Chapter 2

"Hey! Wake up!"

Sayoko sat straight up. "Huh? What? Where?"

Sayoko turned to see Asuka, Hikari and Rei laughing at her.

"Well, at least you've caught up," said Asuka with a smile, "with your sleep that is."

Sayoko stood up grumbling, "I had a rough night..Give me a break."

"Alright alright." said Hikari, "Let's dump the books and go meet the boys."

Rei led the way to the locker room. Arriving, Rei immediately went and opened her locker to deposit her books, as did Hikari. Asuka stared at her locker, hesitating a bit. Sayoko looked at Asuka, then at the locker.

"What? Are you afraid it might explode?"

"No.its not that." said Asuka.

"Then what is it?"

"I.oh never mind" Asuka began to open the locker. 'At least Shinji isn't here.'

Asuka swung her locker open and took a step back. Instead of the usual pile of letters falling out, only 5 appeared. Sayoko thought she saw Asuka's face fall, as if she was disappointed. That only lasted a second before Asuka's face returned to normal and she tossed her books in. Sayoko didn't think anymore on it as she walked over and began to open her locker.

"GAHH!"

Asuka, Hikari, and Rei ran over. "What is it? What happened?"

Sayoko lay on the ground, a large pile of letters covered her.

"Does this happen often?" asked a dazed Sayoko. Rei bent over and picked up one of the letters.

"It is a love letter." She remarked.

"So is this." said Hikari looking at another. "They're all love letters."

"Great." mumbled Sayoko, "just what I need." 'Now I am becoming like Mom.'

Asuka looked at the large pile of letters Sayoko was buried in, and then glanced back at the 5 letters sitting in front of her locker. Had anyone been watching, they would have noticed that Asuka's left eye twitched.

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For the next week, things went quite differently at school. Asuka could now open her locker freely without anything of the letter kind falling out, while Sayoko was now loudly grumbling about the amount of mail her locker seemed to be able to hold.

"It's just physically impossible for that many letters to get in such a small space!" shouted Sayoko in frustration one day, "I mean come on! I can barely get my text books in there!!"

"They are actually fairly large," said Rei, "Asuka was able to put Kensuke into his own locker rather easily."

Sayoko gave Rei a look. Then turned back to her locker.

"Wish I was here to see that..."

While Asuka would not publicly admit it, the lack of letters was starting to bother her. She had always been the popular girl, the one everyone wanted. Number 1 in everything. Now she was nothing, cast aside for another. And she hated it. It seemed her only bright spot was that Shinji remained by her side. As long as Shinji was with her, she knew everything would be fine. But she wanted to be number 1 again, regardless of the fact that her competition was a friend and a goddess.

Sayoko was having a different set of problems. First, her failure with the goddess testing was continually on her mind as was the fact that she was hiding it from her friends. Then she was thrust into the spotlight, finding herself pursued by every guy in the school. Not that it was a bad thing, but it was reminding Sayoko too much about her Aunt's stories from when her mother went to college. Next, she seemed to be having difficulty in getting her homework from home to school. Somehow, it vanished from her bag along the way. Time itself also had it in for her as well. Regardless how many times she corrected it, her alarm clock continuously went off late, thus she was constantly arriving at school late. It was all beginning to take its toll on her. Sayoko had finally reached the point were she wondered if it could get any worse. Unfortunately, it was.

Sayoko was walking home with Rei, Shinji and Asuka. Dark clouds loomed overhead. Shinji looked up.

"I hope it doesn't rain." He said.

Rei gave Shinji a look. "Why did you go and say that?"

"I'm just saying, I hope it doesn't..." BOOM! ".rain" Shinji finished as the clouds began to open up. Rain poured down from the sky. Rei and Asuka glared at Shinji while they held their bags over their heads.

"Shinji you idiot!" shouted Asuka. "Now look what you've done!"

"Its not my fault!" shouted Shinji, his bag over his head.

"Whatever."

Asuka turned back to continue towards the apartment, when she noticed Sayoko. She was standing quietly under an umbrella.

"Where did you pull that from?" asked Asuka, slightly irritated.

Sayoko smiled, "I'm a goddess remember." She then turned and began to walk down the street. Asuka glared at Sayoko's retreating form.

"One of these days..." muttered Asuka.

Just as they started walking again, a car raced past them. It quickly went down the street. As Rei followed the car with her eyes, she noticed something directly in the cars path. A large puddle of water and Sayoko almost even with it.

"SAYOKO!!!! WATCH OUT!!" shouted Rei.

