The Shikigami user & the Gorgeous Goddesses

by Uruz 11

Michiru is forced to stay at a relative's house which is occupied by heavenly goddesses, will romance bloom admist the humour and chaos during his stay? Will all of them visit Japan's Feudal era as well? Chapter 4 is rewritten. Michiru/Peorth as the main pairing, but two alternate endings well also be included as a bonus with a different pairing for each: Michiru/Urd, Michiru/Lind.

12. Michiru's Trials and Miroku's Misery

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha, Oh My Goddess, or anything associated with either of them. This story is being written just for fun and enjoyment.

Chapter #12: Michiru's Trials and Miroku's Misery & Misfortune

Something's made Michiru panic, I'd better follow him inside and find out what it is. Wait; is that a bottle of Sake and a bouquet of flowers? What are they doing there? Did Michiru buy them? I'd better carry them inside and ask Michiru, he must know who they're for.

While Lind walked back up the stairs carrying the flowers and Sake in hand, Michiru arrived at the front porch of the house and raced inside, removing his runners before heading to the kitchen where he saw Inuyasha emptying the contents. The worried Shikigami user quickly scanned all the groceries already unpacked and sitting on the kitchen table waiting to be put away and saw no sign of the condoms he had purchased which meant that the small package was still inside one of the grocery bags somewhere here in the kitchen.

"Hey Michiru?" Inuyasha asked curiously after Michiru's arrival. "How do I know which groceries go in the fridge and which ones don't?"

"The perishable items go in the fridge so they can be kept cold and the non perishable items go in the cupboards above the counter, sink and stove." Michiru answered quickly as he started to search through the grocery bags which his half demon friend hadn't emptied yet.

"Perishable and non perishable? I don't understand what you mean." Inuyasha replied in confusion, causing Michiru to sigh frustratingly.

"Perishable food items are things like meat, fruits, vegetables, milk and juice Inuyasha." Lind explained, having overheard the two guys talking as she and Belldandy both arrived on the scene to help Michiru and Inuyasha put everything away in the kitchen. "Non perishable food items are cereal or rice, basically any dry food items that will last a long time and don't have to be refrigerated."

"Oh, okay, thanks Lind." Inuyasha replied thankfully, carefully reading the labels on the food items sitting on the kitchen table before him.

"Here Inuyasha, Lind and I will help show you where everything goes while Michiru empties all the grocery bags for us." Belldandy offered kindly. "Don't worry; you'll learn eventually if you do this enough times over and over again. But first, let's organize everything into groups."

"Michiru?" Lind asked curiously, holding out the bottled Sake and bouquet of flowers in her hands. "When you went shopping for groceries, did you buy this bottle of Sake and bouquet of flowers as well? I saw them sitting together on the stairs outside the front gate."

"No, I didn't buy them; they were already there when I came back." Michiru replied, feeling a little badly for lying to the Valkyrie warrior even though he promised Sayoko that he would just pretend as though he didn't know who they were from in order to respect her wishes.

Why would Michiru lie about these? Oh well, I'm sure he has a good reason for not telling the whole truth so I'll leave the matter at that.

"Oh, good afternoon Mr. Koshian." Belldandy said after seeing Michiru's Uncle enter the kitchen. "Did you enjoy your afternoon nap?"

"Good afternoon Miss Belldandy, yes, I had a very pleasant nap thank you." Koshian replied politely until he noticed his nephew had returned from going out to buy lots of groceries which were piled all over the table. "Ah, you're back Michiru. Thank you again for taking the trouble to go out and buy all of these groceries, I promise not to burden you with any more errands or chores for the rest of the day."

"No problem Uncle Koshian." Michiru replied, glancing at his Uncle briefly before returning his eyes to look through all of the grocery bags for the small box of condoms so he could hide them before anyone found them or else he would be in a world of endless embarrassment.

Where is that stupid little box of condoms? If I don't find them first before someone else does, I've had it and they'll be the death of me!

"Oh, where did you get the flowers and Sake from Lind?" Koshian asked curiously. "Did my nephew Michiru give them to you?"

"W-What?" Michiru blurted out as everybody in the kitchen stopped what they were doing and turned their eyes on the poor Kururugi boy who was suddenly unprepared for another embarrassing episode as a result of his Uncle jumping to the wrong conclusion yet again, his face turning red with embarrassment and his eyes widening with fear for how all of his friends and the goddesses would react to this.

"No Mr. Koshian, Michiru said they were left on the stairs outside the front gate and he found them after returning home from the store just a short while ago." Lind answered, keeping calm despite the faint hue of pink appearing on her cheeks after hearing the old monk's remark, bringing Michiru's worries to a quick close as the Japanese boy breathed a huge sigh of relief. "None of us know who left them."

"Hmm…oh. Now I think I understand who left them behind and why, I think I'll go the Temple to pray for a little while." Koshian said softly with a warm smile before leaving to go outside, leaving everybody else who was still in the kitchen in a state of confusion and suspense.

"Why would a stranger leave flowers and some Sake on the stairs?" Inuyasha thought out loud. "Maybe someone has a secret admirer?"

"I don't think so Inuyasha, if they were left behind by a secret admirer, there would also be a note saying who they're for so that can't possibly the case here." Lind replied before pointing out. "But it sounds like Michiru's Uncle figured out who left them behind and why."

"Yeah, too bad he didn't share the answers with the rest of us though; my curiosity is killing me right now." Inuyasha commented.

"Lind? Could you please place the flowers and Sake here on the table?" Belldandy asked. "I'll try to call forth any residual thoughts that they might hold. Perhaps we can uncover the identity of who left the flowers and Sake behind and find out why they were left at the gate."

"Oh, of course Belldandy." Lind replied politely, setting the items down on the middle of the table where an empty space was available.

Belldandy spoke some magic incantation as she focussed her divine powers on the bottled Sake and bouquet of flowers before her, causing a heavenly blue light to radiate from both objects and a magic holographic image of Sayoko Mishima holding both items in hand, Lind watched intently in order to find the answers now that she was as curious as Inuyasha was about knowing who had left them and why. Michiru was just as much in awe of Belldandy's impressive magic as Lind and Inuyasha both were, momentarily forgetting that her actions were going to burst the bubble and reveal he had lied about not knowing Sayoko being the person they were now identifying.

"That's Sayoko Mishima, she goes to school with Keiichi at Nekomi Tech here in town, Keiichi and I see her every once in a while." Belldandy mentioned in order to tell everyone who the young woman was in the image displayed before them, Michiru then appeared in the image a moment later and although the dialogue was difficult to fully hear, it was now obvious even from this that Michiru already knew more than he had let on. After a few more minutes, the images faded along with Belldandy's magic, leaving everyone else looking at Michiru for an explanation. Luckily for Michiru, Lind and Belldandy could easily put the pieces together and figure out why the Kururugi boy had been forced to hide Sayoko's involvement in this matter, but they kept silent in order to give Michiru a chance to explain himself.

"I'm sorry for lying everyone, but I promised Sayoko I wouldn't reveal her involvement, she was already burdened with guilt and emotional pain once she found out about what happened yesterday afternoon. She only wanted to avoid any further pain by asking me to pretend as though I just found those flowers and Sake left on the stairs by themselves, and that's why I did what I did." Michiru apologized, keeping his explanation as short and simple as possible so no further questions would be brought up which could make his predicament worse.

"Its alright Michiru, showing forgiveness and compassion towards those who are trying to make amends for their mistakes is a noble deed, you couldn't have foreseen that we would find out what had happened and you have nothing to be ashamed of for trying to keep your promise out of respect for Sayoko." Belldandy stated with a tender smile to show her sincerity and forgiveness, putting the Kururugi boy at ease, Lind's lips formed into a soft smile as well while Inuyasha grinned proudly at seeing how his best friend had once again demonstrated why he was worthy to receive attention and admiration from the goddesses fate had so generously introduced him too.

I knew Michiru had a good reason for lying, he was only telling a white lie in order to keep his promise to Sayoko, that's all he was doing.

"Well, now that the mystery is over, we'd better finish putting all this food away and head outside before someone asks what's taking all of us so long." Inuyasha suggested, making the four of them return to the task at hand while Michiru was searching for one particular item.

The box, where is that blasted little…oh, there it is.

Michiru quickly gathered up all the empty grocery bags and stuffed them inside of each other so that they could be recycled, he then snatched the small box and stuffed it inside the centre bag so that he could hopefully smuggle it out in order to avoid being caught with the suspicious item he had purchased a short while ago.

"Hello Michiru." Kagome said, surprising Michiru unexpectedly as she entered the kitchen to see her Kururugi friend now that he was back from grocery shopping. "Sorry for startling you just now. Is there something bothering you at all? You're unusually jumpy right now."

"Its been a hectic day for me Kagome, so many crazy things have happened one right after the other since this morning when I woke up, I guess I'm a little on edge." Michiru answered nervously, hoping that he wouldn't draw any unwanted suspicions onto himself right now.

"Well then, why don't you come outside and play a fun game of volleyball with everybody?" Kagome suggested. "The first game just ended a few moments ago and we're all just taking a break to relax before having another one. Would you like to play too Inuyasha?"

"Yeah Kagome, but you'll have to wait until we've finished putting all of these groceries away first." Inuyasha replied while he worked, pausing momentarily to glance at the reborn priestess. "Unless you'd rather help us out instead so everything can be put away faster."

"Sure Inuyasha, since you asked so nicely." Kagome pointed out teasingly, walking around Michiru in order to help put the food away.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Inuyasha blurted out while working, turning to the reborn priestess in response.

"I was just giving you a compliment, no need to get all riled up!" Kagome explained, her tone of voice and mood suddenly changing.

"I'm not riled up!" Inuyasha declared even though his temper was getting the better of him just like Kagome's temper was getting the better of her too.

"Yes you are!" Kagome argued, by now, the two of them were standing still with their hands full of groceries as they glared at each other.

"Can't you two just get along and not let your tempers ruin the day for the rest of us please?" Michiru intervened, redirecting the attention of Kagome and Inuyasha on himself which ended their bickering just like that. "I'll help you finish putting food way after I put these plastic bags with the recyclables in the bin downstairs, try to behave or you'll both make fools of yourselves in front of Lind and Belldandy."

"Michiru? I think there's still something else inside that pile of bags your carrying, I'll pull out what's inside before you leave." Kagome pointed out, reaching her hand over until the Kururugi boy suddenly hid the bags behind his back, drawing unwanted suspicions from the reborn priestess. "What's wrong Michiru? Why won't you let me see what's inside the bag?"

"Nothing! Nothing at all!" Michiru stammered, his face turning from pink to red one shade at a time every couple of seconds, this only aroused the curiosity of both Kagome and Inuyasha as the two of them eyed the Shikigami warrior suspiciously with devilish grins.

"Your blushing face says otherwise Michiru." Inuyasha pointed out, but he decided not to pressure his friend any further and carried on with helping Belldandy to put all of the groceries away, unfortunately Kagome wasn't in the same merciful mood as he was in right now.

"Alright Michiru, just what are you hiding inside of those bags you're holding behind your back right now hmm?" Kagome asked while holding her hands on her hips as though she was a teacher or parent giving discipline to a young child. "Nothing dirty or illegal I hope."

"Come on Kagome, you know me well enough that I wouldn't do or get into anything like that." Michiru replied defensively while blushing.

"Alright Kagome, can't you see you're making Michiru uncomfortable?" Belldandy intervened even though she had no idea what Michiru was hiding, not that she needed to know since she trusted him enough not to intrude or dig in to the matter like Kagome was doing.

"Aw, but Michiru makes it so easy to tease him sometimes and besides, he knows I was only doing it to have a little fun." Kagome argued, backing off which made Michiru let out a huge sigh of relief.

"Well, I'm sure he's had enough of that kind of fun for today." Belldandy added, smiling sweetly at Michiru who mouthed a thank you to her before he turned to head outside. "Now let's hurry up so we can join the others outside and play another game of volleyball together."

"Michiru?" Lind called out, stopping the Shikigami user in his tracks and causing him to turn around and face her.

"Yeah Lind?" Michiru replied nervously, staring straight into the eyes of the Valkyrie who studied his gaze and expression for a moment which made him all the more worried that Lind had guessed or seen what ever it was he desperately trying to hide from everybody.

Something's bothering Michiru or else he wouldn't be so embarrassed or on edge right now. I wonder what it could be. I'll ask him later.

"Thank you for the note you attached to my halberd earlier today, I'll remember to put sunscreen on every morning from now on so I don't get sunburnt again." Lind said sincerely, expressing her gratitude for Michiru's reminder which he had given her while she wasn't looking.

"Oh, um, your welcome Lind." Michiru replied politely before leaving the kitchen, feeling relieved that the Valkyrie was only thanking him.

Whew! That was too close!

The Japanese student made his way downstairs where anything that could be recycled was kept along with a few other belongings and pieces of furniture, after dropping off the plastic bags, he shoved the small package of condoms into his pocket where it was safely hidden. Michiru then retraced his way upstairs before leaving the house to go outside where he saw most of his other friends gathered together as they waited for everybody else to arrive so they could carry on with another game of volleyball, he quickly rushed passed them in order to head straight for the Temple so he could hide the item in his backpack amongst his other belongings where no one would dare to look, all his worries would be over once that was accomplished. After arriving at the Temple, Michiru quickly strolled inside to where his backpack was and opened it up before pulling the package out of his pocket and shoving it inside, moving everything else around so the condoms where buried underneath at the bottom where they would be safely hidden. He then refastened the straps to secure the backpack so that it remained closed and took a moment to enjoy the peaceful silence, collecting his thoughts in the process.

I made it, now I don't have to worry about these for a while, I only hope I won't be needing them anytime soon or else my parents will ground me for life.

"AHH!" Michiru yelped after turning around to leave, only to find himself face to face with Peorth who had managed to wander inside while being as quiet as a mouse without him noticing. "Please don't sneak up on me Peorth, especially when I'm alone because I scare easily."

"Sorry Michiru, I was worried when you rushed passed without saying hello so I came over to ask if anything's wrong." Peorth replied, suppressing a giggle out of respect for her client as she studied him closely with her eyes. "Well, I levitated inside so that's why you couldn't have heard me come in; I'll walk in from now on so I don't scare you again."

"Thanks Peorth, I'm sorry for worrying you, I just needed to drop something off so I hope I didn't offend you by not saying hello." Michiru expressing his thanks along with an apology before he quickly explained himself to the first class goddess who stood in front of him.

"No, not at all." Peorth answered, putting Michiru at ease before taking his hand to lead him back outside. "Well, now that you're back and you've finished with your chores, we can finally play some volleyball."

"Before we do that Peorth…" Michiru asked nervously, making Peorth halt and look at him with concern in her eyes. "Do you have a moment? There's something I'd like to talk about with you."

"Sure!" Peorth answered while wearing one of her adorable smiles which always showed how much she was in a cheerful and happy mood. "Why don't we go for a walk together like we did yesterday? We can go to the big tree where we both showed each other a demonstration of our magic powers and talk together there?"

"I'd like that a lot, thank you Peorth." Michiru replied managing a soft smile before the gorgeous goddess led the way, pulling him along so that the two of them could walk hand in hand together. "By the way, when you snuck up on me…you didn't see anything did you?"

"I only saw you rummaging through the contents of your backpack, nothing out of the ordinary." Peorth answered until her curiosity got the better of her. "Why do you ask Michiru? Were you doing anything or hiding something that I wasn't supposed to see? Hmm? Hmm?"

"Maybe, m-maybe n-not." Michiru mumbled nervously as his face turned red, it was impossible to resist Peorth when she gave him one of her overly flirtations looks, especially when her eyes displayed such an hypnotic and mischievous effect on the vulnerable Kururugi boy.

"Very well, I'll leave the matter alone then, let's go to where I made the swing on the tree." Peorth declared, much to the relief of Michiru.

The Shikigami user and the first class deity walked together holding hands until they left the Temple, walking down the steps until they wandered over to the area covered with trees and bushes which shaded the soft green grass on the ground, in the middle was the clearing where both of them had laughed together, tickled each other and relaxed while enjoying each other's company after taking turns riding the swing Peorth had made from vines on the big tree nearby. It was such a brief experience, and yet, it contained so many joyful memories which made this place all the more special to the two of them.

"Here we are Peorth. How about you ride on the swing for a little while, it'll give me the chance to collect my thoughts." Michiru suggested.

"Alright, let me know when you're ready to talk and then you can have a ride after we've finished." Peorth replied sitting down on the swing and using pushing her feet off of the ground to increase momentum, extending her long legs and tucking them in again while she moved back and forth, gradually gaining height very couple of seconds so she could swing faster and higher.

While Peorth rode on the swing, Michiru watched from the side and used the time to gather his thoughts and figure out what words he should use to discuss some rather touchy subjects which had been weighing on his mind since this morning, several in total. The first subject was about Michiru's discovery of Urd being a half goddess as well as a half demon, but that matter didn't have to be discussed with Peorth so it could wait until the Japanese boy found an opportunity to talk privately with the second class goddess, either late in the afternoon or during the evening before bedtime which ever opportunity became available.

The second was mainly about Peorth and Urd flirting with him earlier this morning and Michiru was worried that the two goddesses were competing for his affections instead of just having a little fun as he had originally thought, hopefully they both did it just for fun, otherwise Michiru would be forced to choose between the two of them which would make the matter a very serious one and more difficult to solve. Lind hadn't flirted around with him as the other goddesses had, but she had verbally expressed her deep admiration for him on two or three occasions ever since they had met each other, the Valkyrie had also offered to train him in combat just as Sango was doing and even crafted a special gift for him as well which he wasn't expecting to receive. He understood his friends giving him gifts for all the aid and kindness he had given them during his adventures in the Feudal era, but that was over the course of a couple of months, he had only known Lind for perhaps a day and yet she acted as though he had known him for months or even years which didn't make any sense to the Kururugi boy. What ever the case, Michiru had to tread carefully and treat everyone fairly as Belldandy had advised him until a sound solution presented itself in the days to come, he hoped he could find it before anything happened which threatened to upset the relationships he had formed with all of the goddesses so none of them would be emotionally hurt or deeply offended as he had feared.

The third and final subject was about the relationship he shared with Peorth and how his actions had greatly impacted it, while he felt badly about not deciding on a wish yet, the first class goddess was still content to wait until he was finally ready since she got to spend more time with him down on earth and that certainly made this easier on him. The downside however was that Michiru wasn't experienced when it came to interacting with girls and while Peorth was a goddess who aimed at making her clients happy even if that meant putting them before herself, Michiru was still the shy young man as he always was so his predicament was the same whether Peorth was a goddess or not. He already made a point to treat all of his friends equally regardless of who they were and what they were out of kindness and respect for all of them, that was the natural thing to do, but treading down the path where friendship eventually develops into affection and love was something he wasn't fully prepared for and he knew he had to tread very carefully in order to avoid hurting Peorth's feelings. He had already seen relationships deteriorate to some degree amongst his Feudal era friends, namely those that existed between Kagome and Inuyasha or Sango and Miroku and the last thing he wanted to do was put Peorth or any of the goddesses in that position.

Kagome and Inuyasha often argued over the littlest things, Kagome would use anything she could against Inuyasha when ever she was in a hot tempered mood, even when the circumstances clearly showed he was in the right and she wasn't. Of course, Inuyasha's own short temper and inexperience at socializing made these feuds even worse since neither of them were willing to admit their faults or work out their differences once an argument had started, they both had their pride so that also made things worse. As for Sango and Miroku's relationship, that was another matter altogether, their relationship from an outsider's point of view might appear to be a marginally better one if only Miroku wasn't such a lecherous pervert who harassed the young warrior woman on a daily basis. Michiru could also see the problems in that relationship as well, namely Miroku's refusal to change himself for the better and treat Sango with the respect and devotion she deserves, he also saw that Sango's patience at waiting for Miroku to reform was slowly running out and taking a burden on her since she wasn't the sort of person to use violence or verbally lash out at him like Kagome would with Inuyasha so that only encouraged Miroku and stalemated the situation which meant that nothing would change for the better at all until after the damage had taken its toll on her.

