hey i'm back enjoy the new chapter

disclaimer: nope, still own nothing

Madoka realized why Lin wanted to meet at the Hamilton as she took a cab there and wondered why she'd not thought of it before.

'Guess that's why I'm better at desk work than out in the field.' She thought as she entered the deli to find Lin already at a table.

"Alright Lin, spill." Madoka huffed as she took her seat. "I want to know what's going on with you."

"Here's some lunch for you." He said handing her a chicken Ceasar wrap. "I remember you liked it from our last lunch together."

"What on earth do you want?" Madoka asked him as she snatched the wrap out of his hand. "You had us meet all the way out here when there's another perfectly good sandwich shop closer to the office. You didn't want to be seen by anyone, didn't you?"

"I'd say you're half right." Lin replied thoughtfully as he took a bite of his own sandwich.

"Yeah? Which part?"

"The part about not wanting to be seen by anyone but the main reason I picked this place was because it's a lot better than the one near the office."

"Now you're just trying to be annoying Lin." Madoka growled through bites of her wrap.

"No, the other part was because I needed the privacy. I really do need a favor from you."

"I know, you told me back at the office." Madoka replied.

"Well, I need you to get me a lift to New York. I'm going after Noll."

"What?" Madoka's jaw dropped. "Lin, you can't."

"Why not?"

"Say this girl really is trouble. You could get Noll killed if you go after him."

"All the more reason to go after him."

Madoka sighed, "I'll see what I can do. But you're going to owe me much more than a casual lunch when all this is over."

"Are you alright?" Ayako asked once Kasai was as bandaged up as the she could manage.

"I've been better." Kasai replied meekly. She reached for a chain around her neck. "Oh no."

"What's the matter?" Ayako asked.

"My barrette is gone." Kasai started sobbing. "I usually keep it in my hair but when I go to bed I hook it on a special chain so I don't lose it. It was a gift from my cousins, it helps me feel safe."

"Sweetheart I'm sorry." Ayako replied sincerely before remembering something. "I don't mean to be rude by brushing the barrette thing aside for the moment, but have you eaten anything?"

Kasai shook her head. "Not since last night. Well, at least I think it was last night. I'm not sure how much time has passed since I last saw Uncle Lin's family."

"Uncle Lin?" Ayako asked.

"Yeah, I was staying in China with some of his relatives while my cousins worked. I went to bed one night and that's all I remember before I woke up and tried escaping." Kasai replied.

"Oh, well how about I get you some food." Ayako told her.

"You can actually do that?" Kasai asked.

"Whoever's behind this needs us in good shape, so they've been keeping me fed and letting me out to go to the bathroom." Ayako replied before walking over to the door and banging on it.

"What do you want?" one of the guards asked cracking the door open.

"I want some food." Ayako said demandingly.

"Fine." The guard grumbled. "Wait right here." The door was shut and bolted once more.

"See what I mean?" Ayako asked.

"Yeah, I mean if they're gonna keep us captive the bright side is we still get fed." Kasai replied. She hadn't been expecting Ayako to start laughing.

"I'm sorry." The woman said between chuckles. "But you are very mature for your age Kasai. You remind me very much of my daughter."

"You have a daughter?" Kasai asked.

"Yes, well, she's not exactly my daughter." Ayako told the girl, "I adopted her when she was five years old after her real parents were murdered. Her parents were very good friends of mine and my husband's. In fact I think the jobs they gave us were how we were introduced. But now Mai's nearly grown. She's twenty years old now."

The door cracked again, and the guard carelessly tossed a couple bags of chips and some water bottles in the room. Kasai watched as Ayako walked over and picked them up.

"So, your daughter Mai. What's she like?" Kasai asked. As the woman brought the food over to her.

"I'd say she's quite the young woman. Even though she can be very dense sometimes. But I suppose when you raise a child with ignorance to protect them they naturally become like that. But now she lives on her own in New York City to finish her studies." Ayako replied.

