Disclaimer: Beelzebub belongs to Tamura-sensei! Only the plot is mine…

I watched the world float to the dark side of the moon
After all I knew it had to be something to do with you
I really don't mind what happens now and then
As long as you'll be my friend at the end

And if I go crazy then will you still call me Superman?
If I'm alive and well, will you be there holding my hand?
I'll keep you by my side with my superhuman might
Kryptonite

"Kryptonite" – by 3 Doors Down

Chapter 9: The Demons

"We need to talk!"

Trying his hardest to stay calm, Oga secretly clenched his fists in his pockets while watching the smaller figure in front of him. It was easier said than done though. He had always been the hot-blooded rebel, luring the information he needed out of his opponent easily and making him spill it out the hard way or the even harder, terrific way. Sometimes, a single glare would be enough to make the person in front of him obey. The larger amount would be stupid enough and oppose him, practically begging him for a pounding. Finally yet importantly, there were a few ones with a death wish, who protracted it, challenged the famous Oga Tatsumi and got the short end of the stick. That would be the troublesome but also humorous way.

However, the most difficult person to deal with was right in front of him now, glaring daggers at him with the mere intent to kill. He had no idea how to deal with a woman, especially with that woman! In the end, Hilda was a… how should he say… a 'hard-to-handle-with' woman. Sure, her strength wasn't lying predominantly in her arms and fists like Oga's… but it was just a different sort of strength though…

"Who do you think you are…"

No, he couldn't use his usual methods on her and ask her like those fellas…

"… to drag me here and there…"

…right?

"… in the middle of a conversation…"

Yeah, her strength was definitely lying in that sharp tongue of hers!

"…as you please!"

"Would'ya shaddup for a moment, woman!" Oga finally interrupted her protests. A vein popped out of his temple as he got a headache in addition to his already pissed mood.

"Tsk! Are you trying to frighten me with that bossy attitude? Don't make me laugh, Oga Tatsumi!" she cried out louder. "Don't talk to me as if I'm your-…"

"Where have you been?"

"Hm?" She looked at him inquiringly and hesitated for a split second.

"Yesterday… where have you been?"

"I've texted you that I was with Alain Delon. But the Mister didn't even bother to send me a response so I wonder if you actually read-…." She hissed back accusingly.

"No, I mean before you went to Allon."

The fact that he was constantly interrupting her and this everlasting interrogation started to annoy her. "As if you don't know that I go to the café while you're the one taking care of Beelze and-…" This time, she stopped on her own. Realization came upon her and she got a clue what Oga was up to. She tried to avoid any eye contact and looked away.

"…and?" Oga persisted her to finish impatiently.

Finally, a hypocritical and bitter laugh escaped from her lips as she assumed that Oga knew already everything what was going on her mind right now. She didn't want to continue this act of cluelessness and looked back at him. "Stop playing around! It seems that Kunieda couldn't stay mum as she promised."

Oga blinked at that and tried to hide his confusion. "Kunieda? What does it have to do with Kunieda?!" he wondered inwardly. Was Hilda trying wander from the subject? Yeah, that had to be the reason why she was playing dumb.

She interpreted his silence as an end to the conversation and turned away. "So, if there's nothing else you want to say…"

She was just about to leave when one arm, suddenly smashing at the wall behind her, blocked her way. Oga bent forward and leaned his left hand against the wall, encaging the woman halfway in between. He was dangerously close to her now; too close for Hilda's taste. She looked back into his eyes in a fury as if asking for the meaning of all this. Before she could open her mouth, Oga was the faster one and asked her a question, which gave her the creeps.

"How come you're pursued by the Demons?!"

Hilda stopped breathing. She knew very well whom Oga meant by 'Demons'. So it wasn't the class rep, who squealed on her, but the Pompidou-jerk. She didn't expect such an progress of this questioning, hence she didn't know how to react.

"Don't fuck with me, bitch! What the hell's your relation with those bloody Akumano bastards?!"

"Who are you to talk to me like that?!" Hilda didn't think that she owed him an explanation. The more he cornered her, the more she lost her temper. "We're only living together and temporarily sharing the custody of Beelze! I'm only your employee, remember?! Thus, I don't need to be protected by you! I only agreed to stay at your apartment in order to not stand in the spotlight, no more and no less! What has this to do with you anyway?! Why do you even care so much-…"

"Oi… are you guys done yet?"

