Hello all! The reception from the first chapter was quite positive. Lots of thanks to all of you! Considering a lot of people haven't actually read/watched Beelzebub (I personally only read it), hopefully I can detail their personalities just through the story.

Hope you enjoy!

Chapter 2

"The game's afoot."

"Is that so? You already set it up?"

"Indeed. There is not much to do."

"I suppose. How do you think they will respond."

"The humans? Or…?"

"We all know how they will respond. But the humans, that's what makes it fun."

"Just fun? What if they do not perform as expected?"

"Then they are to be discarded. Nothing more, nothing less."

"I see. And our own?"

"They have willingly demoted themselves."

"A shame."
"Yes."

"What's the issue?" Oga asked for the umpteenth time as they marched, with Kunieda and Furuichi, towards Oga's home. He was still ticked from being pulled from the arcade way earlier than he liked. Now that fool, Ranma, was going to lord that one undeserved victory over his head. Prick.

"Abuh? Buh buh?" Beel asked worriedly.

Hilda refused to answer, picking up her pace as the home came into view. This worried Kunieda and Furuichi, knowing the blond wet nurse. While cold and indifferent, it came with her normal fearlessness and absolute control of most situations. Seeing her pensive and panicky set both of them on edge. The woman had not uttered a single word after pulling them out of the arcade.

They finally reached the home with Oga opening the door wildly and storming in, surprising the inhabitants sitting at the table.

"Oh hi, Hilda-san!" Oga's older sister, Misaki, said cheerily, with a chopstick halfway to her mouth.

"Ah Hilda, Beel. Come join us for dinner." Their mother said. "...and you too Tatsumi."

Their father stayed silent, eating his food in a withdrawn manner.

Once again, Hilda ignored the people, took Oga's arm, who was about to greet his loving family, and pulled him up to his room. Kunieda and Furuichi followed closely behind.

"Oh my." Their mother said. "Hilda must be feisty today."

"Mom," Misaki said dryly. "Furuichi and Kunieda went up with them too."

"Oh. Oh dear, I hope they're not too loud."

Back in the room, Oga asked again, irritably. "What's wrong, woman?"

Hilda finally spoke, her one exposed eye steeled and concetrated towards Oga. "Something that threatens young master has come up. Not only to young master but to every demon residing in this district."

Oga perked up considerably, having believed they had defeated anyone who threatened them. Kunieda and Furuichi both collectively blanched at the idea of a being that could surpass not only Oga, but all of the major demons and their follwers together.

"Well, spit it out." Oga said, slightly more interested. He rested his chin on his fist, braced by his inner thigh. Beel sat in his lap. "Who do we have to destroy? Some big bad demon came out of hiding? Did the idiot Demon King finally officially decide to destroy mankind? Again?"

Furuichi and Kunieda sweated at the last suggestion.

"Angels have shown up." Hilda said, causing the room's inhabitants to look at her and blink.

"Angels?" Furuichi asked, he tilted his head in thought. "Like from the sky, with wings, robes, halos and a little harp?"

Hilda narrowed her eyes. "Did you think we demons had leather, horns, tails and a pitch fork?"

Furuichi, who totally did, sweated a little. "Nono, absolutely not."

"When war between demon lords didn't break out as everyone foresaw, and instead the three leaders, Master, Satan, and Lucifer, and their contracts started working together, there was a major power imbalance. We demons knew this, but we didn't think there would be any response." Hilda started explaining. "From the little I know, I would guess they're not comfortable with this many powerful presences in the human world."

"But why?" Kunieda asked, enraptured by the information. She sat across from Hilda, next to Oga and was very aware of it, consciously keeping her head from turning to the brash man. "Oga isn't going to destroy humanity, and neither are any of the other demons. They're just living normal lives."

"I really don't know." Hilda spoke with much annoyance. "I assume they don't know our intentions and feel threatened."

"Can't we just tell them then?" Furuichi asked. "Everything's settled here, there hasn't been any battles or major catastrophes since our battle with Satan. People- ah demons who come here seem pretty happy going about. They usually go back to the demon world if they're board."

"I said, I don't know." The blond maid looked to the ground bitterly. "Either they know something we don't, they're just scared of us, or it's an excuse to come down."

"Why haven't we heard of them until now?" Kunieda asked, she snuck glances at Oga, who looked very indifferent about the news. "Like when demon lords started showing up on Earth in the first place."

"Not sure. But it must be because angels are gigantic sissies." Hilda said flatly, eliciting sweatdrops. "They're all far too comfortable staying in their world. They don't really care what happens on Earth too much as long as it's not completely destroyed. They don't have to do anything and they still get millions and upon millions of prayers from you idiot humans. They're mostly passive slobs and won't step in until something major happens. Like now, perhaps."

"Time out." Furuichi said suddenly, creating a 'T' with his hands. "Firstly, if they never come down, how do you know about all of this?"

"We were taught in school of course." Hilda said. Pulling up a textbook out of nowhere. The letters were written in a language they didn't understand and features the Demon King in all his glory in a classroom setting.

"Demon school?" Furuichi asked in clarification.

Hilda frowned. "From where I'm from, it's just called school."

Furuichi grimaced slightly. "Secondly, so if both angels and demons exist, does that mean demons are the bad guys and angels are the good guys? So are we part of the bad guys?"

Kunieda tugged at the hem of her skirt, a bit uncomfortable at the thought.

"What's with that derogatory, racist comment?" Hilda retorted. "Just because our goal was once to destroy all of humanity doesn't mean we're evil. We have families and people we care about too."

Furuichi decided not to speak.

"The Demon Lord took back his declaration, anyways." She continued. "Seeing Beel and Oga form such a strong bond, he decided to allow you all and demons to just live their lives. Much like you humans do. Does that sound bad?"

"It doesn't." Kunieda agreed, feeling relieved. "From what I've seen, none of the demons are going around destroying stuff or killing people."

"That's right." Hilda nodded. "We're just like you all. Living our lives, with our own cultures and ideas, just with different limitations. And so are the angels, they just don't care because they're already getting enough attention from millenias of perpetuated prejudice because some guy on a mountain decided the people in the sky were the 'good' guys."

"So what are they doing here?" Oga asked. "And why do we care?"

"I'm not entirely sure." Hilda repeated, she watched Beel, her expression softening softly. "Like I said, it's incredibly rare for any angel to come to the human world. The last documented time we know of was thousands some years ago. Archangel Michael, one of the most powerful angels. But from what I heard, he's been offline for the last thousand years somewhere in China."

Furuichi raised his hand. "This brings me to my third and last question. Beelzebub, Satan, Lucifer, Seven Deadly Sins, and now Archangel Michael… What's with all this Christian theology shit? Is Shintoism a lie? Is Japan's national religion fake? Are you saying the crusades were justified?"

"No, not at all." Hilda waved his questions off, much to the relief of Kunieda and Furuichi. "They're just loser religions with paradoxical sayings spoekn by the dumber demons and angels that you humans interpreted to mean something profound, when really they're just drunkards trying to sound all cool and mysterious."

