Hello! Here's chapter 6.

Oh Dear God. I feel so horrible beyond words. Now that it's off my chest, I'm going to tell you why. I haven't updated in forever! I MEAN FOREVER! Okay. Spaz moment over. Maybe if I don't tell you that this chapter has been written and ready to post for over a year, you won't hurt me as bad?

But despite that, I think I let this sit long enough, and I hope everyone is pleased with this chapter. And the next three which are already written and proofed by myself, though I wouldn't object to a BETA. I just don't know how to F—request one. Heh… So if you see any mistakes, point them out. I can take a good con crit beating. It's flames that make my eye twitch. Mostly because they can't spell when they're flaming. lmao

Disclaimer – I would never own Ghost Hunt. I would, of course, borrow the characters for a non-profiting fanfiction and mess around with their lives. That I can do. So enjoy the story.

Chapter 6 – For Life Is Precious

Mai looked at herself in the mirror. There was no hiding her condition anymore. She looked like a whale!

"It's been eight months..." Mai mused, twirling a piece of her now elbow-length hair around a slim finger. Eight months since that horrible night, seven months since she fled.

"Naru..." Mai whispered, feeling a tug at her heart. She kept weekly contact with the others, but had yet to hear from her narcissistic ex-employer. The person she wanted most... didn't want her.

'Mai...' Naru just heard John hang up the phone from yet another call from the not-so-missing person.

Because Naru knew where she lived now. He had known for four months now, but had yet to share this with anyone, not even Lin. It was his secret, though he had yet gone to see her.

He missed her. She was a good worker, made the best tea he had ever had in Japan, and she was extremely useful in a case, if she was dreaming.

'That is not the only reason...' Naru's conscious whispered, and he shoved it down. He didn't need to remember the smell of her perfume, long gone from the office now. Or the way she would laugh when one of the others said something to cheer her up. The way she relied on him to keep her safe, though there were other people to do so, she wanted him.

'Why is she gone?...'

"Hold on Mai!"

"It... Hurts..."

Mai was lying on the floor, a few customers surrounding her, and Megumi was quickly talking on the phone, trying to arrange an ambulance to come. Finally, she got off the phone, and knelt next to Mai.

"The ambulance is on its way. Take deep breaths, nice and even."

"I... Can't! It hurts! Naru!"

"Come on Mai... Copy me. In... Out... In... Out..."

Mai tried, oh did she try. But as another contraction ran through her body, she cried out for Naru again.

"Mai, the ambulance is here. Listen to what the paramedics tell you, alright? I'll be following in my car."

"K...Kay Ouraka-san..." Mai whimpered, and just then the paramedics burst through the door, wheeling a stretcher. They quickly got the heavily pregnant girl on, and loaded her into the ambulance.

"Naru..."

Mai smiled down at the small bundle in her arms. Tiny hands, tiny feet, tiny everything!

"She's so precious!" Mai whispered, and Megumi smiled.

"And she's yours. To love, to care for. I warn you, it won't be easy, but I think you will do a good job Mai-chan."

"Yes, my little gem."

"You gave her a good name. Shinju Taniyama."

"She's my pearl, my own."

"They said you can leave today," Megumi brought up, and Mai smiled.

"That would be wonderful.

They signed the papers, took the papers they needed, and Megumi drove them back to Mai's little place above the bookstore.

"When Shinju-chan gets bigger, you will need a new place. That apartment isn't big enough for both of you when she gets school age."

"You're right, but it will do for now?"

"Yes, it will."

"Good, because I will have to start saving."

"Will you ever go back? To Tokyo, that is?"

"I... want to. Greatly. But I'm still afraid." Mai admitted, and Megumi frowned.

"Are you afraid of your friends? Of your past job? Or are you afraid of this 'Naru' guy?"

Mai frowned. What was she afraid of? Her friends, though they didn't know about Shinju, didn't mean she feared them... She loved ghost hunting, though it was a dangerous occupation. Naru... She was afraid of. Not of him, exactly. She was afraid she would still be in love with him. That he would reject her, because of Shinju.

"I'm not afraid, of my friends, or of my last job. But I loved Naru. I knew he didn't love me, and I'm afraid to see his reaction to this whole situation."

"Naru was your last boss?"

"Yes. I haven't talked to him since before I left Tokyo. All I did was leave a note saying I left, and that I quit, basically."

"Mai-chan. Do you have his number?"

"No. I don't want to talk to him. All he ever did was put me down. If I talk to him, I'm afraid I would slip something. He always did that to me."

Megumi pulled up to the bookstore, and helped Mai out of the car, and got out the car-seat carrier with Shinju in it. They dropped the subject, and went inside, where Shinju was placed in her small rocking crib.

"Thank you Ouraka-san, for everything."

"You are very welcome, Mai-chan."

Mai had been given paid vacation for a couple months, to care for Shinju. Though it was only two weeks in, Mai had started having problems. She was having her 'dreams' again.

Naru was still in them – embarrassingly enough – and she kept seeing a woman crying.

She knew what it meant. She was being haunted.

Well, please review, I love to get them!

Happy Readings!

ALT