The Mythology Set

Fire and Ice

"I… can't allow your brother to bond with my son yet, Seto."

The rice ball the brunet in question had been eating was promptly choked on. Hacking up a last few pieces of rice, Seto turned toward the demon sharply. "What the hell-!"

She lifted a hand and frowned. "Please don't be mad. I'd never expected to find a human worthy of my bond, and I certainly never expected anyone to be worthy of my son." She turned her head to gaze out of the window, where her human partner's little brother was playing with her own son; she admired the way the sun glinted on his silvery scales and sighed.

Seto scowled. "So you're saying my little brother isn't worthy."

"I think he's worthy. Look how well they get along." Kisara lifted a hand to comb her fingers through her long white hair. "It's not a question of worth, or even the strength of any bond. It's a question of permission."

The brunet sighed and reached out to gather her hair and begin braiding it to get it out of her face. "I thought you gave your permission."

She waited for him to tie her hair off with a blue silk ribbon before she turned to face him again. "Unfortunately, my permission isn't enough. His father needs to offer permission, too."

Seto frowned in confusion. "I thought you said your mate was dead."

"Like I said, I never expected anyone to be worthy of my son," she repeated, frowning as well. "So I never expected to have to see him again. However, now that I see how compatible my son and your brother are, I suppose that now we have to go see him." She sighed and leaned her head in her hand, looking quite tired. "Let's hope he says yes. I'm certain that Akai will be angry when I tell him he has a son, and he might just say no out of spite."

The brunet snorted. "Just use your feminine wiles to trick a yes out of him."

"…That probably wouldn't be difficult," Kisara mumbled, frowning, as she looked down at her claw-tipped feet. "He's strong, but he's terribly naïve. Anyone of fire is, really—both demons and the humans they bond with. That was part of the reason I left."

Seto raised an eyebrow and placed his chin on his hand, placing his elbow on the table so he could lean forward. "Oh?"

"Yes. His optimism despite how bad any situation was got on my nerves, and he was quite a bit younger than I." She leaned down to fix the way her white kimono fell around her legs. "I worried that he might not make a good parent. Suppose Akino started developing into a bad person. That optimism might not help; while he may hope his son is just going through a phase, it could be possible that he's turning evil. I didn't want to have to worry about that. It's best for Akino to have no father figure at all than a bad one."

"If you say so. Demons are incredibly annoying," the brunet sighed, rubbing his eyes. He looked up at the ice demon and huffed. "Well, I suppose I'll go inform the temple that we'll be leaving."

She frowned. "Let's leave Akino and Mokuba here, just in case Akai turns out to be incredibly angry. I wouldn't want to expose either of them to an angry fire demon; those are never pleasant."

Seto sighed again. Suddenly, his simple life of protecting the Temple of Ice with his demon companion didn't feel so simple.

.-.-.-.-.-.

Kisara sighed and clasped her hands together. "There he is. Isn't he handsome?"

"…I suppose," Seto replied grudgingly. "Why are we hiding in the forest like bandits, Kisara?"

"Because I want a moment to admire him properly before he tries to maul me for leaving him," she snapped, giving him a scathing glare, before she returned her gaze to the black-haired fire demon heaving a sledgehammer into large black boulders and quickly reducing them to rubble. She couldn't help a quiet swoon as the ridge of sharp spikes along his spine glittered in the sunlight.

The brunet huffed. "This is stupid."

Kisara didn't even look at him as she gave the human a sharp elbow in the gut. "Let me watch him in peace for a moment, please."

"Gah!" Seto glared at her for a moment, pondering whether or not he wanted to dodge ice spears for giving her long hair a yank in retaliation. When he heard the hurried footsteps behind them, though, he hooked an arm around her waist and dragged her further past the tree line. "Shit!"

"Hey-!"

"You're so busy ogling that you can't even hear another human coming!" the brunet hissed, glaring at her as he clapped a hand over her mouth. "Just shut up and watch for a minute and stop swooning over a stupid fire demon!"

Kisara grumbled but decided not to kill him, instead watching to see what happened with the human; from what she remembered, Akai had never been fond of them.

The blond human set down four bamboo poles, each with a leather sack attached to either end. He looked up at the fire demon and covered his eyes to shade them from the sun. "Aren't ya hot?"

