A/N: Because I've received a comment, kinda accusing me of copying, I felt the need to tell the readers on wattpad.com, that this is my story, originally posted on fanfiction.net. After getting an advice from a fellow writer, I thought it a good idea to spread this story on different platforms. So I did.

Let me say this: The themes, issues, scenes or parts of the plot, which look similar to other fictions on wattpad.com are originally from this fiction. You can easily find proof on fanfiction.net. This story was originally published on Nov, 29th 2016 and was one of the first ShiMayu centered long term fictions. At other writers: Please, notice the rights. You mustn't copy because it is plagiarism and that's a crime.

*sigh* I hated to be forced to write this statement... Now I wish you fun reading!

Chapter 4

The morning sun wasn't as warm anymore as it had been a few weeks ago. Still Mayura savored the moment and bathed her face in the sun taking a deep breath. "Hah!" It had been such a long time since she just enjoyed watching the day slowly come to life on a weekend's day. With a cup of tea in her hand she sat on the stairs in front of the Amawaka estate and just enjoyed the tranquility. Yesterday had been a nice day. She had to admit, she hadn't had so much fun in a long time and mostly felt rested because of the nice treatment of the Ikaruga clan. The best part had been when Shimon indulged her in a game of Go (2) and was shocked that she beat him. She giggled remembering his sore face as he tried to faint ignorance over his loss at first. Then he'd suddenly crouched and held his head his hands mumbling something about him being embarrassed. It was a funny and totally unexpected side she'd got to see of him. Maybe she should visit the Ikaruga clan more often?

It felt good to remember funny experiences. There weren't many occasions like this on the island. A lot had happened in the last two years since she started her training as exorcist. Before she knew she was on the Tsuchikado island and became one of the Heavenly Commanders following the footsteps of her Otosan. She had made progress but had a long way to go. A feeling of sadness overwhelmed her when she remembered why she was sitting here instead of being on a mission or training. Kegare ochi... Was it really possible for her to change into one again? It must have been hard for Rokuro to see her like this after what he had to do four years ago. Her heart yearned for him. She couldn't imagine how terrible it must have been. She saw his pain back then when he burned everything of his life as exorcist yet she didn't understand the dimension of his agony. A new resolve formed itself in her head. She would talk to Rokuro and this time maybe she could really comfort him!

She left right after finishing her breakfast. The walk to the Adashino estate was very long. Since the Adashino clan wasn't one of the founder families of the island their estate was located further from the center. Rokuro had lived there for a while now after he put a lot of work into renovating the place which was abandoned since the deaths of Adashino-san's parents. He had gone far lengths for Adashino-san with this but Mayura understood his need to make the place look as brand new when Adashino-san joined them on the island. 'That's right she will be back, so you better not get carried away, Otomi.' She sighed audibly.

"Mayura, what are you doing here? Aren't you usually training at this time?" Standing in front of the Adashino house with leaves in his hair and a shovel in his hands was Rokuro.

Rokuro and gardening? She snickered at his ridiculous sight. "I could ask you the same thing. Aren't you usually oversleeping at this time?"

Together they shared a laugh like they had so many times before.

"But seriously, Mayura. Why are you here?" Rokuro smiled at her and sank to the grass below.

Mayura sighed. She really didn't want to ruin the mood. It's not like they had much to laugh about. "I've been send on vacation and since I am not supposed to do anything I thought I see how you're doing. Also I wanted to talk to you about something." She looked up to the building who shined as new. It wasn't as big as the Amawaka or the Ikagura estate who where built in the shinden-zukuri (1) style but it was a nice traditional house. "You're doing a pretty good job it seems."

"Vacation? You must have taken quite the blows the day before yesterday if Shimon agrees with this." Rokuro bent his head to the side scratching his chin in thought.

A bead of sweat formed on her forehead as she chuckled awkwardly. "Actually, he is the most persistent when it comes to me resting."

Rokuro nodded and smiled. After all persistence was one of the character traits most prominent on Ikaruga Shimon – although Mayura would prefer to call it stubbornness. "Well, that's because he cares about you."

He what now? Heat flew through her whole body. "D-d-on't be silly." Surely she wore a furious blush, she clenched her fists tightly making sure not to shake. "Sometimes I'm not actually sure if he even likes me. It's not like he talks a lot and if he does he likes to point out my weaknesses."

Rokuro still smiled lifting a finger as if to make a point. "But you two are often together."

"Because we're partners. And he trains me." She tried not to shake.

"See? He wouldn't train you, if he didn't like you." He rose a second finger.

"That's because he admires my father." Not to shake. Shake.

"Hn?" Rokuro blinked his eyes in wonder.