"That's where my cousins live!" Kasai burst out. "Well, they used to live there. They moved to DC for work."

"Really? And what kind of work do they do?" Ayako asked.

"Cousin Oliver and Cousin Gene work for the FBI." Kasai informed the older woman proudly.

"Yet you live in China?" Ayako asked.

"Yeah well, they wanted to make enough money to get a house I could live with them in. but they didn't want me to be wasting time so they sent me to live with Uncle Lin's parents in China." Kasai explained.

"Ah." Ayako replied and let the information sink in for a moment. Kasai did the same thing.

"Wait, that's why I'm here isn't it?" she asked Ayako. "Because my cousins work for the FBI right?"

"Quite possibly." Ayako answered. She looked at the food. "Here, you should eat." She told the eight year old.

"Okay, you want some?" Kasai asked as she ripped a bag of chips open.

"I'm not hungry right now and you need to eat." Ayako assured her.

"Suit yourself." Kasai said through a muffled mouthful of food.

Ayako watched the girl eat. 'I must protect her,' she thought with her motherly instinct kicking in, 'no matter what, I have to make sure she gets out of here alive if not alive and safe.'

The tracker hadn't moved in quite some time. That told the woman something was wrong. So either the tracker had been discovered and dismantled. Or that her targets really were staying in one place for that long a time. She really doubted the latter, since Kazuya Shibuya was way too smart to do something as stupid as that, especially since he knew there was someone on their tails. And that Mai Taniyama was supposed to be an electronics protégé and could find and dismantle the tracker with ease if she so desired.

The woman had easily led the person at the front desk to believe that she was the relative of Mai and gotten the key to her apartment. Opening the door, she looked around. No one appeared to be there but it was better to be "safe than sorry". She checked the rooms. The first was Mai's room and the woman found Mai's laptop laying innocently her desk.

"Hmm…" the woman mused as she traced a manicured nail over the edge of the machine. "So they abandoned it all together? Well that's alright, it just makes it more fun for me."

Her phone rang, and the woman picked it up.

"Hello?"

"I would just like to warn you Ms. Hara; Mr. Urado is not as patient as a normal person is." A voice told her.

"And what does that have to do with me?" Masako asked.

"He has sent out a tracker of his own." Masako growled. "What bothers me the most is that the tracker, in actuality, works for me." Usbusuna spat.

"I don't like others getting in my way." Masako replied. "I will take him out if the need arises."

"There's no complaint there." Ubusuna informed her. "Just make sure Taniyama is brought in relatively unharmed."

"A great annoyance, but I shall comply. Is there anything else?" she asked.

"Just remember to have fun with the game." Ubusuna replied before hanging up.

Masako smirked smugly, "oh believe me, I will."

"Come on Naru!" Mai said dragging him along.

"You seem pretty confident in where to go." Naru commented as he let her drag him along.

"I know for a fact that I'm right." Mai replied and didn't comment when Naru experimentally squeezed her hand to see her reaction. "The first set of numbers is the number of a locker and the second set is the combination."

"I thought most lockers here have a key you have to pay for to use." Naru told her. She stopped short and pouted.

"No, I was sure there were lockers with combinations here." She whined in despair.

"Well you could be right." Naru said to soothe her.

"Yeah, and money could fall from the sky but it's not gonna." Mai retorted.

"She got you there Noll." Gene informed him.

"Is there ever a time where you could use your abilities as a ghost to help us rather than harass me?" Naru asked in response.

"There is, but that would be cheating." Gene replied. "Besides, I think that girl has psychic abilities, otherwise I would have been able to locate Kasai already even if there was a psychic barrier that kept you from doing it. So, sorry idiot scientist, you need to figure this out on your own."

Naru decided to stow the information about Mai's psychic abilities for later. He turned to her.

"Well, at the very least we're on the right train of thought," Naru told her. "The address was for Grand Central Station and here we are. Now we just need to figure out what the numbers mean."

