Disclaimer: I do NOT own Ghost Hunt. Wonderful and fantastic genius, Ono Fuyumi-sensei does.

[[HOUSE OF EVERGREEN]]

Episode 9: The Lovers

I run. Run away. Why aren't they letting us do as we want? We just love each other. And we want to be together! We're not harming anyone, so why?! I can hear them getting closer and closer to us. Damn it!

"Naru… I think they're here!"

"Keep running, Mai!"

I run and run. Until I can no more. Until my bare feet are painful and bloody from running. Until I can breathe no more. Until I can no longer move.

"Naru… you go ahead. They won't kill me!"

But they will make you a cripple. They warned you.

"Hurry! They won't! I'll join you… join you under that tree! No one approaches near graveyard, so it'll be all fine! They want to kill you, not me, so RUN!!!"

I scream with all my might.

You'll never be able to leave this place again.

"…Mai, I promise I'll return. I will, for you."

"Yes. Now, hurry up and go!"

I scream through my tightly gritted teeth. It hurts. I know I might not be able to see him ever again. It hurts… Even so, I have to send him away. Away from them, as far as I can. Naru looks back while running, still hesitant about this. However, he gradually diminishes into a small dot and vanishes out of my sight.

And they… arrive. All gasping for air. The only one who's cool and settled seems to be Akira, the chief of this group of servants and also her brother's personal servant. He speaks to me with polite, yet ominous smile on his face.

"Ojousama*, I never thought you would do such reckless thing again."

"…It's not recklessness. It's love."

My expression is cold from both fear and disgust.

"Love? Such things don't exist. And anyways, he'll definitely be killed this time."

"No, he won't."

I believe in this. I have to believe in this.

"You will see."

A small curve that is almost a smirk arises on Akira's lips.

"Definitely."

His eyes are scary… they're full of anger, hatred, and…

###

Suddenly, I woke up, gasping, but soon realised it was only a dream. I sigh. I'm ever so glad that it was only a dream… A very, very terrifying one…

Naru… was in my dream again. Again? Why? Anyways, after all this incidents, Naru does not question me about China-san or anything anymore. Well, not to anyone, actually. He's just stuck in the base, forbidding any of us to enter there, and we all kind of presumed that he was thinking with his cleverness and workaholic mind.

I glanced at the table clock beside me. Its noctilucent hands point to time something like ten past two in the morning. And next to me, Ayako is sleeping soundly. Her chest rises and falls as she breathes softly. Without Masako, this room somehow looks much bigger. It seems like I can't go back to sleep, but then, I find Naru standing quietly beside my bed, smiling.

"Na…Naru?!"

Whoa, is this a dream again? He is smiling! Yes… it should be all right to tell him now, right?

"Um… Naru?"

He looks at me with warm, tender eyes. I look back into his eyes, and propose softly – what I wanted to tell him but couldn't because he forbade any of us going down to the base.

"…China-san didn't do that to Masako."

"I know."

He smiles. He… knows? Then again, I am shocked by him, patting my shoulder once, very gently. His smile is ever so beautiful.

"Don't worry."

With just those words and his smile, I am somehow relieved. Relieved and reassured that everything's going to be fine… everything's going to turn out great…

###

"Mai…"

I feel like someone's calling me…

"MAI!!!"

"Wah!!!!!"

I shoot up from bed, surprised, and butt straight into Ayako's head. At this, Ayako shrieks, and I scream.

###

From Ayako, I found out that I slept in again, and Naru called in all of us to the base. On our way to the base, Ayako grumbles.

"Jeez, Mai, why does your head have to be so hard?!"

"Sorry, sorry–"

I apologise to her, partially smiling and laughing, but is then interrupted by Naru's cold voice.

"You're late again."

"S…sorry."

The base is really quiet now. Sigh… Is apologising all I'm doing today?

"I'll get down to business straight away. First thing Lin and I discussed several times is how come the spirits here are spotted so often. But again, all of these were really simple. A lot of this family members have ESP."

WHAT?! I look at him, completely astonished, and so does Ayako. Bou-san and John seem like they were expecting this. Never minding with our surprise, Naru continues with his explanation.

"For example, Muramoto-san is sensitive. As soon as she saw the attic, she sensed the terrible air in there, and sealed it completely, forbidding anyone going there."

"Ah, yeah…"

That's true…

"Saiko-san can see ghosts."

Actually, now I come to think of that, I think Hajime-kun can see them too. He told me he saw the lady opening curtain one day in his dream – he probably thought it was a dream – but it was actually open the next morning.

"And there are lots of examples of ESP in this family's history. As we researched their heritage of ESP, tracing back to the Edo period, and we discovered their great-great grandmother was a Miko herself."

And then, from here, everything started to fall in to place.

To be continued =]

Comment:

Umm… yeah. As you can probably see, I haven't updated for about past 2 months. Sorry about that, I was really busy with Year 11 – you understand :'( And it took me so much effort to get back to writing this, but thanks to your support + comments, I DID!!! (And it's holidays too!)

HOE will soon be reaching climax too and please watch out till then! And remember that I'll never abandon my unfinished stories, even if it might take a long, long time! Thanks for waiting!!!