Author's notes. Hi everyone! I hope you are all enjoying a New Start so far, sorry it has taken so long for case 2 to appear, I have a few days off from work so are hoping to have the rest of this case up and finished soon! Please let me know what you think and if there is anything you don't particularly like, this is my first proper story so reviews are welcome.

I don't own ghost hunt or its characters!

Enjoy!

Mai jumped straight up in bed, sweat covered her body and she felt her heart beating hard inside her chest. It had been a long time since she'd had a dream about what happened to her 3 years ago. She swung her legs out of the bed and grabbed a fresh change of clothes, pulling her clothes off she went to get a shower, the hot water helped her to ease her constant aching muscles. Standing in front of the mirror she looked at herself, her wet hair looked almost black and reached her waist, her eyes were looking more red than brown which happened when she was tired or had dreams. Her scar was also turning blood red rather than its usual pale pink, which hadn't happened before, thankfully her tinted glasses were big enough to cover the whole scar. She pulled on her black vest top, tight black jeans, sunglasses and her belt where she kept her hunting knife, she kept her hair down so that it would distract anyone she ran into, although at this time of night and with there being no other guests here it would be unlikely. She left her room and took a walk around the inn to get familiar with the surroundings, she decided that she would have a look at the sea that ran around the island so proceeded to walk outside, the moonlight came down over the water and the trees casting shadows all over the place. She made her way through the woods and around the hiking trails, the night was silent. Mai noticed that there were no noises except the running water which for a nature trail was strange, there should have been various sounds from insects, owls and other animals that were local to the area.

After 2 hours of hiking around looking for clues or signs of anything Mai had found nothing, nothing but dirty mud tracks and cold air. Giving up she decided to head back to the inn, if there was anything living in the water she obviously wasn't going to find it tonight. She walked back up the trail that led to the inn only to be stopped by the black van she knew all too well, moving slowly around the side of it she knew exactly who it belonged to SPR. Twice! Twice she'd managed to run into them on cases now, talk about bad luck. She thought about packing up and leaving as she made her way back into the inn but once Mai started a job she liked to finish it, especially when there were potential spirits drowning children. Walking through to the end of the inn she could hear noise coming from the kitchen, hoping that it would be one of the inn owners that could shed some light on what had happened.

Peering around the door Mai saw Miss Ikeda standing watching out the kitchen window. "I see you also don't sleep well" the old lady turned to Mai "Is there something I can help you with dear?"

"Actually yes, I have some questions about the inn and the history surrounding this land" Mai said bluntly

"I see. We'll since this might be a long conversation why don't I make us some tea first?" Mai nodded in response, as Miss Ikeda started to make the tea Mai thought about what she wanted to ask her

"Miss Ikeda"

"Hisa please, I have a feeling these are going to be very strange questions so it might be easier to stay on a first name basis" She said while sticking the tea pot over the stove

"Miss… I mean Hisa how long have you owned this inn?"

"ohh roughly about 50 years"

"Do you know how old the building is?"

"from what I know it was built during the Edo period, of course the structure today has been built upon and changed" she replied as she poured out tea for them. "Before I answer any more questions, may I ask why you have sunglasses on at this time of night?"

Mai sighed she had expected this, from time to time on cases the owners of buildings felt uncomfortable because she wore her face covered, people usually liked to read others facial cues which was harder when you had your face covered. "It might be easier just to show you" Mai proceeded to take her glasses off to reveal the scar on her face

"Oh my, that does look nasty, how did you end up with that?"

"It was from an accident a few years ago" Mai said

"Oh well sorry to ask you about it" Hisa said

"It's no problem" Mai said

"What else did you want to ask me about?" Hisa asked

"How did you become owners of this place?"

