Read AN at the end
Chapter 11- For All It's Worth
Mai sighed as she stared out the window of her classroom. It was August and school had started again. Mai was thankful because ever since she had returned from England she had felt empty. She couldn't explain why she left without saying good-bye to Naru. It just seemed to be easier for her heart to not have to face him. She looked up at the clock as it ticked and the teacher handed them back the quizzes that they had taken that morning over, believe it or not, English. Mai couldn't stop the smile that spread across her face when she saw that she had gotten an A.
Kim had called shortly after Mai had gotten back. The girl told her that they had found Rena and the woman was fine if not a little shaken up. Since the curse had been broken they didn't tell her the truth about why she was in the garden. Jonathon had apparently told her she had the flu. Kim said she thought Rena didn't believe him and Mai had detected a hint of excitement in the older girl's voice and asked what was wrong.
'I'm going to be a sister!' Mai chuckled as she remembered the excitement that Kim had said the sentence with. The English girl had kept Mai up half the night talking about baby names. Mai had given her congratulations and hung up. She hadn't asked about Naru or anyone else.
Ayako and Takigawa had come back shortly after her and visited her. They didn't talk about England. They had insisted on taking her out for her birthday and when Ayako had threatened to hog tie and drag her out anyway Mai had agreed. The rest of her summer had been calm with no contact from her former boss. At first her heart had been ripping itself to shreds until she just grew numb and stopped expecting the phone call she yearned for.
"Hey, Mai? You want to tell ghost stories after school?" one of her friends asked. Mai turned to look at her as her heart gave a small twinge. That was how she had first met him. Telling ghost stories and he had caught her. She could still remember that fake smile that he had been giving them. She wished briefly that she could have taught him how to truly smile but she quickly shook it off. That part of her life was over.
"No, I need to go job hunting! My boss moved so I need to find something else to do. Maybe later, okay?" Mai assured her friend and the girl nodded with a smile.
"Taniyama-san?" a girl poked her head inside their classroom at lunch and Mai looked up before the girl dropped a white rose on her desk. Mai looked up at the girl and she shrugged.
"A guy gave it to me and told me to give it to you." she explained before running out before Mai could question her. By the time lunch ended Mai had eleven roses, different colors and none red, and everyone was asking her if it was her birthday. Mai was as confused as the rest of her classmates as she had no idea who the 'mysterious man' was that was giving her classmates roses to give to her.
Mai slipped her walking shoes on and slipped her backpack on before scooping up the roses. Even though she had no idea who was giving her the roses she loved them nonetheless. Roses were her favorite flower, they smelled so sweet! She couldn't help but walk with a little bounce in her step before she slowed down as she reached the gate of the school. She shifted the flowers in her arms slightly so that she could tighten the strap on her book bag as it began to slide down her shoulder.
She didn't notice the shadow watching her as she walked out the gate. The figure looked down as his phone began to vibrate. He sighed as he saw that it was Madoka. He really didn't want to answer but decided that if he didn't she would be calling all night and that was something he definitely did not want.
"Hello?" he answered.
"Have you talked to her yet? What did she say? Did you ask her? Oh, give me details damn it!" Madoka screeched and Naru held the phone away from his ear before shaking his head and put the device back to his ear and mouth.
"No, Madoka, she just got out of school. I promise I'll call you tomorrow, now leave me alone!" he hung up and turned his phone off. If his parents had to talk to him they could wait. They had all been pushing him to this and he was going to do this the way he wanted.
'Gene, I hope you're watching.' he thought and inside his mind he heard something say 'I am'.
Mai exited the elevator on her floor of her apartment building. She searched her pocket for her key as she tried to not drop the flowers in her arms. She frowned as she realized her key was gone! She groaned before she heard a chuckle and she looked around the flowers and she felt her jaw drop open in surprise.
"Naru?!" she cried. He was leaning on her door with his arms crossed and she saw that he was holding a red rose between the fingers of his left hand. He stepped away from the door and neared her before taking the bouquet in her arms and replacing it with the single red rose with something taped on the stem and she realized that there were two keys. She looked up waiting for an explanation.
"One is the key to your apartment. You can take it and start a life that doesn't include ghosts, curses, spells, or me. One is the key to my house here in Japan. That life includes all the things you can walk away from." he told her and Mai blinked before looking back at the keys. She could feel her heart beating.
