Kamijou Touma is from A Certain Magical Index and its related series, all written by our lord and savior Kamachi Kazuma. On the other hand, the Dragons as playable characters and the concept of Kamijou Touka are from the collective consciousness of the Index fandom.

Inspired by conversations in, and dedicated to, #writings of the Kamachiland Discord server.

The story begins from the end of OT. Assume events not depicted are roughly the same as in canon. Spoiler warning for OT, NT, and Railgun up to and including Jailbreaker.

Congratulations on the official NT translation. Hope everyone picked up js06's work from baka-tsuki before the purge.


Always By Your Side (Prologue ver.)

You really are an idiot, aren't you?

Always wanting to take care of things yourself.

Telling me and it to stay out of the way even when the world was on the line.

You'll stretch out your hand to anyone in need. You'll extend your fist to beat down any villain you see.

But who will reach out to you? Who will fight for you?

Even if there's nobody else, I will.

~~[z]~~

Kamijou Touma woke up in the middle of nowhere. His body hurt in very familiar places, and also in locations new and familiar, all of which formed an elaborate map of suffering. Slowly, he regained his senses, and began to take in the world around him.

The first thing he noticed was the warmth, a heavenly balm compared to the harsh coldness of the Arctic Ocean. However, it was not the warmth of a sunny day, nor that of being under the kotatsu during the winter.

It was as if he was being embraced–

"Hrgrgr–"

"Stay still, you idiot." Compared to the words, the tone of voice was warm, pleasant, soothing. "You're not especially injured, but you've still put your body to the limit."

Touma looked up. It was not quite a lap pillow; rather, the upper half of his body was being cradled, and the girl whom he was in the arms of looked to be a few years older than him. Also like Touma's, her hair was black (though perhaps a little less spiky), and as befitting a girl's, it was long, a thick mane that seemed to extend down her back to her waist.

But what caught his attention were her two horns. They began from the skull slightly above her ears, and curled around its side in a jagged curve, ending at sharp points slightly above and to the back of her head.

The color of the horns seemed to change every time Touma blinked; sky-blue, lemon-yellow, shocking pink, emerald green–and several other shades in between.

It took a moment, but he finally realised what it reminded him of.

A dragon. Those were the horns of a dragon.

Touma angled his head and looked around. He seemed to be in some sort of igloo, or a cocoon of ice, with only a circle of sky above him for light. He then looked back at the dragon girl, whose only reaction was to smile. Finally satisfied that no sudden misfortune would befall him in the immediate minute, he allowed himself to relax in her arms.

"That's the spirit," the girl said, and sighed, making a cloud in the air. "How are you? Do you still hurt?"

"Yes." Touma's voice was hesitant.

"Mmm. I would maybe do a little bit of hypnotism to help, but I don't want you to overexert yourself again. Our body has sensations for a reason, after all."

There was the sound of something large flapping, which made Touma sit slightly more upright. As he thought, the dragon girl had wings, leathery purple ones. Shifting his position also made him realise that he had not only been supported by two legs, but also a tail, which was the same dark purple as the wings. Covered in large scales that seemed to resembled armour plates, said tail was about as thick as the girl's thigh, and tapered to a sharp point at the end.

Touma searched through his memory, and certain events came to mind. "Misawa Cram School. The Daihaseisai." When he spoke, it was both statement and question.

"Good. Your mind seems to be okay, and your memory too." The girl rubbed his head. It was warm. "Yes. That was me, both times."

"But how? And why?"

"Because you haven't been taking care of yourself." The girl poked Touma's cheek. "This time, you nearly died, too. You're lucky I manifested when I did, and managed to swim out of the ocean dragging you back to the surface. Then again, I am quite impressive." She looked slightly proud of herself.

At that last sentence, Touma found it in himself to struggle fully upright, and turn to face the girl. "Who are you, really?"

"I'll think of a human name soon, but you'll probably be more familiar with my title."

"Which is?"

