A/N: Gah, I am so bad! started plotting and writing down a whole new GH story when I haven't even finished this one! Someone hit me!
Sun brightly illuminated the ornate craftsmanship of the house through large, perfectly placed windows…but for some reason Mai could not calm down. She was thankful that is was daytime at least, the house truly was beautiful when she got a good look at it.
From the very moment they had arrived, even before that if her dream counted, Mai had a bad feeling about the whole thing. The element of unknown was making it even worse. Was it a spirit, poltergeist, a ghost, or something completely different? What were its intentions or could it be a person calling the shots? Mai didn't like not knowing. She didn't like not being able to see or feel what was there. It was as if there was nothing there at all…
"Ah, sorry!" Mai stumbled backward and looked down at what had run into her; it was the little girl from before…
"I wasn't watching where I was going…" The child admitted apologetically.
"Ah, that's alright." Mai pushed the hair from her face and smiled. "I wasn't paying attention to where I was going either!" The little girl smiled back and Mai kept up the act until the girl continued down the hall and rounded the corner.
Mai teetered back into the wall, the smile gone completely from her face. She didn't know why, but she found herself afraid of the family. The little girl had no ill intention whatsoever. She looked fine and happy and was anything but scary…but Mai was scared. She was afraid…and she didn't know why.
As the day wore on, that fact became painfully more apparent. Mai was leery of them…
"The family didn't have anything more to add…" Masako looked like she was about to jump Naru any second though he seemed totally oblivious to the fact.
"And all the equipment looks good." Bou-san added. "We all skewered the house and the grounds but nothing seems out of place."
Naru nodded in response and turned to Lin. "Have you figured out any new information on the family or the house?"
"Not anything worth mention, but it seems there was no problem with the family members before they moved here." Lin spoke in his normal monotone ignoring most everything else around him. "It is probably safe to assume that they didn't bring 'it' along with them to this house."
"We should not assume anything at this point." Naru commented dryly. He knew better than to assume but he also knew that they were running low on leads. It would be impossible to get anywhere if they couldn't even find a place to start. They needed more to go on…
"So what do we do now?" Bou-san asked looking around the room. What could they do? They didn't even know what they were up against let alone how to deal with it.
"I think we should-" Ayako started but was cut short.
"…Perform another ritual?" Bou-san finished for the miko with a deep grin. "Yours didn't work since that guy got possessed even after you did it!"
"Yours didn't work either! You stupid monk!" Ayako angrily shot back. "The guy got possessed after you did your ritual too!"
"That must have been some kind of mistake!" Bou-san held up his hands in mock defense. It looked like the angry miko was going to pummel him at any moment.
"Even though it is jumping from one person to the next, there has been a consistent down time between the possessions." John pointed out blissfully ignoring the monk, miko argument. "I mean it didn't jump immediately from the little girl to someone else…there was time in between. There must be someway we can limit its options…"
"Indeed…" Naru thought a moment. It was fairly rare for a spirit to be exorcised and pushed from one body only to go straight to another. But it was not all that common for a spirit to be doing what they were seeing either. Usually an exorcism would dispel any lingering spirit that was possessing someone or a cleansing ritual to disperse anything remaining around that was not in a body or object.
Naru found it odd that whatever was there was so well attached that they had so far been unable to dislodge it. "I want to cover as many bases as we possibly can. We need to start ruling out as many things as possible so that we can narrow down the options." Naru sat down the file folder he had been holding with the data pertaining to the house.
"So, you suggest what?" Ayako spoke but it was clear that she was still annoyed over a certain monk induced incident.
"John." Naru turned his attention to the priest. "Take Hara-san with you and bless the family and the house if at all possible."
"Alright, I will try my best." The priest answered kindly while Masako remained silent. She was too busy glaring daggers at a certain uninterested brunette to answer.
"Bou-san and Matsuzaki-san, I want you both to work on securing the passages of the house. We don't need anything else coming in or risk letting what we are dealing with escape. I am well aware that you have both already tried rituals on the house, but maybe you can try again and be a bit more specific this time around."
