-2-

She opens her eyes and smiles. It's a new day. Groggily, she raises her arms above her head and yawns as she stretches. She then gets up and rolls up her futon, placing it in its customary place in the bottom of her closet. She then walks over to her makeup stand and kneels in front of it. Picking up a brush, she begins to brush out her long, brunette hair.

Satisfied, she returns to the closet and looks for something to wear. Something light, as it will be warm, and today is laundry day. Pulling out a yellow, paisley sundress, she slips it on and moves to the door. Sliding it open carefully, she slips out, being careful to not make too much noise. As she silently walks down the hall, she runs her fingers along one particular door and smiles, listening to the soft snoring of the man within.

What shall we have for breakfast today, my love?

By the time she gets to the kitchen, she already knows. She grabs too pots and places them on the burners. Humming quietly as she goes, she pours water into one and starts the burner underneath. She pours some stock in the other. She then goes to the supply room and gets some rice, tofu, and vegetables. Returning to the stove, the water is starting to boil. She places a steam basket on top of the water pot and then pours in the rice.

With the rice started, she lights the fire under the stock and then goes about the task of chopping up the vegatables and tofu. When she is done, she pours the mixture into the stock pot as it starts to bubble. Adding some spices to the mix, a wonderful aroma starts to fill the kitchen.

Satisfied that things are progressing as they should, she steps back into the hall and goes to the room she passed earlier. Listening through the paper walls, she can hear that he is still asleep.

"Keiichi, it's almost time for breakfast," announces Belldandy, slowing sliding the door open to peek inside. "Keiichi?"

XXX

Outside of a large Buddhist temple, a white and red robot with a huge, bulbous head, is patrolling the grounds. Banpie, created by the goddess Skuld, is programmed to protect the compound from all comers, be they demon or door to door salesman.

As he finishes his latest patrol, he hears two people, a man and a woman, scream at the same time from within the temple. He pauses for a second and looks in that direction. His eyes flash momentarily, then he continues on to start his next patrol.

Things like this are common in the Morisato household. Unless they call for him, he has learned not to intervene.

XXX

At the sound of her sister's scream, Urd is wide awake. Throwing off the covers, she flies out of the room in a flash, nearly taking the door with her. As she rounds the corner she sees her sister standing wide eyed in front of Keiichi's room, her hands over her mouth.

She gives her sister a questioning look. All Belldandy can do is point. Urd walks up stealthily and opens the door the rest of the way and peeks in, expecting to see Keiichi had been turned into some kind of monster. Instead, on the other side of the room, cowering against the opposite wall, is a man (more like a boy) that is definitely not Keiichi Morisato.

Before Urd can say anything, Skuld comes up behind her. "Is Keiichi touching Big Sis again?" she yells, tossing something into Keiichi's room. The boy looks down at the black orb with wires coming out if it as it lands in front of him, mouth agape. Before anyone can do anything, the Skuld bomb explodes in his face. As the smoke clears, the now singed and blackened boy keels over, face first onto the floor while muttering something about how much he hates women.

"Oops, sorry!" says Skuld, embarrassment all over her face.

"Well, that's one way of doing it," quips Urd.

Belldandy composes herself. "I hope that Keiichi is back soon so we can figure out what's going on." She gestures to Skuld and they both move in to help the unconscious boy.

Urd glances at her sister. "Do you really think that's what's going on?"

Belldandy looks back at Urd as she and Skuld drag the boy back to the futon. "I don't know, I….." She trails off, a worried look on her face.

Urd takes a closer look at the boy. He is definitely a few years younger that Keiichi, He has long, jet black, spikey hair that juts straight up over his forehead. His orange jumpsuit, currently singed and dirty, looks more like a uniform than sleepwear.

"There is something off here," comments Urd as she gives the boy a second once-over with some magic.

Having finished dragging the boy back to the futon, Belldandy and Skuld turn him onto his back. "I noticed it as well, that's what surprised me so much," says Belldandy. She wipes some of the grime off his forehead and then turns to Skuld, "Go to the bath and bring me a pail of warm water, a washcloth, and some soap."

"Right!" exclaims Skuld as she jumps up and darts out the door.

Urd comes up to her sister and places her hand on her shoulder. "What are we going to do?"

"Well," replies Belldandy, "when I first saw him, I sensed that he was genuinely surprised to see me as well. I got the impression that he was in a completely new environment, one he was not expecting. I also sensed no malice." She starts to unbutton his tunic. "Help me get his clothes off so I can wash them for him. If we make him more comfortable, he will probably be more likely to tell us what he knows."

XXX

He wakes up with a start and sits straight up. Where the hell am I? He looks around and sees that he is still not in his familiar prison cell turned bedroom that he shares with the other men. "So it wasn't a dream," he says to himself as he presses the palm of him hand into his temple.

Checking for guards and an escape route, he realizes that the door to the room he is in is slightly open. Looking around, he sees that the walls and the door don't appear to be solid. Instead, they consist or a wooden latticework that holds square pieces of paper instead of the metal walls he is used to. It looks more inviting than sinister.

Crossing his arms across his chest, he realizes something is missing. Where are my clothes? Instead of the uniform he normally wears, he only has on his black t-shirt and his smiley face boxers. Near panic, he glances around and is relieved to see his clothes folded neatly on the floor at the head of the futon he is on. On top of it is a slip of paper. He picks it up and opens it.

