Duran-kun and Kiyo-chan's Omake Theater
(featuring the Munakata family pet)
Yatagarasu was under attack.
He'd never had to fight Kiyohime in the HiME Festival, but he had a feeling that this was what it would have been like—long, thick tentacles like the arms of an octopus looking out at him, coiling around his body, pinioning the crow-CHILD's wings so he couldn't escape by flight.
He screeched in rage and fright, his three eyes burning with emotion. Thunder roared in the background as fanged mouths descended towards him, lunging out of the fog. He slashed with his three-taloned foot, trying to rip his way free, but the coils holding him did not yield.
Lightning flashed, revealing looming dragon-like heads with long rows of teeth. He had fought Kagutsuchi in the Festival, and while their duel had not been settled between the two of them he still had the deepest respect for the fiery beast's power. These heads seemed not dissimilar, steam and flickers of fire hissing from between fanged maws.
Thunder roared again. Yatagarasu thrashed for his freedom, trying to break free, but succeeded only in entangling himself further. Like the prey of a constrictor, when he fought he gained nothing, and when his effort caused him to relax he found the grip on him tightening.
He was going to lose.
In desperation, he sought to play his trump card. He opened his beak, ready to breathe out his searing laser-like energy blast. Not only was it devastating in and of itself, but for some reason people just didn't expect a breath weapon from a bird until it was too late.
Well, most people.
Whatever his current opponent was, it did not fall into that category. A coil snaked around his beak, clamping it shut. As the coils tightened, he tried to struggle, tried to scream, tried to do anything...
"Ahhhh!"
Shiho Munakata sat bolt upright in bed, and immediately got a searing pain through the right side of her head. Lightning flashed, and in the vanity table mirror she saw that her CHILD, Yatagarasu, had somehow gotten tangled in her right-hand drill-curl and was now dangling upside-down as if braided up in it, while thrashing around and making terrified little chirping noises.
"You know," she said as she started helping him get free, "I don't mind you snuggling up next to me when you're frightened by thunderstorms, but if you're going to have bad dreams and rip my hair out of its curlers, then you're just going to have to learn to tough it out!"
~X X X~
A/N: Long-time readers will of course recall that after the baseball incident, Shiho adopted her My-Otome hairstyle in this series.