Michiru was fully aware that his relationship with Peorth was on good terms as a whole, nevertheless, he couldn't leave anything to chance and risk putting her in the same place as Sango just because he wasn't willing to change himself for the better, he was fully aware of how girls would gradually lose interest in a young man who didn't take action or return any feelings of affection after a certain period of time, he had seen it amongst his friends and he'd seen it at school amongst his fellow students or heard stories of break ups or other such problems between young teenage couples. Most girls at school and in the modern era were a lot like Kagome, who's expectations in guys were high and for the most part, difficult to live up too. There were a few who were like Sango who had less expectations and only wanted to be treated honesty, fairly and respectfully, those kinds of girls were sadly very difficult to find from Michiru's experience anyway. With so many surprises and unexpected events occurring ever since his adventures throughout Feudal Japan and meeting goddesses from heaven here at his Uncle's house, Michiru's young life had definitely changed so much in such a short period of time. There would undoubtedly be many more in the days ahead and he wanted to ensure that the relationship he shared with Peorth would continue to develop without any problems that he had seen occur amongst his friends, he owed her at least that much and more after all she had done for him even though she hadn't granted him a wish yet or so he felt anyway.

As Michiru's mind kept searching for the right words to use once he was ready to discuss these important matters openly, his thoughts were interrupted when Peorth summoned a red rose in her hand and blew at it, causing the rose to break apart into flower pedals until they were blown gently into Michiru's face. The Kururugi boy blinked his eyes several times until he realized what had happened, letting out a little chuckle as he and Peorth locked eyes with each other, wearing tender smiles on their faces without saying a word until the moment had passed. Michiru had been so focused on thinking to himself that he had blocked out everything else around him and failed to notice that Peorth had stopped riding on the swing and was just sitting still on it, waiting patiently for Michiru to finish until he was ready to begin the conversation, Peorth's long hair which was tied up in a ponytail swayed slightly as the summer breeze blew.

"Uh huh, sorry for taking so long Peorth, I didn't mean to keep you waiting." Michiru said apologetically, scratching the back of his head.

"That's alright Michiru; I only blew the rose pedals in your face because I thought you were spaced out." Peorth replied sweetly in a cheerful voice while wearing a gorgeous smile on her innocent face. "Have you had enough time to figure out what you want to discuss with me?"

"Yes, I have, thank you for waiting so patiently for me." Michiru answered, walking over to stand in front of Peorth now that he was ready.

"Wait just a minute Michiru, if we're going to talk for a while, you'll need somewhere to sit down." Peorth pointed out while summoning her divine powers, creating another swing beside the one she was sitting in out of green vines which hung down from the overhanging branch of the tree until the strands were fastened together like strong brands of rope, thorns appeared on all the vines until they were removed by Peorth's magic so that Michiru didn't accidentally injure himself like Peorth had done yesterday when she made the first swing. "There you are, now we can sit comfortably while we talk together."

"Thank you Peorth." Michiru replied as he sat down in the second swing, turning slightly to the right so he could face Peorth who was sitting in the other swing beside him. "First of all, I want to ask why you and Urd were both…well, flirting around earlier while you were having a suntan and again when the three of us were all stuck together because of that magnet fruit we all ate when Miroku served it. I just want to know if either of you were doing it just for fun or because you have…feelings for me, before I met you and the other goddesses here, no girls have ever shown an interest like that in me and because I've never flirted with a girl before, I can't tell whether the two of you were being serious or not. This afternoon when I returned from buying groceries, Lind gave me a gift, we've only known each other for perhaps a day and I felt I haven't done anything to warrant such a gift, let alone her praise and admiration. I'm sorry Peorth, I don't mean to pry or sound ungrateful for all that I've received. I'm just trying to find the answers so I can make sense of all this."

Peorth took a short pause as she listened carefully to what Michiru had just told her, she resisted the urge to giggle at the Shikigami user when she saw how serious he was being right now about this matter, for she could tell he wanted the truth in order to make sense of it all. And who could blame him? He was a fifteen year old boy just trying to find his way through life, maturing into a young man was a very challenging endeavour for many teenagers, especially those who were shy and different from most others. Michiru's life had taken quite a turn with being summoned to Feudal Japan and learning how to use Shikigami magic and later summoning a goddess down from heaven after meeting many other goddesses, there was only so much that the young teenage boy could take and adapt too in such a short period of time. The first class goddess tried to see this from Michiru's point of view in order to answer his questions as best as she could, even if she was now forced to run the risk of revealing her feelings too early when they were still trying to tread carefully and adjust to everything else effecting their lives around them. Her eyes wandered for a moment until they caught sight of the special tool Lind had given to the Kururugi boy earlier this afternoon once he returned to the house, seeing the inscription on the small leather pouch gave Peorth an idea of how best to answer Michiru's questions and concerns.

"I can't speak for Urd Michiru, but I'm sure she only wanted to have a little fun just as I did, you're a very nice person and fun to be with after all." Peorth explained, taking Michiru's right hand and gently grasping it with her left, locking their fingers together as she looked him in the eyes with a caring expression on her lovely face. "But that doesn't mean neither of us have feelings for you Michiru, you've done so much for each of us and brought us joy and comfort when no one else has, that means everything to both of us and I hope you'll always remember that. Yesterday, you saved me from a cruel man when I was powerless to protect myself, you comforted Urd when Troubadour brought her to tears later last night, you were there for us both when no one else was and you've brought us joy and happiness as well."

Michiru was at a loss for words, his mouth was opening and closing as though he wanted to say something, but no words could come out.

"And as for Lind, I can guess why she would admire you; we've been close friends for a very long time so I know her better than anyone else." The first class goddess continued. "She's a Valkyrie warrior and all Valkyries have been trained and taught to look for certain qualities in warriors who are eligible for admittance to Valhalla where all great and noble warriors go once their mortal lives on earth are over. All goddesses whether they're Valkyries or not have the foresight to see the potential of a person, even if they are good or bad or a bit of both, I can safely say that she saw more good in you than what goddesses would normally see in most people and that's probably why she admires you so much. All goddesses express themselves in different ways through words or actions and Lind choose to give you that gift you're carrying now. I'm sure you've heard the saying 'treat others the way you want to be treated' before and that's why all three of us like you so much because of how you've treated each of us and many others in return."

"Aren't I a little young to be a warrior?" Michiru asked curiously, feeling rather embarrassed right now which is why he changed the subject momentarily, causing Peorth to let out a small giggle and wear one of her adorable smiles which made him blush uncontrollably.

"There aren't any rules saying that all warriors have to be grown ups Michiru and besides, being really tough or highly skilled in combat doesn't make someone a great warrior like most human beings tend to believe, Valkyries also look for many other important qualities before they judge a warrior's worth just as an ordinary person is judged once their life on earth is over." Peorth explained. "Treating others equally with dignity and respect are also important, if not more important, even a young and inexperienced warrior still in training who shows kindness towards others is seen as a greater and better warrior than a tough warrior whose only a big bully or a cruel tyrant. I see you're still confused, I'm sorry I couldn't provide you all the answers you're looking for, but I hope that I was still somewhat helpful to you."

"No Peorth, please don't apologize, you've been very helpful." Michiru responded kindly, putting his left hand over top of Peorth's to show his appreciation while they still held hands together. "And even though you couldn't give me all of the answers, everything you've told me has helped me see things differently as you do, even if only a little. Thank you so much for hearing me out like this, I really appreciate it."

"You're welcome Michiru, I'm so glad that I've been helpful to you." Peorth said before asking. "Is there anything else I can help you with?"

"Yes there is, there's still another matter I need to bring to your attention, if you're willing to hear me out again." Michiru answered briefly.

"Of course, its my duty as a goddess to help those in need in any way that I can after all, especially you Michiru." Peorth said flirtatiously.

"Alright then, thank you again Peorth, ahem." Michiru responded, clearing his throat before he turned the swing he was sitting on in order to face Peorth directly so he wouldn't have to turn his head, she then did the same to that both of them were facing each other with their knees touching. The Shikigami user also took Peorth's right hand in his left so he was holding her hands gently with his own, rubbing his thumbs over her fingers slowly until he was finally ready to begin while Peorth gave him her full attention. "I…I want first of all to say that I'm so happy that I got to meet you even though I summoned you down to earth by accident, a…and even though I haven't yet decided on what to wish for, I'm very grateful for everything that you've done for me. Before I met you, I was separated from the rest of my friends who were still in the Feudal era and I had no means of reuniting with them again, I was living at home feeling out of place since I had to keep my Shikigami powers along with my adventures in Feudal Japan a secret from my friends at school and my family all these weeks."

"I'm happy that I've been of use to you Michiru, but I didn't have anything to do with reuniting you with Inuyasha or any of your other friends, Belldandy's the one who offered her divine blessings to the Bone Eater's well so its her who you should be thanking." Peorth stated, wondering where this conversation was going and why Michiru was suddenly feeling so confused and conflicted right now.

"Please hear me out Peorth, and don't worry, I haven't forgotten what Belldandy's done for me either and I'll be sure to thank her as well. When I first summoned you down to earth, I was completely unprepared for meeting a goddess from heaven, let alone four of you all at once in my Uncle's house which is why I fainted and fell unconscious. Learning that I had received assistance from a goddess was also a huge surprise, but I think what I was most unprepared for were all of your advances between then and now. I know I'm really shy and inexperienced when it comes to interacting with girls which is why you later choose to slow down your advances and give me my space, I really appreciate that Peorth, but its not fair that you alone should have to change yourself for the good of our relationship that we share." Michiru explained, lowering his gaze to look down at his hands to now that his face was beginning to blush red more and more as he tried to overcome his own fears despite the embarrassment he was feeling. "You've been very patient and generous by giving me time to decide on a wish and to get to know you better so its easier to interact with you and the other goddesses, I hope my inaction hasn't hurt your feelings or discouraged you at all and if it has, then I'm sincerely sorry. What I'm trying to say is…I…I'll try harder to open up and be bolder so we can move forward together, its only fair after all that you've done for me so I'll try and change myself for the better as well."

Peorth's lips parted as her eyes widened in disbelief, her heart skipped a beat and she sat there completely speechless until her mind had finished processing all she had just heard. Poor Michiru could only sit still nervously and await her reply, his hands shaking slightly and his face was still blushing red with embarrassment, he had taken a huge leap by trying to open up to the female deity and change himself even just a little for the good of their relationship just as she had done for him and his attempts were far harder and somewhat more embarrassing to do than hers were. Nevertheless, Michiru's words hit the mark, but he wasn't expecting what Peorth's response would be. Peorth's heart felt as though it was going to burst, all the feelings contained within her took hold and were buzzing around like bees and butterflies, the look of disbelief on her face suddenly transformed into a look of pure happiness and joy. The gorgeous goddess lovingly smiled back at the blushing teenage boy in front of her, putting Michiru's worries and nervousness to rest at least for the moment.

"A-Aren't you going to say s-something Peorth?" Michiru asked, wondering why his words would have such an effect on Peorth right now.

"Oh Michiru, you're a keeper, no client has ever done anything for me or considered my needs and feelings as you have done." Peorth pointed out while paying the Shikigami warrior a very high compliment, her heart was racing and her body became fuelled with affection.

"I'm not doing this because I'm your client Peorth, I'm doing this because I'm your friend…a-and you're my friend too." Michiru stated, his face still blushing deeply even though he managed to calm down now that his big speech was over. "I only want you to be happy after all."

"I am happy Michiru, but…I'd be even more happy if you could prove what you said earlier." Peorth replied with a hint of flirtatiousness in her voice to add to the hopeful expression she now wore on her face. "In what way would you try to change yourself for the better?"

"W-Well, what I meant was that if you'd like, we could…hold hands or each other, I-I mean hold each other." Michiru stammered, his face blushing strawberry red as he became overwhelmed with embarrassment for the second time already in his conversation with the first class goddess. "That is, if its alright with you I mean, we don't have to if you don't want too or if you're not ready for that kind of…"

"What about a kiss?" Peorth asked suddenly, interrupting Michiru before he could finish talking, catching the Japanese boy by surprise.

"W-Well, if you…really want too and that you feel you're ready, then I guess…" Michiru replied, losing control of himself as he leaned forward ever so slightly, drawn to the depths of Peorth's eyes and unable to turn away from the gorgeous smile on the deity's lovely face.

It all happened so fast that neither Peorth nor Michiru saw what was coming, their minds were paralysed and unable to operate as their bodies acted entirely on their own, but their feelings which were buried deep down in the depths of their hearts had surfaced and taken over which was evident from the looks in their eyes. Peorth unknowingly tugged on Michiru's hands, causing the Kururugi boy to lean forwards as she was doing until their lips made contact with each other, closing the space between them. Everything around them was blacked out and erased from their minds as the kiss they were sharing took hold and fuelled their emotions and feelings which were free to overwhelm all logic and mental control.

Michiru's eyes widened in awe momentarily until they closed shut, leaving him in a state of bliss while captivated by the tender touch and feel of Peorth's lips, this was his first true kiss if he didn't count that accidental one between himself and Mara early this morning. The feeling was inexplicable, Michiru couldn't find the words to describe how he felt right now, at peace and in love was the short and simple answer. Peorth on the other hand was no stranger to acts of passion or desires of the flesh given her status as the number one goddess of the Earth Help Center, nevertheless, she was just as overwhelmed and spellbound as Michiru was. The first class deity was enjoying this experience which had unexpectedly been given to her, she was especially happy and equally impressed that Michiru was willing to try being bolder even though he was still hesitant and embarrassed at the same time.

MM! I never would have guessed that Michiru was such a good kisser, this feels so good, its almost as if he's done this before! Oh Michiru! If you can put this much passion and tenderness into a single kiss, I can't wait to find out how you respond when I reward you with my true customer service, but I look forward to the day that I do!

Wow! Peorth's lips are so soft, she really knows what she's doing. Wait! Is that her tongue? Oh my God! This feels so breathtaking!

Peorth and Michiru both came to their senses as the need for air caused them to reluctantly pull apart from each other, leaving the two of them panting for a few moments until they recovered, staring into each other's eyes with flushed faces and reddened cheeks. Michiru slowly shrunk back as his face blushed even more than before, Peorth could only smile affectionately at the bashful teenage boy in response, for he had no idea just how happy he had made her or of how impressed and proud she was of him for his efforts just now.

"Michiru?" Inuyasha called out after showing up out of nowhere, startling poor Michiru and causing him to jolt in response with a wide eyed look of fright on his face out of fear at being caught in a moment like this. "There you are, everyone's waiting for you two to come over so we can play a volleyball game, quit sitting around like a pair of house cats and hurry up before Kagome comes looking for you."

"We're just coming Inuyasha, please tell everyone that we'll be on our way in a moment." Michiru replied politely, breathing a huge sigh of relief since it didn't appear as though Inuyasha had seen him and Peorth kissing each other and hopefully, that was the actually the case.

"Gotcha, hurry along then or Kagome will blow a fuse." Inuyasha said before darting off to return to everyone at the volleyball court.

"We'd better be going then Peorth, believe me when I say we don't want Kagome blowing a fuse." Michiru pointed out as both of them stood up from the swings, he then took hold of Peorth's hands one more time. "I'm sorry I panicked when Inuyasha suddenly showed up."

"That's alright Michiru, you don't have to apologize." Peorth said sweetly with a gorgeous smile as she stared the Kururugi boy in the eyes. "You go on ahead, I'll follow in a moment."

"Are you not feeling alright?" Michiru asked worriedly with a look of concern on his face. "Did I do something wrong?"

"I'm feeling wonderful!" Peorth answered reassuringly with a sincere smile to show that she was alright. "No, you haven't done anything wrong. I just need a moment to compose myself, especially after sharing such a memorable kiss with you, I imagine you'll need a moment to do the same. Wouldn't you say so Michiru?"

"Yeah, you're probably right, I'll see you in a moment when you join the rest of us for a game of volleyball." Michiru nodded in a agreement, his blushing face making the gorgeous goddess giggle quietly in front of him while they still held hands together. "Thank you again for letting me talk with you like this Peorth and for everything else that you've done too. It means a lot to me, you mean a lot to me."

The Shikigami user let go of Peorth's hands and wandered off in the direction of where everybody else was presently gathered, waiting patiently for him and Peorth to arrive so they could start another volleyball game, Michiru breathed in and out to calm himself and hoped that the redness on his face from blushing would vanish before he joined his friends or else he'd be teased and interrogated about why he was blushing and what he had been doing with the gorgeous goddess whom he had just shared a very breathtaking first kiss with.

Wow! I wasn't expecting our talk to end with a kiss, never mind an intimate and long lasting kiss too! It felt so special! I don't know why, but for some reason, I feel special as well. Is it because Peorth kissed me? Or is it because I kissed her back? I must be the luckiest guy in the whole wide world right now! All the guys and many of my fellow classmates at school would drop dead with jealousy if they knew that I…No! Peorth is special and she's also a goddess, I'm not going to show her off like a trophy wife, she deserves better than that, all women and goddesses deserve better than that! Just focus on making her happy and treating her and all of my other friends with respect.

Now that Peorth was alone, Gorgeous Rose emerged from her back and hovered behind her, embracing the first class goddess in a gentle hug. Neither one of them had to speak or see each other to know what the other was thinking, for an Angel was a reflection of the very Goddess she was an eternal companion with, meaning she also reflected Peorth's personality even though she looked different.

Peorth stood quietly by, watching her young client wander off, smiling warmly and savouring the memory of the wonderfully inexplicable kiss in the back of her mind as she touched her lips with the tips of her fingers.

I don't know which is more amazing! Michiru keeping his desires in check, or the kiss we both shared together! Oh well, what's important is that I saw a glimpse and felt a taste of what he's kept caged deep down inside of himself all this time, a suppressed desire of the flesh! Just you wait Michiru, you'll eventually succumb to all those delightful desires deep within your heart and once you do, then I'll be ready!

Peorth and Gorgeous Rose smiled tenderly, sighing softly together while enjoying the comfort of each other's embrace, the gentle breeze causing their long hair to flow around a little. Peorth's patience and efforts had at last paid off, the shy and innocent Kururugi boy had tried to open up and act a little bolder which lead to the special first kiss that they had both shared together, this was definitely a sign from heaven or a good omen if she could label it as such. Despite Michiru's shyness and insistence at following moral codes of conduct, all the feelings and emotions she felt from that kiss combined with the look deep in the depths of his eyes had confirmed what Peorth had been searching for, the kind of true love a young man felt for a woman who could never be replaced or taken away. Peorth squealed excitedly, causing Gorgeous Rose to giggle in response, the hard part was now over and all the goddess had to do was keep up her efforts and follow the path she was presently on until she and Michiru were both ready to take their relationship further to the next level. Little by little, she was breaking down the invisible barrier which sealed up all of Michiru's innermost desires and once it was completely demolished, then she could introduce him to all the passionate intimacy all men secretly dream or fantasize about.

Michiru emerged from the small area of trees and headed over to where all of his friends were playing volleyball together, he saw each of his friends positioned on either side of the volleyball court with the huge net suspended in between which divided the court evenly amongst both teams, no game had started yet and it looked as though they were just passing the ball back and forth to practice and pass the time while they waited for him and Peorth to join them.

"There you are Michiru." Kagome called out, causing everyone to look as the Kururugi boy finally joined them. "What took you so long? And why didn't you come back to help Inuyasha and I put the rest of the food away with the goddesses like you said you would hmm?"

"I'm sorry Kagome, but I needed to have a talk with Peorth, it was about something really important." Michiru said apologetically, hoping that his answer would dissuade the reborn priestess from prying into the matter any further like she usually did into matters of romance.

"What did the two of you have to talk about then?" Kagome asked, making Michiru hesitant as his face threatened to blush red yet again.

"Enough Kagome, Michiru was probably discussing the contract he has with Peorth which means its none of our business." Inuyasha intervened, cleverly choosing a subject which would force Kagome to stop prying into Michiru's affairs. "Isn't that right Michiru?"

"Y-Yeah, that's what we were discussing together." Michiru mumbled, breathing a sigh of relief that his half demon friend had spared him from one of Kagome's annoying and uninvited interrogations when ever she wanted to dig up details of other people's relationships.

"Well, now that you're both here, we can have a game of volleyball!" Skuld declared excitedly, seeing Peorth arrive shortly after Michiru.

"Alright, settle down everyone." Belldandy asked in order to organize everyone into separate teams. "Who wants to play with whom?"

"I want to play with Michiru!" Peorth answered, suddenly wrapping her arm around Michiru's so she wouldn't be parted from him.

"Oh! I want to play on the same team with you big sis!" Skuld shouted, eager to be on the same team as Belldandy was on.

"Hey Lind, perhaps now's a good time to have our sparring match together, then we can play volleyball after we've finished." Inuyasha suggested before turning to his Kururugi friend. "Get your sword Michiru, its time for us to face off against Lind, I hope you're ready."

"Alright Inuyasha." Michiru replied in agreement, reaching for his belt to draw his sword only to find that he didn't have it on him right now. "Uh oh, I think I put my sword back in the Temple after eating lunch today, I'll have to go get it so please just wait here until I come back."

"No need Michiru, I'll go retrieve it for you." Peorth offered, releasing her arm from around Michiru's so she could fly off to get his sword.

