Back at base Ayako wrapped up Mai's ankle. Lin and Naru sat at the computers watching the tapes to see if anything had appeared. Some small burns from the hot tea laced Mai's arms but she was still able to move them.
Once Ayako was done bandaging Mai, Mai stood up, "Ok, well I guess I'll just go make you another batch of tea,"
She started walking out the door when she heard Naru's voice, "Take Matsusaki with you, we do not need anymore injuries."
Mai huffed and walked out the door with Ayako following. Once the two women were out of the room Lin stopped typing on his laptop and turned to where Naru sat rubbing his head.
"You noticed, didn't you?"
Naru sighed, "She's hiding something from us Lin,"
"And why would you care? If I remember right, you're the one that left her,"
Naru turned on Lin, his face still impassive, "You don't know the whole story," and with that Naru left the room leaving Lin to think.
"No use crying over spilt tea…" Lin kept repeating those words in his head. He could vaguely remember Luella telling Naru that when he was younger. That phrase was usually only something mothers said to their children only with milk.
Mai and Ayako were taking their time getting to the kitchen. Mai would hobble a bit then Ayako would help her steady herself. By the time they got there ten minutes had gone by.
"So, tell me about you and Bou-san," Mai said, trying to make some conversation due to the lack there of during the walk over.
"Well, when you first left three years ago Naru started declining clients like there was no tomorrow. During this time Takigawa and his band started going on tours. One weekend I went out to the country to spend some time with my family. When going out there I got a flat tire. Three hours of waiting guess who just happens to drive by?"
Mai smiled, "Bou-san,"
"Yep, it just happened to be that his band was going to go right by my country house so he offered me a ride. When we got there my parents met him and wanted him to stay awhile. But…"
"He had to get to the concert?" Mai guessed.
"Yep again, so he left."
"Hold on Ayako," Mai heard the tea pot whistle and went over to pull it off the heat, "So how did that start your whole relationship?"
"Well the band wanted to stay in the other town but I needed to get back to SPR and so did Ayako, we both drove the day trip back together." Both Mai and Ayako turned around to look at where Bou was standing, leaning on the door way. John stood behind him looking somewhat sheepish.
"That night the hotel only had one room open," Ayako said.
"And so we decided to share," Bou intervened.
"It didn't start out right but we got along about halfway through the night and have been together ever since," Ayako finished.
"So you guys have been together about three years then,"
"You're right Mai," Bou said, walking into the kitchen where Mai was now straining the tea leaves. "So now that we've told you about us how about you tell us a little bit about you,"
Mai laughed in a nervous way and looked quickly to where John stood. She turned back to the tea and hoped that Bou and Ayako hadn't caught the small, silent exchange between her and John, little did she know, they had.
"Well, I did a little bit of traveling outside of Japan and grew up a bit, and now, Naru's tea is ready so I must take the Narcissist his tea." Mai pushed past the others and left the room. John left with her. Ayako and Bou stayed standing in the same spots, thinking the same thing.
"She's changed," Ayako said, looking at the spot Mai had just been at.
"Something made her grow up, she's not our little Mai anymore," Bou said, hugging Ayako to him, "Let's just hope that nothing bad happened to her while gone."
Outside the room Mai and John walked down the hall towards base. A sigh escaped Mai's lips and John turned to her with a smile.
"You did a good job of keeping them from asking too many questions,"
Mai looked up from the tea, the hobble in her step making it hard not to spill, "I need to keep Ren and Kyan a secret,"
When Mai and John returned to base Lin was the only one there. John helped Mai take the tea to a table then Mai sat down.
"Where's Naru?" She asked Lin.
Without the typing on the laptop stopping Lin answered her question, "He went out to find more information on the case."
Mai nodded her head then laid down. She closed her eyes and fell into sleep.
Unlike past dreams Mai had during cases this one started out in brightness. In fact, as the scene came in Mai noticed that she was in a garden with a small spring to the right. A little English looking boy was chasing after some butterflies and a young English women sat on a chair with a plump belly.
Mai walked forward so that she could hear better what the mother was talking about.
"Gregory, please do not fall into the water, your father does not want to have to put up with that again." The woman said, Mai guessed she was the young boy, Gregory's, mother.
"I won't Mommy," the boy continued to chase the butterflies around until he got dangerously close to the side of the spring. With a splash he fell in.
"Gregory!" The woman stood up and wobbled over to her son who was submerged in the water. She stuck a hand out and he grabbed on. While pulling him out of the water a Japanese man came out of the house.
"Hanna! Did he do it again!" The man raged over to where the woman was hugging the now sopping wet Gregory. He looked down with seething anger. "Go into the house Hanna,"
"But Kiou, he didn't mean to, he just fell in on accident," Hanna pleaded.
"Woman! Get in the house!" Kiou commanded.
Hanna looked at Kiou then Gregory. She looked down in sadness and pulled away from her son. She walked back into the house as Gregory screamed for her but was held back by Kiou.
"Mommy! Mommy!"
"Shut up you imbecile!" Kiou hit Gregory. Mai watched in fear as he beat the young boy. She wanted to help him but knew it was only a dream and so could not.
