Disclaimer: I do not own Ghost Hunt, or any related material.

This is my first fic, so I apologize in advance it it's bad or some things seem to be off. Please review and tell me what you thought (e.g. anything that can be improved on, why it's bad etc.) Anyway, have a nice day! ~EE

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Chapter I ~ An uncalled-for guest

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Four people were in the SPR office. Two were arguing loudly and two were completely silent, one typing without a break on his laptop and the other sulking on the sofa. The door opened, revealing another person to join the (almost) unproductive group. Ayako and Bou-san stopped their arguing and looked expectantly at Mai. Seeing that everyone was looking at her, she thought they wanted an explanation.

"Ahh! Sorry I'm late! But I just came back from the hospital."

Masako scowled behind her sleeve at this point, not that anyone noticed. Oblivious, Mai continued on. "And guess what! The doctors said Naru will be coming back today!"

"Gah! I don't know what you're so happy about."

Everyone was too busy giving their opinions about Naru's return to notice the door opening and their boss stepping into the room. However, the icy aura that came with that person didn't go unnoticed. One by one, they all quieted down and fidgeted awkwardly.

"If you're here to drink coffee and talk, then get out."

A very awkward silence followed. Even Lin stopped typing to see what was going to happen. Slowly, the seconds turned into minutes. Apparently, spending a substantial amount time in hospital didn't seem to be able to cure his workaholic tendencies.

"You just got out of hospital, what you need is a holiday!" Announced Madoka who somehow appeared behind Naru.

Mai breathed a sigh of relief that Madoka broke the silence. Life slowly returned to the room, and the chatter started building up again. Naru could already feel a headache coming. Whenever that woman came, nothing good ever came out of it (Naru's opinion of course).

"Yo, where are we going?"

"We're going on a holiday you stupid old man."

"What did you call me?!?"

"We're going to an island all by ourselves, and it's quite far away, so we need to organize some sort of transportation there since the weather is quite unpredictable so there aren't any regular flights or ships there. The island also has a mansion in which we will be staying, and don't worry too much about the funding as someone's taken care of that already!" Madoka seemed to be more than cheerful this morning.

"Say what?" Bou-san asked, bewildered.

Naru looked up from the black portfolio from where he was recording notes. "She said," Naru rubbed his forehead trying to soothe his oncoming headache, "that we are going on a holiday, to a remote island. We will need to organize a transport there ourselves and that the funding has already been taken care of" Naru deadpanned. "I suggest we take a plane, going by ship is going to take too long," he added as an afterthought. His headache started to get worse. "Mai, tea."

Mai rushed into the kitchen, and started boiling some water while grumbling something that sounded suspiciously like "wouldn't hurt to say please once in a while" could be heard.

Meanwhile, Masako continued scowling (behind her sleeve of course) and Ayako and Bou-san continued their petty argument from before. Lin was just... being Lin. Madoka simply smiled at the situation and called Yasuhara, requesting his help with organizing. Half an hour later, Yasuhara was knocking at the door with the relevant information and everything organized. As soon as Mai opened the door, he walked in and started telling everyone what was happening.

"...so all in all, there will be nine people coming on this trip!" Yasuhara finished off, with cheering in the background.

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"Aww man, Mai's late again! Doesn't she ever arrive on time?" Bou-san had a hand on his forehead, striking what he thought was a dramatic/traumatized pose.

"Hmph! She just doesn't like being with you" replied Ayako.

"Hey, isn't that whatshisface from some fake research group?"

An arrogant man was spotted walking around like he owned the place, desperately trying to get some attention - he was trying to start conversations with anyone within his vicinity, starting off by saying how successful Minami Psychic Research Group was, and telling them that it was an honor to listen to him. It appeared that he was desperately trying to save his reputation that was destroyed when the imposter was revealed. Not that he had one to begin with. Because he was occupied with more important things, he was oblivious to the girl that was running, and proceeded to walk in the direction that guaranteed a collision.

"Ugh..." The girl made to get up after having an ignorant director walk into her.

Before she could stand up, Minami started squawking at her. "Watch where you're going kid! Do you have any idea that you ran into I, the famous Minami Reimei of Minami Psychic Research Group?!?" Minami decided to look at the girl and remember to ban her from his self-dubbed important lecture in two weeks time. Realization dawned upon him. "You're that girl from the Blood-soaked Labyrinth case aren't you? What's your name? Masaki?"

