Bandages

Chapter 9

Narugami stood in front of Loki's desk, watching as the boy, small in stature to begin with, became smaller as his words sunk in. The thunder god had stopped into the hospital to check on Mayura after finishing his shift and, to his surprise, found that she was released early. After rushing to the Detecive Agency, Narugami discovered that maybe taking his time would have helped with scripting how he was going to break the news to the Trickster.

The pathetic, curled up ball of a god did not take the news very well. He was far from biting on his fingernails; that was just unhygienic; but he did look distressed beyond anything Narugami had witnessed before.

"Uh, Loki, you okay, buddy?" nervously, Narugami shifted his grip on Myolnir.

"Fine, Narukami-kun, fine."

"Okay, if you're sure."

"I'd like to be alone for a little while, if that's alright. I'm sure Yamino-kun has something for you to eat."

Hesitating only for a moment, Narugami moved to leave the office. His energy would be better spent refueling and retelling his information to Loki's children.

"Well, I am glad to hear that Mayura-san is feeling well enough to be home," was Yamino's response to Narugami's tale. The butler refilled the empty rice bowl without complaint.

"What are we going to do now?" Fenrir growled from his seat. "With Mystery girl's father around all the time, how is Daddy going to get her to remember?"

"Maybe there isn't anything we can do," sighed Yamino, his face was full of dejection and it mirrored how everyone felt.

Silence filled as everyone sank into their own thoughts. Yamino sighed and turned to get more tea from the kitchen when he bumped something and made a clatter that drew everyone's attention to the large suitcase.

"I," Fenrir said with a wag of his tail, "have an idea."

"I don't think this is a good idea," Loki's voice rumbled as he looked all the way down to his older son. "Deceiving Mayura Papa by being in this form is not going to win me any points."

Fenrir looked up and up and up to meet his father's eyes. "Daddy won't get anything if Mystery girl can't remember him. Good luck!"

With a lap of encouragement around Loki's legs, Fenrir gave a fanfare of barks before running off after some stray birds.

Left with his choice weighing heavily in his hand, Loki took a bracing breath; letting the snowy air burn his lungs, before ascending the stairs to the Daidouji shrine. Every several steps, the god paused to check the luggage bag in his grasp.

"I'm just delivering some lost luggage from the transit center. I'm a nobody. Just give her the luggage, see how she's doing. Nothing rash," Loki muttered to himself as he climbed. "Don't do anything rash."

The climb took a while, even with his longer legs; Loki felt the steps growing the further he went. It gave him ample time to think.

"Mayura is mortal. Even without this set back she would still… I would still have to lose her," Loki thought, then mentally slapped himself. She wasn't dead and thinking like that didn't help anything.

His breaths were coming out in tired puffs of steam as he finally reached the top of the stairs. Setting the suitcase down carefully, he rested a moment to compose himself. After straightening his jacket and steeling his nerves, he went up to the main door to their home and rang the bell with a quavering finger.

He barely managed to swallow some of his fear and saliva before there was the soft pitter-patter of feet and the door slid open, revealing the tired, but relaxed expression of Mayura's face.

"Hello," she greeted him, her breath a white puff in the air. Mayura had to hold onto the doorway in case she swooned for one of two possible reasons.

First, was, of course, her still fragile state of health. The second was because there was a very handsome, very dashing, and very delightful young man at her door.

"Good morning, miss," Loki had to work his voice around the emotional lump in his throat. "I hope I am not interrupting anything at this early hour?"

"Oh, no, not at all," Mayura flushed lightly when she saw a sigh of relief escape those perfectly shaped lips. His brown hair was falling into his eyes, but it did nothing to hide the strong green gaze he kept pinned on her face.

"I am glad," Loki shifted his hold on the luggage. "I do not mean to have you stand in the cold, so I will be brief."

"Oh!" Mayura gasped in surprise, at her rudeness; the man had climbed a mountain, after all. "Please, come in. You must be cold. I have a fresh pot of tea waiting to be poured out."

"I don't think that will be necessa—"he sneezed in the middle of his word, making him realize that maybe it was just that cold.

"Please, come in."

"Mayura opened the door and let Loki into the entry way. For being a simple sliding door, it kept the cold out as it snapped shut.

"So what brings you up here at such an early hour, Mr…?" Mayura laid slippers out for her guest, but Loki made no move to remove his shoes.

"I am a detective by trade, but a friend asked if I would deliver this to its rightful owner," Loki motioned to the well worn and beat up, pink suitcase he placed between himself and Mayura.

"That's… my case. Where was it? Who is your friend?" Mayura's mind was filling with questions.

"A friend, acquaintance, really, works at the train station. He said it was abandoned at the office. When I passed through this morning, he mentioned it and I happened to be coming this way," Loki wore his most convincing neutral smile as he lied through his teeth. Yamino had carefully kept track of all luggage as they disembarked from the train and that particular case sat in their dining room since they got back to the city.

"Oh, well," Mayura took it and lifted it up into the house, "Thank you for your kindness. I have a little money, I don't know how much you would charge a client for this kind of task."

