Disclaimer: Beelzebub isn't mine! All recognizable characters belong to Tamura-sensei. The plot is mine…

Dedication: Herewith, I'm apologizing for making you wait for so long. An extra longer chapter as an Easter present for all the readers out there! ;-)

'Cause if you wanna go
Baby, let's go.
If you wanna rock,
I'm ready to roll.
And if you wanna slow down,
We can slow down together.
If you wanna walk,
Baby, let's walk.
Have a little kiss,
Have a little talk.
We don't gotta leave at all
We can lay here forever
Stay here forever.

"Stay Here Forever" – by Jewel

Chapter 6: Oga's Proposal

"Oi, uncle! Remember me?"

Alain Delon tried to smile nervously. He had a bad feeling about this and sensed the fatal threat that the teen in front of him was posing. "I need to get out of here as soon as possible!" he thought.

"Uhm, excuse me, Sir. I'm in a hurry right now so…"

"Still apologizing like a moron; you're pissin' me off, dude!" Oga glared at him, cracking his knuckles. "I'm the one asking the questions here, got it? So, why are you following her around?"

Alain Delon met him with disbelief. He had seen Oga and Hilda heading for school together that morning and knew that she had stood over with the young man in front of him last night, too. What made the guardian extremely curious was the reason why Oga had denied that fact yesterday. Obviously, he was protective and hiding her. He might be a friend of Hilda. There again, Alain Delon knew all of her friends, or rather 'former classmates' since she never really befriended anybody. And Oga surely didn't belong to that category.

So who was this young man?

Alain Delon didn't know what to think of him or what to do now. Should he ignore him and run away? Or knock him out and hand him over to Hilda? On the other hand, the dark ominous aura that the teen was currently emitting was somehow overawing him so that he had no other choice but to talk.

"I'm protecting her…"

Oga chuckled at his answer. "You're definitely protecting the wrong person, old man! Trust me; she's the last woman worldwide who needs a bodyguard."

"It's not 'bodyguard', Sir. I'm her guardian."

"Hm?" Oga arched a brow at his correction. "What's the difference anyway?" he thought.

As if he could read Oga's instantaneous thoughts, Alain Delon explained further. "I pledged everlasting loyalty to Hilda-sama. The term 'bodyguard' wouldn't even encompass a fractional amount of my aim in life."

After a thought, Oga grinned sneakily at the bearded guy. "Is that so?" A mysterious glint was present in his eyes as he continued. "Listen, uncle! Fortunately, I'm also in a hurry so let's have a small talk…"

The same evening, Oga was looking out of the window and waiting for Baby Beel to wake up. Actually, he also was unconsciously waiting for a certain blonde woman to get home. After his conversation with Alain Delon, he immediately went home to look after Beel and didn't want to return to school afterwards. Thus, he didn't see Hilda again for the whole day.

Before they had left his house that morning, she had told him that she would like to come and see Beelze again. Oga had no problems with that because he wouldn't have to beg Furuichi to come over then, when he had to do his daily training and get some milk for Baby Beel.

However, if she didn't come back soon, it could be too late and the market might close. Just when he really could need her help, where the hell was that woman?

KNOCK, KNOCK!

"Finally!" Oga muttered and went to open the door. Indeed, it was Hilda with her hands loaded with plastic bags and groceries.

"You're late!" was the first thing that came to his mind.

She arched a brow to his remark. "Don't talk to me as if you're my husband." she hissed emotionlessly.

Before he could even react to her words, Hilda handed him some of the plastic bags. Oga was surprised to find four bottles of milk in them. That spared him the evening trip to the market.

"In exchange for the bottles I broke two days ago." Hilda explained. "When I've prepared breakfast this morning, I've noticed that you ran out of milk since I've also used some for the pancakes…"

His face softened a little bit by her compassionateness. "That's why you've been so late, fool. I wanted to get the milk myself now and ask you to keep an eye on Beelze." He only needed to put the two words of gratitude to the end of his phrase but they got stuck in his throat and wouldn't come out from his mouth. "Anyway, wanna come in? It was me who invited you to dinner yesterday but you ended up cooking for me instead." He didn't want to owe her more than he already did or make empty promises.

