3rd Point of View:
Naru continues to type up Mai's analysis as he goes over every possibility in his head. Doctor El? The only 'El' that's ever mentioned in the files is a Nurse Elliot Samedi III. Definitely not a doctor. Naru begins to wonder if maybe—
"Professor Davis?" One of the female psychics in his group says, taking a tentative step in his direction.
He looks up at the girl sharply, angry that she'd ruined his train of thought, "Yes?"
She flinches, but the girl continues to speak, "Is Mai alright? Normally we aren't allowed to—"
"She's told you about her Astral Projections, correct?" Naru doesn't wait for an answer, not caring that the girl hadn't been on Mai's team to hear about them, "She has to be in an unconscious state of mind to walk around in her spirit form. If you'd read your text books like you were ordered, then you'd know this information. Now the next time you feel like bothering me with some type of complaint about unfair treatment, don't." His head turns back to the laptop in front of him as he ignores the now gaping girl.
Naru always did hate girls who fed off of others attention. His eyes briefly slide up to the small woman curled up on the couch.
He preferred the fiery type of women.
—
The boy— Benny— is too interested in Mai. Naru knew she couldn't tell because the boy seemed to be rather aloof, yet he responded to Mai's comments the same way Naru would.
He watches as Mai handles Bennys' cold attitude perfectly. Commenting just when need be and conning him in to doing things that Naru gets the feeling the boy wouldn't normally do. The black-haired man wonders if Mai 'handles' him the same way the she was handling the boy.
"Naru?" A voice says, catching his attention. The man in question looks up to see his girlfriend watching him with worried cinnamon brown eyes. "What is it?" He raises an eyebrow and Mai sits next to him on the base couch, lowering her voice so only he could hear, "Are you not getting enough sleep? I know you said you didn't want to sleep together for this case because there are others who could see, but if the nightmares are too—"
"Mai." Naru says, a teasing glint in is eyes as he stops her nervous rambling. Naru leans forward, completely disregarding their time and place. He gets so close that their noses almost touch, and then he gives her an almost smile, "I'm fine."
She grins back, giddy that he'd go this far in public.
Naru wants to smile. She's just so damn cute.
Suddenly, Mai tenses. She stands quickly and sprints out the door as a terrified scream is heard through out the entire building. Naru stands as well and follows Mai. It isn't long before everyone is gathered around a body with long black hair and sparkling blue eyes.
"Luella!" Mai gasps, kneeling next to the woman. Naru kneels next to her as his girlfriend checks his mothers pulse. The woman is lying on her back with her eyes staring up at the ceiling. She's whispering something and Mai bends over with her mouth over her ear.
"The doctor is coming." And she just kept whispering it repeatedly.
Mai's Point of View:
"Thank you, sweetheart." Luella says, taking the tea that I hand her. She takes a careful, slow sip as we sit in silence. It was only Luella and I in the room, as the two men (being Naru and Martin) we're both ordering the entire crew around. Luella sighs, and runs a hand through her long hair, "I was just repeating it?"
"Over and over again." I confirm, leaning back against the chair, "It's quite odd."
Luella snorts, "More like I'm the Doctor's companion."
"The Doctor? Who's the Doctor?"
Luella shoots me a disbelieving look, "You've never heard of Doctor Who?"
"Doctor what?" I ask, utterly confused as to what this woman could possibly mean.
She laughs, "Never mind." I shake the confusion from my head as Naru enters the room. He informs his mother that Martin is asking for her. Luella nods on her head and stands, giving both me and Naru a kiss on the head before exiting.
Naru sighs, and he sits down next to me. His hand finds mine and the professor entwines our fingers together, before leans his head against mine. He closes his eyes for a brief moment, and it's then that I feel it. The thumpthumpthump of his heart is so strong and fast that I can feel it through his body, mostly his hand.
"Oi, Naru?"
Naru looks down at me questioning and I reach up, pecking him on the lips briefly before pulling away. His face softens and he closes his eyes, taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly before opening them again. The panic is gone, and so is the worry and the fear. I stare back at, what I'm beginning to call 'Work Naru'.
He looks down at me with a raised eyebrow, and it's then that I see it— just a slight shimmer of softness… a little bit of my Naru. I grin up at him and giggle like a school girl. He rolls his eyes, briefly brushing his lip's against my forehead as I laugh like an idiot.
"Well well well." A deep voice says, causing both me and Naru to look up startled, think we'd been caught. A figure materializes in front of us and both Naru and I stand at the same time.
