WARNING: This story is a sequel to Ablaze: The Crimson Tower. Before reading Ablaze II: The Witch Hunt, I recommend reading the first story.


Hey guys, it's really been a while. I have been meaning to finish and publish this story for a long while. I most wrote this on Christmas day when I was hiding from my family, aha! I hope you enjoy!


Ablaze II: The Witch Hunt
Chapter 1: Recoil

Footsteps echoed through the empty corridor. Ayano's feet tread heavily over the wooden oak floors. The beating of her heart pounded in her ears. "Hello?" Ayano called into the deserted place. It was dark. Her eyesight only extended as far as the glow of the flickering candle in her hand. A banner draped from the ceiling, swaying the absent breeze. Ayano stopped, her deep golden eyes moving to rest on the banner. It looked familiar; An icy-blue dragon crawled up the white fabric with tear shaped scales. Fingers reached out, grazing the soft silk fabric over the course of her fingertips.

Suddenly, it erupted into a crimson flame. Burning fire ate away at the banner, instantly dissolving it into ash.

Ayano screamed in shock, stumbling backwards. As her body turned to run, her ankle twisted and she was sent tumbling backwards into the opposing wall. Ayano's head crashed against the back of the wall sending a flash of pain through her skull like a bullet.

The pain died down into a dull throb that radiated over her skull and down her neck. Tears pricked her eyes while she winced in pain. "Ow..." she muttered, reaching a hand to the back of her head. A sharp pain shot through her like a burn as she probed a damp, tender spot on the back of her head. She dared to look at her hand as she brought it back. Ruby red liquid stained her hands, dripping from her fingers. "Blood!" Ayano chocked.

Ayano freaked, trying to push herself back up from the ground. An abrupt pull on her wrists and ankles forced her back down. Ayano's eyes locked onto her wrist to see silver cuffs clamped tight around her ankles and wrists. She tried and tried to pull away but it was no use, no matter how much she struggled they wouldn't come undone. "Chains were a pathetic accuse to hold the next Kannagi head." Ayano huffed. "Enriaha come forth!" Ayano called loudly, opening her arms to summon the Kannagi's famous sword. Her arms were left empty. Nothing came. Ayano gave her empty hands a perplexed look as a queasy feeling rose in her stomach. "Enriaha come forth!" she called again. Nothing. She called and called, but still nothing happened. Ayano felt her heart begin to race, speeding up by the second.

An image jet past her in the corner of her eye. Ayano's eyes quickly darted to her left. A gasp escaped her lips as she saw what, or who was looking at her. It was herself. She froze watching herself looking back at her. Ayano reached forward, in sync with her opposing self. Her fingers were millimeters away when she felt herself touch something. Red smeared across the glass as she retracted her hand in surprise. A mirror? Ayano flinched, watching as her reflection moved with her as a pair. She sighed, sinking back against the wall behind her. Her eyes wandered down her reflection to the red staining her reflected fingers. She lifted her own hand up, looking at them intensely.

Ayano was startled, scrambling back up to her feet in surprise. The blood was gone? Her fingers were their usual pale selves with no sign of blood or anything on them at all. It was like it was never there at all. "This is getting weird..." Ayano mumbled, dropping her hand back to her side. As her hand fell, it jerked her shoulder, sending a flash of searing pain down her neck like a sharp blade. Ayano winced, squeezing her hand over the nape of her neck. It burned like a raging fire spreading radiating heat from her neck onto the palm of her hand. It was so hot Ayano could barely stand to keep her hand over it. Slowly, her eyes glanced over into the mirror at her other suffering self, her eyes widening in dread. Her hand moved with caution. Nothing. There was nothing there.

Within the blink of an eye, that nothing became something. A deep, red gash cut into the nape of her neck. Ayano's hand slapped straight back over it, sending a shock wave of pain over her body. She dropped down to her knees hard against the wooden floor. Warm, red blood began to pour through her fingers, bleaching into her clothes and running over her pale skin. Pints were pouring out, pooling into a puddle at her feet. Ayano wailed, pushing down her other hand onto her wound, trying to stop it from bleeding.