The arguing couple shot a brief glance at the orange-haired newcomer. Without any clue about what was going on, he lazily scratched his hair and explained himself. "Well, y'see… I kinda … finished my job earlier than I'd planned. I came to see Zen-san… and heard you two shoutin' around. I didn't wanna disturb you guys but there was no end in sight!"

"We were just finished, dude." Oga was the first one to break the silence and backed off. Before he left the scene, he murmured one last thing only audible to her and left the place immediately.

Whereas nobody knew where he was going to, he left a stunned Hilda behind his back.

"Alright, let's stop here." Saotome put an end to his extra classes. "Don't you dare show up in front of me before you finish those exercises! And I expect each of you fools to see on Monday morning, got it?!"

"Yeah…" murmured the awake half of the class.

The weird teacher darted his eyes to the empty seats next to Hilda and looked back at the latter, as if his next words were merely meant for her. "And tell the absentees to work over today's stuff; especially Oga! We're already behind with topics and you can't afford to lose any more time!"

Kunieda raised her hand. "Excuse me, please. Can we go home now, Sensei?" She was especially in a hurry since her little brother waited for her at home.

"Hmm… we only need someone to do the cleaning. Lemme check…" He fetched a list with the students' names on it. "We came up to the letter 'G' last week. So this time, it's Tora and Hilda's turn. The others are dismissed!"

"W-wait, Zen-san!" Toujo stood up and protested. "Why is it my turn?! The letter after 'G' is 'H', right? So why has it to be me, Tora?"

A stunned Saotome stared at him. "Well, isn't your full name Hide-tora after all?"

"Oooh…" Eventually, Toujo was able to follow him.

"He's the best example of 'all brawn and no brains' after all!" Saotome shook his head and left.

After everyone else made their way back home, Toujo stood up and looked at the only person in the room. "Oi Blondie, come on, I still have a load of work to do. Let's finish this quickly and go home."

Said Blondie didn't answer. She didn't react to his words nor did she even bother to look back at him.

Her behavior pissed him off. "What, ya have peanut butter in your ears?! I told ya to move your ass and do the damn cleaning with me!"

Hilda sighed. She completely ignored her companion and absentmindedly stared out of the window. Oga's strange behavior before: his invisible rage and overreaction… it didn't make any sense to her. She already knew that he wasn't a pacifist; he rather solved his problems by shouting around or with might and main at times. However, the Oga from an hour ago was… different. He was abnormally dangerous and more menacing than usual. Oddly enough, it wasn't the first time that she saw him like that.

Back then, on her first day in Ishiyama, he had the same aura. Although he succeeded in keeping control, he was like a time bomb, which could explode by a single wrong move or word any moment. She wondered what the source of that condition was and what was the connection between then and now?

"Yo, Hilda-girl!"

She lifted her gaze lazily and watched the hulk in front of her desk. "What do you want?"

"If ya think that I'll go easy on you, just because you're a woman, then better get rid of that idea! I'm not like Oga; I'd take you on like any other fella, got it?!" He looked down on her and cracked his knuckles.

Slowly but surely, the fact that her name was always used along with Oga's in the same line got on her nerves. At present, she did everything in her might to give him a wide berth. She even came to Saotome's extra classes although she intended to skip them from the beginning. But right now, it was the last place where Oga would return to. She bet on that low possibility and behold, she was right. It was the best for her to meet him as little as possible at the moment. Especially after what he said earlier…

"You really are a weird girl, aren't ya? Kind of a blonde version of class rep, who's also hard to be intimidated…"

Hilda scowled darker at him. It seemed like being compared to Kunieda got even more on her nerves than being mentioned along with Oga.

"But then again, you're different than her. You two have several stuff in common but you're very… different. You're an insistent floorer and have a strong effect on Oga."

"What?" she let out to her surprise. "What's that supposed to mean now?"

"Well… how shall I say it…?" Toujo scratched his head and tried to put it in words. "You're the only one who easily makes him livid. Quite simply, that's it! But put that aside now, Missy…" he leaned forward to have a closer look on her. "Have we ever met before?"

"I do not think so." she answered indifferently.

