Chapter 4

Hidden Treasures

As soon as the Midoryas left her home, Haruka immediately jumped into the air with her fist raised excitedly. She felt like a giddy school girl again, adrenaline coursing through her veins and happiness forcing her to smile the widest she had smiled in a long time. Her doctor friend had indeed told her that the dragon that had attacked Izuku was probably a Night Fury but she hadn't dared to believe it, they were just too rare, never seen and constantly moving at speeds faster than that of sound. She had worked with a lot of dragons but she had never ever seen a Night Fury before. She whirled around, the tea and treats forgotten on the coffee table and rushed for her office. Her eagle raised his wings and flew after her, swerving around the corner and landing on her desk beside her laptop.

Haruka leaned down and opened up one of her drawers, moving all of the papers and pens out of the way until she reached the bottom. Once she reached the bottom of the drawer she reached her fingers around the corner and pulled up, revealing a hidden compartment. She smiled as she pulled out a bow along with her phone and a quiver of arrows. She closed the drawer and stood up, moving to the shelf that lined the wall of her office. Her eagle ruffled his feathers and followed Haruka's line of sight as she scanned the shelf. After a minute, the eagle cawed and flew over to the shelf, reaching a talon to point at a glass bottle that was filled with a pale green liquid. Haruka smiled at the eagle and plucked the bottle from the shelf, slipping it into one of the little pockets in her robe.

"Nice work Cassian! Are you ready to go?" The eagle cawed again and took off, following Haruka back through the living room and out into the backyard. Haruka's backyard was a large spanning meadow that flowed into a forest at the back. Haruka strode through the tall grass of her meadow, Cassian coasting beside her until they entered the calming clutches of the dark forest.

Hours passed and although they had not found anything, Haruka never lost hope. She glanced up through the trees and watched as Cassian flew above her, scanning the forest floor for their prize. Haruka glanced back down at the ground and moved her way through the foliage, her eyes watching for any sign that the dragon had crossed through the area. Suddenly, Cassian dove down toward the ground in a sharp decline. Haruka paused and stood still, waiting for him to return. It was at least half an hour before the bird rose back into the sky and shot toward her, his wings beating the air frantically. The eagle landed on the forest floor and tilted his head to look more directly at Haruka. After a second of catching his breath, Cassian nodded to Haruka. The eccentric woman then leaned back and glanced around them, one hand resting on the pommel of her sword, making sure that nobody was around. After she was one hundred percent sure that nobody was around, she nodded slightly to Cassian. She then picked up her phone and called a friend. The phone only got through the first ring before someone picked up on the other end.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Emiko! It's Haruka, Cassian has found something, can you please come over here and use your quirk on him?"

"Sure thing, where are you? I am over by the river that we passed a little while ago."

"Perfect, I can meet you over there."

Haruka then beckoned to Cassian who took off once more for the river. It only took a few minutes for the pair to reach Emiko, a friend of Haruka's who was a fan of adventure and enjoyed helping Haruka with her odd jobs. Emiko looked up as they pushed through the brush and smiled at them, wiping the sweat off of her brow. Haruka trotted up to Emiko and Cassian landed on the ground beside them, his mouth open as he caught his breath. Emiko looked down at him and smiled at the old bird.

"Hello again, Cassian! Are you ready?" Emiko leaned back and stretched her arms above her head, sighing as a satisfying pop sounded from in between her shoulder blades. The bird nodded and stood up tall as Emiko leaned down with her palm out, her fingers glowing a faint yellow. Haruka smiled as she watched them, her mind flooding with the sweet memories of when she had met Emiko in middle school when she had accidentally turned Haruka into a lizard during lunch. It was after this incident that Haruka had learned that Emiko's quirk was the ability to hide the true form of things by turning them into animals or objects with her fingers. Even so, they had become good friends with a taste for adventure and a love for all living things.

Now, Emiko pressed her fingers to Cassian's side, careful not to damage his beautiful wings and stepped back after the glow had dimmed from her fingers. Her quirk took a moment to take effect as Cassian's body began to change, his feathers falling off to be replaced with a hard exterior and his beak changing into a snout all while his body was growing into a size much larger than that of a bird. The two women stepped back to admire their work as the creature standing before them stretched his lavish wings and blinked his eyes as he grew reaccustomed to the world around him.

