Previously:
Now it was Freyja's turn to raise her voice. "I'm not going to allow you to take my little flower away from me! Yui-chan is mine!"
"Yours? !" Her brother exclaimed.
"Excuse me, but your little flower and I was having a lot of fun together, especially when I found those water guns." Loki grinned teasingly at Freyja.
"I'll kill you!" Freyja shouted and poor Sif and Thor had to hold the goddess back.
Yui sweat dropped, this was going to turn into a war zone if no one stopped them.
The door behind her suddenly flew open and slammed into the wall behind it which made her jump in surprise and spun around to see who just had made such a dramatic entrance. There, in the doorway, stood the most beautiful goddess Yui had ever seen. 'Could this be-?' She thought. The Greek goddess of love, Aphrodite, was dressed in a elegant white dress, her light brown and wavy hair hung over her shoulders and her golden eyes seemed to sparkle so beautifully. "Alright, I'm tired of waiting! Where is she?" Even her voice sounded beautiful, even when she was irritated. The goddess walked further into the room, she hadn't spotted Yui yet.
"Aphrodite, I told you to stay in the guest room." Zeus told his daughter. Apollon scratched his hair, not sure if he should say anything while Dionysus simply frowned at her and Hades sighed at her behaviour.
Aphrodite had stopped walking and was now standing just a little further away from Yui. Everyone seemed to be holding their breath as she slowly turned her head to the side. Their eyes met. "There she is." Aphrodite said, grinning maliciously at her.
Now:
Yui didn't dare to say anything, she had never met this goddess before and the things she had heard about her didn't exactly make her more calm. 'What should I do?'
She flinched when Aphrodite suddenly started walking towards her. "Aphrodite." Hades warned. Aphrodite didn't answer and just continued to walk closer to the human.
She stopped right in front of her. "So, you're the human I have heard so much about." She said, sounding amused and raised her hand towards Yui's face. At first, Yui thought that she was going to strike her and closed her eyes. Only when she felt fingertips touching her cheek lightly she dared to open her eyes again. Aphrodite was smiling at her. "You're even cuter than I expected."
'Hah?'
Then, Aphrodite's expression darkened. "I guess I should mess up that pretty face of yours." She almost growled and raised her other hand.
In an instant, Yui's friends were by her side. Apollon had pushed Aphrodite away from her, Takeru and Balder were standing behind him, ready to back him up if needed and Loki had grabbed Yui from behind and pulled her towards him. Hades, Dionysus, Tsukito, Sif and Thor joined them just a second later.
Apollon narrowed his eyes at his sister. "That's enough, Dite-Dite."
It was quiet for a moment before Aphrodite let out a laugh. "I see the rumors were true after all!"
"Aphrodite, I do not tolerate this behaviour." Zeus spoke.
"Relax father, I only did that to test them. I wanted to see their reactions."
"You have only angered them, daughter. They will not allow you near her again, you understand that right?"
"Of course, I never wanted to be involved with that human female anyway. I just wanted to meet my new rival and now I have." Aphrodite turned away from Apollon and walked away. "I will return home at once."
A guard opened the door for her and once she was halfway through it, she stopped and turned around. "May you live a peaceful life, Yui." She smirked. Then she left and the guard closed the door behind her.
"Damn, what a creepy woman." Takeru shrugged.
Apollon and the others turned towards Yui. "Are you alright, Fairy? Are you alright?
"I'm alright, she just caught me by surprise." Yui answered calmly.
"That's why I don't like her." Sif almost hissed.
"Same here." Loki added as he let go of Yui.
"I must apologize for Aphrodite's behaviour, Kusanagi." Zeus spoke up. "I believe she didn't mean any harm but I'll make sure she will not do anything like that again."
"It's alright, Zeus-san." Yui assured him. "It doesn't seem like she wants to have anything to do with me, so…"
"And that's something I do not understand." Freyja spoke from her spot beside her brother and walked over to where Yui was standing. "She must be crazy for not wanting to be close to such an adorable human being. And she calls herself a goddess of love." She added and caressed Yui's cheek. Freyja was a goddess of love, too, so she could not understand why a fellow goddess would act like that.
"Hey, hey, hands off! Don't touch her like that!" Loki exclaimed and pushed away her hand.
"Like you're the one to talk." Freyja, Takeru, Balder and Dionysus uttered in unison.
"That's enough everyone." Odin spoke. "Aphrodite is not a problem anymore so I suggest you all go home for the day. Zeus and I will look through Kusanagi's ideas."
