March

Mazurka Legacy- 10th floor hallway

8:04A.M.

"Keep adjusting Mai." Yasu spoke to me over the microphone.

I could hardly hear him over the roar of the waterfall. The stream I was standing next to came from the wall of the tenth floor, snaked down the hall, and poured over the top. There was a glass barrier preventing anyone from accidentally falling in. People Coins littered the bottom of the stream by the wooden bridge. People used the stream to make a wish.

I had thoughts about throwing in a coin for myself but had decided against it. I could hear Naru now. 'It's a scam for people to make money.' As right as he was, it was still fun to make believe.

I tinkered with the camera again, but it wouldn't adjust the right way.

"What about…now?"

I pressed a button and the camera screeched a loud bleep to alert me that it was recording now.

"That's good." Naru spoke. I guess he kicked Yasu out. I don't blame him.

"Come back and make some tea. We're running interviews."

"Okay, okay."

I slipped away from the camera and checked the angle one more time before crossing over the bridge. I paused in the middle of the bridge, and leaned on the railing long enough to spot the faint glint of the coins sitting at the bottom. I dug into my pocket and pulled out a golden coin. I made a silent wish and tossed it in. The coin landed in with a soft kerplunk and sunk quickly to the bottom. I smiled and headed back to base.

"There is nothing going on in this hotel at all!"

The grip on my pen tightened and I pressed harder into my notebook paper, causing some of it to rip slightly. My handwriting grew sloppy every time I got angrier. And right now it was barely legible. Naru let out a silent sigh.

The man sitting across from us is Mercado Quinines. He's part Japanese, part Spaniard. His dark eyes flashed with anger and strands of his long black hair fell into his eyes. He was somewhat small for his age; 23 years old. And he is Akemi's fiancé. And he was now starting to call us frauds.

"There are no such things as ghosts and spirits and the paranormal!"

I glanced over at Monk who looked like he was ready to leap across the table and strangle the man. I know I was.

"You people take advantage of some idiot's fear and make a profit off of it all."

That's when something inside of me snapped.

"So I'm guessing you're calling Mazurka-san an idiot?" I snapped.

His dark eyes fixed their angry glare on me.

"You need to learn your place!" He snapped.

"You avoided my question." I snapped back and chose to ignore his comment.

"I don't have to answer to you."

"No, but you answer to me." Naru cut in.

The man fixed his angry glare onto Naru. It was probably better that way anyways. Naru could keep his anger in check.

But me on the other, I couldn't stand it. I stood quickly and gathered tea cups from Lin and Naru. Naru shot me a look. He knew it was probably best if I had just left before I blew another gasket. I set the cups in the sink and stalked out of the room.

11:59 A.M.

I held the thermometer in my purple casted hand and waited for the beep. I was the only one in the fourth floor hallway right now. All of the doors remained shut and I could only assume that they were at lunch. It was silent except for the faint sound of the waterfall again. I heard footsteps approaching and I turned to see Mercado-san walking down the hallway towards the elevator that I stood in front of. I positioned myself in front of the camera just in case if he tried to do something stupid. But he pushed past me as if I wasn't there. I could hear him press the button to the elevator and absolute silence. There was a silent ding before the doors swung open. He stopped before he climbed on.

"Do not disrespect me like that ever again, Taniyama-san. You must learn your place before I teach it to you."

I stood there shocked for a moment.

'Did he really just threaten me?

The thermometer blared through the silence. I jumped at the sudden outburst and turned to watch him leave. This wouldn't end well at all.

"What a jerk!" Yasu complained as I set a tea cup down in front of him.

"I know!"

I sat down to join him. He took a sip of the tea and closed his eyes to enjoy the soothing and calm sensation the tea had brought on him. Taking advantage of his current situation, I snatched up the Folder of Snorts and Giggles that he had left unprotected.

His eyes instantly flashed open and he grabbed for the folder but I dodged him and ran.

"I got it!" I cheered. "I got the Folder of Snorts and Giggles!" I jumped out of Yasu's reach.

"Mai! Give it!"

I ran for the door and almost made it when a pair of arms wrapped themselves around my waist. I fell to the ground and Yasu went down with me. He sat on top of me while he tried to pry the folder away from me.

"Give it to me!"

"No!"

"Give it to me now, Mai!"

"No!"

I was laughing too hard to notice the door open. But we both looked up when we heard the coughing.

Ayako stood in the door way with Lin and Monk. Lin, ignoring us both, stepped over us and retreated to the monitors. Bou-san was red in the face. I couldn't decide if he was angry or trying to not laugh.

"Young man, do I want to know?"

Yasu grabbed the folder and jumped off of me.

"She stole my folder." He accused.

"But did that mean for you to rape her for it?" Ayako asked as she held out a helping hand.

I accepted it and was lifted to my feet.

And standing behind Monk and Ayako was a red-faced John.

"It was an accident." I said blushing like crazy.

"Yeah Mai, it was an accident." Yasu teased and poked me. "But you wish it wasn't."

And that earned him a smack on the side of the head.

Ayako ignored Monk and Yasu fighting and turned to me.

"You haven't eaten yet, have you?" She asked.

I shook my head.

"No not yet. I was just getting ready to go and eat. Have you eaten yet?"

"Yes, but-"

"Get to work everyone. I don't pay you guys do screw off."

Naru walked in the room and pushed past Ayako and I.

"Someone hasn't had a lunch break yet." Ayako announced.

Naru looked up from the clipboard. As if on cue, my stomach had growled. I put my hands over it quickly. Naru raised a questioning eye brow.

"It's okay really. I can get a little something to snack on until supper."

He set the clip board down on the table and turned to Lin.

