Zinging in the Train

Chapter 5: In My Arms Again

Until you're in my arms again, remember me.

-'Remember Me', from 'Coco'

xxXxx

The first thing Naoko did when she woke up was grab at her phone that had been charging on the bedside table.

There was still nothing from Haru, but Mavis had sent her more pictures since the quilt designer had forced herself to get some sleep. Naoko's heart filled with love and longing as she saw her pride and joy cuddle both Dennis and a young werewolf girl that was sniffing experimentally around her daughter's neck.

Bad news. Winnie recognized Haru's scent from the toys she's been making and sending Dennis, and Winnie could tell someone closely related to Haru did the quilts. I'll be hugging you personally for those quilts and notes of encouragement when you get here.

Naoko flinched, even though that would have come out sooner or later. "I can spoil him if I want to," she muttered under her breath while scrolling down for more pictures. "I never made Haru follow my example."

The next few had Haru meeting a dog that looked like he was supposed to be a puppy, but was taller than even Johnny who was trying to steady the pooch while Haru looked on with amazement.

Her reaction was 'that's not a puppy, that's a steed!' Not that far off from how Dennis rides Tinkles.

Naoko laughed, tapping out a response.

I'm pretty sure Haru could use him as a steed. Please don't let her, she gets a little carried away in emergencies.

No one knew this better than her. The term 'Ferris wheel' was as taboo at her house as a swear word thanks to last year.

Sighing sadly, she forced herself to roll out of bed and stumble to the bathroom for a quick shower. She had never been much of a morning person, but when that's what the job demanded, that was what her duties included.

"It just isn't fair," she muttered under her breath as she rubbed conditioner into her short auburn hair before rinsing it back out. "Stinking Naraku and his 'thou shalt not walk into the Devil's den even though it's not my business what you do away from work'." The aching in her arms increased as her mind replayed the pictures Mavis had been sending.

Every part of her ached to be there, in Transylvania with her little Haru. She could only hope that with a vampire around, Haru could be held back from anything foolish, but Naoko still had her doubts about how well that would work. Haru could be very determined when she felt there was a good enough reason to get grounded until Christmas.

Through the running water, she could hear her phone go off.

"Dang it," she muttered under her breath, turning off the water and wrapping a hotel robe around her before running out of the bathroom.

Tenth floor means nothing to a person with a good set of binoculars, and Hong Kong was highly populated.

Naoko answered it before getting a look at the Caller I.D. in order to catch the call. "If this is someone calling in sick again, that's too bad, because I am leaving when my classes are done!"

"… Hi, Mom."

It wasn't Haru speaking.

Naoko gave a startled gasp, all her tension washing away like a second shower. Tears began falling as well, but she barely noticed as she slowly sat at the foot of the stiff bed. "Mavis? Sweetie, is that you?" she begged, holding the phone with both hands that craved to hold her forgotten child instead.

Between the poem that had lingered in her mind as far back as she could remember and seeing Dracula's photo after that genius invented the ghost lens, it hadn't been that difficult to figure out who she was in a past life.

"… Mom," Mavis repeated like it was all she could think of to say as she struggled not to cry. There was a violent ruckus going on in the background, but it wasn't enough to smother her words.

Naoko could feel her heart overflow with love for the daughter she hadn't realized she lost. It took everything the poor woman had to keep her words legible through the tears. "I'm so sorry, Mavis. I've been trying to come, I really have. Even before I figured out you were mine. I want to be there with you so much, it hurts!"

"… Why didn't you say anything?" she asked in a tiny voice. "Attach a photo to one of those quilts? In one of those notes? Something?"

Naoko closed her eyes with a deep breath. "I wanted to see your father Zing when he saw me," she admitted. "I wasn't sure he would, since a Zing only happens once. And let's face it; he is the most famous monster on the planet. He probably gets plenty of women throwing themselves at him, and I wanted him to take me seriously."

Her vampiric daughter gave a light laugh through her tears. "He Zinged just fine, and he steps over admirers when he bothers to notice them. Mom, listen; Uncle Frank and Uncle Murray are physically holding him down from trying to come to you."

