A/N: Thank you to all that have reviewed! I love you guys! Remember this is "M" Rated and this will be the last chapter that is "soft"...

I own NOTHING! Though I wish I did...

In a little under a hour they had talked with the Okami-san, had been directed to their rooms, and had unloaded the equipment and their luggage. Setting up took some time, but the base room was soon looking like it should and they were ready and waiting for orders on what to do next.

"Hey, Masako" Ayako voiced up as they were waiting for Naru and Lin to return, "Do you sense anything here?"

She looked rather strained for a moment before she spoke, "I do…but it is a very strange feeling. I am not sure if it is just one spirit…or multiple, or even if it is malicious or not. It feels as if something is clouding it from me."

"That is strange…" Bou-san chimed in, "do you feel anything Mai-chan?" Suddenly the eyes of not only the monk but the miko, medium, and priest were on her as well.

"Eh…um…" Mai raised her hands in defense that she wasn't really like that…but it was pretty hard to fool them now after all she had shown them she was capable of. In fact Mai had felt something as soon as she stepped foot in the inn. It was a strange feeling…one she had never felt before. There was a sudden japing pain throughout her body, but as soon as it had come it was gone. She had decided not to tell anyone about it since she didn't want to set off any alarms unnecessarily before they even really knew what was going on. "No, I don't feel anything now…but I did feel strange when I first walked in…but it passed rather quickly."

"Hmm…so you felt something too…" Bou-san looked to the medium that was hiding behind her sleeve. No doubt she was probably baring her teeth at her. Mai didn't much care though for she only was saying what she felt.

"Well let's get all of our luggage in order. Lin showed us the way to the rooms…come on Mai, Masako lets go." Ayako called as she grabbed her bag and started heading toward the door. Mai and Masako soon followed grabbing their own bags and following suit.

Once in their room Ayako started to unpack and set out the things she would need at night. Masako started to do the same but Mai paused as she watched the other women busy with their bags.

"Hey Masako what exactly did you feel when you entered the inn?" Mai questioned as she sat her bags down in the corner of the room. "With me it was a sudden jolt of pain…"

"Hmmm…" the medium paused, "yes, I would have to say it was like that with me too. But it disappeared so suddenly."

"Ayako did you feel anything?" Mai questioned.

"I didn't feel anything, and especially not anything like what you guys are talking about." She tossed some spare clothes onto the futon. "Do you think it's important?"

"Maybe…" Mai mused. She had a bad feeling about the inn but she couldn't quite place it. Every inch of her body was telling her to tuck tail and run. Her gut instinct was telling her that it was dangerous here but she didn't know why…

"Mai?" Masako was looking at her, "do you feel anything else?"

"Ah…no…I was just thinking." Mai held up her hands in defense. "I think I am going to run to the bathroom real quick." With that the other women nodded and Mai stashed away into the bathroom adjacent to the room. Once inside she could hear the others continuing to unpack and bustle around, talking here and there about things Mai couldn't quite make out.

-----

Suddenly Mai was struck with a sickening feeling and she sunk to the floor clasping a hand over her mouth. The next thing she knew she was standing in a room...a room at the inn it appeared.

"What the…?" Mai looked around confused. She decided she must be dreaming one of those dreams based on her surroundings and the images she was seeing. There was a girl in the room…one of the maids. Mai looked and realized it was one of the girls that had committed suicide. She turned away, not wanting to see the girl die but directly behind her stood a very sad looking Gene. He put his hands on her shoulders and turned her gently around to face the image once again.

"You need to see this Mai…" he said softly, "it has already happened…there is nothing you can do."

-----

Naru was getting inpatient. He and Lin had returned to the base room roughly a hour ago to it being devoid of women. John and Bou-san had explained that the girls had left soon after they arrived to take their luggage to their room. Being women they could not just drop off the bags into the room and come back. No, by 'taking their luggage to their room' not only entailed taking it there but also unpacking it and sorting it. This of course could not be done efficiently by any means since they would have to talk about every little thing while slowly going about everything at a snail's pace.

Even with that being the case Naru was annoyed by something else. Ayako and Masako had returned to the base about 20 minutes ago saying Mai was on her way but that she was taking care of some 'girl issue' in the bathroom so she might be awhile. At the very mention of 'girl issue' all males in the room immediately stiffened not wanting to think about what that actually meant or actually entailed.

But now Naru and the others were sitting there continuing to wait for the teenage girl. It had been at least a half an hour since Ayako had assured him that she was on her way back.

"Maybe I should go check on her" Ayako offered softly. She stood and rushed to the door and began to slide it open but as she was doing so it was opened from the other side revealing the Okami-san, her husband, and the head maid. "Oh! I am sorry!" Ayako moved to the side and allowed them in.

"You wished to talk to us Shibuya-san?" The older woman looked to Naru and when he nodded in affirmation she and the others sat down formally in front of the group. Apparently Naru and Lin had set up this time for preliminary interviews with the owner and her husband.

Ayako took this opportunity to slip from the room and look for Mai. She quickly made her way down the hall and entered their room. Mai was nowhere in sight. "Mai?" she called apprehensively as she frantically scanned the room.

"I'm in here…" a weak voice called from the bathroom on the other side of the room.

"Mai?" Ayako walked toward the bathroom and tapped lightly on the door, "Mai, what is going on? Can I come in…?"

There was no response but Ayako could hear movement within the room. "Ayako…I'm…can you just tell Naru and the others that I am going to stay in here…for awhile?"

"Mai, tell me what is wrong…I can probably help you if you let me know what's going on." She paused when she didn't hear a reply, "Is it your period? Do you need some medicine or tampons or something? I can run to the store and get some for you." She offered but that didn't seem to illicit a reply either.