"Under the numbers it said 'leave it', what do you think that means?" Mai asked him.

"I think that it means we should leave it." Naru replied sarcastically.

"Thank you captain obvious." Mai said repressing the urge to smack him. "But where are we supposed to leave it?"

"Well I did say you could be right about the locker idea." Naru told her. "So let's check and see if we can find any that fit the description."

It took them less than five minutes to realize that Naru had been right about the whole key thing.

"Now what?" Mai asked when they met back up at the end of the first row.

"Let's stop and actually use our brains for a moment Mai." Naru said before noticing that Mai wasn't paying any attention to him, much to his displeasure, and was watching some station attendants instead.

"so I take it you've seen something you like?" Naru asked irritably tapping Mai on the shoulder. She looked at him with pure excitement in her eyes.

"I know where there are lockers with combinations!" she practically squealed.

"Oh, nice to know you were thinking rather than staring at a bunch of cute boys." Naru replied; his voice laced with sarcasm.

Mai stopped walking forward when she heard that. "You thought they were cute? Didn't think you were that type of guy Naru."

"I'm not." Naru told her.

"Sure you're not." Mai replied sarcastically.

"Would you like me to prove it to you?" Naru asked her.

"Hmm, enticing offer. But we'll have to save it for another time. We have more important matters to deal with than the subject of cute boys."

"So you admit you thought they were cute."

Mai rolled her eyes. "Off topic." She reminded.

"Really? And you think they're cuter than someone like me?"

"Now we're way off topic you egotistical narcissist." Mai told him dryly as she tugged him along. "Come on. I remember that a few years back I was dating a guy who worked here part time. He had a locker in the back with a combination lock."

"You dated someone who worked here" Naru asked as he followed her.

"He was one of the boys at my college." Mai snapped as her face turned red. "But this isn't the time to be discussing my previous relationships."

"Very well." Naru replied.

In fact though he was very agitated with Mai, though not for anything she'd done. It seemed as though once he figured her out on some sort of level she'd do something that would confuse him even more than previously. No woman was ever able to hold his interest for more than a few minutes. And normally all it would take was him responding to them for them to become puddle of flesh. Now, he could admit that Mai wasn't exactly focusing on him because she was worried about her parents, but he was expecting maybe a bit more from her. But then again, Mai was so stubborn that Naru doubted she'd admit she liked him even if it was the truth.

"Naru? You okay in there?" Mai asked noticing he'd stopped moving his feet.

"Hm? I'm fine Mai." He replied. "Now, where are the lockers you mentioned?"

Mai pointed ahead of her to a door marked 'workers only'.

"How do we get in…?" Mai mused.

"Simple, we walk in." Naru answered before grabbing Mai's wrist and dragging her through the door.

"Naru! You can't just waltz in here like you own the place!" Mai scolded him. Then she looked around. "So, much for high class security." Mai retorted.

"I don't think they need it for a locker room Mai." Naru told her.

Mai didn't respond, she just walked to a locker and checked the number on it. She moved to the right and checked the number on that one.

"This way." She said leading the way.

The two walked down one isle before stopping at the locker they were looking for.

"What's the combination?" Naru asked. Mai read it off to him and he spun the dial to match.

The locker itself was empty. But just to be safe Mai ran her hand up the sides to check for hidden wires.

"Now what?" Mai asked when the hitogata was inside and the locker shut and locked with a definite 'thunk'.

"Check the site." Was Naru's reply. However, before they could get the chance to, they heard a voice.

Naru grabbed Mai once more and moved them back further into the room. They hit a back wall and Naru was scanning the space when he saw a small opening. Without so much as a warning to Mai, he pushed her in it and quickly followed. The space just barely had enough room for one person so there wasn't any room for personal space between Mai and Naru, though being a head shorter than Naru was certainly coming in handy now since she was tucked under his chin. Mai had turned her head to look at Naru as he pushed her in the hiding space so her face was buried into his right shoulder. Her hands had been raised to they were now against the abdominal region that she'd only seen rather than felt.

