Okay I realize the last couple of chapters don't exactly flow, but here's the chapter that will connect them!

So have no fear, the next chapter is here!

Read on! (:

xoxoxoxo

Naru sighed as he listened to Yasuhara once again attempt to contact Watanabe Akira. They had been calling him for the past four hours, but were unable to reach him, even though they tried every possible phone number he could be reached at. They left him several messages but he had failed to return their calls.

The rest of the team were still paging through the newspapers John and Yasuhara had brought back from the library. The papers ranged in date from the present to as old as 1960. Other than a few articles that briefly mention it, they were unable to find any information pertaining to the Yukishiro murder case fifty years ago. For once Naru was baffled. How could a series of deaths go unnoticed by the local newspapers?

Naru sighed as he watched the others flip through page after page with no results. It was getting late, and everyone was looking rather tired. His roaming eyes landed on his brown-haired assistant, who had fallen asleep almost as soon as they had started.

Typical, he thought.

He continued watching her for a while, taking in the gentle expression on her face as she slept. He wondered briefly what she was dreaming about, but regretted it immediately. The thought that Mai and Gene might be together right now gave Naru an unexplainable ache in his chest. He turned his gaze away from her, more irritated now then he was before.

He was rubbing his eyes, trying to make himself focus on the case again, when a hand on his shoulder made him turn. He saw Lin standing next to him, looking at him with concern.

"You should go rest," he said quietly so the others wouldn't hear.

"I'm fine," replied Naru, trying to hide his tiredness that had been weighing down on him for a while.

"No, you're not. Your tired. I can see it in your eyes. There's not much going on at the moment. We're still awaiting Watanabe-san's reply. The others and I can monitor base for a while."

Naru thought sleep sounded good, but he also wanted to continue working. For some reason he had a bad feeling about this case, and he wanted to get to the bottom of it as soon as possible. He continued to glare at Lin and was about to object when Lin held up a hand to silence him.

"You won't be of any use to anyone if you're dead on your feet. Now go rest. We will inform you if anything happens."

His words were final and left no place for objection. Naru glared at him a moment longer before silently standing and walking out of base.

His feet carried him to the boys bedroom and into the bathroom where he stopped in front of the sink to look in the mirror. For several long minutes, he gazed at himself and in doing so, noticed dark shadows under his eyes. Lin was right, his tiredness was beginning to show. He turned the water on and splashed some across his face. When he looked back into the mirror above the sink, he froze.

There, staring back at him, was not his own reflection, but a slightly younger looking version of himself.

"Gene," he breathed. "What's going on? What are you doing here? Why did yo-?"

He was cut off when Gene's passive face, turned to one of panic. His mouth began moving but no sound could be heard.

"Gene, I can't hear you. What's going on?" He ask once again.

The next time Gene spoke, Naru almost wished he hadn't. Gene's voice could now be heard, clear as day, but the words his lips formed made Naru's blood run cold.

Without hesitation, he sprinted out of the room and ran back to base, all the while the five words Gene had said played through his mind.

'Mai is going to die!'

After what seemed like an eternity, he burst into base and quickly analyzed the situation. Mai was on the floor, arms flailing widely about her and her mouth was open in a silent scream. She appeared to still be asleep. The others were gathered around her, calling out her name and trying to rouse her. Nothing seemed to be working however, as the girl continued to thrash around on the floor. Preoccupied as he was, he didn't notice the obvious drop in temperature as he entered the room.

"Mai!" he called out as he made his way over to her.

He grabbed her arms and held them to her sides to prevent her from injuring herself. He continued his attempts to wake her, but she remained in her sleeping state.

All of a sudden her body went rigid and her breathing became ragged. Thinking it was safe to do so, Naru released her arms. Immediately they flew up and she began clawing at her neck.

"Naru," said Masako and he turned around to look at her. "There's a spirit here."

After she spoke, she fainted and was caught by John.

Naru returned his attention to Mai. She was now gasping for air as if she was being choked, her hands clawing ever more frantically at her neck.

"Takigawa-san!" yelled Naru.

"Right!" came the monks reply, and he began his chant.

John joined in with his prayer, throwing his holy water in front of him.

There was a loud screech and the lights flickered as the two increased the intensity of their exorcism.

Suddenly everything went quiet and the lights returned to normal. Naru thought he saw a dark shadow fly out the door, but he didn't have time to dwell on it. He looked at Mai and saw that she had gone completely still. Ayako instantly began checking her vital signs for anything abnormal.

After a moment, the priestess sighed.

"She's alright, just sleeping now. But…"

"What is it?" asked John.

"She's bruising around the neck."

Sure enough, dark angry bruises were beginning to form around her neck, vaguely taking the form of human hands.

Naru watched as Takigawa picked up the sleeping girl and laid her gently on the sofa. John in the meantime, went to help Masako, who was just beginning to wake up.

"Someone tell me what happened." said Naru, barely controlling his anger. Mai had been in real danger yet he could do nothing for her, and that angered him.

"Well…" began Yasuhara. "We were sitting here, looking though the newspapers, when suddenly Mai fell off her chair and began thrashing around on the floor."

