Friday Afternoon June 16th

It was just another normal day at SPR. "Mai tea!" Naru yelled. "I'm know. I know." Mai said before beginning to prepare the tea. Once I finished the door opened and a middle aged woman walked in with a young boy and girl. "Hi I'm Mai Taniyama." Mai greeted. "It is nice to meet you Taniyama-san. I am Kaida Okamoto."

"Do you have an appointment Okamoto-san?" Naru asked startling Mai and scaring the kids. "Mommy I want to go home!" the girl hollered. "Why can't Marsha-onee watch us!" the boy wailed. "Marsha is busy she couldn't watch you today." Kaida explained to her children. The kids seemed to buy it but Mai and Naru weren't that certain.

"So Mrs. Okamoto why are you here?" Naru asked when they finally got the two kids settled. "Well you see I got remarried a few weeks ago. My new husband had a daughter of his own so we decided to move into a bigger house. We had finished moving in a few weeks ago when the occurrences started happening."

"The lights would go out and when we checked the circuit breaker there wasn't anything turned off and the other houses had power so it wasn't a black out. Akio began waking up screaming in the night and when we got there we found him covered in bruises. Knocking sounds are heard when my stepdaughter is the only one home. And just a few nights ago Amaya was almost hit in the head with a vase."

"Marsha-onee saved me." the girl said with a smile. "I don't believe it's a ghost but my stepdaughter convinced my husband that it was at least a possibility." Kaida said disgusted. Well someone doesn't like her stepdaughter much. Mai thought angrily. "How soon can you prepare three rooms for us?" Naru asked. "Tomorrow at the latest." the woman informed angrily.

Saturday Day 1

We pulled up in front of the house early in the morning. The home was two stories tall with a fairly large back yard. There was a singletree back there with a tree house, which had no windows or a ladder. The door was locked or boarded up from what we could tell. "Hi Mai." Amaya said as she came out from around the house. "Hey Amaya what's up?" Mai asked. "I'm playing hide and seek with Marsha-onee and Akio-nii. There hiding and I've got to find them." Amaya explained as she looked over at a bush.

Running over to it she smiled and said, "I found you Akio!" "Why am I always found first? It's not fair Marsha-onee's never it." Akio complained. "No you weren't found first. Marsha-onee didn't do a good job of hiding this time."

"Amaya you find him- oh I guess you did." a girl said as she turned around the corner. "So I'm not it this time?" Akio asked in excitement. "Nope but I am." she said as she lifted the boy up into the air causing him to squeal in delight.

"What are you doing to Akio?" Kaida yelled as she came out of the front door. "I didn't do anything Okamoto-san." the girl replied as she set the boy down. "Well then did you greet our guests?" Kaida asked.

"Guests?" the girl asked as she turned to face them. Her long blonde hair was tied back in a ponytail with two locks framing her face. Her bright blue eyes were framed with long lashes. What surprised them the most was that the girl was around their age. From the way Okamoto-san had said about her they had guessed the girl was at least under the age of ten or something.

"Oh I'm sorry. It's very nice to meet you. I'm Marsha." the girl greeted. "Well Marsha do you mind showing them to there rooms." Okamoto-san asked. "Yes." Marsha replied. "What about our game?" the little ones complained.

"I'll be right back out okay. Then we'll get back to playing. But while I'm gone you might want to find a good hiding spot." Marsha advised. "Right." the two answered before running around to the back.

"So which one of you is Kazuya?" Marsha asked when she turning her attention back to us. "That would be me." Naru said as he stepped foreword. "So you really are as young as he says you are." Marsha commented before leading us inside. We followed her down a hallway and she opened the door to a room. "I hope this will work." she said as she moved aside so we could enter.

The room was rather small but it would do. "Well if you need anything you know where to find me." she said before trying to make a break for it. "Actually I would like to ask you some questions." Naru said. "Oh sure. What do you want to know?" Marsha asked. "I'd like to know more about when your sister was almost hit in the head with a vase." Naru said.

"Well I was just coming down stairs to get her since she wasn't in our room when I went up. She was sitting in the living room reading one of the hundreds of books that are lying around the house. As I went to get her I noticed a vase that was a yard or two away from her head.

