- Disclaimer: Matantei Loki Ragnarok belongs to Kinoshita Sakura.


Love Me and More

written by Kurosu

- Chapter Seven: The Unexpected.

The bento box was in her lap, still untouched, and the pair of chopsticks were set between her fingers, lingering over the food. She was deep in thought, sitting in the shade of a tree during the lunch hour, trying to recall the events of the past three days. Her father had explained to her how she had fallen ill one night and Loki was worried sick that he came over and stayed until she recovered.

The story sounded reasonable enough, but what she found very odd was Loki, himself.

She had woken up and found him sleeping beside her, holding her hand, unwilling to let it go, and he looked so exhausted and broken, when she inspected him up close. She leaned close to his face and brushed her fingers carefully over the bandage on his cheek, noting some bruises forming below his jawline. She bit her bottom lip with worriment when her eyes traveled further down his body, where more white bandages peeked from beneath his sleepwear.

There was definitely more to the story than they were willing to tell her, and it made her angry that they would even hide it from her, and she was more so disappointed in Loki, that he didn't trust her enough to divulge a single thing. Of course Yamino wouldn't say a word, being so loyal to his master and a skilled conversationalist changing the subject several times till she forgot what her original purpose was.

After that failure, she figured her father would be the easiest of the three to spill the information, but as hard as she tried, even promising to do chores for a month, he kept himself busy with the shrine and clients to avoid her interrogation. (So much for a future career in deduction and investigation.)

That left her to deal with Loki, who found himself taking a lot more walks around the neighborhood than he normally did, escorting Mayura all over town. She didn't mind the company at all, but she was pretty sure there were other things to do than walk her to and from school, to and from home, to and from the agency, etc.

So, when she stopped him one day, just a block from her house, she questioned him about his sudden interest of the outdoors. He just smiled mysteriously, taking hold of both of her wrists to pull her down to him, and with one hand still on her wrist, the other cupped the side of her face as he leaned up, closing the distance between them, and kissed her.

Soft and warm, that was all she could think of during the few seconds they shared, and when he pulled back from her, he grinned, satisfied with the dazed look on her face. "Now, Mayura, do you want to ask any more questions?" he inquired, already knowing the answer to it, and she replied with a shake of her head, already giving in to his manipulative ways.

Mayura gasped, when something caught her eyes, bringing her out of her reverie. She blinked at the brunette now seated in front of her, wearing a wide grin on his face, "Yo!"

He seemed like a friendly fellow with cheerful, brown eyes, which were slowly eyeing at her lunch with innocent desire, "Um, are you gonna eat that, Daidouji?"

"Oh, you can have it." She offered it to him, "I'm not that hungry." She noticed a bokken, a wooden sword, laying on the grass beside him.

"Okay, thanks! Itadakimasu!"

She giggled at his wolfish appetite, having forgotten her earlier thoughts, "Narugami-kun, didn't you get fed this morning?"

"It wasn't filling," he pouted, "And I forgot my lunch. I was running late to school."

"How do like it so far?" she smiled. It was his first day transferring to a new school. He had introduced himself to her class that morning, causing her female classmates to all swoon at the handsome boy from Kyoto.

"It's pretty good. The onigiri could use a bit more salt."

In between his biting and chewing, he was making conversations with her, and she was enjoying his company, "Ah, I was asking about the school."

"Oh yeah, it's nice. Tokyo's a lot different though, but it's cool." She nodded. "So what are you doing out here alone?" he was eyeing her strangely, awaiting her answer, but she just laughed nervously, rubbing the back of her head.

"Enjoying the weather?"

"You're a weird one," he said and finished the whole bento box. He gave it back to Mayura, and she blinked, flipping the box upside down and shaking it. Not a single grain of rice fell out, and yet, Narugami's stomach was still growling, and he blushed with embarrassment.

She laughed, "Aha Narugami-kun, your tummy must be a black hole!"

"H-hey, I'm a growing boy!"

She quieted down, and when he spoke those words, her thoughts returned to a certain boy in her life. She absentmindedly touched her lips, recalling the kiss she received from him. His lips had been so gentle yet filled with passion. He wasn't kissing her as a shy, young boy but as a man in love, in yearning, and as much as she enjoyed what they shared, she was confused, by her own feelings and by her own beliefs.

She felt a hand on her head and snapped out of her thoughts again, to see a grinning Narugami looking down at her. "You shouldn't think so much," he advised, "You know, things'll work out. That's how life is." After giving her head another pat, with his bokken in one hand, he extended his other one to her, "Let's get back to class."

She nodded and accepted his hand, and he pulled her up on her feet. She smiled and quietly thanked him for being a friend.


Loki flinched as he pulled the bandaid off his face and looked in the handheld mirror. It was slowly healing properly, leaving a thin line underneath his eye. He would have to put some more ointment on it so he wouldn't have much of a scar. He placed the mirror down and took a sip of his tea before getting out of his seat to leave the room.

