Chapter 10

Mai kept on a happy face for the orphans. She didn't want to worry the children as they seemed to have a sixth sense tuned into when people were sad or upset. And Mai was currently both. She was still shaking from the tea cup incident and she didn't know how to cope with it. She wasn't exactly sure what Naru had done but she knew that never wanted to see him like that again.

"Mai-chan, let's play dress up! Ayako said we could play dress up in the kimonos!" one of the children cried. Mai laughed before she allowed herself to be pulled up into the attic where the kimonos were stored. There were about five little girls that wanted to play. John had volunteered to stay behind with Mai so he was taking care of the children that had opted to go outside and play baseball. Mai was grateful that he had stayed behind and she was slightly shocked to find that Masako had stayed behind as well and was outside with John, in normal clothes, playing as well.

"Mai-chan, here's one that'll fit you!" Marissa, another orphan that was about eight, cried as she pulled out a pale blue kimono with silver flowers on it. The obi that tied around the waist was a deep purple that off-set the lighter colors perfectly.

"I don't think I'll play." Mai tried to say. She didn't want to put the fragile looking kimono on and have it rip. She didn't think she would be able to pay Ayako's parents back. Marissa looked slightly upset that Mai sighed. She couldn't deny the puppy dog look that all the children were giving her. She finally gave in and said that she would play the dress up game with them. She took the kimono gently and went to her room to change.

She tied the obi and took a look at herself in the mirror. She stuck her tongue out at her reflection. She never thought she looked good in kimonos. She thought that they made her look short not to mention fat. She thought she was short enough as it was and she didn't want to just prove it by wearing something that made her look even shorter than she already looked. She rolled her eyes before she turned away from the mirror and tightened the obi to make sure it wouldn't fall off.

She felt a shiver go down her spine and she froze. She stood still before her eyes went blank and Mai went unconscious even though her body was still awake. She blinked before looking down at her hands and then back at the mirror. But instead of being Mai that was reflected back there was a girl not much younger than Mai. Her hair was black and fell down her back and she was in an old Japanese girl school uniform. The girl blinked before she turned as an older woman stepped through the wall of Mai's bedroom.

"Good job on possessing her, Lilia. I'm proud of you. To bad poor little Kohana and Kaoru didn't realize that we could pull the same tricks they can." the woman said with a bright smirk.

"Ms. Kari, may I leave Mai's body before you kill her? I don't want to feel death again." Lilia asked softly and the ghost nodded as the smirk stayed on place before she went to the door and Mai's possessed body opened it for her.

"Naru, Naru, can you find...sweet little Mai...just in time?" Kari sang before she floated out and Mai followed her as though she were on strings. Lilia knew that as long as Mai died their secret would be fine. No one would know what Kari had done and the living would once again be alright.

Kaoru knew the moment she entered Ayako's house that they were there. It wasn't that hard to sense their spirits. What she didn't understand was how they were there. They should have been trapped to their burial grounds. Fear gripped the ghost child when some of her friends came crying to Martia saying that Mai had disappeared and they had looked everywhere for the teenage girl.

Kaoru ran as fast as she could to Mai's room and when she stepped inside she fell to the floor as Kari's presence almost suffocated her. She knew rather suddenly what was happening. She screamed as loudly as her still child like lungs could and then she felt strong arms gathering her up against a chest dressed in black and she knew it was Naru.

"Kaoru?" he asked and she whimpered as she wrapped her arms around the man's neck. The last thing that she wanted to do was worry him. She knew that if she told him about what she knew had happened to Mai then he would be off searching for her in an instance. Kaoru knew that time was on her side and she knew that she had to tell him no matter how angry he got.

"Ms. Kari and her daughter, Lilia, have taken Mai! They're going to kill her for getting so close to the truth!" Kaoru cried as Naru set her down on Mai's bed. She saw him stiffen at her announcement before he looked at her with icy eyes that she knew were not meant for her but meant for the ones that had murdered her and the ones that were going to try and take Mai's life as well.

"Do you know how to get to Mai?" he asked and she shook her head as tears began to well. She wished that she knew but she was still a child that had never explored her powers as a ghost. For the past sixty years she had been stuck as a five year old and hadn't done anything to change that. And now that the one person she thought of as her mother was in danger she didn't know what to do.

Naru watched as the child cried and he didn't know what to do. Mai was the one that was so good with children. He had little to no knowledge of children. Other than the fact that he and Gene had been children. That was what he knew about kids and crying kids. How was he supposed to comfort her? He sighed, well there was one way he could find out.

"Give me something of Mai's that she had on before we left." he asked. The other children had said that Mai had changed into a kimono to play with them. And since he didn't see a kimono lying around he was going to assume that Mai had donned the garment. Naru was curious to see how she looked in a kimono. He shook his head, he had more important things to worry about.

"She was wearing this ribbon in her hair." Kaoru sniffled as she held out the white piece of cloth. Naru closed his eyes and took a deep breath before focusing on the ribbon as he reached out and took the cloth. He saw everything through Mai's eyes. The changing into the kimono and the sudden chill that went down her spine. Then suddenly Mai's presence disappeared and there was a woman in front of her talking about killing her and how stupid Kaoru and Kohana were. Mai followed the ghost out and down into the basement in what looked like a tea room.

