Disclaimer: I don't own Ah! My Goddess or any of the characters therein. Please don't use without permission. Thanks yet again go to Davner, not only for the book idea, but for his insights when I wasn't happy with the content and had to re-write multiple pages at a time. Comments and constructive criticism are always welcome. And now, WillZ presents:
The Goddess and the Sky
Chapter Fourteen
Something Bugging Me
Keiichi walked the unlit streets of Nekomi with care. He didn't believe that there were many hooligans, but it never hurt to be too cautious; he had seen the stories of what some people did when the lights went out during an earthquake and, he bet, that the unsuspecting would always be a rather tempting target.
As he walked, he idly thought about his exodus from the train. The attendants apologized profusely, but at least the emergency power had not only come on to prevent the vehicle from smashing into something, it had allowed access to the doors, preventing him from being trapped in there for the rest of the night. The seats might be marginally comfortable, but they were a far cry from anything anyone would want to sleep on.
Keiichi stifled a yawn, trying to get a better sense of where he was. Fortunately, a car crawled by cautiously, approaching the intersection near him, so he could see some familiar buildings in the passing lights. From his estimate, he thought he was near that unusual anomaly that Urd and Bell had been scoping out for the past several days. Since he was near it, he should go see if anyone was there. Who knows? Maybe with this blackout, the anomaly could be seen much more clearly. It was worth a try, at least.
Keiichi looked up, seeing the dark impressions of the buildings blotting out the starlight, giving him some reference to work on; he counted on the distinct outline of the buildings near the anomaly to point him towards it. Maybe the shapes and locations of the buildings were part of why it showed up there? He doubted it; things like that only happened in cheesy dramas or bad anime. Still, he was going to at least propose the idea to the Goddesses, but he was almost certain that they had already come up with that notion on their own.
As he approached, he heard a faint buzzing sound. He cautiously edged closer to the alley, seeing a very thin spill of light giving a slight bluish-green wash to the bricks on the building.
Suddenly, the light flickered like a dying bulb. Seconds later, the humming and the light ceased at the same time. Keiichi looked around the corner and blinked. There was something on the ground that was shown in a light that blinded him, but just as oddly, didn't illuminate anything around it. The light dimmed and he could make out a shadow in front of it.
It looked like a body.
Without thinking about it, Keiichi rushed forward to help the hapless person. When he got closer, he stopped short, shocked at what he saw.
The magical light had weakened to the point where only Urd's face could be seen. Her eyes were closed and her bangs were no longer in her eyes. As Keiichi gently reached an arm around her, lifting her to a sitting position, He heard a snore coming from her, and he smelled sake' permeating the air around her.
"Hey, Urd," Keiichi said, gently tapping the side of her face, "Wake up." He tried a few more taps, but gave in. What was he going to do? As he was debating, the lights came back as suddenly as they had gone out, causing him to blink. As they adjusted to the light, he looked down at the drunken Goddess…
And almost dropped her. Her hair was in a pink afro that bordered on the fluorescent shades, her mouth was open, and she was drooling.
Definitely not the best she had ever looked, in his opinion.
"Okay, Sleepyhead," he said, putting an arm under her shoulders, and one under her knees. He braced himself for the best leverage that he could in this sort of situation, and started to lift.
"Hey, there, cutie!" Urd said, almost causing Keiichi to fall on top of her. She didn't seem to care about her situation, as she reached arms around his neck, and pulled him into a kiss. He felt the heat rise in his cheeks as Urd slipped her tongue into his mouth. His tongue and mouth tingled as they stayed lip-locked, and he felt the tingle spread to the spot right between his eyes, as if someone were tickling him with a very gentle electric jolt.
This happened so quickly that Keiichi hadn't really absorbed what was happening. Now that his mind had caught up, he realized that he was in a dark alley being frenched by one of the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.
It had to be one of the best days of his life.
Keiichi pulled away from Urd, who passed out again once their lips parted. He could still taste a little bit of sake, and he licked his lips, trying to dispel some of it. He was more successful in picking up the Goddess this time; he hoisted her over his shoulder in a fireman's carry instead of trying to be more gentlemanly about it. As pleasant as it had been, he didn't want another kiss to distract him from coordinating through the now dimly-lit streets of downtown Nekomi. Being careful with where he was putting his hands, he made his way to Sora's place, hoping that Sora or Bell might still be up to let him in.
--
Sora woke, yawning sleepily. Her brain felt slightly muzzy as if she hadn't gotten much sleep, but it was bright in the room. Was it really morning?
She rubbed her eyes, opening them enough to barely see the smudge of Bell's sleeping form. If it was morning, Bell would already be up, singing to the trees in the back yard. Odd. Sora closed her eyes, stretched, yawned, and rolled onto her back. She opened her eyes…
… And screamed. There was something looming over her! Still screaming, she heard Belldandy stir next to her, wondering what the problem was, and she reached around for a weapon. Without thinking, she grabbed the pillow behind her and swung as hard as she could.
Nothing. The figure didn't even move! Whatever the figure was, it was going to kill her and make her into a stew. The part of her mind that was still waking up noted that she was being hysterical, so it tried to calm her down to assess the situation; it had noticed that the towering figure had not moved at all since she woke up and was slowly forcing its way into the illogical side of her.
