Okay, here we go. Two chapters in one day, didn't think I could do it. Now, I'm going to apologize right now. You'll understand later. And review, I'd love to hear what you think is going to happen because I'll tell you a secret. I'm not really sure where it's going either! Adios!
Chapter 9- Disappearance Pt. 1
"Mai, come on! You have visitors!" Kim's voice echoed through Mai's bedroom door. Mai sat up and wiped at her tears before she climbed off the bed and opened the door. She saw the worried look that Kim had on her face before the English girl gave her a bright smile.
"I think that your visitors will cheer you up." she said cheerfully and Mai let herself be dragged to the steps before stopping as she heard rather loud voices coming from the main hallway.
"Who are you calling old? I'm going to kill you!" Mai looked at Kim with an astonished look before she rounded the corner and stopped at the top of the stairs and a smile split across her face as her tears were forgotten.
"Aren't you a little old to be carrying that suitcase?" Takigawa quipped and Mai giggled as Ayako attempted to strangle the man.
"Bou-san! Miko-san!" she screamed as she tackled Takigawa and the man squawked as he tried to keep his balance and he saw the look that Ayako gave him before she found herself being hugged by the girl.
"What are you doing here?! How come you didn't call?!" Mai cried after she had let the priestess go. Takigawa chuckled at the girl before he shrugged and Mai looked at Ayako who smiled.
"Let's just say that we got word that Naru was being an ass and that you needed a cheering section. Apparently Bou-san's uncle works at Tokyo International and he got us tickets. We called Kim and told her it was going to be a surprise." Ayako explained Takigawa chuckled.
"She can understand English, Ayako." he told the priestess and the woman glared at him and Mai blinked in surprise.
"Since when can you speak English?" she demanded and the adults looked at her surprised and she had a sneaking suspicion that they had forgot she was even there. They always got so caught up in their arguments.
"When we were in school they taught you English from your first year in school to the last year of college." Ayako said and Mai laughed before she gave them a bright smile.
"Thank you for coming! I'm already feeling better!" she said and the adults shared a look before Ayako tilted her head slightly to the library door and Takigawa nodded before he disappeared into the library leaving the two women in the main hall.
"Okay, Madoka wouldn't tell me what was wrong other than Naru was being unreasonable." Ayako said and she saw that Mai's expression had turned sad at the mention of Naru's name. Ayako sighed before she wrapped an arm around the younger girl's shoulder like a mother would.
"He…he doesn't see me as me. The only reason that he hired me was to prove to his parents that he could have protected his brother." Mai looked up at Ayako and the woman nodded to indicate she knew Naru's secret.
"Takigawa threw a fit when he found out the man he had been envisioning was none other that our dear, sweet narcissistic boss." Ayako said and Mai couldn't stop the smile that was forming on her lips at the thought of Takigawa's reaction. She wished that she had been there to see it.
"Poor Takigawa. Did Madoka tell you everything that's being going on?" Mai asked and Ayako nodded.
"Yes, that's why I'm going to be sleeping in your room. She said that Madeline has a habit of possessing you and that she wants someone with you that can exorcise it if it happens again." Ayako told her and Mai shrugged.
"I wouldn't know. I can't remember anything during Madeline's possession spells. I just hope when she possesses me she doesn't do stupid things." Mai said and Ayako almost laughed but restrained from doing so.
'Mai obviously doesn't know that she's been kissing Naru! I suppose right now she would probably kill the man if she found out.' Ayako thought. Madoka had explained what the ghost woman had been doing and they all finally had realized that Madeline was trying to use Mai as a surrogate for her powers.
"There's nothing else in this book to suggest what the family secret is. I've translated all that I could read, which wasn't much to begin with as most of it was faded." Lin said as he put the translated pages into the case file. Madoka let her head thump against the desk. Lin looked over his shoulder and blinked. Madoka hadn't done something like that since she was sixteen.
"We are getting nowhere fast. And thanks to Noll our dear Mai has locked herself up in her room sobbing, thank god that Bou-san and Miko-san agreed to come to England." Madoka lifted her head and she and Lin both smiled.
"Gene was always the voice of reason when it came to Noll. We both know that." Lin said and Madoka nodded. She twisted a piece of hair around her finger and watched as the hair stretched around her finger.
"Well, Noll doesn't have that voice anymore. But everyone knows that he needs it. Maybe if he had it we wouldn't be dealing with a heartbroken girl. I hate seeing her like that Lin. She doesn't deserve that pain." Madoka looked at the man and he sighed before going over and wrapping his arms around her from behind as he stood and she remained sitting.
"Madoka, what Noll does is Noll's business. And if he can't treat even Mai right then we both know that he doesn't deserve to be with her. Now Luella and Martin are bringing him here after he gets a clean bill of health from the doctor. And everyone has to be civil." he emphasized the last word and Madoka huffed angrily before nodding in agreement.
"Hello!" the two adults jumped apart as Takigawa entered the library with gust and Lin blinked before going to his laptop and sitting down. Madoka stood up and greeted the monk.
"Hello, Bou-san. How was your flight?" she asked and they talked for several minutes about the trip before the monk frowned and Madoka knew what was coming before he even spoke.
"What did he do this time? I don't care if he is Davis. I'm about ready to kill the twerp. I have had enough of wiping her tears away that he causes her to shed." the monk growled and Madoka nodded in agreement. The only answer that Lin gave was the soft clicking of his key board as he typed.