"We tried to wake her but she wouldn't wake up," continued Takigawa.

"That's when you came in," said Ayako.

"Masako, was the spirit you just sensed now the same one from earlier?" asked Naru.

"Yes," She replied weakly. "It was the same. I felt its hatred."

"I see," he said, more to himself than anyone in particular. "Lin, look through the footage of base from the last few minutes."

Lin nodded and headed over to the monitors.

"The rest of you finish looking through these papers. Look for anything that may elude to who this spirit is."

They got to work immediately as Naru sat down in an armchair across from Mai. He was getting more and more annoyed by everything about this case. The client, the spirit, and the lack of information were wearing on his nerves. And now it seemed Mai had become the target of yet another spirit. He looked at the sleeping girl and silently swore to himself he would solve this case before anything else happened to her.

xoxoxoxo

Mai tried to grasp at anything she could as she fell through the darkness, but there was nothing there to grab a hold of. She continued to fall farther and farther into nothingness, screaming.

All of a sudden she stopped. It wasn't as if she hit the bottom of anything, she just... stopped falling. Everything was still pitch black, but she could feel another presence near her.

"Gene?" she called. "Gene, is that you?"

There was no answer. She looked around desperately trying to find an escape from this nightmare.

The presence she felt grew closer, and she began to panic. She felt a brush of air on the back of her neck, as if someone were breathing on her. She whipped around but found nothing but the inky blackness. She turned back around only to find those terrifying red eyes staring at her once again. She screamed and tried to run the other way.

"You cannot escape," a voice rang out of the dark. "You belong to me!"

Suddenly Mai found herself on her back, the shadowy figure with red eyes kneeling over top of her. Cold hands wrapped themselves around her neck and began to squeeze. Mai tried desperately to pry them off, but it was no use. The shadow was too strong for her.

Just when she thought she was going to suffocate, the hands released her. There was a loud screech and the shadow was lifted off her. She sat up and coughed as she tried to catch her breath, her lungs greedily taking in oxygen.

Her eyes became foggy and she laid back down, slowly drifting off into a dreamless sleep.

xoxoxoxo

It was nine o'clock in the evening when Mai finally opened her eyes. She glanced around and found that she was lying on the couch in base. All was quiet except for the sound of typing coming from Lin, who sat in front of the monitors. No one else was visible.

They must have all gone to bed, thought Mai as she noticed the time.

She opened her mouth to ask Lin where Naru was, but soon stopped when a sharp pain shot up her neck. She gingerly touched her neck and felt large welts where she had been choked.

What? She thought. But that happened in my dreams. How did I get these bruises in real life?

Her train of thought was interrupted when a glass of water appeared in front of her face. She looked up to find Naru holding the glass out to her. She took it gladly.

She attempted to say 'thanks' but all that came out was a hoarse whisper. She greedily took a sip of water, wincing at the pain when she swallowed.

"How are you feeling?" asked Naru unemotionally.

"Better now," she was able to choke out amongst the pain.

Naru nodded and after a moment, he handed Mai a notebook and a pen. Mai took them, looking questioningly at her boss.

"I need you to tell me what you saw."

Mai nodded and began writing down what she had experienced in her dreams. When she had finished, Naru took the notebook and read through what she had written.

"I see," he said thoughtfully. "So the ghost was the cause of the recent deaths in this house. That still doesn't explain what happened fifty years ago though. Yes, Mai?"

Mai had been waving her hands trying to get his attention. She grabbed the notebook again and wrote down her questions.

"What happened to me? Why did I get bruises?" Naru read her questions out loud. Without a word he walked over to the monitors and Mai followed silently.

"Lin, replay the footage of this afternoon."

Lin wordlessly obliged and Mai watched as the picture appeared on the monitor.

Mai saw herself asleep on the table, the others around her still looking through the newspapers. She watched as she suddenly fell off the chair and began thrashing around. She saw the others trying to wake her up, and Naru holding her arms down. She saw herself suddenly go still and she knew what was coming next. Then she saw a dark shadow appear above her, choking her, and she gasped. That was how she got those bruises! Not only did she get choked in her dream, but by the spirit in real life too! She continued to watch as Bou-san and John performed their exorcism and she saw the spirit fly out of the room.

Lin stopped the tape there.

"You fell asleep after that," stated Naru.

Mai just nodded and tried to stifle back a yawn.

How can I still be tired? I slept practically all day!

"Mai go to sleep. Everyone else has retired, we'll continue the investigation in the morning."

Mai was about to object when Lin's phone rang. All three of them stared at it in shock. Who would be calling this late at night? Naru and Mai listened as Lin answered it.

"Madoka?" he said into the phone. "Yes. Yes. What? Are you absolutely positive it's him? Yes, I'll inform Naru immediately."

He hung up the phone and looked at Naru with unusually wide eyes.

"That was Madoka. She said there was an accident. Watanabe-san's house collapsed while he was still inside."

Lin paused before continuing.

"Naru, he's dead."

xoxoxoxo

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Update soon (^_^)