A/N: Hello there, Ghost Hunt fandom! I am back with a brand new story, based on the fabulous musical, "Into the Woods." But don't worry, it's very, very loosely based on it. If you don't know my writing, maybe you should check out my other Ghost Hunt one-shots and chaptered story "No Petals Fall." I do hope you enjoy this new one just as much!

Into the woods,
It's time, and so
I must begin my journey

"You're driving the wrong way!"

"Shut up, Mai. You wouldn't know."

"Would too! I wrote the directions to this place because you told me to this morning. Lin missed the turn back there." A small thumb nearly jabbed John's eye out.

"There was never a turn, Mai."

"Rrgh! Yes, there was! Lin-san, turn around! Naru's directional skills are gonna get us stranded out here!" Mai demanded.

A pair of brown eyes shaded by sandy hair opened. "Excuse me, bickering couple, but would you mind keeping it down? I was up all last night and then I get this urgent message—"

"I don't need your sob story, Takigawa-san. I will apologize for Mai's childish behavior."

Chestnut hair whipped the tired face once more. Takigawa groaned and attempted to roll away. "My childish behavior? Naru, I don't think you spent enough time in front of your mirror this morning."

There were several snorts of laughter and one kimono sleeve clasped to the face. Naru turned to glare. The car was silent.

It had started out a normal morning at SPR. Everyone was naturally quite tired for an early Monday morning case, but a case was a case, as Naru seemed to enjoy repeating. They weren't all about to lose each other again – not after Naru had just returned from England. This was a true miracle, and they couldn't let that go to waste.

Although, sometimes, they had a hard time showing that.

The case was out at some old mansion far, far out in the country. They were only making the effort to go out there because the pay was guaranteed to be excellent (and would pay Mai's rent alone for the next three months).

"Why… why didn't we take two cars like usual?" John asked when there was a break in the yelling. His gentle words didn't do anything for the atmosphere.

Ayako managed to raise her voice first. "Because my car is totaled because the stupid monk thought it would be a genius idea to drive my borrowed car while under the influence after one of his concerts, and—!"

Takigawa bolted forward, his seatbelt catching him before he flung himself into the next row of seats. "Hey, who was the one who came racing to the hospital at three in the morning? You didn't seem so angry then!"

"That's because they made it seem like you were dead! Of course I wasn't angry! But all you had was a sprained wrist and grinned at me with that drunken grin and—!" Ayako harrumphed and crossed her arms, glaring out the window.

"So you cared about me." Takigawa hunched himself sideways with a wolfish grin, an arm slung over Ayako's seat.

"No, I didn't. And I don't," she corrected a little too hastily. "I care about the car you totaled!"

Takigawa was surely awake now. He opened his mouth to figure out another retort that would no doubt escalate the ferocity of the conversation.

"Would the two of you stop your mindless chatter? We are trying to find the place as quickly as we can, and your grating voices are not helping," Naru snapped.

Mai pursed her lips. "Oh, don't bother them, Naru. It's your own fault we're lost."

The van made a horrible sound like a lion's dying roar, grinding to a slow, painful stop on the side of the road.

"Great. Now look what you've done!" Ayako muttered, smacking Takigawa's injured arm. He flinched away, cradling his wrist. His expression took on that of a wounded puppy's.

"Me? What do I do, just jinx cars or something?"

"Yes," Ayako bristled. "If you hadn't crashed my car, we would have at least had a way out of here."

"Yes, the seven of us could fit into your tiny clown car, along with our equipment," Takigawa shot back.

"Ayako, it's not Bou-san's fault," Mai said, choosing her side. "If Naru had just trusted the directions I wrote out, this wouldn't be a problem. We would have been there by now!"

"Oh, stop it, Mai, no one can read your chicken scratch," Naru put in.

"My handwriting is far easier to read than yours!"

"That is because you do not read English."

"Somebody certainly is snippy this morning," Masako muttered, getting her word in edgewise. Both Naru and Mai turned to glare at the medium. She simply blinked her wide violet eyes at them and turned away again as if she'd said nothing at all.

"You see, Naru? Somebody else recognizes that you are being a complete jerk," Mai said with a triumphant grin.

"Of course," Naru drawled. "Because Hara-san consistently takes your side with great pleasure."

"Of course she does! Don't you, Masako?"

"I said whatever you heard, Mai," the girl replied. Mai didn't catch the snide tone – or simply chose to ignore it.

"See? She took my side!"

"Dear Lord, Mai, have you truly learned nothing? Why on Earth would Hara-san defend your juvenile conduct?" Naru's piercing gaze tore at Mai's confidence. Mai opened her mouth to shoot back a response, but the logic of it all caught her tongue. The logic allowed room for an excess of arrogance to fold across Naru's face.

"Well… as if she'd defend your behavior!" Mai finally said.

"She has never defended you before. It is beyond me why she would start now." The words were quicksilver out of his mouth.

"All right, let's get something straight," Ayako interrupted, snapping her taloned fingers in their faces. "Mai, as much as I love you, you're being a persnickety little nag. Naru, as much as I… well, as much as I want to keep my job here, you are being even more of an arrogant prick than usual. Now will the both of you shut up before I am required to do it for you?"

Ayako fell back in her seat with a muted thump. She crossed her arms and jerked her gaze out the window.

