Black Phantom:
Chapter 14:
The latent psychic peered around Naru cautiously to see what had shocked him so badly. Seeing a doppelganger of her superior officer lying against a cherry blossom tree with his eyes closed was the last thing that she had been expecting. However she was not too surprised to see the chain smoking Sakurazukamori who broke into a smile at the sight of them.
"Hello, Mai-chan, Kuro Kaitou," he greeted cheerfully. "So, have you come for your brother or to destroy me?"
"How about both?" Naru suggested pleasantly. "We have your mother in custody."
Seishirou shrugged his shoulders and took a puff off his cigarette. "I'm her successor regardless of when she dies. It simply happened sooner than expected."
"I take it that you won't mind when I make sure that your family line ends with you, then," the scientist retorted.
The assassin simply leant down and grabbed the chin of the person who was lying slumped against the cherry blossom tree with a very pale face.
"Are you planning on blowing me and this tree to pieces with your PK?" Seishirou enquired. "Unfortunately you would end up killing Eugene in the process."
To illustrate his point he stroked Gene's cheek and smirked at Naru.
Naru was silenced momentarily by the realisation that there really was not a way out of the situation whilst his brother was under the tree. Naturally he could give himself up to be fed to the tree, but there was no guarantee that the Sakurazukamori would leave Mai and Gene alone.
A pinch to his arm pulled him out from his internal monologue and he glanced down to see Mai staring worriedly at him.
"I don't know what's going on, Naru, but do your best to get us out of it," she hissed at him. "You've got an annoyingly large brain; use it."
He stared at her in surprise before nodding. He had to observe everything. His twin who had gone missing over a year ago was lying unconscious in front of him. It was strange to see him again as he had nearly given up hope that Gene was alive. Tentatively he tried his psychic link with his brother and couldn't pick up any connection. It was probably still blocked. He paused and reached behind him to grab Mai's hand and squeezed it tight.
A stream of images overwhelmed him and he knew that his psychometry was working on Mai again, possibly because Yoshiyaki was unconscious and had lost her connection with the spirits that the Sakurazukamori controlled. So why couldn't he link with Gene?
Naru narrowed his eyes and took in his brother's pale unmoving face and his white yukata that matched the one that Mai was wearing, only with a different neckline. Mai's crossed left over right whereas Gene's was the opposite way. He frowned as his knowledge of a Japanese tradition about the dead came back to him. The dead wore a kimono with a different neckline to the living.
To confirm his suspicions he strained his eyes to check if his brother was actually breathing. He was standing too far away from him too check properly the tinge to his brother's skin told him the truth and he knew what he had to do.
Naru cleared his throat. "Of course I can destroy you and your damn tree with PK without any regard for my brother's life: he is dead and has been for a long time."
He raised his arms and let loose a burst of PK that engulfed the cherry blossom tree, his brother's dead body and the Sakurazukamori assassin. When the burst dissipated, they had all disappeared and crater was left in their place. He dropped his arms and sighed.
Mai caught him as he slumped into her.
"Naru, are you all right?" she demanded concernedly.
"Just tired," he murmured against her. "I think I used too much PK."
She put her arms around him and patted him on the head.
"I'm grateful to you for rescuing me so I won't question you about Kuro Kaitou until you have rested."
She felt him smile against her. "Thank you Mai."
"I never knew that you were capable of those words," she said with a smile. "You should say it more often."
"It would lose its effectiveness then," was the garbled reply she received before his head slumped onto her shoulder.
A shout of "Mai!" interrupted the pair and Mai turned her head to see her uncle and aunt running towards them with Lin following closely behind.
"We saw the flash of the light," Bou-san said and glanced at the crater where the cherry blossom tree, Eugene Davis and Seishirou Sakurazuka had been. "What happened to Naru-chan?"
Ayako checked his pulse. "It's a little fast, but that is to be expected."
Lin joined the fray to check his charge's pulse for himself and breathed a sigh of relief.
"He is still alive, thank goodness. I was afraid that releasing that amount of energy would have stopped his heart."
He shot Mai and curious glanced before changing the subject.
"What happened here?"
A day had passed and the narcissist was still asleep. The task force, including the new members had congregated to Naru and Lin's apartment for privacy. Due to the events of the previous day, no one except Naru had got any sleep and Lin, the monk and Yasuhara had spent most of the time exploring the house where Kuro Kaitou's first heist had taken place and where Mai had been imprisoned.
