Ah My Goddess Fan Fiction ❯ Trial By Tenderness ❯ Part 2 - Settling In ( Chapter 2 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

By: TBTcevn

Part 2: Settling In

The sun sprayed rainbows through my half-lidded eyes as I awakened to hear the sound of twinned purring near my head. I opened my eyes and saw my two cats, Pho' (short for Symphonique) and Xue Shizi (Chinese for "Snow Lion") walking by the head of my futon. I was momentarily disoriented, as I expected to feel the familiar cushioning waves of my waterbed. Amidst these new surroundings, the recent events of yesterday formed in my head with a rush. The wooden floor creaked as I sat up abruptly in my futon. Looking around, I noticed that I was in a four-mat room with a window shuttered with Japanese blinds. The room was Spartan, save for a folding screen in the corner, a lacquered wood nightstand, the perfunctory alarm clock radio and my two cats. I watched as the shoji ("A paper door?" I noted with surprise) slid open part way as Urd stepped in. She was wearing a silvery silken robe with a light orange obi sash tied around her waist. Her dark tan skin contrasted with the milky-colored morning robe.

"I retrieved your two cats; figured that you would miss them. How could you forget these two little cuties? Ratty's going to have a fit with tworeal cats in the house!" she said in a light voice. I was surprised by her unexpected kindness, and introduced them to her. Pho' was friendly as usual, but Snow evidenced wariness as he backstepped himself into a corner with an arched back. I could relate to the fear my male cat was feeling around Urd. I wondered how they would react to Velsper.

"Heheh, the male cat is a lot like you. He's afraid of a real woman!" Urd said sharply. I recognized some leftover ire from our first encounter yesterday. When Japanese women get sarcastic or angry, the timbre of their voice changes drastically, taking on an intonation that drips acid in the ear canals. Caustic. My feelings of an idyllic waking popped almost audibly.

"Urd, why is it that you have a distinctive way of mixing good intentions with bad comparisons?" was all I could mutter.

"Oh, aren't we tetchy this morning?" she retorted. She set down a tray of tea. I felt unnerved by her presence...she was being arrestingly familiar by walking in my sleeping room and rousing me like it was no big deal. Yet I felt a cautious bit of gratitude that she had taken the time to bring me tea and my cats.

"What is it with you? Can't you appreciate a kind favor or two?" she said with a shrug, then headed for the door with a look of disappointment.

"Wait!" I half-yelled after her. I pulled a fragile-looking cup of tea from the tray and sipped it quietly, letting Urd's query sink in for a moment. How could I explain to her about the viciousness of the life I had led in my past; whose patterns had repeatedly tainted my good cheer and dogged my faith in others?

"Urd, can I talk to you...I mean really talk to you?"

Urd looked at me with a sly grin that reminded me of the Cheshire Cat spying a rodent. Her visage softened just a hint, and then she slowly lay down on the floor next to me with her chin cupped in her hands, resting on her elbows. My eyes rapidly drifted down to the open front of her robe, glimpsing a brief view of her cleavage, then back up. Oops! I hoped she didn't notice my glance.

"Hey, I'm a guy!" I reminded myself. I was relieved that she didn't notice; she had been watching one of my cats strolling around the room. I looked her in the eyes and premeditated on how to introduce some things about myself. I had to talk to somebody...and since she was the first one I saw this morning, I felt an irrepressible urge to dump out my franticism.

"Urd, you know that I was quite shook up yesterday. I may..uh..have appeared to overreact yesterday when I first met you. But when we fell out of the TV set...I just want you to know that my 'freaking out' had nothing to do with you. I have...had a lot of painful things happen in my life, and I get really insecure...in some situations. Far more than is necessary." Urd nodded her head.

"You're damned right you overreacted!" Her indictment of my behavior was blunt, and I decided to shift to less risky ground.

"Back in Hawaii, I studied at the University. I'm working on my Ph.D. I...was also married at one time..." Urd seemed to perk up at the disclosure that I was once married. My wife had chosen drugs over me, and that prefigured the end of our marriage. Oddly, I wondered if Urd somehow knew about my past. I also wondered if she might be insecure about her own sake drinking. I felt uncomfortable...she seemed pretty interested in this facet of my life while ignoring my academic credentials. Scholastic achievement was boorishly disinteresting to the impulsive, party-loving Urd.

"Urd, I have been single for a long time, ever since my wife..."

"Mmmmm, yes...do tell," she said, leaning closer to me. Her eyes were brilliant; I felt like I was being hypnotized. Melancholy occupied my thoughts for a moment, and with effort I regained my composure and continued.

"It's going to take me a while to get adjusted to being here, in Japan, with you and your 'tribe'," I said, reasoning that my position in the house was tenuous, at best. "But I'll be moving out in a few days, so you won't have to bother yourself with my issues and stuff. Being a Goddess, you probably know all this already..."

"Cevn-san, how did you know that I had a Second Class License?" she interrupted.

"So much for Urd being a good listener!" I mentally noted. Here I was beginning to confide my life history to her, at least the scratchy surface details, and all she seems concerned about is determining how I seemed to know so much about her. I paused for a moment, reminding myself that I was a very empathic listener, but that Urd probably wouldn't recognize this attribute. Maybe I could model it and teach her.

"Urd, I know a lot more than what you think I know. Sometimes, I think I know a lot more than I think I know, too. Can you relate to that?" Upon reflection, I thought it might be best if I maintained some leverage in this relationship, which could be best achieved by keeping Urd guessing. Urd looked at me quizzically, and an old joke popped in my head.

"Urd, since you are a Goddess, why don't you tell me about things that end in 'e', like Life, the Universe, Time, Love..."

At the last word, Urd slightly dipped her head, and a bitterlorn expression came over her face, just for a microsecond. It was almost a flinch in her composure. I became concerned that she was upset with me for being impudent, then she recovered her flirtatious character.

