Authors notes: Hey guys, we're really sorry for the delay we've both been really busy with school as I(Strawberry) have test coming up and I (Clipped) have just started a new school year. We hope you like this chapter and please continue to review!

Disclaimer: We don't own Ghost Hunt, only our original characters

Chapter 4

The base room was larger than they had expected, usually they were in a small box room stuffed at the far end of the house but this time they were in the large, grand drawing room situated at the front of the house. Walking around the house so far they could see the was still some renovations in progress, although the drawing room seemed to be finished to perfection; with an exquisite suite, shelves upon shelves of books covered one of the walls around the large bay window, that lead out to the front court yard. The finishing point was the large crystal chandelier that hung elegantly in the centre of the ceiling decorates by a simply detailed, yet beautiful design that fanned across the ceiling.

Bou, Lin and Yasuhara were setting up the monitors along the spare wall while Ayako entertained Daichi who was bubbling with excitement and asking countless times to go and look around; to which Ayako replied he had to wait for daddy to finish. Luella and Martin were currently talking to the owner while Naru was Looking along the book shelves taking in the names of the books, smirking a few times when he realised he had read them.
Mai sat on the sofa, having been told to do so by Naru, watching as the others worked with a stroke of guilt at not being able to help in any way, thinking this she gave a sigh which managed to catch the others attentions.

"Hey why isn't Mai helping?" Bou asked suddenly as if it had just dawned on him.
"Yeah, isn't this her job?" Yasuhara asked equally as surprised as Bou. Mai looked around the room nervously to find everyone staring at her waiting for a response. She looked down with a blush.

"Um…well…" she began only to be cut off by Naru who had moved closer to her as he glared at the group.

"Because I told her not to, has anyone got a problem with that?" he asked sharply, glancing momentarily at Lin who looked back at him knowingly.

Everyone looked away quickly and carried on what they had been doing, muttering slightly that they had no problem.

Mai looked after them as they continued and felt another stab of guilt; she quickly looked away and glanced around the room and a thought hid her…who was missing from the room?

"Hey...where'd Madoka?" She asked after a little while which caused Bou to turn and laugh at her.

"Really Mai?" He asked with a laugh as Mai found herself becoming more and more annoyed. "She hasn't been here all day!"

"Well I'm sorry" Mai snapped standing up from the chair. Everyone stopped and looked up at this and watched as Mai walked to the door and left merely stating she was getting tea.

The remaining occupants looked at each other in confusion while Lin, Masako and Naru gave each other a knowing look.

"Back to work, I don't pay you to hang around staring into space." Naru stated after a sigh as he walked over the desk, deciding that for now it was best to let Mai be alone for a little while until she calmed down.

Mai stormed down the hallway angrily as she thought over what had happened; having done so she stopped suddenly. Why had she gotten so angry? Bou was merely being Bou and yet she had snapped at him in such a manner...

Looking down at her stomach she placed a hand softly onto it and sighed. "Is this going to be a regular thing now?" she said softly.

The sound of children's laughter filled the hallway causing Mai to freeze and slowly turn to look behind her. Her eyes widened as she saw 2 faces peering around the corner to her, they were familiar faces; of a boy and a girl both looking between the ages of 10 and 12. They were giggling as they watched Mai but not in a sinister way, but a typical childish giggle when they were excited about something.

"Hi, I'm Mai who are you?" Mai asked having recovered from the sight as she took a step towards the children. They looked at each other and grinned before turning and running down the corridor away from Mai, laughing the whole way. "Wait!" Mai yelled as she followed.

Running along the long corridor, Mai was being exceptionally careful not to trip over anything as she kept her sights on the two children who remained a good distance ahead of her. She has realised that they were trying to show her something, otherwise they probably would have disappeared and that knowledge alone kept her running after them, even though she could feel herself getting tired.

She continued to follow them until she found herself exiting a set of grand doors that lead out onto the vast area that was in fact the grounds of the house. Running carefully down the wide stone steps she continued across the freshly cut, green grass towards what looked like a round wall of green that seemed to go on for miles in both directions.

Stopping close to it she realised it was in fact a maze and after hesitating for a moment she walked into the maze, looking around as she was faced with another wall of green, a pathway leading both left and right. She closed her eyes and listened to the sound of laughter, she wasn't disappointed as a few moments later she heard laughter coming from her left. Opening her eyes she ran down the left pathway until she caught sight of the girls grey dress as it swept around the corner.

After following the children trough the twists and turns the Maze sent her down she finally came to a halt when she saw the children standing at the end of the path, watching Mai with smiles on their faces.

"Why are we here?" Mai asked as she tried to catch her breath.

"The game has finished for today," The little boy said after a moment, much to Mai's surprise.

"It's time for the players to go home now, please tell her mummy that we are sorry we kept her away for so long and that we made sure she had fun" The girl added as she grabbed the boys hand and together they skipped past Mai and back the way they had come, but by the time Mai had looked back they were gone. Frowning slightly she tried to take in their words. A look of realization came to her and she continued the way she had been going.

She found herself in the centre of the maze where a little water fountain sat in the middle of a neatly planted garden. In the corner was a small lover's seat, covered by a wooden canopy, on the seat was a small figure and staring at it Mai walked towards it. Walking closer she saw it was a little girl and her eyes widened before she ran over to the little girl.

"Eri...it's time to wake up." She said shaking the little girls shoulder as she knelt in front of her. After a few moments the little girl stirred and sat up rubbing her eyes sleepily. "Hey sweetie, you must be Eri."

