l
-14-
The sensation of being watched overcame her. Her eyes fluttered open and looked about the room. Everything seemed normal as she surveyed her surroundings. Nothing was out of place, nothing had been disturbed, and her bedroom door still remained closed. Yet the feeling did not leave; that something was different, that she was not alone, that someone or something was watching her from a place she had yet to come across. She searched harder, scanning the room with narrowed eyes as she tried to locate the sensation, feeling the hair along her arms and up the back of her neck rise as the sense grew stronger. Then her eyes saw it; a chair against the wall opposite the Ugly Beast, which she was laying on currently. Not her bedroom-it had been before, but not no longer, for such was the way of dreams-but the living room. The chair was dark, but it unmistakably was a matched piece to the couch she was laying on now, a dark, deep cast of pink with floral patterns.
In it sat a man.
He was watching her, that much she could tell. Watching her with a keen interest, like he was waiting on her to do something. She smiled. Though the poor lighting of the room hid his features, it was clear that this muscular man was familiar, was safe, and that she was not in any danger like times in the past.
A perverse little thought came to mind, one that was quite un-lady, no, un-goddess-like. She smiled wider, and she caught a hint of a smile on the man's face, which was otherwise obscured from the tip of the nose up in shadow. Slowly, she turned so that her body faced him fully. One arm came up to help support her head while the other moved down, along her body. She hooked the bottom of the charmeuse she was wearing with her fingers and pulled it up enough to expose the curve of her hip while she moved her leg to keep from exposing anything underneath. Teasing him. Taunting him. Leaving his mind to imagine what his eyes couldn't see.
His smile widened. She could also see a stirring below his waistline.
It excited her to know she had that effect on him. She batted an eye at him as she moved her hand up, exposing more of herself before bringing it up and cupping her breast. She closed her eyes as she luxuriated in the tingle in her body as she played with her nipple through her charmeuse. There was just enough fabric to give the man a tantalizing hint of what was underneath without giving away everything.
She closed her eyes and leaned her head back, moving her hand up to her neck, she caressed her cheek before lowering it again. Raising back up, she gave him a sultry look, one that promised much more was on the way.
She saw his manhood rising, saw him gripping the armrests of the chair tighter. Yet he did not move. She didn't want him to, for she had him right where she wanted him. Lifting her leg up, she exposed her womanhood to him as she slowly moved her hand down. She began caressing her folds, causing the smoldering fire that had been growing to ignite with flame inside her. But she was not sure what was exciting her more, her self-pleasure, or the way the man's face was contorting. Gone was the smile, replaced by a pant of lust, his manhood standing at attention for all to see.
She moved her hips sensually under her own ministrations, panting in step with that of the man across her. She could see him start to squirm in the chair as he watched, and idly she wondered if he would get up and ravage her right there. Not that she would mind.
But he stayed, which only excited her more.
After a few more moments of watching him, he was now grasping at the armrest as if his life depended on it, she took her wet fingers away and stood up and walked to the man, her hips swaying sultrily as she approached.
She paused in front of him, the moon large in the window behind her. She knew that her entire body could be seen through the charmeuse, so she lifted her arms above her head and stretched, making sure that he could see every single curve of her body. She then lifted it off of her in one, smooth motion, exposing her entire body to him. Slowly, she brought her hands back down and then traced her body, starting with her chest, sliding under her breasts, then down along her hips. She then leaned forward, placing her hands on top of his arms to hold him in position, and captured his lips with her own.
She moaned softly as he greedily kissed her, thrusting his tongue into her mouth. She took it willingly, and responded in kind, a sultry dance of love as the two connected for the first time. But she was not going to let him control this, no. She shifted slightly, sucked in and took his lower lip between her teeth and pulled back slightly before letting him go. Leaning in again, she licked him across the lips then escaped before he could respond. Twice more she did this. Oh she was such a tease.
But her heart and the stirrings below her waist demanded that she move this along, lest she drive herself as crazy as the man in front of her. She leaned in, lower and further this time, and captured his earlobe in her mouth. At the same time she caught his scent; it was a combination of Old Spice, the outdoors, and gunpowder, and she felt herself tingle with excitement. She felt him shudder and gasp as she started to nibble at it. Then, using her tongue, she traced a line from there down to his chest. She then did the same with his nipple, first one then the other, before coming down to her knees.
As she lowered herself, she felt his manhood between her breasts. She finally released his arms and then pushed her mounds together, enveloping him between them. She could just see the tip peeking past her cleavage. She leaned in and licked it with her tongue, and was rewarded when she felt him buck his hips underneath her.
She pressed herself against him further and started slowly rocking back and forth, watching as the head alternately appeared and disappeared from between where she had it trapped. As it came out, she would lick the tip again and again, adding more and more lubrication, allowing her to move more and more. She heard a moan coming from the man and she looked up to see that his head had lolled back as he gasped for air. His fingers were digging into the armrests, desperately clutching for purchase.
She reveled in the power she had over the man. He was completely under her control, like putty in her hands, and she was sure that at that moment, he would grant her any request, any wish her heart desired. His panting grew harder, and she felt him start to grow slightly, and she knew he was nearing his release.
That of course, would not do, not at all. Leaning her head down, she took him into her mouth as far as she could go, then released him completely. She stood up and lorded over him, staring down into his eyes which had become consumed with desire. She felt exhilarated that she could deny him his satisfaction, no, that it was her RIGHT to do so. She could see him pleading wordlessly to her to continue. But she had other plans for him.
Slowly, she slid into his lap while keeping a laser lock on his eyes with her own. She pressed herself against his manhood, reveling in the electric pulses her sex sent up and down her body as she did. She grasped the sides of his head while she began to pant as she started moving more and more across his entire length.
Her breathing became erratic as the intensity of the coupling increased. Wave after wave of pleasure washed over her as she moved. She could see in his eyes that he was desperate to enter her, to complete their union, but she was not ready for that yet. He would get that, oh how she craved it as well, but not yet. Not until SHE was ready, and no sooner.
The wetness from her accompanied by the leftovers from what she did to him before allowed her to maintain a fluid motion. She moved her hips faster and faster and her own point of release approached, a tidal wave of pleasure approaching at incredible speed. She leaned into him closer, pulling his head to her and pressing it between her breasts as she groaned over and over, each longer and louder than the one before.
