Title: The Weight of the Dead Hand

Genre: Anime

Series: Ghost Hunt

Characters: Mai Taniyama, Koujo Lin, the whole crew

Rating: PG-13

Summary: Blank invitations can be dangerous, and have unexpected results.

Disclaimer: Not mine, but I still love them even years later.

Let your temptress reign

And I will weigh all your pain

When all your hopes are crushed

And living becomes too much

Under the weight of the dead hand

Yes, only I could understand

Come into my dreamland

-Ed Harcourt

"Tea!"

Koujo Lin paused his typing, his eyes flicking to the partially open door and listening for steps. If he heard them, then Yasahura was in office and could handle Oliver's demand, if he heard nothing, then he'd have to pause his report and take care of it. One would have thought that being raised by English aristocrats would have instilled good manners in the young man, and he was quite capable of them at times. Something about working, and indeed being 'in charge' never failed to have those skills disappear. For yet another innumerable time since returning to Japan, Lin wished Mai Taniyama had returned to the SPR. She was one of few people who could put their leader in his place, among other admirable qualities.

Footsteps echoed down the hall, along with a sarcastic "Yes, sir!" followed by unintelligible muttering as Yasahura rushed to the kitchen to complete the chore. He dipped his head through the crack in Lin's door on the way, asking if he'd like some as well, but he declined and waited until Yasahura was in the kitchen before standing and shutting the door. He liked the graduate student but his need to fill silence was often irritating when Lin was trying to finish a report.

Mai, on the other hand, had always known when Lin wanted to be left alone. She'd been better at most when it came to reading his emotions and anticipating his needs, an excellent skill for an assistant though Oliver had never given her the due she'd deserved when she'd worked with them. Perhaps that was why she'd chosen to remain at her new position when they'd returned after six months in England.

Not that they knew what that position was, she was being quite obstinate about revealing where she worked. Perhaps she anticipated that Oliver did not like to be denied and could place pressure on her employer to release her so that she'd have no choice to come back; he could be arrogant and demanding when it came to having the best equipment and team members for his research and experiments. Lin had spoken to her several times since their return and knew that she enjoyed the new position whatever it was but also missed working with their irregulars and he and 'Naru'.

"Are the arrangements ready?"

Lin looked up at the question, tilting back in his chair before answering. "Yes, we will be leaving tomorrow morning. The house is approximately two hours away, so we should arrive by ten a.m. That will give us enough time to place cameras and sensors before night." He paused, before noting aloud, "The owner, Kyung Lee, indicated another company is already on site. You don't normally accept cases that have already involved a different team."

Naru stared at him blankly, but Lin could tell the researcher was thinking the statement over and deciding on an response before speaking. Ultimately and unsurprisingly, Naru decided not to answer and simply walked away. Lin wanted to sigh but didn't, instead shifted forward and returned to his typing. Were it not for the handsome salary and years of practice dealing with Oliver, he'd have likely sought another position by now as well. As it was, he had another few years on his contract with the Davis family to mentor and assist him, though he had once been hopeful that by the end of it Oliver would have learned his limits and would no longer need an omnyoji to balance out his abilities but the events of the last few years told him otherwise.

In the last two years Lin had not seen very much progress from Oliver, and in the beginning he had blamed Gene's disappearance. The two had abilities that had been intricately tangled, always working best with each other. Together they had been capable of more powerful and tangible events that could be documented scientifically, but since Gene had died Oliver's abilities were experiencing more flares and less consistency, along with steadily decreasing power. Even knowing the Gene was dead, even having buried him, whenever Oliver attempted to use his paranormal skills they reached for his twin, looking for a mirror to rebound off of and amplify and finding none, lashed uncomfortably at the senses of any sensitive too close.

For the past three months Lin had been using their evenings to instruct Oliver in meditation but it'd yet to help. Oliver's spirit was missing it's other half and Lin didn't know how to help him heal that kind of ragged wound. Oliver was psychically bleeding to death and if Lin couldn't figure out a way to stop the hemorrhaging, his young student wouldn't have any psychic abilities left in a few years.

