Angel of Pandemonium here, with the next chapter- I feel like I should get these out as soon as I write them, which is odd for me. Wow. Well, chapter 3… where Mai gets chewed out by many people. Read and Enjoy.
Chapter 3- I'm Moving On
I've found you found strength in your moments of weakness,
For once, I'm at peace with myself.
I've been burdened with blame, trapped in the past for too long
I'm moving on.
Rascal Flatts- I'm moving on
Mai was unconscious for three days. When she woke up, Anabelle was waiting. Her silver eyes were narrowed with temper, and filled with tears. "How could you do that to us, Mai?!" she yelled, reverting to English for the first time since coming to Japan. "We were worried sick! We called Anna and Lani! We thought you were gonna die!"
Mai winced. "Sorry." She mumbled. "I wasn't really intending on getting attacked…"
"Not that, you moron!" Anabelle screeched "What the hell were you thinking, holding your power back like that?"
Mai blinked owlishly. "How… how long have I been out?"
"Three days. Sullivan-Momohara-Taniyama Mai. Three days. Why the hell were you doing that to yourself?! You could have died! From an aneurism. Your brain was bleeding, Mai. Your doctor friend told us that!"
Mai sighed. "I did it for the same reason that you, dear cousin, ran away from Ireland- and don't tell me you didn't. I didn't want to have anything to tie me back to… him…"
"And yet," Anabelle hissed. "You're majoring in Parapsychology. How does that even make any sense?!"
"I feel more at home with the paranormal. It's something that I can't explain… I just…" she sighed.
Anabelle sighed. "Three days, Mai…"
"I'm sorry. I don't know what else to say. "
"It's not just the PK you were holding back. How long has it been since you astral projected… or… did the excercises that I told you to do? Mai, holding power back like that is extremely dangerous at the best of times. Many of us- some of whom don't have the extra paranormal shit to deal with die because they don't want to use it… and it kind of… explodes out of them. You're lucky you weren't killed…"
Mai didn't know what to say to that.
She was at a total loss here. She'd already known that keeping back the PK- without the proper training (like he had)- would have blown up in her face at one point. The problem, of course, was that PK and ESP weren't the only things that Mai had.
She'd learned exactly why Megumi hadn't wanted Matsuri to marry Damien Sullivan. And the fact was that Damien was different, even from those who had telepathic abilities. He had too many abilities. Pyrokinesis. Aerokenisis, Geokenisis, Hydrokenisis- to name a few. He had (like Mai) had precognitive and postcognitive visions… among others.
In layman's terms, he had been a witch.
When Mai had first heard her cousin use the term, she had laughed. Witches were fictitious females with the abilities to change their appearance and fly on broomsticks. They made potions out of weird and gross things to change people into newts. Anabelle had gotten rather angry at Mai for pointing this out. She had then explained where Mai was wrong.
Most of the Witches did not fly on broomsticks. They were not green skinned, nor did they have moles. They made potions, but they really weren't potions. They were herbal remedies to help people. The only difference between witches and other PK and ESP users was that they had a connection with nature. Also, the word 'witch' was genderless to them.
Unless the female witch was ridiculously powerful (which tended to happen with Anabelle and Mai's family), then they were called something different: Valkyrie.
After Anabelle had explained, Mai had thought that she was going insane, because it just wasn't possible. However, Anabelle had pointed out all the reasons that it wasn't crazy- starting with the fact that whenever Mai seemed upset…. Even as a child, it had started to rain. The fact that Mai's powers were still growing and getting more diverse, though she had been trying desperately to stop that, as well.
It had been just one more thing that Mai had ignored…
Which had landed her knocking herself out for three days. She sighed, and looked at her cousin. "I… I get it. I'll stop." She said. Anabelle looked at her, tears still dripping. She took a deep breath, and then she smiled.
"Now that I've snapped you out of your idiotic attempts to keep it all in, I have some good news for you." She said.