The study was now empty and quiet, and it was a nice feeling of peace, considering what had happened days earlier. That was, until a familiar head popped up, from outside the large window on the second floor. Narugami, hanging outside from the window ledge, scanned the room for any presence, and when it was clear, he broke the glass pane with his bokken and opened the window to let himself inside. Just as he hauled his body through the window, Yamino had stepped into the study.

Both men froze and stared at one another.

After five seconds of awkward silence, Narugami leapt into the air, charging at the butler, with both hands on the hilt of the bokken and swung it down at his target. The latter was far from being surprised and caught the wooden blade between his palms and threw the teenager aside as if an annoying twig had got in his way.

A mildly stunned Narugami hit the floor with a yelp, but that didn't stop him from getting to his feet and sent another assault on the calm butler. Yamino dodged the blade, left and right, then ducked down and tripped the clumsy swordsman.

It was in this moment that Loki, with a new bandaid on his wound, returned to see the intruder in a heap on his floor cursing. "Hn, Narugami?" he questioned, not looking amused in the slightest.

"Hey Loki, what's up?" he laughed and then sent a glare in Yamino's direction, and said man was quietly clearing his young master's tea away. "Curse you, Yamino! I'll have you beat soon - just you wait!"

"I'll be waiting," the man smiled and left.

Loki shook his head and went to his desk, as the young man climbed to his feet, swinging the bokken over his shoulder. He looked at the boy, all serious and quiet staring at the opened and broken window, and decided to sit on the couch, making himself completely comfortable before anything started.

"You know, we do have a door," he grumbled to his troublesome visitor and sat down in his chair, quickly getting to the point, "Why are you here anyway? Aren't you still training in Kyoto?"

He shrugged, "I was sent here on Odin-sama's orders."

"I wasn't aware of this," Loki frowned, "When did you arrive?"

"Yesterday."

"What are your orders?"

He looked thoughtful for a moment, and the boy, getting impatient, tapped his fingers on his desk. "Well, I heard there was... a conflict," he finally said, "with Higashiyama."

"Huh, so the old man knows."

The teen shrugged again, "He knows everything. But anyway, I'm here on a protection assignment."

"I don't need protection!" he snapped, offended that the old man and Narugami would even suggest a thing, "I can handle Higashiyama just fine."

Narugami laughed and pointed at the boy's face, "Yeah, and that's a beauty mark!" If the swordsman had no association with him, Loki would've killed him on the spot for the comment. "But no, not protecting you," he scoffed with a wave of his hand, "so don't flatter yourself."

One could almost see a vein popping on Loki's head, but luckily for both of them (because Loki would've wasted time and energy to kill the jerk and well, Narugami would've been killed), they heard a girl's familiar voice outside the window greeting Yamino.

"My assignment," Narugami smirked, "is her."

He was enjoying the look of surprise on the face of the master of the house. His expression went from shock to deep thought, then epiphany to fear, and finally annoyance and anger. It happened in mere seconds, and before either could even act upon emotions, footsteps were coming down the hallway. The door swung opened, and the two male occupants were met by a smile at first, then surprise, "Narugami-kun? What are you doing here?"

"What?! Mayura already knows you?" Loki managed to seethed out. His fists suddenly met the surface of his desk as he stood up.

"What a small world," she exclaimed, happy to see another familiar face. She sat down on the couch across from her classmate and asked, "How do you two know each other?" Her question invited Loki to answered too, but the boy hadn't quite figure out how to explain it to her, much less take in several new pieces of information he had just received.

Narugami leaned forward in his seat, resting his elbows on his knees, and explained, "Our families are pretty close."

"Oh, so you knew Loki-kun when he was baby?!" she giggled, and said boy blushed. He glared in Narugami's direction and gave him a look that told him to 'shut the hell up or I'll slit your throat'.

Yamino then entered the room with a new pot of freshly brewed tea and a plate of cookies. He was pouring the tea into the cups and made an offhanded comment, having heard Mayura's voice when he was outside the room, "Narugami-san was much of a baby too." The brunette was steaming and swung the bokken at the butler's head, but Yamino caught the weapon with one hand and reprimanded him, "You shouldn't play indoors, Narugami-san, or someone will get hurt. And I prefer to have Loki-sama and Mayura-sama unharmed."

The teenager threw himself back against the couch and pouted. He then noticed Mayura had her mouth agaped at the scene and said proudly, "My family runs a kendo school, and I'm the heir to the Narugami Raiden Mitsurugi-ryuu!"*

"The Rai-whaa?"

"A sword style of hot air," Loki snorted, triggering a chuckle from Yamino.

"Hey!" He was indignant at the reception of his proud family heritage, "That's mean. You guys learned it too!"

"Wow, Loki-kun! I didn't know you knew kendo!" Mayura suddenly gushed out, embarrassing him. He rubbed the back of his neck as she gazed at him with great admiration.

"Oh, there's more to Loki you don-!"

Yamino threw a cookie into Narugami's mouth to stop him from further revealing too much information, and the young man almost choked on it and gave him a hard glare. Loki silently thanked the quick thinking butler, and fortunately, Mayura was too fascinated with the discovery about Loki to noticed anything was being kept from her.


* Narugami's family sword fighting style translates to 'thunder and lightning sword style', which isn't anything special, yet. =P