“Oh? Finally figured it out, have you?” Kiara said, her eyes glinting with a sort of amused joviality. She was obviously getting a kick out of the poor kitsune’s reaction.
“Chris! Your brother is Chris!”
It was so obvious, thinking back on it. Lilian almost kicked herself for not figuring it out sooner. To be fair, Kiara didn’t share Chris’s last name. And they looked nothing alike. Not to mention the fact Lilian hadn’t sensed any youki emissions from the older woman when they’d met before. She was still struggling with the concept that Kiara wasn’t human, let alone that her brother was Chris Fleischer.
“That’s right. You didn’t think I was just attacking you for no reason, did you? While I may not like my brother, it doesn’t change the fact that he is family. I’ve got to look out for him, and when someone hurts him, I need to make sure his recompense is paid in full.”
Lilian couldn’t have looked more stunned if she tried. Her eyes had gone quite wide, and round—too round to be human eyes. Likewise, her jaw opened so wide as to appear unhinged. She looked surprisingly fetching when surprised.
Had Kevin been there, he probably would have blushed at the sight.
Had Eric been there, he would have been knocked out via Nosebleed Express.
“But I think we’ve talked enough, don’t you?” Kiara lowered her center of gravity, bending her knees at a 45-degree angle. She faced Lilian fully, her fists tucked into her torso. It looked like she was getting ready to unleash a giant beam of energy or something. “While I enjoy a little pre-battle banter, I think it’s time we take things up a notch!”
Sucking in a deep breath, her chest expanding, Kiara held it in for but a second, then expelled it all in one large burst.
The effects were immediate and devastating; a large explosion of torrential winds shot from her mouth, expanding as they were unleashed from deep within her diaphragm. Before long the powerful, hurricane-like winds covered an extremely wide area as it sped forward. Floorboards were ripped apart by the brutal and deadly winds. Like a maelstrom, it destroyed everything in its path as it raced toward Lilian.
Realizing how dangerous this attack was, Lilian called upon her own youki. She channeled the supernatural energy through her tails, and then began spreading it throughout the rest of her body, enhancing her muscles far beyond the strength of a normal human, or even an Olympic athlete.
With her body now strengthened to inhuman levels, she threw herself to the left, speeding out of the range of the fierce-looking winds. Her hair whipped around her body as she just barely managed to avoid being hit. The ferocious winds sped past her, striking the wall of the gymnasium with such savage brutality that a large portion of the wall was destroyed.
Had anyone been walking along the adjacent hallway at that particular moment, they would have witnessed the entire wall exploding outwards, large chunks of brick and mortar soaring into the hallway at neck-breaking speeds. The debris moved so fast that each chunk acted like a deadly projectile, and was more than capable of tearing through bone and flesh with impunity. They struck the wall at the other end of the hallway, smashing through the wall and leaving large, gouging holes that made the entire area look like Swiss cheese.
The battle had just started and already the two were tearing school property apart at an alarming rate.
Even before Lilian had dodged Kiara’s attack, the inu was already on the move. She reached Lilian in record time, her right hand lashing out in a slash that would have torn the girl's chest open, but missed as Lilian jumped backwards with several deft leaps.
Kiara only managed to cut off several strands of hair, and in the time it took for them to fall to the ground, Lilian had fired off nearly a half a dozen spheres of light. She didn’t bother attempting to aim, merely flinging them in Kiara’s general direction. Only one actually made it to the woman, but it was knocked away with ease. Her business suit ruffling, Kiara charged forward, even as she swatted the attack out of the air.
“Come on! Show me what you’ve got!”
With startling speed Kiara was in front of Lilian, barely giving the girl any time to prepare as she attacked with a series of quick and vicious claw swipes and finger stabs.
Left without any other option, Lilian was forced to dodge each attack as it came, bending and twisting and weaving around the fast paced assault, as Kiara’s clawed hands blurred with deadly intent.
As this deadly dance continued, Lilian soon realized that she would lose if the fight continued like this. Kiara was faster, stronger, had more experience and was an all-around better fighter than her. If she didn’t do something soon, she might not walk away from this battle.
