So sorry about that previous problem. I actually didn't know Jugo weilded a purple flame. So to stick to my story plot while keeping the facts straight I changed it to green. Apologies for any problems caused!:/
Ablaze II: The Witch Hunt
Chapter 3; Discover
Ayano fell back against her bed. Despite her 38 hours sleep, she was exhausted. How could her father not only, keep her off school and minimize her work to barely anything, but make her train with Kazuma? Sure, spending time with him was fun, but her idea of his training seemed daunting. He'd probably drop her in a well somewhere and demand that she burns her hands into piks to scale the wall. After thinking of that, she shut up her imagination for a while, scared of how far it would go. At least, she got two weeks to prepare, when Kazuma has finished doing whatever it was he was doing with Jugo.
She ended up calling Nagisa and Yukari, filling them in on the events going on and their opinion on it. They weren't able to offer any helpful advice but talking to them managed to calm her down, if only a little. She set her cell on her night stand, looking at the alarm clock beside it. 5pm huh? The tiredness that she tried to fend of, came crashing back in even stronger, almost sweeping her off instantly. Resisting the force seemed like a futile effort, so she just let it consume her, drawing her down into a deep heavy sleep.
Ayano was running, her breaths were heavy and sharp, and thick fog clogged her lungs. Her strides were small, and she couldn't run very fast. Dimly-lit walls towered up over her. Fear pounded in her veins as she rounded every corner, almost crashing into walls as she skidded past each one. Screams echoed behind her, falling further behind, growing quieter and quieter as each voice died. "MOTHER!" Ayano screamed.
Ayano shot up from her bed, gasping for deep hot breaths. Golden eyes took in everything around her. She was in her room, in her bed, next to Kazuma. "KAZUMA!" Ayano squealed, tumbling backwards out of bed onto the floor, feeling an odd sense of Deja vú. Long eyes fluttered open, revealing pools of chocolate brown that slipped straight onto her face.
"Oh. Hey, Ayano." Kazuma muttered, half asleep.
"Don't "Hey Ayano" me! What the hell are you doing in my bed?" Ayano yelled, ready to blast his face full of flames.
"I was sleeping. But right now, nothing much." Kazuma replied, waving a lazy hand. A red eye brow twitched, hands balled into fists and an arm swung forward, aiming directly at the wind-user's tranquil face. "How dare you-"
Suddenly, Kazuma's arm reached out, catching her fist with ease. One eye opened with a sinister smile twisting on his lips. Instead of letting her go, he pulled. Ayano squealed, falling forward into a rapture of warmth, curling around her. Kazuma's arms wrapped around her like steel vines locking him against her chest. "Mmm...warm." He muttered, nuzzling his chin into her neck.
"K...Ka- Kazuma!" Ayano yelled again.
"Shh!" Kazuma mumbled with a soft, husky voice. "It's late, you'll wake everyone up," Golden eyes darted to the alarm clock flashing on her beside table. 1am. She fell asleep at 5, meaning she had 8 hours sleep. How strange. After her crazy sleep of 38 hours, her body was ready to fall asleep at 5, and have a normal 8 hour sleep. Except, she still felt tired. How long did she have to sleep, to finally wake up with enough energy for the day.
Maybe, it was her dream. It had been a long, long time since she had a dream like that. They once plagued her childhood, but she thought she had grown out of them, gotten over what happened. Then again, how could a child ever get over something like that. Even after 10 years. Ayano sighed, her mind vaguely mulling over her thoughts, trying to redirect them from her long-term past.
Ayano felt the powerful call of sleep draw her back in, as she slipped back for the rest of the night.
After the fractional nightmare, Ayano had another simple dream. A single flame burned in the center of a darkening sky, cast with a blood-red tint. Except this time it wasn't a white flame, but a green flame. It turned to red skies into a dawning lilac.
When Ayano woke, she felt groggy and half-awake. A heavy weight kept her pinned to her bed, as she slowly glanced about the room. Daylight trickled in through the small crack in her door, blowing in two stray leaves.
Ayano fought against the pull toward her bed, slipping out of her sheets. Her feet padded against the wooden floor, curling up a little at the chill under her feet. A hand swooped down, picking one of the leaves from the floor. As she held it to the light, sunlight poured through it's thin sheet, making it glow amber. Golden eyes watched it admiringly, thinking of its small autumn beauty.
