This will probably be the last chapter to be posted for a little
while, as I really am supposed to be doing an internship report and
looking for a job at this point. Still, I've still ideas brewing, so there
will be more sometime.

************************************************
  An Oddzilla Productions fanfic, by Andrew Huang.
  Guard the Future, chapter 8.
  Based on Fujishima Kosuke's "Aa! Megami-sama!"
************************************************

  Saturday. I sat in the temple's living room, flipping idly through a
magazine while waiting for Megumi to arrive. I was wearing jeans and a
leather jacket borrowed from Keiichi in case of any spills that might
happen. This promised to be pretty fun.

  "Ready to ride?" Megumi purred as she leaned over the back of the sofa.
And then she licked my cheek.

  And _then_ I woke up in my bed and swore to kick Urd's ass.

  After a quick shower and a cup of coffee, I discovered it was almost 11
am already. It's nice to sleep in on occasion, but this pushed it just a
little bit.

  I jogged up to the temple, was let in by Keiichi, greeted by Skuld,
and...I decided to wait in the kitchen rather than the living room,
helping Belldandy wash the dishes from a late breakfast.

  "Where's Urd?" I asked off-handedly, drying off a plate.

  "Right here," the oldest goddess said from the doorway, smile on her
face. "Good morning, Andrew-kun."

  I glared at her. "Didn't you say you'd not do that? With the dreams?"

  She cocked her head to the side while I grabbed another plate to towel
off. "No, actually, I didn't. I just said you weren't any fun."

  I ground my teeth, but Belldandy jumped in here. "Now, Urd, it's
probably not necessary for you to...influence his dreams. I'm sure
Andrew-san will do quite well with Megumi-san on his own."

  "I'm just trying to get him in the proper mood! ...oh, all right, Bell.
Fine, I'll stop." I grinned; Urd wasn't immune to Belldandy's pointed
looks either.

  "I'll try my best not to be a wet blanket," I conceded. "Honestly, trust
me a little. It's not like I have no experience with girls."

  "Not zero, but not that much, either. Especially in recent years." Urd
shook a finger at me. "I won't interfere, but I'll keep an eye on you."

  I sighed and shook my head, just as there was a knock on the front door.
"I got it," Keiichi said from the hallway. "Hey, Megumi."

  "Morning, Kei-chan. Andrew-san here yet?"

  "Yep, I'm here," I called out. Belldandy motioned for me to go, so I
left her to her dishwashing to meet Megumi. "Good morning, Megumi-san."

  She smiled at me and held out a plain red helmet. "This one's for you."
I accepted it, and then Keiichi handed me a leather jacket.

  I scratched a certain spot on my cheek and chuckled just a tiny bit
nervously, trying to forget this morning's dream. "Right, thanks."

  Not noticing anything amiss, she continued. "I packed some sandwiches
too--got the perfect place to sit down and have lunch. Are you ready?"

  "Yep." I pulled on the jacket, zipped it up. It would be a little warm,
but oh well.

  "Be careful, Andrew," Skuld said, from the living room, and then eyed
Megumi. "You better not let him get hurt."

  She laughed, while I shook my head a little. "Don't worry, I'll take
good care of him."

  I pointedly ignored the smirk that popped up on Urd's face then.

  With that, the two of us piled out of the house, waving to the others,
and we got on the bike. I carefully put on the helmet, with a little help
from Megumi.

  "Thanks...."

  "Okay, sit right there, and put your feet...right, right there. When I
sit down, arms around my waist, and watch your hands." She grinned.

  "I'll be careful, though I imagine Urd would wish otherwise," I said
dryly.

  This got a laugh out of her. "I guess so." She then sat down, and I
carefully put my arms around her. "Tighter. Don't worry, I'm not fragile,
and for my peace of mind I'd rather that you ooookay, that's just a little
too tight. Maybe Urd did get through to you a bit."

  I turned red behind my helmet's faceplate, not sure why I did that, but
fortunately she just sounded a little amused. "Sorry about that." I
adjusted my arms slightly. "That better?"

  "About right. Okay!" She started the engine, gunned it. "Ready?"

  "Yeah."

  She pulled away from the curb and we cruised down the road at a rather
leisurely pace, heading away from the city.

  "So where will we be going?" I said, raising my voice to be heard about
the motor.

  "You'll find out," she called out. "Can you see anyone around?"

  I carefully twisted in my seat, looked backward as she turned left onto
another road. "Nope, seems like it's just us around here."

  "Good!"

  Then I screamed, feeling my stomach plastered to my spine as we suddenly
went rocketing forward. But she was laughing.

------------------------------------------------

  "Fun, wasn't it?" She handed me a plastic-wrapped sandwich as I
stretched my legs out on the large tree stump we shared for a seat.

  "Once I got my heart started up again, yes."

