The Spirits
Mai woke with a start. She took a moment to remember where she was, wondering at the cold grass beneath her back. Then it hit her. The garden. She was waiting.
She turned her attention to what had woken her. Voices. They were low but she could hear, so they must be close.
"The sunset is pretty tonight." A female voice said breathlessly. Mai felt her insides curl up with jealousy. That sounded suspiciously like Masako. She glared in the direction the voice was coming from, before realising that they were probably walking round the garden and she was out in the open. She quickly darted into some undergrowth.
"Indeed." Said a deeper voice. Mai's stomach flipped. Naru. She could feel blood rush to her face in anger and envy.
The pair came into her view through the leaves. Mai barely spared Masako a passing glance, before turning her attention on Naru. The golden light highlighted dark brown tints in his hair that she had never seen before, and lit his eyes so they were a clearer, deeper blue. She was so lost in his eyes that she had lost track of the conversation, but she couldn't miss what happened next.
Masako stood on tiptoe and gently put her lips on his.
'No! No! Reject her like you always did!' Mai screamed at him in her head, her stomach clenching painfully.
But Naru did no such thing. Mai spotted a look of surprise in those eyes before they closed and he gently kissed her back.
Masako looked triumphant. Then, just for a millisecond, Mai saw her smile freeze.
"What about Mai?" She asked, carefully.
"What about Mai?"
"I thought that you, you- you know."
"I don't." Naru looked at her blankly.
"Had feelings for her…?"
'Say you do, oh please say you do..' Mai begged silently.
"I never had feelings for her."
"Then you do you call her Mai and not Taniyama-san?" Masako asked quickly. Now Naru's face froze momentarily.
"I see her more often than I do you." He said, not explaining what that meant.
"Well that shall have to be remedied, no?" Masako smiled sweetly, moving back up onto her tiptoes and looking expectant. Mai saw his expression freeze for the most fleeting of moments before he looked down at Masako. He quickly kissed her on the lips, then put his forehead on hers.
"It's late. Goodnight… Masako."
Masako smiled happily. "Goodnight, Naru." She walked off, practically skipping. Naru stood there for a moment, then glanced at the undergrowth she was in. She swore his eyes met hers and an anguished look came into his eyes before he returned to his normal, emotion-less self and walked slowly in the other direction.
Mai collapsed onto the dry soil beneath her, feeling hot tears running down her cheeks and her innards writhing and twisting round.
Mai's eyes flew open. She took a deep breath to steady herself. She could still feel her heart clenching.
"Help me."
It was a soft as a breeze. Mai froze, her heart beating even faster than before. Then she shook her head. There was no way she could have heard anything above the howling gale outside.
It was dark in the room. She cautiously felt over the table until her hand closed around a cuboidal shape. Her hand darted back under the covers. Quickly she unlocked her phone. The sudden bright light made her eyes water. 5:47 the digital screen read.
Mai groaned and put the phone back on the table, her other hand wiping her damp cheeks.
'I know the light hurt my eyes, but surely they can't have watered that much?' She frowned. Her eyes felt sore and her throat dry. She frowned some more. Then realisation dawned. 'I was crying in my sleep?'
She sat up and leaned her head against the wall. Her dream had unsettled her too much for her to get back to sleep anytime soon. As her eyes adjusted to the gloom she found them settling on Naru's shadowy outline.
Slowly her eyelids drooped.
"Mai, wake up." A cool voice said sharply. Mai blinked sleepily.
"Whaa…?"
"Since when did you decide to sleep sitting up? Most people lie down."
"…Really? I'd never have guessed."
Naru gave her a blank look. "Mai, it's half eight. You over slept."
Mai groaned. "No, you just get up way too early."
"It's a working day."
"Every day is a working day with you." Mai grimaced.
"Just get up."
Mai followed his orders. Half an hour later a washed, dressed Mai and Naru went down the stairs to breakfast. Mai felt an expectant silence when she reached the bottom of the stairs.
