Born to burn

5. THE HIDDEN SHADOWS __________________________

BURNT RUINS

•

Edge of Seattle, little past midnight.

•

The air still smelled of char. Charred plaster. Melted copper. Magic scorched into silence. The ashes whispered beneath Haruto’s boots, pale robes fluttering against the wind he didn’t summon, but could’ve. He moved like memory, calm and cold, like the world would break before he did. His hair, cut and streaked with age-wisdom, drifted behind him as he walked through the ruin. Eyes like stormless skies, watching everything, missing nothing. He paused near what used to be a child’s room. Beneath the blackened beams and curled plastic, something shimmered faintly. A sigil. Old. Hidden. His magic. Now shattered. He knelt slowly, brushing ash away. The rune was burned through and severed at the throat. The cloaking spell had done its job for years… until she cracked it from the inside. Haruto didn’t speak. But his jaw twitched. He’d known this day was coming...

„Long time, big brother.” A voice came from behind, laced with smoke and amusement. A figure stepped through the half-collapsed threshold like he owned the fire. Kaito Fujiwara. Younger brother. Earth-born. Tattooed. His shirt was half open. Dangerous grin dripping sarcasm. Haruto didn’t look up. Kaito clicked his tongue.

„Still not the talkative type, huh?” A gust of wind curled through the space. Not Haruto’s doing. But he didn’t stop it either.

„Your little spell matrix is fried.” Kaito said, circling a scorched support beam.

„Cracked like eggshells. I could feel it from New York.“

„I know.“ Haruto replied at last, voice smooth as glass over water.

„That’s why you’re here.“ Kaito grinned wider.

„Aww. You missed me.“

„I didn’t.“

„Ouch.“ Haruto finally stood, tall and still, his gaze cutting over the wreckage to land on his brother.

„You were supposed to stay away.“

„And you were supposed to stay dead.” Kaito shot back.

„But look at us. A family reunion in a ruin of ash. Very poetic.“ Haruto sighed softly, but there was steel behind it.

„This wasn’t supposed to happen. The spell was holding.“

„Was.“ Kaito echoed mockingly. He crouched, poking at a piece of scorched wood with a charred pencil.

„She’s awakening, Haru. You know that, right? Her blood’s calling itself back together. There’s no sealing that now.“ Haruto’s face was unreadable, but his silence throbbed with truth.

„She’s not ready.“ He said.

„No.“ Kaito agreed.

„But she’s burning anyway.“ A pause. Then Kaito stood again, brushing ash from his jeans.

„I gotta admit, though. Clever spellwork. You buried her deep. Wrapped her in false blood and human file numbers. Took pieces from mother’s line, twisted the siren pull, layered it in anti-arcane script. Even the Council couldn’t sniff her out.” Haruto’s brow darkened.

„That was the point.“ Kaito chuckled.

„Yeah, but now they have. And you know what that means.“

„I know.“

„They’ll send more than Gravesingers this time.“

„I know.“

„You think you can stop them?“

„I already have. For sixteen years.” Kaito’s eyes sharpened. Still amused. But not mocking anymore.

„You really love that girl, huh?” Haruto didn’t answer right away. When he did, his voice dropped low.

„She’s all that’s left of Himari.“ Kaito blinked once. And for a moment, his grin faded. Just a flicker of something almost soft.

„You think she’ll forgive us?“ Haruto tilted his head slightly.

„No.“

„Good.“ Kaito smirked again, full of knives now.

„Means she’s a real Fujiwara.“ Haruto didn’t dignify the comment. Just turned, boots crunching softly over cinders. Kaito followed, hands in his pockets, mouth still running.

„You always did like the broody mystic thing.” He said, stepping over a broken window frame.

„Meanwhile, I was out in the streets breaking bones and stealing hearts.”

„You were kicked out of seven covens in two years.”

„I said what I said.” Haruto exhaled slowly, not quite a sigh.

„You’re going to get caught one day, mouthing off like that.” Kaito smirked, falling into step beside him.

“Yeah, but it won’t be today.” They moved through the charred skeleton of the house like they’d walked through ruins before. And they had. Too many. But this time, it was hers. The girl they’d kept hidden for sixteen years. Their sister’s child. Their blood. The last thing left of Himari Fujiwara. And not just her.

„She’s not alone, you know.” Kaito said, his voice quieter now.