"Hee Hee! So you want to know my secrets?...yet you claim to know them already! Hah! You'll just have to be patient. It's beyond imagination that you, a mortal, could possibly know anything that I, a Goddess, don't know! And I could teach you things about love that you could never imagine..."

"Eeeeeek! BUGGGGGGG!!"

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

I heard the shrill voice in the hallway dart inside the room. It sounded like Skuld, and both Urd and I turned to the door. Urd quickly got up and floated through the wall. I threw off my blanket, started to stand, and just about lost my footing. It felt like both my feet were asleep, but there was no 'tingling' sensation. Leaning against the wall, I rested for a moment, then doddered out into the hallway.

The scene was total chaos. Skuld was chasing a very frightened tortoiseshell cat down the hallway with an extendable mallet raised overhead in white-gloved hands.

"Belldandy! Urd! Keiichi! We've got bugs in the house!!"

Pho dodged a mallet-blow and ran behind the couch.

Belldandy and Keiichi ran out of their respective rooms, both looking very panicked. Suddenly, all the Goddesses had these very 'officey' looking glasses on. They seemed to have transformed in an instant from young women to yuppified computer-geek chicks! Keiichi had sheer panic written across his face as he shifted his eyes searchingly up and down the hallway. The three Goddesses all poured into the living room, scrutinizing everything.

Pho decided that things were getting too crowded and made her move. She darted past all three sisters in a streak of brown-dun-red. Dashing into the kitchen, she dead-halted and sprang at least three feet vertically when Kodama turned around the corner. Kodama yelled "Tiger!" and two more foot-tall girls dressed in pseudo-martial garb swarmed into the entryway to the kitchen. By this time, Pho, in the middle of everyone, had crouched down and was eyeing potential escape routes. Skuld raised her mallet...

"NO!" Keiichi seemed to leap across the floor and grabbed Skuld's arms.

"Bug!" Skuld shouted, struggling against Keiichi's grasp. The intense look on her face belied the fact that she had been tormented for a long time by the bugs, to the point where any small furry object that resembled a bug...became a bug in her mind. I momentarily empathized with the sense of feeling tortured by sheer fate, but I was afraid that I was going to lose one cat in a split-second.

"Skuld, it's a cat!" Keiichi hurriedly explained. Skuld checked her downward mallet swing.

"A what?"

Pho at this point had mentally floated off into whatever feline realm a kitty goes to when she is in overload. Cats have a familiar way of doing the most absurd things when they are freaked out: my little Pho was no different then the rest of the feline populace.

She launched herself right at Skuld.

With a desperate glance in my direction, she tried to bury herself in the folds of Skuld's loose jacket, knowing in profound kitty-logic that Skuld couldn't hit her there with the mallet.

"Aiyyyeeee! It's attacking meeeee!"

By this time, Pho was clinging onto Skuld for dear life; no doubt her claws were tightly buried into whatever material Skuld's jacket was made of. Belldandy looked helplessly at Keiichi, who whistled loudly. Everything screeched to a halt.

"It's a cat, Skuld! It's not a bug! Cats are pets that we people sometimes have here on the..." Keiichi fumbled for a description for Earth that would not tip me off to the divine nature of the sisters.

"...Earth. They're not in Yggdrasil, Skuld. And they are not malicious like system bugs, or former Demons like Velpser!" I finished. Keiichi looked at me in wide-eyed wonder, as if he was going to faint from surprise. I figured I needed to do some quick explaining before he went into shock.

"Keiichi, you know when Urd said she brought me here last night...it wasn't from some place down the street. I live, or used to live, in Hawaii." Keiichi looked at me for a moment; his mouth agape like his jaw was about ready to drop.

"It's okay, it's okay! I know. The whole thing about these three being Goddesses isn't himitsu to me," I said, trying to reassure him. Keiichi suddenly looked as confused as Skuld. Belldandy and Urd started giggling with feminine mirth.

"You mean you didn't know that he's not from here?" Urd forced out between laughs. "He's a gaijin, for goodness sakes!" Urd started slapping her thighs amidst deep laughs. Belldandy, laughing less forcefully than Urd, gulped out an explanation.

"He got here the same way you did, Keiichi-san. He was granted a wish, and now he's here!" She smiled at Keiichi sweetly, then tried to suppress another round of giggles by covering her mouth with a delicate hand. I watched as Skuld dissolved into uncontrolled giggles; the bug invasion of a few moments ago seemingly lost alongside this sudden joke occurring at the expense of her rival for Belldandy's attentions.

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

Everything had ground to a halt, except for Urd's raucous laughter. After dipping long into the well of embarrassed silence, Keiichi regained his good humor.

"Well, I just hope he isn't here because he wished for Urd to be with him!" he noted. Urd's loud laughing suddenly jarred into a brief silence with a snort, then she acknowledged their newcomer.

"Okay, Keiichi, we're even...for now. Touché, mon ami. But no one gets one over on ol' Urd here! You just wait and see. If I wanted, I could have him wrapped around my finger in no time, even if he didn't wish for me to be with him." This started a new round of tit-for-tat.

During all this time, Skuld was looking at Pho. Unnoticed during Keiichi and Urd's repartee, she was growing fascinated with the furry creature in her arms. At first, Skuld observed the cat with brief frightened glances, then as she relaxed, her fear left. She felt how warm the cat was against her chest. Pho relaxed too, and then she started purring. While all the consternation was being sorted out about Keiichi's panic that Cevn knew that she and her sisters were Goddesses, Skuld was looking adoringly at her new feline friend and its odd, machine-like noise.

"She's sooo cute!"

Belldandy looked at her younger sister, who was holding a purring cat, very much enraptured in the little life resting in her arms. She smiled kindly.

"It looks like you have a new friend, Skuld!"

"Can I keep her?" Skuld asked Cevn with childish fancy. He looked at Goddess and feline, and resigned himself to the fact that his cats were community property while he was boarding here.

