“What’s the matter mistress? Haven’t you ever met a fox demon before?”

She could only stare at Yoongi as he grinned at her, obviously amused by her reaction. “F-Fox demon?” she eventually stuttered out. Yoongi lazily crossed his arms over his chest. She noticed that he was in ripped jeans and a plain white t-shirt and not traditional clothes like Hobi and Jimin. “What kind of nonsense is this?” she mumbled to herself as she moved closer to Yoongi, intent on examining his ears more closely. He frowned at her as she stood right in front of him. “Have you no concept of personal space?” he said, his tone making him sound painfully bored.

She reached up and gave one of his ears a sharp tug, expecting it to be attached by a well-hidden hair grip or headband. Yoongi let out a loud yelp as she tugged. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” he yelled as he smacked her hand away and jumped back, rubbing his ear. She stood open mouthed as she glanced down at her fingers. His ear had felt smooth and warm, just like a cat’s ear would feel. “Ok, this isn’t funny anymore.” She said shakily. “What’s going on here?” she asked, taking a step away from a furious looking Yoongi. “It’s just like Master Yoongi said, mist- Yubin.” Jimin said. “He is a fox demon and that was his ear you just tried to pull off.” Hobi said, a small chuckle making its way out of his mouth.

“There's no such things as demons!” she said, as panic began to settle in. “I must be losing it. I must have passed out on those stairs and bumped my head and this is just all some kind of stupid, head injury induced dream. I’m gonna wake up any minute in the hospital with my grandma hovering over me and AAHH!” she screamed as she was suddenly suspended ten feet off the ground. “What the hell!? What’s happening?!” she screamed while Hobi and Jimin fussed beneath her. “Master Yoongi, let her down!” Jimin said frantically.

Yoongi just grinned up at her, “This is her punishment for attempting to rip my ear off.” He said loudly enough for her to hear. “Get me down!” she screamed as she thrashed around. “As you wish.” Yoongi said with a wicked smirk as she dropped to the ground with a yelp. Hobi and Jimin immediately helped her to her feet. She pushed them off and glared at Yoongi. “What the hell was that?! How did you do that? Why do you have cat ears? What is going on?!” she yelled.

Yoongi sighed, “Are you always this noisy?” he asked as he leant against the wall behind him, his arms crossed over his chest. “What’s going on here?” she demanded. Yoongi let out a long sigh, “Didn’t your grandmother explain anything to you before you came here?” he asked, his tone returning to sounding bored. “My name is Yoongi and I’m a fox demon. The two beside you are the spirits that protect this shrine, and you, oh noisy one, are here to learn how to control your spiritual energy.”

“Spirits? Demons? Spiritual energy? This can’t be real…” she muttered. Yoongi frowned at her. “You’re a priestess just like your mother before you, and her mother before her. What’s so difficult to believe?” he asked. “My mother wasn’t a priestess. She worked in a bakery.” She said, “She never spoke about any of this! This stuff is just the stuff that my grandma rambles on about, it’s not real.” She said, a note of uncertainty creeping into her voice. Yoongi’s frown deepened. “You have no idea who you are or the power you hold, do you?” he asked. She looked back at him, her expression showing just how confused she felt.

Yoongi pushed himself off the wall, “This won't do. Your grandmother told me you were useless, but I had no idea it was to this extent.” He growled. “Hey!” she cried, hating that she had just been called useless by a complete stranger with cat ears. “Go back to your grandmother. Tell her I will not waste my precious time training some lazy brat who doesn’t know the first thing about her heritage or powers.”

“Hey! Who are you calling a lazy brat?” she spat angrily. Yoongi shot her a withering look. “How old are you?” he asked. “Twenty.” She mumbled, surprised by the random question. “By the time your grandmother was your age, she had complete mastery of her gifts, far surpassing the skills of her mother. Even your mother had decent skills by the time she was your age, even though she was a reluctant student. You, on the other hand, seem to know nothing about your powers, let alone how to control them. So tell me, why should I waste my time teaching you?”

She glared back at him, wanting to yell back at him that it wasn’t her fault that she knew next to nothing (or even believed) about her gifts as her mother had never spoken about these abilities and demons. She had only met her grandmother on three occasions growing up, if it wasn’t for the gifts that were sent for every birthday and Christmas, she probably would have assumed that her grandmother was dead. It wasn’t until she was sixteen and her mother had passed away and she had to go live with her grandmother that she had heard anything about spiritual powers, spirits, and demons. She had ignored it as the ramblings of a slightly senile old woman, never taking any of her words about being a priestess seriously.

But she felt that if she said any of this to Yoongi that he would just blame her for not listening to her grandmother. She felt confused and angry, with no way to properly express herself. Hobi and Jimin were by her side, telling Yoongi that he was being cruel and telling her that she shouldn’t listen to him, that he was just too used to speaking bluntly. “Go back to your grandmother.” He said as he turned to walk away when a small basket full of herbs flew up out of nowhere and smacked him on the back of the head, covering him in the herbs.

He turned around to glare at her and the two giggling spirit shrines. She looked surprised, looking around to see who had thrown the basket, but they were the only ones there. “What was that?” she asked quietly. “That was your spiritual powers. They’re controlled by your emotions.” He said as he wiped all the herbs off of his clothes and hair. “I did that? Just because you pissed me off?” she asked as she looked down at her hands. Yoongi held himself back from making a sarcastic comment. “Yes. Because you were feeling a strong emotion, your powers reacted. You were obviously unhappy with what I said so your powers lashed out against me.” He said as he finished ridding himself of the herbs and crossed his arms once again.

She continued to stare down at her hands, her mind unable to grasp the fact that she had just launched an herb basket at Yoongi without even realizing it. “It looks like you're not completely without talent.” He said with a reluctant sigh. “Dinner will be ready in an hour and your training begins first thing tomorrow morning.”