Disclaimer: Ah! My Goddess and all its associated characters are owned by their creator, Kosuki Fujishima ( © 1988 – 2007 ) Any other characters specifically created for this fictional work are fictitious. Any similarity to any persons, living or dead is purely coincidental.
My personal gratitude goes to Mr. Kosuki Fujishima for creating the wonderful Manga, characters, settings, and plots that this fiction is based on.
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Skuld looked into Dirk's eyes, placing her open hand gently on his cheek. "Thank you, Dirk." She said sweetly and gave him a quick peck on the lips. She took his hand in hers and lead him outside her room towards the living room.
Belldandy sat down in her normal seat at the end of the table closest to the kitchen. Urd took the seat to her right around the corner, with Megumi sitting to her right. Keiichi sat down at the other end of the table, in direct sight of Belldandy. Skuld sat down on the other side of her Big Sis. Dirk hopped in front of her and gently scooted her chair out for her to sit down. Turning her head with a smile she said, "Thank you." while taking her seat. Dirk gently lifted the chair with Skuld sitting in it and pushed her closer up to the table, finally taking the only seat remaining on the Skuld's left.
Each person took their turn shoveling food onto their plate. A quick "Pass me the Soy Sauce" or "Please pass the Fish" were exchanged the room fell awkwardly silent. Urd shifted her eyes back and forth between Skuld, Belldandy, and Keiichi. Megumi glared at Keiichi, causing him to sweatdrop nervously while he looked at Belldandy. Skuld had a nervous gaze set on her Big Sis, while Dirk was just smiling at Skuld.
Each person was surrounded within their own thoughts. Skuld sat there nervously fidgeting with her food, as she was lost in thought. 'Why is Bis Sis smiling at me like that?' She glanced over at Urd, and noticed that she too was staring at her, only with a more sinister grin. 'Oh god, what is she plotting now?' came to Skuld's mind, fearing her future taunting by her eldest sister.
Meanwhile, Urd was concentrating on a way to get Belldandy to loosen up and get a clue. Glancing over at Skuld, she couldn't help but grin. Her plan had worked. The potion she had made a couple of days ago, infused with the custom made lingerie worked its magic on little innocent Skuld like a charm.
Megumi glared at Keiichi with a devilish smile as well, which in turn made Keiichi fell a pair of eyes burning into him. 'Oh god, Megumi, what are you up to now?' he thought.
'I've got to figure out how Dirk made it with Skuld.' Megumi thought taking a quick glance over at Dirk and then Skuld.
Meanwhile Dirk was looking at his sweat heart with a goofy smile on his face, thinking about earlier today.
Feeling all the stares descending upon her, Skuld grasped her stomach with both hands and stood up.
"What's wrong?" Belldandy asked her younger sister.
"Um… I don't feel too well. I think I'll--" Skuld nervously answered, but was cut off immediately.
"Oh my God!" Megumi exclaimed. "Are you pregnant?" she assumed.
"What?!" Keiichi practically fell over backwards in his chair.
"Is everything okay, sweetie?" Dirk asked resting his palm on the tops of her hands.
Urd couldn't help but add fuel to the fire. "Oh, Skuld. Didn't you remember to have him wear protection? I mean, come on, Skuld. If you're going to have sex, you need to think of these things."
"Huh?!" Skuld said frantically looking at Urd, and then glanced over at Belldandy nervously.
Silence filled the room, and all eyes looked upon Belldandy and Skuld.
Belldandy glanced over at Skuld, seeing a very painful discomfort in her eyes. She was on the verge of tears. She smiled up at her little sister and finally said, "Don't be silly. Having sex one time isn't going to make her pregnant."
Skuld collapsed onto the floor, to which Dirk kicked out his chair from behind him fanning her until she regained consciousness.
"Skuld!? Are you okay, come on, wake up." Dirk commanded.
Urd just laughed, unable to contain herself anymore. She was laughing so hard, she had to grasp her own stomach. Keiichi just sat there dumbfounded, looking at Skuld who had collapsed to the floor and at Dirk trying to resurrect her. Megumi continued to stare at Keiichi, half giggling. Finally, Skuld woke back up and Dirk helped her back into her seat. Skuld looked over towards her Big Sis and said in disbelief, "You …. knew?"
"Yes. I overheard Megumi, Urd and Keiichi discussing it in his room. When I saw you two frolicking in the Spa, that confirmed what they were saying." She explained with a gentle smile.
Skuld blushed and looked down at the table in shame. "You're disappointed with me, aren't you." she asked softly.
"Oh, Skuld." Belldandy said, getting up from her seat and hugging Skuld around her back. "Why would I be disappointed with you? No matter what you do, I'm always very proud of your accomplishments." She said with kindness.
"Really?" Skuld answered back almost in disbelief.
"Really." Her older sister replied with confidence.
