Disclaimer: I do not own 'Blue Exorcist'. 'Blue Exorcist' belongs to Kazue Kato respectfully.
OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo
The summer breeze was unbelievable; a cool relief from the once drenching heat of the day, soothing from the sticky humidity that had clunged to his shoulders and weighed him down. Not even clipping back his fringe could have prevented the harsh droplets of sweat that had trickled down his face.
The stars were quite a sight, far from the city lights and out in the open against the cloudless sky and an absent moon. He hushed in a breath of fresh evening air, inhaling deeply through his sharp demon nose.
He sat on the high ledge of the park, a place of festivals and summer time - to which he had been looking forward to so much. A place of trees and greenery that blossomed during the spring and grew cold and harsh during the winter. He often came here when duties were scarce or non-existant, to relax a little and enjoy the view of the park from a sound seat on the cobbled floor.
He could hear the rustling of summer leaves all around him - amongst the astounding height of the thick trunked-trees - and the prolonged moan of the wind gasping through the night-time. All things to which he would have once strained his ears to hear on a clear night once upon a time.
His top-left fang emerged and caught upon his chapped lower lip, gnawing at it subconciously as the hushes of the evening billowed sleepily around him, passing on through him and rustling his thin clothes.
How long had it been since he had gone to one of these?
How long had it been since he was apart of a trio of smiles and yukata, sparklers and fireworks?
A bespectaled man, and two young boys - one nervous in his footing, pushing his glasses constantly further up the bridge of his nose, and the other, bearing a toothy confident grin, striding on forward with his arms folded up beside his head.
Such things of the past...
He couldn't recall the last time he had seen the sky light up in an awesome array of blinding colours, or the times to which they bathed in ash and smoke as an aftermath of the lighting show.
He wished he could relay those times;
Eating mochi and rice cakes with his Brother, watching as his Father tried to pick up women,
Sitting out on the wet, cool grass and gazing up at the night sky - watching the stars disappear one by one as the crackers erased them surely throughout the night,
Riding up on Father Fujimoto's shoulders and sitting on his lap curled up next to Yukio when it started to get late,
Racing back home to avoid crowds and the showers of ash that followed...
All these things, imprinted upon his heart.
Things to which he would probably never experience again.
His shoulders slumped.
Eyes closing in a somewhat sleepy manner as the memories relayed through his head and filled him from the inside out.
His teeth clenched.
"Rin?"
His posture straightned sure-fire, head whipping around at the sound of a very familiar soft-spoken voice. His hands dangled in his lap.
Cracking a toothy very "Rin-ish" grin, he greeted her, eyes still closed over, with a boy-ish "Yo!" as he moved his hands to balance himself as he swifted and twisted his torso to face her.
"Good evening." She replied with a tip of her head in the manner of a small bow - short golden locks tickling at her face - hands folded above her lap.
She felt her cheeks dust themselves a light shade of pink, blending with her pale skin as her powder blue eyes softened.
"Of course he's okay..." she thought to herself reassuringly and somewhat shyly, in an effort to rid herself of her concern. "I worried for nothing..."
"What's u-?" His words halted mid sentence as his eyes opened. She was wearing a yukata, a summer yukata. The grin dropped from his face and was replaced with a drop of his jaw as his eyes began to observe her on their own accord.
It was so different from her normal kimono that she had so often worn to school when she had first started attending True Cross Academy, but in a surprisingly pleasant way.
She looked more womanly than usual, not to say that she wasn't usually feminine, but rather in a sense that made her look so grown up and mature.
The light silky fabric consisted of a variety of dark and light blue shades drawn together with oodles of circles and swirly lines that looked like they had been painted on with a cursive brush. The colours matched her eyes and the the sash that was tied to her waist finely, as the floral print suited her and complimented her so well.
"..."
He could hear her talking, mummering and muttering small nonsenses into the background as he found himself unable to tear his eyes away.
And suddenly he was talking.
"What?" He asked, voice somewhat dazed and blank, eyes glued to her figure and yukata.
She took a couple of tentive steps towards him, shoes rattling against the paved park ground, arm outstretched bashfully in a slight manner.
"Do you have a fever?" She repeated, hand halting not but a few centimetres from his brow.
He flinched, as relization struck.
Of course his face was red.
It wasn't exactly the first time this had happened around Shiemi.
Instinctively, eyes still on her hand, he scooted away from her, reaching up a hand to grab at the back of his hair.
"Yeah! Yeah! Actually-" He went to reassure her in an attempt to cover up his own embarrassment. "It's just kinda-"
The words jolted on his tongue as he suddenly found himself falling backwards.
His eyes widened, teeth gritted and hands flailed as he tumbled from the stone ledge and into the darkness below.
"Rin!"
Shiemi panicked, rushing from the ledge and running down the stairs -that lead to the bottom half of the park - to her right. As she reached the bottom, she jumped the last couple of stairs, almost rolling her ankle in the process, and searched frantically for him.
"Rin!"
Her breath caught in her throat as she tossed her head, looking side to side, scanning the bottom of the ledge.
Where could he have possibly gone?
Suddenly, bushes rustled to her right, pulling her eyes toward the mound of leaves and short stubby branches. Wasting no time, she picked up her feet as she ran towards the plant, falling to the ground beside it.
"Rin?" She called, face set stern in panic and worry, hands searching through the bush, dirt collecting under her fingernails and smudging her yukata.