"I'm always hot," the raven-haired man replied. "I'm a fire demon."

"That's not what I—" The blond sighed and frowned, crossing his arms, then glanced down at the black stone scattered across the ground. "…This should keep me busy for a while."

"We all know how difficult that is," the demon snorted, rolling his eyes, then slung the sledgehammer through a leather cord around his waist so it hung at his hip. "Well, make yourself useful then, human."

The blond nodded and grabbed one of the poles, scampering to fill each bag with the glossy black stone. He stood up as if just remembering something. "Oh!" He pulled a gourd from one of the other bags and turned to hand it to the demon, smiling sweetly. "The temple master sent this for ya! He said he put in some fire-brandy!"

"…Making it pretty much useless for you," the demon snapped, snatching the gourd out of his hands and popping the cork out nonetheless.

"…I haven't earned anything to drink yet," the human mumbled, frowning, then hurriedly ducked to begin filling the bags again. "He said I could have a cup o' water once I finish with this."

Akai took one last swallow of the watered down fire-brandy and sighed, rolling his eyes, then corked the gourd again and reached down to grab one of the poles. "That temple master is growing stingier every day. You shouldn't let him push you around so much."

"It's okay! It's not like I have anywhere else I could go, anyway," the human replied, tying off the first bag and moving to fill the other. "Besides, it'll be worth it, right?" He looked up at the demon hopefully. "You said you'd bond with me if I could prove myself at the temple."

The fire demon turned to look at him for a few moments, then sighed and nodded. "Yeah, whatever."

"Don't hafta act so grumpy…" The blond stood and turned sharply, staring at the tree line. He thought he'd seen a flash of white, but it was gone too quickly for him to be sure, and—

"They've been there for quite some time; I don't sense any ill intent, so just leave them be," Akai muttered, turning a sharp eye in the direction of the white flash before he looked back down at the task at hand. "One of them is a demon. If they decide to attack, throw your burden to the ground and run. It will be easier to fight without you there to possibly get hurt."

"Okay," the boy agreed quietly, frowning, then sighed when he found the demon already filling the bags on the second pole. "The point is that I'm supposed t' do the work!"

Akai turned a deadpanned stare on him. "You would literally die."

"…Why would the temple master want me t' die?"

"Because he's a greedy, selfish man with no regard for other people's safeties." The fire demon snorted in disgust. "So glad I didn't bond with him. I'd rather eat him." He glanced at the blond as he stood, then hefted his two poles over his shoulder, reaching over to grab one of the human's. "Jeez, Joey, if you want me to bond with you so badly, you shouldn't try to kill yourself, first."

"Do you want me to carry your—" Joey cut himself off as the raven-haired man used one shoulder to carry the rocks, using his free hand to hold the gourd. "…Never mind."

Akai used his teeth to pull out the cork and spat it into the bag nearest, then took a long swig from the jug. He swallowed and eyed the gourd thoughtfully, then scowled, turning his red eyes on the human. "You mixed this, not the temple master. There's not nearly enough fire-brandy in it."

The human scowled. "You're fuckin' addicted t' that stuff. It's bad for ya."

"If I want to kill myself through drink, I think—"

"It's a long, slow, painful death," Joey hissed, turning to glare at him. "Your organs are gonna shut down first, but they'll do it one by one. Then, your blood is gonna begin t' feel like it's burnin' ya up from the inside, then begin t' boil away. Once you're writhin' on the ground in agony, you're gonna wish you were dead, because your organs are gonna sizzle and burn until finally your heart gives out. It's called fire-brandy for a reason.

"If you wanna die, just kill yourself and save yourself the pain; at least that way I can see I was wastin' my time and leave before I'm stuck at the temple, waiting for the next powerful fire demon t' wander by."

Akai stared at him for a minute before letting out a disgusted snort. "That actually sounds better than the pain I'm going through now, kid," he muttered, glancing into the forest sharply as they passed the presence in the tree line. When they weren't attacked, he gazed forward again, taking a small, inconspicuous step closer to the human he was helping.

