A/N: Thank you so much for your continuous support. I am really happy that you liked my story and I'll work hard to make it more exciting and prove to you that it's worth taking your time to read it. I also appreciate the people who reviewed my story, thank you so much and rest assured that I'll try hard to meet your expectations. Please continue to support my story by reviewing it. It forces me to update as soon as I can since I always look forward to your reviews. Thank you everyone.

*I also made changes on chapter 2 concerning about the typographical errors I saw. If there's still some that I missed, please don't hesitate to tell me.

I do not own ghost hunt, I wish I did though. (-.-)/

Chapter 3: The Best yet the Worst Birthday Ever (Part 2)

Mai woke up in a familiar scene she used to be staying six months ago, the astral plane. This is the first after six months. After Gene's body was found, she never saw Gene nor this astral plane after that, but the dreams continue, yet it's somewhat different, the dreams she had been having strike terror into her heart and she can't explain why. She shrugged as she pushed the dreams aside and focused back on the astral plane. It was deep and dark yet tiny orbs of light were floating all over spreading their glow to brighten this place up. She stood up and gently touched one of the orbs with her finger and it glowed even brighter like it was pleased with her touch. She giggled as the orbs encircled her as if they were dancing. Mai was bewildered by the sight, she had never seen the astral plane this beautiful before. It only showed her sinister sights and backgrounds of people or spirits to be precise while they were still alive. The astral plane she was standing now was warm and gentle, like it was giving her a warm hug. She closed her eyes and tried to feel the warmth this place was giving her, smiling as she embraced back the heat she felt by wrapping her arms around herself until she could feel real arms hold her, giving her a sweet hug behind her back.

"Enjoying it?" it spoke. Mai opened her eyes and gasped at the person she never expected to see.

"Ge…Gene?" Mai looked directly at those sapphire orbs and the heart-warming smile he always displayed. Gene chuckled in amusement and caressed her face with his mild touch.

"You just said the exact same thing that idiot scientist said after he found out that I could still contact him." He replied with a soft giggle and Mai smiled back at him and placed her hand on top of his and soothed her cheeks on Gene's nostalgic touch. Gene blushed and quickly lowered his gaze, his bangs did the cover for him.

"I never thought I'd see you again…" Mai said in a low tone, Gene smiled.

"I reserved most of my energy for this day. When my body was found I did talk to you for the first time outside the astral realm right?" Gene took her hand for a stroll and Mai followed him while looking at Gene's blue eyes.

"And after I talked to you, I decided to follow the light like what all spirits do to move on. Then I had this really tranquil feeling inside of me and the next thing I saw was the astral plane." He chuckled "I guess this is where my heart belongs and the place where I can eternally be at ease." He turned to Mai who was listening attentively at him like a good girl. Gene flashed a small smile on his face and brushed her brown bangs to get a clear view of those muddy-brown eyes he loved so much.

"Will you still be my spirit guide?" Mai said sweetly with an innocent look. He cupped her face with both hands and smiled.

"I will, but more importantly, I'll be you're the person who'll stay with you whenever you see visions. I'll ease the pain for you Mai…" Gene said softly placing his forehead unto hers.

"Happy birthday Mai, I'm glad you were born and Im very lucky I met you." He whispered softly.

"Thank you Gene and I am very lucky to have met you too. If it weren't for you, the SPR would be probably visiting my grave right now." Mai grinned and Gene chuckled.

"All I did was support you though, well, that's the best I could do."Gene gave a disappointed look. Mai pinched his cheeks all of a sudden and Gene hissed at the pressure being applied on his cheeks.

"That's enough to keep me alive you humble idiot!" Mai scolded him like a child and Gene laughed at his new title.

"So I'm the humble idiot while my twin is the narcisstic idiot?"He raised an eyebrow at her. "Fair enough" Mai said putting her arms on her waist when all of a sudden a very good question flew past her.

"Oh yeah, what brought me here? If I remember correctly…they throwing a party for me and then they made me blow candles. I was about to blow the last one when…." She paused and recalled what happened. A few seconds later, she gasped at the sudden flashback and her balance went off. Luckily, Gene caught her before she could kiss the floor.

