Ghost Hunt Fan Fiction ❯ The Debacle of Harmony ❯ Chapter 3 ( Chapter 3 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Kazuya, Lin, John and Houshou loaded up equipment in the vehicles as Mai and I filled in Masako and Ayako about the current situation. I had already told them about the haunting.

"Are you able to see your own aura?" asked Masako.

"Yes. I tune it out most of the time, though. It's kind of like when you tune out your nose most of the time unless you think of it," I said.

"Oh, great," said Mai, looking cross-eyed at her nose. Ayako smirked and flicked her on the nose. "Hey!"

"I thought you might say that," said Masako, ignoring the other girls' antics. "Look at your aura now. What do you see?" Curious, I looked down at my chest and focused on my aura. My olive colored aura had specks of black and gray floating through it. I gasped and locked eyes with Masako.

"What is this?" I asked apprehensively, instinctively trying to smack the specks away from me. Mai and Ayako raised their eyebrows at me.

"Spiritual debris. Most likely from the spirits you encountered in your home," said Masako. "Have you ever cleansed your aura before?"

"I didn't know I could even do that," I said.

"The best method I have used is to sweep your aura with a feather as if you are sweeping with a broom," said Masako. "It helps clear your aura so that your perception isn't clouded. It is good to do the cleaning before and after dealing with spirits."

"Do I have to tackle a bird and pluck it to get the feather?" I asked. Masako hid her grin with her kimono sleeve and Mai and Ayako giggled openly.

"Actually, I think Naru has some in his office," said Mai. Picturing serious Kazuya having a pastime of tackling and plucking birds made me crack up. The other girls weren't too far behind. I'm pretty sure we had the same mental picture.

"What's so funny?" Asked the subject of our laughter, walking into the office followed by the others. I stuffed my fist into my mouth to try and stifle a fresh bout of laughter. Masako was still hidden behind her sleeve, shaking with silent laughter.

"Just having a little laugh on your behalf," teased Ayako.

"Naru, could you lend Layelle a feather? It's to cleanse her aura," said Mai.

"I don't see why not. There's a jar on my bookshelf. You can go get it for her," said Kazuya. Mai got up and went to walk past him, but snorted as she caught sight of him looking at her. "What?" A sliver of amusement showed up in his aura.

"Nothing. Nothing." Mai hurried past him into his office where she let her laughter loose.

"Why is your aura so dirty? Haven't you heard of good hygiene?" Asked Houshou, sitting between me and Ayako. He made to block Ayako's purse, so I bonked him on the top of his head. "Owwww! Why?!"

"That's payback for making me hurt John earlier!" I said.

"Don't hit me! Go kiss his head and apologize!" Said Houshou, rubbing his head. My face flushed.

"Now, now. It's alright. I've got a hard head," reassured John, his aura teeming with amusement. Mai had returned and handed me a white feather.

"Now you just sweep the feather away from you to dislodge the debris. It's good to start at your head...And go do it outside so the debris doesn't settle in here," said Masako, adding the last part quickly as I almost started right then.

"We might as well finish loading up and head out," said Kazuya. Everyone stood and went about their duties. I headed outside with the feather.

"I look like a dork," I said to myself, sweeping as Masako had suggested. It worked surprisingly well. Shortly after I finished, we piled into two vehicles and headed towards my house. I rode with Mai, Kazuya, and Lin so that I could give directions.

"Aww! You have a cute little house!" Said Mai as we pulled into the driveway. I had a two-story townhouse-style home. The driveway and small garage was at the side of the house. On the first floor was the living room/dining room, kitchen, and my bedroom. The second floor had two empty bedrooms and an office.

"Not so cute on the inside right now, I'm afraid," I said.
Kazuya, Houshou, and Masako accompanied me into the house while the others unloaded equipment. My eyes darted around as we entered and settled on an object lying in the middle of the living room. My cell phone.

"I didn't even know I dropped it," I said. It rang right at that instant, making us jump. I stooped down to pick it up and answered it on speakerphone. "...Hello?"

"Just tell me what the fuck is your problem, you stupid little bitch?!" A furious but familiar voice spoke. Shit. I forgot to check caller ID.

"Nobu?" I asked. "Uh...What's going on?" Houshou frowned. Kazuya and Masako watched me with eyebrows raised.

"Don't act like you're fucking innocent, you dumb bitch!" He yelled. "Stay out of my fucking life and stop calling me!"

"Fuck you, asshole! Don't call me again!" I snapped before hanging up. I looked at the others and they were shocked right down to their auras.

"Ah...So it ended on those terms," noted Houshou. I ignored his comment and went to check my call history when all of a sudden a cloud of black appeared and rammed me in the stomach, knocking the wind out of me. I fell to the floor coughing. Houshou ran and knelt beside me. "What happened?"

"The spirit attacked her," said Masako, her voice shaky. "It's very dark." I couldn't stop coughing.

"Monk, take her outside to get some air," said Kazuya. "Do you mind if I take a look at your phone, Miss Shaw?" Houshou helped me up and I handed Kazuya my phone.

"What happened?" Mai asked, carrying an equipment case in. I could only make a weird noise in response.

"The spirit rammed her in the stomach," said Houshou. He sat me down in a lawn chair on the porch and patted me on the back as I wheezed. "Breathe, Tex." John was the next to pass by. He hesitated and set his cases down to rummage through his pockets. He held up a black beaded cross necklace.

"You should wear this if you go back inside," said John. "Here. It will help protect you." He handed me the necklace and I put it on.

"Thanks," I croaked. He smiled sweetly and then picked up the equipment cases to take inside. Those looked heavy. I wondered if he had any muscle going on under that black shirt. I bit my lip at the thought.

"Enough checking out John and fill me in on the Nobu situation," said Houshou, rolling his eyes at me. "You can't expect me to not be curious. You two were inseparable the last time I saw you and now you're divorced and yelling profanities at each other on the phone. What the heck happened?"

"There was a change in Nobu. He became increasingly distant and always seemed to escape to Osaka all the time to see his family or some other girl or whatever," I said, sighing and combing my hair back. "We separated starting January of last year for six months before we decided to divorce. His family got in the way and it was about a year and a half's worth of complete bullshit. Like, they tried getting the house in the divorce. Joke's on them, it's actually my parents' house."

"Did you guys even try to work it out or go to counseling?" asked Houshou, looking overwhelmed. His aura had a hint of anger and worry. "I mean, geez. Back then you were dedicating songs to him and giving him bedroom eyes from onstage."

"I wanted to work it out but he didn't want to. I think it was the combination of his personality change, his family's fear of my ability, and the fact that we were eighteen and trying to make huge life decisions. And I got tired of putting up with all of the fights, being treated like an alien by his family, and having him drunk dial me the whole time we were separated."

"Um, well damn, Tex. I'm sorry," said Houshou, his face solemn. The anger was more evident in his aura.

"What's got you mad?" I asked.

"That you had to put up with all that alone. I'm a horrible big brother for not keeping in touch with you for three years."

"Aww," I said, hugging him. "It's super creepy when you refer to yourself as my big brother, FYI. But I know you would have been there had I reached out to you."

"Monk! Layelle! Time to set up the investigation!" called Mai from inside.

---

Base was set up in the office room upstairs. Cameras and microphones were set up and ready in all of the rooms. Kazuya gathered everyone around for a briefing.

"Since we're dealing with a dark spirit, I want Miss Shaw and Mai to stay at base. Ayako and Monk can take the upstairs rooms. John, Masako, and I can take the downstairs," said Kazuya. Everyone nodded and went about in their preparations.

"Aw man! Why can't I help out?" whined Mai. Kazuya looked at her and a squiggle of worry went across his aura.

"I'm already giving you the responsibility of watching the monitors, manning the walkie-talkie and guarding Miss Shaw. Isn't that enough or would you like Lin's duties?" he said. Mai's face flushed and a wave of annoyance ran over her aura.

"That's not what I meant," she said. Kazuya went to speak and she stopped him. "Fine, fine, fine! I'll do my job." Kazuya walked off with a tiny smirk on his face and amusement in his aura. Mai watched him go and a flash of orange sparked across her aura, dissipating the annoyance.

"Whoa, girl, what are you thinking about?" I teased. Mai's eyes widened and she whipped around to face me.

"How much did you see?" she demanded.

"Relax. I only see colors and stuff like that," I said. "If I saw thoughts, I'd be sooo emotionally scarred by now." She sighed in relief. She noticed my necklace.

"Where'd you get that?" she asked. I took it off to hold in my hands. The black tourmaline beads were round and shiny.

"John lent it to me," I said. Mai giggled.

"I think he likes you," she said. "He's being more protective than normal. He never lends us any protective jewelry." It was my turn to blush. Mai's eyes widened and she smiled. "You like him, too!"

"Well, I dunno. Maybe. But he's a priest. And Catholic priests are supposed to be celibate," I said.

"He's still a teenager! You're probably his first crush," said Mai. She was really amused by all this.

"Aw, come on! Don't call him a teenager! That makes me feel like a pervert," I said. A throat cleared loudly and we jumped. Lin had been sitting silently in the corner the entire time, eyes glued to his computer. His eyes strayed to us for a moment and he made a show of putting a pair of headphones on. "Holy shit, Lin knows all our secrets..."

"Trust me, I could care less about your schoolgirl-minded secrets," said Lin. Mai and I stuck our tongue out at him behind his back.

---

"She's following us," said Masako. "Nothing else is here, it's just her."

"John, why don't you start?" asked Kazuya.

Mai and I were watching the monitors as the others investigated room to room. Masako, Kazuya, and John were in the living room right below the stairs. The other two looked on as John started to recite the Our Father. He splashed holy water as he spoke. In the room across the hall, Houshou was reciting a mantra. Ayako was in the next room shaking some weird pom-pom looking thing. Suddenly, static filled the screen and we could barely make out anything. John's voice had stopped, but I could still hear the other two.

"JOHN!" Mai screamed suddenly. My heart dropped. She raced outside and I followed blindly. Houshou and Ayako emerged into the hallway and joined us in the rush downstairs. John was being held against the wall by Masako, who was unmistakably possessed. Kazuya was standing nearby and seemed to be trying to firmly coax Masako to overcome the spirit.

"MASAKO, NO!" Mai screamed. I pushed past Mai and ran towards Masako, whose aura had turned black. Ayako tried grabbing me from behind, but I shoved her back.

"STOP IT! GET AWAY FROM THEM, IT'S ME YOU WANT!" I yelled.

"Miss Shaw! Stay back!" Kazuya warned. I pushed past him and grabbed Masako's shoulder. She released John and turned to face me. The dark aura spilled out of her and rushed towards me. Everything suddenly went black.