Ah My Goddess Fan Fiction ❯ Trial By Tenderness ❯ Part 25 - Bindings ( Chapter 25 )

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

Part 25 Bindings



"Big Sister's coming home today! Big Sister's coming home today!" Skuld announced to no one in particular. She was fraught with anticipation as she awaited her oldest sister's homecoming. Eight weeks was an incomparably minute amount of time...relative to the almost 130,000 years of her existence.
But Urd's disappearance had seemed to last *forever* to Skuld.
"This must be what the mortals call 'psychological time'," she designated the unexpected twist of the TimeStream. It was so strange how time had become so unraveled since she arrived on the Earth. Upon assuming her mortal form as an Earthrealm Trainee, Skuld had lapsed into measuring time in *human* years! Back on Yggdrasil, a human year was equivalent to the passing of a few hours in the time scale she was used to. But in *this* sphere of being, what the mortals reckoned to be a several weeks...was a period of time wherein an entire adventure could be played out. And an entire adventure meant...an entire motion of emotions.
And Big Sister had been delayed over *two weeks*!
Belldandy was busy hanging up a banner that read "Welcome Home, Urd!" in the living room. She smiled at Keiichi with thumbtacks gripped between her teeth, drawing chippled laughter from Skuld and he. They had printed up a bunch of banners and posters on his computer in an effort to give the house a festive atmosphere.
Urd had called last Friday to confirm that she was returning on Tuesday. Apparently, Cevn had some business on behalf of N.I.T. to finish up in Beijing. She mentioned something about his being a "campus celebrity", but Keiichi didn't understand her misunderstandings. But he *did* remember what it was like last March, when he was fishbowled with celebrity after winning the Solar Energy race. Belldandy and Skuld were so excited, they were acting like kindergartners.
So he and Megumi had skipped school yesterday and today.
Nobody was rushing to decorate the house, but it seemed to Belldandy to be the *proper* thing to do. After all, she sensed that the reason Urd and Cevn had both left so suddenly...was because something *here* had driven them away. Belldandy wanted to make their homecoming to be as warm and charming as possible. This way, everyone would all be better possessed to discuss the real cause of their sudden departures.
Megumi was dancing to a "Denki Groove" remix CD as she swept the living room tatami mats, while Genji was out cleaning Cevn's little rock garden. Genji caught a few glimpses of her hipsway and reminded himself that he needed to gather his courage and ask her out to a club. Unlike him, Megumi had rhythm...and a oo-la-la figure that he loved to watch as she walked around the house. Also unlike him, Megumi and many of her classmates at N.I.T. had been caught up in the neo-techno dance music rage that was current among the technical colleges. Genji's tastes were more conservative, he preferred J-pop and American top 40.
As Megumi swept a pile of dust out the front porch, she felt a sense of relief knowing that the two were safe. She knew beyond a doubt that Urd could take care of herself...or at least get herself taken care of. But Cevn...after that scare with the "shi" character for "death" in his room, she had become very worried. She didn't want to lose her favorite teacher at NIT.
"How strange...he's coming back two weeks *after* school started," she wondered. "I wonder when I'll find time to chew him out?"
Skuld was skipping around the living room, engaged in mentally rehearsing how she was going to greet Urd. By design, she envisioned herself hugging Urd and crying...then after all the sappy emotional stuff was out of the way, she planned to soundly rank her out! Then she would show her the Holophotic Videmeotron that she built; the mecha that was so vital to their efforts to locate her. Then she would accept Urd's praise and apologies. Again and again.
Especially the apologies.

* * * * * * * *

Keiichi finished printing the last banner, then carried it out for his girlfriend to hang up. The living room hadn't looked this decorous since the wild party held at the end of the school term. "Bell-chan sure has 'the touch' for party decoration! Our temple compound looks like it is in the midst of a matsuri! Indeed, things are going to be pretty festive here," he mused, half expecting to see Shinto priests and carnies roll in at any moment. He looked up at his girlfriend, who was standing on a footstool pinning rolls of party paper on the ceiling.
"Belldandy is especially beautiful today!" he observed to himself with a knowing smile.
Belldandy had mentioned that she was planning to dress to the nines when they went to Narita to pick up Urd and Cevn. As the morning progressed, the foundry of his worrying plummeted black smokeclouds of apprehension. Keiichi began to wonder if she was a little *too* engrossed into this welcome home party. Bell-chan had splurged on paper lanterns, party paper, whistles and charms. Concerned, he walked over to Megumi to discuss this.
"Don't you think that Belldandy is going a little too far with this welcome home party business? It looks like New Year's in here!" he said to Megumi, who was outside clearing off the wooden porch that encircled their house. She stopped sweeping and looked at him, listening to him voice his misgivings. Pausing to reflect for a moment, she replied to her brother with her fists on her hips.
"If *you* had been gone for over two months...well, I'd probably be doing the same thing! Besides, I think it's just her way of working things out. She's been without Urd for a long time. Let them be sisters, okay?" she pointed at him, and then winked. They both watched through a window as Belldandy hummed to herself as she hung up another banner. Keiichi smiled at Megumi's common-sense answer. With a mischievous glint in his eye, he playfully tried to wrestle the broom out of her hands. It was an old game they used to play as kids. Megumi deftly yanked back on the bamboo broom, and then whacked him on the backside with the bristled whisk.
"Get to work, you slacker!" she teased.
Keiichi made a mock-frightened face and backed away in feigned terror. He ambled into the kitchen, where all the available countertop space was covered with a huge assortment of food arranged in trays. "This is a *feast*!" he said with admiration. Belldandy had outdone herself this time. Megumi was right...he hadn't even considered the therapeutic aspect of the two sister's involvement with this welcome home party. Belldandy was up late cooking last night. And all morning, Skuld had been literally pacing up and down the length of the house, deep in some realm of thought.
At least things were going really well between Megumi and Sora. He was genuinely relieved to see that the two's friendship had been reconciled. Megumi had known Sora since primary school...they were the closest of friends despite the fact that Megumi was one class ahead of Sora. He still didn't approve of Megumi's unorthodox method to 'prove' her innocence to Sora. But his embarrassment that night was offset by the priceless look of shock on Sora's face as his Bell-chan floated towards her. He laughed again at the visual memory; Sora's wide-eyed, mouth agape expression as her round-rimmed glasses slowly slid off her nose. He looked at his sister, sweeping the wooden verandah.
"Soon, I'm going to bust your chops about that night's 'stunt', *little* sister!" Keiichi promised himself. "Right now, you're in luck...I'm just being gallant enough to wait until after the homecoming."

* * * * * * * *

Mara peered at the object in front of her. At first glance, it was the spitting image of what the mortals called an 'orchid'. The blossoming flower was thickly-petaled with lively spur-like foliage; its bloom richly resplendent with black floreate traced with blood-red veins. The dark green stem had a profusion of orange thorns and hair-like bristles. It was actually quite beautiful, in a darkling vulgar sense. She had several of them in her lair in Vanagdrasil. Beauty in disarray. Beauty that would serve a higher purpose.
"This will cause *total* disarray when the trusting fools get it," she thought with fluid malice as she gingerly placed the flower vase into the box. She folded the top of the box shut and then sealed it with wax and tape. On the box she wrote in sloppy kana:

"Rare Chinese Flower Arrangement. From China. Handle careful."


