[AMS] [UY] "Chaos and Death" (3/?)

Chapter Three: "Mysterious Blossom"

By Henry J. Cobb

$Id: chaos_death3.txt,v 1.6 1997/09/19 03:39:17 hcobb Exp $



The Ah! Megami-sama! characters and situations are the creation of Kosuke

Fujishima.



The Urusei Yatsura characters and situations are the creation of Rumiko

Takahashi.



No infringement of their copyrights is intended.



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Skuld stood from her seat in the stands and cheered as one special rider

turned the corner in his motorcycle.



The rider turned his head to look for her.



"No!  Don't look this way!"  Skuld shouted.  "Keep your eyes on the

course!  BAKA! BAKA! BAKA!"



Skuld opened her eyes as the door to her room opened.



"What is it Skuld?"  Ataru asked.  He was standing there in his PJs.  "I

heard you shouting."



"Nothing.  It's nothing."  She replied.  Why had the dream returned?  It

must be this dreary room she was staying in.  The sooner she got this

mission over with the better.



Skuld took a bath and then went to Ataru's room.  "What are you up to?"



"I'm getting ready for school."  He was wearing a drab uniform and putting

some books into a satchel.



"I'd best tag along to keep you from causing trouble."  Skuld glanced in

Ataru's mind and got the pattern of Shinobu's school uniform.  She closed

her eyes and concentrated on the molecules of her clothing, gathering them

up in bands circling around herself then drawing on the streams to weave

the undergarments, blouse, skirt, socks and shoes. "There."



"Y-you wear the same type of panties as Shinobu!"  Ataru was standing with

a lecherous grin on his face.



"Pervert!"  Skuld slapped him.  "Why did you watch?"



"Hey, you changed right in front of me without warning!  Next time let me

grab a camera or something, OK?"



"Oh."  Why had she done that?  Skuld figured she must still be rattled

from the dream.



"You're going to the same school as Ataru?"  Ataru's mother asked at

breakfast.



"Yes, starting today."



Shinobu met them on the way to school.  "You're coming along to school

Skuld?"



"Yes, it's very important to keep an eye on Ataru.  We don't want him

summoning up any more spirits."



"Like those devils?  How does he do that?"



"Hey, it's not my fault!"



"Ataru here is an especially bad case.  We need to keep his lust from

getting out of hand."



A group of women jogged past and Ataru's gaze followed them.



Skuld slapped him.



"Ow! What did you do that for?"



"That's enough out of you.  Shinobu, can you help keep an eye on this

idiot?"



"Sure, no problem."



"Students, you have a new classmate today.  She's Skuld, uh."



"Just Skuld."  Skuld held up her student ID for the teacher to read.  She

wondered again what the big difference was between personally lying and

using fake ID, but Belldandy was the ethics expert.



"Well, Miss Skuld, we need a place for you to sit..."



"Hey teach!  The chair next to me is empty."  Ataru volunteered.



Skuld could guess why there would be an empty seat next to the letch.



Shinobu had the seat behind Ataru.  Between the two of them, they could

keep all-around surveillance of the menace.



After the first class, the boy seated in front of Skuld turned to Ataru

and adjusted his thick glasses.  "Say Ataru, who's this new girl?"



A scrawny boy with stringy hair walked over to Ataru's desk.  "Yeah Ataru,

we saw you walking in with Skuld today.  What's the connection?"



A large boy with a very short haircut towered over the runt.  "Where's she

from?"



"She's staying at Ataru's place." Shinobu offered.



Another boy combed back his perm and walked over to Skuld's desk.

"There's no way such a hot babe could be connected with Ataru."



"Hey you!"  Ataru complained.  "Leave my goddess alone Perm!"



"She won't be your goddess for long."  The boy with the glasses turned

back in his seat as the next teacher arrived.



After school, Ataru was about to zip off when Skuld caught his sleeve.



"Where are you off to in such a hurry, Ataru?"



"I got girls to see and things to do.  See you around Skuld."



"I don't think so.  Shinobu, can we come study over at your house?"



"I guess so."



"Great, just grab this idiot's other arm and we're off."



"Help!  I'm being abducted!"



"Lucky stiff!"  The boy in the thick glasses muttered then turned to his

companions as Ataru was dragged away.



The math homework was a breeze for Skuld, but she stumbled at history.

Despite living in Japan for over four years she still knew very little

about it.



"How do you put up with this emperor-based calendar Shinobu?  I've always

used the western calendar, even if it's from a competing bureau and has a

few glitches like no zero year and the Gregorian reform, it's still so

widespread that I don't have to use any other."



"Competing bureau?  You really are a goddess, aren't you?"



"Yes, it's more of a chore than it seems.  Speaking of that, hasn't Ataru

been in the bathroom for a long while?"



"He's making a mess, isn't he?"



"He would, wouldn't he?  Sorry about that Shinobu."



"It's not your fault Skuld, but my mom's gonna kill me!"



