DragonClaw

The Unperfect Timing of a Phoenix

*Yay! Time for a new character! Actually, I think you'll like this one better than the Dragonclaw. But don't tell him I said that.

Notes: Yue is a fire nation to the right of Shui.

The spell that are cast in this book will be Chinese. I am using Google Translate however, so the translations may not be correct >.<*

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"Who are you?" The Dragonclaw's head whipped to the side, his profile suggesting that he was even angrier than before.

"My name's Sakura. And this here is Yuki and Soji."

The boys are here, too! Could this get any worse?! Unless.....

Wait, Sakura...don't say it. For the love of the Azure Dragon, please don't tell him that I'm your older-"And who you are assaulting is my older sister, Chizuru. Please don't harm her, she's the closest thing to a parent we have."

Nooooooooo!

The Dragonclaw began to smile, and whispered, so only I could hear, "Older sister, huh? Looks like I don't have to go find them. They appeared of their own free will."

I shook with terror, but I couldn't let them see me like this. Not after I already broke the promise once. So I took deep breath, met Sakura's confident eyes, and calmly said, "Sakura, get out of here now. He's the-"

The Dragonclaw clamped his hand over my mouth. I struggled, punching him in the side of the face, only to have my weak arms pinned to the cold stone wall behind me. Frustrated, I kicked him in the gut, causing him to growl, but soon he was straddling my legs, making them immobile as well.

"You, Chizuru, are extremely high maintenance," the Dragonclaw hissed, turning his attention back towards Sakura and the boys, who were beginning to realize that this was no ordinary man. He smiled at them, a cruel wolfish smile that only I could see through. With one hand over my mouth and one pinning my arms, he still managed to look completely unflustered. Jerk.

"Do you have any idea who you are speaking to, Sakura?"

Sakura's eyes darted around, and I could tell that she was getting nervous.

In one last attempt, I bit the hand that was covering my mouth. Hopefully it would draw enough blood to allow them time to escape. I already knew that there was no hope for me.

He didn't flinch at all.

At all.

All he did was stop looking at Sakura, and turned to smolder at me. I took this chance to glare at Sakura, hoping that she understood what I meant. She looked hesitant; not wanting to leave me behind, but finally nodded quickly and ran off. The Dragonclaw noticed what was happening, but then chose to keep his main kill instead of the side ones, leaving me alone with him again.

He was silent, picking up his sword from where it was laid next to me, its hilt gleaming in the sunset. My arms were still pinned above my head, so I decided to go along with the silent treatment for now, given that I was at an even more disadvantage than I usually was.

"Chizuru, it wasn't really smart of you to bite my hand, you know. Given that it's my sword hand and all. If you would have drawn a single drop of blood, you and your little siblings would be dead by now, nameless corpses lying in a dark alley. Keep in mind, a Dragonclaw has powers beyond your wildest dreams. I could have frozen that little six-year-old with a wave of my hand. But I didn't. And do I get thanks for it? No, I don't."

Thanks.

He was expecting thanks?!

He just basically shattered their hearts into a million pieces, having to see their older sister left behind in the claws of some unknown powerful man. And he wanted thanks!?

"You can wait all night, but you will never get thanks from me. I'd rather die a thousand deaths."

"That reminds me. I have to kill you, don't I?"

He paused, but then spoke again, his voice harsher.

"And Chizuru, if I see one more interruption related to you, I will kill them on sight with a snap of my fingers. Got that?"

I nodded, closing my eyes for the third and final time. He lifted his sword up, slid it behind my neck, and.......

"Hey, who's down there?" A lively, playful male voice echoed from above. Against the setting sun, all I could make out was flaming red hair that ended at the shoulders, and his totally unperfect timing.

"Oh, are you kidding me? First you, then your siblings, then this?! What are you, some sort of blasted jinx? Who is it this time?"

The Dragonclaw was spitting fire now, his breath hitting me in the face like flames. I looked down, up, anywhere to avoid his thundercloud eyes. He pulled my face close to his; so much that we were practically touching noses.

"Answer me." His voice scared me.

Like really scared me. It didn't sound angry. It sounded like a volcano, like the ones from Yue, that hadn't quite erupted yet, but was on the verge.

"I don't know. I don't know anyone else besides my siblings. And I'm not a jinx. At least not to everyone else in this country."

Suddenly, there was a loud thump from the beginning of the alley. That man on the top of the building couldn't have jumped, right? If he did, he would seriously regret it. The Dragonclaw was really pissed off right now.

"Then you're my personal jinx sent down to torture me," he whispered, before getting up gracefully to confront the intruder. "If you move, even an inch, consider your siblings dead by next sunrise. Got it?"

I nodded, then I watched him move forward, his long legs crossing the distance easily. He paused at the last bin of fresh fruits before the intruder, taking his time to make sure that the intruder didn't see him coming.

"Lengdong Xue!"

Is that his spell?

Wyverns don't learn spell craft, but we were taught to recognize a spell, just in case in the sheer unlikelihood that we would accidentally stumble in the way of a Heavenly Four (the four kings who rule the four countries). Just my luck that I would be stuck with one of them, and under direct orders not to flee.

"Crap! Ouch, that hurt. Is that you, Kai?"

Who's Kai? And how did someone survive one of the Dragonclaw's spells? I looked at the Dragonclaw, thinking that he would be angry that his spell didn't work, but when I looked, I noticed that he was only irritated. Did he know this person?

The Dragonclaw stepped out from behind the bin, and walked up to the mysterious intruder, stopping only a foot away from him. They were around the same height, but from what I could tell, they had completely different personalities.

"Hiro, what the hell are you doing here?"

"It's soooo hot in my country, so I thought I'd come here and cool down a bit. You don't mind do you? And geez, Kai. Next time, don't blast me with Frozen Blood. Even if I am made of fire, it still kinda hurts, from the steam and all."

Made from fire?!

Who is made.......from.....fire....

This can't be happening. The only person who is made of fire and would be resistant to the Dragonclaw's attacks would be the Sunheart.

Otherwise known as the ruler of Yue, the fire nation.