Dangerous Souls

Just a Little Green

Chapter 2-Emotion

"Wow, this is beautiful!" Mai gasped as she gazed at the scene before her. They were standing on a grassy field before a lake, where the stars' reflection glittered and danced across it. The moon was full above them, lighting up the area in a peaceful glow. She turned a looked up at the young man who had brought her here. He bore a very strong resemblance to her boss, but she knew it wasn't him. They were two completely different people.

"This was a place I was fond of when I was alive," Jin explained, taking her hand and bringing her closer to the water before motioning her to sit. The grass was soft beneath her as she knelt down, it was so easy to get comfortable there. "It was a nice place to clear my head."

"Were you young when you died?" She wasn't sure where the question came from, but she knew she had to ask.

"Younger than most," he answered, sitting next to her. If Mai thought he was going to elaborate on his own, she was wrong.

"How did you die?" Her hand whipped around to cover her mouth at her bluntness. How could she go right out and ask that? What was wrong with her?

But Jin merely smiled and grasped her hand. "That's a story for another day." He looked out to the lake.

"Aren't you going to show me something?" Mai asked, not taking her eyes off of him. His smile remained as he kept his gaze on the scene before him.

"Tonight I have nothing to show you," he said simply. "Only a visit."

"Oh." Upon seeing his face turn to her, she realized what she must have made him think. "Oh, no! It's not that I'm not grateful. I really am, especially since I've seen you so often between cases when normally I wouldn't, it's just..."

"Now, that you have a case, things would go back to the way they were?" His eyes were kind in the glow of the moonlight.

"Yes. No. Maybe?" Tongue-tied as she was, she really wasn't sure what she had been hoping for. A vision? A friend? Normalcy?

The truth was, Mai was confused. She had gone a year and a half with a spirit guide whose sole  purpose seemed to be to help guide her through visions. Then, thanks to events six months ago, she lost contact with Jin and for the most part lost her grasp of her visions. Now things were supposed to be, as Jin said, back to normal, but they weren't. Jin never visited her between cases. There were only a few times Jin showed up in her dreams during a case where he didn't intend on showing her a clue to their case. Jin was never so open about his life before now.

A lot had changed in a short amount of time for Mai and, honestly, it scared her a bit. Probably more than a bit. A wave of uneasiness wafted through her body as she sat there, trying to figure out what to say. For a long time she wanted things to go back to how they were before. Normal. But she knew deep down that things would never be exactly the same. So she was now starting to wonder, was this her new normal?

As though sensing her apprehension, Jin gave her hand a squeeze. "Unfortunately, I never seem to have anything to show you until just before you enter a dangerous situation. It seems that that part of our relationship hasn't changed," he explained, turning back to the lake. "However, since you locked me out several months ago, I've figured that with our connection repaired, I should visit you when you have your nightmares." His face became somber as he looked down. "I'm sorry you've been having so many of them. It's partially my fault."

"My nightmares are from my previous cases, not our connection being severed," Mai responded, perking up as she realized something. "In fact, I wasn't having a nightmare tonight. I wasn't dreaming at all. Jin, why did you bring me here? Is something going to happen? What's going on?"