Skuld pouted cutely.  It was hard for her to do anything NOT cute,

Oh, I dunno...I bet when she takes a shit it's not very cute...

Urd grumbled under her breath.  Even at the best of times, her temper
wasn't known for being the best, but she didn't usually blow up on her
little sister like that.  It's just that the brat's whining was
calling attention to the very thing she was trying to forget.

Belldandy had a boyfriend.  And she didn't.

Neener-neener-neeeeeeneeeeeeer!

The man was currently politely asking each person to deposit their
wallets as well as any jewelry into the pillow sack he had brought.
"Please, take off any rings, necklaces, earrings, diamond hairpins
and, let it be noted, we'll allow you to keep your hairpins devoid of
precious stones.

Awww, how CIVIL of them...

The young man glanced over to Belldandy to see how she was holding up,
and saw she was clutching her left ear worriedly.

'Must be a nervous habit,' thought Tannim

Obviously forgetting a VERY IMPORTANT point of the series... XD

as he turned to look back at
the robbers.  A few seconds later another thought struck him and he
looked sharply back at her.  It was then that he realized Belldandy
was worriedly clutching at the golden earring that served as her
limiter.

And NOOOOOOW it hits home.

'Great, now I've got to play the hero,' he thought morbidly.  'I am
going to die.  I'm going to die in an anime universe protecting
Belldandy.'  He mulled that thought over.  'Actually, that sounds like
a good way to go.'

Works for me...

Startling the rest of the room, the gun broke in half in Tannim's hand
as he clenched his newly-formed muscles in anger.  Bits of plastic
clattered to the floor.

"You BASTARD!  You PRICK!" growled Tannim in seething rage.  "You
tried to rob us with a couple of WATER GUNS?!"

*FACEFAULT*

She began backing away hurriedly, nervously saying, "S-stop,
s-s-s-stay where you are!"  She weakly pointed the toy Uzi in Tannim's
direction.

Obviously she's lost her grasp on reality.

Once the police had arrived, the two would-be robbers were carted
away.  Later Tannim discovered they were Dick and Jane Harper

*TWITCH*

It was then that Tannim pulled up to an unfamiliar intersection and
stared at the place he had found.  Bueno Nacho

Home of the NACO! Ask about our DIABLO SAUCE! Booya!

(Approved by 9 out of 10 naked mole-rats.)

Tannim shrugged.  "One good turn deserves another."  He didn't bother
to mention some of the checks he had received ranged in the thousands.
That and the lowest bill he had on him WAS a hundred.

Ah, the life of the rich...

"Still... I'm glad to have met you Tannim."  Belldandy positively
beamed.

Awwwwwww.

Tannim blushed under the onslaught.  He quickly joked, "You may not be
after you try the Naco."

"What's a Naco?" asked the young goddess.

The question is, what ISN'T a Naco?

...oh, wait, no, nevermind.

"The union of the taco and the nacho," explained Tannim as he went
into teacher mode.  "Inventor of which is Ron Stoppable, better known
as Kim Possible's sidekick.  He is also the arch-foe of Monty Fisk
a.k.a. Monkey Fist, and wielder of the mystical Lotus Blade.  He gets
a royalty fee of five cents for each Naco sold."  His voice took on a
wistful quality, and he leaned on one arm.  "Man, were THEY surprised
when he got his first check.  Then he went all crazy with money the
money.  If it wasn't for--"

NERD ALERT! NERD ALERT! NERD ALERT! WHOOPWHOOPWHOOP!

Belldandy smiled sadly.  "You're doing it again."

Tannim halted in his tirade.  "Doing what?"

Nerdin'!

"That's not me," stated Belldandy firmly.  She stared hard into
Tannim's eyes.  "That was a different girl."  Her eyes softened.  "I
believe you were brought here for a reason.  We did not meet by
chance."

Awwwwwww...

Belldandy nodded again, more decisively this time.  "When you talk to
Rukia tonight, please let her know I enjoyed her tea."

Tannim paused.  "Who?"

Turnabout is fair play!

At least, that was Rukia's excuse.  Tannim had a bet going with
himself that she really just loved to beat the living daylights out of
people.

Gotta agree with that one.

"How am I going to remember all this if I keep forgetting it when I
wake up?"

"...."

"You don't know either, do you?"

"...shut up."

*SNRK*

"Do you understand now?"

Tannim's left eye was twitching.  "Yes, but the badly drawn pictures
distracted me."

*SNRK*

Rukia shook her head.  "No.  I was actually thinking of putting you
through various insane training techniques that tested the limits of
your endurance."

Naturally.

"Well, as long as it isn't anything like the Bakusai Tenketsu
training..." mumbled Tannim to himself.  "...that'd drive me insane."

"The what?" asked Rukia.  "What kind of training is that?"

Ut-oh...

Tannim replied absently, "The Breaking Point technique.  It's where
you take a student and have them bash themselves on a giant rock until
they're virtually immune to smashing damage.  Incidentally the
training also grants the user the ability to shatter rock with a
touch."