Sayoko turned back as it to ask why, when the car hit the puddle. Sayoko had no time to react as the water cascaded towards her. Asuka, Rei and Shinji quickly hurried up to their now drenched friend. Rei reached her first.

"Sayoko are you." began Rei, but she never finished it. The look on Sayoko's face chilled her. Sayoko's normally warm and cheerful blue eyes were now very cold looking and were taking on an unearthly glow. Her anger so great, she was shaking.

"That's...it." she muttered, "That's it. For Kami-sama's sake I HAVE HAD IT!!"

Sayoko began to chant and rose a foot above the ground. The entire time she never took her eyes off the car. Rei, Shinji and Asuka took several steps back. Sayoko raised both her hands and pointed towards the car. 4 loud explosions reached the children's ears. They watched as the car came quickly to a halt, and the driver get out to discover that all his tires were flat. Sayoko floated back to the ground with a small smirk on her face.

"That'll teach him." Sayoko then started off towards her apartment. Rei, Shinji and Asuka hung back a second.

"Did she just." asked Asuka. "I don't believe she just."

Shinji turned and looked at Rei, "Can she do that?"

Rei was about to answer when the sound of thunder rumbled across the sky. Lighting flashed across the sky. A bright flash came from up the street followed by a loud boom and a cry of shock. The children quickly ran up the street to find a stunned Sayoko laying on the sidewalk, looking slightly scorched. All that was left of her umbrella was a charred frame. Next to Sayoko were glowing words in a language that Asuka had only seen once before, in a message Sayoko had sent to her Aunt. Rei knelt next to Sayoko.

"Sayoko! Are you alright?"

Sayoko opened her eyes slowly. "Did someone get the number of that truck that hit me?"

Rei helped Sayoko sit up. "Are you ok?" asked Rei again.

Sayoko turned to look at Rei, "A little woozy, but I think I'm fine. What happened?"

"That's what we were going to ask you." said Asuka.

"Maybe this will explain." said Shinji pointing towards the glowing words.

"Maybe what will.." Sayoko lost her voice as she stared at the message. As she read the words, her face became very pale. "I'm...I'm.."

Rei looked at Sayoko. "What's wrong? What does it say?"

Sayoko looked as if she was about to cry. She quickly got up and began to run. Rei, Asuka, and Shinji quickly took off after her. At the spot they had just left, a blond haired woman with red eyes stepped out. She looked down at the now fading message. She could not read it, but she knew what it meant. She closed her eyes.

"I'm sorry kid." She then opened her eyes and looked up. "I hope you can forgive me someday."

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Rei, Asuka, and Shinji arrived at the Goddess's apartment. They had lost sight of Sayoko after she had run off. They decided that she had to have gone home, thus, they had come here. Rei walked up to the door and rang the bell. Several minutes went by with no sound coming from inside the apartment. Rei rang it again. Finally, the door slid open to reveal a very unhappy looking Skuld. Asuka and Shinji quickly took a step back upon seeing Skuld's face. Rei found herself staring nervously at Skuld.

"Yes." asked Skuld, with a slightly hoarse voice.

"Um, Is Sayoko here?" asked Rei quietly.

Skuld's eyes seemed to narrow a bit, "She's here, but I can't allow you to see her right now."

"Why?"

"You were with her just a bit ago?"

Rei shuffled her feet slightly, "Yes."

"That is why." Skuld's face then softened a bit. "She'll be in school tomorrow, you can talk to her then. But I will tell her that you were here."

"Thank-you Skuld-sama." replied Rei with a bow.

Skuld's left eye twitched. "Rei, I've told you before, no -sama, just Skuld."

"Yes . Skuld-sa..Skuld. Good bye." Rei turned and walked quickly to where Asuka and Shinji were. The three then headed quickly towards their apartment. Skuld watched them for a second before closing the door. She walked quickly into the kitchen and got herself another drink of water. She then walked out into the living room. Banpei looked up at her before quickly walking out of the room. Skuld took no notice as she looked down the hallway towards the closed door at the end. She then turned and found herself staring at a picture of her lost sister.

'I'm sorry,' Skuld thought quietly, 'I'm trying my best..but.I'm a failure.' Skuld collapsed into a nearby chair. 'I've failed you and her.'

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Inside her room, Sayoko lay on her bed, staring at the ceiling through reddened, tear filled eyes. The words that Skuld had said to her earlier flashed through her head.