When the tsunami hit, it was like an electric shock touched all the nerves in her body at once. She started convulsing in pleasure as she ground her hips into the man. When the moment had passed, she relaxed herself on top of him, enjoying the afterglow that all good orgasms provide. She felt him start to caress her back, the first contact she allowed him to initiate since the beginning.
With a sigh, she leaned up and away from him as his hands settled on her hips. There was a look of pure lust in his eyes. He was more than ready now, and she had teased him long enough. She leaned up as she reached behind and grasped hold of him. Upon maneuvering his manhood into the right position, she lowered herself and finally completed their union.
Aiko woke when she felt it. Not realizing where she was, she smiled as an arm snaked around and hugged her close to the warm body behind her. So much like her lover back on campus. Smiling to her self she closed her eyes and reveled in the feeling of closeness and intimacy. Sighing happily, she leaned into the body at her back, enjoying the feel of heat and breasts pressing into her.
Breasts.
"Oh Keiichi."
Oh god.
As Belldandy tightened her grip on the young woman, realization came to Aiko in an instant. She was not back in her dorm room or even her lover's room. She was in her brother's house, sleeping with her brother's girlfriend because she and the other two women with her insisted that Aiko NOT sleep with her brother like she had nearly all her life. And why the hell was Belldandy not sleeping with Keiichi in the first place? And how was she so strong?
Aiko's eyes went wide as the almond haired woman tightened her grip even more while beginning to make soft little whimpering noises. To top that off, she started to feel Belldandy slightly rock back and forth against her. OH. MY. GOD! she mouthed in silent horror as the realization of what the couple might be doing in Belldandy's dreams came to her.
EW!
Needless to say, she got no more sleep that night.
XXX
"So, all of Team 12 is coming down here?" Skuld asked during breakfast that morning.
Keiichi nodded. "I think Jackson's going so far as to bring his grill along; he's got one of those super heavy-duty ones that cost you your first-born, and he loves barbeques. He's the kind of guy you expect to open up his own joint after leaving the military. He's even got a hobby for making his own marinades and sauces." He smiled into the cup of tea Belldandy had made for them all; tea made from whole leaves after visiting an international store a couple of days ago. While the SEAL couldn't taste the difference, Belldandy seemed to appreciate it more, and he had to admit, though he wasn't much of a fan for tea, Belldandy's Chai was starting to grow on him. "I've seen officers attempt to bribe him into cookouts for their units and military wives try and straight up buy jars of his sauces. Cooking is one of Jackson's prides and joys."
Urd raised an eyebrow. "Well it's a good thing Belldandy came into your life then." He looked at her questioningly, but Urd was looking to Aiko. "Jackson would have been horrified. Our first day here and we found your brother living off protein powder and MREs."
Aiko, with heavy bags under her eyes from a bad night's rest, shot a glare at Keiichi. "Oh, so it's perfectly fine for you to eat that shit, but you get angry when I eat Top Ramen?"
"That shit ain't ramen, Aiko," Keiichi replied. "It's salt shaped like noodles."
"It's cheap, affordable, and the standard diet of all college students," Aiko retorted.
"It's twice your daily sodium intake and is slowly killing you," Keiichi said dryly. "And rice is cheap too. And better for you. Same with frozen vegetables."
"So is creamed corn," Skuld dropped, and Keiichi flinched. "But I don't see you eating that instead of your MREs."
"Burn," Aiko said, and with a smirk took a bite of the omelet Belldandy had prepared for her when Keiichi sent a glare her way.
"When is your team due to arrive?" Belldandy asked, stepping into the conversation before it could further devolve into an argument. "Will anything be needed of us?"
Keiichi looked at her. "They'll be coming around three or four," he said. "I've got plenty of disposable plates and cutlery, and between the folding chairs and the new furniture, there should be enough room for everyone to sit." He leaned back in his folding chair, having again sacrificed his seat at the table for Aiko. The man hummed in thought, eyes drifting up to the ceiling. "I guess we should make something for the barbeque... don't need Sanchez bitching at me over the damned MREs again." He looked at Skuld and Urd. "He's almost as bad as you two about that shit," he said off-handedly, then looked at Belldandy. "Is there anything you'd like to make? It's still early, so I can make a quick run to the store and pick up anything if you've got a preference."
Belldandy looked at him with keen interest. If nothing else, the SEAL had come to the conclusion that she enjoyed cooking, and so he figured he'd give her the opportunity to try something new. "What foods do you normally eat at a barbeque?" she inquired.
Keiichi shrugged. "Potato salad, egg salad, baked beans..." He paused, crossing his arms over his chest and drumming his fingers against his right arm. "What else..." he muttered. "I know Sanchez is taking care of the drinks..."
"He better not be bringing Tequila this time," Aiko grumbled. "Last time there was nothing but tequila. And it was that nasty stuff, too." She made a face. "Bunch of gut-rotting piss..."
"I made sure he was getting beer this time," Keiichi assured her. "You only suffered that once, but we have to deal with that stuff every time there's a party in our unit." He paused, thought for a moment, then shook his head. "No beans-Braxton's got that. McGuinness...what was McGuinness bringing?" He scratched the back of his head thoughtfully. "Oh wait, that's right-he was escorting Urd out when we were talking about what all everyone was bringing." He shrugged. "No biggie. Knowing him, he'll probably grab something from the commissary deli and call it good."
"So..." Belldandy furrowed her brows together in concentration. "Potato salad and egg salad?"
The SEAL looked at her. "One or the other, you don't have to make both."
Belldandy shook her head. "It's fine, I can make both," she assured, then bit her lip before adding, "I want to make both."
Keiichi looked at her in surprise, and then smiled. This was one of the first times the Middle Norn had ever voiced her own desires on something without prompting from someone else. "Okay." He nodded. "Do you think you can make me a list of items you'll need? I'll make a grocery run after we're finished with breakfast."
"I'll come with," Aiko announced. "Heaven knows you'd get lost in the produce section, and the last thing we need is you coming back with a bag of bad melons."
Keiichi glared at her. "I'm not completely helpless, you know," he growled. "I was married for a time, if you don't recall."
"Yeah," Aiko agreed. "And poor Deb used to complain about how you once came back with a melon that had rotten from the inside out because you couldn't tell if it was good or not."
Keiichi flinched. "She told you about that?"
