- Disclaimer: Matantei Loki Ragnarok belongs to Kinoshita Sakura.

Ah, My Loki-sama!

written by Kurosu

- Chapter Thirty-Nine.

Fenrir, after stuffing himself with all of the sandwiches, including the ones that Yamino had set aside for the still snoozing Hodur, strolled out in to the hallway, now interested in finding out who was at their doorstep. He saw his younger siblings frozen like ice cubes in front of the opened door and sweatdropped, shouting, "Oi, who is it?"

He burped crassly and walked in between the two and looked up, his jaw dropped to the ground at the sight of the purple-haired girl, carrying a large bag of steamed, meat dumplings and currently eating fresh one. He sweatdropped, trying not to drool at the sight and smell of the tasty food, but his eyes kept shifting from the bag of food to the visitor's face, debating on which was more important to address first.

Yamino was the first to snap out of the shock, "Angrboda-sama..."

"Haha-ue..." Hel-chan nervously greeted. *

'Uh, mom...?'

Fenrir sounded uncertain, feeling it too surreal to see their biological mother, the great giantess of Jotunheim, in human form on Midgard, stuffing her face with a second dumpling. She stared at them indifferently, continued to eat her dumplings without a single break to her third one, not caring for the bits of food sticking to the sides of her mouth, and her three children sweatdropped. When she reached for her fourth dumpling, their three separate sweatdrops combined in to a large one - that explained Fenrir's huge appetite coming from her!

How sweet was the sight of lovers, holding hands, walking down the street together, but kids these days had no shame about displaying their affections in public, especially among the older generation who looked down on such things. Luckily, Loki didn't care about such things, and Mayura was too preoccupied with her free ice cream sundae, wondering what flavor she should try this time.

She suddenly felt a chill running down her spine and glanced around, seeing nothing unusual about their environment. She double checked one more time, and once again, it was just normal people going about their day, sparing the pretty couple a few glances of admiration.

Loki noticed her uneasiness, the slight squeeze of her hands and her wandering eyes, "Is something wrong, Mayura?"

"Hmm..."

She stopped him, still looking about because the disturbing feeling was way too strong for her to brush it aside as nothing, and raised her eyes to him, asking, "Do you get the feeling... like we're being followed?" She looked over his shoulder, scanning the area behind him, but he just shrugged as if it didn't bother him at all.

"I'm with you after all," he lifted their entwined hands and kissed the back of hers, reminding her of the promised he made, "I'll protect you no matter what."

Blushing, she blurted out, "What if they're aliens?!"

He blinked, letting her words soak in, and laughed. He dropped their hands again, but with a tug, he pulled her closer and captured her chin between his thumb and index finger, giving her the look that dared to question his abilities, "Mayura, are you saying a god is weaker than an alien?"

"Well, I wouldn't know! I haven't met an alien yet!" she puffed up her cheeks in annoyance, then after a few seconds, her face brightened up again, "But it would be nice to meet one!"

He let go of her chin to lightly bop her head, telling her, "There are no such things as aliens. Spirits, demons, ghost and goblins, yes. But no aliens."

She turned her head away from him, as they resumed their walk to the ice cream parlor, the corner of her mouth twitching in to a nervous smile, grumbling something about how she once didn't believe in gods yet they existed, even if some of them were flirty, clueless playboys. He jerked her hand towards him again, letting her bump against his arm, and grabbing her defiant cheek with his other hand, giving it a playful pinch.

He was wearing one of his sly grins again, daring her to repeat what she had just mumbled, "What was that?"

Mayura laughed nervously, rubbing the back of her head, "Um, I-I'm just lucky to have my own personal god!"

"I should punish bad liars."

"No! It's the truth!"

She sweatdropped, knowing that his punishments could only embarrass her further, but she wasn't lying, just wouldn't be sharing her other thoughts with him. Though that confident grin of his was not a good sign for her, and his words just confirmed his intentions, "I have ways of making you talk."