Oga Tatsumi never made empty promises!

"Hm? Don't tell me that you can also cook, super dad?" she asked teasingly.

He felt offended and accepted her challenge. "Just get in and assure yourself!"

"Make sure to serve something decent and eatable. I'll put my shopping home and get changed." She went to the apartment next door and opened the door with her key.

Wait…

The apartment next door?

"You were living next to my house all this time?" he shouted in astonishment.

Hilda kept a stoic face. "Hm? Why are you so upset? You've never asked me before…"

In fact, he never did.

Oga frowned. "Just hurry up, you damn woman!" He entered his house in frustration, catching a hint of amusement in her eyes. Damn, how the hell couldn't he have noticed that until now?

He roughly put the bags on the table and noticed that there was one bag too much. Wondering whether Hilda had bought a dessert for him on her way back, he approached the bag to have a closer look. A package of sanitary napkins was poking out.

That was definitely not designed for him!

He tried hard to suppress the heat coming up to his head and took the bag grossly to give it back to her. The door to her apartment was open so he went in without knocking at the door or ringing the bell. He only intended to put her bag on the floor and disappear as if he never arrived but seeing her apartment's current state, he was so shocked that the plastic bag fell out of his hand.

The apartment wasn't furnished. It had the same room layout of his own apartment and reminded him of the first day he had moved in, when his parents hadn't brought his furniture along yet. He advanced to the living room and didn't find any electric appliance, not even a single sofa there. Neither was the kitchen ready-furnished. There was only a rubbish bag with empty packing materials of convenience foods in the corner.

Hearing his steps, Hilda came out of her bedroom and was surprised to find Oga in her apartment. "Why are you here?" she asked calmly and let go of her hair that she was about to braid.

"Why am I here? Why the hell are you here?" Oga hissed back irritated and accusingly pointed a finger at her. "Why are you living in an apartment without a single chair?"

Hilda turned her head left and right with a bored expression and shrugged nonchalantly. "Well, it's only temporary. I've just moved and got a part-time job today. What have you expected?"

"Are you kidding me?" Oga wondered, appalled by her laxness. Judging from her uniform from earlier, he thought that she was probably working as a waitress or something like that. He could even swear that he had seen that uniform once before but he didn't remember where, having a memory like a sieve. Leave that aside for now, how much did a waitress gain anyway? With her little income, it'd take her years to buy all the necessary stuff for her apartment.

"Enough!" he ultimately freaked out and grabbed her wrist hastily. He barely caught the blonde's protests while she was trying to escape from his strong grip in vain, and drilled her hard to his apartment. When they finally entered, he closed the door behind and brought her to the living room, where Baby Beel could wake up any moment.

"Oga Tatsumi! I swear you that I'll call the police if you don't let go of me now!" Hilda scowled at him, still struggling to get away from his firm grip without any success.

In the end, Oga let go of her and tossed his mobile in her hand. "Go ahead!"

Hilda looked at him suspiciously and in disbelief. She likely thought that Oga didn't take her serious.

"Come on!" he repeated more loudly and glanced at the sleeping baby. "Don't make me bray around and call the damn police! I dare you!"

She wandered her gaze from the item in her hand to the man in front of her and seemed to hesitate a little bit. In fact, that was exactly the same reaction that Oga expected from her.

"You can't do it at all, can you?" he said in a calmer tone this time, almost whispering, and took the mobile off her hands. "Because your pursuers would find you in no time at all when you get involved with the police, right?"

Hilda's eyes widened as she stiffened and was at a loss of words. "H-how… how did you find out?"

She didn't even deny it, which made things easier for him. Oga wanted to answer to her question when somebody knocked at the door four times, hard and rhythmically. "Right on cue…" he muttered and waited for a moment before he went opening the door. He noticed that Hilda behaved differently than yesterday when she had assumed that they had come for Beelze. Back then, she had panicked and hid with the baby instantly. But from the horrified expression on her face now, Oga could tell that Hilda was expecting her pursuers at the door. He didn't want to tantalize her any longer and went to open the door. "Don't worry."

