Improper Guardian
Chapter Eight
By: Brenli
Nema's red eyes slowly opened and then shut tightly. "Noooooo… the liiiiiiight…" The sun was pouring into her room. Nema was hardly used to this. She always kept her curtains shut tightly and opened them after she awoke. There was only one explanation for this. "Miiiiichael why did you DO that?" She yawned and sat up, feeling the beads of her rosary slip from her fingers. There was no response from the Fire Angel. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and peered over her bed and found that his messy mass of blankets did not contain his body. "… Oh, what the fuck…" Nema muttered miserably as she brushed several black feathers from her back. There were piles of them in her bed again. She supposed it wasn't that disgusting, but it was very annoying, to say the least.
The albino girl stepped out of her bed and left her bedroom, running her fingers through her hair and shaking feathers out of her white strands. She'd worry about picking them up later. "… Hey, Michael?" Where did he go? It's not like he would go very far, after all. Was he in the kitchen?
Nema went to check with a thoughtful frown on her face. The issue of being raped was something only her parents knew about, not that anyone else would have been interested in that kind of knowledge, anyway. But that all changed last night… Michael had been surprisingly quiet after absorbing this secret about her. Not silent, just quiet. Something he was never like. And maybe last night, she'd been so shaken and tired that she gladly accepted that treatment. But if Michael carried on like that, she wouldn't be a happy girl.
But was she really a happy girl, to begin with? Happy with Michael constantly picking fights with her? Not even simple verbal fights, but physical fights. He hardly treated her like she was a girl! And she was happy with that?
Well, maybe she'd gotten used to it. One couldn't spend as much time as she had in her situation and NOT get used it. If one never adapted, one would probably die –
Nema's eyes became red saucers as her head snapped back; preventing what would have been a perfectly lodged steak knife in the head. "WHAT THE FUCK?"
"Good reflexes! I would'a never tried that if you'd remained as weak as you used to be!"
Nema's head very slowly made its turn to the right. Michael was sitting casually on the island placed in the midst of her kitchen, another three steak knives in his hand. "… What… was that… for?"
Michael thought it over and shrugged. "Making the morning lively?"
"By KILLING me?"
"Hey, I haven't killed you, have I?" Michael gave her a cruel grin. "I think you should get used to this, Nema!"
"Get used to you trying to kill me?"
"Yep! I was thinkin' a whole bunch last night. You know how I hate pondering so much, right? Well, I did it anyway. I think that for that, you deserve more knives." Michael flung two more at her, his grin growing wider as Nema ducked down and then jumped up. For a moment she was a tiny white ball in the air, and when she landed in a kneel, her small wings made their appearance. "Your wings didn't come out soon enough, but we'll fix that!"
Nema's eyes were glowing red in annoyance as she glared up at him. "IS THERE A POINT TO THIS? OR ARE YOU JUST OFF YOUR ROCKER?"
"There's a point. So I was thinkin, 'Man, this situation sucks. It just fuckin' sucks.'"
"It's BEEN sucky, Michael! What kind of slow mind do you have? HEY!" Nema shuffled off to the left and then grabbed the flying knife by its handle.
"Good catch! No human could've pulled that off; it was spinning too fast!" Michael said with a psychotic glee in his voice. Until now, Nema had only heard this kind of tone come from him when he was in battle. "Anyway, I was thinkin' about how this situation sucks… And now we can't really run the risk of going anywhere, anymore… So I was thinkin', 'All right, what can I do?' And I decided…"
"… To try and kill me?"
"NO!" Michael hissed. "I decided that, seeing as you've got some REAL potential in that weak little girly body of yours, why not train you?"
"… Train me?"
"You have any better suggestions?"
"HOW ARE WE GONNA TRAIN IN MY HOUSE? WE'RE GONNA BREAK EVERYTHING!"
"Put everything in the attic!"
"We don't HAVE an attic!"
"Basement!"
"… WHY DO YOU WANT TO TRAIN ME?"
"It'll be BORING here if we don't DO something!"
"Well, why can't we just do something less destructive, then?"
Michael looked at her as if the idea was impossible. "And do what? Arrange flowers and gossip? I know YOU'RE a pathetic little girl, but I'm sorry, I'm a MAN!"
Nema flung the steak knife still in her hand at the Fire Angel. It flew a perfectly straight course and tapped the cross earring hanging from his left ear, catching a few of his deep red strands of hair and cutting them. The red strands glowed like rubies in the sunlight as they dropped slowly and settled on his shoulder, the cross swinging above them.
"… Your aim sucks."
"WHAT MAKES YOU THINK I REALLY WANTED TO HIT YOU?"
"Then prove me wrong! You know there's another knife behind you, right? It's stuck in the wall."
Nema stomped up to him and sent him a fiery glare, her lips pressed into a pout. Michael met the look with a confident smirk. It wasn't necessarily full of hate right now… in fact, he seemed to be enjoying himself immensely.
The albino girl sighed, her wings disappearing at random. "… You are so fucking weird."
"Weird? I'm not the one shitting black feathers." He pointed to the small pile of black feathers behind Nema.