Before she could freak out from his declaration, she spotted something moving from the corner of her eye and dragged Loki away from the moving mailbox that suddenly fell over, revealing a man in a black suit with slicked back hair and dark sunglasses. He slapped his forehead and fell over, his legs trembling, mumbling that his legs had turned to jelly from squatting in that position for a while.

Another similarly dressed man, practically a clone, popped up from a large flower pot to shout at his comrade, "You need more training!"

Within seconds, Loki and Mayura found themselves surrounded by a group of mysterious men in black, who appeared from their hiding spots - so she really wasn't imagining stalkers - and jumped at them. The god pushed his mortal out of the way just as one grabbed his arm, getting a good grip on him, before he sent a fist in to the man's face and kicked another painfully in the nether region.

How a group of well-trained men couldn't even detain one unarmed, handsome being was ridiculous, so they resorted to just dogpiling on him and pray that they could succeed, while two luckier men were assigned to grab the girl, which was a lot easier. Having restrained her by the arms, Mayura wasn't going to give up without a fight, kicking one of the men in the shin. He fell over, bawling like a big baby, as she attempted a swing at the other, but he caught her fist easily.

One would think two people being attacked by apparent bad guys would call the citizens to great concern and seek out professional help, but it didn't seem that anyone was going to do just that, believing that this was just some action-pack ploy for a movie. Obviously the joys of fantasy was much more exciting than the reality of two innocent people getting jumped in broad daylight.

Not that it mattered to Loki, destroying the mortal pile of crap with a swing of Laevateinn, batting the rest of the men in black straight in to the air, but that didn't still stop them from attempting a second group assault. He caught a glimpse of Mayura struggling against her captor, who was dragging her back towards the edge of the curb, and started to move for her, when more men blocked his way.

"GET DOWN, LOKI!"

When a familiar voice demanded that one do as told, one just didn't argue, and Loki ducked to the ground, as he felt a breeze soaring over him, which was really Narugami on his bicycle careening at an almost horizontal angle, wheels aimed in to the men in black, pulverizing them to the pavement. With a quick thanks for his friend's assistance, he dashed for Mayura and the villain who dared to kidnap his mortal, but a mysterious, black limousine with tinted windows screeched to a halt behind them.

The door flew open, and he shoved a yelping Mayura in to it. He quickly slammed the door shut, and the vehicle sped off. He turned around just as Loki reached him and grinned smugly at the blonde, at the success of their mission, which Loki didn't take very well and jabbed the top of Laevateinn in to his stomach, like he saw that coming. Loki grabbed the man by his collar, "Why are you taking her?!"

"I'll never talk!"

Narugami rode over to them as Loki commended the lackies on their loyalty to their employer and whacked the staff at the man's head, knocking him out. He dropped the man to the ground, having no need for him, since he could track Mayura down anyway.

"So someone abducted Daidouji again?!" Narugami frowned, hating underhanded tactics, "You think... uh, it's Baldur?"

He shook his head, "The idiot might not like to get his hands dirty, but he wouldn't use mortals to do this."

"Hm, you think Daidouji is secretly an heiress, and now her real family has tracked her down to take over the family empire?! Or she's a lost princess of a small nation, the next in line for the throne?!"

Loki sweatdropped, "Have you been watching anime again?"

"No, the girls at work bring in their shoujo manga..."

Both were weirdly immersed in the conversation, not noticing a stray man in black holding a pipe behind them, until a small red ball flew out of nowhere and smacked him in the head. The ball, with a white string attached to it, fell on to a spike of a wooden toy as the man fell over with a loud thud, and Narugami and Loki looked down to the unconscious man then up to their supposed savior in the form of Heimdall, playing with the kendama toy in his hands. **

"Are you two seriously discussing that?" Heimdall sighed, pitching the ball in to the air again, and when it came down, he caught it in a smaller cup, "I'm sure nee-chan needs your help right now."

"We don't need to be told that by a child," Loki waved him off like the little kid he was, "playing with his toy."

