Disclaimer: Although it ended, Beelzebub is still Tamura-sensei's and not mine!

A/N: There are references to the first chapters. Just in case if you want to re-read, forgot the plot or look something up…

Backbeat the word was on the street
That the fire in your heart is out.
I'm sure you've heard it all before
But you never really had a doubt.
I don't believe that anybody
Feels the way I do about you now.

"Wonderwall" – by Oasis

Chapter 11: Her Father

"Oga…!"

Searching the whole school, Furuichi finally found his best friend on the rooftop. The latter was leaning over the railing and watching the dark clouds going by.

"Would you stop ignoring me?!" Furuichi sounded upset and went to his side when Oga didn't react. "You have other fish to fry instead of admiring clouds!"

Oga was still motionless when the cold wind as well as Furuichi's words pulled ahead him. Furuichi rarely saw him brooding over something as intensely as now.

"I knew it!" Furuichi concluded. "You had another fight with Hilda-san!"

Only then, Oga's eye twitched a little. "What…?"

"What have you done this time? Why hasn't Hilda-san come to school today?"

It seemed that Oga only reacted to her name. Furuichi's false accusation earned him an unconscious, ineffectual smack from Oga like a reflex movement.

"What was that half-assed strike for?" the irritated Furuichi asked, rearranging his hair-do.

Oga let out a deep sigh. "Tell me Furuichi… The hell is wrong with me?"

"Eeeh?!" Furuichi blinked twice before he placed his hand on Oga's forehead and checked briefly his temperature. "That's my line, idiot! What the hell happened after we left yesterday?!"

Oga reflected on it and mumbled. "Yesterday… I slept well…"

"You dipshit!" The irked Furuichi struck him a blow with full force. "You finally did it and SLEPT WITH HILDA-SAN?!"

"ARE YOU A TOTAL RETARD?!" Oga bawled back. Either it was Furuichi's hit or maybe hearing Hilda's name again, but he was very awake now.

Furuichi recognized the old, usual Oga and asked skeptically. "So… y-you didn't-… hmpf!"

Oga reassured him with his fist landing on Furuichi's face. After they both snapped out of it in a moment, it was Oga who broke the silence. "She said she didn't feel well and took a day off…"

"You mean Hilda-san? Well, she seemed fine to me yesterday." Furuichi told him as Oga listened to him with an insisting expression to continue. "After Kunieda-san realized that you and Hilda-san are living together, they've ignored each other for the rest of the evening. Then, Hilda-san noticed that you were drinking too much coffee to her taste at that late time and asked me if you still intended to leave last night."

Oga was surprised to hear that. He wondered whether Hilda was a detective type in general or she was analyzing him too much.

"Of course,…" Furuichi went on, "… I didn't tell her that you always 'work' on Sunday nights."

"Yeah… I know you wouldn't." Oga admitted honestly.

"Well, if I piece everything together, I'll conclude this:…" Oga got attentive again and let Furuichi finish his sentence. "… As I've mentioned before; Hilda-san sensed that you wanted to go out for a while although you hardly slept last night. What if she secretly drugged you so that you could have a good night's rest…?"

The idea sounded very absurd to Oga first since it was inexplicable to him why Hilda would do something like that for his sake. She wouldn't go this far just to do him a favor, right?

Or did she absolutely want him to stay at home after receiving that phone call?

Oga and Furuichi went back to their classroom. Homeroom was about to start but Saotome would be late as usually, so they didn't hurry and took their time.

Before they entered the room, someone was already waiting for them on the way.

"Toujo.." Furuichi spoke out his name and the said man became aware of their arrival.

"Yo, Furuichi and… wimp!" he called Oga that way which earned him a glare.

"Glad to see you, too, punk!" Oga hissed back with an annoyed expression. All the feeling of refreshment from earlier was blown away in the blink of an eye.

"Wish I could tell you the same thing yesterday! Where you've been?!"

Oga watched Toujo with sleepy eyes and scratched his hair. "I passed. Spent the day with family…"

Furuichi noticed a hint of contentment in Oga's words whereas Toujo twitched an eye. "Family my ass! Are you freakin' kidding me?! You've been waiting for an eternity for yesterday's-…"

"Toujo." Furuichi cut him off before Oga lost his temper. "Beel was sick." He whispered that part only audible to those three.

