Once the Hisakawa couple had been reassured that their new home was now spirit free the group packed up and headed back. It took hours to traverse the windy paths that led them back to the old school that housed PRI. The vans emptied, the equipment was put away, and the members themselves grew utterly exhausted.

Mai didn't stick around to say goodbye to Lin, Madoka, Gene, and Naru. Quite frankly she wanted to spend more time with three out of four of them. But looking at the tall narcissist right now was on the list of things she would rather not be doing. So instead she headed up to her apartment and locked herself away.

There were two things Mai felt she needed right now. The first being comfort food the second being a friend to talk to. So her desire for sweets had her rummaging in her freezer for her favorite tub of ice cream. She knew a lot of her friends preferred some of the flavors you could only easily find in Japan like red bean, green tea, or even kabocha (japanese pumpkin). But for Mai she was perfectly content with fruit based flavors. Her favorite would always be strawberry, although she would never pass up peach or lemon either.

Once she had a dish with two heaping scoops of strawberry ice cream and a spoon she settled on her couch. Mai couldn't fathom splurging on much in way of financial expenditures but the couch was one of those chance finds she had came across and had to have. It's cushions were so plush and fluffy that once she would sit down it was like it would come back up to meet her and hold her softly in it's embrace.

Once comfortable, she pulled her cell phone from the depths of her sweater pockets, having to discard lint that had attracted itself to the screen, and searched through her contacts for the person she desired to talk to most right now.

Masako answered on the second ring. "Done with your case?"

"Yeah, it was a pretty rough one too. Three spirits total to contend with, although only one of those was actually malicious. That's really not what I want to talk to you about though. I'm having an ice cream moment."

"Oh, yes, let me get my own bowl of green tea before you begin." Mai lightly chuckled at that. Ever since they buried the hatchet on their former animosity toward each other they would have a "dish" session about Naru. Dish meaning two things, talking about him and pigging out on a dish of ice cream.

"Okay, I'm all set. So shoot, tell me all about what he looks like now."

Mai groaned. "Of course he is even more gorgeous...heck I think he has been working out. His chest seemed broader...gah I shouldn't even be telling you all this. I want to get him off my mind not on it." She shifted uncomfortably as her subconscious began to crave his body. It took a lot to attempt to block the mental images of Naru that had infiltrated into her mind.

"So? Did anything happen between you two?" Masako giggled.

"Not even remotely. I may still love the narcissist but I am not jumping back into those emotions right away. I can't do that to myself, open my emotions up like again. I was such a wreck those first six months."

All her friends had been close to her during that time frame. But Masako had been the closest. She felt Mai's heart breaking as if it had been her own. That was probably what made her realize how differently she felt about Oliver. She didn't feel like a part of her was ripped open and bleeding on the inside when he left. A part of her did feel a bit hollow, but that was easily explained away by merely realizing she missed going on cases with everybody.

"I don't have any TV spots in the near future. I think my next appearance is happening next week. I could come over tonight if you want?"

"Nah, not tonight. I wouldn't be much company. I planned on falling asleep as soon I was off the phone with you."

"Well, then how about I show up around lunchtime tomorrow? Perhaps we could go out just the two of us?"

"I'll take the lunch offer but you know how it can get around here. I can't guarantee we will be able to leave the office."

Mai could hear the grin in Masako's voice when she responded. "That's very true. I should spend some time with the kids also. I haven't seen them in nearly a month."

OoO

"Noll, seriously this pacing is getting ridiculous. Why don't you just lay all your feelings on the line?"

Oliver stopped in his tracks. "Do you really think she would believe me if I did that?"

"True, she is more likely to believe it if she sees the truth of it for herself. Not that I want to see you two twisted around each other." Gene shakes himself with a grossed out expression on his face. "But, sometimes a girl just likes to be literally swept off her feet."

"Gene, you know as well as we all do that Mai is different." Lin stated from where he was mildly observing at the computer desk.

Madoka came in to the living room from the kitchen. "Pssh, she's different but she is still a girl. I say that Oliver do something romantic. Something, she probably wouldn't expect to come from him." Madoka looked at Lin just after she said this.

Lin being the intelligent person he was knew this was a hint. His girlfriend wanted some big romantic gesture that he would have to figure out how to pull off. If he didn't care for the woman he definitely wouldn't go to the effort. But he found the hints she would throw at him a unique puzzle he would have to solve. It kept him guessing and their romance fresh.

A sigh expelled from Oliver as he contemplated over everything that was being discussed around him. Planning anything would be a pain. He would rather just let things happen naturally.

The darkness penetrated her consciousness. The cold cave walls made her shiver. She nearly began to hyperventilate when she realized she was in this same dream again.

A calming presence pressed up against her left shoulder and she knew that Gene was also seeing this with his own eyes. Mai looked around the cave, hoping to be able to spot something in the shadows cast off from the light of that strange burial urn. It was next to impossible to see anything other then the lack of light.