"I DIDN'T SHIT THOSE! I'M MOLTING!"
Just then the phone rang, and the two stared at it, then at each other. Somehow they were on the same page and knew they were going to begin a petty fight over who should answer the phone, so they skipped the verbal attacks and grabbed at it.
Nema found herself grinning. So she wasn't happy about having knives thrown at her… but at least Michael wasn't pouring pity all over her. She opened her mouth and made to bite his hands, but then Michael copied her. It was the first time Nema had noticed that he had fangs. Needless to say, she stopped immediately.
Michael smiled victoriously at her, allowing the tips of his fangs to poke from under his top lip. "Moshi moshi, Mudou house." He said gruffly, as though he were so annoyed with being bothered, but Nema could see the happiness in his blue-green eyes. "Hey, Setsuna."
"It's Dad? Let me talk to him!"
"No."
"NANI? DOUSHITE?"
"Because I said so." Michael shooed her away with a wave of his hand. "Go pick up your feathers or something."
Nema pouted. "Oh, so you have something so immensely important to talk to my dad about?"
"Yeah, now go!"
Nema's red eyes flashed in annoyance, and she stooped the pick up the pile of feathers behind her, and then slowly left to retrieve the others.
"Yeah, Setsuna, I've got news for you." Michael maintained a fixed stare on Nema until she turned down the hallway. Michael, however, could still feel her presence. '… Damn eavesdropper.' Michael thought to himself, and switched to an Angelic language. "You still understand this, right?"
"Angelic language? Never forgot a word of it." Setsuna replied in the same tongue.
"Okay, good. It's about Nema."
"… What? What's wrong?"
"Nema is an I-Child, Setsuna. She keeps making stuff explode and she's molting black feathers everywhere. Her powers are hitting her like mad…!"
"… Oh, wau…" Nema's father sighed heavily over the phone. "Just a second, Michael. Sara…!" Setsuna's voice faded from the phone, and after some mumbling, Sara was the one talking to Michael.
"Is she okay? You're making sure she isn't gonna get hurt, right?" The words slurred together in motherly concern.
"WHAT KIND OF QUESTION IS THAT? OF COURSE I'M MAKING SURE SHE'S NOT GONNA GET HURT! YOU THINK I'D KEEP ON BEING SO FUCKING STUPID AFTER I FIND OUT THAT…"
"… Nani?" Nema's mother asked after the pause lingered for too long.
"… Did you guys know that Nema was raped?"
"… She told you?" Sara sounded like this was unbelievable.
"I was told about it…" Michael answered uneasily. He stared at the wall that separated the living room from the hallway to Nema's bedroom. The Fire Angel could still feel her there, straining to listen, though he doubted Nema could understand him.
"Michael… if you are supposed to be watching over her… why didn't you do anything? … Was it God's plan… or something?"
Michael was talking in a semi-strained voice in this strange language, yet Nema listened from her spot in the hall. She listened in some hope that she would understand SOMEthing… and after a time, it actually came to her. Michael's words transformed from gibberish to, "… dumb. Just dumb… Yeah, I know… Gomen…" Nema was amazed that he actually said he was sorry, but she didn't know what he was sorry for. "I don't feel like explaining myself…! I don't even wanna think about this shit, and you know it! Give the phone back to Setsuna… Hi. Just tell Sara that it's fine. Nema's not gonna get into trouble. I'll watch over her… Not you, too! I said I was fucking sorry! What more do you want? You know, you can't change what fucking happened! So let it go…! You know, Nema doesn't seem very happy about people feeling sorry for her because of shit like this. You know, it's not like she's dead!" Michael paused, listening, and then he sighed. "… Look, whatever, be angry 'cause I guess I don't blame you. But I will watch over Nema. Okay? … No, I won't do that again, okay? What the fuck, Setsuna…? I'm trying to be apologetic and decent and THIS is the gratitude I get for it? … Yes, I am sorry… I know… I know… Yeah, thanks… Yeah, wait a minute. HEY! NEMA!"
Nema paused before making herself visible to Michael. "What?"
"… Phone. Take it." Michael tossed it to her, wearing a scowl.
"Michael, what did you do to make my parents angry?"
The Fire Angel's eyes widened, and when they turned to her, they were burning green. "… What…?"
"You did something… What did you do?"
"… You know what? You've got a phone call! Ask me that shit later!" Michael snarled and suddenly became preoccupied with going through all the knives in the kitchen… Which wasn't exactly a comforting thing to see, but Nema let him entertain himself and spoke to her father. "Hey, dad…! How's England?"
"Hi, sweetheart…! England's great. Your mother bought you stuff from here, just to let you know. How have you been?"
"Michael threw knives at me this morning…" Nema heard the sudden closing of the utensil drawer and Michael's low growl.
"Did you dodge them all?"
Nema blinked a bit at her father's curious question. "… Yes, but-"
"Good! That's what's important. Now make sure you do as Michael says, okay? He's going to work hard to keep you safe."
"… Wait a minute, what? … I just told you that Michael's trying to KILL me, and you want me to OBEY him?"
"… It's complicated. We know what's happening to you, Nema… But Michael's gonna keep you safe, so trust him, okay?"
