A/N: As promised, I have your next chapter here. Hope you enjoy it and don't forget to review and rate it!

Chapter 9

Graduation was nearing, but Ayano barely had anything to think about one of the most important events in her life. While her friends Nanase and Yukari were squealing about their dresses and dates for the dance at school, Ayano worried about perfecting her Enjutsu techniques. Kazuma wasn't a lenient coach and he made sure to rile up her temper whenever and wherever he could. However, now that she herself was a Contractor, her powers were on par with Kazuma's and she could see why he was so powerful. Since she became a Contractor, it seemed like she had been upgraded, physically and mentally. Her senses had become much sharper than before, her movements had pinpoint accuracy, her body had greater resilience to wounds both physical and spiritual and great balance. She had finally mastered the Crimson Flame and now could wield the Azure God's Flame and her father's Purple Flame to a certain degree as well. But today, Yukari and Nanase had talked to Jugo, convincing him to let her free for one day, which resulted in her pitiful predicament as her friends dragged her from one store to another, trying to find her a suitable dress.

"Nanase! Yukari! Let me go!", screamed Ayano. But neither of her friends paid her heed to screams or to the curious looks of people walking by and continued to rush into the next shop among the thousands scattered across the lane. Jugo had bluntly refused Ayano's request of skipping this tiresome chore, saying she needed to enjoy her time while she could. He had also assured her friends that they were free to take her wherever they pleased and no one would interfere with their plans for the day. As a result, Ayano underwent through several embarrassing trials, all resulting in a failure to find the right dress for her. Some seemed too flashy, some too exposing, some were just not right for her. Ayano sighed and thought, "What did I do to deserve this? I really do want to pick a dress, but I can't seem to find anything that I like, something that was made just for me. If I don't pick now, I won't have anything to wear for the graduation after-party. What do I do?" Nanase and Yukari kept picking out dresses tirelessly, shop after shop and Ayano could only marvel at the amount of enthusiasm that they were showing for just a dress.

She said, "Hey, it's OK if I don't get a dress. Why are you guys struggling so much for something so simple?" Yukari and Nanase paused their work and turned to her. Neither said a word for a few minutes, and then Yukari said, "You want to know why it's so special for us? It's because this is probably the last time you will ever get to spend as a regular teenaged girl without worrying about war, death, enemies, taking over family responsibilities, dealing with Youma and sometimes equally creepy humans and everything else that we can't even imagine. I, I mean to say, we want you to have the best time of your life with us, one last time, before we lose our best buddy to a lot more serious issues." Nanase said, "While I wouldn't really put it so emotionally, Yukari's right. We want you to have the best time you can possibly have because once you go away, you would be so wound up in problems you probably might not even remember us. Or you could be in so much danger you possibly can't live a normal life anymore. I know it sounds silly, but sometimes happy memories can keep you sane during the worst times. We want our last present to be a happy memory from which you can draw strength from, when you need it. Now, anymore questions? We are kind of busy trying to pick a dress." Ayano watched them silently with a soft smile and teary eyes. She truly had the best of friends in the world.

Kazuma and Ren sat in a little café, bored out of their minds. Ayano's friends had sneakily asked them to find something good for Ayano for her dance. While Kazuma had blatantly refused, he couldn't say to that puppy-eyed expression of his brother, and he had been dragged into one of the busiest streets in Tokyo, trying to find something for Ayano. Ren had collapsed after a long, tiring, albeit fruitless search, and so now they were resting in the café, watching people pass by. Ren groaned and whined, "Why is buying things so complicated for girls? We've been searching for so long, but we still couldn't get anything."

Leaning back on his chair, Kazuma looked out of the corner of his eye accusatorily, and said, "Well, it's all your fault. You dragged me into this mess, now we're both stuck." Ren raised his hands in a placatory gesture and replied, "Hey, I was just trying to buy something for Ayano, OK? It's a really special day for her." Neither said anything as they watched passer-by's walk by, lost in conversations and thoughts. Kazuma leaned his chin on his hand, looking bored out of his mind. Suddenly, Ren piped up and asked, "Kazuma! What would you buy for a girl you really, really like?" Kazuma knew what his brother indirectly meant. He replied, "I dunno, maybe a necklace or a pair of shoes? We've been looking so far around those lines, we ended up nowhere." Ren sat up excitedly and said, "Kazuma you definitely know what girls like right? I mean you bought stuff for Tsui Ling…" Ren realised his mistake too late as he watched Kazuma's face become lacklustre on being reminded of his late girlfriend.

