Chapter 5: A Reason to Trust One Another

Chapter 5 up! This is the re-edited version!

Hope you enjoy this chapter!

Disclaimer: Dark-Flame Alchemist doesn't own Kaze no Stigma except for her OC, Karai Uchiha.

Karai's Point of View

Kazuma was in the driver's seat, Ayano was in the passenger seat, and I was in the back. How I ended up in the back? Ayano, still upset as I was, went ahead and just hopped into whatever seat, leaving me to stay in the back, but I didn't care at the moment.

Tension filled the car between me and Ayano as we were headed to the location where Ren was to be sacrificed. Ayano had no problem, though, yelling at Kazuma for driving like a maniac.

I didn't really pay attention to them. I just looked out the window, watching the scenery and thinking over what Jugo told us.

Flashback

"Karai, your parents were supposed to tell you this sometime during your life, but then they died three years ago," Jugo said, "Therefore, I must tell you myself."

"Yes, I recall that father was going to tell me something on the night of Kazuma's banishment, but then he decided not to tell me yet," I remembered sadly.

Jugo opened his eyes, "Karai, I know this may be hard to believe, but I am your real father." Ayano and I just looked at him dumbfounded.

'What the hell?' We both thought.

Ayano and I were shocked by the news, but Ayano was the first to burst, "Wait, is this some kind of joke? Me? And her? Sisters? Are you serious?" Ayano yelled frantically.

"I'm with her on this one. Why has this been kept from us for so long, father?" I said coldly.

"I felt that now was the right time to tell you, but now's not the time to explain. You should go now and rescue Ren. I will explain everything once you are done with your task. I thought I should tell you now to give you a reason to trust one another, besides the fact that you are both related through the connection of both the Kannagi and Uchiha clans. I also decided to tell you since you've never really liked each other before," Jugo said, trying to make sense with why he gave us the information out of nowhere.

We didn't say a word since we knew that we had to go save Ren right now and also because we were still shocked with the news. We got up, bowed before Jugo, left the room and went outside to where Kazuma was waiting for us.

'One surprise after another,' I thought bitterly.

Flashback Ended

'Che, he shouldn't have mentioned this right now, I'm losing focus. We need to rescue Ren!' I thought before closing my eyes, replaying that scene over and over again.

I sighed, calming down, 'He always did act like a father to me…. I wonder what happened between mother and him… and father.'

I slightly opened my eyes for a bit and stared at Ayano who was getting pissed off at Kazuma, 'Hmm, so she is my sister, I mean, half-sister.'

I shook my head in disbelief, 'Well, as head of the Uchiha family, I cannot act foolish. It is my duty to take vengeance against the murders of the previous head and members of my clan. I have no choice. I have to get along with Ayano. At least I know that I won't have any problems cooperating with Kazuma.'

I finally listened in to their conversation, "Anger is a powerful tool for creating energy in fire magic. With that temper of yours, I can tell that you got a lot of energy," Kazuma stated.

"So, is that a compliment or an insult?" Ayano asked curiously.

"A little of both; without self-control, anger can be a liability. I just need to know that you can keep yours in check," he said coolly. 'My thoughts exactly,' I said in my head with a small smirk.

"Uh, hey, look Kazuma, don't worry. I've got plenty of self-control," she assured him with a stress mark about to appear on her head.

"We'll have a problem if you don't," he told her before moving his gaze into the mirror to look at me quickly, "You too Karai."

I rolled my eyes at him, "Please Kazuma, you know I have self-control. I had more training than this hothead right in front of me. I don't believe she has any self-control," I replied, still looking at the window.

Ayano turned her head to yell at me, "Why you─!" I cut her off before she could finish her complaint, "So I better hope she proves me wrong," I said, looking at her with a small smile.

Her face calmed down as looked at me with determination, "Of course I will, you better believe that!"

Kazuma chuckled with the way we were communicating with each other, but then became serious again, "Ok, let's go over the plan one more time shall we?"

"All right; Karai and I will launch a frontal attack on Ryuya, while you sneak up and attack him from behind. That's how it's supposed to work, but to tell you the truth, I'm not too happy about it." Ayano said gloomily.

"Why," asked Kazuma while he continued to drive.

"Well, what if I just mess things up?" Ayano said sadly.

"You won't, I'm sure you'll do fine. I'm counting on you," Kazuma said encouragingly, "Both of you."

I smiled when he said that before encouraging Ayano as well, "Besides, Ayano, I'll be there with you so there is nothing to worry about. If you do mess up, I'll help you out," I reassured her, "Where is that confident, impulsive Ayano that I know?"

"Heh, thanks for trying to make me feel better, Onee-chan." She said, appreciating my words.

Kazuma noticed what she said and became confused, "Wait, what?"

