I still don't own Ghost Hunt. D8 Darn. Oh well.

…

;;Saturday, Day 1;;

"Don't you think this is a bit weird?"

Mai looked over. After a lot of persuading, Lin had managed to convince Koto to let them set up base in her house. At first, she adamantly refused to let Naru anywhere near her house, but said she didn't have any problem with the others. It took twenty minutes for Lin to reason with her, but once he did, she gave in. She gave them directions to get there, but since it had been late, they decided not to go until the next day. Naru and Lin had decided to show up later, so Takigawa (usually referred to as Monk) arrived at SPR to take Mai over. Ayako, John, and Masako were taking a different route. Now, she and Monk were standing on Koto's doorstep, just having rung the bell.

"Weird how?" she inquired.

"Rubi is obviously an intelligent spirit, but she stayed behind in this realm. Why didn't she simply pass on when she died?"

Mai nodded, picking up his train of thought. "That's true. Maybe she doesn't want to leave Koto. She did say she was protecting her."

"That's another odd thing…" Monk put a hand on his chin, thinking. "We all heard her speak quite clearly. So then why did Naru decide to play Twenty Questions? Why not just ask her to tell us the answers? It's not his style."

"That's true too…" Mai murmured. She dropped the subject, however, as the door opened. Koto looked like she hadn't gotten much sleep last night, but had put on her fake grin again.

"Thanks for coming, come on in," she said, stepping aside. "Sorry it took me so long, I didn't hear the door. I was, ah, preoccupied."

"It's fine," Mai replied, smiling. "Don't worry about it. We didn't wait long." She happened to glance down, as she was taking her shoes off, and noticed Koto's hands. They were blackened with…ink, maybe? "Koto, your hands…"

She lifted them to eye-level, grimacing. "I was working when you knocked. I didn't have a chance to wash it off my hands. It's just ink, don't worry."

"What were you working on, if I may ask?" Monk gave her his friendliest smile.

"I'm a part-time manga artist for an agency downtown," she replied. "I'm not really known that well, and my art isn't very good, but it's fun." The closest thing to a real smile flitted briefly across her face, but vanished just as quickly. "I'll show you around, if you want."

"That would be nice, thanks."

So, Koto showed them around. It was a simple two-story house, but seemed oddly larger on the inside. She'd cleared out a room on the bottom floor for base, as Lin had suggested, and said there was enough room upstairs for everyone to be mostly comfortable. As she led them back downstairs, Mai decided to ask.

"Koto, are your parents around? Are they okay with you letting us stay here?"

Koto paused, glancing up over her shoulder. "My parents are in America. I'm originally from Maine, and I moved here to stay with my grandmother on my father's side when I was ten. So, it's been about five years now. This is the house we used when we took vacations in the summer to visit. Her house is just around the corner."

"Oh, so your grandmother knows you're here?" Monk asked.

"Of course she does," Koto replied in a very strange tone. She was still looking at them with her fake smile, but it looked oddly…demented… "My grandfather is just around the corner, remember?"

Both of them stopped, a few stairs above her. She had said 'grandfather' that time…not 'grandmother'. There was…something wrong here.

"Koto…where is your grandmother?"

"The cemetery. She died last month."

Dead silence filled the staircase. Mai couldn't remember how to breathe. Her grandmother…was dead…?

"Are you living here by yourself?" Monk asked quietly.

Koto's grin widened. "Oh, no, of course not. Rubi's here, and Frostbite, and Grammie. And there are others, too. I'm not alone. I'll never be alone."

The silence persisted. Mai felt like there was something heavy sitting on her chest, crushing all the air out of her lungs and causing her heartbeat to slow. She was scared that if it persisted…her heart would stop. The pressure kept growing until Koto's face turned back into a blank slate.

"I did it again, didn't I?" She sighed through her nose. "I'm sorry. Sometimes things just…come over me. It's not that I've been possessed, because I know what I just said. It's…different."

"You said that you know how it is when you're possessed," Monk said, purposely changing the subject. "How do you know that?"

"Rubi told me what she did the first time. She always gets my permission before possessing me, but she hasn't always shared what she did while in control of my body. I guess that's how you guys wound up here." Koto raised her hands in a helpless gesture. "Well, if she thinks you're going to be important or something, I have to trust her." Koto paused, hesitating. "But to tell the truth, I'm really glad you came to help us out…even Naru. I don't know if I could handle another night in the dark by myself. There are…things I can't explain…"

"Would you like to explain it to us?" Monk asked.

Koto shook her head. "I'm only saying it once, so I'll wait until everyone arrives. Once is hard enough…I don't think I could manage two or three times."

They didn't press Koto for any more information on the subject. Instead, they switched to something else. Since Koto had yet to actually look happy in the presence of others, they tried to get a grin out of her. It wasn't as hard as they'd expected. Once Mai complimented her on how well she spoke Japanese (because she was American beforehand) Koto perked right up. It turned out that Mai was actually a huge fan of Koto's work, and that also brought her spirits up. By the time Masako, Ayako, and John arrived, Koto was in the best mood she'd been in for weeks.

Masako, upon entering the house, appeared puzzled. She kept looking back and forth, as if trying to spot something out of the corner of her eye that kept darting away whenever she looked right at it. Mai inquired about her strange behavior while John happily chatted with Koto in English.

"What's wrong, Masako?" she asked. "Do you sense anything here?"

"I can feel the presence of multiple spirits… There have to at least be seven or eight clearly defined ones, Rubi included, and dozens of others that have a faint presence. I don't feel anything evil…but I do sense mischief among their numbers."

"So they're playful?" Ayako asked sarcastically. "Give me a break. This is clearly the work of—"

"An earth spirit, we know," Monk, Masako, and Mai all groaned in unison.

