Authors Note: Sorry for the delay School has started for me [StrawberryFairy] again and my teachers are slowly sucking the life out of me with work. We've been speaking regularly to come up with some ideas which we hope you will enjoy thank you all for the reviews and we are glad so many of you are enjoying this series so as a little gift from us to say thank you as well as sorry for the delay we've written a long chapter for you! So enjoy

Disclaimer: We own nothing but our own characters!

Chapter 4

It was a week later when SPR reopened. Luella and Martin Davies announced they were going to be in Japan until Easter; much to Naru's dismay of course.

The Calendar on Mai's desk stated it was January 3rd, glancing at it Mai sighed; the last 2 weeks had flown by and she still hadn't managed to tell anyone the news; much to hers and Naru's annoyance. Even though for the last week or so Lin had been acting slightly odd; giving her side glances whenever she walked past him or out of Naru's office, after one of his many calls for tea. Speaking of which; she looked over to the clock on her desk and saw it read 10:59 she sighed to herself again with a small smile and counted down the seconds.

"Mai can I have some tea please?" Naru's voice called from his office just as the clock changed to 11 pm. Mai smiled to herself and got up from her desk and began to walk towards the kitchen; passing by Lin's office she stopped and knocked three times on the closed door.

"Lin would you like a drink?" she asked poking her head around the door to see the tall Chinese man busy typing away at his laptop. He stopped and thought for a moment before he looked over to her and gave a nod.

"Yes please, Coffee would be nice." He stated before going back to his work. Mai gave a smile and a nod before she closed the door and continued towards the kitchen.

Walking back out of the kitchen she went to Lin's office, reshuffled herself so she could knock on the door without dropping anything as she did this the door opened, much to her surprise and she saw Lin walking back to his desk. She entered the room behind him and placed his cup on the desk beside him before she turned to walk out the room.

"Taniyama-san, can I speak to you for a moment please?" Lin asked suddenly causing Mai to stop and look back towards him in surprise, but none the less she gave a nod and moved to shut the door.

"Is everything ok Lin?" Mai asked after a moment or two. Lin turned in his chair and faced her with a sigh.

"Taniyama-san….Mai." He began much to Mai's surprise, Lin having never called her by her first name. "I have known both you and Naru for a few years now and I know when something has changed, and something has definitely changed; what's happened?" He asked which caught Mai slightly off guard.

"Nothing disastrous if that's what you're thinking, Naru and I are still together; we just received some news that has altered things slightly." She stated and looked up at Lin who was watching her intently almost urging her to continue.

"Well it turns out that…I'm pregnant." Mai said slowly almost nervously as she glanced up at Lin who had a shocked look on his face which vanished after a moment or two and was replaced with a small smile.

"I thought it was something along those lines, thank you for telling me Mai, how long have you known for?" He asked after sighing in what seemed like relief.

"Just over 3 months, I found out a few weeks ago but I was too nervous to tell anyone, can you please keep it a secret for now…not everyone knows yet and I think they deserve to be told by me and Naru." She replied with a small Smile.

"I see, well I am happy for you and Naru, congratulations and yes I will keep it a secret." Lin said with an air of finality about the sentence like he didn't need to know any more or that he was content with the information he had been given.

"Thank you Lin, let me know if you need anything…I probably should get this tea to Naru before he dies from lack of caffeine." Mai stated walking back towards the door grabbing the tea tray she had placed on the table along the way. Lin gave a smirk before giving a nod and returning to his laptop and continued to type away as Mai left the room.

"Be careful Mai…." He muttered to himself as he paused from typing for a moment.

Mai closed the door behind her and let out a breath she had been holding onto without realizing. Composing herself she walked over to Naru's Office and gave a knock on the door before entering.

"I was beginning to think you got lost on the way from the kitchen to here." Naru smirked as he watched Mai walk over to his desk, placing the tea cup on the table.

"Sorry, Lin started talking to me when I gave him his coffee." Mai stated with a smile, this surprised Naru and he frowned slightly.

"What did he say?" he asked her, Mai sighed again as she walked around the desk and sat down on the edge of the table.

"He asked what had changed between me and you." She told him and it was his turn to sigh.

"What did you tell him?" Naru asked leaning back in his chair watching her intently.

"I told him that I was pregnant, I'm sorry I know you wanted to tell him together but I felt like I couldn't lie and tell him it was nothing." Mai explained looking down avoiding eye contact with Naru.

She looked up in surprise when a hand grabbed her arm and pulled her away from the table onto Naru's lap.

"Its fine, I probably should have told Lin a while ago anyway." Naru stated moving to give her a kiss which she accepted with a smile. They were interrupted by a knock on the front door to the office; they pulled away and Naru sighed in annoyance while Mai laughed slightly.

