Disclaimer: I do not own Ghost Hunt. Not even the publications. I should really change that.

Author's Note: I'm a day late from my update schedule. Yesterday was a do nothing day and I did nothing. (Which, as a working adult, took more effort than you might imagine.)

Opening Talks – Part Two

The next day, Mai arrived just in time to see Gene and Masako off before they went into town to get a few more supplies and take out. They had apparently not anticipated her circumstances – understandably – and had not really brought everything to see them through the next few days. Cheerfully, Mai waved them off before turning to where Oliver was adjusting the cameras, left in place overnight.

"So, what is on the agenda for today? More stories?" Mai smiled at the stoic faced man.

"More like experiments, if you will permit," he added with the tone of someone who had never felt the need to ask permission of anyone.

Mai narrowed her eyes, arguing with herself on whether or not to call him out on his attitude, before deciding to be the older and wiser of the two and accept that he was an ass and yelling at him would likely make no difference.

"Experiments means what?"

"Well, an experiment is a process by which we receive scientific data by creating a set of circumstances and testing the outcome-"

"I know what an experiment is!"

He smirked at her and Mai knew in that instant that he was keeping some sort of tally card in his mind for how often he could upset her. Unfortunately, she had a feeling that his mental card would be full before too long.

"Dr. Davis, I would appreciate it if you could explain what exact experiments you want to perform," she clarified between clenched teeth.

"I would like to investigate how you interact with physical objects."

"Oh," Mai commented, somewhat surprised. Their questions from the previous day had not really led her to expect this line of questioning. "Um, how?"

"Clearly you are able to interact with the world around you. I would like to record those interactions using our specialized cameras. You present a type of phenomenon that we can rarely gather data on as it is either sporadic and uncontrolled or too weak to be measurable."

"Glad to know I'm special," Mai commented with a dry smile. "But, sure. I guess I can help."

"Good. Then let us get started."

The next hour proceeded to be boring and repetitive for Mai as she was asked to do many small tasks repeatedly. Pick up this object and put it down. Pass it from one hand to another. Pick it up with one hand and then allow it to pass through her other hand – a trick that Naru had been keen on recording when he saw her do it accidentally during a lapse in focus.

By the end of the second hour, she was feeling more exhausted than she had in a long time. Interacting with the physical world took focus and concentration and she had not done it so continuously for some time. The only thing that had stopped her from crying off in the middle was the easy flow of banter that had passed between them.

"Two hours alone in a room with a girl and you just have me move things around. Your love life must be hilarious."

"Considerably better than yours, I am sure."

"Really? What are your dates like? Are they all nerdy and full of psychic energy? Or are they just sex dolls obsessed with your looks?"

"You are being rather disparaging against your own gender."

"No, I am just summarizing the type of girls that must be attracted to a man who is as handsome as he is an asshole workaholic."

"Says the girl who keeps calling me handsome."

"I was raised to speak the truth. And to see past a pretty face."

"Considering the fashion of your era, I imagine that did not get much practice."

That comment actually made Mai laugh out loud as she remembered some of the fashions she'd grown up with.

"That whole blackening the teeth thing? Disgusting. I never did it."

"Nice to see you have some sense after all," he frowned, looking at the playback of the recording.

"Why are you frowning this time?"

He glanced over her and narrowed his eyes as if trying to decide if he should bother to answer. Finally, with a sigh, he gestured towards the recording.

"You appear adequately and within normal parameters on the standard imaging cameras, but you do not have a defined presence on the thermal imaging. Previous hypotheses would indicate that you should be colder than the space around you. However, you are just…absent."

Mai came around to look at the screen, watching the recording. As she watched, she noticed that the only things that seemed to have heat were things that he had touched and the different objects that she was manipulating.

"Why are those hot then?"

"I theorize that they are heated because you are interacting with them in a way similar to PK which is known to leave heat residue upon contact due to the influx of energy into the object."

