A/N: Last time I checked, I do not own Ghost Hunt. I haven't reached that level of awesomeness just yet.

Chapter Seven

They would have reached their destination by now, but the rain came harder than before once they reached the park, so Noll found himself finding shelter under a tree from the rain. He stayed there, squatting, with Mai also following his position beside him. They together watched as the big and fat raindrops fall heavily to the ground, ending with a tiny splash until another raindrop comes.

Noll told Mai that once the rain slows down a bit, they could make a run for it to his house, then they can stay warm and dry up. And she was fine with that idea.

They stayed silent while waiting, but a few minutes later, Noll saw Mai's eyes slowly closing, her head lolling to the side. It didn't even take long for her to submit herself to the clutches of sleep, and when she finally did, her head lolled to his direction and landed safely on his shoulders.

Noll stiffened at this, but she had a contented smile, as if feeling comfortable. The direct contact surprised Noll even if she's unconscious, but weird as it is, made him feel happy, too—which is odd enough. He despised having contact with anyone at all. So why does he feel all warm inside? A smile was trying to force its way up on his lips—but he restrained himself. No smiling now.

He closed his eyes and sighed.

"Idiot," he muttered before he gently held Mai's body and moved it to the trunk of the tree beside them, making her lie down on it.

Making sure she's comfortable by hearing her give a sigh of contentment, he then sat on his knees and watched the brunette's chest rise and fall in a slow pace. He brushed some wet strands away from his eyes as he decided to sit in front of her, on his knees.

"With her out cold," he muttered to himself softly, "we won't be home for a while."

Noooooooll!

His eyes closed as he heard Gene calling out his name in his head, Yes?

You traitor! You said you'd wait for me outside the restrooms, but that big head of yours seem to only understand complicated instructions than simple ones. How could you leave me behind?!

I followed Mai, he simply said, to which Gene stopped complaining about his betrayal.

Ahh, Noll could hear Gene's teasing tone. So my idiot of a brother chose to spend time with a girl than me? I should be mad, but I think I'm proud of you instead. Good job for finally melting that ice-cold heart of yours, Noll! Am I finally gonna be an uncle?

Noll ignored what he said and went straight to the point.

Mai was planning to go back to the Izumi House.

Gene was silent for a while, but then spoke up, Well, I could see why you left me now.

But with this weather, I think she wouldn't be going to that house for now.

Yeah, Gene said. Woohoo, weather!

I suggest that we watch over her from now on to make sure this airhead doesn't make any grand ideas to waltz over to that place ever again.

Yeah, both of us will have to do it.

With that said, Noll told him that their current location is in the park, so he can just meet them here so that they can guide Mai to their house to wait for the rain to stop.

Don't take too long, Noll reminded his brother. Gene laughed.

Yeah, yeah. Whatever you say, mom. Don't go running off with your fiance without me!

Then Gene was gone.

Noll rolled his eyes at this and then moved to the spot near Mai to sit right beside her. Upon closer look at her, he could see that Mai's hair was just sticking all over her face, making her look quite messy.

The corner of his lip tugged up for a second as he went to work to fixing her hair and placing the strands of hair away from her face. She giggled a bit since the feeling of the tips of his fingers on her face was probably ticklish for her. He finished off with tucking the last strands of hair behind her ear, which in response, he could hear her hum a bit before sleeping peacefully.

"Idiot," was what he said before leaning back his head on the tree, watching the leaves being battered by the tiny raindrops.

In her dream, Mai was floating in an endless void of darkness, with what looks like some dots of lights floating here and there at times. But her surroundings changed when Mai heard a baby's cry in her mind. The darkness melted away and colors started to fade in, but all she could see was the burning colors of red and orange. Mai looked around her, and she could guess she's in a house that was on fire, as most parts are already engulfed in flames.

The baby's cry was heard by the girl once again, and she found herself running to wherever the baby was.

Is this a dream? Mai pondered at this and wondered what kind of dream was this.

The baby's cry was near now, I'm coming!

