Belldandy had assured Keiichi that they wouldn't be disturbed for the rest of the week, and that they could finally have some time alone. It was beautiful, the way arrangements had been made. It was even more beautiful, to finally have time off from real-life problems. It was their second day at the Lodge, and it was morning. This hill was unusually cool all year round, even in the height of summer. The morning mist had formed as a low lying blanket which proved a cool covering for exposed feet walking in the gardens at that time. Belldandy was enjoying the feeling as she took a morning stroll with Keiichi. Even the path up the hill which led to the Lodge had mist rolling down it. Being located on a hill afforded everyone a great view of Tokyo and the Bay at certain places. There were a lot of couples strolling here, she noted. They all looked happy. When she looked at Keiichi, he looked happy too. Belldandy was so happy.
* * *
At the foot of the small hill, a new couple had arrived.
The male was dressed in sneakers, loose cargo pants, a white T-shirt and had a
vest over it. His partner was dressed in a knitted long sleeved sweater and had
a short skirt, with black tights and sandals.
"We're
here." Said the man. He was very young, and had a long ponytail.
"Let's go." Said the lady besides him. She was wearing
dark glasses, (And in the morning too. The man had thought it strange.) but that
didn't hide the markings on her face.
And up they went.
* * *
Keiichi and Belldandy were sitting on a bench, having
breakfast. Noriko had provided them with a boxed breakfast at sunrise, at
Keiichi's request. She had that knowing look, which meant, as Keiichi knew, that
this was a popular item in the mornings. It was a simple affair, with both of
them sharing the same box. It was definitely the way to go, Keiichi thought.
They finished breakfast quickly and sat at the bench. Belldandy had gone to look
for Noriko for some reason. Keiichi leaned back in the bench and let out a long
breath.
"Aaaaaah.... Finally," Keiichi said to no-one in
particular. "We really get to have time alone and enjoy."
Yes, it felt real good. Keiichi, the guy with one of the most beautiful girls on
this planet (and in the Heavens, truth be told), had definitely never felt this
good since they first met. It was strange, Keiichi thought, that he never got to
appreciate Belldandy's simple presence when they were alone for the first few
weeks after they had met. Only after her sisters had arrived did Keiichi long
for time alone with her, and that was because it was only then that he had come
to treasure their privacy. He'd finally gotten it, at some expense. Still, he
wondered if there was something he had missed.
"Finally!
We're here!"
Keiichi turned to look. Their bench was near
the top of the path that led up the hill, and it was pretty well camoflagued
from the entrance's side. He saw a couple walking up, and one of them was
wearing glasses. Keiichi nearly fell off the bench, he could recognize those two
anyday just by the markings alone.
But what were Peorth
and Uruz doing up here, dressed like that?
Keiichi was
sure it was some hare-brained scheme Peorth had thought of to not only stay
close to him, but to make sure Uruz was around if he ever got to making a wish.
Well, he was right about that first part.
Peorth didn't see him, and was complaining about the need
to walk up the path instead of just fly up. Uruz, playing the pretty convincing
part of a young, if not pretty, man, was telling her that if people had saw
them, they'd have trouble explaining it.
"But the place
is covered in mist! People can't see our feet!"
"Still,
better safe than sorry, one-sama!"
"Don't call me that
when we're here!"
"Oops, sorry."
"Anyway, let's go!"
And the two of them walked towards
the Lodge's main entrance. They passed Belldandy as they went along, ignored
her, and continued. Belldandy was watching them disappear into the Lodge as an
employee took them into the Lodge as she walked back to Keiichi.
"Ara... what are they doing here?" Belldandy asked. As if
she didn't know.
But she really didn't. Keiichi shrugged.
"I'm guessing Peorth's gotten over that night, but...."
Belldandy finished his sentence. "She still likes you, doesn't she?" Belldandy
wasn't angry, or jealous. She understood Peorth's feelings, had felt them once
herself a very long time ago. Well, Belldandy was the ever alturistic Goddess,
and decided that Keiichi wouldn't mind a little company. She told him her plans.
Keiichi wasn't very eager over it, but it wasn't a bad idea. Everyone
benefitted, he thought. So why not?
* * *
As it turned out, it had been almost unfair as to who
benefitted more. Peorth had loved the idea of the four of them staying together
(they used Mara and Senbee's aliases which Belldandy had come up with. Mara and
Senbee hadn't taken the time to book out.), so Keiichi and Belldandy would be
staying with Sean and Mary for the next five days. Peorth had taken every chance
she could to be near Keiichi, occasionally flirting with him. Uruz didn't really
bother with the trio, she was more busy enjoying the Lodge's gardens instead.
Her favorite flower was the lily, and to her delight, she had found the garden
managed to cultivate some beautiful hybrids.
Keiichi
wasn't really convinced that Uruz's disguise would work. He thought she looked
like a bishonen (pretty boy), sure, but how she managed to keep that chest
perfectly flat during their disguise was pretty much anyone's mystery. And there
was the issue of the baths. Goddesses had to bathe at least once a day. Sure,
there were private baths where couples could share moments alone, public baths
where the lot of them could mix, and gender seperated baths for those who were
still uncomfortable with seeing their companion's bodies, but it was impossible
for Uruz to avoid being naked in any one of them without being in the company of
males, because she had registered as the male. And Peorth didn't want to be away
from Keiichi even during baths. Keiichi didn't really mind as long as Peorth
kept her distance, but it was definitely a problem since the couples were
expected to share the same bathing area. Which meant Uruz and Peorth had to be
together.
