Thanks to: Ayjah, Fox Alder, flamegirl5500, CherryButterfly, witchhuntress, Emina105 and Angelictroublemaker!!
Yasuhara: syNemYoA and Neko don't own GH!
Neko: Hi there! Thank you for helping out today!
Yasuhara: No problem. Where's syNe?
Neko: She's off cooking her lunch! So, it's just you and me today.
Yasuhara: Well… That sounds nice… Want to go out with me?
Neko: *speechless* … *recover* S-sure! *sparkling eyes*
*after a few minutes*
Synemyoa: Hey g---! Where did they go? *looks around* Oh well, enjoy everyone! *smile*
POSSESSION RIGHT AT THE START?!
"Naru. Everyone. I'd like all of you to meet our client for this case, Sugawara Aimi." Lin said and behind him a pale, frail-looking girl emerged. She had straight, long hair that flows to her waist, her eyes were big and as black as darkness, matched with long lashes like that of a beautiful porcelain doll, her fingers were slim and she was maybe an inch or two smaller than Mai. She clutched Lin's shirt and gave them all a hesitant, shy smile.
"Is she Lin-san's daughter or something?" Bou-san whispered to the just as curious miko.
"I don't know. It's possible. But their surnames are clearly different." Ayako answered back in a barely audible voice.
"Duh! Maybe he was once married and got a divorce or some---"
"Takigawa-san, I would really appreciate it if you would refrain from making up my life story like that." A stern voice, obviously Lin's said from behind him. What the?! How did he come here so fast?! He laughed awkwardly, scratching the back of his head and muttered his apologies. In the background, the rest were trying to hold their laughter. Except Naru, of course. He'd never laugh at something so trivial.
"Enough with this nonsense. Sugawara-san is the daughter of Lin's friend. Now can we continue with the real issue here?" Naru said in his cold voice, shutting everyone up. Normally, people would either get scared or hate him when he starts acting like this but they were surprised when Aimi suddenly run to him and proceeded to grab on to his shirt too pulling Lin along.
"Help me. They're going to come and get me..." She said, her voice quivering and her eyes filled with fear. Masako and Mai didn't even have time to react negatively out of jealousy.
"That's exactly what we're here to do, Sugawara-san. If you'd tell us about everything from the very beginning." Naru replied in a matter of fact manner. This doesn't seem to faze the girl at all though. She seems to trust him.
"Thank you." She whispered shyly.
"Let's all take a seat then, so we'd get comfortable while hearing Aimi's story." Lin suggested, leading everyone away from the entrance and towards the lounge.
"I'm Sugawara Aimi. You can all call me, Ai. I... came from a weird family. I never knew about the secrets my mother's family has before, when my dad was still alive. But on the night of the joint celebration of my sixteenth birthday and my half-sisters' eighteenth birthday, something unusual happened..." She trailed off, her lips pressing tightly and her hands fidgeting. She looked up for the first time ever since she started her story and looked straight into Naru's eyes. For a matter of minutes, but what seemed like eternity for the two, they stopped and Naru's eyes grew wide with disbelief.
"H-how? How did you...?" They did say there was a first time for everything but knowing this never prepared everyone at seeing Naru speechless. It was just so... un-Naru like!
"I, along with my two sisters have been swallowed up by a green light, a pair of scary, yellow eyes staring at us... and a wall where a pentagram has been drawn were shown to us. By whom? We didn't know and I don't want to know. After that, I started getting dizzy, everywhere I look, everything looked as red as blood. Fatima started itching and red spots appeared all over her body. Teresa on the other hand... s-she... she..." Aimi burst out crying, not able to finish her sentence. Lin held her in a protective embrace, trying to soothe her. Naru cleared his throat which earned him everyone's attention except the two's, and with unwavering seriousness in his voice explained what he saw through the vision Aimi showed him.
"Teresa, her sister and Fatima's twin, started coughing up blood. Not only that, every part of her body; her eyes, nose, ears... wherever blood could flow out did just that. She's in the hospital right now. She still hasn't regained consciousness."
