((thanks for the help! I use the lines to break into a different person's thought process so it's not too jarring. I've got to get used to how this site works, I'm sadly not the most tech savvy of people. As for spelling and grammar. Sadly I type so fast that I don't catch my own mistakes and miss them when I read it because my brain knows what it's supposed to say and skims it. I try to rely on a proofreader that's that the best I can do. If you point out a glaring error to me I'll do my best to figure out how to fix it. Ok well language has been fairly tame and subject matter definitely so but it's time to take it up a notch. and i without further ado..a real case for our intrepid ghost hunters. Also it bears repeating, I don't obviously own Ghost Hunt.))
Mai's heart constricted as she heard the voice on the other end of the phone. She started to tremble and dropped the phone before sinking to her knees. The linoleum was cool beneath her and suddenly it was heard to draw a breath in her scorching lungs. She felt her throat strangling her and could hear his voice booming out of her abandoned phone. It sounded much further away from her than a few inches. It was almost as if she was trapped inside a bubble or that a cage had wrapped its self around her and was cutting her off from the rest of the world. In the back of her mind she dimly recalled a lecture from her freshman psychology class. Her professor had said that shock was a way the human mind had of protecting it's self from things it could process. This had to be shock. She was retreating into herself in an effort to stave off the pain that the owner of that voice would no doubt inflict upon her life. It was a futile attempt at protection. She knew that it couldn't last, nor could she let it. She had to take control of this situation. She had to take back her life from him.
Mai blinked rapidly trying to make sense of her current situation. What to do, what to do? She groped with her unfeeling hands for her phone and as if watching herself in a dream she could see her fingers closing it, drowning out the pleading coming from its connection. She started at the screen as it lit up, He'd hit redial and her phone screamed that Masako was calling. It was a lie. It would be him. For some reason he'd sprung forth from her nightmares and was reborn in her homeland. A demon brought to life by unrequited love, pain and longing so hard that she'd considered selling her soul at times just to have it. Who else but a demon could possess such perfection. Those long fingers that had saved her more than once, and those eyes that always looked amused to see her, the casual slope to his shoulders and the way he had of almost controlling air around him in an attempt to make others do his bidding. He was compelling and fire, charisma and a cold breeze that lifted your hair on a warm day. He was water to a thirsty traveler and food to the starving peasant. He was all of those things and none. Perpetually out of reach, a man on a pedestal of his own making. He was the unobtainable, the water mark that all men would have to hit to reach her, and she was nothing to him.
The young woman didn't answer the phone and when it stopped ringing she leaned back against her cabinets. It rang again. She ignored it. it ran a third time and she ignored it again. For a few moments she watched the screen to see if he'd try again and was almost disappointed when it did not. What could he possibly want.? To manipulate her some more. To see her dance like a broken ballerina to his absurd tune?
No. This was not how this was going to happen. She steeled herself and made the choice to climb of the pit she'd dug inside herself over these last few years. This was Mai Taniyama's time and she was going to own it.
Naru's lips twitched as Mai's voice mail recording informed him that she couldn't take a call right now, but be sure to leave a message and she'd call them back. This reaction was wholly unexpected. If she loved him she should be happy to hear from him and if she loved Gene perhaps she'd at least be nice to brother of the man she loved. He didn't like to be ignored and his irritation was seriously straining his already tenuous control. He felt just under his heart, almost begging to rampage. He'd level this whole damn city if he had to find her. The power whispered to him, it was seductive and low, a siren's song that only he could hear.
'It would be so easy." He heard a low cough from Lin and knew he had to push that thought away. How would she feel if he destroyed her friends. The very people who'd been with her during his absence. He couldn't imagine that Mai would like that. She'd never really liked when he was at his most cold and pragmatic.
He'd been about to turn to the people gathered in his office and start making some very serious demands when he heard the door behind him slam shut. His face a storm of emotions he whirled around to tell who ever it was that had the nerve to just barge in his office to get the hell out. He stopped and gritted his teeth when he saw Madoka standing in his office.
