Battle Field: Earth

Chapter Five: Trust

By: Sci-Fi Raptor

Disclaimer: See chapter one.

Nekomi, Japan

Late September 2002

A Local Park:

"Gab, huh?" Skuld said slowly. She cautiously took his hand and shook it. "Well, my name is Skuld. Nice meeting you."

"Skuld… that's a nice name," he replied, smiling and caused her to blush.

"Thanks…" she said shyly. Why is my heart suddenly beating so fast? Skuld thought.

Coincidentally, Sigel was having similar thoughts. Heart rate increasing. Skin temperature slightly higher then normal. Sweating and increased hormonal activities? Could this be? Could this be that my master is… ILL!?

"Master, it's getting late, we should go home now!" Sigel suddenly said, all but shoving Skuld onto Benpei's seat.

"B-but," Skuld said, unable to think correctly.

"It seems so," Gab said after checking his watch. "I should be going home too. I have a lot of work to do." Benpei's engine turned on and Sigel mounted him. "It's been nice meeting you, Skuld," Gab said, smiling a bit more. "I hope we see each other again," he waved as Benpei started moving.

As if suddenly forced out of a trance, Skuld finally managed to say something. "It's been nice seeing you too. I hope we meet again soon," she waved back. In a few seconds Benpei turned onto a road and he was out of sight.

"Master," Sigel said as they tree made their way home. "That guy started causing your body to function abnormally. I wonder what he did to you?" A big smile started forming on Skuld's face as she started to blush uncontrollably.

"Master?" Sigel said, confused with this strange behavior.

"He's so cute!!!" she said giddily. (Sigel/Benpei: --')

(Back at the park)

Gabriel stopped waving his right hand when the girl and her robots turned the corner and unclenched his left hand. He slowly raised it and stared at his ring finger, which coincidentally had a ring on it. A glowing ring, whose light faded as Skuld's presence stopped feeding it.

Heh, Gab thought as his face went back to its normal stoic position. Who would have thought that I would have found a Goddess like her so soon?

He clenched his hand again once the light was gone. Yes, I will have you…

Nekomi, Japan

Late September 2002

Morisato Residence:

"We're back!" Skuld announced giddily as she entered the temple.

"Welcome back," Keiichi greeted, smiling back. Wow, she hasn't acted this happy since Sentaro was around.

"Well, someone's in a good mood," Urd said insinuatingly as Skuld entered the TV room (Urd's second room). "Did something happen while we were at the park?" she said, coming almost up to Skuld's face.

"No…" she said, blushing even redder then before.

"Hah! I knew something happened! Tell big sister everything," Urd said in her interrogatory manner.

"Nothing happened!" she said.

"Now, now Skuld. You know lying can get you into serious trouble," Belldandy said out of nowhere.

"Come on Skuld, we won't bite," Urd said with a glint in her eye.

"Well…" Skuld started, staring at her index fingers, which she was pointing into each other.

"Well what?" Urd said impatiently.

"I met someone…" Skuld said quietly.

"That's wonderful!" Belldandy said happily.

"So that means… Skuld has a new boyfriend!" Urd said playfully.

Automatically, Skuld replied "Do NOT!"

Urd sighed, "Now I'm the only one without a boyfriend…" Her face suddenly showed she was thinking of something naughty. "Hey Keiichi…"

"Y-yes, Urd?" Keiichi answered nervously. He knew that she was going to ask him something that would end up with him hurting.

She crawled up to him and whispered into his ear, "Maybe we can get it on, you know, like when Bell isn't around."

"W-w-what!?" Keiichi said, blushing. Skuld also blushed a lot and Belldandy hit Urd in the back of the head.

"Keiichi, why are you blushing so much?" Urd said insidiously.

"Stop thinking those dirty thoughts!" Skuld added mechanically.

(Later that night)

"So," Urd said after the show that she and her youngest sister agreed on watching finished. "When are you going to see this 'Gab'?"

"Huh? Oh… Uh-oh," Skuld said, answer enough for Urd. She came up to her face and looked at her with disappointed eyes.

"I bet you don't even know his phone number?"

"Kyaa!" Skuld groaned. "I'm such a baka! Baka, baka, baka!" she scolded herself, constant hitting herself in the head. She stopped this tantrum when she realized she was registering more pain then she should have and found her sister pounding her head with her. Skuld glared daggers at her sister who had her face frozen in an expression that screamed 'it looked like fun.'