"What's going on?" She murmured to Naru, who just looked at her blankly.
Slowly she walked into the kitchen. Around the table were several elderly women. The silence hanging over them told Mai they'd been talking about at least her or Naru.
"Good morning!" Kamiko bustled over, handing Mai a steaming cup of tea and steering her to the table. She was sat down next to a gentle looking woman who smiled at her cheerfully. She heard Naru sit next to her. He was next to a hawk eyed woman who studied both of them with her mouth set in a straight line.
Kamiko introduced each of the old ladies, who smiled or nodded their heads, and then breakfast was served.
"You should let them serve themselves, they're young." The severe woman next to Naru said.
Kamiko smiled. "But they're my guests."
There was an awkward pause. The food was placed on the table and Mai gladly started eating.
"So, how long have you two been dating?" The woman next to Mai suddenly asked. Mai choked on her tea and started coughing, her face turning beetroot.
"We're not." Naru said coolly, watching Mai make a spectacle of herself over his cup. She wished the ground would open up and swallow her. Was she that obvious?
The woman nodded and smiled. "Don't worry, you will be soon!" She said cheerfully, apparently not noticing Mai gasping for air.
Naru had nothing to say to this, so he returned to sipping his tea. The old women started talking amongst themselves, leaving Mai to recover. She was only faintly pink when the women returned their attention to the pair, but asked them about what they were doing on the island.
Half an hour later, when they had managed to remove themselves from the breakfast table, they set out.
"Why were you sleeping sitting up?"
Mai gulped. Should she tell him about the dream? Would that betray her feelings towards him? Anyway, she wasn't even sure it was important. It hadn't seemed like a psychic dream…
"I had a bad dream." Technically true.
Naru looked at her, his interest piqued.
"Not about the case, just about… Spiders." She shuddered. Naru gave her a look.
"So you decided to sit up?" He sounded unconvinced.
"Too make sure there weren't any on the bed?"
Naru studied her face for a couple of long seconds, but then dropped it and continued walking. That was when Mai realised they had stopped to face each other.
'Mai, you're being so obvious! Cool and collected, remember?' She chided herself, before running – no – walking briskly to catch up.
"So what are we doing today?"
"Going through the house. Seeing as you're the closest we have to a medium, you're going to go into every room and tell me what you feel."
Mai frowned. She knew that she was nowhere near as talented as Masako. She just occasionally got these hunches, and of course Gene's help. Which reminded her, where was Gene? This was going to be a serious case, normally he popped up to warn her about the dangers she could be facing. And now would probably tell her to protect Naru from himself as well.
They had reached the house. Mai cursed the architect for building so many rooms which she would now have to go through.
Naru unlocked the front door and held it open for her. She stepped into the gloom, unsure about how to begin her task. Naru shut the door behind them.
"Do you think they have electricity?" Mai asked.
"I doubt it."
"They must have had some form of lighting?" Mai pleaded.
"Maybe." He searched in his jacket for a pen, than looked at Mai.
"I don't know how to start." She confessed miserably. 'Damn Masako for being a good medium. Now he's going to wish it was her here instead of me.'
"Close your eyes."
Mai did so.
"Now try to feel the room."
"Feel the room?" She opened her eyes and looked at him quizzically.
"Feel the atmosphere. That's what Gene said."
Mai stared at him, but he didn't seem emotional when mentioning his brother, so she shut her eyes and tried.
"It feels cold?" She opened her eyes at last to find Naru's dark ones watching her.
"Cold." He repeated.
"I can't feel anything!"
"We'll move on to the next room."
Sagging in defeat Mai could only follow him from room to room, each time feeling nothing. They finished the ground floor with no results and no disturbances, so went upstairs.
As they climbed the stairs Mai felt the hairs on the back of her neck prick up.
"Naru, I feel like something's watching us." She said as they reached the landing.
"Is it the girl from yesterday?"
"I don't know."
She saw Naru carefully write something on his clipboard and then they moved on. Most of the rooms were bedrooms and attached dressing rooms, and most of the rooms were fine.