His eyes are nearly black, and he's smiling at us creepily. He's actually surprisingly handsome, with blonde hair and tan skin. He's wearing a doctors coat, but underneath it is a nurses uniform.
The doctor shoots Naru a look, "It seems you're in love boy. That just won't do." He doesn't pay any mind as Naru grabs my hand and tugs me behind him protectively. I'm not going to try to play the 'strong' girlfriend. I'm terrified out of my mind and I'm going to let Naru protect me. The doctor sneers at Naru, "The bitch is only going to screw you over. Here. I'll help with that."
I don't know how to explain it. I'm not even sure what happened. All I know, is that one minute I was there, staring at my boyfriends back, trying to block out all of the darkness and evil coming from that man, and the next I'm SURROUNDED by darkness and evil. I reach for Naru, but he's gone. I feel as if I'm floating in a black abyss.
3rd Person's Point of View:
Luella remembers one time, when the boys were young, Gene one time disappeared during a game of hide and seek with Noll. He'd also been blocking his soul signature, so Noll had no hope of finding her oldest through psychometry and that scared her son to the point of insanity. However, then, at least his PK had been under control.
"Oliver!" Martin yells, pushing his son down in to a chair, "Control yourself!"
It seems as if Luella's living son can't hear him, because he tries to stand once again; several things fly about. A few male co-workers come over to try to push Noll back down in to the chair.
Finally, Luella has enough.
"Martin." She barks, "Let him go." Even though she'd only said one name, they all let go. She marches over to her son, who was now standing freely, and pushes him back in to the chair. Everything that's floating around him falls to the ground. Luella glares, "Oliver E.J. Davis, do not make me tell Mai about this relapse in control." He stills and Luella stands with her arms crossed, "You know as well as I do that my adorable Mai would become a demon from hell if she knew that you threw— for lack of a better term— a hissy fit because she got captured. Now calm your arse down and listen!"
Luella shoots a look at Martin, and he immediately takes control o the situation. Everyone begins to work and Luella kneels in front of her son. Brushing his bangs away from his eyes, she smiles softly, "Don't worry, Oliver. We'll get your girlfriend back from this damned spirit."
Luella doesn't think she's ever heard that many people gasp at once.
Benny looks over at Professor Davis and feels anger bubble up in his chest. The man used to be his inspiration, until he broke his sister's heart. Chloe cried for weeks after Davis broke it off with her, and then he came back to England with some girl. The next thing Benny knows, his little sister is walking in the house with ruined make up but a smile. He asked her what happened, but all the girl had said was, "Nothing's wrong. I'm just happy for him."
So Benny, naturally, decided to scope out Davis and whoever was the one that made him happy.
Benny never knew that love at first sight could feel so good. She was gorgeous. Long brown hair, big almond shaped eyes, and tan skin. She'd been one of the most beautiful girls he'd ever seen. However, then she smiled, and Benny felt as if his heart was going to burst out of his chest.
He didn't know how to act around such a beauty. He'd never felt like a teenage girl before. So he went with his first defense: treat her badly, but he forgot that she dealt with Davis on a daily basis, and the small girl played him like a harp. Though, looking back on it now, he probably went easy on her with his attitude.
Then he was put on the same team as her, and he was over the moon with joy. Then it turns out she's one of the most powerful psychics he's ever met— next to Davis, of course. She'd protected them and even got a little information on their case.
However, the minute she's away from him and with another man, she's taken by some damned ghost.
Benny continues to glare holes in to Davis' head. The man was currently trying to stand up but several men were pushing him down.
"Martin." A voice barks. Benny looks up to see Luella Davis standing there like an angry mother coming to protect her cubs, "Let him go." All of the men let him go, not wanting to deal with Mrs. Davis ripping their heads off. Luella grabs his shoulders and slams him down in to the chair, "Oliver E.J. Davis, do not make me tell Mai about this relapse in control."
Huh?
Why would she tell Mai?
Davis stills, everything that floats around him dropping to the ground with several loud thumps, and Mrs. Davis stands with her arms crossed, "You know as well as I do that my adorable Mai would become a demon from hell if she knew that you threw— for lack of a better term— a hissy fit because she got captured. Now calm your arse down and listen!"
Why does Mai care? Benny wonders. He'd pretty much figured out by now that Davis loved Mai, but he was pretty sure it was an unrequited love, right?
Benny watches as Martin begins to spout orders, and Luella caresses her sons forehead tenderly, brushing the bangs away from his eyes. She smiles at her son, "Don't worry, Oliver. We'll get your girlfriend back from this damned spirit."
And Benny's heart breaks.
