Mansion of the Beast

by Yume Ookami

What happens when the SPR group have to visit a haunted Mansion that an eerie history behind it? Find out about their adventure to the Mansion of the Beast. MaiXNaru

I do not own ghost hunt or any of the characters, I hope that you will enjoy.

Ghost Hunt fanfic

Shock widened her eyes as a woman ran at her and she felt herself topple backwards into nothingness. Darkness rushed around her as she fell, fear coursed through her body as the air rushed up to meet her.

"NARU!"

"MAI, wake up!"

Her eyes shot open as someone roughly shook her shoulders; hyperventilating she looked up to see Monk crouched next to her.

"Hey, are you alright?" he asked with a worried frown on his face. Mai nodded and ran her eyes around the room, thinking that it looked strange from where she was.

"Mai now that you have decided to wake up, get up and stop dribbling on my carpet," said a young man in a dead pan voice. Only then did Mai realise that she was lying on the floor, curled into a small ball.

"I'm fine thank you Monk," she murmured as she sat up, totally ignoring Naru's quip. When she sat there she could feel her head start to swim but she ignored it not wanting to give Naru another excuse to target her with another one of his clever remarks. As she started to stand her knees shook and gave way underneath her; Monk quickly caught her and carried her over to the couch, gently placing her down he took one hand and felt her forehead.

"Wow Mai, you could cook an egg on your forehead, you're really sick," he said his face still frowning. Mai gently lifted up her hand and rested it against his cheek, a soft smile danced across her face hiding the pain in her eyes.

"You know, frown just doesn't suit you," Monk opened his mouth to interrupt but she put one finger on his lips and smiled, "I told you I'm fine." Mai looked up at Naru only to find that he had already gone back into his office.

"Mai, Tea," came his voice, the abrupt nature of in hinted at his irritation. Monk just stared at the office door for a moment before realising that Mai was slowly struggling to get up.

"MAI, what do you think you're doing?" he scolded her; she gave him a very confused glance.

"Um, my job..." she smiled slightly before finally managing to stand up and stagger over to the kitchen. She started boiling the kettle and sorting out the tea when Monk punched the door frame.

"Mai, you are sick, you need rest!" his eyes flashed with anger and for a second Mai wanted to take a step back.

"M...monk, what's the matter? Why are you acting like this?" she said the fear obviously showing in her eyes because Monk sighed and went into the lounge to try and calm down. Mai poured the boiling water into two tea cups and started to pick them up when a dizzy spell hit her again.

"Monk," he walked in clearly calmer, "could you take this into Naru and Lin for me, I don't want to spill any." Monk nodded, with one last worried glance took the cups and disappeared out of the door; Mai leant against the counter and sighed wearily.

Monk opened the door to Naru's office and carefully placed the tea in front of him; Naru looked up and an annoyed look flew across his face.

"Where's Mai?" he demanded.

"Naru, Mai is really sick," Monk said quietly, Naru's head shot up for a moment before he collected himself and he sighed. Monk looked at him for a second before heading to the door; he went into Lin's office and once again placed the tea down next to him. Lin looked up for a moment and then started his typing again.

"How's Mai?" he murmured, his eyes never left his computer screen. Monk sighed and shrugged his shoulders.

"She needs a bit of time off, she has quite a high fever and I don't think that she is all with us," he said as he opened the door and walked out.

Mai looked up as there was a knock at the door; she pushed herself off the kitchen surface and opened the door. To her shock, standing there was the woman from her dream; however the woman looked neater and more calmer. The woman walked into the lounge when Mai invited her in; she cast her eye across the sparsely decorated room with its pale cream walls for a moment before focusing back on Mai.

"Is this the Shibuya Psychic Research centre," she said in a voice that told Mai that she was used to ordering servants around.

"Yes Ma'am, please hold on for a moment whilst I get my boss," the woman nodded and Mai made her way slowly to Naru's office. After knocking three times she opened the door.

"If you are well enough to waste my time you could have brought that tea yourself, don't you think so?" came Naru's voice from around a thick folder.

"Naru, there's someone here to see you about a case," Mai said quietly, rubbing her temples. Naru looked searchingly at her face wondering when the typical retort would be sent at him but he saw no sign of it.

"What are you looking at? The Client is waiting," Mai grumbled. Naru snapped the folder he was reading shut and walked out of the office with Mai in tow.

"Good Afternoon, I'm Kazuya Shibuya, the manager and owner of Shibuya Psychic Research. I heard that you may have a case that I would be interested it," he said making the woman jump. She studied him for a moment and then sighed.

"My name is Ms Leiko Yoi, I would like you to investigate my house," she started, Mai cringed at her name.

"The poor woman, who would want their name to mean Arrogant Night," she thought.

"There is a ghost haunting my house, well to be honest it has been haunting the house for as long as I can remember," she stopped to take a breath.

"What make you say that?" Naru jumped at the opportunity to interrogate her.

"Well there have always been strange occurrences that happen there like furniture moving, doors banging and knocking on the walls, however only recently has the phenomena been getting worst," she said her head hanging low.

"Please tell us about it," Monk and Lin came round the corner and were obviously listening intently to Naru's and Ms Leiko's conversation.

"Who are you?" she asked bluntly but it was clear that they had startled her and that she didn't mean to sound rude.

"These two are Lin Koujo, my assistant," Lin inclined his head, "and Houshou Takigawa, a monk from Mount Koya," Monk saluted to her.

Leiko inclined her head at each of them, cracking a smile at Monk; she then turned away from them back to Naru.

"Oh fine don't bother asking who I am! I guess you live up to your name," Mai fumed.

"What do you mean when you say that the haunting has gotten worst?" Naru asked.

"Well, before, the occurrences would only happen about once a month but now the knocking on the walls the door closing, they never stop. I've had to remove some of the older more heavier doors as it was apparent that if they hit someone whilst closing that they would cause a great deal of damage. And just last night the lounge was ripped apart like some sort of wild animal had been set loose in it; plus almost all the servants swear that they have either seen the ghost or had something happen to them," Ms Yoi explained.

"What happens?" Lin asked, his hands flying across the keyboard of his laptop, documenting all that had been said.

"Umm, one maid had to go to hospital after she was pulled down the stairs, the doctors found a hand shaped bruise on her leg. The cook's assistant says that when there is no one around the kitchen utensils start moving on their own; and almost every day someone gets locked in the parlor," she said gripping the bridge of her nose with her thumb and forefinger. Naru closed his eyes for a second before turning to Lin making sure that he had everything down; when Lin nodded he turned to Ms Yoi.

"Very well, we will be taking your case. Expect us in two days and please have a room made free for our equipment. Preferably one with a lot of plug sockets," he deadpanned. She started and looked at him with frantic eyes.

"Why two days can't you come now?" she cried her eyes screaming in fear; a freezing shiver clawed its way up Mai's spine.

"I'm sorry but to get all the equipment in order takes a while, plus my assistant is ill so if she wasn't at her best she would get in the way of the investigation," he put it bluntly, pointing at Mai. The woman looked at Mai and narrowed her eyes in fury; to Mai it felt as if the air had been crushed out of stomach, those were the same eyes as her dream, full of desperation and wrath.

"Takigawa, please show Ms Yoi out," Naru said getting up and walking towards his office. Monk nodded and held the front door open for Ms Yoi; she walked out and just before the door closed Mai saw her glaring at her with the same eyes but this time her lip had curled up in an expression of pure hatred.

There was a soft click as the door closed and Monk breathed out a sigh of relief and turned round.

"This is going to be a long case," his smile flew from his face as he saw Mai's terrified face, "Mai are you alright?" Mai jumped and looked up to see Monk and Lin looking at her. She smiled shakily and started to turn round.

"Yeah I'm f..." she started to say until she saw Naru; he stood next to his office with one hand on handle. Suddenly she saw him with blood obscuring half his face, his hand was wrapped in a bandage; his eyes filled with pain and anguish. She ran over to him and put a hand on his cheek only to find that the blood and bandage were gone and his eyes were now wide in shock. She gasped and took a step back into Lin who had walked up behind her; she looked up at him and saw his arm bending in an unnatural place.

"Lin your arm!" she cried shrilly, it was obvious that she was growing hysterical. Lin looked down and moved his normal unbroken arm; she shook her head in disbelief.

"What is happening!" she screamed; falling to her knees, her head in her hands. Naru looked up at Lin who looked as shocked as he did; Naru knelt down and put a hand on Mai's shoulder.

Masako, John and Ayako walked in at that point and saw Naru kneeling next to Mai with a shocked and worried look on his face, Lin who stood in front of Mai turned towards them with a mirrored expression on his face.

"Miss Hara, come here for a second," Naru said quickly, Masako ran over to him, "Is she possessed?" His attention was totally focused on Mai; Masako ground her teeth but tried to sense whether or not Mai was possessed. She shook her head and Naru seemed to look even more frantic.

"Monk, what's going on?" Ayako and John looked at Takigawa; he shook his head in clear bewilderment.

"She just ran over to Naru as if he was hurt, then she turned to Lin and said something about his arm," he shrugged his shoulders in confusion.

Just then Lin knelt down in front of her and gently raised her head so that he could see her face, a gasp escaped his mouth as he realized that she was unconscious. He ripped his mobile phone out of his pocket and called an ambulance. Naru took his hand off her back and started to get up at that moment she fell backwards. Naru quickly reached out and grabbed her, he lifted her up off the floor bridal style and gently laid her on the couch; Lin ran off and came back shortly after and gave Naru a cold wet cloth to put on her forehead. Naru held her cheek for the minutest second before sitting beside her on the floor. He heard the ambulance sirens screaming towards the building, he didn't even move when Monk let the paramedic in.

"Please Sir, could you move?" the paramedic said softly but Naru was too focused on Mai that he didn't hear him. Lin sighed and gently but firmly pulled Naru out the way; grimacing at the desolate expression on his face, Masako tensed her hand into a fist of anger as she watched Naru struggling to break away from Lin as he now tried to get back to Mai. The paramedic talked into his radio for a minute and then there was a knock on the front door; in came a second paramedic holding a stretcher. Together they carefully lifted Mai up onto it and the first paramedic turned and asked whether anyone wanted to ride with her to the hospital; Naru tensed and seemed to collect himself at that point.

"I will ride with her," he said in a hoarse but confident voice, he turned to Lin, "I'll call you to tell you what room she is in."

Lin nodded as Naru followed Mai out of the door.

As they listened to the ambulance pull away and face to the nearest hospital everyone looked at Masako who was standing by the window watching people walk around getting on with their daily lives. Ayako sighed, walked up to her and put a hand on her shoulder only to have it thrown off.

"You should have known that you didn't have a chance; I know that even you have seen that little smirk he wears when he is around Mai," Ayako grabbed Masako's shoulders and firmly turned her round to face her. Masako lifted up the sleeve of her kimono to hide her face but everyone could see that she was crying from the way her shoulders shook.

"Excuse me," she whispered as she ran out of the SPR building. Silence reigned for a couple of minutes until it was broken when the phone rang.

"This i..." Lin started only to be interrupted by the voice on the other end of the phone, "okay we're coming now."

"Was that Naru?" John asked worry evident in his voice; Lin nodded and speed walked to the car, the others ran after him to catch up. Once they had all piled into the car, Lin started the car and drove only just in the speed limit all the way to the hospital; they all had to wait for Lin to get a pay-to-park ticket as he was yet to indulge to them the number of the room she was in. After he had done that he jogged across the car park and into the hospital building; at the exact moment his first foot hit the hospital floor he started walking and almost got run over by the others.

"No running in the hospital please," said a passing nurse, they all nodded and followed Lin up the stairs onto the second floor. He stopped in front of room 666 and sighed, the others looked at the number and gasped; he knocked and an anxious Naru opened the door.

"Hi, I guess they have a sense of humor," he whispered a very weak smile on his face. Monk walked past him into the room and saw Mai and gasped. The rest rushed in and saw her; looked at Naru who shook his head. Her brown hair was fanned in a halo around her head contrasting with her now very pale skin. If she had been sleeping on her side then her face would have been the same colour as the white pillow behind her head. The dark bags she had had that morning stood out like a pickled plum in a rice ball.

"I don't know what is wrong with her right now but..." he shrugged hopelessly; Lin steered him towards the chair next to her bed. He looked at Mai and then something happened that no one not even Lin expected. A single tear crept out of Naru's right eye and slowly made its way down his face leaving a salty trail crystallizing after it. No one said a word; they just looked at Mai lying in that bed and hoped that she would wake up soon and that the diagnosis wouldn't be serious.

Mai opened her eyes and looked up to see Naru; she smiled and wave, he waved back.

"Naru," she called, he looked at her for a moment then shook his head, "wait are you Gene?" He smiled and nodded, and then he pointed behind her. She turned and saw a beautiful mansion, pale blue wisteria grew up the front of it; as she looked she noticed something red seeping under the bottom of the door and through the windows. As she went to walk up to it Gene caught her hand and shook his head.

"Someone is waiting for you," his voice seemed to be getting further and further away. She tried reached out for him but her limbs felt heavy she couldn't move.

The harsh smell of disinfectant reached her nose first, followed closely to a quiet beeping noise in her right ear that just wouldn't shut up and annoyed her to no end. Next she felt a presence next to her and a couple more at the end of her bed.

"I hope she will be okay," John's voice said, she then heard Ayako and Monk agree. Lastly she felt a warm hand on hers and then suddenly a droplet fell to the floor, the gentle sound echoed the loudest around the room. A slight frown clouded her features and the room went silent, the hand squeezed hers. She opened her brown eyes, only to close them against the glare of the light; the hand left hers and she heard someone stand up and move. This time she opened her eyes slowly, letting them get accustomed to the light; sighs of relief reverberated across the room. She smiled as she saw that all her friends were there with her.

"Hi," she said as she sat up slowly, remembering from past experience not to sit up quickly. They all looked at her as if she was mad for a moment before collapsing in laughter, tears of joy were shed. Mai looked at the chair next to her and put her hand out and rested it on the seat. It was still warm but she had no idea who was sat there; she liked to think that it was Naru; she sighed and shook her head.

"Naru would never cry, you idiot," she told herself.

Suddenly the door flew back on its hinges hitting the wall with a loud bang; Mai moaned and covered her ears as they were very sensitive at that point. The doctor walked in barged past her friends without a word and grabbed her face firmly. She tried to back away but was unable to escape him as he forced her eyelids open and shone a light in them.

