I need to go faster.
My feet hit the pavement with barely any sound as I run down the enormous hallway. I could hear him stumbling down the hallway. Even if he was slow, old, and drunk, I'm not naïve enough to think he won't catch me. He always catches me.
"Annabelle!" He slurs my name loudly, "Bring your arse here!" I feel my heart beat quicken. He sounds closer than befo—
"Aaah!" I shriek as he grabs my hair and yanks me back. A hard hit to my stomach makes me crumple to the ground.
Oh no…
I sit up quickly with a gasp and wince at the pain in my side. I lift my over sized t-shirt to see a large bruise. It's at least the side of a soft ball. Well, that explains why the dream was so real.
'Mai, you need to go to the sitting room.' Gene tells me, 'They're discussing the case that pertains to your dream.'
I throw the covers off quickly and slide my slippers on to my feet. I practically run down the hallway and to the door that leads to the living room. I stop. Naru might not tell me about the case if I'm in the room.
"Martin, Oliver. What's this about?" That was Luella.
"I have a case that I think needs our immediate attention." Martin says.
"I've reviewed the case and I have to say I agree with father." That was Naru that time. I roll my eyes to myself as I realize he sounds like he hadn't slept last night. He irritates me sometimes. He has no sense of self preservation.
"Boys, I thought we agreed no cases over Christmas—"
"Mother, twenty-seven people have died." Naru says in a voice that is rougher than necessary.
I silently gasp and put my hand over my mouth. Twenty-seven? That's insane.
"All of them have been women under the age of twenty. All of the women have long and curly hair that's of the lighter degree. Other than that, they all come from different back grounds and different families." Martin explains things just like Naru.
"Right now, a family of three is being terrorized by the spirit. The youngest daughter is sixteen. She's had her hair pulled and she's been thrown in to walls. There have been times when whatever she's holding with be knocked out of her hands. She's woken up with bruises and scratches all over her body, and much more." I bet you any amount of money Naru had written this in that little black notebook of his.
"Her mother is very distressed." Martin says, "I think we should go solve the case. Oliver, on the other hand, does not."
"I believe we should wait and see what is going to happen to this girl. She's the youngest to be terrorized so far."
"You want to use her as a test subject?!" Luella exclaims.
Anger fills me and I throw the door open. They all look at me in shock and Naru stands quickly, "How long have you been standing there?" He wasn't backing up, but he'd put his notebook and pen down.
"Test subject?" I growl. His eyes widen and his mouth twists in to a frown. I walk over to him and, out of anger, jab him in the chest with my finger, "Listen to me, Oliver Davis. You are going to accept this case and help this little girl. I know you're looking for a way out of this house, and by dammit you've found one. So take the damn case!" I hadn't even realized I was shouting in Japanese until I heard Luella translating for Martin.
He stares down at me for a minute with hard and emotionless eyes. I glare back up defiantly. A nerve works in his jaw and then he turns his head away from me. Surprise fills me, he's never backed down before. He really has changed since before he came back.
I turn to Luella, "Is this alright with you, ma'am?" At her nod, I turn back to Naru, "I'll go pack my things." And with that, I turn on my heels and make my way out of the room with steam coming from my ears.
We arrived at the home four hours after. I was still mad at Naru for the things he said. How could he use the little girl as a test subject? He has used people as bait before, but they were always fine in the end. Does he have some ulterior motive? Was he just trying to cover up some huge secret plan of his?
I at least owe him the benefit of the doubt, right?
Doesn't make me any less angry though.
I was currently stacking the shelves that Martin and Naru had brought. He'd ignored me just as I'd ignored him. I think Martin thought it was quite awkward, so he just told me to stack the shelves while he dragged Naru back to their bus for more equipment. Luella was interviewing the clients, and I was stuck with a group of kids that's were substantially younger than me.
"You're Mai right?" A voice says, I turn and see that girl from yesterday. The one with the blonde hair. She's the one that yelled at me. What was her name…?
'Hannah.' Gene tells me, amusement leaking in to his tone.
"Oh, Miss Hannah." I say, a polite smile on my face. I feel cautious around this girl for some reason. Not increasingly angry or wary—I don't think she's a bad person—but it's like she can cause a lot of harm if she wants too.
I also have the feeling that she has a crush on Naru.
"I didn't realize you were an investigator." She says, a tight smile that looks forced on her face, "I thought you were just a researcher."
I feel my eyebrows furrow, "Why would you think that?"