His words weren't enough to relax her. He could see that from how she still looked at him in suspicion. She didn't trust him, understandably.

"I'm not going to sell you out. Neither did I yesterday, right?"

He had a point there. Yesterday, her 'guardian' was standing in front of his door and Oga was dead certain that the bearded man was looking for Hilda. Nevertheless, he had pretended to be clueless and hid her without knowing the circumstances or without a particular reason. Today, he knew the circumstances and wanted to help her out again, but he still didn't know why.

As Oga opened the door and bid his guest to enter, Hilda's face changed from a worried expression to a frustrated, or rather a disgusted one when she caught a glimpse of the newcomer.

"You…" She glared at the man in front of her and clenched her fists. "What have I done to deserve your treason?"

"I-I didn't betray you, Hilda-sama." Alain Delon stuttered nervously. "Please, listen to me first…"

"Don't make me laugh! I should have known that you both were hand in glove with each other!" she gestured at Oga.

"Shut up for a second and listen to him!" Oga commanded firmly, bugged out by her false accusations. Actually, he didn't intend to sound that harsh, but it was enough to hector them, or at least make them shut up! "I'll only say this once, so don't make me repeat myself and open your ears! Baby Beel will wake up any moment so I'm gonna prepare his milk. You have five minutes to converse and settle things like normal people until I get back from the kitchen, was that clearly enough?"

He earned a grateful nod from Alain Delon, whereas Hilda rolled her eyes and folded her arms.

"Like you're the one to talk about 'settling things like normal people'…"

Oga grunted lowly at her words and disappeared into the kitchen, closing the door and giving them some privacy.

After he was out of sight, Hilda turned on her heels to face the nervous man behind her and looked at him icily, waiting impatiently for his explanation. The latter gulped heavily and regretted Oga's decision to leave the two of them alone. His mistress was definitely mad at him right now and she could be a million times scarier than Oga with his menacing aura at times like this. So it was the best to spit the truth out without beating around the bush.

"H-he cottoned on to us…" he started stuttering like a guilty, little child who was being scolded by his mother at the moment. As Hilda didn't change her cold expression, he continued. "He heard our little conversation at school this morning…"

"That's your lousy explanation for selling me out? How much?" she asked lowly in order to not awaken the sleeping baby, but her tone was still dangerous at the same time.

"E-excuse me…?"

Hilda's glare became even gaunter and she looked down on Alain Delon as if he was a bug under a microscope. "How much did he pay you? How much did you get to sell me out?"

"I didn't betray you, Hilda-sama!" he repeated again with more self-confidence this time. "I wouldn't… no, I will never betray you!"

Hilda watched her guardian as he stood there with the same serious expression as before, when he faced Oga on the top of the roof. Never before had Alain Delon showed her that kind of expression. He usually had a warm smile on his face, which was always accented by his huge moustache. It somehow looked gross or even ugly, but also somehow funny and made her day. Maybe, this was the real reason why she let Alain Delon so close to herself and gave him an insight into her lonesome heart. Maybe, this was the reason why she considered him someone like a friend, her only friend.

Alain Delon was the only person she would trust.

Perhaps, it was the idea of losing her sole support that made her angry and doubting him for a moment. She took a deep breath and tried to calm down. "Tell me what happened."

Alain Delon beamed and almost jumped up. Now that the guardian was finally able to convince her of his loyalty, he sighed in relief and did as she said.

"So, Mister Guardian…" Oga paced around on the roof and thought how to start.

"Sir, would you please call me by my name?" Alain Delon pleaded in a whiny tone.

"Hm?" Oga blinked confused. "Is it my fault that you have a long name, uncle?" It wasn't really his fault that Oga had a short-term memory or that he was bad at memorizing long names. Damn, he even ended up shortening the name of his own 'son'.

"No, but…" Alain Delon didn't know how to put it in words. "You are the one who has asked for my cooperation but I don't feel at ease this way…"

Unaware of his own scariness, Oga didn't get what the guardian meant yet. "Calling you by your name makes you feel at ease?" He tasked his brain cells for a while and nodded to himself intelligibly. "Well then, Allon!"

