Chapter 21: The Return of Catherine

D-F Alchemist: I'm sooo sorry that I didn't update for weeks now. I already had this chapter done, but I wanted to get chapter 22 written first because I usually like to have another chapter pre-written before updating. It was an epic fail since I didn't even start writing it yet. I've only been re-editing this chapter a million times… any more editing and I'll probably change a chunk of it.

Ayano: The only reason you didn't write it yet was because you've been watching those Higurashi no Naku Koro ni series! Even the one with the seagulls! THE SEAGULLS! That's a total of 76 episodes! I don't even know HOW OR WHY you even watched them…

Karai: Not to mention, you've been playing Assassin's Creed and AC Brotherhood…

Kazuma: You're only reasonable excuse is having writer's block…

D-F Alchemist: Hey, hey! The Higurashi series and Assassin's Creed series are awesome! I bet those who know about them agree with me!

Karai, Kazuma and Ayano: Which is why you completed all of those, but not this…? *shake heads simultaneously*

D-F Alchemist: *frowns* There's no need to gang up on me… Anyway, I didn't want you readers waiting any longer so I decided to just post this up already. It's just an all right chapter for me and I don't know how I did, but I'm satisfied with it right now after all the re-edits I have done. I hope you all enjoy!

Karai, Kazuma and Ayano: Dark-Flame Alchemist does not own Kaze no Stigma.

Karai's Point of View

"Take that!" I screamed before killing a yoma. Another one just went past me.

"Ichiru! Another yoma went that way! Let's go! Then there should be one more after that!" I yelled, gripping Kaito Enraiha in my hand as I ran into the tunnel under the bridge that the yoma went to.

"I'm right behind you!" he responded.

Ichiru and I were currently taking on a case at a park where multiple yoma were on the run. Kirika took care of getting everyone in the area evacuated an hour ago to allow us to do our job easily. We were already down to our last two after killing five of them so far.

We ended up on the other side of the park after exiting the tunnel. The yoma was circling a fountain.

I ran and jumped, ready to slash at the demon when it noticed me and flew away. I grabbed the edge of the fountain and flipped over it before rolling into the ground. I stood right back up and continued running.

Ichiru was sending fireballs at another yoma that he noticed, leaving me with the one that got away. The yoma was now charging at me and I would have struck it, but a familiar moving statue slashed it before I could.

I growled and looked over to see the person responsible letting out a laugh that was annoying as always, "Catherine! What are you doing here? I thought you went back to America?"

She stopped laughing and stood next to her spirit beast, smirking at me, "I was simply training so that I can defeat little Miss Kannagi. I couldn't possibly leave yet until I defeat that little brat."

"What's wrong? The battle you had with her wasn't honorable enough for you?" I said with crossed arms.

"It most certainly was not! Plus, I will not lose to someone like her! I just can't stand it! It's just humiliating!" Catherine angrily said.

I rolled my eyes, "Whatever… thanks for helping out, I guess, but, in case you didn't know, that was my target."

"It's not my fault that you're slow. Maybe you're getting weaker or I'm just getting stronger," she insinuated before laughing again.

"I'm not the one who got their butt kicked by two fire magic users on two different occasions," I pointed out.

She stopped laughing immediately. Rage and a hint of embarrassment from her slightly red cheeks were written all over her face as she pointed a finger at me, "I'll show you! Metatron, attack her!" The moving statue charged after me, but I jumped back a few feet before sending two streams of fire in an x-attack, instantly taking down Catherine's spirit beast.

"Who's the one getting strong again? I recall having to take him down with more slashes than that the last time we fought. Maybe you should think up a new strategy," I smirked.

She scowled, "How dare you defeat my beast and mock me!" she stated before holding up her hand and sending down her own set of fireballs at me. It was a different technique from what she would normally do, but I didn't take the time to think about it since I had to evade quickly before I could get hit.

I was able to dodge all of them and slid back to a stop as the last fireball missed me.

"Karai! Watch out!" I heard Ichiru yell.

I turned around just in time to see a yoma latch its mouth on my upper left arm. I yelped in pain, waving my arm around to get it off, but it was stuck on hard, "This damn thing won't budge!"

