BAM! Blindsided! Don't you just hate when that happens? Just out of nowhere, something big hits you. Well, so do I. The Senior Research project has finished. Turned in my final draft, and what awaits us? Suddenly, presentation! We have to get up and present our topics, 5 minutes, formal dress. It's not that I'm angry about. School's gonna dump stuff on you that you don't want to do. But this. Someone asked at the start of the project if we were going to have to present it. Teacher said no. Now this. I was looking forward to that weightless feeling post project completion. Guess not.

So, yeah, that happened, not leaving me with much time or inspiration to write. Sorry about this, really. I'll stop babbling and let you get to the story.


Chapter 3:

"Mhm . . . Yes . . . I see. Very well then. We'll see you soon! Goodbye."

The call was ended, the phone hung up, and Belldandy went back to her dinner preparations. It was the end of the week, so all the leftovers were going into leftover stir fry. She hummed a simple tune as she continued where she left off.

Just as she finished cutting up the last of the vegetables, Urd floated into the kitchen.

"Hey."

"Oh, hello Urd. I was just working on dinner.

The bronze skinned goddess inhaled deeply. "Yeah, it smells great.

Belldandy smiled. "Thank you! Was there something you needed?"

"Nothing much." Urd shrugged. "Just wondering who called."

"Ah. That was Megumi. She was calling ahead because she's bringing a guest."

"Oh, a guest? A boyfriend perhaps?"

"She didn't say. Just that she was bringing a guest. Oh, she also said not to tell Keichi. She wanted to surprise him."

Urd smirked. "So it is a boy. Bout time."

"Just remember sister, it's a surprise." Belldandy said in a stern voice. "Don't tell Keichi."

The tan woman chuckled. "Yeah, yeah. I get it. Don't worry, if he hears about it, it won't have been from me."

"Good," Belldandy smiled, "dinner's almost ready. I'm just waiting on Keichi."

"Belldandy, I'm back! I got the soy sauce!"

Urd grinned, "Speak of the angel."

Keichi entered the kitchen, smiling at Belldandy as he set the bag on the counter top. "We've been pretty good on finances, so I splurged and got the good kind." He pulled out a bottle of top brand soy sauce and handed it to her.

Her smile lit up the kitchen. "Oh my! Thank you!" Keichi blushed and rubbed the back of his head.

"Yeah, well, you know . . ." He trailed off as Belldandy turned back to the stovetop to finish the meal. He was about to turn around when a floating Urd draped herself across his shoulders.

"And what about me Keichi? Did you forget about little ol' Urd?" she cooed, one finger tickling his chin. He chuckled and gently shrugged his way out of her grasp. Digging farther in the bag, he pulled out a moderate sized bottle of sake. A bottle which immediately disappeared from his hands.

"Nah, but this was all I could find. It was weird, they said that every shipment of alcohol had been delayed or misdirected. Any ideas on why?"

A less than friendly smile crept onto Urd's face. "Oh, just Mara trying to stir up trouble. I took care of her though."

Keichi gulped. "Nothing too bad, right?"

Urd chuckled malevolently. "If an all-night rock concert isn't too bad, then no."

"Sounds about right." he sighed. "Need any help Belldandy?"

"Thank you for asking, but I can take care of this. Could you set the table please?'

"Of course!"


Stepping into the dining room, he was met with an amusing sight.

Skuld, hunched over the table, furiously working on complicated circuit boards. The serious look was offset by the spoon hanging out of the young Norn's mouth, a remnant of the demolished sundae nearby.

Keichi smiled at the hard working goddess as he set the table. "What're you working on there, Skuld?"

"Banpei's heat sinks," she replied, not looking away from her work, "He's been over heating recently, so I thought I'd fix it up while nothing crazy's happening."

"Yeah, that's probably a good idea. Now that you mention it, it has been quite peaceful around here."

Skuld snorted, "Yeah, the calm before the storm maybe."

He sighed, "Much as I hate to admit it, you're probably right."

