AUTHORESS NOTE: Just a random pondering… It's the twentieth chapter! And the original manga didn't last any longer than that! Well, actually, if I turned "Impy" into a manga, how many books do you think it would be? Hmm… That's some food for thought.

Improper Guardian

Chapter Twenty

By: Brenli

Uriel sighed. "I would say the fruit doesn't fall far from the tree, but that applies to children, not their parents."

As Setsuna's vision slowly cleared, he looked up at the faces of Uriel and Doll. Then he heard a familiar voice from further away.

"If you're smart, you won't try that again. You ruined my morning." It was the voice of Lucifer, though to Setsuna he was still Kira, in a strange light.

Setsuna laughed. "You know it was funny…!"

"I don't appreciate being sexually assaulted by a friend. I have a wife for that." Lucifer said dully, though his mouth did curve into a very slight sort of smile.

"In any case, say hello to your new body. Try to keep this one, Setsuna. I don't think Alexiel would appreciate you popping back into her without warning." Uriel stepped back to allow Setsuna to sit up and take the mirror Doll offered, letting him touch the perfectly replicated flesh-plant body Setsuna now possessed.

"No, I really wouldn't." She said, though she wore a lop-sided smile. "Even if I do like your company."

Setsuna laughed again and hopped off the table he had previously laid on, stretching out, and hopping again. He was fairly certain he looked like a fool, but he just didn't care. "It feels so good to be young again! Thank you, Uriel!"

Uriel arched a dark, albeit amused, brow. "You were creeping up on 50 as a human. Did you assume I'd spend my time with making bodies that are over the hill?"

"Setsuna, you are young again!"

Setsuna turned to see that beautiful, blue-haired Angel he had fallen in love with. "Sara! You have blue hair!"

The pair embraced as Raphael entered, following Sara. "Look, a reunion. It's about time we had some happiness. I'm so sick of everything else right now…" He said somberly as Setsuna and Sara, in their new bodies, embraced.

"Doll, please find Barbiel. Tell her Raphael is here." Uriel asked his maid, and she bowed cheerfully and went off. "Have you found Nema?"

Raphael shook his head, sitting down on the edge of the table and running his hands down his peeved face. He didn't really know how to say the bad news he had, so he began with casual conversation. "… So what do we call you now, Water Angel? Sara or Jibril?"

Sara, or Jibril, paused. "… Either name is fine. Why do you look so stressed? The search party has just gotten bigger."

"That's not what I'm stressed about…" Raphael looked up to see, of all people, Alexiel and Lucifer, standing quite calmly and apart from the group. "… Even you received the memo?" He knew he sounded cruel, but he didn't care. He wondered if he was being smart about dealing with Lucifer. Was it really a good idea to mouth off to a man like him?

He was fortunate that Lucifer seemed a bit too listless to be offended. In fact, the dark king seemed very mildly amused, as another barely-there smile touched his cold features. "I do make it a point to check up on my surrogate niece, you see. I have been hearing bad news, lately. It's unfortunate to see that apparently the news is true."

The group watched Alexiel brush the dark waves of her hair behind her shoulder. Even now it was awkward to be around Alexiel, though each person had his or her own separate reasons. But then, after she had been successfully separated from Setsuna, she had more or less disappeared from everyone. Rumors grew that she had settled with Lucifer and taken on the title of dark queen, but it was only at this moment that they finally realized that it was very true. "So we hear she is trying to start a war? Is that true?"

Raphael snorted, but Uriel answered for him, his green eyes finding it hard to focus on Alexiel. "… She did conjure up that idea, before she left. I suspect she will try to get rid of the Rabbit Hunting campaign, first."

"First?"

"… I wouldn't be surprised if she tried to get rid of God."

"Atta girl." Lucifer's semi-smile suddenly grew into a wide smirk, and Alexiel nodded with him. "A niece after my own heart."

"Well if you are so in favor of Nema's idea, why didn't you take God out a second time?" Setsuna asked, a bit of a frown pasted on his younger face.

