Ghost Hunt: Fox-Fire: Part 1

Fan Fiction by Fernin (yay alliteration)

Note: This work, unlike most of mine, contains no explicit nudity, no sex, and no profanity. It does, however, include some violence, mostly of a non-graphic nature. So if you get offended by PG movies, this is probably not for you. Otherwise, Read on, MacDuff. Oh, and I don't own Ghost Hunt. Obviously.

The bell's silvery, tingling tone cut through the mists. It rang once, jingling faintly in the gloom. After a short pause, it rang again. There was another short pause, and the bell rang for a third time. The sound continued, regular as a heartbeat—which, of course, is what it ultimately was. Mai Taniyama shivered, trying to get some warmth out of her school uniform as the bell continued to chime.

Mai stared at the small hump of raised earth before her. Something seemed horribly wrong about it. The ringing of the bell came from within, almost reminding her of sleigh bells… but the silver peals seemed more terrible than cheery.

It should have startled Mai to see Kazuya Shibuya standing next to her, but it seemed natural. He turned to look at her, dark eyes full of anger. Although it couldn't quite drown out the bell, the young man's voice cut across its ringing. "This is stupid. It's wrong."

Looking at the hillock and back at Naru, Mai shook her head. Her voice faltered as she tried to ignore the incessant ringing of the horrible bell. "No. It can't be wrong. It has to be done. There is no other way."

Kazuya laughed nastily, his cold face twisting into a tortured mask of a smile. "You think so? Listen to it. Listen to that cursed bell and tell me that it's all right. He should have listened to me."

The sound of the burial mound's bell seemed louder as Kazuya spoke. Mai turned back to the low, earthen mound again. She struggled to keep herself from retching at the sight of the awful thing. Something was wrong with it… very wrong. The ringing was slowing now, and the clinging mists surrounding the hill and the two watchers began to close in.

As the chime continued to falter, Mai looked to Kazuya for support—but he was gone. She was alone in the gray fog with the brown hillock and the awful, faltering sound of the bell. The ringing became irregular… slower… and suddenly stopped with a faint jingle. Mai screamed—

—And sat up in bed. Her alarm clock was going off. She groaned and swatted blearily at the stupid thing until she succeeded in shutting off the annoying beeping. In the hard-won silence she shivered. What an odd dream she'd had. Something about it seemed strange to Mai but it was fading now as she blinked sleep from her eyes.

Oh well… if the odd dream had been important Mai would have been able to remember it, right? Besides, she had more important considerations right now, because—Mai grinned—"It's summer vacation!"

For the next hour or so, Mai was a whirlwind of red-brown hair and youthful teen enthusiasm as she dressed and readied herself for the day. Aaaah, it was so nice not to have to worry about getting to school on time today! This was going to be great!

Mai grinned at her reflection in the mirror as she brushed her hair. She had so much time on her hands! She could take her time and get a good breakfast, and then drop by Shibuya Psychic Research and see if Naru—ahem—if Kazuya Shibuya had any jobs for her. Hopefully not for a little while… it would be nice to be able to enjoy her vacation for once. Preferably on a beach.

Pausing in her brushing, Mai sighed and kicked herself mentally. It was no use. She'd been trying to train herself not to call Kazuya "Naru," but the nickname just fit the narcissistic, distant cutie to a tee. At least now he wasn't giving her dirty looks for using it, so maybe he'd accepted that being called "Naru the Narcissist" was his lot in life. Well it would help if he wouldn't be that way all the time, but obviously that was too much to ask, hah…

Hmm, now what to wear… Mai had tried on the third outfit before she realized that she was primping enough to be going on a date. Geeze, it wasn't like she and Kazuya were… She caught sight of herself in the mirror. Was she blushing at the thought? She frowned at herself. "Mai, you're hopeless."

The prospect of a leisurely morning was interrupted as Mai's phone bleeped— "you're so vain… You probably think this song is—" Mai grabbed it up quickly and the custom ringer shut off. As she'd thought, it was from Kazuya. How like him. The text was a terse, "Job soon. Be here by 0830. Pack some clothes."

That was less than an hour from now. And she'd been hoping for some real time off this week, too. What was with Kazuya? Mai ground her teeth as she finished getting dressed. At this rate she would NEVER get used to his… his… "Argh! No more Mrs. Nice Mai! He's Naru! Naru, Naru, NARU!"

Kazuya—er, Naru—was his usual cold and collected self when Mai tromped irritably into the offices of Shibuya Psychic Research. He didn't so much as acknowledge the girl's presence, focusing instead on one tome among the huge pile of books on the table. After a momentary pause Mai cleared her throat noisily.

