Previously:
"A-Alright, I guess I can do that." Yui answered. The boy started smiling and a happy sound escaped him as he reached for Yui's face with one of his hands and touched her cheek.
"Aww, look at the new mother!" Freyja giggled.
"F-Freyja-san!" Yui exclaimed in embarrassment.
"That's great! Fairy is going to take care of him!" Apollon laughed.
"What a bother…" Takeru sighed.
"Kusanagi Yui is going to be a good mother." Tsukito pointed out.
"G-Guys…" Yui stuttered, they weren't helping at all.
"Then that's settled." Zeus said and stood up again. "Kusanagi, take the child home with you for now."
"Right, but I'm going to need a few things."
"Anything you need."
"Diapers, a few change of clothes, including winter clothes and sleepwear, a toothbrush, shoes, a potty, toys, soft blankets, a sippy cup… and maybe a few other things."
Zeus blinked at her, for a young woman who didn't have children of her own she knew quite well what they needed. "Very well, I will make sure you get those things."
Now:
When Yui was walking back to her cottage through the snow covered road she was holding a bag filled with the things she needed in one hand and used the other one to carry the small boy. "This surprised me a lot. I wish you were able to tell me where you live, little one." Yui smiled at the child. "And what your name is, too."
All of her friends, including Sif, Freyja and Freyr were following her. "Fairy, are you sure you'll be alright? You'll be alright, right?" Apollon asked.
"Of course she will, she's a natural." Sif commented
"You want me to carry the bag for you?" Balder asked.
"Hey, I was going to offer my help." Freyr pointed out with a frown.
"She doesn't need your help, she has me." Loki told them.
Dionysus sighed. "I guess we can't finish the game now."
"Finish? You were the first to fall, remember?" Takeru reminded him.
"That doesn't count, we were interrupted!"
"He lost." Loki smirked.
"He did." Tsukito agreed without hesitation.
"It was my fault, I'm sorry…" Balder apologized with his head low.
"Don't be!" Loki and Takeru laughed and patted him, a bit roughly, on the back.
Now everyone wanted to know about the game so they didn't notice that Yui had stopped walking and continued to walk right past her. Yui had put both the bag and the kid down. Apparently, the boy had wanted to play in the snow and Yui wasn't about to deny him that. The poor child had been so scared and confused before that Yui thought it would be best to try and satisfy him as much as possible while he was in her care. She wanted him to feel at ease and be able to have fun while they searched for his parents.
She watched him sit down and grab a handful of snow in one of his hands. It was alright, he wouldn't get cold for awhile. He was dressed much warmer now and he looked really cute in the small and furry coat she had borrowed for him, too. The boy's smiling face made her smile as well but she couldn't help but feel a little sad, too. "Your family must be worried sick about you…"
The boy looked up at her, giving her a sweet smile and tried to stand up.
Meanwhile, Apollon and the others were still heading for Yui's cottage. They were almost there when Freyja noticed Yui was no longer walking in front of them. "Stop!" She exclaimed dramatically.
"What's wrong?" Hades asked.
"Haven't any of you noticed that Yui-chan is no longer here?"
They all looked at her before they started to look around, trying to spot Yui. "Where the hell did she go?" Takeru asked.
"She was in front of us just a minute ago, right?" Dionysus pointed out.
Balder turned around but couldn't see her either. "How strange, I could have sworn that- Loki?"
"Is Loki-Loki gone, too?" Apollon asked in surprise.
"He can't be gone, I talked with him just before Freyja said Yui-san wasn't here anymore." Balder explained.
Loki had walked back the same way they came from and found Yui and the kid a little further down the road. She was holding both of his hands as she was trying to help him walk as steady as possible, both of them seemed to be enjoying themselves. "There you go, nice and easy." He could hear Yui tell the boy.
He was smirking at her as he walked closer. The moment the goddess had told them Yui was gone he had left immediately to go look for her. It was quite surprising that none of the others had noticed him leaving, maybe it was because he was good at slipping away the moment you take your eyes off him. "There you are." He said so she would acknowledge his presence. It worked and Yui looked up at him. "You're almost as good as me at disappearing without anyone noticing."
"Ah, sorry." Yui laughed awkwardly, not letting go of the kid's hands. "I got caught up in the moment."
"I can see that." Loki grinned, he was now right in front of them and the boy looked up at him with curious eyes. "So, having fun?"
"Yes." Yui smiled and turned her gaze back to the child.
The boy then tried to turn around and said, "Up, up!"
"So you can say a few words after all?" Yui giggled as she bent down to pick him up. Once he was higher up he was able to have a better look at the strange man with golden eyes.
"Something on my face, kid?" Loki asked teasingly.
