A/N Hello! I have another chapter for you guys! I want to say thank you to RosetheWolfgirl, Sakura-moonrose-hime, and sumerbirdy for leaving reviews for the last chapter. I hope you all enjoy this newest chapter!

Disclaimer: I do not, nor will I ever, own Ghost Hunt.


Case 2: Tag

The Day Before

November

Mai's POV:

I looked out of the car window as Madoka drove to the airport. My hands were fiddling with the hem of my skirt as I looked at the planes flying overhead, either coming in or leaving. I quickly wondered if they were on one of those. I guess that I probably would never know. After all, I hadn't looked up to see what type of plane he was flying on and I don't think that Madoka bothered either. All we knew was to be there at the airport at six thirty in the morning to pick them up.

I wasn't quite sure what I was expecting. I knew that they both would come back and be as stoic as ever. But something inside of me wished silently that it wasn't going to be like that. I think I wished that they would great me as if I was a friend. But I knew better, this was Naru I was talking about.

Sure enough, we pulled up and immediately I hopped out to help with their bags and to get into the back seat. Not a single word was said, but I think I saw Lin flash a small smile to say hello. I was way too nervous to even try and speak to him or Naru. And somehow, instead of babbling like I would have, I didn't say anything.

That was until we all started to get into the van. "Hey, who is driving?" I asked no one in particular.

"Lin," Naru answered almost immediately and with authority.

I did my best to contain my excitement. I don't think that I jumped for joy, but from the glare that I got from Madoka, I think a smile might have slipped through my calm facade. But, judging from the quick response from Naru I had a feeling that he was not going to ever get into a car that his teacher was driving.

How Naru ended up in the back with me, I will never now. I had thought that Madoka would have been kicked out of the front. But I also knew that she did pull some weight when it came to Naru. Heck, she could probably do anything that she wanted and get away with it. I had seen her do some incredibly amazing things while trying to get what she wanted, and to be honest, I have never seen her fail after she had set her sights on something.

The ride to the office was excruciatingly silent. Lin, who was always silent, drove in a way that the car didn't squeal in protest, and the cars around us were not honking at all. It was bliss. Though, it was a bliss that was broken by the sulking that Madoka was doing in the front. She really didn't like that the boys didn't trust her enough to drive.

Then there was Naru. He had pulled out a book with some English title that I couldn't read and had his nose stuck into it for most of the ride. Not once did he even look my way and try to start a conversation. However, he put the book down about five minutes before we reached the office to say "We have a client coming in later today. Be ready for them."

And just like that he was back to ordering me around. Irritation settled in my gut as I looked at him. He had been back in Japan for all of thirty minutes, and yet he already had a client? When did he not work? But once I realized that it was typical Naru, and that I wouldn't have him any other way, I felt a warm feeling replace the irritation. I even smiled at him and nodded my head, a thing that did not go unnoticed by the two adults in the front. The two of them even gave each other looks that spoke of furthering the conversation later. For one thing, Lin and Madoka hadn't really been able to talk due to the fact that Naru was always there when she called. For another, both of them knew that there was something going on between the teens.

When they reached the offices, Lin and Naru immediately went to their respective offices, and I could hear the steady typing of keys from Lin's room and the occasional rustle of papers in the other one. They really were all work.

"Mai, tea," Naru called out.

I resisted my laugh. It was just too funny that they had returned and were acting as if no time had passed. Though, knowing Naru, it really appeared that he didn't want to go through the drama of reacquainting himself with everyone when he remembered all of us clearly. For now I decided that just for today I wouldn't be mad at him. And I would do my best to keep that resolution. It didn't matter how badly he pissed me off. I was determined to not be angry on his first day back in Japan.

I could even deal with the fact that he was acting as if I had never confessed my feelings to him. I know that I wished there could be something there, but I wouldn't push the issue. I would be happy to just be working for him again, going on cases with him and the others like old times.

I went to the kitchenette and began preparing the tea. I didn't even notice that Madoka had slipped into the kitchen behind me.

"You know I had him sitting in the back so you two could talk, right?" She asked as I put the kettle on the stove.

I gave her a bright smile as I said "It's Naru, if he felt like talking he would have."

I heard my pitiful excuse and knew I was just lying to myself. But I hadn't told her that I had confessed to him. No one but Yasu knew about that, and he only knew because I slipped up and said something about it on accident. It was just a few days ago on Halloween when we were at a party. I guess that the atmosphere loosened me up to the point where I was in a very sharing mood.I hadn't thought I had said it aloud until he questioned me about it later. Afterwards I had felt like a fool. But at the same time, he knew not to tease me about it. He, and probably the rest of SPR knew how I felt about the narcissist. But he had snorted at what the 'genius' had asked me after I had made my feelings known. And he had been there for me after that too.

