Disclaimer : I do not own Ah! My Goddess.

-oOoOoOo-

Keiichi, Maradandy, and Urd were outside. Maradandy held her glowing hands near Keiichi, undoing the various changes that he underwent from drinking so many medicines within Urd's room.

Urd tried to hide it, but was clearly jealous. If one were to ask of what, they'd get a different answer each time they asked.

"Aaand done!" Maradandy said as she clapped her hands to remove the glow.

"Thanks, Maradandy! I was worried I'd have big boobs forever," Keiichi said, feeling his flat chest with relief.

"Heh. It's all thanks to Mara's skills. She's into Biology as much as you are into mechanics," Maradandy replied. "In fact, if it were Belldandy alone, she'd be unable to do anything, as Urd's potions are a different school of magic."

"But Mara can?" Keiichi asked in a confused tone.

Maradandy began to wave a finger as she explained, "Chemistry is closely related to Biology because biology studies all living organisms, and living things are made of chemical molecules and compounds. This is true, even in magic. I have no doubt that Urd would be able to make an antidote, but it would take time to make sure it's safe. Whereas I have Belldandy's speed to go along with Mara's knowledge!"

Urd said in an annoyed tone, "You definitely have Mara's humility."

Maradandy looked towards Urd with a mix of Mara's smirk and Belldandy's gentle smile and nodded. She then looked back at Keiichi and said, "I could even be able to grant you a longer life, perhaps immortality. It involved doing maintenance on your telomeres, but I-"

"What the? A blizzard of Plum Flower Petals?" Urd said, looking around in a growing panic. She looked at Maradandy and spat, "Give Keiichi back those breasts and put him in a dress now!"

Keiichi gasped in horror as he covered his chest, while Maradandy asked in a wary tone, "Why?"

"Because Troubadour's a plum tree spirit and he's incredibly jealous!" Urd said at Maradandy. She then looked at Keiichi and said, "Quick! Pick one, Boobs on your chest or bugs bursting out of your body!"

"Neither!" Keiichi quickly said, backing away.

An annoyed Maradandy all-calmly-stated, "Also neither. I vote for-"

Troubadour appeared, holding his harp. He looked at Urd and said, "I have been searching for you…. Urd."

He walked towards Urd as he continued, "I am here… to once again share my love with you. That is why I have come to this distant and bleak-"

Troubadour glared at Keiichi. "How dare you…I do not know what you may have done with my Urd, but I will punish you for it! When this song reaches its end, so will yo-"

Troubadour had been sent flying backwards with enough force to create a shallow trench. Where he had been, stood a frowning Maradandy with a fist extended.

"Muh noubse!" Troubadour cried out, covering his face. "Houb cun I sang ib I-"

Maradandy had leapt up and landed close enough to Troubadour that she could put a foot over his shoulder. He was too afraid to speak at the moment.

"Ah-ah-ah! Whereas you might be incredibly jealous over Urd, I am really protective over Keiichi," Maradandy said with an evil grin.

Once she managed to collect herself, Urd said, "Maradandy, stop! You don't want to-"

Maradandy sent Urd a glare fearsome enough that Urd hid behind Keiichi. She continued, "You don't want to go down to his level!"

Troubadour's eyes widened as he recalled how he wanted to kill Keiichi before he began to make panicked whimpers, begging for mercy.

Maradandy slowly looked back at Troubadour. A cold smile formed on her face. "Did you spare that Junior God? The one who hit on Urd? If he didn't split himself into many chibi-versions, he would have died. Keiichi is a magicless human."

She frowned. "He would have died once you completed your Bug spell."

Troubadour let out a panicked, "I'm sorry! I won't hurt him!"

Then he whispered a very faint, "Much."

Maradandy threw a lightning bolt a few inches away from Troubadour's head. "Bad thing to say, Plum Tree Spirit."

"Stop this at once!" Keiichi loudly said. When Maradandy looked towards him, Urd bent down to avoid her gaze. "This isn't like any of the women I love!"

"Keiichi, everyone has a part of themselves that's not like the rest of themselves. Sometimes, it's a very ugly part that's very possessive. Being a fusion means that even those parts will mix. Let me do one thing and I'll let him go," Maradandy said with a tone that suggested she was disappointed in herself. She then looked towards Troubadour and slightly lifted her foot. "I'll be letting you stand up, but I want you to keep one thing in mind. If anything happens to Keiichi, if he gets hurt or killed, I'm going to assume you're responsible…"

She then bent down to look him in the eyes, only a few inches away. Keiichi blushed, as it meant her behind was up in the air. Maradandy whispered, "I will hunt you down. There will be no place where you can escape or hide. Even your bugs will help me find you."

Maradandy then removed her foot from Troubadour's person and snapped her fingers, healing him. She walked away from him, towards the temple. On her face was a growing expression of shame.

"I'll keep an eye on Maradandy," Keiichi said before leaving.

Troubadour slowly sat up, fearing that his attacker might change her mind and continue her assault. He looked at Urd, who was still crouching as if Keiichi was still there. He asked, "Urd, who was that?"

Urd wiggled her fingers. When she realized Keiichi wasn't there, She opened her eyes and stood up. After covering her mouth and forcing a cough out, she answered, "That would be Maradandy, a fusion of my sister, Belldandy, and my best friend, Mara."

"Mara… she's a demon? So she's responsible for that?" Troubadour asked.

