Hi everyone. I'm sorry this has been a long time coming...please forgive me :) This is the last chapter now. And as usual, I don't own Gravitation or Ghost Hunt. Please enjoy and leave a review; they're always helpful. Cheers!

Chapter 7:

Bound and struggling ferociously, Masako inched her way towards the group.

'I will kill you Seguchi,' she hollered. 'There is no way your friends will ever be able to get rid of me. See you soon Eiri,' Masako winked.

Suddenly her eyes shut and her body slumped against the ground. Masako was out cold, but still breathing. Naru ran over to her side and gently picked her up, placing her on one of the sofas.

'Masako, wake up. Wake up!' he demanded.

'Naru, leave her to recover for a while. I'll look after her,' Ayako said quietly as she patted him on the shoulder.

'Ok, so I might be out of the loop a little here, but can someone tell my why the heck she tried to kill Mr Seguchi?' Hiro said confusedly.

'Miss Hara was possessed by this Kitazawa man. She is a medium after all and it does happen,' Naru explained.

'So it's back to Miss Hara again is it Naru?' Masako mumbled in the most alluring tone she could muster.

Slightly enraged, Mai walked off to the other side of the room and began to boil a pot of tea. Touma joined her as everyone sat down to discuss their next move.

'I don't like Miss Hara,' he mumbled to Mai.

'That's one thing we have in common, Mr Seguchi,' Mai replied.

'But don't worry about her too much. She's got nothing on you. Your boss won't go for her.'

'I'm sorry Mr Seguchi; I have no idea what you mean,' Mai blushed.

'Don't try to pretend with me. I know what it's like and I know what that look on your face back there meant. It's the look I used to get a long time ago when...well that doesn't matter. Just trust that one day your blinded boss will see what's been standing in front of him all this time. And if he doesn't, there are plenty of people who I am sure would devote their lives to you. You're a very likable, honest person.'

'Devote themselves? Like your wife does for you?'

'Well, yes I suppose so,' Touma smiled suddenly caught off guard.

'Thank you for your kind words, but Naru will never notice me,' Mai said forcing a consolatory smile.

Touma walked over to the window and looked out. Monk approached him and stood close.

'You know you really should put your own advice into practice Touma.'

Touma nodded slowly.

A little while later, Ayako had fixed the barriers to the best of her ability and Naru had laid out a plan of attack in his mind. Everyone looked horrified as they stood huddled round listening to him and Touma.

'This is ridiculous Naru. We can't leave now! We haven't even tried properly yet.'

'Mai, we can't touch this guy. He's too fast and too powerful. We tried to restrain him but he managed to leave Miss Hara without any trouble. I've already discussed this with Mr Seguchi and he agrees. The only way to go about this is to abandon the building.'

'Seguchi are you ill?' Eiri questioned. 'You built this place up from the ground. Your name, your reputation was all cemented into this place. I know you far too well; you'd never give this place up.'

'Eiri, I nearly died...twice and you and Shuichi will be next. I can't let this continue. We all have to leave and hope Kitazawa is stuck here.'

'And what if he isn't Seguchi? We live on the top floor of a block of apartments. What if he follows us and tries to push Shuichi off the balcony?'

'Mr Yuki,' Naru interrupted. 'From what you and others have said I see no reason to believe that Kitazawa can leave. If he could he would have followed you all home at one time or another and judging by his temperament, he would have most likely let you know about it. He is angry with Mr Seguchi primarily and as you quite rightly said, all of Mr Seguchi's reputation, his very success is encased within this building. It may be that what is holding him here; his hatred of what Mr Seguchi has.'

'Naru this is wrong. I hate to agree with Mai, but she's right. We can't leave yet,' Masako spoke up.

'This is not up for discussion. We're all leaving now. I want all our stuff packed up in the van by three. You have half an hour,' Naru commanded.

The huddle broke apart and SPR began to break down the equipment, except Mai who stood fixed in a silent rage, looking at Naru. Naru was completely oblivious but Lin had noticed. He walked silently to Mai's side and bent down to speak quietly in her ear.

'Please Mai, come with me.'

They walked out of the room together, Mai silently steaming as she went. They reached another office where the equipment had yet to be put away.

'Mai, Naru knows what he's doing. Please just trust him on this.'

'I can't believe him. I can't believe you! Why are you letting him do this? You know as well as I do that we don't just give up!'

'There are times when a retreat is necessary Mai. For everyone's safety, this is the time for a retreat. I don't want you or anyone else hurt, neither does Naru. This course of action is for the best.'