Kazuma turned his face, not letting his brother see the pain that washed over him whenever her name was taken. Maybe he was cursed to remain laden with guilt all his life for not saving her life, but escaping with his. After a while, Ren quietly said, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you upset or anything." Kazuma replied quietly, "I know."

Nanase and Yukari sighed. This was turning out to be very, very difficult. Ayano was incredibly beautiful, with her flame like eyes, and equally fiery crimson hair that hung down her back like a curtain of expensive silk. The irony was that she never really realised how beautiful she looked and her insecurities just shot over the roof whenever Kazuma commented on her. While it was plain enough to both that Kazuma genuinely did care for Ayano, much more than he let on, Ayano seemed to be stuck in the belief that he wouldn't give a damn about her if her father wasn't paying him for that. While they were also privy to the fact that Ayano's father himself had blessed the pair by trying to set them up, Ayano remained oblivious to the fact above. They didn't tell her of course, but they were trying to pick a dress that would specifically sweep Kazuma off his feet when he sees her.

Ayano sighed and leaned on her arms, looking outside the window of the umpteenth store that they had come to. The search was proving to be futile and she felt she had wasted a lot of time for just picking out a dress, when she should have been training. She wondered if Ren was training now with his brother, getting stronger by the day. Suddenly, a chill set in her bones. She involuntarily shivered, trying to find out why she was so cold in the middle of the day. She tried to brush the sinking feeling away, when she felt a foreboding that something was wrong. She turned around to ask her friends to get moving, but she never got the chance.

A shrill scream resounded through the store and before anyone could react, the store exploded, sending waves of heat and fire at the people inside. Nanase screamed as her clothes caught fire, while Yukari tried to bat them out. Ayano snapped into action and shouted, "Nanase! Yukari! I'm coming, don't move anywhere!" Running quickly to her friends, Ayano pushed her hands forward, drawing the flames from Nanase's body into her own. With practice, she had finally managed to master this technique without letting her body heat up excessively. Nanase escaped with charred clothes and minor burns. Drawing her friends close, Ayano said, "I want you both to go, run as fast as you can. Get to safety quickly." Yukari tried to protest, but Nanase stopped her with a wave of her hand and said, "I understand. I'll make sure Yukari gets home safely. I'm sorry about the dress part, if only..." Ayano shook her head and smiled. Trust her friends to be worried about something so simple when their lives were in danger. She said, "Your safety matters more than my clothes. Seriously, get going and stay safe. If you face any problems, call up my house, they'd definitely help." Nanase nodded and turned, but stopped again and looked at the trailing Yukari. Ayano frowned. Without warning, both girls bounded forward and wrapped their arms around Ayano tightly and whispered, "I know you are strong, but stay safe. Come back safe, 'K?" Ayano mutely nodded and hugged them back and said, "I'll do my best. You should go now." With her friends, out of danger's way, Ayano could finally get to work.

Ren heard screams and got up swiftly, pushing his chair back in the process. He said agitatedly, "Kazuma, did you hear that?" His brother however, was faster in reacting, he pulled Ren into his arms and shot upward into the skies, using the ensuing confusion around them to fly away unnoticed. Reaching high into the sky, Kazuma reduced his speed and hovered in mid-air, with Ren wrapping his arms around his waist. From their elevation, it was very easy for the siblings to spot the smoke and flames raging around a shop not far away from the café where they had rested. Wasting no more time, Kazuma shot towards the shop, securing his brother's arms around his waist.

Ayano squinted through the thick smoke. The heat and flames were no danger for her, they were her allies. Through the haze, she could barely make out silhouettes of a man and woman. She couldn't decide if they were the culprits, but taking no chances, she cloaked her spirit energy and chose to observe them from behind the fallen cupboard. Their activities seemed to be suspicious, judging from their calculated movements and their heads whipping around, clearly looking for something. Ayano quietly approached the pair, taking care to not stumble on the debris still burning around her. Outside, sirens of police vehicles and ambulances broke above screams of people trying to get away from the place, adding to the commotion even more. Soon enough, she was close to them, close enough to hear what they were saying, but still remain unnoticed. She turned her ear towards them and tried to hear what they were saying.

