Warning: parts of this story may contain spoilers for the manga, novel or anime.

Disclaimer: I do not own Ghost Hunt and I am not profiting from this fanfiction. Any resemblance of this fanfiction to other works or people are purely coincidental.

This is the second set of the series, Vesta's Bonds. You do not have to read the first to be able to read this one, but it is recommended.

Vesta's Bonds 1o2: Teacher

Chapter 1 And in my beginning

You know, if your boss is an ass, you could always quit and move to Australia with me.

Ayami.

Taniyama Mai laughed as she shut the browser for her email. She wasn't even going to bother replying to that comment that Ayami had made.

The door of the room opened and Mai looked up. Bou-san and Masako were trailing into the room, neither appearing too impressed by what was here. Naru had sent them to scout out the school for their most recent case, but judging by their expressions, Mai didn't think they'd found too much. SPR had just received a job at an upper-class all girl's school in the Northern Districts. Apparently, some students seemed to be vanishing without a trace. The headmaster had feared for the girls' and staffs' safety and had therefore closed the school for the semester in order to find out what was happening. This was an upper-class boarding school for girls, but they also housed several orphans via scholarship and these students had remained behind as they had had nowhere else to go.

At first, the headmaster had thought it was a kidnapping case and had contacted the police, but the police hadn't been able to find anything at all. They had concluded that the girls had simply run away, as all of the students had had an argument with a teacher before that and had been acting strangely for awhile. The thought hadn't soothed the headmaster though, seeing as the girls were still missing, regardless, and although the girls that had disappeared weren't of affluent backgrounds, not a trace of them had been found. There had been no notes or signs of them anywhere else.

The headmaster hadn't believed in the police's conclusion, so he'd also contacted Naru for help instead. Apparently, they'd become rather famous with schools since the case at Ryokuryou High School. According to him, three girls had disappeared; each of them aged between 15-17 years old, and each of them having done so after having fallen out of grace with a teacher.

Bou-san turned towards Mai, no doubt having had noted her earlier laugh. "What's so funny, Mai?"

Mai shook her head. "No, it's nothing. It's just something Ayami wrote in her email."

"Naru doesn't pay you to check your email during work hours, Mai," Masako said. Masako had been strangely bitter lately but even Mai knew better than to comment on why. Mai wasn't even going to bother telling her that she had been on break while she checked her account, and instead opted to keep the peace with her silence.

"Mai's developed quite the attitude now that she's getting a lump sum from that Domjouji girl a month," Bou-san, their monk/rock star added teasingly.

Mai's jaw dropped. She hadn't told anyone about the money that Ayami had given her; she'd only mentioned briefly that Ayami and she were distantly related. "How did you know?" she demanded.

Bou-san blinked. "Oh, God, it's true. You do get money from that witch—"

Mai rolled her eyes at their argument that had been going on for weeks now since the conclusion of the last case. "Ayami is not a witch," she responded reasonably.

"Of course she is a witch; she admits it herself," Bou-san pointed out.

Mai's eyes narrowed. She was so tempted to reach over and—

The door opened and Mai plastered a smile over her face, thinking it was a client. When she saw Lin-san, Ayako and Naru walk through the door, her smile faded. Yasuhara-san hadn't been able to make it yet, and John-san had had to return to Australia temporarily. Apparently it had something to do with his visa expiring.

"Did you find anything?" Naru asked, looking directly at Bou-san and Masako.

They both shook their heads.

"Mai?" Naru turned to her. She, in turn, blinked.

"Yes?"

"Have you fallen asleep yet?" Naru asked patiently.

Mai didn't know if she should feel insulted by the question or honoured that he was including her in this discussion. She shook her head quickly and he nodded.

"If you dream, or see, or hear about anything that might relate to this case, tell me."

Mai nodded obediently. He might have mentioned that for a previous case, but she was quite sure she'd ignored him then too. Or had that been Bou-san?

Naru turned away then and walked over to Lin-san then. Mai turned back to her present company, wondering if she should invite one of them to go eat with her. Bou-san, however, was speaking therefore she had to wait for him to stop first.

"It shouldn't be too bad as long as there are no demi-goddesses and witches this time," Bou-san was saying brightly.

Ayako huffed. "Did you feel a little useless during the last case?"

"I didn't see you helping much either," Bou-san pointed out.

And as usual, he struck the perfect note. There was the typical screech and throwing of property. Mai manoeuvred around them and ended up standing next to Masako across the room instead.

She shook her head before consulting her watch. Apparently she still had about half an hour before her alleged break was over. That should be enough time for her to cross the road and buy some lunch.

"I think I might go have a sandwich," Mai said, turning to Masako. "Did you want to come with me? I don't think you've eaten either."

Masako shook her head, declining Mai's request. Shrugging, she turned over to Naru. She informed him of her plans as she walked towards the door. Mai habitually moved as quickly as possible; it would be just like him to pull her back at a time like this.

"Don't go by yourself," Naru said.

Mai turned to him, surprised, and he elaborated further on that detail. "The culprit has been targeting girls so far, and whether it is because this is an all girl's school or females are being specifically targeted, I don't know, but Lin has detected signs of paranormal presences crossing almost every room in this school. Make sure you're with another male at all times. Takigawa-san can go with you."

Bou-san looked over when his name had been mentioned. He frowned when he registered Naru's words. "Just volunteer me, why don't you?" he muttered.

Mai grinned broadly and Naru ignored the comment. Bou-san moved towards the door and held it open for Ma, letting her go first. They walked beside each other until they reached the ground at the bottom.

"You don't have to go with me, Bou-san," Mai smiled. "I'm not staying on the grounds of the school, so I really don't think anything is going to happen to me."