Lin sometimes thought that might be best, and it was better that it was Oliver. Gene wouldn't have handled the loss of their abilities very well, but Oliver was a scientist and ruled by logic. If he lost his abilities, he'd survive it and could continue his life's work. It wouldn't be as easy for him, and he'd need to take more precautions, but he was highly educated and determined.

He hoped it wouldn't come to that. He'd just have to work harder to find a solution.

Lin's grey eye was twitching as they approached the Lee home the next morning. Ayako and Monk had spent the entire drive bickering and after two hours of silently listening to the flirtation and arguing, he was ready to throttle the two of them. He'd never been able to understand why two fully grown adults would refuse to address the real reason for their tension and find a resolution. He knew that Father John believed that Ayako feared losing her connection with nature and thought that engaging in a sexual relationship would sever that link permanently. He'd never discussed it with her, and only in passing with the priest when both had observed her communion with the forest. Lin was fairly certain that her assumption was incorrect, but did not find it his place to clarify what she could or could not do with her own body. If she were to ask, he'd answer, but they were not familiar nor friendly enough that he believed she ever would.

The two vehicles parked in the grass just to the side of the gravel driveway and gathered to observe the large ornate house before them. It was a sprawling home, two stories under an overstated roof with traditional cream colored walls and maple tree orchards stretching into the distance around it. Oliver began to dictate that the team start to unload when the front door opened and a petite woman came darting out. She moved fast enough to startle them, hitting the front steps at a run but the grin on her face was welcoming and familiar.

"Mai!" Ayako announced happily, moving forward to embrace the younger girl who returned her hug enthusiastically. "What are you doing here?"

"The TPI were hired a few months ago, I've been here for about a month. I'm glad you could make it, though! I told Mr. Lee that I thought the SPR might be able to help more than we have," she explained, hugging her way through the crew, laughing when Monk hugged her so hard her feet left the ground, and smiling blandly at the less than enthusiastic hug from Masako. Lin was surprised when she gave him a tight hug, smiling up at him with her face pressed against his chest. There was a shallow swoop of lightheadedness when she did so, the ground beneath his feet seemed shaky, but it only lasted a moment before she turned to Naru. "I'm surprised I didn't have to call and convince you myself."

"The Tokyo Paranormal Investigators are discrete and successful. I've yet to observe their procedures and thought it a good opportunity to network with others in my line of work," he replied calmly, eyeing her suspiciously as if she were going to force him into a hug as well. She reached out and grasped Naru's hand, giving him several seconds before touching him so he could repress his touch empathy.

"Still, thank you. My boss has been beating his head against the walls here for weeks and we haven't been able to make heads or tails of anything. He's better with physical manifestations but our medium is out on maternity leave and we can't get one of the others here for at least another month. I'm not sure we have that long before Mr. Lee just won't wake up one morning." She gestured behind her, freezing for a moment as she turned to the house. She blinked slowly, her eyes staying shut for several seconds. She turned back to them and reached out and grasped Father John's robes, pulling him several feet to the left with no explanation. "Speaking of my boss..."

A sudden explosion of glass from a second story window fluttered down over the front yard and a large object flew through the air and into the bushes on the other side of the drive. It flew right through where Father John had been standing only moments before and would have surely hit him if he'd still been there. He stared in shock into the bushes before turning back to Mai. "What was that?"

"Oh, that was my boss," she explained, "Akio Tamigotchi."

"How did-"

"Mai!" A tall man burst from the bushes, "did you feel that? That's the first physical interaction we've had with the spirit!"

She was nodding as he approached. "I did, luckily enough. You're going to get someone hurt one of these days." The man waived that off and started rambling about wind and temperature readings, ignoring both the group of strangers standing there and his half naked state. Lin stoically studied the man, from his dark hair worn in a knot at the base of his neck, to the irezumi that covered his arms. Mixed in with the brightly colored dragon were various scars and even Lin's shiki shifted warningly as the man approached, recognizing his dangerous power just as Lin did. "And you shredded your shirt going through the window. I hope it was worth it because I am not going into town to buy you another one."

The man grinned sheepishly and rubbed at his neck. "But the readings were spectacular."

