Oh my god, you guys don't know how much this chapter hurt me until the end. My poor babies. Hope this hurts you as much as it hurt me, then I won't be forever alone.

Disclaimer: I do not own Ghost Hunt!

Chapter 10: Catch of Breath

Gene just managed not pass out after he released a tremendous burst of energy, his scream ringing through the house. The shield he'd created around Yasu and him pushed out. Patients flying towards them ricocheted off the wall, others were pushed down, and yet others were flung back by the shot of energy Gene had released. The air crackled with the sparky residue, making their hair stand on end.

"That was so uncouth!" Gene said, slipping to the floor, hand clutching at Yasu's arm. His eyelids drooped low, his breath coming fast. "How does Mai do it all the time? Gods, I think I gave myself asthma."

"You can't give yourself asthma from screaming. Actually, you can't give yourself asthma, period," Yasu told Gene, wedging his hands under his arms and pulling Gene back up. "Hey, come on. Don't pass out on me. There's still a ton of them left." Even as he said the words, he hoisted Gene into his arms and rushed through the door. He kicked the door shut behind them.

"I am… an English… lady," Gene breathed hard, not even wasting the energy to glare at Yasu, "I do not… pass out. I… faint."

"Great, now he's talking gibberish," Yasu muttered to himself, tapping down the stairs as quickly as he dared. Just then, the door above them crashed open, ripped off its hinges. It slammed into the opposing wall before tumbling down the stairs. "Dammit. Dammit. Dammit," he muttered, pressing Gene into the wall, his back to the falling door, "Hey, you do know you're a guy, right? That would make you a gentleman." It fell harmlessly past them. He was trying to keep Gene awake and talking, but so far, it wasn't working.

Gene's eyes had almost completely closed, and his body was limp in Yasu's arms. He murmured to himself, slowly slipping ever further beneath the black veil of unconsciousness. "I'm going to puke," he groaned, but made no move to cover his stomach or mouth.

"Don't puke on me," Yasu protested, glancing back up the stairs as he pulled away from the wall.

The patients were flooding through the door, pushing and shoving each other out of the way to get through faster. The stairway was quickly becoming congested with half-dead humans.

That may have been their only chance to leave before they converged on them. "Ooooookay," Yasu said, drawing out the word, "I think it's time we get out of here." Turning swiftly, he ran down the stairs, jumping two or three at a time, not paying attention to the jarring pain that raced up his ankle when he hit the bottom step and a piece of door slid from beneath his foot. Regaining his balance and straightening his ankle, they spilled out into the second floor hallway. Kicking the door shut, he turned and ran towards another set of stairs. He was starting to hate stairs.

"Hey, hey, Gene, you know what happened, don't you?" he asked. His friend was drifting fast, and he didn't know what would happen if and when he finally did.

Gene's eyelids fluttered open, and he stared up at Yasu with his unfocussed navy blue eyes. "I don't know what happened. What happened?" His face was unguarded and childish. Just like Naru, he kept up a front, but surprisingly, his twin let his slip more often than Gene ever did.

"Masako and I broke up," Yasu told him, holding him close against his body as he shoved into the next stairwell and slammed the door shut with his shoulder.

"Why? I thought… you and Masako… liked each other," Gene said slowly, voice dropping in volume. His pulled his arms up from dangling, crossing them loosely over his stomach. He played idly with Yasu's shirt, tracing patterns over his stomach.

Yasu's muscles clenched beneath Gene's fingers, quivering and jerking away from his touch. "We did. We still do, but more as friends."

"Why did you break up? You two were so…" He paused longer than necessary, slipping his fingers beneath Yasu's shirt and pressing them to the warm flesh beneath. Yasu sucked in a sharp breath. "…cute together."

Yasu laughed breathily, watching where his feet landed on the steps. "I guess you could say that. It was fun while it lasted, but it was really only dating. For some reason, people expect when two persons get together that have been in a group for a long time, it will work out for the long run, but no one ever talks about what happens after the fairytale ends." They reached the bottom of the stairs. He continued talking as he cautiously poked his heads out the door, glancing down the hallway. "We're still friends, but some things happened, and we decided that it'd be best not to continue our 'relationship'." He said 'relationship' as if it promised nothing but bitterness and lies.

"Why does she still hang all over you then? It's as if you, John, and Masako are inseparable," Gene muttered, his words just the slightest bit jumbled, but jealousy simmered just below the surface.

Yasu pursed his lips, quietly closing the door behind him. He didn't hear those half-dead patients, but that didn't mean they weren't close behind. "Those two are. We, the three of us, have a sort of mutually beneficial relationship for the time being, though I haven't taken advantage of it in a rather long time."

Gene laughed, retracting his fingers from under Yasu's shirt to hook in his belt loop. "You guys are fuck buddies."

"Well, my part of the group is. They… they're together. Behind my back mind you, but it doesn't really matter to me." Yasu glanced down the hallway. He couldn't remember which direction they'd come from. Was the children's room to his right or his left? He wouldn't want to lead the patients toward them, but it was the only way he knew to get back to Base. Grumbling to himself, he turned and lopped off to the right.

Gene laughed again, quieter than before. "If it didn't still matter to you, you wouldn't have even mentioned it."

"Gene, you might want to shut up. I might drop you otherwise," Yasu warned.

