March

SPR Head Quarters

9:41 A.M.

The box would not fit no matter what I tried which wasn't much. I glared at the purple cast on my arm angrily.

'if I hadn't hurt my damned arm…'

The ladder began to shake violently and I lost my balance. There was a loud yell followed by a crash as the ladder fell into the pile of boxes. News paper shreds, paper, and files flew everywhere around me.

And where was I?

Right in the middle of it all.

Shaking my head I tried to pull myself out of the disaster zone but found it difficult using only one arm.

"Mai?"

I looked in the doorway to find a dark silhouette leaning against the frame with his arm crossed. His blue eyes searched the room the room with amusement.

"Hey Naru."

"What are you doing in the storage room?"

"Well," I started. "I was looking for a file."

He raised an eyebrow and studied my situation.

"And that is why you are laying down in the middle of the boxes?"

I huffed and blew a piece of hair out of my eyes.

"I thought you were a little smarter than that." I snapped.

"At least I'm not stupid enough to use the broken ladder." He snapped back. "What file are you looking for?"

I struggled to escape the boxes of doom but to no avail.

"At least help me out. Please?"

He stepped in the room and offered a hand out to me. I accepted it and was pulled out of the mess. I straightened my clothes and left the room in haste.

"I'll go make tea and set the boxes back up."

I hurried away to the kitchen and began to busy myself with the kettle. I felt someone approach behind me. A pair of arms placed themselves on the counter on either side of me, pinning me where I was. Something breathed down my neck.

"You avoided my question." He whispered in my ear.

The hair on my neck rose as I felt myself get very red.

'He's so close.'

I pulled myself together as I turned to face the smirking narcissist. He took a step back to give me some room but his arms remained where they were. It was his look that kept me pinned to the counter.

"Uh-well…I…uh… was looking for that one folder."

His eyes narrowed and I could feel them pierce into my soul.

"You're not a very good liar, Mai. You really suck at it."

I let out a flustered sigh.

"Okay!" I threw my hands in the air in defeat.

A satisfied smirk crept on the teen's face.

"I was looking for the Birthday decorations for Ayako. She wanted them!"

He stepped away from me holding a cup of tea.

'When did he…?'

"We'll be receiving a client any time. I expect the boxes to be restacked and tea ready."

He turned his back to me and retreated back to his cozy little office.

I let out another frustrated sigh and followed after him to my desk.

More files and paperwork stared at me angrily. My textbook sat open begging to be read. The storage room stood angrily demanding for attention.

The bells tinkled merrily as someone entered the office. I spun on my heel with a smile on my face but it dropped when I recognized the face.

"Hello Mai-chan!" Yasu cried cheerfully as he tried to sweep me into a hug.

I held my hands out and stopped him.

"No you don't Yasu." I growled.

His face grew blank as he shifted his glasses.

"My, whatever do you mean Mai-chan? I was just-"

"Causing trouble." I finished for him. "I know how you work."

An innocent smile played on his face and I dropped my hands down.

"Please explain," He grabbed my hand and closed the distance between us. "Mi amour."

With my free hand I grabbed my clipboard from behind and used it to whack him on the side of the head.

He instantly dropped my hand and distanced us while feigning pain.

"That was so not cute Mai!"

I gave him a victorious smile as I returned to the closet to restore some kind of order.

"Do you need help?"

Curious, I raised an eyebrow.

"You never offer to help Yasu."

"There's a first time for everything. It looks like you piled yourself down again. I'll be happy to file for you."

With that said, the college student took the files off of my desk and left to file them.

I turned back to the mess of boxes and began to stack them.

After a lot of digging and stacking, I finally found my box. I set it down on my desk next to the textbook. As I settled in my comfortable chair to work on my homework, the bells rang again. I stood to accept the client.

She was in her mid thirties and very well kept considering that she was a possible client. They usually came in looking like a mess. But her brown hair was pulled into a tight bun and her clothes were straight. Not a single crinkle ruined her perfect appearance. But the thing that did throw her professional appearance off was the exceptionally large baby bump on her stomach. It was her eyes, however, that told a completely different story. They held a sense of weariness and fright. They held no sheen of hope. The only thing I could do was offer her a kind smile.

"Welcome to Shibuya Psychic Research. I'm Taniyama Mai." I bowed respectfully to the woman then straightened up. "Please, be seated and Shibuya-san will be with you shortly."

The woman attempted to give me a reassuring smile as she took a seat on one of the chairs. I slipped into the hallway and knocked on Naru's door before I entered. I poked my head in.

"She's here Naru."

He looked up from his notebook and snapped it shut as he stood.

"Good. Prepare tea and get Lin."

I nodded my head like the good little assistant that I was supposed to be, and turned to the door behind me. I knocked and opened the door.

"We have a client Lin-san."

The Chinese man gave me a curt nod before I left. As Naru and Lin got set up in the meeting room, I slipped away into the kitchen only to find a rather nefarious Yasu- bent over a folder.

