I do not own the Ah! Megami sama / Oh! My Goddess series

Sayoko was losing her patience. Looking at her expensive gold watch once more, it was painfully obvious that Aoshima was late. At least the sound system of her Mercedes 500SL blocked the irritating noise of the other commuters and the pedestrians that went on with their usual business. Something that she really wished she could do as well, instead of waiting in her parked car, right next to a fancy electronic store in downtown Nekomi. Drumming her fingers on the steering wheel, Sayoko thought that it was normally the ladies who were supposed to take their time, and yet she had gotten ready quickly. Instead, her moron of a cousin was taking his sweet time with his shopping trip for the necessary supplies.

A good ten minutes later, Aoshima walked with a couple of bags and casually walked over to the parked Mercedes. "I believe I have everything we need," he said, as his cousin lowered the window once she saw him approaching.

"Good, put all that in the trunk and get in." Sayoko's primary concern was the approaching encounter with the couple and not the bag's contents. She was never extremely friendly towards the inhabitants of the Tariki Hongan temple. Because of that, making such a sudden appearance would seem a bit suspicious. Then again, the couple's marriage was probably a good enough reason for a visit.

"Quite the impatient one, aren't we, Sayoko?" said Aoshima with his ever present fake smile plastered on his face. "Although, I must admit that it took me a bit longer than anticipated. I simply insisted to test all the purchased items before I left the store. With that we can finally learn what's going on."

"Whatever..." Resisting the urge to roll her eyes, she started the engine and tried to remember the closest route to the temple.

XXX

Keiichi was currently sweating bullets. Picking up the phone was such a simple task and yet so difficult at the moment. It was always a bit hard to tell your parents that you wanted to marry your lovely girlfriend, but doing that after the ceremony was substantially harder. Truth to be told though, Keiichi's family was a bit unconventional, even weird according to some. So, after all, there was the possibility that they may take it well. On the other hand, that gave him little to no idea on how they might react. Most of the stereotypical interactions he had seen in Urd's soap operas didn't apply here.

'What's the worst that can happen?' he thought, as he tried to calm himself down. Disowning him was the least of his concerns, since they weren't rich anyway. Plus, he was already pretty independent and living far away from his home town in Hokkaido. Most of his money was coming from his job at Whirlwind, so he could support himself and his wife without any extra help. A position in the family business was also something that he never wanted in the first place. Why such a talented mechanic chose to be a glass artisan was beyond Keiichi, but he wasn't one to judge his father's career choice. At any rate that was also irrelevant as he lacked the skills and experience, as he was totally into machines and knew next to nothing about glass.

Not any calmer at all, he decided to just get it over with and make the call. Only to stop yet again. Even if he dialed the number, he had no idea how to say it. Most likely, he would just sit there stuttering gibberish, and while some found it to be amusing, it certainly wouldn't do any good. Aside from making himself look like an idiot.

In fact that's exactly what he did with Belldandy's father as well. Panicked like a turkey before the holidays season, he just spewed out a lot of things in front of the leader of the Heavens. It wasn't the best first impression and perhaps one of the reasons the god may have chewed him out before giving him his daughter's hand. Or maybe that's how his personality really was, a terrifying prospect for the poor mortal who could barely handle the god's former wife.

Utterly defeated, Keiichi decided to just go with the whole truth. Well... Perhaps not the entire thing, as it included words like 'goddess' or 'wish', but just state the fact that he simply got married. Then he could hope for the best.

Taking a few deep breaths, he reached for the phone once again, but this time with a much stronger resolve and a look of sheer determination. Dialing the number, he waited for a few seconds, until somebody answered.

"It is I," said a stern and deadly serious voice.

"Huh?!" He wasn't the father he was looking for.

"I'll be brief, since I'm very busy post processing the various reports from the recent incident in Niflheim. Just inform Peorth and Lind that after they submit their own reports through the System, they can stay for some time, if they so desire," said Tyr in his typical and slightly intimidating manner. Especially since his real voice was much lower and far more serious than the one that Keiichi heard while the god was possessing the Gate.

"R-really?" stammered Keiichi as he tried something to say. "So, they're staying?"

"Well, within reason of course. Tell them it's a reward for their actions and quick thinking during the whole incident. Not an extended vacation, but at least a chance to relax for a while."

"I'll tell them, um... sir... I mean... uh... father?" tried the mechanic as he wasn't sure what to call the god. To make matters even worse, he wasn't entirely comfortable with using the word 'father' as he didn't even use it back at home.