* * * * * * * *

Dr. Zhao drove Urd and I out to the Capital Airport. On the way to the airport, he gave me a series of humorous cartoon-like sketches he had drawn, caricatures of the members of my dissertation committee. By the twelfth day, he had taken a slightly perverse amusement in his colleagues' efforts to disprove my research. He avowed that he had accepted the validity of my research on the ninth day. Then he surprised me by offering me a permanent guest lecturer post during the summers at BeiDa.
"You be sure to bring your lady friend along when you come back!" he said as we entered the terminal. By the tone of his voice, it wasn't a request as much as it was an expectation. One that I was more than willing to fulfill. I was going to miss our debates and his tragicomic stories of 'the old days' of Communist China.
Urd was dressed in some weird kind of outfit that only she could concoct. It was very dressy in a sci-fi sort of fashion, with all sorts of belts, strategically-placed zippers, and sew-on pockets. Yet it mysteriously managed to convey a casual look. Urd was usually fond of wildly offsetting bright colors, darks and whites in vivid contrast...her outfits reminded me of some of the loud dresses worn by some Filipino women in Hawaii. Yet this outfit was almost Belldandyish in its subdued earth tones. As we boarded, she pressed by me for the window seat and jumped in it, brimming with excitement.
"I've never flown in one of these...I wanna watch out the window!" she explained.
"Uh, excuse me Urd, you did *fly* here, didn't you? But because you were in a blackout when you left Narita Intl., you didn't notice a thing, right?" I challenged. Urd reacted to my remark with a scowl.
"Cevn! When we get back, we're going to have a serious talk about my drin...about my power supply."
"Yes we are. I don't mind if you drink, as long as you respect my bounds...and you behave like a..."
"Hey!!! I said we'll talk *later*, not now!" she teased, but also warned. I could sense the argumentative potential in her expression.
The jet engines whirred to life and the deafening roar of takeoff gripped us both, pressing us back into our seats. Urd was so engrossed in looking out the window, it shortly steamed up with her breath.
"A Goddess who's fascinated by an airplane ride?" I muttered to myself. Another enigma...piling onto the mountain of mysteries that started forming when I came to Japan.
The flight to Tokyo was scheduled for three hours duration. It was hard to believe that the two countries were so close by airflight...but light-years apart in culture. I remembered the long, boring flights from Hawaii to the Mainland, each lasting five to six hours just to fly from Honolulu to LA.
"Cevn...how are we going to tell them?" Urd asked, breaking my reverie.
That was a loaded question.
"Tell them about *what*? About why we each choose to drop out of their lives? Tell them about us? Explain how I saved you from drowning? Justify why I didn't return a single one of their phone calls? Try to make them understand why you hid yourself away in another continent and became one of China's most talked-about TV models?" I wondered aloud, feeling exasperated.
"Don't you *dare* breath a word about my modeling career...or my swimming adventure! You do, and...let's just say when I get my powers back, you'll be in deep kim chee," she said, gripping me with her emerald eyes. Her face scudded into a serious mien.
"Yeah. We owe them an explanation. And don't you forget that *you* owe them, just as much as me! Remember who's been doing most of the calling? You've been busy with your Ph.D. and N.I.T. thingys...while I've been the one talking to them. I can sense that Keiichi and Megumi really miss you. And I'm positive that Keiichi is really disappointed in you, too," she added.
"Thanks for sharing, Urd," I said dryly. "Skuld is the one I'm worried about, Urd. She's so sensitive."
I was trying to purge my mind's visions of an angry Keiichi.
"She's tougher than she looks. She's a...what do you mortals call it? Hehhee, she's...an 'enfant terrible'!" Urd commented. I laughed at this description of Skuld.
"But I'm glad she doesn't have her powers. I would hate to have expletives written all over my face right after I came home," Urd remarked. She was obviously trying hard to keep good-humored about our arrival...which only served notice that she was deeply apprehensive.
I paused, reflecting about how my friends back in Makuhari would react to the changes between Urd and myself. A stray wisp of reserve filamented my imaginings, casting them into a confused cobwebbery.
"You know, I think that we should play it cool about us. It's already going to be a lot for them, just with us coming back. But also, I think we need some time to ourselves. I know I need some time for myself...to sort things out," I offered.
Urd turned visibly red in the face.
"Uh-oh!" my mind shifted into eggshells-on-the-floor mode as her face quivered with barely controlled anger. I braced myself.
"WHAT?! I gave you the happiest moment of your brief life on that bench three weeks ago! A..and now you're going to ignore it? You're going to act like *nothing* happened between us when you're around my sisters? Huh? How could you be so insensitive...so cowardly! What is it...I'm not good enough for you? And why do you have to 'sort things out'? We haven't been together long enough for things to get things mixed up! Feh! You're not good enough for me! Hmmph!" Urd folded her arms tightly across her chest and stared out the window.
I hate the silent treatment.
And to my dismay, I realized...Urd could easily be silent for a century! With a sinking reluctance, I knew that I had tread upon an exposed nerve in Urd's psyche. Hopefully, I hadn't forfeited all my gold stars! But her reaction was understandable, since Urd was really amped up about this reunion with her sisters. She had even been touchy about the baggage earlier today...something I should have paid more attention to. I could empathize with her desire to 'show off' the new change in her life. But showing off she was! I could just imagine all the passengers, their eyes seeking us out as the source of her loud outburst.
"Urd...I am *proud* to be with you!" I finally said, trying to crack the iceflow between us.
"What? Huh?" I realized that I was so nervous that I had spoke to her in Chinese. I rephrased it in Japanese.
"Then why don't you act like it?" she demanded.
"Because it *isn't* an act. It's how I feel...and right now it scares the hell out of me!" I admitted. Urd leaned forward, my admission suddenly interesting to her.
"Why would your relationship with me...be something to be afraid of?" she asked campily. Once more, my guard came up as I recognized her familiar fascination with my vulnerability. I didn't know if she was going to chastise me or shift into her manipulative mode.
"Urd...I don't want to screw things up. Dammit, I've been single for so long...I don't know what to say or do! I guess I don't feel polished in the art of love yet," I defended nervously.
"I can polish you up to a shine in no time, honey!" she urged pertly. I felt myself being drawn in by her smile. Reluctantly, I turned my head to avoid the estimable force of her seductive affect.
"*That's* what scares me. You're so aggressive, Urd...and since you're a Goddess, it's outright overkill. You probably don't even know it most of the time. Rightfully so in a sense, since you've believed for Lord knows how long that you would never be in love again. But I just wish we could both take it slow for now. I wish you could see...that you already have me: heart, mind and soul. I'm not going to turn away! But it would be easier for me to turn *to* you if we just let our feelings for each other blossom into their own...in their own time."
Urd looked out the window. I could tell that she was in some kind of deep ponderance, poised upon a decision.
"They're going to know. I bet you that they'll figure it out in a few hours. Especially Belldandy...since she's seen me in love before!" she stated matter-of-factly.
"Yeah," I acknowledged. "I don't think we can pretend otherwise. I'm just saying that it would be prudent to let them come to us once they figure it out. Give them the initiative, so that they may feel a little bit more secure. You can talk to your sisters, and I'll handle Keiichi and Megumi."
"Well...duh! How did you think it would work out any other way?" she teased me, whacking me on the shoulder with one of the JAL in-flight magazines.
"But, in all reality, I was thinking. It would be best that I tell Belldandy...and leave Skuld to you, my dear scholar," Urd stated. I looked at her, feeling a waxen apprehension as my heart sank in my throat at this dire prospect. The thought of being roundly cudgeled by Banpei wasn't very inviting.
I almost missed Urd's mirthful wink.
"Urd, I'm going to really need your help on this one. Explaining that I'm in love isn't exactly my forte."
"Jeez, you can explain Yggdrasilian math to bunch of savants, but you can't explain how you feel to your friends?" she teased. I felt a stabbing feeling, somewhere in the chest region.
"Do you remember the day I gave you my kokoro? Or did you somehow forget that it took everything I had just to burst through that emotional garbage inside of me," I countered in a bristly voice.
"Ooops. Sorry. Objection noted," she said with an apologetic smile. "Don't worry, just leave everything to me."
After a few minutes, her shallow habit faded...and I saw rapt apprehension on her face.
"Urd, how do *you* feel?"
"I'm a little scared. Reluctant to face my mistakes. Completely embarrassed and worried," she acknowledged.
"If it's any consolation...me too!" I affirmed. I was trying to keep my mind clear of the scenarios that were rapidly playing in my head like an outta control slideshow. After a moment's pause, Urd interrupted my thoughts.
"Cool! Do you realize...that we just had our first major argument, babe! Wasn't it soooo romantic...*honey*?" Urd said, shaking her fists in the air like a little girl who just won a schoolyard badminton tourney.
"Cut it out, Urd!"

