Ah My Goddess Fan Fiction ❯ Somehow, Someday ❯ Promises to Make ( Chapter 3 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

CHAPTER THREE: PROMISES TO MAKE

[ Something is not right . . . ]

Those were the first thoughts that entered Sentaro's mind the moment he entered the temple grounds.

Banpei-kun was out of sight, which was strange since he normally patrolled the grounds at that hour for reasons that Skuld had never really explicitly explained to him. Sigel also seemed to be missing, and the regular sound of a television blasting from the living room could not be heard either. [ And it's almost time for one of Urd onee-sama's favorite shows, too . . . ] Sentaro thought, checking his watch.

Pushing his bike, he slowly made his way towards the back of the temple. Startled with the view that greeted him, he shoved his bike aside before running towards Skuld, who was sitting on the huge rock at the garden, her hands covering her face.

"Skuld, what's wro - ?" Sentaro paused when Sigel - who was right beside her creator - suddenly turned to face him, her hand motioning him to stop.

"You stay right there!" Sigel ordered. Banpei-kun moved beside her, as if seconding her motion.

Skuld moved to wipe the tears from her face before facing Sigel with a small smile on her face. "It's all right, Sigel."

"B-but . . . Skuld-sama . . ."

"I said it's okay." Willing herself to look happier, she tried to deliver a bigger smile when she looked at Sentaro. "Konnichiwa . . ."

Sentaro hesitatingly walked towards Skuld, sitting beside her on the big rock. "Hey . . ."

Skuld leaned forward on her knees, patting Sigel on the head. "Leave us for a sec, okay?"

Sigel frowned, but she slowly walked away, with Banpei-kun in tow.

Once their robot companions have gone, Skuld and Sentaro were left alone in silence.

"Skuld . . . daijoubu yo?" Sentaro asked.

Skuld barely heard him. She just stared forward, her face expressionless except for her eyes, which conveyed the sadness she felt from within.

"Did someone hurt you?" Sentaro held her shoulder, a concerned look on his face. He hated seeing Skuld upset - it made him feel terrible and angry. "Did someone make you cry? Tell me - I'll teach him a lesson!"

The young goddess almost laughed out loud, even in her present state. How would Sentaro, a mere mortal, teach the Almighty, the lord of humans and gods alike, a lesson? Nevertheless, his words brought out her first genuine smile since the day before, when she first found out that she was being recalled.

Skuld shook her head and sat up straighter. "I'm okay. It's . . . it's just . . ."

Sentaro watched as his best friend sighed and got up from the rock. Taking a few steps forward, she paused, her hands behind her back, before turning around to face him, her long, flowing black hair moving in coordination with her petite form. "Ne, Sentaro-kun."

"Hai?"

"Let's go out for a bike ride."

Sentaro blinked in surprise. "Eh?"

*****

Skuld never spoke to Sentaro while they were riding, nor had she told him where they would go. All he knew was that Skuld looked happier while the wind passed by them, and he dared not complain.

It wasn't long before he noticed that she had been leading him to a location familiar to them both. [ I wonder why . . . ? ] he thought as they stopped by the river bank, dismounting on the same place where they had first met.

For another short while, Skuld seemingly ignored him as they sat down on the grass, their bikes lying beside them. Sentaro respected the silence, until he finally picked up his courage to speak to her.

"Sku-" "Ano-" They said at the same time.

The young adolescents looked at each other sheepishly. "You go first," Sentaro said.

"Sentaro-kun . . ."

"Hai?"

Hugging her knees close to herself, she continued. "If . . . if someone you absolutely look up to and obey, say your father, wants you to go away because he says he knows what's good for you, but you don't think what he said was right, would you go?"

Sentaro shrugged. "Maybe. He is my father, so he knows more than I do. Of course, if I don't like what he wants me to do, we'll talk it over and we'll compromise."

Skuld bit her lip, trying hard not to cry again. Not in front of him. "But what if you can't compromise, and that you really don't want to go . . . ?" she asked quietly.

"Then I'll say no."

"I can't do that . . ."

Sentaro looked at his friend with a peculiar expression on his face. "Huh?"

Skuld was shaking her head, tears brimming at the edge of her eyes. "I can't say no."

Panic slowly welled up Sentaro's throat. "What do you mean? Where are you going?!"

Skuld couldn't look at his confused eyes. "I'm going home . . ." she said, barely more than a whisper.