"You must be tired since you never really got your break from your friends, Yui. You should rest while you can." Frigg added.
"You make it sound like being with us are exhausting." Balder commented.
"Exactly."
When Yui opened the door to her cottage she couldn't wait to take a bath and then throw herself on her soft couch. It was nice to be home again even though she only had been away for a week. She closed the door behind her. 'I'm glad they fixed the door, now I just have to light a fire and-' Her thoughts were interrupted by a voice coming from the couch. "Hello again, Yui."
She spun around in surprise and spotted no other than Aphrodite, she was sitting comfortably on Yui's favorite spot.
"A-Aphrodite?" Yui almost exclaimed. Hadn't the goddess told everyone that she was going to return home?
Aphrodite stood up from the couch. "Relax human. I'm not going to do anything."
"But… I thought you were going home?"
"That's just something I said so that your many lovers wouldn't have to escort you wherever you went. I wanted to meet you alone without interference."
"But that's- Wait, lovers?"
"Yes, the gods you went to school with."
"Um, I don't know what you have heard but, they're not my lovers…"
Aphrodite blinked at her. "I see. It seems I jumped to conclusions. Now that I look at you, you seem way too innocent to let yourself be taken by so many powerful gods. Your body would most likely be unable to handle it, too."
Yui turned red from embarrassment. "W-What are you-?"
The goddess let out a laugh. "I guess I don't have to hurt you after all. I came here thinking that some weak human had stolen many of the most powerful gods away from me."
'Stolen?'
"But now I see that their courtship of you is pointless."
'What's she talking about?'
"So, which one of them are yours?"
"... What?"
"I understand that not all of them belong to you but there must be at least one you have a-" She licked her lips. "-special relationship with?"
Yui thought that it would be best to answer the goddess, if she didn't, it would seem suspicious and Aphrodite would most likely turn on her. "There is… no one."
"There was a pause."
"It's the truth, I don't have a special relationship with any of them. They're all my friends and they don't belong to me."
Aphrodite looked at her for a few seconds before she began to walk towards her. She thought that she was going to try and strike her again and she felt her body get tense, preparing itself for the worst. But instead, Aphrodite walked right past her and opened the door. "Nice talking with you, human. I look forward to our next meeting." She smirked and closed the door behind her, not waiting for Yui to answer.
Aphrodite's visit was brief but it was enough to make Yui feel a little more insecure around the goddess. And it only made matters worse that she wanted them to meet again, even though she had mentioned that she didn't want to have anything to do with her. Yui let a deep sigh of relief escape her mouth, realising she just escaped getting hurt or even killed thanks to her non romantic relationship with the gods. "I should stay on her good side if I don't want any trouble…" She told herself as she turned around and made her way towards the bathroom.
About 2 weeks passed and there was no sign of Aphrodite. Yui was able to relax again and Zeus was glad he didn't have to come up with a way to keep his daughter away from the human. Everything seemed to go smoothly now, too. The preparations for the island were almost done and there had been no incidents worth worrying about… yet.
Zeus and Odin were having a meeting in Asgard and had gathered a few gods to discuss a few things about the island. The gods who were seated around a long table were Zeus, Odin, Frigg, Freyr, Bragi, Balder, Thor, Hades, Apollon, the brother of Zeus and Hades who was the Greek god of the sea, Poseidon, Zeus's wife who was the Greek goddess of marriage, Hera and the Greek goddess of wisdom and war, Athena. All of these gods were important when it came to the creation of the island that would soon be the gods' most visited place.
"If we all agree, I see no reason to-" Before Zeus could finish, the door to the big room suddenly opened and a guard stepped inside, looking kind of confused and speechless.
Odin stood up from his chair to face the guard. "What's the meaning of this? We're in the middle of a meeting."
The guard bowed his head to them before he spoke. "I apologize for interrupting you like this but there's something I have to tell you and it's urgent."
"And what could that possibly be?" Hera asked.
The guard was just about to open his mouth when he suddenly felt a certain presence behind him and he quickly moved out of the way. And in walked Aphrodite. "I think he was going to tell you about this." She smiled in satisfaction at something in her arms.
Every god and goddess in the room looked at her and the thing in her arms in shock.
In her arms she carried a child, a human child who looked no more than 1 year old. It was a Japanese boy with black hair, big brown eyes and was wearing cute, gray sweatpants and a blue sweater.
"Aphrodite!" Zeus exclaimed as he rose from his chair. "What on earth have you done? !"
"Oh my…" Frigg breathed out.
