Back In The Clouds

by Imaginos1892

Keiichi Morisato was an unlucky guy. He seemed to work twice as hard to get half as much as everybody else. He always thought there had to be something wrong, but could never have imagined the cause until he had a vision of meeting a goddess in the sky. Then she told him it wasn't a vision, and she would grant him one wish. What could he wish for, that might improve his luck?

2. Woke Up With A Goddess

Woke Up With A Goddess

Last time, Keiichi had awakened from his dream with Belldandy's business card forgotten in his pajamas. This time, he woke up holding the goddess herself.

But, an unresponsive goddess. She lay on top of him, completely limp, her head resting on his shoulder, her eyes closed. Her soft breath tickled his ear.

"Uuhhh…Belldandy?" She did not stir, or answer. He didn't know what to do. He couldn't lift her up from his present position, crawling out from under her would be awkward, and dumping her on the floor would be rude. He tried again. "Belldandy?"

Keiichi was lying on his back, exactly where he'd landed after she answered the phone, one leg sticking under the chabudai table. The room was dark; night had fallen while he was away. Whatever 'away' meant. He didn't see any light from his phone, either. It must have shut down.

His attention returned to Belldandy, still out of it. He wiggled into a less uncomfortable position and looked at her face, dimly visible, centimeters from his own. She sure is beautiful. But why is she here? No answer came to him. He doubted that any would, until she woke up. Some minutes dragged past.

"Aaaehhh…" Belldandy made a sort of indeterminate sound. Keiichi all but held his breath, not daring to interrupt her awakening. Her eyes fluttered, blinked a few times, and stayed open. She lifted her head a little and looked around, confused. "Wha…what happened? Where am I? What is this place?"

"My apartment," Keiichi answered her, embarrassed.

She looked down at him and suddenly became aware of their rather compromising position. "Keiichi Morisato-san!" She put her hands on the floor and pushed herself up. "I'm sorry! Are you all right?"

"I'm fine!" he assured her hastily. "What about you? Are you okay? You— I think you…passed out."

"Passed…out? Oh, my. And this is your apartment? This is Midgard? The mortal realm?" She shook her head irritably and corrected herself. "I mean, the world where you've spent your whole life?"

"Uh, yeah…"

"But how did I get here? Tell me—" She cut herself off, closed her eyes, took a deep breath and let it out slowly. She opened them again, smiled, and went on in a much warmer tone, "You could help me a great deal by telling me what happened. Will you do that for me?"

"Well, sure." He thought for a few seconds. "I was trying to think of a wish, and then you sort of floated in the air, your face lit up, and you, um…a laser beam shot out of your forehead." He stopped, looking up at her, expecting her to object, correct him, or accuse him of lying.

Her smile widened instead. "Then what happened?"

He took a moment to get over her calm acceptance of something he had a hard time believing. "Uh…when the laser shut off, you started to fall. I tried to catch you, we both sort of fell out of that place, it got dark, and then we were here. I've been waiting for you to wake up for, maybe, about five minutes?"

"I see." She smiled again. "Thank you, Keiichi Morisato-san. You've been very helpful."

"Oh. Well, glad I could help." He added, a little plaintively, "But, I still don't know what's going on."

"Oh, of course. What you described is what happens when I grant a wish." She frowned, just a bit. "But I should remember granting a wish, and I don't. I don't even know what your wish was. And I don't know what I'm doing here, if I've already granted your wish." She nibbled her lip for a few seconds. "May I please borrow your telephone? I need to check in, and find out what happened."

"Sure! It's—" He looked around. "It should be around here somewhere. I must have dropped it, when…huh. I guess I passed out, too."

"Not exactly," she said, raising herself up and twisting around to sit beside him. "There's your phone. If I may?"

"Go ahead…"

He sat up and watched as her fingers tapped on the keypad, and tapped, and tapped. Whoever she was calling had a number much longer than any he'd ever heard of, forty digits or more. At last she finished and held the phone to her ear.

