Chapter 12: A Good Day Ruined

Finally updating! xD I was busy these last two weeks with tests which sucked -_- at least they're over… for now.

Yeah, the title of this chapter doesn't sound too good O.o I'm not really sure how I did with this chapter… but I hope you all like it. (Or maybe not…) I edited it once more last night so hopefully it's better now than it would have been. I am posting it up now because I am probably going to change it even more if I don't do it sooner or later.

Anyways, thank you to those who reviewed and others who favorited or put my story in their story alert ^^ Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Dark-Flame Alchemist does not own Kaze no Stigma

Karai's Point of View

I ran as fast as I could in a never-ending hallway. It was like the door was going farther and farther away. What was I running from? I had no clue. I just felt like I needed to keep running.

Strangely, but finally, I had reached the door. I grabbed the knock and opened the door. I slammed it shut behind me and turned to face the room.

It was dark. In the center of the room, there was a blurry figure holding a huge sword, with the tip on the ground. Violet eyes were staring at me intensely. Looks like the one I was running from found me anyway.

"You finally made it Karai Uchiha. Now it's time for you to die," the figure said emotionlessly. I recognized the mysterious person as a female from the sound her voice.

"Who are you? What do you want from me?" I demanded, getting into battle stance; prepared to take out Kaito Enraiha.

"Who I am is not your concern," the woman said; even though I couldn't see her very well, I noticed her smirk, "What do I want you ask? Why it's so simple. I need… your blood," and with that, she ran towards me so quickly that I knew I couldn't dodge her attack in time. My eyes widened as she was about to slice me and I screamed, "Ahhh!"

I gasped and quickly jolted up the bed. I looked around and saw that I was in my room. It was only a dream.

I sighed in relief as I held a hand to my rapidly beating heart; sweat was all over my body. That was some nightmare. What I hated the most about it was that I couldn't remember what happened at all. It was all a blur.

I heard a tapping in the direction of the window. I turned and looked towards it. The sun was already out and I saw small pebbles hit the window.

I raised an eyebrow with curiosity. I pulled the covers off me, got out of bed and walked towards the window.

Lo and behold, Kazuma was standing there with a thicker jacket on than what he normally wore because of the cold, staring up at me with an annoyed face.

I opened the window and stuck my head out, "What the hell are you doing here so early in the morning?"

His annoyed face became even more annoyed, "What are you talking about? It's already 10:00! We were supposed to meet at 9:30 remember? I was waiting for a long time in the cold!"

I was confused and looked back in my room to see the time on my clock. It read 10:02 a.m.

'Shit. I overslept…,' I thought before looking back at him with a nervous smile, "Umm oops?"

He shook his head, "Do we have to go through this again?"

"Well, sorry!" I sarcastically said, "I'll go get ready now!"

He sighed, "Yeah, yeah. Meet me at the meadow when you're done and make sure you actually get there in time!" He turned around and disappeared in a gust of wind.

I sighed as well, closing my window. I turned around myself and got prepared for my shower.

Half an hour later…

I was all fresh and clean. I wore my usual clothing, put my hair up in a messy bun, and applied some makeup which I wouldn't normally do, but I felt putting it on for today. I used my long-sleeved jacket for the day since it was cold. It was all I needed for the cold since I can keep warm thanks to my being as a fire magic user.

I grabbed my cell phone and wallet and placed them in the inner pockets of my jacket before leaving my room. As I walked down the hallway, I met up with Ichiru.

"Good morning my dear cousin; are you off on your date now?" He teasingly said as he looked at his watch, "Weren't you supposed to meet him an hour ago?"

"Haha very funny Ichi, laugh all you want," I sarcastically said, "As you probably can tell, I overslept. And it's not a date! We are just hanging out!"

Ichiru held his hands up for defense, "Hey, whatever you say Karai. Well, you probably shouldn't keep him waiting any longer," he said cheekily.

