A/N: I haven't watched Angelic Layer for a looooong time so I must ask the readers to forgive me if there are any mistakes. As for the unavoidable grammatical mistakes, well, I think my English teacher would love to strangle me alive. This is my first Angelic Layer fiction and also first One-Shot. Seeing that I am not a very persevering writer and my internet connection here in the college is none as best, I decided to make it a One-Shot. At first, it is supposed to be a long story about a university student Oujirou and a high school girl Misaki, their life as famous Angelic Layer figures and whatnot. Oh well, please enjoy and maybe leave a review to tell me what you think. Excuse my poor English command skills if you must, but I did try hard.

Disclaimer: The characters and Angelic Layer concept is really owned by CLAMP. Love their art!

Blame it on Puberty

She was now Misaki-hime.

Oujirou should have known. He prided himself as a reasonable man who could face anything thrown to him with calculative calmness. When faced with a situation, he would analyze it from every angle and came out with convincing results which was always accurate. It was not a boost, his status as one of the unbeatable champions of Angelic Layer proved that.

Therefore, it was quite an annoyance for him when he was faced with this problem. If it happened to anyone else, he would be amused but when it regarded Misaki…well, let's say that Oujirou was not a happy man.

He always knew that Misaki was cute. However, he had liked her more for her unwavering strength as a Deus fighter and her warm personality.

When Misaki won her first Layer Championship, people started to take notice. At the age of 12, Misaki was the youngest winner and the fact that it was her first tournament hailed her as a prodigious Deus fighter, a new Angelic Layer idol. Sure she got the predictable fans adorations and media coverage someone like her was entitled to. Oujirou didn't mind, Misaki deserved the spotlight, she was a truly remarkable person.

Then she won the next Championship, and the Championship after that then was placed as a Runner-up after Oujirou, then winning the next one again…Misaki-hime practically created a cult.

Don't get him wrong, Oujirou was proud of his girlfriend and they had a close, comfortable relationship and she was the only one who could pose him with a threat in the Layer arena (aside from Athena). She was famous, fans followed her everywhere but Oujirou didn't mind much since he himself was an Angelic Layer idol himself.

Misaki used to be cute at twelve. He really liked it when she was just his adorable, cute Misaki.

But he did not expect Misaki to grow up being beautiful. No, she was gorgeous.

She was an undefeated Angelic Layer Goddess who was also a very pretty High School girl.

Oujirou should have known. Misaki was her mother's daughter and Angelic Layer talent was not all she inherited from Shuuko. Suddenly, the well known fact that Misaki was dating the Prince of Layer was now buried news. Suddenly, Oujirou was faced with unending challenges from love-struck teenage boys (even a splattering of middle-aged men) for Misaki's affections. Some were not even as cultured as that, resorting to just blatant-plain-harassments.

Oujirou used to be able to keep cool about everything before. He had never felt the urge to burn every drooling males he came across until now.

Curse puberty.

"Oujirou-kun, you are not concentrating today."

The subject of his thoughts was seated across the Layer while facing him. Even though her eyes were covered with the wing visor, he could see her large, expressive mocha eyes looking at him with concern. He then noticed that both Hikaru and Wizard stood immobile at the center of the Layer and the waltz music they used for their practice was nowhere to be heard. Misaki must have stopped when she realized Oujirou's below par performance.

The thought of him not concentrating during a practice and especially making Misaki worry shamed him. Oujirou quickly apologized to Misaki, his face flushing in embarrassment.

"Gomen Misaki, I was a bit distracted today."

Shaking her head cheerfully, Misaki just gave him her sweet smile, with a hint of shyness in it; a smile only reserved for him "Iye, you must be tired from your classes in Toudou." Then her face fell as she tugged a few strands of her long front bangs distractedly, a new nervous habit of hers Oujirou observed "maybe we should stop for today…"

"No!" Oujirou protested so suddenly that Misaki jumped in surprise. He then kicked himself for being so crass. Calm down Oujirou. You must be really tired today to act so shamefully. You might just scare Misaki away and it was so hard these days to spend some time with her. Him with his university, projects and the building number of new challengers while she was also increasingly busy with school, oncoming exams and the frequent interviews. "I haven't seen you for a long time and I miss practicing like this. Wizard had not practiced this hard before; Hikaru is the only one who could make Wizard serious in a fight." And I miss you. Oujirou said in light humor and Misaki smiled, chuckling from her seat.

