A/N: Thank you everyone for reading and following this!

CaitHawke4Ever: Poor Lin will have to work hard just spend time with Mai once she unites with her brothers. And poor Mai just can't catch a break. Thank you for reading and taking the time to review! I love seeing your thoughts!

Disclaimer: I do not own Ghost Hunt.

Language Key:

Regular = Japanese

Bold Italic = Chinese

Bold = English

Chapter Three:

The day felt like it would never end - and it wasn't even nine in the morning. Lin was starting to wish (and not for the first time) that he hadn't taken Madoka's call yesterday. He would've saved himself from a lot of unnecessary grief. But no, he'd answered it like the dutiful co-worker that he was. And now he was in the middle of a stranger's living room, stuck guarding a teenage medium he barely knew.

He'd met Masako Hara only once before, during his longstanding search. The medium had her own television program and at the beginning of its run, Mai Taniyama performed the show's title song. The recording had taken place only a few months before she drew away from society. He had hoped that, since the two were close in age, they might've formed a friendship of some sort. Unfortunately, Ms. Hara was as lost as he was on the matter. They had spent some time together, but they apparently weren't close enough for Taniyama to disclose much personal information or to keep in touch. Her disappearance was a sore spot for Ms. Hara.

Lin had no intention of contacting her again, as there was no information she could give. But she was still an important acquaintance of the Davis family. So, when she agreed to investigate alongside people she'd never met (possible unsavory characters only after her power or money), he'd been volunteered to act as a buffer in case the situation became dangerous. But everything seemed fine at the moment.

The owner of the house was an elderly woman. She claimed to have witnessed several objects flying across the room and breaking, almost as if they were thrown. She also claimed that her young adult granddaughter had gotten trapped in a bedroom closet on more than one occasion, despite the door having no lock. It was a case that Oliver and Eugene would've loved to investigate. But Lin felt like his time could be better used. He could've been searching for new leads on the Taniyama case. Or he could've been checking up on Ms. Shibuya. Or basically doing anything that wasn't watching a handful of Japanese strangers try their hand at hunting ghosts.

So far, Ms. Hara seemed safe from harm. Currently, the only other arrivals were the client and a young foreigner. His blonde hair and odd dialect was out of place, but he seemed friendly enough. He was quite young, Lin guessed him to be no more than fifteen. He wore khaki slacks and a knit sweater, appearing professional enough. From his outward appearance, Lin couldn't figure out what place he'd take on the team of spiritualists. But Lin had worked with Gene and Oliver long enough to know that appearances were deceiving.

There were others that were expected to arrive at any moment. The client, Mrs. Ikeda, hadn't even met them herself. Her granddaughter had a co-worker who had referred them to her. The co-worker had also recommended the foreigner. Mrs. Ikeda appeared to blindly trust this co-worker. Or maybe she was desperate. She hadn't expected Ms. Hara to take up the case, as she had mentioned a few times already.

"If the others do not get here in the next few minutes, I think we should start without them," Someone was as eager as he was to get this over with.

"I'm sure they'll be here soon, Hara-san," the foreigner argued rather meekly. Lin couldn't tell if that was simply his nature or if he was getting worried.

It was at this moment there was a knock on the door. The foreigner stood up, relief evident on his face. He offered to let them in so Ikeda didn't have to trouble herself. He left the three of them. Hara remained silent and Lin was starting to wonder if he had to protect the newcomers from her.

Whoever they were, they had his shiki on edge. They were eager to meet the new people, but had to stay close at the request of their master. It wasn't until one of them spoke that he realized why that was.

"John!" the warm voice called out loudly. "It's been far too long."

Lin's heart leapt at the sound, though he couldn't figure out why. Maybe his shiki were influencing him. Or maybe, if he was honest with himself, he was just happy to see her. He hadn't expected to see her again for a few days. While working here, he'd be leaving before breakfast and returning late. She should've (hopefully) gone home long before he'd arrive.

But here she was, chatting happily with the young foreigner (whose name was apparently John). By their voices, he could tell they were getting closer. Soon enough, they were standing at the entryway. Two others trailed behind, the hotel nurse and the rock star that Shibuya was close to. Both of them wore traditional clothes.

Lin was so elated that he very nearly missed the change in his temporary charge. But he still managed to catch her eyes widen before she could conceal it. The sleeve of her kimono automatically flew up to cover the rest of her face. And the case finally seemed interesting.

"Shibuya-san, I'm glad you could make it," Mrs. Ikeda stood up to greet her.

Shibuya smiled warmly, rushing to the woman and sitting back down with her. "I wasn't sure I'd be able to, but they let me take the next couple days off. So, I can stay and watch a little bit."