"Mai what's wrong?" Gene asked worried. She stared back at him, and tried to regain her smile.

"Gene that woman knows me…and for some reason that I don't really know…it's scaring me. It's like, even though I'm deadly curious who she is, I don't really want to know." She said in a low tone, clutching his sleeves even tighter.

"Why don't you tell them about your dreams?" Gene cupped her face with a' you-know-who' expression so as not to let her question any further.

"I wasn't lying at Ayako! I do forget about my nightmares right after waking up. After that I fell a lot of eyes spying on me and I was so scared that I called Ayako to sleep with since I can't stomach being alone at that time" she sobbed. Gene caressed her brown strands calming her down.

"I wasn't implying anything Mai?" he said a little guilty. "And what you said was true, I didn't say that you were lying." Gene told her, Mai sniffed as she wiped the tears trailing down her cheeks.

"But I do know that you were having nightmares quite often this week, and you didn't call that red haired priestess to sleep with you." He said eyeing the brunette under his arms raising an eyebrow at her. Mai sniffed and just nodded. 'Ow, he got me' she muttered under her breath.

"Tell them Mai, they won't eat you" he grinned at her. Mai rolled her eyes and sighed.

"Okay Gene" she told her cunning spirit guide, Gene was almost complete flashing his smile when she added "when I'm ready" she snickered. Gene groaned at his defeat 'clever woman' he thought and Gene's body was nearly fading.

"Thank you for visiting me on my birthday Gene" she told him, Gene nodded and noticed that his body was transparent. "It's time Mai" he said and Mai nodded. As the scene began to fade she noticed that Gene was still saying something but Mai couldn't figure it out as the wave of gravity pulled her back into her body.

~Naru's POV

After he and Lin dropped Mai of the entrance. They both went to their stations as well, holding unto the bouquet he bought out of desperation he walked all the way to the pavilion without Mai noticing him. He waited for her there feeling this weird tightness in his stomach. He shrugged it off and concentrated at the stone paths that led the way to the pavilion. The new moon was silently watching all of them and fireflies swarmed the garden. He didn't expect fireflies but at least it would make Mai even happier. He loved the way she smiled…'whoa wait! What? Where did that come from?' he thought. Since when did he care so much about Mai, well he DOES care for her since he's her employer and all but what's this about Mai smiling? He groaned and massaged the bridge of his nose. It helps him calm down and bring back his senses. He sighed, how come he even agreed to this anyway? Yeah, they were really, annoyingly, persistent but he could just give him 'the look' and carved the word NO into their heads. They even forced him to do the 'line-up-with-candles-then-greet operation' with them, Lin hesitated at first but then he gave in and so he was all alone to fight against the four overexcited idiots anticipating his defeat. He also found out that they already had presents for Mai even Lin had one prepared. 'Damn him!' He scowled; he knew about Mai's birthday all along and didn't even inform him about it. When he asked him about it, Lin just gave him a questioning look and said "I thought it wasn't important since you were so busy and took no interest in these kind of events?" he said with his usual tone and Naru slammed his hand on his forehead.

"Could this day get any worse for me?" Naru growled while waiting for Mai to enter the pavilion. He noticed that there was this weird grip on his stomach too. Naru groaned at his continuous misfortune until he saw the girl he was waiting for walk on the stone paths with Lin guiding her. He also noticed the rose that she was holding and automatically locked his eyes on Lin. He saw his assistant-slash-bodyguard display a mischievous grin which he never did before. 'People are getting on my nerves lately' Naru refrained himself from throwing the 3 layered cake at the Chinese man who was still looking at him with 'that smirk' on his face. When everybody lined up around the cake and greeted her she suddenly cried. 'Oh great, now what?' He covered his face with his hand to cover his annoyed expression when Yasu started to push him near Mai. He glared at four-eyes mentally telling him that he'll never see the light of the day. Eventually he noticed Lin glaring at him like he did something even worse than send things flying with his PK. He shrugged and looked at the crying Mai who was trying hard to cover her tears. It's not working though; he could clearly see it and this painful sensation ran all over his body. Not knowing what else to do, Naru handed his 'last resort measures' and gently laid down the bouquet of roses. She peeked between her fingers and Naru blushed thinking it was 'cute' he looked away and was glad that his bangs were covering his face. Mai gladly took the roses; her tears disappeared recovering her heart-warming smile, Naru's weird grip on his stomach faded and was replaced by a relieving feeling and sighed. As the team sang Happy Birthday he was glad to see she was enjoying this. He could understand the feeling of celebrating your birthday without the person important to you, Gene; he would still have nightmares about his death and thinking about their birthday without his other half is…

