The Shikigami user & the Gorgeous Goddesses

by Uruz 11

Michiru is forced to stay at a relative's house which is occupied by heavenly goddesses, will romance bloom amidst the humor and chaos during his stay? Will all of them visit Feudal Japan as well? Michiru/Peorth as the main pairing, other pairings will also exist pairing Michiru with other female characters from Inuyasha and Oh My Goddess. Warning: Steamy scenes in chapter 16.

11. Having more Fun and Making more Friends

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha, Oh My Goddess, or anything associated with either of them. This story is being written just for fun and enjoyment.

Chapter #11: Having more Fun and Making more Friends

It was late in the morning and everyone was presently outside of the house to enjoy the sunny summer weather that the new day had to offer even though it was still very hot and even hotter than some people could tolerate, but there was a gentle breeze which helped to keep everyone a little cool which was a lucky blessing given how exhausted a person could easily become from using up their energy while the sun was beating down on them. However, this wasn't an issue for Michiru's Uncle Koshian who was presently praying inside of the Temple which was spacious and open, allowing the cool breeze to blow in and out and freely circulate the air while providing shelter and protection from the summer sun's powerful rays.

Back outside where everyone else was presently gathered together, Kagome together with Sango, Shippo and Inuyasha cleaned up the mess of fruit which had been scattered all over the place when Inuyasha had kicked the tray they had been served on out of Miroku's hands and into his face, there was nothing else to do in the meantime except to watch and wait until the effects of the magnet fruit eventually wore off. Thankfully for everyone, Inuyasha had caught on to Miroku's scheme while it was still being carried out so only Michiru, Keiichi and four of the goddesses fell victim to the powerful effects of the mysterious Feudal era fruit, Miroku himself didn't get the chance to eat any of the fruit either which made everyone feel relieved even though they were all immensely disgusted with the lecherous monk once the truth had come out.

Although Keiichi was still tightly squeezed between Belldandy and Skuld who were stuck to him, Belldandy had managed to remain calm and her caring voice and comforting embrace calmed the Morisato boy down to some degree so he was alright despite the discomfort and embarrassment he felt from the very compromising position he had unexpectedly found himself in. Skuld on the other hand was absolutely furious, while she knew Keiichi wasn't a pervert like Miroku, she was nevertheless, fiercely attached to her older sister Belldandy and if anyone made the moves on her or even dared to touch her an any way what so ever regardless of their intentions, the little girl was still fuming uncontrollably and yelling her lungs out at the poor young man still stuck to the two of them even though this was entirely Miroku's fault.

Miroku was passed out on the ground with his body laying like a still corpse in the middle of multiple craters where Urd's lightning bolts and Banpei's missiles had impacted, most of Urd's lightning bolts had found their mark which also explained why the monk's head resembled a pincushion with his head as the cushion and each single strand of his black hair sticking straight up and out like a pin in all directions from everywhere on his head. As lethal and painful as all of these sudden attacks had been, the passed out pervert could be thankful that he was miraculously alive and unharmed with no scars or life threatening injuries from this shower of sudden death from above which thankfully only lasted for a several minutes at most.

Michiru on the other hand was not so fortunate even though Miroku would have gladly traded places with him given that the Kururugi boy was stuck and squeezed tightly between Peorth and Urd who were both completely alright and without worries or complaints about their fate, the two goddesses had taken the overly tempting opportunity to flirt around with the Shikigami user who was completely helpless and unable to escape or counter their combined advances along with their seductive and slow dirty dancing moves for the duration of how ever long the effects of the magnet fruit were supposed to last, Michiru's body temperature had long since sky rocketed and his hormones were straining to be freed from his mental control even though his blushing face was raspberry red and a trickle of sweat ran down his head and back which grew worse from the heat of the summer sun as well as from the embarrassment of this never ending experience.

Twenty-five minutes! Twenty-five long and torturous minutes! I-I felt like I've been stuck here for hours! This is an absolute nightmare! Each of us only ate a single piece of magnet fruit; I dread how much longer this could have gone on for if we had eaten a whole plate full!

"Come on Michiru, its more fun when we have a handsome young man to dance with so join us already." Urd said encouragingly in the hopes that she could convince the Kururugi boy to take part in the fun she and Peorth were both having so long as the three of them were stuck together like this, sadly for the second class goddess, that wasn't going to happen because this was too much for Michiru to handle.

"If you don't want to dance Michiru, you could at least put an arm around our waists and hold us while we do the rest." Peorth suggested flirtatiously while continuing to sway her body and more specifically, her waist and hips seductively from side to side just like Urd was doing as well. "You might as well make the most of it until the effects of the magnet fruit wear off, come on, take your hands out of your pockets and stand up straight so you can dance with us. I promise you we'll make it worth your while…"

"I-I really can't…d-do that…right n-now!" Michiru mumbled, still holding his hands in his pockets while trying to stay calm and hide the fact that his hormones had gone way out of control due to the dent in his pants just below his belt buckle. Bad enough that he had two gorgeous goddesses clad in bikini swimwear stuck on either side of him, but their combined dirty dancing and the way their hips and sexy bodies swayed slowly and seductively back and forth from side to side and up and down while pressing against his own body was a serious cause for alarm, the poor boy was completely helpless and trapped with nothing else to do but to wait for the end to finally arrive.

How am I supposed to stay calm when Peorth and Urd are flirting around with me like this? Aw man! Can things possibly get any worse?

"Hey Michiru? Why the red face?" Mara teased, snapping the Kururugi boy out of his thoughts as he looked up to pay attention to his female demon friend. "Surely you can survive a couple minutes of dancing with Urd and Peorth. You were able to survive a beating from Toshiyuki and a bug summoning song curse from Troubadour after all. Be a man and stop hunching over like an old geezer, Ha. Ha. Ha."

"Please Mara; you're not helping by being a tease." Michiru asked, hoping that the demon lady would back off and keep her comments to herself. "You wouldn't find this funny if you were stuck to someone for a long while, especially if that someone happened to be Miroku."

"Ha! If that happened, I can assure you Miroku would be the one who wouldn't find it funny because I'd break his fingers, wrists and arms after feeling his hands on me even once." Mara stated before spotting Kagome's video camera on the ground, her mind brewing with mischief as she crouched down to pick it up and turn it on before aiming it at the Shikigami user who's eyes widened with worry and fear.

"What are you doing with that camera Mara?" Michiru asked worriedly even though he could already see where this was going.

"What? Urd and Peorth are both having fun so why can't I?" Mara replied innocently, completely ignoring Michiru's question since she wanted to capture the priceless expression on his face and to make fun of Urd since the second class goddess had been flirting around with the young teenage boy as well.

"Mara? I'm going to give you to the count of three to turn off that camera and put it back on the ground where you found it and if you don't, I'll…I'll…" Michiru warned even though the look on his blushing red face was practically begging for Mara to turn off the camera, but the young man suddenly realized he had nothing to threaten her with except his magic which would only cause a fight and make him look like the aggressor.

"Or you'll what? You're stuck to Peorth and Urd so you can't move from where you're standing, the only way you can threaten me is by using your magic and we both know you don't want to look like a bad guy by starting a fight, especially with a lady like me." Mara countered cleverly, enjoying every second of this moment and prolonging it by pouring fuel on the fire since she had nothing to fear. "Get down on your knees and beg me for mercy."

"Please Mara, please turn off the camera and put it back on the ground, I'm asking you as your friend." Michiru pleaded before getting down on his knees and removing his hands from his pockets so he could place them together as though he was begging and praying for Mara's mercy, giving Mara a surprise since she didn't think he'd actually do it. "Please Mara? Please don't make me have to resort to desperation. Please turn off Kagome's camera and put it back on the ground."

Mara was fully aware of Michiru's Shikigami magic and learned not to underestimate him or his abilities ever again, and even though he was begging her to show him mercy in order to spare him from having this embarrassing experience caught on film, the female demon inwardly wanted to see how far Michiru would go if she refused his request. Michiru was presently still stuck to Peorth and Urd so he couldn't attack her at all except with his magic which would make him look like the aggressor if he did, and if by some chance Mara was struck by one of the boy's Shikigami attacks, she knew she could survive it since she was a full fledge demon so she wasn't worried.

"Sorry, no can do. Ah! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!" Mara replied before laughing like an evil villain from a cartoon show would do since she made Michiru get down on his knees and beg for mercy which she also caught on film along with almost a minute of Michiru caught between Urd and Peorth who were still dancing on either side of him.

Sadly for Mara, this memorable moment of triumph was about to end, for while Michiru had removed his hands from his pockets, he had also pulled out his cellular phone which Mara had failed to notice and now the Kururugi boy was selecting some hard rock music for her to dance too once he turned the volume all the way up and found the song he was searching for. Seconds after pressing the button, Mara suddenly found herself dancing against her will as her body reacted entirely on its own, the camera falling out of her hands which Inuyasha had caught before he aimed the appliance at the female demon who was dancing to the rock music playing on Michiru's cell phone. Although Michiru didn't want to force Mara to dance against her will, the female demon had left him with no other choice when she ignored his pleas to stop, the Shikigami user felt immensely relieved now that this embarrassing experience wasn't going to be captured on film and also because his hormones had calmed down enough so that the dent in his pants had finally gone away for good.

"Argh! Damn you Michiru! That was a dirty and underhanded trick! How dare you make me dance against my will again!" Mara cursed angrily even though the fault was all hers for picking up the camera and teasing the Kururugi boy for her own fun in the first place.

"I warned you didn't I Mara?" Michiru replied before turning to see Inuyasha holding the video camera which was still filming. "Turn that camera off Inuyasha; I've had more than enough embarrassment for one morning."

"Relax Michiru; I'm aiming the camera at Mara, not you." Inuyasha replied while filming Mara with Kagome's camera.

Kagome returned with Sango and Shippo from the house having cleaned up the mess of fruit all over the place to throw in the trash, they also brought out some more cold drinks for everybody on their way back out and were surprised to find Mara dancing against her will while Inuyasha was filming the scene with the video camera.

"What did we miss Inuyasha?" Kagome asked curiously as the three of them approached their half demon friend who was busy filming.

"Mara wanted to film Michiru dancing with Peorth and Urd and tease him at the same time so she could laugh about it later, when he asked her to turn off the camera, even when he was on his knees with his hands together like a person begging for mercy, Mara didn't comply so Michiru turned on some hard rock music from his cell phone and now Mara's dancing out of control against her will." Inuyasha explained. "It's her own fault, she got what was coming just because she had to be a tease, and she should have just left well enough alone."

"Wow, I didn't realize that there are some demons that have weaknesses like that." Shippo remarked as he and the others continued to watch Mara dance. "Too bad Naraku never had a weakness like that; we could totally have made fun of him for it before we defeated him."

"If Naraku truly had a weakness like that Shippo, I'm sure we would have defeated him much earlier, that I'm sure of." Sango stated.

"Alright Keiichi! Enough is enough! Get your face and hands off of my big sis!" Skuld yelled, she'd been fuming for half an hour already and it was clear that there would be no end to it so long as the Morisato boy had his hands on her big sister Belldandy. The young goddess eventually turned herself around and started slamming the palms of her hands against Keiichi's back, but the young man had already passed out and fallen asleep in Belldandy's gentle embrace, making Skuld even angrier now that she could see this herself.

"Skuld, that's enough!" Belldandy declared, backing up suddenly while dragging an unconscious Keiichi in her arms, causing Skuld to stop when the first class goddess realized that they were no longer stuck to each other. "The effects of the fruit have finally worn off."

"Huh?" Skuld responded once she realized she was free as well, turning to give Michiru and the other goddesses the good news. "Michiru! Urd! Peorth! The effects of the magnet fruit are all gone! Keiichi, big sis and I are finally free to move around like normal now!"

Michiru quickly checked his watch and saw that it had been half an hour since they had been stuck together and now they were finally free, he also turned off the hard rock music on his cell phone so Mara would stop dancing and luckily for Mara, her embarrassing experience had only lasted for several minutes. After putting his cell phone back in his pants pocket, Michiru walked over to catch Mara and hold her arms with his own so the demon lady wouldn't collapse and fall flat on her face even though a few minutes of dancing wasn't nearly long enough to completely exhaust Mara of her strength. Nevertheless, the female demon accepted his support and took a moment catch her breath while she steadied herself until she was well enough to walk on her own again.

"I'm really sorry Mara, but you really left me no other choice once you refused to turn off that camera." Michiru said apologetically as their eyes met, making Mara's cheeks blush lightly from having her face close to Michiru's once again once she recovered from all the dizziness from dancing against her will for several minutes. Mara was about to say something when her mind rebooted which made her eyes blink suddenly and turn her head to face Inuyasha who had just finished handing Kagome back her video camera once he turned it off.

"Argh!" Mara snarled before releasing herself from the Kururugi boy. "Give me that camera right now!"

"Smashing the camera won't do you any good Mara…" Inuyasha stated, holding the recording chip in his fingers and redirecting Mara's attention towards himself so Kagome didn't have to worry about her camera being destroyed. "The recording chip is what all the video footage is stored on so this tiny little device is what you should be worrying about."

"Then hand it over before I break you as well!" Mara demanded angrily, focusing on Inuyasha and ignoring Kagome's camera altogether.

"Get down on your knees and beg me for mercy." Inuyasha replied with the same words Mara had used when Michiru had been in her place just five minutes ago, grinning as Mara's rage increased before Kagome decided to stop a fight from breaking out.

"Mara?" Kagome called out after snatching the tiny object from Inuyasha's fingers and placing it back in the camera. "If you're uncomfortable, I'll erase the footage of you dancing if that will put you at ease. Is that what you want?"

"Yes, thank you." Mara grumbled as her rage died down now that Kagome had agreed to erase the footage so Mara wouldn't have to be humiliated about this ever again.

"I'll erase my video of you dancing as well Mara." Michiru stated, causing Mara to turn around and face Michiru as the Japanese student pulled out his cell phone from his pocket so he could erase the video he had taken of her dancing uncontrollably during that first day when they had first met on the first day he arrived at his Uncle's house without realizing that it was occupied by Keiichi and the goddesses. "There you are Mara, it's gone for good, nothing to worry about now."

"Thanks Michiru." Mara said gratefully before deciding to apologize for her actions earlier. "Sorry for being a tease."

"Well now that all this commotion had finally come to an end, why don't we all try to have some fun outside before the morning is over, I'll prepare some snacks and more cold drinks for everyone if you'll give me a short while." Belldandy suggested before heading towards the porch entrance of the house with an unconscious Keiichi dragging beside her as she held his arm over the back of her neck and shoulders to keep him on his feet.

"I'll help you Belldandy." Michiru offered, eager to go indoors for a breather after all he had endured throughout the last half an hour or so, taking Keiichi's other arm and supporting the young man's weight so Belldandy wouldn't have to do all the work of carrying Keiichi inside alone.

"Thank you Michiru." Belldandy said gratefully as they went approached the stairs leading up to the porch deck. "Could you please hold the door open for us Skuld?"

"Yeah." Skuld replied, opening the door and holding it open for the three of them so they could enter the house without incident.

After they had taken Keiichi to his bedroom where he was gently laid down on his bed, Skuld went back outside to have fun with the others while Belldandy chose to stay and watch over Keiichi for a few minutes before going to the kitchen to prepare some snacks and cold drinks for everyone. Michiru went to the kitchen and grabbed a can of pop from the fridge which he swiftly opened before drinking a mouthful of its cold and fizzy liquid contents, just what he needed to steady his nerves now after he was stuck to Peorth and Urd for half an hour no thanks to Miroku's stunt with the magnet fruit, he felt badly for leaving Peorth and Urd without a word once the three of them were free from the magnet fruits effects and he hoped that they'd both understand he just needed some time alone to himself right now until he could calm down and put all of this behind him.

Thank goodness that's finally over, I thought it would never end, but I'll have to go talk with Peorth and Urd just to assure them that I'm alright and that I don't hold anything against them just because they both wanted to dance with me while we were waiting for the effects of the magnet fruit to go away.

"Good morning Michiru, I hope you and all of your friends are enjoying their morning so far despite how hot it is." Koshian said, surprising his nephew upon entering so suddenly without warning after having returned from saying his prayers at the Temple for a short while.

"Y-Yeah, we're enjoying ourselves." Michiru replied before having another big drink of pop from the same can he had just opened up.

"So I saw, you can imagine my surprise when I was leaving the Temple to return back to the house when I saw lots of you dancing together, I didn't know you could dance." Koshian replied with a grin, making Michiru's eyes widen with worry as he now dreaded where this conversation was leading towards. "Do your parents know you can dance? If not, I'm sure they'll both be delighted to hear about this."

"I-I wasn't…dancing." Michiru replied nervously as he tried to deny what his Uncle had claimed to have seen, his face blushing heavily again in the process.

"No need to be so secretive Michiru, I'm your Uncle, you can tell me the truth because I won't rat you out, not even to your parents if that'll put you at ease so relax why don't you." Koshian stated, grinning with delight at the priceless look on his blushing nephew's face. "Peorth and Urd looked like they were having lots of fun, if I didn't know any better; I'd say they were both competing for you…what a lucky young man you are to have an opportunity at such a young age."

"That's n-not…what h-happened." Michiru mumbled uncontrollably before drinking the last of the pop from the can and opening another.

"Then what were all of you doing if you weren't dancing?" Koshian asked. "I can only assume that your misbehaving friend Miroku must have outdone himself since I saw him flat with his back on the ground, then Peorth or Urd, who ever was dancing with him decided to carry on dancing with you since you were still on your feet."

"Just how long were you watching all of us from the Temple and what else did you see Uncle Koshian?" Michiru asked after managing to look his Uncle in the face despite how embarrassed he was feeling right now from those events along from his Uncle's teasing remarks.

"I heard lots of yelling and I even recognized Miroku's voice so I left the Shrine to go see what the commotion was and once I stepped outside, I saw Miroku laying on the ground and you dancing with Urd and Peorth. After a moment of watching you from afar, I retraced my steps to finish up where I had left off with my prayers and that's all I saw, so there's nothing for you to be upset or embarrassed about is there Michiru?" Koshian explained, putting most of Michiru's worries to rest since he didn't see Banpei's missile attacks or Urd's lightning bolt attacks all directed at Miroku, leaving the old priest with the only observation he had just explained much to Michiru's own relief.

"No Uncle Koshian." Michiru replied calmly.