I tried to shake it off me once more, but it just tightened its hold, causing the pain to increase more. Unsuccessful, I decided to attack it instead. I concentrated my free hand as fire surged around it. After charging my attack, I punched the yoma really hard. It released its hold on me, flying back a little before Ichiru defeated it with a big fireball.

My arm was bleeding heavily as I placed my right hand on top of the wound and fell onto my knees. I didn't look, knowing that it was going to look grotesque.

Ichiru stopped in front of me immediately and Catherine came by.

"Uh! I didn't know that yoma had bite attacks! Hell, I didn't even know they had solid teeth!" I shouted while cringing.

"I guess if there are some that can speak and conjure up swords, then there should also be yoma that bite as well," Ichiru stated, taking out some medical supplies in the bag that he was carrying. I just glared at him.

"Oh my, I'm so glad that didn't happen to me," Catherine said, looking at my wound squeamishly as Ichiru was cleaning it.

"Thanks so much for your concern, I really appreciate it," I sarcastically said before wincing. Ichiru finished up the cleaning before placing his hand on top of the wound to heal it.

"Hey! It's not my fault you weren't paying attention to what you were doing," Catherine remarked.

"Who was the one attacking me in the first place?" I replied back.

"You may have won our fight before, but that didn't give you the right to insult me like that!" she argued.

"I did no such thing. I merely stated the truth," I protested.

She crossed her arms and turned away, "Well, you shouldn't have been provoking me then."

I rolled my eyes before noticing the scrunched up look on Ichiru's face, "What's wrong?"

"Hmm, that's weird… the muscles healed back fine, but the marks are still there and the area around the wound is still a bit bruised up," he said before putting down his hand.

"I'm guessing that nothing will happen even if I heal it myself… so what now?" I asked him.

He got a bandage and wrapped my injury, "There's nothing more I can do. I'll just wrap the wound up for now and we'll just have to wait. Our main healer should know what this is, but unfortunately, she won't be back until the end of the week."

"Great… all right then. Let's get out of here now that we're done before anyone else gets hurt," I said before standing up as Ichiru did the same.

I turned my direction to Catherine, "Hey, I'm assuming you've just been going around town defeating yoma… so a word of advice? Try not to make yourself seen out in the open. Not many people around here know about us magic users and you might get in trouble with the authority that deals with supernatural beings," I advised her.

She faced me and placed her hands on her hips, "I can do whatever I please, thank you very much. Good day. Oh… and if you see the Kannagi brat, tell her that I'll be seeing her very soon, ready for our rematch," she said conceitedly before turning around, leaving.

"She seemed nice," Ichiru sarcastically stated as Catherine's figure was fading away.

"Yeah…" I said, frowning, before taking out my phone, "I'm going to call Kirika; get the car ready." He nodded and walked back to where the tunnel was.

After dialing the number, I waited as the phone rang until I heard Kirika's voice:

"What's up?"

"Mission accomplished. People can now come back to the area."

"Good job. I'll get right on it. Thank you for your help as always."

"It's no problem. What's wrong? You sound busy?"

"Just some rogue fire magic user disturbing the public since last week. Don't worry; I'm going to ask Kazuma to help out with this."

"Oh really? You don't say… Well, in that case, Kazuma should be able to help out."

"Do you know something that I don't?"

"This magic user wouldn't happen to be blonde and have a spirit beast by her side, would she?"

"That's the exact description. How did you know?"

"Well… I saw her not too long ago and warned her not to go and cause trouble which she ignored, but it looks like she already did anyway even if I did tell her. I don't know, maybe Kazuma will be able to knock some sense into her. I'll let you guys figure out where she is."

"That's great. Thanks for your information; it saves me a whole lot of trouble of finding the person. I'll be sure to let Kazuma know when he gets here."

"Let me know what?" Even though I couldn't hear the voice clearly, I knew that it was Kazuma who asked the question.

"Oh Kazuma, you're here already. I was just talking to a partner of mine who got a lead on the perpetrator that I want you to find." I then heard the phone go on speaker, letting me hear both of them equally. I smirked, knowing Kirika wanted to do a small prank on him.

