Ah My Goddess Fan Fiction ❯ Somehow, Someday ❯ Precious Moments ( Chapter 1 )
[ P - Pre-Teen ]
By: chanel_jay 
During a beautiful day, Skuld spends some quality time with her sisters and her best friend, Sentaro.
Anime/Manga: Ah My Goddess Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Drama / Romance | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 07.07.2002 | Updated On: 07.07.2002 | Pages: 3 | Words: 3.1K | Visits: 802 | Status: Work In Progress
During a beautiful day, Skuld spends some quality time with her sisters and her best friend, Sentaro.
Anime/Manga: Ah My Goddess Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Drama / Romance | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 07.07.2002 | Updated On: 07.07.2002 | Pages: 3 | Words: 3.1K | Visits: 802 | Status: Work In Progress
Disclaimer:
Ah! Megami-sama belongs to Kosuke Fujishima and all the other companies that own copyrights to the manga/anime. None of this, except this fic, belongs to me.
CHAPTER ONE: PRECIOUS MOMENTS
A boy walked slowly up the long stairs that led to the open door of a temple, pulling his bicycle up with him. Upon reaching the top, his deep brown eyes were greeted by the sight of a very young looking girl on jet-powered skates . . . who seemed like she was barging towards him!
"Out of the way!!" the girl warned as she approached him. Kawanishi Sentaro jumped out of her path just in time, dropping his bicycle just as she zoomed past him.
Staring at the girl's retreating back, Sentaro was about to continue on towards the house beside the temple when a weird looking robot stopped short right in front of him and caught his attention. It scrutinized him for a moment before removing a red hat from its round metallic face and leaning forward in a gesture of welcome.
"Konnichiwa, Banpei-kun! Chasing Sigel again?" Sentaro asked, tilting his head and giving the robot a lop-sided grin.
Banpei RX started moving its head up and down in response to his question.
Sentaro once again stepped aside, letting the robot through. "Well, don't let me stop you!" he said, the grin still on his face. "Oh, by the way. Do you know where - ?"
His next question was cut abruptly as the robot moved past him as well.
Sentaro shook his head. It still amazed him to think that those two - both of which were actually just robots created by a 12 year old girl - could actually act so human. They even looked like they had feelings, especially with Sigel acting like a bratty little girl. [ Just like her creator, ] Sentaro thought to himself, and chuckled.
Picking up his bicycle from the ground, he leaned it against a huge rock near the temple's shed and made his way towards the house. "Konnichiwa!" he called out as he got inside, pausing by the shoji and waiting for an answer.
Which was a loud boom emanating from one of the rooms.
Sentaro cringed. He knew the blast probably came from Urd's room. Skuld, his best friend, said something about her oldest sister having the habit of mixing potions together. In his mind, Urd had the occupation of a scientist, and the constant explosions were combustive chemicals that were habitually being mixed together.
After a few commotions that resulted from the blast, with words being shouted around the house (he distinctly heard somebody - most likely Urd - saying something like "Damn it, Skuld!! That boyfriend of yours disturbed my concentration!" and a comeback, "Yurusaiwa ne! He's not my boyfriend!"), a beautiful young woman with gentle blue eyes and long brown hair pulled back in a simple yet elegant ponytail appeared, greeting him with a happy smile. "Konnichiwa, Sentaro-kun! Come in! I'll get Skuld for you," she said, taking him to the living/dining room after he took off his shoes.
"Arigatou, Belldandy onee-sama," Sentaro said politely, sitting down on the tatami mat next to the table. Belldandy smiled at him once more before leaving the room to get her little sister.
A few seconds later, another woman passed by the hallway. This time she had long, slightly wavy pallid hair and sharp, almost seductive green eyes. Despite the fact that she was wearing less than modest clothes, she looked pretty much dishelved and amusing as a result of the earlier explosion, and was well on her way to the bathroom when she just happened to glance at the living room and saw their visitor for the day.
"Ah, Sentaro-kun! How's my baby sister's manly man today?" she asked in a voice that never failed to make him nervous, as she went behind him and wrapped her bronze-colored arms around his shoulders. He blushed.