"Oy, what the hell do you think you're doing?" Monk shouted at the man, Naru and Lin ran in after going to get a doctor and saw the way he had her face crushed in his massive hand.

"What do you think I'm doing? I'm checking her vitals," he answered calmly before pressing his Stethoscopes against her to hear her heart beat. After he had finished he turned to Naru who looked like he was about to kill the man and sighed.

"Her vitals are fine but I'm afraid that she will have to stay in for the night, her heart beat is very erratic, which is not at all healthy for a calm person."

"A calm person... I think that you are the only calm person in the room at the moment," said Naru clearly and slowly, trying to relax. The doctor looked at Mai who was still breathing hard and scratched the side of his head; I guess I'll tell them to release her; however she has to rest for at least a week.

"Excuse me but you never told us what she had," said Lin quietly.

"Oh right, she had a very mild case of anaemia, nothing to worry about," he smiled brightly before strolling out of the door; Mai blinked in confusion.

"What was all that about?" Ayako spoke the question in all their heads.

"When we went to get a doctor they said that only that idiot would enter this room, i guess that they are superstitious," he said with a shrug; then looked up as everyone started to laugh again. He looked at Mai and saw that she was looking at the chair he had been sitting on. Five minutes later a different doctor knocked on the door and told them that Mai was free to leave, but he never even stepped past the threshold. Mai sighed, swung her legs over the side of the bed and stood up, her shoulder length brown hair slipped forward as she held onto the bed to steady herself; she sighed and then pushed herself upright her face pulled into a frown of concentration.

Naru crushed his hand into a fist and marched out of the room; Lin followed him and turned him to face him.

"What is the matter? She's fine!" he said firmly, Naru broke away from him.

"You saw how much she had to concentrate just to stand up; plus, it's my fault she is in here. I make her work too much. She has no time for her school work; she's in her last year for goodness sake," he whispered, his face turned away.

"She's going to be 18 this year Naru, I think she's old enough to know what is good for her," Lin smiled sadly; Naru looked up at the older man who nodded encouragingly. They walked back to the room and just before they could even reach for the handle, the door flew open and John and Monk were pushed out by Ayako.

"Hold on a sec boys," she said blocking Naru's path, but Naru barged right past her. As he turned the corner he saw Mai's bare back as she put on her bra and watched the small of her back get covered as she put on her brown t-shirt. He walked away quickly as she bent down to take off the hospital trousers. As he walked out of the room it was obvious that he had seen something as his cheeks were covered with a light blush, the rest of them looked at him for a moment before Monk decided to break the silence.

"Wow, Naru's a pervert," he burst out laughing, Naru glared at him imagining how he would kill him.

"Takigawa shut it. Ayako why couldn't you have told me that she was changing," she snorted and then shrugged her shoulders.

"I tried Naru but you didn't give me enough time," she said seriously before joining the laughter again.

"None of you will tell Mai, have you got that!" he growled, they all took him very seriously and nodded. After that he relaxed, and five minutes later Mai walked out of the room fully dressed. Everyone was silent as they walked to the car and the journey was uneventful. Lin dropped Mai off first and waited until she had waved and closed the door of her apartment, he then took the rest of them to the office; whilst they had been away Masako had come back and she was sat on the couch when they all walked in.

"Good considering that you are all here I can tell you about the new case I have just accepted," he continued to fill them in about Ms Leiko Yoi and her house and the occurrences that had been happening there.

"I want you all here at 8 am in two days," everyone nodded and got up to leave; well everyone except Masako.

"Naru, I need to talk to you," she said just loud enough for him to hear. He turned to look at her and then saw the blush that was starting to form on her face; he sighed and sat down opposite her.

"Naru, would you like to go out with me?" she asked shyly.

"Where?" he knew what she meant but he was being difficult.

"No that's not what I mean! I mean like dating... can we date?" She said her kimono covering her face.

"No," he was blunt and she looked taken back, and he knew that he had hurt her feelings as she got up and started to walk to the doors.

"Oh right, that's okay," she said quickly as she ran out the door almost tripping over her kimono.

"That was harsh," Lin commented as he walked round the corner with a folder in hand, he handed it to Naru whilst shaking his head.

"And she's stupid. I thought she understood how i felt when she saw me with Mai," he said as he opened the folder and started to read it. Lin sighed and turned to look out of the window.

"This is going to be a very long case," he stated, Naru agreed and they both smiled softly.

Two Days Later 7:30am Day 1

"Ha I'm not going to be late today; Naru can't nitpick at anything right now," she walked up to the van where Lin was loading equipment.

"So your early today, I guess you really don't know the meaning of 'on time'," came a deadpan voice from the doorway, Naru walked out into the early morning sunlight shading his eyes with the folder in his hand.

"She's still very pale," he thought as he strolled up to her; her eyes were closed and her hand was clenched into a fist. He watched as the anger drained away from her as she opened her eyes and looked round.

"Am i the first one here?" She seemed quite cheerful at the thought; Naru felt his heart lighten as he saw a genuine smile spilled onto her face. He nodded and she cheered. She ran up to Lin to see if he needed help, he looked at her for a moment and then shook his head.

"I'm almost done," the tips of his mouth turned up into a kind smile and she beamed back him. Naru watched them completely at peace he sat on the steps and looked up at the sky. Mai quietly walked up to him and sat next to him, she heard a contented sigh whisper off his lips. Whilst he watched the clouds glide by she watched him; the way the sides of his mouth sloped upwards, the way his hand rested his hands on the ground behind him she wondered what they would feel like. Would they feel just like Gene's? That thought shocked her out of her imaginations and she sat forward and hugged her legs to her. She felt a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"Mai, are you alright?" She looked up to see Naru looking at her, she smiled and nodded.

"I was just thinking about something, it's not important," she said with a shrug, he let out a sigh and leant back again. She noticed that when he did so his shirt would press against his chest and show the faint outlines of a perfectly formed six pack; it took all she had not to reach out and run her hand on them but at the same time she was afraid of what he would do so she leant back like him and they both past time staring at the cloud.

8pm

Naru and Mai had gotten bored so they were now making shaped out of the clouds; Lin had finished packing and was now sitting on one of the tables from underneath SPR, he held his hands around the drink in his hand; even though the sun was out it was still quite cold. The rest of the team turned up together as always and they took the chairs around the table that Lin was sat. For once Ayako and Monk were not fighting, John sat deep in thought and Masako was still depressed with the rejection that she had got from Naru. Naru and Mai hadn't realised that everyone was there so they carried on what they were doing. Mai was getting better and better at predicting which cloud he would choose and what he would say it was. Finally they both pointed at a cloud and shouted ice cream as the cloud looked like a ice cream with a cone; they stopped, looked at each other and laughed. As Mai was laughing her hand holding her up gave way and she started to fall down the stairs, Naru grabbed her however by that point her momentum was too large and she pulled him down with her. Monk and Lin flew to their feet as they heard Mai squeak in shock and then a pained grunt from Naru. They turned round to see them fall down the stairs. He landed on his back and she landed face down on top of him, they laid still for a moment as they waited for their heads to stop spinning.

"Naru, are you okay?" she murmured he grunted in assent. She then looked up to find Naru's face only centimetres away from hers. He opened his eyes when he felt her breath on his face and he smiled when he saw her eyes wide with shock as she looked down at him. He brought up a knee so that he could try and get up, however what he didn't know was that was now pointing to the sky was actually in the middle of her legs. They both blushed dark red, then looking at each other for a moment they started laughing. Her head slowly flopped forward as she laughed and landed gently beside his. After a moment of thought Naru rolled them both over to the side and untangled himself; once he had stood up he reached down and pulled her to her feet.

"One of these days you're going to kill us both, you know that right?" he said running his hand through his hair.

"Oh be quiet," she said not wanting her mood to be ruined. She looked up and saw everyone looking at them; she blushed an even darker shade whilst Naru walked up to them.

"Okay it's time to go," Masako ran up to Monk and asked if she could sit next to him at the back of the bus, he looked surprised but nodded. So it ended with Masako, Monk and Ayako in the back row, Mai and John in the Middle and as usual Naru in the front passenger seat with Lin driving. The house was a five drive away, which for everyone was much to long of a drive cooped up in the back of the van, however for Mai the journey was especially too long as she could feel Masako furious eyes boring into the back of her head.

1pm

Finally the van stopped and everyone got out, Masako refused on even look at Mai. They had just started a new case and there was already tension choking the air, Mai sighed and looked up at the house. She gasped and slowly walked forward so that she could see the whole of the front of the house.

"It's the same place! The same mansion of my dream!" she turned to the side to where Gene had been standing and saw that Naru was now standing in the same place. Everyone was looking at her, Mai sighed again and walked up to the door and ran the bell. A young woman opened the door with fear filled eyes.

"Hi I'm with Shibuya Psychic Research we've come to deal with the haunting," Mai said with a smile.

"What's your name?" She said suspiciously.

"Mai Taniyama."

"I don't know that name how can I be sure that you are the paranormal researchers?" she said closing the door until there was just the smallest gap.

Mai walked over to the rest and shook her head.

"Only Naru, Lin and Monk can get us entry. Obviously Ms Yoi gave the names she found out to the maid," she shrugged.

"Why don't you give your name?" Monk asked her confused.

"I did, but don't you remember that Miss Yoi never asked my name," Mai said with a sad smile.

Naru sighed and walked up the door and knocked powerfully on it. The maid who had been standing behind it was pushed forward by the force, she open the door and looked at Naru.

"My name is Kazuya Shibuya, the girl before was one of my assistants if you didn't know that then blame your mistress for being rude to her in the first place." He looked down on the girl, seeming to tower over her, "Now are you going to let me in or not." The girl gulped and opened the door all the way; Naru walked in then turned to the girl.

"I asked for a room to be made accessible to us has that been done," he deadpanned; the girl nodded silently.

"Good stay here for a moment," Naru walked back outside into the view of everyone and nodded; Mai, John, Lin and Monk turned and started unloading the van whilst Masako and Ayako walked into the house after Naru. The maid waited until everyone was there and then took them through a maze of corridors until they finally reached the room that had been put aside for them.

"The bedrooms are at the end of this corridor to the right and the kitchen is to the left, this part of the house was meant to be a separate house so the bedrooms will be your own until the end of this investigation," the maid bowed and exited quickly.

"Anyone else think that was strange," Monk said quietly everyone except Naru and Lin nodded.

"Right let's get the rest of the equipment in. Miss Hara and Miss Matsuzaki go to the bedrooms and choose. I don't want any fights tonight," Naru said as he left the room.

As Mai started to leave the room she heard a grunt of pain and saw Monk holding his head and Ayako holding up a fist and she put two and two together; as Ayako couldn't hit Naru at that point in time she just settled for the next best thing. Lin walked up to Mai trying to get out the door and she looked up to see his arm broken again; she reached out and grabbed his arm only to realize that she was seeing things again.

"What's the matter?" Lin asked an eyebrow raised; Mai jumped and shook her head before running out the door. Monk walked up to Lin and after they had watched Mai disappear he turned to Lin.

"Maybe she shouldn't be at work yet," Monk murmured so that the others couldn't hear them. Lin shrugged and Monk sighed; Naru was walking back and he took one look at the two men in the hall way and the frown on his face deepened; once he had put the piece of equipment down in the room he went up to the two older men.

"What's wrong?" he asked his eyes searched theirs.

"Mai," Naru took in a breath, "you know how in the office she said there was something wrong with Lin's arm," Naru nodded, "she just did it again," monk explained.

"I wonder if she's seeing something," Naru sighed looking in the direction Mai had gone. They shrugged and with John in tow they went back outside to get more equipment. Outside they saw Mai reach into the van and grab two cameras; she lugged them past the boys and carried on into the house and to the base as if she hadn't seen them. Naru watched her go and then picked up the last piece of equipment and Lin shut the door and locked the van. As they made their way back to the base Mai passed them.

"Mai," she jumped and turned seeing them for the first time, "back to base this is the rest of the equipment," Naru said holding the equipment in one hand and took her hand in the other. Her eyes widened and looked up at him; she then realized that he had taken her hand to get her attention. She had been deep in thought until that point. She walked with them back to base and sat on the couch in the room.

Base was a huge room which had been halved between a study and a lounge; as there were more plug sockets in the study part the equipment was set up there. The lounge was reorganized so that no one would sit with their back to the equipment just in case they had to get up and run to the monitor for anything. The furniture was a metallic green colour that matched the walls, the curtains in front of the numerous windows and the carpets were a cream.

By the time everything was set up at base in was lunch time and there was a knock on the door; Mai opened it so see the maid again.

"Oh hi," she said, the maid bowed and straightened up without making eye contact.

"My mistress has invited you all to dinner," she said as she walked away.

"Well we mustn't make our client unhappy," Naru said as he followed the maid. Mai sighed as she left the room and behind her she hear Lin close the door and perform some warding magic on it. As they all followed the maid she took them to a set of old looking double doors; she opened the doors for them and they walked into a dark wooden paneled room with a amazingly long dark polished wooden table stretching down the centre of the room. There were places already set up for them, some had name plates some didn't, however the only ones that didn't have a name plate were John and Ayako, those places were either next Monk or Mai. After they sat down they realized that males and females had been seated separated. Naru was at the head of the table opposite Ms Yoi. To the left were the girls: Mai, Masako, Ayako and next to Ms Yoi was a girl around the age of 12 who looked like Ms Yoi, so everyone guess that that girl was her daughter; on the right of Naru was Lin, John and Monk. The maid rushed around filling people's glasses with wine except for Masako, Mai and the girl.

The grandfather clock in the corner struck twelve and started to chime; its deep and metallic cried out at the darkness, completely blotting everything out for Mai as since her collapse her ears had gotten more sensitive.

"You may eat," Ms Yoi said quietly as she picked up her chop sticks, everyone followed suit except Mai. Naru gently kicked her under the table, capturing her attention; he ate some food and she realized that they were allowed to eat. She silently picked up her chop sticks and ate the meal that had been set in front of her; before she had touched the food to her lips she hadn't realized how hungry she was. Before the clock had stopped chiming she had finished her meal; Monk looked up at her and saw that she was finished, he smiled into his bowl. The girl at the other end of the table looked up along the table and saw that she had finished and also smiled.