With a sigh Madoka responded "I suppose you're right." She then mumbled under her breath something or another about manners. That was enough to make me giggle. And that was all the elder ghost hunter needed in order to smile with me.

Madoka left shortly after I gave Naru his tea. Once again he remained completely silent. I was hoping silently that he wasn't going to act any differently because I confessed to him, but at the same time I had a feeling I was the only one who was going to have trouble with that.

Thankfully I didn't have to wait long until the client came in. Once I had him seated I went over to Naru's office, knocked once, and said "Mr. Kawamura is here to see you."

I then knocked on Lin's door as Naru went to the conference area. When he emerged from his lair, (yes, those things that they call offices only serve to be lairs in the end) I went to the kitchen to prepare tea for everyone. To be honest I was surprised that he hadn't asked for more to begin with, especially since he drank enough tea to fill an ocean in a month.

Coming back, I took my seat and began to listen to the reports. I was surprised that Naru had waited for me before he had begun the questions. He usually didn't like to wait for anything. Or maybe he just needed another cup of tea in order to concentrate on the new case.

"What seems to be the problem?" Naru prompted.

Mr. Kawamura looked at his hands as he began to speak. "You see, we have been trying to build a school for the past few years, but we couldn't get the space for it. We finally got a place for it, but we have to demolish an old prison to start building. The demolition is scheduled for next month. But a few weeks ago three local kids went in there to play. Only two came out. And when we sent the search party to find the other, they had a really bad feeling about the place. Also, a few were pushed around. When they finally found the kid, he was in the back of what was once the industrial freezer, his head was bashed in."

I gasped and held my hand over my mouth in horror. I heard myself mutter "That's horrible," but no one paid any mind to that.

"Is that all, or are their other reports?" Naru asked as Lin typed everything up on his laptop.

"Whenever we are in there, we always feel watched. I've heard of three or four people who have been pushed down the stairs, and there are strange temperature fluctuations as well. It also seems that the younger workers are attacked first." The man paused for a moment. Then he looked at the three people in front of him before begging "Please, please help us. If I build the school and kids are hurt because of whatever is there, I would never be able to forgive myself!"

Naru snapped shut the notebook he had been idly writing in and looked to the man. Even if Lin was typing it all down, I knew that Naru always needed something for his own hands to be doing when he thought. I watched him as he caught his chin in his hand and thought. Just from the look of interest, I knew he was going to take the case.

"We'll take the case. Please expect us tomorrow, and I will need three rooms. Two for sleeping arrangements and one for our base, the later should have plenty of outlets for our equipment. I'll leave you to give the details and contact information to my assistant." Naru said as he stood.

He and Lin left the room as I began to take down the information I was told to.

Smiling warmly at Mr. Kawamura as he left, I couldn't deny that I was happy Naru took the case. Though he would have disagreed with me, I always knew that Naru would take any case where children were endangered. Though he hid it well, I knew (or had my suspicions) that beneath his almost always narcissistic exterior there was a very large heart.

Or maybe I just hoped that there was.

With a shrug, I found myself going to the phone to start calling all of the regulars to take the case. I knew that he would ask me to anyway. I was pretty sure that most prisons were rather large.


Day 1

I was in the van, again, with Yasu sitting next to me and Naru and Lin in the front. We were finally going to go and see just what was in this place. I was kind of excited to say the least. If anything, I was thrilled to be working with Lin and Naru again. Though I didn't say anything like that.

Earlier that morning, we all met at the SPR offices. I was happy to see Monk, and Ayako. It had been a while since Madoka took a case that needed them. I wasn't as thrilled to see that Masako was there though. For some reason I still didn't like her a whole lot, and from the look on her face I could tell that the feeling was mutual.

As I began to nod off due to the smooth driving I remembered something else. "Hey. Lin?" I called to the front seat.

He gave a glance through the rearview mirror at me, telling me to go on, and I said "Thank you for being such a good driver, I don't think I could have lasted much longer with Madoka," I trailed off the last bit of that, but from the knowing almost smile he gave me, I gathered that he understood where I was coming from. He even gave me a nod.

I hate to admit it, but it only took a few more minutes for me to fall asleep and only two minutes after that to slump in a way that my head was on Yasu's shoulder. For the next two hours of the ride, I was pretty much dead to the world.

