Sinking, uneasiness awoke Mai from a restless slumber. She looked around hesitantly only to find that she had only aoken to her dream world and was in fact at the steps of the house just like she had been on the day they had arrived to the manor. The house seemed normal, just as it was before…

Mai tentatively reached for the door and softly pushed it open…there was no warning, no one to stop her…she slowly stepped inside, cautious of her surroundings as she went. There was no shock, no prickly feeling like she had felt before.

"This must mean that it really is okay…that 'thing' is really gone…" She surmised to herself more than anything. The scenery abruptly changed and Mai had to might the feeling of motion sickness. What awaited her was neutral, empty space.

"…Something wrong?" Mai whipped around to face her Naru-looking dream guide smiling at her as if he had every right.

"I didn't feel anything when I was in the house…" Mai strangely felt like she was relaying the information to herself. "I'm glad that thing is gone, it didn't look like the family was going to be able to take much more." Mai smiled and in return received one back.

"That is good." He replied kindly, his expression hardly changing a bit.

It felt weird being in her dream world and not actually dreaming anything Mai concluded. It seemed that the case had been solved and she had already learned what she had probably come to find out…so why was she still there?

Mai looked around curiously. "Why am I still here?" She finally questioned not being able to handle the silence.

"Hrm?" Her guide turned to look at her.

"Is there more to see?" Mai asked tilting her head slightly to the side.

"Good question, but you should probably just wake up." He suggested with a deceptive smile.

"Uh?" Mai blinked and gave a confused look. She hated not being able to read the man standing before her. She wanted to know what was going on and she wanted to know why she was wasting, or seemingly wasting, her time in this neutral space with the will-o-wisps.

"Close your eyes…" he smiled gently, an expression different from the rest; Mai couldn't help but comply. "…and wake up…"

Fading to nothing, Mai remember hearing an ebbing voice before she opened her eyes to the room she shared with Naru and Lin. It seemed, which a quick glance around the room confirmed, that they were already up and about. Mai quickly readied for the day and dashed off toward the base.

She felt refreshed and energized, much like she thought she'd be. Mai may not have been the brightest candle but at least she was skilled in recovery time. There wasn't much out there that could keep her down for long.

Instantly brightening the atmosphere, Mai burst into the base room with much more circumstance than necessary. Like usual, everyone had already made their way to the base for morning tea, coffee, and food.

"You seem to be feeling better Mai!" Bou-san commented over his coffee cup. "How are you feeling?"

"Yep, much better, thank you!" Mai smiled brightly and secured herself a cup of tea and a muffin before she joined everyone at the table. "All I needed was a good rest!"

Maybe if she had been paying more attention she would have noticed that Naru had been watching her since the moment she had stepped into the room; he looked relieved, though Lin was probably the only one who could tell.

"We found no evidence on the tapes or audio that anything out of the ordinary happened overnight." Naru reported as he joined the table. "Let's finish up checking with the family and a final examination of the house as early as possible. If everything is normal, we should leave."

Everyone readily agreed and Mai ran off to join Bou-san and the others in their final run through. After interviewing the family and double checking the manor and the grounds, it seemed as thought the case had indeed been solved. Every person in the house was present and accounted for and all normal. They all reported feeling better and they seemed as though they were on the road to recovery.

Mai felt better too. She didn't feel anything from the house or the family and she no longer felt scared or paranoid for no reason. She felt happy and ready to face the day…it was a wonderful feeling compared to the way she had felt before.

The others all seemed to come to the same conclusions and returned to the base to report their findings. "All seems normal. I'd say this case is solved!" Bou-san voiced with great enthusiasm.

Naru quickly leafed through the results. He couldn't find any reason as to why they should, or need to, stay any longer. "Pack the equipment and gather you bags. It would appear that there is no reason for delay."

~x~

Loading went surprisingly quick. Usually everyone was not as efficient as they could be, but Mai figured everyone was just as eager as she to get home. The weather was beautiful and the day was young; even more reason for everyone wanting to get home.

Ayako made sure to leave some charms behind just in case. She reminded the family to call them back immediately if anything started to happen again. Ayako also took note that Mai had clearly returned to her cheerful, upbeat self again much to everyone's relief…even to those who didn't show it.

Mai finished packing her things relatively fast and quickly loaded her bag into the van along with the rest of the boxes she was responsible for. Naru always told her that he didn't trust her moving the expensive equipment into the van given her track record, but Mai liked to think that it was just an excuse to leave all the light boxes for her to load.

It was only early afternoon so they would be home by evening, which pleased Mai greatly. She wasn't homesick per say, but she missed sleeping in her own bed and in her own apartment. She wanted to go back to school and see her friends; it felt like it had been such a long time.

Mai turned to see if there was anything else she could load into the back of the open van, her breath caught sharply, a quick gasp escaped her lips, her face etched with the expression of shock. She staggered, her hands thrown out to her sides in panic before she finally crashed to her knees by the passenger side of the van. She was breathing heavily but remained unmoving.

Lin, Bou-san, and John emerged from the house carrying the last of the equipment and luggage from the house to see Mai on the ground. "Mai!" Bou-san rushed forward in concern. "What's wrong!"

Laughing awkwardly, Mai shook her head lightly. "I'm okay; I just tripped…" Mai explained with a strained smile on her face. "Though I feel pretty stupid for being able to trip over a flat surface…"

"Mai…you, you brat!"

Mai laughed more though she couldn't hide the awkwardness of it. "Uh, I think I scraped up my knee though…can you help me into the van?" Mai asked innocently. By the feel of it, she was sure it was bleeding.

"Of course!" Bou-san grabbed her arm, as did John, and hoisted her to her feet and up into the passenger seat of the van. Lin quickly packed up the last remaining boxes and joined the two men to await the rest of their party.

