*sigh*
Why is it large mails I keep sending the ffml keep vanishing??
Sent yesterday, no sign of it.

Here's the second try at posting this...

************************************

Well, here is the second chapter.

All comments, C&C, etc, _most_ welcome, public or privately (yes, even
critical ones, I want feedback!)

(You can either reply to the posting address or my private email address,
which is
 drow@newmoon.uk.com )

Thanks to my pre-readers, especially Jim Nutley, Tom Maunde and Barry
'angst' Cadwgan....

****************************************************************************
Chapter 2
-------------------

An Unexpected Visit
-------------------

******************************************** 

September isn't usually a cold month in Tokyo. Instead, the autumn Typhoons
which visit Japan tend to make it both warm and on occasion very wet.
However this morning the sultry warmth had faded a little, leaving the air
fresh and pleasantly cool in the early light.

To the man slumped against the wall as he stared hopelessly at the slowly
smoking fire in front of him, warmth would have been preferable. Ideally a
muggy warmth that would have both warmed him and made him sleepy, so he
wouldn't have had to see so much of the day. He shifted, the old coat he
wore rustling as it rubbed the rough planks of the wall behind him, his
expression resigned and bitter. Although the Japanese authorities refuse to
admit their existence, there are indeed people living rough on the streets
of Tokyo. He slowly stirred the fire with a stick, watching it brighten,
idly reflecting for a moment on the comparison with his own life. A bright,
clear blaze, ending in ashes and darkness. He grunted as he picked up the
bottle by his foot, taking a small sip. The alcohol warmed his throat even
as it made him realise just what sort of state he had sunk into.

His musings, laced with despair and bitterness, distracted him from noticing
what was happening to his fire for a few moments. Instead of fading after he
stopped poking it, the flames were flickering more brightly, a small shower
of sparks drifting upward in the heat above it, the air starting to stir and
roil as it warmed. He gaped at it, uncertain as to what was happening. Then
he staggered to his feet, stumbling further away from the blaze as the rest
of the material burst into flame, ending a plume of fire and smoke circling
skywards into the clear morning air. 

The showers of sparks leaping from what now resembled an inferno rather than
a small fire twisted slowly, circling as they formed into a double spiral of
glowing motes which rose into the smoke. While part of him knew he should be
getting out of here, that whatever was happening wasn't natural, the sight
was so mesmerising that he couldn't tear himself away. Suddenly the fire
collapsed, the now-spent fuel falling in a cloud of carbonised dust. The
sparks flashed into a momentary iridescence as they formed the outline of a
female figure, the effect lasting such a brief instant that he wasn't
certain it ever even occurred. 

Someone (at the time, he didn't realise it was himself) made a small, almost
whimpering sound, as he looked at the girl who had so suddenly appeared,
standing over the charred embers that were all that remained of his fire.
Slowly she turned, looking around, the large black cat on her shoulders
leaning over as it stared at him with an expression he would have sworn
looked hungry. With a startled cry, his feet propelled him away at a speed
quite disproportionate to his thin and dishevelled appearance.

Ashtoreth blinked, looking at the back of the figure as it disappeared
around a corner.

"What in Hades was _that_ !"

Tc'pip stroked his whiskers with a paw thoughtfully.

"A wild human, I guess."

"Do they always react so... well, erratically?"

"They never used to. Well, not erratically, they were always properly scared
when I was around them."

Ashtoreth gave a final look at where she'd seen him vanish, shrugged
expressively, and put it out of her mind for the moment. She'd find out soon
enough, she supposed, and in the meantime she wanted to take a good look at
this odd new world she found herself in.
 
"How far is it to your sisters?"

Ashtoreth turned around slowly, then stopped suddenly.

"Close. This way. I used the nearest open fire I could as our gateway."

Tc'pip nodded, then looked up at where she was gazing upwards with a
fascinated look.

"What is it? Can't we get going?"

Ashtoreth mmmd, blinking as she looked down.

"Oh... sorry, it was just the sky looked so odd."

Tc'pip looked upward with a well-practised look of suspicion.

"What's the matter with it?"

"It's blue..."

"Of _course_ it's blue! This is Midgard, remember? Blue sky, it's all over
the place!"

"I _know_ that!. It's just... it looks so different than it does in the
pictures..."