„She’s got cousins. Raiken. Yoshiro. Akari. Even Hinata…your ghost girl. They’re watching too. We might’ve gone dark, but this family? It’s not f.ucking gone.” Haruto’s silence wasn’t a refusal. It was an agreement.

„They think they erased the Fujiwaras?” Kaito scoffed.

“Bull-f.ucking-s.hit.” He was silent for a while and then breathed out.

„You know the kids know about her already, they feel her existence.” Kaito said suddenly, quieter now.

„Raiken won’t say it out loud, but he watches the traces. Hinata… she hums the lullaby Himari used to sing. Akari sparks when she dreams, and Yoshiro? He’s ready to f***k up a continent on her behalf. And they haven’t even met her.“ Haruto’s jaw flexed.

„She’s their cousin.“ He murmured.

„Blood doesn’t forget.“ Kaito’s tone shifted somewhere in the silence. He squinted toward a half-crushed nightstand, then bent to rummage through it. His fingers came back blackened, ash, soot, melted plastic.

Then something caught the light. He froze, and his grin faltered. He looked up toward Haruto, who stood like a stone across the room.

„You know, I was mad for a long time. That she didn’t trust me. That she left without a word.” Haruto didn’t respond.

Not with words. But his fingers tensed, just slightly as he folded the last corner of the sigil, sealing it with a breath only the wind could carry. The kind of stillness that wasn’t silence, but grief packed so tightly it couldn’t make a sound. He had loved Himari too deeply for it to be loud. And that was why he’d spent the last sixteen years guarding her daughter from the shadows. Every heartbeat, every mile she ran, Haruto had been behind her like a phantom promise. Because her mother had died making one. And he intended to keep it.

•

Moments later that night. The Lavender Lodge Motel.

•

It was midnight and the motel looked worse than Kaito described, paint peeling, flickering bulbs spasming above rusted doorways, and an air so thick with despair that even ghosts might hesitate. Room 6A. Second floor. End of the balcony.

„She’s in there…“ Kaito whispered, nodding at the cracked blinds.

„Two inside. Stepfather passed out. Stepmother’s drooling on herself. Phoenix is on the twin. Curled up like a fuse no one dares light.“ Haruto didn’t speak. He just moved. The door never creaked. It didn’t even breathe. The wards he whispered were old Fujiwara-forged, ancestral and intimate. He stepped inside like the night belonged to him. Kaito followed, barely a whisper behind. Phoenix was asleep. Tangled in the thinnest blanket the motel could offer, the girl looked too small for the weight she carried. A bruise peeked beneath her jaw, her eye black and swollen. Her hands were curled inward, fists clenched around nothing. Like even in sleep, she refused to let go. Kaito’s eyes flicked across the room. Two duffel bags. One torn backpack, half-zipped, hanging from the foot of the bed like a lifeline.

„There.“ He mouthed. Haruto nodded, crouched silently, and slid the parchment inside. He pressed his palm against the bag, the sigil glowing faintly as it sank into the fibres. Bound by wind. Anchored by blood. Sealed. The spell pulsed once. Then vanished.

„She won’t feel it.“ Haruto whispered.

„But it’ll keep the Council blind. Block the trace signatures from earlier. At least until the next flare.” Kaito was already kneeling beside the bag, pretending not to look like it mattered. But when his hand brushed the side pocket, his fingers froze. He reached in and pulled out a photo. Charred at the corners, wrinkled from years of being touched but never framed. It was Himari. The photo was old, faded, but Kaito stared at it like it was oxygen.

„Damn.“ He breathed. Haruto turned. Saw the photo. Said nothing.

„I used to think if I ever saw her again, I’d yell at her…“ Kaito whispered.

„For leaving. For not saying goodbye.” He looked up.

„Now? I just wish she could see her kid. See how strong she turned out.“

Haruto’s voice was low. Like prayer wrapped in steel.

„She’d be proud.“

•

They stood there a minute longer. Two shadows at the foot of a girl who didn’t yet know who she was. Didn’t know she had uncles who’d burned kingdoms quietly for her. Didn’t know she’d been loved fiercely from a distance her whole life.

„She’ll flare again.“ Haruto said finally.

„Stronger next time. Maybe too strong for the sigil to hold.“ Kaito nodded with something behind his eyes.

