On the second day of Christmas Kitty gave to you! The tenth chapter of Speak!

Not much to say other than thanks for the reviews on the last chapter and enjoy! P.S My friend Squirrel says Hello!

Chapter 10

Recap-

At that moment something in me broke, my mask fell to pieces and my face crumpled into a tear streaked mess

The ghost had Naru and was going to kill him.

End of Recap-

I was crying but it was still silent, my face was showing the worry and panic I was feeling. What was going on Naru couldn't go missing he was the leader! I was always the one who went missing, sometimes it was Masako but never Naru.

Suddenly everything started happening around me and it was like I was stuck in slow motion while everyone else whirled around. Ayako was trying to talk to me and get me to snap out of it while Lin took charge and ordered Yasu and Monk to go over the blueprints of the house. Masako was asked to meditate and try to locate the ghost, in case it could lead to Naru and John was sitting next to her praying for Naru's safe return.

As shocked as everyone was by Naru's disappearance and my sudden facial reanimation they didn't stop for a second to blink they got straight on with their jobs and tried to find him. I had to snap out of it I had to do something. My mind was slowly starting to move again and I was about to help with the blueprints hoping my instincts could help me to find Naru quicker than searching this entire house.

I stood up looking as determined as ever…really looking determined this time because once again my face was working with my emotions. But just as I took a step away from the sofa I had collapsed into when the shock of Naru missing hit me, I fell back down and my world slowly went grey then black.

*DREAM/ASTRAL PROJECTION LAND*

I woke up and knew I was in the dreamscape but this time I was still in the house as it looks to this day. I realised pretty quickly that I was astral projecting.

The house in front of me disappeared and before I knew it I was in an unfamiliar dark room, it was small and covered in old rubbish. I noticed there were no windows in this room and the only light was coming from an old bare light bulb that was covered in cobwebs and dust.

The clutter reminded me of the loft in the house I used to live in with my mother. My mother enjoyed hoarding lots of old things, a lot of my old toys were put in the loft if I out grew them and lots of other stuff that she enjoyed keeping including about 3 old Christmas trees.

I decided to poke around to see what I could see. I found a lot of old stuff, like really old, it must have belonged to the first owners which would mean they belonged to that woman I saw in my dream.

I was still looking around looking for clues as to why I was here when I saw a shadow in the corner. I was sure it would be the shadow ghost, I was sure she was here to rip my soul apart and drag me to hell with her. I was sure this was how I was going to die…then I heard a groan.

It wasn't the feminine groan of a ghost woman wielding a knife either, it was the masculine groan of a man who had either been injured badly or had a few too many pints at the pub and was now the owner of a thumping new headache. I looked at the shadow closer and decided it was the first option.

"NARU!" I shouted his name and launched myself towards him. He was alive! I knew he was because if he was dead I wouldn't be astral-projecting to him.

Naru looked up at me and I could see he was roughed up at bit. He seemed to be chained to some kind of old pipe and had a bad looking cut on his leg, his previously flawless face was covered in dust and dirt, somehow through all of that he still looked ridiculously handsome.

"Am I dreaming?" Naru asked me. Now that made me giggle the ever powerful and fearless Naru thought he was dreaming of me. Wow that has to be taken as a compliment.

"No Naru, I'm dreaming, just like with Masako all then years ago," I said and smiled at him.

"You can talk in the astral plane?" Naru asked me…or course he is chained to a wall and all he wants to do is research me.

"Yup always have been able to but that is so not the problem right now," I said as I looked for a key to the chain but came up empty.

"It's nice to hear you again Mai…" Naru said and I could almost hear the unsaid "one last time," tagged on to the end.

I couldn't help myself as I blushed like a fool at what he said to me. Seeing this only made him smirk just like in the good old days.

"I see you can blush in the astral plane as well," He commented, he just had to comment didn't he? That only made the blush worse, I'm sure it was spreading down my neck in a very unattractive shade of lobster red.

I was about to shout at him for being a jerk but I saw his smirk turn into a slight smile and a slight smile from Naru is worth all the embarrassment in the world.

I decided to take another look around while waiting for my blush to recede but all I saw was what I saw the first time dust and cobwebs and piles or random old crap.

"Where are we Naru?" I ask when I finally decided to turn back to him.

He continued staring at me for a moment as if he was trying to absorb everything about my looks into him memory then he finally said "I don't know the damn ghost woman knocked me out then the next thing I know I'm waking up to this room and you standing there shouting my name,"

"That reminds me how are you still alive…NOT THAT I'M NOT HAPPY ABOUT IT, I AM! But she wrote in blood that she would 'free you from the pain of life'" I said putting quote marks around the phrase the ghost wrote on the wall.

Naru looked faintly amused at my random outburst in the middle of what I was saying before continuing on in his normal monotone voice "She mumbled something about helping the other lost souls before disappearing and leaving me here. She cut my leg so I passed out again after waking up here the first time." Naru was clearly not happy about being knocked out twice.

"Listen, Mai. This is getting too dangerous. I have no way of knowing who she might target next and she is obviously insane so I can't predict a pattern," Naru said looking away from my eyes…no. No, no, no, no I can see where he is taking this and I can't let him.

"Leave me here Mai. Get everyone together and get them out safely, you can't find me in time and I don't want any of you to get hurt as well." He said it. I was frozen for a minute, he wanted me to leave him behind? How could he ask me to do that? I can't leave him behind not like he left me, it hurts too much to lose someone and this time it wouldn't be for a few years it would be forever. I would never see him again.

"What? Naru? NO! I am never going to leave you alone here! I WON'T LEAVE YOU TO DIE!" I was shouting at him now tear in the corners of my eyes just waiting to break free and run freely down my cheeks.

"Mai you have no choice, you can't find me in time and you could get hurt," In the back of my mind I faintly noted that this time it wasn't the team he was concerned about it was me specifically but the front of my mind was busy screaming "NO!" a thousand time.

I noticed my body was starting to fade out and Naru was looking at me with a broken but confident look. He knew this could be the last time we saw each other but he was doing what he thought was best.

"NO! NARU!" I shouted at the top of my voice but it turned into a silent scream of his name as I bolted upright awake in the base. The others were still looking at blueprints and didn't notice me as I silently wiped my tears and slip out of base without relaying Naru's message.

If he was determined for us to be safe then I was determined for him to leave this house with us or I would die trying.

Ok that's it for today but I will be back tomorrow for the third day or Christmas. Please review and if you want to know updates in the new year follow me and Squirrel on twitter at KittyPeanut2

So till tomorrow keep rocking!