"A- Allon?" Hearing his new nickname, the bearded man almost shrieked like a little girl.

Oga smirked proudly and supposed that he guessed right the name. "Is that better now? Or…" he started cracking his knuckles and swung his left fist in the air. "… you really wanna me make you stress-free?"

"No-no-no-no-no!" Alain Delon raised his hands defensively and shook his head. There was nothing else for it to accept the name. "A-Allon is fine…"

"Good! Now that we're in complete agreement, let's get down to brass tacks! We've already lost enough time…" As his counterpart nodded weakly, Oga continued.

"It's obvious that somebody's after that woman…" he stated, referring to Hilda.

Alain Delon looked down to hide the truth, although his actions sold him out even more.

"… but it's also obvious that you definitely don't belong to the bad guys…"

This part made Alain Delon relax a little bit. He was glad that Oga was actually trusting him.

"… which leads me only to one question: …"

"Sir!" The guardian interrupted him and looked into his eyes. "Before you go on and ask your questions, I'd like to remind you that I'm only working for Hilda-sama and act as she wants. I don't know how much you know about her or about your motives for helping her, but… if you think that I'd tell on her, then you'll be wide of the mark."

"So?" Oga waited for him to get to the point.

"Please, appreciate it that I must protect her and forgive my curiosity but… who are you?"

The former warm breeze turned to a cold wind, blowing forcibly to overcome the two keen men on the roof. With Alain Delon's final question, the tension reached its maximum and the two men faced each other as if they were fighting for a woman's hand. Even if they were both seeking the safety of the same woman, their motives were different: whereas one of them was acting like a protective father figure, the other one was…?

Suddenly, Oga burst out laughing and leaned back, resting his arms on the railing. It somehow seemed like he didn't take the bearded man in front of him seriously. "Who I am? I'm only a good for nothing fella who moved out from his parents' house to have some peace and quiet. Trust me, a dear mother can turn to a mad woman and make your ears bleeding when she's nagging about your bad grades without cease!"

"Just be glad that you have a mother at all…" Alain Delon muttered gloomily that Oga missed.

"How much I know about her, you ask? I know absolutely nothing about that woman and we've just… met coincidently! You can also say that she's the girlfriend of my son…" The teen outlined thoughtfully.

"G-g-girlfriend? YOUR s-s-son?" Alain Delon cried out loudly but fortunately, nobody was around to hear him.

"I have to admit that I was scared first…" Alain Delon went on, still shocked by that statement. Hilda, who was listening to the story without interrupting her subordinate until now, smiled a little. She didn't know whether it was Alain Delon's funny overreaction or the fact that she was described as the 'girlfriend' of a baby.

"Anyway,…" Alain Delon brushed off his embarrassment and glanced at the sleeping baby. "It took Oga-dono almost an hour to clarify the misunderstanding and for me to calm down…"

"And you told him about my family matters in exchange because he told you about Beelze?" Hilda stated emotionlessly and arched a brow.

"N-not at all." He saw that Hilda was just about to lose her interest again and cut a long story short. "I don't know how he found out about your pursuers but he only asked me a single question in the end…"

"A single question?" she wondered. If Oga really heard her conversation with Alain Delon earlier, he should have asked tons of questions like why she ran away or who was after her. "What would that question be?"

"He has only asked me about the meaning of your statement when you said that you weren't alone. He wanted to know whether you have anywhere else to go and hide. Well, I was sure that you'd return…"

"No way!" Hilda answered straight away, exactly the same way as Alain Delon expected.

The latter still tried to convince her to come back. "But it's too dangerous for a young lady to live on her own. I know that you're tougher and cleverer than other girls at your age, Hilda-sama. And I know that you won't accept any financial support from your father…" She glared at him intensely as he mentioned that person. "… a-anyway, it'd take ages for you to get enough money from a part-time job and furnish a habitable apartment while you're still going to school."

Hilda just wanted to say something when Alain Delon cut her off for the first time in his life. She could sometimes be quite stubborn but this time, Alain Delon had to be more persistent. "Only this time, please listen to me, Hilda-sama. Otherwise, I must take you with me mightily if necessary."

