Grown Up- an Ah! My Goddess fanfic

Please review… or my fanfiction soul will slowly wither and die from a lack of feedback.

Sorry folks. This chapter is pretty long in comparison to my other three. Just bear with me please.

and remember patience is a virtue. I will write sex scenes. But there is going to be a crapton of dramatic buildup and character development first.

Chapter 4

Skuld hummed happily as she packed up at the end of her first day of school. Walk home with Sentaro time! She thought, putting the last of her books away. She was just about to get up to go over to his desk when she noticed a girl standing quietly in front of her desk. “Excuse me.” The tall dark girl said quietly. “Hello. My name is Chika.” Skuld got up out of her chair and said, “Oh, yes. Weren’t you elected class representative?”
The girl gracefully nodded, “Yes, that is correct. The teacher gave me this and asked me to give it to you.” Skuld saw the note suddenly appear in her hands. Where did she put that? “Thank you.” She took it and skimmed over its contents. ‘The presence of Skuld Sukaeruwetteru is requested in the Teachers Lounge to answer some questions about prior education and to confirm the information included in her transfer paperwork. – Ichigo Sensei’
Skuld ‘Skaerwetter*’? Couldn’t Keiichi think of something better? It sounds so harsh. The meaning is rather literal as well. And who is ever going to pronounce it right? Skuld thought, irritated before the rest of the message sunk in. Crap. She had worked hard at remembering all of the answers to the possible questions she could be asked, but now she was suddenly nervous. And then another problem reared its ugly head.
Where is the teacher’s lounge? Skuld wondered, panicked. “If you would like, I can show you the way to the teacher lounge.” Chika offered gently. “Often teachers forget that new students from other schools don’t know their way around yet, since this is an elevator school. The P.E. teacher, Ichigo sensei is famous for forgetting that, actually.”
Skuld felt a wave of relief, though she still remained nervously tense about the upcoming questioning. “Thank you.” She replied, “I would really appreciate that. Please lead the way.” Chika smiled and said, “This way please. This isn’t really that urgent, so we can take our time getting there. Ichigo sensei is also in charge of troublesome students, so he will probably have to take care of several other things before we get there.”
Skuld smiled. “Okay, thanks. But please hold on for just a moment. I need to take care of something first.” Skuld turned and walked toward Sentaro’s desk, where he was talking with one of the other boys in the class, quite possibly an old friend. “Sentaro-kun.” Skuld said as she tapped him on the shoulder. Sentaro started a bit, and then looked at her and blushed before dropping his gaze. “Yeah, Skuld?” he mumbled. “I have something for you from Onee-sama.” She said, partly lying. She pulled out the letter she had quietly pressured Belldandy into writing for her. She was a little nervous, since she knew in general what was in the letter, but Belldandy had insisted that she not read the completed letter. “I think she wants to ask you a favor.” She dropped it into his hands and watched him read it. He scanned it and blushed. “S-Sh-She wants me to walk you part-way back to make sure it’s safe.” He said softly. “I don’t think I can refuse.”
Yes! Skuld rejoiced inwardly. The effort had been worth it. “Okay, see you after I come back from the teacher’s lounge.” She said with a smile, “see you then!” And Skuld strode quickly out of the classroom, followed by the sounds of Sentaro getting a headlock and a noogie from his friend, along with the words “And when did you meet her?”
Skuld joined Chika in the hallway. “Thank you for waiting, Iinchou. Shall we get going?” Chika nodded and they started strolling down the hallway.
They walked in a comfortable silence, and Skuld surreptitiously observed Chika. Skuld had gotten pretty tall recently, but Chika was taller, and rather pretty. She had long hair, though not quite as long as Skuld’s, and it floated out behind her a bit as they walked. She seems pretty composed. And she has been pretty nice to me so far. Skuld mused. Then a slight clinking sound came from Chika’s schoolbag. Skuld looked, but didn’t see anything, but then it clinked again and she saw it.