The two girls rushed to the bathroom and knocked.



"Ataru, you come out of there right now!"  There was no response to

Shinobu's demand so she slid the door open, pinching her nostrils with her

free hand.



The only thing out of place in the bathroom was the open window.



"He's flown the coup!"



"It's OK Shinobu, I'll just set the gain on my mini-comp up and when he

acts up we'll nab him."  Skuld pulled out her pocket computer and it

started beeping.  "Damn, already?  Now where?  Waaah!"



"Skuld!"  Shinobu stared as the goddess was swept up in a vortex that left

behind only a quickly fading breeze.



Skuld regained her balance and landed on her feet in a temple.  For a

moment she thought she was home, but a quick glance told her that the

style was Shinto, not Buddhist.



She backed away to study the situation.  There was a swarm of minor

spirits swirling around the center of the room.  Skuld pulled her goggles

out and studied the room.  Ataru was naturally in the center of the swarm,

while a Shinto priestess stood chanting near a sacred fire.



"Holy father, what has that idiot done?"  All of the spirits were disease

demons.  Skuld tossed a bug-trap forwards and stood back with her hammer

at the ready.  Even a goddess couldn't be too careful.



The swarm cleared out, the last few reluctant to part from Ataru, so Skuld

hammered them.



"Thanks, those things were really starting to bother me.  Now can you

untie me?"



"OK, if you'll tell me know how you managed to summon this lot."



"It wasn't me, it was her!"  Ataru pointed at the priestess.



"What?"  Skuld turned and ducked out of the way as the larger woman

charged with a exorcism stick.



"Begone foul spirit!"



Ataru lunged between the two, getting his hands on the well-proportioned

priestess.  "Hey Sakura, don't say that to my goddess!"



"Hand's off!"  Sakura swatted Ataru aside and then paused to adjust her

top.



"You summoned these demons?"  Skuld stood with her hammer at the ready.



"Those were the disease spirits that have haunted me since childhood."



"So you tried to exorcise Ataru and his foul nature drew them out of you?"



"Exactly, except that you came out of him!"



"Hah, Ataru's not possessed, just loathsome.  You activated our contract."



"Wh-what sort of foul succubus would sign a contract with him?"



"It wasn't my choice and I'm a goddess."



"That's right, she's my goddess."  Ataru put an arm around Skuld.



"You stay out of this!"  Skuld elbowed him off.  "I'm on a mission from

Kami-sama to watch over this idiot and keep his foul nature from

destroying the universe."



"What's so special about the letch?"



"I don't know, but you've seen the effects.  Come on Ataru, we're going home."



"Hey, I wanna stay with Miss Sakura."



"No!  I've had quite enough trouble out of you today."



The priestess watched as Skuld dragged Ataru away.



"Hey, I'm hungry from all this running around."



"That's nice, your mother probably has supper done by now."



"Not tonight, she's out late.  That's why you suggested Shinobu's, right?"



"We have to go back there to get our bookpacks and so you can apologise to

her."



"Can we at least stop for beefbowl?"



"OK, if that's what it takes to stop your whining."



"One large beef bowl, one small vegetable bowl, one tea, and one large

cola.  That's nine dollars and fifty four cents please."  (1)



"Oh, I guess I left my money at Shinobu's.  Skuld, could you?"



"Sure, I'll lend it to you."



Ataru noticed that Skuld took out her computer and make a quick entry

while they waited.  "What's up?"



"Just adding what you owe me to your record."



"That's cold."



"Hey, I won't nag.  I'll leave it up to your conscience if you'd like to

stiff a goddess or not."



Skuld spun around as she felt something lifted from her.



"What'ya got Chibi?"  The large boy from their class asked.



"It's Skuld's locket and just look at this guy in it Kakugari!"  The

scrawny student tossed his prize to the larger boy.



"He's a real cutie all right.  Much better looking than Perm."  He ran

from Skuld and tossed the locket to the boy with the Permed hair.



"Darn, I just can't win.  I guess this confirms that Ataru ain't her

boyfriend."



"Damn you!"  Skuld could smell the flame.  She stopped and took a deep

breath.  "You had best hand that back right now."



"Here you go Megane."  Perm tossed the locket, but it was snatched in

midair.



Ataru looked into the locket and then handed it back to Skuld.  "Here you

go."  He turned to the fourth of the gang.  "You here to cause any

trouble Megane?"



The boy with the thick glasses adjusted them.  "No, we're just passing

through."



"Hey, I wanna have beefbowl."  Chibi complained.



"Elsewhere.  We need to rethink this."



Skuld was still fuming when Ataru brought their order over from the

counter.



"So what's he like?"



"Who?"



"The boy in the locket."



"That's none of your filthy business!"



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Notes:



    (1) Yeah it'd be in Yen, but who needs to fumble with exchange rates?



	Henry J. Cobb	hcobb@slip.net          http://www.io.com/~hcobb

    next time: Crow Princess.