"I know, I know. I'm leaving right now. I'll see you later," I said in a rush before racing off to the meadow where Kazuma was waiting for me.

When I got to the spot, he was nowhere to be found. I heard a soft snoring above me and looked up at the tree.

Kazuma was leaning on the tree from on top of a branch in a comfortable position, sleeping.

I smiled. He looked so peaceful when he was sleeping. Too bad I had to wake him up.

"Kazuma! Wake up! I'm here already!" I shouted at him.

He opened his eyes abruptly and had his irritated face again when he saw me, "About time! I was beginning to think you were going to ditch me!" He got off the branch and landed safely on the ground, right in front of me.

"Sorry about that…," I sheepishly said before frowning, "I guess I overslept after having that nightmare."

He no longer looked at me with an irritated face any more; now it was filled with concern, "You had a nightmare?"

"Yeah…," I said, looking glum, "The thing is, I can't remember what happened in it. It's all a blur."

Kazuma his annoyed face turned soft as he embraced me, "Are you all right now?"

I hugged him back, "Yeah, just tired," I said before we pulled away from each other.

"But never mind about that now, so where are we off to today?" I asked curiously.

He answered, "I thought we could go to town. I haven't been here for a few years so I thought it might be nice to just walk around."

I smiled at him, "All right then, let's go."

We held each other's hands and walked towards the train station.

"You look very beautiful today by the way," he complimented me as we walked.

I blushed a bit, "Why thank you, even though I usually almost wear the same kinds of attire usually."

"Well, you put on some makeup which you don't normally do," he said.

"Oh you noticed huh? You have very sharp observing skills," I said to him.

He chuckled, "I try."

I shook my head, not saying anything about his comment.

We made it to the train station. We sat down in the spot we wanted since there weren't that much people in the train. Kazuma and I just admired the scenery as we headed to town. It was very relaxing.

Instead of holding hands though, he put an arm around my shoulders and I kept both of my hands on my lap. I noticed an old couple looking at us and whispering to each other at how we were such a cute couple.

Kazuma didn't notice them, but I did. Once again, I blushed a bit, but it went away before Kazuma could have seen it.

Our eyes met at some point and we smiled at each other before looking at the scenery again. We finally made it to our stop.

We walked on the sidewalk once we stepped off the train and left the train station. Kazuma kept his arm around me as I kept my hands in my pocket.

As we continued on, we talked about random things and went into different stores. We looked around, but didn't buy anything.

When we were passing by a jewelry store I saw some silver necklaces that had the yin-yang symbol with two different elements on each side of a necklace. Each necklace had a different combination and they came in versions for women and men. The one with the fire/wind symbol caught my interest though.

"Those are cute necklaces," I accidently said out loud. Kazuma stopped us and looked at the necklaces I was looking at and chuckled, "Of course you would look at ones with fire only."

I stuck my tongue out at him and closed it, "Well of course."

"So do you want to check it out?" He asked.

I shook my head, "Nah, it's probably expensive anyway. We should just go on."

"You come from a very rich family and you can't buy any necklaces like that?" he said with an eyebrow raised.

"I have more important things to pay for. Besides, I'm not one to buy myself materialistic things," I answered.

He shrugged, "Suit yourself; let's keep going." We continued walking.

"So… I heard from Ayano that you two went on a mission the other day…," I said, smirking.

"Yeah, I got some good laughs from that. She can be such a dunce sometimes, but that's why she can be humorous by not even trying to be," he chuckled.

"Ha-ha, she didn't really tell me much besides anything that somehow ended with her embarrassing herself and you being the reason for them," I snickered.

"Well some of it may have been my fault, but it was mostly those fairies that were pulling pranks on us and especially on her," he chuckled again.

"Ohh, she never mentioned anything about fairies. I guess she wanted most of the fault to be yours," I giggled.

"Yeah, that's how much she hates me," he sighed.

"I think she considers you like an older brother," I smiled at him, "An annoying, yet, protective one."

