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The Vain Rose's Garden	By : h3nta1fun Category: +. to F > Ah My Goddess Views: 23960 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 3
Disclaimer: I do not own the Ah!/Oh! My goddess series. This is not made for profit.

Chapter List
- 11
- 12
Before I start with the chapter, I'd like to thank everyone who decided to follow this story as well as comment on it on all the sites I'm posting it. And I want to further reassure you that I've got no intention to simply abandon this without any further notice, even if updates might be somewhat slow (as it seems to be the norm by now). The average chapter here is much longer compared to other stories and as such, they cover 3-4 times the amount of content I would've covered with a lot more frequent releases.
Also, I'd like to offer a big thanks to TheSinful (from tvtropes) who apparently added several records to the tvtropes site about my story. I'm quite surprised that there are any references to my work on such a site, so, big kudos to you!
Speaking of kudos, I'd also like to thank FlummoxedCentipede from archiveofourown for the time and effort put into those astonishingly lengthy reviews they've left for this story. In all honesty, I haven't personally seen anyone post such lengthy and detailed reviews anywhere, and we might be having a record-breaker here. Well, at least as far as this particular fandom is concerned.
The sites I'm releasing (under the same username) this story are: Hentai Foundry, Adult Fanfiction and Archive of our own. Technically speaking the main site is Hentai Foundry, where I originally posted this story, but you can follow/read it on the other sites too. I generally check them on a regular basis and if you wish to leave some feedback, feel free to comment on any of them.
Additionally, I've created a feedback forum post on both Hentai Foundry and Adult Fanfiction, where you can ask or discuss about the story, if you're reluctant to do so in the comment section. Also, one more thing to note is that the forum in Adult Fanfiction allows guest to post without the need for making an account there, so if anyone wishes to ask me anything (yet without the hassle of joining some site, even if it's for free), that's the best place to do. Constructive criticism is always welcome.
An important notice is that Skuld is an adult here, not the young girl she's in the actual series.
And for the necessary legal disclaimer:
I don't own the Ah!/Oh! my goddess series. This is not made for profit.
xXx
The news Lind brought from Earth were such a surprise for the lord of Heavens, that he and his wife demanded a personal report from her. It was one thing to learn about the recapture of the Angel Eater, and a totally different matter to find out that somehow, the beast ended up parasitizing Urd. And as if that wasn't bad enough, she, Belldandy and Gullveig lost their angels, albeit temporarily. Still, even this was close enough for Tyr's comfort, and he almost desperately wanted to have a few words with Hild; but only after he got the whole story from Lind herself.
Based on personal experience, it was important to listen to eyewitness accounts of certain events, instead of relying solely on written reports. Sure, Lind was quite thorough about what took place at the temple, but as he suspected, the Valkyrie didn't go into great lengths about her activities in Hell, during the search for the then missing Urd. Of course, that was to be expected to a certain degree, since Lind was a Valkyrie and thus unwilling to make it seem that she openly collaborated with demons, even during an emergency. However, both he and Ansuz saw no issues with Lind's actions during that incident, since all she did was for the sake of locating a missing goddess.
"Hm… I see," said Tyr after listening to Lind's recounting of the previous night's events. With a troubled sigh, the dark haired god leaned against his chair, and exchanged a glance with his wife, who dutifully stood by his side. "Ansuz, any comments?"
"Actually… too many. Although most of them are questions, dear," said the teal haired goddess as she returned her husband's gaze. "For the love of everything that's holy, I can't recall any previous incident where a human managed to host an angel. And not only that, but Keiichi also provided her with enough power to allow the use of a single offensive spell. Again, this is totally unheard of, so, I want to know how's that even possible."
Rather than offering a direct reply, Tyr turned his gaze towards Lind, who remained standing at attention in front of his desk. "Since Cool Mint is one who got hosted by Keiichi, do you have any idea where his power supply came from?"
"I must admit that I'm not entirely sure, since magical research isn't my specialty. However, I have a feeling that it's due to the love he receives from the goddesses that live with him," said Lind in her typically stoic tone, despite the odd looks she got from her superiors.
"Love?" asked Ansuz in disbelief, mostly due to who came up with such a theory. For someone as stoic and objective as Lind, it seemed almost uncharacteristic to hear such a response, and yet she didn't even look embarrassed from saying it. "Look, I know that love can be a potent source of power for goddesses, but this is Keiichi we're talking about; a human. And even if he's just receiving the energy from the goddesses, he still shouldn't be able to retain it for too long. There are scrubbing programs in Yggdrasil, just to prevent such a situation from happening. The accumulation of way too much power on an individual that lacks the ability to regulate it can easily turn into a source for bugs in the System."
"This leaves us with three possibilities," said Tyr, picking up from where his wife stopped. "The first, we found a glitch in Yggdrasil's scrubbing algorithms, which allows a power buildup to take place in Keiichi's body. The second, is that he's receiving too much power at a nearly constant rate, that the scrubbing algorithms just can't keep up, even if they're still working. And finally, the strangest of them all is that he somehow doesn't count as a target to be scrubbed. Now that should've been impossible for a human, but there might be something strange about him that we're unaware of. And if that's the case, then we better look into it, before something else happens."
The two goddesses took a couple of seconds to absorb that information, especially since some of that sounded a bit… out there. Still, given the uniqueness of this situation, a simple explanation was highly unlikely. Furthermore, even if Tyr's suggestions proved to be wrong, the deductive logic behind them was sound, until further evidence came forth to either prove or debunk them.
As such, Ansuz decided to break the silence first, offering her husband a suggestion of her own; one that she was almost certain that Lind also considered. "If that's the case, then I suppose it's our job to find out more about this… development. Besides, even if we dismiss this as freak accident, there's the fact that our daughters were attacked. And this time, I sure don't buy that it was just a coincidence."
"On that matter, neither do I," agreed Tyr, offering a solemn nod as he clasped his hands in front of him, and supported his chin against them. "With Urd being the original target, I have little doubt that whoever is responsible for the attack, was specifically after her. The others just get caught up in this."
"Then you know what I'm going to ask." Waiting for her husband's nod, Ansuz turned back to the curious Lind, who most likely wondered what this was all about. "Lind, in light of these recent developments, you're allowed to return to your vacations. However, even though you're officially off duty, I want you to keep an eye out for trouble."
"Understood. Leave it to me, ma'am!" Despite not being on duty, Lind snapped a salute at Ansuz, who didn't seem to mind the gesture and nodded back at her.
"Excellent! With that done, I believe you're free to go now," said Ansuz, only for her husband to interrupt her.
"Not so fast. Considering the circumstances, I think it's better if someone else joins you on your trip to the mortal realm," said Tyr, catching both goddesses' attention. After all, he hadn't discussed this part with his wife beforehand, so, it was only natural that even she didn't know what he was getting at. For that reason, the lord of Heavens turned to look at his curious spouse and carried on with his idea. "Ansuz, it would be better if you go along with Lind and make sure that things are safe over there. Not only your presence will further discourage anyone from pulling off another stunt like that, but it could also act as a cover story to conduct a little investigation on Keiichi's… unusual properties. Even if you're not the ideal candidate for such task, I'd rather have you handle this, instead of one of the Mystics. While I have no doubt that they can handle this job even better than any of us, I don't want Keiichi to feel like he's a test subject. On the other hand, I believe you can do a much better job in that regard, Ansuz."
The goddess offered a slow nod, as she honestly couldn't see a reason to oppose her husband's suggestion. However, she was far too experienced to miss the possibility that there were other reasons for Tyr to pick her for this particular task. "Lind, do you mind giving me a moment to talk with my husband? I'll join you as soon as I'm done, and then we can both transfer to Earth."
"Of course, ma'am." With a respectful bow, Lind turned around and headed for the exit, leaving the ruling couple behind her.
Once the Valkyrie was gone, Ansuz turned to properly face her husband, who cast her a curious glance. "Darling… as much as I agree with you, I also get the feeling that you didn't pick me only for those reasons. Am I right?"
"Actually… I can't say you are. I did explain why I picked you for the job," said Tyr with some hesitation, especially as he went ahead to ask her for more details. "But… care to tell me why you thought I had other reasons?"
As she realized her mistake, Ansuz felt rather embarrassed to voice her previous assumptions. After all, she didn't know how Tyr would take something as outrageous as what she thought he implied, or even the fact that her imagination was vivid enough to even consider such a thing. Still, with her husband waiting for a reply, Ansuz felt that she shouldn't just drop the subject and give him the impression that she doesn't trust him with sensitive topics. "Well, considering that one of the theories about Keiichi's abilities involves… sex, and I am the strongest goddess he knows… If we were to do it, then he should be saturated with more than enough divine energy."
That actually caught Tyr off guard, as he wasn't expecting something of that nature, but to his credit he maintained his composure and leaned against his chair. "I'm pretty sure this latest incident must've been pretty hard for all of them. As such, I don't think that complicating matters even further would do them any favors. And like I said before, we shouldn't make them feel as if we're experimenting with Keiichi, without taking his and everyone else's feelings into account."
"Yes, I understand, dear. I suppose I was overthinking this to the point where I lost focus of the big picture," shamefully admitted Ansuz, and let out a tired sigh. "Please don't worry, I won't do anything stupid. I promise."
"That's good to know. And if anything happens while you're there, don't hesitate to tell me. Providing that I haven't found out myself first." With that, Tyr got up and placed a hand on his wife's shoulder, before he pulled her into a kiss that Ansuz returned. "Also, despite the circumstances, try to have some fun with the girls. There's no need to let them worry too much about some impending doom. It's our job to make sure that nothing else happens from this point on."
"I know," said Ansuz with a sigh, as she pulled away from her husband's embrace, in order to prepare for her imminent departure. "This whole ordeal must've been hard on Urd, so, I need to take her out for a drink or two. It's been ages since the last time we've done that."
"Speaking of that, take Skuld with you, too. She's surprisingly fun to talk to when she gets some booze into her system," said Tyr with a slight smile, despite Ansuz's quizzical look. "What?"
"I'm just… trying to picture you two drinking together. It must've been quite the sight," replied the bemused goddess, who initially thought that her husband was merely joking. However, she soon started to realize that he was indeed serious, and that came out as an even bigger surprise to her than she initially expected. "Wait… you've actually taken her out for a drink? Since when did you become so progressive?"
"Touche. But… yes, I did. And like I said, Skuld has grown up into a fine goddess."
"That's interesting. I suppose that's one more thing I need to try while I'm over there," said Ansuz, making a mental note to find something new to do with her daughters, too. Sure, there was that little trip to the beach, but that barely counted as something normal; for more than a single reason. "Now, if you excuse me, I need to get going. I'm pretty sure that Lind must be wondering what's taking me so long."
"Of course. Go right ahead, Ansuz, but don't forget to call me once you get there."
"I will. Later, love."
xXx
"Ugh… where am I?"
Picking himself up from what seemed to be a cold, marble floor, Keiichi inspected his surroundings only to realize that for once again, he ended up in someone's dreamscape. After all, this was the only thing that came to his mind as he surveyed what appeared to be the foyer of a grand castle, or at the very least a most spacious manor. Although considering that the entire place was vertically divided into two distinctive areas, with one half being completely black and the other a pure white color, it became rather obvious as to whose dreamscape he had somehow invited himself into.
Case to the point, at that moment, his hostess decided to make her presence known by stepping forward from the spot she's been occupying for the last couple of minutes. In fact, it was her very color scheme that prevented Keiichi from noticing her earlier, as she blended so well with her surroundings that rendered herself all but invisible, even if that was far from the case. "Hello there, Keiichi. It's nice to be able to meet you at last."
The rich, mature 'voice' of the dichromatic angel caught Keiichi's attention, and prompted him to turn his gaze from the arched ceiling, to her beautiful face. Granted, he did kind of check more than just her facial features, as she actually stood totally naked in front of him. And the closer she got, the harder it became to keep his eyes from wandering lower, to where her full bosom bounced ever so subtly with her every step. On top of it, even her most private parts were framed with those tattoo-like patterns that spanned from head to toe, giving her a certain allure that was truly unique to her. "You're… World of Elegance, right?"
"That's me," she replied, and then came to a stop mere inches away from the admittedly shorter mortal. While she did have a very different skin complexion from her mistress, World of Elegance shared more than enough physical attributes with her mistress, which included her general physique, as well as a slight resemblance when it came to her facial features. That being said, she still had a case of heterochromia, with one eye being red and the other blue, along with one more unusual characteristic that caused half her hair to be white, and the rest being black; almost matching her similarly colored wings. "I know it's poor manners to drag you into my dreamscape, but we barely even got a chance to meet yesterday; not with all that madness going on. And speaking of that… I'm thankful that you stood by my mistress' side until the end. Urd's often a very misunderstood goddess… or demoness, depending on your perspective. Still, most people in your shoes would've just given up on her. She's apparently too high maintenance for them."
If this came from anyone other than Urd's angel, Keiichi would've vehemently objected to such comments, but he knew better than that. After all, World of Elegance knew Urd better than any other person, and besides, it was highly unlikely that she spoke out of malice. It was most likely an echo of the Norn's own frustrations from being the odd one out, in a rather rigid society. And if it was hard enough to deal with old people on Earth, it was even more difficult to do the same with deities who have been around for entire millennia. "I can't say I'm surprised by that, anymore. But… isn't there any difference between random strangers, and her lovers? Seriously… how can someone date such a wonderful woman, and then turn their backs to her like that?"
"That greatly varies on the reasons they wanted to be with her, Keiichi. Not everyone is after my mistress for her personality alone. As you can easily tell, Urd's a fairly attractive -even exotic- goddess, and that's a big bonus in some people's books. Actually… I risk angering her by saying this, but in the past, she's even been scouted for an adult video. It was back when they first tried to film something of that kind of thing in Heavens, and despite her initial skepticism, my mistress chose to give it a try. I'll spare you the unnecessary details, but three sessions later, and with more than an hour worth of high quality scenes, they decided to exclude all of them from the final product. The offered explanation was that they were worried that my mistress' parents would get mad if they found out that she starred in a porn flick, but that was a decision made after the fact."
"Hold on!... Is that… even legal?" asked the astonished Keiichi, as he suddenly found himself struggling to accept that this was a type of behavior that passed as normal in Heavens.
"Unfortunately… it's all part of a gray area that wasn't quite defined at that point of time. Later on, there had been some changes in our laws to offer some basic protection against such a form of… exploitation. Sure, I can't say that just because Urd agreed to shoot some scenes with a couple of gods, she'd automatically become the star of the film, but… It's hard to accept that no matter how impressed they all were with her performance, in the end they chose not to include her. And even if it was a mistake to begin with, they had no excuse to shoot two more scenes at a later date, before they finally decided that they didn't want her in the production." As she finished her sentence, World of Elegance let out an annoyed huff, although at the same time she also looked rather worried. In fact, she was well aware that she's overstepping her bounds, telling Keiichi about things that Urd wished to remain a secret, especially after she spent so much effort to keep buried behind. The thing was, that for all this time, World of Elegance had no other option but to keep her opinions to herself. With her mistress' original orders to never appear before her, she was all but cut off from Urd's conscious mind, leaving her a mere observer, even during that incident; which in fact was one of Urd's lowers points. "I'm sorry… I know that I'm just ranting, and you don't deserve to deal with this crap."
