I felt myself floating as I slept. My body light and drifting through the space unknown, it wasn't until I heard that priestess calling out to me that I opened my eyes and saw her at a distance.
[You really are shrewd...the great dog demon and his son brought you to me and you haven't paid them back with power yet.]
"Not really sure how I can when there's no one to show me how." Close enough to sit across from her and stare at her wispy image, she made a fan appear and began to fan herself. She was a beauty, though strange, her looks were not human. She glowered at me and snapped the fan shut.
[Really now must I do everything?] She was at my side in a heartbeat and placed her claw under my chin and grinned like a sly fox. [I will pass onto you some of the basics you need to return the favor. To not be tuned into my very soul is very strange and has never happened before. Truly a strong soul...yet so weak-willed.]
"Why do they need power when they are already so strong?"
[My dear, sweet child. The great dog demon strives for power to be on top of the world. His son will follow his example. Now then,] she scratched my arm and licked the blood off and we both began to glow a radiant gold. [Listen to my soul reaching out for yours...stop resisting it...you are no longer the same human...a priestess you are now...accept the gift of fire.]
"...I never asked for this..."
[Accept the gift of fire] She demanded.
"..."
[Accept the gift...reach for it and hold it in your grasp]
Seeing a small blue orb and reaching for it, the feeling warm on my fingertips, once I had it and curled my fingers around the orb I felt something surge through me. At first it was overwhelming, but after holding it closer to my chest and feeling its rhythm, I calmed and slowly delved into the feeling.
[Yes...there...feel it enrapture you...take it closer and feel the heat resonate through your bones, your very skin! Capture that feeling and release it!]
Blue flames ruptured over where Clara slept, startling Sesshomaru awake and standing guard as he watched the fire burn vividly around her. She did not stir, nothing burned where the flames touched. Slowly he watched with bated breath as her tail unfurled and her form returned to normal size. She was unclothed from having been so small and he slowly walked over to pick her up and hold her in his arms to shield her from the cold nights wind. The flames subsided and he carefully returned to his tree and held Clara in his arms, watching her sleep soundly as if nothing had happened. Her once brown hair began to turn white from her roots and slowly cascade down like a soft river.
"You surprise this one each day..." speaking softly as she nestled into his chest and her tail wrapped around his leg, he was still, quiet, not letting anything wake her as she wrapped herself further onto him. Under normal circumstances he would have thwarted her off, disgusted by the touch. Yet he remained still and without disgust of her touch that puzzled him. She irritated him to no end each day over her training, but he found her abnormal bravery towards not only him but his father to be humorous. She kept things interesting. Never a dull moment to what she would say or do next that each passing moment intrigued him to see more of what she'll do.
Once the wind's chill picked up and having her deep in his kimono, he held her close throughout the night thinking to himself. She was kitsune, a bearer of great power. Yet in the light of the moon as they traveled he felt more and more connected with her than others he's been around with. She was different in every way known to his kind, and he knew it was due to her being human prior before the priestess took over.
What do you do when you wake up and find yourself wrapped snugly in a guy's chest without knowing how and when you got there in the first place? You panic, of course.
"EEK!" Leaping up and away from Sesshomaru and curling my tail around myself, I could feel my face burn and the crisp air make my body shiver. Seeing I was back to normal and without clothes on, the embarrassment I felt was higher than the moon itself!
"That's quite a leap," he groaned as he shifted against the tree to sit up and I couldn't help but stare at the open-faced kimono baring his broad chest. When I met his gaze and saw a slight amused expression, he changed it to being stoic and fixated his kimono back properly. "There is a river nearby that you could bathe yourself in. We have a long journey ahead of us."
"...ok," not mentioning anything and ignoring the fact I was stark naked, I hid in my tail and ran towards the river he suggested. [How on earth did I end up sleeping on him?!] My mind rattled.
Jumping into the cool water and simmering my heated skin down, I dove beneath the surface and stayed under to calm my nerves. What caught my attention was my hair and how I no longer had a brown shade, but white? [Is this because of the priestess?] Breaking the surface and taking hold a lock of hair, sure enough my hair went from brown to white. "Was it that dream?" Shuddering from the chill, I washed as best I could manage and stayed in the water realizing I have no clothes with me to wear.
"Yup...I'm an idiot..." I ran so fast here I forgot to grab them.
"You could say that."
Being startled hearing his voice from nowhere, I turned around to find Sesshomaru by the bank watching me with no change in his expression while holding my clothes.
"...thanks..."
"You really should be more aware." He spoke coolly. Hanging my clothes on a branch and then leaving, I stuttered as I tried speaking. "Come again?"
"Sorry about this morning...I don't know how I wound up like...like that..." facing a different way and cooling my face in the water, I heard him chuckle.