* * * * * * * *

"Delivery for Belldandy and Skuld! Is there a Ms. Belldandy in the house?"
Skuld set down her Transdimensional Rectifier (Compact Model Mk. V) and looked at the door. She felt like she was getting in the way of all the adults who were bustling through the house with decorations. So she invested her time in working on one of her mechas. She set down the machine and walked to the front torii gate.
A freight deliveryman was standing in the entryway with a small box. He flashed her a clipboard with a receipt and she signed it.
"You sure are a cute little girl. This must be for your mommy. Make sure she gets it," he said kindly as he handed her the box and departed. Skuld frowned at his back as he walked to his truck.
"Why do all the mortal men think I'm a *girl*," she growled to herself. "Idiots! If they only knew!"
She returned to the temple house and carefully sat the box down on the table.
"Belldandy!!!" she called out. Her sister arrived a moment later. Skuld noticed that she had changed from her housecleaning clothes into one of those spectacular dresses she wore. She had on a orange pullover lace sweaterjacket, with a flare sleeved sunlight-yellow long dress underneath. She was holding a short-brimmed dress hat with a sunflower tied to the front by a flesh-colored ribbon. Skuld regarded the autumn colors of her outfit.
"I hope that I can wear dresses like that when I get big. Well, actually...*NOT*!" she thought with a smile.
"Who would I be fooling?"
Skuld started giggling at the thought of wearing one of Belldandy's frilly dresses...and how embarrassed she would feel in it. Skuld's fashion sense was leagues away from her sister's daintified preferences.
"What are you laughing about, Skuld?" Belldandy asked, cheered by Skuld's laughter. Then she noticed the cardboard box.
"Oooo! When did this come? Wow, it's from *China*! How exciting!" Belldandy remarked joyfully as she read the label on the box. Skuld perked up when she heard it was from China.
Urd must have sent it in advance!
"Can we open it now! Please? Please? Please?" Skuld insisted, waving her arms frenetically.
"Well, I don't see why not," Belldandy answered as she retrieved a pair of scissors from the kitchen. She handed them to Skuld, who meticulously carved open the box.
After all the wrapping paper was pulled away, the two sisters beheld a strange-looking black orchid in a Chinese vase.
"Pretty!" Skuld shouted with admiration. "Urd must have sent us this Chinese flower for the house because she feels sorry!"
Both Goddesses craned their necks to get a closer view of the flower arrangement. The black petals were lined with strange rouge veins that seemed to pulse with life. A distinctive musky smell wafted in their nostrils. Out of the corner of her eye, Skuld caught a glimpse of an orange blur flashing past the porch doorway. It looked like some kind of large bird.
Belldandy looked at the flower, then at Skuld.
"Something's funny here...don't you think Urd would have told us if she was sending anything, especially something as fragile as this flower?" Belldandy reasoned aloud.
Skuld remembered the last unexpected package that came in the mail...the Demon Rally video game. It reminded her of the time they won a free vacation at the hot springs; that had turned out to be another plot by Mara to disrupt their happy lives. Her face flushed with fear at the memory. Then she felt a rigid sensation shoot up her back, filling her with apprehension. Her neck muscles tensed. She looked at the wrapping paper that had served as filler in the box...it was wadded up pages of weekly manga magazines and several Tokyo newspapers.
Her eyes widened in fright as she gasped...
"Skuld!" she heard Belldandy shout in warning as a dark red cloud burst from the flower.

* * * * * * * *

Mara attuned to one of the surveillance Sere-hawks to watch the proceedings. She picked at her fangs with a bone pick.
"It's about time to file these to razor sharpness again, I think," she muttered. On the desktop computer, she watched as Belldandy and the Skuld-brat opened their little package.
Mara had hoped that all of her blessed rivals would be present for the unveiling of her little 'gift'. But it wasn't meant to be...and she was definitely bummed that none of the others in the house were there. She would have loved to see Keiichi and Megumi get nailed by her potent surprise.
But these two...it was more than enough! She sucked in her breath and held it, gripped by the suspense of the moment. As the Black Orchid discharged its cloudy aromatic curse on the two unsuspecting goddesses, she leaned closer. She could see the reflection of her broad grin on the face of the computer monitor.
"HAHAHA haah hee heeeeh eheeh! I am *such* the little devil, aren't I! Hoo hooo wah bwah ha ha! How *wickedly* devious I am! This is going to be *so much fun*!!!"
Past her reflection on the screen, Mara snickered at the image of two goddesses staggering around like Urd when she got really drunk. Both were frantically waving their hands, trying to fan away the cloud that was forming in air around them. They looked like Bunraku puppets whose limbs were drunkenly akimbo'd as the result of tangled strings.
Her grin widened as Skuld fell to her knees, then Belldandy's legs buckled and she collapsed on her ass in a most undignified manner. This brought another outburst of mirth from the triumphant Demoness. A moment later, both Goddesses were out on the floor, unconscious and oblivious to what had just happened.
"MOLTEN!!!" Mara shouted.

* * * * * * * *

Belldandy came to in her room. The curtains were pulled shut, casting the room in subdued daylight. As her eyes adjusted to the lamplit room, she spied a glass of water nearby. She reached over towards it...but her arm seemed to have a life of its own as she missed the glass and tipped it over instead.
Her throat was parched. She convinced herself that her accident with the water glass was the result of some kind of leftover grogginess from whatever had knocked her out. Belldandy knew in an instant that the flower was Mara's attempt to try and ruin her day...the important day that her Elder Sister would be coming home!
Confused and angry, she tried to clarify what had just happened. She remembered the flower spraying some kind of cloud at her and Skuld. Then she felt dizzy and weak, and finally everything vortexed black.
"How long have I been unconscious?" she wondered with mounting fear, hoping that she didn't miss the ride to the airport.
Keiichi was bent over her, his face etched with concern. He smiled as her eyes focused on his handsome features. Even though his eyes admitted "I'm in a total panic", he could still smile reassuringly at her! Belldandy again felt thankful that this wonderful mortal man was the love of her life...that he was so much a part of her now.
"It's all right!!! You're safe in your room. I was really worried that neither of you were going to wake up from whatever that damned plant sprayed you with. I saw the whole thing from the yard...it scared me to death! I wish Urd was here...maybe she could figure out what just happened! But, at least you're okay," he exclaimed.
At the sight of her mortal boyfriend, Belldandy felt her heart relax into a pillowed softness.
"If my Keiichi's here, then I'm safe!" she realized with relief.
"Keiichi?" she said gently. Her throat was ablaze with dryness and pain. All she wanted was a glass of water and to be held. Keiichi looked back at her with a bewildered expression.
"Keiichi...my love, I was so scared! What happened to me?" Belldandy said as she reached towards him, wanting to rest securely in his arms. To her astonishment, he pulled away from her grasp while gently pushing her off of him. His eyes looked wild. Belldandy noticed that something about her body felt...strange. It seemed much lighter than before. She tried to hug him again and he stood up suddenly, avoiding her reaching arms.

