Chapter 1: I Failed You

Hello Everyone! This is DarkFlame Alchemist finally making a story after many years of having these ideas in my head and not sharing them with the world! Hopefully I will be able to be up-to-date with them unlike the very first story I made which I failed at continuing. -_-

By the way, this is the re-edited version of chapter after I saw how many mistakes I made. -_-

Anyway, hope you will like it! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: DarkFlame Alchemist does not own Kaze no Stigma except for her OC, Karai Uchiha.

Prologue

A group of boys were bullying a ten-year old boy with brown hair, shooting small flames at him.

"You are so worthless! You are part of the Kannagi family and you aren't even a fire magic user like we are!" said one of the boys.

"Yeah, why are you in this family anyway?" said another boy as the rest of them continued laughing at how pathetic he looked.

The boy just laid on the floor curled up as flames were being shot at him. Suddenly, black flames were shot at the bullies.

They ran around like lunatics after they were flamed themselves. After the flames disappeared from them, they looked at the person who attacked them. To their surprise, it was a small black-haired ten-year-old girl. She stood there with cold red eyes and crossed arms.

"Just what do you think you're doing? Picking on somebody who isn't as talented as you are!" she yelled, "And what's worse… He's your relative!"

"Who are you to talk to us like that? You're just a little girl! You are not even part of our family so why don't you go play with your girly toys and just leave us be," retorted one of the boys.

"Heh, do you even know who I am?" the little girl said.

"No. Should we? Little girl?" laughed the same boy, with the others following what he was doing. There was one boy, though, that didn't do the same. His eyes widened from realization of who the girl was, "Omg, your Karai Uchiha, of our sister family!" The boys stopped laughing and all thought the same thing, "Oh crap."

A grin appeared on Karai's face, which went away as she replied proudly, "Yes I am Karai Uchiha, successor of the head of the Uchiha family. I am ashamed with you morons who are apparently my relatives. I will not tolerate this bullying any longer." She held out her hand in front of her and a black flame appeared, "Leave now or else I will burn your butts again!"

"Yes ma'am!" They all replied before scurrying away.

Karai had a smirk on her face as the bullies left. She went in front of the curled up boy and extended her hand, "Need some help there?" she asked with a smile on her face and warm eyes, with the coldness gone.

The boy on the floor looked up at her and slowly grabbed her hand. Karai helped him up, "Those jerks are the worthless ones for picking on you like that. Sheesh," she replied to him with an annoyed face. He remained quiet as he kept on staring at her, speechless.

"So what is your name, oh silent one?" she said with a grin.

Finally, he spoke, "Ka-Kazuma Kannagi… and thank you for helping me against those guys," he said with a small smile.

"Why wouldn't I? After all, aren't we relatives?" she said with a smile. An idea then popped in her head, "Hey, if you ever have a problem with those guys or with anyone, call me and I'll take care of them for you, okay?"

"Okay, and when I am skilled with something of my own, I'll protect you!" He beamed with sudden confidence that came out of nowhere.

"Sure, but you can't just protect me. You have to protect everyone!" She told him.

"All right then! I promise that I'll be able to protect everyone in the future!" He swore.

"Then it is settled!" They smiled at each other. Afterwards, they went off to go play somewhere.

Eight Years Later….

Karai's Point of View

"Karai! Wake up you sleepyhead!"

"I didn't do it!" I yelled as my head shot up. I had fallen asleep….. again. 'Ughhh, if I keep this up, Dad is surely going to kill me for slacking off as the heir of the head of the Uchiha clan.' I thought as I looked at the one who woke me up. It was Kazuma, my best friend.

He chuckled from my statement, "Is there something that you want to tell me, Karai?"

"No there isn't!" I yelled annoyingly at him from my drowsiness, "Besides, what are you doing in my room?" I questioned him.

"Umm we were supposed to meet at the spot over an hour ago. I couldn't wait any longer so I went looking for you, and what do I find? You sleeping!" Kazuma complained. 'Oh yeah… we were supposed to meet at the meadow,' I thought as I slowly remembered what he was talking about.

I just rolled my eyes, "Well exxccusssee me! It's not my fault they keep me busy to the point where I am dying of exhaustion!"

He finally calmed down and sighed, "No, I'm sorry. I'm just overreacting. I know how pressured you are since you are becoming the head of your family." His eyes looked to the side sadly, "I can't say the same for myself… I'm not a fire magic user to begin with. I am not skilled in anything, unlike you."

"Come on, Kazuma, you're one of the heirs for the position as head of your family as well," I assured him, "You'll be able to use fire magic eventually, or maybe some other magic type!"

"Yeah right, even if I did master some other magic type, I'll disgrace the family because all members of the Kannagi family have been fire magic users for many generations," he said miserably, "Except me."

