Chapter 5, everybody!

Thanks to all my reviewers so far! ^^

Disclaimer: Why do I still have to type this...it's pretty obvious...

~Chapter 5~

Hope's Flame

I was walking back to my apartment after visiting Spitfire. I decided to take a detour through the park simply because I hadn't been there in a while; I missed the way the wind laughed as it blew through the trees. I wore a pair of jean caprice and a sky blue tank top with a black hoody over it. I had my A-Ts strapped to my feet and a rolled slowly through the park, reading the book I held in my hand as I went.

I noticed a boy a couple feet away. He wore a middle school uniform with a hoody tucked underneath the jacket. A beanie covered his blond hair and he was concentrating on the laptop in his lap. I vaguely thought he must be doing something important. As I drew closer, I heard noises coming from the small computer. A game maybe?

"The point is, this is where you need the most improvement. Work on that for now, Kazu-kun."

I froze. A voice I hadn't heard in ages. My book slipped through my fingers, creating a soft thud as it hit the ground. The boy jumped and looked up at me, startled, as tears started streaming down my face.

"Hey," he said, concerned, "Are you okay?"

Before I could stop it, his name slipped through my lips. "Spitfire…"

~0*0~

We were sitting on a bench and Kazu handed me a can of juice.

"Thank you, Kazu-kun."

"You're welcome." He took a big sip of his from his own can. He glanced at me as if he wanted to say something, but was unsure how. "Ummm…Sarah-san?" I glanced at him. "So…you knew Spitfire?"

I smiled softly at him. "Yeah. We were close."

He raised his eyebrows. "Define 'close'."

I laughed. "Hmmm. How to put in terms a middle school kid would understand?"

"Hey!"

I chuckled, pulling out the key to Spitfire's house, which I carried on me at all times, and held it up for Kazu to see. "Close enough to have the key to his house, but not enough to be dating."

Kazu gapped at the key. "You have the key to the Flame King's house?"

"Former Flame King." I corrected. "According to what I hear, he left his title to some kid on Kogarasumaru." I smirked, having already figured out who Kazu was.

"Are you a Storm Rider?" he asked, confused.

"No, but I'm not half bad at A-Ts. I can tie Spitfire in a run." I replied.

"Seriously?!"

I laughed again. "Well maybe not quite, but close to it." I took a sip from my can. "So I hear you've inherited his Flame Regalia."

Kazu immediately became solemn, his eyes losing their glow. He turned away from me, pulling his cap down over his eyes.

"Kazu-kun?"

"I lost it." He mumbled.

"What?"

"I lost it. I lost his Regalia. I let someone steal them!" he cried, his voice shaking.

I reached out and put my hand on his shoulder. "Hey," I said softly. I lightly gripped his chin and turned his face toward me, pulling his cap up so I could see his eyes. There was a deep pain in his eyes that I recognized; grief, failure, he felt he had betrayed Spitfire and lost his last memory of him. "They're just A-Ts." He was about to say something when I placed my thumb over his lips. "Besides, you inherited something more important. Something no one can steal from you." I pulled my hand away and let it rest in my lap.

Kazu looked confused. "But he didn't give me anything else."

I chuckled. "Silly Kazu-kun. This isn't something you can see."

"Then what…?"

"He gave you his fire, his hope." I said softly.

Kazu gave me a warm smile that reminded me so much of Spitfire, my chest ached. "Thank you, Sarah-san."

~0*0~

I was sitting at my place by Spitfire's bed, talking to him as usual. He no longer needed the oxygen mask to breath, and the bandages covering his head were gone, his face completely healed. Amazingly, he had no scars, though I knew that wouldn't be the case with the rest of his body. His arms had been moved so that they now rested on top of the blanket. Theo had told me that his bones were not completely healed, but they were making progress. The bruises and cuts covering his body had healed, as had the "stab" wounds that had made him lose so much blood. His burns had healed, but left scars.

I sighed lightly. "Hi, Spitfire." I paused, listening to the steady beeping of the heart monitor. After a moment, I said, "I met Kazu-kun today. He's a good kid; I see why you chose him." I stroked his cheek, recalling my conversation with him. "He lost your Regalia though. Someone stole them. He's beating himself up over it, but I think he can manage. Says Ikki knocked some sense into him."

I continued talking to Spitfire for another hour before I had to leave, promising that I'd be back tomorrow.

~0*0~

I was sitting at one of the outside tables at my favorite café, typing. Since my meeting with Kazu over a month ago, Professor Shina noticed another change in my writing; it was hopeful. I smiled at the thought; Kazu's fire was my hope now. I had been tracking his team's progress since my encounter with him. Kazu didn't disappoint, he and his team had made a lot of progress.

I continued typing until someone called out to me.

"Sarah-san?"

Startled, I looked up. Kazu was standing outside the café gate with a girl his age. She wore a school uniform and had shoulder-length black hair.

"Kazu-kun?"

He smiled and jumped the gate. "Me an' Emily were just heading to practice." He said, gesturing to the girl, who, in my opinion, looked slightly pissed at the fact that Kazu was talking to me. "You wanna come watch?" he asked.