"Well, now that that's settled, I'll be in my bedroom for a while." Koshian stated. "I've been meaning to purchase some outside furniture pieces for the yard so I'll be busy searching online on my computer until I've found what I'm looking for, see you at lunchtime Michiru."

"See you then Uncle Koshian, good luck on your search." Michiru replied, breathing a huge sigh of relief once his Uncle was gone from the kitchen, what started off as another embarrassing teasing experience between Uncle and nephew had nearly led Michiru to believe that his own Uncle had seen enough to deduce that the majority of his friends were not ordinary people living here on earth or in this era.

Whew! That was too close! I feel as though I've gone from one flaming hot frying pan and into another over and over again without end!

Keeping the existence of his Shikigami powers along with the powers and abilities belonging to all of his Feudal era friends was one big problem on its own, now Michiru had to hide the fact that the majority of his newest friends other than Keiichi of course possessed god like and demonic powers, having all of them here together under the same roof in the same era gave Michiru a serious cause for concern. While he knew his Uncle to be a good person and a priest who's duty it was to seek enlightenment while assisting others to do the same as they all lived their lives, the Shikigami user was still worried of the consequences if all he had tried to keep secret was suddenly unravelled. His Uncle and his parents would be shocked beyond belief if they ever found out and even if they took all of it well and agreed to keep it a secret themselves, then the three of them would be drawn into the same position he himself was already burdened with and he especially didn't want that.

"Are you alright Michiru?" Belldandy asked, making the Shikigami user jump suddenly as her voice and presence snapped him out of his thoughts. "Sorry if I startled you at all, you must have been very deep in thought, that's a lot of empty pop cans. Did you drink all of that?"

"Uh, y-yeah." Michiru mumbled until he could find control of his voice, he hadn't paid attention to how many cans of pop he had taken and was drinking them one after the other to cool off while he was plagued with troubled thoughts. "I'm sorry Belldandy, I've been a hog."

"No you haven't Michiru, its really hot outside and you were stuck together with Peorth and Urd who were both causing you some additional embarrassment by dancing the way that they did even though they didn't mean to tease, I'd say you needed a couple of cans of pop to calm yourself down and cool off until you recovered yourself from such an ordeal as that." Belldandy stated in understanding.

"Just the same, I should still say sorry, I just downed four whole cans of pop in just a couple of minutes and the day isn't even half way through yet. In addition, there are many others who could use something cold to drink right now and later on throughout the day until it finally cools off in the evening." Michiru said, gathering up the four empty cans and taking them to the kitchen sink to wash them out before placing them with the recyclables. "My Uncle saw us briefly from the Temple, he thought we were just dancing amongst ourselves, he was only seconds away from seeing Miroku being pummelled by Banpei's missiles and Urd's lightning bolts. He also wasn't aware that we were stuck together because of the magnet fruit Miroku served to everyone, I haven't told him about my Shikigami powers or that some of my friends are from Feudal Japan where we had our adventures together. I also haven't told him that you, your sisters along with Peorth and Lind are all goddesses from Heaven. My parents don't know anything about you or any of that stuff either, I…I don't know how long I can keep all of this a secret from them and even if they believed me and were willing to keep it a secret themselves, I don't know if I could put that level of responsibility on them."

"I understand how you feel Michiru, Keiichi felt the same way you did in the first few days after I had been summoned down to earth to grant him a wish and I also felt the same as you do now when I realized how much of a burden Keiichi must have been feeling for having to mislead his friends or his family in order to protect me and my sisters as well once they came down to earth later on." Belldandy stated, hoping she could put the Shikigami warrior's worries to rest even if only for a short while anyway. "We've all been living together in this house and your Uncle took us in when everyone else wouldn't, though he was a little suspicious at first, but he eventually grew fond of us. Though he may like to taunt or tease you from time to time, that's just because you're his nephew, he has no children of his own after all so getting to interact with you gives him loads of joy and laughter even if some of it comes at your own expense."

"I never thought about it like that, but then again, I haven't thought about it at all since I've been too focussed on school, keeping my magic a secret and then coming over here during summer vacation and suddenly meeting you, Keiichi and many other new friends and faces." Michiru replied.

"And I'm so very glad and grateful that you did, it's only been a few days and you've already done so much for all of us and given us lots of fond memorable experiences in our lives." Belldandy said cheerfully. "You saved Peorth and Skuld from a dangerous man, you comforted both of my sisters on two different occasions when each of them were reduced to tears, your presence here has drawn Lind, Peorth, Mara and all your other friends here together so we can enjoy each others company throughout the summer. And don't forget the night when we all had supper together for the first time, each of your friends from Feudal Japan gave you gifts to show their appreciation for all that you did for them including the help you provided to bring about Naraku's defeat. A person who puts others before themselves is truly a generous person, you've kept all of this a secret from your Uncle, your parents and your classmates from school because you know how dangerous it would be for everyone as a whole if they ever found out."

"Belldandy, you said you saw Peorth and Urd…well, more or less dancing with me stuck between them while we were stuck together because of the magnet fruit." Michiru mentioned in order to bring up another subject he needed to discuss with the first class goddess.

"Yes, I did. But what about it?" Belldandy asked, wondering what else was on the Kururugi boy's mind right now.

"Well, while my Uncle was teasing me about Peorth and Urd dancing around me, he…he let it slip that Peorth and Urd might be…competing f-for me. He didn't know that the three of us were actually stuck together because of the magnet fruit we all ate and I just assumed that Peorth and Urd were both doing what they did to have some fun while we were forced to wait for the effects of the magnet fruit to wear off." Michiru explained. "I honestly don't know what they were thinking or what their reasons were, but…in the off chance that Peorth and Urd have both taken an interest in me…What on earth am I supposed to do? I don't want to hurt either one of them a-and…I can't pretend as though that possibility doesn't exist."

"I see, for the time being, I believe the best thing you can do for yourself and for everyone as a whole is to keep moving forward and paying equal attention to all of your friends including Peorth and Urd. That will allow you the time you need to figure out your own feelings and also allow them to do the same, so long as you keep being yourself and fulfilling your responsibility to watch over this house as your parents wanted, then you'll be just fine until the summer break is over." Belldandy suggested, deciding to give Michiru a simple solution for the time being which would benefit everybody and then further down the road, another solution would eventually present itself once the time arrived for the Kururugi boy to come to terms with his own feelings and so on. "I hope I've been of help to you Michiru. Is there anything else you'd like to ask me or talk with me about?"

"Just one last thing, is Urd the kind of person who gets hurt very easily?" Michiru asked. "Emotionally hurt I mean. It's just that, there were actually two occasions when Urd was hurt and I…tried to cheer her up. First when Skuld said something I didn't catch after Peorth and I broke the two of them up from the fight they were having in the kitchen, then a later one when Troubadour made Urd cry to unlock the sacred seal in order to summon that Golden Nightingale."

"I wouldn't go so far as to say she gets hurt easily, but it really depends on what makes her emotionally hurt to begin with." Belldandy explained as best as she could even though she couldn't tell why Michiru would be asking her this. "Why are you asking me this Michiru?"

"The afternoon when Skuld and I were both taken captive by Toshiyuki, I discovered something…something I probably shouldn't be bringing up even though I feel that I have too at some point." Michiru answered before he looked Belldandy in the eyes with his own. "Urd is half goddess and half demon, Toshiyuki mentioned that Urd falls asleep when she hears Enka music which is similar to Mara's weakness of being forced to dance against her will when ever she hears hard rock music. I don't understand the reasons behind those weaknesses or why Urd is half goddess and half demon, but she's still my friend and that doesn't change any of that. I'll still see her and treat her just the same as any of my other friends regardless of who they are or what they are, I'm sorry for rambling on like this Belldandy, I just wanted to let you know all of that before I go back outside to be with the others."

"You're a very kind hearted and good natured young man Michiru, but I really think you should be telling this to Urd instead of me." Belldandy responded, suddenly causing Michiru to hesitate and worry.

"I can't tell Urd, then I'd be the one breaking her down to the point of tears and I don't want to do that." Michiru protested worriedly.

"You would end up doing that anyway and worse by keeping this a secret from Urd only for her to somehow find out many days later and it would hurt her much more if you knew the whole time and didn't tell her that you knew, it would be better for both of you if you told her sometime today so that both of you could move on with as little damage done to your relationship as possible without shattering the friendship that you've both built." Belldandy stated, wearing a gentle smile to put the troubled teenage boy at ease. "Trust me, I know Urd better than anyone else, if you talk to her privately today or tonight, then I'm positive she won't break down as badly as you're afraid of and she'll be happy to see that you're brave enough to see her and talk to her about this matter even though you yourself are worried about hurting her with your words. Urd won't hate you and she won't feel hurt if you're still willing to be her friend and treat her the same as you've treated all of your other friends, don't forget you already yelled at Troubadour for insulting your half demon friend Inuyasha so that has to count as another example."

"Yes, you're right Belldandy, I-I'll talk to Urd later on during the day or else tonight before bedtime at the very latest." Michiru answered before taking one of Belldandy's hands to hold in both of his own. "Thank you again for listening and also for offering me your help."

"You're welcome Michiru, now why don't you go outside to have fun with your friends for the rest of the morning; I'll stay to prepare lunch since it looks as though we'll need it in an hour or two." Belldandy stated, wishing Michiru well before the young man left the kitchen.

"Okay, I guess I'll see you later then, thanks again Belldandy." Michiru said gratefully again, releasing Belldandy's hand from both of his before heading towards the hallway which lead to the side door where the porch deck was located so he could join his friends outside.

Belldandy stood still for a moment, enjoying the peaceful silence and stillness of the kitchen as she collected her thoughts.

It's truly a rare and wonderful sight to see such virtue, compassion and bravery in one who is still so young.

Once outside, Michiru walked down to rejoin all of his friends and saw that Miroku had finally woken up and gotten to his feet again, the monk looked miraculously unharmed considering all the missiles and lighting bolts which had been launched at him almost an hour ago. The Kururugi boy suddenly felt his rage take hold of him once again since Miroku obviously hadn't learned his lesson or heeded any of the warnings Michiru and Kagome had both given him yesterday, and after Miroku's scheme with the magnet fruit along with all the embarrassment Michiru had to endure from that along with his Uncle's teasing, it was time to administer yet another dose of punishment.

"Lind?" Michiru asked softly after going to see the formidable looking Valkyrie first before going to confront Miroku. "Could I borrow your halberd for a moment please?"

"Certainly, if it's not too heavy or awkward for you to carry." Lind replied politely, releasing the long handled weapon from her hand so the Shikigami warrior could borrow it for a moment, her curiosity was now aroused and she wondered what Michiru intended to do with it.

"Thank you very much Lind, I'll be just a minute." Michiru replied before wandering over to see Miroku who was busy arguing with his other Feudal era friends while Mara and the goddesses were talking amongst themselves nearby, they then noticed Michiru's return and that he was now holding Lind's halberd.

"Honestly Miroku, you have no shame at all!" Kagome complained angrily, glaring at Miroku while holding her hands on her hips.

"Now, now Kagome, I was only trying to get some affection. Besides, Peorth and Urd seemed to enjoy themselves and they both got to dance with Michiru which I'm sure he also enjoyed despite how embarrassed his face looked." Miroku countered quietly in a calm voice.

"Shut up Miroku!" Michiru declared, startling his Feudal era friends momentarily in the process as he walked up to them, placing the base of the halberd's long handle on the ground so he could hold it still in his right hand before looking Miroku in the eyes in order to find the right words to say to the monk. "That scheme of yours with the magnet fruit was especially low as I'm sure everyone else will agree with."

"Oh come now Michiru, it wasn't all bad, you got to dance with Peorth and Urd after…" Miroku casually remarked before being cut off.

"That's strike two, one more strike and you're going back to the Feudal era even if it means I have to physically drag you all the way to the Bone Eater's Well at Kagome's house myself!" Michiru declared, much to everybody's astonishment which had the desired result of getting the monk's full attention so that he'd listen to everything else that the ticked off teenage boy had to say. "Now you call yourself an honourable monk, I have never seen a more pathetic excuse of a person than what I'm looking at right now! You don't talk like a monk, you don't behave like a monk, you don't even live or work like a monk! I swear you've got your brains where your balls ought to be and your balls where your brains ought to be! And as a result, you don't know one from the other which is why you're such a disgrace in the first place! And if you don't wise up very soon in order to change yourself for the better Miroku, that's all you're ever going to be in life!"

There was an uncomfortable silence which descended on everyone as Michiru was staring straight at Miroku with a hard and unforgiving look in his eyes, even Inuyasha and the goddesses kept quiet in order to see what happened next, they were also wondering why Michiru was holding Lind's halberd and thought he was going to threaten Miroku with it given how furious he was at the monk right now. Lind however, noticed Michiru's right hand was clenching the long handle of the halberd with his fingers every couple of seconds, allowing the Kururugi boy to vent out his verbal remarks on Miroku while venting out his rage on the long handled weapon so he didn't snap or lash out at Miroku like a rage driven maniac would do. After a couple more seconds, Michiru then turned and walked away, leaving Miroku to think about all the remarks which had been said to him, much to the surprise of everyone after all they saw and heard.

"If you ask me, Michiru should have sliced his balls off with that halberd." Mara whispered to Inuyasha who laughed quietly for a moment.

"He's not mean enough to do that, though I do agree Miroku probably deserves such a punishment as that." Inuyasha replied back to her.

"That's all you'll do to me if I use up one more strike?" Miroku said offhandedly, foolishly thinking that Michiru didn't have the guts to do anything else to him instead, but boy was he ever wrong which is why Michiru suddenly stopped in his tracks.

"One more strike Miroku, and I'll do this!" Michiru yelled loudly, turning around instantaneously in a flash and swinging the halberd up into the air with tremendous speed as he charged back towards the unprepared Miroku who now regretted his foolishly sarcastic remark. The end of the halberd came down from above with such accuracy and momentum that it struck Miroku square in the face, Michiru made sure to hold the halberd in such a way so that Miroku would be hit with the flat part of the axe's blade where it was directly connected with the handle itself so that the spear point wouldn't even touch Miroku's head at all. After withdrawing the weapon as fast as he had attacked with it, Michiru then walked away without looking back at the monk, feeling angry at Miroku for his disrespectful actions so far as well as a small amount of guilt for having to take some disciplinary action on his lecherous friend which may have gone a little too far out of control.

"OW! He broke my nose! Did you see that? He broke my nose!" Miroku whined, his voice sounding high pitched which made him sound like an even bigger idiot than he was already, though it was his own fault for verbally taunting his Kururugi friend which was a big mistake.

"You shouldn't have gotten on Michiru's bad side Miroku." Shippo remarked, shaking his head at the injured monk for playing with fire.

"Hey Michiru!" Inuyasha called out, making the Kururugi boy stop in his tracks to turn around and face him. "If you feel like venting out more of your frustration, why don't you join Sango and I in a sparring match now that you're so obviously in the mood for right now?"

"Come on Michiru, we didn't get to spar together earlier because you weren't feeling well, you can join us too Lind if you'd like." Sango stated, all of them needed to let off some steam and have some fun so now was as good a time as any to have more sparring matches.

"Very well then." Lind agreed before walking over to join Sango and Inuyasha, she stopped briefly by Michiru so she could retrieve her weapon back. "Feel any better after breaking Miroku's nose with my halberd Michiru?"

"Yeah, a little, even though I shouldn't have done that." Michiru answered quietly so no one else would hear him even though he wore a guilty look on his face right now as he handed back the Valkyrie her weapon. "Thanks again for letting me borrow your halberd Lind."

"You're welcome Michiru, no need to feel so guilty; Miroku had what was coming to him after all." Lind stated. "Come on, let's go join Sango and Inuyasha for some sparring sessions, I'm sure you'll feel much better after some combat practice between the four of us."

"I'll join you presently; I just need to see Peorth and Urd for a brief moment." Michiru replied before heading over to see Peorth and Urd.

"You looked fine after the effects of the magnet fruit wore off Michiru, but when you came back outside after being in the house, it was if you had snapped or something." Peorth pointed out worriedly. "I hope you're feeling better now after having your heated talk with Miroku."

"Sorry for worrying you Peorth, I-I guess my tolerance and patience for Miroku's misbehaving finally ran out when he gave us that magnet fruit to eat and I felt I needed to give him some disciplinary action, though I'll admit I went a little too far when I snapped and hit him in the face with Lind's halberd afterwards." Michiru explained, his face was still very red, but the goddesses couldn't tell whether it was from the recent fit of rage during his verbal vent with Miroku or due to his own embarrassment from interacting with the two of them right now.

"Oh, don't feel so badly Michiru because Miroku totally had it coming." Urd remarked, before looking at Michiru flirtatiously. "Peorth and I are lucky that we were stuck together with you instead of with him, you still acted like a gentleman…even though you didn't have too."

"Yeah, a-about that," Michiru replied, taking a hand of each goddess to hold gently in his own hands. "I-I'm s-sorry for being so tense and embarrassed, the two of you were only trying to have some fun while we were all forced to wait for the effects of the magnet fruit to eventually wear off and I ruined that for both of you. I-I just wanted to apologize before going to spar with Lind, Sango and Inuyasha."

"Hey Michiru." Inuyasha said once he landed on the ground beside his Kururugi friend after having leaped over here from a short distance away. "Stop flirting around with Peorth and Urd, we've got some sparring to do, it's been ages since we got to fight together so let's go!"

"I-I wasn't flirting around Inuyasha, hey." Michiru protested, a light pink blush covered his cheeks before he was pulled away and picked up like a sack of potatoes by his half demon friend who was overly eager to have some combat practice. "Put me down Inuyasha! Now!"

"Sorry ladies, but now its time for Michiru and I to have a team battle against Sango and Lind. Care to come and watch?" Inuyasha replied to the goddesses before darting off to where Sango and Lind were both waiting for their two male opponents to arrive. "Let's go Michiru."

"Well, now that we're all here, we have to decide who wants to team up with whom for the fist team battle." Sango stated after she had changed into her demon slayer attire complete with her arsenal of various combat weapons including her massive Hiraikotsu.

"Michiru and I are going to take you two ladies on so I hope you're both ready." Inuyasha answered excitedly, stretching his arms and readying himself for some sparring after setting Michiru down on the ground and allowing his Kururugi friend to stand on his own two feet.

"Not yet Inuyasha, Sango said she wants to spar with Michiru first because its been so long since they got to train or practice together, this'll be the first time that they'll get to spar together in the modern era so let's let them have the first round to warm up." Lind declared.

