My pretties I'm back and so sorry for how long I've taken to update. There is a mini preview at the end of this, have fun reading it, I look forward to your reactions ;}

The Heir Apparent

"So, what is it that you need so badly, that you felt it necessary to bother us at this hour?" Hisao stated while drinking his tea, Mai had made it a few minutes before their arrival.

"Our team is in need of your group's expertise. A member of ours was taken by a demon." Naru said as he rose and bowed deeply.

"And you couldn't have gone to another group? As it was, shouldn't you have taken the hint that we didn't want to work with you all?" Hisao stated as he glaced at his granddaughter. Her face was neutral, but her eyes held a blankness that showed she was trying to block out everything. It was clear to everyone that saw her, that she was trying to ignore what was happening in the room.

"The demon acted during broad daylight and took one of our most experienced members who was- is capable of handling six shikis at once. I figured we needed someone capable." Naru ground out, not liking the man's nonchalant face throughout his explanation.

"Six at once is rather impressive for a human, though shiki's are weak against demons. Don't you guys know anything?" Nobu cheekily added under his breath. Though with how loud he said it, it was obvious he wanted everyone to listen.

"Why you-!" Oliver stated as he rounded on him, he would have said more, if his voice hadn't caught in his throat as he met Mai's eyes. His heart skipped a beat as her eyes finally met his own. They were the same ones he had seen five years ago with tears, this time though they held a kind of steel that made him hesitate. The evident frown on her face as she watched him didn't help either, it was as if he were the petty child acting out and she the adult looking down at him.

His anger died as he stared at the woman who he loved but rejected so long ago. His guilt returned, he couldn't hold the stare for long. His eyes glanced away, but he caught the red stare of another. Though what he saw was the demon's smug eyes watching him, as he snuggled up with his lost love. They were practically gleaming red with laughter. His annoyance flared up again.

"Enough you're both acting like children." Mai said in a sighing voice as she stood up from her seat, slightly jabbing Nobu in the side as she pulled away. The slight huff of annoyance giving her satisfaction. She stood next to Hisao instead.

"Acting during the daylight at least warrants the demon's at either a high level 4 or medium 5, so I can understand how you would need our help...but it's up to the team to decide." Hisao said as he spread his hands in a 'nothing I can do' manner.

"As an honorary member of the team, I decline." Nobu said as he crossed his arms, "They can get eaten for all I care." He said as he stood up, morphed to his cat form and jumped on the desk. He sauntered up to Mai, who was next to Hisao, and curled up in front of her, his gleaming red eyes watching with glee at the slightly panicked eyes of the intruders. The dark haired one held an aura of more annoyance than panic, though the blond was filled with surprise and panic. 'Guess he didn't know I was a demon, oh well not like I care'

"As morbid as that sounds, my vote goes with whatever Mai decides." Kyoko spoke up breaking the slight tense air that had followed Nobu's declaration.

"Same goes for me, our princess can decide for us." Aki said as he wrapped his arms around his girlfriend, yawning with sleep. The warmth of her and the comfiness of the seat was lulling him to sleep. It wasn't helping that Kyoko was rubbing his head as he had it near the crook of her neck.

Mai sighed,"We'll take your case but under one condition. You let us do our job and you stay out of our way." Mai said, shooting an irritated glance towards Aki, not missing the surprised faces of her old teammates. One thought running through their heads, 'What had Mai been doing while they were gone to warrant so much trust from this infamous group.'

"Then it's settled, now get out of my house I want to sleep." Hisao said as he got up with a slight groan. "We'll visit the hotel tomorrow and asses it, but before that we'll have to discuss something else. Who intends to pay for this case? You or the hotel manager? Because we are not doing this for free." He said as his grey eyes bored into Naru's.

Naru would be lying if he said he wasn't intimidated by the old man, but he wouldn't be the man he was today if he flinched under every old coot that looked down on him.

"If the manager does not, I will gladly cover the cost." Oliver said as he stood.

"Good with that covered, get lost, it's late." Hisao said as he trudged to his room, "Nobu escort them out. Aki get to your own room and, no Kyoko you can't join him. Or else your aunt will have my head. Good night children. "

Kyoko and Aki groaned, they didn't want to move, they were completely comfortable where they were, plus, seeing as how the visitors hadn't backed off and left yet, neither Aki nor Kyoko planned on leaving Mai alone with them. For now though, they were happy with being forgotten in the background.

With Hisao's departure, Naru and John turned to Mai, who stared back at them. Neither of the three breaking the silence between them.

