Elementally Yours

Chapter 1: A Stunning Discovery

At 18 years old, standing in the shadows in the little park, down the street from his new apartment, in the early hours of the morning, Kuon couldn't believe his eyes. In the center of the deserted park she twirled and danced, like the amazing creature that she was, lighting up the night with her fiery form. What seemed to be a stunning fire elemental danced and twirled before him as he hid in the shadows watching her. She was the most amazing thing he had ever seen in his entire life and if he hadn't come to Japan, he would have never witnessed it.

What he had seen next chilled his soul to the bone. They had come for her, covering her in ice. It had only worked momentarily as he watched the fiery form turn to a blue flame then to ice, flinging shards of frozen water at her would-be captors. He watched as she evaporated into thin air and left them scrambling to find her direction.

"RUN.." A female voice whispered to him on the wind.

He didn't hesitate. He didn't even want to think what those people would do to him if they discovered him. He was an innocent by-stander but he knew he had seen something that was never meant to be seen.

"This way..." It whispered once again and he felt a gentle caress on his hand that pulled him in a specific direction.

He finally stopped after running for several blocks in the opposite direction of the park, in the dark.

"You're safe Corn..." She whispered to him and he felt the sensation of hot and cold mixed on his cheek. It felt like a gentle kiss.

His eyes went wide. No one knew him as Kuon in Japan except for Lory and the only one that had ever in his life that called him Corn, was little Kyoko-chan from Kyoto. "Kyoko-chan?..."

He heard the soft musical giggle of a female. "Silly boy, you aren't a fairy. Are you?" He felt another kiss on his cheek. "It's okay... I forgive you."

He turned in every direction to find her. "Where are you?" He asked bewildered and confused.

Before him appeared the fiery female he had seen in the park, in all of her fiery, bare glory. She smiled at him and gently touched his cheek as her small feminine form hovered to meet his height. He flinched, expecting her to burn him with her touch but it was cool and pleasant.

She smiled. "You met me in my first growth stage... I suppose your kind would call it my... Hmm, my larval stage? Is that correct?" She nodded. "Yes, that is what it would be called." She smiled brightly.

He looked at the 17 year-old looking, nude, fiery female that hovered before him in the alleyway, in disbelief. He shook his head to clear his mind. "H-How..."

She smiled softly at him. "Corn... I cannot stay here much longer in this form, but I can't let you see me without my fire." She stammered a little shyly.

His eyes went wide with understanding and he quickly pulled off his jacked and hooded sweatshirt, handing them to her, then quickly facing away from her to watch for anyone that may pass the alley and see her.

"Thank you Corn." She whispered, blushing fiercely as she pulled on the offered clothing. "So much better. Sorry to put you in that position."

He turned to face her and found that she did look quite appealing in his clothing, especially since he knew, with certainty, what she had beneath them. He suspected that that particular hoody would never be laundered again, at least not by him. "Um... I thought you were 4 years younger than me, how is it you're... like this?"

She frowned a little and glanced at the ground. "I prefer not to speak of it out in the open... Others might hear. Others that wouldn't understand."

He nodded in understanding. "Where are you staying?"

She groaned a little. "Nowhere for now. I was here searching for my mother. She doesn't know what happened yet."

"You mean, the what you didn't want to talk about?" He asked curiously.

She pouted. "I didn't say that I didn't want to talk about it, I said... I prefer not to discuss it where others can hear."

He held up his hands in submission and chuckled. "Okay, okay. Hmm, how about you stay at my place until you figure out what to do?"

Her eyes shot up to him and gave him the look of extreme gratitude. "You really don't mind?"

He smiled and stroked her long ebon locks. "What kind of fairy prince would I be, if I left my fairy princess out in the cold?"

"So... Tell me how all of this happened." He said as he handed her a t-shirt and a pair of "still in the package" boxers for her to wear until he could call Lory and Woods-san, and try to help her out. He thought that maybe Boss could help her find a job and a place to stay until she found her mother, maybe help her find her mother too.

"Well..." She started as he turned away to give her a little privacy as she dressed. Not that it mattered much, he had pretty much got an eye-full in the alley when her body went back to normal. "It all started a couple of months ago. I was having problems at school with Sho-chan's fan-girls..." She paused as she pulled the t-shirt over her head. "They followed me into the forest by the river where you and I used to meet." He heard the ripping of the plastic that covered the boxers, then the rustling of cloth. She sighed. "They didn't like that I lived with Sho-chan very much. I guess I hit my head on a rock or, something and I woke up a week later like this and no one recognized me."

