A/N: how about that new chapter guys. There Kato goes wrecking my ships and all I can say is:
AMAIMON REDEMPTION ARC
I need this like I need air. Please Kato have mercy on a fan that's been waiting for months, (YEARS), for her favorite boi to come back. Schoolboy! Amaimon is a thing now but I need him redeemed please; end my suffering.
Anyway onwards!
Blue Periwinkle
Night had rapidly fallen over the little sanctuary; Shiemi brewing tea for her and her grandmother in the late hour. The two had the house to themselves as her mother had been away for the day, attending to overseas supplies that had arrived late. It was a stroke of luck that her mother had coincidentally been out when Amaimon had appeared, much to their fortune.
When returning indoors, Shiemi had searched in every nook and cranny of their residency even in the medicine cabinets that she ordinarily would stay away from. Later she had uncovered it as it had somehow found itself at the pit of her drawers when her grandmother had joined her.
From that, Shiemi had went through the album, reminiscing on the pressed flowers and imprinted ink with conversant fingers, relearning as she and her grandmother read together. The last page had Amaimon and he didn't appear a day older or younger from how he had been drawn by the date that was embedded in the parchment corner. While rereading, Shiemi and her grandmother then discussed the topic on how exactly should they repair the gate as it was too heavy for the two of them and how Shiemi's mother would react. Knowing her mother, she would overreact.
In the quaint living room, she sat on a futon pouring the teapot for the two cups that were on the low dining table, the book resting on the side. As they went over the events that had transpired before Shiemi still couldn't grasp that she had met him.
"I can't believed I hadn't recognized him sooner!" Shiemi said as she thumbed through the crepitate pages, needful of how the flowers were.
Her grandmother chuckled, "I can't believe I've got to see him twice."
As the two talked there was the clicking of the entrance door as it slide open and her mother came in with loads of crates, many labels in Japanese and English that had text in bolded and italicized red lettering. As she took off her clogs, she yelled for her daughter as she struggled to slide the door with the boxes in arm.
Standing up, Shiemi saw the 'shh' that her grandmother directed to her as she winked, putting a finger to her lips and Shiemi smiled back at her, zipping her lips up. They shared a quick laugh and shushed themselves as Shiemi exited the room, stepping down to greet her harried mother.
This would be a little secret between the two of them one of the biggest to date.
After all, her mother wasn't fond of demons and hadn't been ever since the incident. In fact, when Shiemi spent more time in the garden to where she was there for the majority of the day she disapproved of it, but she couldn't deny her only child and her own mother.
Helping her mother by taking a few of the boxes she set them down as her mother went over to the many drawers and shelves to put them in their necessary places.
As Shiemi was putting them where her mother instructed her, the older woman ferreting for her misplaced pipe behind the counter. While Shiemi packed the supplies into their sections her mother speared her with a calculating gaze, one that Shiemi associated whenever she was going to stay inside and not go out like kids her age should.
"I saw that the gate is gone," she abruptly brought up that made Shiemi stiffen, nearly dropping the cargo in hand. "Did a demon break the barrier?" Discarding the ashes of tobacco she refilled it, the singed smell making Shiemi's nose prickle, and cough in the back of her throat. She hated when her mother smoked, it wasn't good for her health and it smelled so rancid too.
In spite of all Shiemi knew her mother wouldn't relent if she said that a demon had broke down the gate, accidentally. Shiemi wasn't the best liar to people, even to herself.
Getting up as she put the barren boxes near the doorway she passed by mother with a hurried no. Her mother's eyes bore into her as she retreated into the adjacent room as her grandmother refilled her cup as Shiemi reseated herself, calming herself with the tepid tea. Wafting to her face, the aroma cleansed her of her worries, temporarily as she tipped the cup to her lips.
Her mother knew that there was something she didn't know that Shiemi was keeping quiet on but didn't want to press so she let out a sigh, more tired than her number of years let on.
"I'll call an exorcist to put up another barrier and fix the gate," her mother said outside the paper door before retiring for bed. The two slurped their tea so her mother would know they were preoccupied from answering her.
