Semifinals: Part Two

Kurama volunteered for the next match. The one that came out to face him was the tallest, which hovered about a foot over his head.

"May I have the pleasure of knowing your name?" Kurama asked the figure pleasantly.

"Daichi." A low grunt came from under the hood. "Don't know what you said to Boss, but he told us you bunch didn't deserve to die." The voice paused, "Fight and prove it."

"Begin the fight!" Koto, the fox demon, announced.

Daichi immediately charged Kurama. Something struck Kurama about how Daichi was doing so. Daichi wanted Kurama to attack him. Just as Daichi was about to strike, Kurama leapt out of the way.

It continued for several more minutes like this before Daichi spoke.

"Nice footwork, Red. But in order to win, you're gonna need to attack. And to see what I look like, you'll need to."

"Too true." Kurama agreed as he dodged another attack. "I guess I'll need to oblige." His hand threaded through his red hair to find what he needed. A split second later, it seemed he had pulled a blood-red rose from his hair.

Daichi grunted loudly at Kurama's display. Whether or not he knew of the swift, precise death that his opponent could inflict with that flower was debatable.

Daichi charged once again. A massive, iron fist flew out of the cloak. It flew too fast for the fox to get a good view of it.

Kurama was barely able to jump up and vault off the metal fist to make a soft landing behind his opponent. "Interesting move. Now it's time to show you one of mine." He held up the lovely rose that he had conjured not long beforehand. "Rose whip!" He announced with a clear voice. In an instant, the rose changed from its lovely, yet deceitful appearance to a lethal whip with long, cutting thorns.

"Hum, an animal spirit." Daichi was silent for a moment. "I've had enough of this costume." The iron-covered fist clenched the cloak and swiftly removed it, revealing a tall, heavily built demon underneath. Only one of his fists had the iron, the other was as a hand normally would be. He had obviously not bothered to find a shirt that would cover his completely toned torso. He wore black pants and boots. His head was covered short black hair. His eyes were of a fierce, bright green color. "Now let the real battle begin." His other fist transformed, obliterated from sight by a sort of smoke. It was now the same size as his other fist.

Kurama took a brief note that it had originally been only his left hand that was transformed. This meant he was probably left-handed.

Daichi once again charged Kurama. The smaller, more agile demon leapt over him, making sure to leave bloody marks on the larger demon.

It struck Kurama as odd that Daichi only charged at him

Daichi did something completely unexpected next… Well, no, not really. He charged once again. Kurama began to lash out at the offending demon. Now Daichi did the expected.

The iron-fisted demon grabbed a hold of Kurama's thorned whip, and since Kurama was still holding it, he began to whip the redhead around in circles very rapidly. After the first circumference, Kurama let go. If he didn't let go then, Daichi would go faster and faster, making it more difficult.

The fox demon sailed through the air. His little voyage ended when he met the wall. To cushion his landing, he summoned a wall of soft vines. The vines swiftly lowered him to the ground. He stepped back into the arena, ready to continue the battle.

"Congratulations. I did not expect that. I won't let guard down again."

"Hope that's right, or else there won't be a next time." Daichi suddenly clapped his hands together, a small shockwave rippled through the air, sending Kurama immediately into a sense of alert, the hair on the back of his neck rose slightly. The fists of irons rubbed together briskly, a sound of static fizzed in the background.

Kurama's emerald green eyes remained focused on Daichi through all of this.

Sparks of static electricity flew from the iron fists. Daichi's expression turned to a small smirk. "Other than you and boss, no one else has been lucky enough to see this part of my techniques. Lucky you." He glanced at one of his electrified fists, "There are different ways I could use these fists, fire, electricity, earth, and even get other metals."

He charged, but now it was different from before. His speed increased along with the charged fists. Kurama dodged the main part of the blow, the material of his shirt ripped as the fist grazed his skin, sending jolts through his body.

Kurama landed on his feet, falling to one knee.

"Had enough?" Daichi asked.

"Hardly." Kurama responded. "Though I have the feeling that it's going to change for you."

"And why is that?" Daichi grunted in a low guttural voice.

"You will feel the effects for yourself soon enough, if not immediately." Kurama answered vaguely. "I merely planted a keeoo(1) seed in one of your open wounds. Several things cause that seed to grow quicker than it usually would. Heat and friction are only a couple. The sparks and the collision between your fists helped create that."

As he spoke, a look of dawning realization pervaded Daichi's expression. "Heh, not bad. Not bad at all." He congratulated with a smirk as he fell to the ground.

Koto began the count. Daichi failed to rise by the time the female fox demon reached ten. "And Kurama wins another match for Team Toshimo!"

Kurama walked up to his defeated opponent's unconscious body. Carefully, he lifted the bigger demon up and carried him to his teammates.

"Thanks. I wasn't looking forward to carry around this hulk when I saw him collapse." The team member who was the same stature as Katashi thanked him.

"Not a problem."

"That's not what I expected when you said that you'd return in one piece." Yasu told Kurama as he walked to their side of the arena.

He chuckled. "Really? What were you expecting?"

She didn't grace him with an answer to the question. "You need to rest. By the looks of it, that burn could possibly leave a mark."

"Teams, send up your next contender!"

"Alright! My turn!" A feminine voice rung through the arena as the same robed figure that had thanked Kurama stepped onto the circular ring. "So who's going to be my opponent?"

"I'll go." Yasu said decidedly. "My katana is ready to have some action." She was in the ring within a second, leaving no room for anyone else to argue.

"Ah, Yasu, is it?" The figure hummed to herself. "It had been a while since I last heard that name. I certainly hope you'll recognize me." The figure lowered the hood of the robe, revealing the face underneath.

Yasu's eyes widened, "Kammi!"

"Hey Yasu. It's been awhile."

(1) Keeoo means knock-out or K.O. ... This is not an actual plant... I had writers block to the extreme... I feel ashamed...

Elf: Sorry about the really long wait guys. I had problems with the actual 'thinking of what the heck is going to happen is this fight'. It took me forever to figure out how this was going to end. Sure, I can think of the ending of the major villian, but I can't think of how a fight with Kurama and a... not-so-antagonist is going to go.

Kuro: (Sigh) You've beaten your head against a wall how many times now?

Elf: ... No physical ones actually. But more mental ones than I've the strength of will to count. And lots of talking to inanimate objects. You know, one thing I realized is that Yasu is the only OC of her personality type that doesn't wear black. I've yet to see one like her. They all wear black and are extremely angsty. I don't really have a problem with angst, but sometimes people take too far.

Kuro: That's an interesting note to leave them off on.

Elf: Not as interesting as the cliffhanger. Sorry guys, had to do it. It was either this or leaving it at Kurama dragged Daichi to his teammates, which I feel, is no way to end a chapter. I'll try to get the next chapter out soon.