I don't own Ghost Hunt or Inu Yasha, they belong to Rumiko Takahashi and Fuyumi Ono.

Sorry that this one is a bit short but it was the best place for me to cut it off, on another note I'm looking for a Beta. If any on is interested please send me a PM or email.

I'd like to see if any of you can figure out what/who is messing with the town!

Chapter 3

Kagome sighed, as she settled down on the couch in the main office. Just a few months before she'd come looking for a job, now she was a full time member of SPR. Generally, when they finished early Kagome found working at the shrine to be a bit of a relief. Because of the Naru's need to pay his workers well, she felt a huge relief as the bill collectors' weren't riding her coat tails any longer.

"Mai-chan, could you get some tea please?" The raven haired woman asked, reading over the files before her. It was a case just last week which involved a small cursed item that was easily purified; it had been a bit dangerous. The item in question was going into a museum and the curator was terrified to use the item considering it had caused a fire in the last three places it had been housed. The curator in question had simply brought the item in, and between herself and Lin they had discovered it was yet another Chinese curse. Kagome had enjoyed looking for the back ground about the hair pin, and it had been a dosy. It had come from the Nara period, and it had belonged to a high ranking courtesan . When the woman's lover was killed during war the woman cursed the opposing Daimyo's wife. The wife a woman by the name of Takigawa Yukio, burned to death several days after the courtesan committed suicide.

Mai nodded, before another yell from an office farther back in the building range forward demanding more tea at the same time. It was all the small red hued girl could do not to scream, she hated the way Naru just yelled at her without a thought otherwise. Not only that but Souta wasn't there either, he was tending the shrine while Kagome worked at SPR. This split of duties happened to be good for the two of them, and Kagome did seem rather happy to be working with them in the paranormal world.

As Mai walked away grumbling under her breath Kagome could only look up when two young adults walked in looking about with worried expressions on their faces. One was a male, the other female, Kagome wouldn't be surprised if the two of them were related both had light brown hair just shades different in color. The woman's eyes were a light gray while the man had soft brown eyes, both were dressed in a light but warm casual clothing.

"Can I help you?" Kagome asked, moving to stand they didn't have an appointment. Of that the raven haired woman was sure considering that she was generally the one that took phone calls, and made appointments. On occasion they had walk in customer's like the principle of Yuasa High School. The two new comers shared glances as if to communicate silently, they seemed too finally agree on a course of action.

"My name is Namimaki Haruhi and this is my brother Hatsuharu. We're from a small village Okamori, near Lake Arimine. Strange…strange things have been happening in our town for a very long time, but it seemed to have gotten worse recently. Much worse…" The young woman glanced at her brother, both seemed to be very shaken by the happenings around their home town.

"Please wait for a moment," Kagome nodded before standing and walking toward the door that Naru hide behind. Knocking lightly, she only opened the door was a snarky reply told her to come in. Sighing and rolling her eyes at the younger man, the raven eyes woman opened the door before slipping her head and shoulders inside.

"There are two siblings here…they seem to have come a long way, they would like to speak with you about taking a case I would presume." Kagome eyed the younger male. For once Naru looked frustrated, and he was once again looking over a map of Japan and it worried her.

"Very well, ask Lin to meet us in the foyer." Naru dismissed the older with a wave of the hand before gathering himself to meet these new "clients."

Kagome huffed, before closing the door and rolling her eyes. Sometimes the younger boy was a pretentious ass; there simply wasn't any other way about it. Naru looked down on people that he considered below his own intelligence level, as such he often come off a snotty or condescending.

"Mai you can simply put the tea in the foyer, and ask our guests if they would like something?" Kagome waved at the girl in the hall, trying not to laugh at the twitching eyebrow. Shaking her head at the young girl, the raven haired woman left the little hall before turning slightly to the right and opening Lin's door.

Dark eyes looked up toward the door as it opened out ward; it was odd for Lin to have a semi neat office. It would never be clean for the simple fact that Naru seemed bound and determined to create his own encyclopedia of the paranormal activity that occurred in Japan. At Kagome's soft murmurs the Chinese man could only nod before standing, arranging his laptop he also grabbed the cup of coffee that he'd been sipping for the last few minutes.

