Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid! - Chapter 10: Kobayashi Shoots Cows! (It never goes as planned)
AN: Here, I gave Kobayashi a gun! I hope you're proud of me dad. One day, she'll work her way up to a mini-gun, like you wanted. I hope.
It was another cold, windy morning, where Kobayashi had woken up too early yet again. They had trouble trekking up the hills and mountains due to last nights...complications.
Kobayashi shot a glance a Tohru's legs, which where wobbling and shaking with every step.
"Need some help Tohru?," Kobayashi asked whilst winking. "You seem to having trouble-"
"I could say the same for you, Miss Kobayashi!," Tohru pouted in return as she pointed at Kobayashi's trembling thighs.
She turned her reddening face towards the ground, as they continued to stumble across the plains. The trees here were abnormally tall and wide, and they were spread far apart from each other, like they wanted their own space. Streams of clean, flowing water branched out at their feet, where Kobayashi gladly knelt down and took a drink.
The gentle sound of wind and bird songs grew quieter as she got closer to the stream.
"Your world's unusually pretty Tohru," Kobayashi stated as she sipped the mountain water.
Tohru giggled at her master. "I think your world is prettier, Kobayashi-san!"
"Hm? How?," she asked.
"Well...It might not be as natural as this but...I still think its beautiful," Tohru passionately said. "The abundant colors...complex structures...warm lights...you humans are...alright...I guess..."
Kobayashi smiled at the naive maid before standing up and slinging her rifle on her shoulder.
"Come on," Kobayashi gestured. "Let's go find some cows."
"Hai! Miss Kobayashi!," Tohru chirped with an extra skip in her step.
Earlier this morning, Tohru had secretly traveled all the way to America (it was a total hassle, but worth it for Miss Kobayashi) and secured a firearm for her master. She had negotiated with another dragon living there, who posed as a hunter, for a sniper rifle to hunt some cows.
Tohru smiled, remembering the reaction she had got from her master when she woke up to Tohru holding a gun (Remington M24).
"Mmm...Tohru...," Kobayashi mumbled while smothering the body pillow. Her dead-fish eyes slowly parted and instantly shot up at Tohru, who was sitting at the foot of the bed holding a rifle.
"T-Tohru!," Kobayashi yelped, sitting up. "W-Why do you have a gun?"
"Ohayo gozaimasu, Kobayashi-san!," she enthusiastically greeted. "I have a present for you!"
"A-A present? You're not gonna shoot me are you?," Kobayashi groaned, hugging the pillow in a very girly fashion (odd but okay).
"We uhh...sorta got side tracked with the whole 'Chaos Faction' debacle and we never got to eat your favorite food...," Tohru sheepishly stated, fiddling with a bullet. "So! Here's what we're gonna do!"
"Spend all day in bed...," Kobayashi mumbled as she flopped back down, massaging her legs. "Owowow...Tohru...you tease..."
"Heheh...gomen, Kobayashi-san...," Tohru chuckled as she scratched the back of her head. "But I didn't painfully walk all the way to America just to find this you know..."
"A-America?!," Kobayashi yelped. "W-Wha..."
"Hmm! From my hunter friend!," she finished. "Anyway, since there's no-one in town who sells decent beef, we're..." She gently placed the rifle in Kobayashi's arms.
"...gonna go find some!"
"Uhm...T-Tohru...?," Kobayashi sighed as her maid helped her out of bed, causing her legs to wobble like jello. "D-Do I have to...shoot?"
"Huh?," Tohru smiled as she pecked her master's cheek. "I-I thought you would want to do the honor, Kobayashi-san...?"
"Fine...but don't be annoyed if I miss," Kobayashi mumbled playfully as the two left their room in a mess.
To be honest with herself, Tohru had regretted making her master shoot. She had let at least four, perfectly placed cows run away, after shooting the ground a meter in front of them, fumbling awkwardly with the bolt while the cows ran away. They would run out of bullets if this kept up.
Kobayashi halted to a stop and quietly knelt down, Tohru instinctively following. She slowly removed the black rifle from her shoulder and raised it up towards a herd of cows in the distance.
"This time...this time for sure...," Kobayashi mumbled on the stock as her thumb pressed up on the safety.
"I hope so...," Tohru sighed, covering her ears. Already she had given up.
She lined up the shaky cross hair with a cows chest and...
CRASH!
Kobayashi saw nothing but dust and debris, and the two of them fell backwards from the shock wave. It was Tohru who was first up and in dragon-form, looking for the source of the blast, with Kobayashi slowly propping herself up with the aid of her rifle. She was surrounded by a large, protective tail, as a form of protection from Tohru who apparently did not want a repeat of what happened last time.
The dust settled down, and a silhouette of a dragon could be seen. Tohru began spewing swaths of liquid ice towards the shadow, which retaliated by throwing a steady stream of flames. With her rifle close to her chest, Kobayashi covered her face with her forearms. She could feel the intense heat, even with Tohru's tail around her.
"TORHU!," she screamed amidst the roars of fire.
The tail began tightening and she could feel herself lift off rapidly from the ground. Tohru began flying away in retreat, however the shadow jumped out from the clouds of dust and clawed her back down to the ground.
Kobayashi could now see the danger, right above Tohru's back.
The dragon was enormous. Twice the size of Tohru, he towered over her, leaking dancing blue flames from the corners of his jaw. Kobayashi could clearly see the vibrant red and black scales of the dragon, contrasted behind the green of Tohru.
The two dragons glared at each other angrily, while the dust all but settled. Tohru was still roaring at the top of her lungs towards the dragon, trying to scare him off.
"ENOUGH!," he roared, causing Tohru to jump back.
...
"The human. NOW." he scowled, taking a step forward.
"From my cold, dead claws." Tohru growled, tightening her grip around her master.
"You leave me no choice then."
The red dragon flew upwards...
"I'll kill you both then."
...and opened his jaw wide, already leaking pools of lava.
Kobayashi again felt tremendous heat surrounding her. The only reason she wasn't burnt to a crisp, she thought, was because of Tohru, who was throwing back equally large amounts of blizzard ice from her jaw.
She felt the heat increase.
Tohru was losing.
"...stop...!," Kobayashi heard with her arms over her head. "...STOP!"
Instantly the heat faded and Tohru's tail around Kobayashi began uncoiling.
"You...you can have me instead!," Tohru desperately screamed. "Take me but don't hurt her!"
The dragon was still flying in the air, staring down at the curled up dragon protecting her human.
"Hm...," the dragon audibly mumbled. "...that'll do. For now."
Kobayashi looked up from her arms and saw the red, powerful dragon pierce his claws through Tohru's wings.
"T-TOHRU!," Kobayashi screamed in agony. "YOU BASTARD! I"LL KILL YOU!" She desperately held onto Tohru's tail, trying to keep her close, until it gently nudged her aside in acceptance.
Tohru locked eyes with her traumatised lover one last time, as he dragged Tohru towards the sky by the wings.
"I love you...Kobayashi-san...," Tohru whimpered before fading away into the distance.
Kobayashi dropped to her knees and stared at the green dragon with teary eyes. The rifle slumped onto the grass, before Kobayashi wailed in pain. It was all she could do at that moment.
"I...l-love you too...Tohru...," Kobayashi muttered to herself.