Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Ghost Hunt.
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The day Malfina discovered that Gene had left the stronghold of the Academy, she cackled jubilantly and so loudly and for so long that the flock of pigeons roosting near her marshland hideout gave up their home for good and went away. She began preparing all the items necessary to conduct a divination on his whereabouts and looked up her battered spell book for the nastiest spell inside.
Then, she lost trace of his trail.
As the young enchantress, once the darling of the said Academy gnashed her teeth and threw a spectacular fit at the lost opportunity, he surfaced again, but this time with backup.
Now, he, (with aforementioned backup in tow) were wandering about under the sacred boughs of Grimmwood. Malfina hunkered down behind an old stone well and settled down to observing their actions. To her annoyance, Gene was accompanied by none other than the acclaimed enchantress, Madoka, whose vast store of magical abilities made her a dangerous foe. Then, somehow, Gene had also managed to hook up with a priestess, who was now kicking the sacred oak savagely. Malfina pursed her pretty lips and glared at the older woman. Surely as a priestess of the trees, she ought to be treating this tree with the respect it deserved?
Ayako seized a broken branch and whacked the tree once more.
"Oof!" the tree, which the locals had nicknamed "Old Black" grunted. "Alright. Stop hitting me" it grumbled hoarsely.
"Hear, hear," Takigawa interjected with feeling and earned himself another whack.
Ayako, with hands on her hips, grinned triumphantly at the tree. "Well. Speak up already. We don't have all day. Where's Prince Oliver?"
At this moment, a young man with shining blond hair burst into the clearing and blinked at them, evidently puzzled. Malfina ducked down again. The spirit scowled.
"Drat. I forgot that I had messed up the paths again."
The newcomer ran a hand through his hair. "Oh excuse me, would you happen to know the way to The Last Homely House?"
Gene stared at him. "Would you happen to be Sir John Brown?" he asked. The knight's baffled expression turned to hope.
"Master Gene?"
The mage grinned. "The one and only. Would you mind going up to wait for us at the mansion? If you mention Madoka's name, I'm sure they'll let you in."
Takigawa waved his crutch. "I'm going in with him too," he announced. "It's damp in here, and my leg's starting to ache."
Malfina watched as the two men hobbled slowly out of the clearing. The spirit of the tree had floated out slowly, reluctance roiling off it like a heavy cloud. It stroked its long silvery beard and surveyed the motley crew before him. "I really don't see why I have to answer such stupid questions," it muttered finally. "I was famous in my day for my magical prowess and all people want now are simple divination requests which this youngling (here he pointed at Gene) could do just as well."
Gene, who was used to such curmudgeonly behaviour merely smiled and replied calmly. "Well, sir, it's more like the interpretation of the divination which I failed to understand. Surely your eminence can help?" The old spirit raised an eyebrow.
"Flattery is useless," it said severely before relenting. "Oh fine.I know when I've run out of my use. But, it so happens that I also in fact know what you are looking for." With a slow, majestic sweep of his star-studded robes, the spirit pointed to the gap between two trees. "It hardly surprises me that you would come looking for that identical young man who passed by these woods some three days back… I forget exactly when…"
"So, where is he now?" Madoka pressed eagerly.
The spirit huffed in annoyance. "If you will stop interrupting me, I would get there," he said coldly. "He is in the residence of the mansion over yonder."
Ayako stared at the tree and then shook her head at her friend. "At Lin's country house? I can't imagine his face when he finds out…"
Gene nodded. "I had better get to where he is then," he said and swept the tree a graceful bow. "Thank you, once again for your assistance sir. You can have my assurances that your services to the Academy and the Royal Court have not been forgotten." With a swirl of his robes, Gene exited the clearing.
Malfina had heard enough. So, both princes were residing in the open beyond the safety of palace or academy. It was almost too good to be true. She chuckled softly and removed herself from the spot behind the well. She would have some planning to do…
Naru had expected that his twin would have gone the next time he managed to flag down one of the mansion servants and get them to transport him to the sitting room. To his great indignation, Gene had not only failed to leave the house, he had been enjoying a cup of tea and chatting with of all people – Madoka and a red-haired woman who was shooting his reprobate of a tutor some very satisfying glares. Then, seated around the dessert laden table were also the princess of Nihon, a knight from the Southern Kingdoms and… Mai. His heart did a little worried flip. She was already smiling and talking with Gene as if they were the best of friends… and Gene was currently whispering something into her ear. Naru pursed his lips in disapproval at him. Before he could speak to his brother however, Madoka had rushed over, tears in her eyes.
"Oh, my poor Naru! I'm so, so, sorry! Would you forgive me?" she wailed and practically strangled him in a bear hug.
"Mai. Tea," he managed to choke out. She grinned and went to get a spare a teacup without a word of complaint or an insult directed at his person. This was enough to fire up his suspicions again and he glared accusingly at his brother.
