited here to—ah!" He couldn't help crying out as he was knocked to the ground with a bo staff carried by the male guard, Aiden.

"No one gave you permission to speak." The female jabbed her own staff into his back. "Anyway, what do you think Aiden?"

"Alana, as much as I would enjoy it, we can't. Prince Hunter will want to question him first."

"Let's take him then. Search him first." Cam kept his face passive as Aiden checked him thoroughly for concealed weapons. The dragon thanked the heavens that he had decided to leave his dagger at home.

With the efficiency of people who had done it hundreds of times before, the twins bound Cam's hands and blindfolded him. Considering him neutralized, they started off towards the Lion's Den dragging the dragon with them.

Hunter was expecting many things when he entered the Den's audience chamber, but what he wasn't expecting was a bound Cameron Watanabe kneeling on the floor with Aiden and Alana standing over him.

"What the hell do you think you're doing!?" The jaguar let his rage take over as he rushed to cut the dragon's bonds.

"Hunter, calm down! We found him sneaking towards the Den. He needed to be bound before we let him step foot inside." Alana tried to placate the prince, but all her word did were fuel his anger.

"He is a guest not a prisoner!" The last of the ropes were cut and Hunter removed the blindfold. "Now Out!"

"But, Hunter!"

"Get out now Alana, before I make you."

Cam watched from his position on the floor as the twins left, looking up as Hunter addressed him.

"Please forgive me. If I had known you'd been coming I would have assigned another patrol."

The dragon stood and brushed himself off. "They were only treating me the way they would any other enemy. There's nothing to apologize for. I sorry I don't have your ring though; it was taken during the search."

Hunter led him to two chairs that sat in the corner. "That's alright I'm just relieved that you're here, I wasn't sure. God, I'm glad Blake made me wait one more day."

"I'm sorry for the delay I was unable to leave the last two days, but now that I'm here I think we should get down to the point."

The jaguar smirked. "My, my, aren't we tactful." Hunter suddenly grew serious. "We both want this war to stop. I'm at the point where I would slit my on throat if I thought it would end the fighting. Knowing that we could never truly love each other," At this the thunder prince kneeled. "For the sake of our two peoples and ending the war, would you, Cameron Watanabe, marry me?"

Hunter slid a silver ring with a beautiful emerald set in the center on his finger.

Cam knew there was only one answer to the jaguar's question.

"Yes."

TBC

hope you enjoyed! Please review.

-WolfRunner