Her eyes snapped back to the mirror, to see her reflected self. She crouched on the floor, parallel to the actual Ayano, nursing a bleeding wound. Then, she stopped. Her reflection, removed her hand, letting the blood pour over her skin. She casually rose to her knees and then to her feet. She gazed down to the floor in front of the real Ayano. Reflected eyes were shadowed by her red, blood drenched hair, falling across her face. Slowly, her feet began to move forward. Bloody footsteps marked the reflected floor as she moved closer and closer.

She stopped at the boundary of the mirrors edge. Her chin gradually lifted, her hair falling over her shoulders and down her back. For a second she hesitated. The real Ayano remained still, her stomach sick with terror. The real Ayano could only stare at her unconnected reflection with pure shock and horror.

Suddenly, the mirrored girl's head snapped back up, her gaze pierced directly into the true Kannagi. Burning, blood-red eyes glared at her. Dark, crimson flames flickered and burned erratically under the shimmer of her black, abyss pupils. A yelp escaped Ayano's lips as she desperately squirmed away from the mirror.

Slowly, the reflection raised her hand, extending forwards to the Kannagi girl lying helplessly chained to the floor. She reached further and further, touching the edge of the glass, and didn't stop. The hand began to manifest, stretching outside the glass. The hand was scorched black with burns, moving forward to the real Ayano.

The reflected Kannagi's mouth opened wide, releasing a piercing scream. It bounced of the walls and floors, radiating through every part of the real Ayano's body. She felt her bones shake and her ears burn in pain as the noise shook, growing ever louder, like a thousand knives piercing her body.

But even the scream didn't block out the sound of the glass cracking. A white, thin crack skated over the glass, reaching to every tip of the frame, scarring the horrifying reflection. With a final push in the terrifying scream, the mirror shattered. Flames of different colors exploded out of the flying shards of glass, splintering her everywhere. They were all engulfed as a crimson flame roared furiously from the frame, burning everything. The flame grew and grew, towering high in a column of burning fire. It was endless, and growing. The shards of glass still housed her screaming reflection. Tiny fractions of her melted under the pressuring heat. Ayano watched in pure horror as her reflection began to deform and melt away like heated wax. The glass turned into small puddles, smothering her reflection. The flame began to burn more intensely now, engulfing inches and inches of her surroundings, getting closer and closer.

The puddles of liquid bubbled and churned. They began to shiver and change shape, slithering slowly around. They were moving. Each melted shard of glass began to dribble closer to each other, gathering and fusing together into a large puddle. As they began to add and add, the puddle got larger and shape began to form. Fire burned at the edges, crisping the liquid into a solid. First, it formed a long, thin center. Four legs were burned on the edges. A long, rectangular head at the top. Big, eyes, sharp teeth, keen claws formed out of bursting bubbles. Finally, tear shaped scales were etched by the crimson flame into its back. It was a dragon. More specifically, the dragon from the banner.

All at once, it jumped into life, color leaking into its form; an icy, crystal blue. A low, rumbling growl vibrated from its lips under the crackle of a flame. A forked tongue hissed through its blade-sharp teeth. Its body began to crawl forwards, gaining a little more speed with each step. As it slithered within touching distance, Ayano tried as hard as she could to push herself further against the wall to get away from the advancing creature. It didn't stop. Thrashing her legs, she tried to ward it away. It didn't work.

Striking forwards, it's body slithered around a flailing leg, coiling around the silver chains. The silver shimmered, responding to its touch, rippling waves across its surface like water. It's cool touch turned colder. A blue ring formed around the edge of her ankle where she felt her foot becoming numb from the cold. The dragon slithered across her skin, leaving frost wherever it touched. Ayano scream and tried shaking it off but it stayed effortlessly on her leg like another part of her body. Its icy touch burned across her skin as it crawled up her side. It's tail swished around her arm, leaving a frozen trail of ice embroiled into her skin. "GET OFF!" She cried as it wormed over her blood drenched chest.

