DRAGON'S BROOD II (Kirishima x Bakugou)

Chapter 9: Revenge of the Dragons

Kirishima's PoV

I could not deny that fear flowed through me when the despising gaze of the dragon fell on me. Even if I had turned into my dragon form, it would be much bigger than me. The dragon narrowed his eyes and walked towards us with heavy steps. He lowered his upper body and head. His claws dug deep into the ground as he tensed his hind legs to jump. A deep throaty hissing escaped his throat as he positioned himself in front of us.

Without really thinking I returned his hissing with a deep warning growl. A growl that clearly didn't come from a human being.

I thought I could see confusion in his eyes for a short moment, but shortly afterwards it again reflected pure aggression.

"Go back." I whispered to the others. "I don't feel like he's particularly willing to negotiate." I fixed the dragon's gaze and heard relieved that the others stepped back a bit.

Well, well. We got a brave little man there? Don't worry, you will die first.

The words of the dragon echoed in my head. The tongues of the dragons were not made for the language of the humans. Sometimes their way of communicating was called telepathy, but Taran had frowned at that word when he explained their communication to me, because it sounded far too unscientific to him. He explained to me that dragons had an organ that resembled the human larynx and with which they sent out vibrations that could not be perceived by the human ear. Dragons, on the other hand, could hear it and their brains could translate these oscillations into speech. Even though he explained everything to me, it sounded still like telepathy to me. However, he could not teach me how to use it and also did not know whether I could hear their frequencies in my human form at all. But apparently I could.

The dragon's eyes flashed dangerously as he slowly approached me.

"Really? A death threat right away? Can't we talk first?" I asked distinctly calmly and looked into his eyes.

He paused and shook his head in confusion for a moment before he fixed me again and jumped towards me.

I shifted into my third half dragon form and evaded with a jump and a wing beat. But now I was angry and this time my roar was not only warning but threatening. With my legs apart I stood there. The wings spread out, aware that I would have to protect the others behind me.

But immediately after my transformation the dragon had stopped and stared at me. In a mixture of surprise and ... reverence?

A half human? Forgive my behavior, I didn't expect to meet someone like you.

"You didn't expect it? Weren't my growling and the answer to your telepathy enough evidence?"

I thought it was a despicable trick of a human. It's hard to believe ... I'll ever meet someone like you. Nobody will believe me.

He curiously surrounded me and sniffed at me. I allowed him to, but I was still angry. This dragon had killed many people, wanted to kill us and showed no remorse.

"Why did you do that?" I asked bitterly, pointing to the destruction and the corpses.

Revenge. People murdered my parents like so many other tribal owners. They wiped out whole clans. They deserved nothing else.

His gaze turned to my fellows.

They've forfeited their right to exist.

He took threatening steps towards the others and I noticed that Katsuki took one step forward and raised his sword just as threateningly.

"Don't dare to touch him," I said harshly to the dragon who was already baring his teeth.

He tilted his head and sniffed.

Your mate? Well, I won't touch a dragon's mate. But the others ...

"No!" I ordered with a firm voice and I was surprised to see the dragon flinched at my command. Surprised he looked at me and then hesitantly walked towards me again.

Tell me, half human, what's your name?

"Eijirou Kirishima."

He shook his head.

You're lying, that can't be.

I frowned half angry, half confused. "Why do you say that?"

Because... the Kirishima gave up fathering half humans a long time ago.

"Well, then one of the clan's tribal elders must have done it 21 years ago. Because I am a Kirishima," I said for sure. The dragon didn't contradict me directly, but the look he threw at me showed that he didn't believe me.

He made a soft hum, resembling a sigh.

Well, then, why are you here standing in front of the humans? I told you what they did.

"This happened a long time ago. I want peace like everyone else in this empire," I said seriously.

It hasn't been that long. Do you know what it's like to watch your parents get killed?

I shook my head seriously. "I don't know, but Katsuki knows. Because exactly the same thing happened to him as to you. His parents were murdered by a dragon in front of him when he was a child."

The dragon's gaze glided almost curiously over to my mate.

Is that why he looks at me so hatefully?

"No, he always looks like that," I said and couldn't suppress a little laugh.

"Hah?" Katsuki asked confused. My look at him had apparently revealed that we talked about him. I winked at him, which only made him frown.

Sighing, I turned back to the dragon. "The life span of the dragons is much longer than that of the humans. What was only yesterday for you, is already several generations ago for humans. None of the people today knows what happened back then and they haven't done anything wrong themselves. Instead, they see you as angry, destructive beasts who destroy an entire village without warning. Their hatred of you goes so far that they detect and annihilate my kind already as children. I myself only survived because my mother handed me over to the right people."

The dragon didn't answer immediately. The small scales between his eyes pulled together into something resembling a frown.

Little Kirishima. Are you saying that my revenge hits the wrong people?

"Yes." I said clearly. Then I added somewhat hesitantly: "And perhaps that revenge is not the best motive to justify a centuries-long war."

Only a human could say that.

"Half dragon."

Half human.

"Whatever."

The dragon fixated me for a long time with his dark green eyes, as if he was thinking sharply about something. Then he slowly started to walk up and down while he shared his thoughts with me.

Let's say you can convince an influential dragon of your story. What then? Will humans continue to kill the dragons?

I shook my head. "When were the last dragons killed, apart from those who invaded the empire to destroy whole villages?"

That still wouldn't give us the security that it won't happen again. You said yourself that they don't accept your kind either. If your word doesn't count for them, you wouldn't be a negotiating partner for us either.

I hesitated. The Order always wanted me to do the negotiations, but the argumentation of the Dragon was plausible. None of the people would listen to me at this time.

"Who would be a good negotiator for you?" I asked frowningly.

One of the family that started the war. A Todoroki.