The dragon swooped down from the sky and the wind unhindered by the barrier froze Suzume down to the bone. The bushes were fringed with frost, and the sky was thick with clouds so dark they blotted out the sun.  The Dragon skimmed the edge of Suzume’s barrier. Her barrier crackled as his clawed hand tried to grasp at her. She panicked as he came near to her and she stumbled backwards.

She could smell his burning flesh. It smelled like burning rotten meat. He roared in pain and reel back from her barrier. He opened his mouth and aimed a spray of ice at Suzume, which collided with her barrier and shook it. Steam rose off her barrier where ice had pelted it. Her barrier flickered for a brief second.

Suzume’s knees gave out beneath her as she watched the dragon’s underbelly pass over her. She could feel the cold wind rolling off of him. He came really close to taking my head off. Her hands went to her throat. Her pulse was jumping beneath her skin and her heart beat was loud enough to drown out the sound of the pounding rain that followed the falling ice. The dragon roared and twisted in the sky. His body coiled around without end like an endless mass of twisting flesh.

“Face me, Kazue! You cannot hide behind the barrier forever,” The dragon thundered.

“He’s lost his mind!” Suzume shouted at no one in particular. She thought he would be upset after discovering her past life, but this seemed a little over dramatic.

“You need the staff!” Rin shouted from Suzume’s left.

Suzume twirled around inside the barrier. Rin was standing beneath a Gingko tree. Her mouth was set in a line. Suzume had never seen her look so serious and it scared her. She looks terrified. Suzume’s hands shook and she clamped them down at her side to hide their shaking.

“What staff?” Suzume cried over the wind.

“It’s in the shrine. It belonged to Kazue. It will help you focus your power.”

Suzume glanced over her shoulder towards the shrine. It was a hundred feet away, at least. And on top of that she would have to get around the bushes and then cross open ground before she would reach the shrine. She might as well paint a giant target on her back that said “come eat me”. The barrier flickered again. I don’t know how much longer I can keep this up. I’m getting weaker every minute, and Kaito has gone insane.

“Go, I’ll cover you.” Rin said. Before Suzume could even voice a complaint, the fox woman had run out from beneath the tree and into the way of the descending dragon.

As the dragon descended, Rin transformed from woman to animal. Her fur was bright orange, her underbelly was white. She had numerous tails that whipped around.

That’s Rin! Suzume gasped. She should have known Rin had a different form but it still came as a shock. Rin bared her teeth at Kaito as he lunged for her. He was distracted by the introduction of the Fox. Rin lunged for Kaito’s throat and caught him. Though Rin was perhaps a third the dragon’s length she was able to get enough leverage to bring him crashing to the ground. The force of his impact shook the ground and he snarled at Rin as he gain his feet and threw Rin off of him.

Suzume did not take another second to watch the battle and ran full speed for the shrine. Crossing the open ground took only a few seconds but it felt like an eternity. She did not look back but she heard the dragon growl and felt each breath she took. Run. Don’t look. Keep going. By the time she reached the shrine she was panting for breath. She stumbled inside, tripping over her robe as she ascended the steps.  She saved herself from face planting by grabbing the door frame.

As she took a moment to catch her breath, she looked around the shrine. It was a plain square building. In the center of the room was a rectangular pedestal. It was long and narrow, with sticks of incense burning at the four corners. Inside the shrine the outside noise seemed to dim and Suzume could focus on the staff. It lay on a stand which kept it propped up on the platform. She walked over to it hastily. Thankfully, unlike the other occasions in which she’d been near a shrine, she did not feel anything stirring or her power reaching out for the object.

She stood over the staff for a moment examining it. It was surprisingly unimpressive. The staff was made of worn wood, that was smooth around the edges and the middle where Kazue had gripped it. It appeared to have been painted red as some point but the paint had long since, faded to a burnt orange color.   

This is it? She picked up the staff it was light, and fit in her hand as it were made for her. She stood it upright and it was the same height as her. It’s like it was made for me. She twirled the staff and brought it down in front of her with a swipe. It felt right. Holding this felt natural as if she’d been trained with it her entire life, but she’d never touched a weapon before in her life.

The fight outside invaded the tranquility within the shrine. There was a yelp followed by a growl. There was no time to think about why the staff felt so right. She had to go help Rin. She ran out the shrine doors. The sounds of the fighting had faded away. She looked up into the dark sky and fat drops of rain were falling onto her face.

The dragon was nowhere to be seen. Suzume stopped and looked around, the staff held loosely at her side. Why am I doing this? I should take this opportunity to run. She didn’t know how to explain it but she felt compelled to help, to fight the dragon.  Then a disturbing thought occurred to her. Everything was too quiet –something wasn’t right. Then she felt pain, bright and sharp at the base of her spine where something had struck her. She collapsed to her knees from the pain. Low rumbling laughter filled her ears.

She spun around to face her assailant. A man with dark hair hanging loose around his face walked towards her. He had an angular face with high cheek bones and a cruel smile. He walked towards Suzume with a smirk tilting his lips.

“You are her, then,” he paced towards Suzume.

“Who are you?!” She demanded as she jumped back onto her feet. She pointed the staff at him.

He did not answer her and instead circled her with an almost bored expression.  His eyes glanced up and down her both, not in a lascivious way but almost as if he were sizing her up.

“I asked you a question.” Suzume jabbed the staff in his direction.

He laughed again. The sound rolled over her and made her skin crawl.