"That sounds perfect," Rukia grinned.

Saw THAT coming.

"Student!" cried Rukia as she dramatically pointed a finger at him.

Tannim immediately stood at attention.  "Yes, teacher!"

"As the first training exercise to expand your mind, figure out a way
for us to communicate in the waking world!"

She just wants to throw a big rock at someone. XD

This Rukia girl seemed to be really putting him through his paces, he
thought as he stretched some sore muscles.  He picked up the manual
and absently took a look.  The young man nearly dropped it in surprise
as the writing began to change.

"Hey bozo, you awake yet?"  The letters intersected and formed from
the swirling mass of lines.

Heheheheheh.

Tannim started to sweat.  "What do you mean?"  The young man's heart
sank as the letters formed into the next words.

"Breaking Point."

Yep, she's definitely got a one-track mind...

"Yes, master..." Tannim's voice trailed off as he began muttering
under his breath, "stupid magical book.  Where does she expect me to
find a giant pulley system?"

GLUMAX Auxiliary Storage Services, Inc.

After spending the morning with Belldandy shopping for food and
supplies, Tannim spent the rest of the afternoon scraping together a
replica of Ryouga's training harness.  Most of the required materials
were unsurprisingly available at Wally World; even the giant rock to
be bashed against.

I'm surprised the Wal-Marts haven't been replaced by Smarty Marts, all
things considered...

"C'mon sis, I wanna see that guy again!"  Skuld tugged on Urd's arm
impatiently.  The two were currently making their way back to the
modified access node.

Urd looked at Skuld oddly.  "Don't you mean Belldandy?"

Skuld waved dismissively.  "I'm going to be seeing Belldandy over the
next three years," she reasoned.  "But that guy was cool!  He stood up
to that robber and broke those guns in half with his bare hands!"

Uh-oh... XD

Urd chuckled knowingly.  "It almost sounds like you got a crush on
him."

"I do not!" Skuld hotly denied.  She was blushing, though.

DOUBLE uh-oh... XD XD

Skuld posed dramatically.  "Obviously he's been caught a trap!  He was
tricked by that mean rock, and now he seeks to avenge himself with the
only weapon at his disposal: his finger!"  She swooned.  "Oh!  What
bravery!  What courage!"

...what a *dipshit*.

The words reformed in the booklet that Belldandy held.  "Yep.  You can
ask him yourself when he wakes up."

Belldandy shrugged her shoulders, before taking a deep breath.
Loudly, she said, "Please wake up!"

*snrk*

All of the swirling lines crashed to the bottom of the page for a few
moments, before several of them hovered back up to form, "Maybe you
should try throwing a bucket of water at him."

A splash of cold water from a bucket doused Tannim.

He continued to sleep.

"The WHOLE bucket," the words were in bold this time.

Heheheh.

"Rukia says you can stop and go to work today.  I've got to get back
to heaven myself."

"It's Saturday already?" wondered Tannim wearily.

Belldandy nodded sadly.  "Yes.  I shall miss it here."

Awwwww.

"Don't worry, here will miss you too," Tannim assured.

Awwwwwwwww.

Belldandy was finally coming home!  But... she really wanted to meet
that guy!  And this might be her last chance for three whole years!
If she went now, while Belldandy was there, she could just come back
with her.  Everything would be fine, right?

Skuld nodded to herself, her mind made up.

This does not bode well.

It caught Tannim off guard and surprised him when is pot of
nearly-boiling water began to glow.  The form of a young goddess
solidified above his stove top, and he was forced to catch the
nine-year-old before she fell.  "Eek!"

Tannim blinked at the goddess cradled in his arms.  "What're you doing
here, Skuld?"

"You, if you'll stay still long enough..."

'He said my name!  He knows my name!'  Skuld blushed deeply, unable to
formulate a response.  His arms were so strong, and she felt safe and
protected in them.  She settled for twiddling her fingers nervously
while mumbling incoherently.

Awwwww.

Tannim turned to watch a shapely Urd squeeze out of his TV set.
"Where is she?" she demanded.

Wordlessly, Tannim pointed behind the couch.

Typical day, really.

Skuld shuddered.  Belldandy giving a lecture was worse than mom
administering punishment.

Urd placed a hand on the TV screen, and waited.

Tannim raised his eyebrows (he wished he was cool enough to raise just
one), and asked, "What are you waiting for?"

Urd stayed silent and still for a few more moments.  "The gate's not
responding."

The young man sat down heavily on the recliner.  "Oh boy."

No kidding. XD

The Eternal Lost Lurker
www.lurkerdrome.com



             .---Anime/Manga Fanfiction Mailing List----.
             | Administrators - ffml-admins@anifics.com |
             | Unsubscribing - ffml-request@anifics.com |
             |     Put 'unsubscribe' in the subject     |
             `---- http://ffml.anifics.com/faq.txt -----'