Don't own Kuroko no Basuke or Skyrim.

Don't own the Cover Art.

Dragon Jarl of Helgen

Chapter II

Hroar was having difficulty learning how to read, and his new Papa couldn't help him at first. Mostly because Papa couldn't read the books since he'd never seen the language before. That made sense, Hroar reasoned. Dragons wouldn't have time to read books. He seemed to figure it out quickly though, add soon Papa was telling Hroar whatever stories in the books the kid could find, his voice gentle and deep.

The big cat that lived with them stared at him in confusion when he first met him then gave Papa a look that Hroar could only describe as unimpressed. Papa made disagreeing sounds at the cats look but didn't seem too upset either way.

From his Papa's words and the fitting letters on the books, Hroar began to slowly learn more letters and he began to very slowly learn to write as well.

They were exploring outside of the town Papa lived in when he found a signpost. "Papa," he called. "That says 'Riverwood', right?"

Papa looked up from the elk he and Akashi were eating and stared at the sign. "Yes." He finally said, "well done." He sounded proud, and Hroar beamed. They continued exploring nearby, Hroar a little ahead of Papa and Akashi, when he felt someone grab him.

"What're you doing here you little brat?!" He heard someone yell at him, but it descended to screams as Akashi leapt at him and clawed his face, maiming him beyond repair. The screams grabbed the attention of the other bandits and they all came out of the mine to attack the bit cat, but Papa reached them first, snarling and burning them to ashes.

Once they were all gone, Hroar hugged his Papa tight around the neck and sobbed. "Thank you, Papa!" he cried, refusing to let go even when the dragon's neck jerked in surprise.

After a quiet moment Papa leaned a little into his hug. "You're welcome…son." He said the word slowly, almost unsure, but Hroar just hugged him tighter in response. After that brief heartfelt moment, the two separated and the former orphan explored the rest of the mine with Akashi beside him, Papa too large to enter. They had just finished exploring the mine and were returning to the surface when a man stumbled across them.

Akashi immediately began growling and the man dropped to his knees in front of them, cowering. "Please don't hurt me," he cried. "I don't mean any harm! They were going to kill me but then you two showed up and killed them all. I swear I've never drunk a human's blood without permission!"

Hroar blinked at the man in surprise and stated the obvious. "So you're a vampire. I'm Hroar, and this is Akashi." The cat snarled a little but made no move to attack the vampire.

The vampire shook a little. "I-I'm Kailen." Kailen was pale brown with glowing orange eyes. His fangs were prominent, but not enough to immediately suspect him being a vampire. Hroar just shrugged it off; the bandits might've been tailing the guy to jump him later on.

"Hi Kailen, nice to meet you. Let's head out and meet with my Papa." Papa would know what to do about this.

Kailen walked nervously beside the young boy, his mind whirling with thoughts. Hroar appeared to be a kind boy, but the large saber-toothed cat that the boy was now riding on terrified the young vampire quite a bit. He kept looking at it, only to find it staring back darkly every time, waiting for him to slip up so that it – he, Hroar had introduced the cat as Akashi and called it a "he" – could happily tear into him.

They finally left the mine shaft and Kailen cringed at the bright light, his hands scrambling to his hood in order to protect his eyes from the light. That done, he looked up as Hroar ran off screaming, "Papa!" and blanched.

That was a dragon.

A dragon.

…Kailen was definitely missing something, he could tell.

The dragon allowed the child to hug his face then turned to look at the vampire. "I see you've made a new friend, Hroar. What is his name?"

The boy let go of his "Papa" (…he still didn't get it) and gestured at his "new friend". "This is Kailen, Papa! He's a vampire and they were gonna kill him!"

The dragon looked at Kailen curiously before cocking his head to the side. "Does he sparkle in sunlight?"

Embarrassed Kailen blurted out, "Of course not!" then squeaked as the dragon stared at him. It then began to laugh, a low deep sound that practically made Kailen's bones vibrate.

"Well at least he isn't mute!" the dragon teased. "It is an honor to meet you, Kailen. I am Nijimura." He lowered his head slightly, which Kailen interpreted to be a bow, and he hastily bowed back. Nijimura shifted around slightly, prompting the child to get onto his neck, but glanced back at Kailen. "Do you have a place to stay, little vampire? Our home is naught but a ruin, but it is open to you none the less."

Kailen blinked at him in surprise. He'd just told the large beast that he was a vampire, but instead of killing him he was…inviting him into his home?

Was he mad?

Nijimura seemed to read his expression and gave him an amused look. "Akashi would not have let you near Hroar if he deemed you untrustworthy. And he has very low tolerance in terms of trust." Kailen nodded hesitantly in understanding and Nijimura took off, winging his way to the north. Kailen shot Akashi a nervous look but the cat ignored his worry in favor of running to the north as well. Kailen stared after him and began sprinting to keep up.

This was the weirdest day of Kailen's life, and that was definitely saying something.

