Me: Hey guys! I'm baaaaaack
Naru: Took you long enough
Me: *cries* I'm sorry! Please enjoy this chapter which I dedicate to foxchic1 for messaging me personally and reminding me to get this chapter done for all of my lovely reviewers
Mai: On with the chapter!
The spirit looked over at them. "How the hell" he muttered.
Making a quick decision, the brunette turned around, picked Megan up and bolted for the door. Using the distraction she managed to make it half way across the room before the spirit processed what was going on. Screaming at the trick he lunged at Mai. The brunette managed to dodge the attack by a millimetre but looked up to see Bou-san along with the others just standing there is shock. They seemed too surprised to move. Mentally cursing she shot them a glare that would rival Naru's.
"Start chanting you idiots! Or would you rather I die here!" she screamed at them, running as fast as she could. Her soul burned as the cuts that she had been hit with bled. She knew Lin was probably going to do more than lecture her for this once she returned to her body.
When Mai finally reached them Bou-san had started chanting the immovable one and Ayako was doing the nine cuts. She panted as Naru glared at her. He went to say something but she shook her head. "I'll explain later, I need to return to my body. Take Megan" she muttered tiredly.
His mouth snapped closed and he took the small girl from her, shooting her a glare. Whether it was from confusion or irritation –she wasn't sure.
"What do you-"Naru's question was cut off as Mai closed her eyes and searched for her body to re-connect. Seconds later, she was gone leaving the others downstairs to fend off the angry spirit for a couple minutes.
Waking up she noticed that Lin looked almost normal. That was until she coughed and she had a chance to see his eyes. They were furious and worried. Just like Naru, he went to say something.
The brunette cut him off before he could start though, "Don't you start too. I'll explain later. I don't think you want me to pass out in the middle of your lecture." She managed a small weak smile at him but it was clear she was in pain.
Pushing herself up, she winced as the cuts on her back stretched.
"I hope I don't need stitches on some of these" she muttered.
The Chinese man gave her a disapproving look. "Let's get you down stairs and see if Miss Matsuzaki can do anything for you" he stated, helping her up.
Mai nodded in agreement, biting her lip to try and take her mind off the pain. "Remind me why the hell I thought that was a good idea?"
Lin couldn't help but chuckle at her. "I have no idea why you thought it was a good idea. In fact, it was a stupid Idea and you never should have attempted it" he stated, giving her a glare that made the one Naru had given her moments ago seem like a smile.
She sighed. "I know" she muttered quietly, "but you should go. I'll meet you back in base but they need your help downstairs with that spirit."
The Chinese man hesitated. "You aren't supposed to be anywhere alone."
Mai scoffed, "Too bad, get going before Naru gets hurt. He's your first priority."
Sighing, the elder nodded, running off without her. The brunette waited until he was gone before she collapsed to the ground, leaning against the wall and breathing heavily. She had used way too much PK and she wasn't sure how much longer she could stay awake. On top of that, all previous adrenaline left her system and the impact of what she had just done hit her with full force. Tears welled in her eyes, partly because of relief, anger and some because of pain.
~WiTh ThE OtHeRsZ~
Lin had reached them just as the spirit was getting ready to make a major blow. A high pitched whistle was all that his shiki needed before they were attacking the spirit. "Everyone back to base" Naru ordered, moving down the hall while the ghost was busy.
No-one dared argue, following after him at a quick pace.
When they reached base, Ayako re-enforced the charms before looking over Megan and sighing in relief. The little girl seemed to be fine, just passed out from stress. Laying the girl on the couch, she looked around. "Where's Mai?"
Lin mentally cursed and was about to go after the brunette when he heard a slightly crash. Naru was first to rush out, the others following soon after.
Looking down they realised what the commotion was. Mai had managed to make her way to the outside of the base but had fallen asleep at the final part.
Sighing, Bou-san took it upon himself to lift the petite girl up and carry her into their base, placing her gently on the bed.
Ayako quickly checked over her wounds and sighed.
"How is she?" John inquired, worried for the smaller girl.
The shrine maiden looked up at him. "Well some of these cuts are extremely deep and might have to get stitches but other than that she should be fine. It's nothing she hasn't had before" she assured the priest.
Almost everyone relaxed at that.
Naru shot a glare at Lin. "What exactly happened. I thought she was gathering information" he accused.
The Chinese man mentally glared at the brunette for not being awake. "You can ask Mai when she wakes up."
The young boss went to argue but decided against it. That way he could kill two birds with one stone when scolding her.
