I own nothing but my OC.
A Rose Among Thorns: Coincidental meetings are often the most troublesome!
"English speech"
"Japanese speech"
'Thoughts'
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{Setting/scene}
Flashbacks and changes in POVs will be labeled as needed (unless stated otherwise, it will be third person omniscient)
= Sound effects =
An entire sentence like this, without quotes, is narration or stuff like written letters.
"Let's see... It's the weekend, and I'm on my own in a new town... Time to explore~!" Misaki said, grinning mischievously as she walked down the street.
Since she didn't know too many people in town other than Himekawa and the others at Ishiyama, she didn't really have anyone to hang out with. Himekawa had ditched her to go do something on his own. Nene and the other Red Tails were busy with a gang meeting, and Aoi had to watch her little brother, Kota. The poor little guy had come down with a light cold, and Aoi had missed school Misaki's first day there because no one else at her home could watch him, but yesterday her grandfather took care of him so she wouldn't miss another day of school.
'I hope Kota-kun feels better soon...' Misaki thought sympathetically. 'Ah, speaking of cute babies... isn't that Be'el-bou up ahead? What is he doing by himself!?' The poor little tyke was sitting on the sidewalk, surrounded by a group of rough looking JDs. Be'el looked like he was about to burst into tears.
"Heheh, we did it! Now that we have Oga's brat, he'll have no choice but to let us beat him!" One of them said gleefully as they all loomed over Be'el.
"Oh? So that's what happened... Hearing that you guys put a baby in danger like this really... pisses me off!" Misaki said as she came up behind the group of thugs and slammed two of their heads together mercilessly.
"Wh-What the hell's wrong with you, bit—!?" One of them started to demand incredulously, but he was cut off when Misaki gave him a straight punch to the face and delivered a roundhouse kick to last remaining guy's ribs, incapacitating them all in just one minute.
"Let's go find your 'papa,' Be'el-Bou!" Misaki said as she grabbed the infant and got the heck out of dodge in case someone called the police. Oddly enough, seeing Misaki beat the crap out of those guys seemed to have cheered the little guy up...
"Be'eeeelll-booou—!!" Oga yelled frantically as he flew past them, approaching the speed of sound in his desperate pursuit of Be'el's kidnappers. If he didn't catch up to them before Be'el cried, he might seriously die this time!
"Wait, Oga-kun! I have Be'el-bou right here!" Misaki called after him holding Be'el up so he could see. Oga immediately put on the breaks and skidded to a stop.
"Be'el-bou! What are you doing with Mimi...?" Oga asked as he took Be'el from her.
"Dah! Dabu dabu da!" Be'el said excitedly, his eyes sparkling with happiness at seeing Oga again.
"Man, that was close! Thanks, Mimi—you really saved my life there! Where did you find him? Last I saw this little guy he had been snatched right off my back as some punks drove past me on a motorcycle. Normally, I can keep up with them, but I ended up tripping and losing them..." Oga said, smiling.
"It was no big deal, really. I just noticed that some really shady looking guys had Be'el-bou, and he looked like he was about to cry, so I decided to step in." Misaki said, smiling at the now happy Be'el. "!?" She said, surprised when Oga suddenly clasped her hands in his.
"How can I repay you? If not for you keeping him from crying, I'd be dead right now." Oga said seriously. Misaki sweat dropped.
"You're exaggerating, Oga..." She said, smiling wryly.
"No, really, if he cries when I'm more than fifteen meters away from him, the electric shock will kill me." Oga said, sighing as he placed Be'el back on his shoulders. Misaki stared at Oga, stunned. From what Oga had just said, it sounded like she hadn't been seeing things the other day at school—which was good because she wasn't going crazy—but on the other hand... human babies couldn't do something like that...!
"Um, Oga-kun. Are you trying to mess with my head, or is Be'el not human...? You said you 'found' him, but where? What planet?" Misaki asked, sweat dropping.