Kazuma sighed, "I knew you were going to ask me to do some job for you…," he said before sighing again, "Whatever, can you get off the phone so we can hurry this up?"

I chuckled lightly from all his sighing before I spoke, "Kazuma, you're so mean. I thought that you would have wanted to talk to me, but I guess not. Some boyfriend you are." I heard him sigh once more and Kirika giggling.

"Sorry Kazuma, couldn't resist."

"Ha ha, very funny, you two. So what did you find out, Karai?"

I could tell that he wanted to get the mission over with so I stopped teasing him and went back on the subject, "Two words. Catherine McDonald."

"Are you serious? I thought she went back to America…"

"My thoughts exactly. Apparently, she's training to defeat Ayano."

"Awesome... Okay then... I'll see what I can do. Take care."

"Bye Karai. Thanks again."

"No problem at all… and I'll talk to you later Kazuma," I said before hanging up and walking back through the tunnel to meet up with Ichiru.

~…~

For the past few days, I've been fine even though I still had the injury which began to fade. No symptoms have shown the yoma bite infecting me, for now. Ichiru said that we still had to wait for the healer to return to make sure. I didn't worry too much about it though.

I talked to Kazuma yesterday night. He informed me that he was going to coach Catherine so that she could have a chance at defeating Ayano. He added that she was paying him double what Ayano's family does and that he didn't want to pass up the opportunity. I just told him to it was fine even though I wasn't happy about it, but warned him that Ayano was going to get really pissed off when she finds out. He said he didn't care, knowing fully well that she will indeed be infuriated. He also mentioned that Catherine told him about my incident earlier. He sounded worried, but I told him not to because I wasn't.

I haven't heard from him since then, probably because he was busy training Catherine. It was all right with me since I was busy myself with other matters and missions.

This afternoon, as I was halfway to the Kannagi household, I heard shouting coming from behind me.

"Onee-san!"

I stopped and turned around to see Ayano stomping in my direction with steam coming out of her earsuntil she was in front of me, all angry, "I am so glad I found you! Did you hear what your annoying boyfriend is doing? It's preposterous! Seriously… of all the times he has pissed me off, this just takes the cake!"

The screaming gave me a headache just then, causing me to rub my temples, "Ayano… please don't be loud. Yes, I know that Kazuma is training Catherine and that she is going to challenge you to a duel by the end of the week."

"Sorry… what?" she said in a lower voice, "How could you let him do such a thing?"

I looked at her and shrugged, "I don't see anything wrong with him training her."

She growled before smirking, "No matter. I can fight her in my sleep," she obnoxiously said.

I sighed, "Ayano, remember: Kazuma is training her."

Ayano crossed her arms, "Like I just said, it doesn't matter; I defeated her once, I can do it again."

"Careful with the overconfidence Ayano. It might just be your downfall," I warned her, "Are you sure you don't want me to train you?"

Ayano waved a hand off, "Don't worry Onee-san."

I sighed, "If that's what you want… then I'll respect your wishes."

"Thank you, Karai-nee... and like I said, don't worry. By the way, were you going to my household just now?" she asked me curiously.

"Oh yeah, I was going to talk with Father… but I think I'll do it another night. I'm starting to get a headache," I stated, clutching my head.

"You going to be all right going home?" she asked, concerned.

"Yeah, I should be fine," I assured her after releasing my hand from my head.

"If you're sure… Whoa, what happened to your arm?" she asked, staring at my upper left arm that was bandaged.

"You won't believe this, but a yoma bit me a few days ago," I said, frowning. She was just speechless and looked at me with a "what the hell did you just say… please repeat that" look.

"Yeah, I was very surprised myself when I saw it attach to my arm out of nowhere," I said, like it was nothing.

"Now that's crazy! How come you didn't notice it right away?"

I sighed before explaining, "Catherine was attacking me so I didn't notice the yoma coming right at me while I was dodging and so this is what happened."

Ayano suddenly became furious once again, "You're injured because of Catherine? Now she's going to get the beating of a lifetime!"

I chuckled at her protectiveness, "Thank you for being so concerned, unlike her. I'm positive you can defeat her, but remember what I said."