She finally reached the room and saw a baby boy wailing in his wraps of blankets. Beside the baby, under the pile of broken wood that must've fallen from the ceiling, there was a woman in her fourties—not moving. She didn't look like she was breathing either.

Mai's hands flew up to her mouth, tears starting to cloud her vision a bit. But she didn't have enough time to mourn since the baby started crying again, reminding Mai's initial plan to rescue the baby. She went over to the baby.

"Shh, it's alright now. I-I'm here now—" just as she was about to scoop the baby into her arms, the baby burst into flames, which Mai immediately raised her arms to cover her face.

"AH!"

Fire kept on burning crazily in front of her, and vanished a few seconds later. When Mai dropped down her hands, she saw that both the baby and the woman disappeared, without a trace. As if they weren't there all this time.

"Eh? What...?" She whispered.

"The family wants you."

She looked back, and saw someone in the midst of the fire. It's the boy from her dreams, literally—Shin.

"It's you!" Mai gasped. She turned to where the baby was seconds ago, then turned back to him with a sad look. "Was that your baby brother? Ikkun?"

The boy flinched. Pain was evident to his eyes, but it was quickly diminished and a grim look replaced it.

"There's no escaping now. I tried to stop my family, but their full attention is on you now. I'm sorry."

The fire roared louder than before and the flames around them were coming closer now.

"But," Mai said. "Isn't there a way to end it?"

Flames danced furiously behind Shin, but it seems to not affect him at all. Is he fire-proof?

"The only way for this to end is when they capture you."

More of the building was falling apart and started to cave in, some of the wood nearly missing her.

"I'm sorry," Shin whispered. Mai was trying to avoid the fire that was coming even closer to her from her right side.

"What... What should I do now?"

Fire here. Fire there. Fire wherever she looks. She can't even see what's beyond the walls of the blazing inferno.

Shin smiled, but no happiness was behind it—just sadness.

There's no escape—no escape now in her prison of fire—nowhere to run anymore. She watched as the fire came for her. Mai squeezed her eyes shut, not wanting to see the terror.

Can people die in dreams? She doesn't want to find out.

"I can only tell you one thing..." She heard Shin's voice loud and clear, despite the sounds of the fire crackling.

The dream only ended when she heard Shin's answer—

"Pray for a miracle."

When Noll woke up, the place was getting a bit dark as the night was coming closer. The rain must have slowed down a bit during the midst of his slumber since there wasn't too much raindrops falling from the sky anymore. But asides from the fact that the rain was not that strong now, there's one thing that he noticed was missing—

"Mai?"

—and that would be a certain girl.

Noll looked at the spot he remembered he last saw her in before he fell asleep, but didn't see her beside him. He got up and tried finding the girl, making sure he doesn't panic too. (Like he said before, the Oliver Davis does not panic.)

It didn't take too long for him to find her, though. He saw her by the sandbox, crouching down on her knees and speaking to something. Since it's still raining—but just a drizzle—her uniform was getting soaked from the rain. But even as she was taking some shower under the drizzling rain, that didn't stop her from doing whatever she's doing by the sandbox. All he could see was her back facing to him.

He approached her soundlessly, drawing nearer to her and finally seeing what she was talking to. From what he saw, it seems there was a kitten right in front of her, also soaked from the rain. Mai was stroking the kitten's back, making the kitten purr in pleasure.

He bent down quietly so that his lips is near her ear.

"Aren't you going to have a fever this way?"

Mai jumped in surprise, spun around to him with wide eyes. But when she saw that it was just him, she sighed.

"Naru! Don't go sneaking up to people like that! I swear you'd make a good ninja if you weren't busy scaring innocent people around."

He raised an eyebrow at her. "I didn't even intend to scare you. You scared yourself instead. I merely just walked up to you and talked to you."

"Yeah, but you were so silent!"

"Not really. At least I'm not such a loudmouth like you."

"Ah, shut up!" Mai huffed and went back to petting the kitten. Her wet hair sticking to her face like tendrils.

"At this rate, the longer you stay under the rain, the more you'll lose whatever braincells you have left through a fever."

Mai's head turned back to him once more, a pout forming on her face. "Hey!"

