Mai arrived at SPR ten minutes later than Naru had told her to be there. It had brought back memories from when she was still a teen and he would scold her for not coming earlier. This brought a smile to Mai's face when she jogged the rest of the way down the street to the familiar building.
But when Mai turned the final corner she faltered in her step. The building she had been expecting was no more what she had remembered. The office still stood, but the windows were covered with dust and paint was chipping off the walls. Mai could tell that the building hadn't been used in years. But Naru and Lin were trying to make it look like at had been used. The two were walking in and out of the building, carrying boxes and equipment needed for the investigation.
"I thought we were supposed to leave at ten?" Mai asked as she approached. Bou and Ayako looked up from where they were conversing quietly. John stopped reading from the bible in his hands and looked at where Mai approached Naru.
"Well knowing you, I could judge that we would have some spare time to pack extra things."
"Knowing me? What do you mean by that?" Mai began to get angry, and her reddening face told everyone around what she was thinking, "You wouldn't think that in the three years I was gone that I would change even one bit! You just thought that I would be the same?"
Naru didn't show any emotion when he answered, instead he laid down the box and turned to Mai, "Well you were late as I projected. So my theory was right."
"Well aren't you still as proud of yourself as ever? I had thought that maybe in the three years I was gone you might have started to grow out of that horrible habit! But I guess I projected wrong!" Mai yelled out.
"Of course you weren't about to guess right, an idiot like you can never think as much as a normal person,"
"An idiot! Oh that's rich! You still haven't been able to come up with anymore insults after all these years!"
"Well I thought why not call someone for what they are," Naru had been able to stay completely calm throughout the whole fight. But when Lin coughed and the two turn to look at the others a blush swept over Mai that colored her checks more than the fight had.
"Well look at the cute little couple having a fight," Ayako cooed to the two young adults.
"That was not a fight, it was purely a one sided argument. Or need I remind you that Mai was the only one raising her voice." Naru stated calmly.
Mai's face began to puff up and everyone could have sworn steam was coming out of her ears. "I! Was! Not! Raising! My voice!" Mai yelled out, proving Naru's point perfectly.
Instead of trying to reason with the now angered Mai, Naru just walked towards the van which had finally been packed and beckoned his assistant in. Mai puffed out her cheeks even more, if that was possible, and walked to the van, sliding in to sit in the middle seat. Naru slid in next to her then closed the door.
In the small, three seated car next to the van Bou, Ayako, and John were getting in and starting up the engine. Finally Lin entered the van and the ignition went on. Mai wiggled for a slight bit then relaxed, resting her head on the back of the seat.
Thoughts of her children were going through her head. Never once had she left them alone, and she didn't want to be gone for long.
And then it hit her, Naru had called her Mai. She could clearly remember him calling her by her name when they were fighting. This puzzled Mai to no end and she tried to come up with an idea as to why he called her Mai.
Finally it hit her, they had been fighting as they would in the past. Naru must have been so caught up in the moment of fighting that he hadn't noticed his mistake in her name. And as Mai thought about it more, she realized it must have just been a slip up. But something still nagged in her head that there was something more.
When the team reached the spring Mai had almost fallen asleep. Se truly was tired, but the nights of watching Kyan and Ren were sleepless and the thought of something happening while away haunted her mind. Mai had eventually fallen into a half sleep, but like all other times she almost fell asleep, something woke her up.
"Oka-san! We missed you!" Mai's eyes instantly snapped open to find Kyan and Ren standing just outside the van, Naru stood next to them, a puzzled look on his face.
Mai was surprised to find both children at the springs. Hadn't she left them with the pastor? And how did they get here?
"Mai, you have some explaining to do." Naru said, then smiled gently.
Instantly Mai know what was going on. As realization hit her the scene faded in front of her eyes and she was left along in the darkness of limbo with Gene.
"I can't believe you even thought for a second I was that Idiot Scientist." Gene exclaimed, a wide smirk written on his face.
"But I didn't say anything about-"
"It was written on your face Mai," Gene answered her before she could finish.
"You and your brother need to both stop doing that," Mai sighed.
"Doing what?" Gene, being truly confused cocked his head to the side.
"Answering my questions before I finish asking them."
"Well that's just something you're going to have to live with id you are going to be in limbo,"
"Hang on!" Mai suddenly grew very frustrated and Gene could not tell why, "You! I could be sleeping right now! But instead you brought me in here! This better be good otherwise your brother will pay," Mai fumed angrily.
Gene just smiled and turned around, "Nope, I just wanted to see you, let Noll feel your wrath, let him suffer,"
Mai's anger instantly dissolved. Could Gene be serious? Why would he want Nary to suffer? "Why?" was all Mai could get out in the end.
"He hurt you," Gene turned around to face the small brunette next to him, "Noll could not remember you and that hurt you. And then when you return he treats you coldly as if you were the one at fault,"
"But, I was the one at fault, I left," Mai blinked.
"No!" Gene's face showed anger, a rare emotion shown by him, "Noll should have gone after you! You were pregnant with his children for god's sake!"
"But he didn't know," Mai defended the man who had caused her so much pain in the last three years.
Very slowly, and silently, Mai let Gene calm down. This anger was not like him, and Mai knew something else must be bothering him.
"Gene?" Mai finally spoke up, "What is it?"
"What is what?" I questioned back.
"There is something you are not telling me,"
"Well, first I'd like to ask about your kids, but we do not have time for that."
"What do you mean?" Mai questioned. But all too early the scene began to fade. Gene still had something to tell her and so quickly spoke out what he had originally wanted to warn her.
"This case, Mai, be careful on it. The ghost is not after what you would think it was after. Watch yourself and make sure not to get fact mixed up with fiction,"
Mai had more questions to ask after that warning, but darkness swallowed her and she could no longer see anything. Very slowly, Mai began to truly loose conscious and fall into a deep slumber.
I want to thank all my fans and those who reviewed. I feel bad for not updating once a day, but I have a hectic schedule and will not be able to upload more than once a week from now on. I hope you all loved this chapter. Right now I'm kinda stuck in the beginning and can't wait to truly get into the story so I will have a couple more short and rocky chapters. But the action will be coming soon. Just be patient.
And to anyone who likes Masako out there, I'm just going to throw this out there, I truly HATE Masako and so she will rarely be in this story, if I even decide to put her in it at all. But I do love the character of Gene, although not as much as Naru, but there will be a lot more Gene.
Anywho's, thank you for reading this chapter, leave a comment or suggestion for the story and I will gladly accept it, especially suggestions, I love to know what my readers want to read. I will try to post by next week. Thank you for reading.