Chapter 4
It was finally the weekend and I slept in for a little more than I usually did. Stumbling through my small kitchen I peered around for some sort of breakfast to make. I made myself comfortable on my couch and flipped on the TV while I ate. Some sort of variety program was on featuring a music artist so I decided to watch.
A huge thump sounded from outside my apartment door and a curse of yelling. I nearly choked on my cereal but was thankfully able to swallow. Curious, I opened my door to see a shirtless brown-haired guy sweating like he just ran a few miles. Across from him, down the hall, was a guy wearing what looked like a butler's clothing. He was holding on to a broom, supposedly to smack the shirtless guy.
" You broke my vase and tracked in dirt to the lobby Hayato!" The butler guy yelled, dashing forward at the other man and swinging the broom at him. Quickly, the other guy dodged and took the butler in a headlock.
" Oh, cool it Raijin!" The one named Hayato laughed. So the one holding the broom was named Raijin? kind of an odd name...
" I'd watch your mouth " Raijin barked. When I looked at the two, they kind of looked similar? Maybe they were brothers. Raijin lifted his hand and sent a strong bolt of yellow lighting directly at Hayato, who stuck out his palms and blew strong winds at the bolts of lightning. The hallway quaked and I grabbed onto my door frame as not to fall over. Was anyone else awake yet and not noticing whoever these people were fighting?
Well, apparently so because Emzee walked up to them and kicked Hayato swiftly in the back of the head and slapped Raijin.
" I was hoping I could wake up this morning and brew my coffee peacefully, but I guess that's just not possible when I have these two dumb asses fighting about god-knows-what on the first floor!" Emzee yelled, rubbing his temples. He did that a lot. "Seriously what has gotten into you two? Raijin? Hayato?"
" He broke my prized vase that was on the coffee table and tracked dirt inside, Emzee." Raijin huffed.
" I was simply practicing my martial arts." Hayato retorted. Looking over at my door, he noticed my freaked out face that was peaking out.
" Dude, who's this?" Hayato said excitedly as he yanked open my door and pulled me out. Raijin raised his brow.
" That's the new girl who lives there, Mai." Emzee explained.
" Ah, hello, I heard noise so I came out..." I trailed off. Hayato was a little too close for comfort. And still shirtless.
" These are the itaachin brothers- Raijin and fuujin-"
" I go by Hayato, thank you." Hayato scoffed. Emzee rolled his eyes.
" Yeah, whatever. anyway...Raijin is kind of our self-proclaimed janitor around here."
" I just like things to be neat and clean, okay? But, yes, nice to meet you Miss Mai." He said with a small bow. Well, he seemed friendly.
" He's the god of thunder and storms, and Fu- er, Hayato, is the god of wind."
" Nice to meet you chick-y!" Hayato said enthusiastically, shaking my hand way too roughly.
" I have work to do- BEHAVE. And, Hayato, shirt back on please. " Emzee said sternly as he walked off. Hayato grumbled slipping a plain white shirt back on.
" So you guys are brothers- I thought you looked alike!" I mentioned. Raijin dressed nicely with longer black hair that was tied back into a loose ponytail. Hayato had brown hair that was much shorter than his brother and wore a more relaxed style of clothing- a shirt with baggy pants. They had the same brown eyes and similar faces. " -But why do you go by Hayato?" I asked curiously.
" Fuujin sounds too similar to Raijin. Hayato fits me much better." Hayato stated while Raijin rolled his eyes. " -I'm the cooler of the gods though-"
" Are you kidding, Hayato? Lightning is far more interesting than your cute little gusts of wind."
" I do better in combat than you, clean freak." Hayato snorted. This sounded like another argument was going to start. Raijin was about to begin again, until a thought occurred to him.
" Oh, Mai, why did you come to join the police force?"
" Eh?" I said confused. " Um, I don't necessarily, uh, have any powers."
" Ooooh, so your human then? what weapons do you use?" Hayato asked.
" Uh, I'm not really apart of the police force-"
They both blinked with a confused look on their faces.
"...Then-..." Raijin paused then made a face like he realized something. " Oh, I know who you are- Marza's daughter! I forgot when Emzee told us. Right, right. I can't believe I forgot. I didn't know you would be here already." Raijin explained.
" That makes sense!" Hayato grinned. Was there some sort of meeting about me?
Anyway, the mention of my supposed mother's name kind of brought up an unpleasant feeling in my stomach.