Once they were a decent distance away, Kisara stepped out of the trees to watch them go, frowning. "I don't recall him being like that when I left. He was sweet, and kind, and would always go out of his way to help someone, even if he didn't like humans." She paused, brows furrowing together. "…And he didn't care for drinking at all…"

"Gee, perhaps it had something to do with the woman he loved and slept with running off!" Seto replied sarcastically, then frowned as well. "But I don't like the sound of the temple master here. Giving a fire demon fire-brandy—shouldn't he know better?"

"…I've heard that humans with power can become corrupt," she murmured. "Perhaps that's what happened. In any case, perhaps confronting him at the temple would be best; the priests would be able to stop him if he lost control, couldn't they?"

The brunet sighed. "I'm not sure. I would assume so."

He had a terrible feeling about this.

.-.-.-.-.-.

The standoff that followed their arrival to the Temple of Fire was tense and awkward. They'd seen the human, Joey, first, sitting outside and carving the black stones into vague shapes, a finished pile of crude animal figurines at his side. He'd looked up at them, raised an eyebrow, and opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off when he saw the fire demon come storming out of the temple, straight for what could only be an ice demon.

Akai's lips curled back in a snarl. "Kisara."

Kisara managed a smile. "Akai, I—"

"Get to the point and leave," he snapped. "You're not welcome here."

The woman's smile faded. "…Akai, I just want to talk."

"Imagine that. I don't. So get to the point and leave," he hissed again, narrowing his eyes. "I don't want you here, so tell me what you want and I'll decide whether or not I want to give it to you."

Kisara sighed and looked down at her feet for a moment, then returned her gaze to him. "Alright. To the point then. I want your permission to allow our son to bond with this man's little brother."

"…Son?" Akai scoffed. "You may have a son, but I certainly don't."

"He has your eyes and your poison barb," she snapped, glaring at him.

"He may have my features. He may even share my blood. That doesn't make him my son." The raven-haired man's eyes hardened. "I'd have to raise him for him to be my son. I haven't raised him. He's not my son."

"Akai, what happened to you?" The ice demon glared at him. "You used to be so kind, and sweet, and caring-! What happened to that man?"

"Doesn't matter where he went, does it?" Akai replied, placing his hands on his hips. "Kindness, sweetness, and caring obviously weren't enough for you, so why should it matter? I'm sorry if my mate leaving me in the middle of the night while I was still going through rut has left me a little bitter. I had to lie in a lake for three days until rut ended." His eyes narrowed as his cheeks flushed with fury and embarrassment. "Thanks for that."

"Maybe I wouldn't have left during your rut if you'd stopped acting like such an inexperienced little kit!" she snapped, eyes beginning to glow.

"Compared to your age, I was an experienced little kit! I told you that! You didn't seem to mind in the beginning!" The fire demon's eyes burned brighter as well. "Though I suppose a scrawny little nobody like me was lucky to have you for even a few months."

"I never called you a—" Kisara began.

"Yes you did. You practically screamed it when you left me during my rut!"

Seto took a step back in concern as he felt the air around him become cooler, shivering a little as he saw his breath form a white cloud in front of him. "Kisara, calm down."

"I never called you a scrawny little nobody," she hissed, hands gripping into tight fists.

When Seto saw the scales at her toes begin to crawl up her feet and ankles, and he saw the fire demon's eyes glow brighter still, he took another step back. "Kisara?"

"Take him and run," Kisara snapped, face already beginning to twist out of its human shape.

The brunet turned sharply to find the other human still sitting, frozen in surprise as he watched each demon beginning to shift into its monstrous form. While he would admit that he had also been a little overwhelmed when he'd first seen Kisara in her demon form, sitting off to the side of two angry demons was stupid at best—suicidal at worst.

Seto ran over and grabbed him around the waist quickly, hefting him over his shoulder. "Come on!"

"Wah!" Joey squirmed as he was tugged upward. "What're you—GAH!" He clenched the brunet's shirt in his hands tightly as the spot he'd been sitting in was hit by a ball of flame, burning the area to ashes—from the grass to the obsidian he'd been carving. "Oh shit!"

The older boy paused to stare at the rubble, horrified; he'd felt the uncomfortable heat as the flames had rushed past them, had felt the ground tremble beneath his feet. Why had Kisara loved and left such a powerful demon!

"Ngh! Shouldn't we—shouldn't we go into the temple instead-!" Joey exclaimed, frowning in confusion, only to shriek as one side of the temple was frozen and shattered.