"Partially. Belldandy's the sweetest goddess ever, but that girl can get crazy jealous. Mara probably gave that side a loophole to get past Belldandy's self-control," Urd answered.

Troubadour blinked. "So are you and that man…"

"No," Urd said in a dismissive-yet-bored manner.

"I'm not certain I like that tone," Troubadour muttered.

"I'm not certain I like your lousy music," Urd spat. "Want me to call her back?"

"No!" Troubadour said, waving his hands in a placating manner.

He tried to step towards Urd, but she raised a finger and electricity crackled from the tip.

-oOo-

In Maradandy's room, she and Keiichi were setting up the room to be the tea room. After some time, Keiichi asked, "Are you feeling okay?"

"I have no idea… I was willing to kill Urd's ex-boyfriend… Both sides of me for different reasons. The Belldandy part wanted to do it because of what he was going to do to you. The Mara part never liked Troubadour, but never could pin down the reason why," Maradandy answered.

Keiichi stopped and looked at Maradandy. "Is he a con artist?"

"No. He's a musician like he said, but chose his dreams over her. I wouldn't be surprised if he gained some traits over the years, though. Why he couldn't pick both his dreams and her, I have no idea," Maradandy said.

Keiichi looked at the tea table. 'Having to deal with two sets of memories and emotions seems really tough…'

A stray thought hit him. 'But even so, Belldandy never would allow anyone to use her to harm someone unless she truly wanted to… I wonder…?'

He looked back at Maradandy and asked, "We could ask Troubadour why he is here? If he's here for an innocent reason, then you could apologize."

"And if not? If he's here to use Urd?" Maradandy sourly asked.

"Then we support Urd," Keiichi stated.

Maradandy smiled in a way that unnerved Keiichi. "I like that plan. I like it a lot."

Then her smile relaxed into a gentle expression, "But first, I'll prepare some tea."

-o-

Keiichi came back outside and said, "Maradandy is preparing some tea. Would you like to join us inside?"

Troubadour opened his mouth, but Urd quickly said, "We sure would! Right, Troubadour?"

Troubadour slowly nodded before he was dragged into the temple by Urd.

And so they all sat around the table as Maradandy poured some tea for everyone.

'Alright, she seems calmed down. Maybe things are closer to Belldandy's control and Mara's temper,' Urd thought as Maradandy sat down.

Troubadour slowly drank his tea as his eyes darted from the teacup, Urd, and Maradandy.

Keiichi and Maradandy calmly drank their tea. After Urd took a sip and detected it was ordinary tea, she quickly drank it.

Once everyone had their tea, Maradandy asked, "Troubadour, why did you come here for Urd?"

Urd gave Maradandy a look of exasperation. "Really? Right out of the gate? Can you believe this, Troub-"

Troubadour was trying to resist. Sweat was pouring down his face as he tried to keep his lips sealed.

Urd asked with concern, "Troubadour?"

Troubadour's head shook before the words finally burst out, "I came here to get one of Urd's tears of love to unseal a scroll that contains the Golden Bush Warbler! I want to tame it! To bid it to sing on my command for my qualifying test to move up as a Plum Spirit!"

There was silence for a few seconds before a blank-expression'ed Urd asked, "So not really here for me?"

Troubadour turned towards Urd with a look of shock and horror. "You-you can come with me if you want… I guess."

"I need to be by myself for a while," Urd stated as she stood up and left.

Troubadour glared at Keiichi. "You! You did-"

He was silenced by a glare from Maradandy. He slowly turned towards her and she said, "I suggest you leave and remember what I told you."

"But my quest! I need-" Troubadour uttered.

"To rethink your decisions," Maradandy said before she took out a computer tablet and began typing away.

"What are you doing?" Troubadour and Keiichi asked.

With a gentle smile, Maradandy answered, "Oh, just a little bit of girl talk about what just happened."

Keiichi looked confused, but Troubadour looked horrified. "But if you do that, no Plum Spirit will ever get a promotion again!"

"But they can if they're honest," Maradandy replied. When Troubadour tried to grab the tablet, she grabbed his wrist. "Naughty, naughty."

She stood up and walked outside, saying, "Time to leave, Troubadour."

"You can't! You've ruined my promotion! I need Urd!" Troubadour loudly said.

"Wrong, you didn't need her. You needed her tears of love," Maradandy replied. Once some distance away from the temple, she then began to spin around faster and faster until she let his wrist go, sending him flying into the distance. She put her hand above her eyes to block the sunlight. "Well, that was a little bit fun."

She looked towards Keiichi and asked, "What?"

"Yeah, I do think he deserved some of that, but did you need to go that far?" Keiichi asked back.

"About what things?" Maradandy asked, her head tilting a little bit.

"Drugging the tea, throwing Him out that far or telling others about what happened?" Keiichi asked back.

Maradandy looked a little annoyed as she answered, "First off, Drugging tea is Urd's thing, not any of mine. Second, did he need to break Urd's heart twice and try to kill you with bugs?"

Keiichi looked a little guilty as he tried to think up something to say. Eventually, Maradandy covered her face with a hand as she sighed, "Right, right, my bad. Japanese culture is more likely to keep the first thing private and maybe the second as well."

"I…. guess I'm sorry as well. There's a culture clash as well," Keiichi muttered as he looked away in shame.

"So… should we go in and chat? Maradandy asked as she held out her hand to Keiichi. He looked at her hand and then her face before he accepted her hand and nodded.

-oOoOoOo-

Notes from HotelKatz -Worldbringer of Joseun betaread this chaper