Gnossienne
Rating: T
Disclaimer: Beelzebub belongs to Tamura Ryuhei and I just twisted the story.
A/N: Like I said, this story is a twisted, fictional version of Oga's feeling throughout the manga. There's no dialogue in here (which I actually don't like) and I prefer Furuichi as Oga's weakness instead of Misaki as told in chapter 223. English is not my native language. Also, this story was beta-read by a brilliant Surely Blue. Any mistake left is mine.
-PS: I've tried to search the original artist for the cover, but I found the picture on pixiv and and none in zerochan. The id was 851354 but there's no pixiv link with that id. So, if any of you know, please tell me so I can credited the artist properly.
Furuichi was Oga's only weakness before he met baby Beel. But even after Baby Beel entered his life, Furuichi is still on the top of the list. Furuichi is the only guy Oga would let to hurt him. He's the only guy that would act casual and treat him like a normal friend, even threatening him and all without being intimidated with Oga's brawling skills. He's the only guy Oga would listen to or rely on. He had absolute faith in the silver-haired boy. Whether in good or bad situation, Furuichi would always be there. Furuichi is his best friend, his family, long before Baby Beel arrived, and would remain so long after Baby Beel was gone. Furuichi is the only constant thing in his life. So, when people figured it out, Oga would went through all hell to save him and keeps him out of the harm's way.
It was the third time Furuichi had gotten kidnapped. When Oga had expected to hear Furuichi's voice instead of Himekawa's smug tone, he ran with all his might to wherever Furuichi was. Of course, he was worried about Hilda too, but she was a demon and a stranger (at that time) and she would never top Furuichi in his mind (or heart). When Himekawa said that they were only bait, the look of hurt in Furuichi's eyes was enough to trigger his demon's power. Really, Hilda should have been thankful to Furuichi. Without him, Oga wouldn't have that Zebub spell tattoo. And, when Oga released the bound on Furuichi's hands, the two of them just stayed quiet. Oga was looking at the rope mark (and hating it) and Furuichi was feeling embarrassed for acting all cool in front of Hilda (and guilt for Oga).
Since Baby Beel had come, life had gotten a lot more interesting. Unconsciously, he had made a lot of friends along with Furuichi. There were jokes here and there, Oga occasionally chimed in, and Furuichi was in the middle of it, because really, things just happened to Furuichi. Oga was never the one to understand emotion (that was Furuichi's part with his constant bitchin'), but how he hated himself when he failed to see the pain that his (supposedly) best friend had kept hidden under.
As he went looking for Furuichi after he got punched and kicked, he wasn't really angry or anything. Actually, he'd let Furuichi do anything to him for still being his friend. He'd just fight for the sake of it. And when he knew what had happened, looking at Furuichi blissfully taking on Kanzaki and Himekawa, he kind of felt happy for the guy. Furuichi needed that, the feeling of physically winning against someone. He was genuinely amused, but as he knew the side effect of those tissues, he'd stop Furuichi there, because he'd never let Furuichi die, not on his watch. (Not that he ever believed that Furuichi would die someday)
Oga wouldn't take Furuichi's happiness nonchalantly (the one time in the pool was because Oga believed that it would be fun playing with Oga in the pool rather than in expensive resort without him), and he had tried his best to keep the fight short because Furuichi kept pushing in new tissues every time he lost. But the time for those tissues was at the limit and Oga saw the resolution in Furuichi's speech (which he can't figure out at that time – why Furuichi insisted that) and told the guy about the downside effect. Then Furuichi said he'd known that from the beginning, and Oga felt hurt, anger, and shame.
Furuichi had wanted to die all this time? How the hell could he just want to die and not showing any sign? How can he do that (to Oga)? How the hell did he, Oga, not know about this? How the hell did he not see all those pain in Furuichi's eyes, the pain that was engulfing his entire heart? And he realized that he had taken him for granted, that he didn't even realize how much he was hurting all this time. But then Behemoth suddenly appeared, and he was afraid that Furuichi was really going to die. So, he used all his power to fight seriously against Furuichi in honor of him and to end the fight as soon as possible –to get rid of that high class demon with his humongous demonic power.
