Dedication: This chapter is for all the readers whom I can't reply to personally since you haven't signed up yet, namely: twilightHaru, Dolly, matsuky1407, Foolish Moon, anilove15, Apocalypse, jd and Fan. And of course, for all Oga & Hilda and Baby Beel fans out there. Thank you for reading this story and supporting me all along! :)

And if I should ever go away
Well then, close your eyes and try
To feel the way we do today and then, if you can remember

Keep smilin', keep shinin'
Knowing you can always count on me for sure
That's what friends are for.
For good times and bad times
I'll be on your side forever more
That's what friends are for.

"That's What Friends Are For" – by Dionne Warwick

Chapter 5: The bearded Guy

"Excuse me for the late disturbance, Sir, but I'm looking for a woman."

Oga examined the man in front of his door from top to toe once more. "A woman?" he thought and arched a brow. Unlike Furuichi and Himekawa, he wasn't the type who was interested in women, nor had he had any business with them. However, a particular woman came to his mind in an instant. "Don't tell me he's after…"

The stranger waited patiently for an answer. Sure, he looked beefy and might have skills. In his dark clothes, he almost seemed a tiny bit sinister and fishy. But for all that, Oga didn't believe that the man posed a grave threat.

Anyway, he didn't trust him either.

"Sorry, Teach!" Oga explained, implying to one of his favorite manga. "As you can see, I'm still a celibate and I don't have a woman!"

"P-pardon me. I didn't make myself clear. Let me introduce myself first. My name isn't Teach. It's Al…"

"I didn't ask you for your name, uncle! As I've said: I can't offer you any woman here and now!" the teen hissed, gritting his teeth.

"But, Sir…"

"And,…" Oga interrupted him again, glaring at the persistent man. "…as you've said before, uncle: you're DIS-TUR-BING!" His voice brayed through the whole floor as his grip on the doorknob tightened. He had absolutely no nerves to mess around with that bearded guy at the moment.

"Now, of all times!" he thought angrily while impatiently waiting for the man to leave. The geezer in front of his door had to show up just now, when the atmosphere inside felt so… enjoyable! Actually, he was so disgruntled that he could kill the stranger for killing the mood. The only reason, which held him back right now, was his guest inside.

Because Oga still suspected that the stranger was after Hilda. He didn't have a clue where that misgiving came from, but if he were to run riot now, the noise might lure Hilda. And if that man was really after her, regardless of which reason, Oga would hand Hilda to him on a silver platter in consequence of his rioting. Even if he wasn't the smartest of his class, he was still up to logical thought to a certain extent.

"Get lost, man! Shove off already!" Oga mentally shouted and looked daggers at him. Neither did he know how long the bearded guy would stand there and gape at him, nor how much longer he himself would be able to hold off.

Eventually, the stranger seemed to move back a little and bowed his head slightly. "Thanks for your help, Sir. I ask your forgiveness for the late disturbance again."

"Gosh darn it! If you apologize one more time, I'll be a much more huger disturbance to you than you can behold in your worst nightmares!"

Before he lost his temper, Oga nodded quickly, went inside and closed the door. He stayed on the spot behind the door but marched loudly, pretending to go inside. In fact, he rested there for a while to make sure that the persistent man left. A minute later, the man left as Oga could guess from the loud steps outside, becoming vaguer until they completely disappeared.

Oga stood there for a while, leaning against the door and looking up at the ceiling. He tried to calm down by drawing deep breaths. Nevertheless, the sick feeling in his gut just wouldn't ease. He assumed that it came from the pent-up anger, which he couldn't vent on anybody.

At long last, he decided to join the couple waiting in the living room. Surprisingly, the aforesaid occupied room was empty now. Then, he checked back in the kitchen and his own sleeping room but not a soul there.

"ACHOO!"

He noticed a low noise of someone sneezing coming from outside. Promptly, he hurried to the balcony and found Hilda there, hiding in the dark corner. Beelze was peacefully resting in her arms while he curiously watched Oga with his turquoise eyes blazing in moonlight. The latter recognized that the baby was firmly wrapped in a dark coat, which Hilda was wearing before. Only now, Oga realized that she was solely wearing a sleeveless shirt and waiting there in the keen autumn cold.

Hilda became aware of his presence not before he was standing directly in front of them. Her face was as distorted as Oga's when he sometimes tried to hide his pain after rarely being injured.

"What are you doing here?" he furiously yelled at her, as if he was venting on his former wrath on her. "You wanna freeze to death?"

She didn't bother answering and handed Beelze over to him. After standing up and cleaning the dust off her trousers, she asked something that he didn't expect.

"Has that person come to pick Beelze up?"

