Warnings: OOCness, AUness (if you haven't noticed...), cursing, lack of spellcheck (ah, the pains of using Wordpad), etc.
Notes: Please read my notes at the end! Thank you.

The Mythical Detective Mayura

IX: Thief

Two days later, Loki was sitting inside a dull art museum surrounded by guards. "This sucks. How do we even know it's this museum the dumb thief will come to?"

Mayura crossed her arms, pacing around the bench inside the museum that Loki was sitting on. "The first part of the riddle refers to the Ocean's Eye, a beautiful sapphire. Right next to it is a new gemstone--called the Green Field. It's an emerald." She pointed to a photo on a map.

"Okay, so why aren't we there? We're on the floor above them." Loki said, not understanding the situation.

"What comes between the ocean and grass?"

"Sand." Yamino answered his mistress' question and Loki sweat-dropped.

"This stone is called the Sandy Shore, it's a nice topaz. It's on the upper floor because it was part of a donated collection." She pointed to a gem that every guard stood around.

"So this thief isn't going to go after the sapphire or the emerald?" Loki verified.

Mayura nodded. "Right."

Loki sighed. "Why did they allow us in here anyway?"

The pink-haired detective grinned. "I found the police chief's cat yesterday!"

Loki frowned, wondering if she had lost the cat in the first place.

The clock outside struck eleven, breaking his thoughts.

"Kaitou Freyr should be here." He noted, looking around. Nothing had happened.

"Hm..." Mayura frowned, considering. Was the thief late? Planning a surprise attack? Maybe he had changed his mind...?

Oh no.

She turned rapidly to a man with a beard--the museum's curator. "Sir! What stone was next to Ocean's Eye before Green Field arrived?"

"Just an old Greek ruby." The curator said. "Quite interesting because of its coloring--"

She rushed off before he could finish his sentence, running down the stairs.

Loki and Yamino exchanged glances, following her.

They arrived on the lower floor to see Mayura glaring at a tall, brunette man.

A tall brunette man who was currently holding a deep red ruby.

"This one knew you would come, Athena." Kaitou Freyr greeted.

"Apollo, why would you use the name of a Norse god? That's just silly!" Mayura said, apparently more concerned about his name than his arrival.

"Freyr is such a lovely name! Athena, you cannot deny this."

"Mou," Mayura frowned, "it is kind of nice."

"Detective!" Loki said, amazed that she was ignoring the fact that the thief was still in possession of his target.

Then it occurred to him that this was another god--she had said Apollo, right?

He groaned. This was so weird.

"Give the stone back!" The goddess of wisdom said. "I'm a detective, I can't let you get away with this."

"The stone can be returned in exchange for your life." Freyr said, smiling as he rubbed the ruby. "Come and catch me if you wish to perish." He broke through the nearest window and jumped to a nearby roof.

Mayura sighed, holding out a hand. Her silver staff appeared and she gripped it. "Be careful, Loki. Care for him, please, Yamino."

With her staff in hand, she ran out the already-broken window and landed on the rooftop beside Apollo.

Loki watched her do this. "Will I ever be used to this?"

Yamino sweat-dropped.

X X X X

I know this chapter was short, which leads me to the poll of the chapter...

Would you prefer weekly short chapters or a longer chapter every other week?

I've made a little progress on this story but not enough. X.x Problem being that the current arc I'm writing is not one I'm actually thrilled about, but rather something I must get through. If there are any gods/goddesses you absolutely MUST see in this fic, you may want to mention him/her in a review because I probably won't get to everything that the anime/manga covers. The only definites (after this chapter) are Yamino, Aphrodite, Fenrir, and Artemis.

Nevertheless, I hope you enjoyed this chapter...this fic's pace remains pretty constant (unlike AOAA) so I hope you're able to keep up (:

Next chapter: Mayura finishes fighting Freyr...and loses?!