Disclaimer: I don't own Ah! My Goddess or any of the characters therein. Please don't use without permission. Comments and constructive criticism are always welcome. And now, WillZ presents:
The Goddess and the Sky
Chapter Four
On the Bench
"Cute girlfriend, Morisato!" A passing person Keiichi recognized from one of his engineering classes shouted as he rose past on his bike.
"She's not my girlfriend!" He replied, but the distance between them made it fall on deaf ears.
"Way to go, Morisato!" Another one of his fellow students said, before attending to his own girlfriend.
"She's not-aww, to heck with it!" He said, crumpling his empty coffee can in his hand before tossing it in the recycling bin a bit more violently than he needed to.
It had been an hour since he shooed the onlookers away, yet in that time, word had spread across campus. So far, he hadn't seen anyone form the school's paper, but that could change at any time. He dreaded what would happen if his getting on the front page would mean to any hopes of trying to get Sayoko's attention.
He squashed down the thought. He had to simply wait for Sora to get back from her classes, and then…
…Then what? He had no real plan of any kind devised! He wasn't even sure if they needed his help any more! The thought did nothing to calm him down in the least.
"Good catch, Morisato!" A couple guys called as they passed by on their skateboards. It was amazing how many people seemed to be adventuring out to this remote part of the campus. Keiichi sighed and turned to look at the Goddess, who was leaning to her right, her arm cradling her head as she dozed. Was she okay? Was this normal for Goddesses? He had no clue, especially since it seemed to happen a few minutes after he brought her a drink. If he hadn't stuffed his hot can of coffee into his jacket's pocket to keep from getting a blister, he would bet that he would have been dying for a drink by now.
"Smooth going, Morisato!" A member of the Men's Tennis Club called as he ran by. The members following him gave cat calls and whistles that drowned out his fervent denials. This was getting frustrating! How many more people would be coming by today?
He turned to look down the path to pre-empt the next bunch of people coming at him, only to see something he dreaded even more.
Tamiya and Otaki had just turned the corner and were making their way towards him with a mission.
Which, of course, mean that they were on a mission. He felt his mouth go dry: When those two were on a mission, it usually meant something was going to get damaged, someone was going to owe money or jailed, or, in some cases, all three.
He needed to find a way to escape. Any way.
He thought about making it look like he was kissing Belldandy, but with his luck, that would backfire in horrible, terrible ways he didn't want to think of, especially if that System Force thing Belldandy had mentioned yesterday really was in effect.
He thought about running, but that would leave the poor girl alone with them. Not that they would do anything to her, per se, but you could never be too sure when those two were concerned.
Keiichi also thought about feigning sleep. He knew they couldn't see him clearly from where they were, so he could do that, but they would just drag him off before he'd even "wake up."
Giving up, he decided he would just have to wing it, and hope that he could get away with it.
"MORISATO!" Tamiya hollered when he was close enough. Fortunately, that meant he was still far enough away to prevent Belldandy from waking. He turned and waved weakly at the two monstrous men.
"We need your help," Otaki said as they got closer, "The Motor Club needs your help." He said, in addendum.
"I'm sorry guys," Keiichi replied, trying to look casual, "I can't do it, whatever it is."
They looked flummoxed. For some reason, they thought that everything else in the world was superseded by Loyalty to Motor Club activities.
Keiichi tried not to gulp nervously. He wished he had kept some of that coffee to keep his mouth from feeling so dry.
"But the Motor Club has always been there for you!" Tamiya said, tears streaming down his face. If he had been handsome, Keiichi bet that Tamiya could have been an excellent dramatic actor.
"What about when you were low on money," Otaki added, "Was it not us that shared our cabbage, mayonnaise and vinegar with you in your hour of need?"
Keiichi had to think fast, otherwise they were going to either override or guilt him into going with them.
"I said I can't," he replied, "I already made a promise to help someone, or I would have been in German right now."
"So that's why he wasn't in the class," Otaki whispered, his sparkplug earring swaying as he turned to Tamiya. Or, at least, thought he had whispered to Tamiya. Tamiya nodded sagely at the information.