She nodded, "After all you've done for me, and considering that you're my sister, of course I am concerned! Don't worry Karai, this fight will be for you," she said, pumping her fist in the air.

I smiled, "Good luck. Well, I'll see you when I see you. Night, Ayano," I replied before walking back home.

"Good night, Onee-san!" she exclaimed before running home.

Ichiru checked out my wound once I got home. The marks finally faded away, but there was still a bruise and it hurt when poked so he just re-wrapped it and gave me some medicine for my headache. I was feeling better by the time I finished up a meeting with my Uncle before going to sleep.

~…~

It was the day before Ayano's duel. I massaged my temples from a dizziness that emerged not too long ago, 'Don't worry Karai, you're all right… if anything, the healer will be here tomorrow,' I thought.

We were at a pastry shop with her friends, Nanase and Yukari, right at the moment because she was pissed off. I don't know how, but she dragged me along after I finished up a quick case in the morning. In my opinion, Ayano should be training instead of stuffing her face with sweets.

I sat next to Nanase in the bench seat with myself near the wall so that I can lean my head while Yukari and Ayano were on the chairs. I took two bites of my cake before picking at it, something that I wouldn't normally do. I guess I didn't have that much of an appetite right now.

"I don't know why, but I am in the worst mood!" Ayano announced before scarfing down another piece of cake and grabbing another one.

I sighed after taking a sip of my tea, "Ayano, slow down. You might puke it all up."

"Umm, don't you have that duel with Catherine tomorrow?" Yukari asked.

"Yeah, should you be pigging out on cake?" Nanase added.

"Whatever. I'm not too worried about the duel at the moment. It's just Catherine in general," she said before taking another cake, "She just pisses me off! Just seeing her makes my blood boil! I mean, come on! Who does she think she is?"

I sighed before standing up, "I'll be right back; just going to the bathroom." Nanase got up so I could get out of the seat before sitting back down.

"Thank you," I told her before heading to the bathroom.

"Hurry back before Ayano eats your cake!" Yukari shouted to me with Ayano telling her to shut up. I just chuckled.

I washed and dried my hands after finishing my business. When I turned myself to head for the door, my head started to throb. I held my head while also holding onto the counter. A surge of pain occurred during each pulse, causing me to wince each time. After like half a minute, it went away and I felt ok again, but I was still dizzy. I panted a bit and shook my head to get my senses together before splashing some water in my face to calm down.

'What the hell was that?' I confusingly thought before shrugging, 'I seem fine already so it was probably nothing.' After making sure I was all right, I left the bathroom and turned the corner in time to see Ayano run out of the café in a hurry with Yukari and Nanase following after her. Left standing there were Kazuma and… Catherine.

I groaned and muttered to myself, "Why does something always happen whenever I'm not around…" before walking up to them. Kazuma was saying something to Catherine which she responded with an obnoxious reply before she started blushing.

Once I got near them, I heard her say, "My point is, no matter what happens, nothing is going to stop me from defeating her tomorrow."

I scoffed, "Nobody except Ayano herself." They both turned and noticed me as I stood in front of them with crossed arms.

"I'd like to see her try," she replied with her head up high.

"Oh, she will," I told her before turning to Kazuma, "So what are you doing here anyway?"

He shrugged and nudged his head toward Catherine, "She dragged me here to celebrate the end of her training. I'm guessing Ayano dragged you here too for some reason?"

I nodded before closing my eyes and massaging my temples again from the dizziness, "Yup."

A hand place itself on my left shoulder while the other held my chin, bringing my head up. I put my hand down and opened my eyes to see Kazuma looking at me worried, "You ok babe? You don't look so well right now."

I nodded and gave a small smile at him, "I'm all right… just a little dizzy. I should go after Ayano though in case she gets herself in trouble after you guys somehow pissed her off."

Catherine flipped her hair, "It's not my fault that little Miss Kannagi thinks that she could beat me when it's obvious that I'll be the winner."

I glared at her, "Hey Catherine, hold your tongue. You haven't won the duel yet."

"Ladies, calm down," Kazuma stated before looking at Catherine, "Why don't you go get us a table while I talk to Karai?"