Naru had been quick enough so his hands were not anywhere that would not only get him slapped but give away their position from said slap. He tried to focus on the person he'd heard rather than the girl locked to him. Naru felt something start and wondered why his hormones picked now to finally kick in.

"Stay silent." Naru whispered as he tried to fight the male hormones that were trying to control his body and make him pin Mai even tighter against the wall. Mai nodded in response and Naru could hear Gene laughing. Though Naru wondered how his brother could find the situation at hand so hilarious.

"Ugghh…" they heard the voice come closer now. "Where are they? The clue should have led them here."

"Naru?" Mai whispered. "Who is that? Its' the same voice we heard in the tunnels."

"A man by the name of Yoshino." Naru whispered back. "He was a student advisor at the high school where the students were being cursed. He was cursed too and the accident it got him in caused him to go off the deep end. When the teacher responsible for all this got fired, he quit and went to work for her."

"Her?" Mai whispered. Naru stayed silent and a moment later Mai figured out why. Yoshino was very close to their hiding spot.

'Oh no.' Mai thought as she shut her eyes tight. 'Please don't let him find us please don't let him find us…' (Insert flash where everything is discolored in blue, black, and purple, I'm not really sure what it's called.)

Almost as soon as they had come the footsteps echoed in the room as Yoshino walked away.

When the footsteps were no longer Naru quickly left the space to try and calm the emotions that had built up. Mai left shortly after and looked around.

"Let's leave before we try and find the next clue." Naru advised. Mai nodded numbly and followed him out.

Naru looked around and saw a man coming straight toward them with a deranged look in his eye.

"Mai run!" Naru shouted as he grabbed her upper arm and took off. Mai didn't hesitate to listen to him this time. Ignoring yells and shouts they vaulted the turnstiles and just made it through the doors of a train ready to leave the station.

"Thank god." Mai breathed when they sat down side-by-side. "I thought for sure he'd seen us when we were hiding."

"Curious though." Naru said in response. "He was right in front of the hiding spot he was looking right at us Mai, but he didn't see us."

"How do you know that?" Mai asked him.

"Besides actually having my eyes open and not buried into someone else's shoulder." Naru began. "I saw him, but I stayed silent and he walked right past us. I wonder, did you say or think anything when you heard him approaching us?"

"I was just, well I guess you could call it praying, that we wouldn't find us." Mai replied. "But what does that have to do with him not actually finding us?"

"I'm not completely sure since we don't have the time nor the proper equipment to test it, but I believe you may have latent sensitivity. Really just a natural sense of self-preservation, but yours seems stronger than most." Naru explained.

"Oh," Mai paused for a moment and stared out the window of the other side of the train. "Well I better check and see if we have another clue."

"Maybe it would be best to wait until we're somewhere where there's a little more commotion so we can talk at a normal level." Naru suggested as the train was coming to a stop.

Mai nodded. "Okay." The two exited the train and made their way to a little restaurant where they found a table in the back.

Mai's stomach growled fiercely and Mai blushed. Naru quirked a brow. "Hungry are we?"

"More than I usually am by now." Mai admitted rubbing the back of her head sheepishly. She quickly scanned the menu before pulling out her PDA and brought up the site. "Hey Naru, look."

The screen with its ominous clock still sat in the middle, but now all the links used thus far were lined up neatly on the left under the heading; "clues and instructions". On the right side of the clock was another list labeled "warnings" with one box neatly x-ed out in red ink.

"I'm going to copy the clue. Order for me okay." Mai asked him.

"Alright." Naru replied telling the waitress to bring two waters, a medium cheese pizza, and some breadsticks for an appetizer.

"So what does the clue say?" Naru asked when he was finished. Mai slid the notebook over to him and he started reading.