Getting back to the point, Monk had an insightful question for Masako. "Does it feel like sacred ground? Not good, but not bad either?"

Masako shook her head. "No, this is not sacred ground. There are neither evil nor good intentions here, but it's not sacred. If I had to describe it, this is almost like a meeting place where spirits can gather safely and easily."

"Perhaps they're just curious because we're new," John offered, reverting back to Japanese. "Spirits usually don't reveal themselves when newcomers first arrive."

"Good point," Monk admitted. "Anyway, when did Naru say he was gonna get here?"

"Who knows," Mai sighed. "He'll show up when he wants to show up. There's no rushing Naru."

"True that," Koto added from out of sight. "Come on in here, you guys. I've got tea if you want."

They spent the better part of the next hour chatting about things unrelated to the case. It turned out that once Koto got talking, they were hard pressed to get her to stop. Nothing really happened paranormal-wise. When Naru and Lin finally did arrive, they were all business, as usual. Koto's attitude soured again, and she tried to answer direct questions as quick as possible. She gave Naru the cold shoulder until she had to explain the incidents in the house. She looked down at the table, but clearly only spoke to him and directly to him.

"Well, I get spooked easily, so I dunno if the story will creep you out or not, but whatever. The most active places are here in the kitchen, the downstairs study, and my sister's spare room. Though…a lot of stuff happens elsewhere too. I got pushed down the stairs last week, and there are voices and footsteps that go around at night." She tightened her grip on her wrist. "I try not to think about it."

"What happens in the three places you mentioned?" Naru asked.

"The study is really weird. If you look at the floorplan, it's a fairly small room, but once you walk in, it feels like it's huge. There's always this chill in the air, and there's sort of like this fog in there at night. This one time, before I really noticed all this stuff happening, I went in and I couldn't get out. It's not that the door locked or anything, it doesn't have a lock, but I physically couldn't find the door anywhere. I couldn't have been in there for more than ten minutes, but when I did find the door, the clock said I'd been gone for an hour and a half. I haven't really been in there for a while."

"And your sister's room?"

Koto hesitated. "I hardly go in there anymore either. It always smells like blood and there's this really low male voice that says stuff. He knocks on my walls at night sometimes…and I thought I saw a hand coming through the wall just the other night." She'd yet to look up and at any of them.

"What about here in the kitchen?"

"Okay, this place honestly scares the living daylight out of me. The other places make me want to run a mile away, but I can't even move when I come here at night. I just wanna break down sobbing." She hesitated, then looked up and stared Naru in the face. "I came in here once, and there was this clown. Not a real one, just a doll, but it was sitting on the counter right behind me. I didn't turn any lights on, but it was like it was glowing. I didn't really care, because this was only a few days after Rubi had…well, you know. But whatever. It was just sitting there. I stared at it for a few seconds, then went to get my water. When I turned back around, it had moved." Koto seemed to have to force herself to continue. "And I'm not just talking fell off the counter. I'm talking slid all the way down the length of the counter next to the fridge and me and grabbed a knife from the block over there. It had it in its little hand and I got the hell out of there. I ran all the way to the nearest twenty-four hour store and just wandered around all night. I've seen that thing four more times… Rubi says not to worry about it, that it won't hurt me, but there's just so far that you can trust somebody. Especially somebody who's dead." Koto gave a visible shiver. "I've barely slept since last week, when it appeared for the fifth time. And get this, I went through everything in the house, and I couldn't find a clown doll anywhere."

All she got from Naru was thoughtful silence. After waiting a few long seconds, she looked down.

"Is that all?" she asked the table.

"Yes, for now. Do you have the floorplan of this house on handy?"

"No, but I can get it for you in less than ten minutes." Koto bit her lip. "It's…in the study. Somewhere."

Naru looked to Lin, then back to Koto. "Lin will help you find it. Ten minutes?"

"Ten minutes," she repeated in a small voice. "Let's go, Lin. I'll show you where it is." Her movements toward the door seemed oddly stiff and automated, and when Koto passed Mai, Mai noticed how her eyes were bright and full of unshed fear-tears. Koto did not want to go into the study, even with Lin with her.

"Hey, can I tag along?" Mai asked, heading after them. No way was she letting the blue-scarf girl out of her sight in this house. Even with Lin along.

"Sure, tag along," Koto repeated. "I don't mind." She still didn't look like she felt very safe.

Mai drew up alongside. "Don't worry, we're not going to let anything happen to you," she assured her. "Lin and I will make sure nothing happens, okay?"

Koto gave a nervous, unstable smile. "That's…not what I'm worried about."

"Then what is it?" Lin inquired from Koto's other side.

She hesitated. "No real harm has ever come to me in the house…but I don't know what's going to happen with you lot. The ghosts or spirits or whatever they are might get violent. I know Rubi's pretty docile unless provoked, and my Grammie can't hurt a fly. Those students who got attacked by a cat spirit were assaulted by my late tabby, Frostbite. She likes the name Frosty better. She's usually okay too, but…there are others. Like the deep-voiced man and the clown…"

"Don't worry, we can handle it," Mai said, giving Koto one of her best smiles. "We've dealt with things like this before. I'm sure we can solve the mystery and get you back to living in peace. We'll make sure you don't have to be afraid of your own house anymore."

"Thanks, Mai…that means a lot." Koto stopped in front of a door, shivering again. "Well…this is the study." She slowly reached for the knob, clenching her fingers around it in a death grip. "I'll open it on three…" Mai reached out and took Koto's other hand, subconsciously telling the girl that she was still here. "One…two…three," Koto whispered, shutting her eyes and turning the knob. Without a word, Mai and Lin followed her inside, and the door shut behind them.

…

It took a while for me to finish this… D: Sorry! I'm on vacation now, so I should have a few more chapters up soon…hopefully.