"Fine," she complied before smirking at me, "This will probably be your last moment with him anyway," she said before turning around and leaving.

I raised an eyebrow, "What's she talking about? Are you planning on breaking up with me to be with her or something?"

Kazuma shook his head, "No, no… it's nothing like that. She just decided to change the deal of the duel a little. If she wins, she'll not only take Enraiha, but me as well."

I kept my eyebrow up, "And you allowed her to?"

He shrugged, "Hey, she offered lots of money. Besides, I think she was just saying that to get Ayano all riled up which it did." 'Not from how I saw her expression just now…' I thought suspiciously before crossing my arms and rolling my eyes, "Whatever. It's your choice if you want to leave. I really should be going now."

Kazuma leaned down and kissed me before pulling away, "Don't be like that… even if I have to America with her, it wouldn't be anytime soon and I wouldn't break up with you for that reason. I love you."

I smiled and hugged him, "I love you too. I'll see you tomorrow then?"

We released and he nodded, "I'll see you tomorrow. Take care and don't strain yourself," he said before turning around to go look for Catherine.

After he left, I grabbed my purse from the table and paid for the bill since Ayano and her friends left before leaving the café quickly. Hopefully I could still catch up to Ayano in time.

After ten minutes of running around with the sun starting to set, I found her slowly walking along a path near the water with her friends trailing behind.

"Ayano!" I yelled out to get her attention. They all stopped with only Yukari and Nanase turning around to look at me. Ayano was still facing forward.

I nodded my head to Yukari and Nanase in gratitude before stopping behind Ayano a few feet, panting to catch my breath, "You all right?"

She faced me, not with an upset look, but one with determination, "Oh I am definitely fine, Onee-san. Just you wait. I'll beat Catherine tomorrow for your sake and make sure that Kazuma doesn't go to America! I promise you! Not only will he stay here with you, but I will make sure to ruin his life for training that evil, conniving witch!" she yelled before screaming at the setting sun, "You're going to pay for this Kazuma!"

I sweat dropped, 'Wow, she really is into this… At least she is acting like herself.'

She then turned to me with a nervous look, "B-but I want to ask you a favor though…"

I smiled and put a hand up to stop her, "You don't need to say anything. I'll train you."

Her eyes brightened with excitement before she quickly ran and hugged me, "Thank you…"

"Yeah, but I'm not going easy on you since your match is tomorrow," I told her sternly as we released each other. She nodded her head excitedly, "I will!"

"That's great Ayano, but we should really get going since it's late," Yukari stated as she and Nanase went closer to us.

"Yeah, we'll just see you tomorrow when your duel starts. Don't slack off while training," Nanase added.

"Ok guys, wish me luck," Ayano said as her friends departed, leaving us alone.

"Ayano, let's go," I replied before heading to the grassy area.

"So Nee-san? How are you going to train me anyway?" Ayano asked once she got to my side.

"Considering that we have a short amount of time since you declined my offer days ago… I'll just teach you a technique that will come in handy," I explained to her when we got to a certain spot with plenty of space to train.

"Really? Which one is it?" she asked curiously with excitement. I raised an eyebrow as a smirk formed in my face, "What do you think?"

Confused, she looked at me weirdly. After giving it much thought for a minute, her mouth dropped, coming into realization, "No way…"

I grinned, "Yes way."

~…~

It was the day of the duel. The sun was shining and the trees swayed from the movement of the wind as a battle between fire magic users was about to commence.

Ayano, her friends and I had just entered the area where the duel was to be held. It was in an isolated grassy area surrounded by trees which had a small stadium area for an audience to sit at and a circle path that went into four directions.

Ichiru said that the healer would arrive in the afternoon and suggested that I should wait at home, but I didn't want to miss the battle that I helped Ayano train for just last night.

"Did you get enough sleep last night Ayano? You did come home late after all," I asked her.

"I did and I'm all pumped up. I am so going to defeat Catherine now, especially with the help of my new technique," she stated with a grin.

"Remember to use it when needed. After all, you just got lucky that you were able to get the gist of it down in a matter of hours," I warned her.

