Prologue

(Part 1)

Ayano's Point of View

"Kazuma! Get out of your hotel room now!" Ayano furiously pounded her fist on the door. He was supposed to be at the party 20 minutes ago, and what was he doing? Sleeping, most likely. Growing, she slammed her body into the door.

"Kazuma! If you don't come out this instant, I swear to god, I will burn your door down."

"Coming Princess." Kazuma's controlled voice floated out of the room. A light creak and the door swung open. There was Kazuma, wearing his normal dark clothes and messy dark hair.

"What took you so long? I've been out here for hours! You're ridiculous!" She stomped her foot to further show her anger towards the smug contractor.

"You know, the door was unlocked. You could've just come in instead of making such a racket."

"UGH!" Ayano shouted and stormed down the hallway. God, she hated him so much. Who did he think he was, just waiting it for her to lose it? He was suck a jerk and- Ayano bumped into a wall and fell down, clutching her head.

"God damn it." She groaned at herself for being so clumsy. Suddenly, she felt a strong hand on her shoulder, and looked up into the brown (but sometimes blue) eyes.

"Need a little help there?" He smirked at her and she just glared back at him and his smug little face.

"I've got it." Pulling herself up, she blushed, feeling his eyes where she had just flashed her panties. Damn her school and their mandatory short skirts.

"Quit staring pervert," She snapped. "Ren's party started 20 minutes ago. "Where were you anyway? Ren was worried you wouldn't make it."

"Maybe I just wanted to make you come and get me."

"Maybe you were just being an annoying ass."

Kazuma wore that annoying smug/smirky face he almost always had on.

"I guess you'll never know."

Ayano rolled her eyes, and started walking towards the elevator. "Whatever. We need to go."

Suddenly, she felt Kazuma's arm wrap around her waist, and then she had the now familiar feeling of his "flying" powers. Before she could think or even yell at him, they shot out an open window she hadn't noticed. The wind burst into her face, blowing her reddish pink stands out of her face. Even though this had happened many times, she still didn't enjoy it that much. Her friends said that it was because Ayano couldn't control it; Ayano told them to shut up.

"God! Kazuma! Why can't you walk like a normal person?" Kuzuma gave one of his rare genuine laughs.

"Geeze, princess, I thought you said we needed to go their quickly. Make up your mind already."

"You could have given me some warning!"

"Fine, I'll let you know next time I decide to start flying with you."

Ayano gave a pleased little smile, happy that she had won that little victory. It wasn't often that Kazuma gave up so quickly, especially when it came to her.

"Get ready, I'm about to drop you."

"Wait wh-" Ayano screamed. She was falling down, the cement rushing towards her (or was it the other way around?).

"KUZUMA, I SWEAR I'M GOING TO KILL YOU FOR THIS!" If her eyes weren't tightly shut, she might have noticed the beautiful blue sky, the exact color of Kazuma's when he called on his powers. She should have gotten used to him dropping her by now (8 times now), mostly on purpose; big surprise. Ayano hated how Kazuma could make her feel so helpless. She knew that it was because of his contract with the spirit king, and without it she'd be able to kick his sorry ass all the way back to America. But even her strong fire powers were nothing compared to his winds.

She was used to being the strongest person in the room, which had created her confident attitude. Honestly, its hard not to get a little cocky when you can summon a flaming sword at will. But when she was with Kazuma, it was different. When she was fighting something with all her strength, she knew that he could take it down with a flick of his fingers.

It was embarrassing to no end, especially when he put his faith in her and she failed. Ayano might act like she didn't need Kazuma, but truth be told, whenever he was with her, she felt safe; which was crazy, seeing as he'd just dropped her mid-flight. And even though she was still screaming as she fell, she wasn't truly terrified. Truth be told, she hadn't ever really been truly terrified since Kazuma became her mission partner/bodyguard. And as she continued to plummet, Ayano swore that she heard the soft chuckle of Kazuma right above her. And sure enough, when she opened her eyes, there was the devil himself. His brown eyes peered into hers, sparkling with laughter.

"Kazuma! This isn't funny! Knock it off! It's not funny."

"Well, I'm laughing."

"That's because you're a psychotic freak who needs a slap in the face." She tried to slap his face, but he caught her hand right before she made impact. And just like that, she was in his arms again, hovering in the sky together. Ayano wasn't used to being so close to a guy before, and Kazuma held her close. Closer than needed if you asked her; but listening to her wasn't one of Kazuma's strengths.

"Better?" Kazuma asked dryly, the slight breeze tossing his brown locks back. The breeze also blew her skirt a little, but after working with Kazuma for nearly a year now, she was used to having problems with her problematic school uniform. Sometimes he caused it just to irritate her, but many times it was just a a brief gust, which seemed to accompany the contractor.

"I suppose." She sniffed, "Now can we please go to Ren's party?" On second thought she quickly added, "By walking please!"

Kazuma winked at her. "As you wish m'lady."

Slowly they floated down to an empty alley, and as soon as her feet touched the ground, she shot off his chest; not that it wasn't nice, but it was awkward with him. It was a strange feeling, resting against him. It felt surprisingly secure, and if it was possible, even securer then when they were fighting by side by side. That one day, after they defeated Lapis, kept sticking in her mind, when he touched her hair, and smelt it. But since then, he hadn't shown any sign of affection out of the normal for him.

"You ok?" Ayano looked up to see his dark eyes peering into hers. She was considered tall, about 5'6, and not too many guys were much taller than her; Kazuma made her feel barely 4 feet tall. He was maybe 6'1, but his presence made him much taller.

"Um, yea, I'm fine." She nervously bit her lip, "Do you wanna walk there or get a taxi?" He smiled at her. "Let's walk; it's really nice out."

Ayano smiled tentatively back, and then he started walking. It really was a beautiful day out, the sky clear & blue, the sun warm, shining on the clean gray sidewalks. Couples walked aimlessly around, holding hands and giggling to one another, sometimes stopping for a brief kiss.

Ayano and Kazuma walked side by side, keeping a steady pace. It was probably about ten minutes before they approached her home. Faint laughter and music floated from the yard, like a ghost of a summer festival. Ayano sighed, she had to tell Kazuma one thing before they went to join the party. Grabbing his wrist (completely ignoring how warm and soft his skin was-that thought didn't occur to her at all), she tugged him to a halt.

"Ok Kuzuma, your dad's going to be there. Ren already talked to him. He's agreed to call a temporary truce in honor of his 14th birthday." Ayano placed her hands on her hips and glared at him. "But this truce won't work if you provoke him in anyway."

Kazuma gave a long and weary sigh. "Is it really necessary for me to be nice?"

"Yes!" She shouted, throwing her hands up in frustration. "And I'm not even asking you to be nice. Just ignore him, no snide comments, and he'll treat you the same." She huffed, "Do you know how long it took us to make him agree to this? And if you do anything, he'll snap and ruin your little brother's birthday party. Is that really the person you want to be?"

Kuzuma laughed. "Do get your panties in a twist, I'll be civil."

"Good." She replied, relieved. "I would expect nothing less."

Finished with her real task, Ayano started walking into her home; sure that he was following her.

Hi Everyone!

This is gonna be a long story, each update will be about 4-5 microsoft pages. I'll try to update every 2 weeks. Part 2 will most likely be out next friday (11/7/14). Please, please review!

xoxo WildSide01