Me: Another chapter done.
Mai: You're starting to catch back up with your stories.
Me: Yeah, I was slaking a lot so I need to make up for it now since I'll be a college student next year and won't have as much free time to write like I do now.
Naru: Thank God.
Me: HEY!
Gene: Silver doesn't own Ghost Hunt, please R&R!
Mai's POV:
"So, you escaped from the tense atmosphere as well?" Kaguya asked me as we made our way into the spacious kitchen.
"Yeah, I really don't want to deal with Naru's pissy mood. I already deal with it most of the time, but not to that degree." I confessed, extremely glad that for once his anger and wrath was not directed at me. Then again, I wasn't all that thrilled that Gene was getting the brunt of the anger, but he did have it coming.
"Ah, makes sense."
"So, on a lighter note, how did you and Gene meet?" I questioned, already having a long line of questions about her relationship from school that only doubled when I found out that it was with my boss' brother.
"Oh my, that's a fun story." She laughed, leaning down to get the pans and pots from the cupboard under the sink. I rose my brow, now really curious how they met. Was it before or after the accident?
"Really?" I asked, testing the waters to see just how much I could get her to spill. She looked back at me with a blank face and serious eyes.
"No, it was terrifying." I blinked and let what she said register in my mind, but I couldn't put together how their meeting could have been so bad and then have ended up as boyfriend and girlfriend.
"Why?"
"Because I was there when he was being thrown into the water." She said blankly getting some ground beef from the fridge and putting it into said pan as she began to cook it. I blinked once, then twice, and then a third time before what she said registered in my mind, and even then I had trouble understanding it.
"What?"
"When Kane was hit, I was driving with my Aunt to this house. It was a dark night, and we were blasting music. I was looking outside and zoning when I saw someone in their car's headlights by the cliff. They took something out of their trunk and lugged it to the edge. It was only when they unwrapped it that I saw what it was." she said, ending with a tremble in her voice.
"It was Gene?"
"Yeah." She nodded, a scared and horrified look on her face. She took a shaky breath and composed herself before she began her tail again. "When I saw him I yelled at my Aunt to pull over and I high tailed it to the cliff. The car passed me thanks to the fact I was wearing black, and when I got to the edge I heard the splash of his body in the water. Without thinking I jumped off and dived in after him."
"Weren't you scared?" I asked, looking at my newest friend in awe. She had jumped off a cliff to save someone she didn't even know, and saved his life. Had it been me, my fear of heights would have made it impossible for me to do that.
"Yeah, but I couldn't not do anything. Besides, I had just taken a course on lifeguarding and first aid so I thought, hell with it." She explained, a small smile of pride on her lips.
"So you pulled him out?"
"Yep, I did CPR and slowed the bleeding with strips of my cloths. My Aunt then called the police and well, the rest is history as they say." She said, her smile widening even more as an expression that I can only call dreamy passed over her eyes as she stared at her hands as they began to chop up the vegetables for tonight's dinner.
"Wow." I said, at a loss for words on how to describe my respect for the young woman standing in front of me. "You're so brave to go and do that." She looked back at me and gave me a wistful look and giggled.
"Well you're brave yourself to work as a ghost hunter."
"Thanks." I said, feeling a bit of pride rising up in my chest at her compliment.
"How did you get into this line of work anyway?" she asked, raising a brow at me in wonder. Not that I blamed her. I still wonder how I got roped into this business sometimes myself, and I was there for the whole part of it. Except for the stupid insurance camera part, but then again I did find out about that later on.
"Well it actually was when Naru took a case at my school. I knocked over a camera and injured his assistant, Lin. He needed someone to take his place, and I've been working under him ever since." I explained, smiling at the memory that I held so dear to me. If I actually look at it though, it was what started it all and really began my life. Not to mention it brought me a new family that I care for dearly and I know cares dearly for me.
" Wow." Kaguya said after a while of just staring blankly at me. She shook her head and then paused as a smirk made its way on her lips. "Wait, so that's the guy that you've been crushing on?" As soon as that question left her lips I blushed like a tomato and nodded my head in embarrassment.
"Yeah."
"Well it seems like we have the same taste in men then huh?" she said, giggling to herself. I took a moment to process that and I couldn't help but laugh along with her as well.
"Apparently."
"So tell me, there has to be some funny things about Mr. Doom-and-Gloom." She said, looking up from her cooking and flashing me a smirk. I stopped for a moment, trying to remember something about him that would be funny, and it took me a while before I thought of it. Even though it was quite simple.
"Well, I suppose."
"Spill."
"Well, he's a huge tea-a-holic. I swear that he can't go an hour without having a cup of the stuff."
"That sounds like Kane except with his sweets."
"Does he have a sweet tooth?" I asked already knowing the answer.
"More like a sweet mouth! I bake every day for fun and by the end of it, it's all nearly gone!" she complained, pouting a bit. The look on her face made me hold back a laugh since I thought that laughing at her would have been rude.
"Wow." I said, not quite sure what to say to that. Kaguya giggled and nodded in agreement before we lapsed into a comfortable silence. Suddenly, the calm and comfortable atmosphere that we had made dissipated and a chill began to fill the air despite the burners being on. At first I didn't think it was all that bad, but then my instinct told me to get out of there, and fast.
"Kaguya, do you feel that too?"
"Yeah." She said, turning the burner off, and slowly we inched towards each other. Both on guard and silent waiting for anything to happen. "Mai, look out!" she said, pulling me away from the fridge as a bowl of fruit fell from the edge and broke into hundreds of little, sharp, pieces. It took me a moment to figure out what happened, but when I did I looked at my new friend with a grateful look for saving my poor head from getting a concussion.
"Thanks."
