The Holes in Our Hearts
Chapter 7: A Slight Misunderstanding
After a very sleepless night, Mai, Grimlock, and Naru hauled themselves out of bed and prepared themselves for the trip to the case Naru had accepted. Mai had had a very sleepless night and had spent most of her time trying to sort through the lake of memories that had flooded her consciousness. After reaching some sort of peace with everything she had forgotten, Mai woke up with a plan about how to deal with the new knowledge and her interaction with the other members of her family.
Just as she came out of her room she ran into Naru. "Good morning Naru."
Under other circumstances, Naru probably would have ordered her to make tea or demanded that she hurry up so that no one was late. However, the excitement of the night before had obviously taken its toll on him. There were huge dark circles under his eyes and his disheveled black hair made him take on the appearance of a scrawny, disheveled panda bear. "Hello Mai."
"Look Naru, I know that everything that happened last night is a lot to take in. However, I have one favor to ask of you."
"What is it Mai?"
"Do you think you could keep everything a secret from the other SPR members? At least for a little while? You could tell them that Grim is just a transfer from the London branch who's doing an internship over here. I'm not ready to tell them yet. Also, the less they know about me, the safer they will be."
Naru looked at her as she made her request. From one point, he did understand that she was doing the best she could to cope with a bad situation. But another part of him was curious. Would she have told him, had circumstances not forced him into the scenario of her regaining her memories. "Tell me something Mai. You say you're not ready to tell them. If things had been different, would you have kept us all in the dark?"
Mai blinked in surprise. She hadn't really thought about it. Would she have told anyone? After a moments contemplation, she realized that it was a double sided question. Therefore, with great care, she chose her next words. "I probably wouldn't have told the normal members of SPR. Compared to everything I remember having faced now, none of them would stand a chance. However, I may have said something to a certain narcissist. After all, I would need a reasonable story for when he noticed my odd behavior in between sips of tea."
At the start of Mai's answer Naru felt like the world was just getting pulled farther and farther out from under his feat. However, when she finished he couldn't help but enjoy the happiness that bubbled inside him at knowing she would have trusted him with her secret. At least before she told the others. With a slight smile gracing his lips, Naru whispered, "As you wish then."
It was at that precise moment that Grimlock came shooting around the corner. He too had the sleepless night look about him, but somehow he managed to stir up enough energy to act like a royal clown. "Good morning Mai!" Grimlock chirped as he tackled Mai in a good morning hug. While Mai was distracted by the six feet of energy that had clobbered her, she missed the narrowing of Naru's eyes as he glared at Grimlock. The energy bubble in question however, simply smiled back giving Naru a knowing smirk.
"Grim…I can't…breath…"
"Oh dear my little Mai. That simply won't do." Grimlock said in a slightly British accent. To Naru it sounded like he was butchering the language beyond repair, but Mai laughed none the less.
"Alright Grim. Thanks for waking me up. Now please stop acting like an idiot before I hit you upside the head."
"Alright…Alright." Grim held up his hands in mock surrender. "Now what are we going to tell the others today when I come waltzing in there with the pair of you?"
Before Mai could explain her plan, Naru jumped in, "From now on you're a transfer intern from the London branch who's here to get some practical experience. There will be no mention of hunting, your brother, or the fact that Mai has regained some lost memories until the time is right. Is that understood?"
Mai gave Naru a grateful glance. Despite the fact that she would have told Grim, she was hesitant to say that it was her idea to withhold the truth about who they really were. Somehow, she knew Grim wouldn't understand.
Meanwhile, Grim gave Naru a mock salute along with a crisp, "Yes, sir!"
"Alright then. I'll meet you both downstairs in five minutes. We have to get down to the office so we can meet with everyone else."
A little later, in front of the office of SPR…
"I wonder what could be keeping Naru? I mean no one can honestly be surprised that Mai's late, but the boss? I didn't know he even left the office." Monk remarked before immediately being clobbered by Ayako's handbag.
"You too really should relax. Can't you see Naru and Mai walking up the street now?" John asked. As always, he was trying to keep the two from tearing each other apart. "Wait a second, who's that walking behind them?"
At this statement, Ayako, Monk, Lin, and John all turned and looked at the couple in question. The sight of a disheveled Naru walking along side a slightly grim looking Mai was shock enough, but it was the figure behind them that was intriguing. To the other SPR members Grim looked like an avenging angel. Dressed head to toe in black, quite similar to a certain narcissist, he slouched at least six feet tall and despite the slouching, still appeared to be in a constant state of alert. His flaming green eyes could be seen all the way down the street as he scanned every corner.
"I don't know who that is. Lin, is he a friend of Naru's?" Monk asked, curious about the young man.