Still annoyed, Ayako ignored Naru's request even though she did hear it. "So, the goal is to limit this thing as much as possible uh?" Bou-san replied instead seeing that Ayako was not done pouting in defeat. "We can do that, leave it to us!" He spoke much too happily swinging an unwanted arm over Ayako's shoulder.
"Lin and I are going to implant a suggestion for all the family members. We need to rule out human influence on any of these events they have been reporting. We will know by tomorrow if there are any results." Naru paused and glanced at an uncharacteristically quiet Mai. She had not said a word the entire time and she looked as if she was not even paying attention to the conversation or her surroundings for that matter. "Mai." Naru called and the girl's eyes shifted their attention to him uneasily. "I want you to accompany-"
"Can I stay here and keep an eye on the monitors?" She spoke seriously and to the point. Her eyes locked with his and Naru could see just how somber she was. "Someone should remain here in case something happens."
Doubt filled Naru's look to his assistant. She hated staying in the base room normally. She didn't like being alone and would complain relentlessly that she was bored staying behind and yet now she seemed eager to be left there. Just what was she playing at? "Fine…" Naru finally agreed after giving her a dubious glance. "Alert us of any changes or if anything happens." It would be a lie if he said he wasn't worried about the girl's behavior, but there was nothing he could do about it at the moment…he really had his hands full.
~x~
Mai watched as everyone filed out of the room. She certainly felt guilty about her behavior but she couldn't help it. She was not herself at all and she couldn't even figure out why. She was afraid for no reason at all. She was becoming increasingly paranoid…
Paranoid of everything…
Mai was fearful of the family and she was even becoming weary of her own teammates and friends. She didn't want to go with them; she didn't even want to be close to them. Just the thought sent shivers throughout her body. She was repulsed by the idea. Why would she be afraid of any of them? They had done nothing to warrant such feelings…yet she was feeling them none the less; quite overwhelmingly in fact. She couldn't explain why…but she was scared…
Mai was terrified…
"Where's Mai?" Bou-san asked over dinner, worry clearly laced within his voice. Everyone had conveniently finished their tasks right as evening drew near. Naru and Lin had just finished setting up the closed and secure scenario for the suggestion before they had rejoined everyone for a meal.
"Still in the base room." Naru replied simply. He was not sure as to why she had so unlike her holed up in the room alone but it was clear she was overly jumpy and something was making her that way…yet none of them, not even he, knew exactly what it was.
"What is wrong with her?" Bou-san asked looked increasingly concerned. "Do…do you this she is possessed?"
Naru paused and leaned back in his chair. "Not yet…"
~x~
The corridors to the base room were darkened with the approaching dusk but Naru didn't mind. He was rather fond of the dark; it calmed him down somehow. He had been forcefully sent to retrieve Mai for dinner based on everyone's continuing protest. He too was worried but he was glad to have the excuse that he was made to come by the others and that it was not of his own free will. If she asked he would tell her that it was troublesome and that she should stop bothering people with her worrisome behavior…though in truth he found it anything but troublesome…
Naru made his way to the door of the base room and pushed it open softly, careful to not make his presence known. He soon discovered Mai's sleeping form within and the only thing he could think about was what she was dreaming of. Was she having one of those dreams? Maybe that was what was troubling her? Did she really know something she wasn't telling?
With slight hesitation, Naru decided to wake Mai up anyway…she needed to eat after all. "Wake up…"
"Wake up…"
The same voice spoke at the same time and Mai jolted awake. She turned her head only to find Naru inspecting her and she suddenly recalled that she had just been with her dream guide with the same face as Naru…
Mai blushed deeply at the thought and at the proximity of Naru. She turned away from his intense gaze but there really was no place to hide…
"Were you dreaming?" Naru asked amidst his inspection of Mai. She looked like she was okay for the most part, despite the deep flush that adorned her face. "Did you find anything out?"
Mai peeked up. "…I was…" She admitted shyly keeping a steady gaze with Naru. "But I didn't find out anything new." The truth was harder to admit than she thought it would be. She so wanted to tell him something good, something that he could use...but there was nothing new at all. She had merely meandered the house again watching possession after possession, the same process repeating itself over and over again. There really was nothing for her to tell, even if she wanted to.
