Disclaimer: I do NOT own Beelzebub!

Tale as old as time
True as it can be
Barely even friends
Then somebody bends
Unexpectedly

Just a little change
Small, to say the least
Both a little scared
Neither one prepared
Beauty and the Beast.

"Beauty And The Beast" by Celine Dion

Chapter 3: The Beauty and the Beast

„Gwuaaaah!" The delinquent father yawned for the umpteenth time, rubbing his eyes. He was walking to the classroom lazily and didn't give a shit that he was late again. Baby Beel kept him awake until 2am last night, so Oga got barely four hours to sleep in the end. He didn't complain once though. After all, it was his own decision to become a father at his young age.

That was his life.

The same routine for almost half a year now: get up, feed Beelze, go to school, feed Beelze, fight against some hooligans who never stop challenging him on his way home, feed Beelze and go to sleep. Sometimes, Furuichi and Kunieda would drop by, even if he hadn't asked them to do, and look after Baby Beel. Otherwise, nothing particular happened in his life, until yesterday.

Until he met the blonde woman.

Oga didn't know why she caught his interest in the first line. Damn, she had spilled his milk so that he had to run to the bloody market twice! He'd make another person pay for that for sure. But no way, he would hit a woman! Probably, because his elder sister had always scolded and terrorized him during their childhood. Back then, the naïve infant Oga had assumed that Misaki was the strongest and most terrifying person worldwide…

However, that blonde woman from yesterday was different. She wasn't like his sister and she also wasn't like the Red Tails' girls. And what made her so different? The fact that she had the guts to oppose to him? No, that was something that Kunieda also did in the past, right? There had to be another reason…

Mental activity had never been his strong point, thus he let drop the thought.

But he couldn't.

Wasn't it the same yesterday? He tried to blow off the thought of the woman the day before and the next what he did was finding her in his apartment! First, she caved in his apartment and then, she gave him a lecture on that 'heartless father' shit! As if she knew a damn thing about him or Beelze!

Even if he was so pissed off at her words, the truth is that he couldn't forget about her sleeping figure on the couch. He had carried her carefully to his bed as if he wanted to hide her from the rest of the world. As if she was a… precious treasure that only he was able to protect.

Oga growled and grasped the sides of his head. "Why the hell is she still haunting me?" he shouted furiously as his roar echoed in the empty hallway. Probably, he was hanging out too much with Furuichi lately so that he started thinking about women and stuff! That was the only reason he came up. Otherwise, why would he wonder about a woman whose name he didn't even remember?

What was her name again?

Something with H…

Hell?

No, that was the place where his foes wanted to send him.

Hulk?

No, Toujo was a hulk of a man.

He was unaware that he already arrived at his classroom and opened the door unconsciously while still reflecting on the name. "Hel… Hul… Hil…?" he murmured.

He automatically looked at his seat and noticed that the usually empty seat beside his was occupied now. And it was none other than the blonde woman.

"Og…" she started to mumble as soon as she recognized him, too. He wondered why the hell she knew his name.

"HILDA!"

It finally sunk in and Oga remembered the name he was searching for the last few minutes. Astonished gazes were darted on the couple, which seemed to be acquainted. Especially the closest people to Hilda, class rep on her right and the silver-haired idiot on her left had a somewhat offended look on their face.

"You know him?" asked Kunieda her whereas Furuichi asked the same question Oga in unison.

Hilda was able to keep a straight face while Oga stiffly turned over and wanted to leave again. His friend Furuichi got wind of that, jumped up and got a hold of Oga's arm. "Hold on right there!" Furuichi ordered sulkily, his eyes blazing with anger. "How do you know a blonde bombshell like Hilda-san? Isn't it enough that you already have Kunieda, you womanizer?" The last part was rather inaudible for the others.

With a quick movement, Oga had a stranglehold over Furuichi. A vein throbbed in his head as he scowled at the pathetic Furuichi in his arms. "Don't mistake me for you, bastard! You finally infected me with your fucking affliction for women that I'm starting to see hallucinations!" he exclaimed with clenched teeth.

Furuichi had a questioning expression since he couldn't quite follow Oga's words. "What's he… so worked up… about?" he wondered in his buckled position.

"Tsk, impressive that an ogre like you uses words such as 'hallucination'."

Oga's eye twitched at the familiar voice. He let go of Furuichi and turned around to face the 'speaking hallucination'. "What was that, you little…?" He frowned and clenched his fists. So she didn't even know his name and wanted to say 'ogre' when he entered the classroom a while ago.

CRASH!

Saotome-sensei attracted attention to himself again and punched the desk in front of him this time. "What's all this fucking fuss about? You've already made enough noise early in the morning, you pieces of shit! Sit on you butts, you'll interrupt other classes else." The weird teacher was unaware that he was the biggest troublemaker there at the moment.