"Mai-"Naru began as he stepped closer,but was cut off by the sudden appearance of the cat's human form, which spawned between them and Mai.

"I think it is pretty obvious, that my lady doesn't want to talk to you and considering her grandfather, your current employee that didn't really want to work with you anyway since you basically came here to beg, said for you to get out, I think I'd be in everyone's best interest for you two to leave. You've overstayed your welcome." Nobu finished, eyes glowing slightly red as he crouched on the desk that he had been on.

Mai rolled her eyes as she saw Nobu's attempts to look intimidating, she'd been around the cat too long for her to feel any intimidation. She moved to sit in Hisao's desk chair, 'might as well be comfortable, looks like Naru won't be leaving without some questions answered.'

A loud sigh was heard behind Nobu, "Nobu be civil, they are our employers so, it's only right we be civil." Mai said as she examined the two in front of her, with Nobu between her and them she could at least keep her cool.

"Tsk, soft as always." Nobu growled, crossing his arms as he backed off and sat on the desk. His ears swiveled as he felt the other two occupants of the room get up nearing them. Neither made a noise, having been trained by their mentors to at least be quiet and somewhat mask their presence, though not yet to the point where they could hide from him.

"So, did you at least make the rest of the team leave the hotel? Considering if the demon was strong enough to capture Lin during daylight, I'd imagine the team would have a rather hard time keeping it at bay, even with the safe room, during the night." Mai asked, finally addressing the two she had been trying to ignore for the past hour. The slight guilt she felt at ignoring them while they were there asking for help made her speak up, despite her the fact that really wanted to pinch herself for even speaking. 'I've always hated small talk'

At her question, there was silence. Neither of the two in front of her wanted to speak or even look her in the eye.

"You didn't" Mai said horrified as she saw their nervous forms. 'These idiots did!'

"... they are all still there." Naru said as he saw her point. In his hurry to leave he hadn't thought to ensure the rest of the team's safety past making them set up the safe room and the usual buddy system.

"Call them now!" Mai demanded as she stood up, slamming her hands on the desk. Her anger at their stupidity caused Nobu to purr as he shifted back to cat form, winding his body around her arms, with a quick jump he landed on her shoulder.

"Calm down, can't have you breaking the old man's study now can we?" Nobu murmured into Mai's ear as he rubbed his cheek on her's.

Naru stilled at the display while, John quickly pulled out his phone and called Masako, he and her had gotten closer over the last five years. With her kidnapping and near death in the last case the whole team had worked on, and coupled with Noll's rejection, it was only right that she had a shoulder to cry on, someone to confide with; a friend.

"Masako?" John voiced as he heard the phone answer, Naru was phoning Monk.

'JOHN!? You guys need to get back! We were wrong! They got through! We were tri- ' The call cut off with a sharp scream; the dial tone was the only thing John heard for a few shocked moments.

With call cut off, the last thing John was able to make out, other than Masako's scream, were the giggles in the background.

The occupants of the room held their breath as they saw John stare at his phone, the silence in the room had allowed everyone to hear the call.

"I can't reach Monk!" Naru growled as he reached the other's mailbox again for the third time.

A tune sounded in the room coming from John's phone.

"It's Masako."John said as he quickly picked up, pressing the speaker button so everyone could hear better.

"Masako what's-" Naru voiced, shrill giggles cut him off.

"You guys should hurry uuuupp and come play before I get boooreed~~ You won't like what I'll do if I'm bored." Masako's voice said,though it was clear it wasn't Masako who they were talking to.

"Who are you?" Mai asked, shooting a glance to Kyoko and Aki who were wide awake.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" It said before ending the call.

"Looks like we'll be going to the Hotel tonight." Mai said as she bit her lip. "Aki pack your things and call Uncle Daichi and Aunt Izumi, Kyoko start packing our equipment, Naru, John, help her with the heavy stuff, I'll get grandfather and our things." Mai said as she hurried out of the room.

'Wait, grandfather?!' Naru thought as he stared at the doors Mai had just left through.

"I wanted to sleep." Kyoko whined as she got up stretching.

"Same. Well you heard the boss, get to work." Aki said as he looked at the two men in the room.

"Be careful with the equipment or we'll fine you." Aki said as he left.

"By grandfather, did Mai mean..?" John said as he and Naru followed Kyoko to the house's equipment room.

