A Forest on Fire (KuramaxOc)

Ch 36: Detonation

Hiei had just freed Kuwabara from the corpse's grip, when he felt that rage flare again, and heard the kitsune scream. He turned, looking back to that sea of green, and blanched at what he saw. She was floating, surrounded by an orb of fire and wind, and he could see the detonation before the air went still.

His eyes went wide, and he lunged for Kuwabara, even as the images from inside that stone flooded his mind, and he nearly retched. He didn't have time to think, he just grabbed the boy, and threw him to the ground.

"GET DOWN!!!" He snarled, turning and shielding himself as every control the girl had snapped at seeing her master brought so low within that stone.

For only a heartbeat, the world went still, then came the roar... It started as a small rustle at first, accompanied by a flicker of red within the torrent of green that had surrounded the girl, and then....

All at once, fire raged outward. It encircled the girl, and grew in waves as that orb expanded. It's edges incinerated everything in it's path, raging further, and further as Yumiko detonated in it's center. Hiei roared as the inferno reached them, doing his best to absorb every drop of that fire, shielding the human boy behind him from the firebrand kitsune's wrath.

Just when he felt his own barriers begin to crack, that orb of fire began to recede. Hiei fell to his knees as soon as the air turned cool again, his hands and forearms badly singed from holding back her attack. He watched as the orb receded far enough to encompass only the girl, her bond, and that bird.

"Woah... what the heck was that??" Kuwabara asked, his voice subdued.

"Yumiko..." Hiei answered, though it did little to explain. Carefully he reached out again, that same thought, those same images flooding his mind, and he shuddered.

"Stay here..." He commanded.

Then he vanished, taking off for that fire, and the stone hiding somewhere within.

***

Kurama screamed in pure unending agony! He was dipped in acid, and it was eating away his flesh bit by bit. He was Mako, holding that pulse child as she erupted. He was a demon in the clearing, burning away in pulse flame. And still, Yumiko screamed across that clearing. Yoko had been replaced again. Now Yumekui demons stood in a circle, all laughing and snarling as they approached the girl.

No... no more!! He couldn't take another second of this!!!

'FOX!!!'

He flinched as a male voice cut through the scene, everything turning to darkness for only a second before a new scene appeared, and he choked.

Yumiko hovered in the center of the village, blazing brighter than the sun. That orb of fire burned everything it touched, but somehow didn't touch her. He opened his eyes even wider as she turned towards him, those seafoam eyes now a shining bright blue!

He felt his lips begin to curl into a smile, seconds before she opened her mouth, and screamed.

_______

'Damn it!!' Hiei cursed in his head as he reached that wall of fire. He had nearly reached Kurama's mind, Yumekui stone be damned, but the fox had lost focus. He raised his hands, still searing in pain from the initial blaze, and pushed his spirit energy into that flame. He forced a pathway through it's wall, and into the stifling space within.

Yumiko hovered at the orb's center, mouth open, and eyes glowing blue. He knew there was no point in trying to wake her. She was detonating, and wouldn't stop until every last drop of energy had run out. It was a firebrand's greatest weapon. They were able to convert every ounce of spirit energy they had into pure flame, though at a great price, and there was little way of controlling it except in very small bursts. The fact that she had drawn it back at all, was a miracle in itself.