Hello! Welcome to my personal take on Ghost Hunt. I try very hard to make my writing as neat and readable as possible, so if you ever see a mistake or something that seems wrong to you, please don't hesitate to let me know. I promise I will fix it. I've been gobbling up Ghost Hunt fanfiction this week just about as much as I've been gobbling up turkey, and tonight I was inspired to add my own take on the story into the mix. Please feel free to leave me a review. In particular, I'd like to know what everyone thinks about my characterization? Am I doing okay...or does everyone seem completely out of character? All feedback helps, so thanks in advance! Also, this is a part of a much larger story, and although I have vague ideas about where I want it to go, this is all I have written so far. I'm often quite busy, so updating will likely be sporadic, but I am going to do my best to be reasonable about them.

Disclaimer: Now. I am ONLY going to say this once. I do NOT own Ghost Hunt or anything even remotely related to it. Believe me, I wish I did. But alas, dreams are fleeting things. :D

And without further ado, please enjoy:

Chapter 1

Oliver Davis was many things – paranormal researcher, qi-gong expert, world-famous psychokinesis user – but he drew the line at babysitter.

It was all Lin's fault, too. Lin, who'd gone and told his parents all about his time in Japan, including all about his perky brunette assistant. That had been the catalyst. The glimmer he'd seen in his mother's eyes when she'd realized that maybe her son had a heart after all. He'd known right then that it would spell trouble, and he hadn't been disappointed.

His mother had spent ages trying to set him up with every available female near his age in her acquaintance (no doubt in an attempt to inspire some form of social interest in him). And when that had failed…well, she'd resorted to other tactics. She'd caged him into an entirely unpleasant dinner with one of the new researchers at SPR. That had ended quickly. He hadn't even sat down, in fact, preferring to turn around and walk right out of the restaurant. And now, apparently, they were here.

"It'd just be for a few hours, Noll!" She pleaded. Luella Martin was a damn good persuader (she had persuaded her work-a-holic husband to marry her, after all, and she'd managed to get Noll to like her), but sometimes her adopted son behaved like a brick wall.

"No." Noll answered flatly. He saw his mother's proposal for what it was. She'd started out with an admittedly luring possibility – a new case – and then informed him that in order to go on said case, he'd have to also mind the client's ten year old child. Noll didn't do children, and his mother knew that, but she also knew how frustrated he had become since he'd been banned from going on any cases since he and Lin had returned from Japan. The rage had been building for the better part of a year and a half now, and it was getting to the point where he knew he'd blow a top soon. He was so tired of not being out in the field that he almost considered her terrible offer, catch and all.

And his mother could sense his moods. He knew she saw the hesitation on his face. He couldn't do it though. Oliver Davis did not do children. "I have work to do." He hissed, rising from the breakfast table in favor of his study.

Luella gave an exasperated huff of annoyance as her son stalked out of the room. She was running out of ideas. Ever since Noll had come back from Japan, after the funeral, he'd been…depressed. He'd secluded himself further away and hardly interacted with anyone outside of his immediate family or close colleagues. He'd never been a social butterfly, but he hadn't been this bad, either. She was growing worried for her son. She'd already lost one child, she couldn't bear to lose another.

Of course, she'd known Noll would never agree to babysit someone's child. That was so far beyond his scope of knowledge it was laughable. She'd just needed him to react…some hint that he wanted a family, a life outside of his work. To all eyes but hers, he clearly didn't. They'd all told her as much. Martin, Lin, Noll himself, even Madoka had made it plain that she thought Oliver Davis would only ever rely on his work. But Luella was a psychologist by trade and knew that such isolation, particularly after Gene's death, was unhealthy.

When they'd returned from Japan and Madoka and Lin had filled her in on all of the people they'd worked on cases with – including the (according to both Lin and Madoka) "quite charming" Mai Taniyama, well, she'd begun to hope that maybe they were all wrong. Thus her quest had begun.

"I warned you, Luella." Madoka sighed, coming into the room and settling into the chair beside Noll's adopted mother.

"Yes," Luella agreed tiredly, "You did. I just thought if I threw him a chance at a case, he'd at least consider it."

Madoka nodded in understanding. "It was a good try. I'm sad to see him so…reclusive. He was so much more open, in Japan."

Luella sighed. She'd give anything to see her son like that. "I wish I could help him." She told the younger woman.

Madoka patted her arm comfortingly. "I think you'd have to send him to Japan to accomplish that." The younger woman replied sadly. They both knew that would never happen. Oliver Davis had a life in Britain, a life he'd left when he'd gone rushing off to Japan, and it wasn't something he could just drop, no matter how badly the young man might want to. He'd done it once, and he was still suffering the consequences of those actions even now. His case-ban and regulated schedule being only a small taste of them.

Luella looked out the window. She gazed out at the garden, looking at the Cherry tree. And then the idea struck her. "Madoka!" She breathed, excited. Yes. She had a plan now. Something that even Noll couldn't refuse. But she couldn't do it all on her own.

The younger woman looked at her in shocked amusement. She raised a single eyebrow, a gesture she'd obviously learned from her boyfriend. "What is it?" She asked.

"I have an idea!" Luella said, smiling mischievously. "Can you get a hold of Lin for me?" The question was, of course, rhetorical. Madoka laughed and pulled out her phone, pressing the speed dial button for her boyfriend.

Noll sat in his chair behind his desk, an open book before him, but his eyes not comprehending the words on the page. A cup of tea sat steaming on a coaster beside him, but he ignored it. For some reason his favorite beverage had become much less delicious lately. He tried not to dwell too hard on why that might be.

