Disclaimer: I don't own Mirage of Blaze, Kubawara Mizuna does.

Author's Note: I know I should work on an update for "All Honesty", but that's easier said then done right now :-( Anyway, a recent discussion at the Mirage livejournal community drew my attention towards the Minako incident and the fight against Oda years prior to MoB. And I was wondering: What would have happened if Kagetora and Naoe both had survived the last battle at Mount Aso? What would Kagetora have done about the unborn child?

Btw, Mpreg stories never work for me – this really is the only context where I can imagine such a thing happening.

The title is from Blood and Fire by Indigo Girls.

~For Haruna-Hakkai~

Nights With Matches and Knives

(1961)

The salvage teams had been at work for several hours. At the foot of the mountain, Dr. Shimura Ichiro was smoking one cigarette after another. He had come with the team of paramedics which had been called to tend to the injured should there be any. Ashes were flying with the wind; a smoke cloud obscuring the nightly firmament over Aso.

The mountain was quiet now. The eruption around midnight had been short and violent. Of course, there had been campers. There alyways were campers when such a thing happened, whether streams bursted their banks, avalanches were speeding down from the mountains or – volcanoes broke out.

They had found two bodies, a man and a woman. Another man later on. The eruption probably had surprised them in their sleep. Shimura couldn't even blame them for irresponsibility. It had been decades since the grounds of Mount Aso had last been shaken. There had been no warnings recently, no indication whatsoever for something like this to happen. Dr. Shimura could only record their deaths from rockfall or plunges.

There had also been two survivors. A man of approximately fourty years of age; a trained doctor who promptly proved a nuisance by starting to give the paramedics instructions as to how to apply his bandages. Dr. Shimura left him to his colleague and checked on the other person the salvage teams had brought down from the mountain.

Number Two was a woman apparently in her late twenties – a thin, pretty creature whose tousled black hair fell down her narrow back like a cataract. Her skirt was torn and there were bruises on her knees, but otherwise, and inexplicably so, she seemed completely unharmed.

Contrary to the male patient, she was walking on her own two legs down the mountain slope and didn't have to be carried on a stretcher. But there was something weird about the way she moved. Something… artificial, Shimura thought, in lack of a better expression. As if she were unused to walking. Or moving. He shook his head.

The woman had obviously had a shock. Of course, her movements would be ungainly.

He helped her into the ambulance car where he made her sit down and held a pocket lamp near her eyes to check the pupil reactions. In spite of everything, Dr. Shimura didn't fail to notice just how extraordinarily beautiful those eyes were.

Almond-shaped, like a golden and brown caleidoscope.

They were clouded as if drawn to something inside her mind rather than to what was going on around her. But the pupils reacted normally to the light. That didn't keep her from keeling over as soon as she tried to stand up again. Dr. Shimura cursed under his breath and called for help. They carefully laid her on the stretcher.

"Why is she wearing a skirt anyway?" one of the nurses whispered. "A skirt for camping?"

It seemed strange, Dr. Shimura agreed. Neither she nor her unnerving companion were dressed in sleeping clothes although the eruption of the volcano had occurred in the middle of the night.

"Sensei, did you see that?" the nurse asked him, drawing his attention towards the woman's belly.

Dr. Shimura frowned. The wide clothes had hidden the slight bulge earlier. Carefully he removed the clothing to take a closer look.

"Fourth month," he estimated. "Maybe fifth."

So. Possibly the woman hadn't fallen unconscious because of some internal injury but due to a qualm resulting from her avanced pregnancy. Anyway, she would need rest now – or she would stand to lose the unborn.

Shimura pointed at a glass of capsules. "Give her one of those when she comes to. We shall take her to the hospital as soon as possible."

He looked at the deathly pale face again. What had she gone through this night? Had she lost the child's father up there? Dr. Shimura decided to ask their other patient about her. Arriving at the other ambulance car, he nearly collided with his young colleague Dr. Fujisaki. The man apologized but continued shaking his head as he gestured towards their patient.

"Maybe you can talk some sense into the man. His name is Sasaki…"

"Dr. Sasaki," came the friendly reply from the inside.

"Dr. Sasaki", Fujisaki stressed, "believes we should just let him be on his way. No x-rays. No supervision. He thinks he can board his train back to Tokyo in a few hours. Good luck," he added. "I need a smoke."

