Disclaimer

All characters from Ranma 1/2 were created by Takahashi Rumiko, not me. Rights to such are owned by Takahashi-sama, Shounen Sunday Comics, Kitty Video, and (in North America) Viz.

Urd, Skuld and Verdandi are mythological. But the interpretations of them within this fanfic are the work Fujishima Kosuke, not me. Rights to such are owned by Kodansha, AIC, ADV Films and (in North America) AnimEigo and Dark Horse Comics.

Tail Kinker Presents

Goddess Fayu

Chapter Two of Six: A Family History

"Hey, Keiichi."

Keiichi glanced up from his computer screen. "Urd. Did you happen to see where Belldandy went?"

"Yeah, she's off taking care of some family business in Nerima. Can I use your computer?"

Keiichi blinked. This was the first time that Urd had shown any interest in electronics more complex than a television. "Be my guest." He stood, stretched the kink out of his back, and stepped back. "What sort of family business?"

"Well, that's kinda what I want to find out." Urd knelt before the computer. "This thing got a modem?"

"Yeah."

"Okay." She began to tap at the keyboard. "Where's your terminal program? Oh, never mind. Here it is."

The modem chirped, and rapidly dialled a long sequence. Keiichi blinked.

"Where are you connecting to?"

"Yggdrasil."

His eyes bugged. "That's only a fifty-six kay modem!"

"That's all right. I just need one file." She selected it, and started the download, then leaned back.

"So about where Belldandy is..."

"Told you. Nerima, on family business." Urd considered. "I'm not really sure of the details yet, but you can bet we'll have company coming tonight."

"Company...Bell's family?"

"Yep. Almost certainly Bell's family. Or one member of it. Ah. Transfer complete." She killed the modem connection, then opened the file. "Yep. Kinda what I expected."

Keiichi was nearly pulling his hair. "C'mon, Urd. Fill me in here."

Urd sighed. "I botched a wish-giving. Not surprising, really, since it's not my department. But Belldandy has found a long-lost sister because of it." Urd tapped the screen. "Fayu. Half-mortal, half-divine. Raised by mortals of uncommon ability, though. She could be a true hero."

"Another Goddess...Don't we have enough already?"

"Some would argue that we have too many," smirked Urd.

"So what's this Fayu's story?"

"Sorry, Keiichi. I'd love to tell you, but she and her sisters need to hear it first."

- - - - -

The glass of the mirror shimmered, and Belldandy stepped out, hand in hand with Nabiki.

"Welcome home, my sister."

Nabiki looked around the room. "Nice. When you said 'temple', I assumed that it was gonna be all stone, drafty, and in bad repair."

"It was in bad repair, when we first came, but Keiichi and I have put it right." She stepped to the wall, touching it lightly. "It shelters us because we have cared for it."

"I bet." Nabiki walked over to the television set. "These standard issue for temples or Goddesses?"

"No." Belldandy's smile took on another cast, one that Nabiki had seen once or twice on Kasumi. "My Keiichi is wonderful with electronics and machinery. That television had been cast aside callously by its former master, because it was not showing its colours properly. Keiichi taught it to do better, and now, out of gratitude, it serves us."

Nabiki chuckled. "I believe it. Y'know, Belldandy, you have an odd way of putting things, but I like it."

"I'm glad."

"Bell!"

The light returned to her face. "Keiichi-sama!" She turned, and grasped the young man's hands.

He was rather short, somewhat homely, but in the good sense - he was comfortable-looking, like a well-worn jacket. He seemed to exude both confidence and humility. Nabiki's analytical mind took him for an easy mark...but she decided to reserve judgement.

Bell turned towards her, and smiled. "This is Keiichi-sama. I am his, by my contract, but I would stay with him even if I were not."

"Pleased to meet you." He bowed to her. "I take it you are Fayu?"

"I guess. Pleased to meet you." She returned the bow, then glanced over at Belldandy. "I was meaning to ask. You called me Fayu earlier?"

"Yes. That is your divine name, and the name of your Rune."

"Ah." She pondered. "Can I still use my human name?"

