Chapter 4 - Home
"This is where you live!?" Rei shouted, completely flabbergasted. She was staring at what she could only describe as a tragedy. "You can't live in a cave, especially now that you have a daughter!"
"Would you calm down, I've lived here most of my life, I don't see what all the fuss is about." Kazuki shrugged, walking into the cave with a sleeping Yuuki held in his arms.
"Where's she going to sleep? On that boulder? How about food, is she meant to use the leaves as plates?" Rei folded her arms, angrily staring at Kazuki.
"I'd watch your tone if I were you, don't forget who I am…" Kazuki stared back at her, from the corner of his eye.
"Oh just try me psycho, if you think I can't kick your ass without breaking a sweat, then give me your best shot." Rei challenged him, without the slightest hint of fear.
"You've got more guts then I ever expected from anyone." Kazuki gently set Yuuki down and turned to face Rei, "What makes you think that your lightning make magic can do anything against me?"
"You know what magic I use?" Rei looked at him confused, she had never told him, just how did he know?
"If I focus either one of my eyes onto someone, I can read their mind and soul, the left tells me what you're thinking, and the right tells me every secret hidden in your soul." Kazuki smirked, "You're thinking that I'm not as threatening as you expected, my softer side has you convinced that I'm not ruthless."
Rei gulped and took a few steps back.
"I can't stand to see children suffer; I couldn't give any less of a shit for adults however." Kazuki powered up steadily, frightening Rei more.
"Then go ahead, prove your strength to me, let's see the power that took down the Spirals." Rei smirked this time, it was foolish to challenge someone of Kazuki's calibre, but she couldn't resist the excitement.
"You asked for it", Kazuki dashed right up against her, his right fist turned red with a glow of a darker shade as he thrusted it right towards her face, "Stellar Dragon: Crimson Fist!".
Rei turned into green lighting and flew out of the cave, letting Kazuki's strike penetrate the cave wall, almost completely eradicating it. 'I'd be dead if that hit me.' She thought to herself as she swiftly landed a few paces away from Kazuki. "So you're a dragon slayer?"
"Mhm." He nodded, his hand glowing white this time, "Ice make: Rose Garden!" he clapped his hands together, forming a valley of pink ice roses.
Rei jumped out of the way and flew out of the cave, staying in the sky with her lighting cloak, "You can use more than 1 type of magic?"
"I'm a unique case, you're talking to a Mystic Type."
"I thought that was just a myth."
"No, as you're about to learn, it's very real."
'He's not reading me right now, I can win.' She smiled, as she landed close to Kazuki but stayed in her lighting cloak. "I can't win with power alone, but my speed should still give me the upper hand."
Just as she finished her sentence, Kazuki appeared right behind her, a small gust of wind blowing from him, "What was that you said about speed?" His power kept slowly increasing, he was well beyond Gildarts' level now.
Rei refused to give in, his energy was crushing her, but she knew that she could win this still. She turned around and jumped out of the way, just barely avoiding Kazuki's next strike, as it cut her cheek, "Impatient to kill, aren't you?"
"You think I killed the spirals with kindness?" Kazuki was now on top of her, "Gravity core." He channelled gravity magic through his being, landing on Rei and forcing her to the ground. "Give in."
"I was…" She struggled to talk, "Just about to say the same!" She powered up as the ground glowed in green lightning.
"You set a trap?" He looked around, there was no getting out of this.
"Everywhere we landed, marked the ground with infused green lightning. And your last strike sealed the deal, we're in a mine field that only I'm able to withstand."
Kazuki got off of Rei and closed his eyes as he sighed.
"Lightning make: Crater!" She chanted, simultaneously creating a lightning barrier around her. As the commotion of the blast died out, Rei was left standing still, her lighting minefield frozen in time, "What the hell?"
"Arc of Time: Pause." Kazuki chanted, "I used Time magic to freeze your spell, it was a good plan, but you didn't account for everything."
"You're so naive." Rei smirked, "Did you seriously never wonder why my lightning is green?" Kazuki's time magic stopped taking affect as the minefield prepared to erupt.
"What the?" Kazuki didn't have time to jump away, he conjured a barrier of orange crystals and hid behind it.
