Nature's Course
a Ghost Hunt fanfiction

Naru's knees hit the underside of the dash. There it was. Right in front of him sprawled the murky lake every bit as serene as he remembered it. There was no mistaking the slope of the mountain; this place was a burial ground.

His hands trembled. It couldn't be, after all this time… He sat straight-backed, the seat belt cutting into his neck and the road whining beneath the tires. He would have recognized that lake anywhere. Gene's body was somewhere just below the surface. After all this time, his search would finally be over. He'd found it.

A startled Lin fought to keep his attention on the road. He kept the car from swerving, but only barely. "Are you in pain?"

Naru shook his head, struggling to fill his lungs. He grasped for the words and the air to say them, but how could he when it felt his heart was going to explode?

He should have felt relieved, excited. He could finally return to his normal life again; no SPR ruse, no secrets, no Japan.

Isn't this what he wanted?

"I'm pulling over—"

"No!" Naru yelped. Wrenching his eyes from the window, he nursed his throbbing knees where a dull ache had begun to seep through the muscle. "No," he said again, "I'm fine. Don't stop."

Lin temped a glance at Naru, perhaps afraid to say anything with Masako sat firmly between them, hiding her shock behind her sleeve. "You are sure?"

Naru turned slowly back to the window. This was it, everything he'd been looking for. He could stop the car, search the lake; it could all be over by morning. He could go home.

Why did that all suddenly sound so scary?

Naru nodded, swallowing the lump forming in his throat. Lin obliged.

Seconds passed, the space of a few heartbeats, and the bridge turned back into solid ground. Naru leaned stiffly back on his seat, blood rushing past his ears as the lake dipped out of sight.

It had been there — and he'd let it slip by.