The Boneknapper dragon then shook himself, the bones that covered his body like armor clacking together until he settled back down, leaning down to look at the women properly. Haruka smiled and placed a hand on the front of his nose where a swirly mark lay. Once her hand met with the mark on his muzzle, both her hand and his snout began to glow with a soft blue hue. They broke apart after a minute and looked at each other lovingly before Haruka walked around to his flank where she placed her foot in the indention of one of the bones covering his back leg to hoist herself up onto his back. Emiko dug through her own leather bag and pulled out a small book. Raising her hand and allowing her fingertips to glow with the power of her quirk, she touched the book until it had reformed back into its normal shape, which was that of a dragon saddle. Once the saddle had reshaped in her arms, she threw it to Haruka who caught it and situated it on top of the Boneknapper's back near the base of the neck so that the bones that protruded from that spot would not stab right through her. Once she was settled in the saddle she reached a hand out for Emiko and helped her up.

"Ready?" Haruka asked.

"Ready."

Haruka patted her dragon's neck and he raised his wings high into the air, his bones rattling together. Finally, he forced his mighty wings down as hard as he could and they were shot into the air. Cassian flew right into the clouds so as to avoid being seen by other people and Haruka pulled a long microscope-looking object out of her bag, leaning over her dragon's side until it poked out from just underneath the clouds. Looking down into the forest below, she reached forward and placed her hand on the back of her dragon's head, her hand starting to glow again.

"Tell me when you find it again, Cassian," Haruka said, using the power from her hand to allow Cassian to see what she was seeing. The dragon sighed and his eyes darted around as he too looked down at the forest floor despite being above the clouds. This was how they had avoided detection for all of these years. They had been flying for a long time when Cassian suddenly perked up with a growl. Haruka looked to the left and saw it too. She patted him again and he tilted his wings so that they were then aiming for the ground once more. They landed softly in the center of a clearing. The wind swayed the grass and ruffled the water but it also carried the strong scent of blood with it. Haruka and Emiko pulled their shirts over their noses as the smell attacked their senses with the full force of a truck hitting a steel beam at full speed. Haruka's eyes watered but she pushed past it and looked around the bloody clearing.

"Stay close, both of you," Haruka said, looking back at both of her best friends. Emiko nodded and Cassian purred softly before sniffing the air and walking around. Despite the immense amount of blood in the clearing, there were no bodies which meant that either the dragon didn't kill anyone or someone had removed all of the bodies. Haruka hoped it was the first option but really had no idea as she too started to walk around. Emiko took to the perimeter of the clearing while Haruka went to the center of the clearing to where the largest puddle of blood in the whole field sat. She knew this was dragon's blood due to the fact that if any person had lost this much blood they would've been dead two times over.

Haruka leaned down and pressed her fingers into the mess to find that the blood was old. She saw a trail of blood leading a little ways away from the spot in three different directions and felt each one, her fingers running along the grass tips until they had developed a red tinge. She finally got to the third trail of blood that had branched off from the main puddle. It seemed like the weakest trail of blood and was barely visible as tufts of grass covered the path but Haruka ran her fingers over it gingerly anyway. She froze as her fingers came back slick and red. This blood was fresh. Haruka frantically looked around, her eyes roving over every crevice and ditch in the clearing, her ears alert and her skin tingling with nerves.

"Uh… Haruka?"

"Yeah?"

"I think that is what you are looking for."

Haruka glanced at Emiko to see her staring up into a tree directly above them. Haruka gulped and slowly looked up to see the Night Fury looking down at them, its mouth split into a snarl, its eyes gleaming and its torn wings opened wide.

Haruka couldn't find the strength to scream or move as the beast leaped down from the tree. The only thing stopping the dragon from landing directly on top of her was Cassian, who jumped over the river and batted Haruka out of the way with his giant paws. She landed a little rough on the ground but didn't care, the adrenaline running through her veins masking the slight pain so that she didn't even notice.

