Hanabi

Chapter 14: Catfight

Facing an impossibility of finding a better solution for the problem, Haruna threw all her good sense out the window and dashed down the staircase to the half destroyed hall.

The nekomata had been chasing Rina all around, and the kitsune was hit against the walls a couple of times. Haruna knew that wouldn't end well if it kept going like that, so she ran towards them, reaching back and unzipping a portion of her backpack along the way. She knew it wasn't the wisest idea and maybe it wouldn't work at all, but she couldn't exactly go to her truck to get something bigger and heavier to beat that cat with.

She finally felt the shape that she was looking for with her hand, and pulled a black object out of the backpack. It was a stun gun, one that Haruna had adapted a little bit to fit her needs as someone who as constantly risking her life. One of those shocks on a normal person would probably kill. With the dagger on her right hand and the stun gun on the left, she kept running in the same direction until she was close to Tomoko.

Getting there, she had to dodge a heavy paw that dashed in her direction. She didn't care about how dangerous that was, she had done enough dangerous things in her life. The little white fox then passed by again, moving to the opposite side from where Haruna was, and it seemed like the nekomata was having doubts about who to attack first.

That second of doubt was the chance Haruna wanted. With Tomoko's guard down, she jumped on her and sank the stun gun against Tomoko's paw that was prepared to hit her again. The nekomata whined and hissed loudly, and inevitably hit Haruna after a couple of tries, with a heavy blow of a paw on her chest.

Haruna lost her breath for a moment as she was thrown on the floor that way, her back aching because of the few ihai that were still inside of her backpack. However, she didn't have time to stay still and quickly crawled away from that spot, seeing that Rina was positioned right in front of the nekomata as it shook its head repeatedly.

It seemed like that big cat felt the shock then, it seemed confused and annoyed. Rina used that chance and jumped on the nekomata's neck, visibly biting it and making it hiss again.

Haruna doubted she could use the stun gun again, since Tomoko didn't strike her as someone who could get caught in the same trick twice, but she kept holding it anyway. Soon enough Tomoko got rid of Rina's bite on her, running towards one of the walls and smashing the small kitsune against it.

Rina was bleeding from some place, Haruna could see the blood very clearly on her white fur. Tomoko's claws didn't seem like they were just any ordinary thing.

One second Tomoko's attention was all on Rina, and the next second it wasn't anymore. Haruna didn't have time to move from her position when that yellow cat made a fast jump towards her, she just held the dagger in front of herself.

At the same time that she moved to stab the nekomata, one of its paws made contact with her right arm and she felt the claws on her skin, cutting into her forearm. The next feeling was the one of a really heavy blow to her chest again, but this time it wasn't a paw, it was the cat's head instead.

Haruna fell to the floor one more time, but this time dizzy, groaning and bleeding. She had lost the dagger, she dropped it when Tomoko hit her, and now she had just that stun gun to defend herself. She looked at her forearm and there were four deep cuts right in the middle.

Luckily, Rina was distracting Tomoko again. Both youkai started to concentrate on each other while Haruna thought of what to do. There was blood on her clothes, there was blood all over her arm, she had to stop that soon or she'd be in some great trouble.

Rina was hit again and Haruna stood up and ran, trying to make her way out of that mess so she could do something about her arm. She ran towards the staircase, but when she looked back, Rina was in serious disadvantage.