I laughed maniacally the whole time I wrote this chapter, which, due to a major burst of artistic creativity took only a whole day to write…. And you will all soon understand why. By the way, as of after this chapter, the rating is getting jacked. New Arch starting. Trigger warnings from here on out is given because… well, this shit happens. More than most are willing to admit. I'll write it as well as I can, but it's going to get as gritty as hell, and as dark as I can get it.
There will be sex- though, not gonna lie, I don't know how… detailed I'm going to get. Prepare for that. Not telling who. I will also tell you, Tohru and all of the other OC's (Besides my Irish ones and Sakurako) have some pretty… terrible backstories that I've only lightly touched on.
Honestly, I was gonna have Tohru end up with someone else… but, the way it's wanting to go, its turning out to be Yasuhara who she's for. Honestly, I was trying to get him with Emiko or Izumi, but for some reason, they just don't… click. Well, they do, but not in a romantic way. And for some reason, though I tried not to, Tohru… I think she needs him. It's happening anyway, FYI, but tell me what you guys think about it.
So many sad country songs went into this… but this line, this line makes me hurt… and puts so much into perspective. Only this song was on my playlist (for some reason) was not. Many tears were shed as I was writing this (You know, while I was laughing like an evil mastermind). It was… emotional for me.
This chapter seems to be nights of reflection... mostly lamenting love lost or love not returned.
because I'm a terrible person that loves me some angst.
Now, to answer the reviews that I currently have on the previous chapter.
ShotaroxPhillip: eventually. It's just going to take an ungodly amount of time…. *in creepy dark and gluttonous voice* Because there's nothing I love more than the cries of despair and agony of the people whose love lives I fuck with…. And yes, before you say anything else, I know that I'm a terrible person.
Glass Dragon's Rose: Oh, I love hearing from you. My favorite part of your review had to be 'Mai needs to kiss him stupid already'. This chapter, I am dedicating to you- well the whole thing is dedicated to all of my lovely readers, but this chapter specifically, is for you, because this review made me laugh like a lunatic.
Izumi. Takeshi -279 : Don't worry. Eventually, people will start getting their heads out of their asses… but not right now.
Joys: Always a pleasure to hear from you, Joys… and yes, Mai will continue to kick his ass figuratively. Not this chapter, though.
MirandaLovespie: He will continue to do so. I promise. And I'm glad that you enjoyed the chapter. I'm absolutely ecstatic that you like it so much that you'd reread the whole thing…. Which, by the way is… now 169 pages in word, with 75,283 words and counting.
Chapter 16- Not A Thing You Get to Choose
I never thought that I could love
Strangers at night were good enough.
But, love's not a thing you get to choose….
Try to resist, you'll always loose.
Beth Crowley- Battle Cry
Two Weeks Later
Tohru
The tension was so thick, you'd need a serrated cutting knife to cut through it, she thought with a sigh., from Mai, from Annabelle, she expected it. How else would someone take what had happened- and everyone knew everything that had happened- Sakurako had sent her nephew out on some wild goose chase, just to get the stories out of everyone.
Emiko and Izumi were both out for blood when it came to Dr. Davis and Adrien. Psyche was too busy floating on a cloud to notice, sighing dreamily after the older Davis twin (at least that, Tohru thought, was normal) to notice, but that wasn't even the real problem.
The two pairs seemed to keep the tension in the workplace, actually, there was no mention of what happened between Dr. Davis and Mai or Adrien and Annabelle outside of the four hours that Takeshi was out. Other than that, they were fine. A little more pissed off than usual (not to mention the fact that Annabelle had turned into a freaking water fountain with all the rain, but that was besides the point; Tohru really wanted to punch Adrien in his perfect face, which was also besides the point)
No. The real tension was at home. When Takeshi and Kuroda were in the same room, specifically. The dark-haired girl had been very closed-mouthed when it had come to her own turn in the sharing corner, something that they had all forgiven- they'd get it out of her eventually.
