Okay...I'm just going to let this chapter speak for itself. RR! And thanks to all my reviewers, I love you! You know how to make a writer feel good about themself. Arigato!
Chapter 8- The Reason Why
Mai stood at ICU window with her arms crossed around her waist as she watched Naru through the class. Tears would occasionally role down her cheeks as she watched doctors enter and exit. She had long gone numb from shock; the only real thing on her mind was if Naru was going to make it through this attack. She could feel tears clogging her throat and she couldn't swallow back the strangled sob that escaped her throat.
She continued to watch through the window before one of the doctors waved her in. She sat by his bedside and watched as he laid there. She had never felt so relieved to see that he didn't have a breathing mask on. She reached out and touched his hand and she felt the tears come back full force and she bent her head. She felt tears slowly rolling down her cheeks and she tried her best to hold them back and failed terribly.
"Mai?" she looked up and saw Madoka standing there with a smile on her face. Mai wondered how the woman could feel like smiling. It was the last thing that Mai felt like doing. Madoka went over and put a hand on the younger girl's shoulder and Mai looked at Naru.
"He always did this when he was younger. I can remember having to drag Gene away from Noll's bedside because he always refused to leave his brother. Gene was very protective of Noll…they were unusual siblings." Madoka said with a fond smile and Mai looked up.
"What do you mean? How were they unusual?" Mai asked once curiosity wouldn't leave her alone.
"They never argued. They always got along. I have two brothers myself and they rarely got along. Noll and Gene argued once. It was over Gene going to Japan. Gene wanted to go and Noll didn't want him to go…I think Noll had a premonition or some sort of feeling that Gene wasn't going to come back from his trip. He was right." Madoka told her and Mai released Naru's hand and stood up.
"I need fresh air." Mai whispered before she walked out of the hospital room and out into the night air. She studied the buildings that surrounded the London hospital that Naru had been admitted to. His parents had visited and had left to get clothes so that they could spend the night. Mai felt as though she were in the way and was beginning to question if she even belonged in Naru's line of work. She took a deep breath before she started walking down the streets.
'I don't belong here. This is Naru's home…not mine.' she thought as she stopped in front of the apartment building that she had been heading for. She sighed before entering and asking for the apartment number of the person she was going to visit in the tall building.
She reached the apartment, 13b, and knocked. She waited wondering if her theory would even play out. She was about to leave when the door opened to reveal Jonathon Lunar in his business suit. She saw his eyes widen at the sight of her and she took a deep breath.
"I need answers, Mr. Lunar. And I need them now." she said and he tilted his head slightly before stepping back and letting her into the apartment. She waited and sat down when he motioned for her to.
"I heard that Dr. Davis collapsed. I'm sorry about it." he told her. Mai just nodded. She was still numb from having seen Naru in the hospital again. She decided that she was going to ask for overtime when he left this time. She had had enough of sitting in hospitals.
"Mr. Lunar, I need to know everything about the curse that Madeline placed on you. I know that if it was me that I would try to find everything I could out. I have no idea what's going on at that house and the only way that we are going to be able to find out and stop Madeline is if you tell me the whole story." Mai whispered and Jonathon smiled as he sat down on the loveseat across from the couch.
"Alright, Ms. Taniyama. I told you most of the story over the phone. But I did do research as time went by. I found out that the only way to break the curse was to rid the earth of the person that cast the curse. I didn't understand why the curse hadn't been broken because Madeline was dead. I understood rather quickly when I found out she was haunting our homestead.
"I didn't know what to do. I started to travel a lot to get away from her. I figured that she wouldn't harm Rena and Kim; they hadn't done anything to her. But Rena was curious and she explored. Undoubtedly when Madeline caught her she placed that same damned curse on my wife.
"Madeline was…not any better. She was a wonderful person and then when she turned ten…she changed. And not for the better. She started reading books with black magic, even for that time period it was not meant for children or any other human to read those kinds of books.
"I was scared for her. I was fourteen at the time and she was all that I had since our mother died shortly after she was born. She was raised by maids since I was busy with my studies and my father…well you know my opinion on him. Madeline…took a different approach than I did with regards to our father. She tried every trick she knew to get him to tell her the family secret.
"To this day I don't think anyone knows the secret of the Lunar family. Not even I know. I've been alive for nearly a hundred years and I no longer have the desire to know the secret. I just stopped caring." he told her and Mai blinked.
"Are you saying that to break the curse we have to exorcise Madeline?" she whispered and Jonathon closed his eyes and stayed that way without answering Mai for awhile. Mai was beginning to wonder if he was even going to answer.
"If I answered that…wouldn't I be doing your job for you?" he asked and Mai smiled before she stood up and bid him farewell before leaving. She walked back towards the hospital and found Madoka outside looking for her.
"There you are! Mr. and Mrs. Davis are with Noll and he woke up about five to ten minutes ago. You want to go see him before we leave?" Madoka asked and Mai felt her heart accelerate slightly in relief at the fact that Naru was alright.
"I think I'll let them have their family moment. It's not my place to be there." Mai whispered before she followed Madoka to the car and she watched the scenery go by as Madoka drove the road towards Kim's house.
