Disclaimer: I do not own Ghost Hunt, or any of the characters f

Disclaimer: I do not own Ghost Hunt, or any of the characters from the show/manga. If I did, I wouldn't need to keep coming up with new disclaimers. I would write, 'MINE!!' instead.

WARNING Contains Spoilers.

Chapter 3: Because You Live

Shuffling around under the spare bed's covers, Mai attempted to get comfortable, eventually finding herself sprawled in defeat on her back, staring at the not-so-unfamiliar ceiling. It was impossible to get to sleep with so many thoughts running around in her head, and if she couldn't sleep, she couldn't contact Gene. Since that was the reason she was here after all, the cinnamon-eyed girl decided to change her tact, letting her mind lead her in whatever direction it desired. Perhaps if she let it get it's own way for a while, it would in turn allow her to have hers - at the very least, she doubted things could get any worse.

The group of irregulars at S.P.R. had all speculated what Masako held over their boss's head, and the medium had actually confided her knowledge of Naru's secret to Mai just before going missing on the Urado case. It was a wonder the part-timer didn't realise the connection when Naru revealed his true name, but even if she had, just how Masako knew would still have remained a mystery. Naru had of course explained it to her once the doll-like girl had left; making Mai surprised to discover that her feelings bore little resemblance to jealousy, and far more towards sympathy. Bits and pieces of the past conversation with her rival began flooding back, and she recalled the need she had felt to comfort the girl, despite their competitive situation.

She thought it would have been better if she never knew; that he hated her because of it.

How would the popular medium feel, finding out that Naru had told her voluntarily? Mai's heart was conflicted; her victory bitter-sweet. It wasn't like she was prepared to give up Naru or anything, but that didn't mean she liked seeing her friend's feelings hurt.

'Friend'…

I wonder if Masako will ever see me as such…

Sleep began to tug at the auburn-haired girl's eyelids, a wide yawn signalling the success of her earlier plan as reality began to blend into oblivion, Mai's final thoughts turning towards the mission she so desperately needed to complete.

Gene…

I have to reach Gene…

-x-

He could feel her soul reaching out to him in the darkness, waking him from his deathly slumber. She was like an angel delving into a world of nightmares, and he had lied to her. True, he'd never outright told Mai that he was his brother, but he hadn't exactly tried to correct her mistake, either.

Originally, he'd simply been surprised and thought it was in the girl's best interest that she didn't know she was talking to a ghost, but the more he saw Mai, the easier it was to think of excuses not to tell her. 'I don't know how long the connection will last, I have to show her what I can before the link fades', 'Noll should be the one to tell her about me, her feelings will be hurt otherwise', and last, but certainly not least, 'What if she experiences the way I died?' Well, he'd been right about that one, Gene conceded grimly - Mai had seen alright, the moment she'd touched him and called him by his true name.

He was aware of why she was here; why Mai had been reaching out for his soul in vain every night, and maybe that knowledge, along with a reasonable amount of self-loathing and guilt, was the reason he'd purposely avoided her grasp.

If Noll finds my body, he'll go back to England…

Mai's feelings for his brother had always been fairly obvious, and though Oliver was known for his intelligence, Gene knew better than to trust his twin's version of common sense when it came to dealing with relationships.

I hope that idiot of a scientist doesn't cause her too much trouble.

The girl in question's cinnamon eyes began to flutter open, and though she was clearly glad to see him, Gene noted that both now and the last time they had met, her face did not begin to flush the moment she saw him.

Things have already begun to change between us…

"Gene!" The dreaming girl cried happily, "I did it! I managed to contact you this time!"

…But I suppose it's for the better. It's not like I could really offer her anything, being dead and all.

He smiled half-heartedly, silently accepting that even if he had met Mai when he was alive, she would still have fallen in love with his emotionally retarded twin. Her body language spoke only of friendship and trust in him, not desire.

How can she still trust us so easily?

Surely most people in her shoes would have been driven to hate the bearers of such deception, no matter how good the intention or reason behind it, but it seemed as though the latent psychic had merely taken it in her stride, simply glad that the mysteries surrounding the man she loved had been revealed to her. The ghost gazed at the young woman with soft, blue-grey eyes, admiring her instinctive ability to see into people's hearts.