"The Dragon King."

"The Dragon King." Kamijou's repeated dully. His mind bypassed several arguably more important questions only to say: "But you're a girl."

She shrugged. "King, Emperor, Ruler, whatever. It's just a designation."

"But…" Touma stared back down at his right hand.

"The other fellow's still in there." The dragon girl gently grasped it. "It's a bit shy, and I don't really know what its deal is, but for now it doesn't seem to want to hurt you, at least."

Touma flinched at the sudden human contact.

"Relax. There's nobody else here to see. Besides, how long do you think I've been with you?" She continued before Touma could reply. "Actually, even I don't know. Possibly since you were born, maybe. Whatever it is, I promise that I'm firmly an ally of yours. I'll never harm you."

The self-proclaimed ordinary highschooler couldn't find a reply to that. Having such a caring older girl be this dedicated to him seemed to be so much good luck that he was certain the scales would tip doubly hard to the other end when they did.

"Don't worry. We'll fight off the misfortune together when it comes, too."

Kamijou didn't hide his surprise. "You're reading my mind? Telepathy?"

"I just know you too well." The girl smiled once more.

~~[z]~~

"Now, to find a way back to Academy City." The dragon girl stood and stretched, when she was sure Touma was well enough to stand on his own. Fire appeared in her upturned palm, and the cocoon slowly began to melt around them.

Touma just stared.

"The Dragon King has the abilities of all the dragons, and trust me, there are a lot of dragons," the girl snorted. "Unfortunately, incarnating as a human means I'll need to take some time to, um, integrate? Relearn? Yeah, relearn them all."

"So you can't just fly us back, huh?"

"Nope. But I can still do this!"

The girl vanished from beside him, and a dark silhouette appeared in the sky above. It lingered for a while, before there was a whoosh like a descending comet, and the girl landed back beside him.

"That's…"

"Not-so-good flying. Oh, right. I'd better hide my stuff." As the girl concentrated, her wings and tail seemed to fade, and then vanish.

"Very convenient."

"If I can manifest something, I can un-manifest something. Except the horns. The horns seem to be more difficult to do."

They walked on the ice, their feet making scratching noises as they went along. Now that they were out in sunlight, Touma could make out what she was wearing: a long-sleeved white hoodie with purple lining (an article of clothing which he was quite sure he actually had in his wardrobe), a black jacket on top of that much like his own, a pleated black skirt, dark blue stockings, and some sneakers, also somewhat similar to what he had on now.

"Anyway!" The girl interrupted his thoughts. "I saw a ship going down a river in that direction." She pointed. "We should start walking."

They continued, and the conversation lapsed into silence. A very peaceful silence, that Kamijou was unused to. For the first time in a while there were no magicians or espers chasing after him, no monsters out for his blood, and no angry grimoire libraries chomping down on his head.

"Hey," he said, more to break the silence than anything, "have you thought about your name yet? And also what to do when we get back?"

"What to do is very simple. Of course I'll be living in your dorm room." The girl declared, as if it was a statement of fact. "I need to be there to watch over you, of course, though I think I should be able to just teleport to you whenever I want." She tapped his right hand.

Touma wilted at the prospect of having to feed another mouth. The girl seemed to pick up on this, and gave him a light poke in the arm. "You do know you could just message your parents if you needed more money, right? I don't think they would deny you that if they knew you had been living on the razor's edge of starvation every month. Also, even if they said no, I'm sure there would be no harm asking."

The hammer blow of common sense stopped Touma in his tracks, before the highschooler shouted to the heavens. "SUCH MISFORTUNE!"

"What are you on about?" The girl shot him a quizzical look. "Didn't I just solve your problem?"

"I'm just thinking of what Index would do to me once she realises we could have had better food all along."

For a moment, a shadow crossed the girl's face. "I don't think you should worry about that for now," she said darkly, before her expression brightened. "And I thought of a good cover story!"

"Oh?"