As the pair listened to the regressing footfalls, Shiemi let out a held in breath as she wrung her hands. If her mother grew suspicious that meant that the exorcists would too. What if Amaimon wouldn't come because of it and he'd think that he wasn't welcomed? A bunch of other worries stacked on the other, in a domino effect that came rushing down, pushing at her. "How is Amaimon going to get through the barrier? If he breaks it again mom will definitely—"
"Hush." A hand was on her head stroked through her locks of hair and she resisted the urge to lay her head down in her grandmother's lap as she had when a few years younger and more frightful of the world outside of home. "Don't fret now. We'll find a solution."
Reassured from her grandmother's wisdom, Shiemi nodded letting her grandmother run her fingers through her hair as her half-drunk tea went cold.
—
True to her words, Mrs. Moriyama had phoned the exorcists in the morning to reinforce the barrier and have the gate back up by midday, reimbursing them for their efforts by discounting a select few items from the shipments.
While watching the black gate rise up once more, it loomed foreboding through the viridian globe that Shiemi lived comfortably in, a contrast from the outside. A clear boundary could be drawn into the dirt from how embossed it was, where the garden ended and to where the city began. Part of Shiemi desired to go out and venture in those parts but knew that the safety of home was all she'd known of. Cut off from civilization to become the witch of the garden.
Shiemi was anxious that Amaimon would come out of nowhere and wreak chaos among the exorcists that she floated nearby the windows of the house and outside to see if he was there. Mercifully her luck hadn't run out just yet, as the exorcists had left somewhere in the midday and she came back into the garden, sliding her feet out of her sandals that laid on the porch.
"I guess he isn't coming today," she said to her grandmother as the two resumed their gardening. The latter didn't seem as bothered as she divided the compost.
"He may be repelled from the barrier," the other said, "though I think he's strong enough to break it again."
From what had happened from the day before, the events that went down in her backyard garden stayed in her thoughts, and would reside there for a while.
If she was a little child, she would be ecstatic beyond the stars and moon but being older she didn't know what to think. Rationality took over the fairytale from the cognization that he was a demon—one of royalty that gave Shiemi something to think deeply on.
Upon encountering, Shiemi had acted normal enough, she had reasoned to herself. It had been easier considering that the garden had been gated as a result of a malicious demon, and surprisingly she wasn't afraid of him.
She didn't know if she should either be terrorized that she didn't fear him or jovial that she wasn't.
Then again she hadn't had any other interaction from someone else besides the lessening members of family and a few regulars that came by the shop for a brief talk and sundries.
Other than that, she hadn't any encounter with people much less a stranger. Yet, she needed to know more about him, a itching to know who he was and not just what was said about him. There wasn't much about him that had been presented from the book that could be set apart from his personality and even then there wasn't much to go between the conversation they had.
The garden seemed expectant of their ruler's return and Shiemi listlessly ran her fingers through the plants that had bloomed yesterday. Hopefully he hadn't been chased away.
—
Spending most of his days revisiting the school that his brother had founded centuries ago, Amaimon found it much more amusing from before with the theme park and the various ploys that were hidden throughout the institution.
Jumping through traps and mazes, he made a his way back to Mephisto's office. His brother was occupied with what he was doing and gave him a side sweeping look as he lounged on the couch. Amaimon had brought along Behemoth and the beastly thing was chewing at the wooden leg. While munching on caramel popcorn, Amaimon then wedged a nail between his teeth to clean it.
"Amaimon tell that beast to stop ruining my furniture," Mephisto spoke after a prolonged stint of chewing from both of them that was wearing on his nerves. "And close your mouth when you're eating—stop littering my floor with trash!"
Peering out over the couch, Amaimon saw the food wrappers and unfinished bags of chips along with a overturned bottle of soda that had long lost its carbonation that Behemoth had its attention on, lapping at the spilled beverage that would stain on the wood.
"Sorry." He sat on his side and tugged at Behemoth who hopped up beside him as he let it have the remaining popcorn, eating messily as Amaimon took a bag off the carpet and went back to eating.
"Don't you have anything better to do? You could go back home," Mephisto muttered as he had to mundane paperwork and his little brother wasn't making it any easier.
This world was better in terms of food, the selection having more flavors to experience as Amaimon discovered his sweet tooth and the fact that he had a bottomless stomach, much to his brother's chagrin.