The dream…
There was more to the dream. Mai recalled the continued warnings she had received and how adamant he had been with her. Her guide didn't want her in the house…he didn't want her there at all. He said it was dangerous and that she could be next. Mai neglected to tell Naru that little tid-bit since there was really nothing that could be done even if he knew she had been warned. They were all in trouble, all in the same boat since they were all in the house just like the family. Any one of them could fall victim. Besides…she didn't want to leave and she was prepared, as much as she could be anyway, for any trouble that may befall her…
After some persuasion, Mai allowed herself to be dragged off to dinner by a rather annoyed looking Naru. The family had already finished eating by the time they arrived which left just the team to occupy the large dinning hall…which at that point Mai was more than thankful.
"How did the suggestion go?" Bou-san inquired trying to lighten the glooming mood once Mai returned. She was so jumpy and anxious. Even though she had returned to their side she was skittish to say the least. He didn't like it when she was not her usual cheerful self.
"Fine." Naru replied stiffly. "We will know tomorrow if anything comes of it."
"We finished our task as well." John chimed in. "It should help limit the options 'it' has…"
"Yep and we completed ours as well." The monk smirked deviously. "It should do the trick this time…since I was there to help!"
"You idiot!" Ayako glared darkly. "You didn't do anything! Not like I needed your help anyway!"
"What do we do if this does not work?" Masako calmly asked bringing the conversation back on track. "We know 'something' is here yet I still can't place it or even feel it most of the time…not even the faintest trace."
"We need to catch another person while they are possessed." The serious nature of the comment escaped no one. Naru knew that they needed to get some answers; they had already let two incidences go by without so much as a single question being answered. "We may be able to find out more if we have a person right in front of us."
"It's not that simple!" Mai blurted out unintentionally. She quickly covered her mouth and turned away…she wished she could take the words back but it was too late, she couldn't do anything about it now. The words had already been spoken and everyone was focused on her for an explanation. "Uh…no…I…that's not what I meant…" She tried to salvage her mistake but the way Naru was glaring at her told her that nothing would be able to fix it now.
"Explain." Naru voiced shortly what everyone was thinking.
The tension in the room could have been cut with a knife that much was sure but Mai continued to hesitate. She hated being under pressure and she didn't like all the eyes that were waiting on her every breath. "It's…it's just…if it was just a simple spirit or whatever, doing typical possessions as you like to think of them as, 'it' would have been exorcized by now." Mai tried to explain slowly but she wasn't sure if she was making any sense at all. "But, the exorcism didn't work, it was still there! Still moving on to other people…" Mai looked up trying to find the words she was looking for. There was no way she could put into words what she knew in heart; what she had seen in her head. It really was not that simple; if only everyone could see that.
"Until we figure out the nature of 'it' there's no way we can deal with it…"
"Mai-chan has a good point…" Bou-san glanced over in Naru's direction. The young man remained quiet but he could tell that the boy knew Mai was right. "Let's just hope tomorrow yields more information."
Naru stood from the table abruptly. "Go through the house and check the video and audio feeds one more time before we call it a night. If we have any luck, we should know more tomorrow."
Wasting no time, everyone split up to make the final round before heading off to bed but Mai used the opportunity to slink off to Naru's room. Her feet couldn't carry her fast enough to the room…
The sheets were cool but Mai quickly nested on the day bed and was thankful that Naru and Lin were not there so she could actually change into something suitable for sleep. She felt extremely uncomfortable and uneasy. She had been paranoid all day, but now it really felt bad…
Mai didn't know what to make of it. She decided she would try to learn more tomorrow and that for now she would try and sleep. She had been so tense all day she doubted she would have much of a problem. She nestled into the covers and hoped that she would start to feel better…
A short time later, Naru and Lin finally made it to the room only to find Mai sound asleep and seemingly well. Everything was found to be normal as well when the final round was completed and Naru could only hope that they would have some leads tomorrow.
They were starting to run out of options…
~Chapter 6 End~
A/N: Ohhhh! Well, we are moving right along! Let me know what you think! Thanks for reading!