A/N: I am so sorry for the late update.
Standard disclaimer.
By the light of the moon
-
We all have secrets
Some better to tell
Others best left inside
Whisper your secrets
Where no one can hear
By the light of the moon...
-
Mai stood frozen with the lips of the boy she loved against hers. She slowly relaxed and kissed back after a few moments. All too soon, Naru pulled back.
"Mai..." He murmered her name and Mai finally remembered to blush. Blood rushed to her cheeks and filled out her face. Naru chuckled slightly, letting his emotions show to his beloved. Mai looked at him and suddenly felt a slight prick on her arm. She thought nothing of it until she felt weak and dizzy.
"I... I fell for you too." Mai muttered hoping the vertigo would pass. She closed her eyes and tried to calm her breathing but failed as Naru pulled her closer. Mai felt her heart rate shot up and her breathing became ragged and unsteady. She tried to take a breath and felt as though she were under water, sufficating with each labored breath.
"Mai? What's...?" Naru pulled apart from her when she clutched onto Naru's shirt. The fabric wrinkled under her death grip and Naru took a gentle hold of her wrists.
"I-I can't..." Mai struggled to say and her vision went blurry. The image of Naru's concered face blurred into darkness and Mai gasped for air again like a fish out of water. Naru pulled her closer and saw a slight flash of silver from the corner of his eyes. He gently pulled her arm forward and glared at the silver dart sticking out of her arm.
"Mai, this may hurt a little and I'm sorry." Naru whispered softly and Mai nodded briefly before returning to the task of breathing. As gently as he could, Naru pulled the dart from Mai's arm. She gasped sharply and then went limp. Naru frowned and pulled back.
"Mai.... Mai?" He shook her shoulders gently but Mai did not awaken from her state of unconsciousness. Feeling slightly guilty, Naru picked her up, careful as to not move her so much. 'Damn that poison dart...' He thought as he carried her towards the party that had continued without knowledge of the two star-crossed lovers.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you..." A voice, as quiet as a summer breeze, caught Naru's attention and he turned back to the empty balcony and saw a man perched upon the railing that prevented people from falling over the edge. It was Naru's boss. "Give me the girl." He demanded and Naru's grip on Mai tightened unconsciously, eliciting a soft moan from Mai.
"Over my dead body." Naru snarled at him as the man hopped down and stood confidently in front of the furious boy. Naru jerked away and started to back up into the ballroom.
"Come now, don't be like that. We're friends after all. In fact, I'm you uncle, so give her to me." The man smirked as Naru's face harded at the word 'uncle'. Again, Naru jerked away from his uncle's advances and tried backing into the room behind him.
"You're no uncle of mine. You are a horrid murderer and I'm through with you." Naru spat and finally reached the doorway to the party. With Mai firmly in his grasp, Naru turned and ran.
"Stop! Dammit..." The man started running too late and Naru escaped with Mai into the dancing crowd. He weaved between the couples until he spotted Houshou dancing with Ayako. Naru quickly caught their eye and stopped them long enough to tell them the situation.
"You can't be running around here with a poisoned girl, a princess no less, with a crazy guy following you! That's just insane..." Houshou commented and he sighed. Ayako held up her had as though to hit him for stating the obvious but was stopped as Naru spoke with bitterness.
"Right now, it's all we can do. But if you have a better idea, please, let's hear it." Naru said bitterly and Houshou looked down at his feet in silence. A few seconds passed in silence and Mai moaned softly, making everyone suddenly aware of how much time they were wasting.
"Is there a doctor in her castle?" Naru asked urgently and Ayako shrugged and Houshou looked confused. Naru made a frustrated sound and ran into the male bathroom. Houshou follwed and, after a moment of hestitation, Ayako did as well. They locked the door and placed Mai on the ground.
"I need your tie, Houshou." Naru said and as he took it from the confused older man, he whispered words of reassurance to Mai. He tied the tie tightly around her upper arm, cutting off the circulation and, hopefully, the poison. Ayako ran out and returned shortly with an empty cup and a handful of napkins.