"Don't say that. I'm not Urd's boyfriend only when things are going fine. I mean… sure, I'd love to discuss happy things with you. Still, I want you to know that you can count on me when you need someone to hear you out." To further prove his point, Keiichi offered the angel a reassuring hug, all while trying to ignore their state of undress. He didn't wish to come off as an insensitive jerk who only cared about his pleasure at a time like this, so, he carefully avoided any sensitive areas, and merely rubbed her upper back, right between the shoulderblades. Angels seemed to enjoy that, as well as perhaps brushing their wings, although Keiichi wasn't entirely sure how far her could go with the latter, before he accidentally ended up either tickling, or arousing her.
"Thank you, Keiichi. I'm sorry for burdening you with all that stuff. I just… don't know what came over me, and ended up blurting all those things. Please, don't think less of my mistress for her past mistakes."
"Give it a rest, will you?" objected Keiichi, tightening his grip around World of Elegance's torso. "There's no way I'd abandon Urd for something she's done in the past, especially when it comes to this sort of thing! After all, I'm by no means innocent either! Peorth… Urd… Bell… heck, I even had Skuld at one point! And she's someone else's girlfriend, too! I mean… there are times that I wonder if I'm actually doing the right thing. Sure, everyone tries to tell me that it's alright, but still…"
"I understand. However, you've never tried to exploit anyone's trust. And remember that the whole incident with Skuld was handled in a rather honest manner. You let Gullveig have my mistress, all while you were doing his girlfriend. Not to mention, that mistress and Skuld loved the whole concept, even if there were some little issues that still need some work to get past them."
Keiichi knew when to take a hint, and didn't try to push on with his argument. After all, he felt that this was mostly a case of relapsing into old habits, back when he still the unlucky bloke that not even female flies approached, than him having second thoughts of being involved with his girlfriends. Sure, it did seem somewhat intimidating at times, since he had more than one girlfriend to take care of, and try to tend to their needs, yet he swore not to give up until the very end. "Well… what can I say? I try!..." He let out a chuckle as soon as he finished his sentence, and boy did it sound cheesy. Thankfully, World of Elegance cracked a smile in reply, before she gave him a quick peck on the cheek.
"Mortal or not, you've done more for us, than most gods my mistress used to date. And that's something that tells a lot about your character."
"High praise, but…" said Keiichi, taking a moment to better think his next words. "Enough about me. How's Urd?"
"I'm not sure how to explain this, to be honest." Pulling away from the prolonged hug they shared, the dichromatic angel gazed at the ceiling for a while, and then let out a sigh. "With my mistress' two sides getting closer than ever, it's really hectic in here. Yet as ironic as it sounds, she's also the most peaceful than she's ever been. I suppose, once her two natures stopped fighting against each other, my mistress is bound to have some piece of mind. Of course, I don't expect that to happen all of a sudden, and there are likely some bumps along the road, but it's definitely an improvement."
"That's nice to know," said Keiichi, letting out a sigh of relief. Sure, that didn't exactly mean that they were out of the woods yet, and with the demons causing a lot more problems as of late, he had no doubt that there will be more to come in the future, as well. However, before he could go on and ask more details about World of Elegance's own release from her confinement, Keiichi felt his eyelids grow heavier by the second. His whole body was getting weaker, as if he's been running out of steam all of a sudden. "Ugh… my head. Everything's starting to spin…"
"Don't be alarmed, that's normal. Being inside an angel's dreamscape takes a lot of energy, and you've been hosting one, just a few hours ago. It's no wonder that you feel exhausted," said World of Elegance, as she reached over and supported Keiichi, just in case he lost his balance. He was wobbling about, after all, and regardless of the fact that he was currently in a dreamscape, the angel felt obligated to look after him. "Actually, it's probably for the best if you go back to sleep, and recover your lost strength. I'm sure that we'll get to speak to each other like this again. Oh, and we can also talk in the real world, too. At least, once I help my mistress sort her thoughts out. She's still a bit busy trying to rediscover herself, even if she pretends it's nothing at all."
The exhausted Keiichi offered a nod, and allowed himself to relax in her arms for a good couple of seconds. Just like before, he avoided acknowledging the fact that he was making direct contact with her bare skin, as he didn't deem the current circumstances fitting for such a thing. "Is there anything I can do to help you?"
"Just act normally, and it should be fine. This is something that she needs to sort out on her own. And like I said before, this is a good development in the long run. Give her enough time, and it'll work out in the end."
"I see…" was all that Keiichi managed to say, as he was getting really drowsy by this point.
And with his imminent departure from her dreamscape, World of Elegance decided against wasting more time with more talk, and instead, leaned in for a kiss. "Let's resume this some time later. By then, I hope I'll make this place a bit more… hospitable. That also means that I'm going to be rather busy for the next couple of days. So… until then, take care of yourself, Keiichi. Don't forget that I… well, we, love you."
"Love you, too… See you again, Ele-...ga-..."
xXx
Earth
It was almost noon when the exhausted, and emotionally drained residents of the Tariki Hongan temple slowly began to stir up in their sleep. After all, the previous day had proven so difficult for the entire household, that they pretty much crashed in the living room, as soon as Lind departed for Heavens with the Angel Eater's container at hand. And given the whole reason behind that incident, it was deemed appropriate for the three Norns to cuddle next to each other, with Urd in the middle and her sister framing her from either side. Further away, Peorth found herself sleeping between the two resident males of the house, which eventually put her in a rather compromising situation. Apparently during the night, they two boys unconsciously edged towards her until they were within arm's reach, and somehow their hands found themselves on her mostly exposed skin.
Of course, neither of them was doing it on purpose, since they were far too exhausted to actually think it was a great idea for them to fool around after such a night. And not only that, but in Gullveig's case, he probably mistook her for Skuld, which was only possible thanks to how tired he was. Because of that, Peorth simply let them carry on, since neither was physically capable of taking things too far with their ministrations. Sure enough, they both stopped within minutes from the moment this whole thing started, but it was more than enough to bring Peorth out of her sleep. Feeling somewhat peckish, and with more than enough sunlight shining through the rice paper panels, Peorth decided to do Belldandy a favor and prepare today's breakfast.
Even though she never brought this subject up, it felt strange for someone who used to live on her own, to gradually become a member of an extended family. Perhaps family wasn't exactly the best term to describe this situation, since the Norns were far closer to each other than her. Still, Peorth began to consider them as close friends, and not just due to the fact they lived together, or in Urd and Belldandy's case, that they shared a boyfriend. She didn't even terribly mind it when she realized that Gullveig was touching her, but then again, he wasn't doing it willingly, and if she ever brought this up, it was likely that the poor god would profusely apologize for it.
Shaking her head, Peorth exited the living room and prepared to get into the kitchen, when the sound of footsteps from outside caught her attention. The most important detail however, was that it almost sounded as if their visitor was wearing heels, which practically ruled out most of Keiichi's friends. Even Hasegawa -the Motor Club's sole female member- didn't wear something like that, which simply meant that it had to be someone else. And the moment she opened the door, Peorth was quite surprised to find Sayoko standing outside with a stunned look on her face. 'What is she doing here? And what's up with that look?' wondered the rose goddess, until she realized that she was in her favorite bikini, which definitely caught Sayoko off guard. Still, Peorth didn't seen too troubled by the fact that she was a bit undressed for the occasion, and casually leaned against the doorframe. "Oh, hello Sayoko! I wasn't expecting you to drop by for a visit."
For just a moment, Sayoko felt that there was a hint of sarcasm in Peorth's voice, but considering her pleasant expression, as well as her relaxed body language, she quickly dismissed it a figment of her imagination. After all, she had no delusions that they would welcome her with open arms, so, some cautiousness on her part was to be expected. "I'm sorry for arriving unannounced, but I don't have your phone number," said the rich woman in an attempt to break the ice, as well as buy some time to regain her composure. "I hope I'm not intruding or something. If that's the case, I'll have to drop by another time."
"Don't be silly, there's no need to leave! I just got up, so, you caught me a bit unprepared. That's all," dismissively said Peorth, since she couldn't exactly tell a lie. Then again, that didn't mean that she was going to reveal what took place the previous day, since that was too sensitive for mortals' ears. "And… yes, I know it's a bit late. I guess we fell asleep much later than I thought, so, we kinda slept in."
"I… see." That single phrase elicited quite the reaction from Sayoko, as her imagination started to run wild with all sorts of scenarios that could've explained why they stayed up this late. More importantly, what really mattered to her was just how many were involved in this… debauchery, since the whole point of her visit was to determine the exact nature of Keiichi's relationship with Peorth. "At any rate, I don't want to keep you busy. It's just that my father allowed me to use his yacht for a weekend, and I was wondering if you'd like to accompany me for a short trip."
Even a first class goddess like her wasn't prepared this kind of proposition, since it was so out of the ordinary for anyone to invite a rival to spend a weekend with them. Then again, appearances could be deceiving, and Sayoko had some ulterior motive for inviting her for a sea trip. "Why… that's pretty kind of you, although… how come? I don't want to sound rude, but we can't be your first choice of company."
"You're not rude, and there's a pretty good reason for this," said Sayoko in perfectly level tone, betraying no annoyance from Peorth's assumption. After all, she doubted that anyone in Peorth's shoes would've jumped at the opportunity for a free vacation, without wondering what's the catch. "It's just that my father intended to use his yacht for a business meeting, but the whole thing got canceled at the last moment. And since no one I know is available for this weekend, I thought it would be better to invite you. Going all by myself is no fun at all. Besides, it's a nice opportunity to put our differences aside, don't you think?"
"Well, I won't argue with that." Obviously, Peorth wasn't naive enough to buy that excuse, although she had no reason to outright decline either. If Sayoko had something in mind, then turning the offer down would only cause her to try harder to come up with something else. And in that case, there were no guarantees that "Although, when you said that you want us to come along for the trip, do you mean just me and Keiichi, or the others as well?"
"Hm… that's going to be tricky. Even though my father's yacht is far from tiny, I doubt it has enough beds for all of you. Still, if we squeeze up a bit, I suppose we might be able to do this, without having to leave someone behind," said Sayoko with a thoughtful expression, as she recalled the interior layout of her father's yacht. "Just to make sure, you're… six in total, right?"
"Yes, that's correct," said Peorth with a nod. It somewhat surprised her that Sayoko wanted to involve the others as well, since any kind of nefarious plan would've worked much better if she had her and Keiichi alone. Then again, perhaps she planned one step ahead and tried to avoid being too obvious. Whatever the case may be, Peorth wasn't afraid to deal with Sayoko's plot, since either way she couldn't be worse than her cousin, Aoshima.
"Excellent! I'll call you later to make the final arrangements!" Noticing Peorth raised eyebrow, Sayoko caught herself as she nearly blew her cover, and immediately brought up her phone. "Oh, right! Can you give me your number?"
'Nice save, but you're too obvious.' It took some effort to resist the urge to shake her head, since she was already certain that Sayoko wasn't here because she didn't know their number. By coming here in person, she had much better chances to convince her, which further hinted that Sayoko must've have something in mind. Still, Peorth had no intention to just send her away like that, and quickly grabbed a piece of paper from the desk next to the phone, and scribbled down their phone number. "Here. Just give us a call when you're ready."
"That I'll do," agreed Sayoko as she took the note, and even stored the number on her phone. With that done, she pocketed both in her purse, and prepared to leave. "Now, forgive me, but I must make a few arrangements. Besides, it's obvious that you've also got things to do, and I don't want to get in the way. We'll talk later."
"Later, then." The rose goddess offered her visitor a friendly wave, and then silently watched her departure. It was almost certain that Sayoko was planning something, although thankfully, she was nowhere as blunt or even stupid as that Aoshima. Then again, regardless of any family relation between those two, Sayoko's biggest flaw was pride, while Aoshima… is too much a mess to begin counting his flaws.
'Well, that was interesting. I guess I need to tell the others and see what they think as well.'
xXx
Hell
For the first time in his recent career as one of Hell's highest ranking officials, Vornir felt so vulnerable and afraid that he would've gladly given everything up, if only he was given the reassurance that there would be no further repercussions for his actions. Sure, he knew all too well that he screwed up -and big time too- but in his mind it wasn't his fault. Some bloody fool messed his genius plan to not only get Urd back, but also eliminate the problem that Peorth's lucrative contract started to become. And he would've gotten away with it… except that a fool thought it was a brilliant idea to rape their boss' daughter; or at least attempt to, since Urd turned out to be a much harder target to take down. At least, he managed to get him back, by sealing the idiot for all the trouble he caused him, but even then, it was far too late to spare himself from the fallout of this fiasco.
It was uncertain whether Mara went straight to Hild, or the latter summoned her on her own volition, but whatever the case may be, Vornir was horrified to learn that his boss openly suspected him. Apparently Mara's orders to monitor the goddesses on that particular night… were too much of a coincidence, and thus, Hild thought that he knew something about the whole thing. As such, she summoned him to her office for an interview that turned out to be much more of an interrogation, even if she tried to keep a pleasant facade.
Needless to say, he did his best to support the theory that his reasoning for sending Mara to spy on them, was due to the rumors he heard about a fallout between Urd and Skuld, after the latter found out about her sister's strip show. And thanks to his foresight, he wanted to know whether this was going to become a problem for Urd, or not. All things considered, this sounded like a plausible story, and one that depicted him in a very positive light, which was apparently what spared him an imminent incarceration; or worse. Being reincarnated into a low level lifeform was a fate that Vornir didn't even wish to consider, let alone experience, and with so much at stake, he put his best performance yet. The only thing left was to wait and see Hild's reaction, since she was eerily quiet throughout the entire interrogation, leaving Hagall to handle the questioning.
"Are you quite done?"
The grave tone of Hild's voice that lacked all sense of the typical playfulness that was associated with the demon CEO, caused Vornir to flinch. It was more than obvious to anyone who knew Hild, that she didn't quite buy his story, although it was still hard to tell what was going on in her head. Due to that, Vornir did his best to maintain an image of innocence, even if he was freaking out on the inside. "Yes, my lady. If there's anything else you'd like to ask me, I'd be more than happy to provide the answers you seek."
"I'll keep that in mind. For the time being though, you're dismissed," said Hild, much to Hagall's surprise, who even turned her head to give her boss a curious glance. By stark contrast, Vornir felt tremendous relief to hear that, and even bowed deeply before her, since he most certainly thought that he was off the hook.
"By your orders, lady Hild," said Vornir, and immediately rushed to get out of the office, leaving a very perplexed Hagall behind.
