Hi guys! I wasn't planning on updating for another few days, but your reviews really made a difference! I just want to thank The Night Whisperer for the awesome reviews of this story. It really makes the story worth posting! And thanks to everyone else who commented as well.

Anyways, let's get on with it!

When everyone regrouped at their base, Naru split them into groups and instructed them on which equipment to put where.

Mai ended up setting up mics in various rooms with Monk. Naru had only told them to put five per floor, since they didn't have enough for the large number rooms, so they were left to their own devices as to there to put them.

They were looking for a place to put the third mic on the first floor when Monk suddenly stopped.

"Hey, Mai? Didn't we already set up a mic in this room?" he asked, pushing open a door.

Mai peeked inside. She vaguely remembered the dark oil painting above the fireplace. "Yeah, I remember this one."

The odd thing was, there was no mic to be seen. She shrugged. "Maybe Naru came in and moved it somewhere else."

"Maybe." Monk didn't sound too convinced.

When it came time to go upstairs, Mai volunteered to lead them. "I remember which way to go," she lied. She wasn't ready to tell Monk she was hearing Gene in her head, and he didn't question her about it as she led them this way and that, up and down hallways until they miraculously arrived at the foot of the stairs.

Monk grinned and mussed her hair. "Good job, Mai."

On the third floor, Mai and Monk had just finished setting up the last mic when Gene whispered, Over there.

"Wait," Mai said, grabbing Monk's arm to stop him. "I just want to check this room out."

"What for?" he asked. "Did you have a dream about it?"

"I can't remember for certain. Just curious, I guess."

Mai opened the door. The room was the enormous library from her dream, and she decided she hadn't lied to Monk after all. Gene had said the room was important, but what was so important about it? She started walking inside.

"It's just a library, Mai," Monk said, holding her back. "Come on, Mai, let's go back. It feels strange here."

"Yeah, but… I think I need to go inside." Mai disengaged her arm from Monk's grip and slowly ventured inside. The library was small; about the size of her own bedroom, with bookshelves lining the four walls and a desk to the right. There was also a fireplace and a window seat to the left. Mai took one look at the window seat and instantly began going there.

"Over there," she said to no one in particular.

"Mai, I don't think -"

Mai's foot went right through a weak piece in the floor, and suddenly, she was falling. The floor within a two foot radius around her was caving in. She screamed and threw out a hand, scratching herself on the splintered wood before a strong, quick hand grasped her hand, stopping her fatal fall.

Mai's heart thudded wildly and she blinked the sudden, desperate tears that had sprang up before Monk grabbed her. She had thought for a second she was going to die right there, break her neck at the bottom of her fall. Naru would be so angry. She looked down. It was dark, as if it lead into some closed room with no lights.

Monk slowly pulled her up, his neck muscles straining with the effort, not bothering to waste his breath talking to her. When he had finally pulled her all the way up and deposited her on the floor, he let out the breath he had been holding in, gasping for air.

Mai sat hunched over on all fours, trembling all over. She didn't know why she had been so scared. After all, she wouldn't have broken her neck; she would only have sprained an ankle, or at the most, broken a leg. She glanced at Monk, who was panting, who had saved her, who never failed to make her laugh. She had gone against his wishes when she walked in here, and put his own life in danger in the process.

He finally got his breath at this point, and reached over to yank Mai into a hug. He crushed her against himself so she could hear his heart beating furiously.

"Don't - don't ever do that again," he whispered. "I'm scared - I'm scared one day you'll get hurt so bad and I won't be there for you."

"I'm sorry, Monk, I wasn't thinking." Tears welled up in Mai's eyes for no reason.

"It's okay, Mai." He took a trembling breath and then released it. "Let me see your hand."

Mai showed him her bleeding, splinter-filled hand. It burned whenever she moved her fingers or wrist. She cried out when Monk pulled out an especially large piece.

"You need to show this to Ayako right away," Monk declared. "We're done with the mics anyway. And no more detours."

"Okay."

Meanwhile, Masako, Ayako, and John were setting up cameras in various rooms, though there were twice as slow as Monk and Mai because they kept getting lost.

