The Unspoken Journey Part 1: The End of Innocence
"The Unspoken Journey"
An AMG Fan Fic, an official "Ai Shiteru" Side Story, and a Tenchi-Muyo x-over

By: icezer230, a.k.a Shu.

E-mail: icezer230@yahoo.com (C&C welcome)

Webpage: http://icezer.itgo.com/fanfic.html

A BUNCH OF COPYRIGHTS

This story and the characters of Rhiana, Kei, and Nao belongs to me (icezer230, a.k.a Shu). The characters true to AMG are copyrighted by Kosuke Fujishima and his associates. Brett, Chia-Yao, Syliana, and the other immortals (unless mentioned otherwise) from the 'Oh! My God!' fanfiction are copyrighted by Darkwind (a.k.a Brett Handy) and have been used with permission.

The character of Kenji from the 'No Mere Mortal' fanfiction is a creation of Ed Sharpe. The characters true to Tenchi Muyo belong to the illustrator(s) and the distribution companies (whoever they are). If you haven't read chapter 1, please read it! Warning: This fanfic contains some pretty dark elements. There are some sexual references, but I wouldn't count this even as a lime.

A LEGEND, FOR THOSE WHO NEED IT.
**=thought
""=speech
()=explanations
[]=insertions/interruptions by the author!

*****

"Dear Skuld, when you find and read this letter, you'll probably know that I'm not there. I am afraid that Duty has called once more--I have been summoned by Kami-sama. For what, I do not know and do not question Him for he is the Almighty. I wonder about your actions at the bar tonight but since you are not with me to answer my questions, they will have to go unanswered for the moment.

You may or may not know this, but I care for you, Skuld, more than you know. I am in love with you. I am in love with who you are, and I have loved you for a long time--I do not know when I had started. I had to conceal my feelings for you, keeping in mind that if I did, you might have turned me away and scorned me forever and ever. You are a beautiful, charming goddess and I really treasure you as a friend. That is why I have not told you all these years in the hopes that this feeling would diminish when I find another.

When I saw you again, I saw that this wish of mine would not be true. My longing for you only grew even more and now I cannot bear, for the good of both of us, to leave you without telling you how I feel about you. I do not know what you will say about this, but I know you will be very confused and angry at me for not telling you earlier. If we are not meant to be, I will be more than willing to be your friend. I am sorry to put a heavier burden and another decision on your shoulders but I thought it would be better if you knew.

I now travel back to the Heavens in the hopes that you will forgive me for what I have done. I hope you will visit me and tell me of your decision when you decide to return from your journey. I would have gone away tomorrow anyway, for I know that you must travel this dangerous and mysterious path alone. I, too, had to travel such a path and I came back a changed Goddess. I hope that you will survive and change for the better. With this, I take my leave. May Kami-sama bless you with his Divine Insight and keep you out of harm's way. Love, Rhiana," Skuld read aloud once she unfolded the piece of paper she found.

Her eyes were dry when she had first read it but she found herself unable to stop the tears that streamed out of them when she was done. Wiping them dry with the sleeves of her pajamas, she looked out the window at the full moon and held the letter close to her heart. She would visit Rhiana someday, she vowed, and she would straighten things out with her. With that, she flopped back on her and continued her slumber peacefully.

"How do you know when you are there?
When you don't have to ask that question anymore."
--unknown

PART 1: THE END OF INNOCENCE

After a week of trying to get a tan (and failing miserably because of the boys that kept bothering her), she decided to go to Alps, where she could learn how to ski. After a week and due to the overexposure of the sun in such high altitudes, she finally got her tan (looking a little more like Urd--although she wouldn't admit it for the world) and her hair was tinged to a brown (which attracted even more boys to her side, for some unknown reason).

At the end of the week, she found snowboarding to be more exciting than skiing (actually, she fell a lot less by snowboarding) and learnt a couple of tricks from some female snowboarder friends just a little older than her. She joined a local open and won first prize on the female half-pipes, qualifying for the international snowboarding championships that would take place a few months later. Her friends (who got first and second runner up) were so happy for (and proud of) her they invited her to France after the championships, so that they could see the sights and sounds. She agreed.