"I'll be Kamijou Touka, your long-lost older sister." The girl was all good cheer. "Yep, that's settled."

"Surely that won't work," Touma said weakly.

"It will." Touka would not be stopped. "If anything really happens, I'll just go back into your arm temporarily as a last resort. Though," she added, stretching her arms wide as she walked, "I would rather not. Being out here like this is surprisingly enjoyable."

"I see." Touma just nodded.

"Don't worry. It's not as if your arm is some sort of dreary prison. I could sort of see what you saw, and hear what you heard, stuff like that." The newly-christened Touka seemed to be in good spirits. "Though it is a bit strange. I didn't have a memory until now, but I can remember things that happened before I had a memory. Does that make sense to you?"

This was somewhat over Touma's head. "Uh, I guess."

Remember things that happened before I had a memory…

Their shoes continued to scrunch against the Arctic ice. "Touka-san…"

"What is it?" The girl, who had been walking slightly ahead of him, twirled around in the sunlight. She gave him a radiant smile. "Oh, and you shouldn't bother with the -san. Call me Touka."

"But–"

"To-u-ka," Touka insisted, enunciating each mora with emphasis. "I'll ask you again: how long do you think I've been watching over you?"

Touma gave in. "Touka," he said, "does that mean you remember what happened from before I lost my memories?"

The dragon girl fell quiet for a time. "Yes," she eventually uttered.

More silence.

"I realised this myself as soon as I woke up, but I didn't think you would think to ask so quickly," Touka continued, and then her voice softened. "Do you want to know?"

"I…" Touma began.

Touka laughed, a short and gentle burst. "Why am I even asking? Of course you would want to know. Even if you say no, and there are many good reasons to say no, a part of you will always be curious. That goes for certain."

Touma closed his mouth.

"Do you trust me, Touma?" The girl demanded, sounding forceful for the first time since they met.

Unconsciously, Touma brushed his head with his right hand, then met the girl's gaze. "I do."

And he did. He could not explain it, but he felt a strange sense of familiarity, and a strong sense of assurance that the girl was indeed on his side. Truly on his side, and nobody else's.

"Then, please let me safeguard your memories for you." The girl had an undecipherable look in her eyes. "And trust me to tell you things that you need to know, when you need to know them."

Because, Touka thought, if you knew of your past failures, you would surely endanger yourself to try and help in a useless attempt to make up for it.

Shokuhou Misaki. Mitsuari Ayu.

Just two of many names lost in the sea of memories now forgotten.

"Okay. I understand. I'll trust you."

Touma bowed his head slightly, and Touka breathed a sigh of relief.

~~[z]~~

"Hey! Over here!"

In no time at all after Touka had yelled, the ship had stopped, and the pair found themselves surrounded on the ice by a group of individuals in dark suits.

"Not very friendly, are they?" Touka quietly remarked to her partner.

"Don't joke around too much and get them angry at us."

"Put your hands in the air where we can see them," one of the men instructed. "No sudden motions. And identify yourselves."

The pair complied. "I'm Kamijou Touma," Touma said.

"And I'm Kamijou Touka," the dragon incarnated as a girl spoke, knowing full well that anyone from either the Science or Magic sides who had done their research on the possessor Imagine Breaker would be thrown for a loop at the appearance of a sudden apparent blood relative of Touma's.

"You don't mind if we check that, right?" The man who had spoke spoke again, directing his words to Touma. He seemed to be leading this group. "Raise your right hand."

Touma did so, stretching out said hand in a 'stop' gesture, palm open.

"Good." The leader nodded to a person at his side. "Fire away."

Four eyes.

What? For a moment Touma thought somebody said something strange, before the suited magician raised a card and fired a fireball…at one of the others, who narrowly got out of the way in time.

Various cries of alarm bubbled up in the group. "Jones, what the hell are you doing?!"

The magician, who apparently was named Jones, only looked confused. "What? Didn't you ask me to cast at Kamijou Touma, to check that the Imagine Breaker was legitimate?"

