Improper Guardian

Chapter Two

By: Brenli

Nema snatched the mini-crown from Michael's hand, staring up at him with suspicious eyes. Michael returned the stare with an angry one. "What the fuck are you lookin' at me like THAT, for? I gave you back your crown! Can't you show some fucking GRATITUDE?"

She bowed stiffly. "Domo."

"You don't even SOUND genuine about it!" Michael snapped. "Fucking bitch…" He added in a hiss.

Nema opened her mouth, ready to scream at him. "… Fuck you. I'm late." She moved around him, but purposely slammed her shoulder into him in the process, satisfied with the low, angry growl that escaped him.

"Where are YOU going that's so fucking important?" He asked, following her.

"Um, SCHOOL. You know what that is, right?"

"Don't be a smartass, bitch!"

"… PLEASE don't tell me you're going to MY school. I'll cut myself if you are." Nema looked over her shoulder at Michael, noticing that he wasn't wearing a school uniform. His clothes didn't even fit regulations, at least at her school. His black pants were too loose. They did not allow boots, or at least ones as big as his were. Gloves came off once inside the building, and to top it all off, his black shirt was completely unbuttoned, revealing the rest of his dragon tattoo as it stretched down his neck, its wing spreading over the left side of his chest.

"You know what I think of cutters? I think they're fucking weak." Michael scoffed. "But I guess it wouldn't be surprising if YOU sunk to that level, huh?"

"Don't talk to me!" Nema moved to deliver a sharp slap, but Michael was quick to block it, maintaining a hard grip on her wrist.

"You have NO idea how fucking brave you are to attempt striking me, bitch!" Michael's eyes bore into hers. Then his eyes caught scars. "What's this…?" His grip became tighter, and then he forced her arm out. The scars were peculiar and pale, hard to see against her milky-white skin, but with careful observation, they were there. There were two scars that formed to make a cross shape, one long line traveling down the length of the underside of her forearm, the other perpendicular, and across her wrist. If she kept her arm down with her wrist flipped out, it would have been a nearly-invisible image of an inverted cross. "… Huh." He let her go. Nema's face had gone red but she showed him her other arm, covered with the same marks. "… See? Wasn't surprising at all!"

"Fuck you, Michael!" Nema spat.

"That's Michael-SAMA, to you!"

"Oh, gomen, gomen!" Nema held a sarcastic hand against her mouth. "I mean, fuck you, Michael-SAMAAAA!"

"I TOLD YOU NOT TO BE SMARTASS!"

"And does it LOOK like I care? Go away, already! You're making me even later than I already am!" Nema rushed off, but could still hear the heavy 'thud' of Michael's big black boots. "… You're NOT going to my school?"

"I don't know, am I?"

"ANSWER MY QUESTION, MICHAEL!"

Michael remained silent, letting his black shirt slip down his arms. He seemed so vain, Nema wanted to vomit. She could hear him whistling casually, yet he seemed to be waiting for something.

"… ANSWER MY QUESTION, MICHAEL-SAMA!" She wanted to hit herself.

"There we go, that's more like it!" Michael sneered cruelly. "Now, you mean as a student? 'Cause that'd be a 'no.'"

"Thank God."

"What are you thanking THAT asshole for?" Michael snarled.

"For someone wearing a cross on their ear, you definitely don't like God very much." Nema said dryly.

"I DESPISE the guy, these days!"

"What did He do to you?"

"Not any of your business, is it?" Michael snapped. "So how long does it take till you get to school?"

"What do YOU care? You're not going to school with me!"

"Now who the Hell told you THAT, idiot?"

"Okay, I DON'T appreciate being called an IDIOT, Michael-SAMA!" Nema spun and glared at him, walking backwards. "… Why are you following me?"

"That's not your business, either!"

"HOW IS IT NOT?"

"Okay, maybe it is, and I just don't CARE whether you know or not!" Michael smiled evilly at her.

"I fucking hate you…" Nema muttered as she spun around.

"The feeling's mutual!"

They spent the majority of the walk in an uneasy silence. Nema could feel the hatred radiating from Michael, and so she could not understand what compelled him to follow her. Did he enjoy being angry? What did he want with her? She stopped at a dark alleyway, just before the entrance to her school. "… Are you stalking me?"

