Summary: "The wind that passed by to us will never passed by the same it did, just like the water that runs in the river, the water that flows is not the same water that will flow and will never be. Water never flows back just like how people is."

Change is inevitable. Everything around us change, nothing is constant except change. People change just like how seasons change. In this world wherein the only constant is change, can time change how a person's heart beat for someone? Can time heal and mend the broken heart? As for Mai Taniyama, People change their ways on how the view things especially when they experienced painful events in their life; painful enough to make their own heart change its course. Will this change be a good one or a bad one; it depends on the person who took the course to change.

Author's Note:

Konnichiwa minna-san! ^_^ I hope that you will be able to enjoy this story of mine. If you've got suggestions, recommendations, corrections on my grammar and usage of words please do tell! I'm very open to critiques and opinions ^_^ Have a blessed day! ^_^

CHAPTER 1: THE PAINFUL EXPERIENCE FROM THE PAST

"Our past experiences become our foundation and basis on what we are and who we are in the present and future. The past can never be separated from present and future. It will always hunt us." – Jhobz

At the Lake.

Right after the divers got the body of Eugene Davis out of the lake Naru checked his brother's body to confirm that it is him. The divers stopped him but he still made his way though his twin brother. He kneeled in front of him and opened the bag where his body was placed. Everyone around him cannot move and no one uttered a word, even Lin who's been with them stood silently behind Naru and prayed that this torment will just end as he saw how the other twin stood still in his position while looking at his deceased brother. The other members of SPR don't know how to console the young CEO of SPR, John offered and silent prayer and closed his eyes; Masako cannot bear to look at the scene before her that's why she turned on the lake's view while covering her mouth with the sleeve of her kimono, she may not knew personally Eugene but she knows that it is very painful for Naru to see his other half lying lifelessly; while Ayako and Bou-san looked down and silently stood with each other, not even them can break the heavy air around them even Yasuhara can't bring himself to joke around, and as for Mai, she can't help but let the tears from her eyes fall. She grieved and cry for Gene not because she knew him but because she knows how painful it is to see your loved one lying without life. She still can't grasps the fact that she had called Gene as "Dream Naru" and wasn't able to determine the difference between the twin. She should have known that the man in her dreams is not the same man that she's seeing whenever she's awake; that the two of them were different persona but heck! She feed off her desires that the man in her dreams and the one crouching down now on the lifeless body is one and the same. How fool and idiotic she is! How she wished that she should have known earlier, maybe, just maybe she would be able to call him with his given name. It might be very painful to him to be called as someone else's name, especially by your twin's name.

While everyone was silently supporting him at the back and grieving with him, Naru can't tell how he should feel; should he cry? Wallow in his death? Feel angry? Feel at ease for he was able to find his brother's body and finally he will be able to put him at rest? He really don't know as of the moment. What he only knows is that his brother is dead and nothing could change the fact that he will never be able to see him ever again. He wanted to cry but he can't, he wanted to get mad but to whom? to himself? to Gene who foolishly came here in Japan and got himself killed? to fate and God who let him and his brother suffer so much to the point that they need to be separated in this way? But one thing is for sure, he can never forgive the person who had done this to his one and only brother. As he was looking at his brother everything that they've done since they were little flashed before his eyes, all of the idiotic time as he called it yet the happiest moments of his life will now be memories that will hunt him every day and night. He can no longer see his brother smile and do idiotic things just to make him and those people around them happy. They can no longer have time to converse on the things and argue about them and lastly he can no longer tell him how much he love his twin and important he is to him, he will no longer have someone who will be his anchor. Many thoughts are running now inside his head, and now his emotions are flaring and in turmoil but he cannot let that to slip off his mask he still need to stay composed and act natural in front of others, wallowing and grieving can wait later for now, he need to put his best friend and twin in peace. Now, he will have the peace that he needed. He slowly closed the bag as he bid his farewell to his brother. Nothing could beat the feeling of witnessing your brother's death and experiencing it and yet you cannot do a single thing to save his life. Naru hold the bag's zipper to close it and once it was closed, he silently stood and strode away from everyone,without looking at them, his hands are fisted on his side and his knuckles were turning white from too much force, he just wanted to breathe and get away from that place, away from the reality to escape the pain that he is feeling as he lose his precious brother. Before he went away he stopped on his tracked while his back was facing the others;

" Lin, I believe I can trust you with the preparations needed for this." Naru said through his strained voice as if afraid that in any moment his voice will crack.