Naru retracted his hands and kept his eyes closed for another moment before opening them. He needed to speak with Ayako as soon as humanly possible.

"A tea room? In the basement? How did you know about that?" Ayako asked startled at Naru's question. The man gave her a look that clearly told her that she wasn't going to answer that. "No, we didn't check it. I didn't think Mai would be there. After all my mother and father told me it was there when I was seventeen. Apparently the family that they bought the land from liked to visit them and they liked tea parties. That room hasn't been used since I left to train at the temple."

"That's where the ghosts are keeping Mai-chan." Kaoru whispered sadly and Masako hugged the young girl as she sat by her. Masako looked straight into Naru's eyes and gave a sad yet true smile.

"I really thought that I loved you. I was so jealous of Mai but not anymore. If anything she's become the one friend I can depend on. So please, even though you don't love me, care for her. She's the best thing you've got and your brother knows that." Masako whispered and she saw Naru's eyes widen.

"How did you?" he asked and she shook her head.

"I communicated with him once…when I was taken by the demon. He told me. So please, he doesn't want to see what sanity you have left destroyed because you lost her as well." she whispered softly and Naru just nodded before turning to Ayako.

"Show me where the tea room is." he whispered. She nodded and led him down into the basement where a shoji door was. Everyone could see a silhouette inside and someone moving around. Ayako carefully slid the door opened and everyone froze as a ghostly apparition held a knife that was lodged into Mai's right shoulder. Naru felt his eyes widen as he saw the blood staining the kimono that Mai was wearing.

"MAI!" Ayako screamed and the ghost looked up with a smirk before gasping as Mai slapped her hand away and pulled the knife out.

"Leave me alone!!" she cried before gasping as the woman slapped her and she fell to the floor. Naru could feel his control snapping.

"The ghost that was possessing Mai is gone!" Ayako cried and there was a scream that came from upstairs. She looked at Naru, who had asked Lin to stay behind for some reason, and saw him nod.

"Go." was the only word he said before she rushed back up the stairs and he stepped inside the Japan style room and stared down the ghost and his attention was drawn to Mai as she moved at the floor and finally sat up clutching at her bleeding shoulder. He realized that he needed to get her out of there quickly. Sadly he didn't get the chance because when she pulled her hand away he saw that her whole shoulder and hand was stained as were her hands. His control snapped.

His eyes went an icy blank and Mai felt that same atmosphere from before with the teacup pressing down on her. She looked up and saw that Naru had that same looked on his face only much worse. She screamed as the table lifted up by itself and crashed into the wall. The ghost seemed unperturbed by the flying objects that were picking up momentum in the room. Mai felt tears in her eyes before she stood up and made her way to the obviously angry Naru.

"Naru. Naru, stop it! Please! I'm alright, I'm alive." Mai tried to coax him but he was to far gone to hear her. Mai blamed herself silently for telling him that control didn't matter. She could see now why it did matter. Why he was so stubborn to reveal his feelings at all. So she did the only thing that she could think of. She slugged him. Later she would realize how ridiculous she looked slugging Naru in a kimono but at the moment she didn't care, it had the desired effect.

Naru blinked before touching his sore jaw. He looked up at Mai with confused eyes. Where had the girl learned to punch like that?! He didn't even know that Mai knew how to punch. And certainly not that hard.

"I grew up with a bunch of boys." she explained as she knelt beside him before she frowned as he shook his head. She saw that his eyes were drooping and she knew what was going to happen. He had used a lot off energy. She squeaked as he suddenly fell forward and into her chest. Her face turned bright red as he used it as a pillow.

"You…hentai!!" she cried. Whether she loved him or not she really didn't want him using her chest as a pillow. She tried to push him off but she had not noticed that he had wrapped his arms around her waist as she knelt on the floor. She growled. 'Pervert! Hentai! You are so dead when you wake up!'

"Aw…how sweet. You get to die together." Mai's head shot up. She forgot that there was an angry ghost watching them amusedly. That's when she saw the knife had returned to Kari's hand. Mai covered Naru with her body.

"LEAVE US ALONE!!" she screamed into Naru's neck. She waited for the knife to pierce her skin but it never came. She felt the room temperature drop rapidly and she lowly raised her head up to find herself face to face with the bloody knife. She followed the metal up with her eyes to the handle and the hand that was holding it. That was when she noticed the hand holding Kari's wrist.

She followed the hand up and past the dark sleeve that covered her savior's arm and she looked up at his face and her eyes went wide as she met blue eyes that she knew better than anyone else. Naru's eyes. She could feel her eyes widen before she looked down at the man that she held in her arms.

"What's going on?" she whispered softly as she looked at both of the Narus. She decided that she had finally gone crazy. Completely and utterly crazy.

"Get out!" another voice snapped. Mai's attention turned to the ghost that was standing behind Kari. "DIE!!" Mai screamed as the tea table lifted from where it had landed when Naru had regained his senses and it flew towards her from an angle that the other Naru wouldn't be able to stop it.

Okay, I haven't had a cliff hanger this good in a long time. I'm happy. So please review after you've read! The rating change will be coming soon, maybe after the next chapter. So, we'll have to see what happens later! Bye! And review!