Kieno: Ahem. Drum roll please! silence I said…drum roll please!! author hit with drum stick Hey!!

Naru: I don't play the drums.

Kieno: Oh, really? starts chasing the narcissist with a drum stick. Get back here you!! I'm an author and I don't have to use my powers for good!!

Mai: Um, hi!! Since the author is currently busy. jumps at a loud ka-thunk I'll do this! She doesn't own us-

Naru: Do I have to hit you?! I don't hit girls!

Mai: Ahem…like I was saying-

Kieno: You just had to hit the stupid drums!

Mai: SHUT UP!! I'M BUSY!!!

Kieno and Naru: silence

Mai: Okay, Kieno doesn't own any of us except little Kaoru! Oh and please review…it's the only time Naru shuts up! He likes to annoy Kieno! Bye! Oh and forgive Kieno in advanced for this ending…I know I won't until she fixes this nice mess.

Kieno: Quiet!! puts hand over Mai's mouth Just read and review…Naru, quit mumbling about those chocolate donuts!! I'm not giving you any sugar!

Chapter 4

"Did Masako tell you what she found?" Lin asked as he shone his flashlight through the dining room. The electricity had apparently failed and when Martia called the company had said they wouldn't be able to get it turned back on for another day.

"Yes. Martia is looking through her records, showing pictures to Hara-san to see if she recognizes any of the kids." Naru replied as he looked under the table for any sign of the blonde haired child. He frowned as there was nothing to suggest that was where she had been hiding.

"How many places can a child hide?" Naru asked as a stood up and leaned against the wall of the dining room as Lin finished searching the plate cabinets and he stood up and sighed softly.

"Do you not remember when you and Gene played hide-and-go seek?" Lin said and Naru blinked before growling softly.

"Fine. Can we just find this kid?" Naru said before he left the dining room. He carefully made his way up the stairs, the broken glass crunching beneath his shoes. He wondered what had made the windows explode. None of the cameras had showed an activity in any of the rooms and he hadn't tried to look when the windows started to explode, he had been to busy protecting Mai.

"Kaoru? Kaoru, if you can hear me, say something!" he called but he heard nothing as a response. He sighed and pushed his hair out of his eyes. He shone his flashlight around the second floor hallway and saw nothing except the glass that lined the floor. He checked each room but found no sign of the little girl. He sighed. How hard could one little kid be to find?

Kaoru was scared as she looked around the orphanage. It was dark and she felt lonely. She felt someone touch her shoulder and her head jerked up and her face split into a wide grin when she saw it was Mai that had touched her shoulder.

"Mai-chan!! You're awake!" Kaoru hugged the legs of the girl and she felt Mai's hands on her shoulders as she held onto the older girl tightly. She didn't want to let go until Naru found her, wherever she was. She wasn't exactly sure where that was. The last thing she remembered was the house shaking and everything went black.

"No, I'm not awake…but you need to wake-up, sweetheart." Mai whispered and she bent down so that she was on eye level with the child. Mai saw her look over her shoulder and watched as the girl's eyes lit up before she rushed past Mai and Mai heard someone grunt and she whirled around and saw Kaoru holding onto the dream Naru.

"MR. TEA-MAN!!" Kaoru squealed and Mai sweat dropped. She decided from the way that Kaoru was holding on the dream that she had become attached to the real thing.

Gene was beyond confused. Mai had seen the little girl and had went to tell her that she needed to wake up. The next thing Gene knew he had a blonde haired child clinging to his legs. He looked down at the child as she looked up at him with wide eyes and he could see how Naru had taken care of her. He bent down and put his hand on her head and gave her his smile and he watched her face light up. He knew that Naru hadn't smiled at her from the way she was reacting to him.

"You have to wake up, dear. It's very dangerous here." he whispered and he saw her grown before looking over her shoulder and frowning at Mai.

"But shouldn't she be waking up as well?" Kaoru asked and Mai smiled before she put her hand on Kaoru's head.

"No, it's better if I stay here. Everyone will be happier if I do, especially the Naru there. I'm always in his way and this way I can stay out of his way. But it's dangerous here and I don't think you should stay here so you need to wake up." Mai whispered and Kaoru frowned before her eyes began to close and she let go of Naru's legs as she began to fade away.

