Chapter 2

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Disclaimer: Ghost Hunt isn't mine, unfortunately…

Leo watched as the trembling girl settled herself into the chair. Jane Wright, the client for the case had been fifteen minutes late, which ticked Leo off. He absolutely loathed people who can't seem to keep track of time, unless that person was his mother, and even she got on his nerves some days. He would never understand how his father could bear it, but then again he suspected love made people clueless and blind to the faults of the other.

"Well, Miss Wright. Would you tell us what is going on in your house?" Leo asked.

"Actually, something happened before I came, that's was why I was late," said Jane. She then blinked, as if just realizing something. "Oh my! I'm so sorry, I forgot to apologize! I'm sorry I was late, Mr. Davis, oh what was I doing?! How could I let you wait?!"

Sensing that the girl was working herself into a fit, Leo immediately deflected the issue to his twin, who was the more suitable candidate for emotional or humanistic approaches. Treize noted his twin's discreet glance and turned to reassure the fidgeting girl.

"It's alright, Miss Wright," said Treize in a calming voice. "It couldn't have been helped. You were probably bothered by what happened at home right? Therefore it's fine, you don't have to really get so worked up." Cue the dimpled charming smile of his.

"Oh…I see…" Jane's words trailed off, fascinated by Treize's smile.

'Playboy!' Came the thoughts of nearly everyone in the room, the exception being Leo, who couldn't have been bothered. Once Jane had calmed down enough, she began her story.

"Well, like my mother told Dr. Davis, recently the house feels odd to us. We'd just moved in a month ago. I'd be awaken in the middle of the night by strange footsteps. It'd occur all over the house and my family would be disturbed too. It comes and goes very quickly. Then two days ago, my older sister said she saw a huge black dog at the hallway. It lunged at her but disappeared as soon as my sister screamed. It gave her a fright, but we've dismissed it as a her overactive imagination." She paused, playing with the hem of her skirt. "Then this morning, I myself saw it. It was horrible – so large and wild looking. It looked at me then went away – disappeared right in front of my eyes! Then my mother screamed and when I got there, my sister was attacked by that dog. When it saw me, it vanished again."

Jane went on to say that her older sister had been sent to the hospital. It relieved the gang that she had not been severely injured. Nonetheless, a savage dog spirit was dangerous. Leo made a snap decision – they would go to the Wrights' home the very next morning.

…..

Oliver Davis turned a page of the book he was reading, steadfastly ignoring his wife, who stood right in front of him. Judging from her posture – hands on hips, ramrod straight back – he was in for it. And he had a very good idea why.

"Do tell me," said Mai, her voice steely. "Why would you send a gang of children into a haunted house without any adults?"

"Technically speaking, Xin is an adult. He's twenty. And the boys are of age." replied Naru, knowing that his wife was by no means satisfied by his answer. But it couldn't be helped, he just automatically went into Teasing Mode. Mai's reactions were pretty amusing when she was riled up. However, this was obviously not the right time. Mai transforms into an overprotective lioness when it comes to her kids.

"You know what I mean," Mai hissed. "They are still relatively inexperienced. You should've sent someone to go with them, not leave them to their own devices! Goodness knows if they'll screw up and land themselves in the hospital!"

"Is that based on your own experience, Mai? As I recall, you never listened to me." Naru finally met his wife's eyes. His tone softened. "Relax, this case should be quite straightforward. Besides, if you keep coddling them, they'll never grow. Leo and Xin will keep them out of trouble. Now, unless you and Gene had been teaching Treize the more dangerous side of astral projecting, I don't think it's much of a problem."

"I have NOT been doing anything of that sort," scoffed Mai hotly. "How could you say that?"

"Yeah, that was unwarranted, Noll," came a voice.

Naru sighed as he turned to look at the sudden appearance of his twin's ghost. Eugene Davis was forever stuck at seventeen, as his appearance suggested. It made Naru a little bit annoyed; the fact that Eugene remained young while he had to hide the strands of grey hair that had started to show.

"You're not gone yet, Gene?" Naru asked exasperatedly.

Eugene had reappeared after his funeral, stating his intention to stick around for 'fun'. He'd been around for Oliver and Mai's wedding, the birth of the kids and even the coming-of-age party thrown by Luella for the boys. But he still wouldn't go. Naru had tried talking to him, even resorting to threats of exorcism but Eugene had refused. Instead, he just hung around Treize, teaching the boy about his astral projecting. Naru had a suspicion that Treize turned out to be so like Eugene because of the latter's constant presence.