Naoko gave a startled glance to her window even as her heart pounded at the idea of meeting her Zing after years of trying to make the first move. "He'd race right into the sun, it's already morning here!"

"I know. That's why I'm begging you to get on a plane right now."

Naoko opened her mouth to bring up her work obligations, but her voice box was refusing to cooperate. It wasn't that she hadn't been dying to do it for years, but as a grown adult, you don't just walk away from your responsibilities just because there was somewhere else you'd rather be.

Mavis didn't give up. "Mom, Haru's explained about your boss. You know he's going to get in the way again whether she's here or not. And even if we let Dad go to you tonight, your boss is bound to make taking you look like a kidnapping to invent a scandal, no matter how politely Dad asks to see you. Please. Haven't I been waiting long enough to know you?"

Naoko felt her resistance crumble like a sandcastle. It was one thing to tell herself no, but she had no defenses against that helpless pleading.

Switching her phone to speaker, she left it on the bed so that she could rifle through her clothes with one hand and use the other to close the blinds on the closest window. "You know? It might be a good idea to get out of here before the person he chases off gets too far. It would serve him right if he wound up having to do my schedule himself!"

Mavis sighed happily before calling out. "She's coming, Dad! Johnny, can you get online and make sure a plane ticket's waiting for her?"

"On it," a young man answered as a tapping sound was soon heard.

"Oh, and Mom?" Mavis added a little wistfully.

"Yes, Sweetie?" she asked while picking out a casual dress that would be comfortable enough for traveling and hopefully stun her Zing when they finally met in person.

"Thanks for the little sister. I've always wanted one, and Haru's perfect."

Naoko smiled, feeling her heart melt as she slipped the dress on. 'I can warn them about her suicidal tendencies later.' "I was hoping you'd like each other." She paused while slipping a pair of sandals on. Her lungs inhaled painfully as she tried not to show how concerned she was about the next question. "Does your father?"

Her vampire daughter laughed almost darkly. "Don't even worry about that. Just don't. I can hear him plotting from over here to spoil Haru rotten."

"It can't be done," an unfamiliar voice insisted before Naoko got the chance to say it.

Naoko paused again while shrugging on a jacket. "Who was that?"

"Um…" Mavis tried to answer uneasily, but a swift step indicated someone walking closer to the phone.

The unfamiliar voice answered in a British accent that was not going to put up with being questioned. "My name is Baron. I am the one that's going to be keeping Haru from getting herself killed from now on. She will likely do a good bit of yelling and throwing things at me when it happens, but at least she'll be alive to do it."

"Well, that's one way to get in her good graces," Haru could be heard muttering under her breath.

Naoko could feel her heart give a painful twang. "Did I miss out on both of my girls' Zings?" she asked, mentally begging to be told 'no'.

"I'm afraid so, Madam. The only thing marring this occasion is your absence."

Fresh tears falling down her cheeks, Naoko harshly grabbed what remained of her belongings and shoved them into her rolling luggage so she could zip it up. "I am so out of this dump!" she snarled, unzipping her bag for a second so that she could take a few swipes at her hair with a brush.

"It's all set up," Jonathan could be heard calling. "If she gets there within an hour, she'll be here by this time tomorrow!"

"Then I'm gone. I'll hold you to your promise to keep Haru out of trouble, Baron," Naoko informed her future son-in-law.

"I would be disappointed if you didn't. Safe journey, Madam."

The connection ended after that, and Naoko couldn't help feeling more relieved than annoyed. If her previous husband had gotten on the phone, she would have loved it, but the chances of missing her flight would have skyrocketed. Her heart pounded at the thought of finally getting to talk to him, but she inhaled a deep breath to calm her nerves.

"All in due time," she reminded herself. "Just like I can tell Baron later there's no need to be that formal with me."

She quickly used the room phone to ask the front desk to have a cab waiting for her downstairs before harshly tugging her luggage off the bed. She didn't want to take any chances of not getting to the airport on time. The woman nearly ran for the door, just barely remembering to grab her room key to check out of the fancy hotel.

Ha! It dared to call itself 'fancy' when it had nothing on Hotel Transylvania. But then, what could?

