Alinea

Ara was left standing by the door way, still stunned from the turn of events. Who would have thought that the quiet Kou would suddenly talk to her like that?

But, she didn't really mind. She was the one who said complimenting people was good after all. She shouldn't complain. The guy was just probably thinking it would be nice to return the favor since she called him pretty first.

"Kou?" she repeated his name, and wondered which dialect was that. Also…

"What does he mean 'see you tomorrow'?"

Weird guy, she thought again. But if he's friends with Kazehaya Gin, then he should be some kind of a weirdo too, right?

"But does that mean oniichan's weird too?" she mused out loud. After all, her brother senmed to be close to them.

With a shrug, Ara went back inside, let the maid close the door, and picked up her stuff from the living room and went to her room. She went to take a bath and changed into her pajamas.

Afterwards, she unceremoniously plopped on her soft bed. She was exhausted, she thought, as shifted her head, and her eye caught her phone which was blinking. She frowned as she sat up and grabbed it to check, and saw that she had a lot of missed calls from Koharu.

There were no messages though, just calls – the last one was fifty minutes ago while she was downstairs with Kaze-nii and Kou.

"What does she want?" Curious, Ara tried calling Koharu, but the other's phone was now switched off. She tried calling again five minutes later, but it was still off, and so she decided to just ask her tomorrow at school.

=================

"Kou?"

Kazehaya asked the prince as soon as they got in the car and drove away. He was teasing the prince about the name he asked Ara to call him.

Homura Ryuu raised a brow. "What about it?"

"Why did you lie?"

"I didn't." Homura Ryuu looked out the window. "It's a short for Koutaishidenka. Isn't that a title people in the clan use to address my person?"

Kazehaya whistled as he shook his head. "Oh well, at least she will not be calling you pretty archer sempai anymore from now on," he said and then chuckled. "And that last line! Koutaishidenka-sama, I didn't know you could hit on girls."

"I'll hit you too if you don't keep quiet,"Ryuu told him blandly, and so Kazehaya clamped his mouth shut, but not before sticking out his tongue at his grumpy friend.

Ryuu wasn't serious about hitting him anyway. In fact, the guy looked totally happy. People who didn't know him just wouldn't notice.

"You'll pick her up at school tomorrow?" he asked and the other nodded and sighed.

The prince's expression then turned serious. "Any news regarding the portal?" he asked, and it was Kazehaya's turn to sigh.

"No."

Homura Ryuu was talking about the unusual activity at the portal a month ago. "We still couldn't figure out why there wasn't anything that got transported."

"So it's not an invisible beast?"Ryuu asked again. After searching for a month and not finding anything, he couldn't help but think that it was something they couldn't see with the n.a.k.e.d eye.

"But if it's invisible, it would still have done something to get our attention."

Usually, elemental beasts that got transported by the portal were carnivorous in nature. Even if they're invisible, they would have to at least cause accidents or deaths in the area for nutrition. But so far, nothing unusual happened.

"Maybe there wasn't anything transported after all," Kazehaya said hopefully, but of course they didn't believe that.

Why?

Because, the portal only ever reacted when someone happened to touch it from the other side.

"Keep your vigilance," Ryuu ordered softly, and the other nodded in agreement, and then looked thoughtful.

"Koutaishidenka?"Kazehaya asked, and when the other looked at him, he hesitated before speaking. "What if… What if it's not a beast the portal transported this time but a person?"

Homura Ryuu shifted on his seat and sighed heavily. "I already thought of that idea. But have you heard any news about a strange looking person wandering around in strange clothing and speak a language nobody could understand?"

At his words, Kazehaya smiled sheepishly. Ryuu was right. If it was a person, they would have found him a long time ago.

Just then, Kazehaya Gin's telephone rang, and he quickly picked it up. "What?"he barked on the phone, and then listened to the caller's report. "Then deal with it. It's just a salamander."

The caller however seemed not yet finished with his report. "WHAT?"

