Akashi was of the staunch opinion that Kagami was messing with him.

He glared at the other dragon who was sitting across from him trying to work through his summer assignments. Akashi noted with some relish that Kagami seemed to be struggling. At least he wasn't the only one floundering this summer.

Akashi snapped his eyes shut when Kagami glanced his way, no doubt to make sure that Akashi was still deep in meditation. Akashi still couldn't see the purpose of this exercise. Of course he knew meditation held its own benefits but he had proven throughout the week that pulling his 'flame' out was no easy task. Kagami assured him he was moving fast compared to any other dragon his age but that wasn't enough for him. This was supposed to be the first step so why was it so hard? And Akashi knew he was so close.

In all their free falling exercises (Akashi was certain he'd never be scared of heights again) he'd only managed to get a taste of that all consuming flame Kagami told him would be the key to his transformation. Green scales taunted him in his dreams and it made him want to gnash his teeth when another day passed with no progress. Now after an entire week Akashi couldn't help but feel pressured.

At most Kagami had six weeks to teach him and already their initiating week was feeling like a wash. Akashi wasn't used to failure and it left a bitter taste in his mouth.

He jumped when Kagami let out a frustrated sigh and slammed his book closed.

"Stupid math. Why do they have to give so much work when you're supposed to be relaxing?" Kagami was grumbling, shoving his books aside. Normally he would have put his work off till the last second but being in Akashi's presence made Kagami itchy about slacking off. It felt odd knowing he had work to do but wasn't doing it while Akashi worked on his dragon powers.

"Finished already?"

Kagami glared at Akashi's smug tone. The smaller boy was peering at him with one (thankfully red) eye and was practically radiating smugness. Yeah well at least I can actually transform Bakashi so take that! Kagami muttered some very unpleasant words in English before standing and rolling his shoulders.

"I'm going crazy," he announced.

Forgoing his attempts at pretending to meditate, Akashi opened both his eyes and tilted his head. "You have something else planned?"

"You feel like going free falling again?" Kagami asked, just a tad snappishly. A shiver passed over him when Akashi's eyes narrowed (he may have apologised but Kagami was still wary of the smaller boy) before he relaxed.

"I'd rather not today. I prefer not die on a Saturday," was his cool reply.

"So any other day's fine then? Good to know," Kagami grinned, not missing the twitch of Akashi's lips that basically quantified a smile for him. "You got a basketball around here? I feel like I haven't tossed one around in ages."

The thought of playing basketball sent a thrill through Akashi. After this odd week basketball might well be the remedy for his lethargy.

There was just a slight problem. "I have a ball but you'll find the compound isn't conducive to a game of basketball."

That earned a frown from Kagami. "Then what's the point in even bringing it up?" he huffed, crossing his arms. All the flying he'd been doing lately was refreshing and all but he missed basketball. Not to mention Riko would kill him if she found out he'd been slacking in his training. He was already missing out on Seirin's team retreat, there was no need to incur more of her wrath unnecessarily.

Akashi blinked slowly, something occurring to him.

"I may... have a solution..."

"This school is absolutely ridiculous," Kagami deadpanned.

"I'd like to think we have something called, standards," was Akashi's reply.

"There are standards, and then there's over kill. This... this is overkill."

Kagami was so done with rich people and their rich people schools. No school needed five gyms. These people obviously just had too much money and needed something to do with themselves.

"To be fair only three of the gyms are for basketball," Akashi said as he unlocked one of them. He seemed fairly used to the action so Kagami was certain that 'breaking' into school on weekends for impromptu basketball was something Akashi was more than a little familiar with. Who knew?

"Yes. Only three. That's so much better," Kagami said with a roll of his eyes as he dumped his bag down and began shamelessly inspecting the gym. Seriously. Rich people. They needed better things to do with their lives.

There was no denying the gym was nice though. Much nicer than the ones at Seirin. Even the bleachers looked more comfortable then theirs and, as a general rule, bleachers were never comfortable. Again. Stupid rich people.

"Complain as much as you like, the end result it still the same," and Kagami had to scramble to get his hands up to catch the ball that was being tossed in his face. Akashi smirked at Kagami's indignant squawk. Kagami may have the advantage during their training but Akashi was more than ready to put him in his place on the court.

As though reading his thoughts, Kagami smirked, twirling the ball in his hands. "You think you're so slick don't you. Alright, lets get this show rolling," he grinned, looking feral in his excitement.

"Ara! It's so intense in here!" Both boys turned at the sudden intrusion. Kagami was surprised to see Mibuchi Reo leaning against the door frame with a small smile on his... their? lips.