“Oh, that’s really cute.” Skuld said pointing and the zipper pull on Chika’s bag. “Would you mind if I looked at it?” Chika stopped and looked at Skuld quizzically. “Sure… I guess.” She held out her bag and Skuld stepped up, grasped the zipper pull gently and leaned down a bit to look at it. “It’s a… penguin, right? It’s adorable!”
Chika’s face lit up and took on a ridiculously cheerful cast. “Isn’t it? I special ordered it from America! It’s one of the characters from a movie about penguins called Happy Feet! Do you like penguins too?” Skuld was a bit taken aback at the sudden change. Chika sounded totally different than her usual composed tone. She was also talking really fast. It’s kind of cute how into penguins she is. She starts gushing. Skuld thought, while carefully answering. “Penguins aren’t my particular favorites, but they are cute.” She said cautiously.
Skuld paused. “Iinchou you really like penguins, don’t you?” Chika blushed. “Y-yeah, I like them a lot.” It was true, Chika liked them so much she had penguin file covers, penguin clear sheets, penguin pencils, and a penguin background picture for her cell phone, a penguin cell phone strap and even penguin panties. Overkill, huh?
Chika blushed softly, looking faintly worried about Skuld’s reaction. Skuld smiled. “You are so cute, Iinchou! Actually, I was looking at your zipper-pull and had an idea of my own. If I can manage it, it will be just a cute as yours!” Keiichi won’t object to a mini-Banpei zipper pull as long as it doesn’t move in front of him or other people. What he doesn’t know won’t hurt him. Skuld smiled brightly at the idea. It’ll be ridiculously cute too!
Skuld laughed happily. Today was awesome! “Come on let’s go, Iinchou!” Chika looked at Skuld a bit strangely and then smiled slowly. “You are really interesting. Let’s be friends.” Skuld blinked, astonished by the sudden change, but she really liked the idea. She smiled even wider. “Of course! Come on, Chika-san!”

Skuld came out of the teachers lounge feeling relieved. All of the questions had been easy ones (relatively) and the biggest worry seemed to have been the last name issue. Skuld saw Chika waiting for her outside the lounge. “Chika-san! It’s over.” She called out, waving and smiling. Chika came over, and they started moving toward the exit. Chika leaned in and asked, “Can I walk home with you? I think I saw you coming to school this morning and we seem to go in the same direction. I think I can walk you back at least part way.”
Skuld paused just a little, and then smiled. She would be walking home with Sentaro every day, pretty soon. Even though she felt impatient and wanted to be alone with him today, she could wait. She’d just made a new friend, after all! “Sure! I don’t mind!” Chika smiled. “Thanks! This will be fun! Hey, actually, I was wondering,” she continued straight on into the next subject. “I didn’t mean to overhear, but I heard something about your last name come up. What was all that about?”
Skuld sighed. “Not you too! Where I come from, it is common to receive a different last name from either of your parents, and from any siblings. It used to be based off of the first name of the same sex-parent. So, if my dad was named Erik, and I had a brother, his surname would be Eriksson. And if my older sister Urd had a daughter, her daughters last name would be Urdsdotter.”
Skuld paused, took a breath, and then continued. “But that fell out of favor. The last couple generations, the general rule has been to use your parents’ last name until you come of age, and then you get your own. You usually don’t get to choose it.” Skuld wrinkled her nose. “Mine is… okay, I guess. I would have picked something different.”
Chika blinked, and looked interested, but a little confused. “Okay. That was definitely interesting. A little too much all at once, though.” Skuld flushed. “Sorry. I went into lecture mode, a bit. Just know that it’s a cultural thing.” Chika laughed. “Okay, but most people are probably going to have problems pronouncing it.” Skuld sighed. “I know. But it could have been worse. If it had a few more R’s or L’s, no-one would ever get it right.”
