Barely managing to catch myself on a tree, the impact knocked the breath from my already strained lungs. I was sick to my stomach, unable to breathe, my heart pounding like a Brazilian drummer und my feet screaming at me to alleviate the pressure on them. Only my legs still told me to run. But a growl coming from the bushes to my left made even them give up their spirit.

The bushes rustled menacingly as something forced its way through their thicket. I had just resolved to run away for a second, desperate attempt, when I caught sight of the snarling beast, and the surprise of the unexpected sight stopped me in my tracks.

This was no fox.

The green creature emerging from the bushes barely reached above my hip in height, but its red eyes bore down on me like those of a hungry monster thrice its size. Despite the shell on its back, its movements were effortless as it prowled around me, gauging me. Its talons left behind marks on the ground with every step, and some spit flew from its beak when it snapped it a few times tentatively in my direction.

My legs wouldn’t move. In fact, no part of me would move, almost as though the creature had hypnotized me with those hungry red eyes that never eased up on me for even a moment.

It took my mind a moment to catch up with what my eyes were telling me.

No. Way.

I’d seen drawings of the bald cap, heard tales of the scaly skin, but it was something completely different to actually see the bill and the webbed hands and feet of a kappa.

Nowaynowaynowaynoway!

With surprising agility and speed, it suddenly launched itself at my face. Just in time, I managed to pull my arms up, so the kappa’s bill chomped down on my left arm instead of my neck. I screamed in pain as it tore through my flesh, and I whipped my arm to the side, whacking my attacker against the tree in a feat of inhuman strength. The impact was enough to make the kappa let go, but it was barely fazed by my defense. Cradling my arm in shock, I watched as the creature steadied itself for its next attack, and I just about managed to jump into cover behind the tree before it did.

My legs were listening to me again. And I instructed them to run.

I still didn’t know where to; I still didn’t understand what was happening, but I knew I had to get away, especially now that two creatures were after me. For all I knew, they were working together.

Running through the forest without a care for my body, I somehow managed to find the energy to scan every bush, every movement for more creatures coming for me. This had to be a nightmare, right? I’d wake up any moment now. Kappa weren’t real. And neither were shapeshifting fox-people, for that matter. I could have been hallucinating them. Maybe someone had slipped me a drug last night without me noticing. It was possible.

My desperate rationalization did nothing to slow me down. No matter if what was behind me was real or not, I wasn’t taking any chances.

The kappa screeched now and again as it leapt and bounded after me. I could hear every time it jumped and landed. I’d started out faster than it, but my feet were beginning to give out. I wouldn’t be able to hold out for much longer, and I still had the fox to worry about.

“Look out!” It was a woman’s voice, shouting at me from ahead, though I couldn’t see her yet.

Almost instinctively, I ducked and rolled, and it was that moment that a beautiful woman, with a lithe, muscular body and long, straight, silvery hair leapt down from a tree and met in the air with the kappa, kicking it to the ground like a comic book hero. It had been much closer to me than I’d realized.

The woman positioned herself between me and the monster, shielding my body with her own.

 “Be gone. This one belongs with me,” she said quietly, deliberately. After a moment of glaring at her, the kappa‘s eyes flicked to me once last time, accompanied by an angry and hungry snarl, before it slowly backed away into the bushes.

How'd she do that?

My savior sighed for a long moment, before turning to me, frowning with concern. “You alright?”

Cradling my bloody arm against my body, I could only nod. My legs had given out beneath me, and I wasn’t sure they’d carry my weight if I tried to stand up, never mind my bare feet that had taken many cuts and bruises during my flight.

My heart was still racing, but I managed to clear my throat, though my voice barely came out above a whisper. “Thank you for saving me.”

The woman looked at me for a moment in contemplation, her green eyes lingering on the wounds I’d received with my reckless flight through the forest and the kappa’s attack, and sighed again, stretching out a hand to me. I didn’t hesitate to take it and allow her to help me up, even though my feet burned with every bit of pressure I put on them.

“I’m Misaki,” I said quietly.

“Kaoru. How about we have a little chat at my place while I take a look at your injuries?”