I checked my watch. It was about five o'clock. I had already visited Spitfire and I didn't have classes the next day. I smiled up at Kazu. "Sure."

I changed into my A-Ts, throwing my shoes into my bag. I followed Kazu and Emily, talking to them along the way. I learned that Kazu was just a little bit oblivious when it came to Emily. The girl was totally in love with him! And he didn't even see it! Boys.

We reached a middle school which I'm guessing was theirs, and went to the back. Emily ran off to change, returning in a track outfit with a Kogarasumaru jacket. The rest of Kazu's teammates, one girl and four boys, stared at me.

The girl was the only one not wearing a team jacket, so I guessed she wasn't an official member. One of the boys was a little taller than Kazu and had black spiky hair. The guy standing next to him was shorter, but much more intimidating. He had midnight blue hair and an eye patch over one of his eyes, the other was an intense, glowing gold. The third guy towered above me. He had chocolate skin and friendly violet eyes. The last guy was also short, but he was round to.

Before Kazu could say anything, I spoke. "So this is the famous Kogarasumaru I've heard so much about."

The first boy jumped forward. "Ah, so you heard of me. Not surprised, everyone has. I'm famous. But I don't give autographs unless you beg for them."

Kazu sighed and dropped his head in his hand. "Ikki…"

I looked at Ikki. "I don't want an autograph."

Ikki looked horrified. "But surely you are impressed by me?!"

"No." I said simply. "So far the only ones I'm "impressed with", as you say, would be Kazu-kun and him." I pointed to the kid with the eye patch.

Ikki gapped at me. "You're impressed with Kazu and Agito?!

"You've never even seen us ride." Kaze said.

"Don't need to." I replied. "Spitfire wouldn't do what he did for you if you were just some knock off; you have his fire." Kazu stared at me. "And…Agito's aura gives him away. He's been a king for a long time."

Agito glared at me. "Fuck."

I laughed and looked back at Ikki, smirking. "Though if you really are the Sky King, I'm sure it won't take long for you to impress me."

Ikki stared at me, suddenly very serious. Agito asked the question on almost everyone's mind. "Who the hell are you?"

I smiled. "Name's Sarah."

"I met her in the park about a month ago. I invited her to watch practice." Kazu said. He introduced everyone, but they were still a little weary of me.

"You've got A-Ts. You a storm rider?" Buccha asked.

"No I just ride 'cause I can." I sighed, looking up at the sky. The sun was setting. "How can it be so hot when the sun is going down?" I said to no one in particular. I started to take off my hoody when I noticed Onigiri inch closer to me. I paused and glared at him.

"Uh, Onigiri, I wouldn't, she's almost at par with Spitfire." Kazu warned. Onigiri looked at me surprised, as did everyone else.

"What?" I asked. "Just because I'm not a storm rider doesn't mean I can't be good at A-Ts." I took off my hoody, leaving me in a tank top and shorts, and tied it around my waist.

"Holy shit!" I heard Ikki curse.

"Sarah-san, what happened to your arm?" Yayoi asked.

Oh. That's what everyone was freaking out about. I had stopped wearing bandages over my burn a long time ago, and it had, as I predicted, scarred. "Oh, I was caught in a fire a while back." I said simply, running a hand across my burn.

"That's the weirdest burn I've ever seen." Buccha said.

"Yeah, it totally looks like a tattoo! Ya know, accept for the way your skin looks." Emily exclaimed.

"Yeah, I thought so to. I don't really know how it happened that way…." I said, trying to recall exactly what happened that night.

"It's way cool!" Ikki yelled, startling me. When did he get next to me? "I want a cool scar like that too! I want one! I want one! I want one!"

I stared at him as he whined, shock evident on my face. "You want to be thrown in a fire as you watch someone you care about be consumed by it?"

Ikki stopped whining and stared at me, surprised. Realizing what I had said, I covered my mouth with my hand. "And who exactly would this person be?" Ikki asked softly. Slowly, I removed my hand from my mouth. "Spitfire." I sighed.

Everyone stared at me, stunned. "You were there?" Kazu managed to ask.

I nodded. "I got there near the end. You were already gone, Kazu-kun."

The atmosphere had grown solemn and everyone just stood around awkwardly. I sighed. "Aren't you guys supposed to be practicing?"

They snapped out of whatever trance they were in. "Okay!" Ikki shouted. "Time to see how much you've improved your run Kazu!"

We went to the track and Kazu got ready to start. Emily held the stopwatch in her hand. Ikki gave the signal, and Kazu took off. The kid's pretty fast; he was leaving trails of fire behind him.

I smiled. "He would be very proud, Kazu-kun." I whispered to myself. "You've embraced your flame; he will be very proud indeed." I hadn't noticed that I changed "would" to "will".

Agito, who was standing next to me, was the only one to hear. He shot me a sidelong glance, eyeing me suspiciously. I ignored him, and watched as Kazu finished his lap. I wondered when I would be able to tell him that Spitfire wasn't dead.

And another chapter is complete. Please review!