Author's Note: Another chapter! Ah, breathe in that fresh goodness. BTW, I broke my foot...and had to have it operated on...now it hurts...that's all...
Disclaimer- Lalala, I can't hear you...
Shit, shit, shit, Hao thought, staring at the letter on his desk. He was sitting in his study, where he went when he wanted to be alone. Or when he recieved letters from his brother announcing changes in plans that would not benefit Hao.
That was the reason he was there now.
Yoh, his wonderful brother, had decided to arrive a week early. Tomorrow. And he sent this letter only yesterday.
Hao knew he shouldn't have spoiled the brat as a child. He knew it would come back to bite him in the-
Okay. Unpleasant image. That didn't matter. What did matter was that Yoh and his clan were going to arrive tomorrow. It wasn't that the tower they used when they visited wasn't ready. It had been for three weeks (Hao had checked everyday for the last week, after his previous run-in with Mari). But it was because they'd want to see Mari's abilities. Yes, the girl was quite talented when it came to telekinesis and mind-manipulation, but she had no tolerance what-so-ever for faster than normal speed, and no one had any clue as to what her unique abilities were.
In other words, it was embarassing for Hao, to have such a vampire as member of his clan.
"Opacho," he said. The girl teleported in front of his desk. Contrary to what everyone else believed, forsesight and casting an astral form wasn't Opacho's only abilities. They were just her favorite.
"Yes, Hao-sama?"
"My...brother," Hao ground the word out. Right now he was not feeling very brotherly towards Yoh. Though he had a feeling Yoh's mate was to blame. "My brother is going to arrive tomorrow. Is the new girl in the least bit ready?"
Opacho looked nervous. "We-ell..."
Hao narrowed his eyes. "Answer me, Opacho."
"No," she sighed. "Her telekinesis is remarkable- I have no doubt she'll impress the other clan-leaders with her mastery of it-, but she is reluctant to force anyone to do anythig through mind-manipulation. I've seen how she works. She justs puts a suggestion into the human's head, but with little force behind it. At any suggestion to make someone do something they normally wouldn't, she grows quite angry. As you know, she has an extreme case of motion sickness. But, I do have a clue as to what one of her unique abilities might be."
Hao raised an eyebrow. "One? Opacho, most vampires only have one unique abilities. What makes you think she's different?"
"Well," she began hesitantly. "I have a...feeling...that she's special. I mean, look at how easily she mastered telekinesis. Plus, last night, when I saw her yesterday, she had a very bad sunburn-"
From all the time she spent in the garden...idiot, doesn't she know vampires get bad sunburns? That's why we're nocturnal...
"-and the next morning it was gone."
"So you think one of her abilities is healing?" Hao asked.
"Noo," Opcaho shifted uncomfortably. "I've been studying books on unique abilities that have appeared throughout the centuries, and not once has a vampire had a healing ability. We don't need it. We heal fast enough as it is."
Hao leaned back. Oh, boy, he felt a headach coming on.
"And?"
"I did come across another ability, called biokinesis. It's the ability to alter the biology of an organism. If used in a certain way, I supposed it could be used to heal. I need to do more research, but I think it's most definately that."
Nodding, Hao asked, "How long will that take?"
"...I won't be done before your brother arrives, Hao-sama."
"Damn." he sighed. "Well, get started. Report to me when you learn something."
"Hai," Opacho bowed slightly, and backed out of the office.
Sighing again, Hao leaned back in his chair. "Special, huh?"
Mari sighed. She had been practicing walking faster than normal for the last week, but she still had motion sickness. She hadn't even adjusted a bit. Sure, she could prevent herself from being violently sick for a few minutes, but once she stopped, it all caught up to her. So, at the current moment, instead of practicing, she was laying on her bed, trying to ignore that in two hours, she would have to go back to practicing (though she was now positive she would never be able to tolerate super speed, even though she was the one who said she'd adjust...).
"Oh, shit."
The young vampire tilted her head, looking over her shoulder to see Macchi, whose sudden outburst startled Mari. The younger-looking-but-in-reality-much-older (Mari finally learned Macchi's true age- one hundred and thirty-eight years old) vampire had walked into the room a few minutes ago, staring at a piece of paper. Now, she was pacing around the room (at super speed...Mari didn't feel so good...) muttering all sorts of curses.
Closing her eyes to block out the Macchi-blur, she reached out with her telekinesis and stopped Macchi in her tracks.
"What. Is. The. Matter. Macchi?" she asked slowly. Macchi looked at her. A high-pitched sound came from from her throat, and she threw herself on her bed. "Macchi? Macchi, Mari is worried," Mari said after several minutes.
"Yoh-sama is arriving tomorrow. Tomorrow and you can't even go at super-speed! Hao-sama is going to kill us!"
"Is that all?" Mari scoffed. "Look, Mari will just...just...AHHH! WE'RE DOOMED!"