The longer she looked at it, the more she began to notice a small black spec growing in the center of the leaf. It spread slowly over its skin like a poison, turning from orange to black. The inside caved, crumbling flecks fluttered to a pile at her feet. The hole spread, eating away at the leaf like...it was burning. Ayano pulled it closer, her eyes fully awake and staring intensely at the circle. Something flickered; It was small and tiny green flame, spreading faster the more leaf it consumed. At the same time, it grew little by little. It had almost taken the entire leaf to pieces when she finally saw the cause. Turning the crisp leaf to ash, was nothing other than little green flames. They burned the same bright green as the one in her dream as it devoured the leaf until nothing was left. Ayano still held it in her palm as the flames finished it off. She expected the flame to go out, leaving her intrigued and curious, but it didn't. The little flame sat on her hand, getting a little bigger each second.
Ayano didn't know what to do. All she could do was stare at it while it got taller and brighter. It wasn't burning her, but every time it grew, the mass of the flame grew as well. It was heavy. Not heavy enough for her to strain to hold it, but heavier than any flame she had ever wielded before. There was something about it that was different. It had more of a solidified feel to it. Like a liquidized flame, if that made any sense. Describing it was difficult, and she couldn't find the right words.
It grew to about the size of a fist in her hand when she began to notice something else too. She wouldn't have been able to see it while it was so small, but now it was larger it was visibly easier. Small, white flames were burning around the base of the green flame. They were like a small barrier between her hand and the flame. It was clearly the same flames from her dream the day before. The green flame seemed a little more mysterious than a moment ago, and Ayano became curious. She picked up the second leaf abandoned on the floor, drawing it slowly towards the green flame. As soon as it touched the flame, it disintegrated into a pile of dust. The green flame crawled across the leaf, reaching out for her fingers. Another white flame burst from it, catching and dissolving the green flame before it even got chance to touch her skin.
Golden eyes looked at her hands, and back at the flame cautiously. That flame was dangerous. But that question popped up in her mind again. What even was that flame? A green flame? She'd never heard of it. And it suddenly made her nervous holding it, a feeling deep down in her wishing for it to go out. As always, a feeling counteracted that. A dark feeling stirred in her chest, as she watched it with admiration, thoughts cropping up in her mind. If she was able to control the flame, would she become strong? Strong enough for her father to acknowledge her strength? Strong enough, even for Kazuma, to accept her power?
"Ayano." A familiar voice grumbled behind her. Ayano fought to hide her squeal of surprise as she jumped around, clenching her fists.
"I...umm," Ayano panicked, looking back to the pair of brown eyes stared at her intensely. "This...this is...erm..."
"This is what?" Kazuma grumbled back, looking rumpled and grumpy, and not in the slightest bit amused. Ayano looked at him curiously, then back to her fist.
"The fla-" There was nothing there. Her fist clenched closed on her palm, and the flame was gone. Did she put it out by closing her hand? Slowly, she opened it back up, wondering if it would relight in her palm. It didn't. The only traces left of the green flame was the small pile of ash by her foot. Ayano was relieved it was gone, but she was also slightly disappointed.
Her gaze turned back to Kazuma lying innocently on her bed. He wore the same clothes as yesterday, creased and disarranged. His soft mussed brown hair spiked in random places, looking more scruffy than it usually did. His lazy, half-awake eyes stared at her with an odd perspectiveness, and a grumpy pout fresh on his lips. Kazuma...was in her bed. That reminded her, she had a dream last night about her wrapped up in his arms, in her bed. As if the wind mage knew exactly what she was feelings, a smug smile turned the corner of his lips. It wasn't a dream. "KAZUMA!"
Ayano's day just got worst after that. There was work, which only required her doing a check up on a place where a Yohma had been vanquished. There was nothing to report, other than the fact there was an ungrateful owner who was bitter and hoped she'd go away. He couldn't wait to get rid of her, the stingy old man. He even called her a 'kid'. She was 16 now. That's a young adult, not a child. Thankfully, she was relieved of going with Kazuma, teaming up with Ren instead. Ren would be starting doing Yohma exterminations in a few years, he might as well have on-the-job experience. If you could call what Ayano was doing a 'job'. She didn't mind. After this morning, a break from the irritating wind mage was just what she needed.