"What promise?" Tamiya asked, looking uncertainly at Keiichi.
"I promised to take this young lady for a tour," He replied, looking at both men, "Sora asked me, so she could catch up with us here when her classes finished."
They didn't say anything, but for a moment, he thought he could almost see the pistons pumping in their brains.
"I made a promise," Keiichi said hurriedly, "And as a member of the Motor Club, I am honor bond to uphold my promise."
"She could come along," Tamiya offered, but Keiichi, half anticipating this, sadly shook his head.
"Sorry," Keiichi replied, "She isn't dealing with the jet lag well. We wouldn't want to upset her too much: It's better to let her sleep until Sora comes back."
"We could stay," Otaki counter-offered, "We could even give her a tour of all the great places!"
"But didn't you guys need to do something?" He added quickly. They both blinked.
"Yeah," they said, sounding dejected.
"I could meet up with you as soon as Sora comes back," He offered before they worked out a way to muscle both Sora and Belldandy into this new scheme of theirs. Miraculously, the two took the offer.
"We're on the quad," Otaki said, nodding before leaving.
"We'll be waiting for you," agreed Tamiya following his compatriot.
With their departure, Keiichi finally exhaled. He was half expecting them to try to get their own way as usual, so now that they had gone, he could finally relax a little.
Suddenly, his stomach grumbled. Looking around anxiously, he saw that nobody was around to hear the embarrassing sound emanating from his gut. He looked at his watch, and it was almost noon. He hoped that Sora would come find them soon.
Sora somehow managed to make it through the first class without incident, feeling confident that she had actually passed the test regardless of her lack of studying. She relaxed, and made it to her next class.
With no incidents so far, she felt heartened. Maybe luck was with her, and nobody had read the front page of the paper. They were college students, so they would usually focus on grades and socializing and clubs over current events, unless something big came up.
She rewound that thought. Something. Big.
Big like an emergency law that seemed to be an almost abuse of power.
She entered the room and knew.
Everyone in the classroom had their eyes on her. She felt herself swallow nervously before entering the room.
Somehow, she had the feeling that her Physics class had just turned into Social Studies.
She didn't look at anyone as she made her way up the stairs to the middle of the classroom. Focusing on her feet and the chairs so she wouldn't hit anyone, she made her way to almost the middle of the classroom and sat down as she usually did.
It was then that it hit her – she was literally now the center of attention: She could feel the rest of the filling room staring at her. Sora decided that she really didn't like that feeling at all.
The room was surprisingly quiet, except for the few scattered bits of conversation she could hear as she got her book and her notes from her bag. She could feel the blush beginning on her cheeks and it felt almost as if it was going to burn through her scalp. She tried taking a few deep breaths to calm her nerves, but all that ended up doing was making her feel like she was trying to cure hiccups.
Suddenly, the room quieted down as the professor, an older lady with horn-rimmed glasses and her black hair in a bun whistled for everyone's attention. The sound made Sora jump more than it usually did.
"Now then," The Professor said, glancing at the students as she did so, "there has been some excitement in the papers today, but since the newlywed was able to find time in her busy schedule to come to school instead of traipse off on a honeymoon, let's all congratulate her and start class."
Everyone clapped, and a few cheered. Intermixed she could hear congratulations, which only made Sora feel like she wanted to hide under the chair and die from embarrassment. She feebly stood up, waved and sketched a quick bow, and sat back down. She could havFe sworn that her teacher was smiling… And did she just wink at Sora? She needed to remind herself to get the Professor something nice as a thank-you gift.
The rest of the class went smoothly. The teacher passed out the test reference pages and the next homework assignment to be due after the lab. After taking one and handing the pile to the next student, she made a hasty retreat, dreading her next class.
Maybe she should skip it? She should get back to Belldandy as soon as possible to prevent any incidents. It would be a good excuse to leave before the lecturer (who wasn't even a full professor anyway) could smart off about how his theories will revolutionize his field and whatnot. Sora was still torn on what to do, but then she arrived at the classroom door.
She was ready to just walk right past it, when the lecturer turned the corner while talking to one of the other lecturers in a semi-heated debate.