It was no big secret between any of the people in this room that putting God back into the system had been a discouraging action in their eyes, though none of them chose to speak of it. It made each and every one of them feel as though their struggles were for nothing. All the fruits of their labor deleted after little more than one month under the rule of an Angel they were sure would uphold their ideal. Well, it was said that he may have claimed to have the same ideals as before… a world without God. It was also said that he was too young to be an effective ruler. Regardless, once each person had learned that God was reprogrammed, it was more or less expected that Lucifer would, quite literally, raise Hell. And he hadn't budged. And now the dark king scowled and said in a low hiss, "You know, I helped you once, and you threw it all in my face. If you are going to be so stupid and bow to Him again, fine. I warned you all, anyway. And it seems it's hitting you all again, isn't it? So now you ask me, 'why didn't you kill Him off?'" He scoffed coldly. "It is your problem, now. I have removed myself from Heaven, and this time I will keep it that way."

"It seems that you have a new warrior fighting for that cause, anyway." Alexiel offered, but Raphael shot it down.

"We might not."

Several pairs of eyes turned toward the stressed Wind Angel. "… What?" Sara asked quietly.

"… I… heard that Nema might have… been killed by a Rabbit Hunter."

The news settled over the group like a heavy blanket, each dealing with it in his or her own way. While Lucifer and Alexiel remained quiet and blank, Uriel opted to become more occupied with brushing stray dust off the table, and Setsuna and Sara could only blink in disbelief. Setsuna managed to mutter, after several seconds of silence, "… You don't know that for sure…"

"I can't find her." Raphael spilled quickly, as though this were the only reasoning he needed. He wasn't even done with the bad news, but he didn't know how to get it out in the open at all.

"… We… we can find her! For the last time, stop acting so glum! We'll go back up and keep looking!" Sara said desperately, blinking back worried, motherly tears. "We'll even get Michael in on this!"

Raphael felt like tearing his golden hair out of his head. "No, we won't."

Setsuna laughed a short, disbelieving, though unhappy laugh. "Why would you ever think that he –"

"HE IS A RABBIT HUNTER, NOW!" Raphael spat it all out. There. Right out in the open.

"… What?" To everyone's surprise it was Lucifer, and not anyone else, that said this.

"Cheriour said Nema was KILLED… and he offered to let Michael walk free if he became a Rabbit Hunter. He's doing it." Raphael said behind the hands that rubbed down his face.

"… That's just like him, too. Over emotional idiot." Lucifer said darkly. He appeared to want to say more, but a loud screeching scream rang out, and in rushed Doll, pulling Barbiel behind her.

"URIEL-SAMA!" Doll cried, "HE'S HERE! AND HE'S ANGRY!"

The Earth Angel frowned thoughtfully, "… Who?"

The question was answered as a man with blonde hair cut to the shoulders rushed in, his eyes aflame.

Setsuna blinked rapidly, fearing how everyone, including Sara, stepped away from him. "K… Katou…!"

"You." Katou pointed an angry finger at Setsuna and ran at him, slamming him in the ground, where Katou proceeded to get Setsuna into a head lock and roughly mess with his hair. "YOU INCONSIDERATE BASTARD! DON'T YOU KNOW I WAS CLEAN FOR TWO FULL YEARS? TWO FUCKING YEARS! I WAS GETTIN' SOMEWHERE!" He snarled. "But NOOOOO, you've gotta go commit suicide! You forget I'm tied to you? YOU FUCKING KILLED ME, TOO! GOD DAMMIT, I WAS EATING CEREAL! I WANT MY FUCKING CEREAL!"

"… I… forgot…" Setsuna choked.

"DAMN RIGHT YOU DID! TAKE THAT, AND THAT, AND THAT!" Katou repetitively flicked poor Setsuna's forehead, spurring "ows" from the pinned man. Finally he smiled and let Setsuna go. "There. Now I'm over it. At least I'm young again."

"… Good…" Setsuna muttered between coughs.

Uriel arched a dark brow. "… Aren't you supposed to be dead? Probably reincarnated by now?"