"Of course. Your divine name is that which the Gods and Goddesses will use, though; you should grow used to it."

"Sure. I'm just not ready to give up my mortality one hundred percent." She turned back to the young man. "Keiichi, I would be pleased if you would call me Nabiki."

"Sure." He grinned. "Keiichi Morisato, third year engineering student, Nekomi Institute of Technology."

"Nekomi?" Nabiki blinked. "We're still in Tokyo?"

"Yes." Belldandy nodded. "This is where Keiichi lives, and so I stay here with him."

"In a temple, huh?"

"Yes." Belldandy turned towards the window. "We have thirty hectares of land, and so the noise of the city is a little less intrusive."

"Thirty--" Nabiki caught herself. "Do you have any idea how much you could sell this land for?"

"It is not ours to sell. We hold it in trust for another."

"Oh." Nabiki chuckled. "Guess I've gotta give up my old habits, huh?"

"Not all of them." Urd was leaning against the doorframe. "Your new portfolio guarantees that."

"Portfolio?"

"The realm with which you are concerned." Urd walked over to the table, and sat down. "It seems that our family finally has a patron Goddess of Wealth."

- - - - -

"The temple is quite large, and we have three rooms not currently being used." Keiichi opened a door, and stepped back. "If this one suits you, you can use it."

Nabiki walked in, and glanced around. The room was at least twice the size of her old room at the Tendo-ke, and at the moment completely empty save for a cardboard box. A large window overlooked the compound wall - not the best of views, but she decided that it could be a lot worse. "This will do me nicely. Thank you, Keiichi."

"I'll get that cardboard box out of here before you go to bed."

"What's in it?"

Keiichi looked embarassed. "I don't actually know. It's one of mine, though, so it's probably electronic or engine parts."

"A nice guy, and he has a brain. You're lucky Bell already has dibs on you."

"I think so, too." He grinned at her.

"Cool under pressure, too."

He shrugged. "After what I've seen the last year and a half, one more Goddess hitting on me is nothing. And it wasn't like you were crawling into my futon wearing next to nothing."

Nabiki smirked. "How many of them have tried that?"

"Three."

This drew Nabiki up short. "Three? Even Skuld?"

"No, though she did try hitting one me a couple of times as well. There were, before your arrival, four Goddesses living here. You've made it five."

"I've met Urd, Belldandy and Skuld - my new sisters. Who's the fourth?"

"Peorth." Keiichi sighed. "I managed to dial Asgard accidentally, and she decided to give me a wish. I've already had one, from Belldandy, but she wouldn't take no for an answer. Worse, she wouldn't stop hitting on me until I made my wish."

"So why haven't I seen her yet?"

"She's on assignment at the moment. Could be anywhere."

"Nabiki-chan!"

Nabiki turned, and a red-and-white blur slammed into her at warp two. The pair of them tumbled to the ground, and Keiichi turned away quickly, face red.

"I'm so glad you're here." Skuld was bubbling over with joy.

"Thanks, Skuld. Me too." She chuckled. "But we'd better sit up. I'm afraid that this robe doesn't afford much modesty from this angle, and poor Keiichi looks like he's gonna have a stroke."

Skuld sat up quickly. "That's because he's a pervert!"

"No, he's a man. Seems the same thing, I'll admit, but he can't help it." She sat up, and rearranged the robes. "Is there a rule that we gotta wear these, or can I get some jeans and a T-shirt?

"We can get some of your stuff from your old room, I think that Bell would be happy to help you with that. I can't go, unless you keep water in your room."

"Not usually." She considered. "So you can travel only through water?"

"Yes. Bell can travel using a few different media, but prefers mirrors; Urd can only travel through televisions."

"So when I learn to teleport, do you know what my medium will be?"

"Nope." Skuld grinned. "You'll get to pick it." She turned to Keiichi. "Urd and Belldandy want us to go to the family room, and Urd's gonna fill us in on Nabiki."

- - - - -

"It's no surprise that Belldandy ended up working for the Goddess Assistance Agency. Her mother is a high-ranking official of the Agency."

"Really?" Skuld was surprised. "I thought she was the one who designed the Yggdrasil System."

