Coping, part 2

The Urado case

Mai felt strangely free after spending her whole day writing down her experiences and thoughts about the Urado case. Granted, she wasn't finished yet – she had only reached the part where she stepped into the hallway and left Masako alone in their room – but that was to be expected if you took the many breaks she had to take in order to stop another panic attack from happening.

Nonetheless, she felt liberated. Both music and literature had been a big asset to her already, and she had to remember to thank Gen-san for that.

At a loss what to do with her remaining last free day except reading more about Qigong and Qi in general and writing about the Urado case, Mai decided to explore the rest of the compound today. It was, after all, what Gen-san intended for her to do with her free time in the first place. Besides, it would probably be a good way to take a break when she wrote about the more terrifying experiences of the case tomorrow.

After making her decision, Mai felt asleep.

This time, she was once again woken by a knocking sensation at 5 o'clock in the morning. Just like yesterday, Mai couldn't sense anyone – spirit or living – in her vicinity. To be on the safe side, she went and checked anyway, but as expected she couldn't find anyone.

Finding this repeated event strange (and, against common opinion she actually did learn from working with a ghost hunting company) Mai picked up her trusty notebook, and – after leaving a few empty pages to finish the Urado case – wrote an entry.

'Strange knocking sounds'

April 06, 04 am – woken up by knocking sounds. No one in the vicinity.
April 07, 05 am – woken up by knocking sounds. No one in the vicinity, neither human nor spirit.

Sighing Mai closed her notebook, and settled on her balcony in a meditative stance.

She concentrated on the Qi in her, and observed as it flowed, making sure that it was even and unobstructed. Then, she regulated her breathing, lowering it in the optimal rhythm that allowed her Qi to flow at the perfect speed for her body.

Then she stood up, all the while maintaining her head space and ensuring her breathing stayed even. With practiced ease she flowed through the katas (stances/positions) Aka-chan had taught her, before transitioning into the stances of Wu Xin Xi that she read about two days ago. In her heightened concentration she was easily able to recall them, though her execution was not at all smooth. Nonetheless, when Mai finished up at nine to get breakfast, she was able to do them flawlessly and with the same ease that she did her other ones.

She took the beautiful view from the balcony in one last time – a fairly big lake surrounded by Sakura trees, which seemed to hide something akin to a park from her view – before turning around, closing the balcony doors, and greeting Mia who had just entered her room with her breakfast.

"Good morning Mia!"

"Good Morning, Mai-sama. Did you sleep well?"

"Actually, I did, but a knocking sound woke me up at 5 o'clock. I have been up ever since."

"A knocking sound? Like a ghost or something? Is a spirit harassing you?" Mia's concern was clearly audible in her voice.

"No, I don't think so. At least I never noticed anyone in the vicinity – neither spirits nor humans. It's strange, really."

"Hmm… How about you talk with Genryuusai about that? Anyway, today is the last of your free time. What do you intend to do?" Mai smiled at Mia as she sat down a cup of tea in front of her, before sitting down next to her. Somehow it had become their routine during the last two months

"I was thinking about exploring the compound, actually."

"Really?! Finally! I tried so long to get you subtly interested into going out… Are you finally going to get to know other people besides Genryuusai, Akari-san and me?"

"… I don't know about that. Actually, I was thinking of using the beautiful landscape as a distraction. I started writing up my experiences during the Urado case, and am probably going to finish it today. But because the experiences towards the end were more traumatic than during the beginning, I was planning on using the breaks I'll undoubtly need to take by exploring. What do you think? Pretty nifty, huh?"

"It's a pretty good plan, but how about you just write outside?" Mia's tone had become serious, nothing like the teasing tone she used before.

"Huh?"

"Well, it would be kind of tedious to have to move outside every time you take a break, no? But if you were to simply sit down outside, in the park or on the grass or something, you can get up and take a stroll or pause and listen to the animals instead of going outside. Plus, it is really beautiful, and you may get to meet other members of the clans. How does that sound?"

