Winnow goes once more into the editing breach for this chapter. Thank you.

o0o

"Old George Orwell got it backward. Big Brother isn't watching. He's singing and dancing. He's pulling rabbits out of a hat." - Chuck Palahniuk

Ayano sat back to stare at him. Horror etched her features. The paleness of her cheeks was intensified by waves of ebony framing her face. She'd known Bernhardt was a bad man. She'd seen the suffering he'd inflicted on Kazuma first-hand. Yet, it was another thing entirely to hear of an entire city laid to waste for seemingly nothing. The fingers that had been stroking the throw pillow in her lap suddenly curled into a fist.

"He's such a bastard!"

Kazuma blinked at her, surprised by the sudden outburst. He had been so lost in the story he'd continued to pour out to her that he had failed to notice the surge in her temper.

"You know, even when I think he's the lowest, dirtiest filth on the earth I hear something about him, and I hate him even more, ugh!"

For the briefest of moments, he could have sworn he saw her eyes flicker red. Did he imagine her hair turn the faintest shade of pink? He wasn't sure, but it felt more right than what he'd felt from her or her aura in a while. He grinned when he saw her punch the pillow, still fuming about Bernhardt, cursing his name to the heavens and back.

Kazuma barked out a laugh that sprung unbidden to his lips. "Well, yeah. He is a bastard. Or, have you taken so many blows to the head in our battles that you've forgotten?"

Kazuma earned a scowl from the ex-fire-user for that. "You know what I mean, damn it! Besides, I didn't know all that."

An eyebrow arched high on his head. "All what? This is the first time I've told you anything about my life before I came here."

Ayano shook her ebony tresses. "Kirika told me a little when you went crazy that first time you saw Lapis." She raised both hands up. "Ah! But she really didn't tell me much. I only learned a little bit about Cui Ling." She wrinkled her nose. "And not much of that either, come to think of it."

"Kirika, huh?" Kazuma mused as he rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "You know, I met her not long after that earthquake incident?"

Ayano shook her head 'no.'

He grinned. "Yeah. Pop's used her as an informant and more while we were in Russia tracking Bernhardt. I'd tell you all about it, but," he sighed and ran a hand through his hair, "I don't remember much of it. My powers manifested while we were there."

His mahogany eyes stared vacant before her, as if he could will the memories to come forth. "I was very angry. The wind raged—so loud, so many voices—Pops and Kirika did their best to ground me, but, I had so much hate, hurt so many people..."

She could tell by the way his eyes clouded over that he was losing himself to those veiled memories. Something in her urged her that she might lose him, as if he could become possessed by dwelling on the past. She needed to draw him back to her. Ayano's hand slid forward to find his. "It's all right, Kazuma. Everyone loses control. You had half the time most magic users have to adjust to your powers. As far as I can tell it was inevitable." She released his hand and leaned back into her seat. "Some people never come back from the draw of that power. It shows just how incredible you are that you had the ability to reign yourself in at all."

He blinked and shook himself from his reverie. For the second time in one night he was stunned by her. When had she become so astute?

Ayano wasn't finished. "It's rare, but occasionally we have a 'late bloomer' in the family; someone whose power manifests near birth like everyone else, but for whatever reason stays in a weakened state for a very long time. Those people tend to have the hardest time controlling their power. When they do fully come into their own they're usually not prepared for it."

Her eyes studied the trees through the huge pane of glass before the living room. Black, leafless limbs reached clawed hands to the sky in silent supplication. The far-off look in her gaze told Kazuma that she wasn't really looking at the trees at all. After a moment, she began to speak again.

"Come to think of it, Ryuya was a late bloomer, I think. At least, from what father told me, he was."

"He was," the contractor answered. "He was also shunned by the family, like I was. The son of the head of the Fuga clan was supposed to be strong, and he could barely toss around a piece of paper in the wind. That's what they all said, anyway."

"Misao was one, too. I remember. She never was as strong as her brother. She always wanted to come with him on his youma missions. But the family made her stay home. 'Train harder,' they said. 'You can't fight anything like that.' Hmm, funny. That seems to be a trend." Ayano noted, the somber timbre of her voice gave him pause yet again. "A family putting so much pressure on a relative to be up to standard that they fall apart."

"It's a sick cycle, isn't it?" Kazuma chuckled mirthlessly, "The family ends up fighting the monsters that they themselves created. Shouldn't we be calling them monsters as well?"

Ayano's eyes fell to study the knuckles on the back of her hand. She had never thought of it before, but he was right. Even the earth-wielding Tsuwabuki seemed to have fallen into the trap of poisoning their own young. Hell, it was damn near a miracle kind and gentle people like Ayumi or Ren even existed among the families. The ex-fire user wondered what that made her, then? She certainly wasn't kind, nor gentle. Was she also a monster?

Kazuma's hand flicked before her vision, forcing her to withdraw from her dark thoughts. "Earth to Ayano. You in there?"

"Hmm?" She blinked large, dark eyes at him a few times. "Ah! Oh, it's nothing just thinking about my, my powers. That's all. You think we'll get them back?"

Kazuma looked skeptical of the validity of her statement, he knew she'd been worrying over something else, for sure. Still, she didn't seem interested in giving up her thoughts any time soon. He smirked and reached a hand out to ruffle her hair.

