Kaze no Stigma: The Elementalist

by D.M.Ash

Alkan Simure Hosenkou is one of the few special people to wield the power of all four elements, known as an Elementalist. How will things change when he runs into his old friend Kazuma Yagami in Kazuma's hometown while on a job?

1. Meeting

Kaze no Stigma – Elementalist

Chapter 1 – Meeting

Alkan Simure Hosenkou was pinned to a wall by a sword that sealed off all his powers. He watched helplessly at the scene before him. One of his best friends, Cui-Ling, was being sacrificed in a ritual while another of his best friends, Kazuma Yagami, is on the ground beaten while watching the scene in horror.

Alkan tried to pull the sword out but his hand was deflected by some kind of barrier. He heard Cui-Ling say, "I wasn't born just to be eaten by a demon." With that Alkan grasped onto a pendant that had a clear crystal hanging from it. He thought to himself, 'I guess there's no other choice…' With that he grasped the crystal in his hand and closed his eyes…

***

Alkan woke up with a start from the nightmare in his hotel room. He realized what had happened and became furious with himself thinking, 'Dammit I thought I already got past that. Even though things went well with the spell I cast the mere memory still haunts me.'

It's been years since that incident happened. After the ritual Cui-Ling's essence was taken by the person responsible for the ritual and it was used to create a demon called Lapis. Kazuma went on to become a powerful wind user going through destroying the organization involved with the ritual in Europe, though some would say he went on a rampage. What Kazuma didn't know was that during the ritual, Alkan used one of his family's ancient spells to switch Cui-Ling's soul with a perfect duplicate created during the spell, keeping her soul within the crystal from his pendant. Lucky for him he performed the switch just in time before her body and 'soul' was sacrificed.

Alkan went over to his bedside table and lifted the said pendant from cloth he put it in. It changed from it's clear crystal color to a golden yellow with a faint glow inside. Alkan was able to communicate with Cui-Ling and she told him not to tell Kazuma about her being in this state. The reason being is that she thinks that he would be crestfallen if he learned about the state she was in with no way getting back to normal. Alkan said that he was working on a way to return her to normal but she argued that Kazuma would have probably moved on by then. Alkan personally doubted that since he knew that Kazuma still had resentment his old family, the Kannagi.

As for Alkan himself, he was one of the most powerful mages in the world, called an Elementalist. An Elementalist was a mage that was able to wield all four elements and were revered as legends. Elementalists were rare back in ancient times and are even rarer in modern times. Alkan was a very special case since not only could he wield all four elements, he had contracts with all four spirits. Although, the contracts were not with the spirit kings but with four spirits just as strong as them, which is indirectly having contracts with the spirit kings in a way.

Now Alkan was living as a tradesman mage traveling around the Asian continent doing jobs here and there. He was well of with the amount of money he accumulated in a few years and was now looking for a way to return Cui-Ling back to normal. Unfortunately it wasn't going well as he continued traveling.

Presently it was around five in the morning and Alkan grumble as he couldn't get back to sleep. That was when his cell phone ringed and Alkan wondered if it was a coincidence. He reached over and answered it, "Hello?"

"Alkan! Good morning to you!" A loud, male voice shouted from the other end.

Alkan winced and knew who it was, "Ugh, do you have to be so loud this early in the morning Lan?!"

Lan Kurusaki was a friend of Alkan's who sets him up with jobs involving magic around Japan. Thanks to him he managed to make a great name for himself among the people as an expert exorcist, among other things. Though it pissed him off that Lan would sometimes call him at the most inconvenient times for him, like now for instance. Lan replied, "Hey at least you're awake Alkan!"

Alkan shook his head and said, "Ugh, fine whatever. So what's going on?"

"I have another job for you, and this time it's a big one!" Lan told him.

This grabbed Alkan's attention. Normally Lan would send him a job that involved dealing with a youma. The only time Lan would say a job was a big one was when there were two things involved: a lot of money and the high level of danger the job had. Alkan asked in a serious tone, "So what's the mission?"

Lan replied, "There's been a demon in the form of a human running around Tokyo causing havoc. I even heard that it helped the Fuuga Clan serving the Kannagi family with something, and we all know that when a demon helps humans, they're up to no good."

'Kannagi? Kazuma's former family?' Alkan thought to himself as Lan went on, "Your job pretty simple: eliminate the demon with extreme prejudice. The pay: three billion yen."

"Three billion?! Man they must be pretty desperate to get rid of this demon. By the way, you said Kannagi right? Why isn't the Kannagi family dealing with this?" Alkan asked.

"Well, you see they seem to be having some internal problems at the moment and they seem to involve your friend Kazuma Yagami." Lan said.

Alkan sighed and thought, 'So Kazuma's back in Japan huh? The Kannagi are sure going to have their hands full.' He said, "Okay then, and tell the employer that the job will be finished today. I'll be expecting the money in my account by tomorrow then."

