A/N Sorry for the wait! Here is the next chapter of Haunting Memories. I'm just going to get right to the story. One because I think you readers might just want to get to the story, and two… I can't think of anything else to write. Haha. One last thing. I would like to thank Sara Moon for proof reading it! Thank you so much: D
Disclaimer:I don't own Ghost Hunt and I never will. So consider yourselves lucky. :)
Chapter 11: The Mysterious Glowing Ball
Mai, Naru, and John
Mai continuously looked around her as they were walking to the front of the yard for any thing out of place or different from what she remembered it to be like. Aside from new plants and trees nothing seemed to be disarranged. Mai continued to look though as they made there way towards the front the yard.
"Naru, there doesn't seem to be anything strange, well from what I can remember." Mai said as she turned to look back at her boss to see him looking through the file once again.
'I wonder how many times he's read through that… one, two, three… too many times to count.' Mai thought sweat dropping.
"Excuse me did you say something?" Naru asked smirking as he looked up from the file to stare straight at the now fuming Mai. He turned around and began to walk away from both Mai and John to continue to the front of the house.
"Stupid… good-looking… narcissistic… jerk!" Mai mumbled holding up a fist.
"What?" Naru asked turning around to stare at her accusingly.
"Nothing!" she said innocently running to catch up with him.
"Hey, guys wait up!" John called running to try and keep up with the boss and his assistant.
Ayako and Masako
Masako and Ayako were walking around the opposite side of the house of that which Naru, Mai, and John were at.
"Masako do you sense anything?" Ayako asked as she looked around for anything that might seem out of place. Masako turned around to face the miko, then closed her eyes and turned the other way, then back. She opened her eyes then answered.
"Yes I do, though it is very faint. There seems to be quite a few spirits around here actually. They don't feel very violent, but it is a bit hard to tell, it's almost as if they were sleeping." she said brining her sleeve to her mouth in thought. They both stopped walking and tried to think of something that might help them obtain more clues.
"Could it be possible that they're trying to mask their presence?" Ayako questioned. She turned to face the medium to see her slowly shaking her head.
"It is possible, but they would have to be very strong to be able to do that. These spirits seem to be quite low in strength." Masako replied.
"How are you so sure…? What if it's a strong spirit that's just masking part of its presence to try and trick us." Ayako stated looking at Masako to see her glaring at her.
"Once again it is possible, but I doubt it. Also, I don't believe I am wrong, unlike you who hasn't done anything correct or successful more than once." Masako answered coldly. She turned around brining her sleeve up to her mouth once again but this time to hide her smirk.
Ayako turned a bright red from anger, but then turned to a much darker red when she saw the young girl smirk.
"What ever! Let's just continue looking!" Ayako stated loudly, turning fast on her heels marching away from the medium.
"I agree." Masako replied following the now… slightly calm miko.
Bou-san
Bou-san was currently walking to the children's play area which was, according to Misaki, to the far side of the house.
"Stupid, annoying, arrogant, know it all!" Bou-san continued mumbling to him self.
'Once again I'm stuck with questioning all the kids! Sure I love kids, but what I don't love is questioning six year olds about spirits and ghosts. I don't really think they know much about them other than the ones that go 'boo' on Halloween. Also, there are so many of them!' he complained.
"Yep, Naru does officially hate me that much." Bou-san said sighing as he looked towards the ground.
About a minuet later the sound of laughter filled the air. Bou-san looked up to see a play ground filled with children. There were children hanging from the swing set, some were playing in a large brightly colored wood sand box, and others were just running all over the place enjoying themselves.
Bou-san sighed as he saw the large number of children.
'Naru is definitely going to pay for this!' he shouted to himself.
After a few quick seconds he began walking towards the energetic group of children.
"Well here I go." he said unenthusiastically.
Mai, Naru, and John
John and Mai were currently searching around the yard, while Naru was standing on the porch in the front taking notes.
'Can't he help?' Mai whined as she looked around a large rose bush.
"Ouch!" Mai shrieked. She brought her bleeding index finger into her mouth, "I've got to be more carefull."
"You think." Naru stated giving her a smirk and a raised eyebrow, "I guess I was wrong about that good memory of yours."
