A.N. Finally this one started to work again. I got caught up with creepy clowns and massive insecurity.

Ah well, I still have no confidence in my ability to write comedy, but hopefully this will still be fun to read. This is intended to be silly, so there will likely be some stupid parts. Same characters, but not the same time-line or GH universe as Echoes. This is a happier fluffier place.

Thanks to everyone who reviewed the first chapter. Sorry you had to wait so long for an update. This might have some slight spoilers because time-wise it is set after the anime ends. I'm not planning on being excessive with them, but spoilery things might be mentioned in passing.

I keep mentioning this, but Ghost Hunt belongs to Fuyumi Ono. I'm just playing in her world.

Adventures in Dating: A Ghost Hunt fan fiction

Chapter Two: A Tale of Two Dates

Earlier that Night

It had started out as a more conventional type of date. Takigawa had intended to take Ayako out to dinner and then maybe to a movie she had mentioned wanting to see. He had been working late night gigs all week and was too tired to be more creative with his pick of activities. The half formed plans had changed though when they unexpectedly spied their secretive boss.

Ayako had suggested a trendy restaurant in Shibuya, and that is where they had been headed. The restaurant just happened to be close to the SPR offices. They had been stopped at a traffic light when Ayako had pointed out a familiar black clad figure walking across the street.

"Hey...Isn't that Naru?"

Seeing him out at that time of night—it was early evening—wasn't so odd; they knew he lived in the area. It was odd to see him dressed so casually though. While his clothes were still black, he was wearing jeans with his trademark long sleeved black shirt and looked more like a normal teenager than usual.

"I wonder where he's going?" Ayako mused. If it had been anyone else but Naru, she would have assumed he was going out to do something social at this particular hour on a Saturday night.

Takigawa shrugged and idly drummed his fingers on the steering wheel. It was slightly weird to think of the young director of SPR actually having any sort of a social life. Scratch that, it was extremely weird. What did the uber serious paranormal researcher do on his own time anyway? The germ of an idea started to form in his mind. He glanced at Ayako and raised one eyebrow.

"Want to follow him and see?"

He wasn't surprised to see her grin in reply. They really did think alike—it was one of the reasons they got along so well.

"Hell yes," she said. "I would love to find out some dirt on him."

Takigawa had obligingly driven around the block and had begun their covert intelligence gathering operation. They had been disappointed at first because Naru merely walked to the SPR office. It wasn't fun at all to spy on him if he was just going to work. Then things had gotten interesting when the teen unexpectedly borrowed the black company van from out of the parking lot.

"Huh," Takigawa said. "I didn't know he had a license. Did you?"

Ayako shook her head. "No. I find this highly suspicious."

They had decided to keep following their boss. Speculation as to his possible actions kept them thoroughly entertained.

"He must be hiding something," Ayako theorized. "Do you think has a secret girlfriend?"

"Why would he hide it though?"

She rolled her eyes at him. "Maybe for the same reason we haven't announced anything, hmm?"

"But we aren't exactly hiding anything...we are just maintaining 'strategic secrecy'," he said in an eerily accurate imitation of Naru.

Ayako gasped in mock horror. "Don't you dare," she said between giggles. "If you start wearing all black, I am dumping you."

"But I look good in black." He dodged the jab she aimed at his head. "Careful woman," he cautioned. "He'll notice us if we swerve all over the road."

Ayako shot him a slightly annoyed glance but stopped her violent actions. Takigawa suspected she was just saving it for later. She was a little too feisty at times, but he liked that about the tempestuous redhead.

"Maybe he has a boyfriend instead," she said thoughtfully, continuing their earlier conversation. "That would explain why he was never interested in me. He didn't much like going out with Masako either."

He burst out laughing at the idea. Takigawa had noticed too many covert glances aimed at a certain brown haired girl (when the boss thought no one was paying attention) to believe his interests strayed from the opposite sex. It was more likely that Ayako—lovely as she was—was just too old to interest the teen. Not wanting to risk death—he was trying to drive after all—Takigawa wisely kept that thought to himself.

"Naru?! No way. I think he probably considers relationships to be a waste of time. Wasn't Masako-chan blackmailing him or something? I don't think you can blame him for not appreciating that."

Ayako snorted. "That's true enough," she said grudgingly. "I suppose there is just no accounting for taste," she added with a flip of her long red hair.

Takigawa had no doubts as to whose taste was being called into question. Ayako was easily as vain as she was beautiful. "I said you were hot the first day we met," he reminded her with a grin.

"I remember. I thought you were a horribly perverted fallen monk."

He caught one of her hands and kissed it. "And now?"

"Now I know you are a horribly perverted monk," she said with an answering grin.

The van they were following made a sudden right turn after unexpectedly veering across a lane of traffic without the use of turn signals. Takigawa frowned and quickly got into the correct lane to turn. (He did make sure to use the turn signals.) He had almost forgotten the purpose of this drive.

"No wonder Lin always drives," Ayako said, wide eyed after watching a car almost skid into the back of the van.

"Maybe he knows we are following him and is trying to get away."

"Or he wasn't paying attention and almost missed the exit."