*"EEEEEYAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!"*

Belldandy shuddered up as she heard someone scream nearby. Frightened, she reached towards Keiichi again, seeking the comfort of his embrace. He pried her arms away from his body by her wrists and backcrawled out of her reach, panic and uncertainty written on his face.
"*S..S..Skuld*! W..what are you d..doing?" he shouted shrilly to her.

* * * * * * * *

"Ladies and Gentlemen, we are approaching Narita International Airport. We will be landing in approximately 20 minutes. Please extend your tray tables to their upright position and fasten your seatbelts..."
"Hnnh!"
Urd looked up away from the window as Cevn woke up. She couldn't believe that he fallen asleep on their short three-hour flight. After their conversation, she became engrossed in watching the asymmetrical terrain of Japan pass under her. Clouds seemed to rush up at her as the plane gently began its descent. It reminded her of youthful play amongst the Zonal Cloudforms in Yggdrasil. One of her favorite pastimes was flying *just right*, so that she could pass through the upper roils of the cloud tops and burst out the other side. The clouds in Yggdrasil were much more beautiful and ornate than the plain white and gray cottonpuffs of the Earthrealm, yet there was enough atmospheric artistry outside to remind her of her childhood fancy.
"I bet they're all waiting for us at the gate!" Cevn commented, remembering the hazy confusion of his last visit to Narita.
"When I talked to Belldandy last night, she said that they were all going to meet us. Yet I could sense that she has something up her sleeve," Urd told him.
Urd's observation made Cevn feel even more restless. He was glad that the whole group was coming to meet them; the sooner he could apologize for his lunatic lapse, the better. But the notion that Belldandy was hatching some kind of surprise...this was something to be potentially fearful of. He had never seen Belldandy in a vindictive state.
"Could she experience *that* emotion too?" he wondered. Cevn had always assumed that the Divines possessed the same emotional spectrum as the mortals. His short time with the three Goddesses had borne this perception out to an extent. When he considered Mara alongside them, representing the Demonic half of the Divine world, almost all of the human feelings were exemplified. From Mara's brute rage to Skuld's jealous spats to Urd's coquettishness to Belldandy's complaisance; the divines exhibited many human qualities. Yet for all of this...they weren't human.
Therein was couched the paradox.

*Clankch!*

Both Urd and Cevn felt their spines unravel to sit up a little straighter in their seats as the landing gear lowered into place. The roaring wind around the jet's fuselage informed them that they were almost home.

* * * * * * * *

Skuld felt herself buoyed in a gray undefined space. Her consciousness struggled towards her; fog moored wherever she looked. Shadows and plays of light seemed to dissipate the murky vision into glass beads of reality. She felt a sense of her body returning as she noticed the familiar ceiling fan form in front of her. She was lying prone on her own futon in her bedroom! The covers were pulled up tight to her chin. Her throat was roaring with pain; it felt as dry as the desert.
Desert...desert...dessert. Mochi! Shaved Ice! Ice Cream!
"I..ice cream," she weakly whispered.
"What happened to me?" she wondered. Her body felt *different*! It possessed the kind of cumbrous sensation she would have when she was sick with the flu and could barely move. As she inhaled a fuller tide of air, she noticed that her chest somehow felt heavy. With an effort, she reached her hands up to rest across her chest as she felt a deep cough coming. A ripple of disconcertion immediately followed.
"Wha..." she gasped hoarsely. Instead of the smooth flat surface of her bustless chest, she felt two soft round globes of flesh resting on her ribcage. Sucking in her breath, she explored with her hands...her fingers glancing against a pair of firm round breasts covered by a soft brassiere. Before she could even realize what was happening, she screamed. Her instincts had been scattered completely.
"W..what are you d..doing, Skuld?" a distant voice seemed to reply to her terror. She heard a frantic shuffling and turned her head in the direction of the voice.
Skuld's mind was ill prepared for what she saw. In a fit of visual meltdown, she saw *herself* sitting up on a futon reaching towards Keiichi, who was completely facefallen with shock as he shuffled backwards away from...
Her next several screams drew progressively louder.

* * * * * * * *

It had been a challenge, obtaining this stuff.
Mara had to negotiate between two sets of her Vanagdrasilian comrades to get just a single eyedropper of the potion. She snickered aloud when she realized that Belial and Meya would be paying Dandra for these few drops of potion with stolen artifacts kept in Mara's own prizewinning lair.
Artifacts that she herself had purloined from Dandra when she was at a party he was having in his lair a mere 7000 human years ago.
She imagined his surprise once he found out that her two friends were offering the exact items that he had been missing. Dandra was an addictive collector of human artifacts; similar to a certain type of person the mortals termed "Otaku". As a Demon, he was a geek. His avid collecting had several bents of interest, especially towards the clothing of famous mortal females. Mara, via Belial and Meya, had offered him the girdle of Helen of Troy, a jail dress of Lizzy Borden and one of Marie Antoinette's bonnets. She knew that the chance to replace these three items in his collection would boost his greed enormously. Enough to consider trading three drops of this rare and precious substance for the set.
It had a delicious taste; as Mara delicately savored the vision of Dandra screaming in rage when the exchange was over and he realized that he had been scammed.
"Serves him right for hitting on me like a sledgehammer whenever I went over to his lair to party," Mara said to herself with a smile. "But...farbeit from me to avoid taking advantage of a lovestruck obsessive male Demon who happens to be one of the best potion alchemists in Vanagdrasil," she said in a mock-innocent voice imitative of Belldandy. She drumpounded her small fists on the desk and kicked her legs as she bellylaughed.
"I'M FEELING MUCH BETTER! IT'S GOOD TO BE ALIVE!" she shouted with glee.
Reaching over to a skulltray, she held up the small eyedropper between her thumb and finger. Squinting her eyes, Mara relished the view of the innocuous-looking object.
"The most sinister things come in small packages," she quoted the old Vanagdrasilian saying. Taped to the dropper was a handwritten ID tag, which read:

"Arcane Soul Transposition Elixir. Handle with *Extreme* Caution (unless using this Elixir to curse mortals)!"

