Thanks guys for all the encouraging reviews! I've decided I will be trying to update once a day if I can. So, let's get on with it!

Disclaimer: I do not own Ghost Hunt. If I did, Ayako would definitely yell at Naru like she does in this chapter all the time.

After completing her biology homework with Ayako's help, Mai was ordered to go down to the kitchen with Monk and Masako to make dinner.

Mai sat down on the table and refused to do any work. She had already made two meals and she didn't want to make a third. Masako and Monk found fish in the freezer and began seasoning it.

"So, Mai," Monk prompted, "Gene's starting to see you again?"

Mai nodded tiredly.

"But I thought - didn't Naru…well, you know, bury him?"

Mai shrugged. "He's come before, too. When we were in that house with the mirrors, he came to help Naru."

"Yeah."

They lapsed into comfortable silence, with only the occasional conversation between Monk and Masako breaking it. Mai fell into a fitful sleep for only a few minutes before she heard Monk yell for her.

"W-what?" she mumbled and looked up, and then decided she shouldn't. Opening her mouth made bile rise up in her throat. Her head swam, but she forced herself into a sitting position. What on earth was the matter with her? She never got this nauseous, not even when she was sick in bed with the stomach flu.

"Mai, we need to talk to Naru," Monk told her, shaking her shoulder gently. "Do you feel sick?"

"Yes," she groaned, trying to open her eyes. Through her haze, she saw that Monk was holding Masako up by the waist, struggling to keep her head from falling to the side.

"It's Mr. Tanaka," Monk whispered, as if someone might overhear. "He walked by the kitchen door and Masako suddenly fainted, and you're looking pretty green yourself."

"I can tell," Mai moaned. "Just - give me a second."

"Well, hurry up. We need to get back to Naru and tell him so he can do something."

Mai opened her mouth to tell him to shut up. A wave of nausea stopped her, and she shut it quickly.

"Right. I need to stop talking."

When Mai felt better, she stood up. Overcome by dizziness, she crashed into Monk, who almost dropped Masako. "Mai!" he chided.

"Sorry," she muttered, though she wasn't. She felt exhausted and weak, as if she had run a mile with a high fever. She wanted to faint like Masako, but she wasn't any pretty, fainting girl. She was your average, imperfect high school girl with a job to do. She had to get them back to base.

She considered trying to open the kitchen door to their base, but she knew she was too tired, so she didn't try. Instead, she rose and - clutching Monk's arm for support - she began stumbling through the maze of hallways. The walls seemed to start closing in, and Mai realized that they actually getting narrower and narrower. They became so close she couldn't walk next to Monk anymore. Claustrophobia set in as she remembered her earlier encounter with this feeling when she was going to get John, Monk, and Ayako. She tried to hum, but no noise would come out of her mouth. She licked her dry lips. "Monk," she whispered.

"It's okay, Mai."

"You have to sing."

"What?"

"Please, Monk."

Monk didn't question her any further. He began singing in some foreign tongue, his quiet voice rising until it overcame the awful thrum of the house. The tightness in her lungs went away, and the walls spaced out until they were back to normal. Mai no longer felt dizzy. She turned to see that Masako was walking on her own again.

Almost immediately, Gene told her to open a nearby door, and they were back at the base.

Mai smiled involuntarily on seeing Naru stretched out lazily on the couch, Lin plugging in various wires, and Ayako making John help her write charms on pieces of white paper. The normality was a relief.

Naru looked up and his eyes widened ever so slightly. "What're you doing back so soon?" His tone was accusing, but it wasn't very acidic; it was almost unsure.

Monk lead Masako next to Ayako on the couch, who immediately began fussing over her. Though she seemed much better, her face was unnaturally pale. Monk turned to Naru and said, "We were all in the kitchen when I saw Mr. Tanaka pass by the doorway. Next thing I know, Masako's on the floor and Mai's ready to throw up all over the table."

John frowned. "You mean that Mr. Tanaka was the one who made them sick this morning, too?"

"It seems so," Naru answered. Mai watched him rise in one fluid motion and go to the window. She liked watching him move: the gracefulness, the panther-like gait, lean and quick, the cheetah's lazy gaze.

"So, Mr. Tanaka's an evil spirit?" Monk asked dubiously. "I thought it was the house."

"It is the house," Naru said, "but I believe this particular spirit has the ability to inhabit more than one vessel at a time. At this moment, it is coming at us from two directions - both Mr. Tanaka and the house."

"So...what do we do?" Mai asked. She was extremely confused, but she got the gist of it. Mr. Tanaka was part of this situation.

Naru turned away from the window. "We deal with one problem at a time. John, how do you feel?" he asked abruptly.

John looked clueless and surprised, but he wasn't one to argue or question unnecessarily. "A little banged up, but okay," he said, a crease appearing between his brows.

"How about inside? Strong or weak?"

"Physical assault cannot weaken strong faith."

Mai thought she saw Naru's mouth tug upwards, but it was probably just a twitch, because his cool, indifferent composure didn't waver. She swallowed her disappointment. She wished Naru would give her - or anyone, really - a genuine smile. Why was it so hard for him?

"I need you to get yourself prepared," Naru continued. "As soon as I come back, you will perform an exorcism on Mr. Tanaka."

Ayako stood up. "And just where do you think you're going, you selfish little brat? You can't go off doing who-knows-what when you are clearly in danger. Do you think I enjoy treating this team of their ills? One by one, they've all come. Masako, Mai, you, John - "

"Not me," Monk offered, and Ayako smacked him.

"I do it willingly because treatment is in the heart of every doctor, but I hate seeing all of you hurt!" Ayako burst out. Mai wasn't so much bewildered at her sudden words as she was at Naru's silence.

