I am trying SO HARD to update faster than I usually do.

Disclaimer: I no own. You no sue.

Very Important A/N: The Shinishi-ko as you will read about in this story, is supposedly a temporary shrine. The reason being that my update was so late for this story was that I KNEW of it, I just didn't know what it was called. I was talking about it with a friend of mine, and she mentioned that she knew all about this kind of Japanese custom. I was excited because I could FINALLY get on with this fanfic, but then as I was writing this chapter, it occurred to me that My friend likes to tell lies.

"Stories! Not Lies! STORIES!" I can hear her in my head shouting at me. Whatever.

So yeah, I'm not sure that the Shinishi-ko is what it's called. And now that I think about it...a shrine like this sounds very far-fetched because it was that SAME FRIEND who told me about this type of Shrine in the first place.

GAH! DON'T KILL ME IF I GET THIS WRONG! I just need it for the progression of this story. O–O. On with the show!

Gawd, that has GOT the be the longest A/N in history.

Beating Hearts

Chapter three: Meet the Family.

Mai wandered around the apartment complex, careful not to go too far, but still looking around for something. She didn't know what. She knew that floating three feet off the ground was a sign that she was dead, but then she knew she wasn't dead. Why else would she have told Masako that it wasn't too late? Simple.

Because she was not dead. Yet.

If Zakuro got his way, Mai would stay in her comatose state for a while, so he could keep his eyes on her while still going on about his daily routine. Mai shook her head.

"Darling, come here." her mother said from her side. Mai glanced at her. It was good to see her mother again. She missed her family terribly, and under the circumstances, she did need a hug. Mai hovered over to her mother and fell into her arms. She sobbed silently as her father stood off to the side, looking in Mai's apartment window.

"Well, Zakuro has finally decided to put Mai somewhere other than the floor. That bastard. If I were alive, I'd kick his ass."

"If you were alive, you wouldn't need to." Mai said without thinking. Her father grew silent and then looked at her.

"I'm sorry honey, but it's not like I can go back to life. I've been dead for about six years now. If I could change the way things turned out, I would. To tell you the truth. . .I was rather devastated when your Mother suddenly passed away." he said. Mai looked at him.

"Yes. I was too." she said. "I was confused as well. Why did you leave me in the care of Zakuro?"

Her parents looked at each other.

"We didn't." her mother said.

"Are you positive Masako?" Naru asked her for the fourth time. Masako, staying collective as usual, only nodded her response. Naru sighed.

Mai was dead.

He felt ver strongly. . .very sorrowful about the news, but he didn't know why.

Scrap that; he knew exactly why.

Standing up, he grabbed his jacket from the chair and made his way to the door.

It was time to have a little talk with this Zakuro fellow.

Watching Naru leave the room, Takigawa assumed he was going to Mai's apartment. It was rather brash of him to do (very "un-naru like" so to speak) but then, under the circumstances, who could blame him? Mai was dead.

Seemingly. . .

The monk didn't want to be disrespectful of the dead, but he just couldn't grasp the concept of Mai being dead. Something was off about it.

"Masako-san," he called out, "did Mai tell you anything?"

Masako looked up, as if startled, and then nodded. "Yes. She did."

"What did she say?" John asked. Masako blinked a few times, recollecting.

"She said that it was not too late, but I have no idea as to what she could be referring to." she said. Takigawa looked at Ayako, and they both nodded at the same time.

"We need to set up a Shinishi-ko. A Temporary shrine." Ayako said, speaking his exact thoughts out loud. John looked at her quizically.

"What good would that do?" he questioned.

"A Shinishi-ko would allow us to communicate with a spirit directly, and in very, very, very rare cases, the spirit would materialize, as if it were still alive." Takigawa said. Ayako nodded. There was a scraping noise coming from the corner and everyone turned to see Lin stand up.

"Absolutely not. A Shinishi-ko would put whoever performs it in danger and we can't risk that." He said. John looked back at the monk.

"Is that true?" he asked. Takigawa nodded.