Gritting her teeth, she began to search for some kind of opening that would allow her to counterattack. When none were found, she tried to put some distance between them in order to attack at range.
Neither option was viable, she soon discovered. Kiara was too fast for Lilian. Even with her muscles being enhanced by youki, she could barely keep up. Every time she tried backing away, Kiara simply closed the distance before she could launch one of her light spheres.
Not that it would do much good, Lilian thought bitterly, She'll just knock them out of the air again.
Something had to change if she wanted to get out of this alive, much less pull off a victory over this damn dog.
Lilian ducked under a slash meant for her face. She backpedaled when Kiara’s foot launched out in a kick. She blocked it by crossing her arms, but the attack still sent her skidding backwards across the wood tiles. It hurt. A lot. Lilian could see the red welts from where Kiara’s shoe had struck her forearm. She was almost certain her ulna had cracked.
Lilian was given no respite as Kiara appeared before her, claws already coming in hot. She dodged and weaved and ducked around the older woman, doing her best to evade the inu's long claws. A plan soon formed in Lilian’s mind—it was a long shot, but it worked once before so it should work again. Hopefully.
Kiara's grinning visage filled her vision.
“Too slow!”
Lilian's emerald eyes went wide as Kiara's clawed hand jabbed at her face. Seemingly distracted, Lilian was incapable of dodging the next attack. Kiara’s claws struck her in the head… and ended up going right through her, like the redhead was nothing but a simple phantom, a figment of the mind.
“What?!”
“Got you!”
Kiara looked down to see Lilian crouched beneath her outstretched arm. Both of the redhead’s tails were extended, the tips pointed at her chest. She had just enough time to realize that she had been fooled by another illusion, before a large explosion of compressed youki struck her.
Lilian jumped back as the fire from her kitsune-Bi expanded, engulfing Kiara and bathing the entire area in her youki-fueled flames. The smoldering, white hot conflagration didn’t spread beyond the small, two feet circumference around Kiara, the fire being controlled by Lilian’s will.
Lilian watched the fire burn, eyes narrowed. One moment passed, then two. After three seconds had gone by, she sighed in relief, and relaxed her tense shoulders. The fight was over. Surely there was no way the woman could have withstood a point-blank blast of Fox Fire? Right?
Her relief was short lived.
“That was a pretty sneaky move there.”
Lilian gasped as a powerful burst of youki caused the hairs on her tails and ears to bristle. The amount of power unleashed generated a large gust of wind, snuffing out the flames in an instant.
“No…” Lilian whispered in horror. Standing in the exact same position before the engulfed her was Kiara, not a wrinkle on her suit nor a burn mark in sight.
She was smirking.
“I had forgotten how tricky you kitsune can be,” she commented idly. Her lips quirked up, denoting her amusement at the situation. “If I'm not mistaken, that was actually two illusions, wasn't it? One layered over the top of the other. You created the first one to make me think you were standing before me, while the other
made you invisible. An illusion within an illusion. Very clever. Had it not been for my protective cloak, that might have actually hurt me.”
Lilian grit her teeth as she realized her attack had not only failed, but failed spectacularly. There was not a scratch on this damn dog. Not a scuff mark, a ruffle or even so much as a smudge. Kiara appeared just as pristine now as she had at the start of the battle, whereas Lilian had a number of thin cuts along her arms and shoulders, along with her shirt, which had torn up top and bottom, exposing a good portion of her cleavage and the underside of her breasts.
What made this even worse was that Kiara clearly wasn't taking her seriously. The fact that she spoke so much—verbally dissecting Lilian's techniques, showed that she didn't consider her a threat, not in the slightest. Lilian would've felt insulted were she not so terrified.
“You’re beginning to tire out, aren’t you?” It sounded like a question, but it really wasn’t. Anyone with a pair of eyes would've been able to see how exhausted Lilian was. Her legs trembled, her body was covered in sweat, and her breathing came out in harsh, ragged gasps. “It’s too bad you’re just a two-tails. There's so much untapped potential in you. If you just had one more tail, you might actually be able to give me a decent fight.”
