Elemental

by Zaru-san

Pairings: MaixNaru, AyakoxTakigawa, OCZaruxLin

Summary: One of the funders of SPR is asking for the ghost hunter's help. And does she have some sort of secret?

Disclaimer: I do not own Ghost Hunt. If I did, I wouldn't be writing this fic now would I? And I do own Zaru, the employees, customers and of course Club Kunoichi. :D It was made in my vision.

A/n: My first Ghost Hunt fic. Be gentle.

Prologue

May 23

Friday

The Shibuya Psychic Research office was peaceful in the early afternoon. The spring breeze blew through the open window gently across from Mai Taniyama's desk as she entered information in her laptop computer. Her brown hair was put up in small pigtails to help keep her cool from the slight warmth that had built in the office earlier when she arrived, thus the reason for the open window. She had worked for a couple of hours, coming in early since school was only a half-day that day. She had assumed Kazuya Shibuya, also known as Naru the Narcissist, would be pleased of her dedication to her job, but alas, all he said as soon as the door opened and saw her walk in was, "Mai, tea." She ground her teeth at the thought of her boss not appreciating her willingness to actually come in to work early, especially on a school day when she could have went home for a few hours to sleep before coming to work at her regular time, but no, he had to push her buttons.

Scooting her chair back, she stood up stretching her limbs and retreating into the kitchen to prepare some more tea which she knew Naru would want any second now.

"Mai, tea." She heard his voice call.

She rolled her eyes. I know him too well. Producing a few cups from the small cupboard above, she set them down on a tray waiting for the kettle to whistle. But before that, she heard the door to the office open and quickly ran out to see who it was. Who she saw was an older girl. Or is that young woman? I can't tell. She looks really young. Smiling, she headed over.

"Hello. Welcome to Shibuya Psychic Research. May I help you?" The woman smiled at her and Mai was entranced by her very green hair. The girl seemed to notice and Mai flushed, looking away quickly. "I-I'm so very sorry for staring."

"It's all right. I get that a lot. At least from people I don't know." She laughed and Mai did as well.

"Again, I apologize for my staring. May I help you?"

"Yes. I was wondering if Naru or Lin were available."

Mai blinked. She knows Naru and Lin-san? "Oh, well, Naru is in his office right now and Lin-san is out."

"I really need to speak with one of them. Well, Naru mostly." She smiled again.

"Are you a friend of Naru and Lin-san?" Mai wondered.

The girl with the green hair just grinned at her. "Of course. I've known them for years. I just haven't been here in awhile, with work and everything."

"Oh. Well, let me see if Naru will want to see you."

"Sure."

The door to Naru's office opened and Mai walked in. He was busy skimming through past case files as he heard Mai slowly walk in. Not even looking up, he spoke.

"Where's my tea, Mai?"

"Uh, I'm making the tea right now."

"Then what are you doing in here wasting working hours? I do not pay you to stand around doing nothing. I also do not pay you for bothering me."

"Well, I thought you should know that somebody is here to see you."

He didn't even look up. "Who?"

"I didn't get her name but she says she knows you and Lin-san. Not to mention she has the coolest hair I have ever seen!"

Naru looked up. "Somebody comes in, you don't even think of asking their name yet you notice their hair?"

"Well, it's green! Come on! That's totally uncommon!"

"Green hair?" What is she doing here? I wonder if something is wrong. "Send her in, Mai."

"Right."

She began to head out before Naru spoke once more. "Mai." She turned. "Tea."

The brown-haired girl gritted her teeth. "Yes, sir."

Not even a moment later, Naru stood as his door opened once again, this time revealing the green-haired woman. He smiled small as she entered and she ran over, hugging him tightly.

"Oh, Naru, it's so good to see you after all this time!"

He wrapped his arms around her, hugging her back, but pulled away just as quickly. "Zaru, it has been awhile, hasn't it?"

She nodded as she stepped away from the cold-eyed boss. "Yeah."

"So, what brings you here after all this time?" He sat back down again, hands clasped together in his lap and his right leg propped above his right knee.

The girl now known as Zaru sighed heavily and turned away from him, eyeing the walls. "It's not good."

His eyes narrowed. "What's going on?"

She bit her lip before turning back to the teenager. "There's something going on at Club Kunoichi."