The room was filled with an unbreakable silence. Everyone just stood there, looking shocked and horrified. Whatever was going on with this family, there was no doubt it was endangering the lives of the children.
Mai thought back to her dream, recalling the blood gushing from the broken wall. The green lights, and the vision of the yellow eyes… all held an uncanny resemblance to Aimi's story. Had she seen the events that had already occurred through her dreams, or was this something worse that would happen in the future?
Ayako's lips pursed and her brow became furrowed. "This sounds really serious, Naru. Are you sure it's not too dangerous? I mean… blood pouring out of someone… that could be fatal." She tapped her foot against the floor, as if attempting to calm herself.
Naru turned his steely gaze towards her, "It's a job we've already promised to do, and we must do it quickly. The other jobs were dangerous as well, but if you feel that this one is too dangerous for you… then just leave. We can do it without you." He glanced around the room and strode out the door.
At this, Lin gently reached for Aimi's hand and pulled her through the door as well. It was up to the team to decide what to do.
Everyone agreed to take on the task, but Mai could see the concern etched on all of their faces. Heck, I'm scared too… but we've got to help that girl. Who knows what could happen next if we don't do this?
They'd decided to meet at the Sugawara residence the next day. When all had arrived, including Naru and Lin, they began unpacking the sensitive equipment which aided them so much. Mai was rather excited, she'd never seen a house so big. The Sugawara residence almost seemed like a castle… though, a rather Gothic one. Strange ornaments were littered about the outside of the home and found several strange symbols etched into the ground at odd locations.
Bou-san noticed Mai's interest in the symbols. "Those are spells of protection, wiccan incantations. They're to guard the house from evil… Doesn't seem like it works, does it?" He grinned, winking. His next few words were a little more serious, "Seems like Naru forgot to mention this family comes from a long line of witches. See? This symbol here is rather old… you almost can't read it."
Mai studied the one Bou-san was pointing to. The shape seemed oddly familiar, but then again she couldn't make out the entire thing. I wonder why it feels like I've seen it before…
"Mai, everyone, come inside. Aimi's parents would like to speak to us," Naru called from the top of the front porches steps.
They proceeded into the house and, from there, into the living room. Masako had made herself at home and was busy preparing some tea. While they gathered around a table, Aimi's parents spread out some papers.
"These are the blue prints of the house. We thought it might help a little in your investigation. As for the current situation, it's getting drastically worse. After Aimi came home yesterday, she changed. She began to act really strange and locked herself up in her room. Her eyes… well…" Aimi's father suddenly stopped talking when a sob came from the other side of the room. Everyone turned their eyes towards the entrance way to the hall and there was Aimi.
"They're yellow…" Mai gasped. Aimi's eyes had turned completely yellow. There was no white or black, except for where her pupils were. The pupils, though visible, were slits - like cat eyes. Aimi suddenly started muttering curses; she was almost incomprehensible with a deep, unnatural sound emitting from her throat. Her small body swayed to the side, and she leaned against the wall. It was as if she were trying to stop herself from doing something, or as if she was in pain. With short, jagged nails, she clawed at the wall.
"Brown-san…" Naru said cautiously to the exorcist, whose eyes had widened at the sight of Aimi.
Aimi continued to drag her nails down the wall… little bits and pieces of nail cracked off.
"She's possessed," Brown-san confirmed. "I can't do an exorcism right now though, I haven't prepared for it… Matsuzaki-san, please do what you can for now. Maybe you can handle the thing that's possessed her."
Blood began to seep from beneath the brutalized nails, which were now practically eaten away. The cursing stopped momentarily and Aimi's normal voice spoke, "P-please, help me... s-someone, help me..." After this, she seemed unable to build up enough strength to speak anymore.
Ayako grimaced, looking a little unsure. Slowly, she got to her feet, inching her way towards Aimi's turned back. When she was within two feet of her, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Takigawa, help me bring her outside in their garden. I felt the presence of some very useful tree spirits there when we entered their grounds."