14AmyChan: okay, I'm confessing something right here!

Naru: You are lazy?

14AmyChan: how rude!

Mai: What is it really?

14AmyChan: the Kern County Kids Shelter was a real place, but unfortunately I didn't put a whole lot of research into it, so when I went to look up some more, I found that the facility actually no longer exists.

Mai: What?

14AmyChan: It was investigated for paranormal activity, but now has been refashioned into a Mexican Restaurant. If you don't believe me, look it up. You'll probably get more info than me. XD

Luella: What does this mean for the story?

14AmyChan: It means that I'm just borrowing the name of the building. All the history and whatnot is stuff that I'm making up on the fly. I hope it works. *^_^*

Naru: Now that that has been settled. Amy does not own the name of the building, as established—

14AmyChan: Hey!

Naru: Nor does she own the characters of Ghost Hunt.

14AmyChan: Sad but true…

"Will this room be big enough for all of your equipment?" Diana asked, leading the team into a generously sized space. It was dusted in a light blue color and had several outlets, quite a few tables, and a few fold-up chairs. Naru gave a nod of affirmation before turning to the elderly woman, who merely watched the raven-haired child with a knowing smile.

"This will be fine. Thank you," Naru stated briskly before turning to the rest of the team, most of whose mouths had dropped open in shock. Pretending to take no notice of his team's behavior, the boss began to assign them their duties. However, with how many times he had said this before, it was a curious thing that he still had to issue these same instructions every time.

What would they honestly do when he was not around? Most likely goof off…

"Hara-san, I want you to walk around the building and try to sense anything out of the ordinary. Matsuzaki-san, go with her. Lin, Takigawa-san, and Father Brown, I want you all to start unloading the van and bring the equipment inside. Set everything up, but wait for further instruction regarding the placement of cameras. Yasuhara-san, I want you to dig up everything you can about this building."

There was a round of affirmation as everyone left to do their assigned tasks. Even Mai left the room, and Naru had not even said a word to her. Mentally or vocally. Naru almost wanted to groan at Mai's apparent recklessness. That girl would be the death of him one of these days…

I'm sure she's fine… Naru reassured himself as he once again reviewed the points of the case. There's no way she could get lost in a house filled with so many kids. She would really have to be talented for that.

But…

Mai walked through the hallway, chatting as best as she could with a small boy who had found her wandering around the halls, lost yet again. She was rather happy that this child was willing to help her to her destination and hear her bad English. There was only so much a usual five year old had patience for.

Yes, he was five years old. His hair was white-blonde and his eyes were green orbs of curiosity. He wore a plaid button-up shirt that matched his eyes and shorts that had definitely seen more than their fair share of mud. His feet were left bare, not from want, but seemingly for comfort. His bare feet padded happily down the hall as he led his new friend around to where she wanted to go.

"He did not a-sk me to, but… he wirr ra-ter… so I pro-bly should," Mai said slowly, tripping over her own words in an effort to communicate. The young boy laughed at her attempt and then turned to look at her with bright, inquisitive eyes.

"He sure likes his tea. Is he British?!" the boy asked with excitement. Mai felt herself sweat drop. How long had it taken for the team to figure out what a child had done in a few moments? Too long for her to think about. Before she could answer, the young boy had already fired off in another question.

"Mrs. Murray says that you guys're here to get the ghosts!" he stated happily. Mai nodded in affirmation, and that was all the boy needed to continue. "Are you guys the Ghost Busters?!"

"Ghost-o Busters?" Mai repeated slowly, committing the phrase to memory. The young boy nodded with renewed vigor, though Mai still had no idea what the child was talking about.

So she nodded.

"Sugoi!" he shouted, having picked up the word from Mai earlier. It made her smile to see that he was attempting her language. "That means you're gonna make sure mister M is gonna be okay?" he asked eagerly.

Before she could answer him, he opened a door to the left and revealed the kitchen. Our poor brunette nearly squealed with relief. She had made it to the kitchen without being attacked or lost! Well, too lost. Now to make the tea…

Wait, did he just mention a person? Mr. M…?

"Peter!" a young girl's voice called from outside.

"I'm in the kitchen!" the boy—Peter—returned. In ran a little girl who looked of African descent. Her black hair was neatly braided down the back of her head, and her brown eyes were alight with life. She donned a plain shirt with ballet shoes on the back, a mid-length skirt, and tap shoes on her feet. She seemed about eight years old and held in her hands a small book.

"You know that guy who was here a few weeks ago? The one who said he wanted to adopt me?" the girl asked in a hurry. Mai could not catch what was quite being said, so she simply went around on her business, making the tea that was sure to be ordered upon her return. She was sure she could ask Peter about what he meant by "Mister M" when the two were done talking.

"Are you leaving already?" the little boy asked, hope and envy conflicted in his youthful features. He was happy for his friend, though envious that she got to have parents and he did not. That guess was confirmed as the girl nodded her head, her hair bobbing as she continued.