"Fine with me Lind." Inuyasha replied as he Lind stood off to the side with everyone else to watch Sango and Michiru battle each other.

"Where's your sword that Inuyasha gave you Michiru?" Sango asked as she only just noticed that the Kururugi boy didn't have his sword.

"Oh, it's in the Temple, I'll go get it and come right back." Michiru answered before running off to go retrieve his Flower Bloomer sword.

While Michiru ran off to retrieve his weapon, Peorth and Urd wandered over to wait for the sparring matches to begin, they both wanted to see the Kururugi boy in action after recalling all the stories they had been told of Michiru's adventures throughout Feudal Japan. Kagome, Skuld, Shippo and Miroku wanted to watch as well, but they were momentarily occupied at the moment since Kagome and Shippo were administering first aid treatment to Miroku's broken nose and Skuld was busy leading Banpei back into the house in order to reload his arsenal of missiles which he had recently expended on Miroku following the unexpected scheme with the magnet fruit.

"Ow, that hurts Kagome." Miroku whined while the high school girl used her fingers to force the monk's broken nose back into position so it could heal properly even though it was extremely painful. "Why can't Michiru or one of the goddesses heal it with magic instead?"

"Stop whining like a baby and hold still Miroku!" Kagome ordered, nearly losing her patience as she pulled out a special band aid to place over the bridge of Miroku's busted up nose. "There, now don't touch it or do anything unless I say its okay or else it'll take forever to heal if it even heals properly."

"You've behaved very badly Miroku, I really don't think Michiru or any of the goddesses would be willing to heal your broken nose with their magic powers after what you pulled with the magnet fruit a short while ago so shut up and take it like a man." Shippo remarked.

"Hey, I'm not the one who blew a fuse and lost my temper." Miroku argued. "Anyway, that's the first time any of us have ever seen Michiru snap in a fit of rage like that so how was I supposed to know that would happen?"

"Simple, this is the modern era where every individual is held accountable for all of their actions regardless of what their intentions were, never mind the fact that all of us happen to be staying at this house belonging to Michiru's Uncle which is also home to Keiichi and the goddesses." Kagome explained, before flicking her finger and lightly striking Miroku's nose just enough to cause him a moment of sharp pain without causing further injury in order to get her point across to the monk. "How do you think Michiru feels for having to put up with your misbehaviour or to watch helplessly as you misbehave towards others? He feels partially responsible for you since you're his guest."

"Yeah Miroku, so let that broken nose of yours serve as a reminder not to misbehave anymore while we're here, then maybe Michiru will heal your injury with his magic if he feels that you've earned it." Shippo pointed out before he spots Michiru returning with the Flower Bloomer sword in hand so he could spar with Sango, Lind and Inuyasha. "Looks like the sparring is about to start, come on Kagome."

Sango stood ready for sparring, holding her huge Hiraikotsu in hand while Michiru took position a few feet away from her holding his new sword which he had just drawn out, the sheath was fastened in place on his left side by the belt of his pants so that it wouldn't flop around or be a nuisance during these combat practices. Inuyasha stood ready with his arms up, grinning excitedly at Lind whom he really enjoyed sparring with since the Valkyrie was so skilled and formidable, Lind looked relaxed enough, but she was fully alert and prepared which allowed her to hide the fact that her guard was always up even when an enemy mistakenly thought otherwise. Michiru held his Flower Bloomer sword in front of himself with both hands grasping the handle, his mind becoming momentarily distracted by the incident in the Feudal era when Totosai visited him and his friends, allowing the Kururugi boy to see the wondrous weapon for the first time.

Totosai said that this sword is rendered harmless and only causes flowers to bloom when ever its wielded by someone who's bloodthirsty in battle, Inuyasha certainly proved that when he tried swinging the sword and fighting against that horde of demons we were attacked by on the road during our travels. But what would happen if it was wielded by someone who isn't bloodthirsty? Someone like me? Would the sword have an entirely different ability altogether? Could I at the very least use it in battle like an ordinary sword? I better not think to much about it right now, I'm going to be sparring with Sango right now so its better that its rendered harmless right now anyway since I don't want to accidentally injure her or anyone else for that matter either.

"Pay attention Michiru." Sango warned before she charged forward while swinging her massive boomerang weapon at an unprepared Michiru in the process, causing the Kururugi boy to come to his senses and duck just in time before he himself lunged at the female fighter, striking her in the stomach with his arm and using his momentum to throw her off balance since she had made herself momentarily vulnerable which resulted with the demon slayer falling flat on her back with Michiru standing over her as the victor. "Good job Michiru, I'm glad to see you haven't forgotten any of the lessons I taught you during our sparring sessions in the Feudal era."

"Thanks Sango, sorry for losing focus. I hope I didn't hit you too hard or cause you any pain when you hit the ground like that." Michiru replied, holding his left hand out for Sango to grab, allowing him to pull his female friend back to her feet so that they could continue.

"That's alright." Sango answered reassuringly with a soft smile once she let go of Michiru's hand so they could take their sparring positions again. "I'm perfectly fine, even though you shoved me really hard while I was off balance; my body armour protected me so I didn't feel any pain from your attack or from falling on my back. Since you won the first round so quickly, I'll have to fight harder now."

"So instead of hurting you, I hurt your pride instead?" Michiru asked humorously in amusement, earning himself a sarcastic smile from Sango which he always enjoyed seeing; this was a side his female friend rarely ever showed anyone except to him since he was both her friend and her student.

"No, not at all Michiru, but its my duty as a demon slayer and your teacher to test you to the full even if that means attacking you with everything I have." Sango responded, earning a rewarding smile from the Shikigami user who was eager to do his best which is always what Sango wanted of him when ever they sparred together, the two of them had become close friends and earned each other's trust and respect over the course of their days together in the Feudal era where their friendship had been forged both on and off the battlefield.

"I'd expect nothing less from my friend and my teacher, bring it on Sango, I'm ready for you." Michiru replied confidently as he took a defensive stance, knowing that this was going to an epic match, Kagome wisely pulled out her camera to film what was about to occur.

"Very well then, let's see how you can handle this!" Sango declared, before attacking Michiru from a distance without even moving from her stance, using her Kusarigama, a metal beak like weapon held and attached to a long metal chain which was wielded in battle for long range combat. The demon slayer skilfully used the weapon to entangle Michiru's lower left leg without injuring him in the process which was her intention, it happened so fast that Michiru's mind was still processing everything by the time Sango completed her move.

"Oh no, not good." Michiru said suddenly as he saw Sango was about to yank back really hard on the other end of her chain so with only seconds to spare, Michiru stabbed the pointed end of his sword through one of the chain links and into the ground, preventing Sango from pulling him off balance or making him fall to the ground since the momentum from her pulling on the chain was checked where the sword was stabbed into the ground which allowed the Kururugi boy to quickly untangle the loose end of the chain from around his lower leg. "You'll have to do a lot better than that Sango, just because I'm your student doesn't mean I don't possess a few moves of my own."

"You'll need all the moves you can get Michiru, because I'm just getting warmed up!" Sango countered humorously in amusement as she charged towards the Shikigami user who was still crouched on the ground and untangling the kusarigama chain from around his leg, hurling her Hiraikotsu at him before drawing her own sword from its sheath, preparing to deliver the final blow herself. "Hiraikotsu!"

Michiru dodged the massive boomerang weapon which flew passed him, allowing Sango to close the distance between them since the attack had also provided a distraction even though it had missed her target, the Kururugi boy then rose to his feet once he was free to move and drew his sword from the ground to block Sango's next attack. The female fighter pressed her attack and kept driving Michiru backwards while keeping an eye on her Hiraikotsu which was soon retracing its path and returning back in the direction from whence it was hurled, putting the distracted Shikigami user in danger of being struck from behind by the massive demon bone weapon.

However, Michiru had anticipated such a move since he had witnessed Sango in combat numerous times against countless hordes of demon foes, he was counting the seconds in the back of his head, listening to the sound of the rotating weapon flying through the air and keeping a close watch on Sango's eyes for a sign of betrayal which might alert him of the Hiraikotsu's return. And just like that, Sango's eyes glanced to look behind him momentarily which gave him the signal of when to evade the huge weapon even while he was still preoccupied in a sword fight with the demon slayer, dodging to the right just in time before the giant boomerang imbedded itself into the ground where Michiru had been standing a moment ago.

"Nice try Sango, but its time to end this match." Michiru declared, using the Hiraikotsu to hide himself briefly from Sango's line of sight.

"I'm your teacher Michiru, I'm the one who decides when its time to end this match!" Sango countered sarcastically with a playful gin, quickly sheathing her sword so she could retrieve her Hiraikotsu which was her favourite weapon to use, allowing her to wield it more easily with two hands instead of just one.

Suddenly, the rattling of a chain caught Sango's attention and she suddenly found herself and her Hiraikotsu entangled in the long chain of her kusarigama which she had left on the ground during the battle a minute ago, leaving the demon slayer restrained by both of her weapons and unable to move from where she was standing. As Sango tried to loosen the chain from around her waist, Michiru raced around with sword in hand and the other end of the chain belonging to her kusarigama in the other.

"It's over Sango, though your hands and arms are free, you're unable to move from where you're standing." Michiru declared, gently poking Sango in the side of her waist with the point of his sword to simulate a killing blow without actually harming the demon slayer.

"Yes, it's over, but not just for me." Sango replied casually before reaching her arm out with lightning speed, grabbing the Kururugi boy by the blue tie of his school uniform and pulling him towards herself, holding her left forearm below his chin and revealing a hidden blade from beneath the sleeve of her combat uniform which she could use to either stab him in the heart or slice his throat which would end the match in a draw since the stab wound to her waist wasn't deadly enough to kill her instantaneously. "You still have much to learn Michiru."

"Well fought, very closely matched, great effort by both of you!" Kagome complimenting both of her friends as everyone clapped their hands to congratulate Sango and Michiru on their great performances during the sparring match, Sango then released her hold on Michiru's tie so he could back away, but he stayed put and helped her unravel the kusarigama chain still entangled around her and the Hiraikotsu.

"Okay, now its time for a team battle, two on two!" Inuyasha declared before stepping forward to get ready for the next sparring match.

"Hold on Inuyasha, Sango's still all tangled up, give us a second." Michiru replied while unravelling the chain until Sango was finally free.

"Thank you Michiru, you performed excellently, that was a clever idea to use my own weapons against me as well." Sango stated while paying her Kururugi friend some well deserved compliments. "We'd better get into positions with Lind before Inuyasha looses patience."

"Your welcome Sango, good luck in the next match, it'll be a two on two battle so it'll be more challenging than our one on one battle was." Michiru replied politely, wishing Sango good luck before taking position beside Inuyasha while Sango took her place beside Lind.

Everyone gathered together in a group off to one side so that the four combatants had plenty of room for battle to move around freely without endangering anyone in case they were thrown around or if their weapons were thrown around, Peorth and Urd remained alert just in case things accidentally got out of control so they could use their magic to intervene in order to prevent anyone from being injured by accident. Kagome once again had her camera rolling to capture the action on film, Mara and Shippo stood by waiting in anticipation with the others for the team battle to finally begin, Miroku was watching as well even though he was still unhappy about his nose being broken so this was all he could do to entertain himself while keeping his mind and his hands off his nose despite how tempted he was at examining it because of the pain he was feeling. Michiru stood to everyone's right with Inuyasha beside him on his right while Sango stood across to everyone's left with Lind to her left. Sango faced Michiru while Lind faced Inuyasha, it was only logical given that Michiru and Sango were both human while Inuyasha was a half demon with increased strength, speed, etc and Lind was a Valkyrie who was highly skilled and even more formidable than Inuyasha was.

"Time for our two on two team battle!" Inuyasha declared excitedly while flexing his arms and clenching his fists. "You ready Michiru?"

"I'm ready Inuyasha." Michiru replied, exchanging glances with his half demon friend while taking up a defensive stance with his sword sheathed at his side so he didn't advertise his intentions to his opponents. "Sango? Lind? Ladies first, attack us when ever you're ready!"

"Don't mind if I do Michiru! Sango answered while preparing to throw her Hiraikotsu, she then glanced at Lind. "I'm ready if you are Lind."

"You make the first move Sango, I'll follow through afterwards just like we discussed earlier this morning." Lind responded out loud.

"Alright then, let's do it, Hiraikotsu!" Sango yelled before hurling her huge Hiraikotsu, only instead of throwing it at Michiru as everybody expected, the warrior woman had thrown it at Inuyasha which caught them along with both of her sparring opponents by total surprise.

"Inuyasha!" Michiru called out loud, caught off guard by the unexpected change in target, unable to do anything to aid his half demon friend since he now found himself under attack by Lind who had suddenly charged towards him with a surprise attack of her own.

"I see it Michiru!" Inuyasha replied, raising his left arm and using his half demon strength to deflect the massive boomerang weapon with ease before glancing at his opponents in order to decide what to do next. "Nice trick to suddenly switch targets Sango, but you'll have to do better than that if the two of you hope to beat Michiru and I, we've each got a few tricks of our own so don't think that's you've won."

"Less talking and more fighting Inuyasha." Sango countered as she sprinted towards her half demon opponent with her Kusarigama held in hand, whipping the chained weapon around before hurling it and entangling the long chain around Inuyasha and the Hiraikotsu just as Michiru had done to her during the previous sparring match.

"You want more fighting? Well how about this?" Inuyasha blurted out, using his right hand to grab the loose end of the chain and with one powerful yank, he lifted Sango off of the ground and spun her around and around before using the momentum to hurl her through the air towards Lind who was presently still battling Michiru.

"Look out Lind!" Sango shouted, letting go of the chain to avoid injuring her hand and arm, giving the Valkyrie enough warning to avoid being impacted by the demon slayer flying through the air towards her at lightning speed, causing everyone to pause with baited breath.

Lind swung her halberd at Michiru's head, forcing the Shikigami user to duck down suddenly to avoid being hit, but what happened next would cause everybody's eyes and mouths to gape wide open. As she swung her halberd with her right hand, Lind fully extended her left hand and arm out towards Sango and caught the demon slayer's hand in a flash before using Sango's momentum to swing her around in mid air and turn her own body in a full circle, almost struck Michiru with Sango's body in the process before releasing her hold and sending the warrior woman directing back through the air towards Inuyasha who was just as much in awe as everyone else was. Michiru saw that Lind had left herself open and vulnerable for a few seconds while she unexpectedly performed this spectacular stunt with Sango, but as he was about to raise himself up and strike with his sword from his crouching position, the Valkyrie rotated her halberd in hand and stabbed it into the ground which pinned Michiru's sword and prevented him from using his weapon to strike her.

"Wow, I wasn't expected a move like that." Inuyasha remarked quietly, unwinding the Kusarigama chain from around himself just in time before using the Hiraikotsu to shield himself from an aerial kick which Sango had attempted to strike him with upon colliding with him.

Michiru locked eyes with Lind, unable to think of what to do next given the fact that he was in no position to fight the Valkyrie without his weapon which was still stuck and pinned to the ground with the pointed end of her halberd, the two of them were searching each other's eyes as if they were looking into each other's souls to see what the other's intentions were even while Sango and Inuyasha continued to battle without them. Kagome thought this was an epic moment and had zoomed in on the two of them instead of filming Sango and Inuyasha, believing that this was the end of the team battle and that Lind was waiting for Michiru to surrender or admit defeat.

"You fought well Michiru, but it's now over, surrender and save yourself from further injury." Lind stated without changing her expression, she only said this to see how the Shikigami warrior would respond to a situation like and also because she saw he was deep in thought.

"You fought well too Lind…" Michiru replied, holding his right hand out as if he intended to shake hands which the Valkyrie believed when she let go of her halberd and grasped the young man's hand in her own, but then he suddenly grabbed her left hand in his so that their arms were crisscrossing each others. "But I'm not about to give up just yet, not without one last final effort to make this battle interesting."

Before Lind saw what was coming, Michiru shot up to his feet and leaned backwards, pulling the Valkyrie and the long handle of her halberd towards him in the process. Once his body was leaned back as far as possible, Michiru raised his feet and released his hold of Lind's hands and kicking her backwards in one swift motion, the strain on the long handle of the halberd was released which sent it flinging back and striking the unprepared goddess square in the forehead. As Lind stumbled back trying to regain her footing, the Japanese student got to his feet and twisted the handle of the halberd back and forth like someone with a shovel would do to loosen the end of it out of the ground, allowing him to recover his sword and arm himself with the long handled weapon belonging to his opponent.

The tables had certainly taken another unexpected turn, but Lind wasn't finished or beaten just because she wasn't armed with a weapon, she had her combat training and battle experience to drawn on as the number one Valkyrie of Heaven's battle division. Michiru charged towards her, using the halberd as a thrusting spear rather than as a long handled axe which was another way that the weapon could be employed in battle, but Lind was too fast for the teenage boy and evaded his attack while grabbing hold of the halberd and flipping Michiru over top of her and on to the ground in one swift motion. Michiru reached down to draw out his sword again, but Lind now held the spear point of her weapon directing above his chest, indicating that the fight between the two of them was now over.

Meanwhile, Sango had managed to strike a couple of blows to Inuyasha until the half demon eventually grabbed hold of the demon slayer and lifted her up before bringing her down on top of his knee, slowing down to a stop so he could simulate that he was breaking her back over it without actually doing it or causing her any injury in the process. Once Sango admitted that she had lost to her half demon friend, she and Inuyasha both looked over to see how Lind and Michiru were both fairing, but then they realized that each team had eliminated an opponent within seconds of each other so the battle was officially ended at a draw.

"Its really over, I don't have any tricks to get out of this one, looks like you win Lind." Michiru declared, catching his breath and staying still on the ground since the impact had taken a toll on his body even though he wasn't seriously hurt. "Are Sango and Inuyasha still fighting?"

"No, it looks like they're done too; Inuyasha defeated Sango so the battle's a draw." Lind answered before tossing her halberd aside and lifting Michiru up from underneath just below his shoulders so the teenage boy could sit up and get to his feet. "I hope you aren't hurt by that fall you took after I flung you into the air and over my head like that."

"I'm a little sore, but it's alright, its not as painful as it looks." Michiru answered, brushing the dirt off of his clothes while he examined himself to make sure he was alright without any bruises or injured limbs. "You're one formidable fighter Lind, I'm glad I'm not your enemy, a real enemy I mean."

