Hey Everybody! So, here's a new fic for you. Have fun reading it - I certainly had fun typing it. See you again at the end of the chapter!

Prologue

Yuuri Shibuya was six years old when his life changed forever.

The day wasn't different from any other – Miko Shibuya was bathing her playful son in their home of Japan after a particularly messy dinner. Her Yuu-chan could be quite picky when it came to food, and while he could be quite resistant when she tried to feed him, she knew he would warm up to her curry eventually.

"Mama, look, I'm a duck!" Yuuri laughed as he scooped his familiar rubber toy out of the bath water and imitated quacking sounds.

Miko chuckled at her son's silliness as her fingers combed through his hair, dislodging clumps of curry and other food that had gotten stuck after the wild feeding frenzy. Yuuri would often scream and resort to tantrums when it came to facing a food he didn't like. Miko knew she would have to start scolding him soon, but some part deep inside of her insisted on letting him stay a child for as long as he could. For she knew that within mere years, her son would leave her side to fulfill a great destiny.

"You sure eat like an animal!" Miko chided softly, causing Yuuri's cheeks to flush lightly. "Shori eats my delicious curry. And he does it without getting all of it stuck in his hair!" She rubbed in her fingers a bit harder to emphasize.

Yuuri pouted a bit at this, his duck lips unfolding into a frown.

"But I think curry is yucky, Mama." He replied, his childish face screwing in distaste as he remembered the flavor of the food that was currently dripping from his pitch black hair.

Miko feigned being shocked, her hand rising to cover her mouth as her eyes went as wide as dish plates, before throwing an arm over her forehead and swooning onto the bathroom floor.

"How could you, Yuu-chan…! My curry…!" Her voice echoed off the tiled bathroom walls.

Yuuri giggled and splashed a bit of water at his mother, before diving under the surface to scrub the grime off himself. She was so dramatic and silly, he couldn't help but love her.

Suddenly there was a tug at his ankle, and Yuuri found himself pulled to the bottom of the tub. He hiccupped in suprise, but found the force holding him wouldn't let him rise to the surface of the relatively shallow pool of water.

Instinct kicked in as soon as panic did, and he found himself scrambling to pull his head above the bath water. The splashing of his flailing limbs seemed to form into a vortex around him, and suddenly he felt like he was in a much deeper abyss. The force kept pulling him down and down.

Yuuri let out a shrill scream as the cold hit him, but even then the force holding him did not let go. He choked out a sob for his mother, but the only sound he made was by the bubbles as they left his mouth and drifted to the surface high above, pale like ghosts.

The vortex around him stilled, and his vision went black.

"Yuuri?" Miko started, having not been on the floor but for a few seconds when she heard violent splashing. She rose to her knees and lunged for the tub, arm reaching in to help drag her son out of the water.

But she found nobody there, and her throat suddenly tightened with shock.

"Yuuri? Yuuri!" She crawled into the water, desperately looking for her child, even though it was not a large tub and there was only one place where he could have possibly gone.

But no, it was too soon!

"Miko?" Shoma Shibuya poked his head into the bathroom, his voice laced with concern. His face filled with alarm, however, when he saw his wife distraught and soaked, sitting in the still-filled tub where he was sure his younger son had been previously.

"Call Bob!" Miko shouted at her husband. "Our son has—My Yuu-chan-!"

Yuuri had learned to swim at a young age. His parents had insisted on it, and so Yuuri swam. It came as no real surprise to anyone when they discovered that Yuuri was quite the adept swimmer. His parents had been proud of him, and maybe he had allowed himself to feel a little proud of himself too.

But Yuuri wasn't thinking of any of this when his face broke the surface of the muddy water. He coughed and choked, his tired limbs paddling him to the closest shore as his body heaved in the air that had been denied to him for so long.

He crawled on all fours out of the spring, his face, body and hair freshly smeared with mud. His tired body collapsed into the tall grass, and he rolled onto his back to better gasp in the glorious air. It took him several minutes to recover, to open his eyes and finally take in his surroundings.