"Kei, what didn't Deb tell me?" Aiko's grin broadened, and she looked at Belldandy. "You want to come with?" she asked. "I can ravish you with grandiose stories of Kei in his younger years." Next to her, Keiichi's eyes widened in dawning horror, and he quickly looked to Belldandy, shaking his head with begging eyes.
The goddess bit her lip, looking between the two siblings with furrowed brows before shaking her head. "I believe I will pass on this occasion," she confessed. "I will stay here and clean up for the upcoming arrival of your team instead, Keiichi." A part of her recognized the necessity of giving the two siblings some alone time together. There was much they needed to sort through, especially with Belldandy's occupancy in the house and the story Urd had manufactured to explain the presence of the Norns. Some piece of her even recognized the importance of them speaking in private, and while her attending would be amusing in someone's book, it would make for an uncomfortable trip as well. Aiko had been placing herself at distance from Belldandy since they'd awoken this morning, and while the goddess didn't understand what she'd done to put the woman on edge, she wanted to respect the student's request for space.
Keiichi nodded. "Alright," he said. "I'll see what else we'll need for the house as well while we're out." He looked at Aiko. "We can grab some stuff for you if there's anything you've got a hankering for-"
"Ramen!" Aiko said at once.
"-that's not ramen." Keiichi finished.
Aiko pouted. "What, you can't make ramen like Takano can? Deb could."
"Deb was a competent cook," Keiichi reminded her. "I can barely make soba, and that's literally boiling buckwheat noodles."
Aiko shook her head and tittered, then looked to Belldandy. "I apologize for my brother's pathetic cooking attempts," she said. "He hasn't tried to offer you a chocolate shake yet, right?"
Belldandy stared at her before shaking her head. "Good," Aiko continued. "Don't take him up on the offer. It's nothing but protein powder and water, and it's the nastiest shit in the world."
"Hey!" Keiichi yelped.
"I'll... keep that in mind," Belldandy said slowly. On the other end of the table Urd and Skuld shared a look but said nothing. Instead, Urd rose and collected the empty plates littered around the table while Skuld gestured to Belldandy. The middle Norn sent them a curious glance, but followed regardless, rising as well and following the two siblings into the kitchen.
The Morisatos looked at each other, and as the trio departed Aiko raised an eyebrow. "You know they act a lot like sisters, right?"
Keiichi shrugged his shoulders. "I think you need coffee," he muttered, and Aiko perked up at once.
"Oh please for the love of god yes," she breathed. "Tell me we're stopping by a coffee shop on the way to the store."
The man rolled his eyes. "Only if you stop harassing me about those three." He jutted his chin off to the three women in the kitchen, and Aiko scowled.
"Fuck you and your coffee-free house," she growled. "Blasphemy is what it is. And now you use my own weakness to the god of caffeine and late college nights against me. How dare you."
Keiichi shrugged, unconcerned. "If Bell's tea ain't doing it for you, you can always suffer your withdrawals in silence."
"I'd sooner die."
With the two of them in the dining room, the Norns conversed in the kitchen. "Urd, where did you place those sticky notes?" Belldandy asked as the woman in question placed the finished dishes in the sink.
"They're on top of the fridge," Urd replied with a glance over her shoulder. "What are you planning, Bell?"
"Yeah, Keiichi already has most of everything he needs for those salads of his." Skuld moved to join Urd as Belldandy acquired the small yellow notes from their designated spot. "We've already got tomatoes and spinach, and I guess we could afford to get some more eggs since we go through them like crazy anyways, and Keiichi isn't really a 'meat and potatoes' kind of guy, but..."
Belldandy glanced at Skuld, who'd moved to lean against the countertop, watching her elder sister with a curious expression on her face. The middle sibling raised a brow. "Are you certain that is what egg salad and potato salad consist of?" she asked.
Urd snorted. "What else would it be?" she asked. "Egg SALAD. Potato SALAD. Seems pretty obvious to me."
"Ah, I see," Belldandy nodded. "Just as a shrimp cocktail is made of an alcoholic beverage?"
Skuld snorted, and Urd turned to regard her more fully, her face startled. "Did you just..." She trailed off, then shook her head. "Okay, listen Bell, I've been in and out of the States for close to five years now. I think I know what they mean when they say anything with 'salad' at the end of it, and usually it's got a lot of veggies in it." She shrugged. "Besides, Jackson's bringing the barbie, and from what I've been told he's so close to a carnivore I have to wonder if there's demon's blood running in his veins. He provides the meat, we provide the greens, the others provide everything in between. Seems pretty straightforward to me."
"I suppose..." With some reluctance Belldandy looked towards the dining room, where she could hear Keiichi and Aiko conversing, but not over what. "I feel like we should be certain though. Maybe if we just ask-"
"Don't be silly, Bell," Skuld shot out, joining Urd's side with a dismissive wave. "Urd's right. Salad. Kind of hard to screw up, right?" She grinned. "Besides, I saw that look in your eye. You've got something else planned, don't you? Fess up! That's the real reason you wanted that little notepad."
Belldandy looked at Skuld with a start-had Skuld always been able to read her so well?-and then sighed. "I know how to make ramen," she confessed. "And I thought since Aiko mentioned it..." She started when both Urd and Skuld abandoned their posts, the both of them making a noise so strange that Belldandy could only compare it to a 'squee'.
"Oh goodness, I forgot how much of a sweetheart you could be," Urd muttered, and Belldandy didn't know if she should be amused or annoyed as her sister engulfed her in a bear hug.
Skuld laughed. "Some things never change, do they?" She hugged Belldandy tight enough for the older woman to grunt. "Sure, ramen, why the hell not? We'll help too." As one entity the two sisters released the middle Norn, causing Belldandy to sigh in relief. Skuld picked up the notepad from where Belldandy had dropped it on the floor. "What do you need, Sis?"
Bell pursed her lips, then held out a hand. Skuld raised a dark brow but handed the notepad over without comment, providing a pen for the woman as well. The Norn jotted a series of items down on the paper, stared at it for a moment, then went through the shelves as she took stock of what cooking wear Keiichi had on hand. After a moment, she sighed and shook her head, then added a couple of additional items to the notepad as well. Skuld peeked over her shoulder to see what she'd written, and Belldandy angled it towards her so she could catch a better view. After a moment, the goddess sighed and chuckled. "How the hell did Magilla survive on his own?"
