Chapter 7

"Sekitei mugen byoufu. Kyuu kyuu nyo ritsu ryou." His wings turned into blades as he released his spell. Thirty-six blades acted on his will, piercing through the polluted air of miasma and cutting through the line of the enemy. Each of his feathers moved like he wanted it to. They were like an extended arm, a part of him and connected to his mind. When he'd finished his attacks the bodies of the impurities in front of him dispersed.

After evaluating the result of his attack, Shimon was satisfied. They would clear out a large area of this level today.

"Oi, Shimon, leave some to me," a loud voice bawled from afar. On the ground Enmadou Rokuro stood waving at him.

"Huh," Shimon replied with a huff. Flying higher he commanded his feathers to return to his wings as he watched the scene below him unfold.

Running with a tremendous battle cry to the rest of the impurities, Rokuro received the attention of every impurity around him.

Shimon clicked his tongue. Seriously, that guy. Someday he would kill himself with his frontal strategy – if you dared to call that strategy.

Rokuro grinned. After he evaded an attack from one impurity he hit it with a punch of his armored arm, exorcising it with its concentrated power. Shimon frowned. Enmadou Rokuro was becoming a powerful exorcist but his attacks still lacked perfection using too much of his enchanted power on weak Kegare. And while his focus was wholly centered on a single impurity one after another of the rest crept up to him.

Surrounded by a dozen of impurities Rokuro drew back his fist for a blow. "Golt Smash. Kyuu kyuu nyo ritsu ryou." Numerous seals appeared, one for each impurity. With one mighty strike Rokuro send a shockwave through the seals. The impurities vanished with angry moans.

Shimon scanned the area. It looked like they got all the impurities from this part. Turning he saw the other exorcists of their five-man-squad finishing their share. He looked down to Rokuro who sent him a thumbs up. Seriously, that guy. He was something else. But one had to admire his passion and determination. If it hadn't been for him, Shimon would have lost his little sister a few months ago. He owed him. It was a debt, he wasn't sure he would ever be able to repay.

With a nosedive Shimon joined Rokuro in seconds. Landing swiftly on his feet next to him. "We're done for today."

Rokuro grinned at him. "We make a good team."

Shimon answered with a frown as he broke the spell on his Shuzen Zappa. He wasn't the one fated to be paired up with Enmadou Rokuro. "I'm not a Twin Star."

Rokuro blushed. "That's not what I meant. I just thought that with you in the sky and me on the ground, we complement each other. I mean as in good teamwork."

Shimon shrugged leading the way to their entrance into the real world. "I'm used to work alone from my range and combine my attacks to those of the exorcists on the ground. Besides, you just miss Benio."

Rokuro trotted after him. "It's not like that."

Shimon looked over his shoulder. Rokuro had his arms crossed behind his back obviously fainting indifference. Shimon smirked at him. "Riiight."

Rokuro seemed to sulk for a while being absolutely quiet for a change.

After Shimon opened the gate, Rokuro's voice reached him through their shift in realms. "I wonder what time it is."

That's right. She was probably waiting for him.

--------------------------

"Have a nice evening." She waved her friends goodbye.

Rocking back and forth on the balls of her feet Mayura waited in front of the school's main entrance. She and some other pupils had prepared a presentation about the connection between the five elements and enchanted powers next week. When they'd finished she thought she was running late but after they exited the building there was no sign of Shimon. 'What was taking him so long?'

She looked around the schoolyard. Some groups of pupils hung out after school. A group of girls gathered on the wall opposite to the entrance while some guys played basketball in front of Mayura. How did they do that? Were they really happy despite what was happening in Magano at the same time or did they fake their smiles and laughs? Sometimes she felt like there was no real happiness on Tsuchimikado island.