"Forgive me to say this, lady Hild, but… why did you let him leave?" asked the blonde demoness once Vornir was finally gone. "I bet my ass that he's behind this whole mess. So, why not arrest him now, and spare ourselves the trouble of dealing with him later?"
In all fairness, Hild already anticipated this question, and therefore waited for Hagall to finish before she turned to address her. "That may be, yet I don't want to rush things and end up making a fool of myself. So far we only have circumstantial evidence to prove Vornir's guilt, but without something far more concrete to seal his fate, we might end up making him look like a poor scapegoat. And while I have every intent to see the one responsible for attacking my daughter brought to justice… I don't wish for that to happen at the expense of my image. If my subordinates think that I'm willing to bend the rules, or even interpret the laws the way it suits me, then I'm unsuitable to lead you. Even if that clashes with my interests as Urd's mother… the responsibilities for a demon of my position are too great to simply dismiss for my personal affairs. It's not something I like, but I must do it regardless."
The brutal honesty in Hild's voice, as well as the reply itself left Hagall awestruck. It wasn't exactly typical for demons to put the common interest above their personal affairs, but then again, a selfish leader wouldn't last for too long; and Hild was far from the average CEO. Actually, it was that very sense of duty that allowed her to stay in charge for much longer than some of her predecessors, as well as the reason why Hagall looked up to her. "I understand, my lady. Forgive me for stepping out of my bounds."
"Don't think much about it, Hagall. It's not that I don't share your sentiments… No, actually it's even worse from my perspective. However, I must do things the proper way, and that's how it's going to be," said Hild, keeping her tone level, to better display her control over her emotions. "For the time being I'll put him under surveillance, and gather as much evidence as possible before I make my move."
"Understood," said Hagall with a nod. "I'm at your disposal at any time, should you need my help. And the same goes for my subordinates, as well."
"Actually, I'm already going to do that. However, there's one little issue that needs to be addressed before that."
Judging by the tone of her boss' voice, Hagall knew what this was all about. As a matter of fact, she was surprised that her mentor haven't brought the subject up already, although this whole emergency might've been the reason why that was the case. "Yes, my lady?"
"Listen to me, Hagall. It's not my place to dictate who you're allowed to love, but keep in mind that when your relationships can cause a big diplomatic issue, then it actually falls in my jurisdiction. Am I clear?"
Despite the strictness of her boss' voice, there were no obvious hints that the demon CEO was truly angry with her, and for that she could breathe a sigh of relief. Sure, Hagall knew the risks involved when she confessed her feelings to Tyr, but at the same time she hoped that her decision wouldn't ruin her relationship with her mentor. For the longest time she looked up to Hild, and wished to repay her for getting her out of the streets where she ended up when she was little. Not only that, but Hild became her tutor and closest confidant, and without even demanding anything from her, which by itself was rare thing in Hell. So, to disappoint, or worse make it seem that she backstabbed Hild like this, was the last thing Hagall wanted at the time being. "I'm terribly sorry for that incident, my lady. It was foolish of me to even consider that I had any chances for getting his attention."
"There's no need to apologize," said Hild with a shake of her head. "I'm the one who started this whole mess by inviting you to our bedroom. And considering my own situation, it's pretty hypocritical to admonish you for doing the very same thing that I've done. After all, I'm still pretty much in love with him, and don't plan to give him up any time soon." Taking a pause to let her words sink in, Hild relaxed her features and offered her subordinate a ghost of a smile. "As a woman, I don't blame you for not giving up either. However, as Urd's mother, I'd appreciate if you don't end up becoming an issue for Tyr's family."
"I fully understand, so, please don't worry about me. I won't do anything that displeases you, lady Hild." Keeping her gaze at the floor, and her head hung low, just to convey her regret for troubling her mentor, Hagall waited for Hild's response. Yet when the latter said nothing for a couple of seconds, the blonde started to wonder what was going on, until she felt a hand brush against her cheek. Shivers went down Hagall's spine, as her boss gently stroked her blemishless skin, and pushed her bang behind her ear. At this point, it was impossible to resist the urge to look up at her, and the moment their eyes met, Hagall straightened up and placed her gloved hand over Hild's. For a while neither spoke, and instead stared at each other, until the platinum haired beauty glanced at her student's lips. This was all the hint Hagall needed to lean forward and kiss her fully on the lips; a gesture that, Hild graciously returned.
In all fairness, this kind of rewards were a rare treat Hild offered on rare occasions, especially towards those closest to her. After all, she didn't wish to gain the reputation of a mentor who exploited her student's adoration once the latter was ripe for the taking. Even then, doing it when Hagall was feeling low, was another thing she didn't wish to pull on anyone, let alone her own protegee. Still, when she felt Hagall's tongue brush against her lips, Hild obliged and opened up her mouth to deepen the kiss. More so, she felt a hand working its way across her back, reaching for her pert, rich derriere that she grabbed without much hesitation. And while that didn't come off as such a surprise, when Hagall repositioned her hand to the front of her dress, and slipped it under the split that so generously displayed her long, shapely legs. For the second time in a very short while, her amorous protegee was fondling her rear, but far more enthusiastically than before. 'Poor girl, she must be pretty frustrated, even if she tries to hide it from me. Oh well, I'm pretty pissed off myself, and some stress relief could be a good thing.'
Fueled by her pent-up frustration, Hagall continued to make out with her mentor, who was becoming increasingly responsive to her ministrations. While she secretly feared that she already pushed it too far, and a slap across the face was the only possible outcome. As such, she slowly pulled away from the tonguekiss she somehow managed to maintain for this long, and braced herself for the scolding she so much deserved. "Lady Hild, I-"
Before she could finish her sentence, Hild shushed her by placing a finger against her lips. "Shh… that's okay. I think I also need to blow off some steam, so, why don't we help each other out?" With her other hand, she patted the surface of her desk for Hagall to take a seat on. "Take your panties off, and get on."
Hagall didn't need to be told twice, and immediately reached under her skirt to tug down her green, frill trimmed panties, until they fell onto the floor. Stepping out of them, she took a seat on the spot Hild indicated for her, and nervously spread her long, shapely legs. And thanks to the asymmetric design of her skirt -that was much shorter on the front- it left her nether region in plain sight. "Here, my lady," she said after a short pause, in which she pulled one of her gloves with her teeth, and then reached down to spread her nether lips. "I'm yours for the taking."
A broad smile formed on Hild's lips, as she lowered her gaze to her subordinate's privates, that glistered from the increasing moisture coming from within. Looking up at Hagall's eyes, Hild took a step forward, just so that she was standing directly in front of her, and then leaned in for another kiss. This time around, it was mostly to keep her subordinate preoccupied, while she run her hand across Hagall's, and then went ahead to caress her blonde pubic hair. Little by little, she edged closer to her spread entrance, and even traced those fingers that kept it open, bringing out a content sigh from her excited pupil. Then, just as she wasn't expecting it, the demon CEO slipped a finger into her entrance, eliciting a muffled scream, thanks to her lips being covered by Hild's. With well practiced skill, she explored her subordinate's love channel, causing her to tighten around the invading digit. More so, when Hild's ring came into contact with Hagall's pulsating vaginal walls, the blonde nearly came from the sheer sensation, gushing her juices on her mentor's hand. "Well, well… aren't we needy? I barely even began, and you're leaking like a tap!"
"Mhnn…" Hagall struggled to maintain control of her voice, especially when Hild not only inserted a second finder into her, but used her thumb to rub her sensitive clit. "Ah!... Lady Hild!...Right there… I… Oh!" Her breathing became heavier and far more erratic, while her hips bucked as if they possessed a will of their own, which only encouraged Hild to finger her harder. The wet sound of the sliding fingers only added to the erotic experience, pushing Hagall closer to the inevitable release… until Hild came to a stop. And while this gave the panting blonde a chance to regain her composure, it also made her wonder just what kind of game her mentor was playing. Before she could ask, a warm and particularly wet sensation coming from her crotch, caused Hagall to take in a sharp breath and look down, where Hild was already in the process of flicking her tongue across her labia. "Wait… My lady?... What are you-"
"I'm eating your muff, what else?" countered Hild, interrupting the obviously pointless question. She expertly slipped her tongue past her subordinate's inner labia, and proceeded to scrape the juices off her subordinate's vaginal walls, causing her to squirm from the sheer pleasure that Hild's technique offered her. The bronze skinned demoness stared up at her target, with her piercing purple eyes fixed on Hagall's, and her hands firmly pressed against the blonde's inner thighs, elbows outstretched back, giving her the visage of a tigress preparing to pounce on her victim. Even her tongue flicked back and forth just like a feline's while drinking water, only in this case, it was Hagall's rich juices Hild was enjoying. More so, the increasingly louder moans that escaped her protegee's lips, as well as the sound of her high heels clicking against the desk's surface, prompted her to go even harder on the frustrated demoness.
However, seconds before Hagall hit her much needed orgasm, Hild stopped and got up. With a fluid motion of her thumb, she wiped Hagall's overflowing juices from her chin, and smirked at the slightly confused blonde. "Alright, get up and grab a strap on. I've got a task for you," ordered Hild, and then started to remove her dress. Pulling it open first, the platinum haired demoness gave her subordinate a glorious view of her heavy, full breasts, before she moved further and slipped the low cut dress off her shoulders. Then, with a single motion she dropped it onto the floor, alongside her purple high cut panties, leaving herself in nothing more than her high heels. Normally, Hild would've preferred the slow approach, but right now, she didn't have the time for something too elaborate. Besides, her subordinate was already aroused enough, and to be honest, so was she.
Hagall felt drawn to the sight of Hild's glistering labia, along with the sensitive knob that hovered right above the dripping lips she so much wished to kiss, and then properly return the favor. Still, she had her orders, and given that she had been staring for long enough already, the blonde rushed to her feet, almost to the point of stumbling. "I'm sorry, I-" she tried to say, only for Hild to shush her with by placing a finger against her lips.
"Easy there, silly girl. There's no need to apologize for wanting what you like," said Hild with a surprising gentleness in her voice, as she caressed Hagall's lips with her finger. "Now, follow me," she instructed, guiding her mesmerized protegee around the wooden desk, until they both stood before the tinted-glass windows that framed her office. From this vantage point, Hild could see most of the demonic capital city, and the same was true for Hagall, who stood right behind her. "Take a good look at the sight before you. This whole city, along with its residents and resources, belongs to me; everything as far as the eye can see belong to me. Yet, this shouldn't be enough for any ambitious demoness that has plans for her future."
"I'm afraid, I don't follow you, my lady. What does that have anything to do with us, right now?"
"It's quite simple, really," coyly replied Hild, and then placed her hands against the glass. "Our desires are very similar to our insatiable need for power, influence, and control over others. And right now, I stand naked before you, and willing to let you have your way with me. So, what's more natural for any demoness in your shoes, than to give me the fucking I'm begging for?" Noticing the slight hesitation in her subordinate's eyes, Hild subtly shook her rear and stuck it further back, towards Hagall. "Trust me when I say it, but you'll feel so much better once you fuck me in your terms."
'My terms, huh…' With a slight smirk, Hagall reached to fondle her boss' bare backside. She spent a good couple of seconds raveling the sensation of her fingers against Hild's finely tuned muscles that betrayed her past as a warrior. 'She's almost like Lind back there. I wonder if I should start training myself, too. I bet I could get such a firm ass like theirs. Not that mine is flabby or something, but so far I'm mostly advertising my cleavage. Perhaps improving my overall assets could make me even more desirable,' noted Hagall, before she got so distracted by her own thoughts that she slapped Hild's bum without even thinking about it. Actually, it was only after she heard her boss' sharp breath that she fully realized what she had done, and immediately froze.
For a tense couple of seconds, Hagall waited for the inevitable reprimand, yet that never came. Not only that, but she saw Hild shake her rear ever so subtly, when she realized the most likely reason for this entire holdup. 'Well… would you look at that! She likes it!' Tentatively at first, Hagall gave Hild's other buttcheek a nice slap, and then went back to the one she started with, but this time she put a lot more force to it. This action elicited a rather audible moan from Hild, that did wonders to Hagall's arousal, prompting her to take this to the next level. With a casual flick of her wrist, the blonde demoness formed a series of runes in the air, and before long, a strap-on formed around her crotch.
A low groan escaped Hagall's lips, as the strap-on she picked features an inner dildo, that penetrated her own vagina the moment she summoned it. However, its finest feature is the extra-realistic penis mounted up front, that was decades ahead of any human-made sex toy. Not only did it possess synthetic 'muscles' that allowed it to expand and contract like a real penis, but it also had the ability to throb based on its wearer's own level of arousal. And case to the point, the synthetic phallus began to rise and expand, in response to the feedback it received from the dildo inside Hagall's sopping vagina. 'Look at it go. I really works as advertised… which can't be said for most other things. Best impulse buy of the year.'
"Girls these days, and their fancy toys!..." playfully said Hild, as she felt Hagall poke her wet nether lips with the toy in question. The sensation of that dildo was so close to the real deal, that she felt the need to look over her shoulder to verify that this was indeed what was sliding into her. "Mmhm!... It's a pretty good toy, though!"
"Yes…" said Hagall in a drawn out moan, as the feedback she was receiving through this high end toy was more than enough to get her wet from excitement. It was somewhat strange to feel her side of the dildo pulse as she slipped the other end into Hild's equally sopping sex, but Hagall knew that the longer she waited, the more awkward it was going to get. So, with her hands firmly gripping her boss' wide hips, the blonde demoness pushed hard into her. With Hild's moans as her guide, Hagall negotiated a pace that worked the best for both of them, although it seemed that Hild preferred it a bit rougher than she was comfortable at pushing her. As such, the blonde closed her eyes for a moment and tried to forget who she was doing, and for the most part, it helped her a great deal. Only after a good couple of minutes has passed, did she open her eyes, and glanced down. The mere sight of Hild's buttocks jiggle from the force of her thrusts, was more than enough to arouse her in ways that she never expected when they first started this. Furthermore, when she looked around Hild's back, and saw her reflection on the glass window, the sight of her boss' erotic breasts freely swaying back and forth, pushed her even closer to losing it.
Even though she acted as if she wasn't in control, Hild took the opportunity to observe and evaluate her pupil's actions, since it was hard for anyone to maintain a poker face while in mid coitus. Sure, she could already feel Hagall's frustration from the way the latter was smacking her hips against her rear, but for the most part, Hild could also sense an arousal far beyond her expectation. 'Looks like she's really into it. Well… we all have our fantasies, so, I don't blame her for wanting to fuck me.' The demon CEO recalled the time back when she was still Styrkr's protegee, and though she never did anything more than teasing him, there was the occasional errant thought of doing something far more than that. Perhaps that's also why she wanted to let Hagall live some of her own fantasies, although in all fairness, Hild really enjoyed the attention she was getting from her. As such, she glanced over her shoulder and caught Hagall's gaze with her piercing purple orbs. "Kiss me," she all but whispered, and in such a sensual tone that was next to impossible to say not to.