"What?" Michael asked, clearly removed from a daydream.

"You're stalking me, aren't you?" Nema eyed him suspiciously. "You one of those psychopathic killers?"

His eyes narrowed. "… What?"

"You heard me. You're gonna kill me, huh? Drag me in that alleyway and do me in?"

"Feh! I fucking wish I could!"

"Well what's stopping you, then?" Nema dropped her schoolbag on the ground. "The alleyway's right there! You wanna try and kill me?"

Michael sneered. "Fuck you. Get your ass to school!"

"What, AFTER school, then?"

"IF YOU KEEP UP THIS SHIT, HELL YES!"

Nema was enjoying the rage she was stirring up within him. "Why so late? Why not take a swing at it, now?"

She'd managed to make him snap, if being thrust into the alley and pushed up against a cold wall was any proof of that. "You LIKE making death wishes?"

"Why not? It'll get me away from YOU, you freak!"

"I'm a freak…? When you're some fuckin' ghostly girl?" Michael spat on her and let her go. "Don't fucking push it, woman! I'll beat you!"

"Is that all?"

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, 'IS THAT ALL?'"

"If all you're going to do is beat me, I could deal with that! Right now, even!"

Michael growled and lunged at her, sending a fist at her stomach, but she quickly dodged and landed a kick into his back. She expected to see him go flying, but by some miracle, he only stumbled and turned. He slammed himself into her with unworldly strength, and they landed on the ground. It was only a matter of seconds before Michael had her completely pinned. "Listen, you BITCH, I might not be allowed to KILL you, but I CAN… and at this rate I WILL… beat the SHIT out of you. Don't think I'm AFRAID to."

Nema spat at him.

"FUCKING STOP IT!" Michael sneered at her smiling face. "WHAT THE FUCK IS SO FUNNY?"

"Nothing, it's just that I get it, now!"

"Get WHAT?"

"You! You're a rapist, aren't you?"

"… NAAAAAANI?"

"You've got me pinned and my skirt's all hiked up! AND you're trying to make me scared? You're definitely a rapist!"

Michael went wide-eyed and immediately let her go. "I wouldn't stick my dick in you even if it WAS to just to rape you!"

Nema stood up and smoothed her skirt down. "Yeah, uh huh. What's wrong, you don't like my body?"

Michael scoffed. "You women are all alike! You're all whores! Why would I want to spend time with you whores?"

Nema held a hand over her heart. "Ooooh, I'm hurt."

"Get your ass in school, Nemaelle. I'm tired of dealing with you."

Nema's face went blank, and her hand dropped away from its position over her heart. "… I never told you my name. How did you know that?"

She watched Michael stare at her feet as though he hated them, and then his gaze moved up to her face. "… That's not any of your business, either. Go away."

Just then the schoolbell rang, and Nema knew she was tardy. "Fine, stalker." She turned and moved to her bag, but then landed face first into it as Michael gave her a swift kick between her shoulder blades. "WHAH DA FUCK?" The bag muffled her voice.

"Karma's a bitch, ne?"

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"Is that who I think it is…?"

"It would seem so. The Archangel Michael of Powers."

"What is he doing on Assiah? And with a Rabbit, no less? Do you think he's gone Rabbit hunting, too?"

"If he was, he would have killed the Improper Child by now."

The two overshadowed figures were perched in trees, watching Michael as he flew to the roof of Nema's school.

"… Then what is he doing…?"

"Being Michael. I don't know."

"… Did he submit an opinion on the matters at hand?"

"No."

"Then we do not know if he is for us or against us."

"It would seem so."

"… How do we regard him?"

"Not someone to be trusted. BUT… not someone to be messed with."

"And the Rabbit?"

"Let him deal with this Rabbit. Maybe he has something up his sleeve. Or maybe, that Rabbit isn't a Rabbit at all. There are cases of albino humans. Rare, but existent. Powerless and of no importance to us."