"You'll need to suck the poison out. You can spit it in here." She said and the men stared at her in her moment of brillance until she smacked Houshou in the head and yelled at them to get moving. Naru bent down and placed his lips upon Mai's tender and pale arm. A light blush spread across his cheeks as he tried to push dirty thoughts from his mind. He sucked softly and the bitter taste of the poison filled his mouth along with the stale taste of blood.
"Ugh." He grunted and spat the mouthful in the cup. He repeated the process until all he could taste was blood. He stole a glance at Mai as he wiped his mouth with the napkins and smiled. Her cheeks were filling with color again and her breathing, although a bit raspy, had returned to normal.
"N-Naru?" Her weak whisper sent relief through Naru's body.
"I'm here Mai. I'll always be here." He whispered and a tiny smile graced her lips along with a very faint blush. Her brown eyes opened and met his crystal blue. They stared into the eyes of their lover until Houshou made a loud, embarrassed cough. The two quickly looked away.
'I'm acting as though I'm in a romance novel...' Mai thought and tried to keep them from seeing her flaming cheeks.
"Good, Mai's ok. But what will we do about you're uncle out there?" Houshou said to Naru. Ayako bit her lip in frustration and Mai wondered who they were talking about.
"I have a small plan." Naru replied after a moments hesitation.
-
"Aya, go!" Houshou whispered into Ayako's ear and she hissed at the nickname.
"Alright, alright, but don't call me that!" The two put on false worried faces and hurried out across the hall. Ayako turned to the bedroom halls and Houshou went down the hall that lead to the kitchens.
"Hopefully, my uncle will take the bait and follow one. But even if he doesn't..." Naru whispered into Mai's ear and she tried to focus on his words instead of his warm breath on her ear. His warmth was suddenly gone as Naru himself walked onto the floor with a carefully constructed mask of indifference. Mai watched as he was approached by a man who couldn't be over 40 and Naru tensed up.
"Be careful..." Mai wished with every fiber in her being that everything would turn out and that the two of them could live together forever.
-
"Where is the body?" Naru stopped at the sound of the very voice he dreaded of hearing.
"Uncle Juro." Naru turned and sneered his uncle's given name. The man flinched and glared.
"You know I changed my name to Hideo. A name as fine as that can only belong to me." He tilted his chin up and talked down to Naru with an air of superiority. Resisting the urge to roll his eyes, Naru responded with a slight incline with his head.
"I don't understand your reasoning. But then, I never did before." He teased the older man who's left eye had just started twitching. 'And this is why making fun of your elders is so much fun.'
"Well, you are just a stupid, silly boy." Hideo replied with fake happiness clear in his voice.
"My, my. Don't get so angry. It'll be bad for your blood pressure." Naru responded cooly, crossing his arms casually in front of his chest. A mistake.
"Judging by your relaxed posture, the girl is fine. Ah, oh dear, that's not good." Hideo narrowed his eyes and carefully looked for the slightest twitch on his nephew's face. The emotionless mask stayed in place as Naru stiffened.
"You can not have her." Naru glared and disappeared among the oblivious couples.
-
"Mai, we must get you into a safe hiding place. Is there a place that no one knows about?" Naru had returned as swiftly as he could the the men's washroom and gently took her hand.
"No, well, yes, but..." Mai stammered and looked away, fear creeping into her body. There was never an easy happy ending for her.
"But?" Naru prompted and Mai removed her hand from his and took a deep breath.
"There's... the maze."
-
"How do you think Mai is doing?" Ayako asked, axiously brush stray strands of hair from her eyes and smoothed the purple fabric around her thighs. Houshou didn't respond and continued scanning the crowd for any sign of the brown haired girl or even her dark haired companion.
"I can't find them anywhere!" He whispered exasperatedly and Ayako let out a sigh of relief.
"That means that he can't find them either. And he doesn't have a bird's eyeview." Ayako gestured around the alcove that they had previously occupied when they were watching the preparations.