"I can't believe you did that! You're a Goddess First Class and you go and do THAT!! What were you thinking?!?! What would your mother think!! We expected better from you! This is something that Urd would have done! You have embarrassed this family! And you've embarrassed Kami-sama in front of all of heaven!"

Sayoko closed her eyes in pain. The message on the pavement from her grandfather rang louder then her Aunt or even the lightning bolt that had sent it.

'To Sayoko, Goddess 1st Class Unlimited.

Your license is hereby suspended for 2 months for abuse of your goddess powers. Take that time to think about what you have done.

Kami-sama.'

'Two months," thought Sayoko, 'I won't get my powers back until Christmas.'

Sayoko closed her eyes. 'Dammit.'

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The next morning, Shinji, Asuka, Rei, Hikari, Touji, and Kensuke sat around waiting for class to start. While they waited, they were quietly discussing what had happened the day before.

"She was struck by lightning?" asked Hikari.

"Yeah," replied Shinji, "We think it came from heaven because the message next to her had the type of letters they use."

"Didn't you ask her what it said? Or her Aunt?"

"We tried," asked Asuka," or rather Rei tried. Skuld wouldn't say, and we didn't have a chance to ask Sayoko."

Any further questions went on hold as Sayoko quietly entered the class. The 6 children could only stare at their friend. Even when she was running late, Sayoko still looked as if she had spent hours getting ready. Her hair had always been done up nice and her face always had a smile on it. The girl that now entered the class was a ghost of her former self. Her hair looked disheveled and dark circles were under her eyes as if she had had problems sleeping the night before, which in fact she had. But something else could be seen in her eyes, or in this case, not seen. Normally Sayoko's eyes sparkled a nice bright blue. Now they seemed dim, as if they had lost their spark. Sayoko sat down at her desk and placed her head in her arms on top of her desk. Rei moved over and knelt by her desk.

"Sayoko? Are you alright?"

Sayoko turned her head just enough so that she could see Rei with her right eye.

"I'm alright Rei, I'm just tired." Sayoko replied.

"If you want to talk about yesterday.."

Sayoko's eye went wide. She then moved her head back into her arms.

"I said I'm fine Rei." came Sayoko's muffled voice. "But thanks anyway."

Any further conversation was cut off as the teacher entered the classroom. Rei quickly moved to her desk.

"Rise, Bow, Sit." Rei called out.

The teacher nodded to Rei then looked over the students. His eyes froze for several seconds on Sayoko, before he finally moved on. After looking over the class, he finally spoke.

"I have been asked to announce that there will be a Autumn dance held here at the school in 2 weeks. It is open to all students and while it is not mandatory, your participation is welcome."

Many of the students began to get looks on their faces. Shinji felt an impending sense of doom as several girls turned around to look at him. Even without her powers, Sayoko felt the same sense of doom as several of the boys turned towards her.

Sayoko let out a sigh, 'I'm beginning to think someone has it in for me."

"And now." announced the Teacher, "Today's lecture, The Economic Impact of Second Impact..."

WHAM!! Sayoko's head slammed into the desktop. '...yes..someone has it in for me.'

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Urd sat staring at the main screen in Yggdrasil, trying to do her work, but things kept distracting her.

"Did you hear?" came one voice, "The daughter of Belldandy has been suspended!"

"Really?" asked a third, "What did she do?"

"I heard that she blasted a mortal with a force bolt!" replied the first.

"No," came a fourth, "I heard she hit one with lightning!"

"IT WAS 4 STUPID CAR TIRES!!" Urd shouted, standing up and facing the 4 deities. "SHE BLEW UP 4 STUPID CAR TIRES!! THAT IS ALL! NOW GET BACK TO WORK!!"

"Yes Ma'am!" the 4 deities quickly ran off to find some work to do.

Urd stood there, staring at where the deities had been standing. Turning around, she saw X, Erie, and Chronos staring at her.

"What!?" shouted Urd. "Get to work!"

The 3 quickly turned back to their terminals.

"Urd." Came a quiet voice.

"WHAT!?!" Urd turned and found herself face to face with Peorth. "Oh, its you."

Peorth remained unfazed, "I know you're unhappy about what has happened, but yelling at the operators won't help matters any."

Urd fell back into the SysOp chair. "I know. Its just.." Urd looked at Peorth, "She's a good kid, everything that I'm not. Just the thought of her being suspended...it shouldn't have happened to her."

"She did misuse her powers."

"I know," replied Urd. "But it was so unlike her to do that. There's something else going on down there."

"If there was," said Peorth quietly, "Skuld would have noticed it."