A harsh smack echoed across the room, echoing in Mai's ears; as she put her hands up to cover her ears she saw Ms Yoi pull her hand back to smack the girl next to her again. Mai reacted in that split second, as Ms Yoi's hand came crashing down Mai ran and caught her hand; everyone gasped.

"How did she get over there?" Monk whispered, however the whisper sounded as loud as a shout in that empty room.

"Why?" Mai asked still holding the woman's wrist.

"It is incredibly rude to laugh at a guest," Ms Yoi yanked her hand out of Mai's.

"Hmm, yes that is quite rude," Ms Yoi nodded, "however," Ms Yoi's frown deepened, "Forgive me but I thought that the height of rudeness at a dinner was to find fault or punish someone in the presence of their guests," Mai said, an innocent expression on her face. Ms Yoi opened her mouth to retort yet she could not think of anything.

"You're right," Ms Yoi said, she looked at her daughter as if saying I'll see you later.

"Oh and by the way Ms Yoi, you have already punished her so unless she does something else wrong you cannot punish her for that smile she sent me earlier. Ms Yoi and the girl gasped, Mai smiled and turned to the girl.

"My names Mai Taniyama what's yours?"

"Chi Yoi," the girl said, she looked up expecting Mai to back off in fear at the meaning of her name, Blood Night.

"Nice to meet you," Mai smiled as if there was nothing wrong and then she bowed to Ms Yoi.

"Thank you for the meal, please send my thanks to the cook," Mai said politely, Ms Yoi looked like she was being strangled but she nodded and bowed as Mai turned round and made her way out of the room.

Ten minutes later everyone walked into the base and saw Mai lying on the couch with her feet hanging off the arm.

"Mai that was so cool, how did you move that fast?" Monk shouted.

"More importantly, how do you know so much about manners?" Naru deadpanned.

"Monk please don't shout, I'm right next to you," Monk murmured an apology, "Naru, contrary to your belief I am not a total idiot." Naru snorted quietly, he closed his eyes and counted to ten when he opened his eyes Mai wasn't as angry.

"You still didn't answer me," he sighed running his hand through his hair.

"The teacher I stayed with was very strict on manners at the table and after the couple of times of being lectured about what people should or shouldn't do at the table," she muttered grimacing at the memory, "luckily she didn't entertain guests very often." Mai smiled at the shocked expressions on her friends faces as she picked up a camera.

"Right where do you want the cameras to be set up?" Mai turned to Naru who thought for a moment.

"The kitchen, the lounge, the parlor, the stairs and one in the corridor outside," Naru said focusing on the folder in his hands. Mai nodded and walked out with half the equipment that she would need, John ran out after her with the rest.

"Monk, talk to the cooks assistant and see what he has to say," Naru requested, Monk nodded and ran out of the room.

"Have you two ladies sorted out which bedroom you want?" He turned to Masako and Ayako, with an expectant eyebrow raised. When they nodded he turned and looked at the folder in front of him, "go to the lounge and see if you can sense anything, stay there until Mai has set up the equipment or until you get thrown out by the spirit." The two women nodded and walked off; Masako sighed deeply and looked back for a second before catching up with Ayako.

2 hours later

"Okay Mai that's perfect!" Lin's voice commented over the radio. Mai puffed out a breath and wiped her forehead.

"We can go back now John, that was the last one," Mai said at the very worn out looking priest with a kind smile on her face.

"I don't know how you just keep going. That's the true mystery," he laughed, she shook her head and walked up to him and held a bag of sweets out to her.

"Well mystery solved. Just be careful eating them, don't munch them to fast," she gave a thumbs up at the bewildered blonde. He looked up at her and realized that she was actually being serious so he took one and ate it. He took her advice and chewed it slowly; for a little while nothing happened then it was almost like an explosion had gone off in his mouth. His eyes watered, he coughed and gagged for a minute or two before having the ability to speak.

"What was that!" he wheezed, his eyes still watering.

"Chilly chew! Aw don't look at me like that you're making me feel guilty," she shook her head with a smile, "It worked though, didn't it! I bet you don't feel tired anymore," she said gently.

"That's true," he said as he allowed Mai to pick him up off the floor. She helped him back to base and gave him a drink of milk, he looked at her confused.

"Water would only make it worse," she smiled at him, turned and saw Naru's amused face. Five minutes later Monk walked in and sat down exhausted.

"The cook's assistant's name is Mareo Mitsu, which is actual a good name for him," Monk said in an offhand manner.

"Why do you say that?" Mai asked confused how Rare Shine could be connected to anyone let along a boy.

"Well Mareo is an albino in the extremes. His hair is as white as an old mans, his skin is as pale as Mai's is now and the most unsettling thing is that his eyes are red," he said quietly, Mai and John gasped.

"The cook is Mareo's mother, she's called Yumiko. Sorry Naru you have a contender for the bluntest person of the year award, she is also very clever. As soon as I walked into the kitchen she knew who I was; why I was there and she also knew that I was still hungry," he said blushing slightly. Mai stifled a giggle whilst Monk cleared his throat to carry on.

"Anyway, just last night the kitchen utensils started moving on their own. Mareo was still in the kitchen cleaning up after baking all day, they take the bread and cakes home to either eat or sell. Ms Yoi allows them too so that they can get a little bit more money for luxury items like mobiles and the boys computer. So Mareo was washing up and suddenly the knife he was cleaning flew out of his hand cutting his thumb open and it started moving in a cutting motion over the meat table like someone had start to get ready to cook. No one seemed to believe his story until he got hurt from it a month ago when he was found on the floor unconscious, the mystery was that there was nothing for him to knock himself out on, later on the same day his mother picked up a frying pan from its proper place and saw his blood on the edge of it. He told her that the ghost had picked up the frying pan, had been cooking with it and was about to put it was when he got in the way accidentally and hit on the back of his head," Monk finished. Naru looked at him for a moment, and then he opened his mouth to say something.

"Hey Monk, does Mareo know if the frying pan felt warm when it hit him," Mai got there before Naru. Lin turned from the monitor in shock as Naru's question came from Mai's mouth.

"Yeah it was warm," he nodded; Mai frowned and thought for a moment before looking at Monk again.

"Didn't you say that the ghost had been cooking with the frying pan? So it must have been hot, never mind," she shook her head as Lin and Naru looked at each other in confusion.

"Actually Mai, the ghost hasn't ever cooked anything so the pan should have been cold," Takigawa said thoughtfully. Mai's head bounced up and she turned and looked at Naru purposefully; after he had taken in the situation he nodded and flicked through the folder he was holding.

"Knocks on the wall, doors opening and closing, and mysterious moving objects feeling warm to the touch; that's three of the criteria for a poltergeist, so far nothing has happened so I think that the entity is lying low for now but we better be ready for when it gets serious," Naru turned round and looked at the screens and the temperatures that Mia and John had taken.

"Um where are Masako and Ayako?" Mai asked, Lin looked at the screens and saw the girls finally turn up at the lounge and of course they were arguing. Mai looked at the screen and then set off running to go get them. John, Monk, Naru and Lin watched as Mai entered the room and Masako looked at her before turning her head away, as if Mai was the most disgusting thing on the planet. Mai led Ayako and a disgruntled Masako back to base; every one could hear Ayako and Masako arguing about who got them lost. The door opened to see Mai wearing a pained expression and rubbing her temples, in after her came Ayako and Masako who were still shouting at each other.

"Once you two are done!" Naru raised his voice once and they stopped shouting immediately. Naru caught Mai's thankful glance and he inclined his head once so not to draw attention to their exchange.

"What did you find out?" Naru demanded, his patience wearing thin.

"And don't tell us that you found out that the house is really big!" Mai growled, her eyes closed against the glare of the light, everyone looked at her for a moment before turning their attention back to the other girls.

"There are no spirits here!" Masako said sounding confident, everyone sighed and then they heard Ayako say her trade mark line.

"This clearly the work of an Earth spirit," she said, arms crossed in front of her. The two women started arguing again and Mai sighed irritably which was echoed by Naru. Five minutes later Masako was sat the other end of the room to Ayako and they had finally stopped fighting after Naru had threatened to thrown them off the case.

8pm

"Mai, where are you going?" Naru said quietly his back turn to her. Mai had been walking to the door; she exhaled nosily before turning back to him.

"I'm tired so I'm going to bed," she muttered, her head pounding painfully. Naru hmphed and then looked at the screens that they had set up.

"I think that would be the best option for all of us. It doesn't look like anything will happen tonight," he said. Everyone except Lin, Naru and Mai got up and exited the room making their way to the bedrooms.

"I thought you were tired!" Naru said he was leaning over looking at some data; he strained his neck round to see Mai staring wide eyed at him.

Mai once again saw the blood on Naru's face and instead of leaning to see the data; he was bent over in pain. The agony of his suffering was clear in his eyes. She ran up to him, put a hand on his blood covered cheek and looked up into his eyes. They were now frowning in confusion and worry, the blood had gone and he was now properly facing her. He grabbed her hand as she let it fall; she choked out a sob as her knees gave way and she sank to the ground only to be caught by Naru.

"What did you see?" he asked her gently in a voice that she had never heard him use before. She shook her head, hugged herself and waited for her heart beat to return to normal.

After a few minutes she took a deep breath and stood; she walked to the door and out into the corridor. She heard footsteps behind her and saw Naru walking up, he was smiling.

"Naru?" he shook his head, took her hand and led her to a door. He held her cheek for a moment before disappearing; she sighed and opened the door. She was greeted by an awesome sight; the room had been decorated in a Victorian England style. The walls were covered in gold patterned wallpaper and the carpet and bedding were cream. The bed was a king size four poster that had for some reason been pushed against the wall; the wood of the bed, the frame of the window and the cupboards were made out of varnished dark wood that had black grain. Mai saw her suitcase had already been brought up and was put next to the door, out of the way. She opened it, hunted around and found her pajamas; after she had changed and cleaned her teeth; she slipped into the bed and fell instantly to sleep.

Mai opened her eyes and looked around her; she was floating in the air looking down at Naru and Lin in the base. Lin was typing away at the computer and Naru had fallen asleep on the couch the folder resting open on his chest. She flew down and ran her hand down the side of his face gently; his eyes instantly flew open and he stared up at her. She blushed and turned away from him. He shook his head to clear it and walked through the door and took the bedroom next to hers; once again she blushed. Suddenly someone put a hand on her shoulder and she saw Gene smirking at her. He took her hand and led her away to another part of the house; it was a huge hall that looked like it hadn't been used in years.

"What is this place?" she asked and he pointed at the floor again. She looked down and saw the floor was now covered in blood which was slowly seeping into a square on the floor. The square suddenly creaked open; nothing happened for a moment then Mai felt herself being pulled into the opening.

"NO!" she screamed her hand reached out to Gene who had vanished. Then darkness; it rushed around her as gravity took its course and sent her down; her hand reached up to the tiny speck of light that was quickly disappearing.

"NARU!" the veil of the dream disappeared and she was left breathing heavily in her bed, her are still up in the air trying to get that piece of light. Naru rushed in with just pajama bottoms on.

"MAI," he saw her breathing heavily and went over to her and took the hand that was still reaching for something above her. Her eyes focused and for the first time saw Naru leaning over him. Tears in her eyes she sat and took a few breathes to calm down; Naru sighed and put his arms around her, she froze for a moment before snuggling her face into his chest. Once she had calmed down slightly he started to get up but a hand reached out and grabbed his arm.

"Don't go," she shivered, "Please don't go," her voice begged him. He looked down at her and saw desperation in her eyes.

"Okay move up," he sighed. She shifted over to the wall and watched as he pushed the rest of the quilt to her side of the bed and sat next to her; he shivered.

"You can have some of the quilt if you're cold," Mai mumbled slowly, sleep muffling her speech. Naru looked down at her and saw that her eyes were almost closed. He smiled gently in the dark, laid down next to her and covered himself with the duvet. Being half asleep she reacted to him slipping into her bed. She reached out and wrapped her arm around his waist, shuffled up to him and rested her head on his chest. His heart rate shot up as he felt her warm body wrap around him and he started breathing fast. Just at that moment the rest of SPR burst through the door, running to see if Mai was alright. Monk switched on the light, half blinding Naru and then they caught sight of him.

"Oh sorry Kazuya, thought this was Mai's room," John said as they all backed out of the room and turned the light off. Naru looked down at Mai who had amazingly slept through all that racket. The door opened again and Naru tensed, only to have Mai snuggle further up to him, he blushed and prayed that they wouldn't turn on the light. Footsteps walked up to the bed and Naru heard someone kneel down; in the darkness Naru could make out the silhouette of a man.

"Is she alright?" he said quietly, Naru breathed out a sigh of relief, it was Lin.

"Yeah, she just had a dream; I'll ask her about it tomorrow. What are the others doing?" Naru looked up at Lin.

"I sent them back to their rooms; I told them that I would look for her," Lin said standing up and walking out the room, closing the door behind him.

"Thank you," Naru whispered to the darkness before falling asleep.

Day 2

5 am

Mai opened her eyes and realized that the bed beneath her was moving; she felt her arms comfortably wrapped around something as well. She slowly lifted her head; looked up towards the pillow and saw Naru fast asleep with an arm spread across her pillow. She blushed beetroot and looked at her arms which were wrapped around his waist; she moved one arm away and traced his six pack and watched the way his muscles shifted at her touch. She heard a sharp intake of breath when her finger slid over some sensitive skin; she squeaked quietly as Naru rolled over on top of her. She looked sideways to see his peaceful sleeping face next to hers; she held back a gasp when he moved his arm to the side of her face. She was breathing really fast and obviously it was disrupting his sleep as his face frowned slightly, when she had finally calmed down his face went back to the peaceful expression again. She sighed and then tensed when he rolled back slightly so that he was on his side towards her. His hand travelled unconsciously and trailed down the side of her neck; her breath rushed out in and explosive gasp as his hands moved down her chest and stopped on her breast. She squeaked loudly and tried to get her arms free but they were trapped under Naru. Naru's eyes opened slowly and they were still blurred with sleep; his hand squeezed slightly as he woke; tingles ran up and down Mai's spine. Once again Naru's hand flexed, her hips bucked unintentionally, hitting his groin and the smallest of moans escaped her mouth; Naru's eyes flew open and saw Mai's blush. Only then did he realize where his hand was; he gasped and pulled his hand away and sat up with his back to her.