"Then, let's fight."

Wizard suddenly rushed forward in a burst of speed, lashing out his right hand as he sailed towards Hikaru. The other female Angel was not taken unguarded and she met Wizard's blow head-on, using the punch's momentum to leap backward before landing and snapped a speedy cartwheels towards Wizard's head. It was avoided easily by the blue haired Angel, he sidestepped the move and caught Hikaru's legs in a strong grip, making the Angel buckled before throwing her away in a full swing.

It would take more that that to land a bruise on the hardened Angel as Hikaru just flipped gracefully in the air before landing a few feet away from Wizard, one leg folded touching the ground while one hand grazing the grass. The landing move was an intentional tease to Wizard and Oujirou, from the way Hikaru and Misaki were wearing identical teasing smirks.

Oujirou could sense a challenge when he saw one. He smiled and Wizard let out a small smirk on his otherwise impassive face.

Angel Fight!

So they increased the intensity of the battle. To the normal observers, all they could see was two red and blue blurs moving around the Layer, taking up the whole large space. Such high-level intricate moves required full concentration and most people couldn't hold on for more that few seconds. Unsurprisingly, Oujirou and Misaki fought on for more than few minutes before they began talking, appearing at ease with the speed of the battle.

"You are right," Misaki said as Hikaru landed a good hit on Wizard's shoulder, pushing the Angel on his knee "it felt like everything is heating up around here. Okaa-san and Icchan are going to come back from their second honeymoon soon, the teachers are now scaring us with mock exams and now the national Angelic Layer Championship is coming up soon too. I can't wait to see who is going to be our opponents; I really hope to see new faces in the tournament."

Wizard recovered and stood up languidly. He pinned Hikaru with his icy blue eyes, rendering the red haired Angel motionless for a split second with his 'Hypnotic Eyes' that would normally render most Angels motionless for 20 seconds, but Hikaru had more resistant than most Angels. However the split second opening was enough for Wizard to latch on Hikaru and slammed her onto the ground. Hikaru struggled but Wizard already had her pinned tightly. Misaki gave out a groan; she couldn't believe she fell for that trick again!

Catching Misaki's eyes across the Layer while he had Wizard pinning Hikaru securely, he gave her a seductive smoldering gaze that mostly had the same effect as Wizard's 'Hypnotic Eyes' to Misaki, "Yes, next time we meet in finals, I will win," Oujirou gave Misaki a slow, mischievous smile that never failed to make her blush like a tomato. It worked like magic as Misaki blushed up until her ears that Oujirou couldn't help but think as cute. Since they were the reigning champions; they were automatically slotted into the Nationals and were placed in opposite groups in the competition. "And when I do, you have to give me a kiss."

Misaki gave him an odd look, obviously thinking why he didn't ask for something more…elaborate. Well, they did kiss. Multiple of times. They were going out.

"Oujirou-kun why would—"

"In front of everyone after the battle finish." He announced boldly.

"EHHHHH!"

"And it's not going to be a peck on the cheek or anything, a full kiss on the mouth. Like the one you gave me during Christmas Ev--"

"OUJIROU—KUN!" His girlfriend was now blushing like mad.

"It's a promise then." He concluded when he saw that Misaki didn't protest. "Then I will hold onto you that."

Misaki just nod, still blushing madly. "Only if you win though." She murmured defiantly.

"Oh, I plan to. Misaki-himechan." Oujirou said brightly, winking at her "The prize is too great to lose."

Misaki just blush.

That would teach those creeps to stay away from his Misaki-hime.