Once again, I do not own Kaze No Stigma

. . .

Later that night, long after Ren had shut off the lights and curled up on Kazuma's bed, there came a knock upon the door.

Not wanting to wake his sleeping brother, Kazuma quietly approached the door to his small, one room apartment. He was surprised to find Ayano standing on the other side. She was dressed for bed, her wet hair handing loosely down her back. "Hey . . . What are you doing here?"

"I-uh . . . I talked with that woman from the store earlier . . . She told me what happened." Ayano's face was a color similar to that of her hair.

"Oh, about how she fell off the latter while trying to stack boxes and landed on me?" Kazuma asked with a smug look.

"Yeah . . . That." Ayano took a sudden interest in the horrid blue carpeting. "So . . . I'm sorry. About being mad at you all day-and torching your chicken at dinner."

Kazuma actually smiled a bit. "It's okay. I'm just glad it's over."

"Yeah, well be glad that the store was still open when I called . . ." Ayano muttered. "Gotta love those twenty-four hour pharmacies . . ."

"Yep, they're the best," Kazuma agreed jokingly. "Although, I'm still not sure what we were even doing there in the first place. Did you need . . . Like, feminine products or something?"

"No!" Ayano's face was once again bright pink. "Actually, there were a few reasons, but one was because I noticed you were out of these."

She held out a small white box that read "Stay Protected".

Now it was Kazuma's turn to blush, although he hid it well. "Uh . . . Thanks. Hey, now that this fight is over, maybe we should test them out . . ."

As he began to lean towards her, Ren's half-asleep voice called over. "Oh God-please don't have make-up sex while I'm here . . . I won't be able to sleep through that."

"Oops," Kazuma tossed the condoms into his open suit case that rested on the floor. "I forgot you were here, sorry Ren!"

Ren didn't reply, and Kazuma assumed he had fallen back to sleep. The kid always had been a light sleeper, but never stayed awake for long once he was tired.

"You're still not done packing?" Ayano asked, noticing the almost empty trunk. "Ren and I finished hours ago."

"Yeah, well you and Ren got to start right after breakfast; I had a job to take care of for Jugo."

"We're leaving early tomorrow, shouldn't you get some sleep?" she asked.

"I'd like to have clothes in Canada, I'm pretty sure nudity is frowned upon . . ." Kazuma replied sarcastically.

"Fair enough . . . I'll help you, then. To make up for falsely being mad today."

He grinned a little. "Thanks."

. . .

Ren awoke the next morning; confused. Where was he?

Oh, right, I'm at Kazuma's, he remembered. He pushed the covers off himself and let his toes swing around and curl into the worn, fluffy carpet of his elder brother's apartment. Although it was only one room, Kazuma definitely had enough space. His bed-which Ren had been sleeping in-was pushed up to the window opposite the door, and his dresser stood next to it. On the another side of the room there was a white door that led to the small bathroom. Across the room from that (on the wall furthest from the entrance) was the small sofa that Kazuma and Ayano were passed out on. Since the entire family ate means together, there was no need for a kitchen or even a stove at that. The only thing remotely close to a dinning room was the small folding side table that resided next to the couch, on top of it a lamp. Over all, not too bad for a bachelor pad.

But there was something missing, Ren noticed. The walls. They were completely bare from any type of photo or poster. It didn't look like anyone lived in the apartment, although it did look lived in. It wasn't personal enough . . . But, then again, that was kind of like Kazuma too. The only decoration on the walls at all, was the silver digital clock that read "7:45" . . .

Wait, 7:45! Our plane leaves in two hours!

"Kazuma! Ayano!" Ren cried. "Get up! Get up!"

Ayano mumbled something and rolled over onto her side. Kazuma's eyes snapped open-alert as always (although he did look a little groggy). "What's up, Ren?"

"We're going to miss our flight!"

Kazuma looked up at the clock. "Ah, shit!"

With one arm he shook Ayano awake, and with the other he grabbed his cell phone and began dialing a text message.

"What the hell, Kazuma?" Ayano asked crankily.

"Go get ready," he told her, snapping his phone shut. Ayano glanced at the clock, cursed under her breath, and ran out of the apartment. Kazuma pointed at his younger brother. "You. Put some pants on."

Ren noticed then that he was still only wearing his boxers. Seriously beginning to reconsider his pajamas, he made his way over to his suit case to pull out some clothes. Kazuma, who had never undressed from the day before, simply slipped on his shoes and entered the bathroom, where he brushed his teeth. After spitting he called, "the car should be out front soon, I texted Jugo a few minutes ago."

"Jugo gets texts?" Ren asked.

"Old man's pretty hip," Kazuma replied. "He called us a cab. Ten minutes tops."

"Kazuma, have you ever been to Canada?" Ren asked as he pulled his belt through the loops on his jeans.

"Once or twice," Kazuma replied. "For work maybe."

"Is it nice?"

"Beautiful. It's too bad we'll be up in the mountains though. Maybe when we've finished killing youma I'll take you to Niagara Falls. 'S a shame Ayano's coming though; it would have been nice to have some guy time."

"I guess," Ren agreed. "But I don't mind Ayano coming; she's . . . nice."

Kazuma chuckled. "Not exactly the first word I'd use to describe her . . . 'Intimidating' maybe."

"Nah, I think you're just afraid to go on a trip with her because that's something married people do. But fear not, Older Brother, for I shall be accompanying you, and no couple brings their younger brother on a trip half way across the world . . ." Ren teased.

Kazuma threw the hand towel from the bathroom at him, and it landed on his face. "Hurry up, before the cab leaves without you."

Ren rolled his eyes and zipped up his suit case. Kazuma grabbed his from off the floor, and together the two brothers left the apartment (Kazuma shutting off the lights and locking the door behind them). They continued down the hall to the front door, where they met Ayano waiting outside with the cabby.

