Note: The original novel has been written by Takabayashi Tomo and the character design has been done by Matsumoto Temari. The copyright is held by Kadokawa Shoten and this fan novel is only meant to entertain, for fans by a fan. No profit has been made, nor intended, by this work.

I think this is what you call "caught red-handed".

Or is the right terminology "caught in action"?

No, I think it was the former.

Regardless of what the action might be worded, it didn't change the fact that I had my hands on the shoulder of Mr. Thief.

"Let me go, you creep!"

…Ms. Thief?!

The thief who attempted to run off with an armful of our apples defiantly glared at me. We were nearly the same height, but Ms. Thief's figure was much more slender than mine, not to mention her voice was (though somewhat husky) a girl's voice, so there was no mistake about her gender. It was too dark to see her face clearly, but I could tell that she was attempting to glare a hole into my face.

Isn't that kind of rude, especially when she was the one stealing from our farm…?;;

"You know," I started, "If you're hungry, you should just knock on the door and say, 'Excuse me, I'm hungry. Can I have some food?' Of course there is possibility that someone would say no, but seriously, not much people are mean enough to refuse food to a little girl like you. Stealing is just not the way to go. My mother would always say, "Yuu-chan, one who does not work should not eat, either"! Not to mention, when you're caught stealing, you should not be glaring at…"

"I'm not a girl," the girl—who was not a girl after all—snapped. Eh~?! But his voice was so soft! Maybe he's just a really tall kid? He determinedly shook my hands off of his shoulders and he would have attempted to run again if I had not grabbed him by the collar of his neck.

"I'm not going to take you to the police or anything, so just calm down, okay?" I said, attempting to sooth Mr. Thief. He struggled, but I must have been right about my assumption that he's still a kid, because I managed to hold onto him without too much trouble. I wasn't sure what to do about Mr. Thief, so I dragged him home. My parents would know what to do with him.

"Yuu-chan, set the table, please?" My mom said, looking up from her cooking. Her eyes focused on the sullen figure next to me. "Who is that, your girlfriend? My, Yuu-chan, you never told Mama about any girl!"

"It's not—"

"I'm not—"

We spoke up at the same time, and I glanced over at my companion. He had thrown his hood off, and in the brightly lit kitchen, I saw his face properly for the first time.

Whoa, an angel?!;;;;;;;

A creature that cannot possibly be a human, because he was too beautiful for that, met my eyes briefly before he looked away. His slightly wavy, short hair tumbled over his high and noble forehead, the silky gold-colored locks falling into his bright green eyes. His cream-colored skin was delicately dusted over with rose on his cheeks and lips, making his lake-colored emerald eyes appear brighter. He truly looked like an angel who had somehow fallen from the sky and was pouting because he could not return.

The angel quickly turned into a blonde demon, though, because he started to shout at my mother, "What part of me looks like a female, you lowly wench?! You shall shut your trap!"

Whoa.

Wait a second there.

I don't care if he's the current champion of Most Beautiful Men competition or whatever, but no one insults my mom and gets away with it.

"Apologize!" I shouted at him. "Apologize to what you said to my mom, right now!"

His big green eyes became round, and then they narrowed into tiny orbs as red appeared on his cheeks. He shouted back, "I will not, peasant! What is wrong with calling a commoner exactly what she is, and reminding her of her status?"

I was about to punch him, but since it would be a shame to bust up such a pretty face, I slapped him instead.

"Yuu-chan! You will not fight with your friend right in front of me! And using violence, even!" My clueless mother scolded me, pulling the little jerk behind her. "Both of you, help me set the table! And no more fighting!"

The boy's face had turned completely pale, and his eyes blazed with anger. He started to open his mouth and I tensed, thinking I would really get into a fight with him if he said anything else about my mom, but mom lifted lid of the pot to stir her curry and most wonderful fragrance wafted up. The thief slash angel slash jerk must have been really hungry, because he quietly helped mom set the table, though he didn't apologize.

In all that commotion I forgot to tell mom about catching him stealing our apple, but it didn't seem that important. After all, he seemed really hungry, and he was helping out now for his meal, so I thought it was fine. (Not to mention, in the end he didn't (couldn't?) steal the apples after all.)

"So what is your name? From Yuu-chan's friends, I only know Ken-chan!" My mom brightly chatted as she scooped up the rice. The boy looked at mother, and then lowered his eyes. Whoa, such long eyelashes…

Um, anyway. He sulkily replied, "Wolf."

"Do you live around here, Pu-chan?"

Color drained out of the boy(newly named Pu-chan)'s face, and he tightly clenched the spoons he was holding until his knuckles turned white. He replied, "I ran away from home."

"Why?" Mom asked without a trace of surprise or anxiety, only cheerfully humming as she dished up the curry. He glanced at the curry. I could almost imagine what he was thinking.

