I am trying SO HARD to update faster than I usually do.

Disclaimer: I no own. You no sue. I also don't own the Chapter title. "The FRAY" does.

A/N: fight scene. Expect OOCness.


Beating Hearts

chapter seven: How to save a life - part one

"Mai. . .isn't that the fellow that you work for inside?" Her father suddenly said. Mai whirled around and saw that he was staring in her apartment window again. Mai went to him, and looked too, and found that he was right.

"Naru. . ." she said. She gasped he when suddenly fell backwards.

"NARU!" she screamed.


"Takigawa, put that over there. You were the one who suggested the Shinishi-ko, I was expecting you to know what to do." Lin said. Takigawa mumbled under his breath (something along the lines of "I don't see you getting your hands full of splinters") then reminded himself that this was all for Mai.

Mai. . .

He wondered how she was doing.

He hoped that everything was alright. Naru had gone off a few hours ago, and they couldn't reach him on his cell phone. Something was wrong. . .

"Takigawa!"

"Yeah, yeah, I hear you!"


Naru panted as he slumped against the bathroom door, he'd been in there for– he looked at his watch– close to four hours. Looking down at the unconscious girl in his arms, he remembered what drove him to his current situation. . .

-FLASHBACK!-

Naru wondered what was taking so long for Zakuro to bring him another drink. It wasn't like he was going to drink it or anything, it's just that Zakuro had been gone for a good twenty minutes. Surely, it didn't take that long.

"Hey," Naru called out, "hey, are you ok in there?"

It was then that Zakuro decided to finally show up again. He had an eery smile plastered on his face as he drew nearer to Naru. He held out the glass of water to Naru. Cautiously, he took the drink from his Host. As soon as Naru's hand was close enough, Zakuro grabbed his wrist tightly. He showed his other hand, which Naru was just then realizing had been behind his back the whole time, which had a shredder knife in it. Naru suddenly became fully alert of what was going on.

"You should have just minded your own business!" Zakuro shouted and slashed at him. Naru jerked free at the last moment and stumbled backwards.

". . .a-a-ARU!"

Naru looked around. He could've sworn someone had just called his name.

He could've sworn it was Mai.

As his gaze fell upon her, her fingers twitched, and then her arm fell from her stomach and laid limply on the ground. He was about to reach out to her when a furious cry from Zakuro brought him back to reality.

"Don't you DARE TOUCH HER!" he shrieked and lunged for Naru, the knife pointed directly at him. Naru was quicker though. He dodged to the side, and landed on his stomach where he quickly rolled over as Zakuro came for him yet again. The knife was thrown down right wherehis head would have been if he hadn't have moved.

Leaving the knife, Zakuro lunged for him again, and landed on Naru, who smartly put his legs up at the same time, and kicked Zakuro in the crotch. Zakuro howled in pain and fell to his knees, clutching his damaged goods as Naru got up and walked past him. He was panting, having not (really) expecting to be attacked.

Naru made his way to the couch and reached for Mai. He pulled her up, and slung one of her arms around his neck as he wrapped his other arm around her waist. It was then that he began pulling her towards the front door to make a quick escape. It was then that Zakuro reached for his knife and hurried over to Naru before he could reach the door. He let out another furious cry as he struck the knife at him, but he stumbled, and tripped, and ended up cutting Mai on her shoulder.

Mai still did not awaken.

At the sight of blood spurting on the door, Mai's blood, anger suddenly rushed through Naru. He let go of Mai and gently sat her down against the door, then turned his direction back to Zakuro, who was trying to regain his composure, Naru lifted his leg and kicked him in the face. Such a powerful attack sent Zakuro flying backwards on to the floor.

Zakuro rolled over and pushed himself up. He touched his lip and felt a slickness. When he pulled his hand back, he saw that his lip was bleeding. He grinned maliciously.

He could do hand to hand combat.

Naru strutted slowly to Zakuro, and was taken by surprise when Zakuro bounced up by pushing his body weight off the floor with only his hands and landed in a fighting position.

"Bring it." he said. Naru took off his jacket and threw it on the couch. Then he turned back to face Zakuro. Zakuro moved to his right, and Naru stayed wear he was, eyeing his opponent. Naru took a few seconds to think about why he was fighting. The little voice in his head told him it was to protect Mai, and then he rid himself of that thought. He never really had to care about anyone other than himself. So why was he here, about to fight some strange, crazed man, for a girl? Mai of all people. Again the little voice in his head appeared and told him it was all because of Mai. Naru cursed the voice just as Zakuro lunged for him. Naru sidestepped and grabbed Zakuro's wrist then twisted his arm behind his back as his other arm snaked it's way around his neck.

Chokehold. And most certainly not Cupids.