Kagami frowned as Rakuzan's shooting guard sauntered into the gym closely followed by Hayama Kotaro and Nebuya Eikichi. He sent Akashi a questioning look which he returned by waving his phone. Huh. He wanted company?

"You know, even with backup I could still kick your ass," Kagami smirked.

"Hah! You wish!" Nebuya guffawed while Hayama frowned.

"I didn't realize you already had company, Akashi-kun," Hayama said, giving Kagami an odd look.

"He's something of a recent acquisition," Akashi stated dryly. The three Uncrowned Kings gave Kagami considering looks with varying levels of suspicion.

"And have you had your... issue dealt with?" Reo asked in a stage whisper, fluttering their fingers in what Kagami supposed was a secretive manner.

A wry grin played on Akashi's lips. "Ahh yes. That. Well I found someone who was able to help."

That surprised his team mates and it showed on their faces.

"You can get help for something like that?" Nebuya blurted. "No offense but randomly bursting into flames ain't something a shot can fix."

"Randomly bursting into flames huh?" Kagami repeated, giving Akashi an incredulous look. So the Uncrowned Kings knew then. Figures. Akashi didn't seem like he had a lot of friends so it wasn't much of a stretch to place them together when his magic started going hay wire.

The trio, on the other hand, visibly paled at Kagami's words. That was something that was supposed to be a secret and they'd flubbed big time.

Nebuya scrambled to fix the mess he'd made. "Shit. Um I mean. What it is was-"

"There's no need to explain. Kagami-san is well aware of my problem," Akashi said, cutting through Nebuya's floundering.

That gave him pause. "Really?" he asked, narrowing Kagami with a suspicious glare.

"Remember I said I found someone who was able to help?" Akashi repeated. The trio nodded slowly. "Well, meet the help," he finished, gesturing to Kagami.

"Oi! I resent that!" Kagami growled while the others gaped.

"I'm... not too sure I follow Sei-chan," Reo said, stepping closer.

Kagami rubbed the back of his neck. This was where things got tricky. Technically there was no rule explicitly preventing a small amount of humans from knowing that the magical world existed, it was just one of those things that was understood. The more humans knew the harder it would be to keep other magical creatures safe. Plus it was usually left to a dragon's judgement as to who to tell or not. Kagami preferred the latter option of not telling anyone. It was just easier that way. He would have appreciated some heads up from Akashi however. He had been assuming the other boy hadn't told anyone. He'd have to deal with that later.

Akashi gave Kagami a curious look, no doubt wondering how much he could share with his team mates. Despite their rough start (on Akashi's head), the younger boy had grown fond of his upper classmen and they had been a great boon to him when his powers first started acting up. They'd kept him calm -despite almost burning them repeatedly- until he'd gotten a letter stating he'd be getting a teacher soon. The last part he hadn't shared with them but he wished he had. They were his support group and when Kagami eventually left Akashi wanted someone (preferably someones) he could talk to when he was left alone.

Kagami shrugged and waved his hands. "It's your choice what you wanna tell them," he said, ignoring the curious looks being given to him by the kings. "They're your friends."

"Akashi-san you know you can tell us anything," Hayama ventured, not liking the silent conversation that seemed to be passing between the younger boys. Kagami shrugged and looked away, leaving the choice entirely to Akashi.

Akashi sighed. For once he actually felt nervous. He was gong to tell them, obviously, but what would their reactions be? Akashi was the one going through the training and sometimes it didn't even feel real to him. He hoped they would understand or at least try to.

"Well my friends... it would seem..." and the trio leaned forward, waiting for the big reveal. "That I am a dragon."

Nebuya blinked before bursting out into loud peals of laughter.

Reo frowned, obviously thinking Akashi was joking but Akashi wasn't the type to joke so indeed they were more confused than anything else.

Hayama was glaring at Kagami. "This is what you put in his head? Seriously? You couldn't have come up with anything better?"

Kagami was still resolutely not looking in their direction, instead staring at the rafters. "You gotta convince 'em."

Akashi huffed, crossing his arms and catching Reo and Hayama's attention. Nebuya on the other hand was still laughing his head off, tears streaming down his face now.

"I understand that it sounds ridiculous but-"

"Sei-chan, are you sure you're thinking straight?" Reo cut in, stepping forward to feel Akashi's forehead. "You're a bit warm. Are you feeling feverish?"

Akashi barely resisted the urge to roll his eyes, instead catching Reo's hand in his and giving them a serious look. "I am completely in possession of all my faculties, thank you very much," he said, a bit cross now.

