He'd come for one purpose. Stepping onto the compound for the first time in four years though, Kazuma had to admit that he was hoping for a glimpse of that long red hair. The faces that greeted him were indeed memorable, though a less welcome sight. He remembered them this way, ganging up on him. First he hadn't been powerful enough for them, but now they seemed to have the opposite problem with him. It was necessary that he come here, so he'd hoped for a bit more of a reception, perhaps an escort to the head of the family. Ayano would have done well, he'd thought. Still, it was Ren he had come for. Ren he had to save. The one Kannagi he simply couldn't dismiss because of an old grudge.
When Judo handed him a file full of wind-magic users, his first inclination had been to search for his own name. Had the head of the family known all along what his destiny held? Instead he focused, and searched for a familiar face that now he knew to be surrounded by a sickly aura of dark strength.
Here, surrounded by fire energy, he barely registered the spike in energy before the door slid open and he was once again confronted by that flaming sword and a shout of his name.
Again he was struck dumb by the sight of her and the blossom of her anger into a skewing blaze. By the words of Judo, those flames flickered out midstride. He had to hide his smile, for of course Ayano Kannagi would be a daddy's girl. How had he missed the signs before?
With a shrug, he dismissed her accusations, though he was tempted to prod her, taunt her. If he pushed hard enough, just how far would she go, what glorious power would pour from her?
He tried to ignore the tug he felt as she knelt beside him, facing her father. Between them was a palpable tension as if trying to draw them closer together; the idea of her warmth pressed to his side, that magnificent hair brushing his jaw, forced him to harden his heart to her if only to focus for the moment. He repeated his brother's name to himself, desperate to remember that there was only one Kannagi he could accept as an ally.
Why was it so impossible to her that the Fuga clan could be responsible for the deaths of the family, he wondered. Her trust was so absolute, as was her wariness of him. The daddy's girl could be such a naïve child, an idea which he clung to if only to keep himself detached from her with his ultimate focus on his little brother, who remained pure of the family's wrong-doings to both the Fuga clan and Kazuma. Then Judo said that one word that completely wiped Ayano from his mind.
"Sacrifice?" It was like a blow to the chest, slicing into his heart and laying bare the memory he kept buried there. He could see the blood, the desperation, the fear. When he imagined Ren in such a state, he felt a dark abyss of grief and anger gnaw at his insides. Suppressing the shadows of his past, and now his seeming future, was like calming a fierce, howling, and fatal storm.
But then, hadn't he returned just like the Fuga to exact his revenge upon the family who had suppressed everything good about him for his inferiority? Ren, like the woman who haunted his every waking moment, would pay the price demanded by the smothered talents too long concealed. It was the arrogance of the Kannagis, of Ayano, that sparked flames of revolt within non-fire users. Kazuma himself was engulfed in such hatred despite the fact his brother would soon be lost to it due to the weakness of the Kannagis.
"Ren's a kid! He wasn't put on this earth to be eaten by some youma!"
He remembered that. The idea of fate being so cruel to someone that their whole life would lead up to a horrifying and painful death no matter how they'd lived or who they were to those around them. Naïve though she may be, Ayano was bursting with passion and righteous zeal and Kazuma found himself proud of her for some reason. Proud that she dismissed vindictive fates and embraced her power to bend them to her will. Her words were like a promise to Ren, a promise to protect him, the innocent.
Hadn't Kazuma made that same promise the day he took the contract of the Spirit King of Wind?
For a while at least, the war between the family and him would have to wait because he was going to follow the red-haired hellion regardless of what they said of did and together they were going to save Ren. What he couldn't understand was why she was so eager to face forces far more powerful than her. Was it simple arrogance on her part, or the underlying need to protect that so mirrored his?
He couldn't let her see, let any of them see, that this family was still his weakness. More important than his pride, his independence would be threatened if they believed he wanted to protect any member of that family, whether it be Ren or even their little princess Ayano. What strength could possibly exist within one that was still so easily manipulated by the family that cast him out? So he named the one thing that would ensure they no longer considered him a member of the family. He named a price.
It made for a long car ride with Ayano after she realized that his soul didn't tend towards great acts of charity. She was practically simmering in the seat beside him as the car jerked over bumps and dips in the road up the mountain, the temperature in the car rising by a few degrees as her irritation grew. Again he found himself with the strange urge to goad her until that temper exploded so he could see what kind of awe-inspiring inferno might result. Not when Ren was on the line though, and he needed her temper focused on the Fuga rather than on her suspicions of him.
Ren.
If only he could hold on, Kazuma swore he would get to him in time, that he would stop this youma.
To his relief, Ayano was worried that she'd fail. It meant she took this as seriously as he did, and he needed to count on that if they were going to succeed at all. For all her pride, it seemed she comprehended that she was facing something more powerful than even her sacred sword, and again he was forced to acknowledge that she was no longer a child and that like him, she too had faced too much in the world to do anything but mature. Given four years, perhaps she'd be equal with his powers now. He needed both their powers to be enough now though. He would never let Ren, or anyone else, be a sacrifice.
Those crimson eyes were on him, he could feel them by the very tingle on his sense like a brush against his cheek or fingers caressing the nape of his neck. His brown gaze shifted to hers, her thoughts a mystery to him. She was too quiet. Without that insight into her temper, with her face serene and serious, her utter beauty was undeniable from the smooth curve of her pale cheek to those wide eyes regarding him so carefully.
His senses felt raw from her, like they were straining towards her, when suddenly something cold and dark scraped against his awareness. Their departure from the car was quick and crude, yet when he put his face next to hers as he lifted her out, time shifted about them as their eyes locked and a slight blush spread against her cheeks. He tucked her head against his chest and braced for impact, but he couldn't stop himself from the rush he felt at her warm gasp against the skin of his neck. With her nestled close, it was difficult to remember that he would have to be back on his feet so quickly.
The darkness that was suffocating the air around him reminded Kazuma to look up.
Ren. He couldn't allow there to be a sacrifice. It was his very first oath.