"Yeah, well, look at it later! It isn't as if its going anywhere, is it?"

Ashtoreth smiled, somewhat embarrassed at herself as she swung her bag over
her other shoulder.

"I guess not. Let's get going. It shouldn't be hard to find our way
there..."

******************************************** 

Belldandy smiled happily as she walked along the street, enjoying the
clarity and coolness the early morning air. She knew it wouldn't last as the
day wore on, and for a moment was tempted to interfere to keep it like this,
so her day out with Keiichi would be even more pleasant. Then she smiled,
shaking her head in remonstrance at herself at considering such temptation.
Interfering with nature in such a way was not proper, except for serious
matters. And while a day out with her Keiichi was certainly a matter for
enjoyment, it hardly fell into that category!

She skipped over one of the puddles left by the overnight rain, then blushed
very slightly as she realised. Wondering if it was the thought that both her
sisters were out, and that she and Keiichi would be able to enjoy a solitary
day that was making her act more like a teenager than the serious goddess
she was supposed to be? She deliberately slowed her pace to something more
respectable, allowing the pleasurable anticipation to remain decorously
inside herself, rather than being revealed to the world.

Reaching the shops which were her destination, she inspected the produce
displayed in front of her. She didn't get chances to go out with Keiichi
nearly as often as she would like, and far more rare for them to be able to
do so on their own. While she loved her sisters dearly, there were times
when she did find their presence a little...inconvenient.

Humming a tune softly under her breath, she began selecting the best of the
items into her basket. She was going to make this a special day for Keiichi,
one they could remember.

*********************************************

Ashtoreth looked at the gateway to the Tarikihonganji temple with a
considerable feeling of relief, although she was never going to admit that
to her companion.

"See, here it is!"

Tc'pip peered at the entrance, then up at her.

"I seem to remember someone saying it wouldn't take long..."

She looked down at him, restraining the more obvious comment she would have
liked to make.

"It's hardly my fault this place is such a maze! I thought mortals were
supposed to organise their cities!"

The dragonet shrugged.

"Well, whoever organised the layout of Tokyo had probably consumed enough
sake to slosh when he walked..."

Ashtoreth smiled slightly, putting him down as she looked carefully at the
gateway to her sister's temporary abode.

"Well. Let's see..."

She walked slowly up to the entrance to the temple, looking at it curiously.
She'd never seen anything like it before, and was rather surprised at the
pleasant feeling its layout and symmetry invoked in her. Puzzled, she
focussed her gaze on it, but couldn't detect any spell that would make her
feel this way. How odd. There was a spell _covering_ the doorway from her
entry, but that was just the sort of standard recognition/protection spell
she'd expect to be around the abode of any supernatural entity.

Stopping a foot away, she examined the ward carefully. Fascinating. Not
extremely powerful, but beautifully crafted, its subtlety and technique
substituting for the brute force she was more used to. Interestingly, it
seemed to be only blocking the access of demons and similar orders. That was
another surprise, did that mean her relatives didn't care if mortals
intruded on them? 

Raising one hand, she 'rested' it against the barrier, feeling the slightly
rubbery texture against her fingertips. The she closed her eyes, body going
still as she let her thoughts grow calm, smooth, a placid lake that allowed
the demonic side of her heritage to sink slowly beneath that surface without
leaving a ripple.
The two angled demon-marks on her forehead faded, merging into the skin
until they were hardly visible. As they faded, the upright triangles on her
face that were the heritage of her father became more substantial, their
dull crimson seeming to glow slightly as they became clearer against her
dusky skin.

Satisfied, she opened her eyes, being careful not to disturb her calmness.
Her fingertip slowly stroked the barrier, and she smiled to herself as it
rippled, a translucent wash of a myriad colours scintillating across the
interface as it parted for her. Stepping though quickly, she turned, a
pleased grin on her face as she watched the portal slide closed.

Looking about curiously, she absently stroked the 'cat' perched on her
shoulder as she examined the temple courtyard more closely. She saw the
traces of a subtle, complex use of magic all around her, the delicate
colours of it interweaving with the natural surroundings with a harmony that
made the two seem to merge at times, even to her perceptions. Someone had
invested much of themselves here, and she wondered again at the reason.
After all, this was only Midgard, not the home of one of her sisters.

