AN - welcome to chapter 9. It was tough figuring out how i was gonna get the friendship between Toothless and Ruff started. But i think it went well. You can play 'forbidden friendship' ost from the movie near the last part. i think it makes it more immersive? Is that the word for it?

Also well done Snowflake, It is indeed Itchy-Armpit they are on. i know it's not really in-between Berk and the dragon nest but it looked like such an interesting island i just had to use it. And since not much is known about it, i can add all sorts of things to it.

Another thing is i updated the first chapter a couple days back if anyone would like to re-read it. i hope it's satifactory.

Anyway i hope you enjoy the chapter :)

Hiccup noticed Ruffnut approaching and bounded over to her, leaving Toothless to his own company.

"Hey Blacky. Have you calmed him down?" She asked.

He nodded and motioned for her to follow him over to the bigger dragon.
Toothless was ignoring them. He had his back turned, peeking glances a few time to see if they knew he was ignoring them.

"Oh, great now you're pouting? Who's the eldest here?" Mocked Hiccup

"I'm not pouting." Toothless shot back.

"Then what would you call what you're doing?"

"I'm ignoring you. I know what you're trying to do! I'm not making peace with a viking. you can't make me. I'm still not happy with you being so close to her."

Hiccup ran over to toothless and stood in front of him.

"Well I'm gonna be as close to her as I want and there's nothing you can do about it." He said cheekly.

"Oh really?" Toothless smirked before lunging forward and grabbing Hiccups scruff.

"H-Hey let me go," Hiccup whined.

Toothless grabbed Hiccup in his paws and let go of his scruff.

"No, besides it's feeding time for you and I still have some fish from yesterday morning to give you. A hatchling needs it's food to grow big and strong so you better eat all of it. A viking wouldn't be able to look after you like a dragon can." He stated as he then began to make regurgitating sounds.

"Oh no! you're not gonna..."
Toothless threw up some slimy half chewed fish pieces on the shingled beech.

"...ewww"

"Well eat up."

"I'm not eating that."

"You'd better eat it or I'll stuff it down your throat if I have too. " Toothless threatened.

"You sound like my dad."

"Eat it!"

Hiccup stared at the disgusting mess of partly digested fish pieces soaking into the ground.
He really didn't want to be force-fed by a dragon so he hesitantly leaned down and picked up a bit of fish in his teeth. He prepared for the horrible taste as it went into his mouth. But...It actually tasted good. How could something so revolting taste that nice. He gobbled down the rest and thanked Toothless for the meal.

"It's as if you haven't had regurgitated fish before. Strange. It's pretty much what all hatchlings eat at first since their stomachs can't handle it without the bacteria present in their parents stomachs."

"O-of course I've had it before," He lied. " It was just strange accepting it from a dragon I barely know."

Ruffnut was both amused and disgusted at the display of feeding she just witnessed. Blacky had seemed rather reluctant at first, a bit like when she'd first fed him. It was like he was discovering what was edible and what he enjoyed to eat for the first time. But that was what was strange, he should have learnt that at an earlier age when his parents fed him. The older night fury also had what appeared to be a confused expression on his face too at Blacky's hesitance to eat what he'd given him.

Could he have forgotten something like that she wondered. But then was the issue with his parents. He'd said they had died, but he also didn't know how to fly. That would mean they had to have died on Berk, but no one had ever seen a night fury before him alive or dead.
For him to not be familiar with feeding it would have meant they had died recently before she found him. But the chief had scoured the island in search of Blacky and hadn't come across any night fury bodies. It just didn't add up. It was like he'd appeared from thin air.

She was interrupted from her thoughts when her stomach rumbled. She was starving.
She realised she hadn't eaten since before she'd escaped the village to see Blacky. She'd given him all the fish she'd taken since he clearly needed it more than her since he hadn't eaten in a week. So it had been a few days since her last meal now. She looked towards the ocean. Perhaps she could catch some fish? Maybe some crabs hiding under the rocks? But how was she going to catch them?

She walked over to the water to see if any fish were lurking in the shallows, they were.
Maybe she could spear them she thought to herself. With that in mind, she started looking through the shingle for any sturdy and sharp stones she could use. She briefly glanced over to the two night furies who were napping in each others embrace. It was really cute.

Once she'd found one suitable, she began filing it into a better blade against a nearby boulder. It was slow going and it took a lot of work. She'd prefer to try melting down some iron over this primitive method. But it was all she had to work with. When she was happy with the shape and sharpness she set into the forest to find a stick. She wasn't gonna go too far in though. Not on her own anyway. She hoped to explore it later on and see what mystery's and secrets this island held.