This time, both Mai and Masako scowled. From far away, the people who were watching the scene sweatdropped simultaneously.

"My name is none of your business. Have a good day"

Mai continued towards the rest of the SPR team, albeit at a slower pace than before. Ayako waved at her and Bou-san gave her a bear hug. John smiled and Naru immediately started scolding her, started being the operative word.

"You're late."

"Naru, this is a holiday. It doesn't matter if someone is late, right Mai?"

Mai didn't say anything, though she was thinking Yay! Madoka to the rescue! Masako didn't take this opportunity to smirk. She was still annoyed that Minami confused her with Mai, and got her name wrong at that. Truth was, everyone was irked at Minami's presence, having a person even more narcissistic than Naru around was the last thing they needed. Their group reunited, they proceeded to the plane they booked to the island. Which they still did not know the name of. Nobody noticed Minami following them and stowing away with the luggage as they boarded the plane.

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"Mai."

Mai looked up. This was one of the few times Masako addressed her willingly.

The only reason she asked Mai was because she seemed to have the same sensitivity as herself. "Do you get the feeling that we're not the only ones on the plane?"

Mai thought for a bit. Although she did feel uneasy, she blamed it on the fact that it was her first time on a plane. "Now that you mention it, I do feel a bit uneasy, but... it might just be nerves" she answered honestly.

"Never mind then. I'm just glad we don't have to see Minami again" Masako stared out the window, not sure if she should continue her conversation or not.

Slowly, everyone drifted off to sleep, thinking about how they were going to spend their holiday, except Naru, who was thinking of all the time that would be wasted (Madoka checked his luggage and removed anything work related).

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The pilot of the plane was not very experienced, it seemed and the plane landed rather jerkily, waking almost everyone up. Mai was sleeping, and from the looks of it, was having a nightmare.

"Mai, we're here. Mai. MAI!" Ayako grabbed Mai's shoulder and tried shaking her awake. The priestess breathed a sigh of relief as Mai woke up.

"Let's go inside first, it looks like it's going to rain soon" stated Yasuhara, and started taking out the luggage when he accidentally pulled Minami out by his ear.

"Eh?!? What is Minami doing with our luggage?" A very traumatized Minami climbed out and rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. He hadn't meant to be found out this early.

Yasuhara sighed. "I only organized this trip for nine people. If you wanted to come, then tell us earlier so we can reject you and save you the trouble of having nothing to eat for more than a week" he explained.

"Um... I don't think it would be nice to leave Minami outside, since we might be accused for murder, and we all share a mutual hate for him, so I guess it's okay for him to sleep on the floor right?"

"Of course John! Excellent idea! The floor is a very luxurious place, specially designed for the likes of Minami!" It appeared that Madoka still retained her sentiment towards the fraud.

So the group of ten people walked into the building, admiring the architecture and paintings. The building itself was very large, and had multiple rooms. The SPR team each took one for their own. Even though there were more than enough rooms, they still made Minami sleep on the floor near the kitchen (it's most uncomfortable there, Madoka had claimed). The group continued exploring the house after they dumped their luggage into their respective rooms. They discovered a music room with an out of tune piano, and later, as they made their way to the dining room, they saw ten small china figurines.

"Eh?!? What are they?" Mai did not know why but she had a bad feeling when she saw them. She looked to Masako to confirm the bad feeling. Masako nodded, looking at the floor, obviously distressed.

"Hmm, they just seem to be poorly made figurines of people" Bou-san observed.

"You are all idiots! Clearly, those are figurines dating back to the cavemen era when they did not possess the technology to make more refined figurines!" Announced the one and only, Minami Reimei.

Everyone sweatdropped at this. They did the most logical thing and ignored him, though Mai (who was in her must-kill-obnoxious-guy mode) was being restrained by Bou-san.

"Mai, you're wearing a skirt today" Bou-san teased.

"Sheesh. You're so desperate you molest young girls!" Ayako wasn't pleased.

"I wish that was me... I'm so jealous of Mai,"

The part-time monk let go of Mai and turned to Yasuhara. "You're playing with me again aren't you?"

