First attempt at this whole fanfiction thing so be gentle. Reviews would be appreciated.

Depending on if there is interest, I have ideas to turn this into a longer story rather than simply a one-shot.

Disclaimer: I do not own Kaze No Stigma.

She'd been there from the beginning and would be until he left this world.

Of course, there were times when she was certain that her time with him would be drastically shorter. He was always putting his life in danger, even as a small child. If she had the ability to die, she was sure he would be the death of her.

It was not an easy gig- being Kazuma Kannagi's guardian angel.

She was there when he was the tender age of 4, constantly roaming the Kannagi compound, sending the staff into a frenzy trying to find the youngster. He could usually be found near the edge of the pond, trying to grab Koi or reach a leaf that fell onto the glass surface of the water. Numerous times she used her power to call the wind to blow a cherry blossom into his line of view in order to have him follow it away from the depth of the water.

She remembered his 6th birthday, when the little rascal had climbed a nearby tree to retrieve his red balloon that had lodged within the highest branches. She almost had a heart attack when the balloon popped and startled him and, losing his grip on the branch, started plummeting to the ground below. Luckily, she had been able to force another branch to catch his shirt, slowing him down but scratching the hell out of the poor boy in the process. She had sighed with relief when he had stood up, picked the twigs out of his unruly brown hair and wandered back into the house.

She had thought then that life guarding Kazuma was going to be difficult.

…

She hated how truly correct her assumption was.

The first signs of how difficult his path would be appeared when at 8 he began to feel the first stages of the inadequacies that would plague him in the years to come. It was at these times she felt the despair of how powerless she was to stop the torment. She watched on helplessly as he screamed in agony as the flames enveloped him entirely. Despite her knowledge that it was futile, she would wrap her arms and wings around his body, so small in the fetal position, trying to block out the jeers and cruel laughter of fire wielding peers.

She remembered the countless hours spent watching over him as he tried in vain to control the flames of a candle-a sad, desperate attempt to gain the power of the clan's magic. An attempt to fit in to the only home he ever knew.

'I can do this…I HAVE to do this…..why can't I just control fire like my cousins?'

She smiled wryly at the irony that she could hear his thoughts, but she could never speak to him. Never truly touch him, only through small elemental changes, could she alter his physical world.

Once, she helped the flame dance for him. She had thought this was a kind act on her part. His eyes sparkled with delight and he ran into the house, calling for his father to come see his accomplishment. She laughed bitterly. That was a reality check if she ever had one. She was forced to look on in dismay as his father berated him, irritated that his time was wasted on the boy for nothing. The guilt ate away at her as she watched as young dejected Kazuma sulked away, tears falling silently down his cheeks.

Her heart arched watching the young boy cry himself to sleep each night after whispering prayers to anyone who would listen. If only he were stronger, better, then maybe he would gain the love of his family. It was at these times that she would use the wind to caress the tears away from his small, chubby face; whispering words of encouragement and softly telling him that it could only get better from here.

It didn't.

She had to give him credit. His tenacity and will made him incredibly strong-despite what he was told on a daily basis. Only weaklings couldn't control the true flame, they had said. Still, Kazuma pressed on, spending countless hours training in other martial arts, hoping that physical strength was the missing link between him and the mastery of Enjutsu.

If only determination was enough, the kid would be the most powerful magic user there ever was.

She shuddered as she remembered that dreadful day, one that to this day laid within the deepest recesses of his mind and threatened to come out and consume him with grief and anger.

The day he lost his place in the Kannagi family.

The day she beat him.

As if the humiliation wasn't enough, that night he was cast out. His father, Genma, had tossed him out, sick of the failure of a son who couldn't wield fire and therefore could never inherit Enraiha and take his future place as head of the clan.

Her blood boiled and she wished the heavens would allow her to manifest something-anything-to stop what she saw-the pleading teenager, clinging to his father's leg, begging for another chance, promising to work harder than ever. To stop the cold, disinterested eyes, the cruel words leaving Genma's mouth.

"I have only one son now…Ren"

She felt the stab through Kazuma's heart as if it were her own. She cried alongside him, the shock and pain of abandonment swallowing both whole.

She traveled alongside him, his ever-silent companion, as he left the Kannagi compound for what he had bitterly thought would be forever.

He changed his name to Yagami. Changed his personality.

Her heart grew heavy as the young energetic boy she knew turned in to the cynical, angry young man he had become. There had been times when she had wished she could just tune out his inner monologue-the venom of his thoughts poisoning her as much as it damaged his own aura.

She had lived it all. Felt it all.

The joy of a child.

The fear of inadequacy.

The anger at being cast out.

The sadness of aimless wandering.

The love of Tsui Ling (such a gentle soul)…

The loss of Tsui Ling.

She was with him in those final moments of her death, angry that this was the fate of this young, beautiful soul, knowing it was not her place to question destiny and yet despising it nonetheless.

She felt the fear as she awaited a similar fate for her young charge.

She felt elation and awe as the contract was signed. Her hopes were that the gift the Spirit King of the Wind had bestowed upon him would begin to heal all wounds.

Instead she watched as the wounds continued to grow, self loathing and agonizing defeat festering inside. She felt his heart solidify into ice. Cold, unfeeling, stone-like.

She the despair and pain at not being able to protect the one dearest to him, the parallel to their own relationship leaving a bitter taste in her mouth.

She felt the rage as it consumed him like a wildfire. The vengeance. She warily looked on as his face formed into a permanent sneer, eyes changing color, a dangerous red. She felt at that moment that he was lost to her forever. That she could never complete her mission.

She feared it was too late for his soul.

And then, in an act of divine grace, she came into his life. Young, beautiful, full of life and energy. It was as if the heavens had decided that his was a soul worth fighting for. Perhaps it was destiny. Perhaps it was her relentless pleas to save her current life's work.

Nevertheless, he returned to his childhood home and started again. He worked alongside the heiress of the Kannagi clan-the one who had beaten him 4 years prior for the right to lead the fire magic family.

It was a tremendous ordeal, teetering on the verge of full on war, but the boy with the messy brown hair and the girl with crimson locks began to forge a hesitant partnership and even a somewhat uneasy friendship (not that either one would admit it).

She was growing accustom to the constant bickering between the two-especially now that Kazuma's thoughts at times were less brooding. There was a spark of something more-an ember held at bay by two stubborn souls that fought to spread.

The thoughts were there. She had heard them, despite his best efforts to hide them even from himself.

...If only she could find a way to get him to pull his head out of his ass long enough to see the inevitable.

It was not an easy gig- being Kazuma Yagami's guardian angel.

But with a little help from above, it was about to get a LOT more interesting.