Mai signed heavily and shook her head, gesturing to the group. "Akio, this is the team from Shibuya Psychic Research. They're led by my former employer, Kazuya Shibuya, and this is Koujo Lin, his assistant, and..." Mai went down the list quickly, pointing out each team member and explaining what they could do. "Akio is a geki, a male shaman, " she explained for Father John who looked perplexed by the title.

"Take us to your control room. I'd like to see your progress," Naru demanded, moving towards the house now that the introductions have been handled. Akio caught up with him, his long legs easily outpacing the shorter man's strides. Mai laughed under her breath and crossed her arms, observing the two as they entered the house, followed by equipment laden Monk and the others. "Some things never change."

"Indeed," Lin acknowledged, "but some things do."

Mai nodded and grew somber. "I thought taking Gene back to England would help him, but something is still wrong. I could feel it when I shook his hand."

"He is not better. He's growing worse."

They'd both been witness to Naru's destabilization, both before and after locating Gene's body. Lin had confessed late one night not long before they'd left that the headaches she'd begun to get were because of Naru and his failing control over his abilities. It was part of the reason they'd went back to England, to see specialists there.

Lin moved to gather more equipment to take inside but Mai placed her hand on his chest to stop him. "I've discovered something since you left, something that might help him but I want to show you before I approach him. It's part of why I stayed away, because I wasn't certain if he'd be able to sense it or if it might cause him to get bad again, but you say he's worse already so..." she trailed off, her fingers fidgeting with the button of his shirt nervously.

Lin grasped her fingers, stepping closer and lowering his voice. "What is it?"

Her smile this time was tremulous and fleeting. "I've discovered that I'm not just sensitive, as Naru thought. I'm a seer. Post-cognitive is easiest but with Akio's help I've begun to push my precognitive senses further. Only a minute or two now but he thinks that with practice I can eventually break the barrier and see days, even weeks into the future."

"That can be very dangerous, Mai. If you want training, I'd rather I teach you than-"

"It's not just time, Lin, I can also see spirits, but only when I'm in the right level of consciousness, which is why I'm working with Akio. He has practice with reaching different levels, he's been able to pinpoint where I'm at my most vulnerable and where I'm in a comfortable between, seeing but still in control. Unfortunately, you cannot assist me with that."

Lin knew that she was right, while he was capable of teaching many things, the fine nuances of consciousness was not one of them. Still, he didn't like the thought of someone else assisting her through this. It was not something he could or should interfere with, however. "What do you want to show me?"

"I'll find you tonight, after everyone else has gone to bed. I'll be sleepy, it'll be easier to invite you in," Mai decided, slipping her hand from his and moving towards the house. Lin felt the heat print she'd left behind fade and found that he liked the feel of her skin under his. Unlike most people, she didn't broadcast her thoughts or emotions. While outwardly friendly and happy, Mai was actually very self contained with her mind. While she could be very loud and expressive, her mind did not broadcast those emotions or thoughts the way others did.

"Invite me where?"

Mai flirtatiously winked back at him over her shoulder. "Into my mind."

The team settled in quickly; in addition to Mai and Akio, there was also an investigator named Kagome who ran the computers and diagnostic equipment and happily announced that she had no psychic ability at all and would run at the first sign of trouble. She and John got on like fire and settled into a conversation regarding the newest psychic measurements for exorcism qualifiers easily. Naru and Akio reviewed the history for the house for several hours, and found some new avenues to explore when in regards to the source of the damaging nightmares. Up until recently only the owner had experienced them, and up until very recently the torturous nature of the dreams remained in dreams, but just a week ago the owner had started to carry wounds into the real world, and that was an escalation that had to be stopped. It had only been bruises and cuts so far, but each night the wounds grew deeper.

For caution's sake, they made their beds in a warded room and even the owner had begun to sleep there for protection as well. Once the owner became unavailable to the spirits, they sought new targets. No one was allowed to nap mid-day unless they were in the warded room, anyone could be a victim in sleep now.

"Would you like some tea?" Mai asked as the others began to quiet down, some already sleeping, others reading or playing with their phones.

