Despite the unforgiving look of the outside, the inside was as peaceful as the mainland. Three or four dragons the same size as Myndræl watched the newcomers curiously, with a much larger dragon looking down on them from a higher point as he watched over the whole island. Lilianna was also there, entertaining a tiny dragon with her tail.

"Welcome, dragonlings." The violet dragon greeted them, bringing the tiny white dragon towards her. The baby had scales that seemed to shimmer in the light and light green eyes, wings almost transparent.

"Toshiro and I wanted to know something, Lilianna." Myndræl approached her, bowing as he had to Toshiro before. The young prince bowed his head in greeting as he stepped up next to his companion.

"And what would that be?" She tilted her head. Her attention shifted as the shimmering white dragon escaped her winged forelegs and latched onto her tail. "Shimmer, enough of that."

The white dragon looked at her with wide eyes and a big smile.

"Come on now, go play with Shaderunner and Shadow." The violet dragon pushed Shimmer away with her snout towards two of the older dragons. With a pout, the tiny dragon bounded over to them. "Continue, dragonlings."

"My father mentioned that every Soul King has had a dragon." Toshiro said.

"You wish to know what happened to his."

"If possible." Myndræl nodded.

Lilianna huffed, fur ruffling a bit, and the blue dragon lowered his head.

"Well…I suppose since you're the Soul Prince you have a right to know." The violet dragon frowned. "And with Myndræl being your dragon he shall know too. It's not something we dragons like to talk about."

"Why's that?"

Lilianna glanced at the other dragons as they grumbled and moved away. The big dragon keeping watch, a diamond beauty with bright white eyes and smoky claws and horns, lifted her lips in a snarl before turning away.

"What happened to Lord Kinryu is something that should never happen to a dragon." Lilianna spoke in a grave tone. "When Dethmaiyn first realized he was no longer the one to claim the throne, the first thing he did was attempt to force your father to destroy you."

"He what!?" Toshiro's eyes went wide.

"It was either you or his dragon." Lilianna lowered her head sadly. "Lord Kinryu believed Dethmaiyn was simply threatening death and told your father to hide you away, to protect you, and not worry about his fate. But Dethmaiyn had far worse in mind. He used dark magic to take from him the one thing that separates dragon from monster."

Beside the boy, Myndræl whimpered, lowering his head to the ground.

"Kamai Dethmaiyn stole from Lord Kinryu his Heart of Hearts, his very soul. By doing so, what was once a mighty dragon king of light turned into a flesh eating monster. Dethmaiyn had no intention of killing him…he forced your father to kill his own dragon after Lord Kinryu slaughtered many of his people in a blind, beastly rage."

Inside his mind, Toshiro heard Hyorinmaru roar in fury. He wanted to do the same, but was too shocked to wipe the stunned expression off his face. He was horrified that Kamai would do such a thing to such wise creatures.

"Lord Kinryu was even attempting to harm a dragonling." Lilianna let a tear stray down her muzzle. "Your father was heartbroken, but he had to do it. I only hope you will be safe from such a torment, both of you." She nudged the tearful blue dragon in comfort, doing the same to Toshiro. The young prince put a hand on her snout to thank her. "Your father's zanpaktou was broken that day as well as Dethmaiyn took advantage of your father's grief and destroyed it. Dethmaiyn is the reason your father only has months to live when he could have continued on until you were of true age to know your birthright."

"How can I stop someone like that?" Hitsugaya looked the violet dragon in the eyes.

"You're a special dragonling." Lilianna stood. "Not only do you have your dragon companion before you're of age, but your very spirit is that of a dragon. You've been welcome to the nest, which can only be done by those strongly bonded to a dragon. I have faith you are much stronger than your father."

"My father isn't weak, though."

"No, he isn't, but his strength has since failed him. Satoru Hitsugaya was a powerful king indeed, but his time has ended. The day will come when you take his place."

"And we will follow you to the end." The diamond dragon added, landing next to the smaller violet dragon and bowing her head. Though she could easily swallow him without effort thanks to her size, he felt no threat from her.

"Dragon King." Lilianna bowed her head as well. "A name only given to those the dragons deem worthy to rule them. That name will be yours when you become king."

"I'm…I'm honored." Toshiro bowed to them in return.

"It's time you returned to the girls." Lilianna started walking towards the walls. "I shall fly with you; I also wish to speak to Lady Greenleaf and the Soul King."

Still in a sort of shocked state, Toshiro simply mounted his dragon companion and the two took off over the wall and back to the mainland.

So dragons did run in the family, as his father had said, but it was possible to lose one. He'd already grown rather attached to Myndræl, as had Hyorinmaru. Though the two ice dragons could not freely speak to one another, his zanpaktou often said a few words through his master to the dragonling. It wasn't something they wanted to lose. Speaking of his zanpaktou, apparently having a dragon zanpaktou was special. He'd always been told how powerful Hyorinmaru was, as well as how his attacks made the figure of his spirit, not something very common among the zanpaktou, apparently. He'd shrugged it off, as both Renji and Komamura had zanpaktous reflecting their inner spirits.