Hesitatingly at first, Hagall leaned forward, until her breasts pressed hard against Hild's back, and then caught her boss' lips in a clumsy kiss. However, when she felt the bronze skinned demoness return it, and quite enthusiastically too, she cast her worries aside and went all out. She didn't even realize when it happened, or who started it first, but at some point during this hot kiss, she found her tongue coming into contact with Hild's, and that turned her on so hard, that she felt her juices trickle down her thighs. At the same time, this closeness made it difficult to thrust her toy into her boss, and in a moment of libido induced bravery, Hagall moved her hands from Hild's hips and seized her by her shoulders. Then, as she pulled back to take the dildo out of her, Hagall turned Hild around and pressed her against the glass.
"Ahnn~! Mmph!..." The platinum haired demoness didn't even get a chance to say anything, as her ravenous protegee pressed herself against her, and began to make out with her. This both surprised and excited Hild, since it was so much more rewarding than dealing with a nervous girl who almost acted as if she was being caught stealing cookies from the proverbial jar. Even more surprising was the fact that amidst all this, Hagall somehow managed to slip the dildo back into her, causing Hild to instinctively spread her legs wide for her pupil to reach under them and got hold of her thighs. And not to feel left out of the action, Hild reached around to grab the blonde's tight bum, and urged her into thrusting even harder.
A low thud could be heard across the office, as Hild's body repeatedly came into contact with the glass pane, all while she was being pressed hard against Hagall's body. Just the way their breasts pressed together, reminded her of two pairs of yoga balls, with all the springiness and plentiful volume that only a bustier girl could afford. Perhaps this was the biggest benefit of having sex with Hagall, since someone like Ansuz couldn't possibly offer her such a thrill -even though she'd never tell that to her face. Then again, the blonde's backside as great as it was, it still couldn't compare to Ansuz's, but… there's always a tradeoff to such things. Of course, none of that mattered to her at the time being, as the raw pleasure of Hagall's toy pistoning in and out of her hungry snatch that consumed it like a popsicle.
When they broke off their already prolonged kiss, the ecstatic 'yes' that escaped Hild's lips was so loud that it gave the windows another reason to shake. It was hard to believe that her protegee ploughed her so fiercely to make her moan like that, since most of the time, Hagall preferred to be on the receiving end. So, it's not that the younger demoness had such an extensive pool of experience to draw upon, and more like she was driven by pure lust; an emotion that also threatened to consume Hild herself. "Oh!... OH!" she moaned, but didn't manage to say more, as her entire body shook from the sheer force of her orgasm. "FUCK YES!"
Her mentor's scream pushed Hagall closer to her own climax, especially thanks to the almost explosive feedback she got through her strap on. As a matter of fact, the inner dildo that was buried in her pussy, nearly broke from the amount of energy it had to relay, and the added effect of feeling Hild's convulsing muscles was the last straw for her. With a drawn out cry of sheer pleasure, Hagall arched her back and thrust the other end of her strap on as deep as she could in her boss' vagina, following by a scream as the mischievous CEO of Hell, shoved a finger up her rear. "LADY HILD~?!..." This totally unexpected action, not only took Hagall by surprise, but also amplified the intensity of her orgasm, causing her to nearly let go of Hild and even fall to the floor as her legs felt like jelly all of a sudden. Actually, if it wasn't for Hild catching her, she would've already ended up on the floor in such a shameful manner… even though a part of her totally loved every single second of it.
"You're allowed to be angry now, but you'll come to appreciate it later," cheerfully said Hild, and even offered her panting protegee a wink, despite having just recovered from her own orgasm.
"I… I'm not… mad at all," managed Hagall between her gasps for air. "I can't… Not after I enjoyed it so much." Her cheeks slowly turned red, as the realization of what she's done to her idol, slowly sank in. Thankfully for her, Hild didn't seem to take offense to how far she pushed it, and even appeared to have enjoyed it herself. "I hope I did a good job satisfying you as well, lady Hild."
"Are you kidding? I don't remember when it was the last time I had so much fun with another demoness," said Hild, before adding in a much lower tone. "Perhaps we should do each other more often."
"I… I would love to!" She knew all too well that her stunned expression looks pretty silly, but it was really hard to contain her happiness, since for the first time she truly felt desired. At the very least, this could help her forget about the fact that she's been turned down by Tyr, even though was more of a distraction.
"Then it's a deal," said Hild as she leaned to kiss Hagall on the cheek. "However, we've got a job to do. So, let's clean up here, and take a shower. Actually, I'll wash your back if you do mine."
"Of course, lady Hild!"
xXx
Earth
Several minutes after the admittedly late breakfast, Peorth found the opportunity to properly explain the nature of Sayoko's unexpected visit, which puzzled even the most open-minded among them. As expected, an invitation for a free -albeit short- vacation, sounded a bit too good to be true; and in most cases when that happens, there's always some kind of catch. The real problem in this particular occasion, was Sayoko's possible motive, which didn't seem nearly as obvious as one would've expected. At least her cousin was a lot more simple-minded, and thus predictable. Yet the same couldn't be said about Sayoko herself.
"I don't know about you guys, but I have a feeling she's trying to set us up for something," said Keiichi, after Peorth finished recounting her interaction with the Mishima heiress.
"I second that," quipped Urd, without even bothering to hide her distrust in her voice. "The last time we all talked to her, was back during that stupid contest. And she was so butthurt about it, that it's not even funny. So, excuse me if I don't buy her story."
Feeling that this counted as two votes of distrust towards Sayoko's intentions, Belldandy chose to voice her own opinion, just to present a different point of view, before they made any final decisions. "What if she's trying to make up with us, though? The way I see it, the whole thing was caused due to her wounded pride, back when she realized that she's not as popular as she likes to think. However, I don't believe that she's as narrow-minded as her cousin, and perhaps she thought that this is a way to make amends for the things she said back then."
"That may be the case, but… aren't we forgetting about something?" asked Skuld, as she glanced over at the rose goddess. "Peorth already accepted Sayoko's offer, so, what's the point of talking about this? Plus, even if she's plotting something, we're more than capable of dealing with her. I mean, five deities against one human? Don't get me wrong, but the odds are in our favor."
"In my defence, even though I thought that we should be safe, I didn't accept just because of that," said Peorth when she felt everyone's eyes fall on her. "Like Belldandy said, there's a chance that, Sayoko wants to put the whole Queen of the Campus incident behind her. And as a goddess, it's my duty to offer her an opportunity to make up for past mistakes. And while we're talking about mistakes, I too have some things I came to regret over the last few decades. You see, I used to be far more paranoid than I am right now, and even had a couple of serious misunderstandings, over what most would consider as trivial things. As such, I wish to avoid repeating the same mistakes, and if that's why I gave Sayoko a chance. Of course, if she ends up being anything like that cousin of hers, there's no way I'm going to listen to anything she has to say from that point on."
"Hm… I see," mused Keiichi. It was fairly obvious from the way everyone was looking at him, that they pretty much expected him to make the final call. However, he felt that there was one more person present that watched the whole discussion without expressing his thoughts, and thus turned to him. "Gullveig? What do you think about all this?"
"Personally… I think she's suspecting something," said the blonde god with a thoughtful expression, as he recalled some of the most serious past incidents. "Even if she's got nothing to do with Aoshima's plots, I doubt that she never heard about his silly efforts to get into Belldandy's panties. And as funny as it was when he ended up in a dumpster, it might have caught her attention how Belldandy managed to toss him around like that."
"Actually, forget about that," said Urd. "What if she goes for the oldest trick in the book, and try to play the jealousy card on Peorth? As far as she knows, that's Keiichi's girlfriend, and one of the easiest ways to mess around with any relationship is by putting a third person in the middle. Sure, that's unlikely to work with us, but she doesn't know that."
"Sister, I don't believe that Sayoko will go that far," said Belldandy with a frown, which was more than enough to cause Urd to back off, and offer a shrug.
"Maybe you're right, Bell. Heck, I wouldn't mind hanging around with her, if she turns out to be nothing like that Aoshima creep. Besides, I never say no to a free vacation," finished Urd with a wink, in an attempt to lighten up the mood, and put an end to this argument. After all, if all they did was to endlessly talk about it, there was nothing to gain, other than piss each other off. And if that came to be the case, they might as well do a favor to anyone who's holding a grudge against them. On the other hand, if Sayoko was genuinely looking for a way to make amends for that incident, then giving her a chance to prove it could get one enemy off their backs.
"I suppose it's been decided, then! We'll give Sayoko's offer a fair chance, and if it works well, then it's all good. Otherwise, we'll have to keep a distance from her in the future," announced Keiichi, and then waited for everyone's reactions. Sure enough, the deities around him nodded their heads in agreement, since that was the safest way to deal with this situation. And with that taken care of, this unofficial meeting reached a conclusion, allowing its participants to carry off with their daily routines. For Keiichi, however, there was one more issue to deal with, as it was proven by his conversation with World of Elegance. "Oh, Belldandy? Can I talk to you for a moment?"
The middle Norn seemed surprised to hear her name, as she thought that they've pretty much covered everything in that meeting. As such, she approached her boyfriend and gave him a curious look, trying to figure out why he seemed so nervous all of a sudden. "Yes, Keiichi?"
Considering that most of the others were still in earshot, Keiichi felt uncertain on how to approach this particular subject. So, in end, he decided to deliberately give them the idea that he wanted something else from the gentle Norn. "Actually, I'd prefer if we talk privately. Is that a problem?"
Just like everyone else within earshot of their conversation, Belldandy assumed that her boyfriend was trying to ask her for some early… stress relief. It was funny how even after everything that happened thus far, Keiichi remained nervous whenever he asked for anything sex-related. Then again, it was true that she didn't seem too forward either, even if she performs quite admirably when the real action starts. "No, that's not a problem at all, Keiichi. I assume it's alright to go to your room?"
"Yep! It works for me!" said Keiichi with a smile, at which point everyone else resumed walking away from the living room. It was pretty obvious to them that the two of them would be busy for the next half an hour, or so, and it was far too early to try anything more elaborate that would require their presence.
And one of those individuals happened to be Urd, who simply let out a sigh and retreated to her own room. 'Oh well… Let them have their fun. I've got my own… problems to think about.'
xXx
As soon as she wanted into her room, Urd could finally relax and take a moment to sort out her thoughts, given all that took place as of late. And in honesty… she had no idea where to start from. On one hand, the whole deal she made with her mother backfired so bad that it wasn't even funny. To make matters worse, Urd now had full access to World of Elegance's memories, given that the connection with her angel was completely restored, rather than being limited due to her poor decision to lock her away. And while this was a beautiful event, that should've brought happiness to her heart, it also came with a bunch of memories that she didn't wish to deal with at the moment. Chief among them was the latest incident that took place at Hell, when her angel stopped that demon from violating her. That was definitely something quite disturbing to experience, even if she already knew the outcome in advance.
However, that wasn't the only thing that preoccupied her thoughts. For the first time in her entire life, Urd's demonic half was figuratively speaking unchained, given full access to all parts of her mind; for better or worse. So, to say that she had a lot to worry about would've been an understatement, since both her full assimilation with her other half, and the absorbed memories from her angel, caused Urd to even question what the end result would be. Sure, right now there wasn't much of a big difference, aside from the occasional change in her demeanor, which was so subtle that she doubted whether her sisters even took notice of it.
What she did know however, was that her angel came into contact with Keiichi, and pretty much told him more than enough. Sure, World of Elegance acted out with only her best interests in mind, but at the same time, Urd didn't wish to become a liability. Still, that was kind of an optimistic viewpoint, considering that things could potentially take a rather unpleasant turn. With her other alter ego having a much bigger influence on her whole self, Urd feared that she wouldn't be able to maintain her relationship with Keiichi. And it wasn't just the open nature of their relationship that posed most of the challenges, but her own conflicting desires that were so different, that she had trouble to even accept that they were all hers.
A certain part of her, just wished for things to remain the same, especially now that she finally found a decent partner who loved, and accepted her for who and what she was. Yet at the same time, a different part of her psyche desired to explore the untapped potential of the openness of her relationship with Keiichi. While he never forbid her to seek other partners, and even tried that partner swap with Skuld and Gullveig some time ago, Urd felt that she was holding back a bit too much. Truth to be told, both she and Peorth had kind of agreed not to push Keiichi too far, given that it was unlikely for him to immediately become adjusted to the idea of sharing his 'girls' with others. Granted, Keiichi never even implied that he put a claim on them, and to his credit, actually handled the whole partner swap better than most of the others involved in it. Not only that, but his attitude towards her and Gullveig didn't change at all. He still respected the blonde god as another member of the household, and even as a friend of sorts, despite the fact that at some point he did Urd; an act that both of them greatly enjoyed.
Still, it wasn't the prospect of having yet another partner to spice up her sex life that acted as Urd's primary motivation. If that was the case, then she would've certainly come up with another alternative, and avoid messing up with Skuld's relationship. It was in fact her worry that her little sister might end up doing that on her own, because of feeling left out. The idea that she and Belldandy did something without inviting Skuld to take part in it, wasn't going to sit well with their sister forever, and in situations like these, misappropriation of blame can be a serious problem. In other words, if she ended up blaming her relationship with Gullveig as the main reason of this change, then it was extremely possible that she might try to 'fix' the problem by breaking up with her boyfriend. And while this might solve some of the issues, in the long run it might deny her the experience of a more wholesome relationship.
With no obvious solution to this delicate issue, Urd decided to take a break and work on her projects for a while; just so that she can return on this problem with a fresh perspective. However, before she could even start retrieving the ingredients for the first potion she wished to brew, a knock on the door caught her attention. "Yes?"
"Urd, it's me," said Keiichi from the hallway, much to the Norn's surprise. "Can I talk to you for a moment?"
"Sure thing. Come inside, Keiichi." The confusion was evident in her voice, as she was so sure that her boyfriend took Belldandy to his room for some morning love making, that she didn't expect them to be done this early. 'How the Hell did they finish this soon? Even if Bell skipped foreplay and went straight for a blowjob, that still would've taken her a couple of minutes to make Keiichi cum.' Such were the half goddess' thoughts when her boyfriend entered the room, and approached her with a somewhat nervous smile, that clearly betrayed that he was up to something. "What happened? I thought you were with Bell."
"Oh, I was actually. You see… I noticed that you looked tired, even after you just woke up, so-" said Keiichi, but urd interrupted him before he could finish his sentence.
"Tired? You surely don't mean that, World of Elegance told you about my state of mind, right?" Of course, she knew that this was indeed the case, and her boyfriend was an even worse liar than her, which resulted in him trying really hard to bring up the topic of her demonic side being merged with her divine. "It's okay, I'm not mad about that you talked to her. However, there's no need to worry about me. I may be confused right now, but I'm going to be much better than I ever was."