“Shut… up…” Lilian tried to growl at the other yōkai, but it sounded more like a sigh due to her exhaustion. She did manage a pretty decent scowl, though. “I don’t want to hear that… from someone… like you…”
“Someone like me?” Kiara looked nothing if not amused. “You mean an inu.” Lilian grimaced, but didn't say anything. “Very well then. I suppose talking isn’t something two enemies should be doing anyway, or so I’ve been told. Too bad, I kinda like bantering with my opponents.” She shrugged. “Well, whatever. If you don’t feel like a little friendly banter, I guess I’ll just end this now.”
Kiara took another stance, a much narrower one than before, and Lilian prepared herself, calculating how to handle the coming assault. She didn't have much youki left—only enough for two more illusions, three if she pushed herself. Enhancement was out of the question. Even if she only used it in short bursts, it would burn through her reserves faster than she could say “Beloved.” Knowing this, she prepared herself as best she could. If she could just weather this first assault, then maybe she could counterattack with everything she had. It was a slim hope. It was also her only hope.
All of her planning went out the window with what happened next. Kiara’s left hand jabbed out, her entire arm blurring out of focus. At first, Lilian wondered what the woman was doing―she was too far away to hit her with a physical attack. They were several meters apart.
She received her unpleasant answer in the form of excruciating pain searing through her left shoulder.
“A-ah!”
Gripping her shoulder, Lilian very nearly fell to her knees as something pierced through skin, muscle and bone. She felt pain, but also confusion. What just happened? How did that woman hit her? And from that distance!
Lilian clenched her teeth as her hand pressed against the wound. Blood leaked from between her fingers, massive amounts of dark red that stained her shirt a deep crimson. It hurt so much that she could hardly think straight.
“You should never take your eyes off your opponent.”
Lilian had just enough time for her eyes to widen before she doubled over like a fold-out chair. Spittle and blood flew from her mouth as a powerful fist plowed into her gut like the war-hammer of an angry god. Never in her life had Lilian felt anything more painful. She wanted to curl up into a fetal position until it stopped hurting.
Kiara pulled her fist back. Lilian would have fallen, but a powerful elbow immediately struck her in the chin. Her head was snapped forcefully back, blood spraying from her mouth.
As she lost her footing and stumbled backwards, Kiara's hands grasped Lilian's ears and pulled her into a knee. The loud crunch! of Lilian’s nose breaking was accompanied by a small whimper of pain from the kitsune in question.
Kiara let go of Lilian’s ears, allowing her to stumble around in a daze. Blood leaked from her nose and mouth, and her eyes had glazed over. Lilian was completely unaware of Kiara, until she had taken two steps forward and launched a powerful finisher: a double palm-strike to the solar plexus.
“Hya!”
“Gyaaa!”
There was a loud bang! like the clapping of thunder. Lilian was blasted off her feet and thrown backwards with explosive force, hurtling through the air like one of her light spheres. She plowed into a set of bleachers on the other side of the gym with a loud series of crashes and bangs. Plastic exploded and metal bent, screeching and squealing worse than someone who'd taken their nails to a chalkboard.
Kiara strode forward, surveying the damage done. The bleachers had caved in, a large amount of plastic lay scattered across the gym, and a good deal of the metal wire frame had twisted and warped around the young kitsune’s still form.
It was an impressive amount of damage, if Kiara did say so herself.
Stopping several feet from the bleachers, Kiara looked down to see the girl in question lying there in a heap. Her body was bent at an awkward angle. Her left arm hung limply above her head, held aloft by a metal bar that had been distorted beyond recognition. Her left calf was folded underneath her thigh, while her right foot dangled limply off a warped beam of metal that hooked underneath her knee.
Her head was tilted toward the ground, bangs hovering over her face. Kiara couldn’t see much of her features; just the partially-open mouth with a line of blood running down her chin and dripping onto her ruined clothes.