All Naru could think about was getting this man far away from Mai. As far as possible. He didn't realize that Zakuro's hand reached off to the side to get the knife. He did notice when he held the knife up ready to plunge it into Naru's side. At the last moment, Naru saw the light reflect off of the blade and pushed Zakuro away. Zakuro laid face flat on the ground, and Naru thought that he finally had him. When he took a step forward, a searing pain shot up from his thigh. He looked down and saw the handle sticking out of the side of his thigh. He cried out in pain. Zakuro pushed himself up from the ground and turned his head to grin evilly at Naru.

"You thought you'd win," he cackled. Zakuro turned around and started crawling to Naru, slowly, as if stalking his prey. Just as he reached out for naru, the coffee table lifted up into the air and dropped onto him. The glass broke and everything was scattered everywhere.

"What the–" Zakuro was cut off by the lounge chair in front of him lifting up in the air, circling him, and then dropping. Zakuro rolled out of the way, but when the chair didn't make contact with him, it started following him. Zakuro stood up and started running away from the chair, dodging random things that flung themself at him. Magazine, broken pieces of glass, cups, pillows, everything, was after Zakuro.

"What the fuck is going on here?!" Zakuro demanded, just as a couch cushion flung itself at his head. Suddenly, the kitchen table stood up vertically, then was dragged across the floor and slammed itself into Zakuro, who was cornered against the wall next to the front door. The kitchen table didn't move. Neither did Zakuro. Naru was slightly surprised, but he was sort of expecting something like that to happen. He was actually thankful that Zakuro hadn't been in front of Mai, or else she'd have gotten hurt as well.

Naru stood up and limped over to where the unconscious Mai was. He kneeled down, wincing in pain, and then wrapped his arm around her waist and brought her arm around his neck. When he stood up, he had trouble because his wound was so fresh

When he was standing all the way up, he carefully reached for the door when Zakuro's hand shot out from behind the kitchen table. His grip on Naru's ankle was tight.

"Let go!" Naru ordered.

"No, no, NEVER! YOU LEAVE HER BE!" Zakuro shouted. He pushed the table away from him with both of his arms, and Naru took that as initiative to turn around and go deeper into the apartment. He obviously wasn't going to leave without another fight, and rest was what he needed right then. Naru walked back to where the bedrooms were and opened the first door her saw.

It was the bathroom.

Naru would've turned around and left, if not for the fact that Zakuro had successfully pushed the table away from, and was then headed straight for them.

Naru slammed the door shut and locked it. Just in time, because Zakuro had reached them, and was banging on the door.

"Open up, little man! You have Mai in there! I know you do! RELEASE HER TO ME THIS MINUTE! YOU HEARD ME, YOU LITTLE FUCKER! I SAID GIVE HER UP!"

Naru sighed and leaned against the opposite wall. She slumped against it, and slid down, Mai, still in his grasp.

"Such vulgar language." he said to himself.

And that's where he has been ever since.

He wasn't exactly sure what Zakuro had been doing, but he knew that he was still out there, waiting for Naru to come out. If it were anyone other than Naru (besides maybe Lin, or Takigawa) he would've exited already.

Naru is smarter than that.

But apparently, not smart enough to put his cell phone in his pants pocket instead of his jacket pocket.

His jacket was out there in the living room.


"I. . .I wish I could do something! I hate this!" Mai cried. She was standing right in front of Naru, watching him as he held her physical body in his arms. She looked at his wound and noticed that he'd lost a lot of blood. That couldn't be good. In fact, Mai was positive that if she didn't do something, anything, that he would most like die from blood loss.

"Mai, darling, don't worry. If this boy is as smart as you say he is, he'll figure something out." Her father said. Her mother put her hand on his shoulder. He looked back at her.

"I hope." he said low enough so that Mai wouldn't hear.

"I'm so stupid." Mai said. "I should've run away when I had the chance, then none of this would be happening!"

Her mother hugged her tightly. "Mai, dear. Please don't call yourself that! Its not true."

And then Mai realized something.

"Call. . . CALL!" She shouted.


"CALL!" a voice said from somewhere. Naru looked around, but of course, he saw no one. Normally. He wouldn't have even lifted his head, but in this case, he was a tiny bit spooked.

The voice sounded like Mai.

Her looked at the dying girl in his arms and closed his eyes, wishing that something positive would happen.


"What do you mean we need the body here!?" Takigawa shouted. Lin stared at him blankly.

"In this case of a Shinishi-ko, we do plan on materializing a body, correct?" Lin said. He didn't wait for an answer. "Yes. The Answer is yes. We need the body for that to happen."

"I have never heard of this before. It's sounds very farfetched to me." The monk admitted sternly.

"We are Ghost Hunters," Lin said, "everything we do, is farfetched."

He turned around as Takigawa muttered something about being Knock-off Ghost Busters.

"Call Naru." He ordered John. He didn't have to because John was already on the phone.