Lin nodded without thinking, standing and following her as she led him down to the kitchen. It was too late for tea, and he rightly supposed that she actually wanted to have that serious conversation now. Still, she moved through the domestic ritual of preparing tea and nodded towards the table for him to take a seat. She waited until the tea was ready to come over and take a seat across from him, sipping the too hot liquid with a grimace. "It's decaf, so should be safe to drink. Drinking warm tea helps me sleep sometimes."

He blew on the liquid gently before sipping, studying her face as he did so. She didn't look different from what he remembered, but seemed older anyways. "What do you want to do?"

"I need you to come into my dreams with me, there's someone who wants to speak to you and I don't know any other way to do it," Mai answered plainly, shrugging as she did. She ran her fingers through her shaggy brown hair, some of it falling in her face much as his did. It made her look coquettish but Lin knew it was not intentional.

"Entering another's dreams is considered..."

"Intimate." She finished for him. "No worries, you're not my first, Lin."

He wanted to know who was, but suspected it must have been Akio. The idea of the brawny older man entering her mind, even with her permission, irritated him.

Lin rallied himself back, however, because Akio was her teacher and the relationship between teacher and student would of course be close. He himself was as close to Oliver as anyone besides Gene, probably the young man's best friend truth be told. "I'm not as adept as your teacher might have been. I've only done this as an attack, never with invitation."

Mai stood and came around the table, standing close enough that he could feel the warmth of her legs through his slacks. "I promise I wouldn't ask you to do this unless it was necessary. I apologize for making you uncomfortable."

"I'm not uncomfortable."

"I know of only one way to do this," Mai confessed, bracing her hands on the arms of his chair and sliding into his lap, straddling him. "Now you're uncomfortable."

He swallowed heavily and nodded slowly. "You haven't even bought me dinner."

Mai laughed deeply, the tension broken. Lin tried to ignore the way her laughing relaxed her body, settling her slight weight more firmly into his lap. Now he was concentrating very very hard on not reacting physically. He was suddenly very aware of the fact that despite the ten year age difference, Mai was young and attractive and willingly opening herself to him physically and mentally and that was a very tempting invitation to ask for more.

She laid her head on his shoulder, her breath rustling the hair of his name and causing goosebumps to rise on his arms. "When I fall asleep, follow me."

"How will I know it's you and not the spirit haunting this house?"

"This room is warded as well, just in case. And you'll know it's me by the bluejay. It's my spirit animal and is always with me," Mai whispered, her eyes drooping more often. "You're pretty comfortable for being so skinny, Lin."

"I think you can call me Koujo after this."

"Koujo," she said on an exhale, finally succumbing to sleep. He noted with some amusement that she snored very lightly, before closing his eyes and clearing his mind. He sought the static on the edges of his mind, the dreaming world. It was heavy in this place, partly because of the type of spirit haunting the building and partly because Mai had opened herself to him and was waiting for him to come find her.

From one thought to the next he slid from one world to another. He could feel himself in the kitchen of the haunted home, arms now curled tightly around Mai to keep her sleeping body from sliding to the floor bonelessly and yet he was also standing in the center of their office back in the city. The light from the windows was muted and foggy, and there was no noise or ambient sound. It was an empty place, truly and absolutely.

Then it wasn't.

The door opened and Mai fumbled inside, a small blue bird chirping in her ear from where it soared around her head. "There you are! You've been ages."

He disagreed with a shake of his head. "It's been seconds."

"Not here, I hate time variables, they give me a migraine," she complained, slapping her head jokingly before holding out her hand. "Come on, he wants to see you."

Lin took her hand and let her pull him forward. "Who is he?"

"He is me," a voice said behind him and when he turned around he wasn't in the office anymore. Now they stood at the side of a lake. A very familiar lake.

Lin looked at the boy before him, a copy of Oliver but it would have been the Oliver of years ago. It was a boy of sixteen, where now there was a man of nineteen. The dead don't age, so Gene remained the same while his twin continued on.

He shouldn't have been here, in Mai's mind. He shouldn't be here, not with his body found and laid to rest, with extra protections and rituals to give him peace from his violent death. "How are you here, Gene?"

"We don't know," Mai confessed, still holding his hand. "For a long time I thought I was dreaming of Naru, but I wasn't. It was Gene. And I know now why he became trapped with me."