After her friends departed for their own countries, she started to hone her own skills so that she could perform well in the championships. In the middle of her run, her watch started beeping loudly and she had to stop. She looked at it and frowned. *There was an energy abnormality near here... Maybe I should check it out... It IS my duty as the debugger...* she thought.

Her mind set, she went to investigate, trudging the snow on her snowboarding boots and carrying her board with her right hand. Eyeing her energy radar on her watch, she followed the energy until she was right in front of it. She looked up but could see nothing. Not even a ripple of the abnormality. She sighed. *Maybe I should fix this watch... I haven't serviced it in a month!* she thought. She took a step forward to head back to her lodge but her foot was caught in something.

She looked down. She was caught in a quick-sand like vortex! Cursing quietly, she tried to use her board to get back to where she was. No luck. Her hands were also being caught by the vortex. If she tried to call for someone, she would have to erase their memory (which she knew wouldn't last very long) and it would only waste her energy. The vortex soon swallowed her near her neck and she had no other choice but to do one thing. Soon the Alps were echoing a woman's high-pitched scream. Hers.

*****

"AAAAAaaaaAAAAAAAA!!!!! Shit!" Skuld swore as she landed hard on her back. She had landed in some patches of grass (luckily) so the fall was not as hard as it would have if she had landed on ice. She had a couple of deep cuts and bruises from falling through branches but that was about it. *Geez, they sting!* she thought to herself, touching one experimentally.

Feeling hot in her snowboarding suit, she quickly unzipped a part of her jacket (leaving a bit to the imagination) and took off her gloves. She quickly felt the heat nearly burning her alive. Luckily she wore some shoes inside her boots so she took her boots off and tied her hair back so that she could see better in this heat.

"An unknown jungle. Just great!" Skuld muttered to no one in particular. She pushed back the left sleeve of her jacket to reveal a highly sophisticated (and fashionable) watch, which was supposed to let her know where she was. Unfortunately, it seemed that the watch had gone crazy since it kept spinning numbers she didn't know had existed.

"Damn! Must have ruined it during my fall!" she swore again. *Maybe I should whip myself a little something cooler* she thought as she started chanting the words to make her appearance change. Nothing happened, however. She just stood there wide-eyed for a moment and tried chanting again. Nothing happened again. She spotted a lake nearby so she ran to it and looked at her reflection. No marks, nothing!

"Shit! How am I supposed to get out of this place _now_?" Skuld groaned. She sighed and put a hand to her forehead. *Lost, out of place, with no supplies, and no one around...* she thought to herself. *I should have never looked for that abnormal energy reading!*

Suddenly, she heard a rustle from the bush behind her. She quickly turned around, her right hand already reaching back for her mini-hammer (she never left the house without one). Something tackled her and she found herself face to face with a light-blue-haired woman, who was...hugging her with eyes closed? She blushed, thinking of Rhiana, and tried to get away from the woman.

"Wait a minute, Tenchi doesn't have breasts! You're not Tenchi! Who are you and what are you doing here!" the red-haired woman yelled out, calling out a lightsaber-like weapon as she released Skuld and got into a fighting stance. *Did the mortals have such energy already?* Skuld thought to herself. She backed herself into a tree.

"I-I'm lost! My name's Skuld and I come from Japan! What is this place and who are you?" Skuld replied, taking her own weapon into her own hand.

"I don't believe you. I haven't heard of such a place! You must be a spy from the intergallactic police, out to capture me! Well you'll never get me without a fight!" the woman snarled, attacking. Skuld could only avoid her attacks by a hairwidth. *This is NOT very good... I don't have my powers, and this insane woman's attacking me without any good reason!* she thought, cursing silently. *Shit, good thing I know a few defense moves...*

"Damn it! Why can't you believe me?" Skuld yelled and attacked back at the woman.

