CHAPTER 1: A DREAM

"I'm dreaming?"Mai thought as she saw herself in a funeral. "Not a dream, a memory... I remember this, this was mom's funeral... " She thought as she experienced it again.

Mai was at her mother's funeral. Eyes dry, as the hollowness in her heart prevented her from feeling anything. So she watched on as strangers came to pay their respects, her focus solely on her mother's casket as it was being laid to rest next to her father's.

'Where will I stay now' she had asked the social worker that held her hand. She hadn't heard her name, the dull roar in her ears had drowned out most of the noise since she found out her mother had died. The past few days had passed in a blur.

'To your next of kin, your grandfather Hisao. From your father's side I believe. He lives somewhere east of Tokyo. We will go visit him tomorrow' the lady said with kind eyes and a sympathetic smile.

Already Mai hated that look. She had received many of those expressions when her father died. Now years after his death she was receiving them again, only without her mother to shield her from their expressions. 'Mom...' she thought as she glanced back to her casket.

*the next day*

The ride to his home took long. Once they arrived Mai looked surprised as she looked at the mansion like place her grandfather lived.

The elderly man that opened the door glared at her. 'He won't take me in...'Mai thought knowing from the beginning that her only family left hated her.

'I refuse to take the girl!'

'You're all she has left!'

'I disowned her father years ago when he married that woman, what happens to their brat

means nothing to me! He ruined everything! The team they're all- '

Mai heard it all as she waited in the cold livingroom. Her social worker and her grandfather where in his study discussing her.

Soon the lady came out of the room slamming the door closed. 'What did he say?' Mai asked innocently, she already knew, but she was optimistic.

'Or maybe I was slightly masochistic...' thought Mai as she watched herself. This dream was a recurrence every time the anniversary of her mother's death drew near.

'Just two more weeks...'

The lady hesitated to answer, 'He-he is not able to care for you Mai, so you will be staying with your teacher, Hiroka. She offered yesterday, but with your grandfather still alive, we had hoped you could live with your kin.'

'Ok' Mai answered, glancing back at the closed doors of the study.

Then the scene changed, to the day SPR disbanded. She saw herself standing a few feet away from Naru, no, Oliver Davis.

'Well this is new...' Mai thought with cold eyes as she stared at her lost love.

"Mai you don't love me, you love Gene." Naru said with a backward glance.

"Naru you're wrong!" Mai said with tears in her eyes. "Please! Don't go!" as tears streamed down her face.

Naru never stopped, or showed sign of hearing as he left.

The rest of the team had comforted her with words and promises of being there with her. They kept their promises for the most part, but little by little they stopped answering her texts, stopped visiting her, stopped caring.

"Please,don't leave me alone... not now. Not when it's so close to her-"

"Riiing,Riiing,Rii-SLAM"

Mai opened her eyes, making an annoyed face as she realized that she had dreamed of her old team.

"It's about time you woke up, you wouldn't stop moaning in your sleep. You interrupted my nap." A cat spoke from his nearby pink fluffy pet bed.

"Do you think I want to remember? Why didn't you wake me up?" Mai said as she unwound herself from her blankets.

"I feed off of misery, death, and chaos, you with your powers plus a nightmare equals a yummy meal for me." The demon cat said as he stretched in his pink bed.

"Gee glad to have provided you a meal, you stupid demon" She said with a deadpan pan expression. Then with a smirk, "Guess that means I should tell Aki that you don't need your morning fish?"

"NO!" Nobuhiko roared as his hair rose, it was really comical considering he was standing on a pink bed.

"Ha! Relax I was joking, just... wake me up next time? Please?" She said with pleading eyes as she leaned down to scratch his ears.

"You're avoiding your emotions. What would happen if you met them again? With your powers we can't afford making a poltergeist." He said with a serious voice, the effect was ruined as he purred. Bumping his head in her hand, silently asking for more.

"I've made peace with their abandonment. I haven't dreamt of them in two years, I just don't know why it's starting again." Mai muttered as she moved her hand to scratch under his chin.

"Hn...Do you miss them? Oh! right there!" He said purring as Mai scratched behind his ears.

" No, I've moved on." She said as she stretched in her bed.

"Do you miss him?"

At that Mai paused.

"No... he means nothing to me." She said with a cheery smile as she got off her bed, heading for the restroom to start her daily routine. As the door closed and the smile slipped of her face only one thought ran through her head.

'They mean nothing to me... not after so long.'

There was no doubt about it, she hated him. She hated them. They were supposed to be her family, but as soon as Naru left...they did too. She had spent days crying from the rejection and abandonment. The team had promised to keep in touch, but within a month they had all lost touch. 'So much for promises...' she thought bitterly, getting ready for her day.

'No more crying, I've had enough of it' she thought as she looked at herself in the mirror, slapping her cheeks and rushing into her routine. It'd been five years since the team had disbanded and so many things had changed. Mai looked at herself and smiled at her reflection her hair was waist length and had grown a decent couple of inches over the years.