"Father will do," was the simple reply, although it sounded a bit more like a command.

"Yes, I would agree," said Keiichi, not feeling brave enough to get too familiar with the god, given his attitude. Although, it probably wasn't something personal, as he remembered that Tyr was very business like with his daughters as well, a fact that preventing him from realizing that the god was not only their boss, but also their father.

"Now, before I forget, I've got something that was made especially for Belldandy. I'll have someone drop it off at a later time, once things are a bit less hectic up here," said Tyr.

"Really? What is it?" asked Keiichi, as he couldn't hide his curiosity.

"It's best to wait and see for yourselves," said Tyr, not particularly wanting to go though a lengthy explanation. "Oh, by the way, your parents that you previously attempted to contact, aren't home."

"What?" How did he know that he was trying to call his parents?

Almost as if the god was reading his thoughts, he offered an answer right away. "I noticed the number you were dialing, before I redirected the call. As for their whereabouts... All I know is that they're already traveling to your location. Beyond that, you'll have to find out on your own. Give my daughters my regards."

"Oh, I will. Thank you... father," said Keiichi, still struggling to say that last word.

"You are welcome." And with that the Daitenkaicho hung up, leaving Keiichi both baffled and worried.

For starters, he had no idea what the leader of the gods meant by giving Belldandy something. A gift maybe? Then again anything was possible with that one... But the most troublesome news was that his parents were coming for a visit on their own. He was uncertain whether to call it a sign of good fortune or bad. It was going to be easier for him to speak to them in person, but on the other hand, if things didn't go well, they wouldn't be on the other side of the country. Well... maybe half that distance in fact, but that wasn't the most important thing right now. He needed to prepare.

His thoughts were interrupted as the voice of his wife came from the kitchen. "Keiichi, was there someone on the phone? I'm sorry, but I didn't seem to hear it ring."

Turning to his left, he could see her stare at him from the kitchen's half open door. "No, it wasn't ringing. I was the one that tried to make a call. Although I ended with another wrong number, I guess."

Giving her husband a worried look, she couldn't help but ask the obvious question, "Did you call yet another goddess?" Seriously, someone had to do something about those overlapping contracts. This was getting out of hand.

"No, no no!" said the panicked mortal, who tried to prevent Belldandy from getting the wrong idea. "It was your father actually."

That in fact made her even more worried. "Did something happen?"

"Not really. I'll tell you about it in a minute, but in the meantime we should be getting ready for having some guests," said Keiichi, who was suddenly in a hurry, since he didn't know just how much time they had for all that.

"Yes!" was the goddess' response as she gave him a bright smile. Belldandy was always happy to offer her hospitality to some visitors, regardless who they were.

And with that, the couple started to plan for the arrival of Keiichi's parents.

XXX

The blonde demoness glared at the mountain of letters that were currently neatly stacked on her desk. To make matters even worse, the fact that she had to answer every single one of them was giving her a bad migraine. Their content wasn't anything terribly important or original either, just the stereotypical congratulations for Hild-sama's second term as the Daimakaicho. Those boot-licking two timers must have worked really hard to send the same stupid letters to whoever was the top demon of Niflheim, in hopes to score some good points for themselves. At the far corner of her office, there was a similar amount of practically identical ones, sent mere hours after she became the Daimakaicho herself. The only real difference was the receiver's name. Ironically, before they even had the chance to arrive, there was no Daimakaicho Hagall anymore.

But that was irrelevant. Just who the Heavens, uses old fashioned mail at this time and date, anyways? Sadly, sending the same thing in digital format was often seen as impolite in the eyes of the demons, a sign that they have not spent the effort needed for such an occasion, especially considering that the recipient was their leader. And replying to them in any different manner could cost Hild-sama some points in terms of public relations, making it a necessity to go though them one by one and write down an answer to whatever boring garbage they had sent. Even worse, unlike other demons, Hild-sama wanted to do that herself, instead of the more common practice of having a bunch of her underlings do that job for her.

Until she just had to put her big foot in her mouth and volunteered for the job, totally forgetting the fact that these weren't the digital mails she was more used to. Sometimes, she wondered why she had to go and do such stupid things. Maybe it was because she felt that it was necessary to offer a proper apology for causing all that mess, despite the fact that she did it for her mistress' sake to begin with. It wasn't her fault that she was deliberately left in the dark about that little loophole in the demonic law that allowed Hild-sama to get an additional term after she regained her position back from her.