"That's nice to know," admitted Keiichi with a sigh of relief, especially as he worried about Urd's temper now that her demonic side had more influence over her personality. Thankfully that wasn't the case here, and thus he decided to go ahead and try to explain his idea. "Still, from what I've heard from Belldandy, you did happen to enjoy the massage she gave you yesterday. So, I asked her if she's like to offer you another one, just to help you relax a bit. Wouldn't that be great?"
The suggestion initially surprised Urd, who wondered just where he even came up with this crazy idea. However, she had to admit that absurd as it was, it could indeed help her relax, given Belldandy's skilled hands. "Actually, I don't mind it at all. Should I go and tell Bell?"
"Nah, leave it to me, Urd. She might be preparing for it, even as we speak," said Keiichi, as he offered her a wink. "Just head to the bathroom, and I'll get her. Okay?"
"Sure thing. See you later, lover boy."
xXx
As promised, by the time Urd got to the bathroom, Belldandy had already set up an airbed next to the bathtub, and even prepared the oils she was going to use for the massage. After all, it was totally in-character for the goddess of the present to show such fastidious care for just about everything she does. On the other hand, Urd couldn't care any less for such details, and simply stripped off her clothes the moment she entered the bathroom, and went ahead to dip into the hot tub.
"Ahh… That's the life..." sighed the half goddess, as she leaned back, and momentarily closed her eyes in bliss. The hot water did wonders to soothe her body, but more importantly take her mind off her current problems. "Hey, Bell! The water's good, so, hurry up!"
"One moment, please!" cheerfully replied the middle Norn, taking a moment to properly fold her clothes, before joining Urd in the water. Truth to be told, this was far from the first time she was bathing with her big sister, although the fact that the latter is now a lot more in-tune with her demonic self, made her slightly anxious. Of course, it wasn't her personal safety she worried about, since no matter the circumstances, Urd wouldn't even think of hurting her. However, the same didn't apply to accidental innuendo, all thanks to Urd's tendency to pull those 'big sister checks' on her and Skuld. But with Urd being more in tune with her demonic side, Belldandy wondered if this could escalate into something she wasn't mentally ready for. 'Actually, what am I even thinking? Sister would never try anything explicit on me.'
"You seem awfully distracted today, Bell," noted Urd with a slight grin, as she enjoyed the startled look on her sister's face. "What? You thought I wouldn't notice?"
"A lot happened last night," admitted Belldandy while she lowered herself into the water, and tried her best to relax. It was a bit cramped for sure, since their tub was never designed to accommodate for more than one person at a time, but that wasn't the source of her discomfort. "And while everyone likes to think that I'm such a strong person, I can't help to admire how you handle yourself, Urd. If I were in your shoes, I would've been terrified."
The half goddess chuckled in response, and then pushed her back harder against the tub, just to make more space for her sister. "You flatter me, Bell, but I don't deserve such praise. If I was to face all that on my own, then I probably would've been scared, too. But I wasn't, and that's the point. Besides, I've made a huge mistake that put me in that position to begin with. And I like to fix my mess ups, or at least face the consequences."
"No, you don't! You shouldn't accept responsibility for not doing something wrong. I've heard why you agreed to work in the strip club, and while I don't think it's the best solution, at least you were trying to help. That's no excuse for anyone to target you!" While Belldandy's voice retained her usual gentleness, there was a clear hint of strictness she only displayed whenever she was dead serious about something. "It's almost like that erotic video back then! I don't even know why you defended them, Urd! After all, they took advantage of you!"
"Whoa! Don't mix this mess with that one!" said the startled Urd, since she didn't see this one coming. After all, it was more than enough that her angel also brought this up, while speaking with Keiichi, so, to talk about it with her sister as well, was a bit too much. "Look, I've made a bad decision back then, and that's the end of it. I should've known better than trust a bunch of gods I wasn't familiar with, especially when it came to sleeping with them. Sure, they acted pretty irresponsibly, and the whole thing did put me off from trying anything similar, but… I came to accept it as a life lesson on bad deals. And I must admit that I did take it really badly back then, although I mostly hated that the topic of my ancestry popped up once again."
"To be fair, I also share a fair amount of responsibility for not stopping you. It's just that… when you told me about the praises you received during the first shooting, I kind of shared your happiness. If I hadn't been so gullible myself, I would've stopped it sooner than I did."
The half goddess' eyebrows shot up at her sister's choice of words, leaving her with only one possible conclusion. "So… it was you who told father."
"Actually, I'm the one who sealed them," admitted Belldandy, much to Urd's shock. "The fact that father heard about it, only came later. Still, neither he, nor mother condemned my decision to do something about those gods, and in fact, took care of their containers for me."
"You sealed them?!" asked the still incredulous Urd, who found it almost impossible to believe that her well mannered sister was capable of making such a decision. "Belldandy-..."
"Spare me the sermon, sister," said Belldandy with a solemn shake of her head. "When it comes to you and Skuld, I'm nowhere as willing to forgive those who wrong you. Besides, as it's been later decided, such an action is condemnable, and they were indeed put into trial and resealed once that law came into effect."
"I…" Urd tried to continue, but found herself unsure how to. In all fairness, this totally caught her off guard, even though she would've done the same for her sisters, too. "A-At any rate… I'm glad that the whole thing had been sorted out."
"Me, too." Considering the nature of this topic, Belldandy wisely decided to drop it for now. After all, the whole point of spending some time with her sister was to make sure that she's doing fine now that she's more in tune with her demonic side, and not to remind her of troublesome past incidents. "At the very least, promise me that you won't go to that terrible place in Hell. I don't mind you visiting their capital, but it's better if you stay away from such ill reputed streets."
"Actually… I'm planning to give one last performance there, before I officially quit from my part-time job there," said Urd with such a casual tone, that actually shocked her sister.
"What?! Urd, you can't be serious!" gasped the middle Norn, feeling almost gobsmacked from such a foolish proposal. After all that happened, having her sister go back there and put herself in danger for a second time was more than foolish in her books. And no matter how impulsive of a goddess Urd is, this was a bit too much even by her standards.
"Hear me out, Bell," said the half goddess as she raised a hand to stop her sister in mid sentence, before she carried on with her protests. "I don't wish to give anyone the impression that they intimidated me into quitting whatever I started. Yes, I'll probably have to take more than enough precautions to avoid another incident like yesterday's, but in the end, I wish to voluntarily quit from that job; not being forced to give up. Besides, if we let whoever was behind it think that they can bully us like that, then you can expect that they might use such scare tactics for other things, too. And I've got a feeling you know what I'm talking about."
For a moment, Belldandy seemed confused as to what her sister was hinting at, however after the initial surprise wore off, it started to become clear what this was all about. "Keiichi…" whispered the brunette goddess, to which she received a slow nod from Urd. "Do you think they'll go as far as to attack him, just to scare us off?"
"Who knows? At this point, I'm not going to rule anything out," said Urd in a far more serious tone than what was the norm for her. And for a moment, her eyes sported the same gleam as Hild's, whenever the demon CEO was royally pissed at someone. "What I do know, is that I'm not letting anyone push me around like that. If they want a fight, then by all means I'll give them one. Running away however, isn't an option."
"Fair enough," said the middle Norn, after realizing that her sister wasn't going to concede. Then again, she had to admit that for a different point of view, this was actually a good attitude. After all, she too didn't like to give up that easily, although Urd's obstinacy was far greater than hers -for better or worse. And to avoid escalating this debate to point where it turns into an outright argument, Belldandy chose to change the subject. "Would you us like to start with the massage, now? I believe we've spent more than enough time in the water."
"Yeah, sure thing, Bell. I've been waiting for this!" offered Urd with a genuine smile, and then followed her sister as the latter got out of the water. Feeling that she didn't need to wrap a towel around her, the buxom half-goddess lied on top of the inflatable mat, that her sister had set up from beforehand, and made herself comfortable. Meanwhile, Belldandy retrieved her bucket with the massaging supplies, and unlike her sister, she chose to cover her lower body with a towel; a decision that didn't go unnoticed by Urd. "Oh, what's this? Going topless, little sister? That's new!"
"Well… it's more convenient this way, right?" Belldandy's reply was deliberately vague, and up to her sister's interpretation, given that she barred from lying. After all, Urd did have a point, since it was indeed rare for her to leave her breasts exposed when she had the option to cover them. However, modesty isn't the sole reason for this practice, since Belldandy isn't as embarrassed to show off her body as it is to make others think that she's either bragging about it, or enticing others with her sex appeal. Yet the reason she chose to do this right now, was rather… embarrassing for her to admit, and even seemed out of character for the otherwise modest Norn. "Also, I've been wondering for a while, but… have I gotten any bigger?"
The half goddess raised an eyebrow at Belldandy's question, especially as she watched her reach down to cup her own breasts in an attempt to check their volume. "Hm… actually, let me take a look," said Urd after a while, and got up in a seated position. Then, she tentatively reached to cup Belldandy's breasts and run her hands over them, testing both their volume, and firmness. "Well, well… I'd say that you've gotten a bit bigger up here. Perhaps not as much as to gain a full cup size, but just enough to become noticeable."
"You think so? I had a feeling this was the case, but I needed a second opinion." Urd's verdict brought a smile on Belldandy's face, which all by itself seemed a rather uncharacteristic response from the brunette. Still, this was the first time Belldandy was in a full-blown relationship -with the closest next example being her brief romance with Lind- and to complicate matters even further, she had competition. And while her bust size was hardly a topic worthy of her attention, Belldandy's perfectionist nature slowly prompted her to feel the need to make sure that she was as physically desirable as the rest -if not more.
"It's merely a natural outcome of your increased sexual activity as of late," said Urd with a wink, and then moved to prove her point. She caught her sister's nipples between her thumbs and index fingers, and lightly rubbed them, which immediately got a response from such stimuli. "Just look at this. You're already getting hard from even the slightest touch. In the past, you used to ignore such things, yet something changed in the meantime."
"Everyone has this special person that helps them bring out a side of theirs, that most know little about," admitted Belldandy with a warm smile, although it soon turned into an amused one. "Still, this isn't the first time getting this kind of reaction."
"Oh? Is that true?" asked the intrigued Urd, as she let go of her sister's bust, and lied down on the mat. She patiently waited for a reply, but Belldandy seemed rather skeptical, and instead she reached for her supplies. Wordlessly, she applied some oil on her hands and rubbed them together, before she finally placed them on Urd's abs and began her massage. "Mmm!... That feels, good. A bit higher though… yes, that's the spot." Urd let out a content sigh as her sister worked the stress out of her system, yet at the same time, it was hard to ignore the thoughtful look on Belldandy's face. "Out with it, sis. What's been eating you?"
"It was back when I first saw you and Keiichi going at it. There was something about the way he… handled you, that was truly exciting," admitted the blushing Norn, and briefly averted her gaze. After all, she didn't wish to make it sound as if she's been spying on her, especially now that she might be a bit more moody thanks her demonic side having a bigger impact on her overall personality.
"Is that so? Apparently I'm not the only one in this family who loves peeking," said Urd, much to her sister's embarrassment. Unfortunately for her though, that didn't stop the bronze skinned goddess from carrying on. "Come to think of it… Didn't you also catch Skuld when she and Gullveig did it for the first time?"
"I… I didn't do it on purpose!" objected Belldandy, yet this did little to stop her sister's giggling; at which point, she joined in.
xXx
Outside the bath, Keiichi let out a sigh of relief after listening to the conversation between Bell and Urd. It wasn't exactly something that he would've normally done, but on this occasion he thought it was for the best to check out if there was anything amiss with the half goddess, and much to his relief, Urd acted like any other time. As such, he carefully climbed down the stool he set outside the back wall, just so he could reach the bathroom's window in order to get a clear earshot of the goddesses' conversation. 'Well, so far so good. There are some subtle changes in her behavior, but otherwise she's the same Urd we know and love.'
Just as he set foot on the ground, and prepared to take the stool back inside, Keiichi noticed some movement at the edge of his field of view. Curious, he peered around the house to see who the newcomer was, only to realize that it was in fact Peorth. The main reason why he didn't immediately recognize her were the clothes she was wearing, that clearly didn't resemble the rest of her earthly attires. A slightly oversized sweater that in fact obscured most of her curves, along with a modest pair of black jeans, was something the brunette goddess didn't wear even in public, since she normally preferred to pick a much more elegant and stylish design. As such, Keiichi couldn't help but wonder what was going on here, as well as to where she was heading to. "Hey, Peorth! What's up?"
"Oh, Keiichi! I didn't see you there," replied the brunette with a smile, as she turned to look at her boyfriend. "Is everything alright with those two?"
"Sure, I just checked them out, and they're just fine," said Keiichi while slightly nodding in the general direction of the bathroom. He slowly approached the rose goddess, who had come to a stop just outside the front entrance of their home, and took a moment to check out her attire from up close. "That's a nice look, by the way. What's the occasion?"
"Really? I just wanted to go shopping, so, I kind of picked a few things randomly. I didn't expect you to like this." The puzzled goddess took a moment to check her clothes, just in case she made a mistake and put something too daring on, as she was in fact quite aware of the dressing conventions here on Earth. When she failed to find anything out of place, the rose goddess turned her attention back to Keiichi, who now stood right in front of her. "Are you really impressed by this? Seriously, your fashion sense never fails to surprise me, Keiichi."
"Perhaps. But seeing you dressed like a common girl… I dunno, it makes you feel more approachable, I think." He tried his best smile, as he already felt that he was treading hot waters, yet thankfully enough, Peorth returned the gesture.
"I'm far more approachable than most people think. I know it's easy to mistake me for a haughty goddess, but don't let mannerisms deceive you. Although, you should know this by now." Peorth added that last bit in a slightly pointed tone, yet not enough to count as outright sarcasm, since that wasn't her intention anyway.
"R-Right!..." Nervously scratching his head, Keiichi tried to change the subject back to Peorth's shopping trip, before he accidentally got himself into trouble. "By the way, you said you're going shopping, right? Want me to drive you there with my Beemer?"
For a moment, Peorth debated whether to bother him with such a menial task, especially when she could just teleport to downtown Nekomi on her own. Not only that, but unlike their trips to the campus, no one is expecting to find their bike parked somewhere nearby, just to explain how they get over there in time. However, the longer she thought about it, the more her boyfriend's words stuck to her, and unnecessary as it was, the idea of playing the part of a regular girl appealed to her. "Actually, I wouldn't mind it. Unless of course, you've got something else to do."
"Nothing takes priority over my goddesses," said Keiichi and leaned in to give Peorth a quick peck on the lips. Sure, it was slightly embarrassing that he had to tiptoe to reach her -especially since she wasn't even wearing high heels- but the sensation of her lips against his was well worth it. "Just wait here, and I'll get the Beemer ready."
