Author's note: Ok, so I found a little mistake in Ayako's name so I re-upload this one chapter. There's nothing else that's changed so you don't need to bother checking on it again. While for first time reader, this is my first fanfiction ever so please be kind to me and give me a review about how I did in writing this. I'll look forward for your reviews! XD

Disclaimer: Ghost hunt is obviously not mine :P

Chapter One: The First Encounter

"MAI-NEE-CHAN!"

I literally jumped out of my sleep when I heard Kanoko's cry of distress. My head accidentally bumped into the low ceiling in the process. I cringed by the pain. Oww, what a great woke up call in the morning, I grumbled silently while gently rubbed my head. As I was trying to climb down the bunk, Kanoko and Seria barged in to the room.

"Mai-nee-chan! Mai-nee-chan! Please, hurry up, we need help!" shouted both girls as they ran to my bunk.

"Yes, yes, I'm coming. What is it this time?" I asked as my foot finally touched the ground. Without even waste a second for me to fully regained my consciousness, they pulled each of my hands and dragged me out of the room. "Whoa, slow down, girls! What's wrong?"

"I... I think we've burnt the kitchen..." answered Seria groggily.

"WHAT?" That answer had fully awakened me now. I picked up my pace, made the two girls running a little behind me.

"We're very sorry, Mai-nee-chan! It was an accident! We were just trying to make breakfast for everyone," said Kanoko. Her eyes were a little teary now. "I'm not sure what happen but the stove was kind of exploded..."

"Kind of exploded...?" I repeated in shock. What were they doing that could make the stove kind of exploded? I thought miserably. I ran my way to the kitchen in the first floor. The girls were following me closely. When I reached the kitchen door, it was widely opened and some kids were already gathering there with a horror look on their faces. The blaze of the fire and the heat had nearly reached the kitchen door. I was really terrified by the chaos when I finally spotted the care takers of the orphanage, Ayako-san and Bou-san. They were busy taking care of the crowd and the fire with some of the older kids. I immediately noticed Rein in one of the older guys who were trying to put off the fire. I walked up to Ayako-san.

"Come on, kids! It's dangerous here! Please go back to your rooms now!" shouted Ayako as she tried to keep the kids far enough from the door.

I told Kanoko and Seria to guide the younger kids to their rooms before came to Ayako-san. "What on earth have happened here?"

Ayako-san looked at me in relieve. "Oh, thank God, you finally here! Help me to get the kids back to their rooms, please! I'll explain later."

"Alright..." I said.

With the help of the older girls, we finally able to persuade the kids to go back to their rooms. Soon, the guys also finished putting off the fire. They were so exhausted, they just went lay off everywhere they could. The girls hurriedly got some wet towels for the guys to cool off. I got one and made my way to Rein, my best friend. He was leaning to the side of a stair nearby. He looked up tiredly when I reached him.

"Good morning, huh?" he said playfully.

I smiled and sat beside him. "A really good morning to you too," I replied as I handed him the wet towel. He took it gratefully and put it on his face. I brushed some ashes from his dark smooth hair before asked, "So, what on earth happening to the kitchen? I know Kanoko and Seria said that the stove suddenly 'kind of exploded', but still... How come a stove can just suddenly burst out like that?"

Rein snorted in please. "'Kind of exploded'? What a really good way to put it! Those girls, really..." He shook his head in disbelief before sighing tiredly.

I peered at him. "What is it? What's the matter?"

He took off the towel and put it on his head. "No... It's just... The whole reason for this incident to happen is because of the stoves in the kitchen are already too outdated to be used. But because we don't have the money, we cannot buy a new one. And then this is happened... I mean, we can't even afford some new bloody stoves, let alone to repair the whole kitchen!"

I giggled a little. "You use your accent again."

He blushed faintly. "Well, I am sorry for using my noblesse accent again to my precious modest friend, but I just can't help it sometime, so let me be!"

I laughed. "Sorry, didn't mean to. But still, what you've said is right. Now that this is happened we need to work harder to get money if we don't want this place to close down. We nearly don't have enough for daily living, I wonder what we can do to cover these damages."

We lost in thought for a moment before Ayako-san came to us. She sat down next to me, sighing. "From all of the places that could have been burnt down, why did it have to be the kitchen? Now we have to dig the ground just to cook the meals!" She complained rather randomly. Not that it's not expected.

"Wow, Ayako-san, you really have to see matters in the weirdest way possible, do you? I mean, digging the ground is not our biggest problem right now." Rein said disbelievingly.

"Well, my dear Rein, what is the point of worrying something that have been worried by every other people?" Ayako-san retorted. "That is so not original and it's useless. Rather spent your time to something more useful like checking out things that other people don't see."

"Like digging soil?"

"Yes, my dear. Like digging the soil."

I laughed at their useless argument. This was what I loved about this place. This orphanage. The people in this place were always at ease even in the worst situation possible. They still smiled, they still laughed, and they even joked around about the event without much sign of depression. This kind of atmosphere always succeeded in making me feel relaxed and at home, no matter how difficult our situation was. And this orphanage had been my home for 17 years now since I was thrown out by my real parents when I was still one year old.