Naru could hear his cell phone ringing out in the livingroom. He knew it must've been someone from the group. No one else knew his number, besides his parents and his sensei.

"Oh little boy," Zakuro called out. He was right on the other side of the door. "I have your phone. A friend of yours must be worried about you. How about a trade?"

"No thanks." Naru stated flatly. Zakuro punched the door.

"Fine then! You leave me no choice!" he shouted. There was a moment of silence, and then he heard something slam down on to the floor. And then he heard the dial tone of his cell phone. There was another slam, and the dial tone ceased.

"I hope you're happy." Zakuro said, and then the sound of his footsteps let Naru know he was gone.

"Well," Naru said to the empty space, "looks like I need a new phone."


"Now, Mai, are you sure you can do this?" Her mother asked. Mai nodded ferociously.

"I'm positive."

"Are you really?"

"Himiko."

The two women turned to see Mai's father.

"Darling," he said, "She needs to do this."

"But Rei!"

"Himiko, let her go." Rei said. Reluctantly, Himiko stepped away from her daughter. They were in the parking garage of the apartment complex, where everything for the Shinishi-ko was set up. In front of Mai, was Masako.

"Masako." Mai said soundly. Masako's head jerked up and she looked in Mai's direction.

"Can you see me?" Mai asked. Masako looked a little troubled.

"Can you sense me?"

"Yes." Masako's response was instant. "I can hear you clearly."

"Good. Naru is in danger of dying." Mai said bluntly. Masako gasped, catching the attention of everyone.

"Are. . .are you sure?" she asked.

"Masako, what's going on?" Ayako asked the medium. Ayako scowled.

"Sh!" Masako replied.

"Masako, I'm going to possess you. It's diar!" Mai cried out. Masako looked startled for a moment, and then she relaxed and nodded her head. Mai drew herself into Masako's body, and Masako fell to her knees. John rushed over to help her.

"Masako, are you alright?" he asked. A moment later, Masako raised her head, and looked around for a phone. When she didn't see one, she asked, "I need to use someone's phone."

John, confused, reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone.

"Here. What–"

"Sh!" Masako said. She punched in seven numbers and put the phone to her ear.


Back in the apartment, the phone was ringing. Zakuro picked it up.

"Hello?" he asked lazily.

"Ah, yes, Zakuro? It's me, Aya, from work."

"Aya? What's wrong, you sound different." he stated.

"Yes, I expected as much. I have a cold and my throat is soar. I'm going home early and they told me to call and see if you could come in."

"I kind of can't at the moment. I'm kind of busy right–"

"I'm told that this would be counted as overtime and along with your usual paycheck, you'd get extra for coming in today."

Zakuro thought hard.

"Well, you see–"

"If I'm not mistaken, you could use the money. Right? That's what the boss told me. . ."

"Well, I can. Maybe. . .yeah, sure. I'll come in. If what you said is true, I need to talk to boss-man anyway about privacy."

She chuckled. "Yes. He is quite nosy. Oh, yes? Hold on Zakuro."

Zakuro waited as she put him on hold.

"It seems," she said when she came back, "that Li-li has already called someone in. Boss said whoever get's here first will get overtime pay. So hurry!" and then she hung up.

Zakuro hung up the phone as well and jumped up from his sitting position. He ran to his room to get his work shirt. When he changed, he looked at himself in the mirror and grimaced. That fight he had earlier really did some damage.

"I'll just say I fell down the stairs on my way to work." he confirmed. On his way to the front door, he knocked on the bathroom door.

"I have to leave." he said. "But you are going to be here when I get back."

"How can you be so sure?" Came Naru's response.

"Oh, don't worry." Zakuro said, as he locked the door from the outside. "I'm positive you'll stay here. Goodbye." he said, and then made his way to the door.

Naru waited until he heard the front door open and close, and then he scooted slowly over to the tub, and rose to his knees, carefully, he slid Mai inside the tub, then turned around and pulled himself up using the towel rack. He reached out for the door handle, and found it to be locked.

He cursed under his breath.


"Masako, what was that?" Ayako demanded. "Who is Aya? Why did you call this guy?"

"Ayako, please shut up! I'm not Masako, I'm Mai. I've possessed her to save Naru."

Taking their stunned silence to her advantage, Mai-Masako punched in a new set of seven numbers on the cell phone.


Naru didn't know how his situation could get worse.

Ok, he knew. It was possible they could run out of air, yet highly unlikely, but whatever.

---

Ai e Ai e Ai

I'm your little butterfly

Ai e Ai e Ai

I'm your little butterfly

---

Naru pivoted on his heel and looked at Mai, who was still unconscious in the bathtub.

"What was that?" he asked himself as he drew nearer to Mai.

---

Ai e Ai e Ai

I'm your little butterfly

Ai e Ai e Ai

I'm your little butterfly

---

And then Naru realized what it was.

It was Mai's cellphone.