\nMere humans shouldn’t be so damned perceptive, Michael had decided, even
\nif they did have some funny bloodlines going for them. It was distressing how
\nwell he fit in with the guys of Fudoumine’s tennis team, who didn’t
\ntake shit from anyone, and the way Ann had taken to mothering him—well, Raphael
\nwould never let him hear the end of it, so Michael had decided that there was
\nno way he was letting word of this get around back home.<\/p>\n
\nHe still didn’t see much appeal in the tennis thing itself, though.<\/p>\n
\nIt was a real pity that his brother had to have gone and shown up at the Fudoumine
\ncourts, though, and spoiled an otherwise pleasant afternoon of hanging out with
\nthe guys.<\/p>\n
\n“What do you want?” Michael demanded, glaring. If there had been any
\njustice in the universe, Lucifer would have combusted on the spot, and Belial
\nwould’ve gone up right along with him.<\/p>\n
\n“Can’t a man want to visit his own brother?” Lucifer inquired,
\nand if a person squinted, and maybe was half-blind, he might have said Lucifer
\nwas smiling pleasantly. “It’s been a while.”<\/p>\n
\n“Not long enough,” Michael growled. He crossed his arms. “What
\ndo you really want?”<\/p>\n
\nBut they were interrupted before Lucifer had a chance to answer. The guys had
\nstopped practice to look, and Tachibana was headed in their direction—and fuck,
\nAnn was with him. “Michael-kun, who are your guests?” she caroled,
\nlooking Lucifer and Belial over.<\/p>\n
\nLucifer, in turn, was examining Tachibana. “This must be the one,”
\nhe remarked to Belial, who nodded, looking speculative.<\/p>\n
\nTachibana took a position at Michael’s shoulder. “Won’t you
\nintroduce us, Michael-kun?” he asked, voice deep and even and very, very
\nterritorial.<\/p>\n
\nBelial grinned, and Michael glared at hir. “This,” he said, reluctantly,
\n“is Lucifer, the Lord of Hell.” Well, there was no real use in not
\nacknowledging it. “My brother.”<\/p>\n
\n“You never said you had a brother,” Ann said, with a grin.<\/p>\n
\n“He tries to avoid the topic,” Belial said, smoothly. “You may
\ncall one Mad Hatter.” Se looked at Tachibana. “You must be Tachibana-kun.”<\/p>\n
\n“I suppose I must be.” At least Tachibana had the good sense to sound
\nwary. “You have the advantage of me.”<\/p>\n
\n“Seiichi has told me a great deal about you,” Belial purred. “It’s
\nsuch a pity Mika-chan got to you first.”<\/p>\n
\nAnn shot Michael a look, and mouthed “Mika-chan?” at him. Michael
\nground his teeth. His brother was going to pay for this, if only he could figure
\nout how.<\/p>\n
\nThen inspiration struck. “Actually,” Michael drawled, trying to match
\nLucifer’s bored tones, “if you wanna get right down to it, I didn’t
\nget to them first.” When he was sure he had Lucifer’s attention, he
\ngrinned. “Setsuna did.”<\/p>\n
\nThe effect was every bit as gratifying as Michael could have hoped, and he etched
\nthe sight of Lucifer’s face into his memory to treasure. Of course, it did
\nmean that Belial stepped closer to hir master and the atmosphere turned about
\nten degrees more dangerous, but then, Michael was a dangerous sort of guy himself.
\n“Setsuna,” Lucifer said, finally. <\/p>\n
\n“Mmmmhm,” Michael agreed, savoring the moment. “Really, I’m
\nhere as a favor to him.”<\/p>\n
\nThen Tachibana’s hand dropped on his shoulder, the way he did sometimes
\nwhen Kamio started getting excitable. “I take it you know Setsuna too,”
\nTachibana said, and immediately the atmosphere lightened somewhat.<\/p>\n
\nLucifer’s lips quirked. “I have found that Setsuna has a way of getting
\naround.”<\/p>\n
\n“No kidding,” Ann agreed, and Michael blinked, wondering when she
\nhad gotten herself part of the way between Belial and himself. “That guy
\nknows everybody.”<\/p>\n
\nBelial laughed. “That is possibly truer than you know.” Se surveyed
\nthe courts, where the rest of the guys had given up the pretense of practicing,
\nand were ambling over. “One can see how he would be happy here.”<\/p>\n
\n“Yes,” Lucifer agreed, and he had gone back to smooth and untouchable.
\nWell, it had been fun while it had lasted, anyway. “Things seem to be well
\nin hand here.”<\/p>\n
\n“We’re so glad you approve,” Ann said, and while she wasn’t
\nbeing ungracious about it, she definitely didn’t sound as friendly as she
\nhad. She was pretty cool, for a girl, Michael decided. <\/p>\n
\n“One will be looking forward to seeing Fudoumine at Nationals,” Belial
\nmurmured, eyes sharp. <\/p>\n
\nMichael stuck his chin out. “Don’t be in too much of a hurry,”
\nhe warned. “We’re gonna kick your asses.”<\/p>\n
\n“One looks forward to seeing you try,” Belial said, amiably. “But
\none trusts you won’t destroy the stadium in a fit of rage when you lose.”<\/p>\n
\nMichael hissed, but Tachibana squeezed his shoulder in warning, and Michael checked
\nhis temper somewhat. “Fudoumine looks forward to meeting Rikkai Dai at Nationals,”
\nhe said, calmly, and the guys had ranged themselves behind them in support. “Until
\nthen, however, we have a great deal of work to do.”<\/p>\n
\nBelial looked to be impressed in spite of hirself, and Lucifer’s laugh rumbled
\nlow in his throat. “Our presence is keeping you from that work,” he
\nsaid. “We’ll be going.”<\/p>\n
\n“And good riddance,” Michael growled.<\/p>\n
\n“And goodbye to you, too, Michael,” Lucifer said, and he and Belial
\nvanished.<\/p>\n
\nAnn let out a long breath. “That,” she said, “was interesting.”<\/p>\n
\nMichael shrugged off Tachibana’s hand. “I fucking hate him,”
\nhe complained, to no one in particular. <\/p>\n
\n“Those are Rikkai’s pet demons, huh?” Kamio asked, and when
\nMichael looked over his shoulder at the guys, most of them were wearing thoughtful
\nexpressions. “What did they want with us?”<\/p>\n
\nMichael shrugged. “To piss me off,” he said, trying for nonchalant
\nand not quite making it. “Same as always. Sorry he interrupted your practice.”<\/p>\n
\n“Things are certainly more interesting with you around,” Shinji observed,
\nand nudged Kamio. “Come play a set with me.”<\/p>\n
\nKamio looked to Tachibana, who nodded, and followed Shinji to the courts. After
\na moment, the doubles pairs followed them, and began their own practice set. Tachibana
\nwatched them go and smiled. He glanced at Michael. “We’re strong,”
\nhe said. “We’ll definitely win.”<\/p>\n
\nMichael grinned back. “Of course we will.”\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Lucifer finally meets Michael at Fudoumine.