I'm so sorry for my absence! I know I've been using this excuse a lot lately, but I did have finals and boat loads of homework. On Friday, I had to play for the graduation (seeing as I'm in orchestra) and yesterday I had a wedding to go to. Today, my mom just took forever getting us home. Honestly, this is the longest I've been on the comp in a while. Anyway, hope you enjoy this new chappy :D

Disclaimer: I do not own Ghost Hunt. If I did, I'm sure Mai would have more scars than she could count.

Chapter 8: Responsibilities

Fire swirled from the open doorway, licking along the walls and ceiling leaving black streaks in its wake. From inside the room, sobbing echoed even over the crackle and pop of the scorching flames.

"Kamin!" Tamaki cried frantically, his eyes growing wide with fear. He ran for the fire, unconcerned about the damage he would receive.

"Tamaki, no," Naru said, grabbing a hold of the five-year-olds shoulders and shoving him behind him, "Stay here, I'll get them. Takigawa, Father Brown, Lin, get the fire extinguishers!" The three men nodded hurriedly, taking off down the hall.

"But Kamin's in trouble!" Tamaki screamed, struggling against Naru's strong grasp. He flung himself this way and that attempting to break his hold on his shoulders. Tears flooded his deep blue eyes, but didn't spill over the edge of his lashes.

Naru picked Tamaki up into his arms and ran him into another room. He set the boy quickly on a couch. He tore off his jacket and draped it around Tamaki's shoulders. He looked as if he were drowning in it. "Stay here, I'll get them. None of us want you to get hurt," Naru told him quickly before throwing himself out of the room.

The flames roared at him, inviting him into their searing embrace. Naru paid them no heed, running headlong into the red-orange mess, covering his face with his shirt. "Mai! Kamin!" he shouted, trying to not inhale the black smoke. He couldn't see anything through the thick cover that was burning his eyes.

Another wolf-like howl split the air.

Naru jumped. He rushed towards the sound, instantly seeing the huddled figures. He gasped at what he found. "Mai!"

Her shirt had been burned away leaving her back exposed to the raging fire. It was blistering and red, but not blackened. She was crouched over a sobbing Kamin who seemed unharmed. Beside them, Rex huddled low to the floor. Her tail smoked the slightest bit, but otherwise, she was unharmed.

"Tamaki! Daddy!" Kamin cried, her eyes squeezed shut and her face pressed into Mai's chest.

"I'm right here," Naru said as he picked her up and pressed her into his chest, "Can you stand?"

"I think so," Mai called, struggling to her feet with Naru's help. She stumbled against Naru, but stayed upright. They hurried from the room and didn't stop moving until they were in the other room with Tamaki.

Naru set Kamin down beside Tamaki. She collapsed into him, tightening her arms around his waist. Rex jumped up beside them and started licking both of their faces like a mother duckling. Naru turned his attention to Mai who had curled up in front of the couch, trembling in pain. Tears slipped silently from the corners of her eyes.

"Miss Matsuzaki!" Naru yelled, crouching beside Mai, "Ayako! Someone get Ayako!" His voice was borderline hysterical as he stared down at the girl in front of him, incapable of helping her.

"Naru, what's the- Oh my god. Ayako! Ayako, get your medical bag!" Masako screamed, her eyes going wide and the color draining from her already pale face. She ran back down the hallway towards the stairs.

Naru breathed a short-lived sigh of relief. Outside, he could hear the others fighting to get control of the fire. As far as he could tell, it was being reduced, but was still burning strong.

Tamaki who had calmed Kamin down enough to where she was only hiccupping, clambered down from the sofa followed by her and scuttled over to them. "I-is Mai going to be okay Daddy?" Kamin asked, her eyes wide with fear and horror.

Naru looked up at them. He nodded slowly, saying, "Yes. She's very strong. She can make it through anything."

"Are you mad at me?" Kamin suddenly asked, staring at him pleadingly.

Naru was confused which very nearly never happened. "No. Why would I be mad at you?" he asked, keeping his face carefully neutral even though he had a raging storm of emotions roiling through him.

Kamin looked on the verge of tears again. "Because it's my fault Mai is hurt and you're really worried about her," she told him.

Naru was opening his mouth to tell her it wasn't her fault, but Mai beat him to it. She extended her trembling hand towards the young girl and cupped her cheek. "It's not your fault," she gasped out, wiping away tears that had begun to stream down her face while her other hand had a painful grip on the carpet.

"But it is all my fault!" Kamin objected, miserably scrubbing at her eyes with her fists, "I wasn't with Tamaki like I was supposed to be. It's all my fault." Another sob erupted from her as she dissolved back into crying.

Mai was getting ready to contradict her, but her face contorted in pain. She clenched her eyes and mouth shut, refusing to let voice to her agony.

"Ayako!" Naru shouted, not looking away from Mai, "Get in here now!"

