Sudds1998- Ok, let me get started by saying I am really new to this story writing business, so I apologize if my story is a bit funky. If it is please give me suggestions on how to make it better. Also... If you find a grammar mistake please let me know, I don't always spot them.

Naru- that's an understatement...

Sudds1998- * glares at Naru* what do mean by that?

Naru- nothing, I'm just saying when it comes to spotting grammar mistakes you are.. less than accurate*smirks* and compared to mine your grammar has the finesse of a monkey.

Sudds1998- *glares harder at Naru* Shut up, I'll have you know my grammar is pretty good. * sighs heavily* Before this gets out of hand just say the line.

Naru- fine.. Sudds1998 does not own Ghost hunt or any of its characters, though she wishes she did.

The beginning

Mai's prove

I was running down Shibuya street on my typical root to the store. It was around 11:00 at night and the stores were about to close in an hour, so I was pretty rushed. I have a valid excuse for being late on my shopping trip though, since SPR closed I have worked at several different jobs, most recently a tea shop that has ungodly hours for work. And that's saying something since Naru's working hours were pretty bad before. Anyway, I was running at full speed down the lit streets of Shibuya, mentally cursing my newest of bosses for making me work from 6:00 am till 10:30 pm. I reached the store 20 minutes before closing time, grabbed what I needed and got out.

Meanwhile in England Naru is working *typical*

ACHOO!

Back in Japan

I'm not saying I don't appreciate my currant job, I mean, It's a lot better than the jobs I had before *apart from SPR* The pay is great and and my fellow coworkers are nice, but my boss... he's horrible. His name is Michael Green and yes he's from America. He has ash blond hair with blue eyes and is 35 years old. While working there, Michael has all his female staff where short maids outfits, and tells us to speak to the customers like they we are their maid or something...it's really creepy. And as you can imagine, it attracted A LOT of customers, mainly men. Luckily I managed to make a friend there out of all the commotion, business is really good at the shop; so I hardly get a chance to socialize with anyone. The only time I ever had an actual conversation was when I first started the job. I was given a routine run down of the place by a girl named Keisha who had black hair with brown eyes and a bit of an attitude; she became my one friend there.

Flashback memory of SPR

I was on my way back to my apartment, thinking about my old friends and memories at SPR. I really miss them... after Naru told us who he really was and why he was really here, he disbanded SPR leaving the rest of us not including Lin and Masako shocked. Naru left shortly after with Lin back to England to bury Gene's body, but not before breaking my heart. I confessed my love to him right before he stepped on the plane, he just stood thoughtful for a moment before saying " is it me or Gene that you really love". My heart stopped beating when he said those words, and my hearing and sight tuned out. If felt like he ripped out my heart, stomped on it then handed it back to me. Naru thought I was in love with his brother, that thought saddened me greatly. Monk walked up to me and put his hand on my shoulder taking me out of my trance, and making me realize two things. One, the plane Naru was previously heading to was gone and two, I was crying... Everyone kept in touch a while after that *though I think it was mainly so I don't do anything stupid to myself* but after a while (three years) they went on to do their own things. Monk went on tour with his band, Ayako went to help her mom at the hospital, Yashura got accepted to a largely known university in Tokyo, and John went back to Australia for a case he got called on, and asked Masako to go with him. I was alone.

End of flashback of SPR

' Ok, no more depressing thoughts' I mentally scolded myself, I was just about at my apartment; groceries in hand. I am used to being alone, no need to whine and cry about my old family. * or so I thought*Standing at my apartment door, I reached for the handle but stopped when I heard a loud shrieking noise. Being the caring... and somewhat air headed person I am, I walked straight to the source of the sound. With caution I made my way to an ally way behind my apartment building, looking carefully over the wall to see what was going on. The ally way was what you would expect of an ally way around 11:30 at night; dark and dirty with... red glowing eyes? 'WHAT THE HECK IS THAT!' I mentally screamed.

There before my eyes *though not for the first time* was a glowing man wearing black robes with a hood covering most of his face, hovering over what looked like a dead body. But after taking a closer look in the darkened ally, from what I could tell the body had a set of cat ears and a tail. I blinked for a second then gasped, the supposedly dead body was staring at me with blue cat-like eyes. I saw him reach out a fisted hand and tossed what he was holding in front of me, then mouthed 'destroy it'. I stared at what looked to be a blue gem, then moved my gaze back to the cat-thing, his eyes were closed and he had gone limp. (he was officially dead) I heard a deep chuckle and snapped my head up to the clocked figure.

