Ghost Hunt

Shibuya Psychic Research

Case Number (#): 1

Case Name: Evil Spirits All Over?

Everyone watched as Mai ran out of the base, eyes wide with fear, merely standing and looking on with curiosity as the young girl sprinted for the third floor. The room where John was attempting to exorcize the spirits from the old school building.

Once she was out of their sight, they watched from the cameras. They watched as she ran up the stairs, the sound of her feet pounding on the steps resonating throughout the wooden infrastructure. They heard and saw the door to the room slide open with a bang, startling both themselves and John, from what they could see on the screens. They registered his shock, followed by Mai's frantic cry.

"John! The ceiling!"

Now, they could all see from the screen the cracking ceiling. And a second after Mai's forewarning, it collapsed.

The cracking of splintering wood, falling debris, wood against wood; Mai's scream.

"JOHN!"

And then the debris hit the camera and the screen went black.

They didn't know what happened. They weren't able to see if John made it or not. Their own hearts were still pounding in their ears. They couldn't hear anything except the echoing of Mai's frightened scream.

They had no knowledge of what unfolded between the young girl and the blonde man…

It wasn't simply fear which made her chest clench and her heart bang against it. It wasn't just fear which made her sprint up those steps and scream when she saw him. It wasn't fear.

It was fear for him.

Fear that she wouldn't make it in time, that she wouldn't ever see those cerulean blue eyes look at her with incomparable tenderness or have him give her the most gentle and heartfelt smile she had ever seen. Fear that she would lose him. Forever.

So she ran. Screamed. Prayed. Hoped. And watched helplessly as the ceiling came down upon him, the debris and dust blocking him from her view.

Her hand reached out instinctively to grab him, to touch him and bring him close to her where she could feel him and know that he was alright because he was with her.

Yet she grabbed nothing but thin air.

And she could feel her heart break.

"JOHN!"

His name fell from her lips in an anguished scream. Tears began to build up at the corner of her eyes and for a moment, the sound of shattering wood rang in her ears. But then her thundering heartbeat took over. The dust settled and Mai held her breath as she took a tentative step forward.

"J-John?"

Any sort of rational fear flew from her mind when she barreled through the wreckage. She didn't care if the remainder of the ceiling collapsed as well. She didn't care that she might be hurt from the sharp edges of wood scattered about. She didn't care at all. Not about such trivial matters. All that mattered was him.

Finding him.

Making sure he was ok.

Holding him.

Seeing him.

He was all that mattered as she clawed through the wreckage like a maniac, her voice high and shrill, even to her own ears, "John? John! John? John, where are you? Are you alright? JOHN!"

There was a clatter and a cough to her right and Mai momentarily froze. Her eyes caught a large plank of wood tremble slightly before it was roughly shoved away. A dark, dusty figure emerged from the chaos and Mai could make out a head of curly blonde hair.

"John…"

The young priest raised his head to meet her eyes. Blue locked with Sienna and Mai's tears were now free flowing.

"JOHN!"

Simultaneously, they surged forward towards each other, arms outstretched and reaching. They met in the middle, his arms going around her shoulders; hers' around his waist. This time, her hands clenched the dusty black cloth of his priest robes, bunching up as much of the fabric she could in between her fingers. John's arms were tight around her, one hand holding her body close to his own, the other tangled in her hair. Mai buried her face in his chest as her sobs came out softly.

"I-I thought… You… The ceiling a-a-and I couldn't see and… Oh, thank God. Thank you, thank you, thank you." She murmured incoherently but she didn't care. John was safe. In her arms, alive and warm and breathing! With her!

John hushed her softly, stroking her hair in a gesture of comfort and promise. "I'm here, I'm here. If it wasn't for you, I'd have been in serious trouble. You saved me." he whispered as he buried his face in her hair, eyes closing as he took in a shaky breath, inhaling her scent to calm himself. In Heaven's name, he knew that this was wrong, that he shouldn't even be holding her like so but it felt so right. She fit into his arms perfectly and even the way she made him feel warmed his chest.

As if it was as it should be. As it was meant to be.

He held her tighter, pressing a loving kiss on her temple and the young girl sighed. They held each other for a moment before Mai slowly pulled away. Her face was streaked with tears but her eyes were shining and she was smiling so beautifully. One of her hands rose to cup the side of his face, her touch a bit shaky, as the pad of her thumb caressed his cheek.

John smiled at the contact, holding her hand in his own and stroking the back of it in time with her movements. Mai's grin grew wider and he couldn't resist. He turned his head slightly so her thumb brushed against his lips and he kissed her palm. He heard Mai's breath catch in her throat and he couldn't suppress the small smirk which came onto him as he saw her eyes dark and staring intently at his lips.

"Mai…"

"John…"

"MAI! JOHN! ARE YOU TWO ALRIGHT?"

The raised voices of their coworkers made them both jump apart and caused a blush to rise to their cheeks. John dusted his robes, looking away from Mai in embarrassment. He didn't see or hear her move close again which is why he jumped as she spoke from his side, "We're fine. John's alright!" He looked down at the young school girl with bewildered eyes. Mai merely gave him a shy smile as she helped dust his robes. The blonde man relished the feeling of her hands once more on his body, even though the touch was light.

Mai was fixing his purple scarf when the rest of the team appeared at the doorway. John took in their concerned expressions and reassured them that he was fine. In the midst of it all, Mai moved towards the team and Bou-san immediately put his hands on her shoulders, asking her if she was ok. John watched the contact with simmering envy.

He couldn't touch Mai like that in others' presence. Not without invoking them with the wrong idea (which was completely right), or looking down on him or worse, Mai. So he kept his arms firmly at his sides, Making it all he could do not to grab her and draw her close in his arms and feels her against his body. He offered them his usual cheerful smile in hopes that they would buy it.

They did.

Hook, line and sinker.

When everybody was leaving, he excused himself as well. But not before meeting her gaze one more time. Not before he expressed his emotions with his eyes. Not before he smiled at her once more. Not before he spoke to her once more. Not before he discreetly reached out and ran his hand down the smooth skin of her exposed arm.

A simple yet intimate gesture which meant so much to both of them.

"Goodnight, John."

"Goodnight, Mai. Thank you again."

For everything…