"True.But she isn't around Sayoko all the time. She still has to go out and keep an eye on the Evas." Urd leaned back in the chair. "If it's a demon, they're being really careful about it."

Peorth frowned at Urd, "What about Mara?"

"Skuld should be able to recognize Mara's handy work. Sayoko was to young to remember Mara's attempts after her birth." Urd sighed, "Mara didn't come back after Bell and K....you know."

Peorth nodded to Urd. "You know, it may not be demons. It could be a bug."

"A bug that changes a goddesses personality?"

Peorth shrugged, "You never know."

"Right..." Urd then stood up. "I'm going to go down and talk to Skuld about this. Keep an eye on things for me will you?"

"Of course." replied Peorth, "Say hi to them for me."

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Lunch

"A dance!!" shouted Hikari. "Isn't that great!"

"Yeah." replied Sayoko without much enthusiasm, "Yippee."

Hikari turned and stared at Sayoko. "What's wrong?"

"The last thing I want right now is a hundred or so guys trying to ask me out." said Sayoko, "Right now..I don't plan on going."

"Come on Sayoko! It will be fun! I'm going with Touji, Shinji is going with Asuka, Kensuke's even thinking of asking Rei!"

"No. I am not going."

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"You're going."

Sayoko stared at Skuld stunned. "Why?!"

Sitting on the couch watching TV, Skuld sighed and turned to her niece, "Ever since you got suspended you've been hiding in your room. You need to get out and associate with people again. Dances don't come along that often. So.you're going."

"I..I..arrrghhhh." Sayoko stormed off towards her room, slamming the door behind her. Banpei looked down the hallway at the closed door before turning to face his creator.

"Bleep?"

"No Banpei, Let her be." replied Skuld, placing her head in her hands "Just let her be."

"More fun I see." came a familiar voice.

"Damn," muttered Skuld, not even looking up, "I can't even leave the TV on for a second can I."

Urd smiled, "Come on, you missed me."

"How could I miss you?" replied Skuld, "I have a younger version of you living here."

Urd stared at Skuld stunned, "I can't believe you said that. I'm not that bad." Urd was quiet for a second, "...at least not now anyway. She's not like me at all."

"She's getting there. She's starting to remind me of you in the old days, and Asuka from a year ago."

Urd winced, "That bad?"

"Yep."

Urd was quiet for a bit, "You don't think she's under a demon curse do you?"

"Demons?"

"Humor me."

"Well, I haven't detected any demons." replied Skuld, "Banpei hasn't see any either. Of course, that's only around the house, elsewhere.."

"So it's a possibility?"

"Maybe, I'll ask Sayoko." Skuld's eyes narrowed, "What brings you here anyway?"

"Well," began Urd, "The Demon thing was part of it, but I also wanted to find out how Sayoko was handling the suspension. From our conversation so far, I guess its not going well.."

"Since the suspension, she hasn't been her normal self," replied Skuld, "And it's only been a day. Now this dance thing comes up. All her friends are going, but she doesn't want to."

"So you're forcing her?"

Skuld let out a sigh. "It's better then have her moping around here. She need's to get out and associate with the people she'll be granting wishes to later. A dance will give her the chance to do so."

"You know..this all sounds very familiar."

Skuld looked at Urd questioningly, "What do you mean?"

Urd began to smile, "I seem to remember someone else who had problems with god/mortal relations."

Skuld paled as she realized who Urd meant. "That was a long time ago."

"Not that long ago little sister." replied Urd with a smile. "First you were all mad at Belldandy for being in love with a mortal, then you ended up in love with...

"URD STOP!" Skuld shouted, unhappy that Urd was hitting a sore spot.

Urd was quiet for a second, then she changed subjects "You realize that with this dance, the possibility of her being asked out on a date just increased."

Skuld let out a loud sigh, "I am aware of what that...If I was mortal.I'd have gray hairs just thinking about it."

"Oh come on." said Urd with a smile, "She could end up with someone like Keiichi, Shinji, or even..what was his name..Sentaro."

At the mention of Sentaro, Skuld closed her eyes in pain. Urd smacked herself, realizing she just screwed up.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to..." Urd went silent. 'Dammit! I'm such an idiot!'

"Your right." Skuld said finally, breaking the silence. "She could end up with someone like them..even someone like..Sentaro." Skuld then opened her eyes and looked at Urd, "Whoever it is..they'll need all the luck they can get."

Urd put her arms around Skuld. "You still miss him, don't you?"

Skuld nodded.

"I still don't understand why you never went up to see him."

