Mai finished up making and serving everyone's tea. She put the tray back in the kitchen and returned to base. She sat down in a chair relaxing with her cup of tea.

"You said you had information for me."

Mai took a sip from her cup and nodded her head. "I did, but it's not much." She watched Naru sit looking at her with his black notebook in his lap. She took another drink and set it down on the end table beside the chair. "When we first arrived I heard a noise and I looked behind me wondering what it was." She began. "I could sense something but I wasn't sure what it was, so I tried looking for it. I ended up having one of those visions. It wasn't a full one but I kept seeing someone run past me and as they did everything went black." She looked to her hands. "I got off the porch and looked for it. I could sense it was close by. So I left the yard looking for it I don't know why though." She frowned slightly. "I had another flash of black before I saw him at the end of the side walk." She looked up at Naru. "The same man who I saw yesterday, he was there. He beckoned for me and I walked to him. I felt like he was calling me and I had no control over my body and in moments I was standing in front of me." Mai's hand balled into a fist. "He told me I was his and then h-he, he kissed me. As I was slipping into unconsciousness I heard him tell me that he'd be back for me."

"Good."

"What?" Mai looked to Ari confused. "If we find out more about this spirit then maybe we can use you as bait." She said.

"Bait? W-What? Why?"

"Because he has an interest in you. We can use that against him. If we find out his strength we'll know."

"She does have a point." Gene added nodding his head. "Then I guess we wait for Yasuhara to send us the information we requested and continue after that?"

"Until then, we need to set up a few cameras and maybe we can capture an image of him, I have a feeling you'd be able to tell how powerful he is just by looking at him."

"I can do that yes, at least I'm sure I can. I've never done that. It's always been in person – er – so to speak."

"Good, then let's set up and base, cameras and Gene do another walk through."

Mai stared at Ari; she had taken over Naru's plans. Mai looked to Naru who was reading something. "He probably doesn't care since he won't have to do anything. Such a lazy narcissist."

"I heard that Mai."

Mai blushed and followed Gene out of base and to the van to get the equipment. She carried a couple tripods while he grabbed the cameras. "How many are we supposed to get out?"

"I'd say four. One facing each house and then along the side walk."

"Okay." They began setting up the cameras. Gene stood across the street angling a camera at the house they were staying at while Mai adjusted hers to look at the empty house. When they finished they stood on the sidewalk repeating their actions in angling it to get a good view. It took only ten minutes to set everything up and to check to make sure everything was good. They walked inside and helped set up in there.

"That should do it." Gene said happily when they finished.

"Hey Gene"

"Yes Mai?"

Mai paused a moment as he sounded like Naru. "Did you turn on the cameras?"

"I thought you did." They stared at each other in silence for a moment before laughing. "Oops." They walked outside together and turned on all four cameras before heading back inside.

"You ever walk around town to see if you could sense anything?" She asked as they climbed the steps.

"Honestly Mai, from just standing out there setting up the cameras I couldn't pick up on anything. I get a faint feeling something is here but nothing I can really read."

"I see." Mai turned her head to face forward. "I guess he only likes me."

"Don't worry, everything will be fine. I'm sure we'll be able to get rid of this spirit."

"I hope so. I really don't want to be bothered by this guy anymore."

"I know." He gave her a half hug and they entered base.

Lin was watching the monitors while Ari and Naru were reading some files. She and Gene sat down together on a couch and began talking.

"So this spirit what's he look like?"

"He's really tall, maybe a bit shorter than Lin and taller than Naru. He has black hair, his skin was pale, but he's dead so it's to be expected, His eyes –"She cut herself off as she remembered his eyes, so dark, soulless and screamed evil. She shivered. "His eyes were black, soulless and evil. I felt afraid being near him, he has a very masculine build but he for some reason a very gentle touch. I felt like he could kill me at any second without even trying." Mai shuddered at his image. "His aura screams evil almost demonic." She looked to Gene. "Which surprised me that you couldn't pick up on him, he sends strong waves and seems quite powerful."