Someone must have answered. She started talking. He recognized "Belldandy" and "Keiichi Morisato" but everything else she said meant nothing to him, and sounded unlike any language he had ever heard. Her call went on for some time, with long pauses as she listened. She began to sound agitated, and distressed. Finally, she lowered his phone and sat staring at nothing in the dim light from the window.

"Belldandy? You okay?" he said, worried.

She blinked, and turned to him. "Keiichi-san…" Her smile looked forced, and only a pale shadow of her earlier ones. "I'm all right. I'm afraid I just got…a bit of a shock."

"Oh…" He couldn't think of anything else to say, until he remembered his first dream of her. "Would you like some tea?"

That got him a much better smile. "Oh, yes. Thank you. Tea would be very nice."

He pulled himself to his feet, switched on the light, and put a pot of water on to boil. "It'll take a few minutes."

"That's fine. I think I need a few minutes."

Something else got his attention. "Uh, I, I, need to… Be right back." He ducked into the bathroom and shut the door.

Before long, the water was boiling. He asked, "What do you want with your tea?"

"Do you have honey?"

"Yeah." He assembled everything on a tray and brought it to her. Teapot, cups, saucers, two kinds of tea, honey, sugar, and rice crackers. He sat across from her and they both reached for the teapot.

She smiled nervously and drew her hand back. "I forgot. I'm so used to serving the tea…"

"Which kind do you want?"

She tapped a tea-box. "This one, please."

By the time he finished making two cups of tea, he felt a lot calmer, though still not completely at ease. They nibbled rice crackers while waiting for it to cool. He wondered why the blue markings on her face were gone, but other questions took precedence just now. "You said you granted my wish."

"Yes." She chuckled. "Usually, that's the end of it. I descend to the mortal plane, spend some time explaining the details, my client makes a wish, I grant it, I return to Heaven. Job done." She shook her head. "Your wish is a little different. No, a lot different. Actually, it's unique. In fact, it's completely unprecedented."

"Okay, so…what was it?" he asked, confused.

"Don't you remember? You wished for me to stay with you forever." She waved her rice cracker in a sort of what-can-you-do gesture. "Granted."

"What do you mean?"

"From now on I will remain here, in the mortal realm, fulfilling the terms of your wish."

"Oh. That's…uh. Wow." He shook his head, remembering. "That wasn't even meant to be a wish. More what I'd have liked to wish for. If I could."

"You may not have thought so, but your words were accepted as a wish and implemented. Yggdrasil would never have done that unless you were expressing your heart's desire. In that moment, more than anything else in the world, you wanted me to stay with you."

"Oh…" he repeated, uncertainly.

She explained further, "There were…concerns, about the ramifications of such a wish. Ultimately, the matter got referred all the way up to The Highest Authority."

"You mean…?"

She nodded. "Himself."

"Then…what…?"

"The Word has been handed down from On High, and The Word was: Let's See What Happens."

"You're kidding." His flippant certainty wilted under her steady gaze. "You are kidding, right?"

"I am still a Goddess First Class. I can never tell a lie," she pronounced frostily.

"Uh, no, I, I, didn't mean it that way…" he fumbled out apologetically.

Her gaze, and her tone, softened. "No, I see you didn't. You were only reacting to something you found difficult to believe. I assure you, though, it is true. Your wish has been validated by Yggdrasil, and confirmed by The Highest Authority. It is final."

"Uhh…okay." He frowned as something else occurred to him. "But that means you're…you can't go home? You're stuck here, because of me? A stupid wish I didn't even mean to make? I— I'm sorry!"

She shook her head slowly. "Do not apologize, Keiichi Morisato-san. I took on my position as a Wish Granter fully aware of the responsibilities entailed. I committed myself to fulfill every wish to the best of my ability. Yours will just take a little longer than most."

"A little longer?!" he spluttered, incredulous.

"Just a little. For me, a century or so is not all that long a time."

Keiichi couldn't believe what he was hearing. "But you'd be…I mean, I…I'm…sort of, uh, just…"

"Too insignificant to warrant the full-time attention of a goddess? I don't like to put it so bluntly, but is that what you're trying to say?

"Umm…yeah. Pretty much."