"That barrier isn't going to do anything, my lightning submits to no one but me." Rei clapped her hands again, "Lightning make: Crater!" , this time Kazuki made no attempts to stop the attack, it was already too late. He strengthened his barrier in hopes of nullifying the damage, however, Rei's lightning simply passed through, centring Kazuki in the blast radius.
As the dust cleared, Kazuki was on his knees, blood dripping from the side of his lips. He panted heavily as he stood up, "You…", he struggled to speak, "You should have…", he slowly started to walk towards Rei, "You should have put everything into that spell!" He shouted as he swiftly dashed right in front of Rei, but with his speed reduced, Rei easily jumped out of the way, clapping her hands again.
"Lightning make: Prison!", she chanted, as a jail formed around Kazuki, before he could react, she clapped her hands once more, "And now to seal the deal, Lightning Make: Smite!", a beam of lightning shot down right onto Kazuki, knocking him out cold.
He wasn't down for long before his regeneration kicked him, reviving him back to optimum health. "You beat me." He calmly stated, sitting down on the ground, accepting defeat. "Did you plan the whole fight?"
"I knew from Jura that you're fast, so obviously you'd be reliant on your speed, I just had to bait you into a trap that you'd be able to counter, that way you wouldn't see me baiting you into my trump card." Rei explained, with a cocky grin.
"I always thought power was absolute, maybe it's because I've never lost before." Kazuki smiled at the sky, and then turned his attention to Rei, "You know, I'm really glad that my supervisor can keep me in my place."
"And I'm glad to be babysitting an idiot" Rei giggled, causing Kazuki to frown. "…But, at least you're honourable, in your own weird way." She smiled at him, walking closer and sitting right beside him. "Yuuki can't stay here, ya know."
"I know, it's just a temporary thing until I get a house." He looked back up to the sky, "I don't remember what it's like to have a house anymore."
"Hm?" Rei looked at him in awe, "Kazuki, have you really lived here most of your life?", Surely he was lying, right?
"I don't know, half my childhood memories are blank." He sighed, looking towards the cave, "I want Yuuki to be able to remember everything."
"You've gotten very attached to her, and so quickly. Why is that?" Rei asked him, dreading the answer.
That question caught Kazuki off guard, he slightly flinched and clenched his wrists. "On some level, I know what she's been through." Is all he could bring himself to say, without warning he stood up and walked towards the cave, "I'm going to find a house to buy, will you help?"
"I have a better idea." She grinned.
"And what's that?" Kazuki raised his eyebrow at her.
"Move in with me."
"Huh? What?"
"Move in with me, think about it, I'm supposed to keep an eye on you at all times, and this way, Yuuki will always have someone else to take care of her." Rei explained.
"She has me."
"I meant on the days you're busy with a job."
"Then won't you also be with me?"
"Do you honestly think you're always going to need me to control your worst impulses?"
That question hit Kazuki hard, he thought himself to be a lost cause, everyone always reminded him of it, until now it was only Jura who showed any faith in him, and now Rei was as well. His heart started to break; her little words of kindness were having a huge impact on the poor Prince.
"Kazuki?" Rei snapped her fingers in front of him, "earth to Kazuki." It was no use; he was in a world of his own. She got close to his face and raised her voice, "KAZUKI!"
The sudden shout of his name snapped Kazuki out of his thoughts, upon seeing her too close to him, his reflexes kicked in and he pushed Rei down on her back, pinning himself on top of her. Rei struggled to break free, squirming around his grip until she noticed how close their faces were to each-other. The pair both went crimson red, Kazuki quickly let her go and awkwardly stood up. "Sorry, I didn't mean to do that." he whispered, unable to raise his voice.
"I-it's fine." She said flustered, "So… about moving in…" she played around the question, secretly wanting Kazuki to say yes, she didn't notice him focusing his eyes on her and reading her every thought.
Doing so was a double-edged sword for Kazuki, it made his heart beat faster and faster, he turned around and sprinted to Yuuki, attempting to calm himself down. "Give me a minute!" He shouted from afar. He woke his daughter up gently, "Hey sweetie, did you sleep well?"
"Mhm!" She lively nodded.
"Yuuki, do you like Rei?"
"I do."
"Would you like it if we lived with her?"