It was about half an hour later when Mai woke up. Groaning at the sudden brightness her eyes snapped closed again. The next time she made sure to open them slowly opened. Momentarily forgetting her injuries, she tried to sit up only to hiss and fall back down again.
The other's who had been sitting on the couch and chatting, turned around to look at her.
Sighing, Ayako shook her head at Mai. "Stop moving around, you'll hurt your wounds. You already need some stitches" she scolded.
The brunette let out a groan of annoyance. "Are you sure I need them?"
The stern look she got in return was all she needed to know.
"So Mai, would you like to explain why exactly you were in that room when you were supposed to be collecting information?"
She snapped her head to the side when she heard Naru's cold voice. If it weren't for her current position she would have shrunk back against the glare he was giving her.
Gulping, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath to try and calm the nerves he was making her feel. The bed vibrated slightly under her making her concentrate more. Opening her eyes again, she nearly screamed in surprise. He was standing above her, glare even harsher –if that was possible.
"I'm still waiting for an answer."
"W-well I knew I could help M-megan a-and I didn't want t-to leave her a-any longer than necessary…" she managed to stutter out quietly.
Her temporary boss sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.
Mai laid there awkwardly waiting for the screaming and shouting that was sure to be bombarded by only to blink in shock as everyone rushed over to her asking if she was okay.
Bou-san attempted to pick her up into a hug only to pause and think better of it, opting to ruffle her hair instead. "You gave us quite the scare" he accused her.
The brunette gave him a sheepish look, "Sorry" she apologised.
Ayako sighed from next to him. "I'd lecture you but I don't think you'd listen to me" she stated before gesturing to everyone but Naru, "and I doubt you'll listen to them either."
Mai grinned at her. "I probably wouldn't" she agreed with a sheepish grin. She chose not to comment on the fact that Naru hadn't been included in the generalisation.
Naru seemed to be getting more and more irritated by the second and finally he snapped. "What happened out there? What did you do? How did you do that? Was that an increase in your abilities? Why didn't you feel it necessary to inform me of your plans?"
He fired question after question at the poor girl and she found a headache forming as she tried to process all of them. Luckily, her resident doctor seemed to notice and shot him a glare. "Mai can answer your questions later" she stated, her voice leaving no room for argument.
Said girl gave Ayako a tired smile of thanks receiving a smile in return before she felt herself fall asleep once more.
"Shouldn't we focus on exorcizing the spirit now?" John asked quietly, careful not to wake Mai.
Masako nodded from next to him looking paler then usual –if that's even possible. "I agree. I'm at my limit, the spirits anger is rising and it's beginning to affect me. The sooner we leave this house the better."
Naru nodded in understanding before looking over at Bou-san. "Are you prepared to do an exorcism?" he inquired.
The monk nodded. "I'd like to have John there with me too. This spirit is extremely angry and I'm not sure how much strength I have back at this point."
Naru nodded in consent. "Alright. Use the walkie-talkie to contact base once you're ready to begin."
Bou-san and John both nodded before going off to get themselves ready.
~TiMe SkIpY~
It had been fifteen minutes since John and Bou-san had left to get ready before they notified Naru that they were ready.
"Alright, begin" Naru stated, standing in front of the monitors to watch the exorcism take place. Lin and everyone else crowded around similarly.
"Naumaku sanmanda bazara dan kan"
"In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God."
A loud screech echoed around the house but both Bou-san and John remained calm and inexpressive, continuing the exorcism without a second thought. It dragged on slowly, the screams of Wadleigh encasing the entire house.
Moments later, the shrill sound stopped and the screaming was gone.
Masako sighed in relief. "He's gone" she whispered.
The team let out a sigh of relief that they didn't realise they were holding. Seconds later there was a running sound and the door opened.
Everyone jumped and turned around to see Jean standing there panting. "Wh-what was that?"
Bou-san shot her an apologetic look. "Sorry. I guess in all the excitement we forgot to inform you of our plans to exorcize the spirit…" he trailed off.
The woman gave him a surprised look before she shook her head sighing. "Enough of that I don't want to know what happened. Just tell me two things" she began, "Is my daughter safe and that the spirit will never bother my family again."
John offered her a smile. "Megan is resting on the bed next to Mai and the spirit will not be coming back." He promised.
Jean nodded in acceptance after a few moments. "In that case, stop stressing so much!" she exclaimed with a happy look.
Everyone blinked a few times at the sudden change in demeanour before grinning.
"So who's going to wake up Mai?" Ayako asked looking around the room.
Their client raised an eyebrow at them. "Wake her up?" she inquired.