They were setting up a camera on the second floor. Masako was just turning it on when she felt someone pull a hair on her head.

"Hey!" she cried at no one in particular. She looked around. Ayako and John looked up from plugging various wires into the camera and outlet. Both of them were in front of her.

"What is it?" Ayako asked at the sound of her yell.

"I am not sure," said Masako, massaging her scalp. "It felt as if -"

Suddenly, there was a huge pressure on the front of her throat, pushing her neck backwards. It wasn't choking her, but she couldn't move forwards or the pressure became so much she was afraid her neck would snap. She tried to scream for someone, but her throat was too constricted.

"Miss Hara!" John yelled, rushing to her side as Ayako began chanting something. He fought the invisible force against Masako's throat. It vanished as Ayako completed her chant with a loud yell. Masako coughed a few times and massaged her neck to rid it of the feeling. Her throat felt dry and cold.

"Are you alright?" Ayako asked. "Are you injured?"

Masako shook her head, a hand on her throat. "No. It was just some wind."

"That was no wind! We should get back. I think that's enough cameras for now."

Back at the base, Naru finished plugging in the last computer and sat down to read over what he had written in his black journal. Mai's comment about Gene was nagging at him. Not only was he a little shocked but also worried for his brother. And he felt a little jealousy he didn't care to admit at the fact that Mai and Gene now shared the connection he had once had with his twin brother. He considered pulling out a small compact mirror he kept in his back pocket, but then decided against it. He had work to do.

While he waited for his laptop to turn on, he called Yasuhara to tell him to find out anything he could from old records that may not be online. While he was on the phone, he suddenly was pushed from his chair and thrown onto the floor. There was a grunt and a crash, and the next thing he knew was that Lin was standing over him, rubbing his shoulder and staring at one of his monitors laying on the floor.

He stood and straightened his clothes, quietly waiting an explanation.

"It was pure luck that I happened to look up at the exact moment that the monitor fell and pushed you out of the way," said Lin. He was not a man easily ruffled, but here he was, clearly unnerved. "If you hadn't been so lucky, your head wouldn't been crushed."

Naru stood there, speechless. He had escaped almost certain death by the skin of his teeth, and that had been Lin's doing. If Lin hadn't been there….

The door burst open. Monk and Mai came in, Mai clutching her hand, trailing behind him.

"Where's Ayako?" Monk demanded. He saw the broken monitor and Lin picking up its broken pieces. "What happened here?"

"Never mind that," said Naru. He glanced at Mai. "What happened to your hand?"

"N-nothing," Mai murmured. Would Naru send her away if she started getting hurt?"

"Blood is definitely not nothing," Lin observed dryly.

"Lin!" Mai hid her hand behind her back, wincing as the splinters twisted with the movement of her hand. "You're supposed to be on my side!"

Naru held out his pale, slender-fingered hand out expectantly. Mai wanted to hold it, but even more than that, she wanted to stay on the case. She stubbornly shook her head.

"Mai," Naru said insistently, but she refused once again. Naru's beautiful blue eyes grew cloudy. "Mai," he said dangerously, "give me your hand."

Mai looked helplessly at Monk, but he only inclined his head towards Naru. "Just give it to him, Mai."

Tired of waiting, Naru let out a sigh and stepped forward towards her. Mai started to back up, but he reached around her to grasp her injured hand by the wrist. He brought it out in front of them, his stoic demeanor never wavering.

"Mai," he said, "I knew you were clumsy, but how on earth did you do this to yourself?"

Mai was beside herself with anger. How could he? And just when he was beginning to think he cared for her after all. "Well, I'm sorry, your Highness, for breaking some weak floorboards and almost falling down a bottomless black hold to certain broken ones!" she spat, attempting in vain to wrench her arm from his grasp. She felt her face contort in pain as a splinter twisted painfully under his thumb.

Naru's expression didn't change, but he held her wrist tighter and drew her in a little closer. "A bottomless black pit?"

"It wasn't bottomless, just black!" Mai cried, scared she was going to have tears in her eyes if Naru didn't let go. "It was in the library. Now please let me go! You're hurting my hand.