His first thought was that he had never seen a sky so blue.

His second was that it had been nighttime in Japan. Which was quickly followed by his third thought, why was he in a forest?

"Mama?" He called out hoarsely, suddenly frightened of the strange environment that seemed to surround him.

Dark tree limbs twisted above him, masking all but a patch of that brilliant blue sky. Shadows seemed to dance across his skin as the forest canopy blocked any rays of light from cascading to the forest floor below. Roaring filled his ears, and he realized he was at the foot of a towering waterfall. Grass taller than him sprawled in all direction save for the pool of rippling water from which he had emerged moments ago.

Heart beating wildly, Yuuri dragged himself to his feet and tried to take everything in. For the most part, everything around him was silent. That only seemed to heighten the sense of danger for the young boy, and he scanned the foliage wildly for wicked things that weren't really there.

He sniffled and his lip trembled – he was so scared!

Suddenly a different kind of roar filled the air. Yuuri turned around quickly, only to find a creature of his nightmares had come alive.

His mother had read him fairytales. He knew what dragons were, and all the evils they were guilty of doing. But he had never imagined them to be this giant, or menacing. His shriek was drowned out as the dragon released another lazy roar.

The beast hadn't spotted him – it languidly glided over the tree-tops, it's long and heavy tail dragged through the uppermost leaves. It was a deep blue color, it's massive and semi-transparent wings created a maelstrom of wind that blew through the thick forest and knocked Yuuri cleanly off his feet. It flew directly over the young boy – he was cast in its cold shadow for several long moments as it adjusted its course of flight and ascended to land on top of the waterfall.

Yuuri whimpered and scrambled in the opposite direction of where the beast had just disappeared. He had to get away, he wanted to go home!

He ran for minutes, what seemed like hours. He was oblivious to the real dangers of the woods, which seemed to repel away from him as if he had an invisible shield around him. He reached no break in the trees, no relief from the nightmare that he couldn't seem to wake up from.

Eventually he broke down sobbing, and collapsed into a hollow at the bottom of a tree when he could no longer move. His body ached and his limbs were chaffed from the mud and leaves that had harshly whipped him when he ran past.

He was lost. He realized it suddenly, the weight of his new reality crashed down on him with brutal force. He was lost, and he didn't know how to get home. His chest heaved for several long minutes as the exertion of his panic took its toll. But then he went silent as exhaustion washed over him. Warm tears spilled down his face as he suffered homesickness through every fiber of his being.

As he lay motionless, he began to hear the whispers.

They built up gradually, softly at first. They were the opposite of frightening. They were quiet and comforting, soothing, even. They spoke unintelligibly, but they were familiar, and that's all that mattered.

A soft caress brushed over his face, and he was too tired to react despite the warmth of the touch.

He opened his eyes and saw dancing lights surrounding him, a variety of colors. They were like smoke. He could occasionally make out a human-like figure emerge from a wisp of color, but it would dissolve as soon as it formed, only to slowly build up to a recognizable form again.

They continued to whisper to him, to pet his face, smooth over his hair, run smoky tendrils over his aching cuts and ease the pain.

"Who are you?" Yuuri whispered, though he was doubtful these creatures spoke Japanese.

We help.

The soft whisper of a reply seemed to form directly in his mind. It was less words and more of a feeling, but its meaning was all the same to him. These things wouldn't harm him.

"Are you fairies?" he whispered back as relief from his wounds washed over him. He wondered if he had been lost in a fairytale land after all.

Spirits. We help. We keep safe.

"Why?" Yuuri breathed out the word, making almost no sound at all. He was too tired, and a weight behind his eyelids seemed to drag him deeper into exhaustion.

We keep safe. You here now, all will be well. We keep safe, we keep safe.

Yuuri was lost to the world. He fell asleep.