'These last two weeks have been hell on me. Take him, take the ghosts, Mai.' her heart was screaming. Mai fingered the key to her apartment as fear went up her spine. 'But I'm not brave enough to be with him.'
"I can't be with you, Naru. I'm not great or wonderful…I'm not the type of girl that you're supposed to be with." she whispered. She was about to take her key before his fingers wrapped around hers.
"You don't know my type, Mai. My type just happens to be you." he told her and Mai blinked before dropping her head.
"Say it. Say that Gene's death wasn't the only reason you protected me." she ordered him and Naru gulped.
"It wasn't and isn't the only reason I protect you. I protect you because you seem to have a sign your back that says 'Attack Me, Please'. I try to block it from the ghosts." he said and Mai giggled before she pulled her hand away from his and looked up at him and was surprised to find warmth in his eyes.
"Well, then…" she looked down at the keys again and pulled his house key off and she heard him inhale sharply. She dropped the rose and other key on the ground and took the other roses from him and also dropped those before wrapping her arms around his neck with the key trapped between her fingers.
"Why did you come after me?" she whispered softly before gasping softly as his arms wrapped around her waist and held her tightly against him. She saw his smirk and knew something was going to come out of his mouth that was going to make her want to kill him.
"Because you're the only person that makes tea the way I like it." he replied softly and Mai glared at him and he laughed before letting her go and picking up the flowers. He also used the key to unlock her door and led her into the apartment building.
"If that's the only reason that you-" she was cut off as he placed a finger on her lips and closed her door.
"Let me finish, Mai." he said quietly and Mai followed him to her couch as she waited and he took a deep breath. "My brother always thought I was an idiot. He never understood why I didn't like people. I blamed everyone around me for my real parents' death and it took me a long time to begin to care for my adopted parents. Gene…well he was completely different than me.
"He loved being around people. But then again he was always careful around them. Then he went to Japan and never came back. You told me once that I didn't understand what it felt like to die, to live through that. You were wrong. When I touched his shirt when I was in his room I lived his death through his eyes.
"I felt that car hit and I felt it when it backed up and hit him again to kill him. They dumped his body and that's the reason I came to Japan. He was my brother and he was all I had left. I had to find his body. Meeting you was never part of the equation." he said and Mai placed her hand on his arm and he looked at her.
"Humans are not something to be put in an equation. We are not predictable and you are no different than the rest of us, Naru. You have human tendencies because you are human. Gene knew that and at some point you knew that but you…tried to freeze your heart." she whispered and he listened before he reached up and stroked her cheek causing her to blush and he gave her a small smile.
"Mai, how on earth did you put up with me then?" he asked and she giggled before snuggling up under his arm causing him to blink in surprise.
"Because Gene decided to visit me in my dreams and pretend to be you. He was nice and kind and he was always smiling. You need to take some lessons from him." she said and he groaned as she socked him in the stomach. He covered her fisted hand as it rested on his stomach. He brought the hand up to his mouth and began to kiss it.
"Even in death he can't stay out of my life." he chuckled as he kept her hand pressed to his mouth. She tightened her fingers around his hand as she kept her head on his shoulder.
"Mai…" Mai's eyes fluttered open and she found herself sitting on her couch and standing in front of her was Gene. She wasn't exactly sure how she could tell the two apart but it just seemed right. She returned the soft smile that he was giving, which had tipped her off in the first place that it wasn't Naru. He seemed different to her, much more content that he had usually seemed.
"When I first met you I knew you would change him." he said and Mai looked at the floor of her apartment.
"I'm glad you had faith in me. Because I sure didn't. I thought…I thought he hated me and whenever he gave me a different type of signal he'd crush it in the next second." she whispered and Gene chuckled.
"Not a people person, he's already told you that. But I'm sure that will change." Gene predicted and Mai looked at him curiously.
"What do you mean? Naru can't change how he acts. That's impossible." she said and Gene smiled at her before he reached out and touched her cheek gently and she gulped as his fingers stroked her cheek.
"He's already changing because of you. He's needed someone like you for while now. I'm just sorry that I wasn't able to meet you when I was still alive." he whispered and Mai blinked before giving him another smile before he withdrew his hand.
"Will I ever see you again?" she asked softly and he remained silent for a moment before he shrugged.