"Huh? What are you talking about, Mimi? Be'el is an akuma, a demon lord, and I found him when an old man named Alaindelon floated down the river and split in half. Be'el was inside of him. I have to take care of him because Hilda, his demonic nursemaid, said I was chosen as his parent." Oga said bluntly, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"..." Misaki said as she stared at him, eyes wide with shock, and slightly pale. "D-Demon lord...?" She asked hesitantly, pointing at Be'el.
"Yep. Demon lord." Oga confirmed, also pointing at Be'el.
"Dabu!" Be'el agreed.
"Ah...haha...I see..." Misaki said, suddenly feeling mentally drained. "That's pretty unbelievable... but I wouldn't tell anyone else that Be'el-bou is an akuma, Oga-kun. They might not take it so well..." She said, pinching the bridge of her nose as she felt a stress headache coming on. What the hell...? If Oga's story was true, then that meant demons were real! 'Well, I've seen stranger things on the subway in New York...' She thought. "How about you just pay me back by buying me some azuki flavored icecream?" She suggested. "That stuff is pretty good."
"Azuki...? What are you, an old man? Don't girls usually like flavors like chocolate or strawberry?" Oga asked with no evil intentions.
"Well, azuki flavored ice cream is pretty rare in America, so it can be considered a real treat there..." Misaki said, smiling wryly as she sweat dropped.
"Whatever, let's go!" Oga said, as he grabbed Misaki by the wrist and started dragging her to the nearest icecream shop. "We can get some vanilla for me and Be'el-bou while we're there!" He said, looking forward to the cool treat.
"Da~!" Be'el cooed happily.
=\=\=\=\=\=
{Meanwhile...}
"Ne, Himekawa-san, what do you want to do today~?" A well-endowed bleached-blond girl asked him flirtatiously as she scooted closer to him in the back seat of his limo.
"Are we going to somewhere new, or the usual place~?" The redhead sitting on his other side asked seductively, not to be outdone by her competition for Himekawa's affection (money). Himekawa sighed. He didn't know why he had even bothered calling these two if they were just going to bore him with the same old routine. It looked like his old man was serious about having him marry Misaki, because he had received an e-mail from the bastard, that if he tried to find his own way out of the engagement, then his father would disown him. Really, Himekawa's hit list was just getting longer by the day! At this rate, he really would end up marrying Mi-baka, since he really doubted anyone else would want her, so he figured he might as well play around while he still could.
'Well, I guess marrying that idiot wouldn't be so bad...' Himekawa thought, smiling wryly. He couldn't even believe he was seriously considering it, but whatever—at least she was pretty hot. Her boobs could be bigger, but hey, nobody's perfect, and she actually wasn't as annoying once you got used to her...
"Haha, aw look at you, Be'el-bou! You're making such a mess of yourself..." He heard Misaki say, her voice full of amusement, as she tried not to giggle while lightly scolding someone.
"Huh...?" Himekawa said, furrowing his brow slightly as he wondered who she could be talking to. It's not like she knew that many people in this town... He glanced out the window, and nearly coughed up blood from shock when he saw who she was with—What the hell was she doing with Oga...!? Why were they eating icecream together while she helped wipe Oga's little brat's face clean!? And What was with that warm and sparkling 'two young parents on date' aura they had around them!?
"Mmm, this icecream is tasty~!" Misaki said as she ate the delicious frozen treat. "I've never had soft-serve azuki icecream before—Thanks for treating me, Oga-kun!"
"Tr-Treating... Oga-k-kun!?" Himekawa stuttered, shocked. 'How did she manage to get 'Rampaging Ogre' Oga to buy her something—and why the hell was she calling him so familiarly!? When did they get so close!?' He thought incredulously. "Staop the car he ordered his driver as he got out his car, and started marching towards them, ignoring the surprised protests from the girls inside.
