She was guided into a living room, Monk's hand on the small of her back. The room was gorgeous with old furniture and huge windows reaching almost to the floor, but she couldn't enjoy them, knowing that it was here. Mai had never really felt this way about a ghost before, or maybe her powers had never been this powerful before, and looking around she saw her friend Masako who already looked nauseous. The two exchanged looks and Mai understood that she felt the same way, her shoulders were tense and John was looking at her in confusion as he tried to speak comfort into her.

"If you two need to leave," Naru started almost gently but she quickly shook her head and sat down gingerly beside her friend. They turned to each other and smiled, asking about each other's days. With Masako being so popular on television it was hard to see her very often, in fact recently Mai was only able to see her during cases. Summer was off in the distances and with that she and her best friend could spend more time together, being as that the woman's schedule would decrease. By now everyone was eying the two girls before settling into their seats, and Naru glanced over toward the door to where an older woman came in. In her past she could have been the star of every woman in the country, but now she was old, her back bent over though she walked in with pride. Mai considering getting up to help her but Naru gave her a warning look, daring her to disrupt the woman's stride across the room and she sat there silently as the woman finally made it to her seat.

"I am Nanami Suga. I brought you here to look into the disruption of my home" She said, a smile on her face, and Mai smiled back. By now she could see the woman was very kind and as she admired the kind spirit of her, she didn't notice Naru watching her movements.

"What exactly has been happening so far?" Naru asked and the woman smiled almost bitterly

"The young people have been running away, my two sons lived here with their wives you see. They both had children who brought their friends over quiet a bit. One day one of the children started to act strangely and they disappeared with one of my son's daughters. We were worried and went looking to find them in the field outside the home, he had tried shooting himself but she stopped him and he shot himself in the foot." The woman started, pausing to sip her tea. "When he woke up he didn't remember anything and we all assumed he was lying, and let his parents take care of him. Then more of my grandchildren and their friends went into the field and tried shooting themselves, they kept failing and I became worried. Then my granddaughter who stopped the first boy brought another one into the field and she succeeded in shooting herself in the neck, she is in the hospital right now but she informed me before she left that someone told her to do it. I've grown tired of this game and sent everyone away until I clean this up" The woman finished and everyone sat there thinking before Mai spoke up.

"So they always go in pairs?" She asked

"Always in pairs of boy and girl. I don't know the age range but my very young grandchildren were not affected so it seems to go from thirteen to twenty or so it seems" The woman said and reached over to pat Mai's hand, the young girl shocked. "Don't worry about it, you've got your boyfriend to protect you, if you excuse me I have to get super ready." and then the woman walked away the room in silence. Once the door closed they burst into laughter, even Mai couldn't contain the choked giggled as Masako started crying from the tears.

"I wish we had recorded that" Monk gasped

"No way, that moment was too perfect to record" Ayako managed out and finally the laughter died out, the only person who didn't seem to be dying on the ground was Naru but Mai could tell from his eyes that he too had found it funny.

"For now we should not put the cameras up until we can pinpoint where the ghosts are located, they could be out in the field or in the home. I'd prefer not to have to set up in two different locations" Naru sand and the others agreed, the group standing up to move their suitcases into their rooms.

"Hey Naru, you said ghosts right? So you think there is more than one?" Mai said, catching up with the man as he exited the home.

"By the response you and Masako gave as well as the people going in pairs I would think that. There are probably more ghost who were sucked in by the two main ghost but I believe they are our real problem, with them gone we should be safe." He said frowning

"Wouldn't it be the one shooting themself?" Mai asked and he looked down at her

"Yes, we'll work to find out the identity of that one first. You seem to be getting smarter everyday Mai" He said smugly and the two walked back to the van with Lin, bringing in their suitcases.

"Well I'm almost in college now" She said, taking her suitcase from the taller of the two men, "Have you been college all this time?" The young girl asked, deciding it was alright to ask such a question.

