Their boys ( ghost hunt ) ( mai and naru )

Chapter 6

Chapter 6

When Mai woke, the first thing she noticed was the sound of computer keys tapping. The second thing she noticed was a small face peeking in at her through the partially opened door. It was Yue.

"Yue-kun, is something wrong?" Mai asked as she sat up. Yue jerked back, startled.

"Ah, no. I was just walking past and thought I'd stop by and see if you'd like dinner."

Mai looked up to see that Naru and Lin were the only ones in the room.

"That sounds great. Naru, Lin-san, do you want me to bring some food up to you or will you go down later to get it yourselves?"

"I'll get my own. Thank you for offering, Mai-san." Lin had, over time, gotten used to calling Mai by her given name.

While Lin had the courtesy to answer her, Naru continued to read the file.

"Mou!" Mai huffed and walked over to Naru, leaned over so that he could feel her breath on his ear and said, "Gene said you need to stop wearing black. It's gotten old." Then ran out of the room with Yue leading the way to the kitchen.

Naru sat there staring at the door; cheeks flushed slightly because of how close she had been.

"So," Lin looked at Naru, "What did Mai say?"

After dinner...

Mai was walking back to base after making sure both of the twins were safe. Mai really wasn't sure why but she really wanted to protect them. This somewhat sudden instinct was leaving her confused. Sure she cared and loved children but to this degree? Why only those two? She looked up and realized that she was on the other side of the house from the base. The dangers of getting lost in thought, she supposed. Suddenly, something hit Mai on her head and darkness took over.

Back at Base...

"Yo Naru-bou, where's Mai?" Bou-san flopped onto one of the chairs as Naru looked up from the file he was reading.

"Lin, do we have a visual of Mai on any of the cameras?" Naru turned towards his assistant.

"Hai. There she is. On the other side of the house." Lin looked up at Naru from the screen. "I have no idea why she would be over there, but she looks a little lost."

A sharp 'Crash!' was heard. Everyone looked at the screen as it showed Mai lying stretched out on the floor, two halves of a broken vase on either side of her prone form.

"Mai!" Takigawa shouted.

Lin realized only too well how that girl being in danger could clear a room. Even Naru had left after ordering Lin to watch the monitors. Lin looked back at the screen. A few seconds later, two small, identical boys in pajamas appeared on screen. They stopped, looked at Mai, and then rushed over to her. For a moment, Lin thought they were Noll and Gene when the boys were younger, but then he realized that it was Shing and Yue. It wasn't too long after their appearance that Takigawa and the rest appeared on screen. Takigawa picked Mai up as if she was a feather and they headed back to the base with the twins in tow.

Lin wondered if the boys were Chinese or if it was only their names. He glanced over at the stack of papers that were sitting on a table. Inside each folder was the individual information of every child and every adult that lived and worked at the orphanage. He wasn't looking forward to having to go through all that data, although there were duplicates on an external hard drive that he could hook into his computer to make things easier.

The door to the base opened as everyone filed in. Ayako nearly closed the door on Yue's face but his brother was quick and held it open.

"Geez, Mai really needs to eat more. She's too light!" Takigawa laid her gently on the couch before Ayako placed an ice pack on the rapidly forming bump.

"Is Mai onee-san going to be alright?" Yue, who was in his pajamas, looked up at Naru, who was standing right next to him, for an answer.

"I believe so. After all, she seems to merely be unconscious." Naru walked over to his table and looked at his teacup. It was empty and Mai was unconscious. He glanced at the clear glass teapot that Mai liked and saw that it was empty.

"Oh. That's good." Yue looked relieved. His older brother, also in pajamas, had settled himself in a chair with a book. A closer look showed that Mai had been right. Shing was reading Oliver's book 'Supernatural Systems' and was about half-way through.

"Yue, will you make me some tea?" Shing looked at Yue over the top of his book.

"Okay, but..." Yue looked at Mai and for some reason, Naru felt angry. This...this...this little punk was...worried about his Mai. The anger melted as Naru realized that he was jealous. However, just because he knew something didn't mean that he'd admit it. Yuki's snicker morphed into laughter as Naru glared at her.

"Oi! Kiddo! You can make tea right over there, 'kay?" Bou-san pointed to the small area Mai had set up so that she could make tea and coffee.

"Okay, thank you." Yue went to work making tea. Mean while, Mai drifted from unconsciousness, into a dream.

Mai's Dream...

"Ugh! No offence Gene but I really wish things like this would just stop happening!" Mai was sitting on a low wall by a large fountain that was on the grounds, cradling her head with her hands. Gene laughed before handing her an ice pack.

"Here, this might help."

"Again, I must wonder how you do that." Mai took the ice pack and place it on her head, hissing slightly at the cold.

"How should I know? All I know is that I can get almost anything I want here. Anyway, let's take a look around, shall we?" Mai looked up to see Gene holding his hand out to her. She took his hand and he pulled her up and the two of them walked off to see what Gene had discovered since the last time she saw him.

"It seems that there actually are a few spirits here but they keep moving off to other areas near by. Like the road or the river, you get the idea. I think maybe one of the children might be able to see them, though that really doesn't help you much, does it? After all, lots of children have imaginary friends. It would be easy for a caregiver to merely assume...oh well. I'm not much help on this case, am I?" He looked somewhat put out at that observation.

"You're a big help Gene. Now we have an idea of what to look for." Gene still looked a tad upset, so Mai decided that desperate times called for desperate measures. She stood up on tiptoes and pecked him gently on the cheek, causing his face to turn pink.

"You know, I'm really glad that Noll couldn't see that. After all, he'd probably try to kill me again!" Gene chuckled in amusement. "He really is an idiot scientist after all!"

"Be nice! Oh! That reminds me, did I tell you about your fan club?" Mai stifled her giggle in her hands.

"Fan club? I have a fan club?" He gave her a look that clearly said 'you have my attention'.

"Oh yes. There's a set of twin boys at the orphanage, Shing is the older one, and Yue is the younger brother. Anyway, the two of them all but worship you. I swear if they knew that Naru was the famous Oliver Davis, they would flip. Probably ask for his autograph or something." Mai snickered before continuing, "As if he needed any more reason to think he was 'THE MAN'!" She and Gene both dissolved into laughter at the thought.

"Oh, are those the boys?" Gene straightened up as he pointed into the base room from where they were.

Standing at Mai's tea station was Yue, measuring out tea leaves before putting them into the pot. On a chair in the base room was Shing, reading his book in a comfortable silence, broken only by the sound of Lin typing.

"Yeah. What are they doing in the base? The clock says that it's 9 p.m. They should be in bed by now."

"Maternal instincts kicking in?" Gene smirked as Mai turned bright red and shrieked.

"Y-you! How can you just say things like that so...so flippantly!?" Mai paused, her hand flying to her mouth before she abruptly spun and kissed Gene on the cheek. "Oh, you wonderful wonderful person! Thank you thank you thank you! I have to go! I'll see you later Gene!"

Gene just stood there; his face red with a dumbfounded expression as Mai faded into the evening mist that had settled around the house.

"You're welcome, I think."