The world was blurry, so she had no idea what to do. Was it just playing with its food before devouring it? Maybe it was one of those demons that Belldandy had told her about?
Belldandy. Sora focused as best as she could at the Goddess, who was now sitting up in the futon, looking at Sora oddly. Why wasn't the Goddess afraid of the thing? Shouldn't she be blasting it into a hundred bajillion little pieces by now?
"Killit!" Sora said, gasping from her hysterics, "Kill it with fire! Before it eats us or… Or worse!"
"Why?" Bell asked, sounding perplexed.
Sora paused a moment, dumbstruck. Why? The monster that was not moving an inch was going to eat their faces off!
Then it hit her: The thing really hadn't moved at all. Her brain raced, finally putting the pieces together. Big, looming, still monstrosity. Lights. All of it. Someone had shoved the stupid Cylon thing next to her sleeping form, bent it to look like it was looming, and…
"ED!" Sora Bellowed, causing the neighbors above her to thump angrily, "Get your miserable butt out here RIGHT NOW!" Belldandy came over, handing Sora her glasses. The bemused face that came into focus told Sora that even the Goddess had found the scene funny.
"Ed!" She repeated, and the spirit materialized behind her.
"You called," Erdgeist whispered in her ear, causing her to jump. It was almost as if he were trying to take as many years off her life as he possibly could. She was still surprised he hadn't caused her hair to start graying yet.
She caught her breath and stuck her tongue out at the spirit, who smiled in satisfaction.
"Get that monstrosity out of here!" She yelled, unable to keep the quaver from her voice. Erdgeist merely bowed, went over to the hell-spawned statue, and started hauling it to the door.
The spirit opened the door, and a white blur zipped past Sora and Belldandy, hitting the thing's torso in an explosion of whitish soap bubbles.
"What the-" Sora began, but was cut off by the robotic statue moving: It released itself from Erdgeist's grip, dropped to the floor and pranced post-haste out the door with a racket that caused the neighbors upstairs and besides her to thump angrily.
"What in Heaven's name was that?" Sora said. Before she could get a reply from the Goddess that looked just as perplexed as she was, a big, dark silhouette appeared in the door.
It looked roughly the shape of the Cylon. How it moved so quietly unnerved Sora for some reason.
Suddenly, the red light began to glow, growing in intensity until it was like a beacon of death.
"Oh, crap," Sora whispered. "It's going to kill us."
"What are-" Belldandy said, but Sora hissed her to silence.
"It's the light," Sora whispered, trying to keep her hands from shaking, "The evil red light means it's going to kill us and wear our skins as lingerie."
"I think you're over-thinking it," Bell whispered back, "See? It is just standing there."
"Yeah," She replied, trying not to move, "because it is like those predators that only go after you if it moves. See? The light's moving like a motion sensor, and it'll kill us all if we even flinch."
Belldandy was staring at her in amazement, but she knew: She hated the thing ever since it came into their apartment; it looked as if death incarnate had been given a menacing robotic form.
Before she could think on it any further, the thing's eye started to oscillate from side to side, sizing up the whole room and its contents. Suddenly, the thing's arm pointed at her, and the gun disappeared behind its long, dagger-like fingers before it charged into the room.
"RUN!" Sora screamed, taking hold of Bell's hand somehow managing to slip past the mechanical menace into the darkness of the back yard.
--
Sayoko tapped her fingers impatiently as she awaited rescue from the metal box she was trapped in. Granted, it was lined in wood and velvet, but that didn't change what it was. She didn't like elevators that much to begin with, because they moved at a snail's pace at best, but now that she was stuck in one in the middle of a blackout, the elevator became cramped.
She flipped open her phone, twisting the screen to "widescreen mode" and tuned it to the local station. To her disgust, they weren't broadcasting. Did anyone ever hear of "backup generators"? Her mansion had at least three, and she was sure her father's main building had one every eighth floor. Was it too much for them to put one in for emergency lighting? She flipped the phone to a national station to at least have something to do while she waited.
After several minutes, the power came back on, startling her. She quickly punched the next floor, and the elevator came to a slow halt, opening its doors. She hurried out as calmly as she could, not taking any chances that it might be just a temporary return of power.
She made her way to the stairs, careful to keep her cell phone handy; the device not only had a nice screen, but it could, if set to a light image, double as enough of a flashlight to keep her from having to fumble her way down each step in her high heels.
She made her way towards the main lobby, still cursing her choice of footwear: The shoes were wearing her patience away and she just wanted to go home, take a bath, and curl up under her covers and sleep until noon.
Sayoko had made it about halfway down the stairway when she finally got sick of her shoes. Aching and frustrated, she sat on a step, removed the shoes, and was tempted to just dump them over the side and possibly pick up their remains at the bottom.
She didn't do it, of course; the shoes were part of the outfit and were perfectly fine for social outings. It wasn't the shoes' fault that she had to walk down almost twenty flights of stairs, or that the event she had been at lasted much longer than she had originally anticipated. Maybe next time, she should use a larger bag, and hide some house slippers in it? While the thought had some merit, it didn't seem to be practical.