Flicking the the tip of his nail, he kicked up his feet while Behemoth had its head in the bag that he let it have.
"I already solved all the puzzles around here," he stated and Mephisto was incredulous from his answer.
"Those," a gloved hand came to drape at the bridge at his eyes, "weren't for solving. They're for keeping demons like you and me out." He let his hand fall to his chin. "I don't see why you can't use the key I gave you."
Amaimon shook his head, "there wouldn't be any fun in that."
To a degree Mephisto could understand that, where his brother was coming from. After all, Assiah was one wondrous and bountiful playground with boundless possibilities and he had his playmates set out in position soon to take effect in a year's time.
However his brother's meddling could be proven worrisome and he had to keep a loose collar on him. Yesterday, Mephisto had made sure he had stayed within school grounds which surprisingly, Amaimon had for the most part.
"Go make friends, make forgeable bonds." That's what all great shounen mangas repeated, the overused trope about friendship and how it trumped just about anything. "But that doesn't mean you can possess anyone," Mephisto corrected himself and Amaimon spared him a cursory glance.
"Friends?" As hopeless as ever, he took out a few books Mephisto had kept for times of need, (this was one of them), and handed those to him.
Just from the the cover, it was juvenile picture books fit for children but would be perfect for his brother. Grabbing at the corner of the book, Amaimon flipped it open and saw the tale of a demon and a boy becoming friends.
"It is unrealistic a human and demon having a friendship, much less playing and being cordial with each other," Mephisto said beside him, leaning on the armrest of the couch, "but that's why there are stories. What great stories those are indeed." How optimistic they started and how tragic they ended. Never failed to leave a sour smile on his face when finishing a particularly good one.
Tugging at Behemoth Amaimon left with the books in tow. There was a knowing glint in the corner of Mephisto's eyes as Amaimon held it for a second as he passed. His eyes had been drawn to the beige bandage that Amaimon sported for some days as Mephisto knew his brother wasn't the one to put that on.
Lingering was a sweeter smell of flowers on him and underneath that—the uniqueness of humans. It had confirmed where he had been and Mephisto had his curiosity peaked.
As the door shut behind him Mephisto went back to his desk, his smirking face in his hands. "Young brother I wonder what your story will be? For your sake one that has a happily ever after!" He spun in his chair, letting out a chortle at what was awaited in the closing future.
Going into the forest he leapt from treetop until he found a comfortable enough spot to stop. Backed against the trunk, he sat on a branch as Amaimon read the story to himself, Behemoth sitting with him.
"Brother is right, this is unrealistic," he inputted to the goblin who squabbled at him.
Switching his position to hang upside down, he read another book. The pictures did provide some enthrallment from the coloration of the illustrations were eye catching but for a couple minutes at least, his eyes rolling in the back of his head from the paragraphs of wording.
Having served its intended purpose, he fed it to Behemoth that gladly ripped into it while he made a airplane out of a page. Watching it fly with the updraft he decided to put what he had read partially to use. Leaping down he walked out of the forest and skipped among the cobblestones, Behemoth behind him.
Walking, he came upon the winding paved stairwell that led away from the shop and into the ensconced terrace. Leading up to the steps he saw that the garden spoke out to him when sensing him and Amaimon craned his neck.
It was as if she lived in the garden as she always seemed to be there. The girl was tending to seedlings, putting stalks for their stability as she tapped the ground to make sure it was supported. It seemed that she was the only one in the garden as she shuffled on her knees, tarnishing her clothes as it scuffed in the underbrush.
What was the girl's name? It had been a week since he had last seen her, or more; time was a fickle thing in this place. Faster and brighter were the days and shorter the nights, that if he closed his eyes to blink he would miss it. Rummaging through his brain, he snagged a inkling of what it was and was about to knock on the metal when she saw him standing there.
"You're back!" Her eyes glittered as she dashed over to him. Her hands were indecisive as herself as she she wanted to put them through the bars. Instead she settled to put them between the spaces and not further, letting her digits wrap on the railing with a face lost in thoughts. "After you left I thought I had scared you off…"
Him? Scared? If anyone had said that about him he would definitely kill them. Those two things didn't go together and he gritted his teeth at the insinuation. Behemoth as if sensing that, bared its maul and snarled that made Shiemi warily eye the sprite.
