Day 01: Beginning.
As far as beginnings went, theirs always started off on the wrong foot.
The very first time they interact properly, they are forced to compete over who gets to inherit the Enraiha, and, respectively, the future of the clan.
If he had to be completely honest, even then Kazuma had no interest in those things. He neither wanted them, nor wished for them. The only reason he even took part in that ridiculous farce was because he wasn't even given an option of declining the duel.
She'd singed him quite well back then. Thinking back on it, he could still remember the pain of the flames she'd sent his way.
They are given a second chance at a beginning four years later.
Four years aren't really all that long a time—especially to those who have lived to see many seasons come and pass—but in the lives of a couple of teenagers, four years are enough time to change the way they look at one another completely.
When they meet anew, it's like they are different people. She still wields the Enraiha she inherited that fateful day, and she's still just a loud little girl to him, future head of the Kannagi or not.
And, once again, they got off on the wrong foot right off the bat.
When they first meet again after four years of him having disappeared, she comes at him, swinging her sword and throwing around accusations, hating his guts for no better reason than she simply believed she was just in doing so.
To Kazuma, that didn't really matter at all. He had no interest in dealing with her or her family anymore. The fact that the beginning of their bond had been shaky didn't matter at all to him, because he wasn't planning on starting anything with the Kannagis anyway.
He shouldn't have cared, at least. And he was convinced he didn't, right up to the point when her whole frame started burning with those brilliant, enchanting crimson flames.
When he came back to Japan after four years of self-induced exile, Kazuma's plans had been simple: fight his father, test his strength, triumph and get the hell away from that accursed family before they could ruin his life any further than they already had.
He never accounted for wanting to start something with the future head of the clan. He never thought a little girl like her—too volatile, too innocent, too oblivious for his taste—would be able to catch his attention, but before he knows it, he is captivated by the subtle beauty of her soul that shines through only when she is forced up against a proverbial wall.
It was true that despite the fact they had a chance at a beginning twice, both times had been rather abysmal. The first was clue enough, but the second one was solid proof that beginnings were most definitely not their forte.
However, once he set his mind to it, Kazuma didn't really believe that mattered. After all, if they started off unsteadily, the only way they could continue from there on was up.
And, besides, even if they didn't start out all that well, what's left is to focus on the follow up.
And Kazuma was quite good at follow up.
A/N: What is this I don't even—Well. Er. This sounded better in my mind. xD;
It's the start of something. I'm not really sure how far it will go but I felt like dabbling a little into this fandom again (while I am procrastinating finishing off the 2 other stories in this fandom I have sitting on my desktop, getting slowly written out in a not entirely satisfactory fashion).
Chapters in this story will be connected—or at least I will try to keep them seem connected, even if they work as stand-alone pieces as well.
I don't even know what I'm doing anymore, so don't mind me.
9th March, 2013.