Prejudice, Part 6
Drowning
Naru glared at the file. They were still swimming. Or, pretending to swim.
After all these hours?
And no-one was dead yet. Maybe they would only stop when someone actually died.
He still hadn't found a connection. And the silence was annoying him, something he thought he'd never think.
He decided that it was paranoia. He honestly didn't want one of his members to be drowned.
He tried pacing, but it didn't work. Lin finding it absolutely hilarious was getting on his nerves. His patience tried, he scribbled something on a piece of paper before going downstairs. He paused, watching the chaos. He wasn't quite sure why, but somehow it interested and amused him.
Not to mention, Mai actually looked quite nice in a swimming suit. She had a body to show it off.
No, he didn't just think that.
He banged the innocent piece of paper against the defenceless window.
Wow, they actually noticed him. They all stopped swimming/talking/complaining /teasing/drowning and looked up at him. Mai yelled something, but he couldn't quite hear what it was.
However they made their way to the side. Mai jumped out and walked towards the wall.
"Aw, come on Naru, it's fun. Five more minutes? You can join in!"
Naru glared at her. He did not see how swimming could be fun after a couple of hours in any way, shape or form. And he definitely was not prepared to find out.
"Mai...Out. It's dinner time anyway." He turned away, missing Mai poking her tongue out at him. But she got out anyway, as did the others, and got dressed. Soon they were going down to dinner. Well, most of them were going down to dinner.
"What's Ayako doing?" A baffled monk asked.
"Drying her hair..."
"Er, why?"
"Cos it's wet." Mai gave him a look. Monk frowned.
"Oh, here she is." She walked to the table and plopped into the nearest available seat. Mami looked up from a nearby table. Mai watched her suspiciously as she stood up and walked towards them. However Mami passed by the table without incident, only glancing at Naru once, twice, thrice... Mai was satisfied to see that he didn't even notice. Mami did not appear quite so satisfied.
She returned about five minutes later. As she was passing the table she tripped over, and bent down to tie her shoelace. Standing up she smiled brightly at the table.
"I'm fine." She said. Mai blushed with anger. Mami didn't notice the 'get-away-he's-mine' vibes being sent in epic numbers in her direction. Monk laughed as Mami left.
"Hey, Naru, you've got a fan!" Naru sent him evils. "I mean, a new fan. You're gaining quite a collection." Mai and Masako also sent him evils.
"You're quite the heart breaker, ne Naru?" Ayako joined in.
"Mai you're getting water on me." He said smoothing away several droplets that landed on his shirt.
All three ignored Monk and Ayako for almost the rest of the dinner.
The next day was just as hot as the last. Mai woke up early from the sun shining through the curtains. Also the birds had decided to sing their hearts out at about six.
Sleepily she stumbled into the base, much to the surprise of Lin who had gotten used to Mai and Naru's daily argument about her lateness.
"Be quiet Mai-san." He whispered, gesturing to a black blob on the sofa.
Naru had fallen asleep on the sofa, half way through reading the file. His face had buried itself into the armrest and his arm hung limply over the side, the file on the ground from where it had fallen out of his grip. Mai was more than happy to just sit and stare at his peaceful face. However Lin was there...
To stop herself she sat on the floor and leaned against the arm of the sofa by his feet.
"How long's he been asleep for?"
"He was still here when I went to bed." He turned around and continued typing. Mai liked these rare moments where Naru was asleep and the only sound was the soothing tap tap of Lin's typing. Strange, because when she started it had slightly got on her nerves...
Before she knew it she was asleep too. Lin turned around and smiled at the sight of Naru asleep on the sofa and Mai asleep on the floor next to it. Though it probably wasn't too comfortable for her.
About an hour passed and then Monk and John wandered in. Apparently the sun woke them up too. Monk stared at the scene for a second, and then grinned widely.
"Do you think Naru likes Mai, Lin-san?" He asked innocently. Always a bad sign. Lin nodded suspiciously.
"Does he know?" A suspicious shake of the head this time.
"What are you planning Bou-san?" John asked. Monk bent down and whispered in his ear. John's blue eyes opened wide. Lin was curious, to say the least. Monk went to him and whispered. Lin looked straight ahead for a while, thinking it over. Slowly he nodded. It was, after all, time he realised...
Monk looked at his work with satisfaction. He couldn't wait to see the looks on their faces when they woke up. John looked a bit dubious though.
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" He whispered.
"Sure. What could happen?"
"..."
Monk sank into the now vacant sofa. "We should have brought popcorn. Like they have in American movies."
"You have a weird sense of humour, Bou-san." John sat next to him.
"Shh! She's waking up." There was a held breath (at least, there was on Monk's part, the others didn't seem to have any problem with breathing normally). But she didn't.
"Aww. Jou-chan's so cute." Monk smiled. Ayako and Masako walked in. And stopped. And stared.
"Er, what?" She gaped, while Masako covered her sleeve with her kimono.
"Shh!" Monk whispered accusingly.
Mai had slipped into dreaming without even realising it. She smiled in her sleep as something warm held her.
"Mum?" She dreamed, but there was no answer. She didn't mind much and snuggled into the figure.