"Skuld, now that I'm a guest here, everything I have is for everyone to share. Her name is Pho, and you can play with her anytime you wish! Just don't hit her with your mallet!"

Skuld looked at him, and stuck out her tongue.

"Bi-daaa!"

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- ---

We all were sitting around the kitchen table, eating breakfast and supping tea. Megumi was the last to attend. As a university student, I readily recognized the signs that she had been studying all night for an exam; her eyes were slightly red with rings underneath them.

"Big test today, sis?" Keiichi inquired.

"Yeah! I have this massive exam in Asian History. The professor is kinda sick and we didn't know if he would be in school, but I found out at the last minute that he'll give the exam anyway, so I had to study extra hard." My ears perked up at the mention of a subject that was closely related to my doctoral work.

"Too bad I didn't get here a few days sooner," I thought, "otherwise I could have helped Megumi study for the exam." The idea of spending several nights with a study partner as lovely as Megumi was exciting and terrifying, to say the least.

Belldandy was serving another round of delicately-flavored tea from a ceramic kettle. Urd and Skuld were engaged in spirited dispute over some issue that probably only mattered to them. Keiichi broached the subject about the sister's divine origin.

"Cevn, how long have you known that Belldandy and her sisters were three Goddesses?" I almost spat out my tea. I thought Megumi was in the dark about Belldandy and her sisters.

"You mean that Megumi knows too?" Megumi and Keiichi gave me an "a ha, got one on ya" smile, while the others burst into laughter. I felt shocked.

"Hmm...so the manga continuity isn't always in effect here," I wondered disconcertedly. Now it was my turn to get teased by the group. I would have to be more careful, as my knowledge from the past was no longer fully reliable.

"Well, I've known for several years, Keiichi-san."

Keiichi looked at me with surprise. He described how he met Belldandy three years earlier and how he made a wish for her to be with him always. Then they moved to this temple to live; Urd and Skuld and Megumi all came to live here...

...my head started going light, and suddenly I felt like everything was disappearing into shadow realms...

THUD!

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

A concerned look came over Belldandy's face as she saw their new houseguest roll his eyes up into his head. Urd and Skuld were animatedly arguing about cats when Megumi shrieked a brief instant before Cevn crashed sideways down on the table. Keiichi looked at her in alarm, while Megumi, who was sitting next to Cevn, sprung away from the table in shock. Cevn's face was ashen and he was breathing shallowly. Keiichi lifted him up into a slumped position against the wall.

"What's wrong with him?" several voices asked desperately.

"We better do something quickly! Urd, can you see if he's okay? Do you have any medicine?" Keiichi shouted, taking an assertive stance. Urd looked at Cevn, then passed her hands over his head.

"This is sooo weird, I like can't feel any mortal vibrations from him, as I would from you or Megumi." Belldandy raised an eyebrow at this revelation.

Skuld had slipped out onto the porch and called Banpei for help. The obedient robot came rolling quickly into the house, the sound of his whirring servos calming the group.

"Here, Banpei will carry him to his room." Once more, Belldandy silently thanked Skuld for creating the robot guardian/companion that had been so helpful so often. Keiichi lifted Cevn up to his feet and Banpei caught him, cradling his unconscious form between sturdy mechanical arms. With a low humming, his robot frame traveled down the hallway with his charge, excited talk echoing behind him.

"I don't know what's wrong with him...do you feel anything unusual about his vibration?..could it be Mara?..I still think there's some bugs hidden here!..why would he come here, and then get so sick right away?..does he have a flu that he might have caught after being suddenly transported from Hawaii to here...?"

Banpei set Cevn down on the futon in his temporary room, and Keiichi took a blanket and covered him. Glancing at his watch, the N.I.T. student gasped.

"Oh no! I'm going to be late for my Advanced Engineering Sciences class. Dammit! I have to go. Take good care of him, Bell-chan! Megumi, are you ready to ride to school with me?" he shouted. Brother and sister bounded out of the room at a rapid clip, and the sound of Keiichi peeling out of the temple grounds followed.

Urd and Belldandy looked with deep concern at their sick houseguest.

"He's going to have to live with us, you know," Belldandy said matter-of-factly.

"Why? Why can't he just stay a few days, then move into an apartment or something?" Urd replied. Belldandy frowned at Urd's evasiveness. Her 'idea' was all-in-all a typical Urd attitude...avoid all responsibility. Yet onecould hope, Belldandy thought.

"Do you think the Almighty will allow that? You seem pretty anxious to get rid of him, now that he's been placed in your charge, Urd. Granting mortal's wishes isn't just an instant thing, Urd," she voiced her experience. Urd conceded Belldandy her point.

"Yeah, I guess you're right, sis. But it will really be weird with another man in the house. How's Skuld going to deal with it?"

They both knew now that Cevn was going to be a housemate due to the indomitable will of the Almighty. Urd went and got a wet cloth and laid it across Cevn's forehead while Belldandy got a thermometer and stuck it in his ear.

"He's burning up, Urd!"

"I can give him something for the fever, Bell!"

"Make sure you don't give him any poison or love potions by mistake!" Skuld shouted as Urd headed to her "Urd's Castle" lab room. Urd turned around long enough to flip her the bird, then entered her room. Belldandy looked closely at Cevn, and she could have sworn that she could faintly make out a small circle with a square inside of it on his forehead.

"Skuld...look, do you see a square and circle on his forehead?" Skuld leaned closer, brushing her long black hair behind her ears with a practiced motion while peering at his face.

"No. You must be seeing things, Elder Sister."

Urd returned with a glass of hot water. She dissolved two ampoules in it, mixed it with a stir, then opened Cevn's mouth by pulling on his lower jaw, and poured the mixture in. He coughed a couple of times and swallowed most of it. Then she took two short sticks of incense and placed them inside of a small censor, lit them, and closed the lid. Pleasant smelling smoke began to fill the room.

