Me: Hey guys! Heres the next chapter!
Mai: Shellsan owns nothing!
Lin looked at her in shock before snapping out of it. "Gene passed over when we buried him. There's no way. And besides, he wouldn't possess you. That's stupid" he denied.
Mai sighed and began walking again. "I am aware that you don't want to believe me. I don't want to believe me. The afterlife works in ways that you can even begin to comprehend. To pretend that he has left this world will do you no good. I can explain it to you at a later point however for the time being you can either believe me or you can deny the truth. The choice is yours to make. As for the topic of possession, if one ghost is using my body as a vessel then another ghost can't possess it at the same time. It's risky as he could use up a lot of my energy but it would be worse if my body were to be possessed by another spirit."
The elder sighed, "Just so you know, you can be the one to explain to Naru what exactly you did and how dangerous it is along with the reason you know Gene hasn't passed on" he warned.
On cue the brunette next to his pouted. "Fine" she relented, already knowing that arguing would do her no good. As it stands she was surprised that Lin hadn't yelled at her for being so reckless. That's not to say he won't later but she was allowed to hope.
Arriving at the door to the girl's room, Mai took a deep breath and opened the door. The room was like any little girls room. A bed in the corner, little my little ponies and stuffed toys littered on the ground, pink carpet, drawing pencils.
The petite girl walked over to the bed, taking a seat on the edge, Lin not too far behind.
"So how exactly does this work?" the Chinese man inquired, curious as to how she planned to do this.
Mai shot him an apologetic look. "Like this."
~In BaSeZ~
Naru clenched his fists discreetly. He knew it was stupid to get jealous but he couldn't help it. Of all the people she could have dragged along with her she chose Lin. I mean it's not like he wanted Mai to drag him along with her… did he?
Shaking such ridiculous thoughts from his head he watched them go by on the cameras in the hall ways. It seemed like they were talking about something important. It was at that moment that he wished he had set up microphones in the halls so that he could hear what they were saying.
Once again he almost hit himself. He was beginning to sound as nosy as Madoka. He frowned at the thought.
"So what do we do now?" Bou-san asked, directing his question towards Naru.
Sighing, the young boss, turned around grabbing a stack of files. Moving over to the coffee table, he let them fall.
"You can start by looking for any important information that could help with the case" he stated. It was posed as an idea but you didn't have to be a rocket scientist to know that it wasn't a question, it was an order.
Getting up, Yasu grabbed a stack of the information and began to sift through, the others following suit.
Naru raised an eye at Bou-san and Ayako. "I thought you didn't understand English?"
The priestess looked up from the page she was reading. "We can't speak it but reading it isn't a problem" she explained.
Nodding in understanding, Naru turned back to his sheet of paper.
"This is interesting" Yasu muttered when he came across some useful information.
Looking up at the young man, the raven motioned for him to continue. Shaking his head in agreement Yasu began to speak.
"Well here's a newspaper article from back in 1957 documenting the birth of a daughter named Bianca. Turns out her parents' names were Elizabeth Wadleigh and Richard Wadleigh. They were a well-known rich family with a lot of power. If I cross reference that information with the previous owners of this building they come up around that time period" he informed.
Naru sat in his thinking pose taking in the information he had just been given. "Alright, keep digging and see if you can find out anything else" he ordered, going back to the file he had been examining.
~BaCk WiTh LiN~
The Chinese man watched as her body fell backwards, falling onto the bed softly. He mentally cursed. He should have foreseen her doing something reckless like that. Groaning, moved Mai into a more comfortable position.
"I swear after this case I am going to give her the longest lecture" he muttered, secretly hoping she would hear it.
~WiTh MaI~
Mai was floating in her dreamscape, surrounded by different spirits. Closing her eyes she imagined the landscape changing. Opening her eyes again she found herself standing on green grass with flowers surrounding her and purple sky looming above her. Smiling, she sat down and crossed her legs. Focussing on the area around where her body laid, she tried to get a feel for the aura of the little girl. She giggled when she head Lin muttering and gulped when he mentioned a long lecture.
'Focus Mai' she scolded herself.
Re-focusing, she studied the aura. It was a light magenta colour and it felt innocent, as though nothing could touch it. Mai could also feel a growing sadness, a feeling of loneliness and longing.
Biting her lip, Mai sighed.
"And now for the hard part" she muttered.
Closing her eyes she concentrated on the house. Opening her eyes she could see every room with everyone in it. Looking around, she searched for the magenta aura. Noticing a room behind the fireplace, she narrowed her eyes. She walked –or rather- floated over to it.
"Interesting" Mai mumbled, moving to go down it. She stopped after she hit the third step. Shivers tore through her body and her eyes widened. Gasping, she moved away from the steps as fast as possible.
An aura as black as the night sky surrounded the area like a fog. Mai's fists shook and her breathing became rapid. She could see the darkness taking over the area blocking any clear line of sight. Despite her mind willing her to run away, she felt herself moving towards the stairs.
