Disclaimer: I do not own Ghost Hunt or the characters in it

Mai's POV

I had been at odds with myself for quite some time. I wanted to move past Naru because it seemed he continued to show little interest in me. I wasn't sure how to go about that though, considering I had liked, maybe even loved him for quite some time. The others, even Lin, supported my liking of my boss. Well…all of the others except Masako but he showed little interest in her too. Sometimes it made me wonder if it was possible for him to notice any girls or only himself in a mirror.

I stood up as I heard the main office door beginning to open. A woman, probably in her late twenties or early thirties, had stepped in the door. Her hair, a light brown with natural highlights, was disheveled and her clothing looked as if it were quickly thrown together. Her eyes had dark circles under them and she seemed on edge, scared even. I walked over with a bright smile toward her. Gently placing my hand on her back I lead her to my desk, being careful with her in worry she might just break over one thing.

"Hello, I'm Mai Taniyama, how may I help you today?" Concern etched my voice as she pulled out some photos. I made sure my notepad was handy and I turned on a recorder. After the many years I had spent here, I learned a new system of interviewing people. It helped incase I missed important information.

"Hello, I'm Akameko Nimahara and I believe a spirit, a malevolent one, is haunting my son's bedroom. He will run to my room a lot and say that 'the lady' is in his room again and is scaring him. Well at first I thought maybe it was his imagination until I got these pictures." The woman first showed me a photo of her son's back, scratched all over it. Then there was a photo that had been taken in a hallway. Inside of one of the bedrooms there was a shadowy figure that appeared to be hiding. The next photo was of her taking a picture of her son playing with his toys in his bedroom. He was laughing while looking at the camera but a shadowy, very transparent figure was shrouding him in the photo. The last photo was of her son's bed.

"There's an indent in the bed as if someone is sitting in it. I just got that bed for him a month ago so the indents that can come naturally to beds shouldn't be there that early." She explained to me. I nodded my head and took down some notes. "Also the door to his room will close randomly. I've had a carpenter check it out and he told me that the door and floor were just fine and that the windows closed great so it wasn't wind."

"Nimahara-san, would you mind waiting here for a moment while I go and ask about this case with my boss?" I asked her. She nodded her head and I got up and started toward Naru's office. Gently a hand stopped me. I looked to see it was Lin and he grabbed my notes and read over them.

"You're getting better at this." Lin had helped me with my new system and gave me tips here and there. I smiled at him and took my notes to go and show them to Naru. A gentle knock and the words 'come in' had me explaining the case to my boss.

"I really think we should take this case. It's harming someone now, someone innocent, and seems pretty serious." I explained. He nodded his head as he looked over the photos and my notes.

"Tell her to come in here." Naru said and I walked out of his office and to my desk.

"Nimahara-san, would you please follow me?" I asked her gently and she gathered her things and followed me into Naru's office. I could hear Lin typing away at his computer. I always wondered what he was constantly doing at the computer.

I stood near the door as the client explained, over again, to Naru what was happening at her home. Then she proceeded to give her address. It was silent for a while as Naru looked over the pictures once again. The one that had me the most disturbed were the claw marks all over the boy's back. I just didn't understand why a spirit would want to harm a child. Even the Doll House case was very disturbing. I get missing your child but I didn't understand why you would harm other children in the process.

"Do you need my son to be at the house while you're getting the spirit out?" Akameko's voice was nervous and worried but she was trying to look strong.

"Does the activity cease while he is away?" Naru asked and the woman nodded her head. "Then we will need him to be in your home while we are working or getting the spirit could be much more difficult."

"Thank you so much Shibuya-san. I appreciate you taking the time for me." Akameko bowed to Naru and then smiled at me. She seemed nervous but I walked her to the door. We said our goodbyes and I told her we would be at her home soon to exorcise the spirit out of her home.

"Do you think we'll need the whole group for this one?" I wondered aloud but noticed Lin nodding his head. I turned to him quizzically. After not receiving an answer from him with my look I walked over to his computer. After the years he and I had turned our lukewarm relationship into a light friendship. I was just glad he didn't hate me like he used to.

"What are you typing about, Lin-san?" I leaned over his shoulder, looking at the bright screen. His typing skills were quite exceptional but I didn't fully understand what he was typing. It was in English but my English was choppy and not very well. I knew the basics that would get me around but not enough to hold up a conversation.

"I'm now typing about our newest case. I overhead both of you and started to put it down." Lin explained. I smiled and leaned away from his computer with a finger to my chin.