I looked at Kazuma, "Yeah, we found out that we are actually half-sisters. Jugo will explain things once we are done with this mission, though. So don't worry about that now." The car then became silent again.

Ayano said out of nowhere, "That's weird."

"What do you mean?" Kazuma asked her.

"Hearing you say something like that. I only expected Karai to say something encouraging. Guess I'm kind of surprised. Maybe you're not as arrogant as I used to think you were," Ayano said, stating her thoughts.

"He never really was arrogant when he was around me when we were younger. He was a softie," I mentioned as I reminisced the good old days with a cheeky smile, "Although… he did complain a lot when he was with me," I frowned.

Ayano suddenly had a cheeky smile as well, "Oh really? A softie, huh?"

"Yup," I chuckled while Ayano snickered.

"Thanks a lot. By the way, it was your own fault that I complained anyway," he said.

"Just keep telling yourself that Kazuma," I said with a grin.

He sighed before going serious, "All right, let's get our heads in the game. We've got to rescue Ren."

'I'll never let him, or anyone else be a sacrifice,' he thought confidently.

'I never saw him look that serious before,' Ayano thought curiously.

'He's very different now. More confident, determined, strong,' I thought before smiling a bit, '...and even arrogant too.'

"What's up? It's not like you to get quiet," he said, taking a glance at Ayano.

"Um, nothing, honestly," Ayano protested. I chuckled when she became flustered.

I suddenly felt a presence which I'm sure Kazuma felt as well, since he blew away Ayano's door with his magic. I blasted my own door open as well.

"Why couldn't you just tell me to roll down the win─," she started to say before he suddenly scooped her up, "Karai let's go!" He shouted at me. I nodded my head.

Kazuma then jumped out of the still-running car and started rolling down the hill with Ayano. I jumped out of the car afterwards before the car was attacked by wind magic and blew up.

I felt Ryuya's presence and quickly turned around, shooting jet streams on the bottom of my boots to hover me.

I saw Ryuya up in the air and shot several flames at him as I soared down the hill backwards. He deflected them and shot out some dark wind at me. I summoned more flames on my boots to make me go up higher, dodging his attack. I then back flipped to where Ayano and Kazuma were.

Ayano stared at me dumbfounded, "How did you do that?"

I looked at her, "You mean the jet streams on my boots? I learned how to do it myself. I'll teach you some other time."

"You all right Karai?" Kazuma asked me.

"I'm fine," I assured him before turning to look where Ryuya was, "Now let's get this guy!" I yelled, ready to fight the bastard.

"All right then," Kazuma said as he got up and looked at Ryuya, "Good to see you again, Ryuya. Now where'd you take my brother? I hear you want to sacrifice him," he said with a serious face as he clenches his fist, "All right you freak, it's time to end this!"

Ryuya slowly went down to the ground across from us.

"It's him, Ryuya. Why didn't I sense his presence?" Ayano said, puzzled.

"I guess you aren't strong enough to sense any kind of magic user," I said.

"Oh and you sensed it?" Ayano exclaimed, getting angry.

"Yes I did," I answered while looking at the disgusting figure in front of us.

"He is a wind magic user. If he doesn't want to be found, a fire user like you doesn't stand a chance," Kazuma said to Ayano before looking at me, "Although I'm not sure how you were able to do it."

I looked at him, "The Uchiha clan has always depended on themselves and over time we were able to sense presences on our own while the Kannagis used the Fuga clan to do it for them," I explained to him, "Now enough chit chat!"

I stepped forward and swung my right arm to my side, stretched out. Kaito Enraiha appeared in my hand, black flames emitting from the sacred sword before I got into fighting stance, "Come on Ayano, let's get this bastard and make him pay for what he has done!"

"Get right in his face and fight him close, attacks from a distance won't work," Kazuma advised.

"Why don't you worry about yourself," Ayano said as she summoned her own sword, "Enraiha, come forth!" Enraiha materialized on her hand, "Let's do this."

Ayano charged at Ryuya head on. Fireballs were going his way as Ayano swung her sword. He deflected them with his wind.

"There has never been a yoma that Enraiha hasn't destroyed! Haaa!" Ayano jumped at him and swung her sword directly down at him, but he blocked it with his wind on one hand.

I allowed Ayano to fight Ryuya for now as I waited for him to let his guard down so I can attack him. 'She's doing pretty well right now. I wonder how long she can keep this up.'

Ryuya tried to punch Ayano with his other hand, but she blocked him. She got pushed back a little from the force and Ryuya disappeared in the smoke. Ayano looked around for him. I saw him appear behind her, "Ayano watch out! He's behind you!"

She noticed that he was about to claw her and suddenly blocked it once more, with the dark wind pushing her down. I finally saw his back unguarded. Perfect. I ran straight for him, noticing that Kazuma was leaving.