Most demons in her position would have gotten furious for being used like that, but Hagall had always considered the Daimakaicho as a mother, instead of just her boss. After Hild-sama saved her life back when she was just a young demoness, she had gone on to raise her, almost as if Hagall were her own. She did seem to realize that there was something special about Hagall when all the others treated her as a failure. In fact that was the only reason why the blonde demoness was currently Niflheim's second in command, a most impressive position given her inability to use her powers in the traditional manner. She had indeed made some progress, but there was still a lot of room for improvement.

Unfortunately she had been a bit too reluctant to use them yesterday, in fear of making herself look like a fool. It would have been a disaster if she made a mistake and ended up embarrassing herself in front of the goddess and her mortal pet. Given the fact that she was also the Daimakaicho at that moment, it would have been a most humiliating sight, one that she just couldn't afford to offer to the fist class goddess. In retrospect, if she didn't hold back that cheeky mortal wouldn't be laughing nearly as much once he was sent flying off into the dark abyss of the throne room.

Making Urd into a demoness to compensate for her own weaknesses, in hindsight, was the much better plan. Although, from what she heard from Ehwaz and Mokkurkalfi, that already happened and the results were not pretty to say the least. Then again they hadn't trying to drain the half-goddess' energy, so she still had a lot to spare in her confused state. If she had none during that phase, maybe they could've stabilized her, before she went berserk. But she resented Urd and had decided to pass her by in favor of the middle Norn as a pawn. It made her angry that Urd disregarded her mother's affections for the sake of appeasing the very people that treated her like a nuisance.

But instead of all that, she ended up becoming a living statue, once Hild-sama took control of her body and just left her frozen. Seeing the mortal and his goddess girlfriend go through all those stupid flowers, that filled the path to the throne, in hopes to find the latter's angel egg was just too much. In a last ditch effort to stop Hagall from hurting Keiichi, the goddess tried to use her angel, only to have her forcefully removed instead. With Belldandy in such a weakened state, Hagall had hoped that this would certainly render her totally helpless. So they had to find it by searching everything, and that was more that she could stomach, no matter how funny it may have been.

'Who the bloody Heavens keeps calling her boyfriend Keiichi-san, after all those years they've been living together?' wondered the annoyed demoness. Even after she got the egg back and the goddess was reunited with her angel, they simply stood there, holding hands and smiling at each other. 'What was up with those kindergarten style interactions? Seriously... Was the test even necessary for them? Do the gods really consider that a relationship? I'm so happy I wasn't born a goddess...'

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of her personal communicator. Placing her gloved hand next to her ear, the blonde decided to see what was the matter. "Hagall here."

"Oh, hi there, Hagall-chan. We may have a bit of an issue here, so could you summon a powerful demon and come in the throne room?" said the voice of her boss.

"We?" asked the puzzled demoness, trying to figure out who the Daimakaicho would be talking about. "Wait a second... Hild-sama, is that goddess still with you?"

"Ansuz? Yes, she's quietly fuming right next to me."

'Fuming? And why does she need a powerful demon along with me?' wondered Niflheim's second in command. "Hild-sama, is she giving you trouble?"

"Who, Ansuz? She's a problem all by herself, but nothing I can't handle on my own... Hey!...Bite me, you feather brain!"said Hild, quickly adding, "sorry, that last bit wasn't for you, Hagall-chan. So come quickly, OK? I'm waiting. Ta ta!"

And with that, Hagall was lost in thought, trying to understand just what was going on over there. If those two haven't gotten into a fight, something that Hagall feared that might happen considering how they acted, then what was the reason for the call? Plus, what did Hild-sama mean by powerful? If it was just physical strength, then Thrym would have been ideal, but on the other hand she was not good with spells. Come to think about it, most of the members of her group had their own areas of expertise, but none of them was a jack of all trades. She could bring everyone there, but at the same time those weren't her orders. Not wanting to waste any more time, she decided to just rely on one their fighting specialists. Hitting a few keys on her personal terminal, she headed for her office's door, hoping that the demon she summoned wasn't going to be late from the realm his unit was stationed in.

With the door closing behind her, the demoness started to fly towards Niflheim's throne room.

