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