Chapter Updated as of 5/21/14 for grammar and spelling fixes. Thanks to Sarah and "How're you doing" for pointing out typos.

The following day Ayano sat down to lunch at school with Yukari and Nanase as usual. The school had been abuzz with talk about the prior day's happenings. The police had covered up the crater created by the demon as a sinkhole and it seemed to be working pretty well, all things considered.

"Hey Ayano" Nanase said as she unpacked her lunch "I can't believe you saved the entire city yesterday! Not to mention us!"

"Yeah! Thanks for that by the way." Yukari chimed in. Ayano just stared off into the distance, seemingly oblivious to her friends.

"Uhh, Ayano?" Nanase waved her hand in front of her distracted friend's face. "Helloooo?"

"Huh, what?" Ayano stuttered, her mind coming back to reality.

"You alright?" Yukari asked. "You seem a little out of it today."

"Thinking about Kazuma no doubt." Nanase teased.

"Yeah…" Ayano responded absentmindedly while opening her lunch. It suddenly dawned on her what she just said, and her eyes grew wide. "WAIT! No, that's not it at all! He's such a jerk! Didn't you see him push me in the pond yesterday!? How can you say that kinda stuff! You know I don't like him!" The other two girls giggled.

"Well that was almost a confession" Yukari joked, winking at Nanase.

"Yeah, she'll admit it someday"

"Yeah, maybe on her death bed!" Both laughed, and Ayano sighed. The other two stopped a few moments later, realizing something was off.

"Oh c'mon Ayano, we're just teasing." Nanase comforted.

"Even though we both know we're right." Yukari whispered.

"Mm? What?" Ayano managed distantly, slowly turning her head, some fish and rice stopped halfway to her mouth. The other two looked at each other.

"Well hey, just know we're here to talk if you feel the need." Nanase offered.

"Yeah, thanks." Ayano managed before finally managing to get her food to its destination.

"Wow she's really got it bad today." Yukari muttered, her hand placed so only Nanase could hear her.

"Yeah, do you think something happened yesterday that we don't know about?" She responded in a low voice.

"Probably, why else would she be so distracted?"

"I don't know..." A few minutes passed as all three ate their lunches in silence.

"You know," Ayano began, immediately grabbing her friends' attention. "when Kazuma was…" She paused, "not well Kirika said I was the only who could remind him why he changed to who he is now" The other two exchanged a smile, and a slight blush grew on Ayano's face. "But… Do- do you think he really cares about me that much?" Ayano finished, her blush growing deeper, as she suddenly became very interested in her half-finished box lunch.

"Oh yeah for sure!" Yukari asserted, smiling.

"I'm serious!" Ayano snapped.

"So is she!" Nanase shot back. "Look, you saved him didn't you? Do you think that would have been possible if he didn't care about you?" Ayano turned away.

"You know he… he said that he wanted to protect me yesterday..."

"Aww, that's swee-"

"Before he threw me in the koi pond!" Ayano interrupted loudly, one eyebrow twitching. The other girls sighed.

"Even if you won't admit it to us, you know he cares about you." Nanase Yukari told her, making Ayano turn to look at the sky.

"I just, I don't know what to do…" Ayano thought aloud, trailing off.

At that moment a slight breeze rustled the nearby trees. Looking around the girls spotted a tall, dark figure seemingly floating down from the sky. The man landed close by, all three turning to greet him.

"Hey Kazuma, we were just talking about you!" Yukari called out, turning to Ayano and giving her a grin. Receiving an angry look in reply, she laughed. Ayano then turned her attention to Kazuma, who was looking at her expectantly.

"Don't worry, I assure you it was only bad things." She said, starting to get the last bit of lunch out of her container.

"I see you're a cheerful mood as usual" he responded, cracking a grin.

"What's that supposed to mean!" Ayano retorted, shaking her fist at him.

"Nothin'. Just making an observation." He said coolly, the grin growing wider. His torture victim let out a sigh.

"Why are you here Kazuma?"

"Just came by to let you know your father wants to talk to us after you're out of school today, apparently something's come up."

"Ugh, we just got done with the last problem, can't he cut us a break?" Ayano replied, moderately annoyed.

"I guess not." He paused. "Well that's all I had to say, guess I'll just be going." He turned and started walking.

"Wait Kazuma!" Ayano shouted after him. All three turned and looked at her. Kazuma raised an eyebrow. "Uhh," Ayano faltered "You know you still have to make up for pushing me in the pond yesterday right!?" Kazuma closed his eyes and smiled.