"That's what we thought." Sara said dryly. "About a week after we went back to Assiah, we find him in our front yard, spun out."

"Hmm…" Uriel said thoughtfully. "Well, Katou, you are quite an oddity."

"Yeah, but I thought you already knew that." Katou said as he moved to pick up the mirror Setsuna had previously been using, but Doll quickly snatched it away.

"Uriel-sama said that I should offer this mirror to Setsuna, not to the likes of YOU!" Doll snapped irritably.

Katou blinked rapidly and held up his hands. "Well, now, excuse me, I'd forgotten Uri Uri had you around, you cute little priss!" He grinned at the fuming Doll and surveyed the miserable crowd. "… Hey, it's KIRA!" He ran up to his childhood friend and did the unthinkable. He gave Lucifer a big old hug. "Look at your gloomy ass self! How've you been?"

"Gloomy." Lucifer drawled, but the barely-there smile touched his lips again.

"Well it's good to see someone's happy." Raphael mumbled moodily, allowing Barbiel to lean against his tense frame. "… I'm going to keep searching. I suggest we all do. But even if Nema is alive… for now… Michael is an enemy."

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

"… Oh boy, this is awkward." Nema mumbled to herself as she stepped into – or was rather forced into – a large, beaten metal tub, filled with heated water.

"You don't appreciate the bath?" Nyssa said dully, as she draped a short robe over a box near to them.

"I don't appreciate the… open… ness…" Nema replied, pointing a pale finger at the numerous females and the open doorway through which I-Children – of EITHER gender – had the ability to see her.

"Well, when you win us real homes, you won't have to worry about this, now will you?"

Nema began washing the blood off her body and asked, quite honestly, "Nyssa, what do have against me?"

"I have nothing against you. But you are an inexperienced girl with very big dreams. I wonder if you know what you are getting into." Nyssa picked up Nema's bloodied clothes and gave them to another woman for washing.

"Then I'll learn as I go along." Nema said firmly.

"Don't mind Nyssa. She's just annoyed that everyone is comparing you to her former self."

Nyssa scowled. "Lilliel, you ought to watch your tongue, you know. That honesty of yours is brutal."

The little girl shrugged, her pink eyes blinking up at Nema. "… Excuse me…"

Nema offered the girl a kind smile. "Yes?"

"I was wondering… if you knew how to make mini-crowns…" Lilliel tapped her broken crown. The cross at the top had snapped and was hanging, barely attached.

"I can try to fix it if you'd like me to. All that needs is glue."

Lilliel smiled and bowed. "Thank you."

"… Here." Nema reached over the side of the tub and picked up her crown, taking off Lilliel's and tying hers onto Lilliel's head of ivory curls. "Wear mine until I get this one fixed."

Nema watched the little girl giggle and hop in a dirtied, lavender dress touched up in pink. It was a cute lolita dress accented with pearl buttons and white lace, but it lacked a petticoat, and the dark red mini-crown did not match the dress one bit, but Lilliel seemed happy enough. "Wait till I show them!" Lilliel cried and skipped off.

"… You're a hit with the kids already. They all want to wear your mini-crown. If you're not careful they're going to break it." Nyssa told Nema as she offered her a half-used bottle of shampoo.

"I'll just fix it, then. That crown's been through more Hell than I ever imagined it would." Nema shrugged it off, and then she called out to the washing lady, "Be careful with the skirt! The mending is fragile; I need to reinforce it!"

"… You kill Rabbit Hunters, start wars, sew, and make mini-crowns. Is there anything you can't do, kid?" It was, to Nema's partial horror, Rujiel's voice.

"RUJIEL!" Nema cried, crossing her pale arms over her equally pale chest. "GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!"

"Would you relax? Do you have three breasts or something?" Rujiel shrugged and picked up the black, man-tailored shirt that had yet to be washed.

"PUT THAT DOWN!" Nema screeched defensively.

"Get out of that tub and make me." Rujiel smirked, arching a brow at her suggestively.