Toothless noticed the girl leave. He hoped she'd get herself killed in the wilderness. Then he wouldn't have to deal with her trying to steal Hiccup away from him. dusk-strikers should stick together, not hang around other dragons let alone vikings.
Hiccup began to stir under his embrace. Toothless gave him a sniff.

"You need a bath." He stated bluntly.

"Huh!? I don't smell that bad do I?"

"You reek of the girl for starters. But besides her when was the last time you had one?"

Hiccup hadn't a single bath since his transformation - unless you count falling into a pond.

"At least over a week ago I think."

"A week! I'm giving you a bath right now. I expect you to clean yourself more often in the future." He scorned.

"No wait! I can do it myse-...eww what are you doing." He cried as Toothless began licking him.

"I'm giving you a bath of course," He answered like it was the dumbest question he'd ever heard.

"I'd rather bathe in the water."

"The water? The water has all kinds of bacteria in it. Saliva is much better than water. Night fury saliva also has healing properties so it will help with that wound of yours." He explained as he continued his licking.

He had to hold Hiccup down quite a bit since he wouldn't stop squirming.
Then Toothless started to lick in places far to personal for Hiccup.

"W-wait don't lick there. s-stoooop." He whined.

He was thoroughly embarrassed by the end of it. He wasn't letting toothless ever do that again! And he wouldn't be doing it to himself either. Licking certain places on the body was just wrong. He wasn't an animal. He may be a dragon on the outside but he was a human on the inside. He'd bathe in water from now on like he always had whether toothless liked it or not.

Eventually after some pouting and toothless promising he wouldn't lick him anymore, they snuggled back to sleep.

As Ruffnut wandered through the wilderness, her first thoughts were that the trees were strange. They had very long protruding roots that came down like tubes and some even made narrow walls. Some had long hanging branches. When looking up at the canopy she could see a mosaic of orange shades. It was beautiful.

She decided to climb one to get a good hanging branch for her spear handle. It had to be straight and sturdy!
She climbed higher and higher, not worrying about the height. She'd climbed plenty of tall trees back on Berk. She pulled herself onto a branch and reached for the best looking branch near to her. It was sturdy all right, she couldn't snap it off. She hoped she wouldn't damage it after all her hard work but her only choice to getting the branch would be to use the spear head. She spent a while sawing at it. Starting with the lower part and then the top. The branch hung quite a distance below her and she didn't want to deal with the weight of it by only cutting it once.

She sighed hard. She'd finally cut it off but her spearhead what damaged. She'd need to make a new one. At the thought of waiting longer for her possible food, her stomach rumbled.

It was time to head back but she didn't feel like taking the boring safe route down. No, she was going to have some fun on these long hanging branches. She secured the stick by placing under the clothing on her back - having it stick out either end. Then she grabbed onto a branch and jumped.

"Woooooooohoooooooooo" She yelled as she slid and swung down the branch - some uneven branches scraping against her fingers. When she reached the end she leapt the rest of the distance to the ground.

"Well that was fun," She exclaimed before remembering the boring task ahead of her. When she got back to the beach, the night furies were still sleeping. She got to work on the new spear head straight away. She really needed to eat something. All this exertion was making her dizzy.

When she was done, it was already sunset. She still had enough light if she started fishing now. But she still need some vine to tie the head and the stick together. She hadn't noticed any on her earlier trek so she'd have to go in further to find some. But it was coming to the end of the day. She'd have to wait till tomorrow.

She slumped down to the ground. Her hair cascading over her. Suddenly something clicked. Her hair! She could use it instead of vines. She used the spear head to cut off enough strands to use as binding.

Her spear was finally done. Now she just had to get some fish!
She crept over to the water trying not to scare the fish away. She stood still and waited for one to come close enough. She struck! And caught one - she was lucky the spear was her main weapon of choice as a viking. She started whooping in joy, scaring away the other fish and waking the night furies.

She didn't care for catching anymore tonight. She'd worked hard to get this one fish for dinner and she was gonna enjoy every bit of it. well, apart from the guts and the bones.

She soon realised however that she didn't have a fire to cook it. The older night fury wouldn't help her but maybe Blacky could?

"Blacky come here," She called.

"Blacky? Is that what she calls you?" Asked Toothless.

"Yeah, but it's better than Hiccup or Toothless right?" He joked.