"Okay then Alkan. See you later." Lan said before he hung up. Alkan closed his cell phone and started to get dressed. He grabbed the pendant and put it on before covering it with his shirt. Then he grabbed his eye patch covered his left eye with it. The reason for this was that Alkan had heterochromatic eyes. One was brown while the other was blood red. This appearance with his black hair kind of made him intimidating especially to children. Now he wears a special eye patch that lets him see through it while covering his eye from the public. Once he was fully dressed he threw his black cloak on and grabbed all his things stuffing them into his bag before leaving the room.

On the ground floor he checked out of the hotel before stepping into the streets of Saitama. That was when Cui-Ling's voice spoke to him telepathically, 'So, Kazuma came back to Japan.'

'I guess so.' Alkan replied as he started to look for a place he could eat breakfast.

'I hope he can make amends with his family.' Cui-Ling told him sincerely.

Alkan snorted as he walked into a restaurant and ordered breakfast, 'I honestly doubt it. After all he's been through he won't forgive them just like that.' Alkan started to eat after explaining things to her.

'But one could hope…' Cui-Ling said in a hopeful voice.

'I guess…' Alkan thought before he finished his breakfast.

Cui-Ling stopped talking to him after Alkan paid for his meal. He traveled to a nearby forest and when he found that no one was around, he used the wind to fly and make himself invisible. He felt at peace with the wind flowing past him. Personally his opinion was that out of all the elements, the wind was the easiest to work with, since it was very flexible in it's functions.

Alkan managed to arrive at the outskirts of Tokyo around noon and he could already feel strong negative energy coming from the nearby forests. He headed over to where he felt the energy come from only to find a huge youma with black wings flying past with Kazuma chasing after it holding a girl and boy with him.

As much as Alkan wanted to help with that youma he had to press on and find the demon that started all of this. He was so focused on the job that he didn't notice Cui-Ling's voice which said, "Kazuma…"

After a bit of searching using his wind abilities he found the demon near the mountain range. To his disgust, the demon was in the form of a teenage girl with long black hair and she seemed to be watching the battle between the youma and Kazuma's company with interest. When Alkan revealed himself and landed, the demon turned to look at him and said, "My, it's rare for a human to seek me out."

Alkan looked at the demon and noticed that she was wearing the same uniform as the girl Kazuma was carrying with him. He stared at her unnatural glowing blue eyes and thought, 'Damn, this girl's no demon, she's just been possessed by one.' Alkan asked in a serious tone, "Who the heck are you?"

"Oh my, aren't we in a hurry?" The demon teased, "Since you asked, my name is Azure, it's a pleasure."

"I see, well I would love to chat some more but I have a job to do." Alkan said before he sent a powerful blast of wind to Azure which she dodged. Azure looked amused and said, "A Fuujutsushi? This will be quite entertaining." She slashed the air with her hands sending wind blades flying at Alkan.

Alkan blocked her blades with his own wind barrier and thought, 'Ha, she thinks I'm only a Fuujutsushi huh? I'll use that to my advantage.'

The two battled on with neither one managing to land a hit. Azure taunted, "Is this the best you could do? It's starting to get boring you know."

'Tch, this bitch is stronger than I thought. Not to mention I might hurt the girl if I go all out on her.' Alkan dodged a cyclone that she sent his way and thought, 'Time to give this girl a nice surprise.'

But before he could do anything several youma in the form of dogs appeared and attacked Alkan. He was surprised at their appearance and he quickly dodged and destroyed the dogs with the wind of purification. Azure said, "Hahaha. Taken by surprise are we? Summoning youma is one of my specialties."

Alkan was about to launch another attack when he felt a great change in the wind, not to mention power from the wind spirits flowing to a certain place. Alkan thought, 'Kazuma must've activated his contract. That must mean the enemy must be very strong, even for him. Well, I guess that must mean I should end this.'

Azure saw him standing there and said, "What's wrong? Lost your nerve? Well then, let me take the initiative." She summoned five more youma attack dogs and ordered them to charge. All of a sudden the entire field was engulfed with fire, destroying the dogs and making Azure fly into the air, "What the heck was that?!"

As the fire subsided Azure dodged wind blades that came from behind her, forcing her back on the ground. At that moment Azure made another dodge as earthen spikes sprung up trying to trap her. Suddenly a blast of water hit Azure in the stomach with the force of a hammer and sent her flying. She landed on the ground and when she got up she hissed, "What the heck is going on here?!" Azure tried to search for other people around but all she could sense in the immediate vicinity was Alkan, "That can't be all your doing. No human can control all the elements, except-."

"An Elementalist." Alkan finished her sentence. With this Azure muttered, "Damn, I can't win against one of those. Their powers are legendary." With that Azure tried to escape but Alkan used his wind powers to pin her to the ground. She struggled with great difficulty to get free while Alkan walked towards her but the wind was pounding her down.

