Reviews: The warmest of thanks to Troublesome Aries, NiennaAngel, SilverKaya, Nkingy, helltenshi, Artemis KF, chinechilla, Lavinia J. Roberts and Kuro shinzui. Also, thanks for answeing my question (huggles). My wrist is starting to get better. I can start using it again, but only lightly. Thanks for being patient.


Tala let his head fall forward and hit the desk in front of him with a loud thud, that was followed by-

"Ouch!"

Muttering darkly, Tala lifted his head again, his hand rubbing his forehead.

"Tala," came a voice behind him. "I sense you are becoming more irritable with each passing investigation. Why is that?"

Slouching in his chair, Tala let his head fall back so he was looking upside down to the new comer. "I'm pretty sure you know why, Kai. After all, you're the psychic here."

Kai felt a tug on the corners of his mouth as he walked into the room. "That is true, but I thought it would be best for you to tell me what ails you."

"It's these damn Mickey mouse missions. I mean, we haven't investigated a decent or genuine haunting for, what, months now?" Tala muttered, let his head return to it's upright position.

"The ones that can simply be easily explained by some force of nature or the ones that can be solved by opening windows and burning sticks of sage?"

"Both."

"I suppose there are more genuine haunting out there, but they are so severe or dangerous that the occupants fear that they're going insane, and don't wish to draw attention to themselves," Kai said.

"Yeah, probably," Tala mumbled. "Anyway, I got Bruce to screen our calls, only taking genuine ones, leaving the lesser one to the rookies."

"Yes, that is a good idea," Kai nodded. "We must not waste our time on these day trippers, yes?"

"Right," Tala nodded. "We'll only take then when we've reached a whole new level of boredom."

"I suppose you can, but I must fly to America sometime next month. In a small American town they've discovered an Indian burial ground."

"The native Americans don't like it when their burial grounds are messed with, do they?"

Kai nodded again. "That is why I must head there soon. I hope to calm them down, or at least speak with them," His eyes soften as a small smile graced his lips. "The native American culture has always intrigue me, I hope they do not mind me speaking with them."

Tala snorted. "With a light and open-minded spirit like yourself, why would they mind?"

… … … … …

The American team soon settled into their rooms. They unpacked their belongings, each turning their room to the way they want. Night fell quickly and each one of them got ready for bed as it grew late and they have a big day of training tomorrow.

"Damn it, Emily!" Eddy pounded on the bathroom door. "What's taking so long? It's not like you have any make-up to remove or something."

"Maybe she does," Steve muttered.

"Damn, how ugly would she be in that case?" Rick said, causing the others to snigger.

"I heard that," Emily snarled as she opened the door. "and for your information, I don't need make-up."

With that said, Emily stuck her nose in the air and strutted off. The guys rolled their eyes, then raced to see who could get in the bathroom first.

While this was going on, Michael sat on the edge of his bed, in his night clothes, looking wearily around the room. That glaring sensation has not left him, although some rooms the feeling was stronger than in others, but it was still there. It felt as though someone was watching his every move.

Shaking his head, Michael told himself that he was just being paranoid, and that his mind was playing tricks on him, coming up with reason as to why he hates this place.

Standing up, he walked over to the dressing table and picked up a hair brush, running it carefully through his hair. He put the brush down, but then he suddenly felt something pull violently at his hair. He whipped around, expecting to see one of his teammates there, but there was no one.

"Hey, Mike, you all right?" Max asked from the doorway.

"Um, yeah," Michael replied, sounding a little distant. "Just had a knot in my hair, that's all."

"I don't know how you put up with having long hair," Max shook his head. "Tyson has long hair, but he wears it out, under his cap. Still, it's not as long as Ray's, but he keeps his in a bind, less knots that way, he tells me," he placed his finger on his chin in thought. "I've heard from Ray that Kai, too, is letting his hair grow out. He says that it's much longer than his now."

Michael tried to imagine Kai with long hair. How would be keep it? Would he leave it out, keep it in a bind, or a braid?