Amaimon pulled at the chain, quieting it. "Why would you say that?"
Her hands delineating the soot colored rails as she glanced back at him then at the gate that separated her from him, hesitating at his response. Amaimon waited, staring until she spoke back.
"Because of the gate. I thought that you would think…" she trailed off when realizing that Amaimon crossed his arms with an unsatisfactory air around him.
"I broke it yesterday. You fixed it." He said it simple as he put a hand on it. It sent a temporary shocking and then it shattered again, though this time the gate didn't collapse all the way. Vines that grew from the ground twined themselves between the hinges that would grant him access but still maintaining the spell. Cracking it open Shiemi let him through; Behemoth bit at the flowers that he had planted when let in.
Those were what he considered a gift and tightened his grip on the chains that made the hoboglobin obediently hunker down in the grass, chewing at the ground instead. Weeds were one of its favorite things to eat and he let it feed off those.
"Erm, are you sure it won't eat the plants?" Shiemi inquired and Amaimon shrugged.
"It'll eat the ground and the weeds but I can tell him to not eat anything else," seeing her nod he muttered something under his breath in his native tongue that had the beast sit obediently, chomping on the petal that had escaped from its overbite.
"What did you say?" Shiemi said when seeing how still the beast had become. From what she had heard, it was just a shortened whisper and she was positive that he actually hadn't spoken.
"I'll kill it if it disobeys me." Judging from how she reacted to the bluntness of his words he had to explain himself, he didn't know if that was the right approach.
Shiemi knew that demons were vastly different from humans but it was terrifying how exactly much that difference could be. Shivering a bit at how easily he had said the words Shiemi excused herself as her mother and her grandmother were chatting together.
Amaimon wondered if he had scared her off when looking at her receding back. He didn't lie and didn't do anything that had upset her, had he? Perhaps he should have kept the books.
When inside she hinted that he was there towards her grandma. Catching the expression, the grandmother wisely and discreetly directed her mother to the front of the store to continue their talk, leaving Shiemi with the demon king. Taking out treats that she had for him, she ran back outside and breathed in relief when he was still there.
"How is your injury?" She asked, when seeing him crouched over to where she had made an addition to the garden.
There was a noncommittal hum and she realized that the bandaid on his finger was no longer present and that there was no cut on his skin; Shiemi concluding that he had miraculously healed. Whilst he bit at the edge of his nail, Shiemi set the tray of snacks down to where his pet ate its contents.
Watching, she also crouched beside the other and Amaimon gave her a out of the corner look before nibbling at his nail. Behemoth also looked at it with its beady eyes before gnawing at a rock.
"I just planted them today," Shiemi combed her fingers into the dirt with a placid smile. "I wished they could grow faster though."
An idea struck him, suddenly and he latched onto it before it could slip from him. Looking at the plants he spoke. "Have you seen that movie about where those two girls make trees grow out of the plants." From his sudden question, Shiemi had to think before she realized what he was talking about.
"Yes! It's one of my favorite movies!" She said and he nodded at her answer. Secretly he had enjoyed it too, though it didn't have the right depictions of forest sprites.
"If you dance, it'll make them grow," he informed, as he pushed Behemoth from indenting its teeth onto the tray. "Just like that."
"Really?!" But there was some doubt that followed as she cast her eyes on the plants. The leaves were just there, and she didn't want to hamper the sprouts. "But I've already tried and it didn't work then." By saying that she had meant when she was the same age as the girls and had come out and danced in the moonlight.
Amaimon shook his finger at her, "that's why I'm here. Now go on."
Admittedly, Shiemi had done it only at night when no one could see her do the embarrassing display. It was in broad daylight, and she saw how expectant he was, and swallowed her hidden mortification. Taking timid steps, she raised her hands above her head as she capered around the allotment.
Amaimon couldn't believe that she was actually doing what he said. Humans were gullible but she was on another plane of it and didn't know if it was a good or bad thing. After a minute or two as he watched her attempts to dance around it, she became increasingly more self-conscious and beet red as she put her head in her lap as she crouched beside him.
"I must look like an idiot," she mumbled and Amaimon could picture the steam emanating from her red face as she buried her face into her knees.