Shimura grimaced when he climbed into the car. Sasaki was sitting on a folding chair and was watching him quietly. He was a slender-looking man with a keen, intelligent face. Apart from his left arm which had been put into a Y-sling, he appeared to be in good shape. His exhaustion – reflected only in his eyes – seemed not physical, but emotional.

It was then, that it struck Dr. Shimura that neither of the two patients showed any of the behaviour typical for what they were: survivors of a natural catastrophe. Their bearing – both the young woman's and Dr. Sasaki's – much more reminded him of the soldiers he had known during the war, of people trained to endure extreme situations. Who were those two?

"Dr. Sasaki," he greeted. "A pleasure. But I don't know the name of your female companion yet. Who is she?"

That simple question for some reason caused Sasaki to stare at him wide-eyed for a moment and then start choking.

"She – " he murmured. "She's… not dead?"

"No. She's almost fine. So is the baby."

Sasaki seemed thunderstruck. After a few seconds he lowered his head and rubbed his palms over his face which had turned ashen. "Namu-amida-butsu…"

Dr. Shimura frowned. This was hardly the appropriate reaction to such relatively good news. "Are you not happy that she lived? What is her name?"

Sasaki stared at him again. He opened and closed his mouth, then shook his head as if unwilling to believe what was happening. "Kitazato Minako," he said finally.

"Kitazato-san fainted a few minutes ago, but we found no injuries. Of course, we have to take the two of you to the hospital now for thorough check-ups – "

Sasaki became lively all of a sudden. "Listen, ahm, sensei. I'm a doctor myself. I know that I will be all right, so why won't you just let me take my antibiotics for the next few days and leave me to my own care?"

Doctors turned patients were a nightmare, Dr. Shimura thought not for the first time and drew a deep breath.

"And while we are at it," Sasaki added, "I shall see to Minako-san as well."

He's been wearing a jacket, Dr. Shimura noticed all of a sudden. Why a jacket of all things? They hadn't been camping up there. Or how come they both were dressed as if for work and definitely not for outdoor activities? They would have to answer some questions once they had gone through their check-ups at Aso Central Hospital.

"We've found one!" they suddenly heard from outside. "We've found another one!"

Dr. Shimura exchanged looks with Sasaki. Both men hastily got out of the ambulance car. The salvage team had found a third person. A man, the worst case of the three. Shimura could see his head loll to the side when his stretcher was set to the ground.

"Ichiro-san," the head of the paramedics team called out to him. "Take the man and the woman to the clinic already."

"Let me see who it is first," Sasaki whispered to him.

Shimura nodded. Sasaki could probably indentify another camping mate for them. They stepped a little closer. The young man on the stretcher was white as a sheet. Both legs and several ribs broken as well as a concussion was the diagnosis.

"Can you tell us his name?" Shimura asked while his colleagues were already tending to the injured.

Sasaki didn't avert his eyes from the lifeless figure. "Kasahara," he said, his voice like sand paper. "Kasahara Yuuto." He wasn't asking whether his friend would make it.

"Come, Sasaki-sensei," Dr. Shimura said. "I'll take you to Kitazato-san."

~*~

On the way to the hospital, Sasaki and Kitazato were huddling together, undisturbed by the paramedics who all for some reason or another seemed preoccuppied with other things, their backs turned towards the two patients. Dr. Shimura got ready to step in and tell the personnel off, but something made him keep quiet and listen to the whispered conversation of the patients instead.

"What happened when he stroke against you?"

Kitazato remained quiet. She had come to a while earlier, but was still lying on the stretcher. Sasaki was leaning against the edge.

"I saw," Sasaki pressed. "He sent his hankonha right towards where you and –"

She raised her left underarm at this – a strangely angular movement. She stared at her own hand, at the slightly curled fingers.

"She's left-handed," was her whole response. For the first time, Shimura heard her voice. "When he attacked, I automatically stepped to the wrong side. Nobunaga didn't expect that." She paused. "I didn't either…"

Nobunaga? Someone had attacked her up there?

Kitazato was moving her slender fingers as if deep in thought. "She saved me."

"She saved you both," Sasaki answered in a heavy voice.

Kitazato's downcast gaze returned to him quickly. She then propped herself up on an ellbow to stare at him more thoroughly.