Nema quickly noted that out of the blue, she was being hit on… though she could have sworn that Rujiel, more or less, was against her. She could hardly say that she was used to any of THAT kind of attention, though Jinho had discreetly flirted with her on his visit, and though Michael had his OWN very… VERY… messed up way of flirting, too, if the training sessions that Nema had realized were semi-intimate counted. This was different. This was distinctly different. This was a bold, honest pass at her. Nema decided to glare daggers at Rujiel and leave it at that.

"… You do know this is a man's shirt, right? Nyssa, I think she really is mad." Rujiel fiddled with the shirt, trying it on, oblivious to Nema's ruby-red death glare. "Not a bad fit… What's this?" The remants of Nema's rosary, her Angel Crystal cross, dropped out of the shirt pocket.

"WOULD YOU TAKE OFF THAT SHIRT? IT'S NOT YOURS!" Nema hissed, finished with her bath but not wanting to give Rujiel an eyeful. "Drop it! That's not yours, either!" She cried as Rujiel picked up the cross.

"Is this supposed to be your earring?" Rujiel asked idly, examining it. "The post broke off?"

"My earring?"

"Even we I-Children have at least one cross earring that we wear in our left ear. It is rare to see any Angel without one. The very poorest make theirs out of wood." Nyssa explained, beckoning Rujiel to come closer. Rujiel complied until Nema splashed water at his feet.

"What the fuck?" Rujiel actually swore for once.

"I don't want you seeing more than you ought to!" She replied, and Nyssa sighed.

"Rujiel, please close your eyes."

"Oh for –" Rujiel closed his garnet eyes, allowing Nema to dry herself off and throw on the short, white robe.

"You may open them, now."

Rujiel pressed the cross into Nyssa's pale hand, lingering just enough for Nema to wonder before Nyssa pulled her hand back. "… It wasn't an earring. It was part of a rosary my dad gave me."

"The beading shows that." Nyssa nodded. "… Angel Crystal. I can think of only one time this wasn't used in Heaven's prisons."

"What would that be?"

"The sword known as Nanatsusaya is rumored to be made of Angel Crystal… Alexiel… and your father wielded Nanatsusaya. While I doubt you'd come into possession of it while your father is still alive…"

"… What?"

Nyssa shrugged. "I don't know. I have some experience with metal working and have scraps lying around. Are your ears pierced?"

Nema tugged on her pale ear lobes. "Both of them."

"Well you only need the one, but good. If you'd like I'll make this into an earring for you."

Nema rung out her snowy hair, still dripping wet with water, and let a small smile cross her confused lips. It was a kind offer from a woman she wasn't sure liked her much, so she gracefully accepted it. "… That would be nice. Thank you." Then she turned her red eyes to Rujiel. "For the last time TAKE the damn shirt off! It's not yours!"

"Why are you wearing a man's shirt?" Rujiel asked plainly.

"That's none of your business! Take it OFF!" Nema tugged on the collar of the black shirt, forcing it down Rujiel's white arms.

"You're undressing me?" Rujiel said suggestively, enduring the sharp slap Nema delivered.

"Stop being so fucking horny! Could've sworn you HATED me at first!"

Rujiel only smirked at her, finally slipping the shirt off and offering it to her. Nema quickly snatched it from his grasp and spinning away from him. She made it a point to slap his face with her wet, ivory strands. "Well I don't think I deserved THAT if you already slapped me…!" Rujiel grumbled and finally left.

"… He likes you." Nyssa said dully, toying with the Angel Crystal cross in her hands.

"It SHOWS!" Nema fumed. "What is it with the guys I meet? They all have to piss me off before they show any interest!"

A wry smile curled on Nyssa's lips. "I can't say this for any other man you have met, but Rujiel has always been that way. Since we were children, the only women he ever liked were the ones that could stand to talk him down." Nyssa paused, seeming to focus intently on the intricate carving of the cross. "… He is a childhood friend from when I was thirteen. He used to battle with another man for my attention… he lost. Since then he has seemed to take interest in the other women, though none of them, as far as I know, are his type. I am sure he is relieved that you have come along."

