Fire Child

By LadyPrin

Disclaimer Applies.

Thanks to ShadowSaver and Nightling-of-Firehaven for reviewing!!!

Sorry I've taken so long in updating! I've been EXTREMELY busy, but to make it up to you, here is a chapter far larger than those I've posted before! On my word document it's a full 10 pages long!

Now, I have to go and write up a new chapter for Tear Pearls . . .

Oh, and if you can stick around for another two chapters or so, I'm planning on introducing a certain, tall, dark, mysterious man on a dark horse, with a certain little blue haired girl with wings! Personally, he's one of my favorite characters, the fairy, ahem, pixie, not so much . . .

Chapter Seven

"ACHOO!" Ascot sneezed loudly, clutching Hikaru firmly to his chest to make sure he didn't drop her.

"We should really get out of this rain before Hikaru or I catch a cold." Eagle commented as they rustled their way past more bushes and trees.

"You two? What about me?" Ascot asked in a voice that sounded like his nose was clogged.

"I think you already have, which is why I didn't mention you." Eagle explained with a smirk.

Ascot sniffed and glared at Eagle.

Then he stopped walking and sniffed again.

"I smell something . . ." He started to say.

"Smoke scented with food." Eagle finished, having sniffed the air himself.

"Great! Let's find this place and get out of the rain!" Ascot replied happily, shifting Hikaru to where she was mostly sheltered from the rain by his shoulders.

"But we can't buy food, any money we may have had were left with the horses." Eagle explained; following Ascot as he quickly walked in what he thought was the direction of the scent.

"I know, but right now all I want is to get out of the rain. Then we'll decide on how to pay for food." Ascot replied.

"Okay then." Eagle agreed, before grabbing Ascot by the back of his collar and bringing him to a stop. "But your nose is leading you wrong. It's this way."

After a few minutes more of walking they finally cleared the trees, and the back of a large building was revealed to them.

They stayed by the trees, as they looked the building over.

"It looks like an Inn." Eagle commented.

The building was made of bricks that were colored in various shades of red. It was four stories tall, with a hint of an attic at the top. Lights were on and voices could be heard through the walls. Billowing out of the chimney was the smoke that they had smelled earlier, and in fact, still smelled.

Hikaru tilted her head just a little to the side as she too stared at the Inn.

"Do we dare go in?" Eagle asked Ascot, glancing down at Hikaru. "We don't know if this village is within the darkness or not."

"The rain is coming down harder than before. We have to get Hikaru inside. After all, being a 'Fire' child, who knows how much damage rain might do to her." Ascot stated worriedly.

He sniffed again.

"And it seems to be time for a changing." He commented, wrinkling his half clogged nose.

"Okay, go in, but cautiously." Eagle warned. "I'll scout the village out and see what we're dealing with. If anything goes wrong, take Hikaru and follow the assigned path."

"Right." Ascot agreed.

Eagle quickly slipped back into the shadows of the trees and started skirting the village, but before he was out of earshot of Ascot, he sneezed.

Ascot smirked for a brief moment, and then returned to looking at the Inn.

He glanced down at Hikaru who lay silently in his arms. She was still staring at the Inn.

Her hair was starting to look like fire in the rays of the quickly setting sun, and her dark brown eyes were looking ruby red in the same light.

Just to be on the safe side, Ascot quietly summoned the giant bird humanoid beast back from out of his jewel glove.

"I'm sorry to have to leave you outside in the rain my friend, but we need someone to watch our backs for us, since Ferio is not here." Ascot explained to the beast, petting him gently on the beak. "Please keep a look out among these trees, and let me know if anything evil comes."

The beast nodded underneath Ascot's hand and rubbed his feathery head once against Ascot's head, and then turned and wondered silently off into the trees.

Ascot turned, and feeling slightly more at ease now, started walking toward the Inn.

He was planning on going around and entering the front way, like all customers would, but he stopped in his tracks when the back door to the building opened abruptly.

He stood frozen, holding Hikaru tightly to his chest, covered entirely by the somewhat wet red blanket that had somehow managed to stay with her.

He silently watched as the young woman with long dark blue hair walked out of the door, and over to a big wooden box to her left.

She was dressed in a waterproof dark gray cloak, with the hood down.

In her arms she carried a large woven basket and it was from this basket that she emptied potato peelings, fruit peelings, and other various things including scrapes of leftovers into the big wooden box.

She was humming softly to herself as she glanced toward the sky every few seconds.

It seemed she enjoyed the rain on her face.

Once the basket was emptied, she balanced it lightly on her hip, and turned to go back inside.

It was then she saw Ascot.

She was surprised, it was clear from her face, but she did not scream as Ascot expected.

Instead, after a few minutes of looking at him, she smiled.

Ascot blushed lightly, and tried to find something to say.

"Welcome to the Water Dragon Inn, stranger." The girl greeted him, as she wiped her wet blue bangs from her eyes. "It's been a while since we've seen a Palu in these parts. Please come in."

She motioned to the door that she now stood beside.

Ascot hesitated, but only for a moment. Hikaru had started to squirm in his arms.

Ascot let the girl go in first, and then followed, shutting the door quietly behind him.

He had followed the girl into what seemed to be the kitchen part of the Inn.

It was warm and comfortably lighted.

Ascot saw many cooks and assistants bustling about and the smell of all kinds of delicious foods made his stomach rumble softly.

Ascot looked around for the blue haired girl.

She was toweling off her hair by the right side of the door. Once she had her hair mostly dry, she took her cloak off.

She was dressed in a long sleeved, light blue dress with a knee length skirt, and a white lacey apron. She wore a knee high white boot on each leg, and Ascot just now noticed the white hair band around her head.