"Get your filthy hands away from him, Urd! And get out of here and wash yourself - you're a mess!" a young adolescent of about Sentaro's age said as she entered, her long jet-black hair flowing gracefully behind her as she walked in with a huff, her wide, innocent looking brown eyes looking not so innocent as they glared at her oldest sister.
Urd coyly stared at her little sister. "What? Afraid that I would take him away from you?"
Skuld, looking even more less than amused, shouted "Onee-sama!!!"
At that moment, Belldandy arrived carrying six glasses of tea and six slices of homemade cake. Right behind her was Morisato Keiichi, who was looking eager to get his hands on the delicious looking sweets.
"Urd, please stop embarrassing Sentaro and clean up for tea," Belldandy gently scolded as she laid the food on the low table.
Skuld was about to gloat when she caught Belldandy looking at her. She just gave Urd a haughty look and sat beside Sentaro, who handed her a slice of cake.
"Mmm! Oishii!" Keiichi commented as he bit into his share.
"Is it? I'm glad," Belldandy said, her face glowing with pride.
Sentaro was nodding with agreement, until he noticed that Skuld was slightly glaring at her sister's boyfriend. Instead of complaining loudly like she used to, though, she just took off a huge piece from her cake and shoved it into her mouth.
Urd, who had seen the look on Skuld's face the moment she reentered the room from the bathroom, passed by her little sister on her way to her seat. "Does that silence mean you've now accepted Keiichi and Belldandy as a couple, or is that because a certain someone is here today?" Urd teased.
Skuld's glare intensified as she directed her gaze towards her oldest sister, her face becoming red. " . . . why . . . you . . . !!!"
"Skuld, not in front of the visitor please," Belldandy said sternly, yet the gentle look on her face never dissipated.
The two young adolescents in front of the table blushed.
When Skuld had finished eating her cake, she quickly gulped down her tea and stood up, startling Sentaro. Looking up, he saw that she was looking at him, a sweet smile on her young face. "Are you done?" she asked.
"Huh? Uh, sure!!" Sentaro greedily ate the food on his plate before standing up beside his friend. "Shall we?"
Skuld nodded. "Ne, onee-sama, we'll be at my lab, okay?"
With those words, she grabbed Sentaro's hand and they both ran out of the room without bothering to wait if the other occupants of the temple house had something to say.
Keiichi slowly raised his cup, his gaze still resting on the door where they had exited. "Makes you wonder where their relationship is headed, huh?" he asked to the two women beside him.
While Urd nodded, Belldandy was quietly staring at her tea, a worried look on her face.
*****
"Can you fix it?"
Sentaro was seated on the study desk in Skuld's lab, watching as Skuld opened his Discman with a screwdriver and carefully examined its contents.
"Oh, this? No prob! This is a piece of cake for a genius like me!" Skuld said proudly as she expertly tinkered with the chips and circuits.
[ She's really an awfully gifted person, ] Sentaro thought as he stared at his extremely talented friend at work. "I'll bet you get the highest grades at school."
Skuld looked at him sheepishly. "Not really. I guess this is just my area. There are some things where I don't excel in."
"Really?"
"Yup." [ Like trying to perform a higher-level magic. It's been so long since I last practiced a new one. If this goes on, I'll be way behind goddesses my age . . . ] Skuld frowned to herself before placing her screwdriver beside the area where her friend was sitting. "Actually, Sentaro-kun, all your Discman needs is a new lens. You must have cracked it when you dropped it. Who told you to listen to it while riding on your bike anyway?"
Sentaro scratched the back of his head in a gesture of embarrassment. "I used to do it with my Walkman. I didn't think it could get broken that easily."
"Well now you know. Sometimes the more complex and high-tech the machine is, the easier it breaks. You're lucky to have only the lens damaged - you could have destroyed the entire thing!" Skuld pushed herself away from the desk and stood up from her chair. She walked towards the cabinet located at one side of the room, avoiding all the other machine parts scattered around the floor, and started to rummage inside one of the drawers in search for spare lenses.
"Where did you get all this stuff?" Sentaro asked, jumping off the desk and joining her near the cabinet.