"Oh. Thanks." He scratched his head, removing the sweatdrop that formed. He wasn't sure if he truly felt any better after hearing that. He slightly turned to Kunieda, remembering that she had Koma, a minor demon that the Japanese called a deity. It didn't help, remembering that Koma was in the human world through banishment as his kind lost a decisive battle in the demon world.

"But to go back to the main topic at hand. They've come down to keep demons in their place. 'Checks and balances' is what I was told." Hilda said, staring at the adoring eyes of Beel. "I am not sure what they truly intend to do, but that they don't intend to directly harm any of us. Which means, they'll likely be getting contractors for whatever angels coming down."

"Is there going to be a war?" Kunieda asked, fear clearly evident in her tone.

"I… I really don't know." Hilda repeated frustratedly, for the fourth time. "Not only is this unheard of but they have never been clear on their intentions with the human world."

"What do you mean?" Furuichi asked. They were all about peace and love, right?

"It would make sense that it would be in their best interest not to destroy the human world, but at the same time, they don't seem to care about it, not sending down anyone to stop corruption, disease, and such. They're fine with all that, otherwise some would be sent down."

Oga brought down Beel to his lap, subconsciously holding the baby close. "So you're just saying to protect Beel? Sounds easy enough."

"Just be on guard. Look for anything suspicious. Another thing I do know is that they are in this area." Hilda informed. "It would do us well to contact your peers and eliminate any threats."

"Eliminate?" Kunieda turned towards Hilda. "You don't mean... kill. Do you?"

"We cannot take any chances for young master."

"But, this is a little extreme isn't it?" Kunieda said. To the side, Oga silently agreed Kunieda. He would never kill anyone, despite his high powered fights, and brutish actions.

"We'll interrogate them first, of course." Hilda said coldly. "If you all have qualms doing so, I will do it myself."

Kunieda looked unsure. "I still have a problem with you doing so."

"That's right." Furuichi agreed with Kunieda. "Checks and balances can mean if we don't do anything dangerous then they won't either."

"I will not sit, by knowing a potential enemy can sneak behind us and simply end young master's life."

"You can do whatever you want." Oga told Hilda. "But, don't worry about us. Beel and I can handle anything they throw at us."

Their eyes locked. Hilda's single blue with his dark brown ones. Tense moments passed until Hilda spoke.

"Very well."

His greatest enemy laid just mere inches from his chest. Baby or not, he was setting Ranma's danger senses like crazy. What kind of trap was this? And if he tried to escape, Kiima laid at the window sill, able to cut him off from the easiest exit. He glared at the winged woman.

"Relax, he can't hurt you like that." Kiima said, amused in the sheer panic Ranma exuded.

"He can't? You mean as a baby? Or sleeping?" Ranma asked. He shifted a bit in his bed, sitting on his bed and carefully picking up the baby in his arms. As one should expect of a sleeping baby, Saffron offered no resistance and kept sleeping. Within his arms, Ranma could feel teeny wings jutting out of the baby's back. He slowly placed Saffron ahead of him so that he laid asleep near his legs. He looked at Kiima accusingly. "What are you doing here?"

"Obviously." Kiima said, patronizingly with stretched syllables, eliciting a twitch from Ranma. "As Saffron's royal retainer, I must go wherever my darling master goes."

He frowned. It sounded as if she didn't actually want to be here. He looked down at the content baby at his legs. "Then why is Saffron here?"

Kiima's haughty expression melted to a frustrated one. "Every since his defeat in Jusenkyo and reversion to an infant, he's been seeking you out."

Ranma's eyes widened. He paid even more caution to the peacefully sleeping infant. Was he seeking him out for revenge? "What do you mean?"

"There were so many signs!" Kiima said dramatically, looking out the window in reminiscence. "While my lord ate the exotic meals befitting him, our guards were eating the instant ramen packets. My Lord Saffron, upon hearing the word 'Ramen,' got so excited."

Ranma sweatdropped. "Now wait a minute…"

"I thought, truly, it must have been a fluke." Kiima said with a sigh, still wistfully peering off to the sky. "But alas, he perked up to anything that sounded like your name."

"I don't think that means anything…" Ranma mumbled.

"But that's not it!" Kiima's melodrama continued, she held the back of her hand to her forehead. "We had recently required one of those televisions, you landlings love so much. To my shock, Lord Saffron only paid attention to the idiotic characters with what is called 'foot in mouth' syndromes. No doubt, he must have been thinking of you. No doubt at all."

Ranma's eye twitched. "Look, Kii-"

"But the damndest sign." Kiima interrupted, looking up to the skies with a single tear flowing out her eye. She clutched her chest in a priest-like fashion. "The damndest sign of all was when a transvestite came across the screen and my Lord clapped excitedly, pointing them out, crawling towards the transvesite."

Now, Ranma's eyes twitched violently along a bulging vein upon his forehead. "Those were all the signs, huh."

Kiima brushed the tear out of her eye. "Indeed. There was nothing clearer than the last one." What Kiima left out, purposely of course, was that she had also been approached and explicitly requested that she seek him out, despite her original intentions.

"You fuckin' little brat…" Ranma mumbled something dark and violent to himself then shook his head quickly. "That doesn't explain why he's looking for me."

Kiima rolled her eyes. "To put it simply. You were chosen to be his father."

"Huh?" Ranma gasped, instinctively moving back to distance himself from the infant.

"Listen closely." Kiima said with deadly seriousness. "As I will only explain this once."

Ranma picked up the shift in tone, and truly gave his attention.

"We," Kiima gestured to herself and Saffron, "are not merely 'Phoenix people of Jusenkyo.' We are angels."

Ranma frowned in thought but stayed silent.

"You were told the legend of our people, were you not? For thousands of years our people have used the cursed pool of the drowned bird to sustain our people, eventually changing them to be human-bird hybrids in their normal forms."

He nodded, remembering the words of Cologne.

"While that was true for our lowly citizens, it would not explain Lord Saffron's immense power and abilities. No other of a kind showed an inkling of similar abilities. Did you not think that it was strange, for simply one of people to gain such mysteriously immense power despite drinking the same water?"

"No." Ranma dryly responded to the rhetorical question. "I was mostly thinking about saving my dying fiance."

Kiima ignored the stark statement. "Thousands of years ago, Lord Saffron, known as Lord Michael at the time, one of the Seven Archangels, decided he wanted to leave the angel world and live amongst the humans down on Earth. He left with a few underlings."

"Thousands…?" Ranma mumbled. "How old are you? You only look middle aged."

"I'm 20, you insolent moron." Kiima said with a tic. "I was assigned to protect my Lord as he grew. Everytime a nurse 'retired,' their memories are transferred to the next nurse in line. I grew up training to protect my Lord, assigned to him six years ago when my lord was a baby once more."

"You didn't do a really good job protecting him, or raising him." Ranma muttered, remembering his battles with the winged woman.