"I'm glad, you did pretty well yourself, you've certainly learned a great deal from Sango's teachings as I'm sure she'd agree with." Lind stated as she retrieved her weapon from the ground before turning towards Inuyasha and Sango. "The team battle's over Inuyasha, I beat Michiru and you beat Sango so the match is officially a draw, you can put Sango down now and stop posing like a model for a portrait."

"What do you mean it's over?" Inuyasha blurted out, setting Sango back on her feet with ease before taking a fighting stance again. "Sango and Michiru may be out, but that still leaves the two of us to fight it out, the battle's not over until one of us is left standing!"

"Stop whining Inuyasha, its over, that's how team battles work, you can have another sparring session if you're still in the mood so accept it already." Shippo pointed out while shouting from the audience at the half demon whose pride had gotten the better of him yet again.

"Fine, but we have to have a one on one match ourselves, you aren't too tired to have a fight with me are you Lind?" Inuyasha asked.

"No Inuyasha, not at all." Lind politely replied before walking over to take position with Inuyasha whom she knew was just inching for another rematch, the half demon must be feeling quite bored since there were no demons to beat up or fight against in the modern era so a goddess such as herself was one of the few people he could consider a challenge even though they were sparring instead of fighting.

"Good luck Lind." Michiru said to the Valkyrie warrior before walking off with Sango to watch on the sidelines with everybody else.

Throughout the rest of the morning for an hour or two, everybody chatted amongst themselves while watching Sango, Michiru, Lind and Inuyasha take turns sparring against each other. Kagome only recorded two or three more sparring sessions in order to save film for other entertaining moments and events which she believed would unfold throughout the day after all the excitement she and her Feudal era friends had seen and experienced since they arrived in Modern Japan for their brief visit with Michiru and the goddesses. As another sparring session ended, Belldandy came out of the house to see everyone, smiling happily and glad to see how much fun everyone was having right now.

"Urd?" Belldandy called out, getting her sister's attention. "Lunch is nearly ready; would you please bring everyone inside to wash up?"

"Sure thing Belldandy, alright everybody, lunchtime is almost here so lets go inside to wash hands and cool off." Urd stated, mobilizing everybody except for Sango, Michiru, Inuyasha and Lind who were still sparring against each other. "Michiru? Sango? Inuyasha? Lind?"

"We'll be inside shortly Urd; we just have to finish up here with this last sparring session." Inuyasha replied back with a wave of his hand before delivering a knock out blow to Michiru who happened to be his opponent during this one on one sparring session. "There, I win!"

"Whew!" Sango gasped before pulling a handkerchief out and wiping the sweat from her face and neck. "That was one heck of a work out, I think we all did more sparring practice this morning than I usually do during a full day off in the Feudal era, I'm all worn out."

"Same here Sango, I think I could use a cool shower and then a nap more than anything else right now, I don't think I even have the energy to eat lunch today after sparring all morning with the three of you." Michiru commented while trying to catch his breath and relax.

"We'd better go inside, lunch will be ready soon so if any of you want to shower and change clothes, now's the time cool off and freshen up before eating at the table with everybody." Lind pointed out, choosing to head inside last in order to see that everybody went inside.

"I'm amazed that the three of you were able to last this long and fight as well as you did in this heat today, those were some awesome sparring matches, its not every day I get to battle others who can keep up with me!" Inuyasha said, paying Lind, Michiru and Sango some compliments.

"Thanks Inuyasha, I have to admit I would have thrown in the towel earlier had I known it would be this hot today, but I didn't want too since all of us were having so much fun together." Michiru replied, grabbing a bottle of cold water from the picnic table and having a drink.

"I'm going to go have a cool shower and change clothes before lunch; I'll see you all later." Sango said, unfastening the armoured pads from her demon slayer outfit as she bid her friends a quick farewell so she could go inside the house and take a relaxing bath to cool off.

"Bye Sango." Michiru replied. "See you later with the others at lunchtime."

"Are the two of you up for another sparring match after lunch?" Inuyasha asked excitedly, he was having so much fun today and didn't want it to end.

"Sure Inuyasha, if Lind is okay with it." Michiru replied, turning to gorgeous goddess.

"Yes, we can have another match together." Lind answered, wondering if the half demon would ever get tired of sparring against her.

"Great! It'll be a two on one with both of you against me, may the best side win!" Inuyasha remarked, giving each of them a swift pat on the back as a means of encouragement.

"Ow!" Lind cried out unexpectedly, alarming both Michiru and Inuyasha in the process, the half demon hadn't hit her very hard after all.

"Sorry Lind, I didn't think I hit you that hard." Inuyasha said apologetically with a puzzled look on his face since Michiru wasn't hurt at all.

"You're back is sunburnt Lind, you must have forgotten that your back is exposed and you aren't wearing any sunscreen so being outside in the sun all morning resulted with this." Michiru deduced, seeing Lind's reddened back as she stood still. "You can go inside Inuyasha; I'll stay to heal Lind. Here, why don't you sit down on the stool here so I can treat you before we head inside, it'll only take a few minutes?"

"Okay, don't be too long or else you'll be late for lunch and there won't be any food left for you." Inuyasha replied before heading inside

"I'm alright Michiru, I'm a Valkyrie and I can take care of myself." Lind said defiantly, about to walk away until she felt the Kururugi boy grab hold of her shoulders to hold her still with his hands in order to keep her from leaving until after he had tended to her sunburnt back.

"You're not alright, please sit down and let me take care of you like how you, Peorth and Urd took care of me yesterday evening, I promise you I'll make this quick and easy." Michiru demanded, bringing up the incident from the other evening when he had been the injured person in need of attention, making the proud warrior woman reluctantly swallow her pride and sit down so she could be tended too. "Thank you Lind, I'll use my magic to heal your back first, it'll only take a minute. Oh flowing mighty river! Give me your blessing!"

Michiru's spell was cast which summoned the Shikigami familiar in the form of red and brown fish which swam in a circle above Lind's head, bathing her in a blanket of blue light, completely healing her injured back while simultaneously recovering her energy and strength. Once the spell was finished, the blue light and the familiar vanished as quickly as they had appeared, Lind's back was now fully healed.

"Thank you Michiru." Lind said gratefully as she tried to stand up when Michiru's hands grabbed her shoulders to keep her in place.

"We're not done yet Lind, you're back may be fully healed, but you still need to have some sunscreen on it so that this doesn't happen again." Michiru stated, his words causing Lind to suddenly stiffen when both of them realized someone else would have to put it on Lind's behalf. "I-If you're feeling uncomfortable, I can go find Peorth and ask her to put it on your back if that'll make you feel better, I won't do it if you don't want me too."

"N-No, its f-fine, go ahead Michiru." Lind replied nervously as the realization of having a young man's hands on her body made the Valkyrie feel very vulnerable and uncomfortable, but she stayed still to tough it out and get this over with, she was thankful that it was the Shikigami warrior of all people instead of some lecherous person like Miroku.

"Very well, but if you're uncomfortable, all you have to do is say stop." Michiru said, before pouring some sunscreen from a bottle into his hand, he then put the bottle down and pulled the edge of Lind's battle outfit away so he could apply the liquid substance without leaving any part of the woman's back untouched.

Lind braced herself and was surprised to find that this experience wasn't as bad as she had first thought, Michiru was only using one hand to rub the sunscreen on her back instead of two which greatly reduced the tension she was feeling, that along with how gentle and careful his movements were on her exposed flesh and skin, the teenage boy had started at the top in order to work his way down with one hand while using the other hand to part the fabric of her uniform so he could run his fingers behind it to ensure Lind's back was fully covered with sunscreen. A light blush appeared on Lind's cheeks as well as Michiru's given the embarrassment both of them were feeling from this, but thankfully, they weren't facing each other and no one else was outside watching them either so they were spared from any additional embarrassment that one might feel from looking someone in the eyes during such an experience.

Wow, I-I knew Lind was attractive just as all the other goddesses, but I didn't realize her battle outfit does such a good job of concealing her beautiful body like Sango's demon slayer outfit does! What am I thinking, just focus on the task at hand so Lind can be tended too!

Michiru's hands are warm and kind, his movements are so gentle and caring; he's also not as embarrassed as he was when he had to rub sunscreen on Peorth and Urd earlier today. But I suppose that's expected given how Peorth and Urd both act and dress themselves out in public, perhaps Michiru feels more at ease with me than he does with the two of them. Now! Now! Just clear your mind and get this over with so the two of us can move on, it'll be time for lunch soon and we have to cool off and freshen up as well.

Finally after several more minutes, the task was done and the young teenager removed his hands from the Valkyrie warrior, allowing Lind to stand up and go where she wished. Although it had only taken a few minutes as Michiru had said, it felt like it had taken a lot longer under the circumstances along with the thoughts plaguing each of their minds, but they both survived through it without any troubles.

"There you are, we're all done Lind, just be sure to get some sunscreen put on your back from now on every morning okay?" Michiru said.

"I'll remember from now on, thank you Michiru, let's go inside to freshen up before lunch is ready." Lind replied sincerely with a polite bow.

"You're welcome Lind." Michiru said politely with a friendly smile, the two of them left their weapons leaning against the outside wall of the porch deck before going inside the house where everybody else was preparing to have lunch together at the dining room table.

Sango was having a cool shower so the washroom was temporarily unavailable, but everyone could still wash hands in the kitchen sink in order to freshen up, Keiichi had awoken from his long nap and was setting the table with clean plates, glasses and cutlery while Belldandy was busy preparing all the delicious food to be served which would be in a couple of minutes. Kagome was in the living room with Shippo and Inuyasha watching the recorded footage of all the sparring sessions that occurred this morning, Skuld had emerged from her laboratory and was busy making desserts under the guidance of her favourite older sister while, Peorth and Urd were helping out in the kitchen in anyway they could so Belldandy wasn't burdened with doing all of the work and chores herself.

Once Sango had emerged from the washroom after having her shower and changing into her comfortable kimono, Michiru took the opportunity to have a cool shower as well, lunch was ready to be served by the time he was finished and changed into clean clothes. The dining room table was filled with delicious food as it was during every meal of the day three huge bowls containing potato salad, egg salad and Caesar salad were placed evenly apart on the table, one near each end and the third one in the middle. There were also two large plates piled high with various sandwiches and another plate with various kinds of fresh fruit all sliced up and arranged perfectly. To drink, there was juice, water, lemonade, pop and milk, all of which were cold and served at the last minute once everybody had taken their seats at the table to eat together.

"You've outdone yourself again Belldandy, it must be a lot of work preparing some much delicious food for so many people over and over again." Michiru stated, complimenting the first class goddess on her cooking skills and so on as he surveyed all the food on the table.

"Its not as much work as you think Michiru, I've done it enough times to learn everything there is to know in order to make the task as simple as possible, you'd better go inform your Uncle that lunch is ready so he can come and join us." Belldandy replied with a nice smile.

"Right, thanks Belldandy." Michiru stated until he suddenly noticed that Lind wasn't present while everyone else was sitting down at the table to have lunch together, making him wonder where the Valkyrie had disappeared to. "Do you happen to know where Lind went to?"

"She informed me that she had an errand to run and that she went back to heaven, but she should be back shortly." Belldandy answered.

"Oh, alright, thanks Belldandy." Michiru replied softly, his curiosity now being aroused even more as he pondered why Lind had to leave.

Meanwhile up in Heaven…

Lind was presently walking through the lush green gardens which connected the Goddess Relief Office, the Earth Help Centre, and the training grounds for all of the Valkyries belonging to Heaven's battle division. Everything from the buildings, statues, shrines and walkways were all made out of white stone marble, lush trees and bushes along with green grass and flower covered meadows surrounded the goddess on all sides and went on as far as the eye could see. There was also a system of fountains, waterways and pools filled with fresh clean water, some of these had various kinds of fish swimming around in them. Up in the sky, there were fluffy white clouds with large gaps in them where the blue sky could be seen and the warm sun shone out brightly, bathing the whole landscape with heavenly warmth and sunshine.

While Lind carried her halberd in hand, she also carried a small bundle which hung from a sling so she could carry it over her shoulder and hold it in her other hand like a small bag, inside was an arsenal of smaller weapons which she was also skilled at using in battle. Though Lind was preferential to the use of large weapons like her halberd, she was an also an expert in all forms of weaponry including smaller weapons like combat knives, and all sorts of throwing weapons which were stored inside the rolled up bundle she was carrying. She certainly knew projectile weapons too even though she mainly trained and fought with hand held weapons that one had to physically wield in combat like a warrior or demon slayer would do, as the most formidable Valkyrie of heaven's battle division, Lind was also responsible for training newer and younger goddesses who volunteered or who were chosen to be Valkyries themselves. Thinking about the sparring session she promised to Michiru and InuYasha, Lind thought that perhaps it was time that Michiru learned how to use various kinds of different weaponry, as a highly skilled Valkyrie warrior, she could help Michiru learn to use these things efficiently in order to accelerate the young teenager's performance and capabilities which he would undoubtedly need if he ever revisited Japan's Feudal era again.

Michiru was certainly maturing into a young and promising warrior thanks to Sango's invaluable training as well as from learning and developing his Shikigami powers both on and off the battlefield during his adventures throughout Feudal Japan, he also had additional aid from all his other friends whom he had met and fought beside in the Feudal era, then there was the training and guidance he had received during his brief encounters with Grandma Kakuju who was one of his great ancestors and an experienced user of Shikigami magic herself. Though Michiru possessed great power and had a physical and moral strength separate from most human beings, the Kururugi boy still didn't seem complete in Lind's eyes and she felt it was her duty to help the Shikigami warrior reach his fullest potential, it was also the least she could do after all he had done for her and the goddesses down on earth so far, never mind all the hope and joy he had unknowingly given to so many more of them up in heaven and especially the Valkyries belonging to heaven's battle division.

Being a great warrior herself, Lind also believed in being properly equipped with adequate armour and weaponry so that any warrior no matter who they were could face and overcome any challenge they might encounter on the battlefield, especially in Michiru's case given the dangerous demonic foes such as Naraku and the destructive magic which he himself was armed with. Naraku was especially powerful and dangerous, never mind that he often cheated and used hostages and turn the tables against Michiru's friends and pray on their compassion for others numerous times in battle and it somewhat bothered her that Michiru didn't wear adequate combat gear nor carried a weapon to battle since he mainly fought using his Shikigami powers.

"Lind?" A male voice called out from behind, interrupting Lind from her thoughts and making her turn around to see the person who had approached her. This young man named Alastor was also a deity who was slightly older than Lind was, he had long ash blond hair that came down to his elbows, grey eyes and a very handsome face that most women whether they were mortals or goddesses would fall for complete with the familiar blue markings that most deities possessed on their face and forehead. He had a charming voice along with an aristocratic character which gave the male deity a very confident personality and great social skills, though even all of those qualities weren't enough to draw the attention of a certain Valkyrie whom he had set his sights on, namely Lind.

He was a little taller than Lind and just as physically fit even though he wasn't a warrior like she was or so he claimed, and yet, his clothes were somewhat similar to her combat uniform in both style and colours. His uniform was more or less the same as Lind's from the waist down with matching white boots, but he wore a white kimono held in place with a black sash and light blue robes over top along with a fancy white trench coat like garment with long cape like attachments running down from his shoulders. On his robes and his fancy trench coat garment like garment were sown in a pattern of blue diamonds slightly darker in colour than the light blue on his robes which he wore underneath.

"I thought that was you I spotted from a distance while I was wandering through the gardens." Alastor pointed out with a friendly smile.

"Oh, hello Alastor." Lind replied politely as the male deity walked over to her even though she didn't want to be interrupted right now.

"Your assistant said you went down to earth yesterday which is why none of your fellow Valkyries saw you training like you usually do." Alastor said before asking. "Why did you go down to earth so suddenly yesterday? Were you given an assignment by the Almighty One?"

"No, I just went to check on my friend Peorth because I was concerned for her when I found out she hadn't fulfilled her contract yet so I went down to investigate the matter for myself even though there was actually nothing to worry about, that's all it was." Lind answered, wondering why the deity she had been training with didn't mention this to Alastor when she herself had said she would be going down to earth to investigate the situation in person, but then it wasn't his business so either her assistant was being polite or had simply forgotten.

"I see, well I'm glad it wasn't anything serious and that you've returned to heaven." Alastor replied, wearing a smile to express his relief. "Yggdrasil was still in the process of being repaired when you left and since no combat missions or alerts were given, I was just concerned that something had happened which required your presence down on earth, but you're back now so everything must be fine."

"Actually, I've only returned briefly to gather some belongings, I'll be going back to earth in a short while once I've finished." Lind replied.

"What?" Alastor asked in confusion, wondering why the Valkyrie would be returning to earth so suddenly. "But why? Yggdrasil is fully functional again and is operating perfectly and no dangerous threats have been detected yet so why in heaven must you return to earth?"

"I-I'm training someone." Lind reluctantly answered eager to get this conversation over and done with so she could return back to earth.

"You're training someone down on earth instead of here in heaven?" Alastor replied curiously, much to Lind's discomfort since she didn't want him to pry into her affairs anymore than he had already, she especially didn't want him to learn she wanted to train Michiru Kururugi.

Before either of the deities could say another word to each other, a loud ringing noise like that of a large loud bell echoed everywhere for a couple of seconds which drew their attention since an announcement was usually broadcasted afterwards, one that was miraculously loud and clear enough for almost everyone in Heaven to hear no matter where they were except of course if they were in a private council chamber or the Main Assembly Hall which could be rendered soundproof when ever any deities were speaking with the Almighty One or any member of his elite and divine council.

"Alastor, please report to the Main Assembly Hall! Alastor, please report to the Main Assembly Hall! Thank you!"

"What was that announcement for just now?" Lind asked, taking the opportunity to change the subject so Alastor wouldn't pry any further.

"Oh, the Almighty One's called a council meeting to discuss several important matters; it was scheduled a few weeks ago for today." Alastor answered with a surprised expression. "But it isn't supposed to start for another four hours so something else must be going on."

"You'd better be going then, sounds like you're already late as it is, and I have to get going as well." Lind replied.

"Until we meet again Lind." Alastor stated before politely departing, much to Lind's relief so she could carry on without any more delays.

After a long walk throughout the gardens, the Valkyrie finally arrived at her intended destination, a small Temple of some kind with a Shrine inside its chambers which had been built and dedicated to honour a great warrior. Its location was chosen here because it was at the end of the gardens which connected the training grounds so that all the Valkyries could easily visit it during their hours in between sessions since it was within walking distance and only a couple of minutes away from their living quarters as well. There was only one entrance leading in and out, the main room where the Shrine was located made up the majority of the Temple's interior.

