I'm going to write this once. I don't own Ghost Hunt. If I did, Naru and Mai would have kissed already!! And this is my first multi-chapter fic...so be kind.
Prologue
"Almost every teenage girl that is sixteen or seventeen years of age has turned up missing or dead after having visited the temple." said a grey haired lady sitting in the offices of SPR. Mai Taniyama, part time worker, handed the woman a cup of tea. The woman, whose name was Senata Hiro, was sixty-eight years old and Kurarugi Shrine owner. And deeply distressed.
Apparently over the past three weeks Ms. Hiro's temple had been having a strong of case'bad luck' as any girl that was in her middle or late teens turned up missing when she was staying at the temple, only two had turned up dead. The police were looking for a suspect. But Ms. Hiro apparently suspected something else at work.
"Why do you think this has anything to do with the paranormal, Ms. Hiro?" Naru asked and Mai looked at him. Chalk it up to Naru to not believe anything his potential client might have to say. Mai had a sneaking suspicion that Naru liked to stay in his office more than he would with helping solve mysteries.
"Because a week ago my niece woke up screaming like a banshee would, Mr. Shibuya." the woman's voice had turned as cold as steel and Mai realized that Naru had hit a nerve. Mai also had a feeling this was not a woman many people argued with. "Both her arms were covered in scratches and not from a cat either. These were caused by human nails and my niece's room is the only room with a lock."
Mai looked at Naru for his reaction and saw none. Mai had expected something from the man since he had just been told off by his future client. But then she saw that spark in his eyes and she knew. He was going to accept but she couldn't decide why. She couldn't decide between he was interested in the case or he was interested in the woman that had just beat him in a verbal match.
"Well, Ms. Hiro….I must admit you've captured my interest and trust me…I don't say that lightly. We'll arrive at the temple around noon. We'll need a room to set up our equipment, can that be arranged?" Ms. Hiro barely had time to nod before Naru disappeared into his office and Mai gave a cheerful smile as she walked the woman to the door.
"He's a handful. How do you put up with him?" Ms. Hiro asked and Mai laughed at the blunt question. She realized that she would work well with the elderly woman. After all she wasn't afraid to tell Naru off. A good friend to have, especially when Naru went into one of his 'I'm-holier-than-though-so-don't-mess-with-me-or-I'll-kill-you' moods that Mai would love to punch him out of.
"A lot of patience. And the fact that he signs my paycheck." Mai said with a smile and Ms. Hiro chuckled before she pulled her coat on.
"I guess that would be a bonus, Ms. Taniyama." the woman said and Mai just nodded before the woman opened the door.
"Please…call me Mai. Everyone else does. It'll be weird to have you calling me by my last name when everyone else calls me by my first name." Mai said and the woman stopped in the doorway before giving a smile that Mai recognized as a grandmother's smile.
"Alright then, but you have to call me Senata." Senata said before closing her door and Mai smiled brightly at the closed door before she heard someone clear her throat and Mai turned to see that Naru was glaring at her.
"Mai, tea." he snapped before shutting the door. Was it just her imagination or did he shut the door a little more firmly than normal?
Mai felt her jaw drop as she stood with Naru, Lin, and Takigawa in front of the temple entrance. Ayako was already in the temple, located at the top of nearly eighty steps. No wonder Senata had seemed to be in such good shape for a sixty year old. She had been climbing those steps all her life.
"Naru….you better not be thinking what I think you're thinking." Takigawa told the young boss as he opened the back of the van which was parked in front of Takigawa's black SUV. Naru just glanced at the monk before he reached inside and handed Mai a box of cables and Mai looked at him.
"Take those to the base room and make sure Ms. Hiro has tables set up for the equipment. Don't bother coming back down to help. We can take care of it." Mai sent a look at Takigawa who looked as though he was ready to commit murder. She didn't blame him. Naru had enough equipment to make at least three trips to the van if not four down the eighty steps.
'Times like these I'm glad I was born a girl.' Mai couldn't help thinking with a grin as she started her trip up the steps. Ten minutes later she reached the top breathing heavily. She looked over her shoulder and tried to keep from giggling as she saw Takigawa struggling up the steps with two monitors. Mai also noticed that while Lin was starting to climb Naru was making no motion to help.
'Free loader.' Mai thought. 'I guess being boss has some advantages.'
"Mai!" the brown haired girl turned to see Ayako and Senata standing at the doorway entering into the temple. They motioned for her to follow and she did so and felt her eyes widen at the room that Senata told her was the base room.
It looked as though it were the dining room, or at least had been, before Senata had moved the table away and had put up several taller tables with folding chairs. Mai had a sneaking suspicion that Ayako had gotten there early enough to help Senata set the room up. After all Ayako was the one that had suggested Senata seek SPR's help after her niece had been attacked.
"Help…me…" came a strangle voice and all three women whirled around to see Takigawa slumped against the door frame looking exhausted. Mai rushed to his aide while Ayako followed at a more moderate pace to help Mai set up the monitors.
By the time everything was set up Takigawa had collapsed to the floor and refused to move. No matter how much Ayako tried to get him up. Even when Mai promised to make cookies he still refused to move.
"Hey, how come Masako isn't here?" Mai asked curiously. She didn't mind that the psychic wasn't there but she decided it would be rude if someone didn't ask. After all she could've been in an accident or something that no one knew about.
"She's…busy." Naru said slowly and Mai frowned. He never answered that slowly to anything. It was almost like he really didn't know what the answer was to her question. She shrugged it off, deciding that if he didn't want to tell her the truth then that was his business.
Mai followed Senata into the kitchen that the temple had and was impressed at how modern it was. It had an electric stove, and thank the heavens a coffee maker! Mai could have done the happy dance right then and there. While everyone else liked tea in the morning, she like tea don't get her wrong, the beverage just did not have enough caffeine to get her started in the morning. What she needed was black coffee and it looked like she was going to get it!
"Now, I decided that since you are all guests here at the temple that I'm going to do something I haven't done since my brother bought his house. I'm going to cook a good old fashioned Japanese dinner. And you're my helper!" Senata winked and Mai giggled.
She went to the cupboards to get the pans that Senata had told her to get before she got a strange feeling that she was being watched. She peered out the window and froze as she saw a girl, maybe her age, staring at her. Mai realized that she could see through the girl and into the forest that surrounded the temple. The girl pointed at Mai with a slim white finger.
Mai felt something constrict in her chest. She felt her lungs stop and her heart quiet beating. By medical standards she was dead. She looked at the girl before the ghost seemed startled and disappeared and Mai took in a large amount of air. And that's when the screaming started.