XXX

Peorth sat, or rather hovered, happily humming a tune as she watched TV in the temple's living room. The news from Asgard had been great indeed, since she was allowed to stay on Earth for a while. She had no doubt that everyone up there were really busy with post processing the event that had occurred yesterday. Just handling the Gate's strike was a lot of work and she shuddered to imagine how much trouble this rebellion would be to deal with. Every single sector in Asgard was probably going to have to submit a report, then have all those checked and make the necessary corrections, then make a presentation, offer comments, evaluate the responses of her subordinates and finally submit her own report as a system administrator. Fun stuff.

But not today, not her. Since she responded to the emergency alongside with Lind, she was a field operator at that point, not an administrator and thus a lot of that burden was off her shoulders. Her report was going to be a pretty standard one, not much of a pain to deal with. Plus, by the looks of it, she earned a mini vacation as well. As such, she was ecstatic, although it was also due to the fact that she was going to spend time with her friends. Her angel may have gotten it right after all.

"What do you think you're doing?"

Turning around to look at the owner of the voice, she spotted Lind who was currently staring at her with her arms crossed.

"Is there something wrong, Lind?"

"Keiichi's sister is right outside, so why in Heaven's name are you hovering like that? Don't you realize just how much trouble this is going to cause for Keiichi-kun if she happens to run into you, while you're floating in the air?"

"Oh, I didn't know that you met her," said Peorth as she tried to change the subject, even though she set her feet on the ground, just to be on the safe side.

"Actually, I didn't," said the Valkyrie. "I merely heard Laguz talking with somebody and decided to investigate. I'm positive that she never noticed me. Which brings me back to you. I need advice."

That last statement got the brunette's attention. "Advice? What for?"

"I'm fully aware that my current attire is not fit for properly interacting with mortals," said Lind as she looked at her combat uniform for a moment before going on. "Considering that you have spent some time on Earth recently, I would like your recommendation on what to wear in front of mortals."

Peorth couldn't help but wonder if she was hearing things. Did the combat specialist really just ask her for fashion tips? This was going to be interesting, but before that... "Are you certain you want my opinion? You seemed to disapprove of my style not too long ago. Something about embarrassing looks, if my memory serves me right."

"Asking the others wasn't an available option. Belldandy and Keiichi-kun are busy in the kitchen, Urd and Skuld are working on their own projects and Laguz has the same experience with the mortal's current fashion trends as me. Therefore, you seemed to be the only other viable source of information that I have at my disposal at the moment."

The goddess of the roses felt a bit of annoyance as it appeared that she was the last in the Valkyrie's list, even after Skuld, but decided that it wouldn't be very productive to turn this into an argument. Instead, looking at the goddess in front of her, she tried to imagine what kind of outfit could possibly match Lind's personality, only to realize that she actually didn't know all that much about the warrior. She had never really seen her in anything other than her standard issue battle uniform, or her official combat wings dresses, but neither of those were tailored to the individual Valkyrie's tastes. Also, Lind was the type of goddess that was never really trying to stand out very much. As a matter of fact, she had spent most of her time in an effort to blend in with the rest, a task that had proven to be more challenging than anticipated, given that she possessed a pair of twin angels, but not the ability to properly use both of them at first. That left her with only one wing as she couldn't utilize both her angels at the same time, a fact that draw a lot of negative attention from the others.

"OK," she said after a while, "let's try something and see how this works with you." Closing her eyes, she tried to visualize an outfit that the blue haired goddess might appreciate. Without delay, the combat uniform started to glow and shift from its familiar form, into the configuration that Peorth had in her mind.

Opening her eyes, she took a moment to inspect her handiwork. Lind was wearing a pair of form fitting white jeans and a simple blue tube top. Perhaps, she may have gotten a bit too far with her choice of clothes, and expected the Valkyrie to flat out refuse them.

"Well? What do you think?" she decided to ask despite her own reservations. 'Here it comes...'

Looking at herself, the Valkyrie had an almost unreadable expression on her face, something that just made Peorth even more nervous. However, she eventually merely shrugged at the goddess of the roses. "That will have to do, I suppose..."

"Eh?! Really?" asked a slightly surprised Peorth, that was half expecting a negative reaction and was already trying to come up with another look for her.

"Yes, I don't see anything particularly wrong with them. They're not restricting my movements, so I like that," said Lind, before she turned and headed to the hallway. "Now, if you excuse me, I'll go and see if they need any additional help in the kitchen."

However, as she was about to leave the room, the Valkyrie did remember to give the other goddess a tiny smile, something that greatly pleased Peorth and caused her to respond in a similar manner. It was very different from the last time that she was here, during the Angel Eater incident. Back then, when she tried to praise Keiichi's and Skuld's efforts to come with a viable plan, they both didn't seem very happy about it. Belldandy was right after all. Saying it with a smile was all the difference.