"Whhoo! Dragons! That's the best yet!" Nebuya laughed, finally recovering enough to speak as he wiped his eyes. "Akashi I didn't know you had jokes in you."

"I don't," Akashi dead panned, glaring at his team mates. He needed them to understand! "I realize that this isn't the easiest or even the most logical thing to hear but... I've had certain things revealed to me that have shaken quite a few of my founding beliefs."

The words were said with such a serious tone that even Nebuya had to stop and give their captain a good look.

"Yeah but you can't really mean-"

"Dragons. Big, scaley, fire breathing dragons," Akashi said, taking a moment to look each of his teammates in the eye so they could see just how serious he was being.

Reo wanted to believe Akashi, he truly did, but dragons? That was a bit of a stretch. Sure Japan was full of superstitious folk but it didn't mean they would believe something like that. Still, Akashi's eyes said he totally believed every word he said so how could Reo doubt his conviction. Still, it was so much to try and acknowledge much less accept.

Akashi turned to Kagami who was still not making eye contact with any of them. "Some help!"

"I didn't hear a please," Kagami said, smirking. Privately Reo gave Kagami extra points for having guts. No one taunted Akashi the way Kagami seemed to be doing.

Akashi for his part, looked like he'd been forced to swallow something particularly bitter. "Your assistance, please, Taiga-sensei," he forced out.

Kagami didn't look the slightest bit pleased by the last part tacked on to the request (Reo knew that was Akashi's vengeance but hearing Akashi call someone his own age 'sensei' was just too weird) but acquiesced, finally turning to them. He sighed and tossed the basketball into the air for a moment.

"Well, you might not want to believe me, but Akashi isn't lying. He's a dragon all right. Not too sure about the big and scaly party but a dragon no doubt," he said, tossing the ball from hand to hand.

"And we're just supposed to take your word for it?" Hayama growled, losing his cheerful persona for once and stalking over to Kagami.

Kagami's eyes narrowed and he tossed the ball at Hayama, tapping into just enough of his dragon strength for the force of the throw to literally knock Hayama off his feet.

"Yup," he said in english, popping the 'p' for emphasis as Hayama gaped up at him. That little display made Nebuya and Reo zero in on the younger boy immediately.

"I said help not hurt!" Akashi snapped.

Kagami shrugged, looking amazingly nonplussed for a boy with his known temper. "Demonstrations usually help more than words."

"I'll demonstrate my fist in your face!" Nebuya thundered, stalking over to Kagami. No one was allowed to hurt his team mates.

"Nebuya don't hurt him!" Reo cautioned but it was too late as the other boy was already swinging.

Kagami easily dodged the blow, leaning back and then spinning. Before Nebuya could fully understand what had happened he was on his back with Kagami grinning down at him.

He growled, pounding his fist on the ground as he moved to raise up once more. "You little-"

"Holy shit he has a tail!" Hayama yelled, scrambling away from Kagami. Akashi, Reo and Hayama had been in full view when Kagami's long tail suddenly materialized in a sudden burst of flame, slipping between Nebuya's legs while he was throwing his punch and sending the older boy sprawling.

Akashi noted familiar features of the tail. It was slimmer than he was used to seeing but then again the only times he'd really seen it were when Kagami was fully transformed and was busy throwing him off cliffs. Did it always have those red ridges on the back?

"Yep, a tail," Kagami grinned, the appendage waving lazily behind him while the others gaped. "Take note Akashi, this is called a partial transformation. Some day you might be able to do it but, eh. We'll cross that bridge when we get there."

Reo jumped away from Akashi as though he'd been burned. The rejection stung just as badly as if Reo had hit him instead of just running away.

"You... you have a tail too?" was all Reo managed to get out.

Akashi wavered. "I..."

"No. But only because he doesn't even know how to transform yet," Kagami answered instead, jumping slightly when Nebuya poked at the tail seemingly in shock at the display. Kagami gave Akashi a look of disbelief before edging his tail away from the curious/stunned boy.

"Yet... so..." Reo swallowed hard, fixing Akashi with a strong stare. "So... dragons...? They're... they're a thing?"

Akashi licked his lips and nodded. "Yeah. They're a thing."

Yep, I know. I'm a little shit for not updating this sooner. Ah well. Better late than never I suppose.

I headcanon Reo as gender fluid but I use 'they/them' for their pronouns. until the plot progresses to a point that Reo says this will need to change it shall remain that way.

Much thanks to those of you who still leave reviews. You did inspire me to keep writing and I'm grateful to know that there are people still enjoying this (despite my not updating this in ages)

-Rayne