Chapter 4

Laid on the sofa inside the base, sleep would not come to her, her mind was still thinking back to what Naru had said earlier on, turning her head to the left, Naru was sat in his chair reading a book what made a small smile appear on the face was the title.

'Charmed'

She had seen that show a few times on TV, about 3 sisters who had the strongest supernatural powers three witches who was Desendents of a woman from the 1800's going threw rough hard times, falling in love, last one she ever saw was death coming to the oldest sister. Turning her head back up to the roof, he had told her to get some rest after he noticed the pain she had from her head injury.

But sleep just would not come, her mind was in bits, how could she trust him? How would she know he would not hurt her like Hibiki does now? How could she leave Hibiki he had been by her side, even though the circumstances wasn't the best he was still there for her. That's when her phone began ringing causing Naru to look over to her. " I told you to sleep" Rolling her eye's she took the phone out of her pocket looking at the caller ID. Giving a sigh she sat up on the sofa, what did he want at … looking over at the clock, 1.45 am?

"Hello Hibik-" she didn't even get to finish his name, " WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU?" Mai winced at the tone, he was drunk, she didn't even have to be near him to even smell the toxic fumes. She could tell by the sound of his voice, " I told you before I left for work I was going on a case today. I won't be back for a few day's…"

" Bullshit! Your cheating on me aint you! Get your filthy arse home right now!" Mai looked down at the ground, she knew Naru was listening in on the conversation, he knew it wouldn't be that easy for Mai to leave the man. "I'm not even in Tokyo at the moment, you can't expect me to come home at almost 2am!" "DON'T YOU BACK CHAT ME YOU LITTLE SHIT! WHO'S BEEN TAKING CARE OF YOU AFTER YOUR MOTHER PASSED AWAY? HUH? ME!" Mai was about to say something but Naru couldn't stand to hear any more. He took the phone out of her hands and ended the call, and placed the girls phone in his pocket, " I think I'll hold on to this until the case is over."

" But Naru!" " No but's Mai! I can tell by that phone call with the way he treats you, listen, I'll understand if you can't trust me straight away, I understand your scared of him," standing up Mai walked over to the window "Being scared is an understatement Naru, more like terrified.."

Day 2 8.32am ….

Morning had come quickly, Mai had finally fallen asleep on the sofa, Naru had managed to get some sleep but he was too busy and concerned about the woman he had loved to even get any sleep, that phone call she had received last night put him on the edge, he wanted to end the case quickly and go kick the shit out of the man that's ever laid his fists on the girl.

The door opened to revile Lin, the older Chinese man from Hong Kong, He saw the young black haired girl asleep, and also noticed that Naru was looking quite tense, "did anything happen threw the night Noll?" Naru looked up to Lin " nothing to be concerned about, there was only a few temp drops in the living room and hallway."

Lin took a seat in front of the monitors loading up his HP laptop, " That's not what I meant, did Mai wake up?" he looked and noticed Mai's phone in his young charges pocket. " yeah, we talked for a while, she didn't have any dreams, I also told her that we can't get her to a hospital for her head injury until after the case is complete." Biting his thumb, Lin knew that position anywhere, it was when Naru was extremely pissed off with something.

Before getting the chance to even ask, noise soon began to fill the room with the other 5 members, " But I was lonely Monk! And I know you would make sure I would be protected threw the night! Your like my own giant teddy bear!" Monk was trying to hid behind the red haired Miko, " Ew! Gross! Get away from me Yasu!" that's when they all noticed the ice glare from Naru, " Naru, erm dude, have you been here all night?"

Naru just moved shifting some of the folders so he could get back to researching, " well someone had to watch over Mai, we can't very well leave her in here un guarded can we?" most of them thought it was because of the spirit but Ayako had other thoughts, Mai's boyfriend. So Naru had finally caught on to Mai's secret. "in any case, split up into two teams, we will do the exact same as yesterday, only Yasu will be doing the readings of the rooms as Mai is still asleep and still injured from yesterdays' attack."

Yasu grinned like a wolf finding it's prey, " oh you just want some alone time with Mai! Awe, no fair! Big brother Yasu saw her first!" " Get out and do your job before you find yourself un employed!" giving a screetch Yasu picked up the clipboard, and thermomitor heading right out of the door. The rest of the teams for that morning was Ayako and Monk, then John and Masako.

As the two eldest began trying to sense any spirits on the 1st floor they struck up a conversation, " Geez, this is why that kid should seriously sleep more" rubbing a hand behind his neck, The red haired Miko looked to him, " I don't think its that," She bit down her thumb, she had wanted to talk to Naru about Mai that morning but with how things turned out she would have to wait till later, " OH? And how do you know its not that?" "Because I'm smarter than you idiot. Lets just get this over with so I can check over Mai's wounds. We may be fighting at the moment but I'm still a trained doctor." Giving a nod they went checking the whole 1st floor.

With our other team, they was having a much more gentle conversation, " so did you manage to have a good sleep last night?" asked our young blonde priest, Masako nodded to him and smiled, " I did have on my mind about Mai last night being ok, we have never seen her like this before, when you was with her yesterday did something strike rather odd?"

John rubbed his chin, " Now that you mention it, she was quite jumpy and agitated at the time before she was pushed down the stairs, and the moment when she was pushed, she froze up, like she didn't even know how to fight back the urge to steady herself on the stairs." Masako looked to the young blonde priest, " there is also something your not telling me, its been on your mind since we found you both." running a hand threw his hair, " Yeah, I know I shouldn't talk about our friend behind her back but… there was something that concerned me, she had multiple bruises on her stomach, and Mai isn't the one to bruise easily. They seemed a good number of days old."

