Here's the first chapter of my Christmas story. I really hope you guys like and enjoy it, and I hope to get the end to you by Christmas. I'm hoping it'll be short, but fun.
Disclaimer: I do not own Ghost Hunt
Chapter 1: A Case in America
"Hey Naru, guess what Sunday is?" I chirped, bouncing up and down in front of Naru who was lounging in a chair. No clients had come in all day and we were simply bored out of our minds.
"What's that?" he asked uninterestedly, the boredom obvious in his voice.
"Christmas!" I shouted throwing up my arms in excitement and grinning like a fool.
"Yay," he retorted sarcastically switching his legs and taking a sip of tea, "Now go do some work and stop wasting my time."
I rolled my eyes. Flipping my skirt tail at him, I sauntered over to my desk acting like those preppy girls at my school. "Well, like, it's totally no fun if I've already finished it all," I said, sucking my teeth before switching back. I really did not like the way I just sounded. "Come on, we've got a client coming in a few minutes. Play along like you're a normal person please."
He sighed. He snapped his book shut, setting it aside before look up at me. "Fine, what are you doing on Christmas day?" he asked, tenting his fingers and watching me.
I grinned and plopped down on the couch across from him. "Well, if you don't pick up this case then I plan on going out with my friends that day around noon, but in the morning I'm going to be here to annoy you and in the afternoon I'll be with the rest of the gang," I explained happily.
"Don't you have a boyfriend to go out with?" he asked leaning back in his chair with an almost pleased expression. The funny thing was that I didn't think he knew he was wearing it.
Pursing my lips, I shook my head. "It's not worth it. All the guys at my school are either dicks or not worth talking to."
Naru almost grinned. "Don't you have guys that are friends?"
I grinned. "'Course I do," I told him.
"Then why not one of them?"
I laughed, "'Cause they're all dicks."
"Hey language, and what about me? Aren't I one of your guy friends?" Yasu asked from the doorway. He held the door open letting the snow fly in on a flurry of wind. It froze the tip of my nose.
I shivered, huddling in on myself. "You're not if you keep holding that door open," I threatened sneezing.
"Is there a reason you are here Yasu?" Naru asked, flipping his book open again. The blank mask was back in place faster than I could blink. "If you don't have any business here, then leave."
"Actually, I do. Mai, can I talk to you?" he asked motion towards the kitchen.
Naru's eyes narrowed at the page he was reading as I jumped up. "Sure," I said, "Naru needs more tea anyway. You darn tea addict." Naru only glanced up at me before glaring back down at his page again. His eyes weren't moving.
We traipsed into the kitchen. It was only after I had set the kettle on to boil that Yasu started to talk. "So, I know you're probably going to go out with the team and your friends on Christmas, but I was wondering if you would make time to go on…" Yasu started to stammer when a jingle came from the front room.
"Hold that thought Yasu," I said, hurrying out of the kitchen to find a foreigner standing in front of the door. She had the looks of a teenager, but held herself like an adult. She wore a pair of blue boot cut jeans on. A light blue blouse fit snuggly against her slender body with a dark leather jacket over the blouse. Naru was nowhere to be seen. He must have shut himself back in his office.
"Hello, may I help you?" I asked with a bright smile.
"Hi, I'm here to meet with Mr. Shibuya," she said with a bright smile of her own. Her accent was much different from John's, but she held that same formality that John used to have when he first came to Japan. Her voice held an accent that could only come from speaking English on a daily basis.
I smiled back. "Of course, please take a seat and he'll be with you in just a moment."
"Thank you," she said bowing before slowly walking over to the couches. Her high heeled boots clicked quietly against the floor.
I watched her for a little bit before walking quickly over to Naru's door. I knocked on it quietly waiting for Naru's response to come it. The moment I shut the door I broke down laughing.
"Mai, stop messing around," Naru ordered rubbing his forehead like he had a headache.
"I-I'm sorry," I giggled out pressing my hand hard over my mouth and sliding down his door to sit on his floor, "It's just that her speech is so formal and her accent is so thick. It's hilarious."
"What are you talking about?" he asked with a sigh, obviously having little patients at the moment.
"Oh, there's a client. I think she might be Australian, American, or British," I asked after a deep breath. I calmed down enough to would only giggle every other second.
Naru stood up and strode over to me. He stuck out his hand to me, pulling me up as if I weighed nothing and stepped into the main room of the office. Without another word he sat down across from the woman. "Mai, tea."
"Yes sir," I said with a salute, bustling off to catch the screaming tea kettle, "Oh wait, miss, would you like coffee or tea or water?" I stuck my head out of the kitchen door.
"Coffee please, if you have any. Black is fine," she answered, glancing over her shoulder with a small smile.
"Of course," I said, ducking back into the kitchen. Yasu still stood there with his arms crossed, leaning against the counter. He wore a contemplative expression. I grabbed five tea cups from the cabinet, placed them on the tray, and put water and instant coffee into one cup. I quickly dumped tea leaves in the kettle. "Yasu, do you want tea?"
He turned to me with a grin. "Sure," he said, moving back into the main room.
I poured the tea into the cups, and followed him. I set the tray down on the table, handing the cups out. "Here you go," I told the woman, holding out a cup.
"Thank you," she said in English, taking the cup and a sip. She turned back to Naru with the intent to answer a question she'd just been asked. "My name is Jessica Williams. Yes, I am a foreigner. I live in America and just came to Japan to get your assistance."
I was so proud of myself for understanding what she had said that I almost missed Naru speaking in English. "Why do you believe your home is haunted?" he asked. He had a strong British accent that once again made me wonder where he'd been raised.
"I live up in the hills. I know that's not a rare place for people to believe they're being haunted, but we're different. We just moved into the house about a year ago. We've had many people live there with us, but they usually leave because they get freaked out. Doors and windows always open and close by themselves, things get completely rearrange while we're out. All of us have had some kind of experience, seeing an apparition, getting locked in a closet when no one is around, hearing music playing when no one can play an instrument, you name it," she explained, sighing in exasperation at the length of the list, "The oddest thing is that if two people have any romantic feelings for each other they'll go through many situations. They only stopped being haunted when they finally get together or leave the house all together."
Naru was quiet for a long time. When Lin finally stopped tapping away at his keyboard, Naru made his decision. "We'll take the case," he said in Japanese, probably from Yasu and me. Yasu was looking lost. Languages were definitely not his strong suite even if he was amazingly smart.
"That's great," the girl chirped in English, "How many tickets will you need? We can only support up to nine people. I need the extra ticket to get myself back tonight. We can handle transport of your things too. We have something set up already."
"Nine," Naru replied, "We will have out equipment ready in an hour. When does the plane leave?"
"Midnight. I'll be back with the truck to take your equipment to the moving company in an hour's time. It should arrive at the house before we even touch down," she said in Japanese this time with a smile, "Thank you so much for taking our case so close to Christmas." She bowed quickly before hustling out the door. We could hear her give a loud whoop once the door as shut.
"Mai," Naru said.
"Yes?" I asked, gathering up the cups on the tray.
"Call the others. Tell them to pack for at least a week and to bring their passports. If they forget them, then they're not coming on this case. They need to be here before ten," he ordered, "Yasu, start get getting the equipment together."
"Yes sir!" both Yasu and I cried, saluting him until he disappeared into a back room that housed the equipment. Lin retreated to his office to gather the computers and monitors.
"Time to get workin'," I sang, bumping Yasu's hip with my own as I headed for the kitchen.
There you have it the first chapter of this story. The other story that I'm working on right now "What will you do?" is going to be postponed until this is finished which I hope will be Christmas. Anyway, hope you like it so far and review please :D