"Che, whatever." With that he went back to napping for a while longer. Dusk-strikers were more active in the night, not the day.

Hiccup ran up to her wondering what she wanted.

"Can you light a fire for me? I don't really want to eat this raw." She asked.

But Hiccup hadn't quite figured that part out yet. Sure he'd hit his father that one time, but he wasn't sure how he'd done it. so he shook his head.

She let out a sigh, "Don't worry then I'll just have to have it raw after all. You can have the guts and the head though, I'm not eating that.

Hiccup felt disgusted at the thought of eating those parts as well, but perhaps they would taste nice like all the other fishy things he'd eaten as a dragon. So he led down beside her and she cut off the parts for him. They were indeed delicious.

Ruffnut didn't seem to dislike her meal either. Maybe raw fish was edible for humans. No one had really tried it out at the village. Meat just seemed better cooked.

-
When morning came around, Ruffnut was busy catching fish. She wasn't the only one. The older night fury and Blacky were trying to catch them further along the shore. It was rather funny seeing how frustrated the older one became as he failed time and time again. Perhaps he wasn't used to hunting in the shallows like that. He'd probably caught fish and other animals through flight before, but now because of his missing fin he couldn't do that anymore. She felt like offering him some fish if he still couldn't catch any by the afternoon.

Which is where she found herself now. The night fury was curled in a ball 'pouting' as she like to put it. She was currently sharing her catch with Blacky since he also hadn't caught anything. Blacky had tried taking some fish over to him, but he'd refused it. Was it because she caught them? She was sure his pride would break eventually. He had to eat at some point. So she shifted her attention on Blacky.

"Hey Blacky."

He looked up at her.

"I was wondering about a few things yesterday. The way you act and in fact your actual existence doesn't make too much sence to me. What I mean is, When I first fed you and The other night fury fed you, it seemed like a new experience to you. But wouldn't your parents have taught you about what you could eat and wouldn't they have regurgitated food for you too? Why did it seem so new to you?"

He was taken back a bit. She'd actually noticed his mistakes. She was figuring him out.

"And with your parents. you can't fly so they had to have been on Berk when they died right? But when the chief searched thee island for you, there were no reports of dead night furies. There wasn't anything before I discovered you either since you were the first time anyone has laid eyes on one. It's like you appeared out of thin air or something. "

"Yeah, pretty much what happened." He replied, knowing she couldn't understand him.

"The only thing I can think of to make sense of it is that your parents abandoned you and you lost your memory or something. Is that what happened? Be truthful with me."

Hiccup didn't know what to think. Ruff had seen through his lies and the flaws to his very existence. Was she always this smart? Even the night fury hadn't questioned him about the inconsistencies in his story yet.

But still, he didn't want to keep lying to her. They were far away from Berk now and she's changed from the bully he remembered her as. Maybe she'd actually treat him better now if he told her the truth. It would be better to tell her now himself instead of that witch who might one day show up again and tell his secret for all to hear. What would she think of him then? She'd probably hate him for deceiving her, lying to her and betraying her trust. He'd grown to care for her too and he couldn't stand for it to come to that. So he made up his mind. He was going to tell her the truth. but he needed to make sure she didn't let Toothless know just yet. He wanted him to make friends with Ruffnut before he dropped the bomb on him too.

"Blacky answer me," She begged. She wanted an answer.

Hiccup shook his head.

"Then what is it? I can't make sense of it i-" She was interrupted by Hiccup pulling on her skirt.

"You want me to follow you?"

He nodded.
So he led her too a more secluded place Toothless couldn't see or hear them. The big pussy cat was fast asleep anyway. But it never hurt to be cautious.

"Why did you drag me all the way over here?" She asked.

They were standing on the edge of a grassy area. Snow slightly covered it.
Hiccup began sweeping away the snow and digging up the ground.

"What are you doing!?"

But he ignored her and continued his work. Once the soil was free of plants and snow, he evened it out with his tail.

Then he began to write.

Ruffnut couldn't believe what she was seeing. He was writing norse in the dirt. She didn't know dragons could write. But soon it became clear that not all dragons could, if they could at all. This one was the exception as she read out what he had written.

'I am Hiccup.' It read.

"H-Hiccup? What do you mean you're Hiccup?"

He swept out the previous words and wrote again.

'I didn't die. I got turned into a dragon. '

"Huh!? How is that even possible? And are you really Hiccup. Stoic the vast's son from my village of Berk?"