* * * * * * * *

As they exited the gangway, Urd and Cevn peered all through the crowd for familiar faces. Narita Airport was bustling with international travelers, even more so now that it was nearing the fall business term. Groups of students, squads of salarymen, packs of OLs and tearfully reuniting families filled the terminal.
Urd looked crestfallen as the crowd thinned out 15 minutes later. She leaned forward tiredly; looking like a soccer player whose team just was beaten in a grueling overtime match. Cevn was concerned at the lack of any reception by Keiichi and Co., but he was even more concerned about how Urd was taking this.
"You all right?" he asked.
"I...I can't believe this! After they made such a big production about our return! Where the *hell* are they?" she said resentfully, her disappointment shifting towards resentment. She started pacing up and down the concourse in front of a wall of TV monitors.
"Look...maybe something come up! An emergency or something. Let's just try and keep calm and..." he suggested.
"How can you be so calm at a time like this?!" Urd asked, her reddened angry face offset by two tear-rimmed eyes.
"Urd...we need to get our luggage, then call and find out if they're okay."
Moments later, Urd found herself at a phone box, trying to reach her sisters. Her sense of disappointment grew, as there was no answer. "This is *totally wrong*! Either they're on their way here or something major has happened!" she announced. Closing her eyes, Urd focused her strength on her clairvoyant faculties. Cevn watched her concentrate with deep effort.
Urd snapped her eyes wide open with worry.
"C'mon, we need to get there quick! Something's definitely happened!" she shouted, suddenly desperate.
Moments later, they hastily collected their travel bags and boxes, and then hailed a cab-a-van and set off to Makuhari.

* * * * * * * *

Keiichi was completely disoriented. He was backed into the corner of the sister's bedroom, where he warily watched Skuld. She had just tried to hug and kiss him a moment earlier! Then Belldandy woke up and saw Skuld trying to hug him...and started screaming.
This reaction on behalf of his girlfriend was the first thing that made sense ever since he had found both of them lying on the floor of the living room, with some kind of weird-looking black and red plant between them. Riveted by a engrossing panic, he decided to carry them both into their bedroom. Not knowing what else he could do, he had tucked them in their futon beds and waited. Keiichi was very uneasy, as he was all alone in the house. Megumi had driven everyone else to do last minute shopping for the upcoming party Bell had planned. To his profound relief, they were only unconscious for about 30 minutes before they came to.
His eyes almost popped out of their sockets when Belldandy hastily sat up from her resting position and started fondling her breasts through her dress. Then Bell-chan screamed again. Meanwhile, Skuld had started screaming too when she saw Belldandy. Then Skuld started rubbing her chest, as if she was expecting to have a bust or something there.
"Which brings us to now..." he brooded, absolutely nerve-wrecked as both sisters stared at each other in shock.
"W..what is going on! I have *boobs*!" Belldandy shouted in abject frustration. Keiichi felt a strange impulse to say something glib, like "of course you do!", but he stayed his tongue. This was not amusing in any sense of the word.
"Could they be playing a prank on me?" he wondered. This whole situation was too fantastic...too *bizarre*!
Skuld suddenly got to her feet, and in a dash she was sitting in front of him on her haunches. She started shouting in a desperate shrill voice.
"What's wrong with my body, Keiichi dear?" she asked over and over again. Keiichi was taxed to his utmost to keep his cool. He gasped as Skuld ran her hands up and down her chest and hips. Then she reached up and grabbed a strand of her hair. Examining the long silken black locks, she froze for a moment.
"Why is my hair *black*...like Skuld's?"
Keiichi shook his head, uncertain to the point of dizziness. But the look on Skuld's face...was paled with disbelief. Then Skuld jerked forward and grabbed him by his shirt.
"Keiichi, what's wrong? What has happened to me, my love? My body's changed, my hair is black...I have the body of a little girl! And these clothes...they look like something...S..skuld w..would w..wear..."
"Belldandy!" Belldandy shouted at Skuld. Keiichi's mind was fainting in coils by this point.
"WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?" Keiichi and Skuld shouted back to her.
"WOULD YOU *BOTH* SHUT UP FOR A MINUTE!"

* * * * * * * *

The three sat silently in the sister's bedroom, corners in an imaginary triangle.
Belldandy was the first to speak.
"I..I think I understand what just happened. Keiichi...*I'm* Skuld," his girlfriend stated, finally becalmed after screaming herself hoarse. Keiichi looked at her with total disbelief as she pointed at Skuld.
"And *she's* Belldandy!"
"No no no no NO! That's impossible! *She's* Skuld...and *you're* my Bell-chan!" he shouted, gripped with angst.
"Skuld's right. I'm the Belldandy that you love, only somehow I've been placed in Skuld's body. I..I can't believe it myself, but I *know* I'm me," Skuld said in a barely-controlled voice.
Belldandy nodded her head, affirming that her older sister had figured it out.
Keiichi burst out with nervous halting laughter.
"Ha ha h..ha! Okay, you guys, you've totally fooled me with your joke! I give up! Please...could you stop pretending now? We're going to miss meeting Urd and Cevn at Narita!"
The two sisters looked at each other with frustrated expressions.
"Keiichi, remember that first night when we were in Okayama?" Skuld said sweetly. Her brown eyes seemed to bore into him with a spellbinding amorous soulshower. Keiichi felt his face flushing with embarrassment. Rarely had Skuld had looked at him so ardently. Keiichi remembered that goofy time when she started developing her Goddess powers...and later, during Peorth's first visit when Peorth had mickeyed him with one of Urd's love potions. He gasped as Skuld's face took on a very soft loving gentleness...she was almost glowing with love.
"She mentioned *Okayama*!" Keiichi realized with a start, momentarily tearing himself away from Skuld's entrancing look on Skuld's face. He remembered Okayama all too well...it was there that he and Bell-chan had first made love to each other.
"O...Okayama? Bu..bu..but.." he stammered as Skuld continued.
"Keiichi, do you remember how I gave you a backrub after we argued and then you fell asleep in the middle of it? Remember how you told me at Nikko that you wanted the time to be right when we made love for the first time? Remember how frustrated I was when we couldn't find Urd? Remember what I told you in Hiroshima...about how our love isn't an open book just because you're the 'test mortal'? Remember what it was like after our first time together? When we stayed in bed all day the next day? Do you remember how I filled the air with shimmering rainbows and cherry blossoms in our hotel room that next morning?"
Keiichi's mind was clamped in a riotous tempest. Here was *Skuld* telling him about things only Belldandy could know! He reckoned that it was totally impossible that Belldandy had described their first intimate moments to Skuld in such detail. Or in any detail at all. He glanced over at his girlfriend with a disappointed expression, only to find that Belldandy's face was drawn in an angry scowl.
"I *don't* want to hear about how y..you and he..." Belldandy shouted angrily...then she held up her arm and started crying in her sleeve. Keiichi felt an insistent Skuld shaking him by the front of his shirt.
"Keiichi, *no one* knows about these things...except you and me! I *am* Belldandy! Please believe me!" Skuld beseeched him.
"My world is going to hell!" he thought desperately.
Suddenly, Skuld bounded forward and tackled him, wrapped her arms around him as she knocked him on his back. A second later, she brought her lips to his and kissed him deeply and passionately.
*EEEEP!* his brain screamed as he went into noodle-like paralysis. Keiichi was too shocked to recoil from the sudden embrace...then he felt fingers stroking his spiky strands of hair. He felt his scalp relaxing under her touch. Skuld was touching him and kissing him exactly like Belldandy did! His face blanched as all the blood rushed out of it.
"DON'T USE MY BODY!" Belldandy screamed. Her face was livid with rage. "Even if you are my own sister, so help me...I'll *hurt* you if you do that again! You have no right to..."
Skuld reluctantly broke the embrace and sat up, straddling Keiichi's belly.
"Get off of him!" Belldandy yelled angrily. Skuld looked at the glowering Belldandy with a heartfelt apologetic expression.
"Skuld...I'm sorry! I had to do that...it's the only way I could convince Keiichi who I really am. I may not look like myself, but I know that my dear Keiichi could never mistake one of my kisses!" she explained.
Belldandy rolled her eyes.
Keiichi couldn't believe it! Skuld...in Belldandy's beautiful body? Belldandy...in Skuld's girlish body? He looked at Skuld again, mystified. Then he looked at Belldandy, wondering if it was really Skuld in there. To his shock, he was getting aroused...
"Don't you dare touch me...er...her!" Belldandy warned. "Definitely Skuld!" he finally decided. The three looked at each other in wintry silence until another shrill voice burst in on their quietude.
"Keiichi, y..you PERVERT! W..WHAT did you just do to Skuld?"