"Oh hello everyone. Is this little boy not using his manners again?" Her voice had a sing song quality to it as she danced across the room to come closer to Oliver. She gave him a sardonic smile before she turned to look at the faces of the others in the room. She giggled slightly and turned back to him.
"I'll take that as a yes."
"Not the time Madoka. I'm busy, " he hissed at her. She smiled at him.
"Too bad. You have a case young man, and this one comes straight from your father." He balled his hands into fists. He wanted to throttle his former teacher. How dare she interrupt but he had to get under control. It was his father's money that allowed him to be here in the first place and the subterfuge was that he was here to research the paranormal. He had no footing to say no as he had yet to take on any actual cases since his arrival in Japan.
"Fine." That's all he said before he stalked off towards his office not looking back to see if he was followed, he only stopped to push Miss Hara's phone back into her hand and didn't make eye contact in doing so. He heard Madoka call after him but still he didn't stop. If she wanted to bloody talk to him she could bloody well follow. If not it didn't matter. He was busy.
'Well that was unusual," Takigawa thought to himself. This whole day had been so absurd and deeply troubling. First he and Ayako had been forced to lie to Mai. Well, more Ayako than him but it still bothered him. He prided himself on his honesty. He'd felt a growing unease the entire way across town to Naru's new office and he was still reeling from hearing what Masako said about him being Oliver Davis. The Oliver Davis. Renowned paranormal researcher, writer, and expert the world over. He respected Oliver Davis, but did he respect Naru?
No, and he couldn't rectfy those two feelings. What the hell was going on. He reached a hand out to steady himself and grasped Ayako's in his own. She was his anchor. She could drag him back from the brink, even a possession had been nothing compared to that woman's tenacity. He looked at her, his mouth still gaping. How was she dealing with all of this?
Ayako ran from the room and only stopped when she reached the elevator. She had to get out of here. She had to get air in her lungs. Was this why Mai had fell apart? Did she know that 'Naru' lied to her? If it was just that why couldn't she just tell them. No it had to be more than that.
She knew that Takigawa was behind her. She could feel the heat of his breath on the back of her neck and he put a gentle hand on her shoulder and reached around with his other hand to press the down button on the elevator. She wordlessly stepped stepped and didn't turn around until the doors shut.
"What the hell is going on here Monk?"
"I don't know. I don't know. But I think we need to go check on Mai. We can't coddle her anymore Ayako. We have to find out exactly what happened three years ago."
Ayako was vaguely aware of herself nodding before she could really even process the thought connected to it.
"Noll, there is a little girl who needs your help. She's being haunted by something and even I can't get a handle on it. So I expect you there tonight with Lin. You can ask some of those stunned looking people in your lobby to help you. It's an American family so make sure you bring the priest. They'll be more comfortable working in the Christian pantheon." She was looking at the empty shelves with a small half smile lifting the corner of her lips.
"And why am I taking this case Madoka? Can't you see I'm busy?" He glowered at her.
"I can see that," she laughed gesturing to around the empty office with a sweep of the hand. "You're taking it because Martin and Luella have named me the Chief Financial Officer of the Japanese branch of BSPR. So you don't take the case and I won't pay you, or Lin or the lights or for the rent on this office. Do you understand me Noll? This is very serious and you will pull your own swollen head out of your ass and listen to me. A child needs your help."
He was shaking but he had to do this. Blackmail? She had resorted to Blackmail? He was so angry, but what could he do? If he were his own man he'd throw her out and down the elevator. He heard her voice. It wound around his heart and dug in. He couldn't be distracted now but he had no doubt that if he didn't do what she wanted that Madoka would be on the phone so fast to England and his parents would rip his ass home so fast he wouldn't be able to blink. Lin would bind him and he'd have no choice.
He ground his teeth and clenched and unclenched his jaw a few times before he was able to assert his control enough to speak.
"Well then, I guess you'd had better brief me on exactly what is going on."