Among other things, Yuuri was surprised to wake up fully dressed.

The clothes he wore –if they could even be called clothes – were nothing similar to the clothes he had worn back in Japan. The cloth seemed tattered and worn, barely held together, grafted together with plants from the surrounding forest. It was closer to a tunic than anything. However, it was comfortable when he moved, and he silently thanked whoever had assisted him.

A small whisper seemed to acknowledge him, but he barely noticed it.

He found some berries and scraps of meat piled near him that were arranged too intentionally to be there by coincidence. He ate them slowly, to savor them (another pleased whisper), and then surveyed the forest around him.

Today, he was less afraid. He wasn't sure where he was, but he clearly remembered his mother's teachings about what to do if he got lost. The memories of his family gave him strength.

Firstly, he was supposed to stay where he was until someone found him.

With a shiver, he recalled the dragon that he saw the day before. He wasn't going to wait around for it to show up again, no matter what people would do in normal circumstances. He supposed he could always try walking and finding people. People were good. But then again, what his mom had said about strangers…

Everything was too hard!

He grumbled and got to his feet, brushing the dirt of the forest floor off of him. He did a complete turn to look around him, but the trees all looked the same. He didn't even remember which direction he came from – the forest had healed itself after he had rampaged through it the night before.

The feeling of hopelessness came over him. Where was he supposed to go? This had never happened to him before.

A soft touch brushed past him.

Come. Follow. We help.

"Is it you guys again?" Yuuri said to himself simply, trying to find the dancing colors he had seen the night before.

They were there. They were harder to see in the light, but he could make out the misty forms of the spirits as they swam through the air around him. The air became distorted where they floated, which strained his eyes a little as he tried to follow them.

They led him around for a long time. Light couldn't penetrate the thick trees too easily, but there was enough sky visible to determine the direction of the sun. He had to stop quite a number of times to rest, and they brought him more food when his stomach growled. He grew tired, the exhaustion of the previous day catching up with him. It was growing dark again when he heard rumbling.

Yuuri stopped dead in his tracks, as did the spirits. He looked at the colorful wisps hesitantly for any signs of alarm from them, but they continued to dance around him, cooing with encouragement.

She will help. She will watch you. She will keep you safe. Follow, follow.

Their tiny voices seemed delighted and proud, but Yuuri was still doubtful.

"If you say so." He muttered, and stepped out of the thick clump of forest into a clearing.

It was very hard for him not to scream. He had originally thought the giant mound in the middle of the clearing had been a particularly large rock, or a pile of dirt. It was only when it breathed that he realized he was horribly, terribly wrong.

The dragon before him dozed; the dark copper of its scales gave off a light sheen in the twilight. Its snout was long, its wings spread out messily around it. The forest surrounding them was disturbed and broken, as if the giant beast had rampaged before settling down. It wasn't as big as the one he had seen earlier, not by half. There was a certain roundness to some of its features that gave Yuuri the distinct impression that it was a lot younger than the one he had seen yesterday. As the initial shock wore off, he found himself fascinated.

When Yuuri looked closer, he saw that it's eyelids twitched, its body was stiff as it released labored breaths. It released a groan much like a miserable cat's as its legs spasmed under it.

It was then that Yuuri saw the blood. The dragon's copper body was littered with cuts and bent scales, dark blood oozing from its wounds.

She's hurt! Yuuri realized.

Against his better judgment, and despite being afraid, he crawled to one of its massive wings to get a better look.

Something sharp pierced his palm. He winced and lifted his hand off the ground immediately. Examining his hand, he pulled something brittle and sharp out of the throbbing flesh. The material was something familiar to him, surprisingly.

Eggshells?

He looked around him, and he saw the ground was littered with the broken shells. They seemed freshly broken, too. The slime of the yolks and other egg goo shone under the light of the moon, appearing on the grass and the belly scales of the seemingly unconscious dragon.