"I just saved you idiots!" he yelled, wanting to hit Loki's head with the ball, but he turned away and stalked off, having better things to do than argue childishly, like his continuous search for his beloved right eye. (Ah, good to see Heimdall doing so well.)

"Get on!" Narugami shoved the delivery box in to Loki's arm to clear out the back seat, "We'll get to them faster this way, but be careful with my delivery. I still need to get it to the customer soon!"

As if Loki had a choice, he didn't hesitate because Mayura was much more important than his weakness.

Mayura winced from the pain in her arm, the spot where the man in black had gripped her, rubbing the soreness with one hand while the ran her fingers over the cool, leather cushion. She found herself in the backseat of the mysterious, black limousine, across from a worried Koutaro staring at her.

"Koutaro-kun?" she blinked at him, "What's going on?!"

When the sequences of the last few minutes returned to her, she became upset, "Please let me out of here! I need to see Loki-kun! He could be hurt!"

"I'm sorry, Mayura, but I can't do that."

Seeing that he really wasn't going to let her go, she sprung for the door, but he grabbed her wrist and pulled her back against his chest, holding her there, as she continued to fight against him. He wrapped both arms around her, tightly, ceasing her wild movements, his breath burning against her neck, "I'm really sorry, Mayura, but... I had no choice.

"Loki is a bad person. Can't you see he's trying to seduce you, for whatever reasons... his lust, his vanity..."

"What are you talking about!" she cried, offended by his words, "Loki-kun-"

Koutaro buried his nose within the intoxicating fragrance of her hair, inhaling creepily, and explained in a low voice, "I've tried to get information on him and this so called detective agency of his, but there's nothing... The agency might be recent, but there's not even a birth date or his hometown, not a single background on Loki.

"And the people associated with him, there's nothing on them either! How is that possible?!"

He squeezed her again, afraid for her safety with these strangers, "They're dangerous... What if they had some connections with the shady underground world?"

Mayura sweatdropped, thinking how there was no way Koutaro or anyone could ever get information on gods that weren't supposed to even exist on earth, so any investigation and poking was rather pointless, but she couldn't tell him that. She sighed, "You have it all wrong, Koutaro-kun. Loki-kun and his family and friends, they're good people! They're very important to me, especially Loki-kun... He would never hurt me or let anyone or anything hurt me either.

"He promised me," she smiled, eyes softened at the many memories with Loki.

Koutaro, not liking her defense of such a suspicious character, turned her around to him, holding her shoulders, wishing that she would understand he was doing all this for her, how important she was to him, and he couldn't let anyone take her away from him, not some stranger that just suddenly fell in to her life.

"I can't trust anyone I don't know!" his voice rose with visible anger, "He's been suspicious since the beginning! Father and son! Their resemblance is so uncanny, to the point of being creepy! How they're both possessive of you!

"Mayura, you have to see this is not good for you!"

She blushed and placed a comforting a hand over her classmate's, smiling appreciatively, "Thank you for worrying about me, but you shouldn't. I trust Loki-kun."

Every time she mentioned his name or even thought of him, Koutaro could see the endless adoration and affection she held for Loki, her faith and devotion unwavering in him. Her voice, filled with much the deep emotion from her heart, spoke with such resolution, "Loki-kun is someone I love the most."

He stared at her, in shock from her declaration, the truth shimmering in her beautiful, ruby eyes, but her words were painful to hear. Still gripping her shoulders, he gave them a squeeze, and the vehicle suddenly jerked to a stop, throwing the two passengers from their thoughts. He lurched forward, accidentally pushing her back on to the seat, and as he gazed down at her innocent face, he felt the frustration return, not able to accept her feelings for another man, who should be a complete stranger to her.

She should have had feelings for him instead!

Koutaro frowned, eyes boring in to hers, "I can't accept your feelings for that man.

"You should give up on him - some mysterious person that could just, one day, vanish from your life."

His words stung, leaving her speechless, and he could see it in her wide eyes that he had hit a sore spot. It pained him to see her like this, so weak and helpless, but if this was what it took to make her understand, then he would be the villain and show her the reality of the impossible.

