Yo. This has got to be the fastest that I've ever updated any of my stories… I'm actually proud of myself. Then again… it just keeps coming. So, Read and Enjoy…. As Mai, Anabelle and Psyche get themselves in some rather messy crap… Nagisa Maeda, I think you're gonna like this one.
Chapter 5- The Wolf
I'm out of my head, of my heart and my mind
'Cause you can run but you can't hide
I'm gonna make you mine
'Cause I can feel how your flesh now
Is crying out for more
Siamès- The Wolf
It took hours to sort through all of the newspapers at the library, though the police case files on Mogami Yuki's murder helped quite a bit. They were able to narrow their field to that day and the following weeks.
The results were about as enlightening as watching SpongeBob. Mai found herself hitting her head on the desk over and over again, trying to figure out what Yasuhara did to find out all the crap that he'd managed to find on their other cases with SPR.
She was drawing a blank. "What do you think, Anabelle?" she asked, praying that her cousin had something…anything. The other young woman just groaned. "No…. I don't… didn't you have a dream or something…"
"My dreams don't tell me the who all the time…" she wined. "They give me cryptic message crap that I have to figure out on my own…" she glared at the newspapers and reports laying innocently on the table.
"Mai, if you keep doing that, you really will set them on fire." Anabelle grumbled.
"That's it…." Mai growled, as she took out her cell phone. "I'm calling Yasuhara."
Anabelle gaped. That… would be a first. She didn't know who this Yasuhara was, but if they could help… Mai looked up at Anabelle's face and grinned. "He's an old friend of mine. Used to help SPR out with case research. Was damn good at it, too. If ever there was a time to call him, now would be it. Maybe I can learn some secrets to research…"
"You're going to need them if you're going to do that research thing of your grandmother's…" Anabelle grumbled. Mai sighed. "The difference there is that I'll be doing all the testing, logging, writing… everything. I won't really have to go to the library…" Mai returned as she found Yasuhara in her phones' phonebook.
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Cambridge, England
Yasuhara stared dumbly at his cellphone for a few seconds before he answered it. "Mai?" he asked, a grin spreading across his face.
"Yasu, I need help" she whined over the phone. "I'm on a case… researching. I can't seem to find anything."
Yasuhara gaped at the phone. She was on a case? Without them? He couldn't help but feel both proud and sad at the same time. Takigawa must have noticed, because he came up to stand beside him. "What's up, Yasu?"
"Mai's on a case." He said, grinning. Ayako gasped as she heard the news. "She's on a case?" the others from the little group jumped up, Masako smiled behind her kimono sleeve, when Oliver and Eugene entered the room.
"What's going on?" Eugene asked, watching.
"Mai just called Yasu… she needs help on a case." She said grinning at the older twin. She did not notice Oliver's eyes narrow. "Cool." Eugene grinned.
"What're you looking for, Mai?"
"Anything," her voice came out of the phone- that Yasuhara had put on speaker, and Oliver felt something… he pushed it aside before it could take hold. "I know the name of the victim- our little vengeful spirit. I know her background. I know where and how she died… what I don't know… the key of the case… is who did it and why."
"Why's that the key?" Yasuhara asked, confused. Usually it was the why the ghost died. Mai huffed.
"Whoever it was… had been her lover. From what I can get from my dreams, they had a pretty heavy thing. All I know was that he was really torn up over it. Sounded like he didn't have a choice…"
"There's always a choice…" Oliver snapped. "He, whoever he was, chose the wrong one."
There was silence. Until she answered. "I couldn't agree more, Dr. Davis." Her voice had changed. Even from the other side of the globe, Oliver could feel the ice. Though that was unimportant… and not his problem. "And you'd know all about those kinds of choices, wouldn't you?"
It was a good shot, he admitted it to himself. "though, I don't expect you to think so. My problem is that…. Well, I can feel that I'm missing something… I just can't figure out what I'm missing…"
"Well, are there any events that happen directly after that? Like, big events…?" Yasuhara asked, before Oliver could say anything. She'd gotten better, Eugene thought in amusement, unbeknownst to him, that same thought was running though almost everyone else's head. Even Lin smirked.
They heard papers rustling, she'd obviously put them on speaker as well, before another voice spoke "What about that one? Pretty interesting, don't you think that the local Yakuza family got a new head, two days after the murder?"