After everyone was settled the Namimaki's rested on one couch, Lin and Kagome sat on another while Mai and Naru took their places on the two cushioned chairs at the end of the couches. The two clients both looked nervous and worried as if what had been happening recently had become far too much for them to take. The brown haired siblings looked at one another, they really didn't know what to expect when they arrived. SPR had started making a name for itself, but neither of them had expected it to be in such a posh building. In fact this seemed more like an executive office, it was odd for the two of them to be in such an upscale building.

"Can you tell me of the oddities that had been occurring?" Naru spoke, his voice low and with a caution that always came with the paranormal. Many times people that came to the office were simply paranoid, and there wasn't a spirit or anything of the sort. But this he wasn't sure what this was, he wasn't like the spiritualists in his group he couldn't tell by sense alone that something different about a case such as this.

Hatsuharu sighed, before glancing at his sister's stricken face. He had initially been against trying to get outside help but now there really was no other choice. "It supposedly started about fifty years ago, but many of the people of our village believe that it has been happening for a much longer time. We live a bit near the bottom of the mountains, perhaps a mile or so from the lake. People have been going missing in our area for as far back as records show, sometimes as far back as three hundred years. Back then only one person disappeared every few years, as time progressed people began to disappear at a quicker rate. When I was born two people had gone missing, and it's not just our village that loses people. There are several small villages in the area; they too lose people on a regular basis. At least now anyway…" The light brown haired man seemed to take a pause worry running across his face, there were so many strange things happening around their home now. It wasn't just people being spirited away, and it wasn't that uncommon for people to go missing in the remote area that they lived in. But some of the other things that were happening just didn't seem right.

Haruhi sighed, "It wouldn't be so worrisome if we didn't continue to see the people after they had disappeared."

"Continued to see them?" Kagome frowned, that didn't make any sense at all how would you continue to see people after they had disappeared?

The light haired woman nodded, her gray eyes flashing with fear "I would call them specters, but they seem more like illusions then ghosts. There are a lot of noises that aren't normal in many of the houses."

"It's not secluded to one home?" Naru spoke up quickly, that was an oddity in and of itself. The thought of illusions didn't make much sense either, but in some cases ghosts did take a humanoid form when trapped on earth.

Bother Namimaki siblings shook their heads no, before Haruhi continued, "No, almost all the homes are affected by the odd noises. All the people of the village are able to see the illusions as well, there have also been recordings of possession and other odds and ends, including mysterious deaths. The problem is that several people have gone missing from each village this year and it's extremely out of the ordinary. We just…we just don't know what to do." The frustration in the young woman's voice was easy to hear, as well as they worry. It seemed as though Naru and his company were their last resort.

Naru seemed to think about the idea for a long while before agreeing, "We will need several rooms for setting up and sleeping."

The relief the siblings felt was evident on each of their young faces, deals were made and times were set. It would be a week before the group of them could come together, and the siblings made no complaints, it had been a long time since anyone had listened to them or their people and tried to help them. Soft voices continued to murmur as more plans were made between the siblings and the group of SPR, before the day ended and they went separate ways.

O o O o O o O

It was Friday, and it was such an odd work day for Kagome Higurashi. The young Priestess had called in a favor from another Shrine Head and someone was watching the Shrine, while she and her younger brother went to help the SPR crew with this newest assignment. The raven haired woman could honestly say that she had no idea what could be causing some of these problems and it was odd that some of these issues were linked together in awkward tangents.

It was an early morning and the blue eyed woman wasn't so eager to take the long, long trip that awaited her. The mountainous area that they were headed to hadn't always had the large manmade lake that was settled in the downward slopes of its hills. Souta was settled beside her as they waited on the side walk outside the shrine, the two of them were packed for several days. One of the reasons they were packed up was that they would be the first to go and they would be riding with Lin, Mai, Naru and John in the van. The others would be coming later in the day, normally they would leave from SPR, but the shrine was on the Highway out and they had offered to pick the siblings up.

As it was they hadn't needed to wait long as the large dark van rolled up the shrine just minutes past seven, it took very little time to throw the two medium sized duffle bags in the back along with the other bags of clothing. Most of the things packed away were monitors, and other assorted electronics. Needless to say everything in this particular van was well insured. Mai and John had already settled in the back seat, while Naru and Lin were settled in the front. Once everyone was loaded up Kagome found herself settled between Naru and Lin, while Souta was tucked into the back behind the driver's seat while Mai found herself between the two boys.