I remembered Ayako-san, as the daughter of the founder of this place, was often play with me and teach me a lot of things. She'd already become a figure of mother or older sister to me who I adored so much and looked up to. And what I really admired so much about her was the fact that she's still hanging around, taking care of this place—which was really poor and broke down since the bankruptcy of Ayako-san's family business—while she could have married to some nice guy from a good family and lived her life peacefully like any other women her age—which, by the way, was forbidden to even be mentioned about, courtesy of Ayako-san—and leaved this broken down orphanage to the hand of the government. But once I'd mentioned about this to the very own person, she just waved her hand impatiently and said, "Are you trying to say that I should just leave this place in the hand of those irresponsible government rats who can't even differ kids and dogs? No, no, thank you very much. I still have enough sanity to not do that. Now, can you go to the market and get these things for me? I was about to go myself but I just remembered that I have promised little Jun to teach him basic math so I need you to go in my place, please." And that's the end of discussion.

Rein, however, had only came to the orphanage when I was 12 and he was 13 years old. Rein's family was one of the noblesse in the country but a tragic accident occurred to them and Rein was the only survivor. He was supposed to be the heir of his family fortune, but as what he said as "fat sly noblesse foxes" were becoming his godparents, he decided to just go off on the street rather than staying with them. A few months wandering the country and Rein found his way to this town before he then met Ayako-san's father and decided to stay in this place. He indeed was a carefree, high-prided, careless kid. He always talked as he like without a care about how other person would think of him. He always stayed true to what he feels and what he thinks, so much that sometime it seemed as if he was a stubborn fool. But at the same time he was also a very kind and playful person. He always thought about others first, especially the kids in the orphanage, rather than himself. He loved to act as the big brother of everyone and had a big responsibility consciousness for those he cared about. Probably that's why we could just "click" to each other since the first time we met. People often said that we had a very similar personality. We'd been best friend ever since.

"You guys sure have a lot of morning spirit here," Bou-san said—whose real name was actually Takigawa Houshou, but no one ever bothered to call him that anyway—as he was coming to our currently sitting place. He put up his usual cheerful grin across his face as if he was having the greatest day ever. Couldn't blame him though, for he had to take care of a huge fire since early morning while he usually had to stuck with taking care of the wild grass in the garden. This must be the greatest morning he ever had.

Ayako-san rolled her eyes as Bou-san approaching us. "And here come the troublemaker. Great."

"Aww, you don't have to be that harsh to your day-saver, right, Ayako-chan?" teased Bou-san with a wider grin on his face. Rein and I snickered to each other. It's already like a public secret that Bou-san had a crush on Ayako-san and decided her as his personal teasing target, much to her dislike.

Bou-san was actually a scholar whose family was acquaintance with Ayako-san's family, the Matsuzaki. But since the downfall of them, Bou-san had offered his help in taking care of the orphanage; mostly in its correspondences and administration. At first Ayako-san was reluctant about this, especially because of Bou-san's carefree attitude. But as he was able to quickly gain the kids' trust, including Rein's and mine, she became tend to let him do daily chores, and even sometime treat him as the man of the house even though she didn't want to admit that. Since then, their relationship had been the greatest love affair in the orphanage as the kids loved to mock them both.

"Don't be such a big-headed jerk just because you finally did something right for once, Takigawa-san." Ah, I forgot to mention that Ayako-san was the only person in the orphanage who's still calling Bou-san with his real name. A sign of her much disagreement of him, once she told me. She's now glaring at Bou-san with annoy. "Which is, by the way, a truly should celebrated event, I tell you—with that usual troublemaker attitude of yours. Seriously, it's driving me crazy sometimes!"

Bou-san gave a surprise look. "Mai! Rein! Did you hear that? Ayako was practically praising me without any hitting! Oh, God, today just couldn't get any better!"

Ayako-san blushed faintly. "I didn't praise you, idiot!" she cried as she tried to hit Bou-san's head. Bou-san laughed happily while dodging Ayako-san's attack across the hall. Everyone's now watching them and laughed at the scene. As I was watching Bou-san and Ayako-san running around with everyone laughing at them, I couldn't help the smile on my face. Suddenly I didn't feel worry anymore.

"What's with the smile, pretty lady? You seem so happy," said Rein, smirking at me.

"Shut up," I said as I elbowed his shoulder playfully. "I'm just thinking how lucky I am to be here. I might not be this happy if I were somewhere else, I think. I just feel grateful."

Rein smiled at me knowingly. "Yeah, I guess me too." He put his gaze back to the hall where everyone's now cheering for Bou-san as he jumped over a wooden bench while Ayako-san chasing him with her infamous feather duster now in her hand. I wonder who gave her that in the middle of that running. "And that's why, no matter what, I'm going to keep this place running. No matter how hard, no matter how difficult, I'm not going to let this place close."