"I'm so grateful to you for your help," the elderly woman smiled back. "This is Masako Hara. She's also agreed to help me with this."

Shibuya's eyes met Lin's for a brief second before sliding over to Hara. He watched as her smile nearly faltered and the color drained from her face. On the other side, Hara appeared unfazed. If he hadn't been paying attention earlier, he would've believed it.

"Have we met somewhere before, Shibuya-san?" Hara blinked innocently as Shibuya stared back like a beautiful doe in the headlights.

"Yes," Shibuya said after a moment of hesitation. She didn't want to admit it, but she couldn't bring herself to lie either. "I think we have."

"I see," was Hara's curt response.

Shibuya's color hadn't returned, but she found enough confidence to change the subject, "Ah, and these are my friends. This is Houshou Takigawa, the monk."

"Yo," the man with the ponytail saluted to the others.

"This is Ayako Matsuzaki, the shinto priestess,"

"I look forward to working with you all," the nurse's words did not match her tone. This became more obvious when she cut eyes at the monk who was silently mocking her from behind.

"And you've all met Father Brown, the exorcist,"

The young blonde beamed at Shibuya, oblivious to the sudden change in atmosphere. Everyone else could only stare at the baby-face priest. The new information just didn't fit. He was far too young to be such a person.

"How old are you, Brown-san?" Matsuzaki was naturally the first to ask.

The Father responded in good nature, smiling despite the bold question. "I'm twenty-one."

He was still rather young, but not nearly as young as he appeared. Everyone was still gauging him, but he kept smiling as he took a seat next to Shibuya. Lin couldn't help but wonder if she was ignorant to what exactly her friend was or if she just didn't care. Neither one would've surprised him at this point.

The conversation turned to the case at hand. Lin silently congratulated himself on not catching anyone's attention and needing to introduce himself. He was largely forgotten by most, except for Shibuya. Her eyes kept wandering over to him, her face turning bright red every time she was caught. She was still self-conscious about yesterday's events, it seemed.

He could feel his mouth lifting up a little every time their eyes met. For whatever reason, this didn't put her at ease, as he had hoped. It seemed to have the opposite effect. Her face would get even more red. She still smiled at him, but then she'd try even harder to avoid looking at him. It was a little cute.

He did feel bad for her, though. Between his apparently nerve-wracking presence and Hara's subtle call out, her anxiety levels were rising. Poor Yi was having a time trying to calm her down. Lin allowed a couple shiki to go and assist her. He made Jun stay, however, because the spirit would just lecture her and be of no help.

The day turned out to be less of a waste than he originally thought. Although, he had abhorred having to play bodyguard to the famous medium, she was actually helpful. Thanks to her, he was now at least eighty percent sure that Shibuya was indeed Taniyama. To be one hundred percent sure, he'd have to send out the samples of hair she'd left on his pillow. He'd felt like a creep when he collected them and hadn't the heart to actually get them tested. But it was either that or ask her directly. And judging by the way she was reacting now, she wasn't ready for that. He wasn't sure he was ready for that.

Mai thought that yesterday was a bad day. She didn't know that today was going to top it. It had started out nice enough. Thanks to her little nap and her new spirit friend, she was well rested by morning. She woke up feeling energized. And that feeling stayed all the way through meeting up with Bou-san and Ayako (even through their little spats). It was coursing through her veins as she greeted John and followed him into Mrs. Ikeda's home. But when Mrs. Ikeda introduced her other guest, that feeling dissipated.

Mai hadn't seen Masako in years. In person anyways. She'd caught glimpses of her on the TV every now and then and knew from various sources that she was doing well. Or her business was, at least. Mai didn't believe a word about her own well being unless it came from the person in question. And here she was, in the flesh. Looking as prim and proper and confident as she always had.

Mai would be lying if she said she wasn't envious. She always has been a little bit. When Masako walked into a room, she was looked up to and her opinion was sought after. Mai doubted she'd ever be half as talented or respected as her.

She even had Lin accompanying her. Mai was more than a little curious as to how they knew each other. Was he a fan? A colleague? Or something more? Mai suddenly felt plain sitting across from them. Here she was, just a simple, talent-less runaway.

Masako must've hated her. They used to be pretty close, until she went and cut off all contact. Masako had once told her that she felt Mai was the only one who understood her. It wasn't very understanding of her to ghost her best friend. She became one of the few that Mai had left behind in her effort to fall off the face of the earth. Mai had been pretty messed up then, but that wasn't a good excuse. She should've tried harder to reach out. By the time she felt like she could do so, it was too late.