Naru was on the third floor. He shone his light into the room that Ayako and Takigawa had said almost collapsed on them. He frowned before continuing down the hallway. He heard a small whimper coming from his left and he turned in the direction quickly. He stayed silent and heard the whimper again and he isolated it from one room that had the door open. He kicked the door in when he found out that it was stuck.

"Kaoru!" he found her on the floor curled up with glass in her hair and cuts on her arms and face and he went to her and gently lifted her up. "Kaoru, wake up. Kaoru?" he shook the child slightly but didn't shake her to hard as he didn't want to hurt her. He wondered when he began to care for the child.

'You should wonder the same thing about Mai.' a voice said in his head and he faltered slightly. 'Mai's my assistant, of course I care.' he growled to himself before a whimper caught his attention and he looked down surprised as Kaoru's eyes blinked open.

"Mr. Tea-man!" Naru almost choked when Kaoru's arms wrapped around his neck. He was glad the child was alright but did she have to try and kill him? Apparently so because she wasn't letting go. He noticed belatedly that she was sobbing and he wrapped his arms around her and rubbed her back. He couldn't blame her for being so upset. She had just been hurt by something in the orphanage and it wasn't happy.

"Shh, it's alright. Let's get you out to Ayako and get this glass off of you." he said and left the room with the girl clutching his neck as he made his way down the hallway.

"She thinks you don't like her." Kaoru whispered and Naru frowned. What was she talking about? He stopped and pulled away from the child slightly and he gently turned her face upwards so that he could meet her baby blue eyes that were filled with unshed tears. He brushed away the tears and Kaoru sniffed.

"What do you mean, Kaoru?" he asked and Kaoru cleared her throat and he watched as she wiped her eyes after his hand had left her face. He waited patiently for the child to elaborate on what she had said.

"Mai-chan…she thinks that you don't want her here because she thinks she's in the way." Kaoru she whispered and Naru felt his eyes widen before Kaoru put her head on his shoulder and he heard her breathing even out. He knew the child had fallen asleep and he quietly made his way down the stairs of each floor and outside where Martia and Ayako had set grills up and were grilling hotdogs and hamburgers for the children who were playing basketball.

"You found her!" Ayako rushed over to Naru and took the sleeping child away. Naru watched as Ayako pulled glass out of her hair and clothes. Naru's eyes trailed to Mai as she lay on a cot under a tree. He went over to her and gently brushed her bangs back. He checked his watch an he felt sick when he realized she had four hours left. His eyes turned to the horizon as the sun was beginning to set.

"Brown-san, Lin, help me move Mai inside." he said before he bent down and picked her up. He had to stop from dropping her when her head fell back limply and over his arm. He adjusted slightly so that her head was resting against his shoulder and he moved into the orphanage and waited in the base as John and Lin set the cot back up. He gently placed his bundle on the bed as the two men left and he bowed his head.

'What am I going to do if she dies?' he finally asked himself. He couldn't answer his own question and he sighed angrily. There was an answer, he just wouldn't admit. He sat down in the chair that they had left and watched through the glassless window as the sun began to set. He closed his eyes as he kept his head bent.

'What did you do when Gene died?' Naru felt his eyes widen. He could remember very well how he had lost it when Gene died. Even he could admit that he had lost what sanity he had. His eyes trailed to Mai and he stood up and felt for her pulse. He almost choked when he realized that it was getting weaker and weaker.

'Admit it, already! You love her!' a voice snapped in Naru's head and he felt his heart jump as Mai's pulse beat weakly against his fingers.

"It's getting so dark, Naru." Mai whispered as she held onto his arm. She was right; the whole orphanage was turning black. Gene watched as the darkness drew closer to them as they stood in the middle of the main hall of the orphanage. He held Mai closer as the darkness continued to draw closer. Gene was almost certain that the darkness was targeting them. He watched beginning to fear for Mai.

"The curse is gaining strength." he whispered and he heard Mai whimper as she held onto him tightly. His reply was to wrap both arms around her, trying to protect her from whatever was trying to kill them.