Kiima narrowed her blue eyes, her face darkening. "Normally humans would simply die to my attacks, so there hasn't been much of a need to train to such a great extent. Very few humans, or angels for that matter get away from my attacks unscathed. Since my encounter with you people, I'm more than a match for you."

"Uh huh. Just continue your story."

"We arrived first at what is now called India where Lord Michael became fascinated with the trade, food and spices there." Kiima took upon an annoyed tone. "So much so, that he changed his name. Then started to name those under him the same way."

Ranma sweatdropped at the information.

"We travelled the world. Though there was not much to see thousands of years ago." Kiima continued wistfully. "Mostly plagues, stupidity, and war. It was a far simpler time."

"Ah."

"When His Majesty finally had enough of all that, we settled by what is now known as Mount Jusenkyo where we built from the ground the castle and our kingdom there." Kiima closed her eyes. "The issue was that coming to the human world, we were cut off a significant amount of our power, especially without contractors. Master never saw a suitable contractor and kept away from most of human society despite wanting to experience it all. This eventually led to his mortal death where he would be reborn."

"Like right now? When I killed him?" Ranma noted, taking deep interest in the backstory of his greatest enemy.

"That's right." Kiima said, finding herself surprisingly enjoying explaining their history to the pigtailed boy."The rebirthing process that you had so kindly interrupted was our way of circumventing the need of a contractor as medium to funnel Lord Saffron's power. Unfortunately, this leads to a constant loss of memory which makes him an awfully bratty child growing up pampered, which, in addition to our kingdom's isolationist ideals, puts us back in terms of technology."

"Wait." Ranma interrupted, much to the annoyance of Kiima. "What's a contractor?"

"An angel chooses a human to create a blood contract with. This links them together, and provides the angel access to their full power and the human to take a some of the angel's latent ability." She answered, unhappy that her story was interrupted for basic knowledge. "The rebirthing process was a 'cheat' method to return the majority of my Lord's original power on earth without the need of a contractor. Unfortunately, this cheat method does not do justice to Lord Saffron's full glory and has quite a few side effects. It didn't matter too much as you humans as a species are quite frail. A quick show of power was typically enough to scare off the most hardened of men. Except for you lunatics."

Ranma blinked. Then blinked again as the words were processed. "You mean when I faced Saffron, he wasn't even at full power?"

"No, you fool." Kiima shot back. "Not only does each rebirth net less total power, you interrupted him before the entire transformation was complete. You only faced a mere sliver of my Lord's power."

"That's… that's insane." Ranma thought back to their fight. He had gone all out against the Phoenix King, who he just now learned to be an Angel, only to learn he wasn't even close to Saffron in terms of ability. What kind of monster would he truly have been? He spoke with some fear and trepidation. "Are you saying you want me to be this guy's contractor? And give him access to everything?"

Kiima glared at him. "This guy... Is one of the rulers of the angel world. It will do you good to remember that." She gestured to the sword strapped to her waist. "We are angels, our main objective is to maintain peace in your world. Though, admittedly, that objective has been lost sometime down the past few millennia."

Ranma rolled his eyes. "Some angel you are. Aren'tcha supposed to be polite and all that? You drowned my fiance and took her body to trick all of us."

"Yes well, I've gotten rid of the curse, and all of that was in the past. None of that's important now." She brushed his concerns off. "Spending time on Earth for so long makes one quite cynical." Kiima answered curtly. "With pollution, corruption, and blatant idiocy, it's quite difficult to maintain that level of decorum. I mean, have you seen TikTok?"

"Fair enough." Ranma muttered. He perked up with hope. "You got rid of your curse? The curse of the drowned Akane?"

"Don't get your hopes up." Kiima said haughtily. "As angels we can dispel most inflicted curses on our peron."

Ranma's face fell.

"Anyways. After my Lord's defeat to your hands, I suppose he deemed you worthy as his contractor, especially under the light you were fighting to defend your dear fiance. And your friends too." Kiima sighed once more. What she once again left out was how she originally prevented Saffron from finding the martial artist. It was only when a higher up came to her, something that had practically never happened, explained some of the situation and demanded her to seek him. "With a proper contractor, my Lord's growth should garner his power appropriately and return to his former glory."

"What if I refuse?" Ranma narrowed his eyes. It sounded like he was just being used as a babysitter.

"You cannot. You were chosen." Kiima stated, matter of factly. "You should be treating it as an honor. To be chosen as an angel's contractor. You'll be the first in thousands of years to create a contract with an angel. Count yourself lucky, being chosen as the top archangel's contractor."

"I haven't made a contract though, have I." Ranma asked, frowning. He pulled Saffron closer to his body, squishing Saffron's cheeks a bit. "You just got here."

"It appears as if it hasn't been official. You would see a glowing sigil somewhere upon your body." Kiima informed him. "However, his choosing of you essentially makes it official. You have no say."

"I see…" Ranma drifted off into his thoughts, his hands stroking his chin. He then stood up, carefully holding Saffron closely in his arms. Kiima rose a brow curiously as he approached her, holding Saffron mere inches away from Kiima on the window sill. "You said wherever Saffron goes, you go?"

"That is my duty." Kiima confirmed, her curiosity rising. He was cradling Saffron carefully in his arms, with far more care than she had ever expected from the pig tailed man. He shifted the infant's position carefully until both of his hands held him up by the shoulders. Saffron's head bobbed forwards without the neck support. She cocked her head. "Why do yo-HOLY HEAVENS."

She suddenly yelled. Appropriately too, as Ranma extended his arms to simply drop Saffron out of the apartment building on the sixth floor. She immediately dove down.

Ranma brushed off his hands. He had considered what he was doing was straight up murdering a baby but rationalized it to a few facts. One, it was his most powerful enemy. Two, there was no way he was going to let his most powerful enemy leech off of him. And three, it wasn't quite murder if he was simply reborned again, right? Also, if Saffron was truly an archangel, he wouldn't die from a mere six story drop.

There was some fluttering and clinking of metal rings as curtains shook.

He looked up. "Oh. You're back." In front of him was a disheveled, frenzied and flushed looking Kiima, panting and cradling a still sleeping Saffron within her arms.

"Of course, I'm back." Kiima spat venomously. Her eyes bored into his, her rage quite palpable. "What in the world do you think you're doing?"

"Sorry, sorry. My hands slipped." Ranma mumbled. He reached out for Saffron again, taking the dozing infant from her arms. She barely resisted, mostly out of sheer shock and the adrenaline rush of the situation. "Here. I messed up, I won't do it again."

This time he reared back, much to the absolute shock of Kiima, her eyes basically bulging out of their sockets, and pitched Saffron with all his might out the window. A very, high quality pitcher's fast ball. Kiima immediately scrambled back out the window sill and took flight. This time he closed the window, along with the curtains and went back to his bed, wanting to fall back asleep. He did not want to deal with any of that. He pulled his blanket over him and closed his eyes, confident that he firmly sent his message to the angel.

