"I'll kill him for this."
She yanked the fabric out of his hands and covered herself up. "I did this to myself," she snarled, hoping to cover up how her heart was hammering in her chest when he grabbed onto her like that. When had Kaito ever shown a genuine interest in her wellbeing? What had changed in him?
"How could you possibly burn yourself?" Kaito scowled.
She looked away from him, not wanting to say. He grabbed her shoulder again, tugging on her and forcing her to face him.
"Tell me." His expression was softer than usual, more filled with compassion. This had to be a trick.
"Why do you care?" She narrowed her eyes at him.
"Tell me." He growled.
"It doesn't matter." She turned to walk away but he grabbed her by the wrist, preventing her from leaving.
"I won't ask again." His tone was not demanding, but gentle and coaxing. Who was this Kaito? It was a side of him she had never seen before.
She whipped her head to face him - looking him in the eyes, glaring into his soul. She saw real fear reflected there. He had been worried about her but not because he cared about her. No, this was about Kazue, because he thought Kazue was living inside her body. She was nothing but a shell, a vessel to carry around the woman he loved. Suddenly lying to Kaito about having a connection to Kazue seemed like the stupidest idea she had ever had.
Not willing to admit she had lied to him, but also wanting to wound him for the simple fact that he didn't really care about her, she said, "That man has a piece of Kazue's soul inside him. It looks like you'll be reunited with her soon after all."
9
Every breath burned, as if her lungs were being stabbed by thousands of tiny needles. The temperature only continued to drop as Suzume and Kaito were caught in a battle of wills. Fire danced along her skin, melting the ice coming from Kaito's stare. Water dripped down her forehead and into her eyes. Suzume accidentally used her injured hand to wipe it away and when the blisters on her hand brushed against her face, it sent pain rippling through her arm and she winced. Bad idea. She'd been trying and failing to pretend her injuries were not bothering her.
"Stop being stubborn. Let me wrap it for you." Kaito reached for Suzume's arm and as he did flames jumped up to defend her forcing him to withdraw before he could get burned.
When Akira had touched Suzume while she was covered in flames, the fire had kept on burning through her and the marks had remained as scars for almost two weeks. Kaito wouldn't risk grabbing a hold of her, even if she hadn't unleashed her fire entirely.
"I'll do it myself," Suzume said and reached for the bandages.
Kaito held the bandages just out of her reach, that damned smirk on his face once more. "Even if you knew what you were doing, how do you plan on doing it single-handedly?"
"I can figure it out." She lunged for the bandages but Kaito merely stepped out of the way. Suzume stumbled but recovered herself before she could become acquainted with the ground.
"Just put out the fire, and stop resisting my help."
"I don't need your help." Suzume placed hands on hips. She'd been sparking non-stop since their encounter with the strange man. Her clothes and bandages were singed probably beyond repair. No one had said anything about the man in black’s likely connection to Kazue, as if there was an unspoken understanding among the group not to bring it up in front of Kaito.
"Why can't you control your fire yet? Have they taught you anything?" Kaito shot a glare in Akira's direction.
Akira shrugged as if to say, 'I cannot control her progress.' She and the others were staying well and away from Suzume, perhaps remembering the danger of approaching Suzume when she lost control of her fire. It had been out of control since the masked man, and Kaito testing her temper wasn't helping anything.
"Can't you just concentrate on putting out the fire?" Kaito snapped. The air grew colder and overhead gray storm clouds were gathering. It wasn't a joke anymore.
No one could get close enough to help her even if she wanted help, which she didn't. She knew what this was really about. Kaito wanted to protect the body that held a piece of his beloved Kazue's soul.
"Let it go. You're not touching me."
"Is that a challenge?" He smirked and her stomach churned uncomfortably.
Suzume scuttled backward. "You wouldn't."
He loomed over her, the ice on his breath collided with the flames that were shooting from the tips of her hair, and halos of steam rose up in the air creating vaporous clouds.