"Yeah, I'm going pretty soon. And look what he brought me! Since I won't be here for much longer, do you want to read it with me?" the girl asked. On the cover of the book in her hands was a picture of two girls in kimonos. One had short, messy, bobbed brown hair and was donned in a dark pink kimono with various flowers dancing across its folds. The other had equally short but more refined dark hair and cool grey eyes. This one was dressed in an antique kimono and donned a fair expression.

Mai did not get to hear the rest of the conversation as the kettle soon shrieked and demanded her immediate attention. She quickly made the tea she had come to prepare, kept it all in the pot, grabbed a few china cups for serving, and made ready to return to the base. Surprisingly, as she left the kitchen, she was followed by young Peter and his friend. Which she ended up being grateful for, being that she would have gotten terribly lost otherwise.

"Sank you f-or lead-ing me," Mai said with her broken English. The two kids responded politely and then ran off to play, or perhaps read their shared book again. With a smile, Mai reentered the base, bringing with her the finished tea and praying for forgiveness.

"Who wants some tea?" Mai asked cheerily upon entering, hoping that someone would translate for her when she got inside the room. She was greeted by a chorus of vocal affirmatives and one irritated boss. As if the nip in the air were not evidence of his less than chipper mood. She sweat dropped. Perhaps she should have let him know that she was going to make tea…?

You should have let me know beforehand, Naru's admonition rang through her head, causing the girl to frown. I am still responsible for you, you know.

"I know that," Mai stated with an air of frustration as she brought the tea around to whomsoever wanted it. Even Martin and Luella each took a cup, and Luella's face became alight with a smile once she tasted the liquid.

"Mai, where did you learn to make tea like this? It's absolutely wonderful! You really have been spoiling Noll. No wonder he didn't drink tea when he came back home," Luella laughed. Mai's face flushed with the praise and she offered a smile in return.

"My mother showed me how. She used to make tea all the time for me and dad," Mai explained cheerily. Almost everyone in the room cast her a covert look, and almost each eye had some form of pity in it. Even Naru felt the mood somber up for a moment after the mention of Mai's parents. Therefore, he decided to actually get some work done before the girl was subjected to attention she most likely would not want. She never seemed the type to want pity.

"Yasuhara, tell us what you've found," Naru stated. The young man seemed to be easiest to break from somber situations, so he might as well start off with the liveliest of the bunch.

"Right-o, Big Boss!" Yasu grinned, his bounce-back attitude coming in handy for the boss. However, the look he received from his parents upon hearing the translation indicated there would be a slight problem.

Oh well.

"This building is only about fifteen years old. It was founded by Mr. and Mrs. Michael Murray during the summer. In its infant years, the building took in only a few orphans, but was mainly a place for children to come and feel safe and play. Everything was calm for about four years, before the major troubles began."

"Major troubles?" Mai asked, voicing the completely oblivious question of the SPR team. Martin, Luella, Lin, and Naru sat a little taller in their seats as the young man continued. Eleven years ago. A year before—

"It actually started with the death of Mr. Murray. His medical records show that he had been fighting a severe heart condition for a while, so his passing was well-prepared for. He left the entire property and its operations to his wife to carry on, though the death of her husband caused many eager businessmen to attempt to buy her out. They attempted to tempt her with huge offers they couldn't pay, they tried to lower the selling value of the neighborhood through underhanded methods, and eventually resorted to attacking Mrs. Murray's character in front of the children, their potential adoptive parents, and the community. They attempted to frame her for crimes that were never committed."

"What crime—?"

"Well, obviously Mrs. Murray is still here and in business. What caused the businessmen to stop?" Ayako intervened, cutting off Mai's question. There was no need to go into slander. Yasuhara looked back at his reports.

"Well, for the first few months, Mrs. Murray didn't seem to notice what was going on. Most likely still grieving over her husband's death. In any event, she truly noticed the events one night when she called the police, mentioning that strange men had come into the building and had almost gotten to the children. When asked what alerted her to the men, the reports say that she told the police that 'three angels' alerted her. After a bit more questioning, the matter was dropped. After that, Mrs. Murray actively fought the businessmen tooth and nail to keep the orphanage running under her care. She as only once ever come close to loosing the shelter, and that was because of one bad event."

"What kind of bad event?" John asked. Everyone was listening with eager ears. Except for Martin and Luella, who bore somber expressions that no one seemed to note. Even Naru and Lin seemed left out of this loop.

"A child disappeared from the shelter nine years ago. Mrs. Murray called in a police investigation, believing it to be the fault of the people who had been harassing her to sell. Unfortunately, this was not the case."

"Unfortunately?" Mai asked, her eyes narrowed in thought. What could be worse than being a hostage in a sick game of monopoly?

"The child was found three months after their disappearance, buried near the property, but not on it. Police investigations resumed until the perpetrator was caught and sentenced appropriately," Yasu finished. Everyone sat in somber silence for a while, and everyone noted the fact that the room was getting chillier, but most blamed it on the window being open. Perhaps there was a breeze.

