Chapter 6 Dream of you
A message from Domjouji Ayami, Imperial First Lady of the Caecilius Clan to Mimisaki Raidon, Patriarch of the House of Alexandria, on February 20th, delivered through the passage of Darius.
I am going to kill you.
Mai had been interacting with a spirit all that time and she hadn't even known it.
"Your luck doesn't seem to be improving with these kinds of things," Naru commented lightly. He was reading a file in his hand now, and had yet to move from where he stood. Mai shot him an annoyed look. Did he have to do that? Did he have to sound so remarkably impassive about these strange matters? Hello, but who was the blue-blooded psychic here? She was newer at this thing than he was, but shouldn't he be the one that was fretting, not her? Why couldn't he let that impeccable calm loose every now and then? Then again, Mai would have paid good money to see Naru fret.
She almost smiled at the thought.
Mai sat down again with her cup of tea, after having had set him a cup too, comfortable with their silence. Mai looked outside and saw that the snow had almost completely worn away, which was a pity. She'd always liked the white of the snow; it'd always seemed so pure compared to everything else.
Mai whistled merrily for a moment before she eventually got bored. She snuck another peek at Naru, who was now turning the page of whatever it was that he was reading.
Naru had proven on many occasions to be able to read while he spoke. He wouldn't mind too much if she talked to him, right? Ayami was a safe topic, in Mai's opinion. Well, anything
but Mai was a safe topic at the moment. Especially since Naru had looked absolutely livid when they'd parted company yesterday. That might have had something to do with Raidon, but Mai knew better than to question him.
"Ayami emailed me before. Apparently Hisana, the little girl beside Raidon, had been a demon. Can we really use familiars like that?" Mai asked.
Naru didn't look up from his file. He reached over the tea that Mai had set for him before talking. "Obviously he could. Then again, if he really was part of the Five like Domjouji-san, then it isn't overly surprising."
"You don't seem to like the Five that much," Mai remarked.
"They haven't given me much reason to like them."
And of course, his response was as smooth as it had always been. And it also told her that Ayami wasn't the first blue-blooded psychic he'd come across. Mai smiled at her own perception.
"During your time as a paranormal researcher, have you ever come across any of the psychics from the Five?" Mai itched towards him, suddenly curious.
Ayami normally discuss the other psychic families, and when she did mention them, it was generally accompanied with obvious disdain. Bou-san had only gruffly mentioned once that the head of the Miharu family was one of the people he respected most in his life before self-consciously turning away. John-san had never heard of them, while Masako's reaction had been noted the other night. Ayako? She'd just called them spoilt, royal brats (having had based the entity's opinion on her thoughts of Ayami) before huffing into the air.
"I've met a member of the Ramirez Family," Naru told her.
Mai leant forward further, remembering back to Ayami's words once. The Ramirez Family. If you ever get to meet the Head of their Clan, tell him that Ayami sends her regards. Hopefully the next time we meet, he won't try to slide a knife through my ribs again.
Mai winced. She hated to think how a meeting between Naru and the Ramirez Head would go.
"So what happened?" Mai asked.
"It was just during another job," Naru replied cryptically, clearly hinting that he wasn't intending to tell her. Mai caught the clue, backed off and hit on the next topic on her list. Him.
"Ayami said that you're incredibly powerful for a psychic, even by blue-blooded standards," Mai said cautiously.
Mai raised her defences when he turned to her, rather annoyed.
"You seem to put a lot of faith into what Domjouji-san claims," Naru commented. Mai frowned. Masako had said the same thing last night, only in different words. It wasn't blind faith that made her listen to Ayami at times, though, and Mai told him that. It was the fact that Ayami was her cousin, and the other girl had never – strangely enough – lied to Mai. Ever. She even told Mai was she was omitting facts to her.
"I have seen you use your kikou, remember? Of course I know that you're strong. And if you had a sibling, you'd understand why I trust in everything that Ayami says."
There. Let Mr. Only Child tell her what it was like—
"I have a brother," Naru told her.
Mai blinked, and then she smiled, her thoughts swaying immediately. It wasn't often that Naru shared, so if he was going to drop a hint, she was going to worm as much out of him as she could. "You have a brother? Is he older or younger?"
Naru looked up at her and Mai suddenly felt defensive. What? It was normal to ask if someone else's sibling was older or younger, and it was just at the tip of her tongue to defend herself when Naru answered.
"He's my twin brother."
Twin.
Her face iced over and her expression blanked out in horror. A brother. Naru had a brother, and he'd just said that his brother had been a twin.
People just came me Naru sometimes…Gene. Eugene Davis.