"Oh, thank you Peorth." Michiru said, smiling gratefully at the first class goddess for doing him a favour and retrieving weapon for him.

Peorth levitated through the air with ease in order to move more quickly, flying into the spacious interior of the Temple until she spotted the Flower Bloomer Sword resting on top of the Shikigami warrior's brown backpack and other luggage which contained all of Michiru's belongings. The first class goddess grabbed the sword and was about to leave when she spied his backpack and recalled seeing Michiru digging around inside of it earlier when she had come to see him before they went to have a talk together in the area covered with trees, her curiosity momentarily got the better of her and Peorth was pondering whether or not she should quickly peek inside to see if Michiru had been trying to hide anything which would explain why he was so nervous and on edge not too long ago.

Michiru must be hiding something inside his backpack, he asked me if I saw anything out of the ordinary when I snuck up on him after all, he was also blushing a little when I asked him if he was hiding anything and he did say maybe so everything points to that conclusion.

But even though Peorth was truly tempted to sneak a peek inside the backpack and find out for herself if Michiru was hiding anything from her, she suddenly remembered what had happened between them shortly afterwards, namely their talk followed by that unexpected kiss which had been so wonderful. The relationship she shared with the Japanese boy was progressing even better than she could have hoped for, the last thing she wanted to do was ruin it by going through his belongings without his permission while he wasn't around, she was sure she'd eventually find out what he was hiding once he decided to talk about the matter with her himself so she was willing to wait and leave it at that. And so, Peorth departed from the Temple and returned to Michiru in order to hand over his Flower Bloomer sword which she had retrieved for him.

"Here you are Michiru." Peorth said after planting her feet on the ground, standing in front of Michiru while presenting the special weapon to him as though she was delivering it to him from heaven. "Just because you have Inuyasha fighting on your side doesn't mean Lind will be easier to defeat, she's the most formidable Valkyrie warrior in Heaven's Battle Division, I should know since we're very close friends."

"I'll remember that, thank you again Peorth." Michiru stated, taking the sword from the first class goddess and fastening it to the left side of his belt before drawing the weapon from its sheath.

"Hurry up Michiru!" Inuyasha said, grabbing the Shikigami user from behind and yanking him away from Peorth into an open area where they could take their positions and prepare to face off against Lind. "We need to hurry so we'll finish by the time Belldandy returns, then we can all play volleyball together seeing as how you and Lind both missed the first few games we played earlier this afternoon."

"Okay Inuyasha, no need to drag me around, I'm not a little kid." Michiru replied in annoyance before taking up a defensive stance, standing sideways while holding his sword high in the air at an angle as a samurai warrior would do to disguise the length of his blade and also hide what direction he intended to swing his sword once the battle started should he find that he was attacked right away by Lind.

"This is it Lind, you're taking on two of the best fighters from the Feudal era who also happen to be best friends as well, I hope you're up for the challenge." Inuyasha declared confidently, he was obviously looking forward to sparring against the Valkyrie with Michiru as his sparring partner and he was undoubtedly going to enjoy this match even more than the others he had taken part in because of that fact.

"That may be true Inuyasha, but then again, you are the type of guy who likes to talk tough regardless of whether the fight will be tough for you or not as I'm sure all of your friends and Feudal era companions will agree." Lind cleverly commented, making everybody laugh.

"Hey! I don't talk tough that much!" Inuyasha protested, turning to all of his friends who were laughing as they watched from the sidelines.

"Oh yes you do Inuyasha, at the end of almost every battle in the Feudal era, you always say 'These guys never stood a chance against me' or something like that." Michiru recounted, grinning at his half demon friend while Inuyasha stood with a somewhat annoyed look on his face. "But that's one of the things we all like about you because you never quit or give up during a difficult battle, you're always fired up to lead by example and charge into the fight which makes it easier for us to keep fighting together as a team until we've won at the end."

"In case you're wondering Inuyasha, Michiru just gave you a compliment, no need to look so angry." Kagome pointed out, aiming her video camera and capturing the priceless expression on Inuyasha's face, this was an unexpected bonus she now had recorded on film and it would be something fun to watch and laugh at before the sparring match started which included Michiru and Lind. "Heh! Heh! Heh!"

Poor Inuyasha wasn't used to receiving praise or compliments from people even if they were from his friends, he wasn't very social able after all and in addition to that, almost everybody else he had come into contact with in the Feudal era treated him with contempt. His mother along with Kikyo were the only two people in his early life to treat him fairly, but sadly each of them were taken from him and he was once again left alone to find his place in a hostile world while fending for himself along the way one day at a time. Nevertheless, the half demon had made immense progress in the months following his first encounter with Kagome and while their relationship wasn't perfect, it paved the way for a better life and introduced Inuyasha to more friends, including Michiru whom he labelled as his best friend since neither of them had any problems or complaints about each other which was usually the case between himself and Kagome.

"Humph, let's get on with the sparring match already, blades of blood!" Inuyasha demanded, eager to take his mind off of the moment and get on with the sparring battle, using his sharp fingernails to slice cuts on the palms of his hands and hurl transformed blades made from his own half demon blood directly at the Valkyrie warrior who stood a short distance in front of him and Michiru. "Take that Lind!"

Lind skilfully spun her weapon around really fast like an airplane propeller so that she could deflect all the red bladed projectiles thrown at her without changing her stance or her footing which was a very impressive display by itself, afterwards, the Valkyrie decided to take the offensive and charge towards Michiru who stood awaiting her attack to the left of Inuyasha.

"Nice job there, but let's see if you can handle this, iron reaver soul stealer!" Inuyasha remarked, leaping up in the air to cut across Lind's path and bring his clawed hand down upon her so she would be forced to block his attack and slow down her momentum momentarily.

Lind looked up and saw the half demon charging down towards her while swinging his outstretched hand down to deliver a huge hammer like blow, but instead of stopping momentarily to block his attack, she outmanoeuvred him and swung her halberd backwards to prepare for her attack on Michiru. It was at that moment, everything took an unexpected turn, Lind had correctly calculated where Inuyasha would be once he landed on the ground after his recent attack and quickened her pace so that she would have already ran passed him. But then while she was swinging her halberd back to gather momentum in preparation for her first attack against Michiru, the flat side of her axe blind struck Inuyasha in the left side of the head, knocking him off balance and striking him a blow at the same time which gave her additional time to assault her second opponent. Everybody cried out in awe and almost at the same time as Inuyasha had been hit, Michiru unexpectedly charged towards the Valkyrie warrior which was going to transform this match into a serious confrontation once the two combatants collided. Lind's eyes widened momentarily in shock, Michiru had seized the precise moment to attack when she was still striking a blow on Inuyasha during her skilful evasive manoeuvre.

She evaded Inuyasha and hit him from behind her back without even taking her eyes off of me? I'm beginning to see why she's the most formidable Valkyrie of Heaven's battle division! She definitely lives up to her reputation and is in a class of her own with no equal at all!

Michiru's attacking now while I'm still performing a move against Inuyasha? He's more clever and resourceful than I thought!

Lind thought that the Shikigami user was too young and not experienced enough to make calculations like those, yet here he was attempting a similar move to the one she had just performed, both of them were about to collide and attempt to strike first. Michiru swung his sword like a baseball bat in an effort to strike at Lind's back before she could use her momentum to turn her body and swing her halberd at him, if she turned too quickly, he'd at least have a shot to strike at her head and neck. Lind realized she didn't have enough time or speed to block Michiru's attack now that he had closed the distance between them before she was ready to fight him head on, her only alternative was something unexpected, something she had never tried before today.

Lind loosened the grip of her left hand and quickly used her right hand to slide the long handle of her halberd through over and over so that the handle would be pointing out like a spear towards her opponent, although the base of the long handle wasn't pointed or sharp, a thrust to the chest or stomach would still hurt since Michiru wasn't wearing any armour. Michiru just managed to evade Lind's counterthrust, but this move caused him to delay his attack by a few seconds which allowed Lind to duck and avoid having Michiru's sword strike at her neck and head, the blade of his Flower Bloomer sword slicing through the air just above Lind's head after she ducked down. Lind's counterthrust also put Michiru off balance when he tried to evade it, causing the Kururugi boy to stumble forwards once his attack had failed, forcing him to regain his footing while Lind and Inuyasha both recovered themselves and prepared to fight again.

After regaining his footing a few seconds later, Michiru attacked Lind head on a second time while swinging his sword as he had done before, Lind swiftly adjusted the grip and positioning of her hands so she was holding her halberd as she was when the sparring match first started in order block Michiru's attack which came close to striking her in the midsection had she been unarmed. The warrior woman twisted the angle of her weapon to check Michiru's attacks and strike back at the determined teenage boy while keeping an eye on Inuyasha who was about to rejoin the fight, sprinting towards her on foot to attack from her left flank instead of attacking from above, Lind used the flat side of her axe blade and struck Inuyasha square on the forehead like she was using her halberd as a fly swatter which caused the half demon to plummet face first into the dirt similar to how he did when ever he was feeling the effect of Kagome's sit commands.

"She hit Inuyasha again!" Shippo exclaimed in amazement. "He went down like he does when ever you say sit Kagome!"

"I can only imagine how painful that hit on the head followed by falling face first into the ground must hurt if Inuyasha was just an ordinary human like I am, those must have really hurt." Miroku commented, shuddering at the thought of enduring the pain from such injuries from what Inuyasha was going through right now even though this was a two on one sparring match between friends and fellow combatants.

"That was a very close call, I've never seen anyone remotely come close to landing a hit on her even though its a two on one fight like this one." Peorth commented to Sango. "You should be very proud Sango, your teaching and training have made Michiru into quite a warrior."

"Thank you Peorth, I can't take all the credit though, Michiru has his own talent and combat experience to draw on too." Sango replied back even though she was very proud and impressed with the Kururugi boy who was also her student and trustworthy friend as well.

Damn! I thought I had Lind all figured out during our one on one matches together, she obviously held back and is fighting harder now that she has to fight against Michiru and I at the same time. I wish I could see her face off in a one on one match against Sesshomaru.

"Alright Lind, I'm done playing around, now for some real fighting." Inuyasha declared, his pride was getting the better of him right now given that the Valkyrie had landed two impressive blows on his head while Michiru was single-handedly doing most of the close quarters fighting against the warrior woman, he felt he needed to make up for those blunders since this was a two on one sparring match.

"If you want to…win Inuyasha, it would help…if you didn't draw unwanted…attention to yourself or verbally…advertise which attacking moves you're going to use…against your opponent right now!" Michiru advised out loud, pausing when his sword clashed with Lind's halberd without taking his eyes off of the formidable female he was preoccupied with. "Otherwise, you give yourself…and your intentions away…which will cause you…to lose the battle!"

"Who says we're losing?" Inuyasha asked as he rushed over and tried swinging his extended arm and fist out at Lind who simply dodged it with ease. "Besides, where's the fun in fighting without engaging your opponent verbally and only physically? Its worked a lot before?"

Michiru swung his sword down from high in the air in order to keep Lind's halberd horizontal so that she couldn't use the base of it to trip him by striking his feet, the drawback was it was easier for Lind to use her weapon defensively and offensively at the same time, the warrior woman used her halberd long handle to check Michiru's attack by striking his sword handle and hands, leaving him vulnerable to a kick to the waist which she swiftly delivered a moment later. The Kururugi boy found himself flying backwards until he collided with Inuyasha, both of them losing balance and struggling to regain their footing in order to continue the fight against their formidable female adversary, it was clear that Lind had this fight in the bag unless the two of them could devise a plan to outsmart her since they couldn't possibly overwhelm or outfight her.

"Fighting isn't about having fun Inuyasha and even though this is a sparring match, we ought to treat it as though it is a real fight." Michiru pointed out, taking a moment to catch his breath while watching Lind like a hawk in case she suddenly attacked them even though she was standing about twenty feet away from them. "Otherwise, we'll never have a chance at beating Lind's, not only is she strong and well trained, she's also disciplined which is something you've never had to deal with before except against maybe Naraku and Sesshomaru."

"Do the two of you need a breather or a moment alone?" Lind asked sarcastically in order to get the attention of the two guys, she didn't mean to be rude, but she couldn't resist even though she knew Michiru was right about being unable to defeat her with just force alone.

"We're fine thank you." Inuyasha replied in annoyance for looking like an idiot, causing everyone who was watching to laugh or chuckle, now he really wished he and Michiru could turn the tables against Lind in order to win with his best friend right now. "Do you have a plan?"

"Yeah, but its kind of silly and I don't know if it will work against someone like Lind." Michiru answered. "If you have a plan, I'm all ears."

"You tell me yours first then I'll tell you mine, after that, we'll decide which one is better or which plan we should try first." Inuyasha replied.

"I'm getting bored Inuyasha, you said you were done playing around." Lind commented sarcastically, testing Inuyasha's patience and nearly succeeding in making the half demon turn to charge at her if Michiru hadn't stopped him, causing everyone to laugh and chuckle again, especially Shippo and Kagome as the high school girl was still filming the sparring match which had taken an unexpected course and turned into a comedy for the time being anyway. "I'm waiting to see some real fighting just like you promised me a few minutes ago."

"I don't know Inuyasha, that sounds really dangerous and I for one don't want to break any bones or any other parts of my body just so we can have a chance to beat Lind in a sparring match." Michiru said while shaking his head. "Besides, I'm only human unlike you and her."

"Which plan would you rather try first? A silly plan or a dangerous plan?" Inuyasha asked. "Don't worry; I'll make sure you don't get hurt."

"Alright, fine, we'll try yours first." Michiru reluctantly agreeing before getting into position. "But if I get hurt, I'm not doing this ever again."

"That's fair, okay, time to show Lind what we're made of." Inuyasha declared. "Hey Lind! Are you ready for some real fighting? No? Well ready or not, here we come!"

Inuyasha crouched down, allowing Michiru to climb on his back before charging forwards, carrying his Kururugi friend like how he usually carried Kagome when ever they were in a hurry during some battles or chases throughout the Feudal era. Everyone blinked their eyes as they watched from the sidelines, wondering what was going on and what plans the two best friends had devised to take Lind down. Kagome aimed her camera and zoomed in to capture a close view of the three participants now that the sparring session was about to reach his decisive climax, her friends along with the other goddesses watched intently to see how this final attempt would play out. Would Michiru and Inuyasha manage to snatch victory from Lind's grasp or would the Valkyrie dominate and defeat them with her superior discipline and unsurpassed skills?

"You haven't answered me Lind, are you ready or not?" Inuyasha said as he suddenly leapt up off of the ground so he could launch Michiru high into the air from only five feet away before charging directly at Lind and closing the gap between them in a flash, forcing the Valkyrie to defend herself from the half demon's punches.

What on earth are you thinking Inuyasha? You would risk injuring Michiru just to win the match? Or is it because you trust him and he trusts you? No matter what unorthodox plans you both brought up, I'll show you that skill, strength and discipline always wins in the end!

Lind managed to block all of them, but they were so quick and repetitive that she didn't have time to strike back which allowed Inuyasha to keep the initiative for these critical moments, Lind's eyes then looked up and saw Michiru who was now falling down from above her with his sword held in preparation for a downward strike. The warrior women didn't realize that her own eyes had just betrayed her which is exactly what Inuyasha had expected even though he knew he needed to catch his team mate in a moment, he looked up as well and positioned himself under and a little ahead of where Michiru was going to hit the ground, driving Lind further back in the process.

"Now it's your turn Michiru, I hope you're ready, because here…we…go!" Inuyasha shouted, extending his arms up and quickly grabbing hold of Michiru's ankles while leaning back before swinging the Kururugi boy down like a sledge hammer, using their combined momentum together for the final finishing move like two acrobats in a circus even though they were sparring against the vulnerable Valkyrie standing a short distance in front of them.

All eyes widened as everyone watched the spectacular scene before them, Lind's eyes were also widened since she hadn't expected or encountered an attacking move like this before, and she instinctively raised her weapon up horizontally to protect her head from Michiru's downward sword strike. Inuyasha grinned with excitement since he had anticipated such a move by the female fighter who had responded to what was actually a faint assault, now the real attack could be launched, but he and Michiru would have to be in synch together and quick before Lind realized what was happening. Inuyasha's eyes watched Lind and Michiru carefully until the crucial moment had presented itself, this was where the improvised plan would either succeed or fail, this was all or nothing hanging in the balance just like Michiru was hanging right now.

"Inuyasha…" Michiru called out, bringing his sword down while he was now suspended in the air with his head, feet and legs level with the rest of his body for a moment until the sound of steel shattering the silence once both weapons and their owners collided together. "Now!

Lind had locked eyes with Michiru since she believed that the final attack would be launched by him, but she had been completely fooled, it was left for Inuyasha to deliver the killing blow even though she would be too late to counter him once she realized her mistake. Michiru shouted loudly once his downward strike had been blocked by Lind while grabbing hold of Lind's halberd handle with his left hand while using the sword hilt to balance and suspend himself above her in order to avoid falling to the ground, Inuyasha then let go of Michiru's ankles and crouched down low to attack Lind from underneath Michiru, drawing out his Tetsusaiga with lightning speed. Lind realized Inuyasha was going to deliver the killing blow himself, so in a last ditch effort to stop him, she used all her strength to lower her halberd and strike Inuyasha in the head with the long handle before he could use his own sword, she made the move only just in time.

Lind's counterblow had worked and Inuyasha plummeted face first into the ground, but not before Michiru's sword had found its mark while the Valkyrie's attention had been distracted and diverted by Inuyasha, just long enough for the Shikigami warrior to land a strike on her. While Inuyasha had drawn out his Tetsusaiga, Michiru retracted his Flower Bloomer sword in order to try and stab the Valkyrie during the brief window when her attention was focused on his half demon friend, it was the last chance he would have and he couldn't afford to waste it. Michiru then thrust his sword forwards with his right hand while still trying to balance himself by holding Lind's halberd with his left and attempted to poke Lind in the chest to simulate a killing blow, unfortunately Lind lowered her halberd to strike Inuyasha which caused the sharp tip of the sword to cut a large tear in the fabric before Michiru's feet dropped until they touched the ground, leaving the Kururugi boy standing over his fallen half demon friend after delivering Lind a killing blow without actually harming her.

"Did we win?" Inuyasha asked, looking up from the ground to see the outline of Michiru's sword pointing at Lind's chest with the tip of its blade planted in the tear cut through the fabric of her combat uniform, right in the valley between the Valkyrie warrior's firm breasts.

"Yeah Inuyasha, I think we did." Michiru said softly while Inuyasha picked himself up, still taking in the moment until he suddenly realized where his sword was pointing and swiftly withdrew the weapon at once before putting it back in its sheath fastened to his left side.

"Ha! Now that's what I call teamwork!" Inuyasha declared triumphantly before lowering his voice, he and Michiru backed away to give the Valkyrie warrior some space now that the match was ended. "Sorry Lind, but it looks like we won and you lost, no hard feelings I hope."

"You have a lot of guts Michiru; letting Inuyasha talk you into doing such a dangerous combo attack like that." Lind pointed out before turning to the half demon standing before her. "And you Inuyasha should think more carefully before you ask one of your friends to perform something so dangerous and unorthodox; Michiru could easily have been seriously injured if you hadn't caught him during that stunt of yours. However, not many people can best me in a sparring match, the two of you showed determination and inventiveness once you realized you couldn't beat me with force or strength alone. I'm very impressed with both of you and I'm sure everyone else is too."

"Thank you Lind, coming from a fighter as formidable as yourself, that means a lot to us." Inuyasha replied politely with a grateful smile.

"Sorry about tearing your uniform Lind, we didn't realize that would happen." Michiru said apologetically, blushing a little since Lind's uniform had a large vertical tear through the front of it where his sword had slashed down between her firm breasts hidden underneath the fabric which was now loosened enough that they were free enough to bounce a little when ever the Valkyrie walked or moved around.

"It's alright Michiru, accidents happen, especially in sparring matches like this one." Lind replied to show her forgiveness. "Just out of curiosity, which of you came up with this plan and what was the other plan you would have tried employing afterwards if this one failed?"

"I came up with this plan, I had hoped to beat you by swinging Michiru down while he swung his sword, I thought it would be really cool and effective by using our combined speed and extended reach." Inuyasha explained. "But since Michiru was worried about falling and hurting himself, he suggested I draw out my Tetsusaiga instead once he grabbed your halberd to suspend himself in the air and to keep you stationary so I could finish you myself, we managed to beat you even though the plan didn't quite go as we had thought it would."

"I see, well I'm glad it still worked out and no one got hurt." Lind stated before looking at Michiru. "So what was your plan then Michiru?"

