Author's note:

This fanfiction is DISCLAIMED. I don't own Kaze No Stigma. Rights to the characters and such belong to Takahiro Yamato, the creator of this series. I'd like to express my thanks for his making the series. Although Mr. Yamato isn't here with us anymore, his work remains unforgotten. May he rest in peace.

Another fanfiction in a long time!

I've missed the feeling of submitting some complete manuscripts. (Stares at the 12 remaining incomplete drafts in my Doc Manager... -derpderp-)

This story started out being your usual fluff fic, but it quickly morphed into something else. I don't know where the plot is going yet, but that's a fun part of writing, spinning pieces of plots into a full-fledged story, just taking a step at a time. I'll be updating this story pretty quickly, so please stay tuned for the next chapters as well!

I hope you enjoy this chapter as much as I did writing it.

xxFufuuDesu :)

Chapter One: Blunders

This was not what Ayano Kannagi wanted to be doing.

"ARGHHH! I'm going to KILL Ren!" The skilled Enjutsushi yelled out in exasperation. With a comb in one hand, she was in a fierce battle with her long crimson hair.

A group of maids sweeping the floor passed by. One stopped and nudged the other, "Pssst... Why is Master Ayano so upset?" The other maid glanced at Ayano over her shoulder, motioned for the other to keep on walking. Once making sure that they were far enough from Ayano, the second maid chuckled. "She got gum stuck in her hair!"

"Ehhh? How? Does Master Ayano even chew gum?" The first asked back, eyes widened in surprise. "I don't know, but all I know is that Master Ren was chewing some gum!"

Meanwhile, Kazuma heard the maids talking about Ayano. He smirked. To him, there was nothing more fun than seeing Ayano annoyed. It presented an opportunity for him to irk her further, and that was more interesting than chasing after random youma hands down.

Raking a hand through his hair casually, he walked up to Ayano, who was perched on the porch railing. "So, I see that you're in quite a sticky situation, Ayano." Kazuma stated smugly. The maids saw what was going on and quickly made their exit. Situations like this usually involved Ayano running after Kazuma with Enraiha firmly nestled in her hands, and of course a mad girl with a sword of flame was not very safe to be around.

Ayano looked up and stopped trying to comb the gum out of her hair. Seeing Kazuma with that smirk of his, she wanted to punch him in the face. Wasn't she annoyed enough? She absolutely did not want to be even more annoyed than she already was.

She glared at him, trying to tell him to get the hell away from her. As usual, Kazuma ignored her wishes and walked closer to her.

"WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME?" She yelled, setting one hand on the railing for support, and with the other pointing the comb at him. Kazuma immediately moved away from her a little out of his sharp reflexes.

"Whoa there princess, what's wrong?" Kazuma asked, feigning a look of sadness. "You're more violent than usual today, what happened?"

Ayano crossed her arms. She couldn't figure him out. She knew that Kazuma knew very well that she wouldn't take his taunts and teasing well, and even more frustrating was the fact that she still didn't know why he continued to tease her. After all the times her self-control failed which resulted in her attempting to slice him with her beloved Enraiha to shut him up, one would think that he would learn to not bother her anymore! Well it's Kazuma, she thought smugly.

"Well if you must know, YOUR BROTHER GOT GUM IN MY HAIR AND NOW I CAN'T GET IT OUT!" Ayano tried to tell him with a smooth voice. As usal, she couldn't help but to yell in that jerk's face. Kazuma stopped her fuming when he took her comb away from her.

Kazuma then plopped down next to her on the porch railing, and took the wad of entangled gum and hair into his hand. He then held it up to his face for a closer look. Ayano hadn't expected this! She shivered from their closeness.

"H-Hey now, quit sniffing my hair!" she said, her voice quivering. Kazuma studied her, head tilted slightly to the left.

"Is the princess getting nervous?" He asked, poking her cheek. UGH! That was it. No matter how much Ayano loved Kazuma, she couldn't put up with his taunting.

"Y-YOU!" She yelled, narrowing her eyes at Kazuma.

He aimed an angelic smile back at her. "Yes?"

"STOP THAT!"

"Stop what?"

"THAT!"

He patted her head fondly. "Silly Ayano. How do you expect me to read your mind? You must tell me what you want me to stop doing. Yelling at me STOP THAT! STOP THAT! makes a simpleton like me confused."