Meanwhile, Narugami was pedaling like a madman, weaving through the throngs of people on the sidewalk, almost tempted to hop in to the roads where the cars were much easier to maneuver through, but Loki, looking very ill, was guiding him after the white thread. He closed his eyes briefly to get over the nauseating feeling, but at the sensation of her uneasiness, his eyes snapped opened.

"Hurry, Narugami," he, for once, pleaded to his friend, "Please."

It was strange to hear the desperation in Loki's voice, having known him for a long time, but Narugami knew, since the beginning, that Mayura had a great effect on the trickster god. He grinned to himself, hard to imagine his friend to settling down, on Midgard of all places, but it was a lot of good blackmail material - definitely inherited this sneakiness from Odin.

"Gyah!"

Narugami ducked his down, after spotting a man in black, from out of nowhere, swinging a bat at him, and Loki was able to avoid it too, retaliating with a swing of the delivery box in to the man's face, knocking him out. With one down, two... three, a few more popped up from various places along side the walkway, with the intent of stopping them from pursuing the black limousine.

"Crap, who are these people?!" the god of thunder cursed, "They're sproutin' up like instant weed!"

They were just the modern day ninjas, in servitude of the Kakinouchi household, still not able to fit properly in to today's society despite their classy, black suits. Their camouflage scored high on the charts, but not so much with their fighting abilities, earning a few smacks from Laevateinn and Mjollnir with the addition of some random fireballs and lightning bolts out of nowhere.

Narugami was closing in on the stopped traffic ahead, a heavy build up at the intersection due to a lucky accident - not so lucky for those involved - and Loki spotted the black vehicle right away.

The large human blockade stopped them ahead while another group appeared from the rear, trapping them off in two directions, including three when their one side is closed off by commercial buildings, but then across the road was another group ready for a final showdown. Forget weed, they were more annoying like pests!

As if things couldn't get any worse, the sound of a helicoper became louder, coming from above them, and they nearly fell over when they saw more men in black zipping down to the earth like trained soldiers - maybe these were the elite men in black? They all targeted the moving bicycle, their goal was to eliminate any obstacles and pursuers of their young master.

Narugami turned the bicycle in to the road and hopped it on a car, still pedaling like crazy on top of the vehicles stuck in traffic, a very bumpy ride for Loki, who planned to strangle the brunette after the ordeal was over. The two-wheel transportation suddenly took flight, soaring insanely through the air, with the limousine not too far off. Narugami pulled back on the handle bar a tad, giving the bicycle an angle before it landed, back wheels hitting the trunk of the vehicle, followed by the front wheels falling on the roof.

Despite the dark tint of the windows, Loki could still make out two people in the back seat, one recognizable figure of Mayura, and he didn't care for the other person. He immediately got out of his seat, throwing the delivery box back to Narugami, and hopped to solid ground again, ignoring the queasy feeling in his stomach which would definitely go away after seeing her safely in his arms.

He reached for the car door just as it clicked open, and one bright smile of a pink-haired girl greeted him. She practically flew out of the car and straight in to his welcoming arms and hugged him so tightly, reassuring herself that he really was there in her arms. He returned her loving embrace with a squeeze and buried a hand in to her hair, stroking it affectionately, and placed a kiss on her crown.

She pulled back from it a bit to see his handsome face clearly, such a gentle expression he gave her that she felt her insides turned to jelly, and she blushed, "Thank you, Loki-kun."

"I promised, didn't I?" he smiled.

She nodded and straightened her posture, the bit of uncertainty from earlier disappeared as she turned to face an unsatisfied Koutaro glaring at Loki from his seat. With Loki's presence right next to her, the warmth of his body bathing her in security and strength of his arms around her gave her the courage to continue to believe.

"That may be true," she smiled beautifully, addressing Koutaro, without a wavering heart, "but for now, I am happy to be by his side."