"What's going on?" she asked, looking at me as if I had an answer. Unfortunately I didn't and that only made our situation that much worse.
"I don't know and I really don't wanna find out." With that I grabbed onto her and went to the exit to hopefully get away from the spirit, only for the door to slam in my face. "Okay, not good."
"So what do you suggest we do?" she asked, a slight hint of worry in her voice as she scanned the room incase anything should be thrown at us.
"Not quite sure. Is this normal?" I asked hoping for some reason that it would be and that instead of the ghost it was actually a motion sensor that was acting up.
"Nope."
"Okay then." I said, not quite sure what to make of it. At first I started to relax a bit thinking that the spirit only wanted to make its presence known to us, but then the banging started.
"Before you ask, no, this isn't normal either!" Kaguya exclaimed over the loud rapping noises that now filled the once calm and quiet kitchen.
"Namaku san man dan, bazara dan kan. Namaku san man dan, bazara dan kan. Namaku san man dan, bazara dan ka-ah!" I screamed, feeling myself being flung away from Kaguya and pinned to the wall. My head bounced against the unforgiving wall, and when I looked I saw that Kaguya was in a similar state as I was.
"Mai, are you okay?" she asked, struggling against the invisible force holding her back.
"I think." And just like that the lights began to flicker and fear washed over me. I couldn't do any chants and Kaguya was already helpless against spirits and now we were pinned up to the walls like lifeless dolls with no way to escape. As thoughts of what could possibly happen to us began to run through my head the door to the kitchen flung open off its hinges revealing Gene in the doorway. His eyes went wide at the activity that was surrounding us before they started to scan the room looking for the source of this phenomenon.
"Gene!" I heard Naru yell, quickly coming into the kitchen behind his brother only to pause at the activity he was now present in. "Monk!" he called, summoning my older brother figure into the room. He didn't even hesitate as he put his hands in the seal of the immoveable one and began his chant.
"Namaku san man dan, bazara dan kan. Namaku san man dan, bazara dan kan. Namaku san man dan, bazara dan kan!"
As soon as it started the banging ceased and everything went back to the way it was before the entity made itself know to us. Kaguya and I dropped from where we were held up on the wall, and I would have lost my footing had it not been for Naru standing right by me to steady my weight. I looked over at Kaguya to make sure she was alright and smiled when I saw Gene helping her out and her frowning and turning down his help. All of us were breathing heavily from the little adventure we had as everyone else from the team filed into the large kitchen.
"What happened here?" Ayako asked, taking a look at the place and how messy it now was.
"We got a little welcome present." Kaguya said in a sarcastic tone while looking at the damage done to her kitchen. She huffed in annoyance at it and crossed her arms. "Great, now I have to clean this all up."
"You just got attacked by a spirit and all you're upset about is that you have to clean up the mess?" Monk asked, looking at the young woman in disbelief. She in turn shrugged while still focused on the damage that was done.
"Well it also dropped and bruised some fruit as well. Not to mention they fell on shards of glass so now they can't be eaten. Stupid ghost, wasting food." She grumbled, obviously not fazed at all by what had just taken place. Everyone stared at her for a moment before looking at Gene only for him to shrug his shoulders at us as if asking what. Naru sighed at his twin's response and pinched the bridge of his nose to try and relieve some of the stress that was surely building up sine he found out about his brother being alive.
"Never mind that. We can take care of that later." He said, stopping Kaguya as she was about to go and begin the process of fixing up the kitchen so that it was useable once again.
"But it's a danger hazard if it's not taken care of." She protested, not wanting to leave things as they were.
"And so is Mai on a daily basis, but we still let her roam around without being padded up with gear galore." Monk said, causing me to blush at the mention of my clumsiness.
"Hey!"
"Who was the one who fell down a hole in the ground not once but twice?" He asked, making me pause in my attempt to quite him. Before I could make a comeback though, Ayako chimed in.
"Not to mention who do the ghosts tend to go for?" he added, making my cheeks heat up even more in embarrassment.
"Okay already, point taken." I said, giving in to the fact that I was clumsy. Sue me.
"Meh, I've done worse." Kaguya said, shrugging her shoulder. Everyone looked at Gene who in turn had wide eyes and nodded his head in agreement. This peaked my interest as well as Monk and Ayako's as they now gave her their full attention.
"Really, like what?" I asked, wanting to know what she had done that had been worse than falling down a hole. Twice.
"Well-"
"Off topic, but back to work. I want everyone at base. You too Ms. Shen." Naru said, cutting her off.
"Kaguya. Shen's my aunt's last name, not mine." She stated, giving him a look of distaste. Whether it was for cutting her off or calling her by her aunt's last name I don't know. All I did know was that he had rubbed her the wrong way. He either didn't notice or didn't care, my guess is that he didn't care, and rolled his eyes at her.
"Regardless, I want to record what had just happened and since you and Mai are the only two who were here start to finish I need both of your encounters."
"Whatever." She said, rolling her eyes at him this time, and walking out of the room. Gene quickly followed behind along with his brother and Lin leaving the rest of us in the kitchen.
"Come on Mai, let's go before Naru-chan gets even more irritable then he already is." Monk suggested, placing his hand on the small of my back as he guided me to the doorway along with the others. Taking one last at the mess around us that was supposed to be our dinner, we were being whisked up into the base to be interrogated by the team, a small smile made its way on my lips as I realized what has happened.
'Looks like the case has finally begun'
Me: Yay!
Naru: finally the case has begun, you couldn't have gotten to this point faster.
Me: Well I coulda, but I didn't wanna.
Naru: *sighs*
Mai: It's still good though.
Gene: Yep.
Me: Aw, thanks you guys! Please Review everyone! XD