"Because," replied Skuld, "I never told him...what I was."

Urd's eyes widened, "But I thought you were going to! You told me and Bell you would!"

Skuld looked at the floor. "The time was never right, things kept coming up..and then.." Skuld began to cry.

Urd grabbed Skuld and held her in her arms. "Oh sister.."

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1 week later.

"No, I do not want to go to the dance with you."

The latest request for a date turned down, Sayoko turned and walked off towards her friends. Rei watched Sayoko walk over and sit against the nearby tree.

"Are you going to turn down everyone who asks you for a date?" asked Rei.

Sayoko glanced at Rei, "Yes. I told Aunt Skuld I would go to the dance, But I didn't say I would go with someone."

"That sounds very..." began Rei, "Asuka-like."

Shinji and Hikari went into a severe coughing fit while Touji and Kensuke laughed out loud.

"That's funny!" said Kensuke between laughs, "The Goddess acting like the Red-Haired Demo.." Kensuke never finished as a certain German girl's foot impacted into his crotch.

"I told you," said Asuka, "not to call me that!" She turned and faced Touji who was cowering in fear. "Do I need to repeat myself?"

"No Ma'am" replied Touji, watching a writhing Kensuke on the ground next to him.

Giving a glare to Rei, Asuka turned and looked at Sayoko. "I understand if you don't want to go with any of these losers." her face softened a bit, "but it might be nice if you gave one a chance."

"I'll think about it." replied Sayoko, "You know," she said with a smile, "I could always go with Shinji...."

"Over my dead body." said Asuka with a glare.

"Just kidding." Sayoko smiled and then looked at her watch, "Lunch is about over, we should head back to class." Shinji got up and then helped Asuka up. They had just started to head for class when..

"Hey!" shouted Touji, "What about Kensuke?" He pointed down at the boy still crying in pain.

"You bring him." replied Hikari.

"But.."

"And do not be late." added Rei.

Touji stood stunned watching as the others left him. He then turned and looked at his friend.

"Kensuke...You and I are going to have a long talk about why you should keep your mouth shut."

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Sayoko entered her apartment, slamming the door behind her. Kicking off her shoes, she walked down the short hallway, then crossed the living room heading towards her room.

"Stupid locker.." muttered Sayoko, "it's become a cursed mailbox..."

"How was your day?"

Sayoko stopped and turned. Sitting at the table in the kitchen, in front of a large book, was her Aunt Skuld.

"What?" asked Sayoko.

"I asked 'How was your day?'" repeated Skuld.

"Fine." grumbled Sayoko, her tone making it quite clear that the day was anything but 'fine'.

Skuld let out a sigh, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." Sayoko turned and began to head towards her room.

"Have you been asked to the dance yet?"

Sayoko's answer was to slam the door to her room shut.

Skuld sat staring at Sayoko's door for a long time. Finally, she stood up and walked towards the front door.

"Bleep?"

Skuld turned and looked at Banpei. "I'm going out for a bit. Keep an eye on things."

"Bleep." replied Banpei.

Skuld turned, put her shoes on, and headed out the door.

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"I wonder why Sayoko is turning down all those boys." said Asuka.

She, Shinji, and Rei had returned to the apartment after school and were sitting around in the living room watching TV. Misato sat at the kitchen table going through a pile of UN documents.

"I am not entirely sure." replied Rei, "She has never talked about it with me."

Asuka glanced over at Rei, "I thought you two talk about everything together."

"We do. But there are still things that she keeps to herself."

"Speaking of dates," Shinji turned and looked at Rei, "Do you have a date for the dance?"

A smile appeared on Asuka's face, "Yeah, Hikari said Kensuke was going to ask you. So?"

Rei continued to watch the TV. "So?"

"What did you say to him?" asked Asuka, slightly annoyed.

"I told him no."

"No?" Shinji sat up and looked at Rei. "Why?"

Rei turned and looked at Asuka and Shinji. "He is a pervert."

A smile began to appear across Asuka's face.

Shinji looked at Rei stunned. "What? What do you mean?"

"I caught him selling photographs of some of the female students, much like he did back in Tokyo-3." Rei replied with a frown. "He seems to be spending a lot of time around the pool."

Shinji sighed, "Not again."

"I always knew he was a pervert." said Asuka.

Rei glanced at Asuka, "He was still selling photos of you."

Asuka's face went red with anger, "I'm going to kill him."

"No, you will not." Rei replied with a smile. "Remember who we have for friends."

Asuka stared at Rei blankly.