"That she's related to him? Yes, she's the heiress."Kyoko said as she she enjoyed the surprise and shock in their eyes. 'Bet he regrets abandoning her now'

"So that's why Akihiko's the temporary leader." John said, he was making small talk because it was obvious Kyoko was still feeling hostile towards Naru, plus his boss seemed too busy thinking about the past events to bother with any small talk. John never did like long awkward silences.

"Yeah, Aki's standing in for her until she officially accepts the position, but it won't be long now." Kyoko smiled remembering how Mai had instantly taken charge, though the smile turned to a slight frown as she realised that Mai's due date for the next script of her book was fast approaching and she knows the girl hadn't started yet. Procrastination was definitely a skill,as Mai had described, she possessed. 'Crap, how did I forget! The editors are going to be so mad if sales go down because of the delay!'

"So...How's she been?" John asked in a small voice, it was obvious what he was asking about.

Kyoko's expression flashed with anger and annoyance as she registered the question.

"As well as she could have been considering what you assholes did." Kyoko said, her polite and civil mood souring as she felt anger course through her. "Honestly, I don't care what reason you guys had for what you did, but you need to understand that you don't do that to a person who's already lost so much. Just, -sigh- no more talking, hurry up and help me with this so you can help your friends." She said as the sudden burst of anger left her drained and tired, all the more noticing how she was way past her usual bedtime. 'Thank god it's the weekend'

"The hell do you mean we have a case at this time brat! Do you know what time it is? It is past Midnight!" Izumi screamed to the phone as she laid in bed, her husband next to her was groaning in annoyance at the thought of having a case at this time.

"We are not as young as we used to be...Hisao needs to hurry up and accept some of the propositions he has for new teammates, we can't keep doing this." Daichi said as he emerged from under the covers and pillows he had had on him.

"We'll be there soon brat, but tell Hisao he better pay double for this." Izumi said as she slumped back into their shared bed.

"You know how he feels about hiring outsiders, he's still angry at some of the families for abandoning the team when his son left. I doubt he's going to accept any of them any time soon."

"This means more late night cases." Daichi said as stretched.

"Urgh don't remind me." Izumi said as she got up to get ready.

"It's too late to deal with the case Mai, at this time the powers of the demon's will be at their highest. It won't do to make mistakes, if we plan on rescuing your frien- ah acquaintances." Hisao said as he sat in his personal desk. The one he had in the study was his 'work only' desk, the one in his room were for other means.

"Exactly, they are more likely to be killed if we leave them alone. And, it seems their team made a mistake in assuming the number of threats they had to deal with. In the call, Masako had stated that there more than one threat." Mai said as she stared back, not about to give in. Internally she questioned herself, why was she trying so hard to save the ones she hated? The ones who so easily abandoned her so long ago. 'Nobu's right, maybe i am too soft.'

"Hm, I can't believe they didn't evacuate their teammates? Talk about amateur. Didn't you say they dealt with something similar in that weird house?" Hisao said as he made to turn away, "They can survive for one more night."

"Grandfather!" Mai's voice aghast with what he was insinuating.

"There are possibly two level 5's loose in that hotel, or more. Even with Nobu, you and the team will have a hard time dealing with them at this moment. There will be no more discussion! You may be the heir but as of now I am still the leader of the clan and the group. I will not risk you or the others to help some bastards like them!

Mai looked back in distress as she realized she wasn't going to be able to get through to her grandfather, At least, not easily.

Mai grimaced as she realized what she had to do, she would have preferred to do it in a different situation but the one they were in forced her hand.

"Then I accept by birthright. I will be the leader of the group and clan. You can retire now, grandfather." Mai said as she steeled herself. She knew her grandfather had been vying for her to take position, hell the everyone had, but she hesitated. She realized long ago that she would take the position, so it wasn't that much of a loss.

Her grandfather regarded her with renewed interest." Very well. As much as I would have loved you to take the position, in a different situation, I guess it was not to be." Hisao said as he backed off. By the customs of their clan, the heir was to take the leading position once the previous leader reached a certain age in which their powers wane. He himself had long ago passed that point. The only reason he had yet to back down, was because he was waiting for Mai to accept the position. He only wished she had accepted it in a different situation.

"It's alright grandfather, I've been meaning to accept it for a while now. I was just playing hard to get with you and the others." Mai said with a slight grin.

"Nevertheless, I do not think it is wise to go at this time." Hisao said as he looked back at his granddaughter.

"You know perfectly well that I am not the type of person to leave someone in need alone. Not while it is within my power to help them." Mai said as she turned away to leave. She still needed to pack some things for Kyoko, Aki, and herself."

