Upon one's worth
It was not something that I, Sesshomaru, would bring myself to do. There was nothing to gain from saving a human from those low-level demons. Father seemed interested enough to take the matter into his own hands when sensing something they had hold of. It was not something I would expect father to do.
"Something they hold has value, son, now come."
The small demons became fearful of the great dog demon's approach. As they should. He stood over them as a lord should and made them cower to his very presence. One dropped the sack that held whatever interested my father and tried hiding it behind its back. The bag itself moved slowly, only hearing something of a word come from it knowing whatever it was still lived.
"Stay away from my lands," he growled menacingly. Regal as he stood and standing his ground, the small demons shuddered in their own skin.
"Father, it smells human" speaking quietly, father nodded only once before releasing a small portion of his true self show on his face of the demon he was feared as and the goblins scurried. "What do you hope to find?"
"If granted any luck, power." A bold statement.
He was swift with his decision and emptied the contents of the bag onto the ground. He motioned for me to grab hold of the human that I believed it to be and stood a few paces back. The woman was small, yet she seemed capable of holding her own. Unlike humans I have seen from a distance, this one seemed different somehow? She wore different clothes than other humans wore but her scent was not the same as theirs.
"Certainly not a demon..." father's approach of this seemed odd to begin with, but he watched as the woman toiled in my grasp, quietly observing with a fearful gaze.
Watching the woman look around and see the predicament she was in I was expecting her to cry and beg for mercy as all humans do. She didn't though? She was quiet and afraid, I could smell it, yet showed no signs of crying and begging for release. What did father find in this human to get him so curious over?
"How peculiar to find such a human...I wonder what those low lives were thinking of using her for?" Father spoke with an open mind but did not let the mood turn as he fixated her gaze onto him.
"I..." she stuttered. Not speaking again and growing impatient holding her, I lost my temper.
"Father, is there really a need to be curious over a human?"
"Not so fast," raising his hand and a quick glare to silence my outburst, he seemed to figure something of worth of her. "I am by no means a civil Lord, but I do see something worthwhile to my advantage. She will be of use to us...bring her along."
Taking leave and releasing the woman from my grasp, I worried of father's decision of letting a human join us, but then I never have questioned my own father's judgement to be wrong.
Several hours spent traveling with the human made me realize several things. She annoyed me. Her scent is off-putting. In no way has she cried over her predicament and cease to amaze me as to why. It's confusing and I have no balance on how to act.
"Father," quietly speaking so the human would not overhear us, he never moved his sight from the path and merely grunted to respond. "To what would be gained by having this human? You mentioned power...but what power could a mortal woman possess?"
He was amused by my questions and patted my shoulder. "You will come to understand once we arrive to the temple. There is someone who holds the answers I seek."
"...but will it answer this one's questions?"
"All in due time, my son."
His strong will to press forward and having the human keep pace was nothing I have been accustomed to doing. I watched with a careful eye of her trouble to keep pace and how she stumbled over every stone in the path. Several times I catch myself nearly aiding her troubles but pull back realizing what I was about to do.
"Can I ask a question?" She huffed. Breathless and tired, father and I faced her quizzically. "Where am I?"
I scoffed at the question and ignored her by pressing forward and disciplining my ears to the surrounding area to be sure no one would dare sneak an attack on us. A smell carried by the wind caught my attention, but the presence was too far to be a hindrance.
"That doesn't answer my question at all!"
Her words cutting the air and making me turn back, father seemed displeased of her response and was ready to silence her before my body moved on its own and I quickly grabbed her mouth.
"You were given your answer." Her shocked expression made a turmoil inside my chest I did not understand before the scent I caught earlier dropped my hand from her mouth and to my blade.
A tribesman of wolf demons came through the thicket. Their leader tall and old, he was keen on something and looked as though he searched for the source of a hunt. When making contact with me I made sure to bare my fang and be sure to know that the threat of death was upon him.
"That smell...it comes from her..." he pointed to the woman and I witnessed my father bare his fang and release his demonic aura. I felt the pressure emanate from his being, making things difficult to breathe.
"If you leave you will be allowed to live, stay, and I'll cut you down where you stand." Father spoke with authority and not to be tested.
The tribe seemed to test his threat and was met with an onslaught of demonic aura. Once the leader backed down and displayed fealty, we sheathed our fangs and stood with pride over our triumph. The woman was none the wiser of the act before her.
"That was no fun...you were scared of them?" Father spoke curiously without my notice he was directing it to her and she was cowering. Even when facing with us she showed no fear. So then why show it now to those mutts of all demons?
"I—of course I was scared! Who wouldn't be scared? Just how do I smell?"
Both father and I questioned her and she continued her rant of her scent. True she had a rather peculiar odor, but none that would be called bad in the matter. I heard a chuckle escape my father's lips and was surprised to see such an emotion escape him. With each small banter at one another and getting to where she required our names—more so calling her by name—I found that 'Clara' was a rather unusual woman capable of many emotions, including having I, Sesshomaru, grow ever more curious of her each passing moment.
