I sat quiet and still next to Kara, anxiously watching her deep breathing. She had a peaceful look about her when she sleeps, and it was somewhat soothing me, helping me to think more calmly.

The others hadn't pressed me for details as I took a passed-out Kara up to the girls' room, and Naru was quick to give them jobs so they didn't have a chance to follow me. I hadn't even realised that I'd slipped big time until I'd gotten Kara into bed and sat down next to her, allowing the details to slowly sink in.

It took a while for my anger to die down, but almost right away I felt guilty for aiming it at Naru. It was as much his job as it was mine to keep her safe. We'd both failed. It wasn't fair of me to pin the blame on him. Besides, Kara was completely fine. Exhausted, sure, but she wasn't injured. She'd defended herself without anyone's help.

I leaned back on my chair, thinking back to what happened. I couldn't get over the way Naru looked. His expression didn't give much away- it never has. But I've spent a hell of a lot of time with this guy, especially since adopting Kara, and I knew how to read him. He was genuinely upset. Even more, he was furious, with the ghost or with himself, I wasn't sure. Probably both. I hadn't read him then. I was too mad at the time to try.

"Aw man," I muttered. "Stupid Mai. Why'd I have to go and say that? He was already beating himself up…" I sighed again and leaned forward, resting my head in my arms.

The door creaked open behind me and I shot up, startled. I looked over to check who it was, then quickly turned back when I realised it was Naru. I tried really hard not to blush. Why does he always seem to show up when I'm thinking about him?

I heard him move closer, but I stubbornly refused to look at him. He came to a stop when he was standing next to me. I could just glimpse him in my peripheral. He was standing really close.

"How is she?" He asked. My eyes widened slightly. It was really subtle, but he sounded tired, or stressed. Or both.

"She'll be fine." I answered, noting wryly that I had the same tone. "She just used a lot of energy."

The room went quiet. I fully expected him to leave the room. He'd come in to check on her, after all. Mission accomplished. No need to stick around the girl that'd been pissed at him not so long ago. If my past experience was anything to go by, Naru had pretty much no patience for my anger.

I waited.

And waited.

My body began to tense up. He was still standing next to me. He wasn't moving. Why wasn't he leaving? Is there something he wanted to talk about? Because if that's the case, it's taking him way too long to bring up the subject, and the longer he stands there the more sensitive I was becoming to his presence. I could feel his body heat, for crying out loud. It was making my heart pound so loud, I wondered if he could hear it, which only made me feel even more embarrassed.

Finally, thank goodness, he spoke. "Mai, I'm sorry." He said, words so weird coming from him that it hit me like an electric shock. "You have every right to be upset with me. I should've been watching her more closely."

I could actually hear the self-loathing in his voice. I knew he had a bad habit of blaming himself for things. It was part of his narcissistic personality. He can't accept things as being beyond his control, or not directly a result of his actions.

That, at least, was one thing about him I really did understand.

"No, I was out of line." I answered. "It's not like you could predict a ghost suddenly going violent for no reason, and neither of us could've protected her any better than she protected herself. Kara's a strong girl."

Naru was quiet for a moment. When he did speak, his voice was barely more than a whisper. "I could have stopped that table long before Kara reacted."

My eyes went wide, quickly understanding his implication. "Naru, no!" I exclaimed, a little panicked. Naru liked to tease Lin every now and then, but it'd been a long time since he'd seriously talked about using his PK. I stood up off my chair and turned to face him. "The last time you used your PK, your heart stopped! You can't do that! How would Kara feel if you did that?" I sunk back into my chair. "What would I do if you were gone?..."

Naru opened his mouth, then closed it and settled with putting a hand on my shoulder. I figured he was apologising again, but he couldn't bring himself to actually say it more than once today.

We stayed like that for a few moments of silence, watching Kara's peaceful sleep. I was shaking slightly, still scared by what Naru had just suggested, but the warmth of his hand on my shoulder was calming.