"But I guess there probably isn't any hope of saving those braincells anymore."

She groaned and turned away from him, to which he didn't expect. He was actually expecting her to retaliate for what he said, but her reaction was that of ignoring him already.

He looked closely at her and saw details he never saw before—she was chewing on her lower lip, as if anxious. Her fingers, even if they were busy petting the kitty, were trembling. And her eyes—they were focused on the kitty, but it's obvious to him that her thoughts are directed somewhere else in her mind instead.

In other words, she seems nervous of something.

Noll let some silence pass between them for a second before he crouched down beside her.

"Is there something wrong, Mai?"

Mai, for a while, hesitated. "...No?"

He sighed a bit. "You're a bad liar."

Mai pouted again. "No..."

Noll thought of it for a while. Then an idea came up in his head. "Was it about the Izumi House in any way?"

Mai silent.

"Mai," Noll prompted.

"Yes," Mai admitted defeat. "It was a dream. But it felt so real though! Probably just a dream, maybe. It was about someone telling me that I'm in danger."

"That part of you being in danger is quite obvious already," he said.

"And Naru," her voice tinged with worry. Worry? "The boy in my dream said something about the family saying something."

Noll leaned a bit closer to her. "What was it?"

Her eyes turned to him, and he could see the anxiousness hidden in those eyes.

"They said... they said that they want me to join the family."

The howl of the wind followed after that. The rain stopped as well. Everything then was still for a second.

Mai flinched a bit when the kitten started mewling and tried to quickly escape from her grasp.

"Kitty!"

Mai tried to catch the kitten but it was gone already. Noll got up on his feet immediately when something caught his eyes.

He grabbed Mai's wrist and pulled her towards the bushes.

"What is it?" Mai asked. Avoiding from eating the leaves.

He pointed at the figure he saw. Mai followed with her eyes the direction his finger was pointing at and gasped softly.

There at the entrance of the park was a girl. She would have looked like a normal girl just passing by on first glance, but when looked at closely, it will then be obvious to see that her form is translucent, as if looking through tinted glass. Her hair was in disarray, making it look like she hasn't brushed it for years. Her clothes looked burned at some areas, soot was also smothered all over her dress. There were some bruises shown on her skin, as if beaten up at times. There were even bruises on her wrists, making it seem like she'd been bound by a rope just recently.

She started walking around, slowly, in the park.

"The family wants you... The family wants you..."

Mai gasped to which he had to bring out his hand to cover her mouth.

Both of them watched as the girl checked the west side of the park, looking at the slide and the swings. Her dark but blank eyes scanning for every area she can see, looking for someone—it doesn't take much to figure out that the girl was probably looking for Mai.

That trouble magnet. Always getting into trouble ever since every ghost in the Izumi House found out of her existence.

The park is designed to have a fence built to surround it, so there was no other way to escape. If they go back from where they came through the forest trail, it will lead them back to the area near their school. So by doing that, if they want to go home they'll have to take the long route to his house. And the problem with that route is that they'll end up passing by the Izumi House.

He glanced over at the entrance. The only exit to the place is the only place you enter the park. If he and Mai could sneak their way to the entrance using the bushes for cover, then they could escape without being noticed.

Noll mouthed the words follow me to Mai, which she nodded in agreement. He started moving with Mai following his lead.

The ghost was still busy checking the west side of the park if Mai was hiding anywhere there, while Noll and Mai were slowly, but carefully, now approaching the east side of the park, hiding behind the bushes and not making a sound.

So far, so good.

Snap!

Noll's head swung around to see Mai, foot on a twig. He mentally cursed himself for not reminding her to be careful of where she's stepping at. Raising up a hand to signal for her to stop and stay still, he glanced over to the ghost. The ghost girl was looking around, trying to find out where the sound was from. But it didn't take too long for her to give up and go back to her searching. He heard Mai softly sigh in relief behind him, and he motioned for her to continue following him.

They finally reached the northwest side of the park and he can now see that they're near to the entrance.

Not too far now...