Stooping, she brushed a small bush with her fingertips, letting the feeling
of its slow life flow through her mind. It felt so different from what she
was used to, not just more complex, but alive. Despite herself, a small
smile crept across her face, as she stood again. She really shouldn't waste
time out here, it was time to meet her family. Her tongue licked across her
suddenly dry lips, as she slowly started to walk up to what was apparently
the main entrance to this temple. 

************************************ 

Keiichi was not having a good day with his motorcycle. 
However it must be remembered that to someone most of whose spare time
revolves around playing with cars, motorcycles or other even more exotic
forms of transportation, not having a good day doesn't necessarily mean the
same as not having fun.

In this case, he was underneath the cycle, a tray of tools within easy
reach, happily fiddling with the recaltriant engine. It wasn't as if it
wasn't working, but he was convinced that he could get more performance out
of it, it was just a matter of tweaking it a little more. Ordinarily he
would have been happy to fiddle with it all day, but he knew that Belldandy
would be back soon, and he didn't want to keep her waiting while they could
be going out together. Especially since this time both her sisters were busy
elsewhere.

He grunted in annoyance as his fingers slipped in the oily grease coating
the nut he was carefully removing, sending it spinning out of his hands to
roll out from under the bike and away from him.
Rather than simply slide out from under, he tried to grab at it without
moving anything more than his arm. As usual in these cases, he was
unsuccessful, as the nut rolled just out of his reach, almost as if it knew
how far he could easily stretch and was determined not to settle down inside
that distance.

He made one final effort, straining his arm out as far as he could, his
fingertips just touching it. Just enough, in fact, to push it a little
further away. He turned, ready to slide out and grab it. This brought him
face to face with both the renegade piece of motorcycle, and a pair of very
shapely sandal-wearing feet. He blinked. That was odd, he'd assumed Urd
would be out all day.

"Urd, could you pass me the nut, please?"

"Urd??"

Keiichi thought about that remark for a moment, and in particular the voice
it was said in. It wasn't Urd's, it was softer, huskier and somehow younger.
Then his mind worked its way around the fact that the owner of those feet
_wasn't_ Urd. So despite the fact that they looked like Urd's, they weren't.
This was followed by a deep *clang* and a loud cry of pain as his head
impacted violently with the bottom of his sidecar, the result of his mind
trying to get him up, ready to run. After all the things that had happened
to him since Belldandy arrived, the idea that a strange new girl implied
trouble, and usually trouble for him, was rapidly becoming a conditioned
reflex - especially when Belldandy wasn't around.

For her part, Ashtoreth was getting more and more confused.
First, the only person in the Temple seemed to be this mortal. And he didn't
seem to be looking after anything, which might have been reasonable, but was
instead playing with this rather odd contrivance.
Second, he'd addressed her in a highly familiar way, and one which assumed
she was Urd. She wondered why he'd done that, and why he spoke so casually
to a Goddess? Surely her sisters wouldn't allow such familiarity from a
mortal?

She looked down in annoyance to where Keiichi was sprawled out, a large and
impressive bump on his head indicating where he'd proved once again that
metal is rather harder than heads. He was obviously partly or completely
unconscious, his eyes shut, body unmoving. Wonderful, now she couldn't even
get any answers out of him!


Ashtoreth looked down at the mortal under the motorcycle in considerable
confusion. Judging by the loud *clunggg* and the cry of pain she'd just
heard, he'd hurt himself, although she wasn't certain how he'd managed it.
Frowning, she gently poked the out-thrust leg sticking out with her toe.
Nothing happened. Her frown deepened. Turning her head, she looked at
Tc'pip, who looked back, shrugged, and jumped down next to the leg. She
watched impatiently as the disguised dragonet first tapped the leg with his
paw, with no effect, and then stuck his head under the motorbike to take a
closer look.

"He's knocked himself out."

"He's _what_! How did he manage that!?"

Tc'pip extracted himself from under the bike, sitting down and looking up
smugly.

"He's got a huge bump on the top of his head. So either the mosquitoes are
_really_ bad around here, or he did it when he tried to escape."

"Why was he trying to escape? I wasn't going to hurt him!"

Ashtoreth sounded considerably aggrieved, rather as if it was a personal
affront that a mortal, and especially a male mortal, would be trying to get
away from her, rather than get closer. Tc'pip looked up at her, then back at
Keiichi, and shrugged.

