-10- A Kiss in the Fire

"How dare you Daichi?" Gofer shouted holding his sword out towards the two intruders. "Our town took you in, allowed you to roam around for so long, and is this how you repay us? Invading the mayor's mansion with this outsider and..."

Daichi threw Ikuto a nervous glance, never expecting him to just bust into the Mayor's home and take down all the guards. Now he was even taking the mayor hostage, is he insane, Daichi asked staring at Ikuto who seemed more than amused with the present situation. He knew Ikuto was strong but did not expect him to be this strong; just who is Ikuto?

"Let the mayor go," Gofer demanded, "we won't let you get away with this…"

"You mean I won't let you get away with this," Ikuto smirked, gently poking the mayor's chin with the tip of his sword, "where's my little brother?"

"Look we don't know what you're talking about…just put your sword down surrender and we'll talk things out," the mayor whimpered unable to move his gaze away from Ikuto's sword. "You too Gofer, don't aggravate him anymore."

Daichi remained silent and watched. He originally followed Ikuto here, believing they were going to either confront Gofer or rescue the kidnapped children, never did he imagine the mayor was their target. Still Daichi could only stand by and watch, having already decided to trust in Ikuto ever since he asked for his help.

"Don't play games with me," Ikuto said, "I know the real person behind all the kidnappings is you, Mayor."

The mayor gulped, "w-what are you on about?"

"What do you think you're accusing the mayor of?" Gofer questioned, "This town and its people won't forgive you."

"The Barren Curse started about a decade ago right?" Ikuto began, moving the sword about to scare the mayor who was already sweating non-stop. "The mayor at that time was the current mayor's deceased father."

"What has that got to do with you?" the mayor whimpered, "you've been researching me? You, what do you want?"

"Although it's been going on for way longer than a decade, it only started becoming more widespread about 10 years ago, the Great Soul Barter," Ikuto continued, "many people like your father and family got rich simply through this system of soul bartering."

"Enough," Gofer cried, making a move towards Ikuto which he stopped as blood trickled down the silver metal as the Mayor's skin was scraped.

"Soul bartering," Daichi whispered, confused with what Ikuto was saying, "what is that?"

"The equivalent of slave trades, boy," the mayor answered for Ikuto, "since you seem to know a lot about my family already, there's no point in trying to hide it."

"Oh, so you'll admit it then Mr Mayor?" Ikuto asked disappointed that he couldn't play interrogation anymore.

"That's right; Soul bartering is the business of selling human's to another. It doesn't matter whether they are men or women, young or old, you'll find there are people simply willing to buy humans," the mayor said, glancing around the room before eyeing Gofer in a weird way, "what sells the best is obviously a child. My father spent quite some time constructing up that believable curse in order for us to kidnap the children of this town and sell them off for money. Of course, those stupid villagers fell for the lie of the curse and all along, they didn't realise a thing. Well, after my father died I naturally succeeded his business."

"Mayor," Gofer said in a panic, "you've said a lot already…"

"I believe it's in his interest to continue speaking," Ikuto said waving the sword again. "Even if I know already I have a habit of liking to confirm that my theories are right."

"Ok, let the mayor talk and don't hurt him," Gofer said backing away from Ikuto, "I'll stand against that wall so don't hurt the mayor."

"Everything was fine until the day that old man Toto found out," the mayor continued, somehow more calm than he was moments ago. "It was his bad luck for walking in on Gofer as he was dealing with the thugs we hired to kidnap the children…"

"You killed him," Daichi shouted, "to keep everything a secret; you killed him and turned everyone against him."

"Whose fault do you assume it was that the villagers turned on him and believed us?" the mayor taunted with a chuckle, "if he didn't rescue you, if he didn't keep you, perhaps the other villagers wouldn't have resented him as much, because he became the man with a son not susceptible to the curse. Thanks to that our secret was kept safe. I knew you were loitering around to find out the truth about Toto but so unfortunate, no one cared about you just like that idiotic old man whose body ended up being fed to my dogs."

Ikuto now watched Daichi carefully, wondering if this kid was going to break down or whether he was capable of facing this whole ordeal. He wanted to know whether Daichi was worth his time.