"You fired at Williams, you damn fool!"

"The hell are you saying? I aimed directly at the boy's outstretched right hand!" Jones' voice was indignant, and his accusing finger pointed straight at Touma.

Touma shot a sideways glance at his companion, who had a small smirk on her face. Some spiky hair had fallen over her face, covering her eyes. "Touka," he quietly muttered, "did you do this?"

"Just testing something," the girl said. "Hmm, it seems to work."

"What's all this nonsense?" A newcomer arrived on the scene–a girl with light blonde hair and ice-blue eyes, dressed in a chic white dress and black stockings. Even though she looked to be no more than twelve, the way the group deferred to her made it clear she was in charge. "It shouldn't be this hard to verify that the boy really is the boy."

"Sorry, ma'am." The group leader reported. "Jones fired at Williams when we asked him to fire at the Imagine Breaker, but he was then able to point at the boy correctly. It must be some sort of minor–"

"Yes, yes, I got it." The girl gave a dismissive wave. With a sudden motion, a wand that nobody had noticed was in her hand swiped through the air, and a blade of wind rushed at Touma at chest level–

–which was then dispelled with a crack, Touma's right hand moving to intercept.

"You see how fast I accomplished the job?" The girl's voice now had an imperious ring to it. "Shame on all of you, really."

The group bowed their heads.

"Moving on, apologies for that." The girl turned to Touma. "I'm Leivinia Birdway, and these useless louts are from the cabal I lead, the Dawn-Coloured Sunlight. We've come to fish you, Kamijou Touma, out of the Arctic, though it looks like someone else already did the job." Leivinia eyed Touka with some suspicion.

"Birdway…" Touma was sure he had heard the name before, but couldn't quite place where.

Touka snapped her fingers. "Oh, I remember. You used Touma as bait, didn't you? For the Horoscope something-or-other incident."

"It was the Horoscope of Donati." Leivinia flicked a bit of her blonde hair, her voice taking on a slight hint of brittleness. "And if you were to be precise, the term is decoy, and my trusted subordinate was with him."

Touka shrugged. "I guess some details got fudged in the retelling. Kamijou Touka, by the way. Touma's older sister."

"Oh?" The cabal leader narrowed her eyes. "Since when?"

"Since he was born." Touka grinned irreverently. "Before that, I was just myself."

At Leivinia's piercing look, Touma nodded. "She saved me." The highschooler boy spoke a technical truth.

"Very well, Kamijou Touma. Come aboard, then. Both of you."

~~[z]~~

"This is the S.S. Piercer, an icebreaking ship that the Dawn-Coloured Sunlight have temporarily commandeered for our use. You may feel at home here, and rest assured we will let no harm come to you so long as you are under our protection." The cabal leader gave an elegant curtsey as soon as both black-haired youths were on board. "We hope you will enjoy your stay here, until we send you both back to Academy City."

"Question!" Touka piped up.

"Yes?"

"What if we don't want to go back to Academy City?"

Leivinia gave her a look. "Then, where do you want to go?"

"Dunno. Just asking."

"Well, until you think of something, it's Academy City." Leivinia inclined her head. "Williams! Show them to their quarters."

The mildly singed magician nodded. "If you both would follow me."

The ship, while reasonably spartan in terms of decoration, seemed comfortable enough all the same. Members of the cabal, both dressed in formal clothes and not, could be seen bustling about as they walked through the corridors.

"Say," Touka asked. "How many magicians are in this cabal?"

Williams shrugged. "Even I don't know the exact number, except that we're the largest in Britain. The largest Golden-style cabal, that is."

"Hmm." The girl nodded, before changing tack at the speed of light. "Are me and Touma going to be in separate rooms? Or the same?"

"Well…" The magician paused in his speech to think. "I suppose the same. Miss Birdway didn't expect to find more than one person."

