~*~*~*~NOW EDITTED!~*~*~*~

Hey there everyone! I know I know! I said I would update like forever ago! I am so sorry! My only excuse I guess is that I had lost my rough draft of this and I was too lazy to rewrite it. The good news is that I found it and I have spent the last two days typing it up! And get this! It is longer than the other chapters by like a lot! Isn't that awesome?

Anyway, As usual my lawyers could tell you that I am not the owner of Ghost Hunt soooooooo, plz don't sue!

I hope you enjoy! And don't forget when you're done to give me a little review, show your appreciation!

(w-Lin)

Damn…..damn…damn…..ouch!

Lin stuck his bleeding finger in his mouth. The timing couldn't have been worse. Lin groaned as he hooked the monitors up to the system, careful not to catch his fingers on the sharp edges again. The client, Tsubayan Hinchura, had introduced the team to his family and the little mute girl, Suzuran, had taken to Mai immediately, as children often do.

Lin couldn't keep from a slight smile as he thought of the gift Mai seemed to have with children. He remembered back to when they had the case around Christmas with the church. The sight of Mai being mobbed by the kids would have been highly amusing if only Lin didn't have an immense dislike for the little snot-nosed brats.

As far as he could tell, all children did was whine, eat, and execrate. (That means poop) The tall Chinese man was just fine with leaving any person under the age of fifteen, no, make that twenty, to other members of the team.

(Back at Time of Arrival)

"Thank you for coming so quickly Shibuya-san! Please let me present to you my family." The man led the team up a gravel path to a very lovely traditional style house. "I don't think you were introduced properly to my son before. This is Kuran."

The teenage boy from the other day stood in front of the porch, holding the hand of a small brown haired girl. She was dressed in a simple blue dress and her hair was done up in long pigtails. She pressed against her brother's leg, shyly avoiding the eyes of the team, staring at the ground instead.

"This is Suzuran-chan"

Naru nodded and turned to introduce each of his companions. He started with the Miko and made his way down, ending of course, with his little part-timer, "This is my assistant Taniyama Mai."

Mai walked over to Kuran and his shy shadow and knelt down so that she was at Suzuran's level, "Hello Suzuran-cha-" She didn't get a chance to finish her sentence before Suzuran let go of her brother and launched herself at Mai, wrapping her little arms around her neck, holding her tightly. Startled, Mai rocked back on her heels to compensate for the sudden weight added to her neck.

The child's father and brother stared, agape. Suzuran released Mai and looked up at her, smiling. She then promptly took Mai's hand and pulled at it, trying to get her to follow the child into the house. Mai looked back at Naru helplessly, pleading for permission. Her pout turned to a grin as Naru nodded his consent. The teen and child took off running into the house. Lin noticed to alarmed expression on Hinchura's face, "Is something the matter Hinchura-san?" "Wha-oh! No, it's only that, well, Suzuran has never taken to a stranger like that, even before her mother went missing." Bou-san smiled and clapped the older man on the back, " That is just our little Mai's way with people! Don't worry!" Naru looked after the route that his part-timer had been dragged down, a dark emotion playing behind his eyes.

(Present)

Lin knew precisely why Naru had been so reluctant to take this case, they still had no idea what had prompted Mai's blackout and didn't know if it could happen again. And what on earth did that dream mean?

(When Mai Woke Up)

"Mai, tell me everything that you saw," Naru was still in 'client mode' as Mai would call it, and he was trying to figure out what had happened to his young assistant.

"Honestly I don't know. It felt too real to be a dream, even one of my psychic ones. I thought I was going to die." The look on her face tugged at Lin's heart, she was so scared and confused. Naru on the other hand was clearly annoyed.

That idiot should tell her that he is angry with the circumstances, not her. Lin could see that Naru's attitude was wearing thin on Mai's emotions. Careful Naru. Naru was drumming his fingers impatiently on the table, "You are not answering my questions, I did not ask what little you know, I asked what you saw."

Lin winced, Way to go idiot scientist! You handled that with your usual tact and grace. The Chinese man cringed at the idea of her response. He was just waiting for her to snap, to start yelling at her boss in typical Mai fashion. It was alarming then, when she acted in atypical Mai fashion and remained silent, lowering her head so that her short hair blocked her eyes from sight.

Lin looked sharply at Naru in a mix of surprise and warning, but found that the teen was not looking his way, focusing instead on the cowed girl on the sofa in front of him. Lin turned his gaze back on Mai as she gathered her thoughts and began to recount her experiences of the afternoon, beginning with her trip to the store.

By the end of her tale Naru was up and pacing, Lin whole-heartedly understood the urge, he had never before heard of such a thing happening. Then again, Mai's powers were odd in their own right and it was entirely possible that they could still be developing in unique ways. After a few tense minutes of awkward silence Naru finally spoke up, "Go home, get some sleep. Lin will drive you."

"I will?" This was news to Lin, but he was getting up and grabbing his coat. Mai on the other hand would have no part of it, "I can get home myself!" Naru rolled his eyes at her, "Right, and what's to say that you won't pass out again? You might actually prove useful on this case for once." Lin cringed; sometimes it really would be nice for that boy to show some discretion and tact. Mai looked flustered, "B-but I have to go to work!"

