Standard Disclaimer: I don't known Kaze no Stigma or its characters and make no such claims. I just like writing is all.
Wars of the Spirit
Prologue - Of Water Demons and Angry Redheads
Step one involved watching Ayano floundering around the mansion soaking wet. She was trying - and failing - to contain a water spirit with sheer brute force. Something about fly and bulldozer comes to mind. It was going about as well as one might expect. Water splashed everywhere and most surfaces, floor and Ayano included, were covered in it. Said redhead was soaked through and through - great for looking, bad for fighting - and the demon raged out of control.
It slid up a wall like an over-sized and slimy snail and then lunged a wall of water at Ayano with the force of a small comet. Knocked clear off her feet, the teen went sprawling across the slick floor and landed in a corner. Flames spewed from the tip of her sword in all directions but with no apparent purpose, setting the curtains of a bedroom on fire and raising steam wherever they hit the walls.
I wasn't going to mention it, but half laying there on the floor, and wearing a school uniform meant that both the demon and I had a great view of her well proportioned legs and other unmentionables. Growling - on the off chance that water has ears, I suppose - she got up, hair flaming to go with the sword and once again lunged in the general direction of the now fleeing puddle.
This move took her completely out of the bedroom and down a narrow, carpeted hallway. The rest of the house looked no better. Burn marks - Ayano's doing - littered the walls, floors, and ceiling right along side dripping puddles of water and slimy goop. I followed her screaming voice downstairs and through a set of double doors that led into the kitchen. Some poor chef looked at me in a horrified fashion from where he was now cowering behind the door to a pantry.
To no one's surprise, Ayano was the cause of his fear. She shot a blast of flame past the man's head at one point as well as several aimed squarely at the stove that stood along the far wall. Pots and pans flew across the room as her power knocked down shelves. One of the stove burners was on fire. The demon wasn't helping either as it oozed along the floor and took down a table in its warpath.
I lingered in the doorway because much as I adore fire, I didn't really want to buy new, un-singed clothes on the redhead's account. The demonic spirit seemed to be laughing at her futile attempts and the teasing only made the girl more angry. Anger fuels the power of a magic user, so the monster was doing itself no favors.
Another well aimed blob of goo sent Ayano back down to the ground in a graceless heap. When she got back up again, mostly unharmed except for that pride that clearly stung, she glowered at me.
"Do something!" she demanded, aiming her sword at my face.
"This is your mission." The trick with Ayano is to say this calmly, uncaring. I raised my hands in the air in protest. "I'm just here to protect you."
"And you're doing a piss poor job."
"You're not dead, are you?"
She pouted and glared at the same time. "I'm injured!"
I sighed at this. She was most certainly fine - if a tad bruised from taking several shots aimed at her instead of dodging them like any other normal person - and her anger was clouding what little judgement she might otherwise possess. Extending one hand, I sent a largish wind tunnel in the demon's general vicinity, using air to keep it contained. A fire circle with some precision could've done the same thing.
It took thirty seconds of wrestling with goop to get the spirit under control and toss it outside through the nearest window. It eludes me to this day why Ayano couldn't grasp finesse but, there she stood, ready to strangle me and not one step closer to getting paid. Thank the gods, the owner of this mansion was rich or we'd both be in for it.
"So, do I get a kiss?"
"For what?" screamed the red-haired harpy we all lovingly (or fearfully) chose to call Ayano.
"For doing your job for you."
"But but..."
And just like that, her target switched from demon to Kazuma. Except, no one was going to thank her for slitting my throat, me included. I put up a wall of air between us and she slammed into it more or less with no effect. She was getting better at it, though. Used to be, she'd get thrown backwards too, but nowadays, she at least kept her balance.
"I hate you, you know that, right?"
"Of course, princess."
OK, so pushing her buttons is as easy as eating ice cream, but whose fault is that? Even as I stood there, watching her glare at me, the chef came out of his hiding spot and looked at the two of us in utter disbelief.
"Is it gone?" he asked almost timidly.
The demon was actually far from gone. It had landed in a shallow pond, and as a spirit of water, no matter how disturbed and twisted, it wasn't exactly phased by the forced swim. I could feet it even fifty feet away, slowly getting bigger as it "drank", absorbed more water into itself and swelled in size. Ayano also appeared to notice because she looked over in its general direction, shrieked, and rushed outside.
