Unfinished Tales: Ch.4
Ghost Hunt – More Than It Seems
I'm Listening To: "Please Be Nice to Me" ~ SS501
A/N: So, this one is as raw as it comes. I still have notes and things in the description, and various lists of stuff. Ignore them. If I ever get back to this fic, I'll need them.
Description: (How this was supposed to go…) The team is back on the case with what seems to be another routine exorcism. Tempers flare and emotions rage as Mai potentially loses Naru to Masako for yet another date. And if that weren't enough, Yasuhara confesses his own love to Mai, leaving her feeling numb. Meanwhile, as the case falls into full swing, Mai discovers that her new home is holding a very dark secret. Afraid to ask for help, and naive enough to believe she can handle it on her own, Mai keeps her situation to herself. Her secret is out though when Mai doesn't show up for work one day and she doesn't call. Naru and Lin go over to her house to see what's up, and come face to face with a demon-like spirit that has nearly killed Mai. Mai is face down on the floor, bleeding profusely, and Naru finds feelings inside him that he never knew were there. Mai is carried off the hospital, and the team finishes without Mai, and Naru's head isn't in it, she's just as useless. Thanks to Monk and Lin, the case is solved, and Naru spends the rest of the pages watching over Mai, waiting for her to wake up.
Lin-san Long – Chinese sorcery
Masako Hara – psychic medium
Ayako Matsuzaki – self-proclaimed "Miko"
Houshou Takigawa (Monk-san) – formerly monk at Kouya Mountain
John Brown – Exorcist
Osamu Yasuhara – intelligence gathering former client
Mai Taniyama
Kazuya Shibuya (Naru) – President of SPR
Lin - Naru
Masako - Mai/Taniyama ,Naru
Ayako - Mai, Naru/Shibuya
Monk - Lin, Naru
John - Shibuya
Yasuhara -
Mai - Lin, Masako, Ayako, Monk, Naru
Naru -
-----
Naru's black figure was bent over the desk in his office when he heard the door close to the main room. For a moment, he ignored it, but upon hearing sneaky footsteps follow, he looked up.
"Mai! You're late!"
The girl stopped in her tracks and looked over at Naru, his office door wide open for once, "I'm sorry. I couldn't find the keys when I tried to lock my door."
Naru wandered out of his office with arms folded, "Is that so? From what I hear, you have a new place?"
Mai nodded, half shocked that Naru was taking any interest in her. Naru walked over to the couch and sat down, "Make me some tea."
'I take it back,' she thought, fishing for the kettle.
Takigawa happened to step inside just then, followed closely by Ayako. Mai lifted her head to look at them, and smiled.
"Monk! Ayako!"
Ayako's eyes surveyed the younger girl, and she frowned, "You look worn out, Mai. What happened?"
Mai turned back to the cabinet uncomfortably. Naru's gaze followed her silently, "I'm just tired from moving. I finally got a new place and all."
"Really? You should have asked for some help," said Takigawa with a smile.
Mai shrugged, "I did get help. Yasuhara helped me." Setting a cup of tea down on the coffee table in front of Naru, she could feel Naru's gaze penetrate her. Frowning, she looked down at him, only to see him absorbed in a stack of papers that had made their way into his hands. Why did she feel so paranoid?
"Well, if you guys aren't busy, I have a favor to ask," said Ayako, sitting down across from Naru.
"You do?" Takigawa gave her sour look.
"Oh, shut up! Yes, I do. You see, there's this girl who I treated for a dog bite recently. The only thing is, she says that she doesn't remember getting bitten. Apparently, it's not the first time this has happened. Her grandfather was taken to the hospital a few weeks ago for a dog attack, but they say, they don't own a dog…so…"
"Could it be a neighborhood dog?" Naru asked, pressing the cup of tea to his lips.
"That's what I thought too, but none of the neighbors have had problems with dog attacks, and furthermore, there doesn't appear to be a dog large enough among the neighbors' animals to inflict that size of a bite. They asked if we might be able to look into it."
"No," Naru said, setting down the cup of tea.
"What? Why not?" Ayako argued.
"Those kind of cases bore me," Naru said simply.
"You won't even consider it?"
"Tell me why I should," said Naru, looking up.
"Well, her mother is a friend, and…"
"Great, you should look in to it," said Naru, peering over his papers.
"But…"
"In the mean time, I need Mai to accompany me elsewhere. A friend of mine at the city library needs a hand with some research."
Mai stared at him, "Research just for the sake of research? Why?"
"There is something we need to find." Naru got to his feet and made his way to the door, giving Mai a backwards glance and walked out the door. Mai frowned, exchanging looks with Ayako and Takigawa before going after Naru.
When Mai reached the parking lot, following Naru at his heels, she stopped behind a shiny black mustang. He unlocked the car, opened his door and looked back at her.
"Well, are you just going to stand there? Get in."
Naru got in the car and turned the key in the ignition. Mai snapped out of her daze and opened the passenger's side door. Climbing inside, she closed the door and looked over at Naru.
"Hurry and buckle up. We're not going anywhere until you have your seatbelt on."
Mai reached for the seatbelt, but it wasn't there. She looked back but it wasn't there either. Looking down she could clearly see the seatbelt caught in the door. Opening the door again, it snapped back into place. She slammed the door shut again and pulled the belt tightly around her waist. Naru rolled his eyes. As soon as he heard the click from the seat belt, he put the car in reverse and stepped on the gas. In seconds, they were on the road. It was the first time that Mai had ever been in Naru's car. She always road in the van or with Monk or Ayako. She even once or twice road with John in his car, since she didn't have her own, but Naru usually didn't drive either, or at the very least, didn't drive his car.
