boys will be bugs || shino aburame

2 || chapter two

falling asleep that night was difficult for artemis. she didn't know why. maybe it was because of that mysterious ninja. either way, artemis put those thoughts aside to try and find some sleep.

***

it was around 8:00 a.m. when the sun had woken artemis up.

she went through her daily morning routine of showering, drying her hair, and maintenancing her metal arms.

it was 9:45 a.m. when artemis left her apartment.

artemis' trip was quiet, as per usual. she didn't have an exeed partner like all the other dragon true dragon slayers in her guild, but she didn't mind. it was one less living thing to put in danger she supposes.

it was just five minutes past 10:00 a.m. when artemis arrived at the guild. there hadn't been any loud banter yet(that begins well past noon).

however, artemis was surprised when she saw lucy sitting with gray and erza without natsu and happy.

artemis walked over to the bar, ordered her morning tea, then walked toward team natsum who were missing their staple members.

sitting next to lucy, artemis asked, "lucy, where's natsu. you two usually come to the guild together."

while artemis sat to the right of lucy, erza sat across from artemis, leaving gray to sit on erza's right side.

lucy put her chin in her palm, eyebrows furrowed, "i'm not sure. he didn't break into my apartment last night, and he and happy didn't show up this morning either."

gray raised his eyebrows, an assuming tone in his voice, "he probably still hasn't woken up yet. with how lazy he is, i doubt he'll be here before noon."

as if right on queue to counter gray's trash-talk, natsu bursts through the doors with happy at his side, yelling, "what'd you say about me, ice princess?!"

gray stood up, winding his arm back, "you heard me, flame brain!"

with one nod to erza, artemis launched herself at an inhuman speed towards natsu. erza and artemis simultaneously bopped the two mages on their heads, causing a welt to form on the both of their heads.

artemis gave natsu and gray a flat expression, clearly not amused, "it's too early for the two of you to be fighting. at least wait until it's past noon."

the ice and fire dragon slaying mage both shrank back and gave small nods, "yes, artemis."

with all said and done, artemis walked back to the table with natsu and happy following behind her.

with the group of mages now settled down, erza asked artemis, "what did the master want with you yesterday? you never go around to telling us."

ah, that's right. i had to take care of some errands yesterday after the meeting, so i didn't have time to inform them of my new job.

artemis sighed, "it was a job request from the group of people that came into the guild yesterday."

"you mean the ones that had that dog with them? that dog was giving happy some not so good looks." natsu said. artemis answered with a nod.