Sasaki nodded. "They just brought him. Both legs, but he's alive…"

The new arrival? Was he her husband? But she seemed anything but pleased at the news that he was alive… Shimura watched how Kitazato started to run a hand through her hair, then stopped herself all of a sudden and carefully put her arm down on the stretcher again.

"I know… what to do," she whispered. "I thought of it when we were getting to the top of the mountain, but then I let that opportunity slip."

"Allow yourself some rest, Kagetora-sama," Sasaki answered. "You're in no condition to work such consumptive an incantation."

"But I'm in no condition for anything and how will tomorrow be any different?" She laughed humourlessly. "I can't even be sure whether this stupid kekkai will actually serve its purpose and hold off any eavesdroppers."

Dr. Shimura drew back as if caught.

Kekkai? He frowned.

~*~

At Aso Central Hospital, Sasaki and Kitazato were examined more thoroughly and put to bed with slight sedatives when no serious injuries were found. When Kasahara was being brought in, the sun was rising already. They took him straight to the operating suite where he emerged from three hours later to be put into a recovery room. Instructions were given to Shimura to look after him every couple of hours.

There was no end to the inherent strangeness of the whole affair, though. Around midday, Shimura opened the door to the recovery room and found himself looking at an impossible scene.

Kitazato Minako who was supposed to be sleeping under sedatives was standing next to Kasahara's bed. How had she gotten here so quickly? How had she known where to look for him?

Kasahara's eyes were open. Shimura couldn't believe it. Those anaesthetics would have put a bear to sleep! How could he be awake after not even a couple of hours?

Kasahara was moving restlessly on the bed when Kitazato bend over him, her eyes boring directly into his. She seemed to be murmuring something under her breath. Kasahara tried to rouse himself from the pillow, but it was too late. His face grimaced when an invisible force pinned him to the matress.

Kitazato's fine features were distorted with an emotion Shimura could only classify as raw, pure hatred and the effort of… what? A kind of spell? A Buddhist incantation? There were people nowadays still which knew how practise this kind of techniques. Shimura felt the hairs on the back of neck rise, though, when he looked into Kitazato's determined face. Whatever she was doing – she wasn't doing it to help the man on the bed.

It took about fifteen seconds. Then Kasahara's eyes closed and he lay completely still again.

Kitazato slumped. She was breathing heavily as if she had been running some miles. For a moment, she covered her face with both hands.

Afraid that she would faint again, Shimura stepped towards her. "Kitazato-san", he whispered.

She spun around so quickly as if to belie her apparent exhaustion. Even in the dim light of the recovery room, her eyes glittered like a wild animal's.

Involuntarily, Shimura did a step back. For a moment, he was convinced that she would attack him. But then, she blinked as if suddenly remembering where she was and why.

Shimura came closer. "What were you doing to him?" he whispered.

A flash like lightening erupted in the depths of her eyes.

"What was I – ? Me?" she hissed, then seemed to be taken over by fatigue. She staggered and touched the unconscious Kasahara's arm. Immediately, she drew back her hand as if she had burned it.

Shimura carefully grasped her upper arm to both stabilize her balance and draw her away from the sick bed. He could see now that her eyes were red-rimmed as from exhaustion or from unshed tears. Shimura's gaze wandered to the unconscious Kasahara's face. What had this man done to become the object of such unadultered loathing? And what had she been doing just now that didn't allow to be delayed?

"What were you doing to him?" he asked again.

Without changing her posture, Kitazato returned his gaze. "You needn't trouble yourself with that."

Taken aback by the calm authority in her voice, Shimura couldn't help but once again notice the mismatch between her delicate appearance and the harsh spirit manifesting in her words and actions. In an attempt perhaps to restore the actual order between doctor and patient, he cleared his throat. "You shouldn't be here. He needs rest."

Kitazato showed no reaction to that, just let herself be led from the room. Whatever had taken possession of her a second ago – her task here was fulfilled. Her thoughts seemed already preoccuppied with other things.

She didn't cast another look at the unconscious figure on the bed.

~*~

He was taking Kitazato back to her ward in order to hand the responsibility for her staying where she was supposed to over to the ward sister. They found her in the medical cabinet. It happened while he started to explain the situation to her and turned his back on Kitazato for a few seconds.

"Watch it!" the nurse cried. Dr. Shimura spun around just in time to see Kitazato press the edge of a scalpel with both hands against her jugular vein. He literally had to jump towards her to get it away from her in time.

They stared at each other. The scalpel clattered to the floor.