Skuld brought up a small, glass-like object, looking at it closely before tossing it aside. "Some from shops. Most from junkyards."
"J-junkyards?"
"Machines are composed of a lot of different parts. Just because one part of it is not working anymore, it doesn't necessarily have to mean that all the rest are not, too. I just take those that are still functional."
"But how do you know which parts are still working?"
Skuld's head turned, giving Sentaro a sly wink. "They call out to me."
Her startled friend leaned back, baffled by her answer. "Huh?"
"I do some tests on most of them." [ And the rest gives a faint cry, although I can't hear them as well as onee-sama does. ] She stood up straighter and sighed. "I think I'm out of lenses. We may have to go downtown to get some."
Sentaro shoved his hands into the pockets of his pants. "Okay!"
"Where would you like to get it?" Skuld asked, a mischievous look on her face. "The applications store . . . or the junkyard?"
"The applications store please." Sentaro made a face. "Not that I don't believe you'll be able to find a workable lens . . . it's just that I'd rather we spend the rest of this afternoon somewhere else other than a junkyard."
Skuld nodded. "Let's go get our bikes then."
The two young adolescents walked past the temple on their way to the shed beside it. As Skuld was pushing her green mountain bike out of the small shack, Sentaro couldn't help but notice how well maintained it was. It was hard to believe that Skuld knew how to take very good care of her bike, considering that she had really hated them before they met. Then again, it *was* a *contraption* - a machine of some sort, and he knew that Skuld could handle anything that had to do with that.
"Let me check your chains before we leave," Skuld said after giving her bike a routine check.
That was another thing Sentaro liked whenever he and Skuld would ride on their bikes. His would always get a free inspection - whether he liked it or not.
As they were on their way to where Sentaro had left his bike, Belldandy - who was taking the laundry with Keiichi - saw them and smiled. "Are you going somewhere, Skuld?" she asked.
Her sister nodded. "We'll be getting new lenses for Sentaro-kun's Discman. I might as well fill my lab inventory while I'm at it . . . I'm lacking a few machine parts."
Keiichi smiled through the bundle of clothes he held in his arms. "I think you used your last lens for my CD player."
"I know."
"Sentaro, take my sister back before lunch," Belldandy told Sentaro, who nodded.
"Don't you two run off together and never come back, you hear?" Urd said, suddenly appearing behind them.
Skuld and Sentaro blushed. "N-now why would we do that? Urd wa baka!" With one hand holding her bike and the other holding Sentaro's hand, Skuld dragged the embarrassed boy to his waiting bike.
"Oh, and don't eat anything that will spoil your appetite Skuld!" Belldandy called out as she watched her young sister and her sister's friend ride out of the temple. Skuld just waved at her before turning to catch up with her companion.
*****
A car moved slightly to the right as it whizzed past Skuld. A white plastic wrapper was hanging on one of her bicycle's handles, its contents making it swing as she pedaled her way to the top of a small hill. Skuld had long since stopped mulling over the suggestion that bikes needed motors for this feat and was now just concentrating on getting to the peak, where the path on the way down would be easier.
Soon her legs stopped moving as she let gravity take its place, pushing the bike down the other side of the hill without her having to expend so much energy. She enjoyed this - the scenery passing by her at such an amazing speed that everything went by in a blur; the feeling of the wind rushing past her face, blowing her beautiful black hair at every which way it took it, unobscuring it from her view. Briefly glancing behind her back, she knew from the look of exhilaration on his face that Sentaro loved this as well. After all, bicycles were his life.
"Hey, Skuld!" Sentaro called out, increasing his pace as soon as they had reached level ground so that he could be alongside his friend. "Wanna stop by for some ice cream? My treat!"
"Ice cream?? Ohhhhh . . ." Skuld wavered slightly, her mouth watering, her mind completely engrossed with even just the thought of the delicacy. Blinking, she suddenly saw the stern face of her sister, which was what she would most likely encounter back at the temple if she had ruined her appetite with the normally huge amounts of ice cream that she could consume in one sitting.
Sentaro slowed as they approached an intersection. "Skuld?"
