Title: Dragon Heart

Author: sllebswap

Characters/Pairing: Kobayashi Rindou and Tsukasa Eishi

Type: Continuous (InComplete)

Genre: Romance/General/Humor

Word Count: 4048

Rating: T (Contains content not suitable for children)

Disclaimer: Shokugeki no Souma belongs to Tsukuda-san.

Summary: It is believed that the heart of a dragon, if consumed whole, would grant the one who ate it incredible powers and immortality. So, by order of King Azami, Sir Knight Tsukasa Eishi had been sent to find that dragon and acquire its heart, by any means necessary.

Verse: Fantasy Medieval AU

Chapter Last Revised on: 19/06/17

Chapter 4

A year later, the kingdom of Tootsuki was drastically transformed.

The first, most important reason for that change could be mainly attributed to the drastic shift of power within the Nakiri monarchy. Due to overwhelming unpopularity even amongst the members of the royal court, King Azami had been dethroned and forced to abdicate his position that year to his only daughter, Crown Princess Erina. The succession of a female Queen to the throne was not something often done, but with the previous King Senzaemon coming out of his reclusive retirement in open support of his granddaughter's ascension, the young woman very quickly became very well-loved throughout the land, especially with an extremely capable team of lords and ladies working in constant support of her and her reign.

The second obvious difference…were the dragons.

It turned out that there were more dragons living hidden in plain sight amongst the common folks (and also largely embedded within the ranks of aristocracy) than previously thought, and when the warmongering and power hungry King Azami was dethroned, the laws of the country changed as well…becoming more tolerant and accepting towards beings of different races, one of which were the dragons that had once been so hated and feared. Their new reemergence and reintegration amongst the humans were also largely in due to Queen Erina's new husband, the Prince Consort Souma of the Noble House of the Yukihira…who also happened to have dragonic blood flowing through his veins.

It was to this large upheaval in the policies of the country that Eishi had returned to. It turned out that his being sent to procure a dragon's heart had been one of the few last gambits that the previous king had betted on, desperate to find any foothold to solidify his standing and claim to his throne, and the allure of immortality had seemed too irresistible an opportunity to let slip. Eishi could only wonder what King Azami was thinking now, knowing that there had been more dragons living under his nose the entire while without his knowledge. In a way, the white haired knight was relieved that he was away up in the mountains in the Far East during the civil upheaval. He did not want to be forced to take up arms and fight against his own countrymen as would have been the case if King Azami had ordered him to defend his reign.

With the newly established monarchy in control by the time he returned to Tootsuki, it was only natural that he had been perceived with suspicion, being a loyal member of the previous regime. Most of his compatriots had been summarily removed from their positions in royal court, some even banished outright to their countryseats until further notice. The only reason why he had escaped that same fate was that he hadn't been around and thus had not been actively involved in fighting the resistance…that and the fact that Queen Erina had apparently spoken up for him, vouching for his honor and loyalty to the Kingdom. It had not made him feel good at all. The only reason he was spared the disgrace of being branded a 'traitor' was because he could not kill a dragon.

In a way, Rindou had saved him again.

Even now, thinking about her made his chest ache. After she fled from him that fateful day at the clearing in the mountains, he never saw her again. He had waited in vain for a month in that cottage of hers, hoping that she would return eventually, but she was gone. He hadn't wanted to believe it, but it was bitter irony all over again. She had never wanted to leave her home at first even when he had asked it of her. But now, because of him, she had been forced out of her sanctuary, left with no choice but to deal with a world that she knew next to nothing about. She, for all of her feisty and sassy personality, knew next to nothing about the nature of mankind. He had been her first experience, and he had burned her, however much he had tried to correct and limit the amount of damage that he caused to her towards the end. So he worried about her, hoped that those wings of hers were keeping her aloft even in difficult times, and that she was safe.

She probably hated him with an abhorrent passion now, he mused cynically.

"She'll come back for you eventually, you know."

Eishi lifted his head from where he had been lost in thoughts at the castle parapets. He had not realized that his solitude had been disturbed by another presence. The voice belonged to someone familiar, though.

It was the Prince Consort.

"Excuse me?" he murmured. Eishi really did not want to speak with anyone right now, but as always, duty called, and he was obliged to answer, heart sore or not.