Her heart thudded in her throat; surely it could not be that coincidental. Besides, Gene had said that his surname was Davis, not Shibuya, which meant that the other boy had to have been raised overseas. Gene couldn't have been Naru's brother. But would she ever forgive herself if she didn't ask him now?
…because that person's already dead, of course, and what you're seeing is actually their spirit.
Mai took a deep breath, afraid, though she wasn't even quite sure why. "His name isn't Gene, by any chance, is it? Eugene?"
This time, Naru did look up.
And he froze.
Oh, god.
Before Mai could open her mouth to say anymore, Naru had crossed the lengths of the room and dragged her to her feet. His grip on her wrist wasn't exactly bone crushing, but it did remove any chances of possible escape.
"You've met Gene? Why didn't you tell me?" Naru demanded. "Where did you meet him? When did you see him?"
Naru must have been rather emotional to ask all those questions at once. Mai didn't dare move. Anything she did might set him off even more. She looked down at her wrist, careful not to move her head too much. "Naru. Err…my wrist," she pointed out.
Her employer ignored her.
Mai swallowed and decided to answer his question. "I've been dreaming about him since our first case together," Mai answered as quietly as she could.
That didn't seem to appease him at all. "Why didn't you say anything?"
"Because it was weird," she half-suggested. Mai shook her head, her mind barely able to process what was happening. Naru had a brother. His brother was the one that Mai had been dreaming about. And Ayami had said that the said brother might just be dead. And he, of course, had never mentioned his brother until today, with a comment that had been completely out of character.
"When did you see him last then?" Naru asked. He seemed a little calmer now and his face had become literally expressionless again. The only thing that hinted a slight imperfection was his heavy breathing.
Mai snatched her wrist back from him and surprisingly, he let go. Mai rubbed the skin there lightly and snuck a look up at him from beneath her eyelashes. This seemed to be really
important to him and Mai could see why. This was his brother they were talking about. But she couldn't understand why he was interrogating her like this, because obviously he would know more about his own brother than she would.
"I dreamt of him just a few minutes ago. I didn't even know that his name was Eugene Davis until then," Mai murmured. She turned to him suddenly. Why would Gene come to Mai in a dream if it was obvious that his brother was searching for him? Wouldn't it make more sense for Gene to go to Naru instead?
Naru didn't say anything so Mai continued again. "I'll tell you the next time I see him," Mai told him. That was all she really could do, really.
"No," Naru said. "I want you to fall asleep right now so that you can talk to him for me."
Mai's jaw dropped at his unreasonable request. He couldn't be serious. Mai could understand that he wanted to talk to his brother, but it wasn't as though she could command herself to fall into a deep slumber and dream about the person he had in mind. Besides, as irrelevant as it sounded, Mai didn't feel comfortable sleeping around Naru. What if she drooled?
"Umm…Naru—"
A succession of knocks was heard at the door and Mai frowned. Naru looked slightly irritated at their interruption and he cast a menacing glance at the door.
If looks could kill, whoever was on the other side would be splintered into thousands of pieces.
Mai shook her head, grateful for the intrusion. She headed to the door and opened it, then frowned when she saw no one on the other side. Mai scowled, now stepping into the hallway.
A shadow cast over her other end suddenly and Mai turned over. The familiar, kimono dressed figure appeared next to her, and the crinkled face of Hiroma sensei looked down at Mai, sad.
Mai blinked. "Hiroma sensei?" Her eyes darted back into the room slight. "Naru—"
And then everything went black.
"To say that I am unimpressed would be a serious understatement."
Takigawa-san rolled his eyes and Yasuhara-san laughed sheepishly. It was just like Domjouji-san to start off the conversation like that. At the far end, Lin's face was expressionless as Naru's emotionless. Matsuzaki-san and Hara-san both had their crinkles of slight worry, but neither of them had anything to say either.
Part of Naru still could not believe that Mai had been dreaming of Gene for almost two years now. Two years – that was how long she had been employed by him – and he hadn't known. Nor had she mentioned it. And now, just as he'd found out about it, she'd gone missing.
And to top it all off, Domjouji-san had called Yasuhara-san's phone just one hour after Mai had gone missing. After she'd walked out into the corridor and called his name, Naru had come out, only to meet an empty hallway. They'd been searching for her for over an hour now but Naru knew that it was futile; whatever had taken the janitor and the other girls had probably taken Mai also.
Lin had said that Domjouji-san believed that the people who went missing were those who contradicted a superior, and it was a relative theory that had briefly touched Naru's mind in the past – Naru had investigated and found that Karakura High School, about one hundred
to two hundred years ago, had been a gathering place for members of the Shinsengumi, a special police force of the Tokugawa Shogunate. Apparently these samurai weren't the best of people, and although they worked for the government, they also had a severe dislike for traitors, members who omitted facts from superiors, and those who disobeyed the higher-powers.