He reached back to grab Mai's hand and make her stick with him as he can see freedom so near now, his heart stopped beating when his hand reached only air behind him.

His head swung around to see she wasn't there. He looked around frantically and found her sneaking her way to the center of the park—towards the park's fountain where the kitten was.

MAI! Noll scolded her in his mind. He really wished he could shout it out loud with anger at her, but with a ghost on the loose, it'd be just like holding a sign to a hungry lion that says I'm here! Eat me!

He glanced at the ghost girl, who was busy looking at the south part of the park, and without it looking at him, he started his way quietly to the idiot.

The said idiot now grabbed the kitten and scooped it into her arms, like a firefighter saving a baby from the fire.

Stupid cat. Stupid girl. They're making his life hard.

He grabbed Mai's elbow and raised his finger to his lips. Guiding her, he quickly—but soundlessly—dragged Mai to the entrance.

Then the cat mewled.

Both of them stopped. He felt his heart stop.

Stupid cat.

As fast as he could, he pulled down Mai to the nearest place to hide—which is inside the tunnel.

The tunnel was some thing that, for some reason Noll doesn't understand, kids his age love to play in. They find fun through entering from one end to the other. Really, he doesn't see the fun in that. They should exercise their dumb brains with some challenges like algebra or some word problems.

Anyways, back to their incoming death.

The tunnel, fortunately, had some paddings in the inside, so that reduces any sound when Noll and Mai crawled inside. They made sure they're in the center, also making sure that they are far away from either side to avoid being seen. And since the tunnel was designed to have a line of peeping holes on the walls, he made sure neither Mai or him will be shown through the holes.

"Come..."

Mai's hand shot up to her mouth, probably to stop a gasp that was about to escape her lips. She started to hug the kitten close to her and make sure her other hand covers the kitten's mouth.

Noll pulled her towards him and placed an arm around her. He did this as he saw from one of the holes a blur of movement coming dangerously near Mai's side of the tunnel.

"Come... Family wants... you..."

The ghost sounded like it was circling the area. Probably won't be long before the ghost will find them in the tunnel. But at least they'll try waiting it out, in hopes for the ghost to never checkout the tunnel and leave.

"Maaaaaaaaai..."

Mai looked up at Noll with panicked eyes, but he once again raised a finger to his lips. She nodded, but she still looks shaken.

"Come... Come... Maaaaaaaaai..."

He can hear his heartbeat in his ears, wanting the ghost to be gone. He hopes that darn cat doesn't make another sound.

Seconds passed. Minutes passed. Maybe even an hour? Who knows. But whatever amount of time has passed, the ghost just circled around the tunnel, as if toying with them, maybe.

The place was getting dark now, and it was completely night. And once it was night, it was silent, but Noll swore he could still see a flash of white moving from the outside.

Was it safe to go out? Maybe yes, maybe not. That ghost girl might still be out there.

Seconds, minutes, an hour. They stayed there for too long, but they haven't seen that flash of white for a while now.

Mai risked it and peeped through the hole. He did it too and didn't see anything. Noll sighed. Mai turned to him and sighed in relief as well.

"I think it's gone now," Mai said.

Then a flash appeared at one end of the tunnel.

A/N: And here's the update!

I planned to post it today since my birthday is near and I know I'll be busy by then. And to make this update special, it's a bit longer than what I planned it to be ;) (though it's kinda rushed because the time I made this was in the middle of the night and I'm just too sleepyyyy. But I'll probably improve this to maybe be better when the story is complete and decide to edit the whole thing.)

Thanks pennYnnep for the comment! And thanks for such loyalty since whatever you say gives me confidence to go on with the story no matter how hard my days have been :)

Thanks End-Theory-Confirmed for your comment! I'm glad my story have been entertaining you enough so far. It brings a (goofy) smile to my face everytime I read your comment (wow I sound like a creepo) I also hope you're feeling better now! ^^

Thanks MikuHarukaSango for your comment! (Err I mean comments) And yessssshhhh, I guess Naru holding Mai's hand is so cute too :3

Now I'm feeling sleepyyyyyyyy (Must. Rest...!)

Until next time~