One Family

The room was quiet. Shortly after Lin called the Davis' to invite them back to Naru's apartment, the former SPR members had arrived. Every seat was filled and a few people sat on the floor. Mai sat at Naru's feet, afraid to look at his parents. He said he wouldn't leave her, but she also knew he loved his parents and this was the first time he wasn't doing what they wanted.

Everyone looked at each other. After introductions, no one wanted to discuss the big issue . . . exactly where Naru and Mai stood with each other. Naru knew Mai was controlling her thoughts. She didn't want to influence him. He appreciated her willingness to let him make his own decisions, but being in a relationship meant she had a say. He knew what she wanted.

Lin knew nothing was going to happen if he didn't start. Noll and his parents were at odds. Mai was afraid. The others didn't know what had transpired.

"Perhaps we should start with why we came to Japan, Noll," Lin said. Noll nodded.

"I had almost the same nightmare five nights in a row. Each one ended with Mai dead on the streets of Shibuya. It felt more than a dream, so I asked Lin to check on Mai," Naru started.

"Mai stayed with me Friday night," Ayako said. "She felt she was being watched and was uncomfortable being in her apartment. We looked around, but didn't find anyone."

"Monday Mai didn't show up for our lunch meeting. I thought she was getting ready for her first year in college and didn't worry about it until Yasu called me." Monk looked at Yasu.

"Lin emailed me to check on Mai. I called Monk because he had a key to her apartment. We couldn't find her anywhere. We contacted Ayako, John and Masako. No one had heard from her either. We're her family, so not being able to find her made us worry."

"You're her family?" Luella asked.

"I'm an orphan," Mai said quietly. "When Naru started SPR, he brought us together and gave me a family." Luella teared up. She remembered when they found Gene and Noll. She knew what it meant having a family. Monk reached over and squeezed Mai's hand. She smiled at him softly.

"When Naru and Lin got here, we had already tried everything we could to find her. If Naru hadn't come, we wouldn't have found her. He used his powers to identify not only what Mai was feeling, but the being that was following her." Monk added.

"The only way I could label him was a psychic vampire," Lin said. "He was feeding off Mai and mentally manipulating her. She couldn't defend herself anymore."

"Mai, what did this psychic vampire do to you?" Martin asked, unable to hold back his curiosity. He had never heard of a psychic vampire in real life. Mai looked up with tears in her eyes.

"I killed my family."

"You didn't kill anyone," Naru said, pulling her close.

"But it felt like it . . . it still feels like it." Mai pulled into herself as Naru glared at his father.

"Jou-san, we know you didn't do anything wrong." Monk put his hand on her shoulder. Mai tried to smile at him, but failed.

"He convinced her that she killed all of us . . . myself and Lin included. As he started to finish draining her power, he mentallly shared what he had done with her. I'm the only one who saw it all, so I was the one most able to help Mai," Naru said.

"A few days ago, we did a ritual to help Mai restore her power so she could finish healing," Lin added. "There was an unintentional side effect." Everyone turned toward him. The room was uncharacteristically silent for a moment.

"Lin, you didn't tell us," Monk said. "Is it going to hurt Mai?" Lin shook his head.

"It explains why Noll was given the visions of Mai's death," Lin said. He didn't want to explain, hoping Naru would.

"We're bound to each other spiritually," Naru said simply.

"What does that mean?" Luella asked, looking between the two of them.

"As this just happened, we are still working to figure it out." Naru wasn't about to reveal anything about their link.

"This didn't 'just happen', Noll," his mother scolded. "If you had visions before you came here, there was something to this for over two months."

"We didn't know about it until yesterday." Naru frowned. Luella knew she wouldn't get anything more from her son. She turned toward the girl at his feet. Mai pulled closer to Naru at Luella's glare.

"I can hear some of Naru's thoughts," Mai admitted. "That's all, though." Luella's eyebrows went up as she looked back at her son. He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. Mai, don't give her anything else, he thought. Mai nodded, so they all knew they had shared something.

"What you're saying is, if I do this," Yasu got up and pulled Mai up and hugged her, "you'll know exactly what he thinks of this?" Mai looked at Naru and then Yasu.

"I don't need to know what he thinks, it's on his face, Yasu. Now let me go," Mai said. Yasu shook his head and picked her up, quickly walking out of the room. He missed the murderous look on Naru's face.

Mai, if he doesn't bring you back in her by the count of five, I'm going to come in there and it will not be good for him, Naru thought. He didn't notice items in the room around him starting to shake. Between Naru's facial expression and items starting to move on their own, the remaining people realized exactly how much he cared for the girl.

Naru's face changed as if something had happened. Yasu yelped from the kitchen and ran back into the room.

"You deserved it," Naru said, smirking. Mai walked back into the room and sat back down next to Naru. She ignored the puppy dog eyes Yasu was giving her.

"So, what are you planning to do?" Martin asked.

"I plan on staying with Mai while we figure this out. I was also thinking of re-opening SPR." Two people frowned, but the rest of the room had smiles on their faces at Naru's statement.

"How long do you intend to stay?" Luella asked, tearing up. She'd lost one son to this country and was about to lose another. Naru shrugged.

"You can visit whenever you want and we'll come to visit too. I do hope you'll stay for our wedding before you return to England, mother," he said as he reached down and took Mai's hands in his. Close your mouth, idiot.

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Thanks, everyone for the reviews and words of encouragement.

As pointed out by one of my reviewers, the story doesn't say what happened to the Shadow Man. I can't say because that would be telling. I have started outlining a second story to accompany this one, but I have about ten other Ghost Hunt fan ficts I'm in various stages of completion. I see myself finishing a few of those before focusing on the one following this which is tentatively called "Saving Ayako." Now you don't need to wonder who he is coming after.