"Oh, um, it was silly." Michiru replied sheepishly while Inuyasha sheathed his Tetsusaiga now that he was finished using it for today.

"I don't mind having another sparring match with the two of you, its not every day that I get beaten so I'm interested to see the full extend of your combined potential. I won't teach you any of my skills or how to use my arsenal of weapons I brought down with me from heaven if you don't agree to spar against me with Inuyasha again." Lind stated, adding that last sentence in order to get the Shikigami user to do as she had requested of him since she knew how much he wanted to expand his combat skills and become a highly skilled warrior.

"Okay Michiru, let's go take our positions then." Inuyasha said, patting Michiru on the back before turning to look at everybody else. "You hear that everyone? We're going to have ourselves another match, we have our reputations to defend and Lind wants to fight us again!"

"That Inuyasha, he's always up for a fight even if its just a friendly sparring match." Kagome said softly with a goofy smile as she activated her camera and aimed it at the trio of participants who split up to take their positions on the field where the second match would occur.

Lind held her halberd in readiness for battle, Inuyasha took up an aggressive stance as he had before and Michiru stood a few feet from his right instead of on the left during their previous sparring match, but there was another difference which Lind noticed. Unlike before when Michiru had taken up a defensive stance with his sword held high up in both hands, he was standing with his hands at his sides and his sword held off to his lower right hand side. Inuyasha then removed his red fire rat robe, everyone watching thought that the summer heat was finally getting to the half demon, but he was taking it off for a very different reason instead.

"Hey Lind?" Inuyasha called out, he then held the red article of clothing out in both hands to his right and was shaking it around like a bull fighter would do in a circus. "I'll bet you can't beat Michiru and I both in quick time even if we're standing a few feet apart from each other! Taro! Taro! Come over and get us of you think you can beat us! Taro! Taro! Taro! Am I saying the right words Michiru? Taro! Taro! Taro!"

What does Inuyasha think he's doing now? Acting like I'm going to charge blindly over to him and fall for a trick like that! Honestly! Michiru's facing me directly instead of turning his body to one side and he's also holding his sword with just one hand at his lower right side instead of high in the air with both hands like samurai during our previous match. That's the stance a yakuza warrior would use when inviting an enemy to fight him in a one on one battle, he's wisely chosen to use a different stance in order to hide his intentions from me, Michiru's proving to be more of a warrior than he realizes.

"Hurry up Lind! End the match so we can all play some volleyball!" Peorth shouted out loud encouragingly with a good loud voice.

"Yeah, hurry up Lind; we've been wanting to play a game with you and Michiru since lunchtime!" Skuld added in an equally loud voice.

Lind decided to end it since she couldn't see what Michiru and Inuyasha had planned with such a cheap move, they were inviting her to attack them head on and throwing away the initiative, something you never let your enemies possess unless you had no other choice. Lind held her halberd in front of her with both hands to block any sudden attacks from both guys and prepare for launching attacks of her own when the opportunities were open to her, the base of the long handled weapon was on her lower left which she could use to trip Michiru or deflect strikes from his sword while the armed and dangerous end was high up on her right to face Inuyasha who was arguably the more formidable of the two opponents facing her.

Inuyasha's obviously using his red robe as a distraction which means Michiru's probably going to attack me first followed by Inuyasha's attack, but this is different than the last match, both of them are on the defensive rather than the attack and they're standing only a few feet apart from each other so they don't get separated or divided. Wait, it doesn't matter which of them responds first, I can face them.

Lind raced towards Michiru and Inuyasha with her weapon grasped firmly in both hands ready to attack, she glanced at the eyes of her opponents as she approached, looking for a sign of movement which could possibly reveal which of them intended to respond to her assault first. But neither Michiru nor Inuyasha were moving their eyes, not that it was a loss for Lind, for she had an attack plan of her own to try out. The Valkyrie warrior sprinted towards Michiru and Inuyasha, and as she closed the distance, she prepared to swing her halberd in a sudden powerful attack. Inuyasha leapt up to dodge what he expected to be a direct attack on himself, but Lind had skilfully repositioned her hand while she was still swinging her weapon, extending the reach of her halberd so she could attack Michiru who was left exposed now that Inuyasha had evaded the attack. Now all Lind had to do was quickly swing her weapon and strike the Kururugi boy before he or Inuyasha could react, Lind had cleverly made it look as though she was attacking Inuyasha even though Michiru was her true target and she succeeded in making him evade by leaping up in the air, but what the Valkyrie warrior didn't realize was that both guys devised an ambush for her.

Fooled you! Now I can attack Michiru who was my true target! You shouldn't have moved away Inuyasha because now you've…What the? Get that stupid red robe of yours out of my face! I can't see and I don't want to accidentally injure Michiru!

It all happened so fast, no one could have foreseen what was coming, not even Lind. While Inuyasha had leapt up in the air to dodge Lind's deadly halberd, he still held out his red fire rat robe with both hands and Lind was so focused on attacking Michiru that she ran right passed Inuyasha and got her face covered in the red robe, she also didn't notice that Michiru had grabbed a corner of the robe himself and sidestepped forwards to envelop the warrior woman's face and head. Inuyasha landed on the ground with ease, now holding the robe with only his right hand while Michiru held the other end with just his left hand, the Shikigami user then turned his body to face Lind and aimed his sword directly at Lind from behind, gently poking her in the lower back. Both team mates released their hold on the red robe and remained as they were until Lind had removed the article of clothing from her face and head which had blinded her long enough for Michiru to deliver a simulated stab to her lower back, bringing this second sparring session to a swift conclusion.

"I don't believe it! Michiru and Inuyasha both beat Lind again!" Peorth stated in disbelief, wondering how this was even possible.

"You two make a very fine team, that was a clever plan of yours Michiru, anyone who tries picking a fight with you and Inuyasha are going to be in for a lot of surprises." Lind stated, paying Michiru and Inuyasha some well deserved compliments since they both beat her again. "I admire your inventiveness and improvisation, most warriors I've fought and trained with wouldn't think of using methods like you have."

"Thank you Lind, but methods like that only work once against the same opponent so we know you won't fall for them again and whether we won or lost, Inuyasha and I could only defeat you together so you're still a very formidable fighter to both of us and no one can ever argue otherwise." Michiru replied. "I hope you don't feel cheated since we used deception and trickery in order to defeat you this time."

"No, not at all, any tactics are useful and fair to use so long as innocent lives aren't put at risk or used as hostages. Even though both of you had to work together to defeat me, you did so without using Michiru's Shikigami magic or Inuyasha's Tetsusaiga." Lind stated, holding the red fire rat robe out for Inuyasha to retrieve. "Here you are Inuyasha, you can have your red robe back now that the match is over."

"Thanks Lind, but now I think everybody is waiting for us to join them in a volleyball game so you and Michiru better put your weapons away now that you won't be needing them for a while." Inuyasha pointed out after turning to see everyone waiting for them to wrap up.

"Well, I'm glad Inuyasha only had to use his Tetsusaiga as an ordinary sword during our first match, the last thing I'd want I is to see him accidentally destroy the whole property or the house and Temple with the destructive power of his Wind Scar attack." Michiru remarked.

"Don't worry Michiru, I know better than to use my Tetsusaiga's destructive power here in the modern era." Inuyasha said reassuringly. "If I ever did, Kagome would sit me until she wears her own voice out. Ha! Ha! Ha! Okay, let's join the others now that we're done sparring."

Lind, Inuyasha and Michiru strolled back to rejoin all of their friends who were watching from the sidelines, all of them clapped their hands and cheered for a moment to show how much they enjoyed watching the three of them perform now that both sparring matches were over. Inuyasha headed towards Kagome so he could ask if she filmed the matches so he could watch the recorded footage later sometime, Lind wandered over to see Belldandy while Michiru went over to see Peorth who was waiting for him to arrive.

"Michiru, I'm so proud of you, I never thought you and Inuyasha would be able to defeat Lind." Peorth said proudly with excitement as she grabbed the unprepared Shikigami user in a big hug to express her congratulations even though Michiru had help from Inuyasha.

"May I offer my congratulations too Michiru?" Sango asked kindly as Peorth released Michiru from her embrace, allowing her to give the Kururugi boy a hug to show her congratulations as well, Michiru was her student after all and it was part of a teacher's duty to support and encourage the Kururugi boy seeing as how he had been progressing so well in such a short period of time. "You're becoming quite the warrior, if my fellow demonslayers were here to see you train and fight as well as you have so far, they'd be just as proud of you as I am."

"Thank you Sango, but I couldn't have performed so well without your training and guidance, you're the best teacher anyone could ever ask for and I'll always enjoy the times we spent training and sparring together during our days off in Feudal Japan." Michiru replied joyfully while sharing the warm embrace with his female friend who was also his teacher and someone he could always trust and confide in.

"Kagome!" Sango stated suddenly, blushing a little out of embarrassment when she saw Kagome's digital camera aimed at her since she wasn't used to being filmed or photographed, causing her to release herself from Michiru's arms. "Please don't aim your camera at me."

"I'm sorry Sango, but everybody was looking so happy and cheerful, I just had to capture moments like these on film so we can treasure them later." Kagome replied sheepishly, wearing a goofy expression when ever she was in an overly cheerful mood like she was now. "I also recorded all the action from both sparring matches if you're interested in watching them along with this morning's matches as well."

"I wanna watch them Kagome!" Inuyasha said excitedly, he was obviously having a really great time given how much of a good mood he was in which usually didn't happen often. "Can your digital camera plug into the big TV so we can watch everything on the big screen?"

"Maybe later this evening at dinner Inuyasha, because right now, we're going to play some volleyball!" Kagome replied. "Right everyone?"

"Yeah!" Shippo shouted loudly in excitement, one would think he wouldn't enjoy a sport such as volleyball since he was so small and short compared with everybody else, but Shippo always loved playing games; anything with a ball was always fun to play in his opinion.

"Huh? Uh-Oh, um Belldandy?" Keiichi called out, drawing Belldandy's attention while the first class goddess was using her divine powers to repair the large tear in Lind's combat uniform so that it would be as good as it was before the sparring matches took place. "Sorry to interrupt, Otaki and Tamiya from the Auto Club are coming over for a brief visit, they say they'll both be here in a short while from now."

"That's okay Keiichi, I'll go inside and prepare some cold drinks and snacks so we can all have some refreshments when they arrive." Belldandy offered kindly before heading back towards the house, causing her younger sister Skuld to rush after her in response.

"Aw, don't leave big sis, we're just about to start playing volleyball together and we can't play without you." Skuld whined while standing briefly in front of Belldandy, holding both of her arms out in order to block her sister's path leading back to the side porch of the house.

"Don't worry Skuld, I'll only be about ten minutes or so, I promise." Belldandy said reassuringly before walking around Skuld to go inside.

"Where's Belldandy going Skuld?" Michiru asked curiously as he wandered over to find why first class deity was returning to the house.

"She's going to make some food and drink for all of us, she said she won't be long, I think I'll go inside for a while too." Skuld answered.

"Hmm, I think I'll go in and help her, everyone's waited to play volleyball for a while now and the afternoon is almost over." Michiru said before turning around to see Peorth who was approaching him. "Peorth? I'm just going inside to help Belldandy make some food and drink for everyone, we'll be back shortly, you and the others should figure out who will be playing on each team in the meantime okay?"

"Okay, I'll let the others know, see you later Michiru." Peorth replied while giving the young teenage boy one of her irresistible smiles.

Michiru smiled briefly back at the gorgeous goddess before turning to follow Skuld back to the house, he rushed up the stairs of the side porch and removed his runners at the door, he then went inside down the hallway and headed straight for the kitchen where he found Belldandy busying herself with preparing snacks using various different foods sitting on the kitchen counter.

"Oh, what are you doing here Michiru?" Belldandy asked after pausing from her task to look up to see who had just entered the kitchen.

"I came to help you out, I can't expect you to single-handedly do all the work around here just because you're a goddess." Michiru replied.

"You don't need to be concerned for me Michiru, I'm gotten used to it since I've been living here in this house with Keiichi and my two sisters, but thank you for your kind offer." Belldandy said appreciatively with a kind smile on her lovely face while she sliced some bread.

"No problem, it's the least I can do for you in exchange for all that you've done for my Uncle, my friends and I." Michiru added politely while walking passed the first class deity to scan the fridge to see what was available to eat and drink inside. "Besides, after taking part in those two sparring matches, I could use a break from being outside to have some peace and quiet in here while I help you Belldandy."

While Belldandy continued slicing up some bread, meat and vegetables to use for sandwiches, Michiru reached his hand up to one of the cupboards to grab a bunch of tall glasses which he was gathering together on a tray. After he had enough glasses, the Japanese boy opened the freezer to get some chocolate ice cream in order to make some milkshakes, he also grabbed some milk from the fridge and the electric chopper from one of the drawers under the kitchen counter. Michiru then removed the plastic lid from the ice cream pail and proceeded to scoop out its contents in order to fill a large pitcher he had found and placed next to on the tray, making sure to place the necessary amount of ice cream inside before pouring some milk. The kitchen echoed with the repetitive sounds of Belldandy slicing food on the breadboard and Michiru using the electric chopper to blend the ice cream and milk together, during the pauses of quiet in between, the two of them could hear the faint sound of mechanical gears and footsteps coming from elsewhere in the house which were made by Skuld's robot Banpei who was slowly making his way through hallways in order to go outside.

"Oh, hello Banpei." Belldandy called out after Skuld's mechanical robot came into view as it passed by the kitchen, pausing briefly to look at the first class goddess whom it possessed an unwavering devotion and loyalty too. "Would you be so kind as to carry the folding table outside and set it up so Michiru and I can have a place to set the trays of food and drink we'll soon be bringing out for everyone please?"

Banpei nodded in response and set about carrying out the task Belldandy had requested, moving along one pace at a time until he made his way down the hallway leading outside to the porch deck on the one side of the house where he would find the table with folding legs leaning against the outside wall. Inuyasha along with Shippo had caught sight of the mechanical being and darted over to examine him closely with their own eyes, completely captivated by its appearance, watching it continuously with the same amount of curiosity and fascination a child would have at seeing it too. Kagome came over to film Banpei with her digital camera along with Sango and Miroku who were also curious to see the mechanical assistance in action, they had never seen a robot before since none existed in the Feudal era and were wondering who had built it and how. Luckily, Keiichi arrived on the scene to answer any questions that anyone had to ask about the robot, Urd had gone inside to see Belldandy and to let Skuld know that her robot was gathering quite an audience.

"How's everything coming Belldandy?" Urd asked, arriving on the scene after coming indoors to see if Belldandy and Michiru needed any help to speed things along in the kitchen since everyone else outside was eager to start playing volleyball. "Anything I can do to help?"

"We're almost done Urd, but you're welcome to slice up some fruit in the fridge if you think sandwiches and milkshakes aren't enough for everyone to snack on, dinner is still a few hours away yet." Belldandy replied as she carried on preparing sandwiches on the breadboard.

"Alright, hey Skuld?" Urd called out loudly so her voice would reach down the hallway to her youngest sister's laboratory. "Banpei has gathered quite an audience! Aren't you going to go back outside and enjoy the fame and glory your mechanical robot has gotten for you?"

"Really?" Skuld shouted out excitedly with a look of happiness and joy written all over her smiling face as she rushed into the kitchen after using her transformation machine kept in her laboratory to transform herself into a blossoming teenage girl even though her mind and personality were still unchanged. "My Banpei's holding everyone's attention outside and everyone thinks he's really cool and awesome?"

"Don't let it go to your head Skuld, remember that all of Michiru's friends have never seen a mechanical robot before since none exist in Feudal Japan, so its only natural that all of their curiosity has been aroused right now." Urd pointed out with a sigh before she finally noticed her youngest sister had transformed herself like she had done early this morning using the transformation machine she had built.

"Our you making chocolate ice cream milkshakes again Michiru?" Skuld asked excitedly, her eyes and face lit up with delight after correcting deducing what Michiru was doing with the electric blender once she spotted the milk and ice cream sitting on the kitchen table.

"Yes Skuld, but I'm afraid you'll have to wait until I'm done because I need to make enough for everyone including…" Michiru answered until he stopped before he could finish his sentence once he looked up and saw Skuld in her older teenage self, his grip on the electric blender loosening which caused the appliance to shut itself off.

Michiru had seen Skuld in her older teenage self twice before when both of them were held captive by Toshiyuki and Mara yesterday afternoon and early this morning when he himself had been transformed into a ten year old kid as a result of Mara casting a curse on all of Urd's potions including the medicine he had taken the night before. But his mind was burdened with fear and concern during those occasions so he didn't really take the opportunity to admire Skuld in her current form until now, although Skuld wasn't as mature or as developed as Urd or the other goddesses, she had grown enough to reveal she would eventually blossom into an attractive beauty by the time she reached early adulthood and left her teenage years behind. Who wouldn't want a girlfriend who had all the same interests in cool gadgets and technologically advanced machines that young boys frequently wished they could build or possess after watching an awesome sci-fi movie or anime? That was just one of every young boy's dreams for those who lived and grew up in the modern era.

"What are you staring at Michiru? You've seen me in my teenage self before." Skuld asked curiously once she noticed him staring at her.

"Uh, nothing, sorry Skuld." Michiru answered, turning his eyes away and returning his attention to making milkshakes for everyone while mentally scolding himself for checking Skuld out. "Um, so why have you suddenly decided to transform into your teenage self again?"

"Well, we're going to play volleyball once you and big sis are done making snacks and milkshakes for everyone and since the net is so high, I thought I'd make myself taller so it'll be easier for me to play the game." Skuld answered, she had a lot of pride when it came to playing games and since she didn't like to lose, the young goddess always used any advantage she could to improve her chances of winning. One also had to remember that Skuld sometimes felt left out when ever people treated her like a little kid because she was much younger than the other goddesses and couldn't take part or interact with them amongst other people in certain situations as well.

"Oh, I guess that makes sense, but you really shouldn't go out looking like a teenager or else you might attract unwanted attention." Michiru advised, he was only trying to warn Skuld because of Miroku even though the monk had already been warned numerous times to stay well behaved while he was staying here, not to mention braking Miroku's nose and threatening to drag him back to the Feudal era if he did anything else inappropriate which would use up his third strike, it wasn't his intention to upset or offend the young goddess.

"Why not?" Skuld asked with a pout before posing in the red dress with transparent sleeves she was now wearing since it was so hot outside in order to let the breeze cool her off a little easier when the time came to play volleyball with everybody. "Don't I look attractive?"

"Y-Yes Skuld, you do look attractive, but that's not the point I'm trying to make here." Michiru reluctantly replied.

"Come on, you have to fill out in the right places while remaining flat and firm in others so that you have all the curves to go with your irresistible body, that's what being attractive is all about." Urd cut in, making Skuld immensely angry since her pride was being damaged.

"Hey! Why don't you take a look at these Urd?" Skuld yelled furiously while she used a finger to point at her recently blossomed chest. "Do you see how big they are?"

"I'm sorry, were you saying something about being big?" Urd asked teasingly in response while folding her arms underneath her own sizable cleavage in order to taunt her youngest sister even more than she needed too in a feud like this.

"Argh!" Skuld growled angrily until she suddenly remembered all of the compliments she received from Michiru yesterday while he had comforted her just before using his Shikigami powers to return her to her normal self, unfortunately her rage towards her sister Urd had caused the poor goddess to react without thinking clearly which she would soon find out once she drew Michiru into the argument. "Oh yeah? Well Michiru seems to think I look attractive, he said I would turn a lot of heads once I get older. What do you say to that Urd?"

"Oh really?" Urd replied while being momentarily surprised, turning to look at the Kururugi boy who now wished more than anything that Urd and Skuld hadn't started feuding with each other, he had more than enough to deal with already and the last thing he needed right now was to get caught in the middle of their feud. "So Michiru? Between the two of us, who do you think is the most attractive hmm?"

"Uh…" Michiru responded, glancing briefly at both goddesses with fear and hesitation written all over his face, both Urd and Skuld were attractive in different ways, but he needed a way out and couldn't take sides so he reluctantly decided to try resolving the matter before making his way outside where he could return to Peorth and everyone else. "That's not being fair Urd, Skuld is much younger than you regardless of the fact that she's presently turned into her teenage self and besides, I'm not going to jeopardize my friendship with both of you by being drawn into this argument. And finally, both of you are goddesses. I read that a prince who lived over several thousand years ago was once asked to choose which of several goddesses was the most beautiful, all three goddesses offered him bribes in order to get chosen until he made his decision and afterwards, he and his people along with his Kingdom soon perished in a war that lasted for almost a whole decade as a result of that."

