RoseThorn: I'm back! Alright, I have decided that Akuma would be a raven, Mai a leopard, and Naru a wolf. No questions? *cue crickets*
Naru: You're talking to the computer.
RoseThorn: Yes, I am.
Naru: *rolls eyes* Rose doesn't own Ghost Hunt.
Normal POV
Mai and Akuma rushed to SPR in the morning. They were late. They had woken up at 5:30 am, leaving 30 minutes for them to get ready. When they had finally made it out the door, they ran like they were being chased by the devil... which they were going to be if they didn't reach the office soon. Preferably in 10 seconds.
"Mai, hurry up!" Akuma easily ran ahead of her. "We could have been there much earlier if you would use our demon powers."
"I don't want to use them! There are consequences, remember?!" Mai panted as she ran harder to keep up with Akuma.
"Finally, we're here!" Akuma sighed in relief. And sure enough, SPR was right ahead of them. In front of the office, were the 2 infamous black vans which were always used to transport the crew and their equipment. The whole team was already there, including a dark haired teen aka Naru aka the boss aka the person who was pissed.
"You're late," Naru glared at them.
"I blame her," Akuma pointed at Mai, shamelessly selling her out. "She wouldn't use our demon powers or we would have been here faster."
"Very mature Akuma," Mai glared, her arms crossed. "You won't get me to use our powers in this life."
"Whatever- the powers only effect you not me," Akuma huffed. "Because of you, I cant't use them."
"If you two are done squabbling, we have to go," Naru growled. "Erai-san, Matsuzaki-san, Takigawa-san, and Yasuhara will go in the first van. Mai, Lin and I will go in the second van with the equipment."
"I wanna stay with Maiiiii!" Akuma whined as he was dragged away by Monk.
"I don't want to stay with him! I get enough of that already!" Mai muttered. No one but Naru heard her. He smirked smugly. (A/N I keep forgetting Naru doesn't smile. Why don't you smile Naru? Why?!)
"Hurry up Mai, or I'll dock your pay," Naru called to her as he entered the van. Mai glared at him, irritated, as she hurried after him.
*1 hour later*
"Naru~ I'm bored," Mai whined. Naru glanced at her over his files. He was sitting next to her in the backseat of the van while Lin drove.
"Read something then. You know, like the files," Naru answered sarcastically. He was well aware that Mai never took the time to read the case files.
"I don't need to read them. I'll know everything the moment Akuma and I set foot on the mansion grounds," Mai replied. She didn't notice Naru wince when she associated herself with that thing.
'It's almost as if I'm jealous,' Naru wondered, before his mind hunted the foolish thought he had just had and squashed it. 'No! Why would I be jealous?! He's just an annoying pest, that's all.'
"How does that work exactly, Taniyama-san?" Lin asked, his eyes on the reflection on the side mirror.
"Well, one of Akuma's powers is that he sees that past, present, and future all at once. While you and Naru only see the present when you look at something, Akuma sees things that have already happened, are happening, and will happen all at once. Because I'm connected to him, I see it too, when he wants me to, or I want to. Akuma can pick out one picture from the whole jumbled up mess and zoom in on it. Right now, he's zoomed in on the things that we are seeing. It's almost like looking at the layers of the ground."
Naru was looking thoughtfully at his black notebook, which he had started to take notes in when Mai started to speak. "And what were you arguing about in the morning?"
Mai sighed when she thought about all the complications that were connected to using the powers. 'I'll have to tell him sometime... Better now then never.'
"To use demon powers, you have to be a demon, naturally. So for me to use demon powers, my heart has to pump demon blood into my body which basically turns me into a demon. One thing you should know about Akuma is that he has more than one form- he is every and all the demons that exist at once. So, depending on what blood is pumped into me, I turn into that demon... And most demons eat, you know, meat- most preferably humans. That's why if I use my demon powers, there's a high chance that I'll turn into one of those demons and lose control, since this is a world full of humans. Since I haven't eaten anything in so long, I'll be starving I turn into a demon," Mai laughed awkwardly. She could see that Lin and Naru were shocked even though there was almost no difference in their facial expression. "Of course, Akuma will will stop me if I try to eat one of you, but I'd rather not test my luck. My demon part will take a while to leave, even after I turn back into a human since the blood will still be lingering in my veins. I don't have good control over my hunger since I'm not even a toddler in demon terms."
Naru sat still, a thousand questions running rampant in his mind. He chose the one that needed an answer immediately. "I was not aware that you were starving yourself. I have seen you eat everyday."
"Think about it like I have two separate stomachs. When I eat human food, I satisfy my human side, but my demon side has no use for the human food since it's made for what demons eat," Mai answered. "Does that make sense?"
Naru nodded slowly. He about to ask another question, when he noticed Mai nodding off.
Soon, she was fully asleep, her head falling to rest on his shoulder.
'Naru isn't moving her,' Lin noticed smiling softly in his head (Of course! Why would he smile for the whole world to see?) as he watched the couple in the backseat.
Mai felt like she was sleeping for only a couple of minutes (a very comfortable couple of minutes mind you) when she was shaken awake.
"Mai, wake up. We're here." Naru's face was the first thing to appear when she opened her eyes. Mai blushed and jerked away while Naru smirked at her reaction (secretly) enjoying it.
"Alright, I'm up!" Mai blushed harder and scooted as far away as possible (which wasn't far considering they were in a vehicle). Naru just stared at her with his usual stoic expression, but Lin could see the amusement and pleasure in his eyes.
