The days that followed were a blur.

Nari continued her routine day by day; she went through the motions so mechanically she felt like an android. She woke up in the morning, went for her run, returned, showered down, then went to class — on some days, at least. After class, she went to practice, then the studio, then vocal training — Zeus had managed to create a doll version of her old vocal coach, which both answered her question and disturbed her to no end. Then, she would attend meetings with the music club, which now consisted of multiple other doll students assisting her with the preparations. Somewhere in between all of those things, she managed to grab a few bites to eat, then return to her work, before ending the day flopping onto her bed in exhaustion so she could wake up and do it all again. Rinse, and repeat.

Her friendship with Loki had become strained at best and nonexistent at worst. If she could even call whatever they had a friendship at all. Their interactions became few and far between; it seemed like the only time she ever saw him was in the classroom. His pranks came to an abrupt halt. He didn't bother to acknowledge her during lessons or otherwise. He looked for every opportunity not to be around her, and speaking to her was out of the question. He refused to even look at her. It was as though she had ceased to exist.

What struck her as odd about the situation was that despite his rejection of humanity — and subsequent rejection of her — his interest in her popstar persona hadn't waned at all. In fact, she would argue that these days he seemed even more interested in Luna the closer they got to the concert date. Logically, it made sense. From their conversation, Nari assumed that the god of fire wanted to pester the idol; he wanted to needle her with questions, although she had no idea what about. Knowing him, it couldn't be anything good. Even still, the fact that even Loki seemed to prefer her false image over herself was more than a little painful.

To be honest, she wasn't sure why his evasion was bothering her so much. A few weeks ago, she would have shed tears of joy. But now… now she didn't know what to think. She had never cared what Loki thought about her. When had that started to change? When had she started caring how he felt about her? Nari didn't know. Perhaps it was that day after practice. That so-called 'prank' of his. That one moment between them that had changed everything.

"Alright then."

But Nari couldn't allow herself to dwell on it; she didn't have the time. With the fan sign around the corner and the concert right on its heels, she had little time to worry about much of anything else. So, she swallowed her displeasure as she had learned to do, and threw herself into her work, shoes thumping and squeaking against the hardwood floors of her studio.

"Okay, everyone. Let's do it more time. Aiko, good job so far, but pay close attention to the hip rotation in the fourth bar. Farida, you're a little fast on the second turn. Slow it down, and you'll be perfect. Maria, Astrid, you're almost there, just need to work on keeping time. Remember, you're mirroring each other, so try to follow the other's movements. We need to be synchronized."

The doll students nodded their heads at her, turning and getting back into position while she rewound the music thirty seconds. When the song sounded through the speakers, she walked back to them and took up her place in the front center. While she waited for the right point to start, she pointed to the yellow tape forming a barrier a few feet away from them. "Remember guys, there's going to be fireworks towards the climax of this song, so steer clear of the edge of the stage. You don't want to catch a rocket in the face. Okay, and five, six, seven, eight!"

The students started the routine again, Nari keeping an eye on them in the mirror while they worked through the choreography. Once they mastered this, they would need to do it all again in dress rehearsal. Doing a routine flatfooted was a whole different animal than doing it in six-inch heels.

A few halls down, another student was slowly wandering the area. It was time for the Going-Home Club and Loki, as always, was performing his duties diligently. After doing a lap around the grounds and poking at the stage, the god of fire had been doing his best to look busy in the hopes that his classmate would stop grilling him for the remainder of the activity period. His attempts had been in vain, ultimately ending with the two splitting ways and Loki grudgingly running over the conversation in his mind.

"You're avoiding her."

"How observant!" Loki snapped. "I am very well aware of that, Thor. But thank you for the reminder."

The god of thunder ignored his retaliation, continuing his line of questioning. "Why?"

"Why? What do you mean, why? I have no interest in being around her, that's why."

"You didn't seem to mind her before."

"I didn't know she was human before."

"Does it matter?"

