Sorry that this one took a little longer, Naru's view is not easy to write. So without further ado, feel free to skip over the anon review answer (unless you are that person) and enjoy!

Iloveanimex: I am glad to hear that you like this. I will try to update every two to three days. The chapters are going to get a little more complicated for me to write from this point on. But I hope that I will be able to keep you interested!

"A house made of ice,

Windows black as sin,

Hell is not what you think it is,

It's cold and dark my friend,

And if you knock on the door,

Quiet enough,

They just might let you in,

If you don't mind what you've heard so far,

Then please open the door"

-Not A Saint by Breaking Through

Kanakuro Manor was different than he had expected it to be. For starters; he had figured that the inside would be styled in a traditional Japanese manner considering how long it had been since someone last lived here. Also, there was the fact the manor had never once been remodeled since it was built about a century and a half ago.

Instead, he had found that the entire manor was done Western style. And during the time period that it had built, it was completely impossible for house of any kind to be constructed in this style. The fact that it had been abandoned for close to 75 years without anyone to care for it also meant that Kanakuro Manor should be condemned; it should have been structurally unsound. The wood floors should have rotted away years ago and the doors should have been hanging onto the hinges for dear life. But they weren't. Another sign was the fact that somehow, the vines of ivy had broken the flooring in various places; he knew that it would be like this in other areas of the manor as well.

It was almost as if time itself had been frozen inside the manor. Aging to a certain point and then stopping. Never growing any older; never rotting away like a distant memory.

Sapphire eyes hardened to an almost midnight blue color at the prospect of just how this could have happened. Try as he might to come up with a logical and scientific answer, there was none. The house should have fallen apart years ago.

Turning down another hallway, still in search of a base and sleeping quarters, he paused in his tracks to watch the members of his team. If they wanted to be the ones to do all the searching, then by all means let them. Besides, he had other things to think about. Like the fact that it had taken him this long to notice that Mai was missing from group.

He let out a nearly silent curse before he turned to the group, "When you all manage to find a base, contact me. I have something that I need to take care of. Lin," and that was all that his assistant needed to hear to know that his presence was required.

Annoyed didn't even begin to cover what he felt right now. Neither did irritated, pissed, or angry. Furious, however, seemed to fit his mood just perfectly. Sometimes he asked himself why he even bothered to keep her hired on if all she was going to do was cause him problems.

Lucky for them, they hadn't gotten too far away from the manor's entrance so she couldn't be that far away. And as he stormed down the stairs from the second floor and into the foyer, he found that he wasn't wrong.

Standing just outside of the front door was his missing assistant. At first glance, she seemed to be just fine; but after taking a closer look at her, he noticed that something was off. Her usually warm and cheerful eyes had taken on a glassy sheen, not to mention that she looked dazed; as if she were dreaming awake.

His fury that had been directed towards her had instantly diminished; only to be redirected towards himself. Sure she could have just gotten lost, but this was Mai that he was dealing with. More often than not, she got herself into some sort of trouble. Whether it was intentional or not; he should have known better.

Letting out a sigh of irritation that was more directed at himself than anything else, he quickly crossed the distance of the foyer to the entrance where his motionless assistant still stood.

"Mai," he called to her as he reached his hand up to touch her shoulder.

His hand froze just before making contact with her. The glassy sheen of her eyes had started to fade; at the same time, he noticed that her eyelids were falling closed. He watched as she started to fall backwards; it had happened so fast that he had had barely enough time to catch her. Had he been any slower in his actions, he would have no doubt been taking her to the hospital due to the concrete steps.

And then he cursed his luck; just seconds later, he noticed the two people running up to him. Of course they had witnessed the whole thing when they had been pulling up. He hadn't noticed them until now because he had been so focused on Mai.

"Naru! What happened? Is she alright?" The pinkish brown haired woman rapidly fired out her questions, her voice laced with a mix of worry and concern. The dark haired teen standing next to her remained silent but a look of concern was plastered on his face as well.

Naru internally groaned. There was no way that the two of them would leave him in peace until he answered, "I'm not sure; she'll be fine."

Instantly, the woman's demeanor changed from worry to anger due to the snappish and annoyed tone of voice he has used; briefly, Naru wondered (not for the first time) if she was bipolar.

"Oliver Davis! Don't you dare use that tone with me!" She chastised.

Naru, as per usual, just ignored her. Silently, he lifted his unconscious assistant into his arms before proceeding to turn on his heel and walked into the manor. Lin, who had been practically a shadow on the wall during the entire event, followed after him. As they made their way back to the stairs, he vaguely heard the short conversation that took place behind him.

"The nerve of that boy! I swear I taught him better than that!" The woman huffed.

"Now, now, Madoka. That's just how the boss is," the grey eyed, glasses wearing teen tried to placate.

"I know Yasu! But still!" Madoka whined.

Yasuhara's amused laughter was the last he heard of their conversation as he and Lin turned down the hallway, heading back to where the two of them has left the rest of the team. Surprisingly, they had not made it much farther. The reason why; the monk and priestess had once again gotten into one of their fights.

A flicker of amusement passed through his eyes as he watched the blue eyed, blonde haired priest try to keep the fiery red head from beating the taller man into unconsciousness. The emotion in his sapphire eyes didn't last long as he turned serious once more, "If you two are done with your childish antics, I would like to find someplace for Mai to rest."

At the sound of his voice, all movement halted. Four sets of eyes quickly fixed on him and Mai. After quick examination of the brunette, the blonde priest reached out and pushed open the door that group was standing in front of.

"We think this one will make a decent base," the blue eyed man spoke.

Naru strode towards the door and then entered the room. If he had to guess, after taking a quick cursory glance around the room, he would say that it had at one point been a sitting room. Various chairs and a couple of couches were scattered around the room. All of which had been covered by white sheets to keep the dust off of them.

With a nod of his head, Naru walked over to the closest sofa in the room. Lin, yet again the man had shadowed him as silently as a wraith would, made his way behind the couch and grasped the sheet in his hand. With a quick tug, the sheet was removed and the Chinese man let it fall to the floor beside him.

After giving the man a nod of thanks, he placed his brunette assistant on the couch. Once he was sure that Mai was comfortable enough, he focused his attention on Lin once more, "The generators were packed, correct?"

"They were. I brought the backup ones as well, just as a precaution," Lin answered.

Turning back to face the rest of the group, to which he absently noticed was still missing the two researchers, he began to give out the orders on what everyone should do, "Myself, Lin Takigawa, John, and Yasuhara, when he finally decides to come up here with Madoka, will unload the equipment and set everything up. Miss Matsuzaki and Miss Hara will remain in here with Mai. Madoka will as well when I send her in here."

Various nods and sounds of agreement floated through the room as everyone sauntered off to perform the tasks that they had been given. Naru shot another glance at Mai's prone form that lay on the couch, before turning and following the rest of the men out of the room. As he closed the door behind him, he couldn't help small pang of worry that he felt towards the girl.

Something like this had never happened to her before. And at the moment, he didn't know if it was something to do with her psychic abilities or if it had something to do with this case. Kanakuro Manor, after all, was something that should not exist in the way that it did.

The four of them had only made it halfway down the hallway that the base was situated in when they heard it. While it had started quite at first, it rose in volume rapidly. The yells and screams of terror were unsettling, even for him. And they were coming from the same spot that they had left Madoka and Yasuhara.

"Hey you, don't tell me there's no hope at all,

Together we stand, divided we fall"

-Hey You by Pink Floyd

Yeah... I got nothing this time. Hope you all liked it!

~Trust~