"Mai what's wrong!" Ayako shouted. He looked at Mai who was completely petrified. 'What's going on' he creased his eyebrows and then everybody came rushing when she suddenly fainted. We took her to the car;and sighed at our big problem 'it's going to be a long drive before we can see hospitals'. This place was near the mountains and it's far from the city. 'Argh!' he groaned bursting in irritation.

"Is something wrong?" the man poked out of the black Mercedes which was passing by the highway, he looked like he was in his mid 40's. Ayako explained everything to the man and then he kindly offered help.

"I own a vast rice field not far from here and there's a clinic built there just in case my workers get sick. Why don't you take that young girl there, I'd be happy to help you." He said with a warm smile, Ayako bowed her head thanking the man, so as Takigawa who was freaking out moments ago. He told us to follow his car and moments later we arrived in a vast field of rice and farms, poultries, etc. after we got off the van I took Mai and carried her all the way to the mansion and laid her down on a bed. The old guy called doctors to attend to his 'guest' and just a few minutes passed they were there, treating Mai.

"Thank you for your generosity in bringing us here uhmm…" I trailed

"Mitsuhide Azuma, a pleasure to meet you…" he said reaching out his hand for a handshake, I accepted it remembering how my mother used to bug me about my manners every minute of my life.

"Shibuya Kazuya, this is my assistant Kujou Lin and also the girl that passed out, Taniyama Mai" Naru said as he introduced Lin.

"My other companions are John Brown, Hara Masako, Matsuzaki Ayako, and Yasuhara Osamu."They bowed down as their names were called.

"Thank you so much for helping us Mitsuhide-san" John said. Mitsuhide smiled warmly at his unexpected visitors.

"No problem, it was good I happened to pass by, hospitals are far from this area and that young girl didn't look good." He smiled.

"Yes, we apologize for bringing you trouble." Takigawa told him.

"Oh no, I'm glad to be of help" minutes later, the doctor walked out of Mai's room along with Ayako since she insisted she could be of help. The doctor bowed at the rich guy and then us. 'They treat this guy very well' Naru thought.

"There isn't any problem, besides the stress that's been piling up in her body, she seems very healthy. You don't need to worry about anything." The doctor smiled at us and everybody sighed.

"Stress huh?" Takigawa muttered under his breath.

"Let's leave her to rest then, I've also prepared rooms for you to stay the night in. It is getting late after all." SPR nodded and everybody called it a day.

Mai could feel the cool breeze caress her porcelain skin. There was also this big yet gentle hands stroking her hair, she finds it relaxing and felt safe as those fingers run down her strands. Later on her sense of hearing overcame the still silence surrounding her not long ago. She slowly opened her eyes and blinked a few times to get a clear vision of what has been happening. She saw Naru right by her side, his dark cerulean eyes showed this occasional tint of sadness and worry. The same eyes that he displayed right after she confessed to him, followed by the most absurd question she encountered all of her life.

~flashback

'Is it me or Gene?' he told her imitating the same smile Gene always showed her, but his eyes remained sullen. She didn't know what to say. She knew all along that Naru could never smile like that, but she never imagined that Naru being an entirely different person. She never knew that her spirit guide has been his dead twin brother and she just couldn't hold back the tears of being that ignorant, though Naru remained emotionless, she knows deep inside he's crying but he couldn't, so he cried for him.

"I didn't know…" Mai sobbed as she fell to the ground.

~end of flashback

'Damn!' Mai shrugged at the image she was imagining, trying to push away the memory of the failed confession she had six months ago that she completely forgot about the man beside her.

"I see you've finally woken up" Naru stood up crossing his arms, scratch the she just thought, his stoic mask was back in its stupid place. "After you blew the 16th candle you just suddenly passed out.

