Sorry! It's very short, but it gave me inspiration for more, so expect more chapters after this ^^ Thanks to all those who have reviewed so far and a special thanks to Jem Juliette Jewels Jade who reviewed recently and encouraged me to update! Hope you guys like it, but it might be a while until the next chapter. I still don't have my computer fixed yet.
As I strolled through the forest on my crutches, I passed by the lake where a couple of divers were searching in the middle. I paused for a second, but then continued on and soon tired myself out. These past couple of days had been a bit much for me and my body was having a hard time handling everything, so I went ahead and leaned up against a tree, setting my crutches next to me. With a sigh, I began meditating, closing my eyes and leaning my head back against the trunk of the tree.
Man, who'd of thunk Naru would be hiding so much. It took me a while, but I pretty much figured it out when I saw that fake Oliver Davis. SPR: Society of Paranormal Research and Shibuya Psychic Research. Probably wouldn't of figured out his name though if I didn't spend time over in the states. Noll was never one of those nicknames I really knew. I let out a deep breath and began closing off my mind to everything except my surroundings. The birds whistling, the leaves rustling. Ah, It's been a while since I could meditate and relax like this.
"Heh, you should learn to relax more often, Xavier. You're worse than my brother."
I frowned and opened my eyes to find myself in an expanse of black; flying orbs of light roaming around in random directions. Standing among them, was Gene. A large smile lighting up his face as I scowled at him.
"I'd be able to relax more, if you weren't going around causing problems and interrupting my meditating." He chuckled and I sighed. "So what now? They know about you and Naru now. Or should I call him Oliver?"
Gene shook his head. "No. He wouldn't appreciate that."
"Right. Knowing him though, he's not going to tell them anything, huh?"
"Probably."
I smirked and glanced at him as the scenery changed to that of the lake. I glanced across the lake at the divers still searching and my smirk fell into a stoic expression.
"What's going to happen when they find you? Mai's not going to be very happy." I gave him a look. "She still thinks you're Naru."
He gave me a sad smile, looking over the lake as well. "I'll finally be able to rest in peace."
"Ah, so no more bothering me then?"
He chuckled. "I might be able to find a way. Can't leave Mai to figure things out on her own."
That caused me to laugh and the scene changed once more to that of the cabin. The group was still there, but their voices were muted so I couldn't hear them. Standing up, I was glad that pain didn't transfer to my spiritual self and stood next to Gene as we over looked the scene. Mai was obviously confused, but the tension in the room was high. A few of them obviously weren't happy about Naru hiding things from them, however, Naru was unreadable. He left soon after we got there though, and I gave Mai a glance.
"You going to tell her?"
"About me not being Noll? Hm, I guess I should."
"Well, duh. If she continues to think you're Naru, they'll never get together like you want them to."
He chuckled. "Who said I wanted them together?"
I rolled my eyes and changed the scene once more, returning to the forest.
"Well, you can't exactly have her, as much as I know you want to. Besides, I know that you want your brother to be happy more than yourself. That's why you've stuck around so long, isn't it? You've been worried about him and have been helping him out through Mai. Thus, bringing the two of them closer. You might as well admit it, Gene. You may like Mai, but you like your brother more."
He smiled brightly once more. "I suppose that's about right. I can see why Yasuhara chose you."
My face flushed a bit and I frowned. "Hey now. No dragging him into this."
Just then, I felt a presence draw closer and spotted Mai not far off from where my body was leaning up against a tree. Gene saw this too, and I patted his back.
"Now's your chance, lover boy. Tell her now or I'll find a way to drag you back here so I can pound your head in for lying to her."
With that, I shoved him forward and he chuckled, before leaning up against a tree not far from where I was. I decided that I should return to my body and did so, keeping an ear out for the conversation not too far from me. Gene made his expression blank and I could see how people would mistaken him for Naru. With that expression, they certainly are identical. I thought, as Mai approached Gene, most likely mistaking him for Naru again.