Kazehaya shifted on his seat, and glanced at Homura who was frowning at him, and signaled him to wait. "Okay. Koutaishidenka's with me. We'll be there," he said before hanging up. He quickly barked an address to the driver to change their course.

"The portal brought another one?"Ryuu asked and Kazehaya nodded, his expression grim.

This was totally unheard of. In the decades they'd been guarding the portal, it was the first time it ever reacted twice within a short period of time. Usually it only reacted once a year. Sometimes it even stayed quiet for a long time – the longest was five years apart.

"Then what's the problem?"Homura asked.

All the members of the clan were capable soldiers with superhuman strength or capabilities to control elements. They should be able to deal with low level beasts when they crossed.

"They can't handle it."

"Why? Isn't it just a salamander?"Ryuu asked, and Kazehaya flinched.

"It's big," he answered blandly. "The water casters already cast illusion magic around it. Our people also made sure the place was evacuated. They think it's an earthquake," he continued just as the car entered the illusion field, and indeed the ground was shaking.

"What the – "Kazehaya cursed as the tremor made him hit his head at the roof of the car.

He then turned to look out the window with a scowl, but it vanished, replaced by a shocked expression upon seeing the humongous lizard around three meters in height and seemed to be six to eight meters in length. It was causing a lot of damage to the surrounding area as it tried to swat the Homura clan's people with its claws.

"What the – that's not a salamander. That's friggin' Godzilla," Kazehaya muttered. They'd never gotten something so big like this before.

He and Ryuu stepped out of the car, their gazes focused on the monster who was already very irritated it increased its attacks. Then, it suddenly stopped as it hiccuped, and everyone watched it warily as it seemed to cough.

Ryuu's eyes however turned into slits as he barked an order. "Retreat!"

His voice reverberated in the whole protected area. Everyone who was engaging the monster stopped and quickly stepped far back.

At that very moment, the huge salamander hurled fire from its mouth scorching everything in front of it, which unfortunately was where Kazehaya and Ryuu were standing.

"In your dreams!" Kazehaya yelled as he lifted his hand and suddenly produced wind so strong, it hurled the fire back into the monster's face, making it stagger.

He was about to step forward to fight the beast, when a hand clamped on his shoulder. He turned and saw Ryuu looking at the monster like it was a blessing.

"Errr…What?"he asked and Ryuu started cracking his knuckles.

"Tell everyone to leave the area,"Ryuu said as he started walking forward.

Kazehaya was going to protest, but stopped and shrugged.

"Oh well," he muttered as he signaled for everyone to leave the barrier.

Soon he was the only one remaining with the prince inside. He used his powers of the wind to reinforce the barrier in case Koutaishidenka got so excited and failed to control his fire.

That's right. The Koutaishidenka of the Homura House was a flame caster. His name, Homura Ryuu, actually translated to "flame dragon." Just like others who had the affinity with fire, he was actually hot headed and wild.

This was why all his time not fighting was spent practicing delicate arts like kyudo, ikebana, and sado, that would teach him to control his volatile tendencies.

And volatile it was…

As Ryuu came nearer and nearer the rampaging beast, blue flames suddenly appeared around his body, and Kazehaya's hazel orbs widened with excitement.

It seemed the prince had been stressed by controlling his raging feelings all these years that he decided to go all out tonight.

"Burn!"

Ryuu exclaimed, and the blue flame from his body burst out, soaring high up in the sky in a shape of a blue dragon.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRGH

The dragon roared as it soared, and Kazehaya smiled.

"Amazing," he thought as he watched the dragon turn downwards, its mouth wide open, until he swallowed the beast which was about to breathe red fire towards it.

In a while, the smell of burning flesh permeated the air as the dragon ate the salamander, its blue flames devouring all of its length until nothing but ashes were left.

The salamander was defeated just like that. It didn't even take several minutes as the prince went full force immediately.

"Return," Ryuu ordered, and the blue fire quickly retreated, obeying its master, docile as it returned to the prince's body.

"Now that," Kazehaya was impressed. "Was the fire of the true Flame Emperor…"