"I still think it's a pretty amazing coincidence that brought you here," Gene said quickly to the knight (and pretended not to see his brother's glare). "I hope the sword works well. The Weapons Master said that you should write to him if it doesn't." The knight nodded.
"Yes. We've been plagued by the ridiculous basilisk for far too long. None of our mages would admit to having conjured it up by accident," Sir John said wryly.
The various people had begun occupying themselves with the food on the table. However, more importantly, as Naru felt, Gene was deeply absorbed in a conversation with Madoka and he seized the opportunity to contemplate how best to broach the matter of kissing (he shuddered). Mai. I think there's some cream on me. Do you think you can remove it with your lips? That was sure to go down well. Maybe, if he explained… you can't like that idiot mage. He's a flirt. I promise that if you mean this kiss I'll turn out to be a much better choice, humanly speaking. Or, if he kissed her first, she'll get the idea?
He eyed her figure in the distance where she was entertaining Ayako and Masako in the sitting room. Probably not. She had a frog phobia after all. Then there was also the matter of the enchantress who had tried to assassinate his twin in a jealous fit of rage lurking around. The house, he noted, was also getting rather crowded. If he delayed this, there was no telling who else was going to witness his attempts to… kiss. Naru licked his own lips and mustered his courage. The fastest way was to tell her exactly what he wanted her to do wasn't it? Gene would probably accuse him of being unromantic and an idiot to boot, but he didn't really care right now, not if that Malfina was lurking in the vicinity and might come back any time to finish him and his brother off.
"Here, your tea, Naru," Mai said when she returned with a tray of steaming tea and cookies. Masako eyed the plate of snacks warily.
"Are you certain that Yasuhara has not touched these?" she asked the other girl.
"Hai, hai. I watched Cook take them out of the oven myself," Mai said and took one herself. Satisfied, Masako picked up the nearest and was about to bite down on it when John and Mai both reached out together and knocked it out of her hand. In the process, Takigawa, who had been sandwiched between them, swore loudly as his tea went flying.
"Sorry", they both apologised.
As the princess sat as one stunned, Mai coughed embarrassedly, "There was a newt's tail sticking out…" Without needing further reference of the unspoken threat that hung over the table, most of the people began automatically conducting inspections of their desserts. Gene's slice of peach turnover turned out to contain another tail.
"Hmm…" he said thoughtfully as he tucked the offending object out of sight under his plate.
"Enjoying tea?" Yasuhara asked cheerfully as he came in and helped himself to a cake that had remained untouched so far. "Mmm. Chocolate! My favourite!" he mumbled through a mouthful as he wandered back out again. In the ensuing flurry as most of the table dived for the cake, Masako pushed her plate aside queasily.
"Perhaps it would be better if you went out for a bit of sun," Mai suggested in a tone of concern as the girl had turned a very odd shade of indigo.
"Mai's right," Sir John added, after having been shoved aside repeatedly by Ayako's very unfeminine elbow. "Perhaps, if you would not mind my company…"
As he and the princess left, the knight turned and smiled reassuringly at Mai who grinned back gratefully. Naru glared after him and Gene smirked.
"Honestly idiot, you can't get jealous of every able-bodied male who smiles at Mai you know."
"Who says I am?" Naru snapped tersely. His brother wasn't helping, and his teacup had been empty for the last five minutes. "Mai. Whenever you are done smiling at the air, get me more tea."
Mai frowned at him. Why her, she thought as she poured more tea for him sullenly. That frog had it coming if somebody (meaning herself) whacked him really hard. "Didn't your mother teach you manners?" she groused as she slid the teacup back towards the frog.
"I was also taught not to waste anything, including my mannerism lessons."
"Why you little…" Mai seethed.
"Frog. Order Amphibia, class Anura. Surely your vocabulary isn't as poor as to be unable to find even a basic description for me?" he mocked.
"Narcissistic idiot!" she finally yelled and flounced off in a huff.
"Oh, admit you like her already," Gene whispered and patted his brother comfortingly on his little froggy head.
Author's notes: In truth I had meant Gene's appearance to be much more limited to the story, but there has been something insidious about the way he has managed to flirt (ahem) wander into the story in so much detail.
Ariana Taniyama: LOL. I quite agree that a septic tank is quite what Yasuhara deserves. I don't know about Masako though... I personally feel she needs a break from the madness that is Lin's house now
Azamiko: Ah, but then Naru wouldn't get to fret about it first right? XD. But yes. I imagine that being the pragmatic rationalist, Naru would eventually come to the same conclusion. But well, we'll see how. He's already spoiled his chances in the meantime.
blackwitchkarma: I hope this chapter answers some of your questions. And as regards the matter of John disappearing, when I first planned the story, I hadn't wanted John and Gene to meet up so quickly yet. If you'll recall, John had earlier written to Gene at the Academy regarding a magical matter. Unfortunately, the backstory in the first part of this story meant that they HAD already met. Sorry for any confusion caused...