Disclaimer: I own nothing Ghost Hunt related except for my insane plots :P

Heh, another idea of mine, hope you enjoy.

PS. If you haven't read my other story, Words Unspoken, please do! I'd appreciate it!

RXR

Chapter 1: Cars and Ketchup

Maybe he was trying to hard. Or maybe he wasn't trying at all.

Currently Naru didn't care either way, all he was engrossed with at the moment was the flustered girl in front of him. She placed a cup of tea on his desk, her brown hair bouncing in the process, and then waited for a long drawn out moment.

Finally with an over-dramatic sigh, she threw her hands in the air and glared at him pointedly.

"Fine, don't thank me." she said before slamming the office door behind her. The sudden noise was enough to knock Naru out of his reverie. He stared at the door for a while before taking a sip of his tea.

Then he sighed.

In the process of trying to ask her something Naru had become so caught up in deciding how to ask her that he'd completely forgotten she was there in the first place, therefore he hadn't thanked her for the tea, not that he ever did. Now she was mad which wasn't what Naru had been going for when he'd thought about asking her what had been on his mind for awhile.

Naru knew that there was something he had come back to Japan for. If it wasn't SPR Naru couldn't say what it was, but when he saw Mai... When he'd asked--demanded--her to come back.... He'd thought....

'Little brother, you are the smartest idiot I've ever met,' a cocky voice echoed in his head.

Naru debated how professional slamming his head on his desk would seem to Mai and then he settled on replying back.

'Gene, if you don't go away I'll exorcise you so bad you'll-'

His office door slammed open and Naru immediately came back in to himself, "Mai, I've told you before, knock," he said icily.

"Naru, we have a client, she's a little-she's...." Mai sounded frantic so Naru sighed and proceeded to walk as calmly, and as quickly, as possible in to the waiting room.

"Ma'am you'll have to make..." Naru began, but he couldn't finish. He planned on being a jerk, forcing the woman out of his office, refusing to listen to her until she made an appointment.

Unfortunately Naru didn't think that was possible. He sighed, now he'd have to be...nice.

The woman who had startled Mai was standing in the doorway covered in blood. She was wearing rags for clothes and they hung off of her, ripped and torn from many seasons of wind and rain. Other than the blood she would have looked like any other grungy, filthy homeless person.

But if she was homeless what business would she have with SPR?

The woman's hair hung out of her hood, blood dripped from the mud-colored strands and stained her 'clothes'. Mai took a step towards her.

"Ms. are you okay? Do you need our help?" Mai began but Naru held her back and stepped in front of her. His face was emotionless so Mai couldn't tell exactly what his thought process was with these actions.

He took a few steps towards the lady and was only feet away when the door to Lin's office flew open. Lin stood in the doorway to his office looking bewildered and very un-Lin-like. "Naru, wait-"

Naru ignored him and drew the hood away from the woman's face so he could see how bad her wound was.

The hood fell away and Naru stared, shocked and angry while Mai could only suffice to shriek.

"Madoka, are you okay!" Mai demanded practically crashing in to her boss in the process of launching herself at the smiling woman.

Madoka grinned through all of the ketchup matted on to her hair and clothes. "Of course Mai I'm fine. Noll, sweetie, I'm using your bathroom to wash up. Oh and by the way I have a favor to ask..."

Naru wished there was some way he could let out his anger on Madoka, without regretting it, but there wasn't, so he let do with Mai.

"Mai, tea!"

*******

Fact 1: Mai was beginning to wonder if Naru was some sort of poltergeist himself. The kind that drinks gallons of tea in seconds and bosses people around instead of terrorizing them.

Fact 2: Mai wondering these sorts of things is why Naru has begun to question her intelligence.

*******

-Three days ago-

The day was sunny and beautiful. Just another day in the life of Mai Taniyama, and she had to work.

She wished, not for the first time, that she didn't have to work at an ice cream store. Where people bought gallons and gallons of the cold, creamy stuff and Mai wasn't allowed a scoop.

Unfortunately she didn't have much a choice....he-Naru-was gone, SPR was gone and she needed money for rent.

She was feet from the entrance to Glen & Berry's Ice Cream Shop when a familiar blue van caught her eye. She stared, dumfounded, for a few moments before she finally blinked and closed her eyes.

No, when she reopened her eyes, the van did not disappear but neither did it move. Her breathing slowed as she realized that no one was in the van.

'Maybe they sold it,' she thought tentatively, 'Yeah, that's what happened, they sold it.'

It made sense when she thought about it. What would Naru do with yet another SPR van in England, he had plenty there.

Feeling more confident than before Mai approached the entrance to the shop and stepped inside.

"Good Morning everyone!" but instead of the cheerful and tired replies of her fellow employees Mai's voice met only silence.

She looked to the left first where the tables and chairs for customers were set out and waiting patiently for the Shop to open. But no one was there.

Then she headed to the back where she usually signed in. Pulling open the thick black door that led to the lockers she unceremoniously crashed in to something very tall and very soft.

"Oh my gosh, I'm sorry I didn't see you-" she began to rant, but then the owner of the tall body turned and her eyes widened. "Lin!"