"I think we all know the answer to that," Belldandy said weakly.
Urd snorted. "Protein shakes, multivitamins, and MREs. Living the luxury of the Bachelor's Lifestyle."
Skuld pat her shoulder in sympathy. "I'd say you know how to pick 'em, but..."
And Belldandy groaned. "You all are incorrigible."
XXX
The trip to the store should have been fast. Belldandy didn't have many items on the list associated with what Keiichi thought was typical of potato or egg salad, but he reasoned that most of it was stuff the goddess was planning on making from scratch. In actuality, he was more confused by the requested large pot and the ladle, as well as ingredients not normally found in a Safeway, such as miso paste, marin, a very particular type of seaweed, cuts of pork more particular to a meat market here in the States, and of course, ramen noodles.
"Think the future ex-wife is trying to get in good with the family?" Aiko looked over Keiichi's shoulder as they departed the Starbucks, some concoction that seemed more syrup than coffee in her hand that even now she took a sip of. It made Keiichi want to gag.
Instead he glared. "Don't call Belldandy that, okay?"
"Got it." Aiko nodded her head in understanding. "So, think the 'sister-in-law that got away' is any good with Japanese cuisine?"
Keiichi sighed but let it drop, knowing that harassing Aiko about the various names would do nothing but inspire her with further creativity. "Don't know," he admitted. "Most of the dishes she's made around the house are Western in nature. I'm surprised she even jotted this stuff down; with her past, I'd have thought she'd avoid anything Japanese in origin."
"Well she's certainly not avoiding you, Loverboy." Aiko socked him lightly in the shoulder, her fist colliding with bruises still healing from the various strikes he'd fallen victim to by the women in his life. "And believe me, she's got it bad for you. Super bad."
Keiichi glanced at her in surprise as they climbed into the old Chevy. "She came out to you?"
"Nope!" The smile on Aiko's face looked more like a horrible grimace as some previous memory played out before her. The woman shuddered, then took a sip of her sugar-coffee. "But... she might have showed some signs last night."
"Like how?" Keiichi asked, his curiosity peaked. "It takes a platoon of marines just to figure out what food she enjoys. How the hell did she express she likes me?"
Aiko laughed uneasily but didn't divulge her secrets. "Just know that she really, really likes you," she said. "She's crushing harder on you than a hyena with a bone."
Keiichi stared at her. "I don't get it."
"I know," Aiko said. "That's the point. So...how about you?" she asked. "Don't tell me those feelings only go one way."
Keiichi scowled at her. "Don't punch me while I'm driving," he warned. "And... well..." He sighed. "Yeah, I like her."
"'Like her' like her or 'like her' like her?" Aiko asked. "Come on, Kei. Spill the beans. You haven't so much as looked at another woman since Deb left and now you've got not one but three new women in your life? One of which was the 'lady friend' you told me about?"
The SEAL grimaced. "Okay, okay," he groaned. "So maybe I like her a little more than, say, Keigo and any girl who walks in front of him."
"Keiichi..." Aiko's tone had a note of warning, and the man groaned.
"Okay, fine!" he snapped. "So maybe I might be a little, I don't know, in love with her?"
The woman scowled. "And you've known the woman for what, two, three weeks, tops? You don't think you're going a bit fast?"
"Oh for fucks sake!" Keiichi grumbled. "You really are your mother's daughter, you know that? Listen, I know, and I'm trying to go slow with it-she's got a lot of issues she needs to work out, and I know those are issues I don't want to get in the way of our relationship. I wasn't bullshitting you when I said I was trying to help her work through them, okay?"
"Okay, yeah, sure." Aiko nodded. "So does that mean you're taking her to a therapist? What about a doctor? She get examined for any STDs? Any chance of her catching something you don't want none of?"
"Aiko-"
"No Keiichi," she interrupted him. "You need to shut up and listen to me on this, okay? If you're telling me the truth-hell, even if you're only telling me part of the truth with the whole human trafficking bit, and don't look at me like I'm the one jumping to conclusions, than you need to take this shit into consideration. Ten years, multiple partners, none of them by her own choice? Dude, you gotta take that stuff looked into. For all you know she's a petri dish in a lab experiment. You really want any of that nastiness on your junk? And a therapist? You telling me after two weeks in your place-she told me she had nightmares, you know-that you haven't gotten her in for a psyche eval yet?" She twisted in her seat to send him an angry glare, and Keiichi was all too aware of the worry beneath it. "What happens if she's Carrie McMurderface from that sort of experience? Never mind her own issues for the moment-those go without saying-but what happens if the experience was too much for her? Keiichi, how well can you say you know this woman?"
"Already reached that point and past it," he muttered.
Aiko looked at him in alarm. "What'd you just say?"
"I said Urd is looking into it!" Keiichi said in a louder voice. "As for doctors," She's a god. Gods can't get STDs from mortals. Right? Urd had never said anything about it to him, and one of the first things she and Skuld after rescuing Belldandy was take Bell aside and check her over for injuries during the fight with that Hagall-bitch. "she's clean as far as anyone else can tell. Urd got her checked out immediately when she was rescued-I guess it's part of their procedure at the UN or whatever, but a therapist is still a work in progress." He scowled, and then thought back to McGuinness's offer. "We're thinking about speaking with one of the guys at Mental Health on base about that since there are some complications in the system, okay? Now would you ever-so-kindly lay off?!"
"Just say'in."
And Keiichi groaned. "You're always 'just say'in', Aiko."
Their journey took much longer than anticipated following that. The pots were an easy grab, and they were able to find most of the other ingredients for the barbecue's side dishes at the same store. They had to go to a more international-friendly store in order to get miso and mirin, however, and while they were there Aiko went on a field day. "Do you know how often I get to have real rice cakes?" she proclaimed while dumping three large bags of the items in question into the cart, where they toppled on top of the glass bottle of mirin and cold ramen noodles. "Not that American shit that tastes like styrofoam, but the actual stuff? Like what Grandpa likes to send?" She looked around some more, and her face lit up in joy. "Oh shit son, they got Milky candy here! And umeboshi!" The smile she sent him was evil. "Have those girls ever had umeboshi before?"
A slow, cruel smile appeared on Keiichi's face. "No," he said as he saw the direction his sister was heading. "I don't think they have." He paused and thought for a moment. "Neither has Braxton, and Sanchez was off on leave when I introduced Tank and the others to it..."