"You sure?" he cupped his chin and became serious all of a sudden. "Then tell me, have you ever heard of a guy called 'Crazy Dragon'?"

Hilda's eye twitched for a second. "Never heard of him." She replied a little bit too hasty for her taste.

"Well, well, it must be my mistake then." Toujo backed off and grabbed a broom. "Hurry up; we still need to do the cleaning!" He started to scrub a random spot and murmured something what was probably supposed to be a song.

Hilda slowly stood up and didn't want to waste any more time than she already did in school. While she was silently doing her task, she skeptically observed the orange-haired hulk from the corner of her eye for the whole time.

"Ogaaaa, wait… why do I… even have to…"

"Shut up, Furuichi! Stop talking and run faster."

"The hell I am…! Where are we… even running…?"

"A marathon. Circling the whole town."

"WHAT?! I can't… breathe…"

"Use your trap to catch air instead of gabbling!"

"You even forced me… to skip classes today…" Furuichi almost tripped but was able to keep his balance. "You know… I'm only restraining you… I'd be an even greater help… if I stayed with Baby Beel… and Hilda-san…"

Hearing the last name, Oga stepped it up a notch. "I told you to shaddup, dammit! Weren't you going to skip classes anyway to read your porn magazines? Hurry up or I'm leavin' you behind."

"Wha-… Wait… Oga… your mobile…"

"I won't fall for that one again."

"No… this time… really…"

Oga slowed down and halted at a silent area. Now, he really could hear his phone ringing, too. He was ransacking his bag when Furuichi finally caught up.

"Saved…" he muttered as he saw Oga really looking for the gadget. He panted heavily and fell on his knees. "Seriously… why're you training like a maniac again…?"

"For tomorrow's rematch." He briefly replied, distracted by his phone. When he saw the name of the caller blinking on its display, he rejected the call and stuffed the item back into his bag.

"Tomorrow's rematch? You mean… I mean… is it already time-…"

The phone started ringing again and he got rid of the caller a second time.

"Who's it?" Furuichi asked curiously, finally starting to feel his legs again and standing up.

"A cipher…" he wanted to put it away when it rang for the third time.

He was just about to repeat his act when Furuichi quickly got a hold of it and saw who was calling. "A cipher? It's Hilda-san, you moron! What if something happened to Beel?" He scolded Oga for his childish behavior. He knew that something was out of order between those two even by their standards but they couldn't ignore each other for ever when they were living in the same house, right? "Lucky devil…" he wanted to yell out and hit Oga in his gut.

Furuichi cleared his throat and turned the mobile on with a singsong voice. "Hel-looo? Is this Hilda-san calling? How are-…"

"Stop fooling around, you idiot! Where's that damn Oga?!"

Yeah, it was definitely Hilda's annoyed voice so that Furuichi had to hold the gadget away from his ear in order to not get numb.

"S-stay calm, Hilda-san. Oga's with me. We were training our stamina-…"

"Training? You leave Beelze in Alain Delon's care while you two are TRAINING? Well done, you brilliant commendable father! Where are you now?!"

Oga listened to the whole conversation since it was quite hard not to hear her voice. He even understood her sarcasm clearly enough to get provoked by her. He roughly took the phone back and shouted equally loudly. "I don't have to hear that from you! I'm with Furuichi and don't need to explain more or less to you. Basta!"

There was a moment of silence before she yelled back. "You know what? You two dumbasses can train your ass out while we're going to the hospital now!"

At this, his heart skipped a beat for a moment. Suddenly, the temperature felt even colder than it already was. Furuichi could tell from his puzzled expression that something was wrong. "… Oga?"

The latter gulped heavily and repeated carefully. "H-hospital? What happened…?"

"As if I need to give you any further explanation!" was her answer, still offended by his previous performance. "I'll take care of him and you can just go to hell if you-…"

"HILDA! TELL ME WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED?! HOW'S BEEL?!"

"…*beep*…*beep*…*beep*…"

"FUCK OFF! That bitch hung up!" Oga almost crushed the phone in his hand when Furuichi stopped him.

"Calm down, Oga. What did she say? Who's hospitalized?"

"She's still pissed off because of the Akumano matter and refuses to talk to me! Damn that woman!"