"There. The pills will remove his fever and this incense will restore his energy. It worked really well on Keiichi a couple of Christmas's ago." Urd still remembered how Keiichi, motivated his love for Belldandy and the threat of her being recalled to Heaven, had almost run himself into the ground trying to earn enough money for the ring that now graced Bell's ring finger. She smiled inwardly at her little 'assist' in this episode.

"That was almost as bad as when the Almighty wanted me to return to Yggdrasil," she reminisced.

Belldandy noticed something out of the corner of her eye.

"What's this?" she wondered. She glanced at a thick book that was resting next to the bedstand. Examining the book, she saw writing on the cover, halfway obscured by two straps that wrapped around the book, each ending in a clasp or locket that kept the book from being opened. Suddenly it flashed on her that some of the writing wasin the God's Language!

"URD! SKULD!"

Both her sisters jumped when she shouted out their names so loudly. Skuld was stroking a purring Himalayan Snow Cat which flew out of her arms at the sound, while Urd was intently waiting for their exhausted-looking new friend to show any sign of response.

"Look at this!" Belldandy held up the book and the wrapping paper.

"So, it's just a postal wrapping and a book that has something on the cover that is partly written in the God's Language...so what?" Urd nonchalantly noted. Suddenly her eyes got wide.

"Belldandy! What's it doing here? Wow! Cool! Lemme see!" Urd said excitedly.

"Sister, isn't that our language? What is it doing here? Lemme see!" Skuld reached out and grabbed the book from Belldandy's grasp. "But I can only read half the words on it!" she exclaimed with disappointment.

"Don't hog it, Skuld!" Urd interjected. Her curiosity was getting the best of her, and she reached for the book, whereupon Skuld gripped it tighter.

"Let go, you brat!" Urd warned.

"You let go, you selfish, self-serving, rude...old hen!" Skuld snapped back. Belldandy could only raise her head skyward.

"Why me, Lord?" she said in faux agony.

By a stroke of luck, both sisters had their hands full, so Skuld couldn't bomb Urd and Urd couldn't zap Skuld. Belldandy laughed as the words "Old Hen" formed on Urd's face, one word on each cheek. Urd noticed Bell laughing, then her resentment mounted as steam rolled off her forehead.

"You just wait, child! When Urd has this book, she's going to bean you over the head with it!" The two words faded from Urd's face. Suddenly one book clasp broke partly away. The cover was dislodged, but not open. A large wad of 10,000-yen notes fell to the floor. Urd and Skuld came to a dead stop in the middle of their tug of war.

"LOOKIT THIS! I'M RICH!" Urd yelled. "I've hit the jackpot! This is better than Life Sugoroku by a long shot! Now I can buy a super digital big-screen TV, a DVD player, one of those new satellite pans, sonicreal surround sound..." She gave a cheer, then started scooping up the money.

A restraining hand gently rested on her wrist.

"Urd, that is not your money. It came out of Cevn-san's book. It's his money," Belldandy half-cautioned, half stated.

"Yeah, it's definitely not yours, you greedy..." Skuld added.

"NO!! Not fair! Finder's keepers! How do we know it's his book any way?" Urd argued back.

"Because of this!" Skuld yelled as she held up the postage wrapper in front of Urd's face. "I can't believe you are my sister sometimes, Urd!"

Urd read the name to herself: Cevn... "Ah ha!! There's no last name on this!" Belldandy grabbed Urd by the shoulders and confronted her.

"Urd, dear sister, how many people named 'Cevn' do you think there are in Chiba Prefecture, or Japan for that matter?" Urd looked at her, then back to the wrapping. There was no return address. Curious. She remembered sending her 'Sexy Sister' video to Keiichi with no return address on the wrapper.

"There's no return address," Urd exclaimed, then dejectedly sat back against the wall.

"What if...whoever left it in this book got mad if Cevn-san didn't find the money?" Skuld spoke up. Urd sobered up at this thought. She reflected on the possibility.

"What if the Almighty had sent this weird book for Cevn, and I got caught with the money that came in it? I would be in deep trouble then!" Urd imagined having to take remedial courses in Sysop, Ethics and Debugging...she shuddered at the memory of the last time this happened, and put the money down.

"Ethics...now that course sucked," she reminded herself in a soft whisper.

"I'm sure he'll loan me some if I asked him nicely," Urd said as she posed flirtatiously. "In fact, he wouldn't be able to resist me at all if I did." She played at opening her robe, smiling sultrily.

"You're a pervert, Big Sister!" Skuld said disgustedly.

"Where...am I?" a subdued male voice quietly asked.

Urd blushed crimson red and quickly closed her robe shut as Cevn's voice quietly cut into the charged air. Belldandy noted that Urd seemed unusually embarrassed all of a sudden. Goddesses don't often blush, and her older sister was renowned throughout Yggdrasil as being a brazen, notorious flirt. A virago. She had broken the hearts of many Gods, and only two had succeeded in reaching her heart: Troubadour and the Cherry Blossom Spirit. But all that was in the past.

"Too bad that..." Belldandy sighed, remembering Urd's situation.

"You're in your room, Cevn-san," Skuld answered; the broad grin on her face confirming the fact that she was relieved that their guest had awakened.

"Now Urd won't act up!" Skuld thought with secret joy.

"Oh man, I was sitting at breakfast and Keiichi was explaining to me how he met you, Belldandy, when suddenly I heard a roaring and everything got dark."

Suddenly his expression turned into panic.

"I can't feel my body!" he shouted, a look of total terror on his face.

"Urd, what did you give him?" Skuld said in an accusing voice.

"I didn't give him anything!" Urd felt bad at this turn of events. She had been caught several times 'doctoring' others with all sorts of potions, but this time she was truly innocent. Belldandy read her expression and put a consoling hand on her older sister's shoulder.

"We know you didn't do anything wrong this time, Urd."

