Unidentified Blue Lightning
Probe Five, Sanity
One month, a week, and three days.
That was how long it took Mai to realize that she was going insane. If she hadn't like routine before, she sure as hell didn't like it now. Everyday she woke up, it was to a simple breakfast of toast, sausage, and eggs with orange juice. Then after a few hours of staring up at the ceiling, the men come to retrieve her for interrogation. The man and woman, who she now knew as Agents Takigawa and Matsuzaki (respectively), had both grown increasingly restless with her. Some days, only one of them spoke with her, others neither of them came.
Like today. And while at first she had been relieved during days like this, Mai found herself disappointed. If only because they were the only two people she could interact with, and after she'd convinced them of her memory loss, they had been a bit more bearable to deal with.
That said, she wasn't stupid. She wasn't about to trust them or anything. She just didn't see how hating their guts was going to help her get out of her situation.
She hadn't told them that she had started remembering things. In fact, her "interrogations" now were more of an attempt to get her memories back. Apparently they were looking for this guy... Naru's whereabouts. Around the exact same time they'd found him the period of her lost memories ended and he'd disappeared. How any of that was possible she wasn't sure... and truthfully the agents had taken her convenient "lost memory" story better than she would have in their place.
Not to stay they weren't skeptical... but still. It was strange.
Not that anything was normal anymore. Not even her dreams. Which she hadn't told them about either. Truly she still wasn't sure about them, but they were part of the reason she thought she was going insane.
The guy was in them. Naru, or whatever. Or at least, she thought it was him. Sometimes it didn't feel like it was him, but he answered to it. In any case, he was there in her dreams. A lot of times he said nothing, or rather couldn't say anything because he kept fading in and out. When he did speak, it was hard to hear, as if he were under water. She hadn't noticed it before, but she could now.
Sometimes he helped her remember... the flashbacks were in bits and pieces, but it was something.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Mai felt herself smile from behind her teacup as the man sitting across from her tugged on the borrowed clothes he'd been made to wear. Hearing her, Kazuya fixed her with a raised eyebrow and a slight glare for her jovial expression. "Do you find me amusing?"
The brunette attempted to sober up and shook her head. "Oh no, never." Right after she said this, Mai let out an accidental snort and quickly covered her mouth.
The glare directed her way intensified, but only succeeded in breaking Mai into a fit of silent laughter. But in her defense, her father's clothes had been for a much more broad shouldered, tan, and rugged man. Kazuya might as well have been wearing a circus tent. Had he not had a hold on the pants' waistband they would no doubt have fallen straight off. A fact that turned her face red, but didn't stop her from her giggling.
Now choosing to ignore the young woman's hysteria, Kazuya took a sip of tea and closed his eyes. His growing annoyance shown in the slight furrowing of his brows.
"Sorry. Sorry," Mai gasped in between breaths. "Sorry..." She tired to get herself to stop, but took a good minute before she could calm herself down. Judging from his outfit now rolling around in her washer and his obvious dislike of his current wardrobe, she could only guess that his usual attire didn't hold too much color. Which only added to her amusement.
"Do you behave this way around everyone you pick up off the street?" Kazuya questioned between sips.
"Only the broody ones," she teased, knowing full well his question had been purely rhetorical.
.
.
.
.
.
.
To Mai's surprise, when she had come home from work Kazuya was nowhere to be found. Oddly enough, she had gotten used to seeing him on her couch reading a random book off her shelf before criticizing it, or standing in her kitchen trying to figure out how she made her tea. She'd showed him how, but he hadn't been satisfied with the way he made it on his own... which of course only made Mr. Perfect even more unsatisfied with himself.
She didn't even find him leaning over her balcony, where he liked to people watch. He knew more about the people of her building in two weeks than she'd learned in all the years she'd lived there. For someone who seemed so anti-social he knew how to read people pretty well. And it was kind of nice having him around.
When she had offered him a spot on her couch for as long as he needed, Kazuya had looked at her as if she had grown three heads. It had taken a bit of convincing to get him to consider her offer, but she wasn't about to let him roam around at night with no money or shelter. It wouldn't have felt right.
So, for the last two weeks, Mai had allowed Kazuya to stay at her place. Most people would have been nervous to leave a stranger at their home when they were out, but she didn't have anything of value to steal and for some reason he just seemed trustworthy. As naïve as that made her seem...