Daichi clenched his fist, grabbing a sword near one of the fallen guards Ikuto had struck earlier; he slowly walked towards the mayor in which Ikuto released the man from his grasp, letting Daichi deal with him. "I won't forgive you," Daichi said very calmly, "for all the things you and your family has done to this town. For ending Toto's life like that, I won't let you off so easily…"

The mayor made a dash in Gofer's direction in time to escape from Daichi's sword. Sensing something was wrong Ikuto immediately threw his sword towards the mayor and Gofer but it was too late, Gofer had hit something on the wall and there was a strange noise now echoing around the room or more precisely throughout the entire mansion.

"Well done Gofer," the mayor praised, pleased that they have initiated the trap. "You two fools, you should've killed me when you had the chance, now try to save yourselves along with the children in the basement."

Daichi made a quick run towards the pair but Gofer pushed open a secret door in the wall and the two passed through. When Daichi got to the spot where they were, he tried pushing and throwing himself at the wall but nothing would move; the door was sealed shut.

"Move away from the walls Daichi," Ikuto shouted grabbing hold of him and wrenching him away.

Daichi was shocked when the wall suddenly burned and caught on fire. Noticing the sudden rise of heat, he looked around him in horror as they were now surrounded by fire. "What's going on?"

"He set the entire place on fire," Ikuto said, dragging Daichi towards the stairs that led downwards, "we need to hurry."

"It's my fault, if I was more…"

"I didn't expect you to kill him in the first place when I let him go," Ikuto turned to look at Daichi with a small smile on his face, "I also didn't expect that bastard to burn everything down. I've certainly lost my touch if I didn't detect this trap sooner… I'm the one who should apologise."

Daichi bit his lips, wanting to thank Ikuto for not blaming his weak resolve; he wanted to apologise for allowing Gofer and the mayor a chance to escape but he couldn't bring himself to say it. Instead of apologising, he needed to help Ikuto, to be useful. "What should I do now?"

The flames continued to spread throughout the entire building, the walls starting to crumble whilst thick smoke slowly rose and devoured the space. Ikuto and Daichi now covered their mouths as they continued to make their way down to the basement. Damn, Ikuto cursed, I was too careless…Yoru you better be alright…

Outside, quite a distance away from the mansion, the mayor and Gofer hurried into the main town area.

"Mayor are you sure about burning our mansion? We'll lose everything and also…"

"Gofer, we didn't have a choice," the mayor said, "You saw how strong that bastard was. He took down all the guards, servants and even my dogs. It's either him dead or us. Losing a house or two doesn't matter. We can gain back the money in no time with the Soul Barter."

"But the kidnapped children are all in the house…"

"We'll just kidnap more children in future. We can't risk being found out. Burning the children, those two meddling bastards along with the house where all the evidence is the best solution. Don't have second thoughts now Gofer, we're in this together," the mayor said, running as fast he could, "right now we need to think up of an explanation to fool those stupid villagers."

"Do you have anything in mind already?" Gofer asked following the mayor.

The mayor smiled, "we'll execute those two pirates earlier than scheduled. In fact right now, gather everyone for the execution of the pirates. We're going to tell them, those pirates have friends still lurking in our town, they attempted to assassinate the mayor to stop the execution but we managed to escape."

Gofer smiled, "in other words, those two pirates must go as soon as possible."

"Exactly," the mayor now laughed, "and whilst we deal with the execution, the house can burn down even more."

Down in the basement, the children began to cry as the walls suddenly caught fire. Some were choking from the smoke and Yoru being the oldest one there did his best to gather all the children in the centre, away from the burning walls.

"What on earth is going on?" Yoru questioned, stroking the back of one little girl who seemed to have difficulty breathing.

"Everyone stop crying," Amu shouted but her voice was unheard as the children's cries were too loud. "Please…stop crying. Everything will be alright." If only I wasn't in a child's body, Amu thought clenching her fists, with the door on fire I can't touch it…I can't use any magic against fire in my current state either…someone help us…

"SHUT UP!" Yoru shouted and the children went absolutely silent, probably shocked at Yoru's sudden anger. I decided to help Amu so that's what I'll do until the very end, Yoru reminded himself. "Listen, we will escape from here. We can do this, trust us. But first I need everyone to stop crying and listen to us. Please."