"Oi, what the hell do you think you're doing, Mi-baka?" Himekawa demanded in a dangerously calm voice, getting their attention. There was a vein mark throbbing on his head and an ominous aura around him.
"Yo, Hime-sempai!" Misaki greeted him, smiling innocently, as though she hadn't been 'consorting with the enemy' right in front of him. "I thought you said you were busy today... what're you doing here?" She asked curiously as she continued to lick her icecream cone while holding Be'el so Oga could wipe away the icecream that Be'el had smeared all over his face.
"Don't 'yo' me! Why are you on a date with Oga?" He asked dangerously. Misaki and Oga stared blankly at him for a moment with identical 'does not compute' expressions on their faces.
"What date?" They asked simultaneously. Another vein mark appeared on Himekawa's forehead. It really pissed him off that the two of them were so in sync with each other.
"Why are you eating icecream and laughing together!? Don't you know how much I hate that bastard's guts!?" Himekawa shouted incredulously at her.
"Ohhh!" Misaki said, her eyes shining with comprehension, finally understanding why Himekawa had reacted that way. "So that's what you meant. Oga-kun was just treating me to icecream as thanks for helping him by saving Be'el-bou from a group of kidnappers when I happened to pass by." Misaki explained, smiling fondly at the little demon lord in her arms. He was so cute for such a supposedly 'evil' being.
"And just why were you helping out one of my enemies...?" Himekawa asked, chagrined. If anyone else had told him such a far-fetched exuse, he'd have punched them, but knowing how crazy Mi-baka was, it was probably true... not to mention that he was slightly disturbed by just how relieved he was feeling to know that Misaki really wasn't interested in Oga that way...
"What do you mean? Even if you don't like Oga-kun, Be'el-bou is just a baby—you don't think I'd really just pretend I didn't see anything when such a cute little baby is in trouble, do you!? Misaki asked, raising an eyebrow at him. "Besides, why is Oga-kun your 'enemy'?" Himekawa stared at her. Was she seriously asking him that...?
"You... didn't you hear about how he beat both me and Kanzaki...?" Himekawa asked her, stunned by her ignorance. He thought she told him the other day that Kunieda and the Red Tails had explained the situation at Ishiyama to her...
"Oh, right... I forgot about that, tee-hee~!" Misaki said, bopping herself playfully on the head as she made a sickeningly cute 'silly me' face.
"'Tee-hee~,' my ass!!' Himekawa snapped, vein mark throbbing on his forehead. So she did know!
"Anyway, Mimi, are you sure you don't want to be this kid's mother?" Oga asked bluntly, causing Himekawa's jaw to drop as he gaped incredulously at Oga. Was this bastard seriously hitting on his fiancée so blatantly right in front of him!? And what the hell happened to Oga's hot wife—Why did he want to take Misaki from him!? And what the hell was this 'Mimi' crap—at least add a '-san' on the end, bastard!?
"What is the meaning of this?" A familiar female voice demanded sternly from behind them. They all turned to see a blond bombshell with big boobs, who was wearing a black goth-loli dress and holding an umbrella. You know what the say, speak of the devil, and he shall appear...
"It's Hilda...!' Oga thought. Crap, she looked really annoyed that he had tried to run away again...
'It's his wife! The real thing showed up!' Himekawa thought. He smirked. Perfect. Oga was in trouble now...
"Ah, Hilda. This is Mimi. She's pretty strong, and Be'el-bou likes her, so—" Oga began to explain, hoping he had finally found a way to escape, as Hilda walked up to Misaki, staring her down as she sized her up.
"—Rejected." Hilda said bluntly, taking Be'el back from Misaki, who was too stunned to do anything except stand there like an idiot at the moment. Himekawa was also staring blankly at Hilda, not really sure how he should react. Why wasn't she yelling at Oga for cheating on her, and why had she said that to Misaki...!? 'Rejected' for what!?