Ayano groaned in exasperation. "Urgh. Forget it." She quickly nabbed the comb out of his hands. Once the comb was in her hands, she quickly turned away from him and started trying to coerce the gum out of her hair again.

Kazuma smirked once more. He had accomplished what he had set out to do, and that made him feel ridiculously happy. Now it was time to make her happy again. He loved how her feelings were so easily influenced by whatever he did or said. It was fun to make her agitated, but surely it was the best when she was happy. When Ayano is happy, he would be happy too. Her sunshine-and-rainbows filled smile could always cause his mood to brighten.

"Hey, I'm sorry." He said, laying a hand on her shoulder. Ayano jumped at his touch. Her ears must be deceiving her. When did Kazuma started apologizing? Kazuma never apologizes, especially to her. In spite of her amazement, her pride kept her from yielding to his advances just because he apologized.

"Go away." she half-whined.

"Hey how about this? I'll help you get that gum out of your hair and you forgive me." He offered, taking hold of a piece of her hair again.

Ayano snapped at that. "GEEZ WILL YOU STOP TOUCHING MY HAIR? IT'S LIKE YOU HAVE A HAIR FETISH OR SOMETHING! Gross!" She hollered at him.

Kazuma smiled to himself. He always got his way. Her back was no longer to his face, and he had her attention once more.

He looked innocently at her. "I do have a hair fetish. But only for your hair." He stroked her hair like it was some kind of pet. "Look at how cool it is! How could you NOT have a fetish for it? It's red, soft, and shiny!"

She shook her head. Sometimes Kazuma was impossible. "Are you saying that I should be in love with my own hair?" She asked him, fully sure that he was either crazy or insane. Maybe he was both.

"Why not?" He retorted, a glint of mischievousness twinkling in his eyes. He then grabbed the comb from her hand once more. "Thank you very much, my dear." Kazuma thanked her and then began to untangle her hair.

Ayano was silenced by this gesture. A fuzzy feeling of joy bloomed in her chest immediately.

She turned away from him. What was with Kazuma today? She thought. With him acting in the way he was acting, her head spun.

She kept on jumping to conclusions. Her heart couldn't stop telling her that he liked her. Not as a friend, no. He made her wonder deep inside if he loved her. However much Ayano wanted that to be true, her clear mind knew that it couldn't be true. How many times would she have to see evidence for his love and never-dying devotion to his ex-girlfriend Tsui Ling before her heart would finally understand that mutual love was impossible for them? Even if he did love her, Ayano didn't want to be a second choice.

Her pride wouldn't allow for it. Her heart wouldn't either.

She had always pitied the girls in mangas who would settle for being second choice or wait forever for the guy to like them back. But isn't that what I'm doing now? Here I am, longing for Kazuma to love me as I love him, but he never will. Tsui Ling was his one and only. I am just a friend. Ayano thought bitterly, Just a friend.

Before she knew it, her vision blurred and she felt wetness on the back of her hand. Dark circles appeared against the light wooden railings. She clenched the hem of her dress hard. Gritting down on her teeth, she thought, I'm so pathetic! What am I crying for?

Kazuma tensed. Ayano was trembling. It wasn't a slight tremble either. It was a full on rumble, like one before a volcano erupted. He knew her well enough to know what that meant.

She was crying.

He quickly spun her around to face him. One glance at her teary face made a bolt of hurt course through him. Ayano looked into his eyes, panic-stricken.

Ayano sniffled and quickly jumped off the railing. She then ran as fast as she could away from him, to nowhere in particular. Her legs couldn't bring her away from him fast enough. She could hear his footsteps hot on her trail, catching up to her even. She knew that he would catch up to her eventually. After months of running with him to fight Youma, she had come to admit that he ran faster than her. He obviously wasn't going to let her escape so Ayano took the second best option. A good offense is the best defence after all...

"Come forth, Enraiha!" Ayano yelled, clapping her hands together. Her trustworthy sword of fire bursted into being and Ayano grabbed onto it tightly. She whirled around and pointed the flaming sword at Kazuma.

Kazuma discreetly set up a wind barrier around him but otherwise made no actions. They stood there, eye to eye. A stray tear dribbled down Ayano's chin and she wiped it away at once.

"Ayano... Why were you crying back there? I mean, why are you crying in general?" He said, finally breaking the silence.