"Good. I'm going to be keeping a close eye on Touma here. Not that I distrust all of you, mind," Touka waved both palms in a supplicatory manner.

"No offense taken." Williams said. "In fact, it'd be stranger for the both of you to warm up to us immediately, even if we did rescue you."

The dragon girl nodded. "Right, right. Also, sorry for earlier."

"Earlier?" The magician seemed confused.

"When your mate shot that fireball at you. It was my minor illusion."

The magician simply nodded. "I see. You're a magician?"

"It's my own ability."

"I see."

They came to a stop outside a small door, which was opened to reveal a simple bedroom with an attached bathroom. "We're not going to lock you in, but if you wander around you're liable to get lost, and then there will be trouble, so please stay in here. If you need something, call us on this bell here–" Williams indicated a button, "and we will try to answer. Miss Birdway will come around in the evening to explain things."

With that, the so-called siblings were left alone.

"Why did you tell him you did that?" Touma asked immediately.

"Eh, a concession and some misinformation. He'll probably inform his boss, and she'll probably think I'm some naturally-occuring esper, when the truth is much stranger than fiction." Touka grinned again, then grabbed Kamijou's shoulders and leaned in to whisper in his ear.

"What–"

"Of course, there might be bugs in here, so don't say too much until I clear it out. Spearhead."

The dragon girl detached herself from him, then walked around the room and the bathroom. Yellow arcs of electricity crackled from her body as she did. After she did a full circuit, she returned to Touma and whispered in his ear again. "Can you go around touching everything you see? There might be spells and stuff."

Touma saw her point immediately. "Right."

When he was done, he sat back on the room's single sofa, a two-seater, which Touka had already made herself comfortable with. "That should take care of things."

"If you think the room was bugged, why did you just–"

"-admit that I was fudging the truth?" Touka was lounging, relaxed. "Well, I don't really care if they know I'm not really a fake esper. It's not as if they can do anything about it. Besides, even I don't know what I would categorise myself as."

"I see." Touma said, and then fell silent.

What could he say? What was there to be said?

For the first time in what felt like several decades, Touma felt an odd sense of tranquility. He was in relatively safe hands (at least, he didn't think the Dawn-Coloured Sunlight would suddenly attack him). There were no immediate threats after his life. There was nobody around he needed to protect–

He sat up and turned his head, looking at the other person beside him. Was there?

"What's with that look?" The girl that called herself Touka cocked her head like a bird and stared back. "Oh, you don't need to worry about me. I can take care of myself fine. In fact, I can take care of myself and you well enough."

Immediately, Touma's right hand shot forth, his fingers grazing the side of the girl's face, and lightly touching her thick black hair.

Touka smiled. "No need for that, Toumacchin. I'm really not using any Telepathy, nor can I read your mind through some other way. Like I said, I just know you well enough. Really, how many times do I need to say it?" Her own hand reached up to grasp Touma's. "Also, you're surprisingly daring, not hesitating to lay a hand on me."

At the girl's statement, Touma tried to withdraw his hand, only to find that Touka's grip was surprisingly strong. "Umm…"

"Though I suppose you've never hesitated in all the other cases as well, even if they were girls." A mischievous grin surfaced on Touka's face. "Say, you want to touch my boobs?"

The question, delivered in the sheath of a nonchalant tone, caused Touma to choke. "W-What are you saying, Touka-san!"

"You heard me clearly. Oh well." Touka let go, and Touma's hand returned to his side. Now that the girl had mentioned it, he noticed that his companion's bust side was actually somewhat on the larger side, and a tiny blush came to his face, which did not pass unnoticed by Touka, though she made no comment about it for now.

Instead, Touka gently steered the spiky-haired boy's head down to rest on her lap. "Ssssh. Don't make too much of a fuss."

"W-What–"

"I'm going to do an impromptu ear cleaning. Simply because I'm bored, mind you, and we're going to be here for a while."