"My brothers are trying to force me into a marriage."

I nearly dropped the water cup. Force who into what?! No one does something like that, unless…

Oh.

Was Wolf a demon? That would explain his ethereal beauty. I heard rumors about how beautiful the demon race were, but I never saw one in person. Demons still do that whole noble thing, don't they? And they do arranged marriage and other weird things like that? Did that mean Wolf was a demon noble, because I don't think commoners had political marriage thingie?

At that moment dad and Shouri came downstairs to eat, so after brief introduction of Wolf to everyone as my friend(…) who ran away from home because he didn't want to get married(…………..), we sat down to a dinner.

No one found that strange, apparently. Except me.

*****

Fortunately my parents said Wolf could stay as long as he wanted, and Wolf seemed pretty impressed by mom's curry because he agreed to work for his lodging and food. Or maybe he just didn't have anywhere else to go.

He really seemed to have no idea how to do anything by himself, making me surer than ever that he was a demon noble. He exclaimed that it was his first time seeing someone washing the dishes (he became more talkative after he had been fed), and offered to help dad with it. He ended up breaking two dishes before dad shooed him out. Afterwards he followed mom around like a lost chick who just found a hen. I felt like he avoided me. Probably because he felt embarrassed around me, since I caught him stealing the apples and all.

Shouri helped me with my homework while Wolf and mom watched TV downstairs and chatted, all of Wolf's previous hostility against mom melted away. When I was nearly done, Shouri suddenly said, "Did you think about it?"

I wanted to ask, 'about what?' but I knew very well what he was talking about. I imagined Wolf downstairs. Will all demons be like that? Will they be so hostile to humans, to commoners? Would I really be okay, being amongst thousands—no, millions—of people like Wolf? Having just met a demon in person, I became more freaked out than ever.

"I don't think I can do it," I said, shaking my head. "I mean, just popping up one day, telling me I'm—"

"Yuuri!" Wolf interrupted, throwing the door open. I nearly bit my tongue off. What the heck was that boy doing in pink lingerie?!!! Was he crazy?!;;

Wolf, who didn't seem ashamed of what he was wearing at all (maybe it was a demon thing?), looked around my room.

"Is this your room? Hmph, a wimpy room, well-matched with a wimp like yourself!"

"Don't call me a wimp!"

"I will be sleeping now!"

I glanced at the clock. Geh?! It was only ten?! "Are you already sleeping, Wolf?;;"

"What, you're having a problem with it?" Wolf asked, climbing on my bed. What was that crazy boy doing on my bed? "You can just wake me up when you're ready for bed."

"Why?" I asked, scratching the back of my head. "We have plenty of guestrooms. Just choose one and get off of my bed."

Wolf opened his cat-like green eyes still wider. Careful there, they might just pop out if you keep opening them wide like that.

"Yuuri… Aren't we going to live in your room? Or do you have a specific room for a new couple?"

"Haa? What couple? Where? What?" Man, he really lost his marbles. I didn't even understand what he was talking about. But from the looks Wolf was giving me, you'd like I'm the one who totally lost it.

"You and me? You know? Oh, is it because I didn't give you an answer yet? I accept, so you don't have to slap my other cheek."

"Haaaaa?!;;;;"

Jesus?! Were demons Christians?!

"So we're officially engaged now."

Apparently not!

"Haaaaaaaa?!!! Didn't you say you were a boy?! Engaged? What?"

"Same sex get engaged all the time, where I come from," Wolf said, giving me the look again. It was amazing how someone who was smaller than me managed to look at me down his nose. "And, since you are apparently a wimp with no clue, a slap on left cheek is proposal of marriage. Even though you're dumb, since you're pretty hot, I'll be kind enough to accept you. But you'll have to work hard to bring up your standards before you will be my husband!"

I became speechless because how the hell do you even start explaining things to this lunatic, sadly lost boy?! Shouri, though, found this the funniest thing of the century, because he fell off the chair laughing. On the floor he twitched in the most stupid fashion as he gasped for breath.

Ugh, big brothers. So embarrassing.

"You can, however," Wolf continued, pointedly ignoring my brother who was laughing like a hyena. (I didn't even know he could do that.) Beautiful peony pink blush appeared on his cheeks as he said in a small voice, "have sex with me before marriage, so don't worry about that. As long as you're careful not to make me pregnant. Because I don't want to have a baby out of wedlock."

He gave me a shy look from underneath his thick fringe of gold eyelashes, and then dived into my bed and disappeared under my covers.

I really wanted to cry as Shouri started to cry from laughing too much.

Because why the HELL did I become erect from his (HIS!) words?!!!!!!!!!!

( To Be Continued )
Wahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!! |||||||orz