"What do you mean trapped? You've bound him to you?" Like a shiki, he thought, but she does not have that power.

"Not bound, not truly, but only I can see him. He's tried to go to Naru many times but he can't reach him."

"Only Mai can see me, I've even tried to reach you a couple times. It's not her fault though," Gene exclaimed, "none of this is her fault and I won't let anyone say otherwise."

"What's going on, why are you here?"

Mai used the hold on her arm to turn Lin so that he was looking at her. "You remember that my mother died when I was in junior high? I've never told any of you but she killed herself. She killed herself because one night after going out with some of her work friends while I was at a school event, she ran a boy over and killed him. She was so scared, so certain that she'd go to jail for drinking and driving and that she'd leave me all alone...she hid the body. She hid Gene's body. But when she came home that night, his spirit came with her and hid itself in the only sensitive mind close by, mine. She couldn't live with herself, though. She tried, for me, but the guilt ate away at her and one night she couldn't take it.

"Gene probably would have stayed there, hidden inside of me for the rest of my life without me ever knowing, but I met you and Naru and he woke up. He wants to go to Naru and I think Naru needs him too. I think it's why he didn't move on."

"This is...highly unusual," Lin finally said, his mind scrambling to make sense of all the information that had just been dumped on him. He turned to Gene and began to study him. "How do you feel? Do you have sensation or are you fully discorporated? Can you interact with the physical realm or are you only manifesting in Mai's dreams?"

"Yes I have sensation, mostly hot and cold. Everything I can see and hear are through Mai. I cannot manifest in the physical world and I can't manifest in anyone else's dreams," Gene answered. "I need to get to my brother. I need you to take me to him."

"I think you need to get to him, as well," Lin confessed. "He's fading without you, his abilities are dying slowly and neither his parents or I have been able to stop it. I thought it was his grief but I think...I think seeing you here means it's a something else. Your tie was forcibly severed and only by restoring it will he be okay."

"How do we do that?" Mai asked, looking excited for the first time since they started this conversation. "Not that I don't love having you here, Gene, but a girl does like some privacy for her dreams."

"I don't know," Lin admitted, unconsciously clenching his fingers around hers. "I need to do some research."

He jolted out of her mind so suddenly that Mai almost toppled out of his arms, saved only because he'd already been holding her tight. She awoke just as suddenly, screeching out apologies while she reached out and cradled his face, checking him for signs of stress.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry! The dismount is always a bit rough, Akio says my natural barriers are exceptionally strong so I tend to throw people out a little too harshly. Are you okay? Do you have a headache? I have some aspirin I can get you?"

"I'm okay," he reassured her, shaking his head lightly from side to side as if to dislodge the haziness that lingered there. "That was one of the strangest things I've ever been a part of."

"I told you that you had to see it to believe it," she pointed out, curling her lips sardonically and shrugging. "Naru knew I'd been dreaming of Gene, but we both thought that finding his body would put him to rest. Imagine my surprise when a month after you left, while on my first case with TPI, he showed up to help."

Lin started to speak, to ask more questions about the nature of her symbiotic dream relationship with Gene, but Monk and Ayako pushed through the kitchen door and interrupted them. From the looks on their faces, they clearly thought they'd interrupted something intimate.

He realized Mai was still straddling him and cradling his face, and his hands had migrated to her thighs during their awakening and he'd just been in her mind and this was indeed something intimate that they'd interrupted.

"Well, this is new," Monk pointed out, leaning against the doorway and leering at them.

"Leave," Lin ordered, glaring at them until they could feel his ire like a physical blow.

"Yep, we're going," Ayako decided, grabbing Monk by his shirt and pulling him back out of the room. The door slammed shut and the couple remaining finally clambered apart, disentangling short limbs from long and putting some distance between them.

"You've got a symbiotic link with Gene. He stays here because he's tied to your life force now, rather than his body," Lin hypothesized, his gaze distant as he methodically sorted through his knowledge of such links. "I think that were you not so strong psychically, if Gene had wanted to he could have possessed you and taken control but he clearly doesn't want to do that."

"He wants to be with Naru," Mai reminded him. "I can't find a way to open someone else to his presence, I can only bring people to him."