"Could we change the topic?" She tried her best to smile friendly while she willed her fists to remain calm. She would have to congratulate herself later for her composure. The Master of Composure himself – she was not thinking about him – would be proud of her.

"Sorry, I didn't want to make you feel uncomfortable." Danger averted. Wait? Why was she even stressing about Shimon? It's not like Rokuro thought they were a couple. So he wouldn't have any wrong ideas anyway. And it was not like she needed to feel embarrassed after her breakdown yesterday. Actually, she'd had a lot of fun yesterday with the Ikaruga's.

She chuckled awkwardly. "You didn't make me uncomfortable. I just don't want to think about him nagging at me on my vacation."

Rokuro chuckled. "Yeah. I can relate to that. He can be pretty hardcore. Anyhow, what did you want to talk about?"

Well, there was no need for putting this conversation any longer, was there? After all it had already taken four years to come. With a sad smile she sat down on the stone wall next to her folding her hands in her lap. She looked at Rokuro who sat on the grass with his legs stretched and smiling. He had smiled a lot since Adashino-san entered their lives. She sighed again and started in a low voice. "Hiinatsuki... yesterday I learned what really happened." She watched the shock appear in his eyes. "I'm sorry, Rokuro."

There was so much sadness swelling in him that Mayura had the feeling she could taste it's bitterness from her position. Nevertheless he remained quiet.

She turned her body towards him and held a fist to her chest as tears gathered the corners of her eyes. "I didn't know back then, so I wasn't really a big help." How helpless he must have felt, how desperate. She wished she had known. But at least she could be there for him in the now. "But if you want to talk about it, I'm here for you."

His sad expression turned quicker into something else as she would have expected. Maybe Adashino-san helped stitching some reopened scars for he now faced Mayura with a look of gratitude. "Thank you, Mayura. And you did help me back then by being there."

She blushed at his smile. That Rokuro who swore to exorcise all impurities, the hero of her childhood had now grown up. "Always."

Rokuro raised to his feet and walked over to where Mayura sat. He also sat down on the wall leaving his feet tangling. "Thinking about it, that day changed both of our lives."

She nodded as she remembered what had happened after the tragedy. The Hiinatsuki dorm was where her father had been teaching exorcism for six years. Every time Mayura had come to visit him she had played with Rokuro and the other children. All of the sudden they had been gone and she had lost two persons who had meant everything to her, her best friend and her father. "Un. Otosan left us after Hiinatsuki. Maybe he felt guilty." She took a deep breath and looked up ahead to the horizon imagine her father standing in front of her. " I've never hold any grudge towards him and since I'm an exorcist I think I understand more why he did it."

Rokuro mustered her seemingly fascinated. "Grudge? Is that even an emotion you are able to feel?" He grinned his with his crooked teeth showing.

Eh? She puffed her cheeks and glared at him.

All of the sudden he grabbed her hand squeezing it. She blushed at their contact and was frozen to the spot. "Mayura, I promise, next time I face Yuuto I will settle the score. For all the people we've lost."

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'Where was she?' Leaving her alone to have a quiet morning suddenly didn't seem like his very best idea. He'd thought it was best to give her a few hours in which she could relax after yesterday's revelations and lick her wounds. So Shimon had used his morning for the usual training session and just after a quick shower he'd thought he might look after her like he had been ordered to. When he'd arrived at the Amawaka estate he was surprised not to find her there. He became worried when nobody knew where she had been off to. He was irritated when he met Amawaka Yuzuru who threw him a funny look and he became unnerved when she told him that Mayura was probably off to see her other boyfriend.

So far this day wasn't his best. Just a waste of time! She obviously didn't train wracking her spell power balance. He should have left when he'd learned she was absent instead of sacrificing his time standing in front of the Amawaka main house like an abandoned puppy with his fists in his pockets. He wondered if he should have stayed home and trained for himself. If she wanted Arima-san to send her on mission again, she had to come to Shimon first. So why was he the one waiting for her now?

To say the least, he wasn't in the best mood when a voice broke him out of his brooding. "Shimon? Were you waiting for me?"

When he turned around facing the freshly arrived Mayura, he sent her one of his scariest glares.

She seemed rather unfazed and more puzzled. Figured, being Seigen-san's daughter she must have faced the worst glare in the world before. Compared to Seigen-san's glare his own was laughable.

She raised an eyebrow in question, leaning towards him with her arms crossed behind her back and examining him with her eyes. "Does something hurt you? You seem unwell."

He clicked his tongue in annoyance. The last half hour he had thought about the speech he would give her, now he felt his anger fading. How unsatisfying. He growled. "Everything's fine."

She leaned back and smiled. "So what are you doing here? Aren't you busy?"