"I..." he started to say then thought better of it, got up and walked back to his room.

5.30am

Mai walked into the base fully dressed, the blush no longer colouring her cheeks. She looked up to see Lin typing away and Naru standing next to him once again reading a folder. The rest of the group were yet to arrive and she was ignored. Mai could think of only one word to describe that moment. Awkward.

She got up and walked out to the back garden; she followed the pale pebble path which led up to a immense pond. The sapphire waters rippled silently in the breeze. Suddenly she felt a pair of eyes burning into her back; she span around searching but there was no one there. She sat down by the edge of the pond, took off her shoes and socks and dipped her feet into the cool waters. After a while she felt the warm kiss of sunlight on her back; she turned and watched the sun rise into the morning sky, turning the sky blood red. She looked down at the reflection in the pond and saw that the red of the sky was only reflected in her eyes the area around her wasn't being reflected in the water. She then realised that the ancient weeping willow across the pond from her wasn't reflecting either. She shook her head and looked up at the house behind her.

"This sure is a strange place," she thought as she dried her feet in the sun; put her socks and shoes back on before making her way back to the house.

7am

Everyone was awake and at base when Mai walked in; Monk, Ayako and John looked up at her worried.

"Where have you been?" Ayako demanded walking up to her putting her hands on Mai's shoulders so that Mai had to look at her.

"Outside, this place has a beautiful sunrise," Mai said smiling at her; Ayako shook her head in disbelief.

"Don't tell me that you have been outside all night, Mai!" she scolded; Mai looked at her in shock and saw Lin start.

"What do you mean?" Mai asked looking from her to Monk to Lin who shook his head warning her not to say anything.

"When you screamed last night we couldn't find you. Lin said he would look for you but he didn't tell us that he had found you," Monk explained everyone except Mai had missed Lin's gesture as they had their backs to him. Mai blushed and ran up to Lin, glancing at Naru for the minutest second; she hugged Lin for a second, whose eyes widened into saucers.

"Thank you," she said so that everyone could hear; Naru twitched and looked up at her. The rest of SPR looked at Mai curiously; Lin shrugged her off and she laughed at everyone's shocked faces.

"Lin caught me raiding the main kitchens fridge last night; I needed some comfort food and I asked him not to say anything," she grinned, Naru let out a silent sigh of relief, "I guess he kept his promise," she quickly made up an excuse.

"Did you expect me not to?" Lin asked turning to face her, his eyes narrowing slightly; she held her hands up in a surrendering gesture as she started laughing again. This time everyone joined in with her; Naru shut his folder with a bang that made everyone jump.

"Now that is out of the way!" his voice hinting at the irritation that her felt, "I take it that you had a dream last night." He turned to her and stared at her in the eye, forcing himself not to blush. She quickly lowered her eyes and a slight blush highlighted her cheeks; she nodded.

"Tell me!" he demanded, she felt anger bloom in.

"I'm not a flipping dog, you can't just order me around," she growled at him.

"Aren't you?" he asked in an offhand manner. Her hands balled into fists and it was obvious to everyone that she was trying as hard as she possibly could not to walk up to him and hit him.

"I was shown a massive hall; blood covered the ground and seemed to be moving toward the centre of the floor. A square in the floor suddenly opened and started to pull everything into the hole; including me. Then I was falling...darkness everywhere...no escape," Mai jumped as a hand was put on her shoulder her eyes cleared from the remnants of the dream and she looked up to see Monk's frowning face.

"You can stop now, you don't need to relive it," he said gently as she took a shaky breath.

"Is that all?" Naru said his voice harsh. Everyone looked at him confused and Mai felt a dagger rip through her heart when she saw Naru's cold eyes; she nodded but couldn't turn away from his uncaring eyes.

"Naru what's wrong with you? Not only are you cold to Mai but last night you didn't even look for her," Ayako said the volume of her voice started to rise. Mai grabbed Ayako's hand and shook her head when Ayako looked her; Mai stood and walked over to Lin completely ignoring Naru who had turned back to his folder.

"Did anything happen last night," she asked, Lin shook his head and turned to her away from his laptop with a warning look in his eye.

"Nothing, the entity is lying low for now," he said and Mai nodded before turning round to see Ayako start arguing with Monk and John put his hands up trying to keep the peace. Masako sat in the corner watching Naru through her thick eye lashes.

Once again Mai sighed, she walked up to the window leant on the frame and stared outside.

"This is going to be a very long case," she grimaced as she looked at the sky that had now turned pale blue.

10am

"Mai, Tea," came the sound of Naru's voice from across the room. Mai sighed and got up and walked to their appointed kitchen for the investigation. She made tea for everyone except Monk who she made coffee for. As she was walking back to the base she heard a voice coming from all the walls around her.

"Help...me...pl...e...a...se," the voice was quiet so quiet that normally Mai wouldn't of heard it. Mai put the tray on the floor and put a hand on the wall.

"Who are you?" She whispered; she gasped as the part of the wall that she had her hand on started to get warmer and warmer.

"Please...I'm here...can't...you...hear me," the voice faded through the wall again.

"I can hear you, tell me who are you?" Mai said a little louder, her heart pounding in her chest. The wall carried on getting hotter and hotter but when Mai tried to pull her hand away from the wall it refused to move.

"GET ME OUT OF HERE!" the voice screamed making the walls vibrate with the voiced volume. Mai screamed in pain at both her hand and her ears.

"LET ME GO!" the voice screamed again, "PLEASE STOP!"

"Please stop screaming," Mai begged, her ears ringing. The wall seemed to glow with heat; Mai put her head back and screamed her pain at the ceiling.

"I'm so sorry," the voice sobbed, "I didn't mean it, please forgive me. I didn't mean to cause you pain so please allow me to help you by doing this one thing." Suddenly a force seemed to help Mai pull her hand back away from the wall but it still wasn't enough. Mai was close to unconsciousness. She looked down at her arm and saw a pair of hand trying to pull her hand away from the wall. She followed the arms up until she saw the person who was trying to help her. It was a woman of about 22 years old. Her red hair cut to an inch above her shoulders, her skin was as pale as a corpses and she was wearing a deep green bodice with a long skirt that had been shredded until it was just strips of material hanging of the cord that keep the skirt around the woman's waist. From the amount of material there was it was obvious that the woman had been wearing at least two petticoats of the same colour. The only thing that Mai didn't know was what colour her eyes were, as the woman kept her eyes closed.

"Who are you?"Mai asked, the girl raised her head, her eyes still closed, and smiled.

"Just another lady," The woman looked back at Mai's hand, still stuck on the wall.

"Can't my friends hear me?" Mai asked slowly falling sideways, starting to black out.

"Mai you have got to stay awake, hold on a bit longer," the woman begged her. They sat in silence for a moment and then the woman sighed in exhaustion and the grip on Mai's arms loosened a tiny amount.

"Now Mai scream," she said urgently.

"I don't think I can," Mai whispered, her eyes closing. The woman growled in frustration and heaved a huge breath sending freezing cold air flowing over Mai who shivered.

"Mai, my name is Yume Ookami. I was named that by an old friend when she was a child, when she had a dream that I turned into a wolf and now so far into the future I have taken that form that she saw in that the nightmare."

"Look at me," a growling voice commanded her. Mai opened her eyes, looked at Yume and watched as she opened her eyes. Yume's eyes were a deep blue like the ocean but her iris' were slitted like a snakes. She let go of Mai's arm, crouched on all fours and growled at her showing a row of white razor sharp teeth. Her canines grew and poked out over her bottom lip her red hair looked like it had been stained with blood. Mai was sucking in air to scream but there was no time to wait as Yume could now smell Mai's flesh burning; she growled loudly in frustration and then pounced. Yume sank her teeth Mai's leg and once again tried to pull her away from the wall. Mai screamed in pain.

A shrill scream filled with agony resonated through the door from the corridor; Naru jumped from his seat and was first out the door with everyone following close behind. There at the end of the corridor was Mai, one hand on the wall and one leg stuck in the air. Slowly a bite mark appeared on her leg and then blood started to flow and soon her leg was completely covered. Monk ran up to her leg and made the sign of the immovable one.

"MONK NO!" she screamed just before Takigawa start to chant a sutra. He looked at her as if she was mad.

"MY HAND! GET MY HAND OF THE WALL!" the terror in her voice pierced through everyone who heard her. Lin whistled and his Shiki shot into the wall, a shriek was heard and Mai's hand came away from the wall. Yume stopped biting her leg at that instant, turned back into her more human state and she let out a sob when she saw the damage that Mai had sustained to her hand and leg.

"It's all my fault! I didn't want to hurt you, I tried to..." Yume broke down into sobs. Mai put her arm around the sobbing girl and held her to her chest, where she clung sobbing and hushed her.

Naru stared at Mai as she pulled an invisible being into her arms and seemed to comfort it; he turned to Monk and Lin who both looked as confused as he did.

"Yume come on, let's go back to base," she said stroking the distressed girls hair. The girl nodded, stood and helped Mai to her feet. She put Mai's unhurt arm around her shoulder and helped her to hobble to the base.

"Oy Mai, are you okay?" the two girls looked at Monk who looked completely baffled, then looked at each other and Mai looked back at him.

"I'll be okay, I'm not alone," she smiled when Yume opened the door making everyone gasp.

"You know that Mai needs some medical attention, though looking at you I don't expect much," Yume called to them.

"How dare you, I'll have you know that my parents are the owners of several hospitals, i think that I have enough experience," Ayako pouted as she followed.

"Wait! You heard me!" Yume said, shock clear in her voice; she looked at Mai who shrugged. The others walked into the room and Ayako approached Mai with a first aid kit.

"Go on, show me what you can do," Yume said with a grin on her face, Ayako mumbled in annoyance and got to work treating Mai's wounds.

"Who are you?" Naru asked Yume as he looked around the room for her; she shook her head in exasperation.

"Stop looking all around the room; I'm sat next to Mai to her left and I'm about a head taller than she is," Yume told him so that he would have some idea about where to look. She watched as his eyes searched the area that she had said; then sighed.

"Never mind, my name is Yume Ookami; I was given that name a long time ago by a friend so it's not my real name. I do remember what my real name is but it isn't important right now. 13 years ago there was a fancy dress party here and as Mai can see I'm dressed in a Victorian gown from England, it was my 9th birthday and my mother had invited a load of people over who I had never met before, the only good thing was that she had invited my friend Kei to the party along with his parents. Everything went fine until it started happening," she went silent; Mai looked away from Ayako to see tears slowly running down Yume's cheeks.

"Yume, it's alright you can tell them. It's safe," Mai said gently, a worried frown on her face. Yume took her unhurt hand, gulped and took a deep breath.

"The caretaker at the time was a strange man who would change when he got angry, he would take on the characteristics of an animal. Once he got to that state nothing could stop him, Mother only let him work at our home because she felt sorry for him, no one went near him, she raised me so that I would go up and talk to him so that he wouldn't be alone. He taught me many things most of all the sacredness of the earth and all the creatures on the face of this planet. Anyways, the party went on long into the night and the music must have been too loud because he came in already angry and asked us to turn the music down. However he had talked to one of the guests and no one of our household and so we didn't get told to turn the music down. This of course made him believe that we were ignoring him and were purposely keeping him awake; the second time he came in he didn't walk in, he crawled on all fours and even now I can still hear the growls echoing around the main hall. I remember how my mother ran up to me and screamed at me to hide; the screams and sounds of everyone getting torn apart..."Yume stopped and hugged herself, her eyes slitting again.

"Yume calm down, please," Mai said trying to back away from the terrified girl only to end up yelping pain as she put her burnt arm down onto the couch surface.

"Mai!" Yume cried and suddenly she was visible to everyone in the room. The red haired girl pulled Mai back to sit were she was before, Mai looked at her and sighed in relief as she saw that Yume's eyes had gone back to normal.

"Sorry I guess I made you worry for a sec there, didn't I?" Yume rubbed the back of her head and grinned sheepishly. She then looked up to see everyone staring at her in amazement.

"Umm...well..." she said trying to look somewhere where there was no one staring at her; but as the other members of SPR had encircle her and Mai, that was a challenge in itself.

"Okay that's creepy stop staring at me," she moaned and then suddenly it struck her, "wait! You can see me, can't you!" All the members of SPR nodded except for Masako who was sat the other end of the room in the corner and seemed to be ignoring everyone.

"What's wrong with her?" Yume asked, Monk looked behind them at Masako and shrugged, shaking his head.

"Tell me the rest of your story," Naru asked, Yume looked at him for a moment before nodding.

"I ran and hid in a small cupboard way above everyone's reach, I heard so many people run past and just when I thought I would be safe to climb out of the cupboard i heard him. The caretaker limped past, through a crack in the door I saw a wooden stick piercing his leg, it was probably from a chair leg now that I think about it; but then all I could think about was that nice old man who taught me so many things," she smiled gently a memory of his lessons, "As soon as he had gone past I climbed from my hiding place and ran back to the hall only to be greeted with carnage. Limbs were scattered far and wide, the blood from the bodies soaked the floor; I had to wade through those bodies to get to the front door on the other side of the hall. I fell several times, the blood soaking me and my clothes; but I made it to the other side and I got out of the front door and ran to the old man's house. I just couldn't believe that he was the one killing everybody. When I walked into his little cottage that mother gave him I saw claw marks all over the walls; the window was completely smashed, everything smelt of decay and mould. Then I saw him through the window, the old man was returning home; i dived out of the broken window and ran as fast as I could but by then he had already seen me. He chased me for so long, I couldn't breathe, my side ached and my lungs cried out for air; but I couldn't stop, i had to keep running. Eventually I stopped running I just couldn't go any further. He found me lying under the weeping willow in the garden behind this house; that was the longest moment of my life as he grabbed me and bit hard on my neck. Just at that moment Dad showed up, he had seen me being chased and ran to help me. He slammed the caretaker away from me using PK and ran to my side. He tried so hard to stop the bleeding, yelling at me to stay awake, to keep my eyes open; I was confused, why was my dad here? Why was he yelling at me to stay awake?" Yume pulled her legs up to her chest and hugged them.