"How powerful would you say he is?" Ari asked.

"I don't know, I mean powerful enough to control a human and have a dangerous affect on humans with a simple touch."

"How did he kiss you?"

Mai opened her mouth the closed it not sure how to describe it. She frowned trying to remember. "I-I guess it was it was." Her frowned deepened as she remembered the way he kissed her. "It was tender and loving at first like he – he was in love with me then it changed became a hard forceful kiss. His lips were cold and I felt like my energy, my life was being taken out of me by just a kiss." Mai stared at the floor trying to figure out why the spirit would kiss her. Of all things she has experienced she had never had something kiss her. It was really creepy now that she thought about it; a dead guy kissing her was as gross as having an old man kiss her. She shuddered, thinking about it. "I need a shower." She said getting up and leaving the room. She went into the room she and Ari were sharing and pulled out an outfit laid it on the bed and got her shower stuff. She walked to the bathroom, locked the door and proceeded to undress and shower.

Ari sat thinking about what Mai said. "The spirit is in love with her. Interesting." She looked to Naru. "It's interesting that a killer would suddenly choose not to kill an intended victim don't you think?"

"It is, but what does that matter?" Gene asked.

"It matters, Jack the Ripper was a man who was rumored to not be able to have women or children so he killed them and cut out their parts, even if they were prostitutes, so if the spirit were him then why would he chose to not kill another woman as he's always done? Why go after someone now?"

"What if it's not him but a spirit who does the same now as the Ripper did when he was alive." Gene asked.

"It's possible but why bother falling in love with someone when they've killed many women before?"

"Because unlike most women Mai has an ability, one that makes her powerful and she is a pure being. She draws spirits to herself without even knowing it."

"That's what Mr. Ishida was talking about." Gene looked to his sister. "He told me earlier that her aura screamed innocence and power. I'm guessing he knew she would have been attacked at one point in time or another during the case."

"Still, it doesn't make any sense why this entity would choose to not kill her and take her power for itself." Ari rested her chin on her hand thinking. "There has to be a reason why it isn't interested in becoming more powerful."

Mai had just finished showering wrapping the towel around her body when she felt a cold breeze on her shoulder. She looked around, thinking it was just her imagination she finished drying her hair. She folded the towel and cleared the mirror with it before setting it on the counter. She leaned close to the mirror to make sure she looked decent. Finished messing with her hair and felt a breeze on her back and when she looked behind her he was standing there. She turned around holding the towel tightly to her body as she stared at him.

"She screams perfection, beauty." and a sweet life essence that made him hunger to kill again. He pressed close to her. Soon I shall have enough strength to make you mine. You will belong to me.

Mai stared at him as he spoke to her. She felt her body tremble as he got closer. As he leaned down to kiss her Mai finally shook herself free of his trance and screamed. She opened the door to the bathroom and ran as fast as she could away from the bathroom. She ran into Ari on the steps.

"Mai, what in the world?" Ari grabbed onto her arms to keep them balanced. "Why are you running around in a towel?"

"H-He, in the –there – He was there." She latched herself onto Ari terrified. "He was in the bathroom with me when I got out of the shower."

Ari stood stiff, a blush on her cheeks when Mai hugged her. "What the hell? Why am I blushing?" She looked down at Mai and patted her back gently. "Let's get you to the room so you can dress." She felt Mai nod her head before letting go. Ari relaxed as soon as Mai released her. She then cleared her throat. "Once you dress, I will take you to base where you can tell Naru what has happened." She led Mai to their bedroom and waited outside of the room as the girl dressed. She came out wearing a pair of blue boy shorts and a matching camisole top. Ari blushed madly and turned away. "Put a robe on or something. You don't want to go down looking like that."

"But I don't have anything to cover it."