Mai nodded, staring at the screen a bit longer before agreeing out loud that it was definitely odd. Then, after a moment, she glanced to the other screen and saw herself projected there for the first time.

"Is that what I look like?"

Naru – as she had already begun calling him in her head – gave her an impassive look for a moment. "Clearly. You should know as you can still physically see your body even if you could not appear in a mirror."

"I don't, you know, appear in mirrors," she smiled. "Not sure why. Sometimes there is a fuzzy haze where I am or I can see a very blurry version of myself. Meanwhile, I know that Monk has taken a picture of me before so…." She broke off with a shrug. "Also, looking at my body is sort of creepy. It looks dead."

"Interesting," he murmured softly, ignoring her secondary comment. "I did not even fully expect you to be visible on these cameras initially as you are not physically here and cannot interact with the light particles necessary for vision on a non-living entity. There have been some theories that state that human beings can see ghosts and the paranormal while cameras cannot due to them manipulating the nerve centers in the eyes and brain directly and not actually changing any of the light particles that would make something visible. Perhaps since modern cameras are operating on larger light frequencies they are able to pick up what something as mundane as a mirror can only attempt. Yet, as mirrors are just reflections, they should reflect any spectrum of light that a camera should pick up. Moreover, if you were just an image implanted on the mind, you should implant your own image into a mirror based on your body lying prone and extrapolating data from there, a mental image so to speak. Perhaps it has less to do with light spectrum and more with the determination to appear not being present when others are absent."

Mai stared at him as he spoke, his voice getting more and more thoughtful as he went. About halfway through, she realized that he was no longer actually talking to her, but completely to himself. Which was good because she was not entirely sure she understood everything he was saying.

"So…does that mean I can't take a selfie pic in the mirror?"

The strange question seemed to shake him out of his stupor at least enough for him to give her a death glare.

"Try not to be an idiot while I am being brilliant."

Mai just grinned. "I had to find some way for you to stop talking to yourself. Though, I imagine you are the type to say that talking to yourself is the only way to get a good conversation."

Naru smirked at her in acknowledgement of her hitting the truth before gesturing that she go stand before the camera again.

"I would like to test one other thing."

"What's that?"

"Your interaction with living beings," he answered, coming to stand on her side of the table.

"Oh, um, I can't," she murmured lowly.

This drew him up short. "What do you mean?"

"I mean I cannot touch living people or animals. I cannot even touch dead ones actually. Though, I can touch plants if that is what you mean by alive?"

Brow furrowed, he shook his head slightly. "I do not. I meant animate. You mean to say that you can interact with a wide range of physical objects with great dexterity but cannot touch people?"

"Yep," she confirmed. "A bit of a drag at times, but since we are not a touchy feely race as a whole, it hasn't been too bad."

"May I?" he asked, gesturing for her to hold her hand out, his tone unusually hesitant.

"Why?" Mai hesitated, confused as to what he wanted.

"Even if you cannot touch me, we can document how you interact with living beings. If you are truly intangible to a human, that should provide interesting data."

"If you say so," she murmured uncertainly, slowly reaching her hand out.

After a moment, he reached his own out to touch hers, first with one finger and then with his whole hand. Mai watched with sadness as his fingers passed directly through her own, once again highlighting just how alone she was. The sensation of it sent shivers down her spine and tingles up her arm. A glance told her that he had had a similar experience.

"Interesting," he commented after a moment of just staring at her hand. He continued to stand there, mind deep in thought, for a few minutes of uneasy silence before the others finally returned, laden with food, to break the scene apart.

o(O)o

Oliver had been mechanically eating, thoughts on the data he had gathered – including the strange sensation that had passed through him when he had touched her ethereal hand. The entire incident had affected him oddly and he was both hesitant and eager to repeat it for proper documentation – repeatability being one of the key aspects of all science. The "contact" had left him with a mix of emotions, both exciting and mournful, and that very tumultuousness made him question the entire interaction as a whole.