Lin just looked on at the trio. He had never seen that young man before. He had hoped that despite the circumstances that had led Mai to stay at Naru's apartment, that the young couple would be able to work out the friction between them and realize that they both felt the same way about each other. However, he got a strange feeling from the man behind them. He moved like a trained warrior and that made Lin nervous. He sent his Shiki over to investigate and was amazed when the boy looked at each individual shiki before setting his gaze on Lin. He gulped and said, "I don't know who that is, but he can see my shiki."
"He must be incredibly powerful. What do you think Ayako?" John asked, slightly concerned.
"I can't explain it, but I feel like he's very angry at Naru. He keeps glaring at him. I might not have very much in the way of powers without my trees but I can tell that this guy has enough spiritual pressure that I don't want to mess with him."
"Wait a minute Ayako," Monk jumped in, "Do you think that he's trying to harm Naru?"
"It's possible that something isn't right. I mean look at the way Naru's walking. It's like his world is coming to an end and there's nothing he can do about it. Do you think that guy's doing something to him?" Ayako's observations were true, even if Naru's slumped posture could have been attributed to by other factors.
Now even John was starting to panic. "We should go help him."
"Indeed," Monk said, taking charge, "Alright John you're going to help me. We will sneak around behind him and grab him from behind. Lin and Ayako, make sure that Naru and Mai are okay. Once we know that, we can figure out what to do about this creep."
With that, the group moved into position around the unsuspecting trio. Or were they unsuspecting? Monk and John both jumped out of the shadows to grab Grim on Monk's count. However, Grim, having been trained as a hunter, had known they were there and moved out of the way just as the two came jumping out. Grim also managed to take Mai with him, so when John and Monk jumped out, they wound up tackling their boss instead of the one who was the immediate threat.
"Oh my goodness," John said, immediately jumping off of Naru. "I'm so sorry boss. Are you alright?"
Monk was more concerned about Mai. He turned to face Grim, who still had his arm protectively around Mai's waist. "Alright punk. Let go of Mai. I don't know who you are, but you picked the wrong people to harass."
Grim looked down at Mai and said, "These are your friends?"
With a slight sigh and a shake of her head, Mai said, "Monk, relax. This is Grim. No, he's not harassing me or Naru. He's actually a friend of mine."
Monk looked from Naru, to Mai, to Grim with a look of confusion. "But he was stalking you guys. And he kept looking at Naru like he'd like nothing better than to rip his head off."
"Monk is it?" Grim interrupted, "I can assure you that I was not stalking them. I am merely just unfamiliar with this part of town and was following them. After all, I'll be joining your team for this case. The reason I was glaring at the boss man was because I was trying to keep the sun out of my eyes. Does this alleviate your concern?"
Monk and the others had now assembled and were looking guiltily at the ground. John, forever the peace maker, said, "Naru, Grim, Mai, we are so sorry. This was all a huge misunderstanding. Please forgive us." With that all the guilty members bowed in apology.
"You people really are stupid." Naru had dusted himself off and was now looking at his team with a bit of disdain. "Do you really think we wouldn't have noticed a stalker following one pace behind us? Oh well. Everyone this is Grim. He's a transfer intern from the British SPR here for some practical experience. He will be joining us for this case. Grim, these two that tried to tackle you are John, a priest, and Monk. The woman over there is Ayako, a priestess, and the one standing over there that hasn't said anything is Lin. He's another one of my assistants."
"It's a pleasure to meet all of you. Thanks for such a warm welcome!" Grim said with a slightly cocky smile.
"Now, we are already running behind schedule. Where is Masako?" Naru demanded, his business tone coming back in full force.
"She called a while ago. She's in the hospital with a pneumonia from her last show in Greenland. She won't be released for a very long time so you can count her out." Monk answered.
"Alright," Naru said, rubbing his temples. "Everyone load up. We have to hurry if we want to make it there on time. Mai, you ride with Lin and I. Everyone else, head for Monk's van."
At this everyone smirked, knowing that despite how often Naru teased Mai, he still cared about her.
"Now wait a minute," Grim interrupted. "I don't mean to cause trouble and there are already plenty of people in Monk's van. Why don't I just ride with you and Mai?"
Everyone's jaw dropped in unison. Here was the new guy, trying to change Naru's plan!
Seeing the wrath brewing in Naru's eyes, Mai interjected, "Why not Naru? I'm sure you want to hear more about what's been going on in the other branch." Finishing, Mai gave Naru a significant look that said there was still more the trio needed to talk about.
"Alright Mai. If that's what you want." Naru's shoulders slumped a little at the thought of having to spend more time with the jerk that seemed bound and determined to keep him away from Mai.
With that, the members assembled in their vans, prepared to head out to the countryside. A new case was ahead and this one was perhaps the most dangerous the team had ever faced.
Disclaimer: I don't own Ghost Hunt. I'm just making my own changes to the plot line to amuse myself and others.
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