The Storm

To say that it was raining would be an understatement.

It was more like the heavens had opened and were chucking small oceans on the land below. Mai tugged on her raincoat hood as the wind threatened to rip it off.

"What is it?" She yelled to a scowling Naru as he approached.

"The others can't join us."

"What?"

"In this weather, you'd be mad to go on a boat trip."

Mai stared dismally at the heavy, grey waves. To go on a boat and not expect it to capsize was idiotic. And to chuck in a load of expensive, electrical equipment, was pure suicide. For the equipment, that is.

"So we can't go back either."

He shook his head. "We're trapped."

Mai groaned. They should have expected something like this to happen…

"What do we do?"

"Find somewhere to stay. Sleeping in a haunted house with just the two of us is stupid. Come on."

Mai groaned. She hadn't even wanted to go on the stupid, small boat in the first place. At least not with Naru.

The haunted house happened to be on a small island. And the only way to get to that island was by boat. And the boat just happened to be only able to fit two passengers plus some luggage. And it had just so happened that a storm had blown in very suddenly. And now the two of them were stranded. She groaned. If only she hadn't been press ganged into going with Naru, she'd be somewhere warm and dry. She scowled darkly, and then more darkly still when a particularly strong gust of wind threatened to knock her over.

"Where will we stay?"

"There isn't an inn here, the island's too small. We'll have to see if someone'll take us in."

"You're joking."

"I don't joke, Mai."

"Sometimes I wish you did." She mumbled, knowing he wouldn't be able to hear her through the howling wind and pounding rain.

"What if no-one lets us in?" Mai asked worriedly. Alright, it wasn't some people's fault that they didn't even have one spare room, let alone two, but the ones who slammed the door in their faces were plain rude. Mai could understand why people might be hesitant to let two complete teenage strangers sleep in their house for the night, but they didn't have to be nasty about it.

"The woman from two houses along said to try this one." Naru said simply, ringing the doorbell. They waited for a few moments, then the door opened. A tiny middle aged woman peered at them through the wall of rain.

"Hi, we've been stranded here and we have nowhere to stay. The storm means we can't get back to mainland. So we were wondering if you could put us up for the night?" Mai asked quickly, too cold and wet to be more polite. There wasn't a dry patch on their bodies, despite having been in the rain a grand total of an hour.

"Oh of course! Come in, come in."She ushered them into the small living room, where Mai and Naru breathed a sigh of relief at the fantastically warm air. They stripped off their dripping coats.

"Thank you!" Mai said gratefully. She and Naru bowed.

"I'm Taniyama Mai, and this is Shibuya Kazuya. You'll have to excuse him, he's not very talkative."

"Through here. My name is Isobe Kamiko. Why don't I get you some tea? Just sit here." She gestured to a table with stools surrounding it.

"Yes please."

The woman disappeared.

"So what next?" Mai asked Naru, who was sitting silently, as ever.

"I need to contact Lin."

"He won't be able to follow us."

"I know."

Of course he does, Mai thought to herself. "But then what will we do about the case?" She said out loud.

"We will investigate the house. Hopefully the weather will be better tomorrow so Lin and the others will join us."

"Er, with no equipment?"

"Unless you think I can magic some up from somewhere?" He said in a hard voice. Mai frowned. Apparently he was as unhappy with this turn of events as she was.

"Here you go." Kamiko appeared with two steaming mugs.

"I must point out that if you want to stay the night, I have only one spare bed." She said, looking at them over her own cup. Mai and Naru glanced at each other.

"This is his room." Kamiko opened the door. "It's clean and dry."

Naru and Mai peered in. It was rather plain. There was a bed in the corner, some empty bookshelves along the walls and a desk. There was a small wardrobe on the other side with a picture frame on it, and a bedside table. But there was no decoration.

"Thank you very much." Mai said again, wandering into the room.

"I think I have an old mattress somewhere. I'm guessing it's not common practice for work colleagues to sleep together, so if you would be more comfortable sleeping separately I can get it."

"Yes thank you. Another mattress would be good." Mai gushed, blushing madly. The thought of her and Naru in that single bed… It was not a train of thought she wanted to pursue.

Kamiko smiled and nodded.

Half an hour later the other mattress was in the room and sheeted.