"Dinner's almost ready, everyone!"

Keichi looked at the clutter covering the table, "Need some help cleaning this up?'

She grinned, "Nah, I got this." Holding her hand over her project and closed her eyes. The motherboard began to faintly glow along with her tools. Slowly, they rose from the table and started moving towards the door to the hallway. They floated out of sight and Skuld broke her concentration moments later. She looked at Keichi and smirked, "See? Got this."

Keichi chuckled, "Yeah you do. Your magic control is getting way better!"

Skuld huffed proudly, "Yeah, well, I have been practicing! I'll be performing spells like Big Sis can do in no time!"

He smiled. "I don't doubt that."


Belldandy had Skuld and Keichi set the table. When she asked them to set an extra two places, they were confused, but Belldandy refused to elaborate.

Just as they were about to eat, there was a knock at the door. Belldandy turned to Keichi and smiled knowingly.

"Ah, Keichi, could you go see who that is?"

"Sure."


"So."

"Yes?"

"Is your brother a monk?"


Keichi opened the door and was met with a strange scene. His sister, rolling on the ground, laughing like she had just heard the funniest joke in the world. Standing next to her was an orange haired man with a bewildered look on his face.

"Uhh . . . Megumi?"

Megumi finally caught her breath and stood up, dusting herself off. "Hah, ok. Whoo." She grinned at Keichi, "Hey Kei. Is dinner already started?"

"Um, yeah, c'mon in." He stepped aside, allowing the two in, still confused.

"What's with the surprised look? I called ahead."

Keichi shrugged, "Well, I never heard of it." He shot a look at the tall man accompanying her, and gave him a small bow. "Hi. I'm Keichi Morisato, Megumi's older brother."

The man returned the bow. "Ichigo Kurosaki. Nice to meet you."


"Bell, d'you feel that?" The white-haired goddess whispered to Belldandy.

Belldandy gave her sister a confused look. "Feel what?"

Urd put her chopsticks down. "Concentrate. It's by the front door. It's like it's watching us."

The Norn closed her eyes and focused, "Hmm . . . I can feel something. But I can't tell exactly-" The door opened and in walked Keichi, Megumi, and a tall, orange haired man, presumably the one who Megumi called about.

"Hey Belldandy, thanks for having us," Megumi grinned, "sorry it was such short notice."

"Oh, it was no problem, Megumi, I made plenty. Who is your friend?"

The man spoke up. "I'm Ichigo Kurosaki. It's nice to meet you. I'm sorry for imposing."

Belldandy smiled, "It's no problem. We love company. I am Belldandy. These are my sisters, Skuld," she gestured to the young Norn, "and Urd." The bronzed goddess gave a cheery wave as she downed a shot of sake.

"Thank you very much." The newly named Ichigo sat at the table and began to eat. After his first bite, he began to eat with enthusiasm. "This is delicious!"

"Why, thank you." Belldandy said.

"So, how'd you two meet?" Urd questioned Megumi.

Megumi's mischievous smile returned. "Oh, well that's a tale. I was biking home alone tonight, and my engine decided to give out. So I pulled over to the side of the road, by the park by Nekomi Tech. I was looking at the engine when out of nowhere these big bad guys surrounded me! They accused me of cheating in a race, and were going to 'teach me a lesson'." She looked away as though she was recalling some scarring memories.

At this, Keichi's face contorted into a look of fury that was rarely seen. Belldandy looked horrified, Urd was still eating, and Skuld was steaming mad. Before anyone could say anything, Megumi continued.

"I thought I was done for, but out of nowhere Ichigo shows up!" She sidled up to Ichigo, causing him to tense up. "He stomped them good, sent them scurrying like terrified mice! Ah, so heroic!" Ichigo began to fidget. "He turned to me, and asked if I'd be his girlfriend!" At this, he completely froze up.

Absolute silence. Jaws had been dropped. Keichi was the first to speak up.