"Thanks," he groaned, "I don't really care what she thinks of me though."

"Even if she thinks that you are a pervert?" I teasingly said.

He had a sour face, "Well, besides that."

"That's your own fault for acting perverted in the first place!" I laughed and he sighed as we walked through a park. Looking at the scenery, there was some snow around and even some on the branches of trees. There was a particular amount of snow on a branch in the direction we were headed that I noticed. I smirked to myself, devising a plan.

I took my hand out of my pocket opposite from Kazuma and created a small fireball. When we were below the branch, I shot magic at the snow on the branch and pulled away from him.

Before he knew what was going on, a pile of snow fell on him. I died laughing after seeing him cringe from the snow that went into his back.

Because I couldn't stop laughing after witnessing such an epic event, I failed to notice him throwing a snowball right at me. I was so off-guard that I fell into the snow, right on my back.

I blinked from the unexpected hit and looked up. Kazuma had an evil smile on his face as he lightly threw the snowball up and down in his hand.

I started to laugh nervously, "Hey, Kazuma…. How about we talk about this? There is no need to go all violent." I silently and sneakily grabbed a handful of snow in my hand in case my negotiations were unsuccessful.

"It's payback time Karai," Kazuma said with the evil smile before throwing it at me, but I rolled to my right and threw my snowball at him, directly on the face again.

Knowing I delayed him, I ran for dear life while scooping up some more snow. I packed it tightly.

"You are so going to get it!" he shouted at me. I felt him catching up to me; wanting to slow him down, I turned and threw the snowball at his face once again before running off.

I heard him yell, "Damn it Karai! Stop throwing it at my face!"

I laughed as I scooped another handful of snow and continued running, "What happened to the great Kazuma now?"

I was too busy laughing and before I knew it, I ran into something, "Oof!" The something I ran into held me in a position where I couldn't use arms, "The great Kazuma just captured you." I look up and see Kazuma grinning at me. 'Damn him and his wind powers.'

"Hey, how's it going?" I hesitantly said as I waited for what surprises he had in store for me.

"Nothing much actually; just thinking of some sort of punishment for a certain person," he said as he smirked while keeping his hold on me.

"Really? Well you should probably let me go if you know what's good for you."

He raised an eyebrow, "And why is that?"

"You might want to look up…," I said. He followed what I said and looked up. At the same time, I threw the snow in my hand up and it hit him in the face. He suddenly let me go to get the snow off his face.

I was laughing really hard while I ran off again and he was chasing after me, "Karai! Now you are going to get it!"

Our snowball fight carried on for two hours before we were out of breath, but neither of us would surrender. We were both sitting and leaning our backs on a bench, panting from exhaustion.

"Ok, how about we call this a truce for now?" I said while trying to catch my breath. I held my hand out at him.

He looked at me and gave in, "Fine, but next time you're going down," he said before shaking my hand. We let go and just relaxed.

Kazuma then chuckled, "Who would have thought that the head of the Uchiha clan is out having a snowball fight?"

I giggled a bit before shrugging my shoulders, "Who would have thought an arrogant person would be having a snowball fight with the head of the Uchihas?"

Kazuma smirked, "Touché."

"I don't really care though; that was fun," I said, looking at him, "It was just like the old times."

He chuckled, "Yeah." He looked at his watch and saw how late it was, "Wow, we've been at it for a while. You want to go get something to eat?" I looked up and noticed that the sun was setting. I couldn't believe that it got so late already.

I looked at Kazuma and smiled, "Sure, let's go to the café I usually go to." He nodded and we both got up from the bench and held hands to keep them warm. We put our other hands in our pockets to keep those warm also.

We walked to the coffee shop and went inside. There weren't that much people, so it wasn't as loud. I liked that. We sat down in a table and waited for the waiter/waitress.

"Kazuma…," I said, smiling at him, "Thank you."

He became confused before he chuckled, "For what?"