"Why you…" Mai started twitching but was interrupted.
"Shut up and get back to work." Naru said as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small bandage. He placed it in her hand and walked back to his previous spot.
"Huh?" Mai questioned dumbly as she looked from Naru to the bandage in her hand. A blush soon began forming over her cheeks. After a few moments she shook it off, removed her finger from her mouth, and placed the bandage over the small cut.
"Thank you!" she called to Naru who only nodded in reply. 'Well at least he replied… somewhat.' she though as she got back to work.
She kneeled down to try and get a better view of the lower part of the bush. A rustling noise reached Mai's ears. She looked up when she heard the noise again but this time it was accompanied by a light screech. Mai strained her ears to hear the noise again. When she couldn't find the sound she stood up and walked towards a bunch of tall oak trees, the location where she believed the noise had come from. When she stepped into the trees she saw a strange glowing ball-like figure.
'Wha… what is that?' Mai thought as she stared confused at the glowing ball.
The ball began to move deeper into the trees. Mai, not knowing what else to do, began to follow it.
Naru looked up from his clip board to see Mai staring into a bunch of trees. He stood up as he saw her walking deeper into the trees.
"Brown-san!" Naru called to John as he began to walk after Mai. John looked up from his place behind a bolder to see Naru waking towards a bunch of trees that Mai was by before. From his current position he could only see Mai's bright purple shirt as it traveled deeper into the forest. He got up and ran to catch up with Naru who was jogging after Mai who seemed to be travelling in a slight sprint.
Mai looked around trying to spot the ball that she had lost sight of in the trees. She ignored Naru and John's calls as she continued to search franticly for the glowing ball. A bright light suddenly clouded Mai's vision.
"Mai!" Naru called after her as he sprinted to try and catch up to her. John and Naru continued to call after her but their attempts were fruitless. Naru called after her when he saw her slow down to a stop while looking around.
"Mai! Why were you running? Did you see something?" John called running after Naru to catch up to her. Mai turned around and John and Naru were a bit taken aback by what they saw. Mai's eyes were dark, distant, and emotionless. Her facial expression was no different. She turned back to the front and began to take off again, first in a jog that soon turned into a fast run.
'Who knew Mai was this fast, but this isn't good. John and I don't know the yard well enough so if we lose her...there is no telling when she'll come back.' Naru thought as he started to run faster. Behind him John was running as fast as he could just to stay at least six feet behind Naru.
'Those two should really think about trying out for a track team.' thought John, as he tried to speed up. He was panting hard and thought he would collapse at any moment, but thankfully for him it looked like Mai was starting to slow down.
Naru saw Mai beginning to slow down. She passed through a huge rose bush not stopping to worry about the thorns. Naru covered his face with his arms as he ran through the rose bush. On the other side of the rose bush was a small clearing, it was surrounded with beautiful blooming flowers. There was a single medium sized well in the middle of the clearing. Naru didn't like that fact that Mai was climbing up the side of the well.
John gasped when he made it through the rosebush to see Mai standing on the edge of the well looking straight down it looking as if she were in a trance.
"Mai!!" both Naru and John called, their voices filled with worry.
"Mai!!" they both shouted again this time even louder. Mai's head swung up and she spun around to see Naru and John covered in cuts and sweat. They were panting and trying to catch their breath. Mai's heel slipped on the edge of the well and a scream filled the air. Naru and John's head snapped up with eyes wide. They raced towards the edge of the well to grab Mai's hands just as she lost her grip.
"Naru, John… help me." Mai squeaked in fear as she looked down only to swing her head back up, tearing her eyes from the sight of the seemingly never ending dark path down.
"Don't worry Mai." John said in breaths as both he and Naru struggled to lift Mai out of the well. Once Mai was out, she sank to the ground and let the shock die down.
John sank down beside her and Naru kneeled down on her other side. Both boys were gasping for air and trying to get over the shock of the event.
"What, what happened? Where are we, how did we get here." Mai asked looking at Naru. She saw Naru trying to get enough air in his system to answer.
"Shouldn't we be asking you that? You were the one taking off running in the first place." Naru said looking at her demanding an answer.