Mai perked up, though she was still rather annoyed at herself. "Really?" she asked. Anabelle snorted.
"The gala worked. Our old professors went back to their other classes. We've got new professors… who actually know their subject."
Mai grinned. "Excellent."
"We were getting sick of you teaching the class."
Mai snorted. "Jerks."
She sighed, and streached as she got out of the bed. "Better get dressed…" she mutterd. She smirked as an idea came to mind, and she glared at the doors of her armoire in concentration. They opened, and clothes floated out. Anabelle sighed. "Show off…" she mumbled, though she knew that she could do the same thing.
She walked to the door. "Takeshi's on his way up to chew you out, too." She said dryly. "And the others are waiting downstairs and on the phone from England to do the same."
"England?"
"Some guy named Eugene Davis," she smirked. "And three people you invited to the Gala. They had to leave right after the party. None of them are happy with you. Eugene and some guy that Takeshi-san called Lin sounded the most pissed off."
Mai winced. Crap. She was soooooo in for it…. then she paled. Lin… oh, Fuck. Excuse the inward language… but if Lin was angry at her…. She winced. She hadn't noticed how bad she'd screwed up… until then.
She quickly got dressed, and braced herself, ready to meet her maker.
And that she did. After everyone (with the exception of one) had had ripped her a piece or read her the riot act (respectively), and after she'd dissolved into a pile of tears and apologies, and promises to never do that again, she waited for Lin (who had been the last, right after Takeshi), to speak.
She hadn't known that Lin had known Takeshi. As it turned out, the two of them had been classmates. Takeshi was an onmiyoji as well. They had learned from different teachers, of course, but they had attended college together, and Lin had taught Takeshi some fine-tuning when it came to their shared art.
"You will be studying control over your PK from Takeshi. Just like Eugene and Oliver learned it from me." Lin had said it in his usual monotone (as he'd already yelled at her, as had Ayako, Monk, Eugene, Masako, Madoka, Dr. Martin Davis (who had heard what she'd done as had chewed her out as a researcher) and John). She was proud of herself for being able to hold in the costomary flinch at his name. in fact, she was surprised (and glad) to feel something else besides hurt….
Anger. She was getting angry at him.
"Yes, Lin."
"You will listen to him, and do everything he says." Lin growled.
"Yes, Lin."
Finally, it was over. She had orders to go back and rest more. She did so. Being yelled at was exhausting. She didn't bother opening the door with her hand, she was too sluggish for that. All she wanted right now was sleep.
It had been a while since she'd heard some of their voices…. And the first time, for others. Part of her was actually happy that they hadn't forgotten about her, that she had such a large family that cared so much about her.
"Just wait until me mum hears what ye've been doin' to yerself, cousin-mine…" another voice in her mind drawled. She groaned. Anabelle was still going, Though her accent was much more pronounced in her mind, Mai got the drift.
"Ye're takin' the week off, too. Ye've pushed yerself too much. Takeshi's orders. Ye'll be startin' yer trainin' tomorrow. Both his… and mine."
Mai was too tired to answer telepathically. So, she just pushed her feeling of 'assent' down the link. Anabelle seemed to take that, and left her alone after that. She hoped that they would give her the notes and schoolwork she'd be missing, because playing the catch-up game was one game that the young medium/telekinetic/witch didn't like playing.
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Cambridge University, England, two days prior
Oliver stood, assessing Adrian and Finn with Eugene and Yasuhara. "So," the Japanese man said. "What do you think, Naru?"
He spared Yasuhara a glance before answering. "I think that it's remarkably like the abilities that Gene and I share." He replied, making another note in his little black book. Eugene smirked. "Too true, bro. One's moody and sarcastic. Just like you."
"Oh, shut up. I'm not moody." Oliver snapped. "It's ridiculous to assume that I am."
"You keep telling yourself that, man." Yasuhara drawled. "So, when are the others scedualed to be here?" he asked.