"Shit…" Toujo understood the situation now. "So… what are ya gonna do about him now? You know that you're his favorite ‚prey'…"

Oga was aware of the situation but not that he could do much about it anyway. Nonetheless, there was one thing, which he was as sure as death about:

That wuss wouldn't keep calm about this.

"Well then… Since you're at home, I'm going to the cafe now."

Oga just returned home and got a greeting which he didn't expect. Hilda – being her usual self – was wearing her waitress' uniform, namely her too short black skirt and the sheer white blouse. Not even his own elder sister wore clothes like that, so he seriously wondered how one would feel comfortable in that tight outfit at all.

Leave that aside, didn't she tell him that she hadn't felt well a few hours ago?

"Don't go."

The imperative Oga came out again. That was her first impression after she heard his 'order'. "Why?" she tried to ask calmly since she seemed to get used to his way of talking.

"That's my line." Oga shot back, which made Hilda frown. "Why working in a low-paid job when you have a small fortune carrying around?"

Her frown vanished as she was surprised to hear that. She knew very well what Oga was referring to. She put out the small dark case which she was always carrying along. So, Oga knew about her possession – the golden watch decorated with twelve green gems for the hours.

However, what eventually surprised her was the fact that it was the first time he had asked something about her.

"It's a memento of my father." Hilda replied honestly as her expression became softer. "It's a birthday present from him. He always told me that this reminded him of my golden hair and eyes…"

Oga did somehow guess that she didn't treasure the item because of its material value. Seeing her peaceful face, he unintentionally blurted out a comment. "You like your old man, don't you?"

Hilda looked away and smiled weakly. "Who wouldn't? Aren't they our most important ones making us laugh with the tiniest things and protecting us against the cruel world outside?"

Even if she was faking a smile, even if she was trying hard to hide her current feelings, there was a hint of sadness in her words.

Never before had Oga seen her so unreadable.

"Therefore,…" she continued, resting her eyes on a several spot in the room. "…the only thing they expect in return is the happiness of their child. Right, Beelze?"

"AI!"

Only then, Oga realized the third person in the room, who supposedly should be sleeping. Baby Beel was reaching out of his little bed with a beaming smile on his face. Oga didn't remember seeing him so happy about his return before. He went to his bed and picked the little one up; holding him high towards the ceiling made him laugh even more. Oga could have sworn that this child's good mood and smile were catching.

"Now then, take care of you dad, Beelze…" Hilda left the living room and intended to leave.

"Wait…" Oga called out again more calmly this time. "Why are you so focused on working your ass out?! Are you in need of cash so badly?"

Hilda turned around and faced him with a frown. "Are you serious? Of course, I need the damn money! In the end, I can't spend my whole life… with…" She realized what she was just about to say and stopped. As she looked at the father-son duo, a strange kind of angst overwhelmed her.

Just how long would she stay together with Oga and Beelze?

Her vision became blurry as she reflected on that matter. He clearly heard him calling out her name but she couldn't react. Her voice didn't obey to her as well as her whole body and then, everything went dark.

"He-… help… me…" Hilda mumbled in her sleep.

She was lying on her right side. Her right arm was stretched out. Her left hand moved shakily to her chest and clenched the blanket.

It was difficult for her to breath. Having a tough time to inhale with her nose, she panted heavily.

"Help…"

She was having the same nightmare again. That nightmare obsessed her for a long time now. Almost every night, she had awoken from that nightmare about the little blonde girl.

That nightmare which mirrored her own past.

"Calm down…"

That voice; she recognized it, too. It belonged to the young man from the same dream. "So you've… finally… come…" she uttered weakly and moved her right hand towards him.

Then, she stopped.

She hesitated a little bit because the young man had always turned out to be the old, louring man who chased after her.

She trembled. She was feeling the same, nasty coldness again. At the same time, she seemed to choke on a suffocating heat. Her body felt so hot, her heart beat so fast that it might explode any moment.