A hand suddenly shot out of the bush, grabbing at the dirt ground besides Shiemi's feet and clutching at it tightly. It was followed by an arm, another arm and a torso. By the time he had dragged himself out of the bush, Shiemi was already bleating a string of nonsense apologies.
He groaned as he lay on his belly, arms outstretched in front of him, face in the dirt. Shiemi rushed to his side and grabbed at his fore-arm swiftly, squeezing.
"Ouch!" He yelled as he cringed, making her jolt. He groaned again as he looked over to the arm that Shiemi was so quick to drop.
"Prickles?" Shiemi shrilled, grabbing at his arm again and bringing it close to her face to scrutinize it. "They need to come out!" She bit her lip. "This is all my fault!" She moaned, grip loosening on Rin's arm. "I'm so sorry!" She gushed, face red.
"Just a few prickles." Rin said, face still planted in the dirt.
But Shiemi was not convinced.
She turned her face away from his arm, to which she still held in her hands, and hushed aplogies barely above a whisper - so much so, even Rin had to strain his ears.
"I'm so sorry," came her rapsy voice. "I ruined your evening. I'm so sorry..."
He turned his face and set his blue eyes upon her face.
She looked pained, beaten-up, down...
All over something like this?
To which she had nothing to do with?
He sat up quickly, in a flash, and folded his legs, wincing as the prickles dug into his pant-legs as he folded them, and at scaffed his arms as he waved his hands in front of his chest to further prove his point.
"There's nothing to worry about!" He said, putting on a voice. "It doesn't even hurt that muc-" He was cut off as he leant back, pressuring his tail. He yelped and grabbed at it with his hand reflexedly.
"Rin?" Shiemi cried, startled, eyes set on him.
"...Broke my tail too..." He added, surprisingly unfazed.
OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO
"Ow!" Rin cried as Yukio poked a long thin syringe into his tail, legs jolting from the aftermath, kicking his younger twin brother in the shin - to which made him very unimpressed.
"Nii-san," Yukio mummered, voice set and stern. "If you do not hold still for the next syringe, you can go to bed and endure the pain until the morning."
"You wouldn't like it if someone had a needle that close to your butt either!" The older twin testified, shooting Yukio a dirty look over his shoulder as he lay upon his stomach.
As Rin turned back to the bed sheets and mummered disapprovingly into them, Yukio grabbed another empty syringe from his table-side and poked it into a canister full of clear fluid.
Stealing a glance at Shiemi, he praised: "You did a very good job of bringing him back to the study all by yourself. Who knows what would've happened if you hadn't of been there." He pulled the syringe from the canister and squirted it a little to measure up the dosage inside. "I shouldn't be so surprised, considering that Nii-san is always getting into dust-ups anyway."
"Hey!" Rin yelled into the bed sheets, clenching his fists. "Don't talk about me like I'm some kinda thug! I'm still here you know!"
"Yuki-chan," Shiemi piped up, reaching up a hand and fiddling with a strand of blonde hair. "It was purely accidental. I was kind of the cause behind it, so I thought the least thing I could do was bring him back here to you."
"Shiemi, for the last time," Rin began before being silenced by a hand on his tail, followed by the prick of a sharp point. "Gah!"
As Yukio pulled away, he sighed, placing the syringe on the table. "Honestly Rin, I treat children who don't mummer so much as a peep when I do these sort of procedures on them."
"I-" Rin began before being cut off by Yukio again.
"I'll bandage it and have you go to bed." He informed, unwinding a bandage roll from his pocket. "Hold still." He ordered as he went to his work.
OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO
"Rin," Shiemi hushed as she snuck into his medical dormitory. "Are you awake?"
"Like hell I'm awake." He mummered in annoyance into his futon, not meaning to sound so harsh.
Usually he would be uncomfortable with the idea of having Shiemi close to him alone at night, and kinda a little excited, however, it seemed the state of his constantly stinging tail and aching arms and legs erased the fact.
She felt her shoulders slump upon hearing his response, but nevertheless, made her way to his side, crouching and sneaking quietly through the bodies of other unwell and injured people - the only sounds that dared touch this room of silence was that of the sound of soft snores and breaths and the rustling of Shiemi's kimono.
She reached his side and folded her legs underneath her neatly, gazing down at the slightly pained face of Rin. She could see that little black cat sleeping next to him, dual tails entwined - the familiar he had called "Kuro" after the black of his fur.
"Yukio said the needles would make me feel better, but they haven't." Came a string of angry words.
Tilting her head to the side and folding her hands in her lap Shiemi hushed reassuringly: "Yukio said it might take a while to pick up and find the sources of pain inside of your body." She gave him a hopeful smile. "Be patient."
Rin sighed silently in response, closing his eyes over and slowing his breath.
He flinched upon feeling warm fingers tangle through his hair, gently moving up and down through the thick forest of black.
"I'm sorry that I was the cause of making you miss out on the summer festival." She soothed. "I know you really wanted to go." Rin's eyes grew large. "But we can go next year, together, as friends."
"Friends"... The warm word resonated through Rin's mind.
"And besides," Shiemi laughed softly. "Shima brought you back some Taiyaki."
He didn't know when he had fallen asleep, or when he had started to feel drowsy, but the lulling of her hands and soft-spoken words had brought him to rest in peaceful slumber.
These were such things of summer;
Etched upon his heart.
((Hello, I hope you enjoyed this story ^_^))