Yuuri's heart was suddenly filled with sadness. He held the piece of egg close to his heart and looked at the mother dragon, who had seemingly lost a fight and lost her children as consequence. While she was big to him, she was probably very much young and hadn't stood a chance.

You help.

The spirits urged him forward, their voices louder than usual. He found himself in front of the dragon's head, his mouth aghast.

"I can't help!" He whispered furiously at the sprites. "I'm just a kid! That's a freaking dragon!" He felt the ridiculousness of the situation called for a curse or two.

Use power. You have within you. Great power. Use. Help.

Yuuri's eye twitched. He didn't know what to make of it.

The spirits, who had been swimming around him, suddenly swarmed around his hands. He lifted them in wonder and they prodded at the skin of his palms. Something stirred within him, something strange that he didn't like. He bit his lip in surprise as his hands began to glow faintly, and then his whole body.

Heal her.

Yuuri didn't even think, but he listened to them.

He brought his hands down to the dragon's face, his palms right between her eyes.

He shook when the dragon started awake, its eyes finding his instantly. But to his great surprise, it didn't move. It's whole body became still like stone, tense and uncertain. He watched her in wonder as her eyes became filled with grief and uncertainty.

She feared him. She feared him.

She senses the power in you. The spirits whispered. You have great power.

"I'm not going to hurt you." He promised, doing his best to convey his good intentions through his…magic? He wasn't sure what he was doing right now, but he knew it could only be magic, or some other kind of sorcery.

He was already tired, but he poured everything he had into his hands, into her. It was too dark, he didn't even know if it was working. But all too soon he was out of energy, and he collapsed against her. He found himself in the grass, facing – once again – the all too beautiful sky.

The clearing was silent. Then, the giant beast released a great breath and got to its feet. The whole world seemed to shake when she moved, but the spirits reassured Yuuri that he would be safe.

No one had ever told him that dragons could be sad. He had always thought they were great, evil beasts whose only wish was to kill and destroy. But this copper dragon looked at the sky mournfully, her eyes full of what could only be described as grief.

She released a low caterwaul to the stars, and Yuuri slipped into the blackness once again.

When Yuuri awoke this time, he was warm. His body was heavy and felt empty, but he was far from uncomfortable.

He lifted his head, only to find himself completely surrounded by the slumbering body of the copper dragon. His heartbeat picked up a bit, and he looked around for the familiar figures of the spirits, only to find that they were gone.

Now he was nervous.

He carefully got up, limbs heavy, and wobbled away from the dragon. He wasn't sure what to do, and he certainly didn't know how he'd done what he'd done last night. Was he a wizard? A sorcerer?

Excitement suddenly sang through him as he wondered if he'd been sucked into some fun adventure. Did he have to save somebody to escape this world? Defeat a powerful enemy?

The excitement quickly died when he remembered his homesickness. He wanted his mother, his father. Even his annoying older brother who always got on his nerves. His lip was starting to tremble again when an animal-ish groan came from behind him.

Yuuri spun around, only to find the copper dragon awaking. He saw her much more clearly than he had last night. While her wounds were not completely healed, they were closed and no longer bleeding. The dragon seemed more spirited, her copper scales shining beautifully in the morning sun.

She turned and found Yuuri with her piercing silver eyes. He was frozen in place as she advanced upon him slowly.

Soon they were face-to-face. Yuuri's heart was hammering as she seemed to survey him. Her hot breath blew the black hair away from his face; he squeezed his eyes shut.

He felt her gently nuzzling his arm, to his surprise. He opened his eyes to watch her. She seemed to want his hand, so he obliged and opened his palm to her.

Burning.

The next thing Yuuri knew, he was crumpled on the ground, cradling his hand as white-hot pain shot up his arm. He cried out as the burnt flesh throbbed, tears leaking from the corners of his eyes. The dragon cooed and nosed him, as if wanting to see his hand once more.

"No!" Yuuri choked out and tried to roll away.