"It was passed down through a few generations I believe. My great grandparents got ownership from a friend of theirs and before that I believe it changed hands a few times"

Mai nodded trying to figure out how many possible owners and previous incidents could have taken place to cause an angry spirit. "In all the years you've worked here have you ever noticed anything strange? Lights flickering on and off, cold spots, things being moved on their own, that sort of thing?"

"Interesting you should ask about that, we've had a few of those incidents in the past 2 years but nothing serious, except for the bodies of those children." Hisa stated

"Could you tell me a bit more about them?" Mai asked

"Of course, it started about 2 years ago with the discovery of the first body, a very young child 2 or 3 I believe was her age, her parents were staying here for a few nights and were outside having a picnic on the beach when they noticed she had gone, by the time they found her she was washed up on the beach, such a shame" Hisa continued

"What about the other 2 bodies found?"

"Both of the other children were around the same age, two young girls who were outside playing and then the next minute disappeared and washed up on the beach the next day"

"I know this must be uncomfortable for you to talk about, was there anything else going on when the first child was discovered? Anything being done to the building or perhaps outside?"

"Why would that have anything to do with the bodies?" Hisa asked

"I know it's a strange question but I'm very interested in this inn" Mai said

"Well I don't know if it counts as eventful but at the time we were trying to renovate the attic to create more room, we had to take down an existing wall and found very old belongings that have been here for years. We haven't had a chance to look through any of them as I struggle to get up the ladder with my hips" she finished taking a sip of her tea

"Do you have any more information about the land or the inn?" Mai asked

"The only other thing I can tell you is that this inn has had a long history and more than a few skeletons hidden in the closets, at least that's what my grandmother use to tell me" finishing her drink Mai stood up to put the cup in the sink

"I'll do that" Hisa took the cup from her "I think you should get to bed, it's not healthy for a young lady to be up wandering around at all hours of the night"

Mai smiled "Thanks and thanks for the information"

"Anytime dear, it's been so long since we've had any guests" Mai nodded and continued to head to her bedroom, it was always a shame when honest people were targeted by ghosts, people who were bastards had it coming. She remembered a case where this stuck up woman had killed her husband in cold blood and dissolved his body in a bath tub of bleach, she sworn up and down to the police that he'd ran off with a mistress but Mai could see his spirit wandering around the apartment block, people like that deserved all they got.

Looking at the time it was 4am, if last cases were anything to go on Lin would still be up monitoring the cameras while the rest of the group staying sleeping for another 2 hours. Mai had noticed that there were only a few cameras dotted around the inn, judging from the van only half of the group was here and they must have arrived late for the lack of surveillance. Deciding she still had two hours left Mai made her way up to the second floor to try and find the attic, from what Miss Ikeda had said something had been disturbed in the renovation and triggered the deaths. Mai found herself at the end of the corridor taking her torch out she scanned the walls and found a hatch just above her. 'Must be the entrance', she dragged an old set of drawers over to the spot and jumped up on top of them, pushing the wooden plank aside she stuck her head up through the attic hole, scanning her torch around it seemed to be normal looking. She held her torch with her mouth and pulled herself up into the attic, clouds of dust and cobwebs attacked her pushing past she walked slowly around old boxes filled with Christmas decorations, old books, clothes and everything you'd expect to find. Reaching the far side Mai noticed a small hole in the wall, 'must have been the wall that was getting taken down for renovations' peering in you could tell it had been sealed for at least a few hundred years, the air was stale and reeked of damp. The room looked like it used to be an old bedroom with a small futon and tiny writing desk. Mai struggled to get herself through the broken wall but once she was there she moved straight over to the futon, flipping over the mattress there was nothing to be found then she moved over to the desk pulling out one of the drawers revealed an old book. Mai picked the book up, the front read Matsu Okuda, she opened it up to see it was all written in Kansai, an older dialect from the Edo period. 'Great this is going to take ages to translate' she thought, holding onto the diary Mai made her way back to her room.

Group's P.O.V

9am the next day

The group had been busy setting up the base properly while waiting for Monk and Masako to arrive later in the afternoon.