Both girls wailed, overcome by a feeling of helplessness, when Kanna walked into the room and smacked them over the heads with a rolled up piece of paper.
"Be quiet you brats!" she yelled. The other two started to hyperventilate.
"But Kanna Mari can't run at super-speed-" "Hao-sama will be mad-" "-still gets motion sick-" "-he'll kill us-" "can't do it-" "don't want to die-" "-fail-" "-too young-"
"SHUT UP!" Kanna screamed, hitting both girls several times. They stared at her, shocked, and slowly began to breath normally. "Now, listen. Yoh-sama is kind, and very easy-going. I'm sure he won't mind. And we still have a week before the pyscho-bitch arrives. If we can find some spell or something to get rid of or temporarily negate Mari's motion sickness, we're good. That's just what we'll have to do from now on."
"Research in the library?" Macchi asked. "But-"
"No buts!" Kanna snapped. "That's what we're doing. I already asked Hao-sama, and he said Opacho-san will help."
Macchi protested again, and Mari sighed softly. She seemed to always cause trouble. Getting up, she quietly left the room. Walking down a few flights of stairs, Mari leaned against a wall. She really needed to figure out a way to not retch everytime she went faster than normal. The only person she knew of that could help her with that problem was Hao...sama...and she didn't know where to find him. Closing her eyes, she pictured the castle in her mind. If she was Hao, where would she be...?
Hao was in the side library, researching biokinesis. Ever since Opacho said that might be Mari's unique ability (one of them, she said) earlier, he'd decided to learn all he could about it. So far, all he got was that it was mentally changing someone or something's biology. If Mari had that, it could be either very useful...or very dangerous, depending on how she used it. And who against.
He sighed, for probably the tenth time that day.
I really need to find something less stressful to do...
"Hao-sama?" Mari's voice startled Hao. He honestly didn't expect to see her until tomorrow, nor did he expect her to be the one to find him.
"Yes?" he asked, turning slightly to acknowledge her. She walked closer, through the stacks, until she was standing next to him. He, of course, was sitting, so that gave her a height advantage.
Damn...maybe I shouldn't have sat down...
"Mari...Mari was wondering if...if maybe Hao-sama wasn't to busy...maybe he would...would..." she started fiddling with the old doll she held.
"Spit it out," Hao snapped. If she was going to waste his time, she better have a good reason.
"Mari was wondering if Hao-sama would help her find a way to prevent her motion sickness. Mari owes much to Hao-sama and everyone here, and does not wish to embarass them, so she wants to do her best."
If Hao wasn't imagining things- and he never did- Mari was...blushing. For some reason, Hao found that very cute.
Wait a minute. The great Hao-sama did not find things cute. Especially not disrespectful, rude brats who thought themselves better than him. Even if they were talented, adorable, and talked in an incredibly cute way-
Stop Hao, bad thinking, bad thoughts, stop thinking like that!
"Hao-sama?"
Breaking out of his thoughts, Hao replied, "If there was a way, don't you think I'd have already found it?"
Mari blinked.
"I have been looking, you know. If you can't prove yourself useful, you embarass me, and the clan."
"Hao-sama says 'the clan' as if they aren't as important as him." she said.
Hao blinked. "Well, it's not to say that they aren't, but as the clan-master, the clan reflects me. If they look bad, I look bad. And I can't stand that Jeanne. She loves mocking me, and I swear, If she does this time, I'll kill her, treaty or no."
Mari laughed. "Hao-sama really is normal."
"Huh?" he looked at her. What did she mean, normal?
"What Mari means is, Hao-sama cares about appearances just as much as everyone else."
"Even you?" Hao asked, looking up at her.
"Mmm...Mari doesn't care what strangers think of her ...but people she likes...Mari wants to be the best she can be..."
That caught Hao off-guard. He never expected that Mari would care what people think of her, friends or not. Briefly, he wondered if she cared what he thought of her...
"Mari," he asked, something popping into his head. "How did you find me? I didn't tell anyone I was coming here."
Mari shifted, and Hao found himself wondering why she wore such short dresses.
"Mari...just wanted to find Hao-sama...and somehow...she did," she whispered.
Pushing his previous thought far out of his mind, Hao frowned. "You just did? How?"
Her expression became irritated. "Mari doesn't know how, she just did. Just like how she moved the block and got rid of her sunburn. She just did."
Hao blinked. "Mari...can you sense where people are? Is that how you found me?"
Hesitating, Mari nodded slowly. "Mari thinks so."
"What about now? Can you sense where...Macchi? is?"
Closing her eyes briefly, Mari said, "She left our room, and she's heading to the kitchen. Kanna's in the window, Opacho's in the big library, Nichrome is in the courtyard-"
"Mari," Hao cut her off. "That's...impressive."
And it was. Very few vampires in the history of vampires could sense the presence of others. Not only did she have one rare gift, but she had two.
"Opacho was right," he muttered.