"I don't know Mia, I –"

"Aww, come on Mai-sama! I promise you won't regret it. The lake is beautiful, and I'm sure that you will easily be able to feel the peaceful atmosphere if you sit under a Sakura tree while writing. Please?" Mia gave Mai puppy dog eyes. Lethal puppy dog eyes. Mai didn't even know that Mai could pull them off. Sighing, she gave in.

"Alright, if you think it will help… Do you have a spot that you recommend?"

"Yep! I'll show you to my favorite spot. Come on!" She waited until Mai had – barely – grabbed her notebook and her pen, before she hooked her arm in Mai's and literally dragged her with her, all the while skipping. Mai just looked at this shocked.

Seriously, how the hell doesn't she trip? How is it that I can fall over air and here she is, skipping while ragging me with her with our arms interlaced… Maybe it's some kind of psychic power?

Suddenly, Mai remembered something very important. She dug her feet into the carpet, effectively stopping Mia's advance.

"Ah! Mia, what about breakfast?"

"Ah. I completely forgot." Mia stood, arms still wrapped around Mai's, trying to find a solution to the problem.

"How about we go back to the room and get it?" Mai suggest.

"No! Absolutely not."

"Eh? Why?"

"I finally managed to get you out of your room for something other than training. You are truly naïve if you think I'm going to let you off the hook now, you recluse!" Mia spoke in an agitated voice.

"I'm not that bad," Mai pouted. "And I am not a recluse!"

"Oh yeah? Prove it!" Mia's tone was challenging, and a smirk played on her lips.

"I'm out almost every day. These are the first free days I've had in two months!"

"Yeah, but you are always training on those occasions. When have you interacted with someone?"

"I am constantly interacting with someone! You, Aka-chan, Gen-san, …" Mai listed off

"And?"

"And what? Aren't that enough people?" Mai just barely held back a stomp. She didn't manage, however, to hold back her pout.

"Mai, that are three people you are socializing with. Three. One of those is your teacher, the other one was your first contact here, and the last one is your personal maid."

"And? What does that matter?" Mai felt a little sting in her heart. Were they only interacting with her because they were ordered to? But Mia called her 'Imouto-chan' – that had to mean something, didn't it? But what if –

"Mai-sama." Mia's firm voice interrupted her internal discussion. Noticing Mai's inner turmoil, her eyes softened.

"Mai, look at me. How those bonds were created doesn't change anything about the strength of these bonds. You are the only one Genryuusai allows to call him Gen-san or any other nickname, you are Akari-san's only friend, and you are the only one I refer to as Imouto-chan, and nothing's going to change that." At this point, Mia had her arms firmly clamped on Mai's shoulder. Mai absentmindedly wondered whether being a mind reader ran in the Koizumi family.

"What I intended to show you right now was that while you are socializing, you haven't gone out to find bonds. Instead, you took those that fell into your lap and strengthened them tremendously. That is by no means an easy feat – it is very impressive, actually – but you have become a recluse. From what I gathered from your stories, you used to be really outgoing. Now, you are even refusing to attend dinner with your relatives."

"No, that is different. They published my song without asking me, and –"

"Mai, stop. You are making excuses. You didn't attend dinner even before that. I understand that you are afraid of being left alone yet again and I can understand that. It is the reason I didn't meddle with that. But Genryuusai told me that you came here with the goal of being in control. Or was that just pretense, and you are willing to let your fear control you?"

"No." Mai's voice was quiet, but strong. It was filled with an unwavering determination.

"See. Therefore, I am taking this chance and dragging you outside to stop that trend. Besides, I truly believe it will help with your writing process. Now, what were we talking about that we ended up on this topic anyway?" Mai laughed.

"Seriously, Mia, sometimes you really are a scatterbrain.

"Hey! I just gave you a really epic speech, I am allowed to forget things Mai-sama!" Mia protested indignantly.

"Yes, yes. Anyway, we were trying to find a solution for breakfast."