"What!? Why!?" Oga shouted incredulously as Misaki sweat dropped, finally recovering from her shock. Be'el was cute, but taking care of a demon lord sounded like it was even harder than caring for a human baby, and therefore way more trouble than she really wanted to have to deal with on top of her arranged marriage with Himekawa, so she was feeling kind of relieved... But the way she had just been flat out rejected like that was pretty cold.. like 'a snowstorm in Antarctica' cold.
"Although I can tell from the way this woman was holding Bou-chama that she is well suited for child rearing, even without fighting her, I can tell that it is impossible for her to be Bou-chama's parent, since she is lacking the most important requirement for such an important role—evil intent. It is virtually nonexistent in this girl. Even if she had the strength of Godzilla, she could not be considered a candidate since she has no maliciousness in her. Therefore, the best candidate to be this child's parent is still you." Hilda explained to Oga. 'However, it is rather strange that Bou-chama has become so attached to her when I cannot sense even a hint of malice from her...' Hilda thought, wondering if there might actually be something more to this strange girl. There was something vaguely familiar about her, but she was obviously in no way a threat to her young master, so Hilda wasn't really too concerned. Besides, almost all of these humans seemed to look alike to her anyway.
'I see... Be'el is a 'demon' after all... I guess it makes sense to find a human that was as close to being a demon as possible to act as his parent on earth...' Misaki thought. Oga had been acting pretty normal around her so far, but if he was the top candidate so far, then Misaki decided that it would probably be best if she stayed on Oga's good side...
"Tch, and here I thought I finally had a chance at freedom..." Oga said, clicking his tongue in disappointment.
"I never actually agreed to take him, though..." Misaki said, sweat dropping.
"Tch. I don't really get what you're all going on about, but come on—we're leaving, Misaki." Himekawa said sternly as he grabbed her wrist and started pulling Misaki back to his car with him.
"Ah!" Misaki said, surprised that he was actually taking her with him. "Bye guys! It was nice meeting you, Hilda-san!" She called back at them, waving goodbye as Himekawa opened the car door.
"Moh~! Himekawa-san, why'd you suddenly leave like that? Who's she? A new girl?" The redheaded girl asked as she and the blond pouted at him. Himekawa froze.
'Crap. I had forgotten about these two...' Himekawa thought, glancing at Misaki out the corner of his eye to see what her reaction would be.
"..." Misaki said as she stared at them, before turning to Himekawa with an extremely unimpressed look on her face. "Tell me again, why you were so mad I was eating a snack with Oga-kun? You have a lot of nerve to yell at me for having a friendly conversation with someone when you've got two girls with you in your car after telling me you were too busy with something to show me around town." She deadpanned. "It looks like you really are a womanizer..." She added disappointedly. Despite how brusque he usually was with her, Misaki had started to like Himekawa... though if asked, she really couldn't say why... It would be one thing if he had been on a date with one girl at a time, because he was trying to find love before the deadline set by his father, since they had both been forced into this, and she had planned on trying to go on a few dates if she met another boy she liked, too... but no matter how you looked at it, Himekawa was just playing around. That was just not cool. Himekawa sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose, feeling a stress headache starting up. What the hell was with this strange sense of guilt he was suddenly feeling after letting Misaki find out that he had been playing around...? It's not like he did anything wrong—They weren't even married yet, and she had obviously been against the whole idea of a forced marriage anyway!
"Huh? What are you saying?" The blond girl asked, furrowing her brow in confusion as she stared at Misaki like she was an alien. "If you talk to him like that, you won't get anything, you know."
"I thought there might be something special about you, but it looks like you're just a stupid bitch." The redhead said smugly as she flipped her hair over her shoulder. It looked like there wouldn't be much of a competition for Himekawa's affection (money) after all. Misaki narrowed her eyes at them, not liking what she had just heard at all.
"You two, out of the car." Himekawa said in a dangerously calm tone as he gestured for the blond and redhead to hit the road, vein mark throbbing on his forehead.