Lind wandered inside the wide and spacious interior, although the outside was built of white stone marble and fashioned to reflect the other buildings in Heaven; the inside was modeled after a traditional Japanese Shrine with smooth wooden floors and walls covered with artistic Japanese paintings on them. Pillars lined the walls on either side and at the opposite end at the Shrine itself stood at an elevated platform ahead of where those who came to pray or worship could stand or kneel in front of, in the centre of the Shrine on the elevated platform was a large rectangular stone which had been built as the base for a statue to sit or stand on top of. However, there was no statue present because the Almighty One was worried about its appearance revealing the face and identity of the Shikigami warrior whose profile and history needed to be kept classified and top secret for reasons which were also shrouded in secrecy and suspense.

This meant that the Shrine and Temple looked incomplete on the inside from a visitor's point of view, but there was an inscription carved into the stone which was visible and could be read by those who came here to pray and worship, there was also a petition resting on the flat surface of the rectangular stone which had been signed by many goddesses and Valkyries who demanded that the profile and history of the Shikigami warrior be made accessible regardless of the Almighty One's orders to keep the person's identity and history a closed guarded secret. In addition to the petition, there were also donations which had been left behind in order to pay for the statue's completion, undoubtedly by all the same deities who had signed their names on the petition as well. These were large handfuls of silver and gold coins left in tall glasses which were also filled with water and flowers, these also served as gifts to honour the memory of the Shikigami warrior whom all the goddesses and Valkyries admired and respected so much.

Lind came to a halt and briefly bowed respectively towards the Shrine, then her eyes wandered from left to right, looking at all of the gifts placed here by many goddesses and Valkyries including herself as well. This Shrine and Temple had been built and dedicated to honour the memory of a certain Shikigami warrior, the very young man Lind herself had only just met face to face for the first time down on earth yesterday, namely Michiru Kururugi. While the lone Valkyrie paused to gather her thoughts, Lind read the inscription carved into the side of the large rectangular stone which stood a few feet in front of her on the elevated platform running from wall to wall at the base of the Shrine.

"This Shrine and Temple are dedicated to honour the memory of Michiru Kururugi, a Shikigami warrior of great virtue, steadfast humility and immeasurable chivalry."

Never in all her years did Lind think that she would be meeting the very warrior who had earned the admiration and affections of so many goddesses and fellow Valkyries, she had only intended to go down to earth to visit her friend Peorth and find out why the first class goddess hadn't fulfilled her contract yet, but finding out that Michiru Kururugi was actually a young teenage boy as well as Peorth's new client was the biggest physiological shock she had ever experienced before. Looking back on her experiences with the Shikigami user, Lind also recalled what she had learned about Michiru up until now, from observing him in person and also what she and her fellow Valkyries had learned from what little data had been made available before the Almighty One had ordered the vast majority of Michiru's profile and history made classified and kept secret. Lind smiled inwardly for a brief moment, thinking how unbelievably happy each of her fellow Valkyries would be to have been in her position and met the young Kururugi boy in person for the first time before sighing softly.

Lind's mind suddenly recalled the reason why she had come here in the first place, snapping the Valkyrie out of her relaxed state as she realized more time may have gone by than she had thought. Not wanting to loose another minute, Lind searched the Shrine, looking at all the gifts left behind in the Temple on either side of the rectangular stone, not the tall glasses with the flowers and donations. A long time ago before the Almighty One had mentioned that further mention of Michiru Kururugi was only to be discussed in private among the Valkyries and himself, some of Lind's fellow Valkyries had lovingly forged a pair of big knives for really close ranged combat, a set of magic throwing knives that Michiru could channel his Shikigami power into for projectile combat, and wove a mighty magic whip for combat that was the middle ground between long-ranged and close ranged combat all for him. They also wove a suit similar to Lind's and common Valkyrie fighting gear that was a silvery blue color with black trim and lastly, the gift which Lind herself had crafted for Michiru.

All these gifts were kept here in the Shrine and Temple; most deities in heaven had forgotten about their existence or were too busy with their daily duties to visit this place of special significance. But Lind remembered them along with the majority of her fellow Valkyries, now that she had met Michiru and learned he was training with Sango in order to become a better and more experienced fighter, maybe it was time for Lind to retrieve her gift and present it to its intended owner. Each of the gifts given to Michiru had the name of the Valkyrie or Valkyries who made them for him imprinted or sown on them, it would make them treasured mementos as well as weapons which he would keep with him forever since all of them were very special since they were made by goddesses from heaven.

Although every other Valkyrie had left a gift here for Michiru as well, Lind knew it wasn't her place to give Michiru all these other gifts on everyone else's behalf so sadly, all the other goddesses and Valkyries would have to wait until another time when each of them would finally have the same opportunity to meet the Shikigami warrior in person before presenting each of their gifts to him just as Lind was planning to do. Besides that, she also didn't want to cause Michiru another embarrassing experience since she knew the shy young boy couldn't handle so much female attention and then there was also the fact that the Almighty One simply wouldn't allow heaven's entire battle division of Valkyries to go down to earth just to visit the Shikigami warrior which would draw a lot of unwanted attention to the Kururugi boy who's identity and personal history were deemed classified and kept top secret.

"Where in heaven did I leave my gift in this room?" Lind complained aloud while searching around the place looking for where her gift had disappeared too even though it was likely to still be inside the Temple with all the other gifts which had also been disturbed and relocated. Argh! Why do the caretakers who come here day after day have to move everything around in order to clean and tidy up the place? This IS heaven after all! Would it kill them to show some respect and put everything back where they were found after they're done cleaning?"

Or better yet, couldn't they just use magic to clean everything so nothing needs to be moved around at all? Now where did, oh, there it is."

Lind finally found the gift she had made especially for the Kururugi boy, smiling to herself as she picked it off of the elevated platform where it had been hidden beside another gift of larger size. The gift in question was a small simple hammer; instead of having a claw protruding from the other end of it however, it had the blade of a small hatchet which made it two tools in one so it could be employed in a wide range of uses as a tool and as a weapon. It also possessed a very rare and unique magical ability which could only be unlocked and used by the Shikigami warrior, making this all the more special and valuable. A leather sheath also came with it which covered up the blade of the hatchet so its owner wouldn't accidentally injure himself and it had two slits cut in it which allowed Michiru to run his belt through it and carry the sheathed item comfortably on himself at all times without fear of losing or misplacing it by accident.

Lind then turned around and was walking back towards the entrance to leave when she unexpectedly crossed a sacred seal magically placed on the wooden floor of the Shrine and Temple, a loud alarm suddenly shattered the peaceful silence which gave the Valkyrie a quick fright before she accidentally lost her footing on the platform and fell to the floor, making a mess as all the other gifts were scattered everywhere. Lind had completely forgotten that once any gifts or offerings were brought inside, they couldn't be removed or taken outside again unless one had permission first, this was a safety measure which was put in place so ensure that none of the gifts and offerings were ever stolen even though this was heaven where no one would even think or dare to commit such a disrespectful thing.

"Argh! I can't believe I forgot about that stupid security seal!" Lind cussed out loud to herself as she saw a group of her fellow Valkyries rush inside to cut off her escape even though they had nothing to worry about since this was all just an accident. "Oh great, more trouble."

"Lind?" The Valkyrie asked in surprise after leading the others inside upon hearing the security alarm go off. "What happened in here?"

"Would you mind shutting off that deafening alarm so I can hear what you're saying please?" Lind asked while covering her ears.

"Lord Odin?" The Valkyrie asked, holding her hand to the side of her face as if it were a phone so she could communicate with someone she was contacting. "Please deactivate the alarm, the situation is under control, Lind was here first and she's telling us what happened."

"Thank you." Lind said gratefully once the deafening noise vanished, allowing her to uncover her ears and speak with her fellow Valkyries.

"Here Lind, let me help you off of the floor." Another Valkyrie offered, holding out her hand out so she could help Lind off of the floor until she was standing up. "Looks like you had a bad fall or else someone beat you up and gave you the slip just before all of us arrived here."

"I haven't been here in a very long time and when I was about to leave, I had completely forgotten about the sacred seal which was put in place which is why the alarm went off, so you don't have to worry about chasing down a thief because there wasn't one." Lind explained.

"Oh, so this was just a misunderstanding, that's too bad because we were all looking forward to see some action." A third Valkyrie replied.

"Hey Lind?" A Valkyrie asked suspiciously after seeing Lind's leather bag which contained her own arsenal of additional weapons. "Where were you going and what were you planning to do with all of that combat equipment that you're carrying with you right now?"

"Yeah Lind!" Another demanded. "Why do you have all that stuff? What is it anyw-"

But then the Valkyrie stopped in the middle of her sentence when she saw an emblem stitched in the hilt of one of the knife sheaths which had been left here amongst all the other gifts inside of this Temple. An emblem she recognized, for she was the very Valkyrie that had stitched it that emblem in it many years ago. The young deity was suddenly given a major flashback in her memory which taken together with Lind accidentally setting off the security alarm, made all of the pieces fit together like a puzzle until everything made sense.

"Hey! That's the whip handle I made when a friend of mine was making a whip for that great and incredibly noble warrior, Michiru Kururugi!" She gasped.

"And that's one of the sheaths I made for that pair of combat knives my friend forged for Michiru!" The other spoke. "Wait, this is all the equipment we made for Michiru Kururugi about 500 Earth years ago!"

Getting flustered, Lind gulped a bit as one of them said, "What in Heaven's name are you doing with Michiru's battle-gear Lind?"

"Nothing!" Lind blurted out in response, holding her hands up defensively for a moment before she picked her halberd off of the floor. "I came here to retrieve the gift I had made for Michiru and as I was leaving, the alarm went off because I forgot about the security seal that was put in place here! The alarm sounded which gave me a scare before I tripped and fell to the floor and made a mess everywhere, that's when all of you showed up because you naturally thought there was a thief who had robbed the place and that's what happened."

"Why would you want to retrieve your gift that you made for Michiru, you wouldn't be able to give it to him if you've never seen him before." The lead Valkyrie asked until the truth suddenly dawned on her, making her eyes widen as she realized this herself. "Unless…"

Uh-oh... Lind thought to herself.

"Huh? Oh my..." The same Valkyrie gasped, putting her hands to her mouth as she glanced down at the small gift Lind was holding in her hand along with her personal arsenal of various smaller weapons held together inside the leather bundle hanging from the sling on her shoulder, her eyes then glanced up at Lind before asking nervously in a soft voice. "Lind? Have you...seen M-M-M-M-Michiru Kururugi?"

"Um, w-w-well I..." Lind spoke hesitantly as a pink blush suddenly formed on her cheeks, making the vulnerable Valkyrie feel very uncomfortable right now even though her fellow Valkyries didn't mean any harm by asking her lots of questions about Michiru Kururugi.

"WHAT'S HE LIKE?!" One of them demanded.

"Is he tall, handsome, kind, and virtuous like we all dreamed?" the Lead Valkyrie spoke before turning to summon all the other Valkyries who were presently standing guard and surrounding the Temple from outside. "GIRLS! GET OVER HERE! LIND HAS MET MICHIRU KURURUGI!"

"Michiru Kururugi? THE MICHIRU KURURUGI?" The Valkyries asked aloud as all of them flooded into the Temple, rushing over to where Lind was standing with four others and crowded together within seconds until poor Lind was surrounded on all sides with no where to run and no one to help her out of this unfortunate situation.

"What color is his hair?" A third Valkyrie asked curiously.

"Do his eyes really match color of the uniform I stitched for him?" A fourth Valkyrie asked.

"Is he single?" A fifth Valkyrie asked.

"Does he have a girlfriend?" A sixth Valkyrie asked.

"Are you trying to be with him?" A seventh Valkyrie asked.

Bombarded by question after question, the poor Valkyrie could only listen as her comrades continued their relentless assault wanting to know more about the great warrior they all cared so deeply for, now Lind knew that there would be no escape and that it would be a miracle if she was able to leave heaven at all so she could return to earth and spar with Inuyasha and Michiru like she had promised.

"Ladies! Ladies! For goodness sake, back away and please give poor Lind some room to breath!" A deity ordered after wandering into the Temple once he figured out what all the commotion was, smiling humorously with amusement as his eyes met Lind's for a brief moment. All of the Valkyries quieted down before spreading themselves apart in order to allow the bearded man to walk through them and approach Lind, he came to a halt a few feet in front of the lone warrior woman who mouthed a thank you for coming to her aid in her hour of need, his eyes then wandered to Lind's halberd and noticed something stuck to it. "Lind? What's that note attached to your halberd?"

"What note?" Lind asked, turning to look at her weapon, she then saw there was a small piece of paper held in place on the flat part of the axe blade by a small magnet of the roughly same size. After carefully removing it, she saw it had a short message written on it in ink.

Dear Lind;

Remember to put some sunscreen on your back each morning from now on so you don't get sunburnt again.

From: Michiru

Lind begun to blush even more now which didn't go unnoticed to everybody gathered together around her, this only aroused the combined curiosity of all her fellow Valkyries who stood hushed in silence and suspense as they waited for the warrior woman to tell them what was written on the note or to answer some of the questions they had relentlessly bombarded her with only moments before Lord Odin arrived. Although Michiru's little note had escalated the situation Lind was facing right now, the Kururugi boy had no idea about it and Lind knew he only clipped the note on her halberd to serve as a reminder to avoid having her back getting sunburnt again in case she had forgotten.

That was sweet of him to give me a little reminder, but now I don't know if I'll be able to get out of this situation, let alone the Temple so I can leave heaven and return to earth again. Looks like I'm going to be stuck here for a while until my fellow Valkyries have had all of their questions answered, this is going to be one of those days…

"Well don't keep all of us in the dark Lind." Odin asked after a period of silence. "What's written on that note you found on your halberd?"

"Michiru…was just reminding me to put sunscreen on my back every morning from now on so that I don't get sunburnt again like how I did this morning." Lind answered, hoping to end the matter and avoid bringing up that embarrassing experience in front of everybody.

"But you already have sunscreen on your back Lind." One of the Valkyries standing behind Lind pointed out. "There aren't any signs of it being sunburnt so why would Michiru take the time to write you a note and clip it to your halberd if your back is perfectly fine?"

"W-Well…I-I…" Lind mumbled nervously, exchanging glances with each and every one of her fellow Valkyries who were all looking at her with pleading puppy eyed expressions until she was reluctantly forced to start from the beginning and tell them all that she had learned about Michiru, starting from the moment she had first met him in person down on earth until the incident when he had healed her sunburnt back with his Shikigami powers before applying some sunscreen all over her back on her behalf despite the embarrassment that both of them felt. "Very well then, I'll tell you everything that I've learned about Michiru, but only if everyone promises to stay quiet and not to interrupt me. And once I'm finally finished…I have to be allowed to leave so I can return to earth where Michiru and his friends are."

"We promise! Thank you Lind!" All of the young and youthful Valkyries responded in unison, smiling happily before they quieted down.

Back down on earth, Michiru and all of his friends had eaten lunch and finished helping Belldandy tidy up the dirty dishes in the kitchen so that the cleaning would be done faster in order for the first class goddess to join them outside for the rest of the day for some fun. Urd and Peorth stirred up everybody's interest in having a volleyball game and so everyone was presently occupied with setting up a volley ball court in the yard with a net, nine people could play on each team which allowed almost everybody to participate while those who were left over could watch and cheer them on from the sidelines until the game was over and then they'd get their turns to play another game, allowing others to take a break and watch as well.

Skuld had called Banpei outside to act as the referee since he could keep scores and make calls thanks to his camera like eyes, Keiichi and Michiru were setting up the posts in the ground while Urd, Mara and Peorth unravelled the long volleyball net so they could fasten both ends of it to each of the posts, taking advantage of their levitation abilities to get the job done faster. Kagome and Belldandy were both explaining the rules of the game and demonstrating out to serve, spike and hit the ball so that Inuyasha, Sango, Shippo and Miroku would understand how the game worked and how to play properly.

"Does everyone understand how to serve with the ball after watching Kagome and I show you?" Belldandy asked with a cheerful smile.

"I think we all do, thank you for your demonstrations Belldandy, same to you Kagome." Sango said. "This looks like a fun game to play."

Inuyasha objected while crossing his arms. "Why should I have to sit out the first game and watch while everybody else gets to have fun?

"Because you don't know how to hold back, you keep wrecking things with your superior strength, you're much stronger than the rest of us after all!" Kagome argued, she was only taking precautions in order to avoid ruining the fun for everybody else even though she could understand Inuyasha's disappointment for having to stay on the sidelines until the first game was over. "Besides Inuyasha, this will let you watch and learn from those of us playing the first game of volleyball, you need to learn how to serve, spike and hit the ball without destroying it in the process. Remember what happened when you raced in and stole the ball before you popped it with your hand while I was in the middle of a volleyball game at school all those months ago? You made me look like an idiot in front of my classmates when you did that!"

"Humph!" Inuyasha protested angrily, not liking that Kagome always managed to dig up something to complain about which made him look like the bad guy even though he didn't mean to do anything wrong or know that he was doing any wrong during what ever situation she brought up from the past. "I was only trying to save you from being hit or injured; I didn't know that the ball was harmless or that you were only playing a game with your classmates at school."

"She has a point Inuyasha." Shippo verbally pointed out "Or have you forgotten when Michiru and I were playing soccer together during one of our days off and you destroyed the ball we were using with your razor sharp fingernails and your Iron reaver soul stealer attack?"

"Alright, I get it already; you don't have to rub it in my face!" Inuyasha fumed, reluctantly giving in so that the matter would be closed.

"Don't worry Inuyasha, from what Kagome and Belldandy both explained, you shouldn't have too long of a wait and the first game should be enough to entertain you until your turn arrives to join in on the next game afterwards." Miroku said in an effort to cheer Inuyasha up.

"Well, it looks like the volleyball net is all set up and ready." Keiichi pointed out once the work of setting up the volleyball net was finished.

"Yes, we couldn't have done it without the additional help from Urd, Mara and Peorth." Michiru replied, expressing his gratitude to the three ladies who helped them and made the task much easier to accomplish. "Thank you all for helping Keiichi and I set this up this net."

"You're welcome Michiru." Urd stated before asking. "So who wants to be with whom? Wanna play with me on the same team Mara?"

"Sure Urd, that'd be fun." Mara replied, looking forward to having a fun game with her long time half goddess and half demon friend.

