The Purity of White Seems To Be Red - ShiMayu One-Shots | Sousei no Onmyouji

Merī Kurisumasu

A/N: So you might now think: What the **** is this fiction doing here at the end of april? You are very right to wonder about that. 

By now I finished a few One-Shots, set within the future of "The Purity of White Seems To Be Red", which I'd like to publish in this collection. They contain mild spoilers for the main story so you might want to read it first. I will publish the One-Shots chronologically, in the order they would appear in the future of the Purity-universe. And so we are starting with their first christmas.

With eagle eyes and a calm hand Mayura placed her homemade chocolate cream on the cake spreading it out very carefully. After a few minutes the whole cake was surrounded by the soft, creamy chocolate icing. She smiled at her work. Surely he would like it. He would appreciate the perfection of the flat top and sides as well as the pointedly shaped edge of the cake. But she knew he would love the cake after tasting a bite. After all – she had learned this on one of her visits to the Ikagura estate before they were dating – Shimon had a sweet tooth.

She hummed a Christmas song as she decorated the cake with small piles of whipped vanilla cream. In her head she chanted the words 'I just want to hold you close. Da-da-daaa. All I want for Christmas...' She giggled feeling silly. But she was happy about her work. This cake would help her. Since they started going out he was not so stiff anymore when they were alone together but she had discovered a little of chocolate made him smile and laugh a lot sooner. And though it was a rare sight to see and a rare sound to hear she loved the moment, he showed and shared his happiness.

After finishing the cake by putting sweet cherries on top of each pile, she turned around to get a glance at the clock hanging above the door frame of the kitchen. It was already half past five. She had half an hour to get ready. 'Perfect timing', she thought putting away the cake.

As she went to her room she wondered if Benio and Rokuro were having a special date, too or if they spend their day like always pretending nothing was going on. Coming to think of it, Shimon and her would be alone for the whole day. The main house of the Amawaka clan was totally deserted this evening. Swallowing down her dwelling nervousness about this thought she entered her room and swiftly put on her dress and the suiting stockings she had laid out this morning. It was a beige cotton dress with long arms and a collar of fur, ending above her knees. Looking in the mirror her self-confidence rose. It was the perfect outfit, not too formal, not too showy and fitting her perfectly. Now she only needed to make her hair and she would be ready.

The scent of candles filled the main room as she lightened the last one just in time before the bell in front of the house rang. Taking in the sight of the candles she felt the nervousness rise in her again. What would they do the whole evening alone together? Were the candles too much? Should she leave the main light on? How much time would she need to blow out all twenty six candles?

The bell rang anew, breaking Mayura out of her inner conflict. It was too late to turn back now. Taking a deep breath she went to let Shimon in.

When she opened the door all of her worries dissolved. Shimon was standing there with a hand in one pocket of his trousers, the other held a nicely wrapped present. Instead of his usual outfit he now wore a light blue shirt that complimented his sky blue eyes and a black tie. Brown trousers and black shoes completed the handsome sight. Mayura felt a blush rising as she took his appearance in. She noticed he didn't wear his headphones which caused a funny, fluttering feeling in her stomach. He was taking this date as serious as she did. Her blush deepened when she noticed his eyes widening and a small blush brushing his cheeks as he watched her.

After a while Shimon seemed to have regained his composure, he straightened up. "Mayura, you look beautiful."

Her heart beat sped up. His voice, saying such things, it was enough to make her feel tingly inside. She looked down on her folded hands and stammered: "Thank you. You look very ha-a-handsome, too."

Fighting her inner turmoil she looked up at Shimon whose ever sharp gaze was so soft now. "C-come in?"

He simply nodded and followed her as she lead the way to the main room.

After they sat on the couch with a lot of distance between them. The room was totally silent for they both sat there not looking at each other. She had her hands folded in her lap and watched the candle light flicker softly. The air between Shimon and her was still tight and awkward. Had she poisoned the whole mood by dressing up and lightening candles? Had she send wrong signals rising high expectations? An image of them in a tight embrace on the couch appeared in front of her inner eye. Heat rose her face and she tried to shake the image off. She clenched her hands together as she felt his gaze on her. Okay, it was clearly time for the cake!

She raised her eyes to him who held the present in one hand. "I have cake." A few days later she might laugh about her own stupid wording. Now as he lifted his eyes to meet her gaze she only thought about the cake as the ultimate solution to this situation and continued. "I'm going to get it, just wait here. By the way, you can put the present on the table."

With that she rushed to get the cake. It was still on the kitchen counter, looking absolutely mouth-watering. She sighed and took the cake and brought it to the main room, where she had set dishes before she lightened the candles.

And she had been right. When Shimon looked at the cake his lips lifted to a small smile and his eyes held a little wonder in them. After he took the first bite of the cake he paused and looked down on his plate. Mayura began to fear the worst: Was there too much cream? Not enough? Was it too sweet? Was there-?

"Mayura, this is delicious. Did you make the cake?" He looked at her in puzzlement like he tried to figure something out.

Heat rose to her cheeks. Mayura nodded eargerly as she felt utterly relieved and pleased because he liked the cake.

The puzzlement turned into something else. And he bowed his head. "Thank you, Mayura, for this tasty cake." After that he literally dug into the cake. He ate his slice of cake rapidly. Nevertheless he managed to avoid gobbling it down and stayed presentable.

She smiled watching him. He was handsome, cool, kind and powerful. But he also had many funny and cute quirks that where also part of the reason she fell in love with him.

"Everything, okay?" He watched her with a raised eyebrow, having finished his (first) slice of cake.

She smiled at him, he had a crumble in the corner of his mouth. He was cute indeed. "Everything is perfect." Slowly she ate her piece of cake as he continued giving into his chocolate addiction.

Later when they exchanged presents she felt the love for him tighten her chest each moment passing by. When he opened her present and blew her a fullhearted smile over the vermilion scarf she had knitted herself for half an eternity, when she opened his present and couldn't help but laugh hard about the Twin Star Exorcist action figures, when he shared her laughter, when they smiled at each other like the fools they were, when he leaned towards, when he kissed her, she knew, she just knew they were meant to be.

Before she pressed her lips to his again, she whispered: "Merry Christmas."

A/N: In Japan Christmas is totally different. Because there are not many Christians living it is neither religious nor a holiday. Also it is not a day to celebrate with family but with lovers, like a second Valentine's Day. The presents, if there are some (often only in young families) are very small ones.

A/N: Hope you liked it.^^ Don't forget, if you liked it, leave a comment and/or vote. See you on the next One-Shot! ;)