"I thought you had gone to the lake. What are you doing here?"
Gene stayed silent and Mai went on.
"Oh yeah. I'm sorry I called you 'Naru-chan' before."
"Why?"
"Isn't it only your older brother who calls you that? I didn't know the reason at all so…"
Mai walked over to the other side of the tree and leaned up against it as well.
"That's a story from when we were little."
"Okay…Naru-Is actually someone important. I kind of felt the distance. Hehe, no wonder you called me stupid. Compared to you I'm a real idiot."
I rolled my eyes. He always calls you stupid. I thought as she went on.
"You'll return to England and you'll return to the lifestyle you had before you met us."
My eyes softened and I closed them exhaling. So that's what she's worried about. She doesn't want to lose contact with any of us and she's gotten pretty close to Naru as well. With him going to England after this, she's afraid they'll never meet again. But if I know anything, Naru won't let go of Mai that easily.
"I can't imagine how you used to live. We live in completely different worlds."
"That's not true." Gene said.
"Really?"
"I'm just a stupid scholar."
I held back a laugh at Gene and struggled to keep quiet as Mai freaked out a bit.
"Wha-What's wrong? Calling yourself that way…" She suddenly stopped turning around and faced away from him again, cheeks flaming red and I nearly gave away my position again. "Na-Naru was also an orphan."
"My situation was different than yours and Xavier's. I had a brother and I met my grandparents."
I felt a bit jealous at that, but I stuffed it back down. I had long gotten over the fact that other people had what I didn't. But situations change. I have friends now. A family, almost.
"True." Mai said. "What kind of person was your brother?"
"Who knows." Gene replied and I mentally scoffed. Pft. You know Mai. You're talking to him now.
"So, I'm glad we met here. I wanted to apologize too."
"I was looking."
"Eh?" Mai seemed confused and went to look at him as Gene went on.
"I wanted to say a couple of things to you, so I was hoping I would meet you."
"Wha-"
Gene cut her off. "I thought maybe I wouldn't see you anymore, so I had a couple of things to tell you, but…"
"B-But?"
"Never mind."
Mai face faulted and I smacked my forehead. Gene! You're supposed to tell her, not just disappear like that! I glanced up with a scowl as he stood in front of me, rubbing the back of his neck with a nervous smile.
"Sorry, Xavier. I guess I'm too chicken."
"You bet you're a chicken." I said in a hushed tone, but then I heard the sound of someone approaching and turned towards Mai as Gene disappeared. Walking over towards Mai was Naru and my mouth dropped open in shock. Gene! You did that on purpose! You knew he was coming and left Mai hanging so that Naru would have to find out! You mangy rat! I'm definitely haunting you when I die! I heard a chuckle in the wind and slowly got up. I needed to leave the two of them alone, I knew. It was most likely that Naru would discover Mai's feelings for Gene and I'd rather not eavesdrop on their conversation.
Being as quiet as I could, I picked up my crutches and began to wander over to the lake again. It took a while longer, my body trying to get used to the pain after my little spiritual wandering, but I soon made it to the edge of the water and stood, staring out over it. I wonder what I would do, if I had family like that and they ended up dying. Naru's PK too. I've read up on that and heard that he relives whatever pain the ghost was in. I closed my eyes and remembered the feeling I felt when we pulled over on the side of the road that day. The car accident, then being run over again, only to be thrown into the lake and drowning.
I fell to my knees painfully, gasping for breath and clutching my throat as tears went down my face. Naru had to experience that. The death of his own twin brother. It's just like…what I have to remember, only he has to live with the fact that the culprit might never be caught. I coughed a bit, a lump forming in my throat, as I felt a hand touch my shoulder. Looking back, I saw Gene giving me a small smile of understanding.
"Gene…" I muttered, shifting my gaze down to the dirt below me. "Gene, is there anything I can do? I-I want to find her."
"How? Noll would have searched for her already."
"I know…I know, but maybe I could find something. I-I have his PK too. I could find something of yours and try to get pieces from what happened."