"I'd really love to, but Belldandy-oneesama is not going to be happy if I eat something before lunch," Skuld apologized, at the same time trying to push down her cravings.
Her friend shrugged. "I'll just get you a cone. She won't notice."
"Oh she will. She *definitely* will." Skuld sighed. "Ohh . . . but I really want an ice cream . . ."
"Tell you what." Both of them went to a complete stop as they waited for the light to change before crossing the road. "Why don't we just buy a gallon and take it home so we could eat some after lunch?"
Skuld grinned. "Then what are we waiting for?" She turned her bicycle around and started to pedal. "Last one to the ice cream shop is a rotten egg!" she said cheerfully.
Sentaro started to ride after her. "Hey! No fair! Come back!"
Being a bike racer, Sentaro was very fast, but it took him a while before he was able to catch up with Skuld. A few minutes later, both of them were walking out of the 131 Ice Cream shop, a gallon of Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough hanging in a plastic wrapper around Sentaro's arm.
"Arigato, Sentaro-kun!" Skuld was saying as they unlocked their bikes.
Sentaro ran his hand through his spiky dark brown hair and gave her a sheepish smile. "It's nothing. Hey, think of it as a service charge for you fixing my Discman."
"No, really. I mean it. Thanks." For a while Skuld just stared at him. Then she turned around so that he wouldn't see her flushed face. "Anyway, let's get home for some lunch."
Neither of them said anything further, each of them respecting the silence between them as they headed back to the old temple.
*****
Belldandy walked past the shoji leading to the living room, where she could see Sentaro talking animatedly with Urd about the show on the television while Skuld was sitting silently beside them, happily devouring her fifth cup of ice cream. The two adolescents had decided to join Urd after spending some time inside Skuld's laboratory after lunch, fixing Sentaro's Discman. She smiled to herself before moving on to the kitchen, planning to prepare herself a cup of Darjeeling tea before joining her sisters.
She had just passed by the phone when it rang. Shocked for a moment, Belldandy lifted the handset from the receiver just as it rang for the second time. "Hai. Morisato des," she said in a gentle voice.
Sentaro had been recounting the first episode of Bolting III to Urd when Belldandy entered, calling his name. "Sentaro-kun, your okaa-san called. She wanted you to go home early today," she informed him.
"Awww . . ." Sentaro lifted himself off heavily from the ground. "I'll just have to tell you what happened tomorrow," he told Urd.
"You'd better!" Urd said.
Blushing, Sentaro turned to face Skuld, who had just stood up and was patting her jeans, a cup of ice cream in one hand, a teaspoon in her mouth. "I'll see you out," she said, temporarily removing the obstruction in her mouth before popping it back in with a new scoop of ice cream.
"Ja, Belldandy onee-sama, Urd onee-sama," Sentaro said before walking out of the living room with Skuld.
Urd waited until Skuld closed the shoji behind her before shaking her head. "It's funny. Once she hated it whenever he visited, and yet now she practically doesn't care. And I can tell that Sentaro has something for our little sister, but he's probably going to be as slow as Keiichi is . . . maybe I can whip up something . . ."
"Now onee-sama, you know better than to interfere with Skuld's life. She'll just get angry with you again," Belldandy scolded, wiping the low table with a piece of cloth before settling down to drink her tea. "By the way, now that our visitor is gone, I think we have to talk about the latest potion you tried to insert into Keiichi-san's lunch earlier today . . ."
"Urk . . ."
*****
"Will you be coming again tomorrow?"
Sentaro looked up from pushing his bike, a surprised look on his face. "Eh? Why? Are you going somewhere tomorrow?"
Skuld shook her head. "No. I just wanted to know."
"Am I a bother to you?"
"Huh? No! No . . ." This time Skuld shook her head furiously. "You're no bother at all. It's just that . . . well . . ."
Sentaro gave a sigh of relief. "That's good. For a moment there I thought you didn't want me to come anymore."
[ How could I? I'm already attached to you . . . ] "Don't be silly."
"I'll see you tomorrow then." He hoped on his bike and left, waving his hand goodbye.