He thought back to the conversation. He didn't want a free power up. Not like the Kanzaki guy he fought yesterday had. Wait… so did he have an angel contract? That would explain the glowing and sudden boost of power. He mentally scoffed. If he could beat him without the power up, then he didn't want the contract. Or rather, he didn't need it. Then there was all that whole episode where they threatened to destroy all the Jusenkyo springs, almost killed Akane, almost killed him and his friends, and truly then wrecked his one and only hope for a cure. And now they wanted his help? That just wasn't nice. It didn't make sense either. What was he getting from this. Other than power he didn't need. Sure, there was the whole helping the innocent, and protecting those who can't protect themselves. Saffron, in his book, did not apply to either of those categories. So it was okay.

Even as a baby.

Well, he was like three or four.

That made it even better.

To rid of him like that.

Right?

*Ka-thunk!*

"SONUVA…"

From his bed, he turned to look at the window where he heard something hit it and whatever it was immediately let out a string of curses. He closed his eyes again, in attempt to regain his precious sleep. However, he could hear frantic steps going up the stairs of his building, out a door, through his hallway, and burst into his room, knocking off the door off its hinges.

"YOU…" Kiima snarled viciously at the boy cozied up in his bed. She stalked up to him, radiating an aura of pure death and hate, unbefitting of an angel and putting even Ranma on edge. He could see, her white hair frazzled and frayed with sticks and leaves woven in between them. A large welt graced her once smooth forehead, along with some scratches littering her already very revealing clothes. Saffron was still in her hands.

"Woah." Ranma said, resisting the deathly aura. "I'm surprised he's still sleeping."

Kiima's aura staggered as she answered the unsaid question. "Yes, well. One does get used to it."

"You mean…" Ranma's brow furrowed deeply as he put two and two together. "You throw babies too?"

The aura came back in full force, as Kiima placed Saffron carefully on the ground and carefully stalked up the confined boy. Her aura was actually terrifying Ranma from moving. Justifiably. "We fly often. One must get used to the speeds, drops and turns, at an early age."

She unsheathed her sword and straddled the pigtailed boy, sitting down on his stomach facing towards him. She started sliding the tip of the sword from his chin to his neck and then resting at his chest, unfortunately slicing his clothes along the way. "I do not want to be here as much as you don't want me to be here. I don't know all of the specifics of why I have to be here. It's quite rare for angels to come down so it must be serious."

Ranma dared not move, in fear of provoking the fury of the woman. From his position he can see how sharp the sword was. It wouldn't take much to just pierce through.

"But I don't have a choice. You don't have a choice." Kiima spat from above her breasts. "Lest you want your precious world to be infested with demons."

Demons? Ranma thought. Beads of sweat gathered around his forehead. He felt the sword's tip prick him. There were no mentions of demons.

"You will become Lord Saffron's contractor." With the sword still in its position, she bent down to put her face intimidatingly close to Ranma's. Her breath tickled his ears as she threatened him. "You will raise him to his full power. And you will do whatever Lord Saffron demands."

Ranma nodded rapidly, making sure nothing else moved but this head, his forehead barely brushing the frazzled ends of Kiima's hair.

It was then two newcomers announced themselves, barging into the room.

"Ranma! We heard someth- WHAT."

"Sugar, what's wro-"

"..."

"..."

Ranma, who had already been fearing for his life, let a single tear slide out of his eye.

"Go that way! That wayyyy~!" A child-like voice begged, desperately.

"I am going that way!" Ryoga snarled, walking the opposite direction, much to the dismay of the small blonde girl hovering around his head. "I've been listening to your directions all week and we still haven't reached Nerima! Damn you Ranma, leaving me buried in all the rubble! Once I dug myself out, I was in the Philipines!"

"H-hey. D-don't yell at me like that." The girl whined, tears christening her, milky, cherub face. Ryoga immediately sobered up from his anger, his heart melting at the sight of the girl crying. "You're scaring me…"

He rubbed the back of his head, ashamed at himself. He bowed deeply towards the hovering girl. "I'm sorry Uriel-sama."

"A-are you really sorry?" The girl asked, her little hands covering her mouth in fists. She peered over her knuckles in an adorable fashion. The tip of her nose was a bright red and Ryoga can see it wrinkle as she sniffled.

Ryoga flushed immediately, some steam exiting his ears. He fell to his knees, clasping his hands above his head. "Of course! I promise I'll listen to you carefully!"

"Okay…" The girl said hesitantly, using the back of her hands to rub the tears out of her green eyes. An aura of cheeriness was immediately exuded from the girl. She brightened up, gushing and smiling adorably. She threw a little fist into the air. "Then let's go find Nerima!"

"Yeah!" Ryoga cheered with the girl, throwing his own fist into the air.

All around him, people stayed clear of the bandana clad boy talking to himself, going through a wide array of emotions for seemingly no reason. Ryoga paid no mind to them, though. They had somehow gotten on to a board walk despite the last place they remembered being was a swamp.

"That way!" His angel pointed. He really tried focusing, looking carefully at the tiny outstretched arm and with his visión completely focused on the outstretched finger, he took a step forward, only to bump into someone. There was a tumble and the sound of metallic crashing on the stone below. Uriel pouted. "Hmph! So close!"

"Sorry about that mister." Ryoga apologized abashedly. He had bumped into a large, very built man, towering over him by a full head size. He had spiky reddish-orange hair pushed back above his forehead which bore an 'X' shaped scar on the left side. He wore a white tank top that showed off his muscular arms and chiseled chest. The tank top also exposed an interesting tattoo that looked like an intricate opened number 8 with the top part being larger and divided. In the center of the symbol was the number 4. The man was holding quite a large crate that a man even his size theoretically shouldn't hold. It was empty, as the pipes inside were all on the ground after Ryoga bumped into him. A quick glance, told Ryoga the man seemed to be working as there were several other men carrying boxes around. It was obvious, he was doing a job. After the initial crash, the workers turned their attention back to their work, knowing fully well how capable the man was.

"Don't worry about it." The man said, looking down at the fanged boy, smiling comfortingly. "I shoulda been looking out for you, haha."

"No really," Ryoga insisted, bowing, "I wasn't looking at where I was going. Here, I'll help you guys out."

"Don't worry about it," he said, "they're quite heavy…" To his surprise, Ryoga had no problem picking up all the pipes in one arm and bringing it over to the man. "You're pretty strong."

"Thanks." Ryoga accepted the compliment with his signature rub of the back of his head. He held out his hand, the pipes still gathered within his other arm. "I'm Ryoga Hibiki."

"Hidetora Tojo." The man greeted, shaking his hand and appreciating the strength behind the shake. He took the pipes and put them back in the oversized crate. He noticed the traveler's pack on Ryoga's back. "What are you doing here, Hibiki?"

"Ryoga's fine." He said absentmindedly, his focus on something else. "I'm looking for the Nerima district. Do you know where that is?"

