*shouting* The trilogy to A Christmas Gift and the sequel to Ill Fated Reunion. Can you believe it? I'm at this point already! This is really surprising. This is… I don't even know what year I've been writing on Fanfiction. I hope this story is just as good, if not, better than its predecessor. Let's have a good run with this (:

Disclaimer: I do not own Ghost Hunt in any way, shape, or form.

Chapter 1: Headache From Hell

My eyes darted around the room, never fixing on one object for more than a couple of moments. The room was dark and dank. It would have been impossible for me to see the other side of the small room if it hadn't been for the slivers of light drifting through the cracks in the floor above. Dust motes floated through the spray of light. Footsteps and voices echoed from above my head, tempting and so close, yet so far away.

Pain shot through my aching wrists as I tried to shift. They were slick with what I thought was sweat, but could have easily been blood with how raw they felt. Prickly rope wound around my wrists, binding them together. The same had been done to my ankles which felt equally as raw. How long had I been down here?

"Hello?" I tried to call out, but I only choked on the dry wad of cloth that had been stuffed into my mouth.

What was going on? How in the world had I gotten here? Last I remembered I was climbing into bed with Naru. That surely couldn't have led to this. What had happened between then and now?

I stared around, trying to find any kind of door. There was none of the usual ones, and there was no trap door above my head. My eyes drifted down and widened. On the other side of the room, a heavy metal trap door was inlaid in the concrete. It was slowly being pushed up.

Letting out a muffled shout of fear, I scrambled back away from the hatch. Though I didn't know who or what was going to appear, terror coursed through my veins. Adrenaline poured into my blood. My heart rate shot through the roof. My eyes went as wide as they could go.

"Hello darling, how have you been? Have you been good while I was away?" a man with carrot orange hair and a spattering of golden freckles across his nose and cheeks asked in a whisper, shoving the door open. He kept a hold of the handle, carefully lowering it to the dirty floor. A smile of white teeth split his grimy face as he pulled a bag up and threw it on the floor. "I hope I haven't kept you waiting too long. I had to gather the material for our game tonight."

I whimpered involuntarily, cringing into a corner.

"Come now, don't be like that. I know you enjoy them as much as I do," he said, crawling towards me. He pressed his hand to my cheek, gentle as a lover's touch.

I turned my face away, letting out a sound of protest. He shouldn't have been touching me. It made me feel dirty. It made me feel violated. I hated the feeling of anticipation that coursed through my body. Not the anticipation for pleasure, but that anticipation that came from knowing pain was soon at hand. My muscles clenched, quaking with the effort of trying to break free of my too tight bonds.

The man flicked me in the ear. "Now, now, none of that. Let's be civil." He pulled my face back towards him, pressing his cracked lips to mine.

I jerked my chin from his hand, shoving my knees into his stomach.

He growled, anger slipping from every pore. "Fine, then. If you want to have it that way…" He stomped over to the black draw-string bag he'd brought with him, ripping it open viciously. "We play this any which way you want."

Sweat slipped down my spine. I tried to see around him, but the objects he was fiddling with were obscured by his body. When he turned, I let out a screech that was only swallowed by the cloth gagging me.

The man grinned, showing little to no teeth this time. He held up a menacing syringe of about an inch in diameter and three inches in height. It was filled with a clear liquid that had my blood turning to ice and my eyes flitting around looking for an escape. "This will only hurt for a moment," he soothed as he shoved the needle through my skin.

"Don't let him get you," a female voice whispered in my ear before I flew upright in bed.

…..

I groaned, flinging an arm over my eyes. My brain pounded a savage rhythm against the inside of my skull, trying to break through its calcium prison. With even the slightest sliver of light, the rhythm picked up becoming erratic and excited. It felt like a major hangover times ten. I wondered idly if I happened to crack my skull open would relieve the pressure behind my eyes?

Carefully, I turned on my side, burying my face deep in the cushions of the couch. Any light that had previously been slipping through the cracks in my arms was shut out, but the dark dampness provided by the cushions and my breath had the pounding slowing down only to pick up some extra strength. I just wasn't going to catch a break today.

Breathing deeply, I let my mind slip into the place between consciousness and sleep. In that place, the pain was less pervasive, only flaring angrily if I moved in any way. I was slowly drifting into an uncomfortable sleep when lips pressed gently to my temple. The pain immediately receded becoming only a dull, ignorable ache.

"Thank you," I mumbled before slipping into oblivion. I was woken who knows how much later when someone shook my shoulder.

"Hello? Miss?" a quiet female voice asked, contrasting oddly with the strong hand that gripped my shoulder, shaking me into reality.