"You passed out" Naru said in a matter-of-factly voice. 'Was he even worried?' Mai shrugged and noticed that she was in a very comfortable bed with expensive bed sheets and all. She examined the room, red felt wallpapers, paintings hanged on the walls, expensive furniture and 'oh my god' she gasped at the balcony right before her eyes. The glass door was open explaining the cold breeze that recently crawled on her skin.

"If you're wondering where we are…" He sat on a chair and his and grabbed his book. "We're in a mansion owned by a person named Mitsuhide Azuma, he's an innocent passerby that pitied you when you suddenly passed for an unknown reason." He said in a monotone voice. 'Jerk' Mai hissed, 'you don't have to say it that way' Naru noticed her fury and smirked. Mai clearly noticed that and got even more pissed 'Ah! So you're enjoying this…' her mouth twitching, refraining herself from launching an axe kick on Naru's head.

"Did you dream?" Naru asked out of nowhere. Mai nodded.

"I dreamt about a girl with jet black hair and blood was all over her face. She was telling me that she didn't love me and that I should experience the pain that she went through."

"You? How did you know it was you?" he asked, a spark of curiosity lit up in his eyes. 'oh man, it's gonna start' she sighed, mentally preparing herself for the horde of questions.

"She knew my name…" she continued, Naru quickly went to his thinking position.

"Did you know anyone who might be mad at you?" Naru asked.

"I don't know…I don't remember making anyone mad to haunt me…" Naru smirked at her statement.

"Then she's probably mad at how you're such a klutz, you probably did something without even knowing it." Mai shot up with blazing eyes.

"Well eat your words you insensitive jerk! You're the one who keeps on blabbing about things without giving a care on how others feel." She shouted at him

"The things that I blab about are always logical Mai" Naru counter-attacked, Mai was left open-mouthed and gritted her teeth.

"You egoistical, stoic, anti-social snob who's too good to make friends with anybody…" Naru raised his brow waiting for what's coming "OH! WHY ARE YOU EVEN HERE IN THE FIRST PLACE!" Mai slumped on her bed and grabbed a pillow and covered it on her mouth to stop herself from screaming so loud. Naru chuckled inaudibly.

"Because Mai, I'm handsome" he smirked at her. Mai clutched at the pillow.

"What does that have to do with being in my room!" she hissed

"Because I figured that it would open your eyes right away" his smirk got bigger, Mai growled and threw the pillow at his face.

"Narcisstic jerk! You're face didn't contribute anything for your information!" she was about to throw another pillow when Lin entered the room with a shocked face. 'Naru was thrown a pillow? What is going on….?' Lin thought. Naru coughed and brought back his attention.

"What is it Lin?" Lin was about to answer when the rest of the gang invaded Mai's room. And Takigawa quickly swooped Mai into a bear-hug.

"Mai you're awake! Are you okay? Where does it hurt? Did you dream? Was it scary? Everything's okay little sis, I'm here to protect yo-"Ayako gave him a quick blow on his head and Takigawa winced in pain.

"You're going to kill her before you could even protect her dumbass!" the red-haired miko said.

"Well…have you ever heard about a doctor doing the opposite of curing people? You're the only person in that category...HAG!" Ayako charged the monk and the poor priest as usual tried to stop their fight making him the referee of the match.

"Ohhh! I'm going to take a walk!" Mai said quickly marched of the room.

"Oh! Then let's go on a date Mai-chan" Yasuhara said with a mischievous smile.

"Shounen!" monk yelled. But before he could say anything else Mai glared at them. "ALONE!" and stormed out of the house.

Mai was strolling on the grassy field, the trees were far from the view but the breeze was lovely. The open field was so nice. The soft wind continued to pass and her hair and the ends of her skirt danced along with it.

"Ahhhh, this feels great" she let out a sigh of relief. The silver moon was still present and it glowed like a giant spotlight in the vast field she was standing on. It was still night time, probably about 11:00 or quarter to 12, the breeze was chilly and her outfit seems to be losing to the cold temperature.