"Going into the trees will give their attacks a lot of other things to hit before they can hit us," Seto explained, carrying him into the tree line.

"But what about all the trees that are gonna explode-!" The blond squealed as the trees they'd just passed exploded from the sap expanding as it froze. "Ow!"

The older boy frowned and glanced over his shoulder at him. "You okay?"

"Yeah, 'm just—PLEASE KEEP MOVING THANKS."

Seto was momentarily confused, but then the trees that hadn't exploded from being frozen burst into flame. He began running again.

.-.-.-.-.-.

"Are you okay? What hurts?" Seto asked, setting the blond down gently. He glanced at the lake he'd been directed to, then back down at the younger boy. "Do you need a drink, or—"

Joey drew his right knee up and bit his bottom lip as he felt the piece of wood sticking out of the back of his thigh. "Agh… Can ya see how deep it is?"

"Hmm—let me—"

"Ow! I didn't say pull on it, I said see how deep it is-!"

"I'd say it's about an inch and a half, maybe two inches in." Seto frowned. "Should I—"

Joey glared at him. "Don't pull it out!"

The brunet sighed. "What do you suggest I do, then?"

"Nn… Damn it… Start a fire, please. If it's that deep, I'll hafta cauterize it…"

Seto examined the wound for a moment longer. "I think I can freeze it into a burn. It might hurt a little more, but I don't want to draw any attention to us."

The blond bit his bottom lip, then nodded nervously. "Okay."

"Alright. I'm going to pull it out, but then I'm going to have to stick my fingers into the wound; I can only freeze like that with direct contact," he warned, grasping the piece of wood firmly. "Take a deep breath."

Joey nodded and took a slow, deep breath. When he felt the wood being yanked out of him, he couldn't help the startled scream of pain "GAAAAH!" He bit down on his bottom lip as the brunet's fingers slid into the wound, back arching as he felt coldness. He heard a soft sizzle as the wound was frozen so quickly, and he felt tears forming in his eyes as pain became the only thing he was aware of.

Being burned had never been this painful. He should have just cauterized it! This was much too painful! Why did it hurt so badly he wanted to die oh God-!

Pulling his hand back, Seto frowned as he watched the blond's chest heave and tears roll silently down his cheeks. Other than the initial scream of pain, the younger boy had made no other sound, and that had worried him. "Are you okay?"

"'m… 'm fine-!" Joey gasped and sat up, trembling a little. "Just hurt more than I thought it would-!"

The brunet pulled him into his arms and sighed. "…I'm… sorry you had to see that. Demons can get… pretty intense. But if you're planning to bond with a demon, I guess its best that you found out…"

"I've never seen him get angry like that before!" the blond sobbed. "He's mean and sometimes he can be nasty but I'd never seen him like that!"

"Shh…" Seto sighed again, frowning.

Kisara had really underestimated her mate. Now, they were all paying for it.

.-.-.-.-.-.

"If I'm too heavy, I can walk…" Joey mumbled, frowning. Despite the offer, he hid his face in the brunet's neck, tightening his grip around his shoulders.

Seto grunted quietly and tried to adjust his grip on him without putting too much strain on the blond's injured leg. "It's fine. It's just a little awkward…" He trailed off as he stepped out of the edge of the forest to find that what had been left of the temple had been burned to the ground. A few of the monks were cleaning some of the debris, but other than that, there really wasn't much movement.

Joey gasped as he saw Akai digging over to the side of the temples remains, slipping from the brunet's arms and stumbling over to him. "Akai! Are you okay?"

"'m fine," the fire demon rumbled, voice hoarse and scratchy. He spared the blond a venomous glare. "What are you doing back here, Joey?"

The human blinked up at him in confusion. "…I-I was worried about ya. That ice demon looked really tough. And ya—"

"Get out of here, Joey," Akai snapped, finally turning from the graves he'd been digging in favor of giving the blond the full brunt of his anger. "No one wants you here. You don't have the discipline to be a monk and, quite frankly, I don't know what I had been thinking when I agreed to bond with you."

Joey could only stare in response, stunned. After a moment, he swallowed, tears forming in his eyes. "…But you said—"

"To hell with what I said!" the demon snarled. "I was wrong! We're not compatible and I'd rather kill either you or myself before we ever bonded! Now get out of here before I set you on fire!"