He shook his head when I gazed back up at him. "There's nothing you can do. Even I didn't see her face."
I forced myself to stand up without crutches, gritting my teeth against the pain, and grabbed the front of his shirt in anger.
"I will find her. I will relive your accident everyday if I have to, but I will find her."
His eyes were wide in shock, for being able to grab his shirt in this form or for saying what I did, I wasn't sure. But I was determined to find this woman who hurt Gene and Naru, no matter what. Letting him go, I picked up my crutches once more and noticed his gaze shift out towards the divers. I looked as well and noticed that they began shouting.
"They found it."
I immediately knew what Gene meant and nodded solemnly. "I'll go tell Lin…But Gene."
He turned to me and cocked his head to the side.
"I promise I'll find her for you…and for Naru. So don't go disappearing on all of us just yet, okay?"
He nodded with a smile and slowly faded away as I turned and hurried back to the cabin. When I reach it, I was out of breath and Yasu hurried over to stabilize me and keep me from falling over.
"Woah! What's going on, Xavier?"
I looked up and found Lin's eyes. "T-They…found him."
His eyes widened and he stood up, hurrying out the door with a thanks. I knew he was going after Naru to tell him and I went to head back to the lake. Yasu was worried, but I told him I was fine. There across from me, was Gene, pointing at the old yellow object that the divers were pulling out.
"Paper." Was all he said before disappearing once more and as soon as I made it over to the lake, I dropped my crutches and began helping the divers pull the body out of the water. They were thankful for the help, but that wasn't why I helped them. I actually tore off a piece of the yellow paper holding Gene and snuck it into my pocket before Naru and Mai ran over; the later handing me my crutches and pulling me back. Naru walked past us and went to confirm his suspicions, before walking off. Mai and I gave him a glance, but she knew that he needed some time to himself and offered to lead me back to the cabin.
When we returned, we gave everyone the news and Yasu went and herded me off to bed, knowing that I was exhausted and in pain. He helped me down onto the bed and leaned my crutches up against the wall as I sat up with the covers over my legs.
"Yasu."
"Hm?"
"When we leave here…I'm going to have to leave too."
He immediately frowned and sat down beside me, brushing my cheek with a hand.
"Why?"
"I'm sorry. But there's something I need to do."
I gripped the blankets tightly and glared down at them, and he seemed to understand right away. Leaning forward, he kissed my forehead.
"Alright. Just don't go getting yourself into trouble, okay? And make sure you write sappy love letters to me.~"
I smiled slightly and kissed him briefly. "I'll do my best, but no sappy love letters."
"Oh darn." He said, leaning his forehead against mine with a smirk.
He kissed me again and then stood up, heading for the door. "Try and get some sleep, princess."
"Hey. I'm not a princess. Didn't I say that already?"
"Yes, yes.~ Goodnight, Xavier."
"Night." I said with a roll of my eyes and laid down on my bed with my head facing the wall. Reaching into my pocket, I pulled out that scrap of yellow paper and frowned, gripping it tightly in my fist and falling into an uneasy slumber full of car accidents and death.
The next morning, I was awake around three and couldn't go back to sleep. So instead, I sat at the table in the kitchen and went over everything that I knew from Gene's memories. It wasn't much, but I had the color and type of car the woman drove, as well as what clothes she had been wearing. They weren't brand name clothing, so she wasn't too well off. Then the car was newer, but didn't have a license plate. So most likely it was rented or recently bought. Judging from the coloration though, I'd say rented. Nearby too. The rental agency would have to be in this area somewhere since the car wasn't too dirtied and it would be smarter than going way out of the way to rent a car. It shouldn't be hard to point out either since it was a bright red color.
It was around eight o' clock when Ayako woke up to make breakfast for everyone, only to nearly scream when she saw me sitting at the table with an empty container of coffee next to me and crumpled papers littered across the table.
"Geeze! You nearly gave me a heart attack! What are you doing?!"