  We were now next to a small lake not too far from the temple, after
about thirty minute's drive over a lot of winding, woodsy roads. The sun
was shining, a nice breeze was blowing, and I was sharing a picnic lunch
with a nice young lady. Life was pretty good.

  "Oh, it wasn't that bad, was it?"

  "No, I was just surprised. You could have given me a bit of warning." I
took a bite out of the sandwich. Not bad.

  Megumi laughed. "Maybe. But you came through all right."

  "Mostly. I'm not sure I liked it when we caught air."

  She smacked my shoulder lightly. "We never left the road surface, you
know." She was smiling, though.

  "Really? I could have sworn we bounced when we crested that one hill.
You know, the one after we passed the cargo van."

  "Pff, hardly. But if you want, I can show you what it's like...."

  I knew intellectually that I couldn't be killed, but self-preservation
remained strong in me. "I think I'll pass on that."

  "But overall--you enjoy riding so far?"

  "Yeah. Yeah, I do."

  "You think you might want to learn driving one yourself?"

  I hesitated. I'd enjoyed being a passenger so far, but something was
still making me shy away from that idea. "I'll keep thinking about it.
I've got limitations on time and money, too."

  "Aw, come on," she said, trying to cajole me a bit. "Don't worry about
that stuff too much. At least take a look at some bikes, okay? Get your
hands on one of them. Who knows, you might even enjoy working on engines."
She grinned.

  "Well, I...sure. All right." At the very least, it gave me an excuse to
hang out with her. Probably not what Urd would have in mind, though; motor
oil and grease were not particularly conducive to a romantic mood. "In
exchange, I'll teach you a little bit about computers. That fair?"

  "Sure!"

  We dropped into a relaxed silence, while I looked around, absorbing the
scenery. Work had been a little difficult as of late--it was nice to have
a chance to unwind like this.

  "Where do you see yourself in ten years?" Megumi asked suddenly.

  "Huh? Oh. Hm." I put down my sandwich, thought for a few moments. To
tell the truth, despite the recent changes in my life, I still hoped to
get into business school, climb up the corporate ladder.... "Marketing
executive for a tech company. Hopefully a family."

  She nodded thoughtfully. "I'd like to open a motor shop, specializing
in motorcycles. Maybe with my brother. Get married along the way."

  "A nice dream."

  We smiled at each other over our food, and I suddenly felt a little shy.
I hadn't been like this in a long time. Family. Getting married. I almost
laughed--interesting convergence there, but slow down, lad. Just focus on
the now.

  As it happened, the now was a quiet, pleasant lunch with an interesting
and attractive young woman, and I decided to leave it at that.

------------------------------------------------

  I'm not completely sure why I enjoyed it so much, but several hours of
zooming around the countryside passed by without me realizing it. Then
again, visiting scenic areas with a cute girl is bound to be a pleasant
way of spending a day--and I really was getting to like the feel of riding
on a motorcycle...well, with the exception of some of the really sharp
turns that she took.

  "Wow, I hadn't planned on showing you all these places already," Megumi
yelled, over the rumble of the engine as we cruised through a forest. The
sun hung low in the sky, now that summer was ending. "I was going to save
some of these for the next time."

  The thought that she was expecting a 'next time' rather pleased me. "I
don't mind," I called out. "So you found all these places just roaming
around on your own?"

  "Most of them. Kei-chan showed me a few himself too."

  I resisted the impulse to ask her if she'd shown these places to any
other guys. That would have been too nosy. And cheesy. Instead:

  "Megumi-san, want to have dinner together tonight? My treat."

  "Sure, why not?"

  "There's a pla--"

  Look to the right.

  "Andrew-san?"

  "Uh...hold on."

  I wasn't sure I'd actually heard a voice whispering in my head, but the
back of my neck was prickling again now. I stared intently to the right,
across the opposing lane of traffic. It didn't seem like...wait.

  "Stop, Megumi-san, turn around. Go back to that turn in the road."

  "What's wrong?" She slowed the motorcycle, checked to make sure there
were no oncoming vehicles, then made the u-turn.

  "I think I saw something back there, off in the woods."

  "Ah...all right."

  As soon as she stopped where I indicated, I hopped off the bike. The
road rose here up the hill, and a guardrail was in place, but slightly
before the guardrail, there was a bunch of crushed vegetation, leading
down to....

  "Oh, frig," I breathed, and yanked off the helmet.

  "What is it?" Megumi asked, coming up behind me. She had parked the bike
on the shoulder and was now squinting into the woods. "Hey, is that a
van?"

  "An ambulance, I think," I said, grimly. "Call the authorities. I'm
going to go take a look."

  It was indeed an ambulance, lying on its right side, underbelly facing
me. It was rather well blocked from view from the road by foliage unless
you came down. The front end was crushed up against a large tree, with
other smaller ones surrounding it. The turn wasn't that sharp, there
wasn't much chance of this happening, which is why they hadn't erected a
guardrail there. This likely wasn't a normal accident.