Where blood runs still by the light of day

Is at night a favorite place to play

Blue collars mix with blue blood here

In a palace that one would hold so dear

Though the person is not an heir

And though royalty does not reside there

Start by browsing under her name

It's the only place where you'll find fame

"It's so long," Mai groaned. "My head hurts."

"You're exhausted from only having read it?" Naru asked as the waitress brought them their meal. "I must say I'm not surprised but I honestly didn't think your brain cells hadn't been used for that long." He commented.

"Shut up." Mai spat as she ripped a piece free from its cheesy bindings. "It's just; these things seem to be getting harder and harder."

"I agree," Naru said taking a bite of his own slice before adding. "But realize that whoever's behind this, though it's probably that teacher I got arrested for hexing her own students, wants us to fail. They just didn't want us to do so early. They want us to believe up to the last second, that there could be a way we can save our families, that way when they yank the rug out from under our feet it'll be that much more soul crushing. But for now, we should forget about the clues and the game and try and calm down."

"Wow. Never thought I'd hear that coming from you." Mai commented.

"What do you mean by that?" Naru asked.

Mai shrugged. "You just seem like a workaholic to me. So to hear you wanting to stop focusing on the task at hand seems very out of the ordinary."

"This little break has absolutely everything to do with the task at hand." Naru replied. "With our pulse rate back to normal and food in our stomachs we'll be able to think about the clues more clearly and concisely."

"Right…" Mai rolled her eyes. "But we have some idea that this whole thing has to do with that crazy teacher you got fired. But what does that have to do with my parents? Does the organization need money?"

"No, ever since she'd been fired and came to the U.S to start up a company of her own she's been an avid worker; money was never an issue for her company. But they might need technology, does Taniyama electronics have anything big in progress?"

Mai considered the thought for a moment, chewing her lip as she did so. "I suppose so. But most of the company's works is in the gaming industry. Even if that teacher's company is based in japan (it is just because I say so) it doesn't make sense to want anything to do with a video game company. I mean I haven't been involved with the company since I left japan but my parents have sent me news about the latest products. Anything big enough to warrant a kidnapping would have stuck out."

"True, but to stay as successful a business as they are they have to be on the cutting edge of technology." Naru replied. "Isn't it true that they have people working for them that NASA would love to have working for them? The point is that they could have their fingers dipped in other areas."

"I really doubt it, but that doesn't mean it's not a possibility." Mai replied. "But then again you could say the same thing about companies like Microsoft. So why go to the trouble of seeking out a Japanese tycoon when there are more than enough here in the U.S if you have to?"

"You're right about that, which makes me believe this may be personal." Naru told her. He saw her flinch. However, before he could overanalyze her reaction to his words his phone beeped.

"What's that?" Mai asked.

"It appears my phone is full of messages." Naru answered. "Most are from Lin and John as well as my parents."

"Who's Lin?" Mai asked him.

"Lin is my bodyguard he's supposed to make sure I don't kill myself by using my abilities. John was the pastor you met this morning when you found me. But I was absolutely sure I had mentioned Lin earlier."

"Nope." Mai shook her head. "But it's impressive how fast you answering machine filled up." Mai looked down at the clue and tried to think it out but her mind kept going back to who might have it in for her and her parents.

"Mai." Naru broke her out of her thoughts.

"Huh? Oh, sorry Naru, my mind's just somewhere else. I mean this makes no sense at all. What are we doing? Just running around New York and leaving things that look like cursing dolls. It feels like we're just being led in circles. What's the point of going through all this?"

"That is an excellent question." Naru replied. "One that we will get answers to as soon as you're done eating."

"What?" Mai looked down to notice that Naru had already finished his lunch and was waiting for Mai to do the same. "Oh. I'll finish it later, we should go now."

"No Mai." Naru told her. "You need to eat or else you'll be completely useless for the rest of the day. Especially since we don't know when we'll be able to stop and eat again."

