And here's the next part!   I just keep cranking these things out!  Hope you're all enjoying them!

Loki's Plan, Part 6

Narugami, with a great feeling of trepidation (he would never admit to anything more, that smacked of cowardice), approached Loki's home.  Nothing appeared to be wrong from the outside, and that, at least, was a relief, but he wouldn't be happy until he had seen that all inside were in one piece.

Yamino stormed to the door and pulled it quickly open, only to turn flustered when he saw who was waiting on the front step.

"N...Narugami-san, what are you doing here?" he said uncertainly.  Thor always discomfited him, even though he was not in any immediate danger from the Thunder God.  Close on his heels, Fenrir growled.

"Yo, Megane.  I just dropped by to see how you guys were, since I haven't talked to Loki since he decided to stay here on Midgard.  Can I come in?" Narugami said, making an obvious attempt to be subtle.

"Of course." Yamino nodded and both he and Fenrir moved to let him past.

Once inside, the Thunder God's attitude changed, becoming somehow less Narugami and more Thor.

"I felt Father and heard a horse today, and I wanted to make sure all was well here." he said as they entered the study.

"Odin was here all right." Loki said from down the hall.  The venom was clear in his tone, and Narugami could hear that he wasn't in his child-form.  "Would you like to know what he did?"

"Both of your household here seem fine, and you don't sound hurt...  That only leaves..."  Thor swore darkly.

Loki came into the room, Mayura tucked close to his side.

"Daidouji!"

"Hi Narugami-kun... I mean, Thor-san." Mayura said, unwilling to meet her classmate's eyes.

Thor's jaw dropped.

"That's right NaruKami-kun, she knows now, thanks to Odin.  And there's more you should hear, why don't you sit," Loki gestured to the couch,  "since I seem to be explaining this to everyone today."

Fenrir sniffed the air and turned to Yamino.  "Weren't you starting dinner?"

Yamino's eyes widened and he went running for the kitchen, Fenrir trotting after him in hopes of scraps.

Loki and Mayura sat on the couch opposite Narugami, and Loki turned to her.  "Do you want to explain things to Thor, or shall I?" he asked.

"You understand all this better, can you explain please." Mayura half-smiled.

Thor's jaw almost hit the floor when he heard his sweet, naïve classmate speaking Old Norse.

"Alright then, NaruKami-kun, since I know you hate long, drawn-out explanations, I'll give you the short-short version:  Odin confronted Mayura after school today and forcibly gave her the knowledge of who and what I am.  By the time I got to her he was gone and she was unconscious.  I brought her home and put her in the best-warded room in the house, but when she woke up and tried to leave the room she was screaming in pain again, so we got the Norns.  They got rid of the spell, but when they checked her wyrd they discovered that she will be one of the Aesir." Loki shifted the arm he had wrapped around Mayura so that it was around her waist instead of her shoulder, and tugged lightly on her blouse to emphasize the mark he had left. "They told me her true name should be Sigyn." he said with a grin.

The stunned look on Narugami's face was so comical that even Mayura giggled.

"Well, um, congratulations I guess...  Do you think Father knew?  About her wyrd I mean."

"I doubt it.  If he had he would, I'm sure, have done far worse to her than simply grant her knowledge."

Thor sighed.  "I wish he wasn't so set against you, Loki.  It's strange.  Not that I've ever claimed to understand Father's ways, but all these sudden attacks against you seem stranger than the usual.  Of course, he might know something I don't..." he trailed off.

"Poor NaruKami-kun.  Always so honest and straightforward; you really can't comprehend subtlety of action, can you?" Loki laughed.  "Sometimes I wonder what Sif ever sees in you, but she's always insisted there's more to you than just a giant-crusher." he said with a wink.  It was an oft-repeated joke between the two of them, and so didn't garner much more than a token growl from the Thunder God.

Loki turned to Mayura and kissed her forehead.  "Would you go check on Yamino-kun and find out when dinner will be ready?" he asked her.  "Oh, and you should call your father and let him know you'll be here until late this evening."

"You're right, I should do that!" Mayura said, and hurried off to the phone (which was kept in a different room, since Loki found it annoying).

Loki watched her go with an ironic smile, but when he was sure she was gone, his expression turned serious.  "I would ask a boon of you, Thor, in memory of our many adventures together.  Would you watch over her for me if anything should... happen to me."