"Michiru?" Uncle Koshian called from the porch deck of the house after coming outside to find his nephew, drawing Michiru's attention.

"Yes Uncle Koshian?" Michiru said after running over to find out what his Uncle wanted.

"I'm sorry for interrupting you from having fun with all of your friends in the middle of the day, but could you please take a trip down to the grocery store to buy some groceries?" Uncle Koshian asked, handing the young boy a list of what to buy along with a large handful of cash to pay for all of it. "I'm really happy to see you having lots of fun with so many friends while you're watching over my house along with Mr. Morisato, Miss Belldandy and her sisters, but we're starting to run out of a few things so we need to buy more food and drink."

"Its okay Uncle Koshian and don't feel badly for interrupting me, this is your house after all so its only fair that we do our part to help keep it clean and buy food for everybody here, especially me since I'm your nephew which makes me the most responsible of all." Michiru said.

"Thank you Michiru, I'll call a taxi to drive you down to the store and back again." Uncle Koshian replied before turning to go in the house.

"You don't have too Uncle Koshian, I have my cellular phone with me so I can call a taxi and wait for it outside the front gate." Michiru said before pulling out the communications device from his pocket to show his Uncle. "I'll be back with your groceries as soon as possible."

"Good man, see you back here soon, you'd best let your friends know where you're going so that they aren't worried by your departure." Uncle Koshian pointed out, giving his nephew a pad on the back before heading back into the house while Michiru returned to his friends.

"Sorry everybody, but I have to go grocery shopping for a short while so I won't be able to play volleyball until after I'm back." Michiru said.

"AWW, but I was looking forward to playing volleyball with you Michiru." Peorth whined, wrapping her arms around the unprepared teenager to show how much she was going to miss his company even though he was only going to be gone for about an hour or so.

"Please don't worry Peorth; I'm only going to be gone for about an hour so they'll still be plenty of time for us to have fun together once I come back from grocery shopping for my Uncle." Michiru said while returning the goddess's embrace to try dispelling her disappointment.

"You'd better hurry up then, otherwise you'll have to make it up to me if you take too long." Peorth said flirtatiously, savouring the feeling of being held in Michiru's arms before she reluctantly released the Shikigami user so he could go about the task his Uncle had given him.

"I'll be back before you know it Peorth." Michiru replied, stealing one last glance at the gorgeous goddess before walking towards the front gate leading in and out of the enormous property where he, his friends, the goddesses and his Uncle were all staying together.

Once outside, Michiru walked down the stone steps until he reached the road, he was about to pull out his cellular phone to call himself a taxi cab when he saw a yellow Mercedes parked just to the left a few feet away and Sayoko Mishima whom he didn't know or recognize standing off to the side holding a bouquet of flowers and what looked like a very expensive bottle of Japanese Saki. She had dark brown eyes, long dark brown hair, a nice face, pale skin and an attractive figure. She wore fancy brown shoes, a fancy white blouse with a white bow tied just around the collar and below her neck, a light brown business jacket with a matching short of the same colour that came down just above her knees.

"Please excuse me young man, but do you live here by any chance?" Sayoko asked curiously, walking over to talk with Michiru while the Kururugi boy was still examining her with his eyes, she noticed a light blush appear on his cheeks which was no surprise since many teenage boys and young men always fell for her beauty which had earned her the nickname "Queen of Nekomi Tech" where she along with Keiichi and Toshiyuki had all gone to high school together many months ago before the summer break had only just arrived.

"Y-Yes, for the time being anyway, this happens to be my Uncle's house and I've been staying here with a large group of friends for a few days now. I'm Michiru Kururugi; Koshian is my Uncle who's also the Buddhist priest and caretaker for the Tariki Hongan Temple which is part of the property. Who might you be Miss?" Michiru answered politely while introducing himself to the young woman standing before him until he noticed the worried expression which had suddenly appeared on her face. "Is there something the matter miss?"

"My name is Sayoko Mishima, I-I just came by to drop these off to express my apologies and condolences for what happened here yesterday." Sayoko answered, holding the bouquet of flowers and the bottled Saki out for the Kururugi boy to take. "I'm so very sorry."

"Sorry for what happened yesterday?" Michiru replied in confusion until he remembered the incident from yesterday afternoon when Toshiyuki had knocked out his Uncle before breaking into the house, putting Urd to sleep with the Enka music and taking Skuld and himself hostage with Mara's help until the situation escalated out of control; forcing Michiru to reluctantly use his Shikigami powers to try and turn the tables around without endangering himself or Skuld in the process which thankfully brought the danger to a swift end. But Michiru didn't understand what any of that had to do with the young woman standing before him right now, then again, he had also been knocked out like his Uncle had been for a short while which meant that he wasn't awake to see what else could have happened during the time he was unconscious. "I'm sorry for being confused Miss Mishima, but would you mind explaining yourself from the beginning?"

Sayoko reluctantly retold Michiru what Toshiyuki had told her about meeting Peorth and giving her a free ride which eventually led to violence and Toshiyuki getting punched in the face and having his Ferrari all smashed up and towed away, of course, the rich playboy had obviously lied to Sayoko and left out the parts when he had tried to rape Peorth which led to Michiru saving her and so on. Sayoko believed Toshiyuki given that they knew each other and how they both tried and failed to investigate Belldandy's past many months ago so it was only natural that she agreed to help him and Mara to seek Michiru out and try to settle a score, but when Toshiyuki used violence against Michiru's Uncle who had nothing to do with his vengeful scheme, that's when Sayoko wisely backed out of involving herself in a series of crimes. Sayoko eventually found out about Toshiyuki being arrested and put in jail for breaking and entering, but she was especially shocked to learn he had also been charged with attempted murder along with several acts of sexual assault among at least half a dozen other charges.

"Once I learned the truth about what had happened from a news broadcast, I…I knew that Toshiyuki had lied to me about what happened that morning and I felt so horrible inside for what had happened and for what could have happened because of what I had done." Sayoko explained, unable to look the teenage boy in the eyes until after she had finished telling her side of the story as best as she could. "I-I don't know the full details about what really happened, but I learned enough to know that Toshiyuki had done some terrible things, a-and that's why I w-wanted to leave these behind to show my apologies to your Uncle and to who ever the victims are that Toshiyuki tried to…"

"I can't understand the pain and guilt that you're feeling right now, but I can forgive you and I know that my Uncle and my friends would all forgive you as well." Michiru stated softly with a warm smile so show his sincerity. "I'm not the person you should be giving those flowers or bottled Saki to, but if you'd like, I can invite you inside and introduce you to my Uncle and all my friends so you can give them…"

"No, no I can't do that, I'm sorry." Sayoko refused while shaking her head, her lovely face cracking until it wore an expression ridden with guilt and hesitation. "Please, please take these back to your house and give them to your Uncle and who ever else was hurt yesterday. Just pretend that you found these on the staircase and that we never met or talked with one another, it'll be easier for both of us this way."

A long pause of silence passed between the two of them as they looked into each other's eyes for almost a minute which felt like an eternity for some inexplicable reason, Sayoko's saddened face was practically pleading for Michiru to do as she asked in order to spare herself from having to face his Uncle along with everybody else who was having fun together outside just on the other side of the high stone wall which separated the whole property from where they both stood on the edge of the road running passed the bottom of the stone stairs leading up to the front gate. Michiru eventually decided to give in since he didn't want to put Sayoko through any additional guilt, pain and shame that she was already burdened with, but he couldn't let her leave and part with him on terms like this without trying to cheer her up first.

"Alright…if that's really what you want Sayoko." Michiru replied, holding his hands out to accept the bouquet of flowers and bottled Saki.

"Thank you…" Sayoko replied, feeling a little relieved as she handed over the two items to the Kururugi boy. "Have yourself a good day."

"Please wait a moment Sayoko…" Michiru asked, placing both items on the stone steps in a flash before reaching out and taking hold of Sayoko's hand as she was about to leave, making the young woman turn around to face him once more. He then relaxed his hold and held her hand gently with his own, entwining his fingers with hers while looking her in the eyes once more until he found the words he was looking for. "It was very kind and courteous for you to get these and leave them here to express your apologies for all that happened yesterday, that alone proves you cared enough to try to make amends even though you weren't the person responsible for harming or hurting anyone. Even though you don't have it in you to present these gifts in person to those whom you bought them for, the fact that you drove all the way here and intended to leave them here on the steps of the front gate still makes you very brave, you tried to overcome your fear as best as you could and made it all the way here. There aren't very many people who have gone through what you're going through right now, nor could those who have claim to have gotten as far as you did today, especially with such a heavy burden of guilt on their shoulders. I accept your apology Sayoko, a-and I know that Peorth, Skuld and my Uncle would too."

Sayoko looked at Michiru with widened eyes since she wasn't expecting any forgiveness, let alone compassion and understanding from the relative of a person who had been harmed as a result of the minor deception in which she had played a part during the break in yesterday afternoon. The young woman's mind eventually processed all of what the teenage boy had said to her, taking away most of the guilt and pain she had been feeling since yesterday evening, a smile finally crossed her lips which told Michiru that his words and remarks had successfully done the job of cheering Sayoko up so that she could leave feeling better about herself.

The wealthy young woman was completely unprepared and taken aback by all that Michiru's had said, a deep red blush formed on her cheeks which made her feel immensely embarrassed right now for receiving such praise, no one had ever complimented her like that before. As "Queen of Nekomi Tech" which she had been nicknamed by all of her fellow students and classmates while on campus, Sayoko had only received compliments on her beauty, her status as a student and as an independently wealthy young woman thanks to being raised from a wealthy family. All of these compliments were given to her by her fellow classmates who either admired or envied her, and then of course these same compliments also came from all the young men who made passes at her and competed amongst themselves for her favour and affections. But on this day, she had received a series of compliments she had never been given before.

And if all those words and remarks weren't enough to eat away at Sayoko's formidable facade which she usually wore to shield the portions of her personality which she wished to keep safely hidden away from everyone, the young man had said them because they were true and also because he wanted to make her feel better, not because he was trying to flirt with her or gain her affection like most men she encountered in her life. While Sayoko's ego enjoyed having all the male attention which all the other female students wished they could get, she was inwardly unsatisfied since none of them even came remotely close to living up to her expectations or meeting all the requirements that she looked for in the sort of man she would label as worthwhile dating material. As a result, her view of most young men was as disappointing as her luck at finding the kind of man she wanted which was nearly impossible, but now that had changed.

"Who are Peorth and Skuld?" Sayoko asked curiously since she didn't know or recognize the names of the two goddesses Michiru mentioned, her mind finally sorting itself out and allowing her to redirect her attention on the young man standing in front of her right now.

"They're two of my friends, Peorth is also a close friend of Belldandy and Skuld is Belldandy's younger sister." Michiru answered.

"What?" Sayoko gasped before rushing up the stairs and peering her head over the edge of the top to look into the yard where she saw all of Michiru's friends presently playing volleyball together, her eyes spotted Belldandy along with Keiichi and Urd whom she already knew and seen many times throughout the year in and out of Nekomi Tech. "Belldandy and Keiichi are living here with you too?"

"They've always been living here, with my Uncle's permission of course; Urd and Skuld also live here too." Michiru replied, following Sayoko part way up the stone stairs so he could peer over the top and look into the yard like she was doing. "You sound as though you've already met Belldandy and Keiichi and that you know who both of them are."

"Oh, well we take classes together at Nekomi Tech so we've known each other for quite a while even though, but I've only known Belldandy for about a year." Sayoko explained. "She suddenly appeared out of nowhere and was living with Keiichi when we first met, her older sister Urd mysteriously appeared out of nowhere too just a couple of days later, we met a few times at Nekomi Tech as well."

"I see." Michiru replied, deducing that Sayoko's last sentence was when Keiichi had summoned the first class goddess down to earth and then he wished for a goddess like her to stay by his side forever which explained why the two of them were living together ever since. Urd must have come down to visit Belldandy followed by Skuld a few days afterwards, that's why all of them were now living with Keiichi.

"So which of your friends are Peorth and Skuld?" Sayoko asked curiously, unable to guess for herself since there were too many people in the yard, many of whom she hadn't seen or met before. Keiichi, Belldandy and Urd were the only people she knew and recognized.

"Oh, sorry." Michiru apologized before pointing out who Peorth and Skuld were amongst all of his friends who were gathered together so that Sayoko would spot them out. "That tall girl with the dark brown hair standing a few feet away from Urd is Peorth, she's the person Toshiyuki assaulted yesterday morning after he demanded compensation for giving her a ride around the block in his Ferrari which my friend Inuyasha smashed up, he's the guy in the bright red kimono there. Skuld is the little girl with long black hair standing behind Urd and to the right of Belldandy; the three of them are all sisters."

"I see…" Sayoko said softly before turning to face Michiru. "Were Peorth and Skuld the ones Toshiyuki tried to assault?"

"Yes…" Michiru answered softly until he suddenly remembered he was supposed to be out on an errand for his Uncle. "Oh no, I completely forgot I have to call a taxi so I can go to the grocery store, now I'm going to be late and miss my sparring match later today."

"Would you like me to give you a ride?" Sayoko asked, offering to drive the Kururugi boy down to the grocery store and back again.

"I don't want to take up any more of your time or disrupt your plans for the rest of the day…" Michiru politely declined.

"Come on, it's the least I can do for you in return for what you've done for me." Sayoko decided, ending the matter right then and there.

"I haven't done anything for you Sayoko, all I did was accept your apology and agree to pretend as though I found the flowers and bottled Saki sitting on the stone steps below the front gate." Michiru argued, not wanting to be indebted to the young woman he recently just met.

"Do you want to be late and miss out on your sparring match?" Sayoko countered cleverly, forcing the Shikigami user to reluctantly accept her generous offer to help him. "I didn't think so, the grocery store is only a ten minute drive away, we'll make it back on time if we hurry."

"Very well then, thank you Sayoko." Michiru replied politely, earning a smile from Sayoko as he followed the young woman to her car.

Back up in heaven and more specifically, inside of the Shrine and Temple, Lind had finally survived the telling of all she had learned about Michiru Kururugi including her own experiences with the Shikigami warrior whom the Goddesses were so taken with. Out of respect for Michiru, Lind left out all of the embarrassing parts such as Michiru being subjected to the combined flirting of both Peorth and Urd throughout the late morning, but she made sure to mention Michiru's good deeds when he had saved Peorth and Skuld yesterday followed by his efforts to comfort Urd during Troubadour's unexpected appearance. During some parts of Lind's story telling, especially towards the end when Lind was reluctantly telling a detailed anecdote of how Michiru had taken it upon himself to heal her reddened back with his Shikigami powers before applying sunscreen on it, most of the female fighters giggled amongst themselves momentarily before they hushed down again so that the Valkyrie could continue. By the time Lind was just about to wrap up, lots of butterflies combined with bundles of joy were building up inside the hearts and bosoms of all the goddesses who were listening which naturally made Lind's entire audience overjoyed beyond belief.

"And after several minutes of waiting, Michiru had rubbed sunscreen on my exposed back so that I wouldn't be sunburnt ever again today, I then said thank you and bowed politely before both of us went indoors to wash our hands and freshen up before lunch was ready to be served. That's when I thought of coming to heaven to retrieve this hatchet I had made as a gift for Michiru and gather my arsenal of weapons so I could accelerate his training using my guidance and combat skills, but as I said while you were questioning me earlier, I forgot all about the security seal which is why the alarm sounded and lead all of you here where we've been talking and sharing stories."

"Thank you so much Lind, you make a great storyteller as I'm sure your fellow Valkyries will agree." Odin replied with some compliments.

"Your welcome Lord Odin, but now I really must be going, I should have returned to earth hours ago and I'm already late for…" Lind said.

"Just a minute Lind, you'll want to hear the news I've brought before you leave, there's going to be a meeting later today amongst the Almighty One and his council of trusted deities to discuss several important matters revolving around Michiru Kururugi." Odin mentioned, producing a scroll which he had carried with him on the way here; he carefully unravelled it until the scroll was three feet in length by one foot in width. "While I'm not allowed to discuss those important matters, I have been granted permission to answer some of your earlier requests which were brought to the Almighty One's attention a very long time ago, and this is his response which I will read to you now."

"Before you read out the Almighty One's response Lord Odin, would you mind refreshing our memories about what those earlier requests were first please so that we're all on the same page?" Lind asked curiously so that no one would be left in the dark during this discussion.

"Very well Lind, ahem…" Odin replied, clearing his throat before reading out the scroll which was cast with a magic spell on it so only he could read its contents while everybody else who looked at it saw it as nothing more than a blank sheet of paper. "Your first request, asking for the completion of Michiru's statue here in this Temple has finally been accepted, the Almighty One has also agreed to honour all of you for your generosity and patience by adding a marker inside saying that your donations left here were used to pay for the statue's construction which will be undertaken within a few days. As for your second request…"

"Can we all go down to earth to visit Michiru Kururugi and present him with all of the gifts which we lovingly made for him?" A goddess asked suddenly, unable to stay quiet since the anticipation was too much for her to take. "Uh huh, sorry. I couldn't contain myself."

"I regret to say that the Almighty One's answer is no, he feels that such action would only risk endangering the Shikigami warrior's life by revealing his identity to any unwanted foes or evil beings who might want to do Michiru harm, regardless of your intentions." Odin explained, causing all the Valkyries to sigh softly with disappointment. "However, he asked me to remind you that your combat trails for the second stage of your advanced training begin in a month and the Almighty One has declared that if all of you perform exceptionally well, he will agree to let all of you travel down to earth to meet Michiru in person so that each of you can present your gifts which you had made or crafted for him, specific details and special passes will be given to you when the time arrives for that provided that you accept and meet his challenge."

"Oh Yes! We'll all try our hardest and do our best so that all of us pass the combat trials with flying colours won't we girls?" A Valkyrie declared proudly, causing all of her fellow Valkyries to cheer out loud for a few moments to express their happiness and excitement.

"Quiet please." Lind stated, trying to keep her fellow Valkyries calm and under control despite how overjoyed all of them felt right now.

"Oh yes, the Almighty One is more than aware how much this Shikigami warrior means to all of you and that he's only doing what he believes is best for heaven, for earth and for the greater good which he hopes you will understand. So in exchange for giving you all the chance to earn a brief trip to down to earth by meeting his challenge, he asks you to do something for him in return." Odin pointed out.

"What's that?" Lind asked curiously, it wasn't like the Almighty One to ask favours of them since he held absolute authority here in heaven, but then again, so many unexpected events and occurrences had taken place in such a short time so this was another of them.