Sayoko sighed, continuing her journey downward. She thought about tomorrow night, and still debated with herself as to where she would take Mister Morisato. For all she knew, he would want something simple, like a burger, fries and shake to make him happy. She signed again, this time angry with herself. She didn't know the man, and didn't want to make any assumptions based on which dorm he lived in or who he hung around with.
Maybe his tastes were refined, even though he looked like he had the fashion sense of James Dean. Maybe it was how everyone that worked with vehicles dressed? She doubted it, as she remembered that her family's mechanics wore uniforms and coveralls that at least made them look professional, even when they got coated in dirt, oil and other mechanical fluids.
Though, the article on him running for President was quite humorous, she knew from experience that the paper could not be trusted; the only thing that she could believe was that he was a member of the Auto Club, as she had seen him leaving from there numerous times. It didn't help the paper's reputation that they didn't have any quotes from him, either. Maybe if they bothered to do real journalism, people would take them seriously.
She brought her thoughts back to the present. Sayoko put her hateful shoes back on, opened the door and went over to the valet's podium. She tossed her number to the kid behind the table and he called his colleague on the radio. Within minutes, her car was here, and she took off without another word. Why should she bother to talk to them, when they were doing their job? Besides, they would get a good enough tip from home when the bill was paid in the morning.
She was almost to the road leading to her apartment, when she saw the oddest thing: A person, presumably a woman wearing a pink Afro was being carried over a short man's shoulder. The afro looked to be a wig, as silvery-white hair hanging out of the bottom was now flopped over part of the wig, making it look like the wig had a skunk's stripe. Sayoko could tell the woman was much taller than the man; her feet almost made it to the man's shins.
Sayoko was tempted to stop and take a picture, simply because it was such an odd thing to see, but refrained from it, simply because she couldn't get a good shot in the light. As she crawled by, she tried to see the man's face, but the woman's ample hips obscured whatever the dim light hadn't. Resigned that her curiosity wasn't going to be satiated tonight, she gave up and made her way to her apartment, thinking of how nice a long, soaking bath would feel on her aching feet.
--
Keiichi felt tired. Urd might be supermodel thin, but the Goddess was tall and well-built with all the right amounts of muscle and fat in all the right places. He tried not to think of that too much, but with her backside mere inches from his face, and her wearing a miniskirt to boot, he found his mind slowly going back to it. He tried to distract himself, but something like his reflection in a window, or the way the shadows looked as he passed a light pole kept drawing his mind back to it.
Well, that and the kiss. Did she even know who it was she was kissing? Most likely not, if she had called him cutie; it meant the alcohol had seriously warped what she was seeing. Still, as much as he tried to discount it, it really had felt like a nice way to have a first kiss by a real woman.
He thought of it like that, because no matter how cute one might be, a little sister kissing you on the lips when you are kids, just because she saw it on a television show did not count. It did nothing for his self esteem when a week later, Megumi had a boyfriend while he was still squirming uncomfortably anytime he had to sit next to Sakura Tomino from his class at lunch. If anything, the kiss made him even more self conscious than he usually had been. Keiichi was still surprised that the girl had sat next to him even after all of his uncomfortable blushing.
He tried not to think about it as he made his way towards Sora's place, but it kept coming back to him. He remembered the first girl he liked in High school. She was small, cute, and extremely easygoing and friendly. They had hung out whenever their schedules permitted, and she always had a smile for him and yet somehow, he never went past being friends with her.
And he didn't want to think about the disaster with Sayoko; she hadn't even really given him the time of day before he went and asked her to the museum and now…
Now, he really didn't know what he should do. The closer the date got, the more anxious he felt about it: Maybe it'd be best if he just politely pretend to be sick, and just let her out of any obligation she felt? It didn't help that he was all but positive she was going to bring him to some upper-class place where he'd have to dress in a suit or a tuxedo, either – for some reason every fitted suit looked like he was a kid trying on his father's clothing.
Keiichi sighed, disgusted with himself. Why did he always seem to be around woman that seemed to have zero interest in him? It would be nice to have had at least some experience with dating, and romance and all the good and bad that went with it.
Even now, he felt envious of Sora's predicament; if he had been in the same situation…
He sighed again. He knows exactly what would have happened in a situation like that: He would have asked for his Beemer to be repaired to practically "factory new" or he would have wasted it on something completely useless. He never would have used it to find true love or a girlfriend or even a wife! Heaven knows that he didn't deserve a wish in the first place, so why think about the "coulds" or "woulds" for things that were just "nots"?
His thoughts came back to his current situation, and realized he was almost to Sora's place. The Goddess was now somehow snoring in her awkward position on his shoulder.
"There's too many of them," Urd murmured enough so Keiichi could hear, "They're coming right for us!"
What's coming for them? Who was "them" anyway? Whomever it was, it sounded bad that they were on their apparent way towards Urd.
"Soft," Urd muttered, shifting in Keiichi's arms enough that he had to hold her tighter or risk her slipping off his shoulder to the sidewalk, "So many legs.. and the hopping! Evil ears! Evil!"