"WHAAAAAT!?"

Urd looked suspiciously at Megumi, who merely winked back.

Skuld was sputtering.

Belldandy smiled, "Oh my! How nice."

"Hold up!" Ichigo broke out of his fit of confusion, "That's not what happened!"

Tears welled up in her eyes. "But . . . I thought we were going to be together? You said – you -" She couldn't keep it in. The look on Ichigo's face was too much already, but with the way Keichi was stammering and panicking was more than she could take. "Oh, oh god your face! Hah! And Kei, oh man this is too much! Oh I can't breathe! Hahahaha!"

Keichi looked at his sister, rolling on the floor, then looked to Ichigo. "So, you two aren't . . . y'know?"

Ichigo scowled. "Nope. That part about the thugs was true, but I never asked that."

"Oh, thank goodness." Keichi sighed, "I mean, not that you're not a good person and all, but she's my sister, and, well . . ."

Ichigo waved his hand, "Nah, I can understand. I'd feel the same with my sisters."

"That aside, I want to thank you for protecting her." Keichi said.

"It's ok, she looked like she could've handled it, but three-on-one isn't right."

"But really, is there anything I can do to repay you?" Keichi insisted.

"Thank you, but this dinner is more than enough. If you could point me to the nearest hotel, I'd be grateful."

"Hotel? Are you visiting Nekomi?" asked Skuld.

"Not exactly. I'm attending Nekomi Tech, but the apartment I had made arrangements with burnt down. Everywhere else was either full, or just rejected me on sight."

Belldandy looked puzzled. "Why would they do that?"

Ichigo sighed. "Apparently, with my hair, I look like some kind of thug. No one wanted someone like that in their building."

"Oh, how awful. Wait, you said the apartment had burned down? What was its name?"

"Uhh, Neko- something I think." He scratched his head. "Nekoten Apartments, that's it."

Belldandy heard this and looked to Urd, who was frozen half way into a bite of food. Their eyes met, and Urd gulped.

"Sister, may I speak to you for a moment?"


"Ireallydidn'tmeantodoitastraylightningboltmightha vehittheappartmentand-" Urd was interrupted as Belldandy raised her hand.

"That's not what I want to talk about, though I am disappointed in you, sister."

Urd shrugged sheepishly. "Then what's up?"

"You felt it? It's coming from him."

"Yeah, it's faint, but it's definitely there."

"Do you have any idea what it is? I've never felt such energy from a mortal before."

Urd frowned, "It certainly isn't Devine or Infernal energy, that's for sure. We'd have picked up on it instantly. It almost feels . . . sentient. Did you notice the probe?"

Belldandy nodded, "Yes, it was examining us. To what end, though, is what worries me. It didn't seem like Ichigo was trying to do it on purpose."

"Hmmm. So, what should we do?" Urd asked.

"Well, since his apartment burnt down," Urd cringed, "and he did help Megumi, why not offer him a place here? We have plenty of room, and it would allow us to keep an eye on him."

"Are you sure that's even a good idea? I mean, we've got no idea what we're dealing with. Not that we couldn't handle-"

Her sister put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "Urd, we are high class goddesses, and though there is something strange about him, he is still a mortal. Ichigo seems like a nice man, so I believe we can give him the benefit of the doubt."

"Very well." Urd sighted, "Let's just be careful, ok? We may be goddesses, but Keichi's still mortal. Keep that in mind."


The two returned to find an odd scene before them.

Megumi was on her side, tears in her eyes, gasping for breath. Skuld was hiccupping and laughing at the same time, the combination of which made her laugh even harder. Keichi was chuckling, the least affected of the bunch. And Ichigo was calmly finishing off his meal.

"You -hic- You can't be -hic- be serious!" Skuld gasped out between hiccups.

Ichigo just nodded. "Absolutely serious. We've got window repair bills to prove it."

"Wow. That's just . . . wow." Keichi shook his head.

Urd plopped herself back at the table and poured another shot. "What's so funny?"