"Hm… You could be right…"
"Hold up… Anabee? Is that you?" Yasuhara looked over to see Finn grinning ear to ear as he heard the other young woman's voice. A quiet gasp sounded, before a joyously musical "Finn!" sounded through the phone.
Adrian, who was right beside him froze. "How're you doing, little bee?" Finn called. He heard her giggle and then sigh.
"Stuck on a case, unfortunately. Thanks to Yasu over there, who's helping us figure it out... hm, hey Mai, it says here that the new head of this Yakuza family was about 18 years old at the time of the murder… not too far of a stretch, right?"
Mai sighed. "See, I'd agree with you, Cousin, but… well… Yuki was the police chief's daughter. She wouldn't go running…. Around… with… Oh… Kami-sama!"
Yasuhara snorted. "Oh, now we're getting it. Come on Mai. Classic love story gone wrong. She falls in love with the wrong guy and to get to the top, he has to kill her…"
"He loved her too… I think… then again, there are many people who are just amazing at lying… even by omission."
At this, Yasuhara gaped. Had she just... compared Oliver to a murderer…?"
"though, he did shove a knife into her back, hell… he could have been lying to her about everything… like his name. So, who's to say that the boy that she was mentioned to be seeing was even his real name…"
Oh, she was. She was going there. Yasu snuck a glance over to the Big boss, who was looking impassively at the phone… and then, he spoke. "Well done, you've finally figured out something that a grade- schooler could've done in less time. If you're quite finished interrupting our work…"
"You weren't doing anything but going to get your precious tea, Dr. Davis." Mai cut in. "Yasuhara would have told me if the lot of you were on a case. Furthermore, insulting my intelligence is juvenile, don't you think? Thank you, Yasuhara, for the help."
"I'll admit, it's a long-shot, Mai…" Yasuhara snickered.
"It's the best I've got from what I have… which is as usual, annoyingly cryptic dreams and a crap ton of newspapers."
"Bye, Mai."
"Later, Yasu," the call ended… and Yasuhara couldn't hold it in any longer. He broke out laughing.
"Oh, she's gotten good," he snickered. "Dear Kami, that was amazing." Takigawa was openly gaping at the phone in Yasuhara's hand.
"What happened to my precious little Mai?" he whispered, looking comically proud and crestfallen at the same time. Ayako smirked.
"About time she gave as good as she got… no, wait, better." The temperature in the room dropped.
"Oliver." Lin said. The other man shrugged. "Not me." He stated simply.
It wasn't. It was Adrian. "Are you shitting me?" he hissed, livid tone "She's on a case?"
"It's what she'd been wanting to do for a while…" Finn drawled. "Get a grip, Adrian. She made her choice… and so did you. In fact, you made most of her choice for her." Green eyes clashed, both angry, though the one who seemed calmer was more angry- if only for his brother's behavior towards their childhood… friend.
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Tokyo, Japan
They ran back to the club, arriving about the same time as Takeshi, who had some business to finish before he'd been able to join them. He grinned as he caught sight of two of his students. "Mai, Anabelle. What…"
"In a hurry. Need to report." Mai gasped, running in ahead of him. She nearly slipped on the staircase getting to the base. Korito-sensei was waiting for them. "What did you find out?" she asked, wondering why on earth they looked so out of breath.
Anabell was the first to answer. "We may have found out who it was… problem is, it's completely circumstansial, with the smallest of coincideces." She gasped. Mai nodded.
"Two days after Mogami-san was murdered, the local Yakuza got a new head." Mai gasped. "An eighteen-year-old by the name of Kuronuma Yuru. He's still in charge, but getting up in years…." She frowned.
"Funny, most of the Yakuza families in Japan went after us once or twice, but the Kuronuma…." Kuroda murmured. Tohru frowned as well. Izumi and Emiko looked over, both cocking their heads to the side.
Korito frowned. "What the hell are you talking about?" she asked. Psyche on the other hand asked. "What's a Yakuza family?"
To answer both questions, Mai looked up. "Before we attended Uni, we were…to put it bluntly, Yankees, Korito-sensei. At least, all of us besides my cousin and Psyche. There were two more of us, but Anna's studying to be a lawyer, and Lani's studying to take over her father's business."