Never once did Oga question Furuichi's strength. He was the only one who can keep up with him –how much strength do you think he has? He was the strongest person Oga had ever faced, to still be able to stand up after being together with Oga for more than 5 years, and to keep standing up no matter how many times Oga had punched him, literally and hypothetically. Even his sister had told him how precious Takachin was and how strong he, the small kid Furuichi was, when he told her about him years ago.
Maybe he was being silly, but the look of defeat on Furuichi's face, the look of total hopelessness in life, was bugging him and he couldn't help being protective. He tried to keep all their banters and idiocy natural (things that he barely had time to do, just hanging out with Furuichi, debating small things and do some silly stuff). Thankfully, he can kept his calm as he glared and imagining planting the guy to floor that dared to touch his best friend, his Furuichi, so casually and harshly. But he did end up punching the guy with more force than necessary, because he just couldn't help it. The thug's face just made his blood boil. The guy had messed with his closest family.
Being in Ishiyama again wasn't good for Furuichi, what with a target on Oga's back. He'd seen the look on some of the thugs towards Furuichi when they saw him walking with Oga and he detested it. So, he told Furuichi that he also had a target on his back, and casually implied 'be careful' when he hit Furuichi. It had worked, actually, for a couple of days. Then, Himekawa was exactly the one who used Furuichi against him again.
The call from Honoka had agitated him. So he went to the school to prove that his uneasiness was baseless, and when he met Saotome, he definitely knew Furuichi was in there. But the one thing that Saotome didn't know is how highly Oga valued Furuichi –that he'd start a war if needed.
The minute he saw the bodies of the 34th Pillar Squad members, he had thought the worst had happened to Furuichi. Furuichi simply lay there, beside Takamiya, unmoving. He hadn't really heard what Takamiya was talking about, but he could hear bits of it. As soon as Takamiya's foot nudged Furuichi's precious head, Oga just leapt and planted his foot on his face. He was enraged, how dare he nudge Furuichi with his foot? He almost killed the guy, too. And not only that, Takamiya had said that Furuichi tried to get away. He was trying to not be a hostage and erase the guilt for Oga. Even Takamiya hinted it.
Oga quickly regained his footing and did his best to prevent Takamiya from killing Furuichi. But somehow, no matter what he did, Furuichi will always be near Takamiya. He had found Oga's weakness.
When the heart was ripped out and Furuichi's body hit the floor, his shout was deafening his own hearing, Takamiya then told him Furuichi was still not dead (he found it hard to believe, but he desperately hung on to the thought that Furuichi could be saved, and damn it, he had gone to the demon world literally and of course, reviving Furuichi was plausible) and he just couldn't pass the moment to not kick that weirdo's ass right there right then. After that, maybe, maybe his mind was playing tricks, but he felt a sudden easiness that moments when Tojou came, Oga would have Furuichi's souls in no time.
When Furuichi woke up, Oga breathed out his most contented sigh. He'd been holding his breath involuntarily, since he saw Furuichi's heart. He called Furuichi's name and the guy replied with a smile which was so… overwhelming. He didn't just call Furuichi and get no response from an unmoving body, he got a smile from his best friend. And, he'd never tell someone how happy he was when he smacked the bandaged-boy's head lightly and hear the 'ouch!' response and Furuichi's bitchin' about how inappropriate it was to hit 'sick' guy. Yet, both of them know how scary the whole ordeal was for each of them. Oga promised to never put Furuichi in that position again, even though they knew the opposite, and Furuichi promised never to be taken hostage and used against Oga, even though they knew it will happen again. But it didn't matter, they both know how much they valued and cared for each other. The two of them are on another level of brotherhood, Furuichi as Oga's weakness, and Oga as Furuichi's strength.
And let it never be said… how Oga was there for Furuichi when he was having nightmares, and Furuichi was there for Oga when he was having nightmares. They comfort each other and reassure themselves by holding to each other tightly throughout the rest of the nights.
Gnossienne
n. (French: gnaw-see-enn) a moment of awareness that someone you've known for years still has a private and mysterious inner life, the knowledge that you will never truly know another person.