You knew from the beginning, didn't you – that there was more to Noll than what he seemed…

If only that knowledge hadn't lead you to witness my death.

"I'm sorry."

Mai blinked in confusion when his hushed apology broke through the darkness, and Gene felt his throat constrict as he tried to explain, "I didn't want you to see…"

Her hands reached out instantly in compassion, and the flash of pain her eyes held suggested to the ghost that she had momentarily recalled some of the more graphic details of the last vision she had seen, but the stubbornly optimistic girl seemed to conquer the memory and push it aside for his sake.

"It's okay -"

"No it's not." He firmly disagreed, meeting Mai's surprised gaze, wondering if she saw him as acting more like her boss at the present moment, his lips curling in bitter irony at the thought. However different he and Oliver might be, it seemed that they shared more than a few similarities.

...Like falling in love with the same woman.

"I didn't want you to remember me likethat. You've been trying to contact me, I know -" He stopped to collect himself, realising how rapidly his speech was degenerating into meaningless babble, and concluded softly, "…But I pushed you away, and I'm sorry."

Gene saw the recollection cross Mai's face as the meaning of his words sunk in, a new wave of guilt washing over his consciousness as she wrapped her arms around him, the open-hearted girl's instant forgiveness both stinging and soothing his wounds.

"Oh, Gene…" She scolded lightly, "I won't let the way you died change the way I see you, even if I did think you were merely my imagination until Naru showed me that picture…"

Gene couldn't help but smile at her somewhat embarrassed confession, but his expression quickly turned serious when Mai's next words steered their conversation in an unsettling direction, "…What made you change your mind? Did something happen?"

Did something happen…?

…In a word, 'yes'

While knowingly evading Mai only served to make him feel even worse after she'd discovered who he was, the catalyst for his decision to meet her came from a brief disturbance in the darkness he slept in, prompting him to act. One thing was for sure - if anything happened to Mai, whoever (or whatever) proved responsible would have one vengeful ghost to deal with, not to mention a powerful psychic with a vindictive streak when adequately provoked.

His silence seemed to be bothering Mai, and realising that he had not actually answered her question, Gene quickly amended; "Actually, I was planning on asking you the same thing. Sometime in between now and the last time you tried to contact me, I…" His words dwindled, eyebrows furrowed in thought as he muttered the end of his broken sentence, "…Felt something odd."

"I don't remember anything out of the ordinary happening – unless Naru being nice counts -" Mai added cheekily, "And none of the cases we were asked to help with today seemed genuine. As far as I know, everything's fine."

Gene frowned, trying to figure out what to make of the sensation.

"It was like…someone walked over my grave…"

-x-

Sitting bolt upright the moment she woke was not a good idea, Mai told herself, brushing away a stray tear that had escaped during sleep. If only her impulses would learn their lesson from her rapidly spinning head, instead of inflicting the same treatment upon her whenever she dreamt something that seemed to require urgent attention. Flopping back against the pillow, she let her eyes adjust to the dark, running through the details of her successful attempt to contact Gene and committing each moment to memory.

Should I wake Naru?

Since it's concerning his brother, he'd want to know straight away, right?

Knowing her boss he was probably still awake anyway, Mai conceded, groping around for the bedside light's switch before sliding out of bed. The hallway was dark aside from the soft blue glow of the moon emanating from the adjoining lounge room's windows, and she was surprised at how long she must have slept if both Naru and Lin had turned in for the night. Whenever they were on case, the two men seemed to forgo sleep; often going to bed late, only to go back to work abominably early the next morning.

Fumbling for the door knob to Naru's room, she hoped her decision to tell him immediately was the right one. He had been looking for his brother's body for roughly two years now, and though she was confident he would be able to use the information she had collected, Mai wasn't looking forward to telling him that his search may not end as quickly as she had expected.

Waking the sleeping narcissist also proved to be more trouble than she had accounted for, and soon Mai was unsure whether her feelings leant more towards frustration at her failure to wake him using conventional means, or the temptation to relax and enjoy the position he had instinctively pulled her into. The more she struggled, the firmer Naru's grasp became, until the auburn-haired girl accepted her fate, too tired to care about being embarrassed.

