"English"
"Japanese"
"Chinese"
'Thoughts'
--
Mai sighed as Martin Davis's class ended and she packed her things. She could feel the auras of two men standing outside the door waiting to ambush her. Eugene Davis had rattled in her ear the entire class once he'd realised she could see him. She'd made the mistake of glaring at him after he sat next to her at the start and he hadn't shut up since.
Lin's cat-like shiki had sat in her lap the entire time purring away as she patted it with one hand while taking notes with the other. An owl-like one had sat on her shoulder. She had scratched its head briefly while pretending to tuck a loose slams of hair behind her ear. It had nuzzled her cheek in response.
Slowly she walked to the door dreading the oncoming ambush. The minute she exited the door a tight grip grabbed her wrist and dragged her down the several hallways to an office with Oliver's name plate on it. A second hand guided her back a lot more gently than the one dragging her.
'That's going to bruise again.'
As soon as the office door was slammed shut behind them, Mai yanked her arm out of Oliver's grip and stepped well away from the two men.
"What do you want now, Professor Davis?"
Oliver looked her up and down taking note of the small changes from the last time he'd seen her now that his mind was no longer in shock. He noticed, quite irritated about it, that her clothes were expensive brands that his mother, Luella Davis, often wore.
"Where have you been all this time?"
"How is that any of your business, Professor Davis?"
Mai raised the sleeve of her jumper to view the newest set of bruises on her wrist, rubbing them gently as she replied.
Lin glared at Oliver when he noticed them and realised just how tightly the younger man had been holding her. He opened a cabinet on the side of the room to pull out a first aid kit and removed an ointment for bruises from it. Very gently, Lin guided Mai to a chair and knelt down in front of it to attend her bruises. Mai waited until he had finished her wrist before lifting her sleeve further to show the ones Oliver had caused earlier.
At Lin's second glare and seeing the bruises for himself, Oliver cringed.
"Sorry."
Mai ignored him as she watched Lin gently attending the rest of the bruises before pulling her sleeve down once more.
"We were concerned. No one had been able to get ahold of you."
Lin finally spoke as he looked up at her from where he knelt. He watched as two of his shiki nuzzled her cheek before sitting on her shoulders. A third one sat in her lap and a fourth on her head. All of them turned to glare at Oliver although the man couldn't see it.
"My Dedushka sent his lawyer to find me and bring me back. I left Japan less than a year after you did. Rather disappointing that it took everyone another two years to realise I was gone, don't you think?"
Both Lin and Oliver grimaced at that.
"Dedushka? Grandfather? I thought you were an orphan?"
Oliver questioned her.
"I am an orphan but my Okaasan was apparently not. My Dedushka mostly lives in the States though he originally came from Russia."
Mai absentmindedly petted the cat-like shiki in her lap and smiled gently at the resulting purr.
'What..?' Lin almost fell over in shock when he realised she could not only see and touch his shiki but could hear them too. His only saving grace was that he was still on his knees by her chair.
Mai wasn't quite sure why he hadn't stood up yet, though she was grateful he wasn't towering over her like Oliver was.
"You can hear them?"
Lin interrupted the conversation and Oliver's surprise at the topic change was obvious.
"What? Mai can see your shiki?"
"See, touch, hear."
"How is that possible? Mai could barely see ghosts before we left Japan."
"That, Professor Davis, was 5 years ago. Things have changed this then. Is there anything else or may I leave now?"
'I've had enough.' Mai carefully removed Lin's shiki from their seats on her body before handing them back to Lin and standing up and heading towards the office door only to pull to a stop when all 5 shiki blocked her way. Mai studied them with a frown.
"Why are you stopping me Little Ones?"
Both Oliver and Lin looked at her in shock for the nth time that day as she spoke in Chinese.
"Forgive me, Nushen Houyi. We cannot allow you to leave just yet. Both yourself and Master will be in pain otherwise."
The oldest of the shiki spoke.
"Why will we be in pain?"
Lin asked it.
"The Linghun Banlu De Nuihai has formed. Separating more than 500 meters will cause you both pain."
"How is that possible? Why now? Shouldn't such a bond have formed when we first met instead of only now?"
Lin questioned his shiki sternly.
"Nushen Houyi had her powers sealed when you met. The mischievous one cracked it open slightly after you met allowing her to dream, and for you to connect, but it wasn't enough to cause the Linghun Banlu De Nuihai to form. Nushen Houyi's powers are no longer sealed so it has now formed."
"Could someone please explain what bond you are talking about and why it will cause pain?"
Oliver grew impatient at only hearing part of the conversation.
"My shiki says that Mai and I have formed the soulmate bond. If we move a certain distance away from each other, we'll be in pain."
Lin ran a hand through his hair. He couldn't deny being attracted to Mai and he acknowledged that he had felt a certain closeness with her before he left Japan. Even still, hearing that the rare soulmate bond had formed between them was a shock.
Mai, ignite conversation be the two men, closed her eyes and opened her senses wondering what the bond looked like. A thick golden rope seemed to stretch out of her heart and directly into Lin's.
"It's gold..." She muttered before she curiously reached out to touch it. Lin immediately reacted by shuddering with warmth and pleasure before he realised what Mai had done and pulled her hand away from touching it. He kept her hand in his for the moment.
"Try not to touch it Xiao Huoban. You will only make it stronger before we're ready for it."
Mai nodded. She was frustrated with the whole situation.
"We are going to need to decide how to deal with this. A soulmate bond is impossible to break and 500 metres doesn't allow for much distance between us."
"One of us is going to have to move in with the other."
Lin nodded in agreement.
"Then I guess we should pack your things."
"Hold on, why does Lin have to move into yours? Why can't you move into our place?"
"No, thank you, Professor Davis. I doubt your residence would be suitable for me to live it. I doubt any barriers you have around the place would suit my needs."
"Barriers? Why would you need barriers?"
"Because according to Dyadya Mikhail my soul is like a bright beacon summoning any and all spirits within a kilometre radius."
"No wonder you were such a trouble magnet"
Mai ignored Oliver's snub. Instead she pulled out her cellphone and dialled the number for her head maid, putting it on speaker.
"Hello Miss. What can I do for you?"
"Hi Mary. Please set up the connecting bedroom next to mine. I have a situation that will be requiring a guest stay there for the foreseeable future."
"Set up a room for me too. Where Lin goes, I go." Oliver interrupted intrigued by someone calling Mai, Miss.
Mai sighed. "Set up the room next to that one as well please. As you no doubt heard, there will also be a tag along."
"Very good Miss."
"You will probably need to set up an office next to mine as well. Just one though. They can share it."
"Yes Miss. Anything else?"
"Not that I can think of right now. Any messages for me?"
"Master called this morning. He'd like you to call him back."
"Thank you Mary. I'll call him shortly. I'll have plenty of time to phone Ded while wait for these two to pack. See you in an hour or so."
"Bye Miss."
Hanging up, she looked at the two men. "Can we go now? I'd like to be home before dinner at least."
Nodding, they collected their things and followed Mai out the door. She was already several steps ahead by the time they followed and Lin got the pleasure of watching Mai walking. His cheeks pinkened slightly when he realised he had been studying her backside a little longer than he should have. 'She does fill those jeans nicely though.'