"Oh, leave 'em alone, you old coot," Takigawa broke the short silence. "You haven't got any business telling them what to do. Naru's only peeved because Mai got asked out again."

"Thank you, Bou-san," Mai sniffed, crossing her arms in a similar fashion to the priestess, happy with her chosen side.

"That is no business of yours, Takigawa-san, but a matter between myself and my girlfriend," Naru ground out.

"Oh, please," Mai shot at Naru, sending him a bitter glare. "It's not even a matter of yours. And… wait, Bou-san, how did you even hear about that anyway?" Mai asked, the notion hitting her suddenly.

"From both your possessive ass of a boyfriend and Yasuhara. But the two tales had polar opposite tones," Takigawa said with a shrug.

Mai sighed and turned back to her "possessive" boyfriend. "Naru, you're being a hypocrite. You can't tell Bou-san something and then tell him to mind his own business. "

"I can if I employ him."

"These are personal matters. You shouldn't have even told him in the first place!" Mai complained, pounding a fist on the back of Naru's seat.

"Then why did you tell Yasuhara before you told me?"

This question drew silence over the whole van. Naru waited, his harsh expectancy killing the atmosphere, if there had even been an atmosphere to kill in the first place. Mai tried to overcome her shock with another response that could be called passing.

"Stop being such a bully, Naru. What matters is that she said no to the kid," Takigawa interjected.

"Would you stop getting involved?" Ayako snapped. "Mai should have told Naru first, because they're dating!"

"Well, they won't be for much longer if Naru keeps treating her like this," Takigawa finished.

"Or if Mai keeps secrets from him all the time," Ayako countered.

"Stop it, both of you!" Mai yelped, near tears. His fists shook at her sides. "You don't need to say another word."

"Have you anything to say to me?" Naru quipped. She turned her ire upon him, but Naru didn't flinch.

"I haven't a thing to say to you, either. I don't wish to speak to you at all, as a matter of fact," Mai muttered, mimicking his proper tone. Naru looked like she'd slapped him across the face – which she had not wholly ruled out – but he promptly turned around with not another word.

"I do believe cutting off conversation is the worst thing to do in a… strained relationship," Masako said.

All hell broke loose again at the dainty medium's fire-lit words. John tried to raise his voice over the racket, but it was no use.

Only one thing did the trick.

Wordless Lin finally had enough.

"Enough!" Lin roared, yanking the key out of the ignition. "Everybody out!"

Mai yanked on the handle and kicked the door open, hopping out into the fresh air. They all jumped from the car, the angry couples glaring at each other before turning their backs on each other. Mai wandered over next to Takigawa, while Masako and John stayed relatively chose together. Ayako stalked off on her own, and Naru and Lin went to check out the engine.

"Are you feeling okay, Bou-san?" Mai whispered, managing to keep the storm of emotions from destroying her voice. "I didn't know you got in a car accident last night…"

"I'm doin' all right, jou-chan, don't you worry about me," he said, ruffling her hair with his uninjured hand. "If there's anyone to worry about, it's you. How do you put up with that horrible prat?" Takigawa jerked his chin toward the front of the car.

Mai waved his concern off. "Oh, he'll get over himself. It's not like he hasn't done something like this before. It's not a big deal. But you… you really could have gotten hurt last night." Her big brown eyes pleaded with him. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I just didn't want you to worry, that's all," he said, turning skittish under her

"And this… this isn't the first time it's happened, too."

"Hey, you promised you'd keep that a secret," he scolded, his voice softer. Takigawa didn't match her gaze.

"I'm not telling anyone else, am I?" Mai replied. "You can't keep scaring us like that. You're lucky that this is the first time you got into an accident when you were drunk. And you were even luckier that you only sprained your wrist!"

"Mai-chan, please keep your voice down."

"I will not!" Mai yelped, causing all eyes to fall on her. "I'm worried about you! Why can't you just learn from your mistakes?"

Takigawa took a step back, a coldness falling into place between the two of them. Mai still felt eyes on her back, watching and waiting to see what would happen.

"Do you really want to sound like Ayako right now, Mai-chan? Because that's what's happening," he said, voice blunt. Mai stomped on the ground and stormed away.

She made her way around the car and fell against it. Mai tilted her head up to watch the light blue sky, the one peaceful constant of her morning. They were just approaching the forest, and the women had clearly said, in her sharp snobbish tone, that if they hit the forest, they'd gone too far.

Well, here they were, and Naru still didn't believe a single word she said. Mai bit down hard on her cheek and stared out at the trees. Sharp flashes of green and white danced across her vision. Mai blinked and the lights went away. A chill ran up her spine on this warm day.

Mai quickly averted her attention somewhere else. Everyone was standing on their own in silence, other than a peeved Naru and Lin forcing himself to be patient. She couldn't pick out quite what Lin was murmuring about the engine, but it certainly wasn't good – that much she could tell.

This had been a bad idea from the beginning.

Mai suddenly regretted ignoring the horrible premonition in the pit of her stomach that morning.

But, of course, if she told Naru about that now, all she would get was more yelling.

The green and white lights danced before her as she glanced back at the forest.

Into the woods,
And who can tell
What's waiting on the journey?

A/N: Please review and tell me what you thought!