"I—I hate to be the one to bring this up but….. Um…..is Skuld…… really ….um…pregnant?" Dirk asked sheepishly.
"Of course not, Dirk!" Urd chided. "Do you really think doing it once is going to make a Goddess pregnant? No, it doesn't work the same way as it does between humans." She went on to explain. "A Goddess has to choose to get impregnated if she's intimate with a mortal."
Dirk visibly relaxed in his chair hearing the wonderful news.
"Why?" Skuld continued with the original topic. "Why are you not disappointed?"
Belldandy softly giggled and simply answered her cryptically. "Who am I to judge what you feel is right in your heart?"
"Huh? I don't understand, Big Sis." Skuld replied in confusion.
"Oh god Skuld! You really can be so dense at times." Urd chastised. "What Bell is saying is that you opened your heart to Dirk—you willingly consummated with him. You two are considered partners now." Skuld's eyes opened really big. "So I say, now would probably be the perfect time for Dirk to move in with you." Urd concluded.
"What a wonderful idea Urd!" Belldandy approved.
"That way you two can really get to know each other." Megumi added. "Now if only somebody else here would follow your example— OW!" Keiichi kicked Megumi's calf under the table.
It took a moment for Skuld to process what had just happened. She finally looked up, really at nobody in particular and asked almost in horror, "Does … this mean that….he's going to… be sleeping with me … in my room?"
"Duh." Urd commented glancing up at the ceiling.
"I suggest you eat up. You're really going to need all the energy you can get." Urd finally stated after a few moments of silence.
"What is that supposed to mean?" Skuld glared at Urd.
"Oh, you'll figure it out." Is all Urd said in response.
"Yes, speaking of dinner, let's eat. I'm starved!" Dirk commented enthusiastically, visually unaffected by the earth shattering conversation that just took place, and began digging in.
The rest of dinner was relatively quiet, with the exception of some eye-telepathy going on between Urd, Megumi, and Keiichi, causing the odd outburst of giggles to fill the room. Skuld stared down at her food, eating it slowly.
'You'll figure it out.' … 'When I saw you two frolicking in the Spa, that confirmed what they were saying'…kept running through her head over and over and over again. Finally unable to eat anymore, and with the others starting to break up to do their other various activities, Skuld abruptly left the table and ran to her room, shutting the door behind her.
A few minutes later a soft knock came from her door. Dirk stood outside waiting patiently for Skuld to answer.
"Skuld?" he finally asked when there was no response.
Still after no response, he gently slid the door open to see Skuld sitting on the edge of her bed, gazing at herself in the mirror on the opposite side of the room. Dirk walked in and quietly shut the door behind him. Taking ever careful steps, he approached her and sat down next to her on the bed, when she didn't acknowledge his entrance.
"Hey? Are you okay?" He asked placing his hand on the top of her hand, which was resting on her thigh.
"Yeah." She answered quietly.
"I know they're not going to have it any other way…you know that." Dirk started and paused before turning his head and looking in to her brown eyes. "I'll sleep on the floor over there if you'd like." He finished, pointing over to the far wall away from the bed. "… I'll even turn my back towards you if you'd like." He added on to the end, in an attempt to comfort her.
A tear rolled down her cheek.
Dirk opened his mouth to speak again, but Skuld beat him to it. "No. I won't let you suffer like that. Tonight, you will sleep next to me." She chocked again as another tear came running down her face. She fell over into Dirk's chest and began crying in full force.
'Why is she crying?' Dirk thought as he cupped his hand over her head, gently combing his fingers through her black silky hair over and over again. He took his other arm and wrapped it around her arm and back, pulling her in close. Dirk so desperately wanted to ask her what was wrong but something told him it would be best just to stay quiet this time, and let her cry whatever was bothering her out.
After a few minutes of crying, until she could no longer, she sat up and looked in Dirk's blue eyes. "Thank you. I feel much better now." she commented, smiling at him softly.
'Okay, so apparently women and goddesses are just about the same…doomed to be confusing!' Dirk thought to himself.
About then Skuld's door whipped open and Urd came flying in with Dirk's trunk of stuff. She set it down in the corner next to Skuld's dresser and turned around and left the room winking at Dirk as she shut the door.
They could hear her singsong out in the hallway, "Glorious, glorious television, I finally get to watch my late night soaps in piece and quiet! YAY!" Her voice faded as she went into the living room.
"Well, I guess she's happy." Dirk pointed out the obvious.
Skuld stood up and turned around facing Dirk. Pulling his arm he stood up and followed her to her closet, which was adjacent to her dresser and Dirk's newly placed trunk. She opened the closet door and started rearranging her clothes, making an empty space on the upper right half of the clothes hanging bar.
"What are you doing?" Dirk asked tilting his head slightly.
"I'm making room for your things." She said cheerfully as she worked. "There's no reason now why you have to live out of that trunk anymore."