He raised one eyebrow. "The boy genius miss something obvious like an exit sign? Never!" he said pretending to be shocked.

"He misses other things that are equally obvious," Ayako said with a smirk. "I don't think he has any idea how much Mai likes him. If I were her, I'd have given up on him long ago."

Takigawa almost mentioned his suspicions concerning the validity of her statement—he was pretty sure Naru wasn't quite as clueless as she assumed—but decided he didn't want to discuss Mai dating anyone. He didn't want to think of any male taking advantage of the very innocent, and very cute, young girl. It would probably take years for anything to happen between those two—neither of them seemed inclined to act on whatever was going on between them. By the time they managed to figure it out, Mai would be older, and he wouldn't feel so over protective—maybe.

"That boy is much more likely to run his own crime ring than to have a secret relationship. I could see him heading up an elite group of criminals," he said in an effort to change the subject. The dark street they were driving along was in a slightly bad neighborhood which was what put the idea in his head.

His comment made Ayako snicker. "Like a mafia boss? Or better yet an evil genius bent on world domination? He probably marks people for death with his 'glare of doom'. Lin is his enforcer who kills people by remote sound waves he triggers while typing," she agreed solemnly, and then they both laughed again.

About that time, the van they were following turned onto another street they recognized. Both had been there before. It shouldn't have been such a surprise to see the apartment complex Naru finally stopped at—especially considering observations both of them had made regarding the two people in question—but it was.

"Eh? Isn't this where..." Takigawa began.

His voice trailed off as the girl that lived there bounced down the stairs and met Naru about half way between the building and the street. If their boss' casual clothes were suspicious, Mai's dressier than usual ones were doubly so. The cheerful part timer was wearing a short shimmery pink dress that showed off her figure and left her arms and shoulders bare except for thin straps. She had on silver ballet flats and was wearing a little more makeup than usual. She looked very pretty and more grown up than they were accustomed to seeing her. While it wasn't outrageous—the dress was close fitting, but still fairly modest—everything about her outfit suggested she was dressed up for a date.

They both stared in silence as their teen coworkers spoke for a moment and then walked together back towards the SPR van. There were no obvious signs of affection between the two—they didn't even talk long, and Mai looked irritated like whatever he had said to her had pissed her off—but the fact that they were going somewhere together outside of work was highly suspect.

"Oh. My. God," Ayako said and grinned. This...this was much better than anything she thought they might discover on their spying mission. This could possibly yield enough embarrassing material to put the brat in his place for once. She had never won a verbal argument with him, and the idea of having something solid she could tease him about was delicious.

Takigawa felt strangely shocked, even though he had just been contemplating the possibility of those two being together sometime in the—distant, far distant, dammit—future. Was his adopted daughter—his Little Girl—actually dating her boss? The idea bothered him on several levels. He decided the young man would need a strong talking to if that was the case. His semi-grumpy and confused parental feelings made the drive out to the isolated house a bit less fun than the one that preceded it.

Ayako, however, was in good spirits and cackled almost the entire way.

Back to the Present

Hell was a very apt description for the party. The house was hot and a bit too dark, extremely loud and filled with writhing shadowy figures that Naru could imagine would be at home in a Hieronymus Bosch painting. Well maybe it wasn't quite that bad, he mentally amended. But it was bad enough.

With the exception of his brother, Naru had never spent much time with people his own age. He had never wanted to. Naru had been more comfortable associating with adults since he was a small child—probably because he thought like them. Teenagers as a whole, though there were exceptions like Yasuhara, seemed too illogical and immature in contrast—too emotional by far—and he rarely had anything in common with them. His life had been harsh and too serious for him to waste time indulging in frivolous activities. There was too much work and research that needed to be done.

Nothing he had observed so far at this party had changed his opinion. Most of the people appeared to be inebriated to some degree—few of them were twenty either, so they were underage drunks—and they acted even more idiotic as a result. Mai, despite her annoying quirks, really was mature compared to most of her peers—no doubt that was the reason he usually didn't mind his assistant's company

She was irritating him now because she refused to let go of his hand. Naru never did insipid things like hand holding given the choice—the excessive contact made him uncomfortable. He also had to stop and at least nod politely with every person she chose to talk to. Normally that would have been irritating, but not too bothersome—he had sufficient social skills to interact in any company. However Mai was being hit on by almost every guy she chatted with—to be fair, she seemed unaware of this—and he was getting tired of it. She had specifically asked him not to embarrass her by making caustic remarks, so he held his tongue, but the effort showed on his usually blank face.

"Hey," she hissed after pulling him into yet another stuffy overcrowded room. "Stop scowling."

He frowned at her—no doubt increasing his scowl—and rolled his eyes. "How am I supposed to look then?"

"Just...stop looking so disapproving. These people are my friends and you are freaking them out. This is supposed to be fun. Pretend that you actually want to be here with me."

