A Mother and a Dragon Girl

Pairing: Raikou x Kiyohime

Genre: Friendship/Romance

Disclaimer: I do not own the Fate Series or any of its characters.

Author's Note: Been a while since I last wrote about Kiyohime. And this is my first time writing about Mama Raikou. Kind of an odd pairing, honestly, but I don't care. XD

Please enjoy!

Another day, another hard work of training done by Minamoto no Raikou, a strong Berserker Class Servant. Sheathing her sword, she wipes the sweat off her face and looks toward her cabin about ten feet from her. She doesn't want to go inside just yet. She still wants the fresh air, so she decides to take a long walk inside the forest next to her. She's been living alone for quite some time and honestly, she's quite alright with it. She can get her training done, find some good food and cook on her own, and pretty much enjoy the peace every single day, even when watching the stars at night.

However, living alone does have some flaws. Like right now, she thinks about it as she looks up at the cloudy sky while walking along the forest.

"Haaah…if only there's someone to accompany me…someone I can treat like if he or she is my own child," she says, her soft and gentle voice filling the air. "Mommy will take good care of that child." She has some experience of taking care of children before she went on her own. Though she wants to do it again after being alone for so long.

She continues walking down further in the forest when something catches her eye. She thinks it's just her imagination, but she could've sworn there is a small figure lying on the ground. She rushes toward the figure to see who it is. When she gets close enough, she sees a beautiful, cute girl with long green hair with white horns on the side of her head, wearing a turquoise kimono with white thigh high stockings. Raikou gently puts a hand on her forehead. No fever, but she looks completely exhausted. Where did she come from? In any case, Raikou has to take her to her cabin to treat her. She carries her bridal style and dashes all the way toward her home.

She then sets her down on her bed, pulls the covers over her and rushes to the kitchen to make some homemade soup.

About 15 minutes later, the greenette suddenly wakes up slowly. Her vision clears and finds herself in an unknown place. Sitting up, she takes a look around a little until she turns her head to see a young woman, dressed in a purple bodysuit with an apron over it, cooking something on the stove. She can smell it from here.

Raikou notices the girl wide awake and smiles. "My, my! I'm glad you're awake. Stay here, okay, dear? I'm in the process of making delicious soup for you."

The horned girl stays silent and looks down at the sheets. This young woman brought her here?

"Miss! I don't know about you, but I was wondering what in the world you were doing out here in the empty forest," Raikou says as she stirs the soup. "Do you want to tell me?"

The girl doesn't answer.

"Miss?" Raikou calls again.

"I….I was just walking around…." the girl replies quietly.

"Yes, but to where?"

"Anywhere…I guess…" the girl answers.

Raikou raises an eyebrow and then gets back to stirring. "Do you have a home you can go back to? After you eat, I'd be glad to take you back."

There is a pause before the horned girl answers.

"No...I-I'm okay on my own," she says. "Really, I am."

"You sure?"

"Yes."

Raikou raises an eyebrow again as she keeps on stirring. Something doesn't feel right about this girl. However, she decides not to press any further and continue cooking until the soup is done. She serves it in a small bowl and puts it on a tray, pours some water and gets a napkin. She then brings it over toward the horned girl.

"Here you go, dear," she says, kindly. "Eat as much as you want."

The girl stares at the food for a moment, as if she's making sure if the food isn't poisoned or anything. But Raikou beats her to it.

"I tasted it," she says. "It's not as bad as you think."

The horned girl looks at her cautiously and then back at the soup. She takes a small bite of it and her eyes widen a little at the taste. She hums a little and then goes in for another. Raikou giggles.

"There's more in the pot if you'd like a second helping~" she offers

The horned girl nods and keeps on eating until it's empty. Raikou kindly takes the bowl from her after the horned girl asks her for some more.

"Oh, I'm so sorry! I almost forgot! What is your name~?" the violet haired woman asks before she leaves for the kitchen.

"Ummm..." the horned girl hesitates a little before opening her mouth again. "I-it's...Kiyohime..."

