Sweet, good internet! My holiday is almost over, so chapters will be posted regularly soon :) Aand here it is, Chapter Six!

As usual, positive and constructive criticism is welcome, negative and useless comments are not. Enjoy~

~EmmyTheTurtle


Chapter Six

~ Blue Flicker and a Flower's Bloom ~

It hadn't occurred to Tempus that Shiemi's grandmother's garden was barricaded with a lovely demon-repelling fence. Kamiki had gone to get Paku, so she was stuck wondering how on earth she was supposed to get in without the fence collapsing at her touch. From what Tempus could see, the garden was stunning. Flowers of every kind bloomed all over the place. Shiemi couldn't be seen. I guess I'll try the shop… her mother must be here somewhere.

Tempus opened the door to the old supply shop and walked in to see a plump middle-aged women with dark brown hair and eyes. "Hi and welcome, how can I help you?"

"I'm Shiemi's friend… here for that lunch?"

"Oh, right. Rin and Yukio arrived a few minutes ago, they're in the kitchen. Go on through."

I thought this was a quiet lunch… Tempus thought subtly. I hope Shima doesn't show up… or do I?

"Owari-chan!"

No, he's defiantly here. That stupid, idiotic, cute, cocky smile…

Shima jumped in front of Tempus and smiled brightly. "Here for lunch too?"

"Yeah," Tempus said, as brightly as she could manage. "Are we all here today?"

"Well, Shiemi did invite us all," Suguro sighed. "Must be a celebration for our success on the mission. She does things like this for us, I think it's sweet."

I'm sure Amaimon would like it too… if he could show up. "So, where's this kitchen?"

"In here!" Shiemi's high voice rang out. "There's tea in here if you want some!"


Kamiki had shown up with Paku about an hour after that. As they all joked, laughed, insulted each other, Tempus didn't feel anything. Every now and then, a bolt would shoot through her, like lightning. A bolt of emotions, ones that fit the situation perfectly. Laughter bubbled up inside her and died down just as quickly. Happiness, peace and humour.

"So, Tempus," Rin asked suddenly. "You've been pretty quiet this whole time."

"Yeah," Shima added. "Tell us about yourself."

"Like what?" Tempus asked.

"Why become an exorcist?" Rin asked. "Did something happen to your family?"

Crap… Umm… "My family… well, my ancestors on my father's side were exorcists, but the 'tradition' died out. So I'd thought I'd start it up again. They were against the idea, my mother especially. Dad and my brother were pretty supportive though and so I ended up here at True Cross."

"Your brother?" Kamiki asked.

"He's in boarding school. He chose not to be an exorcist."

"So, what does he do?" Shiemi asked, pouring more tea.

"He's studying to be a doctor." If I'm going to be honest, the King of Earth is good at healing himself and serious types of wounds. Doesn't often heal others, but he'll heal me if he wanted. I heal quickly anyway.

"Hey!" Rin jumped up. "Yukio wants to be a doctor too! Maybe you and him can meet up at some point!"

"I don't think that'd be a good idea," Tempus said extremely quickly. Maybe too quickly. "He doesn't speak Japanese."

"Ah, right. But you speak Japanese really well," Rin objected.

"I studied various languages in school before coming here. Consider me a 'rebellious child'." That much was true, Tempus had a lot of spare time on her hands and her father had collected a lot of books in his thousands of years of existence. Reading was a good pastime for Tempus. "And when I come out saying that I want to go to True Cross Academy, Japan, they flipped out – or well, my mum did. My father and brother were pretty chilled."

All matches up. But Yukio can probably see through it and maybe Suguro. Tempus looked over at Suguro, who had that same expression on his face. She remembered he had a tendency to glare a lot, even if he didn't mean to. "So," he said. "Your brother and dad were okay with your desire to be an exorcist. Any kind of class you want to be? Like, are you a good tamer, shooter, healer, etcetera?"

"If you want an honest answer, I'll have to say… I'm not sure."

"So you became an Exwire for the hell of it?"

Tempus shrugged. "Well…"

"Why… not a tamer?" Yukio asked.

Tempus' eyes flashed to him and her stare hardened. "Why would you say that…?"

"You seem to have a good eyes for demonic behaviour. Why don't I have Neuhaus summon a Naberius?"

Tempus snickered and glared at him in a way only he could notice. "You bring one of those in front me, I'll probably make sure it stays in Gehenna, or ends up burning in a fire."

"Ooh snap," Shima laughed. "You just got owned."