"I know…it's just him being him normal self. Mai finally realized that the only reason, as far as we can tell, that Noll came to England was to prove to his parents that he could've protected his older brother. I'm getting sick of saying it.
"He doesn't get that he's smothering Mai…I listened to the argument that they had in the hospital. She told him that he should've let her die. I…I really think that he has broken her, Bou-san. He doesn't get the seriousness of his actions." Madoka said and the monk shook his head.
"Hi!" Ayako entered the library and everyone looked at her and she smiled. "Mai was getting tired; the girl hasn't slept for two nights. I sent her to bed with some tea that'll help her rest even if this whole problem won't let her. I should strangle that damn man!"
"Then the rest of your life would be in jail." Takigawa pointed out and Ayako sighed.
"He's not worth it." she agreed.
The car ride was silent. Not that it bothered Naru. It gave him time to think. Especially about Mai and their argument. As much as he didn't want to admit, to himself or anyone else for that matter, her tears had bothered him. When she had looked at him he had know those eyes weren't the fiery eyes that he enjoyed looking into during their spats. They were dulled by what could be called pain and the fact that they were glistening with tears hadn't helped his conscience.
'You used her as…a surrogate of some sort and after everything she's had to go through with you she's finally broken.' Madoka's voice echoed in his head and Naru let out a sigh. He rubbed his temples as a headache began to form. He no longer knew the truth as to why he had come to England. At first he thought it had been to prove something, maybe to Gene. But when Mai had told him that she went to Jonathon's a rage so hot had formed in his chest that the girl had been lucky that he had an IV in or he would have shaken the daylights out of her.
'She purposely puts herself in danger, why? Does she want an early grave?' Naru asked himself before he let out another sigh.
"Noll, are you alright?" his mother asked as she looked over her shoulder into the back seat. He didn't answer for a moment before he looked up to meet his mother's eyes and saw that she looked worried.
"I'm fine mother. I've been thinking." he said and his mother blinked in interest and waited for him to continue. "I'm going to stay here once I have this case at Lunar Mansion solved."
"What?!" both his parents cried and he was glad that they were at a stop light as both his parents turned to look at him fully.
"Noll, what on earth changed your mind? And what about Mai?" his mother finally managed as his father turned back around when the light turned green.
"What about Mai? She'll be happier if I'm not around. You were the ones that were begging me to stay so I decided to listen. I've been over there for nearly a year and have had no success. I know when I'm defeated." Naru said and Luella shrugged before she turned around.
"I'm glad that you've decided to stay. But you shouldn't abandon Mai." his mother said and Naru kept from growling.
"Mother." he warned softly but Luella didn't say anything else and he turned to look back out the window. 'Madoka was right. This whole time I've treated Mai terrible. She can get a normal job if she wants and if I leave it will only make it easier for her to do so.' he told himself but for some reason his heart didn't like the thought and he put his hand over the area in confusion. 'I have a heart?' he had thought. He knew he had been born with the organ he just thought it was incapable of anything else besides keeping him alive.
'Idiot scientist, always letting science give you the answers, aren't you?' Gene's words echoed in his head and Naru shook his head before looking back out the window as he remembered the response he had given.
'It's the only way to keep from getting hurt.'
"Well look who decided it was time to come home from the hospital." Takigawa snickered as Naru walked through the door with his parents. Naru blinked at the appearance of the monk before he sighed and looked at Madoka who shrugged and he had a nasty feeling that she had called the monk in to cheer Mai up. He hoped the man succeeded. He wanted Mai to be happy maybe because he was terrible at making her happy.
"You must be Bou-san. I'm Noll's mother, Luella. Please call me that." the woman introduced and the monk smiled before his hand was being shaken by Naru's father. Naru could only roll his eyes.
"It's nice to meet the both of you. It's been…interesting working with your son." Takigawa said and Naru shot the man a glare and the older man stuck his tongue out when Naru's parents were greeting Madoka and Lin.
"You and I need to have a little talk, young man." Takigawa told him and Naru sighed before shaking his head.
"I'm going to fix it, Bou-san." he told the monk before it could get any further and the monk looked at him, obviously impressed. Naru had the distinct feeling that the man wouldn't be as impressed when he found out Naru's solution was to let Mai get on with her life. A life that did not include a Shibuya Kazuya or an Oliver Davis. Naru had himself convinced that her life would be better off without him. (AN: Would someone please slap that boy? Thank you!)
"Well, we have to go. I was hoping to say hello to Mai." Luella said as she looked around hoping to see the ginger haired girl.
"She was up in her room; I believe Ayako went to get her." Madoka said before everyone looked up as the said priestess came rushing down the stairs with tears in her eyes and a pale face.
"What's wrong, Ayako?" Takigawa asked and the priestess held out a piece of paper to Naru and when the man took it she buried herself against Takigawa's chest. Naru read the paper and he could feel the growl start before it became audible to everyone standing around him.
Noll-
How pleasant to see you, or lack thereof, again. I'm fed up with possessing Mai all the time. So I stopped…but you see since I have been dead for hundred of years I can solidify at will. It's a neat little trick that I had up my sleeve all along. I decided that Mai has really gotten to close to the truth. And if it makes you feel any better, I really am rooting for you to find her body. Unlike you were able to find Gene's.
Madeline
"Madeline…." Naru growled as he crumpled the note in his hands. That witch was not going to get away with this!