With that, Lind left Peorth alone in the room, hoping to find something useful to do with her free time.

XXX

As the Mercedes pulled right next to the temple's entrance, the scheming bespectacled man decided to go through the details of his plan once again, just to be sure that his cousin didn't mess anything up.

"Remember to leave the listening devices inside the house, Sayoko. Just try to do that when they aren't looking, you know, under the table or another piece of furniture."

'Like they have much furniture,' thought Sayoko, but instead decided to remain silent, in hopes to avoid any more of Aoshima's ramblings. He wasn't the most pleasant of passengers to have in her car, as he didn't know when to shut up, going over what he had already told her a hundred times before, again and again. "Stop worrying so much, Toshiyuki, and just give me those things."

"Oh, sorry," he said in a not so apologetic voice. "Here you go."

Storing the small items inside her bag, she took out a small makeup kit and inspected herself, just in case there was something wrong. Once she was certain that her appearance was perfect, she opened her door and got out of the car, pausing only for a second to remind her cousin of his role "You stay here and monitor the situation, OK?"

"No worries, Sayoko," said Aoshima, as he pulled a device that resembled a hand held transceiver. "With this, I'll be able to listen to everything that's going on in there, almost as if I was there. Especially once you leave and they think that they are alone. Plus, I have that recorder that goes with it, in order to capture it on tape. We'll just leave that hidden next to the temple's walls and tomorrow, we'll come and see what we've got."

"Fine. I'm going," said Sayoko. "Make sure you do the rest."

And with that, the heiress of the Mishima group started to walk towards the stairs, as her cousin picked up the rest of the stuff and headed towards the forest that was right next to the temple's perimeter.

XXX

"Oh dear..."

"Is there something wrong, Belldandy?" asked Keiichi as he looked over at his wife, who at the moment was in front of the fridge.

"I'm afraid that we're about to run out of food, Keiichi," she said as she stared at the nearly empty shelves in front of her. "The party yesterday and today's breakfast must have used most of it. I was hoping that we were going to get the chance to go shopping, but I don't know how much time we still have until they arrive. So, while I use what little we still have, do you mind going out to buy a few things?"

"No problem Belldandy. I'll be back in a bit," said Keiichi, only to be interrupted by someone knocking the kitchen's door, before she entered, causing him to take a step back as he stared at the sight in front of him.

"Sorry to intrude, but I wondered if I could offer you any assistance," said Lind as she stepped inside, noticing the look that Keiichi was giving her, or rather, her clothes. "Oh, these? I asked Peorth to help me pick out a more casual look in order to fit in the mortal realm better."

'Figures. Then again, given that it was Peorth, it's a bit tame. I can't imagine Lind wearing something that Peorth would,' thought Keiichi. "It's fine, right, Belldandy?" he said out loud.

"Oh! It certainly is," said Belldandy with a bright smile.

"So," started Lind, "is there anything for me to do?"

Sharing a look between them, the couple was not certain as to how to respond. It was unlikely that the Valkyrie had a lot experience with cooking, so letting her try her luck there was not going to be very productive. So after a few moments of silence, Keiichi decided to offer a better solution. "I'm going out shopping. Do you want to come with me? I'm sure that an extra pair of hands can be a great help."

"Of course! Lead the way."

XXX

Sayoko stopped briefly at the main temple, leaving a few bills as an offering. Perhaps that could help with her horrible luck that plagued her lately. After all that weirdness from yesterday, she was now stuck in a situation that part of her wanted to avoid. On one hand she really wanted to figure out what happened between Keiichi and Belldandy, but at the same there was something that bothered her. While she did say that Belldandy's popularity was going to disappear now that she was married, it certainly didn't feel like the victory that Sayoko was looking for. Instead it almost looked like she was defeated from a certain point of view. While she always craved attention, most of the men that flocked around her were just pathetic in her opinion and hardly worth her time. Ironically, the only one so far that wasn't a complete loser, was the very same one that Belldandy had set her eyes on. So from that particular perspective, Sayoko was the one that lost and not Belldandy, a fact that she wasn't terribly happy about.