"Of course Naru, leave things to me." Lin said as he looked worriedly to his ward but knowing Naru he just need some time and space to collect himself before facing others.

"Very well, I'll leave it to you then." Naru said as he walk away and left his comrades.

Nobody moves from the spot until Yasuhara broke the silence and made a joke to break the heavy atmosphere and to uplift the mood of everyone which really helped.

"Why don't we all move and helped Lin-san, we do not want big boss to come back here with a scowl on his face and barking on us for being idiot for staying here." He said while trying his best to smile for everyone. Bou-san seems to caught up with his antics and joined him.

"Hell yeah! I do not want to see him glaring to me as if I've done a very big mistake in my life!" he said sheepishly

"Oh! My love Bou-san don't worry I will protect you from that icy glares! We must both conquer it with our love!" He said as he clung on his arms which makes the monk back off away from him. Seeing this, everyone started to feel that the heavy atmosphere was slowly dissipating even Lin smirk on the antics of his comrade,

Lin POV

"You are indeed very blessed to have this people who care for you noll. You might had lost one but surely God is good to send you these people who can be your anchor."

He look at them genuinely and shocked them as he bowed his head towards them.

"Thank you very much for being there and understanding Naru in his situation. I believe that he is also thankful for your presence." Lin said as he bowed.

Everyone smiled sadly and gave an understanding look. They may not be able to ease the pain that he was feeling right now but they know that just being there for him will help him to be back of his feet. It might take some time but they all know that nothing is constant in this world.

-TIME SKIPPED -

It's been some time since Naru walked away and had some time alone, Mai wanted to look for him thinking that he might needed someone to be with him since above anyone else in the group is was Mai who could understand the feeling of losing someone. He looked for Naru and spotted him in a bench near the lake where Gene was found. He was looking at the lake with so much emotion but above all those emotions it was the pain of losing someone and regret that was very evident and mirroring his eyes. Mai could feel the pain resonating from him and cannot help to feel it like hers. She approached him and called him.

"Naru.." She said timidly, afraid that he might get mad of her and afraid that she might broke the last mask that he was wearing.

Naru looked at him with those emotions that she had seen but it was quickly vanished and masked as he look again in the surface of the lake that took his brother's life. She stood near him and wait for him to talk, she can't bear to ask him how did he feel right now because she knows that that was the most idiotic question that she could ask for someone who lost someone. She stay still and look too at the lake, it seems like forever but Naru suddenly stood up and look at him with no emotions.

" Why are you here Mai?" Naru Asked her

"I- I am worried of you that's why I came and look for you." Mai said

" There's no need for you to concern yourself about me, I could handle myself very well, I am not a kid." He said coldly to her as he looked at her

"B-but, it's been hours since you've been out and I feared that something might have happened to you!" She retorted.

"Well... I am definitely fine." He said as he looked at her, deep inside he knew that the girl was just concerned for him and worriedly sick for him but as of the moment he doesn't need someone to console him for he can do it all by himself. He was indeed thankful to her but right now what she needed was some peace and time alone that's why he fled away from everyone.

"Naru... I know and understand how you feel; I know the feeling of losing someone and being helpless but naru, please do not forget that despite that everything that happened there is always a brighter side. I may not be able to ease the pain nor any one of us could but please remember that there are other people around you who will always stand beside you to help you and those people who care for you." She said as she looked at him with sincerity and sadness. She knows that her words might not relieve him from everything that he is feeling right now but at least he knows that they are here for him no matter what.

But what shocked her the most was what he said next, she did not expect it to happened nor she expected that it would came from him.

"I appreciate that Mai, I really do.. it's just that.. I just need some time to collect myself and to calm my nerves. Thank you. I appreciate everything that you and the others had done for me." He said while looking with her kindly.

But what she didn't know was the next thing that would come in his mouth will break her apart and shatter her world and break its orientation on its orbit.

"Mai.. after this maybe in 2 or 3 days Lin, Madoka and I will be leaving Japan..." He said as he looked at her. Mai couldn't believe what she's hearing.

"D-demo.. Naru, what about us? What about the SPR?" Mai Said as she can't comprehend yet what she heard.

" And for that I need to close down the SPR for good, for there is no reason anymore for me to stay here. My journey ends here for I've already achieved the reason why I came here in Japan. Now, I could put Gene at rest." He said

"N-naru.. I-.." she didn't know what to say to make him stay. It's as if everything is slowly falling apart before her eyes.

"N-Naru.. Please.. Please stay... I... l-love you!" Mai said while tears were starting to gather in her eyes.. Hoping that thorugh saying that she will be able to make him stay.