Yasuhara just smiled angelically in return. "Why would I be interested in you?"

Bou-san started getting pissed off. Not that he wanted Yasuhara to be interested in him, but it was a serious blow to his ego.

Naru, who said nothing throughout the whole day decided to break his vow of silence.

"Hurry up. I'm hungry."

Naru's scary aura continued to expand until everyone agreed to head back. Ayako and Mai were nominated to prepare dinner (and was once again reminded that it was okay for Minami to go dinner-less, courtesy of Madoka).

Dinner was only sandwiches, since Mai and Ayako were worn out from the day. Sometime into dinner, Naru had enough of coffee.

"Mai. Tea."

Mai left to make tea and Ayako used this opportunity to ask whether or not they should question Mai about her nightmare. A few nods here and there told her that they should ask about it. After all, her dreams did save them more than a few times in the past. Mai placed the cup of tea in front of Naru, not bothering to wait for 'thanks' as it never happened.

"Mai. Ayako was telling me that you had a nightmare, what was it about?"

"Eh... It's nothing really, it was only a dream..."

"Mai." Cue the Naru glare.

"O-okay! I couldn't make out the person in my dream, but it was definitely a he. I saw him killing us," Mai started looking a bit hysterical at this point.

"Taniyama-san, what did the person look like?" John looked particularly concerned.

"It was very blurry, but that person had black hair..." Everyone instantly looked at Yasuhara and their boss, thinking which one was more capable of murder. They didn't come to a conclusion, as both were dangerous in their own way (though Bou-san was adamant in his belief that the murderer in Mai's dreams was Yasuhara).

"I am hungry!" Everyone chose to ignore Minami, though John looked like he was almost about to give in to the incessant whining. Almost.

"You know, this situation reminds me of a book I read." Yasuhara started, "there was this group of ten people who took a holiday on this island. Soldier Island I think it was called. Anyway, one by one, they were killed off. In the end, all of them were dead. Oh, and they were the only ones on the island, just like the situation we are in," Yasuhara grinned, "wouldn't it be funny if our holiday played out the same way as that story?"

"What was the cause of their deaths?" Masako was curious too.

"Ah... I don't want to spoil it for you." Again, the irritatingly cheerful grin surfaced.

With the exception of Yasuhara, everyone was indeed, creeped out, though Naru tried not to show it. Lin decided to concentrate even more on whatever he was typing. Madoka suddenly felt very concerned, having just remembered that they had no connections to the mainland other than supply deliveries, and that was only when the weather was clear. It certainly wasn't clear right now. Streaks of lightning could be seen outside, and the rain pounded against the walls relentlessly. The dull hammering and knowledge of the story Yasuhara told them dampened everyone's spirits.

Minami was starting to beg for food again, but he was drowned out by strange mysterious chanting. The wind was starting to pick up and the temperature dropped. It seemed to be a poem with bad rhyming, counting down deaths from ten. When it subsided, the lights turned back on and the temperature warmed again. Thoroughly shaken by this, the SPR team tried looking for the source of the chanting, but to no avail.

Lin spoke up, "Masako, do you see any spirits?"

Masako was perplexed at the situation. "There might be something paranormal here, but there are no spirits. Mai and I have a bad feeling about this though..." she trailed off, unsure how to continue.

Ayako, whom was considered a sister of some sorts to Mai tried to lighten the mood again, "it's probably just the weather, I'm sure everything will be fine later on. Hey, how about we go to the beach when it clears up?"

The two girls gave a feeble grin, complaining that they weren't feeling too well, and should get some sleep now.

Naru used this opportunity to end the cause of his headaches. "Go to sleep, we have a lot to do tomorrow." He had no idea how right he was.

Madoka didn't look too happy - it seemed her former student was still in work mode, so she took out her anger on Minami, "and if I catch you stealing food from the pantry or fridge, you have me to deal with. And don't even think about sneaking into one of the spare rooms or you have me to deal with. You will receive your daily cup of water tomorrow morning." Madoka was halfway up the stairs when she decided to add something, "Remember, I'm watching you," and glared for extra effect. The doors closed and one by one, the SPR team plus one un-wanted guest fell asleep, not expecting what happened the next day.

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