"I'll need to do some research of my own, and I might need to examine you closer and see him again. He's behaving like a rider, but he is very clearly still seperate and independent. He also doesn't appear to be feeding very deeply of your energy, you haven't suffered any weak spells or faints?"

"No-"

"And yet he hasn't faded," Koujo finished. "I've a few texts back at my apartment that might assist. It'll have to wait until after the case is resolved."

"He's been waiting for years, I don't think a few more weeks will hurt him."

The wards failed but they persevered through, Ayako tapping into the orchards and purifying the nightmare spirit in a blaze of white light and red leaves. It was a nuclear option, destruction of the spirit rather than restful peace, but as long as the owner was safe and the house inhabitable again the team could call it successful.

They packed their things and gathered on the front drive, Mai shoving equipment at Kagome until she was basically buried in the back of the van. She was helping her friend slide out from under the pile when Naru paused beside her on his way to the SPR van. "I'll expect you at 9 a.m. on Monday in the office."

"I don't work for you, Naru," Mai snarled at him, hands on her hips.

He smirked, "Did Akio not mention that SPR has purchased controlling interest in TPI? As of yesterday, you do work for me."

She gaped after him, shaking her head incredulously. It was only the high pitched whine of Kagome slowly being crushed under camera equipment that drew her back to her task. "Can you believe that arrogant narcissist? Buying a whole company just so I'll come back and make him tea. As if. I could get another job somewhere else just as easily!"

Kagome popped her head up. "But it wouldn't pay as well."

"Stop making sense, I hate it when you do that."

Lin's door cracked open and a blur of movement slid through, the petite brunette falling face forward onto his cough with a groan before the door had fully shut behind her. "Who's bright idea was it to combine offices?"

"I believe it was Akio's. He could spend more time in the field if there was no office to run, and Naru agreed having two working teams rotating made sense." Koujo reminded her, not looking up from his research. "Are you available tonight?"

"My personal life is nonexistent, I'm available every night," she moaned, her head now rather firmly shoved under a pillow.

"I've found some treatises on soul balance and I think I've got a lead on how to handle Gene. If I'm right, we'll need to let Oliver know what's going on."

Her head popped up. "Everything? Even why he latched on to me?"

Koujo pushed back from the desk and went to kneel in front of her. "We don't have to tell him that, but if he asks I will not lie. I don't believe it's relevent to the matter, though, so I don't think he will. If we are successful in reuniting them, it's very likely that Gene will be able to communicate with him. Gene could tell him."

Mai sat up wearily. "The most important thing is getting them back together."

"Agreed. We can grab dinner after work and head to my loft."

"Like a date?"

"Like a...date?" Lin repeated, his visible eyebrow shooting up as he stared down at Mai incredulously.

"You asked if I'm free, then said let's get dinner," Mai teased, poking him in the arm as she stood and moved to exit. "Sounds like a date. Nothing fancy, though, since I can't go change. You like the sushi place a couple blocks over, I'll call in an order and we can pick it up on the way."

Lin was stuck kneeling in his office, trying to figure out how they'd transitioned from him asking her to come over and read the chapters he'd found about soul bonds to having a casual dinner date. "I didn't intend to ask you on a date."

"No worries, Koujo, I'm just teasing!"

He stood and crossed his arms. "Now it is a date," he announced, smirking at her as she stumbled in the doorway.

"Koujo, I was teasing!"

"You've given me an opportunity, Mai. I do not easily pass them up."

Now she gaped at him. "You don't think of me that way."

"I do. Please make sure to order extra wasabi when you call."

They ate at his small dinette table, and Lin refused to allow it to be awkward. He'd pressed to make this a date and he would not allow it to be the only one. He asked about her schooling, and what career she wanted to pursue. They talked about different courses she could take that would benefit her, and then what courses he had taken in university and his master degree that he was still pursuing. She told him a story about how Monk had invited her and Ayako to one of his concerts, then gotten angry when one of his bandmates flirted with Ayako.

The food containers emptied quickly, and before long they were just sitting there and talking. Mai did most of it, but that wasn't surprising as she was by far the more outgoing of them. Eventually the talk came around to the writings he'd found about soul bonds, and how it pertained to Gene and Oliver.

