The group of investigators were only able to work for a few hours before people started to show up, and made it too difficult to continue, and far too odd anyways. The owner had instructed them not to cause any trouble, they were a last resort. Henry and Mai continued to chatter in broken sentences to one another, and while Mai couldn't help but feel proud she could chat with him, she knew Naru and everyone else was silently laughing at her. Especially when she said Henry. They all packed up, dodging businessmen and tourist who wanted a fresh start on the heart of London, it was lunch time and they all insisted that Naru and her go out to eat with them. Mai could tell he wanted to refuse; Naru wasn't in the mood to deal with them. Still, the young woman wanted to speak to them, understand them a bit more.
"You go on ahead Naru, I'll eat with them. You want to research this case some more, right?" Mai said as they made their way back to the cars, he looked down at her startled. They hadn't left each other's side since they got to England, only to sleep, and they both knew it. If she was going to go to school in the fall, she'd have to become more adapted to this city. Which meant, no Naru.
"Do you have your phone?"
"Yes"
"Do you have money?"
"Yup"
"Call when you want to be picked up, don't tell them about your Pk" He said sternly, reaching his hands to place them on both sides of her face as if to insure she was listening, and she smiled back.
"I'm not a child"
"You act one more than often" Naru grumbled back and spoke with the others, they looked at her before nodding and they were off. It seemed they had parked farther than her and Naru, god knows if parking there was even legal. The six of them walked down narrow streets, ran across a busy street and finally came to a van, it wasn't like Naru's, it was far too European. Still, she marveled at it as Henry unlocked it, opening the doors and she jumped in beside Alice and Madison. They seemed a bit nervous, though she assumed it was because of their language barrier.
"So, Mai, are you Oliver's lover" Madison said suddenly and the already stiff silence became even more tense. The young woman looked over at her; it took a second to translate it before grinning widely. So they were embarrassed because they thought she was the boss's girlfriend, mess up and she might go directly to him.
"No, we're friends. He's too much of a narcissistic" She answered and they laughed, the car was put into ease, it seemed they thought the same of him. There were rumors that when he was a kid he would stare at his face for hours till Lulu caught it on camera, Mai told them he carried a mirror around, that sent them into fits of laughter. By the time they reached the same café, everyone was friendly. The lunch was used almost as an introduction; they each spoke about themselves, though slowly so Mai could translate it.
"What's a hound?"
"A dog"
"Oh…a type?"
"Ya" Henry answered and she laughed, the chatter continued till Mai knew everything about them. Alice had trained to become a doctor, but the last year she had to drop out because of her sick mom, with half a degree she found SPR. They welcomed her with open arms, she had two cats, was engaged and loved to swim in her spare time. Madison was into marine biology, she was just working part time here while she got transferred over to Germany for a job, she had a dog, good friends with Alice, not dating. The look on Cole's face said otherwise. Jensen and Cole were brothers, they both enjoyed the paranormal and had been studying it since they were kids, did their first exorcism at fifteen. Jensen broke his leg, according to the story but Mai could tell something more happened.
"Now all left is you" Mai said, turning to Henry with a small grin. He paused, setting down his drink.
"I was a plumber." He answered and she put her brows together, he didn't seem too intent on saying any more.
"Pets?"
"A cat" Henry answered and looking over at the others she saw that was all she was going to get, while Henry seemed friendly, Mai could see he was very secretive about his personal life and she looked down at her phone. It was two; Naru would probably want her to come back soon, by now he should be done researching as well. Madison offered to speak to him, offer direction and Mai happily accepted. Honestly, London was like Tokyo expect she hadn't grown here, wasn't born in heat of this city, it made her feel lost. It took Naru twenty minutes to get there and Mai waved to him from inside, picking up her bag before grabbing Henry's chair right before he was sitting down, sending him to the ground with a loud thump. He looked up startled; she let out a mischievous grin.
"Looking pretty weirdo, Henry" She answered and he let out a chuckle, he hadn't though she would understand back at the train station. She had just walked away, but now he saw that she had waited. The young woman skipped outside and hopped into the car beside Naru, fanning herself.
"You have fun?" He asked as he started up the car again, setting down the European road. She laughed. The ride was quiet for the first few minutes before he looked over at her and she glanced back. "Did you sense anything at the train station?"
"There was too many dead to pinpoint a certain one" She answered before noticing that they were stopping at a hill, in the distance she could see Naru's home. Naru turned the car keys and looked over at her before she grinned and jumped out, stretching. The place was quiet with a huge willow tree giving them shade on the side of the dirt road. Mai pulled off her shoes and Naru laid down his jacket so the two could flop down into the grass. The young woman let out a small sigh of enjoyment, getting away from all the craziness of London was nice, and it was even better to be away from Gene. The young woman paused, wondering if he would visit her tonight as well. She wasn't sure she could handle another visit and she turned toward the black-haired man beside her who smirked, pushing her hair back from her face.
"I use to visit here every day with Gene" Naru started and she looked up at him, scooting in closer to rest her chin on his shoulder, an expecting look, he paused before continuing. "Lulu use to send us out to play and Gene knew that if she saw us playing in the dirt in the garden we would get in trouble. So, we walked down all the way to this tree and played, I would always refuse at first and read. But he always dragged me in"
"You were both big troublemaker" Mai laughed, a wryly grin. "No one back home even knows that do they?"