"I see. So you are requesting an investigation?"

"That's right."

"What is going on at the club?"

Sighing heavily, she rubbed her forehead. "So many things, Naru. It's like something is either taking over the club or trying to take over the club."

"In what way?"

"Things getting unplugged, instruments playing by themselves, seats moving, tables being turned over, lights going awry. And, Naru, those are just the little things that happen!"

"What else happens there?"

Zaru bit her tongue. "Too much stuff. The biggest things that happen are apparitions and injured staff and customers."

"Injuries?" He was shocked. What kind of spirit or whatnot could do something like that?

"Yes, Naru."

"All right. I would like you to tell me more about all this, but as of right now, I will accept the case and we can go into more detail later on."

"Okay."

"Right now, I'm going to have Mai call everybody to get together so we can get a plan of action together, all right?"

She smiled warmly. "Thank you, Naru. I knew I could always count on you in these situations."

He smiled back. "Well, what are friends for?"

It was later in the day everybody, including Zaru, were in the lobby area of SPR waiting on Lin to show. Naru was sitting in the headchair as usual. Mai, Takigawa and Ayako were sitting on one couch and Masako and John were sitting on the other. Across from Naru sat Zaru. Minutes ticked by as they continued to wait for Lin to show. Naru had called him ten minutes before to let him know of a new case, but he failed to mention who the client was. As another five minutes went by, the door to the office opened and Lin walked in.

"Sorry I'm late, Naru. The traffic was too heavy for my to bypass."

"That's all right, Lin. Next time, call." He sighed as he wrote some notes down in his notebook.

Lin was getting ready to take his jacket off when he noticed the client sitting in the chair. Green hair? Zaru? His jacket was halfway down his arms when he walked over to see her face. "Zaru?"

"Hey, Lin." She smiled up at him.

His eyes widened slightly and seemed warm. A sparkle seemed to shine there as well. All he could do was smile as she stood up to face him. They could see she was quite short compared to Lin as she only came up to his chest. But that didn't seem to matter as the two just kept staring at one another. Finally, the stillness was broken as Lin gathered Zaru in his arms, holding her tightly to him.

"Zaru." He whispered and buried his face in her neck as he lifted her off the ground.

"Lin." She whispered back. Pulling back slightly, she tenderly planted her lips over his.

The group, minus Naru, watched in shock at the event taking place right before their very eyes.

Mai was especially watching in amazement. Kiys-san is his girlfriend? I never knew. "Wow..." She whispered. Turning to Ayako, she whispered, "I didn't know Lin-san had a girlfriend. Did you?"

Ayako just shook her head. "I had no idea." She whispered back.

Soon they heard a throat clear and all faced Naru. Zaru and Lin broke the kiss and the Chinese man set her down.

"Sorry, Naru." Zaru giggled.

He sighed. "It's to be expected since you haven't seen each other for awhile."

She just looked up at Lin with warm eyes. "Yeah, I know. It has been awhile."

Lin leaned down quickly to steal another kiss before heading to the coatrack and putting his jacket away.

"Now, Zaru, would you please tell us exactly what has been happening so Lin can be filled in especially since he is writing the statement down."

"Mm." She nodded and sat back down in the chair waiting for Lin to get his laptop ready.

"Go ahead." Lin said.

"Zaru, now please start with the location for the investigation."

"Club Kunoichi."

Mai blinked. "Club Kunoichi? Isn't that the all ages club just outside of Tokyo?"

"Yes."

"Please tell us everything starting from when this all began." Naru said.

"Right." She cleared her throat. "About seven years ago, my mother purchased some vacant land just outside of Tokyo. It was a real sell because it came so cheap, so she bought it before somebody else could." She sighed but continued. "After she had purchased the land, she found a condemned building just near the front of the property. But she never touched it."

"Until when?"

"Until four years ago."

"Why wait that long?" Mai wondered.

"My mother just bought the land and saw the building, but never knew what to do with it. So she left it there vacant as ever."

"Then what?"

"After a few years, she gave me the deed because she still had no idea what to do with it. Since I had turned 18 then, I decided that I was going to turn the building into a club and she thought it was a great idea." She cleared her throat again. "I hired a construction crew to make renovations. But as soon as I hired them, they quit."