Sighing, she knelt down and took hold of his leg, slowly pulling him out.
Then she sat back a little, hands on her knees as she examined him more
closely. 

"He's a bit short, isn't he? "

Tc'pip looked up at her.

"Well, he looks adult. If you think he's too small, I can always throw him
back...?"

She shook her head in negation, leaning forward over him to take a good
look. Just as well for Keiichi's blood supply, he was still unconscious.
Looking him over, she was surprised at how nervous she felt. While she'd
seen mortals on her way over here, this was the first one she'd been able to
touch. She reached out one slender hand, very slowly, pausing with her
fingertips a few inches away from his face. Somehow she felt that the act of
actually touching a male mortal for the first time would be more significant
to her than it appeared.

************************************** 

Skuld scowled to herself as she slid up through the basin of water she kept
in a convenient corner of her room as her entrance for when no-one else was
home. She tossed the magazine she'd got at the exhibition into one of the
piles cluttering up the floor, it's pages making a loud rustling flutter as
it flew to it's resting place. Putting her hands on her hips, she looked
over the half-completed projects taking up most of the floorspace. 

"Hmph! You'd think after the way they went on about it that they'd have had
some decent combat robots at the show! I've never seen such a hopeless,
discoordinated bunch of would be fighters since the morning after the last
Solstice celebrations in Valhalla!! I could have built a better contestant
out of a couple of toilet rolls and a few bits of wire!"

With that final disparaging remark, she threw herself down in the one chair
clear of equipment, parts or technical manuals, scowling at the wall as she
tried to think of what to do with the rest of her so-far-wasted day.

**************** 

"Well, it doesn't look like he's going to wake up any time soon. So if I
want to get any answers I guess I'll have to do something."

Tc'pip looked up at his companion, a frown on his feline features.

"Are you sure that's wise?"

Ashtoreth sniffed, putting down her bag as she straightened Keiichi's
unconscious body, then straightening up, interleaving and cracking her
fingers as she looked down, a calculating expression on her face as she
sorted out an appropriate spell in her mind.

"Oh, stop worrying! I'm only going to wake him up."

As she spoke, she started to slowly move her hands, fingers twisting as a
faint smoky-crimson tracery followed their path through the air, as she
started to speak the first syllables of a spell. As she did, the two angled
demon-marks between her eyebrows glimmered, sparkling softly as they became
more distinct.

It was a pity that nearly all of the magic she'd been taught emphasised the
demonic side of her heritage, although of course her instructors had had
very specific aims in mind when they arranged her training. 

Unfortunate under the circumstances, however, since although the spell was
fairly harmless, it was more that enough to disturb the sensors of Banpei.
As was her wont, Skuld had left it on guard when she went out. This was not
so much from a worry that a supernatural entity would attack the temple, but
more so it would keep an eye on her sister and Keiichi, to make sure that he
wouldn't do something hentai while she wasn't around to keep onee-sama safe
from the pervert.

Banpei's head swivelled on his shoulders, as he detected the use of magic
within the temple boundaries, his threat-assessment board quantifying it,
then lighting up. Demon.

With a soft whirring of gears and motors, he moved into action, deploying
his inbuilt weapon systems as he started to move towards the offending
entity. His computer software moved smoothly from its normal resting monitor
state to the higher alertness required when combat was required, a soft glow
that was his equivalent of a humans satisfaction at preparing to do what he
was meant to do suffusing his operating system.

He swung out of his resting position, wheels spinning as they threw up a
small shower of dust. As he sped off in the direction he'd detected the
demonic magic, his bazooka swung into position, an anti-demon round already
loaded.

******************************************** 

Ashtoreth finished speaking the final syllables of her spell softly, her
eyes glowing with a deep golden fire as she cast it over Keiichi. For a
moment nothing seemed to happen to him, as a soft roseate fog glimmered
across his body, partially hiding him before it was apparently sucked into
him.

She sat back on her haunches, a satisfied smile on her face. It had been a
lot harder than she'd thought to manage that spell; it seemed that it was
true that it took more effort to work magic on Midgard than in Hell. Tc'pip
looked at her, then sat down and started to lick his fur.

Keiichi's eyes opened slowly, as the large bump on his head shrunk, slowly
vanishing. He groaned, feeling the top of his head, and then blinked in
surprise as he didn't feel anything. It was about then he noticed the girl
sitting looking at him.