If the spirit was residing here then the chances that she would find the little girl here were higher than ever. Every step lower, the darkness became even darker and thicker –if that was even possible. It wasn't long before she couldn't even see her own soul.
Mai could feel herself shaking, the cold, crippling fear she felt was almost enough to make her turn around but the moment she caught a glimpse of the light magenta aura and felt the sadness it resonated she knew that she couldn't do it.
The steps soon ended and the brunette found herself moving towards a door. Opening the door Mai covered her mouth. The cold concrete floors and plain walls were exactly as she remembered but that wasn't the cause of her disbelief. In the corner of the room, curled into a small ball covered in scratches and bruises – dirt covering her ripped clothing- was as small fragile body. What was probably once blonde hair was now the same as a light brown. The worst part of the scene were the small sobs that were racking through her body, tears falling to the ground in front of her.
The brunettes own eyes filled with tears at the sight. Without wasting another second, Mai snapped out of her shock and ran towards her. Checking over her minute body, she sighed when there were no extreme injuries. Yet
Leaning over, she picked up Megan's tiny frame. The little girl looked up, tears stained face and dull brown eyes with dark circles around them met her own chocolate eyes.
"Wh-who are y-you?" the younger stuttered.
"Shhhh" she whispered, hugging the girl to her chest she prayed that Naru had figured out where the room was because if she wanted to get out of here alive with the girl, she was going to need help.
~BaCk In BaSeZ~
Naru sneezed. 'I hope I'm not getting a cold' he thought. Looking over the page he had in his hand he sighed. Nothing. They had been looking for more information for the past hour but they had yet to find anything of use.
Groaning, Ayako dropped the file she was holding onto the useless pile. That was when he noticed it.
At the very bottom of the pile was a blueprint. Reaching over, he picked it up to see an old blueprint of the original house. Grabbing the current one Lin had gotten him earlier, he compared them.
Observing what he was doing, Yasu and Bou-san both went over to take a look.
"It looks like there's a hidden room" the monk mused, looking at the large gap in the wall behind the fireplace.
Yasu nodded in agreement, "Now only to find out how to get into the room."
Getting up, everyone made their way over out of the room. A minute later they were all in front of the fireplace situated in the large lounge room and attempting everything they could in order to open a secret door. They had looked for out of place seals, cracks or similar. They had looked for hollow parts of the wall. They had even checked to make sure nothing triggered it.
"Maybe the entrance is on the other side of the wall" Masako suggested. John nodded in agreement. The others looked up from what they were doing and decided it to follow suit. They were beginning to get too irritated to be of use anyway.
Going around the corner, they re-attempted everything they could think of until they gave up.
"What now?" Bou-san whined exasperated.
Naru's hand came up to his face in a thinking pose. There could be many ways to hide a trigger so where were they hiding it this time? That's when he remembered something Mai had told him a while back.
~Flashback~
It was the day after the Mai had been possessed and she was with Naru and Lin in the lounge area of the office. She had managed to get them both out of their offices so that she could find out what had happened while she had been possessed. At first they had been reluctant but she was used to playing this game, using any means necessary to win.
"Oh come on Naru. Besides after you guys tell me what happened while I was possessed I can tell you what happened to me while I was being possessed" she coaxed.
The brunette grinned knowing she had won this argument when both of them sighed. She knew it wasn't the smartest thing to play on Naru's scientific urges but she wanted to find out what was going on during that time.
Mai served them all some tea and Naru began to explain what had happened.
"Kenji ran off after that and was hiding and we didn't know where to find him. We tried looking everywhere and then Takigawa noticed that they were only looking in the places they could access, places not high up. So after that realisation, we went outside to look for you. John guessed you would have tried to climb a tree."
His assistant nodded but didn't seem the least bit surprised.
"Well of course" she stated.
Naru raised an eyebrow at her. "Are you trying to say you would have looked there first?"
Mai grinned, "Of course. While you were busy reading books I was playing outside. The first rule of hide and go seek is that the best hiding place is in plain sight. Not just places up high but also places that seem impossible or that people easily look past. Like for example when looking for where I or Kenji was hiding the children probably checked under the beds but I bet they never checked under the covers on the beds" she explained.
~Flashback End~
"The best place is in plain sight" he muttered. That's when he saw it. In the very corner of the corridor was a power outlet. Walking over to it, he crouched down examining it. On the side there was a small button that was hard to spot – especially from far away. Pressing it, the pad moved to the side to reveal a keyhole.
From behind him he heard Ayako moan in annoyance. "Great so we know where the opening place is we need to find a key" she grumbled.
He didn't say it aloud but he had to agree. This was becoming more and more irritating. He just wanted to find Megan already.
"Spread out in the immediate vicinity. Richard wouldn't have hidden the key too far from the panel. He'd want easy access.
As they spread out, the young boss looked around for somewhere to look.