"Of course we will."

Ayano gave a distressed squawk as she tried to rearrange her displaced locks back away from her face. It took a good deal of his immense will to not laugh at her. As un-effeminate as she could be, there were still times where she revealed her inner girl. It was cute as hell. He'd call her almost angelic if it weren't for the sickly dark aura surrounding her. Then again, he could help with that, couldn't he? And besides, he hadn't rewarded her for all her insight into his past.

He leaned forward and caught a strand of her dark hair in his hand, just as he had once before, only this time he was facing her. He watched as color filled her cheeks as he raised the raven locks to his lips and kissed them. Her eyes focused intently on his mouth, a fluttery feeling rose in her stomach; worse than when he'd gotten ready to kiss her. Now that she was completely sober, her mind could truly twist her insides into knots, no longer muted by alcohol.

His eyes flicked back up to her face, a confident smirk lit the corners of his lips. He knew what he was doing to her, she just knew it! She wanted to be angry, she really did, but it was all she could do to simply sit and hold her breath.

"Wh-wh-why are you looking at me like that?" She spluttered. Her heart fluttered like a caged bird in her chest.

"Oh I was just thinking," he replied, the gentlest of tugs was given to her captured hair to pull her a little closer to him.

"You? Th-thinking? Since when?" She actually felt a little proud of herself for having a comeback, even as silly as it sounded in her own ears with all her stuttering.

Kazuma grinned as he inched closer still. "I think all the time. You know that. At the moment, I seem to be thinking a lot about you."

"Mmnh. It's j-just because of h-how I am right now." She managed as she felt his warm breath fan across her face. "If I was fine you'd forget."

"I've never forgotten about you. Not since we were kids." He was so close that she could almost feel his lips.

"But I forgot you." She murmured as he pressed in for the kiss and passion seared away any other thoughts. His hands found his way to her cheeks and climbed up into her hair, tangling in her dark locks as he pressed the kiss deeper. The feel of his warm touch increased the urgency of their exchange until her lips parted for him as her eyes slid shut. Immediately, he called upon his contract and poured his energy into her. One persistent line of thought answered her, privy only to himself. Of course you did. It was my fault you forgot. My fault your mother died.

He leaned into her, shifting to rest on both his knees from the half-crouch he'd been holding. Kazuma's concentration faltered when her hands found their way to his chest. The energy link he had so carefully established crumbled immediately. He tried to rebuild the contract call one more time, but her fingers had somehow done a tempting dance down his chest, to his abs, and then under his shirt. The blaze of warmth from them as they splayed across his skin was enough for him to abandon his efforts of giving her any more of his power. He responded in turn by releasing a hand from her hair to manage the buttons on the front of her shirt. He needed her. He needed to touch more of her.

Then his phone rang.

This time, Ayano swore.

With a groan he broke away from her embrace and fumbled through his pockets for his cell. He captured it on the third ring and dragged it from his pocket. The caller ID read "blocked" in large, angry type-face; hope rose in him. His fingers rushed to hit "answer" as he brought the phone to his ear.

"Pops?"

"Who?" The sound of Jugo's voice caused his heart to sink back down into his chest.

"Oh, sorry, I thought maybe you were one of my informants. What's up? Did you find anything?" He replied, masking his disappointment.

"Something else has come up, Kazuma. I need you and Ayano to come back home." The strained tone to his serious voice made the hairs stand up on the back of his neck. He sat up a little bit straighter on his knees as he narrowed his eyes. Ayano watched the contractor tense with a growing sense of dread.

She mouthed, "What's happened?" But all he could do was shrug.

After a second more he thumbed off the phone and stood up. "We have to go back home. Something's happened."

Ayano scrambled to her feet. "What is it? What about..." She gestured to herself, angling her hands towards her hair, as if to remind him of what she lacked.

"I don't know. He said he couldn't say over the phone, but that it didn't matter. We just need to get there as soon as we can."

"Hm. All right then. Let's do it." Without another word, she shimmied past him and made her way towards the bedroom to collect what few things she had.

Kazuma followed. In a few minutes, they had a small backpack full of her clothes ready to go. He carried no clothing. He kept an entire wardrobe at the hotel suite he rented at the ready for whenever he needed to stay near the Kannagi's. The contractor led the way out through the hallway to the front door. Keys and coat in hand. Ayano followed a few steps behind as she fumbled her arms into the sleeves of her winter jacket. At the threshold to the door, she helped him into on his own jacket. As he shrugged into it he glanced at his left hand and began to remove the silver band from his finger.

"Better take your rings off before we get there. I don't know what's going on but the last thing anyone needs is to send the family into an uproar over your "marriage" to a bastard wind user." His lips drew up in a mirthless smirk.

Ayano's dark pools fell to the hand in question, turning it over to watch the diamonds catch the light of the entryway. She'd forgotten all about those rings. It was like they had become another part of her flesh. She was surprised by the reluctance and sense of loss she felt as she gently worked the bands off her fingers and deposited them into his waiting palm. Does this mean we're back to square one? She wondered idly. Was it all pretend?

She had no time to think further on the subject. The distant honk of a car horn announced Kirika's arrival at his safe house. She had already been sent to pick them it. It was a very bad sign indeed. With trepidation tugging at her heart, the wind user and the ex-fire user stepped out the door and back into the real world.