"It's none of your business!" She hollered at him, still pointing her Enraiha in his direction.

"Ayano, you should calm down."

Ayano couldn't believe what she was hearing. Calm down? Did Kazuma just tell her to calm down? Well of course it was easy for him to tell her to calm down! Was he the one having unrequited love? No. So what right did he had in telling her to calm down? Besides, it wasn't her fault that he was so damn dense. Ayano charged at him, and began hacking at his wind shield.

Kazuma just fended off her blows. He didn't know what to do besides just that.

"What do you mean calm down?" The fire sizzled against his wind barrier. The tears were coming back again. "YOU BASTARD! I love you!" Ayano yelled, sending a blow at Kazuma. "How am I supposed to calm down?" Her blows were less and less intense now. "I-I love you, but you don't. You're still in love with Tsui Ling. Yet you still tease me, talk to me, and make me love you even more with each passing second. Stop playing around with my heart!" By now Enraiha dragged along the floor, and Ayano had collapsed into tears again. However, she made no effort to hide her tears this time around.

Kazuma was shocked. He had known about Ayano's feelings for him for a long time, but he dismissed it as a silly infatuation. He had thought that she would move on to other guys easily, guys who were more her age. Guys would would have more in common with her and offer her more. However, it seemed that he had underestimated how much she loved him. He lowered his head slowly. There was no doubt that Ayano was important to him, but what about Tsui Ling?

He could never forget about Tsui Ling. When he first got exiled from the Kannagi family, Tsui Ling saved him. Without meeting Tsui Ling he would have surely died somewhere after giving up on his life altogether. It was Tsui Ling who taught him that there's strength in oneself.

So he slowly met Ayano's red and puffy eyes.

"Ayano..." He started, walking closer to her. "Ayano I can't return your fe-"

She cupped her hand over his mouth and smiled feebly. Somehow without him realizing it, Ayano had snuck up closer to Kazuma. "I knew that your answer would be so." She admitted quietly. Then she kneeled, picked up Enraiha and started walking away for the second time in the day. Enriha slowly disappeared into thin air as she kept walking further and further away from Kazuma.

Kazuma felt like going after her and telling her to never leave him, but he knew that it would be brutal to her. He had never thought of his teasing her as "playing with her feelings" but now he realized that it was indeed what he was doing. The thing was, he didn't know why he loved to tease her and be around her so much himself. He never gave much thought to it. It just came naturally, as if he was put on this earth just to tease her.

He raised his palm to the sun and looked at it idly. The sun's rays outlined his hand and he welcomed the burn of the sharp sun as it hit his eyes.

Did he love her? He wasn't sure if he did or not. Could he ever approach Ayano again even if he was in love with her? The truth was he didn't know the answer to that either.

"Kazuma, you are such a jerk" he said to himself, chuckling.

Ayano couldn't stop crying. Why did she confess to Kazuma? Why? She knew that he wasn't going to return her feelings so why did she do it? Her sobs resounded back to her ears and even her pride couldn't prevent her from stop making those awful sounds.

She ran back to the house, clearing her vision once in a while. She hoped that she wouldn't come across people because she was in no mood to explain why she was so upset. Life always being against her wishes, Ren appeared before her. His expression turned from nonchalant to concerned in a matter of seconds.

Ren ran up to her quickly.

"Ayano Nee-chan, what's wrong?" Ren asked. Ayano didn't say a word and hugged Ren as tightly as she could.

"W-what's wrong?" Ren stammered once more.

He was thoroughly confused.

A while ago Ayano was angry at him for getting gum in her hair but now she was not angry, but extremely sad. Her face was smeared with tears and her usually spotless dress was dirty and ripped in some places.

"I told your brother that I loved him" Ayano mumbled against Ren's shoulder, "He said that h-he couldn't-" Ayano sobbed into Ren's shoulder at the painful memory.

Ren's eyes widened. He patted Ayano's back and attempted to soothe her. "I'm so sorry Nee-chan!" Ayano nodded.

"C-can I stay like this for a while?"

"Sure," Ren said, rubbing her back.

Ayano closed her eyes and breathed. Recently she hadn't had any time to truly slow down and just breathe. In, Out. In, Out. Focusing on that one little sequence of tasks filled her with the wonderful feeling that you get by walking down a familiar road that you haven't walked down in a while. Kazuma. She recalled her memories of him. One at a time until the memories flowed over her in waves of millions of memories per second, overwhelming her entire being with the thought of him. Him meeting her for the first time, his first smile directed at her, his smirks, his agony over meeting Tsui Ling again, him, Him, HIM. Over and over again. She realized that her heart felt lighter; the weight of a secret kept inside for too long off her chest.

