Fugitive

Kaze headed for the transport hub, his mind turning over the details of this new assignment. The lack of visuals on the target was unusual, but the priority was clear: stop the threat by any means. He had his orders. 

The transport pod deposited Kaze on the outskirts of a small town called 'Matsushima', the town folks have already evacuated due to the tornado.

Debris whipped through the air as he strode towards the swirling vortex. 

Stopping within sight of the tornado, Kaze planted his feet and lifted his arms revealing the bracelet that restrains his anolity to ensure he doesn't expend too much energy.

With a pulse of energy, he activated his anolity「Gravity Rift .」

The air warped and shimmered as he exerted his will, bending the gravity around the tornado.

The winds slowed, the vortex coming apart in mid-air as Kaze negated the forces that held it together. 

Guided by the gentle caress of the wind, a small figure landed softly on the ground, eased down by the last lingering whispers of air.

Kaze approached cautiously, surprised to see a young boy of perhaps ten years old with with brown hair and brown eyes, donned in a brown jacket. The child was curled in on himself, shaking with sobs.

"This was the S-rank threat?" He thought.

Kaze knelt down, speaking gently. "It's alright kid. You're safe now." 

The boy's terrified eyes met Kaze's. In that instant, Kaze felt a familiar pang in his heart. The boy's innocence and raw power reminded him of his own past.

He saw the same haunted look he once had, a mirror of his own tragic journey.

A sudden clatter of footsteps shattered the moment. Kaze turned to see a squad of C-rank enforcers storming into the clearing, their weapons ready. At the forefront was Sato, his voice booming with authority.

"Kaze Jūryoku! Stand down! We'll take over handling this natural disaster as per orders from General Hiroto Nagasaki."

The boy's grip tightened around Kaze's arm, his voice breaking with desperation.

"Don't let them take me!" he pleaded.

Kaze looked deep into the boy's eyes and saw his own reflection from years ago—crying, begging for someone to save him from an inescapable fate. Flashbacks of painful injections and brutal training sessions assaulted his mind.

"They'll turn this child into a tool, just like they did with me," Kaze thought.

"Kaze Jūryoku, I won't repeat myself. Hand over the anomaly."

Kaze's jaw tightened. "Tell Hiroto that I'll take care of the child."

"You know damn well that isn't your call to make," Sato's voice grew colder.

"Tch," Kaze clicked his tongue in frustration. "If it's power you're worried about, I'll train him."

Sato's eyes narrowed. "Kaze, remember your place. It's not for you to think for yourself. Your job is to do as you're told. Now hand over that anomaly."

Kaze felt the weight of the boy's trust and fear pressing against him. He knew the path the child faced if he let go now—a path covered in pain and exploitation.

Kaze's eyes narrowed. "So this is how it is. We're just tools for the organization to use as they please," he mused.

The memory of his own torture seared his skin . "They'll use us like pawns and discard us when we're no longer useful." He recalled the injured B-rankers.

Gently, Kaze placed his hand on the boy's head. Tears streamed down the child's face as he panicked, "Please, sir, I'm scared. Please help me."

A smug smile crept onto Sato's face. "Excellent! Just do as you're told, and you won't have any problems," he said, signaling his team to advance.

The child's body shook violently as the enforcers approached. But suddenly, Sato and his team were stopped by an invisible barrier.

"Kaze Jūryoku, what's the meaning of this?" Sato demanded.

"You won't be touching the kid," Kaze said, his voice cold.

The child's body continued to tremble, but a flicker of hope softened his expression. Sato's face reddened with fury. "You dare defy the Eclipse Agency? Do you realize the consequences of your actions?"

Kaze remained silent.

"This is treason. You'll be marked a traitor. No matter where you go, you'll always be hunted down."

Kaze stood tall, the air around him heavy with power. "So be it."

Realizing the threat, Sato acted quickly. "Men, open fire!" he shouted.