Oga's mind went blank. His frustration vanished into thin air in the twinkling of an eye. "You kiddin' me?" he thought with a stunned expression on his face. That woman was really freezing her ass off because she was worried about Beelze? She was ready to go to such lengths for a strange baby she barely knew whereas other bastards had abandoned the same baby heartlessly at dead of night?

"Incredible…" he murmured and unconsciously tightened his arms around Beelze.

"What was that?" she asked and blandly rubbed her hands against her arms.

"IDIOT!" he finally screamed and scared her and the baby, who started crying in his arms. "Don't you ever act so careless for a nonsense like this again!"

"N-nonsense?" Hilda shouted hysterically. "You're the one acting rather too carefree! No matter how brave you are and take care of that child, if the officials find out about Beelze being here…"

CRASH!

Oga punched the nearest wall to him and interrupted her mid-sentence. "So what? I don't give a fuck even if they send a whole army!" He darted his fierce eyes on her and shot her a deadly serious glare.

"Nobody's gonna separate Beelze from me!"

Suddenly, it became silent. Beelze immediately stopped crying after Oga's final words, as if he understood the determined promise of his father. On the other side, Hilda froze literally, as she watched Oga with wide-open eyes. They stood there like that for a whole minute. Neither of them spoke. As for Oga, he actually spoke his mind quite clearly but in terms of Hilda, she didn't even dare to speak. Holding her breath, her body was shaking a little at the sight of the man in front of her.

Spuriously, Oga assumed that her trembling came from the cold outside. Carrying Beelze with his left arm, he went inside. "What are you still doing there? Get in before you really perish by cold!" His voice sounded more calm and soft this time.

Without saying a word, Hilda nodded slightly and followed him by command.

"Here."

Hilda lifted her head and looked at the cup in his hand.

"Drink it! It should prevent you from catching a cold." Oga explained.

She snuggled more to the blanket on her shoulders and took the item. The hot surface warmed her cold hands pleasurably. The delightful smell of the herbal tea filled the whole living room and inflated up to her lungs.

It was past nine o'clock now and Beelze was busily drinking his last bottle of milk for the day on Oga's lap. The latter briefly glanced at the quiet woman on the sofa. She hadn't said a single word since their dispute on the balcony. In his opinion, she was a little bit too silent by her standards at the moment. Even if he knew Hilda too little, only for one and a half days now, he already found out that she was a tough cookie and kept her chin up. She always had a suitable answer to every issue, every question and even every allusion - the type of answer that always first occurred to you afterwards – no matter who her opponent was.

That's the type of woman she was.

The fact that she didn't say a word right now could only mean that she was seriously getting sick.

Or that she was still worrying about Beelze.

He rather guessed on the latter.

"They didn't come for Beel." He explained calm and serene, stroking the baby's head.

Hearing his words, Hilda became attentive and wandered her gaze from the cup to father and son. "They didn't?" she asked with a questioning look, but seemed relieved at the same time.

So he hit the mark and she was worrying about Beel. He stood up and placed the baby next to her. "Cheers, big ears!"

"Well,…" She put her cup on the table and covered Beelze with the blanket. "You were shouting around and sounded enraged…"

A drop of sweat was rolling down his face as he looked away. "It… was just an old man asking the way."

Hilda doubtfully arched her brow and frowned. "Was that the way how you treat strangers and old people instead of being polite and helpful?"

"Don't lay the blame on me!" he protested and faced her again. "That bearded dude was stubborn like a mule! He didn't get it that I couldn't be of any help to him!"

"B-bearded guy?" she repeated.

"Hell yeah! His fat moustache is even bigger than granny Furuichi's!" A nasty image of his best friend's grandma came to his mind. "Yuck!"

Hilda became silent again and gulped heavily. She didn't succeed in hiding her amazement when she became pale-faced and opened her eyes widely. Her reaction only confirmed Oga's suspicions.

That bearded guy was after her all along!

"Anyway,…" he broke the silence and brought her back to reality. "Since you're already here, you can keep an eye on Beel for a while."

"Hm?" she blinked in confusion. "Wait, where are you going?"

He put his jacket and shoes on and went to the door. "I'll see a man about a dog! Just make yourself at home until I come back."

With that said, he went outside and locked the door inconspicuously. He ran straight to the stairs to have a look-around if the old geezer was still walking around his apartment.

An hour later, he returned home. There was no trace of the stranger anywhere. Oga wanted to play it safe and see if there were any other suspicious people around. But the neighborhood was as reposeful as ever.

