Bonds

Chapter 1: Discoveries

Taniyama Mai was not normal; per standards of regular society anyway. Yes, she was an orphan and lived alone; yes, she had a job as an investigator in a psychic research agency and yes, she was an unusually cheerful person, but that was not what made her 'abnormal'. She was, scientifically put, a 'Medium'; a person who could see and communicate with spirits, so people found it strange when she would stop in the middle of the street and start a conversation with no one, hence her being branded as weird.

Mai, on her part, didn't really care. It was who she was and she was proud of it. She loved helping people, even if they were dead, and so didn't care if her reputation was the cost of her good deeds. She was in her last year of high school, had a stable job and had good friends that were like her family. There wasn't much she needed. There were days, though, when even she would feel down, most prominently the day of her mother's death anniversary. It was normal for someone to mourn on death anniversaries but it was different with Mai. Every year, on her mother's death anniversary, Mai would relive memories of her time with her mother, sometimes psychically but mostly emotionally. She would be cooking dinner like she did every other day of the year and suddenly she would see find herself in a similar memory connected with her mother.

The first year after her mother's death Mai had broken down in class. She was looking out the window when she suddenly found herself in a memory:

She was looking at her reflection of her much younger self who was crying due to a badly cut hair lock. Suddenly her reflection was wrapped in a pink blanket and two slender arms held her across her shoulders. Her mother's head appeared atop hers and she whispered something that made the little girl stop crying.

Mai had snapped out of her trance by her teacher calling her. When she had come to, she found everyone staring at her; she had been crying. Her friends, Michiru and Keiko, who were aware of the day's significance to Mai, quickly and quietly explained to the teacher the problem and took Mai to the nurse's office, where she spent the remainder of the day. After school had been over, Keiko took Mai to her house where Keiko's mother comforted her and held her until she fell asleep.

The second year, while not being any worse than the first, was not any better either. It had been a weekend and Mai was helping out her teacher who she lived with, with some gardening when the memories started. Although it wasn't as severe as the previous year, the frequency had increased. Her teacher had advised Mai to then stay at home at every October the 25th to avoid any accidents in her uncontrolled emotional state. Mai had done just that.

She would take the day off from school and any jobs that she might have. However, when she started working for SPR, it became difficult to get a single day off with Naru's (her boss who was known as Shibuya Kazuya in Japan but was actually the ever famous Oliver Davis) work ethic. So, she started taking lesser and lesser leaves in the preceding months to October and started working extra hard in the month of October to persuade her boss to get that one day off. She could tell him the reason, but she didn't want pity and more than that she didn't want to burden anyone with her troubles.

Now at the age of eighteen, eight years after her mother's death, Mai found herself going to work on the 25th of October. She had taken a sick leave in the beginning of the month so a day off in the middle of the week was out of the question. She couldn't call in sick again because no matter how bad her emotional state became, she was almost back to normal the next day, and besides she wasn't for much lying. So trying her hardest to distract her brain she crossed the road and headed towards the SPR office.

As she took a turn she caught sight of a music store with a shiny blue electric guitar in the display window. She smiled slightly as she was reminded of Bou-san, a part time monk who worked with her on cases and a musician. It had been a year and a half since Naru had come back from England after burying his brother and since then everyone had begin to change. Bou-san had started a music shop where he would give lessons on playing the guitar and base. He had also started dating Ayako. Ayako, on the other hand, had given up on her self-styled miko title and focused on working in her parent's hospital, therefore she came to fewer cases, with the main target being to spend more time with Bou-san but her clinical skills were always helpful when someone was injured and she still could use the tree spirits when needed. Though she was happy in her relationship with Bou-san, her parents were disappointed in her choice in men which led to frequent arguments between them.

Masako had not changed much. She was still a spoilt rich girl who was Mai's rival for Oliver's affections but she had accepted Mai as a rival and as a friend so despite their numerous arguments, Mai and her still hung out and spent time together. John was another one who hadn't changed much. He was still the same helpful, kind hearted priest. He had, however, grown his hair slightly, had gotten glasses and had improved his accent, making him sound and look much more mature than when Mai first met him. He spent most of his time in Japan, helping out in churches or helping the team but, every once in a while, he would go to Australia for training, guidance or to visit his family. If Mai had a problem, John was who she went to, apart from Yasu.

