Chapter 3: Ambush during an Early Stroll

Here's the next chapter! The re-edited version!

Disclaimer: Dark-Flame Alchemist does not own Kaze no Stigma except for her OC Karai Uchiha.

Karai's Point of View

During the middle of the night, it was hard for me to sleep after being told of Kazuma's return earlier today. I kept tossing and turning on my bed, unable to get him out of my mind.

I took off my arm that was covering my eyes and glanced at the clock. 'Only 1:00 in the morning,' I muttered in my head. I went to bed around 11:00 and I still wasn't asleep.

Knowing that I wasn't going to sleep anytime soon, I threw the blanket off my body and changed into my training attire. This consisted of a red halter top, jean shorts and my regular boots and fingerless gloves.

I decided to go train in the meadow for the remainder of the time before I was supposed to head over to the Kannagi household later on.

After putting on the last of my gloves, I headed out my door and gently closed it behind me so that I wouldn't disturb anybody sleeping.

I silently walked through the quiet, moonlighted hallways and down the stairs as I texted Ichiru my whereabouts. I also mentioned to him that I was going back home in the evening after my meeting at the Kannagi house.

When I got to the clearing and stopped in front of the tree, my cell phone vibrated in the pocket of my pants. I grabbed the phone and opened it. It was a reply text message from Ichiru:

'Ok… Tnx for the headup. nxt tiem wen uo go on a nght strol can yu mesage me wen the son is up nd I am not hlf-dead nd hve bad spelign when yu tex me?'

I chuckle from his "impressive" spelling as I text back:

'Haha, I'll think about it. =P Besides, you could have texted back when you become fully awake anyway.'

I sent the message, closed my phone and put it back in my pocket.

I checked my watch. It was 1:30 in the morning. 'That gives me enough time for morning training. It has been 3 days since I last trained,' I thought.

I materialized Kaito Enraiha to my hand and summoned flames on it. I got into a fighting stance and began to train.

Two Hours Later…

I panted and slowly breathed as I knelt on one knee while using Kaito Enraiha to support me. I felt refreshed after that workout. I got up and de-materialzed my sword from my hand.

I looked up at the sky to see that the sun wasn't up yet. 'Great… I might as well walk around the neighborhood for a bit and go straight to the Kannagi house around 10:00,' I thought.

I went back to the household and to my room. I grabbed my towel and clothes before going to the bathroom to take a shower. Once I was done, I blow-dried my hair and put on my usual attire before I left my room again and headed for the kitchen where I ate a bowl of cereal. I finished my breakfast and left the house, remembering to bring my cell phone.

After I closed the gate, I walked around a few blocks, with my hands in my pockets, deep in thought of the case. 'I don't want to be jumping into conclusions, but it has got to be the Fuga clan who murdered the members. Both attacks were caused by a wind magic user. The whole Fuga clan consists of wind magic users. Not to mention, they want revenge for the diminishing of their once great power hundreds of years ago. Why wouldn't it be them?'

I looked at the glistening half-moon up in the sky, admiring all of its glory. It was still all bright and shiny even though the sun will start to rise soon.

Suddenly, I was aware of something coming towards me. I quickly turned around and shot a stream of black fire. My fire deflected the dark purple wind that almost hit me.

Once the attacks dispersed, I saw this strange-looking guy with greenish skin standing a few yards away from me. I wasn't able to see who he was because he kept his face hidden, but his figure looked slightly familiar to me. I couldn't tell though.

It was a good thing that it was very early in the morning. There was nobody around to get hurt while this guy and I battled.

"Who the hell are you?" I coldly said to the guy as I materialized Kaito Enraiha in my hand and got into battle stance. The guy said nothing.

I was starting to get pissed, "Not talking, eh? Well, we'll see about that when I fire up your ass for attacking me out of nowhere!" I swung another stream of fire at him. He disappeared and tried to attack me from behind, but I held Kaito Enraiha to my back. Once again, I deflected his attack with my own and he disappeared on me.

We kept shooting and dodging our magic at each other while he also kept appearing and disappearing. This went on for like half an hour.

The wind magic user came into my view and headed straight for me. I summoned jets of fire onto my boots and flew up to dodge the guy from hitting me. As I went up, I twisted my body and landed facing in front of the mysterious guys back. 'Yes! A direct opening!' I thought before holding my hand out and shooting out a huge blast of fire to his back. The attack hit him dead on, but he just flipped and disappeared… again.

'You have got to be kidding me! Now what am I going to do!' I yelled in my head. Before I could do anything, he reappeared… Right in front of me! He threw a punch with his wind-flaring hand directly onto my stomach before I could do anything.