Souma tipped his head to the side, golden eyes surveying the older knight with faint curiosity. "Your Queen."

The other male felt his brow knitting ever so slightly. "My Queen? Do you mean Her Majesty Erina-sama?"

The redhead shook his head. "Nah. I'm not talking 'bout Erina. I'm referring to that other Queen that has claimed you as her own."

Eishi was not sure that he appreciated the ambiguous reply that made no sense whatsoever to him. The Yukihira's informal way of speech also always threw him off, just a bit. "I'm afraid that I do not comprehend your meaning, Your Highness. I assure you that my loyalty to Tootsuki is absolute."

"I don't doubt your loyalty, Tsukasa-san," Souma responded. "I'm just tellin' ya that you've been claimed by a Queen. I don't know how you managed to even find one in the first place because they're so rare and reclusive even amongst those of our ilk, but color me impressed."

"What do you mean?"

"You courted a dragoness, didn't you? A Queen. That's what we call 'em." The Prince Consort tapped his nose. "I can smell her on you. And she has yet to rise, huh. You better hang onto her first chance you get because when she does, all the unbonded males in the vicinity are going to be in hot pursuit."

He was coming up with a lot of terminologies that no sense to Eishi at all, and one look at his blank face had Souma huffing with a faint mix of exasperated amusement.

"You really have no idea what you've done, do ya? Talk 'bout blind, dumb luck."

Eishi had to struggle a bit to bite back his irritation. Souma seemed amused by the reaction that he was gaining. This white haired knight had been nothing but dour and depressing from the moment he returned from whatever quest that bastard Azami had sent him to, so this was an interesting change.

"See; our females are very rare, so rare that it's a good thing that dragons and humans can interbreed, or we probably would have died out a long time ago. But anyway, just know that Queens are really few in numbers and they are also notoriously impossible to court…which once again begs my question of how you actually managed to convince one to accept your suit."

The knight shook his head.

"She left," he replied quietly at last.

Souma's brow silently lifted. "She has yet to relinquish her claim on you though. Interesting, that."

A faint ghost of a smile lifted Eishi's lips.

"That's because she's probably reserving the right to kill me, if anything. …What do you mean, 'she has yet to rise?'"

"I mean she's unpaired. Unbonded. Though she won't be for long once the others know of her existence. And I've never met a Queen who actually paired with a human, though."

Something in that pale lavender gaze turned steely at the notion of Rindou bonding with someone else.

But then, just as quickly, he wilted again, a little bit. Souma could not help but huff a laugh at the man's comically forlorn expression. Really; he wanted to know more than ever how this depressing guy actually managed to gain the favor of a Queen. He ended up slapping the knight in the back instead, in a friendly show of male commiseration and comradeship. The females of any species were always so darned gosh confounding. Erina led him on endless chases all the time, after all.

"Oh, she'll come for ya, trust me. She can't fight her instincts any more than you can."

The Prince Consort was right.

Instincts did tow them back together…or rather, it towed her straight back to him.

And the catalyst that had brought upon her reluctant response was him.

To be more precise, it was his blood.

Getting injured in the line of duty came with the whole package of knighthood. At least this time, the sacrifice was made in the defense of the Kingdom, and not because they were invading neighboring countries again. Not everyone living under the new monarchy was happy with the new way of life. Dragons and humans living together, even openly interbreeding and producing mixed offspring…it was seen as the worst crime committed against nature. The fact that the new Queen was openly cavorting with a dragonic mate was the last straw that broke the camel's back.

In response, some of the old supporters of King Azami banded together and mounted an armed rebellion in contemptuous defiance of their new ruler. They plotted to overthrow the current monarchy and restore their Lord and Sire back upon his rightful place on the throne.

The House of Tsukasa had been approached by some of those old guards as well. Family friends, some of whom had watched him grow up from child to man, whose children he had played alongside with in his youth, had asked him to abandon his loyalty to Tootsuki to stand with them instead.

Even his own family had shifted in unease when it came to the unconventional rule of Queen Erina and her Prince Consort. Tsukasa was a noble house that was steeped in tradition, old and established, so all these new changes implemented by the new Nakiri rulership was somewhat disturbing, to say the least. But they were also a clan that was known for its loyalty to Tootsuki, and so they silently bore all the bewildering changes. Dynasties always rose and fell like tides, but the Clan Tsukasa would always endure.

