So, it's been awhile, but here's the next chapter. It's an extra-long chapter too :D I know that having so much in italics is going to be really annoying, but it's necessary. Hope you enjoy this chapter 'cause I'm writing it even though I'm way behind on my word count for NaNoWriMo. See how much I love you guys?

Disclaimer: I do not own Ghost Hunt

P.S. EDIT: I decided to change some things after they wake up because I think it'll be cuter. It's not that big and won't change the course of the story… I think… aaaaaanyway, hope that those of you who have already read the original version of this chapter will also like the revised version.

Chapter 5: An Unwelcome Memory

Naru's POV:

Naru paced back and forth agitatedly in front of the couch. Mai laid there, her hand resting subconsciously on her stomach. They'd found her soon after she had screamed. She had been pressed to the wall by an invisible force, but she had been dropped to the ground the moment they had skidded around the corner. Now her hands and arms were bandaged from having porcelain shoved in her skin from the landing.

Naru stopped once again to look down at the younger girl. Was she going to wake up soon? Had slamming her head against the wall caused her to go into a coma? These types of questions had been whirling around his brain for an hour now.

The rest of the SPR sat in chairs around the room, their legs tapping impatiently. They all had the same questions floating around their own brains.

A groan from the couch caught their attention. Naru stopped pacing and took to crouching in front of Mai. The team crowded around the couch, waiting for Mai to fully wake up.

Her eyes fluttered open slowly, focusing on Naru. "Mm, my head hurts Naru. My arms too," she mumbled. The hand on her stomach twitched slightly, but stayed pressed protectively over her abdomen.

"Yeah, I know. That's because you slammed your head against the wall and you landed on your arms over the broken teacups," he explained, his voice low. He was fighting the desire to stroke her hair.

"I'm sleepy," Mai mumbled quietly, turning her head and yawning into the couch.

"Alright, it's getting late anyway. I think it's time to go to bed," Naru decided. He stood up slipping his arms under her. She curled her arms around Naru's neck, snuggling into his chest. They left the rest of the team dumbfounded at the sight.

…..

A samurai quietly knocked at a sliding door. An equally quiet voice consented his entrance. He pushed the door open, his face lighting up his face as he spotted the petite woman with Mai's features sitting up in bead.

"My princess," he said, getting down on one knee and bowing to the woman.

"My knight," the woman murmured, her face and voice alight with the fervency of love, "I am glad you have come by. I was getting awfully lonely. You have news from my father?" Her hand caressed the man's arm.

The knight nodded. "Yes, the emperor has decided not to send me away, but…" His voice trailed off. He averted his eyes from her piercing gaze.

"But what?" she asked, her voice turning steely.

"He has arranged for you to be engaged to the prince of the neighboring kingdom. The prince is already here, waiting in the garden to see and meet you," he told her, dipping his head down further than it already was.

The princess was still for a long moment just staring at the knight. She was still so long that he thought she would never move, but when she did, it was to get up. "No, he's not going to decide something this important. I don't want an arranged marriage with a snobbish prince who I've never met." She threw back the covers and tried to push herself to her feet.

The knight caught her as she began to fall. "Please princess, lie still. You are not strong enough to exert so much energy."

"I do not care! If I can't stay with you there's no reason to fight anymore," she told him, her eyes burning angrily and glittering with tears.

The knight stared down at her for the space of a heartbeat before he rested his forehead against hers, his eyes sliding closed. "I feel the same my princess," he told her.

Her eyes slid shut as well and she gave a contented sigh. "Thank you my knight," she murmured, pressing her lips softly to his. There was no resistance in him.

Little did they know that a man with dark brown hair and seething steel grey eyes, the prince from the neighboring country, was glaring at them through an opening in the screen doors. "She's mine. She's mine," he whispered.

The scene faded to black and Naru was left bewildered before the samurai. His eyes widened as he stared at what he would look like when he grew older in looks alone. The samurai watched him sadly. When he opened his mouth to speak, Naru startled because it was a slightly deeper version of his own voice that greeted him. "Don't lose her to him again. Don't lose her like we lost him," the samurai told Naru.

Naru was utterly confused, but he had no time to ask questions because the inky blackness was crawling up his legs. It began sucking him down. The samurai's words echoed eerily over and over again as the black pool sucked him under.

"Don't lose her to him again. Don't lose her like we lost him."

When he opened his eyes he found himself walking along a mountain road. A thought that wasn't his own skittered through his mind. "Now where was that house again? I thought that woman said it was along this road," he thought scanning the road. He looked to his right and found the railing on the side of the road, overlooking a beautiful clear blue lake. Something about this placed seemed vaguely familiar though he knew he'd never been here before.

Suddenly, a car speeded toward him, ramming into him. He bumped over the car landing hard on the asphalt with a bone shattering slam. His whole body hurt. He was unsure if any bony in his body wasn't broken.

The red of tail lights flashed, turning his eyelids pink. Quickly, they grew brighter and then his bones were shattering again as the car ran back over him.

The car skidded to a stop, spitting gravel. A car door popped open. "He's dead. He must be dead. Yes, he's dead," a woman's nervous voice muttered. A trunk popped open and fabric rustled. Seconds later he felt someone rolling him in the fabric. It was a blanket or maybe a sleeping bag.

The woman rolled him over to the steel railing. Hoisting him up, she flipped him over the railing. He bounced down the decline to the lake bringing a new pain each time he hit the ground. Icy water flooded him already struggling lungs. He began to sink towards the bottom of the lake.