A fine red line appeared on the ivory skin of her neck. A sound erupted from deep inside her chest, something very akin to laughter.

Hysterics, Dr. Shimura thought and grabbed her arm a bit more strongly although she didn't try to free herself. A nurse appeared next to them with a filled syringe.

Kitazato had noticed, too, what was going on. She narrowed her eyes and murmured something to herself. Dr. Shimura had to make an effort to understand the words and even then, he was flustered whether he had heard correctly.

"Not my day…"

She wasn't struggling. Her beautiful, stressed gaze wandered from the syringe to Dr. Shimura's face. I'll do it again, the cat-like eyes said even while the needle penetrated her flesh. Just you turn your back on me.

He caught her when the anaesthetic instantly made an impact. Carrying her towards her hospital bed, he couldn't get a hold of his racing thoughts.

Kitazato didn't seem like a person depressed or sick of life. She had just come out of a life-threatening situation – how and why would she try to kill herself? What she had just been trying to do contradicted each and every psychology textbook ever written.

"Why," the nurse stuttered while she tended to the slight wound on Kitazato's neck. "I never… And she's pregnant, too! What can this girl haven been thinking?"

Shimura didn't have an answer to that. There had been an edge of desperation to Kitazato's actions, but she hadn't been desperate. More like someone who is finishing up a task. The pose she had struck when she had set the knife against her skin reminded him of something. A memory rose to the surface, drawings in a book, the life of the old days…

Jigai…

He shook his head. Now all of this was very strange.

And the strangest part probably concerned Kitazato's heavily injured friend whom she had visited right before her attempt to kill herself. What had she been doing there? And why had Kasahara appeared to be awake for the shortest of time? Or had all this been an illusion?

~*~

At five o'clock in the evening, they informed him that Kasahara had come to. Shimura lost no time and went to see to him. Kasahara was lying in bed with his head propped against a pillow. He was still deathly pale, but his eyes immediately sought out Shimura when the doctor came through the door.

"Good day, Kasahara-san." The man didn't react to his greeting. "You are at Aso Central Hospital with two broken legs, a slight concussion and several broken ribs which is why you might be in pain breathing," Shimura proceeded in a businesslike way as he came closer and leaned against the foot end of the bed. "Is there somebody you would like us to call? A family member?"

Kasahara continued to stare at him. "Aso…"

"Yes, you are in Aso. A salvage team found you on the mountain after the eruption. We brought you straight here. That was about twelve hours ago." Shimura cocked his head. "Were you camping up there?"

The man looked completely at a loss. "I don't know… about a mountain."

A memory lapse? Shimura raised his brows. Well, such a thing wasn't exactly uncommon when someone had suffered from a concussion. The brain just blanked out the events which had led to the injury.

"Mount Aso," he said amiably. "Do you remember making preparations for a trip? You are not from this region, are you?"

"No, I…" The man paused again, his face a picture of intense concentration.

Shimura let him think a feew minutes, then decided it was no good. He tried to steer his thoughts into a more general direction. "Kasahara-san, what is the last thing you remember?"

The reaction was astounding. At one moment, his patient frowned in concentration, at the next, pain flickered through his features. Kasahara groaned. His uninjured hand shot to his forhead as if to block his anguish.

Intrigued, Shimura took a few steps closer to his patient and leaned against the edge of the bed. "You are Kasahara Yuuto, right?" he inquired softly.

The man narrowed his eyes at him, then let his gaze drop to the blanket which covered his body. "I…" He man shook his head. "I'm sorry, I…"

Shimura didn't need an actual answer. He had never come across this kind of thing before but he knew instantly what they were dealing with. He wasn't even surprised. What had caused Kasahara to lose his memory was just one more bead in a long chain of mysteries that the last twenty-four hours had provided Shimura with.

The know-it-all doctor who seemed upset at the fact that someone had actually survived the catastrophe.

The suicidal pregnant woman with the hate-filled eyes that emitted such an uncanny power.

And the tall fellow with the broken bones who apparently suffered from a real, live case of amnesia.

What on earth had those people been doing up there on the mountain at midnight in business clothing?

They sure made the strangest clientele Aso Central Hospital had come across in a very long time.

~*~

Author's Note: I'm interested: What's your opinion? What do you think Kagetora would have done in this situation?

I'm not sure yet whether this is a one-shot with an open ending or if and how the story will continue.