"Ja ne! And be careful with your Discman next time!" Skuld called out. She stood there, watching him leave with a small smile on her face, before finally nodding to herself and entering the house.
Japanese words used:
arigato - thank you
hai - yes
konnichiwa - hello/good afternoon
ja ne - bye!
oishii - delicious
okaa-san - mother
onee-sama - big sister
shoji - sliding panel door
"Urd wa baka!" - Urd is stupid! (or something akin to that)
yurusaiwa ne - stop it!
Ah! Megami-sama belongs to Kosuke Fujishima and all the other companies that own copyrights to the manga/anime. None of this, except this fic, belongs to me.
CHAPTER ONE: PRECIOUS MOMENTS
A boy walked slowly up the long stairs that led to the open door of a temple, pulling his bicycle up with him. Upon reaching the top, his deep brown eyes were greeted by the sight of a very young looking girl on jet-powered skates . . . who seemed like she was barging towards him!
"Out of the way!!" the girl warned as she approached him. Kawanishi Sentaro jumped out of her path just in time, dropping his bicycle just as she zoomed past him.
Staring at the girl's retreating back, Sentaro was about to continue on towards the house beside the temple when a weird looking robot stopped short right in front of him and caught his attention. It scrutinized him for a moment before removing a red hat from its round metallic face and leaning forward in a gesture of welcome.
"Konnichiwa, Banpei-kun! Chasing Sigel again?" Sentaro asked, tilting his head and giving the robot a lop-sided grin.
Banpei RX started moving its head up and down in response to his question.
Sentaro once again stepped aside, letting the robot through. "Well, don't let me stop you!" he said, the grin still on his face. "Oh, by the way. Do you know where - ?"
His next question was cut abruptly as the robot moved past him as well.
Sentaro shook his head. It still amazed him to think that those two - both of which were actually just robots created by a 12 year old girl - could actually act so human. They even looked like they had feelings, especially with Sigel acting like a bratty little girl. [ Just like her creator, ] Sentaro thought to himself, and chuckled.
Picking up his bicycle from the ground, he leaned it against a huge rock near the temple's shed and made his way towards the house. "Konnichiwa!" he called out as he got inside, pausing by the shoji and waiting for an answer.
Which was a loud boom emanating from one of the rooms.
Sentaro cringed. He knew the blast probably came from Urd's room. Skuld, his best friend, said something about her oldest sister having the habit of mixing potions together. In his mind, Urd had the occupation of a scientist, and the constant explosions were combustive chemicals that were habitually being mixed together.
After a few commotions that resulted from the blast, with words being shouted around the house (he distinctly heard somebody - most likely Urd - saying something like "Damn it, Skuld!! That boyfriend of yours disturbed my concentration!" and a comeback, "Yurusaiwa ne! He's not my boyfriend!"), a beautiful young woman with gentle blue eyes and long brown hair pulled back in a simple yet elegant ponytail appeared, greeting him with a happy smile. "Konnichiwa, Sentaro-kun! Come in! I'll get Skuld for you," she said, taking him to the living/dining room after he took off his shoes.
"Arigatou, Belldandy onee-sama," Sentaro said politely, sitting down on the tatami mat next to the table. Belldandy smiled at him once more before leaving the room to get her little sister.
A few seconds later, another woman passed by the hallway. This time she had long, slightly wavy pallid hair and sharp, almost seductive green eyes. Despite the fact that she was wearing less than modest clothes, she looked pretty much dishelved and amusing as a result of the earlier explosion, and was well on her way to the bathroom when she just happened to glance at the living room and saw their visitor for the day.
"Ah, Sentaro-kun! How's my baby sister's manly man today?" she asked in a voice that never failed to make him nervous, as she went behind him and wrapped her bronze-colored arms around his shoulders. He blushed.
"Get your filthy hands away from him, Urd! And get out of here and wash yourself - you're a mess!" a young adolescent of about Sentaro's age said as she entered, her long jet-black hair flowing gracefully behind her as she walked in with a huff, her wide, innocent looking brown eyes looking not so innocent as they glared at her oldest sister.
Urd coyly stared at her little sister. "What? Afraid that I would take him away from you?"
