Blanket Disclaimer: I don't own Kaze no Stigma. This is a fan-made piece of fiction that is not written for monetary profit of any kind.

Author's Note: This story is a continuation of the end of anime version of Kaze no Stigma. I may have borrowed slightly from the manga a little but for the most part will stick to anime canon.

A huge thank you goes to Winnow for chapter cleanup and some consistency issues he so kindly pointed out to me. You're my hero. Thank you, thank you!

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Prologue

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It had been nearly four years since anyone had seen or heard of Bernhardt. Kazuma and Ayano had settled into a habit of expelling evil spirits and dining out.

Since then, the two had been too busy with life, work, and school to spend much downtime with each other. Kazuma did not have the time to move much beyond the traumatic events involving Lapis. Consequently, little had happened to advance the budding relationship between himself and Ayano. No longer a little girl; Ayano was torn between deciding to wait for her girlhood crush to acknowledge his feelings for her or move on.

Then one night it happened. Whispers on the wind of Bernhardt's presence filtered through the spirit network. Kazuma would have stalked down the man alone, had he the ability, but was unable to secure any solid leads. Spirit activity exploded to new levels in the Tokyo area and was especially busy around a small forest preserve. It did not take too long before the two were ordered by Jugo to make a trip there to investigate. They began a thorough search of the area.

Several days of searching turned up nothing. Then, just as they were getting ready to assume the elusive mage had moved on, Ayano stumbled upon Lapis. They immediately engaged in a fight. Kazuma tossed arcs of wind at the girl while Ayano hacked away at her with Enraiha. She hoped that the cold puppet would eventually make a mistake under the assault and, one way or another, a strike would get through.

Their plan seemed to be working. Lapis was breathing hard, and the brunette began to retreat deeper into the woods. Eventually, the duo had pushed her all the way back into a clearing. Her excitement got the better of her, and she followed the girl into the clearing… only to step into a binding trap.

Ayano was bathed in a red glow, and the battle around her disappeared into darkness. All she could see was the red light. She could vaguely sense her feet rise from the dirt and was distantly aware that she was, in fact, hovering just a few inches off the ground. Nerveless fingers released their hold on Enraiha and the sword shimmered, then vanished before it could hit the ground. In her ears the fire spirits screamed for her to run, but when her mind tried to call her body forth into action it refused to move. Ayano could hear the fire spirits rage.

"How dare someone bind them to the earth? What fool thought that fire could be tamed? They would show the insolent ones the impossibility of such a feat!"

Dimly, Ayano felt the spirits take hold of her hands. Her mind was drowned in their righteous indignation. They demanded that she summon Enraiha, and she found herself asking them why they bothered to ask; of course they could! Joy flooded her mind from the spirits to her, and she knew that her lips had curled into their smile. Her hands clapped together, and the sword appeared before her in a rush of glorious flame. Her spirit-driven fingers captured the hilt, and her ears were rewarded with a crackling protest from the barrier that held her. She cleared her mind and summoned their energy to her soul in order to overload the barrier. The red light that clouded her vision began to flicker and bubble as if it were boiling. Seconds later, the spell scrawled on the black earth burst into flames and melted under the scorching heat.

The moment the barrier came down the darkness retreated, and the world flashed into focus around her again. Her ruby eyes immediately found Lapis. The laugher of many spirits chorused in her mind.

"She was scared!" They said. "Finish her!" They cried.

Ayano smirked and began to summon her energy again as her sword's golden flames flashed to crimson. Over the roar of the flames Ayano could barely hear Kazuma's shout of warning when the scared look on Lapis' face melted into a triumphant smirk. However, Ayano had no time to comprehend the expression before pain suddenly ripped through her sword arm. The near-unbearable pain quickly moved and lanced up her arm, across her shoulder, and then bored into her chest. She fell to one knee as she struggled to maintain consciousness, but the pain quickly overwhelmed her.

Her last thought before she was stripped of consciousness was, I'm sorry, Kazuma. I was careless.