Belldandy smiled. "Mother is one of the first Goddesses, and has worked on many careers in her day."

"Excuse me." Nabiki leaned forward. "Couldn't help but notice the way you put that, Urd. 'Belldandy's mother'. Isn't she your mother, too?"

"No." Urd shook her head. "I'm half-sister to Belldandy and Skuld; I have a different mother. You have a different father, but the same mother."

Nabiki laughed. "No. I remember my mother. I remember the day she died."

Urd looked sad. "She didn't die."

"But...I was there." Nabiki was shocked. "I was only seven, but I remember the day she died. Father was so depressed; he didn't really come out of it."

"What do you expect?" Urd grinned. "He lost his wife, it is true, but he had three daughters to make up for it.

"You see, Freya was sent by the Goddess Assistance Agency to help out your father. He had prayed for a wife, and Freya was sent to guide him to a woman he could love. But she fell in love with him herself."

Bell looked up, startled. "You mean Mother--"

Urd nodded. "She asked for some time off, and married the mortal. But she was only given ten years on Midgard."

"Hold on," said Nabiki. "Skuld looks like she's two years younger than my sister Akane. But Mother didn't die - or leave us - until Akane was six."

Urd smiled indulgently. "Do you think time matters to a Goddess? Skuld is almost five hundred of your years old."

Nabiki blinked.

"Time passes differently in Asgard than it does here on Midgard." Bell lifted the lid of the teapot, and poured a cup. "Sometimes it runs at the same speed, sometimes faster, sometimes slower."

"I only remember fifteen years of my past," said Skuld. "From the day I was born - yes, I remember that - to today. But a lot of that time was spent in Asgard."

"Anyway." Urd crossed her arms. "Normally, Tendo's kids would be just any other mortals. But Freya gave each of them a touch of her divinity, so they would exceed what most mortals can accomplish. So when you made your wish, Nabiki, it was easy for the Ultimate Force to elevate you to fully divine status." She grinned. "As to your being Skuld's sister...You already were. So are Akane and Kasumi."

Nabiki glanced over at Belldandy. "This explains so much." She blinked. "Wait. So my mother isn't dead!?"

"Nope."

Nabiki jumped up. "Then I can see her again!"

"I'm sorry, Nabiki." Belldandy looked crestfallen. "It would have been in the terms of her contract, that she can never see your father, or his daughters, again."

"Oh."

Keiichi piped up. "I'd listen to them. If it's a matter of contract, the Ultimate Force will keep you from seeing her. You do not want to oppose the Ultimate Force." He gestured towards Belldandy. "Bell's the most powerful Goddess I've ever met, and even she can't oppose the Ultimate Force."

"Damn..." Nabiki sat down heavily. "Dad wasn't the only one who took her leaving hard. None of us came through that unscarred." She looked up in surprise. "But why didn't Dad tell us any of this?"

"He didn't know."

"That doesn't make sense," muttered Nabiki. "How could he not have known she was a Goddess? He lived with her for ten years."

"This too was part of her contract." Urd sighed. "She had to spend ten years, mortal in every way. No powers." Her voice softened. "She really loved you. All four of you. It hurt her a lot to give you up."

Bell walked around the table, and laid a hand on Nabiki's shoulder. "You will probably be able to see her again, once you reach Second Class."

Nabiki snorted. "And what Class am I now?"

"Fourth Class, Unlimited License."

There was a stunned silence in the room.

"Fourth Class?" Skuld looked shocked. "They made her Fourth Class?! That's barely even divine!"

"Unlimited License?" Urd ground her teeth. "Unlimited?!"

Bell smiled. "With training, you will be able to improve your Class, Fayu. But your license will probably be limited in the future. The more power you have, the greater the limits on your license, unless you can prove that you can handle that power."

"Yeah...You're First Class, Unlimited License." Nabiki nodded. "I take it you're the only one of that level here?"

"Not quite." Bell sighed. "Peorth has an Unlimited License as well. But she isn't here very often."

"We all appreciate her little absences," chuckled Urd.

"Amen," added Keiichi.