"Akumano? What's this to do with the Demons? A-Anyway, just try to redial her number. Perhaps, it was a technical issue…"

"How naïve are you, Furuichi? It's obvious that she hung up on purpose and wouldn't answer even if I-…" A sound coming from the gadget in his hand interrupted him. He was surprised to see that Hilda was actually calling him back.

"Try to talk to her calmly, man." Furuichi advised. "Otherwise, we won't find out anything and can't advance."

Oga shot him a dangerous glare before he received the call. "HILDA, why did you hang up?! If you don't tell me what's going on immediately-…"

"Beelze-sama has a light fever."

He was surprised to hear a male voice. "Is that you, Allon?"

"Yes. Excuse me for barging in, Oga-dono, but Hilda-sama was startled by your loud voice so that her grip loosened and her mobile dropped-… ouch!" Hilda's low and menacing threats could be heard from the background. "A-Anyway, we're leaving for the hospital right now, so…"

"WAIT! Don't go to the hospital!" Oga stopped him.

There was a rustle on the other side of the line as his conversation partner changed. "Are totally insane now?!" It was Hilda, who took over again. "What are we supposed to do if his condition gets worse?!"

"JUST LISTEN TO ME FOR A FREAKIN' TIME AND DON'T DO ANYTHING RECKLESS! Wait for me, I'll be there as soon as possible!"

He could virtually imagine Hilda pondering for a moment before she accepted it at last. "Alright. Just hurry up; he might need his parent by his side." She answered in a softer tone this time.

"Oga, are you totally crazy now?!" Furuichi interfered. "Don't tell me you'll run all the way back to your apartment!"

He was lost in thoughts and replied his best friend absent-mindedly. "It'll be faster this way, believe me…" He turned back to the phone and inhaled deeply before saying one last thing. "Hilda…"

"Y-yeah?" she asked doubtfully.

"Please… hover over him until I'm there." He hung up without waiting for an answer, tossed the item in Furuichi's hands and ran off.

"Don't forget to let me know about the situation; I'll come later afterwards …" Furuichi shouted at his retreating figure and watched his back in astonishment. His last words to Hilda; never before had he heard Oga talking in such a calm manner.

"BEEL!"

Completely out of breath, Oga burst in into his apartment and looked for the infant. He was resting on Hilda's lap, his little tummy lifting up and down by each breath of air while he was trying to inhale through a stuffed nose.

He kneeled down in front of the pair sitting on the couch to have a closer look. When he didn't know better, he would have guessed that the baby was sleeping peacefully. But his cheeks were colored with a faint tint of pink, which was a clear sign of fever. In the meantime, Alain Delon entered the living room with a small pot filled with cold water and a towel. Oga hesitated for a second before he slowly but gently put his palm on Baby Beel's forehead.

And his eyes snapped open widely.

Damn, the child was burning up.

"Oga…" Hilda called him lowly. It was only then that he lifted his gaze to face her and saw the worry in her eyes instead of her usual cold expression. "We need to do something. Why won't you go to a hospital?"

Oga gritted his teeth and clenched his free hand. "We can't. Beel neither has a health insurance, nor is he my…" He didn't dare to finish his sentence.

"But…" Hilda understood him too well. His last words showed her how desperate he was at the moment although he tried to suppress it.

He got more furious by any second. "Damn, why the fuck is this happening now?! You're a man, Beelze, dammit! You've never been sick before!"

"What do you expect, fool?! He's still a little baby; it's normal that he sometimes gets ill!"

"Then, tell me what am I supposed to do!" He scowled at her with fierce eyes.

"P-Please, stop arguing…" Alain Delon begged from behind. His sadness was written all over his normally smiling face.

The couple looked away from each other, both turning their gazes back to the baby. They knew that nobody was at fault after all. They also kind of understood each other's feelings for the first time ever. Nevertheless, it didn't change the fact that they were helpless right now and couldn't do anything to help their dearest.

"Damn… there must be something we can do…" Oga murmured as he held Beel's tiny hand with his.

"There might be."

Oga and Hilda looked up coevally and faced Alain Delon questioningly.

"Hilda-sama, do you remember your old family doctor?"

"Dr. Forkas?"

The clueless Oga moved his eyes from the old man to Hilda. "Who is that Fork-ass?"