"Well, you took a book from the Davis' library yesterday." She says, her hands fisted on her hips, "I figured you were a scholar or something. I mean, to be so close to the Oliver Davis, you'd have to be. Right?"
I smile at her, "Naru and I are friends, but he also used to be my boss. I'm being trained by Madoka Koujo, so he also helps me with that."
"That name that you keep calling him…"
"Naru?"
"Yes, that. What does that mean?"
"Well, Naru is a shortened version of the Japanese word Narushisuto. It's means narcissist." I grin at her, "Naru the Narcissist."
She giggles, although it looks like she doesn't want to. She smiles, her face softening from it's hard look from before. Wow. She's really pretty. She bites her lip, an awkward aura coming from her now, "Look, I'm sorry I acted like an arse before."
I smile, "It's already forgotten."
"Mai, if you have time to conversant with other workers, then you should be done with those shelves, right?" Naru is behind me. He speaks in Japanese, so he obviously doesn't want Hannah to hear our conversation. I ignore him and turn in one complete loop to the shelves and continue my job.
"Kids," Luella says, walking up from my left. She has 'disapproval' all over her face. She stops in front of us as everyone listens in, but pretends to continue what they're doing. She fists her hands on her hips, "You two need to stop ignoring each other."
Now she sounds like Ayako.
I continue my task, and it's Naru that answers her, "Mother, I believe father wanted you by the van." Luella glares at the both of us, before she turns and exits out the door.
It isn't long before I've finished with the shelves and I'm sitting in the computer chair by the monitors. The dark blue book is open in my lap when I'm suddenly spun around and faced with a handsome foreign boy whose grinning at me.
"Hello." He says. His eyes rake over my form and disgust fills me. This man is not to be trusted.
"Goodbye." I retort, grabbing the edge of the desk and swiveling away from him.
"Hey!" He says, indignation coating his tone. He was irked now. Good.
"Hi there." Hannah says, standing up and walking beside me. She acts like I'm not even there, and for that, I'm grateful. Maybe Hannah isn't as bad as I first thought. She just gives really bad first impressions.
"Bye." The guy says bluntly, and then I hear him walking away.
Hannah scoffs, "Rude!" I feel myself snicker and she grins at me before going sit back down.
"Mai," Naru says, suddenly appearing next to me, "My father would like to speak with you." Instead of answering, I close my book and go in to the families sitting room. Martin looks up when I enter and smirks when he sees Naru trailing behind me.
"You needed me?" I ask.
He nods, "I need you to go on a walk through, Mai. I'm told you're a very talented medium, and unfortunately, the mediums that I normally have with me are on vacation." He rolls his eyes and I grin.
"I'd love to, but do you have someone who can come with me? I'm afraid I'm not exactly able to protect myself while I'm focusing my energies."
It was and issue that Masako had sometimes too. A mediums energy is like a filling up a bucket with water. Once you turn on the faucet, you don't want to just let it over flow. So you watch it as it fills up. It's simple.
"I'll go with you." Naru says to me. His voice is softer than normal. However, even if I'm not exactly angry any more, I'm still a little irritated with him.
"No thank you." I say, glancing at him briefly from the corner of my eye.
"Mai, please." Martin says, a smile on his face.
I sigh, "Yes sir." I begin walking and I hear Naru walking behind me.
It's about ten minutes in to the walk when Naru grabs my wrist and my back meets the wooden wall harshly. The bruise on my side throbs painfully, but I ignore it as I look up in to fiery dark blue eyes.
"What are you—" I begin, switching to Japanese in my shock, but Naru interrupts me by the fierce glare that he sends my way.
"Listen, and listen good, Mai Taniyama." He growls, also switching to Japanese, "I am your boss. Not the other way around. You are going to stop being so… exasperating with me, and you will acknowledge me. Understood?"
I raise an eyebrow, and a sudden sense of bravery fills me, "Naru, I don't know who you think you're talking to, but I am your equal. Madoka is my boss. Not you. I am not some blonde bimbo that you can boss around." I raise my hand and flick him on the tip of the nose, "So back off."
His eyes are wide and he releases me out of the cage he'd built around me. I step off of the wall and cross my arms over my chest, "Naru, what were you really thinking when you said that you wanted to watch the girl? Were you really going to use the girl or did you have an ulterior motive?"
His eyes return to normal, but he says, "Why would I—" then he stops. It's as if it's an after thought.