"Hilda…!"

Hearing her name, her eyes shot up. The first thing that came to her sight was the blurry image of a dark-haired man. He was standing next to the bed and slightly bending down towards her. Hilda couldn't identify the man but his voice was close and familiar to her.

Something wet made contact with her body. She was too debilitated to spot the wet towel on her forehead. The only thing she sensed was the delightful chill, which wandered slowly but surely to her whole body.

The next thing she noticed was the kind palm, which briefly touched her left cheek. She felt the contact only for a split second but it was enough to ease her shivering and the pain in her chest.

Before the hand completely vanished out of her sight, she grasped at it with a knee-jerk reaction in a flash unconsciously.

"Dad… don't let… me-…" she murmured while closing her heavy lids. Although she was in a weak condition, Hilda gripped the hand firmly and didn't intend to let it loose.

The young man by her side could clearly feel her quickened pulse by holding hands with her. He decided to sit down beside her on the bed, rested his hand in hers and whispered reassuringly. "I won't let you go."

His words seemed to set her mind at rest. Her tense shoulders relaxed a little bit, her exhalation became regular and her left hand released the blanket, falling to the side.

Only her right hand remained entwined in his.

A few hours later, Hilda regained consciousness. She tried to open her eyes but thought better of it. Her head felt ten times heavier than normal and ached tempestuously. What irritated the most was that terrible stench though. It didn't take her long to find out that it kind of smelled of vinegar.

Her second attempt was a success and she opened her eyes. After her eyes adapted to the dull light, she realized that she was lying on the bed.

Yeah, right. She remembered that she was lying on the bed.

The next thing she saw confused her. There were three hands beside her on the bed. Two of them certainly belonged to her.

However, whose was the third one?

Hilda traveled her gaze from the third hand to the arm, the shoulder and discovered the dark head lying on the edge of the bed; the face was buried on the bed sheets and hidden from her.

She blinked twice and wondered why Oga was sitting on the floor and sleeping alongside her.

More importantly, why were they sleeping hand in hand?

The only plausible reason could be that her mind was playing her games, causing her hallucinations or something like that. She looked at the ceiling, put her left palm on her forehead and cursed the pain in her head.

Then, she looked back at the sleeping figure next to her and to their hands. His left hand – not too much bigger than hers – was resting on her right one. Nevertheless, neither was he holding hers, nor was she holding his. It seemed like they randomly landed on each other while the two of them were sleeping.

She slightly budged her hand and could plainly feel his colder one against her smooth skin. Were his hands always that cold? Or was she just imagining things? She subconsciously enclosed his hand with her thin fingers and held it.

That sudden movement and light pressure woke the counterpart up and Oga slowly straightened his body. Before he noticed and came to, Hilda pulled away her hand and closed her eyes.

"You okay?" he yawned and rubbed the sleep off his eyes with his palms.

"Was I not…?" she hissed back, oblivious to the situation.

Oga hated the fact that she was answering him with another question. Yet, he contained himself and talked to her in a calm way. "You collapsed…"

He kept his explanation short and looked away. There was a different expression on his face, which Hilda saw for the first time. Although he put on a blank face, there was a hint of guilt hidden in his eyes. He held himself responsible for her current condition. In the end, he dragged her along to the trip a day ago, whereupon she probably caught a cold.

"I must have caught it from Beelze…" Hilda suggested that possibility to divert his attention.

It seemed to work out a little; he didn't relieve his stress entirely though. "Stay in bed for the rest of the day. We'll get Forkas here if the temperature doesn't drop."

"Forkas…? No need to call him-…" she wanted to prove that she was just fine and tried to get up when she got a fit of dizziness and fell back on the pillow.

Oga sighed at her stubbornness. He thought that Hilda acted as if she was a little child scared of the doctor, although she only wanted to avoid attracting any unnecessary attention. "I get it; I'm not calling him, okay?" he convinced her but he would bring Forkas in the last resort anyway. Taking the wet towel on her side, he soaked it in a bowl filled with cold liquid and placed it on her forehead.

"Yuck…!" she wrinkled her nose at the bad smell of the towel.