- - - - -

"So what does a Goddess do on a daily basis?"

Skuld shrugged. "Well, to begin with, you'll need to be trained in the basics. Once you have your Third Class, you'll have to choose where you want to work, and train for that. When you get your Second Class, you can then apply to your chosen agency. If they don't accept you, there are others that might. But if none of them decide you have what it takes to work in that field, you may be demoted back to Third Class, and have to re-train."

Nabiki laughed. "So it's school, career counselling, college, and then job-hunting. I could have stayed mortal for that!"

Skuld sniffed. "I think that the jobs we do are a touch more important than those on the Mortal Realm."

"Probably. But the methods seem more or less the same. What Class are you?"

"Second Class, Unlimited." She smirked. "I am the chief debugger for Yggdrasil. Only my sister has a higher position than me, but she's had her license reduced a few times, even had it revoked once."

Nabiki grinned. "No wonder she was mad that I had an Unlimited License."

"At the moment, you have even fewer powers than me. I only really have two."

"And those are?"

"I can teleport. And I have learned to..." She looked a bit embarassed. "I can cause writing to appear on things. Mostly, I only use it when I'm mad, to label someone - usually Urd - an idiot."

Nabiki blinked...then started to laugh.

"What's so funny?" Skuld looked cross.

She managed to get her laughter "More and more, you guys remind me of my mortal sisters." She chuckled.

Skuld smiled impishly. "Maybe we should invite them out here some time."

"Yeah..." Nabiki considered. "We could tell them that Mom had another family, out here, before she met Dad."

"Fayu."

Nabiki turned, to see Belldandy standing nearby. "Yeah, Sis?"

Bell hesistated. "I would love to meet my other sisters, but..." She sighed. "I fear that this would not be wise."

"Can you let me think about it for a while, and then we can discuss what may or may not work?"

"Of course." She stepped closer. "But promise me you won't do something rash."

"I never do."

Bell continued to stare at her, and she sighed. "All right, Belldandy. I promise."

"Thank you." She held up a bag. "I brought some of your mortal clothes from your room."

"Thanks." Nabiki took the bag. "Did you happen to bring my school books, too?"

"You won't be needing those." Belldandy smiled. "You will begin at a new school tomorrow. I will be your teacher."

"...Forgot. Sorry."

"Can I help too, Sis?" Skuld's face lit up. "I wanna help!"

"Of course, Skuld." Belldandy laughed. "It's very kind of you to offer." She turned back to Nabiki. "You should get some rest; until you learn how to regenerate your third-dimensional form, you will still need to eat and sleep."

"Gotcha." Nabiki stifled a yawn. "Was just headed that way now, actually."

"Good night, Sister."

"G'night."

Nabiki slid the shogi shut behind her, dropped the canvas bag on the floor, and stretched. She noted a futon that had not been there before. "Thanks, Morisato." She stumbled towards it, and dropped onto it.

"Oof!"

She jumped back in shock.

A slender female form sat up, and looked around blearily. "What the heck...?"

"Shouldn't that be my line?" Nabiki crossed her arms and scowled at the intruder. "What are you doing in my bed?"

"It was handy, and I was tired." The newcomer had short black hair, and was wearing only a light tunic. "And who are you?"

Nabiki smirked. "Fayu. Goddess Fourth Class, Unlimited License. In training."

The intruder grinned. "Ah, yes. The Lost Sister. She bowed, half-mockingly. "I am Peorth."

"First Class, Unlimited. I've heard." Nabiki scowled again. "You're still in my bed."

"I don't feel like leaving."

Nabiki considered, and then shrugged. "Have it your way." She unfastened her robes, and they fell to the ground.

Peorth started. "What the heck are you doing?"

"I'm tired, and I want to sleep." She made a show of ogling Peorth's barely-dressed body. "You're welcome to stay."

"Ack!" Peorth jumped up, and ran from the room.

Nabiki laughed. "Don't mess with the Ice Queen, lady."

Atop the roof, Peorth scowled.

"Humiliate me, will you, Fayu?"

She shook her fist at the heavens.

"I will make you pay!"