"Today," I answered, "I had a really good time. It was the most fun and relaxing that I've had since forever. I've been so stressed out lately."

"Same here," he smiled and held my hand, giving it a light squeeze, "And I'm glad I could help relieve you from stress for the day."

I squeezed my hand a bit and just smiled at him as the waiter arrived. We ordered two lattes. The waiter left to place our order and came back with it ten minutes later.

We took our time drinking our lattes as we continued talking about different things.

We were still laughing about the time when we pranked those bullies from the Kannagi family which resulted in them being chased by a dog and hiding up in a tree until nighttime. They never found out that it was us and we wanted to keep it that way. Once we finished laughing, we just relaxed to calm ourselves down.

At that moment, I decided to ask a question that I've really wanted to ask him for a really long time now. "So Kazuma…, what have you been doing these past few years?" I asked him curiously as I took a sip of my drink.

When I asked that, he just kept his eyes on his latte and didn't say anything for a good thirty seconds.

When he finally answered me, he wouldn't look me in the eye, "Karai… I don't really want to talk about it yet."

I sighed, "Can't you tell me something that you've done while you were gone? Like how you acquired your powers?" I asked him instead.

"Not right now," he said.

"Were you able to find a place to stay?" I questioned him, intending to get something out of him.

"Of course I did, but I'm not telling you anything else right now," he said as he was mixing his drink with a spoon slowly.

"Well, did you at least meet anybody?" I tried to ask.

"Karai, I said I don't want to talk about it. Would you please just drop it… it's getting annoying," he said, getting irritated.

Normally, I would have just dropped it like he'd ask by this time, but after he said it was annoying him, I didn't because that pissed me off.

I placed my drink down; set my left arm on the table and my right elbow down as I held my head with my right hand, not looking at him now, "Well sorry for wanting to know how my best friend has been up to after not seeing him for a while."

"Just give me more time and I'll tell you eventually. Geez," he said, annoyed.

"I have been waiting since the day you left, wondering what the hell you've been up to," I said as I slightly scowled.

He sighed as he tried not to look aggravated, "I'm really sorry, but you are going to have to wait a little longer."

I looked at him once again, "Why can't you just tell me now? It's not like I'm just any other person you know. I'm your best friend. You know you can tell me anything," I clearly told him.

"I know that! Damn it Karai! Just leave it alone!" he snapped at me.

I was once again shocked like the last time he spoke to me with the same attitude. This time was worse though. I didn't spare a glance at him as I put my half of the money for our drinks on the table and stood up, anger welling up inside me.

"Karai, I didn't mean ─," he started to say before I cut him off, "Say no more! You know what? Go find somebody else who cares more about you than me! Even better, who worries all the time and is less annoying! See if I care!" I rushed out of the café as fast as I could without looking back. So much for the quiet... I probably caused a scene.

I knew he didn't follow me because I couldn't sense his presence. The train didn't arrive yet when I got to the station so I just leaned against the wall. I checked my phone and saw no calls or message. I expected that. He knew that when I was angry, I should be left alone. Nobody wants to see me when I am really angry.

As I waited for the train, I suddenly felt horrible for what I said, but at the same time, I was still furious at him.

From the way I saw it, he acted like I wasn't that important to him because we would always tell each other anything. Saying that I was "annoying" him set me off, but his behavior towards me really pissed me off. I hated him for that… but yet, I still love and care about him. I groaned… God, why did I have to love that idiot so much!

I couldn't take it anymore. All the tears that I kept inside just dropped and wouldn't stop.

The train finally arrived. I got in and once I got to my station, I walked back to the property and to the window of my room was and just jet streamed to reach it. I opened the window and went in.

I took off my coat and boots and just went straight to my bed. I didn't care at the moment that my makeup would smudge on my face or that I still had my going out clothes on.

I kept thinking about how Kazuma and I had such a good day and because of my curiosity… it was ruined. Once again, guilt consumed me, but because of my Uchiha pride, I wasn't going to be the one to apologize first, even though he is my best friend.