They stared at each other with matching smiles. "We're getting it!" they chorused.
XXX
It was close to eleven by the time the siblings returned home, having retrieved the items listed on the tiny yellow sticky note. By then, the house held the fresh scent of cleaning supplies, and Keiichi noticed that once more the folding chairs and tables had been stacked neatly off to one side. The Norns were in the kitchen conversing amongst themselves, having not noticed the arrival of Keiichi and Aiko. They weren't speaking English. It didn't sound much like a Nordic language either, if Keiichi was honest with himself, and sounded much more like that strange tongue Skuld had used over the phone the night Urd recruited him to rescue Belldandy. He had to admit, it was a pretty language, even if he couldn't understand it, rising and falling in pitch almost as though it was being sung.
Aiko elbowed him in the side, causing Keiichi to grunt. "Icelandic, huh?"
Skuld was the one who noticed them, and without missing a beat she said, "It's a country dialect. Only a handful of people use it anymore because of how old it is. If rumor's to be believed, it dates back all the way to the gods themselves. Some folks say that Grandpa Odin invented the tongue after he created the Elder Futhark."
"'Grandpa Odin'?" Aiko raised an eyebrow, and Skuld stiffened right up until Urd took over.
"That's what folks up North call him," she grinned. "Amongst just about every other title in the book, from 'All-Father' to Ganglari."
Skuld snorted. "You're the ganglari now," she muttered under her breath.
Urd ignored her. "He ended up hanging himself from the branches of Yggdrasil for nine nights coming up with the runes, all of it in self-sacrifice in order to develop his own branch of magic." She smiled broadly. "Which was supposed to be really funny back then because prior to that, magic was a woman's art. He got called out a lot for it."
Skuld looked at her with a raised brow. "Was that before or after he plucked out his own eye in exchange for wisdom?" she asked. "Because, you know, hanging yourself upside-down from a giant tree for nine nights injuring yourself in your own name for magic doesn't exactly scream 'wise'."
Urd laughed, and even Belldandy looked away with a brief smile, leaving the Morisato siblings once more wondering if they'd been left out of some inner joke. Keiichi in particular wondered if 'Grandpa Odin' was more than a simple title.
Aiko rolled her eyes. "Anyways, we got the items you needed." She looked at Belldandy. "You know how to make ramen?"
Belldandy hesitated a moment, then nodded. "I learned how to prepare a variety of dishes during my time with-" An uncomfortable frown slid across her face, and she stopped herself, then tried again, clearing her throat before continuing. "I... cooking was an escape for me. A way to put my skills into something else. Present myself in a manner that was... human."
Some of the good humor faded from Aiko's face, and she nodded solemnly. "I... think I might understand," she said. "Something to remind you that you're a person, not an-" This time she stopped as well, and with a determined frown spoke again. "Not an object."
Belldandy looked at her with a start, her eyes wide and lips drawn up in a grimace, her face all at once pallid and white. For a moment she didn't speak, instead observing the short, young woman with the wild, spiky blue hair in front of her before finally inclining her head in agreement.
Aiko nodded as well. "The actions of our past do not define us," she said. "And we're better than whatever those people decided we were." She held Belldandy's gaze with her own stubborn brown, scowling in a defiance that was aimed towards something, no someone in her past who was not present. Then her face brightened, and she said, "And the best way to fuck them over is by living on your own terms."
Belldandy stared at the younger woman in shock, surprised by Aiko's profanity, and then surprised those around her when she smiled and nodded in turn. "That is...one of the best ways I've ever heard it put," she confessed, and Aiko's smile broadened.
The two shared a smile borne of kinship, and then Aiko asked, "Let's move on to something else then. So... you ever had umeboshi?"
The smile dropped from the Norn's face like a brick off a rooftop. "I never much cared for it, but yes, I've had it."
Aiko looked at Keiichi. Keiichi raised an eyebrow. Aiko looked back at Belldandy. "Have they ever had umeboshi?" The two Morisato siblings stared at the Goddess of the Present like a pair of Cheshire Cats.
Belldandy looked to Urd and Skuld, who'd been watching her and Aiko in contemplative silence. Now Urd raised an eyebrow as well, while Skuld tilted her head to the side like a curious dog. "What's umeboshi?" she asked.
"A type of plum," Belldandy said, keeping her face a careful neutral. "They're native to Japan."
"Bell..." Urd looked to the Morisato siblings in suspicion. "Why are they smiling like that? What's it taste like?"
"It depends on the brand," Belldandy said, keeping her answers vague, then turning to Aiko. "Did you happen upon some while shopping?"
Aiko nodded, and Keiichi said, "We'll have to break them out for you during the barbeque tonight. You guys need to try it."
"Keiichi, the last time you said I needed to try something it was a ghost pepper." Urd pursed her lips. "And at that time you were very, very drunk." Aiko burst out laughing while Belldandy and Skuld looked at her in question. "You're exact words were, 'it'll clean you out like a priest exorcising a demon'. Give me one good reason why I should try this."
"We'll all have one," Aiko chirped, and Belldandy nodded as well, her face still giving nothing away to her own inner thoughts.
"We all had a ghost pepper too that night," Urd recalled. "I distinctly remember a bunch of men rolling around on the floor with a bartender calling for an ambulance. The only one who wasn't dying from the heat was Sanchez, and he was calling you all a bunch of pussies because of it."
Keiichi laughed. "Yeah, that wasn't one of our better ideas. This one isn't like that though, I promise you. It's just a little sour."
"Like a ghost pepper is a little hot?" Urd asked. Keiichi did nothing more than smile, and the goddess sighed. "Get out of here, the both of you." She made a 'shooing' gesture with her hands. "We have food to make. Play nice and I won't add ghost pepper powder to them either."
"Oh no," Keiichi groaned in mock horror. "Urd's going to kill us. Belldandy, save us! Don't let her near the spice rack!" He slid an arm around his younger sister's shoulders. The two siblings laughed, and together slipped out of the kitchen, leaving in their wake the groceries they'd acquired from the various stores in town.
Belldandy sent her sister a pointed look. "Urd, don't put ghost peppers in the potato salad."
Skuld laughed, and Urd looked at Belldandy with a start. "But I don't have-"
"Don't put it in the egg salad either."
