A/N: You guys get an early. There's an unofficial anime con group meet and greet at my local mall. It's a fun way to chill out and relax…anyway, due to the fact that I'll be at that for the better part of the afternoon, I'll just plunk this here for tonight.

2nd A/N: What makes this series so absolutely funny is that I'm not actually a Christian, even though I was raised Lutheran. Rather, I'm more agnostic than anything, but, go to bible class long enough, and some of it never leaves you. Anyway, tonight we start arc two. Let's begin to dive into the real meat of the story, I suppose you could say…anyway, on with the fiction.

Sinfully Devine
Arc 2: Creed
Chapter Thirteen

We, as Christians are taught to believe without question in God, our Father. He is, as the bible foretells, maker of heaven and the earth. We are taught strictly to always have faith. To believe that God has made all creatures. That he has given us our own uniqueness's, and that he will continue to look after us.

To have faith in this, is to find comfort…or is it? One must ponder that.

In the shadows of her dreams, she thought about those soft lips upon her own. Ones that were so expressive that they captivated everyone with unusually simple words. It was amazing how intoxicating the gentle uncertainty of the woman was…and she was indeed every bit a woman. Every inch a temptress without knowing it.

Shimako woke with a start as she found herself safely wrapped up in her blankets, well away from prying eyes. Feeling parched she sat up and immediately went to the fresh water she kept in a carafe in the far corner of her room.

The ice had melted, and the water was lukewarm, even though it sent a chill though her as she gulped it down with unladylike fervor. "If that was a test, it was most certainly not at all funny." She mumbled in reproach as she looked up to the cross she had become so enamored with. This would be another sleepless night, as she felt the distinct urge to purify herself. The late hour was not one she was not usually accustomed to, but she desired to cleanse herself of the sinful grime she felt caked in.

It was not the first time she felt so distinctly wrong, as this was not the only dream she'd had of another woman…but, it had grown stronger. More pressing a need than even she knew what to do with. It sat in her mind, a niggling little feeling that left her feeling absolutely disgusting, even as it crawled its way into her mind. There were no few night spent cooped up in the corner of her bed, eyeing the bible in confused rage.

She'd devoted everything she knew to those teachings, bound herself so desperately to the hope of enlightenment, and yet…she still dreamed of more.

It was just another test, another trial of her faith. She forced herself to believe that, even as she suffered through her mental torment. Yet, when even the terrible outpour of fear found her in the confines of the confessional, saying her sins were no longer a comfort.

In fact, she found that they somehow choked her, and would not slip beyond her lips. Her gut twisted and turned so violently with her own loathing of the matter, that she began not to take regular meals. Eventually Sei noticed her unease.

"Sacrificial starving, that's new." Sei said softly one afternoon with Shimako's lunch had yet again gone untouched. "Don't you think you're going too far?"

Without any words to say, Shimako looked up to Sei with a renewed sense of shame. Angry both at herself, and the unforgiving world around her. "I'm not hungry." Swallowing hard, her lips trembled in a way that shook her to her very core. "If I do not act on my feelings, if I acknowledge that it's a mortal sin, a desire of the flesh and nothing more…am I still able to be forgiven?"

"I don't see why not." It was a hard question to answer, and Sei shrugged. "I act on it, and I don't think I'm going to burn in hell."

Shimako just shook her head. "Do you even believe in such a place?"

"I'm in one right now." Sei murmured as she pushed the soup back in front of the woman who had now become her personal worst fear come to light. "Eat, Shimako…you can't go on like this."

Maybe she couldn't, but she couldn't bring herself to come to terms with her own mind either. She took the soup in hand, lifting a small spoonful of broth to her lips. "How can I be forgiven?" She looked to up Sei then. "How could I ever aspire to be a nun, when my dreams haunt me?"

"I won't say that everyone will just look beyond this." Sei murmured quietly. "However, I can also say that your God doesn't walk on water, he walks on wires." At the questioning look Sei received she just sighed with a smile. "He's not here to guide you, Shimako. You're not his puppet. You have to make your own choices on what is and is not a sin…and, if it is a sin, you're the one who has to come to terms with it." She looked out to the softly swaying tree branches. "Not God."

"That's not an answer." Shimako said quietly.

"Nothing is going to be." Sei returned. "You have to conclude those things for yourself."

"I don't want to think of other women." Shimako said as she finally let the wall fall down around her. "It does the friends I think about a complete and total disservice. What would she think?"

"Yumi-chan isn't the type to judge." Sei laughed as she considered that. "But, even if she were to be that way, who's to say that judgment would be a bad one."

"You're insufferable." Shimako said as she took another sip from her soup broth. "Even so, thank you, for being such a pain in the rear."

Sei grinned at that. "Don't mention it." She murmured as she reached out to push some of Shimako's long locks of fawn behind her ear. "Speaking of that, I have someone I want you to meet one day…maybe not soon, but eventually."

…

"Touko-chan, I still don't understand what's bothering you so much." Yumi sighed as she was dragged all around the city for the better part of the afternoon. They'd took a rest on a nearby park bench, but Touko still looked troubled. "I'm right here if you want to talk freely you know. You don't have to put on airs."

Touko smiled at that. "But you see, that's why I do have to." Touko said as she perched her smoothie straw to her lips. "You already see so much of me...too much, maybe." In fact, such a thing sometimes bothered her. "How do you know that kind of thing anyway? It isn't as if I try to let you know secretly. Quite the opposite, really."

Yumi had to think about that, rolling the thought around in her head. "I think it's because you're that type of person, Touko-chan." A thoughtful frown appeared on her face as she mulled it over. "You're the kind of person who doesn't want everyone to know what you're thinking…so, because of that, you're a little more obvious…maybe that's it?"

"You don't sound so sure." Touko pointed out as she sipped on the smoothie a bit more. "Don't you think you could just be seeing things?"

"If I was, you'd be upset at me for making the wrong assumption." In this, Yumi was sure as she leaned back on the park bench. "Is everything okay at school? You haven't talked about it once today."

"The problem isn't about school." Touko said as she sighed. "It's not really any of my business, Oneesama." Touko sighed as she put down her drink. "In fact, Noriko-chan came to me in confidence, so it's not like I can talk about it." She turned to Yumi then, the abruptness catching the older girl off guard. "Even so, I can't keep silent either…so I have to ask something."

"You can ask me anything." Yumi laughed then. "Although, I may not have an answer…"

"You'll have one." Touko said quietly. "I just don't know if you'll want to say it."

The light in Yumi's eyes faded. "What's wrong, Touko-chan?"

"I can't tell you that." Tokuo said with a shake of her head, another trickle of worry seeping into her voice. Unease and awkwardly fumbling for the right words. "Let's just say, what if you wanted to tell somebody something important. At the same time, you felt as if they wouldn't take that important thing into consideration."

"Alright." Yumi said as she closed her eyes. "I'll pretend to play that out in my mind."

"Okay..." Touko said with a breath. "If that's the case, what would you do?"

"Well, I guess it would be entirely dependent on what that person wanted to say." Yumi said as she laughed, opening her eyes again. "I don't really know, Touko-chan."

"I see." Touko nodded. "Well, anyway, that's all I wanted to ask."

"I would hope that anyone who wanted to tell me something, would." Yumi added then, quietly but honestly. "So, if you wanted to say something, I would listen. I'd like to think that's the way I am with all of my friends."