Again Thankyou for reading!
I don't own ghost hunt. :)
Mai's POV
"What do you mean we are off the case!" I blurted out. "We have gathered enough information now to handle the rest of this haunting. Don't forget you two were here as students not as investigators." Naru informed us.
I clenched my fist and glared at him fiercely. "Where did all of this come from we still have another day to be here before class begins on Monday." I demanded not wanting to back down to him.
It must have been because of what happened just a few hours ago regarding my shiki. I thought crossing my arms defiantly.
"Mai this wasn't my decision I'm only the messenger." Naru deadpanned looking down at me coldly. "Yeah right you're just pissed that something happened that you couldn't predict." I accused him.
"I'm sorry Mai this is my case and this was my choice to send you two home." Madoka told me while strolling into the kitchen where Yasu and I were set up.
"Thank you for your help but we can't keep students away from their studies for too long and the main reason you two were allowed to come along was so Naru could get more information on Mai's abilities. He has gathered enough to last him a fair bit I presume." Madoka said looking me over.
I pursed my lips. There was nothing I could do now. I had been around Madoka enough to know she wouldn't budge on her decisions. "Alright." I audibly huffed giving up.
"Thank you for allowing us to join in on this investigation the two of us look foreword to future cases." Yasu smiled brightly at them. "Besides that means that we can go out tonight Mai!" Yasu exclaimed excitedly.
"Hey you two are out of her already?" Lew asked as him and his brother also joined us in the kitchen. They were covered in mud and smelled like farm.
I figured they had been hard at work since early this morning. "Yeah we are only students right now after all." Yasu said. "Any clubs you guys know of in the city?" Yasu asked the two brothers. I refrained from rolling my eyes at his usual antics.
"We told you to go home and prepare for a week of studying not to lose your brain cells getting intoxicated. I figure Mai can't afford to lose anymore than she already has." Of course Naru just had to make a jab at my intelligence.
"Actually Yasu a night on the town sounds really awesome." I acted like I hadn't noticed Naru's rude jeers.
Madoka laughed. "I remember being young and wild in London. You two make sure you're careful. Yasu you better protect Mai from hormonal club boys."
Naru looked away obviously unimpressed. "Of course I will I'll protect this cute little brunette at all costs!" He vowed putting his arms around me protectively.
"Madoka you know that Yasu is just as hormonal right." I deadpanned. "And let go of me you perv! Just cause Bou-san isn't here doesn't mean you get to put your hands all over me!" I yelled shaking myself out of his arms and playfully whacking him over the head.
"Let's go pack our bags, downtown night life Maisu is coming for you!" Yasu laughed dragging me along with him.
"Hey I told you to stop combining our names like that you big goof!
-
The drive back to our apartment was far more chatty than usual. Lin was driving us back into the city and he uncharacteristically was asking me questions.
I answered each of them carefully telling him of my Senpai back in Japan who taught me how to tame my own shiki and the story of how I had met the god who is now indebted to me Fujin.
My senpai had been an old intelligent Buddhist man who had taken me under his wing at Monks request. I had learned so much from him and my adoptive parents back in Japan and had trained any time I wasn't busy on a case or studying with Yasu.
I rested my head against the window smiling softly. I sure worked my butt off to get to where I am now.
Soon we were back at our home and Lin drove off back to the farm house. I was still pretty upset about being taken off of it but I had a feeling that they had everything handled and if I'd learned anything over the years my intuition was rarely wrong.
"Do you want to take the first bath?" Yasu asked. I smiled at him as I poured us some tea. "A bath sounds rather nice." I said and plopped in our tea bags.
"I hope you're not making chamomile I was being serious about going out for some drinks this might be our only chance before we get overwhelmed with our assignments." Yasu said grabbing the cream from the fridge.
"It's chai." I replied dipping a spoon on honey in mine. "Okay good choice. Let's go out for dinner and drinks around nine then hit some clubs afterwards." Yasu suggested stirring cream into his cup of chai.
"Wear something pretty." He said making his way into his room. "Fine but we are so not going to stripclubs!" I raised my voice so he could hear from behind his closed door.