Mai groaned. How was she was supposed to tell Ayako what was going on? Simple…she wasn't going to. There was no way to put this problem into words. Ayako continued to ramble on.

"Cramps…Mai are you having cramps? Or maybe did something happen with a boy? You know you can talk to me about things like that…like sex and you know…things like that. I know you probably don't have anyone else to talk to about such things…so I hope you think of me as someone you can talk to about anything, Mai…"

"I do, Ayako. I really do. And trust me I haven't had sex yet…so it is not that. I really just don't feel well…probably something I ate this morning. Can you just please tell Naru I am going to stay here awhile?" Mai pleaded through the door from where she sat on the floor curled up against the back of the door with her knees pulled up to her chin.

Ayako hesitated, 'she must be feeling really bad if she doesn't even want me to come in…' She sighed, "Okay Mai, I will go tell Naru that you are sick but I don't know what he is going to say so just be prepared." With that Ayako reluctantly left the room and made her way gingerly back to the base. She slid the door open and found Naru and the others deep in conversation with the clients with Lin rapidly typing the information down on his laptop. Before she had much chance to prepare herself for telling them Mai's message Naru stopped his questioning immediately and fixed her with a glare.

"Where is Mai? Naru asked coolly while drawing all attention to the miko.

"Well…uh…" she fidgeted a bit under his gaze, "Mai asked me to tell you all that she is not feeling well and that she would like to stay in the bathroom for a while."

"She can return back to the base and not feel well" he looked to the side of the room and noticed that the room they were using as the base also had a small bathroom attached to it. "Tell her that if she doesn't come here that she will be fired. I don't pay her to sit around and do nothing." Naru spoke in all seriousness in his sternest business like tone.

Ayako was taken aback but before she knew it she was already heading back to the door to go retrieve Mai. As she left the room and started to close the sliding door Naru spoke is a somewhat softer tone.

"Bou-san, accompany Matsuzaki-san in case Mai is not well enough to walk back here on her own." Naru shot a glance to the monk and then promptly returned to the work at hand.

Bou-san looked at Naru and then at Ayako before he wordlessly got up and walked out into the hall with the miko. Once alone in the hall he decided to get to the bottom of whatever was going on. "So, what girl issue is Mai having trouble with?" He looked to Ayako with a concerned but mused expression.

"Well…I don't really know she won't tell me anything." She sighed softly, "she shut herself up in the bathroom and all she said is that she was feeling sick."

"Like she is on her period and so she is having cramps sick or she ate something bad and wants to throw up sick? Or does she think she is coming down with the flu or a cold or something?"

"I really don't know. She said it wasn't her period but I don't know if that is because she doesn't want to talk to me about those kinds of things." Ayako looked down rather depressed.

"Don't worry too much about it. Knowing Mai she is probably just making a big deal over nothing and just doesn't want to concern Naru with it for fear of him calling her an idiot." Ayako smiled which he returned as they entered the room. Nothing had changed since the last time she was there so she knew that the girl had not left the bathroom.

"Mai?" Ayako called as she tapped on the door. "Are you still alive in there?"

"I'm alive…" Mai spoke up, "for now…" she finished too soft for them to hear.

"Mai…" Bou-san called, "Naru wants you to come back to the base. There is a bathroom there so he said you can stay in there."

"Can't I stay here?" Mai asked rather horrified at the aspect that she might have to leave her current position.

"No, he said if we don't help you go back to the base that you will be fired…" Ayako answered.

"…" Mai stared terrified off in front of her. What was she going to do now? If she went to the base…She didn't even want to think about what would happen if she went to the base. This whole situation was going from bad to worse and it was going there fast. But…she knew that Naru was serious in what he had said. He would not hesitate to fire her for hiding away in the bathroom without telling anyone what was wrong or letting anyone in. He had learned long ago not to leave her alone and it seemed he would be strictly enforcing that principle now.

"Mai?" Bou-san's voice startled her from her reservations and her head shot up. "If you can't get up or feel too sick to walk I can carry you…" he trailed off as he heard the girl groan from within the room.

Without a word the door was opened and Mai stepped out into the space and proceeded to walk toward the exit. Ayako and Bou-san were too stunned at the sight to do anything. They stood frozen in place as they watched her leave the room and walk into the hall.

Mai quickly made her way to the base. She was too embarrassed and much too scared to take anything slowly in her state. She felt rather cynical about the whole situation…as she was now…it was nothing of what was to come. Mai shuddered at the thought, though that was partially due to the temperature and from the images swirling around in her head that were actually making her sick for real.

She came to the sliding door of the base and took a deep breath as she forcefully slid it open and stepped inside. In truth not a single person seated within the room was prepared for what they saw when they looked up to see Mai enter; all but one that is. As soon as the Okami-san of the inn laid eyes on her she started to cry and quickly cover her mouth with her hands as if holding in her cries of sadness and pain. She folded forward and continued to sob while stifling agonizing noises of ache.

"Oh my god…" she wailed softly while her husband and the maid were trying to comfort her. "Oh my god…"

"Mai" Naru was visually shocked and displayed an expression rarely seen on his face. "What…" he was cut off as the Okami-san wailed mournfully.

"You are…you are…" she hiccuped and sniffled hard, "you are going to die!" The words stunned those in the room, including Ayako and Bou-san who had finally returned to the base following the girl. More than one of them wanted to asked what in the hell was going on but they were interrupted by Mai's laughter.

A/N: Oh! What happened to Mai!?! Oh the suspense! Anyway, please let me know how you liked it! Starting in the next chapter things will be getting rather dark with adult content and themes! I never intended it to be that way (since you can tell from these first few chapters I was going for more of the humor, fun-loving, playful type story) but the story started to write itself and head in a totally different direction than what I had wanted! So, yeah...just be warned when you get to the next parts!