"Yeah yeah, I'll take you out to dinner some night this week."

"Ooooh! A date!" Both Nanase and Yukari exclaimed at the same time.

"IT'S NOT A DATE!"

When Ayano arrived home from school she went to the meeting room. Sliding the door open she was unsurprised to see both Kazuma and her father already waiting.

"Ah Ayano, right on time. Please, take a seat." Jugo said, motioning to the empty space on the floor next to Kazuma.

"You wanted to see us?" Ayano asked while sitting down.

"Yes, it seems there has been some strange events happening recently. Storms seem to be appearing out of thin air, and there have been stories of entire coastal towns being washed away."

"Alright, so the weather's crappy recently. What are we supposed to do about it?"

"Ayano this is serious business. It's not that the weather's bad but that it seems someone is controlling the weather. The storms seem to target certain coastal towns."

"I still don't understand. Why would someone want to destroy some little fishing villages?"

"It would appear that the towns being targeted are part of an old legend."

"Let me guess" Kazuma began "The towns are the ones the water mages traveled to in the legend of the Banishment of the Sea."

"The who, what now?" Ayano asked, now extremely confused. Kazuma smirked.

"Didn't you learn anything from your classes on ancient family history? Or did you sleep through them?"

"Of course I paid attention in class!" She shot back, before switching to a more unsure tone "But I'm, uh, a little fuzzy on the details. Could you remind me?" Kazuma laughed.

"Hey, what's so funny?!" Ayano demanded hotly before Juno broke up the squabble.

"Now now, calm down." He told them, taking a deep breath before continuing. "Long before the rebellion of the Fuga clan there was a war involving the Kannagi clan and the Madhavi clan. Obviously the Kannagi's were fire mages, but the Madhavi clan was made up of water magic users."

"OH, now I remember a little." Ayano spoke up. "If I remember correctly the legend goes that the Spirit King of Fire's first contractor was killed in a typhoon caused by the the Spirit King of Water. The Lord of Fire became infuriated and demanded that the other be banished for his transgression." Jugo nodded, inviting her to continue. "Of course the Lord of Water didn't go willingly, so our King obtained a new contractor, which was, supposedly, our ancestor"

"Very good Ayano." Her father praised, pleased she remembered at least a little bit of her family schooling.

"See, I told you I paid attention!" Ayano snapped, looking at Kazuma. Jugo sighed, still wishing the two could one day learn to get along. He picked up where his daughter left off.

"Well in any case, a devastating war ensued. In the last battle a whole city was submerged in the ocean before the Water King was finally defeated, and sent into an eternal slumber"

"Wait, why wouldn't the Fire King just destroy him?" Ayano inquired.

"One does not simply kill a god; they are more powerful than we can even imagine. Besides as mad as our King was I don't think he wanted to destroy his own brother. He was angry, not heartless."

"Wait, you're telling me those two are brothers!?" Jugo nodded. "Well I guess that makes sense then, but the water mages couldn't have just disappeared right?" His daughter asked.

"No. They were persecuted by our ancestors until the bitter end. The last of the water mages went from one coastal town to another, begging to be taken in and hidden so as to escape destruction. Ultimately they failed though and were all wiped out."

"You mean not a single one survived? That's terrible!" Ayano exclaimed. "Wait, wait, wait. Let me get this straight. You're saying that you think they didn't get wiped out and have now come back for revenge against the ones who refused to help them?"

"That's exactly what he's saying." Kazuma responded standing up. "Just give us the next town on the list Jugo and we'll take care of it."

"We expect the next attack to take place at a town called Tsuri. You're leaving this afternoon and I'm going to send Ren, and Kirika with you too, it'll be safer that way. Plus if things get out of hand I want the police cover up to be as quick and clean as possible."

"Alright then, I just hope the pay is good" The wind magic user said before smirking and walking out. Ayano rolled her eyes, and stood up.

"Don't worry father, you can count on us!" she declared before walking out and shutting the door behind her.

A few hours later Kazuma, Ayano, and Ren were all piling into Kirika's car, much to the entire groups disdain.

"Couldn't the police have given you a bigger car? I mean I've seen closets with more room!" Ayano complained.

"Oh c'mon it's not all bad. What are you afraid of touching me or somethin'?" Kazuma coaxed.