The boy looked at Yui and then back at Loki.
"It's alright." Yui assured him. "Loki-san isn't dangerous."
"Riiiight." Was Loki's answer to that.
The boy threw one last look at Yui before he looked back at Loki again and held out his arms towards him. "Oh, look! I think he wants to go to you, Loki-san." Yui laughed and prepared to hand the kid over to him.
"Wha- Wait!" Loki exclaimed in surprise but it was too late, Yui was already holding the child in front of him, so he had no choice but to take him.
This was kind of awkward. Loki and the boy were both looking at each other strangely. The kid could obviously sense the difference between a magical being and a normal human but his curiosity was too strong and since the nice lady had told him it was fine, he could feel a little more calm.
"You're doing great, Loki-san!" Yui teased him.
"It's not so bad… I guess."
The boy let out a cute little laugh, he wasn't as scared of this one as he was of the strange woman who had brought him here. If the nice lady liked him, then there was no need to be scared anymore.
Loki smirked down at him. "I'll let my girl take care of you for now, little guy, but don't even think about trying to steal her away from me." He said and ruffled his hair a little, which only made the child laugh more.
"Loki-san…" Yui sighed with a smile.
Meanwhile, a little further away, the others had caught up to them. "Aww! Look at them!" Sif giggled.
"So cute!" Freyja agreed and hugged Sif from behind.
"What's so cute about that?" Freyr asked in confusion.
"Yeah, Loki is just holding the kid." Takeru added.
"They look like a family!" Both Freyja and Sif squealed with a huge smile on their faces.
A second later, Takeru, Balder and Apollon were running towards the "family" as fast as they could, Hades, Tsukito and Freyr were walking calmly and Thor, Dionysus, Sif and Freyja didn't move at all.
"Hold it right there!" Takeru shouted once they were close enough and Yui and Loki turned to look at them. "Hey, what's up?" Loki grinned at his panic-looking friends.
"What's wrong?" Yui asked innocently.
Takeru looked as if he was about to say something but was stopped by Balder. "Sorry we didn't notice you had stopped, Yui-san."
"That's right, we thought you were in front of us the whole time!" Apollon added.
By now, Hades, Tsukito and Freyr had joined them and the rest were heading their way, too. "Way to go, Loki! You take every chance you get to be alone with her!" Sif praised him.
Loki smirked at her. "Of course I do."
"Wait a minute, young man!" Yui called as she ran after the kid to the door with his mittens. "You'll get cold if you go outside without these."
The boy happily held out his hands so she could put them on.
For a human, this was a pretty cold place to live in. Since Yui was now immortal her body was able to adjust quickly to the cold climate. At first, she couldn't go outside without a coat but now she could walk around in only the white dress she usually wore because she could withstand the cold to a certain degree. But if the temperature would sink any lower she would definitely freeze, she was still human after all and would never be immune to cold.
4 days had passed and the boy was still living with Yui, the others hadn't been able to locate his parents yet and as long as Aphrodite refused to tell them they just had to keep searching through all of Japan. Yui had hoped for some good news much sooner, it wasn't good for such a small child to be away from his parents for long and besides, she was starting to get used to having him around. "There we go, let's go outside now." Yui smiled and opened the door. The kid immediately wobbled out the door and Yui had to hurry outside and close the door quickly so she wouldn't lose him. He was much faster than she had thought he would be and kind of understood how he was able to sneak away without his parents noticing in the first place.
The next thing she knew they were building an igloo together. The boy had never seen this much snow in his life and seemed to enjoy it very much since Yui had to take him out at least twice a day to play. She wasn't complaining either, she liked children after all and it was fun to allow herself to play childish games to satisfy the kid.
She smiled proudly at their work once it was done and the boy clapped his hands with glee before he crawled inside the igloo. Yui, who was on her hands and knees, looked through the entrance to the igloo. The boy looked very happy as he looked around and touched the cold, white walls out of curiosity.
Further away, Loki and Balder were watching them.
"Yui-san has taken her role seriously." Balder commented.
"Yeah."
"What's the matter? You look a little down."
"It's nothing. Just disappointed I can't tease her as much as I want with the kid around."
Balder looked at his best friend with a raised eyebrow. "Is that the only reason?"
"Should there be more?"
"Loki…" Balder sighed.
Balder now had his full attention. "Hey, why do you look so disappointed?"
"You're always around Yui-san I was starting to think you want to be with her because you like her, not because she's fun to tease."
"I do like her!"
"To what extent?"
Loki didn't answer, he just turned his head away to continue to look at Yui as she played with the kid.
"Loki." Balder tried again. "I know what you're doing, we all do. Yui-san seems to be okay with it but the rest of us worry."