Knowing that he'd rope anyone in his class to his defense, Sora opened the door and hustled up to the far back of the class under the burnt out lighting that she used to hide from being called for in his class. If anyone else ever found out about this trick, she couldn't be sure that a riot wouldn't break out for the spots.
She slipped into the seat just in time: The teacher came through the door, continuing his tirade with his cohort and never looked up to her location.
Both men stopped their argument as students started to fill the room, but they seemed to feel the tension, and gave worried glances at the two as they shuffled past. Finally, the other left, commenting on continuing later, which was met with a curt nod from her teacher.
With the class starting, everyone's eyes were on the podium, so she had escaped another embarrassing situation. If she were lucky, the lecturer would cut the class short so he could find the other person and continue the discussion. She fervently hoped that was the case.
Sayoko was feeling rather good about the day. No less than twenty guys had already come to her declaring their love for her. She had turned them all down, of course, but in a mental note to herself she did recall that this had been the most suitors by noon that she had ever had thus far.
Today, she didn't have her usual gaggle of either suitors or those people rich and popular enough to be with her, but that was okay; she had sent them all on their way to give her the opportunity to make the rounds of the campus to entice any new, unsuspecting fools to her.
This had to be her absolute favorite game: travel across campus on foot for unsuspecting prey. Lure in the rich? Get connections to potential families! Lure in the besotted? What better way to have affection given to you?
The absolute win-win situation.
What would happen today? Would she steal away some girl's sugar daddy? Maybe break up childhood loves? The anticipation was delicious, all in itself!
Sayoko made her way past the sciences block of the school, and knew from the almost run-down, ratty sidewalk that she was now in the arts and culture section, even before seeing the buildings through the trees in its neighboring park.
It was then that, out of the corner of her eye, she saw the couple sitting quietly on a bench facing the physics building. Feeling a stroke of luck had just come her way, she slowly started to wander over. Since neither of them was looking her way, she popped out her sunglasses, and continued towards the couple as if she were on a catwalk.
She looked closely at the two as she approached. The girl was about her age with light brownish hair done in an intricate style and her clothing was "exotic" to say the least, but it looked as if high quality craftsmanship had been put into it.
The girl was beautiful as well, which probably explained why the guy seemed to be paying more attention to her than to Sayoko. No matter: When she started talking to the boy, she could almost guarantee that his attention would be completely on her.
"Hey, there," She said, tilting her sunglasses a little to look over them in what she knew to be a sexy, captivating move with a high success rate. Sure enough, the boy looked up, and blushed deeply, probably smitten by her looks and style.
"O-oh," he stammered, "hi. I didn't see you there."
Didn't see her? How could he miss such a magnificent body? She decided to let it slide.
"Is something wrong with her?" She asked, looking closer at the beautiful girl next to him. Without the sunglasses as a filter, the girl's skin looked almost to be glowing. The boy had looked, gulped nervously, and returned to her gaze, his hand going to the back of his head. Was he going ald at an early age or something?
"Sh-she's fine," he replied, giving a short, nervous laugh, "It is probably jet lag."
Jet lag. That explained some things to her regarding this mysterious woman.
"Ah," she said simply, then turned to look at him, "Is she your girlfriend?"
"No! She isn't," He had said defensively. Too defensively, as if he had his eyes set on this woman, no matter what his words said. Maybe she should have a little fun with him.
"She's too cute and gaijin to be your sister," She stated, deliberately making the word have a hint of derision. Would he pick up on it? Maybe pick up on the slight she gave him?
"Yeah," he said simply. Maybe he wasn't going to be as fun to play with as she thought. Still…
"You know where she's from?"
"Norway, I think. I hadn't asked?"
"That's a little bit rude," She frowned giving him her best disapproving glare with it.
"A lot happened," He replied defensively, "She arrived last night, and before I knew it, I was asked to give her a tour."
"I see," she said with an unbelieving tone.
"R-Really," he stammered, "The person she's here to visit had a test, so she asked us to wait here. I was going to ask for more details, but when I turned to talk to her, she was already in dreamland."
She? So this beautiful woman was here to possibly see a relative, which meant that she should wait a bit for the two to get acquainted before breaking them apart.