"Sure, take your time, love," replied Peorth and giggled softly as she watched her boyfriend run towards the shed he used to part his bike. 'Perhaps I should buy him a present as well. He's trying so hard to make everyone happy, even though he's running on a tight budget. Yes, that's a must.'
xXx
Mere minutes after Keiichi and Peorth's departure, a shrill shriek came from within the bathroom, causing Skuld and Gullveig who were in the living room to run towards the direction of this disturbance. And to make matters worse, it took place right after a wave of energy went through the entire house, which was mostly due to the Gate opening right inside the house.
"Is everyone alright?" Skuld all but yelled, as she threw open the door and reached for one of her bombs, while Gullveig prepared a shield, just in case. Yet the moment they saw what was going on, both of them came to a halt and gawked at the two Norns that lied in a rather compromising position on the inflatable mat.
After all, seeing Belldandy straddle Urd's hips and rubbing their crotches together was… more than compromising by most people's standards.
Worse yet, the two newcomers, who most certainly arrived moments ago, were none other than Lind and Ansuz; with the latter staring hard at her two daughters, that were apparently tribbing each other. Now, Ansuz was a fairly open-minded individual, yey when it came to stuff like that, she tended to draw the line, and drop a bridge on anyone who dared cross it. "What in Heaven's name do you think you're doing?"
"Wait! It's not what it looks like!" said Urd in a hurry, as she tried to get up, but Belldandy seemed rooted on the spot. Then again, it was only natural for the middle Norn to freeze, when her own mother suddenly teleported into the room and caught her… doing this sort of thing.
"Oh? I don't know about you, but if I was rubbing my pussy against someone else's… it wouldn't be due to an itch," sarcastically said Ansuz, only for the least likely person in the room to interrupt her.
"With all due respect ma'am, but some do refer to a woman's lustness as an itch," said Lind in such a casual, matter-of-fact manner, that it caused her superior to do a double take. "I, for once prefer to use such a euphemism, rather than tell others that I want my beaver spanked."
"Lind…" said the teal haired goddess after a couple of seconds, only to add. "You're not helping."
"Yes, ma'am…" sighed the Valkyrie, and averted her gaze to avoid getting her boss' ire.
Seeing her stepmother turn her attention back to her, Urd softly pushed Belldandy back, just enough to reveal a pair of small towels; one laid right on top of Urd's crotch, and the other was rolled into a tight bundle, that slightly resembled a phallus. "Look, we've been practicing something for Bell to try on Keiichi. I mean, she knows a lot more about regular massage, while I'm more familiar with the erotic variant. So… we thought it would be nice to teach each other some new techniques."
"Hm…" Ansuz's maintained her hard stare, although, she had to admit that perhaps they were innocent after all. Some things just looked wrong when taken out of context, and besides, there was no similar incident in the past; aside Urd's 'big sister bust checks' that is. Still, she wanted to be absolutely sure about it, so, she asked her other daughter; the one who couldn't lie about it. "Belldandy, is that right?"
"Y-Yes," was all that she managed to say, given how embarrassed she was from being involved in this kind of misunderstanding.
"I see. Well, that settles it then!" suddenly announced Ansuz, causing almost everyone in the room to curiously stare at her, as they wanted to find out what she was up to. "Since you're exchanging tips, I'd like to join, and teach you a trick or two. Believe it or not, I've got some experience on this sort of thing."
The silence that followed this declaration was so deafening, that one could even hear the subtle crackling of the firewood outside, given that this traditional Japanese bath used a burner to heat up the water. Nevertheless, no one dared say anything, until Ansuz began to undress in preparation to join her daughters in this impromptu lesson. And considering that her official robes were in fact a modified version of a combat uniform, her clothes primarily consisted of a tutu-like dress, and a skin-tight suit that covered her entire body from below her neck, all the way to her ankles. Underneath all that, she had a simple pair of sports panties, given that normally didn't wear anything too flashy, unless she expected to spend some quality time with Tyr; which clearly wasn't the case here. Still, the moment she wiggled her rear out of those, the sole male present in the room didn't know whether to consider himself the luckiest god alive for being treated with such a magnificent sight, or the unluckiest person in the world, given that he was currently staring at Skuld's mom.
Unfortunately for Gullveig, he was still a young adult by immortal standards, and the sight of Ansuz's bare bum, along with the brief glimpse of her privates when she bent down to remove her panties, was too much for him. Of course, he averted his gaze to minimize the damage, but it proved to be too little, too late. He had such an erection, that it should've been obvious to anyone who happened to look in his direction, which inevitably prompted him to edge towards a corner, where they wouldn't notice him.
However, fate had other plans for the poor god.
"Gullveig!" called Ansuz all of a sudden, causing the god in question to freeze on the spot and stare back at her as she turned to face him. Thankfully, she did have the common decency to cover her most sensitive areas with her hands, but even then, what followed was more than enough to throw that out of the window. "Since we're going to have a massaging lesson, and we need a guy to properly demonstrate a few techniques, I'm asking you to join us, too." Pausing for a moment, Ansuz glanced over at Skuld, who seemed as surprised by this proposition as her boyfriend. "Of course, I need you to be alright with it as well, Skuld. Rest assured, we won't cross any lines with your boyfriend. I just don't feel comfortable using the same substitutes your sisters relied on, since I hardly consider them enough for this kind of task."
The dark haired goddess felt everyone's eyes on her, which put additional stress on her shoulders, as she knew that everything now depended on her. Of course, this was her mother she was talking to, and her sisters were involved as well, so, it was unlikely that they'd willingly hurt her with their actions. Even Urd back when they tried that partner swap took her time to talk about it afterwards, and made it clear that they won't try anything similar until Skuld felt more comfortable at sharing Gullveig with others, and vice versa. Not that she wanted to sleep around, but that one time with Keiichi was quite the exciting experience for Skuld. And while she knew that it was inevitable that some level of contact was necessary during this kind of lesson, she was actually willing to let it slip, as she didn't want to give her boyfriend the idea that she had him on a leash. Besides, it was also a matter of trust, and while Gullveig enjoyed his time with Urd, he still remained faithful to her. "Sure, why not? Although, you'll excuse me if I don't join in. I… don't know if I'm ready for this. Not that I don't trust you, mom, but…"
"That's understandable," said Ansuz with a smile, and approached her youngest daughter to give her a little hug. However, she also took the opportunity to whisper something additional to her, just so that the others wouldn't be able to hear. "And once I'm done here, I'm taking you out for clubbing. Don't even worry about what time it is. I know just the place, and I hope you're going to love it."
This actually surprised Skuld more than anything else she experienced today, since it was highly unusual for Ansuz to ask something like that. 'I wonder if this has anything to do with me meeting dad a couple of times. Sure, it was when I wanted his advice, but… maybe mom also wants to relate to me like that.' Taking a moment to consider her options, Skuld offered a nod, and offered her mother a wink. "It's a deal! Just make sure that you pick a nice place."
"Leave it to me, dear," said Ansuz and then added in a louder voice. "Then it's settled. Lind, you may start by inspecting the temple grounds. I want you to set up alarms everywhere, just in case the demons try to sneak up on us. I don't want any more surprises from them."
"Yes, ma'am." With a curt salute, the Valkyrie turned around and headed outside, with Skuld following after her. The youngest Norn stopped briefly to blow a kiss in Gullveig's direction, mouthing 'have fun' just to make him feel a bit more at ease with the whole setup. After all, as far as she was concerned, his reluctance was more than enough for her, so, there was no need to roast him for enjoying something that was meant to be enjoyable.
With his girlfriend, and Lind gone, Gullveig felt that this would be easier for him, yet he felt so nervous that he didn't even know what to do. He aimlessly fumbled with his top, until Belldandy took notice of him, and approached the nervous god.
"Would you me to help you, Gullveig?" asked the middle Norn so sweetly, that it was hard to say no to her. She even started before she got a confirmation, although she was ready to back off at the first sign of discomfort on Gullveig's part.
"Thank you," replied the blonde god, and blushed when he saw Urd joining in. After all, the bronze skinned goddess was nowhere as innocent as her sister, and immediately went for the kill; namely, to bring Gullveig's penis out.
"Well, well… someone's happy to see us," purred Urd, as she run a finger along the length of his hard-on.
"Alright, hands off, naughty girl," chided Ansuz, as she playfully slapped her stepdaughter's hand. Once Urd got the message, she extended her hand for Gullveig, and guided him to the mat. "Now, lie down and try to relax. There's no need to feel ashamed for your body's natural responses. If you feel uncomfortable with anything, just say a word. But otherwise… enjoy it."
"Y-Yes… I-I will try my best."
xXx
Elsewhere in the city, Keiichi and Peorth were quite busy searching from store to store, for something that the rose goddess didn't quite wish to disclose yet. They had already gotten most of the trivial things on their list, but apparently Peorth had different ideas, and Keiichi didn't wish to oppose her. So, even if it meant him carrying a couple of bags all around Nekomi's commercial center, the dark haired student tried his best please Peorth by not complaining one bit. After all, despite the fact that they've been walking non-stop for several minutes already, he had to admit that despite how tedious this seemed to be, Keiichi thoroughly enjoyed having Peorth cling onto his arm throughout the whole shopping trip.
Sure, this probably didn't sound much, especially by Peorth's standards, but witnessing this surprisingly… innocent side of the rose goddess made Keiichi almost giddy. Perhaps spending so much time around Belldandy caused her to mellow out, and lose some of her wilder tendencies, although at the same time the opposite was also true about Belldandy. Over the last couple of days, he noticed that the middle Norn had somehow become more… sensual, or at the very least, less inhibited at partaking in sexual acts. Then again, Keiichi himself has changed a bit too much, given his misadventures with the beautiful women that surrounded him on a nearly constant basis.
As such, going on a normal shopping trip with his girlfriend, was a totally new experience for the once shy motorhead. And shockingly enough, Peorth also seemed to enjoy this trip as well, despite how mundane of an activity it was. They didn't even get to do anything remotely special throughout it, with the sole exception being a relatively innocent kiss they shared when Peorth caught him staring at her, while she was checking a shop's display window. Other than that, everything else was pretty ordinary, much to Keiichi's curiosity.
Privately, he began to wonder if this was due to her worrying about her own past stunts, since more than enough of them were quite… colorful. This was most likely due to Skuld's less than stellar stance towards Urd's stunt, which also made her wonder if more people in their household shared such an opinion. And from what he's been told, Peorth used to actually go a lot further by making a couple of adult films, in which she was depicted in all sorts of erotic settings with several gods. Actually, now that he thought about it, one night he got curious enough to ask her about this past hobby of hers, since it wasn't a legitimate job in Heavens, and everyone involved was in fact a volunteer.
At first, the rose goddesses seemed reluctant so say all that much about that particular chapter of her life, but she eventually caved in, and disclosed some details. She sure didn't go into anything too graphic, yet even what she did say was more than enough to make Keiichi a tad jealous. Of course, he tried not to show it back then, since he started the whole topic, and it would've been a bad move to get upset over it. More so, it was a nice wake up call of the things he needed to consider when entering an open relationship, despite the fact that all Peorth told him was already ancient history -and quite literally, too.
'Why am I still worrying about this stuff? Peorth's been around for millennia, or something, so it's obvious that she's got more than enough lovers. I mean, even some of my friends have exes, so, why not Peorth? Heck, even I have done it with a few goddesses already, while I haven't seen her do anything with another man ever since she started living with me.' The real question left unanswered was how Peorth would react if he tried to hook her up with anyone. For more than obvious reasons, that pretty much excluded any human, as none of them would actually understand his situation, but that also severely limited his options. As a matter of fact, the only one he could think of was Gullveig, but after the whole partner swap they've done, Keiichi had his doubts as to whether that was a good idea or not. If things went wrong, Skuld might end up royally pissed off with them, and given how her sisters are so close to her, they would definitely leave him for being such a jerk.
"I'll bite. What's eating you, Keiichi?" asked the rose goddess all of a sudden, causing her boyfriend to slightly jump in surprise. "I'm sorry if I startled you, but you've been staring at me for a while."
"I… well…" Try as he might, Keiichi couldn't bring himself to actually voice his actual thoughts, so, he attempted to go around the issue. "I've been wondering if you like it here. I mean, having to live with me, and all that."
"Actually, I'm having a great time here," replied Peorth, albeit with a hint of skepticism in her voice. She could already tell that this wasn't exactly what was bothering her boyfriend, and she was more than stubborn enough to find out what was really going on here. "Living with you and the others is, for the lack of a better word, a treat. Trust me when I say that I've been in a lot of different situations that initially seemed fun, only to realize that the novelty was lost way sooner than anticipated. However, there's never a dull moment around you."
"Is that… a good thing or not?" wondered Keiichi out loud, much to Peorth's amusement.
"I'll leave that for you to decide," cheekily replied the rose goddess, and leaned in for a pack on the lips. Peorth didn't wish to get too forward with Keiichi while in public, especially since that whole Queen of the Campus contest had caused her to become something of a recognizable face. Granted, it was Belldandy who became a local celebrity, but that didn't stop her -or Urd for the matter- from gaining some popularity. And the last thing she needed right now was one of them from getting any kind of blackmail material, if they happened to get a glimpse of anything too spicy. After all, she was pretty sure that at the very least, that Aoshima guy would've loved to try to drag their names in the dirt on the first opportunity. "That being said, I bet we've spent quite a few busy nights together the… four of us? Right, Keiichi, darling?"
"Um… the four of us?" He didn't know why, but he was getting nervous just from the way Peorth was looking at him.
"That would be you, me, Bell and Urd," counted Peorth in an unnecessarily over dramatic fashion. Unfortunately for her boyfriend though, she didn't quite stop there. "To be fair, there's also Skuld, but that single incident doesn't quite count as a permanent thing. And speaking of incidents…" Her lips curled up in a delightfully content grin, as she leaned closer to her blushing boyfriend, now that it became apparent to him that he was in for some roasting. "I do remember mentioning the one with the clones."
"Whoa! Hold on a moment, Peorth!" objected the now crimson-faced Keiichi in a desperate attempt to defend his dignity. After all, he had been blissfully unaware of that incident, up until the moment Peorth decided to disclose some of the less… spicy details that concerned it. And while he wasn't exactly sure whether he should feel happier now that he knew all that, Peorth insisted on telling him, as she wished for a totally transparent relationship. "You can't blame me for something that those clones did!"
Sensing his distraught, Peorth backed off a bit, and offered her boyfriend a way out of what was rapidly devolving into a trap. "Who's blaming anyone? Not me, for sure. Still, those clones of yours were essentially super simple-minded versions of you."
"And… your point is?"
"At the very least, a certain part of you seems to appreciate the allure of a certain teal haired goddess. Sure, there was also Urd's mother -who in fact started the whole thing- but her strong family resemblance to her daughter makes a bit harder to tell whether you're specifically attracted by her or not. On the other hand… lady Ansuz has a fan." In all honesty, Peorth did feel a bit guilty for teasing him like this, especially when it wasn't even Keiichi's fault that his clones went ahead and did two of the most powerful women in existence; three, if one took Urd's true potential into account. "Now, now, don't look so worried, dear. Like I said, I'm not blaming you for anything. It's just nice to know that you can be pretty honest with your desires."