The dragon snorted in annoyance and fixed him to the ground with a massive foot. She eyed him with an impatient gaze, compelling him to listen.

Hesitantly, Yuuri slowly uncoiled his wounded hand from under him and showed it to her once more.

The coppery dragon breathed on it, her breath suddenly ice cold. Yuuri sighed in relief, oblivious to the fact that his burn had completely healed until he pulled a tingling hand back to his face and saw an angry red scar.

He looked back at the copper dragon, and was momentarily taken aback by what he saw.

It was as if he could see the life energy swirling around her. Tiny streams of light laced through the air, through the ground, collecting together like tiny streams. He could see them inside the dragon too, a dense net of lights like the ones his family would hang for Christmas. They were harder to see, but they were there. They pulsed and tangled together with the tiniest of movements. He looked around himself in awe. But he blinked again, and they were gone.

Black eyes found silver, and he laughed in wonder. What had she done to him! That was amazing!

The dragon grunted, nodded, and stepped back from Yuuri. The black-headed boy scrambled to his feet and looked around more. If he concentrated, he could still see the tiny lights. They were everywhere!

Suddenly the copper dragon spread its wings, the force of wind causing Yuuri to lose his balance. The copper dragon dipped its head to him, bounded a few steps, and then it was in the air.

It glided over the clearing once, twice, and then it was gone.

Yuuri found himself alone for most of the time after that. He would see the copper dragon every now and then – she would fly over him, and she would look down at him momentarily, as if to see that he was safe. He would see other dragons too, but they often times ignored him (even though he was sure that they knew he was there).

Days passed. Weeks.

The spirits visited him often and talked to him. They taught him things- taught him magic. He learned about the woods and the creatures in it, because he could not find his way out of them. Sometimes he marveled that he had managed to survive those first few days, there seemed to be so many dangers in it.

Weeks became months.

Yuuri never really spoke anymore. He hunted, and killed. He hated killing, but he had to live. He found himself becoming part of the energy that filled the forest, and he no longer had the will to leave the forest. He thought of his family every now and then, but they were unimportant when it came to his survival.

Months turned into years, though he never kept track of the time anymore.

He practiced his Japanese – that was the one thing he didn't want to forget. It kept him human. Everything else seemed lost, though. He felt like an animal, he hunted like one, too. His family was a distant memory that no longer pained him. Still, he found a certain humanity within him that surprised him sometimes.

He had magic. He used it every now and then, to heal and defend. Dragons were kings in this valley, but they respected him and kept their distance. He was haunted by the memory of the destroyed eggs of the dragon who had protected him (for he was certain that she had been watching him all these years), and he found himself enforcing justice around the forest. He broke up fights between the giant creatures more than once with his ever-growing powers. The dragon population began to thrive once more eggs had the opportunity to hatch.

It was around then that he saw humans for the first time in years. But they weren't there for good. They tried to harm the creatures he protected. They had the nerve to try to kill the valley's young.

He made weapons and even makeshift armor. He drove them away, and boy were they surprised to see him. They didn't have magic like him, making the task that much easier. But they shouted at him, frightened, and ran away upon the sight of the youth with black hair and eyes.

No more humans came for a long time, and Yuuri wasn't sure how he felt about that.

More years passed, and the valley was at peace.

Yuuri Shibuya was eighteen years old when his life changed, once again.

End of Prologue

Whew, that was a long chapter! I hope you guys enjoyed it - feel free to drop a review if you want.

I based this story on a dream I had a while ago, though I'm pretty sure that dream drew off of Princess Mononoke in some way. And maybe a little Tarzan. Anyways, I just wanted to write story about Yuuri being crazy and growling at people all the time, maybe even biting a few deserving bishounens. *wink wink* I promise you get to see Conrad and (hopefully) a lot of other characters next chapter. Sorry if you thought this chapter was a little bizarre - I wanted to establish how Yuuri got there and how he became the way he is.

See you guys next chapter!