Both Urd and Skuld blinked their eyes in unison and were completely dumbfounded, allowing Michiru to extract himself from their feud.

"Michiru?" Belldandy called out, causing both of her sisters along with the Kururugi boy to turn and face her. "If you're done making milkshakes for everybody, you can head outside, my sisters and I will join you and bring out all the food we've prepared in a moment."

"Okay Belldandy, I'll see you outside shortly." Michiru replied, smiling in appreciation for Belldandy intervening and allowing him to leave, now that he was done making milkshakes and he had put everything he needed away, he picked up the tray of cold drinks and carefully walked out of the kitchen and down the hallway leading to the side door where he saw Skuld's robot holding the door open for him. "Oh, thank you Banpei."

"Urd? Skuld? Both of you please stay." Belldandy stated, causing her sisters to flinch since they realized they were both about to be lectured by the first class goddess who waited quietly for Michiru to leave the house carrying a tray with tall glasses of chocolate milkshakes on it. "We have a lot of guests staying here in the house with us, the last thing everyone needs right now is for the two of you to argue and fight amongst yourselves, especially since Mr. Koshian isn't aware of the fact that all of us are goddesses or that his nephew Michiru happens to possess Shikigami powers and that he met all of his other friends from Feudal Japan. Michiru already has enough to deal with right now, trying to keep his magic along with our origins and those of his friends a secret from his parents and his Uncle as well."

"Michiru hasn't told his parents or his Uncle about his magic or his adventures in the Feudal era?" Skuld gasped in shock. "But why not?"

"For the same reasons Keiichi hasn't told his parents or his sister Megumi about us being goddesses from heaven, such a revelation would put his family and his friends along with all of us in danger." Belldandy answered. "Even though Michiru's having as much fun as the rest of us, he's under a great about of stress from the burden of responsibility which has been placed on his shoulders, he also doesn't want to jeopardize everyone else's safety or the friendships he built with all of us either. Therefore, I'm telling both of you that its in everyone's best interests to cooperate with each other regardless of any personal feelings, disagreements or rivalries, otherwise both of you will have to face some sort of appropriate disciplinary action reflecting the consequences of any unwanted incidents that may occur as a result of your actions. Whether its having your licenses suspended or your powers taken away will be up to the Almighty One should the unthinkable occur, remember that Michiru's sudden return home from the Feudal era caused Yggdrasil to malfunction temporarily which made the system and all of us vulnerable, so please promise me that you won't fight anymore or make Michiru uncomfortable."

Skuld and Urd each stood still and silent while contemplating everything Belldandy had just explained, they had been having so much fun these last few days ever since Michiru had come into their lives, it was easy to forget the incident involving Yggdrasil which had only lasted for a couple of hours despite the seriousness of Michiru having been responsible for its brief malfunction. Then there was also the matter of Michiru being responsible for ensuring that all of his friends who were staying here as guests for a few days were well behaved, the Kururugi boy already had to respond to Miroku's misdeeds at least two or three times already, never mind taking action when Toshiyuki and Troubadour had each come here looking to cause trouble yesterday as well. Lastly, the Shikigami user was still undecided about what wish he wanted to ask from Peorth ever since he had summoned her down to earth, there was only so much the young man could take even though he was still having fun with his friends and the goddesses.

"We're both sorry big sis, and we promise that we won't fight anymore while Michiru's staying here with his friends." Skuld declared.

"Very well, now that that's settled, let's go outside to play volleyball since we've all been delayed for far too long." Belldandy replied.

"Yeah, oh, we'll help you carry the food outside." Skuld said before offering to help her sister carrying the plates of fruit and sandwiches.

"Oh Urd?" Belldandy mentioned while handing her older sister a tray with glasses of cold juice and cans of pop. "Before I forget, Michiru needs to talk with you so make sure you have some free time available later on in order to give him the opportunity to meet with you."

"What does he need to talk with me about?" Urd asked curiously while waiting to here an answer before she followed Skuld outside.

"That's for him to tell and for you to find out Urd, please remember and don't forget, its very important." Belldandy replied, leaving Urd in the dark without giving her the proper answer she was asking for, now it was left for Michiru and Urd to meet and talk privately together.

"Alright, I'll remember, I promise." Urd said while nodding her head in response, her mind pondering over what Belldandy had told her in order to try and figure out what the Kururugi boy needed to talk to her about and why they needed to meet each other in private first.

Unable to think of any answers, Urd followed Belldandy down the hallway, they held the door open for each other and went to the table Banpei had set up where Michiru and Skuld had set the food and drinks they had taken outside a few minutes earlier. Inuyasha, Mara and Shippo instantly wandered over to sample the sliced fruit and sandwiches Belldandy had made since their senses of smell were more powerful than those of human beings, but unfortunately Banpei hadn't been told to deactivate his alert mode and he still viewed Mara as a threat since she had a history of causing trouble for the goddesses which he had been programmed to counter against.

"Here you are Skuld." Michiru said politely, handing the young goddess a chocolate milkshake while organizing the food and drinks.

"Thank you Michiru, ah, that tastes so good." Skuld replied as she drank the cold drink she had been offered and savoured its creamy flavour before she took notice of Banpei activating the launchers attached to his back. "Uh-Oh, no Banpei! Don't fire your launchers at…"

"Ahh!" Mara cried as she was suddenly bombarded with statues, idols and various other objects which are supposed to bring good luck, the poor demon was wide eyed and cringing. "What the devil was that for?"

"Sorry Mara, I forgot about Banpei's alert mode." Skuld said apologetically while running in front of her mechanical robot in order to give him a new set of orders to obey. "Banpei? Cancel your alert mode and treat Mara as you any other guest in the house until further notice."

"Wow, its incredible that all of these statues and idols would severely weaken Mara and make her so vulnerable." Miroku pointed out.

"Hey!" Shippo exclaimed, looking wide eyed with the excitement of a child seeing lots of new toys in a toy shop while he and Kagome cleared the mess of objects away from Mara so the demon lady could recover from Banpei's attack and get back on her feet. "Look at all these Kagome! Do you think I could have some of these to play with?"

"I don't like you can really play with those Shippo, they're statues and idols used for worship and bringing about good luck." Kagome replied with a small giggle, she couldn't help but laugh at the fact that her young fox demon friend was still just a little kid even though he would angrily argue that he wasn't which usually erupted into an argument between himself and Inuyasha time and time again.

"Wow, I thought Mara's only weakness was being forced to dance against her will when listening to hard rock music." Michiru said softly, while Mara approached the table followed by Kagome and Shippo. "I hope you're okay Mara, help yourself to drinks and food if you want."

"Thanks, I'll be alright now, it was just a spur of the moment sort of deal." Mara replied calmly in order to brush off the incident now that she was okay and there was nothing to worry about, grabbing a glass of milkshake and one or two sandwiches.

"Mara? I thought dancing against your will when you hear hard rock music is the only weakness you have." Inuyasha wondered out loud. "Or do you have another one that revolves around being in close contact with all of those statues and idols that were launched at you?"

"Can it Inuyasha!" Mara blurted out angrily. "Its not something I can control or that I like to be reminded about."

"Whatever, I know what it feels like to have weaknesses too so don't think you're the only one who's unhappy about it." Inuyasha added.

Mara and Inuyasha sampled the snacks available, Kagome, Sango and the goddesses soon gathered together around the table in order to get some food for themselves before it was all gone since they were all aware that Inuyasha and Mara had huge appetites. Luckily, Belldandy was present to make sure each person had an equal share and that there was still lots of food and drink left for Tamiya and Otaki who were expected to arrive in just a matter of minutes, Inuyasha and Mara reluctantly agreed not to eat anymore than anyone else which was easy since it would be supper time in another two hours and they would be occupied playing volleyball anyway until then as well. Almost everyone was gathered around the table except for Skuld who had gone with Banpei off to the side by the far corner of the house to do a quick maintenance check of his operating systems and mechanical joints, Miroku extracted himself from the crowd and only just noticed that Skuld had transformed into a teenage girl, the monk wandered over to take a closer look since the goddess wouldn't stay like this for very long.

"All systems operating perfectly, okay Banpei, transform into your transportation mode so I can see if you're still drivable." Skuld instructed, Banpei obeyed and crouched down as he reconfigured his mechanical limbs until he transformed himself into a motorcycle with wheels, two steering handles appeared from the sides of his circular hat and a seat extended itself from his back so that the young goddess could sit comfortably and drive the robot which only somewhat altered his physical appearance. "EEEEEEEEK!"

Skuld turned behind and saw Miroku after feeling his hand on her, in a fit of rage, she put Banpei in reverse and rammed Miroku into the side of the house, the seat crunching Miroku between the legs in a heartbeat which gave the misbehaving monk a huge amount of pain.

"AAAAAHH!" Miroku cried out, holding his hands in his crotch only to have Skuld drive in reverse again and squish his fingers this time before speeding away on her robotic motorcycle, he then fell forwards on to the ground and was unable to move at all for a short while.

Skuld's squeal had gone unnoticed to everyone except for Inuyasha thanks to his superior hearing and to Michiru who only just happened to look around for the young goddess and see her riding Banpei which had been transformed into a motorcycle, a glance at Miroku lying face down and flat on the ground was all it took for the Kururugi boy to figure out what had happened, Michiru and Inuyasha then wandered over together to make sure the young goddess was alright. However, their concern had made Skuld worry, for she was afraid of what might happen after they had finished questioning her. While she was angry at Miroku and knew the lecherous monk deserved being punished for all his misdeeds which he had managed to avoid for the vast majority of those he had committed throughout his life so far, Skuld remembered Michiru's speech earlier this afternoon when the Shikigami user had given Miroku a piece of his mind along with a broken nose to remember his promise of dragging him back to Kagome's house where he would return to the Feudal era if he ever caused another incident or misbehaved again during his stay here at the house with everyone else.

Skuld was having a lot more fun than she usually did as were all of the other goddesses which didn't happen a whole lot since they were busy with doing work for heaven or preventing Mara from causing mischief, Mara was also having fun with them as well along with all of Michiru's Feudal era friends which was also a rarity since the demon lady was normally trying to cause trouble for Keiichi and the goddesses in an effort to increase demon shares and demonic contracts involving other human beings, the young goddess didn't want any of this to end for her and everybody else just because the perverted monk couldn't keep his hands to himself. Skuld recalled Belldandy's concerns about Michiru being forced to carry a great burden of responsibility on his shoulders as a result of all that she explained earlier inside of the house. Besides all of these facts, Michiru was only going to be staying here for about two weeks and once his task of watching over his Uncle's house had ended, the Kururugi boy would probably go back home and all of his other friends would return to Feudal Japan, returning Mara's daily life and those of the goddesses to the same routines they had been before Michiru had entered into their lives.

"Are you alright Skuld?" Michiru asked out of concern after wandering over to see the young goddess who had just distanced herself from the lecherous monk she had retaliated against and left writhing in pain on the ground a few moments ago. "I thought I heard you scream."

"Yeah, I'm fine, no need to worry Michiru." Skuld replied reassuringly, having recovered from the initial shock of feeling Miroku grope her.

"Did Miroku touch you inappropriately?" Michiru asked, correctly deducing what had happened and becoming angry at Miroku's actions.

"Oh, no, I accidentally put Banpei in reverse instead of forwards and squished Miroku into the house." Skuld replied, reluctantly fibbing in the hopes that Michiru wouldn't carry out his promise and drag Miroku back to the Feudal era which would bring an end to all of the fun that she and the other goddesses were enjoying so much during the last day or so. "That's why he's laying face down on the ground."

"Really?" Michiru asked in surprise, blinking his eyes in confusion before he examined Banpei who had been transformed into a motorcycle. "I didn't know Banpei could transform into a motorcycle, that is so cool, it must be a lot of fun driving him around outside."

"Would you like to drive him sometime?" Skuld asked, jumping at the chance to take Michiru's mind off of the incident with Miroku.

"Sorry Skuld, even though I have my learner's license, I've never driven a motorcycle before and driving a motorcycle is very different from driving a car or a truck." Michiru replied. "Besides, Banpei's your robot, I wouldn't want to accidentally crash and cause him injury."

"Oh come on Michiru, he does the actual driving anyway, all you have to do is steer him like a bicycle and tell him when to stop and go." Skuld said, trying to encourage Michiru to take Banpei for a test drive since he had taken an interest in her robot despite his worries about causing an accident. "If I can do it, you can do it too, it'll only take a few minutes for me to teach you how to operate the controls."

Before Michiru could respond, both of them were interrupted by Michiru's cell phone ringing which forced the Japanese boy to answer it. "Hello? Oh hi Dad, I hope your business trip is going well. Yes, I'm doing fine and I'm having lots of fun with all of my friends, Uncle Koshian is back and came home yesterday so everything's alright. Huh? You want to talk to him? Okay, hang on, I'll go find him for you."

"Well Michiru?" Skuld asked, waiting to hear the Shikigami user's response.

"Alright Skuld, but we'll have to wait until tomorrow since we're all going to be busy playing volleyball for the rest of the day." Michiru answered, causing Skuld to smile happily in response. "I have to find my Uncle so my Dad can talk to him on my cell, I'll be back in a bit."

"I'll look forward to it, no backing out or changing your mind at the last minute though." Skuld replied before Michiru left to find his Uncle.

"Okay Skuld, we both know Miroku grabbed your butt with his hand and that he was actually at fault instead of you." Inuyasha mentioned after Michiru had wandered off and left him alone with Skuld. "You want to tell me why you lied? I won't tell on you so let's hear the truth."

"If I had told the truth, Michiru would be forced to take Miroku back to the Feudal era and all of you would then go with him, we've all been having so much fun together and I didn't want any of that to end." Skuld reluctantly answered with a guilty expression on her face.

"I understand, its been a while since my friends and I could have fun together now that Naraku's gone and if Michiru hadn't met you and the other goddesses, most of us wouldn't be able to visit the modern era or see Michiru again like this." Inuyasha replied in agreement. "However, that doesn't mean Miroku should go unpunished for misbehaving again, we'll have to teach him a lesson. You got any ideas?"

While Skuld shared her idea with Inuyasha about how to punish Miroku, Michiru found his Uncle praying in the Temple and handed him his cell phone before retracing his footsteps back where he had left them with Banpei, but he was surprised to find Banpei alone and wondered where Inuyasha and Skuld had gone too. After looking around in all directions, the Shikigami user came to the conclusion that both of his friends had gone inside the house and since the volleyball game was going to start soon, he knew he'd see them both again and decided not to worry any more. Michiru grew hungry and went over to the table to grab some fruit and sandwiches to snack on, the goddesses welcomed him and everyone standing around the table enjoyed a nice leisurely chat amongst themselves, Inuyasha and Skuld then returned from the house each carrying another plate of food, but instead of going to the table where all of the other snacks had been served, they went over to where Miroku was at the far side corner of the house about fifty feet away.

"You will never learn will you Miroku?" Inuyasha remarked after his arrival with Skuld, looking at the monk who was writhing once he stood up, still holding his hands between his legs where his fingers and balls had been squished a few minutes ago by Skuld's retaliation.

"Miroku?" Skuld stated while standing in front of the monk with Inuyasha watching closely. "Normally I'd tell Michiru what you did so you'd be punished as you deserve, but unfortunately that would mean everyone would have to return to the Feudal era, we've all been having so much fun here together and that would be terrible if all of that were to end. So Inuyasha and I have made a decision, we're going to give you a second chance and in return, you're going to act respectfully from now on or else we'll make you live to regret your lecherous ways. Just so you understand what you've gotten yourself into, we're going to punish you instead of Michiru so that you'll learn your lesson without ruining everyone's visit to the modern era. Have I made myself perfectly clear Miroku?"

"Yes Skuld." Miroku replied glancing briefly at Inuyasha before he dared to ask. "How exactly are both of you going to punish me then?"

"We'll let you know after you eat something to refresh yourself first, Keiichi's friends are going to be here soon so let's get this over with quickly." Inuyasha replied, trying to contain himself in anticipation for what he and Skuld had both planned for Miroku's punishment.

Back at the table where everybody else was gathered, Keiichi was chatting with Belldandy, Kagome was engaged in a conversation with Shippo, Michiru was talking with Peorth, Lind and Sango while Urd was talking with Mara. None of them were aware of the all the fun they were about to have once Keiichi's friends had arrived which should be any minute now, all their peaceful talks were about to end in a moment.

"Sango, Lind has offered me the chance to learn other forms of combat such as fist fighting and knife throwing, I hope you don't mind if I learn from her too since both of you are skilled warriors." Michiru mentioned while having a glass of juice. "I just want to improve myself."

"No, Michiru, not at all." Sango replied, feeling happy for her Kururugi friend. "We'll have to work out some sort of daily schedule so that Lind and I have an equal amount of time to spend training and sparring with you, but it'll be great and we're sure to have lots of fun too."

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!" A female voice shrieked out loud, causing everybody to stop talking as all heads turned to look in the direction of where Miroku was standing with Inuyasha and Skuld on either side of him, Michiru rushed over to see what had happened.

"That dirty monk!" Sango said sourly before storming off to give the lecherous monk a piece of her mind along with a knuckle sandwich, everybody else followed close behind to find out what had happened as well, but the demon slayer noticed something wasn't quite right since Skuld was smiling instead of looking angry while Inuyasha stood by wearing a goofy grin on his face. "Are you alright Skuld?"

"Oh yeah, I'm fine, I wasn't the one who screamed." Skuld answered casually before turning to a certain trembling lady standing next to her on the right. "This young lady is the person who screamed out loud and disturbed all of you, Inuyasha accidentally gave her a fright."

"Who do you mean by…her?" Sango asked as she studied who she thought was Miroku only to blink her eyes in confusion when she saw a young woman with long black hair wearing the lecherous monk's familiar blue kimono who had a panicked look on her face. "Miroku?"

"Skuld offered me a piece of cake and after I ate it, I was turned into a girl!" Miroku blurted out, only to cover his mouth suddenly after hearing that his voice had also been altered which made him sound like a girl so he didn't just transform into one as he had thought.

"I didn't do anything, I would never sink so low as to cast a spell on a complete stranger who had done me no wrong." Skuld said innocently, trying not to laugh while holding the plate she had served the cake on behind her back with both hands. "Right Inuyasha?"

"Hey!" Inuyasha asked, looking around in all directions as his dog ears perked up upon hearing the sound of something or someone approaching from a distance. "What's that noise? I hear people and voices coming towards us from outside, I'll go check the front gate."

"Wait a second Inuyasha, I have a feeling I already know who's coming to visit us." Keiichi pointed out before following the half demon.

"I should have known, Skuld pulled the same trick on Keiichi when she had to return to heaven for a short while, she's fiercely attached to Belldandy and didn't want Keiichi to make any moves on her while she was away." Urd explained to everyone once she deduced what had happened, examining Miroku from head to toe with her eyes. "But it looks as though this was a stronger spell since Miroku's whole body was transformed along with his voice as well, Keiichi was fortunate enough that his voice was unchanged and only his upper body was altered during that incident which was a long time ago."

"Well Miroku, now that you've been transformed into a woman, maybe you'll keep your hands to yourself from now on." Mara remarked with a grin before laughing her head off since this opportunity was just too good to pass up. "Ah! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!"

"Well we can't transform him, I-I mean her back to normal so we'll just have to wait until the spell wears off." Belldandy concluded.

"What?" Miroku yelped in dismay, causing everyone who was present to burst out laughing, Shippo and Kagome laughed the loudest.

While Michiru tried making sense of what had happened to Miroku, Inuyasha and Keiichi arrived at the gate and saw who had arrived.

"I thought so, its only Otaki and Tamiya, they're both friends of mine and the three of us belong to the Auto Club from Nekomi Tech." Keiichi explained once he recognized the two guys walking towards the stone staircase which led up to the front gate of the property.

"Hey Keiichi." Tamiya called out, waving his hand while scaling the stairs. Tamiya was a tall guy with spiky blond hair, wearing black pants, a bright red shirt and a back leather jacket along with a pair of sunglasses. "Its been a while, we both hope you've been enjoying the summer holiday with Belldandy now that school's been out for the time being, its now the season to have fun and enjoy the sunshine."

"Morisato?" Otaki replied. a dark skinned hulking and muscular man with short black hair and a tiny moustache, dressed in blue jeans and a white sleeveless shirt "We sent a text this morning informing you that we would be coming here to discuss which days the Auto Club members would get together over the summer break, as a member of the Auto Club, you are obligated to attend all the meetings."

"You don't say, well, we'll discuss all of that later." Keiichi replied before introducing Inuyasha who had covered his dog ears up with the black ball cap. "This is Inuyasha, he's a friend and a guest who's staying here for a few days, actually there are a lot of guests staying here for a few days so please follow us and we'll introduce you to all of them."

