Playing With Fire

(Five Years Later)

A normally quiet and peaceful atmosphere was interrupted by the roaring whoosh sound of fire and the yells of a man. To anyone else, this would be concerning, but to those involved, this was an everyday thing.

In a large field far behind the estate was a sizeable training ground that held many types of equipment to work with. There were racks of weapons, weights, ropes, chains, and other items.

In the middle of the field stood the fox preteen with sweat dripping down her body as she let out another forceful blast of blue fire.

"Focus, Kit! There needs to be more!" The red hair of Master Takao was matted to his skin with sweat from being around her heat, "Keep going!"

While Kit had her hair up in a high ponytail, it didn't help too much to keep the sweat out of it. The end dangled and caught onto the back of her neck while her bangs were plastered to her forehead and down the sides of her face. This wasn't because she was hot, in fact the heat didn't bother her at all, it was from the exertion she was forced to make for hours at a time.

She raised a shaky hand that ached deep within the bones, almost creaking, but before she could lift it all the way, she lost the fight and let it drop to her side again. Her chest kept making her breath in greedily for air, but it just didn't seem like she was getting enough.

"I didn't say you could stop." Master Takao shouted at the poor fox girl, "More, Kit! We're not stopping until you accomplish our goal for the day!"

A snarl broke across her young face, showing sharp tangs, as she threw her hands out to aim at the special training dummy before her. Steadying her hand towards the target, her irises began to glow their bright cyan color as a flame matching her eyes sparked and few towards the target. Her flames covered the dummy, but to her disappointment, the damage was minimal.

"Hotter! It needs to be hotter!" He growled his deep voice at her, his patience coming to an end.

"Aaargh!" She screamed out as she splayed out her legs more, pressing for the flames to come out larger and with more heat.

At first, the dummy didn't look like it was taking much damage, but soon it was like the fabric was melting off rather than turning to ash. Encouraged by this, she pressed harder until all that was left of it was a scorch mark on the ground before letting her flames die.

"Better. Much better." Takao commented, looking at the spot before turning to walk towards the estate, "That is enough for today."

She heaved hard for a moment, her stomach feeling like it was going to cave in from the strenuous workout, but she bowed to him all the same, "Thank you, Master Takao."

He stopped at the edge of the field to look back at her, "Go get cleaned up and ready for dinner. I'll see you there." With that he disappeared from her sight.

She took a couple steps, her legs unsure under her like a newborn deer, before she had to stumble over to a nearby bush to unleash the contents of her stomach. Even after she lost everything she had in her, her body still heaved, painful tears streaking down her dirty cheeks.

Ever since she gained her second tail, Master Takao had become harder on her when it came to her one-on-one training sessions with him. She had these sessions with him every other day, making her dread those days. Oftentimes, she would leave training with a limp, a new bruise, sometimes a broken bone, or hurling everything in her stomach; today had been relatively light.

Leaving the training field on shaky legs, she used a tail to come up and sweep across her face to gather up the sweat from falling into her eyes. It was a slow trek, but she made it to her room where she took a shower after stripping herself down of her training uniform. The uniform was traditional black karate gi that was typically used for martial arts, but it worked for the purpose used.

It took her longer than most people to clean herself in the shower since she had more to wash because of her tails, but she liked the time to herself. When she was finished, she began the process of drying her hair, ears, and tails.

Looking over her features in the mirror as she brushed out her hair, she couldn't help but scowl at the small little red dots that were scattered across her skin. No matter how much she cleaned her face, her face was riddled with them, making her self esteem drop. Especially when she was around the other male teen in the house.

Shaking her head, she went to get dressed before she came back to grab her toothbrush and paste to begin furiously brush her teeth and tongue in hope of ridding the orifice of the acidic taste that still lingered in her mouth. Even as the toothpaste froth began to leak out the corners of her mouth, she continued to brush until she heard a rhythmic knock at her door.

This put a halt to her self-criticism as she spit out the extra paste before going to answer it to show her red winged companion, "Yo, Kit!" His enthusiastic greeting stopped when watched her put the bristled brush back in her mouth to scrub, "You get sick again?"

Hawks had also done a little growing up. Before, he had reminded her of a kind of cherub and while he still had a youthful face, he was more lanky. He was still a little shorter than her, but Master Kanda always reassured him that he would have a growth spurt in a few years. His wings reached a little wider and the feathers a little longer now, making them more versatile for training.

She left the door open for him to come in as she made her way back to the bathroom to spit a final time, "It wasn't as bad today as it normally is though…" She rinsed the toothbrush before putting it away, "But I don't think anyone can get used to throwing up."

He leaned up against the door jamb of her bathroom, his arms coming up to cross over his chest, "I get sick when I dive too fast sometimes." He fluttered his wings before bringing them in close again, "But you get sick a lot."

