Interesting Times

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Ink Burns

This is a work of fiction. All characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental.

This is a work of fanfiction, produced according to the principles of transformative fair use as put forward in US copyright law, and abiding by the custom and practice of fan-produced work in Japan, where the source texts were created. No author is in any way affiliated with any of the creators of the source texts, nor with the companies who distribute their products, nor any other rights holder, and these stories were not authorized by either the creators or the producers. Ink Burns is a fan site and the material here is freely provided for the enjoyment of fellow fan-community members; there is no commercial infringement.

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 US license at the Ink Burns fanfiction archive (http://alltrees.org/archive/).

Published on 2005-02-02 16:15:29.

Attributions can be made by author's name and a link to the archive.

This ebook edition was published on May 16, 2012 by the Ink Burns fanfiction archive.

Interesting Times

Kurikara and Michael hit it off. Drama with Humor, I-2

Kippei really did hope that at some point his days would become less interesting.

"So, lemme get this straight." The short, glowering redhead who had appeared on his courts put his hands on his hips. "You summoned me to deal with him?" He waved a hand at Michael, who was also glowering, dividing his attention between the newcomer and Lucifer.

Lucifer, having set his brother off in the first place, with no regard for visiting shinigami, lounged on the sidelines watching the show.

The younger of St. Rudolph's two guardians glared right back. "Who else were we supposed to summon for something like this, Kurikara?" he snapped. "Suzaku? She'd make it twice as bad. Souryuu? Give me a break!"

Kurikara paused judiciously. "Well, all right, you might have a point. Though it could be kind of funny watching the cold fish deal with this."

"Why are you in that form, though? You should have two wings in this world, not two legs," Tsuzuki cut hurriedly over whatever his partner had been drawing breath to say, for which Kippei was grateful; he hadn't noticed Kurosaki being very moderate in his temper at the best of times.

Kurikara gave him a withering look. "Between them," he gestured to Michael and Lucifer, "and your knee-jerk habit of casting wards at the first sign of trouble we're not precisely standing in Ningenkai, if you haven't noticed."

Tsuzuki blinked. "Oh."

Kurikara slapped a hand over eyes. "I'm surrounded by idiots," he growled, and then paused, glancing at Kurosaki. "Okay, not complete idiots, a complete idiot really would have called in Suzaku and the whole city would be burning." He eyed Michael, and the scorch marks from where he'd lost his temper at Lucifer's arrival. "You remind me of her, some."

While Michael was deciding how to take that, Lucifer stirred from his slouch against the fence. Kippei braced himself for a new round of explosions. Lucifer's tone, however, was academic when he spoke.

"Of course he does. We are, after all, reflections of each other in our different planes." Lucifer pushed himself upright, and paced across the court, not to Michael, but to Tsuzuki. Kippei settled back, watchfully. Lucifer took the man's chin in his fingers, holding him still for a searching examination. Just when Tsuzuki was starting to look tense and Kurosaki was looking as incendiary as Michael, Lucifer let him go. "You have some of the same heart as the Messiah," he said, "but your power is broken. A shame, that. If you were whole you might be able to free your little human with your own strength." He didn't wait for an answer before turning away, which, to Kippei's eye, was a good thing. Tsuzuki looked stunned.

"Enjoy yourself, Michael," Lucifer told his brother as he walked away from them all. "Try not to destroy the entire world."

Michael's jaw dropped, and Kippei sighed. He'd known it was coming.

"Try not... world... you... You asshole!" he howled at Lucifer's departing back. "I'm not the one who tried, even if it didn't work!" Fire was snapping around him again.

"Michael-kun," Kippei said, firmly.

Michael swung around. "What?!" Kippei waited, and after a moment Michael deflated a little, and the flames faded. "Sorry," he muttered.

Kippei, now that he wouldn't be singed, clasped Michael's shoulder, hoping to lend him some calm.

Kurikara gazed after Lucifer. "So," he remarked, "that was the Lord of Hell, hm?" He looked contemplative for a moment before he snorted. "What a jerk."

Michael stopped brooding and turned a brilliant smile on him. "I like him," he declared to the court at large. "What was your name again?"

"Kurikara, RyuuOu."

"Michael, Angel of Fire. Pleased to meet you."

Looking at the two of them grinning at each other over clasped hands Kippei couldn't help thinking, though he was careful not to say, that Lucifer really did know his brother pretty well. Michael probably would enjoy himself with Kurikara. He turned back to his other guests, only to find Kurosaki looking at him intently.

"Tsuzuki, I really don't think we should interfere here," Kurosaki said.

"We know this team is picking up some serious influences from Michael, though," Tsuzuki objected. "That's going to mess up the bookkeeping, and they always blame us for that."

"They'll live," Kurosaki replied bluntly. "I'll speak to Tatsumi-san, if there's trouble. As long as Tachibana-san is here, it will be all right. We shouldn't interfere."

"Oh?" Tsuzuki's glance at Kippei was suddenly more measuring. "Oh. Well, in that case..." He was interrupted by the increasing volume of Michael and Kurikara's discussion.

"...you got to toast him yourself?" Michael was exclaiming, gleefully. "Awesome! I was on the other side of the building when Setsuna and Ani-ue were killing God; I was so pissed off."

"It was great to finally get my claws around the Emperor's neck," Kurikara agreed, with a look that would have been beatific with fewer sharp teeth. "It was almost as much fun as pounding Souryuu into the ground like a tent peg when I finally got loose again."

Michael looked enthralled. Kippei sighed. He could have wished for Michael to acquire a calmer friend, but at least Kurikara seemed to have decent control of his temper. A muffled chuckle from Kurosaki brought his attention back to the shinigami. Kurosaki was regarding him with the kind of sympathetic amusement that suggested he had just heard Kippei volunteer to babysit his neighborhood's greatest brat.

"I wouldn't have your job if they paid me," Kurosaki said. "Good luck. Come on Tsuzuki."

"Um." Tsuzuki glanced at Kurikara.

Kurikara glanced back and waved a hand. "Yeah, yeah. So, Michael, I'm really not supposed to stay in this plane without anything to do, and as soon as Tsuzuki takes back his wards I'm going to be a really big flaming dragon anyway. Wanna come back to Gensoukai with me?"

"Sure," Michael agreed, and then paused and looked at Kippei.

Kippei smiled at him; Michael still needed a good deal of reassurance. "We'll still be around when you get back, Michael-kun."

Michael looked away and shrugged. "Of course."

Kurikara gave him a wry look, winked at Kippei, and threw an arm over Michael's shoulders. "Let's go then! Beer and stories!" They both vanished in a flicker of fire.

Kippei shook his head at the space where Michael had been. Someday, maybe, his life would stop being quite so strange, but he wasn't betting on it.

End