Disclaimer: Ghost Hunt doesn't belong to me! But you already knew that, now didn't you?

Blind Sight

Saturday

November 18

Day 2

12:15 AM

Mai looked around her. She was standing in a wide hallway, and the wooden walls were decorated with artfully painted fans. The world had a surreal quality to it, and Mai knew it was a dream, despite the lack of spirit-lights. The passage was dark and quiet, with an eerie solemnity to it. Naru was no where to be seen.

She looked down the hallway, and saw a small, black haired child in a blue nightgown sitting, knees against her chest, next to a heavy door. A tall man brown hair and a sad, kindly expression came from the darkened side of the corridor and squatted in front of the girl, setting one hand against her cheek.

"Hey," he whispered, "It's alright now. You can go back to bed." His words were reassuring, but his face was worried, though the child was too young to understand the mixed messages the man was sending. The little girl didn't answer, but she slowly pushed herself up into a standing position against the wall. "Good girl," the man whispered again, ruffling her hair. He took her by the hand, and led her down the hallway.

Mai hurried after them, trying to understand what was going on. As she passed the door, the little girl had been sitting by, a sudden feeling of apprehension slammed into her. She stopped, and turned slowly towards the door. Tentatively, she set one hand on the brass doorknob, and a feeling like icy water slid down her spine. She shivered, hesitating for a moment before turning the knob.

When she pushed open the door, she could make out the shadowy shapes of a bed and a desk. The glow of spirits circled around the center of the room, but their light didn't illuminate anything in the room. Her hand scrambled for a moment on the wall and she flicked on the light switch.

The bed was dripping red with blood, the body of a woman lying slumped across it. A clock on the wall chimed 1 o'clock.

Mai woke with a start, shaking. She shot up into a sitting position, and then took a deep breath. The body had surprised her, and scared her. Setting one hand over her heart, she took several more breaths until she'd calmed down enough to lie back down. A small digital clock in one corner of the room read 12:55 at night, but the rest of the room was very dark.

Stay calm, Mai, she ordered herself, you've been through worse. It was only a dream. But there was something unsettlingly familiar about the woman on the bed, and the girl in the hallway. It's probably my imagination, Mai dismissed it, and sighed, closing her eyes to try to sleep again.

Mai was in the strange twilight state between sleep and waking when she was startled violently awake by a piercing wail. She sat up, wincing and covering her ears as it increased in pitch and volume. Looking at Ayako, Mai was shocked to see that somehow, despite the noise, she was still asleep.

Mai stumbled out of bed and opened the door into the hallway. The door to Naru, Lin, and Bou-san's room was still shut, but Akiyuki was standing in her doorway, hands clamped over her ears. Almost immediately after Mai opened her door, Hitotose appeared in front of her room.

"You can hear it?" Akiyuki said, looking at Mai.

"Of course," Mai said, "It's so loud!"

"I couldn't hear it for a long time," Akiyuki admitted, "Mamori and Baa-chan had complained about it for weeks before I noticed anything. I'm surprised you noticed it so quickly."

"It's like this every night?" Mai asked, risking taking her hands off her ears for a moment, and promptly covering them again.

"Not always," Hitotose joined the conversation, "its worse on the weekends, but it's still usually very loud."

"How long is this going to last?" Mai asked, horrified at the thought of spending the entire night listening to the heart-wrenching wail.

"Not too long, don't worry," Akiyuki said, "About an hour, maybe two." My ears will start bleeding before then! Mai moaned to herself.

Akiyuki must have noticed Mai's distress, because she disappeared into her room, and came out with two foam earplugs, offering them to Mai. "They don't block it out completely, but they do help," she said, dropping them in Mai's hand.

Mai took them gratefully, and twisted them into her ears. Akiyuki waved goodnight, and closed the door to her room. Hitotose followed in suit, and Mai took that as her cue to return to bed herself. She closed the door, climbed into her bed, and took one last look at the still-sleeping Ayako, then closed her eyes and tried to ignore the still-growing clamor of the spirit.

She didn't sleep well. Even after the noises finally hit a violent climax and abruptly faded away, she still felt inexplicably unsettled. Just as she had started to drift off again, the buzzer of the clock went off, and Mai, covering her yawn, had to prepare to face the next day.

"Mornin'," Mamori said, walking down the hallway. She was wearing long sleeves and pants, and looking a few inches to the right of where most people would have looked at someone they were addressing. "Um, who am I talking to?"

"I'm Taniyama Mai, the spiritualist's assistant. Nice to meet you," Mai smiled, then she realized that Mamori couldn't see her expression.

"Yeah," Mamori grinned, "Likewise. And, um, did you hear anything last night? Like, a scream or something?"

"I could hear all of the noise the spirit made," Mai said, "I don't think the others did, though."

"You could hear it?" Mamori said, her face lighting up with interest. "So, are you physic or something?"

"I guess so," Mai said, "That's what I've been told anyway, and sometimes I have prophetic dreams that help with cases."

"Awesome!" Mamori said, "I've never met a physic person before."

Mai scratched the back of her head sheepishly, "No, it's really nothing big . . . ."