"You have to bear it!" he commented dryly. "Vinegar is the best medicine when you're dealing with fever. Not like we have anything else here other than sleeping pills." He rolled his eyes at her sneakily. "You better stay in bed unless you wanna taste your own medicine!"

Hilda knew exactly what he was indicating. "Just leave me alone and take care of Beelze!" She tilted her head to the other side and looked away. She was too weak to quarrel with him at the moment.

"Beel's sleeping." He sat down on the floor and leaned against the bed, also turning his back to her. He might as well stay there since he wouldn't get any sleep himself.

Several minutes passed. The silence between them was filling the room, the whole house. It was somehow awkward for Hilda to be in the same room with him without the infant. "Are you trying to catch my cold, fool? Living together doesn't mean we need to share everything…"

A vein popped on Oga's temple. Was she trying to chase him out of his own room? "Are you sleep-bitching or still awake? Just take a nap and get well…!"

She turned around abruptly to face him. "I never sleep-talk, Oga Tatsumi!"

"Yeah…sure." He shook off her words disbelievingly and put his arms under his head, looking up at the ceiling. "It must be due to your fever then…"

"Eh?" Hilda couldn't follow his words.

"You were talking about your dad…"

She hesitated for a while before she replied to that. "I see…"

Oga was surprised that she didn't deny it. "You seemed to be uncomfortable though."

Again, she didn't answer immediately as if she was thinking whether to talk or not. "My Dad died when I was five. Thus, Mother remarried saying it'd be the best for us two..." In spite of her weakened condition, her words had a bitter taste. "I've never thought of her husband as my father though… That's why I've run away."

Oga didn't know whether it was because of her illness that she was talking to him openly now. "No need to explain me anything." He would usually say that people's privacy was not interesting him but actually, he didn't want to bother her because she rather avoided her family affairs.

"You have the right to know though…" she spoke earnestly.

"You have the right to keep it to yourself." he shot back and grinned secretly since he could already imagine her frown.

"You're annoying." she growled at him.

"I know."

The next day, Hilda recovered completely – or at least, she insisted upon that – and attended school again. Oga – being the wary one – was hanging around her too much for her distaste that day. After all, he had told her to stay at home another day but without any success. After a long dispute, Hilda convinced him that she'd go back as soon as she would feel sick again. It'd be more problematic for them if Baby Beel caught her cold again, so they left him under Alain Delon's care and went to school together, which was a rare sight.

That caught the attention of the other students and rumors started to spread out quickly enough to reach Hilda's ears.

The other part was still oblivious to them since there were other rumors about him, which went not only around their own school.

Oga Tatsumi was on the rooftop, accompanied by his silver-haired friend and the best three fighters of Ishiyama high. Furuichi, standing in the middle of the other four, was holding a sheet of paper and read it again and again.

"You gonna ignore this?" Kanzaki was the first one who broke the silence. "That's definitely a declaration of war from those bastards!"

"Well, our man here…" Himekawa darted his eyes on Oga, "…was supposed to have a match against their leader."

"The fact that you didn't show up last time pissed them off!" Toujo stated the obvious.

"Anyway,…" Furuichi was pondering hard, "…that's something between Oga and him. Why do they involve the whole school?"

"To ruin his image!" Himekawa simply answered to that and earned three pairs of gazes. "It's a psychological tactic."

"Oi, Oga!" The latter's calmness got on Kanzaki's nerve. "What's our next move?! Tell me we'll crush them along with their whole school or something like that!"

"No." The person in the middle of the mess kept his calm composure. "Don't let yourself provoked by a shitty letter like that."

"Shitty my ass!" Kanzaki yelled back. "Everyone out there knows that you never back off from a fight!" He didn't know about the background story about Baby Beel and his illness. However, he knew that there would be a reason for Oga's absence last Sunday night and he wouldn't need to ask any further.

Himekawa agreed with Kanzaki this one time. "They presented you like a little pussy who ran away with his tail between his legs. Everyone's talking about it…"

Toujo and Furuichi were rather quiet in that conversation. They saw that Oga had already made up his mind and nobody could change it.