When he was right in front of her the wind died down and Alkan grabbed Azure by the collar and lifted her up. Then earthen spikes shot up and trapped Azure in place. She gave Alkan a spiteful look and said, "So now what? Are you going to exorcise me? I'll devour this girl if you do!"

Alkan ignored her and held his hand towards her saying, "I beseech the wind and fire spirits, cleanse the demon from this innocent!"

At that moment fire and wind engulfed her and Alkan heard her scream in pain. The ritual only lasted for a bit then both the fire and wind died down and the girl collapsed. He clapped his hands together and said, "Thank you spirits for rescuing this girl."

The spikes dissipated as the girl fell to the ground. Alkan picked her up and slung her over his shoulder gently. The sky cleared up at the same time and Alkan thought, 'I guess the battle must be over. Better go check to see if he's still standing.'

With that he flew into the air with the girl over his shoulder and went over to where he felt the wind spirits gather. He looked back and said, "I hope everything's alright."

When he landed near the sight he was treated to an interesting scene. Kazuma was lying on the ground with the girl he was with sitting on top of him with her uniform torn up. A boy with blond hair and green eyes was watching the scene with great embarrassment. The girl was about to torch him with her sword when Alkan whistled and said, "Wow Kazuma, you're usually on the top in situations like this. Straight to the entertainment after business, am I right?"

The girl scrambled to get off Kazuma and swung her sword around which Alkan recognized as Enraiha and pointed it at him saying, "Who are you?"

Kazuma managed to get back up and said, "Back down Ayano, he isn't an enemy."

"But Kazuma…" Ayano said as she reluctantly put away Enraiha.

Alkan approached Kazuma and said, "Hey Kazuma, it's been awhile."

"About a year, from what I remember." Kazuma replied. Then to the surprise of Ayano and the boy, Alkan locked arms with Kazuma and they both smiled, something the other two don't see Kazuma do often. Alkan said, "It's good to see you again Kazuma."

"It's good to see you too Al." Kazuma replied as they both separated. Then Kazuma noticed the girl over Alkan's shoulder and raised an eyebrow. Alkan noticed this and explained, "No, it's not what you're thinking. This girl was possessed by a demon that manipulated the Fuuga clan. I was sent to get rid of it."

The other two took note of this and Alkan said, "So, you mind introducing me?" He nodded to the other two.

"Oh right. Ayano, Ren, come over here." The other two walked up to Kazuma and he said, "The girl in the ripped up uniform is Ayano Kannagi and the boy here is my little brother, Ren Kannagi."

Alkan bowed and said, "It's nice to meet you, I'm Alkan Hosenkou, and I'm a friend of Kazuma's."

"It's nice to meet you." Ayano and Ren both said. Then Alkan put the girl down on the ground and asked, "Excuse me, but can you identify this girl Ayano Kannagi-san?"

Ayano looked at the girl for a moment then said, "I know her! She's a classmate of mine, Chisato Morigami. She was absent for a few days as I recall."

Alkan sighed and said, "Well that answers a few things." He took off his cloak and wrapped it around Ayano saying, "A young lady like yourself shouldn't go around looking like that." Ayano blushed and stuttered, "T-thank y-you."

Kazuma however had something else to say, "Well, she didn't seem to mind going around looking like that a moment ago."

Ayano got angry again and hissed, "Kazuma…!" but Alkan put his hand on her shoulder and said, "You can roast him later. Shouldn't we get out of here first before the police arrive? I'm sure that cyclone was quite visible from downtown Tokyo."

"Ugh, he's right. We'd better get moving." Kazuma said. Then he grabbed Ayano and Ren while Alkan picked up Chisato's body. Both Kazuma and Alkan flew into the air and Alkan shouted, "Lead the way Kazuma!"

While they were flying Ayano asked, "So you're a Fuujutsushi like Kazuma, right Housenkou-san?"

Alkan replied, "Call me Alkan. I guess you can say that Kannagi-san."

Ayano looked confused and Ren asked, "What does he mean nii-san?"

Kazuma looked at Alkan and Alkan gave a nod. Then he said, "You've heard of mages that can manipulate more than one element right?"

Both Ayano and Ren nodded and Ayano asked, "So Alkan can manipulate two elements?"

Kazuma laughed and said, "Far more than that. Alkan here can wield all four of the elements! He's an Elementalist."

Ayano and Ren were quite shocked, for all they knew Elementalists were very powerful, that they were on the same level as Contractors. They also knew that they were very rare since there were very few people who had the talent or skill of wielding more that one element. Alkan said, "Yes it's true." Though there was something special about Alkan even Kazuma didn't know about. Something special that he only had to use the power only once in the three years since he obtained it.