Science told him he should repeat it, catalogue the sensations, and document it on film. But whereas science dictated that he have her repeat the experiment with the others, Oliver found himself disturbingly reluctant to proceed along that course. The question was: why?

He would have probably been content to stay lost in his own thoughts and ignore the lively conversation going on around him if he had not heard one question pop up.

"So, why do you call him Naru? Is it short for narcissist?" Mai asked thoughtfully, the glimmer in her eye as she glanced at him speaking volumes.

Gene openly guffawed at the thought, laughing for a full minute before finally answering. "No, no. It is a Japanese pronunciation of the family nickname for him, Noll."

"Narcissism is a love of one's self. I hardly think that would apply in this sense," Oliver commented dryly.

"Actually, narcissism is the psychological profile of having an inflated sense of self-importance and feeling like one is more important than the others around him. I feel like that applies here," Mai countered with a satisfied smirk. "I've been around awhile, Naru. I've had time to study some psychology."

Oliver narrowed his eyes at her, unable to deny that she had struck a definite point but equally unwilling to allow her to be victorious.

"It's only narcissism if that sense of self-importance is misplaced. That would not be the case with me."

Mai rolled her eyes while the other two laughed.

"I don't know, Naru," Gene chuckled. "She may have a point."

Unwilling to continue the point, he returned to ignoring them and the conversation moved on without him. However, he could not help but notice that every time he glanced up, he seemed to always meet Mai's eyes. Nor that the mischief he found dancing in her eyes was unusually appealing. Before the evening ended he was irritated with himself at how much of his concentration had been eroded by the strange girl they had found.

o(O)o

The next morning found Mai popping in next to Naru, still fighting back a blush. He did not seem to notice her at first, concerned as he was with the vines on the wall. She watched as he stopped in front of where the architecture clearly indicated there was an opening, a look of deep thought consuming his features.

"There is actually a door there."

If he was startled, he did not show it as he glanced behind him to where she stood. She felt her blush creep back in as he continued to look at her, frustrating her greatly as she scolded herself for being too old to still blush from just a look. Finally, he broke the silence.

"I would have though you would choose the company of my brother and Hara-san over my own after all of your commentary."

"Oh, well," she stammered. "I did go to visit the cabin first. But the two of them were…occupied."

He gave her a blank look for a moment before realization seemed to strike him. His lips turned up in a smirk as he keyed into her blush.

"Not used to witnessing displays of affection?"

"No!" she nearly shouted, wondering if her blush would ever leave. "I'm not a pervert! I don't just go around watching people make out or anything!"

Naru's gaze took on a look of dangerous curiosity and Mai instinctively knew that she would not like what came out of his mouth next.

"Then, should I assume that you have not participated in such actions?"

Yep. Those instincts were right.

"Of course not! I was the daughter of the house! I was supposed to stay pure before marriage." At his look of incredulity, she sighed. "Also, my parents would have murdered me and anyone else I might have wished to…practice with."

"It would seem my brother's commentary on your likeness to being a Disney princess is more on the nose than we realized. A curse broke by true love's kiss sounds pathetically unrealistic."

"Hey! It's not like I had any say in the matter!" she huffed. "I would have preferred to actually experience a few things before being magically thrown into a coma."

Naru grew thoughtful again, clearly not paying full attention to what she was saying. "Perhaps that is the reason for your inability to interact with living beings."

"What?" she asked, confused.

He sighed impatiently, looking back at the wall of greenery. "If the curse placed upon you was supposed to break at true love's kiss, or any other sort of physical interaction with your mythical true love, then interacting with them on an astral level would potentially confuse the curse. If there is an actual curse to be broken."

"Again, stop trying to crush my hope!" she spat before his words fully registered. "So, wait, you think the reason I can't, say, give Bou-san a hug is because the land god wanted me to only interact physically with the one who is supposed to break the curse?"