"Shh!" She heard. She frowned. That sounded like... Monk? And then there was some sniggering. Her eyelids fluttered open, but she closed them again. She didn't want to get up, she was warm. Wait a moment...
Her eyes flew open. She glanced over her shoulder, and her entire face went red. There was a general laughter. Naru opened his eyes groggily. He blinked once or twice, than froze. Everyone laughed at the look on his face, which quickly darkened. They both sat up immediately, Naru quickly removing his arm from where it had snugly slipped over Mai's waist.
Mai could only squeak in embarrassment, and quickly scramble away. How dare her so called 'friends' take advantage of her! How could they do that? They knew she liked Naru, so why... Naru! What did he think of all this? From the expression on his face, he wanted to kill someone.
"You guys are so horrible!" She cried, her face turning from bright red to burgundy (even her legs and arms had taken a pink tint), and ran out of the room.
Everyone except Lin and Naru ran after her. Naru calmly continued working, his expression dark and dangerous.
"It wasn't that bad. Come on, you liked it."
"I don't like sleeping on the floor." Snapped Naru, his scowl deepening. Lin sighed, but noticed the fact that he complained about the floor, not Mai. Ah, Noll, you're so obvious when someone knows how to read you, he thought as he prepared for today's typing.
They found Mai curled up in a corner of the indoor swimming pool.
"Come on Mai..."
"Go away."
"Mai, it's not such a big thing."
"Yes it is! He probably hates me now."
"No he doesn't."
"Yes he does..."
"Mai, if we honestly thought he hated you, do we think we would have done it?"
"... Yes."
"Mai, don't say that. What sort of friends do you think we are?"
"Well, you're evidently bad ones!"
"No, we're not. We're just speeding up the inevitable."
"He hates me! I'm only a useless assistant who always argues with him and gets in his way and I always get hurt..."
"Mai. No, listen to me. He doesn't hate you. He really worries about you. Do you remember that case where he died?" Mai nodded. Yeah yeah, like she would ever forget. "And then you two had that argument by the lake, and you both stormed off. We didn't tell you this, but after that we assumed you went back to base so we went there, and when Naru found out that we left you alone, he was so livid. If eyes could kill..." He shuddered dramatically.
Mai sniffed loudly. "... really?"
"Yeah." Everyone else nodded. "Come on, let's get back to base."
"... no, I want to be alone for a bit." Monk looked a bit put out.
"We can't leave you alone, Naru would kill us."
"There's a camera right there. Anyway, I don't exactly trust you at the moment."
He sighed. "Okay, but come back to base soon. And move a bit so the camera can see you."
They left, leaving Mai alone with her thoughts.
Back in base, Naru raised an eyebrow at the lack of Mai.
"Where's she?"
"In the swimming pool. She wanted to be alone for a bit."
He nodded. Fair enough.
Mai flicked some water across the surface of the otherwise still pool.
Naru worries about me? Probably because I'm such a klutz sometimes. She laughed nervously, trying to rid her stress. Stress which she didn't have yesterday...
She stayed like that for a bit, amusing herself with flicking little droplets. She wasn't sure how much time had passed. She stood up. A bone clicked as she stretched. Just how long had she been here? Time to get back, and the pool was starting to seem a bit spooky. She turned to leave.
Something pushed her. Into the pool. Her yell was cut off by water flooding her mouth. Oxygen escaped from her mouth in the shape of small bubbles.
Okay, she needed to stay calm. Just swim back up to surface.
Something grabbed her arms and held her there, keeping her underwater.
She flailed widely, but it didn't make any difference. Her mouth, throat and lungs were aching and she needed air now.
Whatever was holding her certainly didn't want her to get air. It certainly didn't want her to get out of the pool.
Well, while she was alive anyway.
She tried to tear off whatever was holding her, but she couldn't latch her fingers onto it.
Please, someone help! Someone had to come. Someone always did. Someone would save her. They had to. Someone...
The water in her mouth was like fire, a grim reminder of the lack of air, it was taunting her, mocking. The invisible hands finally let go.
But she couldn't tell which way up was.
She couldn't swim, either. Her arms and legs weren't working properly with the lack of oxygen, and she had no energy. Maybe she would die here. She couldn't see through the clear water, everything seemed blurry. Pain had spread through her body like a wildfire, and there was a horrible ringing in her ears. Why had no-one come? The camera... Oh, yeah. Spirits and machines didn't mix. She shouldn't have run away, Monk had been right... Too late for that now. She drifted in the water, her fingers trying to stubbornly reach the surface, wherever that was. One final plea for help. For life.
The last thing she felt before she slipped into unconsciousness was strong, protecting arms wrapping round her and holding her close.
DUN DUN DUN! Mai is not in a good spot right now.
Yeah, we know, we have a habit of trying to kill Naru and Mai. We'll pick on someone else after this. Promise!
How long will we keep this going? We don't know. Until we feel like it's finished and we don't want to continue it anymore.
Me and Ocy had an argument about whenever the pool is inside or outside. I wrote that it was inside, but she said it should be outside, that's why the window was there. So we decided that there's a wizard at work, moving the pool wherever.
