Chapter 43
"You seem to be losing weight." The elderly man observed. "You need to eat more." He advised.
She bowed and nodded. "Yes, Sensei... I will, thank you."
He patted her on the head and smiled. "Other than that, I believe you're ready for your audition. I would like for you to let me know how everything goes. I would also like for you to stop by if you need anything else. You still have a great deal to learn." He told her and he most certainly wasn't referring to stage combat. This young woman was very talented in the art of sword-play and she was a quick and efficient learner. Any one of his competitors would have been thrilled to train her for competition. He thought for a moment on suggesting that she perhaps should train with Hiou and suggest it, if she had the time. She would certainly be a good asset and advertisement for the dojo. How could he have possibly known that one of the sons of the God of War had once taught her how to handle weapons and fight? For her, this was merely a course on how to fight without harming another.
The night her mortal mother had claimed to be childless, had been somewhat of a trial for her; however, once she thought of it, she decided that she really shouldn't concern herself with the woman. Deimos reminded her that she had her father Zeus, her stepmother Hera, Ares didn't mind being a father to her, and although she hadn't seen Aphrodite in a very long time, she loved and approved of her.
As she sat in the park with Deimos, she silently reminded herself that she was used to neglectful mothers, after all she was a daughter of the Titaness Mnemosyne. Not exactly the most attentive of mothers to her daughters. She decided not to even think of the woman, in fear that she would invoke some kind of punishment that would cause her loved ones to forget who she was. That is, if she even cared to think of her on occasion. She was a Titaness after all, they had better things to do than pay attention to or wonder what their children were doing. The gods may have changed over the years, but most of the Titans did not, nor would they ever.
She decided, after much thought, that if she and Deimos ever decided on having children, she would definitely want to be far more attentive than her own mothers had been. She shook her head and giggled. "I really shouldn't be thinking of such things right now. We haven't discussed anything like this, much less made a decision on it." She scolded herself as she attempted to drift off to sleep.
Neither of our pair really ever thought of the process of how a new god or goddess is created by other gods and goddesses, she and Deimos never really had to worry about creating a new life. You see, procreation works a bit differently in them, than in mortals. Mortals can go about breeding willy-nilly, like the animalistic creatures that they are; however, with gods and goddesses, there must be love and a good deal of it, overflowing in fact. Which is why Zeus had so many children. Let's face it, he's a "LoveMon", and he is usually overflowing with love, so it's no real surprise that he has so many children and true lovers.
Now thinking of the above explanation, I'm sure you're wondering why had they not had to worry about children until now? Well, it's very simple... As the saying goes: Absence makes the heart grow fonder, and they had been apart for a very long time. In their early days, it had been more of a heated, passionate, lustful love. The love they now shared, was a slow burning, very strong, vibrant love. Something that had developed over many centuries or millennia, and it was a true love. When they were together, his latent traits, inherited from his mother, were inadvertently wreaking havoc on the Tokyo Love-scape. Aoidḗ wasn't much better, now more than ever, there had been many newly inspired artists, singers, songwriters, and musicians essentially crawling out of the woodwork. The pair were indeed overflowing with love, and it was affecting more than just them.
Zeus was thrilled at all of the new artists, and the overall atmosphere that had developed in Tokyo Japan. The world they currently lived in could use more love, but it did perplex him a bit. Nothing like this had ever happened before. Well, once very long ago it had, but it was in the case of Ares and Aphrodite. The pair had to be told to limit their time on Earth and take residence on Olympus, instead of in their temples. They were just too much for the ancient mortals to handle properly, and had caused the birthrate to soar too quickly for the time. Fortunately for modern mortals, the methods for birth control were more reliable and tested to be effective, so he really wasn't going to worry on it too much at the moment. He just needed to figure out which of his children were causing this, it could result in the birth of a new god or goddess.
Not that he would complain about something like that, but the prospective couples may not be prepared for such an event, and none of them were married as mortals yet. Their fans may take it badly. Where they chose to reside at the moment, didn't exactly look too fondly on their idols having a personal love life, without the permission of the fans. Sadly, it seemed as though the fans had their own ideas on whom they should date or fall in love with, and were very violent if they didn't get their way. He did not want his daughters defamed or harmed by some idealistic idiot that thought they knew better than them. Well, there was also the small fact that Aoidḗ, Mnḗmē, and Melétē were fully capable of protecting themselves. He certainly didn't think it would be a good idea to have a "stone garden" of hate-filled female fans in front of LME if they ever tried to harm his daughters. He was certain that the media would definitely pick up on it, and it most certainly would not go unnoticed, like Fuwa-san.
The more that he thought on it though, the less worried he became, after all they were with the sons of the Titaness Aphrodite, and if anyone could sway the public as far as love was concerned, they most certainly had the power to do so, whether they realized it yet or, not.
Apátē, the goddess of lies and deceit. At this moment in history, she was very contented. She had the most perfect little disciple. Hateful, vindictive, greedy, fame hungry, and oh so good at covering it up. The girl was the perfect little wolf in sheep's clothing. She'd stopped counting long ago, the people the girl had ruined, injured or even murdered to get what she wanted and none was the wiser.
Now the girl wanted a man. He was her next goal, a name so large in the entertainment industry that he couldn't be ignored. If she had him enamored, and wrapped around her little finger, she would be set for the rest of her life, and none would ever forget the name Kimiko Morizumi. She was certain if he saw her act in her uncle's movie Sacred Lotus In The Mire as Momiji, he would be begging at her door for her to pay attention to him. She needed this part, like she needed air and once again, she would be willing to kill for it if necessary.
Apátē could only hope that she wasn't like every other little weak mortal, and slip up one day. There were many ways that could happen. She could get caught in her own lies, leave incriminating evidence behind or, even have someone witness her actions. So many things could happen to a mortal nowadays. The thing that always worried Apátē the most about modern life, had been the development of different ways to record and detect lies and deceit. One could now, easily be their own accuser, witness, judge, jury, and executioner, all with the press of a simple button. She would no longer be able to slip into the shadows, and most certainly Zeus would banish her to the Underworld if he ever discovered how she and her little disciple had been using other people's love against them. Ever since her awakening two years ago at the first reading of Purple Down 2, she and Kimiko had been lying and deceiving their way into and around the acting community. It was a pure delight, and she didn't want it to end because of some stupid mistake.
She glanced at her charge/disciple. As long as she doesn't get careless, she should be fine. I'm sure there won't be anyone to try for the part after Miss Koenji's little accident. Everyone will firmly believe that the whole thing is cursed, especially after that little rumor I spread around. She smirked a little and went back to reading her magazine.