Cevn was laying back on the futon, looking at the three Goddesses with beseeching eyes.

"Please help me! I don't know what is happening to me. Please help me! I can't move any part of my body...I can't even feel my body!" he said, even more panicked. Belldandy felt her heart strings pull at this. Urd felt sympathy swelling in her heart for this newcomer in the house. Skuld looked at Cevn with curious concern. Belldandy saw the fear in his eyes, and spoke soothingly to try and calm him down.

"Cevn-san, you must relax yourself. We don't know why these strange things are happening to you, but we won't let you suffer if we can help it. We'll do all we can, but you must try to help us by telling us about yourself. When did these feelings start?" she asked. Cevn looked at her, trying to put dismiss his panic.

"They've been happening since I first got here. My whole body seems to act as if it was trying to detach from me and do its own thing. It feels like it has a mind of its own."

"This must have something to do either with his wish, or the trip here. Better tell him to try and get some sleep," Urd whispered in her sister's ears. Belldandy whispered back to Urd.

"Yes, I think you're right, but first we need to ask him about this strange book he has!"

"Agreed," Urd said in a hushed voice, then she told Skuld.

"Where did you get this book?" Belldandy asked. Cevn looked at the book, and the money. His eyes widened at the sight of so much foreign currency. Then he looked at the book with the strange writing.

"I have never seen this before. The book came in the package that Megumi brought in yesterday. I haven't the faintest clue as to what it means, or what kind of writing it has on it."

Skuld was about to disclose that the book had the God's Language on the cover when Bell raised a finger to her lips and shook her head, signaling her to keep this fact secret.

Cevn suddenly felt another wave of sinewy fear grip him. He shuddered as his discontent and uncomfortability spilled out.

"You don't know how hard this is for me! I have been ripped out of my old life in Hawaii. Brought here, to live with you wonderful people...people that seem to live in a fictional setting. Yet you're real. You're normal! But I don't fit in with nice people. You guys...er...gals have an idyllic life here. I don't want to ruin it. I don't know what to do! I don't even know what this money is all about! I don't have any money! I been living on disability and food stamps, and I get major depressions all the time. Yet...I've somehow made it through a lot of university...and now, I don't even have a home. Where I live, the neighbors beat their kids, people sell ice and crack and there are gunfights and police and drunken couples screaming. I don't belong here!" The words poured out of him in a frenzy as his emotions spiraled out of control.

"I've never even taken a hot Japanese bath before! I've only studied a few years of Japanese, and I don't know the customs here. On top of all of this, my body seems to be turning on me! First I can't walk...then I have these horrible blackouts. Now I can't feel my fingers, toes or legs, arms or anything else! I have all these sudden boosts of mental capacity, and then this damned book comes. Next thing I know, you're all trying to kill my cat! If this is a temple, then there must be a spiritual essence here, but I cannot feel it. I don't have any NA meetings to go to, and I'm scared and alone, more scared than ever before in my life!"

The three sisters looked at each other quizzically. He wasn't making any sense. Belldandy looked at her sisters, her eyes signaling 'let's talk it over later'.

Urd frowned and told Cevn that he should rest, and maybe his body-sense would come back to him. Skuld looked stunned, with a far-away look in her eyes that scared Belldandy. Belldandy herself felt his fear in waves, and wanted to assure this young mortal guy that things would be okay. It always was okay, no matter what had happened to the three of them and Keiichi in the past.

"Cevn-san, the Ultimate Force is responsible for you to be here, and because of that, nothing bad will happen. Rest." She looked at Urd, and Urd passed her hand over Cevn's head and he fell asleep.

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

After the three had left, a small figure emerged from the windowsill and hopped down onto the futon next to the sleeping man. Mara looked at his restful face. "So you're Cevn-san, eh? I would love to give you some nightmares, but it seems that you are already wrapped in one, heh heh." She walked up and down the length of his quiescent body, then climbed on the blanket and seated herself on his chest.

"It would be so easy to kill you right now. All I would have to do is put a pillow over your nose and mouth. Then those three sisters would be mortified, especially that damn Urd! She would think that she killed you with her medicine. Even though she is self-centered to the max, she would feel pangs of guilt that would haunt her for a loooong time," Mara said to the sleeping figure. She paused, grinning as she pondered this possible route of action.

She looked into his face again and felt the same feeling of familiarity that she had noticed the day before in the courtyard. "There is something definitely Demonic about you," she said to the sleeping form. Mara waved her hand in front of his face to scan him.

"Hmmm...that's odd. There's no signs of any mortal vibrations in you," Mara noted with surprise. She scanned him again at the highest sensitivity and felt the slightest hint of mortal-plane presence in his soul. Caught off guard, Mara decided to search the room. After all, any information would be good information.

The small figure suddenly transformed into a beautiful young woman. Her clothing was runaway futuristic, with a fractal-patterned blouse open to her navel in front and black spandex on her legs. She had an elaborate loin skirt around her waist, and her jacket had padded shoulders and a leathery sheen to it. Her hair was curly and long, and when she smiled, two canine fangs protruded an half-inch or so past her other pearly teeth. Her arms were bejeweled with bangles. The whole effect was intentionally both sexual and frightening. Two red marks on her forehead identified her as a Demoness First Class.

Looking around the room, Mara spied a thick volume with some things written on the cover.

"Waitaminute!" she almost said out loud, catching her breath with surprise. "That book has something written in the Demon's Language on the cover! What the hell is it doing here? What are these guys up to?" She picked up the book, and attempted to open it, but there was a half-loosened clasp preventing her. Mara redoubled her efforts, wedging the book between her feet and pulling on the strap with all her Demonic might.

"Ummmmphhh!" Suddenly one of the clasps snapped open with a loud crack and Mara's suddenly unresisted strength sent her sprawling noisily against the wall. She could hear nearby voices in the hallway even as the crashing sound faded.

"Now what? Can't I even have a moment's peace?"