Ayano grinned at me with a thumb up, "I'm grateful for your help, Onee-san. Now let me do my part." I nodded and smiled, "Good luck." When Ayano looked straight head once more, my vision started to get blurry all of a sudden, but I shook my head and it went away. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to come… but I'm here already and I am definitely not going to miss this fight now.

We saw Kazuma and Catherine waiting for us. Ayano's friends and I stopped at a certain distance while Ayano continued forward to the battlefield until she was several feet away from Catherine. Kazuma was on top of the stadium area, leaning his back on a pillar.

"Take her down, Ayano!" Nanase shouted.

"You can do it!" Yukari exclaimed.

"Ok, are you two ready?" Kazuma shouted from where he was.

"Of course I'm ready," Catherine remarked with her usual arrogant attitude.

"Not as ready as I am!" Ayano said as she and Catherine stared at each other, waiting for the signal to start. The atmosphere became tense as we all awaited the duel.

"Begin!" Kazuma shouted.

"Enraiha! Come forth!" Ayano yelled, summoning her sword and gripping it in both hands.

"I summon you, my spirit guardian, Metatron!" Catherine was surrounded by her fire and held her hand up in the air as Metatron appeared.

"You really going to use that thing again, even after what happened the last time?" Ayano said.

"And why not?" Catherine responded.

"Then let's go!" Ayano screamed as she charged for Metatron, fire surrounding her sword, "Kannagi flame!" she yelled as she swung her attack at the spiritual beast which de-formed into its original shape just like last time until it disappeared.

"She did it!" Nanase said.

"You're awesome, Ayano!" Yukari added.

"The flame of purification… no real surprise there."

We all turned to see Kazuma standing in between Yukari and I, causing me to get startled since I was too concentrated on the battle to see him, "You scared me… when did you get here?"

He chuckled, "Just now… I would have thought you'd be able to sense me." I rolled my eyes and kept watch on the battle.

"Is that all you got? I hope you didn't spend too much money on Kazuma's training," Ayano said.

It looked like Catherine had something up on her sleeve with that look she was giving Ayano, causing Ayano herself to get nervous, but she didn't give up and charged for a direct attack on Catherine this time, "You lose!"

Suddenly, several different-type looking spirits that I've never seen before were shooting down at her. At the last minute, Ayano turned around and noticed them, but it was too late. One of them hit her and smoke surrounded her.

"Oh no." "Ayano." Her friends were saying, worried about Ayano. When the smoke cleared, she was down on one knee, recovering from the impact.

Ayano looked up and saw the fireballs above, surrounding her in a circle, "What are those things?"

"They're called wisps," Catherine explained.

"What? So, are they supposed to be your new spirit beasts or something? They don't look quite as impressive as your other one."

"I'm not the person you should be telling that too. They might look measly, but the wisps are part of Kazuma's strategy to defeat you," Catherine stated. This caused Ayano to flinch.

"Let's start the real battle now, shall we?" Catherine replied, holding her hand up in the air once more. The wisps shot attacks at Ayano in all directions.

She jumped and ungracefully dodged each of the attacks. Yet again, she gets hit by another wisp, causing her to fall onto the ground.

"No, she's losing…" Nanase dejectedly said.

"Ayano! You have to counterattack!" Yukari encouraged her.

"Don't think so… the only way she knows how to fight is to take out her opponent in one blow. She's completely clueless dealing with multiple targets. You might even say it's her Achilles's heel," Kazuma stated.

"Did you tell Catherine that? Did you set up Ayano?" Yukari questioned him.

"Of course I did. I'm her coach," Kazuma answered her.

"That's terrible!" Yukari said.

"You jerk!" Nanase added.

"Well, Ayano might end up getting her ass kicked, but at least she'll learn something from it," Kazuma said, "She might even realize what her weakness is."

I let out a light chuckle, causing them to stare at me. Kazuma himself was confused.

"Karai! How could you laugh at a time like this?" Yukari scolded me.

"Ayano may be losing it right now, but she'll be fine once she snaps out of it. Remember, I did train her last night," I assured them. Yukari and Nanase remembered that certain fact and became optimistic once more as they turned to continue cheering for Ayano.