"Of course, it matters! It was because of humans that she —" Loki immediately stopped himself, realizing that he was treading into dangerous territory. He wasn't fond of humans. He never had been. And he became even less so when he learned how badly they had treated her. It had been their scorn that drove the goddess from her home and into theirs. And had she never come there, they never would have met. And had they never met, she would still be alive…

Of course, he had no way of knowing that as a fact. But that was what he told himself. Sighing, he grabbed his braid and started twirling it in a circular motion like a red pinwheel. A reaction born of nervous energy. "Look, humans are vile creatures. They're disgusting. They're hateful and cruel. Why would anyone want to be associated with a species like that?"

Thor listened, nodding his head slowly in understanding. He had a feeling that's what his problem was. But he would play along, for his sake. "But Yui Kusanagi isn't that way."

He paused. "Kitten? Well, no, not really."

"And Nari Kusanagi isn't cruel, either. If anything, you are being cruel to her."

"Look it doesn't matter!" Loki snapped. "What they did… what they do… I've seen it, Thor. You've seen it. They fight, they destroy… they start entire wars because they are slightly different from one another. They lash out at those they don't understand."

"They reject those who are not like them. Regardless of how similar they may be beneath the surface." Thor nodded again, taking his words into careful consideration. His friend was right. He had seen firsthand the foolishness of human behavior. However…

"Exactly."

"I see." Thor quirked a brow in his direction. "And how is that any different than what you're doing to Kusanagi, right now?"

His words had frozen Loki in his tracks, staring blankly forward while the other carefully strode away. It was a tactic that Thor used often, and he hated him for it. The way that he would say something earth-shattering, walk away, and leave everyone around them to ponder its meaning. It was frustrating how easily he got under his skin. How he saw right through him. How he was always… absolutely right.

Nari Kusanagi was an aggravating woman. She was snippy, and short-tempered, and a colossal thorn in his side… but she was also smart, and witty, and hard-working, from what he could tell. Lately, she had even started to appear playful and fun. She was none of the things that he had described; she was nothing like the humans that had driven the goddess away. If he were being honest… had she lived, Nari may very well have been one of her loyal followers.

Maybe he had been judging the Kusanagi sisters a bit harshly, specifically the older one. Aside from the occasional prank, she hadn't done anything to him to deserve this treatment. And those pranks had only been in retaliation. Nari only ever acted in retaliation. She was rarely the aggressor. She only acted in self-defense… the opposite of the people he had described. Perhaps he should speak to her, if only briefly. Just to clear the air. He had a feeling that no good could come of letting something like this hang around them forever. Lately, he had noticed the younger sister glaring at him from across the classroom.

It was… unpleasant.

His legs, influenced by his thoughts, slowly brought him down the familiar hallway. One that, until now, he had been avidly avoiding. The sound of music blaring through the speakers was audible down the next hall. It looked like she was dancing to that song again. Was Anubis dancing with her? If he was, were they enjoying themselves? Why did he even care? Deciding to act on his impulses — as he so often did — he turned and strode down the next hallway toward the studio.

"Eh?! What the —"

…Or he tried to.

His actions were halted by a large pair of hands on his shoulders, stopping him mid-stride. Standing in front of him was a large man, oddly muscular for a student in the school. A black shirt, adorned with big white words 'Security' stretched across his chest. He was built somewhat like Thor, and to be honest, were he not a god, he might have even found him a little intimidating. But he was a god. And this doll human was standing in his way.

"Excuse me. I'm just going to go around —"

The doll stopped him again, halting his movements and pressing him back. "No one enters the dance studio."

"Wh-Wha?!" his eyes bulged in confusion. Since when has that been a rule? The musical wing had never been off-limits for his entire stay there. The song playing from down the hall made that obvious. "Well, it seems other students have entered the area, so —"

"No entry," he repeated. Loki attempted to maneuver around him and found himself once again blocked from moving forward. The doll was oddly agile, and disturbingly strong. As a human, he had little chance of getting passed him, it would seem. Giving up, he decided to go around to one of the other hallways — Loki knew his way around the school. But every attempt ended in failure. They had been very thorough; all entrances, exits, even windows were blocked by some sort of bouncer. After growing frustrated, he attempted to employ one of his traps to get passed one of the guards. It had worked… until he ran into another one directly down the hall. He was both impressed, perplexed, and highly annoyed at the lengths that she had gone to block him out.

