[Quick AN: This is going to be a chaptered story (with a plot and everything, promise). It's also going to involve smut at some point, so don't whine when it happens/happens a chunk of the way into the story (and not in the second chapter like every generic yaoi manga ever). Also, Dragons. Warnings done, please enjoy!]

It's raining, this night. A storm growls through a purple-grey sea of thick, ever-rolling clouds, bright white lightning slicing through the dark with the calls of thunder on its heels.

Warm and safe in a sturdy home built of wood and stone, a baby's first cry drowns out the muffled claps of thunder from outside. Midwives bustle around, tending to a bloody and flailing newborn boy and his sweaty, panting mother who lies on the plush bed covered by multiple, now birth-stained sheets. A father sheds a private (and later denied) tear from his place beside the bed, his large weather-beaten hand curling around the slight, pretty one of his exhausted wife. When the bundle of warm, clean sheets and wriggling life is handed over to settle in his mother's arms and be watched under her immediately-loving gaze, a smiling midwife speaks.
"Have you thought of a name?"
"..Youou. His name is Youou."

Elsewhere, a young boy stumbles and skins his knee on the hard, wet rock beneath him. He doesn't feel the pain, seeing as his pale, thin legs are numb from the cold rain lashing at his skin, and he is more concerned with catching the hand of his brother again. One pulls the other up, before once again they're running with bare feet slapping against the rainy, uneven ground whilst the thunder claps on in the distance. It's a blessing when they meet grass – soft terrain easy on the soles of their small feet. They're both panting, little hearts racing as they run hand in hand, further away from the light of the village and further into the safe cover of the woods. Neither knows how long they've ran for when they both collapse against the trunk of a large tree, gulping in big lungfuls of air, shaded from the sheets of rain for a short, sweet moment. The blonde, exact mirror of his brother all except for his left leg, red and bloody from the knee down, stands up and tugs the other away from the comfortable bark, hugging him close.
"Remember what we were told about trees in storms. Lightning likes the trees..."
"Oh, 'Kay… Yuui, do you think they'll look for us?"
"Yeah, but not just now. Not when it's a storm.." the one with the bloodied knee says, trying to sound confident, but he's not feeling it.

He was wrong, of course. With the storm still raging through a wide, angry sky that bellowed thunder and flashed blinding white, they only heard the heavy thuds of horseshoes on soft ground when it was too late. The guards were close. Yuui grabs his twin's hand, his own still warm from the fire he'd made in it minutes before, and the two bolt through the trees, darting this way and that but always together, clinging for their lives and their feet hitting the ground at a desperate pace to elude the threatening yells of large men and low grunts of horses that they can practically feel breathing down the backs of their smocks. Yuui chances a look back, seeing the face of a steed glaring straight at him through a leather muzzle, not far back through the grey-haze of thick rain. Its eyes are dark and liquid, eyes of a beast from a nightmare. The man on top of it wears a beaten silver-helmet that makes him look like just as much of an inhuman creature, eyes hidden under shadow. The whole world seems to go slow now, events playing through a smothering syrup, utter terror gripping at Yuui's every sense as he drinks in each and every horrific detail and the knowledge of such danger urges him to find safety all the faster. He swings his vision forward again, when he sees the tree dead in the middle of his path. With a swerve he dodges it, but immediately after realises the cosy, firm hold of Fai that is always so sure, had been lost from his hand. That moment of gripping panic is tripled when his foot jerks and slides down greasy brown muck, tripping him over for the shortest moment he would allow – hands bracing his stumble and pushing him straight back up again. He freezes, head whipping around and wet hair hitting against his face as he looks through trees and rain, wide-eyed and panicked, for Fai. He's about to scream out for him, but the air is stolen from his lungs as he clocks a blonde body being lifted by one of the armoured guardsmen behind him– limp and loose, tiny in comparison to the silver-man. Fai isn't moving.

He's dead.

With all the force he has left, Yuui holds back a strangled cry and lets his legs burst another bout of speed, tearing through the forest and detouring from the straight path as far as possible, losing himself and the men and the nightmarish horses and his brother's wilted body behind him in a labyrinth of tall trees, curtains of heavy rain, and soaked leafy-forest floor. He only stops running when he breaches the woods, somehow, what he imagines was quite a time later. The rain had gradually stopped, the storm sweeping away and leaving a clean night sky – undisturbed and quiet - as if the great swimming clouds had never even been there. The young boy wheezes in air, stuttered and broken by sobs as he unsteadily hobbles onwards, underneath his feet a cobble-stone path built into the grass. He can feel the hot tears sliding heavy down his face and the hammering of his heartbeat against his ribs, but nothing else. He's cold, and it's hard to breathe. The image of his brother's body dangling from a shiny-plated-monster's grip is seared into his eyes, and it's what he sees as he collapses in a shaking little heap at the side of the path and allows the world around him to fade to a quiet-black

"He's the very image of you…" a soft female voice, worn and tired, laughs gently.
"Hm, let's hope he has your temperament, or we're in for a wild one," grins a man, running on a high of adrenaline and swelling pride. Neither sets of eyes can be taken from their first born, both in awe and stuck in the utter adoration of their perfect, precious sleeping son. The new parents cuddle close together on their bed, that had been stripped and cleaned– decorative furs and comfortable linens laid fresh once more by the housecarl- simply basking in the feelings that wash them over as they look at the tiny human they've created. His little meaty fists are balled tight, peeking up from the covers he's wrapped in. Plush pink cheeks are round and soft and his head is topped with brushings of jet-black-hair.
"You did so well, love, I'm proud. Like a true warrior," the man says gently, kissing his wife's temple and sweeping long strands of coal-coloured hair back from her shoulder. She replies with another light laugh, letting her head rest on her husband's side, happy with a strong arm around her and her own arms cradling her son.

