Belial and Kanzeon have tea.
Belial took another sip of hir tea and aimed a glittering smile at the being across the table. "So. We’ve caught up on gossip, traded fashion tips, and one has flattered your latest blend. Don’t you think it’s time we got around to business?"
How Ryouma got so girl-clueless.
"Gabriel-sama?" Arariel leaned around the doorway, and raised her brows at the seal Gabriel had just completed. "Um. Someone due for a little divine punishment?"
"Eminently," Gabriel said, between her teeth.
A bit of Tezuka’s family background.
In one of the few speeches Kunimitsu’s father made that Kunimitsu’s grandfather approved of, the man declared, "Everything is about connections – who you know, you notices you, and especially who you can rely on." His grandfather had declared the rest of the speech to be garbage, but that was hardly unexpected.
How Ryouma’s uncle came to be away from the temple.
Temples and their priests got all kinds of visitors, some of them pretty odd. But the last thing Konzen had expected, when he opened the door to answer the bell, was for a tangle of limbs to land on and hug him while crowing "Sanzou!"
Crowley under cover.
As far as cover went, it was nearly perfect. Sure, there were dangers, like the gimlet eye of the angel, who certainly suspected that something was not right, but couldn’t put his finger on what that something might be. Crowley could deal with that in his sleep, and frequently did.
Ryouma gets an offer.
Ryoma looked at the boy across from him skeptically. "Not that I think you’re lying, but remind me why you’re doing this again?"
"Call it sibling rivalry," Michael replied shortly.
Michael talks to Tezuka.
Tezuka was taking a break and drinking some water when he noticed the angel approaching.
Tezuka’s rules about angels.
Tezuka adjusted his glasses and gave Ryoma the quiet, grave look that meant that the boy had done something that was not, as it were, directly forbidden, but that Ryoma certainly should have known better, given his buchou, the world, and the heavenly host. "Echizen," said Tezuka calmly, "What have I told you about dealing with the heavenly host?"
Lucifer passes through Seigaku and Hatter spots Fuji.
When the Lord of Hell and what had to be his strongest supporter appearedat the courts, Kunimitsu took a prompt and firm hold of Fuji’s arm.
A Belial and Fuji moment.
Shuusuke took a precautionary step backwards. "Is there any particular reason I should ignore a friend’s warning in order to talk with you?"
Ryouma gets off on the wrong foot with Kurai.
Ryoma caught the demon girl looking around after Fudoumine practice. He estimated that he’d end up running about forty laps for this, but decided that it was probably worth it. “Hey, you,” he called.
Ryouma makes some suggestions to Lucifer.
Ryoma was sitting on the porch at home when a tall man strolled into the yard and stood in front of him. He decided that the man was probably someone that he could get along with…or, rather, someone that he wished played tennis.
Tezuka finds out what Ryouma’s been up to.
Tezuka Kunimitsu decided that he was having a bad day when Echizen walked up to him with that look in his eye; the one that Echizen had picked up from Fuji.
Raphael comes looking for Michael and gets a surprise.
He very nearly bypassed the first school, figuring it for a fluke, until the boy with glasses looked directly at him, sighed, and inquired, "We’re not interested, but thank you anyway." He eyed Raphael. "You might try Hyoutei."
Tezuka talks to relatives about his problems.
“Pfft. You make me feel old. I’m Hiiragizawa Eriol, though you’re free to call me ‘uncle’ if you like.” Something about Eriol’s purely friendly smile made Tezuka uneasy. He wasn’t sure precisely why he wanted to have a wall at his back at the moment, but he forced himself to ignore the urge and go on.
Belial introduces the Fujis to the Mudous.
Notes: Contains consensual sibling incest.
Yuuta sighed, resigned, and then had to take a second look at the person who had hailed his brother. He didn’t think he’d ever seen anyone dressed quite that flamboyantly outside a festival. Or, possibly, a circus. He was busy enough looking at the top hat that it took him a few moments to notice that his brother had paused beside the strange person, and was now standing on Yuuta’s other side.
Between him and the strangers. Yuuta took a closer look.
Eriol visits Seigaku, much to Tezuka’s dismay.
Tezuka could have predicted that Eriol would walk right up to Fuji. He also could have predicted the sweet smile that would grace Eriol’s face when said meeting occurred. He had not, however, predicted that Fuji would smile and greet Eriol as if the man were an old friend.
Ooishi gets a taste of his own medicine.
Raphael snorted. "What is it with you warrior types that you never want to actually talk to a physician before it’s a crisis? Come here," pointing to the space in front of him, "and let me look at your wrist. You’ve been favoring it all day."
Raphael earns the gratitude of Seigaku.
Just being an angel didn’t qualify Raphael as a particularly nice person. In fact, he’d be the first to admit that he wasn’t even a particularly good person.
Tezuka sets up ranking blocks.
"Headache, Tezuka-kun?" Raphael asked, leaning against one of the empty desks.
Kunimitsu took his hand from his forehead. "I’m fine," he said, and that was true, but not likely to deter Raphael’s bored curiosity.
Michael taunts Belial about winning and Lucifer gets involved.
"Hah!" Michael took his opportunity, as the teams filtered past each other on the way out of the stadium, to taunt Mad Hatter. "Told you we’d kick your asses."
Yukimura meets his new magic teacher and said teacher’s housemate.
"So, tell me about these people."
It wasn’t really that Seiichi didn’t trust Belial. He did. He just also had a lively respect for his demon’s sense of humor.
Konzen gets home and he and Ryouma finally meet.
Ryouma was fairly used to uproars around the house every now and then, especially when Nanako found his dad’s latest stash of magazines or one of his noisier senpai stopped by for a game.
This, however, sounded a little different.
Tezuka gets to high school and meets his rather unsettling new senpai.
At least there weren’t any supernatural beings hanging around this year.
Ryouma makes Moonlily an offer.
To whom it may concern. Echizen Ryouma proposes for those Grigori who feel an interest that they claim their own place in the emerging realm of heaven/hell.
Karupin has some issues with Ryouma’s new realm.
Echizen Ryoma had two loves in his life. (Actually, he had three, though he would never admit it, at least not until the said third love stopped playing so damned hard to get.) Anyone from the Seishun Senior High tennis club could tell you the first one: tennis. Any of them could also tell you the second: his cat. So no one said anything when Karupin started to tag along on some of their practice days.
Ryouma is still chasing Tezuka.
Dear Buchou,
Happy 40th. Heard you passed the Park Ranger certification; congratulations. Hope bears don’t eat you.
Ryouma finally catches Tezuka.
He hadn’t just been making excuses when he told Lily that he couldn’t come to Echizen’s “Hi, I’m Dead Too” party, as the man had called it.
Ryouma takes a vacation.
Ryouma nodded politely to the group that had gathered at his request. Several hundred years was enough to let someone get used to the same faces and personalities, he’d found, and so he knew almost every one of the assembled very, very well. Especially since he’d played tennis with them for several hundred years. He tugged at his cap, a habit that even death hadn’t been able to banish, and sighed.