"No-pe. Now quit trying to get rid of me. I'm. Not. Leaving." said Gene. "Anyway, I came to help you convince Mai."

"Then do what you came to do," said Naru, crossing his arms across his chest. He made a mental note to grill Gene for information of Treize's powers.

"Mai, the idiot scientist is right. Let them grow on their own. Look at Noll and I. We called the shots when we were even younger! Why I remember how Noll used to…"

Naru tuned his brother out. He did not need a reaccount of whatever mishaps that had occurred during their unsupervised missions. Sometimes, Eugene talked way too much. It was just too bad he couldn't throw something at Gene anymore. He would've loved to throw a shoe at Gene to shut him up.

His musings were broken by the sight of a brown head poking into the study. His daughter stared at Gene and her mother then waltzed into the study as if it was no big deal. In truth, his children were so exposed to Gene's popping out of nowhere that they wouldn't get surprised by any ghosts' sudden appearance. Mai had once noted wryly that no child of Oliver Davis' should have been expected to behave normally. He had defended himself and his genes quite well by placing the blame upon conditioned response caused by Gene. That evening, he'd had to duck from two flying missiles across the room – one from Mai, the other from Gene.

"Daddy, Leo wants to know if six cameras are enough for the case tomorrow. He thinks it is, but Treize is in favour of more," said Irina. She then acknowledged her mother and uncle. "Hi, Uncle Gene. Hi, Mum. Go on talking, don't mind me. I'm just trespassing for awhile."

Naru nodded at his elder son's decision. Leo was turning out to be quite the lead investigator.

"Hey Daddy," Irina said again, glancing at her mother. "Mum doesn't want us to go?"

"She doesn't want you lot to go unsupervised," corrected Naru. "She's putting up a fight against Gene and I."

Irina sighed. She was well aware of the daggers her mother at stared at her father during dinner. She'd then deduced that it was most probably due to their case, since her mother had been normal until the moment she heard about it. Her mother was extremely protective of them. Irina only thanked her lucky stars that Luella hadn't been present during that scenario. Luella would kick up a fuss and then it'll go out of hand. She definitely did not want that.

"Mum, we're going to be fine. Nothing's gonna happen. You know that if something does happen we'd call you lot right? So just chill."

"Your brothers can go. But you are not going anywhere without an adult," replied Mai. Gene's persuasion had only worked till that extend. She was not budging in Irina's case.

"WHY?" whined Irina. "It's not fair! If Leo and Treize can go, why can't I?"

"They're eighteen, and legally old enough. You are not. Your dad can't spring you out of this one, young lady. He'd tried the legal adult thing on me so I'm making this decision based on that." Mai glowered at Naru, who silently admitted that she had gotten smarter. It'd worked against him.

Not against their daughter. Irina met her mother's eyes squarely.

"Fine." Irina said. "Be that way. Either I go along with your approval or I'll sneak into the car tomorrow morning without your consent. Either way I'm going along. You can't stop me, Mum. You know you can't. Don't bother locking the door 'cause I'd just break the lock with PK. Again. If I go without your consent, I'd have to sneak around without being noticed by Leo and the rest, because they'd just cart me home. So no one would know if anything happens to me. What would it be, Mum?"

Mai gaped. Naru and Gene admired her pluck. She couldn't have chosen a better threat against Mai. Since Mai's primary concern was about her safety, she'd have no choice. It was apparent that Madoka had been teaching Irina things that should not be allowed. Naru made another mental note to reprimand Madoka. Or was it Yasuhara instead?

"I don't want to do this, Mum," said Irina softly. "I really don't wanna sneak out behind your back. But you have to let me try this. I wanna go, I wanna be like you and Daddy. It's not fair that you got to do this when you were my age, yet you wouldn't let me. Please? Please Mummy?"

Very definitely Madoka. Mai was helpless towards her daughter's little girl mode. Irina obviously inherited Mai's courage and Naru's confidence. A rather deadly combination, especially when arguing with Mai.

"Alright, you may go." sighed Mai. "But you are not allowed to be in the front lines, clear?"

"Crystal," sang Irina, dancing on her way out. "Thank you Mummy! Love you!"

Mai shook her head as Irina shut the door behind her. She glared at her husband.

"Oh, this is all your fault! What possessed you to give them the case?!"

Once again, Please Review!

PS. I hope Irina did not come out too strongly. I just wanted her to be a sort of hard to handle combo of Naru and Mai. I would probably be defeated hands down if I was Mai...