"At last I can have the power of the gods! The almighty jewel of life is mine, she can come back!"

At this point I was confused, what's a jewel of life ? and who's she? Than it came to me. I looked down to my feet and saw the blue jewel the cat-thing chucked to me. (Sudds1998- It's amazing the wizard didn't notice the jewel being throne with those eyes of his) I picked up the jewel ' this must be what crazy ass cloaked guy was talking about' I thought. The cat-thing was asking me to destroy it, but this guy seems to want to use it. I looked back at the cloaked man, he was searching frantically for the jewel.

"Where in bloody hell is it?"

"I want that jewel, dam it all!"

' should I destroy it?' I thought. This guy seems like bad news, and I get the weirdest feeling he should not get his hands on this jewel. I was still hiding behind the wall trying my best to be as quiet as possible. ' I can't destroy it here; it would most likely make a loud noise which he would hear' I thought to myself. And I don't feel like dying in an ally way... anytime soon. So I did the only thing I could think of at the moment, I ran. Unfortunately I didn't run fast enough and the cloaked guy seemed to have noticed me, and trapped me in a sort of energy ball.

I started slowly drifting towards the ally I previously tried to escape from. I was getting really close to the ally way, so in an act of panic I dug through my grocery bag * yes I still have it* and grabbed the hammer I had bought at the store. * I bought the hammer so I could frame the pictures I took of my old friends at SPR on my walls* I couldn't let this crazy cloaked guy have the jewel, I just couldn't. Something in me was screaming for it to be destroyed before I get pulled into the ally way. Holding the jewel in my left hand and the hammer in my right, I lifted the hammer a little over my shoulder and swung it down hard. The blue jewel surprisingly shattered on the first hit, its remains were almost powder in my hand.

The energy ball carried me into the ally way bringing me face to cloak with the crazy red eyed guy. He asked me in a dark voice " Little girl... how long have you been hiding there?"

I was reluctant to answer, somewhat because he was terrifying, but mostly because I had just destroyed what he was looking for. And I am really worried of the possible consequences of my action.

But I finally managed to say " I was o-only here l-long enough to hear you say were looking for-for something, and swearing that you c-couldn't find it" What I said was true, I just left out how I found and destroyed what he was looking for.

"hmm, so you didn't see everything. Good."

I was freaking out, clenching my left hand which held the remains of the jewel. I had stuffed my hammer in the grocery bag before entering the ally, which I am glad for; the red eyed cloaked guy is examining me very carefully and I don't want him to notice anything suspicious about me.

He came closer and I sweat dropped; the only thing that separated us was the energy ball, he was slightly pressing his face against it. His red eyes were thin as slits as he dragged them over my body, it felt like he was using his eyes as a second pair of hands. When his gaze came to my mid section he paused, I looked down to see him staring at the hand that is holding the remains of the jewel.

"What's in your hand?" He asked in a deep voice that rattled me to the bone. "N-NOTHING!" I mentally cursed myself for stuttering. Then his cloaked hand entered the energy ball and reached out for my clenched one. His hold on my hand was forceful when he pulled it out of the energy ball, tripping me up a bit and making me face slam into the edge of the ball. The moment he had my hand out of the energy ball he tried to unclench it, successfully doing so after the third try. *I was determined not to show him*

The cloaked man just stared down at my opened hand for a second then flashed me the scariest glare I have ever seen. *yes it was scarier than Naru's!* I'm pretty sure that glare would send even Naru running back to his mother.

Meanwhile in England Naru is... still working

"ACHOO! hmm, I must be getting a cold, I've been sneezing quiet a bit today"

Back in Japan

"You little bitch! Have you any idea what you've done!?" The cloaked guy yelled in rage. He released my hand, roughly throwing it back into the energy ball and making me drop the remains to the ground. "The jewel is useless now!"

'Oh boy he looks pissed, I'm terrified of what he is going to do to me.' I thought while trying to get as far away from him as possible, which wasn't that far since I'm in a ball.

Giving upon my fantasy of trying to get away from him, I stand strait putting on my bravest face; trying not to give away how scared I am. I told the cloaked guy " I'm sorry I destroyed your stone... but there must be others. It can't be the only stone of its kind." Honestly I am not the least bit sorry, I could tell he planning to do something very bad with the stone. Must be my 'animal like instincts'.

