SO yeah! I have not much to say. Sorry for the delay, and please enjoy!
Right now I love the song Karuma, the intro theme to the game 'Tales of the Abyss" I almost beat that game. At the final boss I ran out of recovery items, except a few lottery gels... and I'm not using those hokay? Although I did get through half (the cinematic thing with tear singing)with no life bottles... I love the FR-LMBS (Flex-Range Linear Motion Battle System)
And Yowake Umare Kuru Shoujo (end theme for Shakugan No Shana)
Oh! And this story is definitley pre volume 9/episode 25... just so yeh know
Disclaimer: Its in the first chapter
7-
Mai sat up and sighed. Suddenly it was really dark. She seemed to remember there being some decent sunlight...
She was quite pleased to see that her stuff was outside. She had always loved camping under the stars. She had done it once, maybe twice long ago with her parents. Both times they 'accidentally' forgot their tent. It was good times. Mai felt some rain on her nose
Mai stood up before her trip down memory lane brought tears to her face. She inhaled the beautiful pure air and smiled. Although...
She could hear someone crying. Mai walked to the edge of the water, where she located the epicenter of the sound, even if she couldn't see anything.
"Kiseki?" Mai asked tentatively. She figured it was probably the small child. Mai strained her ears and heard.
"It hurt..." came Kiseki's soft voice.
Mai didn't say anything right away. She wondered what could hurt a spirit... or was it remembering its death? "What happened?" She asked, after thinking a moment.
"They did something, and I was sent away... It hurt! I was..." she sobbed a bit. "I was hoping Shouta would be here to cheer me up..." the rain got a bit harder, hitting Mai's arm a few times, as well as her face again.
Mai took off her shoes and put her feet in the cold water. It was freezing, but refreshing. A cup of tea would be nice... But she closed her eyes and smiled a bit. "Maybe Shouta is waiting for you."
Kiseki's voice wavered. "But I don't see him... he's not here." the rain picked up a bit more.
Mai shook her head. "No... maybe he has passed on and is waiting for you to do the same..." Mai said opening her eyes and looking over the water's surface. "Maybe he..."
At that moment there was a rustle behind her. "Who..?" Kiseki shouted, which was more like a regular voice in her present state. Mai turned around, to see Naru, out of breath, staring at her.
"What're you.." started Mai. But she was cut off.
"That hurt!" Kiseki cried, her anger making her manifest a bit more. Mai could now see the young girl a bit. She was wearing a light, yellow summer dress with white flowers, and sandals. She had shoulder length black hair, similar to Masako's.
Naru didn't say anything, but didn't move forward either.
"That really hurt! What did you do!?" She got a bit angrier, and Mai could see her much more clearly. The rain began coming down faster. Naru and Mai were both soaked.
"Kiseki-chan!" Mai called. "Please don't!"
Kiseki's rage was now a physical force in itself. "No!" She glared at Mai forcefully, and Mai fell into the water as if she had been pushed.
Naru ran over, but the spirit knocked him back a bit just as she had done with Mai.
Mai began treading water, but it was really cold. It leeched into her bones, and drained her energy right from them. She swam to the edge and tried her best to get out. But she couldn't get a grip on anything, and slipped repetitively.
Kiseki looked at Mai and her eyes widened. She let out a scream and disappeared. Naru immediately grabbed Mai's hand. The rain got harder. Mai was thinking about how happy she was the bag with all of her stuff was waterproof.
Naru pulled Mai up. "Are you okay?"
The coldness bit into her very being. So much that she didn't notice the concern in his voice. "Naru... thats how she died." She looked to the water. "She drowned on a rainy day, waiting for him here."
Naru didn't know who 'he' was. But for now, Mai would get hypothermia if nothing was done. "Do you want to try to got to the lodge?" Mai nodded, and looked around. She could have sworn she knew which one was the right one to go through to get to the lodge.
Naru took her hand, and lead Mai towards the correct shrub. Part of the way there, Mai dropped his hand and stopped. She began shivering. "Actually, I'm good here. I can't walk anymore." She sat right down where she was, as the rain continued to pelt down on them.
Naru didn't say anything. The dark hid his eyes. Any chance she might have had (even if it were slim to none) to understand what he was thinking was absent.
"I'll stay out here okay? Don't go catching a cold." Mai said, sneezing. She struggled back to her feet only to take a few steps and fall onto her now soaked blanket. "... cold" she muttered softly.
Naru was upset with the decisions before him. He could walk back alone, or take Mai against her will. But if he went alone she would without a doubt get sick.
She was his assistant. Assistants do what the boss wants them to. Naru picked her up and carried her back to the lodge. He left the camera and everything else.
The camera might get a good shot of... something... at some point.
When Naru walked back into the lodge soaking wet with Mai in his arms, Everyone had already gone to sleep. Or was at least pretending to. Whatever it was, it worked, and Naru didn't notice.