Urd was now thrashing to the point Keiichi had to stop. The goddess flayed her arms around wildly, almost as if she were swatting away a swarm of flies. What on Earth was going on? Had she drunk so much alcohol that she was having delusions in her sleep? Could it be a sign of alcohol poisoning? He thought it best to bring her to Belldandy as quickly as possible.
"Their eyes," Urd whined, finally stopping her squirming enough for Keiichi to resume walking, "Their horrible, beady eyes! There's no end to them!"
"It's okay," Keiichi said as reassuringly as he could, "We'll be home any minute now."
Just as suddenly as it had started, Urd resumed her snoring.
--
Sora looked into her apartment with dismay. She and Bell were both behind Urd's appropriated shed, looking at the statue-come-to-life that was looking around her apartment.
For some reason, it looked confused.
Maybe she should call the cops? But how would you explain something so absurd to them? They would most likely think that it was some prank from her club-mates again – she shuddered at the one time the cops had come to the club house, eyed everyone inside with distrust, and took Tamiya and Otaki down to the station for questioning.
Because of that, the police knew what she looked like, and if those guys that came to inquire about the stolen aluminum window frames were to come to her apartment…
But what else could she do? She was freezing, her body was covered in goosebumps and, if someone came by and saw her and bell in their sleepwear, she was sure that she'd die from embarrassment!
"What should we do, Bell?" She asked the goddess standing next to her. She felt her face flush, as she realized that the Goddess not only seemed unaffected by the cold, but wasn't covering herself modestly. Granted it was just herself and Bell here, but still…
"We should go talk to it," Bell said simply, taking a step towards the door.
"No!" Sora hissed, grabbing Belldandy's hand, "The thing'll probably barbecue you the moment it saw you!"
"Then why didn't it do so when it first moved?" the Goddess asked, confused, "Wouldn't the element of surprise have been in its favor?"
"That's because we got the jump on it," Sora replied, "and escaped before it got its bearings!"
"So what do we do, then?" Bell asked her. She thought about it for a moment.
"Couldn't you blast it with your power?" Sora suggested. Bell looked aghast.
"Why would I do that?" The Goddess asked.
"It's a metallic, heartless minion of death!" She replied, "Its soulless body lives just to destroy things!"
"Well, then," Belldandy said slowly, "Why isn't it wrecking the apartment?"
"How would I know?" Sora complained, "I'm not a mindless metallic minion of death!"
"Maybe I should go talk to it," Belldandy said thoughtfully.
"Didn't we just shoot that idea down?"
Before Belldandy could reply to that, they saw Keiichi round the corner carrying Urd over his shoulder. The elder Goddess looked like she had been partying too hard; her hair was sticking out from under the worst wig Sora had ever seen. In contrast, Keiichi was dressed in work coveralls and matching baseball cap. He walked towards the apartment, stopping momentarily to stare at the door.
"Kei-" Sora began, but was too late in her warning; Keiichi went through the door and closed it behind him. Sora and Bell rushed up to their apartment, fearing the sounds of death and carnage that should be coming out of it any time now.
But there was silence. Did the thing snap poor Keiichi's neck? Sora swallowed hard, and hesitatingly moved to the door. She was about to open it, when Keiichi opened it.
"AAAH!" Sora shrieked at the top of her lungs.
"AAAH!" Keiichi answered, just as startled as she was. The neighbors started thumping on the ceiling and walls again in their anger, but Sora didn't care.
"You're alive!" Sora said, wrapping her arms around the still-recovering boy.
"Barely after that!" He replied. Sora felt herself gently pushed away, and she looked at him, smiling that he was safe.
Then she remembered that she was barely wearing anything, and it was cold outside.
"Don't look!" She said, accidentally smacking him as she thrust her hand over his eyes.
"Ow!" He said, rubbing his head, but at least he wasn't looking at her now, "What was that for?"
"We're not decent!" Sora said, still waving her hands in front of his face, " I didn't hit you that hard, and it was an accident!"
With a patient look on his face, Keiichi kept his eyes closed, still rubbing his face where Sora had smacked him. Sora sighed and retreated into the house to get a robe for herself and Belldandy.
And ran right into the rogue robot.
"AAH!" Sora cried, muffling it with her hands. Her eyes widened as she realized the thing was staring right at her, its eye unmoving.
Sora closed her eyes, not bothering to watch her killer finish her off. Oh well, at least it had been a good life…
"Mommy!" The robot said in its deep near-monotone.
It was at this point that Sora fainted.
--
Keiichi was nonplussed; one minute, he was dragging a passed out woman into the apartment, and then not to long after that, he had to bring another woman into the apartment. It didn't help that he had to make his way around a Cylon model that looked lifted from one of the sets as it turned to stare at him with that single eye.
He put Sora next to Urd on the futon and put a blanket over the two. The house was still cold and, as warm as his work uniform was, he was starting to feel the chill a bit. Bell offered him to make some tea, and he accepted wholeheartedly. He sat at the table, rubbing his hands together to work some warmth into them.