Back in England

"ACHOO! I must have a cold, this is getting ridiculous"

Back in Japan

The cloaked guy looked at me, his eyes still angry but thoughtful... with a hint of, was it sadness? "No, there was only one in existence.. And you destroyed it." The energy ball faded away making me loose my balance and fall to my knees, clutching the grocery bag to my chest. Looking up at him I saw eyes full of rage. He walked up to me and I shuffled back against the brick wall; trying to hide myself in the shadows. *It didn't work* When the cloaked guy was within three feet of me, he started chanting something I could barely understand.

Natures spotted ghost

An enigma, loved by most

Quintessence of the wild

Its fierce and wanton child

Your lithe and slender form

And beauty is the norm

Against which we measure

Every other treasure

Live by night

Sleep by day

This you will do for the rest of your life... cursed one

The cloaked guy's hand then reached out in front of me and I started to glow a brilliant yellow. Four different colors; brown, orange, black and dark grey started swirling around me like smoke. Encircling me in a dome. I stood up and tried several times to escape what ever it was I was caught up in. Unfortunately every time I tried to escape, I got pushed back and felt a whirlwind of pain from the contact. So I decided to just stand in the center of the dome and wait till it ended.

The colored smoke started to die down after a few minutes, but I was still glowing. I was staring down at my hands and feet; truth be told I hadn't actually noticed the glowing until now, I was to busy ogling the colors circling me. The glow felt warm and welcoming, the exact opposite of what I was expecting. *I was thankful for that*

The cloaked guy *I need to get a better name for him* stared at me and said " Little girl... as punishment for taking away the one thing I have searched for all my life, I will repay the favor and take away the one thing you have searched for all your life" I was feeling a mix of emotions right now... fear, anger sadness, but mostly confusion. My head slightly cocked to the side, my eyes asked the silent question of 'what thing?'

The cloaked man sighed and said "true love"

. . . . that was unexpected

I hesitated but I had to know, how had he prevented me from finding true love? What had he done to me? " umm... Mr cloak guy, how have you prevented me from finding true love?"

I looked up at him to see if I could catch another glimpse of emotion from his eyes, only to find them void of emotion. *That's a trick Naru used to pull when I worked for him at SPR* His emotional wall was just as good as Naru's... if not better.

Back in England with Naru at work... again... stupid workaholic

"ACHOO!"

"Oliver, you have been sneezing a lot today. You should go home and rest."

"I'm fine Lin" Naru sniffed.

Back in Japan

"I have placed a curse on you" Is what he simply said. My eyes widened and I panicked. What kind of curse did he place on me? I need to get some information from him before he disappears... or try's to kill me.

"Look... Cloak guy you can't just curse me and give me no information! That's just cruel." I pouted *why am I pouting to someone who's a murderer, and has placed a curse on me? Sigh... Oh right, I'm air headed*

He ignored my pouting plea and started doing something with his hands. "Why are you still here? You should be going home and living out your punishment." He stated with a calm voice, completely opposite from what I heard before.

"Not before I get some information on what you cursed me with" I demanded with my most forceful voice, ignoring my fear at the moment and crossing my arms. I don't know where I get my courage from sometimes... "I've never seen a human make demands to a wizard before, this is knew" He smirked, at least I think he did.

My eyes widened again, 'he's a wizard? They exist!?' I thought he was a scary demon or something. No more distractions, I don't want to spend more time with him than I have to.

"Fine... I'll tell you four things you need to know about this curse, and in return don't get in my way anymore" he said " or I will do something worse to you than a curse." I shuddered at the thought. "OK" I mumbled my courage suddenly gone.

One, you will turn into four different kinds of leopard during the year depending on the season. When it is spring you will be a clouded leopard. When it is summer you will be an African leopard. When it is fall you will be a black panther, and when it is winter you will be a snow leopard. " I stared at him and he continued.

Two, you will turn into these leopard forms when the sun sets at 9:00 pm, and you will turn back human when the sun rises at 7:00 am. And yes you will be in control of your body during this time when you change.

Three, your emotions can trigger a change; and yes you can control your body when this happens as well.

Four, on nights with a full moon you will change when it reaches its apex at 12:00 am. You will have no control over your actions when this happens, and you won't remember anything that you did when you turn back."

'And just for the hell of it i'll tell you this. You will also have the characteristics of a leopard for the rest of your life. Enjoy" With that the 'wizard' disappeared in a cloud of smoke. We'll it's official, I hate him.

"I'm getting out of this ally" Grabbing my shopping bag I head to my apartment, praying this will all just be a dream when I wake up.

Sudds1998- please tell me what you think of the story, and if I should continue.

Naru - just do it or she will start to loose the few brain cells she has left thinking about the responses.

Sudds1998- *mutering under her breath about killing a certain narcissist.*