“Master…” she muttered as he placed the flowers in her hands.
“Call me by name.” Loki uttered back, a tinge of crying in his voice.
“Ma…”
“Please, Nataku. I’m begging you.” He pulled away, his hands lifting her face towards him.
It was hard saying it and yet somehow she wanted to.
“Say my name.”
Was he crying?
“Say my name, Nataku.”
He mustn’t.
“I can’t…” She spat out. There was hesitation in her voice. Loki’s eyebrows crunched together in pain. She could not say his name even if he begged for it.
And beneath his breath of tears, he cursed his deepest sadness.
Loki’s hands moved, lifting her face closer towards his and Nataku gasped at the closeness of him. “Why?” he asked her, “Why?”
The scent of him, the image of him, the thought of him… All so enticing. She could feel his breath touch her skin and his lips so close to hers, as if just to tempt her. And indeed it was. It was tempting her… so painfully. She had never been this close to anyone before.
Or had she?
“Loki…” she whispered.
The escape of his name from her lips sent him over the edge of happiness, relief and pain. And he could not hold back any longer. As if in deep need, he closed the gap between their lips so blissfully. He closed his eyes tightly, clutching her towards him even tighter to send her the message that he was not letting go any more.
The hydrangeas fell from her hands.
Her eyes grew wide and she was still in a daze of distinguishing the feeling between dreaming and reality. And as she felt his lips move, she was convinced that this was real.
A reality she had to break.
Nataku struggled from his hold. Hurting him was not an option either because she had respect for him or because she could not simply since she was enjoying every time tick of it. The truth would hurt because this truth was wrong, at least in the eyes of those in the know. And because of this, she had to tear away from something so sweet and kind… something she quite loved doing.
How could she break away from something she had longed for?
Warmth.
Her stiff arms softened and her shoulders dropped. The struggling fingers eased and her whole body relaxed. Nataku closed her eyes. Maybe she could give in just this once. And as she made up her mind, in the darkness, they began to glow. And the cosmic energy was passed on. Loki’s injuries slowly healed. His lips moved slowly, savoring each moment he had with her as if there were no later, no tomorrow; as if again never existed.
Nataku was breathing heavily as she tried absorbing everything in one sweep. The kiss, the healing, Loki, herself, the visions, the voices, the darkness, the confusion…
“Stop thinking. I can feel your thoughts.” Loki muttered breathlessly and gave her no time to respond. The gap closed and he crushed his lips on hers. Nataku felt his arms around her in an embrace. How her arms wanted to return the favor, to tangle with his hair and trace on his back, send a shiver through his spine. But no, she must hold back.
For how long?
Forever.
This was more torture than she thought. And she forced herself to stop thinking. His lips were still moving and somehow hers seemed to have a mind of their own. Nataku knew that there was no point telling him she did not want it and yet she must. Somehow, she must.
Loki was not that stupid but still…
Then the darkness broke. Loki tore away and gasped. Nataku was flushing as she caught her breath, a hand on her chest as she analyzed what had just happened. Loki looked up and there he saw Odin, breaking the darkness with light. Loki regretted he had used such a low spell and as his gaze went a bit past Odin, he saw the golden-eyed mystery named Son Goku.
Nataku lifted her head and looked around. Obviously, something had unleashed a very strong impact within the vicinity. There was no hiding it. The trees, the craters, the battered looks of the three men she was with. Odin was holding his right arm, his side seemed to be aching and his left leg a little limp. Son Goku looked no better than Odin did. One of his eyes was swollen and he had streaks of wounds all over him as if he was slashed by a handful of blades.
“Where’d all his injuries go?” Son Goku blinked dumbly, a slender finger pointing towards Loki who said nothing. Nataku gasped in a flush and Odin smiled.
“I think I need healing, too.” Said the God of Knowledge.
“Oh…!” Nataku gasped, her head turning swiftly towards Odin as she tried to suppress the pinkish hue that came up her cheeks.
“Shut up, Odin.” Loki muttered and slowly got up. The younger of the twins placed a palm on his brother’s chest and sparkles of light began to surround them both.
“You’re healing me?” Odin murmured smilingly to his brother, “Am I not supposed to have higher healing powers than you have?”
“I’m not sharing her.” Loki replied.
“Isn’t that greed?” The older brother teased some more.
“So be it.” Loki pouted and looked away, a tinge of red on his face.
“Goku, are you all right?” Nataku looked at Goku, the flushing look on her face suddenly diminishing.
“Wait, let me think… No.” And the golden-eyed monkey-seeming Vanir pouted, sitting with his legs crossed. Nataku merely smiled.
“Okay, your turn.” Odin stretched as Loki watched. Then the God of Knowledge closed his eyes. As soon as he opened it, the symbol of light swirled in his eyes and a hexagram formed from beneath Goku and the healing process began. It was neither necessary for him to take one step towards Goku nor have contact with him. This was how high-leveled the God of Light’s healing power was.
Loki watched on for moments but Nataku drew his attention as she got up. Her robes flowed with her movement, her hair fell over some parts of her face. Her hand came up and brushed the stray wisps of hair on her face and she sighed, the moonlight touching her skin, radiating her expression, highlighting her eyes.
Those eyes he had always loved.
Damn it, she’s beautiful.
And as Loki looked on, she found her holding something – the hydrangeas he had saved. Loki smiled.
“Thank you. It was a good save, Ma… Master Loki.” She said. Loki smiled again. He was hoping she could call him by name now but then again, if she did, he would not know what he could not stop himself from doing if he heard his name from her again at this point.
“I feel better! How’d you do that!” Goku got up in one sweep and leapt towards Odin’s side. Odin gave off a smile as if to say, “It’s a secret.”
“Aww… Come on. Spill!” Goku pouted again and when Odin did not respond, the golden-eyed mystery began jerking his arm.
“It requires some level of concentration.” Odin finally said, “And a certain level and inclination of energy.”
“Stop getting so deep on me.” And Goku growled.
“Not all… beings… could do such things.” Odin with no tinge of irritation. Loki wondered how Odin continued to show little to no impatience each time necessary. Was it a vital skill or something?
“No matter how hard they try?”
“No matter how hard they try.”
“Well, that’s not fair.”
Odin responded with a chuckle and extending his arm, his ring finger pointing towards a small part of the area that had no craters. And with this gesture, he said, “Okay, we should rest now.” Then the pod reappeared from the ring.
“Yaay, I want to sleep by Nataku’s side!”
“Keep dreaming.” Loki was talking to Goku but was looking at Nataku who didn’t want to have anything to do with him at the moment.
Odin and Son Goku started off towards the pod and Loki motioned to follow had he not noticed Nataku still glued to the ground. Loki’s eyebrows met in wonder and he said, “Hey, aren’t you—“
“I’m… standing guard.”
Loki rolled his eyes away.
This Nataku is back so to speak.
“Soldiers do that…” he started towards her and in a swing of his arm, he took her by the waist, picked her up and started off towards the pod saying, “…And you were never my soldier.”
“Gah! You filthy creature! Put Nataku down!”
“Shut up, monkey.”