"Bell-"
Urd stared at her sister in bafflement, jaw hanging open in confusion, and Skuld laughed harder.
"Why are you all assuming I'm going to put ghost peppers in potato salad?" Urd exclaimed.
"Because it's something you'd do!" Skuld chortled. "Bell's got every right to tell you off!"
"I was joking!" Urd exclaimed.
"A likely excuse!" Skuld retorted.
Belldandy moaned. "Enough, both of you." She grabbed the bags off the table and began to sort through them, sticking items in cabinets and the fridge. "I'll send you both out to join them if you don't settle down."
"Yes, Mother." Urd and Skuld chorused, and this time Belldandy's head shot around to glare at them both. Then it broke into a small smile, and all three of them broke into their own good-natured laughter.
Their laughter followed them out of the kitchen and into the living room, where Aiko was sitting next to Keiichi, peering over his shoulder as he dug through the emulators on his laptop. "Mario Kart," she said, listening to the laughter with a half an ear. "I need to make sure I can still whoop Keigo's ass next time I go home. He's under the impression that college leaves no time for videogames."
"Keigo's under the impression that being an adult leaves no time for videogames," Keiichi replied, bringing up the game in question before rising and hooking the laptop back into the television in a repeat of last week's 'sleepover'. "How's the little shit doing by the way? I haven't seen him online much." He moved to the gorilla box that held his accessories and popped it open, removing two wireless controllers designed for computers and handing one off to Aiko.
"From what Keima said, he's obsessing over some new project." The woman accepted the controller before making herself comfortable on the Ugly Beast. "He goes from one hobby to another like a jack-of-all-trades trying to master everything, and you know how antisocial he gets when he starts investing his time in something. From what Takano told me, he lost interest in glass blowing, which upset Keima like nobody's buisness, and then moved into rock carving, of all the weird things."
Keiichi let out a soft laugh. "Rock carving? Like marble?" Aiko shrugged. "Oh man. Keima must have gone on a tyraid for the whole block to hear. I know he was thinking Keigo was going to inherit the family buisness' since he's good with his hands, but now this?" He shook his head and laughed. "That guy. I love him, but sometimes he's a strange kid. Good, but strange." He hit the 'start' button on his controller, and with a soft chime the game moved to the character select screen. "As if he wasn't antisocial enough as it is." The two selected their respective characters, then moved to the track selection and hit 'random'. Just above the music of the game, Keiichi could hear what sounded like singing from the kitchen.
"Gudaskymning faller pa gloden
Muspelheim Ragnarok harstamma.
Borjar flamma ur odets eld I
Muspilli flammor over Jord."
That's new. He thought, I don't think I've ever heard them sing before. It's pretty, whatever it is. If he focused, he could just make out the individual voices that comprised the Norns, from Urd's deep, low voice to Skuld's higher pitch, with Belldandy acting as a Soprano that intertwined with them both in harmony. The sounds of past, present, and future all in one song. He thought, and distracted, he missed the green light that sent Aiko's character zooming past his half of the screen.
"Ha!" Aiko cried. "You sleeping over there. Kei? Come on, Bro, wake up! The game's no fun if you don't even try."
"It wouldn't be fair if I didn't give you a head start," Keiichi retorted, and let the song drift to the back of his head, the words losing distinction and becoming a harmonic murmur as he focused on catching up and passing the other AI-controlled characters. Items were gained from boxes, traps were lain, red shells gained and used without discrimination. Keiichi passed four characters, making the leap from tenth place all the way to sixth by the completion of the first lap, while Aiko maintained second, and then first as she took a shortcut that set her ahead of her opponents.
In the kitchen the Norns had moved into the next stanza of their song.
"Snart kommer Surt att harja.
Jattarna tanda Ragnarok
Och runor av eld besvarja.
Muspel oppnar sig
Surt som I syd med oraget svard."
"Kommer till kamp pa Vigrid slatt;
Kallar pa Muspels soner,
Da hjalper inga boner.
Fran syd kommer kaos."
Keiichi passed two more characters, placing him in fourth, then took a shortcut that boosted him to third, right behind the character in second. A well placed green shell sent the AI crashing behind him, and the game narrowed to Aiko in first, Keiichi in second as they entered the third and final lap. "Better watch out, Aiko. I'm catching up!" he warned. Aiko grunted and leaned forward, her face intent on the screen, and smiling broadly Keiichi propped his foot up on one leg, edging it towards his sister.
Aiko didn't notice, and one of the AI characters further back somehow got a lightning bolt, shrinking all the characters further ahead and sending Keiichi into the water in a jump he would have otherwise made. "Aww, come on," he groaned. The cart was recovered and plopped back down onto the track, but not before he watched his position in second descend all the way to eighth place. "Damn." He jabbed his toe into Aiko's ribs, and the younger woman yelped, jumping before sending a glare to Keiichi.
She swatted his foot away, then looked back to the screen, not even bothering to call him out in her concentration. Grinning, Keiichi abandoned his controller, setting it off to one side as he poked a finger into her ribs, watching in amusement as once more she yelped and squirmed away from him. "Stop it, Kei!" she protested, shooting another glare at him as her character drove into a sand pit. "You're cheating!"
"Makter av eld har stormar fram
Jattarna draper guden Frej da
Nu skola varlden brinna.
Frukta Muspelheim! Kommer odets timma."
The Norn's finished their song, and Keiichi's smile broadened. "You ain't cheating, you ain't trying." The man lunged at the smaller woman, and Aiko shrieked as his fingers dug into her side, squirming madly as he started tickling her. The controller dropped from her hands, and as Aiko began to try and fight him off an AI zoomed past her slowing character and cleared the finish line.
"Damn it-Keiichi!" Aiko screamed in laughter, "S-stop it you-" She couldn't finish her sentence as Keiichi's fingers danced across her stomach, causing her to scream and curl up into a ball, then to her armpits, where she tried and failed to fight him off. "N-no more!" She cried, and by now they were both smiling and laughing, an annoying older brother and a ticklish younger sister at her older sibling's mercy. "Oh god-"
The flatscreen cracked.
A high, electronic screech emerged from the speakers.
All at once Keiichi and Aiko ceased in their play, and as they're eyes were drawn to the cracked images of Mario and Bowser playing across the screen, the display exploded in a hail of plastic and crystal shards. Keiichi swore, Aiko screamed-now in terror rather than laughter-and the SEAL moved to shield her body with his.