While wheeling her suitcase to the elevator, Naoko did her best to be both swift and discrete so as not to alert anyone to-

"Yoshioka?! What are you doing, checkout's not until next week!" a familiar voice called from behind her, soon followed by rapidly approaching steps.

The middle-aged woman didn't need to look behind her to see who it was. All she could do was force the hand dragging her luggage to relax in preparation.

Sure enough, her boss grabbed her by her free arm to yank her harshly away from the elevator she had nearly reached. "This is going to cost you, Yoshioka! As if trying to back out early isn't bad enough, Ami's been-"

Naoko would have died before admitting it to Haru, but her dear daredevil daughter hadn't inherited all her reckless behavior from her late father alone.

The sound of breaking bone was even more satisfying than she had hoped for. Naraku howled in pain but tried to muffle it by covering the lower half of his face with both of his hands. Despite his attempts to conceal it, a trickle of blood soon flowed down his chin to stain the collar of his fancy button-up shirt.

"How dare you touch me?!" Naoko yelled at the top of her lungs, both because she had already made it plain that she didn't appreciate his attempts to restrain her and to keep him from pulling a victim moment with security. "You are not my husband, not my significant other or my significant anything!"

Yes, it was embarrassing to note from the corners of her eye that a cleaning lady had stopped to stare at them, and she could hear more than one hotel door open curiously, but she didn't dare stop there.

"You are a control freak that has no right to decide what I do away from the office! I am five years late for a family reunion because of you!"

His red eyes went huge with disbelief, even his muffled moans of agony turning into a surprised gasp.

Naoko couldn't decide between a sneer or a devilish smirk, so she kept screaming instead. "You heard me! Those people you didn't want me to see? They're my family, and I'm sick of hiding the fact! You were not worth losing five years that I can never get back! I quit, I'm done, make someone cover me for a change! Count yourself lucky that my loved ones are so anxious to see me, that they're not likely to come after you for delaying me!"

It was about then that the auburn-haired woman noticed that an elevator had opened behind her, which made for an extra three witnesses to the incident.

Excellent. Anything to lessen the chances of a time-consuming lawsuit. Naoko grabbed her luggage and marched it into the elevator, making the teenage bellhop and honeymooners quickly scramble out of it.

Punching the button for the ground level, Naoko managed as wicked a smirk as she could manage for her ex-boss, still staring at her in horror.

It was the kind of evil grin that Haru would be proud of.

"I'm not saying they won't come after you," Naoko added with a deliberately uncaring tone as the doors began to shut the man out of her life forever.

"I'm just saying they love me more than they hate you."

xxXxx

So, was this as well-thought out as the longer ones? No. Was it predictable? Yes. Was it fun to write?

Absolutely. And that should be the point.

So I wasn't planning a cameo per chapter, I just wanted somewhere believable for the first chapter that would hire Lucy. I was planning her and Mina to be nurses at first, but then I decided to have a bit of fun with it, and then my sweet beta started giving suggestions that made the story that much better, so here we are.

Chapter Cameos:

Hatter's hat shop from Howl's Moving Castle

Sally and Jack Skellington from Nightmare Before Christmas (Don't tell me that doesn't become her last name at some point!)

Jareth and Sarah from Labyrinth

Scary Godmother and Hannah from Scary Godmother

Naraku from Inuyasha

The hat pin idea came from a post I saw on Nanenna's Tumblr page about women using their hat pins as weapons against creeps that didn't want to own up to being creeps back around the 1900s. 'Petticoated Swashbucklers', indeed!

Lots of love goes to; foxchick1, E-man-dy-S, NeonTheGreen, Anonymous, Momochan77, Ichigo Sanero, Sekaihatsu, Nichole, Ebony Mitsu, Chaosmaiden07, Mitsuki81, Hinami00, JadenFlame, sailor star rainbow, Rowena Bensel, and Ghost Wulf for their kind comments and reviews. You guys are awesome!

I would also like to thank LunarStar Princess Krystal and her mother for beta-ing this story on short notice. I know I've been inexcusably bad at thanking betas over the years, but I'm going to start doing better now. If not, every reader is invited to slap me with a fish until I remember my manners.

I now return you to your regularly scheduled story.