There were always flames in his dreams.
Sometimes, he woke up, panting, trembling because of his nightmares. The heat seemed so real and so was the smoke that made his chock and gagged with tears at the corner of his eyes.
He never knew why those dreams happened.
He never bothered to find out.
It was just something his brains made up. He reasoned with his family as they worriedly asked him if he was okay when he woke up from his nightmares.
But he never forgot the sharp eyes that he saw amidst those flames.
They met on a fateful day when he was sheltering from the rain under the bus stop.
His family owned a piece of land in a remote area outside of the city. The nearest bus stop was a mile away from their home and it was one of their few options to get to the city.
The rain started when he just got off the bus. Hurriedly, he took shelter under the bus stop.
There was a man who he had never seen before.
"Hello, I am Ichigo Hitofuri." He had greeted him politely. "Can I help you?"
The man had looked at him with such sharp eyes that made him froze for a second until a small smile appeared on his face. With an air of elegance, the man introduced himself as Mikazuki Munechika.
"You see, I am looking for someone." Mikazuki had said pleasantly as they waited for the rain to stop. "I have found him at last." At the corner of his lips was a small smirk that made Ichigo squirmed.
As soon as the rain stopped, he had bid farewell to the mysterious Mikazuki and hurried toward his home where he knew his brothers would be waiting.
Their family was exorcists. They had once been one of the largest clans.
Now, the ability to see ayakashi had become rarer than ever. Out of his fourteen brothers, only five could clearly see ayakashi. Out of those who could not see ayakashi clearly, only five could only see them as blurs.
Ichigo and Nakigitsune, their cousin, both inherited the sight, were the ones who kept their clan on.
They taught the little ones spells and seals. Sometimes, they took on missions to claim rewards from the exorcist organization. The rewards and the money from their jobs kept their family on.
His brothers pitched in whenever they could. For example, Honebami and Namazuo, the eldest twins, worked part-time at a convenience shop in the city. Yagen and Atsushi helped by getting scholarships so they could ease the pressure on finance… They even asked to go on missions to claim rewards.
While they were all skilled at spells and seals, the ones who couldn't see ayakashi, Midare, Shinano, Houchou and Hakata, would not be able to defend themselves if they could not pinpoint their attacker's location, thus neither Ichigo nor Nakigitsune agreed.
Those who could see ayakashi as blurs were Honebami, Namazuo, Mouri, Maeda and Hirano. While most of them were mature and could do well in a fight but Ichigo was worried and always escorted them.
And when it came to those who could clearly see, Ichigo could not stop them. Atsushi, Yagen and Gotou, all of them were shaping up well and while he was afraid, he could not deny those three were strong. Akita and Gokotai were younger but they seemed strong.
While Atsushi, Yagen and Gotou could go on missions with or without escorts, as long as they called either Ichigo or Nakigitsune before they began, Akita and Gokotai were sympathetic and sensitive and Ichigo did not want them to go on missions, not yet.
He may be selfish but he wished to protect them a little bit longer.
They were attacked. It happened so fast none of them could react in time.
They were getting ready for bed before the barrier placed around their home shattered.
The front door was kicked down and those closest to the door had their hands and the seals that they always kept in their pockets.
"Oh, is this the rumored Awataguchi clan?" The leading Ayakashi was a bulky one who wielded a naginata. "Seems a little ordinary for me."
Sword in hand, ichigo came to the front and shielded his brothers. "May I ask what brings you here?" He asked politely.
"We have some unfinished business with your late head." The voice made Ichigo froze because he knew that voice. He had met that person not long ago.
Four other Ayakashi joined the bulky one and Ichigo cursed his naivety. The one in blue robes smirked as their eyes met. "What do you say, Ichigo Hitofuri?"
Piercing yellow eyes met sharp blue ones. "I should have never approached you, Mikazuki Munechika."
He still remembered the silver hair and the red eyes of the first ayakashi he had befriended.
"I am Imanotsurugi!" The little ayakashi said with a child-liked laugh. "I have heard so much about you from Nakigitsune!"
His cousin hid his face behind the little pipe fox that had long been at his side. "He asked to see you." Nakigitsune explained quietly.
