A/N: Next chapter! Still with me? I hope so! Still don't own! Enjoy!

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Bright colors of morning broke across the horizon and illuminated the spacious room. Naru stirred noting the change of light in the room. His eyes fluttered open and looked to the window; it was a little before dawn and time to get up and start work. He knew that today he had to make Mai tell him what was going on and what she had seen in her dream; it was probably relevant to the case at he needed to know about it. It might be a good idea to get Yashuhara to look up some background information to see if there were any trends.

Naru rose slowly; his body was stiff from falling asleep in the chair. He noticed with slight annoyance that Lin was also asleep in his chair in front of the monitors, it must have been too much to ask for to stay up all night after running around and expending so much energy in that inane chase. Next he turned to look at the couch where Mai was sleeping, and was shocked to see that she was not there.

The couch was empty.

With a start Naru rushed to the door and found it unlocked. "What the hell" Naru cursed to himself, "how could she have left with out waking either of us?" He opened the door and optimistically decided to check the bathroom. Maybe she just got up to use the toilet or maybe she was sick and went there since she was feeling ill. Even though it was a logical assumption given the facts, somewhere deep down Naru had a bad feeling that Mai was not just innocently missing.

He rushed down the hall and quickly made his way to the bathroom swallowing hard trying to calm his nerves and wash away his doubts. "Please be there, Mai" the boy pleaded to no one.

The bathroom door swung open hastily and Naru quickly flicked the light switch illuminating the room. His stomach dropped as the quick investigation of the bathroom revealed that Mai was not there. He rushed to the room that he was supposed to be staying at, the room Mai took a blanket from, but she was nowhere to be found in the room or in the bathroom connected to it.

"Mai" Naru breathed as he rushed to search the rest of the house, "where are you?"

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A Few Days Later…

"Has there been any change?" Bou-san wearily leaned against the window pane and looked out to the courtyard of the hospital.

"No." Emotionless and cool…back to normal. Naru was sitting at his assistant's bedside shifting through a pile of papers that Yasuhara had delivered the day before. The student was quite shocked to hear what had happened to Mai and rushed to gather as much information as he could as soon as the call came from the hospital with Naru's request. When he came to deliver his findings he was noticeably shaken when he looked upon Mai. He sorrowfully squeezed her hand and tenderly touched her face offering her whispers of encouragement and support. For a boy that usually always wore a bright and playful grin, it was a change to see him leave with a solemn expression.

"Naru" Bou-san turned from the window, "I think maybe you should take a break. I mean you have not stepped one foot out of this hospital room for days, since you got here in fact. I can look after Mai for now while you go and get some rest."

"No need" Naru said indifferently. "I have gotten sufficient amount of sleep. Lin brings me anything I require."

The monk shifted irritably. "Look…" He sighed deciding he should just spit it out, "Naru, I am worried about you…we all are. You can't just act as if it doesn't bother you at all…I mean don't hold it all in. It is bad for you! We are your friends! You can talk to us about it…we really care for you and Mai."

This caused Naru to pause from reading the papers he held and fix the monk with a penetrating stare. After what felt like hours the boy sighed. "It is not me you should be worrying about…it is Mai. We still have no real idea of what happened let alone how to resolve what was done. I may have brought her back to life…but it is in body only. Her soul is still lost and I feel that if we don't do something soon she is going to die and be lost to us forever. Her time is running out; the longer she is in this state the worse off she will be if we do manage to bring her back."

"Naru…" Bou-san started but Naru cut him off before he could say anything.

"What has been happening at the mansion?" It was obvious that he was trying to change the subject but it was unnecessary to talk about anything that did not pertain to the case. The only thing that mattered now was waking up Mai.

"Nothing actually" he took a seat at the other side of the bed, "there has been zero activity anywhere in the house or on the grounds. Masako has been making rounds several times a day and she hasn't sensed a thing. We all are staying there, but it seems to be as Mai said…there doesn't appear to be anything there anymore."

"Hmm…"

"Did you find anything out from the history Yasuhara looked up for you?"

"It seems that every structure that was ever built here was torn down and abandoned. The land has been left vacant for some time now but there is not much information on the cause. In fact, there is not much information period on this location. Most of this is just bits and pieces, or testimonials. So the validity of it is questionable. There have been deaths listed, but the details are sketchy at best." Naru sighed and rested the papers on his lap, "it seems the only information we have to go on is what the current occupants told us…and even then that information is dubious."

"So, we have nothing. We are right back where were started." The monk scratched his head in frustration. This was going nowhere. Nothing was happening at the house to give them any information, the history on the place was patchy at best, and the current occupants had so many conflicting stories as to what has been happening it was hard to tell truth from lies. "Mai knew everything, didn't she?"