"Did you dream anythin' last night?" Mamori said, cocking her head to one side.

Mai paused for a moment. She had dreamed, hadn't she? Right before the wailing started. But what had it been about? "A woman," she said finally, "There was a dead woman, and a little girl."

Mamori frowned, "That's pretty broad, can't help you. If you can remember more details, maybe it'd mean something?" She gave a little wave, and walked down the hallway, sliding one hand along the wall, stopping at the staircase and carefully feeling her way down it. Mai followed her. Akiyuki was already putting away dishes from her breakfast, and Naru and Lin appeared to have been up for sometime as well.

"Good morning," Akiyuki said, dusting off her hands. "Mamori and I will be going out for the day, and Baa-chan has already left, so you'll have the house mostly to yourselves." She looked at the ceiling for a moment. "I feel like I'm forgetting something."

"Weren't you gonna show them the attic, Nee-san*?" Mamori asked, carefully making her way towards the table and narrowly missing crashing into Lin in the process.

Akiyuki clicked her fingers. "That's it," she said, "Thank you. Shibuya-san, if you would follow me?" she said waving her hand and starting up the stairs.

Naru rose and followed her up the staircase. Mai, curious as well, turned around after Naru had passed her and stood unobtrusively at the top of the stairs, watching as Akiyuki got a key and a chair from her aunt's room.

She set the chair in the middle of the hallway, then climbed up onto it and unlocked a trapdoor in the ceiling. She pulled down a ladder, kicking away the chair. "My aunt only opened this when we moved in," she said, "Otou-san* is selling the house, there's a bunch of furniture and stuff up there that used to be in our house. But, there was also all sorts of old stuff up there when Baa-chan opened the attic for the first time, and never took it out. You might find something up here, who knows?" Akiyuki finished, and carried the chair into her aunt's room.

"Mai, Matsuzaki-san, and Takigawa-san, look through the attic. If you find anything about old owners of the house, tell me," Naru ordered, "Lin and I will be going over the data from last night."

"Yes!" Mai sighed, leading Ayako and Bou-san up to the ladder Akiyuki had pulled down. She climbed it carefully, and entered a dark, dusty alcove that stretched the length of the house. It was only about six feet at it's highest point in the middle, and the roof sloped sharply down on either side, so Bou-san and Ayako had to duck as they crawled up the ladder.

The attic was filled with boxes and furniture frames. Mai sneezed as she ran her finger along the top of an antique-looking wooden table. "It's so dusty up here," she complained.

"Didn't Naru say the spirit was connected to the girl?" Ayako mentioned, her eyebrows creasing, "What are we going to find up here?"

"Akiyuki said a lot of their family's old stuff is here, too," Mai offered. "Maybe that's what he's looking for."

"Just what is he expected us to find?" Ayako sighed, irritated, as she wrinkled her nose at the dust being kicked up as she shuffled through the boxes. Mai, not knowing what to say, turned her attention to a stack of boxes on her left. She opened the boxes, which were full of books. Mostly, they were medical volumes, with the occasional novel mixed in.

As Mai pulled open another brown box, she heard a clock loudly chime once from somewhere within the attic. She looked at her watch: it was just past eleven o' clock. Turning, she asked, "Did you guys hear that?"

"Hear what?" Bou-san asked, "I didn't hear anything until you talked."

"I heard a clock," Mai said.

"Maybe a clock from downstairs," Ayako dismissed. "If it's a little slow, it could have chimed 11."

"Maybe," Mai said. I was sure it was up here, she frowned, is the clock like the wailing last night? She turned back to the box she was looking at and shivered.

Staring up at her from the bottom of the box, half cast in shadow, was an old wooden cuckoo clock with an owl carved on the top. Mai curled one hand into an anxious fist and closed the box, ignoring the wooden bird's penetrating glare. It's my imagination, she told herself firmly, and shoved it away.

They searched in silence for a few minutes more before Lin appeared at the top of the ladder. "Did any of you hear anything last night?" he asked.

"Nope," Ayako shook her head. "Nothing."

"Me neither," Bou-san said, "Why, Lin? First Mai, now you."

"Mai?" Lin said, looking at her. "What is he talking about?"

"I heard something last night," Mai admitted, "Everyone in the family did, too. There was someone wailing in the house for over an hour last night. But none of you noticed."

"When did it start?" Lin asked.

"Umm . . . about," Mai said, blinking in shock as she made the connection, "One in the morning. And just now, I heard a clock chime one when I opened a box with an old clock in it!"

"I didn't hear that, either," Ayako objected.

"The noises in this house are pitched at an extremely unusual frequency," Lin said, "We noticed them on the recording from last night. Mai could probably hear them because of her physic abilities."

"So, what? The entire family is physic, too?" Ayako asked.

"I don't think so," Lin said, "Naru said something about the ghost trying to reach the family specifically, which is why they can hear it to. You'll have to ask him for a more detailed explanation."

Ayako made a face, "No, I'm good. I'll stay with that." Mai smiled to herself.

"I'm going to get Naru," Lin said, "Mai, find that clock again. Mai's smile vanished at the thought of the clock, but she turned around, pulled out the box opened it.