"If you guys wanna go and challenge the whole school, feel free to go." Oga spoke out his mind and gave them a fierce look. "I'm not in. I'm not gonna get involved with the Demons."

Hilda was sitting on her chair and reading a book. Rather, she was trying to ignore the weird looks and whispers around her and concentrate on reading.

"They often hang out together lately."

"I heard that they're dating!"

"No way! That Oga's never been interested in women!"

"Someone saw them holding hands together…"

"They were making out during lunch break!"

She slammed her book shut and caused the crowd to stop for a moment. "Why can't these numbskulls just leave me alone?!" she uttered almost inaudibly.

"Tehe! 'Numbskulls' is a good one!" commented the red-haired in front amusedly. It seemed as if he wasn't as numb as the others.

If Hilda remembered correctly, his name was Natsume. Although she had nothing to do with him – which applied for 99% of the whole school – she was close to despise that Natsume person since he was smirking without a particular reason all the time. He looked like the 'prince-charming' type to her, or more like a playboy.

And Hilda detested sunny boys!

She was obviously ignoring him but Natsume didn't lose his coolness. He turned his head towards her, his long hair blocking the view for bystanders and other classmates. Thence, he got a serious expression for the first time that was only visible for Hilda. "It's not you that they're blabbering about. It's because you're with Oga-chan…"

Natsume realized that she still ignored him and wouldn't talk back. Therefore, he put on a smile again and added jokingly. "If you not like to be in the center of attention, you'll have to break away from Oga."

"'Break away'…?!" she clenched her teeth and repeated. She looked around and appealed to the attendant crowd in the room. "Didn't I already make it clear that I have nothing to do with that idiot?!" She referred to her previous outburst. Her last words weren't purely wrong though since it was only for Beelze's sake-…

"Nothing to do?" one of the students dared to ask and broke her chain of thoughts. "Everyone knows that you're secretly going home together…"

"In addition, people run across you outside of school…"

The last statement almost made her laugh in disbelief. They had only gone out with Beelze once and there was no way that anybody could have recognized them in disguise.

"Well, technically…" Hanazawa was the first of the Red Tails who weighed in on that matter. "... Nee-san isn't as close to Oga as she used to be ever since she came to our school."

There was a moment of silence. Nene, the current leader of the girl gang, nudged her orange-haired friend from the side. However, she and the other girls knew that Hanazawa was right.

There was only one thing that Hilda couldn't understand.

Let's assume that there was really something – anything mentionable between her Oga… What was she thinking? Even mentioning them together in a sentence sounded wrong! Anyway, why were they so fixated on her? Moreover, if the Natsume guy was really right, why were those morons so fixated on Oga?

Not that the latter interested her a bit…

"What's going on here?"

Everyone except Hilda turned around to see Kunieda in front of the door. "I heard my name…" she looked at Nene with a serious expression.

"Nee-san…" Nene backed off a little. Although Kunieda abandoned her position, she was still respected by the Red Tails.

Kunieda let out a deep sigh. "Listen, all of you. It's not our business what kind of…", she glanced at Hilda, "…relationship Oga-kun and Hilda-san have."

In conclusion, Hilda looked into the class representative's eyes with a placid expression. In fact, it increased her fury even more to hear those words from Kunieda, who certainly knew about the circumstances more or less. In her opinion, Kunieda knew definitely that nothing was going on between Oga and her. Nonetheless, the way in which Kunieda chose her words – about the 'relationship between them' – there was a hint of envy hidden in them.

And that tiny fact didn't escape Hilda.

"Wow! Even Kunieda is backing off…!" one in the crowd commented.

"So… is it true then?" Another shrieked. Originally, it wasn't the class rep's intention but her former words effected the opposite.

"Something's definitely going on between them!" one said mockingly in a disgusting tone.

Hilda recognized the latter: it was the same brainless dunce, who had dared to provoke her back then. It seemed as if Oga's warning wasn't enough to shut him up.

Speaking of which, where the hell was that fool!

In her opinion, it was partly his fault that she had to hear and talk about this nonsense. There again, he was absent as if all of that was none of his business – or rather didn't bother him.