A breath escaped my mouth as I flew across the street. When my daze broke off from the sudden impact, I flipped and landed on one knee. I dropped my sword which dematerialized once it hit the ground. I had one hand on my leg holding me up and the other hand holding my stomach that was in pain. I grunted from the soreness, not noticing another wind attack heading for me.

I realized the dark wind coming my way in the last minute, but I was unable to do anything because of my current pain. The only thing I could do was hold up my right arm to protect myself which didn't seem to work out too well.

The force of the attack made me land on my back and there was a stinging pain on my arm now. It felt like it was bleeding, but I dared not look at my arm as I closed my eyes. I passed out for a second before waking up a few seconds later again.

I heard his footsteps coming towards me. I kept my eyes closed, playing possum, so I can try to do a sneak attack on the guy. The footsteps stopped right in front of my feet.

At that moment, I put my plan into action. I opened my eyes, sat up quickly and put my hands on the floor. Ignoring the pain from my right arm, I swung my leg across both of his legs, knocking him off his feet. As he was about to hit the ground, I raised the leg I just swung and smacked his head with my foot, slamming him on the floor and knocking him out.

I stood up after both of my feet were on the ground, gently cradling my injured arm. I went in front of his feet and got a good look on the guy's face.

My eyes widened at the recognition of the familiar countenance of the man that was laying before me. I smirked, 'Finally, I have evidence that the perpetrators of the murders are the Fuga clan!'

Before I could actually claim victory, his eyes opened. When they were locked onto mine, he disappeared and reappeared a few feet back, looking like I never knocked him out in the first place.

Another wind magic user appeared next to the one I was fighting. His face was hidden in a hood, leaving me to ponder who this new guy was. He gave a message to the other guy, "This candidate is taking too long to obtain and the ritual needs to be prepared in a matter of hours. We have to settle with the second one. He will be easier to attain. Let's go." He disappeared in a gust of wind.

The wind magic user I was fighting looked like he was prepared to leave as well.

"Hey, wait a minute! We're not done here!" I yelled at him before he disappeared completely.

Many questions popped in my head after that brief conversation between those two wind users, 'Hmm, what did that guy mean by a ritual? What kind is it? And why was I one of the candidates…?'

I sighed, 'Now they are after an easier one… I wonder who it could be,' I thought while I continued to ponder until something came to me, 'Unless… they need a fire magic user from either the Kannagi or Uchiha family for a sacrifice to Lord Gehou, that yoma the Fuga clan worshipped. The yoma is supposed to remain asleep after it was sealed by the Kannagi family when the Uchihas didn't exist yet. It all makes sense since the only ones who can break the seal are our families.'

I growled and bitterly muttered to myself, "You won't get away with this… Ryuya Kazamaki," recalling the face of the son of Hyoue Kazamaki, the one who was said to be on bed rest, but apparently wasn't.

I clenched my fist, "I will get you… and your family for what you've done."

The pain from my injuries suddenly came back to me again as I started to sway a bit. 'Dammit, I won't be able to heal myself right now from my lack of energy due to that fight,' I thought in pain. I ripped a piece of my coat to bandage the cut on my arm to temporary stop the bleeding for now. Good thing I have more of the same coats at home or else I wouldn't have done that.

'There is no time to waste! I must go to the Kannagis now and tell them what I have learned! The ritual is probably today! Somebody is bound to be kidnapped!' I thought before I looked at my surroundings to see where I was and realized that I was only two blocks away from the Kannagi house. That was a relief.

With the energy I had left and the pain I still had, I began walking to the Kannagi's place, unable to jet stream at the moment.

That 5-10 minute walk felt like hours to me with the pain that I was going through as I limped, 'Ichiru is going to kill me if he sees me like this… I think I'll let him know once this is all over with.'

Finally, I saw the opened entrance of the Kannagi household. I noticed somebody watering the plants and recognized the person as Misao. I kept on going, trying to go as far until she saw me. I was aware that I wasn't going be able to give the news to them on time before I passed out from exhaustion, but letting her notice me was enough.

She finally noticed me. I sighed in relief and finally fell to the ground. I heard her rushing my way and felt her turn me around in her arms.

"Lady Karai! What happened? Who did this to you! Somebody help!" She yelled, although I couldn't really hear what she was saying because I was about to faint.

"Ry-Ryuya…. Ka…za…maki… of Fuga… clan… kid… napping…," I was able to blurt out before I blacking out.