The blond stared at him a moment longer before he hung his head in defeat. He nodded slowly and turned, beginning to limp away. "I'm sorry I bothered ya…"

Akai watched him until he was well on his way down the road, brows furrowing together in concern as he noticed the blond favoring his one leg, then turned to sneer at the brunet glaring at him. "She's in the forest down the road. And don't give me that look. It's better this way. He was never cut out for this lifestyle and he deserves better than being run ragged by the temple master."

"Be that as it may," Seto began. "Saying those things was completely uncalled for, especially when he only ever wanted to make the people around him happy—which, I can assure you, I learned after just speaking with him in the forest while you two were trying to kill each other—"

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

The two men flinched, eyes wide at the high-pitched screech.

Seto turned sharply, then cursed, taking off at a sprint. "Kisara!" He was only slightly surprised when he found Akai only a step behind him; the demon couldn't be as furious as he had been with Kisara without still caring about her.

It took a while for them to find her, because they could barely hear her muffled sobs, but they eventually stumbled upon her near the fringe of trees on the edge of the road. Seto went to hold her immediately. "Kisara, what's wrong?"

"I didn't mean to!" she exclaimed, sobbing as if her heart had been broken. "I was upset, and he startled me, and I—I didn't mean to!"

Seto turned his head sharply as he heard a moan, just in time to see the fire demon lifting the blond human he'd sent away into a sitting position. "Joey?"

"This is why I didn't want you around, you stupid, stupid human…" Akai whispered, gathering the small, fragile body into his arms. He ran his hand through the thick hair, moaning again as he felt the sticky dampness of blood. "…You were always a sucker for crying women… No one ever told you not to startle a crying demon…" He turned his head to brush his lips over the blond's forehead. "I was trying to protect you and I got you hurt instead…"

"I didn't even hear him come up!" Kisara exclaimed helplessly. "I just felt a touch on my shoulder and—and—" She covered her face and began to sob again. "Oh! If I'd known it was him-!"

Seto frowned and allowed her to cry into his chest, stroking her hair soothingly. "It wasn't your fault, Kisara. You were following your instincts. You didn't have any control of it, Kisara…"

"But I threw him into a tree!" she wailed.

Akai stood slowly, still holding the little human in his arms. He was so scrawny, so fragile. So breakable. He nuzzled the blond's head gently. "I wanted to keep you safe and I killed you instead…"

Joey whimpered.

Akai let out a startled roar, then knelt again, placing the blond back on the ground so he could cup the human's cheeks and tilt his face up. "Joey? Joey, can you hear me?"

The blond whimpered again. "Hurts… Broke… Hurts…"

"Shit! I don't know any water or earth demons near here!" the fire demon exclaimed helplessly. Certainly, there were other people or demons that new minor healing, but this wound needed major healing. Water or earth demons would be the only ones able to do the job, and taking him to the Temple of Water would take too long, even with his superior speed!

Kisara sniffled and hiccupped a few times before wiping her eyes. "I think I know an earth demon near here. At least, I hope he's still there."

Seto grunted in surprise as she threw him over her shoulder. "I really wish you wouldn't do this. It's embarrassing. You could at least warn me." He saw the other demon gently scooping the blond into his arms and sighed, then dug his hands into Kisara's kimono. "I hate when you do this. But I'm ready when you are."

A moment later, she shot forward, and Seto felt the soft fabric of the kimono change to hard scales. He gripped the scales tightly and turned into a more comfortable position, hugging around her neck. He glanced back to find that the fire demon wasn't taking the chance of shifting into his monstrous form with the blond in such a delicate state and was instead settling on trailing behind them.

He hoped Akai could keep up.

.-.-.-.-.-.

"I've done the best I can," the earth demon rumbled, pulling a blanket up over the prone blond's body. "The next few hours will decide his fate."

"So you're just leaving?" Akai asked, looking much younger than he had before. He looked so helpless, so sad. "You don't know what will happen and you're leaving him?"

The earth demon grunted and glanced at Kisara, who hurriedly motioned with her hands for him to go. "Thank you so much for your help. I'm terribly sorry to have bothered you." She watched him leave, then turned to give the fire demon a glare. "Being rude is no way to thank someone for helping you!" she hissed.