"I'll go and answer the door," Mai stated reluctantly getting up from her comfortable seat, Naru gave a nod.
"I'll follow you out in a minute" he told her as she left the room giving a nod as she left.

Mai walked quickly towards the door as the knocking returned, more loudly this time.

"Coming!" She called as she reached the door opening it she revealed an elderly man who was standing nervously to the floor as he wrung his hands. What shocked Mai was the taller lady standing next to him; she was staring down at Mai with a stare that sent shivers down her spine.

"S-sorry for the wait, welcome to Shibuya Psychic Research do you have an appointment?" Mai asked pulling her gaze away from the tall lady.

"Ah um…" the gentleman started only to be cut off by is partner.

"No, we do not however this is a matter of urgency." The lady replied pushing past Mai and entering the office.

"A-ah I see….well please come in I'm Mai Taniyama." Mai stated smiling at the gentleman who was still standing outside the office. He returned the smile and walked quickly into the office.

"Pleased to meet you Miss. Taniyama, I'm Natsuo Shimazaki and this is my assistant Rina Yoshizawa." Natsuo introduced bowing to the younger girl.

"A Pleasure." Rina stated coldly from behind Mai.

"R-right, I'll go and get my boss; please make yourselves comfortable." Mai smiled as she walked over to Naru's office and went inside. Leaning against the door she gave a sigh.

"Naru a Mr Shimazaki is waiting for you." Looking up she saw Naru frowning at her. "He's not on the list, but apparently it's important" Naru gave a nod getting up and grabbing his notebook from the desk, walking past Mai he stopped and placed a hand on her shoulder. They both exited the room together but as Naru went over to the sofa to talk to the customers Mai walked over to Lin's room and knocked on the door.

"Lin we have customers." She called in before continuing her walk to the kitchen.

5 minutes later Mai entered the lounge area with a tray, carefully balancing 5 cups of tea. Setting it down on the table she began to serve it to the guests before Naru and Lin.
"I don't want any thank you." Rina stated sternly looking up at Mai with a passive face.

"Ok, erm I'll just take this back to the kitchen." Mai replied only to be stopped when she was about to get up.

"I think we've waited long enough, I'm sure it can wait." Rina announced her eyes closed so she missed the glare Naru sent her way.

"All right then, tell us why you require our services." Naru asked Natsuo who quickly swallowed his tea before placing on the coaster.

"Right, well I am the owner of a large mansion on the outskirts of Shibuya, it was handed down to me from my aunt who passed away a few month ago, but you see I have no use for it as it is too large for me and besides myself and my wife have a house which we love and do not want to leave. It was suggested that I should restore the house and open it to the public to show the details and décor…you see no one has lived there for hundreds of years, however ever since the renovations have started, strange things have begun to happen; pictures on the wall are moved or turned upside down, paint has been strewn across the floors and walls, there have also been accounts of children's footsteps and laughter being heard from within the house along with the sighting of an older man walking around the house smirking at the workers." Natsuo explained and watched Naru as he jotted down notes in his notebook.

"I see, these seem like minor problems for which do not need addressing, at the moment I'm not overly interested in this case." Naru stated looking up from his book and watched as Natsuo looked down in resignation at his words while Rina looked up at Naru in annoyance

"You do not understand, this house is being opened to the public in less than two weeks, we cannot afford for anymore children to go missing or we'll be shut down!" Rina exclaimed standing up from the sofa, glaring at Naru and Lin who looked back at her instantly more interested.

"What do you mean missing children?" Mai asked glancing between Natsuo and Rina. Natsuo sighed and looked down sadly.

"My grandchildren like to come and visit the house while I'm working on it, as does a lot of the workers children….sometimes they go missing for hours on end sometimes even days before they show up bruised with their clothes all ripped, when we ask them what happened they say they were playing hide and seek in the house with some children, who no one knows anything about, but they have no memories of why their clothes were ripped or they were bruised." Natsuo explained as he began to wring his hands out again.

"I see, why have you not come here sooner then?" Naru asked after a moment or two, which; to his surprise caused the elderly man to cry.

"My youngest Granddaughter, Eri, has been missing for nearly a week now we've almost given up hope then I found out about your organization and what you can do and we're all hoping that you can find her and stop this madness." Natsuo explained through his tears as he looked up at Naru almost begging him to say yes.

Naru glanced at Lin who was as impassive as ever, then at Mai who was looking at him almost pleading him to take the case.

"I know what you're thinking Mai, and I'm not sure…I don't want anything to happen to you or the baby." Naru stated in English, much to the confusion of Natsuo while Rina remained with her eyes closed.

"I know Naru…but this little girl needs to be found and this does need to stop." Mai replied also in English. Naru sighed and gave a nod, knowing Mai was correct, he knew from the moment Natsuo mentioned children being involved Mai would jump on the chance and wouldn't take no for an answer.

