[FFML] [Ranma/OMG] A New Life 5

"What was that about 'gods?'" Megumi asked.
"Uhhh, Goth," Keiichi said, suddenly. "She meant
Goths, they're ones that paint themselves blue right?"
"Actually, that's the Celts," Urd said.
"You're not helping, Urd," Keiichi muttered under
his breath while his sister's eyes were on the
white-haired goddess.
"Right," Megumi said, eyes narrowed. "Is that what
you meant, Skuld?"
"Uhh..." Skuld stood there trapped. She couldn't
lie, well she could, but that would be very bad. She
didn't really want to tell the truth either, and in
her predicament she forgot the rule of answering
questions with questions.
Midori meanwhile watched this with a sleepy sort of
curiousity. She tended to be sleepy after feeding,
but the noise was just so interesting. She yawned
quietly as Skuld sunk into panic.
"Who believes in gods these days?" Nabiki asked
dismissively a smirk on her face. "Really, that's a
silly idea. Like something you'd hear out of Juuban
or Nerima."
"Yeah," Ranma said, confused. He was about to add
more but he caught a look of Nabiki flashing him the
"keep quiet" face. "Weren't we going to have break
when they got here?"
"Right," Megumi said. "It is silly. Especially
since that would mean my brother's been shacking up
with a bunch of goddesses, and I just know that's not
possible." She shrugged with a smirk toward a fuming
Keiichi as she left the room to get the promised
sodas.
"We shall need to talk to you later," Belldandy
said.
"Of course," Nabiki agreed almost off-handedly.
Then Megumi came back with sodas and they all
retreated to their intangible corners.
"Okay everyone," Megumi said. "These are my
housemates, Ranma, Nabiki and Midori Tanaka. And this
is my brother, Keiichi. His girlfriend, Belldandy,
and her sister's Urd and Skuld." She gestured toward
each person in turn.
"I am pleased to meet you," Belldandy said, bowing
politely. Urd waved and seemed to be trying to
dissect (oer maybe dismantle) them visually.
"Yeah, us too," Ranma said. Nabiki nodded from her
seat next to Ranma.
Midori at this point felt herself falling to sleep.
She decided to protest this affront to her continued
entertainment rather loudly and, oddly, unmusically.
"What's wrong with her?" Skuld asked suddenly
nervous.
"She always does that when's about to go to sleep,"
Ranma said wearily. Nabiki herself blinked and shook
her head clear of the effects of being so near the
sonic blast of a crying baby and starting shushing and
rocking Midori.
"Ranma-baby," Nabiki said standing up. "Can you
show me where you put that crib?"
"Sure," Ranma said, he turned to the others a waved
apologetically. "We'll be right back." He set down
an empty soda can and led Nabiki to the crib in
question.
"Well," Urd said. "I've had my fill, why don't the
squirt and I go and get started on cleaning one of
these rooms?" She grabbed Skuld, who was discovering
the wonders of the root beer float.
"But..." she said hesitantly before being dragged
away, barely managing to save her drink from spilling.
"Well, that was a shorter break than I expected,"
Megumi said somewhat surprised, more at Urd saying she
was heading to do some work.
That statement worried her actually.
"I'm sure they'll be right back," Belldandy said.
"Yeah," Keiichi said. "When was the last time you
knew Urd to work for longer than ten minutes at a
stretch?"

*****

"I don't know if I'm going to be able to get used
to this," Nabiki said as she lowered Midori into the
crib Megumi had helped them get.
"Yeah," Ranma said. "Be kinda odd sleeping alone
now."
"Who says you'll be sleeping alone," Nabiki asked,
a trifle hurt.
"But..." Ranma started before Nabiki cut him off.
"You don't think it would be a little funny for a
married couple our age to be sleeping separately in
this day and age?" Nabiki asked. "Really, we've
gotten by the last year without anything happening."
~Just barely,~ both thought in addition to that.
~Good thing I never tried anything.~
"Besides," Nabiki said. "You're better, and
cheaper, than an electric blanket."
"Errr, thanks," Ranma said blushing. ~I wish she
wouldn't tease me like that.~ "Now, uhh, what did I
miss?"
~I really shouldn't tempt myself like that,~ Nabiki
thought as she softly rocked the crib. Ranma stood
right behind her, less than an inch away, but she
barely noticed that. "Saffron called himself a god,
right?"
"Yeah," Ranma said. "Why?"
"And you said our aura resembles his, right?" she
asked.
"Sorta," Ranma said. "We're more whole and
balanced, and a lot more powerful. Though you still
don't fight the best. But I sorta interrupted his
growth or somethin' so maybe that's why."
"So is there a possibility that we're gods?" Nabiki
asked. Ranma's gaze broke from his daughter to look
into Nabiki's face, now turning up from the little
girl to look at him.