That didn't stop the furniture from shaking when Sakurako's nephew came into the room. If he noticed, he didn't say anything. Tohru had taken to keeping out of the room when the two of them were in it. The same could be said at the University. Like now. As it was one of the days that Takeshi had been asked to help out, Tohru found herself sure that if she dared stay in there, she'd spontaneously combust.
She made a face. "Quite a show in there, isn't it?"
She jerked around to see who had spoken. It was Yasuhara Osamu. She blinked. Not two words he'd spoken to her before now, she thought. She chose her words carefully. "It seems rather difficult for them…"
"Ah, so she does speak." He flashed a grin at her. "I was wondering if you only spoke in times of crisis... though if that is my hypothesis, you're proving it." He chuckled, and she cracked a grin. It was true. The last time she'd really said anything was when the team had gone to investigate the lady Cassandra- or, as Mai referred to her: 'the badger formed bitch that's a total pain in my ass.'
She shook her head. "I… don't think this is a time of crisis…"
At this, the young man threw his head back and laughed. She couldn't help but giggle herself. She could hear the bullshit in her own voice. "Oh, if that isn't the biggest lie I've heard in the last hour…" Yasuhara snickered. At this, Tohru's eyebrow rose. "Uh…. In the last hour?"
"It's how long it took me to find out where you've hidden yourself. I was actually worried that you'd gone up in flames."
"Oh… okay, who's lied about what in the last two hours?" her eyes sparkled with mirth, as he snorted. "The easier question would be, who's not lying through their teeth about something right now?" he replied. "Because the answer to that is as followed: John, who doesn't know what the hell is going on; Masako, who's just laughing her ass of inwardly at the whole thing, and trying not to think about her own love life- or lack thereof; Madoka, who's eating popcorn, because we all know she's just resolving the tension beating at her with Lin, who has joined her in watching the train wreck; Professor Davis who is just worried about Naru; Gene, who's trying to woo Psyche, and she's letting him. Fin's annoyed at his brother who's being an idiot where their childhood friend is concerned. Ayako and Takigawa are doing what they've always done, living in denial about wanting each other…"
"Okay. Okay, I get it, we're living in a soap opera." Tohru had to stop him before she started getting grey hair. "But none of them are the ones giving off horrendous sparks." She pointed out. "you know, the ones that…"
She flushed, realizing what she'd been about to say.
"The ones that have nasty side effects for anyone not currently in any sort of relationship?" Yasu drawled. She nodded. "I'd offer to help you out, but that might make me sound a bit sleazy." She gasped at him before she started laughing. "Oh, that's rich." She snorted as he gave her a doggish grin. She sighed as she leaned her head on the wall.
"I kind of feel a bit like a kid who's gotten in trouble in class and is now waiting outside in the hallway." She muttered.
"And it's all because Naru won't get his head out of his ass." Yasu nodded in understanding. She closed her eyes, relaxing against the wall. "How long has that been going on, anyway?" she asked. Yasu once again laughed. "Since I've known them." He answered simply.
Her eyes opened again in shock. "Mai doesn't think so." She said, looking at him. His own head leaned back against the wall, the window adjacent to them let in the dark, grey light of the storm that was ever- present these days, courtesy of Mai and Annabelle, the lightning that flashed threw him in sharp relief.
Perhaps she hadn't let herself realize it before, but she noticed now how handsome he was. The glasses were just a plus- she'd always had a thing about them (something that Emiko and Izumi had teased her about endlessly, with Anna and Lani throwing in their two-yen in with it). He was lean, but she knew that he was strong- she'd seen him during the physical training spars they held in one of the outbuildings. But the lean muscles were hidden under his usual button down.
His Adam's apple was somewhat prominent, enough that she caught herself staring at his neck like a vampire, as he leaned his head back. "Back then, she was… happier." He said it quietly. "Hard not to see the difference between her then, and her now. It makes me wonder… just how much of her personality had to change for her to survive?"
She sighed. Yeah. There it was. "She had to do a lot of growing up." She murmured. "Living on the streets… it's not something that the faint of heart can survive. Of course, she only slept on the streets a handful of times, from what I know, John got her to stay with him most of the time, while he was off doing his… excorcising…?" she frowned. "How do you even say that? I made it sound like he was out running for five hours every day…" she snorted.