"The caretaker had regained consciousness and had rushed at my Dad; of course he turned to answer the threat as he wanted to save me. But the child that he had known died as soon as the monster had bitten me. The monster had over powered my Dad and was about to bite him when my genes mixed with the monsters virus in my body and gave me the power to not only move but fight; I launched myself at the caretaker shoving him off my Dad, my body moved on its own. Crouching down onto all fours, baring my teeth, the growl that ripped itself growl, even my teeth grew into fangs ready to combat the threat that was in front of me. We flew at each other's throats are claws ripping huge groves in each other allowing our blood to stain the ground crimson. I won. I had got my teeth around his throat and my Dad watched as I, his 9 year old daughter, ripped apart someone that had once been a human; the body landed in the pond out back. Blood covered me head to toe and then, only then did I see my Dad for the first time since he had arrived. He was thinner than how I remembered him and I remember how happy I was when I saw a ring on his finger, he had finally gotten married again after all that time, after all those fights between Mother and him. He must have been so happy too. But in his eyes there was only fear and disgust. He stood and refused to look at me; he dragged me down to the basement of this house...my house and locked me in a room with no windows." Yume's eyes changed again, this time everybody saw them, Lin flew to his feet leaving his computer for the first time after running to help Mai. He walked quickly over to Yume, knelt down in front of her and held her face in his hands. She looked up into Lin's face which had a deep frown on it and tried to sink back from him; but he held her face firmly between his warm hands.

"Show me this true form that you speak of," he requested; she started and shook her head.

"No," she jumped back off the sofa finally pulling herself from Lin's grip; she landed on all fours but tried hard not to change into the beast that lived inside of her. Her nails clawed at the floor as Lin approached her, Yume shrank further and further away until her back hit the wall.

"LIN, that's enough!" Mai raised her voice; she moved as fast as she could hobble and stood in between Lin and Yume. Lin took a step back when he saw Mai's eyes; an ancient anger seemed to seep from them, it was almost like she was possessed.

"Mai! Step away from them!" Naru warned, his eyes flashed for a second. Mai glared at him before turning round and laid a hand on Yume's shoulders. Yume looked up at Mai, the smell of terror pierced the air and Mai wrinkled her nose; Yume grabbed Mia and hugged her; her head buried in Mai's shoulder.

"It's so dark," a child's voice whimpered and at that moment, instead of a 22 year old, everyone saw Yume as a scared 9 year old. Mai led Yume back to the couch and was about to start saying something when Yume began to shiver violently.

"Yume, what's wrong?"Mai asked; just then Yume cried out in pain and clutched her leg. A foot shaped bruise suddenly faded into being where she was holding; the SPR group watched in horror as Yume flew off the couch and smashed into the wall behind her, plaster flying everywhere. She landed on all fours, her blue iris fully covered the whites of her eyes and her slitted pupils dilated so that they took up the place where a normal iris would be. An inhuman growl ripped its way from her throat as she focused on an invisible attacker. Her teeth grew and sharpened until she had to hold her mouth open in a petrifying snarl of pure hatred; her ears grew until the tips poked through her hair that had grown until it rested in the small of her back; her nails grew into claws and ripped at the carpet.

Suddenly she lunged at the attacker and in mid jump she vanished; Mai sank to her knees in shock as the rest of SPR looked at Lin who had started talking.

"So there is one left!" he exclaimed showing a rare display of emotion, "There was a family that had been cursed which made them take on the attributes of animals. Most of the members of the family found that they had heightened senses or a high level of PK, but there were a few who got the full brunt of the curse and ended up just like Yume and the caretaker she mentioned. I wanted to find out just how big a portion of the curse she had been given," Lin said his eyes still glued to the place where Yume had vanished. Mai snapped out of her shocked daze, turned and glared at Lin who looked down curiously at her.

"You just wanted to find out...," she took a deep breath and a step forward, everyone except Naru took a step back, "You terrified her," Mai's voice was an octave deeper than normal. Naru furrowed his eye brows then turned to Lin.

"What was the name of this family?" Naru turned to Lin who sighed before answering.

"Nazuko."

There was a shocked gasp from Mai who ran up to Lin, her head shaking in disbelief.

"Does everyone descended from that family show attributes of the curse?" she whispered, Lin nodded.

"Even the very distant cousins of the Nazuko's have very high levels of PK," Lin answered, "Why?" He spoke the question hanging on every body's lips.

"My mother's maiden name was Nazuko," she said so quietly that only Naru who was closest to her could hear.

"That would explain why an idiot like you would have so many psychic abilities," he remarked.

"Naru, you jerk!" she retorted, the serious mood was broken and everyone relaxed.

"Mai, didn't you say before that neither of your parents had siblings so Yume must be like a relative of you grandparents," John said his face thoughtful.

"I don't know anything about my grandparents, I never met them," she shrugged, Monk walked up to her.

"Who knew that our Mai was from a famous psychic family," he said ruffling her hair; Naru looked up at him then looked at Mai who laughed.

"The only thing famous about them is that most of them were mental," he looked at Mai and mimed ticking off a point on his folder, "You must definitely be a Nazuko," he turned away from him only to be hit in the head with a pillow.

"That's my mother's name you're talking about," fury clear in her eyes, her fists balled up ready to hit him. He sighed and looked down at the folder that he had already read several times and memorized; in the corner of his eye he saw Lin shake his head with a sigh.

12pm

This time Monk went with Mai to get the Tea and Mai made some lunch for them all; by the time they got back to the base everyone's stomachs were loudly complaining about their emptiness. When Mai and Monk walked in both with trays ladened with drinks and food everyone except Naru, Lin and Masako cheered. Mai looked at Masako for a moment before setting down the tray, quickly grabbed some food and walked up to her.

"Here, you need to eat something," she said holding out a bowl of rice; she backed away when she saw Masako's hostile glare.

"I DON'T NEED ANYTHING FROM YOU!" she yelled hitting the bowl out of Mai's hand; the room was instantly silent and everyone was looking at Masako in astonishment. Mai exhaled sadly, cleared up the rice and walked away from Masako; hurt tears in her eyes. Naru watched Mai put the bowl on the tray before walking out of the room; he looked at Masako and felt anger bloom in his heart.

"Everyone," they all turned to him, "Once you have finished eating find Mai and make sure that she isn't attacked again. She is probably in the garden," he said his eyes warning them not to say anything. They quickly wolfed down their food before running out of the room looking for Mai. Naru turned to Masako, walked up to her and pulled her roughly to her feet. Her eyes stared at him in shock and fear as he pushed her against the wall raising her a few centimeters off the floor.

"WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU! GROW UP YOU STUPID CHILD!" he roared at her; Lin ran over to his and tried to make Naru let go.

Masako cried out in fear at Naru's fury; tears flowing down her face making her look even more like a child. Naru looked at her in disgust before dropping her and shrugging Lin off of him; Masako landed in a heap by his feet. Naru walked out of the room his fury clear on his face; Lin sighed, walked back to his laptop and started typing again. Masako slowly recovered and walked to her room, muttering about being tired.

1pm

"MAI!"

Monk, Ayako and John were out in the garden, still looking for her and they were getting increasingly worried. Naru walked out of the house and thundered past them not giving them any time to talk to him; however the murderous expression on his face didn't really make them want to say anything to him. He walked down a pale pebble path not looking where he was going until he almost fell into the pond at the end of it. He grunted angrily before looking to see if he could get round it; something caught his eye, looking down he saw Mai's shoes, socks and jumper. He looked around for her but couldn't see Mai anywhere; he looked across to the opposite side of the lake and saw an ancient weeping willow and knew instantly she was there. He took off his shoes and socks, leapt into the pond and swam across. He found Mai sat with her back on the trunk of the tree completely surrounded by the trees hanging branches hidden from view to the outside world. Her knees were pulled up to her chest, her head was rested on them and from the shaking of her shoulders he could see that she was crying. He sighed and walked up to her, his face expressionless.

"Mai, next time take someone with you when you run off," he said trying to hide the relieved note in his voice. Mai jumped and looked at him, her eyes red from crying and her nose had turned a light shade of pink that stood out against her pale white skin.

"Go away Naru," she whispered, his heart almost broke. He exhaled, walked up to her and sat next to her. She was cold, he could tell by the bluish tinge on her lips; he sighed.

"Couldn't she do anything without being a danger to herself," he shook his head as he rolled his eyes.

"Come on the others are looking for you we should be getting back," he murmured, she looked up at his for a second before nodding. They both gasped as they lowered themselves into the water, Naru swam slowly so that Mai could keep up with him and just after they had reached the middle of the pond he knew something was wrong. She was slowing at a rapid pace, her legs were no longer kicking and she was only just staying afloat. As Naru swam towards her she lost consciousness and went under the water.

"MAI!" Naru cried as he sped to where she was and dived.

Monk, Ayako and John followed the shout and saw the bubbles on the surface of the lake, Monk cursed and jumped straight in without taking off his shoes; he swam over and dived to see Naru holding onto Mai trying desperately to swim to the surface. Mai's eyes were shut and it evident that she was unconscious; Naru saw Monk and pointed to Mai's foot. A spectral hand was curled round her ankle. Monk said a sutra under the water, just as he shot to the surface he saw the hand disappear. He broke the water's surface only to see Lin running towards them and graciously dive into the pond towards Naru and Mai. Lin swam to Naru who was weakly kicking towards the surface but wasn't moving any closer to the surface. The ghostly hand had reached up and had caught him round the ankle; Lin whistled and his Shiki shot through the water dissipating the hand. He swam down and grabbed Naru and Mai before racing to the surface; by now Monk had swum to the edge of the pond and was watching the pond incessantly with Ayako and John. He gasped as he saw Lin shoot out of the pond and run across the surface of it to where they were.

Lin quickly laid the two down and was about to check Naru's pulse when his eyes opened.

"Is Mai alright?" Naru whispered; Lin went to Mai to see that she wasn't breathing. Before slipping into unconsciousness Naru saw Lin trying to revive her.

Mai opened her eyes, saw that she was lying on the floor, as she slowly got to her feet she realized that she was bone dry.

"Wasn't she just swimming a moment ago?" she thought to herself as she turned to look around the room. She was back in the hall, in the corner of the room stood Gene watching her. He smiled sadly and walked up to her, his hand smoothed her cheek; his eyes seemed to say I'm sorry. Mai looked at him confused and he shook his head silently. Suddenly there were people all round them, dancing and obvious having a party; the music boomed out huge stereos. As Mai watched a middle aged man in scruffy gray clothing prowled in; he bent down until he was on all fours, his teeth ripped through his lower lip as he growled so loudly that the music was drowned out by it. The man leapt at the woman who was closest to him and ripped her apart so quickly that if Mai had blinked she would have missed it. She screamed and tried to turn away but Gene's hands where holding her shoulders.

"Don't turn away, you need to see this," he said his eyes harsh as she looked up at him. She broke away from him and started running towards the back door when she saw them. A woman and a child who wore a dark green Victorian style dress; Mai gasped and felt tears flow down her face.

"Yuuki, you have to hide. Don't come out of your house until I come get you, do you understand!" the woman said the 9 year old girl nodded and ran. Mai tried to follow her but her legs wouldn't move, she was stuck in that hall with the monster. As the guests ran the monster chased them, only to have the mother step in front of him trying to stop him from following her daughter. Mai screamed a shrill warning but it didn't matter as the woman couldn't hear her; Mai was forced to watch as the man flew at the woman, his fangs puncturing her skin and ripping out a chunk of her neck. His claws gorged at her stomach causing her insides to fall out onto the floor, staining it red. Mai suddenly felt as if someone was pressing down hard on her chest and she fell to the ground unable to breathe.

"Gene...what's...happ...ening?" she choked out, Gene walked up to her and placed a hand on her back. She slowly fell to the ground, her eyes still open and watched as time sped up. Suddenly police were walking in and out of the room, 1 death, people were called in to clear up the blood, another death, the house was renovated, 5 died in an accident where the roof collapsed, estate agents and then the Yoi family moved in. She watched as the hall gathered dust until one night a woman wearing a cloak over her head walked to the centre of the hall, up to the trap door; she disappeared down it. Mai looked at the floor expecting footsteps but there wasn't any sign of the woman's passage. After waiting for a little while the sun started to rise and the woman climbed back up to the top of the trap door and floated across the floor. Sensing something the woman stopped and looked around and stared at something; on the floor footsteps appeared and then the woman pointed at the trap door which swung open. The footsteps stopped and a different trail was left; it was as if whoever was there was being dragged into the hole. A striking scream echoed off the walls; Mai froze her breath dying, that scream she had heard was hers. The woman turned around and looked around the room searching for something; at that point Mai saw the woman's face and recognized her instantly.

Suddenly she was outside and it was the afternoon; she lay floating in mid air. As she looked down she saw herself and Naru sat beneath the tree, then the two she was watching got up and started swimming. She watched herself go under and Mai gasped as Naru cried her name and dived under to help her. She saw Monk, Ayako and John run to the edge of the pond and watched as Monk jumped in then surface a little while later spluttering. Then she watched as Lin ran and dived into the lake as gracefully as a swan, there was a high pitched whistle and then Lin surfaced with her and Naru both unmoving. As Mai expected, Lin checked if Naru was alright only to be told to make sure that she was okay by none other than Naru himself. Mai exhaled in relief, Naru was alive; she gasped as Naru lost consciousness and then suddenly she felt the pressure on her chest again. She looked up and saw that it was Lin causing the pressure on her chest; he was trying to make her breathe. After what felt like hours Lin sat up he looked at Ayako who was sobbing and shaking her head, he looked down at Mai's body and tears started running down his face. Monk sat down heavily and stared at her before shaking his head unbelieving. He picked her up and started to walk back to the house and turned round to the rest of them.

"SHES JUST ASLEEP!" tears flooding down his face as he ran with her in his arms; Mai also felt tears trickle down her face as she watched her friends mourn for her. Lin picked up Naru and walked slowly behind Ayako and John who were holding onto one another as they wept.

"How the hell am I meant to tell Naru that the woman he loves has...has..." a new stream of tears ran down his cheeks.

"Wait, What? The woman he loves..." Mai said able to stand now that Lin had stopped trying to force her heart to start. Gene appeared beside her and she turned round to face him.