"What am I gonna do, Urd?" Skuld said, a bit intense.

Wow, she's really worked up over this guy… normally she would have gotten me with one of her contraptions. This guy must be something… Urd said, her head filling with a bunch of R rated thoughts. After a short while, she said putting a hand on Skuld's shoulder for comfort, "Don't worry, Big Sister will help you." With eyes that had a devilish gleam in them, she said, "I'm not the Goddess of Love for nothing." With that, she went to her lab with an enthusiastic step.

What did I just get myself into? Skuld thought to herself as her sister was out of her sight. "Baka, baka, baka!" she said, continuing her previous tantrum.

Nekomi, Japan

Late September 2002

A Local Park:

Being that she had nothing else to really do the whole day, Skuld went back to the park in which she had met Gabriel the day before. Sigel insisted that she go with her, and Benpei was her only (closest) means of convention transport. When they got to the park, however, Skuld insisted that she stay alone, forcing Sigel to stay with Benpei. Not that she minded that… too much.

Around four in afternoon, Skuld decided that she had waited long enough. What was I thinking, waiting for him here again? He was probably just passing by the other day. Kyaa! Why didn't I ask him for his number earlier!

Skuld made her way to the parking lot, but found that Benpei and Segil were no longer there. "Where did those two go?" Skuld wondered. "Oh yeah, I have my tracking device!" she remembered and pulled it out. Let's see. According to this, they are… back home! Why did they leave without me?

"There you are!" someone said from behind her.

"Who's that?" Skuld said to herself and turned back to see a pair of scarlet eyes staring back. "Gabriel…" she said, her heart suddenly racing. She put her hand upon her bosom in fear that it just might jump out.

"You have some loyal robots. They found me in the streets and practically dragged me all the way here!" he said, laughing.

"Gomen…" she said embarrassed. Not that I'm unhappy, she thought, a smile forming on her face again.

"I'm so sorry about yesterday," he said, bowing apologetically. "Your robots had a point, I really should have asked you for your phone number. I'm such a baka sometimes!"

"That's okay," she said shyly, unsure of what to do now.

"Hey, you want to go out for some ice cream? I know this nice shop nearby."

"Sure!" she said, at the mention of her most favorite confection.

The day was a blur. After the ice cream shop, Gab took Skuld to a movie (which he coincidentally had tickets for), an aquarium and finally back to the park where they rented a boat until sunset. Skuld had never felt such bliss, not even while she was with Sentaro. Rrr. Stupid Sentaro and his stupid girlfriend… At sunset, the two slowly walked back to the parking lot where they first met.

"It was nice being with you today," Gab said. "We should go out more often."

"Yes, I think we should," Skuld said, blushing again. I'm so hopeless…

"Um, how are you going home, since your robots are gone?" he asked with intense curiosity.

"I can just te-" Skuld started but caught herself. I can't tell him that I'm a Goddess! He'll think I'm crazy and never see me again! "Gomen… can you please take me home?" she said, trying to cover herself. She mentally scolded herself a moment later, Baka, you could have told him that you had someone that would pick you up and just teleported. Too late now…

"Of course, no problem. Just follow me," he said and led her to what she recognized as a green Kawasaki Ninja.

"This is yours!" she exclaimed.

"Yup," he said, mounting it. "Just sit behind me and hold on," he said. Skuld did as she was told. "Oh yeah, almost forgot," he said and gave her a helmet. "What about you?" she said, when she noticed that he didn't have a helmet for himself.

"A man can't wear a helmet knowing that there's a lady behind him without one," he shrugged and revved the engine. But I'm not just a lady… I'm a Goddess, Skuld thought to herself.

He was extremely fast. Before she knew it, they were a few minutes away from the temple and had stopped at a red light.

"Skuld, do you think you can trust me?" Gab said out of the blue.

"I guess…" she said, sure he couldn't possibly hurt her.

"Excellent," he said and suddenly started burning out. When the red light turned green, he let go of the brakes, and sent the bike almost hurtling forward. But he didn't continue forward in the direction of the temple. Instead, he took a left and drove at a scary speed. Lights and buildings whizzed by until he suddenly stopped somewhere. Dazed from all of the lights and sudden stop, Skuld couldn't stop him from taking her off of the bike and into what looked like an alley. A door closed behind her and suddenly the world went white.