"So you trained her after all…" Kazuma said, smirking at me, "Although… I don't see what she could accomplish over one night."

I smirked right back, "You might be surprised once you see…" He chuckled and continued to watch the battle.

Catherine laughed as Ayano hit the attacks whenever they went near her, but wasn't able to dodge all of them. She fell onto her stomach and couldn't move.

"Ayano!" "Is she all right?"

"Come on Ayano! Concentrate!" I shouted at her.

"This looks to be the end of our battle. So feel free to admit defeat anytime," Catherine told her opponent.

"Who said that this was over?" Ayano muttered from her position, not intending to give up that easily.

"You are stubborn, aren't you? Well, that makes my victory that much enjoyable," Catherine said before continuing to get even more cocky, saying how wonderful it will be when Kazuma goes to America with her. Even though she was pissing me off by saying that, I still grinned, knowing that her arrogance would provoke Ayano to get her act together, 'Careful with what you say Catherine…'

Kazuma probably had the same thoughts as me since he had a nervous look on his face because of Ayano's wrath.

Ayano looked like she was back to herself and was determined to win once again, "It's not over yet. I won't lose to you!"

Catherine growled, "Are you too stupid to realize when to quit? I'm obviously the winner."

"She's ok," Yukari said in relief.

"Thought she would be," Kazuma added, "It's about time she started acting like herself."

A wisp shot at her once again. Ayano smirked and surprised everyone by doing something that no one has seen her do before: bursts of flames shot out of her shoes, causing her to jump high and escape the attack that hit the spot she was on previously before she went back down and did short hovers to dodge the other attacks.

"What the? How are you able to do that?" Catherine asked with a shocked look.

Kazuma chuckled as he turned to look at me, "You were able to teach her that technique of yours?"

"She's only at a beginner level where she can only do very short strides. It's not that much, but I thought it might help during the battle. She actually learned it pretty quickly for an impulsive person though," I explained to him, "I guess that's how determined she was to win. Although, if she wants to be able to hover continuously like I do, she's going to need more stamina and control."

"Wow, that's impressive," he said in awe before wrapping his arm around my shoulders and bringing me close to him, "Good job," he complimented me as he kissed my forehead.

"Thanks," I replied, smiling, before I laid my head on his shoulder. We both continued to watch the duel.

It looked like Ayano figured out what she had to do after analyzing the battle while dodging because she slashed at all the wisps which were now attached to Enraiha. She then jumped in front of Catherine and pointed her sword at her.

Catherine was shocked as Ayano grinned and swung her weapon directly at her opponent, sending her flying back, falling on the ground and becoming swirly-eyed. She was defeated. Nanase and Yukari cheered at their friend's victory.

Before I could praise Ayano, a sudden pain surged in my head just like the day before, causing me to become weak in the knees. I would have collapsed and hit the ground if Kazuma wasn't holding me. I was lucky. My world started spinning as I was slowly falling into darkness.

"Karai! Stay with me!" I heard Kazuma say, but I couldn't see him well since my vision became blurry once again. Soon, I blacked out.

~…~

"She should be fine now. I was able to remove the poison before it took its full effect. I'm sorry that I wasn't here earlier enough to prevent this. Of all the times I had to leave town."

"We're just lucky that she's ok already. You can go take care of your other tasks. Thank you."

Those were the voices I heard when I became conscious again even though my eyes were still closed shut. It sounded like the first voice was the main healer while the second one was Ichiru. Next, I heard more voices which were really loud.

"This is all your fault for making her lose her guard that day!"

"Like I told Karai, it's her own fault for provoking me in the first place! Geez! Put the blame on me, why don't you!"

"That's because it is your fault!"

"Ayano, Catherine… you'll wake her up if you aren't quiet."

"Too late," I replied, opening my eyes to find myself in my bed with people in my room. Ayano and surprisingly, Catherine, were in the side, arguing. Ichiru was leaning at the doorway and Kazuma was sitting on a chair by my bed, holding my hand which I just noticed right now. I didn't see Ayano's friends around so I assumed they just went home since they weren't here.

Kazuma smiled at me, "I'm glad you're awake."

