Chapter 26

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Not long after Yuki began to wake up. As he began stirring, everyone in the room stopped what they were doing and we all looked over at him. He scowled at everyone and his face darkened even further when his gaze reached me. The two of us just kept staring at each other. For some reason I couldn't look away.

A cruel smirk started to slowly spread across Yuki's face. Suddenly my view was blocked by blackness. I looked up to find Naru standing in front of me with his back towards me.

"Why do you people always do this?" I heard him growl, trying to move his arms.

"Because you keep trying to kill us." I replied.

"No, just you." He hissed.

"Why?!" I was standing up behind Naru now. Naru put out a hand to try and keep me back. But Yuki never answered me. I was starting to get frustrated with him. "Why can't you answer any of my questions?!"

"Because maybe I don't want to." Yuki retorted. I furrowed my eyebrows and pursed my lips. Since he's tied up all I want to do is strangle him...but I can't. I was about to give him a retort of my own when there was a knock at the door. Yuki looked away from me and scoffed. The door started to open and Kei walked in. He looked around the room at us then did a double take when his eyes reached Yuki in Masako's body tied up on a chair. He glanced at me worriedly and then back at Masako's body.

"Uhh...Mai?"

I cleared my throat before replying. "Yes, Kei?" I noticed Naru's shoulders tense up.

"Why...why is she tied up like I was a couple days ago?" He asked, pointing to Masako.

"Ah...yes...well, you see...about that..." I stumbled before I was interrupted by Kei again.

"Are you kidnapping her?"

"No, no, no, no, no, that's not it at all..." I started when Yuki interrupted me this time.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't the other person who wants revenge."

"What? No, I think you have me confused with someone else." Kei replied.

"Come now, we are all grown here. How long are you going to use the big brother facade to disguise your true feelings? You can't stand that someone else got there first can you?" Yuki questioned. I could see Naru giving Yuki and Kei death glares. I placed my hand on his arm and furrowed my eyebrows at Kei.

"Kei, what is he talking about?"

"He? I thought it was a woman, it looks like you have a woman tied up."

"She's possessed by the spirit that's haunting this place." Naru replied bluntly before I could answer.

"Um...okay." Kei said warily.

"Trying to avoid answering the girl's question I see." Yuki smirked. "Well, if you don't tell her then I will." He threatened. Kei narrowed his eyes at Yuki.

"Tell me what?" I asked. Yuki opened his mouth to answer, but Kei decided to speak first.

"I...um... Well, it's kind of hard..." He started. He glanced at everyone in the room, especially Naru.

"What is?" I prompted. "Whatever you have to say, we'll understand."

"It's not that easy, Mai..."

Yuki yawned at this. He seemed to be timing Kei, and if the time he had set him ran out, I was afraid Yuki would spill Kei's secret and not in a nice way either. At Kei's words though, Naru's expression darkened considerably. I looked worriedly between them. Naru obviously already knew what Kei was trying to say and he didn't like it. What could it be that Naru doesn't like about it? Kei looked like he was still trying to find the right words.

"I guess I'll have to tell her myself after all..." Yuki alluded.

"Tell me what?" I asked, feeling frustrated. I looked around at everyone to find Monk, Ayako, and Yasu watching us attentively. John just looked uncomfortable, Yuki was smirking at Kei, and Kei was looking down at the floor avoiding everyone's gazes. Naru was glaring at Kei, daring him to say anything, and Lin was watching Naru closely to make sure he didn't do anything rash.

"Well, my sweet, he wanted revenge on your boyfriend here as he wants you for himself and is angry that your guard dog got there first." Yuki informed maliciously. My eyes widened and I reluctantly shifted my gaze to Kei.

"Kei...?" I practically whispered. "Is that true?" Kei had his head down and he glanced up at me. It looked like he opened his mouth to speak, but instead he just gave a small nod. I heard Naru let out a growl. I squeezed Naru's arm slightly with my hand that I had placed on him before. He stopped growling but still looked very angry. I didn't know what to say. Out of the corner of my eye though I saw Ayako hit Monk side the head and whisper loudly, "I told you so!"

"Alright, woman, I get the point!" Monk hissed back as he rubbed his head. I glanced at Naru before back at Kei. My heart was pounding against my chest. Why didn't he— How long has he felt that way?!

"How...how long?" I dared to ask Kei, much to Naru's displeasure. Kei rubbed the back of his head.