Was Nari really so upset that she felt the need to enlist bodyguards just to keep him away from her? If so, that woman could hold a hell of a grudge. Shaking his head, he changed course and headed for the dorms. He would have to get ahold of Nari some other way.

. . .

After practice, the older Kusanagi sister made her way into the mess hall for some much-needed food and rest. She had been working through most of the afternoon, and she was exhausted. On the bright side, everything was finally coming together. Who would have thought that dolls could make such excellent company? If only the people in the human world were so effective. Unsurprisingly, she ran into her sister along the way. Apparently, she had been on her way to collect her under the assumption that she hadn't eaten — which was true, and at this point, Nari was convinced her younger sibling was clairvoyant. Now, they were sitting across from one another, speaking quietly amongst themselves.

"Hey Nari?"

"Hmm?"

"What… I know you probably don't want to talk about it, but I have to ask at this point." Her sister looked up at her curiously, a silent indication that she was listening. "Seriously, what did Loki do? Why was he so upset about it?"

"Why?"

"Because it obviously bothered you."

"Uh, yeah, it was rude. You weren't exactly happy about it either."

Her sister was deflecting, she knew. But she didn't plan on letting her weasel her way out of it. Not when it had clearly affected in such a way. "Nari, I saw the look on your face when he said that. You weren't angry, you looked hurt… Honestly, what happened between you two?"

Nari sighed, resting her face against her hand. Her eyes swept around the lunchroom for a brief moment, taking note of their surroundings. Yui wasn't going to leave her alone until she knew the truth. Fine. It wasn't that big of a deal. She just didn't want everyone else to know about it too. "…Okay, fine. But Yui, you cannot tell anyone about this. Not the other students, not the instructor, don't even write it in your diary, I don't trust Melissa. What happens here does not leave this table, do you understand?"

"Nari, I —"

"Do. You. Understand?"

"Yes, Nari! For gods' sakes, yes, I understand. Now please, tell me what happened!" Yui squeaked. Her sister was never this secretive. Whatever was going on between them clearly went above and beyond the bounds of their typical shenanigans.

"Loki and I… a while ago, hypothetically speaking, Loki may have…" Nari groaned, her voice lowering to a whisper. "Loki… may have… kissed me." The sound of her sister's gasp indicated that she had heard her. "And I… well, I… may not have stopped him."

"Oh, my goodness… that's — Nari, when did this happen?"

"A little while after the ocean trip."

"That long?!"

"Shh." Nari hushed her, earning a sheepish grin from her sister. A grin that slowly grew wider with each passing second. Far too wide for her liking. "…What?"

"…I knew it!"

"Huh?"

"I knew there was something going on between you and one of the gods! To be honest, I thought maybe it was Dionysus, but —" Nari groaned and let her head slip from her hand before flopping on to the table. Telling her was a bad idea. She was already regretting it. "I told you; you have a thing for redheads."

"And you clearly have a thing for blondes. Don't think I haven't noticed you making eyes at Apollon."

Nari could tell she had struck a nerve when Yui's face flushed a bright red. But she recovered, quickly reversing her reversal back on her. "Oh, no you don't, this isn't about me. Seriously, Nari, I… how did this even happen? I mean, Loki's nice and all, but I… it's just kind of unexpected."

"Yeah, well it doesn't matter now anyway, does it? He's made it quite clear that my being human is a dealbreaker." Lifting her head from the table, she slurped her last bit of noodles, a bit more aggressively than necessary. "So, there's no sense in worrying about it."