Yasu, despite being a second year in university, was still as playfull and mischievous as he had been upon his first meeting with Mai. He had, however, developed a serious side to him which he showed whenever his friends needed help. His intelligence had helped Mai quite a lot in some tough situations due to which they had formed a very close brother-sister bond, much like the rest of the irregular males of SPR.

The people who had probably changed the most were Naru, Lin and Mai herself. Lin had changed from an unsociable, cold and isolated man to a much more approachable person, to Mai at least . He still maintained his distance from the rest of the members but after his confrontation with Mai at the Urado case, he did not glare as much at the team. With Mai, he talked to her more, be it only small things like how to setup some of the more difficult equipment, but he did and that made Mai very happy; she felt she was becoming, if not a friend, a reliable colleague to him.

Naru had changed too. He was easier to talk to because despite his biting remarks, there was a slightly lighter mood to his tone, which took away the harshness of his words. He would discuss the cases more with the team, which mostly consisted of explaining Mai different aspects of the paranormal. He was still his usual arrogant self though, and his narcissism had not decreased in the slightest. He still annoyed Mai, though it was turning into light banter fast, which Bou-san insisted was there special type of flirting, and they still argued, something which was a constant in the equation that was them.

There were some times though, that Mai would feel Naru's gaze on her but every time she would look at him he'd be reading his black notebook or some case file and it caused her to wonder that if some of the change in Naru was due to the change in her. When he had left, she was faced with reality that she could not always rely on someone. If she wanted to get somewhere in life, she would have to stand on her own two feet. She had always known that but in the haze of working with SPR, she had been ignorant and had let it slip from her mind. So, she had become more serious about her studies, catching up with notes and lectures missed during cases and although she had kept her cheery personality, she had become more observant of people in things around her and had matured quite a lot.

Everyone had changed individually but the biggest change was in the dynamics between Naru and Mai. When Naru had left, Mai had confessed and had been rejected in a very strange way; Naru had asked her whether she liked him or his dead twin brother. Mai was confused, she did not know that the man she was seeing in her dreams was Naru's brother. While he was gone, since she was unable to answer him, she thought over her feelings, what she knew and what she should do about it. It took her week to gather her courage to talk to Naru about this issue after he came back.

A smile made its way to Mai's lips as she made her way through the crowded streets; it was one of her favourite memories, that confrontation. She had entered his office with his afternoon tea but instead of leaving after waiting for his non-existing thank you, she had sat down in the office chair facing him. He had looked up, an eyebrow raised in silent question; 'What do you want?'

Mai had taken a deep breath before beginning, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry about what happened before you left. I am not sorry that I confessed to you but I am sorry that I did it at the wrong time. Your identity was revealed and you had almost found your brother's body and I put you on the spot like that."

When she had noticed that Naru had opened his mouth to speak she had motioned for him to stop and had said, "Please let me finish. I want to do this right." When she had been satisfied by his nod, indicating that he won't interrupt, Mai continued. " I didn't know that it was...Eugene... in my dreams. I didn't even know that you had a brother so all that time I thought it was you. When I first saw him in my dream, I thought it was some sort of attraction to you which caused me to dream about you. However, when I couldn't find the answer to your question, I realised I barely knew you and yet I had feelings for you. I couldn't differentiate between you and your brother because I didn't know you. If I truly knew you then I would have been able to tell you apart; you are different from him. It was after you left that I really thought over it and noticed the differences.

So, I want to start over. I want to be your friend, if you will let me. I want to know you as who you are. I want to meet the real Oliver Davis that remains unseen under those layers of narcissism you craft around yourself. I have glimpsed it but someday I would like to see, if possible. So...'' Here Mai had stood up, stuck out her right hand and said in her brightest voice," I'm Taniyama Mai, nice to meet you!"

Naru had stared at her for a moment before he had stood up as well and shook her hand. Mai could have had sworn that she saw a small smile form on his lips before he said, "Oliver Davis, I look forward to working with you."