"Yoru," Amu whispered, wanting to thank him for his help. Despite how scared he must be feeling right now, despite being a 10 year old kid, he is still standing up and trying his best. I can't lose to him, Amu decided; I also need to do my best. I'm the oldest one here.

"Amu is there anything you can do? Anything I or these kids can do?" Yoru asked, aware that the fire was only spreading.

Amu glanced around her and thought hard. There really wasn't anything she could do in this situation but she didn't want to say that. All the lives and hopes of these children were upon her. She can't let them down yet; she was more than useless at a time like this. Why was she so powerless? Why couldn't she do anything to help? Even as a witch, even with magic she was this pathetic.

"Amu," Yoru said more quietly, sensing perhaps even she couldn't do anything. "There's still hope."

Amu stared at Yoru.

"Trust my brother," Yoru said, "he'll come for me. He always does."

Yoru's brother again, Amu thought not knowing how to answer him, what could Yoru's brother do? This place is burning down fast, the children won't last much longer either. At a time like this, was it alright to entrust everything to his brother, to someone she doesn't know. How can I place my hopes in….

"YORU…"

"Impossible," Amu uttered hearing the voice call from behind the locked doors.

"BROTHER….IKUTO," Yoru shouted back.

"He's really here," Amu whispered still unable to believe this. Just like in the tower, Yoru believed so much in this brother of his and each and every time, his belief in this man created miracles.

"Step back," both Yoru and Amu called, pushing the children away from the door.

There was a loud bang as the door crashed open. Yoru ran over to Ikuto as soon as he came into the room. Daichi who was with Ikuto stared at the children, not able to believe just how cruel and monstrous the mayor could be, to do such a thing; he recognised most of the children. Some of them recognising Daichi ran over to him and hugged him, crying.

There wasn't time to comfort or be stunned by the children, they needed to hurry and escape. "Ikuto…"

The fire was now eating away at the room and a wooden beam from the ceiling fell down above some children. Amu and Daichi started to move but Ikuto was faster. Ikuto pushed the three children down onto the floor, covering them as the wooden beam hit him.

"Ikuto," Daichi shouted already moving to lift the wooden beam of him.

"Brother," Yoru shouted, running over to help.

Amu could only stare, still shocked to move but her help wasn't needed as the still burning beam dropped to the floor with a loud thud. The children in the room, especially the three who were about to get hit started crying again. Parts of Ikuto's clothes were burnt, revealing the slightly charred skin on his back where he was hit. Even so, Ikuto gently patted the three children's head, hugged them and whispered in their ears, "Everything is alright. Don't cry. Everyone needs to stay strong and stay together."

This man, Amu thought unable to stop gazing at Ikuto, how he could do such a selfless thing… I… I'm nothing compared to him… I'm captivated by him… his strength and kindness…

"Ikuto are you ok?" Daichi asked, feeling respect for this man. It was the first time after his own brother and Toto that he respected anyone.

Ikuto nodded. He turned to the crying children, "don't cry. If we all want to survive this then we can't cry."

Most of the children stopped their crying after listening to Ikuto, some who were still too frightened, tried to hold in their sobs.

"Listen, we're here to save you so you must do as we tell you to," Ikuto continued as the children nodded. "Hold hands with at least one other person. We can't all run into the corridors with the fire spreading like this. We're going to go in pairs; one pair in a line behind the other, hurry." Ikuto turned to Daichi, "Daichi, lead the children out the way we came. Take them to the ship and do as we planned. You need to head straight over there as soon as you're out with the children. Can you do it?"

"Leave everything to me," Daichi said, running out ahead of the children, leading the way.

"Brother," Yoru began but Ikuto stopped him.

"Yoru, I need you to help as well. Follow Daichi and make sure the children don't get separated or too far apart, we can't afford any mess ups. Be careful. We'll meet on our ship."