"But I'm still alive! I'm only dreaming, right?" she asked, her eyes pleading Gene to answer her question. Gene looked at her for a moment before shaking his head. Her breath caught in the back of her throat, she turned and ran after Naru who by then Lin had changed him into dry clothes and laid him in bed. Lin then went change his own clothes but not before he stopped outside Mai's room and shed a few more tears.

"Stop it, I'm still alive," she tried to grab his arm but he moved on at that point. She ran to Naru's side and sat next to him clearly making a depression in bed.

"Naru, help me I'm still alive but no one believes me. Not even Gene," tears of frustration whispered down her face as she leant over to look at Naru's face; her tears dropping onto his face shining in the fading light like diamonds. Suddenly she was being pulled away from Naru towards the wall; then Monk walked in the room and walked up to Naru before gasping at the tear drops on his face, Monk turned round and searched to see if anyone was in the room but he couldn't see Mai. Mai walked to her bedroom, sighed then entered the room. Ayako was clinging onto her body sobbing noisily; Mai growled quietly in the back of her throat. She grabbed the back of Ayako's t-shirt and dragged her towards the door, Ayako screamed and started struggling trying to get away from her; John uncurled in the corner of the room and started to chant an exorcism. Mai threw a pillow at him and he ducked and stopped chanting for a moment, just long enough for Mai to open the door and throw Ayako out of the room. She held the door open and tapped it in impatience, waiting for John to get the idea and get out of her room.

"Ayako!" Monk rushed out of Naru's room when he heard Ayako bang into the hall wall. Monk ran into the room past Mai and started chanting a sutra; Pain ripped through Mai and she screamed for an instant before running up to Monk and clamping a hand over his mouth. He froze as he felt her hand and a panting breath on his ear; Lin ran in and saw Takigawa frozen in the centre of the room. He whistled and his Shiki flew towards Mai, she let go of Monk and pushed him out of the way as she knew there was a possibility that the Shiki could damage his soul. By that time she knew it was too late to run; there was a flash of green and red, suddenly someone grabbed of her hand and her body automatically moved so that she was standing sideways with her free hand out in front of her, her palm pointing at the Shiki.

"BACK OFF!" her voice roared in time with someone else's; the Shiki stopped in its tracks before disappearing, Lin gasped and fell to his knees looking up at where his Shiki had disappeared before crawling over to a stunned John who had hit his head when he fell back from being hit in the face with the pillow. She looked round and saw that the person who had just saved her life was Yume; she laughed and hugged her. Yume smiled at her then looked at the bed and gasped.

"Mai, what...Are you dead?" she said quickly, her words smashing into each other. Mai shook her head and Yume sighed in relief, walked up to Mai's body and put her hand on Mai's neck checking her pulse. Mai shivered as she felt Yume's hand, it was an odd experience to see someone touching her neck and feeling it from the other side of the room.

"Hmmm, you are still alive. Your heart is beating at a very slow pace; I think you are in Necrostasis," Yume said biting her first knuckle in a thoughtful action.

"Necrostasis?" Mai enquired completely confused.

"It's where the body is alive but the vital organs like the heart and brain are working at such a slow rate that the person seems to be dead. For example if I pinch you," she pinched Mai's body and Mai let out a yelp of pain but her body didn't move or make a sound, "your spirit would feel it and the brain would process it straight to the spirit instead using up valuable energy in your body."

"Is that what you are doing too?" Mai asked Yume who nodded.

"Here," Yume said reaching out and touching her forehead, Mai suddenly felt heavy and her body was floating backwards to her body at a snail's pace. She watched as Ayako ran back inside the room to see if Monk was okay, he held her in his arms as they both started crying. Mai rolled her eyes, making Yume laugh; Yume then turned and put her hand on everyone's shoulders making them fall asleep.

"Didn't know you could do that," Mai said her voice sounding far away.

"They were already exhausted they just needed to feel safe," she froze slightly, "I have to go," she said as she disappeared with a small wave. Then after what had seemed like an age; Mai was back in her body and the first thing she did was sleep.

She opened her eyes, she was alone in the hall she turned to see Naru walk around the side then walk into the middle of the room; she heard the floor boards creak and groan and just as the trap door was about to fall he was pushed out the way by an invisible force. A woman ran in a wild look on her face as she swung a knife at Naru who only just dodged it. She spun round and kicked him, the side of his face smashed into the wall and blood flowed from a cut above his eye; he fell to the ground dazed. Lin ran at the woman who crouched onto all fours and grabbed his outstretched arm and twisted. He let out a yell of pain as the bone in his arm shattered. Naru got up and ran at the woman who turned and lashed out with the knife. A huge cut diagonal down his chest spewed blood around him and he fell to the ground unmoving.

Mai woke up in her body, sat up and quietly ran to the door.

"Naru," she whispered his name breathlessly as she ran to his room. She silently opened his door and slipped inside closing the door behind her. She ran over to the bed, her bare feet making no sound on the carpet; she turned on the bed side lamp and saw with relief that Naru was alright. He turned away from the light that disrupted his sleep; she reached over and put a soft hand on the place where he had cut his face in her dream. He woke at her touch, looked up at her before pulling her down in to a hug.

"You're alright," he said, tears of joy ran down his face, "the last thing I saw was..."

"Lin trying to revive me, I saw," Naru looked at her confused for a moment then shook his head. He reached out, switched the light of then rolled over taking her with him. She laughed and wrapped her arms around him and looked up in his eyes. He felt her hand slide down and start to undo his shirt, he felt her hands shaking and raised on of his to cup her face. The edge of her smile tickled his palm. He gasped as her hand slid up the inside of his now open shirt and traced a line diagonally down his chest, he slipped a hand up her still wet t-shirt and pulled it off her shoulders. Her damp hair slapped down onto his chest making him gasp in surprise. Her hand traveled to his neck and she leant down and kissed the other side of his neck, a soft moan escaped his lips.

"I'm dreaming, aren't I?" he said sadness crept into his voice; Mai looked up at him and smiled slyly.

"So you've had this dream before," she round so that she was properly lying on top of him, she gently planted a row of kisses along his collar bone. She felt him stiffed under her; he nodded and then moaned loudly when she rubbed her hips on his groin. He reached up and into her bra and massaged her nipple causing her to moan and buck her hips again, she nibbled the place where his shoulder and neck met, a deep rumble emitted from his throat. He reached round and unhooked her bra and pulled her under the covers, he wrapped her in his arms and she curled up around him; and together in comfort they fell asleep his hand still on her nipple and hips still against his groin.

Day 3

5am

The door of the bedroom slammed open, Naru who was already awake pushed Mai down below the covers and hid her clothes and his as quickly and secretly as he could. He then lay still and pretended to be asleep; he heard hurried footsteps and then he was roughly shaken. He opened his eyes to see a frantic Monk; Naru stretched and looked up at him sleepily.

"What is it?" Naru asked.

"Mai's body is gone!" Monk said panic causing him to speak really fast.

Naru shot up in bed and looked at him his eyes wide in shock.

"M...Mai's dead?" he whispered, he looked down at the lump next to him; he heard Monk curse.

"I forgot you were unconscious, sorry to tell you the news like this," Monk said tears jumping into his eyes as he walked out of the room.

Naru looked down at the still sleeping Mai, he leant down and shook her awake; she woke slowly and kisses what she thought was his chest. Naru fought as hard as he could but couldn't stop the moan that escaped his mouth. When she was awake she realized that she was a bit too far down to be kissing his chest; she was in between his legs. A deep blush coloured her cheeks as she crawled back up the bed and glared at him; his blush a mirror image. After a few seconds he sighed and gently smiled at her, her breath caught in her throat; she held him close to her.

"Answer me this Mai, Did you actually die?" he looked down to see her shake her head.

"No I was in something called Necrostasis, it's like a state of death but the person is still alive. Like a very, very deep coma where the heart beat slows right down and the brain doesn't react to pain and stuff. It seems my body instinctively used it to protect my life," Mai shrugged snuggling into Naru's chest.

"I know what Necrostasis is; I bet you had to ask someone what it was. You wouldn't have known without explanation," he said a small smirk flashed across his face.

"Naru you jerk!" she said hitting his chest, sat up and started to get off the bed.

"Do you really want to do that?" he asked in a low voice, she turned to face him a confused look on her face. He bent down and put his mouth round her nipple and started teasing it with his teeth; she fell back with moan of pleasure. A sudden gargling growl stopped him; he let go of her nipple and laughed.

"I guess you're hungry," a grin appeared on his face as he saw her blush and held her stomach, trying to quiet it down.

"Now that you mention it..." she looked up at him and he nodded.

"I guess that Necrostasis takes up a lot of energy. We almost drowned yesterday so why not celebrate being alive with a feast," he shrugged innocently, a smile crept on to her face and they both jumped out of bed and quickly got dressed.

Naru opened the door, looked up and down the corridor making sure that no one was there and then beckoned to Mai. She ran with him to the next corridor where he repeated the same cautious movements before telling her it was all clear. However at the last corridor they heard footsteps running towards them and Mai quickly climbed into a nearby cupboard and Naru pulled a devastated expression onto his face. Mai heard a creak as he leant against the door of the cupboard, then gasped as she heard the footsteps stop right beside him.

"Naru!" she hear the worry in his voice as he stopped to see if Naru was alright. Naru looked up at John and saw him take a step backwards at his expression.

"I guess you heard. I'm so sorry," John shook his head in grief, his eyes no longer shedding tears. Naru looked down at the floor, slowly slid down until he was sat on the ground; his head bowed.

"Maybe I should take you back to your room," John muttered and started to reach down when Naru smacked his hand away shaking his head.

"You really should go back," John said again with a pity laden voice and Naru shook his head more vigorously.

"Leave me," Naru growled quietly, his voice hoarse; John tried once again to pull Naru to his feet.

"LEAVE ME ALONE!" he snarled at John who shook his head and ran to find Lin; after his footsteps had faded away Naru made sure that no one else was around before opening the cupboard.

"Make sure that you apologize to John the next time you see him," Mai said looking up the corridor that the priest had just run up. Naru nodded, took her hand and together they ran to the main kitchen and saw Yumiko Mitsu the cook.

"You two hungry I take it," she said with her back to them; Naru laughed and ran his hand through his hair.

"Could we please have some food?" Mai asked politely and Yumiko turned with two platters in her hand. Naru and Mai laughed and thanked her before digging in to their food. After they had eaten their fill Mai took their trays of food and washed them up for Yumiko.

"I wish the lady and her daughter would do that!" the cook grumbled as she clattered around the kitchen starting to cook for the Yoi's lunch.

"Would you like some help?" Mai said cheerfully but Yumiko shook her head and just when she was about to say something there was a loud BANG. The kitchen door flew open and Lin ran in, he instantly saw Naru who was sat in plain view of the door; Mai however was hidden behind Yumiko at that moment in time.

"There you are! Where have you been? First we couldn't find Mai and then you disappeared! What do you think I could have said to your parents?"Lin said quickly, he was obviously trying not to shout at Naru who looked down guiltily; however Lin took that action to be one filled with sorrow.

"You shouldn't have found out that way from Takigawa. I'm sorry Kazuya," Lin said gently, a deep frown lined his face. Lin made Naru stand up and he guided him out of the room; his voice called down the corridor to the rest of the SPR members.

"Everyone get back to base we all need to talk," he said a pained expression on his face as he thought about how he would have to share his feelings but if it helped Naru then it would be for the best. Mai silently followed them hiding around corners when he turned just enough that he might have been able to see her, were she standing in the corridor at the time. She watched everyone even a tear stained puffy eyed Masako walk into the Base before Lin finally steered Naru into the room; as the door shut Mai ran up to it and listened into their conversation.

"Oh Naru, I'm so...so sorry," Masako gave a gulping sob; there was suddenly a smash of glass from inside the room and Mai grabbed the handle.

"WOULD EVERYONE PLEASE STOP TELLING ME HOW SORRY THEY FEEL!"Naru's voice roared through the wood of the door and something else smashed, "GET OFF OF ME MASAKO!" Mai heard a whimper of fear and then a grunt of someone being restrained.

"Why is Naru acting like that? I'm alive, he knows that or does he think that I'm just an illusion?" Mai sat on the floor beside the door and listened to what was happening in the room.

Lin was restraining Naru who had almost hit Masako who had been hugging him; Ayako had grabbed Masako and moved away from him as Monk helped Lin. John sat on one of the couches with a very confused look on his face; Naru fought Lin and twisted his head so he could see him.

"Lin let go!" he demanded and Lin shook his head.

"Not until you calm down!" Lin warned and he felt the tension in Naru's body disappear; Naru sagged in his arms and Lin had to drag him over to the couch so that he could sit down.

"She can't be dead," Naru muttered his head in his hands; Lin sighed and knelt down in front of him.

"I mean I spoke with her and we ate in the kitchen together," his eyes pleaded up at Lin asking him to tell him that he was right and Mai was still alive.

"Naru the only people in the kitchen were Ms Mitsu and yourself." Lin muttered then closed his eyed and swallowed past the huge lump of grief in his throat. Naru pulled his knees up to his chest and focused his eyes on the wall in across the room from him.

"Y...you mean she was just an illusion," Lin nodded, "but I talked to her before Monk told me that she was d... she had come into my room after having a dream. I must have been hurt in it because she held my face again just like she did before and..." Naru trailed off, he shook his head not wanting to believe.

"Naru, you were asleep when I came into your room," Monk said quietly, Naru opened his mouth to say something but no words came out, just a desperate sob.

Fury writhed inside Mai as she listened to what Naru was saying, a growl escaped her throat and suddenly Yume appeared next to her. Mai pulled herself to her feet and walked to the door. She and Yume stood back to back, raised their right arm that was nearest the door and pointed their palm towards the door.

"Let's do this," Mai snarled; their left hands snapped together and sent a massive amount of PK through their right hands at the door.

The door was sent flying into the room and smashed into the wall opposite after an explosion occurred just outside of the room. Lin shot to his feet, turned and stood in front of Naru, protecting him from the threat. Two pairs of footstep crunched into the room but no one could see who they belonged to because of the dust. There was a gust of wind that caused the dust to billow towards everyone as they stood in front of Naru; they were all looking towards the door still when they heard a crash behind them. They turned to see Naru pinned up against the wall his hands gripping a hand round his throat and a chorus of harsh growls echoed through the room.