"Why did they quit?" Asked Naru, his hands clasped together under his chin.

She averted her eyes. "Because they were scared." She almost whispered. "I didn't know what to think. I asked them why they were scared, but they didn't tell me why." She shrugged. "I just thought they couldn't handle the work so I hired a different crew to take over."

"And what of that construction crew?"

"They were fine. They finished most of the renovations but then something happened to one of the workers."

"What happened?" Takigawa asked.

"During renovation of the second floor, the V.I.P. area, one of the workers said he was pushed and fell over the railing to the ground. Luckily there was a whole load of insulation piled up under him so he wasn't seriously hurt."

"Somebody pushed him?" Mai gasped.

"Mm-hmm. That crew stayed on though because nothing else happened after that."

"What about when the work was done?"

"After the work was finished three years ago, I had hired staff. On the grand opening of the club, lots of customers came. And we were all thrilled at the turnout. We had live bands, DJs, bars, everything. It was great. But..." She paused.

"But what?"

"Things started happening. That's when everything truly began. It didn't happen all the time, just sometimes. You know? Like, every few weeks something would happen. But that didn't last. Just about six or seven months ago, it got worse, almost every night."

"Exactly what things were happening, Zaru?"

"Instruments playing by themselves. Electronics becoming unplugged. Lights going crazy. Weird sounds coming from the speakers. Tables and stools turned and thrown. And as I told Naru earlier, those were just little things."

"Now, we're getting to the big stuff that's been happening and I can't wait to hear this."

Zaru smiled small. "Naru, things are just too bad there. My staff and club goers are seeing figures and shadows. One of my employees complained to me about it being too bright in the storage of the kitchen area, but there are no bright lights in there. And recently, um, waitresses and waiters carrying drinks to the clubbers, well, the glasses shatter out of nowhere scaring people. Some people even went to the hospital to have glass removed from their bodies because it was imbedded so deep in their skin."

"Anything else?"

"Yeah, uh, one of my employees who has been with me since the very beginning, she got injured."

"How?"

Zaru stood up and walked around the chair. "I was watching from the V.I.P. area when I noticed Mika leaning back a little far. I thought she was just stretching out, but she had a tray of food and drinks. Then, it looked like she was being pulled by something or someone and dragged across the bar." She set her hands on the back of the chair. "It's bad, Naru. Very bad. And I can't help but think that whatever is there, is not human. Or even a spirit."

"What do you think it is then?" He asked. Everybody waited for an answer.

"A demonic entity."

Naru narrowed his eyes. "A demon? What makes you think that whatever is doing this is a demon, Zaru?"

"Because I sense a huge demonic aura around that property."

"Hn." The teenager stood up then. "We'll be investigating that building right away."

The green haired girl sighed in relief. "Naru, I'm counting on you to help me get rid of it."

"Understood. Mai."

Mai stood up. "Yes?"

"I want you to go home and pack so you'll be ready early tomorrow morning at 6 A.M."

"Ehh? That early?! Why?"

"Because it is a long drive."

"Oh." She whispered. She nodded. "Right."

"Everybody, be ready as well. Bou-san."

"Hm?"

"You pick up Matsuzaki-san, Hara-san and John in the morning."

"Sure thing." He stood up and stretched. "Boy, I sure can't wait to see this club." He smiled over at Zaru. "Is it a really hot club?"

"The hottest."

"Good. Maybe I can meet some girls there." He grinned wide.

That comment earned him a smack upside the head from Ayako. "Pervert."

He held his head. "Ow."

"Zaru."

"Yes, Naru?"

"Will you be heading home or are you staying?"

"I booked a hotel room for overnight."

"Nonsense." Lin said as he stood up. "You're going to stay at our place."

Zaru sighed and giggled. "I guess I don't have a choice do I, Lin?"

He shook his head while smiling. "Mm-mm."

"Fine then. I'll cancel the reservation at the hotel."

"Good."

"Remember everybody, we meet back here tomorrow morning at 6:30 the latest."

"Right!" They all said.

TBC...

A/n: So? What did you all think of my first Ghost Hunt fic? Pretty good, ne? I hope so. Please R&R. I need to know if you like it or not! Arigatou!

Ja Ne,

Zaru-san