Gene's body shook, which he assumed was just his friend laughing more. They were just coming onto the double doors of the children's room when Gene's body went still. The children were out of their beds, huddled together in the back of the room. The teen Gene had shoved against the wall stood slowly, his hands held out and expression determined, then he realized who was standing outside. The teen rushed towards the doors.

That's when Yasu realized that Gene's body was completely still, not the still of sleeping, but the still of not breathing.

…..

"That was Gene!" Monk shouted, rushing for the door. He jerked it open, and Rex rushed in, her eyes wide, ears pressed against her skull, tail puffed up to twice its size. "Rex! Where are Gene and Yasu?"

Rex, of course not answering, rushed into Base. She sniffed around the twins before tentatively licking Naru's face and whining.

"I have to… get to Gene," Naru groaned, struggling to pull himself up. His arms slipped out from under him and he crashed to the floor, but he grabbed the edge of the table and tried again.

"Naru, you're too weak," Lin said, helping Naru to his feet, "You can't help him like this. We'll go help him. You stay here with the twins."

"No," Naru snarled, his eyesight fuzzy as he glared at Lin. A headache pounded against the inside of his skull like he hadn't drunk water for three whole days. "You don't understand. He borrowed from me, Lin. He's in a lot of trouble. I have to help him."

"You can't," Ayako said flatly, drawing everyone's attention to her. "You're too weak, Naru. If anything, you'll get in the way of us helping him and Yasu. Stay here with the twins and Masako. The rest of us will go get those two dimwits back. No arguing, from any of you." She glowered at each of them in turn, before marching towards the door. "We're wasting time. We need to get up there now." With those last words, she was gone in a flash of red hair and swirling skirts.

Looking back at Naru, Monk shrugged and followed after her. John, throwing an apologetic smile over his shoulder, rushed after them. Releasing Naru's arm into Masako's grasp, Lin was the last to leave the room.

"What do you feel, Masako?" Naru asked. Darkness encroached on the edges of his vision, turning the mist to a dark shade of grey.

Closing her eyes, Masako concentrated on the house. She reached up, up, up towards the top levels of the house, where they'd heard Gene's scream come from. She passed two bodily bound souls, souls she knew all too well. They were coming down to the first floor. She reached up farther, and found what she was looking for. Still trying to force all of the bodies through the stairway, a spirit was connected to all of the victims. It looked as if the spirit had small glowing tendrils snaked into the backs of each of the bodies' necks. Behind the spirit was another, one she also knew too well.

Her stomach fell through the floor. "Oh god," she whispered, her eyes snapping open, "Naru, we have to get to Gene and Yasu. I think the others already ran past them. We have to get them, and Yasu, and Gene. Now. Did Monk ward the base?"

Naru shook his head, narrowing his eyes at the pain. "No, I don't think so."

"Cellphone. Cellphone," Masako muttered, staring around the room. She hadn't brought hers, she never did on a case so her agent couldn't reach her.

"Here!" Kamin shouted even as Tamaki held a phone out to her, "Its Daddy's phone!"

"Let's go!" Masako shouted, grabbing Naru's arm and dragging him from the room as she speed dialed Lin. "Stay close behind me!" she shouted at the twins who were riding on Rex, clutching at her coat. She spoke quickly, concisely, hanging up before Lin could say anything or ask questions.

They didn't have to run far. The pair had made it down to the first floor by then. Yasu was leaned over Gene.

"Why are you… kissing my brother in my fiancée's body?" Naru asked, steel in his tired voice.

Yasu's head popped up, panic in his eyes. "Naru, he won't wake up! Gene stopped breathing and now he won't wake up!" he grunted, frantically returning to doing chest compressions like he'd been taught in his CPR course. Thirty compressions, hand on forehead, tilt chin up, breath into mouth. "Wake up, Gene. Wake up!"

Stumbling, Naru jerked away from Masako and fell to the floor on Gene's other side. "Let me take over the compressions."

"Naru, you're too weak!" Masako protested, grabbing at his shoulder, but he shrugged her off. She took a step back, clenching her fists so her nails bit into her palms, watching her friends silently. Naru found renewed strength as he pressed on Gene's chest with a force that would break ribs. From where she stood, she could see the static of energy, making their hair stand on end.

He was shooting energy into Gene's heart. 'What are you thinking?!' Masako wanted to screech at him, but couldn't find the words to speak.

It felt like hours, days, weeks later. The rest of the group had returned, milling around the scene like a pack of lost puppies, watching helplessly. Even Lin looked lost. The group of bodies had made it down the first flight of stairs and was struggling down the second.

Finally, Gene's body jerked. He sucked in a sharp breath from Yasu's mouth. Yasu jerked back, and they were both coughing. "Yasu?" Gene rasped, "Naru? Guys?" His eyes, clouded, stared around at the group before focusing on Yasu again.

"No time," Monk said, scooping Gene up from the floor, "We have to get to Base."

"What about the children?" John asked, looking to the doors were several of the older teens were watching through the glass.

Naru struggled up, grabbing onto Yasu's shoulder for support. "If they haven't been touched yet, I don't think they will be touched now. He's not interested in them for the time being."

Nodding, John stuck his head through the door. "Will you all be alright?"

The older teens nodded. "Yes, we can defend ourselves. If not, someone will scream," the boy Gene had slammed against the wall said.

Nodding again, John closed the door. "Let's go," Naru said, and stumbled off in the direction of Base.

Well, there you go. I hope y'all don't hate me too terribly much. I'll see you next chapter for hopefully another Mai appearance.