"Most gods and goddesses would agree. But, would they be right? We have transcendent knowledge and immense power, we live for eons, but does that truly make us better than you? Are our lives more important than yours? Should I look down on you, figuratively as well as literally?"

"I, uh…I don't know."

"Neither do I. I've never even thought about it before." She looked dissatisfied. "I should have. We should have. That in itself may be significant. If we're so full of ourselves that we never even considered questioning our superiority, are we so superior after all? I'm beginning to wonder — and to suspect that I may have a great deal to learn. Will you help me, Keiichi Morisato-san?"

"What? I don't think—" He was stopped by her earnest, almost pleading expression. "I mean…if you really think there's some way I could help, I…I'll try. Of course I will. I'll do anything I can for you, Belldandy."

She smiled radiantly. "Thank you, Keiichi Morisato-san."

"Um, you're welcome. And, could you just call me, Keiichi? Or…should I call you Belldandy-sama? How is this supposed to work? Should I have been calling you '-sama' all along? You're a goddess, should I call you Belldandy-kami? Should I use your family name? Do you have a family name?"

She gave him an amused look. "So many questions! Yes, I have a family name; I am Belldandy Tyrsdottir. I would prefer it if you simply continue to call me Belldandy, though. It's what I'm used to."

"Then I wish you'd just call me Keiichi."

She wagged her finger at him. "Ah, ah, ah, you only get one wish, remember?"

"I— that, that's, not what I meant, I, uh…"

She giggled. "Relax, I'm just teasing you. Try not to get so flustered over minor things."

He felt awkward, and sipped tea to cover it up.

She sipped hers, too. "Since it seems to bother you, I will grant part of your unauthorized wish and call you Keiichi-san, at least for now. That is what feels right to me."

"Uhhh… Thank you." She seemed to expect something more, so he added, "Um, Belldandy."

She smiled again. "You're quite welcome, Keiichi-san."

They both sipped more tea. He was beginning to notice subtle differences, now that she was here in his apartment. The Belldandy in his vision, or astral projection, or whatever, was a being of divine splendor, flawless in every way. Now she looked more substantial, more real. Her robes had weight and texture now, like fine cloth. The four strands of her hair that stuck up in front had been joined by more, poking out randomly. Her blue eyes had lost their infinite depths which had felt like gazing into the sky. Her face no longer held the ethereal perfection of a dream, but — literally — a more down-to-earth kind of beauty.

Keiichi set down his teacup. "You look…different. Not like you did, uh, there. At least, that's how it seems to me. Which one is the real you?"

When she didn't answer immediately, he became concerned that he had offended her. When she spoke, though, instead of being upset she sounded like one of his professors introducing a complex and difficult subject. "Say rather that both are equally unreal. The vision you saw on the Astral Plane was an idealized representation. My presence here is a physical manifestation, restricted to the mortal realm's three spatial dimensions."

"Then…can you show me what you really look like?" he asked, intrigued.

Belldandy shook her head regretfully. "I'm afraid not. I could do untold damage to your mind, and your world, if I were to try. My True Form is quite beyond mortal comprehension, and incompatible with the structure of this universe. I will use this three-dimensional construct for the duration of my stay here."

"So, is this…not you? The real you, I mean." Now he sounded worried.

"I'm as real as you are." She reached over and squeezed his hand, with a reassuring smile. Her hand felt solid, and warm, and completely normal. "My consciousness is focused within this form, and will be for so long as I dwell in your world, fulfilling your wish. I can turn my Sight outward to some extent, but that will no longer be as effortless as I am accustomed to."

He pondered her words, then had another thought. "Will you be living here? In my apartment?"

"By the terms of your wish, I must stay with you. In this world, that means sharing your living space, so, yes."

He blew out a breath, resigned. "Ffff. Well, with two people living here they're going to raise the rent. I think it's six thousand yen a month. I've got a spare futon, so that's covered, but I'll need to buy more food— wait, do you, um…eat?"

"Of course. This manifestation is like a mortal body in almost every way. Oh, I could sustain myself on celestial energy alone, but it would be a constant strain. Besides, I think I should experience living as a mortal and that would rather defeat the purpose."