"Airport," Kazuma told him as he got into the passenger seat of the car. Ren was forced to squeeze into the back with Ayano.

"These things should really be made bigger . . ." Ren complained as he tried to pull his trunk through the door.

"You should see the cabs in New York," Kazuma told him. "They have some the size of vans."

"We should go to New York sometime then . . ." Ayano mumbled. "It'd be nice to take a decent sized cab for a change."

"Whatever you say princess," Kazuma told her as the cab began to drive.

. . .

"I've never been on a plane before," Ren said as the three of them boarded the flight to New York City. Ayano would get her wish for a trip to the big city, because there would be a two-day waiting period before they could get on a plane to British Colombia. Originally, there was only to be a three-hour lay over, but due to a large storm spreading across the Southern parts of Canada, their flight had been seriously delayed.

"Better be a freaking Hurricane . . ." Ayano had muttered when hearing the news. "Or a volcano."

"You've seriously never been on a plane?" Kazuma asked.

Ren shook his head. Ayano added, "I haven't either."

"So you've never left Japan?"

"Nope," the cousins chorused.

Kazuma simply shook his head. "I can't believe the Old Man let me take you our of the country for the first time, never mind just on a plane. And come on, Ren, you're 18! How have you never been on a plane? Ayano I get-her father's probably way too over-protective-but you?"

"Flying isn't considered safe for fire-magic users," Ren told him. "It makes sense to go with you, we're safer with you here."

"Why wouldn't it be safe for you on a plane?" Kazuma asked.

"Think about it Kazuma, can you set fire to the sky? And everyone knows that there are wind spirit families who hate the Kannagis . . . We experienced that first hand."

Kazuma remembered back to the day he had met with Ren for the first time in four years-Ren had gotten kidnapped by a wind family not long after. "Okay, I guess that makes sense. I promise that if this plane starts to go down, I'll keep it up."

Ayano took her seat at the end of the row, next to Kazuma and two down from Ren. Although she'd never say it out loud, she did feel safer with Kazuma around. Especially on a plane . . . Having a wind magic user as a boyfriend had it's perks. "Well how many planes have you been on, Mr. Experienced?"

"To be honest, not many," Kazuma said. "I hate flying in big bulky machines. It's no fun this way . . . I prefer to fly on my own."

Ayano shrunk down in her seat. Damn, she'd forgotten about that. Of course Kazuma wouldn't need planes, he could fly! He had more experience than even the pilot with this sort of thing!

"How long will this flight be?" Ren asked. He was practically shaking with anticipation.

"Fourteen hours, give or take," Kazuma replied. "Not too bad to travel half way around the world."

"What do you want to do first when we get to New York, Ayano?"

Not wanting to crush the kid's spirits with her own early-morning negativity, Ayano just smiled and replied, "Oh, I dunno Ren . . . This is your birthday trip, where would you like to go?"

"The Statue of Liberty seems cool . . ." Ren mumbled. "But there are so many other cool places . . . New York alone is the size of some countries, so think about how big that makes all of America! And think of China or Russia for that matter, they're even bigger . . . The world is so massive, isn't it?"

"Is that what you want?" Kazuma asked his brother. "To see all of it?"

Ren blushed a little. "Well, in my opinion, why spend your entire life living in the same place without seeing everything there is to see in it?"

"That's smart. Take it from me Kid-and I've seen the world-you're right, it's worth it."

Ayano was suddenly starting to feel very sheltered. Sure she'd been all over the place in Japan, but always by cab or bus or van. She'd never even left the country, and here she was dating a guy who had been to all the major places in the world at least once. Kazuma had seen everything for work, because he'd go wherever he was needed. To Ayano, that sounded amazing. But, she reminded herself. He only got to go all of those places because his family disowned him and he and his girlfriend were abducted by Bernhardt . . . That's a terrible life to live, so maybe being able to go wherever he wants and see whatever he'd like is just karma. But not nearly enough for all he's been through.

The truth is, I don't know all that much about Kazuma's life before he came back to Japan. Nothing other than he that he had been a total drunk before meeting Tsui Ling, and then and ruthless killer of justice after she died. Then he became who he is now somewhere in between . . .

"Hey, Kazuma?"

"What's up?"

"After . . . After what happened to Tsui Ling . . ." She saw his face harden but tried to keep talking anyway. "After she was eaten by the demon . . . What . . . What did you do? I mean right after?"

Ren shot Ayano a look of warning. This was a really sensitive subject for Kazuma, they both knew that.

"You don't know? I thought someone would have told you . . ." Kazuma said. "Like Jugo or Genma, or even Ren."

"Actually, Kazuma . . . I don't know either," his younger brother said.

Kazuma looked sincerely surprised. "Really? Huh, I figured after I told Jugo . . . But never mind. What happened next doesn't really matter. Like I told you, Bernhardt tried to kill me, and for the first time ever I was able to use my fire magic. I ended up escaping, but when I tried to use my magic again it failed. So, I started practicing wind magic, and then I became the Contractor. And we really shouldn't be talking about this now, considering we're on a plane crowded with normal people."

"But what made you want to practice wind magic?" Ren asked.

Kazuma sent him a smug grin of knowingness. "All in good time, Brother, all in good time."

"It sounds kind of like you have a plan," Ayano observed. "I'm a little terrified."

Ren nodded in agreement.

Kazuma shrugs. "Hey, like Ren said, New York is a big state . . . You never know who you're gonna run into."

"Yeah, but then sometimes you do know who you're going to run into and you just choose not to tell anyone," Ayano said.

"Yep, there are times like that too," Kazuma agreed, not budging. He would put this off as long as he possibly could, and Ren and Ayano knew that.

It was going to be a long fourteen hours.