"Maybe I should go back now, it's getting cold" she whispered as she rubbed her palms together to create a bit of heat. She turned her hell and started to walk back when she could feel a tight grip on her legs. She froze as the sensation continued to creep up. Pressure kept her legs in place, it's like something was gripping her legs to keep her from moving. Goosebumps attacked her as fear rose, her pulse was racing and her heart was about to burst if it kept pumping so fast.

"Mai!" the voice that sounded like monk called in a distance. And then the weird grip was gone and she was able to move.

"Mai, let's go back. There's something we need to talk about." Mai who was still suffering from aftershock nodded and followed monk obediently. Monk noticed something was off.

"Did something happen?" he asked

"Uhhh..." She trailed when another Ayako shouted. "Hey! Hurry up" Takigawa scratched his head.

"Were going to talk about this later" He commanded her feeling so Big brother but then she didn't mind and just nodded.

"So can you tell me what's been happening Mitsuhide-san?" Naru began his interrogation and Mai made tea in the kitchen who was escorted by Ayako. She came back with steaming cups of tea and handed it to everyone. Unfortunately, paranormal things have been going around this place, and they heard that Naru is an expert when it comes to these things.

"Well Shibuya-san, for starters, there's this unusual fire that suddenly appears out of nowhere. There were homes that were burned, crops sometimes burn also and drought even though it's winter. A few people got burned that's why I built a clinic since it was becoming frequent. Besides fire, angry voices heard in the middle of the night, screams, flickering lights, banging doors and a child's insane laughter."

"A child?" Naru piqued an interest and Mitsuhide san continued his explanation.

"Yes, were definitely sure it was a child's voice, he also cries sometimes saying 'I didn't do anything wrong' softly and then his voice would go louder and louder until he's screaming. After that it would become awfully silent and then followed by his insane laughter." A chill ran down Mai's spine. She wrapped her arms around her trying to keep herself warm. She was shaking she didn't know if it was because she felt chilly or because she was nervous then suddenly her body felt like it was burning she fell on her knees and everyone's attention turned to her. Ayako quickly bent over to look at the girl and was shocked at what she found out.

"Naru, we need an ice pack and a thermometer, she burning up!" Ayako said frantically and one of the maids quickly reacted to Ayako's orders. Takigawa and Yasuhara helped her up on a couch next to Naru and Mitsuhide-san.

"Is she okay? I thought she was completely fine already." He said with a worried tone.

"Oh that's normal for Mai-chan Mitsuhide-san. One minute she's fine and the next time you see her she's covered in bruises." He said with his usual playful grin.

"OH MY GOD!" Ayako stared in disbelief and everyone's eyes turned to her direction, and were shocked as Ayako was. They saw red marks all over Mai's legs. Ayako's pulled her socks down to reveal more of her legs and gasped. It looked like handprints, and there was a bunch of them. Mai groaned as she panted hard, she started to pen her eyes and saw worrying eyes all over her.

"What's up?" Ayako sighed and pointed at her legs and Mai almost screamed at what she saw.

"Mai you better start explaining" Takigawa said with crossed arms, his index finger continuously tapping on his crossed arms.

"Uhhh, well…I was standing in the field enjoying the breeze and then I felt cold and since I wasn't wearing any jacket I thought that I should go back but then I couldn't move all of a sudden until bou-san called." She stated circling her finger on the ends of her hair. Ayako and monk sighed together.

"Jou-chan…why not just for once hide that magnet of yours that always attracts trouble" he sighed again.

"Unfortunately Takigawa-san" Yasu interfered as he pushed his eyeglass upwards. "Mai couldn't hide the magnet because SHE is the magnet Takigawa-san." He said in matter-of-factly voice. Mai glared at him as she reached for a pillow and threw it at Yasu. Naru coughed seizing their childish performance causing everyone to behave as professionals.

"We will take this case Mitsuhide-san, we will need a base to put our equipment and 2 rooms with beds. Speaking of equipment, we didn't bring any and we need to go back first, we will also grab anything else we need for our stay, we will come back first thing tomorrow is that ok Mitsuhide-san?" Naru asked

"Yes please, and thank you very much for accepting it. Oh and you can use the rooms you stayed in." he told Naru.