"Awe cmon!" He complained.
I rolled my eyes and went into the bathroom smiling. I would be lying if I said I wasn't excited to go out. I'm not much of a drinker but once in a while I enjoy letting loose.
It's somewhat of a guilty pleasure and back in Japan I wasn't old enough to club yet. I would occasionally have drinks with Yasu and my high school friends at house parties.
It was always an interesting time and often cheered me up after a long week of bad dreams and torturous training. Then Bou-san would always come pick us up and bring us home while laughing at our crazy stories adding some of his own.
For a so called Monk he was pretty wild. Of course that's expected from a musician.
I smiled thinking about some of the concerts he brought us along to. It was always such a good time, Yasu and I got VIP treatment and somehow would get served drinks.
That reminds me I should call him and Ayako after I get cleaned up. I thought to myself while starting to run the bath.
After pulling my long hair out of a messy bun I had I sprayed in some detangler and got to brushing. I decided I wouldn't wash my locks today and curl it so I could wear it down. It didn't take too long for the bath to be full.
Slowly I eased myself into the steaming hot water enjoying the heat upon my naked skin. I missed our Japanese bathrooms back home and I felt some homesickness for the first time since arriving here.
If someone had told me I'd have people to call family again and was studying parapsychology in the UK five years ago I'd laugh in their face. Who knew that something so bizarre could resonate with me so strongly.
All those years as a powerless little girl with deceased parents seemed so far away now.
What would I be doing if I hadn't of met Naru that day. If I hadn't of broken that camera and injured Lin. Was an accident really all it was?
I settled into the bath placing my slender legs on the side of the porcelain tub. Gene still had neglected to tell me why we could so easily communicate.
Why he still lingered around visiting me in my astral plane acting as my guide. Why we had to keep secrets from Naru and the others. My instincts told me he had something much greater planned behind the scenes.
The smell of vanilla filled my senses as I exfoliated my legs with a lavender coloured loofah. Soap bubbles spilled off my legs into the tub and I lathered them with shaving cream.
I wrapped my robe around myself after I got out my body freshly shaven. Suddenly Yasu's fist rapped against the door startling me. "You almost done Mai we gotta run soon you really took your time in there!" Yasu scolded loudly impatient as ever.
"Holy you don't have to give me a damn heart attack I'm on my way out." I said while opening the door and quickly avoiding his gaze.
Pretty much running into my room and slamming the door. It was so easy to forget that Yasu was in fact a young man and gallivanting around in a robe wasn't very modest of me.
I easily picked out an outfit Ayako had insisted she buy for me on one of our shopping trips. It consisted of skin tight black jeans and a little long sleeved cropped top with a low cut neck that accentuated my waist and revealed a bit of cleavage.
Honestly I thought that the shirts vivid jade colour would have contrasted Ayakos long red hair far better than my own chestnut locks but she urged that it suited my skin tone better than her pale complexion.
I pulled said top over my lacy black bra and glanced at myself in the mirror. Back in Japan I wasn't so sure I would have worn something so revealing but I had to admit it complemented my figure nicely.
After checking the time I listened to some music while putting curls into my hair. Changing up my usual natural appearance I flicked out some eyeliner and applied some falsies. To top off my 'club' look I fastened some large gold hoops big enough to be bracelets and glossed my lips.
"Are yah almost done Mai? I think your setting a new record of how long it takes for you to get ready." Yasu yelled from the living space.
"Have a little patience will yah." I retorted tightening my belt and selecting some plain black heeled boots.
"Woahhhh you look hot Mai!" Yasu complimented me as soon as I stepped out of my room. I just rolled my eyes at him and grabbed my wallet off the counter.
"Did you call a cab?" I asked placing my wallet and lip gloss in his hands. He was wearing some denim jeans and a dark grey button down covered by a large black jacket.
I figured he could spare one of the many pockets in his coat for my stuff I didn't really like carrying bags.
"We can just hail a cab outside. Besides I think you could stop a whole damn bus looking like that." Yasu continued to jokingly hit on me.
"Well as soon as we get in our chauffeur will fall for your charm definitely." I played along laughing.