FLASHBACK

The disheveled fourteen year-old ran frantically through the dense brush, thorned branches ripping her flesh and clothing as she tried to stay as silent as possible and reach her safe-haven. The little clearing that only she and Corn knew about.

"OVER HERE!" She heard a familiar female voice of one of her tormentors yell to her companions in crime. "Look, it looks like a piece of that shitty, disgusting jacket she always wears."

"There's a path over there." She heard another familiar voice and before she knew it, the six girls had emerged from the bushes with rocks in hand.

Kyoko turned to hop over the little stream, felt a sharp pain in the back of her head, slipped on one of the wet rocks from the stream and everything went black.

As soon as the girls saw her fall and the amount of blood flow into the clear water as their victim lay face down, they ran. Out of the fear of being caught for what they thought would be murder, none said a word. Sadly none made a real effort to look for her as her body lay in the river, soon to be covered in a thick mucus that hardened into a stone-like shell after three days, giving off the image of another of the boulders that were commonly found in the clearing.

After the 14 almost 15 year-old had been missing for a couple of days, Yayoi Fuwa finally contacted the authorities and reported her missing. The girls remained silent save for a comment to Sho-chan that he wouldn't have to worry about that stupid girl hanging on him anymore. The comment did bother him somewhat, but not enough to mention anything to anyone of importance. As far as the six girls knew, they got away with murder.

~xoxo~

At the end of a little over a week, in the early hours of dawn, a sheet of ice formed around the cocoon and the cocoon itself glowed white with heat. Over several hours it burned away to reveal a fully formed female of about 17 to 18 years old in appearance, with tongues of blue and red flames licking the air around her.

Sounds of anguish and temporary fear of herself echoed throughout the ancient forest, confirming to unsuspecting residents of the area around it, that it was indeed frequented by yokai or, haunted by some terrifyingly vengeful spirit. She spent the day in frustration, practicing what she had discovered about herself, freezing and unfreezing water, then evaporating and traveling on the wind in moments to several different corners of the forest.

END FLASHBACK

"So... How did you end up here in Tokyo?" Her story was incredible and if he hadn't witnessed the event in the park he wouldn't have believed a word of it.

She sighed. "I didn't belong there. I never have, Corn..." He saw little tears start to stream down her delicate cheeks. "Yayoi-sama threw all my things into the garbage and didn't even look for me. I spied on them and found out. Taisho was the only one that cared. He made her call the police after I whispered to him like I did you and told him that Kyoko-chan was dead." She giggled softly at the last part. "They weren't sad though. It was as if I were a lost pet or, something." She frowned and Kuon shook his head and put his arm around her in comfort. "So... I came here to try and find my mother, to tell her what had happened. I know she wouldn't believe me if she saw me. I was going to tell her I was a concerned friend of her Kyoko-chan. She's a lawyer. I thought that maybe she would be able to do something about it, but the more that I thought about it... She really wouldn't care. She left me with them." She sighed in defeat. "I suppose I really didn't think it through."

Kuon leaned back on the sofa. "So, who were those people that were trying to catch you?"

She shook her head. "I really don't know, but they started following my fire form when I left the Nagano Prefecture. I suppose I frightened someone there."

Kuon was seriously wondering what he was getting himself into with this exquisite creature next to him. He sighed and raked his fingers through his now darkened hair. "Okay... First we need to get some rest. I have someone I can trust, I can talk to for you in the morning. For now? No fire or, ice. I don't want you caught by those people. I don't think they mean to treat you well."

She nodded. "But..."

He held up his hand to stop her. "Kyoko-chan, I'm saying this because I want to keep you safe. Help me do that. Okay?"

She nodded again. "Okay..."

He heard her stomach growl and looked at her in disbelief. "What was that?"

She blushed. "Umm... I haven't had anything to eat." She explained sheepishly.

He chuckled and looked at the time on his cell phone. "It is kind of late. Do you mind takeout? I really don't have much here in the way of food."

"No please, I think you've done more than enough just by letting me stay for the night." She told him hastily.

He shook his head. "Kyoko-chan... I really don't mind. Besides, I'm hungry too." He told her to ease her mind into accepting his offer.

Her stomach gurgled again and she sighed in defeat. "Okay, but you have to let me make it up to you somehow."

He chuckled. "Okay..." He pulled out his phone, pressed the number for the restaurant he had on speed-dial and placed his order.