"I have no mission because I'm send on vacation with you. Also I finished my training this morning." He shrugged trying to shake of the need to justify his reasoning. He took in her appearance. Instead of her school uniform or her exorcist outfit she wore a white pullover that seemed to be warm enough for the weather. That seemed to work just fine for his plans.

She leaned her head to the side with her smile still present. "So you came to check if I ignored your recommendation to rest?"

When had he become transparent? "I thought, we could visit the shopping district together. Kisaragi, you remember?"

Her smile dropped all of sudden and she stared at him in shock. "W-what do you mean?", she stammered for whatever reason.

Maybe he should ask Chiiko later what he had done or said wrong to freak Mayura out like this. He didn't thought he could be misunderstood. Explaining himself he shifted the weight on his feet. "I need new talisman holders and thought you might be bored and could use an upgrade on your equipment."

"Oh." She looked down – looking disappointed? What was wrong with her? It was a simple request, wasn't it? He hated it when he didn't understand what was going on. He seriously needed to ask Chiiko what he had done for Mayura to act like this. Her voice interrupted again his inner musings. "Okay."

That 'okay' irritated him even more. "Okay as in you're coming?"

"Hn." She nodded biting her lips.

Maybe she was feeling uncomfortable around him, yet felt she couldn't refuse when he asked for her to accompany him. But he had never noticed such a behavior before. Had something happened when she was at Rokuro's? Well, it didn't matter because Shimon couldn't let himself care about things like that. He decided to ignore her odd behavior for the moment. "Let's go then."

A little later they found themselves at the next bus station. His stomach was already feeling funny at the prospect of riding the bus. He hated this weakness. Is was very unpractical. But being one of the Heavenly Commanders also meant to overcome his weaknesses and his limits. He would ride that bus and he would hold his breakfast in.

"You shouldn't think to hard about your motion sickness." Mayura looked at him. Her arms were crossed behind her back.

"Hn?" He felt uneasy talking about his weaknesses with Mayura.

"You were thinking about your motion sickness, weren't you?" The bus appeared around the corner as she waved a finger with a smile on her lips. "Okasan always told me, that if you stress to hard about something before it is occurring you make it worse."

Before he was able to respond the bus halted. As they boarded the vehicle he wondered how he could not stress about it. It wasn't like this was something he could easily fight.

However, on their way to the city though he found the motion sickness was not so bad since Mayura asked him a lot of questions about the city, shops and the shikagami keeping his thoughts occupied for the whole ride.

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The ride was over pretty soon as she spoke to Shimon about everything that came to her mind, mainly to keep him from thinking about his motion sickness but also to get to know more of her new 'home'. Things like where the food on the island came from, who the people were that worked in shops, as servants and drivers. Her first motive seemed to realize itself just fine as he looked more comfortable than the last time when he guided her and Rokuro for the first time to the island. Not well but more comfortable. Shortly she wondered if he had noticed what she was doing as he was looking at her in expectation, when she paused for a while.

"We're there." The bus turned around a corner and stopped at a less visited street. Together they left the bus. Their chat from before was replaced by silence which made Mayura feel uncomfortable. The image of him standing before the Amawaka main house appeared before her inner eyes and she felt flustered as she was reminded of their misunderstanding. She blushed furiously when she remembered his question. She hadn't thought he'd simply wanted her to accompany him. Instead she had instantly assumed he was asking for a date. As ridiculous as that notion might have been what had surprised her most was the fact that she felt disappointed when he'd revealed the truth. Would she have preferred it if this was an actual date? She risked to take a glance at Shimon. He wore a thin, brown jacket that emphasized the unique color of his hair over his everyday outfit and had his hands buried in the pockets of his trousers, giving the expression of a cool guy. They probably were a very funny sight with him looking like a rebellious hero of a juvenile novel walking besides her with a timid white outfit portraying the role of the inconspicuous side character. No way someone as Shimon would consider dating her.

Shaking her head Mayura forced herself to stop dwelling on such thoughts. Taking in her surrounding she now saw that they reached a small route with many old buildings. Somehow it felt more like Mayura was sent back into time, since everything looked as if it was built in an old era of Japan. Shimon guided her through a passage with a lot of small shops and restaurants before he turned right into a narrow alley. The space between the one-story buildings was very small with next to none sunlight reaching the corners of the wooden walls. While such a space would have bothered her if she would be alone or with someone she didn't trust, she knew she was save with Shimon. First no one would attack an Heavenly Commander and second he would protect her even if it was only for the very reason that he wouldn't do anything for her father to look in shame at him. So instead of feeling uneasy, Mayura tried to take in every detail of the historical scenery that played in front of her feeling like a tourist.