The black-haired man sighed and laid his hand on the wounded boy's stomach. "…It's not fair," he said, voice cracking. "You left me. I wasn't good enough for you. I could have been good enough for him, but I sent him away so he wouldn't get hurt—and then he got hurt anyway. It's probably best that you left, then."

He leaned down to nuzzle the blond's stomach and let out a sob. "I can't keep the people I care about safe. I'm a scrawny little nobody that can't take care of anyone. I'm sorry. I hurt you to keep you away, and you're still in danger. I'm so sorry…"

Kisara and Seto glanced at each other awkwardly. After a moment, she sighed, brushing some stray hair out of her face as she stepped up beside the younger demon. She placed her hands on his shoulders gently. "Akai, I believe that now is the time to talk. Let's just… try not to kill each other this time."

Akai turned to look up at her, and she nearly gasped. He looked so heartbroken, so sad, she was almost afraid he'd physically break under her touch. He… he was so young. She'd forgotten how much younger he was compared to her. When she'd met him, he'd been vulnerable, afraid of the world and all of the people in it—afraid of being hurt and abandoned like he had been as a child. And she'd hurt and abandoned him herself.

"…I really think we need to talk now," she decided, pulling him to his feet.

Seto saw him hesitate, but he felt that the two demons really should talk, so he took a seat next to the blond and tried to make himself comfortable. "I'll watch him until you're finished."

Akai hesitated, then gave a short nod of his head, allowing himself to be led away. "Okay."

The brunet turned his attention back to Joey and frowned, reaching under him to gently run his fingers over the younger boy's injury. "…Jeez… That still feels painful…" He sighed, then plied a little of his power to his fingertips, gently massaging the swollen lump on the back of the blond's head with icy fingers. "You really do have the worst luck," he muttered, thinking of the injury he'd gotten to his thigh earlier.

Seto tilted his head as he took in the blond's expression. He looked… cute. Adorable, even. His face was smooth and relaxed. His golden eyelashes were long like a girl's, brushing over his cheeks like a butterfly kiss. His lips were smooth and—pressing his index finger against the blond's plush bottom lip—incredibly soft. He had a natural pout.

He'd always found something incredibly sexy about natural pouts and long eyelashes.

The brunet paused, blushing a little at the thought. That was terrible and completely inappropriate. Joey was a boy, and he was injured, and…

…And he was incredibly pretty when he was asleep like that.

He wouldn't know. No one had to know. He could steal a quick little kiss and that would be the end of it.

Seto brushed the blond's bangs out of his face and cupped his cheek, running his thumb over his cheekbone, then leaned down, brushing their lips together gently as he let his eyes drift closed. His lips felt like heaven, slightly chapped but still so soft. He moaned quietly, letting his tongue dart out for a quick taste.

It tasted good.

The brunet sighed and allowed himself to kiss him a little longer, enjoying the feel of the younger boy's soft lips, until he felt the tiny push of lips tentatively kissing back. Pulling away quickly, he frowned, cupping the blond's face as he eased him back onto the ground. "Joey? Are you awake?"

"…Hurts…" Joey squinted up at him, and the older boy felt his own head throb sympathetically. "…W-who-?"

"Shh…" Seto carefully brushed his hand over the blond's eyes, making them flutter shut again. "It's alright. You're safe. We're taking care of you…"

The younger boy whimpered, squirming, then fell still again. "Akai-?"

"He's talking with Kisara. He'll be back soon," the brunet assured.

"He's gone-?"

Seto frowned as tears began to form in the blond's eyes, glancing around frantically for the two demons; he'd never been good with tears. "Hey, you don't need to—hey! Don't cry!" What did people do when other people cried? He couldn't even remember the last time Mokuba had cried!

He bit his bottom lip and sighed, carefully pulling the blond into a sitting position and onto his lap. The younger boy immediately turned and began to sniffle and sob into his shoulder, but was doing his best to keep his cries quiet for the most part.

The brunet sighed again and began rubbing the blond's back soothingly. "It's going to be okay."

With the way Akai had taken care of the blond after his injury, he certainly hoped he was telling the truth. He didn't think Joey could take any more pain, physical or emotional.