"Is that… a human child? !" Athena cried out.
"Here comes trouble…" Freyr sighed and rubbed his forehead.
"There's no need to panic, it's just a child." Aphrodite sighed.
Hera frowned her eyes at her. "A human child, Aphrodite."
"Why have you brought him here? Where did you find him?" Bragi asked.
The child looked very confused and a bit scared as he looked around with his mouth slightly open. He was being carried by a stranger and was surrounded by people he didn't know, nor did he know where he was or how he got here. This was enough to make him want to cry but there was something about these strange people, too, that made him want to get away as quickly as possible. He got a feeling that they were dangerous and had an unusual aura surrounding them.
"I found him in Japan, he had been abandoned." Aphrodite explained.
"Abandoned?" Hades asked, not really believing her.
"Alright, not really abandoned but- He was lost, I guess."
"Aphrodite." Zeus warned.
"He was lost, alright? I was just walking around in the woods not far away from a few houses and I found him crawling around."
This time it was Apollon who spoke. "He must have wandered away when his parents weren't looking."
"Why didn't you go look for them and return him to them? He's just a little child, he couldn't have gotten that far away from his home." Frigg added.
"If the parents had loved him and actually wanted him, then they wouldn't have let him leave like that. They wouldn't have let him out of their sight."
"And now I see why I shouldn't have let you out of my sight! Do not jump to conclusions like that." Zeus said in a dark voice.
"His parents must be worried." Thor pointed out.
"I agree, return the child at once." Poseidon ordered.
"Not going to happen, I want him." Aphrodite uttered and held the boy even closer to her body.
"Aphrodite-" Balder started.
"No."
The gods weren't being loud but the child felt that something was wrong and started to cry.
Aphrodite turned her attention to him and hugged him but he only tried to wiggle out of her arms. "There, there, sweetheart." She tried to soothe him.
"Enough. Aphrodite, take him back." Zeus told his daughter.
"No, he's mine!"
"You're being childish. You can't keep him here with us." Hera said calmly.
"And why not? We already have a human living here, why can't we have another one?"
Zeus let out a deep sigh. "Kusanagi interacted with Apollon and the others for almost a year. Thanks to her deep relationship with them I let her stay, she has done much for them so it was only fair to allow her into our world. But that does not mean we will allow any more humans here, children or not."
"I don't care! I'm not going to give him up."
The little boy was now crying even harder, these people in strange clothes scared him and he wanted to get away.
"We're scaring him." Hades pointed out.
"Human children are very intelligent, he has probably figured out there's something strange about us." Balder explained.
"Indeed. Aphrodite, I'm not asking you again, take him back to his parents." Zeus ordered.
"But-"
"It's for the best." Poseidon added and walked over to her.
"You can't take someone's child because you feel lonely, Dite-Dite." Apollon said.
Aphrodite looked up at her brother. "Lonely? Me?"
"Ares-Ares isn't back yet, is he?" He added.
"!"
"I don't understand you, Aphrodite. You have a husband who takes good care of you and you still choose to go to the war god." Frigg told the goddess.
"Mind your own business!" Aphrodite shouted.
"Give me the child." Poseidon said and raised his arms to take him. Aphrodite hesitated at first but realised it was no use fighting them, so she let Poseidon take the child away from her. But the boy didn't like this either and tried to wiggle out of his arms, too.
"Put the child down, he's only getting more scared. He might feel safer if he's away from us." Athena suggested.
Poseidon put the child down and as soon as he felt his feet against the floor he waddled away, not very fast but he was very determined to get away. When his legs couldn't carry him any longer he fell and landed on his butt but this didn't stop him from trying to escape and he continued to move away by crawling across the floor to hide behind a curtain. The gods followed his every move but when they realised he wasn't going anywhere they turned to Aphrodite once again. "Tell me exactly where you found him so we can take him back." Odin told the Greek goddess.
But Aphrodite wasn't about to cooperate. "Can't remember, don't want to remember. Good luck!" She called as she turned to leave but Poseidon grabbed her arm to stop her.
Zeus walked over to them. "You're not going anywhere until you've told us where you found him."
"Too bad, I'm not telling."
The boy behind the curtain started sobbing softly.
Zeus looked over at him before he turned to Balder. "Go find Kusanagi."
"Yes." Balder obeyed immediately and stood up from the chair and left the room.
"Why do you need her?" Freyr asked.
"She's human and know more about human children than we do. She might be able to calm him."
Meanwhile, Yui, Loki, Dionysus, Takeru and Tsukito were hanging out at Yui's place. They were playing the human game called "Twister".