"If you mean the others we worked with in Japan, they're supposed to be here in an hour." Oliver replied.
"Well, all but one of them…." Eugene drawled, aiming a look over at his twin. Oliver ignored him and went back to the study at hand. "we have a case, by the way. Father told me to tell you lot." He said.
"Cool. Another residual haunting?" Yasuhara grinned. "those are getting a bit dull, Big Boss. I actually miss the danger of the ones back home…"
Naru snorted. "Oh, please."
"Like you don't?" Eugene drawled.
Again, he was ignored, which was about when a female voice- a very familiar female voice- rang through. "You childish ass. How I expected you to have grown up is beyond me…"
"Better than looking more like an old hag whenever I look in the mirror." Another voice sneered. Yasuhara perked up.
"My husband!" he squealed, as Oliver rolled his eyes and Eugene snickered. Yasuhara launched himself at the monk, who let out a girlish scream and dodged to the side.
"Yasuhara. Stop it." Oliver drawled, as the others in the room bust out laughing. Even Martin was grinning at Yasuhara's antics.
"Too bad Mai isn't here," Gene chortled. "She'd have loved the look on Monk's face…" Oliver hissed, and Gene looked over at him. "Just stating a fact, little brother…. Though I suppose that she's only not here because…."
"Shut up, Eugene. I don't want to hear it right now…"
By that time, Adrian and Finn had joined them, and Finn's head was cocked to one side. "It's like first grade… the boy starts a fight with the little girl he likes…"
Adrian snorted.
Oliver, however, felt that the description was apt.
Martin, still chuckling, then called attention. "We have a case, ladies and gents. Two teams should do us fine. Oliver, you'll be leading a team, Eugene, you're with him. Adrian and Finn, you run the second team. Lin and I will oversee the rest.
"Takigawa, Yasuhara, Ayako, John, and Masako, you're with me." Oliver called. They nodded. As they loaded up, he found himself alone with the small medium, who fixed him with her large violet eyes. "You should know that we're all rather irked with you." She said it softly, Japanese falling easily on his ears despite not hearing it for nearly three years.
"Why is that, Hara-san?" he asked, though he didn't really care. She snorted. "I know you don't care. That is the problem. You hurt her… and you didn't have to. Not that much." She replied.
"Hara-San, we do have more important matters to attend to. Whenever you'd like to start making sense, I'll be listening." He said, knowing exactly what she meant. She fixed him with an almost pitying glance.
"Oliver-san, you know what I'm talking about, and that, unfortunately, is the pity of it," this time, a ghost of a smirk appeared on her face. "I believe there will be a time, soon, that you will regret how you handled it. How you handled her."
With those last words, she began helping, though she wore her usual Kimono. "Man, I missed this…" Takigawa said, with a grin.
"How could you have missed this, Monk?" Ayako snorted. "Isn't it like loading up your band equipment?"
"Yeah, it is, but that wasn't what I was talking about, hag." He ducked her purse. "what I was talking about was cases."
"Then we should hurry, Monk." Masako said, a smile on her face, "Or we'll miss all the fun."
John chuckled from behind her, and she blushed.
Oliver hadn't felt so at home in a long time.
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Momohara Mansion, Tokyo Japan, present time
She had started her training the day after she woke up. Thankfully, as she already knew some martial arts, she wasn't too sore by the end of it. She was glad to find that she was rather in shape. However, now that she'd finished the lessons with Takeshi-san, she had to wait for Anabelle to get back from classes.
Not that it was that difficult to wait, while she did, she explored the mansion. She may have been living there for a few months, but that didn't mean that she knew all of its twists and turns (apparently, her grandmother had a whimsical side when having the mansion restored, she kept all the old secret passageways and such.
She found quite a few formal Kimonos in the attic, and brought them down so that she could look through them, deciding on which ones to keep, and which ones to give away… to either her friends and cousin, or to a local charity.
She also found her grandmother's office, where all the paperwork (that she had inherited) was waiting for her (with Sakurako and Takeshi's help) to do.