Loki took her hand and turned away, prepared to leave the chaos around them, but they were surrounded. With a calm, simmering stare, he glanced over to Koutaro, who had exited the car and stood by it, and with a flick of his hand to his men, signaling them to retreat, he met the god's gaze evenly, "For now, I leave her in your care."

No words were exchanged after that, the pair walking away from the scene, but Koutaro had caught a flash of fiery red in his rival's eyes, wondering if he had just imagined it not. A terrifying feeling creeping over his skin, but the loud cry above him, from the car's rooftop, interrupted his thoughts, and he sweatdropped at the sight of Narugami speeding off, down the front of the limousine, creating a dent on the hood before zooming in to the distance to make his very late delivery.

"Sorry, Loki-kun..."

Mayura sighed, apologizing for the fourth time on their way back to the agency, having ruined their little outing with another kidnapping, not that it was her fault, but she had been the reason for it happening. It had gotten late too, and both were exhausted to even bother with ice cream anymore, so it was best to just reschedule their date when the worlds were not out to get them.

Since they were so close to 'home,' on the street where the agency sat, she sped up a bit, eager for a nice, delicious dinner by Yamino with her important people, but he wasn't in a hurry and stopped, giving their clasped hands a jerk, bringing her back to him.

"If you don't stop apologizing," he grinned, licking his lips for emphasis, "I'll have to si-"

He never saw it coming, the softness of her lips pressed against his, silencing his unfinished words instead, as her free hand found its way up to his face, gently caressing his skin. The sparks from her touch sent waves of indescribable feelings through his body, a sudden heat rising from the pit of his stomach and spreading through every inch of him. He released her hand and wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her flushed against his body, while his unbound hand cradled the back of her head, fingers lost in the sea of pink strands.

Her hands craved the contact of his skin, fingers brushing across his cheeks, along his jawline down to his neck, and she felt him shudder beneath her curious touch.

He was passionate, hungry like a child wanting to taste more of his favorite meal, his lips seeking out her clumsy ones, nipping and sucking at her innocence, teasing her with the endless possibilities from his more experienced mouth. She wanted to giggle at his eagerness, smiling in to his kisses, with her fingers diving in to the silkiness of his golden hair, but the lack of air forced her to push back from him, gasping from their intense exchange. He wasn't willing to let go just yet, allowing just two seconds of oxygen, before he claimed her lips again.

"Ah! He's eating her face!"

Now this time really did force them apart, mainly from a surprised Mayura shoving an annoyed Loki back, and they stared at the three young kids staring at them in awe and horror. The little girl looked like she was about to cry, when one of the boys, the tough and disgusted looking one, said, "Eew, they're doing grown up stuff!"

"Oooh~!"

The girl's expression changed to that of wonder, and the pair sweatdropped, hurrying away from the scene before someone could claim the two were corrupting the youth of today, hand in hand, and laughing.

"Oh, now I feel so bad!" Mayura pouted.

Loki arched his brows at her, "What? You regret what we did?"

She blushed and crinkled her nose, "No! Not that! I meant... well, I promised to get Hel-chan, Yamino and Fenrir something from our trip."

"I'm sure they'll understand that having you back unharmed was more important," he chuckled as they stepped through the gates.

"Tell that to Fenrir," she giggled, and both sighed at the puppy's huge appetite.

They entered the agency, finding the atmosphere a bit different and weird, and hesitantly announced their return home, which was pretty much a second home for Mayura since she spent half her time over here and sometimes fell in to the MIA category by her father - good thing she still had her mobile phone. And it was just too disturbingly quiet.

Hel-chan poked her head from the dining room, looking very nervous, "Um, welcome home, chichi-ue. Mayura-san."

"What's wrong, Hel-chan?" Mayura walked over to her friend, concerned with her strangeness, "Did something happen while we were out?"

"Ano, you could say that..." She looked at her father with slight panic, "Um, we have... a visitor." She motioned them in to the room, "Please remain calm, chichi-ue."