"Dr. Forkas…" she corrected him, "… is an old friend of my father. If he remembers me, he might examine Beelze secretly without anybody getting wind of it. This seems to be our only choice right now so let's go. Alain Delon, go and get the car." She stood up to get clothes and a blanket for Baby Beel.

"Wait…" Oga stopped them again as he did earlier via phone.

"What now?" Hilda asked impatiently. "We can't afford to lose more time, Oga!"

"Is this going to be alright with you? After all, he's a friend of your father…"

Hilda and Alain Delon were simply speechless. Beelze meant the world for Oga and still, he had the nerve… or the mindfulness to consider Hilda's situation.

Whereas the amazed Hilda silently watched Oga, Alain Delon became more and more impressed by how sacrificing the boy in front of him currently was to keep his promise. "Don't worry, Oga-dono." He sent him a reassuring smile. "Dr. Forkas is also a friend of mine. We can trust him; I'd bet my life on it."

"Why have you even been waiting for so long? If you arrived here one minute later, the patient's life would be in danger!"

"Oi, Hilda! Whazzup with that arrogant child? Are you Fork-ass' grandchild playing doctor or what?!" Oga bent down to the smaller figure in front of him, who reached only half as much of his own height.

"WHAT?! Who are you calling a child, asshole?!" The petite assistant stomped with all her might on his foot and caused him a remarkable amount of pain.

Oga tried to take it manly as Hilda introduced the pink-haired girl. "That's Lamia. She's Dr. Forkas' assistant. Moreover, don't be deluded from her appearance. She's around our age."

The girl called Lamia nodded proudly. "Thanks, Miss Hilda. I'm fifteen and a half. And I'm Master's best pupil."

"Fifteen and a half inches!" Oga commented dryly. "We've been wasting our time in school if a child like her has already become an assistant!"

That earned him another impact to a much more sensitive part. Oga slowly slid down to his knees as Hilda rolled her eyes. "You're the one to talk, becoming father at this age…"

"Oi… aren't you… supposed to be… on my side?!" he got back on his legs.

"Not only an impolite jerk, you scum also have an illegitimate child? Shame on you! Men like you are the lowest!"

Leave Lamia's insults aside; what huffed him the most was when he saw a hint of amusement on Hilda's face. Damn, that witch was really enjoying herself at his cost!

But Oga Tatsumi would never let her get away with this. If she wanted to play it that way, it was fine with him! "Well, don't accuse only me! Half of it goes on his mother's account for being so careless!" he told indifferently while pointing a finger at Hilda. Actually, he accused Hilda and himself of being careless with Baby Beel so that he got sick in the end. However, the way that Lamia and Hilda interpreted his words, was completely different.

The last line earned him an elbow, Hilda's elbow, land directly in his ribs whereas Lamia flushed in embarrassment. "S-So… he's really… you're child… M-Miss Hilda? I thought… that you were just j-joking around…?"

"Lamia…" Hilda kneeled down to be at eye level with the assistant. "Just keep it a secret…" she briefly glanced at Oga and whispered a last advice in her ear. "… and never do the same mistake as I did!" That last statement should be enough to masquerade her lie to make it sound more realistic and convince her since she knew how much Lamia admired her.

"Alright." The pink-haired inwardly praised Hilda for being a proud mother and protecting her family to such an extent. "I won't even tell Master."

"Good girl." she smiled back briefly which vanished as soon as she faced Oga again.

He lazily leaned back on a chair and turned back to Lamia. "Now that we've settled this, hurry up and heal my brat, you brat!"

He succeeded in provoking her anew. "Do you expect me to miraculously heal your son with a spell or something like that? Just what do you think a doctor is, a wizard?"

"No, rather an incompetent dork!"

"Behave yourself, Oga!" Hilda interfered again. "And why are you so hostile against doctors? You didn't let one check on your arm yet, did you?"

He let out a low grunt. "Besides for a flu shot, there was a single time that I voluntarily went to see a doctor. The first and last time!"

"So what?" Hilda half-interestedly waited where his story would lead.

"After an eating contest with Furuichi, my throat ached for a week and the old geezer told me that my tonsils were infected or inflamed… or something like that!"

"Probably, you just swallowed too much at once!" Hilda guessed right.

On the other side, Lamia didn't get the correlation between his story and their conflict now. "What's your problem? Both cases have similar symptoms and you might really have tonsillitis."