It was funny enough and entertaining that Amaimon wanted to see it a second time. Humans were entertaining enough in interaction, but she was something else, he thought. When she hesitated he saw that even she had some limitations and he tried again.
"Try it this time with your eyes closed," he insisted and Shiemi peered at him. Since he asked so nicely she did a variation of it, not budging in her spot, bringing her arms outstretched as she stood up.
When he saw that her eyes were clamped shut and that she stretched as far as her limbs allowed, he slammed his hands down on the earth and willed the plants to grow as high as he could possibly make them. With a rickety grating of roots and the rumble of awakening, the plants exceeded in height as Shiemi opened her eyes at the earth shattering noise.
"Ah—!" Her eyes marveled at how the heights it could go when she realized that her mother could either see or hear what was going on in the backyard.
While he was concentrating Shiemi had crouched beside him, a hand hovering as she didn't know whether she should touch him. "Amaimon please stop!" She said to him as he cocked his head.
The plants were higher than the treetops by now and were giddy from being up so fat and so fast, and he thought she would share the same sentiments too.
"But I thought you wanted it to get bigger?" He was confused. First she wanted it to grow and now she wanted him to stop, couldn't she make up her mind?
"I did but this is too much! My mother might notice," when seeing the colossal plants that had buds as large as her she lowered her voice to be pragmatic, "and she'll call the exorcists."
Which meant that he would get into trouble with his brother. That couldn't happen if he valued his life. Taking his hands from the dirt as the roots had coiled over his fingers to drain his power, disappeared underground, and the plants reduced in size but were still tall enough to be noticed.
When seeing him clean the dirt off on his long gloves she handed him a spade. At the instrument he held it by the forefingers as she dug at the ground.
"Why don't we plant things? Like vegetables or fruit?" She offered and he tilted his head.
"I can do that." Letting go of the gardening tool, he thrusted his arms into the soil and willed just about any creation he could think of. Immediately a plethora of produce erupted from the grass that made Shiemi yelp at the abruptness, a strawberry bush coming out from the shallow hole she had dug. This time he eased it to a normal growing rate and took his hands from the soil.
Behemoth, at the prospect of something to eat, leapt up but Amaimon yanked at the chain to which it whimpered but stayed to his side. When seeing how harshly he was treating Behemoth, Shiemi looked to him, a quiet, subdued sort of hurt in her eyes that Amaimon couldn't distinguish quite yet.
"Why do you treat it like that?" His eyes flitted to her when hearing the saddened tinge in her voice. "I don't see why you can't be nicer."
To prove herself she made a split decision. Rashly, she then stuck out her hand to it Behemoth inspected the hand and it shakes as if she had saw her error, from the many jagged teeth were prominent from its mouth. However she didn't retract it and Behemoth then hunched its back so that her hand made contact with its skin.
A shriek stuck itself in the back of her throat but died away with a craggily purring that was coming from the beast. It's skin wasn't slimy or unpleasant but warm and smooth like a pebble worn from a stream. Letting her hand rub it she bravely ran her fingers along the multitude of markings and colors as Amaimon watched the exchange.
When she had stopped petting it, the goblin had hopped into her lap as she carefully held it and Amaimon wasn't aware that it could act like it was, as if it were a dog.
"See? It can be cute from how you treat it," she giggled as the fae huddled into her arms as she petted it gently.
"Huh. You're weird, girl." It was a statement and he didn't know what to think about it. Shiemi was a bit hurt from it and that he called her girl, a visible sign was how her eyes went to him that he did catch. However he didn't think on it.
"What's its name?" Shiemi asked after another minute of cradling the monster in her lap as if it were a house pet.
"Behemoth." The hobogoblin's ears perked at it's name being called but remained in Shiemi's lap, his brow quirked when seeing that it had stayed put.
Shiemi grinned, "a fitting name for you." It garbled and licked a long stripe of saliva on her cheek, laughing at the prickling sandpaper texture of it.
It was so odd seeing her influence, it made Amaimon more confused on what humans should act like. The book was zilch when it came to her. Which made it all the more entertaining.
A opening of the backdoor was heard and the slam of it closing and Shiemi snap to, her breathing in a stupor. It was her mother and her grandmother that came out into the garden and was heading their way and her mother didn't seem pleased.
