Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Ghost Hunt.

Mai woke up with a stiff neck. The sun seemed too bright and she felt rather cold. As she took in her surroundings blearily, she heard a faint snoring from beside her. She twisted round to find that Beast and Naru were curled up, tucked under the crook of her elbow. She smiled to herself before realising that they were in fact still perched on the observatory terrace.

"Wake up," she said. "It's morning."

Two pair of eyes blinked up at her groggily, as Mai began folding up her cloak (crumpled) and putting the books (which she had barely touched) in order. That done, they were about to leave when one of the footmen came running up. "There you are. I mean, my lady, there seem to be some strange people in the mansion grounds," he said with a nervous tremble.

The strange people, as it turned out, appeared to be two men. One of them had quite clearly broken his leg and was leaning heavily on the other. A crutch and a wrapped bundle that looked suspiciously like it might have been a weapon of some sort, she was quick to note, were currently occupying her (previously) empty umbrella stand. The uninjured man waved at her a little. "Er, hello. Sorry to intrude," he apologised with a shy smile. "Do you mind very much if we sit down?"

Mai could feel a headache coming on. What with Naru having taken over her writing desk upstairs, Masako still barricaded in the Blue Room, and now, adding to her stress, strange men occupying the front sitting room, she really did ­not need Yasuhara adding to her stress. Almost as if right on cue, she distinctly heard his voice as he somehow managed to invade the Blue Room. Mai got up hastily and spilled the tea she was pouring for the two strange guests, one of which was clearly foreign and seemed to be wearing armour under his regular clothes.

"Oh, excuse me," she said and plonked the teapot down with a loud rattle. "I've to go check on my… er… other guest," she said and fled the room. Takigawa looked at the girl's retreating back and shrugged.

"So, tell me again, Sir John, how did you get lost in the woods too?"

The Princess of Nihon eyed the university student in open hostility.

"Your Highness."

Yasuhara swept her an immaculate bow. "It has come to my attention that you are immensely unsatisfied with my behaviour. I have come to apologize."

Masako's glare lessened, though the suspicion in her eyes did not.

"Oh? I had come to think that your pranks were chronic." Then, her gaze fell on Mai who had been hovering near the doorway anxiously. "Ah. It is the lady of the house." She extended her hand in a show of apparent magnanimity. "I suppose I could, seeing as it would be unseemly to be ungracious, especially in the presence of lesser beings."

Mai, who had sighed in relief scowled. "Hey! Who're you calling ungracious, you-

With a lordly wave of his hand, Yasuhara cut off her protest. "It's alright, Mai." He bowed grandly to Masako again, and with another airy wave, signalled a servant forward. "May I present, with the compliments of the chef, this luscious bavarois, made with the finest Albionian strawberries and milk as a token of my apology?"

Masako, ever gracious, smiled. "Certainly, I will, but only if you join in."

Yasuhara's equally broad smile did not even waver. "Perhaps a small slice, but ladies first."

Masako continued to beam benignly. "As a show of your sincerity, you should take the first."

Mai who had been watching the exchange looked at Yasuhara carefully. There was a bright gleam to his glasses that she did not like at all. But, with smile plastered on his face, the student sliced a generous helping of the bavarois for himself and proceeded to eat it without blowing up or turning purple. The two girls both let out a mutual sigh of relief and then turned to glare at each other.

"I would ask you to join in, Taniyama-san, but the bavarois seems too rich for your tastes," the princess continued obnoxiously.

As the student dragged a screaming and kicking Mai from the room, he whispered to her, "Forget the cake, I had the cook's boy place a cockroach in it. Just as well that I didn't eat it…"

"What?" Mai wailed. Oh surely not… Moments later an ear-piercing shriek from the Blue Room which confirmed her worst fears. She rounded fiercely on Yasuhara who had in the mean time escaped, leaving the frustrated girl behind. A light tap on her shoulder caused Mai to jump violently. "Stop that!" she protested before noticing that it was that young footman again.

Looking even more visibly distressed than earlier, he ran a hand through his sandy hair and pronounced in a nervous high-pitched voice, "I'm sorry, my lady, but it seems there is a yet another person seeking permission to be admitted to this house. He is waiting in the front hall."

When Mai arrived panting and pale there, it was to catch the latest visitor in the act of installing a tall ebony staff in the umbrella stand. As he straightened up, she could feel her face heating up. "Sorry," this new and rather handsome stranger said on catching sight of her red complexion and mussed up hair. "Have I arrived at a bad time?"

"Yes, I mean no, of course not!" she babbled. The young man's fantastic blue eyes regarded her with amusement. "Excuse me for intruding like this. I believe we've not met yet…" he said. "I'm Gene, Second Assistant Divinations Master from the Albion School of Magecraft." That, Mai thought, explained at least the dramatic floor-length midnight blue robes and the staff.

"I'm Mai," she said and blushed.

"Mai is it? That's a lovely name! Perhaps I had better explain why I am here," he said as they entered the sitting room where the Royal Tutor was sitting alone. Takigawa blinked up at the mage.

