I'm back for what I believe with be the final installment of my "Hidden" series, "Hungering". Sorry about that major cliffy from "Hunted", but you know, I'm just a jerk like that. I know this chapter is really short, but it's just getting a few plot ideas I have in mind rolling for now that you won't find out about for a long time. Next chapter will be much, much longer. We'll jump right in with a client and dream.

Disclaimer: I do not own Ghost Hunt in any way, shape or form.

Chapter 1: Stories

"Once upon a time, there was a princess who lived high, high, high up in a tall tower overlooking the most beautiful valley you could ever imagine," Naru began softly. He lay on his side, facing Tamaki and Kamin. His eyes were closed, his head resting on his hand. His eyelids already felt heavy, despite the seemingly uneventful day at the office, but lately, that's how it had been. For months now, he'd been sleeping with the twins in his and Mai's bed, falling asleep when they did without much preamble.

Gene, presently residing in Mai's body, was taking the twin sized mattress in the twin's room. He bumped around the room quietly, typing up a log on the laptop he'd stolen from Lin's office, recording a short video or having fun discovering new things about a world he hadn't really been a part of for several years.

Tonight was no different. As Gene stumbled around the room, Naru recounted the princess tale to the twins adding his0 and their own twists into the story. Somehow, over the course of the many nights of retelling, it had become about a girl very much like Mai befriend the ghost knocking around her closet at night and frightening her while she cooked. The only difference was that Gene was being about ten times louder than he usually was, making it nearly impossible for the three to drop off to sleep, no matter how tired they were.

"Daddy, what is Daddy Gene doing?" Kamin asked, yawning loudly. She pulled the small brown otter that Gene had given her closer to her chest. It reminded her of Mai.

"He's being really loud," Tamaki finished, holding the tail of the otter in a small fist, yawning with Kamin.

Naru yawned along with the pair, holding a hand over his mouth. With effort, he managed to pull his eyelids up to blink slowly at them. "I don't know," he sighed truthfully, trying to find the motivation to push himself up. "I'll go check, alright. For now, why don't the two of you try to make up a new story?"

The two nodded their agreement, but he could already tell that they would have drifted well off into the land of dreams by the time he returned.

Groaning, his pushed himself up, slinging his legs over the side of the bed. His bare feet touched the floor, sending shivers rocketing up his spine. He shuffled for the door, pulling it open and shutting it as quietly as possible.

"What are you doing in here?" he asked, annoyance clear in his voice as he shoved open the door to the twin's currently occupied room. He frowned, staring down at his twin-in-his-fiancée's-body. "What are you doing?" he repeated.

Gene was on the floor in a pair of boy shorts and sports bra, flipping rapidly through a book. He glanced up for only a moment before returning to what he'd been doing. "I thought I'd found something that could have helped us," he said as if that explained all of the noise.

"And…?" Naru prompted, staring at him pointedly.

Gene growled under his breath, slamming the book shut. "Nothing, absolutely nothing. It wasn't what I thought it was. Plus, I couldn't find it in any of the books here. I think I need to go buy a few voodoo and hoodoo books. Maybe a few wiccan books as well."

"You are not bringing those into this house," Naru immediately said before pausing, "Wait, why?"

"Because I think it might help us, though it probably won't. Magic isn't real, psychic abilities are. I thought they might mention something about spirits like what we're dealing with. I've already checked all of the mainstream religions. Nothing."

"Why are you looking at religions?"

Gene shrugged. "Just something to do. I haven't been much help for the past couple months, and we haven't been able to get anywhere with what we have. Lin is stumped on the ring, necklace, and bracelet. We don't have any leads. We haven't had any leads since Mai was taken. I just thought I might try something new."

Sighing, Naru dropped down beside his twin, trying to ignore how having Mai's body here, but not her, was slowly crushing him. He'd missed Gene, of course, but Mai was different. Mai was special. "And you've found nothing so far. Why am I not surprised?" He dropped his chin into his hand as Gene slammed another book he'd been looking through shut and shoved it away from him. "I have to take the twins to school tomorrow," he mumbled, rubbing at his eyes.

Gene was silent for a long moment, only the sound of rustling papers filling the room. "You know what we need?" he finally asked, pulling something out from under the twin's bed and frowning down at it.

"What's that?" Naru asked, meaning the question for both Gene's question and the thing he held gingerly in his hands.

"A case," Gene said before flipping the dusty object open. "It's a photo album."

"Of what?" Naru asked, scooting closer.

"Of us as teenagers. Look, you're actually in a few of them," Gene said, flopping half on the album into Naru's lap, "When do you think she ever managed to take these?"

"When we weren't paying attention." Neither of them even had to say who they were talking about. He ran careful fingers over a picture of him, Gene and Christina, the twin's mother. "You were kind of a camera whore though, so these were probably all taken with your knowledge."

"You're such an asshole," Gene muttered, elbowing his twin hard. His voice softened as a stared down at a picture of Christina shoved far into the back of the album. "She was so beautiful. I wish I could have been there for her through this," he murmured, staring longingly down at a picture of the woman when she was heavily pregnant with the twins, her stomach bulging far away from her body.

A little twinge tugged at Naru's stony heart. One day, if they got her back –and they would get her back- Mai could look like that. She would have a gold ring on her finger and she'd be radiating that glow that all pregnant mothers get. At her sides would be Tamaki and Kamin, still young. They would be his family, and he would be happy. "Yeah," he mumbled almost silently to himself.

They were quiet as they flipped through the album, reminiscing about the pictures they found, teasing each other, silently wishing that the past and the future could meld into one world. When they'd finally analyzed each picture in detail, Naru stood, stretching his arms over his head. He dragged Gene to his feet. "I'm going to go to bed now."

"Night, idiot scientist," Gene replied, waving half-heartedly after his twin. He crawled under the quilt atop the twin's mattress as Naru made to leave. "Hey Naru," he called, bringing his twin to a stop.

"Hm?" Naru mumbled, looking tiredly back over his shoulder at Gene.

Gnawing on his lip as if considering something, Gene shook his head after a moment. "No, it's nothing. It can wait until later. Night."

"Goodnight," Naru said, flipping off the light and silently closing the door.

Gene listened closely as Naru padded back to the room where the twins soundly slept. When he heard the creak of bed springs, he slid from the mattress. Using only the light of the moon filtering through the blinds, he tiptoed down the hall into the bathroom. He closed the bathroom door before flipping on the dimmest light.

He stared hard into the mirror, boring holes into his own, navy blue eyes. "Where are you, Mai?" he whispered. A flicker of chocolate brown passed through his irises, and then the nausea hit.

I know this chapter was really short, but like I said in the beginning notes, this is just establishing a few things. Next chappy will be much longer, and I hope to see you all there! See you soon!