So instead she turned back to the direction of the light again. It didn't take long for her to realize that she wasn't only tempted by the illumination the urn was casting but also it was as if it had some kind of magical pull on her. She kept inching closer like she was a piece of metal and the urn was a magnet pulling her into it's magnetic field.

Once she was only a couple feet away from the urn she began to once again feel the bony fingers clawing at her body. They pinched and pushed inflicting pain all over her arms and legs. "Ah, so you again become ambitious enough to trespass through these passageways. I should ask what curiosities have brought you down these paths. But I care not of what motivates mortals.

"So instead, human. Heed this warning well. The next time you trespass I won't take so kindly to this transgression. I shall take this opportunity to remind you of how trivial your life, as well as your friends, are in the grand scheme of things. You will never obtain it if that is your true desire. Also, even if it is not, I will take it as a great threat should I see you here again."

Mai felt a push at her shoulder and suddenly she was whipped around. She blinked rapidly as she realized she was staring at Gene. She didn't have time to ask herself how she could see him again before he was saying,"Mai, the burial urn, look at it closely before waking up. It's important." Then, before she could ask what he meant, Gene's form blinked out of existence.

Mai spun back around and glanced at the burial urn. The glow of the light itself was more blue then white pouring directly from the lid of the urn. The color of the urn was a blend of grays and purples. There were strange markings all over it. She committed all this to memory as the larger skeleton with the glowing eyes reached out to her. She flinched as she felt magically dispelled away.

Mai awoke drenched in a cold sweat. She reached over to her bedside table and pulled out a dream journal she had been keeping since SPR disbanded. She wasn't great at drawing but she made an attempt to duplicate the symbols she saw on the urn. Then she jotted down colors and how it glowed. She wrote down anything she gleaned from the visual of that urn.

Once she was done she looked at the clock and noted it was 4 in the morning. There wasn't much point in going back to bed. In fact, she decided that going for a jog might be a good idea. But not until after she had a shower to get rid of the cold sweat she was currently drenched in. It seemed a bit counterproductive to take a shower then go for a jog but it was late September and the breeze outside would be cool. The last thing she needed was to catch a cold from the chilling sweat coating her body.

Mai massaged the soap all over her body as she stood underneath the pelting warm spray of the shower. She relaxed against the massaging pulse jetting across her skin. She blinked open her eyes and gasped as she noticed the bruising up and down her arms and legs. She grew exceptionally worried about the ramifications of having that same dream again when the head skeletal figure seemed fit for a murderous rampage.

The terror that Gene felt from Mai coursed through Noll's veins. He woke up determined to talk these dreams over with her. Plus, he had to make sure with his own eyes that she was okay.

He pulled on a jacket and sneakers and headed over to PRI determined to get someone to let him. He had just gotten out of his car when he saw her in the main office. Her hair was in a high pony tail. She was leaning over her desk and the tight yoga pants she was wearing only molded to her feminine curves, delectably accentuating them to his sight. Noll found himself expelling a masculine sigh, that was more equal parts sigh and a groan of frustration. He nearly knocked on the window but he figured waiting off to the side for her was a better idea.

Mai locked the door behind her before she began stretching. "Do you always go out for a jog at 4:30 in the morning?"

She jumped then looked at Naru. His hair was rumpled. His eyes looked a bit bleary from probably just being woken up. He was wearing a jacket, pajama bottoms, and sneakers. This was not the clothing attire she was used to when it came to him. Rather then answer his question she sighed and said, "Oliver, what are you doing here?"

"You had to know how that dream affected Gene, which in turn affected me also."

Instead of answering Mai took a deep breath and finished her stretches. Then she took off on her jog. She wasn't all that surprised to find that Naru had decided to jog alongside her.

Jogging had grown to be one of Mai's favored pastimes, especially after a dream had spooked her. She liked the rush of endorphins that pulsated throughout her body and helped her remember she was alive. It wasn't something she shared with anyone because she always took these jogs early in the morning before anyone else had awoken from their near comatose states. But listening to Naru's breath beside her didn't feel like an invasion on her secret pastime. Instead it felt somehow complete. Mai mentally shook her mind away from that revelation and focused once again on her breathing and the way the soles of her shoes struck the sidewalk beneath her.

So this must be how she has sculpted that sinewy muscle tone along her legs. Noll forced himself not to think too long on how it probably also was the action that added the muscle tone that accentuated the covetous curves of her backside.

They turned around the block a third time and Mai headed back toward the front of the building. Her breath was a tad erratic as she grew more winded, deciding that it was time to call it. "Oliver, we will talk more later. Go home, have some breakfast, and get dressed." She smirked at him when he looked down to his pajama bottoms.

Noll was tempted to do something flirtatious like wink at her. But he knew her reaction to that would have been off. "Talk about?"

Mai shrugged. "We can start with the dream and go from there I guess."

Noll truthfully wanted a more definitive answer. But he that demanding for more would probably come across as uncaring. He was growing determined to make her realize he was anything but uncaring when it came to her.