Naru remembers a time when Mai was still safe. She hadn't been out of the country, she'd never met his parents, she hadn't experienced death, she hadn't done so many things. She'd been a perfectly normal teenage girl.
However, at the same time, he didn't known her. He didn't know what honest to God true love felt like. He didn't have anyone to spar with. He didn't have anyone to annoy. He didn't have anyone to care about him in the only way that could fill that void in his heart, which at the time was swirling in a pit of depression.
Naru wasn't sure whether to rue the day he met her, or to hold the day dear to him, because he knew with out the salvation that was Mai, he'd have never experienced all the emotions that he has felt over the past year.
Anger, guilt, anguish, angst, agony, fear… Joy, adoration, happiness, comfort, amusement, love… So many emotions. Good and bad. Positive and negative. They'd all blended together in a blurry of their fucked up relationship that Naru hadn't even realized just how deeply he'd fallen for the girl, or how much crap they'd gone through together.
That's why he was so scared. Not because he didn't think Mai could handle whatever this damned spirit dishes out to her— he wasn't naïve enough to think that Mai was just some stupid girl— but she can only take so much, until she's had enough, because she's only human.
"Your worry stinks even through the walls of this room, psychic." A voice says. Naru's head snaps up and he's face to face with a woman. Her hair is black and it's very frizzy and broken. Her eyes are wide and bloodshot. Underneath of her eyes are so baggy that it looks like she took black eyeshadow and just colored it in. She's slightly over weight, and her skin is a pale fluorescent white. The most astonishing thing about her is the fact that pieces of her skin are fried. As if by little bolts of electric shock, however instead of in the normal places, like her temples or forehead, the fried pieces are under her eyes, over her eyelids, on her cheeks, on her nose, and all over her throat.
"Miss Linda Fellows, I presume." Naru says, sitting up from his position. He'd been sitting on the edge of his bed with his feet flat against the floor. His elbows had been digging themselves in to his legs, while his head had rested in his hands. However, now he was sitting up straight and taking the problem in front of him head on.
"It seems that your lover has let the cat out of the bag." Linda says, tilting her head to the side. Suddenly, the hard ridges of her face soften and she smiles, "I knew there was something about that girl. She'd forced me to speak and had even been a little rude, yet the glow of her soul is so bright that it's hard to believe she isn't a saint."
"You're speaking of Mai?" Naru clarifies, shocked that the ghost had read his girlfriend so easily.
"Do you know of any one else that is that innocent?" The question is asked with genuine curiosity, but Naru also heard the underlined sarcastic tone.
Naru can't stop his head from filling up with images. Images of Mai and only Mai. At one point, Lucy would have been on his mind, but the girl was no longer important to him— not like Mai was.
"No, I do not." He suddenly stands up, "Do you have any idea where she is?"
"She's perfectly safe." The ghost says, a smile crossing her face, "A little scared and maybe anxious, but she's fine. We're trying to hide her from him, but her constant insistence that we release her is starting to irritate him."
"Who is 'him'? Doctor El?"
"Yes."
"So Mai has been taken by Doctor El for what reason?"
Linda sighs, "Doc had this thing in his head. This idea, that if he could generate enough electricity through us, then all of our insanity would disappear."
"ECT?" Naru sounds surprised. ECT was an old type of electroshock therapy. Very old and very dangerous. It became illegal many years ago to the death rate of the patients.
The woman nods, "That's what all of these scars are." She gestures to her face and neck, "Yet at some point, Doc fell in love with one of the patients. I remember she was here for severe depression, but after Doc began treating her, it somehow got better. I don't think it was the therapy though."
"She'd found something else to focus on besides her depression." Naru knew that process well.
Linda nods, "Exactly. It was quite a novel. We loved him at that point. He'd found something else to focus on besides us and our mental problems. Especially us women that weren't even crazy. However, Doc then caught the girl with another man out of context. He went ballistic, and the next thing we all know, we're receiving therapy in over time. I went in for a session and woke up staring at my own body."
Standing, Naru walks over to his notebook and joys down the details of the tail. Suddenly, Naru freezes, "Wait, that means that Mai is in the—"
Linda nods, "Exactly."
He moves quickly towards the door, intent on saving his girlfriend, but he stops. He has to know, "Why did you help me?"
Linda smiles softly at the man, looking slightly less insane and more like a caring mother, "Because I can tell you love her. You should propose soon. It would make her happy." And with that, Linda disappears.
Mai's Point of View:
I have no idea how long I've been here. I could've been hours. Days. I'm not sure. I can't hear anything. All I know is that it's a doctors surgery table and I'm strapped down. It's completely dark too.