"Wha—!?" The two girls yelled incredulously, flinching in shock. Even they could tell that Himekawa was beyond pissed for some reason, but still...!
"Stop joking, Himekawa-san! It's not funny." The redhead said, chagrined. "You don't expect me to believe you're really going to ditch us for that idiotic-looking, flat-chested bitch, do you?" Their boobs were so much bigger!
'Flat-chested...!?' Misaki thought, flinching in shock, as she felt her chest to make sure her boobs hadn't suddenly disappeared. Nope. Still there. It wasn't really that bad, was it...? She was a B-cup...
"I'm not joking. We're done for the day, so you can just walk from here." Himekawa said seriously, glaring at them with a look that could melt the iceberg that sunk Titanic in a heartbeat. "And I'm the only one allowed to make fun of this girl, got it?"
"No, I don't really want you to make fun of me either..." Misaki muttered, sweat dropping.
"Y-Yes, Himekawa-san!" The two girls stuttered as they cowered in fear, realizing that the time Himekawa had told them 'stupid girls made him want to kill' wasn't just him joking around... He was seriously pissed! They quickly started scrambling over each other to get out of the car.
"Hold it." Misaki said suddenly, blocking their exit, as she stood in front of the open car door.
CLAP.
The redhead's eyes widened in shock when Misaki clapped both of her hands on each side of the redhead's face, lightly slapping both of the girl's cheeks simultaneously.
"That was for calling me a flat-chested bitch." Misaki stated calmly as she stared the other girl straight in the eyes. "I don't know the whole situation with you guys and Hime-sempai, but I can understand being upset when your date suddenly dumps you on the street, so I'll let it go with just this... But if you're just after Hime-sempai's money, and don't really care about him, then you'd better not let me catch you like this again, got it?" She said seriously, before glancing at the blond. "That goes for you too, blondie. The driver'll take you home now, sorry for the inconvenience." She added, punctuating her sentence by slamming the car door shut on their stunned faces. Misaki walked up the driver's window (which was partially rolled down) and saluted the chauffeur, mimicking a general commanding his troops. "Take them away, Tanaka-san!"
The driver nodded, slightly bemused, as he rolled his window up and drove away, just like he was told. Himekawa might be the one who signs his paychecks, but he had a feeling this girl wasn't someone he should mess with...
"Oi." Himekawa said, clearly annoyed that she had just sent his car away like that without permission. "What do you think you're doing?" He asked sternly.
"What you should've done. What kind of asshole invites a couple of girls out, and then just ditches them like that? How far were you going to make them walk when they were wearing heels, huh?" Misaki retorted evenly as she watched the car disappear off into the distance. "I know I probably overstepped my boundaries there, and I don't know for sure what your relationship with those girls is, but... I've met people like them before. They're probably just using you for your money. You won't find true happiness if you keep surrounding yourself with artificial love like that." She said solemnly as she glanced back at him, her hair swaying slightly in the breeze.
In that moment, it seemed as though time had stopped, and Himekawa found himself in awe as he stared into the warm, doe eyes of the girl in front of him, mesmerized by the gentle but solid strength he saw in them. Misaki hadn't interfered just to get even with him, or because she was worried about the money he had been throwing away on those girls—Misaki was genuinely concerned for him—not because he was the son of a zaibatsu, or because he was a member of the Tohoshinki, but simply because he was himself... because she wanted her 'sempai' to be happy...
Misaki smiled a little wryly at the slightly stunned look on his face. She realized Himekawa must not be used to hearing sappy stuff like that too often if he was that surprised by something so simple.
"Well, it's all right if you act like an idiot every now and then, Hime-sempai." Misaki said, referring to his poor choice of company. "Practically everyone in the world does at some point in their lives, including me." She said, smiling softly as she turned and started to walk away, breaking the spell she had unwittingly cast upon Himekawa, as she started to move forward once again. "Let's go home, Hime-sempai."