"You can have the bed." Naru said, watching the mattress warily. He had helped get it down from the loft and it was hard as a rock. And he was sure there must be something living in it. The attic looked like it hadn't been disturbed for half a century.

"Ok. Thank you." Mai plopped down onto the covers. "Well I've already gotten wet enough for one day, so I think I'll wash myself tomorrow."

"I always wash in the mornings." Naru said, still inspecting the mattress. Mai stood up, dragged her suitcase to the bottom of the bed and opened it, rummaging around for her pyjamas. She became aware of Naru watching her and turned around slowly.

"What are you looking at?" She demanded, checking her suitcase to make sure nothing embarrassing was on view.

"You," Naru said flatly.

"Well could you not?"

Naru didn't say anything, but his gaze swept round the room. Quickly Mai pulled out the pyjamas; she didn't want him inspecting the contents of her luggage. Or even worse, passing judgement in his head. If she had known this was going to happen she would have made more of an effort with packing, rather than just tossing stuff in.

"Er, would you mind?" She asked pointedly, gesturing to the door.

"No." Naru raised an eyebrow, but left the room, closing the door softly behind him.

Mai fumbled with her clothes, trying to get them off as quickly as possible so of course she suddenly lost the ability to change. She pulled on her pyjamas and dived under the covers, pulling them up to her chin.

"You can come back in now." She called. The door opened and he entered. He smirked when he saw her wide eyes peering over the duvet.

"Are you going to cower under that while I get changed, or will you leave?"

Mai blushed and scampered out of bed, practically running to the door.

"I'll just.. go and brush my teeth!" She squeaked. In the bathroom she stared at her red face in the mirror. Why why why did she have to blush all the time like some overexcited school girl? She was supposed to be cool and collected, mature even, and she most definitely was not supposed to be acting like she still liked him! That was water long under the bridge. She frowned at her reflection.

Plus she had managed to pick her least attractive pyjamas.

She groaned. She really must stop thinking these things. Sighing she tied her hair up and put her face under the cold tap.

"What are you doing?" A cool voice questioned.

"Just washing my face." Mai said in as cool a voice as she could manage. Naru gave her a fleeting look of suspicion.

5 minutes later and they were back in their room. Mai practically jumped into the bed.

"It's not that exciting Mai."

She pouted."Just turn off the light, will you."

He smirked, but flicked the light switch, leaving them in pitch black darkness until their eyes adjusted. Mai heard the soft thump of Naru lying down, the rustle of the blanket as he pulled it over himself. There was silence for what seemed like an age, the only sounds were the howl of the wind and the pounding of the rain.

"Goodnight Naru." Mai whispered, unsure if he was still awake, and certain he wouldn't be able to hear her even if he was.

"Goodnight Mai." He said back, making Mai's heart stop in fright for a moment, before she relaxed and smiled to herself.

Naru awoke to the never ending sound of rain. He opened his eyes sleepily and stared at the unfamiliar ceiling. It took him a brief moment to remember the day before. He remembered where he was and sat up slowly. His watch said half six. He looked to the bed. Mai was still sleeping peacefully, her hair fanned across her face.

He lay back down, determined to get an extra hour of sleep, or at least a nap, but found himself looking at Mai. He watched her breath gently move her hair. He briefly wondered even if this was some sort of hint from nature, before remembering that he didn't believe in destiny, fate and such nonsense. Well, it was clear he wasn't going to get much sleep while she was asleep mere metres from him, so may as well do something productive.

When Mai woke up Naru was sat on his bed, back against the wall, studiously reading.

He watched out of the corner of his eye as Mai instantly reddened and then buried her head underneath the covers.

So they had shared a room. Mai wasn't sure to crow with delight or die from embarrassment.

"It's a bit early for you to be awake, isn't it?" She asked, somewhat muffled.

Naru lowered his book as she peeked her eyes over the edge of the duvet.

"It's only eight in the morning."

"Only eight? How long have you been up?" Her eyes widened.

"Half six."

"Half six?" She exclaimed, her eyes widening to breaking point.

"Yes."

"I'm sorry, but why?"

"I woke up naturally."

"So you've been sitting there watching me sleep for an hour and a half?"

He wrinkled his nose. Yes. And reading. "I wasn't watching you, don't flatter yourself."