"Peorth… it's not a good thing to check on Belldandy's mother! Sure, she's got a certain allure to her, but she's not someone I should be messing around with," objected the embarrassed mortal. "Even sleeping with all you three is a bit of a stretch, so I don't even wish to find out what'll happen if I fool around with Ansuz. Sure she's attractive, if that what you mean, but I'm not such an idiot to go and try sleeping with every pretty face out there."
Rather than being upset with his reply, Peorth actually smiled, and then offered him another soft kiss on the lips. "It's nice to know that you're sensible enough to control your urges. You see, being honest is one thing, but acting irresponsibly is another. It might sound contradictory, but in fact it's not."
"That's true. I mean, sure Ansuz does have nice legs and back to kill for, but… she's got a husband and kids. And let's not mention that I'm sleeping with some of her daughters," agreed Keiichi with a sigh of relief, as it seemed that he was out of the fray. Or so he thought.
"If by back you mean her backside, then lady Ansuz is indeed quite the sight to behold. Even though I've been told I have a fine rear myself, I couldn't help but feel a bit jealous back in that beach." As intended, her words not only brought a smile on Keiichi's handsome features, but also caused him to emit a noticeably pink aura that was a clear hint of arousal -most certainly from the mental image of Ansuz's fabled rear. "At any rate, I'm glad we agree on the subject. Remember, that you have nothing to be afraid of discussing this kind of things with me. I'm more open-minded than you might think, and I must admit that I'm a bit more permissive around you. Not because I don't care, but primarily because I love you, and wish to make you happy… even if spoil you a bit in the process."
Keiichi's face turned beet red from the mere mention of the famous 'L' word, which was quite funny, given that he actually has three girlfriends. "T-Thank you Peorth. It really means a lot to me to hear it, and… I..."
"Yes?"
"I love you, too."
By this point it took all her mental discipline to resist the urge to smother her boyfriend, just because he looked so cute while saying that. She did however offer him another kiss, although this time around she carefully used a bit of tongue, just so that they wouldn't be spotted by those around them. And while Keiichi seemed surprised by the gesture, he eventually returned the favor by briefly licking her tongue. Unfortunately they couldn't go on for much longer, as making out in the middle of the street was definitely unwise, and thus they broke off their kiss and walked down the road, just to avoid attracting any more attention from those who happened to sit in the nearby cafes.
"By the way," started Keiichi after a couple of minutes have passed, and they were far enough from their previous spot to resume their original discussion. "What are we looking for?"
"Oh, nothing in particular. I just thought it would be nice to buy something for each one back home, since we've been living together for a while, and I want them to have a memento for their stay with us."
"Huh… I never thought of that. Well, where should we start with?"
"I've spotted an antique shop around the corner. Perhaps we can find something a bit more special there. Nothing else I've seen so far counts as a memorable thing from our perspective."
"Very well, let's give it a go."
xXx
As much as Gullveig hated to admit it, being surrounded by naked goddesses who didn't shy from touching even his most private of parts, was a far too enjoyable experience. Not only that, but aside from Urd who was one of the more outgoing goddesses in the household, the other two were a totally different story. In particular, Belldandy was by far the most innocent of the three, and thus every little caress coming from her was an experience of a lifetime. As a matter of fact, at no point of time did he expect someone as pure and reserved as her to perform the same kind of act she was testing previously with Urd.
In other words… Heaven's most famous goddess of her time, was currently grinding her labia against his shaft. And to complicate matters even worse, as per Ansuz's instructions, Belldandy was performing this act from a shallow angle, that allowed her clitoris to come into direct contact with him. As such, her heavy breathing soon turned into soft moans, considering that she was genuinely turned on by this performance, and consciously or not, she picked up the pace.
Before he knew it, Gullveig joined her by letting out a series of stifled grunts, as he desperately tried to downplay the pleasure he was receiving from the innocent goddess. 'I don't believe it!... Belldandy sounds so erotic! I never thought she'd show me this side of her.'
"Excellent work, Belldandy. Although, put less strain on your hips, and use your legs to propel you back and forth. Also, stay away from the tip of his penis, or you might accidentally slip it inside of you," instructed Ansuz with such a commanding voice that it was hard for anyone to defy her. Still, she did relax a bit, and added in a much more playful tone. "Of course… when you'll do this with Keiichi, I advise you to do such a… mishap. I'm pretty sure that your boyfriend will appreciate it," she added with a wink, and even gave her daughter a pat on the backside for added effect.
"Yes, mother," managed Belldandy in between her moans. It really felt weird for her to talk to her mother while she was in the middle of such an audacious act, and they way Urd was smiling at them didn't help one bit, either.
"My!… If I didn't know better, I'd say that you're enjoying this even more than Gullveig does," chuckled Urd, much to her sister's embarrassment. It was of course all in good humor, as she didn't wish to truly make her uncomfortable, just a tad more conscious of her own desires. After all, Belldandy's the type of goddess who'd mostly engage in sexual situations primarily for her partner's sake, and much less for her own enjoyment; a practice that Urd didn't agree with. Even right now, Urd had no doubt that the main reason Belldandy tried this hard was to please Skuld's boyfriend, and perhaps make him feel more special, since Keiichi was the one who normally got everyone's attention. Now, to his credit, Gullveig never gave any signs of envy towards Keiichi's ever increasing popularity. Most other gods his age would've been green from their jealousy, as a mere mortal was getting much more action and with many more goddesses than them, yet Gullveig seemed to be fine with this arrangement. And while she didn't get the chance to ask her stepmother's motives for getting him involved in this lesson, Urd had a strong feeling that Ansuz wished to make him feel wanted. Truth to be told, so did Urd, although in her case, she was willing to go all the way, just to make her sister's boyfriend happy.
When Belldandy slowed down, as a response to her sister's words, Ansuz decided to step in and prevent her from accidentally ruining the mood. "Of course, she's supposed to enjoy it! The whole point of my method is to make her hot and needy. After all, the more aroused she gets, the harder she's going to make him cum." Just as she finished her sentence, Ansuz felt the need to kick herself for making such a blunder, as to bring up the subject of orgasms into this kind of lesson. Yet astonishingly enough, it wasn't Belldandy who almost freaked out.
"Wait a sec!... CUM?! W-What happened to the whole 'not crossing any lines' thing?!" asked the stunned Gullveig, as he suddenly found himself flirting with his doom. He even envisioned one of Skuld's higher yield bombs being chucked at him, that would most certainly hurt. Still, the possibility of emotionally hurting Skuld was more of a serious concern than being blasted from her, since he genuinely loved her, and no amount of sex would make up for that.
"It's alright," said Belldandy -of all goddesses- and in such a soft tone that sounded almost soothing. "We're not really having an intercourse, since I'm only stroking you. And while I also share your concerns… it feels kind of wrong to keep going without letting you some release. You've already tried this with Urd, and you didn't come back then, so, I know it must be hard to keep it back on my behalf." Even though this was a very logical thing to say, Belldandy knew that there were so many ways either make a mess of this, or just scare Gullveig even further. However, given that she could feel just how hard she made him, Belldandy thought that at the very least a part of him really wanted this. "I honestly don't think we're doing anything wrong here. It's just me stroking you, that's all."
After a moment of careful consideration, the blonde god offered a reluctant nod, since in all seriousness he felt that perhaps he's been overreacting a bit. Still, all this contact made him rather nervous, especially given how close his tip was coming to Belldandy's spread labia, so, he felt that he had to do something before an accident took place. "Actually, can you do something else for me? I've always wanted to try some hot dogging action, and it's not something that requires more contact than this."
"Uh…" Belldandy seemed confused as to what exactly she's been asked for a moment, until Urd leaned against her, and whispered a brief explanation of what Gullveig wanted from her. It actually felt silly that she didn't recognize the more casual term for a buttjob, although in her defense, she personally used the even more clinical term of intergluteal sex. And though some considered this as a form of sex, Belldandy herself didn't share this viewpoint, since in all seriousness, it was just her rubbing her rear against a penis. Not that she'd do so for just about anyone, but on this occasion, she was willing to make an exception. "OH! I'm sorry… Give a moment, and we can start."
Without even waiting for a response, Belldandy got off Gulveig's lap, and turned her back to him. Then in a fluid motion, she got on all four in front of the puzzled god, who slowly started to realize that Belldandy wished to do this in such a position. And truth to be told, he really liked that idea, since Skuld also enjoyed taking it from behind like this. Of course, he wasn't going to try something like that with Belldandy, but even what he was getting was fully worth his attention. As such, Gullveig rushed to get on his knees behind the waiting goddess, which was easier said than done, all thanks to how unstable an inflatable mattress could be in a situation like this.
Still, it only took him a couple of seconds to stabilize himself behind Belldandy, and then reached to get hold of her magnificently pert rear. He really didn't want to say it out loud, but out of all three of the Norns, Belldandy had the best bottom. It was in fact so good, that he found himself rubbing his palms against Belldandy's cheeks, enjoying their firm yet surprisingly soft feel that was almost unlike anything else he had tried so far. Sure, Skuld had a fine rear, too, and Urd wasn't to be underestimated either, yet it was Belldandy who actually got his godhood hard and eager to get between those fine cheeks. He was in fact so mesmerized by the sensation, that he totally missed the fact that he's been fondling her for a good couple of seconds already, which was more than enough to make Belldandy nervous about this whole situation.
In fact, the increasing proximity between her most sensitive parts to Gullveig's erect manhood, prompted her to reach under her with a hand and cover her totally exposed vagina. "Gullveig?... What's the holdup?"
This was more than enough to make the blonde god snap out of it, and the added effect of Ansuz and Urd's giggling at the sight, did provide him the incentive to pull his act together. He carefully squeezed himself between her cheeks, making sure to avoid any further embarrassment for either of them, which was enough to allow Belldandy the chance to relax and remove her hand from her crotch, now that she felt confident that everything was back in track. And with his hands securely placed on the goddess' rear, just to keep the cheeks tight around his erection, Gullveig gave a gentle thrust forward, which Belldandy reciprocated by moving her hips back. Slowly, the two of them managed to find a rhythm that worked the best for them, and from that point on, Gullveig had to stifle his own groans, especially with Ansuz and Urd staring at him from either side.
Once they felt that things were progressing a smooth pace, they two spectators moved slightly to the back, allowing themselves some privacy, in order to share some ideas on how to proceed from this point on. Meanwhile, Belldandy had to admit that even though she didn't do this for her own pleasure, this sort of configuration denied her most of the excitement she was previously getting. However, she felt rather embarrassed to reach and supplement the missing stimulation with her own hand, especially in the presence of her mother. The only alternative was to try to close her legs, hoping that this would introduce enough friction to do the trick, but at the same time, this could be mistaken for a display of discomfort.
Almost as if by coincidence, the two goddesses present moved closer to the action once more, and apparently seemed to have caught up with what was going on. As such, Urd leaned closer to Gullveig, and lightly tapped him on the shoulder. With his attention now turned to her, the half goddess whispered at him. "If you keep doing this, you'll end up boring pool Bell to tears. So, to fix it, lean forward ever so carefully, and without any sudden moves, cup her breasts. Then wait until she's comfortable, and only then try touching her nipples."
"Is this still a massaging lesson?" asked the clearly aroused, yet more than worried god. As much as he didn't want to sound like a hypocrite, Gullveig felt that they were steadily deviating from their original goal, and if things didn't change anytime soon, there wouldn't be any lines left to cross. Unfortunately for him though, a part of him was too engrossed in this act, and thus succumbed to the temptation of following Urd's instructions. Ever so carefully, he rubbed his hands alongside Belldandy's ribs, until he got close enough to her breasts, and went for it. "Mm!..."
"Of course it is," purred Urd, as she watched the unfolding action from right behind them, and moved even closer, pressing herself against Gullveig's back. "Besides… aren't you enjoying it?"
"I-..." Gullveig didn't trust himself to say more; not while Belldandy arched her back, and he found himself hugging her from behind. And as if that wasn't enough, Urd applied more pressure to his back, rubbing her voluptuous body against him, effectively sandwiching the god between herself and Belldandy. 'What should I do? Belldandy's boobies are so good!... But… but what about Skuld? Didn't we promise her that we won't push it too far? Isn't that already past that point?! I'm so confused…' Try as he might, thinking was such an extraneous activity right now, not with the two Norn rubbing themselves on him, and from both sides too. As such, it didn't take long until he positioned his hands to properly grope Belldandy's breasts, eliciting an excited moan from her. This further prompted him to touch her nipples, and rub them with his fingers, making the brunette's moans even more desperate.
The erotic effect this had to everyone present was undeniable, although the one most affected by it was Gullveig. He was so caught up in the action, that even he didn't notice when he tugged Belldandy's nipples, earning a louder -yet erotic- gasp from her, pushing him closer to an orgasm he so much wished for. Then out of sheer habit, he leaned in to kiss the side of Belldandy's neck, as he had done numerous times with Skuld, and paused. Even more, the middle Norn felt his breathing so close to her skin, and craned her neck around to look at him.
For a tense moment, neither dared move a muscle -especially Gullveig- and instead stared at each other. It was then that the blonde's senses started to return to him, as those baby blue orbs, as beautiful as they were… weren't his. He even watched her flinched when he leaned in for a kiss, but when he got too close, it turned out to be a peck on the cheek. "Thank you, Belldandy. This was the best massage I've ever gotten, but… I think I'm out. I just… don't feel we should go any further," said Gullveig with a drawn out sigh, before adding under his breath. "At least, not without feeling terrible afterwards."
Belldandy's expression changed a couple of times, going from excitement to relief, until a smile settled in, and illuminated her features. "I should be the one thanking you, Gullveig. You've done great, and in more than one ways, too."
Before he got a chance to ask what she meant by that, Gullveig felt Urd's arms wrap around his neck in a playful headlock, as a grumpy half goddess conspicuously peeked over his shoulder. "What was that all about? I didn't hear my name anywhere in that sentence, and I've been rubbing my puppies against you, sir! not to mention that I've also done the same, just minutes ago."
"Wait!... Urd!... I didn't mean to be rude!" protested Gullveig in a desperate attempt to free himself from the half goddess' grasp. Even when he managed to get up, the bodacious Norn remained latched onto him, floating effortlessly right behind him. "I just wanted to thank your sister, since she-"
"Since she made you rock hard? So, what? Not too long ago, I've done way more than just teasing you. Or have you already forgotten the night you did me?" To the casual observer, she sounded pretty harsh -if not downright offended- although to those who actually knew her, there was a clear hint of amusement in her voice. And doubled by the somewhat relaxed body language, despite how hard she remained latched onto Gullveig, this reassured the others that she wasn't really serious about her tirade. After all, Urd was Urd, and there was nothing better in her book than messing around with others.