" Ah, yeah, that's me, I guess..." I laughed. " Uh, I have to go do some shopping today, I almost forgot...Um, see you guys!" I said waving them off. Heading back into my apartment I dressed in some warmer clothing consisting of a green sweater and black leggings. looking in the mirror I brushed through my red hair hoping it would kind of smooth out a bit- well, it did more or less.
It was at that awkward length that went a bit past my shoulders. Maybe I should cut it soon?
I grabbed my bag and began making my way out to the lobby, running into Angel.
" Mai, good morning! Where ya headed?" She said in a cheery tone.
" I was going to head into town and look around in some shops." I answered. " Well, I'm not really sure where to go to be honest."
" I was planning on heading into the city today too, actually. I could show you around!"
" Really? that'd be great!"
Kagome stalked past us, catching Angel's attention. Angel grabbed Kagome by her hoodie, dragging her along with us.
" Your coming with us Kagome- girl's day out."
"...I do not wish to partake in..." Kagome seemed like she was going to protest but Angel had this sort of iron will you couldn't really say no to. We headed off to Angel's car and she drove us further downtown.
I didn't mind huge cities, but I don't think anything could beat where I used to live, mostly because it was pretty quiet and it was a pretty place to live.
Angel pulled off into a parking lot and we got out. Looking around, the streets we were around had lots of little shops and restaurants- my favorite kind of place actually. You always found interesting stuff.
" Alright! let's start on this street!" Angel said, with almost a child-like energy. We first went into an old-fashioned candy store that had tons of sweets. My eyes marveled at all the different sorts of candy and desserts. I was surprised when I looked over that Kagome looked especially delighted- she had taken a small wooden basket and already filled it halfway.
" Kagome? What's your favorite?" I asked, breaking Kagome's trance as she stared at the lots of assorted sweets.
"...I like many...but...I love taffy and chocolate." She said with a small smile.
" I really like taffy too!" I responded, marveling at the barrels of saltwater taffy they had. Picking some out, I went to the register and paid for my pieces.
" I'm not necessarily a sweets person, I like salty food." Angel mentioned. She still chose a few pieces, though. Next, Angel led us to a small clothing store for women.
" I like this shop- they have nice clothes that aren't outrageously expensive." Angel said picking up a long-sleeve blue dress from a rack, It had a small cutout in the back of it, and it was a pretty shade of royal blue.
" Wow, that's really pretty." I marveled. " That would look nice on you, Angel."
" You think so? I think it's a size too small for me...It'd fit you though." Angel said with a devious look. Quickly, she shoved me in a dressing room and made me try it on. Feeling a bit awkward, I put it on finding it did fit me well. Walking out, Angel nodded approvingly.
" Mai, I'm buying that for you." Angel said while throwing a thumbs up. I giggled nervously as I went back into change into my normal clothes. I never really wore stuff like this often. Not that I didn't like dresses, but I always hung out with Dante and his friends, and they would make fun of me if I tried to do more girl-ish things.
Kagome seemed to look at the clothes with disapproval.
" These are all too bright." She stated simply. I laughed a little to myself. Kagome kind of had her own sense of style- which consisted of a lot of black. I think she found the color comforting in some sort of way. Her hair was actually really pretty in my opinion- it was a glossy dark black neatly cut at her shoulders.
Angel dressed more brightly, and a lot looked nice on her because she stood a bit taller than Kagome and I. She had long honey brown hair that fell to her lower back, and I couldn't help but be envious of it.
"...Let's go to the thrift store next..." Kagome said. Angel handed me the bag with the dress and agreed.
" Thank you Angel, I appreciate it." I said. Angel turned to look at me as we headed down the sidewalk.
" No problem, Mai. Oh, Kagome, do you want to got to that thrift store across the street?" Angel pointed out. Kagome nodded, so we walked across and went into an older looking building that held tons of shelves and sections of different little things from antiques to collectibles or cooking appliances.
Looking around, there were lots of cool stuff that you couldn't really find anywhere else. I was looking around in a section that had a lot of electronics. A gaming console caught my eye, and I picked it up to check it's condition, which was gently used.
" This would be fun to play on in my spare time...Oh, and there's a few games!" I said happily, picking up the cases for the console's games. I went ahead to the register and bought them.
" I bought these." Kagome said flatly, opening her bag to show some candles and a a box that read 'build-your-own-ant-farm'. Well, that's interesting.
Angel sighed with a smile on her face seeing Kagome's purchases.
" Your obsession with bugs is a little weird- I'm fine with it as long as they don't get out."
