Hello my lovelies! I am sooo sorry for the long wait. Between college, work, and loosing the notebook where I write each chapter in my life has been hectic. Here's the next chapter. Don't worry I found the notebook and am working on editing the next chapter. Hope you enjoy.

Naru's POV

I sighed relieved that Mai had agreed to help. I was glad to have her back, but at the same time I was uncertain. Finding out that she had a soul mate already was hard information for me to accept though I wasn't even sure if I believed Orion's story. The entire thing seemed illogical, but then again everything that has happened since I returned has been illogical.

My first reaction to Orion's words I was that I should leave Mai alone, but I just can't stay away. I know that it would be unwise to have anything to do with Mai, but I can't seem to help myself. Having anything to do with her will undoubtedly lead to nothing but heartache. It's as if there is something pulling me towards her, an invisible force that keeps turning me around towards her direction. Hell, if she truly has a soul mate he should be here and since he's not I'll fight for her love. After all, all's fair in love and war.

Sighing I pulled out my notebook and started to document the day's events. It wasn't long before the phone rang shocking me out of my thoughts. Not wanting to deal with anyone at the moment I ignored it knowing Lin or Madoka would get it. I was only half listening when I heard Lin tell whoever was on the phone that I was in.

Lin knew me well enough to know when I wasn't in the mood to speak with anyone. I hoped that whoever was on the line didn't want our services any time soon because I suspected that our current case would take quite a while.

"Noll, it's for you."

"This is Kazua Shibuya," I said using my old pseudonym all the while cursing Lin. I didn't want the media to know that I was currently in Japan. I wanted to build up SPR's reputation without my fame's influence.

"A familiar voice floated through the phone, Dr. Davis, it's Mai."

Blinking I wondered why she would be calling so soon after leaving. I hoped that she wasn't calling to say that she changed her mind about working with us. That would hurt everyone more than her flat-out refusal to help.

"What is it?" I asked hoping that I sounded like my usual calm and cold self and not as if I was disappointed.

"Well aren't we in a lovely mood," she replied.

"Get to the point, Mai," I snapped not wanting to deal with this right now.

"You know what Naru it won't kill you to be nice from time to time. Anyway, I was calling to see if you could get Stephen to come with us on Monday. Something's come up, something big. I'll explain everything on Monday because I don't have the time nor the patience plus I don't feel like repeating myself."

I rolled my eyes at that statement as I could recall a number of times she's made me repeat myself. I didn't call her on it as I was happy that she called me by the nickname she'd given me so instead I said, "Sure."

"Thanks a bunch. I'll let you know tomorrow what my decision will be. Bye."

"Bye," I said as I hung up, in a better mood after speaking with Mai.

Looking up I noticed that everyone was looking at me expectantly. It was as if I had something important to say to them and I needed to start talking. What exactly they were waiting for I could only guess, but there was no way I was going to ask them. I knew that one of them would eventually ask me what that phone call was about, or whatever it was they were expecting.

I was surprised at how long they'd waited before someone spoke up and asked about their question. Looking at the clock I saw that it took them a whole five minutes.

"So, what did Mai want?" Madoka asked looking anxious. It looked like she too thought the same thing as I did.

Glancing in Lin's direction I saw that the man had the audacity to smirk as if he knew what had been said between Mai and I. Before I could say anything, Stephen walked through the door, looked around and frowned. Walking over he sat next to Gene much to Gene's dislike.

"Did anything happen after I life?" Stephen asked once he was settled.

Rolling his eyes, Gene shifted away from Stephen. I couldn't blame Gene for not wanting to sit next Stephen. The guy didn't have any concept of other people's thoughts and feelings.

"Not much. You'll be accompanying us on Monday," I said going back to my notebook and trying to ignore everyone.

"What? Why?" he asked.

"Because Mai said she needed to speak with you."

My answer seemed to irritate him because he snapped at me. "So, what? Last time I checked neither you nor Mai were my boss."

It seemed like Gene didn't want to deal with Stephen either as he snapped back, "It doesn't matter if either is your boss or not. Mai requested your presence though I can't figure out why, but knowing Mai it's important. She doesn't ever do anything without a good reason."

Shock was an understatement at what I felt at that moment. I'd not seen Gene snap at anyone, out of the two of us I was usually the one people consider cranky. I can't remember Gene ever snapping at anyone before.

"Fine." And with that everyone fell into silence.

The rest of the day was uneventful to which I was grateful. The day had gone so smoothly that I had been able to finish the work that needed to be done in the office. I decided that instead of continuing to work I'd go home.

Not wanting to deal with anyone I said I still had some work to do that didn't require me to be at the office. I didn't exactly lie, I did have some work that I could be doing, but I didn't feel like doing it which was unlike me. Instead I got home first and went to bed.