With exaggerated care Naru marked his place in the book and looked up. "You're late. We needed to get an early start."

Oh, how nice. Naru had given Mai so little time that she'd had to grab the first thing off the rack in her closet just to get here almost on time. So now she was wearing her school uniform. On what was supposed to be a vacation. Mai kept her building anger in check—mostly with a heavy dose of sarcasm. "Oh I'm sorry. I'll tell the trains to come faster next time. What do we need to get such an early start for, anyway?"

Naru handed Mai the printout of an email and went back to reading. Mai read the page. Hmm. Well, maybe this would turn out to be a nice vacation after all. "The Sea of Trees? I've never even heard of this place. So we're going to the beach?"

The look Naru shot Mai was… well, annoyed was a nice word for it. "We have a long drive ahead of us. Lin mostly packed the van before he left, so there are just a few things left for you to load."

Mai followed her boss' gesture to a huge pile of equipment boxes and felt her spirits sink. Some vacation this was going to be.

After what seemed like hours, the final box thudded into the back of the van. Surprisingly, Naru had started helping after the first few boxes—although he'd made some pointed remarks about some people not pulling their weight as SPR employees. Jerk. Mai wiped her brow and sighed. "Well, that was fun…"

Naru climbed into the driver's seat of the van and noticed Mai staring at him. "What? Get your bag and let's get going; we're barely going to make it before nightfall as it is."

"But you… doesn't Lin normally drive the… what about…"

Rolling his eyes, Naru made shooing motions with his free hand and started the van with the other. "Didn't you listen? Lin is visiting family in China. It's you and me. And I have a special license. Get your stuff and we'll go."

Wait. If Lin was gone, that meant that Mai would be… alone in the van with Naru? She felt a little flutter in her chest at the thought. Was fate playing games with- Naru's irritated comments broke through her reverie. "Mai Taniyama, stop standing there and get in the van."

With everything finally packed and both teens in the van, the slightly reduced Shibuya Psychic Research team started on their journey. The only sounds came from the bustle of the streets outside and the quite hum of the van's engine. After a few blocks, Naru guided the van onto a ramp and they merged into the thick traffic of the expressway.

Seconds turned into minutes, and still Naru said nothing. His gray-blue eyes were on the road, and his hands firmly on the wheel. Mai looked sideways at her young employer. Wasn't he going to talk at all? She hadn't realized how much her social life with the various psychics and paranormal experts came from the other people in SPR's line of work. Maybe… maybe Naru was waiting for her to say something? Boy, this was awkward. "Uh… so what job are we going to?"

Naru kept his eyes on the road. "You loaded those books, right?"

"How could I forget? My shoulders are still sore…"

The driver took one hand off the wheel just long enough to wave dismissively. "Then you have what you need. Read them. We'll have plenty of time on the drive."

Yeesh. Mai fumed silently and grabbed one of the books. The book smelled musty, and its yellowed pages crackled slightly as Mai began to read. "The Sea of Trees…"

As bland as it was dry and dusty, the book slowly picked its way through history. It focused on the events surrounding a remote and desolate tract of land that had once served as a highway and repeated battleground in Japan's warring, blood-soaked past. Mai yawned. This was heavy reading. She blinked away sleep and kept going.

There seemed to be no end to the fighting. Entire villages were picked clean of everything—grain and meat for the travelling bands of warriors and brigands, men for raw recruits, women for… ew…

Mai yawned again and shook her head to clear it. Something about the long and uncomfortably quiet van ride was sending her right to sleep. All right, back to the reading.

It was almost a relief when, according to legend, a vast and mysterious tangle of trees sprouted up virtually overnight. It was as if some god, tired of the weeping of departed souls, and reached out and unrolled a vast green carpet—a sea of trees—across the land. Suddenly, the bloodthirsty warlords found their paths to conquest or retreat blocked by a nearly impenetrable wild wood. And when… they attempted… to… pass…

The twisted, unnatural trunks of the trees stretched out of the mossy ground like the grasping fingers of an exhumed corpse. Vines and hanging moss dangled from gnarled branches, exhausted from fruitless attempts to climb into the forest canopy to drink in life-giving light.

Under the light-devouring layer of leaves, the Sea of Trees seemed simultaneously claustrophobic and infinitely large—like a maze inside some vast mausoleum with moldering remains around every turn. The air was dead, with only the faintest whispers of a breeze sliding slowly around the rough bark of the motionless trunks.

Through the twisting confusion of leaf-strewn paths stalked Mai Taniyama. Her steps were silent—the forest seemed to drink in the quiet crunching of leaves and dried moss under her feet. She smiled as she moved quietly through the wood, catching sight of her prey at least. The woods filled with an ethereal blue light.