"Please accept our apologies, we would be delighted if you would join us for breakfast."

A woman apologizing? Other than that annoying redhead, he rarely heard that. Intrigued, he puts his clothes on and opens the door. On the wall across the hall, he sees an arrow pointing to the right. Shrugging, he turns and moves in that direction. As he walks, the smell of food tickles his nose. Realizing he is famished, he reaches a door with a note on it. "In here."

He pauses for a second, collecting himself. He then slides open the door. Inside, kneeling around a small table, he sees three women. The one directly opposite him gestures to the open seat in front of him. She is the long haired brunette he first saw earlier wearing a brightly colored dress and an apron.

She smiles at him, completely disarming him, "Please, sit down."

As he steps into the room and sits down cross-legged at the table, he looks at the other two women. The one on the left is considerably younger than the other two, possibly younger than him. She has black hair past her shoulders and is wearing a red and white dress. The one on the right is about the same age as the brunette. She has darker skin than her companions, with long silver-white hair and is wearing a white silk pants outfit. She seems more aware of herself than the others, making him uncomfortable. All three of them have strange, blue marking on their cheeks and forehead.

"Ok, where the hell am I and who are you?" he demands.

"He certainly gets to the point," comments the white haired woman.

The Brunette smiles, "My name is Belldandy, and these are my sisters." Gesturing to the woman on his right, she calls her Urd. Gesturing to the younger one, she calls her Skuld. "You are in our home in Nekomi, Japan. Would you like some rice and miso soup, Mister….?"

"Tokia," he replies. "Hibiki Tokia."

XXX

Mouths agape, Skuld and Urd watch in amazement as Hibiki finishes up his sixth helping of soup and rice. Belldandy fixed some fish to go with it earlier, but that has been long since devoured. Her cooking reminded Hibiki of…..Nope, not going to think of her right now.

"Man, this is awesome!" he proclaims as he plows into his seventh bowl.

"He sure has a healthy appetite," says Urd as she places her elbow on the table and rests her chin on it, seemingly bored.

"Not very good manners, though," comments Skuld.

When he finishes with the bowl, he stacks it precariously on top of the others in front of him. He stretches his arms above his head and yawns slightly. "Well ladies, I've enjoyed your 'hospitality'," putting a sarcastic bite on the last word, "but I really must be getting back to my ship."

"Oh! So you are in the Navy?" asks Belldandy.

Hibiki frowns in confusion, "Navy?"

"Cool!" exclaims the younger sister Skuld, "what's the name of your ship? What class is it? Is it in aircraft carrier?" Stars in her eyes, she leans towards Hibiki, "I heard the Nimitz class from America is awesome!"

"Yeah, not sure what you mean by aircraft carrier," stammers Hibiki, leaning away from her and glancing around for an escape route. "My ship's name is the Nirvana and it's a starship."

Skuld jerks back, a confused look on her face. "A starship? It's a little early to build those yet."

Hibiki looks to his right as he feels a presence. Urd is now leaning towards him. Hibiki can't help but notice the buttons on her silk blouse are not buttoned all the way. "I knew there was something special about you," she says in his ear. She then leans back. "Skuld, dear, would you happen to have that person….checker…thingy?"

At first puzzled, Skuld realizes what she is talking about. "You mean the Aura Checker 3000? Yep! Got it right here!" She starts rifling through her pockets, looking for the device. As she does so, a black orb with wires on it bounces out onto the floor.

Hibiki gasps, then turns and starts to scramble to the door. He feels pressure on his leg as he realizes Urd has grabbed him by the ankle. He cusses as she drags him back to the table.

Skuld quickly scoops up the device. "Oh, sorry! It's safe, that one was not activated!" she announces as she stuffs it back into her pocket.

"Keep those damn things away from me!" yells Hibiki, still trying to get away. Before he can do anything, Urd stands, dragging him up and holding him by the ankle above the floor. Man she is strong! "Dammit, let me go!"

"Urd, let him go." says Belldandy calmly.

"Not until he agrees to sit quietly and talk some more," she replies. Holding Hibiki up higher, she looks into his eyes. "We still need to get to the bottom of what's going on here!"

"You idiot! I don't know anything!" protests Hibiki, still struggling against her grip.

"Calm down, we believe you!" sooths Urd. Still wary, Hibiki stops struggling. "But we still have some questions that may help the situation."

Crossing his arms across his chest, Hibiki says "Fine!" With that, Urd lowers him down to the ground, releases him and sits back down. He turns over and sits back at the spot he was in.

"See-ya!" he yells as he quickly gets up and bolts out the door, leaving Urd and Skuld in shock. That was too easy! As he rounds the corner, he hears the one called Belldandy shout something.

"Heed my will, o spirit of air. All act as one, and one as all. Now rise great wind and return the man to where he belongs!"

He reaches the front door and throws it open. As soon as he does, he is hit in the face by an invisible force. Swirling all around him, he realizes that some sort of tornado has formed and has picked him up. He struggles as it carries him back down the hall the way he came. Around the corner and back into the room with the three women, it dissipates, depositing him back at the table he was before.

"We have some questions for you and I would appreciate it greatly if you would stay and answer them truthfully," says Belldandy calmly.

Still in shock at what just happened, Hibiki can only manage a smile. "Ok," he says, quietly.