I chose to ignore his snickers as I prepared the tea. I finally couldn't take it as he suddenly busted out laughing as if I had said the funniest thing ever.

"What are you doing?!"

"Oh-tehehe-n-nothing."

I put the tea cups on a tray along with some fruit for the lady.

"That's not your normal tray." Yasu peered over my shoulder. "Did Naru-chan go veggie on us?"

"No, it's for the client. She's pregnant."

He stepped away from me when I grabbed the tray and turned to leave.

I served the tea to everyone and made sure I placed the fruit in front of the client.

"Thanks." It was a whisper but I had caught it.

"No problem."

Grabbing my notebook I sat next to Naru, ready for note taking.

"Let's begin with the attacks, Ms. Mazurka."

"Well, it's been going on for a while, but it started to get worse. A child's cry use to be heard on one floor, but now, it can be heard throughout the entire hotel. And before you ask," She cut Naru off as he opened his mouth. "I checked the roster. There weren't any children signed in and it started happening every other night."

I nodded my head as my admiration level for the woman had gone up a lot of levels.

"A piano will randomly play in the middle of the night, although we don't have a piano. Where the old elevator shaft once resided, you can hear a scream, as if someone was falling down it. The kitchen began to experience things as well. Utensils would start flying and the food would switch on us. The same thing with the laundry room. And right before the child starts to cry, the light begin to flicker and you can hear light taps sounding throughout the entire hotel."

I shot Naru a bemused look. He raised an eyebrow as he studied the woman.

"You seem to know the right details."

She nodded her head.

"I had to know what sort of information I should give you before I came. I even studied it hard before I came for help so I could be sure that it was a prank or a waste of time."

"Which was the smart thing for you. Tell me, how popular is your hotel?"

"It's very popular amongst the famous people. But have no fear. We have the proper security requirements to ward off cameras and reporters. It's for the celebrities to enjoy their stay. I will, however, allow your team in with the cameras and whatever equipment you need as long as you sign a privacy contract."

Naru caught his chin between his thumb and finger. The gleam in his eyes told me that he'd take it. Ms. Mazurka retrieved an apple from the tray.

"Leave the address and number for the hotel with my assistant. Have some rooms ready. We'll need two rooms for us to stay in and a room for us to set out base up in. We'll arrive tomorrow morning at nine."

We all stood and she thanked Naru and Lin as they returned to their office. She handed me some passes.

"Here is ten passes. I'm not sure how many people is in your team, but you will need these to get past the guards. They should have the address and the numbers that you'll need to contact me with."

"Thanks. We look forward to solving this case."

She gave me a warm smile.

"Me too. I want my child to grow up in the hotel as I had. I'll be due anytime."

"Congratulations. We'll see you tomorrow."

"Thank you Taniyama-san.""

The woman left with her apple and a new gleam of hope in her eyes.

"Mai," Naru called to me.

I turned to face him but found a tea cup held out to me. I snatched it away from him.

"Call everyone and let them know of the case. Whatever happens, Mai, make sure that Ms. Ayako comes along, got it?"

I nodded my head, and scurried off to the kitchen to clean the tea cups.

'Why would we 'especially' need Ayako?'

I found Yasu still bent over that damned folder. He was giggling like a giddy little school girl to no end. I set the cups in the sink and turned on the water when it came to me.

'I got it! We need her in case if Ms. Mazurka has her child while we're there!'

Yasu's laughter interrupted my thoughts yet again.

Frustrated I approached him and made a grab for the folder. Yasu yanked it away from me and grinned.

"Nuh-uh. You can't have this Mai. It's top secret. Only Madoka and I can see it."

"Wanna bet?"

I lunged for the folder but Yasu stepped out of the way.

I face planted the floor and laid there for a second.

"Oww…"

"Giving up already, are we?"

I pushed myself up off the ground and patted my clothes down.

"I have work to do. You might as well stick around Yasu. Naru accepted the case."

His eyes lit up like it was Christmas all over again.

"Really? We have a new case? Where? What is it? Oh do tell Mai! I wanna know!"

I held my hands up to silence the college student.

"You'll find out."

I left him disappointed and went to make the calls.

A/N: Hey guys, I know I couldn't leave you for too long. So here is my next story: A Mother's Intuition. Please, read and review. I know you guys are really good about it. I would also like to announce that I will shortly be going to Little Rock for one of the most important interviews in my ENTIRE life! It's an interview to see if I'm eligble for a scholarship. If they find me eligbile, I'll have a banquet with a whole bunch of people who were eligible, and get sponsered to go to Atlanta Georgia and recieve my scholarship there! IT'S SOOO EXCITING! I also came down with something rather nasty, so I wrote this whilst I was home from school. Ick. But do enjoy this. I promise to my fans who were dissappointed that Mai's and Naru's relationship didn't go anyways in the last stories that I wrote, something good will come from this. I PROMISE! Also, I'll post the link to my pics when my amazing friend crazylittlecheezer gets them posted! This will be a really good story, I promise!

Love forever and always, no matter what,

Jazzy! 3