Her eyes widened at Alain Delon's resolution. Since when had her cheerful, loyal guardian become such a… man and had the guts to oppose her?

"Please, Hilda-sama… don't make me act against your will or break my promise to your father."

Hilda dropped her gaze so that her bangs covered her eyes. She was aware of Alain Delon's situation and could completely understand the pleading man in front of her. However, even if it was the only reliable person in her life, who asked her to return home, it was impossible.

There was no reason for her to return to that place.

"After everything what has happened until now, what do you expect me to do, Alain Delon?" she asked in a calm tone and her voice tingled almost whiny.

"Stay here."

Oga came back from the kitchen and earned strange looks from the people in front of him as if he was talking a different language. He put the bottle of milk on the table and took a seat next to Baby Beel on the couch.

"Pardon?" Hilda asked taken aback and wondered where he got that idea from all of a sudden.

"You will stay here." he repeated simply.

"Will I? And why are you so sure that I will?" she hissed back, annoyed by his imperative tone.

"Not that you have another choice since you don't wanna go back with Allon, right?" he presented the crude facts.

Hilda ignored the weird nickname he gave her guardian and brought her hands on her hips. "That wouldn't necessarily mean that I have to stay with you!"

"It wouldn't be the first time that you stay here, right? And don't tell me that it was bad since I even gave you my own bed!"

"Nobody asked you for your smelly bed!"

"If it's so smelly to you, then stay here, do the fucking cleaning yourself and take care of Beelze when I'm not around!"

His last statement made her stop for a second and she tried to reprocess what he just said. What did he think she was, a charwoman?

"P-please, calm down, you two." The so far silent Alain Delon tried to lay them to rest, which earned him a pair of angry glares in return. He gazed the peaceful baby on the couch and wondered how he still was able to sleep during their quarrel. "O-Oga-dono, you can try to explain it in a proper way…"

"That would be asked too much for!" Hilda folded her arms and wondered, since when the two of them got along with each other so well. "That man doesn't even know the meaning of 'proper'!"

"OK, I've heard enough! Allon, just take her forcibly to wherever you want!"

"What?" she cried out resentfully. "Go ahead and try yourself! I dare you!"

"Bring it on, bitch!" Oga started walking towards her, rolling up his sleeves.

Suddenly, Alain Delon drew attention to himself and shouted even louder than the two wranglers. "IF THE TWO OF YOU WON'T SHUT UP NOW…"

Oga and Hilda were startled and simultaneously turned their gazes to the man in rage whose presence was forgotten long ago during their hassle. What's gotten into the usually pacific guardian?

Alain Delon was glad that his plan worked out and finished his sentence, speaking under his breath. "… the baby will wake up else."

"That's it?" Oga was stunned. "The brat could wake up any moment anyway and your yelling wouldn't awaken him?"

"Don't shout around!" Hilda barged in again and harangued Oga on his responsibilities. "As his father, it's your duty to ensure some peace and quiet now even if Beelze is going to awaken on his own soon. Babies need to sleep a lot so that they can grow up healthily. So instead of bawling around here, keep your loudness down and let him sleep!"

After her sufficient explanation, Oga sat down again and smirked satisfied. "See? You do know more about babies than I do. So you're going to stay here and help me out."

Now, they were at the same point again and his bossy attitude still pissed her off. Alain Delon was about to step in to prevent another argument but Oga gestured him to not intervene and started over.

"Listen, I have no clue why you resist going home so badly and I don't give a shit! For good or ill, you can't stay in that mouse hole next door and I need somebody to look after Beel when I'm not around. All in all, we depend on each other for now…"

"Do I?" Hilda asked warily, looking down on his sitting figure.

"Just shut the fuck up and listen to me until I finish!" Oga really tried hard to talk like a 'normal' person but that woman made it more difficult to him than it already was.

Alain Delon raised a hand from his seat like an elementary school student. "I think I should take over from here on." he suggested and turned to Hilda after Oga's approving nod. "Hilda-sama, I can't allow you to stay alone since it's too dangerous and risky that you'd be found in the twinkling of an eye. Nevertheless, if you stayed here with your fr-… schoolmate, I'd be less worried about you. It's the best for everyone." Hilda didn't seem to be positive about it yet, so her guardian continued. "It's also for Beelze-kun's sake. A baby would be better off with a female around.