Keiichi purposely tried to keep his eyes averted as much as possible, but it was difficult when the woman at the stove wore a pullover, sleeveless nightgown that seemed more fitting for the summer than the winter. He focused on the statue that was now staring at the unconscious Sora. The poor thing seemed to be at a loss, and he could swear that he heard sobbing coming from over near its general direction.
There was a small tap of ceramic on the tabletop next to him. He turned to say thanks...
And almost swallowed his tongue. Bell's breasts were right in line with his eyes.
"Thanks," Keiichi said weakly. It really had been cold out there, he noted. He turned away, feeling his face flush.
"You're quite welcome," Belldandy said. From the sound of it, he would bet that she was smiling at him warmly.
"So," Keiichi asked, still averting his eyes from the Goddess, "what's with the tin man over there?"
"It seems," Belldandy said in a matter-of-fact way, "that it had been brought to life."
"I can see that," Keiichi sighed, rolling his eyes, "but what I meant was why is it fixated on Sora?"
There was a pause. After what seemed endless minutes of silence, Belldandy answered.
"I am not sure what happened," She said, "One minute, the thing was lifeless, and the next, it was running out of the house. When it came back in, it looked right at Sora. It might have been a case of 'imprinting.'"
"I'm not sure I follow," Keiichi said. He hazarded a look over at Bell, who thankfully had taken a seat and rested her chin on both hands as she looked from him to the robot. At least he wasn't distracted anymore.
"Think of baby birds," Bell replied, "when they see something for the first time, it becomes their mother."
Such a simple explanation, and yet, he understood. He nodded.
"Yeah," He said thoughtfully, "that does make sense."
"So," Belldandy said after another pause, "what do you think we should name him?"
Keiichi nearly spit out his tea. He clamped a hand over his mouth to keep from making a mess of things.
"H-Him?" He finally said after recovering enough to swallow his tea.
"Yes," Bell replied, "He's going to need a name if he's going to stay here."
He didn't know what to say to that at first; he was all but certain that the robot would be shipped off to somewhere far away from Sora at the first opportunity. The thought kind of made him feel sorry for the poor thing, all things considered.
"Sora didn't like it when you first got it," Keiichi said, "so how do you know she'll keep it around?"
Belldandy didn't say anything: Instead, she just smiled to herself and started humming as she did a little light cleaning. It was odd, but her hum seemed to have a resonance to it that he had never heard before.
Chalking it up to being tired, he shook his head, took another sip of tea, and started to stare into his cup.
"Did you think of a name yet?" Belldandy asked, breaking him out of his reverie. He had honestly forgotten about the conversation, which made him blush. What was he going to say? Should he just say "Tama" like a little kid? Maybe "Spot?"
Should he give it a silly name like R2D2? What about Cy? Neither thing really sang out to him, so they wouldn't work. What about Mark, since it was the Mark II body type? He racked his brain for a few more seconds, but came up with nothing. In a panic, he came up with something totally out of the blue.
"Thirteen," he blurted out.
"Thirteen?" Belldandy blinked, "Like jyuusan?"
"No," Keiichi replied, "It needs to be in English. There were twelve Cylon models, so this would be the thirteenth."
Bell nodded in understanding.
"Is there any reason you asked me to name it?" He asked, curious.
"Well," she answered, "when you first saw it, you knew what it was."
"That's it?" He said, staring at her in surprise.
"Yes," She even blushed a bit as she continued, "If someone understands something, they are better to name it than someone that's never seen that thing before."
It made sense. He mulled it over for a few minutes more, but what the Goddess had said was spot on: He could see Sora naming the thing "Tama," and, as funny as that might be, it really didn't fit something so ominous-looking.
"I think I shall go ask him if he likes his new name," Belldandy said, putting the washcloth on the counter. Keiichi just looked at the robot, still trying to focus on anything but how the Goddess was dressed. It had been easier to do when they were talking, but now the uncomfortable feeling was back, making him feel anxious. Was he going to be his father's son completely, unable to talk to any females but his mother and sister? He hoped that wouldn't be the case.
Diverting his thoughts, he looked at the sleeping forms of Sora and Urd. Why had the Goddess kissed him? Was it another one of her jokes?
And worst of all: Why did Sayoko's image keep getting put in Urd's place in his mind? It frustrated him to no end.
"I'm heading home," He said, staring into his cup of tea, "I feel beat after everything that's happened tonight."
"Are you sure you'll be okay?" Belldandy asked, a look of concern on her face, "It wouldn't be too much for you to stay the night."
"I'll be fine," He replied, feigning a yawn, "What I really want right now, is just to curl up and sleep until noon."
"Well then," Belldandy said, "Have a good night, Keiichi."
"Night, Bell," He answered, getting up to leave, "I'll be sure to stop in tomorrow to find out what's up." He closed the door behind him, not looking to see if Belldandy waved to him or not – he'd rather not have the last image of the night be her in her sleepwear.
--
Keiichi woke from a nice dream about Sayoko, feeling stiff and sore all over. His lower back ached, and his mouth felt and tasted like what he imagined to be old paste, unlike the hinted taste of strawberry lipstick that lingered in his mind from Sayoko kissing him in his dream. His sleep hadn't been as restful as he had hoped; several times during the night, Hoshi had awakened him with yells of frustration or with the noise of him slamming his palm onto his space bar – a habit the kid seemed do whenever he was annoyed with someone or something. Even now, the maniac was typing away furiously on his laptop's keyboard, ranting out loud to his computer.