  "Anyone awake in there?" I called out. Anyone alive in there, I didn't
ask. I heard a faint groan in response. "Hold on, I'll be right there."

  I clambered on top of the ambulance cab and peered down through the
rolled-down side window. The driver looked to be conscious, though barely;
he was sprawled over the passenger, who was out cold. Both were bloody.
"What happened? Is there anyone in the back?"

  The driver coughed. "No...but the liver...."

  "Huh?"

  "Transplant organ. Needs to be...sent to the hospital. Fast."

  "Crap. All right. We're calling for help--just hang in there."

  The man nodded weakly, and I dropped back down to the ground. I was
worried, though. If this was the work of demons, then how could we ensure
that it got to the hospital safely? And on time? I turned to look over at
Megumi, who was still talking on her celphone, sounding a bit excited and
worried.

  I pulled out my celphone and dialed up the temple. "Keiichi? It's
Andrew. I need to talk to Belldandy, fast. All right." I waited a moment.
"Belldandy? All right, listen up...." I described the situation to her as
quickly as I could, to which she responded that she and Keiichi would be
there as soon as possible. We were relatively close to the temple now,
closer than the hospital. After that, I hung up.

  "Hey," the driver called out weakly. I immediately scrambled up to the
cab again.

  "What is it?"

  "Please...check on the transport box. Tell me if it's damaged or
anything."

  I nodded and went around to the back, where I carefully opened the lower
rear door, levering it down. "What does it...oh. This big cooler-looking
thing?"

  "Yes."

  "It looks okay. Nothing leaking out, no cracks or anything."

  "Good...."

  "You okay over there? What about the other guy?"

  "We'll...be fine." I frowned. Not likely. Hmm. Carefully making sure
Megumi wasn't paying attention, I stretched a hand toward the front and
muttered quietly. This healing spell would make sure they'd recover
without any permanent injuries--I couldn't heal them all the way up, as
that would be too suspicious, but I could do this for them, at least.

  Megumi came over just after I completed the spell, putting her phone
away. "They're sending a couple of ambulances, but the dispatcher sounded
pretty worried. What's happening?"

  "Organ transplant delivery. It's probably really urgent. The driver and
passenger, they're pretty hurt. Hey, what's your name?"

  "Takeda Hiroshi. My partner's name...is Kitano Yuusuke." He sounded a
little stronger than before. Good.

  "Hold on, Takeda-san, they're sending help. Might be a little while,
though, still some distance to the city."

  "Was worried...about that. Already been here half an hour. Maybe more."

  I cringed. "What about the transplant? When do they need it?"

  "One hour ago," he answered, with a weak laugh. "Poisonous mushrooms.
Something like that."

  "Oh, ugh," Megumi murmured.

  "Well," I said quietly, "there still might be a chance."

  Then I heard another motorcycle pulling up nearby. The two of us both
turned around to look. "Kei-chan?" Megumi said.

  Sure enough, he and Belldandy were hurrying over. "How'd you know?"

  "I can recognize the sound of that motor," Megumi said with a smile that
quickly vanished.

  "Huh. Hey, guys, glad you made it. That was fast."

  "It sounded like an emergency," Keiichi said grimly.

  "That is the transplant organ?" Belldandy said, pointing at the cooler.
I nodded. She then turned to Keiichi. "It will take another ten minutes at
least for an ambulance from the city to get here. There's little time. It
will fit in the sidecar if I squeeze."

  Megumi blinked. "You're thinking of--"

  Keiichi frowned, as did I. "Is that a good idea?"

  "What's going on?" Takeda called out.

  "Uh...some friends of ours are here. They, um, think they could bring
the liver to the hospital faster."

  "Don't forget the paperwork, then."

  "What?"

  "Clipboard. Should be back there next to the cooler."

  Belldandy moved forward, looked around, then grabbed a broken clipboard
that still had a packet of papers secured to it. "We have it."

  "Good. Go...not much time."

  "But--" Megumi protested.

  "It'll be all right," Belldandy said firmly. She looked at Keiichi, then
at me. "It's necessary."

  "All right. I'll bring the cooler over to the motorcycle." I reached in
and picked it up. It was kind of heavy.

  "I hope this works out," Megumi said quietly.

  "It will," I said, sounding a little more confident than I really felt.
"Keiichi, Belldandy, let's go. Megumi, stay here; I think those two guys
would appreciate some company. I'll be right back."

  As I walked back to the road with the two others, I asked in a low
voice, "Is this what I think it is?"

  "Yes," Belldandy said quietly. "I called Heaven on the way here, and
they confirmed tiny bursts of demonic energy all throughout the day,
culminating here. Fortunate that Megumi chose this route when she did. I
will be able to ensure a safe delivery."