"Big Sister, Big Sister, Banpei's heading towards the house!"

Mara shrunk herself back to her stealthy six-inch size and bounded up to the top shelf of a high shelving system in the corner of the room, just as Belldandy rushed into the room. She felt a chill as Belldandy looked up right at her. But Belldandy didn't seem to notice her.

"That just figures, she's such a ditz," Mara said to herself. Urd and Skuld also raced into the room. "Great, now all the three stoogettes are in the room," she sighed.

"Hey look, the book's partway open!" Skuld excitedly pointed to the book, noticing that one of the two bookstraps was unclasped.

Suddenly the wall exploded behind Mara as a Kaeru Turtle Gold Charm stuck to her. With a scream of panic, Mara looked at Banpei taking aim with a second round of charms. Instantly, she regained her full size, becoming visible. Vulnerable.

"Get it off of me!" she shouted to no one in particular.

"Mara!" Urd intoned with a deep voice of disdain.

"Mara, what are you doing here?" Belldandy asked her.

Mara looked at Belldandy and rolled her eyes. She always, always asks that when she first sees me, and I never, never, tell her. When is she going to learn? For a Goddess First Class, she is soooo dense. I wonder if nescience is a requirement for promotion with the Gods?

"Enjoy your new friend, because he's not going to be here with you very long!" Mara taunted. With a whiff of smoke, Mara vanished.

The three sisters looked at each other. Once more, Mara had tipped her hand by making a not-so-veiled threat.

"She is so...ignorant," Skuld thought to herself.

Urd quickly canvassed the room to see if anything was missing. She noticed the book's upper seal clasp had been broken.

"Look at this!" Urd shouted. Belldandy looked at the cover. The strap that the clasp had tightly bound to the volume had loosened, so that the whole title could be read:

Instruction xxxxxx for xxx God-Xxxxx of Xxxxxxx xxx Balance

(Xx be xxxx only xx First Xxxxx Gods/Xxxxxx as xx

instruction xxxxxx for xxx Axial Xxx.)

Skuld read the title out loud for her own benefit. The three Goddesses sat on the floor, examining the book

"What does that mean? It's a buncha gibberish! 'Instruction' blah-blah 'Balance' blah-blah. What a bunch of nonsense!" Urd exclaimed.

"Why do you guys think that only half the words are in the God's language?" Skuld pondered out loud.

Belldandy pried open the upper part of the book and peeked at its vellum crisp pages. On every page that she could catch a partial glimpse of its contents...half the writing was in the God's Language, and the rest in something unknown. She decided to try a translation spell.

"Oh, Words of Age/On Ancient Page/Reveal Your Hidden Secrets/

So We Three May Know/Thy Mystic Lore/

And No Mystery Shall You Keep!"

Nothing.

Urd tried another spell, with a similar lack of result.

Astounded, Belldandy looked again at the book, then at the sleeping form of Cevn.

"Ah, Cevn-san, so it must be you that holds the key to the mystery of this tome. Or maybe this book holds the key to the mystery that is you," she silently thought.

Urd leafed through the open corner of the book, resting oh-so-innocently on the floor. It seemed like a ridiculous puzzle. She suspected that the Almighty had sent the book down to earth for Cevn. But why would He only print half the words in any language she could recognize. She made up her mind to suggest to the others that they ask Him.

Skuld naturally had to take a crack at the book. After frustrated page peeking, she decided upon a solution.

"I'll build a mecha that can read this, you just wait!" She had a vision in her head of a device similar to what the humans called a scanner, only this 'scanner' would also compile all the known languages of the Universe and 'debug' the codified information in the book.

Belldandy looked at her younger sister...she had that look on her face.

"Ah ha! The Cypheratron Mark III!" With a confident glee in her eye and a design in her head, she bounded off to her assembly lab.

Belldandy and Urd looked at each other, then at the back of a sprinting Skuld, and shrugged their shoulders.

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

Keiichi and a downcast Megumi returned home late, just as the sun was starting to darken the sky. Megumi looked even more tired than she did in the morning, her normally buoyant face was taunt with sleep-desire. Keiichi pulled his motorbike into the temple gate, waving at Banpei as he slowed to a halt in the 'garage', which was originally a squat building that housed the Shrine God.

"Kind of fitting that our vehicles are in this building," he thought. The stretch of victories that the Nekomi Institute of Technology Motor Club had was often due to the interventions of his beloved Bell-chan and her sisters, but he also felt that the old Shrine Gods had smiled upon them as well. Poor Megumi. Her scooter was in the shop waiting to be fixed, and they were all too busy working on the racer to give it a look-over. School, well that was a bummer too, he thought dismally.

At the dinner table, Megumi looked like she was going to fall asleep sitting up, but she wanted at least to have a good home-cooked meal in her belly, so that the day wasn't a total waste. She looked around and saw that everyone was anticipating dinner, but Cevn-san was still in his room. She smiled quietly and explained the disaster that took place at school this day.

"I was going to my Asian History class, when this jerk bumped against me and spilled food on my jacket. Turns out he was being chased by Tamiya, who just about mowed me over running after him. Something about a wager on next week's solar race." Keiichi shook his head in disappointment.

"Those guys never give up, do they, Megumi? They know that I'm working hard fine-tuning the design specs. Instead of helping, they think they can extort bets from all the freshman class, so that the Club can cash in on the race. But it's going to be real tough, especially with the European entry that won the World Championship in Australia competing against us." Megumi nodded and continued.

"So I was a couple minutes late for the exam. Then the most horrible thing happened. Mr. Yamashita and a proctor were handing out the exams when all of sudden, Yamashita-sensei gripped his chest and fell down to the floor!" She started sobbing, and the others silently waited for her to feel her sadness. She recovered herself after a moment and continued.

"It turns out that Sensei had a heart attack! That is why he has been so sick. They had to call an ambulance, and we were worried that...he might die! He'll be in the hospital for a while, and cannot finish the term. I hope for his family's sake that he'll be okay! I feel so sad for them!" she explained sadly.