Yui frowned. Anger was always Nari's default setting, a result of her mistreatment during early childhood. Being the schoolyard punching bag, her sister learned rather quickly that showing pain was the fastest way to make things worse for herself. A more hostile reaction tended to drive people away. So, she lashed out to hide her hurt. "That may not be the case. I don't want to interfere with your love life, but —"

"There's no love life. He's a dick. I hate him, and I want nothing to do with him."

Yui disregarded her clapback, knowing full well her sister didn't actually mean it. "But… for what it's worth, I don't think he really feels that way. He was just surprised is all. I mean, the gods are all here because they need to learn to love humans, right? Maybe he has some sort of grudge against us or something."

"Maybe. I wouldn't know. But whatever they did to him has nothing to do with me."

"No, it doesn't. And I'm not saying you should forgive him for it, or even talk to him again if you choose. I just… thought it was worth bearing in mind."

"Yeah, maybe. I don't know, Yui. Whatever the case, I don't have time to worry about that right now. I've got a job to do." Finishing the last of her soup, Nari collected her bowl and rose to her feet.

"You're leaving already?"

She nodded. "Yeah, I'm gonna take a nap or something. I've been practicing for hours, and my feet are killing me."

"Alright, Nari, go get some rest. But… think about what I said?"

"Yeah, yeah, don't stay angry, shrine maiden wisdom, blah, blah."

Yui narrowed her eyes, playfully tossing a chopstick in her direction. Her sister laughed swatting it away as she backed toward the door. "Go to sleep, jerk."

Nari smirked, turned, and waving over her shoulder before disappearing into the hall.

. . .

The first thing Nari noticed upon reaching for the door handle to her bedroom was the ease with which it turned. She could have sworn she had locked the door before her exit, a habit she retained despite no longer residing in the human world. Her eyes narrowed as she silently pushed open the door, poking her head inside. Her body froze when the sound of quiet whispers reached her ears, putting her immediately into defense mode. There was someone in her room.

Grabbing a wooden umbrella from beside the door, Nari slowly padded into the room. She wasn't sure how effective it would be overall; typically, any object could pack a punch if utilized the correct way. Angling it carefully, she made her way through the main area, keening her senses for any information. It didn't take long to locate the source of the sound; it was coming from her bedroom. It was a low voice, probably male, peaking in an excited manner. But it was the sound right alongside it that confused her as she drew close. It was a low, rumbling sound. Almost like… "Purring…?"

Peeking around the wall, she nearly felt her jaw fall to her feet. Sitting on the floor, looking as joyful as could be, was Loki. And sitting in his lap enjoying the pets of a lifetime was her familiar. It was the most bizarre thing she had ever seen, and her brain didn't know how to deal with it. Loki was there. He was being nice. With a cat. Wasn't the god of fire supposed to be horrible with animals? And more importantly…

"What… what the hell are you doing in my room?!" Nari snapped.

Loki halted his ministrations, lifting his eyes from the feline, much to her dismay. "There you are, Puppy. I was beginning to think you were never coming home."

"That doesn't answer my question, Loki. Why are you in my room? Fuyu, did you let him in here?"

The cat stretched and hopped off his lap, looking utterly unfazed by the situation. "He let himself in. Picked the lock."

"And you didn't see any problem with that. At all."

"He gives lovely scratches."

"I —" Nari nearly exploded. What was going on? Why was Loki — a god who until this very moment had been avidly avoiding her — in her room? And what was he doing with Fuyu? Since when did he even like cats? Her mind became a heap of jumbled thoughts as she tried to organize them, quickly falling short. Gritting her teeth, she gripped the umbrella tightly in her fist. "Get. Out."

Loki hopped to his feet, strolling toward her. "Puppy."

"Are you deaf?" she repeated, her patience quickly wearing thin.

Apparently, he was. Loki continued toward her, but not to exit the room. Instead, it was to stop in front of her, an indescribable expression on his face. That was the last straw. Lifting her weapon, Nari swung it, slapping against his side with a startled yelp. It didn't do much damage. She supposed it wouldn't, not to a god. Time for a heavier approach, consequences be damned. She could deal with Thoth later.