She smiled, leaning a little closer. Keiichi didn't have much choice; look
at her or close his eyes. He looked. Gulped. And closed his eyes. While his
experiences with Urd had resulted in a rather higher resistance to
involuntary nosebleeds than usual in anime males, the girl above him was
currently straining this to its limits.

"Hey, don't go back to sleep on us!"

He groaned, turning his head sideways and opening his eyes at the new voice.
And found himself staring at a large black cat, absently licking its paw as
it regarded him.

The cat grinned.

"Hi. "

Keiichi looked at the cat. A talking cat. Oh dear. Then he looked carefully
at its forehead. No crescent moons. Good, that meant he was just looking at
a _normal_ talking cat. That made him feel so much better. Then his eyes
widened.

"You're a _cat_! A _talking_ cat!!"

Tc'pip grinned, what could be only described as a feline smirk plastered
across his furry features.

"Wrong! I'm a dragon..."

Keiichi sighed, then leaned back and closed his eyes again. This was
obviously concussion he was suffering from after that bang on the head.
Talking of which...he'd hit his head when looking at a girl...

His eyes snapped open again, this time a look of rather wide-eyed
apprehension on his face.

************************ 

This time Ashtoreth smiled down at him. Indeed, she almost reached out a
hand to help him up, until she realised belatedly that he _was_ only a
mortal, after all. 

"How are you feel... what the HELL!!"

Keiichi blinked in confusion, as her apparently friendly remark was broken
off with a surprised curse, as the girl spun around, staring at the corner
of the temple. He craned his head, looking past her legs, and gulped.
Banpei. In full attack mode, judging by the bazooka pointing in their
direction. He closed his eyes, hoping for a few seconds that when he opened
them this would all have been a bad dream. No such luck.

Ashtoreth shut her mouth quickly as she realised she'd been gaping slightly
at the oncoming mech. At least she was fairly certain it was a mech, she
couldn't believe anything so bizarre and clunky-looking could be natural.
Then her delicate eyebrows drew downwards in a scowl as she realised that it
was heading straight for her, its wheels tossing up a small puff of gravel
as it turned slightly, speeding up.

She was still trying to work out what was going on when the bazooka round
exploded in front of her.

Banpei gave a mechanical *beep* of pleasure, reloading as it closed. As the
small cloud of smoke cleared, Keiichi looked back (while continuing to
scuttle backwards as fast as he could in a prone position).

Ashtoreth growled, pushing her now-dishevelled hair back with one hand as
she looked down at herself. What had been a reasonably decorous T-shirt now
resembled the sort of remnants of clothing not normally seen outside of a
rather... specialised... range of magazines. Not to mention the dust and
dirt she was spattered with from whatever that explosion was.

She glared at the approaching mech, eyes literally glowing with fury.

"You overgrown clockwork moron, that was my favourite T-shirt!!"

Banpei's expression didn't alter (not surprisingly, since it was rivetted to
his face) as he fired again. This time, however, he didn't catch anyone by
surprise. Keiichi and Tc'pip had managed to scuttle into temporary shelter
behind a sizeable decorative rock, while Ashtoreth took one look at the
shell heading for her, and dived gracefully to the side in an avoiding roll.
If nothing else, the speed and dexterity she displayed impressed Keiichi.

Looking down, he saw Tc'pip looking back at him, and oddly similar look of
surprised confusion on his draconic features. Then they both turned as one
to watch the unfolding battle.

************** 

Skuld was brought out of her reverie by a sharp beeping noise on one of her
instruments. Frowning, she put the half-empty tub of ice-cream she'd been
steadily devouring down, giving the contents a brief, regretful look as she
walked over to where the noise was coming from. She frowned as she realised
it was part of her Banpei warning system

"Keiichi wouldn't be so ecchi as to start something here again, would he? I
thought I taught him his lesson last time he tried to do...things... to
oneesama!"

Brows furrowed, she tapped a number of controls with unerring speed and
accuracy.

"What... it's DEMONS!! Marller!!!"

With that, she leapt to her feet, swinging the long debugging hammer off her
back in a motion that very nearly decapitated an errant computer monitor, as
she headed for the doorway.

"Marller, I'll teach you not to come and cause trouble here!!"