They walked on a bit, and then Skuld asked the question that had been niggling at the back of her mind the entire time she’d been in the teacher’s lounge. “I’m glad we are friends, Chika-san, but…” Skuld paused. “Why the sudden change in attitude? I mean, you were nice to me the whole time, but when you asked my to be your friend it was kind of sudden. Why did you do that?”
Chika blushed, “Well, you are interesting. I think it’s best to be friends with people who are interesting.” She said a bit hesitantly. But then Chika straightened up a bit and tossed her hair over her shoulder. “And you will probably know other interesting people, have unique ideas, and do exciting things.” Chika smiled, a little mischievously. “I thought it would be fun.”
Skuld was taken a bit aback. “Oh…” and then she shrugged. “True enough, I suppose.” They continued walking, drawing nearer to the exit. “Oh! Yeah, Chika-san, Sentaro-kun is going to be walking with me too, at least until the bridge. You don’t mind, do you?”
Chika looked at her strangely. “No, but another interesting thing is how you know him. Aren’t you afraid at all? Of either him or his friend, that guy with the cold eyes, Furakawa?” Skuld furrowed her brow. Why is Chika saying these strange things? Why would I be afraid of Sentaro of all people? And anyone who is Sentaro’s friend has obviously got to be just as nice as he is. “What are you talking about, Chika? I have known Sentaro since about three years ago. Why would I be afraid of him?” I am so confused.
Chika took a look at the confused look on Skuld’s face and just let it go. Obviously Skuld wasn’t afraid, so why should she be? They continued on a bit farther in a comfortable silence, and then they reached the campus entrance avenue. Skuld smiled, “I love all the sakura trees along this path.” She said contentedly to Chika, “They make me feel so peaceful, and it’s a very beautiful sight.” Chika chuckled a little bit and decided to tease Skuld. “Oh? And now I know you are a romantic. And I suppose you fell in love when you saw your mysterious crush here.”
Skuld flushed. “Yes… and no.” she said, trying to act mysterious to hide her embarrassment. “I’ve known him for a long time before but,” she blushed again very slightly, thinking I have never blushed so much before in my life! “I fell for him again when I saw him here. Not that he’d ever know.” Chika raised an eyebrow. “Let me guess… hmm. Is he Sen-”
“Keep it a secret!” Skuld said quietly and urgently. “If you have figured it out, please keep it a secret!” Chika laughed, “Okay, okay. Keeping secrets a part of being friends.” Skuld relaxed and they continued toward the bike rack to pick up Skuld’s bike. They started to round the corner, and Skuld’s heart rose up into her throat when she saw Sentaro standing there, waiting for her. Why am I so nervous? She swallowed, and her heart hammered even faster… and then plummeted down into her stomach when she saw another guy standing with him, also obviously waiting. It looked like the friend Sentaro had been talking to earlier. Why am I so disappointed? We weren’t going to be walking home alone anyway. So what if he brought a friend too? Skuld ignored the small part of her that whispered ‘It’s because he only thinks of you as just a friend’
“Hey, Sentaro!” Skuld smiled and then called out to him. Sentaro turned to face her as she stepped quickly towards the bike rack. “Hold on just a few moments, alright?” she said as she undid her (unfortunately unmodified low-tech) bike lock. “Okay.” The other three behind her chorused.
Skuld quickly shoved her bike lock in her bag and then wheeled her bike out. “All right, lets go.” Skuld started walking beside her bike, since it seemed no one else had brought one. As the group of four left the bike rack, she asked Sentaro, “Sentaro, where’s your bike? You mentioned once that you usually ride your bike to school.” Sentaro carefully looked away from Skuld and replied, “Oh, my bike broke, and I’m waiting for the new parts to come in so I can fix it. So I can’t ride it to school or for my job for now.”