Much to Lin's chagrin they had discovered that the house had a hidden basement that had been left off the floor plans given to the Police meaning that he and Naru had been close to the very person that they had been looking for, on their first heist. He knew Naru was not going to be happy when he found out.
"So Setsuka-san committed suicide," Mai summarised.
Lin nodded. "I left my Shiki to watch her and Yasuhara-san came after we all left to keep an eye on her, but she stabbed herself too fast and cleanly for Yasuhara-san to do anything."
"Does that mean that the Sakurazukamori no longer exist?" Ayako asked hesitantly. "The mother and son were the only members and all those names and addresses that you had turned out to be fake."
"I should think that we have destroyed the organisation sufficiently," the omnouji informed them. "Thank you for your help."
Bou-san stretched his arms and yawned. "You know, I think that we make a good team. What do you think, Lin-san?"
Lin permitted himself a smile. "I would agree with that, we may have never found out that Eugene had been dead all along if we didn't have any help."
Mai shivered. "I can't believe that they kept his body frozen in that basement."
Lin gave her a knowing look. "The Sakurazukamori hadn't escaped destruction for the past few centuries by not preparing for every eventuality. Gene's body was their trump card to obtain Noll as they could use it to make him believe that his brother was still alive."
"How did Naru-chan work out that his brother was dead?" the monk asked wonderingly.
Lin stood up and picked up the notebook that was lying on the coffee table and plucked out the photo of Eugene Davis that the Sakurazukamori had taken. He handed it to Mai as she had been the only one to see the deceased twin.
Mai squinted at the photo and let out a whoop. "I've got it! In this photo the neckline of his yukata goes from left to right, but when I saw him it was the other way which is only worn by the dead."
She sighed and handed the photo back to Lin. By now she had worked out that the person who had helped her in her dreams when she had been imprisoned was Eugene and not Naru like she had assumed. She wished that she had some way of thanking him for his help. He had taught her a lot in a short time which had come in useful and he had indirectly forced her to consider what her feelings for Naru were.
She loved him.
As Kazuya Shibuya, Oliver Davis, Kuro Kaitou or whatever he called himself. He would always be the tea obsessed narcissist that took pleasure in insulting her, but he had his kinder moments.
Mai didn't care that he didn't return her feelings, being with him was enough for her- provided that he was staying in Japan.
Her heart lurched as she realised that it was almost certain that he was going to return to England.
There was no need for him to be Kuro Kaitou anymore so there would be no need for a task force to capture him. The task force would disband, Naru and Lin would return him and she would be shunted back to patrolling traffic.
She recalled the original reason for her transfer. It wasn't because she was intelligent. The superintendant of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police had sent her to keep an eye on Inspector Shibuya and Officer Lin and to improve the efficiency of the task force. She had really failed in that aspect.
Yasuhara noted her vacant gaze and leaned closer to the Omnouji who balked upon remembering Yasuhara's sexuality and the pleasure that he had taken in watching Noll squirm when the traffic warden had flirted with him.
"Lin-san, what is the likelihood that Naru will return to England?" he whispered.
Lin had been pondering this too, but he could guess what would happen.
"Now that they know that one of their sons is dead, his parents will want him to come back. The task force will disbanded- we were only allowed to set it up as long as Noll stopped being Kuro Kaitou as soon as the need became redundant which has now occurred. Noll may also want to leave as soon as possible as he will be constantly reminded of the Sakurazukamori and Eugene's death," he broke off before adding. "He might be persuaded to stay for Taniyama-san."
"I don't think that he had realised his feelings yet," Yasuhara told him. "However, I think Mai-chan has though."
Lin nodded in agreement. Naru had clearly displayed signs of attraction to Taniyama-san, but he had never seemed to realise the significance. A confession from Taniyama herself might cause the revelation.
He glanced at Mai just in time to see her squeal at the sight of Naru in the doorway.
"Naru!"
His charge regarded everyone who was gathered in the room silently before fixing his eyes on the only unattached female . Lin observed him carefully, there was a chance that a confession from Mai would not be necessary.
Naru's next words were a disappointment.
"You'd better look for another job, Mai."
Don't worry, it's not the end yet. I wouldn't end it with a line like that- I'm not that mean.
A/N: It is true that Kimonos are worn differently by the living and the dead which is a fact that I have always found interesting so I included it here.