I blinked at her lazily. "Nothing."
She groaned and smacked her forehead, before pointing at the litter I had gathered up.
"That doesn't look like nothing! How long have you been awake anyway?!"
"Since three." I mumbled as I lit up a match and threw the papers into the fireplace. "Do you need help with breakfast?"
She had her mouth open, but sighed, knowing that she wasn't exactly going to get through to me at this point.
"Sure. It's pretty simple though. How's your leg doing?"
"Fine. It'll be healed by the end of the week. No more crutches by the day after tomorrow."
"That's good." She said and began preparing breakfast while I sat down and leaned my crutches against the table.
I folded my arms on the table and rested my head on them, watching Ayako make breakfast before she told me to go down and wake up the guys. I did so, ignoring their own bloodshot eyes, and walked next to Yasu as we all returned for breakfast. As I plopped my head back down onto the table, Yasu pushed my head to the side and looked at me.
"You've got bags, Xavier."
"Mm."
He gave me a small smile and ruffled my hair while everyone got situated. It wasn't until mid-afternoon though, that Naru's step-parents had arrived. His mother in particular ended up crying for a while after she was told about Gene's body being found, but no one said anything and I sat quietly, remembering the faces of my old friends' parents when they discovered what had happened to them.
When she did manage to calm down a bit, she showed everyone a picture of the two when they were younger and, while Monk and the others were surprised to find out they were twins, the rest of us just gave it a glance and silently mourned. I suppose that's why Naru always wore black clothes. He was mourning his brother…I doubt he'll stop though. He might always mourn over the lose of his twin.
After the body had been sent to the morgue in England, the rest of us returned to Tokyo and Mai ended up planning a bit of a farewell party for Naru and Lin. No one but Yasu knew that I would be leaving soon, and I wondered if I should tell them. I don't think I will. Naru would definitely disapprove of what I'm going to do, and they probably won't be happy either. I guess I'll just leave it up to Yasu to explain later. After all, I need to leave as soon as I can. I found the car rental last night and need to see what I can discover.
I yawned, leaning my head back against Yasu's shoulder as we sat on the couch in the SPR office. Mai was closing the windows and such, but it seemed Naru was planning on returning to the office after a break in England. Mori would take care of it until his return and that way, Mai wouldn't be out of a job.
"Okay. I closed all the windows."
"Can we go?" Ayako asked.
"As soon as Naru and Lin are ready."
"Yeah. What's your rush, grandma. You're not getting any younger."
She turned on me with a growl, but I just smirked as Monk turned back towards Mai.
"We'll have to say goodbye to this place for a while, huh…"
"Well, isn't it good that the office will remain?" Yasu replied, smiling brightly as always.
"Yep." Mai smiled as well when John asked an interesting question.
"How long will the break be?"
"They don't know yet. A lot of things have happened, so Naru won't be able to return for a while. So in the meantime Mori will take care of the office."
Mai and Ayako ended up playfully arguing as well about their wallet sizes or something, when Lin closed up his office.
"Is Lin returning soon?"
"No. I will stay there for a while longer."
Mai went off to speak with Lin, but soon enough-although not for Ayako- Naru came out from his office.
"Ah, finally! What were you doing?!"
"I don't remember making this a meeting place, so you have no right to complain about anything." He replied bluntly and Mai tried to calm Ayako down.
"Well, since we're all here, let's go." Yasu said as he helped me up from the couch.
John went to go catch a cab and Monk went to his car, offing me a ride back, but I denied him.
"Nah. I'm okay. I'm headed somewhere else anyway."
He seemed confused and suspicious, but didn't question it. "Ah. Okay. See you later then."
"Yup."
As they all headed out, I gave Yasu one last kiss before hailing a taxi and heading out to a discrete motorcycle lot nearby that a friend of mine owned. Paying for my bike and helmet, I plopped myself on the back and began my long journey back to the lake. I'll find her. No matter what, Gene.