"No, 'cause I had a tonsil operation when I was as tall… or rather as small as you now!" Lamia frowned again. "And I don't need to be a doctor to get that he was wrong, got it?!"

Somehow, Hilda thought that he was right for once.

But she would never admit something like that!

Finally, Dr. Forkas himself came out of the treatment room. According to his face, he came along with good news. "Our little friend came down with a cold but it's nothing to worry about. Anyway, I'd like to keep him here under surveillance for the night. Is that alright with you?"

"Yes." Hilda bowed politely. "Thank you very much, Dr. Forkas."

"No need to thank. That's my job." He smiled back. "Just tell Alain Delon that his grandson is feeling better now."

Oga arched a brow at that and Hilda was fast enough to enlighten him. "Beelze is Alain Delon's grandson for now. He's waiting for us in the car so tell him that we'll stay here overnight."

"Gotcha." Oga didn't question any further and left. He caught a part of Hilda and Forkas' conversation before he went out.

"It's nice that you're babysitting Angelica's son with your friend, Hilda-chan. So how's your father doing?"

She answered to him with a calm voice. "He passed away…"

Slowly, Hilda opened her eyes and tried to regain her senses. It was past midnight already and they were still in hospital. Oga told her to go home with Alain Delon but she insisted on waiting alongside Beelze. No matter how many times Dr. Forkas said that everything was going to be all right from now on, she couldn't help but slightly worry about the infant that she barely knew but which has already grown close to her heart.

Hilda stretched her arms and looked around. As her eyes quickly got used to the dull light, she tried to adjust herself. Only then, she realized that she had been lying on the couch with a dark jacket blanketing her. She recognized the musty scent, a mixture of stinking sweat and a manly shower gel.

Without a doubt, it belonged to Oga.

And there he was, kneeling in front of Baby Beel's bed. He was leaning on his left arm while the other one was tenderly stroking the kid's turquois hair. Since his back was turned to her direction, she revealed a rare smile. He didn't even seem to have realized that she'd woken up. His whole attention and concentration was directed to the baby. They shared an invisible bond right now and probably were secretly communicating with each other, which let both of them feel at ease.

Not later than now, Oga had certainly become like Beelze's real father.

Honestly, she had to admit that she kind of envied the couple right now.

And that he was able to impress her for a brief moment today.

But only a tiny bit…

"You're awake?" he growled in an exhausted way.

"Does he have eyes on his back, too?" she wondered and continued to observe him. He didn't move away from Beel's side, nor did he change his position. He was like a silent beast, which was aware of what was going on in his surroundings. "What about you? Have you gotten any sleep yet?" she asked him a rhetorical question and knew that he didn't get a wink of sleep all night.

"Don't answer me with a question! If you gonna annoy me, go back to sleep in this instant."

Was that his way of saying 'You don't need to worry; I'll keep an eye on him.'? She shot him a cold glare, turned around and went back to sleep without saying another word. "Why has this fool to be so… complicated?!" she thought and closed her eyes. When she pulled his jacket closer to her body, she willy-nilly took a smell at his unique scent again. It was the same scent she sensed during their quarrel in school yesterday, as his body was instantaneously close to hers. His last words, which he hastily hissed to her, still ringed in her head.

"You're more than only an employee."

Just how many different sides did the person called Oga Tatsumi have?

A/N: I have nothing else to say but to thank you all readers, who still read this story and support its rude author, namely Illusion137 (!), who had many negative but also positive changes in her life and was not able to update until now. I have no internet connection in my new apartment, which makes it very difficult for me to write and publish amongst other things…

Have you noticed something about this story? Yes! It's been almost one year since I've published "A Father, A Lover". So how could we celebrate this meaningful and important day…? What, a new chapter? Why not! From today on, I'll try my hardest to write the 10th chapter and update on the 18th December, 2012! Like I said, friends, I'll TRY! And cannot promise anything! Seriously, who knows whether I'll survive the next two weeks…? ;P

Jokes aside, I intend to at least publish my fourth Beelzebub fiction on that day. Besides, it's time to finish Rapunzel, too, don't you think? I'm going to finish it this year and post it a.s.a.p.. Until then, take care, keep smiling, have a nice day…

… and REVIEW!

Please…? :-)