Max chuckled as he continued. "Ray also tells me that he had to teach Kai to keep it in a bind. He was leaving it in a low ponytail, but decided it would be better to keep it in a bind like his. And of course, Kai being Kai, he added a few alterations to it. He keeps his hair in a red bind with blue criss-crossing over it, and a gold ring at the end."

"That would be interesting," Michael muttered, still trying to imagine the blading enigma with long hair.

"Yeah," Max agreed. "Can't wait to see it," he suddenly yawn. "Oh, well, better go to bed. Night Michael."

"Night Max."

A few moments later everyone else also turned in, each crawling into bed, snuggling under the blankets, immediately drifting off the sleep.

Despite being old and large, the house was eerily silent. Not a sound was heard as it approached 11.30 pm.

In his bed, Max muttered something about sugarcoated candy canes, when a loud thud was heard. He snorted, but did not wake completely. The noise happened again, louder that last time, but this time, it woke Max up from his dreams. Sleepily, he looked around his room, one eye half closed.

Thud.

It happen again. Startled, Max sat up in bed, leaning over to the side and picked up his flash light. They were all given one, in case any of them needed to use the bathroom or get a drink of water during the night. It was better to carry a torch, than to turn on all the lights. Also saves stumbling around in the dark.

Thud. Thud.

With a small click, Max turned his flashlight on, turning the beam in the direction of his wardrobe. He waited for a few seconds. He was going to turn his flashlight off when the loud, wall shaking thuds returned, stronger than last time.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

Growing confused and scared by each passing second, Max turned his flashlight to the wardrobe again. As he did a thick black shadow moved quickly through the beam, to the other side of the room.

Frightened, Max ducked under the sheets as the thuds continued. He held his head in his hands, covering his ears. He was so frighten that he did not have the courage to yell, in fear that whoever, whatever was doing this would turn it's attention to him.

Suddenly, and quite violently, the sheets on his bed was ripped off and thrown across the room by an unseen force.

With his hear beating a thousand miles per minute, Max leapt out of bed and scrambled across the room and out the bedroom door. He leaned against the door, clutching the torch to his chest, his breathing erratic. He glanced up and down the hallway, finding it silent and empty.

Had no one else heard the loud noises?

Pulling together what little courage he had left, Max opened the door to his room and peeked his head in. There on his bed was his sheets, not on the floor. Swallowing thickly, Max stepped back inside, flicked his light on and glanced around the room. Nothing was out of place, even his bed sheets looked like nothing drastic happened to them.

Chuckling nervously to himself, Max placed a hand on his forehead. "I must be loosing my mind."

Slowly he moved to slip back into bed, his heart still thudding loudly in his chest. He glanced around the room one more time, pulled the blankets up to his chin and laid down, rolling to his side, his hand still grasping the torch. He closed his eyes and willed himself to go to sleep.

Sleep was returning when-

Thud!

Max snapped his eyes open but did not move. He gripped at the sheets with one hand, while the other gripped the flashlight painfully.

The thudding continued, each growing louder than the last.

Max squeezed his eyes shut and hid his head under the pillow. A moment later the blankets were ripped from his bed once again. Curling himself into a tight ball, Max refused to raise his head, in fear that he'll see something he'd rather do without.

Then suddenly, everything stopped. An eerily silence filled the room. An uncomfortable silence.

Even if the noises had stop, Max refused to lift his head and look around. He stayed curled up in a tight ball, praying that morning would come soon and he fell into an exhausted, fitful sleep.

Still, morning simply didn't come quick enough for Max.


I'm sorry, I've kinda got a fetish at the moment with Kai having long hair pulled into a bind. It's probably just a phase. Any who, how was my first haunting scene? Scary enough?

An uke Kai with long hair, precise and delicate speech, who is also a psychic (Squeals and glomps).

Next chapter: Morning has finally come, but will anyone believe Max when he tells his story?

Please review.