"Maybe if you stopped trying to bring on the winter by yourself, my powers wouldn't have to defend me." Suzume said. If she was trying to ease the tension, she was doing a terrible job of it.
"Why do you have to be so stubborn?" He said in a deep rumble as he stalked closer to her.
Her back collided with a tree she hadn't known was there. Kaito was practically on top of her, the air between them crackling as red and blue energy crashed against one another.
"Are you trying to kill me or help me?" She snapped and tried to push him aside, but he slammed his hand against the wide trunk of the tree behind her and leaned in close. Sparks burst as they collided with his icy aura.
Suzume's eyes darted to his face. Having him this close was dangerous, in more ways than one. Kaito had wreathed himself in ice, and where her flames touched the ice melted only to be quickly replaced by more ice. Hot water dripped onto her chest where her flames were melting his ice and it soaked her shirt. They were clouded by steam so thick she could not see beyond it. All she could see was Kaito. Suzume glanced up at his profile, his strong jaw, his dark eyes that were rimmed in blue, indicating his annoyance with her.
"Just let me take care of you." His voice was pitched low, just for her ears.
In moments like this, when she was staring into his dark eyes, the world around them melted away. And all her prejudices went with it. She wasn't jaded over love, there was no Kazue. Just two people with this heat burning between them. The fire inside her transformed from chaotic sparks to a warm glowing burn. Like that time in the temple, their powers swirled together, testing. Red and blue encircled the two of them and was replaced with steam, fire, and ice. Water dripped from the hem of her sleeve and softly thudded on the ground.
"Fine." She sighed. It would be easier to just let him do it.
Kaito thankfully didn't make any smart remarks as they sat on the ground together. Suzume placed herself just close enough to him that they were not touching. It forced Kaito to lean forward to take her hand, which in retrospect might have been worse because that also brought his face much closer to her. Suzume reluctantly held out her hand for him to wrap the burns.
With a surprising gentleness, he cradled her hand in his. Despite having moments before been covered in ice, his hands were not cold. They were warm as he applied a salve to the burns. Her thoughts drifted to the man who had given her the burns, or rather how she had burned herself by attacking him.
It was possible he had been born with a piece of Kazue's soul inside him, just as she had. But it was just as likely it was Hisato in disguise. Though she doubted the latter was true.
"This would have been much easier if you'd just let me help you right away," Kaito said, interrupting the tense silence that had fallen between them.
Suzume glared at him. "I'm only letting you do this because you would have turned me into an icicle otherwise."
He smirked down at his work without replying. When he finished wrapping her hand, he made a twirling motion with his finger. "Now your chest."
Suzume covered her burnt chest with her hands. The spot was still tender, but she was not letting Kaito apply salve there. "I'm not stripping down for you."
"Don't be ridiculous, as if you have anything I haven't seen before."
She shook her head. She had to draw a line somewhere.
"Not going to happen, even I have my limits."
"I could hold you down instead," he said with a grin.
In respon
se the hand he was holding burst into flames. Kaito yanked his hand back just in time to avoid getting burned.
"You better not unless you want to get burned."
"Now you're being just ridiculous," he snapped back, his own patience wearing thin once more.
"We shouldn't waste any more time," Akira interrupted.
Kaito glared at her, perhaps considering a rebuke, but when he saw Suzume flickering like a lit brazier, he seemed to see reason.
"You deal with it then," he snarled.
Suzume thought he would then go and join Rin and Noaki who were hunting the masked man, but instead he leaned against a nearby tree. She should have known he would continue to hover.
Akira came over and looked at Suzume who was sparking faintly. "You're going to need to get that under control if you want me to treat your wounds."
Suzume was still sparking faintly and glaring in Kaito's direction. She took it all back, any positive traits were completely outweighed by his arrogance and mulish personality.
"You're not going to get it under control if you keep stewing," Akira said.
Suzume refocused her attention on Akira. "I am not stewing."