"Mai," Naru called. His voice had taken another unusual shift, going from that guilty self-loathing to a soft intensity. I looked up at him, confident that all the red had gone from my cheeks. "A few years ago, just before my return to England, you told me that you loved me."

…. What?

WHAT?

Where did that come from? Why now? It's been years since that day! Naru never so much as whispered about it before, but now he wants to talk about it? That's not fair, Naru. Not fair at all. Maybe a little warning would be nice. Or even a little subtlety.

"I dismissed your feelings." He continued, either ignoring or not noticing the rapid changes in the colours of my cheeks. "I assumed they weren't genuine. I had no right to make that assumption. For that I apologise."

My heart was beating really hard and I felt like you could fry an egg on my face, but as a part of my brain kicked into action, I realised that this was the first time he'd ever given me a chance to talk about this, and there were a heck of a lot of things I wanted to say. "You're right," I answered him carefully. "You really made me doubt myself, Naru. I had a long time to think about it while you were away. But it couldn't have been Gene. Just because he was in my dreams doesn't mean I was in love with him. You're the one I worked with every day. You're the one who saved me over and over again. You're the one I got to know. But Gene? I never really knew anything about him." I lowered my eyes. "You may be a genius when it comes to ghost hunting, Naru, but you're really stupid when it comes to a girl's feelings."

His hand left my shoulder. A part of me thought he would move away, leave me here the same way he did all those years ago.

Instead, he turned and sat on the bed to face me, and the hand that had been on my shoulder moved to rest on my hands. My heart-rate doubled again, and my voice, which I'd only barely controlled until now, evaporated into thin air. The shock and the ensuing rush of emotion forced my eyes to meet his.

"I can't give you an answer right now." He told me. His eyes had a tenderness to them I'd never seen before. "Because I wouldn't know what answer to give you."

Oh my god Naru don't look at me like that!

"You don't have to." I answered quickly, forcing words out of my throat. My voice was cracking, but I kept going. I can't stop now. "If you decide you won't ever think of me… like that…" I gulped. "Just… just tell me. It's not like it would be a surprise, and you're no stranger to turning down girls. But… but if you decide you do like me…" My face was burning so bad. "Well, you're pretty bad at telling people how you feel, so you could just, I dunno…." I looked down at his hand, still on top of mine, utterly mortified. "Just kiss me or something…"

Now I've gone and done it. Way to push it, Mai, there's no way Naru will ever like a girl who's stupid enough to say that out loud…

Naru lifted his hand off of mine and placed it on my head. As he stood up and began to leave, his fingers brushed my bangs to the side. He smiled, a genuine, sweet, totally just Naru smile, and said "I'll keep that in mind."

I could still feel the soft brush of his fingers on my forehead long after he was gone.

It was about an hour later that I finally managed to work up the nerve to leave the room, and that was only because Lin had come in and promised to watch Kara. Apparently, the others were demanding an explanation, and Naru was refusing to talk until I joined them.

It wasn't the greatest motivation to leave the room, but it was my fault this got out, so I didn't really have room to complain.

When I reached the base, I found everyone squeezed together on the two couches, except for Naru who was standing over by the monitors. The moment I entered the room, everyone on the couches abruptly stood up and turned to face me. I was overwhelmed by the feeling of being ganged up on, but then Naru came to stand next to me and I felt a little reassured.

"So," Monk started, his arms crossed and his eyes narrowed. "Care to explain why Kara's full name happens to include both your and Naru's last names?"

My voice got caught for a second as I tried to decide how I should reply. Should I joke about it? Should I go for sheepish? Should I get defensive? What's the best way to talk about this? It would've been so much easier if Naru had let me be honest from the start.

Thankfully I didn't have to come up with an answer, because Naru spoke first. "Mai and I adopted Kara three weeks ago following the conclusion of our previous case."

Monk's arms dropped and his eyes widened in shock. The other's mirrored his expression, except for Yasu, who was smirking as though this was an entertaining show. "You…" Ayako spluttered. "Adopted... a girl? You?"