"I just don't like not being able to see Mai. She's like my little sister." Houshou confessed and Ayako nodded.
"It's amazing the things she does to people." She commented and a heavy silence fell on them as they realized how much Mai had influenced them.
"Let's look again." Houshou said, his voice shaky from the thought of losing her. Ayako nodded, not trusting her self to speak.
-
"Now, don't go too far. Try to stay in the shadows. And... be safe." Naru's voice had a pleading edge to it as her reluctantly let go of Mai's hand at the edge of the maze. Mai nodded to all his demands and put on a brave smile.
"Don't go back to him. Stay with me... please?" She pleaded softly, knowing that it would have absoutely no effect. Once Naru made up his mind there was no stopping him.
"I can't I have to go back and try to get rid of him."
"How?"
"I'm working on that."
-
"Look, there's Naru! He came from outside. That's... strange." Houshou pointed and Ayako lept to her feet. She had abandoned the search to take off her heeled shoes.
"Is that his uncle? The one who's talking to him now? And where's Mai?" Ayako worriedly pointed out that Mai was no where in sight. She rushed to a window that viewed the outside world and looked for the short bob of brown hair but found nothing.
It was as though she had vanished.
-
"Do you actually think I believe that crap?!" Hiedo yelled at Naru after he calmly explained that Mai was not where he 'thought' she was. All lies, of course, and he could see right through them.
"No, but you should. It's the truth." Naru replied cautiously. He hoped Mai was hidden well for he knew that his uncle would never believe him.
"..." With a furious glare, Hideo stormed past Naru and walked into the crisp, cool evening air. With his keen eyes, Naru watched him as he walked down past the gardens and towards the maze. He stole a glance inside then a sideways look at Naru, who's face was still hidden by that emotionless mask. But his body language spoke for his face. Tense shoulders, clenched hands, and legs ready to run.
Naru gave away her hiding spot.
-
"Ow!" Mai exclaimed as she was tripped by a branch. With a ripping sound and the sickening sound of flesh against gravel, Mai tumbled to the ground. She quickly turned to find her dress badly ripped.
"Aw, no! It was such a gorgeous dress. Oh, I need to be quieter!" Mai covered her mouth with a hand and her nose was assulted with the smell of blood. To Mai's greatest dismay, blood adorned her hands and her knees too, she figured by the stinging that she felt from them. With deep regret, she ripped a couple strips of the silky fabric from the skirt and tied them around her hands and knees for make-shift bandages.
"There is no escape." The intimadating voice of an older man scared Mai half to death. His voice sounded far away and yet right next to her at the same time. It was cold, cruel and almost calculating, as though he had something bad for her when he found her.
"Naru..." Mai whispered and continued to blunder into the darkness of the maze.
-
"Mai?! Where are you?!" Naru sped through the maze glancing in each direction hoping to find his beloved before his uncle.
"Naru?!" Her faint shout shot hope through him and he headed toward the feeble sound.
"Mai! Where are you?!" Again and again, he called but Mai did not reply again. His hope dwindling fast, Naru picked up the pace.
'Empty, empty, empty, em- wait, what was that?' A sudden movement and a shimmer of light caught his eye down one of the many corridors. Figuring it was his only lead, Naru took a sharp left.
"Mai?" His voice shattered the stifling silence and he was suddenly tackled to the ground.
"Naru, oh Naru! I was so afraid you were that horrible man!" Naru pushed at the thing that had hit him until Mai's voice calmed him.
"Mai? I almost thought you were my uncle. Don't you ever tackle me again." Naru scolded her but was too relieved to actually mean it. Mai giggled and she smiled at him until they heard an all too fimilar voice.
"My, my. How sickeningly sweet." Naru's grip tightened with a possessive edge to it. Mai winced and held to him tightly.
"Get away from her! She didn't do anything to you!" Naru yelled and Mai worried why he wasn't including himself in his statements.
