Yo…my holiday present to you guys is an early chapter…
Disclaimer: I do not own Ghost Hunt or any of its characters…
Once Ryou and Naru had had enough of jumping down each other's throats, Ryou decided to finally explain everything.
"Enough of this shit," he said. "Yeah, Akira, or Kiyoshi is our father. When I was seven, May and Mai three, our father left us. To this day, I still don't know why. A few months after, our mother got re-married. That's why our last names are Taniyama. Even though we weren't legal age to change our names, because of our situation we did so anyway," Ryou explained.
"So, Mai's name was Mai Yaoshima…?" asked Ayako attempting to confirm. "And after the second marriage it became Mai Taniyama?"
Ryou gave a nod. "And yes, it was Akira who killed our family. He killed both our step-father and myself when I was eight, and May and our mother a few years later. I'm not sure why, but I know it was him."
"Is that why you're here then?" asked Bou-san. "You're haunting Hide-no Akira, because he killed you?"
"Fuck yeah I am," said Ryou bitterly. "That bastard was our FATHER. He left us, so okaa-san married someone else. Then, he suddenly comes back and kills off the family? Of course I'm going to haunt him. Do you guys know how much trauma is locked up inside this girl? Inside Mai because of what happened?"
"What so you mean 'locked up'?" questioned Naru.
Ryou looked over at him. "After I died and before I came here, I watched over my little sisters. You don't know Mai like I do. When it comes to personal things, she'll never admit that she's upset. Instead, she'll lock it away and put on a smile. Mai's bright and cheerful and full of sunshine…but she's dying on the inside."
"Dying?" Masako repeated with a gasp.
Ryou rolled his…Mai's eyes. "I don't mean literally dying, y'know. I mean emotionally. She's beginning to reach her limit."
The team suddenly understood Mai's change in behaviour. It made sense if they thought about it now.
"What can we do to help her?" asked John.
"Not you," said Ryou to the priest. He looked at Naru once more. "You."
Naru blinked. "Me…?"
"Yeah, you," said Ryou in a voice that clearly said he couldn't believe what he was saying. "Mai chose you… She loves you, and cause of this, YOU need to be the one to get her to admit that's she's still hurting. Only you will be able to do that."
Though Naru didn't admit it, he was actually quite surprised to hear this. He had not expected it. However, he realized that he agreed.
"Now, if we go over to the reason why you're all actually here," said Ryou rousing everyone's attention. "The dark spirit that's here, I don't know who it is. It's not me and it's not May."
"Where is May-chan anyway?" asked Madoka. "We haven't seen her yet or anything."
"You won't be seeing May anytime soon," said Ryou.
"Why not?"
"She's shy."
"…What?"
"May's shy," Ryou repeated. "She never got along with strangers, and even though she's dead, it's still the same. May and Mai are complete opposites," he explained.
"Ohh…"
"So you absolutely have no idea who this dark entity is?" asked Naru.
Ryou shook his head saying that he didn't. "But it was already here when May and I arrived."
"What do you mean? When exactly did you come here?"
"About a month or so after May died," Ryou began. "The two of us came here together after we made sure Mai would be alright."
"She wasn't alright though," said Yasuhara. "She said her aunt and uncle did really bad things to her."
Ryou sighed. "I didn't know that they were going to do things like that. If I had, I would've haunted them instead… So anyway, yeah, the dark spirit was already here, and it seemed as if it had been around for a while. I think that might be why Akira did what he did."
"What are you talking about?" questioned Naru in faint confusion.
"Our father, Akira, was a really good person. He was the best father in the world. He played with me allot, and even allowed the twins to draw on his face with markers in public. He was just…the best," said Ryou.
"What happened to him then?" asked Ayako.
"Everything was fine until the day of the incident."
"What incident?" asked Bou-san.
"The incident where Akira…got possessed…"
Yep…that's it for now…Happy Holidays guyz…Looking forward to reviews! Laterz!
PS. I'm currently working on an M-rated version of Candy Cane, so if you've read it and are waiting…well, you're gonna have to wait a little more…It'll be up eventually…Sorry.
