chapter 7

Thank you all for reading this story so far! I adore your reviews and can't wait to hear what else you have to say.

I don't own anything Marvel only my fantastic OC. This story is rated M for this chapter on ok.

Tatsumi awoke after what felt like only a few minutes sleep but glancing at her alarm clock it clearly stated she had slept three hours. Her whole body felt weak after having to contain that much energy and going through such tumultuous emotions.

Deciding she needed to clear her mind she gets up and puts on a soothing soundtrack so as to do some yoga which she had neglected for two days. After finishing up the complicated routine she still felt clouded and after pausing for a moment decided to go for a run.

"Loki will still be asleep and I'll be back before he wakes up so there shouldn't be any harm." She thought to herself as she got dressed to go out taking along her ever present I-pod and at the last moment decided to take along her camera. Getting to the living room she looks over to check on the god only to see he was sleeping soundly. She had to suppress the urge to go over and just stare at him for he was truly a gorgeous site, exspecially since he had apparently taken his shirt off again.

Shaking her head and putting in her head phones she leaves the townhouse to only be greeted by the cool early morning air. The sky was still dark but if she made good time she would be at the countryside in time for the first rays of light to streak the sky. Running along with the city as quiet as it was at this time of day made her relax. Unfortunately when she relaxed it allowed for the memories of all the times she was harmed by "the others" as she had come to think of them to surface.

As these memories raced through her mind she ran faster to the point where she was certain she would have looked like a blur. The faces came and went as did the fear and pain they invoked.

"They always come. Always. Why do I care about this race so much? Why do I not hold resentment towards them? Time and time again they find me and time and time again they harm me! Everytime I find something or someone that brings me peace and happiness they find me!" She is so troubled by these thoughts that she almost loses track of where she was going until a small amount of light in the sky grabs her attention.

Coming to a dead halt heaving deep breathes like she was drowning she stares at the sky with wonder. It never ceased to amaze her the beauty of the twilight hours in a day. Taking out her camera she begins to wander, stopping here and there only long enough to take a quick but very calculated picture. Before the sun was to appear Tatsumi stops by a tree and decides to climb it in order to take the picture she wanted. The rays of color that veriatably exploded on the horizon as well as over the landscape truly took her breathe away.

After climbing down the tree and just closing her eyes to allow herself to feel the sun kiss her skin does she realize how at peace she now felt. "They may be able to find me but they will NEVER break me." Tatsumi states out loud letting a smile grace her face before turning to go home.

Loki heard what sounded like the door to the house open which he had to admit startled him. Looking up through groggy eyes he sees the Midgardian standing at the door having apparently just gotten back from somewhere. "What are you doing up so early? And where were you?" he asks as he sits up blinking the sleepy feeling from his eyes so as to be able to get a better look at the mortal.

"I went for a run so as to clear my mind. I'm sorry if I woke you up but I'll make it up to you with a good breakfast ok. I just need to go and get cleaned up first." She says looking every bit like as if she had never even had a rough night.

"You trusted me to not do anything while you were gone?" Loki says looking at the mortal completely perplexed now.

Stopping in her trek to her room and turning to look at the god "You were asleep and if you did get up and decide to snoop there is nothing for you to find of any value, so why wouldn't I trust you while I was gone?" She says simply while shrugging her shoulders "If that answers your question I really would like to get clean."

Loki blinks a little taken aback making Tatsumi take that as an answer that he was done asking questions and disappears down the hall into her room.

He really didn't know what to think at the moment. Maybe it was the fact that he had just woken up or it could be the fact that the mortal was acting like last night never happened. More than anything he was fairly certain that no one had ever trusted him with anything. He didn't know how he felt about that. "She trusted me to not meddle with her things or to do any harm to them while she was gone. Why is it that she can do so when clearly no one else can or ever will? This woman is so different?!" He thought to himself as he flopped back into the comfort of the bed exhaling as he did so.

Without realizing it he apparently had fallen back asleep for a moment for the next thing he knew the smell of food cooking reached him making him smile as he sat up "What are you cooking Midgardian? For either it being my appetite or the fact that the food you are making is actually delectible, it smells rather heavenly at the moment." he says stretching like a cat before getting up and wandering over to the counter between the living room and the kitchen.

Tatsumi turned around with the plate of food completely surprised by how good natured the god was being towards her. "Um I made eggs, bacon, hashbrowns and pancakes because I couldn't really decide what to make." She says with an apologetic grin "Plus I don't know what you like to eat either sooo...yeah here you go." she lays the plate of food in front of Loki.

"Let me know what you like the most so I know what to make for breakfast from now on." she found it hard to keep preoccupied and eat her own meal while Loki sat there munching away while still gloriously shirtless. Mentally berating herself for staring at him like she was a schoolgirl and trying to surpress a blush.

