Sorry for the late chapter! I didn't have much time to do anything with Christmas and the like. Hope this is a good chapter. I had fun with Yasu and Gene.

Disclaimer: I own nothing!

Just fair WARNING!: there's a lot of cursing in this one. Sorry y'all.

Chapter 3: Off to the Races

"Hi Gene!" Yasu shouted, dropping an arm around Gene's shoulders.

He winced, smiling tightly. "Hello Yasu," he said, his shoulder throbbing where a deep purple bruise coated the crook of his neck. As gently as he could, he unwound Yasu's arm from around his shoulders, placing it at the man's side. "Let's not try to harm the she-male twin today, alright? Let's make that agreement. I'll get you ice cream at the end of the day if you don't hurt me again."

Yasu scoffed, rolling his eyes. "You think you have to bribe me to be kind?" he asked. Quickly, he added, "But the ice cream is welcome. I'll take cookie dough and bubblegum. We'll head out after we shut down the office for the night."

Gene rolled his eyes, calling out, "I'm going to go worship, Noll! I'll be out around the time the client shows up, hopefully. Or maybe not." He ran a hand over his quivering mouth as he shoved open the bathroom door and disappeared inside, slamming it shut.

"What's wrong with him?" Yasu asked, dropping down into his chair at the reception desk. He'd temporarily taken over secretary duty while Mai was indisposed.

Naru didn't answer Yasu as he dropped down onto a couch to wait for the client. They were supposed to be showing up soon after opening, and he wanted them out as quickly as possible so he could retreat to his office with his 'angry music' as Mai liked to call it. Pressing his face into his hands, he ran his hands up through his hair and back past his face, stopping with them cupped around his mouth. "Is Miss Matsuzaki going to be coming in today?"

Yasu leaned back in his chair, slowly spinning, staring up at the ceiling. "Uh, I think she will be. I believe she just finished something up on Mt. Fuji. Monk told me that she's on her way back, but he doesn't know exactly what time they'll be back, and being bored, they'll probably head this way. Why?" He looked at Naru, raising an eyebrow.

Naru glanced to the bathroom door before letting his hands cover his face again. He groaned loudly. "I need tea," he grumbled, "Gene sucks at making tea."

"I can hear you!" Gene called from the bathroom. He retched, and shut up.

Yasu laughed, standing as Naru stood. "I'll make it."

"No," Naru said quickly, glaring at the man, "You suck at making tea too. I'll make the tea."

Yasu looked offended before he dropped the charade, laughing. "Well, what about Lin? Doesn't he make good tea?"

"Relatively."

…..

"Kill me now," Gene groaned, stumbling from the bathroom. He dropped down onto the couch opposite Naru, propping his feet up on the arm of the couch, sighing loudly. "This. Fucking. SUCKS!"

"What does?" Yasu asked, stepping up between Gene's feet.

Naru was never more thankful that Gene hadn't grown accustomed to wearing Mai's skirts. Apparently, he hated them, but sometimes Naru wasn't all that sure.

"Well, you heard it for the past hour. I'd hope you'd be able to figure it out," Gene said, dropping his arm over his eyes, sighing deeply.

"Are you sick?" Yasu asked, propping his elbows up between Gene's feet.

Gene shrugged, pulling a knee towards him, leaving it in the air. "I have no idea, but I know it sucks. I hope I didn't get sick. Mai would kill me if I left her with a cold."

"Are we planning on saving Mai sometime soon?" Yasu asked, standing straight, a grin tugging at the corners of his mouth. He missed his friend. He missed teasing her and Naru, and having fun with her.

Gene nodded. "I'm hoping so." His brow furrowed beneath his arm, and he sat up straight, nearly slamming his boobs into his knee. He usually forgot they were there unless he was doing an activity where they got in the way, which was often, or somehow managed to hurt them, which again, was often.

Slowly, as if he was cautious of something, he swung his legs off the edge of the couch, standing. He backed up slowly until the doorknob to Lin's office pressed into the small of his back. Slapping around for it, he flung the door opening, disappearing into the sounds of keys tapping away.

Only moments later, after Lin appeared being pushed out of his office by a frantic Gene, the bells by the door jingled. A woman stepped into the office, a soft smile curling her lips. She looked more than a little high, her black eyes dull and clouded over with mist. Her hair was short, just brushing the bottoms of her ears, and was a little frizzy. She was younger, younger than most of their clients.

"Hello," she murmured, her voice soft and lilting. "This is Shibuya Psychic Research, correct?" Her eyes turned to Naru, her eyes clouding more as they traced over him.