As it slid over the freezing blood the dragon's eyes glimmered with an overwhelming joy. Ayano quivered in disgust. Then she released where it was heading. It crawled onto her shoulder, its tail fastening itself around her neck. It's gentle, blue tail grazed over the back of her neck, tickling her spine. Every movement just came to a stop. She couldn't move. She willed her body to move. But it wouldn't. She felt...frozen. The engrossing flame that's burn could be felt deep in her bones was now a dull feeling to her- or not a feeling at all. Everything was numb. All except the freezing feeling sinking into her bones and the sensation ripple vibrations of heat, radiating from her wound. Her eyes were able to move, though she wished she they couldn't. As her eyes set on the dragon, she saw its claw graze across the wound with a gleam in its eye. The claw retracted.

Suddenly, the dragon dove into her wound. First its head squirmed into the thin cut, wriggling and pushing the cut wider and wider, letting more blood splatter out. Ayano watched petrified as it pushed itself deeper and deeper inside herself. Ayano wanted to scream and scream. But her lips remained blue and closed. Inside, she willed and willed for it to stop, to get out, to die. But it didn't. Its head, shoulders and chest were already deep inside her shoulder, wriggling deeper. Ayano felt like she was tearing her mind apart as its tail slipped in. It was completely merged into her.

Finally, the crimson flames, pounced onto her, ripping her body apart in chunks of black ash, devouring every part of her. Her eyes watched as a wall of crimson descended upon her. She let out a terrifying, spine shaking scream.

Ayano shot upwards, launching out of her bed. She collapsed onto the cold wooden floor of her room. Sweat trickled down her face. Her heart rapidly pounded inside her chest like it was about to explode. Her breathing was fast and harsh. After a second, she frantically scrambled to her knees. She grabbed her shoulder, desperately checking it for any blood. None. Ayano felt the rush of relief flood her body as she slumped back against her bed. She tucked her knees close to her chest and sank her head into her arms. Her bones shook in fear and shivered in the cold. Every inch of her body felt like ice although her skin was burning at touch.

"Jeez." She whispered shakily, wiping a hand across her forehead. Ayano sighed, leaning her head back onto the soft, cotton mattress of her bed.

Ayano stayed like that for a long while before she finally calmed down. Her heart settled, her body warmed up and her breath slowed. Ayano looked over at the small, basic alarm clock next to her bed. It read 5:30 in flashing red numbers. There was still about two hours before day break which was when the rest of the house would wake up for the day. After deciding that getting anymore sleep was impossible, Ayano settled for taking a nice hot shower.

As the hot water ran over her skin, the images replayed in her mind. "What the hell was that?" She whimpered. Most probably, it was because of the Konishi event.

She had been kidnapped by a water family called the Konishi's. They wanted to eliminate the Kinnagi family with the old tradition of taking out the heirs first. Since Ayano was first-in-line for the head position, they decided to take her life first. The only problem she was facing, was that she can barely remember anything. There was an old bar, weird men, a banner and Kazuma. Only fragments of her memory were instilled in her brain. The rest had been destroyed during the incident. The last thing she remembered was a sword, engraved with a living silver dragon, swing against her neck. Then it was only darkness.

It had been two months since.

Ayano sighed, turning the shower off and wrapping a white, cotton towel around her damp body. She stepped out of the shower, and moved across to the sink basin. Pulling out a pink tooth brush, she squeezed the last bit of minty toothpaste out before dropping the empty tube in the bin. As she brushed her teeth, she wiped a hand across the fogged mirror, coated in a layer of translucent steam. Long, dripping-wet, red hair was in tangle across her shoulders. Ayano, reluctantly pulled the hair away from her left shoulder, dragging it over her right.

Golden eyes glazed over the mark on the nape of her neck. To be more specific, it was a scar. It ran down from her neck to almost touching her collar bone, shining white under her flushed skin. Soft fingers traced the line gently. A cold shiver ran over her scar in a quick flash. Along with it an image came, interrupting her thoughts and jumping into her mind.

It was the Konishi's scared sword. It was melting. The dragon tried to crawl away but it was soon enveloped by a crimson flame.

Ayano flinched, stiffening her fingers. Slowly, she shivered, letting her hand fall to her side. It was just her imagination. Ayano let a small growl mutter from her lips. Her head shook violently, trying to shake the thoughts out of her mind. After she regained her composure, she finished up in the bathroom and began the -what was seeming to be like- long day.