"It is a logical assumption within an illogical premise, yes," he agreed, paying even less attention to her than before as he approached the vines.

She sighed at his apparent flippancy, but allowed the subject to drop with his clear change in mindset. "I used to really hate the vines. Now, I'm glad for them. Imagine a creepy guy coming in and just…doing things."

"Disturbing," he allowed, considering the distasteful idea momentarily before moving on. "You said in our first encounter I shouldn't tear at the vines. What happens when I do?"

"Oh, um, well it isn't always the same. I've seen some people get close to messing with them and then suddenly forget everything they were doing and wander off. One of the men who did that was lost in the forest for over a day before someone found him."

"Not a desirous outcome. What else?"

"There was one time that they used a machine to do it, but after it got through about half of the vines at the door, it suddenly stopped working. Then, before they could get it working again, all the vines had grown back." Pausing, she glanced her eyes upward in thought. "Then there was the guy who seemed like had received some sort of electrical shock. Another one tore at vines for twenty minutes only for them to regrow once he took a break."

Midway through her recitation, Naru turned away from the vines to consider her, his eyes narrowed in what she surmised to be surprise or frustration. "That is an unusually varied response to outside stimulus. Typical, paranormal phenomena follow at least a somewhat regular pattern."

Mai merely shrugged. "That isn't even all of it. Honestly, I just think the land god gets bored and likes to spice things up a bit. Like the time the one man actually got through to the doors. The vines grew back so quickly that time that he almost got stuck in them."

"I cannot say I have ever encountered a bored…deity…before. However, it potentially could provide us with some excellent data. I do not have the right equipment for it here, but perhaps…."

"Perhaps?" she prodded after he had been silent for a while.

Naru turned to look at her with an unreadable expression. "Perhaps further investigation is required."

o(O)o

Having been warned of his brother's previous…activities, Oliver made sure to be very loud upon entering the cabin to retrieve one of the cameras. Thankfully, it appeared that the two were finished and he need not have worried.

"Naru! What have you been up to?"

"Mai and I were discussing the phenomena with the flora surrounding the castle walls. According to her testimony, it is varied and could provide interesting data on paranormal manipulation of plant life." Oliver answered distractedly, busy assessing the gear they had and trying to determine which would be better to set up to create baseline documentation.

"Mai has been around? She didn't come by here," Gene commented, standing up to help his brother sort through the gear they had brought.

"She apparently arrived while you and Hara-san were otherwise engaged and did not want to interrupt."

"Oh my," Masako giggled, embarrassed. "I hope we did not make her feel uncomfortable."

"She did seem perturbed by it," Oliver commented, lips quirking at the memory of how red the girl in question had gotten when mentioning it. "It would appear that she is entirely innocent when it comes to physical intimacy."

"That should make things easier for you," Gene commented slyly making Oliver freeze and look up at him.

"I have no idea to what you are referring," he refuted coldly before turning his attention back to preparing the camera.

"Noll, be real, you have not had this long of a conversation with a girl, well, ever really," his twin commented. "I am just saying, she clearly has sparked your interest."

"As a case study, stupid medium," Oliver ground out. "Don't let her talk of true love and curses flood you with romantic notions."

"So, you wouldn't try to break her curse if you could?"

The question gave Oliver pause. He was not in the business of worrying about curses, that was a more philosophical realm and while his association with Lin had provided ample evidence in the more ritual side of the supernatural, he did not feel the need to prove it. Magic was far too subjective to be properly documented.

Still, the question conjured up an image, unbidden, of Mai lying in a dusty room, far away from all human contact. The image was only worsened by the truth that Mai was clearly a warm person who longed to interact with others but had been deprived such interactions for an indefinite amount of time. He might not be in the business of breaking curses, but something about the situation made him feel uncomfortable at the idea of simply walking away.

"Well?" Gene prodded at his brother's long silence. "Would you?"

Oliver sighed. "If the opportunity arose, I would most certainly try to help her."