He sighed. "Then there's another eight or nine thousand a month. That's…more than I can afford. I'm sorry." He made a sour face. "Hey, I told you, I'm practically broke. I'll have to get a second job. Two or three days a week, at least."

The look she gave him was rather stern. "That won't do at all. Your wish is supposed to make your life better, not harder. Perhaps I should get a job, instead."

"But you're… I mean, I can't expect you to do that! It doesn't seem—"

She interrupted his stumbling objections. "Most mortals have jobs, don't they? You have a job. It's another aspect of mortal life I should learn about."

He let that sink in for a minute. "In that case…maybe there is something. Chihiro-san's been trying to hire an office assistant for…well, a pretty long time, but nobody wants the job because the pay sucks. Trouble is, she can't afford to pay any more. She's just starting up the business and we're short of everything, especially money."

"I see. If I took this job, would it pay enough to cover the additional cost of my living here?"

"Oh, yeah, more than enough. I'd— we'd, actually be better off than I was on my own. I could even start saving up a little money."

"What does an office assistant do?"

"Well, you'd sit at the little counter in the front of the shop and — um, do you know how to use a computer?"

She smiled. "I've been working with the Yggdrasil System for hundreds of years. I think I can manage a computer on the mortal plane."

"Okay, then, you'd print up orders and invoices, sort out E-mail, answer the phone and deal with the walk-in customers. Maybe handle more of the paperwork, once you get the hang of things."

"So I'd be using a computer, answering the phone, and helping people. Very much like what I did at the Goddess Relief Office. Sounds simple enough."

"If you'd do that…it would help us out a lot. Chihiro-san has to be out most of the time, meeting with people and chasing down more business. When she's not in the shop I have to drop what I'm doing every five minutes to answer the phone and meanwhile the paperwork keeps piling up… Aaaugh! There's just too much for two people to keep up with. If we had some help we could get a lot more work done, and bring in more money, but without the money we can't get the help!"

He scowled. "Nobody gets that it's only temporary. A year or so to build up the business, and then she can afford to pay more. She hardly gets any money for herself, even! But it's worth the lousy pay now, to work for a better future. Why can't anybody else see that?"

Belldandy understood completely. "It's her dream."

He nodded. "Yeah, it is."

Her expression turned thoughtful. "It's your dream, too, or connected to it. You want to have a part in her dream, at least for now."

"Ummm…yeah." He didn't volunteer any further details.

His non-answer piqued her curiosity, but she decided not to pry further for now. "This presents me with a whole new perspective. I feared I would miss my position at the Goddess Relief Office. I've been there for…well, for a very long time. Granting wishes has been a major part of my purpose in life, but…now I see the wishes were only a tool. The real point is to help people make their dreams come true. I can still do that. I don't need to grant wishes, or even use any magic at all. I can help you, and Chihiro-san, by just…doing a simple job. I find the notion quite intriguing."

"Okay then, I'll take you to work with me tomorrow and we'll talk to Chihiro-san about it. I'm sure she'll hire you." He chuckled. "I think she'd hire anybody at this point. We're getting kind of desperate."

She finished her tea and set the cup down. "I'll do my best."

Keiichi finished his tea and stood up. "It's late. I should have started supper hours ago. I think there's enough for both of us."

Belldandy stood up, too. "I'll help you."

"No, you don't have to—"

"Don't you want me to help?" She sounded disappointed.

"I-" He was stopped by her almost pleading expression. "I mean, if you want to, um…sure. Thank you."

"You are quite welcome, Keiichi-san."

He didn't exactly have a kitchen, just a counter top where the sink and appliances were grouped together. He gave her some vegetables to chop while he put on a pot of udon noodles, sliced up some pork and dumped it in.

She set the knife down. "I'm finished."

He checked her work. "Wow, those are perfect." He added the vegetables and some seasonings, put the lid on and adjusted the burner. "Should be ready in about twenty minutes. Could you keep an eye on this and make sure it doesn't boil over?"

"All right."

He spent the time cleaning up, washing the tea service and putting everything away, then setting the table for supper. He was just finishing when Belldandy got his attention.