I nodded, smiling in hope. "Me too."

Not long after, the hall was exploded with the cheer of everyone as Ayako-san hit Bou-san right on the head with a big "WHACK!" and a big satisfied smile on her face. Seeing how Bou-san's now rolling on the floor with exaggerated pain while Ayako-san's pouting on the sight but still with a slight worry in her eyes, I just couldn't help but laughed out loud.

I looked around the crowd surround me as I walk hurriedly pass the street. Where is he? I thought desperately while looking for any sight of Rein's tall and black headed figure among the crowd of the market street. He said we're supposed to meet in front of the butcher's shop since 30 minutes ago! Where could he be? Has something bad happened to him? I felt my stomach aching in frustration and my hands shaking. I tried to calm myself down. Don't be stupid, Mai! I said to myself. He will be alright. You're just over-thinking!

I continued my quick search around the market. My eyes never stopped scanning every faces, every figure that I passed; hoping that one of them would be Rein's. Suddenly my eyes spotted a dark haired figure among the crowd. Feeling relieved and angry at the same time, I quickly raised my pace toward him. He seemed to be talking to a tall, light brown haired man who was smiling at him as if that guy was teasing him. I pouted. Being caught up in conversation as always, isn't he! And here I am, worrying him for nothing!

"Rein! How long are you planning on making me wait aimlessly here while you're chit-chatting with some random guy?" I exclaimed angrily as I pulled him to face me. But instead of seeing an apologetic green pair of eyes, my eyes met with a surprised blue pair one. I gasped in shock. It's a wrong person! I realized. I quickly let go of my grip on his arm. "I-I'm truly sorry! I've mistaken you with my friend! I'm really sorry for my rudeness!"

The guy whom I've been mistaken with didn't say anything but just looking at me with his icy blue eyes—which, by the way, was really pretty; like a pair of crystal or something. It's not the time for this! I warned myself. I looked apologetically at him, trying to convince him how I am sorry, but he just kept on staring at me as if he was examining me. I stole a glance to the other guy, asking for help. He smiled widely and patted the back of the blue eyed guy.

"Come on, Naru. Don't scare the lady! She's been trying to apologize to you," he said while smiling widely to me. The light brown haired guy seemed to be a nice guy, but there's something alarming with his smile. The kind that might be unexpectedly pretty evil, I thought to myself.

Naru, the blue eyed guy, still with his examining look, finally said, "Don't worry. I think it's pretty expectable for you."

I frowned. "Excuse me?"

"Now, now, Naru, that's not how you should treat a lady," said the other guy while fixing his glasses. "Madoka will scowl you again if she saw you."

"It doesn't matter. She loves scowling people," answered Naru uninterested. "And it's not like this girl can be called a lady." I stared at him in shock. What a really rude guy! He threw one last glance to me before turning over. "Let's get going, Yasuhara."

"What? We're leaving? Why don't we help her first?" Yasuhara turned to me without waiting for Naru's answer. He put on his usual wide smile. "Are you looking for someone, Miss? Did you lose sight of him?"

I answered cautiously. "Yes. I'm really sorry for my earlier rudeness, but the person that I'm looking for has a very similar figure with that man. A tall man with black hair, even though he's wearing a very different outfit and has a rather darker skin tone." Now that I thought about it, despite his tall figure and his black hair, this Naru guy had a totally different appearance with Rein. His skin was too pale for Rein and he was wearing a very classy expensive looking outfit. Even his posture were so different, I wondered how could I mistaken him for Rein. Must be really panicking, I was, I thought to myself.

"He? A tall man with black hair, has a similar figure with Naru? That's pretty unusual..," Yasuhara mused to himself. "I don't think I've seen anyone like that in here. Would you like our help? We have some guards coming along with us. If you'd like, we can order them to look for him."

Guards? What kind of crazy rich people that I've encountered? I backed up a little. "Ah, no, no, no! It's fine! I'll look for him myself. Thank you for your offer, though."

"Are you sure? It's quite dangerous here, you know." Yasuhara furrowed his eyebrows.

I shook my head. "I'm fine. I live around here anyway. This place is already like my playground." I said with a shy laugh. Yasuhara and Naru looked at each other mysteriously. But before I could ask what's wrong, I heard a vague voice calling my name. I looked around and saw Rein's figure in the crowd, running towards me. I sighed in relief. Finally, that idiot! He'll pay for this! I grumbled in thought as I waved at him. I turned back to the two gentlemen before me and bow courtly. "Thank you for your offer, but it seems that the person I'm looking for has found me so I need to take my leave now. I'm very sorry about the earlier incident, but it is nice to meet you. Please excuse me."

Yasuhara smiled—a genuine smile—and nodded while the Naru guy just stared at me with a calculating look on his face. I just rolled eyes in my thought at his attitude. Whatever, that guy just has bad manners. Why would I care? I thought without care as I made my way to the waiting Rein. Oh, I didn't know how wrong I was…

So... that's it! I hope you like it! Please R&R~