I smiled before becoming confused, "So what's this about some poison?"

Ichiru walked up to my bed, "It looks like that yoma's saliva contained venom and went into your bloodstream when it bit you. That's why I wasn't able to fully heal the wound. Unfortunately, I'm not familiar with extracting any kind of poison from somebody, so we would have had to wait anyway for the healer to return."

I sighed, "Oh joy. How could I have not seen that coming…? I'll be sure to thank her later then."

Ichiru chuckled, "Anyway, you may have looked symptomless for most of the week, but the poison was actually just spreading around. Those symptoms that you slowly got were part of the process. Unfortunately, a yoma biting someone is actually rare, which is why hardly anybody knows about it. It's a really good thing that the healer was aware of this poison and came back just in time to remove it because you would have fallen gravely ill if you had it in you for a week more."

"Why does something like this always happen to me…?" I muttered to myself before turning towards Ayano and Catherine to change the subject, "So Ayano won the duel?"

Ayano grinned, "Of course I did. I couldn't let her get the best of me! Not to mention, get vengeance for this incident which is her fault!"

Catherine snorted, "You just got lucky. I could have won, you know…"

"Ha, but you didn't!" Ayano said with her grin becoming bigger. Catherine growled before she had an apologetic look on her face as she faced at me, "I'm sorry. You wouldn't be in this position if it weren't for me."

I was surprised that she apologized in the first place. Even Ayano and Kazuma were amazed that she did.

I guess Catherine must have felt really guilty seeing how I could have died because of what happened. Not to mention, it probably took a lot of pride for her to apologize.

I just smiled and waved off a hand, "Don't worry about it. It's not like you had intended for it to happen. I'm just as much to blame anyway since I provoked you."

Catherine looked relieved and smiled sadly, "Thank you. It's no wonder that Kazuma has someone like you. You're so nice. He's a really lucky guy." The way she was looking and what she had just said confirmed my suspicion: she had fallen for Kazuma.

Although, it seems she has realized that he will never see her in the same way that he does with me and has accepted that. I felt sorry for her, but, yet again, I was also grateful that she wasn't going to take further action to try to take him as her own. She may be arrogant most of the time, but she does know when to step back.

I gave a small smile, "We may have been enemies before, but how about we become friends and start anew?"

Catherine looked shocked, but she nodded happily, "I would like that very much." She then grinned and gave a small laugh, "I'm so glad that I came to this country. It's not as bad as I had thought."

"Now that you've seen our wonderful country, how about you hit it back to the states where you belong?" Ayano muttered.

A stress mark appeared on Catherine's head, "What was that you said…? I do believe I have every right to stay as long as I want, thank you very much." Soon, Ayano and Catherine were back to bickering. I just shook my head.

"All right, you two. Let's let Karai rest some more to get her strength back," Ichiru said, dragging them out of the room.

Kazuma, who stayed behind and had remained quiet most of the time, finally spoke, "You gave us quite a scare, especially me," he replied in relief, squeezing my hand.

I let out a nervous laugh as I squeezed back, "I'm sorry… I can't promise that it won't happen again though."

"I know, but please try not to collapse like that again," he stated with concern. I just nodded in agreement, "I'll try."

Kazuma then leaned down and kissed my forehead before he released my hand and stood up, "I'll stop by later on."

"All right," I replied as he smiled at me before leaving the room, closing the door behind him.

I sighed as I lied back down, staring at the ceiling 'I really got to watch over myself better after I've been from one accident to another. I might not get so lucky the next few times…' I thought before closing my eyes and going back to sleep.

D-F Alchemist: There you go! I hope you liked it! Now that college starts again, I'm going to probably have an even harder time writing so bear with me! I'll try to write chapter 22 sometime this week or next week (or this month) and hopefully some pre-written chapters!

Thanks to those who reviewed and favorited the story! You guys are awesome! Also, thank you to those who gave suggestions! I think I'll be able to use them so I'll give credit at the beginning of the chapter if I do use them!

By the way, if anyone has awesome drawing abilities, (unlike me T.T) I give permission to have Karai drawn in how you picture her as long as you give me the credit and tell me about it! ;) Hope to see some lovely drawings!