"Ayako did you and John take the temperature readings of the inn?" Naru asked

"Yes we did, we got all rooms expect one which apparently has a guest in it who arrived yesterday" Ayako responded, Naru nodded in response

"I'd like to start interviewing Mr and Miss Ikeda and then perform hypnotic suggestion" Naru stated

A few hours later…

The group was sprawled around the base room, Monk and Masako had joined them about half an hour ago and were helping to rake through information about the case.

"Did you get any important information from the owners?" Monk asked

"Not anything we didn't already know, Edo period house, it's been broken and rebuilt so many times along with switching over owners. There hasn't been any strange incidents outside of the past two years that they are aware of. As for the dead children all three were with guests here at the time" Yasu filled Monk in

"Okay so all we know is that there is a connection between the inn and the beach" Monk said

"What about when the renovation started?" Ayako asked

"Well that's where the trail runs cold, the inn was very popular a few years ago and the owners decided to renovate the attic to make space for more rooms and to take on more staff. According to Miss Ikeda they were looking into the attic and had to take down an existing wall to make space, as soon as part of the wall was broken they found an old bedroom that had very old belongings in it. The owners decided to stop until they had cleared the old room out but the next day was when the first body was found, after they had less and less customers so the renovation was cancelled." Yasu finished. The group sat in silence trying to connect all the dots together.

"Is that all the information we have?" Monk asked

"For now, being this far out there isn't a very large community around so it'll take a few days to trying and find other sources. There should be a library or local community hub around here somewhere that might have some more information." Yasu said

"What about the other guest? Have they experienced anything since arriving here?"

"Apparently, she arrived the night before us and the owners haven't seen her around since. Miss Ikeda described her as a loner with a weird mask" Naru stated

"Hey you don't think it could be the same woman that was at the factory?" Ayako asked

"Naru" Lin said and the group turned their heads "It looks like Miss Ikeda is making her way to the base with the guest".

Mai's P.O.V

Mai had woken up about an hour ago and had tried scanning through the diary she found but the language made her head spin and was going to take a while to translate, that was if it was anything useful at all. She rolled off the bed and stretched before pulling on her mask and boots, she decided to have another look around the inn and attic.

Back in the attic she pulled out all the drawers on the old desk, over turned the bed, scanned through the boxes and couldn't find a damn thing…not a damn thing. Sighing she put the stuff back and jumped down onto the 2nd floor. The wood creaked underneath her shoes, 'maybe I've missed something, it had to be either inside the house or lying at the bottom of the water' she thought to herself. She couldn't sense any spirits in the house so whatever was happening must be in the water. She was shaken out of her thoughts by someone shouting her

"Miss Crimson! Could I have a word with you?" Miss Ikeda shouted down the hallway

"Of course" 'Great what does she want' Mais questions the other day had obviously tipped Miss Ikeda off that she was doing more than staying for the view. Approaching her Mai noticed that she looked nervous

"If you wouldn't mind following me" Mai walked slowly behind her, she hadn't realised how much taller she was now as she towered over the older lady, walking down the stairs and along the corridor they stopped at the door across from reception, as she opened the door she saw something that she had been desperately trying to avoid, SPR.

"Sorry for the intrusion but I wanted to talk to everyone" Mai felt all eyes on her

Group's P.O.V

After another unsuccessful night trying to detangle the history of the inn the group was resting in base, Naru and Lin were busy typing on the laptops and looking at the cameras while Masako and Ayako sat reading notes, Monk was spread out on one of the couches trying to avoid falling asleep while John and Yasu were bouncing ideas off each other. They heard a small knock at the door before Miss Ikeda appeared "sorry for the intrusion but I wanted to talk to everyone" she gestured towards the figure behind her. The woman stood in all black with a strange mask that appeared to clasp around her neck, tinted glasses were attached to the top and plain black leather covered the bottom of her face, long crimson hair stretched down to hips, she had on a tank top, jean jacket, tight jeans, black biker gloves and heavy leather boots. She had pale skin and her long thin arms were perched on her hips where an accessories belt held several different items.