Ari sighed and walked into the room and grabbed a shirt from her bag. "Put this on. I'm taller than you so it should be enough to cover you." She handed it to Mai and Mai put it on. Ari's blush deepened as it now looked like she was only wearing the shirt and nothing else. "Let's just go and inform Naru what happened." Ari walked downstairs with Mai trailing behind her. They arrived at base and Ari held the door open for her then followed her in. "Naru." She spoke his name once and he looked up at her. She then looked to Mai.

"I-I, He –He appeared again." Mai's voice was shaky since she was still scared. "I had just gotten out of the shower and after I brushed my hair he appeared behind me. I was staring into his eyes again and he told me that s-soon he would have enough strength to make me his. He said I-I'd belong to him."

"Is that all that happened?"

Mai nodded. "He was about to kiss me and that's when I screamed and ran out of the bathroom and I ran into Ari." As Mai spoke she had held onto Ari's shirt scared and needing to be close to someone for comfort.

Naru nodded his head and got back to work. He wrote some things down before he glanced up at Mai and Ari. "You should get to bed Mai. Ari you go with her."

Ari frowned at him but nodded her head. She turned and led Mai, who was still holding onto her shirt, upstairs and to their bedroom. "I'm going to go shower and change. Will you be alright?" Mai nodded her head and Ari left the room. Mai took off Ari's shirt and folded it putting it on the other's bed. She climbed onto the bed and sat waiting for Ari to return. She heard a knock on the door.

"Mai it's me."

"C-Come in." She watched the door open and Naru walk in.

Naru entered the room and wanted to blush at the sight of Mai. She had looked so adorable wearing the shirt she did and now she looked even cuter. He walked over to her and sat on her bed. "Are you okay?" Mai shook her head and latched herself onto Naru and began to cry.

"I'm so scared Naru. I don't know what to do. I feel so weak right now. I don't know what to do." She continued to cry.

Naru sighed softly and began rubbing her back. "It's okay. We'll get this figured out and you won't have to worry anymore. I promise nothing will happen to you." Mai nodded her head and hugged him tighter. "You need to get some sleep." He pulled her away from him, laid her down and covered her up. "Sleep, everything will be better in the morning." He kissed her forehead and stood up. "I love you."

"I love you too." He smiled at her and left the room. Mai sighed softly and snuggled underneath the covers. She closed her eyes and fell asleep. A few hours later she woke up panting after having a bad dream. She looked around and saw Ari reading.

"A-Ari."

"Yes Mai?"

She lost her thought for a moment as she had forgotten how much Ari sounded like Naru. She shook her head. "C-Can I sleep in your bed? I had a nightmare."

Ari looked at the girl then looked to her bed. She let out a sigh knowing what was going to happen. "Sure, just let me put these to the side. I need some sleep anyways." She didn't understand why she couldn't tell Mai no but she didn't. A few moments later Ari had everything cleaned up and on the nightstand. She moved over to one side of the bed. "Come on." she watched Mai get up out of bed and blushed at her outfit again. Mai slid into the bed under the covers and got comfortable.

"Thank you Ari." She whispered.

"Good night Mai." Ari turned off the lamp and lied down on her back, pulling the covers up. She was about to fall asleep when Mai snuggled close to her and she blushed again. "Why the hell am I blushing? I have no reason to blush! She's Naru's girlfriend and a girl for that matter! Why am I reacting to her this way?" Ari sighed heavily before closing her eyes and falling asleep.

The next morning Ari awoke to find herself being hugged by Mai. She blushed furiously and tried to pry the girls arm off of her. She managed to slip out and get changed before heading directly to base. She let out a yawn feeling a bit more awake. She entered base and saw Naru and Lin talking.

"How is Mai?"

"She's just fine." Ari grumbled out as she made herself a cup of tea. When she finished she took a sip and almost cringed. "Not as good as Mai's tea but it'll have to do." She took another sip. "She had a nightmare last night but I don't think it was case related otherwise she would have told me." She took another sip, almost gagging on the drink but she needed it and since Mai wasn't awake she had to suffer. Said girl walked in moments later wearing Ari's shirt again only she shortened it and tied it off to the side with a rubber band and she was wearing a black skirt to match. Ari blushed at how cute Mai looked in the shirt. She shook her head and ordered tea.