"KAZUMA!" Ayano yelled, swinging Enriaha through the air, golden flames rippling over it's brass edges.

A Yhoma, at large one in fact, was fighting the Kannagi girl. And as usual, Kazuma wasn't helping. It was her first day back to work in three months and he was being stubborn about helping her. Ayano let out a grunt of frustration as she dropped and rolled to avoid an attack from the freaky Yhoma.

"Hurry up Ayano; We haven't got all day!" Kazuma moaned. The wind user was cradled in the branches of a nearby cherry tree, where he lounged leisurely. Manipulating the air around him, he took leaves from the tree and made them dance on his fingers in an elegant series of twirls and spins.

"Kazuma, Come on! It's my first day back on the job!" Ayano whined, jumping backwards as she dodged another attack.

"You were the one who threw a temper tantrum until Jugo let you go." Kazuma retorted, plucking more leaves from the tree and adding them to his little self-amusing performance.

"I did not throw a temper tantrum!" Ayano protested as she swung her blade at the Yhoma. In a desperate decision, the Yhoma swung its arm out. By sheer chance, the Yhoma caught the sword on the flat of the blade, sending it out of Ayano's hands. It landed, and slid across the ground, slowing to a stop half over the edge of an uncovered man hole. "Enriaha!" She bellowed, lunging for the teetering blade. Her fingers grazed the hilt just as it slipped out of her reach.

Quickly, the Yhoma seized its chance and swung for the girl. Kazuma glanced away from his leaf show to see the Yhoma seconds away from crushing Ayano into the concrete. "AYA-" Kazuma shouted. Ayano caught sight of the Yhoma and reacted quickly. Rolling out the way, she pounced back onto her feet as the yhoma pummeled a deep hole into the ground.

"Wow; that was close." Ayano huffed. Without Enriaha, the most Ayano could do was hand-to-hand combat and some basic enchantments. Unfortunately she wasn't as quick as Ren with the enchantments and hand-to-hand combat with such a large Yhoma wasn't very appealing. Surprisingly, the large yhoma was fast; All Ayano had time for was dodging. "Kazuma! I lost Enriaha!" Ayano shouted, through her harsh panting, swiftly dodging the Yhoma's advances.

"Idiot! Just re-summon it!" Kazuma called, settling back into his tree. His heart was still rapidly pounding, and he was definitely planning on hiding it. Who knew what ideas that girl would get into her head if she caught him being worried about her. It was certain she would insistently persevere about it. And stubborn Ayano wasn't cute. Kazuma looked solemnly down at the small pile of leaves gathered at the base of the tree; his leaf circus had fallen. Kazuma sighed and settled for retracting back into his comfortable position and watching the Kannagi girl. Just as amusing as leaves.

Ayano growled at the carefree wind user and leapt back far enough to give her room for summoning. "Enriaha come forth!" Ayano bellowed, extending her arms to summon the lost weapon. But nothing happened. Ayano was stunned, watching and analyzing her hands in disbelief. A strike of panic sent her heart into a frenzy, thumping wildly inside her chest. "W-What?" She stammered. She felt her whole body go numb in shock. She couldn't move. All she did was stare blatantly at her empty palms.

Suddenly, she was sent flying backwards through the air. Her body came cashing into a brick wall, sending a scream of shock bursting out her lungs.

"AYANO!" Kazuma yelled, launching out of the tree in a flash. Kazuma was there in an instant, placing himself between the Yhoma and the red-head.

"Hey Ayano! Can you hear me? Ayano!" Kazuma called, his back to the girl. With a gust of air travelling like an army of knives, the yhoma was shredded to pieces and dissolved into the cement. "Ay-" Kazuma snapped, spinning on his ankles to face to girl.

"Jeez. I'm fine!" Ayano growled, using the wall as support to hoist herself to her feet. Ayano sent a sharp, threatening glare his way as she reached to touch the back of her head. For a second, her eyes widened in surprise and then softened again. She quickly drove her gaze away from the concerned contractor. Kazuma gave her a quizzical, intense look before realizing why she turned away. It was his face. To be more precise, his expression. Worry plagued his whole face like he was watching someone dying. Then again he had. But it wasn't surprising to see Ayano shocked, it was most definitely out of his character.