Maybe it's better to wait until morning, anyway...

-x-

Soft…

Warm…

Since when had his pillow possessed a heartbeat? Deep blue eyes flicked open instantly at the recollection, his first instinct to pull away until he spied tangled auburn strands brushing gently against one of his hands every time the young woman beneath him breathed. Wondering how much longer she might sleep, Naru smirked at the thought of Mai's reaction should she wake to find him wrapped around her, his attention suddenly drawn to a light cough coming from the direction of his now open bedroom door.

"While I'm pleased that the two of you have finally got your act together, would you mind refraining from doing anything that might tempt your parents to lynch me?" The older man asked stiffly, and Naru replied lazily, "Who said anything about lynching? My mother will probably start preparing for grandchildren the moment she hears I'm actually interested in someone."

Funnily enough, both men grimaced at the truth in the tongue-in-cheek comment, Lin seeming to decide that what he didn't officially know couldn't hurt him, while Naru sent the Chinese mage a look that implied he would be careful, but made no promises.

"Ungh…" A feminine groan emerged from among the sheets, "Mmn…Na-ru…"

Was she dreaming about him, or simply trying to get his attention through a half-awakened state? Naru went to brush aside the fringe currently obscuring her eyes, but she blindly batted his fingers away.

"…Get…your own damn tea." She grumbled, shoving at his shoulder as she stirred in her sleep. Up until that moment, Lin had remained silent during the exchange, intending to escape into the corridor before Mai fully came to her senses, but the dreaming girl's words earned a muffled chuckle at his boss's expense. Naru quickly shot the older man a death-glare as he made his getaway, leaving the young man staring bemusedly down at his sleeping beauty. If she was going to dream about him, couldn't she manage something slightly more…erotic?

-x-

For some reason it was difficult to move, as if she were weighed down. Managing to untangle her arms from the mixture of bed sheets and whatever seemed to be pinning her in place, Mai grasped hold of part of the offending object, trying to free herself.

Firm…

Smooth…

And warm?

Cracking one of her eyes open, Mai could have fallen out of bed at the sight that met her. She was not in her room. This was Naru's room. The amused blue eyes staring down at her most certainly belonged to her boss, and though she had been in similar situations with him before, she usually remembered how she got there. Mind blank, the hand that wasn't grasping her boyfriend's naked upper arm instinctively flew to cover her chest, checking that she still wore clothes. He raised an eyebrow at her in response, and Mai knew that nothing short of a serious case of sunburn could hide her blush.

"Did you think we…?" Naru left the question hanging, knowing exactly what the young woman in his arms had instinctively thought, no doubt taking great pleasure in being provided with such a perfect opportunity to tease her mercilessly.

"We could if you like," He whispered seductively into her ear, causing the skin on the nape of her neck to tingle, "But as far as I know, nothing happened."

Letting out a breath she didn't realise she'd been holding, Mai was startled by the chuckle that left her boyfriend's lips at her reaction.

Have I ever heard him laugh before?

Mai wasn't sure.

"Did I scare you?" Her captor continued to tease, "Although I believe you came here on your own -"

"I spoke to Gene last night," She suddenly interrupted, instantly capturing Naru's undivided attention as the auburn-haired girl recalled how she had come to find herself locked in his embrace, "I would've told you straight away, but you sleep like a rock."

"So you climbed into bed with me instead?" He exclaimed with a touch of mock surprise as he got out of bed, eyes conveniently turning serious before Mai had a chance to retaliate.

"Lin will want to hear what you have to say as well." Naru explained while gesturing for her to follow him out into the lounge, briefly looking down at what his girlfriend was wearing, "Would you prefer to change out of your night clothes first?"

Mai shook her head, claiming she was fine - it wasn't like Lin hadn't seen her constantly clad in little more than one of Naru's spare shirts when she'd been sick.

He's being extremely patient…

…And what little information I can give him may not even be useful.

Mai's spirit was troubled as Lin sat down opposite her, unsure of where to start until Naru's calm voice broke though the silence.

"Gene couldn't tell you, could he?"

Mai looked up in shock, guessing that her demeanour must have given away that her success in contacting his brother had not automatically managed to solve their problem.