"So… what are we researching."
"Actually, I lied. The library we are driving to has been having incidents of books being thrown on the floor by night. I'm pretty certain that it's a poltergeist, but I need you find out what it wants."
Mai stared at him, speechless. He was acting more strangely today than she had ever seen him.
"But wouldn't Masako be better for that?"
"She's away, filming in Scotland. Something about old tribal war grounds. I'm sure she will tell you about it when she returns."
"But I only see things when I sleep, and only then when I dream."
"Yes. Which is why we are going to do research for several hours first. The books have only been flying off the shelves in a certain section. We are going to look for clues in them."
"But, Naru… why don't we have any equipment? And what about the others?"
"Lin is waiting for us there with the van, and my friend asked for us to not bring in any of the others until we can find out more. He wants to keep it a small affair."
--
--
Naru, folded his arms, looking across at John, and then back at Lin, "It's almost two, have you gotten a hold of Mai yet?"
"She's not picking up the phone," Lin stated emotionlessly.
"Something's not right," Naru said, frowning.
"Should we go to her house and check up on her?" Takigawa asked, calmly.
Naru let out a strange, frustrated sigh, "No. Lin and I will go. The rest of you can go down and finish the case."
An instant look of irritation spread of Masako's face, but she said nothing. Within moments, Naru and Lin were gone, leaving the rest of the group to gather supplies and head elsewhere.
"All she wants is attention," said Masako irritable.
John eyed her kindly, "Shibuya isn't usually wrong in his judgment though. It's rare to see him unsettled by such a small thing. Perhaps something happened that we don't know about…"
"I agree with, John. If and when he's wrong, and Mai is perfectly okay, I'll be more than happy to lean to your point of view. Until then, though, I think I'll stick on Mai's side," Ayako retorted.
With that, the conversation seemed to end, leaving the group to their work.
--
When Naru arrived at Mai's door, his fingers knocked on the wood twice before they froze in place just as they hit the wood a third time.
"What's wrong?" Lin inquired.
"There's something in there. Something powerful. I feel it strongly from out here," said Naru, his eyes narrowing.
A dark expression crossed over Lin's face, "Stand back…"
Naru moved away from the door as Lin summoned energy into his fist and with one swift movement knocked the door inward, off its hinges.
Naru didn't wait for the dust to clear before he stepped inside. Instantly, his eyes were greeted with darkness.
"Mai?"
There was no answer, only an eerie silence.
"Mai!"
Naru could hear Lin step inside the house, right behind him.
"Do you see her?"
Naru shook his head, "No, I can't fin—" His lips stopped moving in mid-sentence as his eyes fell on something. Instantly, his stomach gave an unpleasant jerk downwards. "Mai?"
As he spoke, four beady red eyes fell on him. Naru could see it now. It looked like a large black spider, and it held Mai's head in between its pincers, her entire body seeming to be wrapped in some sort of web-like substance. Naru's stomach lurched uncomfortably, threatening to spill its contents on the floor. As his knees gave way, a hand covering his mouth, he felt Lin seize his arm.
"Naru, are you all right?"
"Get rid of it… You have to get rid of it…"
Lin's mind swam in confusion, "But we don't know anything about it… what it wants, why it's here…"
"I don't care! She's going to die if we don't do something…"
Lin was instantly taken aback by his sudden display of emotion. Giving Naru a lingering glance, he started into exorcism chants.
The spider-like monster lashed angrily towards them, but was stopped by a kind of barrier. It gnashed its teeth in anger, before turning and running back towards Mai. Naru's face was suddenly stricken with horror.
"Get back here!"
Just as the spider-like monster was about to reach Mai, Naru was on his feet.
"NO!" Lin turned in time to see white light collecting all around Naru. "NARU! DON'T!"
A strange mixture of calm and pure rage collected in Naru's eyes. And just as all the sounds seemed to be sucked out of the room, Naru launched his fist forward and the light exploded into hundreds of brilliant arrows. One by one, they pierced the monster's hide until all that was left was bright, pure light. And then it was gone. Naru collapsed to the ground, remembering no more.
--
It was almost three days later when Mai finally awoke. She was greeted by a pair of steel, blue eyes. The young man sitting before her, stared at her emotionlessly, and with folded arms.
"Naru?"
His expression did not change, "Yes…"
"Where am I?"
"What do you remember?" Naru asked calmly.
"I remember getting home, and then being attacked, but then… nothing…"
Naru was silent for a moment, watching her with piercing eyes.
"Did Lin save me?"
Naru remained silent.
"Was it you?"
Naru suddenly looked away.
"It was you. Naru…"
"What were you thinking? That you could handle it on your own? At which point before you died were you actually going to ask for my help?"
"Naru, I'm sorry. I just… didn't want to burden all of you…"
"Yes, well… we're burdened. Get over it. And… Don't ever do that again! When I walked in there and saw what had happened, I thought I was going to lose you."
"Naru…"
Naru stood up and gathered his coat, "I'll go tell them that you're awake so they can get something for you to eat. Then get some rest. It'll be a while before you feel alright again…"
Naru turned to leave, but stopped when he heard her speak again.
"Naru… Thank you…"
Naru didn't turn around. He merely opened the door and walked out.