A/N: Sorry for the delay in getting this chapter up. Finals week (and the week leading up to finals week) was really crazy. (I really hate writing analytical reports, by the way.) But now I'm on break until the first week of January, so hopefully things will move along a little faster now. Hopefully.

As always, comments are welcome!

Kubota and Tokito were sitting comfortably at Kou's, sharing an early dinner, when Tokito suddenly said, "Kubo-chan, something's been bugging me about Mai."

Kubota's eyebrows lifted. "Oh?"

"Yeah. I mean, I know that her vocal cords were cut, but shouldn't she still be able to whisper? But she doesn't. I don't get it."

"Hm. That does seem odd, now that I think about it. Perhaps our good doctor has some insight?"

Two gazes, one curious and one skeptical, turned to Kou, who pushed his glasses up thoughtfully. "Two possibilities come immediately to mind. One is, if the, ah, procedure was done while she was still very young and she was then discouraged from trying to communicate, she may have simply forgotten the mechanics of speech. The other is trauma."

"Trauma?"

"Yes. Sometimes, when children experience intense emotional stress, they lose their ability to speak."

"It's probably the second one, huh, Kubo-chan?"

"I think probably so."

The gloomy silence that followed was interrupted by Kasai who pushed his way through the door, laden with packages and wearing a self-satisfied air. He held the door to let Mai enter.

He grinned as he watched the boys gape at her. Even Kou seemed somewhat taken aback at the change.

Tokito stood to walk a slow circle around her, taking in the black hair falling in a shining cascade down her back with a fringe of bangs that just brushed her eyebrows, long-sleeved tee, jeans and sneakers.. Kou, watching them, murmured, "They could be siblings. What is she, a year, maybe two younger?"

"Hm. That seems about right."

Tokito, completing his inspection, threw an arm around Mai's shoulders. "Y'know, I always wanted a little sister!"

Kubota raised an eyebrow. "Always?"

"Shut up!" His eyes widened as Mai shyly put an arm around his waist and leaned into him.

And Kubota thought that it looked like Kasai's grin was catching.

After Kasai left with assurances that he would check in on them once they were settled, and Kubota's assurances that he really didn't need to do any such thing, Kou took the opportunity to examine Mai. She submitted as willingly as ever, but with a long-suffering air that bespoke of her growing boredom of everyone's fascination with her.

Kubota half-expected Kou to reveal some great epiphany about Mai's condition, but the doctor, frowning thoughtfully, said nothing. Instead, he wrote down an address and handed it to them, along with several door keys and card keys. They, in turn, took the hint and, gathering their things, left Kou to close up for the evening.

Their new place was closer to Kou's shop than their previous digs and was within walking distance of a shopping area that included a 7-Eleven and arcade, along with a variety of other small shops.

Entering their building, they bypassed the main elevator and found a second, smaller elevator tucked in a back corner and used their new key cards to gain access.

"Wow. Fancy."

"Yep. Looks like we're moving up in the world."

"Tch. Only because people are trying to kill us."

"Hm. That does put a damper on things, doesn't it?"

Mai stood baffled as the two boys grinned at each other, then shook her head at them as the doors slid open.

There was only one door in the short corridor. The doorplate read, "Kenichi".

Kubota let them in.

"Whoa." Tokito gaped at the spacious penthouse before wrinkling his nose at the smell of fresh paint. "I can't believe the quack forgot he had this place!"

"Well, sometimes, if you have something that belonged to someone who's no longer here, you put it away and try not to think about it."

"Oh. Kinda like the watch?"

Kubota ruffled his hair. "Yeah. Like the watch."

"Hey! Look!"

Kubota looked over to see Mai opening the sliding glass door to what he'd assumed was a balcony. Instead, the building's roof stretched out from the penthouse. Mai stepped out, gaping at the early-evening sky. She stood there a moment before something caught her eye and she tracked it to a point somewhere on her right. She crouched down and crept out of sight.

As the faint sound of chirping drifted in, Tokito asked, "She... she's not chasing birds, is she?"

Kubota smiled at the thought. "Shall we go find out?"

They followed her out onto the roof, only to find it empty.

"Hey! Where'd she go?"

They turned in several bewildered circles until, "There." Tokito followed Kubota's pointing cigarette to the roof of the penthouse, where Mai stood in apparent awe of the vibrant pinks and oranges splashed across the sky.

"How'd she get up there?"