Naru looked away from her, his eyes twitching. 'Can no one fucking read?' he thought sourly, 'It's right there on the damn door.'

Looking back towards her, he stared at her blankly. "Yes, this is Shibuya Psychic Research. You are?"

"Anaga Kyoshi," the woman said, bowing deeply, "It is a pleasure to meet you Mr. Shibuya. I'm hoping that you'll be able to solve my problem for me."

Smiling welcomingly despite the way his skin was crawling, Yasu motioned towards the couch he stood in front of. "Would you like to sit down? I'll get some tea." He moved towards the kitchenette, disappearing behind the partition.

"Thank you," the woman said, smoothing down the back of her skirt as she sat down.

They were silent for a long moment as Naru and Lin got everything ready. The pair glanced at each other, nodding. "Okay, Miss Kyoshi, now, what is the problem you'd like us to look into?" Naru began, sitting back with his notebook propped open in his hand, a pencil in the other.

"Yes, of course," the woman murmured, her smile seeming to turn twisted for only a moment before relaxing again. "Well, in my home, there have been many disturbances."

Naru raised an eyebrow, waiting for her to realize that they'd need more information.

"Oh, of course," she said, pressing her hand to her cheek, smiling sheepishly. "I forgot all about saying what has been happening. Well, people have been possessed a few times, knocked around, pulled from their beds. Messages have been left on the wall and a lot of the time items are moved, or picked up while people are in the room. It's getting very frightening for all of us."

Naru narrowed his eyes, ignoring the near silent creak of the door to Lin's office opening. He didn't like the way this lady made him feel. She rubbed him the wrong way, but he couldn't say why.

Gene, walking on shaky legs like a new born faun, came up beside Naru, his eyes trained everywhere but on the woman in front of him. "Where did you say that your home was?"

"On Mt. Fuji," the woman said obligingly, smiling up at him, her eyes now trained on him. "I run an orphanage."

A shiver ran up Gene's spine, and he had to fight the need to vomit. Something was wrong with her voice, as if two people were talking at once, but it was hard to tell when she spoke so quietly. He could feel her eyes burrowing under his skin, peeling it away layer by layer. "Oh, I see." He wondered if it was a simple coincidence that Ayako would be coming back from a case up there.

"So, will you take my case?" she asked, cocking her head to the side as her smile widened.

Naru and Gene exchanged a short look. 'Do you think it's safe?' Naru asked.

'No, but do we really have a choice? I get the feeling that she's connected to Mai somehow,' Gene replied, sighing inwardly.

'Shit, alright. I didn't want to take the case, but…' Naru inhaled deeply, pinching the bridge of his nose as a headache began to throb just behind his left eye. "We'll take the case," he said reluctantly.

"Thank you very much, sir. I hope to see you soon," the woman said, standing, "I'll leave my information with your secretary." She pulled as piece of paper from her bag, handing it to Yasu just as he was coming out with a tray. "I will see you soon then." She bowed deeply before opening the door and leaving without another word.

Yasu dropped the tray on the table, slumping onto the couch as he muttered, "Jeez, she was creepy. I never want to see her again."

Gene raised an eyebrow, staring at the tray. There were only four cups, one for each of them, and the tea was already cooling. "Yasu, you little bastard," he grumbled, "You were avoiding coming out here."

"Says the guy who was hiding in Lin's office," Yasu shot back playfully, jerking his chin towards the tall man's retreating back.

"You would have too if you were about to throw up everywhere," Gene replied smoothly.

Lin came to a stop. He glanced over his shoulder, a horrified look crawling through his dark eyes. "You didn't…"

Gene glanced at him sheepishly. "Maybe a little bit." Lin rushed into his office, letting the door slam shut.

"You didn't really vomit in there, did you?" Naru asked, face in his hands once more, "I really don't need to deal with a hysterical Lin right now."

"Of course not," Gene laughed, "You would have heard me if I had. I do not quietly vomit by any stretch of the imagination. And Lin would have screamed in agony by now."

"Lin screams?" Yasu asked, his interest piqued. He raised his eyebrows over his glasses.

Naru and Gene exchanged a glance before breaking down in loud, much needed laughter.

Yasu, his eyes going wide, jumped over the back of the couch and scuttled to his desk. He huddled in his chair, hiding behind his computer monitor. "Who are you and what have you done with the idiot twins?" he hissed.

The pair just laughed harder, bending forward against their knees.

"Why are you laughing?" Yasu whined, switching gears, "I want to laugh too!"