"What the hell does 'Thank you' mean?" The boy said, holding his laptop's display in both hands, "I gave him a scathing review of how he was completely and totally not getting Roslin's character right, and all he said was 'Thank you' for a reply?"
Keiichi half-heard the ranting: At least Hoshi wasn't screaming and running around the small room this time.
"I think I'll give him a piece of my mind!" The boy said, thrusting his fist in the air, "I'll make him sweat in his pathetic little boots!"
Good luck with it, Keiichi thought, I hope you'll at least have the courtesy to do it quietly.
He curled up in his blankets again, trying to get comfortable, but between the increasing intensity of his aches and pains and Hoshi's furious typing and occasional banging on his keyboard, Keiichi finally gave up.
"What time is it?" He asked sleepily, rubbing his eyes as he sat up.
There was no answer; Hoshi was in full "Roberto Mode" and ignoring him.
That was good. It meant Keiichi didn't have to pick sides on something he knew less than little about.
As he stretched, he thought about the events last night. He could still see almost still images of both goddesses in his mind, and it made him uncomfortable. Could he get struck by lightning just by looking at them? It was bad enough he was going to feel completely uncomfortable in either's presence when he did return to Sora's place. Maybe he should just avoid them for a while? He decided the best way to deal with it would be to just go see them and get it out of his system.
It didn't hurt that he might get a nice look at Belldandy and Urd's as- No! He was going to be a gentleman! He wasn't going to give into his baser instincts and look! It was bad enough he was going to probably panic his way through his date with Sayoko – he didn't need to add in lecherous thoughts about two other women to the mix.
He sighed. It really wasn't helping that the two goddesses were just as beautiful as the debutante was, as far as he was concerned. Why couldn't things be nice and easy, where women were concerned? Giving up on this train of thought, he made his way to the bathroom to hopefully get rid of the horrid pasty taste in his mouth with a good brushing.
Keiichi ate a boring breakfast of some corn flakes and a banana, and made his way over to Sora's. After knocking on the door, he waited for someone to open the door. He heard a "fwoosh" behind him, and looked at the direction of Urd's shack.
What he saw wasn't encouraging: The smoke coming out of the windows was a pinkish color, while the stuff billowing out of the opened door was bluish-green. He raced over to see if he needed to call 119 for medical assistance, and possibly fire control.
"Are you okay?" Keiichi said, looking in the doorway. The smell of the smoke made his nose scrunch up, and he resisted the urge to gag. The stench reminded him of the time his sister was learning to cook, and burnt a stick of butter and spices to his mother's favorite pan.
As he waved away the smoke, he saw Belldandy, Sora and Urd sitting in a circle, clutching their ears. Urd, still wearing that silly pink afro, was covered in soot, and both Bell and Sora looked as if they were going to be sick. Belldandy was the first to see him.
"Hello Keiichi," the Goddess said, unclasping her ears and absently waving away the smoke so she could see him better. Once she spoke, both Sora and Urd turned to focus their attention on him, and not the smoking vial on the floor that he could now see. Sora waved back, still looking ill, while Urd didn't want to look at him for some reason.
"I know I am probably going to regret this," Keiichi said, "but what happened?"
"We know what the anomaly was," Urd said, giving him a small sideways glance, before going back to avoiding his gaze.
"And?" He asked, hoping to prompt more information from the elder sister.
"And," Urd repeated before continuing, "I was trying to fix the problem."
"By blowing the place up?" He asked. Urd fidgeted under his gaze.
"Keiichi," Belldandy said, causing him to look at her, "Urd was trying to attract the bugs to us with a potion."
"Bugs?" Keiichi asked, still not following, "What bugs? And how is a failed potion going to fix the problem?"
"It didn't fail," Urd said, sounding indignant, "As a matter of fact, it went off better than I expected."
Keiichi stared. He had heard the stories from Belldandy about all the times her sister's potions would fail in the most spectacular ways when they were in Heaven, and far too few were missing the mention of explosions.
"Really?" He said, still disbelieving.
"Yes 'really' you twit!" Urd replied, "You could give me some credit, you know!"
"Well, your track record is far from stellar," Sora replied dryly, cutting Keiichi off from apologizing, "I am surprised that they even let you in the pharmacy anymore."
"I said it was an accident," Urd said defensively, "He doesn't even remember a thing about running around, trying to mark his territory on all the nearby fire hydrants!"
"Oh, really?" Sora asked, "And what type of potion was it supposed to be again?"
Urd muttered something incomprehensible, but Keiichi knew.
"What was that, Urd-san?" Sora asked, "I didn't quite get that."
"It was a love potion, okay?" Urd replied, "How was I supposed to know he was allergic to eggs?"
"Well, then," Belldandy said, breaking into the conversation, "if your guess is correct Neesan, we should be getting the bugs in about an hour?"
"Probably less," Urd sighed, thankful for the interruption in her losing argument.