"I...I didn't realize it until me and my mom started moving away." My eyes widened in shock at that. "Since I was leaving, I didn't want to tell you..." He continued. I didn't know what to say, I didn't know what to do, and I felt completely overwhelmed by Kei's confession. Yuki smirked nefariously.

"There, now everything's out in the open." He taunted us.

"Almost." Naru commented. "You haven't shared with us why you possessed John."

Yuki glanced at John. "Well, that's something for another day I think." Naru narrowed his eyes at Yuki. "I think you need putting back on your leash." Yuki smirked. I saw Naru begin clenching his teeth. "Awkward!" Yuki sang out as he noticed the tension between the three of us. All three of us looked and glared at Yuki. Kei was the only one who spoke though.

"Just because Mai found out doesn't mean I'm going to do anything."

"You know, maybe I'd agree with you if I couldn't hear your thoughts loud and clear about what you'd like to do to the guard dog." Yuki remarked.

"I'm not going to do anything." Kei repeated firmly. "As long as Mai loves and trusts him or whatever then that's good enough for me."

"Of course, Pinocchio, we believe you."

"It doesn't matter. It's been six years since the last time I saw, Mai. You don't think I already thought she had a boyfriend by now? After she leaves here I probably won't see her again, if I do it won't be for a long while."

"Keep believing that." Yuki goaded. I just tightened the grip I had on Naru's arm.

"Look, I didn't come in here to be insulted by a 'spirit.'"

"Would you prefer to be insulted by him?" Yuki asked as he jerked his head in Naru's direction.

"No, I only came in here because Mr Tsukiyomi asked me to make sure everything was alright." Kei replied lowly. Not good, Kei's starting to get pretty angry right now. He's usually calm, level-head, and rarely gets angry, but if someone pushes him the wrong way then... He's probably worse than when Naru gets mad. Yuki's expression darkened at the mention of Mr Tsukiyomi's name. Oh no...

"Kei, you shouldn't have said that." I squeaked as Yuki let out a snarl of anger. I noticed Kei's anger subsided at the sound of my voice and then he looked at me confused.

"Why?"

"Because he's the person behind this whole mess." I said reluctantly.

"Mr Tsukiyomi?" Kei asked in disbelief. "No...no, there must be some kind of mistake..." I just shook my head sadly. "What exactly is it that you think he did?"

"Kei, I don't think, I know he did it. I watched him do it, experienced him do it. He killed Yuki."

"Mr Tsukiyomi wouldn't kill anyone. And what do you mean you 'experienced' it?" Kei questioned with concern and more confusion.

"Kei...a lot has changed since you last saw me and one of those things is the fact that I'm psychic, I have prophetic dreams, and I can separate my spirit from my body and go places to find things out. Whilst on this case I have experienced dreams of the past where Yuki met his end...at the hands of Mr Tsukiyomi." I explained. Kei's eyes became wide, from finding out I'm psychic or Mr Tsukiyomi is behind this I don't know. Kei shook his head slightly and took a step back.

"No...I'm going to go ask him about this. He can tell you he's never killed anyone." Before I could say anything Kei ran out of base.

"Kei!"

"Lin!" Naru suddenly barked out from beside me. Lin nodded and raced off after Kei. I started to run off after him too, but Naru grabbed my wrist. He shook his head at me.

"Naru, let me go!" I struggled to get out of his grip.

"No, Mai, Lin can handle it." He replied.

"What's Lin supposed to do to him?! And what if Kei gets to Mr Tsukiyomi before Lin can? Mr Tsukiyomi can't find out Kei knows! He might try and kill him too!"

Naru let go of me as if I'd burned and slapped him.

"Fine, go, I'm not stopping you." He said emotionlessly. I stood there not knowing what to do. The way Naru said it, it's like if I go then I'm choosing Kei over him which I'm not! He had gone to sit by the monitors and looked like he was studying them intently. I peeked over at the others to find Yuki passed out again with Yasu standing over him. Monk got up and came to me, putting his hand on my head.

"If it makes you feel any better I can go and make sure everything's alright." He suggesting quietly so no one else would hear. I nodded as my gaze went back to Naru.

"Thank you, Monk." I whispered, my eyes still on Naru. He just ruffled my hair and went to find Lin and Kei. I was unsure what to do now. I mean should I go over to Naru and try to talk to him, or should I just leave him be for a while? I bit my lip. Ayako then came over to me and placed her hand on my shoulder.

