- Disclaimer: Matantei Loki Ragnarok belongs to Kinoshita Sakura.
I recommend that you listen to Ayumi Hamasaki's "Honey" when reading this story, because I did and I felt so happy and warm!
Seasons: Spring
Under the Cherry Blossoms
written by Kurosu
The day had started out nice and cool, a slight breeze wafted through the quiet afternoon with the sun still climbing the clear skies, soon bathing the earth in its warmth. The petals of the cherry blossom trees fluttered through the air, twirling about in the wind like a final dance nearing the end of their existence. Such a small and lovely thing to behold in one's hand, the sakura petal, its life was delicate and fleeting.
People often believed this particular flower symbolized the life of a person - born beautifully in to the world, gently growing and blossoming to its full potential, but eventually death comes to all, however short and unexpected.
He always thought it was a tragedy that humans had such a strange fascination with life and death, yet he couldn't deny the idealistic beauty attached to it, using one of the most fragile blossoms as an allegory. He shouldn't even be thinking about morose things when the breathtaking sight before him was a rare moment, mesmerized by ethereal shower of pink upon the earth.
Entranced by the aerial waltz, he stood still and quietly, not wanting to disturb the once in a lifetime performance that the heavens seemed to have graced him. Even his faithful pet in the form of a cute, black puppy had agreed, settling comfortably in his spot, finding fascination of the petals falling all around him.
A single petal found its way down upon his nose, curious eyes crossed, attempting to get a glimpse of this strange thing that now sat on at the end of his snout. He tried to paw at it, unintentionally knocking it away and on to the ground. He stared at it and sniffed at the remains of a flower, a slight irritation that it was no longer moving about like before.
His owner smiled and chuckled at the curiosity of the puppy, and when the main display of petals had died out, drifting to the ground, all around him, he began to resume the walk again, through the endless array of cherry blossom trees in the park.
"Let's go, Fenrir," he called out to the semi-preoccupied puppy, who soon followed his master upon hearing his voice.
Fenrir trotted happily after the young man, eventually catching up to the his side and then sprinted ahead again. When there was a bit of a distance between the two, the puppy would linger about, exploring his surroundings with his eyes until his master had caught up, and he would repeat their little dance again, never tired of their daily routine, but today felt a bit different than before, a tingling sensation with his sixth sense that some animals had. He sniffed the air, absentmindedly pawing the ground in one spot, and noted his master had abruptly stopped and stared at something in the distance.
The young man moved again, steps a bit hurried this time towards a certain cherry blossom tree, because he had spotted some movements within the flowery branches, and as he neared it, he could vividly see a teenage girl crawling up one of the thicker branches. He rushed forward, panicking inwardly at the dangerous position she had put herself in, but tried not to lose composure because he might suddenly scare the girl causing her to fall.
He stood beneath the tree, gazing upwards to the girl, wondering if she would realize that she had an audience or how he should approach without startling her. His mind processed the image of her, starting with her long, shimmering, pink hair billowing in the breeze, a few petals caught in the silky strands, and she didn't seem to mind, her eyes focused on something else.
She had a youthful profile, bright and unmarred by the stresses of life, and he could see the pinkness of her tongue peeking between her plump lips as she concentrated on reaching her hand out to the smaller branches above her. With a huff of frustration and a crinkle of her nose, she retracted her hand, latching on to the big branch she sat on, and inched slowly and carefully forward. She adjusted her legs until her feet steadily braced the strength of the branch, in a squatting position, as a hand grabbed hold of a different branch off to her right, to secure her balance.
He finally coughed, seeing that she was at least careful with her risky position and because she was wearing a skirt of all things when dangerously climbing a tree. He had glanced away to avoid staring like a pervert as he shouted to her, "Hey! That's dangerous!"
She appeared to have ignored him, standing up, a bit shaky at first but was able to find the confidence to push herself forward. Her attention was up ahead, the red scarf entangled with in the flowers' stems and leaves. She was determined to get her hands on it, and with her fingers mere centimeters away, she just had to take a few more careful steps.
He couldn't understand why she was doing all this for one silly scarf that she could easily be replaced - perhaps with a week's worth of allowance, not that he knew what teenager's assets were these days. He nervously averted his eyes every time they fell upon her again, for fear of unintentionally peeking at her skirt, or what was under it, though he was more worried for her safety.
"Just be careful," he reminded her, feeling the strange dread in his chest with each beating second, wondering if she really heard him. He looked to the ground, rubbing his face, not sure why he held such strong emotions for a stranger, beyond the typical humanitarian response for another human being.