"Humans make everything complicated…"

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Nema spent the whole school day in a depression. It seemed that in every class she was in, if she looked out the window, her red eyes would catch sight of Michael outside. He was sitting in a tree, or against a tree, or, if there was no tree to sit against, he was standing. But always, always, he maintained the same angry, bored expression, as if he was so high and mighty, and had somewhere better to be.

'Well, if that's so, why's he spending his time with me?' Nema thought angrily, doodling on the corner of her paper. Maybe he WAS a killer. And, maybe, for whatever odd reason, he could only afford to do it after school.

She decided that he was an assassin of sorts, and someone had hired him to kill her. She drew a knife sticking out of a stick figure. 'Look at my fate.'

The bell rang for lunch, and before she left, she stepped up to the chalkboard and wrote, 'It was nice seeing you,' on it. None of the other students understood what that meant and dismissed it as a cry for attention.

Nema went up to the roof for lunch, where it was usually isolated, and found Michael crouched down, staring at the ground below. "Michael."

He looked at her over his shoulder. "Michael what?"

Nema sighed. "Michael-sama, you prink."

"Thank you, bitch. What are you eating?"

"Food." She said shortly, opening her box-lunch with its little compartments. To her surprise, Michael's gloved hand shot toward her food, and she quickly stabbed his hand. "Allow me my last meal, fucker!"

"Last meal? You going anorexic on me?"

"What the fuck are you talking about? I know you want me dead. Or at least that SOMEONE wants me dead."

"I already TOLD you! I'm not ALLOWED to kill you, you idiot! FUCK! WHAT WAS THAT FOR?" Michael slugged her arm in response to her stabbing him once again with her chopsticks.

"Stop calling me an idiot." She said, cleaning off her chopsticks before using them to eat more rice. "For that matter, stop calling me a bitch, or woman. You know my name, so fucking USE it!"

Michael only glared and grumbled.

"So why can't you kill me?"

"That's information I can't share."

"Sharing is caring!" Nema said childishly.

"SINCE WHEN DID I CARE ABOUT YOU?" Michael growled. "Eat your fucking food and shut up!"

Nema obeyed, not out of any sort of submission to him, but simply because she was hungry. She ate quickly, observing Michael's never-ending gaze on a tree. Vaguely she thought she could hear the tree in question rustle, and suddenly Michael's gaze shifted to the tree next to it. "… You watching something?"

"No."

"… Fucking liar."

"Well look who's doing the name calling NOW?" Michael snapped. "Shut up and eat!"

"I'm finished eating."

"Then go steal someone else's food!"

But it was at this moment that bell rang for classes to begin once more. Nema smiled. "No time. Have fun bird watching, or tree watching, or whatever."

"Fuck you."

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Michael went through the rest of the school day in the same boring way, making sure Nema was at least in earshot. Which actually wasn't that hard, because of his excellent hearing, but he tried to keep her in his line of vision, too. She kept catching his ever-watchful eyes, but he didn't care. If she was really worried, she would have reported him the second she stepped into the school, which was territory he wasn't getting into. He knew that even if he tried to pose as a student, he'd get kicked out in one day. So he didn't even bother trying.

It was the last class of the day, and Nema had met his gaze again. This time around she began to write something on paper with a thick marker, and then she held it up to the window for him to see. The impromptu sign said, 'GO AWAY!' and Michael simply flipped her off for it. He could go back, sure, but then he would be put right back down here again. No point in trying. He was screwed.

Nema flipped him off as well, and immediately faced the wrath of her teacher. For the first time that day Michael genuinely laughed. "That's what you get!" He mouthed up to her, and she could only glare back down at him.

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"I HOPE YOU'RE HAPPY!" Nema said loudly as she met up with Michael after school. "I have detention for tomorrow, now! Fucking hallway cleanup!"

Michael grinned rudely. "Well then I'm VERY fucking happy! My mission is complete!"

"Good! Then go home!"

"Don't you think I would if I could?"

"Oh? What are you, a bum?"

"NO! YOU SHUT –"

"Michael-sama."

Nema watched Michael's angry face turn to a tree, from which a figure dropped down and stepped forth. It was a tall, broad-shouldered figure, hiding under a dark cloak. Thick locks of blonde hair fell over the figure's eyes. "…Cheriour."