"Who are you?" the little girl asked before looking around. "Where am I?"

"I'm Mai and your all right, let's get you back to your mummy and grandpa they have been worried about you." Mai stated holding out her arms for the little girl to climb into, which after some hesitation she did. Standing up Mai turned to walk back the way she had come, only to instantly remember she was in a maze and had completely no idea the way she had come.

"Mai...are we lost?" Eri asked nervously which only added to Mai's sudden panic, why hadn't she taken more notice of the way she had come.

"Mai!" a voice called from close by and Mai felt like all her prayers had been answered at once.

"Over here!" She replied and moments later Naru and Lin entered the centre of the maze closely followed by Bou who was feeding a roll of string behind them as a trail.

"Why did you run off like that?" Naru asked anger showing in his voice along with concern.

"How did you know where I was?" Mai asked curiously as no one had seen her take off.

"Lin saw you on one of the screens you seemed to be following something." Naru replied to which Mai gave a nod.

"The two ghost children from before...they led me here and I found Eri sleeping on the bench overt there." Mai replied nodding to the lover's seat.

It was then that Naru noticed the little girl in Mai's arms and his gaze softened when he saw the scared look in her eye.

"Hello Eri, we heard you had gone missed where have you been?" Naru asked gently but also bluntly enough to cause Mai to sigh.

"I was playing with my friends we had a great time, I wish the day didn't go so fast." Eri replied happily only to sulk slightly.

"I see, Eri you are aware you have been missing for almost a week right?" Naru pressured as everyone sent glances to each.

"Nuh-uh we only started playing this morning!" Eri replied shaking her head vigorously.

"I thought so." Naru said with a sigh before turning to Lin and whispering to him "The ghosts seem to have blocked her memories somehow." Lin gave a nod at this as Naru turned back to Eri and lowered himself to her level in Mai's arms.

"Eri, I want you to look at me and nowhere else and think about what you did with your friends today ok?" He asked Eri who apprehensively gave a nod which Naru returned with a small smile.

Placing a hand on the little girls head he stared at her. Everything went fine for the first few minutes Eri kept smiling at the memories...however everything changed suddenly.

Eri's face turned paler and her eyes widened before she suddenly burst into to tears, screaming and crying as she struggled in Mai's arms; who tried desperately to hold onto the girl only to let go suddenly when a elbow hit her rib cage and she hissed rubbing the now throbbing spot while Naru caught the girl before handing her over to Lin who calmed her instantly by pressing a finger on her neck.

"What was that about?" Mai asked still rubbing her ribcage as she looked over at the now unconscious child.

"All her memories of the last week came back at once" Naru explained simply with a sigh. "And apparently Eri hasn't had as fun a time as she thought she did."

"No duh." Bou said looking at the girl painfully almost as if he was imagining Daichi in that position.

Following the string out of the maze they walked back across the grass towards the house, Mai glanced up at her fiancé as they walked out the maze, a though going through her mind.

"Hey Naru...how did you find the right way through the maze?" She asked him and watched him smirk.

"Anyone with a brain would have looked at the map of the grounds before running off into them, which is why we are coming back with one less person than we left with, but don't worry I'm sure Yasuhara will find his way out eventually." He explained when Mai looked up at him in annoyance only to laugh nervously at the thought of Yasu wondering around the maze for days, almost hearing him yell

"SAVE ME~~~~~"

"Eri!" the cry caught everyone's attention as a lady ran down the stairs over to the group as they neared them, a group of people following close behind including Natsuo Shimazaki and Rina Yoshizawa. The lady scooped Eri up from Lin's hold and held her tightly to her

"Thank you, thank you so much for finding my daughter!" The lady said tearfully as she bowed to the group as she held Eri.

"This is Yuriko, my daughter and Eri's mother; we can't thank you enough for everything." Natsuo explained also bowing.

"It's not over yet, there is something going on here that these young spirits are trying to fix." Naru explained to which Natsuo, Yuriko and Rina looked at him in confusion. It was then that Eri woke up and instantly started crying again.

"Eri, baby what's wrong?" Yuriko asked worriedly, noticing she was in her mothers arms Eri held onto her tightly sobbing "mummy" over and over. "What happened to her?" Yuriko asked the group who looked away uncertain.

"We are as yet unsure, we only know that the children lead Mai to Eri." Naru explained pointing to Mai who stepping forwards giving a nod.

"Do you mean to say that these children are to blame for this?" Rina asked suddenly in a cold, stern voice which caused Mai to jump and look up at her.

"No I don't." Mai replied after a moment which caused Naru to look at his fiancé curiously.

"Why is that Mai, did you sense something?" He asked to which she gave a slow nod.

"I don't know why but...I just feel that they aren't to blame here...and that they are somehow helping." She explained.

"I don't care WHAT they are doing, I don't want them in my-this house a moment longer, come on Yuriko." Rina replied harshly as she walked away leading Yuriko after her who was carrying a still crying Eri.

"Please excuse Rina, she doesn't mean to be so...brutal...Please excuse me" Natsuo said softly as he watched after the three. Mai also watched them but suddenly looked back over towards the maze as she felt something. She gave a sigh and followed the others back inside.

There we go ^ ^ another chapter finished! Thank you for reading and we hope you enjoyed ^ ^
Please R&R and we'll see you next chapter
StrawberryFairy & Clipped Ninja
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