Out of breath, the man turned and gasped. It was Naru, his face twisted into an almost unrecognizable rictus of pain. The blue nimbus surrounding Mai glinted in Naru's gray-blue eyes. He raised his arms defensively, crying out as the fabric of his sleeves began to smolder. "No! Get away from me!"

Mai found herself laughing as she stepped nearer to Naru. His skin was starting to redden from the heat as he took a few steps back. Mai growled happily and came closer still. After all, didn't Naru deserve it? Of course he did. The angry girl flared a brilliant blue-white. The ethereal light was so bright that it bathed the maze of trees and paths in brilliant blue light and jet-black shadow. Above it all, Mai could hear the steady, silvery jingle of a bell.

His clothing erupting into flame where the brilliant light touched it, Naru turned to run. Mai gathered her strength and—

—woke up. She blinked her eyes blearily. The red-orange hues of sunset were smeared across the darkening sky like the flames of a distant fire. Mai stifled a yawn and looked around.

The van was parked. Uh oh. She must have fallen asleep while reading… Mai rubbed her head, trying to remember the details of the dream that had seemed so vivid moments before. Something about fire, wasn't it? And the forest was in it too, right? Mai shivered, thinking of the horrible, claustrophobic feeling of the woods. It was almost like being buried. At the edge of consciousness, she could almost hear the sliver chime of a bell.

Mai shrieked and nearly fell out of her seat in the car when Naru's fist thudded against the side of the van. He looked at her with his usual condescending half-smile. Probably relished the chance to make her jump. What a jerk! "Oh good, you're awake. Come help me unload the vehicle."

Struggling to move her sleep-stiffened limbs, Mai climbed out of the car and stretched. Where were they? It seemed like the middle of nowhere. A far cry from the closeness of the Sea of Trees in her dream, this place seemed almost too open. Save for a decrepit two-meter wall next to the van, there was open space all the way to the edge of the forest about a half-kilometer away.

The sight of the forest—it was the edge of the Sea of Trees, Mai was sure of it—gave her the chills. She turned back to the wall she'd glanced at before. Wherever this was, it was in the middle of nowhere. The lengthening shadows grudgingly revealed a run-down house inside the crumbling perimeter wall.

Just how far away from civilization were they? Mai looked back. The van was parked at the edge of the winding, disused gravel driveway that must have stretched for kilometers to the nearest paved road. She could hear crickets singing out from every shadow, and the entire area seemed innocent of any electric lights. "Wow. This is the middle of nowhere…"

With a creak, the van door opened and Naru grunted meaningfully as he pulled out the first box. Mai sighed and turned to help her boss unload what seemed like unnecessary tons of gear into the decrepit house.

Amazingly, the additional weight did not break through the floor of the house or bring the whole structure down. Run down though it was, the surprisingly sturdy building held up even though it creaked oddly and when Mai least expected it—much like her back from all the abuse it had been taking. By the time she was done unloading the gear into a single room of the house, her nerves were jangling and her muscles ached. Lin was clearly some kind of superhuman to be able to do this on a regular basis.

On the bright side, with all the gear unloaded it would be time to go, and none too soon for Mai's tastes… Wherever Naru had picked for them to stay, their living accommodations had to be better than here. Far from city lights and away from electrical power for the first time in her life, Mai was almost shocked by how dark it could get. For the last hour she and Naru had been working using battery-powered lamps and the light of the van's headlights.

Mai was just wandering back to the house to look for Naru when the cough and roar of a small gas engine made her jump. As she looked around, dim yellow lights flickered into life in select areas of the decrepit old house. Oh, no. He wouldn't.

Dreams of a reasonably soft bed in an affordable hotel room somewhere were rapidly dissolving in Mai's imagination as she re-entered the house to find Naru carefully wiping engine oil off his hands with a rag. The young man was stifling a yawn as Mai entered, but quickly turned it into a cough when he saw her. It was almost as though he felt embarrassed to be seen as a normal human. "Welcome back."

Mai started to bristle at Naru's tone. What, had she been taking a nice walk around the house instead of lugging all these heavy boxes in? Before she could form a satisfying response, her boss continued. "What did you think about the case information?"

What case information? Oh. Oh. It was Mai's turn to feel embarrassed. That's right, the case information that she had been reading during the drive… that she'd probably drooled on when she fell asleep after less than an hour of reading. "Uh… That is…"

Naru's smile was warm and would almost have been disarming if Mai hadn't known him better. "Yes, I know. You seemed tired during the drive so I let you sleep…"

Was Naru actually being nice to Mai for a change…? Mai felt her hopes flutter.