Memories of her weekend at the Ikaruga estate and Rokuro's appeared in front of her inner eye and proved her wrong. Perhaps there was real happiness on the island. With the help of Shimon she'd trained a lot, polishing her skills with her claws. Afterwards she had been invited to dinner. The whole Ikaruga clan seemed to consisting of kind and polite people. And she'd discovered again a new side of Shimon. A side she would never have dreamed of: He had a sweet tooth, especially for chocolate. Although she loved chocolate and sweets herself she had declined a slice of chocolate cake after being fully stuffed. Shimon had asked her politely and very carefully, if she would mind giving him her share. After passing him her cake she had watched him quickly gulping down his piece of cake. His little sister Sayo had leaned over and whispered into her ear that her big brother was quite a choco addict.

Who would have thought Ikaruga Shimon had a weakness for chocolate?

The next day Mayura had visited Rokuro. He and Kinako, Adashino-san's shikigami, had been studying to improve Rokuro's grades in school. Mayura had been happy to ship in helping Rokuro learn. He'd praised her for her skills as teacher while sending Kinako a nasty look. That evening they'd cooked and ate together. Both, Rokuro and Kinako, had been in tears tasting the meal in front of them, making Mayura wonder what they usually ate. Glad that she'd been able to help Rokuro she'd left. Holding onto the image of his smile as he'd thanked her she'd walked home with a comfortable, warm feeling spreading through her body.

The weekend had been over as fast as it came. Now, she waited for Shimon to help her study. But worry pulled at her nerves when Shimon didn't arrive after a few more minutes. He'd agreed to help her learn for Yuzuru-san was on a mission herself. Mayura didn't want to make any mistakes and knew he had graduated with the best grades, so she'd had asked him and they'd agreed to meet at the school ground. Him being this late was truly odd. He was always punctual and she knew him and Rokuro executed a mission together today. Hopefully nothing had happened.

She felt his presence before she saw him. Turning to the right she caught him staring at her with a gaze she'd never seen him wearing before. His ever cool and sharp eyes looked gentle and... and affectionate? It stirred something in her. She felt warm all over and an unknown heat pooled in the pit of her stomach. Before she had a chance to react the glimmer in his eyes vanished as if it had never been there. Had she just imagined it?

"Sorry for being late." His voice gave no indication that something was different. Maybe she really had hallucinated. Waiting for him in worry must have projected her emotions – her caring for him – onto him.

She shook her head, the grasp on the handle of her bag tightened. She felt awkward for her silly imaginations. "Don't be sorry. How was the mission?"

He leaned his head to the side and shrugged a shoulder. "Successful. The examination afterwards took much longer than I expected. Rokuro jumped the queue." He mustered her as he often did. She never knew how to deal with it. Was he expecting something of her? "Shall we go?"

Deciding to stop her musings, Mayura nodded.

As they passed the group of girls, Mayura noticed some of them sending jealous looks into her direction, while the others swooned and sighed over Shimon in a very obvious manner.

She knew that he was handsome and had this tendency to act cool and level-headed that impressed girls all the time. She had noticed his sky blue eyes, his fascinating fuchsia hair color and his lean, tall and muscular body. It was hard not to. All of it made him quite attractive. She knew that but she tried not to think about it. Thinking about it might lead her to remember that time when she came to train with Benio and Rokuro in their mansion and saw him – by accident – naked. A blush grazed her cheeks as the image pushed itself to the surface. She had no right to think about him in this way. He was her colleague, her sensei, her senior and kind of a friend. Besides she loved Rokuro. Right? Right!

Mayura sighed. It made no sense dwelling on this matter. She shouldn't find interest in someone who was as unlikely to end up with her as Rokuro, maybe even more. Dealing with her feelings for Rokuro was quite enough. She had just to be thankful for the persons in her life and concentrate on becoming stronger. Maybe someday she will find someone who would love her.

Shimon sent her a questioning gaze. It was very likely that he might have heard her sigh. The heat in her face increased. Embarrassing herself in front of him, seemed to have become quite a hobby of her's lately.