'Yes' he wrote. 'A witch cursed me. When I changed, only my clothes were left behind.'

"That would explain why there wasn't a body. But a witch? witchcraft is a myth."

Hiccup gave a small chuckle. 'I said the same thing before she blasted me.'

"Look at you though, it's like I'm seeing you for the first time again now that I know it's you in there. Why didn't you tell me before?"

'I was scared. You were never kind to me in the village. But as a dragon, you cared about me. I'd never felt so loved. I was afraid that if I told you you'd sick the village on me for your own amusement.'

Ruffnut was shocked. Is that what he thought of her all this time. She'd only been messing around with him all these years, she didn't realise how much torment it had actually brought him.

"I'm sorry I teased you all those years. It was just some fun on our end. I didn't think about how much it hurt you. But still, I'd never have stooped so low as to get you killed Hiccup." She said back with earnest.

Tears started to prickle his eyes but he still tried his best to write.

'You don't hate me for lying to you till now?'

"No of course I don't," she said bringing him into a hug. "You must have been so scared. Getting turned into a dragon, the villages worst enemy. And you got that injury from your dad. Your heart must have hurt far more than the wound. "

Hiccup began giving out small whines and warbles as he cried into her shoulder. A weight felt lifted from finally telling someone what had happened to him.

Eventually he stopped crying and began to cheer up. Ruffnut knew his secret. What was gonna happen now?
Ruff grew an excited grin on her face.

"How awesome it would be to be a dragon though."

Hiccup looked at her in a stunned expression. What was awesome about being a creature that was hunted by blood thirsty vikings. He wanted to change back as soon as possible - If it was possible.

"Think about it, you can fly and breathe fire. You could fly up way high in the sky and drop from huge distances without the fear of dying. You can move from island to island faster than a boat and then the fire. Oh the fire. Imagine all the destruction you could cause.
Being a dragon would be awesome."

She did have a point he thought. They could make fire but flight was something they could only dream of. He felt the sudden urge to want to fly and tried flapping his wings. But it was yet again hopeless. He only seemed to hover off the ground. Wait! Maybe Toothless could teach him. He'd go ask him right away...oh. But first he had to make sure Ruff kept her knowledge a secret.

'Keep calling me Blacky. I don't want Toothless to find out my secret just yet.'

"Toothless? That's his name.," She let out a giggle. "Who came up with a name like that."

Hiccup held his head high a clear smirk on his face.

"You?"

He nodded.

"How did that happen?"

'He was mocking my name so I started calling him that.' He wrote.

"So that's what you guys were talking about the other day." she said, finally understanding their reactions.
"Don't worry, I won't let him know I know about you." She promised.

Hours later, Ruff and hiccup were back at the dirt patch. It was now much larger as the two had found some entertainment in drawing on it.

Hiccup had asked Toothless about flying lessons but had been turned down. The reason being that he couldn't fly himself anymore so wasn't able to help him. He'd have been annoyed if it wasn't for the depressed look Toothless held about speaking of his inability to fly.

He wished he could help him, but what could he do? Toothless had lost a fin, and even if he could make some kind of prostetic he couldn't figure out how he'd get it to move correctly. Maybe something to help pull it open like rope? But he doubted toothless could hold it by himself as he flew. Far too dangerous. So what if someone did it for him? He couldn't do it mid-air - if he learnt to fly- since they may separate too much. Then something clicked in his mind.

A rider! If he could somehow convince toothless to let someone on his back he'd be able to help him fly again. The only person around though was Ruffnut. He needed to get toothless to trust her before he could even get to making it. He wondered if he could find all the materials he needed on this island.

What were they doing over there? Toothless wondered to himself. They'd been messing around in what appeared to be a dirt patch for hours. What was so fun about dirt?

Blocking out the two of them and the hunger pains in his stomach for a moment, he thought about his dire situation. He was grounded. He's accepted he'd lost his tailfin now and there wasn't anything he could do about it. It wouldn't just grow back.

Was he going to spend the rest of his life trapped on this island? He could only thank the dragon gods it was a rather large.
The only good thing that had come out of going to Berk was that he found a fellow dusk-striker. If it stayed with him, they could both escape the inevitable fate of dying of loneliness. But the fact it favored the viking girl who had tagged along drove him crazy.