"Then that is simple," Gene grinned. "Just make sure it arises.

With an exasperated sigh, Oliver left the cabin again, camera in hand, and mind spinning ideas for how such a thing could come to pass.

Twenty minutes later he was setting up the camera to focus on the entrance. While many would argue that it was foolish to get footage of the lack of activity, it was always important to have a baseline by which any future activity could be compared. As he finished attaching the extended battery, he considered bringing in a thermal imaging camera. Any future activity might include changes in temperature and it would be baseless to use it on one type of observation but not the either.

However, the thermal imaging camera was more taxing on battery packs and they did not have a sufficient number of batteries to record for long term periods. He could return periodically to change them out, but that would potentially lead to an interruption in the data capture. Alternatively, it could be argued that the baseline recording did not require an extensive recording period….

"I don't think I have ever seen anyone stare at vines so intensely. I think you could probably make them spontaneously combust if you kept looking at them."

Oliver's thought process ground to a halt at the interruption, his mind unwillingly taken back to what Gene had teased him about earlier. He was loathe to admit it, but his brother perhaps did have a point about his potentially favoring the girl beyond his scientific interest. This could be testified by his relative lack of irritation at the interruption of his thought process.

Though, some of his irritation might have been immediately ameliorated by what appeared to be a cup of tea in her hand.

"Pyrokinesis is not amongst my abilities, unfortunately. It would probably be an effective method of clearing the vines."

Mai stared at him for a moment, blinking. "Wait, amongst your abilities? You have abilities?"

"Indeed, though they are not particularly useful for research purposes," he allowed, eyes focused on the steaming mug in her hand. "Is that tea?"

"Oh! Yes!" she affirmed, blushing a bit. "You seemed a bit stressed so I thought I would bring you some tea. My father and I always appreciated good tea when stressed."

As Oliver watched, she carefully held the cup out to him, handle out. She seemed very focused at what most would consider a mundane task and he pondered at why she would choose to do a favor that clearly took significant effort on her part.

However, instead of commenting on this, he chose to ask what his curiosity alighted on.

"I am surprised you know how to brew black tea."

"I definitely have more experience in the proper tea ceremony," she laughed. "However, one of the Dutch traders brought some over from China and gave it to my father in exchange for a favor. After that, father participated in a bit of illegal smuggling to keep himself stocked up." She paused, a thoughtful look on her face. "Honestly, it was fairly out of character, but I also liked it so…." She broke off with a shrug.

As she spoke, Oliver took a sip from the tea and found himself unwillingly impressed at the quality of her technique. He also felt a measure of gratitude to her. Neither he nor Gene was particularly good at brewing tea and Hara was only good at green tea.

"Anyway, do you need any help?"

"I doubt that you would be qualified to help. Additionally, the equipment is very expensive and should you lose focus and lose hold of it, it would prove to be disastrous."

"I would like to be offended, but I've already taxed myself a lot the past few days so...fair," she allowed and gave him a gamine smile that had zero effect on his mood.

Zero.

"I continue to be surprised at your preference for being out here rather than with my much more affable sibling," Oliver sighed, looking away from her as he tried to drag his mind back towards his previous thought process.

"I know when I'm not wanted," she commented.

"Are you sure about that?" he replied coolly.

"Absolutely," she grinned back, silently challenging him.

With a silent sigh, he firmly reminded himself that his only interest in her was scientific.

And that his scientific interest would require much more interaction and observation in the near future.

Author's Note:

Writing Oliver is fun. Pretentious, but fun.

Before anyone asks, his final theory about the mirrors is the correct one. She cannot see herself in a mirror because she isn't actually appearing at the time. If she were to look in a mirror when she was interacting with others, she would see herself. She just never has because Mai is not a particularly vain creature.

Anywho, I do apologize for the minor delay. I am going to make it up by spending the rest of the night writing (and doing laundry because adulting is necessary) which will ensure that next week's update is on time.

Til Next Time!