Martin, Luella, Lin, and Mai knew this to be untrue. Though Mai could not figure out what it was that upset Naru. They dealt with these kinds situations all the time, and he always seemed on top of how he personally felt on the matter. He generally never had slips in control like this. Unless…

"Yasu, do you have any more information on—"

"Is that all?" Naru cut Mai's question short, and the girl wondered why. She watched her boss with confused eyes as everyone else's attention was on the young researcher, who nodded his head.

"That's all I got for now. I couldn't find any more information on the kidnapping; it looks like it was a need-to-know basis case. It was kept really quiet," Yasu explained sheepishly. Everyone who knew Yasu knew the boy would probably be right back on that if given the time.

"Oh!" Mai gasped in remembrance, hitting her fist against the flat palm of her hand. "It seems the children think it's Mr. Murray haunting this place. One of the children asked me if we were going to 'make sure that Mister M is okay'. Does that help?"

"It might," Masako stated. "It means the children know something is around, so they should be more aware of their surroundings should something unnatural happen. Though I am unsure if it truly is Mr. Murray."

"But he's the only one that died on the property," Ayako protested. "Any other death in the shelter would have made big news considering the situation it was placed in."

"At that time, yes, but since then anything could have happened," Bou-san disagreed. "Once the media's eyes were away from Mrs. Murray and the business hounds, anything could have happened to any of the kids here and they wouldn't have had too difficult a time keeping the media's eyes away."

"Sorry, but I'm going to agree with Matsuzaki on this one," Yasu stated, rummaging through his notes once more to make sure he had not missed a thing. Though his memory prevented him from doing anything of the sort. "I would have gotten something in the obituaries or even the children's records if they had gone missing or died. Ever since that one child, not a hair has been hurt on any of the children's heads."

"You went through the children's records?" Luella asked, her brow raised. She was impressed. Only one other person she knew could get her hands on such sensitive information. Yasu nodded.

"Every child that has been through these halls has a well-documented record with date of birth, allergies, available medical records, adoption papers, and even papers to where those children are now. I've gotten through a majority of them, but not all. Mrs. Murray said I could take a look at them again after lunch."

"Impressive, Shounen," Bou-san stated, an impressed grin on his face. No information seemed to elude the young man, who turned to the elder with a somewhat creepy smile.

"Only the best for my love!" he cried out as he made to latch onto the bassist. Bou-san subtly shirked to Ayako's side, using her as a meat-shield.

"Cut that out, Shounen!" Bou-san ordered as he glared. Yasu seemed to pay it no heed, just as he would have with any of Naru's glares. However, as the atmosphere was about to become normal—well, normal for SPR standards—Naru directed the conversation yet again.

"Hara-san, what have you sensed around the area?"

"There is one male presence, but he did not stay around me long enough for me to sense much beyond that. Right now, he is hiding from me, and all I know is that he is somewhere in the area. Other than that, nothing," Masako reported. Mai glanced at her curiously.

"What does that mean for us?"

"It means the spirit does not want to be around us at the moment. It's aware of its surroundings, but hasn't made a move yet. We will simply have to wait for a while until he comes forth. He may do so in a few days or a few moments," Masako answered. Mai mused on this quietly.

Knock, knock.

"Come in," Naru stated in English. The team watched as Mai's new friend opened the door and scanned the room. When his eyes came to rest on Mai, his countenance brightened and he ran into the base and held onto Mai's hand, attempting to pull her along from her seat.

"Pe-ter!" Mai gasped as the young kid managed to yank her from her chair. He was quite strong for a five year old, after all. He grinned up at her, one of his teeth noticeably missing. It made a cute whistling sound whenever he spoke.

"Mamma Murray says it's time for lunch!" the boy cried out joyfully as he managed to cause the girl to stumble across the room after him. Before she was tugged from the room completely, she saw the expressions of her friends.

Ayako was in the midst of telling the duo to be careful, though smiling about it. Bou-san was grinning along with Yasu. Masako and John were chuckling lightly at the scene. Luella was laughing happily at the antics of young children. Martin and Lin were smiling with a bit of a sharp edge, signifying that although they were amused, their minds were not entirely off of the facts that had been discussed only moments prior.

And Naru was staring—no—glaring at his hands, deep in thought. And as Mai was being pulled away, she only heard one thought.

I don't want to know…

14AmyChan: Okay, so there's another chapter~! *^_^*

Naru: *glaring at 14AmyChan*

14AmyChan: LUELLAAAA!

Luella: yes?

14AmyChan: *points to Naru* Make him say something funny!

Luella: Even I can't do that by myself.

14AmyChan: What if I gave you backup?

Luella: That would be nice!

14AmyChan: *takes breath to yell, only to be cut off by Naru*

Naru: Read and review

14AmyChan: But that's not silly!

Naru: I have told them what was necessary. You no longer have any use for me.

14AmyChan: Au contraire!

Naru: *raises eyebrow, oblivious to the plans I have for him*