"I don't know. The periods of sleep are getting closer together and longer as well. This may be the last time we see each other, I'm just not sure." he replied and Mai could feel tears in her eyes as she tried to not cry. She nodded and the tears came anyway when he brushed his fingers against her eyes to get the tears. She gave him a small smile before she slipped away from him.
Gene stared at where she had been sitting before down at the hand that had brushed against her cheek. He closed his eyes as the sleep began to claim him and he wondered if he would ever see Mai again. He somehow doubted it but then again stranger things have happened.
'Take care of her, Noll. Please take care of her.' he thought before everything went completely black.
Mai's eyes lifted open and she found that she was using something black as a pillow. She pulled back slightly and studied Naru's sleeping face. He looked so peaceful with his eyes closed and his hair falling into his face. She shifted slightly and reached up and brushed his bangs back and she smiled as he turned towards her touch. Her eyes dropped down to his lips and she felt her cheeks warm before she let her fingers lightly brush his lips.
'Go on! Kiss him!' her heart demanded and she took the advice and bent down and gently brushed her lips against his. She didn't expect for his arms to tighten around her or for his lips to start pressing against hers until he had stolen all her breath away and she found herself staring into heated blue eyes, a rather different look on Naru. A look that Mai decided she liked better on his face. She could feel her face flame when his fingers brushed against her neck.
"I see you finally decided to wake up." he told her and Mai sputtered angrily before she found her protest being smothered by his lips and she couldn't help but gasp at the shiver that went down her spine at the feel of his lips as they pressed against hers. She wondered where he had learned to kiss like that.
"Finally…" he whispered as he rested his forehead against hers and Mai must have made a sound that expressed her curiosity. She currently had no breath left in her lungs and couldn't speak. "Madeline kept kissing me when she was in your body and nearly drove me insane." he whispered and Mai frowned before deciding revenge was due.
"You didn't enjoy it did you?!" she cried as fake tears welled in her eyes. She thanked the heavens that her friends had begged her to take drama class. It was definitely coming in handy. She saw his eyes widen and she had to hold in her laughter. She was enjoying the fact that he realized that he had said the wrong thing.
"No! I mean, well, yes. No, oh, Mai…the only reason I would enjoy that was because it was you that was kissing me…even if Madeline was controlling you." he told her and Mai felt her cheeks warm. He was extremely out of character but for Naru what he said was the nicest thing she had ever heard. She touched his cheek before giving him a smile.
"If you wanted me to kiss you that badly you should've just told me." she whispered and he shook his head before reaching up and wrapping his fingers around her hand and holding it against his cheek.
"I suppose I didn't know at the time that I wanted that. I guess I just wouldn't admit it until I woke up in that hospital room and you weren't there like you always were and then they told me that you had left for Japan." he told her and Mai dropped his hand. "Why did you leave?"
"Because…I didn't know. I had to know if you were going to chase after someone that you had loved and lost…or if you were going to chase after me." she whispered softly and she gasped as he turned her head back towards him and she felt him wipe her tears away.
"I chased after someone that I'm falling in love with and almost lost them to my stupidity. I refuse to lose you, Mai." he answered and Mai blinked before a smile began to spread across her face.
"Naru…I love you! I love you!" she threw her arms around his chest and somehow ended up with her sitting in his lap as her head rested on his shoulder with her arms wrapped around his neck. His arms were firmly around her waist as he leaned back and he heard her breathing slow down into a steady rhythm and he knew that she had fallen back asleep.
"I love you, too." he whispered into her ear and she snuggled up against him as her arms fell away and he wrapped his arms around her tighter so that he wouldn't have to let her go. He watched her as she slept glad that he no longer had to worry about her being possessed and never waking up again. He kissed her temple as he weaved one hand through her brown hair.
'Take care of her, Noll. Please take care of her.' Gene's voice whispered inside Naru's head and the younger of the two brothers closed his eyes and a smile played on his lips as he sat there on Mai's couch in her living room.
"I will, Gene. I promise…I'll take care of her." he whispered before he also slipped into a sleep. Neither of the teenagers realizing that the next day they'd be awoken by a very angry Madoka barging in and screaming Naru for hanging up on her and Lin standing in the doorway trying to not roll his eyes. But at the current moment as they were asleep they really didn't care.
I don't want it to end!!!!!!! WAH!!! Alright, I'm done. I'm seriously thinking about doing an epilogue. I don't know...but anyway! Tell me what you think and thanks to all my loyal reviewers!!!