To The One I Love: Please Remember 2 - Whom She Didn't Mean To Forget

TO THE ONE I LOVE: PLEASE REMEMBER

Summary: Memories can be taken away from her mind. But a part of her would always hold a memory of him that can never be taken away by anything. He just need to let her remember it—whatever it takes to do it. Sequel to "Just Once More"

Standard disclaimer applies. You are warned that the characters might not be in their usual selves (in other words, possible OOCness).

I know I haven't been updating this story for a very long time—literally. Honestly speaking, I've forgotten about all this. It's a really lame excuse, but I've been really busy ever since graduating from college and I've forgotten all about my fanfictions. Though I'm visiting my FF profile for a few times, all I'm doing was to check some PMs and such. But other than that, I'm completely neglecting this. For now, I've managed to update this story and I hope I could continue this until the end. Enjoy reading this chapter!

-x-x-x-

CHAPTER 2—Whom She Didn't Mean To Forget

Naru took off from the office in a hurry so that he could reach the hospital as soon as possible. But then he forgot one thing. He didn't know where the hospital Mai was in. Curse Lin for not telling him the location immediately but he realized that it was his fault, too. Wait, did he just admit that he made a mistake? Great! What the hell was going on with him? He needed to think first. The ghost had already went after Mai and accordingly, took something from her.

This time, he had to make sure no one would hurt Mai. But of course, he had to identify the ghost's identity first.

Probably the person that Hara-san mentioned could help me, he thought as he kept on running towards the nearest hospital. But then he halted to a stop when he remembered the conversation earlier.

"Where did Mai say she was when you called her?" Ayako asked as she faced him.

"A sweets shop called Angel's Smile," he answered.

"Isn't that the newly-opened shop just a couple of streets away from here?" John inquired.

If that was the case, then the nearest hospital that Madoka and her friend could possibly bring Mai was the general hospital on the southwest corner. A while back, he was heading west. With that, he started running towards the southwest corner. When he arrived at the hospital there, he was panting hard but he didn't care. Much to his surprise, Madoka was standing outside the hospital looking worried. She appeared to be waiting for someone, too.

"Madoka, what happened?" he asked immediately as soon as he caught his breath and approached her.

But before she could answer, tires screeching were heard behind him. When he turned around, he saw the rest of SPR coming out from the two taxis. They were surprised to see him there. Who wouldn't be? Lin didn't even tell him where the hospital that Mai was in and yet, he arrived there first.

"I guess that's what you expect from Naru, huh?" Monk commented with a smirk. Naru didn't say anything.

Naru faced Madoka. The other's faced her, too. The said person sighed before speaking. "I'll let Mi-chan do the explaining about what happened since she was the one who saw the events."

"Where's Mai?" Ayako asked, worries were evident on her face.

"Her room's on the second floor, west wing." Madoka answered before signaling them to follow her.

Naru wanted to run so that he could reach the place as soon as he could but Monk and Lin beat him to it. All he did was to follow them to where they would head to. They've all reached the west wing of the hospital's second floor. Both Monk and Lin stopped in front of a room where a woman—probably just about John's age—was busy sketching while sitting on a bench beside the door of the room. The woman with a long jet-black hair seemed to be immersed with what she was doing.

"Mi-chan," Madoka called out and the woman on the bench lifted her head. Soon after, the woman called Mi-chan stood up from her seat after closing her sketchbook.

"Madoka?" And then she looked around, glancing to each of them as if she wasn't sure what to do with the people near the room.

"Miss, is this Mai's room?" Monk asked Mi-chan, pointing at the door of Room 605. The woman nodded.

"You must be her friends." She then faced Madoka. "But Madoka, why did you bring them here? You know pretty well that Mai is in danger right now and I don't want any more people to get involved in this."

"It's alright, Mi-chan. These guys are working at Shibuya Psychic Research."

"So they're psychics, then?" Madoka nodded in response.

"It's been a long time since I last saw you, Satomi-san," Masako said that changed the other's focus to the medium and to Satomi. Both women smiled.

"Hara-san? So you work for them?"

"That's right." Masako's face went serious. "How's Mai-san? Is she hurt?"

"Well, not really. That wretched ghost didn't hurt her in a physical sense but…" Satomi's voice trailed off, not wanting to continue.

"She took something from her, didn't she? And from what I can tell, it was extremely important."

Satomi sighed and voiced out a reluctant agreeing sound. "Now I have to find out what it is before something else happens."