"You've moved on, . You've come a long way from being that lonely little girl. You don't need

them, not anymore." She said to her reflection.

After SPR had disbanded Mai had had to find a new job, for a while she was a waitress at a nice little cafe. For two years she worked at that cafe to support herself, it had been hard but she had made it. She had struck gold her second year of college when, on a whim, bought a ghost story book while shopping for her class books for her college classes. She took the book home expecting a couple of scares or not-worthy moments from the book but after what she had experienced with SPR, the book was like a sweet little bedtime story. On a whim she took out her notebook full of details and notes from the cases she had been in and started to write her own 'ghost stories'. It wasn't until later that year her english professor saw some of her writings that she considered publishing them.

Within a month, her book was considered 'One of the best selling books in Japan' and was actually being considered for translation into other languages. Though much to the confusion of her editor, she decided to publish them under a different name so that if the team ever read it, it couldn't be linked to her.

It had gone like that for a few more months until her grandfather had suddenly shown up outside of her apartment door, looking as if debating whether or not to knock on her apartment door. He clearly hadn't know she had gone out grocery shopping earlier that evening. He looked as stoic and cold as the day he had rejected her all those years ago, but the second she greeted him by 'Grandfather Hisao' his eye swam with shame as he broke down in front of her asking for forgiveness.

She had moved out of her apartment then after accepting his apology and made herself a new family.

Bangging on her bedroom door and a yowl of anger and surprise from Nobu snapped Mai out of her reverie.

"Oi Mai! Stop daydreaming we're gonna be late!" Aki said, banging on her closed room door.

"I'll be there in a bit, just finishing up!" She said scrambling for her jacket and backpack.

"Get a move on girl, and tell the brat thanks for the fish~ ...hmm, I think ima take a quick nap before breakfast~" Nobu said as he laid down for a nap.

"You are so lazy!" She said as she found her backpack.

"Excuse me! I am not the one who wakes up twenty five minutes right before we have to get to class even though she knows traffic is horrible!" young voice screamed at her from outside her door.

"I did not mean you, Akihiro! I was talking to Nobu!" Mai yelled, smiling as the negative emotions she had felt from her nightmare disappear with the familiar routine of noise from her new family.

"Oh well, we're still going to be late so hurry up, because I will not get my driver's license taken away for speeding because you were talking with the cat!" Aki yelled as his voice sounded wavered towards the end due to his laughter.

Mai rolled her eyes as she heard his laughs from outside her door, Aki had made it his job in life to get Nobu as riled up as he could in the morning to see how far he could go, knowing full well he would forgive him after he had his breakfast of fish.

"WHAT DID HE CALL ME! I am a creature of mass destruction and power! You should fear me-" Nobu's indignant yells were cut off by Mai as she rushed out her room.

'That never gets old'

'That's another thing that's changed, now I have Aki with me' She thought giggling to herself as she ran to the kitchen to grab a quick snack. Aki was her best friend's boyfriend, but she had actually met him before from when they were children. Her father and his father had been close friends while they were young, they had even worked in her grandfather's team that specialized in exercising or destroying demons. However when her grandfather disowned her dad, they had lost touch.

'Imagine my surprise meeting my old playmate in college, dating my best friend.' Mai thought to herself, still surprised by the coincidences in her life that just kept leading to the supernatural.

She shook her head trying to dispel her thoughts.

"What's eating you?" Aki asked as he set her breakfast in front of her, eggs and bacon, yumm :D

"I can't get away from the supernatural." Mai said befor she crammed the still warm eggs in her mouth, she moaned in happiness. Aki was a great cook so you couldn't blame her for it.

"How so?" Aki said, rolling his eyes at Mai, he loved the girl as a sister very much, he just couldn't get over the fact that the same silly girl in front of her could switch to a cold hearted bitch the second someone hurt her friends.

He still remembered the time when he, Kiyoko, and Mai had been hanging out at a park, it was their usual hang out actually. He had only recently started dating Kiyoko when her ex had shown up and saw her together with him. He had gotten upset at Kiyoko for moving on and making a relationship with Aki.

She had started crying onto Aki's chest, when the guy started insulting her, however they guy's mistake was making her cry in front of Mai. Aki didn't even get a chance to tell the guy off before Mai had walked up to the guy with a smile and knee'd him in his...private parts. She had walked away from the guy without a backwards glance, leaving him writhing on the ground, and tugged Kiyoko along, leaving Aki to follow. Mentally cringing as he looked back to the man on the ground.

Mai had hugged Kiyoko and comforted her when they were far enough away, but that wasn't what chilled Aki to the core. The glare she had sent him, as she looked over Kiyoko's crying form, promised nothing but pain and hell if he ever hurt her. Aki shivered as he remembered her eyes, glad to have never seen them aimed towards him again.