* * * * * * * *

Megumi, Genji and Tomohisa had arrived home to find the living room empty. There was an open box and some kind of exotic plant on the floor, surrounded by tape and various stuff that still needed to be cleaned up.
"Those slackers! They didn't do a thing!" Megumi said in disgust, hands on her hips. "We did all this running around while they just sat around. They probably munched up all the snacks too!"
"Those guys are soooo lazy. My cousin is probably making out with his girlfriend and Skuld-chan is more than likely tinkering with some mecha, oblivious to all the work that needs to be done," Tomohisa agreed.
Genji looked at his watch.
"Hey! We've gotta get out of here pretty soon if we're going to make it to the airport in time. I heard on the radio that there's a traffic jam near Narita!"
Megumi darted a "now you tell us!" look at her boyfriend. He had probably known that for hours! Before she could comment on the tardiness of Genji's news, she heard animated shouting coming from the sister's bedroom. It sounded like Keiichi was locked in heated argument with Belldandy and Skuld.
"When is he going to ever learn?" she thought, shaking her head.
Her curiosity piqued, she said "C'mon" to the two guys in a quiet voice. This was a primo chance to eavesdrop! The three walked down the hallway to the first door and Megumi lightly rapped on the wooden frame. She waited discreetly for a few seconds, then slid the door open.

*GASP!*

It felt like all the air had been squeezed out of her, as if she was a smithy's bellows. Both Genji and Tomohisa looked like they were suffering strokes and/or extreme constipation.
The sight that greeted her eyes was indescribably *ecchi*. Skuld was straddled atop Keiichi...and they were tightly pressed in a deep full-on passionate liplock kiss! Belldandy was watching with an angry expression, the personification of an erupting Mt. Fuji.
"Oh...my..." Megumi stammered, too shocked to say anything about the horrible sight. Her mind felt like it had gone out to lunch in the middle of a fieldful of stray cats.
A voice was shouting. It seemed like it was her own words, but yet it sounded like it was emanating from a distant point...
"Keiichi, you PERVERT!"

* * * * * * * *

Six people sat on the tatami in the sister's bedroom, corners in an imaginary sextant.
"Well, now what are we going to do?" Megumi asked, numb from the shock of the incredible explanation that Keiichi, Bell and Skuld had offered her.
"We're definitely not going to make it to the airport on time," Genji stated, drawing more irritation to the fore of Megumi's mind. She heard Tomohisa snicker...he had a deviously mirthful grin on his face.
"Skuld...guess what? Now you can finally say that you're not a kid! You're *all woman* now! That means that we can go on a date now, right? Right?" Tomohisa interjected excitedly.
Keiichi buried his forehead in the palm of his hand in resignation while Belldandy and Skuld both gave Tomohisa a good dose of grimace. Megumi reached for a nearby pillow and thrashed her cousin on the head.
"You're..an utter idiot!" Belldandy finally said.
"Actually, he's a testosterone-driven *little* teenager!" Megumi commented in disgust, drawing a narrow-eyed scowl from her cousin.
"H..hey, I was just being honest," Tomohisa said defensively.
"The day you get honest is the day that I marry......Urd!" Keiichi said.
"Keiichi, you wouldn't do that, would you?" Skuld teased him with a sly grin. For a moment, he forgot that it was Belldandy in Skuld's body and almost rifled back some rapier verbal barbs. Cutting himself short, he remembered the old adage: "talk is cheap, but words, once said, can never be bought back."
The deeper issue of identity confusion again grabbed his attention.
"How in hell are we going to tell you two apart? This...is so freakin' *ridiculous*!!!" he bemoaned, his voice tinged with the frustration that comes on the heels of futilely wracking one's mind for a difficult solution.
Belldandy pulled her back up straight.
"I've got it! Once again, Skuld proves her superior genius intellect and advanced reasoning skills! The Goddess of the Future prevails!" she said with musket-fire enthusiasm. She pounded her hand in her palm, then held her arm upright in a triumphant gesture.
"Give me a break, Lime," Keiichi muttered under his breath as he saw her flash a V-sign. Skuld was acting just as childish as Limu, the 'little girl' Sabre Marionette character.
"We'll call you *Bellkuld*!" Belldandy stated, pointing at Skuld. "Since you're really Belldandy, the first part of your name will tell us who you really are...the second part designates that it's my body you're in," she explained.
Megumi and Keiichi giggled at this as Belldandy pointed at herself.
"And that makes me...*Skuldandy*! Isn't that a beautiful name? If you call me Skuldandy, then you'll know that it's me in my older sister's body, so you don't think I'm her."
"This is all so confusing," Genji said tiredly. His mind struggled to wrap itself around the concept. He finally drew upon a mental image that made sense to him. It was like Noh drama, only the 'mask' was someone's body. Skuld wore Belldandy's body as a 'mask', and vice versa. With a flash of panicky gratitude, he realized that Megumi could have been involved in the switch! Thankfully, she had volunteered to drive!

* * * * * * * *

As they shuffled to the tearoom in a daze, Keiichi looked at Belldandy-in-Skuld's-body...and realized with a sinking heart that they wouldn't be able to kiss. Or embrace. Or hold hands. Or make love...
"After weeks of blissful passion...nothing!" he thought with profound disappointment. "This is going to be pure torture!"
"I guess that means no sex for you, Keiichi!" his sister joked. Keiichi flinched into a shoulderhunch, feeling his blood turn ice cold. Once more, his sister proved that she had this *way* about her; it almost seemed that she could read his thoughts sometimes. Her ability to do this was unsettling...and uncanny.
His mind was vexed at her intuition.
"Does she know about Bell-chan and I becoming physically intimate? How could she? Ohmygod! Duh! She's a woman...of course she could notice the changes in us!" he reasoned.
Both Skuld and Keiichi looked at Megumi with embarrassed alarm,
"H..hey, it's a joke! J..just joking!" she added, tying on an apologetic smile and waving her hands in front of her. Skuld and Keiichi looked at her as if they had been let off the hook, while Tomohisa hooted with mirthful laughter.
"And you call *me* a pervert? Seems like you're the one with the sexual obsession. Biii-da!" Tomohisa quipped back to his female cousin.
Megumi's face briefly flashed red, consumed with frustration.
Relieved, Keiichi looked at his younger sister. Megumi stuck her tongue out at him and he made a face back at her.
But he knew that *she knew*.
"Ah ha!!! How come you're so flustered at my little 'joke', Big Brother?" Megumi whispered to herself as she recalled Keiichi's primed expression.
"Good for you, Keiichi...you're finally a man!" Megumi thought, feeling a prideful happiness for her older brother. "It's about time you made love to her! Now if I could just get Genji here to work through *his* embarrassment..."
"W..what are you looking at me like *that* for, Megumi?" Genji defensively asked, noticing that she was staring at him with a coy smile, looking like a cat ready to pounce on a mouse.
"Would you guys stop clowning around with your lovey-dovey sappiness? What about Big Sister and Cevn! We're *hours* late!" an irritated Skuldandy interjected.