Besides, Mai highly doubted that Kazuya stayed at her apartment all day. He was searching for something after all. He just always seemed to make it back before she did. Which was why coming home to an empty couch had thrown her.
He'd only been there a few weeks, but she'd already gotten used to him. It's had been a nice change from her normal routine. It was nice to have someone to come home to. She supposed however, that she shouldn't have assumed he'd stay with her very long. He had a life of his own after all.
...Still she hopped he hadn't merely left without saying goodbye. The thought of him leaving without telling her didn't sit well. Of course, she didn't own him or anything... and he was a big boy, he could handle himself... but still... She'd at least like a warning. A head's up. Something.
It didn't take long in her thought process to realize she'd gotten more attached to her guest than was deemed appropriate or natural. Truly she wasn't sure what it was about him that made her like his company, but she did. Even if sometimes he seemed to get a kick out of making her seem like an idiot and tended to be completely full of himself. They couldn't have been more different from each other and sometimes she couldn't stand him... but whenever she came home from a long day, the thought of him being there had put a smile on her face.
Mai had even gone as far as to buy a few different teas for him to try. She had been sure he'd end up loving them, or well, as close to love as he'd let himself get... considering he rarely ever showed emotion.
In any case, should Kazuya have left without letting her know, she supposed she could drink it all by herself... eventually. She had tried to buy it based off his appetite though. So the task would be rather daunting. She supposed she could also give some away to her neighbors...
With a sigh, Mai set her grocery bags down on her tiny kitchen table before quietly laughing to herself. Honestly what had she expected to happen? Had she thought that Kazuya would stay there for more than a few days? Sure, the topic had never come up between the two, but she had no doubt he had more important things to do than keep her company, right?
Besides, it wasn't like they knew much about each other... well, he knew a bit about her because she tended to ramble, but she didn't know much about him. Yet still... at the thought of Kazuya leaving, Mai could feel herself getting a little depressed. She wasn't entirely sure why, but she didn't want him to go. As crazy as it sounded, for some reason if felt a little like she was meant to bump into him that day. After all, she had wished for a change in routine, right?
With another sigh, the brunette began unpacking her bags. In addition to lots of tea, she had splurged a bit on more of food than she usually did. Just the other day Mai had made the astonishing discovery that there was a very long list of things that Kazuya had never had. So, being the impulsive buyer that she was, Mai had made it her mission to check some of those things off his "never tried" list. Well, the list she'd made for him. He didn't seem like much of a list person... Mr. Perfect probably had the memory of an elephant.
"What is all of this?" Came a voice from behind her, making Mai nearly crawl out of her skin at it's closeness.
Whipping around, she huffed, puffing out her cheeks as her heart pounded in her chest. "Geeze, Kazuya-san! Don't sneak up on me like that!"
Blue eyes paid her no mind as he examined the groceries littering the table. His only reply was a lifted brow as he picked up one of the tea boxes. Mai felt her own eyebrow twitch at his lack of acknowledgement, but was too preoccupied by his proximity to formulate a response. He nearly had her pinned to the table, not that it was his fault... her kitchen was pretty tiny. But still... close was close.
Moving to the side so he could get a view of her purchases (and so she could put a little distance between them), Mai's eyes stayed trained to her house guest, having calmed down enough to notice the dampness of his hair and the smell of chlorine that emitted from him. Tilting her head, the brunette pursed her lips in curiosity. "What were you up to?"
Finally gaining his attention, she felt herself freeze under his gaze. While he tended to keep his emotions in check, Kazuya's eyes always gave him away-that was something she had learned rather quickly. Now especially, the way he looked at her... there was a disappointment and sadness in his eyes that nearly broke her in two. It only lasted for a moment though, before he was back to his stoic mask.
He studied her for a second before he answered, "Searching."
"In a pool?" she wondered a loud, assuming the obvious answer because of his chlorine smell.
He shook his head slightly, "No... that came after." Seeing her confusion, he set the box of tea down and glanced off at the small kitchen window. "I used to swim as a child... The water in the pool was much clearer than the lake, but now I smell of chemicals," he explained, mouth curling down in displeasure.
"Oh?" Mai blinked, having not expected him to explain himself. It wasn't something he tended to think he needed to do often, much to her usual annoyance.
"Where I come from, the natural bodied of water as crystal clear," he added as an after thought, focusing back down at her food haul.