Seeing that Asuka was not understanding, Rei pointed up towards the ceiling. "You know..them."

A smile slowly crept across Asuka's face as she realized whom Rei was referring to. "Yeah, some divine retribution would be great."

Pen Pen entered the room at that moment and sat down in front of the TV. In one flipper he held a beer, in the other, a remote control. Pen Pen had just begun to raise the remote when..

"Don't even think about it."

Pen Pen turned to see both Asuka and Rei glaring at him. He turned to Shinji.

Shinji held up his hands. "Don't look at me. I'm not arguing with them."

Pen Pen dropped the remote and started to head back into the kitchen when the doorbell rang.

Four voices spoke together. "Could you get that?!"

Seeing that none of the humans were getting up. Pen Pen waddled over to the door and opened it. He found himself looking up at Skuld.

* Can I help you? *

Skuld looked about confused for a second before she felt something grabbing her pant leg.

* Down here. *

Skuld looked down to see a penguin looking up at her, holding a beer. "Uhh.I'm looking for the Katsuragi apartment?"

* You found it. * With that, Pen Pen turned and waddled off.

Skuld stood in the doorway a second before she entered. Skuld exited the short hallway and stood looking towards both the living room and the kitchen. "Umm, Hello?"

Misato looked up from her paperwork. "Skuld! Hi!"

"Sorry about barging in, but a penguin with a beer opened the door..."

"Oh, don't worry. That's Pen Pen. I'm sure Sayoko told you all about him."

"Ahhh....No." Skuld said. "Say is Rei here? I really need to speak with her."

Misato stood up, "Last time I saw them, they were all in the living room."

Misato walked out to the living room with Skuld following right behind her. They found the children glued to the TV screen. Misato frowned for a second before she spoke.

"Rei. Someone to see you."

Rei turned and saw Skuld standing behind Misato. "Skuld-sama!"

Asuka and Shinji also turned and looked at Skuld. "Hi Auntie Skuld!"

Skuld's left eye twitched, "I told you, no '-sama' and no 'Auntie'. Call me Skuld!"

"Ok Auntie."

Skuld sighed and looked down at the floor.

"They're just teasing you." Misato said with a smile.

"Urd teases me enough, Thank you." replied Skuld. Turning to Rei, "Can I speak with you, alone?"

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Rei's room, moments later.

"What did you wish to speak with me about?" asked Rei as she sat on her bed.

Skuld, still standing, looked at the window for a second before facing Rei, "Sayoko."

"What about her?"

"Has she been acting different to you?"

Rei stared at Skuld, "Yes she is. I don't think she has been taking the attention from the boys at school all that well."

Skuld's eyes narrowed, "What boys?"

"After she arrived, Sayoko started to receive large amounts of letters from most of the male population at school. Sayoko has found it irritating to dig through the pile just to find her books for class."

"Is this normal behavior for Junior High School?"

"I believe so." replied Rei, "Up until Sayoko arrived, Asuka received large amounts of letters. Since Sayoko's arrival, they seem to have concentrated on her."

Skuld held her head in her hands, "It's like Belldandy at college all over again."

"What?"

Skuld looked up at Rei, "Sayoko's mother. When she went to college with Keiichi, she became very popular. Most of the male population of the school went after her, especially a piece of work named Aoshima. But she had eyes for only Keiichi." Skuld then smiled, "Sometimes I wonder if she even realized they were after her."

"It is obvious to Sayoko that they are after her. She's becoming increasingly frustrated by it."

Skuld thought back to a conversation she had with Kami-sama. 'She's away from the heavens, but still being compared to her mother.' Skuld looked at Rei. "Did you ever ask her what happened that day she was hit by lightning?"

Rei was quiet for a second. "No. She did not wish to talk about it the next day, and any time it is brought up, she changes the topic."

Skuld sat down in Rei's desk chair, facing Rei. "What I am about to tell you must not be told to anyone else. Do you understand?"

Rei nodded, "Yes."

Skuld waited a second, before she continued. "Sayoko's goddess license has been suspended. She has no powers."

Rei stared at Skuld in shock. "Why?"

"She misused her powers when she blew up that guys tires." replied Skuld, "No matter what the circumstances, she should never have let her temper dictate her actions."

"How long is she suspended?"

"Until Christmas." replied Skuld. "Rei, I need you to do me a favor."

"What would you like me to do?"

"Keep an eye on her." answered Skuld, "Urd and I are worried about her and she refuses to talk to us. You and her friends are the only ones she'll talk to."

"We will certainly try." replied Rei.