Gene, surprisingly, was the first to pull himself together, breathing hard. "We were laughing about what we used to do to Lin and Madoka to make them scream." They'd actually thought of the exact same moment years ago. That moment being when Madoka and Lin had been making out in the middle of the night, and Naru and he had used their abilities as weapons. Namely Naru and Gene dropping out of nowhere, thanks to Naru's PK, and taking a picture of the pair who had been utterly and fervently glued together. Yes, their screams had been beautiful.

"Tell me!" Yasu commanded.

"No," Naru replied immediately, rolling his eyes, coming out of his laughing spell. Gene started to laugh again, crouching behind the couch.

"Fine," Yasu grumbled, crossing his arms. "Hey, speaking of twins, where are the mini-twins?"

"We dropped them off with Masako and John at the church. They'll be here around noon, or sooner, hopefully," Gene answered, finally pulling himself completely together as he popped back up.

"I didn't want them here for the client," Naru said, standing, "Not with Ash roaming around. Yasu, contact the others, tell them we'll be headed out at nine o'clock sharp tomorrow morning."

"Yes sir," Yasu said, saluting Naru as the twins headed for Naru's office, bickering all the way. Halfway there, Gene turned on a heel and stumbled back to the bathroom.

…..

"Why don't we just leave right now?" Monk asked, laughing as the twins piled on top of him, giggling maniacally.

"That's a good question," John said, sitting beside Masako even as Yasu sat on her other side.

A hot blush coated the girl's cheeks, but she tried to ignore it by busying herself with her schoolwork. College had turned out to be more of a bitch than she'd expected. Now she was like Mai when they were in high school, constantly having to study and keep up with her work. "Because Naru doesn't want to go, that's why," she grumbled, breaking her pencil lead for the hundredth time since pulling it out.

"Why?" Yasu asked, leaning back, his arm thrown behind Masako's shoulders.

"We're all ready with our bags and whatnot," Ayako said, her head resting in her hand, her eyes closed. She was falling asleep. "Even the van is packed. This is the soonest and most ready we've ever been for a case."

From the bathroom, the group heard Gen dying over the porcelain god. They all stilled, wondering how he could still manage to find something to throw up. They were pretty sure that he hadn't eaten or drank anything that morning.

"Do you think he's alright?" John whispered, staring worriedly at the door, wringing his hands.

"I'll do a check-up on him later," Ayako mumbled sleepily, "I've been meaning to for a while, and I'm sure Naru would want me to also."

"Alright everyone, let's get going," Gene said, slamming his way out of the bathroom. He looked like hell, something that his bright smile and demeanor couldn't mask no matter how hard he tried.

"Oh, we're leaving now?" Yasu asked, standing and picking up Kamin, "When did that change?"

"Just now while I was dying. Naru! Let's go!" Gene shouted, slamming his palm against Naru's closed office door, "Let's stop fucking around and get going!" He frowned, glancing at the twins. "Don't repeat that."

The twins weren't even paying attention. They struggled towards Gene, reaching out their hands. When Monk and Yasu released them, they bolted to Gene, wrapping their arms around his legs. "Daddy Gene, you can't die! We don't want you to! We won't let you!" they screamed at the top of their tiny little lungs.

Gene couldn't hold back the smile that spread across his face. "Oh, I'm not going to die."

"But you said you were!" they shouted.

"That's just an expression. Don't worry, I'm not dying," Gene reassured them, kneeling and pulling them into a close hug.

"Well, I'd sure hope not," Naru said as he pulled open his office door, "I still have use of you."

"Daddy, don't be mean to Daddy Gene! He's dying!" the twins shouted irately, drawing Lin out of his office, his laptop bag slung over his shoulder.

"I'm sorry. I'll try to be nicer," Naru said, pulling them up into his arms. "Are we going or not?"

"Of course we are!" Gene shouted, bounding to his feet. "Alright, everyone, move out! Move out! The faster we get there, the faster we get this case solved!" He waved his hands towards the door, shooing the team outside.

"Gene, you need to calm down," Yasu scolded.

"Says the guy who needs to take a damn sleeping pill and mood stabilizer to be only this calm," Gene spat back, but his lips twitched up into a smirk.

Well, there you go. Sorry for the late chapter, hope it was acceptable. I just got a really bad idea as I finished this chapter, but we'll see if I follow through with it. This will be interesting.

I've got a little problem though. I can't remember if Ayako was preggers in "Hunted" or not. I have seriously written too many Ghost Hunt fanfics where the girls get pregnant and now can't remember when I do make them pregnant or not. A little help please! :D