Like that moron Aoshima, Sayoko found that she too was drawn to those who seemed to ignore her. Keiichi had tried, once upon a time, of course but those days were long gone Too bad she completely shot him down, laughing at the Keiichi's attempt to take her to a museum, of all places. It wasn't until Belldandy got into the picture that she took a second glance at the man who managed to date that pretty foreigner. Perhaps in a sense she was a bit like her cousin, as she wanted what she couldn't have. But Sayoko refused to become an obsessed sore loser like him. Despite that, she was going to honor her promise and leave the spying devices in the house. Of course, she never said anything about their batteries. Dropping the small power cells next to the bills she left as an offering, she decided that she had to deal with this sooner than later, before Aoshima decided to see why she was taking so long.

Walking towards the house that stood right the temple, she could hear two women talking in the distance. She could recognize one of them as Keiichi's younger sister, Megumi, but failed to identify the other one. At any rate, that seemed unimportant right now, as her primary target was the couple and not their family and friends. Without any delay she headed straight for the front door and rang the doorbell.

XXX

Keiichi was tying his shoelaces with Lind standing right behind him. He really hoped that the shopping trip was going to be an uneventful one. All they had to do is go to the grocery stores in Nekomi and pick the items that his wife had requested. The young mechanic couldn't help but smile at that last thought. He and Belldandy were now officially a couple, at least according to Heaven.

"What's so amusing?" asked Lind, noticing his expression.

"Oh, nothing. I just remembered something," he said, trying to hide a small blush from his previous thoughts. Finally, after a few seconds, he was all ready. "Sorry for the delay. Do you have the list?"

"Yes, it's in my right pocket."

"Good. So let's go," said Keiichi. The weather was great, he just had a great breakfast, his wife was preparing for his parents' arrival and he even had somebody to help him with the shopping. So what could possibly go wrong?

The doorbell rang.

Staring at each other for a moment, they both wondered who it was this time. Megumi was already here, that didn't leave many on the list of likely visitors. At least not this early in the morning, especially not after the last night's party.

'Don't tell me that it's Takano and Keima... We're not ready for them yet,' thought Keiichi. As he hesitated to open the door, Lind decided to simply get it over with and see who it was.

Sliding the door open, she came face to face with a brunette in an expensive looking black dress with a red coat over it. "Can I help you?"

"I'm looking for..." she started, before she noticed Keiichi right behind the unfamiliar blue haired woman. "Oh! There you are, Keiichi."

"Sayoko?!" asked the somewhat startled man, not expecting her at all. 'Why did she decide to drop in all of a sudden?'

"I'm sorry for the sudden visit. May I come in?" asked Sayoko, as she tried to sound as pleasant as she possibly could.

"Sure thing, Sayoko," said Keiichi who didn't want to sound rude, even though it was a bad moment.

Seeing that Keiichi knew the woman, Lind stepped aside and allowed Sayoko to come into the house.

XXX

Moments later, Sayoko was sitting in the living room with Keiichi, waiting for Belldandy to join them. The woman that had been watching TV had offered to go and inform Belldandy that they had a visitor.

That really startled Sayoko, first a blue haired woman answered the door and now another one was sitting in the living room, dressed in the most skimpy thing that she had ever seen. Just what was going on here? She hadn't visited the temple for quite some time, but that was beyond what she had expected. At least with the other brunette gone and the other one that Keiichi called Lind, still in the hallway, she was alone with the man. Perhaps it was the best opportunity to drop those stupid things under the table, before Belldandy entered the room.

"So, Keiichi... I heard that you've finally tied the knot," said Sayoko as she tried to start a conversation.

"Well... I know, right? I mean, it happened a bit too suddenly and everyone was very surprised and all," said the man as he nervously scratched the back of his head, trying to come up with something that Sayoko might buy. It was going to be more difficult to convince her, more so than the others from the Motor Club or Chihiro. He was certain that Megumi didn't believe him, but it was unlikely that his sister was going to give him trouble. Sayoko was a totally different issue.

"I must admit that I thought that it was just a rumor. You know how those students come up with all sorts of crazy stuff at times," said Sayoko, avoiding to mention just who it had been who'd provided her with the information. Just bringing up Aoshima's name at all was bound to make Keiichi suspicious.

"That's true! Ha ha..." laughed Keiichi, hoping to change the topic.

"Still I must say that it was a bit unexpected. Nobody seemed to know it was even happening, let alone get an invitation for the ceremony," said Sayoko as she pressed on for details.