"What are you talking about, Balder?"
"The thing we worry about is that if Yui-san falls for you. She already likes you a lot, we can see that, but if that day comes… what will you do?"
"What I will- She knows I'm only teasing her!"
"You're both my friends. But if Yui-san gets hurt because of you…"
Balder didn't say anything more, he just turned around slowly and walked away.
Loki followed him with his gaze a few seconds before a familiar voice reached his ears. "Loki-san!" He immediately turned around when he heard who it was.
Yui was smiling brightly at him from where she was standing with the boy in front of the igloo. "Come and see what we have built!"
In that moment Loki forgot all about Balder and started walking towards them. "You forgot the chimney!" He called back.
"What's the matter, Balder?" Thor asked as he walked up to him from behind.
Balder had been watching Loki, Yui and the child for over half an hour now from one of the balconies in Odin's castle. "Look at them, Thor."
Thor's eyes traveled to the three figures in the snow. The child was giggling as he watched Loki chase Yui with a snowball in his hand. When he caught up with her he dropped the ball and instead grabbed her around the waist and pulled both of them down in the snow, both laughed as they tried to get up but at the same time try and push the other one back down.
"They seem to enjoy themselves." Thor stated.
"They do."
"Then what's the matter?"
"It troubles me that Loki is only spending time with Yui-san to make us jealous."
Thor seemed untroubled. "And you believe that?"
Balder turned to look at him. "Isn't it obvious?"
Thor was quiet for a few seconds before he answered. "I trust Loki not to hurt her."
"I want to trust him, too…" Balder said in almost a whisper.
This time it was quiet for a few minutes.
"Loki is falling for her whether he likes it or not." Thor commented as he turned around to leave.
"Wha-!" Balder exclaimed but Thor was already gone. "Thor! What do you mean by that? !"
"Did you hear something, Loki-san?" Yui asked as she looked around. She could have sworn she heard Balder's voice.
"Probably just a dying animal." Loki answered. He was too busy burying the giggling human child in the snow to care.
Balder was running after Thor. "Thor, wait!
Thor stopped and turned around to face him.
"What makes you think that?" Balder asked once he was in front of him.
"Loki may think that he's only doing it for fun, but he's starting to fall for her."
"But how do you know?"
"From what I've seen and heard, it's pretty obvious."
Balder didn't say anything after that, he just stared at Thor in surprise. If he was right, then he was the only one who had figured it out.
"When you're quiet like me and don't take up so much space, you have time to observe in peace."
Balder was stunned, Thor usually didn't talk this much. He was more used to his friend's short answers. "Thor…"
"See you later, Balder." Thor said with a small smile as he turned around to walk away. "I'm going to meet Sif now."
Balder followed Thor with his gaze until he disappeared around a corner. Once everything had sunk in, Balder started smiling. 'I hope you're right, Thor. I also hope Yui-san's feelings won't get hurt if Loki doesn't realise his own feelings for her in time.'
Odin was sitting on his fur-covered throne and seemed to be in deep thought. Something was bothering him and he didn't know why.
"Is something troubling you, dear?" Frigg asked her husband. She was sitting by a big and round table just a little further away from him with a cup of tea in her hand.
"I have a feeling something bad is about to happen." Odin sighed and rubbed his forehead. Hugin and Munin, who were standing on the armrest, croaked at their master's distress.
"And what could that be?"
"I don't know… yet."
"Do you think it's about the human boy?"
"No, it's not that. However, it is bad we haven't found where he belongs yet."
Frigg put the cup down. "Yui is doing a good job taking care of him but I do agree with you, the child needs to be reunited with his family as quickly as possible."
"Hoenir and Tyr are in Japan right now. They said they wouldn't return until they have found them."
"Maybe we should contact Zeus and ask him to send Aphrodite back here? She knows where he lives and we have to get it out of her."
The one eyed god sighed. "Aphrodite is playing a game with us, she didn't get what she wanted so now she's making us pay for it. She won't tell us a thing, so bringing her here would be pointless."
"You're right, her pride would never allow it… But Yui can't take care of the child forever either."
"Indeed."
"Let's just hope those two are able to locate the parents." Frigg said and took a sip of her tea. "Anyway, if it's not the child you're concerned about, then what could it be? You should trust your instincts when you feel that something isn't right."
A second later, before Odin could answer his wife, someone knocked on the door to the throne room, causing him to snap out of his thoughts.
"Enter!" He called, loud enough for the person behind the door to hear.
The door opened, revealing a guard dressed in a armor. "I'm sorry to disturb you my king but I'm afraid I have some disturbing news."
A/N: Wohoo! I'm already at chapter 10! :D About 4 days until next chapter! Have a nice day!