Naru probably should have known better than to tread on Gene's case like that previously. And his blunder had probably been the reason Mai had been taken away. If anything happened to Mai at all, it would be his fault…
And now, he had to put up with Domjouji-san's barbed comments before heading out to search for his employee.
To say that he was annoyed was an understatement.
Naru shut the file he was holding with one hand. "Domjouji-san, if you're only going to complain, then I suggest you take your comments where they might just be welcomed."
"Well, if you had been sleeping in your lecture, only to be suddenly awakened because you saw your cousin being dragged away by a male ghost dressed in late Shogonate Period clothing, you'd be worried too. Especially when she was also unconscious while it happened. Now, correct me if I'm wrong – though you won't need to – but was it not you who claimed that you could take care of your employees? Well, employer, I think you've just failed."
Naru was tempted beyond reason to release his kikou at this person, even at the expense of his own health. He already knew that he had fallen short of his responsibility; he did not need her to point it out too.
And she, of course, was still rattling onwards. At least Naru knew how she and Mai were related; neither of them ever shut up.
"Now, answer me honestly: do I need to send something over there to retrieve my cousin, or will you people handle it on your own?"
Yasuhara-san scratched his head nervously. "Now, now, Domjouji-san – there's no need to put it like that—"
"We can take care of Mai on our own," Takigawa-san snapped. Her snipped comments were not annoying Naru only, by the looks of it.
"Clearly you're incapable of taking care of her on your own, or she would not have gone missing in the first place. Now: can you retrieve her on your own?"
Matsuzaki-san smirked. "Cocky, aren't you, for someone who's sitting on another continent?"
"As opposed to you, miko-san, who can do nothing but growl." Domjouji-san's voice turned slightly more serious, the light taunting fading from her tone. "Your Shiba-san friend is going to be dead in the next three hour; they plan to leave Mai for tomorrow. Now, I will contact the Miharu family and they will retrieve Mai for me. I can summon—"
"I don't need your help," Naru interjected. He kept his face cool and calm because he knew that he really didn't need Domjouji-san's help. Naru was capable of retrieving Mai on his own. And he knew that he could save Shiba-san in less than three hours also. Lin must have guessed what he was going to do because the assistant shot Naru an apprehensive look.
Domjouji-san didn't say anything for a moment and Naru almost wondered what unintelligent comment she was going to make now. Naru only thanked the Gods that she and Mai had been raised separately. Mai was spirited enough already without her cousin's influence.
"You really don't need my help, do you?" Domjouji-san's voice was filled with a new kind of wonder. And a smile. There was definitely a smile. "Mai is afraid – naturally – so I will send
someone there to watch over her. You have exactly twelve hours to find her before I interfere."
She was setting him a time limit? Naru's eyes narrowed. He was beginning to find this girl less and less amusing by the moment. And he noticed, of course, that she didn't particularly care for Shiba-san if she'd set the limit by a twelve hour scale instead of three hours. But Naru didn't particularly worry, because he knew that he could retrieve both of them in an hour's time.
Of course he was going to get Mai back.
He knew that for a fact.
20.09.2008: LOL I was going to update mid next week but you guys made me feel bad because you kept reviewing...hehe...that sounds kinda stupid, eh? But yeah...Assessment period at the moment. Life is horrific. ;) What a wonderful way to spend Saturday night. If only there wasn't a thunderstorm...I hate lightening...But yes, I am writing more of Ayami/Raidon in the alternate universe. Can anyone guess what their current relationship is in the Vesta's Bond series? If anyone gets it right, I'll give you the next chapter instantly, though I won't say who was correct :) How's that for bribery? LOL
Many thanks to: Gabryell-P, ONIX-P, Miss Koneko, SimplyChristine, Canadianviolet (the only thing with Raidon and Ayami is that you never really know what comes out of their mouths next. Both of them love to wear masks to the world. What did you think of Naru's reaction? I made it tame, because I couldnt imagine him shouting, nor could I imagine him going spastic), bigtomato (Hehe: did my confrontation of for Mai/Naru in relation to Gene meet your expectations? I don't think it was my best job, but yeah...), Killbethy, Ahjah, Kay (LOL I feel bad when I set off spoilers in my story. That's why I don't let anyone I know in real life review my stories; they normally worm more out of me because I tell them all about the story before I give them the link. But yes, hope you enjoyed this chapter ;)), Skyz-Angels, Moon-chan, Aoi Faith, Ariana Taniyama, Sorachangirl, Zeroseconds and luna-moongoddess.