"Guess not," I answered the man just as nonchalantly before following the redhead.
Just beyond the mansion lay a sprawling garden with said pond in the middle, and the spirit had landed almost in the middle. That hadn't been my intention, but then I wasn't responsible for putting this spirit to rest either.
It was still practically winter - spring in name but too cold for anything to grow - but even despite that, this garden looked astonishing. Someone was being paid a lot of money to keep it neatly trimmed and well kept.
Ayano strode purposefully toward the pond and even as she walked, fire swirled around her like a hurricane. As a fire user, her purification magic took the same form as all her other abilities so anything she purified would burn. In the case of a water demon, that was perhaps preferable - a purifying wind or rock would take a while - but whether the harpy could pull it off remained to be seen.
"Enraiha come forth," said the heroine and a wooden sword appeared in her hands.
Passed down through the Kannagi family since the first Contractor, or so goes the story, this is the Kannagi family sword. For almost any clan leader, it can lend itself to wielding tremendous power and in the past, it has been used for both great good and, as per the human condition, grandiose evil.
Specifically for Ayano, who seemed incapable fine fire control, the sword was little more than a glorified crutch. She held it in both hands and flames ran down its blade with ease but without direction.
For anyone wondering what the otherwise clumsy girl was doing with the family weapon, I can attest that she won it fair and square - albeit against a distant cousin who was not capable of using fire at all - and she will some day take over as the next head of the Kannagi family. As per her father's orders, it's my job to make sure she doesn't die until then. I make no promises and so far, it's not looking so good.
Ayano attacked the creature from afar, running toward it even as flames shot out from her weapon and launched toward the water spirit. It writhed as fire hit it but didn't back down. More flames encircled the pond, orange as they flickered across the ground, scorching the barren earth. I've seen Ayano purify before and shielded myself just in case her power slipped out of her already precarious grasp.
A flame can cleanse the darkness that clouds the soul. A creature purified is set free, relieved of whatever burden tortures its heart. The gentleness with which it happens, the kind of emotions that drive a purification are different among magic users. Even two people of the same element may not think the same thoughts or feel the same emotions as they purify.
The redhead was just plan angry - and also wet enough that her school uniform clung seductively to maturing hips - so the flames bristled. Even a good twenty feet back and with a shield between me and the fire, I could feel its wrath. The demon, once encircled, stood almost no chance. The fire burned away the water and with it, the monster.
It took only seconds, but when it was done, ash lay on the ground all across where the pond had once been. Obviously exhausted, Ayano fell to her knees and just sat there for a minute, breathing heavily. I pulled off my still dry jacket and draped it over her shoulders.
"You did all right."
She looked up at me for a moment, surprised, but then pouted again. "You owe me dinner!"
"Again?" I put a hint of surprise in my voice, but to be frank, the statement didn't even phase me anymore. "As you wish, princess. Pick your favorite restaurant."
Ayano is drawn to food the way most people need air or water. And, because she claims to hate me, she always picks the most expensive restaurant around, the most pricey dinner on the menu, and so on and so forth. I can hazard the guess that she honestly thinks she can dine me into poverty. So her request, when it came, didn't really bother me. I sort of knew it was coming much like a giant wave in the wake of a typhoon.
The redhead finally got up, a little unsteady on her own two feet, and her sword vanished into thin air. She looked beat, hair long and drooping across her shoulders, red eyes half closed, shoulders sagging.
"Um..."
"How about this?" I asked, offering her a shoulder to lean on. "We go back to my place or yours and order some pizza for a change."
Instantly her expression changed. "Ah hah, so you don't have enough to pay for me, do you?"
"You know, princess, I'm trying really hard to be nice but you're making it damn near impossible."
"Nice? You call this nice?"
I wasn't even going for the obvious bait. "You look tired. I bet you ten bucks that no matter where we go to eat, you'll fall asleep at the table. But, if you feel you can survive through the meal, then by all means, have your pick."
I think I could just about see little wheels turning in that turnip head of hers. The teen looked at me again, eyes narrowed shrewdly, and then nodded. "But you're treating me to the best pizza in town!"
"Whatever you'd like."