"Oh, it's you. Where's Madoka and the shrew?"

"Still talking to the tree," Gene said as he accepted a cup of tea from Mai. "Thank you, Mai-chan. Now, I don't wish to take up more of your time, so I'll get straight to the point. Takigawa Houshou and I are searching for somebody whom we've reason to believe may be around here. Would your staff and yourself have perhaps noticed a rather unusual frog with green stripes around here?"

"Oh, do you mean a talking frog? Did he escape from your school?" Mai asked. The two men exchanged a look.

"Talking?" Gene echoed. "That's a new development…"

When Gene was showed into Mai's room, he instantly spotted his brother at the table and chuckled.

"I'll leave then, so that you can get some privacy," Mai said as she closed the door on the two of them.

Naru eyed his brother calmly. "And to think you got here so quickly. The ink on my letter is still wet," he said sarcastically. Gene drew back the desk chair and smiled at his twin.

"Nice to see that you are in the… green glow of health. You really got us worried you know," he said. "Takigawa, Madoka and even Lin-san have been searching for you night and day, did you know that?" Naru twitched irritably.

"How was I to know that the old lady would turn out to be a powerful enchantress with a penchant for being clumsy" he fumed as Gene laughed. "Do you know how to reverse the spell?" he asked anxiously now that there was no one to hear them.

Gene lowered his gaze. "You know I'm a diviner. I can't undo transformation spells." He looked in the direction of the door. "Surely you've noticed that there is a competent spell-breaker in this house," he said.

"Excuse me?"

"Oh, so you haven't noticed that the lovely lady of the house was the one who probably cured you of your habit of croaking?"

For the first time (in a very long time), Naru was struck speechless. "Mai has magical aptitude?" His twin nodded.

"Yes, and of a very unique variety; she deflects magic. Spells don't work very well around her, though I don't think she's aware of it" he explained.

Naru could feel a surge of hope rising. He even almost felt happy again. "All you have to do," Gene continued, "is to get her to kiss you." The happy feeling vaporised immediately and Naru found himself staring at his brother from the pit-bottom of denial.

"What do you mean I have to kiss her?" he demanded indignantly. His brother eyed him with his usual mischievous grin.

"No, no. You misunderstand. She has to kiss you," he corrected.

"Why?"

Naru didn't care that he was starting to sound like a petulant five-year old. The horror of the situation was dawning slowly on him and he was not pleased at all. "Isn't there an alternative?" he asked at last.

"Mai's abilities are connected to her emotions. So technically, if you get her worked up enough, she'll probably be able to reverse it… But, you should know that the equivalent magical force of a kiss is a very painful physical blow to the head. You might die," Gene said dryly. "Or at least, be very severely injured." Naru stared up at his brother in exasperation then.

"How am I supposed to get her to…to…" he muttered bitterly. Normally, as Naru reminded his brother (as if the sight of one's sibling turned into a frog were not obvious enough), normally, this wouldn't have been a problem. "Look at her. She likes you. I bet she wouldn't mind kissing you now" he said a trifle sulkily as he surveyed his brother from the top of his head to the ends of his calfskin boots.

"Mother would throw a fit if she finds out you pierced your ears," he commented abruptly.

"They were for my initiation ceremony," Gene replied lightly. "And do I detect jealousy in your peevish observation about what Mai thinks of my appearance?"

"Since a compliment about your physical features is tantamount to complimenting myself," Naru retorted smugly. "I'm saying that she would fall in love with me if I were my normal human self."

"Ah, but do you have my pleasant personality?" his brother smirked. As Naru fell silent again, his brother hugged him gently. "Look, if all else fails, I'll ask the Old Master to have a go at undoing the spell. But, Naru, don't delay it. Madoka's spell-casting is known to be unstable. Who knows if the transformation might develop?"

He set his brother down on the table again. "I've to leave now. I've yet to complete my errand and now Madoka says that she is to escort me back to the school as soon as possible." Naru narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

"Did she say why?"

His brother sighed again. "Nothing escapes you. Malfina was spotted near here." And although Naru didn't speak, Gene could sense him trembling with barely restrained anger. "Noll," he said softly. "I want you to promise me that you'll stay in here until I leave."

"And I want you to promise me that you'll get someone else to escort you."

"Madoka is a highly accomplished enchantress. Didn't I tell you? She was my mentor in my final apprentice year." He grinned at his brother. "See you around. Best of luck with Mai," he said as he exited the room.

Author's (lengthy) notes: Hmm. I hadn't expected to update so soon, but there you go. And yup the answer to that is Gene (who else would those boots have belonged to XD). I am glad that you are enjoying my very first fanfic so much and I promise to update soon. The reviews I have received have been most encouraging and are what keeps me going. Thank you!

Positive reviews are fantastic, but I also greatly value any critical comments, so please don't hesitate to tell me if I've made any stupid spelling mistakes or if anything doesn't gel with you generally.

On another side note, I've re-done the paragraphing for chapter seven, and I hope it looks better now... Paragraphing, it seems, is a problem that has migrated over from my general lack of organisation. Please excuse me while I work on improving that.