"I wonder what this case should be named." I thought aloud. I heard him stop typing and I figured he was thinking about it too.

"What about 'A boy's shadow'?" Lin asked. I gasped with a large smile and nodded my head.

"That sounds like a great name. Wait…do you name all of the cases?" I asked him. There was another pause in his typing and I saw him smirking. He nodded his head and another smile lit my face. It was something new I learned about Lin.

"You're very creative, Lin-San." I patted his shoulder and then headed back to my desk. I heard his typing resume.

Regular POV

Mai picked up the phone and started to dial the numbers of Yasuhara, John, Masako, Ayako, and Monk. It didn't take them long to pick up and say that they would be there soon to discuss the case. The brunette gave a sigh of relief and started to relax in her desk chair. The day had been slow up until that point but Naru had Mai putting things up for him and such. She was now a full-time employee. High school had ended only that summer for her and she wanted to stay in the ghost hunting business. Naru told her that he would get her some major training for her abilities when he headed back to England again. It had been awkward when he had come back but they moved over the little bump.

"Mai, tea." She heard her boss say. She laughed lightly but stood up. Even as a full-time employee she still felt like it was back when she was in high school. Mai headed toward the kitchen and started up the tea. It was quickly made and she left it to heat up and went back over to Lin's computer screen.

"You've gotten far in typing about this. How do you already have so much information?" Mai asked while seeing that his documentation was already ten pages long. It didn't surprise her in the least but it was still strange no matter how much he was typing all the time.

"It wasn't difficult. Most of this is background information on the address she is living at. Nothing too substantial has shown up but I'm still searching." Ever since the two's relationship had gotten better he had begun to talk a little more. Not that he had become a chatterbox or anything, just started speaking to her like a friend rather than a co-worker.

"I wonder if it is another mother case like the doll house case was. I sure hope not. Those cases are the worst. They always make me sad." Mai said while waiting to hear the tea go off. The office door opened and in came the entire group except for Yasuhara. It was slightly odd how they almost always managed to show up at roughly the same time. Maybe they called each other and planned it…though that went against Masako's personality.

"Hey guys! I'm making tea right now, would any of you want some?" Mai asked with a bright smile on her face. They all nodded their heads and went to what they had begun to affectionately call 'The Lounge' which irritated Naru to no end because he believed his office to not be a coffee shop. "Lin-san, would you like some as well?"

"Yes, thank you, Mai-chan." Lin called while still typing. It made Mai's cheeks light up with a pale red color. He rarely used her name and even rarer did he put the chan suffix at the end. She quickly went to the kitchen and started getting the cups ready.

"I wonder what that was." Monk whispered Ayako who shrugged her shoulders. Masako giggled slightly and John just tried to not get involved. Suddenly the door opened again and Yasuhara rushed in, fixing his glass as soon as he stopped and shut the door.

"Would you like some tea, Yasuhara-san?" Mai called from the kitchen after the young man apologized for being late. He said yes and then headed to lounge with the others as well. It didn't take long for Mai to come out with a tray full of cups of tea. She went to Naru's office first and gave him tea, informing him that the others had arrived. The look on his face made her giggle and she left his office. It took her little time to hand out the tea to the group. Then she headed over to Lin.

"How's the research going?" Mai asked, noticing his ten pages had developed into fifteen pages.

"Apparently another little boy, forty years ago in the same house, had the same problem. The mother tried to get a priest to exorcise the spirit but he refused once he stepped into the house. Soon after the little boy was found dead in his bed, dark finger marks on his neck. The doctors declared him choked to death. So far that's the most substantial thing I've found." Lin explained. Mai blinked a bit at hearing him speak so long and then she set down his tea.

"Why don't you join us for a little while? You work too hard." Mai suggested. Lin stopped typing and looked at the cup of tea, back at his computer and then down at the keyboard. Gently he moved his chair back and grabbed his cup of tea. Then he looked her in the eyes.

"I think I will join you. Thank you, Mai-chan." Lin said and followed her, not noticing the red tint on her face, into the room with everyone else. They were all very surprised at seeing the quiet man there. Monk and Ayako glanced at each other with confused looks while Masako giggled lightly behind her sleeve. John just smiled politely at the man, trying to ignore the rest of the members.

Author's Note: Thank you all for reading this chapter. I will try to update as soon as possible but I was afraid if I didn't end it here I wouldn't end it at all. I will continue to develop the relationship between Mai and Lin but I feel that it was quite a development this chapter. Once again, thank you for reading.