Patting a towel over her mouth, she sighed as she finished, "How was your training today?"

"I've only been doing a lot of meditation to connect with each feather." He raised a wing to have a couple of the feathers fly off for him to make them each swirl in different patterns, "It helps with individual control. Soon, we're going to work more with the vibrations." She watched as all but one feather returned to his wing only for that one feather to come up and tickle her nose, "You got sick today, so that means you were working with your flames more? Is it getting easier to use at least?"

Giggling, she swatted at the bright red feather but missed, "A little, but Master Takao is insisting on me making the flames hotter and hotter, so it seems as if I'm at a standstill." Her shoulders slumped, her attempts to get the feather away coming to a stop as she made her way out of the bathroom to leave her room, "I did manage to melt a high grade target today, but Master Takao still acts as if it isn't good enough."

"Eh, you know he doesn't really praise us." He waited for her to shut the door to her room before walking with her down the hall, "That's just how he is."

Giving a small nod, Kit grumbled, "I just wish sometimes that I could get a little praise or at least told if I'm doing better or something."

"You have to be doing better." He bumped her shoulder with his wing causing her to throw him a look, "If you were not, he definitely would let you know by making you run until dark or something awful like that again."

Hitching a sigh, she nodded her head, "I guess."

They rounded a corner to another hall when he suddenly tugged at a few strands of hair causing her to yelp, "So, how do you not burn your hair off?"

Recovering quickly, she stared at him for a moment before bursting out in laughter, "Do you know how random you are?" He gave a sheepish look before she answered, "I guess my hair is just immune to my flames." She let her tail come around her body to run her claws through it, "It is almost like asking why my skin doesn't melt or why my fur doesn't burn. I really don't understand it myself, but I accept this is just how my body is."

"Hmmm…" He eyed her claws as they ran through her tail, "Why do you always hide the fact that you have two tails?"

Hesitating, she let her tails split after her eyes glowed for a second, "You don't think they look odd? One tail looks normal, but having two tails?"

"But I think it is cool!" His face turned bright towards her "I think you should be proud of your quirk."

A light blush covered across her cheeks and nose as she let her eyes dart back down to her tails, "I think your quirk is better. At least there are not as many drawbacks."

"I wouldn't say that." He put a pinky finger inside his ear as if he had a terrible itch inside, "My ears still itch at the thought of when they bled from flying too fast." He dropped his hand back to his side, "And if I let my feathers land on anything that is too loud, it gives me major migraines." He threw her a smile, "Anyway, while my quirk is cool, yours is pretty. Your flames match your eyes."

The blush spread more across her face from her cheeks to her neck and chest as she heard his compliment and had to wonder if he realized that he called her eyes pretty too, "Thank you."

They both entered the dining room to find Master Takao glaring over some paperwork in front of him, while Master Kanda was looking thoughtfully at his tablet. They both glanced up at them, but only Kanda gave them a nod in greeting while Takao simply grunted towards them.

Kit, being the more disciplined of the two, bowed in greeting, "Master Kanda. Master Takao."

"Yo." Hawks' greeting left much to be desired to Kit, but she only shook her head as she went to her typical seat.

Kit looked to Master Kanda, whom she hadn't seen at all that day, "I hope your day has been well."

He paused in his scrolling, flashing a kind smile her way, ��Yes, thank you, Kit." He tilted his head, "I heard you finally melted a high grade. Good job."

She blinked at him for a second, then beamed brightly, "Thank you!"

Hawks practically bounced in his seat, "What's for dinner?"

"Uncouth as ever." Takao muttered under his breath.

Hawks shrugged, "I like food. What can I say?"

Kanda shook his head, but chuckled none-the-less, "I haven't had the time to ask Aiko."

Hawks opened his mouth to reply, but stopped when a door on the other side of the room opened, "I heard your inquiry, Hawks." Aiko walked in pushing a cart that had an amazing aroma, "I actually fixed your favorite." She began to unload the dishes onto the table, "Chicken." Once she unloaded the cart, she lifted a lid, "More specifically, torikatsu."

"Yes!" Hawks nearly jumped out of his seat with the force from the flap of his wings, but quickly ducked his head when ruby eyes glared his direction, "Sorry."

Aiko looked over the table and then let her eyes settle on the young fox girl, "I plan to fix inarizushi with tomorrow's dinner tomorrow."

Kit's smile was so wide that it forced her eyes closed, "Thank you, Aiko. I look forward to it."

"Of course," Aiko smiled back, then bowed, "Enjoy your meals."

After filling her plate, Kit said softly as she put her hands together, "Thank you for the meal."

"Yes! Thank you, thank you." Hawks put his hands together briefly then immediately started shoveling food into his mouth.

Kit, Kanda, and Takao could only shake their heads at his antics, but didn't bother to correct his behavior.