A/N: OKAY, now for something completely different! I JUST finished watching this series (can't buy or rent the manga and don't wanna read online illegally and have my new laptop crash because my dad will kill me), and I saw this ADORABLE pic on deviantART, and I had to do something with that concept.
Blue Exorcist (C) 2009-2014 Kazue Kato, Shueisha
PLEASE SUPPORT THE OFFICIAL RELEASE! IT'S AN AMAZING SERIES! (But tell Animplex to lower the damn DVD prices, they're insane!)
Blue Exorcist – The Flower's Guardian Flame
Chapter 1 – Just a Snake Bite
"Ugh, how much farther do we have to hack through these stupid vines to get to this stupid temple?" groaned Rin Okumura, the twin brother of True Cross Academy student teacher Yukio Okumura.
The twins, along with fellow academy student Shiemi Moriyama, had been sent by the Order of the True Cross headquarters to retrieve a plant that was guarded in a sacred temple that was in the middle of a dense forest. Rin had been using a machete to hack at the vines without disturbing the spirits that lived in the forests too much.
Of course, he would prefer to use his sword, the Kurikara, and burn it all down, but his brother would not approve of such a rash and, even Rin would admit, foolish action. Besides, he might burn the plant, or worse, set off a tidal wave of angry spirits and even a horde of demons after them. So the boy was left with no choice but to keep hacking away.
"It's just a few more minutes, Rin," Yukio said shortly, not even glancing at his annoyed brother.
"You said that same crap a whole hour ago, you four-eyed mole face," Rin grumbled under his breath.
"What was that?" Yukio hissed, his glasses giving off a sheen that mirrored his brother's anger.
"You heard what I said!" Rin snapped, turning around.
"You're not making this any easier, Rin!" Yukio hollered.
"You never made it easy to begin with!" Rin shouted.
"Stop it, both of you!" Shiemi squealed, causing the quarreling brothers to snap their mouths shut. "I get that it's hot and you're both tired, but can't you two stop fighting about nothing for one day and work together? You do it so often when not on a mission, so start doing it on missions!"
Startled at the normally calm and quiet girl's sudden outburst, the twin sons of Satan looked at each other and sighed.
"Sorry, bro," Rin said, sincerely for someone of his maturity level.
"It's okay, we're all stressed," Yukio waved.
"So what is we're looking for again?" Shiemi asked, and the brothers instantly face-faulted.
"The reason you're here with us is because it's about a crazy magic tree!" Rin said, exasperated.
"Allow me," Yukio said, and brought out two pieces of paper.
One of them was a map of the forest and the surrounding area, and the other was of the item of their search: a tree shaped like a pale and thick-rooted palm tree but with fruit like apples hanging from its branches in place of coconuts. It was also very tall, according to the info, standing in at about twenty feet tall.
"That's a big tree," Shiemi gasped.
"And it's protected by powerful spirits," Yukio said, pointing to images of the surrounding area, and the forest was shown to be filled with all kinds of plant-like demons.
"What's so important about this thing, anyway?" Rin asked. "You told us this was mission straight from the high-ups at HQ, but you didn't tell us anything beyond the whole forest raider thing."
"The fruit from this plant have many myths surrounding them," Yukio replied, "One is that they're wishing apples, another is that they can heal any injury. In any case, it was important enough for HQ to request me to get a plant specialist on the job, and that's where you come in, Shiemi."
"What can I do?" she asked, blushing out of shyness.
"You're going to be the one to properly harvest the fruit when we find it," Yukio replied, "and Rin and I will keep the guardian demons distracted."
Suddenly, Rin's familiar, a Cat Sidhe named Kuro, jumped from Shiemi's shoulder and grew to his natural size, which was about the size of a garbage truck, and began to hiss in anticipation. Suddenly, the group could clearly hear howling in the jungle that was clearly not the cry of any normal animal.
"Speak of the devil," Rin grinned, and turned his machete around to wield like a sword.
Just then, the vines around them began to whip at the, trying to entangle the trio.
"The vines must be enchanted!" Yukio assumed, and fired a few blessed silver round before throwing two holy water grenades.
The grenades exploded and sprayed blessed water at the vines and worked like acid, dissolving them and making a whole form which they could see a clearing in the jungle and the temple they were searching for in the middle of the clearing. Trees still loomed above them, extremely tall, but everything looked safe enough.
"Looks like we were right on the money!" Rin cheered, and he swept Shiemi up, bridal style, and got her on Kuro, and the nekotama bolted for the temple, with Yukio close behind them.
"That was awesome! Let's do it again!" Kuro laughed. Of course, only Rin could hear the friendly demon's mental voice, so Rin gave a nod of approval.
"Shiemi!" Yukio barked. "I need you to seal up that hole!"
"Uh, right!" she said, and called out her familiar, Nee. "Nee, I need you to close up that hole with a bunch of vines!"