"My name is Raikou. Pleased to meet you, Kiyohime~"

The greenette looks up at the beautiful young woman as she serves up another helping. She seems like a nice person. She hasn't done anything cruel to her...yet. She never knows. That's one thing to learn about strangers: you can never trust them whether they are nice or not.

"Can I at least walk you to town or something?" Raikou asks

"No...it's fine. Like I said, I'll be okay on my own. Thank you..." Kiyohime says quietly.

The way the horned girl said it, Raikou starts to feel concerned. Will she really be okay on her own? After when she found her unconscious earlier? This definitely smells fishy.

"Dear, let me walk with you just for a little bit. Just for safety reasons," Raikou offers. "I won't take no for an answer."

Kiyohime hesitates before she nods. "Okay..."

"Ufufu! Now, finish your soup and we'll be on our way," Raikou says as she hands her guest a second helping.

The horned girl nods again and eats. This woman will not let up, would she? Still, she offered her a place to stay and a bite to eat and something to drink. When she finishes the soup, Raikou washes the dishes and takes her sword with her while heading toward the door.

"Let's go, sweetie," she calls.

"Okay. I'm coming."

By the time the two leave, and Raikou closes the door and locks it, they are on their way toward town. Kiyohime walks cautiously beside the violet haired woman, who is equipped with her sword and bow and arrow. All Kiyohime has is her fan, but she doesn't need anything else. Raikou has no idea though.

"Where do you live, Kiyohime-chan~?" her sweet voice reaches the horned girl's ears. "do you remember before you collapsed out here?"

Kiyohime hesitates while opening up her fan, hiding her mouth and turning away.

"Sweetie?" Raikou asks again.

"Ummm...well..."

Raikou raises an eyebrow. Has she already forgotten where she lives? Surely she must remember something. "Do you remember how you got here? Where you came from before this?"

"I was...in town...yes..." Kiyohime says quietly. "And..." She falls silent again. Her mouth is kept hidden by her fan.

Raikou stops and turns to face the horned girl. "Listen...if you don't tell me...I won't know where to take you."

Kiyohime stays silent. There is something that the horned girl isn't telling her. Raikou furrows her eyebrows and kneels to the girl's level.

"Is there some kind of trouble?" she asks, softly.

Kiyohime still stays silent.

"Sweetie, it's okay," Raikou says and puts a hand on her shoulder. "You can tell me anything."

The horned girl looks up at the beautiful violet haired woman. How long is this woman going to ask her these types of questions? But before the horned girl can say anything, there is rustling in the bushes. Just then, a couple of nameless Assassin-class servants start to ambush them, making Raikou push Kiyohime out of the way and ready her sword.

"Stand back, Kiyohime-chan!" She says.

There are just two hooded Assassins, so this shall be easy. Raikou sees them jump in the air, readying their knives, so she dive rolls to evade their attacks. She slashes one of them that is trying to jump on her.

Kiyohime is on her behind, watching the fight. Watching Raikou fight to protect her. She's...never had anyone do this for her since...

"Kiyohime-chan!" Raikou cries out in warning.

The horned girl looks up at one of the assassins that is trying to attack from above. He must have hid while the other one is distracting the violet haired Berserker class servant. Kiyohime jumps out of the way and parries the assassin's knife attack. Raikou grits her teeth and keeps busy battling the other assassin. She has to get to Kiyohime's aid before he hurts her. She clashes blades with the first assassin again and again, creating sparks flying everywhere.

But Kiyohime is having no problem fighting the other one. She parries several knife attacks with her fan and shoves him away. She waves her fan in an uppercut, creating a burst of flames trailing toward the assassin class servant. He jumps to dodge that one. Raikou is surprised by this. But she doesn't have time to talk as this assassin is as quick as lightning.

Raikou clashes back and forth, up and down and diagonally as quickly as possible until she's had enough. She kicks him to create distance and pulls out her bow and arrow. She fires three at the same time and then one by one in a quick motion. Several of them hit the assassin, but he dodges the other ones and jumps off of one tree to attack from above again. She shoots another arrow to the chest, making him fall to the ground, losing his target completely.

