As Sanzenin exited his AS to challenge the pilot that interferred with the match, Kaname watched as the other pilot exited wearing a ridiculous card-board costume that had been worn earlier by one of the people that ran a booth at the festival.
Her first impulse was to make a dash for the bottom of the stands and hurl her harisen with enough force to knock Sousuke silly for embarassing her.
The blue-haired Whispered had Eija to thank for stopping her and calming her down.
Right now, Sousuke was only embarassing himself and no one had yet any idea that she and Eija knew who he was.
Still, Kaname couldn't just stand around at the moment as Sousuke and that Sanzenin creep traded jibes and challenges.
Taking a deep breath she rolled her eyes and walked off towards the concession stand, trying to find something of a normal summer vacation. As she arrived, she noticed Belldandy also walking up to the stand.
Mercenaries, Arm Slaves, Martial Artists, Demons, Goddesses, Terrorists, Resonance, Ghosts.
Her life had recently turned upside down and dealing with it was aggravating.
In another circumstance, she might have been able to at least temporarily heap all the blame for that on Sousuke or the Satomis. However, there were a couple things wrong with that.
Eija's and her situation, the telepathic thing, was because of what she, Kaname, was. In fact, Eija had been in danger because of her.
The Gods and Demons both said that the personality mixing was even, but something in Kaname said that was only between two elements. No, the scariest part of the whole thing until Eija came back with goddess marks was the idea not that she was mixing with the other girl, but that she was slowly eating the other girl's mind.
Would it be the same with any telepath she connected with outside of Gods, Demons or other Whispered?
Was that what she was, some sort of psychic predator?
She had an image, for a brief moment, of someone out there with her abilities, hunting and "eating" the minds of other gifted people.
Is something wrong? Eija asked her.
No, no, Kaname said. Everything is fine. How's Sergeant Justice doing?
He seems to be talking with Shinji's father, Eija noted. Can you get me a soda.
Fruit punch flavored, right, Kaname asked.
Carefully she pushed those thoughts back down, afraid that Eija might hear her deeper worries.
"What am I going to do?" she wondered.
"Pardon?" Belldandy asked, as Kaname walked up to her. "Oh, Kaname, I'm sorry, were you and Eija-chan having a discussion?"
"Oh no, no," Kaname said. "I was just talking to myself."
"Oh, I see," Belldandy responded with a pleasant smile.
Kaname watched as the goddess politely waited in line and requested her food, paying and bowing before walking away. She was just about the perfect image of a woman.
Not at all what she'd expect from a goddess.
She'd expect regal declarations, demands of worship.
She didn't expect humility.
It was her turn then and she purchased both her and Eija's sodas and started back to the stands, and was surprised to see Belldandy waiting patiently for her.
"Might I speak to you for a moment?" Belldandy asked.
"Umm, sure," Kaname said. "Is this important?"
"It might be," Belldandy said, moving aside and sitting lightly on the cement foundation of the stands.
Cautiously, Kaname moved to sit by her.
"You have a difficult time ahead of you," Belldandy said.
"Yeah," Kaname said. "I know, the whole network, Whispered thing."
"No, I was not discussing that," Belldandy said. "I'm confident from what I've seen of you that you will do well with that. Though, unfortunately, I fear it will be dangerous, even arduous, but not difficult."
"Then what are you talking about?" Kaname asked.
Belldandy looked out past the pillars of the stands they were sitting under to where Sousuke was talking to the Narashino unit's CO, still wearing the ridiculous cardboard AS costume. A little closer, Eija was watching Sousuke until she turned for a moment to wave at Kaname.
"How is your relationship with Sousuke-kun and Eija-chan?" Belldandy asked.
"Relationship?" Kaname asked, blushing. "I...don't know...we're just sort of friends...I mean Sousuke's always causing trouble and doing weird things. And Eija's...kind of distant sometimes."
She flinched as she realized the other girl had "heard" that just now. The Satomi girl was a bit too polite to interrupt the conversation, but that didn't change the fact that Kaname felt a bit of Eija's discomfort.
"I mean Sousuke gave us first aid kits when we was in the hospital," Kaname said. "Eija thought that was okay, but who does that?"
"Tell me," Belldandy instructed. "What is the purpose of a first kit?"
"To take care of someone who gets hurt," Kaname said as if that were obvious.
"So, what thoughts would be behind giving such a gift to someone," Belldandy asked.
"The thoughts behind it?" Kaname said, thinking about it momentarily.
Umm, well... Eija started to say.
"And Eija does not need to give you help here I think," Belldandy noted as she looked over toward where the dark-haired girl was watching and shook her head.
"How did you know she was talking to me?" Kaname asked.
"I'm a goddess too," Belldandy reminded her. "I might not be able to listen in, but I can feel her. Now, think about it."
"Well, if you give someone a first aid kit," Kaname said. "You'd be...worried they were going to get hurt...and want to know they had something to take care of themselves?"
"Right," Belldandy said. "Sousuke and Eija live in a world where the ground can fall out from under you, literally. They haven't had the assurance of safety we have. Physical concerns are often more pressing than emotional ones, but the emotions are still there. Just expressed differently."
"I...never thought of it that way," Kaname said.
"And they likely have scars they haven't shown you yet," Belldandy noted. "Some they might not even be aware of. It will be difficult to understand and it will be difficult bear, but you will have to."
"You said we've grown up similarly, so how do you know this?" Kaname asked. "Keiichi doesn't strike me as the same as...that kind of person."
"No," Belldandy said. "But I've known many from the last war between Demons and Gods, some close...very close. Some that try a bit too hard to be 'normal'. You might wish to talk to Eija about whatever she overheard through your link."
"Right," Kaname said. "Probably be wanting her soda too."
Belldandy smiled as the teenager walked off and then started to move back toward the rest of her circle. She smiled as she saw Megumi and Chihiro checking over the AS as Keiichi described how it felt to pilot it. Off to the side, surprisingly, Urd had arrived and was watching the festivities.
"Oh, Urd," Belldandy said. "I thought you were staying home."
"Eh, I had nothing better to do," Urd said shrugging as Belldandy came up even with her. "And watching Skuld obsess over a machine is always entertaining."
With a quiet smile, Belldandy reached out to hug her older sister, surprising Urd tremendously.
"What's that for?" she asked, hesitantly.
"For being here," Belldandy said.