What she didn't expect to find was another secret passageway in the office… leading down to another office, this one in a hidden room on the ground floor. She looked around the space, that was jam-packed with books on the supernatural. Books on types of ghosts and other beings, books on telekinesis and ESP, books on meditation and books of ritual spells…. From around the world.
What surprised her the most (though, really, it shouldn't have), were the line of books in the middle shelf, behind the desk. A collection of books by Dr. Oliver Davis, Dr. Martin Davis, and Dr. Eugene Davis- all with (and she had checked) Autographs from the authors.
She found linguistic books by Dr. Psyche Mallory and Dr. Luella Davis. (the latter of which surprised her, as well), and Dr. Luella Davis's books were autographed as well.
She wondered, for a bit, why there was linguistic books in with the books on the all things occult, until she realized that many of the books were in different languages. She realized that she'd have to learn these languages, as well, if she wanted to learn more.
She used her Telekinesis to move all the linguistics books to the desk, and then, took out all the ones pertaining to English. The ones by Psyche, she set aside, though. As the author was living in her house… the least she could do was autograph them for her. The rest, she carried upstairs, into the main office.
That took two trips. Even with her PK. On the second trip, she nearly killed herself when her foot caught on a box. She cursed as she got up, and completed her self-given task, before going back to the box. Whatever had nearly killed her better have been worth it.
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Cambridge University, England, present time
The case had been depressingly easy. So much so, in fact, that even the newer members (not counting the Japanese team) were bored. Martin had just chuckled at the complaints, and Oliver had been reminded of why it was that he enjoyed working in Japan so much.
As per usual, Monk and Ayako were fighting (flirting). John was trying to play peace keeper, and Masako and Yasuhara were watching, though Eugene couldn't help but notice how the other medium's eyes strayed more than once to the blond exorcist.
Yasuhara was busy eating popcorn to notice. "This is gold." He snickered, as he grinned. " I can't believe that I'd forgotten how much fun this was to watch…"
Masako laughed softly, as well. "Yes, I agree." She sighed. "Mai would love this…" Yasuhara sighed as well. "Good luck getting Big Boss to call her…."
"Mai's still in trouble right now. Or have you two forgotten?" Eugene drawled from behind them. Masako sighed again, shaking her head, While Yasuhara snickered.
"I still can't believe that she gave herself a nosebleed because she was suppressing her powers." He could laugh about it now, as his surrogate baby sister (which was how he and Eugene both thought of her) wasn't in any danger, or knocked out from misuse of her PK.
Though, Yasuhara had to ask the question that had been nagging him for the last day and a half. "Does Naru know?" he asked the other young man. Eugene rolled his eyes. "Do you really think telling him is necessary? God, he's bad enough as it is. You know how he gets when she's mentioned."
"Usually, we do it deliberately, knowing that it'll piss him off." Yasuhara pointed out.
"Difference is, she's not putting herself in harm's way when we're poking at him." Eugene responded. Yasuhara had no response to that.
"Gene, Noll is looking for you." Lin had seemed to materialize in front of them. "He's in the office." The older twin nodded and left. Lin stood with Yasuhara and Masako.
"She'll be all right. She's going to be learning from an old college classmate of mine. He's an onmiyoji as well." Masako let a breath out, relieved.
"Thank god." Yasuhara said.
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Momohara Mansion, Tokyo, Japan
Dear, sweet Kami-sama, was it worth it. Mai could hardly believe what she'd found in the box… and she was ecstatic over it. The box, which had had her grandmother's handwriting on it was filled with files, logs, charts and notebooks upon notebooks, all written in.
The topic of the whole thing? Psychic abilities in Animals. Her grandmother had started to research something that, with her own abilities to communicate with animals, was perfect for her to study. She let out a squeal of excitement.