"You know more about me that I'd like from anyone" He admitted, looking up at the sky and she shrugged, his shaggy black hair tickling her nose. The wind rattled the willow trees, and Mai opened her eyes to see she was lying there, alone, wind blew her hair against her face before the young woman pushed it to the side. She sat up slowly to see Gene, standing under the tree.
"Don't worry, I won't bully you this time" He said, smiling slightly before offering her his hand and she stood up beside him. The two stood there, looking over the fields of grass, who was she even laying beside a moment ago anyways? It felt peaceful, quiet; the young man squeezed her hand tightly. "You understand don't you?"
"Kinda"
"Do you?"
"I understand that I love Naru more than anyone" Mai mumbled, rubbing her nose. He let out a laugh and she sniffled. She couldn't even remember what she was doing before this, where she had been going, this must be like last time. An in-between, not to death but not with the living.
"You know, a man's guilt can cause a lot of trouble in the afterlife" Gene said and she looked over, startled by how he broke the silence.
"Are you referring to yourself?"
"The case"
"Oh" Mai mumbled before opening her eyes to see she was lying on Naru's coat, the young man was leaned over her, eyebrows pushed together. His hand was rested against her neck and pulled away slightly once he saw she was awake.
"Are you breathing?"
""Pretty sure" Mai answered hoarsely, sitting up, coughing. He pulled her up and she looked over at the tree, Gene wasn't there, not that she was expecting him to be. Still, she looked at it for a moment longer as she covered her mouth to cough once more before glancing back at the man beside her, he was judging her, and leaned forward slightly as if he had just realized something, been struck by a revelation. His voice was low but accusing.
"You've been seeing Gene" He said with a subtle hint of anger, it wasn't a question, more of a statement because he knew it was true. There wasn't any reason to deny it, he knew the true.
"Yes"
"And he scared you last night"
"He didn-"
"He did" Naru said sternly, grabbing her face in his hands and pulled in close to her, she looked away, feeling slightly embarrassed. He was so close, she could feel his breath on her face, see every eyelash, the way he held her so tightly. With Gene's push she couldn't help but feel she was falling even more in love with the man before her, and finally she looked up at him. He had this weird look, just the way they looked at each other told her to lean in closer her eyes fluttering as she felt him let out the smallest breath of air in suspense, closer till she felt the first drop of rain, and she looked up to see the sky had opened up and the rain started to pour. At the first they were shocked and she finally let out a shriek, dragging the man off the ground, and ducked under the tree. They were silent for a moment before the young woman pushed her wet out of her face and letting out a laugh, it building till Naru finally joined her and the two stood there laughing under the tree soaking wet.
"Gene said something about a man's regret causing trouble in the afterlife" Mai said after she had settled down, reaching down to take off her sandals so they wouldn't get mud on them. Naru didn't respond but she knew he was listening, she wrapping her arm around him, leaning against his shoulder as she watched the rain. "I've never played in the rain before"
"Are you hinting at something?"
"Maybe" She hummed before pulling off her cardigan and darted out into the raining, spinning. The young woman shook from the cold rain but still couldn't help but grin, if she ran around in the rain in Tokyo she would be considered mad, but here in the middle of England the only person to watch her was Naru. She looked over at him, leaning against the tree with that smug look, watching as she ran around, kicking up water. It wasn't long before her teeth were chattering, and she looked over to notice a car coming up the road, stopping by the van. Lin rolled down the window, Naru walked over, leaning down to the older man.
"There's been another attack"
"Why is Lin coming for us?"
"Because the man survived"
Well. Um. Cough. I'm sooooo very sorry for not posting in the time it should it should have been posted! July was such a busy month, birthdays, parties, signing up for high school and college classes at the same time. Just thinking about it-makes me foam at the mouth. Urg.
Anyways, I added teasing fluff, so I hope it can make up for the time loss and we can get back on track. I'm going to have time inbetween college and high school classes on campus so maybe I can get into a schedule of typing. Hm.
Oh Kagome your little comment just inspired me to make Mai a mischevous little elf, I hope she doesn't start acting this all the time! Naru will find toothpast in his oreos at this rate...
LoveNaruMai oh thank you! I'm so happy you love reading my story
Whispertothewolves, the worst thing is that they do know! They watch me type and then wanna watch and I just get all nervous, urgggg.
CrimsonFeather24544 aw, thank you! I'm glad you're enjoying it!
Naruisawesome naughty naughty girls! Sadly, I don't know if thats the last we'll see of them. But who knows, they might help Naru and Mai more by pushing them together. Haha, poor Henry, I kinda feel like I'm going to be mean to him. But ya, hopefully he'll know not to go after the boss's girl.
EverlastingRyo oh Mai isn't fluent in English in this story, she knows a bit, but it'll improve as we go along. Hmmmm, I kinda wanna finish while I'm still on top you know? I don't wanna push it too long, I might make another story where Mai lives in England but I'm probably not going to keep this one going.
dancingfingers, oh I feel like they should be called that. hopeless puppies. Now I feel bad for them.
thearistcrat, oh I actually kinda covered that in chapter...24. When Gene comes to visit he questions her as to why she and Naru aren't together. She says they are too similar, that Naru thinks she is him and he refuses these answered. Mai finally admits that she is afraid that Naru has, and never will love her. Even if Gene was still alive or never existed Naru would hold no romantic attachment to her, which in turn, terrified her. I'm sorry if this didn't come across as strongly as I would have liked.
Ellabellaboo124, nahhhhhh. LOL, Henry is interesting, but I'm secretly rooting for Naru. Heheh