This sight actually brought a smile in her stepmother's face, who also noticed that Belldandy seemed amused by her sister's display. And given that Urd and Gullveig appeared to be busy at the moment, Ansuz stepped closer to her eldest daughter and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Thanks for helping me on this, Belldandy. I know it was a bit out of your comfort zone, but I didn't think I should try this myself. As much as I'm not ashamed to do the same, it's generally a bad idea to entice my daughter's boyfriend with my body."
"I understand, mother. I was also pretty nervous, but in the long run, I felt that he wasn't going to exploit this opportunity," agreed Belldandy, keeping her voice low enough to avoid being heard by Gullveig in particular. "I assume that he passed the test?"
"Hm?" The teal haired goddess raised an eyebrow at that question, since in all fairness she wasn't expecting it. Then again, she never quite went into excruciating details about the purpose of the test she wished to conduct, which in turn lead to this misunderstanding. "Belldandy, I wasn't testing Gullveig here. And no, I'm not talking about you, either."
Almost in an instant, Belldandy's expression fell, and her beautiful features turned into a rather uncharacteristic frown. After all, she didn't like the sound of her mother's words, and she had no qualms to show her displeasure when it came to her sister's reputation. "Mother! How can you say something like that?! Even if she becomes a full demoness, Urd would never do anything to outright hurt us! And she only got more in tune with her demonic side, so, her goddess half is still there!"
The harsh reaction didn't surprise Ansuz at all, and to a degree she was happy to see how passionate Belldandy is, when it comes to defending her sisters. "I'm sorry if it came out wrong, I really am. But, I thought this would be best opportunity to put Urd into an unusual situation, and see how she reacts to everything going on around her. And for the record, I'm not doing this because I don't trust her. Actually, it's because I wish to help her, and we both know how much she hates to ask for help, even if it's absolutely necessary." Ansuz felt relieved to see that Belldandy took this reply much better than the previous one, and thus a big misunderstanding was narrowly avoided. To further eliminate the risk of ruining the mood, the teal haired goddess decided to disclose some details about her previous discussion with Urd, since she felt that Belldandy would be really interested about what's been said. "Thankfully, I didn't notice anything out of the ordinary while we reviewed your… shall we say… exquisite performance."
"M-My p-performance?" All of a sudden, Belldandy felt quite self-conscious about what they were talking about, especially now that the realization of what she did, started to sink in. Sure, while they hadn't gone all the way, they may have pushed the line a tad too far with this massaging lesson. As a matter of fact, now that she has calmed down enough to think clearly, Belldandy felt rather guilty for promising Gullveig an orgasm, all while never giving him a chance to do what he experienced with Urd a while ago. "I'm so sorry! I don't have words to describe how shamefully I acted just now!" The Norn cupped her reddening cheeks in an admittedly late display of embarrassment, especially as it dawned to her that both her mother, and Urd have seen her little act.
"Don't be," came Ansuz's unexpected, yet utterly frank reply. In fact, she still felt bad for leaving everyone in the dark about her true intentions in this situation. Sure, testing Urd's resolve part of her intentions, but hardly the main one. "After all, if it's not too much of a problem, I'd like you to repeat this with Keiichi. And I mean, just what you've done here with Gullveig. Nothing more than that, okay?"
"I… definitely don't mind it, but… how come?" asked the confused Belldandy. "I know we pushed it a bit too far with Gullveig, yet that shouldn't be a problem with Keiichi, right?"
"That's true, although…" For a moment, Ansuz seemed hesitant to tell her daughter that the main reason behind her involvement here, and more specifically the fact that she pushed it a tad too far was to get a baseline measurement of the energy Belldandy rubbed on Gullveig. And with that done, it's possible to repeat the same test with Keiichi, and see how much energy he does absorb, as well as how fast he disperses it. "Look, can I talk to you, after we wrap things up here? Don't worry too much about it, but… I do have my reasons for asking you to do this. However, I'd rather discuss this privately."
The brunette goddess offered a slow nod, but before she got a chance to reply, a rather audible groan from Gullveig's direction signified that Urd had finally finished with her teasing session. Both she and Ansuz turned just in time to witness Gullveig's orgasm, as Urd finished him with a somewhat forced handjob, although at the same time, it's not that he tried to push her off, either. Instead, Gullveig let Urd stroke his already throbbing godhood from the tip to its base, basking in the unimaginable sensation that the elder Norn's hand was, especially when coupled with the feeling of having Urd's sizeable breasts squeezed against his back.
"Ah!... I'm right there!... Just a bit!... OH!"
Belldandy's eyes widened as she saw the first wave of precum ooze out, and before long, a thick rope of seed was airborne, following a wide arc, until it splashed just a short distance from where she and Ansuz stood. In fact, a quick movement to her side caused her to steal a glance at her mother, whose winglets must've inadvertently flapped while she watched this spectacle. And while it felt wrong to make assumptions, based on her mother's body language, it was rather obvious that she seemed somewhat displeased about something. At first, she assumed that it was the fact that, Urd allowed Gullveig to cum, but at the same time, Ansuz didn't quite object when Urd first started stroking him.
As Gullveig was about to run out of steam, and his body began to relax in Urd's embrace, Belldandy placed a hand on her mother's shoulder to grab her attention, and then leaned against her ear. "Did we actually go too far? I know we were only supposed to teach each other some massaging techniques, but-"
"No, that's okay. I'm not upset about anything, I've just been… thinking about something. That, and I must admit I've been somewhat… fatigued as of late," whispered Ansuz back at her daughter, yet without taking her eyes of Gullveig's pride and joy, until the last blob of cum splashed against the floor. As far as she could tell, this may have completely invalidated any energy measurements, since the whole bathroom was now saturated with Gullveig's life essence. Then again, even if she didn't get a perfect measurement, it didn't hurt to let Belldandy repeat this with Keiichi. At the very least, it should give them an idea as to how Keiichi was capable of hosting an angel.
However, before either she or Ansuz got a chance to say something more about this matter, the sound of rustling clothes caught their attention, prompting them to turn towards the source of this new disturbance. And lo and behold, a very naked Skuld was standing by the door, with a rather… proud grin on her face. Sure, she didn't seem the type to outright antagonize Belldandy, let alone their mother, but even so, Skuld was more than happy to demonstrate her quite impressive physique, that was in fact only surpassed by Urd in terms of voluptuousness. An act that became even more obvious when she tossed her long, dark locks over her shoulder, in a sheer display of sexiness. "Sorry for barging in like this, but I thought you were done with your lesson. And boy, did you make Gullveig cum buckets!" she added with a pointed stare as she noticed the cum splutter on the floor. Still, rather than throw a temper tantrum at what was in fact a very loose interpretation of this lesson's intended purpose, Skuld decided to act cool and show some maturity.
Of course, it did help that she's been spying on them during all this time, which was more than enough reason to keep quiet about her own misbehavior.
"Wait!... That's!..." said Gullveig in an attempt to offer some explanation, but before he managed to get anywhere with that, Urd stopped him.
"No need to fret about it. After all, we're the ones to blame," she said, and walked closer to her youngest sister, who shot her a curious gaze. "If it's okay with you, since I'm the one who started this all, I'd like to take responsibility for it. Just tell me what I can do to make up for it, I'll do my best to repay you."
"Hey, what the heck?! Why would you even have to do that? I know that you only wanted to help Gullveig feel a bit less… sidelined, so, you set this up as a result!" protested Skuld, all while she struggled to keep her tone somewhat less insulting than she felt like at the moment. "But even if you made a blunder, what makes you think I'll be so butthurt to demand a compensation. Aren't we sisters, or what?"
"I suppose you're right," admitted Urd, all while fighting the urge to pull her sister into a tight hug. After all, Skuld deserved the credit for acting like the mature adult she aspired to become, since physical growth alone isn't always enough for immortals. Actually, even humans don't necessarily grow wiser and more responsible over the years, and that was even worse when it came to immortals, who could act like kids at times, even if they're several millennia old. And considering that Skuld's been a minor for the majority of her life up to this point, she still had to get used to being treated like the young adult she came to become. However, Urd felt that simply brushing this aside without any kind of reward would've been bad manners, and thus she offered her a more reserved hug -especially given their state of undress- and kissed her on the cheek. "Still, I sometimes wish to be more like you."
"Eh?... I…" Try as it might, Skuld found herself in the rather unfamiliar situation of being praised by Urd. Not that there was any bad blood between them, since most of the time their arguments were in fact part of their way of bonding with each other, and more akin to play fights than something serious. Even then, it was rare for Urd to openly acknowledge that her 'baby sister' was actually better than her in some department. And to hide her rather silly grin from being praised like that, Skuld returned the hug and tried her best to remain as quiet as she could for the time being. Of course, she did take the opportunity to glance over at Belldandy and Ansuz, whose smiles reflected their own satisfaction over the outcome of this particular incident.
That moment, the sound of Keiichi's bike could be heard from outside, letting everyone present know that he finally returned home. And first to react was Belldandy, who in the meantime was already in the process of preparing a spell to clean up the mess they've made on the floor.
"Alright, the party's over -so to speak. Now, lets clean up here, and go greet Keiichi," announced Ansuz as she clapped her hands to grab everyone's attention, and then prepared a couple of towels for them to dry up once they quickly wash themselves prior of leaving the bathroom. Needless to say, she did take a mental note to not only explain her reasoning to Belldandy, but Skuld as well. The last thing she needed was to make Skuld think that they've been fooling around with her boyfriend. However, at the time being, the three Norns were more than happy helping each other with cleaning up this place, and even Gullveig joined in to give them a hand. And it was this sight that actually brought a smile on Ansuz's lips, although she did take another note to exert more caution from this point on. 'And that's why I never became a researcher. I hate this whole… experimentation stuff. Well, at least, I hope I did teach Bell a few tricks she might enjoy trying with Keiichi. Ideally this could also help me with finding out more about that other thing, but I don't feel comfortable pushing them any more than this. Even this much was more than enough for my linking.'
xXx
"I just hope they're going to like their gifts. They're… nowhere as special as I would've preferred." Looking at the shopping bags, Keiichi was unloading from his bike's sidecar, Peorth couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed. To be fair, she didn't expect to find anything quite spectacular in the mortal realm, but the whole point was to commemorate the time they spent here. As such, a souvenir from Earth is the right way to go, instead of ordering something from Heavens.
"Don't be so harsh with yourself, Peorth. It's the thought that counts, not the value of the present," insisted Keiichi, as he's already dealt with his girlfriend's doubts a couple of times, while they were still shopping. And in all honesty, he couldn't see why she was so concerned to begin with. Bell would definitely love the adorable cooking mints they got for her, and Urd's just the type to appreciate the value of a pewter hip flask. Also, to avoid making Skuld feel left out, they also bought a professional hot iron kit, perfect for working on electronics.
"Well… I suppose you're right," said Peorth in resignation. "Like you said, it's the thought that counts."
Just as he was about to add something, in order to further reassure his girlfriend, the sound of footsteps coming from behind them caught Keiichi's attention. This naturally prompted not only him, but Peorth as well, to turn around and take a look at whoever was approaching them, only to find out that this was a goddess they didn't exactly expect to be here. "Lind? I thought you have gone back home?"
"In the flesh so to speak," replied the Valkyrie with a ghost of a smile on her lips. "And I had indeed return, only that due to the current circumstances, I've been assigned to protect you from another attack. Unofficially of course, since I'm here on vacations."
"Oh… that actually makes a lot of sense." Keiichi felt somewhat embarrassed by how lame he sounded at the moment, although in all fairness he was a bit too happy to see Lind again. Considering the nature of her job, it wouldn't come as a surprise if they didn't see her for a long time, so this was definitely a nice development. "Do you know how long you'll be staying with us?"
"Honestly?... I have no idea. I haven't been given a return date, so, I'll stay here as long as I'm needed, or at the very least, welcome." She actually knew that it was highly unlikely for them to simply send her away for no particular reason, yet it was probably for the best to ask for permission, rather than take that for granted.
"What are you talking about? Of course, you're welcome!" said Keiichi, and in a moment of poor judgement, he stepped forward and pulled the Valkyrie into a hug. Only then did he realize the error of his ways, even if he didn't touch her anywhere he shouldn't.
Noticing how rigid Keiichi's body became all of a sudden, Lind let out a tiny sigh, and much to everyone's surprise, she returned the gesture. She wrapped her arms around the stunned mortal, and with a side-glance at Peorth, who winked back at her, Lind pulled Keiichi in for a hug. "Don't be so scared of me. We're friends, so… it's okay to hug me."
After all this time, and with everything else that happened between all of them, Peorth found it utterly hilarious to watch her boyfriend struggle to regain his composure from something this innocent. Sure, she was well aware of the sexual tension between Keiichi and Lind, since despite their claims, they seemed much closer than mere friends. Then again, they weren't exactly lovers either, making this a rather complicated case that requires special attention. As such, she stepped closer to them, and whispered a few words at the Valkyrie, whose eyes widened ever so slightly, but didn't seem to react in any other fashion. With that done, she picked up the shopping bags and started to walk towards the house's main entrance. "Now, if you excuse me, I need to take these inside. See you later!"
The confused mortal looked between Lind and Peorth, unsure what this was all about, especially since he didn't understand a thing of what the latter told the former. He was vaguely aware that Peorth spoke in Heaven's language, at least based on some occasions where she and the others used it for one reason or another, but other than that, he had no way of understanding it. "Um… I might be asking something obvious, but… what did she tell you?"
For a while, Lind hesitated to offer a straight reply, so, she tried her best to find another way of relaying Peorth's words. However, given that she had a work to do first, Lind decided that such matters had to wait for later. "Nothing important for now," she said, before letting go of Keiichi. "And speaking of important things, I need to resume my inspection of the temple grounds. I've been placing some alarm spells, just in case we have another surprise like… yesterday's. Once I'm done, we can talk about Peorth's… suggestion."
"Oh… that's fine," replied Keiichi with a smile, as it seemed that it wasn't something he needed to worry about. "In that case, I'll go inside and tell everyone that you're here."
"Actually, they already know, but it's always nice to make sure that your futon is ready for nighttime, right?"
Simple as it was, Keiichi's answer brought a smile on Lind's face, as she still unaccustomed to the feeling of being welcome. "Ah, that's true. In that case, I'll see you in a bit."
"Sure thing, Lind!"
The Valkyrie watched Keiichi head inside, before she turned around and resumed her previous task. Still, Peorth's words lingered in her mind, giving her a tough time deciding whether to go along or not. 'Be more honest with yourself. You have my full support, no matter what,' was what the rose goddess had told her, and in all honesty, it was touching to see yet another person accept her so openly.
'I never thought I'd say this, but it's really nice to have such good friends.'
xXx
- 11
- 12
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The Vain Rose's Garden