Isle of Death:
Chapter 1:
Two plane flights later, the SPR landed at Heathrow airport in London. It had been arranged that they would spend a night at the Davis residence before driving for eight hours to Cornwall and taking a ferry to St. Mary's.
The SPR employees trudged through security and immigration and out the exit where Naru's foster parents were waiting.
Mau dumped her luggage into Naru's arms and ran over to hug Luella Davis.
"Luella! It's nice to see you again," she said in English.
The woman beamed at her son's wife. "Your pronunciation has improved a lot, Mai-chan. Has Noll been teaching you again?"
A black clad arm handed Mai her suitcase and handbag back. She looked up to see her employer and husband glaring at her.
"It has been slow progress teaching this idiot, but somehow I have managed to teach her a few things,"he informed his mother who sent him a disapproving look.
"You shouldn't be so mean to your adorable wife, right Martin?"she turned to her husband for agreement.
This was a well worn argument for the professor who had to hear it every time his son's cold personality was referenced.
"It's Noll's way of showing affection. We have a daughter in law and a grandchild, that is enough," he said and nodded to his son who nodded his thanks for getting his mother off his case.
Martin shook hands with everyone from SPR, having met them before at his son's wedding before leading them out of the airport to where two black vans were waiting.
"You will take these down to Cornwall tomorrow, but you will have to rent other transport on the island if necessary," Martin said to Naru. "You will have to carry all of the equipment on the ferry, I have made special arrangements for you so it will be allowed."
"That's very considerate of you," Naru answered and sat down in the van next to Mai who was already asleep from exhaustion and jet lag.
He poked her face as Lin pulled the van out of the airport car park and onto the road.
"Mai, you cannot sleep now, it will not help you adjust."
Mai turned her face away. "Just a few more minutes."
He sighed. "I am going to poke you every five seconds until you wake up."
"That's being mean to your wife," Bou-san interjected, unable to keep quiet for any longer.
"She will thank me for allowing her body clock to adjust to the time difference," Naru retorted as he poked her soft cheek gently. "Mai, if you stay awake I will reward you."
Strangely enough Mai managed to crack open an eyelid. "What reward do I get?"
Naru smirked, he had obtained her attention. "I might say 'thank you' for once."
Immediately she perked up and adjusted her posture so she wouldn't succumb to sleep so easily. Much to her husband's amusement she pinched herself every few seconds for the rest of the journey to his parents' house.
The Davis residence was modestly sized for an English house in a city. It was Victorian with ornate pillars and brickwork. Having never seen the house before, all the SPR irregulars stared at it in awe.
"You never mentioned that you lived in a mansion," Bou-san commented.
"It's not a mansion, Japanese houses are just a lot smaller," the narcissist answered. "As testament to its size you will all be sharing rooms."
He turned round to see his mother shooting him a reproachful look.
"Yes, Mum?"
"There are only two females in your group and I assume that you are sharing with Mai, leaving Ayako on her own."
"She can share with Bou-san and they can argue a lot and they can realise that their ways of showing affection are insulting each other about their ages," her son said dismissively as he entered the house, carrying his and Mai's luggage. "Hurry up, Mai."
"Yes," Mai said and ran in after him.
Luella blinked in surprise. He was becoming more considerate to others now and subtly kind to his wife. She wouldn't have to give him a talk after all. She beamed and made her way into the house behind the SPR employees.
After dinner Mai served everyone tea in the living room. To fit in with the location she had made Darjeeling as opposed to green tea. She handed the last one to her spouse and waited for the promised "thank you."
Naru took a sip and became aware that he was being eyeballed from all directions.
"Yes?"
"You promised Mai if she stayed awake in the car that you would say 'thank you'," John, who had been a witness reminded Naru.
"I remember saying 'I might'," Naru smirked at Mai who was rapidly becoming annoyed.
"If you don't say "thank you" I will never make you tea again."
Naru glanced at her sharply. Now that she was getting serious, the welfare of his tea was in danger.
"That is not much of a threat, Mai; I can make my own."
His assistant raised one eyebrow delicately. "Oh? That's strange, why have you never done it before?"
She leaned in so that her face was right next to his and reached out her hand to take away his teacup. Naru grabbed her hand and stared straight at her, knowing that he wouldn't be able to give up drinking her tea.
"You win. Thank you for the tea," he sighed.
Yasuhara nudged a frozen Martin Davis who was shocked at the sight of his son saying "thank you" and Luella was in a similar state.
"Mai-chan is the only person that can handle him," Yasuhara stage whispered cheerfully.
The priestess pulled Mai into a hug. "Well done for standing up to the narcissist like that and getting him to say "thank you". I think his parents are grateful."
Mai found herself being pulled away from Ayako and onto her husband's lap.
"I have said thank you to them before, they did raise me after all."
By now the professor had recovered from the shock and was able to correct the reply.
"Only a few times, Noll. At best you nod or say 'that was considerate'. Thank you Mai."
"That's fine with me Martin,"she replied cheerfully.
Naru poked her cheek. "It's getting late and we need to be up early tomorrow morning. Come on, Mai."
He gently pushed her off him and put an arm around her waist as he led her away from the bad influences known as SPR and his parents. If the conversation had continued he might have ended up being forced to say 'please' all the time and Mai was definitely capable of that.
Once in their bedroom he pulled the case report out of his hand luggage and read it again whilst Mai was in the shower. The investigation was going to be difficult due to the fact that they would be isolated on the island and locals were normally distrustful of outsiders. It was also dangerous to collect any data on the castle as they would have to actually enter the ruins which was where everything had gone wrong for the previous investigators. A survey of the surrounding area would be required, Naru theorised thoughtfully.
When Mai came out of the bathroom dressed in Hello Kitty pyjamas she found Naru also in his light blue pyjamas reading the case file. As usual the sight of him in his pyjamas caused Mai to develop a pink tint to her cheeks. Despite the fact that they had been married for six months she still became slightly giddy at the sight.
However she was unaware that her husband had similar feelings upon seeing her in her favourite Hello Kitty pyjamas. As she got into bed next to him he gave her a cursory glance and noted her pyjamas which always made him think that she looked... cute, for the lack of a better word.
She leaned over to look at what he was reading and saw the photos that she had kept her from seeing by not including them in her copy of the case file. Mai winced at the photo which was of a cat's body with its head missing and the fur cut open like a corpse on a dissecting table with its internal organs spilling out.
"Mai, this happened to humans too. I am showing you this so you fully understand the dangers," Naru said and closed the file. "One error and we might all end up like this. Please promise me that you will actually follow my orders this time."
"I promise," Mai agreed, unable to forget the image of the cat.
Naru gave her a kiss on the forehead. "Thank you, Mai."
"You have to promise me the same thing too," she replied sharply. "It wouldn't do for only one of us to make the promise."
"I promise," he said understandingly. He wouldn't be able to live with himself if that happened to her and he knew she would feel that same way if it was him.
She yawned and switched off the lamp on her side of the bed. "Are you staying up to read?"
Living together had made both of them accustomed to each other's habits. Mai preferred to go straight to sleep when she was tired whereas Naru was more likely to read in bed before settling down. She showered before bed whereas Naru did it after waking up in the morning.
"No, I can read in the car whilst you sleep," he said and turned off the light, plunging the room into darkness.
"Hey... I..." Mai trailed off, too tired to argue.
Naru smiled. She was always amusing like that. He fluffed his pillow and lay down next to her.
"Good night, Mai."