Naru set Mai on his bed, then sat down for a moment, knowing that he would probably have to carry her back to the pond again in the morning.
But the rain was supposed to continue, so they would have to rig up a makeshift tent, or something. Why had he not thought of someone possible staying outside?
Its not like it was his fault. Mai really knew how to get those stupid spirits attention. And when that happened...
Naru looked around. There was there was no where left for him. He sighed and looked around the room once more as if it were just hiding a good place from him. He could just stay up and monitor the cameras. Except that the bright screens were off, and so was the generator. It had been deemed that the generator was too loud to permit restful sleep.
Naru wondered when the power had started shifting away from him. It felt like a lot of decisions made by him were being thrown down. Naru decided that he would be a bit firmer with his instructions. After all, they didn't used to do this. He must have changed a bit. Softened up a bit...
No way. Not his style.
Naru turned his attention back to the sleeping problem. There was a cupboard with blankets in it, he could just take a spot on the floor.
Naru arranged this, only to find that it was much colder on the floor than he anticipated. He moved in front of the wood heater where Mai had stayed before.
Takigawa shuffled his blankets a little to cover up moving to try and get a better view. He had figured that that was what Naru was doing when he ran out. Rain, cold, angry spirit, or weird curse thing?
The obvious decision in this case would be the latter. However, it wouldn't always be. The curse itself would probably advance and become more dangerous when in effect. In the morning, rain or none, they would have to move Mai back outside.
And even if Naru said not to, there would be no choice.
In the morning, Naru was awake first. He knew the rain was supposed to continue for at least 2 more days. But there was a slight reprieve from it, so he decided that if he was going to set up a makeshift tent, it would be best to do it right then.
There were two component to a tent. A frame, and covering. The frame could be made by the wood lying around. There was plenty around, leftovers when the building was built. The covering could be anything large enough that was waterproof. A tarp would work, as long as they had two. One to cover the top, one for the ground. Then they would put a blanket over the ground. Voila. Makeshift tent.
There were a few tarps in the cupboard that housed extra blankets, so that was good. Naru grabbed them before deciding to go outside.
He paused before actually opening the door.
He was the boss. The peons do the hard work.
So who would be doing the work this time? Naru thought back to the time that Takigawa pushed him through the bush before they found Mai the first time. He had decided that there would be a repayment of some sort. This would work.
Naru put the tarps down on the kitchen table, and walked back into the room where everyone else was sleeping. He grabbed a pencil that was lying on the desk by the monitors, and poked Takigawa hard on the forehead with the eraser.
Takigawa stirred quietly for a moment before opening his eyes. "Come on." Naru said, and put the pencil back on the desk, heading outside.
Takigawa sighed. "Can't he wake someone up normally?" Takigawa muttered, wondering what he had done to deserve this. It was early in the morning, and his brain wasn't at 100 percent.
Outside, Naru was holding two large blue tarps, and was standing near a pile of wooden beams. Takigawa wandered over, getting a suspicion that he would be carrying some of those beams. Maybe because everyone had shot down his 'barricade the lodge' idea when he had put it forward the first time, he was going to sneakingly get it done.
"I'm not going to help." Takigawa said, yawning and looking to the sky. It looked like it was going to rain again.
Naru didn't seem overly concerned about the rejection. He never was overly concerned about much, but even if he was, he would never show it. At least not to Takigawa. "Fine then. Mai is going to have to stay out all day in the rain. You can shoulder the blame if she gets upset."
Takigawa was surprised. He really did think that Naru was going to make him barricade the lodge. "Oh.. Well if thats what your doing, I'll help."
Naru wondered what Takigawa had been thinking when he rejected at first. But Takigawa picked up a few of the pieces of wood that were best suited for the job, and they started towards the pond.
It was a bit of a problem getting the long boards down the hill, along the path and through the bush, but they made it. Naru deemed it necessary for Takigawa to get more boards.
Because Takigawa had to take three more trips to get enough, Naru went back to the lodge as well, and found some rope to use to hold the boards in their shape. He took as much as he could find and walked back past a tired Takigawa on his 3rd trip to the pond.
Once both of them had assembled everything Naru thought was necessary, he began instructing Takigawa on how to put it all together. But putting together the shelter he had in mind turned out to be a two person operation, so Naru soon found himself helping with the task, whether or not he liked it.
Once they had put together a decent little tent, Naru had Takigawa move Mai's bag under it. Takigawa also grabbed the Two wet blankets as well as the soaking pillow, and They both walked back to the lodge, where Naru grabbed a sleeping Mai, and Takigawa grabbed as many blankets as they could spare as well as another pillow.
Back at the pond, They were quite lucky. They laid down the blankets, and put Mai in the tent, just in time for the rain to begin to drizzle again.
By the time they got back to the lodge the rain was going all out, they were both soaked, and a faint rumbling, that signified a vehicle approaching could be head. All that remained now was to find out who was in the vehicle.