Alkan shook the thought away as Ren said, "Wow nii-san, I never knew that you knew an Elementalist like Alkan-san."

"Well, I'll tell you the story someday then." Kazuma replied. The group approached the Kannagi estate and they landed in the garden. Alkan took Chisato and said, "Could you take care of Morigami-san for me Kannagi-san? I've got other things to do."

"Sure, and you can call me Ayano, it's less confusing that way." Ayano told him as she took Chisato in her arms.

"Sure thing Ayano. See ya later." Alkan said as he took off.

"I'd better get going too. I have some things I need to take care of." Kazuma said and without warning he took off after Alkan.

A while later the police arrived at the scene with Kirika Tachibana surveying the area. She says to herself, "So, he finally came back." That's when an officer approached and said, "Ma'am we've found another area that seems to be linked to this site."

This caught Kirika's attention and with that the officer led Kirika and several others to the site where Alkan fought Azure. There were a few scorch marks here and there, several gashes, upturned earth, and several puddles despite there not being any rain. She whispered, "Who on earth could have done this?" as she motioned several of the officers to check the field.

Back in Tokyo Alkan had to look for a place to stay for the night since he didn't have any arrangements. 'I'd better call Lan tomorrow to talk about that.' He managed to find a decent hotel that had a luxury room. As he finished with all the payments he turned around and found that Kazuma came in. He noticed that Alkan was there too and said, "Staying here too?"

"Yeah, just for the night. I didn't make any arrangements, heck I just got the job today." Alkan told him.

Kazuma said, "I see. By the way I was wondering, how much were you paid for your job?"

Alkan smirked and said, "Always about the money huh Kazuma. It was three billion yen, if I'm not mistaken."

"Tch." Kazuma spat out. From that Alkan could tell that he was getting the bigger paycheck. Alkan nodded his head over to the lounge section of the hotel and said, "C'mon let's go grab a seat. I wanna hear what you've been up to lately."

"Sure thing Al." Kazuma said as the two walked to the lounge together.

Meanwhile back at the Kannagi residence Ayano and Ren were informing Jugo Kannagi about how the situation went. He was quite surprised to learn that Alkan was summoned to Tokyo to deal with a demon. Jugo said, "So the Elementalist has come to Tokyo. Things just get more complicated."

"Father, do you happen to know Alkan?" Ayano asked.

"No not personally," Jugo replied, "But word of his many deeds have traveled throughout Japan and he's well known as a helper to the people. His powers are rumored to be legendary also, even for an Elementalist. I have no doubt that the Kannagi family at full strength wouldn't be able to defeat him."

Ayano and Ren were shocked at Jugo's revelation. To think that one man had the power to wipeout an entire clan like the Kannagi was unbelievable. Then Jugo said, "Tomorrow we will be holding a celebration for the thwarted attempt of the Fuuga clan's rebellion. I will be sending invitations for both Kazuma and Hosenkou-san to join us in this event. Personally I'm curious how Hosenkou-san is related to Kazuma."

"All I know is that Alkan seems to be better mannered than Kazuma." Ayano muttered under her breath. Ren heard what she said and sighed.

Jugo said, "Okay, on to the subject with Chisato Morigami. We have informed her family of the situation and they have asked us to take care of her for a few days. It seems that she came here on a scholarship and that she's currently living alone in an apartment."

"That's horrible, a young girl living by herself," Ayano said, "Could we ask her if she wants to stay with us. She is one of my classmates, even if we don't talk much."

"We'll see about that," Jugo told her, "For now we'll leave the matter on hold until Morigami-san recovers. You may take your leave now."

When both Ayano and Ren left Jugo was in deep thought, 'With Hosenkou-san here the situation seems to have become much more complicated. But maybe I can convince him to help, seeing as he's Kazuma's friend and all.

Back at the hotel Alkan sneezed as he made his way to his hotel room. It wasn't as exquisite as Kazuma's who seemed to be staying in the bachelor's suite on the top floor. His situation was that the last hotel he was staying at was destroyed by an attack by the Fuuga clan. He shook his head as he lay down on the bed. That was when Cui-Ling's voice rang through is head, 'Kazuma…'

'Oh, Cui-Ling…' Alkan thought hazily. He was a bit tired after all that had happened so his focus was less than normal. Cui-Ling said, 'Kazuma hasn't moved on after what happened to me…'

'I know, I can tell that from his eyes while we talked.' Alkan told her. Then he asked, 'Do you still love him?'

'Yes, I do…' Cui-Ling replied but to Alkan her voice seemed to trail off.

'I see…' Alkan replied as he felt a small twinge in his heart.

'Alkan…' Cui-Ling started but Alkan said, 'Sorry, I'm just tired from today, that's all.'

Alkan got changed and he put the pendant on the bedside table. Then he crawled into bed and he was out like a light.