“Job?” Skuld and Chika asked, nearly simultaneously. Sentaro looked over at the two and focusing mainly on Skuld, the person he actually knew, said, “Yeah, don’t you remember I mentioned to you a while ago that I was running deliveries for the neighborhood shops? Well, I was just doing it as a favor, since they are all pretty nice people and good neighbors, but they all got together and decided on a flat fee that they would all pay me per delivery, plus they established work hours so I actually do my homework.” Sentaro made a face, “Like I wouldn’t do it if they hadn’t told me to or something. On top of that, they decided delivery priorities based on food cooling times, travel time, and a first-come first-serve kind of thing. Everyone just decided to make it all official on me all of a sudden.”
“Speaking of which, your parts probably came in with the mornings postal delivery.” Sentaro’s friend spoke up. “If you stop by dad’s shop, we can fix it pretty quickly and you can go back to work if you want.” “Thanks man. I’ll remember that.” Sentaro turned back to the two girls. “I was going to tell you the next time I visited Skuld.” He said apologetically. “No need to worry.” Skuld said, flashing a smile despite a sinking feeling in her stomach. He got a job, and that’s why he hasn’t been coming by. Obviously someone with way too much free time like me will take up too much time.
Sentaro kept speaking however, which didn’t allow her to dwell on that depressing and probably untrue line of thought. “We obviously know each other, Skuld, but these two don’t. Why don’t we do some introductions?” “Oops,” Skuld said, “I forgot. Sentaro, this is Chika-san. She is our class rep, and we met after class and we got along really well, so we decided to become friends!” Sentaro and his friend traded raised eyebrows over the sudden change from class representative to friend, but neither said anything. Skuld ignored them and continued. “Chika-san, this is Sentaro, who was the first person to become a friend around my age after I came here to live with my sisters. I’ve known him for about three years now. And this is…” Skuld trailed off.
Sentaro picked up the thread of conversation; “I’ve known Daichi since middle school. I met him at a BMX biking rally, where he was helping his dad. It turned out that I had moved into his neighborhood, and we got along so we just naturally became friends. He’s here today because Belldandy onee-san asked for me and a friend I trusted to make sure that Skuld safely gets most of the way home.”
“Sorry if I have inconvenienced you Daichi” Skuld apologized. “It’s really no trouble, actually. We both live in this direction, and it’s on the way to my younger brother’s nursery school so it is actually pretty convenient” Daichi replied.
“Well,” Sentaro added, “It’s a pretty smart thing to ask though. Recently some delinquents have been harassing kids and businesses in our area. Two girls walking home from school would be easy targets if they didn’t know about what’s happening.”
Daichi joined in with an unusually deep voice for a freshman, “It’s really no trouble, actually. We both live in this direction, and it’s on the way to my younger brother’s nursery school so it is actually pretty convenient.”
After the introductions had been finished, they all chatted, Daichi somewhat nervously, and Skuld and Sentaro more comfortably and Chika adding interesting comments here and there. This continued for a while they all walked slowly, enjoying the balmy spring afternoon. Eventually, all four of them comfortably carried a wandering conversation about what most would consider small talk. The weather, neighborhood gossip, all small but very enjoyable little everyday topics.
“We have to separate with you girls at the upcoming bridge.” Sentaro brought up as they slowly approached that area. “Okay, thanks for letting us know.” There was a short but comfortable silence, and then Daichi hesitantly broke the silence with a question that had been bothering him. “Umm, Sukaeluwettru-san**, Iinchou.” Daichi stumbled over Skuld’s last name, but bravely forged on. “ Would you mind if I ask a question?” “Sure.” “I don’t mind.” The two answered. Daichi paused, almost delicately. “Many people, and almost all girls with the exception of you two seem to find me…intimidating. Most people tell me my eyes look…sharp, or cold. I was wondering why you two don’t seem to have a problem.”
Skuld tilted her head a bit to her right and said. “You are Sentaro’s good friend. It’s because you both have very kind eyes.” The two boys were practically synchronized when they blushed. Daichi nervously rubbed the side of his head and asked, “Wh-what about you, Iinchou?”