He shook his head, though the monk was languid in his movements. "It's best if you're with someone all the time. Masako's attached herself to Naru's hip, so you're going to be stuck with me for just a little bit."

Mai nodded, though she couldn't help but feel a slight ping of disappointment. Naru and Masako always seemed to be together. Though they never tried to acknowledge the relationship in anyway, Mai had to admit that she was more than curious as to what it was that they were sharing.

Bou-san, sensing her mood, ruffled Mai's hair and she laughed in response. Her face brightened and he slipped his hands into his pockets and whistled merrily as they strolled across the massive lawn in front of Karakura High School.

"So is school okay?" Bou-san asked, clearly trying to strike conversation.

Mai nodded in response to his question, though in all honesty, it wasn't as though she attended that often to know. And to think that she was going to be graduating in a few months, too. Mai had no idea what she planned to do after this.

They strolled merrily through the school, comfortable with the silence. They reached the gates of the high school and Bou-san opened the gate for her, gesturing for her to go out first. Mai sighted an elderly woman in a white kimono sitting by the swings, watching them. Smiling, Mai waved at her and the older woman waved back just as merrily. Mai hadn't seen the woman around before; she must have been a caretaker or something.

"Who're you waving at?" Bou-san asked.

Mai pointed back at the swing set, only to see that it was empty. The swing that the elder had been sitting at swung lightly still so it was obvious that she'd only recently left.

Mai frowned, finding the situation just a little odd. "She must have left," Mai said thoughtfully.

Mai was dreaming again.

Darkness surrounded her, as per usual, and Mai looked around. There was a tall building in front of her that closely resembled Karakura High School, which meant that this was mostly a case-related dream. Whenever she had a dream like this, Naru was normally in it too.

On prompt with her thoughts, a dark figure came in from the distance and Mai let out a breath that she hadn't known she'd been holding. It took her awhile to figure out why she was so relieved, but then she remembered: the last time she'd seen him, Ayami's companion had literally sent her and Naru flying from their dreams, and she hadn't seen him since. When he stopped in front of her, Mai looked up at him, smiling.

"Forgive me, Mai," Naru started. "I wasn't able to come back since then. Your client's friend kept me away from the case."

Mai's smile turned into a frown. "You mean Raidon?" Ayami tried not to mention him but Mai could tell that he was a bit of a sore spot.

"He's not a good person, Mai," Naru told her. "It'd be best if you stay as far away from him as you can." Mai nodded, remembering that Ayami had once said something similar. Naru smiled at her, and it was an expression that Mai felt push towards her heart. He seemed so tender; why couldn't Naru be like this out of her dreams too? "Come, I have something to show you."

He held out his hand and Mai took it. Naru held onto her fingers gently, his grip strangely cold, yet oddly comforting. They walked through the school together, passing the fountain and through an oddly layered path before reaching a blank wall behind the older buildings at the back. The buildings had probably been around for years and years, but they'd also obviously been abandoned for awhile too. Spider webs were everywhere, though they 

seemed to have been disturbed recently, because Mai could see the broken stitching sticking to the closest item.

Naru was staring at the blank wall now. It was covered completely by excess vines from the tree above with branches from trees leaning over it. Naru tugged her hand slightly and Mai turned over to him. He gestured towards the wall and Mai nodded. They both slipped through the brick wall – through it, like a spirit – and Mai's eyes widened in horror when she reached the other side.

There was someone standing, their body bright red as though encased in flames. The person's hands were pressed against their throat. It looked as though they wanted to scream, yet it impossible for them to do so. The fire was all over them, yet there was no smoke whatsoever.

"Oh my god," Mai breathed. She moved forward, ready to help the other girl, but Naru grabbed her hand.

"It's already happened, Mai; we can't stop it, no matter what you do. We're reliving it now, but that girl is gone." His face was stoic, though there was a rare glimmer of pity in his eyes. "Observe the area, and see if there's anything that can help you."

Mai nodded, though she couldn't quite tear her eyes away from the flaming person. Finally, she managed to move, and her eyes ran over the rest of the scene. There looked to a small cottage in the distance; this place was a court that had also been abandoned with the rest of the area. The olden day dressing told Mai that this place was quite old and had not been refurbished for at least fifty years. Mai could see several school bags that had been scattered along the area with the Karakura High School crest engraved on them. By the side, there were two other bodies that had been frozen in a monstrous manner; their cheeks hollowed and ashen to the point that their jaws and teeth were showing.

Dimly, Mai's mind registered what had had to have happened to all the girls that had been here. And judging by the grotesqueness on their face, they had been alive when it happened.

Set on fire.

The girls had been set on fire.

2nd September, 2008: And I am back. I didn't really go for long though, did I? But yeah, as promised, Ayami does not appear in this series. There are some bitter comments made, but that's about it. Thank you to those who supported my previous story; it was truly appreciated. I will be replyin to all those reviews after this chapter is posted, so yeah...Cheers!

Many thanks previously to: yumegirl91, Gabryelle-P, canadianviolet (LOL I'm kind of surprised that I finished Goddess too. To be honest, I'm not exactly known for my consistency in anything.), lunamoongoddess, misskoneko, julie34 (LOL the Miharu family is not the family that Mai was warned about. Contrary to that, they are actually known for their pacifistic works in the supernatural world. Bou-san is acquainted with them also, actually. More of that will be mentioned later on in this segment, I think. If I forget, lol, remind me. Hehe...how unprofessional does that sound?), Kay (LOL, thank you. Hope you like this segment too), SkyzAngels, SimplyChristine, Ayjah, killbethy, lurkmoar, Meifa, and Triis.