"No! I don't want to die! Not yet! Noll, I love you! I'm sorry!" he thought and suddenly he remembered why this place was familiar, why this scene was familiar. He'd experienced it before when he'd tried to trace Gene. This was Gene's death.

All too soon, his vision faded to black with his last breath of air.

…..

Mai's POV:

Mai stared into the darkness. She couldn't see Gene anywhere. She was beginning to get worried. The scene was starting up and he still hadn't shown himself. Sighing inwardly, she braced herself for something horrible.

Her eyes widened as the scene came into focus. She was watching a man who looked exactly like her ex-boyfriend, the prince, pacing a room. He was biting his thumb nail mumbling, "She's refusing my marriage proposal. She doesn't love me. She loves that lowly samurai. She's mine. She's mine. If she doesn't love me then… then she can't love anyone!" he declared, his face set in an angry scowl.

Just then, the samurai passed in front of the door of the room the prince was pacing in. He was headed to the princess' room. His princess' room. No, he would not allow this.

He blindly searched the desk behind him looking for anything he could use as a weapon. He grabbed up a sharp carving knife he had been using to make a sculpture for the princess with. Yes, this would work perfectly.

He slipped silently into the hall behind the samurai. He followed the samurai for a long time, waiting for the perfect moment. That moment presented itself when he knocked lightly on the princess' door. With more fluidity than he would usually be capable of the prince slit the samurai's throat just as he was sliding the door open.

Blood sprayed into the room, dousing the princess in crimson. Her eyes grew wide. "No!" she screeched, scrambling over to the samurai and flinging herself over him, "No!"

"This was all for you princess. Now with this man out of the way you can finally marry me," the prince said brightly, flashing her an insane smile.

"I will never marry you!" she shrieked, "Never!"

Something snapped in the prince. His smile quirked. He glared down at the woman lying on top of the dead man at his feet. "You will marry me. I love you and you love me."

"No I don't! I never will!" she screamed at the top of her lungs.

That broke the prince. He descended onto the princess like a bat out of hell. He shoved the knife deep into woman's back. She cried out and he stabbed her again, over and over again until his whole front was covered in blood.

The knife dropped to the floor. The prince stared at his hands, his eyes wide. Maniacal laughter began to spill from his lips in a torrent.

The scene faded to black. Mai woke with a jerk.

…..

Naru's POV:

Naru sat bolt upright in bed, coughing into his hand as if to dispel water from his lungs. He curled in on himself, letting the pain dispel itself from his bones with every cough leaving him with a dull ache in his chest. He pulled his knees into his chest, wrapping his arms securely around them as the memory of his twin's death ran rampant through his brain.

The blackness enveloped him, veiling his sight. His breath shuddered out.

An uncharacteristic sob escaped his throat. Naru hadn't cried since he had learned about this twin's death. He hadn't liked it then, and he didn't like it now. The only good thing was that he had a bedroom to himself.

That dream was short lived though as a soft knock and a familiar female voice came from his door. "Naru? Are you awake? May I come in?" Mai asked. Her voice held fear and distress.

Naru's breath hitched, and he went silent. He kept his head buried in his knees.

The door opened quietly. Mai padded over to him. "Is something the matter Naru?" she asked quietly, stepping up close to the bed. She startled as Naru lifted his head to stare at her.

His red-rimmed, tear filled eyes held no glare.

He looked as though if she wasn't careful then he would break in two. He was a bossy seventeen-year-old who had been reduced to a little kid.

The sight of her bossy, egotistical, workaholic boss made her frantic. Quickly she checked him for injuries. "A-are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere? What happened? What's the matter?" she stammered her hands fluttering over his arms uselessly. She glanced up at him and found him still staring at her. A soft red glow began to cross her cheeks.

Hesitantly, Naru reached out for her, carefully wrapping his arms around her and burying his face in her stomach. "Don't leave. Don't leave. Don't leave," he repeated over and over again.

Mai looked down at his shaking form as he continued his mantra and wrapped her arms around him. "I'm not going to leave. I'll stay right here," she whispered.

"Stay by my side. Don't leave me, Mai," he whispered, startling her.

She stiffened slightly before relaxing and answering. "I won't. I promise. I'll stay right here by your side," she murmured, rubbing his back.

Naru finally quieted down. She wasn't sure if he was asleep or not because she could still feel her shirt growing damper by the minute. She wanted to know why he was crying, but she wouldn't ask.

Mai had gone in there because she'd had a horrible nightmare and no one was up for her to talk to. She'd hoped to be able to tell Naru about it, but this would do. She didn't want to be alone anyway.

Naru didn't want to be alone either. Though he was normally a solitary creature, he was unfamiliar with in the area of emotions, even for himself. It felt good to have another human being there to hang onto, especially one that he trusted. Through Mai's thin fabric shirt covering her stomach he could her heartbeat. It was faint, but it still soothed him.

To the rhythm of her heart, he fell asleep. Mai could tell he had fallen asleep because his body had lost all of its tension besides his arms which were still tight around her waist. She couldn't move from the bed even if she wanted to. Sighing, she lay down next to Naru.

He was murmuring quietly in sleep, "I'm sorry… I'll find you… Don't lose…"

Mai smiled slightly, running her hand through his black hair. She closed her eyes and snuggled closer to Naru before slowly drifting off to sleep.

Alright, so I know that Naru was utterly, completely OCC, but come on people, we don't know how he would react to a situation like this. We've never seen him in a situation really concerning his dead twin, especially when he experienced his brother's death. He could have reacted any kind of way. This is how I see it. Review and tell me what you think please :D