He pitied how inexperienced it was. It clearly didn't understand the dangers of Vikings. He'd watched countless of his kin from the queen's nest perish to the hands of vikings. The cruel ways in which they would slaughter them. Sometimes they even captured them to be used as practice for their younglings. It was so horrific to see the inexperienced viking children butcher the poor dragons to death. It made the slaughtering during the raids seem merciful.

He heard their laughter again. What were they doing. The curiosity was driving him mad. Maybe a peek wouldn't hurt, just to see how dirt was keeping them so entertained.

He crept over so they wouldn't notice him. Years of hunting practice made him a silent and very deadly killer. He could kill the viking girl before the hatchling even noticed. But he'd given his word he wouldn't touch her and he never went back on his word.

With their backs turned to him he gazed over at them to see what they were doing. The viking girl held a small stick in one hand and was using it to make lines in the dirt. They seemed to come together to create a familiar shape though. It was the young dusk-striker! How had she done that?

He looked to what hiccup was doing and noticed he was using his claws to make strange markings in the dirt. She was talking to him in that strange human language of hers. He'd learnt some of it during his time in the Archipelago, but he didn't see the point in listening to her current gibberish. There were too many words he didn't know in there. Like what did 'fin' and 'prosthetic' mean?
And why did she bother talking to Hiccup? She clearly didn't understand dragon so it was just a one-sided conversation.

He decided to make himself known by blowing some air onto the viking girls head. He loved how she jumped. What surprised him though is she didn't move away. Why wasn't she afraid of him? It made him look silly for being afraid of her.

Was she trying to mock him? Did she think she was better than him. Showing off how close she can get to the hatchling. Showing off her fishing skills. He said he wouldn't be violent to her so he decided to show her he could be better at something too. He walked off and grabbed a big stick. Much more impressive than a puny one like hers.

He brought it over to the dirt area and began to drag it along the floor. making lots of squiggly patterns. He had tried to draw hiccup too to show he could do a much better job of it. He was rather pleased with himself. it looked amazing he thought.
Although in reality it was just a bunch of squiggly lines that didn't look like anything in particular.

The viking girl got up to see his picture. He wanted her too. She was clearly impressed by it, he'd shown her who th-... She stepped on it!
He let out a growl to tell her to get off.

She lifted her foot and he went back into a good mood. Only for her to do it again.
He growled and purred a few times of her stepping on and off it before she finally seemed to get the message and gave a smile.

She started stepping this way and that in a sort of dance as she tried to look at every inch of it. To see his masterpiece in detail he convinced himself.

Mesmerized by the dance he didn't even see her come within less than a metre from him. But instead of feeling threatened by her, He let her stay there. From what he remembered, vikings didn't admire works of art like she had just done. Maybe she was different. They stared at each other in stunned silence for a moment. A strangely pleasant feel in the air.

She reached out to touch him but he growled. He didn't want to be touched. She backed her hand away.
She looked nervous. Of course she would be nervous in my presence, he thought to himself. I'm a magnificent deadly creature who doesn't need armor and steel weapons to kill and protect myself.

But to his surprise, she hesitantly looked away and held out her hand. He could just bite it off if he wanted to and she knew that.
This viking girl was putting her trust in him. Putting her life in his paws.

Maybe hiccup was right, maybe she was different, maybe he could trust her back. Put his life in her hands as well.

Without anymore thought, he felt the magical moment coming to a close as he rest his snout into her out stretched hand.

She looked back at him in shock and delight. A strange wordless connection had just formed between them. A connection of friendship, loyalty and trust.

AN- So was that okay? just a heads up, toothless won't just suddenly switch to putty in her hands or anything. The friendship has just started and needs time to grow - along with the trust.

The tougue bath scene was completly innocent for any of you dirty minded people out there haha.

Now onto some reviews.

a random person - You'll have to wait and see. It's not gonna go smoothly though as you can guess. haha.

zomie230 - i know right. i feel that way about many fanfics out there that i love too. i feel honored you feel that way about mine. thankyou. :)

fireflame159 - nah it's not gonna be permanent, ruffcup will probably happen in this fic so he needs to be human for that ;)

guest -"So... Is Hiccup going to turn back in to a human NAKED that is so funny?!"
Well unless clothes can magicaly appear out of thin air then yes, yes he will be naked :P

Skysorrow - love the name btw. Of course i'm gonna keep continuing. i need a few days to write and proofread a chapter. Also, it's not really something you ask when it's only been a few days since the last update haha. I only ask that to an author if it's been months or years.

Thanks to everyone else who reviewed. i got alot this time and it made me really happy. :D

next chapter within the next 3 days.