Ikuto took Amu's hand and gave it to Yoru, "hurry up and go, I'm making sure all the kids are out."

Yoru did as Ikuto asked and began to run out the room with Amu, stopping only occasionally to make sure the other kids were heading in the right direction. Amu couldn't help but think of Ikuto as she ran with Yoru. She had never met anyone like him. This was the first time they met properly, face to face, even though they haven't talked to each other yet. Even so, Amu knew she already liked this man. He looked strong and his determination to save the children, his care towards Yoru, everything all made Amu believe he was a good man. No, it was more like, Amu started to understand Yoru's trust and hope in Ikuto. She stopped running.

"Amu what are you doing?"

"Yoru, I'm heading back to help your brother."

"But…"

"Yoru, your brother doesn't know but you do. I'm a witch and you know I'm not a child. I'm capable of taking care of myself," Amu began letting go of Yoru's hand, "I know you're worried about your brother too. He's hurt and that's why I need to go back and help him. We'll be fine together. I'm asking you to trust me."

Yoru nodded, understanding what Amu was trying to say. In truth, he was very concerned about his brother's injury and as he promised to help and can't be besides him, at least, Amu can help. "Please look after brother and yourself. I trust you, you stupid witch, even if your smaller than me now… you sure you're ok?"

"GET GOING," Amu shouted turning back and running towards Ikuto. She ran past the last pair of children, expecting Ikuto to be behind them but was surprised to see no one ahead of her in the corridor. He really is hurt, Amu thought running faster back to that locked room.

Just outside the room, Ikuto clutched at his heart, breathing very heavily, a searing pain in his chest causing him to lose focus. He dropped to his knees before completely falling to the ground. Right now…don't…Ikuto thought, trying to stay conscious, I can't afford it to be now… this illness of mine…

"IKUTO," a voice called out.

Who is it? Ikuto wondered, his eyes closing shut before his mind turned blank.

Approaching Ikuto, Amu gasped from shock, not expecting Ikuto to have collapsed. She knelt down beside him, gently patting him to wake him but there was no response. "Ikuto, please wake up." A loud crash at the end of the corridor startled Amu. She watched as part of the ceiling came crashing down, the fire still blazing. "We need to get out of here," Amu whispered, her small hands patting his face. "Please wake up." There was still no response from Ikuto. Amu looked around her, trying to figure out what her options were. In a child's body, she couldn't even hope to carry him, the only thing she can do is wake him up. Should I slap him, Amu wondered but quickly dismissed that thought, knowing she couldn't do something so cruel to a hero who had risked his life to save the children. She stared at him as a sudden thought hit her. Would this work? Amu questioned over and over; she began to blush at the thought of what she was about to do. She slapped her own face with two hands, snapping out of her little girly embarrassment. There's no time to think about it, Amu breathed, taking in a deep breath. She leaned in towards Ikuto, I'm only doing this to save him, there's nothing more. She cupped his face in her little hands and sealed their lips tightly together. Their lips still touching, Amu parted them so a small gap opened allowing Amu to breathe magic into Ikuto's body. She closed her eyes, the strain of losing magical energy from her body beginning to hurt her. She felt some magic escaping into the air. Please wake up, Amu thought, trying her best to hold onto his lips with hers, however her lips were too small and the gap simply leaked too much of her magic. Amu pulled away and gasped for air. "Is it not enough," Amu whispered, seeing Ikuto still not responding. She remembered magical energy a witch and wizard possess can be used to heal injuries of other people, whilst they cannot heal the ones who possess them. The only easy way to transfer magical energy from a witch to another person is through a kiss. However, if a witch loses too much magical energy at any one time, they risked losing their life, so this theory has never been proven. No sane witch would ever give up their magical powers. It was Amu's last hope though to save Ikuto, she had to at least try. She had no hesitation either. She wanted to save this person.

"If only I wasn't a child," Amu closed her eyes again, "I promised Yoru… even if I might die… at least I won't regret saving you, Ikuto."

Intending to give up her own life for this man before her, Amu once again locked their lips together; sharing her first and final kiss with Ikuto.