After she was finished with the closet she stepped over to her dresser and moved a few things out of the third and fourth drawers, placing the neatly stacked piles of clothes on the floor by Dirk's trunk. She opened the trunk and started refolding several of the items, placing each item into an assigned drawer. Underwear, t-shirts, and socks all went into the third drawer, while pull over shirts, jeans and shorts went into the fourth drawer. The remainder of things, mostly button up shirts and a couple of nice slacks got hung up in the closet. Once the trunk was empty, she took the piles of her clothes, and neatly placed them inside the trunk, closing it when she was finished, and moving a few things off the top of her dresser, setting them on top of the trunk lid.
"There." She said, slapping her palms together with a vertical motion. Dirk just stood there like a post watching her as she worked quickly.
"Wow, that was fast." He finally commented.
"Well, yeah, I had a plan." She smiled.
"Um…Dirk?" she quickly started a new conversation.
"Yeah, Skuld?" Dirk answered.
"Would you dance with me again?" she said as she looked upwards into his eyes. Her face was slightly turned downwards as if she were staring at his bare feet.
"Sure." Dirk replied happily. He walked over to the stereo and selected the radio. Finding a station playing a kind of relaxing jazz he turned down the volume to a quieter level and then went over to the lights and turned them off, only allowing the moonlight to fill the room. It took a moment for their eyes to adjust, and once they did, Dirk gently picked up Skuld's left arm, and placed his right arm around her waist. Standing very closely to her, he began to slowly sway taking a step with his left foot, then his right foot slowly moving around the room. Skuld wrapped her arm left arm around Dirk's waist as well, and laid her head down onto his chest. She adored hearing his slow, rhythmic heartbeat. It had a very calming and relaxing quality to it.
After a few songs of slow dancing, Skuld gave a slight yawn, her breath warmed the cloth on Dirk's chest.
"Are you ready to turn in for the night?" Dirk asked quietly, still dancing with her.
"Yeah. I'm exhausted." She replied, giving another slight yawn.
Dirk maneuvered them over to the bed and gently sat her down on the edge. Releasing his hold on her, he walked over to the dresser and stood there for a moment before asking. "Skuld? What do you usually wear to bed?"
"Skuld blushed a little, had anybody been able to see it. She replied, "The second drawer, you'll find a night gown over on the right. I'll wear that tonight."
Dirk opened the mentioned drawer and felt around the various strapping until he found something silky smooth on the right side. Pulling it out of the drawer revealed a thin strapped U-neck night gown with lace trimming that hung slightly shorter than three feet. He closed her dresser drawer and returned over to the bed, handing her the attire. He quickly turned around and went towards the dresser again, opening the third drawer in search for something to wear. His pajamas still hadn't been cleaned from earlier today, he looked around and found one of his longer than normal T-shirts. Stripping off his exterior clothing he put the T-shirt on and turned around back towards Skuld, who was standing by the bed being bathed by moonlight.
She glowed softly in this light, which revealed to no surprise that her nightgown was also a pastel pink. It hung down to about her mid-thigh, and showed just a little of her curves along her waist line. He walked over to her and softly asked, "Would you like the inside or the outside?"
It really didn't matter which side either one of them took. Skuld only had a twin sized bed, which was barely enough room for one person to stretch out on, let alone two nearly full grown teenagers.
"I would like the inside, if you don't mind." She answered just as softly.
Her heart was racing, she was genuinely nervous. She climbed into the bed, lifting the sheet up, and sliding down between the two sheets. Once she had adjusted her nightgown, she patently waited for Dirk to join her. Dirk partially lifted up the sheet and climbed in as well. Skuld was lying on her side, facing him. Dirk quickly realized that sleeping on his back, wouldn't work due to the width restriction of the bed. He turned on his side facing Skuld. Both of them stared into each other's eyes.
"So… now what?" Skuld finally asked.
"I think we just close our eyes… and fall asleep." Dirk commented. The jazz music was still softly playing in the background which greatly helped put at ease the two newly partnered teenagers.
A few minutes went by. Two songs on the radio filled the time, all the while, Skuld nervously stared into Dirk's eyes.
"I've got an idea." Dirk finally suggested.
"What's that?" Skuld replied curiously.
"Ya wanna sleep 'spoon style'?"
"Um…I guess, okay." Skuld replied, not really knowing what he was talking about.
"Okay, what you'll want to do is turn around with your back facing me. Just get comfortable." Dirk advised.
"Okay." Skuld replied while turning over.
Once she was done, Dirk maneuvered himself closer to her and gently placed his arm around her waist, placing his legs right up against hers, and his chest against her back. He purposely created a distance between his pelvic region and her butt. Within a few minutes, Dirk heard Skuld quietly snoozing away. Closing his eyes he entered Dreamland.