Chapter 6 - The First Move

"Honestly, I didn't find much," Yasu explains, rubbing the back of his neck. "But their names were Rina and Kiseki Fudoka, married three years before she was killed. His brother was Kyo Fudoka, they were fraternal twins, one taking after their mother while the other took after their father. Kyo had moved in with them a year before they were married after the death of his girlfriend and remained in their house even as they were newlyweds."

"Seems a little uncomfortable," Ayako mutters, trying to think what it would be like if her and Monk had had someone living with them even after they had just gotten married.

Naru though, Mai had noticed his flinch at the mention of twins, so she had saddled up to be next to him as they silently waited for Yasu to continue. "Maybe not as uncomfortable as you might think," he says ruefully. "Kiseki had to work a lot, and so Kyo and Rina became really good friends. Which was probably why Kiseki eventually believed it to be more than that. Mai only saw what happened to Rina right? Because she was experiencing her memories. However, having gone mad after killing his wife, he then let loose his rage on his brother, stabbing him three times in the heart. Yet after that, he came to his senses enough to realise he had killed the people he loved. In despair, he shot himself in the head with the pistol the three of them kept in the house for self defense."

"That's horrible," Mai whispers, leaning into Naru's side as tears leaked from her eyes.

"That's not the worst of it," Yasu adds cautiously, eying both Naru and Mai where they were standing by the screens. "According to her autopsy records, she was four months pregnant, and in fact, she had already known this when she was killed. She had gotten the results from her doctor only three days before the incident."

"Okay, so that puts some credence on the idea of pregnant women being targeted," Monk says slowly, also eying the couple. "If she was the only one that knew about the pregnancy, then it would make her a top contender for the ghost on our hands."

"We can't rule out the other two either, they both died tragically," Ayako points out.

"That's what I was thinking," Mai adds. "Why would Rina kill pregnant women when she herself was pregnant?"

"Jealousy perhaps," Lin speculates. "In life, she was unable to give birth to her own child because she was murdered. So it's entirely possible she believes that others should not be allowed to give birth to their own children because of the unfairness of her situation."

"We don't have enough to go on for anything concrete," Naru finally says, his hand on his chin in his usual thinking pose. "While it does look more likely to be Rina, as Ayako says, we can't discount the two men either."

"All we can do is guess right now," Monk sighs with that realisation.

"In that case," Madoka cuts in cheerfully. "Ladies, it's time for some chatting time."

"Madoka, now is not the time for this," Naru says dryly. "We are in the middle of an investigation."

"We just hit a wall," she reasons, pulling Mai away from him as she spoke. "I think the girls and I haven't had a proper chance to dote on Mai after the reveal."

She does not wait for a reply before she was pulling Mai out the door, the other women following behind easily.

The men stared at the door, even after the women were out of sight. "Seriously," Monk groans. "Why now? We may have hit a wall in our research, but that doesn't mean there isn't work to be done."

"I just hope this chat of theirs doesn't go on for long," Naru adds, eyes back on the monitors. "Because you're right, there is still a lot of work to be done today."

Naru would have said more, but a familiar scream reached them from down the hall, all of them rushing to find the girls.

The girls had barely settled in Mai and Naru's room when the temperature suddenly dropped, a sign that a spirit was present. "It's too early for an incident isn't it? We've barely been here twenty four hours," Mai says with dismay.

"She's already here," Masako pipes up, looking off to a corner in the room.

Mai, gathering that it had to be Rina if the ghost was female, turned to where Masako was facing, finding a female ghost. She had flowing blonde hair and her pale blue eyes were lifeless. She can only assume that this would be Rina given she had never actually seen her face in the memories. The most chilling part was that she was staring straight at Mai.

After a short staring contest, she was suddenly moving towards Mai quickly. Mai let out a frightful scream just as the ghost pins her against the wall, cold hands wrapped around her neck. "Mai," the others shout in fear as Mai's vision starts to be speckled with black dots.

"I never got to give birth to my child, so neither will you," a voice whispers in Mai's ears, confirmation that this ghost was definitely Rina.

Mai's vision goes tunneled as her heart pumps faster in fear, yet as the door slams open and she hears the familiar voice of Monk's chanting, she was falling to the ground in a heap. Naru rushed over towards her, puling Mai into his arms with relief. "Are you okay?" he whispers into her ears, the fear also still evident in his voice.

She only manages a weak smile and a small nod before her vision went black. "Mai," Naru calls in alarm, catching her before she fell from his arms before turning to face Ayako. "Can you have a look at her Ayako?"

The older woman moves towards them swiftly and Naru notices the hand shaped bruises steadily forming on Mai's neck. He picks her up bridle style to lay her on the bed and give Ayako easier access. He steps back a little to give her room, reigning in his urge to pace with his anxiety. After a few minutes, Ayako was done and moved over towards him. "How is she?" he asks.

"Don't worry Naru, she's fine," she assures him with a gentle smile. "Other than the bruises on her neck, she's okay. She passed out from the shock, but should wake up by tonight."

"And the baby?" he asks anxiously.

"I can't know for certain without the proper equipment, but I believe the baby should be fine. Mai was under distress, but it was a lack of oxygen that had her passing out. The baby shouldn't have been effected too much outside of feeling her anxiety, so as long as Mai is fine, the baby will be too," she explains, putting a hand on his shoulder comfortingly.

Naru sighs in relief and moves towards Mai, moving her to be lying properly and covering her with the sheets. He tucks in and drops a small kiss on her forehead. "Wake up soon," he whispers on to her skin.

A/N: Man I really had a pacing problem when I wrote the original.