It seemed the game just got a bit more interesting than before.
"Is she here for long?" Sayoko asked, turning her gaze back towards this unusual woman. Maybe she should wake her up? No – Something about how blissful the person look told her that she really shouldn't. She still was tempted to; just to see what kind of fun she could have with her.
"I don't know," the boy replied, still looking a bit flustered "It depends."
Depends on what? She didn't ask, allowing her nod of assent act as an answer.
"Well, then," she said, putting her glasses back on, "I've taken up enough of your time mister..?"
"Keiichi Morisato," he barely mumbled. She nodded again.
"…Mister Morisato." She said, continuing, "If she does wake up, and I am still around, please be sure to bring her to me for a formal introduction. Ta!" She took off with a wave, not bothering to look or listen for a reply.
It had been fun! Should she offer to ask the girl to join her "private club" within the college? Should she act as the girl's rival, only to rip her beloved from her once they've had a chance to get together? It depended on how much time she had to do both. Maybe even with limited time, she could still have some fun with this, especially if the two started seeing each other and tried to carry on a long-distance relationship.
It was too delicious! If luck were with her, she could tear them apart in less than a month.
Sora managed to get through the tedious class without incident. The teacher did as expected by cutting the class after going over some of the key points in the lecture. Sora didn't believe that the professor was going to last past the semester, given the fact that he'd alienated both students and teachers. With the semester-end reviews, she was betting that he'd be called before the review board and sent on his way.
She slipped out of the class after everyone exited, but couldn't get anywhere, due to the rush of students making their way from their classes to the cafeteria in the student union.
This was in the exact opposite way she wanted to go.
Being swept along with the crowd, she hoped that she could get out before ending up even further away from her destination. She reached out to grab hold of one of the railings to the ramp she was now going down…
… Only to catch hold of someone's sleeve.
To her dismay, it was Aoshima. He looked bedraggled in contrast to his usual appearance, but he was in a better state than when she had accidentally "fired" on him.
Aoshima's eyes opened wide at the sight of her, and she quickly released him.
"Sorry!" she said, as the tide of people pressed her towards the exit at the other side of the building complex.
She tried again, and this time, she was able to get hold of a door handle, and anchored herself there until the press of people subsided, she began to make her way back to where she said she'd meet Belldandy.
A hand reached out and grabbed her, and Sora squeaked involuntarily. She looked up to see Aoshima holding onto her with an annoyed look on his face.
"You could have ripped my shirt," he said in a haughty voice. His face looked annoyed with her.
"Sorry," She answered, bowing with a blush forming on her face, "It was an accident – I was reaching for the handrail, and got you instead."
Aoshima seemed to be sizing her up in his mind, and, after a small grimace, turned from her while dusting his shoulder.
"Don't let it happen again," he said, walking down the hall the same way the mob of people had gone.
For one moment, Sora didn't feel so bad about barfing on his suit and car. Suppressing a sniffle, she made her way out to the meeting point.
Belldandy was nowhere to be found.
Where could she have gone? Had she gotten in trouble for being here without passing through Security? Did one of the groups "assault" her and managed to recruit her for their club? She had to find the Goddess before someone took advantage of her.
She didn't have to go too far though: Just a little further up the path, she saw Keiichi sitting with Belldandy on a bench. The Goddess seemed to be napping, and Keiichi was talking to Miss Mishima. Keiichi didn't seem to be looking at Miss Mishima and, as the woman left to continue down the path, Sora decided to wait a moment before going over to the pair on the bench. She saw Keiichi gently push at Belldandy's shoulder to try to wake her.
"Hey there," Sora called as she got in earshot. Keiichi looked up and waved to her.
"Hey," he replied "All done with classes?"
"Yeah. You?"
"I didn't go," He said, nodding towards the Goddess, "I had my hands full."
"Ah," Sora replied, bowing slightly, "Sorry, and thank you."
"Not a problem." He answered simply.