"No thank you, I would prefer that my team sleep in groups seeing that some of them are best friends with trouble." He finished his sentence eyeing at Mai who was clearly pouting right now. After they packed up, Mitsuhide escorted them out of the mansion.

Naru drove me home to my apartment the moment we arrived at Shibuya. I was about to get off the car when Lin caught my attention.

"Taniyama-san" Lin called out and Naru turned to the Chinese man. "You should carry this with you just to be safe." Lin handed her a handmade accessory with symbols written in it. It was really pretty. Mai blushed at thte thought of Lin giving her a necklace that was made by himself…'I think'.

"It's a warding charm…think of it as a birthday present" Lin gave her a small but evident smile, Mai blushed and bowed as a reflex action.

"Uhhh, thank you Lin, it's very pretty." Mai said still blushing. "No problem" Lin replied. Naru got off the car and gripped Mai's arm as he walked to the building.

"Let's go" Naru said coldly. Mai was about to say something when he glared daggers at her and she thought it would be best to shut up. when they reached her door. It had the same scenario as yesterday. naru leaning on the wall beside her door as she slid her key and unlocked her door. Except that she went inside right away this time not looking at him.

"Mai" he said stopping the door from closing with his hand. She looked up at her boss.

"Call me if anything happens ok?" he asked in a monotone voice, she just nodded and he turned his heel and walked away. She was about to close her door for the second time until naru stopped it again.

"Happy birthday Mai" and then he disappeared for good this time.

That night, Mai dreamed about two children walking hand in hand with bright smiles painted on their faces. When she woke up, she didn't know why tears suddenly streamed down her face. Naru picked her up at 6:00 in the morning since they have a long drive to go. When they arrived they were warmly welcomed by the residents and Mitsuhide-san personally.

"It's nice to see that all of you have arrived safely. I will take you to your base." He motioned for them to follow him inside. The boys took care of the equipment, while the girls carried the luggage. After all the equipment is set up inside the mansion they all gathered at the base to get some information and some instruction from their young boys.

"Mitsuhide-san did something serious happen last night?" Naru questioned him.

"Well, the usual flickering of lights and the screaming and crying. No fire happened last night." He stated and Naru nodded.

"I see…I need information about the history of the land? And then I will have to talk with the victims or witnesses of the paranormal activity." Naru demanded, gathering stacks of paper and Lin placed his laptop ready for the interview.

"Yes, about that, my ancestors were chief leaders of the village before in turned out into this. We keep all the records in our library. And I have asked the villagers involved, I believe they are waiting outside."

"Thank you, that is all Mitsuhide-san" he shifted his direction to the team. "Takigawa-san and Matsuzaki-san, go record the temperature in places with recent activity" he said while handing down a list of locations.

"Ok boss" Takigawa immediately walked out of the base followed by the grumpy Ayako.

"Yasuhara, go research in the library" Yasu saluted "Sir Yes sir!" and marched out of the room.

"Hara-san and Brown-san, go around the house and the village and see if you can find something about the spirits." Both nodded and took off leaving Mai as the last one without instruction.

"Mai…" Mai smiled brightly waiting for her orders "tea" Naru said plainly and went back to look at the files then let one of the victims in. Mai's smile turned quickly into a frown then went to the kitchen. 'Narcisstic tea-addict' Mai muttered as she stomped all the way to the kitchen to make tea. She leaned on the counter waiting for the water to boil. As she was staring at the kettle, she realized she was all alone. She suddenly felt a shiver run down her spine. She examined the kitchen as her eyes trailed from the stove to the cupboard followed by the closet and then the child at the entrance of the kitchen. 'Wait a child?' she said as her instantly flew back to the entrance but sadly no one was there but then she was startled by a screaming kettle. 'Oh dang, it's boiling' she quickly turned it off when a hand crawled up her legs. She screamed causing the kettle to spill and burn her skin. Lin and Naru quickly went over to the kitchen.

"Mai!" Naru saw Mai down on the floor with spilled hot water all over the kitchen and a young boy with ash colored hair holding his teddy bear.

"What's going on?" he asked helping Mai up and noticed burns on her legs and hands. Mai looked at the boy beside him and gave him a warm smile, trying not to scare him.

