Bleach AU where dragons exist
“It’s only a small dragon. Practically not even a problem.” -- Prompt from @oopsprompts
Uryuu sighed at the sight of yet /another/ dragon flying overhead and making its way towards the outskirts of town. Reluctantly he packed up his sewing kit and slung his bag over his shoulder; looked like his break for the day was over with, hours before he had wanted to head back.
But dragons waited for no one, even if that one had looked suspiciously small. Probably newly fledged from the nest, and too dumb to realize that there /had/ to be a reason this prime territory was unclaimed.
It was a gorgeous blue color, deep and rich like the best ultramarine, and Uryuu wondered if he could manage to claim a few scales before they drove it off. He had a few projects that scales of that color would go /wonderfully/ with, even if the scales of young dragons were thinner than that of adults.
By the time he reached the other side of town — rather, by the time he reached /Kurosaki’s house/ because that’s where it had /gone/ because that’s where /all dragons went/ — it had already landed and was poking its nose at the door to Kurosaki’s house. Kurosaki was scowling at it from the street, arms crossed over his chest and a grumpy cast to his features.
What /was/ unusual was the trembling girl standing in front of Kurosaki, katana drawn and stance as firm as she could manage.
“Kurosaki,” Uryuu muttered, as he stalked up next to his classmate, eying the short girl with suspicion. “Who the hell is this?”
“She’s a Shinigami,” Kurosaki responded with a shrug. “One of those damned undead dragons showed up last night, and she got in the way.”
“I saved your life!” the girl exclaimed angrily, all bristled like an offended feline.
Uryuu gave her a skeptical look, then turned back to Kurosaki. While he didn’t think she was lying about what she believed to have happened — after all, Inoue was perfectly capable of taking care of herself in the face of a dragon or three — the idea that Kurosaki had needed /saving/ was practically ludicrous.
“She gave me her powers,” Kurosaki explained further without prompting. “Because she screwed with my timing and got both of us hurt.”
Uryuu sighed through his nose and shook his head. Of course something as ridiculous as that would happen to Kurosaki. The idiot just /attracted/ trouble, and Uryuu had stopped being surprised back a few years ago when the idiot had decided to out-stubborn an Ancient just because he didn’t like what it was offering.
“Oh, speaking of which. My sisters gathered up the scales that it dropped for you, and Yuzu’s been washing them. She said they look like oil when they’re cleaned up, and they seem pretty tough.” Kurosaki eyed the young dragon, as it tried to shove its nose through one of the windows, but didn’t otherwise react to it moving about in front of them. His house had been warded by their best efforts, after all, and this dragon was only a few months out of the nest.
“Thank you,” Uryuu replied.
“Are you two just going to /stand there and chat/?!” the girl yelped, staring over her shoulder at them with wide, frightened eyes. “That’s a /dragon/! A /live dragon/!”
“So?” Uryuu asked in unison with Kurosaki, not quite understanding what her issue was.
“Yeah, I dealt with that undead one last night,” Kurosaki continued with a shrug. “They’re always the annoying ones, anyway.”
She made a strangled sound of frustration, then took one hand from her katana and pointed at the blue dragon that was currently reared up on its hind legs and scrabbling at the roof. “/DRAGON/! I’m a Shinigami! I deal with SOULS and HOLLOWS and DEAD DRAGONS ARE SUPPOSED TO BE DEALT WITH BY CAPTAINS!”
“Huh, is that why you had so much trouble?” Kurosaki asked absently, as he finally grew bored of watching the dragon try to dismantle his house. He raised a hand to his mouth and gave a sharp, piercing whistle.
The girl made a terrified whine as the muzzle of the beast swung around to face them and the dragon’s sky blue eyes lit up with fascination at the sight of the three of them.
“It’s only a small dragon,” Uryuu told the girl with asperity, as he called forth his bow and sighted down the shaft. He needed to be careful about his aim, if he wanted to just drive it off instead of killing it, but Kurosaki had driven home his opinion: no killing the dragons unless they refused to take no for an answer. “Practically not even a problem.”
“Yeah, we deal with bigger threats than this all the time,” Kurosaki added, calling up his own weapon. The glimmering golden staff settled across his shoulders, and the teen nudged the girl out of the way as he strode forward to meet the dragon.
Uryuu rolled his eyes and loosed his arrow, landing it with precision right between the dragon’s toes on it’s right front paw. “Your new follower is rather high strung.”
“Oh shut up,” Kurosaki growled back, as he thumped the dragon across the snout with his staff. “She’ll adapt.”
Behind them, the girl whimpered.