"The sparks say otherwise." She gestured toward Suzume's hair, which was shooting off sparks that fizzled in the air. "Do you remember what I taught you about redirecting the energy? Try that now."
Suzume was still a bit peeved, but she did as she was taught. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath and imagined the current of energy inside of her body instead of opening and redirecting, as she had been learning to do to harness her power and shoot it out. She imagined closing the door on the multitude of portals from which the fire was spilling out of her, and with it closing down on her feelings about Kaito. It was easier if she wasn't looking at him or arguing with him. If she just ignored him, she might be able to keep it under control.
When she opened her eyes again Akira was smiling, her ruby lips stretched over bright white teeth.
"I knew you could do it."
"If only we could get her to do it in a fight, with Kaito or with a yokai," Tsuki said using his sister's face.
"Easier said than done," Suzume said with her arms crossed. She was still feeling churlish, and wasn't in the mood for Tsuki's teasing. Of course, that only baited him further to try and bring her out of her sour mood.
"Well if you weren't playing hard to get with Kaito," Tsuki said.
"Don't set her off again," Akira chastised her brother gently, as she motioned for Suzume to pull down her haori so she could treat the wound on her chest. "I don't want to get burned."
"Don't you dare peek, Tsuki." Though Suzume wasn't sure if Tsuki could see through his sister's eyes either way. Suzume pulled down the shoulders of haori to about mid-bicep, exposing her collarbone and the tops of her breasts. "And I am not playing hard to get. I have no interest in Kaito that way."
Akira said nothing but smirked to herself. Suzume got the impression the siblings were silently communicating with one another.
"I hate it when you do that," Suzume said.
Akira dipped her fingers into the salve and then jabbed them lightly into Suzume's wound. “Help you?"
Suzume yelped then grit her teeth and said, "Talk amongst yourselves. I know Tsuki is in there making jokes."
Akira smiled but with much less humor. "We meant no offense," she said before dabbing gently at the burns on Suzume's chest.
"Why do you talk to each other out loud if you can communicate silently?" Suzume asked.
Akira didn't answer straight away, and instead reached around to start wrapping the wounds. Suzume imagined she was weighing her words. "We lived in silence for a very long time. And when we speak inside our mind, it is not so much words as it is a sharing of thoughts and images. Talking aloud makes things clearer."
Akira leaned in, her sleeve brushing against Suzume as she wrapped her torso with bandages. Suzume thought about what Akira had said.
"Do you have a separate consciousness?"
Tsuki laughed, and for a moment his face overlaid his sister's before she took control again.
"Hey!" Suzume shouted and covered her exposed skin before his sister's face came back into view again.
Kaito glanced in their direction with a scowl, but it seemed he had missed the quick peek.
"Yes, we've maintained our individual minds in this form," Akira said, she gestured toward her face, "but as you may have noticed there is a blurring where one of us ends and the other begins." She'd finished wrapping Suzume's wound and Suzume hurried to put her clothes back on.
"And that's how you talk to one another internally. You're thinking together in that middle ground."
"Something like that," Akira conceded. "You're done."
Suzume stretched, testing the limitations of the bandages. It made turning difficult but otherwise it wasn't like she couldn't walk.
When Suzume looked up again, Tsuki was inches from her face. Suzume jerked backward but his hand snaked out to grab the back of her neck and keep her close.
"If you're worried about ever having a private moment with my sister hovering around, you don't have to worry, she likes to watch."
Suzume slapped Tsuki hard on the shoulder and he fell back laughing at her. She glowered at him.
"You're such a lecher," Suzume said but with not as much force.
After training for weeks with them, she'd grown accustomed to Tsuki's antics. He rocked forward and sat cross-legged in front of Suzume, his knees touching hers. She would move away, but she knew him well enough to know that he would only scoot closer to her again.
"Ah, it gets lonely with only your sister for company for centuries." He winked at her. "The offer stands, if you ever give up on your dragon."