But life wasn't nice enough to give her too much peace and quiet. Ren was bursting to find out what happened. All he knew was that Ayano was chasing him around the entire Kannagi grounds with Enriaha calling him a 'pervert' and 'molester'. "So, what did Kazuma do to you this time?" Ren asked. He sounded quizzical, but also cautious, knowing not to push Ayano to tell him. Sometimes when people did that, Ayano would just get mad again.
Ayano sent him a side wards stare on their walk home, and sighed. There really wasn't much harm in telling Ren. It could clear up some of the rumors floating about the house. She even heard someone saying that her and Kazuma slept together. It was hard to make them believe it didn't happen when a hot red blush burnt her face as she tried to deny it. "He snuck into my bed while I was sleeping." Ayano grumbled with left-over rage. Every time she thought about it, she wanted to punch the wind-user in the face. Maybe she would get the chance in practice tomorrow.
"He snuck into your bed!" Ren exclaimed, a similarly small blush on his cheeks. Why was he feeling embarrassed? Shouldn't it be Ayano? "And then what?"
"What?" Ayano asked. And then what, what? What was he... Oh... OH! As it dawned on Ayano's face her entire body bloomed a hot red. "Nothing!"
"Nothing?" Ren repeated innocently, unaware of whatever Ayano thought he was implying.
"No, Nothing. He just fell asleep was all." Ayano sighed, dragging her hand down the length of her face.
"Oh, okay." Ren accepted it just like that. He didn't say anything more. He just left Ayano to calm down on her own, she was sure there was steam blowing out her ears.
They walked in silence for a bit longer, as Ayano slowly regained herself.
Just as they were passing the suburban area, a scream pierced the air, catching both Kannagi kids in surprise. "What was that?" Ren exclaimed. Ayano hadn't been paying attention before, but now she could feel it.
"A Yohma!" Ayano replied, her eyes jumping everywhere. "It came from that way!" Ayano called, already breaking off into a sprint down a side path.
"Ayano! Shouldn't we call Jugo or Kazuma?" Ren shouted from behind her, trying his best to catch up. She already knew what Ren meant. Ren had come on jobs with her before Kazuma came, where they'd come across stray Yohma. During those times, he just stood back, completely certain she could handle it herself. But she also knew that what Ren was doing was with her in mind.
"No. It's fine." Ayano shouted back, despite knowing what Ren was saying. But, it was her chance to prove to Ren, Jugo and Kazuma that she could do it. "I'll handle this myself!" Before Ren could protest any longer, she bit the dust and pushed ahead of him, turning down several winding streets, closing in on the source of the malicious energy.
Finally, she came to a fence where the energy pin pointed. Ayano didn't waist a second vaulting herself up and over the fence.
She landed gracefully on soft, well-cared for grass in a fairly small backyard. A surprisingly large Yohma waited for her, tearing up all the flowers, trees and furniture. Ayano also spotted the people standing horrified on the inside of their screen door. "HEY! GET OUT OF THERE!" The man yelled, holding his hands protectively on the small child in front of him, and his wife to one side.
"It's okay." Ayano called back, waving a calming hand. "I do this for a living!" Ayano turned back to the Yohma who hadn't yet spotted her, rubbing her palms together. "ENRIAHA COME FORTH!" She yelled, letting fire pour from her hands, to solidify into a flaming bronze blade.
The Yohma finally spotted her, homing in on her fast. Ayano managed to duck and roll out the way, just missing a flying hand. It carved a hole in the ground, tearing up a chunk of Earth which he splattered towards her. Ayano made a split run to the side, letting the earth spit like bullets through the fence. "You really thought you'd get me with that?" Ayano chuckled, a smile turning up the corner of her lips. It had been a while since she had found a fight with a Yohma so exciting. That might have just been the opportunity it was providing. Ayano called forth the golden flames that enveloped her sword, springing off the fence. It crashed down on the Yohma's shoulder, making a deep cut through the middle.
The beast roared, slamming another fist against the earth. Ayano landed to the side of the beast, looking back smugly over her shoulder, as the beast shook in pain. It's fist crashed against the fence, splintering the wood apart. A gaping hole in their garden broke out onto the side street Ayano had came from. Stood in the way, was no one other than Ren. "REN!" Ayano yelled, darting forward. The beast had already spotted the young magic-user who stared up in surprise at the beast. There was no time for him to call forth his magic, the beast's arm was already crashing through the air.