"Yes! Very much!" She excitedly jumped up and down a few times.
"Then it's settled." He softly smiled at Yuuki, picking her up and walking back towards Rei. "We'll take you up on your offer," he told his supervisor.
"Great! Let's get us settled in." Rei cheered, once again grabbing Kazuki's hand without realising and dragging both him and Yuuki back to her house.
Upon arriving, Rei gave them a tour, Yuuki had her own bedroom, as for Kazuki, he'd have to sleep on the couch, which he didn't mind. He was used to sleeping on rocks, a couch was a massive upgrade for him.
"So, this is our home now." Rei smiled, holding Yuuki.
'Home' Kazuki thought to himself, feeling alone. He stood up and headed to the exit, "There's something I need to quickly do, could you watch over Yuuki until then?" He asked Rei.
"Hold on mister, you're not supposed to be away from my supervision."
"I'm going to see Jura, it's about my… arrangement."
"Okay fine, but you better not be gone too long, I'm trusting you."
"Thanks." Kazuki smiled and waved goodbye to his partner and daughter, he left Rei's house and opened a gateway to ERA, the magic council headquarters.
"Prince? What brings you here?" Jura greeted him.
"You don't have to call me that, I'm sure Lahar told you my name."
"He did, and I'm very glad you finally trusted us with it, Kazuki." Jura softly smiled, gesturing for Kazuki to sit down. "What's on your mind?"
"I want a copy of everything you have of my origins."
"What for?"
"I don't know where I was born, who my parents are, or where I'm even from. I've spent too much time not knowing, I can't handle it anymore." Kazuki's voice was cracking, as if he were holding back a waterfall of tears.
"I understand Kazuki." Jura stood up and went through his desk draw, pulling out a large file. "Here." he handed it to him.
"This is the original." Kazuki looked at it confused, "I asked for a copy."
"We have no need for this file now, since you're no longer a threat." Jura smirked.
"Huh? I'm not?" Kazuki didn't understand, it had only been 2 days since he was forced to join Fairy Tail under Rei's supervision, the council elders couldn't have changed their minds so quickly.
"The elders were all moved by your actions yesterday." Jura explained, "the way you dealt with Yuuki's parents and adopting the poor child touched everyone's heart."
Kazuki couldn't respond to what Jura said, he didn't know what to say or think.
"As of this afternoon, you've been officially pardoned from all your crimes."
"Wow." is all Kazuki could say. "I should get going." He stood up and turned the other way, before turning back and rushing to Jura, pulling him into a tight embrace. "Thank you so much, Jura." he started weeping, if it weren't for this man, Kazuki would never have found a new purpose in life, one worth living for.
"You take care, Kazuki, and don't get into trouble." Jura patted his back as Kazuki broke the hug and exited the council headquarters.
He opened the file and skimmed through, looking for his place of birth. He felt a wave of relief when he found it, he opened another gateway and hesitantly entered it.
On the other side was a burnt village in ruins, Kazuki walked through the rubble, feeling familiarity all around him. He froze in place when he saw the house in front of him, a faint memory of the building returning to him, this house was his home, a very long time ago.
Unable to control himself, he ran to the house, discovering every room, when he reached his own room, he struggled to enter it. His body wouldn't move, it was frozen in place from anxiety. He clapped his face with both hands and walked in, finding a broken baby bed, a few plushies that were charred and remnants of what appeared to be a family photo. He picked up the photo and held it against his heart, falling to his knees, tears streamed from his eyes as he broke down, he lifted his head up towards the ceiling and screamed with all his might, finally unbottling his pain after enduring it for so many years.
Once he had cried out all his tears, he slowly got up, feeling exhausted. He used his regeneration on his eyes, to not give clues that he had been crying. He walked out of the house and opened a gateway back to Rei's, rushing through it.
He entered Rei's house, seeing his supervisor sitting on the coach, with Yuuki on her lap. She was reading Yuuki a children's story about a caterpillar. Upon noticing Kazuki, Rei greeted him, "Hey, welcome back."
"Daddy!" Yuuki cheered, running up to him as he picked her up.
Kazuki couldn't help but grin, feeling genuine delight in his heart. "I'm home." He joyfully announced.