Quickly, Kazuma regained his composure and cleared his throat. "You okay?"

"I said I'm fine!" Ayano hissed, reviving her fierce glare as she rubbed her tender head.

"It serves you right for coming to work so early." Kazuma moaned, shoving his hands into his pocket, turning back to the entrance of the alley.

"It's already been two months!" Ayano rebuted.

"It's only been two months." Kazuma corrected. Casually, he began to walk out of the damp alley. Ayano opened her mouth to say something else, but she snapped it shut again.

"Ow." Ayano whimpered, lifting her hand up to examine it. Red smears marked the tips of her fingers. Vivid images of her dream flashed back into her head. She fell and hit her head, her fingers were covered in blood. Then it stopped and the images seized. A rush of anxiety sent her heart pounding. Ayano desperately rubbed the blood off her fingers on the hem of her skirt. Luckily, the fabric of her uniform was dark and the blood stains were hard to see. She'll easily be able to sneak it into the laundry when she gets home without anyone noticing. Then again its not that surprising to find blood on a Kannagi's clothes.

As Ayano straightened herself up, a wave of dizziness swept over body causing her to stumble over her feet. A firm hand caught onto her biceps, holding her steady. Golden eyes darted up to reach Kazuma's handsome face. The cold, heart-aching worry still churned under his dark alluring eyes as they watched her. Ayano couldn't help but admit that the new expression of Kazuma's that she was exploring was actually kind of hot, in a tsundere kind of way. Nevertheless, the pitiful look he gave her still annoyed her to the bone.

It was the same look she had been getting for the past two months. Ren, Jugo, Yukari, Nanase and now Kazuma. Not to mention the entire Kannagi family, including the branch families.

Fortunately, the Kannagi's kept the matter closed to the public and school. They managed to keep the who Konishi v.s. Kannagi charade out of the press somehow. Even thought the whole Kannagi cavalry had showed up at the Konishi house at the moment of the explosion. Her scar had healed nicely and it was able to be conventionally hid by her collar. Thought she would have to be wary of wearing low-cut and strapless tops from now on. She didn't know why everyone was so on edge. They destroyed the Konishi family right? But Jugo only let her go back to school two weeks ago.

Now she was out with Kazuma. She thought he was the only one who would be able to treat her normally. Apparently she was wrong.

Ayano averted her eyes as she shook off Kazuma's hand, mumbling a faint, and harsh, "Thanks." The red-headed girl turned and walked around the corner. Kazuma watched as her red hair disappeared out of sight.

It took Kazuma a few moments before he remembered he had to duty of walking the girl home. He can fuss over the sharp stabbing pain in his chest later. If Ayano arrived home without him as her escort, he'd lose out on his pay. Quickly, Kazuma caught a current and drifted up on to the adjacent rooftop.

Ayano had made it pretty far considering she had just left. The girl managed to put four blocks between them with surprisingly fast walking skills. That lead was easily diminished as the contractor let the wind carry him straight to her.

A cool gust of wind brushed the back of her neck and she instantly knew that he had caught up to her. She was hoping he had forgotten about walking her home. Once again, she was wrong. Even so, she feigned ignorance to the wind user's presence and trotted at a fast pace ahead of him. Kazuma knew she was mad at him, she was never really skilled in the art of hiding her anger. In fact, he doubt she'd ever learnt the basics. It was one of the things he liked about her; she was always so obvious. In the end, Kazuma decided it would be safer to give her some space so he hung back by a few steps and kept her pace.

It was like that for the rest of the way back to the Kannagi house. There was no point in trying to start conversation. It was guaranteed that it would just end up in a shouting match. So it was quiet, apart from the occasional angered muttering from Ayano.

The night dawned and the moon rose as Jugo and Ren greeted the pair returning from work at the gates. Jugo's face turned hard when he caught Ayano storming into sight by herself. But a few seconds later, Kazuma appeared behind her and Jugo's face softened with relief.