"I knew it." I say, a smile on my face. I roll my eyes at him, "Why didn't you just tell me, Naru? I don't have to know your ulterior motive, but you could have told me that you really didn't mean that." He doesn't answer, and it clicks again, "Your pride. You didn't want to apologize to me because you thought you hadn't done anything wrong."
He glares up at me, "I hadn't and I still haven't. Despite others impressions of me, I'm not the heartless basturd that they all think I am."
I roll my eyes, "No. I know you aren't, you idiot. But it wouldn't have killed all of your pride to come tell me that you hadn't meant it. You need to stop being so jaded about everything, Naru." I smile up at him, "Or me being mad at you is going to be a more frequent thing, and considering I seem to be the only female within a hundred mile radius that doesn't annoy you, I think that's a bad thing."
He sighs and runs a hand through his hair. After a silent minute, he nods begrudgingly. I smile at him, before standing on my tip toes and rubbing my nose with his, "That's my Naru." He looks down at me and his mouth lifts as he does his hiccup-laugh thing before looking away with a smile on his face.
I pull away from him and try to ignore the pain from my side, "Let's finish." He nods, and we continue on the walk through.
"It's freezing in here." I bite out, standing in the basement next to Luella, who was holding the flash light for some of the stronger males from our group. Luella nods in agreement, before putting an arm around my waist and pulling me closer to her. That was her mothers instinct again. I hug her back and we share our body heat.
"Are you guys almost done?" I ask, my voice less shaky than before.
"Almost." One of the boys says, digging through some old shelves with the other three boys.
My awareness pricks. I look up and around the room. My first instinct is to protect Luella, so I pull her behind me. I stare hard in to the corner of the room. Even if the room is dark, I can still sense him. He's there. He's watching us.
"Mai?" Luella says, trying to move around me to see what I'm looking at.
"Everyone," I say, loud enough for all of them to hear, "You all need to get out of here." I could make out the outline of his long, lanky figure. Why can't I see him completely?
Something is wrong.
My heart is pounding and I can feel my breath growing increasingly erratic. I try to take deep breaths and calm myself, but it isn't working. I can't calm down. The dream from last night scares me. My panic is yelling louder than my reason.
I don't want to get beaten!
''Mai?" Luella says, worry coating her voice.
"He's here." I whisper, "Get them out of here."
Luella's quiet for a moment, before she clears her throat, "Alright, boys. You heard her. Let's go." She ushers them out, and as she turns to come get me, the door slams shut.
'Keep calm, Mai.' Gene coos, trying to calm me, 'Don't take your eyes off of him.'
I continue to stare at him. My heart is pounding and I can feel a nervous sweat dripping down my back, even though the temperature in the room is probably below zero. Why didn't I realize before? I'd rationalized that it was because we're in winter and the basement is underground.
'Gene, why can't I see him completely?' I ask Gene, even my mental voice sounds worried.
'I'm not sure. Just stay calm and wait for Noll.'
"Mai?" Naru's voice comes from the door, speaking in Japanese. I don't look up though.
"N-Naru!" I stutter. My tongue and lips feel frozen, and my nose stings.
"We're going to get you out. Just stay calm." Naru's deep voice calms my heart slightly.
I take a few steps back until my back hits a wall, and then slowly fall down the wall. My eyes never leave the figure of the man, and I bring my knees to my chest. My arms wrap around my legs and I stare at the man.
He just stands there. He's watching me.
Why? Why is he attacking these girls?
"Annabelle…?" I hear him whisper. He's suddenly standing in front of me, and I look up at him. Terror and fright cloud me, and I can't use my instincts on him.
Don't hit me. Don't hit me. Please don't hit me.
BOOM!
The door flies across the room and hits the other wall. Naru is the first one through, and I look up to see the man gone. Naru is in front of me in no time. He touches me, before glaring, but not at me, "You're freezing." He shrugs off his jacket and drapes it around my shoulders.
"D-Did you use your po-powers?" I say, enveloping in the new warmth. I pull it tight against me, and Naru lifts me easily from the ground. My cheeks turn red, but I snuggle closer to him. His warmth fills the air around me and I fall for him just a little bit more.
"No. I didn't."
"Do you promise?"
"No. I don't."
I'm sitting on the floor by a heater. A large blanket is wrapped around me, and I'm beginning to get the feeling back in my appendages. Luella and Martin were talking in another room, while Naru stepped out for a quick second. Everyone else in the group is trying to catch my attention and is crowding in front of me. It's quite suffocating.
"Mai!" Hannah says, shoving pass everyone else to get to me. She falls on her knees in front of me and grabs my face, "Are you alright?! Are you hurt?!"