"That's a good question."

"MAI!" Tokito's shout was loud enough to make Kubota's nearest ear ring, but it got the girl's attention. "How'd you get up there?"

She pointed to the roof's waist-high retaining wall. Tokito went and looked over the edge. "Mai! We're like, ten stories up!"

"Eleven, actually."

Tokito shot him a glare before continuing, "What if you'd have fallen? You could've DIED!"

Kubota chuckled.

"What's so funny?"

"You."

Tokito glowered at him, but he tipped his head toward Mai. "Watch."

They both observed as she hopped from the penthouse roof to the wall to the building roof without so much as a wobble.

"You ever see a cat fall off a roof?"

"No." The answer was sullen.

"That's because they don't."

At Tokito's pout, Kubota continued, "I know big brothers are supposed to worry about their little sisters, but she's fine. Save it for when she really needs it, okay?"

Tokito gave him the look reserved for when he said something particularly profound before nodding.

"So, which room do you want?"

"I don't care, as long as we get the PlayStation set up!"

"Okay."

In the end, while setting up the game console, Kubota decided that Mai should take the master bedroom, with its attached bath, and they would take the second bedroom and hall bath.

Then he watched, amused, as Tokito shoved a controller at a bewildered Mai and proceeded to instruct her in Proper Video Game Technique, starting with a crash course in Button Commands. Her eyes flicked doubtfully between the controller and Tokito's face, clearly not understanding a thing he was telling her. Tokito started up a fighting game and Kubota couldn't stifle his chuckle at Mai's scandalized expression on seeing the buxom, scantily-clad warrior Tokito picked out for her.

Kubota had seen a lot of different playing styles over the years. He himself could invest hours of intense concentration to not just learn, but completely dominate, a game. Tokito, on the other hand, didn't have that kind of patience. He would madly mash buttons, learning a few moves that became his favorites and occasionally finding something powerful on accident, never to be remembered.

Mai did neither. Kubota watched, fascinated, as she tentatively pushed buttons, eyes flickering from Tokito's controller to the screen. She was thoroughly trounced in the first three rounds, much to her adopted brother's glee. The fourth round, however, saw her turning the tables and claiming a definitive victory. And that really caught Kubota's attention.

While Tokito was still staring dumbfounded at his fallen fighter, Kubota commandeered his controller.

"My turn."

"What the hell, Kubo-chan?"

"What? You lost, so it's my turn now. Scoot."

Tokito reluctantly relinquished his spot on the floor and perched on the couch instead.

Kubota chose his preferred fighter, but left Mai with the one she had, wanting to see what she would do with something familiar.

The fight started and, while she was far less tentative, he still beat her easily.

For the second round, he noticed she was glancing back and forth between his controller and the screen, just as she had with Tokito. He made no effort to hide the sequence of buttons he was pushing, wondering how quickly she could learn them. With her so distracted, he beat her even more easily, and the third round was much the same.

In the fourth round, she came at him with a vengeance, using the same blocks, dodges and complicated chain attacks he had used. For the first time in a very long time, he found himself behind in HP.

'That's refreshing,' he thought before bringing all of his considerable skill to bear on his surprising opponent.

Even so, the fight's outcome was far from certain. After 10 minutes, the clock counted to zero and Kubota was declared the winner by a slim margin.

"A two-player fight ends after 10 minutes? Huh. You learn something new every day." Ignoring Tokito's scowl, he turned to Mai. "Well played, kitten."

She smiled at him, then glanced at Tokito. Her smile faded and she scrutinized him more closely.

"What? Mai? You're kinda creeping me out."

Before either of them could react, she had Tokito's glove off and his furred hand in hers, massaging frantically.

"What the... aah!"

He tried to pull away as pain shot from his hand nearly to his elbow, but Mai refused to let go.

Kubota watched her work her thumbs deeply into his palm. "Is it helping?" he asked quietly.

"Um, hsst, yeah, I think so."

Mai's ministrations continued and the pain quieted, then, as if she knew the precise moment the discomfort stopped, she released him. Kubota leaned in as Tokito flexed his hand.

"Better?"

"Yeah." The tone bordered on incredulous. "Thanks."

She blinked, then smiled and inclined her head.

From that moment, as long as she was in Tokito's vicinity (which she invariably was), Mai was able to sense when an episode was about to occur and would do what she could to alleviate it. And that, at least in Kubota's mind, made her indispensable.