"I finished college a long time ago, I'm a professor now." He said and she looked away, expecting that and as the two came in Naru grabbed her and pushed her down as a vase went flying toward them, and out the door. Lin had luckily noticed it and moved to the side, sending the vase into the yard with a smash. The two sat there crouching down, Mai's own heart felt like it was going double time and pounding into her ears, she was pressed up againist Naru, she could feel his own heart beating fast. He was seemly prepared to rush out of the door, his muscles tense and eyes darting, but as the two sat on the floor silence went over the home.

"Naru, Mai!" She heard someone shout and she looked up to see Bou-san running toward them, he pulled her up and Naru followed. "While you were gone the ghost went into a fit, were you hurt? Did it try to attack you?" The man asked, panicked and once seeing she was covered in blood nor crying he grabbed her and crushed her into a hug, the girl letting out a grunt as she was squeezed past comfort.

"Seeing that she already isn't hurt, I'd prefer for you not to change that" Naru sighed, and she was lowered and the Monk insisted on bringing her luggage in. He was her father in a way after all, once Naru left he stepped it up. He showed up to her home at least twice a week and took her out for a meal, he even tricked her into letting him buy her clothes. One time he had offered to adopt her, but Mai had bargained that he had to marry Ayako first, which he said would be impossible because she was after all, so annoying, but Mai could tell he was trying. He wanted to make the three of the them a family, and she grinned up at her fatherly figure, the three made it back into the room they now called base. Everything was toppled over, and it seemed that even the windows had pieces missing. Luckily no one was hurt and Mai was at least happy for that.

"We have only been here for an hour and the ghost is already acting up" Monk grumbled.

"While instability of the home is not as likely with this home like the last case, I believe we should room close to the door and the owner should as well" Masako said, "This is not an average ghost, it has far too much force behind its power" She said and Mai could hear everyone sigh.

"I'll go get some tea, I think we all need something to calm us down" Mai said and looked to see Naru was following her out. "You should rest Naru, you look tired" She called out to him, knowing he would ignore her as the two walked to the kitchen. It seemed the older woman had in fact not heard the shattering sounds and was still in her bedroom, it was a bit wild, a woman like her living all alone in this haunted house.

"Here is the cups." Naru said, handing her the mugs as he pulled them down from the top cabinet. She let out a hum of response and started on the tea.

"Here sit down Naru, you look tired" The young girl said, pulling up a chair and he looked at her with narrowed eyes. She knew quiet well that this was hurting his pride but he did truly look exhausted. Naru was a man who did in fact work, twenty-four hours a day, she often wondered the longest time he had stayed away. He continued to glare a little before slowly sitting down, slumping a little. She couldn't decide if it was him pouting or finally giving to his exhaustion. "Here I'll even give you a massage, you'll feel like you're at one of those fancy spas British people go to in England." She chuckled, half-joking yet he didn't really say no.

"Alright" He said sulleningly and she smiled, now knowing he was in fact putting on a pouty show for her. Well she knew him well enough to know he was secretly enjoying himself.

"What are you two lovebirds up to?" A voice called and Mai looked up to see Suga had come in, with an almost mishevous look in her eye. Mai pulled her hands away from Naru's back and gave the woman a weak smile, feeling guilty for some reason.

"Just settling my boss in, he works too hard" She said and started pouring out the tea, feeling her cheeks begin to heat up as she felt the woman's eyes still settled on her.

"Well if you'll excuse me, I need to get back to work" Naru said, and stood up from the chair, then slid it back under the table and left. This left Mai to Suga's mercy and somehow she felt like a scap goat. She would somehow get back at Naru for that.

"We really aren't dating" Mai mumbled and the woman chuckled, settling herself into a seat.

"Oh I know, but I also know the eyes of lovers. Me and my husband use to look at each like that, well more him to me than me to him. He was a world war two pilot from American and then came here after the war with clean up. After meeting me in my late teens he never returned and stayed until I married him" The woman chuckled, and Mai glanced around, showing interest.