With all those thoughts churning in my head, I didn't notice that I fell asleep.

Kazuma's Point of View

I was back at my condominium after the fight with Karai, just sitting on my couch. I felt guilty for blowing up at Karai like that. She had every right to know what I've been up to, especially since I left her those years ago.

I sighed and closed my eyes, lost in thought, 'I'm sorry Karai. It's still too painful for me to talk about what had happened while I was away. Remembering still hurts. I know you'll understand why I couldn't tell you yet. You were just upset because I wouldn't tell you anything and called you annoying. You hate being called a burden or weak. It's my fault.'

I slowly opened my eyes again.

I'll give us some space to think before I apologize. One thing I know is that when Karai is mad and pissed off, you should never go after her unless you want to get injured and get sent to the hospital. I've seen her done that once to somebody and was glad that it wasn't me. She just needed to cool off right now.

My cell phone started to ring. I checked the caller ID and it was Ayano calling. Great…

I answered the phone, annoyed, "Hello?"

"Hey, Kazuma! Is Karai with you? Ichiru told me that Karai was hanging out with you today. I wanted to ask her something, but she hasn't been answering her phone… I hope you're not doing anything perverted to her!" she yelled in the phone.

I sighed and rolled my eyes, "No, we didn't do anything that you're thinking. She went home an hour ago."

"What? What kind of idiot doesn't walk a lady home?"

"She got angry at me and left."

"You are such an idiot! Why didn't you go after her?"

"Unlike you, I know that when she's really mad, you should just leave her alone."

"Well, if you know her so well, you shouldn't have pissed her off in the first place!"

"I know that, but I didn't really want to talk about what happened when I was gone and she kept asking me about it. I then blew up on her and she blew up on me afterwards." Why was I even telling her this in the first place?

"You are so stupid! And I thought that was my job!" she yelled before muttering, "I can't believe I called myself stupid…"

I chuckled softly before she continued, "Never mind about that! You are so stupid because you make her so upset and vulnerable easily! And you know why it's usually always you? It's because she cares about you so much since she loves you, you dunce! Even I could see that!"

I became speechless.

"Oh my god, I can't believe you haven't realized this! Didn-, no don't you love her as well? I would have thought it was obvious with how close you two are!" She growled, "I know you're probably speechless right now, so I'm going to let you think about what I said. I can't believe I'm the one being wise right now. I didn't even think I could be this wise! Well, bye, Kazuma!" she then hanged up.

I closed my phone, thinking about what she said.

How could I have been so stupid? All this time, I've been hurting because of Tsui Ling and trying to forget her that I didn't realize that Karai was hurting as well, because of me. It was much more than being called annoying. Yes she hated being called a bother, but feeling as if I didn't care about her enough to tell her what I've been up to upset her even more.

I was blinded from trying to forget Tsui Ling and get her out of my mind that I forgot of my love for Karai and only saw her as my best friend since I still loved Tsui Ling, but after Ayano snapped me into reality, I now remember.

A smile appeared on my face.

I do. I loved Karai and I still love her now, with all my heart… and from what Ayano said, I guess she really does love me back. I even remembered when we almost kissed… the same day I was banished.

I sighed. That day really changed everything. We probably would have been together if it weren't for that stupid battle that Ayano and I had to go through. I shook my head and chuckled. Fate really sucks.

I then sighed and frowned as a thought came to mind, making me conflicted.

But am I ready…

To let go of my previous love…

And be with the one who was once, always and still is…

My best friend…

My former protector…

My first love…?

Drama! X.x I didn't make Ayano and Kazuma OC, did I? And did it make any sense towards the ending of the chapter?

Anyway, Kazuma and Ayano are only briefly in the next chapter and won't be back until chapter 17 while Ichiru will be! I'm excited for these next chapters and hope you will like them x)

Review, review please!

See you next week!

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Did I mention that you should review? ;P