I knew that was directed at Naru, but it was still annoying me. I opted for the defensive route. "Kara needed a family. She was completely alone in that place, not to mention she went through some pretty traumatic things during the case. Initially, I was going to adopt her on my own, but the orphanage require two candidates, and Naru offered himself up. Okay? That's what happened."

Ayako gaped at me. "But Naru… a dad? Come on, Mai. That's crazy."

I crossed my arms and glared at her. "I'll have you know that Naru's been great to Kara."

"Mai!" Monk interjected. "That's not the point! You're eighteen, for crying out loud! And you two live in separate places, where is she supposed to stay?"

I stepped back, a little hurt. Naru's arm lifted slightly in front of me in an almost defensive gesture. "There is no person in the world who would be a better mother to Kara than Mai." He retorted. His voice had a dangerous tone to it. I looked at him in shock, my heart beating double time from the unexpected compliment, flushing my cheeks a light red. "And the question concerning housing has already been addressed."

I felt my cheeks go even darker as I remembered our solution to the housing problem. His earlier smile flashed in my mind, and I gulped.

Monk had taken a step back at Naru's words. "Look, I'm not trying to insinuate that Mai wouldn't be a good mother." He started. "It's Mai. Of course she'd be great. It's just… why didn't you tell us?"

Naru's posture relaxed slightly, but the glare in his eyes didn't yield. "I didn't want the situation distracting everyone from doing our job- like it has been for the past hour." The others looked a little ashamed at that. "If we're done here, I need to get back to work."

Naru emanated such a menacing aura as he returned to the monitors that no one dared call him back.

I turned back to the others, wondering if there was anything more I should say. Monk and Ayako looked like they were coming to terms with it. Yasu was still smirking. John, who'd been quiet during the whole exchange, looked a little confused but not upset or angry in any way, so I guess that was good. Masako, on the other hand, looked shocked, angry and upset. I couldn't blame her for that. If our situations had been reversed, then I'd be feeling the same way.

"Masako…" I started, wondering what I was supposed to say.

Masako quickly looked away, raised her chin and announced "It's late. I'm going to bed." Without a glance at anyone else, she retreated from the room.

Ayako and I exchanged a look, and we both silently agreed that it was in our best interest to leave her alone right now.

"So…" I tried again. "Which doll was it that vanished?"

Monk started to relax as the subject turned in a safer direction. "It was the little girl, the one called Ai. The girl that Kara encountered looked suspiciously like that doll."

John added. "We haven't been able to find the doll yet, although the activity itself has died down."

I thought back to the girl, and the shadow that darted around her. "Edward was there too." I told them. "It was just his shadow, but I'm positive it was him."

Ayako looked skeptical, but the boys accepted my opinion with a nod. I may not be having freaky dreams, but I was still the sixth sense girl. Good intuition has to be good for something, right?

"So Edward and the doll Ai are the culprits." Yasu summarized. "But what are they hoping to accomplish?"

Before any of us could throw some theories out there, Naru reappeared next to me, flipping through his notes. "I imagine their goal is to break the seal on the hanging room." He announced. "The scratches on the wall have migrated another six inches closer to the seal since last night. There is about five inches left to go, so if we don't come up with a solution by tomorrow night, they will break through the spell."

We all fell silent as the severity of that started to sink in.

"It can't be that bad, right?" Ayako said nervously. "What's the big deal with that room, anyways?"

A cold chill ran through my body, and I shivered. "I don't know what the big deal is," I said to Ayako. "But there's something really wrong with that room, and I'd rather not find out exactly what it is."

One way or another, we had to end this.

And we only had one day left to do it.

. . . . . . . . .

So… I thought I posted this a long time ago.

Seriously. I have a memory of posting this chapter. But when I went to look at it recently, I realised that this chapter had not, in fact, been posted. Oops.

I honestly don't know if anyone is still reading this, considering how long its been since my last update. But I haven't given up on this story, and even if no one is reading, I want to finish this.

If you are reading this, thank you. Really. I promise that I haven't abandoned this story.