"Uh, do you have to be such a creep all the time?" Ayano grumbled. "Wait a second, why don't you just fly us there! Wouldn't that be way faster and easier?! Or are you just too lazy?" Ayano yelled, while her target put on his seatbelt and shifted into a more comfortable position.

"Not at all. The town's a few hours away by car, and carrying three people that far would be a little tiring, even for me. Given how strong these guys we're probably going to end up fighting are I shouldn't waste any energy."

"So you are lazy." She deadpanned. There was a pause. "WAIT YOU'RE SAYING I'M GOING TO BE STUCK IN A CAR FOR A FEW HOURS WITH YOU?!"Kazuma laughed.

"Settle down back there." Kirika said as she started the car. "Me and Ren are in here too, and I don't think either of us want to hear you two arguing the whole way there." Ren nodded in agreement.

"Well if it's all the same to you guys I'm going to take a nap. Wake me when we get there."

"Of course you are." Ayano replied dryly before sighing. The man sitting next to her just grinned as he closed his eyes, his hands behind his head. Leaning on the door she angled her head so she could see the landscape streak by. As the minutes passed Kirika struck up a casual conversation with Ren.

"So how's school going for you?"

"Pretty good, although it can be a little boring at times." The driver chuckled.

"I know what you mean, I was jus-"

Their voices slowly faded away as the white noise caused by the car made Ayano's eyelids grow heavy. Ever so slowly she drifted off to sleep.

She woke up staring at an open sky, the sun beating down like it was midday. She quickly righting herself and checked her surroundings. She was back in the crater in the center of the park. Shaking her head she tried to remember how she had gotten there.

Why can't I remember anything? Looking around more carefully she saw a person headed directly towards her.

"What the…" upon seeing figure had a massive sword she leapt to her feet with just enough time to summon Enraiha. Embers and sparks flew everywhere as the two swords collided, flashing from existence as quickly as they had come. Gritting her teeth under the impact she tried to get into a fighting stance. As the dust and ash settled she was able to get a good look at her attacker. It was Lapis. Her eyes grew wide as saucers from disbelief.

What is going on? She parried another blow, and pushed forward with enough force to throw her target back. Taking a deep breath she looked down, and gripped her sword tighter. Think, think, THINK. Can't you remember anything about how you got here!? The pause was long enough for both to recover, allowing Lapis to charge her again. She was ready this time though. With a swift, graceful movement she half blocked, half dodged her opponent's attack, giving her the perfect opening to swing.

YES! Enraiha connected and her enemy was sent sprawling. Not one to miss an opportunity Ayano charged headlong, hell bent on finishing Lapis once and for all. As she neared her target she was blown back by a sudden and powerful gust of wind. Looking around she saw Kazuma walking towards Lapis, his back turned to her.

"Finish her!" Ayano yelled, understanding his need to finish this fight himself. If someone had tried to torcher her with a look alike of her dead lover she would want to be the one to end it too.

Wait. Something's off, he doesn't look… Kazuma extended his hand to Sui Ling's clone. Is he… offering to help her up!?

"YOU IDIOT WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Ayano screamed shakily.

What is he thinking? As Lapis took his hand and stood up he turned to look at Ayano, his red eyes reflecting like rubies in the sunlight.

"NO!" She yelled in disbelief, taking a step back. She could feel herself beginning to shake. "It's not possible! Not again!" She screamed, each word more and more unsteady "Why are you doing this!? Don't you know that you can't save her? She isn't her!" Her pitch and unease rose with every word until her voice nearly cracked. She saw him move, but was far too panicked to react in time.

She felt her feet leave the ground as she was tossed into the air. She braced for impact, but it didn't come. Instead she just floated in the air as the tears began to build behind her eyes. She jammed them shut, trying to stop the inevitable.

This isn't happening. This isn't HAPPENING! She felt herself being set down. Fearfully she opened her eyes…

She was back in the car.

A dream. She felt her body begin to un tense slowly. It was all a dream. She breathed a sigh of relief. She could still feel the tears in her eyes though, those were real enough. After a second she realized there was something resting on her. Her body tensed up again, but only for an instant. You're fine. It was just a dream. She told herself. You're safe now. She turned and looked to her left, seeing a hand. Almost immediately her heart caught in her throat.

But that means. Turning to her right she saw Kazuma. She was leaning on KAZUMA. And he had his ARM AROUND HER. She could feel her heart rate increase, and her stomach did a summersault.