He exchanged puzzled glances with Mayura, and the two followed the goddess in to the dining room, where everyone, including an awake Hodur, was present with the new face. Mayura blinked at the young woman, seated at the head of the table, slurping down what appeared to be her third serving of ramen, and in front of her were more empty plates of food, while Yamino and Fenrir were on one side, sweatdropping. Hodur, on the other side, had no clue as to what was going on, but he could smell the yummy food, searching the table with his hands for his plate.

Mayura, smiling, not noticing that Loki had frozen in his spot behind her, walked up to their guest and bowed politely, "Hello! My name is Daidouji Mayura. It's a pleasure to meet you..."

The woman stopped eating, putting the bowl down, and stared blankly at the mortal girl. There was an awkward silence, as if every occupant in the whole room had held their breaths, and Mayura sweatdropped, wondering if she came out a bit too strong in her introduction.

A wooden sign popped out of nowhere in front of Mayura's eyes, and she blinked and read the words aloud, "'Likewise. I'm Spice.'"

The woman turned the sign to see the words and frowned, quickly correcting the mistake with a random black marker, and showed it to Mayura again, "Ah! Spica!"

The woman named Spica nodded and returned to eating, while Mayura turned to everyone else, wondering why the silent atmosphere was so heavy and filled with tension, mainly from Loki's brooding children, who all turned their heads to their father still standing at the edge of the room as if he held the answer to relieve them of the terrible secret that they felt guilty for keeping from the mortal.

"Spica?" Hodur's voice repeated in innocent wonder, "I thought you were Angrboda-sama?"

"..."

Spica's sign: 'I'm Spica on Midgard.'

As if Hodur could actually see it, but that wasn't the point, because this was really for Mayura's benefit. "So Spica-sama is a goddess too?" the mortal asked curiously.

Spica's sign: 'No. A giant.'

"Eh?!"

She stared at the pretty woman who looked nothing like a giant - at least the ones from storybooks - asking for a fourth serving of ramen from Yamino, who obediently fetched her another bowl. She glanced over to Loki, who appeared very apprehensive and uncharacteristically silent, and called to him, her head tilted curiously at him, "Loki-kun, why are you still standing there? You have a guest here."

He didn't walk too far, just moving to the opposite end of the table, uncertain of how this would play out before him, "Why are you here, Angrboda?"

Spica's sign: 'It's Spica!'

Those were the last words Loki saw before the whole sign went flying in to his face, knocking him off his feet, while those concerned for his welfare jumped to their feet and rushed to him.

"Loki-kun!"

'Daddy!'

"Chichi-ue!"

"Wh-what happened?!" Hodur's head whirled about, still in the darkness of darkness about the situation.

Yamino had hurry back with a huge bowl of ramen, but it was too late to save the day, seeing his father on the floor, "Loki-sama!"

'Mom! Why did you do that to daddy?!' Fenrir barked angrily.

Spica's sign: 'It slipped.'

Mayura blinked, "'Mom'? Spica-sama is..." She looked at Hel-chan, then Yamino, then Fenrir... and finally on to a sweatdropping Loki, rubbing his face, "Spica-sama is their mother?"

* Haha-ue is the archaic, formal form of "mother" - in keeping with Hel-chan's speech.

** Kendama is a traditional Japanese toy that has two wooden cups placed on a spike, with a ball attached to it by a string, similar to the cup-and-ball game - I could just imagine Kazumi playing with one, lol.

Notes: This... keeps getting longer and longer as I type. I changed the last scene a few times, debating on whether to have that sign hit Loki or not, lol.

There's a few references to other anime series in this chapter. One - Heimdall playing with the kendama and using it as a weapon, like Sasuke Sarutobi in Samurai Deeper Kyo; two - Loki & Mayura's kissing scene is similar to Ririchiyo Shirakiin & Soushi Miketsukami from Inu x Boku SS with the three kids watching; and three - Spica and the wooden signs like Genma Saotome from Ranma 1/2... lol. I always thought Spica with signs would be funny. Good job if you recognized them! -kuro.