Bullets flew toward Kaze. With a swift motion, Kaze said, 「 Event Horizon.」

A circular zone appeared, expanding to envelop the enforcers. Inside, bullets slowed down, and the enforcers moved sluggishly as if wading through thick molasses.

Kaze stood firm in the center.

The child, still shaking, looked up at Kaze with newfound hope. Sato, struggling against the force, glared in frustration. "You'll regret this, Kaze," he spat.

"Regret?" Kaze muttered. "I've lived with it all my life. What's one more?"

Kaze observes with an intent stare as time within the zone appears to expand, each moment dragging longer than the previous. 

But more enforcers were surely coming. Scooping up the boy, Kaze turned and strode away without looking back. He had made his choice. 

The child clung to him as he moved swiftly from the area. "Thank you sir," said the boy.

Kaze glanced down at the untidy head tucked against his shoulder. "You're welcome...uh" He paused, realizing he didn't know the boy's name. 

"Usagi," He said. "My name is Usagi Sagai." 

______

The afternoon sunlight streamed through the windows of the Eclipse Agency's top-floor inside the control room.

Hiroto Nagasaki, the high-ranking official of The Eclipse Agency, paced around the control room with his hands clasped behind his back.

His usual calm and collected demeanor was replaced by a brooding intensity as he contemplated the betrayal by one of their most powerful assets. 

"I did not anticipate this, Kaze was our trump card.

Daichi Fujimoto, positioned at the circular table, concurred with a nod. "Indeed, Sir. However, our current priority is to halt his progress."

"Yes," Hiroto said, his voice grim. "Now that our most dangerous anomaly is out there, the consequences could be severe."

He looked over at Rin Asakura, who was biting her nails, a wide, unsettling grin on her face. She seemed lost in her thoughts, not fully present in the room.

"Rin! Have you been listening to a word I've said?" Hiroto snapped.

She blinked rapidly and shifted in her seat. "Oh yes, of course! Kazu's betrayal is truly shocking news. I can't believe he would turn his back on us like that after everything The Bureau's done for him." she said sarcastically.

Despite her words, her voice rang hollow. In her mind, all she could think about was seeing Kaze again. 

"I can't stop thinking about you Kazu," Rin thought, "I miss you so much. I need to find a way to track you down, no matter what it takes. The thrill of the hunt... It makes my heart race."

Hiroto studied her with doubt for a moment before continuing. "We need to approach this situation cautiously.

Kaze possesses knowledge of our operations that could be catastrophic in the wrong hands. Our first priority is to locate him before he has a chance to disappear or share classified intel." 

He turned his attention to the other two people seated at the table. "Sora Yamamoto, Mei Tanaka, I want you both analyzing recent surveillance footage to identify any clues as to where Kaze may have fled."

The two A-rank enforcers nodded without a word, already pulling up files on their sleek tablets. Sora Yamamoto's face was an unreadable mask as usual, his thoughts impossible to discern.

Mei Tanaka wore a troubled expression, her brows furrowed in concern over the entire situation.

"Finding Kaze needs to be handled with the utmost care, despite his actions, he doesn't necessarily pose an immediate threat. Perhaps if we just tried to reason with him first..."

"Absolutely not!" Hiroto interjected. "He is a traitor and needs to be treated as such. You would do well not to sympathize with the enemy." 

Mei shrank back in her seat, feeling chastised. "I don't agree with this horrible view on Kaze," she said quietly, knowing better than to press the issue.

Sora glanced at her, a grin spreading across his face as he put his hands behind his head. "I don't care what he did. I just want to test my strength against him."

"Trust me, Kaze will be dealt with harshly for his betrayal," Hiroto assured them, his voice low and stern. "When we find him, I have...special methods planned to ensure he divulges everything he knows. His days of defying the agency are over."

A heavy silence settled over the chamber as the weight of his words sank in. Apprehending the powerful Anomaly would be no simple feat, but failure was not an option.

