Chapter 1
Carefully written handwriting that did not reflect the chaotic nature of the writer scrawled out the inner turmoil of the young woman as she penned her thoughts. Attention was paid to figuring out and writing down the best words to describe what she felt. Still, her feelings, thoughts, and emotions, jumped around. The journal reflected her inner turmoil.
Loki-kun came back to me yesterday.
I know that today I acted like nothing happened but the truth is that I'm afraid to ask. Afraid to act as if anything has happened. What if Loki-kun would answer my questions but have to leave because he told someone. I have this terrible feeling that if he tells, he will have to leave.
I'm probably being silly but…but…I don't want to lose him. I can't explain the emptiness I felt when it looked as if he wouldn't come back.
Will I ever gain the courage to ask him about what happened those couple of days? Does he know who the light pink haired girl with the glasses was? And how does he know someone who claims to be a god?
Maybe these are some mysteries I shouldn't try finding the answers to.
But I still badly want to know.
I want to know!
The journal was closed and slid under some old papers in a desk drawer. The young woman walked over to her western style bed and climbed into it. She closed her eyes but found that sleep did not come. Hours later, she finally drifted off into the comforting arms of sleep.
"Come oooooooooooooon, Loki-kun," Mayura whined, "summer vacation just started. It's the perfect time to go!"
Loki looked over the top of his book at the pink haired girl. He felt his resolve begin to cave at the puppy-dog eyes she was making at him. Quickly, he looked back down at his book. Seeing a black object out of the corner of his eye, he looked down.
On the floor, truly making puppy-dog eyes up at him, was Fenrir. Loki looked back over at Mayura. Over Mayura's shoulder, he could not believe that Yamino was wearing an identical expression as the other two. The pleading in their eyes collapsed the rest of his resolve.
'Damn,' Loki thought. With a sigh, he closed his book and put it on the desk. He stood out of his chair and said, "Fine, we can go on a picnic. Go help Yamino-kun make the lunch. I'll find a basket or something to carry it in."
"That's okay, Loki-sama," said Yamino. His eyes nearly sparkled as he held up an oddly shaped object. "I bought this expandable picnic basket through mail-order. When I ordered, you could get four collapsible chairs, a $40 dollar value, for only $15 dollars more!"
Loki raised an eyebrow at his son's buying habits. 'How many things does he buy that we never use?' he thought, asking himself. 'I believe I am going to have to start checking every order he makes. It is a wonder the house hasn't overflowed with all the stuff he's bought since we got here.'
Shaking his head, he went to see if his son had 'acquired' a picnic table or blanket. 'A table would be better…at least, if he wants to use those chairs.'
Around 11:45, the residents of the detective agency gathered around the gate. Loki placed up a sign, saying they were out and followed Mayura and Yamino, who were carrying all the food and a blanket.
Mayura carried the basket, swinging it back and forth recklessly, as she sung a nonsense tune to herself. Loki gave her a look, 'Is she trying to kill someone with it and make it look like an accident?'
When they reached the park, Mayura lead them to a nicely shaded spot quite a ways away from the other people in the park. "I found this place yesterday. Isn't it great," she said. "I heard that at 12:17 in the afternoon a leprechaun comes out." She put her swirly glasses on and added, "If you can look into his eyes without blinking, you can get gold out of him! I wonder why? Fushugi mystery!"
Loki rolled his eyes at Mayura's babbling. "That's nice. But do you think you could help set up the food."
"That's alright, Loki-sama," Yamino said, "I don't need any help. Why don't you take oni-, ah, Fenrir on a walk around the park? I'll call you back when everything is set up."
Loki questioned, "If that's fine with -"
"What a good idea, Yamino-kun!" Mayura interrupted. "We can look around to see where the leprechaun might come from." Without waiting for a response, Mayura ran off into the lightly wooded area.
Yamino looked at Loki, who simply rolled his eyes at her enthusiasm for things she could not see or comprehend.
"Where should we go, daddy?" asked Fenrir.
"Hmmm, why don't we let Ecchan decided today?" said Loki, who then looked at the little spirit.
"I think we should go to that little pond, Loki-tama," Ecchan said in its cute little voice.
"Everything should be set up by the time you have walked around it," Yamino told his shrunken father.
Meanwhile, Mayura was tromping on through the tree with little regard to remaining silent so as not to disturb the wildlife. "Um, um, where would a leprechaun emerge from? Where? Where? Where?" she asked herself aloud.
"AH! Maybe there!" she said excitedly, seeing a hole at the base of the roots of very large and old tree. She knelt on the ground and looked in using a little flashlight she had brought actually anticipating the possible need for light on her search.
She huffed with disappointment when all she saw was a hole that ended a foot in. "Well, I guess I'll just have to look harder if I want to find where that leprechaun will come from," she said, thrusting a fist in the air with determination.
Turning around she came face to face with something that was most decidedly not a leprechaun. The creatures hair looked like it was made of seaweed and it wore a misshapen coat that had a great number of holes.
In an excited voice, it said, "Finally, I've found the last thing I need!" Before Mayura could say a word about what was standing in front of her, the creature shot out something from one of the holes right at Mayura.
By the pond, Loki watched in amusement as his puppy-dog like son chase a squirrel up a tree. Through the woods, he heard a soul-wrenching scream and a flash of power unlike anything he felt before.
Reacting instinctively, he ran in the direction of the scream and power outburst. He reached a small clearing and stopped. On the ground was a body. Iridescent blood pooled around it. After moving closer to get a look, he froze when he recognized the person.
Reaching out in shock, Loki said, "Ma…Mayura?"
Next chapter should be up in no more than 2 weeks. If it isn't, e-mail me.
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Edit 5-20-05: I have a sketch up on my deviantART account. Go to my profile for the link.