Chika stopped for a moment, and looked him slowly up in down, resting her chin on the thumb and finger of her right hand, her left supporting that arm. Sharp looking eyes, yes, but now that Skuld had pointed it out they were indeed kind. He was tall, and well developed for a freshman, but obviously intelligent and what little she had gleaned from conversation all pointed to a hard-working, and well-liked young man among those who knew him better. But at the same time, his large build and deceptively sharp eyes made it easy for her to understand why many others found him intimidating. And a few chance comments had easily marked him as a somewhat doting older brother.
Chika smiled, while Skuld and Sentaro watched her uneasily during this quick moment of introspection. She narrowed her eyes. “Skuld knows interesting people. Interesting people often do. You,” she paused and then started walking again, “are interesting.”
Daichi blinked. He thought for a moment. And then he shrugged and continued walking. The four of them reached the bridge in short order, and Skuld and Sentaro began a semi-awkward goodbye. “Thanks for walking me this far, Sentaro-kun.” Skuld said, facing him. “I really appreciate it.” Sentaro scratched the side of his neck while very carefully not looking directly at Skuld. “No problem. It was nice, since, you know…” He squirmed slightly and continued, “Since it has been a while since I saw you. Be safe on the rest of the way home.”
While Skuld and Sentaro awkwardly said their good byes for the day, Chika and Daichi traded a significant look. Chika flicked her eyes toward the two, and Daichi nodded slightly. Chika smiled, and Daichi looked at the other two again, and then looked back and very deliberately winked. Chika winked back, a very slight and barely noticeable flush rising to her face. The silent pact, the well-meaning conspiracy, had begun.
After the goodbye finished, the boy’s began to slowly cross the bridge, talking in quiet low voices, and the girls continued down the road for a bit. When the bridge was just out of sight, Chika said her goodbye and went down the road that lead to her home.
Skuld jumped on her bike, and the scenery started to easily flow by. What a wonderful day! I made a new friend, walked home with Sentaro, and it only looks to get better! Skuld thought joyfully. The temple came into sight and she put on a final burst of speed. Awesome!
She put up her bike and skipped into the entryway. “Tedaima! I’m home!” Belldandy came out, wiped her hands on her apron and smiled. “Okaeri. How was your day Skuld?” Skuld suppressed her smile. “It was okay. Onee-sama, is it okay if I ask why you asked Sentaro to bring a friend on the walk home today?”
Belldandy’s face took on a slightly worried cast. “You were so insistent that I write a letter asking Sentaro to walk you home, so I thought you were worried about getting home safe. So I thought that you wouldn’t mind if he found someone to give you extra protection.” Skuld restrained her impulse to smack her palm on her forehead. Of course Onee-sama would think that. I got her all worried over nothing. “Thanks, Onee-sama. I would have been alright with just Sentaro, though. I didn’t mean to cause you to worry.”
Belldandy smiled gently. “I felt confident knowing Sentaro was there to help. Come here and sit down Skuld, and tell me how your day went.” Skuld laughed and sat down at the table and picked up the glass of barley tea her sister had poured for her. “Okay!”


*A note about Nordic last names. Skuld’s last name roughly translates as clean or pure (Skaer is often used in conjunction with water) water (wetter).
The surname conventions of heaven are not directly analogous with the traditions I found in my research, but are pretty close. I am specifically referring to the new ‘tradition’ heaven has about receiving a new surname at your coming of age. The Patri/Matrilineal naming conventions are pretty much the same as real world examples, however. (i.e. Eriksson, Urdsdotter, etc.)
I used a Nordic last name for Skuld because a large part of the Ah! My Goddess system is based loosely off of Nordic myth. Goddess names in the series are all Nordic. So why stop now?
The version of Skuld’s surname that will be most often in my fanfic will be the romanized version of it in katakana. That’s why it has all the u’s. Katakana doesn’t have the hard r or l sounds that the name requires, nor does katakana ever use the s and k sounds so close together without another sound in between.
**Yes, already someone is mispronouncing her name. Welcome to Skuld’s life for the next three years. Lol.