*****

"Okay squirt," Urd said. "We're clear now, pull
down some files."
"You almost made me spill my drink Urd!!" Skuld
whined. "I would have lost all the ice cream!"
"Just figure out who these gods are and what
they're doing her," Urd asked. "There's something odd
about two gods with an infant daughter coming to
midgard."
"Don't I know it," Skuld said, producing a square
out of her pocket that unfolded into a computer. She
typed at hyper speed for a few moments, and then
laughed out in victory as her computer began to
display three files.
"All three third class gods," Urd noted.
"Provision, Change, and Rebirth. Okay, okay, this is
all the basic stuff, can you pull up affiliations?"
"Of course, I already glanced at that," Skuld said,
rolling her eyes at the unintenional insult. "There
are no official affiliations, but Ranma's a cat
deity."
Contrary to popular belief, and Bast's supporting
implications, there were many cat deities. Just like
their were many powers connected to ravens and wolves
and bears, and so on. Bast was just the most well
known.
It wasn't really a domain, the afforementioned
"Goddess of Cats" official title was "Goddess of
Pleasure and Pregnant Women." (A domain she had
acquired for obvious reasons) However, those deities
connected to animals did have certain tendencies
attached to them, however.
"And a dual god," Urd noted whistling. "Cat, that
makes him trickster, war, or hearth."
"Or all three," Skuld said. "Primarily concerned
with hearth and home, very strong martial aspect and
trickster trends. Nabiki has a trickster aspect
strong enough to be her secondary domain. Still most
likely a hearth goddess."
"What about the baby," Urd asked, reaching around
Skuld.
"Hey!" Skuld snapped irritably as Urd scrolled
down.
"Hearth," Urd said as if it were predictable. "If
she grows up with that father she may have a martial
aspect before long, too. Now to pull up their
backgrounds."
"Urd," Skuld said warningly. "Get your hands off
my computer."

*****

"Do gods live hand ta mouth?" Ranma asked.
"Do mortals go without food for a ten months?"
Nabiki countered. "Because, before that meal with
Megumi yesterday, that was the last time either of us
had eaten anything."
"It don't make sense," Ranma said shrugging.
"And you conceiving and giving birth within two
days does?" Nabiki asked.
"Point taken," Ranma said reluctantly.
"And that is something straight out of a myth,"
Nabiki said.
"What made you think of this?" Ranma asked.
"Something Megumi's friends let slip," Nabiki said.
"Oh yeah," Ranma said. "Did you notice they have
those same marks on their head that we do?"
"You don't say Ranma-Baby," Nabiki said dryly.
At which point there was a muffled explosion and
scream. Nabiki glanced to Ranma, who nodded before
leaving for the sound. Nabiki looked down nervously
at Midori and then back at Ranma.
"Don't be concerned," a voice said as Belldandy
appeared in the door to block Ranma's path. "My
sister's sometimes fail to get along."
"Urd, Skuld!" Keiichi called out from elsewhere in
the house. "Can't you two avoid destroying other
people's property for once?"
"My poor house!?" Megumi cried out, somewhere near
her brother.
"Is this a regular occurence?" Ranma asked tightly.
"Because we left our homes to avoid situations like
that," Nabiki added. "Random explosions and such."
"Bad for kids," Ranma finished.
"Urd and Skuld would never allow any child to be
endangered," Belldandy said. Then she laughed. "In
any case you live with Megumi, not us."
"Good point," Nabiki said.

*****

"Really," Megumi said irritably. "Sneaking off to
play video games, I thought better of you Skuld."
"Hey, what about me?" Urd protested cutely.
Keiichi, Megumi and Skuld glanced at Urd before
turning back to Skuld.
"Yeah, Skuld," Keiichi said. "I thought at least
you knew how to behave maturely." ~Better than Urd at
least.~
"Hey!" Urd protested.
"Well," Belldandy said returning with Ranma.
"Nabiki is watching Midori, but I suggest that the
rest of us get started on working."
"Right," Megumi said. "The sooner we get started
the sooner we're finished."
"Aww, man," Urd sighed. "I should have skipped
while I had the chance."