"Who?" Nema asked.

"SHUT UP!" Michael hissed, and turned to the figure. "What are you doing here? Someone run off? Trying to hunt 'em down?"

"… I am hunting, yes." The figure known as Cheriour said slowly. Nema watched him give a quick nod, and several other figures wearing the same cloaks came forth and crowded around her. She shrank away from their cold eyes, though she ought to be used to harsh stares.

Michael looked over his shoulder at her. "Hunting for HER?"

Cheriour paused. "… A word with you, Michael-sama." He gave another quick nod and the other cloaked figures tightened their circle around her. Nema held her breath for a short moment, but then dropped her bag on the ground. It figured. She was going to die, now.

"Don't dick around the kid, Cheriour. She's not your God damn duty." Michael snarled.

Cheriour gave the Archangel a cold smile. "Of course not. We all know she is your duty. I'm merely making sure she doesn't run away from you. Now follow me."

"… Talk." Michael said boredly, when they had gone to the back of Nema's school.

"Always right to the point, aren't you? That's why you are the epitome of the War Angel. There is no time for small talk in the heat of battle." Cheriour kept his cold smile on his face.

"Feh!" Michael dismissed the compliment with a wave of his hand. "What do you want from me?"

"An opinion."

"On?"

"The I-Children."

Michael sneered at the subject. "You came down here just for THAT? Fine, then listen up. I DON'T GIVE A SHIT WHAT YOU DO TO THEM. KILL THEM ALL, FOR ALL I CARE. Did you catch all that?"

Cheriour took out a short sword, examining the blade with that chilling smile of his. He tapped the blade on the chain-link fence nearby, letting a sharp tinging sound ring out. "And that one…?"

Michael stared at the other Angel with suspicious eyes. "Nemaelle? … You think she's a Rabbit?"

"She looks like one, does she not?"

"Too bad she can't FLY like one, or anything like THAT."

"… You are saying that she isn't a Rabbit?"

"Can't you put two and fucking two together, Cheriour?" Michael snapped irritably. "She can't fly and she has no powers to call her own. At best all she does is grappling and basic karate. I know, because we fought earlier." Cheriour absorbed this information, letting the short sword drag along the metal railing of the fence, letting shrill sounds ring out. "What's more, why the HELL would they assign an Angel to watch over ANOTHER Angel? That's pointless shit."

"… You have good points. But she IS a child of Alexiel and Jibrille, is she not?"

"She's the kid of SETSUNA and SARA. HUMANS."

"And you don't think there's even a slight chance that this Nemaelle could still be an I-Child? Consider past events involving Setsuna and Sara Mudou. Their souls were put into the bodies of Alexiel and Jibrille. Don't you think there is a possibility that could affect their child?"

Michael gave Cheriour a sidelong, annoyed, but thoughtful stare. "… I guess there's always that chance."

Cheriour smiled again and tapped the blade of the sword on the fence twice. "Well then. That's all I'm suggesting."

"Well I say your suggestion is still for SHIT. Until Nemaelle flies around and shoots energy beams at me, I'm going to continue believing she's just an albino weakling."

"And I believe in your judgment, Michael-sama." Cheriour gave him a small bow.

"… I knew you had people surround this place. Even NOW there's still some of your henchmen in hiding. ALL of that, over HER? She's not worth your time. I honestly don't think she's worth MY time, but I don't have a choice in the matter."

"We had to make sure what she was, Michael-sama. We must be careful about this business concerning the I-Children. Anyone under even the slightest suspicion must be considered."

Michael scoffed. "You're just making a big show of being part of the big, bad government. There's no reason to fight Hell anymore, so what do you resort to? Civil matters. Gotta look like you're ALWAYS ready to kick ass, even if it means taking out people of Heaven!" Michael laughed at Cheriour scornfully. "And since you're supposed to be so BUSY with the I-Children, what the fuck are you doing HERE?"

Cheriour had been scowling at Michael, but when he asked that final question, the cold smile returned. "We're hunting Rabbits." He tapped the sword on the fence three times, and as if on cue, Nema screamed.