"Cassian!" Haruka cried out as the Night Fury roared at the Boneknapper, its teeth bared and its silver claws flexing into the dirt so that it left long ruts on the forest floor. It snapped open its wings wider as it snarled at Cassian, hoping to appear larger and more intimidating. Cassian was much larger than the Night Fury but Haruka knew better, her dragon would be no match for the offspring of lightning and death itself. With its wings wide open, Haruka could see the large slashes that covered the sensitive membranes all over and saw the blood seep slowly from its body whenever it moved. She knew why the dragon was attacking but she wanted some way to show that they would not harm it. She was about to say something along those lines to Emiko and Cassian when the Night Fury launched at her dragon from the left before ducking down and leaping onto his back from the right. Cassian yelped and whipped around, hitting his flank on a nearby tree to try to shake off the Night Fury.

Haruka only saw red as her dragon yelped again. She loved dragons and didn't want to hurt this dragon, especially since it was a Night Fury but she couldn't hold back anymore. With an angry yell, she focused on the dragon's right front leg and used all of her brainpower to activate her quirk. She felt her quirk activate with the tiniest clicking sound in her mind and she tilted her head to the left with a swift jerk. Within the seconds she heard the sound of a bone snapping and the Night Fury let out a howl of pain, falling off of Cassian. Cassian went to pounce on the dragon but Haruka stopped him with a sharp shout.

The Night Fury looked at her in anger and blinding white horror as Haruka approached it, its wings flailing as it tried to sit up. It let out a strangled cry when it felt someone's hand press against its flank. Haruka looked up at Emiko in shock as the other woman basically leaped onto the Night Fury and pressed her glowing fingers to its side, her breathing fast and rough as she tried to force the panic down. In less than a minute, the panicking beast had shrunk, its wings folding into themselves until they had disappeared, the dragon's head shrinking and changing, and its body compacting and growing into soft, fluffy fur. Once the transformation was over, the Night Fury managed to shakily stand up on its three non-damaged legs and shake a little bit, its midnight black fur flowing with the movement. The dragon had been transformed into a big black dog with pointed ears, bright eyes, and a fluffy tail. It looked like a German Shepherd but it definitely didn't act like one. The dog looked around, its eyes dilating and narrowing as it got used to the different eyesight. It shook its head and let out a severe snarl that didn't even sound canine.

After a few moments of getting used to its new body, the dog looked up at the two women and the now huge Boneknapper dragon and pinned its ears in fear. It barked at them and bared its teeth as it backed away slowly into the foliage at the edge of the clearing.

"Easy, easy now, don't worry, we won't hurt you," Haruka said, holding one hand out warmly, the other hand, holding her bow and an arrow between two fingers, the tip of the arrow glistening with the pale green liquid from the bottle in her pocket.

She didn't expect the creature to believe her after what they had done to it but she just needed to stall it until they could trap it. She motioned ever so slightly to Emiko who was about to throw the net they had prepared for the Night Fury's capture when the beast snarled at them once more and galloped away, nearly falling over on it's injured legs but still managing to move fast enough to avoid capture. Without thinking, Haruka raised her bow and fired an arrow after the dog, wincing as she heard a yelp in the distance.

"No, wait!" Emiko said with her hand held out as if to stop the already long gone dragon from leaving. The pair ran after the dog, their arms pumping and their breathing ragged as they tore after the beast. They only stopped when they stumbled upon the arrow that Haruka had fired on the forest floor, the tip gleaming with a hint of blood. Emiko hung her head.

"Haruka, I am so sorry, I didn't throw the net when you asked me to and I turned it into a dog so now it is going to be impossible to find again. I am so sorry, I messed up everything!"

Haruka placed a hand on her shoulder and Emiko looked up, her eyes shining with the beginning of new tears.

"You didn't ruin anything, Emiko, in fact, you have made this situation so much better for us. I know exactly were that dragon is going, and now dragon hunters won't have a clue how to find it. As an added bonus, the Night Fury may have shaken off my arrow but I still hit it, that dragon will be asleep in no time. We will see that dragon again, don't you worry."

Emiko gave Haruka a hug and smiled into her neck. She sniffled and leaned back to wipe her eyes clear.

"Thanks, Haru, but, how do you know where the Night Fury is going?"

"Because it is going to the only place it can go, to the place where it can be understood and taken care of. Follow me, I will show you."