"Nerima?" Tojo said in surprise. "What are you doing here in Okinawa?"

"That's what I want to know too..." Uriel who had been observing the entire conversation muttered, unheard and unseen to Tojo. It was then she recognized the tattoo on Tojo's arm. She ruffled her wings, in an attempt to catch Ryoga's attention. "Hey Ryoga."

"Huh?"

Tojo pointed across the boardwalk and towards the ocean, "Nerima is about two thousand kilometers that way."

"He has demon powers!" The angel whispered, unnecessarily. She floated forward and pointed at his arm. "He has the King's Crest! It's Beelzebub's symbol and there's a four… He's number four to Beelzebub!"

"So what do you want me to do?" Ryoga said, his eyes widening as he took another stock at the man in front of him. From what he was told, he didn't expect the man who was so kind to them to be a demon.

"Ah, I suppose you can just swim that way, haha." Tojo said jokingly. "There's a train station over there that'd take you no problem. There's also a bridge to the east if you plan to walk or drive there. Though, you'd have to be pretty crazy to walk there… but it looks like you've been walking this entire time."

"Beat him up!" The angel said, putting her dainty hands on her slim hips. "We can't let those dirty demons run around here! Don't you remember what I told you? They're going to destroy all of humanity. Don't you care about Akari… or Akane?"

Ryoga let off a small growl. Uncomfortable about the idea of beating up someone who was trying to help him out. "You're right."

"Hm?" Tojo intoned. "So you're going to take the bridge?" He then peered down to see Ryoga burst into a small aura around him.

"Sorry about this." Ryoga said, rearing a punch back, creating a sigil in front of him and unleashing the loaded punch. A boisterous snap was heard when his fist passed the sigil and a resounding smack as his fist dug into Tojo's stomach.

Caught unaware, Tojo was launched off his feet and into the building behind him, crumbling the wall down on him. The citizens around him immediately started screaming and cleared out of the way. He looked up at Ryoga who simply looked guilty and was mumbling to himself. That hurt! "Ow…"

"What was that?" Uriel admonished. "You barely used any of my power! You practically used nothing! You coulda finished him when you had the chance."

"How do we know he's not a demon?" Ryoga said, eyeing the man he punched. He was definitely still alive as he was slowly picking himself up.

Uriel tilted her head. "Well. He's not a demon, but the crest means he's working under Beelzebub, one of the top demons of the Demon world. He holds demon powers. And as Beelzebub's underling he'll be one of the future successor to rule all of the demon world. He's the kind of people you're supposed to be looking for."

"You're saying he's just a human?" Ryoga said shocked. He had heard some of the other stuff from Uriel already.

"Do you think normal humans can survive a punch like that?" Uriel answered dryly. "You also don't have any problems trying to beat Ranma to death. Multiple times. For even more minor issues. Like seriously. This guy is literally a subordinate to the demon who's told to take out all of humanity."

Ryoga sweated. That was a fair point. But then again, he knew Ranma could handle it.

"I'm saying, he's imbued with demonic power. If we let him go free, he'll be one of the officers to take control of humanity." The angel reasoned. "We should put him down now. Maybe not kill, I know you're not comfortable about that, but get him to lead us to his partners."

Tojo finally got up from the rubble, his hand favoring the area Ryoga had hit him. He didn't look angry, or particularly hurt, in the slightest. "Oh man! This is great!"

Ryoga perked up, not having expected such a reaction.

"That was a great punch!" He rotated his shoulders around as a stretch. "It's been a while since I've gotten a good fight."

With Oga reunifying Ishiyama High under his rule, there really wasn't any reason to be fighting. No more territorial disputes, no more arrogant freshmen looking for a ranking position, and no more new demons vying for domination. He had no idea why Ryoga attacked him, but seeing as he said 'sorry' before hitting him, it couldn't possibly be too serious. Without giving the situation another thought, he rushed at the fanged boy.

"What do you think of all of this?" Furuichi asked Oga as they made their way to their highschool.

"What's there to think of?" Oga walked with his hands shoved deep into his pockets, Beel was behind him, clinging to his shirt. "Some angels show up attacking us. And then we beat them savagely so they lose all hope and run their pansy asses back to where they come from."

"Abuh!" Beel cheered from behind, quite enjoying the maliciousness Oga exuded from his statement.

"No Oga, seriously." Furuichi paused in his walk, causing Oga to stop too. "Hilda doesn't know that much about the enemy. We don't know what they really want, how powerful they are, or even who they are. Hilda only recognized that one angel because she simply knew they weren't a demon."

Oga processed this and shrugged. "What are you telling me to do then? Mr. 'General', sir."

"I don't know for sure, you know I'm not a fighter." Furuichi frowned in thought. "Shouldn't you all train? Get better prepared for the enemy? We should go find Zenjuro and get him to teach you more. Or find Takimaya and Fuji. You might be more powerful than them but they're definitely more skilled."

"That just sounds like so much work." Oga said simply and started walking again.

Furuichi narrowed his eyes, and sped up to catch up with him. "This can't be something you just brush off. The only reason you beat Fuji with Satan was because we were all backing you up. They know about all of the demons here, so there's no way they're going to just send a couple angels to take us down. If they really see you all as a threat, there'll be a whole army. We don't know how powerful they are. For Takamiya and Fuji, we at least knew. This isn't going to be a 'Monster of the week' kind of thing. They have all the information and we don't."

Oga scoffed. "If nobody knows, how can you be so sure about this?"

"I'm just thinking." Furuichi answered. "It seems to be the most rational outcome."

"Hmm." Oga intoned. "If we were told to keep an eye out, what should we be looking for."

"I have no idea. Hilda said they look just like a demon would… which is just like us." Furuichi sweated. The situation was scaring him. The lack of information and suddenness of everything did not sit well with him.

"Do you think it's possible that they sent a baby angel down here, much like Beel, given him to a human, like me, and was told to raise him to become all powerful, like we're doing?"

"If it happened to you, I don't see why not." Furuichi said, unsure of what Oga was getting at.

"And with that baby comes a foreign nurse that happens to be wearing all white, a defining characteristic of angels, much like Hilda a foreign nurse that happens to be wearing all black, a defining characteristic of demons."

"Yes?" Furuichi blinked. "Why?"

"I was just wondering." Oga answered simply. He started to wave. "Hey Ranma! Cool baby you got there!"

Furuichi's eyes widened and turned to where Oga was waving to. Sure enough, there was Ranma with a baby sitting contently on his shoulders, seemingly dozing off with his face buried into Ranma's hair. The baby had an exotic look to him, bright red and orange hair, rounder features, and a jewel on his forehead. He was dressed in a tiny silk robe like outfit, seemingly swimming in the swaths of softness. It was a welcome sight compared to the naked baby he saw daily. Beside the baby was an incredibly beautiful white haired foreign woman in what looked like a white slightly armored leotard that showed off her smooth arms and long legs of which one of them had two gold rings around her thighs. She wore a gold necklace and earrings that had rubies embedded in the center. A very visible, sheathed, sword hung at her waist, that her arms, adorned with fingerless gauntlet, brushed past as she walked.