So, here they were. One of them was a successful medium, the other was falling asleep in guests' bathrooms. The divide between them was immeasurably large, though the physical distance was merely a few feet. Mai was happy they were splitting up into teams. She would go with her usual partner, Bou-san (although she would've enjoyed catching up with John, there was no way she was going to let Ayako and Bou-san team up again). And Masako and Lin would go their own way.

Or so she thought until the medium herself spoke up, "Shibuya-san, if you would be so kind, please accompany me on a walk-through of the house."

Bou-san moved forward to protest, but Mai shot him a warning look. He backed down, but his eyes narrowed. As he was the one to introduce her to the paranormal world, he'd taken it as his responsibility to protect her from all things supernatural (and otherwise). He didn't trust Masako would be sufficient protection. He was already wary of her from her introduction.

"Sure thing," it wasn't like she could say no, even though she desperately wanted to. She was grateful to Masako for not exposing her in front of everyone. The last thing she wanted to do was make her angry. Besides, maybe some closure would be good for the both of them.

"I'd like to visit the upstairs bedroom first," Mai nodded, letting her lead the way. Masako was the professional, Mai was just the observer. As they started to leave, Lin began to follow. But Masako stopped him, "I would prefer to walk with Shibuya-san alone."

Lin's eye darkened, but he remained silent. He merely gave her a curt nod. Mai noted, however, that his spirit orbs continued to follow them. As they left, Mai glanced back to see Bou-san inviting the quiet man to join him. Lin met her gaze with a strange look in his eye before agreeing.

The walk to the bedroom was largely silent. Their footsteps seemed like thunder to Mai's ears. Every creak of the floorboards and every rustle of fabric had her on edge. Yi and the orange orb stayed close to her. The orange spirit whispered encourage words while Yi vibrated comfortingly. Jun and the green orb went ahead of them. The blue one had stayed with Lin.

Upon entering the bedroom, Mai immediately felt suffocated. Even with the door open, it felt like she was trapped with no way to escape. Her lungs burned for more air, despite there being plenty. She looked to Masako to see if she felt the same sensation. The look of discomfort on the medium's face told her she did. It didn't comfort her like she thought it would.

"You have people looking for you,"

Mai blinked. The statement was far from what she was expecting. Unless those people were a spirit hiding in the closet. "Um, what?"

"I presume you must have some reason for going into hiding. You even went so far as to change your name. I simply thought I'd warn you that there are people who are searching for you. They came to me two months ago to ask if I had any clue as to where you were," Masako's eyes never met hers. She had her face mostly concealed by the sleeve of her kimono.

"I'm sorry," Mai said honestly, her voice barely above a whisper. The weight of her friend's feelings distracted her from the burning in her chest. "I never mean to hurt you."

"No, I'm sorry," Masako finally turned to look at her, eyes wet with unshed tears. "I was angry. For the longest time, I wanted to bump into you just to ignore you like you had me. Then, that man who came looking for you eventually told me what happened to your mother. It made sense why you'd disappeared."

"Still, I shouldn't have left like I did. I'm sorry," Masako nodded, silently accepting her apology. One weight lifted from Mai's shoulders. Just for another to take its place. "And thank you for the warning. Do you know who this man is?"

Could her father be looking for her after all these years? How did he know what happened to her mother? It had been over a decade since she saw him. Since he walked out of their life. Did she want him to know where she was? Did she want to see him again?

"The man himself was of little consequence. The people he works for sent him to find you. They're good people. I've had the privilege of working with them once,"

So, it probably wasn't her father. Then again, a lot of people thought her father was a good man because they didn't know him. "Do you know what they would want with me?"

"I'm curious as to that, myself. Do you have some sort of hidden talents you've revealed accidentally?" Masako scrutinized her, looking for something that wasn't there.

"Nope, I'm still just ordinary Mai," she shrugged. "But are we done here, yet? This place is unusually stuffy."

"You can sense that?"

"Uh, yeah," Mai was sure anyone would've noticed it.

"Hmm," Masako mused cryptically, moving towards the closet. The one that Mrs. Ikeda said her granddaughter had gotten trapped in. "Come here and tell me what you feel."

Reluctantly, Mai came to stand beside her. The open door didn't make the closet feel any more welcoming. For reasons beyond her understanding, Mai was washed in a variety of emotions, "I feel scared. Sad. I'm helpless. I'm - I'm angry."

The second the words left her mouth, Mai felt a shove. She and Masako lunged forward, tumbling into the closet. Mai caught a glimpse of the Lin's orbs shining brightly before the door slammed shut in her face. Darkness enveloped them. Mai felt Masako's frightened grip on her hand. Until she, too, slipped away. Then, there was nothing.