"Well, you're wearing a space-suit of somekind!" she said as the battle raged on. Trees were falling down around them from the woman's attacks and there were large deep holes made from Skuld's hammer.

"This ISN'T a spacesuit! It's a snowboarding suit!" Skuld replied angrily. *Geez this girl hasn't gone out a lot, has she?* she thought. Then her eyes widened. The girl she was fighting was flying! *What the hell!?* she cursed.

"I bet snowboarding's some sort of spy art!" the woman sneered, ready to attack some more.

"W-why are you flying?" Skuld said, dropping her hammer onto the floor. She had never seen a mortal fly before, and certainly not on Earth! They didn't have the technology to do so yet!

"...Wait a minute! You should be familiar with the concept of me flying! You're not a spy, are you!?" the woman realized, dropping her sword as well, her eyes widening. There was a blush to her face, a little ashamed that she had gotten the wrong idea right from the start and was too stubborn to admit it.

"No, I'm not! That's what I've been trying to say for the last 30 minutes!" Skuld replied, exasperatedly. She sighed and winced as she accidentally brushed one of her cuts. The woman evidently saw that and became concerned.

"You should get that fixed. I'll take you back to where I live for the moment, come on. Where is this...Japan you were talking about? I'm Ryoko. Being a space-pirate, I know a million places but I've never even heard of that place!" the woman who called herself Ryoko said, nearly dragging Skuld along with her through the bushes.

"Japan's...on Earth. Where am I?" Skuld replied, puzzled at the fact that Ryoko didn't know where it was.

"You're on Tenchi's backwater planet, that's where you are. I don't know that fascinates Tenchi so much to make him stay here and I sure as hell wouldn't like to know. This place is as backward as the Dark Ages," Ryoko commented darkly as they walked along, Skuld in the tow.

"You haven't explained to me why you can fly..." Skuld said in an uncertain voice.

"...And go through walls, and release such huge energy. You forgot that part. I'm partially cyborg, created by Washuu to be the greatest warrior in the universe. Unfortunately, I believe she had something wrong in her calculations. She put her OWN DNA to form...me," Ryoko muttered.

"So does that mean you're the only one who can go through walls, release such huge energy, and fly?" Skuld asked.

"Nope, there's a lot of people that can release such energy levels, even Tenchi. Others are protected by magic and all that shit so I can't really say much about that. Other cyborgs, depending on their versions, can also fly. I can't really say I'm unique," Ryoko said in a sad way.

"Why do you say that? Surely other cyborgs don't...uh...LOVE like you do. You nearly squeezed me to death back there," Skuld said in a sarcastic manner. Indeed, her ribs were a little sore from the 'hug.'

"I'll accept that as a compliment....er...uh...Skuld, but you better watch it. I don't like my Tenchi being insulted in that manner," Ryoko said, her fiery red eyes glittered dangerously. However, the smile on her lips took the sting away.

"Who is...Tenchi, anyway?" Skuld wondered, her curiosity getting to her.

"Tenchi? He's the nicest guy around, but he sure IS a girl-magnet! He saves damsels in distress nearly half his lifetime, he makes everyone fall in love with him, and I hear he's going to be king in the future. Who knows?" Ryoko said, nearly spitting the words out. *Gee, I feel sorry for her...* Skuld thought.

"You...haven't found anyone else worthy of your....devotion?" Skuld ventured.

"...I did. Once. That's over now," Ryoko said quickly. This time, Skuld knew she shouldn't venture further, as that was the limit. The conversation ended there and they continued through the ever-seemingly never-ending forest growth. As they walked on and on, Skuld began to wonder if that was how her 'admirers' back home thought of her. She sighed, shook her head, and continued on. Ryoko noticed this change in manner but kept silent.

*****

"Ryoko? Is that you? Who's that with you? Have you been fighting again without my permission?" a short, wild (in the same fashion as Ryoko's) and red-haired woman called out from the steps out in front of the house.