He entered the living room and found again a familiar scene such as yesterday. Hilda fell asleep on the sofa with Beelze sleeping in her arms. According to her sitting position, he thought that it had to be quite uncomfortable to sleep like that with a baby in your arms. In spite of that, she looked so serene and peaceful that she seemed to be the most content person on world this minute.

Oga crossed his arms and leaned against the wall. He took the time to watch those two a little bit longer. It didn't even made any sense for him to observe two people asleep. Yet, he still did it. It just gave him… a feeling of inner peace.

He observed how both of them breathed in and out synchronously. He observed how Beel's little tummy was rising by each breath. And he observed that Hilda had flushed a little which tinted her cheeks a faintly red.

Red?

He moved to the sofa to have a closer look. Brushing her blonde bangs aside, he gently placed his hand on her forehead.

As he thought, she had a light fever.

Making a step back, he took Beelze from her and placed him on his small bed. Then, he effortlessly lifted Hilda's lightweight body and carried her to his bedroom. He slowly placed her on the sheets and covered her with a second blanket.

Before he left the room, he shot her a last glance. He wondered how a demon like her could look like a sleeping angel at the same time.

"DAAAH!"

"Wait, Beelze! Just a little bit longer…" Oga muttered half-asleep.

"DAAAAAAH!"

"Mmmh,… would you shut up already?"

"DAAAAAAAAAAH!"

"Ouch!" Oga stood up and scowled at the baby in front of him. "Whose hair do you think you're pulling at, you little…! How did you even get on the table?"

He picked Baby Beel up and had a closer look at the table. The steam of freshly baked pancakes reached his nose, as he rubbed his eyes and saw the food right under his nose. If he actually saw and smelled them at the same time, it couldn't be a hallucination, right?

Looking right and left, he didn't see a single person around. Thus, he gave a shrug and thought: "The early bird catches the pancake!" He stuffed the said food abruptly in his mouth.

"You pig! Go and wash your face before breakfast!"

"Ungh!" Her sudden voice startled him to such an extent that he choked on the pancake. Hilda saw him helplessly knocking on his chest and his face slowly turning blue. Therefore, she pitied him, generously offered him the cup in her hand and put it on the table.

Without a second thought, he grasped at the liquid and gorged the content of the cup. Not till then, he discovered that the liquid in question was coffee. Black, hot coffee!

"GYAAAAAAAAH!" He jumped up and screamed his head off while he was holding Beelze with one arm and crushing the cup out of pain with his free hand. He didn't even know what tortured him more: the bitter taste of the unsweetened coffee or the fact that his whole gullet burned up!

Hilda had an evil smirk on her face. "That should be enough to wake you up."

"No, her satisfied face is the very last!" he thought in agony.

Whereas Baby Beel was enjoying the scene and cheering the suffering father, Oga himself was poking his tongue out to cool it down. He glared at the woman at the doorway, who was busy with braiding her hair to its usual hairstyle.

"You bwitch! You thriyin' tho kwill me?" He struggled with his burned tongue and tried to communicate with her.

"Stop playing around. Hurry up or we'll be late for school." She walked to his side and picked the baby from his arms. "I'll look after Beelze so get ready."

"Right." He started to feel his tongue again. "Gimme five minutes to finish my breakfast." He sat down and ate another pancake.

"Didn't I tell you to wash your face first, douche?" she glowered at him.

Oga frowned and ignored her words. "Listen, woman! We're in my house now and my regulations are in force here, got it?"

She just made a disgusted face and didn't answer to that. "Did you… sleep here?"

"Hm?" he looked up at her. "Don't worry, I wasn't sleeping with you in the same bed last night!"

A faint blush formed on her face. "That's not what I've meant! I mean… did you spend the night here, sleeping in this sitting position on the table?"

"Oh that…" His memories were returning slowly. "I must have fallen asleep during study time. I had to work over these useful notes since I 'skipped' afternoon classes yesterday." He didn't blame her for her lie but neither did he thank her for the notes.

He just continued eating one pancake after the other. And they didn't taste so bad. At least, they were sweet enough to suppress the ugly taste of her coffee. He wondered whether she made them herself. Therefore, she presumably got up early in the morning, even before Beelze woke up. After going to bed at 10pm, she might have a good night's rest and recovered from the fever…

Fever?

Yeah, he remembered that she had a light fever yesterday.

"I'll rock Beelze to sleep."

Her voice interrupted his chain of thought. As Hilda started to walk towards the couch, Oga stood up and jerkily pulled at her upper arm. Before she could understand what was going on, he brushed her bangs aside and leaned forward to place his front on hers. Fortunately, her fever was gone.

When he opened his eyes, he met her big green ones. Only then, he noticed that they weren't the same green as Beel's eyes. Her eyes had a darker tone of green, reminding him of that expensive gemstone whose name he forgot.