The greenman squealed, and raised its tiny arms. Instantly, huge roots sprung from the ground and closed up the hole.
"It looks like there's no demons here," Rin grinned. "Guess we scared 'em off!"
"Don't count on it," Yukio grimaced, holding his pistol out, waiting for an attack.
Sure enough, a giant plant, not unlike a Venus flytrap, sprung out from behind the temple. The mouth of the plant was so massive, Kuro gulped and feared that it could swallow him up in one bite. But instead of shooting directly at them, it opened its mouth and shot a stream of blue liquid at them.
"Dodge!" Yukio barked, and they all ran to avoid the stream, which dissolved the grass beneath their feet. "Rin, get Shiemi to the temple! I'll handle things here! It may look big, but plant demons can only be so powerful!"
"Just don't die on me, you got that?!" Rin growled, and nodded to Kuro, who darted towards the temple.
Vines shot up from below to trap them, but Rin's sword (not Kurikara, but a common katana) and Kuro's claws sliced them up. Eventually, they made it to the temple, and Rin and Shiemi ran inside. Strangely, there were no demons inside and the plant was the only thing inside of the temple. In fact, one would barely call it a temple at all; the building was more like a large shrine. There was only on large room, and the tree was growing in a gigantic pot in the middle of the room.
"I don't sense anything in here," Rin said. "This is way too easy."
It was no secret to Shiemi that Rin could sense demons due to being the son of Satan, but she found it odd that not even he could sense anything near so valuable a plant as this one.
"Well, I'll go harvest the fruit anyway," Shiemi said.
Before Rin could object, Nee had already harvested all of the fruit, which fell into Shiemi's padded backpack that was provided for the mission by Yukio.
"Like you said, Rin," she smiled, "it was easy!"
Suddenly, a snake came out from the shrine-temple wall and bit Shiemi's arm, causing her to drop the bag and scream in pain.
"Shiemi!" Rin gasped, and instinctively unsheathed Kurikara, causing his tail to emerge from beneath his school uniform, his ears to become long and spiked like a demon, and bright and intense blue flames to surround his body. The snake turned out to be a demon, as it grew to a large size inside the shrine, and its fangs were dripping with red, but it was clearly not Shiemi's blood.
"That bite must have a weird kind of demon venom in it," he thought to himself, and quickly ran behind it, slashing its head off from behind.
Amazingly, the back attack worked, and the head came off cleanly, spewing out the demon's blood, but it did not touch Rin. He wiped the blood of the blade with a rag and stuck it back in the sheath, causing his flames to go away and his ears to shorten back to their pseudo-normal length. He then ran to Shiemi and took her in his arms, picking up the bag, and dashing out of the shrine.
"Quick, bro!" Rin shouted. "Get us out of here!"
"I'm a little busy here!" Yukio said, still fighting off the plant demon.
Rin scanned the area, trying to find the root of the plant. His eyes soon fell to the back of the shrine, and he and Kuro sliced at it in unison with sword and claw, causing the stalk to slice in several pieces and the plant fell over, its life ebbing away. Yukio sighed and put his gun away, relieved.
"Nice work, Rin," he smiled.
"No time for that!" Rin said. "Shiemi got bitten! We got to get out of here, pronto!"
"Right!" Yukio nodded, aware of the situation, and jumped onto Kuro, who then took off into the sky, slashing the trees that got in their way.
{+}
Much later that day, at the infirmary of True Cross Academy, the healers looked over Shiemi's condition, while Rin and Yukio stood off to the side concerned for their classmate and friend. Kuro also looked sadly at the unconscious Shiemi on the bed, but Rin comforted him by petting his head.
"It's gonna be okay, Kuro," he smiled.
Just then, one of the healers came out. "This is rather strange," he said, "but there appears to be no demonic curse in the venom, or any harmful substance of any sort. It's just a common snake bite."
"But it wasn't a common snake that bit her!" Rin protested. "It was a demon snake!"
"Well, be that as it may," the doctor said, "there is nothing physically wrong with her."
"All the same," Yukio said, "I'd like to keep her under surveillance at our room so that we can monitor her condition."
The words 'her' and 'at our room' were enough for Rin to nod his head in vehement approval.
"Well," the doctor sighed, "I don't see why not."
"Awesome!" Rin cheered as the doctor fetched his patient. "Shiemi's gonna be staying with me!"
"Don't even think about it, Rin," Yukio warned. "This is just to make sure that there's nothing wrong with her."
"Killjoy," Rin muttered, but was still happy that it didn't bother him all that much.
As they walked down the hallway, the trio could see their classmates Ryuji Suguro, Konekomaru Miwa, Renzo Shima, and Izumo Kamiki come up to them.
"We heard the news about Shiemi and the mission from the director," Konekomaru said.
"Is she all right?" Suguro asked.
"I'm fine, don't worry," Shiemi waved, and walked away, perfectly fine.