"…After all, you're taking the first shift after we finish setting up the equipment. You can finish reading then."

Oh. Mai sagged. "No way…"

Naru continued relentlessly, ignoring his employee's half-hearted protest. "But to get you started, the realty firm that owns this land is convinced that some sort of spirit lives here."

A fleeting image of a maze-like, strangling tangle of trees and the guttering light of unnatural blue flames flickered in Mai's head. "Ghost fires… and attacking people in the Sea of Trees…"

"Good, you remembered some of what you read. From what Mr. Karasu described, the phenomena could be anything—we'll need the full range of instruments for this. Here's a map of the property; put the sensors at the locations I've marked." Naru tapped his still slightly oily finger on the crisp paper of a hand-drawn map.

Mai could feel her muscles twinging again in anticipation of further abuse. Oh good, the full range of instruments. That meant normal cameras, thermals, night vision… in short, it meant that Mai's sore back wasn't going to be getting much respite for at least another hour. Why did she put up with this kind of treatment? There should be a law. Pouring as much sarcasm into her words as she could, Mai asked, "And where will you be during this, Naru?"

Naru was already at the door before he bothered to answer. "I'll be setting up the second generator and the van as our temporary base until you finish here. If I'm asleep when you get done, wake me and we'll move the base equipment to this room. Run all your cables back to here."

Watching him walk slowly down the steps, Mai was surprised at how exhausted Naru seemed. He had driven for most of the day to get here, true… Or maybe she was just making excuses for him. Again. Suddenly angry with herself, Mai turned to the task at hand. She scrutinized the makeshift map.

To be honest, makeshift was an inaccurate description. Mai marveled a bit at the precise lines that covered the fancy stationery. Whoever these guys at 'Karasu Realty Ltd' were, they certainly knew their way around a pen. It was obviously hand-drawn, but could have been a blueprint, so carefully did it depict the house and grounds.

According to the map, the house was laid out in a very traditional style—which wasn't surprising, considering how old everything looked. Thankfully, most of the sensor sites were within easy reach of this room. The others, unfortunately, not so much. Several were completely on the opposite side of the grounds. Ugh. Well, might as well get the ones inside the house first.

By the time she'd set up the fifth and final in-house sensor package, Mai was ready for a break. She collapsed gratefully into a folding chair. Thank goodness. At this rate, it might take her all night to get the sensors set up. Maybe now was a good time to do some of that reading she was supposed to be doing. It would give her muscles a chance to relax, at least.

Mai grabbed the first book on top of the pile helpfully left by Naru. She made a face and discarded it. That was the same book that had put her to sleep the last time. Instead, she picked up a more recent report from the prefecture's forestry commission. Unfortunately, it seemed even less interesting than the history book on the area.

The report had little in the way of excitement. Instead of lurid descriptions of strange events, apparently supernatural sightings, and the like, page after page of the document provided statistics on missing persons in and around the nearby Sea of Trees. She came across several hand-scribbled notes or highlighted sections left by Naru.

Hmm, that seemed a bit more interesting. Naru saw something in the numbers and dry reports that the commission obviously hadn't. Disappearances occurred day and night, without regard for time of year—despite very large changes in the number of people thought to be entering the forest. Careful notes by Naru referenced another report—helpfully next in the stack.

This paper was a bit more what Mai had been expecting. It was filled to the brim with reports of spectral creatures, ghost light, and unnatural blue flames. A thoroughly used map was tucked into the folder with the document. On it, Naru had marked out the approximate location of every sighting. They formed a roughly circular pattern of dots… and at the center was a large "X." Naru had carefully written "BASE CAMP" next to the mark.

Mai felt the hairs on the back of her neck rising. It wasn't that she had realized that she was at the center of the sightings. Instead, something seemed oddly familiar about the stories. She should be able to remember it, if she could concentrate for a moment. The exhausted Mai yawned and massaged her temples, trying to focus. She was so tired, and after all, there was that stupid ringing bell… Wait, what bell?

With a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach, Mai realized that a soft, silvery bell had been jingling away for several minutes, just on the edge of consciousness. She checked the screens that she'd unloaded—but of course, they weren't hooked up yet. The dark screens mocked her with their inscrutable blank readouts. The bell rang again, repeating its melancholy song with unnerving regularity.

The quiet bell finally jogged Mai's memory. The dreams! Of course, the dreams… That's why the reports had seemed so familiar. Were her latent powers picking something up again? It couldn't be a coincidence.

Mai stood up, nearly jumping out of her skin as her folding chair clattered to the floor. She had to tell Naru! She had to get to some working instruments. More to the point, she had to get away from that awful, gut-wrenching bell. Picking up the folder, Mai turned to go.