I smile at the blonde girl, "I'm fine now. Thanks for asking."
She grins, before looking around at all the people gathered in front of me, "Hey, hey! Get away from the woman! Let her breathe!" She begins to shoo them away with her waving hands, "Get back to what you're all being paid for!" Everyone backs up and is out the room in no time. I don't blame them. Hannah's loud.
"Mai." His deep voice says. I turn slightly to see Naru behind me. He crouches down next to me and hands me a steaming mug. I take a sip. Mmmmmm. Hot tea, with three sugars.
I grin at him, "You remembered." The corner of his mouth twitches.
"Mai," Luella says, walking in with Martin following her, "Dear, I'm putting you off the case."
My mouth opens in shock, but it's Naru who answers, "No, mother."
She raises her eyebrows at her son, and I recognize the pissed off mom look, "Oliver—"
"Even if I agree with you, Mai won't leave. She's too bullheaded." He crosses his arms over his chest, "She takes after Gene. They're both idiots."
"Hey!" I exclaim, "That's not a fair comparison!" Naru looks down at me, and I'm startled by the silent message in his eyes.
Shut up, idiot.
He's trying to help me, because I really don't want to go and he knows that. My heart warms and a soft smile slips to my face. Since he came back, I'm constantly reminded why I love this man. It's the little things that make me love him. Even if he is an ass most of the time.
"I told you," Martin says quietly. Luella looks up at her husband and curiosity consumes me. I wonder what they were talking about before? What does Martin mean by 'I told you?'
They seem to have some type of silent conversation, before Luella's shoulders slump, "Oh, alright." She looks at me, "I'm just worried about you, darling. I mean, we just started this case and already you're being targeted. The activity has never been this fast acting."
"I understand, Luella." I say with a small smile, "But I just don't like being put on the back row—"
"Mai, what makes you think you're going to be on the front row?" Naru's calm voice makes me stop. I look at him with confusion filling me.
What does he mean?
"I can't believe you're making me stay here, Naru." I say, annoyed. My arms are crossed over my chest and I'm tapping my boot heel against the ground. According to the obnoxious ass that I'm in love with, I'm on base grounding. AKA, I'm not allowed to leave this base or Naru's sight.
He also won't let me go pee with out him standing directly out the door.
Everyone else has left to go to their respective duties, while I'm stuck in the base with a man who is currently not in my favor. I can't believe he's making me stay here! And on top of that, I have to read through a bunch of old news papers, and even Madoka doesn't make me do that.
"I really hate you right now," I grumble to the idiot sitting across the room from me with some old files.
He glances up briefly at me, "If you have enough time contemplate your feelings for me, then why not trying to be useful and reading those papers?"
"I was being useful!" I say rather loudly. I stand up and the roller chair rolls away backwards as I slam my hands down on the table in front of me in exasperation, "It's not my fault I apparently fit the criteria for this ghosts victims!"
"Mai!" His voice is harsh, and he stands up as well, "Keep your voice down."
"But Naru—!"
"Mai, you just got a cast removed from your arm." He says, his voice cold. He's staring at me from across the room, but I feel as if I'm being crowded by him. Naru crosses his arms across his chest, and his shirt stretches down far enough for me to a small peak of his tattoo, "Not to mention your face is still healing. The doctor told you to take it easy, not to go head first in to ANOTHER case the minute we get to England. Why do you think I didn't want to take the damn case, you idiot." He's full on glaring at me now and he runs a hand through his hair.
How did I not realize he was worried about me?
My shoulders slump and my argument deflates. Unconsciously, my hand raises and I touch the budding scar on my face. It's right by my eye, under neath it on the left lower side by where my reaches a point. It was about as big as my point finger and still a little raised. Ever since he told me that it doesn't matter, I haven't really bothered with it.
"Naru—" My tone was laced with regret, but Naru didn't seem to be budging on this one.
"Just forget it," He hisses. He walks towards the door and I can't make my legs move to chase after him. They're so heavy… like led.
Don't leave me. Please, Naru. Don't leave me again.
But my silent plea wasn't heard by the dark haired professor. He opens the door and steps the through. He turns to look at me one last time, "The base has charms set over it. Don't leave this room, Mai." He runs another hand through his hair, "You have to realize that you're only human, Mai. Just because you have these powers and all of this confidence in yourself doesn't mean you don't bleed when you fall down." And with that, he closes the door gently. However, I think I would have felt better if he'd slammed it closed.
I'm such an idiot.