The mere mention of Beelze softened her eyes and warmed her heart. Her maternal instinct told her to accept the offer, just for Beelze's sake.

She turned her eyes to the delinquent father next to the baby. The look in his eyes showed her how serious he was. "Don't get the wrong idea; I'm only doing the old geezer a favor. That dude over there cares about you like I do about Beel, so he won't let you go that easily." He briefly glanced at the worried Alain Delon, who watched Hilda's each reaction and waited for her answer. "You can also see it as… a job offer. You take care of Beelze and the household and I'll hide you and let you stay here for free. I don't care if you save your money and flee to a different town or country afterwards…"

Hilda turned her head to Alain Delon, who gave him a reassuring smile. She was surprised to see that he was concurring with that idea. "Seems like I don't have another choice…" she thought.

"Deal?" Oga asked for the last time and offered her a hand.

"Don't get the wrong idea; I'm only doing this for Beelze's sake." She ignored his hand and landed exhaustedly on the sofa. "Don't stand there around and make some tea at least. If we're going to live in the same house from now on, we'll have to establish some new rules."

The second time.

This was the second time that she totally ignored the hand he had offered him. Was she trying to flame him up from the very first moment? Somehow, he questioned the idea of living with her under the same roof.

Oga clenched his teeth and went to the kitchen, cursing silently under his breath. As he was out of sight, Hilda smirked triumphantly for a moment before she turned back to Alain Delon. "You're really OK with this?"

"This brat really had the nerve to challenge even you, Hilda-sama. I guess that he has skills and that you're in good hands by his side."

"Alain Delon,…" her face became serious as she looked out of the window and gazed in the distance. "… what made you… trusting in him?"

"Well,… who knows. Maybe, it was the fire in his eyes that could take the whole world on. It might also be the fact that he already succeeded in protecting that baby for quite a while. He really is a good father even at his young age."

"Yeah,… he is." Hilda smiled inwardly. "That's why you came up with the whole 'Beelze's nanny' idea to make me stay here?"

"You're wrong there, Hilda-sama. It was wholeheartedly his idea and I had no other choice to agree since it's really the best for all the involved parties."

"It was his idea?" she was surprised to hear that. That made something change in her heart, which started to pound faster all of a sudden. As her own words echoed in her head, she thought how false they sounded as if she was only trying to deceit herself.

Was it really only for Beelze's sake?

"What do you mean, she's nowhere to be found!" The gloomy man yelled at the phone huskily. "Why do you think I'm paying you money in heaps? Bring her back or you'll get rid of your job – all of you!"

"Don't get so worked up, Pops! I have no need for that whore anymore anyway."

The previous man hung up harshly, almost crushing the phone in his hand to scrap metal. He vent his wrath on the younger one in front of him, who barely winced after getting the full impact of the punch and stayed immobile.

"It's your fault that she has left, isn't it? You know how important that woman is for my plans for the future!" The older man shouted in rage. "Go! Find her and make up with her as soon as possible, you waster!"

The younger man rested his palm on the wounded cheek and clenched his free one to a fist. With a deep frown on his face, he swallowed his pride and obeyed. "Yes, Father."

A/N: Sooo… I've almost done the introduction before I come to the main idea behind this story. If you think that it was boring until now, then let me tell you just one thing: From here on, the real story is going to start! As for watchful readers like Massu Chan, you'll finally get the answers to your questions… I hope that you'll continue supporting this story furthermore, dear fans and readers! ;-)

I'm so sorry for making you wait for more than a month and hope that it won't happen again. I'm going to post the next chapter after finishing "Rapunzel in Ishiyama style!"

This chapter might be a little boring so I'm frank with critics. However, I just needed to put those two in the same apartment somehow but I didn't expect this chapter to be so long… Next time, it'll be more humorous and… hints of romance?

Keep reading and reviewing…? Happy Easter to everyone! ^_^

PS: Sorry if the name of this chapter put you off the scent, but it's too early for Oga to propose in that meaning, right? :D