"Is this what's trying to hurt everyone?" Mai asked and Gene just nodded, trying to find someway to save Mai. She was the one that was in real danger. The darkness would consume her and she wouldn't have a soul anymore. He could live since his soul was already gone and his last connection to the living world was Mai. He looked down at the fearful girl in his arms and

"Mai…" he whispered and Mai shook her head as she buried her head in his chest and he could feel her shaking as she sobbed into his chest. Gene knew she was scared and he looked back up at the darkness that was heading for them. There was only one thing that he could do.

"Naru?" Naru looked up from where he was holding Mai's hand to see Lin standing there with lit candles. The older man placed the candles around the room and Naru returned his attention to Mai. He was holding her hand as tightly as he could but he still felt her slipping through his grasp no matter how tightly he held her hand. No matter how much he begged she was slipping with each second.

"There's thirty minutes left, Naru. Are you going to eat?" Lin asked and Naru turned his head to look at the man as though he had lost his mind. Lin knew the look in his eyes and he had seen that in his eyes when he had found out Gene was dead. Lin put his hand on Naru's shoulder as the boy's eyes told the whole story to the Chinese man.

"I already let someone I care for die alone. I won't let Mai die alone. She doesn't deserve to die alone. She doesn't deserve to die but I can change that. The most I can do is stay with her." Naru whispered. Lin squeezed the boy's shoulder before he turned and left the room deciding this was something that Naru needed to face by himself. He didn't know that Naru quietly thanked him for leaving.

"Mai, I really, honestly don't know if you can hear me. And that scares me. It scares me that I can't help you, Mai. It scares me that I can't…save you. But what scares me the most is that I don't understand. We always fight…but why do you do this now? Why do you have to scare me all the time?" he whispered as he continued to hold her hand as he listened to the clock ticking away, her life slipping away with each tick.

"Naru…" Mai felt fear tearing at her insides when she saw that the darkness that had engulfed the whole orphanage had been engulfed in. She held on tighter before Naru was tilting her head up and she saw that his eyes were also fearful and she gasped as she saw that fear. Even in her dreams Naru never looked scared. She began to believe that this dream wasn't normal when Naru was scared.

"Mai, listen to me. I know that I asked you to stay. But it's dangerous here. You have to go back. I know…I know that you don't like it there but for your safety you have to leave. And besides…you have to warn your friends." he told her and Mai felt tears welling before she looked over her shoulder and she could feel it at her feet. She looked back up at Naru.

"You'll be alright?" she whispered and he gave her his smile before he nodded and she closed her eyes and tried to return.

"Naru…" Naru's head shot up when he heard a whimper come from the prone Mai. The next thing he knew he had her in his arms shaking her. That's when he noticed that she was breathing again. He gasped as he began to shake her again.

"MAI!!! Mai, open your eyes! Mai!!! Come on, open your eyes!!" he cried. He had never wanted to see her brown eyes so badly in his entire time of knowing the girl. "MAI!!"

Mai heard someone shouting her name and she couldn't place the voice and she also noticed that someone was holding her. She tried to open her eyes when the voice begged her to do so. But her eyes wouldn't open. And why did she feel so tired? The person holding her began to shake her and she tried even harder to open her eyes but they refused to budge. She felt herself slipping away as the shaking began to fade away.

"MAI!!" Mai placed the voice as Naru's. She wondered why he was yelling. She decided that it must be because she had fallen asleep on the job again. She gave a small whimper before everything slipped away again and her eyes snapped open to be met with startled blue hues.

"Mai?!" Mai gasped when she felt the darkness wrap around them and she buried her head against Naru's chest as fear smothered her. "No! Mai, you have to wake up!"

"MAI!! Mai, don't do this! Mai!" Naru shook her even harder. He let his hands brush against her face and his breathing grew irregular when he realized that her face had grown cold. Hesitantly he placed his fingers on her neck and found nothing. He felt warmth on his cheeks and he touched them and when he pulled back he saw moisture on his fingertips. For the first time in nearly a year…Oliver 'Noll' Davis was crying.

I have one thing to say before I run...things are not always what they seem! Bye!! Author runs and hides behind Naru.