"True, I suppose. But if she was to accidently die out here, well who better to take the throne than her lover but alas he was incidentally was killed with her so therefore, her lover's uncle." He said everything smoothly, as though he had this whole thing planned out.
"But she won't 'accidentally die'. I'm going to protect her with my life." Naru snarled and swept Mai into a bridal-style position and ran away from his uncle.
"Naru! Please don't say that, I have a horrid feeling that you really will die. And I can't let you can't leave me..." Mai mumbled half her sentences into his chest, savoring his warmth and the wondeful feeling of being in his arms.
"Mai, you know there are no happy endings." Naru responded a bit harsher than he had intended. Mai looked up at him, fighing the tears that were stinging behind her eyes. Naru slowed to a stop and put Mai down, the wonderful feeling gone.
"I know that... and yet I... I can't help hoping for one anyway!" Mai had given in to the tears and they fell freely, cleaning dirt from her cheeks. Naru refused to look at her.
"... Right. We need to keep moving. I think he knows this maze pretty well. There's no other way that he could find us that quickly." He walked away, expecting Mai to follow right away but she hesitated and that was all that was needed.
"A-Alright." Mai tried to stand up as Naru walked away from her but her eyes widened as the hedge came alive and cut her off. It blocked the way Naru was going and nearly pushed her over.
"NARU!!" He turned the moment he heard the note of desperation in her voice. But when he looked back all he saw was a hedge that shouldn't be there.
"Dammit. MAI!!"
-
"You go in first." Ayako gave Houshou's arm a light push. They stood outside the rusty, black gate to the maze. From where they were, the enterance looked much too intimidating to actually enter. Houshou's eye twitched.
"No, you go first."
-
"All the pieces are falling into place." Again Mai heard his voice from behind her. Quickly turning, she fell down again.
"Careful darling. Don't want to hurt yourself too bad." His smile would have been almost pleasent if Mai didn't know exactly who she was talking to. She whimpered softly, praying that Naru would come for her soon.
"Y-You'll kill me anyway." She whispered. He threw his head back and laughed heartily. Mai took this momentary distraction as a blessing and tried to side-step him. Hideo, catching sight of Mai's movements, moved to block her and they collided and fell to the ground.
"Damn girl, do you want me to kill you?!" Hideo glared and grabbed Mai by her hair and began dragging her with him. Squealing and yelping in pain, Mai was helpless to do anything but follow him as he navigated the maze.
-
Naru found himself feeling slight deja vu as he ran around the maze. He had a feeling that the more he ran the further away she got. The longer he was away from her, the larger the chance of her getting hurt or worse. The more he loved her, the more she was unattainable.
"Mai, where are you dammit!?" His desperate shout didn't fall on deaf ears as he turned a corner and found Ayako and Houshou still standing at the enterance, looking in.
"Come help look for Mai." Naru looked at them, pleading with his eyes. The couple took only one look before running into the maze.
-
"Just what do you want from me?!" Mai yelped and then silenced. When Hideo had surrendered Mai's hair, they were in a place that could only be described as a lair.
"Many things but mostly the crown. So, have any death preferences?" Hideo looked up from a table of sharp looking knives.
"Yeah, old age." Mai countered, her fear making her seem brave. Hideo chuckled and shook his head.
"Sorry darling, but that's not a choice."
"Why do you call me darling?"
"I want to you think of me as your uncle. I mean, if I weren't about to kill you, you'd have married Naru and then you'd really be my niece. I want you to feel comforable around me." He smiled pleasently again and Mai tried not the throw up. His logic was sickening.
"I'm not comfortable with you calling me 'darling' though." She muttered and edged away from the knife table. "If I were to die, I'd want it to be quick and easy. No pain or suffereing." She fingered the hem of her sleeve as she whspered the piece of information to her enemy.
"Ah, so a decapitation perhaps? Or a gun shot to the head?" He picked up a small sword and a pistol respectively. Mai took a frightened step back.