To his surprise, Ranma seemed to be sporting many very fresh injuries. His head sported an incredibly large bump as if an obscenely large blunt object had slammed into him there. His arms had many gashes and from where he was, Furuichi could almost smell something like fried flour. He was walking with a slight limp, something that worried Furuichi immensely, along with the other visible injuries, after seeing the martial artist fight. Behind him was both Ukyo and Akane looking quite peeved and understandably so.

After catching their fiance in an incredibly compromising position with an unmistakingly, scantily clad, yet quite beautiful woman, they couldn't help but lash out in feminine retribution, undeservingly towards Ranma, of course. It took some time, a few wild mallet swings, and many surprisingly sharp spatulas until they calmed down and an obnoxiously smirking Kiima explained to them the situation.

Akane was not particularly happy for a couple of reasons. Having a former enemy declare herself and their most dangerous enemy as angels, a symbol of purity, hope, and justice, really did not sit well with her. She was also uncomfortable with the fact that Ranma was chosen, from what she understood, to raise the potentially, supposedly, most powerful angel to protect humanity from demons. If she couldn't trust Ranma, then nobody should, after all. Now demons were another thing. While Kiima regrettably said she didn't know all the details except her orders to seek Ranma and 'Keep an eye on the demons,' as frustratingly vague as that was, Akane did not enjoy entertaining the existence of all powerful supernatural beings bent on destroying the planet. Sure she had seen some crazy things and crazy monsters but those were usually contained and relatively docile. Demons were their enemies supposedly hellbent on destroying humanity. What did they even look like? How many of them are there? Where are they? It felt completely beyond her scope of being a teenage highschool student. In addition, all of this could be an elaborate facade created by their enemies for a convoluted plan of revenge. On top of all that, Ranma didn't seem to be completely bothered by any of it, treating Saffron as a chore he had to do.

Ukyo, for the most part, mirrored Akane's thoughts. While she wasn't a witness to Kiima's and Saffron power, she was quite uncomfortable with being in the existence of angels and demons.

"Wazzat?" Ranma mumbled miserably, he looked around spotting a waving Oga. "Oh. Thanks man, you too!" He gave Oga two thumbs up who returned in kind. He sped his walking pace up, intending to meet up with Oga. This seemed to wake up the baby on Ranma's shoulder, sleepily taking account of all his surroundings. Almost immediately upon spotting the green haired baby on Oga's back, his eyes locked with Beel. Beel noticed this and started glaring back.

"What the what?" Furuichi yelled, surprising Ranma's group as he pointed accusingly at the glaring baby clinging to Ranma. "Where'd that baby come from? You didn't have him yesterday!"

"To be completely honest…" Ranma led off. "It came from the sky. A little bird flew into the room and dropped it off to me, this morning."

Behind him Kiima, twitched.

"Y-you can't be serious." Furuichi gaped in disbelief. In the brief moment

Ranma shrugged, above him Saffron was struggling to get a better position on top of Ranma's head, keeping his visión on the green haired baby. "Weirder things have happened."

The white haired boy pointed to the foreign woman. "And who's she?"

"This is Kiima. The little bird." The pigtailed boy answered nonchalantly, much to the distaste of the woman in question. "She's making sure I actually take care of this bundle of joy on my head, instead of playing baseball using him."

Furuichi blinked. "You mean with him?"

"I mean sure, that works too." Ranma frowned, unsure why that particular word would work better.

Furuichi turned to his violent friend, scouring for any sort of reaction. To his dismay, Oga didn't seem to care, continuing to walk towards the school. He felt a small headache coming on as his mind tried to comprehend everything thrown at him. He wasn't sure if what Oga said had been serious or just speculating.

Ranma and Oga caught up to each other, now walking side by side rather than across the street from each other. Within a day the two had gained great mutual respect and trust with each other, after forming an unspoken bond that men get after playing video games with each other nonstop. Such is the ritual of manhood. It also helped to knowing they each were power fighters. Their acquaintances followed several steps behind. The Neriman girls and Ishiyama boy all deep in thought while Kiima had a wary eye open.

On top of their heads Beel and Saffron still glared at each other. The two remained that way until the naked baby pulled down his left eyelid and stuck out his tongue past the pacifier.

"Blyahh!"

Incensed, Saffron shuffled around Ranma's head to completely face his unclothed counterpart.

"Phbbblt"

"Jeez, Saff." Ranma grunted, keeping the baby balanced on his head as the baby pulled at his hair in his movement. "What the hell's wrong with you?"

Oga, still walking ahead with his head down and hands in his pocket, replied gruffly. "You'll get used to it."

"Buh babuh ba buhhh buhhh"

"Phblt phooey!"

"So what's up with your baby?" Ranma asked, breaking the comfortable silence shared between fathers. His head was bobbling as he counterbalanced the hyperactive baby ontop of his head. "Didn't ask ya for some reason, yesterday, after hangin' with you for half the day."

"Found him in an old man floating down the river." Oga answered. He didn't need move his head, not just because he had more experience balancing the baby, but mostly not caring if Beel actually fell. It'd build character.

"No kiddin'"

"Yep."

"In an old man? Did he claw his way out of the old man's stomach or something?"

"Nah. The old dude opened himself up and Beel was there."

"You mean like he stabbed himself?"

"Nah. Like he opened himself up like a door… I kinda wish he stabbed himself."

"Huh. That's pretty cool. Not the stabbing part."

"It'd be cooler if what you said happened."

"Yo, that's brutal."

"Eh, the old man's been a pain in the ass."

"Old people are a literal pain in the ass."

"So, what about you?"

"Went to sleep, then next thing I know, I woke up with a baby sleeping on my chest."

"Shit man. Now that's a teenage nightmare."

"You're telling me."

"Let me guess. You have to take care of him now because he chose you?"

"No way! You too?"

"You know it. Such a pain too. Now I have to raise him to be some great demon king."

"Oh. That's rough. Think I'll be joining ya in the suffering. Saff here is gonna to be the top archangel or somethin'"

"Huh. Issat so?"

"Hold up…" Ranma blinked twice.

"Wait a second..." Oga staggered in his stroll.

Behind them, the entire group was frozen at the two lines of revelation. Whatever funk they were just quickly vanished as their greatest enemies were revealed. The atmosphere suddenly and seemingly thickened immensely over as the group eyed the two invididuals critically.

Ranma snapped towards Oga, his brow furrowing critically. Saff above his head wobbled and Beel was able to get in a cheek poke. "I still don't get how someone just opens themself up like a door. He's got a handle or something?"
"Nevermind that!" Oga shook his head quickly, throwing Beel off guard for a second and allowing Saff to throw in an extra raspberry. "What the hell did you mean when you said old people are literally a pain in the ass?! In?"

There was a massive tumbling crash behind them.