"The Almighty One respectfully asks all of you to stop writing petitions…" Odin replied, quoting the message word for word, causing all of the Valkyries to giggle quietly amongst themselves after hearing this. "Finally, I've also been instructed to give all of you this following message from the Almighty One, and I quote. Congratulations, as of today, Michiru's personal profile and history will be made available online through the Yggdrasil System. Except for all the data pertaining to his Shikigami powers which will still remain classified and top secret, signed by myself, the council members and the Almighty One."

"Yay!" Everyone erupted, causing the bearded old deity to shake his head back and forth with an amused smile on his face as he watched all of the young warrior women give each other hugs to congratulate themselves on finally achieving what all of them could only dream about for so long, all of their patience and efforts including the petition they had created had at last paid off in the end.

Odin then used his magic to access the Yggdrasil System for the profile and personal history belonging to Michiru Kururugi which then appeared on the large unravelled scroll in his hands, he then generously handed it over to Lind so she and her fellow Valkyries could view and read all of the invaluable information for themselves now that it had been made available after roughly five hundred years of waiting. Lind then selected the photograph of Michiru and enlarged it for everyone to see, all of them were now hushed in silence as they took a pause to prepare themselves for this moment, they were undoubtedly overwhelmed to find out that the Shikigami warrior they all admired and respected so much was a young teenage boy just as Lind herself had been when she had met Michiru for the first time, this was certainly true since Michiru's photograph was showing him dressed in his Japanese high school uniform which they quickly noticed.

"Look as him, he's sooo handsome!" A Valkyrie remarks as they all crowded together to look at Michiru's photograph.

"Well no wonder he's so virtuous and respectful, he's only fifteen years old! Another pointed out.

"Old enough to date in my book!" A third Valkyrie stated before all of them burst out giggling.

"If any of you girls start fantasizing about having any children, you need only ask Michiru's friend Miroku, he'll be more than willing to help you out." Odin said as a joke, causing all of the Valkyries including Lind to turn to the wise deity with disgusted and angry looks on their faces for having ruined a very special and memorable moment for all of them right now which he soon realized. "I was only kidding."

The wise old deity then decided to take his leave and depart so that all of the Valkyries could have this moment to themselves at least until their afternoon break was over before they had to resume their combat practice sessions at the training grounds, Lind noticed him quietly walk out without another word and decided to do the same now that all of her fellow Valkyries were focussed entirely on reading Michiru's profile history, she then handed the scroll over to someone standing beside her before making her way through the tightly packed female crowd until she managed to get out and finally leave the Shrine and Temple so she could return back to earth.

Meanwhile down on earth…

Michiru was hurriedly shopping for groceries inside the grocery store while Sayoko waited outside for him in her yellow Mercedes, he had just finished finding everything on his Uncle's list and was presently on his way to one of the tills to pay for everything he had gathered into the shopping cart he was wheeling around, he only hoped he hadn't fallen behind schedule and would be back in time to play volleyball with Peorth and the others along with a two on one sparring match pitting him and Inuyasha against Lind this afternoon as well. Eager to get done as soon as possible, Michiru decided to take a short cut through one of the laneways, he then came to a halt as his eyes spotted an item sitting on one of the shelves to his left. The young man's mind was suddenly divided about what to do next, whether he should pick the item up or just leave it where it sat on the shelf and carry on go pay for all the groceries he had just gathered, he reluctantly snatched a small box and shoved it into the cart before pushing it down the laneway so he could pay for everything and then go home.

Just keep wheeling the cart over to the till, act normal and be polite when the cashier talks to you. No need to blow a fuse or anything, no one's going to make fun of you; you're not doing anything perverted like Miroku would do. Huh! Come on, who are you trying to kid? You're going to have some fun! The kind of fun that we both know Miroku frequently fantasizes about! Argh! Why do I feel like I have an angel and a devil sitting on my shoulders right now? Get a hold of yourself Michiru! There just condoms! If anyone asks, just say you're being responsible which is what your parents would have wanted! My parents? Oh god! If they knew the truth about how many gorgeous girls are staying with me at my Uncle's house right now…they'd give me such a lecture that I'd never live long enough hear the end of it!

"Wooah!" Michiru cried after someone had suddenly slammed into his right side without warning, knocking the unprepared teenager off of his feet and on to the floor after an unexpected collision, once his mind had recovered from the incident, Michiru glanced up to see who had accidentally run into him and that's when his eyes fell on a young little girl kneeled on the floor. "You know you shouldn't be running around in a place like this crowded with so many people, you could hurt yourself and hurt others by running into them like you did now."

"I-I'm sorry Mr." A young little girl answered weakly. She looked to be the same height and age as Skuld, she had purple eyes, tanned skin and grey hair tied in two long ponytails, and there were also long strands of hair just beside her ears running down freely from her head as well. She had red star shaped markings on her face and forehead, giving Michiru the clue that he had just a demon, but this little girl didn't display any hostile aggression towards him and she also didn't verbally admit who and what she really was which is why Michiru was going to jump to the wrong conclusion and mistake her for an ordinary human girl. She wore what looked like a black miniskirt, a black sleeveless vest with what looked like a tail coat running down her sides and bottom, those parts of her clothes were black on the outside and red on the inside almost looked like they were bat wing shaped. On her wore black boots with matching black stockings that came all the way up to her thighs, black arm length sleeves with gloves on her arms and hands which only left her shoulders visible.

"That's okay, accidents happen, just watch where you're going and walk around from now on." Michiru replied, before he proceeded to stand himself up again, he then examined the little girl carefully with his eyes before looking around to see if she happened to have any friends or family around who may have accompanied her into the store and who might be looking for her. "Are you here by yourself?"

"Y-Yes." The little girl answered quietly with a pained expression, looking like she was going to cry while she was holding her right hand which must have been injured from this recent accident or just before she had collided with Michiru which made both of them fall down.

"Where are you hurt?" Michiru asked softly before crouching down in front of the poor girl who withheld her hand protectively, he then looked around and saw that they were almost hidden from everybody else's line of sight from where they were at the end of the laneway and also by the shopping cart Michiru was using so the Kururugi boy decided to use his Shikigami powers to heal her hand and avoid having the little girl balling her eyes out in front of him. He also thought a demonstration of his magic would make her see that he wasn't like ordinary people and in the off chance that this person before him was just an ordinary girl instead of a demon as he had thought, then it wouldn't be the end of the world since the little girl was still at the age of childhood which meant she'd be nice enough to keep the knowledge of what she had witnessed to herself since no teenagers or grown ups would be willing to believe her anyway if she told anyone.

"M-My hand, the cart rolled when we both fell on the floor…and ran over my fingers." The little girl mumbled softly while she was in pain.

"Shh, its okay, stay still and quiet for a moment and I'll make your hand all better." Michiru whispered with a comforting voice, looking around in all directions once more before invoking his Shikigami powers, holding his hand out towards the little girl kneeled on the floor. "Oh flowing mighty river, give me your blessing."

A glowing red star shaped pentagram appeared beneath Michiru's feet and began to spin, blue light radiated from Michiru which rose up and transformed into a red fish, the fish then hovered above the little girl and surrounded her with more blue light as Michiru's Great River Offering spell was cast. The spell was more than enough to heal the injured fingers of the little girl's hand, all the pain along with any bruises and internal damages were gone within a couple of seconds, leaving the wide eyed girl totally speechless until her mind could recover and reboot itself from this miraculous display of real magic she had just witnessed in person with her own two eyes.

"Do you feel any better now?" Michiru asked in a hushed tone of voice, waiting for the little girl's reply to confirm that she was now okay.

"Uh…uh huh." She responded, smiling to show she was all better while moving her fingers and hand around. "Thanks very much Mr."

"This is going to sound strange, but…are you…are you a demon?" Michiru asked hesitantly in a hushed tone of voice, hoping that if he was wrong, his question wouldn't upset the girl and create a scene which would draw unwanted attention to himself right now. "I'm only asking because of those red star shaped markings on your face and forehead, and because of the clothes that you're wearing right now."

"If I said I was, would you be mad at me?" The little girl replied softly while wearing a worried expression on her innocent looking face.

"No, of course not, I'm sorry that I asked." Michiru answered, feeling badly for bringing up the subject. "Its just that your appearance reminds me of two friends of mine so I was just asking out of curiosity, your clothes also make you stand out from ordinary people too."

"Really?" The little girl replied, her face now changing into a smile, she then got to her feet and waited for Michiru to do the same. "Tell me about your two friends you mentioned, the ones whom I reminded you of."

"Well, this is going to sound rather strange, but I'll try my best to describe them." Michiru explained, wondering if he had just made an error and mistakenly thought this little girl before him was a demon, she could just be an ordinary human being who happened to be dressed up in costume so she could cosplay an anime character which was not uncommon in Japan or all over the world in this day and age. "Both of them are grown women, each of them have markings on their faces and foreheads just like you do even though they're a little bit different in shape and colour. One of them is named Mara and she has a little bit of a temper, but she's still nice enough, at least when she tries to be anyway. She's also very tough, a-and she dances to hard rock music, she has red markings on her face and forehead like you do except that they aren't star shaped."

"And your other friend?" The little girl asked curiously, listening intently while studying Michiru very closely with her purple eyes.

"Her name is Urd; she has tanned skin, purple eyes and long grey hair just like you do." Michiru continued, noting the close resemblance between the second class goddess and this little girl standing before him. "She has markings on her face and forehead like you do except that they're not star shaped and that they're blue instead of red, Urd's very strong, very kind and very considerate of others which makes her a very good person regardless of how she sees herself or of how others see her."

"Sounds as though you see her differently than others do, she's very lucky to have you for a friend." The little girl stated.

"Oh no, not again, now I'm really going to be late." Michiru stated frustratingly after checking his watch. "I'm sorry miss, I have to go now."

"Its okay, thanks for healing my hand with your magic; I'll always remember that for the rest of my life." The little girl replied gratefully.

"Now remember, this'll be our little secret, you can't tell anybody no matter what." Michiru whispered to the little girl again. "Promise?"

"Promise." The little girl replied, holding out her pinkie finger in order to make her promise, Michiru smiled humorously at her reaction before holding out his hand and entwining his finger with hers and shaking it lightly so that the promise they both made was now official.

"Have yourself a good day, enjoy the rest of the summer break while it lasts, school will be upon us before we both know it." Michiru said.

"Bye Mr and thanks again." The little girl replied happily before wandering off, making sure to watch where she was going from now on.

Michiru resumed his journey to one of the tills and after a short while, he then left the store and wheeled the groceries cart towards the parked yellow Mercedes where Sayoko was waiting patiently for his return, she popped the trunk of her vehicle so the Kururugi boy could load all the purchased produce into the back. Once that was done, he quickly returned the shopping cart back to the store and got inside the car so Sayoko could drive him back to his Uncle's house. Unbeknownst to the two of them as they rode away, that same little girl Michiru had met inside the groceries store was observing them in the Mercedes from behind the store in an isolated area where no one else was.

"Well, well, looks like Mara was telling me the truth about this young man after all." She stated, wearing a suspicious smile and an equally mysterious look in her purple eyes as she smiled deviously to herself. "Now that I've had the chance to observe Michiru myself, I'll have to drop by for a visit in order to give him and his friends an introduction and while I'm at it, I'll also get to see Urd and her sisters as well."

During the drive back to the house, Sayoko and Michiru were both quiet for the most part, both of them were plagued with thoughts and feelings relating to events which had happened within the last hour of the afternoon so now was a good time to silently collect and confront them. Sayoko's attention was focused on the road in front of her while she drove the vehicle, but she was thinking back to all her feelings and thoughts in regards to her inner guilt and fear when she had intended to leave the bottled Saki and the bouquet of flowers on the stairs of the doorstep, and then were those she now felt from this young man sitting beside her who had shown his forgiveness and paid her some compliments in an effort to make her feel better which she especially couldn't block out of her mind.

Meanwhile, Michiru was thinking back to his talk with Belldandy about him discovering Urd's half demon heritage and how he had to talk with the second class goddess as he had promised he eventually do, no matter how worried he was at accidentally hurting Urd's feelings or making her cry. Then there was also that embarrassing episode when he had been stuck between Urd and Peorth no thanks to Miroku's scheme with the magnet fruit, their flirtatious advances had really given him quite a scare given how unprepared he was at receiving, let alone experiencing close physical contact with a member of the opposite sex, even if they were only doing it to have fun. But after all of his experiences thus far with each of the goddesses, Michiru knew he was developing a close relationship with them, and at an incredibly fast pace in just a few days time. Given how close his own mental control came to breaking during those events when he couldn't control his own bodily functions, he had all the more reason to take responsible action by purchasing proper protection, regardless of how much he was worried about being teased about it by his friends or worse, being lectured about it again by his mother.

"Michiru?" Sayoko called out, stealing a glance at the blushing young man seated next to her before returning her eyes to the rode.

"Y-Yes?" Michiru responded, turning to face the young woman after being interrupted from all of his troubled and torturous thoughts.

"Are you feeling alright?" Sayoko asked curiously while wearing an expression of concern on her pretty face. "Your face is really red."

"Yeah, s-sorry Sayoko, I've never ridden around in a car with a girl before." Michiru answered, trying to think up a believable excuse to hide the real reason he was blushing so much right now. "I've also had a pretty eventful day so I have a lot on my mind right now."

"I see…" Sayoko replied, stealing another glance at the Kururugi boy while he was looking ahead, wondering if that was the real reason why he was blushing heavily right now. She knew she was very beautiful, but that alone couldn't be enough to make the young teenager feel overly uncomfortable or nervous right now, they were only having a nice drive down the road after all. "How old are you Michiru?"

"Fifteen." Michiru answered, wondering where that question had come from and Sayoko was asking him that. "Why do you ask?"

"Oh, no reason, I was just curious." Sayoko replied before turning the steering wheel to follow the curve of the road ahead of them.

He's really just fifteen years old? Strange, he seemed so much more mature when we were talking together before I offered to give him a ride down to the store and back, maybe because that's a side he rarely lets out or shows others. What ever the case, I'm no different and neither is anyone else for that matter either. We all have different sides, the side we show others while we're out in public and the side that we keep hidden within ourselves.

After a few more minutes, Sayoko pulled up to the house and came to a stop, putting the car in park before unlocking all the doors and the trunk. She glanced at the stairs leading up to the front gate of the house and saw that the bottled Saki and bouquet of flowers were still sitting where Michiru had left them, much to her relief so that he could follow through with his promise and pretend as though he just found them sitting there without directing any unwanted attention towards herself. Once both of them had stepped out of the vehicle, Sayoko helped the Japanese student unload all of his groceries before closing the lid of the trunk, now it was time to say their goodbyes before each of them headed for home.

"Thank you again for driving me down to the store and back Sayoko, I greatly appreciate it, let me know if I can return the favour." Michiru said politely while wishing the young woman all the best before she left. "Please feel free to drop by any time you'd like to visit, and for what ever reason, you would be welcome and I'm sure Belldandy and Keiichi would like to see you again as would everybody else too."

"You're welcome Michiru, thank you again for your kind words and understanding." Sayoko stated politely in return before turning to leave.

"I hope you're feeling better now than you were earlier this afternoon." Michiru added. "Enjoy the rest of your day Sayoko."

"Same to you as well, thank you Michiru." Sayoko said softly before getting into her car, she then started the engine up and pulled out to drive away, leaving the Shikigami user behind staring after her yellow Mercedes while she stared at him using her rear view mirror until both of them were eventually out of each other's sight.

"Well, now that I'm finally home again, all I have to do is haul all of these groceries inside the house so they can be put away." Michiru said to himself, reaching to grab some bags with both hands so he could take them into the house and put them away in the kitchen.

"Michiru?" Lind called out after suddenly showing up out of nowhere, startling the heck out of the Shikigami user, making her laugh inwardly or a moment. "Sorry for startling you, I returned from heaven a short time ago and I was told you went out to shop for groceries."

"Its okay Lind." Michiru replied after recovering from the momentary fright he had been given by the goddess's unexpected appearance.

The Japanese boy was about to resume his task of hauling all of the groceries up to the house so that they could all be put away, but there was a peculiar look in Lind's eyes right now and he just couldn't stop looking into them with his own. The Valkyrie stared back into Michiru's eyes as she tried readying herself to present her gift that she had brought back all the way from heaven to give to him, but for some inexplicable reason, she was suddenly overcome by hesitation and unable to find her voice or hold out the treasured tool hidden behind her back.

"Lind?" Michiru asked curiously, snapping the Valkyrie out of her nervous state. "I hope I'm not prying into your personal affairs, but why did you have to leave so suddenly and go back to heaven while all of us were about to sit down and have lunch together? We missed having your company."

"I'm sorry Michiru." Lind apologized, a light pink blush appearing on her cheeks as a result of Michiru's remark while she explained herself. "I intended to go to heaven to retrieve some items and come right back again while all of you were still having lunch, but I was unfortunately delayed because I had an encounter with a large group of my fellow Valkyries who belong to Heaven's battle division and they all had some questions which I had to answer for them so that's why I was so late."

"Oh, I see." Michiru replied, noticing the light pink blush on Lind's cheeks which made the formidable female fighter look really cute right now, but he didn't want to make the Valkyrie anymore uncomfortable than he deduced she was already so he decided to leave the matter alone where it was. "Don't feel too badly about it Lind, helping others is always important and especially for a goddess such as yourself."

"Hey! Michiru! Lind!" Inuyasha called out, interrupting the two of them before he took a huge leap and landed perfectly on his feet so he would be standing beside both of them. "You were sure gone for a long time Lind, I was beginning to think you wouldn't be coming back."

"Sorry for making you worry Inuyasha, I was delayed and couldn't return until much later than I had originally planned." Lind explained.

"No worries, you're back now so maybe we can finally have that sparring match we had planned to do after lunch, or we can wait until after we all play a game of volleyball if you'd rather do that first." Inuyasha replied before turning to look at Michiru along with all of the grocery bags he had sitting all around him. "Looks like you're finally back Michiru, here, let me help you haul these groceries inside the house."

"Hang on a sec Inuyasha, I need to…" Michiru said before the half demon grabbed all of the bags with both hands and jumped all the way up to the top of the stone staircase in a single leap, carrying all of the groceries with him in the process as he headed back to the house.