"Yeah. In most cases where a Shinishi-ko is performed, the communicator usually ends up injured in some way, or they die. The stress ofcommunicating with the spirit would be to great, and would drain one's energy so that they'd be in a weakened state. Weak enough to get possessed or actually die."

"Exactly, so you may not do it." Lin said firmly.

"Well. . . what if, instead of one person using their energy to draw the spirit in, there was one, or in this case, three?" John chirped in. Lin tapped his index finger on his chin and looked thoughtful.

"That could work, but I don't think it has ever been done before. We would still need a communicator." Lin said. It was then that Masako cleared her throat, and made everyone aware that her presence was still in the room.

"I could do it. Being a Psychic Medium after all, it should be fairly easy for me to do."

"Have you ever preformed a Shinishi-ko?" Lin asked her. Masako shook her head slightly, and peered up at him.

"I'm not afraid. I never have been. I just don't want Mai to die. Seeing as how she contacted me as a spirit, I'd say she is on the verge of death."

"Given the circumstances, and our new resolution, I'd say it'd tale us hours to get everything we need, and additional time to set it up." the Monk said.

"How much time do you think we have until Mai passes away completely?" John asked. They all looked at Masako. She reached up to her chest and clutched the collar of her kimono.

"From the state of being. . .or not being, that I last saw Mai, I'd say we have less than 24 hours. Nearly 15, I'd say." she stated flatly.

"Now that we have everything settled, we just have one last order of business." Ayako said.

"What's that?" asked Takigawa.

"Telling Naru."

His cellphone was vibrating in his jacket pocket. Naru didn't bother to answer it. He was too distracted at the sight of Mai laying lifelessly on the couch in her livingroom. He'd arrived at her home a few moments ago, and was allowed in by the one he assumed was Zakuro. Naru had a bitter feeling towards the man, but being the stoic guy that he was, he didn't let any of his emotions seep through to the outside.

Zakuro had showed him into the livingroom.

"Have a seat." he'd said. Naru was about to, but then the sight of Mai on the couch had stopped him. As the dark haired man was distracted, Zakuro watched him from the kitchen. He was filling up the tea kettle with water. One thing he'd learned from Mai was that, whenever you have a guest, always serve refreshments. He snorted.

Mai was good for at least this, Zakuro thought bitterly. AS he poured the host water in the cups, he dropped a pill in the cup he planned on Giving to his guest.

"I rather like my privacy, thank you." he said to himself, then he lifted the cups and walked into the livingroom where he found Naru, still standing over Mai.

"There's no need to be so worried. She's just sleeping." he told the other man. Naru looked at him. He saw right through the smile plastered on Zakuro's face and instantly knew something wasn't right.

Well, other than the obvious.

"Here," Zakuro said, handing Naru his cup of tea. Naru eyed the cup, then took it. He brought it to his face, and sniffed it. He didn't care if he seemed rude or not.

"I'm sorry." Naru lied, "I cannot drink tea. It makes me sick."

Zakuro eyed the dark haired guest before as he bent down and put the cup on the coffee table. He had underestimated this one.

"That's alright," he smiled, "I'll bring you something else."

Naru nodded stiffly.

Yes Zakuro, Naru thought, I can see just what you are trying to do.

"Zakuro isn't WHAT?" Mai exclaimed. Her parents looked at each other as Mai started freaking out. They were surprised that she was more upset about the information they had just released to her than the fact that she was dying.

"Zakuro isn't related to you in any way. We don't know how he ended up as your guardian." her mother said.

"But. . ." Mai said, still unable to wrap her mind around the truth. She looked at her hands, as if they would tell her something.

"Honestly, I thought he was such a nice child. When you were just a baby, he would come to our house with his mother, and while she cleaned our home, he would watch over you, and play with. He took such a liking to you, but I didn't think it would go this far." her mother said thoughtfully.

"Mai. . .isn't that the fellow that you work for inside?" Her father suddenly said. Mai whirled around and saw that he was staring in her apartment window again. Mai went to him, and looked too, and found that he was right.

"Naru. . ." she said. She gasped when he suddenly fell backwards.

"NARU!" she screamed.