"I don't think Gene is a ghost, not in the traditional sense. I think that if you weren't so open, he could have become a poltergeist, haunting your mother until she...did what she ultimately did, but you were sensitive and Gene was a medium when alive so he was drawn to you. You kept him from transforming into something else, but as a result he's become stuck. I don't think we can transfer him to Oliver, I think he'll need to be pushed out and once untethered he should be able to latch onto Oliver, but he'll have to be open to it. We'll have to explain and likely he'll need to see Gene as you showed him to me."

Mai shifted nervously, playing with her chopsticks. "I don't know how I feel about letting Naru into my dreams. It was easier with you."

"Why?"

"You're not scary."

He silently scoffed, "You'd be one of the few to say so."

She blushed and explained, "You've only protected me, Koujo. Even when you were being harsh and rude, it came from trying to protect me. So, no, I don't find you scary."

Lin leaned back in his chair and thought deeply for several minutes, he could feel her staring at him but didn't meet her eyes. "As an omnyoji, I have done things. Dark things that have left their mark. My shiki are the most obvious signs of that. For many spiritualists, binding spirits or demons is akin to slavery. I did it for protection, of myself and others, but it is unforgivable for many who are spiritually gifted. It is a sign that I am very powerful and very ruthless."

Mai circled around the table, reaching over to slide a lock of his hair behind his ear. "And yet you still don't scare me."

Lin grabbed her wrist when she tried to touch his cheek, turning his head just slightly so that he could smell the flowery scent the wafted from her wrist. "Do you want to know why I wanted to make this a date?" She shook her head, content to let him hold her arm and very deliberately not struggling though he could feel her heart rate increase. "Your mind. While you are beautiful, your mind drew me even before you invited me in. You emanate light and make the shadows smaller. You draw ghosts because they can see that you are good and will do everything to help them. Being in your mind was like being cleansed, I felt lighter than I have in years." He stood, towering over her but she didn't quiver or move away, only returned his bold gaze with one of her own. "I want to be inside of your mind again and more if you'd let me."

Mai licked her bottom lip unconsciously, his eyes shot to the movement and his whole body reacted. His fingers clenched around her wrist, his back stiffened and his feet shuffled. He wanted to kiss her. He wanted to press her into the table and claim her, to take all that light and heart and make it his. She would be the sun that he could revolve around, she could be the forgiveness that he didn't believe he needed but craved anyways. Her mind was an enticement, her body a temptation.

She kissed him, craning her body up to meet his lips until she was taut like a bow, arching into his body. Mai took control, pulled her wrist from his grasp and wrapped her fingers around his neck and pulled him lower so that she was more comfortable. When that wasn't enough she jumped up and wrapped her legs around his middle, he instinctively caught and held her in place. He shook with the effort of restraint, recognizing that she was making this decision and he was too close to the edge of his control to be allowed.

When their lips broke apart, Mai gasped and pressed her forehead to his. She smiled at him broadly, her happiness reverbrating into him where their skin touched and he could feel himself respond in kind, pushing back the same jubilant emotions into their connection. "I want to see your dreams," she confessed. "After."

"After what?"

"You wanted to be inside of me again, Koujo," she reminded him with a teasing kiss. "So come inside."

His bed seemed miles away but he carried her easily and they fell in together. They didn't leave until morning, and by then she was as intimately acquainted with his dreams and body as he was with her's.

Oliver approached Lin's loft several weeks later with a sense of trepidition. Lin and Mai had been discreet in their relationship change but he knew from eavesdropping that they'd basically moved in together recently, though unofficially. Lin had asked him to come over tonight for a "private discussion" and Oliver suspected that Lin was going to confess to the his new relationship, not that Oliver cared or thought it his business. Mai was a skilled assistant and he was pleased to have her back in the office. What she did outside of it, or with whom, didn't concern him so long as it remained discreet and didn't interfere in his research.

He knocked at the door and blinked when Mai opened it with a shy smile. "Come on in, Naru."

