A Forest on Fire (KuramaxOc)

Prologue

(Ten years ago)

A young girl with fire-kissed hair, soft fox-like ears, and a bushy tail the same shades as her hair, sat in the center of a burnt out clearing. She sobbed as her tail dragged the earth in grief. All around her, the cinder outlines of demons scorched the earth. Some had been part of the pack of dog-demons who had raided her small kitsune village. Others, like the one the little girl's palms were pressed into, were the final remnants of her family.

"Mommy please! I-I didn't mean to... Please mommy, come back!!!"

The little girl still couldn't understand what had happened. She couldn't make sense of the memories threatening to destroy her young mind. Only a few hours earlier, the sun had been bright overhead. Her mother had been teaching her how to call the seeds of the forest to grow, and little Yumi had only just managed to bloom her first lily.

Then the bad ones came... Everyone had heard rumors of a band of demons set out to enslave any spirit beast they could find. That day, they found the small kitsune village. There had been shouting, screaming... Many of the older kitsune tried to fight back, but Suna had grabbed her daughter, and ran. They had nearly made it to the forest's edge when the big brute of a dog demon fell upon them.

Yumi squeezed her eyes shut tight, trying to block out the image of the great brown furred brute holding her mother up by the tail. It was a cruel thing to do, to hold a kitsune by the tail, even little Yumi had known that! She had stood on her little toes, fire-branded tail sticking out straight behind her, and smacked her palms against the brute's leg trying to force him to let her mother go! He had barked out a laugh and slammed the back of his hand into the girl, sending her flying back against an old oak tree.

Yumiko wasn't entirely certain of what happened next. She remembered watching the forest fly past her before she hit the tree. She remembered everything growing dark, and a searing pain bubbling up from deep within her, and she remembered a scream.

When the little kitsune had opened her eyes, the only thing around her was the clearing, and a burning forest. "I-I'm sorry mommy... Please come back...*sniff* I d-didn't m-mean to... to...." She whimpered, laying her forehead against the cinders where her mother had been.

"That's one hell of a gift there, kiddo..." a deep voice called from behind the treeline. Yumi let out a yelp, and twisted around, eyes wide and glazed over with fear. She raised her palms again in the direction of the sound, only for a frantic voice to speak up.

"Woah woah woah!! H-hey now, easy there tiger! I'm not here to hurt you alright? I'm a friend, see?" The voice called out, nervous at first, then laced with honey as a man with cat ears and tail, long black claw-like nails, and deep golden eyes stepped out from behind the remains of an old ash tree.

He was much older than the little fox, but still young for a demon. She couldn't quite place his smell. He was certainly at least partly a cat demon, but the scents of blood and rotten fruit filled the air as well, making her eye the newcomer with caution. After a moment, seeing that the man made no move to draw closer, she turned back to the cinders, and pointed to the larger one.

"Bad men attacked our village..." Was all she was able to say in a voice far too small, before kneeling to place her hands back on her mother's cinders.

"You're right kit, they were bad men. I was actually hunting those bad men." He lied. "You did me a real favor by getting rid of them!" He mewed gently, trying his hardest not to provoke the child.

He had seen this kind of power before, and although the half-blooded cat-demon tried his hardest to remain calm, anyone with a tempered nose would be able to smell his fear-scent. 'Why's it always the little ones....' He thought ruefully. In truth he had seen this many times, but only to this extent once before, although that had been more than enough.