Struggling to his feet, the assassin charges again. More arrows have been shot by Raikou, stopping him in his tracks. One arrow on the leg, and most of them on his chest. He drops to his knees and then falls face down on the ground, fading away. She sighs in relief and turns around to see Kiyohime still fighting the second assassin. He isn't looking too well though. There are burns almost everywhere on his body, clothes are torn because of that and he could barely stand. Kiyohime must have used some serious fire power in order to fight him. Raikou is starting to figure something out

Kiyohime walks toward the wounded man and puts a hand on his shoulder. With a wicked smile, she opens her eyes and a burst of fire comes out of her hand, burning him to death. He falls on his back, all black and defeated. He fades away shortly after. Raikou smiles and nods in approval.

"Oh, my! What a battle you fought~!" she claps her hands, making Kiyohime jump and blush.

"I-it's nothing." Kiyohime hides her mouth with her fan. "I'm a servant, too, you know. D-dummy…"

"Fufu! I can tell from the way you fought," Raikou says as she puts away her bow and arrow and sheathes her sword. "You're really something else, aren't you? Is that the reason you refuse to tell me?"

Kiyohime turns away, her face kept hidden with her fan.

"I knew it. You're...a half-creature," Raikou points out. "The horns...the fire power. It's clear that you're a creature, right?"

"You won't understand..." Kiyohime turns away. "You will never understand. Because people like you might..."

Raikou frowns. "I might what? Clearly, there is a huge problem. Why won't you tell me anything?"

The horned girl can't take it anymore. "Y-you'll just betray me like the others. Treat me like I'm nothing but a hideous creature. That's what they all say when I'm around. You'll be just like them."

Raikou's frown turns into a sad expression. She never knew Kiyohime went through some betrayal. But now she knows that this girl needs some love and trust. But didn't she do that already?

"Kiyohime-chan..." Raikou carefully puts a hand on her shoulder. "Please look at me."

The dragon girl hesitates for a few seconds before the violet haired woman turns her around to face her.

"Listen...and listen well..." she says and puts both hands on the horned girl's shoulders. "From today onwards...let me become your mother."

Kiyohime gives her a weird look. "H-haaaaah...?"

"No one should be alone in this world," Raikou says. "Everyone should be loved, including you. Whoever those jerks are, they don't know a thing about you. I don't either, but I will...if you let me adopt you."

"D-don't be ridiculous," Kiyohime says. "There is no way I would be an adopted child to you. I'm a dragon. And you're just..a...a...uhh..."

"I'm a half-oni. Hard to believe, but it's true," Raikou says. "But that doesn't stop me from doing what I want to do. And what I want is to take care of you. To give you the love you deserve."

Kiyohime turns away. "I told you it's impos-" She gasps as she is embraced by the violet haired Berserker class servant.

"Can't you see that I'm not lying?" she says, squeezing her firmly, but gently. "I give you a place to stay, a bite to eat and we even fought together as a team. Is there nothing else I can do to make you understand?"

Kiyohime can feel tears threaten to spill. This woman is crazy...right? Just outright proposing to become her mother out of the blue like that? However, something deep inside is telling her that...Raikou is right. There is literally no place for her to go now that she wandered off. She collapsed because of hunger and now Raikou had found her and given her some food to regain her strength. No one did that for her in a very long time.

"Listen to what Mommy says...Kiyo-chan...~" she says sweetly as she gently strokes the horned girl's hair.

"Y-you..." Tears now spill from her eyes and slowly raises her arm to grip onto Raikou's purple bodysuit.

The violet haired woman can feel the girl slowly return the embrace, making her smile.

"I'm glad you finally understand~" Raikou says. "Welcome to the family, Kiyo-chan. I love you~"

Kiyohime sniffles and nods her head. It's all clear now. Raikou has been loving her all this time and her heart was consumed with so much hatred that she failed to notice.

"Do you love me...Kiyo-chan~?" Once again, Raikou's sweet, sweet voice reaches the dragon girl's ears. "Do you love Mommy~?"

"I...I do..." Kiyohime sniffles again. "I love you, M-M-Mama..."

"That's my girl~"