Ayako seemed to realize she was standing up and panting and hot and angry and everyone was staring at her because she took a deep breath, brushed the hair out of her face, and smoothed out her clothes.

"The point is, Naru," she said in a calm, clear voice, "You can't go throwing yourself in danger because you feel like you have to do it by yourself. We're here, too."

She sat down and took Masako's wrist in her hand.

When everyone continued to stare at her, shell-shocked into silence by her tirade, she glared. "What? That's all I had to say." She couldn't resist shooting Naru an officious look. "Cat got your tongue, Naru?"

"No," he replied coolly. "I merely waited for you to let out that bottled-up anger. It hinders people's ability to function properly."

"Naru!" Mai yelled at him, surprised and angry, just as Ayako turned red and stood up again. Her hands curled into fists. Anger flashed dangerously in her eyes.

"We'll see who's functioning properly when I get done with you, you little -"

Mai was horrified and angry at Naru, too, but she was even more terrified at where this was going. She was across the room in an instant. She took Ayako's arm and gently trailed her hands down to her fist, gently uncurling them. "Please, Ayako," she whispered, so no one else would hear. "I think Naru's in a bad mood. His pride's been hurt, after all."

For a moment, Ayako was silent, and Mai thought she had said the wrong thing and the priestess would rip her hand free and claw Naru all over his face, but after a tense moment, she only snatched her hand away and snarled something under breath and sat back down next to Masako. Mai heard a collective sigh of relief and let out the breath she herself had been holding. They were a team; they couldn't be doing this. And what had gotten into Naru?

"In any case," said Naru, interrupting Mai's thoughts. "I won't be going alone. Lin and Takigawa are coming with me."

"We are?" Monk asked bluntly.

"Yes." And without another word, Naru disappeared from the room with Lin and Monk dashing after him.

Monk walked quickly besides Naru, matching his long-legged stride easily. Naru seemed deep in thought, and Monk loathed to interrupt him, but he had to say something.

"Naru, that was really harsh," he said.

Naru's eyes were focused on the hall in front of him, but he answered, "What?"

"You know what I'm talking about! That spat with Ayako just now. I mean, seriously, you just hurt a woman!"

This time, Naru did turn to look at him. "Do you mean to say that women are weaker than men?"

Monk felt his face heat up and he spluttered, not from speechlessness but from fury. "Naru, how dare you? Don't you have any honor? Any sense of dignity? No morals? Girls aren't weaker but you should them with some respect!"

When he didn't reply, Monk tried a different approach, one he knew was sure to touch him. "How would you feel if Lin suddenly lost his temper with Mai and began yelling at her?"

"Nothing," Naru said, eyeing him coolly. "That is between him and her."

Monk snapped. "Why you-"

Suddenly, Lin's hand was on Monk's wrist. Monk remembered Mai just a few minutes ago, holding Ayako's arm, and forced himself to dispel his anger. It was poisonous, tearing their close-knit family apart.

Naru held out a hand. "Stop," he whispered.

Monk had not realized how dark it had become all of a sudden. His heart thudded loudly in his chest and filled his ears before he realized that the thudding was coming from down the hall, getting closer and closer. Someone was making their way to the trio.

Naru pointed to himself, then the left wall; he pointed to Lin, then the right wall; and he pointed Monk, then the middle of the hallway.

Why me, Monk whimpered silently, but he got into position.

Thud, thud, thud, thud.

Monk wished he was wearing his robe. He felt more powerful and confident with it on.

THUD. THUD. THUD. THUD. THUD.

Monk's heartbeat and the footsteps were loud and synchronized and threatened to overcome his senses.

THUDTHUDTHUDTHUD.

Monk whispered his mantra to himself and didn't bother to heed Naru when he raised a finger to his lips irritably for the sake of his own sanity. The familiar repetitiveness was the only thing keeping him upright and conscious. He could do this.

He felt - rather than saw - it jump at him and he dodged to the side, and Lin was also there, pulling him to the wall. He looked back to see Mr. Tanaka - or the creature that Mr. Tanaka had been reduced to.

His eyes were red, the pupils just slit in the dark eyes. He was sweating and twitching, snarling and panting at them, legs tensed for another pounce.

"Hey!" Naru shouted his side, momentarily distracting Mr. Tanaka from Lin and Monk.

Lin began commanding his shiki to go and defend Naru, but he realized Monk might need them instead.

Monk jumped, tackling Mr. Tanaka from behind as Mr. Tanaka advanced on Naru. They both fell with a yell and a thud. Mr. Tanaka thrashed under Monk until his flailing fists connected with Monk's right eye. Monk cried out and - distracted - was flung to the side. At this point, Mr. Tanaka was radiating such a horrible amounts of energy that even Lin, who had trained himself against such things, felt cold.

Naru hauled a moaning Monk to his feet. He wrenched Monk's hand away from his face and pried open his eye with two fingers. "You'll be fine," he said expertly and released Monk, who went back to gently massaging his eye.

Meanwhile, Lin was trading blows with Mr. Tanaka in a whirlwind of arms and legs. Lin was an expert, but Mr. Tanaka was no ordinary man; he was backed by a spirit perhaps thousands of years old. His limbs appeared, rather than swung, into Lin's shoulder, ribs, knee, face. His right ear ringing, Lin jumped back to avoid another swing, contemplating what to do. Mr. Tanaka was not Mr. Tanaka anymore. How were they going to bring him back to base for the exorcism?

Anyone want to guess at how they're going to do it?

For next time: An accidental manipulation, an exorcism, and another fainting (but whose?)