  I sighed. "What is it about demons running vehicles off the road
lately?"

  Keiichi handed Belldandy his celphone. "Call the hospital when we're on
the way. Better explain to them what's going on."

  She took it, nodding. I placed the cooler in the footwell of the sidecar
carefully. It would be a tight fit for Belldandy, but she could manage.

  "I just hope--I mean, two random people picking this up...but I imagine
you have ways of being persuasive, huh?"

  "Of course. And this is an emergency, after all. We'll be on our
way--we'll see you and Megumi-san later."

  "All right."

------------------------------------------------

  The sky was rapidly darkening by the time we finished giving statements
to the police officers that arrived along with the rescue teams; the two
EMTs had long been evacuated from the wreck. The new ambulance crew seemed
to accept the status of the transplant organ rather easily--perhaps they'd
been radioed by the hospital about that.

  Megumi seemed a little subdued, but that was to be expected. She'd
winced when she saw their bloody forms carried away on stretchers. They
looked worse than they actually were, though, and the passenger had even
regained consciousness by then. Still, she continued to stare at the wreck
with a small frown. "You all right?" I asked her, placing a hand on her
shoulder.

  There was a moment's silence before she answered. "To tell the truth,
once they said the two guys would be okay, I haven't felt too bothered by
all of this. Even though I know that this was a nasty near-disaster--might
still end up as one if the liver didn't get there on time, right? But I'm
not that upset." She scratched her head, looking puzzled. "Probably
because I'm not personally involved. Actually--is this like something
you've been through before? Because you seem more upset than I am."

  I blinked. "Huh, really?" She nodded briefly. It was true, though, I
supposed, but not for the reason she thought. "It's kinda complicated. I
dunno," I said, trying to evade the question.

  She looked puzzled, but didn't press the issue. "All right."

  "Let's go and get out of their way." I squeezed her shoulder gently as
we walked back to the motorcycle. "Still up for dinner?"

  "I'm sorry...this was kind of a mood-wrecker, you know?" She smiled
wanly at me, shaking her head.

  I felt a little disappointed, but she was right. I wouldn't much be able
to enjoy a meal with her at this point, with this whole affair hanging
over my mind. Especially if she could detect my unease. "I guess so. Back
home, then?"

  The ride back was quieter than earlier in the day; we didn't talk very
much, and there wasn't that far to go anyway. I did sit a little closer to
her on the motorcycle than before; she didn't seem to mind.

  "Sorry it had to end on such a bad note," Megumi said, as I climbed off
the motorcycle in front of my apartment.

  "It was going well until...then, yeah. Couldn't be helped." I put the
helmet down on the rear of the motorcycle and secured it there as she'd
showed me how to do earlier. "Well."

  "Well."

  Insert obligatory uncomfortable silence.

  We stared at each other, fidgeting a little bit, then just laughed out
loud, trying to release the tension. It worked somewhat. All things
considered, it had been fun. And while a motorcycle ride was not within
most standard definitions of 'romantic', it somehow managed to be
romantic.

  "Oh, really?"

  "Huh? Did I just...say something out loud?"

  She grinned, looking more relaxed now. "About motorcycle rides being
unexpectedly romantic, yes."

  "Well--I guess any enjoyable activity in the company of a cute girl has
romantic potential."

  She actually blushed and chuckled softly. Then she looked at me, tilted
her head slightly, and pulled off a glove, holding her bare hand forward,
sort of in a handshake position, but...not exactly.

  "Good night, then, Megumi-san," I said, taking her hand and holding it,
squeezing gently. "Hopefully, next time will go better."

  "Yep, next time. Good night, Andrew-san." She smiled, then leaned
forward quickly and gave me a peck on the cheek.

  I nodded, grinned, and in response raised her hand to my lips and kissed
it lightly. "Thank you again for today."

  She actually laughed a little. "I didn't think there were guys that
really did that. But you're welcome."

  "I'll call you."

  "I'll be waiting."

  I watched her drive away again, smiling faintly; when the taillights
vanished over a hill, I turned to walk up the stairs to my apartment. My
mood darkened again as I began to think about what had happened.

 Then I drew to a stop as I felt something strange--something I couldn't
place. It wasn't very nice.

  I quickly realized that this was my toned down demon sense pinging. That
was also when my world exploded with pain as someone punched me in the
back of the head, hard.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

  A belated thanks to Latin_D, my primary prereader for the new chapters
(and the guy who prodded me into resuming this fic to begin with). He was
of particular assistance in deciding the direction of this chapter. Also
my thanks to our own Ucchan on the FFML for the great amounts of
commentary so far.

Andrew Huang...Shizumaru@KawaiiMUCK
http://www.hcs.harvard.edu/~alhuang/
NAC MAC FEEGLE!

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