"Quick—hide!" Hastily, she placed Behemoth in his lap and then ran to meet them that were on the other side of the house. She nearly tripped over her own feet when reaching them that caused her mother to tsk at her incompetence. A rush of shame flooded here but it wasn't the time to feel sorry for herself.
"What's all this?" Her mother asked when seeing the abundance of vegetables and fruits.
"Oh—well grandmother and I thought that the garden could also be used for other purposes. Like food!" Shiemi supplied as she saw the bushels and trees that Amaimon had created in the space that he was given.
Her mother hadn't come into to the garden for a while and she didn't know when the plants had been ordered. Notwithstanding, the booming clatter that had rocked the house didn't exactly go without a hitch.
"I'm sure that construction of that new place had been that sound," her grandmother covered for her. "I don't know my hearing has been going. Hopefully your's isn't going too—you're not even half my age!" Her grandmother laughed and Mrs Moriyama flushed and scoffed.
"Must have imagined it!" The two went back into the house as her grandmother mimed her zipping her lips and Shiemi mirroring her.
Going to the back of the house, she saw the tapering end of his holey coat and elvish boots that was near the shack. Tiptoeing to it she saw the Amaimon against the shed with a knee up and his elbow on it, letting his goblin eat the weeds that had festered in the wood.
Sitting beside him she stared at the gated bars that caged them in. Amaimon observed her as she absentmindedly picked at a weed and gave it to Behemoth. It parked itself beside her, laying on it's stomach for a nap.
"One day I'm going to leave this place and go out there," Shiemi confessed to him, as she fisted into the yellowing grass under the shaded place. Glimpsing at the outline of the trees, she let out a exalted inhale of air.
"Then I can finally have a friend! All sorts of friends!" She put her hands together at the prospect as Amaimon fished in his pocket, half in tune to what she was saying.
When finding it, he tapped at her shoulder that made her turn to him, her reverie momentarily halted. It was a lollipop, one of his favorite types and he held it out to her. He held her gaze, eyes and voice unchanging.
"Be my friend."
This is what his brother said he should do and he was simply following that. So why was she crying? Big raindrop like tears dripped off her chin and soaked into the floral printed fabric, but there was a smile on her lips. Was she sad? If she was sad why was she smiling too...humans were more complicated than he'd given credit too. Sniffling, she wiped at her eyes with her sleeve before beaming at him.
"I—I would like to be your friend!" She was bashful when blurting it out loud. "Actually," she had a tendency for her eyes to wander away as she collected herself. "I've always wanted to be your friend."
At that confession, Amaimon internally blanched. Recently they had just met how did she want to be his friend? Then he deducted that she knew possibly from her grandmother telling her tall tales.
"A human and a demon is a bit funny, but..." she looked to him, her eyes no longer brimming, "I would definitely be your friend!" Then taking his hand she gave it a squeeze with both of her hands that made him the lollipop slip from his fingers.
Holding onto it in a fit of blithe, seconds long until her face combusted in a flurry of heat and delayed realization. "Ah—sorry!" She let go of his hand as if he had scalded her, her hands going back to clench into the grass, uncertain if she had overstepped a boundary. Bypassing that, Amaimon picked the lollipop back up and twirled it.
"So you're my friend now," he tested saying and the girl gifting a grin at him, eyes creasing from how widely it was. "Shiemi."
From saying her name the girl became a lovely shade of pink and that was rather anomalous, to him. After all he just called her by her proper name. He couldn't go on calling her girl when that itself had her upset over virtually nothing. If he wanted her to be his friend he'd have to call her by her name. From what the book had written, friends didn't refer to each other by demon and she called him by his name. It never was demon.
Unbeknownst to him she had been waiting for him to call her by name and was happy that he hadn't forgotten. It meant that she was something to him, a friend.
Her first friend, the singular thought made her heart skip beats and a cheeriness that she hadn't imagined she could ever have.
"And you're mine too!"
Flower Meaning: early friendship
A/N: they became friends woot. The reference is My Neighbor Totoro. Man this chapter was so hard to crank out. I'll have to come back and revise but until then enjoy! Read and review please!