"Keiichi-san? The top is…moving. Is it boiling over?"

He looked, and saw the pot lid bumping up and down, releasing puffs of steam.

"No, it's just starting to boil." He turned off the burner, picked up the lid and waved the steam away. "Looks like it's done."

He took the pot and set it on a small tiled platform he'd put on the table, dished out two steaming bowls of udon and said, "Let's eat."

They sat down. She watched him intently and followed his example, snapping a set of chopsticks apart and fitting them into her hand with just a bit of fumbling. He pulled some noodles out of his bowl, blew on them and slurped them up.

"Careful, they're hot," he warned her.

On her first try she brought up a measly two noodles and watched them immediately slither away. Her second try yielded a big unmanageable clump. She swirled her chopsticks around in the bowl and fished out a more reasonable quantity, blew on them and ate them more-or-less neatly. Her expression as she considered the flavor was…thoughtful.

"Yeah, I'm afraid I'm not much of a cook. Barely good enough to get by on my own. It's not too bad, is it?"

Her smile was kind. "It's fine, Keiichi-san." She took another bite of noodles, more adeptly this time.

They each polished off two bowls of udon. Keiichi looked into the pot. "There's almost enough left for breakfast."

He stirred in more noodles and replaced the lid. "I'll put it in the refrigerator after it cools off." Belldandy's questioning look prompted him to add, "Putting it in while it's hot wastes electricity. The electric bill is high enough as it is."

He cleared the table and started washing the dishes. She watched everything he did, closely.

"There is a lot I don't know about the mortal world. Cooking, and cleaning, money and bills…I am familiar with the concepts, in a theoretical sense, but I have no experience with the practical details. I must admit, I'm feeling a little lost right now."

She answered his concerns with, "I'm sure I'll get used to it before too long. I"m learning a lot, just by watching you."

He finished the dishes and rinsed out the sink. "There, all done." Then he yawned, and stretched.

Belldandy glanced around the apartment. "Oh, good. What do we do now, Keiichi-san?"

"I need to take a shower, and go to bed. It's getting late." He gave her a confused look. "Why is that? I was only in that place for about half an hour, but now it's at least six hours later. I don't get it."

"The correlation of time between the mortal realm and the Astral Plane is not always consistent. Sometimes you can spend what feels like hours there, while only a few minutes pass here. Sometimes it goes the other way. In addition, we were sort of left 'on hold' while the issues concerning your wish were being worked out. I hope this doesn't cause you undue difficulty."

He shook his head. "No, no, it's fine. I'll just have a few things to finish up tomorrow, after work."

"I will help."

He felt an impulse to protest that he didn't need her help, he could handle it on his own, but on further consideration he simply said, "Thank you."

She smiled. "You're quite welcome. For tonight, I think I will take a shower too, if that's all right."

"Yeah, sure. You want to go first?"

"Mmm, I think you should. I might need some time to figure everything out."

"Okay, Well, see you in a few." He crossed to the bathroom and shut the door behind him.

Belldandy cast her Sight that way. She wasn't spying on him, not actually seeing anything in a visual sense, but she got an impression of what was happening, how to operate the water valves, the general process of taking a mortal shower.

Twenty minutes later he emerged, damp and a little bashful, with a towel tied around his waist and another over his shoulders. "Okay, I'm done. All yours. I put out clean towels."

"Thank you, Keiichi-san."

"Um, do you…know how?" he asked diffidently.

"I think I can manage. If I have any difficulties, I will ask for help."

Now he was all the way to embarrassed. "Uh, well, uh, I guess, I can answer questions through the door."

Her smile was amused, but kind. "That should be enough."

He regarded the bedroom doorway for a moment. "I'm not really prepared for a roommate. I guess, you can have the bedroom and I can lay my futon out here…"

Her eyes twinkled with humor. "As I recall, your wish did not include being kicked out of your own bedroom, Keiichi-san."

"But, I can't make you sleep out here…" he protested.

"I'm going to be living with you, in this small apartment. It seems to me that sleeping in separate rooms will not be practical over the long term. Am I mistaken?"