Lin's fingers froze on his car keys and Naru ceased his pacing, his back rigid. You could hear a pin drop in the following silence before Naru ended it with a frosty tone, "Work?" Mai squirmed nervously under Naru's glare, "Yes work, I take the night shift at the local convenience store."

"Why?" Mai seemed to gain strength from Naru's poor attitude and she glared at the boy. "People do that, you know? We take jobs, earn money. Things really haven't changed that much since you looked yourself away in this bat cave."

Naru's eyes flashed, "You already have a job."

"Yeah, and working part time exorcising ghosts, ghoulies, and things that go bump in the night is really going to pay the bills and pay for college!"

Lin could see the anger escalating in the room and decided enough was enough, "I'll take Taniyama-san to her home and drop by her job to tell them she's sick." He took a protesting Mai's arm and literally dragged her out the door, shooting a glare at the young boss from over his shoulder.

(Present)

Lin had concluded that he had no manner of luck at all. After he had dropped a still angry Mai off at her apartment, he had gone on to her night job. The people at Mai's workplace said that they needed someone to work Mai's shift and so he'd been press-ganged into filling in for her.

He wanted to ram his head through the nearest window before the night was half over. Why were so many stupid people out at such ungodly hours? It made no sense! Lin's shiki had detected a shoplifter, but he, out of spite for the hateful shop manager, had let him escape with his pockets laden with stolen candy.

It had left him in a foul mood, and Naru was acting no better, stomping around like a Neanderthal and scowling at everyone, even meek little John Brown! Lin supposed it was not helping his charge's demeanor that he hadn't seen much of Mai since their arrival. She was too busy keeping the little girl occupied.

Lin cursed as he hit his head on the edge of one of the shelving units.

(w/Mai)

Mai was kicking herself, why didn't she tell anyone about her dream? Naru was going to kill her for sure this time! The night after she had passed out, she'd had a dream. It had began like a dream would when she was on a case, but it was different…

She found herself in a large house, more a mansion really. The grounds were well kept and there was a bubbling fountain at the front door. She felt compelled to open that door and go inside, but when she placed her hand on the doorknob a sense of foreboding shot through her.

She tried to leave, but her body acted without her free will. She watched with a feeling of growing horror as the door opened to reveal a large foyer with lit candelabras and crystal chandeliers. There was a central grand stair case and her feet started walking up it. Her heart pounded wildly in her breast as the walls started to warp and drops like blood began to drip from the ceiling. She started to run.

When she looked up she saw her salvation, it was Naru, the nice one standing there, waiting for her. His hand was reached out towards her, beckoning for her to come to him. She was nearing the top of the stairs when something struck her as odd. She looked back up at Naru. What was it? Then she knew.

His eyes. There was something wrong with his eyes. They were not his warm, deep, kind orbs. No, they were cold, dark, inhuman. She watched as his flesh began to melt from his face. His eyes glowed red and his teeth became jagged. His nails lengthened into yellow claws, and his lips turned black.

He lifted an emaciated arm. A bone-like finger pointed at her, no, at something behind her. She turned around, and saw, just a few steps away from her a thin child-like face looked up at her and smiled, blood seeping from every orifice.

Mai had then screamed and woken up.

A hand touched her shoulder and she jumped, startled. "Mai-chan?" "Wha-?" Kuran looked at her with concern. "Are you alright? You kind of spaced out there for a moment."

"Oh, I'm sorry, I'm fine." She smiled at the young man reassuringly. Suzuran looked up at her worriedly. The three of them were sitting in the little girl's room and had been looking at Suzuran's toys. Mai was at a loss for what to do with the girl because she had apparently lost all interest in playing with dolls when her mother went missing.

That was when Mai had a brilliant idea. (Yes Naru, she does have those every now and then) "Hey, why don't we go and bake some cookies Suzuran-chan? Would you like that?" The child nodded energetically, her pigtails bobbing wildly. Mai took the girl's small hand in her own and allowed herself to be dragged to the kitchen.

When they reached the kitchen Suzuran climbed up onto a chair and took a thick cookbook down from the cupboard. It was old and worn, the cover was stained and much of the old color had been worn away.

"That was my Grandmother's cookbook." Kuran supplied. Mai solemnly took the revered book from the girl and gingerly opened the book. She took note of where flour covered hands had left stains on certain pages, and a certain recipe caught her eye; Chocolate Drop Sun-cookies: for the days when all you see is rain. It appeared fairly simple to do, and the house could use a bit of sunshine.

When Mai showed to recipe to Suzuran the girl grinned and clapped her hands happily together. The two of them began to assemble the necessary ingredients and utensils as Kuran smiled and slipped out of the kitchen. He should probably get to his homework, but his thoughts kept drifting back to the sunny-faced girl who was with his sister. What would it take to get her to stay, he wondered. Little did he know, that something else was thinking the exact same thing.

There! Another CHAPPIE! YAY! I hope you enjoyed it! I mean I really do! I am going to do my best to update sooner this time, but my IB English teacher really believes in loading me up with work! So I might be little time coming, but It won't be this long! I promise!

DON'T FORGET A FRIENDLY LITTLE REVIEW! FLAMES WITH BE USED TO BAKE MY COOKIES!