"REN NO!" Ayano screamed.
Suddenly, green flames exploded from Ayano's fist, leaping forward to the yhoma. As soon as it touched, black poison spread over it's body, disintegrating it to dust in an instant. By the time it's fist reached Ren, it was already crumbling to small crisp pieces of charcoal. It was all over. All that was left of the Yohma was a pile of ashes.
Ayano stood staring in shock as the ash fell like snow, turning the green grass grey. She wasn't the only one. Ren dropped to his knees, his body numb with surprise. But instead of looking at the leftover Yohma, his eyes were stuck on Ayano. A green flame?
Their suspended shock was broken by the cheers of the family breaking out into the yard. They ran over to Ayano, praising her and thanking her for saving them. The woman rushed inside the house, bringing out a plate of cookies offering her one. They looked nice, but Ayano wasn't able to eat anything. A sickness churned in her stomach, threatening to make her entirely sick. It took a while, but Ayano stiffly managed to twist out of the families grip, bid them goodbye and leave. Ren trailed silently behind her.
When they worked their way out onto the main street, Ayano collapsed onto the nearest bench. She felt drained. Both emotionally and physically. It had taken everything out of her to use whatever the hell that flame was. It shouldn't have been a surprise for her to use it again. But, it wasn't like last time where it simple leapt onto her hand and grew bit by bit. This time, she had actually summoned it. But thinking about it, even the flames on the leaf had to come from somewhere too. Maybe that was her.
Ayano felt horribly, sickeningly guilty as her eyes slipped over to the blonde Kannagi sat silently next to her. He hadn't said a word since they left, staring down at the floor. His expression, of what little she could see of it, was empty. When he finally spoke, his voice was soft and quiet, making Ayano fill with dread. "What...did you do?"
"I beat the Yohma." Ayano retreated, trying to wriggle her way out, acting naive. Ren's dead stare dropped onto her with intense eyes. Ayano couldn't be sure she'd even seen him so serious before. Ayano sighed reluctantly, cutting to the chase. "I don't know."
"You summonded a green flame." Ren added.
"I know." Ayano whined.
"There's no green flame recorded in the Kannagi history."
"I know."
"It turned that yohma to dust in seconds."
"I know that too." Ayano growled, raking her fingers through her hair in fustration. Ren's eyes turned sympathetic looking onto his despairing cousin.
"Have you always been able to do that?" Ren asked, his voice sounded a little more curios now with a twinge of excitement. His expression before told her he didn't know what to think about it, so instead, he seemed to have moved onto her.
"Hell no." Ayano chuckled weakly, wondering what would happen if she had been able to do it all the time. At least she would probably understand it by now.
"Can you do it now?" Ren turned to her, his eyes meeting hers.
"I...don't know." She hadn't really thought about summoning it before. She had only discovered it in the morning, and Kazuma had distracted her enough.
"Try it." Ren suggested, scooting an inch closer.
"What?" Ayano exclaimed.
"Try it." Ren repeated, his eyes staring eagerly at her hands.
"I don't know Ren. I don't even know how I did it, or what it does. Who knows what might happen?" Ayano whined. She stared down at her bare hands, turning them over in thought, as if they might give her some kind of clue.
"When have you ever been one to think before you act?" Ren countered.
"And when did you become this cheeky? I think you've been hanging out with Kazuma too much." Ayano rebuted. Ren offered her a cheeky smile in corrispondence with her comment. And, she caved. Ren wasn't much younger than Ayano, but he was still cute.
"Fine." Ayano admitted, rising from the chair. She slipped back into the narrower side alley's to avoid drawing too much attention from the main road. She certainly didn't want to get spotted by a Kannagi or any other magical family for that matter of fact.
Ayano stood up with her hands outstretched, her feet spread apart and her shoulders relaxed. Ren took several steps back, watching with anticipation. A deep breath filled her lungs and she closed her eyes. Concentration narrowed her mind, focusing on summoning the green flame again.
A fist struck forward, pushing all her remaining energy into her fist, calling for the green flame. Nothing. A small burst of flames coughed out from her fist, and that was all.
"Maybe you're just too tired?" Ren suggested, looking a little disappointed. "I mean, I don't even think you have enough energy to summon normal fire."
