Chapter Four
"I don't know why you didn't come to me sooner Kai! After all I am pretty much the girls aunt and the only other best friend you've got!"
It seemed that even after all these years Mao Jahana still hadn't changed. She stood at the entrance of her fancy Tokyo penthouse, hands on hips, her body and style womanly and fashionable, but her youthful expression and sharp features made her seem like the stubborn young woman Kai knew in school. She flipped her head, making her styled brown cut woosh about her face and smirked as Kai carried the sleeping Georgie in his arms past her.
"Take the girls into my bedroom, they can sleep in there." She said, her voice a little quieter.
Riku followed behind. As she walked she rubbed her eyes and yawned. They'd driven all night and practically all day, stopping only at the hospital where David took his wife.
Louis followed after parking the battered vehicle and once they were all inside and settled Riku instantly passed out on the bed beside her sister while the adults stayed out in the living area to whisper and discuss.
"How could this have happened?" Mao asked, not really seeming that all surprised by the news. "Didn't all the chiropterans die over ten years ago? I thought the red shield took care of everything? I thought the girls were going to get to live happy lives without any worry of all this."
Kai merely frowned, he was looking out the window now through the curtains. Far off was Tokyo tower, and he could see the lights of the city had blocked out the natural light of the moon . For some reason it sent shivers down his spine.
"They did." Louis answered, sitting down on into a chair, making it groan under his weight while he started to munch on a sandwich. He was tired, but more up for conversation than the others. "But apparently we missed one. In any case, it seems to be after the girls. It attacked us on the road yesterday, and Julia's in the hospital because of it."
Mao frowned and put her hands on her hips again, "What took you so long then? You guy should have known you could come here first. I was part of the battle all those years ago, if things are shaking up again then I want in."
"So you can put this into your tabloid?" Kai said, turning towards her.
Mao's eyes went wide and even though the words angered her she looked hurt, "The magazine I work for isn't a tabloid. And no, you know I care about those girls! I came to see them awhile back didn't I? I even brought presents."
It was true. Mao had taken it upon herself to visit out of the blue a year back. She'd brought designer outfits for the twins, all of which too girly for Riku and too loud for Georgie, and then sat down and attempted to get a story out of them about their blood transfusions and their thoughts on their past. Needless to say Kai wasn't very happy and Mao left without her story and her outfits.
"You wanted to exploit them!" Kai grumbled.
"I...!" Mao started but Louis cut her off.
"Please you two! We should not be fighting right now. The twins are in danger and there's a chiropteran out there and if it finds this place it won't take two seconds for it to mutilate all of us let alone the girls." He finished with a casual bight of his sandwich.
The three of them grew silent, Kai going back to looking out the window. He kept his gun nearby, but at the moment he didn't want the girls to see him holding it. He knew they had to be terrified, and that was one of the last things he wanted. That and either of them ending up dead.
"So what stopped it from killing you before?" Mao asked with a shrug, "If I remember right those things are pretty big, and next to unstoppable."
"Haji." Louis answered, "He showed up a few days back on David's doorstep. Said there was a chiropteran looking for the girls."
"Apparently he'd been trying to hold it away from Okinawa for awhile." Kai put in, "But it's senses are strong and it seems to know what it wants. It doesn't attack humans. Not yet anyway. So far it's really only gone after the girls."
Mao's brows knitted together and she shook her head, "Hold on. If Hajis back after a miraculous recovery from his death in the Opera house, then does that mean that Saya...?"
"No." Kai said with a sigh. "She's still sleeping."
Louis nodded, "Yes. And she will go one to sleep for some time yet. Her body's being kept in one of the research labs near the Smithsonian in Washington D.C. under careful and close observation to make sure everything is normal. She wouldn't be able to make a move without those scientists knowing."
"What?" Mao looked at Kai, "How could you let them take her there? Saya isn't some creature that can be studied!"
"It was the only way to keep her and my daughters safe. Saya's body didnt have security in a crypt." Kai said, turning fully to face them.
"She had Haji." Mao argued.
"Haji wouldn't have been enough. " Louis said, "It was Joel Goldschmidt's final wishes. Everything he had went into the project and care for Saya and the Red Shield obliterated. It was supposed to be the end but apparently not. I still don't understand how we missed one of those creatures though."
"I don't think he was missed." Kai said, "I think it was hiding. Either that or it just recently came into being. And since Diva's dead there's only one other who could have made it."
Mao looked shocked, "You don't mean... that Saya...?"
Kai's eye narrowed, "I hope not. But I intend to go to this secret lab in Washington and find out for myself."
The three fell into silence, merely listening to the sound of the city streets below.
An hour passed and Mao busied herself with making food in case the girls woke up and might want something.
Louis ate another sandwich and then fell asleep on the couch.
All the while Kai stood by the window, watching and waiting.
At one in the morning the phone ring and Mao answered. "Hello? David! Is Julia alright?" She gave a worried glance towards Kai, cupping the phone with both hands and listening carefully. "Yes. Okay i'll tell him." With that she hung up.
"What did he say?" Kai asked.
"He says that Julia's going to pull through but it may be a week or so. Mostly they want to watch her head trauma. He said he'll be over tomorrow and that everyone should rest since tomorrow you're going to the states."
Kai nodded, "I'll need to get some money together for plane tickets."
"Oh don't bother." Mao said, sitting down and crossing her legs. "We'll use my dad's private plane. He won't care."
Shaking his head and smirking Kai only shrugged, "I should have known. And what do you mean we? The more who stay out of this the better."
"Of course we! I told you, I was part of this before and I want to stay and help. Those girls need someone other than you boys looking out for them and Julia's in the hospital. Fresh feminine role models are important for young girls." Mao said.
Kai's eyes narrowed, "On one condition. I don't want to see any of this in your magazine. Nothing about the girls! Not a word. Got it?"
Mao smiled and raised a hand, waving it in front of her, "I promise. Nothing about Riku and Georgie."
Nodding, Kai sat down on the couch. He started to relax for the first time since the morning the girls left for school. "Well. Here we go again right?"
Mao couldn't help but chuckle slightly, "I'm just happy I get to be here from the beginning. And that I get to be here for you Kai." She idly took out her cell phone and started to text.
"Who are you texting?" Kai asked, slouching back and feeling his eyes grow heavy.
"Just the pilot, letting him know about our early departure tomorrow." She responded, pressing send and standing up. "I need to go pack now. Hopefully I don't wake the girls. Don't worry I intend to travel light." With a wink she walked into the bedroom.
Kai watched her go and thought that Mao had seemed to grow up quite a bit since the last time they'd talked
***.
The sound of his phone going off jerked Akihiro Okamura awake and he grumbled as he sat up in bed. Rubbing at the back of his mess of hair, he let out a long breath and looked around. He saw the glowing of the screen in his pants pocket from where they lay on the floor and he cursed as he reached over to retrieve it.
The name on the screen made his eyes pop and he quickly flipped it open to read what it said.
Meet me tomorrow at the airport seven am. Pack light. Bring camera. -Mao
Mao? It had been years. What could she want. He thought about texting back but knew her and knew it was unlikely he'd get a response. So instead he merely set his alarm for six, flopped back down onto his pillow, and instantly fell back to sleep.