"I could use a little back up right now! Kazuma!" She screamed as she noticed him gone and looked around for him, "Kazuma?" She didn't notice me coming to help her though.

"Haaaa!" I screamed, going towards Ryuya. I swung my sword, letting out a stream of fire onto his back which he didn't deflect in time. He flew back a few feet and landed on the ground, appearing to have lost consciousness temporarily. 'Yes! Got him!' I thought in relief for now.

I saw Kazuma in the air and Ayano yelling at him. "Since you've got everything under control, I'm going on ahead," he said before he looked at me, "Take care of him, all right?"

I nodded at him, "Of course," I said, looking back at Ryuya on the floor and swinging my sword to my side, "With pleasure," I said sinisterly. 'You are going to pay for what you've done, Ryuya Kazamaki!'

"Ok then, be careful Karai. Oh and also watch out for Ayano!" He said after flying off.

As Ayano continued yelling at him for being a traitor, I cautiously walked to where Ryuya was, waiting for him to wake up at any minute.

Checking to see if he was already conscious, I held out my hand, summoning fire. Just when I thought it was powerful enough, I shot it at him and saw him disappear in a gust of wind, my attack missing him completely. I growled, 'So he was awake… better keep my guard up.'

"Ayano focus! He can appear at any moment!" I yelled at her to pay attention.

"Right!" She yelled back at me after finishing her rant on Kazuma. She went back into battle stance. We looked around, keeping our guard up.

I suddenly felt his presence to my right and I swung my sword at him. He deflected it with his wind again. We were both pushed back into opposite directions. When he landed, I saw him disappear again.

Ayano and I kept up the fight with him, mostly me, since she wasn't able to sense his presence that well.

"Ayano, get ready! We have to work together on this one! I'm going to attack him once I see him, and when I do, you attack from behind him!" I yelled at her. She got prepared while waiting for me to make my move.

I put away Kaito Enraiha for a moment and held my hand out. Black flames surrounded it as I waited for Ryuya to appear. When I saw him, I ran at him and swung my hand, releasing a stream of fire coming at him, with Ayano charging at him. He managed to disappear at the last minute, not before his right arm was burnt from my flame and Ayano slicing it a bit, 'Yes, hopefully that will slow him down for now.'

"Good job Ayano," I praised her, "That's probably not going to work again, so let's continue our first method. Hopefully he slowed down a bit from his wound."

"Don't worry! I can slice him deeply with Enraiha this time!" Ayano exclaimed, watching out for Ryuya to pop out.

"Don't be too overconfident Ayano!" I yelled as I summoned Kaito Enraiha again and we kept fighting him. He apparently didn't slow down at all from that wound which didn't look good for us. The battle continued as Ayano and I kept on trying to attack him.

Once again, I deflected Ryuya's attack, pushing me back again. I fell on one knee as I kept my guard up, panting, 'Damn it! It's just like the last time I fought him! We can't touch him, and that wound was like nothing to him! We're just deflecting each other's attack again and again! We are just tiring ourselves out!' I thought in frustration.

Ayano ran in front of me, "Karai, are you ok!" she asked concerned.

"Yes I am, don't worry about me right now, just worry about yourself. We need to come up with a new plan before we tire ourselves out to our full extent," I told her as I kept panting with my eyes closed. I suddenly feel Ryuya's presence. I opened my eyes to see him behind Ayano who is still in front of me, not noticing him.

Before I could tell her to watch out, he smacked her on the right side of her head and she flew in that direction. She ungracefully hit the ground and lied still as she got knocked out.

Anger swelled up inside me, "You bastard!"

I got up and tried to hit him with Kaito Enraiha. He jumped back before I could get him.

I stood in a battle stance, waiting to see what he was going to do next. I glanced to my side where Ayano was unconscious a little far from where I was. I quickly looked back at Ryuya.

He put his hand up, absorbing dark wind magic in his hand. When he was done, he shot it not in my direction, but at Ayano's! 'Damn it!'

I ran in the direction where Ayano's body was and took the hit, unable to dodge it in time. I flew back sideways into a tree and landed on my stomach. I dropped Kaito Enraiha on the ground when I hit the floor and it disappeared.

There were bruises all over my body from the attack and my back was killing me. I was also having this terrible pain in my body that became worse and worse. Like something was spreading into my whole system. I felt like I was slowly dying.

I tried getting up, but it was no use. My vision started to become blurry. I glanced where Ryuya was and see him flying off in Kazuma's direction. Ayano was still unconscious where she was.

"At least Ayano is ok,"I said before sighing, 'I wasn't able to defeat him again,' I thought as my eyes slowly began to close; too weak to move my body.

"Hurry up Kazuma," I was able to mutter, before blacking out.

Now you know that Karai and Ayano are actually half-sisters x) It looks like they are starting to get along now because of the sudden news.

There you go! Chapter 5!

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