"Mmm I quite prefer these two." Loki says pointing to some of the food on his plate and giving Tatsumi a glance before continuing on with his meal.

"Ok so you like the pancakes and bacon." She nodded while chomping down on some bacon herself befor realizing she had forgottent to get him anything to drink. "Oh! I forgot but would you like anything to drink? I made coffee and tea but I also have juice and milk too." she says as she takes a sip of her coffee.

"Yes I would. I'll have whatever you're drinking." He says flashing her a smile as he continued to eat.

Tatsumi smiled "Are you sure? I'm not drinking tea right now." she says with a quirk of her eyebrow while taking anouther sip from her cup.

"Hmmm I suppose it is a gamble but I believe if you can tolerate whatever you're drinking then so can I." He says returning the grin and quirk of an eyebrow as well.

"Ok you asked for it just don't say I didn't try to warn you." At saying this she gets up and pours a cup of her pitch black coffee that light couldn't escape it if it tried, puts milk, creamer, and sugar in it then passes it to Loki with a devilish grin on her face.

"Drink up sweetheart." She says taking her own cup in hand and sitting back to watch him as he took his first sip.

Loki refused to let the womans demeanor waiver him but as soon as the liquid hit his tongue his eyes went wide "By Odin! What IS this! I'm both repulsed but entranced by it." He says looking to the Midgardian.

"Well that's a first. No-one's ever tried my coffee and liked it before." She says with a genuine melodic laugh.

The laugh was so beautiful sounding that it temporarily distracted Loki from the magnificent drink he was now obsessed with in his hands. Staring at the mortal "I amuse you mortal. You know you are quite the odd specimen of this species. If I wasn't present last night I wouldn't know that you had been through an emotional ordeal." He says narrowing his eyes on the woman as she had no trace of the smile or laughter about her now.

"Well we mortals are more complex than you give us credit. Each and everyone of us has our own personality, our own story as to how we have become the way we are. It's just that some are more complicated than others." She says completely devoid of emotion but yet her body language read that of someone who was absolutely at ease.

Loki had clearly hit a nerve but he decided to push the topic because he very much disliked being laughed at "Yes but your story is the one I'm most interested in." He says taking the last few bites of his food realizing he had apparently put the woman off her own meal.

Sending Loki a look that showed only a flash of emotion, one that he couldn't put his finger on at the moment, before speaking. "Honey there isn't enough time in the universe, paper on the planet OR enough data storage on the internet that would allow me to even BEGIN to tell you the smallest part of my story. Nor am I even interested in telling it to you at this time." She says cocking her head to the side "You must understand that I have been hurt repeatedly by those I have held dear to my heart. My family, My friends, and even lovers. All of them I had known either from birth or for a many number of years before I let them know any of my secrets. Only to have ALL of them betray me. So it will take much longer than than a few nights for me to trust you with my story."

Loki looked at the mortal in utter shock for a moment "Everyone..." he says in a whisper before coming back to reality "Very well I won't ask you for your entire story just one piece."

Tatsumi narrowed her eyes at the god "Ok. But after that anything else about my past is off limits unless I say otherwise agreed?"

"Agreed." Loki says feeling wary because he didn't know how the woman would react to which memory he desired to hear.

"Now what memory do you want?" She says gaurdedly visibly uncomfortable and looking pointedly at the floor.

"I want to know the memory of what has been making you cry and scream at night in fear." He says quietly seeing her head snap up as her entire body tensed like a spring about to snap.

"Why?" She says with fear as her eyes frantically searched his face.

"I don't like seeing you in pain or afraid. It...disturbs me to not know what is causing you this anguish for the past two nights." He says wanting to reach out and touch the mortal in order to let her know he meant what he said but knew it wouldn't be wise to do so at the moment.

"And just so you know...I know you have powers. I can feel it especially if you are rather emotional. I...used to have abilities but they were taken from me for the time being. If that is why you are hesitant to tell me this or any of you stories about your past don't be. I know better than anyone what it's like to be treated differently for being able to do things others can't." He says quickly but quietly while holding the Midgardians frantic gaze as her eyes went wide and she jumped up at the mention of him knowing she had powers.

"What do you mean you know I have powers?! How can you sense them?! What do you mean yours were taken from you?!" Tatsumi is all but shouting the questions at him clearly terrified and ready to run or fight with all her might.

Loki put up his hands in a attempt to show he meant no harm but also as a precaution if she saw fit to strike. "I can sense it because in my realm or any realm other than this one magic is of the norm. Anyone who can use it can sense anouther magic user. My abilities were taken as punishment for what I have done to this realm and will only be restored when the AllFather deems me worthy to possess them again." He says with a tinge of resentment in his tone.