"Ah, that's right. Hmm, it'll be cold by now anyway. How about I bring you a snack in an hour or so?"

"Sounds good! Alright then, lead the way to your favorite spot Mia."

With those words, Mai hooked her arm in Mia's, and they began their trek again – with Mia once again skipping.

"It's beautiful!" Mai looked in awe at the scenery around her.

They were currently at a certain spot at the lake, located half an hour from the mansion. It was the lake she could see from her room, but the spot was opposite from her window, meaning that they had to walk around half the lake in order to get there.

The water itself was clear a beautiful light shade of blue, allowing her to see the fishes swimming inside of it. It was interspersed by a few stones, which Mai would be able to climb up and be able to comfortably sit or even lay down on. Some of them were so close to the shore that they caught the shade of the Sakura trees and no space was between it and the stone, while others were situated so far into the lake that she would have to swim over to them if she wanted to get on them. (*1 Lake – see profile)

Lush, green grass surrounded the lake, and it was protected from view by majestic Sakura trees, which were currently in full bloom. Mai and Mia were currently standing next to a small hill of maybe twenty meters (ca. 65 feet and 17 inches), from which a small waterfall ran into the lake, which was feeding clear water into the lake.

Mai could hear birds chirping in the trees, and together with the sounds from the waterfall it made for a beautiful harmony which easily relaxed Mai. The fact that the sun was shining and that the wind was blowing exactly the way she liked it was a bonus.

"How about we sit down on one of the benches?" Mia's voice interrupted Mai's gazing at her surroundings, and shook her out of her fascination.

"Benches?" Mai asked. She hadn't noticed them before. She began looking around, but was unable to find them. Chuckling Mia cleared her throat, indicating that Mai should pay attention to her. Following Mia's gaze, she finally spotted them.

There, situated a bit away from the lake in the shade of several Sakura trees, stood a stone bench. Maybe ten meters (32 feet 9 inches) further down another bench stood, and so on. Far enough away to give everybody their privacy, yet close enough to allow for observation of possible other visitors.

"Yeah, let's go."

After Mai had situated herself, Mia left in order to get a snack for Mai. It wouldn't do to cut her (long awaited) journey outside the mansion (finally!) short due to hunger.

Seriously. Who would have thought that such an open girl would essentially become a recluse? Now all that's left is to get her to join the dinner, and 'mission: get Mai out of her room' is a success. What to do, what to do… Ah, it's probably better to allow her to do that on her own volition with a bit of needling from my part. Who would have thought that a little sister would be so much work? Mia smiled softly. But I wouldn't have her any other way.

Suddenly, a voice snapped her out of her reverie.

"Ah, Mia-chan! How nice to see you here. Where are you going?"

"Hi Hiroku! How's it going? I'm currently on my way to get to the kitchen in order to prepare a snack for Mai-sama."

"Mai-sama? You mean the new Akahana that was found a few months ago?"

"Yep."

"Heh. How is she? Is she nice? Capable? Kind? Or is she conceited, like those other two? And, most importantly, is she cute?"

"Woah, slow down with the questions. " Suddenly, Mia smiled. Cautiously, Hiroku took a step back – he had seen that smile before, and it never ended good for him.

"How about you go and see her for yourself?"

"Eh? But I'd rather hear about her from you – if she's anything like the two brats, I'd rather not interact with her unless necessary."

"Come on, they aren't that bad, just a bit spoilt" Hiroku snorted. "Anyway, I think you should go see Mai herself – she's not really someone I can just sum up in like two sentences. But she's very kind, and nothing like Himitsu and Yuki, trust me." Hiroku still didn't look convinced, but nodded anyway.

"Yeah, but is she cute? Or hot?" Mia giggled.

"She is, but I'll give you a warning. She is my Imouto – any funny business and I neuter you, capiche?" Hiroku gulped. The aura surrounding Mia was seriously dark, and her chuckle seemed ominous now. Hiroku had no doubt that she could – and would – neuter him.

"Yes Ma'am!"