The present day Mai was brought out of her musings when she realised she had reached the office building. She sighed in relief; she hadn't had any memory attacks on the way there. She climbed up the steps to the office quickly and found the SPR door. She paused briefly, fingering the painted letters of SPR, before pushing open the door. A bell jingled, signalling the occupants of the office of someone's arrival as Mai walked in but, instead of finding the usual sitting lounge, Mai found herself standing on an old, wooden front porch.

She was staring at a periwinkle blue, glass wind chime. It was hung way above her and no matter how hard she stretched her arms to reach for it, her little fingers wouldn't reach. She heard a tinkling laugh from behind her, it was so much more beautiful than the sound of the wind chime, and felt arms wrap around her middle before she was lifted off the ground. She turned around, as much as she could, and found herself looking at her mother with her twinkling black eyes, thin, pale face which was framed by a curtain of black hair with red streaks here and there and beautiful, pink lips. Her mother carried her towards the wind chime, allowing her to touch it. Mai leaned forwards, her fingers brushing the cool glass chimes. She giggled.

Mai pinched herself hard to snap herself out of the memory. She quickly dried her tears against the back of her hand and blinked rapidly to adjust to the light. When the office was in focus, she set her bag down at her desk, called out a greeting to the other occupants to let them know that she had arrived and that tea would be ready in a bit, and hurried into the kitchen. She quickly took out the cups from the cabinet and filled the teapot on the stove with water. She turned the knob of the cooking range and started the fire, putting the filled kettle above it. As she turned towards the cupboards with the teabags, she was pulled into another memory. 'Not again.'

"Mama?"

"Yes, Mai."

"Will you teach me how to make tea?"

"Of course sweetie. There are so many different types of teas and so many different ways to make them. It will be so much fun."

"Can we drink tea with Papa?"

There was a silence.

"You know Papa can't sweetie. He's busy and won't be back anymore."

"Mmhmm."

.

.

.

"Mama what if I'm not good at making tea? Is that okay?"

"That's okay sweetie. That is why you have mama to make the tea. I will always make the tea for you..."

The shrill sound of the whistling kettle broke the trance and Mai found herself staring at the tear drops on the ground as she had crouched down on it, head between her knees. She took in three deep breaths before trying to stand up. Her vision swam and her legs were not responding so she collapsed back down. It was a few minutes later that she heard the door to both offices open.

"Mai, what are you doing?"

Mai looked up from her crouched position on the floor to find Naru standing in the doorway to the kitchen. Lin was behind him, looking from above Naru's head. Naru stepped into the kitchen, clearing the doorway for Lin to proceed to the stove and switch the gas off, silencing the shrieking kettle. Lin set the folder he was carrying on the nearby kitchen counter and took a glass out of the cupboard and filled it with water.

A hand appeared in front of Mai. Looking up she saw Naru standing beside her."Do you want to stay down there?"

Mai took his hand and pulled herself up. As she got on her feet properly, without Naru's aid, the world swam around her so she reached for the counter for support. In her dizziness (and clumsiness), she accidentally knocked off the folder Lin had put on the counter, spilling its contents. When she got her bearings, she turned around and apologised profusely to a silent Lin. Lin just sighed and shook his head. Naru stood back to allow Mai to help Lin pick up the mess; he made sure that the work was done, doing the work was everyone else's job. Mai sat down again and helped gather the stack of papers. As she handed them to Lin, a picture fell out and to the floor. Mai picked it up and froze.

Staring up at her was the smiling face of a very familiar woman, with twinkling black eyes and long black hair. She was holding a parasol on her shoulder and smiling at the camera, the glimmering gold pendant around her neck only further accentuating her beauty. Mai felt her throat constrict and for a moment she couldn't breathe. Her eyes started to sting and her vision began to blur as the tears built up. She looked up to see Lin and Naru watching her. She stood up slowly, ignoring Lin's outstretched hand for the picture, and said, " Why do you have a picture of my mother, Lin-san?"

Author's note:

Hello people. This is my first official fanfic and I would really appreciate your reviews and comments.

I already have the second chapter typed up so if you are interested let me know and I will post it as soon as possible.