*****

It took most of the day to clear out the house of
all the junk infesting it. Urd kept grumbling to
herself about "easier ways" and Skuld about manual
labor. There was little other complaint, however.
Everyone was certainly impressed by Ranma's
physical skills. Keiichi kept worrying that the
pig-tailed god was going to blow the goddesses' cover.
If he had known that Ranma was doing what had been
mild labor before ascending, his eyes would have
bugged out.
"Thanks a lot for the help guys," Megumi said
cheerfully, as she considered the bath she was going
to draw in a moment. "Come by and visit anytime!"
"And you and your friends may visit us as well,"
Belldandy said. "As usual, at any time."
"Of course," Megumi said. "As usual."
"Thanks for the offer," Nabiki said bowing.
"Can we go home now?" someone whined. It wasn't
Skuld, but it was female.
"Be careful, Megumi," Keiichi said.
He wasn't too worried. With a couple of gods
watching over her, his sister was probably fairly well
protected. Until, of course, he remembered the "act
of god" clause on most insurance policies. It was the
reason most such policies were useless in his life.
"Stop worrying, Bro," Megumi said, waving off the
concern and waving goodbye as the temple group walked
down the path. She turned to Ranma and Akane. "I
don't know about you two, but I'm getting a bath and
heading for bed, see ya."
"Good thing there's a separate shower in this
place," Nabiki said. "I'm tired and I don't feel like
waiting for the bath."
After taking their turns in the shower, Ranma and
Nabiki started to settle down for the evening. First
they checked to see that Midori was still sleeping
soundly. Then they glanced at the western bed they
had salvaged. It was full-sized, not much room.
Still, they'd shared smaller beds with Midori between
them before.
Nabiki and Ranma settled down on opposite sides of
the bed, their customary foot or so apart. By habit
they both lay facing the other.
"How do you think they're doing in Nerima," Nabiki
asked.
"I hope they're doing good," Ranma said. "You know
we'll go back to make sure they're all right and help
them if not. We promised that."
"Yeah," Nabiki said. "But how soon? Good night,
Ranma-Baby." Nabiki yawned.
"You too, Nabs," Ranma answered, yawning himself
before shifting around for a little and falling
asleep.
They were fast asleep when Midori yawned awake
slowly and sat up in her new crib, what strange and
fascinating thing. For a moment she was nervous,
where were her mommy and daddy.
Midori cooed as she rolled over to her hands and
knees and looked around the dark room. She finally
saw her parents not too far away, sleeping on a bed.
She was confused for a moment, why wasn't she in
the bed with them? Then Nabiki shifted position,
perhaps in unconscious reaction to Midori's coo,
though the baby didn't know that.
Nabiki shifted forward in bed, and reached out with
arm to locate the infant noise she had heard. At the
same time Ranma also reached out to unconsciously
protect and sooth his daughter.
Midori giggled musically as her mommy's hand found
her daddy and, fogged by the fact that Nabiki was
technically asleep, grabbed the young man tightly and
pulled herself closer, reaching one hand up to a
strangely tall infant's head. Still she was quite
strongly asleep, and even the presence of an arm
holding her gently and securely also went mostly
unnoticed.
Nabiki started to snuggle closer to the big warm
thing that made her feel safe. Her sleeping mind had
somehow forgotten Midori once it had determined that
Midori was not in her bed. And now she was grasping
more like someone seeking comfort than giving it.
Ranma's arms held her tighter, but still gently.
The thing in his arms didn't seem to be Midori, and
something in the back of his sleeping mind reminded
him that she was in her crib, but he still responded
to the other's desire to be held.
Then Midori had a movement, and the charm of the
funny scene was ruined. She decided to let her family
know she needed them.
Ranma and Nabiki had originally been deep sleepers,
the both of them. The earth could move and they
wouldn't even notice, and that had been proven in the
last earthquake.
This was before parenthood.
They both woke up and realized exactly the
situation they were in. The pose wasn't sexual, but
was very intimate, more intimate than sex on its own
really. Rather more intimate than they had expected,
especially considering they had fallen asleep about a
foot apart originally.
They did not dwell on this issue at all, and it was
hardly a split second before they were out of bed to
see what Midori needed.
Later, after Midori had been changed and soothed
back to sleep, they stared across from each other
cautiously.
"Well, Ranma-baby?" Nabiki asked trying to keep her
voice at its usual tone.
"I think we need to talk," Ranma said.
"Yeah, that seems obvious," Nabiki said.
"Right now?" Ranma asked nervous and tired.
~I need more time,~ Nabiki thought. "Maybe
tomorrow."
"Yeah, tomorrow is good," Ranma agreed. ~Whew that
was close.~ They both lay back down on the small bed
and Ranma started to pull the covers.
"It really doesn't make sense to sleep so far
apart," Nabiki said, not noticing the implications of
her choice "so far."
"Yeah, it'll be more comfortable in the center of
the bed," Ranma agreed. Ranma and Nabiki, cautiously
at first, snuggled closer, in more or less the same
position they had been on waking up, before letting
themselves fall back to sleep.

=====
"Caffeinated Kender? What's that, a berserk spell?" -
Tribble, Kender Warrior of the Celestial Kingdom
"God has to have a sense of humor, it's the only explanation for sex." - my father
"I have to write a how-to paper for class, so I'm writing a paper on how to be psuedo-evil." - my brother

http://members.aol.com/thrythlind/snake.html

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
LAUNCH - Your Yahoo! Music Experience
http://launch.yahoo.com