It never occurred to her to think that the detector she'd built into Banpei
didn't actually distinguish _between_ demons, but merely registered demonic
energy signatures. The only demon she'd actually ever detected with it was
Marller and her servants, and she'd never found the time to enhance it.
After all, there were so many other interesting, and new, projects to occupy
herself with...
 
*************** 

The fight, such as it was, wasn't really very fair, although it did provide
a certain amount of entertainment for the two watchers. Although they would
undoubtedly have enjoyed it more as a spectacle if they hadn't been spending
so much time worrying that one of the mech's stray rounds would land on
them. 

Ashtoreth was getting more angry by the second. Dodging the latest in a
flurry of diverting, if not particularly dangerous, attacks, she decided
that this was quite enough. Standing upright, her hair tossing as if she was
standing in a gale, she raised her hands in front of her. The goddess marks
adorning her face glowed a bright scarlet as a ball of plasma flared into
being between her fingers. She grinned, as her hair mimicked the ball of
flame, her disguise flaking away as she hurled the burning sphere at Banpei.

The mech made a valiant attempt to dodge what it very correctly gauged as a
serious attack, but to little avail. With an explosive *whoomph* the ball
exploded right by its rear offside wheel, tossing it across the ground in an
uncontrolled tumble that ended with it piled against a tree, smoking and
creaking for a moment until it collapsed into an unmoving heap. One wheel
slowly rolled from the wreckage towards Ashtoreth, then fell over just in
front of her

Ashtoreth looked at it for a moment with narrowed eyes, then tossed her hair
back as she rubbed her hands ostentatiously.

"And that serves _you_ right!!" 

************************ 

Skuld skidded around the final corner, and stopped dead, staring with horror
at the smoking ruin of one of her favourite mecha!! Her knuckles gripping
the handle of her hammer so hard they were white, she glared around. And
realised with a shock that whoever this demon was, it _wasn't_ Marller! Not
that it made any difference, it was time, no _past_ time, for Skuld to teach
her the error of her ways!

"Leave my Banpei-chan alone, demon!!"

Ashtoreth turned in surprise, staring at the small girl - no, she corrected
herself as she saw her facial markings and the glow of power around her,
goddess - who was standing glowering at her, hands raised dramatically in a
gesture she didn't understand but was pretty certain wasn't welcoming.

Skuld thought for a moment, unwilling to forgo her dramatic Sentai pose but
certain she'd forgotten something...

"Oh, and leave Keiichi alone too!"

Ashtoreth was getting rapidly confused, her mood not helped by the tone of
the girls voice, that raised an instant aversion to doing what she asked.
Was this human Banpei, then?

"What are you talking about?"

Skuld's face grew a deeper crimson, as she glared at the demoness who'd
damaged one of _her_ magnificent creations!

"How dare you destroy him, foul denizen of the lower depths! Prepare to face
the wrath of a goddess!!"

At this point, Ashtoreth was not a happy demoness.

She'd been nervous enough about meeting family for the first time, and since
she got here everything seemed to be going wrong.

First the mortal had hurt himself, and when she'd tried to help that nasty
little robot had attacked her without provocation.

Then this snotty little brat turns up, and starts talking to her in a way no
self respecting demon would have taken from anyone other than a major god.
And to add insult to injury, the dialog she was using was straight out of a
_bad_ B-movie. All she'd wanted was to meet her family, quietly, without any
fuss, and it was now clear that wasn't going to happen.

Her temper, none too elastic at the best of times, finally snapped.

"Look, you annoying little snot, I was minding my own business when that
hunk of tin attacked _me_!!"

Growling, she bared her fangs at Skuld, facing off against her.

Tc'pip groaned, tugging at Keiichi's pants with his claws.

"Come on, boyo, lets get out of here!"

Keiichi looked down at the cat, still trying to make some sense out of what
was going on.

"But..."

"Look, real soon now you're going to be in between these two! Carry a lot of
life insurance, do you?"

Keiichi blinked at that last bit of sarcasm, but then his position
penetrated his still somewhat stunned brain. Taking a quick look at Skuld,
he saw what she was getting ready to throw. And how many of them. That was
enough to start him on a scramble away that almost overran the fast
retreating Tc'pip, as he tried desperately to get out of ground zero. 

************************************* 

end Chapter 2