The dust settled and there stood Mai and Yume, still holding their left hands; Yume had her hand around Naru's neck and had lifted him off the floor against the wall. Mai turned to see everyone running at them and raised her right hand and caused a barrier of PK energy to shoot from the floor halting their rescue attempt. She turned back to Naru, unclasped her hand from Yume and put a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"You can let him go," a deep growl emitted from Mai, Yume snarled at Naru before dropping him and turned away to watch the others try and penetrate the barrier. Naru collapsed into a pile, spluttering before Mai grabbed his shoulder making him look at her.

"Naru you jerk!" Mai whispered to him; everyone stopped and stared as they saw Yume watching them and a girl kneeling by Naru. He looked into her eyes and saw the hurt there; he reached out his hand shakily and placed it on her face. Tears of frustration flowed down her cheeks; she stood and walked up to Yume.

"You can break the barrier now," she whispered, Yume nodded silently, closed her eyes for a second before the barrier tumbled down and Lin ran past and grabbed Naru to see if he was alright.

"Girl why did you do..." he stopped as he looked up and saw that the person he hadn't recognized was actually Mai; he jumped back from her slamming his back against the adjacent wall. His breath coming out in short shocked pants, his eyes wide and he started shaking his head.

"Oh so it's much easier to believe that I'm dead, is it?"Her face changing from a confused expression to an angry one; everyone gasped as they heard her voice for the first time since she ran out of the room, before she supposedly died.

"MAI!" Ayako screamed, Monk chanted a sutra; John formed a cross on his chest before catching Masako who fainted. Mai grabbed Naru's folder and gently hit Monk over the head with it; once John had laid Masako on the ground Mai threw a pillow at his. Monk instantly remembered the time when they had been attacked by a spirit in Mai's room.

"Wait! Before, the ghost attack that was you wasn't it!" Monk said surprise in his voice; Mai smiled and turned to Lin who was shaking his head.

"But that's impossible I was literally dragged out of the room and John was almost knocked unconscious from hitting his head after a pillow hit him," Ayako said hitting Monk over the head, Mai laughed as they started fighting, although they instantly stopped at the sound of her voice.

"No one as weak as Mai would be able to deflect my Shiki like that," mumbled Lin, "Or blow that door in like that."

"Well cheers Lin, I never knew you held me in such high regard," Mai said sarcastically, rolling her eyes making everybody laugh.

"Actually i didn't do it alone, Yume helped me on both occasions," Mai said looking at Yume who just smiled and then disappeared; Mai sighed sadly.

"I've never heard of PK combining, but then I seem to be learning something new everywhere I look," Lin said with an exhausted voice, Mai laughed before turning to Naru and knelt down next to him and placed a hand on his cheek.

"You...you weren't an illusion. This morning actually happened," his eyes bored into hers.

"It actually happened, I was also in the kitchen with you when Lin came to get you," Mai said gently, she felt that Naru could break at any second.

"But he said he didn't see you," Naru whispered, his face pulled into a confused and pained expression.

"That's because I was hidden by Yumiko. I had just finished doing the washing up do you remember?" Mai jogged him memory and he nodded; smiled and hugged Mai tightly. She gently smoothed his hair before Monk walked up to them; Naru let go instantly as he recalled that there were other people in the room. Monk pulled Mai into a bear hug before letting Ayako run sobbing to her and pulled her into an embrace; Mai broke the embrace then walked up to John.

"Sorry for almost knocking you out," she said as she hugged him, he shook his head and laughed; at that point Masako woke up and saw Mai.

"Mai is that really you?" she asked, Mai nodded and Masako burst into tears, "I'm so sorry about what I said."

"It's alright," Mai said a kind smile blooming on her face; Masako ran over to her and hugged her. Lin walked over to Mai, tousled her hair and then nodded towards Naru, who was still on the floor like a doll who had been slung away.

"Come on you," she said as she put his arm over her shoulders and led him over to a couch, before sitting next to him and sighing.

12pm

Ayako came into the room after being absent for a little while and with her she brought a tray ladened with food; Naru had snapped out of his daze and had apologized properly to Masako and John for his rudeness, although it was mainly to stop Mai nagging him about his bad manners.

"Oh by the way Mai, how did you know that you weren't dead," Monk asked through a mouthful of food; the whole room when silent as everyone turned to look at her.

"Well it started off just like one of my dreams where I actually saw what happened to the people at Yume's party, then my chest started hurting because at that point I was drowning and whilst I couldn't move I saw the history of the place between then and now. I was in the main hall that I saw in my last dream but this time it was really dusty, then suddenly a woman walked...well floated across the room not leaving any footprints and disappeared into the trapdoor in the middle of the room. She returned a while later and I saw her face; I recognized her but I just can't remember where I had seen her before. After that happened i was in the garden and watched the moment of when Naru found me, we swam back across the pond; I went under half way across..."

"We know that bit already, don't remind me of my failure," Lin interrupted very quietly.

"Well to be honest, you didn't fail reviving me as I wasn't dead," Mai smiled at the gasps she heard, "I followed you as you took me to my room and then how I kind of lost my temper and threw Ayako out of the room, hurt John and scared the pants of Monk."

"You wish!" Monk exclaimed, blushing in embarrassment as everyone laughed at him.

"Then as you know Lin ran in and called his Shiki. I pushed Monk out the way because I remembered Lin telling me that there is a chance that if his Shiki touched a living thing then the living soul could be damaged or even destroyed. But by the time I had done that there was no time to move; at that point Yume showed up and boosted my power so that I could deflect the Shiki. Yume then explained that I wasn't dead I was actually in a type of coma like state called Necrostasis," Mai explained.

"Ah that would answer a lot of questions, like why are you alive now but back then I couldn't feel a pulse. If you were in Necrostasis then that would also explain why I found Naru in the kitchen," Lin said pinching the bridge of his nose.

"But wait, isn't Necrostasis a very high level thing that only really experienced and powerful psychics can manage," Monk asked, and then gaped at Mai when Naru and Lin nodded their heads.

"But then again you need to remember she is closely related to the Nazuko family," Naru said looking at Mai as she turned to him and he raised an eyebrow as she shoved a plate of food into his hands.

"Once you are all finished we need to explore this hall that Mai keeps dreaming of," Naru said quickly eating the food that Mai had given him.

1pm

"I had expected people to eat faster he said as everyone stood ready in the base, Ayako glared at him and snorted quietly.

"That was the first time we had eaten anything since yesterday afternoon when you were playing in the pond," Monk said only to back off when Naru gave him the glare of the century; Naru turned to Mai who yawned silently.

"Do you know the way to the hall from here?" he enquired; she thought about it for a second before nodding. He opened the door for her and she walked out leading everyone to the hall.

They entered a deserted corridor that had dust all over it and suddenly Monk ran forward and pushed Lin and Naru towards Mai before he and the rest of SPR fell down a hole that had just opened up in the floor. There were yelps of pain and coughs and then a louder yelp of pain and a smacking sound; Ayako had obvious just hit Takigawa for sending her down that darkness.

"We're alright the floorboards were weak, go on a head okay!" Monk yelled up before shuffling sounds were heard from below.

"Right! We'll see you when you arrive," Naru said as he turned and nodded to Mai who carried on leading them until they got to a set of double doors that blended in perfectly to the wall they were situated on.

"Naru, Lin listen to me for a moment," Mai said stopping the two men as they were about to open the door, "If you are attacked by a woman with a knife Lin, she will break your arm. I know that Naru will be in danger but just stay put okay. Naru, the woman will kick you and you will hit your head; I'm warning you now Do Not Get Up otherwise...otherwise..." Mai shook her head as tears crept out of the corners of her eyes, the two men took her warning seriously and then after a deep breath, opened the door. It slid open easily attesting to the claim that Mai made when she said that someone entered this hall recently; dust carpeted the floor thickly and billowed under the three pairs of feet.

"So this is the hall that you dream of," Naru walked around the hall before standing in the middle of the room; Mai walked round the room and saw that a shape had disturbed the dust, when she looked closer she saw that it was from a body. She looked towards Naru and saw that this was the place she had watched her dream from.

A deafening crash echoed around the room and Mai found herself running towards Naru without thinking about any consequences. She barged him out of the way when a woman swung a knife down at her piercing her shoulder; Mai stood there in shock, looked up at the woman's face.

"Ms Leiko!" Mai gasped as there was a loud creak behind her, she turned and reached out to Naru who had fallen to the floor as Leiko pushed her back. The trapdoor gave way imploding down into the hole underneath it, Mai fell back into it and disappeared; her pleading eyes where the last thing he saw of her.

"NARU!" her scream echoed up the hole before silence reigned in the room. Naru got to his feet and was about to walk over to the hole when Leiko ran at him with the knife screeching like a banshee. He dodged the knife and was about to counterattack when Ms Yoi span round and kicked him in the head, sending him away from her in flight, which quickly came to an end when he smashed into the wall and fell to the floor unmoving. Lin let out a cry of dismay before rushing at Leiko who sank down onto all fours, grabbed his arms and easily broke the bone when she twisted her hands. He let out a short yell of pain as he fell to his knees cradling his arm. Naru pushed himself up onto his elbows, shook his head trying to clear the dazed veil that had descended over his eyes and looked up to see Lin shake his head slightly telling him to stay down. He then remembered Mai's warning, he let himself fall back to the ground and watched Ms Yoi walk towards Lin. Lin looked up at Leiko, he then closed his eyes against the woman's murderous glare and heard the swish of her blade as she pulled it back to attack him.

At that point Monk, Ayako, John and Masako ran in and instantly reacted to what they were seeing. Ayako ran and used her momentum to throw a powerful punch at Ms Yoi, John ran up to Lin and helped him stand and Masako pulled Naru to his feet. Monk restrained Leiko, Lin walked over and knocked her out by hitting the back of her neck; she sank to the floor and laid still.

As soon as Naru was on his feet he rushed to the hole only to have something barge past him and fly down the opening.

"MAI!"he cried down into the void below him, Monk grabbed him and stopped him from jumping down the hole.

Sometime later

"Mai...Mai...Mai wake up!" a voice begged. Mai opened her eyes to see the bars of a cage right in front of her; Yume lying on the other side of the bars. She leant forward and heard a clink of chains; Mai then realized why her wrists were agonizing, she had cuffs on that were chained to a nail in the wall above her. The chains forced her to stand; and being unconscious had made her slump so her circulation had been cut.

"Yu...me," she gasped as she felt something on her face crack; Yume sighed in relief before looking back up to Mai.

"Mai, keep speaking to me okay, don't stop do you understand," Yume said clearly so that Mai could take in what she was saying through her daze fogged mind.

"I fell down the trapdoor...but I can't remember...anything other than that...What happened?" Mai asked coughing in the damp air.

"Well you were knocked unconscious by the fall and then she dragged you here, chained you up then left. I guess you know the rest," Yume explained, Mai's eyes widened as she finally grew accustomed with the dark and was able to see her surroundings. It was a room with a single door and no windows the cage took up half of the small space; altogether the whole room was about 3 meters square.

Suddenly Yume and Mai heard footsteps walking towards them; the door swung open and in walked a figure cloaked in black. Yume started whimpering and slowly crawled towards the back of the cage; she left a trail of blood behind her.

The figure walked up to Mai and grabbed her chin, smashing her head against the wall; Mai cried out in pain. An angry hiss slipped out of the figures mouth, they pushed their face into Mai's and punched Mai in the stomach. Breath exploded out of Mai and left her gasping; her mind reeled as she recognized the figures face. It was Chi Yoi.

"I wonder if that stupid woman has finished with your friends yet," Chi giggled evilly; her eyes rolling with madness.

"Chi, what are you doing?" Mai gasped only to be rewarded with a fist slamming into her face.

"Chi why did you do that? Chi why did you do this? You know what I'm so sick and tired of being called Chi!" the girl reached inside her cloak and pulled out a syringe.

"What... who are you then?" Mai whimpered and tried to shrink away from the manically laughing girl before her.

"Me, I'm just someone who hates the pure blood Nazuko brats, who think that they are better than everyone else!" Chi spat at the floor near Yume.

"I... NO PLEASE DON'T!" Mai screamed as the girl grabbed her arm and slammed the syringe into it, pushing all the fluid into her body.

"MAI!" Naru ran in followed closely by Lin, Monk and John, "YOU GET AWAY FROM HER!" his voice echoed through the room. Chi stepped back still laughing, the syringe dropped from her hand and she ran at Naru.

"NARU, DON'T HURT HER SHES POSSESSED!" Mai screamed as fire started to blaze through her body. Monk grabbed Chi and held her still whilst John performed an exorcism; the spirit ripped away from the girl who collapsed and turned to Mai. Mai slumped as the pain overtook her body and the spirit roared with laughter.

"She will be dead in a matter of minutes and my revenge will be complete. I failed to drown her in the pool and now I made this little innocent brat kill her," the spirit danced in circles.

"Mr. Tazimoto, why did you do this? Wasn't it enough to kill all those people back then at my party?" Yume sobbed as she watched Mai's strength slowly leave her.

"Of course it wasn't enough! My life was taken by the one person I really wanted to kill! I was killed by the stupid daughter of the women who employed me as a caretaker, but that was just a surface facade. That woman kept me like a dog in that small cottage and ordered me to take care of her runt! I had no respect even though I had more power than any of the 'main' family at that point!" The man spat, he turned back to Mai who used her last piece of strength to look up at Naru.

"Na...ru...I'm sorry..." her head flopped forward and her body went limp. Naru stared at her for the longest of moments barely registering the yells around him; he was brought back to reality by the spirits uncontrollable laughter. Naru turned to him and gathered his PK, he started glowing and next to him appeared Gene.

"DAMN YOU!" their screams intermingled as they shot a huge blast of psychic energy at the spirit of the caretaker, who exploded into a mass of phantom pieces. John ran to the entrance, and called the girls.

"CALL AN AMBULANCE!" panic was evident in his voice as he ran back to the room to see Naru walk over to Mai. Naru ripped the chains off the wall and caught Mai as gravity took hold and she fell towards the ground; his hands shook as he held her. Monk smashed the lock on the cage, went in and picked up Yume; he then followed Lin who had started to climb up the rope ladder which the men used to get to Mai and Yume. Yume had enough strength to hold onto Takigawa whilst he climbed up and she fell to the ground as soon as they reached the floor above. Ayako had called for an ambulance as soon as the men had gone down the trap door so the paramedics were already there; they rushed to Yume, checked her vital signs and quickly pulled her onto a stretcher with frowns on their faces.