John and Masako were checking the walls for any hidden spaces, Bou-san and Ayako were looking at the books in a nearby bookshelf. After surveying the area he decided to check that paintings on the wall with Yasu.
As he did that, a certain priest caught a glimpse of something shiny but slightly rusted. Moving over to the fireplace he saw it again.
"Guys, I think I found it" he claimed.
The others soon made their way over to the fire place.
"Go ask Jean for some of the fireplace tongs" Naru ordered him. Nodding, John ran off to find her.
He came back not long after and handed them to Bou-san.
After getting an affirmative he reached in and picked up the key. "You guys might want to stand back" he warned, happy when they all took a few steps backwards. Carefully he moved to place the small key in the metal bowl of water on the ground.
"We have to wait a few minutes for the key to cool before we can open the door or we might ruin it" Naru stated. At least they had the key now.
~BaCk WiTh MaI~
Mai panted, looking around. She had been searching for a way to get out of the current area for more than half an hour. She needed to get out soon too. Her abilities were already in overdrive. 'There has to be a way to get out of this wretched place because I really don't have the energy to fight off an angry and abusive spirit right now' Mai thought, groaning in frustration. She glanced at the girl who had fallen asleep in her arms. Her body was thinner than healthy and her features were impossibly pale.
Looking up at the stairs she gulped. The dark mass that was the spirit was still there and it obviously wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. Taking one more glace down at Megan she steeled herself. She was just going to have to try and make it through the mass without dying.
Clenching her teeth to stop herself from screaming and waking the girl in her arms, Mai took a single step, and then another, and another. Her breath came out rapid and quiet as she slowly got closer and closer to the spirit.
"How dare you" the spirit growled, black mass revealing a distorted males face. Its eyes glared at her.
The brunette couldn't help but hiss at it. "How dare I? You took an innocent little girl hostage! You beat this poor family! They're terrified!"
Its eyes narrowed even more and Mai quickly realised her mistake. Cursing her inability to keep her mouth shut she raced up the last of the stairs, biting her lip when the mass made small cuts into her back as she shielded Megan.
If the cuts that were sure to have appeared on her real body weren't enough the brunette felt the body she was protecting begin to shake. She must've awoken from being jostled so much. Sprinting over to the corner of the room, Mai placed the little girl on the ground curled up behind her. The pitch black shadow loomed close to Mai, threatening to harm her.
"Give me the girl and perhaps you may survive."
The petite girl shook her head rapidly. "There's no chance. I would never. Just try and kill me. I bet you don't have what it takes."
The spirit of Richard bared its teeth and hissed at her words. "I could definitely kill you, just like all those other girls" he stated.
Mai gagged at the haughty tone his voice had taken on. It was as if he was proud of the things he had done to those women. It disgusted her. 'What's with this guy?' Mai mentally screamed, feeling another cut tear through her leg.
It was beginning to seem impossible when Mai heard it. Voices from outside. 'If I can just stall them…' she thought.
Just as the spirit moved to make another hit, the brunette put her hands up. "Wait! If you kill me then I can come back as a spirit and as a spirit I can oppose you. I thought someone who had been a spirit for so many years would know that a dead spirit can become a guardian. If I chose to become a guardian for this girl I could place a barrier around her and then you couldn't be within a metre of her" she explained.
Richard's spirit had stopped to listen to what she had to see and seemed to be contemplating it. "If I killed you you'd do that? Why? You don't know this girl - you have nothing to do with her."
Mai inwardly cheered, she had sparked his interest… now just too keep it.
"Why not? I've already protected her this far. If I were going to die protecting her I would at least make sure that I completed the job properly" she explained.
The spirit nodded in understanding before he glared at her realising what she'd done.
"You bitch! How dare you do that?! What did you think? That if you made me wait then someone would save you? Foolish girl! No-one knows this room exists other than me." He laughed sinisterly, showing Mai his sharp in-humane teeth once again.
He moved towards her again, intending to kill her. "I don't know if you could protect her but I think I'll take my chances" he laughed.
Slowly he began to build up his power. Mai felt his aura spike and surround her. Taking a step back to make sure Megan's body was completely protected she fixed her gaze on the increasing mass.
It was just about to leap at her when the walls began to rumble. The corner where they were was directly across from the door.
Me: So there it is! It's a lot longer than usual I even exceeded 3000 words as an apology for the previous short chapter
Mai: Originally this was going to be posted sooner since Mai wanted the chapter to be posted before it had been a week but she decided to make it longer
John: She also wishes to thank everyone for their continued support and the reviews you leave. They make her day
Me: They really do~ To all the guests that have ever reviewed and read my stories you guys should get an account. You don't have to but I – like many other writers- like to thank the reviewers through PM and sometimes continue to chat~ You don't necessarily need to write to be part of the society after all~
Naru: Just stop with this long authors note. No-one cares
Me: *sticks out tongue* be that way then. Anywho I love you all and I hope you continue to support this fanfiction