* * * * * * * *

Cevn and Urd watched out the side windows of the van as they pulled up to the temple compound.
"You guys live in a *temple*?" the cabbie said with astonishment and envy. "My wife and two kids live a cramped little maison in the Harajuku district. You're so lucky!"
Cevn hauled the baggage out of the back of the van, then offered to pay the driver. Urd stopped him with a flickering motion of her hand and pulled out a generous fare and tip.
"I'll pay him, honey. After all, it's your money," she said. Urd giggled as confusion played over Cevn's face.
"My money?" he said in exasperation.
"I'll explain later. Hmmm...where is everybody?" she said, curious at the lack of any signs of life in the temple. Concerned, Urd ran towards the house, leaving Cevn to struggle with the luggage and boxes. She felt her excitement rush to her head, almost making her dizzy with enthusiasm as she dashed into the front doorway.
The living room was empty! Banners were hung from the ceiling that read "Welcome home". It looked like someone had almost finished preparing a welcome home party, and then abandoned it in a hurry.
Cevn set the last box down on the wooden porch, then came in and stood next to Urd. He was just about ready to yell "anybody home" when Skuld and Belldandy came piling out of the tearoom...rushing out of the hallway towards them followed by Keiichi, Megumi, Genji and Tomohisa.
"You're home!" they both yelled as they nearly tackled Urd. Crying, Urd embraced her two younger sisters, who were deeply sobbing. Hugging each other tightly, the three cried into each other's shoulders, releasing an aura of sadjoy that moved everyone in the room into sympathetic tears.
Keiichi wanted to comfort all three of them; his heart was so stirred by the sight of the reunited sisters. It overpowered him how much they loved each other.
"Urd doesn't know about what happened to her two sisters," a tiny voice chattered in the far recesses of his mind. But he ignored it. As a silent witness to this outpouring of emotion, he felt a joyous burthen wildly raining upon each strand of his soul. He was so happy for Skuld and Belldandy. Especially Belldandy. Bell-chan would never know how much of her sadness *he* had felt alongside her while Urd was missing. Every single bathing of her grief resonated in his own heart, mixing together as naturally as tea and water.
It was strange, watching Belldandy crying her tears in Skuld's body...but he knew that it was his girlfriend on the inside.
"Elder Sister, you're back!" Skuld said with gratitude.
"Big Sister, you're home!" Belldandy shouted in a bubbly voice.
"WHAT!" Urd shouted.

* * * * * * * *

Eight people sat on the living room floor. In my mind, we were positioned as if we were the corners of an imaginary octagon on a shoji board. I heard the silence as if it was choruses recorded backwards on a CD. I could only imagine how Urd was taking all of this.
It was too grotesquely bizarre...
A little while ago, I had returned to Makuhari after being in China for nine weeks. Amazingly, the woman that I hated most in the world weeks ago...was now in love with me. And I definitely was in love with her...my affections towards her moving me to empathic tears when I saw how happy she was, reunited with her two younger sisters. I fully realized, perhaps for the first time, how each sister had a key that unlocked a big portion of her other two sister's hearts...
Then Urd flipped out.
Keiichi and Megumi were trying to greet Urd and myself, while Genji and Tomohisa looked on. Since her sisters were smothering Urd with kisses and hugs, they came over to greet me. Keiichi only briefly looked me in the eye...his welcome gesture was as forced as the perfunctory actions of a politician. Megumi was cold in her greeting as well, hugging me only briefly.
Skuld and Belldandy were possessed in their enthusiasm with Urd's return.
* * * * * * * *

"WHAT IN VANAGDRASIL IS GOING ON HERE?" Urd shouted in the now-silent house.
Keiichi recovered his senses enough to suggest that they all sit down on the living room mats and have a conference. To Urd's utter surprise, Skuld walked over to the kitchen and came back with tea service for all. Belldandy complained that she wanted peanut butter mochi snacks, not tea.
Then they told her and Cevn.

* * * * * * * *

The shock wasn't going to wear off anytime soon.
Urd was stunned breathless with the explanation Belldandy and Skuld offered. Actually, Bellkuld and Skuldandy. Which would be their new names...until they figured out what caused the transposition and could return them to their rightful bodies.
"*If* we could figure it out," Urd worried aloud. "This is obviously the work of a top-notch alchemist!"
On the way home, Cevn had told her how he had anticipated making heartfelt amends to everyone in the house for his wanton neglect of their caring and their feelings. But this situation warranted a deliberate procrastination of any apologies on both their parts. This was very serious stuff...but Urd was also relieved that it had postponed her apology.
She explained with growing dismay to the seated group how she had noticed right away that something was amiss. Skuld and Belldandy had addressed her as their older sister...*in each other's manner*!!!
To Skuld, she was always "Big Sister" with a capital B. This was because she was twice as old as Skuld...and she knew that Skuld viewed her as the ultimate protector of the three. On the other hand, Belldandy used the more adult-sounding "Elder Sister". They were both adult Goddesses, but since Bell was her junior by a few decamillennia, this was the endearing term she used to acknowledge her somewhat older sister.
With each moment, Urd could sense how much Belldandy seemed like Skuld, and vice versa. Belldandy had appeared girlish to her, as if some hidden force had rolled back 120,000 years of her existence. Urd recognized Belldandy's immature demeanor...but Skuld was an enigma to her. She was more shocked with Skuld's sudden gravity and dignity of character. She had never seen Skuld behave in this manner.
"So...you're Bellkuld and you're Skuldandy? Oh Voy, how am I goin' to remember this?" she said, pointing at her two sisters.
"I need a *big* bottle of sake to deal with this one!" Urd decided as she went to the fridge and busted out a magnum-sized bottle.
"I knew it would still be here!" she shouted triumphantly.
"Duh, Big Sister! You think any of us would get bustchops loaded on that terrible tasting stuff you call 'good'? And now, of all times, you want to get drunk?" Skuldandy confronted her.
"Urd..." Cevn said warningly.
"Not now, Cevn! I need this! Look what happened to my sisters! And none of you are going to stop me, no matter who you think you are!"

* * * * * * * *

Bellkuld was looking at me with an unreadable expression. I felt a wave of anger wash over the sandy shores of the recovering addict in me while Urd quickly chugged down a large quantity of sake. I had to remove myself from the sight of her drinking, so I went into the kitchen and brought out two snack trays. Skuldandy immediately went for the candied rice snacks while the rest of use munched on sushi and crisp gyoza.
Megumi was looking at me oddly too. I was worried that my chastisement of Urd for wanting to drink sounded less like a concerned friend and more like a domestic disputation. It *had to* in some subtle manner, because now I was confronting her...as her boyfriend.
I reminded myself to tone it down a little.
"Hey, if we're going to have a party, then lets have a party! No more gloomy faces! Everybody should be happy!" Bellkuld announced cheerily. It was almost funny, watching her in Skuld's 12-year-old body as she performed the role of hostess to perfection. She set out a veritable feast for all of us in the dining room and on several foldout tables in the living room. As I was eating, I felt that the air remained dense, churning with pent-up tension.
Megumi tugged at my arm and invited me to talk to her outside.
"Cevn, we need to talk. NOW!!!"

