- Disclaimer: Matantei Loki Ragnarok belongs to Kinoshita Sakura.


Days of Innocence

written by Kurosu

- Chapter Nine, A Kite and a Conversation.

"Uwaah~! It's really flying, Loki-kun!"

Mayura's laughter and excitement filled the afternoon skies, the brightness of the sun bathed the park in its warmth and the gentleness of the breeze teased the butterfly kite higher in to the blue yonder, eliciting more squeals of delight from the little girl. She watched in amazement at her new toy, that Yamino had apparently purchased by mail order, standing in front of Loki, who held one end of the kite, controlling the string carefully so it wouldn't snap off.

He had a smile the whole time, from the moment they arrived at the park to constructing the kite to finally letting it sail in to the skies, because of the vibrant child in his care, who wouldn't stay still for all the custard pudding in the world. He could never be bored with her, very moment was like a new experience, a new surprise in his life.

He knelt down to her and asked, "Do you want to give it a try, Mayura?"

"Really?" she beamed.

He put the spool of string in her left hand while his right arm wrapped around her shoulder, reaching over to her other hand to hold the length of the string that connected to the kite. He gradually turned the spool, letting the kite higher in to the air, and told her, "Turn it slowly, so the string doesn't snap off."

"Okay!"

After a few minutes, she was getting the hang of it and began to walk backwards as the kite continued to dance in the skies. She raised her hands in to the air, creating various movements with the kite, while Loki sat back on the grass and watched her play with the aerial contraption, impressed by her fast learning and handling of it. He sighed, a feeling of sad nostalgia overwhelmed him, thinking of his own children that he never quite raised them with his own hands but he loved them nonetheless.

He and the other gods had an eternity, and in comparison to that, the span of a mortal life was a tiny flicker of a flame, the reason he would always treasure Mayura in this lifetime of hers, but she was growing up so fast. He feared that if he took his eyes off her, just for a short while, she would become the beautiful woman that he remembered, he dreamed of, and he yearned for.


A pair of green eyes softened at the pair in the distance, in the open fields of grass, laughing and smiling in the sunshine, and she was happy for them, that both were able to enjoy a new life together, after their long hardships of trying to be together. Her lips pursed in to a thin line, feeling the regret of the past creeping upon her conscience, but her actions were needed for both of them to be reunited in the future.

She gripped the spine of the book tightly in her hands, lowering her head shamefully.

"Hel, I didn't take you for the stalker type," came the voice from across a separate branch from her own that she had been sitting on.

She looked up, surprised to see the last face she would ever meet on Midgard, but she still greeted him with a soft smile and a tiny blush at his comment, "Heimdall-sama."

The guardian of Bifrost, in his child form having been used to it on Midgard, stood on the branch, leaning his side against the trunk of the tree, arms folded over his chest and one eye stared across the park at the pair of god and mortal passing the afternoon with a kite.

"But I assume you were curious about them," he spoke again, "after all that time."

She followed his gaze, "I wanted to make sure everything was all right."

"You know, she would never hold it against you."

Hel glanced over to him, assuming denseness of the subject, and when he turned his head to meet her eyes, he wore an expression of understanding, "Between dying in battle at Odin's hands or being hit by a car on Midgard by your own, she would've taken the latter.

"You were doing it for their sake, so her soul could be reborn from the Underworld. If she had been taken by Odin to Valhalla, then they would be apart forever."

"That may be so," she smiled sadly, "but I had no right in making that decision. It was my own selfish reason for doing it."

"Aren't we all selfish?" He straightened his posture and stared at his hands in front of him, "I've done much with these hands, some things I regret, just to find my right eye." He dropped them to his side and looked up to the skies, "But when it's for the sake of something important to you, you would not hesitate to protect it.

"So don't be too hard on yourself."

She let out a small giggle, "And you're much kinder than what you show to others, Heimdall-sama."

"I've got a reputation to uphold," he snorted.

They heard a high-pitched squeal of surprise in the distance and turned towards the little girl crying over the kite that had snapped away, soaring through the skies, making several twists in the air before becoming a tiny speck in their eyes. They could see Loki cradling the sad girl in his arms and whispering words to her, not that they could hear him from where they were, but his words seemed to have calmed her down.

Heimdall sighed, wondering if he should ever give his enemy any sympathy, because he could not imagine having to deal with the mortal named Mayura, in any or all the lifetimes, but he did enjoy dropping in a few times just to rile up Loki, the little instances he looked forward to when he came to Midgard. He had to admit, only to himself, that it was much nicer being in the mortal realm, with the unpredictable nature of humans.

"Thank you," Hel spoke gratefully, snapping him out of his thoughts.

She was happy that there was someone out there who understood her feelings, and he grunted in response, turning away as if he wasn't actually trying to cheer her up, but it did, so he would accept it. She went back to watching her father and his young charge, who were now laying in the grass, watching the clouds overhead, and a speckle of black that was the form of her older brother streaked across the field.

"Well I'm not going to watch them all day," he moved from his spot against the tree trunk and glanced towards the ground, "I'm in the mood for some taiyaki..."

He silently cursed Freyr for all the times that he was forced to eat them, and Hel laughed, giving him one of her rare genuine smiles, "Me too."


Notes: The Hel & Heimdall scene is for kdwml, since I haven't come up with an actual story for your second favorite pairing yet. It's not much, but I think Heimdall would be the one to cheer her up - the potential of the two! Kekeke! -kuro.