Keiichi was already starting to sweat and even worse Belldandy wasn't there to help him. The rich woman certainly wouldn't give up as easily as the rest had. "Well, it was mostly because of Belldandy's parents," said Keiichi shakily. "They were the ones who wanted us to get married in the first place." He paused, wincing. "That...ah, sounded bad. But it's a tradition where Belldandy's from; parents gotta bless the couple. Problem is is that they don't give you a lot of time to organize it all. You don't even want to see our budget..." Keiichi grumbled under his breath. As much as he'd liked seeing his friends, his wallet sure hadn't.

Keiichi wasn't a good liar and even if part of it was true, he really wished that his nervousness wasn't going to give him away. Worse, he honestly hoped that blaming his in-laws wasn't going to come back and bite him. Who knew if Tyr was monitoring him? After all, he did know about his parents' whereabouts.

"Ah, I see," said Sayoko, starting to understand what he was getting at. "So they heard that you two were living together under the same roof for years and decided to step in. Wouldn't want to be in your position to be totally honest. However if it was a money issue, you could have just told me Keiichi. I could have sponsored your wedding, you know..."

Keiichi was really happy that she seemed to have accepted the explanation, despite the fact that it was completely fake. He was a bit surprised about the last part, although it was simply easy for her to just say this right now, after the whole thing was over. Or did she really mean it? Then again, it may have been an attempt to just make fun of them for not having enough money. Regardless, all that was mere speculation, and he wouldn't get anything out of it. "Thank you for the offer, Sayoko, but I guess it was better this way I think. It wouldn't be great to start a new life while asking for others to cover my expenses."

"If you say so. But tell me what are you planning for now?" asked Sayoko. "You know, for the honeymoon."

"Honeymoon?" wondered Keiichi out loud. That was indeed a good question. With everything that happened, plus the news of his parents' imminent arrival, he hadn't given the issue too much thought. On top of that, he doubted that Chihiro was going to give him such an extended paid leave. Not because she was stingy or anything, but she didn't have any real help aside from him and Belldandy. His sempais had proven to not be the best alternatives, as Tamiya and Otaki often went too far with their antics.

"Judging by that look on your face, I guess you haven't planned anything or even thought much about it," said Sayoko. "In that case, I have something for you." Opening her handbag, she pulled out an envelope and offered it to Keiichi. "Let's say that this is my gift for your wedding. I won't take no for an answer. Besides I have no need for a pair of tickets."

"T-thank you," said the surprised man who was half expecting this to be a prank. Still, opening the envelope, he could see two first class air tickets, but decided to close it and leave that for later. It wasn't going to be very polite to spend too much time examining the gift and ignore the one that offered it. "That was very thoughtful of you, Sayoko."

"Don't worry about it."

XXX

Belldandy was finally out of the kitchen, carrying a tray that had a teapot, as well as a few cups. She had to switch from her preparations to making tea for her guest. Normally the goddess of the present would be delighted to have someone drop by for a visit, but in this particular case she was worried. The shopping trip was delayed and that could be a problem.

Almost as if she read her mind, the Valkyrie that was waiting in the hallway, approached her. "This is going to take long, I assume."

"I would suppose so, Lind," said Belldandy as she tried to consider any alternatives. "I know! We could ask Megumi to go pick up everything for us."

"I can still do it," objected Lind as she wasn't a goddess that easily gave up. "Let me go and buy the supplies you need."

"I don't know about it Lind," said Belldandy as she tried to talk the other goddess out of it. "It would be inconvenient to bring everything here without having to fly. Too many people that live here could see you by accident."

"I can drive vehicles," insisted the Valkyrie, refusing to take no as an answer.

After some thought, Belldandy remembered her bicycle that she used occasionally to go shopping herself. "In that case, please take the bike we have parked at the back of the house. Also, take this money with you as well."

Handing her some of her money, that she earned from working for Chihiro, Belldandy watched the Valkyrie pocket them carefully, as she went for the door. "I'll be back soon."

"Take care, Lind!"

"I will."

XXX

Aoshima was really frustrated. After trying every channel and configuration there was in the manual of the darn receiver in front of him, he couldn't hear a thing. Was he too far away, or did something interfere? At any rate he had to do something as Sayoko was already inside the house for a few minutes and he still had no clue how to fix the problem. His plan was falling apart and he hated every single bit of it. He briefly toyed with the idea of calling his cousin and asking her what was wrong, but that was too risky. The only thing that he could see was Keiichi's sister and a blonde lady walking around the house, heading slowly for the front door. Beyond that nothing at all.