" Was they in any form of a hand print or fist by any chance?" her eye's was looking over the young priest as he began thinking again, they had stopped in the middle of the hallway. " now that you mention it, I do remember seeing a large foot print, and it wasn't female, I know that for sure, I do not mean to be rude but the shoe size seemed too big for a woman." Giving a slight chuckle Masako held her hand up " oh please, I am not offended by that, but that just sums up thoughts about what's going on in her life. Do you remember that boy we bumped into her with a week back?"

John nodded, and then for some reason he put 2+2 together, " our Mai is being …" Masako nodded, " we should keep it to ourselves though until she is ready to speak, I have not been in that type of situation before but I still am a woman, so I can understand on how she would feel ashamed of being able to tell anyone, especially since she was so confident in herself a year ago." giving an extra nod they got back to work.

Back at the base Naru was sipping his 3rd cup of tea that morning, " Noll, go get some sleep, I'll watch over Mai ok?" Naru looked over to Lin, he ran a hand roughly threw his hair, " but where not getting anywhere with this case!" " that doesn't mean you should refuse your needs for rest! Think of how Mai would feel knowing you've been working to the bone!" Naru stiffened at the mere mention of the young girl in front of him, she still hadn't woken up yet, but he knew Lin was right, nothing was going to get done with him being in a bad mood all morning. Standing up he sighed and looked over to Lin, " come get me when she wakes up." Giving a slight nod Naru walked out of the room.

Once he heard the footsteps cease to exist down the hall he gave a small smile to the girl, "he's finally gone." Mai sat up and sighed, " how long have you known me being awake?" "Since I walked in this morning, thinking the longer you was asleep that he would too?" Man this guy knew her way too well. Which was really creepy, " yeah, I feel so bad, its my fault he's been awake all night."

"Because of Hibiki?" Mai snapped her head towards the older man, " how did yo-" " I over heard you both last night talking, and the phone call, one thing I can say is, Naru is right, we would all protect you," Mai looked down she felt even more ashamed than she already had. He stood up walking over to her handing the girl his phone, " give her a call, maybe talking to her might cheer you up."

Looking down at the phone he had left in her hands, she stared at the contact, " Madoka? Why?" Lin turned back to the computer screen, " she'll understand your situation more than anyone else Mai, and I understand Naru's a lot more than anyone else. To me… this is a repeat of a past I never wanted to ever happen again. An since it's happening to you, well…. Lets just say I'm more than pissed."

Mai looked down at the phone, someone who's been in the same situation as her?, a small smile tugged on the side of her lips.

Day 3 - 4.15pm

The members of SPR was all sitting in the base, they had all decided to try and get this case solved a lot faster, Mai had been curious on to why there was no dreams on this case unless… the James family faked it all… but why would they fake a haunting. An if that was the case then who pushed and hurt Mai, would that really have been John.

Mai clenched her fists around a piece of paper in her hands, no, John would never do that, he's a priest! They are saint's not sinners. Unless one of the adults had powers that was only just beginning to awaken which might make them think it was a simple haunting.

Rubbing her temples, this case was getting more stressful, and weird,

"Yasu!" Snapped a very irritated Naru, " Still no information?" Yasu shook his head, " sorry Boss, but every where I look its all spotless, the house has been legit since it was built back in the early 1900's every family that lived here have had no problems what so ever." Naru looked to Masako, "Sensing that same spirit as before?"

Masako shook her head, "No, its presence seemed to have disappeared, the house just seems to be an ordinary house at the current time." he then turned to the miko, monk and priest, " did you perform any Exorcisms?" all threw of them shook their heads, Naru slammed his fist on the table. " Naru, if there is nothing going on here, then how can you explain Mai's injuries?" Asked a worried Miko.

Naru ran a hand threw his hair, he simply didn't know, he also couldn't explain the doors all being locked, unless there was something he wasn't seeing, wait that was it! " Lin! Bring up a floor plan, check to see if there are any attics or basements attached to this house."

Lin was on it right away, just as the door opened Mr. James stood there, " sorry to disturb you but I just wanted to inform you that, it seems the doors have unlocked themselves, would you like me to call a paramedic out for Ms. Taniyama?" Mai shook her head as she looked over the floor plan, " I'm alright, Ayako's a doctor, best in the biz! So I don't need to go to a hospital" unknown to her, Ayako was giving her a small smile, maybe Mai didn't hate her guts after that fight.

"Alright, oh and my son has decided to visit us today he arrived moments ago, is that ok?" Naru nodded " just make sure he stays out of our way." Lin pointed to top area of the house, " Here… there's meant to be a loft just above where the stairs are," Naru looked to his team, " if we are going to find anything we may find it up there… "

He was about to give an order for everyone to move and inspect the area when the door opened, everyone turned around seeing a boy around Mai's age there. An Naru felt his hand going into a cramp, looking down he saw Mai holding his hand tightly, it was him.. But why was he here? On this case.

"So this is where you've been? I've been searching all over for you Mai! I didn't think you was investigating my parents house!" Spoke the man. Mai just put on a brave face, yes, Ayako and Naru might have figured it out, and also Lin but Mai still couldn't keep the thought out of her mind that this guy was someone she owed a lot to.

"Hibiki!"

/

Woop, chapter 4 rocking away! So there investigating a house with a sly tricky ghost! Hibiki has also turned up on the case! It's his parents house they are investigating!

Stay tuned for more!

Curedream90 over and out!