"Hmph!" Nema mumbled as she took the simple, black shirt and pants being offered to her and, a little awkwardly, took off the robe and slipped the clothes on. "… I am unavailable."

"Is that so?" Nyssa's smile grew a little wider, but it lacked the usual coldness and became more girlish, curious. Nema chewed thoughtfully on her thoughts. Had Nyssa REALLY 'lost her marbles'? She hardly SEEMED insane. "… May I ask who's claimed the heart of this Messiah-in-training?"

"… I'd rather not say." Nema said quietly, slipping Michael's shirt on over her plain black shirt and stepping into her knee-high boots.

"I am not going to judge you for who you might be involved with. Believe me, I have already learned how cruel passing such judgment can be."

As sweet as the statement was, Nema couldn't believe her. Here she was in a group of people that hated White Wings, with very few exceptions, and here she was, in love with one in spite of the fact that she had ALREADY successfully started up a war. "… Are they?"

"Are who?" Nyssa asked and she began shooing away the cleaning lady and leading Nema into a long tunnel. "Can you tell me here?"

"… Where are we going?"

"To my room. They prefer I stay away from the pack, you see. I am a crazy person." Nyssa said with a kind of disappointed laughter. "So tell me?"

"… I don't know if you will even believe me."

"Your father is the Messiah according to you, and I believe that." Nyssa plainly stated.

"… Why do they think you're insane, anyway?"

"I will tell you all you wish to know, when you tell me what I wish to know."

Nema sighed and entered a low doorway concealed with a plain, dark gray sheet. Nyssa's room was spacious, and sparsely decorated with old furniture that was somehow still intact. Nema noted that two swords were mounted on Nyssa's wall, and on the bedside table were a few jewelry hooks and needle nose pliers, perfect for constructing an earring or two. Nyssa flopped down onto her shaky bed, but Nema sat on the ground, her head leaning onto the bedside table. "… I have a Guardian Angel –"

"Had." Nyssa quickly corrected. "Once you are recognized as an Angel, your Guardian Angel is relieved of those duties."

Nema frowned, but nodded. "I… HAD… a Guardian Angel, who protected me on Assiah, when the Rabbit Hunting spread down there. We… have fallen in love."

"It is a shared love?"

"Yes."

"Sweet… and tragic. I am assuming he is one of our allies, at least, but even so…" Nyssa said softly. "Out of curiosity, may I know his name?"

"… Michael."

The silence was too loud for Nema, and her eyes moved away from her lap and up to Nyssa. Her bright green eyes stared, unblinking, at her. "… The Archangel Michael is of too high a rank to be given such a task."

Nema shrugged. "I don't know what to tell you. He was my Guardian Angel."

"… Hmm." Nyssa nodded and sat back. "What a strange thing… You disapprove of Rujiel's interest, yet you openly admit to being in love with Michael, who, from what I have heard, is much worse than Rujiel."

"Well I'm with him, so I don't know what to tell you…!" Nema tried to swallow the tone of exasperation, and Nyssa held up her hands.

"I told you I would not judge you. Don't be so defensive." Nyssa smiled. "So will Michael the War Angel be joining us, then? I think we may stand a chance, with that kind of power."

Nema smiled and nodded. "We would need to bust him out of prison first."

"… Oh, he was caught."

"Yes."

"That is unfortunate…"

"Yes." Nema repeated quietly.

"… So I suppose it is my turn to answer your question. You wanted to know why they believe I am insane." Nema only nodded silently. "… I have already told you that Rujiel lost me to another man. This man… was a good I-Child. I can't say much for him now, but at the time he was a good man. … I admit he was an easily depressed man. He did not refuse the oppression of the I-Children, but accepted it as a dark, sad way of life… In spite of this I did love him. I had wanted to bear his children. And in a way, I still love him, no matter how evil he has become… See, Nema, I do understand what it is to love someone cruel. So be assured I won't judge you."

Nema nodded again, feeling a little better that Nyssa had affirmed that she could count on Nyssa as a confidante. "… But what is his name?"

"… His name, at birth, was Ashriel. He goes by a different name, now."

"What name?"

"Cheriour."