Yasu sighed. "I wish she didn't have to go through that…" he muttered. She shrugged. "She was already harder than she should be by the time we got to her. To be honest, we didn't meet in the best of circumstances." She told him. "She was in the middle of getting assaulted by a rival gang on our territory."
His head snapped up, grey eyes blazing as he grabbed her shoulders in a vise-like grip. All humor was gone, now and his face, which usually had a mischievously mirthful grin, was now drawn and angry. "What?" he snarled. She frowned.
"If you would let me go, that'd be great." She replied, her voice hardening. "I was about to tell you, anyway."
She felt his hands loosen, and he seemed to get himself under control. "My apologies. I didn't mean to… did I hurt you?" he asked. She shook her head. "No. I've had worse." She said it gently, he needed that. She sensed that the admission piqued his interest, but she didn't elaborate on that.
She sighed. "We saved her. She was fighting back, but that wouldn't have mattered in a few seconds. They had her on the ground. Her clothes were ripped. Kuroda recognized her, and she flew off the handle." She said. "Anyway, we beat the ever-living shit out of them, and then, we got her back to John's house, where she'd been heading in the first place. He was there." She shuddered when she relived the look of pure and utter fury that had etched onto the sweet, blond exorcist's face at the sight of Mai, who'd looked like she'd been mauled.
"I bet that pissed him off…" he muttered. Tohru snorted. "If I wasn't so sure he was a pacifist, I'd have said that the priest wanted to go find them himself." She replied. Yasuhara snorted at that but paused. "He's not. A priest, I mean. He is a pacifist."
She cocked her head to the side. "But I thought…" He shrugged. "He hasn't been ordained."
"Oh." She didn't really know what to say about that. "But yeah, that was how we met Mai and John." She finished the story lamely, leaving it a bit awkward. She leaned against the wall. "You were telling me how it used to be, before, I mean, between Mai and Dr. Davis."
"Well, she and Naru would fight all the time- and by that, I mean she would yell at him, and he would either egg her on, ignore her, or on one occasion, get angry right back, but that resulted in getting himself put in the hospital because he sent himself into cardiac arrest." She gasped, eyes popping as wide as dinner plates as he casually mentioned that the man had thrown a hissy fit that had landed him in the hospital.
"How on earth did he manage that?" she asked, incredulous. He smirked. "He used his PK, though, because Gene was dead, and there was no one around able to help him control the amount of power he'd been putting off, he took it all himself. His body couldn't handle the strain, and it let him know by nearly killing him."
"I bet Mai was thrilled." She said wryly. He snorted. "Oh, she was a mess. She blamed herself, because she'd gotten him mad enough to do it in the first place." He shook his head. "I miss that Mai, sometimes. Then, at the oddest moments, she pops out again, and then…" he snorted.
"And then, Dr. Davis does something that pisses her off." She replied. "Sometimes, he just breathes and it's enough to piss her off."
"So true, but I've found that his breathing can be a bit annoying, sometimes…" Yasuhara smirked. "especially when he's using it to deny that he wants Mai as much as she wants him."
"Wanted him. She wants nothing to do with him these days," Tohru corrected. "And even if she does want him, she doesn't want to."
"That was oddly confusing, and really, if I had been anyone else, I would not have understood half of that." Yasuhara grinned. "You're an interesting woman, Tohru." She blushed, before shaking her head. "I'm not. Not really." she murmured. "You just don't know me well enough, yet."
She tried hard not to think of her past, even as a familiar voice told her 'you aren't worth anything. I should have dealt with you at birth.' She winced a bit. "Anyway," she quickly changed the subject. "At least you can get away from the horribly thick tension in there when you go back to the dorms…"
"If you think that's true, I have some ocean front property in the Sahara." Was the blunt reply. "It lingers…. So much." He shuddered. "There have been times that Fin and I have camped out at Takigawa and John's place, just to get away from Adrien."