And Eishi could no longer see himself reasonably existing in a world where he could willingly persecute dragons, actively culling them just for their difference.

The other Houses who were once aligned with him saw his decision as a mark of weakness, betrayal.

And so he was treated as such.

It was…morally difficult fighting old allies, but at least he was not alone in his endeavor. Many others rallied to the call of Tootsuki in peril of internal strife. Many sleeping dragons…stirred awoke.

Dragons were historically known to be terrible, unconquerable foes, but conversely their great power and strength also made them incredible allies.

The Prince Consort of Tootsuki was a Ryujin. Fully matured, his true form could easily coil around the grand palace several times over. And like all dragons did, he guarded his treasures and his Queen with a tenacity and exacting ferocity that was simply unrivaled. Tootsuki would prove to be infallible under his protection.

He was not the only one. The personal guard of the Prince Consort, Mimasaka Subaru, was a Balaur with twelve heads. The Aldini brothers, two of the brightest knights of the realm, easily rampaged through battlefields and mowed down enemies on their steeds just as efficiently as when they were in their wyvern forms. The Kurokiba clan that were allied to the Nakiri possessed the bloodline of the Jörmungandr and they defended the northern territories with such wildness and savagery that they managed to drive all the dissenters completely out of their lands. And there were others as well, slowly coming out from the woodwork and forming under the banner of Tootsuki.

From a military standpoint, the advantages of having dragonic allies clearly outweighed whatever social stigma that their presences posed…and the upper echelons of the Tootsuki's nobility were starting to recognize that. So most of the older, established Houses maintained neutrality; neither throwing their support behind the rebellion, but also not overtly approving of all the strange, new changes that were occurring around them. In light of the largely detached interest from most of the aristocratic houses, those dissidents hadn't really stood a chance at all to pull off their ambitious gambit…but that did not mean that they did not try to cause as much mayhem and unrest throughout the kingdom as they were being ousted.

Eishi would really like to blame his current injured state on being ambushed and overpowered by the enemy forces, but he knew better than that. In the first place, it was his own fault for failing to detect the trap and walking straight into it. At least the casualties were minimal on their end, and the villagers had been promptly evacuated and not reduced to collateral damage during the fierce battle. Being run through with a broad sword was never a comfortable experience, however. Being staked to the wall was excruciating for the first few hours, and then he started bleeding out too much to feel the agony anymore. A small mercy, that.

The White Knight was acutely aware that he was slowly dying, but at the same time, he could not quite bring himself to care. No doubt his family would be dismayed by his demise, but his cousins would ensure that the line would not die out. He felt strangely numbed and ambivalent towards the prospect of eventual death. He was tired, he thought. It felt like he had been fighting for a very long time. He was tired of warfare and battlefields and killing. His injuries were bad enough that he kept losing focus, his weary mind drifting to thoughts almost of their own accord. He found himself thinking of that little cottage up in the mountains. He found himself thinking of that short period where he had stayed there with the beautiful owner of that cottage. He thought of that easy contentment he felt, lazy days and cozy nights, the smell of her hair, the softness of her skin, the pleasure in her laugh. Funny; now his chest was starting to ache at the memory of that lovely, beloved face, crumpled in pain and betrayal, streaked with tears and staring at him like she would never forgive him.

…And then he was looking at that face through blurred vision.

Startled, he stirred, trying his hardest to concentrate, but much to his unhappiness, his eyes refused to cooperate. His vision was partially red. Why could he not see?

"Get him down, now."

He could vaguely feel hands reaching for him, supporting his weight and easing the burden on his pinned wrists and ankles. The sharp pain jarred him dully – he should have hurt more, he thought vaguely, but everything just felt like a faint echo, a dream. Was this a dream? Quite possibly.

But she was here. He collapsed clumsily against somebody, a dead weight. His face slumped into someone's neck, hair tickling his nose. That smell of wild strawberries…

His fingers twitched. He wanted to move, to react, but it was as if he was entirely made of lead. He could feel that he was being transported, but no longer cared about the why or the how. There was one thing now that he would give his all to do. Even if this was just a dream, a hallucination, a fevered imagination.