With trembling hands, she pulled out the notebook marked Vol. 1, and began reading. She was immediately sucked in. Of course, Megumi sighted studies done by other big names (BSPR in Cambridge being the most prominent of them) that observed psychic abilities within animals, but there was nothing this in depth, nothing that was conclusive.
It seemed as though her grandmother had been studying this for a while.
It wasn't until she heard her name being called in the main office that she was able to resurface herself from the research.
The research that she would continue…. The research that may actually give her a shot at studying at the one school that was practically made for paranormal and psychic investigations… this was her and her friends' ticket to Cambridge.
…
When Anabelle found Mai, she was sitting on the floor in her grandmother's office with a box in front of her. Anabelle gaped, as she walked into Mai's euphoria.
That was new.
While Mai had always been a rather cheerful person (not counting the points in time when… well, he (whoever he was to her) was brought up), this was a totally different type of happy. IT was an almost hungry feeling. Like she'd found the key to all the world's lost treasures.
"Eh, Mai…" she called, trying to break her cousin out of whatever stupor she was in. "I'm back from classes. It's time to train."
She didn't feel as confident as she sounded. She'd only been learning the basics from her mother when she'd… left for… college.
Mai didn't notice her calling, So Anabelle looked over her sholdier at the writing. "What are you reading, Mai?" she asked.
Mai's head jerked up and she looked over at Anabelle. She gave her an almost maniacal grin. Ana blinked and backed up a bit. She'd seen that look only once since joining her cousin in Japan… and that was when someone had the horrible idea in class to piss the psychic off.
Needless to say, the young man had never spoken again… and had left the program soon after.
"It's my grandmother's research. She never completed it. Psychic abilities in Animals. She didn't have it published…. I think that I just found my dissertation…"
Anabelle blinked. "Mai… Your doctorate is a long way away…" She said dryly. Mai laughed. "Years, away Good thing that this is going to take me years." She replied.
Anabelle grinned. "Well, enough about that. Get down to the training room. Now." She smirked. "It's time… For me to teach you the ways of the witch…"
Mai snorted. "Wow… that sounds really unimpressive when you say it like that."
"Eh, you win some, you lose some…" Anabelle shrugged. "Now, get moving, cousin-dear."
Mai would never admit it, afterwords, but she had never felt more exhausted in her life after that training session with Anabelle.
Thankfully, Anabelle and the others had brought her the coursework for her classes, so she was able to keep on top. She'd already read the textbooks for most of the classes she was taking, so she pretty versed in what it was that they were going over… but her psychology teacher had a habit of lecturing things that weren't in the book, and were on the tests, so she'd have to ask a classmate for the notes for the week that she missed.
It was Thursday afternoon when Mai was finally able to stay awake after Takeshi and Anabelle's lessons long enough to talk to Psyche.
"Can you teach me other languages?"
The darker haired girl blinked, and fixed Mai with her large green eyes. "What's the sudden yearning to know more than Japanese and English?"
Mai couldn't really explain it, so she took Psyche down to the secondary office. The other young woman gaped at all the books. "Oh. This totally explains it…" she whispered. Mai nodded. "I know. Do you mind?"
"Not at all. Just let me read this, too…." She said. "Im also going to need you to sign these books, Psyche." Mai smirked as she handed the young linguistics professor all of her books. Psyche gasped and went pink.
She did it anyway, though.
So, began Mai's third fourth set of lessons…. They started with Chinese and Mandarin.
The next week, the Parapsychology class found out that they had a surprise.
So, I've finally gotten to why this story is called Untamed. Thank god, I was trying so hard to rewrite this chapter…. It took me three tries, because I made a goof that doesn't come up until later in the story…. And I didn't notice it until I was re-reading it….
I'm trying to get out of the deadly beginning zone as quickly as possible. As I said, eventually there will be reunions between Mai and Anabelle and the ones that they've both been carefully avoiding. I'll go into some of the lessons that Anabelle is teaching Mai in the next chapter.
As always, thank you for reading, and please, review. AOP