„Means we need to move before the Council does.“ Kaito declared with determination in his voice.

„Klaus… has already been at the house. They will move.“ Haruto said darkly.

„They know.“ Kaito clenched his jaw.

„Then we stay close. And when s.hit hits the fan?“ He glared at Haruto.

„We remind them why no one ever wanted to f***k with the Fujiwaras.” Rain streaked across the windows.

Phoenix still breathing steadily, curled like the last coal in a dying hearth. Haruto adjusted the corner of her backpack, making sure the sigil held without drawing energy too quickly.

„Where the hell have you been, Kaito?“

The younger brother arched a brow.

„Wow. A full sentence. Big night.” Haruto didn’t smile.

„I mean it.“ Kaito sat back against the peeling floral wallpaper, dragging his fingers through his buzzed hair.

„Hiding. Same as you brother.“ He smirked, but there was pain behind his eyes. No pain, grief…maybe regret?

„I wasn’t hiding.“ Haruto said.

„I was protecting.“

„Cute distinction. You vanished after the crash. Not a whisper. Not a rune left behind.“ Kaito spat mockingly.

„And you didn’t?“ Haruto spat back, but he laughed once dry and sharp.

„I vanished 'cause I was wanted. Two counts of "experimental conjury." One assault on a Mandragora asset. They called it treason.“ Kaito looked in the distance.

„You earned it.“ Haruto breathed out.

„Didn’t say I didn’t. Just didn’t expect you to agree so fast.“ Haruto finally looked at him. Not angry. Just tired. Just older.

„You think I didn’t know?“ Haruto said.

„That I didn’t trace your messes from back alleys to broken temples? You think you’re the only one who’s been watching Phoenix?“ Kaito held up his hands, mock surrender.

„Relax, big brother. I didn’t come to fight. I came for her. And you know I’m not walking away.“ Haruto studied him. His eyes were sharp, wind-grey, and worn. Like someone who’d read every prophecy and still didn’t believe in fate.

„You’ve always been reckless.“

„Yeah, but never stupid. And she’s not just a kid, Haruto. She’s hers.“ Haruto’s jaw flexed at that.

„She has her eyes…“ Kaito said softly, pulling out the photo and staring at it again.

„Same fire. Same heartbreak…and the same enemies.“ Haruto whispered looking at it before Kaito put it back.

„Worse.“ Kaito said.

„Because Himari ran. Phoenix? She’s about to run into it.“ Haruto turned away, gaze heavy on Phoenix’s sleeping form. Her breathing was slower now, the sigil already beginning to weave a protective hush around her aura.

„I don’t trust you…“ Haruto said quietly.

Kaito snorted.

„Good. I don’t trust myself either.“ A beat passed. Rain pattered the windows harder. Sirens moaned somewhere in the distance, Seattle’s lullaby.

„But…“ Haruto said, voice like steel drawn slowly from its sheath.

„If you’re really on her side…“ He looked at him with narrow eyes.

„I am.“

„…then we keep our shadows separate, but our goal aligned.“ Kaito tilted his head.

„So… we’re what? The dysfunctional god-uncles?“ Haruto didn’t answer, but he didn’t walk away either. Kaito grinned.

„She’s gonna hate us both when she finds out.“ Kaito said getting up to watch her. They've left her powerless, helpless and with these people. To protect her from the Magic world, but at what cost? Because the world of humans is also twisted and dark, only on a whole other level. They knew…they knew she would hate them for it. But they were content with it.

„She won’t find out. Not yet.“ Haruto said.

„She deserves the truth.“ Kaito sighed,

walking to the door. As they left the room never seen and walked slowly away to the motel parking lot…

„No, she deserved time.“ Haruto snapped.

„Time we may not have. The Council’s not gonna sit quiet. Klaus is already circling like a vulture in silk.“ They both knew what was coming.

„I know.“

„They’ll call a meeting.“

„I know that too.“ Kaito looked at him.

„And if they vote to end her?“ Haruto’s eyes never left Phoenix.

„Then we don’t hesitate.“ He said.

„We destroyed everything they sent down and sent back a message.“ And just like that, Kaito smiled again. But it wasn’t the cocky one this time.

„No one f.ucks with Fujiwara!” Haruto cursed, his eyes watery and his knuckles white as he clenched his fists. It was real. It was war. And it was family.

„Damn, I missed you, brother.“