Skuld, looking even more less than amused, shouted "Onee-sama!!!"
At that moment, Belldandy arrived carrying six glasses of tea and six slices of homemade cake. Right behind her was Morisato Keiichi, who was looking eager to get his hands on the delicious looking sweets.
"Urd, please stop embarrassing Sentaro and clean up for tea," Belldandy gently scolded as she laid the food on the low table.
Skuld was about to gloat when she caught Belldandy looking at her. She just gave Urd a haughty look and sat beside Sentaro, who handed her a slice of cake.
"Mmm! Oishii!" Keiichi commented as he bit into his share.
"Is it? I'm glad," Belldandy said, her face glowing with pride.
Sentaro was nodding with agreement, until he noticed that Skuld was slightly glaring at her sister's boyfriend. Instead of complaining loudly like she used to, though, she just took off a huge piece from her cake and shoved it into her mouth.
Urd, who had seen the look on Skuld's face the moment she reentered the room from the bathroom, passed by her little sister on her way to her seat. "Does that silence mean you've now accepted Keiichi and Belldandy as a couple, or is that because a certain someone is here today?" Urd teased.
Skuld's glare intensified as she directed her gaze towards her oldest sister, her face becoming red. " . . . why . . . you . . . !!!"
"Skuld, not in front of the visitor please," Belldandy said sternly, yet the gentle look on her face never dissipated.
The two young adolescents in front of the table blushed.
When Skuld had finished eating her cake, she quickly gulped down her tea and stood up, startling Sentaro. Looking up, he saw that she was looking at him, a sweet smile on her young face. "Are you done?" she asked.
"Huh? Uh, sure!!" Sentaro greedily ate the food on his plate before standing up beside his friend. "Shall we?"
Skuld nodded. "Ne, onee-sama, we'll be at my lab, okay?"
With those words, she grabbed Sentaro's hand and they both ran out of the room without bothering to wait if the other occupants of the temple house had something to say.
Keiichi slowly raised his cup, his gaze still resting on the door where they had exited. "Makes you wonder where their relationship is headed, huh?" he asked to the two women beside him.
While Urd nodded, Belldandy was quietly staring at her tea, a worried look on her face.
*****
"Can you fix it?"
Sentaro was seated on the study desk in Skuld's lab, watching as Skuld opened his Discman with a screwdriver and carefully examined its contents.
"Oh, this? No prob! This is a piece of cake for a genius like me!" Skuld said proudly as she expertly tinkered with the chips and circuits.
[ She's really an awfully gifted person, ] Sentaro thought as he stared at his extremely talented friend at work. "I'll bet you get the highest grades at school."
Skuld looked at him sheepishly. "Not really. I guess this is just my area. There are some things where I don't excel in."
"Really?"
"Yup." [ Like trying to perform a higher-level magic. It's been so long since I last practiced a new one. If this goes on, I'll be way behind goddesses my age . . . ] Skuld frowned to herself before placing her screwdriver beside the area where her friend was sitting. "Actually, Sentaro-kun, all your Discman needs is a new lens. You must have cracked it when you dropped it. Who told you to listen to it while riding on your bike anyway?"
Sentaro scratched the back of his head in a gesture of embarrassment. "I used to do it with my Walkman. I didn't think it could get broken that easily."
"Well now you know. Sometimes the more complex and high-tech the machine is, the easier it breaks. You're lucky to have only the lens damaged - you could have destroyed the entire thing!" Skuld pushed herself away from the desk and stood up from her chair. She walked towards the cabinet located at one side of the room, avoiding all the other machine parts scattered around the floor, and started to rummage inside one of the drawers in search for spare lenses.
"Where did you get all this stuff?" Sentaro asked, jumping off the desk and joining her near the cabinet.
Skuld brought up a small, glass-like object, looking at it closely before tossing it aside. "Some from shops. Most from junkyards."
"J-junkyards?"
"Machines are composed of a lot of different parts. Just because one part of it is not working anymore, it doesn't necessarily have to mean that all the rest are not, too. I just take those that are still functional."
"But how do you know which parts are still working?"
Skuld's head turned, giving Sentaro a sly wink. "They call out to me."