------------------------------

His eyes had found her immediately. Everything and everyone around her had blurred into the background as he'd arrived at the schoolyard. He'd been late and rushed to the school but his feet stopped moving the moment he caught the sight of her. 'When', Shimon had thought, 'when had this started?' At the very beginning of this unwanted infatuation he had believed it was Rokuro and Mayura rubbing off on him with their mainlander softness. As he'd stared at her standing in her black school uniform at the entrance of the school with her hands holding onto the handle of her briefcase, the sun reflecting on the blonde of her soft hair and a little frown crossing her eyebrows, he had a fair idea of what was wrong with him. These were the emotions his brother Keiji once had told him about as he had listened with only half an ear. Those were the feelings the poets of Chiiko's book could not find words for. Suddenly her gaze had met his and he'd roughly pushed those feelings away, a common procedure by now which always left him desperate for something that could fill the hole that remained.

While they walked to the Amawaka estate, he began to brood over his situation. This was hopeless. Mayura returning his feelings was as unlikely as Rokuro returning her's – the irony of this made him angry at life, fate or whatever you might want to blame for. So why on earth couldn't he just close this chapter. Was he really that weak? He refused to acknowledge the truth of his feelings. And he refused to let it take control over him. Maybe, he hoped, this was like an illness and would go away with time and a little treatment.

He'd maneuvered himself into this situation, didn't he? Every time he agreed to train her, every time he thought to cheer her up, every time he walked her home and spent time with her, just like right now. Why had he agreed to this? After not seeing her for a while he'd been torn between missing her and trying to get his senses clear. But then she'd wrote him giving him the perfect excuse to himself. And of course he couldn't turn her down when she told him about her dilemma with Amawaka Yuzuru being away for a whole week and having to learn the history of the houses on Tsuchimikado island two hundred years after Abe no Seimei. It was important to the exorcist community that the house of Amawaka would be lead by a legitimate head. Sooner or later that would be Mayura. The sooner the faster she learned.

Well, all the brooding wouldn't help. He looked at her as they passed shops and small houses. She looked downcast and confused. He asked himself which battles she fought with herself again. Maybe she was just tired and needed a small pause.

Looking around, Shimon caught the sight of a shop selling sweets. Rokuro once had told him that Mayura loved sweets and chocolate. Shimon himself wouldn't say no to a piece of chocolate either. He grabbed her by the sleeve of her jacket and nodded into the shop's direction. "Do you want some? I could use a little snack."

A smile that didn't reach her eyes lit on her face. "That would be great."

"Just wait here then." He walked to the shop, telling himself on the way not to buy chocolate only.

When he lifted the veil in front of the shop he caught sight of Tenma standing there. It was just his luck he went into a shop where he would meet him. Sighing Shimon walked up to the corner, passing Tenma a greeting when he noticed him. "Bird-maru, hello! Is Kitten-chan with you?"

"My name isn't bird-man and her's isn't kitten."

The shop owner handed Tenma a box and bowed to him with a "You're welcome." leaving his lips. Then he turned to Shimon.

"Did you two have fun on your vacation?" In an ideal world Tenma would just have left with his freshly acquired candies. But Tenma liked to tease him each and every time they met. Shimon had once wondered why Tenma acted like this. Maybe it was because they were one year apart and although Tenma was the strongest exorcist Shimon had beat him to the title of being the youngest Heavenly Commander ever.

Shimon chose to ignore Tenma's teasing and ordered two pieced of every kind.

This was no ideal world and Tenma was still there. "So I was right. You aren't alone? Are you afraid I'm going to invite myself to your date? Hmm... I could do that."

Shimon handed the seller the exact amount of money while he ignored Tenma's teasing. When he took the box full of handmade candies he suddenly heard a scream from outside, her scream.

Sprinting out of the shop he saw the reason for it. A middle aged guy with a disgusting grin leaned over Mayura, invading her private space, trying to get a look and a grope on her breasts which she fought to cover.

Rage filled Shimon. In a second he was next to the guy. Grabbing him by the collar with one arm, ready to send him flying he barely spared him a glance as he hissed. "Let her go or you'll regret it."

"Su-su-Suzaku?"