Before he could react, she dropped her umbrella and instead reached for a large text sitting on the dresser. On the second swing, Loki was ready, ducking out of the way as it passed over his head. Unlike the object before it, this one might actually hurt. After nimbly evading her, he lifted his hands in surrender. "Calm down, Puppy. I just wanna talk —"

"I have nothing to say to you." Nari swung again. Another miss.

"Would you please just listen?"

"You've said more than enough."

"Stop!" Her final swing was halted, Loki catching and wrenching the book from her grasp. Nari was in motion again, reaching for any swingable object in her range. But this time, he didn't let her, catching her wrist, and halting her movement. "Listen, I didn't mean it like that, alright?"

"Oh, yeah? Because the message seemed pretty clear to me."

"I didn't —" Loki sighed, slowly lowering their hands. "I was just… surprised. I didn't think… you were — either of you were."

"We've established that. But apparently, that's a huge problem for you. Are you so revolted by our kind that —"

"No!" Loki shouted, startling the woman into silence. Taking that as her cue to leave, Fuyu slipped quietly out of the bedroom and out into her cat tower in the main area. "Yes… I… I don't know."

"Really? You seemed to understand plenty at the barbecue. Apparently, just the thought of living with a human disgusts you, let alone —"

"I'm sorry." Her words paused, eyes growing wide with utter confusion. "That isn't why I'm —" Loki sighed. "I just didn't think…"

Nari's expression softened. This wasn't the Loki she knew; quiet, confused, vulnerable. It wasn't like him coming to her this way, hat in hand. Granted, he was still very much a jerk who was not in any way deserving of her forgiveness… but something about the look of utter dejection in his eyes tempered her rage. There was something beneath the surface there. "Didn't think… what?" she asked.

"Especially not with a human…" he whispered.

"You want to try making sense?" She pulled her wrist from his grasp but didn't step away from him. She did the opposite, watching him closely and taking a careful step forward. With their physical altercation at an end, Loki didn't stop her from gently pulling the book away from him, placing it back on the dresser. He gave no reaction, which only served to concern her more. Clearly something was weighing heavily on his mind. Finally, she sighed. "Loki… Why does my being human bother you so much?"

"Because," he started, lifting his eyes to bore into hers for a brief moment. Then, he averted them, looking pointedly at a spot on the wall. "I told you… I like you. You know?"

Nari was frozen. Her eyes were fixated, staring back at him with pure astonishment. She didn't have any idea what to do with that information. After all, Loki said a lot of things, and only about twenty percent of them were true. Or maybe not, that was just a rough estimate. And a generous one at that. It was impossible to tell what the god of fire was thinking. For all she knew, he might actually be more open and straightforward than he led people to believe. But why did the thought of that make her heart flutter? "L-Loki, I…"

"I wasn't trying to hurt you, Puppy. It's just… hard for me."

"Why? Did… did humans do something…? Did humans hurt you?"

"No… but they hurt someone very close to me."

"Oh…"

"But you're not like those humans. Neither of you are. You're not like most gods either, honestly…" he shifted his gaze.

Nari could feel the heat rising to her face. She wasn't sure what to do in this situation. Loki had said he liked her once before, but with him that could mean anything. Was that even something she wanted to think about at the moment? How the god of fire felt about her?

And how did she feel about him?

She was given no time to think about it, with her classmate suddenly bouncing back from his melancholy. "What is that anyway?" Loki changed the subject, clearly growing as uncomfortable with the subject matter as she was. Nari readily took the bait, just as eager to put the conversation behind them. This was a lot to deal with in one day.

"This?" she gestured to the book.

"Yeah. Must be a fascinating read if it was heavy enough to try and bludgeon me with it."

"Oh, it is. Honestly, at first I thought it was a fairytale, but turns out it's actually a book of mythology."

"Is that so?"

"Yeah." She turned the book around on the dresser to face them and opened it, slowly flipping through the pages. "It's a book about these seasonal goddesses," she explained, pausing over different images as she went. "It tells of their origins, and their history, and how they performed their duties for the humans they govern."