“Looks like you’re finished.” The girl twitched at the sound of Kiara’s voice. “Too bad, I was hoping you’d be a bit better. Still,” she mused to herself, eyeing the insensate redhead, “You may not have injured me, but you still did a pretty good job of fighting me, especially for someone who’s obviously never been in real combat before.” She smirked. “You should be proud of yourself.”
Lilian didn't respond. While she was still conscious, it wouldn’t be long before darkness engulfed her. Blackness already crept at the edge of her vision; everything was starting to blur out of focus. Her eyes, two lackluster orbs of dull green flickered, signaling her tenuous grasp on consciousness.
Kiara took a single step toward the girl she had so thoroughly thrashed―
“LILIAN!”
―And was promptly interrupted when a loud shout rang out from behind her. The sound of footsteps striking hard, varnished wood grew louder, and Kiara stepped aside just as Kevin rushed past her. He knelt down next to the girl lying in the ruined bleachers, eyes wide.
“Lilian! Hey, Lilian!” Kevin’s voice was frantic as he called out to the girl. He carefully laid his hands on her shoulders, but he didn't shake her for fear of aggravating her serious injuries. “Come on, Lilian, look at me!”
Lilian lifted her face using what little power she had left. She blinked several times, her dull eyes becoming just a tad more vibrant as she saw the blurry but recognizable figure in front of her.
“Be… loved…” she said, voice little more than a breathy whisper.
“Hey,” Kevin's voice was surprisingly soft as he spoke, as if afraid that speaking too loudly would injure her further. “Listen, you’re going to be all right, but I need you to stay with me.”
“Be… loved… run…”
Kevin shook his head. How could she expect him to run and leave her in this condition?
“You should listen to the fox.” Kiara smirked when Kevin’s body stiffened. He craned his head to glare at her out of the corner of his eye, which only caused her mouth to widen into a full-blown grin. “Oh my, what a scary expression. Are you sure you should be staring at me like that, boya?”
Her floppy ears twitched and her tail flicked out behind her. Kevin noticed the new additions to her body, as well as her very sharp and deadly-looking nails, but he didn’t seem all that scared. Or, if he was, he hid it v
ery well. Either way, she was impressed.
“You know that I could kill you faster than you can blink, right?”
“Be… Be… loved…”
Kevin ignored Lilian as she tried pleading with him to run. He couldn't do that. To run away while someone else was in trouble, especially someone who had helped him so much… It was just wrong!
He stood up and turned around.
Kiara raised a single eyebrow when he held his hands up in a protective manner. Was he actually trying to shield the girl from her? How cute.
“Please stop,” Kevin pleaded with the brunette inu. “She’s already been beaten, so there’s no need for you to fight her anymore. You’ve done enough.”
“Ho?” The look on Kiara’s face betrayed how much entertainment she was deriving from this situation. “I’m surprised. I didn’t think you liked her all that much. That’s the impression I got whenever I saw you two together. She always clung to you, but you never returned any of her affection, always pushing her away, telling her not to get so close. I assumed you disliked the girl.”
Kevin's grimace spoke volumes more than words ever could, yet still he spoke.
“It’s true that when Lilian and I first met, I wasn’t all that thrilled by her presence in my life,” he admitted. At the sound of his voice, Lilian lifted her head, though her eyes remained dull. “She just sort of barged into my life without even thinking about how I felt about it, or how it would affect me. She has no sense of modesty, lacks common sense, tries to, uh, do, um, embarrassing things to me and… stuff…”
His face flushed a deep shade of red as his mind conjured images of all the embarrassing things that she had done to him. Embarrassing was a really, really mild euphemism that couldn't describe the things she had done to him—and it wasn't very accurate anyway. Seductive might be a better way of putting it.
“A-anyway,” Kevin shook his head and tried to get back on track. “Despite all that, and all of the trouble she’s caused me, Lilian is still important to me.”
A Fox's Tail (American Kitsune Book 2) Page 22