Furuichi, rubbing his neck, and Oga obeyed and silently went to their seats. Saotome turned to the latter as he passed by and casted aspersion. "To see that you're as energetic as that after what happened yesterday…"

Oga was rooted to the spot. His aura changed all of a sudden which made the other students' blood run cold. He clenched his teeth and fists as if he was trying to hold himself off attacking Saotome.

Hilda didn't understand what was going. Although it wasn't her business, she was taken aback by Oga's sudden change. "He means it…" she thought. He was furious. But not as furious as to the silver-haired fool a minute ago. He rather was like a wild beast being caged and waiting patiently for the day he'd break away.

She looked around to see that the other students became astounded and started whispering among each other. "Don't tell me that Oga-chan…", a guy with long red hair wondered.

"He… lost?" Kunieda finished his sentence and gulped heavily.

Even the muscular fellow with orange hair, who seemed to be sleeping all the time, opened an eye and glanced at Oga.

Saotome beckoned him to go to his seat. "Come to my office after school."

Oga nodded quickly and sat down. That was the beginning of a very long school week.

"Shinjiru koto ga kowakute namida wo wasurete.Kaze ga senaka wo oshita futari nara kitto yukeru yo."

Saotome-sensei read the two lines out and waited for somebody to translate them. As nobody volunteered for it, he picked the most abstracted student in class. "Oi, Oga! Translate it…"

The latter was occupied with studying Furuichi's head since he avoided the sight of his new neighbor. He didn't react to the teacher which earned him a flying chalk hitting directly his forehead. Oga stood up furiously and protested. "What the hell? Are you trying to kill me?"

"Your reaction time slacks off." Saotome diagnosed pensively. "And you won't perish by a tiny chalk. Now, hurry up and translate the damn lines, you punk!"

"Your bullshit doesn't even make sense when we're in the middle of a math lesson!" The others looked approvingly and supported Oga's words.

Saotome slammed his book on the broken table and scowled. "Since when are students entitled to challenge their teachers? I'm the one giving lessons and you're supposed to obey, got it?"

Oga grunted loudly and took his book. Skimming through the text, he found the two lines and started translating. "Believe me… I forgot how many foes I've scared and made them cry… pushing their backs and winding…"

"Fool."

Hilda, who looked bored in her book, interrupted him. Oga narrowed his eyes at her. "What was that…?"

She didn't even bother looking at him and explained. "You've just spoiled those nice lines with that useless brain of yours; full of nonsense."

Oga boiled with rage and was just about to explode. "You really have a death wish, don't you, woman!"

It was Saotome, who prevented a dispute, again. "Oga, sit down! Your translation was really shitty!" He then turned to Hilda. "Newbie, you translate."

Before Oga could object, Hilda stood up and translated correctly. "Scared of believing, I forgot how to cry. Now with the wind pushing our back, we can move on together."

"Mhm…" Saotome nodded approvingly. It was obvious that he also didn't have a clue about poetry. "Sit down."

"Total Fools…" Hilda said under her breath as she sat down. Saotome didn't hear it because he still gave thought to the meaning of the two lines. However, Oga was standing close enough to hear her insult again.

He frowned at the deprecating expression on her face. He couldn't contain himself anymore and vented his wrath on his desk. "You little bitch! What the hell is your fucking problem?"

That was what the others, including Furuichi and Kunieda, wondered. All they could see…or rather sense was only the bad atmosphere. Oga was burning fury struck Hilda's cool and calm self. What remained were flashes of lightning between their gazes. It seemed like Oga had finally met his match in the mysterious blonde woman.

The impact of Oga's blow wasn't enough to agitate her. She looked around nonchalantly and answered. "You're the only problem here."

Oga had a short fuse. "Hm? If I'm such an eyesore to you, then why do you keep following me and come even to my house?" he shouted.

"She has come to your house?" Furuichi and Kunieda asked in unison again.

The others got an idea of what was going on and grinned. "So Oga has finally found a bride?" they thought amazed. "In exchange of waiting for so long, he got a damn hot chick there…"

"You know quite well that it's your own fault!" she started yelling, too. "If you were a better fath…"

"Aaaah, I get it now!" Saotome bawled, who was absorbed in thought until now. The squabbling couple got silent but still growled at each other. "Oga, Hilda, get out!"

"WHAT?" Oga exclaimed disagreeable.

"You two only violate my informative lesson and hold your comrades off learning!" The other students sighed at his ironic statement as if they would learn anything by translating those odd lyrics. Saotome regarded that sigh as an affirmation of his words and went on. "Both of you will clean the whole floors of this building until I finish my lesson. I don't give a shit about what you do in other classes but no fights in my lesson!"