While Inuyasha and Keiichi led Tamiya and Otaki inside, Michiru, Mara, along with the goddesses and his Feudal era friends devised a plan to hide their true origins and identities a secret from the two Auto Club members who had just arrived for a visit. Shippo used his fox demon magic to transform himself temporarily into Miroku in case Michiru's Uncle suddenly came back from the Temple, Peorth used her divine powers to change the "female" monk's blue clothes into a woman's kimono like what Sango was wearing. Kagome hastily fixed up Miroku's long hair to make "her" presentable and attractive looking, she and Shippo now in disguise now stood on either side of the panic stricken pervert to keep him in line and under control in order to keep up the ruse while Tamiya and Otaki were visiting.

Everyone approached the table from two directions and once they had gathered together, Inuyasha grinned mischievously at Miroku before walking over to Michiru in case his Kururugi friend had any concerns or worries for what was unfolding all around them right now.

"Hello Mr. Tamiya, Mr. Otaki, its so nice to see both of you again and have you visit us like this." Belldandy said warmly with a kind smile.

"Good afternoon Miss Belldandy, its very nice to see you again too." Tamiya replied before he and Otaki examined everybody else, beginning with the other goddesses, then Mara along with Michiru and his group of friends who had come here from Feudal Japan.

"Please help yourselves to drinks and food while I introduce you to our new friends who have been staying with us as guests, you already know my sisters Urd and Skuld." Belldandy offered before she introduced everybody. "These ladies are Lind and Peorth, we've been friends and have worked together for a long time, this is Mara who's a close friend of Urd, and they've all taken time off to visit here with us."

"Is that really you Skuld?" Tamiya asked while looking at the young goddess. "My, you've certainly grown since the last time we saw you."

"Yeah, I guess I surprised both of you huh." Skuld replied, completely forgetting the fact that she had met both Auto Club members long before she and the goddesses had met Michiru and the others, hopefully all of them could survive the afternoon without blowing the ruse.

"Hey Mara?" Otaki asked curiously with a suspicious grin. "Have we met before? You bear a close resemblance to a scary lady who magically came out of a music CD we were playing a long time ago."

"No, this is the first time I've ever met the two of you." Mara replied, waving her hands defensively in response. "Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!"

"This young man is Michiru Kururugi, he's nephew to Mr. Koshian who's the owner of this house and Temple that we've been living together in right now and these are his friends, Kagome, Sango, Miroku and Inuyasha. Oh and lastly…" Belldandy continued, before pointing at Miroku who was bracketed between Kagome and a disguised Shippo. "…this young lady is Mikuru, she's Miroku's cousin."

"Go on Mikuru, don't be shy, you've always wanted to meet a strong and handsome man so here's your chance." Kagome said, pushing a female Miroku forwards with help from Shippo.

"Uh, h-hello, m-my name is M-Mikuru." Miroku mumbled uncontrollably, blushing red with embarrassment as his friends took advantage of his unfortunate predicament to completely humiliate him right now, and in front of two strangers no less. "Its n-nice t-to m-meet y-you."

"Hey Mikuru?" Inuyasha asked suddenly, taking Miroku's trembling hand and holding it in his own. "Would you do me the honour of bearing my children? Ah! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!"

"EEEK!" Miroku yelped, withdrawing his hand and backing away while Shippo and Kagome took advantage of the situation even more.

"Inuyasha, I've told you before to behave yourself when you're with Miroku's cousin, Mikuru's so sensitive after all." Kagome responded, before groping Miroku's posterior from behind just as the real Miroku would do to any unsuspecting female beauty. "There, there Mikuru, I'll make sure Inuyasha won't bother you again."

"There's no need to worry Kagome, Mikuru's actually a naughty girl because when she think's she's alone and no one's watching, she verbally expresses how much she desires to have children of her own some day so that's probably why Inuyasha asked her to bear his children, he must have overheard her earlier today." Shippo cut in, making Miroku's eyes widen even more while Mara, Kagome, Shippo and most of the goddesses burst out laughing after hearing his words and seeing the priceless expression on the lecherous monk's face.

Why? Why has everyone betrayed me like this? Why are they humiliating me and pretending as though nothing's wrong? What have I done to warrant a punishment such as this? Sango! Kagome! Michiru! Somebody please help me! Great Buddha, I beg you for mercy!

"Really Miroku? I guess that would explain where you got some of your bad habits from then, you must have been raised with Mikuru while you were just children." Kagome pointed out before she was forced to hold her sides and giggle again to vent everything out.

"Yes, but I can't help myself, Mikuru was the only girl I had ever known long before I met you and Sango after all." Shippo replied.

"Big sis?" Skuld asked excitedly, drawing Belldandy's attention to herself. "Now that Tamiya and Otaki are here, can we play volleyball?"

"Alright everyone, its time to play a game of volleyball, catch the ball Peorth." Belldandy announced, getting everybody excited as she took the ball from Skuld and throw it over to the first class goddess who caught it and led everyone over to the volleyball court. "Alright, let's decide who wants to play with whom and then we can divide ourselves into teams and take our positions on both sides of the court."

"Miroku?" Inuyasha asked, before whispering quietly into Shippo's ear.

"Oh, would anyone want to see a magic trick before we play a game?" Shippo asked, looking all around at everybody. "I've been practicing some magic tricks in order to become a magician and I've finally perfected one which I think will impress all of you."

"Sure Miroku, you know how Kagome likes magic tricks." Sango replied encouragingly, playing along with everyone else right now.

"Very well then, but first, I require an article of clothing if anyone can spare one." Shippo stated in an elegant manner before Inuyasha tossed his red fire rat robe at the disguised fox demon. "Oh, thank you Inuyasha, I shall first use this robe to summon the magic I need."

While Shippo shook and waved Inuyasha's red fire rat robe around in the air, Inuyasha and Skuld brought over some plates which had the last of the sandwiches and fruit to serve anyone who was still hungry so no bugs or birds could spoil any of them while everybody was preoccupied having fun and playing a game of volleyball which would soon start in just a minute or two.

"Would anyone like anything more to eat?" Skuld asked innocently while walking around from person to person with Inuyasha following close behind. "We have to finish the food quickly so no bugs or birds attack them and make a mess or else the food will be wasted."

"Sure, thanks very much Skuld." Tamiya replied, snatching a sandwich along with a handful of fruit.

"Don't mind if I do." Otaki replied in a deep voice, grabbing the last two sandwiches and a handful of fruit as well.

"Are you hungry at all Mikuru?" Inuyasha asked. "You weren't around when Belldandy and her sisters brought all these snacks out so if you want something to need, now's the time or else you'll have to wait until supper which won't be for another two hours or so."

Miroku glared at Inuyasha and Skuld as he walked between Tamiya and Otaki so no one could surprise him with another ambush or pull any stunts like Kagome, Shippo and Inuyasha had all done a few moments ago. He thought he should just stay quiet and ride this out until he was transformed back to his regular self which he believed would be before supper or once Tamiya and Otaki had to leave.

"Thank you Inuyasha." Miroku replied politely while taking some fruit even though he couldn't hide how furious he was at the half demon.

"You're welcome Mikuru." Inuyasha said before moving along with Skuld, leaving Miroku to his thoughts and his torturous fate for a while.

"Alright everybody, before we begin, I shall require three volunteers." Shippo announced, looking around for any one to step forwards.

"We'll volunteer won't we Tamiya?" Otaki responded as he stepped forwards.

"Yeah, come on Mikuru, your cousin Miroku said he needs three volunteers after all so don't be shy." Tamiya replied, putting an around Miroku and grabbing the monk's shoulders before bringing him along to volunteer for what ever magic trick Shippo was brewing up.

"Thank you so much, no stand still and don't move, everyone hold your breath for a moment." Shippo instructed, waving the red article of clothing in the faces of his three volunteers for a couple of seconds, he then backed away and counted out loud. "One, two, three, four."

"Hey?" Otaki asked as he suddenly felt an unforeseen force pull him to one side. "What's wrong on here? What kind of trick is this?"

"I don't know." Tamiya pointed out as he felt the same thing only in the other direction. "But it looks like we've all become stuck together."

"S-Stuck together? We're stuck together?" Miroku cried out in a female voice with widened eyes as he suddenly realized that the fruit he and the two guys had eaten was the same magnet fruit he had served earlier today. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Inuyasha you dog! You served us magnet fruit instead of the fruit that Belldandy and Urd brought out for everybody! You and Skuld planned this from the very beginning didn't you? Shippo you trickster! That was all just an act so you could create the illusion that this effect was part of your trick which means you were in on this too! Michiru! Sango! Belldandy! Why don't any of you help meeeeeee?"

"Ah! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!" Urd/Mara both laughed in unison while holding their sides, this was true comedy and justice at its finest after all.

"Ah Ha! Ha! Ha!" Kagome and Sango laughed at the same time, it wasn't every day that Miroku experienced first hand what his own lecherous actions felt like and those of others so this was definitely hilarious to watch since he was getting a taste of his own misdeeds.

"That was a very impressive trick Miroku!" Kagome said, clapping her hands along with Keiichi and the others even though everyone except for Tamiya and Otaki correctly deduced that it was all because of the same magnet fruit Miroku himself had served this morning.

"For my next trick, I shall transform myself into something not of this world." Shippo announced before waving Inuyasha's robe around himself before a popping noise followed by a cloud of smoke appeared as he vanished and reappeared in his normal fox demon form.

"Wow!" Tamiya shouted impressively, clapping his hands loudly in the process." That was incredible! You're a great magician Miroku!"

"Actually, Miroku is my stage name, my real name is Shippo." Shippo replied in his own voice right now. "Now then, let's play volleyball!"

"Wait Shippo, aren't you going to reverse the effects of your magic so all of us are back to normal again?" Miroku asked pleadingly.

"I'm so sorry Mikuru, I used all the magic I could create from Inuyasha's robe, you'll just have to keep Tamiya and Otaki company until my spell as worn off." Shippo answered apologetically, causing Inuyasha to laugh as he retrieved his red robe from the young fox demon. "But don't worry, it won't last long, you'll just have to make due in the meantime and behave yourself while you're with our other guests."

NO! NO! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

"Alright, take your positions everyone, its time to play some volleyball!" Mara shouted, taking position on one side of the net with Keiichi and all of the goddesses as one team while Michiru, Inuyasha and the others formed up on the other side as the other team.

"Banpei?" Skuld called out, summoning her mechanical robot who rode over to the young goddess and transformed himself back to his original form so he could walk around on two legs. "Can you play on Michiru's side so both teams will have six players please?"

"Tamiya? Would you and Otaki please keep score for us and act as referees please?" Belldandy asked politely. "I'm afraid the rest of you can't play until after the magic from Shippo's trick wears off, when it does though, some of us can switch places with you. Is that fair?"

"Sure!" Tamiya replied, completely cool with the situation.

"No problem Miss Belldandy." Otaki added before turning to Miroku. "Okay Mikuru, when someone scores, you jump up and down like a cheerleader would do and we'll join you for support.

"W-What's a cheer leader?" Miroku asked worriedly.

"You don't know what a cheerleader is?" Tamiya asked in disbelief before calling out to the others. "Mikuru doesn't know what a cheerleader is! If we had our uniforms, we'd show her and let her participate as well."

"I can provide you with your uniforms Tamiya, I'm a magician too." Peorth offered, summoning her divine powers as she prepared to cast a spell. "You'll have to use your memories and imaginations to know what you want them to look like because I can't do that for you."

"No problem Peorth, just cast your spell and leave the rest to us." Tamiya replied.

"No! Please!" Miroku begged trying in vain to break free from the two tall and muscular men since the magnet fruit they had all eaten was still in effect. "I-I don't know what a cheerleader is, b-but I don't want to be a cheerleader! Peorth! Please don't cast your magic on us!"

"Sorry Mikuru, ready or not, here I go." Peorth said snapping her fingers and changing the clothes of her three targets into the pink ballerina like uniforms with short mini skirts Keiichi recalled seeing both of his fellow Auto Club members dressed in when ever they tried drawing attention or new members for the Auto Club even though their efforts only discouraged people from joining since Tamiya and Otaki were both guys instead of girls.

"Huh?" Miroku cried as the magic puff of smoke cleared and he found himself wearing the attire as the two guys he was stuck together with. "EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!"

"Wow Mikuru! I didn't know you could hit those high notes or look so fine in that pink cheerleader outfit! Ha! Ha! Ha!" Kagome shouted, pulling her digital camera out and capturing Miroku's humiliation on film she then tossed her camera to Tamiya who caught it with ease. "Tamiya? Could you please film the first game and take photos for me while I'm playing please? I want to capture all these fun moments."

"Sure thing Kagome, you can count on me." Tamiya shouted back before setting up the camera to aim and film the first game.

"I'm going to serve big sis!" Skuld shouted before she held the ball up in her left and struck it with the other from underneath. "I hit it!"

"Its coming towards you Sango, get ready to send it back." Michiru warned as he carefully watched the volleyball flying through the air.

"I've got it Michiru." Sango replied, leaping up setting it with both hands in order to sent it back over the net to the opposing team.

"Your turn Urd." Belldandy pointed out as the ball hovered high in the air until it fell down towards her older sister.

"Got it, take that!" Urd shouted excitedly after leaping up and spiking the ball with one hand before touching down on the ground, her impressive breasts bounced around in the process during her jump and again once she landed with her feet on the ground, the ball touched down on the ground before anyone else could intercept it which meant that Skuld has just scored the first point for her team.

"Yay!" Skuld jumped while cheering with delight. "We did it Urd, I scored the first point for us big sis!"

"Well done Skuld." Belldandy replied to congratulate her younger sister.

"Yay!" Tamiya cheered while aiming Kagome's camera and filming the first score of the game. "That's one point for Belldandy's team."

"Don't stand still Mikuru, you have to jump up and down waving your hands in the air while you shake your pompoms like I am." Otaki instructed, poor Miroku looked like he was going to hurl and throw up right now. "Hold hands with Tamiya and I and you'll learn quickly."

I don't want to do this! Why does Michiru get to be blessed with so many gorgeous goddesses while I'm stuck with two strange men? Wait! Why are both of you still eating more of that accursed magnet fruit? Stop or else we'll all be stuck like this for the rest of the day! Buddha? Why do you not answer my prayers? I have served you faithfully ever since I became a monk! I beg of you to end my misery!

Meanwhile inside the Main Assembly Hall up in Heaven…

"We've heard these arguments before Alastor, but the situation is now under control and Yggdrasil has been fully restored." A deity replied politely. "Therefore, there is no need to take the actions you are asking."

"I'm merely requesting that the divine Council take this matter a little more seriously after the Yggdrasil system temporarily malfunctioned all because of one significant event surrounding a mere mortal who at the time had no idea of the damage his actions had caused us." Alastor pointed out. "If a mere mortal can disrupt the Yggdrasil system whether it was his intention or not, how do all of you think this news will be received by the Netherworld? Anyone who can time travel, mortal or deity is a serious threat, especially if they are not under our control."

"You're asking us to cast aside the very laws and terms which have kept all three worlds in balance and at peace for countless centuries!" Another deity shouted furiously. "If we break even just one of these laws, such an action will be seen as a violation of the treaty agreed upon between Heaven and the Netherworld. That treaty allows us to equally coexist and benefit without threatening each other or the earth with devastation and war. I would have thought a deity such as yourself would clearly understand that Alastor, or am I mistaken?"

"Yes, you are, all of you are mistaken." Alastor argued. "Laws can be changed and broken or at the very least, bent and interpreted differently. That's a small price to pay for ensuring the continued safety, security and survival of all you wish to protect from harm."

"You know the laws we set in place and abide by Alastor." Lord Odin cut in. "You also know that mortals must be allowed to determine their own fate while they live out their lives down on earth until the time comes for them to be judged and granted or denied entry into heaven. We understand your concerns about the situation in regards to the Shikigami warrior you're referring too, but that is not enough to force the young man to do our bidding, especially since he hasn't yet mastered the magic necessary to time travel in the first place."

"I see, so you're willing to stand by and do nothing while someone else, possibly one of our enemies could be planning to do just that which would put ourselves and all three worlds at risk?" Alastor replied before adding an insult. "Such an action is cowardly and lazy."

"Enough!" The Almighty One interceded loudly even though he couldn't actually be seen by anyone in the Main Assembly Hall, his voice echoed so it sounded like he was everywhere. "Alastor, every deity here at this meeting whether they be an observer or a member of the divine council understands the arguments you have made and your reasons behind them. However, upholding the laws and preserving the peace between gods and demon kind must come first above everything else regardless of any possible threats from the mortal world. The Shikigami warrior in question presently has a contract with a first class goddess and is also in the company of several others, a Valkyrie from Heaven's battle division happens to be present as well. Should any enemy attempt to threaten or blackmail him into doing anything that threatens the existence of earth or Heaven and the Netherworld, then appropriate actions will be taken when they are necessary, and not before. But if those actions aren't necessary, we just have to wait until Michiru's lifespan on earth is over, then we will of course respectfully request him to join all our forces, including the Valkyries so that his Shikigami magic can be put to good use for the greater good in order to train other warriors and combating enemies throughout the ceaseless conflict which Valhalla is involved with."

Wait. What? Then the person Lind said she was training down on earth is actually the Shikigami warrior who caused Yggdrasil to…?

"When we created these laws to protect the delicate peace between all three worlds, we understood the need to limit our influence and intervention down on earth so that both deities and demons could equally benefit and coexist from such an arrangement which is also why we've continued to monitor the lives of everyone living on earth and forming contracts with those worthy, deserving or needy of such assistance. As deities yourselves, surely all of you can understand that regardless of your own personal feelings or of the unexpected malfunction of Yggdrasil which lasted temporarily as a result of the Shikigami warrior's travel between eras. Am I wrong?" The Almighty One continued. "Let us end this bickering about what to do and carry on with our duties as deities, Michiru Kururugi's profile and history have been made accessible and technical measures have been put in place to prevent Yggdrasil from malfunctioning should anything like this ever happen again. Thank you all for your views and cooperation. This council meeting is now adjourned, You're all dismissed."

Alastor swiftly and silently stormed out, it was obvious to everybody including the Almighty One that the deity was displeased with the results of the meeting, all of his suggestions were unanimously rejected by everyone. After retracing his steps, he eventually ended up in the lush green gardens, he then halted at the very spot where he had talked briefly with Lind until both of them had to go about their duties for the day. The male deity stared silently at where Lind had been standing when they had talked together, recalling all the details and words which had passed between them before gathering his thoughts and unfolding a magic scroll he had been carrying on himself, a magic light suddenly shined from it and he looked up Michiru's profile and was astonished to see a photograph of the Shikigami user.

"What? This can't be right, there must be some mistake. The Shikigami warrior all the Valkyries admire and frequently fantasize about is a mere boy? A mortal human boy?" Alastor commented in confusion, pressing holographic buttons on the surface of the scroll to confirm whether all the data was factual in case there were any errors, but none were found and he was completely baffled. "How in Heaven's name does a mere boy earn the admiration and affections of so many Goddesses and Valkyries? Well no matter, but now that his profile has been made available, I'll have to study it in detail before determining my next course of action since my requests have been rejected. The question remains whether or not he'll be willing to use his powers for the greater good when the time arrives and everything is riding on the outcome of that single decision. Either way, he'll be quite useful, then maybe the other deities will finally see things my way. So Lind is down on earth training Michiru Kururugi, well that's another interesting piece of news, I'll have to pay both of them a visit later on."

Back down on earth, everyone kept playing volleyball together, fun was being enjoyed by all except of course for Miroku who was still stuck between Tamiya and Otaki. The first game was reaching its climax, Belldandy's team had taken the lead, but Michiru's team had made a rapid comeback and there was only a single point separating them both. Belldandy's team was now just one point away from winning while Michiru's team desperately needed to score in order to tie and gain a chance of winning as well. The first game had gone on for almost a full hour and everyone on both teams had played admirably as they rotated positions, Michiru stood at the front on one side of the net while Peorth on the opposing team stood at the front on the other side, both of them were now facing each other after all the members of one team had finished rotating their positions once again.

"Hello Michiru." Peorth said flirtatiously with a gorgeous smile while looking at the Shikigami user through the volleyball net. "Having fun?"

"Yes Peorth, I'm having lots of fun, I'm sure everybody is." Michiru answered with a handsome smile. "Well, everyone except for Mikuru."

Michiru and Peorth both chuckled in response, the powers that be certainly swayed overwhelmingly against Miroku on this afternoon.

"I'm ready to serve Michiru, here it comes!" Inuyasha warned before leaping up the air and spiking the ball down with his fist in one move.