Mai poked her head out the door before she stepped out and flipped her flashlight on. She made her way down to the library and carefully opened the secret passageway door. She slowly down the passageway until she reached the door. She took a deep breath before going over and tugging on the handle of the door. She was surprised when the steps didn't appear but instead the door opened.
She stepped into the room and gasped as suddenly the room lit up. She clicked the flashlight off and looked around the room that resembled a bedroom. It had a small bed that looked as though it hadn't been slept in for years and then there was a small desk. Mai saw a diary on the desk and she went over and picked it up. She flipped through it and saw that the pages were all yellowed and the handwriting was messy.
"This looks as though it was written by a child. This must have been Madeline's diary when she was a child." Mai whispered as she read through the things that the woman had wrote down. Mai quickly realized that most of the entries were spells and potions. She sat down on the bed as she realized that Jonathon was the one trust. He had been telling the truth.
She put the book back before she saw that there was a bookshelf in the room and she wondered how she hadn't seen it earlier. She went over and studied the books and frowned as she realized that they were in a language that she couldn't read. She had a vague feeling that she knew what it was. She took the largest book with the unknown writing and made her way back up to the library and blinked as she saw Madoka and Lin sitting together on the couch. She cleared her throat and Lin's head jerked up when he heard her.
She saw that Madoka's eyes were closed and that her head was resting against Lin's shoulder. Mai shot a look at the Chinese man and saw that he was refusing to look at her. She also saw that his cheeks were slightly red. Mai went over and put her loot on the desk and she looked over at Lin and motioned him over. She watched as he gently laid Madoka down on the couch fully before going over to Mai.
"I'm not exactly sure what language this but I thought it looked familiar and then I realized that I had seen it before when I take tea to you in your office. I thought maybe you knew what it said." she told him and Lin frowned slightly before sighing.
"This is Chinese…but it's a very old version and some of the characters are faded. It'll take time, where did you find this?" he asked and she told him how she went down the passageway and the she asked him how she didn't see him and Madoka and she saw that his cheeks had turned red again and she couldn't help but giggle even though he was glaring at her.
"If you must know, Noll called Madoka and told us to stay in the library to make sure you didn't go down the passageway and get hurt. Apparently you beat us down here." he told her and Mai felt her anger flare.
"He's one to talk! He's in the hospital in ICU. I should call him and give him a piece of my mind." Mai kept her voice down so that she wouldn't wake Madoka but Lin could see the anger in her eyes.
"Mai, he's worried about you. God help me, he's going to kill me when he finds out I told you that. I've never seen him so angry when he told us that Jonathon tried to bite you. If you didn't notice, his fingers tremble when something endangers you." Lin told her and Mai blinked. Since when had Lin tried to help Mai read Naru?
"Why would Naru be worried about me? I can take care of myself!" Mai said in an attempt to hide her embarrassment. She could feel her cheeks flaming and she looked up when she felt Lin's hand on her shoulder.
"Because Noll's lost someone he cares about already. Truth be told…I don't think he could stand to lose you. He may act cold, and he may be cold, but he does have a heart." Lin told her and suddenly Mai understood and it made her heart clench in pain.
"I see. I'm Gene's replacement, aren't I? That's what all the yelling has been about. He wants to prove to his parents that he could have saved Gene. I get it." she whispered. "Tell me when you think you've got that translated." she ran out of the library and Lin sighed.
"That didn't go well." Madoka commented and Lin turned around to look at her before he rejoined her on the couch. She leaned her head on his shoulder and she felt him sigh.
"He deserved it. He wasn't going to do anything and I know it sounds cruel but he needs to grow up and start treating her well." Madoka looked at Lin with shocked eyes before she giggled.
"I thought you didn't like the Japanese." she told him and he gave her that look that she recognized from when they had been teenagers. "Maybe Mai has grown on you. She seems to infect everyone with her cheerfulness. Even Noll isn't resistant." the woman went on and Lin didn't answer. She gave a small smile before she closed her eyes and fell asleep on him once again.
Mai was still awake at five am. She couldn't go to sleep and she had a rather nasty idea why. She still couldn't believe that all the worry that she had thought Naru had for her was misplaced! She had thought that he actually cared about her and not some illusion of what could've been if he had gone to Japan with Gene. She was beginning to wonder if he ever saw her for herself.
Mai rolled over onto her side and watched the rain outside the window, her light was illuminating it as it hit the pane. She closed her eyes and felt her heart thumping painfully against her ribs. Maybe she was never meant to fall in love and this was what it took to keep her from ever falling in love. But she knew it was already too late. She had fallen hard for Naru and she knew there was no way she would ever not love the man. Even though he was a jerk.
'Naru…why couldn't you just like me for me?' she thought before she fell asleep and she was thankful that for once she didn't dream of the man with blue eyes and a kind smile.
"You've been working on that book for the past six hours! Are you having no luck?" Madoka asked and Lin rubbed his temples as the woman put a cup of tea on the desk beside the book.
"These characters are very faded. All I've been able to make out so far is that this book has been in the family for a very long time and that it has been used a lot. Besides that I haven't been able to find anything else out. This is really putting my knowledge of the Chinese language to the test.