Since it was floating in the air and heading for Amaya I decided it would be a good idea to get her out of there fast. I ran to her and was just able to pull her away so it wouldn't hit her. It only missed by an inch and then shattered against the wall. But seeing as you spoke to my step mom already I doubt you'll believe me." Marsha muttered the last sentence and only Mai and Naru heard it properly.

"Well from what your step mother told us that you were the one who suspected it might be a ghost. How'd you come up with a basis for that theory?" "Well a friend of mine is really into this ghost's and supernatural things. So I told her about it and she thought it might be a ghost, she even asked one of her other friends and he recommended you guys." "Thank you. That will be all." Naru said. "Your welcome. Later." she said before running off.

"She's hiding something." Naru said. "How can you tell?" Takigawa asked. "By her posture. Everything she told us was true but she left out something important. You can tell because she was fiddling with her clothes." Naru said.

Sunday Day 2

"Did we get anything from last night?" Mai asked as she served tea. "No all the reading's came up negative. Although the living room did get a few degrees cooler last night." Naru informed. At that moment Marsha was walking by the room before breaking into a run.

Mai and Naru followed her as she began to run up the stairs before a small form collided with hers. Naru caught Marsha while she caught Akio who was crying uncontrollably. "What did you do to him?" Mrs. Okamoto demanded as she came to the top of the staircase.

"I didn't do anything!" Marsha defended as Kaida tried to take her son out of her arms. "No!" Akio said and held onto Marsha tighter. "You've corrupted him!" "I didn't do anything! He's scared right now. Even you should understand that!" the girl yelled. The woman raised her hand and slapped Marsha across the face.

Marsha stumbled back but didn't loosen her grip on her brother. Kaida stormed off in a huff and Marsha slid down the wall. "You okay?" Naru asked. "Yeah I'm fine. Akio you okay?" Marsha asked her brother. "I'm fine." he said while sobbing. "What happened?" Mai asked.

"I was walking by the stair case when I was thrown down." Akio said. "Akio where were you grabbed?" Marsha asked. "By the shoulders." he replied as she set him down. "Raise your arms." Marsha ordered and he obeyed. Marsha took the shirt off her little brother to reveal bruises on his shoulders in the shape of hands. "Marsha, Akio!" a man yelled as he ran in from another room.

"Daddy!" the boy exclaimed a little happier than he had previously been. "Akio your shoulders…" he said as Mrs. Okamoto came back with a first aid kit. "Akio why don't you go with mom?" Marsha asked the little boy who nodded and went to his mother. When Naru and Mai turned back around Marsha had disappeared and her father was left. Naru decided to leave and head back to base.

"Um Mr. Okamoto." Mai said. "Yes…" "Mai Taniyama." "Yes Taniyama-san what is it?" "I was wondering if Marsha looked more like her mother than she does you?" Mai asked. "Well to be honest I'm not that sure." "Huh?" "You see I adopted her from when I had a business trip in America. She saved me from being mugged." he explained. "So Marsha's an orphan?" "Yes that's right. When they found her the only she could remember were her name and a few other things."

Back in Base

"So Marsha is an orphan?" Naru asked. "Yes from America. According to her father she saved him from being mugged." Mai added. "We better keep a close eye on this girl." Naru said. "Why should we she seems normal enough." Mai said. "If she hadn't stopped her step brother from falling down those stairs he would most likely have been killed. The vase would have killed her stepsister. She has stopped two deaths from occurring so far. She might know something we don't."

That night

Mai's POV

It was bright outside; I was looking around trying to find Naru like I always did. "Come on Hiroko!" I turned and replied. "Wait Hiroshi! We aren't aloud in there!" Before me stood a boy who was about my age smiled and pulled me after him, "Don't worry Hiroko no one else is going to know." I gave up on telling him otherwise and followed. Hiroshi took me outside to the tree house.

Now the door was closed but there was a ladder there now. As we climbed the ladder inside were hundreds upon hundreds of guns. "Why would mom put these in here?" Hiroshi asked. "I don't know?" I said. "What are you two doing up here!" we turned around and I saw a very angry woman standing in front of me. "I told you kids never to come up here!" "But mama!" I cried. "No buts you disobeyed me. Now you must pay the price." She took up one of the many guns and pointed it at Hiroshi.

I woke up with a start. Looking around I saw that I wasn't in the tree house. What the hell happened here?