"Yes, Washu, it's me and I've been fighting. This is Skuld. She comes from...Japan, where ever that is," Ryoko scowled. Skuld could see a resemblance between the two but it seemed as if the shorter one had a little more wit.

"Japan? Where have I heard that place before?" the little Washu wondered, tilting her head as she ran her memories through her mind. Her eyes widened and snapped her fingers as if she remembered something.

"Do you remember something about it, Washu?" Ryoko asked, puzzled. Skuld noticed the fact that even though Washu was technically Ryoko's mom, she didn't call her 'mom,' for one reason or another.

"Yes, yes. You must be...from Earth, dimension 89-R4?...Are you in any way related to Brett Handy or Urd?" Washu asked, raising an eyebrow.

"You...know them?" Skuld asked, flabbergasted completely.

"She's...a relative? Isn't she a little young to be...UMPH!" Ryoko replied, only to be cut off by Washu's hand.

"Watch your mouth, Ryoko! So you're a Goddess, a megami? What's your relation to Urd or Brett anyway?" Washu inquired.

"I am Skuld, Goddess of the Future. I am the youngest sister of Urd, the Goddess of the Past," Skuld said, bowing as she introduced herself once more. The other two bowed as well in accordance and introduced themselves as well.

After healing Skuld's wounds with Washu's regeneration machine (and after the two geniuses had conferred on which things would reduce the energy needed to do such work), they started getting to know each other. It became inevitable that Skuld told the two women about her love problems and they symphatized with her since Ryoko told her about her own. They had been in similar situations, but not as bad. Washu was silently determined to help Skuld out and then began a secret experiment which went on late into the night...

*****

"And now, ladies and cabbit, I present to you my greatest masterpiece, the Love-Teller 2000, Version 1.0. I will take any questions from the audience before I pull someone out of the audience to test this prototype!" Washu exclaimed, pulling on the white sheets to reveal a chair, lots of machinery at the back, and a large sophisticated-looking screen on top of the machine. There was a really big spray-painted sign 'Love-Teller 2000' on the sides of the machine.

"...Um, what does it do?" Ryoko asked, making Washu face-vault.

"Did I forget to tell you what it does? Oops, must have forgotten to do so in my haste. Not to worry though! This grand masterpiece of a machine reads the person's mind and tells everyone through that screen on who he/she is being chased by and who is *really* suited for him/her," Washu said in a rush, afterwards trying to catch up on her breath.

"Are you *certain* this thing will work properly?" Skuld said in an uncertain tone. She had heard from Ryoko that a LOT of Washu's experiments had rather unfortunate accidents, and she didn't really feel like being the guinea pig right now.

"I believe that this machine will do its job. Who wants to go first?" Washu asked, an evil glint in her eye (not unlike a mad scientist). Skuld and Ryoko backed up to a wall and Ryoko was lucky to be able to go through it. Skuld was the only one left and Washu had to have her 'assistants' drag her onto the machine and bind her to the chair before Skuld didn't try to run away.

"Now...For the actual test!" Washu said, pulling several levers and pushing some buttons on the machine itself. Skuld felt the seat tremor for a while and suddenly she saw something big engulf her head. Darkness surrounded her as she tried to turn her head (she found she couldn't because of the thing holding her head in place). She struggled against the rope bonds, but to no avail. Suddenly, she couldn't breathe. It was as if the air was sucked out against her, and she was floating. In a matter of seconds, she went into a level beyond unconsciousness.

*****

"Hey Skuld, can you take care of Toshi for me just a little while? I need to go to the bathroom," the familiar voice of Urd requested. *Toshi...?* she wondered. She opened her eyes and looked down. There was a cute little baby with short silvery hair being shoved into her hands. It was crying a little bit and even though she tried everything she could to soothe it, nothing seemed to work.

"Uh..." Skuld mumbled as she just held the baby as it cried.