"Maybe." Ayano muttered, staring at her palm again. She had to admit she was a little disappointed too. But relief was also floating in her heart. Maybe she wouldn't see it again. Maybe she wasn't different or weird, summoning irregular flames. Maybe she wasn't even a Kannagi at all. Maybe she was adopted into the family from a extinct family of green-fire magic users. Or maybe not.
"Maybe what?" A voice that had popped up too often, spoke.
"Kazuma!" Ren exclaimed in surprise. The wind mage, dressed in fresh clean clothes leaned up against the wall of the street, giving the pair an inspective look.
"And what are you two up to?" Kazuma asked, his eyes falling on the innocently weak boy. Ren's eyes jumped to Ayano, waiting for her directions. From the distressed look on her face, he decided what he thought would be best.
"We're on a way back." Ren lied.
"Oh really?" Kazuma's eye brows shot up. Brown eyes intensified on the small magic-user. Normally, Ren would have given by then, unable to lie to the brother he loved so much. However, he managed to hold steady, looking innocent and kind. Kazuma's stare relaxed, trusting that the kid wasn't lying and switching to Ayano instead. That innocence, Ayano decided, could be dangerous.
"Yes, really." Ayano snapped, barging past him. From the tired look on his face, he was able to grasp the fact that the red-head was still mad at him, despite their near-whole day apart. "Let's go, Ren." Ayano began a brisk walk down the street, letting Ren run to catch up with her, and leaving Kazuma to wander behind.
As soon as they got home, both Ren and Ayano disappeared for the night into her room.
Kazuma thought he would listen over their conversation. He was certain they were hiding something. It had to be something big for even Ren to lie to him. Even if it was for Ayano's sake. Overall, he decided it was best to find Jugo first, especially after what had happened during the day.
The door to Jugo's room was open, letting the cold autumn breeze float in. Jugo sat over a cup of tea, looking through some papers scatter on a desk under paper weights. "Kazuma, you're back." Jugo stated, looking up from his work. As Kazuma closed the door, Jugo put down his pen and glasses, moving aside the paperwork. Kazuma took a seat beside him, relaying his thoughts in his head.
"I found something, not much but a little bit." Kazuma informed.
"What was it you found?" Jugo asked, his eyes turning a steel seriousness.
"The glasses guy at the Konishi house, he wasn't a Konishi, and from the looks of it, not apart of any magic-using family at all."
"So, that's what the Konishi family told you. Who did you speak with?" Jugo questioned, his eyes thoughtful with a steady old hand brushing his chin.
"Hiro Konishi." Jugo looked up, acting a little surprised, but barely showing it.
"Information from Hiro might be misleading." Jugo reminded him. Kazuma shrugged.
"Let's just say he took the initative and decided to cooperate truthfully." Jugo expected Kazuma to act a little more smugly than he should have, but he didn't. Kazuma's eyes remained serious and determined. What else was there for him to do when he'd almost see Ayano die right in front of him. Even after his history with Tsui Ling.
"What did he say?" Jugo decided to ignore anything Kazuma was implying about his actions.
"He said that the man showed up, offered him the chance to get back at the Kannagi's. He was the one who showed them where the sacred sword was for the water family. In exchange, all he asked for was the magic-blocking cuffs." Kazuma accounted.
"And how did they know he wasn't apart of any family?"
"When he first arrived they put magic-cuffs on him but they didn't work because there was no magic in him to draw out." Kazuma added.
"I see." Jugo nodded thoughtfully.
"Why would some non-magic-user try coming after the Kannagi family?" Kazuma asked, his whole brain to exhausted to perplex anything.
"There are many families, not just magic using families that have a grudge against the Kannagi's." Jugo admitted. "But it's certain that now he knows about Ayano's power he might just come for her." His hand stopped, turning into a tightly clenched fist. When it relaxed, his tired eyes set back on Kazuma showing all his years. "Thank you Kazuma, this information was useful. Your training starts with Ayano tomorrow, am I correct?"
"Yeah." Kazuma agreed, rising from his seat.
"Then good luck." Jugo offered a weak smile as Kazuma left, shutting the door behind him.
"I'll need it." Kazuma muttered to himself, walking off down the hallway.
Next Monday; Chapter 4; WitchHunter
Our mysterious antagonist finally appears and reveals his true idenity while Ayano struggles to deal with the stress and her new found power in the final conclusion of the Ablaze II: The Witch Hunt
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-A-ccentric