Everything was dark. Everything was silent. I looked around, trying to find something, anything to tell me where I was. There was a strange noise behind me, making me turn around. Nothing was there. I waited and within a few seconds i heard it again. I listened even more closer and realized that it was someone crying. Slowly i made my way toward the sound, ignoring the feeling that was telling me to run. My breathe caught when I found the source of the noise. It was a little girl. My heart started to race as I crouched down.

"Are you ok?" I tried to ask but nothing seemed to came out. I asked again but still nothing came out. I grabbed my throat, panicking. What was happening? Why couldn't I talk? Suddenly I was standing in a hallway. It was a long narrow hallway that seemed to go on forever. On the walls were pictures. They were of other hallways, or rooms that, I guessed, were somewhere else in the house. Looking around I saw a girl cringing in the hallway a few feet away. She was staring at the ground as she mumbled to herself. Just like before, her lips would move but no sound came out.

"DON'T LIE TO ME!" Boomed a voice. It echoed throughout the hallway. My heart started to race again. The blood pounded in my's ear. I put her hand to her chest, hoping to calm herself. The voice had had no owner; it had just come out of nowhere. There was also something very off with it. I wanted to leave, I wanted get out of here.

I took a step forward, hoping if I could find my way out of this hallway I would be able to find out what was going on. Suddenly I became dizzy and I fell to the floor. Sitting up I found that the little girl was standing there. I noticed that something was off about her. Before she seemed so innocent and lonely but now she seemed...different. Her brown eyes were glazed over and her whole body just seemed to be limp. My heart began to race when i noticed i couldn't move my own body.

The girl's lips began to move again. My breath caught when those glazed, hate filled eyes looked at me. Only one thought was running through my mind:

I need to get out of here.

Slowly the girl pulled a sharp knife out of thin air as she slowly made her way closer to me. A thousand thoughts flooded into my mind at once.

The girl stood over me, looking down at me with a smirked. My eyes locked with hers as she slowly raised the knife above her head, as if in any second she would strike. Suddenly the girl froze. She stared down at me, the knife in her hand. Slowly her grip on the knife started to lessen and the knife slipped from her grasp.

Don't move.

I watch as the knife fell to the floor with a thud. I looked up at the girl to find her staring down at me in fear.

"I'm sorry." She mouthed before disappearing into the darkness. I tried to calm myself as everything around me started to fade away.

"Don't disappoint me again or you shall regret it" echoed a voice. Somewhere off in the distance I heard the little girl start to cry again. In the darkness one sentence echoed throughout, leaving nothing but sorrow in its pass.

"I don't want to play this game anymore."

A loud whistle broke through the silence. Mai's eyes snapped open as she jumped up from her chair. She ran into the kitchen and pulled off the kettle as the bowling water started to overflow. Than, going to the cabinet, she grabbed two cups and placed them on a tray. She poured the water in them, before placing the tea bags in, and letting them soak for a while. Once they were down she grabbed the tray and walked over to one of the two doors in the office. She placed the tray on one hand before knocking and waiting. When she heard the smooth rhythmic typing stop she knew it was okay to enter. Opening the door and walking in, she found Lin looking at her. She walked over and placed a cup of tea on his table before taking the old one.

"Thank you." Lin said before going back to his work.

"You're welcome." said Mai happily, before walking out and closing the door behind him. She than walked over the other door and knocked.

"Come in." said a voice. Mai opened the door to find Kazuya Shibuya, or as she called him' Naru' at the his desk reading a book. He looked up at her as she placed the cup of fresh tea on his desk. She waited for him to say 'thank you' but when he didn't say anything, she sighed to herself before turning to leave.

"Mai." Mai stopped at the sound of her name and she turned around to see that Naru had not looked up form his book. She just waited for him to speak, but when stayed that way she started to get annoyed. He acted like he had all the time in the world.

"Yes?" Mai asked try to sound calm. She had a ton of filing to do, not to mention all the homework that keeps piling up from missing school. She really didn't have time for this. Slowly she started to turn and leave when he spoke. "I have a client coming in a hour. I would like you to have some tea prepared and a towel or two." When she turned to look at him, he was still reading his stupid book. Obvious he wasn't going to continue. Mai sighed to herself and walked out. What did she need a towel for? Its not even raining!

An hour later the client arrived. Mai was surprised to see that she was soaking wet. She got out the towel that Naru had told her to get, even though it took be forever to find them. Why can't they just be in one place and stay there instead of being moved around ever week or so?