Smiling, Mai fixed him with a tender look. The way he talked about the place, it was obvious he missed it... even if it was hard to imagine someone like him missing anything. "Sounds nice."
"It is."
.
.
.
.
.
.
A month ago, if anyone had told her she would find herself kissing Kazuya Shibuya on the side of a pond in the dead of night, Mai might have suggested they get admitted. She hadn't for one moment felt that he, of all people, felt anything of the sort for her. Truly, she still wasn't sure what he thought of her. He wasn't exactly the type of person to share his feelings after all.
At the moment though, Mai was too distracted to give it much thought herself. She was too busy running her fingers through his raven locks. Pressing herself up against him, she felt herself moan into his lips. Her whole body twitched at the electricity that seemed to spark between them. Truly she was never usually this bold and was sure to get embarrassed about her behavior later, but she found herself too wrapped up in the moment to care. Naru didn't seem to be complaining anyway.
To make the situation even more surprising, it hadn't even been Naru who initiated the kiss, but Mai herself. She wasn't entirely sure how it had happened, really, all she knew was that it had and now she was kissing him. Her awareness of the unlikelihood of such an event made her laugh, causing Kazuya to pause and pull back, much to Mai's disappointment.
"I don't... believe that we should continue," he told her through ragged breaths. The look he gave her suggested he was serious, but despite his words his arms stayed wrapped around her.
Stunned, Mai frowned unsure of what he meant exactly. "Why not?"
For a moment, his mask fell and Naru looked almost as if he was in physical pain. "I... I am not..."
"Not what?" she encouraged, almost afraid of what was making him make that expression.
His jaw tightened, seriousness forming in his eyes. "I do not want to cause you harm."
Eyebrows furrowing, Mai released a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding in and shook her head. "I may not have known you for more than and a half... but I don't believe you are capable of that," she told him sincerely. She may not have been sure on what had brought his comment on, but she truly believed her words. She couldn't explain why, maybe it was her hormones talking, but she did.
The look he gave her was a mix of emotions she hadn't seen him make before. "Mai..."
Before he could rebuttal, she continued her bold act from earlier and kissed him again before she lost her nerve.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Apparently, she and Naru had been pretty close from what she could remember... which probably explained (at least a little) why her body was always wanting to cry at the memory of him. It was obvious that however he had left, it had been a pretty emotionally draining experience. It almost made her not want to remember.
At the same time though, she was curious. She had made out with the guy, after all... So obviously he was important. She needed to know what had happened between them. She had a feeling that it was important.
That said, all of this could just be her imagination trying to fill in the gaps in her memory. For all she knew, seeing that picture had merely just giving her mind a face to build a fake imaginary person around. After all, she'd been under a lot of stress (being abducted tended to do that to a person)… for all she knew, she was just going insane.
Yeah... maybe that was it. After all, what kind of a dummy picks a random guy off the street and then lets him stay with her? Sure she was dumb and gullible and naïve sometimes... but the whole situation just didn't seem very realistic. Like, at all.
And then, of course, there was Dream Naru. Ever since she'd started "remembering" he'd kept popping into her dreams. He most definitely had to be her brain's creation. What else could he be? The memories where one thing... but him? He was a whole other reason to doubt her sanity.
Only someone off their rocker would invent a dream boy to help them regain their memories, which were probably also an invention of their mind... right? What else could it be?
What else...
Screaming into her pillow, Mai felt tears form in her eyes. As much as she wanted to believe that this was all a dream, that everything happening to her wasn't real, she knew better. She knew those memories weren't fake because she could just feel it. And she knew she'd known the boy from the photo because he had just looked so familiar.
Now... Dream Naru... that was no doubt probably her imagination going haywire... but everything else was dead on. Everything.
And yet... there was still so many things that didn't make any sense. Like why the hell had she been taken to some kind of top secret base? Or why the heck were they looking for this Naru guy anyway? They had called him a fugitive, but they hadn't said what he'd done... and every time she tried to get them to talk about it they just talked circles around her.
Every bone in her body was telling her something was off about this whole situation. It was like she was the only one in the room who didn't know the big obvious secret, and everyone seemed determined to keep it from her.
Just what was going on?
A/N; Hope that made a few of your days. Slowly but surely Mai will get her memory back, trust me.
Anyways, next chapter should be a fun and interesting one... and things should start to pick up pretty soon so stay tuned!