"Go to him. He needs your reassurance." She advised quietly. I glanced at Naru and then back at Ayako. I nodded and walked over to him. He didn't acknowledge my presence as I stood behind him so I placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Naru..." He didn't say anything, he didn't respond in any way, he just continued staring morosely at the monitors. I frowned and instinctively tightened my hand that was on his shoulder. He shook his shoulder to try and free it of my hand. I removed my hand like it was on fire. "Naru, I..." I started.

"You what?" I heard Naru ask me coldly.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you by seeming to choose Kei over you. I would never do that, I was just worried about him; he is my friend and I didn't want him to get hurt by Mr Tsukiyomi by telling him our suspicions about him." I explained. "Please, Naru, please understand." After a few moments Naru still didn't say anything. I felt like I was going to start crying, but then I heard Naru sigh and he turned to look me.

"I do..." He said slowly. I smiled slightly in relief. But it didn't seem like he was done talking. He looked away from me again.

"Naru... Just because of everything Kei said doesn't change anything." I whispered.

"I wasn't finished." He murmured.

"What were you going to say?" I asked. He shouldn't have looked away if he wasn't finished... Unless it's something horrible that he's going to tell me! Oh my god, what have I done?! He still didn't face me. "Naru? What were you going to say?"

"You can go if you want to, Mai." He said, standing up.

"But that would make you unhappy... Naru, why do I feel like you're breaking up with me?" I whimpered. He stood in front of me and put my face between his hands.

"Because you're an idiot." I just stared blankly at him. "I'm going with you." He cleared up more. I just smiled at him for understanding and hugged him.

"Thank you, I love you." I said as I buried my face in his chest. He wrapped his arms around me and kissed my forehead. "Do you know where they are?" I asked as I looked up at him.

"Yes, somewhere in the area of where we were yesterday by the storage room."

I scrunched up my nose.

"Why is it always that place?" I mumbled with distaste. Naru shrugged and chuckled a little. I smiled and then sighed as I let go of Naru. "Let's go." He followed after me as I walked to the door and left. As we continued walking I noticed that it was really quiet. All I could hear was the sound of us walking. "I guess everyone went home..."

"Maybe, but something seems slightly off about it." Naru commented. I nodded in agreement.

"But what?"

"I'm not sure." He replied.

"Do...do you think Masako's still possessed? Yuki didn't look too happy when Kei mentioned Mr Tsukiyomi's name..." I asked as I looked cautiously around at the dim lighted hallway.

"I don't think this has anything to do with Yuki." Naru murmured. "This doesn't feel like a spirit's doing."

"Mr Tsukiyomi?" I suggested. "Maybe he heard us or something?!"

"That does sound likely."

"We really need to find the guys..." I mumbled.

"I agree."

After we walked some more we finally got near the storage room. I could hear male voices. I walked faster past Naru. He reached out to stop me, but he wasn't quick enough.

"Mai!" He called but only loud enough for me to hear. I didn't know whether to ignore him or not. I just decided to look back at him and say, "Come on, Naru!" And kept going until I got to the voices. Monk and Lin were trying to talk to Kei and stop him from going any further than he already had.

"Kei!" I said as I came up to them. Naru came up behind me. The three other men looked at us as we approached.

"Mai?" Monk asked. But I ignored him.

"Kei, please, you can't talk to Mr Tsukiyomi about our suspicions." I continued as he was about to protest. "I know you don't think that Mr Tsukiyomi would do something like that, but I wouldn't lie to you especially about this. You can't tell him about any of this, if he knows you know he might try and kill you too." After a few moments Kei slowly nodded. I smiled slightly in relief.

"Seriously?!" I heard Monk mumble under his breath.

"Is there a problem, Takigawa?" Naru asked sharply. Monk looked at Naru and then glanced at Kei.

"No, nothing..."

"Good."

"Kei, maybe you should go home now and not think about any of this right now. We'll figure out more tomorrow." I promised. Again Kei nodded. He glanced at Naru, Monk, and Lin.

"Okay, I'll go, but I'm not happy about this situation at all." He said.

"I know, Kei, but please just trust us."

"Alright, I'll trust you." Kei sighed defeated.

"Thank you." I said softly. I noticed Monk's eye twitched, but thankfully Kei couldn't see it. I wonder what Monk's problem is?

Naruisawesome: Well, I think Tree and I have decided that we're gonna end this soon!

Treelow955: Yeah! We know this is a long-chaptered case, but if you get the two of us working on something together, well... We can't stop!

Naruisawesome: Haha so true!

Treelow955: Hey, should we tell them about—

Naruisawesome: *Covers her mouth and whispers to her* We'll tell them later!

Treelow955: Okaay then... Please review!