Slowly, her heartbreak numbed out, being replaced by a sense of loss. There was no way that she and Kazuma could ever return to being friends.

In spite of the realization, Ayano slowly began to feel better. The soothing sound of her heartbeat somehow made her lessened the intense feelings of loss and heartbreak. It was as if her own heart was telling her, assuring her even, that she could move on from Kazuma. Perhaps her heart was in extreme pain, but it wasn't broken yet. It wasn't ready to break just yet. She deserved happiness, even if it seemed far away and impossible at that time. She stepped out of Ren's embrace, ready to face the world again.

"Thanks Ren," She told him, her gaze wandering and floating off to nowhere in particular, "Thanks for everything."

"Are you okay Ayano?" Ren asked, concern in his voice. He looked up at his older cousin, worrying that she might not be okay. She looked down at Ren. Her tears had made abstract patterns against his shirt, since it had dampened some parts faster than others.

"I'm not okay. But I'll be with okay with time. After all, there's more fish in the ocean right?" Ayano answered, trying to smile again, but her muscles suddenly had forgotten how to. Ren grinned anyways.

"That's the spirit!"

"Bye Ren! I'll see you at dinnertime!" Ayano called back at Ren, forcing a smile which wasn't too successful either. She sprinted to her house, turning at the door frame of the main entrance to bid the Fire Spirit a good day. She then ran upstairs to the safety of her room as fast as she could.

As soon as Ayano was in her room, she shut the doors and sat down on her futon. She sighed. What was she going to do now? Moping around wasn't a good choice, and certainly she didn't feel up to doing anything that required her to be in a good mood. She grabbed her laptop and flipped open the screen. She then came face to face with the login screen. The cursor blinked in the password blank. It took a second for her brain to make the connection between everything, but once she realized her mistake of opening her laptop, it was already too late.

The tears came again.

Those blasted tears! Her password was Kazuma. His name. Such a simple password that meant everything to her. Registering that single word in her brain made the intensity of her unreturned feelings explode back in her face. She cursed at herself and then casted her laptop aside.

Was it just her fate that whenever she thought she had recovered a little, she would be instantly be reminded of Kazuma yet again? She punched the wall. She felt nothing. She punched it again. Still nothing. She then let out all her feelings on the poor wall, punching it until there was indentations, cracks, and bloody smears all over the wall. A would-be reminder of her harsh treatment to the wall for a long time.

She leaned against her fist, which was still against the wall. The stinging on her knuckles felt minuscule, unrequited love made her hurt more. Pressing her forehead to the wall, Ayayno felt a sharp contrast from the cool wall and her warm forehead.

The motion cleared her head a little.

I can't stay like this. Hurting myself and not getting anything done. Ayano thought, wiping her face. She was surprised to feel that her tears had already dried. A smile, a real one, graced her face, which in turn caused her determination to kick in.

Her determination, always one of her most vibrant and useful feelings, caused her to straighten her back into the correct posture she usually stood in.

Forget Kazuma, she thought to herself with a strange matter-of-factness, He took advantage of you.

At first, it was truly all business, but soon Kazuma had found a young maiden to prey on. Even when he knew that he loved someone else, he didn't stop teasing you and making passes at your heart. So then you fell in love with him. At first, it was just a crush. A young girl's crush that made you tremble when he was close, and made your heart pound like no tomorrow. After some time, the crush qualities remained but you had developed something deeper for Kazuma.

Love. It was love.

You loved him so much that it made you happy to see him meet the one that he really loves, even though your own heart was breaking into a million pieces. You even suggested that he should go after her when he could. When that Tsui Ling told him that she hated him, it was YOU that held him near you, stroked his hear, and listened to his story. After all the things you did for him, he still doesn't see goodness in you. So that is why you should forget him. Forget everything that jerk meant to you. From now on, Kazuma is merely just a business associate.

So just like that Ayano had spun up a story to ease the pain.

Preview of Chapter Two: Twists

"Don't fight against me Ayano, I'm not your enemy. The youma are."

Chapter One- Done. 5/6/12 7:46PM.

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