" Mai.. you do not love me.." Naru said as he looked at her shocked at her confessions to him. He somewhat felt something tightening in his stomach but refused to acknowledged the feeling.

"No Naru! I love you!" She said as tears were slowly falling in her face.

"Me or Gene?" Naru said with no emotions showing in his face and in a very cold tone.

Mai wasn't able to utter a word from his question she was trying to comprehend what he asked and can't come up with an answer. She was shocked that he will ask that question to her out of the blue. How could he? Who could have thought that that will be his question to her... she was so shocked that he take it as an answer to his question, turned his back to her and said the most painful way to reject her confession.

"You don't love me, it was Gene whom you love. Do not mistaken me from someone whom I cannot be just because we have the same face. I am not Gene." Naru said coldly towards her as the heaven started to cloud and cry just like how she did.

"Thank you for working under me Taniyama-san, I'll see to it that after we closed down the SPR you will be handed to good company that can take good care of you as an employee." With that he walked away from her and never look at her. He tried his best not to walk back and scoop the girl who was crying. It took him his all guts to keep walking away from her, it hurts him to hear her cry but it pained him the most to think that he got mistaken into someone else. He continued to walk away and look up in the sky as rain poured as if consoling his wounded heart.

Mai's POV

"How could he?, How could he say that to me?!" Mai asked to herself as she recalled the previous conversation. She wasn't prepared to hear him asked that ridiculous question of him. For me this is the most humiliating and degrading way of rejecting a confession, just when she thought that maybe, just maybe there was someone who could pick her up in her chaotic life and yet here she was, dumped like a rug with no use at all. She could feel her world slowly shattering in her very eyes, her heart and courage was crumbling and she didn't know if she could collect herself anymore.

" SPR will be disbanded in 2 days just when I am starting to have a happy life with everyone whom I considered family, in a glimpse I am now witnessing the most painful and devastating way to snatch away that joy from me. Why?! WHY?! Why do I have to suffer like this? Isn't it enough that I lose my family and now... the man I love thought that I loved his deceased brother? How ironic, funny, just like how miraculously I found this family it will be snatch away from me in a glimpse." Mai said to herself as she look up the sky while the rain poured out as if consoling her shattered heart, the rain the poured during that day was washing away her pain and slowly making her feel numb to the point that the numbness that she's feeling made her feel cold, not only physically but also inside her heart, slowly that coldness will eat away her joy and will be replaced with pain, hatred and hollowness.

"How did I end up in this situation? Why me?!" Mai asked as she cries hard knowing that even if she did it no one was there to rescue and comfort her wounded heart. No one will care.

-End of POV-

Mai returned to the hotel where they were staying that night and did not let anyone to see her in that state, at least for the last time she needed to let them see how strong she is and that she will not allow anyone to take pity on her. Not in this moment and point of her life, that's the only thing that was left for her to keep going, the thought of seeing him again makes her chest hurt so much but she needed to bear it until that time. She changed her clothes and sleep to regain her lost composure so that the next day she could face them even in pretence.

-TIME SKIPPED-

The day when Naru, Lin and Madoka will leave came. Everyone from the SPR came to see them off, even Mai came to send them and to bid the goodbye. Everyone could feel the tension between Mai and Naru but no one said something about it because they fear that they might cause too much fuss about it, but they were all aware that something happened between the two to have that kind of air between them. Lin looked at his charge at tried to decipher what could have happened to the two that makes them like this, even Madoka was curious but said nothing.

Naru expected that there will be changes between them but not this heavy it was as if Mai change from another person and the way she deal with him hurts him. She never wished for this to happen but the sooner the girl realized that it was Gene that she loved the better for both of them. Everyone shook their hands and bid their goodbye to them, what shocked them the most was how Mai said Naru's name and how she looked at him, even Lin got worried for the girl but cannot bring himself to say something.

"I wish you well Dr. Davis. Have a safe flight." Mai said as she looked at him like he was not there, it was as if she was looking pass-through him and her tone is too soft and too cold for his liking. Everyone looked at Mai worriedly not knowing what to do everyone waited for Naru to respond.

"Same goes for you Taniyama-san." He said as he spoke with cold in his voice. If that will make her realize things then he would be more gladly to help her. He cannot let her to be led by the wrong assumption about her feelings for him for he knew very well that those were not meant for him but for his deceased brother. With that, Naru turned his back to his comrades and walk away; away from their lives, away from Mai's life without turning back even if it pains him.

Since then, Mai changed.