"Back at you Inuyasha!" Mara countered, punching the ball with both fists once the ball reached her side of the net, the force of her countermove caused the ball to fly high in the air and fall back down to wear Shippo was standing. "You'd better watch out Shippo."

"Thanks Mara, put I got it covered!" Shippo replied, transforming himself into Miroku so he'd be tall enough and have long enough arms in order to set the ball to stop it from hitting the ground. "Uh-oh, you'll have to repel it Michiru, I didn't hit it hard enough to sent it away."

"I've got it Shippo, there, wooah!" Michiru called out before setting the ball and passing it back over the net, unfortunately he lost his balance and fell backwards on to the ground with his eyes looking up at the white panties hidden underneath Kagome's green miniskirt.

"EEEEEEK!" Kagome screamed, using her hands to close her skirt while backing away from Michiru to hide herself from his line of sight.

"Are you alright Michiru?" Sango asked, helping the Kururugi boy to raise himself off of the ground in order to get to his feet.

"I'm alright, thank you Sango, I just lost balance when I jumped in the air and that's why I fell down." Michiru said reassuringly to show he was unhurt, he then turned around to express his apologies to Kagome while he and her both blushed lightly. "Sorry Kagome, please forgive me for…you know…"

"Its okay Michiru, accidents happen, let's get back to the game." Kagome answered before she noticed the ball flying at them. "Inuyasha!"

"I got it Kagome!" Inuyasha called out, jumping up and hitting the ball with his fist before it shot downwards over the net and on to the ground in the other team's vicinity. "Yeah! We're finally tied with Belldandy's team! Now we've got an even chance to win this game!"

"Looks like I'm serving next, here I go then." Lind said, throwing the ball up and spiking it with one hand, sending the ball flying in a straight line over the top until it was intercepted by Sango who set it high in the air for someone else on her team to try and repel.

"I got it!" Kagome shouted, holding both hands together and punching the ball from underneath so it would fly up and out of their side.

"I got it!" Peorth shouted, leaping up almost at the same time as Michiru and hit the ball with both hands only to have it bounce off of Michiru's hands a second later and fly backwards into the middle of her team's area while she and Michiru landed on the ground together just a couple of feet apart from each other. "Ah! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Nice block Michiru, you stopped my countermove just now."

"I only made it just in time Peorth, its only a matter of seconds until the game is decided." Michiru pointed out while catching his breath.

Urd dived forwards to hit the ball from underneath only to fall on the ground, the ball shot upwards until it fell again, allowing Belldandy to set it so it fell in the other side of the net. Banpei raised his arms up and struck the ball to it would go high and deep to the back end of once it flew over the net. Lind spiked the ball again, her aim was deadly and accurate this time because no one could intercept or repel it, the ball struck the ground and scored the final point needed to secure victory for her team which ended the game.

"That was a lot of fun!" Inuyasha remarked, stretching his limbs and moving around to get ready for another game. "Let's play again!"

"We have to switch ourselves up in order to pair people off on different teams Inuyasha." Kagome pointed out as people gathered around.

"I want to play on Michiru's team this time." Peorth stated, locking her arm around Michiru's before cuddling up to him while she smiled.

"I also want to be with Michiru." Lind stated, standing on the other side of Michiru so she would be on the same team with him and Peorth.

Its been a whole hour since I've been stuck between these two guys! How much longer to do I have to be stuck here like this? Wait…I can move, I can finally move! Oh thank the Heavens! Now I can finally distance myself and sit down somewhere so I can relax and rest.

Peorth, Lind, Skuld and Inuyasha joined Michiru's team. Now that magnet fruit had worn off, Tamiya was able to join the team to play too while Otaki joined Belldandy, Urd, Mara, Sango and Shippo. Peorth used her divine powers again to change Tamiya and Otaki's clothes back to what they had been wearing before, but left Miroku still dressed in the pink miniskirt attire, it appears as though his humiliation was far from being over. Kagome took a break in order to watch on the sidelines with her camera while Banpei did the same and doubled as a referee, only Miroku was unaccounted for until Peorth spotted him trying to escape.

"Where do you think you're going Mikuru?" Peorth asked, summoning her green vines to lasso the unsuspecting monk by the waist and drag him back to the volleyball court where he was told to stay put between Banpei and Kagome who kept a close eye on him.

"You look nice in that pink miniskirt Mikuru!" Kagome teased sarcastically with an evil smile. "We'll make a cheerleader of you yet."

"Shut up Kagome, this is your fault, I wouldn't be suck like this if you and everybody else hadn't betrayed and taken advantage of me." Miroku whispered angrily, drawing a look from the reborn priestess who couldn't help but laugh at the monk for trying to blame others.

"Tell me Mikuru, who was it that tried serving magnet fruit to all of us earlier this morning before lunch?" Kagome clever countered in order to shut Miroku up in a single sentence, then she giggled at the priceless look on the female Miroku's face. "That's what I thought."

"Here Otaki, you can serve the ball first since you didn't get to play with us last game." Belldandy offered kindly, handing Otaki the ball.

"Thanks Belldandy, ahem. Get ready everybody, cause here comes the first shot!" Otaki replied before hurling the ball up and spiking it, the ball soared over the net until Tamiya punched it so it would fly back over to the side it had been served from. "Nice move Tamiya!"

"Back at you Otaki!" Tamiya responded, watching the ball as it passed back and forth over the net with each person setting or punching it.

Meanwhile in Feudal Japan…

The wind sorceress Kagura had spent a full day travelling ever since she found herself alive inside the cave on Asagiri Island, off the coast of the mainland and within eyesight of Shiyosai village where lots of fishermen lived. Although she was alone and with no clue or sense of direction to take, she summoned her enormous feather which she rode the wind on, flying north westerly in the direction of Botan village, that was where Kanna was last seen alive before he was defeated in battle by Inuyasha's group of friends. After flying high in the sky above the trees and mountains, Kagura finally sighted her destination and descended in order to touch down on the ground in a short while, she also slowed down her speed as she got closer and closer to avoid accidentally crashing. The mysterious mist and fog which hung over and around the remnants of Botan village slightly obscured Kagura's vision as she came in to land on the ground, so she took her time and was extra careful during her landing, her enormous feather shrinking down to the size of a flower pedal which she placed back in her hair upon arriving safely.

Here is it, Botan village or at least, what's left of it anyway. There doesn't seem to be any signs of life, the village is totally abandoned and deserted, all the wooden dwellings and homes are old, rotten and falling apart. I'd better search the whole village for a sign of Kanna.

Kagura surveyed the area around her and kept her ears open for any sudden noises, it was dead quiet here which was appropriate for a dead village and for someone like herself who had been dead once already because of Naraku even though he was now dead too, but Kagura still felt on edge because she had been summoned back from dead and it wouldn't make any sense for her and Kanna to keep on living if Naraku had been defeated or at least that was what she thought. The wind sorceress carefully searched each section of the small ruined village, one house at a time, but there was so signs of evidence that Kanna had been here recently. All Kagura had left to search was the graveyard where she remembered seeing Kanna and Utsugi battling against Inuyasha friends including Michiru before the young female incarnation was defeated and Utsugi was forced to give up the fight and meet Kagura on Asagiri Island.

"This was where I last saw Kanna, it was here that she died in battle, at least she wasn't tortured or betrayed by Naraku like I was. Well, I suppose that's what I got for betraying him in the end too, but he deserved to die and Inuyasha's friends were the only ones who could possibly kill him. Its too bad I didn't hold off a little while longer, I could have watched Naraku die with my own eyes for myself, that would have made me feel so much better." Kagura thought out loud while looking around at the undisturbed grave stones gathered together.

Kagura was about to leave when she noticed a rolled up scroll of paper laying where Kanna had been standing during the battle until she had been defeated, she saw her name "Kagura" painted in ink on the outside of it which meant that Kanna was indeed as much alive as she was right now, but something was suspicious because Kanna had obviously expected Kagura's resurrection and return to this location which is why the scroll had been left behind for her to find upon her arrival.

"How did Kanna know of my return from the dead or that I would come here looking for her afterwards? Oh well, no matter, I'd better find out what she's wrote." Kagura asked as she picked up the small scroll and unravelled it so she could read its contents, her eyes peering suspiciously until she had finished reading.

Hello Kagura, if you're reading this, that means you've been brought back from the dead just as I have been. I'm travelling eastwards on foot towards the mountains, follow until you find me, we have much to do. Kanna.

"What does she mean we have much to do?" Kagura wondered softly to herself, blinking her eyes in confusion as she read the scroll a second time. "Naraku is dead and gone, both of us are alive, alive with our hearts beating in our own bodies for once so there's no reason why we should have to do anymore of Naraku's dirty work. What ever, I suppose there's nothing else I can do right now so I suppose I should go and track down Kanna in order to find out what's going on and what she has planned, it'll give me answers and pass the time."

Many miles to the east, Kanna was walking barefooted through the rocky terrain at the base of a mountain, carrying her mirror which had been mysteriously been fully restored to its original form once again. With this deadly device, the haunting little girl could pull the souls of people out of their bodies, a very scary sight to behold and an even scarier way to die as well for anyone who had the misfortune of being drawn into its magical aura. It was late in the afternoon and although the sun wasn't setting yet, it had already heading towards the western horizon so there were only a couple of hours at most until nightfall had arrived which would shroud the surrounding environment in darkness. Although night time was usually when dangerous demons were out and about the most, Kanna wasn't at risk or in danger, she had her magic mirror to suck the soul out of anything that threatened her, she was also in a part of the country which was almost devoid of living creatures and human beings as well.

The short and innocent looking incarnation kept walking on ceaselessly without tiring, her bare feet on the ground remained miraculously clean without bruises or sores on them, one had to wonder how on earth this little girl could survive on her own for so long and especially now since Naraku was no longer living. High above in the sky, dark clouds were gathering together and the faint rumbled of thunder could be heard in the distance as the gathering storm slowly approached closer and closer by the hour. A sudden flash of lightning followed by a loud crack of thunder echoing like a giant hammer blow made Kanna look up at the sky, the wind gradually begun to turn more violent and blow Kanna's white kimono around, causing the young girl to slightly slow down now that the elements of nature were making her journey more difficult. Looking up at the clouds, Kanna could see the outline of rain pouring down from the heavens in the distance, she had to find shelter inside a cave or even a cliff edge somewhere in the mountain to escape the coming storm.

"I'd better find someplace to stay until the storm passes, Kagura should be able to catch up to me if I stay in one place, then both of us can fly together on the wind and make up for this delay." Kanna said softly to herself, looking around to decide where to go from here since time was short and the mountain slope she was presently on would soon turn into a deadly landslide slide of rocks and mud if the rain was heavy enough, there appeared to be a small path winding around one side of the mountain to her right and decided to take that direction as she could also see some jagged cliff edge sticking out of the mountain side from above. "There's a good place to wait, I'll be safe from the rain and I'll have a good view of anyone or anything approaching me while I wait for the storm to stop or pass me by."

Back in Modern Japan…

Time continued going by while everybody played volleyball together, Michiru's Uncle had returned from the Temple and gone inside to prepare a delicious dinner since he wouldn't dream of asking Belldandy or Michiru to stop having so much fun during the game they were still preoccupied with, he walked over to see how everybody was doing and Kagome had pointed out Keiichi's friends from the Auto Club and "Mikuru" who was still stuck being a cheerleader. After a few words were exchanged between the old priest and the high school girl, Koshian went indoors to start cooking. Miroku's mind was still plagued with thoughts about how much longer his fate would be, surely Skuld and the others would eventually turn him back to normal before everybody retired for the evening and went to bed or so he hoped and prayed, at least he was now standing between Kagome and Banpei instead of Tamiya and Otaki which made him feel only slightly relieved.

The game was presently tied and both teams were only one point away from winning, it was just a question of who would score next, everybody was excited even though some of them had gotten tired by now after playing for so long. Belldandy served the ball and launched it over the net until Lind repelled it out, Mara spiked it back in and it almost touched the ground, but Inuyasha was there to punch it back out where it hit the ground in the other team's court and ended the struggle so he had been the hero for his team during this game. Now Michiru's team had possession of the ball and it was time to seize the chance to win the game, Urd rolled the ball underneath the net towards Sango who was now in position to serve after everyone had rotated places, she held it up and struck it from underneath so it flew up and over the net.

"I got it." Otaki called out before spiking the ball downwards back into Skuld's side of the net. "There!"

"Back at you!" Inuyasha countered, diving down and striking it with both hands so it would fly high up in the air, once again playing the part of the hero for his team.

"I've got it everyone." Urd stated, raising her arms in high above her head while giving everybody a great view of her fabulous female figure before she set the ball with both hands so it would go backwards to Mara who stood waiting behind her. "The ball is yours Mara."

"Thanks Urd." Mara replied excitedly, jumping up with her arm and fist raised in the air as she prepared to spike the ball. "Try hitting this!"

The demon lady had spiked the ball with such force and speed that the ball shot over the net really fast, alarming everyone in the process since Mara's move could decide the game right then and there, but Lind was in the right place at the right time to repel it back.

"Don't mind if I do!" Lind replied, forming her hands into first and punching the ball with both of them at the same time, causing the ball to bounce back and travel diagonally as it flew over the net where Shippo intercepted it and set the ball lightly to it would pass behind him to Belldandy.

"My turn now." Belldandy called out before she struck the ball so it would soar over the net again and fall in the middle just where Skuld was standing. "Its all yours Skuld, you can do it."

"Here I go big sis." Skuld replied even though Belldandy and Urd were both playing on the opposing team, she leapt up and set the ball just lightly enough so it would pass over the top of the net and fall down in the middle at the front opposite from where she was standing.

"I've got it." Urd called out, forming her hands together as she dove down to hit it from underneath, hitting the ball before landing flat on the ground, only to have the ball bounce off of the net and fly back towards Mara who stood behind her. "Uh-oh, hurry and hit it Mara!"

"I got it Urd!" Mara shouted, forming her hands together before diving down to it the ball from underneath as Urd as done since she hadn't any other alternative in the few seconds that were available to her, she hit the ball and managed to hit it with enough force so it would fly high up and over the net.

Everyone suddenly hushed in silence as they watched where the ball was going to land, it looked as though it was going to land in Michiru's position and so the Kururugi boy set the ball so it would fly forwards towards the net, but not far enough to pass over the top. Mara, Urd and their other team mates relaxes as they thought that the ball would hit the ground and be dead, but Skuld who was in front of Michiru, set the ball so it would complete the required distance to pass over the net and fall down on the ground. Urd and Mara were still busy getting to their feet so they hadn't enough time to properly intercept or repel the ball once it came into their side of the court, Skuld's move had caused the ball to land in the court so the final point was gained in order to win the game.

"Yay!" We won!" Peorth cheered, racing over to hug Michiru in the spur of the moment, causing everyone else to cheer and laugh as well.

"Yeah!" Inuyasha cheered, raising his hands in the air and forming them into fists momentarily to celebrate the victory sharing a high five with Tamiya as they slammed the open palms of their hands together, the half demon then did the same with Michiru. "I love volleyball!"

"Good job Skuld, you won the game for us." Michiru said, congratulating the young goddess after all the cheering had finally died down.

"Thanks Michiru, but only because you passed the ball to me at the right moment." Skuld replied, smiling briefly at the Kururugi boy.

"I'm glad everybody had fun, but its nearly time for supper so some of us have to head inside to help Mr. Koshian, we'll let the rest of you know when its time to come inside to eat." Belldandy announced before turning to Tamiya and Otaki. "Tamiya? Otaki? Thank you so much for coming over to visit us, we all enjoyed playing volleyball with both of you. Can you stay to eat supper with all of us this evening?"

"We only wish we could Belldandy." Otaki regretfully replied since he and Tamiya enjoyed Belldandy's homemade cooking as much as everybody else did. "But unfortunately we have chores to do back at the Auto Club before the sun goes down, perhaps some other time."

"Very well then, thank you again, we enjoyed your company and you're always welcome to visit us at any time." Belldandy said kindly.

"Don't you guys want to discuss which days are best for all of the Auto Club members to meet together at the workshop?" Keiichi asked.

"Oh yeah, we almost forgot, thanks for remembering Morisato." Otaki replied gratefully, digging a notepad and a pen from his pocket.

"Hey Mikuru?" Tamiya asked after approaching Mikuru who was still standing between Kagome and Banpei. "If its not too much trouble, could we ask for your phone number please?"

"Phone number?" Miroku asked in confusion. "I-I don't have a phone number."

"Oh, sorry about that." Tamiya said. "Well, see you later Mikuru, it was real great having fun with you."

"Kagome?" Miroku asked worriedly with a whispered tone after Tamiya left and wandered over to talk with Otaki and Keiichi about which days the three of them along with all the other club members should meet during the summer break. "What's a phone number and why was Tamiya asking me for a phone number?"

"Its what people do in the modern era when they want to meet up with other or communicate with one another so its easier to arrange meetings during their busy schedules." Kagome explained before smiling mischievously at the female monk. "However, its also a sign that a guy shows interest in a girl because he wants to meet with her or spend time with her again, that's how relationships are formed."

"W-What d-do y-you m-mean b-by that?" Miroku asked fearfully with widened eyes and trembling limbs. "Are you implying that…"

"Heh! Heh! Heh!" Kagome sarcastically remarked. "You're a lucky girl Mikuru, I wish I had two strong guys romantically interested in me."

"What are you talking about Kagome?" Inuyasha cut in after hearing her last sentence as Sango, Michiru, and Shippo wandered over to see how Miroku was doing. "You have Koga, Hojo from your era and Hojo from my era. That gives you three different guys in total."

"There are actually four guys Inuyasha." Shippo pointed out. "Aren't you forgetting someone else?"

"Who else is there Shippo?" Inuyasha asked until he realized the young fox demon was referring to him. "Hey! Cut that out would you?"

"You can be so dumb sometimes." Shippo stated.

"Didn't I tell you to cut it out Shippo?" Inuyasha replied angrily, his temper getting the better of him right now. "One more word and I'll…"

"That's enough Inuyasha, no need to lose your temper!" Kagome cut in frustratingly in order to prevent a fight from breaking out.

"Argh!" Inuyasha fumed angrily before turning his attention to Kagome. "He started it Kagome! Don't look at me and say this is my fault!"

"You should have just kept your comments to yourself then Inuyasha!" Kagome retaliated.

"Is it true Sango?" Michiru asked quietly in a soft voice while both of them watched and listened from a few feet away. "Does Kagome really have that many guys who are all interested in her? I thought Inuyasha and Koga were the only ones competing and fighting for her."

"They are, if you mean they're the only ones fighting over her I mean." Sango explained. "There's also a guy in your era who goes to school with Kagome named Hojo according to Inuyasha and there's another guy in our era by the name of Akitoki Hojo as well, I think he's the distance ancestor of the other Hojo I mentioned previously, though I don't know for sure since I've never met both of them like Kagome and Inuyasha have so you'd have to ask each of them to find out if you really want to know for certain."

"I see…" Michiru replied with a sigh since he had to step in before both of his hot-headed friends became even more violent than they were already. "Alright you two, time to break it up and calm yourselves down, that's the way. Try acting polite and gentle like Sango does."

"What is it Mikuru?" Sango asked as she suddenly met eyes with Miroku who looked desperately at her for help even though it wasn't in Sango's power to change him back or offer him any kind of comfort, not that he deserved any even though she understood his situation.

Why does Sango look as though she doesn't have a single shred of concern for me right now? She's usually so kind and caring.

"Don't call me that Sango, you know who I really am." Miroku replied frustratingly with a female voice, drawing the attention of Michiru and the others since it wasn't every day that Sango could argue with the monk while he was in a predicament like this. "My name is Miroku."

"I'm sorry Mikuru, but if you're looking for someone to comfort you, you're asking the wrong person." Sango stated sarcastically, she may have appeared to be unconcerned, but she actually found Miroku's predicament quite amusing and justly deserved considering she was almost always the victim of his unwelcome behaviour when ever he touched or groped her with his lecherous hands, it was actually a miracle she managed to keep a straight face the entire time she was looking at him and talking to him. "Why don't you ask your cousin Miroku? He is your cousin and you two have a lot in common, now you'll have to excuse me so I can go check on my brother Kohaku."

"Why is Sango doing this to me?" Miroku asked, turning to Kagome, Shippo, Michiru and Inuyasha once Sango walked away and left.

"You did this to yourself…Mikuru." Shippo pointed out with an evil grin written all over his face, setting the mood for everybody else.

"What are you talking about Shippo? Skuld and Inuyasha both set me up!" Miroku argued frustratingly while arguing with his friends.