"You don't look like yourself without your glasses." I said noticing he had put in contacts. "Well I know chicks dig a sexy smart looking man but I'm trying a bit more of a bad boy look tonight." Yasu said while pretending to smoke a cig which was actually just a rolled up sticky note from the counter.
"You know rebel without a cause." He smirked pretending to blow out a cloud of smoke. "You're a freakin goof."
He bit his lip and ran a hand through his dark hair. "A sexy irresistible goof?" I snorted a laugh. "Sure."
Naru's POV
"Noll Father Ernst has arrived." Lin informed me. "Madoka is just chatting with him outside." He continued. I acknowledged him with a quick nod then continued writing in my notebook.
The rest of the evening after Mai and Yasu had left was rather uneventful. I surmised that Mai's shiki had weakened Heather significantly.
I recalled the spiritual energy that had spilled from her as she called upon Fujin. I couldn't fathom how she could possibly learn so much in two years let alone harness the power of a Japanese deity.
My father would undoubtedly be ecstatic with my report and I would be told to collect more information on her many unique abilities.
I snapped my notebook closed after writing down every significant observation of Mais powers I made. Without her help making sense of the two spirits in this house would be a bit more challenging.
She helped us piece together their gruesome past but now it was up to us to understand why they lingered here at the scene of their crimes.
Surely Jeff's spirit was tied to this house through the rage of being wrongfully tried, but why was Heather lingering. She had her revenge. In fact she had taken more than just revenge. Killing her whole family was a demonstration of a sound mind tipping into madness. My frown deepened.
Her spirit may not be able to be cleansed. We were not dealing with pure souls.
Madoka had called in Father Earnst for that reason. She would want him to preform an exorcism.
I knew that was why she had sent Mai away. Even the most professional mediums had a hard time watching souls go through an exorcism. Even a perfect medium like Gene hadn't been exempt from that. In fact it was worse for mediums with stronger powers.
People with talent like Gene and Mai would become so in touch with the spirits that it would throw them into hysterics and they would suffer through every moment linked to the entity.
I remembered watching my brother go through that. He begged and pleaded for us to stop and completely lost control of his powers. It was horrible. In the end he had managed to cleanse the hindered spirit but had put himself in the hospital for two weeks. Even now with all of our knowledge we couldn't figure out how he had pulled it off.
"Hey are you going to come greet the priest or what?" Madoka asked while trotting up beside me. "Just sitting here spacing out isn't in your character Noll are you feeling alright?" She asked again studying me intently.
"You're right spacing out isn't like me and it's definitely not something I'm partaking in." I quipped back standing up and looking down at her. Madoka wasn't exactly short but I had grown to be much taller than her.
"Lying I wouldn't put past you however." She tilted her head up and met my eyes with an displeased frown. "Why must you be so secretive all the time?" She questioned.
"My minds not an emotional puzzle for you to try and make sense of I was only thinking about the case." I said turning my back to her.
Madoka always wanted to make things more complex then they really were. She had started this behaviour since I had returned from Japan. It was extremely irritating.
I decided I would go speak with Father Earnest. Of course of my own free will not because Madoka had prodded me to.
I found the robed man easily enough. He stood at the entrance of the house clutching a rosary so tightly his knuckles were white.
"Do you have much practice in the ancient art Father?" I asked taking mental note of his obvious fear.
"I do not lack knowledge or faith if that is what you are asking young man." He answered softly. He then dropped his rosary from his hand and entered the house Henry in tow.
I pursed my lips and pondered his words. He had detected my doubt in his abilities and easily quelled those feelings inside me with a simple statement. As someone who repeatedly had my talents doubted and belittled I understood him.
"Fear is natural and should be embraced. It was given to us by god for a reason." Father Earnest explained as if he had read my mind moments before.
"I had never though of it that way." I honestly answered deciding that I would give this man the proper respect moving foreword.
Our current team gathered in the kitchen with the addition of Henry and his sons. Madoka easily took to explaining the plan she had put together for the exorcism. She glanced my way almost asking for my approval with her eyes.
I gave a short nod. This was going to be a long night and without Mai around we would have to coax the spirits out ourselves.