"Good." Mia smiled gently, and went towards the kitchen. It was only several minutes later that Hiroku realized something.

"Hey! You never told me where she is! How am I supposed to find her?!"

He was positive that he heard his brother laughing at him.

'Asshole.'

As soon as Mia left, Mai closed her eyes and focused on the energy surrounding her. To her surprise, the energy in this place was very kind, very gentle, and really calm. She had a feeling that any panic attacks she could possibly get while remembering the Urado case would be effectively quelled before they happened.

She settled in the basic meditative pose – legs crossed, hands resting loosely on her knees – and allowed the positive energy to seep into her.

Feeling peaceful like never before, Mai started writing.

I allowed my feelings to get in the way and listened to Masako, leaving her alone in the room. I stepped into the hallway, and after a while I noticed that Masako still hadn't returned. I felt so guilty, so – so dumb, to have listened to her request, when I knew that people had been going missing and being found as corpses, when I had seen it and experienced it during my vision.
I felt horrible, but most of all I felt panic. I was afraid for Masako, and I just couldn't handle the thought of it being my fault that she died.
And lastly, I felt useless. Especially when everybody was working so hard to get Masako out of that wall, and I couldn't do anything but 'sleep', as Bou-san so eloquently put it. I felt sorry for Masako when I saw the state she was in – the fear she had to experience (especially as I could easily sympathize with her) and felt happy when could help her when she accepted my key.

But most of all, I felt determination. Determination to save her, to get to her before anything truly horrible happened. It was that very sympathy that made me pull ahead of everyone else, and charge in without them, without them protection.

But that was when the horror truly began. I came face to face with Urado.

Literally.

AN:

Alright, cut. This chapter took forever to write. I think I hit a small writers block, as certain elements simply wouldn't fit together or wouldn't come ot the way I wanted them to or I simply didn't know how to progress. Well, whatever. I'm dead tired and though I'm not happy with this chapter, I will post it now and will get started with writing on the second part tomorrow. I hope you guys still enjoyed it. Well then, introduction of two new OC's for the next few chapters. I already gave a liiitle hint about one of their abilities, who caught it? And who can guess what's up with the knocking?

Also, I know I said that I wasn't going to post the chapter for the new story I was writing on, but I'm going to anyway. I will post it on the day I go on vacation (the 24th) or the day before, as something to tide you over (I don't know if I will be able to write or post) since I have already written it down. There is a chance that I'll use the vacation to edit a few chapters, since I noticed some holes, but if everything beyond grammar and typing mistakes is changed I'll give you a summary in the chapter I'll post afterwards.

Check out the poll on my profile and tell me what kind of story you want to read when this one is done and over with.

Good night, guys!

As always, I would like to thank everybody who reviewed, followed or favourited this story! Reviews feed my inspiration and motivation, guys - I'm always very thankful when you take your time to review!

melchormonica8: Yeah, researching is a bitch. But well, it's not like I can just not do it - I like to keep everything as close to the truth as I can. About the song - yeah, some will se it, but they won't have a clue from who it is of who wrote it. So yeah. Glad you enjoyed it ^^

Damaged Forest Spirit: Aww, that is something I love to read! Thank you ^^ And I will ;))

Joys: Can I just say that I absolutely love your reviews? If my updates make your day, your reviews make my week! And it's really nice how knowledgeable you are on these various topics - I didn't know that bit about the recurve! I totally plan to incorporate your personal experience in the story, if you don't mind?
And yeah, I can safely tell you that Akari is definitely going to be on the team. If evrything goes as I planned, the team will be areally tight knit unit, closer than SPR, so Akari won't only have friends, but many brothers and sister he can confide in ^^ Yeah, the Akahanas... not saying anything about them for now. Just, Ken'ichi and the clan elder are both old, with both of them older than Gen-san, and the two kids... you'll see. Hope you enjoyed this chapter! ^^

chocoholic202: Here it is ^^

Guest: I plan to, I am not done with this story for a long while yet ^^

Until next time,
One Autumn Leaf