~~~I do not own Ghost Hunt nor do I own the basis of the idea for this story... It kinda came from Sahara, the movie. Just in general. :D Please enjoy.. I think its a bit rough if i do say so my self. Please R and R.~~~

There was more to Lin-san and Naru then met the eye. All of us who worked with them knew they both had secrets but we never knew just how deep those secrets went until the day SPR received a case in Africa. It was in all technicalities on a ship used by explorers who found the treasures buried in the ocean.

We didn't know how to react when Naru called us all into the conference room area to tell us of the latest case. There was excitement to be sure of, the excitement of traveling to another country. Yet there was also the layer of unease caused by this newest development in the unknown of our boss and fellow worker.

We all stared at Naru with a gaping fish expression. It was a bit too much to take in, I mean it was an exploration ship. We just didn't expect that from our seriously anti-social to the point that it should actually be illegal boss. It was actually a friend of his and Lin-san's.

Bou-san seemed to gather at least a little of his senses, not that there was much to begin with. He snapped his jaw closed with an audible click before yelling, "Who? What? Where? When? And the most important question WHY???" It was the questions we were all dying to ask.

Naru simply looked at him with a 'get a freaking clue' look before turning back to the file that seemed to deserve his undivided attention. I'm not sure what was in the file but I'd put money on it being porn. What else could hold a guys attention as well as that could???

"We will be leaving tomorrow morning at eight. Meet here and we will ride to the airport together. We will be taking Gus's private plane. Pack for a week." With that he walked back to his office. He didn't even give us the details of what the case was about.

Ayako looked slouched in her chair with an eye roll. "He is pleasant as always." But she leaned forward eagerly. "But enough about him, we're going to Africa, we're going to be on a ship!! This is so exciting!" Just by the look of her face you could tell that thoughts about swimsuits and hot guys were filling her mind.

Of course Bou-san has to make a comment and they are soon fighting away. John heaved a heavy sigh before heading towards the door with a soft goodbye. Masako simply looked longingly at Naru's firmly shut door, pining after the boy like a…. well a pine tree. Nothing else measured up.

I sighed. It wasn't so long ago that I had been pining after the same boy yet my heart soon saw the error of its ways. It had enough of the useless hurting and longing for the boy who would never change. Who my heart longed after now though wasn't a huge step up. He was kind and showed emotion more though defiantly not by much.

Lin-san stood up, picked up his computer and headed towards his office. I shook myself out of my stupor before turning my attention to the people around me. "Tea anyone? Lin-san?" I had to make some any way, call it my amazing intuition but I knew Naru was going to call for some at any mo…

"Mai, tea!" Ding, ding, ding we have a winner. I sighed before looking at everyone again. Nods bobbed around me so I went and did my duty of making tea. I gave it to Naru before heading into Lin's office. Everyone else grabbed theirs off a tray I put on the coffee table.

Lin-san thanked me when I put the cup on his desk, his eyes barely glancing up from the computer screen in front of him. My heart fell a little at this but at least he thanked me.

The rest of the day passed without anything of interest happening and before I knew it, it was time to go home. Packing was easy enough and then it was to bed. I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.

Ring, Ring, Ring!! The sound of a phone ringing woke me from my deep and sound slumber. "Stupid phone. Shut Up!!" I threw my pillow in the general direction of the ringing and missed by a mile.

With a groan I sat up and grabbed the insultive object off my dresser. The number on my phone made me want to curl into a ball and cry. It was Naru and a look at the clock confirmed that I was late by an hour.

"Hello?" I asked cautiously. I really didn't need to be reamed right now.

The voice that greeted me on the other end was a welcome surprise. "Mai-Chan, Naru would like to know if you are planning on joining us anytime soon." Something about this didn't sit quite right with me but I couldn't put my finger on it..

"Yes, I'm sorry. My alarm didn't go off again. I will be there in half an hour. I'm really sorry." I began rushing around, attempting to dress and talk on the phone at the same time as soon as how late I was hit me. I should have figured it wouldn't work, knowing how uncoordinated I was but I had to try. I ended up falling forwards, my feet tangled in my skirt and face planted into the door.

"OUCH!!!" I yelled, momentarily forgetting about the phone and in addition the man whose ear was on the other end.

A soft grunt of pain from my yell in his ear came over the phone before "Mai-Chan? Are you alright?" I thought I had hit myself harder than I had originally thought because he sounded really concerned.

"Yeah, I'm fine. My face just met the door." My face burned embarrassment.

"Okay. Be careful on your way here. Bye." There was a click and I sighed.

What had I expected? I mumbled "Yea. Okay. I love you Lin-san. Bye to you too," before closing my own phone. In hindsight that probably wasn't the smartest thing I could have done because when I arrived at the SPR offices I found out that he hadn't hung up the phone yet. He had heard everything I had said. I knew this because he glanced at me with a slight smile on his face before heading towards the van.

My face turned red and I would have given anything for the ground to come up and swallow me but instead I found myself stuffed between him and Naru on the trip to the airport. At the airport I went to the farthest end away from Lin-san and sat there because I really didn't need to make any more of a fool of myself, I was already on a roll.

It wasn't long after we took off that I ended up falling fast asleep. Flying was awesome, don't get me wrong but the thrill fades quite quickly. So the flight went in intervals of me sleeping, listening to music, and talking to Bou-san and Ayako before we finally landed.