A quiet seemed to settle over the van as several of its occupants began dozing off for the extremely long drive. It was just past two when the van arrived at its destination, they would be staying in the home of the people who had hired them. Apparently the Namimaki siblings ran a type of bed and breakfast hotel that was very popular because it was so close to the National Forest that surrounded Lake Arimine. The house was rather large but not nearly as large as the old home that they had passed coming into the town.

Eventually the girls were settled into one bedroom, while the boys were split into two different rooms, one including John and Souta, the other containing Lin and Naru. After the six of them had finished putting their things away, they got to work unloading the van of the electronics. Haruhi and Hatsuharu helped with unloading all the while explaining more things that had happened within the week that they had returned home. Some of the people in the surrounding area were acting strangely very, very strangely in fact. Not only that but one of the shrine workers had recently gone missing as well, this would be the fourth person who had disappeared during the year. The people of Okamori were becoming very terrified of what was happening to their town, tension was riding high and they were all scared of what was coming.

Naru quickly took charge sending them out on individual missions, Mai and Souta were sent to set up equipment outside the Namimaki's home while Kagome and John were sent to speak with the citizens of the small down. Out of the lot of them John and Kagome had the best personalities and influence when dealing with people. Mai was too excitable, and Souta…was just a bit crude.

As the other's got to work John and Kagome found themselves canvasing the area, what they saw was rather disturbing. Uneasiness seemed to settle over the two as they walked through the small town, where it might had been a bright spot of tourism it now seemed to had a shadow cast across the streets. Out of the last three people who they had talked to many of them encouraged the lot of them to get out of the town.

"John this doesn't seem to be getting us any were. It's almost as if they believe that their god is punishing them." Kagome frowned, looking over the inhabitants. The town wasn't as small as it was lead to be there was probably at least a rough thousand people living in the area. While it wasn't extremely large, it was big enough to have a healthy commerce and happy citizens, the homes and the area itself was beautiful.

"I agree…it seems rather odd. I've never seen people acting like this before, have you?" John asked, eyeing the blue eyed woman with a curious expression.

The raven haired woman could only shake her head no, "There aren't too many people left on this street…I guess we should finish it and then head back to base. "

At John's nod they continued, eventually they come to a medium sized home it had probably been home to a large family. It was a little run down but it still had a charming mix of western and eastern architecture. The gardens were still taken care of if not a little run down, eventually the two found themselves on the front step knocking lightly. An elderly woman answered the door, old brown eyes were circled by wrinkles and thick shortly cropped gray hair.

"Can I help you?" A firm voice questioned, neither of them could guess her age and could only think that she seemed very timeless in her comfortable home.

"Ah, yes ma'am. We have questions about the abnormalities that had occurred recently." John started, he wasn't entirely sure how to start this line of questioning. When the expression on her face changed to a much harder one, both young adults felt rather startled. The woman had and expression of weariness on her ancient features, as if afraid of speaking of what was happening in the area, before it changed again to a stubborn resolve. The two SPR members were waved in before the door was quickly secured.

"Come sit down, I'll bring in some tea." The woman waved them toward the living room before sounds of busy movement could be heard in the kitchen. The sounds slowly faded away, before footsteps came their way, both John and Kagome had settled on the faded couches of a very cozy living room.

"Now…I have some questions for you as well." The elderly woman looked them over, but there was a worry in her eyes. Not for herself but for them, as if she knew that the two of them were in danger just being in the village itself.

The two blue eyed SPR members glanced at one another in worry, before Kagome nodded to the questioning. The Higurashi woman was very curious about what the elderly woman could possibly want from them.

"Why have you come? And who invited you here?" Brown eyes looked over them with worry.

"A pair of siblings asked us to come investigate the oddities that occurred around the area." Kagome frowned, she wasn't sure that talking to this woman was the best idea.

A deep sigh startled both John and Kagome, "They haven't told you much about the area have they? The two of you are spiritualists of that I'm sure. You aren't the first ones who have tried to solve the mystery of this mountain, most of the ones that come with power are the first to disappear."