'Lin! We can't-' Mai began, but was interrupted by a small cough by the door.

'I'm not interrupting am I?' Touma whispered.

'Of course not,' Lin said returning to his normal, stoic self. 'Mr Seguchi, if it would not cause a problem would you assist Mai with this equipment whilst I retrieve the rest?'

'I'd be happy to help,' Touma beamed at Lin as he departed.

Touma walked over to Mai and the camera, apologising for the decision that had caused such disharmony amongst the group. As they talked and Mai began to accept the hopelessness of the situation, a black mass began to develop above their heads. Neither had noticed until it began to grow outwards. The air became icy and Mai felt her breathing becoming restricted again. Touma shrank away into the corner as the mass grew further, covering the entire ceiling. They both tried to yell for help, but neither could make a discernible noise between them.

'You made a great mistake aligning yourself with this one Seguchi,' the black mass growled malevolently. 'This one is weak. She will not protect you from your imminent demise.'

'Kitazawa...' Touma gasped. 'You are right. She...she cannot protect me. But...'

'But what Seguchi? What will your last ramblings be? Will you denounce your undying love for Eiri?'

'But...' Touma breathed.

'But...' Mai piped up, '...they can.'

Behind the mass stood Masako, Monk, Ayako, Lin, John and Naru each focusing their energy on getting rid of Kitazawa, each doing their own rituals. Lin's Shiki formed a circle around Mai and Touma, easing their breathing and warming their skin. It helped for a little while but Mai felt herself falling; falling deep below the floor into a black nothingness.

A light emerged into her consciousness and caused her to open her eyes. Naru sat beside her, cupping her hand and smiling as he always did in her dreams.

'It's alright now Mai. Kitazawa is gone, look.'

She stood and saw the building below her. There were no strange orbs and the rooms all looked brighter than before.

'It's time to go back now Mai.'

'Wait I want to ask you something...'

Mai's eyes opened with a jolt and she found herself once again surrounded by everyone. Shuichi's pink hair came into focus and she jumped again.

'Damn it Shuichi, stop scaring her,' Eiri shouted.

'Mai, are you ok?' Lin asked.

'Kitazawa's gone. He's gone,' she stated in an almost robot like way.

'Yes, she's correct...again,' Masako confirmed seeming disgruntled.

'Excellent plan Mr Shibuya,' Touma exclaimed. 'I'm just glad it all happened as you estimated.'

'Wait, what plan?' Mai said in a daze as Lin helped her to stand. 'Hang on a minute...'

Mai's brain began to work again and she looked over at Naru with such rage that even he stepped back a little.

'You used me as bait. We weren't going to leave were we? You put me in a room with Mr Seguchi so that Kitazawa thought he'd had us cornered. You bastard! You used me as bait!' Mai screamed as she ran at Naru, though blocked by Monk.

'Hey Seguchi! When were you going to tell me this was all a trick?' Eiri growled.

'I was going to tell you after it all happened. It was crucial that only a few knew so that we could pull it off. Otherwise someone would have let the cat out of the bag,' Touma said staring at Shuichi who quickly retreated behind Eiri.

'Come on Shuichi, let's go. I can't stand being around this anymore. We're going home...to bed,' Eiri added as he looked callously at Touma and walked off.

Eventually everyone had left for their respective homes leaving Touma and K with the remainder of SPR.

'Thank you again Mr Shibuya. Please feel free to visit the studios whenever you want. We owe you and your team a lot,' Touma said bowing.

'It's not a problem Mr Seguchi. Oh and thank you for your generous offer. I'm sure Lin, being a huge Nettle Grisper fan will take you up on it.'

Lin blushed faintly and walked off rather quickly towards the van.

'Naru you dork; it's Nittle Grasper. Thanks guys. Take it easy,' Mai waved as she set off for the van.

Naru followed as Touma and K began to lock up the offices for the night. For once Touma was glad to be leaving work.

'Mai, don't call me a dork in front of our clients. I'm your boss and you should show some respect at least.'

'I'll call you what I like Naru. I'm still mad at you for using me as bait and not telling me. I could have died. Until you're off the hook, you better not get in my way.'

Mai walked off towards the van with a bit of a bounce in her step. Naru looked up at the building and then back at Mai. A smirk spread across his lips as he watched her. She might be angry with him, but at least he knew she still cared about him.

On a seperate note I'd like to dedicate this to everyone who was caught up in the earthquake in Japan and the tsunami today (March 11th). My thoughts and prayers are with them.