"Yeah… but its only from Adrien. I've got to deal with Kuroda and Takeshi… who, for some reason, have been more…" she trailed off, struggling for the word. "Well, whatever it is, I've taken to hanging in the barn with Mai's pets…"
"Pets?"
"She's experimenting on whether or not animals can have the same psychic abilities as humans. So far, she's picked up a fox kit that can do what she does, and imprint his emotions onto her, and a barn owl that was born blind, but can hunt better than the other owls, who are not." She said. "I've no reason to think that she won't find any more, but between Masa, Yasu, and the horses…"
"Yasu?" Yasuhara frowned, confused. "The fox." Was the answer, and immediately, the young man was touched. "She named it after me?" Tohru smirked faintly. "I suppose she said you two had quite a bit in common." She returned.
"Aw… that's so sweet… and something I can rub into Naru's face." He grinned. "She hasn't named an animal after him."
"She'd have to hate that animal to name it after him."
"That…. Is very true at the moment… but still, you know what they say." A glimmer of mischief was back in those dark eyes, and Tohru blinked at the roguish look it lent him, feeling her cheeks heat up as he carried on. "There's a fine line between love and hate…"
Emiko
She wasn't usually one to be so… annoyed. That was Izumi's job. The mother hen, as she called her twin- much to the latter's annoyance. Between the two of them, Izu was the one who sheltered Emi. From their parents, the creeps they dealt with on the street…. And now, even ghosts, Izumi just didn't leave her sister to face it alone.
However, likewise, she had taught Emiko to protect those you cared about, and right now, two of her surrogate family members were in dire need of help…. Or, rather, in dire need of someone to kick the shit out of the two jackasses who'd once again hurt them.
She didn't know what had gone down between the Irish twin and Annabelle; and was only vaguely aware of the shit between Mai and Dr. Davis. But this shit… well, she wasn't letting it fly. Her sisters were upset, and Emiko was having a hard time trying to reign in her powers. Control was paramount. If she were to raise a body's temperature too high, it could quite literally kill them. If she did the same, but made it lower, it could do the same.
She'd realized at a young age that her gift was dangerous when not used correctly. It was the one lesson she'd learned without her sister, and still, it gave her nightmares.
However, she got a perverse sense of joy when the Professor's son pulled at the collar of his black dress shirt, his face a bit more… colorful than usual. When he cast a look over at her, she gave him the most innocent smile she could muster. "You look so innocent, that he knows you're guilty." She grinned even wider, as she turned to the twin of the other brother she wanted to strangle.
"I just jacked his body heat up two digrees. Not dangerous at all." She pointed out, even as Fin grinned. "Lass, I'm not seeing a problem with the way you're handling it. I'm just of the mind that you should be a bit sneakier while you go about it."
She snorted. "Where's the fun in that? He's just lucky Izu can't do anything right now. It's hot enough in here as it is, and it's not just because I'm fucking with his body temperature." She fanned herself theatrically, as his twin looked over at her, while she still had the Cheshire cat's grin, and he glared.
"Are you doing the same to Adrien?"
"Can't focus on too many people at once. Burns me out, and frankly, I don't like the idea of going to the hospital because I'm running a major fever. Izumi would never let me hear the end of it."
"Yet you're still doing it to Dr. Davis." "For the next few minutes. I want him to suffer a bit." He let out a snort. "Please, if ye can, do my brother as well. He deserves it." He cast an annoyed glare at the other, who glared back. Emiko smiled, laying a hand on his arm. "He's making you mad by upsetting her?" she frowned.
"I thought that was something you'd want?" She might be reading the entire situation wrong, though, it seemed to her that Fin had feelings- strong feelings- for Mai's cousin. Fin blushed a bit. "I… I know she cares for him." He sighed. "I know he cares for her, too, though he's too pigheaded to admit to it. Knowing that they both feel the way that they do, is it really right for me to step in between that?"
So, she was right… "It takes a noble man to stay out of the way, even though his feelings are the same as his brother's." she murmured gently. "I don't quite agree with you. Knowing Annabelle as I do, I believe she deserves the best, and right now, that is not Adrien. Maybe you should take a step?"
At that suggestion, he shook his head. "She's not for me. I know that. I can't help it that I feel the way I do, but she's not for me." She sighed. "you wish she was, don't you?" she murmured, and he gave her a soft smile.
"I do." He murmured, sadly. Though he knew nothing would ever come of it, even as his eyes drifted to the silver eyed girl.
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Later That Night, Winter Hall
Mai
She and Annabelle were in her room, Yasu lay in Mai's lap, and she idly stroked the creature's dense, soft, red fur. She supposed it should be white by now, but because he lived inside the mansion with the girls, it never changed color. She sighed. "Annabelle," she said it slowly, "You have to talk to him. He has no idea…"
"I won't. I won't put myself through that again. IF he's blocked it off…" she shook her head. "I don't want to deal with it anymore. He can have his mood swings. I'm not putting myself out there to be hurt again." And that was something Mai could understand. Hell, she was giving this girl advise that she herself couldn't follow.
Talk to him.
But, every time she'd tried, he'd started another argument with her. What was she to do with that? What she wanted to do right now, was call Ayako and Sakurako, and ask them what they'd do. Then again, what was the point of that? One was notorious for being an old maid- by her own words- and the other couldn't figure out her own feelings.
She sighed, as Yasu jumped out of her lap. She herself got up, and walked over to her cousin, laying a hand on her shoulder. "Get some sleep, Annabelle. You look like you need it." She said softly. Annabelle nodded as she got up and sighed.
"When he kissed me… Mai, I don't think I'll ever get over him." She shook her head, dark hair flying with the quick movement. "What am I supposed to do when he can capture me with one kiss?" she asked, her voice became a thread of sound, and nothing more, fear lacing the wobbly tone. Mai shrugged helplessly. "I… I don't know." She replied, as her cousin walked out.
She wondered how long the other woman could hold out before she had to get out. She wondered how strong she was. She sighed as she settled back down on her bed, ready to sleep, knowing that it might not happen…..
She ran. Had to get away… had to escape….
"Ah, ah, ah…" a tisking voice purred, she gasped as a hand grabbed her wrist, and a knife was at her neck. "escaping again? Naughty girl…" he gave a hoarse chuckle as he drew a line of red at her throat. She gasped, chest heaving,
"L-let me go… please, let me go!" she begged, knowing that there was only one way he would. "Soon, my pet," he crooned, forcing her back, glee in his eyes.
"Soon…" he forced her head back and forced her to receive his kiss.
She sobbed.
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Eugene and Oliver
He woke with a start, indigo eyes darting around the room. "Noll?" the voice at his bedroom door belonged to his brother.
He got up, running a hand through his black hair, messing it up more than sleep had, groggy and slightly ill. Opening the door, he faced his brother, whose face was paler than usual. "Gene?" he muttered, trying to get his bearings. "You touched it, didn't you? Dad told you to wait." The older twin sounded angry.
Oliver winced, as his brother reached out, he shuffled back. "Don't. Not right now. You know how it goes." He said it sharply. Glancing behind him at the bedside table. "He didn't… it wasn't easy." He muttered, disgusted. The residual feelings of the woman were…. Intense. Eugene backed up. "That's why we wanted you to wait…. Until tomorrow at the base…"
"No. Hell no, Eugene. You all knew I wouldn't wait. Not with what we already knew. I will not put myself in that position… and you know Masako, Mai and Annabelle at least have Empathy as well." He growled. Eugene winced. "Ah… we might have…"
"Let it slip your minds? I'm aware of that, brother. Did it also slip your mind that Mai feeds off my emotions more readily than the others?" he snarled. "Hell, she probably caught a bit of it anyway." He looked out the window. "Winter Hall isn't all that far away…" he murmured.
"Been a long time since we've been there, hasn't it? Not since the lady…."
Oliver shrugged. "No… though I think I left some of my things over there…" He wondered what room she slept in. "I caught that, Noll." Eugene smirked. "and what would you do if she was sleeping in the same room as you did?"
The thought came unbidden, her laying in the same bed… and the feeling of a fist to the gut- flaming and hot with lust nearly made him double over. He snarled, glaring at his brother. "Are you purposely an ass, or are you trying to make me kill you?" he hissed.
A self-satisfied smirk settled on Eugene's face. "Just trying to put it in perspective, brother. By the way," his grin widened as he stoked the fire, "I know you left a few of your shirts there…"
He almost whimpered. He knew that Eugene was doing it to be an ass… but, Jesus, the thought of her in the bed he'd slept in the last time they'd gone to visit the elderly psychic, wearing one of the shirts he'd left there….
It was tantalizing. The thought nearly enough to do him in. "I. Hate. You." He snarled. Eugene just laughed tauntingly. Like a shot, Oliver's fist was slamming into the wall beside his head, and a hostile look that was not quite tamed gleamed in his indigo eyes. "You're playing a dangerous game, Eugene." He hissed.
"Maybe it's time someone does, Noll." He said quietly. "you're hurting her needlessly. You're hurting yourself. I'm getting tired of watching it. I didn't come back to watch you throw your life away." He wondered how many times he'd have to say it to get it through his brother's thick skull.
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Elsewhere
Masako
She wandered to the kitchen in the small cottage that she'd rented with Ayako to make tea. She hadn't so much as tried to make anything in the kitchen besides the hot drink, though. She wasn't any good at cooking anything that was available to them in England- though Madoka had been teaching her- with the exception of Rice, and Ayako sucked at cooking, period. Didn't matter what it was, she just burned everything.
The woman could perform minor surgery, and cleanse ghosts with the help of local shrubbery, but put her red-headed ass in front of as stove-top, she was completely clueless. Needless to say, they ordered out a lot- or bought many cans of soup; and would until she got the hang of Western style cooking which was still different (according to Psyche Mallory) than American cooking.
She was thanking her lucky stars that they hadn't gotten a case that made them travel that far… yet. This midnight snack and tea she had was all her, and this gave the petite woman time to think. Right now, she was thinking about all that had happened at the club two weeks before.
Takeshi and Kuroda… who knew? She snorted- probably everyone in that house. Mai certainly had mentioned something about that before, Emiko and Izumi had teased the darker haired psychic about it before, though usually covertly.
Like the others (mainly the female set of identical twins), she found herself furious with Oliver for the way that he constantly played hot and cold, and Adrien just for hurting Annabelle Fitzgerald. She truly wondered sometimes, if Oliver cared about Mai or not.
She supposed this was worse for Mai, being in the situation, and frankly, a few years ago, Masako would be jealous of Mai's relationship with the dark-haired scientist, but now? Now she only found herself envious of the fact that Oliver returned her feelings- though he seemed to be fighting it.
She would give anything for John to see how she felt…
She winced. That sounded so selfish. He was… he was an initiate, waiting to be ordained. How could she be angry at that? How could she possibly hate the religion that was taking him? It was wrong, she knew. Yes, the church had its problems- what organized religion didn't? He loved his religion.
But by the gods, she wanted the man….
It was like an ache that had grown with each passing moment in his presence. He didn't seem to notice her feelings for him. She kept silent. If she spoke… if she gave him doubt, and then he regretted it… She wouldn't survive that, and she knew it. She would fade away, fade away into a ghost like those they hunted.
So, she lay awake night after night, until midnight, when she would sit up with tea, and try to catch the elusive idea of sleep that never seemed to want to bless her with its numbing darkness, and she used time to think, and ponder which was worse.
They say that it was better to have loved and lost, rather than to never love at all… but was it better to love from afar and never speak up, or take the chance and cause someone to regret? Was taking the chance better, or just selfish? She knew, John being who he was, that her feelings would weigh on him, and make him worry about hurting her.
She didn't want that, she figured that letting him go was the best thing she could do. It was the right thing to do… She laughed softly, though she felt her heart breaking. In her young life, she'd only had interest in two boys- men now, both of them. The first wanted nothing to do with her and had fallen in love with another woman in front of her very eyes. She hadn't actually loved him. Not really. He was a memorable first crush, though. The second was as out of reach as the first, and she was so in love with him….
The whole situation was impossible.
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Takigawa, John and Lin
Though he was all but a priest, he did drink. It wasn't a vice, he didn't do it often enough for that. He rarely drank enough to get buzzed let alone drunk in the first place. His roommates- Takigawa and Lin (surprisingly), however, did.
Upon arriving in England, John and Takigawa had asked Lin if they could move in- it seemed less trouble. John could have stayed at the church, but….
He was taking a sabbatical.
He wasn't sure if being a priest was really what he wanted. He didn't know what that meant, and he didn't know when the seed of doubt first sprouted. Up until a few years ago, he was certain, completely comfortable in the idea of what he was doing. Now, every time he tried to make the commitment, he found himself hesitating.
He'd prayed many, many times for an answer, but had yet to receive one. So, here he sat, well on his way to getting buzzed, wondering what was holding him so far back. He sat by himself at midnight, in the kitchen with three fingers of spiced rum- something he remembered his father drinking growing up.
He grinned wryly at the thought. His father had been resigned to the fact that his son had wanted to do something so… different but had supported him. His mother had been happy for him (but confused, like his father). His siblings had all wondered when he'd lost his mind. He took another sip and sighed as the liquor burned down his throat.
It had been a long time since he'd drunk to this degree. He'd have a head in the morning, but he figured for now that it was worth it. Dark violet eyes filled his mind, and he had to frown thoughtfully. He knew who they belonged to. He'd thought her pretty the first time he'd seen her.
Like a doll, large plum eyes that took over her face, set in a heart shaped face, framed by hair the color of the midnight sky and skin the color of the new fallen snow. Back then, he had found her to be a bit aloof, and, though it shamed him, just a bit shallow. While he found Mai vivacious and a bit naïve, he found Masako quiet and a bit pessimistic.
Over the years of working with her, he had changed his first impression drastically. She was quiet, yes, but nowhere near as shallow as he thought. Instead, she was kind, but closed off, years of working with people who thought her a charlatan, or tried to take advantage, be it her money or her fame, had forced her to build walls around herself.
She hid that joy of life, as well as a secret well of searing warmth and passion for what she did behind a wall of cold, out of necessity.
After a while, she'd become Mai's friend, and later, he was able to consider himself one of the special few people that she let inside those walls. He smiled gently as he remembered the long road they'd all taken to get to be the way they were now.
How many times had she called just to check on Mai because she couldn't be there? How many times had he picked up instead of the brunette, and ended up talking through the night, giving and taking advice, swapping stories?
He'd grown close to Takigawa and Ayako the same way. In a way, the worst year of Mai's life brought her family closer together- with one glaring exception, that was. To this day, he wondered how in the world Noll couldn't see that it was him Mai had fallen for, and not his brother, but that was not his business. Not unless either party got him involved.
He had to think that it would all work out in the end. He sighed as he finished the snifter of rum and rose from the table. It was time to head for bed, he thought, running a hand through his messy, slightly curly blond hair. Tomorrow was a new day, and perhaps, enlightenment would follow the sun's rising.
And when the young man rose the next morning, he would push the dregs of the dream he'd had (much to his embarrassment and shame) of the gorgeous, doll like woman to the very back of his mind, where they belonged.
Tomorrow, they would have work to do, and he wondered about the case Oliver and his father had been discussing.
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All that could be heard were the sounds of grief, of fear and of pain. They would not escape, she thought to herself. Though they tried, though they all tried, and through their gifts had many abilities, they could not escape their captor.
He was truly stronger than they were, even combined. It was her turn that night, she thought, dully. Dread filled her, and she wondered how much more he would take from them before he was satisfied. She shivered, and, though it was hard to think of anything besides that she had nothing to keep her warm, she planned.
She planned, and she prayed.
Tonight would be the last time.
She swore it….
This actually was ripped out of me at an alarming speed. almost as alarming as the first few chapters. I'm proud of myself... but don't be lulled into a sense of security. I don't know when I'm going to update again. As always, R&R. Angel Of Pandemonium