"You must be really wet and cold, please this way." The girl gestured for him to follow her.

He did follow her as she led him over to a door on the far right.

Ascot could hear the voices of what he figured to be the customers, coming from the door on his far left, and they were louder than before, when he was outside.

Someone must be very drunk, because he or she starting to sing a song that was so slurred, Ascot thought that he'd misheard about half the words for it.

Once inside the room that the girl had opened the door to, the voices were immediately dimmed. They were shut off completely when she closed the door.

"Please, feel free to sit by the fireplace over there." The girl motioned to a large cushioned gold chair that was sitting over by a raging fireplace. "And don't worry about getting it wet, it'll dry quickly."

Ascot, who had opened his mouth to speak about that worry, closed his mouth and went to sit down.

"I'll be back in a moment!" The girl told him as she quickly left the room.

Ascot sniffed again, as he looked around the room.

It was a study of sorts.

The walls were painted a dark tree bark brown color. A large bookcase covered only one wall to the left of the fireplace. Another gold chair sat next to him, and the floor was covered with a dark green carpet.

There was only one window to this room, and it faced the back of the Inn. Rain beat down hard against the glass and obscured all of the trees.

Ascot looked down at Hikaru and realized that she was still covered by the blanket.

He pulled down the top edge to reveal her smiling face.

He sat on the edge of the seat, and held Hikaru out close to the fire so that she'd get the majority of warmth.

Hikaru held her little arm out toward the fire, and waved at it in a way that seemed to Ascot as if she beckoned the fire to her.

The fire seemed to lean out toward her, and Ascot wasn't sure if he should pull her back or keep her still.

Just as it seemed the fire was about to touch the outermost tips of Hikaru's tiny little fingers, the door across the room opened.

Ascot jumped and pulled Hikaru back from the fire.

She fussed slightly as he held her to his chest and looked at the door.

"I thought it was a baby you held." The blue haired girl stated calmly as she walked over to the other chair.

She started unloading the stuff she carried onto the seat.

"And from the smell of things something needs changed." She stated with a smile.

Ascot blushed, for he had forgotten about that.

"I brought stuff to change the baby with, along with some food for both of you." The girl explained, picking up a large honey colored bun with a delicious scent. "Here, you can start eating while I change the baby. I've had plenty of experience."

Ascot was hesitant for a moment, but Hikaru gurgled happily up at him.

With a small smile, Ascot handed her over to the girl, and took the bun from the girl's outstretched hand.

The girl gently placed Hikaru down on her back on the carpet, and commenced to change her under Ascot's watchful eyes.

"I realize that I haven't introduced myself yet." The girl said as she worked. "My name is Umi. Umi Ryuzaki. My parents own this Inn. What's your name?"

"My name is Ascot." Ascot quickly answered around the partially chewed bite of bun.

"Muscat?" Umi asked, for that is what she had heard. "Yummy name."

Ascot quickly swallowed.

"No! Ascot!" He quickly corrected.

"Oh, Ascot! Right!" Umi paused for a moment to stare at him. "Ascot . . . I've heard about you. You're quite famous actually, from what I've gathered from the traveler's talk."

Ascot blushed again.

"There! All finished!" Umi announced proudly, letting Hikaru roll over onto her stomach. "And who might this little one be named?"

"Her name is Hikaru." Ascot answered, smiling as Hikaru started to try and crawl for the first time.

"You have a beautiful daughter!" Umi complemented him, as she still knelt by Hikaru's side to keep her from crawling into the fireplace.

"She's not mine." Ascot corrected quickly, blushing yet again.

"Not . . . yours?" Umi asked slowly, staring at him.

Ascot only had a moment to wonder why Umi's face had paled so suddenly.

"Did you kidnap her?" Umi asked forcefully, her blue eyes glaring dangerously at him.

She looked ready to spring up and pounce on him at a second's notice.

"NO! That's not it!" Ascot replied hurriedly, holding up his hands, palms out, in an attempt to stop her from pouncing. "I didn't kidnap her! I—HIKARU, NO!"

Ascot lunged for Hikaru, Umi turned to look at Hikaru, and Hikaru, well . . .

She half crawled, half rolled into the fireplace.

The fire went up in a sudden blaze, which was so big it obscured Hikaru from view and was ejected with great force out of the fireplace that had contained it.

Ascot threw an arm around Umi and pushed her back, away from the fire as they both yelled out in fear.

Once Ascot had gotten his balance back, he tried to get closer to the fire, to find Hikaru, to get her out!

"HIKARU!" He kept crying out her name and tears started streaming from his eyes, and he winced in pain as the fire lapped at his skin a few times when he got too close.

Both he and Umi had expected to hear screams of pain coming from Hikaru as the fire burned her, but no sounds had come, and they both feared the worst.

Umi rushed over to the one window in the room, and threw it open with so much force that the shutters rebounded back and nearly smacked her in the head.

Umi turned to look at the fireplace, and there was a determined, dangerous look in her eyes.

"Water Typhoon!" Umi cried, raising her hands above her head, and bringing them back down to point at the fireplace.

All the rain that was falling seemed to rush forth from outside the window, and flew at the fireplace with such force that Ascot was knocked off his feet and thrown to the side.

One giant typhoon of raindrops smashed into the fireplace and put out the fire before it could do much more than sizzle.

Ascot couldn't see the fireplace because of the chair that now blocked his view, but he could see Umi.

He saw her collapse to her knees, looking exhausted.

He saw her look to the fireplace, with an expression of fear.

The fear quickly changed to shock.

Ascot used the chair for support as he hurriedly stood up.

Though he feared what he might see, he too forced himself to look toward the fireplace.

What he saw was not what he expected to see.

Hikaru was . . .