Touma wisely decided not to protest. Instead, he pointed out a simple fact. "But you don't have anything to clean my ears with."

"That's what you think. Ta-da!" A single white feather was suddenly between her fingers. "Completely seriously, I'm also practicing my powers this way, so just lie there and let me pamper you, or something."

Or something, huh. Touma felt the sensation of something ruffling around in his ear. "This is a part of your power? Is it safe?"

"I don't think I could harm you even if I tried." Touka's voice sounded from above him. "Besides, a lot of it is based on intention. Normally, these feathers place you under my hypnotism, or make the salt in your body go out of control in a crystalizing reaction, but it's fine since I'm not trying to harm you."

What are those ridiculously frightening powers that this girl just admitted to?

~~[z]~~

"So, Kamijou Touma, and Miss Elder Sister." Birdway looked at the pair of them over a dining table. "Where do we even begin?"

The dining hall of the icebreaker ship was spartan and modest, but some effort had been made to transform its atmosphere closer to that of a formal restaurant. The dining table, for instance, had been draped with a white tablecloth, and the silver-steel cutlery had been meticulously laid out.

Tonight's dinner was beef steak, accompanied by mashed potato and roasted carrot and asparagus–served on a plate of white porcelain which now sat in front of all three that were seated.

Touma noted that Birdway's plate, unlike his own and Touka's, held no vegatables.

"Thank you for saving us." The girl beside Touma inclined her head, and spoke a comment that Touma did not expect. "I don't think I've said that yet, right?"

"Indeed you have not. Such thanks are not needed, but still appreciated," Birdway said magnanimously. "I trust you feel that you have been treated fairly thus far? From tomorrow, you will be allowed to roam the ship freely; we needed to tune our security measures to account for an additional guest."

Cutlery clinked.

"Also," Birdway continued, "we would like to have you both undergo a proper medical examination later. Both of you appearing healthy enough distracted me from considering that you might have suffered injuries after…well, after everything that happened."

Punching out an archangel. Surfacing from an ocean with subzero waters.

Touma nodded, but Touka simply cut off a piece of her steak. "A magical scan won't work on Touma, 'cause of his right hand. You know that, right?"

"Who said anything about a magical scan?" Birdway was very faintly smug. "The Dawn-Coloured Sunlight is a huge cabal. We have trained medical staff and proper equipment on board–a precaution that we took, given that we anticipated this eventuality."

"Of having to fish Touma out of the ocean? Does he usually get into stunts like this?" Touka asked.

Touma gave an aside glance at his 'elder sister'. Playing innocent to the boss, huh?

"You need only look at his track record. That nonsense with the Roman Catholics, Acqua of the Right, British Halloween…you could say it was very nearly inevitable."

Touka glanced at Touma, and was not surprised to see the boy do the same as her. She could guess at his thoughts. They've been observing him for that long? "That's fine, then," she said. "You'll want to do a deeper check on Toumacchin here–" Touka lightly slapped the boy's shoulder, and Touma gave off a 'bwah' in surprise– "but I won't consent to anything except the non-invasive stuff. Unlike him, I don't have Imagine Breaker to protect me if you decide to curse me with a sample of my blood."

Touma gave another look at the girl beside him, and then to the girl–to the cabal leader in front of him. "You wouldn't, right?"

"They probably wouldn't, but I'm still uncomfortable about it." Touka spoke before Birdway could say a thing. "You're quick to trust, o little bro of mine, but I'm not that forgiving."

Birdway steepled her fingers. "Kamijou-san. You are, of course, free to refuse if you feel that your privacy would be infringed upon. Of course, I wouldn't stoop so low."

"Heh." A grin was on Touka's face. "I'm equally curious to see what those scans would return. Go on ahead, I say."


This chapter will be updated as more of it gets written. The pairing is Touma x Touka, for certain.

If you liked what you saw, please check out the other fics on my profile, especially Forgotten but not Gone, a oneshot set during NT10.

Review please!