Lin nodded, per usual he was his quiet self. She was too shocked to form a clear sentence anyway, let lone start a conversation, so for once she was grateful for his muteness.

"What are you...but you...." then Mai looked beyond Lin, in where her personal locker was located. She saw her boss, a short plump man, removing her things from the small space she'd called her own since she'd been let go from SPR. It hadn't been as comfortable as SPR's waiting room and it certainly couldn't hold a candle to her own desk, but it had been something.

Mai felt her eyes begin to itch, a guaranteed sign that she was going to cry, instead she stepped forward, arm outstretched, trying to demand what was going on.

"M-Mr. Glen what's...." she couldn't think or breathe or move. She was standing in the center of the locker room and within reach from her was the one person she hadn't expected to see.

"We're taking you back Mai." Naru said casually, "Your welcome."

Mai didn't have anything to say until Naru pushed the box with her stuff in to her arms. Mr. Glen said goodbye. Lin led her outside. But it wasn't until Naru was pulling out of the parking lot, with his window rolled down and a stupid smirk on his face, that Mai had pulled herself together enough to form a response.

"You stupid egotistical jerk! Get back here Naru! Don't just leave me here, how could you just come here out of the blue and re-hire me!!!!!" Mai yelled, her box slipping from her hands.

Naru, who wasn't as far away as she would've liked stopped the car and yelled back. "Oh and Mai I'll expect you at the office at 8 AM, don't be late."

Mai, who was too busy retrieving her belongings from the parking lot to listen, muttered under her breath, "Nice to see you too, Naru."

*******

Madoka was cleaned up and smiling. No one would have guessed that only seconds ago this woman had been wearing rags and ketchup. But Mai knew better, she knew Madoka so she knew better. There was a reason why Madoka had looked that way, but why...

"An experiment?" Naru asked coldly.

"That's right!" Madoka said with a smile, "I was doing a study of what people would do if they saw a dirty, rag-covered woman standing on the street demanding food! Your father put me up to it."

"And..." Naru elaborated.

"Someone threw a hot dog at my face, ketchup was everywhere!" Madoka said with a laugh. "Oh and Mai its good to see you! Isn't it wonderful how our Naru returned? Have you asked him why yet?"

Mai blinked, completely lost, while Naru's eyes narrowed. "Madoka, why are you here?"

"As a favor!" Madoka announced suddenly. "I have a case for you, its pretty far away, in the country; and its kind of...tiny too."

Naru seemed to twitch, "How small are we talking about?"

Mai watched as Madoka seemed to fiddle with her fingers, glancing subconsciously at Lin for support. Lin, however, had begun typing as soon as it was made clear that this was a case, and he didn't respond.

"It's a three bedroom condo. One bathroom, tiny rooms, a small kitchen and that's pretty much it." Madoka admitted.

"And why should we take this case." Naru asked, his voice dripping with malevolence, as if daring Madoka to give him one good reason. But Madoka was a step ahead of him.

"Because its my nieces house and whatever this thing is she's in a psycho ward because of it." Madoka said, and for once Mai saw no happiness in her eyes. Only pleading and helplessness.

*******

There was a silence longer than was comfortable for Mai, in which Naru and Madoka seemed to have a staring contest which Naru lost.

"We'll be there tomorrow at 11 AM, we'll need a base and-" but Madoka choked off his sentence. She was hugging him too hard for him to finish.

"Thank you Naru," she cried, "I'll have everything ready I swear!"

Naru didn't respond, instead he hesitantly separated himself from Madoka's harmful grasp and headed back towards the confines of his office.

Mai watched him go, confused and worried for Madoka and him. Naru seemed quieter and more resigned since he had returned. Not towards herself of course but Madoka, Lin, and the others. He treated everyone as if they were too much to handle, like the smallest of favors would only push himself to care.

'Maybe it's Gene,' Mai thought, 'Maybe he doesn't want to be attached like that again.'

Shrugging off these morose thoughts Mai retrieved Naru's empty tea cup from the coffee table, she cleaned the cup and filled a new pot to boil. She might as well do something nice for Naru, since being nice was too much for him to handle at the moment.

While she was waiting she thought she's call the other's and tell them about tomorrow.

She dialed the numbers she knew by heart, smiling when Bou-san answered the phone, and then Ayako, John, Yasuhara and Masako. Well maybe not Masako, but that was mutual and not as bad as it had been when they'd first met.

The rest of the day went on without much difficulty at all. Naru asked for tea five more times, Lin left early, and Mai was just getting ready to leave herself when the door to Naru's office inched open ever so slowly.

"Naru?" she asked the silence and then he stepped out of his office. He had his coat on and looked ready to go himself. But why'd he look so hesitant?

"Mai..." he started.

"Yes?"

As soon as she spoke he was Naru again, his face became stony and he closed his office door firmly. "It's raining, I'll drive you home."

"Oh," Mai said, because this was not what she had expected.

First chapter! I'm so excited!

I wrote this awhile ago and I have the entire story finished so updates will be about twice a week :)

PLEASE REVIEW!