"Mai, tea." She and Naru spoke at the same time.

"Wow, I don't get a good morning Mai or how are you Mai?" She rolled her eyes as they both looked at her. "Two cups of tea coming up." She sighed and headed to the small burner she brought with her for when she felt too lazy to walk all the way to the kitchen. She boiled water and then poured it into the cups. After a few minutes wait for it to seep she carried one to Naru and then gave Ari's hers. Both took a sip at the same time and had the same content look on their face.

"Nothing like Mai's tea."

Mai giggled at how similar they were before she walked to the monitors and stood beside Naru. "Did we have any activity last night? Or maybe caught him on the cameras?"

"No activity and he has not bothered to show visibly on the cameras. He crosses as a shadow but that's it." Naru answered her. She nodded her head feeling her hope deplete some. "Yasuhara finally sent us the information." He spoke to Ari.

"Have you had a chance to look through it yet?" she asked.

"No, he sent it this morning, I just finished printing everything a few moments ago."

"Then let's get started." She walked over to a table and Naru sat across from her with a thick stack of papers. They both sat black notebooks on the table and began research.

Mai stood watching them. She felt a twinge of jealousy but mostly envy. She turned and was about to leave when Gene walked in. They bumped into each other. "Morning Mai-chan." He smiled at her and she half smiled back.

"Morning Gene." She said softly.

"Something wrong?" He looked from her to Ari and Naru looking through papers. "Oh." He looked back at Mai and smiled. "Come with me, we're going to go get breakfast." He grabbed her hand and walked to the kitchen. He picked her up and sat her on the counter and found an apron and put it on. "What would the beautiful Miss Taniyama like for breakfast? You can have anything you wish for." He opened the fridge and looked at the contents. "As long as it's western because I don't think this guy owns any food that's Japanese." He opened and closed a few cabinets. "Except for rice."

"I'm not great with the western breakfast meals."

"Then how does a rice omelet sound?" He got Mai's nod of approval before he began. He pulled out the eggs, ketchup, rice, parsley, salt, pepper and two slices of cooked ham.

Mai watched him first make the rice before he pulled out a skillet putting it on the stove to heat, after first spraying it with cooking spray. The rice was ready and he put it in the skillet along with the ketchup and ham. While those cooked he grabbed two plates and set them onto the counter beside the stove. He then poured even portions onto either plate and shape them into an oval. He pulled out a bowl, cracked the two eggs added a pinch of salt and pepper before mixing them. He got out another skillet and heated that while he continued with the eggs and once it was heated he poured the egg mix into the pan. She watched him clean up his mess while the eggs set before lifting the edges and watching the rest of the egg slide down and become cooked egg. He grabbed a spatula and folded the egg to look like a cocoon and placed it onto the rice mix. He repeated making the eggs the same way and when eggs were on top of the other rice mix pile he quickly chopped the parsley and then took the knife and sliced the egg cocoon open and it separated like a butterfly opening its wings. He topped each with ketchup and then the parsley. He washed his hands and picked up both plates and handed one to her after giving her a fork. "Enjoy, my princess."

Mai blushed a little giggling as she did. She took a bite of the food. "Oh wow, you really can cook."

He smiled at her. "Yea, I took time to learn when I was a kid, Ari didn't bother with it she just said it was a waste of time any time I left for cooking class."

"Well she was wrong, because cooking like this is totally not a waste of time." She continued eating her food.

He laughed and continued eating his food. After they finished he did the dishes and cleaned everything up. He took off the apron and folded it. Once he finished he stood before Mai looking at her with a smile on his face.

"Thank you for breakfast it was wonderful."

"Anything for you." He took a step closer, placing his hand on her cheek. "I'd do anything to see you smile Mai." He leaned forward. "You know I love you and I still want to make you mine." He moved closer to her leaning in about to kiss her.