"I don't want to know I''m going to die! If you do kill me, do it when I don't expect it. I'm scared..." Mai hugged herself, trying to supress the shivers that ran up and down her spine. Hideo replaced the sword and pocketed the gun. The shivers were unstoppable now. She was so taken by fear that her breaths were coming in short gasps.
"I won't kill you now. There are some things I want to know. Do you really know what happened to your father?" Hideo looked away from her while asking. Curious, Mai replied almost instantly.
"He was stabbed in the chest by a knife and died."
"Oh, yes, I suppose he did... Although his body was never checked. Then it disappeared. I believe that he's still alive and I am determined to find him and kill him." Hideo glared at a spot on the floor as Mai absorbed the new information.
"I-I'm not an orphan then?!" She smiled largely and didn't notice the trigger being pulled. Nor the body that lept in front of her
-
"D-Did you hear that?" Ayako fearfully asked, clutching Houshou's arm. The gunshot rang in their ears, filling them with dread.
"Yes, I did. And I can't feel my fingers too." Houshou jerked his arm free and tried to get the blood flowing in his veins.
"H-How can you be so casual about it?! What if that was our little Mai?!" Ayako's voice became hysterical and Houshou hugged his fiance to calm her.
"I have this feeling that it wasn't her. Trust me."
"...O-Okay."
-
"NOOOO!!" Mai screeched and fell to the floor, tears streaming down her face. "Naru, you stupid fool! Why?!!"
"M-Mai, I'm alright." Naru lie on the cold, hard ground wincing and clutching his lower torso. No blood was present and he hesitantly pulled a silver serving plate from under his shirt. Mai blinked, her tears stopping from suprise.
"What? Where did you get that?" Her breath was a whisper, the sudden turn of events left her weak.
"Damn you." Hideo muttered under his breath and dropped the gun to run.
"Wait! Was what you said true?" Mai hesitantly looked away from Naru to the one who had almost killed him.
"No, you stupid girl." He spat and continued running until he was out of their sight.
"It was merely luck that I had this." Naru said, acting as though his uncle had never spoken. "I ran into a waiter at your party and in my haste, I thoughtlessly took his tray. I had it tucked into my shirt the whole time." He shrugged casually.
"Thank goodness that you have such luck. If that were me, I'd be dead." Mai joked, tears starting to well up. "I'm so glad you're safe."
"We have to finish this once and for all. Shall we?" Naru stood and discarded the badly dented tray without a second thought. Mai stared up at him without moving because her strength was gone. He sighed and picked her up bridal style.
"N-Naru..." Mai stuttered and then stopped herself. She slowly wrapped her arms around his pale neck and hugged him.
-
"He couldn't have gotten that far." Naru muttered loud enough for Mai to hear. She held on to him tightly, listening carefully to the sounds of the night.
"Wait! What's t-that?" Mai's soft voice stopped the pair and they listened carefully. Two pairs of footsteps were hurring towards them.
"One's... male. The other has... heels." Naru closed his eyes and listened closely. "Most likely Houshou and Ayako. But we can not be sure." Naru hastily added seeing Mai's face light up. He probably wasn't wrong but if he was...
"Mai!!! Where are you?!" Ayako's hysterical screaming made the two wince.
"Come on." Naru put Mai on her feet and gently pulled her towards Ayako. "Please stay with them." He pleaded softly.
"Naru..." Mai looked at him with an expression of worry.
"It would make me feel so much better."
"But it'd make me feel worse!" She narrowed her eyes and clutched his hand.
"Please." His eyes held hers and she realized that he said 'please'. Twice even.
"Promise you'll come back." She whispered, closing her eyes.
"Of course." He replied and gave her a light kiss. Mai opened her eyes quickly but he was gone.
-
'Damn girl. Damn boy. This won't be good.' Hideo snarled as he expertly maneuvered his way through the maze until he came upon his other 'secret hide-out'. Various articles of dirty clothing litered the floor and a wall of color screens sat oppisite a messy work table filled out with stacks of paper turning yellow from age. He walked to the tallest stack of papers and lifted the top one. A paragraph written in crude english was inked on to the wrinkly paper.