Oga and Hilda were still standing there and glaring at each other as if one was blaming the other. That made Saotome angry and he sounded more menacingly this time. "Oi, are you waiting for me to kick your asses? Get out and don't you dare coming back before solving your problems!"

Hilda was the first one who left, followed by the pissed Oga. When he slammed the door behind, Saotome grinned inwardly and thought. "Maybe, I must just play the part of the wind and push their backs. Otherwise, that damn Oga wouldn't make a step by himself…"

It was her first day in her new school and Hilda was already punished for disturbing the lesson. And that even though, she wanted to attract as less attention as possible! She glanced at the person at fault behind her, who was scrubbing the same spot for half an hour now. At his pace, they wouldn't be finished until tomorrow…

She wanted to get over that stupid punishment as soon as possible. Otherwise, that fool would mess with her business again and again! Come to think of it: she couldn't finish her paperwork and officially enroll to Ishiyama High due to him because he soaked her documents with his milk.

The rare and expensive Alpine milk!

She started scrubbing more strongly at the thought of that incident. Even though the milk was meant for his child, he should have apologized to her since he was the one running around like a crazed monkey and…

Suddenly, she stopped and blinked twice. "Now that I think about it…" Hilda wondered about the baby. "If he's at school right now… does that mean that his wife is taking care of Beelze right now?" Considering that the baby way alone the day before, she just hoped that Beelze was in good hands at the moment. Was his mother also as irresponsible as the father was?

"Oi…"

"Talk of the devil!" she thought. She'd rather have him cleaning slowly but quietly instead of annoying and restraining her. Hilda turned over, throwing a "What do you want?" glare at him. She didn't know that he was standing straight behind her.

"I'll go see a man about a dog and come back immediately. Just leave the west side of the building to me and go after you're done." With that said, he leaned the broom against the wall and went to the stairs.

"Who allowed you to leave yet?"

Her unexpected question made him stop right there. Throwing her a bored look, he didn't quite get her intention.

"You've already got me involved in a peck of trouble." Hilda explained calmly. "Just do whatever you have to do after we finish this. I don't want the teacher to come out and find me here alone."

Oga shrugged his shoulders and left. "Tell him that I have the shits and went to the toilet then…"

"Wait…"

Before she could stop him, he turned the corner, waving a hand at her. Shortly after, the door of their classroom was opened behind her. "Why is it always me?" Hilda thought and braced herself for being scolded by Saotome.

"Hilda-san."

Surprisingly, it wasn't Saotome's voice. Hilda turned over and saw the class representative.

"Where is Oga-kun?" Kunieda asked as she wandered her gaze around.

"Oga…?" Hilda reflected for a second. Yeah, the teacher was calling the fool by that name earlier. It was easy to keep his name in mind though since it was so short and resembled his nickname that Hilda had gave him.

Not that she would need to remember that fool's name anyway!

"So…where is he?" Kunieda asked again impatiently.

"He'll be back soon." was Hilda's sole answer.

Kunieda looked at her thoughtfully for a moment. "Alright, Sensei told me to look after you two. I'll tell that you're doing well."

Hilda arched a brow and watched the girl in front of her suspiciously. "Isn't she surprised that he left school in middle of classes? And why is she covering him…?" she wondered.

Kunieda wanted to go in again but she hesitated for a moment and turned back to the other girl. "Hilda-san… you know about Beelze, right?"

"Hm?" Hilda was puzzled and couldn't hide it completely this time. She slightly twitched her eye, thinking. "Is it supposed to be a secret?"

"A little while ago, Oga said… that you've gone to his house. Therefore, you must have met Beelze…" Kunieda repeated. "And you almost addressed him as a father."

Hilda became curious and wanted to know where that conversation would lead. "Yes, I've already met his child." She simply stated and looked at her expectantly, as if saying: and what now?

"Just as I thought…" Kunieda replied. "Listen, Hilda-san. I don't know how much you know about Oga Tatsumi but please, never mention the existence of Beelze or Oga being a father here again."

"How much I know about Oga?" Hilda repeated taken aback and laughed. "I've just heard his full name for the first time."

Kunieda seemed somehow relieved to hear that. "Anyway, please keep it a secret and I'll tell you the reason in return."

After that, Kunieda returned to the classroom. Hilda, too, went back and continued cleaning the floor. Even if she wouldn't admit it, she was eager to know what Kunieda was going to tell her.

I'm sorry that this chapter became shorter than the first two ones but I promise you to write a longer one next time. ;)

The lyrics that Hilda translated are from the ninth Naruto Shippuuden Opening (Lovers). A similar scene like that was in the anime before, am I right? You'll see why I chose especially those two lines later…

I'll try to update next month again but I can't promise you an exact date. Just give me two or three weeks, when I finish my exams… ^_^

Next time, the story of Oga and Baby Beel and a new character!