It took a bit of time until the vampire arrived at the town Akashi was leading him to, and he was a bit surprised. The town was a bit ruined but it wasn't nearly as bad as Kailen had assumed it to be. The streets were somewhat broken up and the windows shattered, and some houses burned, but the larger debris was already outside of the compound and the streets were fairly clean.

Exploring some more, Kailen was excited to find the tunnel in the barracks that leads to an underground cavern. It went on for quite some time, the waterfall and river adding a beautiful atmosphere to the somewhat unnerving cavern. As he stared at the luminous mushrooms and weak light that entered through the stone walls and ceiling, the vampire felt a grin tugging at his lips.

"It's perfect!" he shouted at the dragon, startling Nijimura into jerking up from the book he'd been reading to Hroar. The beast turned to look at in annoyance, and Kailen was surprised to find that he didn't immediately quail at that look like he would have even hours before.

"The caverns beneath the barracks are perfect for me or any other benign vampire even! This place will be brilliant for working on my potions and research!" He grinned widely, uncaring of his exposed fangs as the other two didn't bother acknowledging them. "All I need now are supplies for my alchemy!"

"Don't you need to drink blood?" Nijimura asked, both cautious and curious.

"Typically, yes," Kailen agreed, his enthusiasm never wavering. "But I learned of a clan of vampires who've developed a potion that both heals and stands as a substitute for blood that they can take. I just got a vial of the stuff recently and should be able to reverse engineer how it's made. After that I can just make my own potions and live off of those!"

"If you never actually planned to live on human blood, then why did you become a vampire?" Nijimura asked, curious, and Kailen paused at the question. So few thought to ask it, after all.

"I was infected by Sanguinare Vampiris a few years ago, and I had planned to have it cured when I realized that, so long as I control my bloodlust, this would be the best way for me to learn as much as I possibly can. Now I'm immortal, and can study and research to my heart's content for decades to come."

Nijimura nodded thoughtfully at that, and then turned back to the book he was reading to Hroar. Kaelin sat beside them, listening to the book of riddles with a light heart.

With an extra pair of hands to do the finer work, the picking up and cleaning of the town (Kailen told Nijimura that it was once called Helgen, who began calling it that in response) was going much more smoothly.

Another two months passed before the town and underground tunnels were considered livable by Kailen's standards. He'd already made a surplus of blood potions by that time that lined a wall of the large leather tent that he had set up in the underground tunnels.

It was around the time that the town's excess debris was removed that a Khajiit caravan appeared outside of the walls, and Nijimura took barely a glance at them before using his tail to push the doors open. "I welcome you once more, caravan leader Ahkari," he greeted formally, and Kailen saw a smile appear on the Khajiit woman's face in response.

"I thank you for your welcome, Master Dragon," she said in response, tugging her hood off of her head once the gates had been closed once more. "I was wondering if we could perhaps stay once more in the Keep as we rest and recuperate from our journey."

Nijimura cocked his head to the side in thought then nodded. "I do not mind your company, so long as you do not mind Kailen resting in the underground tunnels."

She eyed Kailen suspiciously for a moment, stiffening slightly as she registered his…"affliction" before nodding. He smiled at her underneath his hood, and escorted them to the Keep.

"Master Nijimura would not ask us such a question unless you do not feed on humans," she said as an opener, and Kailen nodded.

"This is true," he agreed. "Nor would he allow me near his human child Hroar if I did in fact feed on human blood. I survive on blood potions that I make myself." Kailen stifled his amused laugh at the Khajiit's and her group's stunned visage and simply led them to the Keep. The sun was beginning to set, so he was only just getting ready to act on his nocturnal nature.

He waved the Khajiit into Helgen Keep and returned to Nijimura. "Friends of yours?" he asked lightly, and the dragon nodded.

"I met them on my first night in Helgen; they were kind, if wary due to my being a dragon." Kailen nodded thoughtfully at that, and they spent the rest of the night talking, staring at the moon and listening to the howls that echoed in the night.

The next day, Kailen was returning to the tunnels to sleep the day away when he saw Ahkari and her troop leaving the keep. He nodded to her, getting a nod back in response, and continued on his way. When he awoke at dusk and went outside to talk to Nijimura again, he saw that one of the female Khajiit and the cub were still there, while the others had left.

"They trust us enough to leave one of their women and a child here?" Kailen asked the dragon in a small sense of disbelief. The glance Nijimura shot him was amused.

"Why wouldn't they? They trusted me enough for Zahrasha to give birth in the Keep when I'd just arrived here and accepted when I offered them prey I had caught. They would only really distrust you and they seemed to have realized that I wouldn't let anyone harm a child, not even you." Kailen could accept that kind of reasoning and nodded in understanding.

He spent the rest of the night interacting with the new members of their little community and researching different potions with Hroar acting as his assistant when he was awake. It was with a smile that Kailen went to bed as the sun rose; enjoying the life they seemed to have set up for themselves.

And so it begins! The slow growth from a community to a town once more is in motion!

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Ja ne!