"Ichigo was just telling us about his dad. Apparently he thinks "good morning" means flying kick."

Urd almost choked on her drink. "Pfft- Really? I'd pay to see that."

Ichigo snorted. "Yeah, you'd think. Gets annoying after the hundredth time though."

"He sounds very energetic. What does he do for a living?" Belldandy asked.

"He's a doctor. We've got a small clinic doubling as our house." He replied.

"He sounds like a nice person." She smiled. "On an earlier note, you said you were looking for a place to stay?"

"Um, yeah, why?"

"Well, we have plenty of room here at the temple. You could stay here." Keichi gave her a questioning look, but didn't say anything. Ichigo looked a little uncomfortable at the offer.

"Um, well, thank you, but I've already imposed enough-"

Belldandy's smile . . . intensified, for lack of a better term, sending a shiver down Ichigo's spine. 'That smile is way too much like the 4th's captain' "Please. It's no trouble at all. We would be happy to put you up."

Ichigo instinctively realized he wasn't going to win this fight. "I . . . guess, if it's really okay. I don't want to be a mooch though, if there's anything I can do to help, just ask."

"Consider it repayment for helping my sister. As tough as she is, she can get into quite a bit of trouble ("Hey!"), and I'm thankful you were there." Keichi said, bowing in gratitude.

Ichigo scratched the back of his head, feeling a bit awkward at the display. "It was nothing, really. I was just doing the right thing."

"Even so, thank you."


"Thanks for dinner, Belldandy! It was great!" Megumi said as she climbed onto her bike. Keichi had taken a look at it and found that someone had poured sugar into it. After a vicious cleaning, the engine was back to working capacity.

Belldandy chuckled. "Why, thank you! We're always glad to have you over, Megumi."

"Thanks again. You to Ichigo! See you at school!" With that, Megumi was off into the night.

Returning to the temple, Ichigo offered to wash the dishes, but Belldandy waved him off, and asked Keichi to show him to his room. This left the three sisters alone in the kitchen as they scrubbed the dishes.

"So, does anyone want to tell me what that feeling was at dinner?" Skuld piped up.

"I don't know, shrimp, why don't you try to describe it."

"I'm not a-" she took a deep breath, "Ok, it was like . . . it was looking at us. Watching, seeing what we would do. It didn't feel like anything I've ever felt before, either."

Urd dried off the last dish. "And that's exactly why. For a mortal to be generating a noticeable amount of power is one thing, but for it to feel that strange is something that requires our attention."

"Do you think Hild had something to do with this?" Skuld asked.

"No, it did not feel like Lady Hild. We would have noticed right away. It was something else." Belldandy answered.

Skuld sighed. "Things are gonna get weird around here again aren't they?"

Urd patted the young Norn's head, and dodged her swing. "Yeah, but it wouldn't be right if things were all normal and boring around here, now would it?"


Wow. Well, this is odd. See that authors note up top? Yeah, that was written a long time ago. Sometime between April and May. It is now November. The Senior Research Project is over, I have graduated, and am now attending college. I've got a lot more time, and a lot more distractions. I have to actively keep up with homework instead of being reminded every day. Job searching is a pain. Life isn't hard, but it's a pain in the ass sometimes.

I know how I sound like a broken record, but this is what I mean about "pseudo-hiatus", and hardly updating. It's been months since I started this chapter, almost a year since I last updated. Unless I have some massive burst of inspiration and dedication, don't expect regular updates. And if you don't like that, then write your own! I want my stories to inspire others to write their own take on events. Their own "What if?" situations. I'm the only one in the Bleach/Oh My Goddess! section, and I want to see more from everyone!

That being said, you guys are awesome. Every day, I check my email to find that someone has Favorited this story, or is following me. You have no idea how great that feels. And remember what I said, if you want to see more regular updates, shoot me a review. I want to know if I'm doing something wrong, or doing something right. I need more than just my point of view on this story.