Her startled friend leaned back, baffled by her answer. "Huh?"
"I do some tests on most of them." [ And the rest gives a faint cry, although I can't hear them as well as onee-sama does. ] She stood up straighter and sighed. "I think I'm out of lenses. We may have to go downtown to get some."
Sentaro shoved his hands into the pockets of his pants. "Okay!"
"Where would you like to get it?" Skuld asked, a mischievous look on her face. "The applications store . . . or the junkyard?"
"The applications store please." Sentaro made a face. "Not that I don't believe you'll be able to find a workable lens . . . it's just that I'd rather we spend the rest of this afternoon somewhere else other than a junkyard."
Skuld nodded. "Let's go get our bikes then."
The two young adolescents walked past the temple on their way to the shed beside it. As Skuld was pushing her green mountain bike out of the small shack, Sentaro couldn't help but notice how well maintained it was. It was hard to believe that Skuld knew how to take very good care of her bike, considering that she had really hated them before they met. Then again, it *was* a *contraption* - a machine of some sort, and he knew that Skuld could handle anything that had to do with that.
"Let me check your chains before we leave," Skuld said after giving her bike a routine check.
That was another thing Sentaro liked whenever he and Skuld would ride on their bikes. His would always get a free inspection - whether he liked it or not.
As they were on their way to where Sentaro had left his bike, Belldandy - who was taking the laundry with Keiichi - saw them and smiled. "Are you going somewhere, Skuld?" she asked.
Her sister nodded. "We'll be getting new lenses for Sentaro-kun's Discman. I might as well fill my lab inventory while I'm at it . . . I'm lacking a few machine parts."
Keiichi smiled through the bundle of clothes he held in his arms. "I think you used your last lens for my CD player."
"I know."
"Sentaro, take my sister back before lunch," Belldandy told Sentaro, who nodded.
"Don't you two run off together and never come back, you hear?" Urd said, suddenly appearing behind them.
Skuld and Sentaro blushed. "N-now why would we do that? Urd wa baka!" With one hand holding her bike and the other holding Sentaro's hand, Skuld dragged the embarrassed boy to his waiting bike.
"Oh, and don't eat anything that will spoil your appetite Skuld!" Belldandy called out as she watched her young sister and her sister's friend ride out of the temple. Skuld just waved at her before turning to catch up with her companion.
*****
A car moved slightly to the right as it whizzed past Skuld. A white plastic wrapper was hanging on one of her bicycle's handles, its contents making it swing as she pedaled her way to the top of a small hill. Skuld had long since stopped mulling over the suggestion that bikes needed motors for this feat and was now just concentrating on getting to the peak, where the path on the way down would be easier.
Soon her legs stopped moving as she let gravity take its place, pushing the bike down the other side of the hill without her having to expend so much energy. She enjoyed this - the scenery passing by her at such an amazing speed that everything went by in a blur; the feeling of the wind rushing past her face, blowing her beautiful black hair at every which way it took it, unobscuring it from her view. Briefly glancing behind her back, she knew from the look of exhilaration on his face that Sentaro loved this as well. After all, bicycles were his life.
"Hey, Skuld!" Sentaro called out, increasing his pace as soon as they had reached level ground so that he could be alongside his friend. "Wanna stop by for some ice cream? My treat!"
"Ice cream?? Ohhhhh . . ." Skuld wavered slightly, her mouth watering, her mind completely engrossed with even just the thought of the delicacy. Blinking, she suddenly saw the stern face of her sister, which was what she would most likely encounter back at the temple if she had ruined her appetite with the normally huge amounts of ice cream that she could consume in one sitting.
Sentaro slowed as they approached an intersection. "Skuld?"
"I'd really love to, but Belldandy-oneesama is not going to be happy if I eat something before lunch," Skuld apologized, at the same time trying to push down her cravings.
Her friend shrugged. "I'll just get you a cone. She won't notice."
"Oh she will. She *definitely* will." Skuld sighed. "Ohh . . . but I really want an ice cream . . ."
"Tell you what." Both of them went to a complete stop as they waited for the light to change before crossing the road. "Why don't we just buy a gallon and take it home so we could eat some after lunch?"