But why was that so special, that he had a zanpaktou dragon and a living dragon? His father definitely knew something but wouldn't tell, Toshiro knew by the way Satoru had looked at him when saying he'd always known he was special.

He shook his head. He needed to stop getting distracted. He had only a few months to do what needed to be done to become the Soul King, starting with the five trials, which was mainly just to raise his Spirit Energy to the needed level. It really had nothing to do with combat or how to run the kingdom. Just power. He'd graduated the Shinou Academy in one year, though, surely he could do this.

The two dragons landed outside the tree mansion where his father stood with a new figure. She was definitely not the woman he was expecting. She had foresty green hair, for one thing, and bright amber colored eyes. She seemed to lean more towards her rebellious daughter, wearing black though it had purple and green accents, which was weird to him. She had a short slitted black skirt over green shorts and tall black boots, as well as a short sleeved black shirt lined in green with purple fur around the waist covered by a thick black belt. There was a necklace of fangs around her neck.

"Ah, Toshiro." Satoru grinned. "And Lilianna, such a pleasure to see you again."

"You as well, my king." The violet dragon bowed her head. "Welcome back, Lady Greenleaf."

"Good to be back!" The green haired woman said cheerily; while she seemed to stylize more towards Ralæn, she acted more like a peppy Ælfwyn. "And now I can meet the young prince."

The minute Toshiro had dismounted Myndræl, the Greenleaf Head of House promptly pulled him into a tight hug.

"Ah, Sylfie, my son can't breathe." Satoru calmly pointed out.

"Oh, sorry." The woman let him go. "It's just so nice to finally meet my nephew."

"Nephew?" Toshiro looked at her strangely, rubbing his arm; the woman had a death grip.

"My sister is your mom." Sylfie giggled, poking the young prince's forehead. He scowled at her. "You're kind of small."

"I am not!"

"Oh calm down, I'm just playing." She put an arm around his shoulders and pulled him towards the door, his father watching in amusement. "I have to say hello to my daughters, if you'll excuse me."

She let him go at the door before stepping inside with a little too much energy for his liking.

"Is she always like that?" Toshiro grumbled, straightening his shirt. He wasn't wearing anything fancy considering the kind of training he was doing, and although Shutara worked fast his growth spurt over the past few weeks made her decide to wait for a while before using her more expensive fabric.

Behind him, his father laughed before coming to stand next to him.

"She's very lively, yes. Just wait, the girls may end up singing for us."

"Singing?"

"They're a very musical bunch. They blame it on their celtic roots." He patted his son on the shoulder and Toshiro glanced at him, miffed. "It'll be fun, I promise. You need to relax before your final trial, anyway. Sylfie is very good at that. Come on."

The two boys walked inside and joined the girls in their chatting. Ruala was rather quiet, despite the energy her cat showed, Sofia currently darting around the green haired woman in songbird form. It was rather lively with Sylfie here and it seemed to be infectious. Satoru was in much higher spirits and didn't look as sickly, managing to keep up with the chirpy woman as the two of them went back and forth with smart-aleck remarks. Eventually Ralæn stepped in and won the whole argument before everyone burst into laughter.

"I hear our young prince has been taking my surrogate daughter's five trials." Sylfie turned to Toshiro, who blinked in surprise as attention turned to him.

"I have." Toshiro replied calmly.

"Which one you on?"

"I just completed the fourth."

Sylfie raised an eyebrow.

"When did you start?"

"Three weeks ago." What was she getting at?

"Impressive. Now, what's your favorite kind of music?"

"I-what?" Toshiro lost his train of thought.

Sylfie laughed loudly at that before turning to her daughters, Ruala looking a little exasperated at the woman's antics.

"What, no singing?" She questioned them.

"It's not the same without you, mother." Ælfwyn smirked.

"Oh you're all hopeless." The girls giggled. "Alright, tomorrow we'll do a little something to bring the song back."

"We look forward to it." Satoru chuckled. "Perhaps we'll even join in."

"Count me out." Toshiro grumbled.

"What's this?" Sylfie gasped dramatically. "Well, little prince, we'll fix that."

"I'm not little." Toshiro growled. "And I don't sing."

"You will when we get going, you just watch."

"No."

"Just one song.

"No."

Sylfie pouted.

"What a serious child you are. You'll never grow with an attitude like that."

"And what would you know?"

"Just have a little fun and you'll feel so much better!"

Toshiro groaned. Perhaps he'd head to the fifth trial early. Or maybe escape to the dragon island. Anything but singing.

Break time! Toshiro gets to handle the rather energetic mother of the Greenleaf twins and maybe they can get the Ice Prince to sing XD Enjoy!