"What about Miss Mishima?" Sora asked. For an answer, the boy went beet red. If he were any more transparent with his feelings, he might as well be a jellyfish. She wondered if Miss Mishimahad noticed how the boy felt towards her or not. For all she had heard of the billionaire heiress, she was sure that the woman would use Keiichi like a toy, and then throw him away when she got bored with him.
Keiichi dodged the subject after a long silence.
"She's been sleeping pretty much since I found her," he said, "I've tried gently prompting her to wake, but nothing's worked. I don't know what else to try, short of dumping water on her."
Sora didn't know what to do either, so she opted to try herself to see if her efforts would get some results. She stepped closer to the sleeping woman and started to reach out her hand.
Right then, she stubbed her toe on the upraised sidewalk. The force of her momentum pushed her towards Belldandy. It looked like she was going to collide with the Goddess face-first.
Oh, God, part of her mind said as she moved closer to the other woman, Please don't let this be my first kiss.
She didn't have time to contemplate the thought: Suddenly, Belldandy's eyes shot open, and she moved to sit upright…
…Causing Belldandy and Sora's foreheads to come into contact.
"Ow!" both girls said simultaneously. Sora fell back, landing on her backside while holding her forehead. Belldandy held her forehead as well, one eye was open, while the other was partially closed, as small frown on her face.
Sora's head and butt hurt, but her pride seemed to be bruised more than either. She had a very unglamorous moment that was seen by Keiichi, one of the few people she really respected. At least it hadn't been Aoshima. If it had been him, Sora would be curling up under the bench and die from extreme embarrassment.
She looked over at Belldandy, who seemed to be recovering without as much as a bump on her head. Sora could feel the lump growing under her bangs. Maybe she would crawl under the bench, after all.
"Are you okay?" Keiichi said to both of them.
"I'm fine," Sora lied, trying to ignore the hurts she just suffered.
"I am okay," Belldandy answered, a faint blue light glowed briefly before winking out. Sora envied the Goddess's power at that moment.
"I think I'll go get something for you to put on those bruises," He said, giving them both a skeptical look, "It's better to be sure than to have them leave nasty bruises. I'll be right back."
As he left, Belldandy got up from the bench and carefully approached Sora, her hand outstretched.
"I'm okay," Sora protested, but Belldandy stopped her with a finger to her lips.
"You can't fool me," the Goddess whispered. She put her glowing hand on Sora's head, and in a moment, the pain in both places dissipated. Sora was glad that the other woman didn't need to place her hand on each hurt.
Belldandy sudden;y blushed, and retreated to the bench. When Keiichi returned, both of them were sitting on opposite ends of the park bench.
"All I could find," Keiichi said, holding some bottled waters in his hand, "Were some drinks in from the vending machines. It might help keep the swelling down.
"I'm fine, Keiichi," Sora said, lifting her bangs to show there was nothing at the point of contact.
"As am I," Belldandy replied, showing her forehead to the boy. Finally convinced, Keiichi put the drinks on the bench.
"Guess it was for nothing," he sighed. Sora thought he looked depressed that he couldn't help them in some way. She picked up one bottle and opened it, taking a slow drink from it.
"Not true," she said putting the bottle on the bench. Belldandy mimicked the act, which seemed to soothe the boy's worry.
Suddenly, Keiichi's stomach grumbled, or rather, since he blushed after the loud rumbling sound, the culprit had been found out.
"Excuse me," He said, still blushing, "It is past lunchtime now. Maybe we should hit the Student Union?"
The thought was enough to trigger their stomachs rumbling. All three of them started laughing after a small, embarrassed silence.
"Well,it's unanimous," Belldandy said, causing the other two to smile, "I think we should get something to eat, before we waste away to nothing."
"Bell's got the right idea," Sora agreed.
"Then it's settled," Keiichi said, "Since I have a bit extra cash on me, it'll be my treat."
They headed towards the Student Union, when Belldandy tugged on Sora's sleeve.
"'Bell?'" the Goddess asked, curiosity plain in her voice and face.
"It's a nickname," Sora shrugged, "Plus, it was getting tough saying 'Belldandy' all the time."
"I see," Bell said, a smile spreading across her face. She grabbed hold of Sora's arm, refusing to let go until they reached the Student Union.