Mai held out a towel to the soaking wet woman standing in front of her.

"Oh thank you."said the woman as she took the towel gratefully and started to dry her hair. She was a tall skinny girl with short blonde hair that now looked brown because of the rain."My name is Aki Takahashi. I called early and spoke to Mr. Shibuya."

"Yes, it's nice to meet you Mrs. Takahashi. My name is Mai Taniyama. Can I get you anything while you wait?" Mai asked taking Mrs. Takahasi's coat and hanging it up, before walking her over to the couch.

"Some tea would be nice. Thank you." she said with a smile. Mai bowed and left. She knocked on Naru's door, before opening it and slowly popping her head in. He was still reading the same book as before.

"Naru the client is here." she said before closing the door and going over to Lin's door. She knocked as he opened the door.

"Oh...um the clients here." Mai said a little confused. Lin simply nodded and walked passed. "Lin would you like some tea?" When he didn't answer her, Mai took that as a 'yes' and walked over to the kitchen to make tea. Mai heard Naru walk out of the office. She didn't bother to turn around as he introduced himself. She had forgotten to make the tea ahead of time. She knew he would probably be upset that he doesn't have his tea, but he could wait.

"Mai-" before he could finish Mai was already walking over to them with the tray, a smirk on her face. She was final able to get tea to him before he asked. When she set it down she stood there and waited for a 'thank you', which of course it did not come. Actually he seemed not to even notice her standing there. Mai quickly frowned at him and took a seat next to the client.

"What kind of activity have you been experiencing" he asked in a calm tone. The lady held her cup with shaking hands. She looked into her tea and said:"Disappearances. I run an Orphanage in Nishitokyo and in the past few months the children and staff have been disappearing. I called the police but they said they can't do anything without more evidence and I just don't know what to do anymore!" She placed the cup on her lap as she covered her face with her hands. Mai put a comforting hand on her back.

"Can you tell me about the people that disappeared? Was there a pattern with the disappearances?" Naru asked calmly. Mai shot him a glare that he completely ignored.

After she was able to clam herself, Aki lifted her head and nodded."Right before they disappeared they would complain about not feeling well. They would get a high fever and anything they ate wouldn't stay down for long. They would talk about a strange man. They said would see in the hall or a room or in their dreams. Either way he wouldn't leave them alone. We had done some research but-" Aki broke down in tears again. Mai tried to calm her but was interrupted by Naru.

"And how long is it after the staff and children get sick that they disappear?" asked Naru coolly.

"That depends." Aki said placing her hands around the warm cup of tea that sat in her lap.

"On?"

"I'm not sure. The longest was a week and she was one of my staff members. She was, I think, seven-teen. The shortest was a five year old girl. She only lasted a day." By Aki tone, Mai knew she was trying to hold back her tears. Naru had to help this woman. There was no way he was that heartless.

Naru sighed and said "You can expect us in two day. Prepare three rooms for us. Two for sleeping and one for a base." The woman looked up at him in shock. She nodded her head and watched Naru stand up and leave. Lin stood up and went into his office closing the door.

"Are you ok?" Mai asked as the woman stared at the spot Naru had just left. It took her a minute but she finally turned to her and smile. "Yes, I'm fine, thank you for helping me." She stood up started to walk to the door. Mai just stood there stunned. Her smile had seemed off. It didn't look like a normal smile. Mai was getting this feeling, that she had in her dream but she couldn't explain why.

"Mrs. Takakhashi." Mai looked up to see Naru leaning against the his office door frame. She turned to face him looking confused. To her, he looked pissed for some reason. "Did you ask anyone else to come and invesagate?" Mai stared open-mouthed at Naru. She couldn't believe what he had just asked that. He has never asked that so why would he now? And even if there was someone other group coming, he didn't care as long as they didn't get in the way. Before she could yell at him Aki said

"No, but I think my sister called in a friend of hers or something along those lines. She said something about her being a medium. Why?" Aki seemed just as shocked to be asked that question.

"And her name?" He completely ignored her question. Mai started to realize that he wasn't very happy about this. He glared at her waiting for the answer.

"Konta Higashi"

okay! this is like a tryout thing because i just realized you can do this but um i changed the issue from before n um...i hope this works

I don't not, under any circumstance, own Ghost Hunt. All rights go to the Author; Fuyumi Ono