"Do the people taken have anything in common besides power?" John asked, a slightly anxious expression running across his face.

"No not truly. But most shrine maidens, priests and monks have been spirited away, they work for perhaps a year or two before vanishing! Almost into thin air, my daughter showed signs of strange ability…she could move things just thinking about them she disappeared as well. When my sons began to show such talent I sent them away, I was terrified that they would be taken as well." The elderly woman paused, trying to remember more it had been several years since her sons had left home and now they lived all across Japan. She visited them on a regular basis to see her grandchildren but the elderly woman never dared invite them to return home, the gray haired woman was too terrified that they would be taken as well.

"When and how did you lose your daughter?" Kagome asked a saddened expression on her face. The young woman wasn't trying to imply that losing a child was acceptable; it was pain filled and created an empty spot in ones chest. She could only imagine what kind of pain, and from the sounds of it this was her only daughter.

"It was nearly thirty-five years ago, the lot of us had recently returned home. My husband and I had grown up here in this town, before the dame was created. Back then if someone went missing no one really thought much about it as they had probably wondered of into the wooded area and gotten lost. My husband and I along with our children decided that a nice walk would be a nice breather. We turned our backs for a few moments and she was gone…we looked everywhere and the people of the village helped us look…but there was no luck. My little Aiko disappeared without a trace, weeks later my husband and I thought that we were being haunted our daughter seemed to appear over and over again as if crying begging to be free. It was then that we gave up, we knew our daughter was dead." The pained ache that fluttered across that wizened old face hurt both of the youngsters looking on, they both felt guilty about asking but this didn't bring them any closer than it did before.

"I'm so sorry ma'am" Kagome felt guilty, it was obvious that this was a sore that hadn't healed for the elderly woman. But it did concern her that whatever it was and Kagome was positive that it wasn't a spirit, it was targeting people that had been born with natural energy. People like herself, and Mai and well plainly put their whole crew.

"It's fine dear. It's something I've had to deal with for close to thirty years. I'm known as Aburame Chieko. If you need someone to answer more questions I'm willing, many of the people of this town will not speak of what happens they believe that the more it is spoken about the more likely people are to go missing." The elderly woman eyed both of them with what Kagome could recognize as concern, the woman was rather worried about both of them. "I would also suggest staying in after dark, it's much safer."

Both of the young adult bowed before leaving both of them were reeling from what they had learned and were concerned as to what it could mean for the lot of them that were currently in the small town. It was starting to darken and the two SPR members couldn't help but think about what the Aburame woman had to say, that it was safer inside at night. What was happening at night?

Coming back to the Namimaki residence both spiritualist felt a sense of relief once they entered through the door way, they could hear light conversation in one of the rooms that held all the monitors and Lin. When the two of them arrived they were surprised to see that Takigawa and the two other girls hadn't arrived yet. It seemed that something had occurred earlier in the day and Masako hadn't been able to come, so the monk had been asked to wait a day to drive up with the well known medium.

"What have you found out?" Naru finally asked looking at the two that held both John and Kagome. Both of his members looked exhausted and he could only imagine how hard it probably was for them to get information. The two of them shared a worried glance before recounting everything that they had been told by the older woman, and their concern of the not so truthfulness of their clients.

"I'm concerned that they haven't told use anything about people like us disappearing, that it something that we should have known." Kagome muttered looking over the group of them, Souta was looking as concerned as she felt while Lin was keeping his thoughts to himself.

"There isn't much to be done for it tonight, tomorrow we'll have a long conversation with our host. For tonight everyone be on guard," Naru replied, he was used to clients lying and in cases like this he fully intended to milk the Namimaki's for everything they were worth. "As an extra precaution can you create seals or protective talisman?"

Kagome nodded, "I can I'm gone to make both, but I'll be pretty much useless for a few hours afterward."

"John, please bless the house while it's still light enough not to be considered dark." Naru could see the young priest nod, and Lin's shiki were already starting to make patrols around the house. This was really the best they could do until morning, this would have to be their safe haven until then.

The lot of them nodded, Souta went to help his sister while the rest of them began to prefer for the night. None of them realized exactly how bad it would be, but they would soon discover that this place was a new form of hell.