A Forest on Fire (KuramaxOc)

Ch 1: The Assessment

"Deep breaths... focus your mind..."
A young kitsune with fire-kissed hair, (cream at the roots, gradually growing to a light orange, then a deep crimson at it's tips) and seafoam eyes stood alone in a clearing. Crimson and gold gaillardia petals floated in the air all around her. Slowly, she moved her hands in a swirling motion, willing the petals to spin lazily around her. She watched intently as the petals grew hard as stone, and sharp as razors.

She had been practicing this technique for months now, taking a simple blanket flower, and turning it's petals into a razor sharp barrier to surround her. Her mastery of this shield type technique was coming along well enough, but this was only the first step in her training. Carefully, she moved her arms in front of her, and pinpointed a cluster of the petals with her mind. Giving them a mental command, she placed her hands in front of her, palms out and thumbs crossed, the fingers creating a triangle before she spoke.

"EXPLOSION!!!"

While most of her petals whirled around her, the ones she had prodded with the command raced out of the procession towards a burnt oak, exploding on impact with the old tree! The girl smirked, her fiery ears twitching as she lashed her tail in triumph. 'Phase two success!!' She thought before gritting her teeth. 'Now for the hard part...'
She drew in another breath, and focused on the next batch of petals. Slowly she moved her hands, one over the other with palms facing, and touched her middle finger of each hand to the center of her wrists.

"PULSATION!!"

A strange noise filled the air, almost like a 'bwip' as the petals she had focused on froze in place. Her eyes widened in fear as they changed direction, focusing on her and not the tree.

"SHIT!!!"

She screeched, throwing her arms up to block her body as the petals thrummed against her. Small invisible explosions rippled across her arms and torso.
The golden barrier fell as she hit the ground, breathing hard.

"Ahhh-ooooowww..." She groaned, lifting a small fragment of aloe from her hair. She willed the aloe to grow, beckoning it to use it's healing salve on her wounds. The plant had nearly finished it's work when the sound of clapping rang across the clearing.

"Great job!! With a move like that, the enemy won't even have to fight you! They can just wait till you beat yourself up!"

A half-blooded cat-demon sneered as he entered the clearing. Mako Ren had been her guardian and companion for ten years now, and even as a voice in the back of her head told her not to, she returned the sneer.

"Well maybe if someone would actually help me train instead of lazing about all day I'd be able to get it by now!! Why are you here anyways, don't you have a rat to chase or something?" She watched the corner of his lip twitch, and knew she was close to hitting a nerve. He shook his head irritably, his black tail lashing twice before he spoke.

"Sharp words for a fox with no teeth! Are you sure you've got the bite to back them up girl?" He growled in warning. He knew she was upset, but there was only so much disrespect he could take from the little fox, and if she pushed him for a fight, he would be quick to re-teach last week's lesson.

She glared at him coldly, her crimson-to-cream tail lashing angrily as she got to her feet, spitting the next words at him with a snarl.

"WHY DO YOU EVEN CARE!! Isn't it your job to kill kids like me?"

She didn't mean the words that spilled from her mouth, not reallly... but she was bone tired with her assessment coming up, and her irritation won over as she snapped. "Oh wait, that's right. You got fired from that job! Now you're just a glorified babysitter!!!"