Korito gaped. "Yankees?" she whispered, looking amazed. Mai nodded. "Actually, prior to a few months ago, I didn't even know I was Momohara Megumi's granddaughter. I was living in a low-income apartment, which I'd gotten because my employers at the bookshop were trying to help me out. Before that, I was homeless…. Living with a friend of mine from SPR." She shrugged at Korito's expression.
"What's a Yankee, here?" Psyche groaned, not knowing what the hell was going on. Anabelle grinned. "Mai had to explain it to me while we were looking through all the old papers. A Yankee is what we call a gang member. The Yakuza is basically a crime family. Not unlike the mobs in America."
"Thank you. Finally." Psyche said. Then to Mai… "You sure this guy's the one?"
Mai shrugged. "Only way to find out is to have another dream…" she said. "Which'll happen tonight."
Takeshi, who had arrived at the base not long after the cousins, frowned. "You said they only come after men in a relationship?"
"Well, technically, she went for Mai when we first got here." Psyche drawled. "You should probably stay away from the balcony on the other side of the floor, though, Takeshi." She drawled. Takeshi nodded, and pulled out a back. "I brought dinner." He said calmly.
As they ate, Mai and Anabelle told them how they'd found out about the whole thing.
"Again, it's a longshot. We may be way off base. But I called a friend of mine…. He's studying at Cambridge right now, with BSPR." Korito blinked, and looked up. "You have friends at BSPR?" she asked, grinning.
Her plan was formulating. Mai nodded. "Plenty, actually. I worked with Lin Koujo for nearly two years. Yasuhara Osamu as well. I'm friends with Hara Masako and Matsuzaki Ayako… as well as Takigawa Houshou. Eugene Davis helped me interpret my dreams when I first started having them..."
"What about Oliver Davis?" She asked. Mai hesitated. "He… was my boss. Great at constructive criticism." She muttered ruefully. Korito frowned. That was the least she'd said about any of the people she used to work with.
"She doesn't like talking about it." Anabelle said quietly, looking at Korito with a wry grin. "It's kind of a thing."
She nodded, but asked no more.
After dinner, they did more readings, and then went to bed. Mai sighed as she slipped into the futon. She was asleep before her head hit the pillow.
She looked for him, he had to be here. He promised. She caught sight of him, and launched herself into his arms.
"Yuru…" she whispered. "I thought you wouldn't be here."
"I almost didn't come." He muttered. She frowned. "Yuru… what's wrong?" she asked. He sounded so sad.
"I can't get out of it… If I don't…."
"If you don't what, my love?"
He sighed "I love you, Yuki. My princess… no, my queen. Maybe…"
"Yuru, you're scaring me…" She tried to move away, to look at his face. He didn't let her. "I'm sorry. I love you."
Pain. She floated in the air. Where am I, she wondered. Where's Yuru? She looked around… and then down. There was her love, sobbing quietly, as he looked at her body. A knife was in her back.
I'm dead, she realized. And he did it.
"I'm sorry, Yuki… I had to…" he moaned.
"Well, kid, you did it. You're head of the family now." Another voice said. She froze. He killed her because… but he'd sworn he would leave the family…
He'd promised her….
She let out a scream.
Mai woke up gasping. "Damn." She cursed softly. Psyche, being the light sleeper she was, woke up as well at the sound of her voice.
"Mai, you okay?"
"Yeah. I just hate being right sometimes…." She muttered.
"So, it was the Yuru guy?" Psyche asked. Mai nodded. "Killed her so he could be head of the Yakuza family. Funny. He had promised her that he'd leave the family for good."
"Hence the 'he lies' part of her attacks…"
"Yup." Mai groaned. "Looks like more legwork tomorrow."
"Oh?"
"Yeah. Gotta go see the Mr. Kuronuma." She snorted, as she lay back down.
Psyche snorted. Well, something like that had been bound to happen, eventually. She was just surprised that it had taken her that long to find something stupidly dangerous. She shook her head, and turned on her side, letting sleep take her once more.
….
She'd heard Mai try to explain it, but at the time, Psyche hadn't gotten it. How could you tell if you were on the Astral Plane, anyway? She had wondered. Now, as she looked around, she could finally see what Mai had been talking about.
For surely, something this beautiful couldn't possibly have been dreamt up by her. She just didn't have this good of an imagination.
"Wow, I didn't expect to see someone here…" another voice, not hers (not with that British accent), said. She gasped and turned.