"No payment is necessary, miss. It was my pleasure. It is not often that I am able to visit a shrine," he had a soft smile on his face as he remembered a time when he sent Mayura and her father into each other's memories. Such good times.

"Would you like a tour, then? Instead of payment," Mayura looked up at him, a hopeful look in her eye. As stingy as she was with her money, Mayura firmly believed that any service rendered required adequate payment. Except when it came to Loki. Or so it was before the accident.

Seeing her try to repay him cracked his resolve, and Loki had to push down the pain to agree amiably.

"That would be an honor," he said, then gave an obvious glance at the bandage around her head, "but are you in the proper condition to be walking around?"

"I'll be fine. The doctor said a little exercise is good. They think that, I might get better faster if I get back to a normal life," she picked up a coat from a closet, donning the too large garment, clearly her father's, before ushering Loki back into the cold.

As Mayura described the different aspects of her home shrine, Loki let her voice wash over him. Her tone was a little different from the bouncy girl he first knew, and even a little different than the blushing, flushed woman he loved. Still, Mayura was Mayura. Pure, innocent, and in Loki's eyes, beautifully perfect.

He was making polite listening noises, completely content on keeping her speech uninterrupted. When they rounded the corner of the building, back to the front of the shrine, Mayura stopped speaking. Gripping a nearby rail, she managed to keep her balance, but she tilted heavily into her wooden support.

Panic flooded Loki as he reached out for her.

"Let me help you inside," he offered his hand, trying his hardest to keep a calm expression on his face.

"Thank you, Detective-san," Mayura took his outstretched hand and let Loki lead her back to her house.

Feeling her balance faltering after a few steps, Loki wrapped his arm around her back to give her other hand a second balancing point. Holding her close, the detective could feel her light shiver running through her body. Whether it was the cold, her exhaustion, or something else entirely, Loki could not tell. The only thing he could read on her face was her concentration on walking forward. At the door, Loki used his toe to kick the sliding door open enough for them to slip into the warm house.

"Here, sit for a minute," Loki helped Mayura down to the wooden flooring before kneeling to remove her shoes.

"I can—" Mayura started to comment on her abilities to remove her own footwear, but the look Loki gave her from under his bangs made her stop in mid sentence. Loki looked back down at the task at hand and hid a small smile at how prettily Mayura was blushing. Hopefully, it was only blushing from fluttering nerves and not from overexertion.

"Are you feeling a little better? Do you need some water?" Loki straightened her shoes and slid a pair of slippers onto her stocking'd feet.

"I think some hot tea would do us both wonders. Please, come in," Mayura lifted herself off the ground, only lightly using the wall as support. Quickly, Loki pulled off his shoes and put on the guest pair Mayura had previously set out for him.

Treading carefully, Mayura tottered down the hall to an open door and disappeared into the room. Loki followed quickly, worried that she might fall.

The living room was still the same as the last time he was there. The same books lined the shelf on one wall; which Loki was ninety-five percent sure no one had even touched since he was last in the room. The memorial for Mayura's mother was clean, fresh flowers and rice offerings sat before a picture of the smiling woman.

"Please, have a seat, Detecive-san," Mayura was adding more tea leaves to the pot before pouring the hot water.

Once seated, Loki studied Mayura. She was grown from when he first saw her, a high school girl chasing after one crazy mystery after another. Frey had been right from so many years before; Mayura really was a Yamato Nadeshiko, beautiful with a heart of gold.

"Is there something wrong?" Mayura was placing a steaming cup of tea in front of Loki when she noticed his intense stare.

"Perhaps," Loki wrapped his long fingers around the hot ceramic cup, appreciating the warmth as it spread across his body. "I cannot help but feel like you have lost more than just the suitcase I brought today."

"That's amazing, Detective-san," Mayura's eyes were wide and her tea was forgotten, halfway to her lips. "How did you figure it out?"

"One could call it a detective's intuition, I suppose," Loki took a careful sip of the steaming liquid.

"You seem to have extraordinary skill as a detective, but I'm fairly sure you cannot find what I have lost," Mayura gave him an apologetic look before dropping her gaze back to her tea.

"Maybe not, but I will make myself available to you, should you ever request my aid," Loki gave Mayura a moment to swallow her tea before continuing, "I'm sure that we could arrange a fair trade, if you feel so inclined."

Reaching into his jacket, Loki pulled out a business card. He rarely ever used them, but carried them none-the-less.

"My card, if you ever want to talk," Loki took one final drink from his cup before standing. "You should get some rest. I'll see myself out."

"Detective-san," Mayura angled her head up to look deeply, sincerely, into his eyes. "Thank you, for everything."

"You are very welcome, Daidouji Mayura-san. I hope you find whatever it is you have lost."

With a departing bow, Loki left the house and started the trek back home. Left alone, Mayura absently played with the card in her hands and tried to recall why the handsome stranger seemed familiar. She sat for a long time, trance-like, as if hypnotized by the after image in her mind's eye.