"I don't know...the last thing I remember is you giving me the bandage." she answered brining her hand to her forehead to wipe off the sweat that was cascading down her face. She brought her hand up only to pull back in pain as she looked at her palm to see splotches of thick red liquid.
"Come on we have to get back to the house so we can take care of our wounds." Naru said extending a hand down to Mai. She reached out and took his hand and was brought up form her place on the ground. Naru waited for her to steady her self before releasing her hand. He waited for John to get up before walking towards the side of the rosebush to save him from gaining more cuts.
John and Mai struggled to build up enough speed to catch up with Naru.
'What happened after Naru gave me the bandage? Why can't I remember?'Mai thought worryingly.
The trio continued to walk the same path they had taken before to make it out of the forest.
Ayako and Masako (Before Mai ran off)
Masako looked up suddenly. She closed her eyes and concentrated. Ayako spotted her and stood up from her squatting position. Masako opened her eyes and turned to face the confused miko.
"I sense something. It's not a very large presence but it has a vicious aura," Masako said brining her sleeve to her side. She waited to see the miko's reaction.
"Really…! Where," Ayako asked anxiously. She saw Masako raise her arm and point towards the front of the house and off to the left side at the top. Ayako saw many trees indicating it was a forest. "Let's go, this might be a big clue. Or it might at least be some clue considering we have… like nothing," she shouted towards the medium frustrated. She took off toward the forest with Masako close behind.
"This is going to take awhile! This building is huge an- Ouch! Oh no, I just broke a heel!" Ayako shouted as she stopped to examine her boot. She picked up the heel and was trying to jam it back on. Her actions were obviously unsuccessful.
"Ayako come on! Get up. We have to go! We'll be lucky if we get there in 15 minuets at least! It might even be more considering we are all the way in the back, and on the opposite side of the spirit's location!" Masako told Ayako, who was still on the floor with her shoe. "Come on! We might take even longer again because of your boot!" she shouted grabbing Ayako by the arm to try and pull her up. Unfortunately Ayako wouldn't budge.
An invisible light bulb suddenly appeared over the young medium's head. The light bulb turned on and Masako smirked as she reached into her purse and pulled out her dark purple, expensive cell phone. She pushed a few buttons and held up the phone towards the miko, she held it there for a short minuet, then brought it back to her and pushed another few buttons. She smirked in satisfaction.
"Ayako get up or I'm sending this video to Bou-san!" Masako said firmly still smirking. Ayako turned up in curiosity. Masako pushed a button on her phone and the word 'replay' appeared on the screen. A video of Ayako crying while hugging her shoe began playing and went on like that for a bit longer. Ayako went bright red in embarrassment.
"No, give it, please! Erase it please! You can't let him see that. I'll be teased for the rest of my life!" Ayako pleaded on her knees.
"I'm not erasing it. But I also won't show him," Hearing that made Ayako sigh with relief. "…yet." Masako finished as she pressed the save button then snapped her phone shut and placed it back in her purse. Hearing that made Ayako worry even more.
"Bu… But why!" She began but was cut off.
"Wait. If you get off the ground and focus on the case and not on your shoes or anything else then Bou-san will never see this. But if you continue to act childish like this, he will see it very, very soon." Masako stated. As soon as she finished Ayako jumped up from the ground, dusted her self off, and put the heel in her purse.
"Let's go." Ayako said walking -well limping a bit- towards the forest once again.
'Yeah, why didn't I think of that?' Masako said sighing, annoyance written all over her face. She turned around and began walking towards the miko who was already about twenty feet in front of her.
"Masako hurry up, the way we're going we'll never get there!" Ayako called back to Masako. She swore she could have seen steam erupting from the red girl's face.
'… Uh oh.' Thought the miko when she saw how mad the medium was at her. "Maybe I should have waited for her…" Ayako said aloud.
"You think!" Masako said in a tone that made Ayako want to crawl under a rock. But she of course would never do that, it's too dirty.
"Heh, Heh… sorry about that." Ayako said scratching her head. Masako twitched, and then stuck her leg out a bit in front of the miko.