With one swift move, she snatched the end of the scarf and smiled brightly at the successful rescue of her precious belonging. She rubbed the silkiness of the red material against her cheek and then retreated back to the safer end of the branch, and when she looked down, she saw a young man sighing with much relief and waved to him, giving him a better view of her lovely face.
His heart skipped a beat at the brillance of her smile that greeted him, but he still couldn't believe the nerve of this girl, to be smiling like that to a stranger like him, as if they had been friends running in to each other. There was just something about her that bothered him yet at the same time, piqued his interest, and he couldn't even tear his gaze away from her, focused on that heart-shaped face, instead of the short skirt.
Still grinning, she spoke to him, "I finally got it!"
Her voice wasn't too high-pitched, like the normal teenagers that gave him deaf-induced moments when they were in the vicinity, but it wasn't the soft, gentle kind either. He would like to classify it with its own category of carefree wonderment that he found rather attractive and would like to hear more of.
"Ah, that's not the problem," he started, "You shouldn't be wearing a skirt, in trees."
"Oh!" she looked at herself, as if finally realizing how inappropriate it was for her with her outfit of a creamy-colored camisole with a deep shade of ruby sweater and a floral printed skirt. "It's okay though!" she chirped, "I always wear my gym shorts underneath!"
He sweatdropped at her unusual reply and sighed, "What a strange girl you are."
"Thanks!" she beamed, believing that he had just complimented her, as she wrapped the vermillion scarf around her neck, making sure that it was secure this time.
He shook his head at another unexpected response from her and told her, "Come down before you get hurt."
She looked around, seeing that it was quite a ways back down, and pouted, "Hmm, climbing up was easy, but how should I get down?"
His left eye began twitching, "Ha? So, you're the type that doesn't think things through!"
She decided to just sit there for a bit, adjusting herself till her bottom was firmly on the branch and her legs dangled over the side. She had one hand on the trunk of the tree and the other one planted at her side, laughing down to him, and he found the sound of her voice ringing pleasantly in his ears.
"You sound like my papa!" she giggled.
Her words, on the other hand, were insulting though, and he retorted, "I'm not that old! At least, not old enough to be a father!" Then he added, "I'm probably five or six years older than you."
"Really?" she grinned, "I'm seventeen!"
"Never mind," he grumbled darkly, "I'm nine years older then."
She laughed again, the twinkling sound of her voice actually brought a little smile to his face, "Thanks for thinking I look mature!"
He didn't seem to mind that they were conversing like this, she sitting in a tree while he was standing on the ground, gazing up to her. It may have looked silly to outsiders, but they felt oddly comfortable with it, and he soon was grinning at her too, "You may look mature, but you're still acting like a child." He gestured his right hand up to her, "You're climbing trees and laughing so freely without any worries."
She stuck her tongue out at him, childishly proving his point, playfully being offended, but he could see it in her sparkling, crimson eyes that it was anything but insulting to her, and he couldn't help but laugh at her level of maturity.
"If it makes you feel better," she returned to smiling, and he wondered if she ever got tired of it, "I thought you were younger anyway. It helps that you're good-looking too!"
He suddenly found himself blushing from her words, looking away to hide the pink tint of his cheeks, because he normally didn't get so bashful from just a few nice compliments from women. He was usually the one to entice women with his sweet, seductive words, but this weird girl was making him unexpectedly shy, from her sincere words to the gentle expressions she gave him.
He coughed, trying to shake all those silly thoughts away, and told her, "I'll help you out of the tree."
She tilted her head to the side, with an index finger at her chin as if she was thinking, "Are you going to get a ladder?"
"That's too much work," he sighed, "I live about twenty minutes away."
He didn't want to go find a ladder and lug it around like a moron, so the next best thing was just him. He held out his arms up to her and smiled when she blinked adorably, confusion written all over her face, at his outstretched hands towards her.
He chuckled, "I'll catch you."
"Okay!"
He arched his brows in surprise, completely taken aback by her quick answer and radiant smile, that fully trusted him, a mere stranger, with her own safety. Everything about this girl was just flabbergasting, filled with surprises at every corner, and he felt himself falling further and further in to her amazing world, but he had to quickly return to reality because she had just pushed herself off the branch.
His green eyes widened in shock, because she really took the plunge without warning, and she was falling towards him. He braced himself, sort of catching her, but due to her sudden weight, he lost his balance, his footing slipped, and both crashed to the ground, creating a two-person pile of a mess.