"How was work Ayano?" Ren asked innocently, bearing a kind grin.

"Great!" Ayano chimed in glee, smiling brightly. It lasted a second before it snapped back into a cold, harsh, anger. 'Sarcasm?' Ren thought sadly. 'It must of been bad then.' Ren felt a little disappointed. He had been hoping Ayano might get along better with Kazuma after he rescued her so bravely. Apparently not. Maybe it even got worst. Ren sighed dishearteningly, and trailed after the enrage red-head, storming off into the inner grounds of the Kannagi house. On his way, he stopped, waved to Kazuma and began frolicking down the path again.

Jugo watched until both Kannagi children were gone from his sight before he turned to the wind user. "I think it's took early for Ayano to go back to work." Kazuma sighed, getting right to point.

"Why's that? Did something happen today?" Jugo subtly exclaimed letting his caring father's side emerge.

"I'm not sure." Kazuma relinquished, raking a hand through his hair.

"Let's talk inside." Jugo suggested, returning back to his authoritative role as the Kannagi head.

"That Kazuma!" Ayano shouted, kicking her pillow across the room.

"What's wrong Ayano?" Ren cautiously asked, wary of stepping onto one of the many emotional land-bombs Ayano has when it came to his elder brother.

"He does it too! Everyone does! Looking at me like that!" Ayano yelled, picking up the pillow and slamming it onto the floor.

"Looking at you like what?" Ren asked, sitting on the other end of the room, out the way of Ayano's pillow wrestling match.

"Like I'm some pitiful little lamb!" Ayano snapped, turning her sharp glare directly onto the younger fire user.

"Ayano..." Ren whimpered. Golden eyes looked up at her with such a hurt look it made her heart ache. Ayano sighed, letting the frustration drain out of her. She felt tired after all that yelling. Weakly flopping back onto her bed, she gently closed her eyes.

"I'm sorry Ren. I didn't mean to snap at you like that; I'm just a little tired that's all. Hard day back on the job, y' know?" Ayano turned to her little, blonde cousin and gave him a weak smile. Ren stood up, flashing an even bigger smile before he bid her goodnight and left. She even made Ren fake a smile.

"Ren..." Ayano whined. She didn't mean to upset him, it was just...No. What she said was true. Pity was one of the things Ayano hated most of all. It was just like when her mother died. Ayano gasped, realizing what she said. She shook her head, trying again to clear her thoughts. She didn't want to think about that.

Surprisingly it didn't take that much effort to replace them. A pounding, stinging feeling caused her head to throb. Ayano hissed at the pain she had completely forgot about. More like she was trying to ignore it. In response it seemed to have come back sharper and more intense. Reaching her hand back she put pressure on the source of pain at the back of her head. 'Is it still bleeding?' Ayano thought to herself. Ayano pulled her hand back to examine it. Ruby-red liquid trickled down her fingers.

Once again, the image of her dream flashed before her eyes. Ayano stared at her hand; it looked exactly the same.

Nevertheless, she had to get herself sorted. Her head was bleeding, and by the looks of it, it was bleeding a lot. She can't ignore it any longer. She'd just have to go and sneak into the medical room. She could just find a bandage or something to put over it until the bleeding stops, then it can heal on its own. Besides, everyone was in bed now, they wouldn't notice her. The only probably was that getting the medical room, meant going past her father's room. But she couldn't leave the wound any longer. She'd bleed to death if she did. She can't tell anyone or else she'll be confined to the house even more. And she's finally got back to normal. Well, she wouldn't quite say normal. But it was close enough and she didn't plan on giving it up.


Kazuma, Ayano and everyone around around her are feeling the recoil of the attack. Ayano doesn't seem to remember what happened, except in her dreams, but will she ever regain her memory?


Next Monday; Chapter 2; Hide
As Ayano attempt to hide her injury, she learns its not easy to do so. Not just for her, but for Kazuma and his conflicting emotions.


I also want to apologize in advance for any spelling or grammar mistakes. I Do intend to check over this chapter for any soon, I just wanted to get this chapter to you guys asap.


If you liked Ablaze II: The Witch Hunt try checking out some of my other stories.

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-A-ccentric