"He is not my dragon," Suzume said and turned away from Tsuki. Across the way Kaito was talking to Rin who had returned already. Well, more like Rin was talking at him and the dragon, Kaito, was watching Suzume with Tsuki with his eyes narrowed.
"He's very jealous, but we can use that to our advantage."
Suzume forced a laugh. "He's jealous of you, you mean? Aren't you giving yourself too much credit?"
Tsuki grabbed Suzume's uninjured hand. She tried to pull away but Tsuki had a tight grip on her wrist and wouldn't let her go. She stared as he traced the lines along her palm. It tickled slightly and she squirmed in his grip.
"What are you doing?"
"Have you noticed, the only one your body reacts to is Kaito?" he said and then looked up at her.
His finger paused in the center of her palm. Suzume stared where his finger was planted in the center of her palm. His other hand circled her wrist. She had sparred with Tsuki countless times over the past three weeks and in almost every session it took all her concentration to bring up the flames to use against him in battle and even then, it was weak at best. It was only around Kaito that her flames leaped up without warning.
"It's because he's an ice element and I have too much fire," Suzume said trying to convince even herself.
Tsuki shook his head and leaned in close to Suzume's ear as he whispered, "That's not the real reason and you know it."
His breath was warm against her ear and her skin prickled with goosebumps but nothing else. If Kaito had been this close she would have been shooting off sparks. On impulse she looked over in Kaito's direction. He was coming over, prepared to separate them.
"Deny it all you want, but you can't outrun your heart," Tsuki said just as Kaito came over with a breeze of cold air.
As soon as he was within range the fire rose up inside her as if an internal part of her was trying to prove Tsuki right. He let go of her hand, perhaps sensing that rising flame.
Kaito looked angry and she felt her own self-defense flaring.
"Is there something you want to tell me?" Kaito demanded.
"Don't get the wrong idea, Tsuki was just trying to rile you up," Suzume said, throwing her hands up to defend herself.
"Not about that. The
man, you know him. Don't you?" Storm clouds gathered overhead, a sure sign Kaito was really mad.
"What are you talking about?" Suzume scowled back at him.
"That man is working for the emperor."
10
Tired and hungry, Suzume crouched in the bushes, flanked on either side by Tsuki and Kaito. The brush was hardly adequate coverage and she kept accidentally brushing against Kaito, which meant sparks kept leaping off her skin like tiny fireworks. Suzume pressed closer into Tsuki, her arms brushing against his.
He looked at her with a smirk, about to make some sly comment, when Kaito yanked her away from him and left her in an uncomfortable position with her knees accidentally brushing against them both. Tsuki gave her a look as if to say, 'see.' She ignored him and looked out at the sea of tents stretched out before them, curls of smoke rose up into the sky as the sun set behind the horizon. The murmur of voices, horses whinnying, and the distant clang of metal could be heard. A flag at the edge of the encampment flapped in the wind. It bore the emperor's crest, a stylized sun rising over the horizon.
"Looks like your lover wants you back," Kaito said teasing Suzume.
Tsuki snickered and Suzume shot him a dirty look before turning to Kaito. "You don't think this might be because you attacked the army and threatened to kill the emperor's family... oh and destroyed a temple?"
"I technically only did the first two things."
She rolled her eyes in response.
Seeing the army again left Suzume feeling torn. On one hand Daiki, the general to the emperor's army and her one-time fiancé, represented the life she had once had. But when her mother had been caught having an affair, the emperor had exiled her and all her children. And any marriage or hope for Suzume's future had crumbled to dust. Not long after she had unleashed the dragon, she had been reunited with Daiki and she thought she could salvage that life. But like so many other things in her life, that too had gone awry when she'd been caught by a giant spider on her way to Daiki's palace.
At this point, she would much rather stay clear of Daiki and the army. Not because she had completely divorced herself from the idea of returning to the life she once had, but because this was an awkward cross-section between her lie and real life. She cursed herself once more for saying Kazue wanted them to go to the palace. Of all the places, that man had to be with the emperor's army?
The Sea Stone Page 7