She was lucky he was a nice cushion, smiling and apologizing in between her fits of laughter for topping him over, still sitting inappropriately on his lower half, not that she even realized it nor he did yet.
He sweatdropped, propping himself up by the elbows, and said, "You weigh more than you look."
"Ah! That's mean!" she pouted, bottom lip protruding cutely, and he could see that he had hit a sore spot, to which he just couldn't help but laugh at. She leaned forward and lightly smacked him in the chest for the insult, making him finally notice their position.
He looked away, sighing, "Do you mind getting off me now?"
"Aha, sorry!" she grinned and quickly got off him and stood up straight. She then offered her hand to him, which he gladly excepted, and their feet were finally on solid ground, properly speaking to each other now, but her attention had already focused elsewhere, like the cute puppy at his side.
She knelt down to the animal and petted his head, "And who's this cute fellow?"
"You're such a strange girl," he remarked again, "His name is Fenrir."
She laughed, "You're the strange one! You gave this puppy such a weird name."
He shrugged, "Fenrir is the name of a great wolf in Norse mythology." He watched her reaching both hands out to the puppy and warned her, "Be careful, he doesn't take kindly to strangers." Ever since he had Fenrir in his care, the puppy just refused all sorts of people, biting and or barking to make them stay away from him, but made an exception for himself. Though right now, he didn't need Fenrir to add another person to his list of casualties.
The girl, ignoring his warning, just dove right in and picked up the inquisitive-looking puppy, who apparently was not attacking her at all, just staring at the bizarre person in front of him, the one who managed to wrap his master around her finger despite him not knowing, himself. She held him close to her face, letting the small creature peer in to the depths of her warm, ruby orbs, as if searching for something deep within her, and he suddenly barked, tail wagging happily.
"I like you too, Fenrir!" she smiled.
Seeing that his pet had no qualms with the girl, he found the situation rather weird that Fenrir had actually allowed another person to hold him - even his own assistant had made it out of the first meeting with a few scratches - but maybe Fenrir liked cute, high school girls. He laughed inwardly at the silly thought because they had met a variety of people during their many walks, and no one had been able to tame the independent Fenrir like this girl had.
She nuzzled Fenrir against her cheek, "You're such a good boy."
He watched her cuddle the puppy a bit more, very friendly in his eyes, and suddenly felt a twitch of his hand by his side. He just had the urge to want to take Fenrir out of her hands and replace her hold with something more appropriate, like his own hand, maybe. He couldn't quite understand where this sudden jealousy over his pet had come from, and he didn't get much time to dwell on it, when her voice brought him back to reality.
"Ne, do you think Fenrir will become a wolf one day?"
He sighed at her silly question, "He's just a normal dog."
She looked at Fenrir again, her smile widening, "I believe Fenrir will be the greatest wolf in all of the worlds!"
The puppy barked happily as if agreeing with her statement, which really amazed his master at the adorable interaction between the two. What was it about this girl that also charmed the most disagreeable, headstrong and uncooperative dog in the world, even though he could tell that she had a certain quality about her to attract people. Whether it was her cheerful innocence or the friendliness of her voice or the penetrating look she gave that made one feel special in the world, he couldn't pinpoint it exactly.
"Ah!" she squealed.
He blinked at her, "What's wrong?"
"After all this talking, we still don't know each other's names."
"How silly," he chuckled, but it was true, "My name is Loki."
"Lo-ki," she smiled, testing the flow his name, which sounded sweet coming from her mouth. "It's not a Japanese name, so..." she furrowed her brows adorably in thought, "it's from Norse mythology too, ne?"
His smile grew, acknowledging that her guess was correct, though he was more curious about the girl in front of him, wanting to know what sort of name this strange, silly girl had.
"And yours?" he prodded, trying not to sound impatient.
Fenrir licked her face, tickling her skin, and her name slipped in between her melodious laughter, "Mayura!"
Loki didn't believe in fate, creating his life with his own hands, but Mayura, on the other hand, charged confidently down her path of destiny, but they shared a knowing smile. This encounter between them was meant to be, like pieces of a puzzle falling in to the right places, with its meaning eventually being revealed.
In another lifetime - without any gods, without any mysteries, without any sad endings - they met under different circumstances, during one beautiful afternoon, beneath a cherry blossom tree.
Notes: This short piece came to me while I was working on the latest chapter of Ah, My Loki-sama! and had to write it. Blame it on all the shoujo manga that I've read - I can be such a romantic sap sometimes. And I felt like doing something with the seasons, so this came about... I have an outline for summer and a vague idea for autumn, but don't hold your breath for the next installment, lol. -kuro.