"You fret over something small. It was I who brought you over due to the cold winds." Hearing that and back to facing him, he seemed so nonchalant about it I didn't know how to react properly. "Not as though we-"
"NAAAH I get it!" Cutting him off may have not been the best thing to do, but I dove under water to avoid eye contact and felt my body burn with embarrassment. [How can he act so calm about this?!]
Before breaking the surface I saw something red stain the water? It was small at first, but the color grew darker and something loud crashed just above that made even the water reverberate. Back to the surface and seeing a fight taking place of some ugly creatures fighting Sesshomaru, he was fighting them off with his sword and slaying them.
"Kill the dog!
"YES, KILL THE DOG DEMON!"
The creatures shouted in angry grunts. Their numbers plenty, they easily outmatched Sesshomaru in numbers but not in skill. The water was dyed a deep crimson from the dead creature's and I froze in place. Never seeing this much blood—much less dead bodies before me—my body froze and I couldn't think straight.
"Clara, run!"
I heard him, I know I should have done as he said but the blood around me was horrific. I felt like I was trapped where I was and couldn't move.
"RUN!"
"My, my, what a pretty little fox." Being picked up from the water harshly and displayed for all to see, a creature with a scarred face and brute strength had hold of my arms and dangled me. "Why is such a pretty thing like you doing with a nasty dog?" Boorish as it spoke, its nubby hands probing me, it walked through the water as though it was shallow.
"Clara!"
Hearing Sesshomaru and his blade cut down those around him, I winced when dangled around and could see Sesshomaru coming for me.
"Filthy Ogre, release the Kitsune at once or this one will have your head." He growled menacingly.
"PAH! You? A scrawny little dog like you beating me? WAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" The ogre laughed in hysterics, dangling me in his grasp and not considering that my arms would rip off. I saw Sesshomaru's eyes turn red and his features turn beast-like. The ogre stopped thrashing about and stared at Sesshomaru, still chuckling, before dropping me back into the water where I could swim to shore.
"Let's see what you got pup."
The ogre struck first with his large club and sent Sesshomaru flying through the trees. Broken bark flung each way and the creaking sounds of other trees falling still. The scene horrific as I came to the bank and watched it happen in seconds made my heart drop.
"Se…SESSHOMARU!"
Never having to raise my voice to a near scream before, I felt something burn within my breast and rupture. Heat enveloped me, seared through my skin and take form of a blue fire scorching the area around the waters edge and surface. I faced the ogre and felt my mouth snarl and something jab my lower lip. Taking a fearless step forward and watching the flames kick up around me, it felt so right having this power in my grasp. Everything around me dulled and all I could focus on was the asshole before me.
"So the little fox wants to play?" It laughed.
"yeah this fox wants to play"
My words crossed over to the priestess and my hand raised to guide the flames.
"Burn"
Speaking in unison and watching the flames coil around my arm and shoot from my hand, the ogre yelped in pain and dropped his club. When I looked closely at the club his hand was still attached.
"You bitch!" Coming towards me with a missing hand and blood oozing out, he roared as he charged and I guided the flames back around to engulf him. A curdling scream echoed as he burned in the crimson blue fire, not once letting up to ease the pain.
I felt myself being lost in the power in that moment, just watching the ogre burn and cry for mercy. Giving none and feeling the flames grow hotter each second, the screams became dull whimpers, and from whimpers became nothing at all but ashes piled where it stood and floated down river.
"Clara," hearing Sesshomaru and seeing him marred and with tattered clothes, he was alright. "Seems you found your fire." He was impressed as he took a look at the scene unfazed by what had been done to him.
"..." a sudden relief pulled me towards him and I ran quickly to pull him into a hug. I knew at first he didn't know what I was doing, but the fact that he wasn't dead and leaving me alone in this world made me so happy!
"You surely are a strange one..." his hand around me while I refused to let him go, he pulled off my clothes from the tree branch and wrapped me up. "Come, we will take leave of this place and go elsewhere to bathe."
"Is that all you can say?" Half-jokingly and serious, he seemed confused to what I meant but I shook my head. "Nothing, let's do as you say." My mind is fuzzy what I did. I killed a creature without feeling anything.
"Hmm," he caught my wrist and brought it to attention with the ogre's firm grip having left marks. He seemed disgusted with the wound and wrapped it up with a torn fabric off his kimono. Another look at me and he caught something else and brought his face a little too close. "I'll rid the smell of that ogre off your flesh shortly."
My ears burned where he whispered and gently pulled on my hand to head back to the Kirin. I wasn't sure what he meant fully by that statement, but I'm sure it wasn't something I could be thinking of...right?