"So what do we do until then?" Keiichi asked, sitting down between Urd and Sora. No sooner had he sat down, he heard a depressed sigh coming from Urd's direction. He looked over, but Urd looked more annoyed than depressed. Was he hearing things? He shook his head slightly and turned to look at Belldandy, who was deep in thought.
"We should set up something to lure them into one place," The younger Goddess said after a few moments of quiet contemplation, "It wouldn't be beneficial to get them here and catch less than half."
"True," Urd said, nodding her head, "We should set up some bait to lure them in with."
As one, the girls all looked at Keiichi.
"Great," He sighed, "so, what do I need to do?"
--
Keiichi didn't like this plan one bit. He was in the middle of the yard next to several oddities, such as a pink baseball bat, a cuddly teddy bear that was over four feet tall and a bicycle with one huge front wheel and one small one. To name the ones he recognized. There were a lot of smaller things like toys and models, but each of them looked like they came from some "bizzarro" Japanese game show.
"Can I take it back?" he said, barely moving his mouth. Why he had to stay completely still was beyond him.
"No," Urd said in a hushed tone from behind the bush directly behind him, "We need a human or something alive to be the keystone to the trap."
"But wouldn't that put me inside with them?" Keiichi asked.
"Yes." Urd hissed back, "Well, technically: You will be in the center, true, but once the trap springs, it'll expand around and over you, like a balloon."
"And you are positive these things won't kill me?" He continued, "I have a date in several hours that I would like to make it to. Alive, if possible." After the description of the computer code gone wrong the Goddesses had given him, he was feeling extremely vulnerable.
"You'll be fine," she continued, "The most that'll happen is one might hit you and you'll turn into a toad or something, but other than that, you'll be right as rain in no time!"
Keiichi wished Belldandy and Sora would return from the store soon.
"So," Urd said, after a long pause, "about last night."
"Nothing happened! I swear!" Keiichi said quickly, feeling the heat rise to his face.
"That was a little... Defensive," Urd said slowly, Keiichi heard the depressed sigh again, thinking that somehow, he had hurt the Goddess's feelings.
"I'm sorry?" He replied weakly, "I didn't mean to make you depressed or anything."
"What are you talking about?" Urd asked.
"I mean, you started it, anyway," Keiichi continued, "It was nice and all, but it was my first time, you know." In his panicked state, he barely registered Belldandy and Sora return, hurriedly put their purchases in place and retreat to their appointed hiding spots.
"What?!"
"It was nice," he said again, feeling flummoxed. He could hear a soft sobbing coming from her direction. Did it really upset her that much?
"Would you please start speaking sense?" Urd asked. She sounded exasperated. Wait - if Urd was exasperated, and sora and Bell were too far away from him to hear, then who-
He didn't get a chance to finish the thought; several things happened all at once.
First was the noise to his left that sounded like Godzilla was about to descend on Nekomi. The thundering of it resonated through the amphitheater created by the buildings on all sides. He was not going to look that way to see what was coming towards him.
Second, from his left, he heard Sora start sneezing repeatedly. It wasn't the usual cute little "girl sneeze" she usually did, but ones that could have rivaled Tamiya or Otaki on one of their better days.
Next was the swarm of bunnies. Lots of bunnies. Each one had the cutest face he had ever seen, and eight of the most frightening faces he had ever seen to counteract their adorableness.
Also, "Thirteen" was pulled out of the apartment atop a sea of the creatures. The thing calmly tried swimming his way back onto the house, but the sheer volume of the wave of nightmarishly-cute creatures was hard to suppress, even for a robot.
Finally, Belldandy and Urd jumped out of their hiding places and held their hands up to the skies.
Wonderful, Keiichi thought, they are going to surrender and use me as a sacrifice of some sort.
And then, they sang.
It wasn't like previous times when he had heard the goddesses sing; their harmonies intertwined with one another, the rabid bunny-spiders, and him in a way he could not explain. There was something ethereal to it – as if a gossamer thread danced around the two women in blue to compliment the golden tones emanating from their lips. It seemed so otherworldly, and yet, something about it nagged at him, until he finally figured out what it was that he was hearing.
There were four voices singing instead of two.
--
Urd sang, her eyes half-closed as she did so, savoring the words that were dancing through her mind. Her sister and Holy Bell's voices mingled with hers, adding additional power to the spell. She reached out to Keiichi and Bell and Sora, just as she knew her sister was reaching out to Keiichi, Erdgeist and the bugs. It was frustrating, giving Bell so much of the power to weave, but it couldn't be helped; she could not get her angel to come out, and she was still afraid to do so, after the last time – the first time – she had tried.
Even now, that memory burned in her brightly, revealing her own stupidity and shame and sorrow for any who could see, and she hated herself for it.
She violently shook the thought away, though; one could not worry about the past, when the present presented itself as an even bigger challenge. She concentrated on singing, weaving her part with the delicate hands of a craftswoman.