"You gave me one hell of a scare there little one" she said softly still smiling at the boy. The boy kissed her cheeks and apologized with teary eyes.

"I'm sorry one-chan, I didn't mean to hurt you." He said still holding back her tears. Ayako and monk reached epicenter of that loud scream they heard and saw Mai with a bunch of burns.

"Really Mai! You never get satisfied do you?" Ayako scolded her and they helped her up in a chair and Ayako started treating her burns. Mai looked at the young boy who was clearly nervous and smiled sweetly at him.

"Hey there little one, what's your name?" she asked

"Riku" he replied in a low voice. He's probably scared because all the adults around him are going hysterical.

"Hey there Riku, I'm Mai and don't worry, it's not your fault I got hurt. Onee-chan is just a klutz you see." She gave him another smile and the boy slowly lit up.

"By the way, why are you in the kitchen earlier?" she asked gently

"I was following my friend, he got there before me and I thought maybe you saw him. So I wanted to ask where did he go, I'm really sorry Mai onee-chan." He looked down looking guilty again.

"Oh! No biggy, by the way this friend of yours he got there before you?" he nodded

"He was staring at you a while ago." He told her innocently and shivers went down her spine. She thought he was that boy before but she was wrong. Minutes later a woman with ash colored hair that seemed to be Riku's mother stormed the kitchen.

"Riku! Where have you been?" the moment her mother saw him, she instantly hugged her son. "I was so worried about you! Where you off playing with your 'friend' again!" she said as she released him. She looked at us and saw my injuries. She bowed as an apology.

"I am so sorry, my name is Matsuyama Sakura. I am Riku's mother. I am very sorry for the trouble he caused." She said bowing down again.

"Ah don't worry, it's nothing big" I told her and Ayako glared at me. I replied mentally 'he's just a kid!' and Ayako sighed.

"Matsuyama? You are one of the persons I need to interview am I correct?" Naru asked the woman and she nodded.

"Mai and Takigawa, go play with Riku" monk growled and I happily took Riku's hand.

"Come on Riku, let's play." And we walked out of the room leaving Naru to do 'his business'.

Mai and Riku were playing while monk was keeping watch on both of them when Riku suddenly stood up.

"Riku?" Mai asked

"There you are! I've been looking for you" Riku said as if he was talking to someone. Mai and monk searched the room but no 'kid' was visible to their eyes.

"Onee-chan" Riku tugged at Mai's sleeve and pointed at a certain direction. "That's my friend" I looked at the direction he was pointing but there was no one there. Shivers ran down my spine, monk was about to start chanting when I stopped him.

"What's the name of your friend Riku?" I asked him and I hear monk slam his hand on his head. Riku turned to his imaginary friend and started nodding.

"He told me not to tell you yet…" Riku told her. Mai smiled sweetly at the boy and turned to the place where 'his friend' was supposedly standing.

"Hello there, my name is Taniyama Mai. I hope I can be friends with you." She smiled gently and reached out her hand to meet a handshake.

"Don't worry, Mai onee-chan is really nice" Riku told the invisible figure. And then a few seconds later, cold sensations ran through her hand and a gentle force moved her hand up and down like a handshake. She smiled gently until she feel her eyes getting groggy and his balance failing her. She glanced at Riku and was shocked when she saw the boy beside him.

"He had red eyes…" and then everything faded to black.

A/N: How was it? I made sure to read it before posting now so I think that there'll be fewer errors (I guess). Please don't hesitate to point it out though, and please…please EVALUATE by REVIEWING.

(I forgot to post this on the last chapter)

If you add all the candles Mai blew it would be a total of 16 candles.

Concerning the age, I really have no idea besides the fact that Naru was seventeen on the first episode. I thought that Mai worked for him maybe less than six months and then Naru left and so six months later he came back which was coincidentally the day before Mai's birthday, w/c means Naru is eighteen. Lin…about 23 in my story (no basis). Yasu is eighteen since he applied for a university in the anime which means he was a graduating student at that time. Monk 20 or turning 21, same goes for Ayako (again no basis). And lastly, John 20 since he was nineteen on the series.

Hmmm…that's all I guess. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR READING! (^^)/