"Of course I will, Loki." Thor said just as seriously. "She will suffer no hurt if I can prevent it." He sighed sadly.  "She would be saddest if you were gone, though.  When I saw her looking for you yesterday she just seemed so lost, and that was before all this about who she is, or will be, or whatever."

"She's taken all this in stride pretty well actually, all things considered.  I guess in a way it's just another 'fushigi mystery' for her, just a little closer to home than usual."

Narugami laughed suddenly.  "Freyr's going to pitch a fit." he predicted.

Loki muttered a few dark imprecations under his breath.  The Fertility God would surely be less-than-enthused at his "Yamato Nadeshiko" turning out to be Loki's wife.

Unnoticed on the sidewalk outside the Enjaku Detective Agency, Heimdall was leaning casually against the wall and listening.  Due to his supernatural sense of hearing, he was able to easily pick out the different conversations inside the building without triggering any of the wards.

It was interesting news today, that was for sure, and although he too snickered to imagine Freyr's reaction to it, he also frowned.  Heimdall had realized, during the time he spent with Hel when he should have died, that he had become far too obsessed with revenge on Loki, and it was clouding his judgment.  Hel's headlong rush into her own oblivion merely to hurt her father was, to him, a disturbingly familiar thing; he recognized its similarity to his own vendetta.  He was saddened by the obvious nature of the outcome of all her scheming and plotting - her own downfall whether she destroyed her father or not - and didn't want to follow in her footsteps.  He didn't quite know what to do with such thoughts - he could never really be friends with Loki - but he had decided to hold off on actually killing the other God until he had decided how he wanted to deal with him.  No need to leave him alone entirely though, of course, and there were so many ways to antagonize Loki...

Heimdall smirked as he continued to listen.

After discovering that dinner wouldn't be ready for at least half an hour, Mayura went to call her dad.

"Moshi moshi, Daidouji." he answered.

"Papa, it's me.  I was just calling to say I'm at the detective agency."

"Mayura!  I was just about to call there for you and see if you could stay the night there.  We've had a bit of a freak accident here and the power's out, although the phones still seem to be working for now at least, so I thought it might be better if you just stayed there."

"Just a minute, I'll go ask." Mayura said, placing the phone down.  She went and peeked her head into the study.  "Loki, Papa said the power's off at home and suggested I stay here for the night..."

Loki laughed.  "You're more than welcome of course." he said, with a grin that should really have been categorized more as a leer, and winked at her.

Mayura blushed and backed out of the room again and went back to the phone.  "It's no problem, Papa, Loki... Loki-kun says I'm welcome to stay."  She almost forgot to use "-kun" but remembered in time that her father didn't know about everything that had been going on, and the change in her mode of address might make him suspicious.

"That's good.  I'll see you tomorrow then Mayura, have a good night."

"Oyasumi, Papa."

Of course, Narugami-kun had to stay for dinner, which made it a lively affair, and by the time he left, everyone was more than ready to retire for the night.  Out of concern for her safety, (as well as other less honourable motivations) Loki insisted that Mayura sleep in his room.  Yamino-kun lent her a pair of his pajamas, and she looked very rumpled and cute in them with the cuffs and sleeves rolled up.  Loki, on the other hand, wouldn't fit Yamino-kun's pajamas, and since he hadn't spent enough time in his kakusei form here on Midgard to need pajamas, he didn't have any.  Even back in Asgard he usually would have slept 'al fresco', but that wasn't an option either, (most unfortunately, in his opinion) so he had to do a little bit of thinking to come up with a solution.

"Mayura, do you remember I told you I can change shapes?" he said, lounging in bed fully dressed with her head pillowed on his chest.

"Mmmhmmm." she answered sleepily.

"I thought, to help keep from forgetting myself, I would change into an animal for the night...  How would you like to cuddle up to a fox?  I promise to be warm and snuggly..." he grinned.

"mmkay." she mumbled, more than half asleep already.

"It's been a long week, hasn't it, Mayura." Loki said softly as he petted her hair and kissed her forehead while she fell completely asleep, "Between Hel's kidnapping you and my leaving - not to mention today's craziness.  Hopefully things will slow down for a bit now."

There was a flash of light, and then a large red fox was in Loki's place.  He curled up around Maura, laid his head on her shoulder, and dropped into that light doze that so many small predators have, resting but still on guard.  Ecchan floated down and snuggled in between them, and everyone slept peacefully.