Oh my GOD what do I do!? She thought. Her mind was racing. After a moment that little voice from last night spoke up again.

Enjoy it. She sat completely still, unable to decide if she should scream and call him a pervert, or snuggle closer.

He's so warm. She thought, pushing herself up against him slightly more. It was starting to rain outside and the pitter patter of the droplets combined with the road noise of the car was somewhat comforting. Some calming noise, and a warm body. Maybe this trip wasn't such a bad thing after all… The car hit a bump and her head knocked into Kazuma's chin. Oh no! He moved his head a bit, having woken slightly from the jolt. She closed her eyes tightly. No no no no NO! She could feel him turn, see her, and tense up. She waited. Any second now he was going to nudge her and say something stupid. He was going to make fun of her for complaining and then unconsciously snuggling with him while she was asleep.

Here it comes… He relaxed.

What?! He leaned his head back, preparing to go back to sleep. No wa- Suddenly the car lurched and Kirika called back without taking her eyes off the road.

"Hey everyone wake up. We're supposed to be nearing the town but there's a really bad storm." Ayano quickly re adjusting herself before anyone else saw how the two of them had been positioned. She tried to clear her mind of all that had just happened and focus on the situation at hand.

"Wait, you don't think that they've already-" Ren began somewhat groggily, having just woken back up himself.

"Yes, I do think they've already started attacking. Let's just hope it's not too late." Kirika responded gritting her teeth. Ayano looked over, and Kazuma seemed to have fully woken back up, seemingly oblivious to what they had been doing just moments ago. Like he doesn't know.

"I'm going to have to pull over! The storm's so bad I can't see the road anymore." As the car drew to a stop a gust of wind shook the tiny vehicle, threatening to pick it up and blow it away like nothing more than a feather.

Having taken stock of the situation Kazuma threw open his door and leapt out before slamming it shut again. The other three followed his lead and were immediately soaked to the bone by the unrelenting typhoon.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Ayano bellowed, trying to be heard over the gale. The rain was almost painful against her skin it was crashing down so hard. It was almost pitch black out, so all she could make out were the other three's outlines.

"THIS STORM!" he shouted back "IT'S TOO STRONG FOR ONE PERSON TO HAVE CREATED! GIVE ME A SECOND, I'LL TRY AND BLOW IT AWAY!"

"WHAT?!" Kirika shouted from somewhere beside Ayano, obviously unable to hear what had just been said. Kazuma closed his eyes. A few moments later he opened them again, now glowing a bright azure. With his contractor powers awoken he began to control the gale with no apparent effort. He managed to control the wind first, before starting to blow the clouds and rain away.

As the sky opened up the stars and moon began to peek through. There were a few clouds still lingering, apparently not affected by the torrent of air created by Kazuma. By the moonlight figures could be made out, standing on the vaporized water. Their dimly illuminated profiles turned and looked towards where the drenched group of four was standing.

Ayano quickly counted the number of people dotting the sky. Three in total. The car had been on a mountainside road and the town was visible in the valley below. Ocean waves were slowly receding, taking with them some of the buildings that had been closer to the coast. The area was almost completely flooded, with next to no structures looking like they could still support their own weight. The entire place was almost completely destroyed.

As one of the clouds approached, person in tow, Kazuma floated up to meet him. Getting closer he was finally able to start making out some of the other man's features. The man was middle aged and wore an ornate blue robe with white bottom and trim. His hair was jet black, streaked with silver and was drawn back into a messy ponytail. His hands were now inside his sleeves, completely hidden from sight. He spoke in a deep, unwavering voice.

"Who dares to interrupt the Madhavi clan's cleansing of this wicked town?"

"Funny, it looked like you were just wreaking havoc for no good reason to me." Kazuma responded coolly.

"We are justly destroying this town and its people as penance for their wrongdoing. Now do you have a death wish? This is your first and only warning. Leave now and we will let you live." The other two water mages began to inch in the pair's direction, preparing to take action if necessary.

"Ha!" Kazuma laughed coldly. "Are you really going to attempt and kill me? I'd like to see you try!" He baited, wearing a huge grin the whole time.

"Well then you've made your choice. Any last words?" Kazuma just broke down laughing.

"Get ready Ren." Ayano said, summoning forth Enraiha. Her cousin nodded in response, and wreathed himself in flames.