The scene began to fade when the father turned away from the now bloodied and bruised boy. The final words Mai heard in her dream were from the boy, "Mommy, mommy,"
Mai woke up feeling cold hands on her neck. Her eyes shot open and there was a young boy hovering over her. His eyes were blood red and patches of skin were missing on his head revealing bone and muscle. His nose was bent like it had been smashed in and patches of dirty hair were missing from his head.
Fear coursed through Mai as she clawed at her neck. Nothing was there, though she could feel the pressure as if the boy were choking her.
She gasped for a second and let out a small squeal. This was enough she hoped to draw the attention to anyone near.
But no one came for her. Air began to escape from her like lava from a volcano. The boy's smile grew more wicked as he put more pressure onto Mai's air ways. Black dots were beginning to form in front of Mai's eyes right when she heard the door open.
Silence met her as light came into the room and as soon as the light was turned on she heard Naru, "Lin!"
A white light passed Mai's face and the boy cried out in anguish. The pressure was released from Mai's neck and she started taking in large breaths. Ayako was at her side in an instant.
"Her heart beat is going back down. There seems to be a small bruise on her neck but nothing worth fretting over… How are you Mai?" Ayako looked at the brunette with sincere eyes.
"I-I'm fine," Mai said, still a little out of air. She looked around at where Naru, Lin, John, and Bou stood behind Ayako. They were all at base and the sky outside showed that it was night.
"I'm sorry Taniyama, Naru wanted to wake you but I said it would be best to let you sleep, so we all went to the kitchen and got a bite to eat," John looked at Mai with sorry eyes.
"It's ok John, nothing too bad happened, we're all still alive," Mai said, knowing John would beat himself up if he she didn't tell him it was alright.
"Come on Mai," Ayako said, holding out a hand, "I'll take you to eat then to your room to sleep,"
Mai shook her head and stood, but when she passed Naru he held out his arm. She looked up into his eyes as he looked down at her.
"Did you have a dream?"
"Yes,"
Naru nodded then dropped his arm, "Tell me about it tomorrow,"
And with that Mai left the room to get a bite to eat and sleep more.
The next morning Mai found herself at base early, sitting on the couch, Naru facing her in a chair with a notebook open, and Lin sitting next to Naru with a laptop. She knew how the procedure went and started without Naru telling her to.
"There was an English boy, maybe seven or so years old, his name was Gregory. He had an English mother named Hanna who looked a lot like him and she was pregnant. They lived in a Japanese styled house with a large garden and spring next to it. The boy was chasing butterflies. His mother warned him not to fall into the water. He did. Right when she pulled him out a Japanese man came out of the house with anger. The mother called him Kiou. He yelled at her to go inside and so she did. He then beat the young boy until he was bleeding." Mai sat there for a second, waiting for Naru to stop writing.
"Is that all?" He asked without taking his eyes of the paper.
"Yes," Mai said formally.
Naru closed the book and looked up to where Mai was sitting and fidgeting with her skirt, "If that is all then we are done here,"
Mai sighed and began to stand until Naru spoke again, "And Taniyama," Mai turned to look at him, "Tea,"
Mai half smiled. She didn't want him to know that she really had missed getting him his tea in the three years she was gone. So Mai left the room and went to the kitchen. Once she got there she put the kettle on the stove with water in it. She felt odd, like something was watching her.
When the kettle went off she took it off the stove and walked over to the ready tea cups. When she lifted the tray a piece of paper sat under it. Mai thought that odd cause there wasn't one there when she had placed the tray there and she had not heard anyone come or go. She decided to take the paper and stuff it into her pockets.
Once back at base Mai set the tea down in from of Naru and sat down on the couch. Everyone had left to check up on spots at the resort when she was telling Naru about her dream and so she was left alone with the Narcissist and Lin.
When she knew Naru would not catch her Mai took out the piece of paper and read over it.
Watch Out
Mai didn't know what to think. Two small words written in blood carried a large meaning that Mai knew she would never understand.
Mai stood up and walked out of the room. She decided it was time to take a shower in her room.
Ok, i know, i said i would update faster, but, i moved, yea, i moved. really sucky right? Well i didn't have internet for the past week, or two. but luckily, in the time i had while moving, i was able to type, so i have more chapters to post and plan on posting the next one on saturday when my internet at home gets connected. right now i am using free wifi at mcdonalds to update. anyways, thank you to all of you who have read my story, i know, sometimes my editing is really bad, but this time i read through it, though i might have missed some things.
anywho's, just saying it again, THANK YOU TO ALL MY READERS! and even more, THANK YOU TO ALL WHO COMMENTED! i love reading the reviews when i actually have internet and i love to think about what each and everyone of you thinks. sometimes, when i have recently read some comments, i will cry because what some of you reviewers say is exactly like what some of my friends would say.
ok, i have a question, i have read many stories that have disclaimers, do you have to have a disclaimer at the beginning or not? because you would think not because the sight is call 'fan'fiction. meaning everything is fan written. but anyways, i was just wondering, next chapter should be up soon.