* * * * * * *

Megumi had almost pulled Cevn away from the table as she stood up. They went outside and Megumi escorted him to a distant corner of the temple grounds, away from the main compound building that we lived in. She turned to face him suddenly and angrily yelled.
"HOW COULD YOU JUST LEAVE US LIKE THAT!"
The emotional force of her anger was like a strong blasting sandgust...she watched as Cevn flinched and stepped back in reaction. Cevn realized that this was coming, but he thought it would be Keiichi that would be the first one to his broach resentment at his sudden departure. He just wanted to hang his head in shame, but he knew he shouldn't hide from her bitterness by looking at the ground.
"Do you know what I went through these past months? You *left* us without as much as a single word! Then I found the kanji for 'death' that you wrote on the wall in your room.
"I didn't write any..." he tried to interject, but Megumi was too bound up in her justified resentments to stop and listen.
"I'm not done with you yet, Cevn!" she snapped, angry at his interruption.
"I was *terrified* that you were going to kill yourself or something! And then you didn't come home. After a few days, I realized that you must have gone to China. I tried..snff..to call you *every day* while you were gone! They..snff..kept telling me that you were there, but then you didn't call back even once!" Megumi yelled angrily at him.
"HOW COULD YOU DO THAT TO ME!" she near-screamed.
He was startled by her mention of the character for "death" being left in his room. Cevn wanted to ask her about it, but she was too wrapped up in what she needed to say...he couldn't get a word in edgewise even if he tried. He felt a horrible, criminal, rottenness from the inside out.
"I'm an idiot!" he thought sadly, feeling total regret for his decision to split for China.
"Cevn, you come here and acted all nice to us. You became our friend. *My* friend! I was actually looking up to you! Then you just take off! How am I supposed to know if you care about us? About me? You..snff..said you would be a 'foster older brother' for me. B..but obviously, I wasn't important enough to you! I *really* cared about you, you know. That's why it hurts so much. You're a...snff...I just can't say it...I will say it, you're nothing more than a thoughtless bastard!" she shouted.
Her anger peaking, Megumi reached back and slapped him hard on the cheek.

* * * * * * * *

Megumi glared at me while I felt my cheek sting.
I had to let that one sink in. She had every right to be livid with me, and I knew that I should just let her vent uninterrupted. At least she was being honest...and she was at least discreet enough to do this privately, away from the others. Megumi shouted at me some more, and then slapped me twice again. Her anger waning, she thumped my chest lightly with her fists, then pushed me away and started sobbing again. She cried while she talked about how betrayed she felt...
"Betrayal, Megumi? That's why I left suddenly!" I finally interrupted. I had felt myself withdrawing with each unkind thing she said, but I needed to understand the depths of her pain. Part of making amends is being there, so that those I've harmed can have their say. But enough was enough.
Besides, one more slap and I would need to put some toner on my face to cover up the redness. Megumi was one tough chick when she wanted to be.
I told her the whole story about Urd's impersonation of my therapist. As I explained myself, Megumi looked at me with warmth in her eyes for the first time since I had returned. But before I could offer any kind of apology, she made a beeline to the house.
"What is she doing?" I wondered. With a dawning realization, I dashed after her to try and catch her. She was having an emotional riot...she might lash out at Urd!
"URD, YOU BITCH!" I heard Megumi scream at Urd, hands on her hips in the doorway. I had arrived too late. By this time, Urd was woozy with sake. She stood to face Megumi and assumed a wobbly wrestler's crouch.
"How dare you call me *that*! Tha's the welcome t..that I get affer bein' away for six weeksh? You're jush a mortal...you don't know anythin'!" she yelled back at Megumi.
"And why shouldn't I? Cevn told me why he left us...because you were spying on him by posing as his therapist!" she shouted. The house grew silent...I could almost imagine hearing Megumi's loud voice echoing in the house. I scanned the room; everyone was staring at Urd except Keiichi. Bellkuld and Skuldandy were riveted with this new revelation.
Urd turned and looked at me, her face flush with sake and rage.
"Affer that wonnerful time we had in China, you do *thish* to me? I supposh you toll her everything! It'sh not enough that my sishters are all mished up by some killa powerful shpell...now you go an' make me inna a villain in fron of everrbody!"
I couldn't dodge the curses she threw at me.
Keiichi turned on me with a vengeance.
"What is she talking about, Cevn? What did you *do* to her? Why are you trying to make Urd look bad on the day she returns? That's pretty selfish on your part! *You* left *us*!!!" he yelled, his face twisted in rage. I was shocked that Keiichi was being protective of Urd. Normally, it seemed that he regarded her only lightly...except when she was angry with him. But this protective streak was totally out of character for him.
"Keiichi, you leave Cevn alone!" Megumi shouted at her older brother.

* * * * * * * *

"This day...is the worst!" Bellkuld lamented, watching in helpless despair as her carefully planned "Welcome Home!" party dissolved into rampant morass of chaos.
A drunken Urd was screaming and throwing food at Cevn, who was angrily struggling to keep up his end of the foodfight. Her dear Keiichi was in his sister's face; they were pointing fingers towards each other and angrily arguing, reinforcing their arguments by revealing all the family secrets. Meanwhile, Tomohisa and Genji had somehow ducked out of the dining room unscathed. She figured that they probably wisely hiding in Genji's room, safely away from the 'party'.
She wanted to scream.
Bellkuld knew that one of her deafening shouts would put an end to all this petty bickering. But she was in Skuld's body! She *still* wasn't used to the girlish voice that lent sound to her words.
A shout wouldn't work.
"Hmm...instead of yelling, I'll just create an anger-vacuum spell. Besides, they're all so out of control...reasoning won't help any," she realized.
She moved her hands in a pattern to create a spell that would suck all the anger out of the room.
Nothing happened.
For the first time in eons, Bellkuld felt one of her spells fall flat. Bellkuld looked at her hands in surprise, then in flabbergast. She tried another spell, then encanted a few low-level spells just to see if she could get *anything* out of her hands.
"Where are my powers?" was all that Bellkuld could think, ripened with shock. She looked again to see Urd ripping down the banners that Keiichi had printed up; she was wadding them up and throwing them at Cevn and Megumi. She must have run out of food to throw.
She felt an elbow nudging her gently.
"Well, Elder Sister, I kinda wonder if it wouldn't have been better if those two stayed in China," Skuldandy said to her in a low voice.
"My powers...are *gone*!" Bellkuld announced in disbelief.
Skuldandy looked at her...
"You look just like Big Sis does right after she gets her license suspended," she told Bellkuld. Tears formed on Bellkuld's eyes as she looked at her hands, rendered magically impotent by the switch in bodies.
"H..how?" Bellkuld said in a dazed voice as the shouting continued to craft a din that reverberated through her shock.

* * * * * * * *

Skuldandy had finally reached the end of her patience. Now, her sister was babbling about losing her powers!
"STOP IT, you morons!" she screamed above the din, imitating Bellkuld's hand motions. An unexpected flash extended out from her fingertips...
Megumi looked at Keiichi and started giggling. It felt like all the anger had been drawn out of her by an invisible straw...
In tastefully drawn script, his forehead had the word "moron" on it, partially concealed by his spiky forelocks. She looked to see that Urd had passed into raucous drunken laughter; she too had "moron" written across her face. Cevn was laughing at her, "moron" written on his face as well.
"Oh wow! This...is totally rad!" Skuldandy shouted. "I've got powers. I've got *megapowers*!!! Yahooooooo....."
She started giggling and skipping around the house with glee.
"Cool!!! It must be because I'm in *your* body, sis!" Skuldandy said. She grinned ear to ear while Bellkuld sat down on the floor, her eyes off in the distance somewhere.
"Yahoooooo!!!!!!!"
"H..how?" Bellkuld repeated amidst the sillysap giggling.

* * * * * * * *