There was another person here. He was tall, about 6'2". Black hair and indigo eyes. He smiled at her. "let alone someone as pretty as you…" he said softly.
And her stupor was broken. She gave an unladylike snort. "Okay, sure," she replied. "I think you need glasses…"
"No, actually, my eyesight is pretty good. Apparently, yours could use some work, though," he joked, grinning.
"Who are you?" she asked. He swept into a courtly bow that had her blushing. "Eugene A.J. Davis. At your service." He said, grinning. "And you are?"
"Uh. Psyche. Psyche Mallory." She said it softly. Gene blinked. "You wouldn't happen to be working with Mai Taniyama, would you?"
"Yes. She's a friend… and a classmate… and student."
His gorgeous dark brow shot up. "Student?"
"I'm teaching her foreign languages. I'm…rather gifted with languages."
"Ah. Well, a pleasure to meet you, Miss. Mallory. I'm sorry that I pulled you into my astral projection…"
"N… no problem." She said.
Psyche awoke, wondering why Mai hadn't warned her about Eugene, but quickly shook it off when she saw that Mai and Anabelle were both talking to Korito-sensei.
"We still have one thing to do. If we can get him to come here…. Maybe there can be some closure.
"The man is in his 90's, Taniyama- or should I say Sullivan?" Korito stated. "Not only that, but he is still the head of that Yakuza family. You should fear an old man in a young man's job. Not go running off to see him."
"He's the reason she's dead. The reason she's attacking innocent people. I'm not going to pick a fight… I just want to talk to him. I mean, it isn't like I can call the police in the first place. The case has been cold for 70 years."
Korito-sensei glared. "You're not going by yourselves…"
"I'll go." Psyche grinned. "But sending Takeshi-san won't help." She looked at the other two. "Besides, worst comes to worst, I can incapacitate anyone who tries to touch me. I don't only heal with my Biokinesis… not to mention all the crap those two can do."
Korito sighed. She'd lost this battle, and she knew it. "Fine. IF you find him, do what you can." She muttered, shaking her head. Mai grinned. "Don't worry. I'm only a ghost magnet." She drawled.
"Bull. You're a trouble magnet. And you damn well know it." Takeshi growled from the doorway. "I'll be accompanying you." He added.
The three girls nodded, and they left.
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London, England- Davis estate
Luella Davis was proud to say that she knew her boys like the back of her own hand. Adopted or not, they were open books to her- even Oliver, though he would never admit to it. SO, when her boys (and her man) came in all in various degrees of moods, Eugene was grinning evilly at his twin, who looked colder and more remote than she'd seen in a while, and Martin, who looked rather confused, yet, at the same time ridiculously eager, she wanted to know what had happened.
She walked over and kissed her husband (the spark that had been there for years had not yet gone out, and she hoped it never would), she grinned as well. "SO, what's got you so happy, my love?" she asked. The professor grinned.
"Seven wonderful prospects, Lue. All with various abilities." Luella cocked her head to the side. "Oh?"
He chuckled. "I'll tell you about it later. Their teacher said she'd contact me as soon as she could."
Oliver let her kiss him on the cheek, as per usual, and then disappeared- more than likely to the library.
Eugene, however stolled over to her and hugged her, planting a kiss of his own on her cheek. Luella chuckled. Her miracle boys had come home.
"Mother, you won't believe what just happened today." He snickered.
"Let's go into the kitchen, shall we, Gene. I want to hear all about it."
"Remember Mai Taniyama, mom? Oliver's assistant from Japan?"
"Oh, that sweet, pretty little thing? Yes. I remember her…" Luella sighed. She also remembered how the girl had looked so sad and lost at the airport when she, Martin and Oliver had gone home, and had prepared to bury their elder son- only for him to wake up, three days later, perfectly fine.
He had explained it, of course, and had also explained that in order for him to have come back to life… Oliver had had to kiss him.
That still made Luella giggle. Her younger son hated contact of any kind, let alone pecking his brother on the cheek. But, he'd done it. Apparently, because of their connection as psychics and twins, it had worked as well as what was supposed to have happened, which was a peck on the lips.
"Well, she called Yasuhara today." He continued. Luella nodded, thinking of the young man with the rather warped sense of humor with a wicked grin of her own. She liked the boy. It was good for Gene and Noll to have such diverse friends. "She needed help, trying to get another point of view on a case that she was working on."