The move brought Mai face-to-face with a foxfire. She froze. The glowing wisp of flame flickered in the air as it moved closer. Mai's breathing quickened and she took a step back. The ringing of the bell was getting louder.

Escape directly to the van was impossible. The door outside was blocked as more blue, insubstantial flames floated in the door and began to coalesce into one towering pillar. Mai didn't wait to see what would happen next. With a cry she turned and ran deeper into the house, papers from the report fluttering behind her as she dropped the folder.

Desperately Mai scrambled to get some distance between herself and the chasing column of ethereal fire. With that thing on her heels, there wasn't enough time to use a warding chant. If only she'd had some kind of warning…

Mai turned left at the end of the hall and stopped short. The doorway here had already collapsed. There was no way through. She turned to run through another door, but it was far too late. With the jingling, silver peals of the spectral bells ringing in her ears, Mai looked up to confront the almost man-sized blue flame.

The very air should have seared Mai's lungs. Her skin should have crackled with the intense heat of the blue flame—but she could feel only a cold breeze as the combined foxfires floated towards her. May held up her hands defensively. "N-no! Get away! Naru! HELP!"

Lurching forward, the flame engulfed Mai—and suddenly winked out. The deafening bell was gone. The horrible blue flame was gone. Mai was left panting and alone in the darkness of the decrepit old house. She sagged with relief. What… what had that been about?

Whatever it was, Mai definitely didn't want to hang around and find out. B-besides, Naru would want to know about it, right? Not to mention that seeing another person—even Naru—would go a long way towards calming her nerves right now. She took a shaky step back down the hall and toward the van.

The next moment Mai froze as she started to hear a faint, jingling bell. She started to walk a bit faster, looking around quickly to spot any pursuing spirits. There was nothing there. Except… something seemed off. She felt… wrong somehow.

Mai nearly screamed when her whiskers brushed up against an unnoticed piece of debris jutting out from one wall. She whirled, expecting to be attacked at any moment. Whew, it was nothing. Just a bit of wood from one of the supports that had fallen down; she could see it clearly in the dim light of the hallway.

Wait a minute. 'Whiskers?' And how was she seeing in what should have been almost pitch black night? Mai looked down. This time, she did scream. A thick layer of orange-yellow fur was quickly spreading to cover her pale skin. The flesh underneath writhed and twisted, at war with itself for its very nature.

Mai tried to run, but the unfamiliar new sensations from her body made her stumble and nearly collapse to the ground. She moaned and braced desperately against one wall as her face distended suddenly. Bone moved and stretched like wax in a flame, stretching and growing until the human girl's face was a narrow, triangular muzzle tipped with a wet black nose. Her heartbeat thundered loud in growing scoop-like ears that slowly rustled through the flailing girl's hair towards the top of her head.

The tails were the final straw. Mai screamed again in confused terror as tail after tail sprouted and whipped, tentacle-like, from the base of her spine. The white- and orange-furred new appendages lashed behind her, mirroring and amplifying her anguish. "Naru! Anyone! Help!"

With a near-inaudible whoomph, Mai burst into flame. Blue fire, strangely cool to the touch, licked across her twisted and transformed body. In seconds, Mai was completely engulfed in a melancholy blue glow. Aflame, she batted desperately at the fire. It was no use. Despite the fact that there was no pain, and Mai herself didn't seem to be burning, everything else did. Acrid wisps of smoke rose from her uniform, from the walls, the floor—anything she touched.

Mai staggered down the hall, awkward on her new paws and nearly blinded by the light of her own flames. Lit by the glowing touch of the moaning, fur-covered furnace of a girl, a trail of greedy yellow and orange followed the former human like the glowing tail of a meteor.

By the time Mai reached the 'base camp' room, it was already ablaze. The fire seemed to draw back as she approached, politely getting out of the way of her hesitant, stumbling steps. Still crying incoherently for help, Mai stumbled to the doorway. She could easily see the van in the light provided by the fires she'd started.

The sight of a familiar object gave Mai new hope that the world had not gone completely insane. She stepped onto the cool gravel of the path. The blue flames engulfing her faded with each step to a faint, banked aura of fire around her naked fur. She felt exhausted. Everything ached—even parts she hadn't had ten minutes before.

Mai was just about to call for help again when she ran muzzle-first into a cold, hard wall of nothingness that surrounded the van. She grunted in pain and fell backward, landing heavily on her tails. With a final moan and a half-choked cry for Naru, Mai blacked out. The nimbus of flames flickered and died, leaving the fox-girl lying motionless on the ground.