Naru sighed and resisted the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose. He could feel a headache looming. Despite what she had just said, he had seen no signs of anyone "freaking out." If they did, good; it meant they were getting the message. Mai had coerced him into agreeing to this by claiming she didn't want to "be harassed by random guys." In direct contrast to that claim, she had chosen to wear a short rose colored dress that was guaranteed to draw the eye of every male she passed. It wasn't his fault if he found her mixed messages annoying. He expected her to be clueless, but really, she was old enough to have more common sense. Maybe if she acted a little more like she wanted to be there with him instead of chatting with every guy she met, he wouldn't be scowling. That last thought caught him by surprise and annoyed him even more. His initial impression that attending this party was a bad idea had just been confirmed. It wasn't like him—at all—to care about such inconsequential things.

"I thought you picked me because I am scary," he reminded her.

Mai rolled her eyes. "I only want you to be scary towards a few people...not everyone."

Naru sighed again. He didn't know what to say to that. Despite being a genius, he was discovering he had no more luck understanding how a woman's mind worked than any other man. Mai kept making contradictory illogical statements and then reversing them. What the hell did she actually want? He was saved from having to answer by the appearance of more of Mai's friends. She finally let go of his hand to hug them, so at least that small irritation was resolved. The three girls were shrilly greeting her, and they looked vaguely familiar. Hopefully one of them would be the birthday girl, and they could leave soon.

Across the room a group of teenage boys were closely observing Taniyama and the dark haired boy she had brought as an escort. All of them were tall and known throughout the school for being tough. Most of them were members of the school's kendo team.

"I don't know. He looks kind of goth to me," one of them said. "She seems too cheerful to like that type."

One of his buddies snorted. "Taniyama looks hot though. It's obvious she dressed up for some reason. He got pissed when I told her she looked good too."

"Who wouldn't get mad?" another asked. "Damn. If a girl that looked like that was with me, I wouldn't let her even look at other guys."

The leader of the kendo club, one Tanaka Ryuu, kept his opinions to himself as he sipped his drink. The object of his affections did indeed look lovely tonight. It didn't matter to him if Taniyama-san had a boyfriend. He was confident in his ability to woo her away. The guy she had brought was tall, but slender—obviously he didn't do anything like kendo for exercise. Tanaka was pretty sure he could take him easily in a fight if it came to that—not that he thought it would. Unlike some of his friends, he did think things through. Taniyama-san would not respond well to anything like an open fight. He would have to somehow get the guy alone and intimidate him. His gray eyes narrowed as he studied the couple and started to scheme.

Outside, the two older members of SPR were still wondering what sort of excuse would be believable enough to gain them entrance to the party. It was doubtful that Naru would let any sort of spying go without a harsh penalty of some sort. Even if he was only eighteen, their boss was formidable and not someone to be crossed lightly. That knowledge didn't deter them. It only meant they would have to be careful to not get caught.

"Yo! Norio. That you, man?"

Takigawa turned in surprise when he heard someone call out that name. No one called him that except when he was performing. He grimaced inwardly when he recognized the short thirty-ish blond haired man who was walking around the red SUV towards them.

Watanabe Daiki was the drummer of his band. Takigawa had spent enough time working with him to realize the man was a borderline pedophile. The drummer dyed his spiky hair blond and expertly copied the fashion styles of more famous musicians. He was a great showman and was easily the most popular member of the band when it came to the ladies. Daiki was also the only band member who actually dated their teenage fans. In fact he had both arms around suspiciously young looking girls even now.

Eech. We really should kick him out, Takigawa thought. Too bad Daiki was such a good drummer. His flashy style was backed with real talent and drew people to their shows. It was a dilemma the other band members had all discussed more than once.

"Yo," he said back, a fake smile on his face. Why wasn't he surprised to find Daiki at a large party of teenagers? Come to think of it, the man had mentioned a party yesterday and invited them all. Had it actually been this party?

"Oh ho...I see you brought the old lady too," Daiki said with a leer in Ayako's direction.

He seemed totally oblivious to the frigid glare the redhead shot him. She also despised Daiki—enough that she rarely went to gigs because he would also be there.

"You going inside?" he continued with a nod towards the building. "I didn't think any of y'all would actually come."

Ayako opened her mouth to tell the rude little man off. She was surprised when Houshou took her hand and shook his head at her. She raised one eyebrow, fully prepared to transfer her ire to her boyfriend.

"Sure. We were just waiting for someone we knew," he said with a charming smile directed at the odious drummer.

Daiki laughed and then started walking towards the house with his teen escorts. Ayako was still angry and not pleased when Houshou pulled her after them.

"What..." she began in an angry whisper.

"It's our chance to get inside," he whispered back. "Don't look a gift toad in the mouth, Eh?"

She shook her head at the thought of pretending to be there with the drummer. The little man offended her on so many levels. On the other hand, it did get them into the house. Apparently "Norio" also had quite a few fans among the teenagers there. They were in—now all they had to do was find the couple they had come to spy on.

So this one ended up being mostly Ayako and Bou-san. Those two just took the chapter and ran with it.

Chapter Three Preview:

My ideas involve more Mai POV—there was none here. More Tanaka-san and his kendo thugs...er...buddies, the reappearance of Kuroda-san (anyone remember her?), a ouija board (the US version, not the version used in the anime), and alcohol consumption. The police might even be called. O.O;;