Dream:

"Where am I?" I asked myself as I looked around, all memory of being in the van forgotten.

I looked around and saw a boy sitting behind a pile of boxes with his knees to his chest and head resting on top of them. His mouth was moving in words that I seemed to only hear in my mind.

"I wanted to play tag, but no, they wanted to play hide and seek. Why do they always win?" Those were the words that echoed in my mind.

I went to reach out to the boy, but a loud caw had me looking over my shoulder at the Raven. That was when it clicked that this was a dream. The caw reminded me of when Gene stopped me from trying to do something in a dream. I knew that I had to keep watching, there was more that I was supposed to see.

I saw a man come towards the boy. He reached out his hand, and for some reason the little boy took it. I wanted to reach out and stop them, but something was still holding me in place, telling me to keep watching for a little bit longer.

Turning I yelped as I came face to face with woman who was maybe an inch away from my face.


As I jumped in my dream, I made the mistake of trying to stand in real life. But the choking of the seat belt as it forced me down and the safety on it locking from the sudden pull caused me to stop almost immediately. That hurt more than I would care to admit.

"Idiot," I heard the soft scoff from my boss in the front seat.

I glared. It was the second day back, so I allowed myself to get angry at him again.

My attention was pulled back to Yasu when he asked "So what did you dream about this time?"

I gave him a look that I will not describe due to how stupid it made me look. Anyway, I then crossed my arms and asked "What makes you think that I had a dream?" I was careful that my voice only sounded annoyed. But Yasu knew that almost never got annoyed at him. It was almost an impossibility.

"Cus you woke up so suddenly. And here you were all comfortable on my shoulder too." He teased with his wolfish grin.

I blushed crimson at that. Looking away I saw the glances that Lin was sending through the mirror and the way that Naru's eyes had narrowed on the page he was supposedly reading. Clearly they both had heard dream and wanted to know what I had seen. I wondered how long I could stall, but at the same time I didn't want to make either of them angry with me so early in the case.

I could see the headlines now; 'Ghost Hunter's Assistant Dies in a Freak Accident!' and what said accident was could be left up to imagination for now. I was not going to take it that for.

"Well, there was a boy and he was complaining that he wanted to play tag, but the others forced him to play hide and seek. Then there was a man, and he started to lead the boy somewhere, and then a woman just snuck up behind me for some reason." I said with a dismissive wave of my hand.

Satisfied, the rest of the short drive was finished with silence in the front seat and small talk in the back with me and Yasu. We talked about what was new with school and stuff like that. Nothing serious. He even started to mess with me for a little bit.

To anyone else, it might have seemed like we were flirting, but we weren't. I had begun to look at Yasuhara as a best friend and almost a brotherly figure. It was just like how I saw Monk as a father figure and Ayako almost as a mother figure. Even Madoka had wormed her way into an aunt like position (with Lin as an uncle). And then there was John. I think that he always was the sedate big brother that was always there for me. And he was great with emotions, being a priest and all.

That only left Masako and Naru. Masako could have been an annoying sister, but I didn't feel that way about her. I was more like she was a friend that was really close. Yes, I did like Masako, I even considered her as a friend, and a little bit like family, but just like with all family members, I was allowed to be annoyed by her. Heck, I was allowed to hate her at times, but I always ended up think off her as a friend in the end.

And then there was Naru; my stupidly narcissistic tea-addicted boss. I loved him; there was no denying that fact. I had loved him since the moment I met him. Well, from right before the first case ended. I longed for his smiles, I wished for his feelings. And above all, I wished that I could see inside of his head and find out if I even had a chance.

Though, from what happened last time, I knew that I would have to be patient and wait a bit before I could even try and act on my feelings again. I also had a feeling that Masako was going to be trying to win his heart as well.

I didn't even realize we were at the prison until Yasu waved his hand in front of my face, waking me from my musings. He even laughed at my expense. But I just feigned annoyance as I walked past him.

However, when I stopped to look at the prison, I was so shocked that I froze in my tracks and stared up in awe. It was so big! And it looked almost too pretty to be a prison.

"Mai, when you are done messing around, come help us unload," Naru scolded from somewhere behind me.

I wanted to swing around and hit him right there and then, I wanted to yell at him like I had done in the past, but I didn't. I kept myself in check and instead, got to work on getting boxes out of the van along with Lin and Naru.


A/N thank you all for reading. Please leave a review if you would. I love hearing about what you all thought, and even criticism is welcome. I hope that you liked this newest chapter!