“We should start with fire,” N suggested and Hyorin suddenly felt very scared.

She’d never tried to use the power she’d inherited from Chanyeol. He hadn’t wanted her to use it ever, scared that she’d hurt herself or someone else. Truth be told, Chanyeol was just scared that she’d turn out like he had when he was younger; unable to control the fire and fleeing from humanity in order to keep from hurting others. This fear had transferred over to Hyorin as she was just as scared as the former fire demon that she would accidently hurt – or even kill – someone because she couldn’t control the fire.

Now N wanted her to use the very power that scared her.

“I’ve never tried,” she admitted, looking down, “Chanyeol appa says I’m not ready.” We don’t think I’ll ever be ready for that.

“Well I think it’s worth a try,” N smiled, completely unaware of her thoughts. He could see the distress in her posture, but he figured that was because he was with her.

“Alright,” she whispered, still reluctant to try using her fire powers but not wanting to disappoint Yong Guk who stood on the back porch and watched them with a hopeful look on his face. He wanted her to do this and train with N, she didn’t want to upset him by refusing on the first day.

And maybe there was a little part of her that wanted to see if she could actually control the fire.

Taking a breath, Hyorin focused on creating a fireball in her hands. A fireball should be easy, right? It couldn’t backfire too badly, could it? One small ball of fire couldn’t cause too much damage, right?

From his place in front of her, N watched as sparks started appearing in her hands. It was like someone trying to start a lighter and only getting sparks. N wondered if maybe he should have started with another power, something less difficult to control. But Hyorin needed to be able to defend herself and the only powers that could do that were the ones that were the hardest to control and most destructive if the user lost control.

Suddenly, the sparks seemed to catch and erupted into a small ball of fire that floated between Hyorin’s hands.

N smiled, proud that she’s managed to pull it off. That pride was replaced by a different emotion when Leo came outside moments later, startling Hyorin enough to make her lose control. The fireball flared, growing larger for a moment before going out completely. Taking one glance at Leo, Hyorin quickly excused herself and fled the backyard.

Leo frowned slightly, thinking that her departure was based only on her fear of him, but N knew better. Sure, her being scared of Leo was a part of it, but she’d left mostly because she was scared of what she’d just done. Lost control of the fire. It was only for a moment, but a moment was all it took. Now N realized why she’d been so hesitant to use her fire powers, she was scared of losing control and hurting people just like Chanyeol had been.

Like father like daughter.

--

Hyorin had every intention of locking herself in her room for the rest of the day. Once inside the safety of her room, she could panic about what she had done. Not only had she lost control of the fire, but she’d gone against Chanyeol wishes that she never use that power. She felt ashamed and scared because of that. When he found out, would he be mad?

“Hyorin!” she turned to find Ken smiling at her.

“Yes?” she asked, wishing that he would just leave her alone so she could lock herself in her room already.

“Let’s go to town,” he smile, grabbing hold of her arm and dragging her off, “we can get groceries because Yong Guk didn’t have time to do them today.”

She tried to protest, but Ken wouldn’t take ‘no’ for an answer. He wanted to spend time with his new master, he wanted to get to know her.

The whole walk to and through the store, Ken didn’t shut up. He kept joking and laughing, trying to get Hyorin to do the same. The girl didn’t smile enough for his like, so he was pulling out every trick he had in an attempt to get a laugh out of her. At first, she found his antics kind of cute, but as time dragged on she found it harder and harder to deal with the demon.

It wasn’t until the pair were walking home that she snapped and finally lost her temper.

Ken had started using his ‘Kenjumma’ voice and begun to nag her. In Ken’s eyes, he was just being playful. He did the same thing to his brothers, so he didn’t think Hyorin would be bothered by it. But she was bothered by it. When Ken made the mistake of telling her that she should listen to them because they were her guardians, she finally snapped.

“Shut up!” she yelled at him, spinning around so she could face him, “just shut up.”

“What?” he blinked, confused at her sudden angry.

“Just leave me alone,” she hissed, “I don’t want you or your brothers to be my guardians. I don’t want to hear you nagging me. You aren’t my fathers, I don’t want you around. I want them to protect me, not you. I hate you!” A part of her felt awful when she saw the hurt look on Ken’s face but she was too angry to really care. She her heel and walked off, leaving Ken alone in the empty street.

Ken simply stood there, watching her storm off.

I hate you.

The words echoed in his ears and he tried not to cry. He didn’t want her to hate him or his brothers. He wanted his master to like them, to love them even. He’d been without a kind, loving master for so long that he’d gone a bit over board trying to get Hyorin to like them. now it looked like she never would.

Slowly he walked home, his mind filled with every word Hyorin had spoken. She didn’t want them. She hated them. She’d rather have her fathers – powerless humans – protecting her than him and his brothers.

“Ken?” N asked when the normally happy demon dropped into the seat beside the leader, “What happened? Where’s Hyorin?”

“She hates us,” Ken sighed sadly before recounting everything that had happened.

From the kitchen, Yong Guk watched each of the boys react to hearing exactly what Hyorin had said. N went silent as the grave, his eyes getting a lost look in them. Leo stormed out of the room while Ravi punched the closest wall leaving a dent. Hongbin just sat there in shock, like he couldn’t wrap his head around the words, and Hyuk looked like he might start crying any second.

Oh dear, Yong Guk thought to himself, what has that girl gone and done now.

A/N: three cheers for the unexpected update. well, sort of cheers 'cuz i'm not sure many of you will be happy with what happened in this chapter.