"What the hell is WRONG WITH YOU!?" The robed man demanded, sending a high velocity cone of water towards his enemy, which the wind mage deflected with a wave of his hand, finally able to control his mirth.

"Harikeen!" One of the other two enemies called out "Some of the Kannagi's are here!" But the warning fell upon deaf ears. He was too focused on the person who had just deflected his high level water spell without batting an eyelash.

"Say hi to the ground for me." Kazuma sneered before forcing Harikeen's cloud apart with a strong puff of wind from its center. Taken by surprise the water mage began to plummet, only able to slow his descent by condensing water vapor before landing about 10 feet away from Ren and Ayano.

The other two mages still in the sky charged their companion's aggressor. Kazuma just sidestepped their water jets before hitting one with a burst of air. The man just almost managed to get his balance back before a gust from the opposite direction slammed into him. He tumbled from his battle platform, but had been ready unlike his partner. His cloud raced down and caught him just before he hit the ground. Looking back up he scowled, and saw the wind mage point his way and mouth the words "Behind you". He turned just in time to take a flaming sword to the chest. The force threw him from his cloud and off the cliff into the valley.

Meanwhile Ren was attacking Harikeen fast enough to force him to keep his guard up. Ayano would then come in with a powerful attack, trying to get a good hit on him. Harikeen was skilled though, and not making it an easy fight for the other two. Steam filled the surrounding area as fire and water continually collided. Ren launched three more fireballs all of which were blocked by waves of water formed in midair. Ayano swung Enraiha down, which Harikeen mostly dodged. The flames just caught his robes, which smoldered for a moment.

Kazuma began moving back towards his comrades, smiling at the sight of them winning their battle. While still moving he turned to face the third man. He had short spiky dark blue hair and a somewhat gaunt face, like he could do with a good meal or two. His robe was a dark gray, almost black with a light blue trim. He was noticeably younger than Harikeen by at least twenty years. He seemed to be somewhat tired from the battle already, and was breathing deeply. He stared angrily at the flying man.

"You know if you took a picture it would last longer!" Kazuma taunted.

As he landed and turned around to start walking he could sense the blue haired man coming in for a strike. He lined himself up so that the mage would crash into Harikeen if he was going too fast. Having anticipated the attack Kazuma sidestepped at the last second. Dark robes flew by as expected but to the contractor's surprise the man didn't crash. Instead he dissipated the cloud and landed with a roll, ending up back to back with his ally.

"Fancy" Kazuma commented while casually walking around the pair to the same side as Ren and Ayano. Both men were now looking at the trio, leaving them completely open from behind.

"Oh boys!" Kirika called from the other side as she cocked her pistol. Both turned to look at her, before instantaneously realizing their mistake, but it was too late. Kazuma grabbed the man with the darker robes and violently pulled towards himself. The man toppled backwards and Ayano rapidly put him at sword point.

"If you want your buddy to live I expect you to leave right now. Let your superiors know what happened here, and that we WILL save the next town." She said, not looking away from her captive. She looked up. "Leave. NOW!" The statement punctuated by Enraiha being brought closer to the hostage. Harikeen exchanged a look with his companion, before nodding, ash falling from his singed hair.

"Alright" He responded, gathering a cloud beneath himself. "I will do as you say. But be warned, this battle is not over." As he flew off the four friends turned to look at their new prisoner.

After a moment Kazuma spoke. "Please, excuse me for a moment." He then proceeded to collapse.

"What's wrong with him?" the gaunt man asked.

"Contractor powers. He's worn out." Ayano replied.

"That explains so much."

AUTHORS NOTE: I got it out by Monday! :D It actually only took me two days to write but editing combined with school made editing quite the project. Plus I am not really a fan of editing my own work. The polish it gives the work though is undeniably awesome. A few things:

1.) I am the only person who has edited this so if you see anything I missed just post a review and mention it, I'll be sure to nab it as quick as possible.

2.) I had reviews set so I had to approve them before they posted on accident, but I've since disabled that. It should be fine from now on.

3.) I failed to reach 5k words. Only about 4200 not counting authors note.

4.) All these chapters are available in gDocs so here's the Table of contents if you want to view it that way: /gzXgDT

I'll link it in the story summary too

I'm going to try for a chapter a week but with school and everything else we'll see. If you wish to edit please PM me. Hope you all liked it, if not go post an angry review :p Finally, I do read everything you guys post, so thank you all for the posts, follows, and faves. It means a lot. See you next week!