Throwing the useless receiver on the ground, he realized that he had to resort to his plan B, the directional long range microphone, ideal for listening to people's conversations from afar. Trying to get as close as possible, without being seen, he wore the microphone's headpieces, as he pointed the device towards the house. Finally, he could hear what was happening.

"Hey Kei-chan, we're back! Have you called... Oh, you have company..."

"Yeah... Want some tea, Belldandy certainly made enough for all of us."

"Sure thing!"

XXX

Lind had walked around the house and found herself in front of the shed that Keiichi parked his BMW. She did take her time to inspect the machine as to make sure that she remembered all the details of using human made vehicles from her Valkyrie training, before she decided to be on her way. As she got on the bike though, she realized that she hadn't asked for the key to the vehicle, but that one was also covered in the training as well. All she needed to do is locate the power line that headed to the ignition.

'Let me see... This is the battery, so it goes from here to there, and then down there, all the way... I found it!' thought Lind with a triumphant smile on her face. 'Now, I must send an electric pulse through the cable and kick that metal down there...'

The BMW's engine roared to life, an indication that she had followed the procedure correctly. Pleased that she didn't have to bother Keiichi or Belldandy, the Valkyrie started to head for the road.

XXX

Meanwhile, Keiichi who was currently having his sister and Laguz join in for a cup of tea, heard the familiar sound of his bike's engine starting up. Puzzled, he turned to his wife, who was wearing an equally confused expression. "Belldandy?"

"Lind offered to go shopping, Keiichi."

"Who?" asked a puzzled Megumi "We were just over there and didn't see anyone..."

"She's another friend of ours," said Laguz as she tried to explain. "She must have circled the house from the other side, so we missed each other."

"That's not important!" almost yelled Keiichi who was struggling to remain calm. "Why is she taking my bike?"

"Oh dear!" said Belldandy. "I told her to take the bike that was parked behind the house, but I actually meant my bicycle. She may have misunderstood that and thought I was talking about the motor bike, instead. But don't worry about it, Keiichi. She won't damage it, I'm sure of it."

"That's not the point, Belldandy! Lind doesn't have a driver's license," said Keiichi, who at this point was clearly panicked. "Megumi! I need your KSR!"

"Hold on, Kei-chan! I'm coming with you as well."

"Oh dear..." said Belldandy once more.

XXX

The unfolding drama didn't interest the man at all. Where were the juicy details he needed? Who cared about some stupid bike? At least with the idiot gone, Sayoko could fish secrets out from Belldandy.

In the meanwhile, a black cat was walking nearby as he was trying to get back inside after his encounter with Skuld's missiles. Welsper couldn't help but notice the man who was clearly spying on the residents of the temple. Curiosity being part of a cat's psyche, he approached and stood right in front of the microphone. As the man didn't seem to notice him, he decided to announce himself. "Meow!"

Aoshima almost screamed as he tried to take the headphones off, since the directional microphone was greatly amplifying the sound. However, considering that this time the source of the sound was right in front of him and not nearly as far away as previously, the end result was a deafening roar.

"Stupid cat!" he shouted. "Where did you come from!" And with no further delay, he grabbed the black cat and tossed him in a nearby bush. "That's going to teach you a lesson."

Welsper had finally had enough. He had been trampled by the Moo Moo squad, used as a witness for Belldandy's wedding, blown sky high by flowers, fallen into water and then blown up again by missiles. Now this lowlife of a human decided to simply toss him aside. Enough was enough! He was a cat, but also a demon.

"MEOOORRRR!" shouting as loud as he could, he launched in the air, exposing his claws and ready to do some serious damage.

This one was for glory.

AN: I would like to offer my thanks to WhoIsAtlas for proofreading this and making the needed corrections.

Additionally I would like to thank everyone that has offered their feedback and support both here and on the Goddess Relief site.

I would also want to point out a few things, in order to avoid some confusion. The reason why I use the term 'digital mail' instead of the more familiar 'email' is due to the fact that the demons, like the gods, use a mix of both technology and magic. Therefore calling them electronic mail may have been incorrect. Maybe I'll call them d-mail in the future for short.

Also the Tariki Hongan temple has two buildings. One is the temple itself ans the other is the monk's house. Keiichi is currently living in the latter, but there may be some confusion since the house is also inside temple grounds. So when I mention Sayoko going from the temple to the house next to it, I mean that she goes from the main temple to Keiichi's house. Both of them are inside the same area though.