"Can I hear more about it?" She asked, a curious look and the woman grinned, patting the seat beside her. Their conversation continued on, with Mai learning more and more about the woman's past. How she was a survivor of the nuclear bomb in Hiroshima, how this young American had built her home and come to visit her every day. How he was twenty-four and she was sixteen and her neighbors hated her growing love for the man.

"Mai, I left you here to make tea but it had been an hour" Naru growled and Mai turned quickly to see him at the door, obviously annoyed.

"Oh, I'm sorry. We just got to talking" She grinned and after warning up the tea, Mai waved goodbye to the woman before setting back for the base. It seemed everything was cleaned up now.

"Cleaning glass from carpet is one of the challenges of life I never want to accept ever again" Yasuhara moaned and the others too let out grunts.

"And someone skipped out on their cleaning duties" Ayako grumbled

"Sorry, I got talking to the owner about her life. She had such a romantic life" Mai said with a sigh, and after everyone gotten their tea they set back to work. Most of the work was done, all was left was a few monitors and wiring.

"You should tell me what you learned today later" Masako grunted as the two carried in the last of the monitors, dusk setting it.

"You should ask her yourself, she is a much better storyteller than me, you know how out of sequence I get" Mai said, the two young woman setting the screen and hooked it. They gave each other thumbs up, obviously proud of themselves.

"Dinner is ready you two, stop acting like manly men" Ayako shouted down the hallway and they went off to enjoy dinner. Suga was there and at Mai's request she told the story of her love, with even Naru seeming to enjoy it. After dinner everywhere went their separate ways, cleaning up or doing homework. By the time everyone was done it was near midnight and they all quickly got ready for bed.

"I'm going to get a glass of water" Mai said, before getting into bed, the other two girls already tucked in.

"You shouldn't go alone Mai" Ayako said, setting to get out bed

"No, it's fine. Naru is still up, I can hear his computer clicking" Mai chuckled and head out of the room before they could argue. She went down the hallway and once in the living room saw that she was true, Naru was sitting there clicking away. He looked up in surprise, an eyebrow raised.

"Little children should be in bed already" He said with a hit of humor.

"Big bad sciencest should be in bed too" She said, sitting beside him. The two sat there for a while, breathing in and out. It seemed a good thirty minutes before Mai could get herself to break the silence. "Suga-san's story was pretty amazing, wasn't it? A love that made a man leave his home and be treated so cruely by the natives. He must have loved her so much" She said and Naru just let out a small grunt of agreement before they went back into silence. She started to get up to get her water before Naru turned to her.

"Do I not get my back massage?" He asked, and she looked down at him with a feeling of almost tension. It wasn't bad tension though, it was the kind that made her toes curl and her stomach tighten up.

"Do you want it?"

"Ya" And so Mai slowly down beside the man, he moved to put his back to her, and his legs folded so he could sit fully on the couch. She slowly reached up and started to move her fingers down his back, feeling the muscles. It was so strange, their relationship. Naru would never even let her touch him in the past, yet now he almost seemed to thrive on her touch. Or at least she thrived on his. He was probably tired, being as tired as he was made him do silly things, think silly things. Her hands moved up to his neck, then back down. He didn't give her any true acknowledgment but she did notice his typing had decreased, it seemed more like he was staring at the screen. She kept going, moving around his back, his typing had in fact completely stopped. Then she stopped and the two sat there.

"I should go get my water I came for" She said and climbed off the couch, then walked to the kitchen. Mai could feel Naru watching her and as she got her water she paused for a moment to try to catch her breath before heading back out.

"Good night Mai" Naru said, and she barely managed one back before stumbling to her room and rolled into bed.

"Was that somehow sexual?" She mumbled into the air, then glanced over, glad to see both of the woman were asleep. Mai pulled her blankets over her head and went to sleep, trying to fight the fast heart beat in her chest.

I'm so sorry! OTL

I actually had half of this done but then...I dropped a glass cup on my feet. Glass really hurts guys!

I've also had anime meet-ups every weekend so, that too.

I'll try to get back into the habit of posting(and responding to your comments), but to say sorry I added some...sexual tension fluff?

Hm.

Nanami Suga is real interesting old woman isn't she?