Ranma crossed his arms, and Saffron above him mimicked the stance. "I know two old crones who have a knack for beating my ass with their sticks. Well… I guess Happosai uses a pipe."

Oga narrowed his eyes, and Beel glared furiously. "I don't know if that's worse than I originally thought. And what I meant was that he splits apart in the middle and the halves part from each other."

"That's more like a box!"

"It could be double doors, you eighteenth century styled buffoon!"

"You didn't say that, you spiky haired psychotic twit!"

"Wait!" Furuichi and Ukyo shouted.

"What?!"

"That baby's an archangel?" Furuichi accused, pointing at the redhaired haughty looking baby.

"And he's going to be demon king?" Ukyo gasped, pointing at the greenhaired derpy looking baby.

"Oh." Ranma and Oga both blinked in synch.

"That's all I needed to hear." A voice from above declared. With a quick look up, Kiima was in the air, her body horizontal as she prepared to rotate to whip her unsheathed sword at Beel's head.

The sword mere centimeters from the nape of Beel's neck, it was stopped with a resounding clang. With a sharp 'tsk' Kiima used the force of the blocked sword to rebound backwards safely away from the defending sword.

Standing defensively with her sword drawn was Hilda, her umbrella sword off to the side as she stood defensively. She raised her sword to Kiima. "You will bring no harm to master."

"Hilda!" Furuichi shouted, flabbergasted by the quick byplay of events. One moment, Kiima was in the air, sword raised. Then the next, Hilda seemingly appeared with her own sword drawn to block the offending sword. "How'd you get here so fast?"

Hilda, with her eyes locked on the other nurse spoke sharply. "I was always here, trailing you from behind. With my presence, the enemy would not have shown."

Off to the side, Akane highly doubted that statement.

"Saotome." Kiima called, eyeing her counterpart warily. "We cannot let that baby get away."

Ranma crossed his arms. "I'm not going to fight some baby."

Kiima's eye narrowed. "You tried kill my lord. Twice."

"Nuh uh. I knew you were going to save him. If you didn't, it'd be your fault."

"Oga." Hilda said. "You must stop him. That's Archangel Michael. I recognized him from the books, even as an infant. He will be our most powerful enemy."
Oga scowled, disliking being told what to do. "That little runt?"

"Yes. Indeed." Hilda, nodded affirmatively. She pointed her sword at Kiima. "Meanwhile, I'll take care of this angel bitch."

"Is that so?" Kiima replied, raising her own sword in challenge. "You'll find that quite difficult. Demon scum."

Oga and Ranma gave each other glances.

And at an unspoken signal, the nurses charged.

Ryoga breathed heavily from where he stood. Around him, devoid of any other people, were piles of rubble, enormous craters, and splinters of wood spread across the dock. Buildings were littered with holes, some in the shape of bodies and others with burnt edges. Directly at his feet laid a large body, the only other human in the vicinity. His face was flat on the rough ground, letting his redish orange hair face the sky. He could see the man's sculpted back rise and descend slowly, signifying his unconsciousness.

All that could be heard was Ryoga's haggard's breath and Tojo's steady, but shallow breaths.

"That took forever." Uriel whined, from Ryoga's side. She stood on the ground, wanting to feel the rubble under her feet. "Why didn't you use more of my power?"

The battle had been quite a slugfest. Not many fancy moves, but simply punch after punch just absorbing the blow or blocking it. Knee after knee, kick after kick, and hold after hold. It really was a fight of brutes. Tojo barely dodged, rather taking the entire powered hit and releasing his own simultaneously. Ryoga barely dodged either, rather taking the time to hit back. The force of their blows blasted them back into buildings, constantly crumpling and creating new holes. They would quickly get up from those though. Ryoga replied between breaths. "I don't need you to fight him."

"Maybe." The child said. "But… You could've done less damage and saved some time. And have taken less hits. And not hurt him as much. And worked on your control over my abilities. And-"

"Okay. I get it." Ryoga interrupted. "But you don't understand, Uriel-sama. This was a fight between men. Between warriors. You may not understand it up in your world with your rankings and orders or whatever you told me, but for us humans we need to prove our worth through our own actions."

Uriel snorted, her nose wrinkling quite adorably. "Well, don't you sound out of character."

Ryoga ignored the comment, lost in thought and fixated at the downed man. Besides he did too another dimension to his character. The man that Uriel said was under demon influence fought for fun. While they traded blows, Tojo had the widest grin he had ever seen fighting. It wasn't like Ranma's shit eating grin where he knew something his opponent didn't. Or the maniacal battle lusted smiles he had seen on Happosai or Taro. Or the arrogant ones he's seen Shampoo and Mousse wear. It was one of pure joy. Battling for the sake of battle. Tojo had nothing to gain losing or winning. He just wanted to fight for the thrill. When was the last time Ryoga felt that himself? He had always trained and fought for another purpose. Become closer with his family, defeat bullies, defeat Ranma, defend Akane, and whatever it was his mind was set on at the time. Had he ever really enjoyed the art?

"Ryoga?" His angel looked at her contractor curiously, noting the absent-mindedness. That wasn't good. Especially after defeating one of the enemy. She shook the man. "Ryoga! I think I hear someone coming. If you don't want to finish him then grab him and let's go!"

The fanged boy quickly shook his head, pushing his thoughts to the back of mind. "Ah. You're right." With very little effort, he picked up Tojo and with the fireman carry. He started moving.

"Nonono." Uriel slapped her forehead, exasperated. "That's the wrong way… Why would you ever head towards the water?"

Steel on steel resounded through the streets leading to Ishiyama. Hilda and Kiima were at each others toes, not letting either of them get a break from constant slashing but unyielding to the other. Both were intensely focused, looking for that sliver of an opening to end it all. There wasn't any. Being highly trained in their trade to protect their masters of their respective worlds. To the most skilled eye, one could say Hilda's skill had the edge, though Kiima made up for the gap in terms of her resourcefulness. Having experience in aerial combat, she was comfortable using the environment to duck and weave through Hilda's highly skilled assault. Where taunts and jibes were typically thrown in the heat in battle, the only sounds were sharp clangs, it's reverberation, and the stunned conversation of the battle's observers.

"Is that Oga's wife?" An unnamed student asked.

"Looks like it." His unimportant friend answered. "Do you know anyone else who dresses like that?"

"True true. I hope it gets cut up."

"You 'n me both dude." The lechers agreed. "Know who she's fighting?"

"Dunno, but I like her too. This fight's awesome."

Another insignificant voice joined the conversation. "You two should get out of here. It's dangerous."

"G-general Furuichi!" The two students said simultaneously, backing off and retreating towards the school. Oga's righthand man always knew what was going on. "Yessir!"

"General?" Akane whispered from the side. She, and Ukyo, were fixated at the fight between the two. She had seen Kiima in action but it was no where at the same level she had seen before. She was glad Kiima never had truly intended to kill her back in China.

