Fire

Finished with his meal, he rose from his seat, Kazawa already gathering the tray and dishes to sweep back to the kitchens. Sesshoumaru took a moment to arrange his fur comfortably before stepping through the door Kazawa had insightfully left open for himself. Knelt in the hallway, patiently waiting, was the half‐breed. He took a moment to examine it again and found, quite satisfactorily, that the errors in the manner of its dress had to be corrected. Indeed, this only served to raise his spirits as he made his way through the halls and out toward the practice fields.

He did not need to glance to ensure he had not left the hanyou behind, for its steps told him it was exactly where it needed to be.

Kazawa was waiting at the entryway, where Sesshoumaru stepped into his outside shoes , and Kazawa moved to fasten them, shooting a look around the young lord's leg that Sesshoumaru was sure was unkind, but could not be bothered to care about. The sound of its own shoes on the path behind him again assured him that the creature was in its proper place as he made for the furthest practice field. The air was thick and heavy, the wall of rain moving closer, and aside from Rekkonji and a couple of helpers in the weapon's shed, the area was empty, as Sesshoumaru had predicted it would be.

He positioned himself outside the line of the field, crossing his arms into his haori sleeves after motioning for the half‐breed to stand some distance before him among the broken and abandoned practice dummies here.

'And so, it shall begin.'

Kuroihi, strangely, moved more easily out here on the uneven ground. Something about it felt more comfortable to her, and she didn't fear damaging her new clothes. Hands clasped in front of her, head down, she awaited Sesshoumaru's direction. The young demon lord dispensed with pleasantries and came right to the point.

"Tell me how you control the flames." He commanded simply.

'So, she thought, that's what this is all about, huh? No. There has to be something else. This is too

simple a thing for him to go so far.'

Kuroihi worried at her lip for a moment, trying to put together both the answer to her inner query and how to answer his. It wasn't something she'd ever tried to put into words, and she started to wonder if there even were words for what she could do.

Sesshoumaru tilted his head a bit, eyes narrowing as his patience grew thin with her silence and Kuroihi decided something was better than nothing.

"It…is a sensation, like a pool of power inside that pushes forth into the fire. If it accepts the power, then they become one, and your servant can influence it with her will."

"Does this power work only on fire that is already present?"

"It does not. It requires more energy, but your servant can create the fire herself. It requires some sort of external fuel, however."

Interesting... He thought and indicated one of the broken dummies. I will begin my experiment with this.

"Show me."

She glanced at the dummy, uncertainty written on her face as she approached it slowly. She was keenly aware of Sesshoumaru's scrutinizing gaze as she rubbed her fingertips together nervously before placing them on the frayed and dry straw.

'Please… Please work, she begged the gods, her nameless ancestors that had given her this power, don't let it sputter out in front of him.'

She took a steadying breath and focused. She felt heat flush over her and she reached deeper, coaxing at the stirring power within. She pulled at it, guiding it along her arm and down through to her fingers.

Sesshoumaru traced the path of increasing power beneath the hanyou's skin, watched the air around it quiver with the heat as its clothes swayed in the soft breeze it created. He could see what the half‐breed could not, the whirlpool of its demonic energy pulsing around and within it. The power concentrated in its arm, coming to white‐hot points in the fingertips. He watched as it strained, closing its eyes tightly as it gave a massive push and the youki flowed forth, sparking and latching onto the dummy in ravenous greenish‐black flames.

Kuroihi panted softly, sweat beading along her brow from the strain. She wasn't bothered by the flames ‐in fact, she barely felt the heat from them at all‐ and took her time removing her hand from them as she recovered her energy. She watched the flames that still engulfed her hand slowly die away; Sesshoumaru watched them fizzle as the flow of energy receded and nearly disappeared.

'I see. How interesting... And what a strange scent this fire has; one this Sesshoumaru had not yet encountered before.'

Kuroihi looked to Sesshoumaru for further instruction as the flames quickly consumed the dummy, much faster than any natural flame would. He gave no indication of his thoughts or opinions as the dummy turned to ash and floated off in the breeze that still swirled around her.

'This will require further observation.'

"Again." He said simply, indication another of the broken straw figures. Kuroihi groaned internally.