"Left foot, red." Yui said and watched her friends struggle to move without falling. She couldn't help but giggle, it looked way too funny.
"That's my spot Loki! Find another one!" Takeru shouted.
Loki only laughed. "Too bad, this is my spot!"
"Next color, please! I'm winning this!" Dionysus exclaimed, clearly determined to win.
"I found a red spot for you, Totsuka Takeru." Tsukito informed his brother.
"Alright, next one is-" A knock on the door interrupted her. "Um, come in!" She called, wondering who that could be.
The door opened and Balder stepped inside, the cold wind made Dionysus shiver and he felt himself starting to lose his balance. "Don't you dare!" Loki exclaimed but it was too late and the four gods all fell to the floor. "Great…" Takeru sighed with his face against the floor.
Balder blinked at his friends on the floor before he looked up to focus on Yui. "I'm sorry to interrupt, Yui-san, but I'm afraid it's urgent."
"What's going on?" Loki asked as he tried to crawl away from underneath Dionysus.
"Zeus will explain, but you need to come with me immediately, Yui-san."
Yui and the others were running towards the room the gods were holding the meeting. "Hey, why can't you tell us what's going on?" Takeru called to Balder as they ran.
"You'll find out soon!" Balder called back.
A guard opened the door for them once they were close enough and they all entered the big room. There were more gods inside now than it was before. Apparently, many others had seen or heard that Aphrodite had brought a human child here and wanted to see for themselves. Among them were Sif, Freyja Hoenir, Tyr and Vidar. They all turned towards Yui when she entered with the others close behind.
"You wanted to see me?" Yui asked as she was trying to catch her breath.
"This caused me to lose the game, so it better be important." Dionysus pointed out.
Zeus ignored him and looked directly at Yui. "Kusanagi, I'm glad you were close by so you could get here quickly. We've had a little… incident."
In the corner of the eye she noticed movements by the curtain and turned her head to the side. A 1 year old child emerged from behind it and looked at her. Yui's eyes widened and so did Loki, Dionysus and Takeru. "Wha-?" Yui exclaimed. She could tell the child was human, she had seen god children and neither of them looked this human. "Is that-?"
The little boy started crawling towards her, apparently he could tell she was human as well and in his opinion, her aura was a lot better, too. Yui looked down at the boy in surprise as he got closer and finally reached her. His small hands grabbed her leg through the white dress she was wearing and began to pull himself up.
On instinct she bent down to pick the little boy up. The kid rubbed one of his eyes before he leaned his head against her, feeling more safe in her arms than in Aphrodite's.
"What the hell is this human child doing here?" Takeru asked.
Zeus took a seat, relieved that Yui was able to calm the child. "Let me explain. Aphrodite over there brought the child here after he had gotten lost in the woods not far away from his home."
"What?" Yui gasped and her eyes traveled to where Aphrodite was standing, between Poseidon and Frigg.
"She wants to keep him, so she won't tell us where she found him. All we know is that he was found in Japan." He added.
"I see." Yui said and caressed the boy's cheek that was red from all the crying. "So what do we do?"
The one who chose to answer her was Odin. "We were hoping that you could take care of him while we try to locate his home and parents."
Yui looked up at him in surprise. "Me?"
"It would help us a lot, the kid is scared of us but seems to be comfortable with you. Take care of him, please, just until we know where he belongs." Frigg explained.
"A-Alright, I guess I can do that." Yui answered. The boy started smiling and a happy sound escaped him as he reached for Yui's face with one of his hands and touched her cheek.
"Aww, look at the new mother!" Freyja giggled.
"F-Freyja-san!" Yui exclaimed in embarrassment.
"That's great! Fairy is going to take care of him!" Apollon laughed.
"What a bother…" Takeru sighed.
"Kusanagi Yui is going to be a good mother." Tsukito pointed out.
"G-Guys…" Yui stuttered, they weren't helping at all.
"Then that's settled." Zeus said and stood up again. "Kusanagi, take the child home with you for now."
"Right, but I'm going to need a few things."
"Anything you need."
"Diapers, a few change of clothes, including winter clothes and sleepwear, a toothbrush, shoes, a potty, toys, soft blankets, a sippy cup… and maybe a few other things."
Zeus blinked at her, for a young woman who didn't have children of her own she knew quite well what they needed. "Very well, I will make sure you get those things."
A/N: It's getting more and more fun to write this story ^_^ You'll get the next chapter in about 4 days!