"After 5 months of staying with Toshi and you _still_ don't know how to take care of a baby? Sometimes I _wonder_ about you, Skuld. Come on, give Toshi to me," Belldandy said as Skuld handed the baby over. Skuld blinked for a while. Did Belldandy look older or was it just her eyes? *I really _should_ get them checked sometime...* she thought.

"Hey, aren't you going to get ready to dine with Kenji soon? It's almost time, you know..." Keiichi's voice said, making her turn her head. *Yup, I need to get my eyes checked. He looks like he's in his 30s and he's starting to get wrinkles!* she thought miserably. She wanted to rub her eyes but found that something hard was in the way. *I wear glasses? Shit, something's really wierd around here...*

"Almost time for what?" Skuld could hear her reply to Keiichi. He raised an eyebrow and looked at Skuld strangely.

"Are you feeling all right, Skuld? You don't look so good..." Keiichi remarked, feeling Skuld's forehead. "...but you don't have a fever, that's for sure. I thought you two were supposed to see the concert tonight? Are you still going or not?"

"Um...I almost forgot!?" Skuld said nervously. *Am I in the future?* she thought, trying to make sense of where she was.

"Geez! You've been boasting about this concert since three months ago when you hacked yourself and Kenji some tickets! Did you just hit yourself in the head or something? Come on, you're going to be late if you don't hurry! Kenji said he'd pick you up at 6:30, didn't he? It's already 6:00!" Keiichi said, pushing Skuld to her room.

Well, it _looked_ like her room from the outside. *What _happened_ to this place?* she thought as she saw all the changes. No longer there were the many experiments that she had created over the years. Banpei-kun's power outage wasn't even there! Just more high-tech wizardry that made her room look out of this world, and...teenage-looking? She saw the magazines piled all over the floor and they were all the glossy-type teenage/girl magazines.

*When did I start reading _those_?* she asked herself as she made a disgusted face. She saw an opened magazine and the headline was...and that was as far as she went. She blushed furiously and slammed the magazine shut. *Wow! Well, at least I know _why_ I read them!*

Then she wandered around her room some more until she found a lap-top on her work-desk. She opened it and typed in her login and password. Suddenly, a holographic image of her...(well not exactly _her_, the one with the glasses, and certainly looking much older) appeared and gave a little bow and a sad smile.

"Greetings, my past counterpart. Yes, you are in the future and you are probably wondering why you are here. This is pre-recorded so I cannot answer the questions I know you will want to ask. Besides, don't you need to get ready for the date with Kenji?

I can tell you a few things right off the bat: you don't have your powers and you don't have your hammer. Ever since your powers manifested, you did not have the need to use you hammer and you literally threw yours away along with your other...er...toys. But since you don't know how to use your newly manifested powers, I'm afraid you're rendered useless.

Anyway, you're about to encounter Kenji tonight at a dinner meeting. You have not told him about your true state as Goddess and this will the night where you confess. Why tonight? Because you love him more than anything, and you want more out of your relationship. He has just graduated and he planned to propose to you tonight. But before you can say yes, you must explain to him your position.

Something terrible will happen later on tonight. I know it. I've been through it and now it is time for you to go through it. I ask you, when you return to your world, to stop your relationship with Kenji, before it gets to this stage. There must not be more future suffering. You will understand why I say this later...And Skuld? Be strong," Skuld said, holding out a fist and shaking it. Then with a wave of her hand, the hologram ended.

Skuld just sat there, listening to all of this, not knowing what to do. *What does this have to do with my powers?*

*****

The hologram's words were true. Things had _certainly_ not gone well. She had gone along and had dinner with Kenji. She noticed a few things: he looked older, wiser, and their relationship was _much_ closer than she would have ever thought (an unpleasant incident in the car which made both Skuld and Kenji a little embarassed for going so far revealed just how close they had become).

Then, after the concert (during dinner, that is), she had decided to tell her what she was. He just looked at her and laughed his head off. Then, when he realized that what she was saying was true, he left the restaurant angrily and she was all alone. She went over to the bar and polished off more than a few drinks (her older self probably could take more alcohol) until she was very tipsy and drunk.