They continued walking for a while and just when Mayura finished considering to ask how long it will take, Shimon stopped in front of a small house protected by a simple, woolen curtain. When Shimon lifted the curtain a sign of wood was revealed hanging in front of the door. In the shadow of the curtain the ink on the wood was barely visible. Mayura needed to squint her eyes and to look twice to discern the word "Closed".

Just then Shimon bend his head under the drapes and pushed the door aside. Shocked Mayura wanted to tell him it was closed. Maybe he didn't read the sign. After all he had problems with his eye sight and wore lenses, didn't he?

He turned around and looked at her, shutting down the white-water ride of her thoughts. In the blink of an eye he seemed to read her and calmed her worries when he replied: "It's okay."

She followed him when he'd disappeared into the building but not after looking if someone saw them. Even if he said, it was fine she still felt like a criminal.

Entering a shady room with only some rays of light breaking through the window lids, she felt the urge to grab his arms. Wasn't this just like the horror movies where a long haired monster lured behind a corner watching them?

A big figure slowly moved towards them. Mayura tried to hide herself more behind Shimon's back who seemed level-headed as ever. Her body shook in fear.

The groan of the floorboards accompanied the steps of the approaching creature. A croaky voice broke through the stale air of the room. "Who is there?"

"Ikaruga Shimon."

"Ah, Suzaku. It's been a while." The figure stopped three feet in front of them. The face was illuminated now, the creature turned into a human. A man with too much weight and a mouth that reminded of a frog was standing in the room. Mayura swallowed and took a step back from Shimon.

Shimon seemingly oblivious to Mayura's prior nervous breakdown, simply nodded.

The man leaned to the side and mustered her. "And who is that?"

"Otomi Mayura. She is the -"

"Byakko, of course! My apologies. I didn't recognize you sooner." He bowed his head. "It's a honor welcoming two Heavenly Commanders into my plain house."

Plain? Mayura looked around. Plain wasn't the word she would use. It was more like a Imprisonment Hell House.

"What can I do for you?" The man's smile was less creepy than this room.

"We need your best equipment."

He bowed his head again. "Of course, follow me."

With uneasy steps Mayura crossed the room. She felt a prick in her neck as she left the room. 'It's only my imagination.'

In the darkness before her, the light of a spell lifted a shield. All of a sudden she entered a bright room with dozens of shelves. Talisman paper, talisman holders, dozens of different ink brands and all kind weapons were stored in shiny shelves. Mesmerized she went to the shelf with the talisman paper and ink to get a better look. Were they special? As Mayura read a few labels of the ink bottles, a tip on her shoulder asked for her attention.

Turning around she saw Shimon holding a paper bag. "You're ready?"

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't look for new equipment."

"I already took care of that." He pulled something out of the bag and held out two white talisman holders. She took them and was surprised at their low weight and the coolness of the metal that was polished very neatly. But she didn't need something that just looked shiny. The only advantage was its weight. She frowned at the talisman holders. They must cost a fortune.

Two strong hands took the holders from her hands. "Here, let me show you." Shimon twisted the holder. Suddenly it's shape changed and a new pocket was revealed. "You can store three times the normal amount of talismans and also divide them into categories." Another twist and a third pocket came to the light. "Especially a supportive exorcist like you has to carry a lot of different talismans and a huge number. The material is light-weighted so it won't slow you down. Also the metal is very robust. I had the same after I became Heavenly Commander and just had to replace them now."

She smiled. He was very considerate. She wouldn't have thought about all that. "They're perfect." But still she felt the next to zero weight of her wallet. "But I'm not sure I can afford them."

He took both talisman holders and put them back into the bag. "I already paid."

"But-"

He raised a hand. "If you want to fight along side me, I have you rather be properly equipped, than having to watch out for you the whole time." With that he turned around and left the building leaving Mayura to follow him quickly.

Back home she changed into her exorcist clothes and put on her new talisman holders. She smiled at her new look. Maybe she could test them next time she trained with Shimon. He promised her on their bus ride earlier to resume training her the next weekend. Maybe it had been cruel to ask him so many times he felt not only motion sick but dizzy as well so he would have promised probably much to everything but desperate times call for desperate measures.

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(1) Shinden-zukuri – Japanese architecture. I did some research on this based on the bird's eye view on the Ikagura estate in chapter 21. Hopefully it's the right style. If someone has a better knowledge on Japanese architecture, don't hesitate to contact me.

(2) This idea came to me reading "Our star-crossed love" by Anayaah1611. I thought it was a brilliant idea that Shimon and Mayura play shogi and chess because they are both strategists. Totally recommend that fiction by the way.^^

A/N: I kinda made up with said person, mentioned above and refrained from reporting them for copying my story. It's still rough. Nobody wants to have their ideas to appear under a different name all of a sudden.

*sigh* Whatever... Don't forget to vote. :'D :'D :'D