Sentaro held her shoulder and, almost roughly, pulled her to face him. "What are you talking about? You *are* home!!"

"I'm not home, Sentaro-kun . . ." Skuld said softly. "I'm not home . . ."

Startled, Sentaro could only stare at her as unbalanced tears fell down her cheeks. [ She's not home . . . of course she isn't! She's a gaijin . . . ] Sentaro's eyes widened. Since the time he had met Skuld, the possibility of her returning to her home country had never crossed his mind. "But . . . why . . . ?"

"They say I'm not learning enough . . ."

Sentaro stood up in fury. "That's crazy! You're the smartest, most intelligent girl I've ever met in my life!"

Skuld gave a small smile. "Thanks . . ."

Sentaro paused for a moment, looking at her thoughtfully before sitting beside her once more. "When are you leaving?"

"Tomorrow."

He winced. "That's so soon . . ."

Skuld sighed. "I know." She buried her face in her arms. "I wish . . . I wish I had more time . . . if only I knew sooner . . ."

Sentaro hesitated at first, but his strong feelings of concern for his best friend made him place an arm over her shoulders and pull her closer to him. "When are you coming back?"

"I . . . don't know." She moved slightly away from him, as she knew that he would be upset with what she had said.

In truth, Sentaro was horrified. His first thought was to whisk her away somewhere until after her plane ride or whatever she had to take the next day had passed by, so that even if another schedule had been reserved for her, they would still have more time together. [ I can't do that. Belldandy onee-sama and Urd onee-sama would worry.,] he thought. [ Then maybe I could just . . . ? ]

"Hey, Skuld . . . if ever . . . I mean . . . well . . ." Sentaro stuttered, his hand scratching the back of his head. "Where *do* you live anyway? You never told me."

To his surprise, Skuld didn't answer him.

"Skuld?"

"I can't tell you."

"Eh?" Sentaro leaned back, startled, his confusion evident. "Why not?"

Skuld shook her head sorrowfully. "I'm sorry . . ."

"It can't end this way!" Sentaro protested. "We're friends, right? You can't just disappear from my life just like that!"

"I won't disappear from your life if you remember me." Skuld looked up and turned towards him. "Will you remember me?"

"Wha-? What kind of a stupid question is that?!"

"Will you never forget me?"

Sentaro stared at her, ignoring the sudden, stinging pain at the back of his eyes. "You're not coming back, are you?"

Skuld couldn't look at him in the eye.

He grasped her hands and kneeled in front of her. "Skuld . . . promise me . . . promise me you'll come back."

She refused to meet his gaze.

"C'mon, Skuld! Promise me!!"

Skuld closed her eyes. "I can't do that."

Sentaro kneeled closer and clasped her hands tighter. "Why? What is so difficult about making promises?"

"Because . . . I can't make promises I can't keep!"

Sentaro shivered in anger before standing up and walking a few meters away from her.

"Please . . ." Skuld said, her voice choked with sobs. "You wouldn't understand -"

"What wouldn't I understand?! All I need to hear are a few words from you!"

"Those few words mean even more than you think . . ."

"How much more?"

"More than you'll ever believe-"

"AARGH! I'm tired of this!" Sentaro cried out. "Why is it that whenever I ask you questions you always give me vague answers? Are you intentionally doing this to me??"

"I-I . . ." Skuld bit her lower lip.

"Why?" Sentaro demanded.

[ . . . I can't just tell him everything . . . he'll never believe me. ] "I'm sorry . . . I'm so sorry . . ."

Sentaro stared at her for a moment before silently walking towards his bike. Skuld could only watch him as he picked his bike up and straddled the seat.

"What I really don't understand . . ." he said quietly, his back towards her, ". . . is why you still can't trust me even after all this time."

"But I do trust you!"

"How sure are you?"

He did not even wait for Skuld to answer. Sentaro just rode away from the riverbank, moving farther and farther away from Skuld.

As soon as he was out of sight, Skuld hugged her knees once more, shivering from the sudden, cold wind that seemed to envelope her in misery. "Why?" she asked quietly, her eyes gazing up towards the heavens. "Why are you doing this to me?"

Not far away, two goddesses witnessed the entire scene from the roof of a nearby house. They solemnly stood there for a few moments more before sadly looking at each other and vanishing away.


Japanese words used:
daijoubu yo - are you okay?
gaijin - foreigner
konnichiwa - hello
onee-sama - big sister
shoji - sliding panel door