It took him a few tries to successfully attempt coherent speech.

"…Rindou?" he croaked thickly, throat raw and lips cracking, blood dribbling down his chin.

"M'sorry."

Waking up alive was a surprise.

It was a miserable surprise, though, because he could have done away with all the unbearable pain that came with it, as his deep wounds promptly reminded him of their existence in the most terribly unpleasant of ways. He was battered and aching and felt more like a tattered scrap of meat than an actual human being, but such was life. Life was suffering. Life was agony. To live is to be in constant struggle, and what was the whole point? You still died in the end, alone and miserable.

It took his vision longer than usual to focus, but that was probably because of the bruises on his face and the head contusions that he had received from those whom he had once regarded as close friends of the family. He just laid there quietly for a while, gathering his thoughts, remembering that he had been this close to death before he had been found and summarily rescued. Eishi still had not decided if he should be grateful or not. He was not suicidal but living was very troublesome, he could not help but conclude.

He was already wondering about his homestead, the security of his family land, the safety of the men and soldiers who marched for him as well as the villagers that lived on Tsukasa land, depending on the strength of their Lord and master for survival. He was wondering if the revolt had already been quashed, if the widespread civil unrest had been dealt with, those rebels caught and punished. If not, he would be obliged to get up and rejoin the fight and defend his home, even if he had to crawl the entire way. Now was not the time to be lying around and languishing about, even if he was injured. He still needed to return to the grand palace and make his report to the Prince Consort…

Eishi sighed and quietly decided that he really would not have minded being dead right about now-

The flash of red flickered at the edge of his peripheral vision, and his dour, pessimistic thoughts grounded to a complete halt.

…Belatedly, it occurred to the man that he was not alone in his musings. He wasn't even alone on the bed. He desperately tried to rack his sluggish mind, to remember what little he could recall during his last shreds of lucidity when he had been rescued. He had been unmounted from the wall, it had hurt a lot, he was delirious, he thought he saw a few shadowed, blurry figures moving around him purposefully…

And there was that blur of crimson and ochre, that tender nostalgic scent of the woman he loved, in all likelihood a hopeless hallucination brought on by his overwrought mind, trying to distract him from the trauma of his life threatening state of being.

This was not an illusion, though.

He went still; pain fogged lavender locking with slit pupiled gold. It felt like he had just been punched in the gut, his heart speeding up, his gaze hungrily drinking her in. The bright red of her hair, the gilded gold of her eyes. She looked good. Healthy. He had not thought that he would ever see her again.

She was perched on the edge of the cot he had been put in, and once she realized that he was awake, she wordlessly raised her hand and removed the bandage around her wrist. She lifted her forearm to her mouth and reopened the wound located there with a quick slash of her fangs. She brought the bleeding arm to his mouth…and suddenly, he was starting to realize why he had been able to heal so quickly that time back on the mountains…why he was still alive now.

She simply looked at him, her expression neutral.

"Drink."

He hesitated, and her schooled gaze hardened.

"Drink, now." The warning in her voice did not allow for him to ask questions, and more importantly, he did not want her to withdraw, to leave. And so even though he was still disconcerted, he quietly parted his mouth, and she pressed her bleeding wrist closer, subtly squeezing her fist to encourage the continuous flow of blood. The warm, ruby-like drops touched his lips, staining them a slick crimson, and his tongue darted out, tasting the metallic sweetness in the rich, musky quality of her blood…and after the first reluctant swallow, something…fascinating happened.

His body started to feel pleasantly warm, the way one did when too much wine or ale had been consumed. There was a dizzying, addictive intoxication as he lapped at the insides of her wrist tentatively, the rough pad of his tongue gently worrying the wound for more. A feeling of renewed strength…vitality, grew, and the sensation of weakness that encroached him started to recede. With each swallow, he could quite literally feel himself getting…better. Healing.

Something like contentment unfurled in his stomach. Pleasure. His fingers twitched, his hand slowly reached up, almost reverently, curling around her arm, holding her close. His eyes, darkening, as the blood in his body started to react to her alluring potency. Yearning. Desire. Want. It wasn't a frenzied need for what her blood did to him, to possess her for her power and remarkable ability. It was a deep seated ache to have her simply because her presence had always made his blood sing. He controlled himself from the instincts that raged at him to savage her, to give into the seductive call of her amazing gift, to take and to take and to take until she had no more left to give.