"This sucks…Why do _I_ have to go through this?" Skuld scowled. She should have listened to Ryoko's advice earlier about Washu's inventions being 'unreliable.' After all, she herself created many things that didn't work as well as she wanted to, so she should have had the insight of the upcoming disaster.

*But noooo, I just had to be stubborn and hope that whatever Washu was doing would be safe! I should have used my hammer on her that time* Skuld thought as she remembered the part where Washu 'persuaded' her into using the machine. Skuld had been bound and she wasn't able to resist whatever Washu had planned next. And _that_, she supposed, was why she ended up here in the first place and had to take an emotional beating from Kenji's rejection. And now, since she had drunkenly walked out of that restaurant, she had no idea where she was at the moment.

"Now where have I ended up this time?" Skuld wondered out loud. She was in some dark alleyway of some sort, surrounded by red brick buildings. There was a nasty stench to the place-of garbage and the unbearable smog that cars emitted. She wrinkled her nose in disgust. Normally, if she had her powers, she could have withstood the smell and not be bothered by it, but by the smell of place, she _still_ had no control over her powers.

"Great. Now I don't even know how to defend myself…" she muttered, realizing the dire consequences of her present state. She was about to continue muttering to herself when she heard a few heavy footsteps behind her, causing her to turn around. When she saw who they were, she swore and instantly backed away.

"What's a pretty lady like -_you_ doing in the alleys this time of night alone? What say we party?" a large, muscular, and full-of-scar faced man grinned maniacally. Behind him were all men of similar build, except that they didn't have as many scars. They all had hideous smiles, and Skuld could not help but shudder.

"Uh…Can I take a rain-check on that offer, guys?" Skuld asked sheepishly as she started to scramble as fast as her legs could carry away from the gang.

Unfortunately, she had not counted on them using motorcycles. She had heard the engines roaring alive behind her, and she whispered a quick prayer to Kami-sama that she would get out alive. Her body couldn't take more strain. She hadn't been very fit, she noted. Maybe in this future she stopped fighting with Urd. *Great, now I have reasons to fight with her.*

She swore when she tripped on a small rock. She scraped her knees and they stung, but she knew if she didn't hurry up and run for her life, she wouldn't be able to escape. *What time _was_ it here, anyway? I can't just keep running! I've _got_ to get more help! * she thought frantically.

The gang was halfway towards her, and gaining a lot of speed at that. Skuld needed to catch her breath badly but she knew she couldn't do that. Then she felt her right hand being pulled by one of the bikers. *The leader* she thought miserably. All of the sudden, they had surrounded her and she had no where to go. She swallowed the spit that had suddenly accumulated in her mouth cavity.

"You've got nowhere to run now, sweet cakes, so why don't you 'cooperate'?" the leader asked again, bearing his yellowy, nasty looking teeth. Half of them were rotten and probably filled with maggots or something like that. She winced in disgust.

"Unhand me, you brute!" Skuld yelled, trying to get her hand away from his tight grip so she could get away. The big, dirty hand held fast. There was no escape for her. The leader now stepped away from his bike and stood gigantically next to Skuld.

"Sorry, lady. If you're going to struggle, what's going to come next won't be pretty," 'the big brute' (as Skuld had nicknamed him) said, using his free hand to take Skuld's chin to raise up to his face so that the two could see eye to eye. What Skuld saw in the man's eyes dark and haunting, and nothing short of that. She was absolutely terrified. The other gang members hooted and called out to him, encouraging him to do whatever he wanted to do.

What happened next was not pleasant in any way. After being gang-raped, Skuld was then left in the alleyway, her clothes tattered and torn. Her tears had stopped a long time ago since they had started ravaging her body. She felt like a torn up old doll, used and thrown out. She felt empty inside of her, for there was nothing left to her life. She desperately wanted to curl up and die. *Kami-sama. Why did you do this to me?* she asked quietly to herself.