The temple was old and decrepit, filled with moss and lacked the facilities fit for greater demons to house themselves in. Finding myself more disturbed of the building etiquette than the task at hand, a fox was waiting at the far center of the temple, exuding her presence to us and expecting respect. If not for father's earlier explanation of being here I would not have chosen to come here willingly.
"Priestess," his father's majestic and strong voice echoed the halls, making all who worked here halt to his voice alone. "I bring you this woman that might interest you."
The fox was pleased with the woman he spoke of and walked fluidly towards Clara as though skimming through water. The veil masking her appearance of a fox and being human was a trick to lure the woman in to bring down her defenses. A coward's trick, though I could say the same goes for our kind as well. I paced back a few steps as not to get entwined in the matter that took place and watched how Clara handled herself.
She was like a lost pup searching for a way out, but the fox had hold of her, even so much as toyed around with her soul to keep her standing still. With great interest I watched her take in everything that was happening to her, and in moments lost to me the fox had started to delve into her entirely.
"What is happening?" Alarmed, father seemed displeased I was not paying attention and did not bother answering my question. "Father...the fox, what is it doing to the woman?"
"...a sacred right of power transfer. One of which will allow the fox to rejuvenate the power that's been lost and allow my fangs to possess greater power."
"...will this apply to my fang as well?" A curious thought to increase my own fang to rule, father shook his head and spoke that I was not yet ready for such strife. That a young pup needs more training with an open mind to the world. "I do not find myself lacking."
"There," he pointed at my chest and I stammered. "Your heart is not yet ready for the task that requires the strength to lead. You are not ready."
"...what if you're wrong?"
"I am never wrong." He stated flatly.
The air was stale now, the priestess was taking over Clara in a bright light that looked as though she was melding into her body. The process was not pleasant to the eyes and I veered my eyes away during the more intricate parts melding. But when father approached the fox and spoke "is it done", I found myself turning back to find Clara and the fox becoming one and the same.
"More than done...she is complete."
Watching the fox vanish and father leaving, I stood there wondering over what happened. Each second that passed made my mind wonder and grow curious. Father was gone from the room to enjoy a walk perhaps, but I stayed to watch over Clara.
"...why do you intrigue me?" Asking myself with no one to supply the answer, I reached for her hand and felt how soft and delicate a human woman truly was. My forceful take upon her was nothing to recall...she was merely a human unworthy of touching. So why...why does this one seek her out like a moth to a flame?
"...unh..."
A soft sound escaped from her lips, making me pull away and stand tall. She moved not an inch, no other words escaped past her lips. In time her scent changed from a human mortal to that of a fox, something catching my senses, turning my mind into clouds and wanting to reach out to her.
"Does she wake," Father returned and the cloudy feeling in my head dissipated.
"Not yet..." Stepping away and feeling a loss come before me, it aggravated me not knowing what this was doing to me. What she was doing to me.
"She will have the fox fire...that power will pass onto my fang and I will be granted more power to rule my lands for decades more."
"An honorable power, father."
Taking my place behind him and waiting for her to wake, it was a relentless battle of what I felt burning inside my chest, but I kept the feeling down.
Clara's newfound body had me taking interest. She was the same human woman we found in the sack...yet now after what the fox had done she seemed more demon-like than having been human. This made the feeling in my chest swell for some odd reason. A pang in the chest unlike anything I've felt before.
"What has she done to me?" Holding out my hand as I basked in the light outside the temple, shouting was heard from the halls and I peeked the corner to find Clara running down the hall and away from my father. An enjoyable sight to behold for how brazen she was to do so, she passed me without notice and the thrill of a chase stirred in me to catch her. I ran with little effort and caught her hand and pulled her into me. The chase was a small thrill that laughter caught me as the look of my own father's face crossed my mind. "Brave of you to run from my father," the act justifying the satisfied feeling I held, I laughed at the priceless expression my father would hold. "The look on his face was priceless!"
She seemed stunned from seeing me do such an act and her eyes were wide with curiosity. That moment our eyes met I felt a desire unlike any other, but when she blinked I felt it disappear just as quickly as it came. I gave it more thought about what father wished of her and decided on a whim to see if she would do it for me.
"Do you truly not know how to use your powers?" She shook her head and was ready to hear something of anger come from me, but rather than that I pulled my own fang out and held it aloft. "Then what of mine?"
Merely a second decision I'm not expecting anything.
This notion was merely to see if I had what it took to receive power of a priestess. The likeliness of it happening was not to be expected of her to give. Though she proved me wrong the moment she touched my fang and a blue flame slowly trickle from her fingertips and encased the blade. She wasn't responsive to my touch as she kept the blade steady, but I felt the power surge through her and into me in an instant! The power of foxfire...the power my father sought...she bestowed it onto me.
"That answers my question..."
Joyous over this and feeling the fire flow through my fang and through my veins, I hadn't noticed my father standing behind us and seeing what transpired. I was proud getting something he desired. Proud to stand before him as a young man rather than a pup to his eyes. He had to acknowledge that I was now ready to become a Lord. This once human woman that I was so aggravated with from the beginning was my salvation to part from my father's shadow and become a full fledged demon.