"No, I know you can't. Your father was just the same as you, even after he met your mother. He never could ignore a cry for help."

"Good night grandfather, you stay and rest." Mai said with a small smile.

"Good luck my dear, may your first mission be successful. As the new leader, you know the news of how the mission went will reach many ears and will determine the standing you have within the other groups. We cannot lose face, not after coming back so soon." Hisao said as he sagged into his bed.

"Yes, I understand." Mai said as she bowed low. Now that she was the leader, her grandfather would only work as the adviser of the clan and would no longer participate in the missions. She would be on her own.

'No I won't be on my own, I still have Aki and Kyoko.'

A yowl of anger in the distance.

'And I have Nobu too'

I am soooo sorrrryy for being gone for missing two months of updates. Finals, exams, and unnecessarily long essays have killed me and my muse. But with the end near and the promise of break for at least two weeks before I start my next semester has revived my muse a little bit. So me being a little evil, I give you a preview of the next chapter….that is still in the writing process. Anywasy thank you for all the reviews, favorites and follows. I enjoy them immensely and always make my day better. Feel free to PM me whenever with ideas, opinions or whatever, I will always try to answer.

Bye~ and wish me good luck on the next three finals that I have left! Look forward to the next update that will be done, hopefully, by the end of this month.

PS. Should I up the rating for this because of the cussing? And slightly descriptive blood/gore of when I showed the demons? I don't want this story taken away because I messed up on rating it... Please give me your opinions on this matter!

Preview (this is still a rough draft so it maay change...but I like it too much to change it drastically.)

Naru held onto her arm, he wasn't about to let her go, not after he finally had her within reach.

"Let go."

She didn't even look at him, her gaze entirely focused on the floor.

"No."

The air started crackling,the pressure in the room increased. Mai's control was slipping. But she didn't want to control her anger, she wanted to release it, to release it on the ones who broke her heart, her trust. She wanted to hurt them, to hurt him. To make him cry in pain.

She looked up, eyes dark with ill intent. The wooden ground of the hotel was already breaking around them, cracking at the pressure. She would have released her energy completely onto him and those around him, had Nobu not sprinted across the room, slipped between them, and smacked his lips onto hers.

Naru flinched as he felt her power, eyes wide. 'Since when did her power grow so much!'

Naru was forced to release his hold as one of Nobu's arm pushed him away, while his other grabbed Mai by the waist.

Mai's eyes widened, her thought process frozen as she stared at her pet's closed eyes, her friend's eyes.

'Eh?'

The shock of the room was obvious, in how Takigawa's eyes opened wide, how Masako's mouth remained open, in how Kyoko's left eye twitched, and in how Aki nearly spit out his drink.

Nobu's mouth was on Mai's, he visibly breathed in, sucking out her destructive energy. She wilted onto his chest, energy depleted to a more stable level, and face red with what had happened.

"What was that for?" Mai ground out, hiding her face in his chest. Her mind reeling from what he had just done.

"Considering the amount of energy you were working up, the fish brat and his girl would have been caught up in the blow. You would have been sulking in your room for weeks after, couldn't have that now could I?" Nobu said as he grinned, completely energetic, his demonic cat tail swishing in the background. The meal he just had was very filling, especially considering her ill intent was perfect for a demon like him.

"Was it necessary for our mouths to touch?" She deadpanned, looking up from where she had hid her face. Her face was tinted slightly red.

Nobu thought it was cute, but he felt that she'd 'fix' him if he opened his mouth now, he cringed at the thought.

"Well...no. But! It was the fastest way to suck it out, I swear." Nobu said, sweating bullets, hoping to any deity listening that she didn't smite him where he stood.

"Hmm...don't do that again" She said as she pulled on his ears, smiling slightly. She didn't know why, but she felt like grinning and laughing. She felt light, almost weightless. On hindsight, it was probably because Nobu had sucked out all of her malignant feelings at once.

"Ow ow ow owww! Okay, okay I'm sorry!" Nobu yelped.

There was a puff of smoke as cat Nobu fell, she quickly caught him before he could reach the ground. He fixed himself on her shoulder, his purring loud by her ear.

She was still grinning when she looked up and saw Naru's glare, but it wasn't aimed at her, no, it was aimed at Nobu, who was cheekily smirking back at him.

'Ah...I had forgotten about him for a while...' Mai thought as her smile slipped from her face, 'damn there goes my happy high'

"Mai we need to talk." Naru ground out, anger and jealousy still coursing through his veins.

"I refuse, besides theres nothing to talk about." Mai said as she made to walk away.