"N-no..." She admitted, glad that she no longer had to worry about how to break the news, "He doesn't know where his body is – all he could tell me is where he was when he died. Unless something causes a disturbance in his 'realm' of sorts, Gene's soul seems to stay asleep."

Naru sighed heavily, glancing sideways at Lin as he spoke, "As I suspected, the dead don't necessarily know more than what they did when they were alive…"

Mai was tempted to glare at the know-it-all for failing to mention his thoughts to her on the matter; if he had, maybe she might not have set her hopes quite so high.

"He was sight-seeing in Tochigi, at a small lookout near located somewhere between the Kanaya Hotel and a local shrine. I know it's not much to work with," She ventured quietly, fingers fisted nervously in the material of her nightgown, "But does it help?"

"Assuming the assailant took Gene to the lake because it was the most convenient location, it's probably somewhere nearby." Lin replied, not entirely answering her question as he typed distractedly on his laptop, only pausing to pass a stack of well worn maps over to Naru for sorting. Mai watched her boyfriend's hands sift quickly through the collection, focused solely on finding the area she had described, a trace of guilt settling in her stomach the longer she remained silent. After all, the information she had just given them wasn't the only thing Gene had asked her to relay to his twin, but if the part-timer had thought informing Naru that she didn't know where his brother's body was would be difficult, this proved even worse.

"Um, Naru? T-there's something else…" Mai attempted, her noticeably unstable words drawing immediate attention from the two previously preoccupied men, "Gene didn't originally want to tell me anything -"

Both men stared at her in surprise, the more affected of the two looking away as he muttered angrily under his breath, "What is that idiot thinking?!"

Breathing a sigh of frustration mixed with sympathy, Mai reprimanded him softly, aware that her own response to Gene's words had been little better.

"He was thinking of you."

-x-

"Why?!" Mai heard herself demand, numbed by the cool expression on the ghost's face - maybe Gene was a little more like Naru than he tended to let on.

"He's trying so hard," She pleaded, tears clouding her vision as her voice accused, "So why! Don't you want him to find you?!"

The light brush of fingertips stilled her trembling lips, wiping away the taste of salt that had begun to invade her mouth. His smile held no trace of joy, blue-grey eyes focusing somewhere far beyond her as he spoke.

"I am dead. I want my brother to live, not simply dwell on the past."

"But still…!"

He touched a finger to her lips once more, silencing the protest.

"What do you think will happen if he finds my body?"

Mai blinked up at her boyfriend's look-alike, confused by the question.

"He'll… take you back to England."

He'll leave…

"What else?" The ghost pressed, his third question unveiling a startling possibility; "Don't you think the police would find it odd that he knew where to find me? Noll; or as you call him, Naru…" Gene quietly corrected for her benefit, "…would probably be suspected of my murder."

-x-

"…Both of us know you too well to think that it will stop you from trying, but I just thought you should know." Mai concluded, eyes searching Naru's features for some kind of response.

"You don't want me to find Gene." His icy tone seemed to accuse, but Mai's gut instinct told her that behind the barely veiled anger, Naru had probably meant it as an honest question. Deciding that now might not be the best time to fight fire with fire, she calmed her initial reaction before reaching up to touch his face, her answer gentle, "If I felt that way, Gene wouldn't have told me."

Mai never noticed Lin slip soundlessly into the nearby kitchen, allowing her and the dark youth a moment of privacy, for the world around them seemed irrelevant when Naru drew her into his arms, whispering his love of her into the auburn locks of her hair. She looked up at him in surprise, "T-That's the first time I've actually heard you say it..."

He must have liked her response, for as he moved in to take her lips, Naru smoothly replied, "I suppose I'm going to have to say it more often then."

-x-

Omake:

Naru stared at her in surprise, looking away as he muttered angrily under his breath, "What was that idiot thinking?!"

Breathing a sigh of frustration mixed with sympathy, Mai reprimanded him softly, aware that her own response to Gene's information had been little better.

"I assume your brother thought it was better for me to find where he hid your 'secret stash', rather than risking your parents stumbling across it..."

A/N: Just in case anyone is confused, the paragraph written italics is a flashback, and as I usually write thoughts or accentuated words in italics, they are written in regular text for the flashback, same as accentuated words usually are during thought...