Everyone bowed his or her head at this sad turn of events.

Belldandy brought the evening's repast, and everyone dug in. Urd made a plate up for Cevn-san.

Belldandy decided it was time to broach the subject of Cevn possibly living at the temple compound.

"We need to talk about Cevn-san. Urd and I discussed it earlier and we think he should move in with us. There is something really strange about his situation. Not to mention that Kami-sama is directly involved." Skuld scowled at this news.

"It was bad enough having Keiichi living here, now this new man too?" she thought. Her face fell into a very sulky expression.

Keiichi looked like he was going to choke on his food. He wasn't surprised...it seemed that this household which started out with just Belldandy and he... In his mind the house became an organism, consuming and swallowing their lives. It was sooo much better when it was just she and me... He looked at Belldandy and Urd and knew in an instant that they were in agreement about this...and that they would not acquiesce. He sighed in disappointment. One more housemate to interfere with his and Bell-chan's already precious privacy.

"Keiichi, it's not that bad. Haven't you been going on for a year or so about being the only guy in a house full of women!" Megumi challenged him. Keiichi blushed at his younger sister's point.

"Have I been that obvious about it?" All three women nodded "yes" vigorously, with big smiles.

"Case in point!" Keiichi muttered as once more it appeared that he was being ganged up against by the females in the house. Except Skuld. Skuld was sitting with a dour expression, her arms tightly crossed over her chest. She reached over and picked up some udon noodles, then flung them against the wall.

"Skuld!" Belldandy said with shock.

"I don't want him to live here! Nothing that any one of you can say will make me change my mind! I don't want another man in the house! One's bad enough!" Keiichi shook his head at her 'hint' about him.

"But what about Urd? Urd was directed by the Almighty to watch over this mortal. Urd even was used to fulfill his wish. What if he moved away and got in trouble? Urd could be in deep trouble then with our Lord!" Belldandy reasoned.

Skuld momentarily relished the idea of Urd being scolded by an angry Kami-sama. Then the feelings of love for her older sister held forth, and she realized that having to put up with Cevn for the sake of Urd was a sacrifice she would have to live with.

"Errrrr" she growled. "I don't like it. I'm not going to treat him nice! I'm only going to put up with him for Big Sister's sake! This really sucks, you know! I'm always having to make sacrifices!" Keiichi heard this and mentally reviled Skuld's sanctimonious attitude.

Belldandy smiled sweetly, ignoring the fact that Skuld had given her consent grudgingly. Urd, on the other hand, saw that Skuld was not into this at all.

"I'm going to have to work on her...otherwise she'll drive him out or kill him!" Urd noted to herself warily.

"I think it would be great to have him in the house! He's not from here...imagine what we can learn about America from him," Megumi said. She also admitted to herself privately that Cevn was kind of cute.

"Then it's settled...Cevn's going to live here?" Keiichi asked. Everyone said 'yes' except Skuld.

"Okay, but don't say I didn't warn you!" the youngest Goddess reminded the group.

Urd grabbed the food tray and took it to his room. Belldandy watched her older sister leave the dining room and smiled.

"She must like this new friend of ours. She is being unusually considerate, more so than I've seen her be in a while," she reflected.

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

I was sitting up in my futon. While watching the blue in the window fade to auburn, then violet, then black, I questioned my reality. An open book lay next to me, with an indecipherable language on its pages. Who knows how many hundred thou of yen bills were neatly stacked on my table. I didn't have anything to wear except the clothes I came in and the yukata robes Keiichi had loaned me.

I paused at that, feeling a familiar fear creep up my neck. I'm glad that I didn't pass out yesterday, so that someone would have to put this robe on me. Memories of being sexually exploited passed through my mind and I felt the familiar self-disgust and fear. Being used as a plaything by foster parents. Having to do all those awful things as a child. Then being taken advantage of when I lived on the streets at age 12. I noticed with sadness that I was hyperventilating again, like I routinely did when these memories surfaced.

"Wait a minute. If I'm hyperventilating, then that means that my bodily feelings are back!" I flexed a few muscles and felt the familiar tug and pull of proprioception. With relief, I lay back down on the futon and pulled the covers up.

The shoji door slide open a sliver, then opened all the way. Urd walked in with a tray of food.

"Why is she here again?" I thought. I watched her gracefully set it down and then kneel down next to me and pass her hand over my head. My fever seemed to diminish a bit, as if she had lured it out of me. Which was likely, since she was a Goddess, after all.

"You feeling better, Cevn-san?"

"Yes, Urd-sama."

"You can call me Urd, you know."

"Why should I do that, if you're so formal! Why not call me Cevn-sensei instead, Urd-sama?" I teased. Her face darkened briefly, then she grinned.

"The day I call you 'sensei' will be the day that you become a God!" She punched me lightly on the shoulder. "Seriously, now, how do you feel?"

"I just started feeling my body a little while ago, and I felt really freaked out at..."

"At what?"

"Urd...I just can't tell you right now." I was so intimidated by how lovely Urd was that I had a hard time just making conversation with her, let alone telling her about my wounding past. Yet, I caught myself feeling comfortable enough to tease her. What is it about her? "Urd, I promise, someday I will tell you everything. Just not now."

"It'd better be good, then. I don't wanna miss my fave TV shows to hear some Rikki Lake sorta crap. I wanna hear the real deal! I know you have lots of bad sexual experiences and beatings to tell me about," she said, as casually as if she was discussing the weather.

At this, I went totally into shock. I pulled my head under the blanket cover protectively. I had to get her out of here! I felt trapped, trapped by my past, trapped by my pain and fears and hopes...

"Urd, leave...me...alone!! Get out...get out of here NOW!"

Under the blanket, I broke into a cold sweat as I heard stomping footfalls, telling me that I had pissed off Urd again and she had stormed out of the room.