"Guest rooms?" Mai ventured.
"Probably." Naru gave a quick nod.
They had done most of the rooms on the first floor by now and Mai was starting to feel pretty useless. Most of the time she felt nothing at all. Though the possibility that there was nothing there to feel never occurred to her, she just assumed it was because she didn't have any talents in this area.
She sighed and opened her eyes. She shook her head.
"Next room."
They walked down the corridor, Mai wondering why they even bothered any more. Naru opened the door for her.
She stepped into the room. Her eyes widened in shock.
"Naru it's freezing in here!"
Naru looked surprised as Mai started shivering.
"Ar-r-ren't you-u c-c-c-cold?" She asked through chattering teeth.
"No. The temperature in here is the same as the rest of the house."
Help me.
"Hello?" Mai called out.
"Mai, there's only us here. Come on." He held out the door for her.
"Shush, I definitely heard something."
Help…
"There it was again." She dashed out the door and down the corridor, but was stopped in her tracks by an ominous groaning. Something soft trickled onto her shoulder. She looked at her once pristine top which was covered in streaks of fine grey dust. Slowly she looked up.
Dust was falling from the ceiling. She heard slow, dragging footsteps from above her.
"Mai!"
She snapped back to reality, as if out of a trance. Scared now she took a few steps down the corridor, away from the trickling. All of a sudden there was a louder groan, then cracking and then slowly the ceiling started to sag. Her eyes found Naru's, he was further up the corridor and there was no way she'd make it to him before it gave way.
The crash surprised her, she jumped back, landing unsteadily on her toes.
'Why is there nothing under my heels?' She mused. Time seemed to slow down as she realised she had reached the top of the stairs and she was falling, and there was nothing she could do to stop it. Her eyes widened in panic and her foot slipped.
Mai groaned. She didn't feel too good. Actually she didn't feel good at all. Her whole body ached.
She looked around her. Her left foot was resting on the last step of a flight of stairs. Why was she at the bottom of stairs?
Oh.
She jumped up, only to gasp out in pain.
"Oww. Ankle. Really. Hurts." She muttered under her breath. Then she registered something. A certain narcissistic, workaholic boss of hers wasn't anywhere to be seen.
"NARU!"
Naru heard his voice being called out. He let out a sigh of relief. At least that meant she was ok.
"Mai!" He called back, letting her know he was ok too. He was slowly testing his way up the corridor, hoping that wasn't going to give way too. He reminded himself to add an engineer to his team to check buildings' structural safety.
Something fell from the room above and landed with a dull thud. Naru flinched, but it was just a mouse or rat or some vermin. He glanced up at the corridor ahead, assessing how much time it would take him to reach the stairs at this rate. Prognosis was not good. He may as well take the risk and save time.
Suddenly the corridor spun around him. Naru put his cool hand on his forehead, what he was seeing made him feel sick.
As suddenly as it started it stopped. Naru frowned. He hadn't moved, but the corridor was facing the wrong way.
He stopped himself from smirking slightly. He was more than a match for those kind of games.
He set off in the direction he was facing.
Before he could take more than a few steps he was knocked off his feet and slammed against a wall. He could feel weight on his chest pinning him there, crushing the air from out of his lungs. He stretched his feet to try and reach the floor. He felt the pressure on his chest increasing as black spots began to creep around the edge of his vision.
He was thrown sideways as the pressure was removed with some force. He crouched on the floor getting his breath back for a moment, wondering whether to try to get to Mai and get them both out though the spirits might follow him.
Though he was being left alone now. His heart stopped in panic for a moment.
Unless that meant they had already left him for Mai.
I stole the 'How long have you two been dating? Oh, don't worry, you soon will be' line(s?) from Suits. *Wants series 2 to come to the UK*
Quick update, definitely won't be updating this quickly for the next chapter, but the last one didn't have so much happening in it, so hopefully this one is more exciting :)
Please review!