Kazuma's Point of View

Morning was starting to approach, but it was still somewhat dark in the room I was staying at. I sat on a chair and watched silently as Ren slept on a bed. I smiled with a tinge of happiness. It was nice to see my brother once again, even though he can be annoying.

Karai suddenly appeared in my mind, 'I wonder how she is doing, especially since I left without saying goodbye to her,' I thought sadly, 'I hope we patch things up again.'

I placed one of my hands on my forehead and looked down, 'who am I kidding… she probably hates me for leaving so suddenly. Either that or she is very upset that she couldn't stop what happened. '

I sighed, 'At least I will be able to fulfill my side of our promise we made years ago.'

I then clenched my fist on my other hand, 'I will never let her or anyone else become a sacrifice. Never again.'

A picture of a brown haired girl with aqua eyes appeared in my mind, then went away as I sadly remembered her name, 'Tsui Ling.'

I suddenly felt a presence and got prepared to get Ren and escape the building from the wind magic user's attack.

Karai's Point of View

I was now slightly conscious, but kept my eyes closed. I could hear voices in the room that I was in.

"I see… well, it was a good thing that you were there to help her. Thank you, Misao. I must go at once to have the Fuga house searched at once. Once Karai wakes up, tell her to meet me in the main room after she heals herself, which I know she will do." That voice sounded like Jugo.

"Yes sir, I will give her the message right away," and that voice sounded like Misao.

Just then, I heard rushed footsteps come into the room, "Sir! Kazuma Kannagi is at the main entrance right now! Some of the members are there already to take him down!"

"There was no need for that. All you needed to do was call me. Misao, you know what to do." That was the last thing he said before I could hear his footsteps fade away.

I continued to lie there, still trying to process what was going on. After a few minutes, I remembered, and jolted up a bit too quickly. I held my stomach as I cringed in pain. I opened my eyes and saw that I was in a simple medical room. Misao stood there, excited that I woke up.

"Lady Karai! You're finally awake! How are you feeling?"

"I'm doing great, besides all of the pain that I am in right now, as you can obviously see," I sarcastically said.

"Ok, that's good," she smiled.

"Oh and you don't need to tell me what Jugo said because I was sort of conscious when I heard what he told you."

"Really? Ok then. Do you need help with anything? I have other chores to do so I'll let someone take care of your injuries before meeting with Master Jugo," she asked with concern.

"No that's all right, I can do it myself; you can go do what you need to do. I'll be fine," I assured her.

"If you say so, milady," she bowed at me and headed for the door. Before she could leave, I stopped her for a moment, "Oh and Misao."

She turned around and looked at me, awaiting my answer.

I smiled at her, "Thank you for being there when I passed out. I am in your debt."

"Oh! It's no problem at all Karai! I just did whatever anyone else in the family would do. You're an important person of course. Besides, you would have done the same thing for me," she frantically said, "You don't need to owe me anything. It would be kind of awkward anyway since you are my idol."

"That is very touching, Misao. That will not change my mind though, so you have to deal with it," I said before I had a calm expression on my face, "By the way, I am sorry to hear that your brother had died a few nights ago. You must be very sad."

"Yes I am, but I have to be strong for him," She said with confidence.

"Misao, I'll stop the guy who killed your brother, so don't you worry," I said to her.

"Thank you… Karai," she smiled one last time at me before leaving the room. I was now by myself.

I checked my body to see the damage. I looked at my right arm and saw that it was bandaged. After that, I lifted my shirt to see my abdomen bandaged as well. I pulled my shirt down and inspected around my body to see that those were the only injuries.

I felt that with the energy I have right now, I can do some healing on my body, but not enough to fully take away all the wounds just yet.

I took my left hand and put it just above my right arm. A small black flame appeared in my hand as I moved it back and forth for like 10 minutes. I then took the same hand and placed it in front of my abdomen. I moved my hand in a circular motion for the same amount of time as I did with my arm.

After I took my hand away, I made the flame go away as I panted a little from the use of my energy. I removed the bandages from my arm and stomach and examined them. My stomach was still a little bruised and my arm still had a small scar. The pain subsided a little too.

I sighed, "It's probably going to take about half an hour before I get back to full energy." I stood up, swaying a bit from putting pressure on my legs a little to fast. I walked around the room a bit to make sure that I was all right. When I stopped and bended my body, my abdomen started hurting again from the pressure, but not as bad as before.

After feeling assured that I was all right, I left the room to go meet up with Jugo, not remembering that he is probably with Kazuma.

There we go! Chapter 3 is complete! Read and Review!