"Most likely." Naru looked over to her latent body. There had been absolutely no change in her condition since she arrived. Her complexion was still pale; her fingers still cold, and her heart still beating at the exact same pace it had been when he revived her. The pulse was weak and slow but steady. It had not wavered a single time, though the ventilator probably aided in that fact. But still, Naru was surprised at the unchanging state of his assistant. "She probably saw something when she was sleeping in the van. She was already sick but I should have made her tell me then and there what she learned from the dream."

"There is no way in hell you could have made her tell you what she saw if she decided she didn't want to share it with us. It's not your fault. If you want to place blame then all of us should be at fault." Bou-san clutched at the girl's hand, "If I had known this was going to happen then I would have forced her to spill after that wild chase into the night."

"Did Lin check the area of where she ran?" Naru questioned coolly.

"Yeah, but all he found was a small shrine at the top of the hill."

"Was anything disturbed?"

"Lin picked through the area really well, but he said he didn't find anything peculiar. If Mai got something from there, she sure did it carefully." Bou-san squeezed Mai's hand gently, "You are so stupid Mai…why didn't you tell us anything?" He spoke softly but he knew his boss picked up every word. "Do you think that stuff she told us were lies? The stuff about wanting to see the sky and seeing those women die?"

"I don't know, probably." Naru was in thought. "It is hard to tell if what she said were lies, half-truths, or the truth itself. There is no way to validate what she said since the history we have is incomplete."

Just then a light knock sounded on the door. Through the windows they could see it was Lin, composed and unemotional as usual. The older man entered slowly once he knew they acknowledged his presence.

"Takigawa-san" The man started as he walked over to the bed, "Matsuzaki-san requests that you head back to the mansion."

The monk looked up confused, "Why?"

"She asks that you help search the grounds with Brown-san, Hara-san, and herself for anything relevant."

"I get it" Bou-san sighed and pushed himself up from the chair he was sitting in. With one final squeeze he let go of Mai's hand and started to walk for the door. "That old miko just wants me back so she can make me do all the work!"

"Call if you find anything" came Naru's steady voice as the monk was exiting the room.

"Yeah, yeah and you call if there is any change. I will inform the others of her condition." He smiled and left the room. Naru and Lin watched him walk down the hall out of sight before the older man looked to his boss and spoke.

"Any change?"

"None."

"The history from Yasuhara-kun?"

"Nothing we can go on." Naru put the papers on the desk by the bedside. "Anything at the mansion?"

"Nothing" Lin replied. "Hara-san still says that she feels nothing and my shiki have detected no activity whatsoever."

Naru made an exasperated noise as he hung his head and clutched Mai's hand tightly. "Something of Mai's…I want you to bring me something of hers."

"Naru…" Lin moved closer to his boss, "you can't be thinking of using it to…" He trailed off.

"We have nothing to go on, and she is running out of time. If I can pick something up from it then I need to try.

"But you…it is going to be painful to see…"

"Ha, not as painful as it must have been for her." He grasped her hand tighter, "If I remember correctly she left her clothes in the base. Bring them here…please." The boy looked at Lin with and uncharacteristic expression that was somewhere between pleading and demanding.

"Fine" Lin gave in, "But I am going to be here when you do it, and if you can't take it you have to stop." Lin knew Naru was desperate if he was going so far as to willingly see Mai getting hurt. The boy had already been through so much when he saw in full clarity the death of his twin brother and now he was going to try and see how Mai came to get herself fatally wounded. Seeing the people he loves hurt and killed was going to hurt him, that much Lin knew, but it was a risk the young man was willing to take if it would at all help in figuring out how to wake his assistant up. All Lin could do was comply with the boy's wishes and stay by his side if he needed him in anyway…that was all he could do…

"Thank you" Another uncharacteristic reply, but Lin knew his boss meant it from the bottom of his heart.

"Give me an hour or so to find the clothes and get back here."

With that Lin turned at left the room to head back to the mansion. Naru remained in the room still holding the girl's hand. With no one there to see him, and no one there to question him, Naru let his guard down and wilted down onto the bed. He rested his head on Mai's chest and let his free hand that was not holding her hand gently brush her face. He closed his eyes and let his head rise and fall gently with the rhythm of her breathing, the beep of the heart monitor lulling him into a relaxed state.

"Mai…" He whispered softly, "wait just a little bit longer…I am coming to get you…"

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A/N: Aww, fluffy moment! Oh, how much I would love to see that! Anyway, I hope you liked it! Please review! Thanks!