My powers are closed off. I can't Astro Project. I can't use my latent abilities. Hell, I can't even tell if there are any living bodies in the building. That makes my PK-LT completely useless.
Somewhere in the room, a light flicks on. I can't help my eyes from squinting closed. It burns and they begin to water. Slowly, I open my eyes to see a figure in front of the light. I feel every muscle in my body tense as I automatically think of Doctor El.
The figure moves toward me and then I'm being unstrapped. I begin to fight.
"No!" I shriek, my voice horse from not using it.
How long have I been here?
"Mai, stop it!" A deep voice growls to me. It sounds familiar, but I'm too hysterical to place it. I just keep fighting.
I jerky my arm out. My fist balled and I try to hit him. It makes contact and an electric shock shoots up my arm. A swear cuts my hysteria off and I look up in to watering blue eyes.
NARU!
I jerk off of the table and throw my arms around him. He hugs me back briefly, before his hand raises to hold his now bleeding nose.
"I'm so sorry." I croak, tears filling my eyes.
He looks up at me with a hard gaze, but then is softens, "It's okay. Come on." He tugs my hand, and I follow him.
"So let me get this straight. After Linda helped you figure out where I would be, you attempted to come get me. However, Doctor— I mean Nurse Elliot appeared and tried to fight with you all. So Linda and the other patients jumped in and destroyed him. Then they left for the afterlife. And that's why it took three days for you to find me."
"And don't forget that Linda ended up being Nurse Elliot's lover." Luella tells me, continuing to shove some soup and bread in my mouth. I gladly eat it.
Naru hasn't let go of my hand since they got me from that room. He's holding tightly with his left as he holds a towel with his right to his bleeding nose.
"I'm sorry." I say again, in between bites. His eyes slide to mine, and his hand squeezes my own. But he doesn't say a word.
Three days later, we're back in Japan. It was a tearful goodbye, but after an agreement for Luella and Martin to come to Japan in the summer, Naru and I were able to leave on the plane.
Naru hasn't said much since the case. He hasn't even asked me for tea. He doesn't seem mad, but he doesn't seem happy either. I'm not sure what to think or do. I miss him. He doesn't talk to me anymore. Even before we began dating he was never really this quiet. Sure, he's ignored me before, but now, he's acknowledging me, but he's just not saying anything! It's the most frustrating thing I've ever been faced with.
The plane back home is just as silent. He doesn't say anything, so I don't either.
After showing up at the air port, getting out bags, and driving home, we're both exhausted. I stumble in to his apartment after Naru, and collapse on the couch.
—
My eyes flutter open. The room is dark, but the light from the moon is shining across the floor from the window. Everything is quiet.
I stand up from the couch and my feet touch the cold floor briefly, before creaking as I stand up completely. I walk towards the window across the room, and I'm shocked when I see Naru sitting on the window seat with a book. His skin seems paler than normal as his brightened blue eyes move over the inked words on the paper.
As I watch him, I begin to think about his constant silence for the pass three days, and I'm suddenly filled with unconditional love for this man. I don't want him to keep ignoring me. I love him way too much for it. I need him to pay attention to me. I need him to acknowledge my existence. I NEED him to make me angry, and to make me frustrated, and to make me happy, embarrassed, content, warm. I need Naru.
I step towards him and he tenses when I wrap my arms around his shoulders.
"I love you." I say quietly in his ear. My voice sounds loud in the almost silent room.
He sighs, "I know."
It is the first words he's spoken to me in three days, but it's not enough.
"I really love you." I say, tightening my hold on him.
"I know, Mai."
"No. I just…" I sigh and burry my head in to his neck, "I just really really love you."
Naru sighs, and then he chuckles. I look up to see him closing him book and then he's turning around. He pulls me in to his lap. I end up with a knee on either side of his hips, and his hands rest on mine while I bend my knees and sit in his lap. He leans up and kisses me.
It's not an erotic or seductive kiss; it's just a normal kiss, and yet somewhere low in my belly warms and the in between if my thighs becomes slick.
Naru pulls away, but I try to follow his lips with my own. His kiss is making me feel too good for him to stop now. When our lips finally disconnect, he chuckles, "I knew it."
"Knew what?" I say, and then I become surprised at the fact that I sound breathy and very flustered.
His eyes darken but he answers, "I knew that you'd be ready on your own." And it all clicks.
I give him a shy smile, and his eyes darken further. He kisses me again, and my body becomes hot. He tugs on my shirt and I can't help the moan from leaving me.
God I love this man... so so much.