Mai's P.O.V

Time seemed to stand still while Mai stood in the doorway everyone looked the same as they had on the last case but in the daylight Mai could see the real changes that she'd missed over the past 3 years. Monk's hair was longer and he'd gained a few wrinkles around the corners of his eyes, Ayako was wearing less make up but certainly didn't look any less glamourous. John had grown taller but his bright blue eyes were filled with warmth, Lin just looked like Lin and Naru had grown up into a breath-taking man, with his dark hair and eyes he probably had to beat girls off with a stick.

Shattering out of the illusion her mind was creating she let her eyes skim quickly around the rest of the room while she decided how to go about this. Luckily she still had her mask on so they wouldn't recognise her, especially given the changes in her appearance as well. She stood completely still while Miss Ikeda walked into the middle of the group.

"Miss Crimson this is SPR, SPR this is Miss Crimson. I've brought you all here because I believe you are all working on the same goal and sharing information might be more useful to you. I'm not sure what your procedures are but it might help." With that she shuffled around Mai and left the room.

'Thanks for that, you old bat' Mai thought 'you've dropped me in it now'. Monk was the first person to approach Mai and offer a hand "Miss Crimson? I'm Hosho Takigawa" Mai took Monks hand and shook it then sidestepped around him to the middle of the room. 'Interesting set up, same as always' she ignored the rest of the group while taking in the room, she scanned past the equipment to try and figure the layout of the room. She hadn't been able to find much else in the rest of the inn but there might have been something hidden in here. Before getting too lost in her search she stopped and snapped her head back around to the group, with her back to the bay window that overlooked the water she decided to play the lone wolf card.

"I work alone" she turned her gaze directly on Naru, although with her sunglasses on it was unlikely that he'd see it. "I'll stay out of your way and you stay out of mine" with that she started to make her way towards the door but a voice stopped her as she walked past the back of the couch.

"Were you…were you the one who was at the Steel works?" the voice came from Masako but it wasn't a Masako Mai had ever known, her voice was weak and she looked pale and fragile in her kimono. Dark circles were under her eyes and she looked like she hadn't slept in weeks, in fact none of them looked like they'd slept well.

"It was"

Masako nodded her kimono sleeve over her face "thank you, you saved me…you saved all of us"

Mai just nodded in response, the atmosphere was making her head spin and all the unresolved issues were bubbling under the surface of her skin trying to claw their way out. It made her jumpy and when she got too nervous she tended to lose control of her powers and there was no telling what she might do. She decided to make a break for the door, just as her hand landed on the handle she felt a grip on her arm. Slowly as she turned her head she could see that it belonged to the one person in the room she was trying to avoid, Naru. His face was inches from hers, indigo eyes that looked wild rather than the calm she had seen, she could see the dark circles forming under his eyes and feel his breath on her face, his hair which was longer now was messy and all the baby fat around his face had gone. They both just starred at each other, until Monk coughed in the back ground, Naru seemed to gain some reality back.

"Who are you?" he asked. As he said this he loosened his grip on her arm and readjusted his stance but then his hand took grip on her wrist. Suddenly the skin on skin contact was too much for Mai. An explosion of feelings all came rushing at her guilt, loneliness, longing, fear, anger, sadness, terror, they smashed into Mai and she inhaled sharply. Finally there was a blinding light and one image was in front of her eyes, the lake.

As fast as it had happened it stopped and she was back in the base room, she turned to Naru who was also standing panting and ripped his hand away from her wrist. "Did you just…"

"I told you I work alone" She spat before slamming the door open so hard it snapped both of the hinges, she was down the hallway and halfway up the stairs before she heard the group ask Naru what was going on.