"Gene." She closed her eyes. "Don't."

He pulled away. "What? Why?" He looked around. "Is it Ari?"

"No, you know why, Gene. You know that I'm with Naru. You know that I love him. Doing things like this, it's –It's just wrong."

"Why? Why is it so wrong?" His eyes begged her for an answer to tell him she really could be with him.

"Because, I'm with Naru. I'm in love with Oliver and playing games with me is just – well it's just wrong. We can't be doing anything like this."

"But I –"He looked at her. "I love you and I don't want to give you up."

"I know, I know you love me and I love you too but I love Naru more. You have to realize that you and I can't be. We will always be friends, great friends, best friends, but we can never be more. My heart belongs to Oliver not you."

Gene just stared at her. His heart breaking as she told him the words he never wanted to hear. Ari had warned him about fate and how things would be but he never listened too determined to be with Mai because he now had the chance, but that chance was lost back when they had gone to Australia. He sighed and wrapped his arms around her hugging her tightly. "Okay." He whispered his throat tightening and his heart aching as he finally gave in to her.

Mai smiled and hugged him back. "Thank you." She whispered back. When they separated she kissed his forehead. She gave him a smile and he returned it.

"Let's head back to base. I'm sure the idiot scientist twins need a cup of tea." He held out his hands and helped Mai off the counter. She made the tea for the five of them and carried it on a tray to the base. Gene opened the door for her and held the tray as she served the tea to everyone. She took the tray and set it on the end table before she sat down drinking her tea.

Mai let out a sigh feeling relaxed when she saw Ari pick up a newspaper clipping that had the one face she didn't want to see. Her tea cup slipped from her hand and onto the floor as she continued to stare at it, images coming to her of his presence and things he's done to the women she had never seen.

Naru looked up from what he was reading, a frown on his face when he heard a cup break. He looked to Mai about ready to scold her when he saw the fear on her face. "Mai." He called her. She gave no response. He set the small stack of papers in his hand down, got up from his seat and walked over to her. "Mai." He called again. There was no response. He reached out to wake her.

"Don't touch her." Lin commanded.

"What?"

"She's having a dream."

"She can't be her eyes are wide open." Gene said standing up.

"Look at her eyes Naru." He did and Naru saw Lin had been right. She was sleeping but with her eyes open. He watched her hoping she would wake soon. He wanted to do something, anything. She looked so lifeless.

~Dream World~

Mai stood in the darkness looking around, everything was quiet and sounded so eerie. She took a step forward and everything changed. She was now outside in an unfamiliar town in an alley. It was dark and she felt frightened. She saw a woman run into the alley frightened, she kept looking behind her. She was wearing one of those dresses women did in England back in the 1800's. Mai watched as she ran into a man and screamed before her throat was sliced, silencing her instantly. The woman collapsed onto the floor and the man stood there a moment observing her body before he knelt over and opened a box. He pulled out a knife and began cutting her dress and then he changed weapons and began working on her body. Mai wanted to vomit at the sight. She covered her mouth and left the alley running as fast as her legs could carry her. She hid in another alley and emptied her stomach contents. She wiped her mouth with her sleeve and walked deeper before resting against the wall panting and trying to calm down. When she opened her eyes she felt her body freeze with fear. The man she just saw murder someone was right in front of him. She began to tremble in fear. She had never had this happen in a dream before, it was always of the past so why is he able to be here now, why can he notice her. His hand reached up and gently touched her face. Mai flinched as his hand slid down and cupped her jaw in his hand bringing her face forward to meet his. Mine. You will be mine very soon. He told her before capturing her lips in a tender kiss. He let go of her and turned and walked away vanishing before he got too far.

~End Dream World~

Naru kept glancing at Mai as she continued to sit motionless in the chair. He wanted to wake her up but Lin had warned him not to. He hated the look on her face, she looked so afraid and her eyes looked lifeless. All he could do now was sit and wait for her to wake up.