"How's Mai?" he asked uncharacteristically and Madoka sighed before she pulled a chair up beside Lin's and crossed her arms on the desk.
"I wouldn't know. She locked her door and refused to come out. I think out of all the things that Naru has done this hurt her the most and the really stupid thing is…he doesn't even realize that he's been doing that." Madoka said softly and Lin nodded as he once again went back to the book and forcing himself to not blush when Madoka wrapped her arms around his.
"Hang on a minute." he said nearly an hour later. Madoka blinked her eyes open as she had fallen asleep. She looked at Lin in curiosity and the man placed his hand on the book before the looking at Madoka.
"I know what the Lunar secret is. Go find Mai." he told the woman and Madoka blinked before she did as she was told. Five minutes later Madoka and Mai entered the room and he looked up before sighing.
"It seems that in 1583, one of the Lunars was an explorer and found himself in China. From what I can read he found this book…a book of witchcraft. The man that traded for this book wrote in the back that the book is actually worth millions of dollars because this is the only copy of this book. All books from this time era in China are rare as few survived the invasions of China." he told them and the two girls looked at him surprised before exchanging glances.
"That can't be the only reason that Madeline is protecting the house so fiercely. I…there has to be something that we're missing." Mai whispered and Madoka looked at Lin who nodded.
"Mai, I know this is probably the last thing you want to do…but we need Noll's input and he isn't allowed to leave the hospital for another twenty-four hours." Madoka said and she saw Mai's eyes widen and the girl shook her head before Madoka gently placed her hands on Mai's shoulders.
"Mai, I know what Noll did is wrong but he's the boss and if he can give some sort of insight." Madoka said and Mai finally agreed.
Mai followed Madoka into the hospital room and Madoka winked at her before going through the routine questions, asking how he was. He, of course, gave very limited answers as he was busy reading a book. Madoka shot Mai a look before saying she was going to talk to Naru's parents in the cafeteria. Mai watched helplessly as her lifeline walked out the door leaving her in the room with a man in a hospital bed reading.
'Might as well get this over with.' she thought. "Naru, we think we have a really good lead to what Madeline might be hiding thanks to Jonathon." Mai said brightly and she saw Naru's eyes glance up and she saw that he had put his book in his lap. She knew that she had his attention.
"Really? Did Lin call him?" he asked and Mai shook her head before twisting her hands.
"No…when you were being checked by the doctors I looked his address up and when your parents got here I had to get away. I was going to take Madoka with me but…my feet just sort of led me, though I'm not exactly sure how I knew which way to go." she said as she realized that she really didn't have any idea how she got to the apartment building without getting lost. She decided maybe it has something to do with the 'powers' Madoka had told her she had.
"You went to his house? Alone?" Naru questioned and Mai, who couldn't detect mood changes in her boss very often, didn't notice the cold tone that had crept into his already cool voice.
"Well, yeah. I mean we were getting nowhere fast-" she was interrupted.
"Dammit, Mai! What the hell were you thinking? Or were you thinking at all? He's a werewolf or did you forget that he tried to bite you?" his voice was as cold as steel and Mai could feel tears begin to prick the back of her eyes. Naru always got agitated at her but he'd never yelled at her before.
"I was just trying to help." she whispered as she looked down at her sneakers and tried to blink the tears back that were threatening to spill. How come Naru was the only man that could make her cry? She had never cried before when she had boyfriends and they had broken up, okay so there hadn't been many but still!
"By doing what? Putting your neck on the line? Do you have a death wish, Mai? Is that why you're doing all this?" he snapped and Mai's head snapped up, she didn't care if she did have tears on her face.
"Doing what?! Helping a friend? Then, yes! And why did you follow me? Because you want to use me as a replacement and prove that if you had been with Gene he wouldn't have died?! Well, you know what, Dr. Davis? You should have just let me die! You haven't given a rat's tail about me since I started working for you!" Mai snapped back before she turned and fled the room and past Madoka who was standing in the doorway.
"You know, Noll…I knew you weren't very good with people. And I just don't get it. I really don't get it. You have the best thing going for you with her and you broke it. You broke her." Madoka told him and he looked at her with cold eyes.
"You wouldn't understand." he told her before he closed his book, he no longer felt like reading. For some odd reason he didn't feel like doing anything.
"Understand what? That the one girl that everyone thought could melt you just ran out in tears? The one girl that wouldn't let you turn her away has finally given up on you? Or how about the girl who's heart you just ripped to shreds?" Madoka finally growled. She was at the end of her patience rope.
"No, the reason that I'm in this damn hospital bed. The reason I have to stay here for another day is because I used everything I had to keep Madeline from possessing Mai again and killing her." he said and Madoka shook her head.
"Noll, as much as I wish I could congratulate you on that task I can't. You don't get it. Maybe Mai did go to Jonathon's and maybe Madeline is endangering her life…but none of that compares what you did to her. You used her as…a surrogate of some sort and after everything she's had to go through with you she's finally broken. Congratulations, Noll. You finally did it." Madoka said before she turned on her heel and left.
