Ashes of Love and War - TodoMomo

||Chapter 3 ~ Part 1||

Warmth spread throughout Shouto's body as his lips pressed against hers.

She tasted sweet, like honey and red wine. He couldn't remember the last time he had tasted something so good, or anything for that matter. Maybe in a time before the war.

Reluctantly, he broke the kiss, pulling back slightly until he could look down at her.

His heart stuttered. She was flushed and still breathing heavily from her fight. Dark eyes as black as the darkest of nights glittered as she stared back at him.

An unnamed feeling clenched in Shouto's stomach.

She was beautiful. All he wanted was to wrap her in his arms and hold her gently. Shield her from the world. He leaned back into her, wanting more. Needing more.

Absently, his thumb brushed over her pulse. She flinched. A look of apprehension flashed across her face before she could hide it. Suddenly, it wasn't the priestess' face Shouto saw anymore, but the tear-stained face of his mother.

She thought he was going to hurt her, he realized.

The thought was like a bucket of cold water. Shouto jerked away and released her neck, taking a step back. His heartbeat rung in his ears. He had promised himself that he would never be like that man, and yet, here he was, forcing himself on her.

Shouto flexed his fingers in anger and curled his trembling hands into fists. He took a long shuddering breath to calm himself and was hit by the thick stench of blood and ash.

Shouto looked up. Ash swirled through the air as the roof of the temple continued to burn furiously. The structure looked like it could fall at any moment.

They couldn't stay there.

Unthinking, Shouto brought his left hand to his side to rest upon Endeavor's hilt but stopped short as he remembered he had left the sword impaled in a man's head. He dropped his hand back down to his side and looked back at the priestess. "What's your name?"

She started, and then straightened, pulling her shoulders back with all the grace of royalty, as if she hadn't just agreed to enslave herself. "Momo. Momo Yaoyorozu of the Temple of Apollo," she said. Her voice carried the faintest tremor.

Shouto nodded. He didn't know what else to say. Part of him was tempted to lean back in and reclaim her lips, but he pushed the feeling away.

He wasn't sure why he had kissed her in the first place or agreed to their arrangement for that matter. He had never been particularly fond of slavery. It was a necessary evil that powered his home State's economy, but he had never cared to partake. The contradiction left him wondering what had suddenly changed his mind.

Shouto's lips thinned into a straight line. In the moment, her offer had just felt right. An equal exchange for... His eyes slid to the side and landed on the half-man that she had been protecting.

The monster was badly hurt.

Abdominal wounds were tricky. They could either mean a slow, cruel death as the organs bled out, or they were low enough on the stomach to not leave lasting damage if stitched up properly. Either way, even if Shouto brought the creature back to camp, no surgeon would operate on it. It would be a miracle if it survived. The merciful thing would be to end the beast's suffering before its internal organs slowly failed ...His expression grew hard. Shouto took half a step forward.

Abruptly, the priestess moved in front of him, throwing her arms out wide, and pulling Shouto from his thoughts.

Her dark eyes flashed. "You promised you wouldn't hurt him," she said coldly. "I gave myself to you, and you promised to let me heal him. You can't go back on it so soon. If anything happens to him I'll... I'll..." Her bottom lip quivered faintly.