The Eclipse Agency would leverage their full resources to hunt down Kaze Jūryoku, no matter where his betrayal took him.

_____

Kaze stared out the jet's window that he stole from the C-rank enforcers, watching the world shrink below them. The clouds rolled past, obscuring the ground and its troubles. Up here, there was only endless blue sky.

A peal of laughter drew his attention back inside the cabin. Usagi was bounding about, leaping from seat to seat in childish glee.

Kaze frowned, the boy's carefree joy grating on his frayed nerves. Didn't he understand the gravity of their situation? That they were fugitives now, cut off from everything they'd ever known?

"Sit down," Kaze snapped, harsher than he intended.

Usagi froze, eyes wide. He sank back into the plush leather seat, subdued.

"Sorry."

Kaze sighed, regretting his tone. He was on edge, the weight of their predicament bearing down. This jet, their temporary sanctuary, could become a trap if their escape was discovered.

"Where are your parents?" he asked, attempting to distract the boy.

Usagi's face clouded. He shrank into himself, avoiding Kaze's gaze. Alarm bells rang in Kaze's mind. There was a story here, and a painful one. He waited, watching emotions play across the boy's face.

"They're gone," Usagi finally whispered.

"What happened?" Kaze prodded gently.

The words spilled out in a rush. "There was a storm. I didn't mean to, but I made it happen. Mama and Papa..." His voice broke.

"So, Usagi's weather anolity was behind that tragic accident, huh? This kid would be carrying that burden forever," Kaze thought.

As Kaze looked at Usagi, he thought, "So, Usagi's weather anolity was behind that tragic accident, huh?"

Usagi noticed Kaze's intense gaze and asked, "Why are you staring at me like that, Kaze?"

Kaze smirked slightly, "I see myself in you, kid. I know that weight you're carrying. I lost my parents young too, thanks to my own anolity."

Usagi blinked, taken aback. "You... you did? What happened?"

"When I was five, on my birthday, I tried to hug my parents. But before I could, something inside me exploded. They got thrown back so hard they slammed into the walls, breaking their backs on impact."

Usagi's eyes widened, "That's... awful."

"They bled out, died looking at me with fear in their eyes. I was so young, I don't even remember their names."

Usagi wiped at his eyes, struggling to process this information. 

Usagi took a deep breath, trying to steady himself. "So, we both have to live with our burdens, then?"

"Yeah," 

In that moment, Kaze saw the potential for a profound bond, one that could anchor them both.

"Do you have any other family?" Kaze asked.

"An uncle. His name's Keito."

Kaze went very still. That name cracked open the door to his past, releasing ghosts long kept at bay. Keito Shinsei. The former lead scientist of the Eclipse Agency, and a man Kaze had many reasons to despise.

Unbidden, the memories flooded in. Needles piercing his skin, drugs pumping through his veins, all under Keito's clinical gaze.

Sessions in windowless rooms where Kaze's body and mind were pushed to the brink, triggering his anolity in explosions of uncontrolled power.

And Keito's voice, dispassionate as he ordered more tests, more treatments, all in the name of progress.

Kaze came back to the present, breathing hard. His hands had curled into fists, knuckles white. That name had awakened a cold fury and a visceral need for closure. What better way to achieve both than to confront one of his former tormentors?

Kaze crossed the cabin and rifled through a stash of stolen data pads. As an enforcer, he knew how to crack the agency's encryptions.

He bypassed firewalls until personnel files spilled across the screen. A few more taps and he had it—Keito Shinsei's location.

Kaze smiled then, a sharp, feral grin devoid of warmth. He plotted their new course and sent it to the jet's autopilot.

When he returned to Usagi, the boy eyed him warily. "We're going to see my uncle?"

"Yes, now relax."

"No need to burden the child with the truth. At least not yet...not yet," Kaze thought.

Kaze settled back in his seat as the jet adjusted course.