"Fine." Mai huffed and started eating again. "But how are we supposed to find answers?"

"I know someone who may be of help to us."

"Alright. Tell me about this friend of yours." Mai ordered.

"He's not exactly what you call a friend." Naru replied. "I believe you've probably heard of him without knowing his name."

"Really? How so?" Mai asked as she finished the last piece of pizza.

"Did you ever hear about those unexplained phenomena out in the Midwest? I believe it was crop circles that had been made as well as weird symbols that were appearing out of nowhere."

"Seriously? That was him?" Mai asked in disbelief.

"Yes."

"But I was told it was just a couple of pranksters playing jokes to make people believe in aliens."

"That was just a cover up story to keep him out of trouble." Naru replied.

"But everyone thought it was aliens and was freaking out for like a month. To think it was human error." Mai said.

"It wasn't human error, just Sakauchi trying to contact someone." Naru replied.

"What do you mean? If it was one person who did it on purpose why isn't he rotting in a jail cell right now?"

"Sakauchi is the son of a very influential political figure," Naru explained. "Luckily for him, the right people figured out who was responsible for it and were able to eliminate any evidence pointing to him."

"And he didn't get punished at all?" Mai asked finding it hard to believe that everything Naru was saying was true.

"Don't worry, he did." Naru assured her. "You see Sakauchi's a very smart person in the sense that he knows what he wants and what strings to pull to get it, the only problem is his love for the occult is so great he'll do anything to get in contact with a spirit. And he'll take the idea that he gets and run with it until someone knocks him down and drags him back to reality. He doesn't have as much common sense as a normal person so FBI offered him a job to keep occupied and out of trouble. He didn't say yes in person, but his father assured us it was all right with him."

"so Sakauchi works for the government?" Mai asked.

"Not officially but yes, though it's only what you might call a part-time job." Naru replied. "All Sakauchi really wants is to be a paranormal investigator."

Mai laughed. "You're kidding right?" Naru shook his head no. "Okay then, is he a threat?"

"No, he's too much of an idiot to be a threat." Naru replied. "However, if he ever put all his affairs in order he could cause mass hysteria. That's why the government tries to keep him on a tight leash."

"Tries?"

"He's very good at covering his tracks." Naru explained.

"But you can find him?"

"Clairvoyant abilities Mai." Naru reminded.

"Alright, but he can help us how exactly?"

"He's very good with analyzing things; he might be able to tell us something we missed."

"But isn't it against the rules to have outside help?" Mai questioned.

"True, but if there are too many players in the game then that's against the rules as well." Naru replied.

"Alright then." Mai said.

"I'm going to try contacting him. He hasn't responded to the earlier message I sent." Naru told her.

"He's the one you sent the picture to?"

"Yes."

"Okay then." Mai replied. "You go do that and I'll try and figure out the clue."

Naru pulled out his phone and dialed.

Urado let out a sigh loaded with disinterest. Most of the screens he stared at were either inactive or empty of any relevant activity. Ubusuna had left, claiming that staring at something for too long gave her a headache. In truth he was starting to get a headache watching the monitors incessantly as well, but he had a sick fascination with one in particular. Ayako Takigawa, wife of the man who could handle anything but her, was sitting completely helpless under his control. It would only make taking back what was supposed to have been his easier.

'If only I could have gotten rid of her from the start.' He mused thinking of Ubusuna. Life would be so much easier if she'd gotten killed in a little car "accident" he'd arranged months ago. Then he's have full control of everything and her crazy plans for revenge wouldn't have even come into play. True, he was out for vengeance as well but he had a particular reason. The "utterly perfect" murder of the Taniyamas had been interrupted so everything Urado had been born and bred for had been ripped right out from under him. This game was to ensure he got it all back.

And Mai Taniyama would not only be the key to that, but possibly the utter destruction of the world Urado believed to be "utterly useless."

as always review and let me know aht you think