"Dad used to be in gramps hunting team, but well you know what happened. Then years later when I'm struggling to pay rent, I accidently break a camera and am basically forced to work off my loan to the guy that ran SPR. I then start dreaming about the his twin brother, who coincidentally helps me with my undiscovered power and suddenly I'm a magnet for ghosts. Then he finds his dead brother's body and they leave. Soon I hit jackpot with my life after writing ghost stories and move in with moody old grandpa. I meet my best friend in college while majoring in English, who coincidentally is also my literary agent and manager who deals with all the pesky talk show hosts. And imagine my surprise that you're actually dating her and that gramps wants to continue the hunting 'family business'. Then she drags me along with one of your cases and voila I now have a guardian spirit, used to be blood thirsty demon, living in my room on a pink fluffy princess bed." Mai said as she stabbed her bacon with a deadpan expression.

"The world works in mysterious ways Mai" Aki said with a wink as he picked up their plates.

"Now come on we're gonna be late!" He said as he took off in a run, surprising Mai.

"By gramps we'll be home soon! Nobuhiko is in my room if you need him!" Mai yelled as she hurried after him.

'And I have Nobu too' Mai thought smiling as she remembered how the two had met. Nobuhiko was actually her guardian spirit, but originally he had been a rampaging demon. It had barely been a year after she had moved in with her grandpa when her grandfather reformed his old team, Aki being the leader of the group and Kiyoko the helper slash den mother. He and the rest of the team had tried to convince her endless of times before to help them but she had refused. In the end though, she had conceded to at least help out Kiyoko with the electrical equipment, as most of the stuff they were using where things she has set up when she had been with SPR.

'I said I wouldn't be involved but one thing led to another and now I'm part of their team with Nobuhiko at my side. He used to be so scary and untamable. Now look at him, he's just a lazy spirit, it's hard to believe he's still the same demon.'

Mai was on her last year in college having majored in English. She had every intention of becoming a novelist as her main job and the demon hunting business as her side job. She had fallen in love with writing books, she also really didn't want to get stuck with the 'family business' as her grandfather called it. '

One week till graduation, it can't come soon enough!'

"I'm driving!" Screamed Akihiko as he grabbed the car keys, threw open the door, and jumped slided over the hood of the car to get to the driver side.

"Yeah, yeah just don't kill us. We're too close to graduating, to just die." She said as she walked to the passenger side at a much more normal pace.

"Speaking of graduating, is there anything you want as a present? Cuz I have to say I absolutely love the watch you gave me."Aki said as he hugged the technology attached to his wrist.

"Hmm make Nobu wear a pink tutu with a matching bow to my graduation, and we'll call it even." Mai said with a slight smile.

"You realise he's going to tear my intestines out right?" Aki said, as they stopped at a red light.

"Ask the rest of the team to help, call it practice in incapacitating a dangerous demon" Mai said with a full on smirk.

"You my dear are pure evil... guess that makes sense considering you attracted the damn cat to yourself first place" He said muttered, eyes focused on the road.

Mai who was right next to him, heard it all.

"I did warn you guys~" She said jokingly, looking out the window. 'Soon we'll be passing their street...'

"You did not mention a demon would be attracted to you!"

"I said I attract the supernatural, and I do believe demons are considered, supernatural. Also he's attracted to my powers, don't make it sound weird" Mai muttered jokingly as she stared out the window, internally battling with herself.

Aki's face turned red as he realized what he had accidentally hinted at "YOU-"

"I dreamt of them again!"She blurted out, having come to a decision.

"Oh" Aki said, face turning to a normal shade, his fake anger leaving quickly.

"I relived mom's funeral which is pretty normal considering her anniversary is almost here but then it changed to when they left. After I woke up... I keep expecting to see them. It's been five years! I don't know why I feel like they're just going to show up again, they never did during those years! Why would show up now?"

"They left when it was close to your mom's death and it left more of a bad memory on that day, it's to be expected that you'd associate the two events." Aki said as he pulled into a parking space.

"I didn't dream of them all the other years..." Mai said pouting, seeing the point to Aki's reasoning.

"You're graduating in a few days, you're first book's already in stores and it's a big hit! But with your publisher pressuring you on the script for the next one, the stress probably just made you dream of them. On that note, I don't think I've congratulated you on your first book yet, so Miss -ah what was it- So Miss Yellow Valley, how does it feel to have published your first book already? Barely graduating from college and already an inspiring author who chills her readers to their core with her cold words!" Aki said jokingly, holding his fist near her mouth as if he were a talk show host.

"That is the worst pun I have ever heard from you yet, please never say it again." Mai said as she laughed pushing him away.

"You wound me my dear." He said as he fake stabbed his heart and pretended to cry.

"Come on class is about to start!" She said as she laughed, grabbing Aki by his arm and pulling him towards their class.

Memory of her nightmare and thoughts of her old team out of her mind.

Yes my darlings I have started writing again, just know with my college life will be taking front row seats in my to do work BUUT! I will still continue writing these stories, I will try to dish out at least a chapter per month. Remember my pretties, comments and reviews always make me write faster because they give me inspiratation so with that, bye bye!