Naru didn't let her go, but he did move his hand up so he was holding her by the elbow, where there were no splinters or scratches. "Lin, the first aid kit is in the second drawer of my desk." He then proceeded to drag her the smaller of the two sofas in the room and made her sit down.

He took a pack of rubbing alcohol wipes, tweezers, and band-aids out of the box. "Monk, tell me what happened."

"I know how to speak!" Mai said sourly.

"But you have a habit of leaving things out," Naru replied, beginning to remove the splinters. Mai bit her tongue and fought the urge to yank her arm away. It hurt.

"Well, we finished putting up all the mics and were coming back when Mai decided to investigate a room she thought was important." Mai silently thanked him for not mentioned her dream. "She was walking around when the floor suddenly caved in. I caught her, but not before she tried to grab onto the edge and scratched herself."

"I see," Naru murmured, continuing to poke and prod Mai's hand and forearm in an attempt to get the splinters out. She squirmed in her seat, fighting tears and the urge to yell at him simultaneously. She had always dreamed of her and Naru holding hands, but none of those fantasies involved the strong urge to slap his hand away.

The door opened once more. Ayako, John, and Masako came in. Masako was pale and went straight to the couch to sit down. Naru took in the sight and frowned. "Another one?"

Ayako saw him, Mai and the first aid kit and understood, but she was angry. "Another one? What do you mean another one? While you've been sitting idly in your chair for the past hour, the rest of us have been doing work, so excuse us if the spirit in this house hates us and decides to attack!" She angrily stalked over to him and snatched the tweezers away, pushing him off the couch. "I'll do that!" She expertly began plucking splinters from Mai's hand. "Monk, make Masako some tea."

"Oh, um, sure." Monk sped away as fast as possible.

Mai waited for Naru to say that he himself was almost hurt too. She had deduced that much from Lin's shoulder and the broken monitor. However, Naru said nothing and sat down tiredly at his desk, rubbing temples, and thought he had been rude, the unfairness of the situation rose up inside of her until she opened her mouth to speak.

"I- "

Naru raised his head wearily from his desk to see what she was going to say. Lin met her eyes and gave a slight shake of the head from behind Naru's back. Mai got the hint that Naru didn't want or need her help or pity, despite how unfair it was or how much she itched to defend him. She closed her mouth quickly.

"What is it, Mai?" Ayako asked, concerned, but didn't stop from her work. She was twice as fast as Naru and hurt her way less. She was almost done.

Mai smiled. "Nothing," she said, and glanced at Lin as Ayako finished cleaning her hand. He subtly nodded his approval and resumed his cleaning of the broken monitor. Ayako bandaged Mai's arm in a way that covered her wounds but did not restrict her movement.

Mai slowly moved her hand. It was sore, but at least the splinters weren't poking her anymore. "Thanks, Ayako."

"My pleasure," she said, and after rubbing the top if her head, she went to check on Masako. "What happened anyway?" she asked.

Mai told her what happened, and then John relayed their side of the story. Once again, Mai waited for Naru to speak up, but he didn't say anything, and she knew she shouldn't say it for him.

It was only fifteen minutes later that Monk stumbled in, balancing a tray of seven now-lukewarm cups of tea. "That's it, Naru!" he cried. "Where's the floor plan of this house? I'm sick of wandering around all the time, and no one knows how to give me clear instructions!"

"That is actually our next task. Since there are no current blueprints of this house that Mr. Tanaka can give us, we must create one ourselves. John and Mai, take the first floor. Lin and I will take the second floor. Ayako, Masako, and Monk, take the third floor."

After the tea was finished and the necessary supplies distributed, he gave them a warning.

"In light of recent events, no one is allowed to be alone at any time under any circumstances. Understood?"

Everyone nodded. So seldom did they investigate a case in which individuals weren't targeted that they had become used to it. They all knew the drill by now.

So, let me know how I did, if you think any of the characters aren't themselves or if its just all too random for you.

For next time: Lost pens, lost SPR members, and a revelation about the house.