"Looks like the job is done, Henry. I think they should be around here somewhere…" Ayano frowned, so this was planned. "Come on Martha, they can't escape this, after all three little weak girls out on graduation shopping can't do much about an exploding store. I'd wager at least one is dead.", said the male. Ayano's blood froze. Three girls out on graduation shopping? Three girls? The next statement by the woman clinched her suspicions for good. "Well, two are defenceless, don't count out the feisty little fire mage. She packs more firepower than 10 crates of dynamite. I bet my life that the fireball is hiding out somewhere here. Fire like this can't put a scratch on her." The final blow had fallen. Ayano felt she was turning into more of a danger than protection for her powerless friends who shouldn't even be involved in this mess. Gulping, she listened further. The woman snorted and said, "Whatever. I just want to get the heir and walk out of this smoky mess. Or one of her pathetic little friends. If we take one of them, she'll take the bait and follow right down into the trap. "Ayano smirked. The pair hadn't really considered the fact that they could have escaped. But one thing unnerved her. The pair seemed to know a lot about her and her friends. How long were they being stalked?

The pair continued talking, "Well, let's search. We can't go back with empty hands to Master. One of them must be knocked out somewhere here. Honestly though, I really don't wanna see the Master pissed off." The man continued, "We haven't really seen the guy up close. I mean, none of the underlings have actually seen him. He seems like some noble dude, from overseas. I'm thinking, what is he doing meddling with stuff in Japan?" The woman retorted, "Why do we need to care about that? We want the money and those magical stuffs that he was talking about. We finish the job, get the prize, and walk out. Simple and clean. If you see the fireball, knock her out with the tranquilizer, take a higher dose just in case. Make sure you cuff her with those handcuffs. Now, stop talking and start working." The man saluted her with two fingers and shuffled away. Ayano stayed deathly still, trying not to make any noise. But she didn't need to worry about them finding her because just then a gale sprung up right in the middle of the destroyed store, swiftly putting out the burning embers and blowing away lighter debris. Ayano felt a familiar shiver of anticipation run down her spine. There was no mistaking this spiritual energy. It was Kazuma.

Ayano couldn't keep her irritation down. She thought, "How does Kazuma exactly pop up wherever I go? Does he have some homing device on me or something? God, my skirt! His winds are as perverted as him, the jerk!" She hurriedly tried to pat down her skirt, which had flown up exposing her upper thighs. But that turned out to be the wrong thing to do, because she heard the woman, Martha, she thought, walk towards her and shout, "Looks like we have the girl! Come here quickly you moron! We need to bundle her up fast before she escapes!" Seconds later, her partner's reply rang, "You found her? I'll be right there! Don't let her go!" Ayano thought, "Don't let her go, my foot! I'll see how you idiots get away from me. This time, I'm taking the glory, not that perverted jerk of a wind mage!" Deciding that hiding was useless, she came out from her hidden place and uncloaked her spiritual energy and said, "You jerks were looking for me, right? Let's see if you can take me on!" Barely wasting a breath, she launched forward towards the woman, who seemed shocked. The woman exclaimed, "You are conscious!? How is this possible!? We detonated enough explosives to kill you!" Ayano pushed stray strands of her hair back and replied, "Well, obviously, you misjudged. Either way, weren't you here to capture me? If your boss found you making conversations with me, I don't think he's going to be happy. So cut the crap and fight me!". The woman scoffed and asked, "Aren't you supposed to be some big shot fire magic user? You look like a weak little teenager. I suppose we gave you a little too much credit." Around the pair, the winds whipped faster, lifting Ayano's hair upwards, almost as though alerting them that their master was here. Ayano said, "Well, if you are so interested, why don't I demonstrate? ENRAIHA, COME FORTH!" A clap of hands and a blast of heat and Ayano stood still with her blade pointing towards the woman. The woman's eyes widened and she hastily drew out 2 identical daggers from within her blouse, crossing them in front of herself, standing defensively. Just then, the man burst through and seeing the scene, froze, not noticing that the winds were whipping around him. Ayano said, "Let the games begin…".Grasping Enraiha with both hands, she yelled, "YAH…!" and jumped forward, her blade blazing with yellow flames.

The woman barely flinched as her daggers clashed with her opponent's flaming blade. Ayano felt something push against her blade as she tried to force the woman to submit to her and clashed with her opponent's daggers, hilt to hilt. It seemed as though the daggers were embellished with some form of protective magic, because if they were normal weapons, Enraiha's heat alone would have melted them into molten metal. Ayano frowned. Her opponents were more prepared than she thought. Tightening her grip, she prepared to strike the woman again, failing to notice the man closing up behind her with a tranquilizer gun.

A/N: And... we have a cliffhanger people! Will Ayano be taken again, for good this time? Wait for your next update!