"Stop." A calm, cold voice stopped him from tucking the paper into his coat pocket. He turned and saw a thin silhouette holding something up.
"No! Please don't! I haven't finished it all yet!" Hideo pleaded, knowing that the object was surely a gun. The silhouette lowered the gun a moment.
"What are you talking about?" It was at that moment when Hideo launched himself at the silhouette but it moved swiftly out of the way. He looked back and saw the impassive face of his nephew.
"Damn you." He growled. The gun was placed against his forehead and he froze.
"I suggest that you answer me." He said icily. "Who did you think I was?"
"...My boss." Hideo answered after a moments hesitation.
"What you haven't you done yet?" Naru asked and then yanked the paper from Hideo's hands.
"I haven't finished preparing... for the end of the world."
-
"Mai, never, ever leave me! I was so worried!" Ayako held Mai in a death hug. Mai spluttered to try and let Ayako know that she was cutting off her air. "Sorry..." Ayako let go and Mai took a deep breath.
"H-He's gone." Mai's eyes filled with tears again and finally let them loose. The flood overwhelmed her and she fell to the ground with shaky sobs.
"He'll be back. Don't worry." Houshou bent down and rubbed her back gently, a tactic his mother taught him. Soon her sobs receded to streams of tears on her pale face.
"B-But what if h-he doesn't come back?
-
"The end of the world?" Naru raised an eyebrow with skepticism. Hideo glared.
"Yes. 'The world shall end with a girl and boy. Love forbidden and love deprived.' It's on that paper you rudely took from me." He leaned back into a more relaxed position as Naru glanced from the paper to Hideo and back again.
"That makes no sence. And why the hell would you believe that crap?" Naru asked bitterly. Hideo laughed maniacally and replied with a sneer.
"I don't need to explain myself to you. I believe what I do." He shrugged and Naru found that his patience was wearing thin.
"Well it could be any two boys or girls so why make us your target?" Naru played along, asking a perfectly logical question.
"I... I don't know. I wasn't planning on it until I realized that you fell in love with the princess. Then it all worked out." A smug grin covered his face and Naru's fingers tensed.
"Any last words?"
"...'Et tu, Brute?'"
"Ah, the last words of Julius Caesar..."
One could say that this was a shot heard around the world.
-
"Mai, d-don't worry." Houshou frantically rubbed her back as she stared into space after tensing upon hearing the gunshot. Ayako had sat on her other side and as quietly wiping tears from her own face.
"H-He's coming." Mai whispered, stuttering from crying so much.
All three turned their heads at the sound of weary footsteps. They looked down the dark passage way, waiting with held breaths. A wobbly silhouette appeared and a few moments later, Naru's lean body was distinguishable. Mai gasped and with a sudden adrenaline rush, she ran to Naru.
"I-I... How? What happened?... I'm so glad you're safe." Mai repeated and hugged him automatically. His arms enclosed around her waist and he mumbled into her ear.
"W-What?" Mai looked at him. He smiled at her and then kissed her passionately. Mai decided to to say to anything but to go along. A few minutes passed and they pulled apart. Naru looked around as though he was waiting for something to happen.
'I knew it. He was just an idiot.'
"N-Naru? What's wrong?" Mai asked and he kissed har again softly.
"Nothing. I'll love you until the end of the world."
A/N: I-It's done? I AM SO SORRY! Here are a few of my feeble excuses:
High school, life, death, love, hate, holidays, birthdays, grounded, busy, and the usual: procrastination. I hope you all aren't too mad.
Yes, there will be a follow up. I WILL START A.S.A.P.!!!
Oh and Juro means tenth son. I made that his real name because the tenth son isn't usually special. Haha. I'm cruel to my characters. Hideo means splended man because he thinks he's all that. And those really were Julius Caesar's last words. All that was looked up.