"Michiru?" Lind spoke up, taking the opportunity now that she had recovered from her nervousness. "While I was in heaven, I retrieved my personal arsenal of small weapons because I thought you would like to learn how to throw knives and other such concealable weapons since you're always training so much with Sango during your days of in the Feudal era in order to become a better fighter. Would you be interested in learning such skills? I know that Sango's still training you as her student, but I could also teach you as well."

"I'd like that very much, I've always wanted to learn how to throw knifes and other such weapons in combat." Michiru answered, feeling overly excited at the opportunity he had been offered, getting to train and learn new skills from both Sango and Lind. "Thank you Lind."

"The other reason why I returned to heaven was because I wanted to give you this, I had it crafted and made especially for you." Lind stated, producing the gift she had hidden behind her back and holding out in front of her for the Kururugi boy to take. Michiru's eyes widened at he examined the special gift held in Lind's hands, the leather sheath which covered up the blade of the hatchet had an inscription sown into it which read, "To Michiru Kururugi" On one side and "From Lind" on the other side in blue lettering. "If you look closely, it's a hammer and a hatchet crafted together as one individual tool, it can be employed in a wide range of work related uses or as a weapon if you happen to find yourself in a situation when your Shikigami powers are unable or unavailable to help you defend yourself."

Michiru glanced up at Lind momentarily before slowly reaching his hand out to take the special gift generously offered to him by the warrior woman standing in front of him, he examined it in both of his hands, looking at it from all sides while admiring the craftsmanship and quality of the tool he had received. Its handle was reddish brown all the way up to the hammer and the hatchet which were both silver, the leather sheath was light brown and matched Michiru's school uniform pants perfectly except of course for the blue letters sown into it on either side. After a moment, the young teenage boy finally looked at Lind with an expression which showed he honestly didn't know why she had given him this or what he had done to deserve such a special gift from a goddess like her.

"I…I really don't know what I should say Lind, I greatly appreciate that you're offered me in order to learn new combat skills along with this beautiful gift you've given me, but…I'm afraid I don't understand why you're giving me so much since we've only known each other for a little more than a day." Michiru stated hesitantly while trying to be as polite as possible. "I haven't done anything to deserve such a gift."

"That's not true; you've done more good than you can possibly imagine which is why so many Valkyries and Goddesses admire you so much. You will understand one day Michiru, but please don't worry about that right now, let's go back inside and help Inuyasha put all of the groceries away so he doesn't put any in the wrong place." Lind replied, her last remark unexpectedly alarming Michiru whose eyes widened with worry before the Kururugi boy raced up the stairs and ran to the house. "What's wrong Michiru? Was it something I said?"

Oh no! I completely forgot about the condoms I bought, there in one of the grocery bags that Inuyasha grabbed, I don't even know which bag it was! Argh! I hope I get there before anyone discovers them or else I'm going to be teased and interrogated to death! Never mind how Peorth and Urd would react if they found out! If my Uncle's teasing doesn't kill me, than somebody else's might! This is not my day!

Author's Note: I most sincerely apologize for taking forever to update this story, a lot as happened over the last several months, I feel as though I've been going out of one frying pan and into another lately. I hope everybody enjoyed their Christmas holidays and that this new year turns out to be a brighter and better one than the last, but we'll all just have to wait and see since its only been about six weeks into 2016 so far. I'd like to give out a big thank you to J4RRE77 and Bucio for their suggestions, both of you helped out immensely which made this challenging chapter easier to get done despite how lengthy it was and how long it took me to type it out with everything in order.

Moving on, I made up the character named Alastor whom Lind encountered while up in Heaven in order to add some additional suspense to the story and since there will be at least several endings with a different romantic pairing in each of them, it would only make sense to have a divine being who could possibly fulfill the role of an adversary who will be competing with Michiru for Lind's affections throughout the story which will eventually branch off into multiple endings including one pairing Michiru and Lind together. I had intended for more comedy and craziness to occur in this chapter when I first started writing it out, but as it progressed, I soon realized that I would have to postpone all of that in order make room for everything you've just finished reading about instead. Now that all those important events have occurred and are out of the way, I can return to the comedy again and write out all the events I regretfully had to postpone which is why my 12th chapter will be appropriately titled, "Miroku's Misery and Misfortune."

Orionpax09: You started questioning Inuyasha's ability to deduce Mara's presence judging from her scent and further down in your review, you figure out that Inuyasha already knew it was Mara who was taking a bath, sorry if I got a little confused, it sounds as though you started reviewing long before you finished reading through the whole chapter. While its true Inuyasha is very protective of his friends and other companions, I felt it would be more fun if he reacted with amusement for the sake of the chapter and in all honesty, he needs to experience more fun and enjoyable experiences which he can look back on and laugh about in his later years given how sad, lonely and dangerous his childhood was while he grew up with his human mother until her passing which left him alone in a hostile Feudal Japan filled with dangerous demons and human beings who mistreat half demons such as himself.

Moving on, Miroku always jumps at the chance of seeing a beautiful woman in person (human, demon, half demon, goddess or otherwise) whether she's naked or fully clothed so having him threaten Mara's privacy was the chance to two birds with one stone, create comedy and show Mara that Michiru was intervening on her behalf and that they're slowly building a friendship of sorts even though Mara herself wouldn't be able to openly admit this to anyone given her pride and reputation as a full fledge demon. You're absolutely correct, Inuyasha planned to set Michiru and Miroku up in order to record their actions on Kagome's camera for fun, given how he's gotten to know both of them throughout his travels with all of his friends in the Feudal era, he had the foresight to correctly predict how each of them would respond in order to manipulate them as you eventually deduced for yourself.

Yes, I'm truly enjoying making Miroku jealous of Michiru in this story since the level of comedy of limitless and as you've said many times, Miroku always miraculously manages to get away relatively unscathed after each of his offences whether he's feeling up Sango or ripping off unsuspecting people from Feudal Japan. He definitely deserves a long lasting series of punishments for all of his offences and I plan to deliver such judgement upon him, mainly for opening his eyes so that he'll eventually realize that his mannerisms and lecherous actions are disgraceful and unforgivable, especially for him since he gives all monks a bad name and has had multiple opportunities to change himself for the better which sadly hasn't happened throughout the main Inuyasha franchise. The goddesses will most definitely provide the means to do that since they are from Heaven and will judge him as fairly as the Almighty One will eventually do when Miroku's mortal life is over, the final straw will probably be when Miroku finds out how Michiru is respected and admired by many goddesses and not just those whom he's met down on earth already.

That kiss between Mara and Michiru was caused by accident mainly because of Miroku and don't worry, I don't plan on Peorth finding out about it. Mara's pride and reputation as a full fledge demon along with her short temper makes her very dangerous so you're right that the situation could have turned very violent and ugly, but Mara showed some restraint mainly because she owed Michiru for preventing Miroku from invading her privacy and showing her mercy and friendship on more than one occasion, the house is also occupied by five heavenly goddesses who are powerful so it wasn't worth pouring fuel on the fire even though she would certainly have been justified in reacting with rage against Miroku. She's probably learned by now after events of the morning in the previous chapter and if she hasn't, I recon she's a fast learner so she'll probably learn within another day or two at the most.

That's what I like so much about blending Inuyasha and Oh My Goddess together; you get comedy, adventure, and romance, anything one could want in a story whether you're the author or the reader. Yes, Belldandy always looks out for others and acts with the best of intentions in mind for a person or a group of persons; I'd expect nothing less from a first class goddess like herself.

I especially enjoyed writing out those scenes towards the end of the previous chapter when Mara and Urd were pulling pranks on each other, when I saw the Oh My Goddess episode when I got to see them spending time together and reflecting on their friendship and history of jokes and pranks, I thought I'd bring that back to life again in this story for further comedy which would also give Mara and Urd more screen time as well.

Urd's a great character, while she does like to tease and cause some mischief, she doesn't do it to be mean and usually has good intentions for it, especially when she's trying to encourage Keiichi to further his relationship with Belldandy which she sees as her duty since she sees herself as the Goddess of Love. Even though the recent prank she pulled on Mara made Michiru a victim as well, she probably knew the Kururugi boy would forgive her just as he did during the other day when she flashed him after he used his Shikigami powers to restore her energy and turn Urd back to her normal adult self and both pranks were quick so the humiliation only lasted a couple of seconds.

Yes, Mara found a golden opportunity to get back at Urd which also allowed her to get back at Miroku as well which was undoubtedly a big bonus for her given how much she was laughing at both of them while holding the door shut from outside, trapping them inside the bathroom until Urd used her magic to drive both Mara and Miroku away and outside of the house altogether.

I laughed when I wrote out that scene simply because of the fact that Kagome was the one who's rear was being fondled by Miroku's wandering hand, I have no doubt that Kagome would drop all her fantasies of seeing Miroku and Sango together if she was physically harassed as many times as Sango unfortunately is throughout the Inuyasha anime, glad you enjoyed it as well. Koshian is a monk and seeing Miroku (who is a monk as well) misbehave (especially towards women) and in his own household which extends to his Shrine would make him very angry, if he easily jumps to conclusions during his first meeting with Keiichi and Belldandy, I'm sure he'd react more serious towards Miroku because of the monk's lecherous actions, especially during dinner and in front of all his guests along with his nephew Michiru.

I figured Peorth and Urd would act as such, the opportunity was too good to pass up even though Michiru was blushing furiously and unable to sustain control given how exquisitely attractive Peorth and Urd both are, never mind the fact that they're both wearing swimwear out in the open as well.

Miroku was obviously thinking of nothing by lechery when he planned out that little scheme with the magnet fruit, he probably overlooked the possibility that he would be found out as the culprit since Urd and Mara had been pulling pranks on each other that morning after all.

Given how jealous he was at seeing Michiru getting along so well with Peorth and Urd and being allowed to touch them without consequence or retaliation, its easy for Miroku's inner jealousy to take over in order to feed his lecherous desire which has by this stage become a very serious addiction if I may label it as such which is putting it very lightly. And as I mentioned a few paragraphs earlier, Miroku will eventually find out that all his lecherous actions and offences don't do him any favours and won't be ignored or overlooked by the Almighty One and the goddesses who dwell up in Heaven, even if he eventually reforms himself, all these sins and wrong doings will never be erased.

Again, this was another event which couldn't be passed up, Peorth is very flirtatious and highly sexual after all and she's already slowed down her advances towards Michiru so that the Kururugi boy can eventually be more comfortable with her flirtatious behaviour as their relationship builds over time. The same can be said for Urd, though she's in a much more delicate position since she's emotionally hurt due to her being half demon and half goddess, but she'll eventually grow closer to Michiru as well. I've planned Michiru getting laid with each of the goddesses once their relationship reaches its peak, this will most likely happen after some adventures occur in the Feudal era which is in the near future once Inuyasha's brief visit to Modern Japan has ended in a few days.

Michiru will eventually figure out that Urd has developed feelings for him (and Lind as well) and he'll more or less be in the situation where he'll be forced to choose between them. Michiru won't want to hurt their feelings or take advantage of them so I think he'll seek Belldandy's help in order to find a sound solution so no one will be hurt or offended. She's Urd's sister as well as a first class goddess, who genuinely cares for everyone so Belldandy's the best candidate for Michiru to talk too about this delicate matter,

That's a good reason for Hild showing up, I had planned to have her show up mainly so she could meet Michiru after hearing all about him from Mara and in order to see Urd again, but that's still another workable idea which can be also be included. She'll undoubtedly be very interested to learn that Michiru's return to the Modern era after his adventures in Feudal Japan caused the system crash in Yggdrasil along with the existence of the Bone Eater's Well and finally, the relationship Michiru's established with the goddesses including Urd as well. You're right about that, Hild is mysterious and good at hiding her true intentions when ever she makes an appearance or does something involving magic, one must always beware of the ruler of Demon kind.

I sincerely apologize not only for taking forever to write out this chapter, but also for having to postpone all the comedic and crazy scenes featuring Tamiya and Otaki from the Nekomi Motor Club in order to make room for everything you just read first, I know how much you were looking forward to seeing those two and other Oh My Goddess characters interact with those from Inuyasha and I myself deeply regret not being able to include them in this chapter as I had originally intended, but I felt I had to write out all of these other important events first. Lastly, let me also apologize for not reviewing the 3rd chapter of your Inuyasha fanfic which you updated two and a half weeks ago, I've been so focused on writing my own that I didn't take the time to review right away like I would usually do when you post a new chapter.

No need to apologize for taking so long to read and review, real life always gets in the way after all, takes care until next time.

Bucio: That sounds like a nice idea, letting Hild disguise herself in order to meet him and interact with him without him knowing that she's the ruler of Demon kind and the Netherworld until later on towards the late afternoon or evening when she visit's the house where the goddesses and everyone else is living. Hild has tanned skin unlike Mara who has pale skin like most of the goddesses except for Urd of course even though Mara's a full fledge demon so its unlikely that Michiru will think that they're related, but he'll probably deduce that Hild's a demon just like Mara is if he sees her red demonic markings on her face and forehead unless Hild is able to hide them while she's acting like an innocent little girl who happens to encounter Michiru when he's out shopping for groceries. Thank you so much for all of your suggestions, I found some of them very helpful, namely Michiru's encounter with Chibi Hild which fit in perfectly with other events.

Hild can't spy or eavesdrop from the shadows on the events that occurred last night because Inuyasha would have sensed her presence thanks to his half demon sense of smell, but Hild can easily find out about all that happened involving Urd, Michiru and Troubadour from Mara since Mara secretly stayed behind to watch what was happening until she made another appearance again at about dinner time. Inuyasha probably sensed and recognized her presence but didn't act and most likely didn't think she posed a threat at the time given the events of the late afternoon and the evening, he was also more interested in focussing his full attention on Troubadour since the Plum Tree Spirit was making a scene and asking for trouble which is why a fight eventually broke out.

Although I've already got my hands full with writing multiple endings, each pairing Michiru with a different goddess (Peorth, Urd, and Lind), I'll consider writing some one shots at the end of the story as an additional bonus if that's okay. However, I probably won't use all of the girls from Oh My Goddess mainly because of how odd or difficult a romantic relationship would be, Mara's pride as a full fledge demon together with her duties and mischievous goals (some of which are dangerous) wouldn't allow her to seek a romantic relationship with a human mortal such as Michiru, the friendship that they have is already something that Mara is somewhat uncomfortable about openly admitting or acknowledging.

Although Hild wouldn't worry about her reputation to the same degree as Mara (since she's the ruler of Demon kind), Michiru is a very moral and respectable person who values all the moral principals and codes of conduct which would possibly conflict with Hild's beliefs or goals given that she's the ruler of Demon Kind and its also important to remember that demon contracts unlike goddess contracts come with a very high price which always has to be paid by the human client regardless of what the individuals wish or desire happens to be.

Skuld is simply too young and not mature enough for Michiru (I know she's a goddess and is technically many hundreds of years older than he his in human years) so it would be highly immoral and questionable from other people's viewpoint, especially Michiru's parents.

Sayoko would be a little difficult to do since she has her pride as a wealthy and independent young woman, though that could change over time if she suddenly wants a romantic relationship without any handicaps or problems caused by class society, social status, wealth, politics, etc. Although she's not as popular or likeable as all of the goddesses are, pairing Sayoko with Michiru would still be an interesting possibility.

Megumi's a nice girl, she could easily take a romantic interest in Michiru and vice versa so that pairing is definitely possible.

I'm already writing another story pairing Michiru with Sango so there's really no point in writing a one shot, she's also with Miroku even though that lecherous monk doesn't deserve her affections and isn't worthy of her either as I'm sure you and many other readers and writers will agree with.

I hope you enjoyed reading this latest chapter and that you look forward to reading more of them in the future, catch you next time.

Hotel Katz: He'd probably suffocate in her bosom anyway if she squeezed him in a really tight hug regardless of what age he is; nevertheless, I see your point. Don't worry, I already have a scene in mind for Hild's introduction which involves Michiru and Hild's bosom.

Although Hild is ruler of Demon Kind and the Netherworld, I feel a little sorry for her because she can't experience the kind of mother daughter relationship that ordinary mortals normally share, sadly, there are some things even deities can't undo.

I'm glad you think I've gotten Mara's character right at least as far as comedic purposes are concerned, I also felt sorry for her as well because she's simply forced to regard the goddesses as her enemies and that she can't share in the fun and enjoyable experiences that Keiichi and all the goddesses get to have throughout the Oh My Goddess series, so I'm trying to give her that opportunity even though she's not entirely comfortable or willing to take part in it given her demonic heritage. I have to agree with you there, Mara's temper rivals Inuyasha's temper and given her goals and duty as a full fledge demon who's job it is to increase the shares of Demon kind by interfering with the goddesses down on earth, she's not really in a position to question her goals or her reasons for trying to achieve them where as Inuyasha has that option since he's half demon and half human. Mara's pride simply wouldn't allow her to seek a romantic relationship with a mortal human, even if Michiru finds her attractive and offers her a chance to become friends which could lead to something more, human beings will always be looked down on by Demon kind which is something that can't be changed or overlooked. Nevertheless, being friends with Mara will be enough for Michiru, she's already friends with Urd even though the two of them like to pull pranks on each other.

J4RRE77: Yeah, I thought as much, I wanted Mara to make another appearance so I wrote what I thought would provide some additional comedy, it was also there for filler and I'll agree that the second half of the chapter was by far more hilarious and entertaining in comparison. Thanks so much again for all your helpful support and suggestions, especially the scenes which focused mainly on Lind.

Raidentensho: That Carnival sounds very interesting; I'll have to look into that to see if it can be included, I hope you enjoyed reading this latest chapter.

Greymon Leader Batx flashpoint: Yes, I know what you mean, I wrote the title of the tenth chapter that way because it would look that way from Miroku's opinion which of course was entirely different in Michiru's viewpoint. The potential that Inuyasha and Oh My Goddess have for comedy when combined together in a story like this is incalculable, namely because of the actions and reactions of the characters from both shows, especially Michiru, Miroku and some of the goddesses. It's highly unlikely that Miroku will see the error of his ways, he'll learn only after it's too late once he realizes that his lecherous actions and lack of morals have earned him a bad reputation in the eyes of the goddesses which will never be undone. Glad you enjoyed the previous chapter; I hope you enjoyed this new one just as much as well.

Its been a while since I've seen Yugioh so I can't choose or select 10 duels from the show as a whole given how many duels there are between all of the characters, but one duel I would certainly bring up is the one which Yami faces the silent mind slave and defeats Slifer the Sky Dragon and claims the god card as his prize afterwards.