He sent that man a glare filled with disgust.

"M-my apologies," the man stammered. After saying that the man took of running out of their sight.

Shimon sighed and turned around. He'd expected something like this to happen sometime. Looking for any sign of wounds or scratches, he let his gaze run over her body. She seemed a little bit shaken but otherwise unharmed.

Mayura met his gaze with tears in her eyes. Her arms shielding her upper body. "Why?"

A deep frown emerged on his face. It was time to tell her about the dark corners of Tsuchimikado island. He collected the box he'd dropped, some sweets were scattered on the ground but most of them stayed in the box. Luckily, there was no trace left of Tenma. With a heavy heart he turned to Mayura again and took her by the arm. "Let's go somewhere else to talk."

Guiding her to the outskirt of the residential area, they reached a small park where Shimon had often ran off to when he was a small boy dealing with the recent loss of his father.

Shimon took of his jacket and spread it out on the cold grass. Sitting down he motioned an apparently still shaken Mayura to join him on the jacket.

When she sat down on her knees, Shimon wondered how he could explain that man's behavior. Mayura would understand, that he was sure of, but it was an issue that everybody on the island knew of but nobody talked about. Maybe he just cut to the chase. He leaned forward with one leg crossing the other. "For some people the work of exorcists weighs too heavy upon them. Seeing all the deaths, dealing with the loss of a family or other loved ones makes them sometimes do things... Things like that. They need an outlet."

"Shimon," She looked at him with a sad and disappointed expression. "Do you justify what that man did?"

"I'm not. I'm trying to explain to you, what just happened." He watched different emotions flicker in her eyes. Even if she seemed to be angry at him, he was glad that at least she was less shaken. "Not everyone knows how to deal with the gravity of our everyday life. Some pick up fights and others use different forms physical exertion. Personally, I don't have any regard for them."

"Hmm..." The anger and disappointment left her eyes and she looked at him with a knitted eyebrow. "Do you have an outlet?"

A cold breeze grazed him and played with her hair. They couldn't sit here like this forever. "To me it's not that crucial to have an outlet. It's not like I don't care but I do understand the necessity of what we're doing. My goal is to put an end to this conflict. That's what keeps me on track. And even when there are moments when I feel down for all the deaths that crossed my path I have my family to turn to."

"I envy you. You always seem so calm and level-headed." She lowered her eyes and she held a fist to her heart.

"That's..." Shimon looked up into the sky. Sometimes he wondered what it would feel like to fly into an unlimited sky that wasn't tainted with miasma. "That's not exactly true. When I was younger, I was often scared and felt like giving up."

"What changed?" Interest with a little bit hope was mixed in her voice.

A smile lifted his lips as memories filled his head.. "When I was six years old I nearly died in Megano." Until today he would still know the cold metallic taste of his fear as he had been sure he would soon take his last breath. "You're father saved me and afterwards took me in as a pupil. Every since then I admired his strength and resolve. He became my idol."

A small, beautiful laugh left her.

"What?" He lifted a curious eyebrow although he felt like joining her for her laugh was infectious.

She smiled at him. "It's funny. The way people describe Otosan. It's so different from the way I remember him."

He returned her smile. Trying to imagine Seigen-san as father figure? Once upon a time Shimon would have wished for nothing else. "I can only imagine."

They shared a small laughter.

After a while he looked at her. She seemed to have forgotten all about that ghastly, horrible man earlier but he hoped she understood his point. "Just be careful, okay?"

She smiled at him but it wasn't fully happy. "You're always protective of me. But you know, my father already thinks highly of you, whether you look out for me or not."

"It's not because of him," he immediately replied.

A great gush of wind suddenly hit them, making him feel like his arms froze. Goosebumps rose on his skin and he jumped to his feet. "Let's get going." He retrieved his jacket and noticed they'd forgotten all about the candies.

---------------------------

A/N: Of course Seigen is a important topic for them to talk about, so it was only a matter of time when they would do that in this fic. ;)

Please, leave a vote, if you liked it.^^