I got off my chair and went to him. I put my arms around his neck and my chin on his shoulder while he put his head in my neck and encircled his arms around my waist, "Don't worry about that Kazuma. Besides, it will be okay because I accept you for who you are and I will help you in any way I can when I am head of my clan, kay? Don't forget your promise." I rubbed one of my hands on his back in a circular motion to comfort him.

"I know, I know. I just wish I am the protector now, instead of you always protecting me," he said in my neck, "It's hurting my pride as a man you know."

I try to restrain myself from laughing at that "pride" comment, but managed to let out a small chuckle, "Oh come on Kazuma, don't be like that." He just tightened his hold on me, not saying anything.

It was silent for a few minutes before I sighed, "One of these days Kazuma, your life will change dramatically for the better. By that point, there will be a time when I will be the one who needs rescuing, or even someone else! And I know that you are going to be the protector then. You just need to have a little faith. Don't just put yourself down," I assureed him.

"Karai… thank you. You are practically the only person who has been there for me," Kazuma quietly said with a smile.

We pulled away slightly and stared at each other, still in the same positions. Soon, we started leaning towards each other's face, our lips almost touching, but then the door opened. We immediately pulled away and saw who entered the room. The person standing at the door was my father.

"Ah Kazuma, there you are," the head of the Uchiha family said, "Your father is here looking for you… he said you have to attend something very important today."

"Really? Ok then," Kazuma said to my father, surprised, before he and I gave each other another hug and pulled away from each other once again.

"Karai, I'll see you later in the meadow then. Do I need to come get you again?" he replied jokingly while looking at me with a pretend annoyed face.

I rolled my eyes at him, "No, I'll be there," I said before smiling.

He chuckled and went to the door before turning around, facing me once again and smiling, "Oh and thank you… for your encouragement. I feel a lot better now."

"No problem," I answered him before we gave small waves at each other before he left for sure, going ahead of father. Before he followed Kazuma to the front door, I thought I saw some sadness in my father's eyes… like something bad was going to happen.

I had an uneasy feeling, but shrugged it off as I went back to my chair and thought about my relationship with Kazuma. Ever since that day I helped him out, we've always been close and would spend time with each other whenever we weren't busy with our family duties and training.

Lots of time I would have to help him out whenever those cousins of his were bullying him. He was never able to stand up to them, mostly since he didn't possess any fire magic, which was odd for something like that to happen to him since he was part of the head family.

There were times, though, that he showed courage. It was a once in a blue moon event that would occur. These times would be when I ended up in trouble and he would stand up for me. In the end, I would still be the one to finish the dispute. He would think that he was never useful when, in fact, he has been a lot. After a while, I came to realize that I liked him more than just a best friend… and after tonight, I know that I have fallen for him, seeing as how we almost kissed.

So after much contemplating on whether I should tell him my feelings or not, I decided to go with it.

Too bad I didn't know that the worst was yet to come…

That Night…

I trained for over an hour as I waited for Kazuma to arrive in our spot where we would always meet: a small, grassy clearing with a tall sakura tree in one of the corners. We found this spot a few years ago and have been coming here ever since without anyone bothering us. Ironically, mother and father actually have been here before which was surpising.

After much waiting, Kazuma still didn't show up. Then, half an hour later, my father arrived. I stopped what I was doing and went in front of him. He stared at me with those same sad eyes that he had a few hours ago.

"Father, is something the matter?" I asked with a worried face.

He sighed, "Kazuma left our house earlier because he had to attend the successor ceremony to determine who would become the heir of his family. I found out just recently that he lost against his cousin, Ayano Kannagi."

I was shocked, but remained calm, "But isn't that ok? He won't have to worry about the responsibilities then."

He shook his head, "His father banished him shortly after he was defeated," he said sadly, "I'm sorry Karai; he's gone."

That instant, my heart ached. Kazuma was gone and left without telling me.

Father then started to rub his back of his neck, "Besides that, there is something that I need to tell you," he said looking at me.

"And what would that be father?" I asked curiously, yet still sad from the horrible news that I had just received.

He had noticed at how unhappy I looked right now and waved a hand off, "Never mind, I'll tell you some other time with your mother. Tonight isn't a good night for you," he said before giving me a hug, letting go and starting walking away. He stopped for a minute and turned his head, side-glancing at me, "take as long as you need, but remember… you have your duties as successor of this family," He looked ahead and walked away.

After standing there for what seemed like forever, I slowly fell to my knees with my hands on the floor and head hidden.

"He didn't even say goodbye to me," I said to no one as tears slowly fell down my face, "but it's my own fault for not acting on my instincts… for not being there for him when he needed it." I clenched the grass as the tears continued to drop on the ground.

After a few minutes passed which seemed like forever, I got up and started to walk slowly to the sakura tree. When I reached it, I looked at the initials Kaz & Kar engraved on the tree. We wrote it there symbolizing our friendship and claiming the tree as ours. I put my hand on the initials.

'Kazuma….. I failed you.'

Hope you guys liked it so far. Please review =)