We headed out, and unfortunately, it was raining.
" Guys, let's go find a restaurant to eat lunch at!" Angel suggested as she put the hood to her jacket on. We walked around trying to find a decent place and found a small diner. The waiter inside sat us at a table quickly and gave us menu's.
" Glad we could get out of that. I'm not fond of rain. It's all wet and cold." Angel complained.
" I think rain is kind of calming in a way, that getting wet and cold almost isn't that bad. Me and my brother used to play in the rain all the time, but our dad would get annoyed because we would have a cold the next day." I mentioned as my eyes skimmed the menu. Kagome nodded.
" Rain is very calming..." Kagome agreed. "...in many stories and myths, rain is symbolized as a washing away of impurities-"
" HEY, how are you ladies doing?" the waiter obnoxiously interrupted. He was a younger man with wavy green hair and an eccentric demeanor. Angel twitched her eye in annoyance, probably not fond of the waiter.
" Sooooo! what will we have today?" he asked.
" I'll take the spaghetti along with the Italian sandwich and Caesar salad plus the tomato soup...Um, I guess I'll have fries too." Angel said simply. I guess she ate a lot?
The waiter stood there dumbfounded.
" Right,...uh, we'll get that to you." He replied. He took my order and then Kagome's and walked off to the kitchen.
" I eat more than the average man, I'm quite proud of it." Angel said with a confident smirk.
" Oh, Angel, I've been meaning to ask, how did you and Kagome join the...uh.. supernatural police force?" I asked.
" Huh? oh...well," Angel began, "...As a kid I was an orphan. I got into a lot of trouble running around the streets and I wasn't living very healthy. One night I was walking around and I was cornered by a vampire. Emzee happened to be walking by and took care of him. I was really thankful, y'know? there was no way I was getting out of that situation alive. Emzee happened to find out I wasn't living very well and took me in to the police force when he was 17. So, five years ago." Angel kind of chuckled. " I had no idea supernaturals were a thing, but once I found out about them, I wanted them to live peacefully with humans too, like Emzee wants."
" I , too, want humans and supernaturals to co-exist peacefully, otherwise, our world cannot be balanced." Kagome agreed. " That...is why I joined the police force..."
" Emzee is a little hard to get along with, Mai, but he has a huge passion for what he does. Not that he'd say it out loud." Angel added. " -And although he picks on you, it's just his way of getting to know you."
"...He has an odd way of being motherly..." Kagome added, making us laugh.
" Here's your food." The waiter deadpanned as he set down the various dishes in front of Angel, then finally our food.
As I began eating, I looked up at Angel in amazement as she ate the large amount of food quickly- she wasn't joking.
Suddenly, Angel's phone rang earning a groan from her as she answered.
" Hello?...are you serious? Well, I have Kagome and Mai with me...Okay, got it."
Angel finished the last of her food quickly then stood up.
" Emzee said there's a situation going on half a mile from here. There's an apparent witch that's causing trouble. Mai, we can't take you with us because it would be dangerous..." Angel said sadly.
" It's fine! I'm not done eating so I'll just finish and take the bus home!" I said reassuringly. Angel nodded.
" Okay, well...,I'll take your shopping bags and put them in my car so you don't have to lug them around. See ya in a bit!"
I waved goodbye to them and went back to eating my lunch.
" I hope they're safe..." I said to myself as I put my jacket back on and got ready to leave. Putting a tip down after I payed for my meal, I started heading down the street to the bus station.
" Excuse me miss, May I talk to you for a minute?" A man clad in a dark jacket said. I turned around to look at the guy with a curious face. He smiled kindly at me.
" You dropped your wallet!" He said with a chuckle. I gasped in surprise.
" Wow, I didn't even notice! Thank you!" I said graciously. The kind man nodded.
" Your Mai right? I've heard a lot about you." He continued. I gave him a confused look, because I don't think I had ever seen his guy in my life. The weirder thing was his eyes though. It's like I couldn't look away from them; they were a bright green color, and they made me want to hear every word the man spoke...
" I think I have some information you may want to know, why don't you come with me? hm?" He suggested, his eyes still looking directly in mine. They were pulling me to follow his every order.
"...Ah, yes...sure..." I agreed. Or, at least I think I agreed. Was I even making my own decisions anymore?
" Lovely, come with me miss..." The young man drawled as he held a piece of cloth to my face. Immediately, my vision had gone black.
When I woke up, I was in a dark room and I was tied down to a chair and my head hurt like crazy. . Great.