A strange, and difficult, proposition for a scientist such as himself. Answering questions was what he lived for. Practically literally. But he always shied away from asking too many questions when it came to his own moods, especially lately. He'd known that things would be different, now that he was back. With Gene gone, how could they not be? But he hadn't anticipated this.

Most unsettling of all, he knew that much of what was bothering him had nothing at all to do with his twin, and more to do with an (admittedly pretty) brunette he'd left back in Japan. He stopped himself right there. Oliver Davis was not interested in romance, relationships or anything of that nature. He didn't miss Mai, he decided. He just missed her tea.

If he allowed himself to think about it any further he often realized he missed them all. Takigawa, Miss Matsuzaki, Miss Hara, Father Brown. Even Yasuhara. He'd hated all of their goofing off and ridiculous antics, but now that he was back here…he found that he missed it.

Oliver grabbed his teacup and drained the hot and bitter liquid in a single gulp. He picked up his book and returned to the invigorating subject matter it offered. Time to stop living in the past and focus on the present, he decided.

As the temperature in the room plummeted, Mai Taniyama knew what she was in for. She turned around slowly and faced the angry apparition before her. "Please! Mr. Takanada! We're here to help you pass on." It was pointless, pleading with a hostile spirit like this. And she knew that, but she also knew what came next, and she hated going to that option if she could in any way avoid it.

The chair in the corner of the room rose a foot off of the floor, as did many of the other pieces of furniture in the room. Purely on instinct, Mai ducked. She managed to avoid most of the heavy objects that floated around, but several of the lighter objects ended up landing on her, adding a nice group of bruises to her ever-growing collection.

"Mai!" She heard Bou-san yell from the other side of the door.

"I'm alright!" She shouted back. Well…alright-ish. She still had an angry spirit to deal with. "Your brother wasn't the one who killed you, Mr. Takanada!" She shouted. Abruptly the room went still. She waited a breath, just to be sure, and then rose slowly to her knees. The spirit of Mr. Takanada – a long-deceased doctor – stood and stared, evidently waiting for an explanation.

"The fire was an accident!" She explained gently. "Your brother hadn't realized you were in there, or he never would have started it! He assumed you were back at the hotel with your wife!"

"If it was an accident, why did he marry my wife three months later?!" The apparition demanded. The temperature in the room dropped even further.

Mai shivered. "Because she was pregnant with your child!" She told him. "She was pregnant and alone and needed someone to rely on, and he didn't want your child to grow up without a father!"

Even though it was the truth, it wasn't enough to console the malevolent spirit. The door to the room splintered apart and Bou-san and John rushed in, chanting until the spirit of Mr. Takanada dissipated.

"I'm fine." She assured both anxious men as they came rushing over to her.

"Let's get you back to base." Bou-san said, carefully helping the young woman to her feet.

Despite her declaration, Mai was anything but fine. She hadn't been able to talk Mr. Takanada into passing on, and this case was dragging on too long. He'd almost killed thirteen people, and four of his victims were still in intensive care. It was time to move to their last resort.

When he finally returned to his apartment later that night – after one of the most exhausting exorcisms he'd ever been a part of, Houshou Takigawa was floored to find a message on his answering machine…from Lin. But even stranger than that, was the request the onmiyouji made of his former colleague.

The pony-tail wearing monk sank onto the couch and considered what he'd just learned. It was certainly not what he'd expected to hear from Lin…assuming he'd ever hear from Lin again. Takigawa groaned in frustration, and then, giving up, picked up his phone and dialed Ayako.

He remembered belatedly that she was working a double shift at the hospital and wasn't home, so he left her a message explaining the situation and asked her to call him back.

He wanted to call the others too, but he figured he'd get her input first, before they did anything drastic. It amazed him, how much he'd come to rely on the fiery priestess in the last year or so.

When Naru – Oliver, he reminded himself – and Lin had left for England, likely never to return, Takigawa had assumed that their little band of paranormal-hunting misfits would disband and go their separate ways.

Boy was he glad to have been proven wrong. Not even a month after the two men were gone, Mai had come to him with the thrilling idea of continuing their paranormal activities. They'd had to move offices, of course, and they'd had to convince everyone to stick around until they got the money situation figured out, but it had been surprisingly easy. No one had said a word against it. Ayako had even pitched in with money, and Masako had "lent" them some old equipment that she'd always conveniently "forget" to take back with her. They'd kept the name SPR and thanks to the reputation they'd built up with Naru – Oliver! – and Lin's help, they'd gained even more clients in the year and a half since. Mai worked at the place full-time, plus she was attending university (Ayako's condition for paying into their new business) and everyone else was there when they were available. Which, he realized, turned out to be quite often. The cases where someone was unavailable were actually quite rare. As were the cases where someone didn't end up hurt (usually it was Mai).

But, he supposed, that was all part of the job description when it came to their line of work. Still, he worried about Mai these days. She wasn't the same since…Oliver and Lin had left. She'd tried to hide it, but the girl was a terrible liar. Takigawa just wasn't sure what exactly it was that was bothering her. All of them had tried various methods to get her to spill, but nothing had worked, and eventually they'd moved on. But that didn't keep him, or any of the others, from worrying about her.

He sighed and thought again of the strange request his Chinese friend had made. Takigawa paused for a brief second to realize that he had indeed referred to the stoic man as his friend, and that he honestly meant it. He still couldn't believe that message, though. Something must have really changed, for the stoic man to make a request like this. He just hoped that whatever this new situation was, Mai didn't end up on the wrong end of it. Somehow, he had a terrible feeling that she would.