"Ahh!" Ayako shouted as she tripped over the mediums leg. She growled as she hit the ground.
"Hurry up. We've already wasted too much time." Masako giggled as she continued walking.
"Whatever, princess." Ayako said as she spit out some grass that had gotten into her mouth when she had collided with the ground.
Bou-san
He reached the children in no less than one minuet. He sighed one last time before walking over to the first child who was smiling as she glided through the air on the swing.
"Hi. I'm Bou-san and I'm with the investigation crew. Do you think you can help me out a bit?" he asked kindly. He smiled brightly at the young girl who looked to be about six or seven. She had beautiful dark purple eyes and long raven colored hair with two apple red clips holding her bangs away from her eyes.
"Sure. I'll help you." She answered with a large warm smile. She slowed down her swing to a stop and got off. She quickly brushed out the wrinkles on her cute white dress that stopped just above her knees.
Bou-san squatted down so that he could be at the same level as the girl. He scratched his head as he tried to think of what to say.
"Well how about we go and sit down on that bench over there so you don't have to stand the entire time." Bou-san asked as he pointed to the medium sized, polished wooden bench.
She nodded giving him another smile. They both walked over to the bench and sat down. The girl turned towards Bou-san and waited patiently for him to ask her the first question.
"Well I heard from a few other kids that most of the… ghosts were active on the very top floor. Is that true?" Bou-san asked. The girl brought her hand up to her chin and thought about what she had heard.
"Yes I have heard that many times. I believe that the spirits have also been active a few times around the yard though. If I remember correctly some of the other kids claimed to have seen a glowing ball I think. I don't believe they have ever told Misaki-san though." She answered looking up at Bou-san with a cute expression.
Bou-san was shocked at her vocabulary. 'Wow, she is one smart kid, maybe this won't be a waste of time after all.' He thought with a smile.
"Have you ever seen any of the spirits?" He asked again. He saw her shake her head, her raven hair blowing from the breeze that came.
"No I haven't. I've only heard these rumors but I do believe they are true. The one with the glowing ball hasn't been said much though, I think because some kids have gone looking for it and they don't want Misaki-san to know. I want to tell her but then the kids might be madder at me…" she replied frowning sadly.
Bou-san frowned when he saw her sad expression. He didn't believe that an expression like that should be present on her face.
"Why would they be mad at you?" He asked curiously. She turned to him and gave him a smile to show she was glad he cared.
"Well I was taught by my parents to always tell the truth and tell what needed to be told. So when some kids do something bad, for example play ball in the house or tag, and knock something over I tell Misaki-san, and the kids get mad at me for tattling. But I do respect my parent's wishes and I always tell her, but I'm confused as to what to do about the glowing ball information…what do you think I should do?" She asked looking up to him with hope in her eyes.
"Well I think you should ignore what the others say because you are a wonderful, bright girl. I also believe you should tell Misaki-san about the glowing ball. I believe that because one, you believe it's the right thing to do, and two because some kids might get hurt if they continue to follow it. If you want to tell Misaki-san, I'll come with you if you want."
The girl's eyes twinkled as her smile widened
"Thank you so much, I will tell her and I would love it if you came with me." She said happily. He returned the smile then put his hand tohis chin as he got an idea.
"Humm, since I'm coming with you, how would you like to come with me to ask the rest of the kids if they know anything?" Bou-san asked her holding out his hand when he stood up.
"I'd love to!" she answered beaming. She took his hand as she hopped off the bench.
"Let's go…,uhh, sorry I forgot to ask your name." he said laughing and scratching the back of his neck.
"Oh yes! My name is Mayu." She said smiling brightly while pointing to herself proudly.
"Well it's nice to be working with you Mayu. Now, let's get to work." He said marching forward Mayu following.
"Yeah!" she shouted.
A/N There it is! The eleventh chapter! Pretty plain title but i couldn't think of anything else. I hope you all liked it. Plus I wanted to have sort of a happy ending to the chapter so I welcome Mayu! Plus I needed to add something with Bou-san and he is funny so Bou-san, plus Questioning children, equals good ending. See? Haha. Well I'll try to update soon, but I make no promises:)