“We’ll just say I’m an old friend.” He stopped pacing and faced Suzume. His eyes were narrowed as he regarded Suzume.

“I doubt that,” Suzume spat. “What did you shoot me with anyway?” her back was still throbbing but she could not massage it as she wanted to. Both her hands were being used to hold up the staff and her arms were shaking with the effort.

“I was a friend of Kazue’s.”

She scoffed, trying to ignore her fear. “Kazue’s friends are not necessarily my friends.”

“Then you do not deny you are her?”

“I’m Suzume—if you don’t mind. Maybe you could give me your name since we’re such good friends now.”

He clicked his tongue as if he were scolding her. “Let’s make this more fun and keep that a secret for now.”

This guy is a creep. If I didn’t have other things to deal with, I’d fry him, but as it is I have a dragon to deal with.  He was blocking her way back to Rin and Kaito. She swung the staff hoping to get him to move. He dodged her swing easily. Instead of Suzume hitting him with her staff, he grabbed it from the center, swung it under her arm pit and flipped her over. He loomed over her and pressed her to the ground with the staff.

Suzume glared up at him. “What do you want?” She snarled.

“Nothing... yet.” He leaned and brushed his lips against Suzume’s, despite Suzume wrenching her face away from him.

“What is wrong with you!” She shouted.

She tried to kick him or punch but her body was not listening to her. All attempts at defense were nothing more than lame twisting of her limbs. Her barrier was curiously dormant and she couldn’t call forward her power in her own defense. He eased off of her and then with one more wicked smile, he disappeared in a dark cloud.

Who was that? The dragon roared and the sound of the battle came crashing down on her once again.Suzume did not have much time to consider her strange encounter before she was running back towards Rin and Kaito.  Rin, still in her fox form, came bounding over the decorative hedges with Kaito hot on her tails. Rin spun around to face Kaito. She opened her mouth and flames shot out and met Kaito’s icy breath.

Steam erupted around them, haloing their heads in clouds. Suzume rushed forward, using the clouds to disguise herself. It was not enough, however, and Kaito spotted her and roared. He flew up into the air before coming hurtling down towards her. Suzume realized too late she had no idea what she was doing. The mysterious stranger had proved that much.

Kaito’s frozen breath brushed against her cheeks and the perspiration on her brow froze.

“What am I supposed to do now?” She looked at Rin.

The fox was badly wounded. Her shoulder was torn open and bleeding profusely.

“Just use the staff, focus your energy on it and hit him with it!” Rin panted.

Suzume stared down at the staff, the faded patterns and the worn middle. How did you use this stupid thing, Kazue?

Kaito lunged for Suzume, she couldn’t create a barrier –she didn’t know how unless it created itself. She only had the staff. She flung the staff up, holding onto it with both hands. She brought it down on Kaito’s nose. The force rattled the staff and jarred her arm. It did little to deter him but he was momentarily deflected.  He spun away for a moment before he came twisting back around.

Suzume focused on the staff. She imagined the power slipping from her fingers and wrapping around the staff. She imagined it as an extension of her body full of her power. She exhaled. Here’s goes nothing. She tried to reach the well of power she knew was hidden deep within her somewhere.

Kaito roared and ice was falling from the sky and falling on her. It grated against her skin and blood trickled down her cheek where one particular piece had sliced the skin near her eye. She could feel the power just below the surface, just beyond her reach.

Focus. She told herself. Focus.

Then she heard something, a low hum, a melody. It was the same one the old woman had been singing back in the village. Suzume hummed a few bars and it was as if a damn within her had been broken, power flowed through her finger tips and into the staff. She was cocooned in power. It was radiating from her and it burned. It was scorching her skin and she felt like her insides were being boiled from the inside. She had to let it loose or it was going to destroy her. Kaito was close now, Suzume pointed her staff. Her arms still quivering and like losing an arrow from a bow, she let loose the power. She felt it break free from within her and shoot towards Kaito. The staff worked like a conductor and it made a straight path hitting Kaito square in the chest with a ball of red energy. He fell from the sky, plummeting like a rock before he crashed into the ground.

Once the power left her, Suzume no longer had even the energy to stand. She slumped to her knees. Rin had returned to her human form and was running towards Kaito.

Suzume felt hands on her shoulder, comforting and warm.

“You did well,” the priest told her.

‘”Did I kill him?” Suzume asked the priest. She had almost forgotten he was there.

She felt conflicted. On one hand she wanted him out of her life. On the other, she did not want him dead.

The priest did not answer right away, he glanced over to Rin who was by Kaito’s side, stroking his muzzle and speaking to him.

“No, he is stunned.”

Suzume exhaled with relief. She ignored the look the priest gave her and focused on the real question. Now that this battle was over there was only one thing left, what happened when Kaito woke again?

A/N: Well that took longer than expected and not for reasons you may be thinking, angry mob. I had this chapter returned almost a week ago by my fabulous beta editor CarolinaC but everyone in my house got sick (myself included... again) and it was a crazy week. I woke up early this morning and I've been feeling better but I had a lot of writing to get caught up on including working on the last book in the Diviner's Trilogy. (Which if you haven't read it yet the first book is on my profile) Anyway. It was a busy week and it looks like I have a busy couple of months coming up here in the near future so updates may be a bit delayed. I appreciate everyone's patience. I will be updating as often as possible. Now motivate me and tell me what you thought of the battle it was my first time writing something this action-y.