Ayako sped through the door, her medical bag clutched to her chest. A gasp escaped her lips as she rushed to Mai's side, dropping down beside her and ripping her bag open. "What happened to her?" she screamed, pulled her tools from her bag quickly.

"What the hell do you think happened?" he snapped back angrily, glaring over at her. Surely she wasn't that stupid? His eyes found the twins watching the proceeding, and told them, "Don't repeat that."

"Yes Daddy," they spoke in unison, clutching at each other's hands for support. He didn't even try to deny it this time. Mai really was rubbing off on him.

Ayako shot him a scathing glare, but forced herself not to snap back at him. She knew that he was just extremely worried about Mai. She wasn't going to fault him for that. At least he was finally showing how much he really cared for her.

She took a deep breath and got to work. She started to cut away the remains of Mai's shirt and bra, peeling them carefully way from her skin leaving her back and sides exposed. She stared at the wound with a mixture of horror and astonishment. "This isn't a normal wound," she muttered to herself, making a mental note to inform Naru of the detail later before returning to her task.

Mai clutched at Naru's fingers, squeezing the life out of them. She kept her eyes closed tightly shut as if that would help shut out some of the pain. For the most part it did, but there was still a lot she felt.

Naru felt his heart clench. He found himself wanting to squeeze her hand back, and stroke her face, and tell her everything was going to be fine. He wanted to find a way to make her forget about the pain. It would be so very easy to give into his desires…

His eyes went wide as he realized where his mind had travelled. That and his eyes themselves. He jumped to his feet, ready to take Tamaki and Kamin to another room and have a very long talk with his mind and hormones, but Mai yanked him back to the floor. For a girl in extreme pain, she was very strong.

"Don't leave me," she whispered, staring up at him with tear filled chocolate brown eyes.

He felt himself breaking under her gaze. "Of course not," he whispered, making his decision then and there, "I'll never leave you." Even if this backfired on him in the end, he refused to regret the choice. He'd see it through to the end.

Ayako glanced sideways at him wondering if he realized the promise he'd just made to this girl. It spoke volumes about the depth of his feelings. He probably doesn't realize either, she decided silently.

…..

"So what are we supposed to do now? That was the first activity since we got here," Monk asked, leaning against the wall. They were all at base battered and bruised, smoky and burned.

Ayako stood in front of him, putting salve on a small burn that marred his face. Half of one of his eyebrows had been singed off and now Yasu couldn't stop giggling. He sat in a corner, tending to his own burns.

Naru leaned back in his chair, pushing a sleeve down in discomfort though it did little seeing as parts of his shirt had been burned away. The same was true for his pants. He captured his chin in his hand as he looked out the window. "There's not much we can do. Review the tapes, though I don't believe we put a camera in that room. Possibly try an exorcism…" his voice trailed off, talking more to himself than the team.

They fell into silence, even Yasu, considering any possibilities. Each in turn glanced at the sleeping twins on the window seat closest to Naru. Naru was the only one who didn't look towards them. Either he wasn't acknowledging the possibility of their involvement or didn't want to bring it to light.

Finally, Lin being the brave soul of the group, spoke up. "We could try something with the twins. We could separate them and see if anything happens," he suggested.

"Yes. We could do that and figure out if the room is the place of origin, if Mai or Kamin are being targeted, or if it was just a coincidence they were there at the time," Masako interjected, attempting to make it sound less harsh than it had coming from Lin.

Naru let his eyes drop to the twins in front of him. They really did look a lot like him. Like him and like Gene. They had their personalities, and he suspected they had abilities. It would be good to conduct an experiment. Something felt wrong about using them as lab rats though.

"Why am I hesitating? I never hesitate even when it comes to children," he thought to himself.

And yet, he still hesitated before answering. "I think that would be beneficial to the case. Tomorrow, we'll figure out how to go about this. For now, go take showers and get some sleep," he said, standing up.

Everyone followed suite, getting to their feet and stretching. Groans emanated from every member in the room. They were all sore and stiff. Maybe they'd just fall asleep in the bath. Yeah, that seemed like a great idea.

Naru turned to the twins and bent down. He pulled each of them into one of his arms and stood back up. "I'll put these two to bed," he elaborated before leaving the room.

The others stared after him in surprise. It was silent for a long moment before Yasu broke it. "Aaaaawwww," he crooned, sticking his head out the door to watch him walk down the hallway, "When did he grow a pair of ovaries?"

"You need sleep," Monk sighed, rubbing his eyes before looking back up at everyone, "But really, when did Naru finally accept that he might be their dad, and that job all together?"

"I don't know," the rest, except for Lin, answered together, shrugging. They all started filtering out the door. Monk sighed and shrugged as well, following them out of base.

Alright, there you go. I hope you enjoyed it. Since it's summer, I should be more consistent with my chapters from now on. If I'm not, I give all of you permission to hang me. Just make sure the rope is soft :D Review please and I'll love you forever!

P.S.~ I'm really grateful to all of you who review my stories. You give me the drive to go on. I love you all so very much. I'm not even kidding (: