Ghost Hunt Fan Fiction ❯ No More Words ❯ Dream ( Chapter 3 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Whoohoo, chapter three! Please let me know if I'm not putting enough Mai-Naru interaction in here since I'm afraid that I might go overboard and overfluff it. ^^; The last thing I want is to screw up Naru's personality. Anyways, you know the drill, Read, and if you like, Review.

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Mai had changed into her modest one-piece bathing suit and was about to exit out the back door through the kitchen when she heard someone walk in. Turning around, she saw that it was a girl about her age with long, straight black hair and big brown eyes. They looked at each other for a moment before it clicked.

“Oh, you must be Mai-san!” she said, bowing respectfully.

“Kisa-san! Nice to finally meet you. Your house is beautiful.” Mai replied, bowing as well. Kisa smiled.

“This old thing? Mother loved how…antiqued…it was, and couldn't help herself. It does seem like it holds a lot of history, though, doesn't it? Are you going swimming?” Mai nodded, throwing her towel over her shoulder.

“Yes, we all figured we might as well relax a bit before Na-Shibuya-san becomes a slave-driver again.” She replied, and Kisa laughed.

“Introduce me to the others later, will you? Mother asked me to accompany her to the store downtown. Please, make yourselves at home.” She said, before walking out of the kitchen.

`Way ahead of you.' Thought Mai, exiting out the back door.

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Naru leaned back in his chair, gazing at the computer screen absentmindedly. So this was Mai's prospective new home. Built in the late 1900's, sturdy architecture, Gothic, though it needed some renovating. He really wasn't surprised that they had encountered a ghost in this place, it almost screamed “I'm Haunted, Ask Me How!” While he wasn't interested in the ghost itself, he knew that the best thing to do would be to exorcise it before its nature took a turn for the worst. He wondered whether Mai liked the house, and the family.

He abruptly decided to recheck the monitors more carefully, not liking where his thoughts were taking him. After about a half hour of absolutely no activity, and nobody but Lin for company, Naru did something completely unlike him, and actually set off to look in on the others. A small part of him accused him of looking for distractions to keep his mind out of places that would only trouble him, but he firmly squished that part down, making his way out of the house and down to the beach. Something made him look back at the house, his eyes drifting up towards the balcony of Mai's room. His eyes widened at what he saw.

A girl, she looked young, wearing a Victorian dress seemed to be clutching at something on her throat. She was walking backwards towards the rail, trying to keep what seemed like a shadow at arm's length. Suddenly she plunged backwards as if she had been pushed, and Naru blinked.

She was gone.

`Looks like this might be a bit more serious than I thought.' Forgetting his plan of going to see the others, he headed back into the house, determined to take a look around Mai's room personally, and perhaps dig up some records on the house's previous owners.

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Mai took a shower and sprawled out on her bed, reminiscing about the afternoon. The water had been crystalline, and she and her friends had enjoyed themselves immensely splashing around and just plain relaxing. She honestly did not want to live in this house, but because she was still a minor and a ward of the state, the law decreed that if a guardian relative was available, she HAD to live with them. `Too bad my 18th birthday isn't until next year.' She mused. Suddenly she found herself surrounded by darkness, though there seemed to be a light coming from a source she couldn't pinpoint. She immediately realized it was a dream when she saw a smiling black-haired man walking towards her.

“Naru…”

He shook his head and put a finger to his lips, pointing at a spot behind her. She turned and saw that she was in the mansion's entrance hall, though this wasn't the dusty old hall she had seen a few hours before. The hall was bright and it seemed to sparkle. A girl descended down the stairs, her dress was Victorian and the girl was quite obviously not Asian. Her necklace caught Mai's attention immediately. It consisted of a red ruby, larger than any she had seen in her life, hanging from a delicate gold chain. The girl walked right by Mai and disappeared into darkness, not seeming to have noticed the girl or her companion.

Mai turned to the dream Naru, thoroughly perplexed.

“Was that necklace what you were trying to show me, Naru?” she asked. Suddenly she found herself standing on the balcony of her room. She looked down and saw that she was wearing the same dress that the girl had been wearing, in her hand was the ruby brooch. A hand came out from the shadows in front of her, pushing her without warning, and she felt herself falling over the banister, to her death.

“NARU!” she felt herself cry as she sat up with a start, gasping. Almost immediately she heard footsteps outside the door, which Takigawa nearly broke down trying to get to Mai. Naru was the next face she saw, followed by Masako, Ayako, and John.

“Mai, are you alright?” asked the monk, looking around with alarm, all ready to play hero and chant whatever spirit was bugging her all the way to next Tuesday. She nodded, running a hand through her hair. She'd had frightening dreams before and had learned to discern dreams from reality, but they still shook her up easily. Takigawa moved aside to allow Naru access to Mai, who was sitting cross-legged on the bed, leaning against Ayako.

“What did you see, Mai?”

She looked up at him, eyes blank. Then she blinked, focusing on him and his question.
“It was a girl. She wasn't Japanese, and she was wearing a dress, Victorian, I think, and she had a ruby…I was her. I - she - was pushed off the balcony. My balcony.” She told him. There was something she had missed, an important detail…but she couldn't seem to recall it at that moment.

`Maybe it'll come to me later.' Naru was already in motion, asking the monk and the miko to begin making some charms to ward off spirits, and John and Masako to look around the rooms of the mansion for lingering spirits that might need exorcising.

“Mai, tea.”

She rolled her eyes and stood up. “Jeeze, girl wakes up from a nightmare and what do I get? No “are you okay?” no “are you feeling better?” Noooooooo, I get “What did you see?”” she mumbled under her breath. “Tea, Mai. Temperature, Mai. Shine my shoes, Mai.”

“If you're quite finished…” he looked back at her, and though his voice sounded annoyed, she saw one of his rare smiles starting to appear before he turned and walked away.

She smiled nervously, getting up and stretching. `Maybe it'd be a good idea to just stop talking one day.' She mused to herself as she walked out the door, oblivious to the white puff of light that was floating outside in the balcony.

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Author's note: Okay, I promise I'll attempt to put more Mai/Naru situations in the next chapter, maybe get them locked in a basement or something…nah…cliché. Ideas, anyone?