"We'll take the case" Naru announced after a moment's pause and watched as Natsuo's face lit up in delight along with Mai's. "We'll be there tomorrow evening, please leave all the details with Mai and she will tell you what you will need to prepare."

With that Naru and Lin stood up and made their way back to their respective offices and closed the door behind them. Meanwhile Mai walked over to her desk as Natsuo and Rina followed her.

"Thank you so much Miss Taniyama, here is all the information you will be needed I am sure." Natsuo told Mai happily as Rina ripped off a piece of paper from her notepad and handed it over to Mai who glanced over the address and phone numbers.

"Thank you, I'm glad we could be of help; as Naru mentioned we will be needing a few things prepared for tomorrow they include; a large room we can use as a base to set up the equipment and we will need 4 rooms one with a small extra bed as one of our members has a 5 year old son and that should be all." Mai explained with a smile as she also jotted this information down on her note pad and handed it to Natsuo who gave a nod and handed it onto Rina.

"All preparations shall be done by tomorrow morning at 9 o'clock we expect your arrival at 9:30 sharp." Rina announced as she walked over to the door and waited for Natsuo to open the door, which he hurriedly did. Rina walked out and left with not so much as a nod while Natsuo bowed his head slightly and left the room shutting the door behind him.

Mai sighed, folded her arms on top of the table and placed her head on top of her arms. She could honestly say that Rina scared Mai more so than Lin when she first met him. She sat like that for a little while before unwinding one of her arms and placing it on her stomach, which seemed to calm her down slightly.

"Mai." A worried voice suddenly said from above her and she looked up quickly to see Naru standing above her looking down at her worriedly.

"I'm fine I think Miss Yoshizawa scared me more than I realized." She laughed sitting up and handing Naru the information she had been given. Naru read over it quickly and gave a nod.

"Don't let her get to you, can you call around and see who is available?" he asked to which Mai gave a nod.

Naru Mai got started with phoning around the group, managing to confirm Ayako, Bou, Masako and Yasuhara. John was still in Australia and would be for a few more days but he would join them when he returned.

Mai was almost buzzing; this case was the first for a few months now and she found herself excited to see what would happen… although she couldn't help but feel slightly anxious about things; she had never been the lucky one on these cases but hopefully things would be different this time.

At 9:30 the next morning the gang; consisting of Ayako, Bou, Daichi, Masako, Yasuhara, Luella and Martin, stood outside the mansion either staring up in awe or looking up with an expression of 'seen it' on their faces.

"Thank you all for coming!" Natsuo announced as he ran down the front steps to meet them, Rina walking down the steps behind him.

"This house is amazing" Bou stated before holding out a hand to the man "I'm Hosho Takigawa, this is my Wife Ayako and our son Daichi, over there is Osamu Yasuhara, Masako Hara and finally Luella and Martin Davies."

Natsuo took Bou's hand and smiled towards everyone shaking all their hands in turn.

"It's nice to meet you all I am Natsuo Shimazaki and this is my assistant Yoshizawa Rina, we cannot thank you enough, now you'll follow us we'll show you where we've set up for you." Natsuo announced as he started to lead the

The group started to follow Natsuo and Rina into the house, as Mai went to follow she felt a hand grab her trousers, she looked down and saw Daichi hiding behind her legs staring out across the front garden.

"What's the matter Daichi?" Mai asked bending down to the child's level

"They want to play with me and I don't want to…" Daichi asked pointing across the gardens. Mai frowned and looked out to where the young boy was pointing and saw two small children; a boy and a girl, what struck Mai was the fact that the children were wearing very old fashioned clothes, they stood waving wildly towards Daichi calling "Come and play hide and seek with us!" at this Mai picked up Daichi and stared at the children.

"Mai!" Naru's voice called from the top of the steps as he watched her stare out across the gardens holding Daichi protectively; he walked back down to her.

Mai looked up at the sound of her name before looking back over to where they had seen children only to find them gone.

"What's the matter?" Naru asked reaching her.

"Two children were standing over there wanting Daichi to play with them….but they've vanished." Mai explained to Naru who looked over to where Mai was indicating.

"I see, Daichi I want you to stay away from them ok?" Naru asked the young boy who gave a nod quickly.

Mai placed him down and he started to run up the stairs after his mum and dad, leaving Mai alone with Naru.

"This might have been a bad idea." Naru stated watching Daichi.

"I was just thinking the same thing….This is probably the one time I wish it was me the ghost's were after" Mai muttered, Naru grabbed her hand and turned her towards him.

"Don't say that, we just need to keep someone with Daichi at all times either you or his parents." Naru stated to which Mai gave a nod and they both walked up the stairs.

There we go! We have a case ^ ^ I hope you think it's ok we struggled to think of a good one that was different…. Thank you all for the reviews!
Please R&R
StrawberryFairy and Clippedninja
x