Disclaimer: Sadly I don't own any of the characters or Ghost Hunt itself.
CHAPTER 3
Four hours later, Mai stood, exhausted and sweating, by the side of the grave, carrying a shovel. The ground had been filled in with rocks, and it had only been by Takigawa's mainly useless efforts and Lin's surprising strength- and ability to pick up boulders twice his size- that they had actually managed to reach the coffin in the end.
"Let's see," Takigawa said, jumping into the grave and beginning to prise the coffin open.
"Those things are nailed down," Ayako said, inspecting her now very dirty nails. "You won't be able to-"
A cracking sound of wood stopped her. Takigawa peered inside the coffin, the lid in his hand.
"It's been opened," he said. "And the grave was probably filled with rocks on purpose."
"How do you know?" Mai asked.
"The skull's missing," he replied.
Naru thought for a moment before turning to the woman. "Do you know of anyone who would have done this? Who hated your father?"
The woman looked at the floor. "There are many. He wasn't known for his kindness. But it was probably the children, from the town nearby- he hated them, and vice versa."
"Where would they have hidden it?" Ayako said. "The skull, I mean."
"Somewhere in the house," Naru replied. "The spirit still resides here; therefore it wants someone to find it here."
"The tombs.." the woman said. "They're the only place that can be accessed from outside the house. It's got to be there."
"Tombs?" Takigawa's voice drifted up. "There are tombs underneath this place?"
"Yes," the woman replied, motioning for people to follow her and pulling up a trapdoor. "All our ancestors were buried in there. No-one goes down there nowadays- the roof's a bit damp down there and we're worried it'll collapse."
"Thrilling," Ayako muttered.
Lin descended down the thin iron ladder first. Naru leaned over.
"It's safe?"
"Yes," Lin's voice came.
"So he does speak?" John asked the rest of them quietly.
The group all climbed down into a dark tunnel.
"Can someone help me out of this grave?" Takigawa yelled. Everyone ignored him.
"Masako? Can you feel anything?"
Masako nodded at Ayako. "Down there. It's where the spirits are strongest."
She pointed down a tunnel on the left. Ayako shrugged and began to walk down it.
"Anyone got a torch?" she yelled. Lin nodded and, as if out of nowhere, pulled a torch and shone it down the tunnel.
"Creepy," John said, following Ayako.
"This place smells," Ayako complained. "How far in would these kids have gone?"
"Split up," Naru said. "It'll be quicker that way. Masako, take the tunnel to the right. John, go down that one, Ayako down there. Lin and I'll take this one. Mai...you go down the one to the right. If you don't find anything then get straight out."
"You mean if we don't find it the case is closed?" Ayako asked, surprised.
"We've solved the problem. The family can fix it." Naru said coldly.
The group split up. Mai peered down her tunnel, trying to see what was down there. Lin and Naru had taken the only torch with them.
"Damn," she muttered as she hit a wall. It was oddly slimy.
"Ugh." She progressed a little further, wondering why in all the cases Naru had ever taken her along on, she ended up in a dark place...alone. Or not.
Mai twisted as an odd sound came from behind her.
"Hello?" she asked, trying not to start screaming. There was no further sound. Mai turned and started walking again, wondering if it had just been a rat. There was another scraping behind her.
"Bou-san? Is that you?"
A burst of light filled the tunnel. Mai jumped backwards, banging her arm hard against the wall.
"Who were you talking to?" Mai recognised Naru's voice. She relaxed, her heart still beating a little faster than normal.
"I thought I heard something..." she said, twisting to look at the wall behind her. There was nothing there.
"Save your attention for the task at hand," Naru said coldly. "I don't pay you to imagine things."
Mai clenched her hands into fists, anger overcoming the fluttering sensation in her stomach as Naru turned away.
"Bastard," she muttered, just loud enough for him to hear. Naru paused for a moment before walking on.
Mai turned back towards the wall as the light faded, face flushed. Why did she feel so flustered whenever Naru was around? Especially when it was so obvious that he didn't return them. You wish he did, a voice in Mai's head said, as she slumped to the ground, head in hands. Sometimes, when she was talking, or laughing with John or Takigawa, she caught sight of Naru, gazing at her, the faintest hint of a smile on his lips, and she grew hopeful once again- only to be shot down by one of his cold, heartless comments.
Further up the tunnel, Naru stopped once again. He'd been mean to Mai again, even though it made him hate himself. Sometimes, when he saw her staring, with happiness in her eyes, at Takigawa, or John- even Lin, when the man thanked her politely for the tea she brought him, part of his soul yearned to see that happiness directed at him.
Of course, the sensible business side of him threw these emotions aside. Naru was ambitious, and feelings for a girl as irresponsible and troublesome as Mai would just get in the way. He kept telling himself they would pass, that soon she would just be his ditzy, smiling assistant again.
Only they never did, and she never was. She was never just anything.
Isn't it time you made yourself happy? Gene's voice echoed in his head. You spend your life fixing things for other people, and you have no-one to do the same for you. Isn't it time you did something for yourself?
Naru thought for a minute, eyes fixed on the floor. Decisively, he turned back, taking only a few steps down the tunnel before twisting round again. He shook his head. Hearing the voice of his dead brother, and now being unsure about something? He was losing his touch.
Stick to the plan, Naru, he told himself. He'd got his entire future mapped out, and now was not the time to be changing it. Stick to the plan.
Eventually, Mai stood up, wiping the mud off the back of her skirt and jumper. The skull obviously wasn't there, and she had already heard four sets of feet climbling up the ladder- probably Masako, John, Ayako and Naru. Lin would be staying behind to photograph the tunnels with the new camera Naru had ordered, which presumably showed spirits as it did humans. She hadn't seen the evidence of it actually working, but she'd seen the bill.
A low rumbling noise caught her attention. She spun round.
"Takigawa, if that's you, it's not funny!" she snapped. "Or Naru, if this is some stupid joke you and Masako have cooked up to make me look stupid-"
She stopped as a trickle of dust and soil hit her head and fell down her cheek. She looked upwards, to see a crack breaching across the ceiling.
"Oh no."
Naru had been standing, stuck, in that position for a good ten minutes, when he heard Mai cry something incomprehensible from further down the tunnel.
Immediately, he dropped the torch, running as fast as he could towards the source of the sound. He knew what was happening before he could see the chunks of rock and mud crashing around him. As he turned a corner, he could see Mai, pressing herself against a wall with terror in her eyes, trying to avoid the cave-in.
"The tombs are collapsing!" Mai screamed.
"Mai, move!" he yelled as she turned to face him, eyes frozen with fear.
She didn't budge. A lump of solidified mud struck Naru heavily on the back of the head, knocking him off his feet and forward. He crashed into Mai, who fell backwards with Naru on top of her, under a heap of rubble collapsing. Trying to move, he realised that Mai had been knocked unconscious, and, although there was still time for him to get out, he couldn't leave her. There was no way he would be able to get up the ladder carrying her.
Another rock hit him heavily on the back and he slammed back down onto the floor, half his body covering Mai's limp form.He attempted weakly to move the rocks away from her, and himself, but more kept falling. The back of his head began throbbing heavily as more and more rocks and mud covered he and Mai's bodies, pressed together, his face an inch from hers.
If I weren't about to die, he thought before he blacked out, I'd probably be enjoying this right now...
Couldn't resist the angst, people...sorry!
Review please!!!