Something tickled the back of my mind urging me to wake up. Blinking awake I found myself in a room that wasn't my own. The room I was currently in was unfamiliar to me, but at the same time I recognized everything. I'd been in this room before, but I couldn't remember when or where. The room was moderately sized but sparsely decorated. Two bookshelves were next to the sole door in the room, one on each side, a desk sat in the middle of the room facing the door, and the bed that I was in was against the wall on the left side of the desk. There were no pictures or windows in the room making it seem more like an office than a bedroom.

While I was observing the room, the door had opened and closed without my knowledge. I didn't even realize that someone was in the room until they spoke.

"How are you feeling?" a melodic voice, that sounded a lot like Mai, asked.

Jumping in surprise my head snapped towards the desk. Mai was sitting on the edge of the desk observing me as if I'd break. There was something different about her and I couldn't figure out what it was. Instead of answering I watched her. This person was not my Mai.

She was dressed completely different from what Mai usually wore. She wasn't wearing the normal outfit of t-shirt, skirt, and tennis shoes or the outfit she wore the other day. Instead she wore a short, silver tank top like shirt that stopped just below her breasts and seemed to be skin tight paired with a silver skirt that looked like it belonged to a Native American warrior, though it had material that was longer in the front and the back so that it exposed her legs yet it covered her womanly parts without even giving a hint of it. She also wore what looked to be silver slippers and a satchel slung across her body resting on her right hip.

Sighing she stood up and approached me. Grabbing my face, she leaned her forehead against mine. "Daichi, please answer me. I know you're still mad at me for what I did two weeks ago, but I need to know that you're okay. You scared me half to death with that stunt," she whispered as she started to stroke my cheek and nuzzle my neck.

I felt myself sigh in resignation before saying, "I'm sorry Kayla. It was not my intention to scare you. I did not want you facing the enemy on your own. We thought that if we headed some of them off then we could have weakened them some. None of us realized that the group we cornered weren't scouts, but part of a brigade. I'm just thankful that no one was killed and that I was the only one seriously injured."

I noticed that I'd moved my hands to cup her face as I spoke. The moment her tears fell onto my hands I felt like a royal ass. Wiping her tears away I said, "Shh, it's all right, I'm okay. Everything's fine now."

She shoved at my shoulders trying to get away. In response I grabbed a hold of her shoulders and drew her closer and didn't let go even when she started to pound on the uninjured part of my chest. I wasn't going to delude myself and think that I was back to a hundred percent, we both knew that I wasn't strong enough to hold her to me so that she couldn't get away. Even if I was at tip top shape Kayla was stronger than any of us. If she truly wanted to break away from me she could have.

"Do you have any idea of how worried I was? I thought you were going to die! No one had any idea where you and your group were! Had one of our scouting parties not come across you all when they did you lot would have died!" she cried out while continuing to hit my chest. "Daichi, don't ever do something so stupid like that ever again! Promise me you won't."

It was then that I realized that this entire time she'd been calling me Daichi and I'd been calling her Kayla. That meant that I was living in the past as Mai's mate and not just dreaming. My heart ached at the knowledge.

I wasn't able to say anything as I was thrown into a different scene. This time I found Mai's caramel brown eyes, filled with unshed tears, were staring at me. Lifting my left hand, I ran it across her cheek. I'd obviously shocked her as she jerked back. Looking into my eyes she gave a chuckle allowing the tears to fall. Grabbing my face, she said, "Damn it, Naru, I thought I'd lost you. Don't ever do that again!"

Once she finished speaking she leaned the rest of the way down and kissed me. I was shocked at first and didn't respond, but gaining my composure I threaded my hands through her hair and deepened the kiss. Kissing Mai was pure bliss, it was better than anything I'd ever dreamed of.

It didn't take long for me to remember myself and end the kiss. Wiping her tears away, I gathered her in my arms where she promptly buried her face in my chest. "Shh it's all right. I'm right here, I'm okay."

My response seemed to anger Mai as she shoved at my shoulders. Tightening my arms, I didn't allow her to break away from me. In response to that she started to beat her fists against my back. I knew that if I'd let Mai go she'd walk out of my life and never look back, which was something I couldn't allow to happen.

"I hate you," she sobbed as she continued to assault my poor back. I knew that she didn't mean what she said, but it still hurt to hear the words. "I hate you! You almost died you jerk. How could you use your powers when there was no way I could've gotten help?"

This confused me until I noticed that we were within a forest. I found the place unsettling since I couldn't hear the normal sounds of a forest. Plus, I had no idea how far into the forest we were.

Once again darkness surrounded me. I was beginning to understand why Mai was constantly frustrated with her dreams. This time I paid attention to my surrounding, instead of pitch black I found myself in an exotic garden. There were a variety of flowers, trees, shrubs of all sizes and colors. Somehow, I felt as if I'd been transported to the land of Oz.

Walking down a path I'd spotted to the left of where I was I came upon these odd purple colored flowers. They were unique in shape reminding me of a trumpet, but the flower curled at the top giving it a slight pitcher affect to it. Though when I looked at it from a different angle the top of the flower looked similar to a shelf. They were beautiful and reminded me of Mai.

"Those are Calla Lilies," someone said from the left side.

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