She tried to get on her feet. It was the hardest thing she ever had to do, with all the abuse she had received. She slowly walked away from the scene, using the walls as her aid. When her hands and feet could no longer support her weight, she simply crawled, leaving a small trail of blood to stand as testiment to her ordeal.

*****

"Urd! Did you feel that?" the elder version of Belldandy asked her older sister. She had suddenly felt a wave of fear coming from Skuld, tearing her soul apart and breaking certain things, and then...nothing. She had never felt so afraid in her whole life.

"Yeah, I sure did. You think our little sister needs help?" Urd asked worriedly.

"I think so. But...the connection's not around anymore...We can't find her without it!" Belldandy said frantically.

"Calm down, Belldandy! We'll go to Heaven and settle this ourselves! They should have some trackers available to us at this hour," Urd said, already switching on the television. Belldandy nodded before she herself ran to the direction of the mirror.

*****

*How long...have I been out?* Skuld wondered. She groaned as she tried to move around. *Guess I was out for a long time... My whole body hurts!*

"Hey, she's awake, Nao! Are you all right?" an unknown female voice asked her. Skuld decided not to answer her so she could determine whether or not the female was friend or foe.

"Are you sure, Kei? She looks like she's having a wet dream or something," the female named Nao said.

"Stop making fun of her! _You_ should have been the one who found her! From the look of her wounds, she was probably gang-raped..." Kei said. Skuld could hear no further than those two words, 'gang-raped.' *So...it wasn't a dream...* Tears started to flow from her eyes before she could stop them. She curled up into a foetal position and sobbed.

"You were right! She _is_ awake!" Nao said while she jumped back in surprise that the woman they had found was crying her heart out like a baby. She was also a little embarassed that her earlier comment about the wet dream had been heard by their visitor but she didn't show it. She fought to keep her face from blushing. It apparently worked.

"You're such an insensitive room-mate, you know that?" Kei snapped, trying to comfort the stranger by touching her shoulders.

"Sorry! Well it's not like I don't care or anything! It's just that I haven't had the best day, you know? My boyfriend and I just broke up for freaking sakes! And I come home to find _you_ undressing her? How the hell am I supposed to take that?" Nao retaliated. *Damn that woman...* she cursed.

"Well I was _trying_ to get her out of her clothes and treat some of the wounds she has, as if you didn't notice! It's not like I was all over her or anything..." Kei said, scowling. *Although she _does_ have one of those bodies we'd all die for* she added silently as an afterthought. She struggled to keep her face from showing her amusement. Nao apparently noticed this, however.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. So what do we do with her?" Nao asked, rolling her eyes. She knew her room-mate too well. After all, she had been with her for what, nearly 2 years? To her, that almost seemed like forever already. Good thing she only had 2 more years until she graduated. By then, she would probably never see Kei again.

"Well, we've got to contact her immediate family...How do you feel, miss?" Kei asked, turning to Skuld.

"I...don't want to live," Skuld croaked through her tears. That sentence touched the two room-mates and each silently sighed. They really felt sorry for her and wished they could help, but it wasn't really their place to do so.

"You must have been through a lot, but you've got to go on living. Don't you have friends or relatives that are worried about you? We'd like to contact them-" Nao said, but was cut off by Skuld's outburst.

"NO! NO! I can't possibly face them like this!" Skuld yelled out. The two room-mates looked at each other for a long time and came to a decision. They barely survived to keep paying rent, and now there was another mouth to feed? Kei nodded her head and Nao sighed in resignation. They would make it through somehow. They couldn't leave her alone like this, not when they could do something to help her.

"You can stay with us until...you feel better. My name is Keiko Narumiya and this is my room-mate, Naomi Shizuka," Kei said, introducing themselves. Nao nodded and gave a reassuring smile while she held out her hand, expecting a hand-shake in return. Unfortunately, she thought wrong.

"T-Thank you," Skuld mumbled at the ground, not looking at her saviors. The two room-mates looked at each other again and wondered whether or not they made the right decision.

***** END OF PART 1*****
'Till next time, au revoir!