"My lord, your‐" She paused to catch her breath. "It is immensely tiring to create the fire. Your humble servant is not sure she will be able‐"

Sesshoumaru's eyes narrowed again as he cut her off.

"Again, half‐breed," he sneered.

Kuroihi hesitated, examining the second dummy as she finished catching her breath. She was truly unsure if she would be able to ignite it as she had the first one, but... She had to try. It felt strange, she thought as she made her way to the dummy and pressed her hands against it, that she should be ordered to do something she had been longing to do for…years now.

'And here you are arguing that you can't do it. You fool, just take advantage of this while you can!'

She took a steadying breath, pressing her fingers into the straw as she had before. This time, though, it required much more effort to draw the power to where she wanted it.

'Come on, she pleaded, come on, just one more time!'

Sesshoumaru watched her well of youki jerk suddenly, expanding and flowing down her arms into her hands. Beads of sweat sizzled away as even her palms glowed with the power flowing through them. Her fire sparked sharply this time as it licked and climbed to engulf the dummy.

He understood now, he supposed. The hanyou had a fair amount of power within it for an adolescent of its breed, but it was wild and crude. It pushed too hard and consumed too much energy, like a weak muscle overcompensating in a massive effort.

'How wasteful. Still, perhaps it can be improved upon. A different strategy, perhaps.'

In such a manner, morning gave way to afternoon, but beneath the blanket of rain clouds, one would hardly notice. It was not until Kazawa came scampering out from the castle with an umbrella just in time to shield his from the arriving rain that either Sesshoumaru of Kuroihi diverted their attention from the tasks at hand.

"My lord," Kazawa said softly as Sesshoumaru cast an inquiring glance down at him, "it is nearly the hour of the goat. Your humble servants have prepared your meal."

Sesshoumaru looked back out at the half‐breed now shielding itself from the rain under its sleeves and its pitifully dwindled reserve of youki. He was not finished with it, yet it was clear it could not go on for much longer this way and still produce results. It needed a rest, perhaps even to eat as well. He listened and found the tell‐tale groans of the creature's own empty stomach. As he pondered, Kuroihi was not so sure she liked the expression creeping into his eyes.

"Servant," he said to her finally, "again. Produce the fire once more and you may be finished here."

Kuroihi frowned as she panted, her whole body trembling with the effort she'd put forth these past hours. She searched around for a lingering piece of dummy he'd had her dismantle so she could ignite the pieces as he desired instead of consuming the whole thing in one attempt. She located a short rod of bamboo easily enough, perhaps a foot long, and resumed her spot before her lord, the rod laid resting in her palms. As she tried to focus, all she could feel was the cool rain, splashing in an antagonizing fashion against her skin and the bamboo.

She couldn't very well light what was wet. Not now, anyway. Perhaps at the start of all this, she could have dried it enough to light it, but not now. She shook her sleeves down to shield the rod from the rain that only fell more and more heavily as she struggled. She did not perceive it, but Kazawa understood the deceptively gentle expression his lord's features were beginning to relax into. He bit back his whimper, but could not stop his heart from fluttering in fear. He was glad the rain masked the scent of it.

"No," Sesshoumaru said silkily. "Leave it in the rain."

Kuroihi's ears drooped, even as they picked up the change of pace of Kazawa's heartbeat, but she did as she was commanded. She suspected the change was due to his being cold and wet. She almost felt bad.

Her struggle continued without progress, and her stomach cramped in pain from its emptiness. She suspected Sesshoumaru heard the sound it made because now as he spoke and she opened her eyes to read the temperament of his body language, she saw the gloating, near‐sadism glinting in his own honey‐gold eyes.

He allowed the creature to hold his gaze, so the sincerity of his intentions would not be lost on it.

"Once more, hanyou, and you can be out of this rain. Perhaps then, I'll even let you eat again by tomorrow."

There was almost a chuckle in his voice.

Kazawa shuddered, ducking his head away and hunching his shoulders as if to protect himself against the demon lord's will. Positioned like this, Kuroihi could see down under Kazawa's kosode to the scarred flesh it hid; scars that look suspiciously like burns; poison burns to be precise. There was only one demon known to have such an ability…

Silently, admiringly, Sesshoumaru took a moment to examine his claws. In that moment, as her heart dropped, Kuroihi came to believe the stories she'd overheard of young Lord Sesshoumaru's cruelty.