In no time at all, Naru emerged from the house after wrapping things up in the house with Ayako and Masako only to find Mai bleeding from her knee. "What did you do!" Ayako asked as she rushed over, quickly examining the wound.

"I tripped and feel when I turned to see if there were anymore boxes to load…" Mai answered with obvious embarrassment.

Ayako sighed, "Let me grab you a band-aid." Mai smiled in thanks as the miko sought out her purse in the other car.

"There must have been real skill involved in order for you to trip over nothing…" Naru remarked snidely. Mai flushed with anger and started to rant at him about something but Naru didn't pay attention in the slightest. Something was off…something that he just couldn't place…

Ayako returned and a little too enthusiastically slapped a band-aid on Mai's scraped knee after cleaning it off. The older woman laughed as Mai's obvious reaction of pain, "Come on Mai! It's not that bad!"

"Ow…" Mai pouted. Even if it was just a small injury didn't mean that it didn't still hurt. She hated little, shallow cuts the most. They seemed to sting and throb more that anything.

Thankfully, both cars departed soon after. Bou-san's car was not hauling any equipment, so he decided to just take the occupants of his car straight to their respective homes rather than stopping at the office first, like Naru and Lin were going to. Mai sighed. Once they got back in town, they still had to unload all of the equipment back at the office before she could go home…not to mention they would be on their own for the unloading.

How in the world would she make it through that? Mai was worried…to say the least.

The long ride was annoyingly uneventful. Even Naru was starting to get restless. The material he had been reading was no longer holding his attention as it should. Naru was surprised to see that Mai was just spacing out rather than sleeping. Usually as soon as she became bored she would keel over and sleep…regardless if she was actually tired or not. It was unlikely that she was not tired…not with all that had happened.

Was there a reason she didn't want to sleep?

"Here." Naru startled Mai with his voice but offered her a book to read none the less. If she was going to stay awake, she might as well do something productive. "You should read this. It might make you less of an idiot…'if' you can understand it."

Mai glared angrily and made a disgusted noise in his direction but said nothing. The response was good enough for Naru and he went back to reading his own book now that he was satisfied with his action. He knew that messing with Mai was the right decision…it always seemed to raise his spirits no matter what the situation was.

By the time they had arrived in town, Naru noticed that Mai had not done a thing with the open book he had placed in her lap. Naru observed longer and confirmed that Mai was not reading, or even looking, at the book. She was just staring blankly out the window at the passing images before her as if in a daze. Even though it was not unusual for Mai to lose interest or not pay attention, but somehow Naru still found it rather odd.

The road noise and sounds from traffic drew Naru's attention away from his previous thoughts and succeeded in catching Mai's attention as well. It was clear they were getting closer to the office and to their respective homes. Mai personally couldn't wait for the time to come for her to be able to get out of the van and back to her house…then, and only then, would she be able to think clearly and without worry. She had plenty to worry about…

Suddenly and without warning, Mai slammed to the right as Lin quickly swerved to avoid a reckless moped. "I apologize…" Lin voiced in his normal monotone for the almost near-collision.

"Don't worry about it; it's not worth it given the unavoidable nature of that driver. I'm just glad you avoided it." Naru assured.

Lin nodded his head in agreement. They had much too much precious cargo to risk being in an accident. Naru returned his attention to Mai and was about to ask her if she was unharmed when his eyes went wide with realization.

It finally clicked what had been bothering him since they had left the manor…Mai's lack of reaction to the near collision could only mean…

"Look at me, Mai."

Naru kept his tone low and his voice steady. Mai immediately snapped her head to the side but as soon as she did Naru's suspicions were confirmed; she wasn't looking at him…

"Head to the nearest hospital." Naru ordered Lin without a moments waste in the same tone as before.

"No wait! It's not necessary!" Mai grabbed for Naru's arm but missed. She knew she should have ignored his request, but it was like a conditioned response when he used 'that' tone of voice. It was like she couldn't help but respond to it…

"It is, and we are going to the hospital whether you agree or not." Naru spoke sternly, ending the matter with no further argument. He was less than pleased and in no mood to argue, and made that fact painfully clear. He could hardly believe that he had missed something that now seemed so obvious. Why couldn't she have just told him she was in need of assistance? Why couldn't she ask him for help?

Lin wordlessly complied and pulled into the nearest hospital which thankfully was not too far since they had already arrived within the city. He dared not ask, not after hearing Naru's tone…but he could relate. He may not show it, but he was irritated to say the least. It was frustrating that the girl he had finally come to terms with continued to keep them all at a distance. Did she not think of them in the same light that they thought of her in?

"Don't…insurance card…" Mai mumbled as Naru pulled her along by the hand into the hospital. As angry as he seemed, he was still gentle in his way of guiding her into the space.

"Its fine, we'll cover it." Mai could tell from Naru's voice that he was anything but pleased…far from it in fact.

"Why didn't you say anything?" The question Mai had been hoping to avoid was finally asked while they waited to be seen in an exam room…though Mai could not help but feel at ease; Naru's grip never loosened on her hand.

"I…I didn't think…it was that important…" Mai mumbled softly. "…didn't want to bother you…" she trailed off, barely above a whisper. She knew she was trying to fight a loosing battle, but that was how she really felt. She had never been one to rely on anyone other than herself…ever since…

"You can't see!" Naru burst out angrily. How could she not come to someone about such a thing? Did she just think she would be fine on her own? For some reason that fact irritated him a lot more than he thought it would. It sure made Naru seriously question Mai's intelligence a little more deeply…

~Chapter 10 End~

A/N: Reviews welcomed! Hope everyone enjoyed reading ^_^