I will give you two pieces of information. One, I don't know how to prioritize. Two, I never should have started watching Kill La Kill. It makes writing this hard.
Disclaimer: I do not own Kaze no Stigma
The clearing of a throat jolted her back to reality. She looked back at him, seeing the expectant look on his face.
"Oh! Right, um… It's a pleasure to meet you, Kazuma Yagami. My name is Amara….Amara Alestar."
Kazuma chuckled a little. "Despite the circumstances, it is a pleasure to meet you as well, Ms. Alestar. Now, can you tell me what the hell happened to you?"
Amara furrowed her brow, lips turning into a frown. She wanted to snap at him for being rude but knew she had to play it safe. Instead, she asked a question.
"Are you always this blunt?"
"So they tell me." He said, gaze not wavering. They sat and stared at each other for another moment before Amara finally spoke.
She sighed, and shrugged. "I was…taking a walk when all of a sudden these Youma came out of nowhere and attacked."
Nice going, genius. She hissed to herself. Youma? You couldn't have said evil spirit or ghost or something else.
She glanced at Kazuma, gauging his reaction to her slip. If the wind user thought it suspicious, he didn't let on.
"I tried to climb the tree in order to escape but I must have fallen and broken my….arm."
Kazuma opened his mouth to speak when the door to the room slammed open, a whirlwind of red entering and heading straight for her charge.
"You idiot!" Ayano said, bopping Kazuma on the head. "You told me you would call when she woke up!"
"Ow! Ow! Will you quit that?!" Kazuma growled, grabbing her wrist with one hand and holding onto his head with the other. "And I texted Ren-"
"I asked YOU to call ME! But no, you called Ren-"
"-who obviously told you. That counts in my book."
"In YOUR book-"
"ENOUGH!"
Both magic users stopped and turned to the blonde in the bed, holding her head in her hands. "Must you two always bicker so much?"
Kazuma narrowed his eyes. Why does that voice sound so familiar? He thought. He had been so focused on the day's events that he hadn't paid much attention to anything else. The more he looked at her, the more he felt as though they had met. He tried to think back to his time out of Japan. Had they met during his exile?
Amara gulped. Apparently she still possessed her abilities, including hearing Kazuma's inner monologue. Fortunately, Ayano saved her by distracting him from his wayward thoughts.
"We do not always bicker! Why would you say that?" Ayano said, glaring at Amara.
"I only mean that you two must bicker a lot, judging from how close you two appear to be." Amara replied, attempting to cover her familiarity with the young couple. She did her best to hide her smirk as Ayano turned bright red and stepped away from Kazuma, who in return loosened his grip on her wrist and proceeded to put his hands in his pockets. He then nodded from one girl to the next.
"Ayano, Amara. Amara, Ayano." He then proceeded to plop himself back in the chair he had occupied earlier, turning to look out the window.
"It's nice to meet you, Amara." Ayano said formally, bowing slightly. She then looked at the young girl with concern. "How are you feeling?"
"Besides a killer headache and this-" Amara spoke, flapping her injured arm up and down. "I'm just dandy. So on that subject, when can I get out of here? This machine is driving me nuts." She growled, pulling the heart monitors off her chest, the sound of the machine reaching a crescendo as the alarms went off, signaling the nurses of an issue.
"Dammit." Amara and Kazuma cursed in unison.
Kazuma sat in the driver's side of the car, pulled to the curb of the hospital entrance, tapping the wheel impatiently. His young brother simply looked at him and sighed, turning his head back to look out the passenger side window.
"So um…so it appears that Ms. Alestar will be staying with us for a bit." Ren said softly, watching his brother's reaction in the reflection of the window. The younger blonde watched as his brother grit his teeth and continued glaring out the windshield.
Ren sighed again. "C'mon, Kazuma. I don't see what the big deal is…" He was cut off by the sharp look thrown his way.
"I don't trust her." Kazuma snarled, refocusing his gaze to the two women approaching the car from the entrance to the hospital. "There's this aura I sense…it's familiar." He murmured. Ren followed the wind mage's gaze to the side of him. Ayano was wheeling Amara out of the hospital, the blonde in the wheelchair appearing unhappy about it.
"Is it an evil aura you sense?" Ren asked quietly.
"No," Kazuma murmured in response. "In fact, it's rather light. But the fact that I feel as if I know her is troublesome. And considering recent events, I'm not too sure this is all coincidence."
Ren opened his mouth to speak again but stopped as the back passenger car door opened, allowing the young women's conversation to flow into the vehicle.
"I don't understand why I have to be wheeled out in the bloody contraption. My legs work perfectly fine." Amara grumbled, getting up and moving into the backseat of the car. Ayano merely smiled, climbing in after her.
"Hospital rules. Believe me, I've been in here a few times myself-no thanks to Kazuma, I might add- and it's always the same." Ayano waited for the smart aleck reply but the wind user simply sat upright, pulling the vehicle out onto the busy street.
"Well, thank you for springing me from my pristine, disinfected cell." Amara said, smiling at Ayano. "And thank you for allowing me to stay with you for a few days. I promise to be out of your hair as soon as I can."
Amara looked up to see a pair of mahogany eyes studying her through the rearview mirror. She held her charge's gaze for a moment longer, then turned to look out the window, closing her eyes and focusing on his thoughts. Her brow furrowed a bit when she realized that even his thoughts were dormant. She opened her eyes to look at him again, but he was focused on the road, his mind clearly on autopilot as he maneuvered the car through the streets.
Eventually, they arrived at the Kannagi estate, where Amara was ushered in to meet the clan leader, Jugo. Amara had simply bowed and thanked her host for their hospitality before a maid escorted her to her room, informing her that dinner would be in a few hours.
That was how the young guardian found herself alone for the first time in centuries. She inspected the room then walked toward the window, opening the curtains and peering outside. She stood there, gazing at the sky.
What on earth am I going to do? She sighed.
Why is Amara staying with the Kannagi's? Why is Kazuma's neck hairs standing up? This and more in the next chapter!
As always, reviews are welcome!