Nema's mouth dropped open in disbelief as Michael snickered. "… But I heard him…! It sounded like he did something to make you ANGRY, Dad…! I don't get it…!"
"… I know… I know, Nema-Nema. And I'm sorry. But one day you'll understand everything."
"Are you sure?" Nema asked bitterly.
"You've got your father's promise!" Setsuna said confidently. "Now we've gotta go… but we'll call again later!"
"Hai… Aishiteru... Baibai." Nema slowly hung up the phone, trying to shake off her shock. Even her PARENTS were in on this…! She really WAS all alone, here!
"Yeah, what the Hell, Nema? Tryin' to get me in trouble?" Michael sneered at her. "But I can tell by that look on your face that you didn't get very far…! Oof!"
The Fire Angel struggled to maintain his balance as Nema tackled him, but he caught his ankle against the corner of the kitchen island and fell back, taking Nema with him. "I DON'T GET WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON…! MY PARENTS EVEN KNOW THINGS I DON'T! WHY ELSE WOULD THEY TELL ME TO BOW DOWN TO YOU?"
"MAYBE YOUR PARENTS AREN'T ENTIRELY HUMAN! YOU EVER CONSIDER THAT?" Michael pushed her off and proceeded to pin her, speaking in his Angelic language. "So you're in the dark. Who gives a shit? There are people who would KILL to have the protection you're getting!"
Nema glared up at him, allowing him to restrain her arms.
"Yeah, I know you understand the language, Nema. So how much did you hear, you eavesdropper? Shit!"
The albino girl brought her legs up and wrapped them around his shoulders in such a way as to bring him to the ground once she sat up. "I heard enough to know that you did SOMETHING to make them mad… but somehow, they're still on your side! I don't fucking get it! What kind of hold do you have on my parents, huh, Michael? Don't I deserve more info?" She replied in the same language, letting it roll off her tongue proudly.
"What the fuck? GET OFF, GET OFF! I SEE TOO MUCH!"
"Oh what the Hell are you talking about, Michael? You see up my skirt? What's there to see?" Nema threw her modesty out of the window and lifted up her skirt, which had been covering her just fine until now. Michael screamed and shut his eyes against the vision of white bloomers, poofy and leaving quite a bit to the imagination. "I'm wearing bloomers, you fucking idiot! It's not like I'm wearing a thong!"
"Stop it! You fucking whore!" Michael finally broke out of Nema's hold over him and pounced on her. The pair wound up rolling out of the kitchen and into the living room as they fought against each other. "Okay, so, I've decided!"
Nema was struggling against a chokehold that was only serving to restrain her, at this moment. "What?"
"Today's training will be on grappling!"
"I DON'T NEED HELP WITH THAT!"
"Well all you seem to want to do is pounce on me, so that's what we're going to do!"
"You're fucking joking…"
"Nope! Now we can keep fighting right now, or you can give up and I'll let you eat something before we begin."
Nema despised the happy tones in his voice and struggled against him, when she suddenly realized that her energy was almost completely out. She screamed in frustration and saw a nearest window crack. She groaned in agony. She couldn't even make things explode now… "… Okay, fine! I give, I give!"
The Archangel laughed triumphantly and released her, smiling smugly as Nema scuttled into the kitchen and buried herself in her refrigerator.
X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X
"… My goodness, if it weren't for the fact that they were both looking so angry, that would've almost looked sexual." Cheriour said coldly from his spot outside the cracked window. A fellow spy was in the tree near him.
"Are you suggesting that the Archangel Michael is interested in having SEXUAL relations with that Rabbit?"
"Oh, I don't know. Michael is not so stupid as to jeopardize his position in Heaven to have a tryst with a lowly creature like that, is he?"
"I don't think so…" The subordinate didn't feel like mentioning the recently learned secret about Cheriour's rape of Nema. He didn't need to. Cheriour decided to explain himself.
"… Now, rape, that's a different matter. Rape isn't making love. Rape is making hate, and therefore, is technically legal, is it not?" Cheriour allowed the frozen smile to appear on his features. "Because the whole point behind banning sexual relations… was to keep Angels from holding their love for each other over their love of God. So if there is no love…"
"… It's okay?"
"You catch on quick, don't you?"
"But you know, Cheriour-sama… If Michael-sama were to do something of that nature, he'd be going against his duties as Guardian Angel."
"… We must set up spies throughout the immediate area. We are going to keep careful watch over this Rabbit… and when we can… we are going to strike." Cheriour maintained a steady gaze through the cracked glass of the window. While Nema busied herself with a quick breakfast, Michael waited with his arms crossed impatiently. Very slowly the face of the Fire Angel turned to stare at Cheriour full on. His blue-green eyes looked held no traces of blue serenity as they offered Cheriour Michael's infamous death glare, a look that half-dared Cheriour to step into the house, and half-warned Cheriour to stay far away from Nema. The cold smile on Cheriour's face simply grew. "Go ahead and act threatening. It doesn't change a thing… Michael-sama…" He bowed in a show of mock-politeness before he left. Michael didn't say a word.