"You sleep like a rock," Naru commented.
He was rewarded with a glare from a still blushing Mai. He mentally smirked and proceeded to get out as slowly as possible, wanting to frustrate her further. "Hurry up Naru!"
Naru smirked, this time openly, and moved even slower in response. Mai let out a groan of impatience, then realized it would be faster to get out from the other side... But by that time, Naru had already exited the van, not giving Mai the chance to show him that she wasn't as stupid as he thought. Mai quickly followed him, stretching when she was out.
"Come one Mai!" Akuma called. "Let's do this together!"
The other members,who were already walking towards the mansion, glanced to look at the duo curiously. Mai took a deep breath, then nodded. She walked over to Akuma, who still hadn't stepped one inch to the sidewalk that led through a spectacular front lawn before reaching the front steps of the porch. Mai took some time to study the mansion before stepping on its grounds. It was in pristine condition, not what she'd expect of a property that was abandoned for fifty years. It was western-styled, with two large pillars that supported the roof of the porch. The mansion itself was gleaming white with three stories. (A/N Think something like the White House).
Finally, finished with her inspection, she looked over to Akuma who was patiently waiting beside her and nodded. The other members were waiting for them to catch up. Everyone but Naru and Lin were confused as to the hold up. Akuma reached and took Mai's hand, much to Naru's displeasure, and together they stepped over the invisible line that marked the property.
To the others, it looked like their minds had gone on vacation, leaving their bodies behind- they were staring blankly in front of them for almost five minutes. Then, Akuma took a deep breath, which shook Mai out of the trance, and grinned, "Well... What an interesting case, right Mai?"
Mai, looking kind of pale, nodded and smiled a little, though the smile didn't reach her eyes. The rest of the team walked over to her to offer the comfort of their presence to her, sensing she'd something scary and disturbing. "It should be easy... I hope," Mai commented, frowning.
Akuma turned to Naru. "Right. As long as you have all the right information, it should be easy."
Naru nodded, his face not betraying any of his thoughts. Then he turned back towards the mansion. "Start carrying the equipment inside. Otori-san will show us to the base."
The team groaned collectively (except Akuma who grinned), then turned towards the vans to start unloading the equipment. Mai picked up a box of wires and started to walk towards the mansion again. "Mai wait for me!" Mai looked back to see Akuma running towards her and sweatdropped. He was easily carrying half of the van in his arms.
"Erai-san, please do not break any of the equipment you're carrying," Naru ordered coldly.
"Don't worry- I'm a demon, remember," Akuma grinned at Naru, succeeding in irritating him.
Mai watched the two of them, sweat dropping as she thought of the confrontation of wills that was sure to occur. 'Akuma, please don't upset him. He'll take it out on the rest of us later.'
'Of course, Mai-chan. Since you so kindly asked me.'
The group followed Naru into the mansion, their arms filled with equipment. Since Akuma had picked up half of the van (the most heavy equipment too), the rest of them had carried the rest of the equipment easily. They found Otori-san waiting at the entrance, fidgeting. "Come in! I've found the best rooms for you. Because the rooms keep changing places, you'll be a room that connects to two other rooms as your base. I found out that these three rooms always move together. It's quite out of place, really, like it's own apartment. The first room will be your base and the other two rooms will be your sleeping quarters."
Kaname stopped at a door and opened it. He sighed in relief. "It's still in the same place."
The team slowly filled in and put down the equipment. The room had the feeling of a living room and had lots of electrical outlets, like requested. Two doors leading to separate 'bedrooms' were connected to the base. Naru was starting to direct the places of the equipment when he noticed Mai and Akuma exchange knowing glances as the looked around. His eyes narrowed. 'There's something about these rooms that's important...'
RoseThorn: *throws hands up in the air* Hallelujah! I finished.
Naru: Took you long enough.
RoseThorn: *frowns* Well, first I was being lazy. Then, when I started to write the chapter and was almost finished my computer took revenge on whatever it was that angered it and I lost the whole chapter. I didn't feel like writing it again, so I was being lazy again. And now, because I'm going to India on vacation tomorrow and didn't know whether or not I'd be able to update there, I wrote the whole chapter again! :)
Naru: So basically, you were being lazy.
RoseThorn: *pouts* You don't have to say it like that...
*And then there be Mai*
Mai: I'm back! Who missed me?
RoseThorn: *cheers* I did! No more company of the narcissistic jerk!
Naru: *glares at Rose* Hmph.
Mai: *obviously completely ignoring Naru* I missed you Rose!
RoseThorn: *laughs awkwardly- she's on the receiving end of Naru's death glare* Don't you think you should forgive him now? He didn't mean it, you know.
Mai: *raises an eyebrow* Oh, the insect didn't mean it did he? Well too bad, he said it and that's what matters.
Naru: *intending on apologizing (in a roundabout manner)* Mai-
Mai: You hear something, Rose? I don't.
RoseThorn: Let's ask what the readers say okay?
Mai: *reluctantly nods* Fine.
RoseThorn: *Looks pleadingly at readers* Shouldn't Mai forgive him? We all know that Naru didn't mean it right? *looks nervously at Naru and whispers frantically to readers* Please say yes- I have a feeling he's going to kill me if you don't. REVIEW WHAT YOU THINK MAI SHOULD DO!