Something-an invisible, oh-so-terribly familiar something-wrapped itself around his body before he could. He felt it circle around his waist like the coils of an invisible snake, and with a shout he was thrown away from Aiko, colliding into the far wall with enough force to knock the wind out of him. "Keiichi!" Aiko screamed, the terror in her voice overwhelming and horrible in its depths as the man collapsed into a crumpled heap on the floor.
The speakers continued their horrible screaming, and the laptop was wrenched up from where it once rested on the folding table. The wires connecting it to the flatscreen tore out, but not before knocking what was left of it to the floor with a crash. The laptop twirled in the air, spinning like a scrap of paper caught in a dust devil, and then all at once spun towards the SEAL's fallen form, no longer a piece of technology but a black bullet. "No!" Aiko screamed, and stumbled off the couch and toward's her brother. Something collided with her nose with enough force that she felt her nose crunch. Pain exploded in bright stars across her face, and she felt something hot and wet gush from her nostrils as it grew hard to breathe. The hit knocked her to the floor. Desperately, she looked to her brother as she screamed Keiichi's name as the laptop shattered in a hail of livid sparks upon a blue, transparent light that came to rest above his man's head.
"Aiko, get out of the house!" A voice rose to her ears, and with wide eyes she turned, staring in open terror as Skuld ran to her side. "Come on, get up, it's not safe here!" Behind her Belldandy stood in the entryway to the living room, fighting with Urd as the darker woman grabbed the brunette by the shoulders. The woman's blue eyes were wide and unseeing, yet Aiko would know the look of panic that so adorned her face anywhere.
"Come on, Bell, snap out of it!" Urd screamed, and Aiko was struck with an insane, random thought: "We're sorry, Bell isn't here at the moment. Please leave a message or call back and try again." The Ugly Beast lurched towards the duo, yet when that failed to rise the black gorilla box spun forth in it's stead, spinning like a twirling stick and colliding with the silver-haired woman head-on. Urd fell beneath it with a yell that sounded more surprised than injured, and she batted it off her as though someone had thrown an empty cardboard box at her. That thing has to weigh at least fifty pounds though. Aiko thought in a strange moment of lucidity.
Skuld wrenched her to her feet, her grip bruising, and Aiko cried out in pain. Any more force and it felt like the woman would have wrenched her arm from its socket. "Get moving!" she bellowed. "Grab Keiichi and get the hell out of here! If we don't rouse Belldandy than she'll bring the house down on our heads and I can't protect myself and you two at the same time! Now go!"
It should have been inspiration enough to get her rear in gear and GTFO-that and the blood flowing from her broken nose-yet for whatever reason Aiko found her legs wouldn't budge. The woman didn't move, staring at Belldandy as all around them, the lights shattered in a hail of glass and the large, wooden ceiling fan Keiichi had installed four years ago suddenly came apart. Her hair danced in a sharp wind that threatened to steal the air from her lungs, and with it came a terrible certainty: I'm going to die if I don't leave.
Yet even that knowledge was not enough to spurn her onwards, to get moving, to grab Keiichi and run for her ever-loving life. Because despite the woman screaming in her face, despite her brother's fallen, crumpled form against the wall, despite the worsening whirlwind of shrapnel that even now spun in a cyclone throughout the room, Aiko's eyes could not leave Belldandy's, could not leave the panic, the terror, the memories that danced across the woman's face, and in that moment Aiko made a decision.
"I can help!" She cried, startling herself when rather than follow Skuld's advice she instead ran towards Belldandy. "It's okay!" She cried, and then screamed as one of the blades of the ceiling fan whipped towards her. Urd appeared in the last second, knocking it away with one hand, yet Aiko didn't have time to stop and admire the save. Her focus was now entirely on Belldandy. "It's okay!" she repeated. "He's gone now! It's over! He can't hurt us anymore!" Oh god, she hoped she could reach her. "He's gone! He can't touch us ever again!" She felt lightheaded, and the blood pouring out her nose wouldn't stop. She thought of Stuart, of her own trauma, of nights sleeping in Megumi's room because she was too afraid to sleep alone and waking up screaming to her older sister holding her close. "He's nothing but a ghost now! You beat him, and he can't hurt us anymore! Not you, not me, not our sisters, no one!"
Oh fuck it hurt thinking about Him. Or maybe that was just her head. Her throat tightened as His face flashed across her mind, and without thinking she reached out to Belldandy, for a brief second more afraid of her memories of That Man than what was happening around her, and she let that terror overlap with the maddening dismay that consumed her, allowed that scared little girl from ages past return to her, and let that frightened child reach out, seeking comfort in the kindred soul before her. She embraced Belldandy with a frightened sob, heard a pained gasp from somewhere above her and then felt another pair of arms snake around her torso.
A choked sob tore out from Belldandy's throat, and then the woman's legs gave out beneath her.
Aiko guided her to the ground as gently as she could, and closed her eyes as harsh, pained scream tore from the woman's throat. "He's gone now. You beat him. We beat him. He's gone now." She swallowed and it hurt; she could taste copper on the edge of her throat and iron from where her own blood and trickled into her mouth. "He's gone now." The strange, infernal typhoon faded, and the grip around her torso tightened to the point of crushing. She felt Belldandy sob into her shoulder and wasn't even aware of the shrapnel so created by the terrible...force drop to the ground around her. "He's gone now." Aiko repeated, and continued to chant: "He's gone. We beat him. He can't hurt us anymore."
"It's over." Somewhere far off came a moan that might have been her brother.
"We beat him." Something warm draped around her shoulders. She didn't know what.
"You won." And Belldandy continued to sob, clutching her tight as though she was a little girl, injured and afraid, wounded to the soul upon the shared discovery that only they were privy to: That the Boogeyman was real, that he wore a human face, and that what he took, what he consumed was the spirit of his victims, leaving in his wake a shell that fought to recover what it didn't know was missing. "We had a hard run of it, and I know you're scared, but you don't have to face it alone anymore," she whispered, and the words were soft; meant only for the woman that was with her, the woman who had tasted her own terror and perhaps even more. "You aren't alone anymore. I've got you. Even if it's scary, at least we can be scared together, right?"