Keiichi and Belldandy were pretty surprised by the way those two had solved the problem. It wasn't done by any ingenious devices or tricks, it was pure magic. And Belldandy didn't know that spell had existed. Uruz WAS a guy. At least, temporarily. Keiichi wondered who had cast it, but Belldandy didn't mind. It was an interesting spell. New spells were always interesting to her.
* * *
By contrast, at home, it was anything but interesting. Urd
had held a few more drunken parties since Belldandy and Keiichi weren't home,
and she had used Kewl-Aid kun as a drinks cooler more than once. Skuld was
beginning to get annoyed at Urd's blatant abuse of her genius to further Urd's
own selfish cause. Skuld could only hope the week passed quicky, so Belldandy
could come back and Urd could go pop drugs and drink elsewhere. Skuld was
quickly learning how to handle housework when it got too much for her machines
to handle. There were only so many parts to go around for her inventions, and
Skuld didn't have the money to buy more. She'd (unconsciously) come to think of
Keiichi as a sort of printing press for it.
But she had
this nagging feeling in her stomach, and it got stronger as the days went by.
* * *
The days and hours passed quickly. Peorth had respected
Keiichi's desire for privacy once in a while to be with Belldandy, and had spent
that time talking to Uruz about her future prospects. It was, after all,
Peorth's duty as "sensei" to Uruz. It wouldn't be good for her image if Peorth
didn't teach Uruz a trick or two. Peorth was pretty glad though, Uruz's chosen
Element had been the Earth, hence her love for nature. That made them agreeable
in that sense.
"The first thing about wish granting is
that you don't rush them." Peorth said. They were sitting in their room, and two
of the futons were rolled up in a corner of the room. Uruz was paying attention
like any good student as Peorth paced the room, lecturing. Actually, being a
teacher was pretty hard. Peorth had to make sure she got the things she wanted
to teach right so Uruz wouldn't go wrong. Of some of those things she taught,
she had never been very clear on them herself until she thought of it. She was
learning a lot herself. Peorth realized she was pretty ignorant herself in some
areas, much to her chagrin. But this helped clear her mind too, and she had
forgotten about Keiichi for a while. She could concentrate for once.
"Then, what about the mind reading part, on...sempai?"
Uruz asked. Her/his voice hadn't changed much, since it was a pretty
boyish-girl's voice to start with. Peorth thought about this. All Gods and
Goddesses on wish granting calls could read the minds of their clients without
requiring authorization, just to dispel any doubts their clients would have.
Peorth had used this for a little more than the dispelling of doubts in the
past, but she really didn't want to go into that now. Uruz had heard about the
implications of this ability, and she/he wanted to know if there was anything
that had to be avoided.
"Well, that...." Peorth started.
And the lesson went on.
* * *
It had been over nearly as it had started, Keiichi
realized. A week wasn't a long time when he thought of it, it had been almost
like a second. But its memories would last a lifetime, he knew that. He felt
better than he had in a year, and it had turned out them sharing rooms with
Peorth and Uruz wasn't all that bad. The two of them had plenty of things to
share during their nightly storytelling "event", which Belldandy had insisted
upon, besides other things.
They even had karaoke in the
lounge with a dozen other men and women. Belldandy had won hands down, of
course, with some beautiful song called "Anata no Birthday". The Lodge
also held a weekly karaoke competition held on Wednesdays. It had been a fierce
fight between Belldandy and Peorth, Uruz and Keiichi, the finalists. Everyone
cheered them on.
Belldandy had chosen a fast paced song,
something called "Namida no Imi", which sounded familiar to Keiichi
somehow, but he never caught on. Peorth chose a faster paced song "Fortune
Smiled on You". They'd almost tied, but Belldandy won by a small margin.
Keiichi had sung some guitar strung song called "Boku
to ikiru koto ga kimi no shiawase", which was a pretty accurate description
of something he couldn't quite recall, but felt passionately. Uruz sang
"Megami wa Utau", whose meaning wasn't lost on the rest of the finalists.
(Megami wa Utau = Goddess Sings)
But all in all, it had
been great. Even the drinking sessions. Keiichi always stopped first, but he
knew Belldandy wouldn't get drunk on alcohol, and the other two had a marvellous
tolerance for the stuff. Oh yes, it had been great.
* * *
Elsewhere, Mara was busy unwrapping a box wrapped with the
skin of some creature we don't want to know about. She had ordered it from an
extremely devious catalogue for demons (and extremely devious for a demon was
really devious). She was cackling.
The device looked like
a mechanical disc with a huge convex lens on each side, making it look like an
eye from the top or bottom. It had a small LCD panel and a keyboard, so Mara
could type in some commands. She knew what to do with it, she had intercepted
Tamiya's call a while back when she had bugged Heaven's line. (They swept their
lines every so often, but Mara's timing was unusually good.)
"WAAaar har har haa haa!" Mara was laughing, as usual.
"This is gonna be goooood!"
In a corner, Senbee sighed.
"Senbee know this not good."
{End of Chapter 7}
{Chapter
8 : Interference}