Luella gasped. "A case, as in a haunting?" she asked, Eugene grinned and nodded. "Yep. Long story short, Noll decided to butt in and made a snippy little comment."
"Oh, not again…"
Eugene laughed. "Don't worry too much, mum. She gave as good as she got. Better, actually. Took a couple shots at him." Luella's blond eyebrow shot up. "Oh, really?" she asked, trying to think of the petite brunette who seemed as sweet as sugar firing back at her younger son's well aimed barbs.
"She did. I was so proud of her." He wiped a non-existant tear from his eye. Luella rolled hers. "Dear, if you spent as much time on your own research as you did trying to take shots at your brother, I daresay you'd be on your own way to your third doctorate." Luella pointed out. Gene grinned and shrugged.
Then, he sighed and shook his head. "Mom, he needs her. I don't think he know how much… but she makes him… forget."
Luella frowned, not sure what to do with that. She decided that she would leave it alone… for the time being.
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Tokyo, Japan
Psyche and Anabelle watched with an almost terrified amazement as Mai lead them through the back alleys of Shibuya. She knew exactly where she was going... Where they were going.
If Mai had it her way, she'd be leading a 90 year old man back to the place where he'd killed his 17 year old girlfriend at the age of nineteen. As she had experienced the death dream not once, but twice, Mai was (understandably) on the warpath where this case was.
Not that Korito-sensei had known that when she'd given the girls permission (as long as Takeshi-san was there, running herd). She probably wouldn't have agreed to it, had she been made aware.
Takeshi sighed as he followed his young, trouble attracting charge. Psyche and Anabelle had decided to stay closer to him rather than the other girl, who was speed-walking, anyway. When they finally reached the end of the unscheduled field trip, Takeshi sucked in a breath.
Mai knocked on the door three times.
A woman answered. She blinked as she looked at the smaller, definitely shaggier looking young woman. "Can I help you?" she asked softly.
Mai smiled. "Yes. I was wondering if a Kuronuma Yuru lives here?"
The woman's spine stiffened at the mention of her elderly employer. "Yes. He does. Who are you?"
Mai smirked, and looked directly into the maid's eyes. Her own eyes, usually a more reddish-brown color, shone gold for a few seconds.
Takeshi shighed. It was the onset of some of her more dangerous abilities. On cue, lightning forked across the formerly clear sky, as it started to rain. "An acquaintance of Mogami Yuki. I really need to speak with your boss." Her voice had become dangerously quiet.
"I've never heard of a Mogami Yuki."
"Your Kuronuma-san has." She stated simply. "Go ask if he recognizes the name. We'll wait…"
The maid nodded and then turned. Takeshi sighed. "using the actual name…" Mai grinned. "It'll get his attention much faster." She replied. "We don't have mch time. Yuki isn't going to stay dormant like that forever."
"I'm surprised that she isn't going at us all, already." Psyche grumbled. "Vengeful spirits like that are really horrible sometimes."
"NO kidding," Mai grumbled, remembering her second ever case at SPR. "I had a case, with SPR, where the spirit of a mother who's child was kidnapped and murdered possessed a doll, before that, she'd spent her time killing off all the children who lived in the house after her."
Takeshi balked. "The doll was creepy enough, except she was also causing some nasty poltergeist activity… moving furniture, making the fire on the stove spread to the rest of the kitchen. Tried to drown both Ayami and myself…."
"tried to what?" Anabelle gasped, looking over at her cousin in horror. Mai shrugged. "Not even the worst case I had with SPR. Na- Ol... my boss tended to take the cases that interested him… which usually turned out to be dangerous."
The woman had reappeared as Psyche had opened her mouth to ask about her mysterious boss, who she already knew was named Oliver Davis, but then the maid started to talk.
"If you follow me, Kuronuma-sama will see you." She said.
Mai nodded, and they all started forward, but the woman stopped them. "This one only… right this way…."
"Momohara." Mai answered, grinning at the woman's response to the name. "Momohara Mai."
Takeshi groaned.
Okay, Next chapter, we meet the Murderer of Yuki. Stay tuned. Read and Review. I decided to explain a bit more about Eugene's resurrection (Guess that Anime!) I'm not saying this is a crossover… completely… but it's got some elements of crossover-ness.
As always, Thank you. AOP