That night began the life of a boy, destined to play a vital role someday in his future.

The crackling of tinder and warm fuzz of something against his skin rouses the blonde boy from an empty sleep, his eyelids flickering apart and squinting into flames. He sits up, a cozy cover slipping from him as he looks around in drowsy confusion, trying to work out what's happening.
"Aha, the little white fox awakes.."
The accent is heavy and lazy, voice warm and rusty like spiced wine. Yuui looks around, seeing the owner of the voice walking fluidly towards him, a long tail winding behind the legs. Looking up, he sees the face – an amalgamation between a feline and a human, with beady eyes of bright yellow and mottled fur, the colours of sand and clay-dust.
"How do you feel, small one?" the Khajiit man asks, kneeling down to Yuui's height and looking over him with concern. The boy is confused and disorientated, but answers as honestly as he can.
"My head hurts."
"Ah, understandable… Here, take this. I promise, is nothing dangerous, just something to bring you back to health," he says in his lulling voice, the little blonde hanging on to every word. He is handed a small red bottle, and after an experimental sniff, drinks the mixture. It tastes of wheat and something else Yuui'd tasted once before. The feline-man is watching now from his place seated on a wooden box, the worry etched into his furry-brows.
"Can you remember where is your home, little fox? What is your name?" he asks, tail still curling in the air with a mind of its own. It fascinates Yuui. He'd only ever heard of the Khajiit before, never seen them.
"…I can't go home. They want to kill me there," he answers, the blunt nature seeming to shock the creature. He then tuts, muttering something about guards under his breath, before looking back at Yuui, something like sympathy playing in his marble-eyes. Perhaps it was empathy.
"I am sorry to hear that. I am also sorry to say that there are many in your position in this country, little fox," he speaks, the low rumble of his words relaxing the boy further. The man was kind, and easy to talk to with a nice voice. Yuui liked him.
"Why do you keep calling me that?" he can't help but ask.
"Hm?"
"Little fox, why do you call me that?"
The Khajiit laughs, and it's all hearty and rough.
"Apologies, it was Zaynabi, the first to see you. She mistook you for a little white fox hurt at the side of the road. Since I did not know your name, that fitted well enough," he explains, the corners of his feline mouth curling in a smile and his whiskers shining white as the light from the fire catches them. Yuui blinks, taking in the tale slowly as he unabashedly stares at the man. "So what is your name? Do you remember?" he repeats, pulling a bottle out from the box beside the one he's seated on, and taking a long swig with an expectant look being aimed at the blonde boy for his answer. For some reason, the question catches in his chest, and hurts. It doesn't feel right to say Yuui. That can't be his name, not any more.
"…My name is Fai," he tells the man, blinking slow, and his serene little expression remaining as blank and unchanged as it has been for the entire duration of their exchange.
"…Well, Fai. I suggest you go back to resting for the night. It seems you've had a long enough day," he says, standing again only to crouch closer to the boy. "You will be safe, no worries," he assures him, and Yuui – Fai – believes those reassuring words whole heartedly when he looks into the yellow-cat-eyes. He can feel the honesty from there. When the Khajiit stands and walks silently away, it becomes all too easy for the young boy to curl back under the bedroll, and after one last look at the winding, curling, lively tail that fixes his attention so, let his eyes slip closed and a more restful dark blanket settle over him.

That night also began a brand new path for a boy, which would lead him to the same great destiny down the line as one other.

[A.N: So this is my first time writing something like this. Few firsts, actually. First ACTUAL not-a-oneshot-chapters-ahoy-story. First time writing in that weird tense/style (I don't like it. Do not know why I did it. Looks crap. Ugh. Sorry). And First time posting any of my KuroFai fan-fiction.

Anyway, I'd like to explain some things. As I mentioned, this is a Skyrim AU, but you don't need to play the game to understand it at all. It's all self-explanatory in the story, more or less. Also, this is the boring prologue chapter. The initial chapters have to suck so that the others can be cool. (...? There's my excuse I am gunnin' with it.) Lastly, if you have time or can be bothered scraping together the effort, reviews help. Maybe tell me if the way I wrote this was as shit as it feels to me. (Pieces sound so horribly cliché, I apologise, but that's the kind of... feel Skyrim has to it. Fantasy and all that jazz, yeah?)

Thank you for reading, if you got this far I'm impressed. +10 respect.]