Calling up the will to cut himself off, his lips brushed softly against her sensitive wrist, a silent, flitting kiss…before he pulled away resolutely from the enticing thrum of her blood. Her eyes flashed with heat at his tender, deliberate ministration, her cheeks flushing ever so faintly, and it seemed that her discomposure was not expected, for she appeared almost upset with herself for reacting to him. She started to retreat, but he refused to let go of her. They proceeded to have a small tug of war over her trapped limb; the healing property of her blood was apparently so effective that he could already afford to expand his previously flagging energy on ridiculous maneuvers, it seemed.

"What are you doing," she snapped, visibly aggravated. "Let go."

"No. If l let go, you're going to disappear on me again," he insisted with quiet conviction.

She glowered at him but did not deny the possibility of his words.

"Did you forget that I tried to kill you the last time around?"

His gaze softened at her disgruntlement. The myriad emotions that flickered across her face made him feel strangely happy. It was a far more welcome sight than her looking blankly and dispassionately at him.

"You didn't try very hard," he reminded her. She was starting to look a bit hassled, like she did not understand what he was trying to do. There was also a wariness on her face, and it…hurt, how she no longer trusted him. "Rindou…we need to talk."

"No, we don't. We've nothing to talk about," she promptly responded. She was still trying to retract her limb, but he was just as determined to hang onto her.

"Yes, we do. Are you ever going to tell me that I've been claimed by you?"

Her mouth fell open at his blunt question, but no words came out. She closed her mouth, then opened them again to try to reply.

"I-It's not- Who told you that?" she asked, trying to change the subject once more, becoming agitated. He did not respond to her question.

"I'm yours, aren't I?" he continued, calm as you please. "That's why you came back for me. You can't kill me any more than I can kill you."

She bared her fangs at him, not liking that he was trying to back her into a corner. "I made a mistake."

"Stay," he told her, ignoring her last declaration. "Please."

She narrowed her eyes at him, trying to discern his motive, to find the subterfuge that hid his deceptive intent. She would fail to find any…mainly because there were none.

"Why are you doing this?" she asked at last.

"Isn't it obvious?" he responded steadily. "It's because you have my heart."

::tsuzuku::

Questions That I Would Like To Answer Before You Ask:

Aight, so this is the last chapter of the prologue/world building for 'Dragon Heart,' which I had also informally titled 'Dragons, dragons everywhere,' lol.

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I had a lot of fun researching dragons for this chapter, by the way.

The Ryujin is the dragon god of Japan, commonly associated with agriculture, rain and the bounties of the ocean. I thought that the role would be fitting for Souma, what with his love for all kinds of food/ingredients and creating a huge splash everywhere he goes.

The Balaur is a Romanian dragon, with very large fins and multiple heads. Like hydras, when one head is slain, two more will grow in its place. I thought it fit Subaru (one of my favorite side characters in SnS by the way) very well because of the way he can take up the dispositions of his opponents so effortlessly – many heads, many personalities, right?

Wyverns are dragons with two legs and two wings. They are commonly depicted in medieval heraldry. In fact, there are many Italian noble houses who uses the wyvern as part of their coat of arms, a nod of recognition towards the Italian heritage of the Aldini brothers.

The Jörmungandr is the sea dragon in Norse mythology. It is the middle child of Loki, and is said to be able to grow so large that it could surround the earth and grasp its own tail. Sea dragon/sea serpent goes in line with Ryou's canon specialty which seems to be in dealing with seafood, as well as his place of origin in the Norway up in the northern hemisphere, the home of Norse mythos.

There will be more canon characters appearing on here; some human, some (more) dragon, some undefined yet.

Also there will exist secondary pairings like SoRina, RyoAli, and others undecided still, though those side-ships probably wouldn't be the main focus of the story.

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Please do let me know what you think of this series. I mean, I do have some ideas for this plot but if the storyline is not interesting enough for some reason or it's not being too well received, then I'd rather just shelve this idea for now and focus my energy on other projects first. Thanks for sharing your feedback/commentaries!

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Your reviews make me update faster; so please leave a comment if you like this fic!

-sllebswap