Aiko didn't know how much time passed following that; in that moment time seemed almost to pause for her, leaving her and Belldandy to sob and shudder in the grips of memories one had recovered from and the other was just now confronting. She wasn't aware of anything that went on around her nor did she dare spare the attention for any of the events that followed. Her brother, the strange wind somehow connected to Belldandy, the terrible strength displayed by not just Skuld but by Urd as well were all left in the shadows of her mind, and it wasn't until what felt like a small eternity, but was perhaps closer to fifteen minutes, passed before the woman in her arms bothered to pull away from her.
Even then, the things her eyes saw were not things her mind was quite willing to process. The strange glow produced by Urd's hands as she hovered over Keiichi, his right hand twisted and mangled in such an unnatural way that it turned her stomach. Nope. The flesh seemed to jerk and bubble unnaturally, and she could almost see the bone rise and mend and straighten, healing at such a rate it left her lightheaded. Nuh-uh. Of how glass; those shattered bulbs that had turned into such deadly shrapnel, defied gravity on a whim of Skuld's hands, rising, melting, and mending into the lightbulbs they once were before floating up into their sockets like bats to roost, nor the glittering shards of crystal intermingled with wires that danced and glittered in the refurbished lighting as they returned to the flat screen once more. Not gonna happen. Her mind echoed.
That was when the role shifted from her holding Belldandy to the woman holding her, leaving her feeling more and more like a wide-eyed child presented with magic far past the scope of pulling a rabbit out of a hat. She even flinched away from Skuld as Urd took over mending the house, taking a wide berth around Aiko and Belldandy-as if she was afraid of getting too close-and grabbing the fifty pound gorilla box with all its loose items with one hand, propping it up against her shoulder as if it was empty before returning it to its place along the wall. No fucking way. The voice of sanity proclaimed, there is no fucking way this is happening. This shit belongs in an anime or a Stephen King novel. This doesn't happen in real life. Yet the crusting blood on her nose, the red that stained her shirt and Belldandy's, the pain and lightheadedness in her head all spoke otherwise.
Keiichi leaned propped up against a wall, watching the women work with dazed eyes as though he too was seeing this shit for the first time. The man was rubbing the palm of what had once been a broken hand, and when the television was fixed and the floor no longer glittered with glass shards, Urd left them for the kitchen. She came back with several small glasses, and the man's face almost lit up when he saw them. "Urd, please tell me that's your Xanax potion." The man's voice was trembling with ill-disguised stress, and Aiko was left with the horrible impression that this was not the first time that such an incident had happened before.
"It's not Xanax." Urd stated, but handed out the small glasses none the less; one for each of them, Urd included. "It's not that potion either. This potion's a bit more diluted, but after everything that just happened I think we all need something to settle our nerves."
"It's not sake, is it?" Skuld barked in laughter, yet it sounded forced. Fake.
"No." She handed a glass to Belldandy, then offered one to Aiko, who took it after a moment's hesitation with some reluctance. "It even taste's good. I swear." She moved to hand one to Skuld, then plopped down beside Keiichi, giving him a glass before holding the final glass with both hands. She chugged it down without another word, and watching her down it seemed to be everyone else's signal to drink as well.
Aiko watched them all, her brother included, consume the contents without another thought, and beheld her own glass with scrutiny. She looked at Belldandy, who had an arm wrapped around her shoulders and was clutching her as though her life depended on it. "You guys aren't aliens, right?" She asked. She felt a little woozy, but the woman wasn't certain if that was from blood lose or the encroaching panic that was clawing at the back of her throat. "I'm not going to pass out and wake up later to a sore ass or some kind of larva bursting out of my chest, am I?"
Belldandy stared at her blankly, and across the room Keiichi started to laugh. "They aren't aliens, Aiko." He assured. "They're a lot of things, but aliens? No, not this time."
Aiko eyed him critically. "You see, that's just the kind of thing I'd expect my brother to say after he's been replaced with some kind of reptile in a skin suit. How do I know you're my actual brother and not some bodysnatcher from outer space?"
"Ew." Skuld's lip peeled up in disgust. "Who'd want to snatch him?" She asked.
Aiko stared at her, then laughed as well. It sounded nervous and high-pitched, borderline hysteric like in the movies she always liked to watch with her friends every Friday night. "Okay, now I believe you." She brought the glass to her lips and took a sip. The 'potion', whatever it was, had a sharp, clear taste to it, followed by a strange aftertaste that reminded her of mint. When her stomach didn't decide it was poison and her limbs didn't suddenly mutate into tentacles, she finished off the glass, and was startled and perhaps even a little relieved to find the anxiety toiling in her stomach dissipating into nothing. In its place came a strange sense of 'cool', as though she'd just returned from a laborious swim in a pool and her body was drifting into that 'feel good' state that came after an intense workout.
"Damn," she said, staring at the empty glass in surprise. "Damn, that shit's smooth." She looked over at Urd. "You know, you should market this stuff. You'd be a rich bitch with the money you'd make in pharmaceutical." Urd sent her a wane grin but otherwise said nothing, and Aiko sucked in a deep, meditative breath. She released it loudly, then looked at Keiichi. "Okay, we've got our hot milk. Storytime, Kei."
"Nothing to tell." Keiichi quipped. "I already told you what the truth."
"Bullshit, don't lie to me."
"He's not though." Aiko looked up at Belldandy. "He did tell you the truth. An... abridged version, to be certain, but the truth none the less."
Aiko stared at the woman, wracking her brain as she tried to figure out what Belldandy was implying. "So... you still expect me to believe your lady friends really are nothing but a bunch of UN reps then?"
Skuld sighed and rolled her eyes. "Yggdrasil help me, Urd did you do something to the potion?!"
Urd flinched. "Why do I always get blamed for this stuff? I didn't do anything, Skuld!"
Skuld scowled at her. "You've got a history, you know," she grumbled, then looked at Aiko. "We're gods, Aiko."
Gods.
Goddesses.
A/N: I messed up last chapter. I forgot to add the quote that we put in to start each arc. I have added it. So that you do not have to go back and look, here it is:
"The most intriguing people you will encounter in this life are the people who had insights about you, that you didn't know about yourself." - Shannon L. Alder
Comments of a Madwoman: Didn't take long for that cat to get out of the bag now, did it? And with only a few hours before the inevitable arrival of Team 12, as well... The song the Norns were singing are lyrics pulled straight from the band Therion's "Muspelheim".