His eyes widened. "Seasonal… goddesses?"

"Yeah. There's four of them, one for every season. Haru, Vara, Demani, in that order." Nari pointed looked over the page as she listed them, trying to find the most recent passage she had read. The tense posture of the god standing beside her went entirely unnoticed. Finally locating her bookmark in the final section, she turned the page. "And the last one is —" Loki interrupted her, slapping the book shut again with a loud snap, very nearly catching her hand in the process. "Loki, what the hell?!"

"I'm bored. What do you say we do something together?"

"We were doing something together just now. But I shouldn't be surprised that furthering your education doesn't count as 'fun' for you."

Loki shook his head. "I'm tired of school. Let's do something fun. Something to commemorate our rekindled friendship!"

"That's what you call it?" she muttered incredulously. Shaking her head, she rolled her eyes and pressed the book back into the center of the dresser. "Whatever. Glad to see your mood swings haven't changed."

"I do aim to please, Puppy."

"Uh-huh." Nari strolled past him, making her way toward her bed. She flopped down on it, arms crossed. "So, what did you have in mind? You gonna take me out or something? Wine and dine?"

Loki twitched at the mention of wine, before replacing his mask. "Hmm… in a way, of sorts."

"Huh…?"

"Since this concert is coming up, I figured we could go together."

"It's a school-wide function, Loki… we're all going together…"

He tsked at her, dancing his way to her side as her gaze followed him nervously. "Now, now, don't be facetious. You know very well what I'm trying to say." She did know what he was trying to say. That was what unsettled her. "It's human custom to go to these events with another, right? Why don't you join me? See your idol up close and personal," he said with a wink.

Her breath hitched, realizing he had caught her in a precarious spot. Of course, this would be the one time he was actually interested in human customs. Loki was always interested when it was least convenient for her. And now, she had to figure out how to safely reject him. Nari couldn't go with him to the concert, it was simply out of the question. But she couldn't just tell him she wasn't going either. That would be a blatant lie, and Loki always seemed to see through her falsehoods, no matter how well executed they were. So, she opted to go down the middle, a half-truth, a little white lie. "I can't go with you, Loki. I'm sorry."

"Eh? You don't want to go with me?" he pouted.

"It's not that. I just… it's — I already have… plans. That night," she mumbled.

Loki's expression grew dark. Of course. He shouldn't have been surprised. So, the older Kusanagi sister was attending the concert with the Greek god. Dionysus had probably jumped at the opportunity, likely shortly after the barbecue — assuming he hadn't already asked her long before then. He supposed he brought it on himself with the way he had been acting toward her. Didn't mean he was willing to accept it. He'd find a way to get back at him. Eventually.

"I see. Well, no harm done. There's always next time, right?"

Nari blanched. "Er — n-next time?"

"She's on something called a 'tour', right? That means there will be other performances, I'm sure. That's what Kitten said, anyway."

'Damn it, Yui.' "I-I — it doesn't work that way. That isn't —"

"So, we'll just go see her whenever she performs next time. I'll be waiting, Puppy."

"Loki, that's not —"

"Anyway, I'm gonna go. I've got a lovely little trap with Balder's name on it."

"But —"

The god of fire ignored her, bouncing his way from the room. Nari rose and rushed after him, trying to explain his misunderstanding. But he didn't let her. Spinning around, he offered a flippant wave. "Enjoy yourselves!"

"Loki!"

With that, he disappeared, shutting the door behind him, leaving the other student sputtering behind him. After a few moments of silence, she let out an aggravated sigh. They had been on speaking terms for less than seven minutes and already he was giving her a migraine. That man was truly exhausting. Shaking her head, she turned and made her way toward the bathroom to run a nice, hot bath and get the rest she had been aiming for in the first place.

. . .

**AUTHOR'S NOTE**

Thanks so much for reading! I'm still genuinely alarmed at how many reads it's gotten. :O

Anyway, thanks again, comments and kudos are appreciated, project is going strong, have a wonderful evening!