Furuichi turned back to the fight, his sense of dread increasing as he recognized the severity of the battle. They were fighting to kill. Every swing was aimed at a vital organ, each stroke precise and crippling, and their motions blurring as he could barely keep up with his own lack of training. It was terribly frightening seeing the power and speed display. Where had seen most battles with Oga to shows of immense power, it wasn't often he saw deliberate combat. He had only seen Hilda go so serious once before and he could tell she was about to take the battle a notch up.

At the briefest break where both fighters took a moment to breathe, wisps of dark demonic aura flickered to life, enveloping Hilda's sword and parts of her body in a deathly dark aura. She parted her hair, revealing an enlarged, solid green iris and smaller pupil. Furuichi knew this allowed her to process the situation ten times faster and the tiniest of objects. She only had it covered to prevent the nausea it would induce. With a burst of speed and a moment's passing, Hildadashed in.

To Furuichi's surprise, two large wings sprouted immediately from Kiima's back and with a quick flap, she was able to propel herself backwards to narrowly avoid Hilda's deadly strike. With her impressive white wings, Kiima took flight, hovering a safe distance from her opponent. Hilda, wasn't remotely surprised and leapt forward, covering the distance in under a second and she struck. The black aura flaring greatly from her sword with a hungry edge. Kiima blocked, becoming pushed far back as the air provided no resistance from the heavy blow. As the swords made contact, a golden aura erupted from her own sword and the two energies clashed violently, much like molten lava being dropped into sub-zero water. There was a thundering crack, and a burst of energy detonated and Furuichi winced as a wave of hot air washed over his face. The two swordswomen we blown back from the force.

Disheveled and tattered, both fighters closed in immediately. With a small jump before close quarters, Kiima unleashed hundreds feathers of razor feathers to which Hilda expertedly deflected while moving towards the angel in flight. Glowing swords struck, causing mini explosions as polar energies clashed violently. He could see blood and gashes showing through Kiima's white outfit. Hilda looked barely better, her thin dress pressed against her skin at soaked parts of her dress. For both fighters, none of the wounds did much to slow them down. Observing carefully, Furuichi could tell Hilda was steadily gaining the upperhand.

With some feeling of certainty, Furuichi tore his attention away from the impassioned duel to the death and towards their charge. Their own battle was taking place.

"C'mon!" Oga growled. He eyed the situation carefully, he didn't like how it was turning out. Was he really going to lose? To him? The grapple. Get out of the grapple. Get out of the grapple!

"You have no chance." Ranma smirked, it was more serious than it was arrogant. An aura of confidence lightly enveloped his body as he made his own assessment. If everything kept up the way it was, the battle would come out to his favor. There was no way he would lose. That's right… just a little bit more to secure it. Just keep at it. Hold it!

Oga growled again. "C'mon! You can't give up. Not now. Not ever." His body tensed in anger and his own red aura enveloped his body. Flickering dangerously compared to Ranma's controlled flow. Fight, damnit! Don't give in. PUSH.

"Three." Ranma's smirk grew larger. The arrogance slowly took over. He's done.

"No way!" Oga inhaled sharply. He held his breath. PUSH HARDER.

"Two."

"Impossible!"

"One!"

"Shit!" Oga's head fell hin shame.

"Saffron wins!" Ranma cheered, throwing his hands up in victory.

In between the two were their wards. Saffron sitting smugly on Beel's naked back, his expression matching nearly perfectly to his to-be-contractor. Beel laid stomach down, his arms and legs squirming as he tried to push the offending baby off, but to no avail. His eyes were large and watery and lips trembling.

"Don't you dare cry." Oga snapped, effectively shutting the quivering infant up. Beel lost? After all those months of bonding and exercise of manhood? He lost to a pampered baby who barely bonded for not even half a day?

"You go Saff." Ranma said proudly. He was a little surprised that Saffron won the wrestling match, quite smoothly pinning Beel down with very little opposition. He figured with the royal treatment he constantly received, he'd have a harder time with the physical. Though, perhaps, having thousands of years of latent experiences may have played a hand.

"What the hell are you two doing?" Furuichi yelled, his hands thrown in front of him furiously. The metallic ringing of the battle mere meters behind him could still be clearly heard. "Hilda's fighting for her life. And you're here making babies fight?!"

"Nah." Ranma held his hand out and Oga grumpily shuffled his hand in his pocket to disgruntedly put a few yen bills into Ranma's open palm. Ranma pocketed it. "They were fighting amongst themselves without us. We were betting on them."

"I- wh- you-." Furuichi sputtered.

Oga put a hand on Furuichi's shoulder. "Relax."

"Relax? Me relax?" Furuichi yelled indignantly to the indifferent expression of Oga. "How can you take this so lightly?!" He pointed to Saffron who was still smugly sitting on Beel's back. "Our greatest enemy is right there."

Oga scowled, a more serious expression compared to his other scowls. "Takayuki, look at Ranma and Saffron."

Furuichi turned his attention to the pigtailed man, the supposed contractor to the strongest archangel. He was picking Saffron and putting him on his shoulder, the two beaming confidently, mirroring each other well.

Oga continued, his arm wrapped around the back of his friend's neck, pulling him closer. "We talked it out. Look. Do they really look like our enemies? Do you really want me to kill a baby? Or attack someone who doesn't intend to fight me?"

Furuichi stayed silent, trying to push the fear out of his mind and replacing it with rationalization. Ranma had just received the baby. Just a baby. Hilda did say she didn't know what the angel goals were. Ranma had shown no malice towards them and was friendly to them since yesterday. Even after the revelation that Beelzebub was to be the next Demon King, it was apparent Ranma did not try to take him out. Had he known nothing about the baby, he would not have seen him as a threat at all, aside from his fighting abilities.

There was another explosion behind them, causing Furuichi to flinch. He spoke frantically. "Okay fine. But if you two aren't going to do anything to each other, can we at least stop Hilda's fight? Someone could seriously get hurt. They're fighting to kill."

"Yeah. Yeah." Oga said gruffly, unravelling his arm from Furuichi's neck and picking a depressed Beel of the ground, brushing some dirt off his stomach. Off to the side, Ranma approached them, Saffron hanging off his neck.

"Let's clear this up."

This chapter was basically just setting the foundation down even more.

Was there some conflicting information in this story? Yes. It was intended.

Did I really make 3ish year old babies wrestle and be bet on? You can bet that I'll be doing it more

Am I going to continue teasing Ranma's and Oga's epic battle? Probably. Lol

The way I see it, is that neither one of them really initiates fights on their own. They don't fight just because someone tells them to. There has to be actual aggression to make start fighting. Oga doesn't randomly beat up people. People came to him to beat him up, then he responded, and treated them like worms. Ranma's about the same. The chaos comes to him, and he responds.

I can see them both easily being best buds.

I intend to set up the characters and relationships then slowly sprinkle Ranma ½ cast for some good laughs and absurd situations while a greater storyline is slowly unveiled.

Reviews are appreciated. Criticisms or compliments, it matters not.