"Uhhh…"

"I take it that means I'm not mistaken. Why don't you think we can both manage sleeping in the same room?"

"It- it's not, uh…" he stammered.

She sighed. "You're worried about impropriety, because you're a man and I'm a…a goddess with the mortal form of a woman. Very well, I promise not to molest you in your sleep. You're not going to molest me, are you?"

"NO!" he exclaimed, shocked.

"Then I don't see a problem, Keiichi-san."

I do! he shouted inside his head, but couldn't think of an argument she hadn't already knocked down. Their gazes locked until his shoulders slumped a little in acceptance. "Okay, for tonight anyway."

She smiled. "I'm glad we've reached an agreement. I'll go take a shower now."

This mortal shower apparatus wasn't like a hot spring, or a bath; Belldandy spent some time adjusting the water temperature before she was satisfied. In the end, though, she decided it would serve well enough. Her mental state was more important than the water itself for her ritual cleansing and restoring her link to Yggdrasil. The soap and shampoo for mundane physical bathing were almost afterthoughts.

Keiichi regarded the contents of his closet all over the bedroom floor and groaned. There just wasn't time to put it all away properly tonight. He'd make a start, clean up as much as he could, but he'd have to finish the job tomorrow.

When he heard the shower shut off he decided he'd done enough, and started preparing for bed. He was just finishing up when Belldandy walked in carrying her robes, with a towel tied around herself and another wrapped around her hair.

She giggled. She couldn't help it. Her host had laid out two futons in opposite corners of the room, as far apart as possible in the limited space, separated by a low wall of boxes and other stuff he hadn't yet put back in the closet. He had changed into a pair of baggy swimming trunks and a T-shirt.

He tried not to stare, with less than complete success. She looked…really good. He struggled to stay calm and indicated the futon at the far side of the room. "Megumi, uh, that is, my sister, left a nightgown here a while ago. I'm sure she wouldn't mind if you use it tonight."

She stepped over the wall and saw a bundle of light blue cloth folded on top of the futon. "Thank you, Keiichi-san."

He picked up his damp towels. "I'll just go, um, hang these up, and turn off the lights and, ah, you…let me know when you're done." He beat a hasty retreat.

The nightgown was a bit tight in places, and barely reached her knees, but she felt gratitude to Keiichi and his absent sister for providing it. He'd left the top sheet and blanket folded down, so she got herself and the nightgown settled without much difficulty. She called out, "I'm ready."

He stopped at the door and turned off the light. There were some thumping and rustling sounds as he got into his futon.

"Good night, Keiichi-san."

"Good night, Belldandy."

Several long minutes passed.

"Keiichi-san?"

"Uuuh?"

"How do I go to sleep?"

"Huh? What do you mean? You just, uh, go to sleep."

"But…how? Goddesses don't sleep. I rest from time to time, I meditate and pray, I blank out for a few minutes after granting a wish, but…I've never slept before. What should I do?"

This was confounding. "Of all the…" He stopped to take a breath, and think. "You just, uh, close your eyes and, and, just…do nothing. After a while you fall asleep."

"Oh."

More minutes went by.

"Keiichi-san?"

"Haah?"

"How will I know when I'm falling asleep? What does it feel like?"

Keiichi groaned, just a little. "Uhhh…you don't, really. It doesn't feel like anything. You just close your eyes, and relax, and…and then later you wake up, and it's morning."

"How strange. It seems a most uncertain procedure. Isn't there something I can do, to make it more…definite?"

"No. The more you worry about going to sleep, the harder it gets. You have to stop thinking about it."

"Really? That seems rather paradoxical."

He sighed heavily. "Yeah, well, now you've got me thinking about it. Just…go to sleep."

"All right. I'll…try."

Just when he was beginning to hope it was over…

"Keiichi-san?"

"Now what?"

"I don't feel like I'm falling asleep. Are you sure this is going to work?"

"I'm sure if you don't close your eyes, and stop talking, neither one of us is going to get any sleep tonight." He was aware that his impatience was showing, but he couldn't help it.

"Oh. I suppose not. Good night, Keiichi-san."

"Good night, Belldandy."