"Something else? What do you mean, Nishikawa-san?" Yasuhara couldn't help but to ask.

But before Satomi could answer anything, both she and Masako froze upon sensing the same ominous presence. It was then followed by Mai's scream resonating from the room the girl was in.

"Mai!" almost all of them shouted and Monk tried to slide the door open but the door remained stuck.

"I can't move it! It's stuck!" Monk complained but still tried his best to open it.

"She's controlling it from the inside. The ghost still wanted to take more of Mai's memories," Masako whispered but still, Naru and Satomi heard it,

"Stand back!" Satomi ordered and took a step back from the door. In one swift move, she kicked the door with all the strength she got right of its hinges. The SPR except Madoka and Masako were definitely surprised to see a woman (who obviously looked a little bit weaker than Ayako) do a stunt like that. The door collapsed to the floor and Naru entered without a word.

Naru's eyes widened when he saw Mai struggling to release herself from the ghostly hand that grabbed her feet. Upon looking around, he saw the room was surrounded (or to be specific, covered) with purplish black energy which he knew wasn't good. The scent which was expectedly disgusting started to get through him but he had to fight for it. Mai needed help and he had to do what it takes to help her.

"Help me!" Mai cried out and stretched out a hand to Naru while the others held on tight to the bed's headboard.

Naru wasted no time and grabbed Mai's stretched out hand. He held on tightly and determined not to let go of her. "Try not to let go of my hand, okay?"

Despite the fear, Mai still smiled before nodding. Though it caught him a bit off-guard, it only strengthened his resolve not to let her go to some ghost. Hell would freeze first before he allowed Mai to die in the hands of a ghost.

Before the ghostly hand could tighten its grip to Mai's feet, a shrill whistle was heard. It was from Lin, calling upon his shiki. Streaks of light passed by them and attacked the ghostly hand, slowly losing its grip to Mai's foot. A chant was then followed that came from Monk and soon after, Ayako recited the kuji loud and with intensity. The ghostly hand disappeared immediately as soon as the last name of the kuji was said.

The room returned to normal and the ominous presence that surrounded the place disappeared, as well.

"What in the world was that?" Monk asked as he approached Mai whose face was buried in Naru's chest. It was obvious that the brunette was quivering and they knew why. "Mai, are you okay?"

Mai lifted her head from Naru's chest and looked at Monk. She nodded after that. Ayako and Yasuhara helped her stand up. Lin helped Naru. The miko immediately embraced Mai when she knew that the girl was about to cry. It helped. Satomi approached the window and looked outside the building. She noticed that the people outside appeared to be unknowing of the earlier event.

The ghost must have created a pocket dimension of some sort, Satomi concluded but then she noticed a dark figure standing beside a dead tree. A white ball of light was still on the ghost's hands. Her eyes narrowed at the sight. You'll never get away with this! The dark figure disappeared in a blink of an eye. Sighing, she took something from her left jacket pocket.

The others soon realized that Satomi took out a dagger from her pocket. To their surprise, the woman stabbed the dagger on the window sill as hard as she could before closing her eyes and put her palms together. She then started to chant inaudibly.

"What is she doing?" Yasuhara asked.

"She's creating a barrier for this room. That dagger holds some holy powers that she can use for her to do it," Madoka answered.

"Even though she's not really a famous psychic, her ability is still amazing. That dagger can be compared to the tokkosho," Monk stated as he watched Satomi chanting.

"Holy tree that guards the ground, I beseech you to lend me your powers to protect this place from evil. Protect the people that believes in your powers and this sacred ground." A few more chants were recited before Satomi faced the others. "The barrier's already set. Make sure that Mai doesn't leave this room without any of us to guard her. Is that understood, Mai?"

The brunette nodded hesitantly and went to bed. But before she lied down, she faced her friends. "Thanks for saving me, guys. I'm not sure what will I do if that ghost got me."

"Anytime. You know we couldn't let you be taken by any ghost for that matter. I'm sure Naru thinks the same," Ayako said with a grin and winked at Mai.

Naru sighed and glared at Ayako. "Matsuzaki-san, I'm not exactly giving you the rights to say unnecessary things about me to others."

"Who said it was unnecessary? I'm only telling the truth."

The others just snickered upon realizing that Naru was starting to her obvious when it comes to his emotions. But the expression and the answer they got from Mai was completely unexpected. All of them—except Satomi and Masako—froze in shock when they heard it.

"Naru? Who's… Naru?" Mai asked innocently with a frown.