Urd could feel her scalp itching, which was all the proof she needed that her part of this weaved spell was almost done. A little more of a nudge, and…
She smiled as she sang. The stupid, stupid wig finally popped off of her head, reverting back to its original form of one of the system bugs. As it was pulled into the nexus around Keiichi, she could see his eyes bulge, right before said bug hit him square in the face, knocked him on his ass and fell into his lap. Maybe that would teach the idiot to speak sensibly when asked a simple question!
Her part of the song was almost over. After this, she'd just have to play chorus to Belldandy as she brought the aria to a conclusion. In her mind, she could hear Holy Bell resonating with the song on both parts, adding a gentle accompaniment that could not be heard by the ears of humans, but felt in their very soul. If they had needed the power, would Bell have summoned Holy Bell to appear? She couldn't wait for that to happen; she knew it would scare the shit out of Sora almost as bad as the Cylon did.
Speaking of the Cylon: Urd watched from the corner of her eye as the creature inside swam its way away from its brothers. It seemed that the little bugger really wanted to stay. Had it fallen in love with its "Mommy?" She hoped so – Erdgeist was proving to be a riot when it came to annoying Sora, and she couldn't' wait to see what he was going to cook up, now that the statue had sentience.
Seeing that the bug-infested Cylon wasn't making any headway to escape, Urd flicked her hand, sending a small, unneeded stream of power at the robot. With the extra boost in the right direction, the thing used its impetus to escape and cling onto the side of the building for dear "life."
Urd finished her last refrain, and turned to focus her energies at Bell's song. The thumping that she had been ignoring had finally come into the forepart of her mind, so she turned to see if one or more of the creatures had fused into a gestalt.
What Urd saw, nearly made her lose it: One of the buggers had feet three times its size each, and, as it finally struggled and made a hop, the landing made the resonating crash.
That's good, Urd thought, at least it wasn't some Godzilla ripoff that we'd have to keep from ruining the city.
Still, it made her want to giggle, so she turned back towards Belldandy and the trap, to see that Keiichi was almost completely engulfed by the pests.
Urd shot Belldandy a "thumbs up" which her younger sister acknowledged with a small nod. In seconds, both of them lowered their hands perpendicular to their bodies, and resonated the same, clear, high note. As the note faded, the red-purple lines of the trap became visible, pulling all of the bugs up and away from the boy in the middle.
She and Bell clasped their hands together at the same time, and the whole bundle closed itself up like a flower, compressed, and then imploded into a shower of white, soap-like bubbles.
"Yes!" Sora said, coming from her hiding place behind the shed, "We got them all!"
"We got most of them, Sora-chan," Belldandy corrected, "I can bet we'll have several stragglers for a few days or so."
"Will they come here?" Keiichi asked as he dusted dirt from his pants, "More importantly: Are we going to have to do that again anytime soon?"
"No, and no," Urd replied before reaching behind her for her sake' bottle, "I'll bet we'll have to comb the city and look for them the old fashioned way." With that, she pulled out some glasses with orange-tinted lenses and put them on. She then put her fists on her hips, planted her feet and stuck her chin skywards to affect a dramatic pose.
Keiichi had ignored her, though – he was helping Belldandy and Sora clean the yard of footprints and miscellaneous debris left by the rampaging program errors.
"Jerk," she said under her breath.
Ain't he just? The thought, was gone before she could discern if it were her own thought or not. She glowered at the boy, feeling annoyed that he was spending more time being nice, instead of being appreciative of her flair for the dramatic.
He doesn't appreciate you. The thought nagged at her for some reason. It seemed… Off. She shook her head and decided to join the group in cleaning up the place. Off impulse, she touched the part of her mind connected to World of Elegance off a whim, and felt the angel was still isolated from her. One of these days, she really needed to repair that bridge, but, to her dismay, she still didn't know how.
Maybe you should give up on him, anyways. This time, the thought brought Urd out of her funk.
"What?!" She said aloud, causing the others to look at her with concern. The voice in her mind was whispering to her, as if it were in her ear. It wasn't Holy Bell or anyone she could think of that could talk to her via thought, and Mother had been blocked from ever mind-talking to her with strong blocks that even the Almighty couldn't remove. This was something new.
"Oh, crap!" Keiichi exclaimed all of a sudden, looking at this watch, "I gotta go get ready for my date!"
It was odd. Too odd: One minute a voice was talking to her empathically, and the next, upon being caught out in the open, Keiichi had a need to escape.
Yes, it was very suspicious, indeed. Urd closed her eyes and concentrated, humming softly but quickly to herself to cast the required spell and…
There you are. Urd said in her mind. I got you!
"Sorry I can't stay," Keiichi said, panicked, "If I don't go now, I'll be home when the Seniors return, and they'll leave me no hot water to shower in!"
That clinched it: That was the most pathetic excuse she had ever heard for making a hasty retreat, because it was definitely very unlike him. With her mind focused, she opened her eyes, and concentrated on the nape of Keiichi's neck, reaching out with her power as if grabbing for something with her own hand.
Contact! She thought triumphantly. You aren't going anywhere!
Crap, the sound in her mind said, sounding annoyed and petulant at the same time. Urd knew only one type of thing in creation that could put multiple emotions into their voice, and that was…
"By the Almighty," Urd thought and said at the same time, "You're an angel, aren't you?"