Reading his posture and facial expression as well as his vocal variations Tatsumi could clearly tell he was indeed telling the truth and it made her relax. "I never thought that I'd ever meet anouther magic user in my lifetime for I have been around longer than most. Amazing." She says staring at him like someone who had seen their first unicorn.

"Now please, if you would keep up your part of our agreement." He says a little uncomfortable with the way the woman was looking at him.

Tatsumi instantly retreated inwardly like she was trying to crawl into herself all emotion leaving her as she leaned away from the god. "Yes. We did have an agreement. Very well." Feeling like a caged animal in her own skin Tatsumi found she needed to move as she spoke.

"The most recent memories are always the hardest or so I've been told, but in my reality it's the oldest and in this case the first." she says looking to Loki as she paced letting all the emotion she had pent up for so long emerge for a moment then shoved them back to the recesses of her psyche. "I was young no older than five or six years old. I was outside playing and I happened across an injured rabbit. It was unable to move and would have surely been killed by anouther animal if something wasn't done to help it. Without thinking I reached out and touched it, willing it to be better. It was second nature almost as if I was in a trance at the time." At the mention of this she spread her hands befor clasping them together.

"I didn't know that what I had done wasn't "normal" and I certainly didn't think anything of it when I had turned around to see my mother and father staring at me and what I'd done. The looks on their faces..." Tatsumi's voice waivered but then she cleared it.

"My mother screamed at me telling me that what I had done wasn't natural and my father, well all he saw was a way to make money. For you see even though we lived comfortably and wanted for nothing my father was a greedy man. Yes he loved my mother and I, but I was more of a by product of his adoration for her. He never truly loved me and soon he would let me know this fact quite clearly." Now feeling as if she was about to fall apart she wraps her arms around herself.

"Shortly after the discovery of my powers came to light my mother made it her mission to make sure I never used them EVER. But in secret my father encouraged me and made me feel as if what I could do wasn't something to be ashamed of. After a time I was to turn eight or nine, my mother became ill. My father knowing, as well as she, that I could heal her but when I tried it only worked for a short time. You should know that since I was young my powers were not at their fullest but that did nothing to subside my fathers wrath." Tears were now streaming silently down her face as she continued hugging herself and pacing.

"I had never had a hand laid upon me until then. He soon found that the more he beat me and the more fear he produced from me the stronger my powers were due to what I know now was adrenaline rushing through my veins. That first night he beat me in front of my mother who did nothing to stop him. She just sat there as if she was watching him beat a dog for taking food off of someones plate. He picked me up and pinned me to the wall with his hand wrapped around my throat and told me something that to this day I will never forget. "You will never be anything other than a puppet for no one other than me to enjoy do you understand." I can feel his hand on me, every blow to my body and every syllable spoken to me like as if it is happening right now." She says with a shiver.

Looking at Loki with the most haunted expression he had ever seen in his life "So now you know the memory that has become one of MANY a nightmare for me and I'm sure you can tell why it is."

Loki couldn't help it he got up and rounded the counter and took the mortal into his arms even as she went stiff as a board "I'm so sorry. If I had known...I never wanted you to suffer." Taking her face in one of his hands and tilting it up to face him as he wiped the tears away with his thumb "Please forgive me and I assure you I will NEVER let anyone harm you like that as long as I am here. Do you understand?" He says gazing into Tatsumi's eyes which were wide with wonder right now.

"No-one's ever told me that and actually meant it before...but you do." Tears formed anew in her eyes "I forgive you but only as long as you hold to your word for if you go back on it I will make you wish you never had."

Loki nodded his head and then without thinking leaned down and planted a kiss so gentle but quick on her lips that if she didn't know better she would have guessed it was the wind.

"On my honour you have my word." He said as he relaxed his hold on her but still held her close.

"We will see." Tatsumi says as she backs out of Loki's arms having composed herself and now feeling awkward in his prescence. "I think I need to do some errands. If you don't mind I'd like to do them alone."

Loki blinked at the mortal confused for a moment but then realized how strange this must all be to her. Now that he thought about his actions and some of the things she said it made him want to ask her more questions. "I don't mind but can I borrow anouther book please and could you put on some music for me." He says dropping his eyes to the ground befor looking back at the woman.

"As long as you let me choose it I'll be glade to let you read one." she says moving to make her way down the hall.

"Of course." The god says before sitting down in the armchair that the Midgardian so liked to use.

Quickly making her way to her room she opens the panel and picks a story then just as swiftly appears back in the living room. "Here you go." She says before looking at him and deciding that since he already knew of her powers that she could use them in front of him, nods her head in the direction of the radio in the kitchen to turn it on.

Before Loki could utter a word the woman was out the door "Thank you..." He says as the words die on his lips and looks to the book she had given him "A Midsummers Nights Dream" He reads aloud before opening the book.