No wonder! How should someone as poor as a church mouse keep those difficult names like ruby, sapphire or emerald in mind? Oga preferred to distinguish them by their color.

Anyway, whether gemstone or grass, the green color had a weird effect on him. Looking in her bright eyes, he felt so… eased and peaceful. It was a similar feeling as yesterday and the day before, when he observed her sleeping face.

"BUUUH!"

Oga backed off when he noticed that Beelze was struggling in Hilda's arms between them. They still needed to rock him to sleep before they went to school.

"I… I'll go changing then." He turned away and went to his room. Scratching his head, he wondered why Hilda's face was still so red although her fever was gone long ago.

Oga was lying on the rooftop and enjoyed the warm breeze. The sun was shining for a change, probably for the last time this year. However, he didn't like the sunshine piercing his closed eyes and laid on the sole shadowy spot on the northern side.

That deceitful bastard Saotome let them write a test about yesterday's afternoon classes. Oga was as sure as death that Saotome did it on purpose to tease him more but thanks to Hilda's lecture notes, he did quite well on the test. He supposed that the others were still writing now since he already finished it after half an hour, even before Kunieda. Baby Beel was surely sleeping right now, thus, he could relax in peace there until lunch break and go home to see the baby afterwards.

CLACK!

Oga sat up as he heard someone opening the door. "So much for relaxing in peace…!"

He looked around the corner and saw Hilda leaning against the rail. "No wonder…" he thought. After all, she was the one, who made those brilliant notes, so she had to be a secret genius and finished early, too, right?

Maybe, he needed to thank to her. Not only the notes, she also helped him with the baby stuff and prepared breakfast for him although he treated her meanly. Sure, he also helped her when she was sick or chased by that bearded guy…

"How did you know that I was here?" Hilda asked monotonously.

"Eh?" Oga wondered. "I could ask her the same question!" Although he didn't tell anybody that he was going on the roof, she found her without difficulty? Slowly but surely, he believed that she really had supernatural powers! He wanted to come out of his hideout and ask her directly.

"I'm not your guardian for nothing, Hilda-sama." another voice spoke.

Oga stopped. Not because he sensed the presence of the other person, but because of the familiar voice and the weird accent. The person, who followed her, was none other than the persistent, bearded guy from yesterday. "Speak of the devil!" he thought. But why was that man there? How did he finally find her when she was with Oga all the time?

"I knew that you'd find me sooner or later, Mr. Guardian." she stated quite unimpressed. "And what now?"

"Hilda-sama…" The bearded guy sweated and seemed to fear the blonde woman. "Your father is worrying about you…"

"THAT MAN ISN'T MY FATHER!" Hilda yelled as loudly as she could, which made the guy wince and Oga hold his ears.

"I… I know what you feel, Hilda-sama. But…"

"Listen well, Alain Delon! Now, that you've found me, don't expect that I'll return with you to that place again. From now on, I'll live my own life and I don't expect anything. Neither from you, nor from that bastard!"

"I- I understand." The bearded guardian, called Alain something, nodded. "But… will you be alright on your own?"

Hilda showed a rare smile, which didn't escape the bearded guy. "Who told you that I was alone?" She walked to the door and abandoned her guardian. "Anyway, don't follow me around anymore. I really appreciate it… but I don't need your help. Good-bye."

With that said, she left the roof. The guardian stood there for a moment and looked thoughtful and worried. He resembled a father figure, or rather an elder brother, who couldn't help but worry about her. Nevertheless, Hilda's announcement was quite clearly and he couldn't go against it.

The man just wanted to leave when he felt a strong grip on his shoulder. As he turned his head and looked at the familiar teen behind him, he got alarmed. Especially his blazing eyes and the demonic grin on his face made his blood run cold.

"Oi, uncle! Remember me?"

For those of you who didn't get the meaning of 'Teach' at the beginning: it's a reference to a character in One Piece, namely Marshall D. Teach, alias Blackbeard...

I wanted to upload this chapter today (because I'm sure that you were eager to know who the bearded guy was… ^^) so that I didn't even proofread yet. I apologize in advance for possible mistakes and please, tell me if you find some… :)

In the end, I noticed that I've only written from Oga's POV this time although it's more difficult than Hilda's in my opinion is. Nevertheless, I'll continue changing the view between those two, depending on the situation in the story…

Otherwise, I hope that you've enjoyed this chapter. I tried hard to put as much Oga & Hilda moments as I could though, I didn't plan to make it so long. However, writing about those two is so much fun that I can't stop writing once I start! :D

Well then, let's see how the second meeting of Oga and Alain Delon will turn out… See you next time!