New Life

Coming Home Part 6

(Lin's POV)

     When we got in my car Mai turned towards me and asked, "Are you sure that your parents will be okay with me being part Japanese?"

     I looked at Mai and I told her truthfully what I thought "I don't know Mai...I have not told them anything other than the fact that you are a good friend of mine and that I met you in Japan, so don't worry until we get there." I said as I began to drive towards the exit of the parking lot.

    Once we were on the main road heading towards my parents' house Mai asked, "Lin can I turn on the radio?"

    "Sure Mai go right ahead." All I could think was as long as you don't put it on an annoying station. Once the radio was on I heard the classical music playing I sat there waiting for her to change it when suddenly I heard her humming in the back round following the tune of the music. When we came to a stop light I glanced at her from the side only to see her nodding her head and tapping her fingers along with the music while humming. I averted my eyes back towards the road and as I did so the light turned green.

     As I proceeded to go I asked Mai, "So you like classical music?"

     "Yeah I have grown up listening to it with my mom...then when she passed away, I started to listen to it more often because I wanted to have a part of her with me when I was at home, so I started to listen to classical music." I heard her say as I kept my focus on the road. Then she asked me, "Hay Lin how much longer till we get to your parents house?"

     "Not that long Mai..." I said as I glanced down at the radio clock only to notice that I had been driving for thirty minutes, "I say in another ten to fifteen minutes we will be there." After I said that I heard Mai sigh and I took that as an acknowledgement of the fact that we would be there shortly. As the miles grew shorter I suddenly saw the street my parents live on and I said to Mai, "Mai the is the road my parents live on." as I took the turn and began driving down the road.

    When suddenly I heard Mai say, "Wow, these houses are huge..." as we passed by the Hung residence. "I have never seen houses so big before this is amazing." I could tell that Mai was smiling as she said that and I could see my parents house ahead along with the empty house of Lau. As we got closer to my parents house I put my blinker on and pulled into their driveway and put the car in park.

     "Alright Mai we are here now in order to prevent any problems stay right next to me the whole time." I said as I looked her in the eyes and I saw her look at me and node her head in response agreeing to my rules in a way. Once that was agreed on I looked out of the front window in time to see the gates open and two attendants come out to my car before I opened the door, I said, "Oh and Mai don't speak unless spoken to I don't want any problems to start because many people here in China think Japanese people are not well mannered and I don't want to give them the chance to think that about you okay."

    "I understand Lin." I turned my head towards her only to see a sad expression on her face.

     "Mai I just don't want to give them the opportunity to kick you out of the house before I can explain to them what is fully happening to you right now." I said as I turned to look at her and placed my hand on her arm showing her that I am on her side in this situation. She turned and looked at me and sighed at the realization that this was all so she could say here and learn how to control her abilities she then nodded her head in agreement again. I then turned away from her and exited my car and quickly went to her side and opened her door and helped her out of the car.

     Once out she looked around and singled for me to get closer to her, so I brought my head down next to her and she whispered in my ear, "Lin there are a lot of spirits here, but they don't seem to be dangerous."

     I looked at her and said, "That is correct Mai, all of the spirits here will not harm you they are shiki, they are tied to my family and have sworn to protect them so don't worry about them." I watched as her eyes got slightly bigger at this information then readjust back to the normal size as her mouth formed a slight oh as if to signal her surprise. While we had been focused on each other the two attendants grabbed our bags and started to walk back inside I noticed this as I heard the trunk closed and the last attendant enter through the gate and stand there waiting for us to follow him. So I signaled for Mai to follow me, and then began to follow the attendant out of respect. I took a peak over my shoulder and saw Mai looking around and she walked in wonder at my family home. I remember doing the same thing the last time I came home because my parents had just finished remodeling the whole place. Just as I turned my eyes back in front of me, I saw that the attendant was holding open the door to the family room, I nodded my head in thanks and entered the room, followed by Mai and sat down on the sofa and waited for my parents to arrive. We had not been sitting there for more that two minutes when the door opened and in came my parents. At first they seemed happy to see me, but then I saw it turn to anger once they saw Mai.

     I quickly stood up and said, "Mother, father this is my friend Mai she needs your help, her life is in danger from her powers and she is scared that she might die the next time her powers act up."

     "Too bad you can take her somewhere else to train we will not have a person like her staying here with us." My mother snapped at me as her eyes squinted at me as if saying I was in the wrong for asking for help. Before I could say anything to my mother, I felt a hand on my arm and looked down just in time to see Mai look at me before her eyes went white. Without hesitation I turned towards her and caught her as she began to fall forward I looked at her and noticed that she looked as if she was in pain and out of the corner of my eye I saw my mother sitting there with her mouth hanging open at what she just saw. Then suddenly I felt Mai begin to shake, within seconds she was screaming and gashes started to appear across her body. With out a second thought, I pulled her into my lap and tried to wake her up with no avail. I pulled her top up slightly only to see another gash going across her stomach this time it looked a lot deeper than the one from the night before.

     As I tried to decide what to do suddenly Mai stopped screaming and moving all together, I began to panic at this because I did not see her chest rise or fall to signal her breathing. "Mai come on, you can't do this, you have to keep fighting you wanted to learn more about your Chinese ancestors and your mom's family you can't die now or you won't be able to do any of that, you won't be able to honor your mother and her family..." She was still not breathing as I said those words and out of shock I pulled back and brought my hand up and just as I brought it across her face I shouted "Wake up Mai you are not allowed to die." As my hand left the contact with her face she woke up panting as if she was out of breath.

     She looked at me and began to cry at the realization of what just happened to her, she tried to get up, but I held her to me and said Mai don't move your body is trying to heal, and the slight pressure I had put on her to hold her in place caused her winch and cried even more. As if by instinct I started to rock her back and fourth, which seemed to relax her. I looked up to my parents in front of me and saw that they were both shocked at what they were seeing. As I looked at them, they both seemed worried about Mai but before I could say anything they both got up and left the room, seeing this made me angry that they would not help even after what they just saw. Five minutes later the door opened and both of my parents walked back in and sat down.

My father looked me in the eyes and asked me, "Koujo tell me what other powers does this girl have?"