I gasped, my eyes flying open. I shoved myself up still facing the back of the couch. A groan slipped through my lips as the pain came flooding back, the tempo picking up an ugly staccato. Grasping my head, I glanced over my shoulder to the woman who stood behind me.

She had chestnut colored hair pulled into a tight, no nonsense ponytail at the back of her head. Her eyes were a startling sky blue with flecks of silver. She was tall, ranging about 5' 6" or 5' 7" with a strong build. The more rounded shape of her eyes and olive tan of her skin suggested she was either of mixed decent or from the Air Force Base in Yakota. She pulled back slowly, tucking her thumbs into the duty belt clipped around her waist. She wore a light blue button up shirt over navy blue pants. Her shoes were shiny black. A navy blue cap was tucked under her arm. "Are you back with the living, miss?" she asked, her voice stronger now.

A deep blush spread across my cheeks. "Yeah, sorry. Um, you are?" I pulled my legs off of the couch, pushing my hair out of my face.

"Annabeth Oshiro, I made an appointment yesterday for a consultation with Mr. Shibuya," the woman said, watching me closely, "Are you sure you're alright? You're rather pale and it didn't look like you were sleeping all that well."

"No, I'm fine. Really. Thank you for your concern. I'll be just one moment," I told her, jumping to my feet. My eyes narrowed as the sudden movement sent the pounding into a frenzy. I hurried towards Naru's door, tapping on Lin's office door as I passed. I could hear voices conversing inside, but I didn't stay long enough to figure out who the other person was. "Sit wherever you like. Make yourself comfortable," I called before slipping into Naru's office, sliding to the floor to press my head between my knees once the door had closed behind me.

"Mai? What's the matter?" Naru asked, standing from his desk and coming to crouch beside me. He placed a gentle hand on my shoulder, watching me.

"There's a client waiting for you," I gritted out, squeezing my eyes shut against the pain slicing through my skull.

He was quiet for a moment. "I didn't ask who was here, I asked what was wrong. I know the client hasn't done anything to warrant you pain," he said, sliding his hand under my chin, pulling my face up.

"My head hurts really badly. It feels like someone is slowly trying to cleave my skull in half," I said, cracking my eyes open to look him in the eye. He frowned.

"Your head is still hurting from the dream you had last night?" he asked more to himself than to me.

I answered anyway. "Yeah, but the pain has increased since earlier. I don't know what the matter is," I whimpered, pulling my chin from his fingers and burying my face in his shirt. His scent sent a shiver of pleasure rolling through my body that even the pain couldn't obscure.

"After this client, we can head home and you can try to sleep," he told me, pulling me to my feet.

"Alright," I mumbled, my face still making friends with his shirt and solid chest.

The door slammed open without warning. Naru pulled us out of the path of destruction before we could be slammed into the wall, glaring daggers at his twin. "Hey, you guys, planning on coming out of this room anytime soon? We've got a young lady waiting outside for her interview," he said, grinning widely like interrupting us had become a favorite pastime of his.

"We were just getting ready to," Naru snapped.

"Not by what I see."

I turned to glare at him, my eyes narrowed in pain. "Can you not do this right now, Gene? It's not a good time."

Gene cocked his head to the side, watching me with carefully vigilant eyes. "Hey, Mai, what's the matter? Are you hurt?" he asked, worry worming its way into his voice.

I waved him off, pressing a hand to my forehead. "No, I'm fine. Let's go." I led the way to the door and out into the main room where Annabeth and Lin were waiting, conversing quietly. If I hadn't been trying to keep my head together, I would have found that more surprising. "Would you like something to drink? Tea? Coffee? Water?" I asked Annabeth as I passed her.

"Coffee, please," she said, eyes following me before turning to look at Gene and Naru. Her eyes went wide with surprise. Obviously, she hadn't been expecting the pair to look so much alike. Either that, or she hadn't been expecting Naru's age. "Hello, are you Mr. Shibuya?" she asked, turning to Naru. It was easy to tell them apart since Naru still wore dark colors though he was going easy on the black now, and Gene usually wore lighter shades of blue.

Naru nodded, coming around the couch. He deposited himself in the seat across from Annabeth as Gene took up the seat next to him. "Yes, now why don't you start off by telling us your name and what location you believe is haunted."

Whelp guys, there's the first chappy of this story! Haha, I just kind of screwed myself over because I've got my NaNoWriMo story to revise plus AP English on top of that, and now I have added this and will soon be adding the sequel to Hidden to this load. Yep, you heard that right, I'll be starting the sequel to Hidden soon. We'll see how that goes xD Anyway, everyone! Review for your starving writer! She has been craving the reviews of her lovely readers for weeks now!