Skuld grinned. "Then what are we waiting for?" She turned her bicycle around and started to pedal. "Last one to the ice cream shop is a rotten egg!" she said cheerfully.
Sentaro started to ride after her. "Hey! No fair! Come back!"
Being a bike racer, Sentaro was very fast, but it took him a while before he was able to catch up with Skuld. A few minutes later, both of them were walking out of the 131 Ice Cream shop, a gallon of Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough hanging in a plastic wrapper around Sentaro's arm.
"Arigato, Sentaro-kun!" Skuld was saying as they unlocked their bikes.
Sentaro ran his hand through his spiky dark brown hair and gave her a sheepish smile. "It's nothing. Hey, think of it as a service charge for you fixing my Discman."
"No, really. I mean it. Thanks." For a while Skuld just stared at him. Then she turned around so that he wouldn't see her flushed face. "Anyway, let's get home for some lunch."
Neither of them said anything further, each of them respecting the silence between them as they headed back to the old temple.
*****
Belldandy walked past the shoji leading to the living room, where she could see Sentaro talking animatedly with Urd about the show on the television while Skuld was sitting silently beside them, happily devouring her fifth cup of ice cream. The two adolescents had decided to join Urd after spending some time inside Skuld's laboratory after lunch, fixing Sentaro's Discman. She smiled to herself before moving on to the kitchen, planning to prepare herself a cup of Darjeeling tea before joining her sisters.
She had just passed by the phone when it rang. Shocked for a moment, Belldandy lifted the handset from the receiver just as it rang for the second time. "Hai. Morisato des," she said in a gentle voice.
Sentaro had been recounting the first episode of Bolting III to Urd when Belldandy entered, calling his name. "Sentaro-kun, your okaa-san called. She wanted you to go home early today," she informed him.
"Awww . . ." Sentaro lifted himself off heavily from the ground. "I'll just have to tell you what happened tomorrow," he told Urd.
"You'd better!" Urd said.
Blushing, Sentaro turned to face Skuld, who had just stood up and was patting her jeans, a cup of ice cream in one hand, a teaspoon in her mouth. "I'll see you out," she said, temporarily removing the obstruction in her mouth before popping it back in with a new scoop of ice cream.
"Ja, Belldandy onee-sama, Urd onee-sama," Sentaro said before walking out of the living room with Skuld.
Urd waited until Skuld closed the shoji behind her before shaking her head. "It's funny. Once she hated it whenever he visited, and yet now she practically doesn't care. And I can tell that Sentaro has something for our little sister, but he's probably going to be as slow as Keiichi is . . . maybe I can whip up something . . ."
"Now onee-sama, you know better than to interfere with Skuld's life. She'll just get angry with you again," Belldandy scolded, wiping the low table with a piece of cloth before settling down to drink her tea. "By the way, now that our visitor is gone, I think we have to talk about the latest potion you tried to insert into Keiichi-san's lunch earlier today . . ."
"Urk . . ."
*****
"Will you be coming again tomorrow?"
Sentaro looked up from pushing his bike, a surprised look on his face. "Eh? Why? Are you going somewhere tomorrow?"
Skuld shook her head. "No. I just wanted to know."
"Am I a bother to you?"
"Huh? No! No . . ." This time Skuld shook her head furiously. "You're no bother at all. It's just that . . . well . . ."
Sentaro gave a sigh of relief. "That's good. For a moment there I thought you didn't want me to come anymore."
[ How could I? I'm already attached to you . . . ] "Don't be silly."
"I'll see you tomorrow then." He hoped on his bike and left, waving his hand goodbye.
"Ja ne! And be careful with your Discman next time!" Skuld called out. She stood there, watching him leave with a small smile on her face, before finally nodding to herself and entering the house.
Japanese words used:
arigato - thank you
hai - yes
konnichiwa - hello/good afternoon
ja ne - bye!
oishii - delicious
okaa-san - mother
onee-sama - big sister
shoji - sliding panel door
"Urd wa baka!" - Urd is stupid! (or something akin to that)
yurusaiwa ne - stop it!