Mai woke up to the pattering of rain. When she opened her eyes she was assaulted by a glowing bright blue.
It certainly wasn't the sky, and it was definitely not there when she went to sleep. After her eyes cleared a bit more, it became obvious that it was a makeshift tent. The rain was still going outside, so she needed some sort of shelter. The food she never had a chance to eat was still sitting in a little container, forgotten in the tall grass somewhere. Due to her hunger, Mai stood up, and began to look for it.
The camera just outside of her little tent was a bit surprising. She did know it was there, but its angle was... Mai noted that if she wanted to get changed, she would need the cover of her blankets. She waved at it before continuing her search.
She found it just behind the camera, and opened it to find some crackers and fish. Next to it was a water bottle. She had a few in her bag still as well, so she figured that she may as well brush her teeth once she finished.
After all, fish was certainly not the sort of thing she enjoyed for breakfast. She munched on the crackers, with the fish on top, sitting on her back, like a stool. She watched the rain dent the black surface of the water. Mai really wondered why it was so dark.
If she was right about the fact that the spirit died in it, that might have been relevant. She really got the feeling that the reason Kiseki was so upset was that she was remembering her own death.
After she finished with her 'meal', Mai walked over near the edge of the clearing, and brushed her teeth with one of her water bottles.
There was nothing to do other than what had already been done, so Mai sat down, and sighed, humming a melody that she made up on the spot.
When the sound of the car was finally loud enough to signify that whomever was coming had arrived, Naru and Takigawa, as well as Lin who had woken up while the were out, went outside. Ayako was driving a rental vehicle, and Yasuhara was in the the passengers side.
"Ayako? Weren't you going to be gone?" Takigawa asked as she stepped out of the car, and looked around the area.
"Yeah, but when I heard that you guys had screwed something up, I had to come." Ayako said sighing. "I guess I'll have to do the clean up."
Takigawa just laughed. "yeah right.. with what talent? We're going to need a lot more than 9 words to deal with this."
Ayako steamed. "Well, if you give me a chance..."
Naru cut her off. "Yasuhara-san. Did you set it up?"
He nodded, and pulled out a particularly large cellphone. "The sound quality isn't great, but it will work." Ayako looked at the mechanism in Yasuhara's hand.
"So what we were doing stopping ever 15 minutes was for that thing?" she asked, exasperated. "I really am not going to collect up all those things that you left lying around, so you'd better be going with someone else on the way back."
"Umm, Naru-chan, what is that for?" Takigawa asked. "There no service for cell phones here, if you don't remember."
Naru ignored him, and walked up the hill. Yasuhara filled him in. "In order to get cell phone service out here, so we can contact Mori-san, should we need her to look something up. I used some signal boosters in order to get a a signal out here. But it only works with specific phones. Thats why I had to bring my cell phone."
Takigawa stared at the large thing in Yasuhara's hand. "That is your cell phone?"
"With extra big buttons so this old person's clumsy fingers don't miss the right spots." Yasuhara said, turning the face to Takigawa, who found out that rather than large buttons, it was covered in tiny ones, the numbers shoved off into the upper left hand corner, with a million other functions.
Ayako sighed. "lets go inside." The ruckus had woken up John and Masako. Ayako looked around after saying her hellos. "And Mai?"
The lack immediate answer was enough for Ayako. "So she's missing?" Ayako said.
"No. Some curse thing." Takigawa said. "She's fine, as long as she stays near some special place."
Ayako looked around. "Oh. Well can someone take me there? I want to see it."
Takigawa sighed. "Not now. I was up early thanks to Naru, making a tent for her. Plus thats probably where Naru went, going to ask Mai if she know anything."
Ayako growled for a bit, but it was best to leave Mai and Naru alone. In fact the consideration was rather refreshing.
Yasuhara nodded, listening to the conversation. "So did anyone disappear at all? How can you be sure of Komaya-san's story?" He looked around. "And where is she?"
Takigawa pointed to a door. "In there. Our cameras say that she is currently asleep." Takigawa said, checking the camera screen as he said so in order to verify the information.
John filled Ayako in on the other part of her inquiry. "I went missing the first evening, but due to Naru's thinking ahead, they tracked me down and I'm back. Since then we've had no issues with that."
"Not that we've really had that much of a chance for anything else to go wrong." Takigawa said. "Honestly, we're falling apart. Some how I get the idea that Naru hasn't been focusing as much as he could be."
Ayako nodded, and sat down at the kitchen table. A nice place Ako had here. "Maybe he was focused on other things. Things more important to him." Ayako hinted, trying to see if anyone else would catch what she had in mind. Apparently no one did, based on the confused expressions she was receiving.
"Hopeless..." Ayako said, sighing. Then again. They wouldn't know. They haven't ever really cared about someone as much as I think Naru cares for that girl. Ayako didn't know why that disappointed her as much as it did.