"Miss Matsuzaki said that there may be more than one casualty?" one of the paramedics said as the other ran Yume to one of two ambulances and the other paramedics took her and raced her to the nearest hospital, their sirens screeching in the silent night.

"Naru, you go first I will exorcise this room just in case there are any spirits left," John said he pushed Naru who still held Mai to the ladder.

"Right," Naru gently pulled Mai up onto his shoulder and climbed up to where the rest of the SPR members were. He was sudden bombarded with paramedics who tried to pull Mai away from him; he fought them back before a strong hand was laid on his shoulder, he calmed at once, looked up and saw that it was Lin.

"Let them help her," he said softly, Mai was gently lifted off of his shoulder and as Naru saw her being cared for by the paramedics a heavy weight was lifted off his heart.

"Please look after her," he whispered, he saw one of the paramedic's nod. Naru gave a small sigh of relief before the effects of using PK hit him and he collapsed to the ground not breathing. Paramedics swarmed around Mai and Naru and they were taken to hospital in the back of the remaining ambulance.

Six months later

Naru sat beside a grave his eyes had a dead and defeated look in them as he stared down at it.

"You helped us more than you could ever know, but..." he deadpanned sinking to his knees; Lin walked over to him and pulled him to his feet.

"Come on you have to be strong for her," Lin whispered before nodding to Monk, John, Ayako and Masako who stood a little distance away their heads bowed; they were waiting by the car, waiting for him.

"I'll see you again soon, I promise," Naru said his hand running across the smooth marble of the head stone.

Five minutes later he was in the front passenger seat next to Lin with the four others cramped in the back on the way to the hospital.

As they walked in the main doors they were greeted by a Nurse who bowed to them avoiding Naru's dead eyes.

"Welcome back Mr. Shibuya," she said as she passed them going to care for another patient. Naru walked like a robot through the corridors ignoring all the polite nods he was getting as he made his way to a private room. He opened the door and walked over to the chair that was positioned next to the bed; he looked down at the woman lying beside him. A single tear leaked out of his eye as he saw the changes that had occurred. The woman's brown hair had grown twice as long and Ayako had come today to cut her nails which had grown into claws. The rest of SPR walked into the room and greeted her as if she was awake.

"Mr. Shibuya?" the doctor walked in, "I'm afraid I have bad news. It is very unlikely that she will ever wake up. You will have to be prepared when that day happens," the doctor informed them, he bowed, turned and swept out of the room. Blood drained from Naru's already pale skin leaving him with a ghostly complexion; Lin hung his head sadly before ushering the rest of SPR out of the room to leave Naru alone with the girl.

"Mai, you've got to wake up," tears ran freely down his face as Naru lent over Mai picking the girl up into his arms. Her head rested against his chest, her breath softly billowing warm clouds of air; Naru gulped past the lump in his throat and sat on the bed next to her still holding her to him.

"Mai...Mai please..." his grief slowly merged into anger as he looked at her peaceful face. He laid her back onto the bed and walked to the window; slamming his fist against the glass.

Mai opened her eyes and saw that she was lying in a meadow; she sat up and looked around. She saw a forest ringed the meadow; suddenly a pack of wolves ran out of the forest and surrounded her. Mai whimpered and curled into a ball; then as fear and adrenaline began to course through her body she uncurled and crouched on all fours. A snarl ripped from her throat as she faced the threat in front of her; at that point a warning growl sounded from behind the wolves who backed away, Mai stood confused her eyes still warily watching them.

"Its been a while, Mai," a friendly voice greeted her, Mai looked up to see Yume standing there grinning at her.

"Yume, how are you? So Naru got you out as well," Mai said running up to her giving her a hug.

"Mai, I need you to listen to me. I'm no longer in the realm of the living, we can only talk in here," she said pointing to Mai's head. Mai looked at her; shook her head in disbelief and sat down heavily on the floor.

"Mai, there's something important I have been meaning to say to you. My father's name was Kazi Taniyama," Mai gasped and put her hands over her mouth, "and my mother's name was Miyuki Nazuko she was your mother's cousin."

"So...so you're my sister/cousin," Mai gaped at Yume who nodded.

"Though I rather the idea of being your sister rather than your cousin," Yume muttered to her and Mai laughed.

"Mai, you have to go back now, you have been here too long. He's waiting for you," Yume said as Mai fell back into the meadow.

"I will always be with you Mai when you need me," Yume whispered as she faded out of sight.

"Mai Taniyama, if you don't stop lazing about right now then I will fire you!" he scolded her loudly.

"Naru you jerk!" Mai's voice retorted. Naru swung round to see Mai sitting up, glaring at him; for a moment he thought that he was dreaming, he pinched his arm just to clarify to himself that he wasn't actually asleep.

"What's the matter Naru?" Mai said half mocking half serious, her brown eyes full of happiness that he was with her.

"M...Mai?" he took a hesitant step forward still not quite believing that she was actually awake.

"Naru, I'm okay what are you so confused about?" she said getting to her feet; when she looked up again she could see a genuine smile creeping across his face.

"MAI!" he roared as he ran up to her and pulled her into his arms with a laugh; tears of joy rolled down his face. The door slammed open and Lin, Monk, Ayako, John, Masako and a doctor ran in. They all saw Naru and Mai hugging and stopped staring in amazement; only a few moments ago Mai had been unconscious in a hospital bed.

"Okay this is creeping me out slightly, why is everyone staring at me like that?" Mai said as she pulled out of Naru's embrace to greet the rest of her friends.

"Mai..." Ayako started before the doctor cut her off.

"Miss Taniyama, please sit down," Mai did as she was told and the doctor checked her vitals to find that they were fine.

"Miss can you tell me the name of everyone in this room?" he asked to see if she had any memory loss at all.

"Um okay, Kazuya Shibuya aka Naru, Lin Koujo, Houshou Takigawa aka Monk, Ayako Matsuzaki, John Brown and Masako Hara," she said confused as the doctor turned nodded to Naru and went to the door.

"She's perfectly healthy we will discharge her today," the doctor smiled before disappearing through the door.

"What?" Mai looked around the room her face creased into a confused frown.

"Mai what do you remember?" Lin asked her.

"I was chained next to a cage that had Yume in it and then Chi walked in, drugged me with something; then you guys came. After that the pain kicked in and I can't really remember anything after that," Mai answered.

"The drug was a poison made from the deadly night shade plant, you almost died Mai," Monk explained, Naru put a hand on her shoulder and she turned to face him.

"Mai, you have been in a coma for the last 6 months," she gasped, "Yume didn't make it, she had sustained too much damage from her torture. We gave her a proper burial and an exorcism so she could finally be at rest," Naru said gently, Mai turned away from them and stood still for a moment before sighing.

"I know, she told me," Mai whispered, Naru inhaled sharply his eyes wary, "She was in a dream I had. She also told me how we were related."

"How?" Lin asked his curiosity peaked; Mai smiled.

"She's my sister, well half sister," Mai said brightly and laughed at the gasps around the room.

"I thought that it was just a coincidence that your name was Taniyama but," Lin frowned, "What was your father's name?"

"Kenjiro Taniyama, why?" Mai looked confused at Lin's expression when he heard the name, his eyes had widened and he looked at Naru who was staring at Mai.

"Look, stop staring at me I'm not some freak!" Mai growled her temper sky rocketing; a silent communication went on between the rest of SPR and everyone started to stare at her. She took a low stance, her arms spread wide in readiness and her lips slowly curled back showing her teeth, another growl rumbled from her chest.

"Stop Staring!" she warned, everyone took a step back making Mai close her eyes with a sigh. When she opened them again one of her eyes was a startling blue and Mai gasped. The vision in the blue eye was like a one of Naru's thermal imaging cameras; she could see the different temperatures in the room, from the cold of the tiles on the floor, to the heat of the human body. She walked up to Naru, reached out and rested her hand on his chest; he twitched away slightly causing Mai to look up at him in shock. She then saw herself in the mirror and looked at her blue eye.

"Is this what you meant by being with me always, Yume?" Mai thought as she stood staring at her new eye.

"This eye will appear when you feel heightened negative emotions like fear and anger; this is my gift to you. See through my eye and sense with my senses," Yume whispered to her.

"When will it go away?" Mai asked closing her eyes and hugging herself.

"When you calm down," Yume whispered in her head.

"CALM DOWN! HOW AM I MEANT TO CALM DOWN!" She yelled out loud before realizing what she had done, she suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder and she turned to see an anxious looking Monk.

"John, do you think that you can try an exorcism?" he asked and the priest nodded.

"No," Mai started backing off when she heard Yume's voice in her head.

"Don't worry, I'm not a spirit so they can't get rid of me and before you ask I'm a memory and nothing can take away a memory."

"That sounds like a threat!" Mai growled at Yume, John took a step back thinking that she was talking to him; Monk grabbed Mai who looked at him for a moment before hearing Yume back in her head.

"I'm sorry Mai, I didn't mean it to sound like a threat. I'm passing on anyway this is just something I can do for you, who would I be if I didn't explain your new powers. Oh and you know that power that we used before, that's yours, as well but remember to take the position I showed you. If you don't then the power will only travel through your body not both of ours and you will end up like Naru; fearing the knowledge that your own power will kill you if you use it," Yume explained just before her presence disappeared; at the same moment Mai's eye went back to normal and John who was about to start the exorcism stopped and looked at her. Mai looked up and sheepishly smiled as she ran her fingers through her hair, her eyes widening as she realized how long it was.

"Sorry guys, just a sisterly quarrel but never mind that why's my hair so long?" Mai said once again sporting a confused frown. Her question and expression cause Ayako and Masako to snigger and Naru rolled his eyes, they were all smiling.

"Mai, we told you, you have been in a coma for 6 months," Monk laughed tousling her hair.

"Naru what was the big deal about who my father was any way?" Mai asked her frown still in place.

"Kenjiro Taniyama was an extraordinary man in our field of work; you could say that our company is his successor, he used to go round and solve cases with his wife and a friend of the family, but when his wife fell pregnant they stopped ghost hunting. The family friend, a Miss Tanaka took up the employment of teaching," Naru stopped at the expression on Mai's face.

"So Miss T knew my parents very well yet decided not to tell me anything about them, in fact she acted like a stranger the first time we met," Mai sat on the bed with a soft thump and curled her knees under her chin.

"Look, we can all sulk afterwards right now can't we just celebrate Mai being awake and her release out of hospital," Ayako said, her sharp voice cutting through everyone's thoughts.

"You're right! Come on let's go!" Monk hollered, his hand punching the air, John laughed and nodded smiling at Mai.

"Guys, you really are the best!" Mai said her face filled with emotions, happiness, sadness, hope and fear.

"Go on ahead, you too Lin," Naru said looking at Mai with a frown, the rest of SPR nodded and walked out of the door.

Naru walked up to Mai who stayed seated on the bed.

"Naru, I'm sorry that I made you worry," she muttered as she looked up at him her brown eyes glittering slightly with tears.

"Sorry, huh, that's not good enough," he grabbed her shoulders, pulled her off the bed and onto her feet; she staggered slightly, fell towards him and she felt his warm, strong arms envelop her. He turned her round, made her walk backwards until she hit the wall.

"N...Naru?" she whispered fear slowly sinking its claws into her. Naru tipped her head up so that she was looking at him; his serious expression seemed to calm her. He leant down towards her, his eyes focused on hers and sighed. Mai could feel his hot breath tickling her face; she then realized what he was going to do and gasped. He took that moment of weakness and kissed her, his mouth pressed gently against hers. For a second she froze, she then slowly, unsure of herself, put her arms around Naru's neck and kissed him back. She felt Naru's arms travel down to her waist and held her close to him so that she couldn't break away. He licked her bottom lip asking for entry and she granted it, their tongues fighting for dominance; she lost. Naru swung her round and she ended up back on the bed, she kissed through a smile. In a flash they had their hands up each other's tops and made moaning sounds as their nipples were teased.

"They're taking too long!" Monk stamped in indignation his arms crossed in front of him making him look like a child.

"Come on!" Ayako was running back into the hospital, "I hate waiting!" her angry voice reverberated back to them. The next moment they were all standing outside of the room; Lin opened it and they all ran in. They were just about to voice their annoyance when they saw Mai and Naru making out on the bed and groaning with pleasure. They all silently crept back of the room, closed the door and looked at each other before collapsing in laughter.

"Naru, I think we were just spotted by the gang," Mai said a deep red blush blooming on her face.

"They should mind their own manners," Naru said nibbling her ear. He then stopped and looked back at the door.

"Maybe we should leave this until we find somewhere more private," he wondered and Mai nodded with a beetroot smile. They straightened out their clothes before sighing and then they opened the door to see everyone even Lin laughing their heads off.

"Come on guys!" Mai whined as she walked past them with her hand in Naru's.

"Yo Mai," she looked to see Monk run up to her, "Invite me to your wedding okay," he laughed and Mai blushed even redder.

"We will only invite you if you stop laughing," Naru deadpanned and Mai looked up at him startled then shook her head when she saw his smirk.

"Maybe I could do the service," John said seriously then he looked up at Naru who nodded agreeing.

"Hey, have you asked the bride whether she wants to marry you yet?" Ayako enquired noticing Mai's shocked expression.

"Why would I need to ask her, I thought it would be a given. I mean who would turn down this," Naru said pointing to himself; everyone laughed so loudly that they were told to leave the hospital.

"Naru you are as big a Narcissist as when I first met you," Mai laughed, "Anyway it would have been a yes," she looked up at him and he kissed her on the forehead.

"Yo guys there's a pub over here. Let's celebrate!" Monk said pounding the air with his fist. Everyone roared in agreement and followed Monk to a pub called the Samurai's Sword.

Later on they found that Ayako and Monk were engaged and Masako was about to go to America to start filming a huge movie that would be shown all over the world. John was now helping out at Kenji's church taking care of the children there, whilst Lin as always had stayed as Naru's assistant throughout the last six months. Though he did admit to the fact that he didn't really do much as Naru was in a state of depression but that was later on when Naru was out of hearing distance. A month later Mai and Naru came back from their honeymoon and Shibuya Psychic Research was once again open for business.

Please review, I look forward to reading them =]