A Forest on Fire (KuramaxOc)

Ch 41: The Cabin

It was brutal. She didn't think there was a bit of her that hadn't been burned at this point. Halfway into the session she had been forced to either shift fully, or run around nude as her clothing lay in ashes. Now, she did her best to avoid his attacks in her small fox fox. All she had to do was manage to touch him, and the session would be over!

She let out a howl of pain as a fireball caught her in the ribs, and sent her barreling towards one of the plants.

"FOCUS, YUMIKO!" Kurama shouted across the sand, fury in his emerald eyes. "That blast would have killed you in the tournament!"

She snarled, and rose to her feet. He was right, half of her side was knitting itself back together as blood seeped into the sand. All across the beach, red stained the pristine white sands. Kurama had gone first, and having nothing to change into, had been left in a tattered shirt that hardly clung to him by what was left of the right sleeve, and the remainder of his pants, that were singed just above one knee, and barely hiding the top of the other thigh.

Yumiko shook her head to clear away the pain, and shot forward. She zigzagged across the ground, leaping and rolling out of the way of different blasts with more speed than ever, and was only a few feet away from Maru when he snapped his wrist up. A terrible yelp escaped the girl as she was slammed away by the fire whip he had lashed across her face. She howled as the whip came down across her back before she could get to her feet, and howled again as it wrapped around her back leg as she tried to scurry away.

All at once, her ears shot down, and her tail bushed out as she sent a desperate plea to Kurama.He tensed. Not a single word came through the bond, just a sheer sense of terror as she lost herself to the pain. He shot forward, his own rose whip intercepting the fire whip before it could lash her again, and snarled at the fire demon, who's eyes had gone wholly amber.

"ENOUGH!!!" He shouted, but it turned into a gasp as the demon lashed out at him again.

A massive fireball careened for the red-haired boy, and Kurama had to launch to the side to avoid it burning him to bits as Maru snarled back.

"YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO INTERFERE SHOULD SHE HAVE TO FIGHT!!" He snarled, eyes still blazing with emotion. "She MUST learn to defend herself!!"

He turned, ready to launch another barrage of attacks on the fox, who still crouched nearby, when a voice cut through the rage.

"M-Maru?"

***

At once, the fire in the goat demon's eyes subsided. His arms dropped to their side as the blue-haired reaper spoke from the edge of the sands. She had brought sandwiches from the temple, and had arrived just in time to see the fire whip crack a deep, cauterizing wound into the small fox's back. She had also witnessed the exchange between him and Kurama, who now crouched nearby, ready to run if need be.

Maru's eyes returned to normal as soon as she spoke. The little reaper let out a relieved breath as she saw his muscles relax, then grinned. A wide and beaming thing. Her job well done!

***

Yumiko had scented Botan approaching from the temple. She was tired, hungry, and over this stupid training session!! She lay still on the ground, waiting for the moment when the goat demon would be most distracted by the shinigami, then struck!