"Sure…" Mai grumbled, secretly hoping that she hadn't done anything embarrassing like drooled or talked in her sleep. But if she had, he would have mentioned by now, wouldn't he? At least, Mai hoped so.

Her musings were broken by a timid knock on the door. Naru closed his book and went up to open the door.

"Good morning. Are you both awake?" Kamiko asked.

"Yes." Naru replied simply.

"You know where the bathroom is, I'll make breakfast downstairs."

"Thank you." Mai said from the bed.

Kamiko smiled and nodded. A few moments later Mai heard her go down the stairs.

Naru turned to her. "Do you want to have a shower first, or should I?"

"It's so nice to have young people around the house again." Kamiko sighed at breakfast. "I'm afraid that it's still raining outside."

"Will it have stopped later today?" Mai asked hopefully.

"I don't know."Kamiko said honestly. "Sometimes the rain doesn't last long. Sometimes it lasts for days. This storm looks quite bad. You may have to stay here a while longer." Seeing Mai's worried look, she added, "It's alright, you can stay here. I like company."

"Thank you." Mai said gratefully.

"So what are you doing on this island?"

Mai and Naru exchanged a glance.

Naru spoke first. "We're investigating the old house by the edge of the island."

"The haunted one?"

"Yes."

"Whatever for? There's nothing in it."

"It's to do with our work." Naru said, not very helpfully.

"Are you surveying the land?"

"No, we're ghost hunters." Mai explained. Naru shook his head imperceptibly.

"I've never heard of such a thing." Kamiko frowned.

"It's not a common job, especially considering many people don't believe in spirits and suchlike, especially in urban areas."

"Right…" They could see that Kamiko didn't quite believe them.

"So what's the best way to get to the house?"

Mai gazed up at the house. It was old. At least, it looked old, and partly overgrown. More like something from a horror film than real life. Naru tugged out a key from somewhere and unlocked the door. Mai shivered in the rain. The weather had still not cleared up, or even abated slightly. They were still stranded, without the others.

"I would say ladies first, but you don't fall into that category."

"Jerk." She huffed, stepping over the threshold behind him. "At least I'm not the first one into a spooky haunted building!"

Naru took off his hood, shaking his damp hair slightly. "At least the roof's fine." He said, switching on a torch and shining it upwards. Mai could swear she swore something move, just out of the way of the beam.

"It's really spooky in here." Mai said, feeling the need to whisper. It felt like they were disturbing something… Like in those films set in ancient temples. Except she doubted that the rickety stairs could cope with a massive boulder rolling down it.

"It's a haunted, abandoned house Mai. It's practically meant to be spooky." He snorted.

"I know, but it still gives me the creeps."

"You get spooked out far too easily. Come on."

"Wait… we're going further in?" Mai asked, giving a longing look towards the door.

"Of course."

Naru walked forwards, towards a doorway, and Mai crept after him, keeping close. He could barely believe that she was still that scared after all this time. She was practically 18! She bumped into him when he stopped.

"…Naru?"

"No need to whisper."

"Sorry." She whispered. Then, "Why did you stop?"

"No reason."

He swung the beam around the room. Spiders scuttled out of its bright light, obviously upset at the intrusion.

"Spiders." Mai whispered with a note of despair in her voice.

"Only to be expected."

"I hate spiders."

"They don't eat people."

"I know. But they look so creepy. With their legs and eyes and urgh." She shivered. Naru wondered briefly if she enjoyed being frightened.

"And you don't get poisonous ones in this country. Or ones larger than your hand. You've got nothing to fear."

"They still creep me out. Eurgh." She gave the door another wistful look. The dust was so heavy; she could see their footprints in it, from the door to where they were standing. Her eyes widened.

"Naru, look." He turned.

"What?"

"Look, over there. In the dust." She pointed.

He swung the torch over to where she was pointing. It was clearly highlighted in the bright light.

Another pair of footprints in the dust.

Mai looked up, and for a brief moment, she swore that she could see a figure watching them.

New story! Very exciting! Don't worry, we will try to update the others too, though we have been rather slow recently. Too many responsibilities :/ though mainly my fault, I have to apologise. A-levels are not so fun come exam time :( and ladies, guys are not worth it! They just give you stress!

Sincerely,

O