"You know, there's a flower that can withstand any flame, but it's only found in the deepest, darkest places." Shiemi smiled. "I don't remember the name though… I'll tell you when I remember."

"When you say any flame," Konekomaru whispered. "Does that include Satan's flame?"

Rin eyed him and Shiemi nodded. "Yes, it does."

"Could it protect a person?"

"Well… perhaps if you covered yourself in the flowers, it might… but any crack in the armour would hurt; it isn't a shield."

Tempus stood up. "Where's the restroom?"

"Down the hall on the right."

"Thanks."

Tempus had heard of the flower, she had even seen the flower. The same colour of the flame, beautiful in every way possible. The stem and leaves of the flower where white like snow, surprisingly. If one didn't know any better, they would appear to be dead. Satan had taken her to see them once in the garden she had burned to the ground during a temper-tantrum. Only those flowers had survived.

"One day, you will bloom to become like these flowers, Tempus. Your name means 'Time' in Latin. Like this flower sitting before you, you will be frozen in time and will remain beautiful while everything around you burns. Assiah might be yours one day."

"Might?"

He had smiled. "Some things are hard to reach out to, Tempus. Remember that when I fail, when I die, you will achieve what I could not."

Seize Assiah and make it your own. You fail in your task, but you didn't die, Father. I will achieve it for you, with human blood or not. Tempus walked into the bathroom and splashed water on her face. That one thing. Assiah. Such a place to control. Human souls to devour – if I could ever do that… It may be sick, but it's what demons do. If exorcists could see this… maybe I wouldn't have to burn them all…

Tempus might have gotten lost inside of the house, but she found everyone messing around in the garden, apparently looking for a seedling Shiemi had planet (she'd forgotten where she'd planted the tiny thing).

"It should be sprouting by now. I found the little baby in my grandmother's pillow."

"That's… kind of weird," Shima muttered, walking over to where Tempus was admiring a nice sunflower. "You know, yellow wouldn't suit you very well. Red or purple might. Black, even."

"Black is too dead for my liking," Tempus said. "I prefer white."

"White makes you look like a snowflake. Speaking of which, winter's almost here and the seasonal dance that the school holds is coming up in about two months." Shima went down on his knees to her level. "So, I was thinking… well, hoping, that we could go somewhere before that… so I can figure out what your favourite colour is."

Smiling, Tempus gently pulled a sunflower, violet, red rose and a black rose from the garden. "Take your pick. I can put them back when you guess wrong, but they probably won't live. I'm no good with plants."

"Hmm… you said black is too dead, so it can't be black." He pulled the rose from her fingers and planet it into the ground again. "Red is vibrant, but you look evil with it surrounding you. So, no." The red rose was back in the damp earth. "Yellow… well, honestly, it makes you look like pee."

"Is that an insult?"

"It's honesty." He smiled brightly. "So… violet is your favourite colour!"

"You're good. But what about the sky?"

"Everything about you is blue, Tempus. You're mostly white but those eyes of yours. Man, they're the same colour as the flame. I remember seeing a picture of the flower Shiemi told us about. The petals are the same colour as your eyes… so can I call them petals?"

"You're going to call my eyeballs 'petals'?"

"Pretty much."

Tempus laughed and covered her mouth when she began to snort. Shima's smile grew when he laughed too. "Well, um… you said you wanted to go somewhere?"

"The beach, maybe? It's still hot enough. Just… the two of us?" Tempus glanced up and stared into his gorgeous eyes. "We can bring everyone else… but… you know…" Shima blushed. "I've never actually done this before."

"Shima…" Tempus smiled and glanced at Kamiki who was eyeing them with curiosity. "Yeah… let's go to the beach with everyone."

His smile grew wider. "Next weekend?"

"Next weekend."

"Sweet!" Shima bounced up and was gone. Kamiki, seeing her chance, stormed over.

"What's he so happy about?" she demanded, the crease in her brow growing bigger.

"I… think I just got a date."

"Well then…" Kamiki glanced around. "You, Shiemi, Paku and I are going shopping."

"Why?" Tempus asked.

"Quite obviously you have no guy skills. So, we're taking you shopping. Tomorrow, since it's Sunday."

"I don't… know… how to shop…"

Kamiki began to laugh. "Well, I'm in a worse situation than I thought. Hey, Shiemi!"

"Yeah?"

"Get your yen together. We're going shopping tomorrow!"


A nice and short chapter for today!

Hehe... hee-hee... yep, there's a Tempus x Shima happening... (I'm guessing it's OC x Shima?) I'm working on Chapter Eight and it will be up as soon as possible. Until next time!

~EmmyTheTurtle