"I need you and Yasuhara to pull up any information on this hotel. Takigawa-san, take John and Matsuzuki-san with you and change the tapes on the cameras." He ordered.

Everyone nodded in response and Monk took off with John and Ayako.

"Yasuhara, there's a library down stairs on the second floor. Pull up anything you can about any recent deaths that have some kind of relationship and a roster of the previous vacationers here. Lin stay here and watch the monitors."

Lin nodded and Yasu left the room, but not without sneaking me an evil smirk before he left with his stupid folder of Snorts and giggles.

'I'm gonna find out what's in that folder sooner or later.'

I turned to Naru.

"What do you want me to do?" I asked.

He turned to me with his blue eyes flashing.

"We're going to have lunch. I don't want you starving and passing out in the middle of the case."

My face grew a little red but it quickly faded.

"I wouldn't pass out!"

Naru shot me an all-knowing look and smirked.

"You would and that would add up more problems than ever. Let's go."

The hotel held a extremely fancy restaurant. The tables were draped with black and gold table clothes and small candles sat in the middle. There was a small attached table for a wine bottle and a bucket, but we were both too young to have any wine. The lights were dimmed and the sound system played jazz music. I looked over my menu and sighed. There was so much to choose from, all of it was from different parts of the world too. I had no clue what I would like.

"Do you know what you want?" Naru asked.

I shrugged.

"I don't know what I'd like."

He looked down at the menu.

"You would like a 'Tour in Italy'."

"What's that?"

"Italian food."

"I know that!" I snapped back.

He smirked again.

"I was just wondering if you did. It had Parmesan chicken, lasagna and chicken Alfredo. You'll have to use a fork and knife. You do remember how to do that, right?"

"Yes, I do!"

"You're getting angry Mai. I would calm down if I were you."

I frowned and shook my head.

"Then let me be mad."

"And cause a scene? I think not."

I huffed and the waiter approached us.

"Are you ready to order sir?" He asked Naru.

"Yes, she will have the 'Tour of Italy' and I will be having the 'Le Confit De Canard a La Viennoise'."

"Will that be all, sir?"

"Yes."

The waiter left quickly as our drinks arrived in crystal glasses. This was all too fancy for me. I felt underdressed.

"Have you written in your journal Mai?" He asked.

I shook my head.

"Not since we got here. I have to update on it though. But I haven't had any dreams lately."

"So why were you at the office so early yesterday morning?"

I felt my eyebrow twitch.

"Why is it that you are suddenly so full of questions, Naru?"

"I feel that I should know what is going on with my employees so that I can make decisions quicker."

I sighed and looked down in my tea. We were both really silent and I fiddled with my fingers.

"Remember that day when Alex and the others escaped from jail?"

His eyes grew cold and I knew I approached a horrible topic.

"Yes. I remember."

I shook my head.

"Well, I sometimes dream about it, Naru. I have nightmares about what could have happened if he had gotten away with it. If he had gotten away with me."

I looked down at the table away from his angry eyes. Never had I felt so pressured into telling him something like that.

"Is he haunting you?"

I looked up quickly.

"No, he's not. I mean we all know that we exorcised his spirit so he wouldn't have a chance to haunt any one of us. It's just normal nightmares. That's one of the reasons why I was at the office so early."

"You woke up in the middle of the night and couldn't go back to sleep."

I nodded my head.

"Exactly."

He was silent for a while before he spoke again.

"You said that was one of the reasons why you were at the office early. What was the other?"

I sighed again.

"Well after my nightmare, a dream quickly followed after it. This time, I think it was one of those dreams."

"What was it?"

"It seems different than the last. It's dark and I can't see anything .The only thing I can hear is a scream and I wake up."

Naru caught his chin between his fingers and looked like he was thinking hard.

The waiter returned with our food and left quickly. A duck sat on Naru's plate and it smelled really good. But my Italian dish smelled magnificent. I slowly cut into the chicken, waiting on Naru. Whatever thinking track he was on, he wasn't going to share with me right now. We ate the rest f our lunch in silence. When it came time to pay, the waiter informed us that the hostess would take care of it. We returned to the base in silence as well before I broke off to make tea for Naru. I think he was still mad about me bringing up Alex.

I stalked out of the room, angry at the pregnant, arrogant, woman. There was nothing I could do to help her if she didn't want my help. I knew she was angry at me as well, but that wouldn't make the difference.

I punched the button to the elevator and tried to not think about it all. Maybe it was best if I just ignored the fact that she conceived someone else's child other than her husband's child. She made mistakes before ,but this was far by the worst one yet. She ran away from home. She ran away from her loyal husband. What a disgrace for woman kind.

The elevator dinged and doors opened. I stepped inside and waited for the doors to close after I punched in my number.

The elevator started it's descend to the first floor and there was a sickening snapping noise. The elevator soon turned into a metal box of death as I plunged to the first floor from the tenth. I was done.

a/n: Hey guys! Sorry for the uber late update. Things have been crazy around here. I wish I could have updated soon, but Saturday school takes a lot from me. So, this chapter was fun! I dedicate it to one of my friends, crazylittlecheezer. She's a good friend, and she needs a good break. I love you dear and I hope things look better your way. So, read and review please! I hope this chapter was good for you guys. I hated writing a mean character, but it is needed for my future plot. I'll try to do updates once a week so I can get my feet back on the ground and be a little more stable in my Algebra II class. I'll also be taking EOCs next week so, yeah. And I have a band concert and a band competition! :O What to do?!?! I'll try to update by next Friday because I'll be leaving Saturday… Well, I'll update before it gets out of hand… I love you all very very very much! And yes Akemi, you do have a hotel. But you're also preggers. And you have a mean fiancé. Sorry deary. It'll turn out good though!

Love,

Jazzy!