"He said you were strong!" Imanotsurugi explained in his high-pitched voice.
Smiling humbly, he greeted the ayakashi with a polite bow. "Ah, it is a pleasure to meet you, Imanotsurugi-dono."
Imanotsurugi laughed. "You don't need to be so polite. We are friends, aren't we?" He extended a hand toward the blue-haired child.
Gently and carefully, he put his hand into Imanotsurugi's small one. He smiled and he could feel the warmth from that hand as the small ayakashi pulled him into a game of tag with Nakigitsune.
They shouldn't have been friends. That was what he heard when he sat in a seiza side-by-side with Nakigitsune.
The head of their house, the father of Onimaru, another cousin of theirs, had sat them down with a long lecture earlier.
"We are exorcists. We track down ayakashi and eliminate them to make sure humans can live in peace. We do not befriend them or invite them into our house."
They had been young and naïve and they had invited Imanotsurugi into our house. And that had resulted in the death of the cheerful ayakashi.
Nakigitsune had not shed a tear even through the long lecture but Ichigo could swear he had seen traces of fear in his cousin's golden eyes and he knew that Nakigitsune could see the tears at the corner of his eyes.
"I am sorry but what you did was foolish." Onimaru had said when he brought them their lunch. "What would the little ones say if they see you, the future leaders of our clan, running around, befriending ayakashi?"
He immediately thought of Namazuo and Honebami, both so young with eyes filled with innocence, tumbling around in their room, safely guarded by their parents and all he could feel was the overwhelming desire to protect them from the cruelty of the world.
But then, he remembered the crimson eyes of Imanotsurugi and the cheerful laughter and all he could feel was sadness.
And he vowed to do better so that those he held dear would always be safe and not die because of his foolishness.
It had been a long time since he faced against an opponent who could match him blow-to-blow.
His body ached but he had to keep fighting. His family was fighting. He could not stop now. This was the battle for their survivals.
He parried another blow. The cuts he gained earlier stung but he willed himself to keep on fighting.
A cry from Gokotai made him lost his focus and he turned, in time to see the little boy crumbled to the ground with a bloody slash on his back.
He could hardly register the feeling of a blade at his neck but his eyes seek out the culprit and they stopped at the fox-liked ayakashi who held a bloody tachi in his hand.
"I am afraid this is the end." Those words made him shiver. His heart dropped along with the blades in his brothers' hand.
Nakigitsune was the first one to move. He bolted to Gokotai's side, uncaring of the fact that they had just lost. The little pipe fox on his shoulder whimpered sadly as it cuddled close into its companion. Gokotai's cubs crowded around them, rumbling with soft whimpers.
"Wake up… Please…" Nakigitsune's normally soft voice carried a hint of desperation that stung Ichigo's heart. "Gokotai… Wake up…"
The little boy coughed up blood as his chest heaved. Tears gathered at the corner of his years as he struggled to breathe. "I… I am sorry."
Ichigo had to force himself to look away. How could he bear to see the light fade from his brother's eyes? To see those familiar yellow eyes empty and lifeless…
"Entertaining, isn't it?" The smooth voice came as Mikazuki grabbed his chin and turned his face toward when Gokotai lied.
Ichigo was practically shaking with rage, disgust and many other emotions warring in his heart but he managed to spit out. "Leave my family out of this." He said, watching as Akita broke down in tears and clung to a shell-shocked Mouri.
Honebami held a crying Namazuo close while Midare and Shinano clung onto Gotou, bawling their eyes out. Houchou and Hakata seemed to shock to react as they stood stiffly next to each other. Maeda and Hirano stood with tears rolling down their cheeks and hands fisted into their shirts. Yagen and Atsushi stood, emotionlessly but one could see the glittering of tears in their eyes.
"They did nothing." Ichigo whispered, barely wincing as the blade dug into his neck, drawing little droplets of blood.
"Get the other one and burn this place to the ground." Came the cold command that made his blood froze. Mikazuki smiled, as graceful as the moon as he met Ichigo's terrified eyes. "The show has just begun."
The flames burned as brightly as those that appeared in his dreams and he wondered if it was a vision as he watched helplessly as the place that had been their safe-haven crumbled amidst the flames.
Fin