"She'll be staying with us for the night so we can monitor her condition," Yukio explained.
"Aw, man!" Shima whined. "A night with Shiemi? What a lucky pair you two are!"
"It's not a sleepover, you idiot," Izumo shot icily, per the norm for her. "I can't believe you'd even think about that after she was attacked by a Drosca."
"A what?" Shima asked, sounding rather stupid.
"It's a flytrap demon, idiot," Suguro said. "It's big, but it's far from dangerous. Its stalk is surprisingly easy to break, and it's pretty common in forests and jungles. Even beginners know thins kinda stuff."
"I guess I forgot that part," the monk shrugged, chuckling sheepishly.
"Or maybe you fell asleep during Mr. Okumura's lecture last week," Konekomaru grinned devilishly.
Shima whined, and the rest laughed, even the normally stoic Izumo.
"Well, we'd best be off," Yukio said. "I'll have a substitute in the morning if things turn for the worst."
With that, the trio went towards Yukio and Rin's apartment. The second they entered, Shiemi and Rin could smell a most delicious smell.
"Sounds like Ukobach is cooking up something awesome," Rin said before heading off towards the kitchen. "I'll go see if he needs help…" he grinned evilly as he slinked off.
"Oh brother," Yukio sighed as he helped Shiemi to the spare room.
{+}
True to Rin's assumption, Ukobach, the familiar of Director Mephisto Pheles and the Okumura's personal chef in their dorm, had whipped up a delicious stew for supper. Rin managed to spice things up with his own skills, and the demon was very grateful since he and Rin were cooking rivals. The meal was well received all around, and there were second helpings for everyone.
"You're really good, Mr. Ukobach!" Shiemi praised, and the stove spirit rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "You should thank Rin as well!" she added, and Rin chuckled and blushed as well.
"I'll go deliver the fruit to Mr. Pheles," Yukio said, taking the bag. "We'll be able to create our own crop and grow our own fruit in the garden soon enough." He then looked at Shiemi. "And we'd be honored if you would consider working there as the gardener and botany expert."
"Expert?" Shiemi blushed. "I know a little, but it hasn't helped me in the exams."
"Don't be so modest," Yukio said. "You'll do great. Now, I'll be off. Stay out of trouble, Rin."
"HEY!" the elder twin protested, but Yukio laughed it off as he walked away. "Four-eyed mole face."
{+}
As the two Exwires slept in opposite rooms, they had no idea that something was gliding through the hallway to Shiemi's room. The something gave off a faint red glow that no one had any clue about, and it had the shape of a snake, but it looked more like it was smoke. As it slithered under the door, it gazed at the sleeping girl in the bed and its eyes glowed blue.
And, in that instant, it turned into a gas and shot itself into her ears and nose, unaware that it did, in fact, be seen.
{+}
Rin was sleeping soundly, albeit loudly snoring, when Kuro barged in and pounced on him. Rin clumsily got up and looked at the familiar, and noticed that his eyes were wide with fear.
"What's up, Kuro?" he asked, yawning.
"It's Shiemi!" he cried telepathically. "Something got into her room!"
"What!?" the boy gasped, now fully awake, and bolted out the door, running to Shiemi's room.
He tore the door open, and gasped. Shiemi had vanished without a trace.
"Shiemi!" he cried, and tore the sheets off the bed.
It was then that his eyes nearly popped out of his skull. Shiemi was there, all right, and in her bed kimono, but she had somehow mysteriously shrunk to a mere 3 inches tall. Besides her sudden and unprecedented size change, there was nothing else wrong with her at all.
For a long time, Rin did not move or even breathe. Eventually, however, he sneezed and sniffed. That involuntary action was what caused the shrunken girl to bolt up, fully awake, and cause Rin to suck in his breath in worry.
"Huh?" Shiemi gasped, looking around her. "Why is everything so… big?" She then whimpered in fear, and slowly looked up at Rin. "R-R-Rin!?"
"Sh… Shiemi…" the boy stuttered, trying to calm her down but not able to calm himself down.
After just one look, the poor girl fainted, and Rin instantly picked her off of the bed and carried her back to his room, gently placing her on the nightstand. Rin took a closer look at Shiemi, stupefied at this sudden happening.
"Well, Rin," he sighed to himself, "I guess it wasn't just a normal snake bite after all."
A/N: Well, this is interesting, huh?
In case you don't know, I've had a fascination with G/T, or "giant/tiny" stories since my mam read me Jack and the Beanstalk. This just came to me today, and I ran with it! Imagine, 3000 words in one day on one thought!
Anywho, there will be more of this for sure, I decided to do this as a series. And it will be amazing!
BTW, here's the pic I mentioned if you wanna look at my this up in "Iwama-chan"'s library. This site keeps gumming up the address.
iwama-chanDOTdeviantartDOTcom/art/What-beautiful-flower-I-found-461359121
-JeremyX signing off!