Bou-san nodded. "Yeah. She was the one who rescued your daughter. But while doing so she used up too much of her spiritual energy so she's been resting for a while now. But since the exorcism is finished… we're going to have to wake her up."
Jean was quiet as she took in the explanation before her eyes narrowed. "Was she hurt?"
She looked towards Naru and Lin for an explanation. If they were worried neither showed it.
"Mai sustained a few minor injuries."
The look Naru got was anything but happy. "So do tell me why you think you're going anywhere without her having rested and at least started the healing process?" she asked.
Naru equalled her look with a slight glare of his own.
"We have to get Mai treatment for her wounds, some of them were deep enough to require stitches" he countered.
Jean looked at him for a few moments before sighing. "Then you can leave after she wakes up, without interference. If that is before tomorrow then you aren't going yet though, regardless. I don't want you driving around at these times. You're staying the night." she stated, leaving no room for argument.
Nodding, the young boss gave into her demands and decided to sit down and read.
Yasu grinned cheekily and walked over to the corner of the room where his conversation wouldn't he heard. Pulling out the phone he quickly dialled Madoka's number.
After the second ring she picked up.
"Hello?"
"Hey. I have some confusing info about a certain brunette and her feelings towards the narcissist."
"Oh?" her voice was excited, she would probably squeal if she could. "Do tell. We might be able to make sense of it if we work together."
Yasu grinned, "That's what I was hoping for. You see I got a few minutes with Mai alone earlier and I brought up the subject of Naru and her feelings."
"What's so confusing then?"
"That's where it gets complicated. She told me that she didn't like him."
On the other end, the pink haired woman's eyes crinkled in thought. "Was she lying?"
"That's where it gets worse. She wasn't lying. Her ears didn't go red, she looked me in the eyes and she wasn't overly nervous or guilty. Nothing out of the ordinary!" he whined.
Madoka hummed in thought over the other end. "Well she couldn't be over him already, at least I hope not because that would ruin everything."
He couldn't agree more. "There has to be something we're missing."
Yasu could practically here the wheels in Madoka's head turning, her thoughts trying to process the information and try to understand what was going on. "Well we'll figure it out the next time we see her. Speaking of which when do you guys think you'll be finished the case?"
"We've finished. Mai managed to move things along a fair bit. Although most of us probably wished she didn't but we can discuss that later."
A surprised gasp was heard from the other end. "You mean you've already finished. I thought it would take longer. But isn't it getting a bit late to head back now? Apart from that, what do you mean Mai moved things along? Is she hurt? What happened?"
The younger man laughed at her rambling. "Mai will be fine. I believe Mrs Baker is insisting we stay the night and I don't think Naru is able to disagree so we'll most likely head back tomorrow. When we get back you can join the interrogation team and ask Mai yourself. After she's been fixed up a bit first of course. It seems Miss Matsuzaki has decided that most of the cuts Mai received will heal with time but that a few of them will need some stitches. We'll explain more later." Yasu explained.
Before Madoka could argue anymore he quickly said goodbye and ended the call. He sighed turning to where everyone was crowded at the couches. He glanced over at Mai and grinned when he noticed that she wasn't actually sleeping now.
If the others were paying attention they would have noticed that Mai's breathing was no longer even and that her eyes were slightly open.
Making sure no-one was paying attention to him, he slipped over to where Mai was. Sitting at the end of the bed, he looked at her through the corner of his eyes. "How are you feeling?" he muttered quietly.
She didn't seem surprised that he had realised. Sighing, she swallowed thickly. "I'm still exhausted. Maybe I over did it a bit…" she grumbled in an equally quiet voice.
Yasu let out a small laugh. "I'd say that you underestimated that. You definitely over did it. But since you already did it, we're going to have to add these to the current results from the test that I have managed to get you to let me do. We might be able to find a way to improve your length of time."
Mai gave him a slight smile. "Just add it to the list of things. At the moment I have Naru and Lin both waiting in line to yell at me. Behind them is probably Madoka when she finds out. After that I'm going to have to run through explanations of the technique to Naru and most likely professor Davis. Then you can get the results" she listed.
He pouted. "But that's going to take forever" he whined.
The brunette made a move similar to that of a shrug. "I can't help that."
Me: Yes I am aware that my exorcism sucked and that I really need to review how to write such scenes
Mai: If anyone had any tips and tricks to help Shellsan along she would really appreciate it
Naru: Idiot
Me: *Cries*
Mai: That's mean! Apologise! Shellsan tried her best
Naru: *Ignores*
Me: *Sniffles* Please read and review. Thank-you to all of my reviewers. I try to message you all but sometimes of forget so here is me personally thanking you :)