"No, we taught you a lesson and unfortunately, this is the only way for you to truly learn from your misdeeds." Inuyasha explained, looking Miroku closely in the face with a serious expression even though he was trying to resist laughing right now just like everybody else was. "All of us including the goddesses can be your best friends or your worst enemies, but your actions say you seem to prefer the latter so if you want the goddesses to change you back to normal, you're going to have to act respectfully or else you'll be stuck like that…forever."

No! Not that! Anything but that!

Miroku was so utterly terrified and speechless that he stayed as he was until Kagome and the others gave up and left him alone for a while so they could entertain themselves until supper was ready, Kagome went inside to show Shippo, Inuyasha and Mara all the photographs that had been taken, especially those of Miroku in his female form which the four of them laughed their heads off over. Sango had gone to check on Kohaku to see if her young brother required any attention or help, Belldandy went inside with Michiru to help cook supper in the kitchen with the Kururugi boy's Uncle, and Skuld went to her laboratory to change herself back into her younger self. Urd went to relax in her bedroom while Peorth and Lind did the same in the room that they both shared, Keiichi was finished discussing possible dates to do activities at the Auto Club with Tamiya and Otaki who were just getting ready to depart once the taxi they call for arrived in a couple of minutes.

"Michiru? Koshian asked curiously while stirring an enormous pot of rice on the stove. "Will your other two friends be staying for dinner?"

"Uh, no Uncle, they both have to leave to do chores at the Auto Club that they and Keiichi are a part off." Michiru answered while setting places on the long rectangular table for everybody to eat together at, placing glasses along with napkins and cutlery evenly spaced out.

"Oh, I see, it would appear as though I've prepared more food than we actually needed then." Koshian pointed out while looking around.

"No need to worry Uncle Koshian, I'm sure everyone here will be hungry enough to eat everything so no food will be left over to clean up." Michiru remarked with a chuckle, he then glanced at Belldandy who smiled sweetly at him in return while the three of them kept working.

"Hey Belldandy." Keiichi said after entering the kitchen, looking around at all the foods being prepared. "Do any of you need any help?"

"Yes please Keiichi, you can take over for Michiru, he has to step out for a short while so he can talk with Urd." Belldandy replied, catching Michiru off guard while providing him with the opportunity to speak with Urd privately before it was time to eat supper together.

"Sure, you heard Belldandy Michiru, I'll take over for you." Keiichi offered, stepping in to finish setting the table for the Shikigami user.

"Thanks Keiichi, I'll see you, Belldandy and the others back." Michiru replied, moving out of the way and glancing briefly at the first class goddess before he left the kitchen and made his way to where Urd's bedroom was located, walking by Peorth's bedroom along the way.

"Michiru?" Lind called out, stopping the Japanese boy in his tracks. "Pardon me, I wondered if I could talk to you for a short while."

"Sorry Lind, I was about to go talk with Urd." Michiru responded, knocking on the door to Urd's bedroom only to receive no response.

"I think I saw Urd go down the hall to answer the phone just a minute ago, we could talk while you're waiting for her to be done if you'd like." Lind replied. "Since everybody is in the house, we should go outside on the porch deck to have some privacy while we talk."

"Alright Lind, I'll accompany you outside." Michiru said, turning around to follow the Valkyrie throughout the house until they both went passed the kitchen and down another hallway until they ended up outside. "So Lind? What did you want to talk with me about?"

"I apologize if I make you uncomfortable, but when you suddenly raced off to the kitchen, I thought I had said something to upset you and then I couldn't help but notice that you were embarrassed about something you were trying to hide from Kagome which I can only deduce was amongst all of the groceries that you went out to buy earlier this afternoon." Lind explained, she could already see a light blush creep up and appear on Michiru's cheeks which would soon spread all over his whole face if she continued. "I was just worried that something was bothering you so I wanted to offer you any help or advice that you might require if you'd be willing to tell me about what happened."

"I see, well…the thing is, maybe I should start from the beginning instead." Michiru replied nervously while under the Valkyrie's gaze.

"Which ever way is easiest for you Michiru, I'm listening." Lind said supportively before sitting down with her legs hanging over the deck.

"Well, if you recall earlier this morning when all of us were outside together, I was asked by Peorth and Urd to rub some suntan lotion on each of their backs." Michiru begun, blushing a little more as he sat down beside Lind on her left. "I don't know if you ever saw the three of us during that part of the day since you were sparring with Sango and Inuyasha, it was just before Miroku served magnet fruit to us."

"Yes Michiru, I recall both of those incidents, but what does any of that have to do with this other matter?" Lind asked curiously.

"Well, during that first incident, Peorth and Urd were both…flirting around…a lot, w-with me." Michiru reluctantly answered, blushing more and more. "I don't have a lot of experience when it comes to interacting with girls, let alone flirting with them or receiving advances from them either so I didn't know at the time if they were both just doing it for fun and laughs or because each of them have feelings for me."

"I see, please continue." Lind replied with a nod as she listened closely, watching Michiru carefully and studying his body language.

"I've only known Peorth, Urd and all the other goddesses including yourself for a few days and yet, it already feels as though I've become more than just friends with some of you so I…" Michiru said softly, pausing for a moment before turning his eyes away from Lind so he could look towards the outside yard. "…I bought a box of condoms. I know that I'm not ready for that sort of thing yet, but I'm just being responsible which is what my parents would want from me in order to do what's best for everyone involved. I can't believe I just said that."

"Michiru?" Lind replied, she knew how guilty he felt from his posture and also how he could find her intimidating given that she was a Valkyrie warrior so she repositioned herself behind the Shikigami user after getting on her knees and embraced him from behind in a comforting hug, wrapping her arms around Michiru's shoulders in the process before talking again in a soothing voice. "That was brave of you to tell me all of this, especially since I'm a Valkyrie warrior, I know that I can appear intimidating to someone of your young age. But please rest assured that this doesn't change my view of you, there's nothing wrong with being prepared for matters related to sex, we both know you aren't a lecherous pervert like Miroku so you're worrying about this a lot more than you need too. I can understand you wanting avoid any embarrassment by not telling your other friends about this and you're right in that regard, I'll give you my word on my honour as a warrior that nothing from this conversation between us will be said to others, I hope that you'll feel better moving forward."

Michiru was speechless, for the life of him, he had no idea of what to say. He wasn't expecting Lind to be so kind and supportive, let alone so gentle and understanding, this was a whole other side of her, a soft side too which made him feel truly blessed to have seen.

Wow, I didn't think Lind had such a soft side to her personality, she's more like Sango than she lets on. She feels so soft too, I could fall asleep in her embrace right now if I was tired enough. No Michiru! Don't think thoughts like those! Hurry up and say something back!

"Thank you L-Lind, for all your kind words and concerns, hearing them from you makes me feel better already." Michiru replied gratefully before he stood up and turned around to face the warrior woman, taking her hands in his own for a moment. "You have a very nice soft side Lind, I'm glad to have seen it for myself, it'll be all the more easier for me to train and spar with you as your student when ever we can start our sessions. I really don't know whether or not I've earned the admiration and praise from you and all your fellow Valkyries, but I'll do my best to become a strong and skilled warrior like I know you and Sango both are and also, I'll try hard to live up to being who all of the Valkyries and Goddesses have imagined me to be regardless of what life throws in my way from this night moving forwards."

Now it was Lind's turn to be speechless after having heard all of Michiru's words, not only had he just expressed his thanks and given her a huge compliment, he had also stated that he would try his hardest to become the great and noble warrior she and her fellow Valkyries dreamt he would be. The Shikigami user had honestly shared his doubts about being worthy of her admiration and of earning the reputation he could only imagine or read about in fairytales and fantasy stories which he had in fact already earned and gained also. The formidable female fighter could only smile back briefly in admiration at the young man standing before her, he honestly had no idea what awaited him in the world where the deities resided, nor could he even begin to imagine that so many female deities had lost their hearts to him throughout the last five hundred years. Michiru was aware of Peorth's growing affection for him and he also had a suspicion about Urd falling for him as well, Lind however was another matter altogether because she wasn't as flirtatious or upfront with such feelings of love and affection as they were. While she verbally expressed her admiration to Michiru more than once already, she knew that feelings of the love and affection took time to grow and that until they were ready to burst out from inside like a beautiful butterfly emerging from a cocoon after its transformation, she needed to truly devote herself over time in a serious relationship built on trust with honesty and respect as well with whom ever she was interested in seeking as a worthy soul mate for eternity. But that was far off in the distant future, for the time being, she had just established a friendship with the brave Shikigami warrior who would soon be her student starting tomorrow as well once she and Sango made arrangements to train and spar together as trusted friends and fellow combatants.

Author's Notes: Hello everyone, I hope all of you enjoyed reading this chapter, sorry that it took forever to write out. I would like to bring up a matter which most of you have mentioned more than once in one of your reviews, the romantic relationship and who will be paired with whom, more specifically who Sango should be paired with since she truly deserves someone much better than Miroku. I've already mentioned that this story will have multiple pairings and alternate endings so Michiru can be romantically involved with a different goddess at the end of the story. Since Sango deserves better, I'm willing to add another alternate ending so she can be paired with Michiru even though she isn't a goddess herself. Please vote for or against this idea, everyone's viewpoint is valid and equally valuable.

I've also been discussing the idea with J4RRE77 about writing an alternate ending where Michiru is married with the three goddesses mentioned in the story summary who will get to share a romantic relationship with the Shikigami warrior. His suggestions and knowledge about how life for Valkyries in Valhalla where Lind resides and what awaits noble warriors who are worthy enough to be admitted to Valhalla support the idea of having an alternate ending where Michiru is married to Peorth, Urd and Lind (possibly Sango as well even though she's not a goddess herself) and that all of them live together in the palace that awaits Michiru once his mortal life on earth is over. Please share your thoughts and concerns; you've all been loyal and devoted fans so your views and opinions are important to take into consideration. I'm not very knowledgeable about writing a romantic relationship which involves a harem, but since goddesses follow different customs and laws than humans do, it's certainly within the boundaries of fiction and believable as well.

Raidentensho: I've been thinking of writing other Inuyasha cursed mask crossovers in order to pair Michiru Kururugi with other anime and give him other adventures; those are still on the drawing board though since I'm already taking so long to write out my other stories right now. Yes, Miroku will definitely be in for the surprise of his life when he hears Michiru has won the hearts of nearly all the goddesses, he's already jealous enough as it is so there's more fun and humour to come plus adventure and romance. Glad you're enjoying the story.

Greymon Leader Batx flashpoint: I hear you, it can be tough being a shy teenage boy, especially with so many attractive beauties flirting around with him and living together with him under the same roof with without his parents being around! Most teenage boys would kill for such an opportunity, especially the trouble making kind. I'm trying to have Michiru gradually get used to all these changes in his life, especially having so many goddesses for company, all the events and changes have forced him to mature quickly and grown up. He hasn't even gone back to visit the Feudal era yet so you can imagine all the additional dangers and adventures that await him there too. It's truly a shame that he and the other cursed mask game characters don't exist in the original cannon, they would be so fun to watch. I'm glad you're enjoying the story so far, my apologies for taking so long to write and upload a new chapter, I hope it was a great read for you.

HotelKatz: Yeah, it would be fun if Hild were to playfully flirt with Michiru for a moment just for fun, but nothing more than that since Michiru's too much of a good natured and kind hearted person to choose Hild over going to Heaven. I don't know if she'd know about the Shrine and Temple given that they both exist in Heaven and that she's the ruler of all Demon Kind along with the Netherworld, but one can only guess, there is a chance that Michiru could die in battle which sadly is a common tragedy for the greatest heroes we know of so that's still a possibility given that this story will have multiple romantic pairings and alternate endings with a slightly different conclusion.

I hope that you're enjoying the story so far, I apologize again for taking so long to write and upload a new chapter, I hope that you liked it.

J4RRE77: I agree, I'll probably have him appear briefly for one last chapter so he can go on another of his long pilgrimages, that will allow Michiru and the goddesses to have the house to themselves and more time for adventures, especially once the time comes to revisit the Feudal era. Oh don't worry, Miroku's going to use up his third strike quickly so that everyone will be furious with him as you've undoubtedly foreseen already, but I plan for everyone to accompany him to ensure he stays out of trouble and then the adventures in Feudal Japan can begin. Sad but true, I'll keep an eye open for some opportunities so Mara can return to her original role of causing mischief and trouble, but that's a ways off yet since everyone is presently altogether in the modern era and staying under the same roof. I really like the idea of having Lind training Michiru so he doesn't entirely have to rely on his Shikigami powers or his Flower Bloomer Sword, with Lind and Sango taking turns to train Michiru together, he's bound to transform into a formidable young warrior who can hold his own even in a fist fight or two.

Bucio: Well, you have to remember that Michiru was summoned from the Modern era to the Feudal era and back again to the same point in time as he had left, the many months he spent in the Feudal era having his adventures and displaying such courage and moral codes of conduct during an era when such values are nearly non existent or ignored by others are mainly what earned him all the respect and admiration he's received. In addition to that, Michiru hasn't used his Shikigami powers for selfish reasons or to benefit himself as most young men would from either era, he's upheld morale beliefs and treated others equally and fairly while using his magic only when necessary for the benefit of others. Since goddesses judge human beings differently than other human beings, it's only natural that they take a liking to someone as courageous, kind hearted and respectful as Michiru is, especially since he's also still a teenage boy without any greed or temptations that adults would possess.

I didn't want to forget or leave out any side characters from Ah! My Goddess which is why others have made short appearances here and there during some of the chapters, I'm allowing Michiru to open up little by little so he'll gradually get used being in contact with so many gorgeous goddesses, especially Peorth and Urd who are the most flirtatious goddesses of all. That will allow him to bond with them over time and transform the friendships he's forged into romance further down the road since this story will have various alternate endings with multiple pairings for each.

On the subject of the magnet fruit, it was an opportunity which was too good to pass up, for Michiru and the goddesses as well as Miroku along with Tamiya and Otaki. I've never read the manga, but Inuyasha and Ah! My Goddess blend together well since they have many great characters, magic, romance, humour and adventure all in one. I am considering the idea of pairing Sango with Michiru so she's saved from Miroku's lecherous behaviour, she deserves someone better than Miroku and who is worthy of her after all as I'm sure you and other readers will agree with. I've already had one chapter which has Michiru turned temporarily into a child, it would be unbelievably crazy if all of the deities were like that too, especially if potions are necessary to return them to their normal selves again. On the other hand though, perhaps the same humorous experience can be accomplished by having all of them in their Chibi forms like in the Ah! My Goddess miniseries which has them in their tiny forms about the size of Tinker bell if you follow me, they stay like that to conserve energy while they're not needed and have the whole house to themselves so that might be more workable.

I regretfully had to cut the scenes with Hild's second appearance and Michiru revealing to Urd that he discovered her half demon heritage since this chapter was so long already, and I've been keeping fans waiting for an update for much too long. But I plan to include them in the next chapter after this one that you've just finished reading, the multiple endings and pairings are going to branch off from a specific chapter in the far off future of this story so either reaction will work for Urd after Michiru's finished explaining himself, I think it would be nice if they share a kiss since Urd needs to have a tender moment of her own with Michiru given that Peorth's had one or two already. I really hope you enjoyed reading the tender moment Peorth and Michiru both got to have, I agree its been a while since their first one and they needed another given all that's happened so far throughout the passed couple of chapters, especially since Peorth has a contract with Michiru and needs to grant him a wish once he's finally ready to make one. Thank you for all your patience, thoughtful suggestions and lengthy comments expressed in your reviews so far, I sincerely hope you'll continue enjoying this story, each new chapter at a time.

OrionPax09: No apologies necessary, real life is notorious for getting in the way regardless of how hard we try to prevent it, summer is here so I hope things have somewhat improved for you even if just a little. I hope you enjoyed this latest chapter along with the craziness and comedy that came with it, especially the scenes with Tamiya and Otaki from the Nekomi Motor Club, those were very fun to write.

As I mentioned before, the idea with the magnet fruit was too good to pass up once I saw that bonus event from the Inuyasha cursed mask game, especially while using the characters from Inuyasha and Ah! My Goddess since they both blend so well together. They have likeable characters, magic, humour, romance and adventure, all the essentials of a great story. Michiru's still shy and not used to the flirtatious advances of two gorgeous goddesses like Peorth and Urd, but he'll gradually get used to them over time which will allow the bonds of friendship to blossom into romance later on. Same goes for Keiichi, but he'll be alright so long as he's with Belldandy, he only has to worry about Skuld since she's fiercely attached to her older sister which has been proved multiple times when ever Skuld verbally addresses Belldandy with the nickname Big Sis.

Oh, so am I, Miroku's gotten away with so many misdeeds so I've made it my mission in this story to administer some long overdue justice and punishment which I hope you enjoyed reading about, I enjoyed writing those scenes out since they were so hilarious. Mara may have taken advantage of Michiru's predicament, but she shouldn't have underestimated him like she did more than once before or else she'd find herself dancing against her will to hard rock music until she dances herself to death, luckily Michiru was merciful to her.

You're correct; Belldandy is the sweetest deity in the world, especially when it comes to aiding and advising those in need like Keiichi and Michiru, those two have been the most needy of her help as of late. I regretfully had to cut out the scenes featuring Hild's second appearance and Michiru's revelation to Urd about discovering her half demon heritage, the new chapter was getting too long and taking too long to write out, but I plan to include them in the next chapter following the one you've just finished reading. Afterwards, Urd will feel much better and grow closer to Michiru so that both of them can develop a relationship together, Urd deserves happiness after all.

As you've probably predicted, Miroku will end up doing something unforgivable which will cost him his third strike, but that doesn't mean that his misery and misfortune will end there. It only means that his trip to Modern Japan will end so that the story and the characters can travel to Feudal Japan, allowing the story a change of setting and the chance to travel in a new direction with more adventure along the way. I'm glad you enjoyed the sparring matches, I had to use my imagination to make the sparring matches interesting and I agree that Michiru has learned a lot thanks to Sango's training and still possesses much more with conventional handheld weapons. I plan to have Sango and Lind training Michiru together at different times so he can learn new skills and adapt at a faster pace to different forms of combat, this is also to prepare him for battles that he and everyone else will have to fight later on throughout Feudal Japan as well.

Given how easily one can be sunburnt during the hot summer months without sunscreen for protection, I thought it would work nicely at providing a tender moment even though it was somewhat embarrassing for both Lind and Michiru. I admit I felt sorry for Lind when she set off the security seal and sounded the alarm when she tried leaving the Temple which turned into an interrogation and let the cat out of the bag about Lind meeting Michiru whom all her fellow Valkyries and many goddesses have lost their hearts too. You're absolutely right; Michiru would be blushing raspberry red with embarrassment while Miroku would be fuming with jealousy and inner sadness once he realizes how much they despise him for his lecherous behaviour and many inexcusable misdeeds in life, especially towards Sango.

Michiru certainly has a great deal to prepare for, making a wish, trying to keep his sanity under control and still be respectful and responsible as his parents would have wanted him to be. Given all the flirtatious advances he's received from Peorth and Urd so far, never mind Lind or all the other deities in Heaven who are so taken with him, its only natural that he be prepared just in case he ends up experiencing a night of intimacy and passion behind closed doors and in bed with a gorgeous goddess.

I wanted to let some of the side characters from Ah! My Goddess make an appearance again since they aren't as popular as the main characters, they need their share of screen time too, its only fair after all. I thought Sayoko giving Michiru a drive worked well since it saved him a taxi ride and allowed her to make another appearance a the same time, I plan to have her appear every now and again throughout the story since she does have a kind personality when ever her jealousy of Belldandy doesn't get the better of her anyway. Lind is a goddess who's disciplined, reserved and respectful so I figured having her notice Michiru's uneasiness and asking him about why he's been on edge let to the private conversation they shared together at the end of the chapter, I felt she needed more opportunities to interact with Michiru besides having sparring sessions with him and Inuyasha, its sad she rarely ever appears in the Ah! My Goddess anime. Although Michiru managed to narrowly escape further embarrassment about the condoms he bought, he reluctantly had to reveal that to Lind, but I felt he could trust her since she's a serious warrior and wouldn't tease him given how much she respects and admires him. Oh, thank you for mentioning that spelling and grammar website in your last review, I'll see if I can check it out soon. Thank you again for taking the time to read and review, your views and support mean a lot to me. Glad you enjoyed the last chapter, catch you later.

The Tell-Tale Man: Thank you, I'm happy that you're enjoying the story so far, thanks a lot for leaving a review. Let me know which scenes you liked the most and what you hope to see for the characters in the future, any suggestions and ideas will be carefully considered. I apologize for taking so long to write out each chapter, I want to do a good job and unfortunately, quality takes a long time.