The murmurs among the crowd stopped in an instant and Hilda knew only one reason for that.

"Talk of the devil!" she thought without even looking at him.

Seeing that Hilda, who apparently stood in the middle of the crowd, was avoiding his eyes, Oga turned his gaze to Kunieda and silently required for an explanation.

Kunieda as well as everyone there knew that they couldn't fool the Oga, so she spoke honestly. "Well,… rumors about you two… hanging out together… have spread around the whole school." She diverted her eyes away from him and chose her words carefully not to anger him.

Hilda's face reddened more and more each time she heard it. Whereas the others interpreted it as a light blush to hide her embarrassment, she was actually boiling with rage, just about to explode. Damn, if she didn't felt dizzy because of her cold yet, she would definitely-…

"Oi!"

Hearing his voice, Hilda noticed that Oga was already standing next to her. While the others were still observing them, he nonchalantly raised his hand and placed it on her forehead. "You still have a fever?"

That action aroused different thoughts among their classmates. On the one hand, a few understood that Hilda wasn't blushing but probably burning up with a high temperature. On the other hand, the rest of them were astonished by Oga's sudden act and started whispering again.

"Hands-off, fool!" Hilda shoved his hand away and looked around. Although Oga seemed to confirm the rumors with his final gesture, Hilda's convinced them of the other way round.

"Ingrate bitch!" Oga, who was oblivious to the others' guesswork, thought but he was a little bit eased that she was fine. There was only one thing left for him to do.

No one in the crowd – not even Hilda herself – knew what had gotten into him as Oga swung his arm around Hilda's shoulders indifferently and declared with a blank expression. "She recently moved in the area I'm living."

Though the people around were still too impressed by Oga's actions, realization came upon them why the two of them were seen together many times. Perhaps, he was showing her around because Hilda was new in Ishiyama town.

That explanation seemed to satisfy the audience for the moment. Nevertheless, Oga stated it clearly enough so that they wouldn't bother her again.

"I'm her neighbor; not her lover…!"

Hilda washed her face. She washed it one more time. And again.

Then, she turned off the water and leaned against the sink.

She sighed.

This seemed to calm her down more or less. She watched her reflection in the mirror and overthought the events from a couple of minutes ago.

Oga's speech successfully stopped the others from chattering around. He helped her out of this matter even if she didn't ask for his support.

Like he always did help her.

However, something was wrong and she didn't know what. She didn't know why her head wouldn't stop to ache. She didn't know why his words were still ringing in her mind. And oddly, she didn't know how to act from now on whenever she saw him.

She shook her head and clapped her face. Why was she thinking about it so much? Everything should be fine now, right? Oga cleared the misunderstandings and she just had to behave as she did the past few days.

End of story!

She took a towel, dried up her face, took a last glance at the mirror and went out of the bathroom. The break was about to end but the hallways of the school were still empty and silent since most of the students were still outside.

Hilda just came to a corner and wanted to turn left when she heard two familiar voices.

Unaware of the third person behind the corner, Furuichi and Oga were talking about the matters from before.

"Class is about to start. Let's get over with this and grab food somewhere." Oga stuffed his hands to his pockets and headed for the classroom.

"Wait, Oga." Furuichi stopped him before finishing their conversation. "Are you serious about what you've just said?"

Oga came to a halt for a moment and repeated.

"I can't love Hilda."

A/N: I hope that you weren't too confused about Hilda's watch (see chapter 1 and 4) or her nightmare from chapter 2. I wanted to suggest re-reading those two chapters to avoid any obscurity but hey: I could as well as update faster, right?! (-.-)

This chapter was such a mess, typing it on two different computers, but I somehow managed to create a decent chapter out of it by spending my whole free Saturday for it…

As you can see, the relationships within Ishiyama high don't change in this story (e.g. Kunieda being the former leader of the Red Tails etc.).

Things are getting serious from here on. Next time, some revelations about Oga…?

Unfortunately, I can't predict how much it'll take… probably summer. However, depending on your feedback, I might hurry up a little. I'll update "Scum of the Hell" a few times till then.

Review, please!?