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

Skuld was working on her Cypheratron Mk III when she heard Urd storming down the hall. Her room shook as a door slammed. Normally, Skuld would just ignore this as one more instance of an Urd-type fit, but this time for whatever reason, she decided to check in on her oldest sister. She knocked on Urd's door and then slowly slid it open. Her sister was sitting in the corner of the room, clutching a pillow to her breast, almost ready to cry. Upon seeing Skuld, Urd quickly composed herself.

"Have you heard from Tomohisa, Little Sister?"

"Urd, I am not a child! Don't change the subject! What is wrong with you? I heard you slam the door!"

"Yes, what is wrong with me? Let's see...everybody has someone to love in his or her life. Bell has Keiichi. You have Tomohisa, even if you and he are only kids." Skuld let the insult pass by without piquing her temper.

"But me, I only have you and Bell. What if something happened to you?"

Skuld was touched to the quick by this sudden outburst of concern from her sister. She recalled the time when Urd had been summoned back to Heaven and how she tightly she held onto her sister when it was all over, admonishing Urd for resigning herself to the edict when everyone else wanted her to defy the Almighty's plan and stay.

She walked over and tried to cradle her older sister in her arms, consciously trying to imitate how she thought Belldandy would comfort Urd. Urd remarked at how big Skuld was getting, and patted her on the head, then started to cry into her younger sis's shoulder.

"No matter what, it will always be we three sisters, Urd!"

Skuld held her sister close, her chin resting on Urd's strong shoulder. Urd is the strongest of we three, she remembered. Despite Urd's impulsivity, her selfishness, her rivalry with Skuld...she loved her oldest sister even more than Belldandy sometimes. This was one of those times. As her oldest sister, Skuld sometimes placed Urd on an even higher pedestal than Bell, which naturally made it more difficult for Urd to meet Skuld's exacting standards.

Urd, for her part, felt really proud of her youngest sister who was fast growing up into a charming young lady. Unlike Urd, Skuld was soft and sensitive. Urd felt compelled to 'push Skuld's buttons' at times so that the girl wouldn't become a pushover. She was happy for Skuld in a bittersweet way; Skuld had subconsciously taken a liking to Keiichi's younger cousin, Tomohisa. Urd knew that this was a blossoming love between the two, even if Skuld didn't. Skuld was brave, too, as her quick thinking had destroyed the Ultimate Destruction Program. She let her younger sister nuzzle on her neck, then decided to confess what had upset her.

"Skuld, I was in Cevn's room and he got mad at me...then he hid himself under the covers and yelled at me, telling me to get out."

"Well, why didn't you just yell back at him, Big Sister?"

"He's really under the weather right now. And I don't know why he got so upset at me! I didn't say anything to cause it! But he just ignored me and..." Skuld waxed with rage.

"I don't care! I'm not going to let him, a mortal, treat you like that!" Skuld stormed out of the room.

"Skuld, wait!" Urd shouted down the hallway.

"Now I've really done it," Urd accused herself under her breath.

Skuld slid open Cevn's door with a slam, and heard sobbing. She looked and saw two cats mournfully looking at a heaving figure hidden under the blanket. All her motives to Skuld-bomb him fled away. She wondered why both her sister and Cevn were sad. She quietly slid the door shut and went to Belldandy's room to discuss the matter.

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

Mara watched all that transpired with glee. Urd seemed to be acting like someone in love. All this in-fighting, and just his second night here!

"Imagine that, Urd in love! She should know better, by now! But she was always the stubborn one," Mara thought. Mara remembered all the fights she had with Urd and knew that Urd was a capable opponent. But it was Belldandy that tipped the scales against her. It wasn't fair. Three against one.

Hours later, when Cevn was asleep, Mara pulled up a pair of night vision binoculars and scanned the room. She really didn't need the binoculars, as she was a First Class, Unlimited, Unrestricted licensee...but she liked to have her affectations sometimes. Just like Belldandy likes to cook and knit without using magic, she mused. She felt a flush of embarrassment as she realized that she had just compared herself to her adversary, the auburn-haired Goddess who acted like a dumb blonde.

"Yeeshh! I've been on this stupid dustball planet for too long!"

She looked closer at the book. Startled, she noticed that Cevn had undone the second clasp! She read the cover to the book:

Zzzzzzzzzzz manual zzz Zzz-Demon zz Serenity and Zzzzzzz

(To zz used zzzz by Zzzzz Class Zzzz/Demons zz an

zzzzzzzzzzz manual zzz the Zzzzz One.)

Not only was this book half written in the Demon's Language, it hinted at unknown Demonic power! A Demon Manual! And this 'the One'?

Could this mean that this book is referring to the "All-Evil One" of lore? If she could summon the Ultimate Demon, she could have her revenge on all three sisters! And that cursed mortal, Keiichi too!

Inspired by this prospect, Mara decided that she would steal this book. She expanded to her full size, and reached down to grab the book. But as soon as she tried to lift it up, an agonizing sensation shot up her arms. She silently cried out in pain. She cursed, taking the God's Realm in vain.

"Heavens, the book is blessed! I can't take it with me!" Fortunately, she had disguised her cry of pain. She looked furtively for any evidence of charms in the book. She could page through it as long as it was resting on the ground. She tried to lift it again and a burning sensation filled her hands. She released the book, gasping in agony. As soon as she let go of the book, the pain stopped.

"So, I have to leave it on the ground! I wonder if I could find someone else to take it for me! Maybe that Sayoko girl, or maybe some expendable Demon or spell! I'll have to scheme long and hard, but it will be worth it! And when I obtain this book, I will rule all!! HAHAHAHAHA!"

Urd paused in her lamenting and sat up in her bed. She swore to herself that she had heard crazed laughter. With the way things have been going in the past two days, anything could happen. With that thought in her head, she laid back down on her futon between next to Skuld and went to sleep.