Mai lifted it out of the box and handed it to Bou-san. "What do you think?" she asked innocently.

"It's creepy," Bou-san decided, holding it, "It's hard to explain why, but it is."

The three of them climbed down the ladder, passing down the clock, and met with Naru and Lin in the base.

Naru clicked something on the computer, and Mai recognized the sound that started to play through its speakers. "That's the wailing we heard last night!" she announced, pointing at the computer.

"So you really could hear it. Interesting," he said. "Have you noticed anything else the rest of us have missed in this house, Mai?" His tone was business-like, and his eyes stayed focused on the computer while he was talking.

Could you at least look at me when you're addressing me? Mai groused to herself. "I heard a chime in the attic," she said, then after thinking for a moment. "And I think I had one of those dreams last night."

"About?" Naru said, sparing her a glance.

"Actually," Mai said, straining to recall, "I don't remember very well. There was a dark hallway with a little girl, and then a bedroom with a woman. There was blood," she determined, then fell silent, unable to remember anything else. Then she admitted, "I talked to Mamori about it earlier, when I remembered more. She might be able to tell you what I said."

"I see," Naru said, clicking at his computer.

"See what?" Ayako asked, "Do you know what's going on?"

"Maybe," Naru said, but rather irritatingly chose not to elaborate. "Do you remember what either of the people in your dream looked like, Mai?" he said, changing the subject.

"I couldn't see them very well," Mai told him. "But they had dark hair, and the woman was maybe in her early thirties. The child was maybe . . . four or five."

Naru didn't answer.

Mai was furious. Naru had been hinting at something all day, but he refused to just tell them what it was. To make matters worse, he'd called Masako to come and help them identify the spirit. Just the thought of what Masako would be like when she arrived after being personally called by Naru made Mai fume. Granted, he'd also called John, but Mai knew that wouldn't matter to Masako.

Brooding, Mai entered the base with a tray of tea she'd been asked (ordered) to make to discover that John had already arrived, though Masako had not. "I was in the area," he explained.

"Masako won't be here until tomorrow," Lin added, "She was filming south of here." That helped Mai's mood greatly as she passed out the tea cups.

The sound of footsteps came up the stairs next to the room. Mai shivered for a moment, but her fears were quickly laid to rest when Akiyuki knocked on the door of their base and pulled it open. "I just thought I should let you know we were home," she told them, "Did you find anything today?"

"Do you recognize this clock?" Naru said, cutting straight to the point. He pointed to the wooden cuckoo clock, which had been sitting on the table in the base since Mai had taken it out of the attic.

Akiyuki looked at it for a second then answered, "Yes. You found that in the attic, right? It was our grandmother's."

"The same grandmother that died?" Naru asked.

"No," Akiyuki said, "That was from our grandmother on our dad's side. We don't have anything from the grandmother that died: she and Okaa-san** didn't get along. I didn't even meet Obaa-san until a few years ago."

Naru suddenly looked more interested. "Your grandmother and your mother didn't get along?"

"No. Okaa-san didn't believe in the paranormal. She thought that Obaa-san was a crazy old lady," Akiyuki asked, "Why?"

Instead of answering, Naru kept questioning her coldly, "What about Hitotose-san and your mother?"

"They corresponded, but they weren't real close," Akiyuki said, "Where is this going, Shibuya-san?"

Naru decided to answer her this time. "It's very likely that the spirit is someone within your family," he said, "I'm trying to determine who it is."

"Okay," Akiyuki said, seeming pleased to get an answer. "I'll do what I can then, I guess."

"How old are you and your sister?" Naru asked, moving on.

"I'll be turning 17 in a little over a month," Akiyuki said, "Mamori is 13."

"How long ago did your mother die, and under what circumstances?" Naru continued. Kind of insensitive about asking, huh, Naru, Mai noticed.

"She died in childbirth 13 years ago," Akiyuki said, "I think that pretty much explains itself. But, Shibuya-san, if you think that a member of my family is the ghost, and you keep asking about Okaa-san, then does that mean . . . ?" Akiyuki trailed off.

"Wait!" Mai inturrupted in disbelief, "That spirit attacked her aunt and killed her grandmother. It couldn't really be her mother, could it?"

"Sometimes spirits change after they die," Naru said flatly, "From what we've seen, it's very likely." Mai stopped, her eyes widening in shock and sadness. Being an orphan herself, she couldn't imagine her own mother coming back to haunt her.

"So now what's left," Bou-san mused, "Is to find out why she turned malicious, and how to get rid of her, right?"

"Correct," Naru said, "However, it's a complication in and of itself that the spirit is attached to a person without actually possessing them, and exorcising will be difficult because of the close blood ties between the ghost and the girl." He was very curt and sure of himself; like he had been considering this for a while and was waiting for comfirmation.

"It's hard to believe," Akiyuki said quietly, "that my mother would really do that." Strained silence followed her words.

A/N: Finally finished. I had testing and writers block, which is why this took so long. I'll try to be better with the next chapter, but no promises. Thank you for suffering through my attempts at a story, and please review. I'm always open to criticsm and ideas.