He entered and took a seat and noted that she'd already left signs of her touch in the loft. Lin was prone to austere minimalism but Mai had clearly introduced some chaos into the space. Plants in the windowsill, colored pillows on the couch. Instead of incense, Naru could smell vanilla and patchouli, and for all his stoicism Lin looked perfectly at ease in the newly introduced female touches. He gestured for Naru to take a seat in the chair across from him.

"If you've brought me here to tell me you're in a relationship you needn't bother. I'm an excellent observationist and noted the change in your demeanor weeks ago. Also, Monk told us he found you two in a delicate position on a job, do refrain from doing so again. You're adults, restrain your hormones," Naru finished, clasping his hands on his lap and gazing at them in derision, as if the idea of giving in to feelings was inconceivable and to him it probably was.

Mai was naturally horrified and offended and preparing to give him a piece of her mind but Lin shook his head at her lightly and held his hand out for her to join him on the couch. "We were not behaving inappropriately while at a client's home, and our relationship is no one's business but ours. That is not why we've called you here."

Naru tilted his head and raised his eyebrow, asking without speaking why he was here.

"You know that before we left Japan, Mai was dreaming of Gene. We both thought that it was a manfestation of her post-cognitive visions. We were wrong. She wasn't seeing Gene in the past. She is carrying Gene's soul within her and we both believe that he needs to be removed, and with your acceptance, given to you as a rider. Gene and I have spoken and we both believe that this will help stabilize your PK and ESP."

"You've spoken to Gene?" He was clearly skeptical and hesitant, and Mai bristled but Lin placed his hand over hers and she settled back down.

"I have. You can as well. With Mai's permission, I will have her go into a deep meditative state and I will guide you to him."

"Yes, I'd like to see what you claim is Gene," Oliver agreed, somewhat impatiently.

Lin turned to Mai on the sofa and helped her adjust into the lotus position. He could tell she was nervous, and without thinking about it, kissed the back of her hand and smiled at her reassuringly. His hair tilted away from his face and for a brief second through his blue eye he saw one of his shiki settle into her lap, coiling there protectively. She clearly didn't see it, but she relaxed minutely as the feeling of love and safety cocooned her.

Within minutes of her eyes closing Lin felt her conscious mind ascend, her body now a vacant shell. He glared at Oliver now that they were alone. "You will follow my guidance closely, or you could damage Mai and I won't allow that. The expulsion of Gene is going to be difficult for her, will take a lot of her energy and she's doing it only because Gene is desperate to get to you and she believes you need him to survive with your abilities intact. I personally believe losing them might make you a better person, but I cannot make that decision for you or her. Be gentle with her or I will end the connection."

Oliver nodded his understanding and waited for Lin to arrange himself. He slid his body behind Mai on the cushions of the sofa, wrapping his long limbs around her. He rest his cheek against her head, breathing deeply of the cherry blossom scent of her hair, before reaching out a hand to Oliver. "Are you ready?"

Oliver nodded and with only a moment's hesitation he took his mentor's hand.

Together they fell into the sensation of static, unpleasant needle pinpricks along their metaphysical senses. It faded within moments and when Oliver's sight returned they stood on a long walkway surrounded by the falling pink petals from the trees that lined it. Mai stood calmly in the center, watching them with a smile. Next to her stood Gene and he was already reaching out for Oliver.

Their hands met and it felt like a piece had shifted into place. No more mindnumbing emptiness. No more reaching into the dark for something that wasn't there anymore. He felt whole once more.

The office was overly bright from the sun, so Mai shut the blinds with a grateful whimper. She still hadn't quite recovered from the expulsion last week but she knew that in the long run it was the right thing to do. Now, the only one wandering through her dreams was her lover and as soon as her headache went away, she'd be more than happy with that outcome.

"Mai!"

The yell echoed through the office, slicing through her temples with shredding accuracy.

She wanted to snap back but knew that would make her feel worse, so instead she just sat down and signed deeply, massaging her temples with shaking fingers. Lin sauntered from his office, sensing her pain and replaced her fingers with his own, whispering a blessing against her head that immediately had the vice relaxing. She smiled at him gratefully and pressed a kiss to his chin before standing.

"Yes, Naru?"

Oliver stepped through his door, arms crossed and blank but somehow stern expression that softened when he saw her. "Tea...please."

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