Proceeding the end of this chapter will be an author's note with details on future updates.  Please read it!

John has never been one to worry what others might think. He has always been confident enough in himself and his abilities that other opinions didn't often matter. When it came to everything else he simply didn't let himself be overly concerned. But in that moment he somehow felt slightly self conscious. Not of himself per say. But he did find himself wondering how Akane would perceive his apartment. Would she be able to tell what kind of person he was by the few things he had lying around? Would she worry over the sparseness in decoration? He didn't really have anything that represented his personal life or family. What would not having those items make her think about him? What would her reaction to his apartment as a whole be?

But then he turned toward her with a kind smile in place and noticed how her body was constantly shivering ever so slightly. Was she scared? If so what of? Did she worry that the person who attacked her might try again? So many questions kept popping in John's mind and he found himself overwhelmed in that moment. He tried to calm himself by looking her in the eyes. Then somehow it occurred to him that he had already done that a lot and had not really taken notice of the rest of her appearance.

Her hair was sectioned off in curly clumps that were matted heavily with dirt but still tried to frame around her face. Because of this it made the color of her hair quite hard to determine. She definitely would need a shower just to wash away the filth that clung to her body from living on the streets. He assumed that was the reasoning behind the measure of grime that was coating her clothing and locks of hair. She struck him as someone on the run. Running from what though exactly? Herself and her abilities most likely. But was it his yearning to help those in need driving him right now?

John really wasn't sure he could be certain. He had only in the past day or so began to patch up his own mangled feelings. It was highly unlikely that his current road to recovery would reopen the full extent of his compassion. But yet it felt like in that moment that, that was exactly what had happened. Still however there was this warmth in his stomach that somehow seemed to contradict that line of thinking, and told him it was something else entirely. It was something about this woman specifically that called out this sense of compassion.

He shook his head metaphorically and turned to grab something temporary for her to wear. Luckily she is a couple inches shorter then him and seemed to be about the same size. So he pulls a pair of pajama bottoms out and a t-shirt he rarely ever wore. "I am sure you want to clean up." He turns to her again to hand her the clothes. She is still shaking like a leaf but something tells him that until she gets her emotions under control the shaking won't stop. He can only hope that the shower will help a little and give her some privacy to put some things in perspective.

The soft padding of her footsteps and the closing of the bathroom door tells him that she has taken his suggestion and the sound of the facet turning confirms it. He decides to give her some more privacy and goes off to find Mai since she had promised to share some of her own clothing.

As Akane was guided away with John, Noll made a beeline to Mai's side. He gently grabbed her elbow to make his presence known and whispered to her. "I'd like for us to talk."

Mai was surprised he was not being demanding. It wasn't like him to suggest something rather than make prompt demands and expect a specific reaction to occur. But she felt her throat close up on itself and unable to voice a response so instead she simply nodded and led him back to her apartment. She assumed he would head straight for the kitchen table and would want tea so she set off to make a couple cups for the both of them. But suddenly she felt a tingle run up her spine that told her he instead had followed her to the kitchen and was right behind her. "I never demanded tea, Mai."

Mai turned to look at him. There was something different in his expression. It wasn't softened by emotion. He wasn't smiling. He wasn't scowling, nor did he look pensive and in thought. She couldn't put her finger on what this expression was. It was gentler somehow and less harsh than the normal look in his eyes. "I thought we had discussed what name I would like you to use for me over the phone only a couple hours ago. Yet, for some reason you are still addressing me as Oliver. Can you tell me why?"

The tea kettle began to whistle so she turned back to attend to the preparations of making them both a cup. "It's not going to happen in the span of a few hours or even overnight. I'm not ready to discuss the whens or whys with you about my emotions and how I am dealing with them. But," she sighed for a moment before continuing, "please know that I am dealing with them. Just because I am keeping you distant currently doesn't mean I will always. But, for the time being let me first get used to your presence again. I still feel a bit off kilter with you simply being in the same hemisphere."

Noll realized in that moment that the final statement alone was probably more then she intended to admit so while he wanted to push the issue something inside him told him that he had better not. For once in his life he decided that listening to his instinct was better then listening to what his mind was telling him to. "Then let's continue to talk about your dreams. I want to share some of the information I was able to confirm."

They both sat down at her small kitchen table. "I don't know much at this time other then what the main figure is and something about the jar you saw in your dreams. But that is a lot more then we knew before now. The creature in the robes is called a lich. I don't know if you are familiar with necromancy at all?"

"The only thing I know about necromancy is from fiction. It is a form of magic specializing in reanimating the dead." The expression on her face was a mixture of intrigue and confusion, both Noll understood well.

"Yes, and as you know much in fiction is loosely based on fact. Necromancy and those who practice it, necromancers, both do exist. But the practices are a bit obscured in fiction. The truth is a necromancer is more one that practices occult magic on his own body to reanimate himself after death. A lich is the product of this practice."

"Wow, so you are saying that a necromancer was able to successfully keep himself alive by casting a spell while he was still alive that turned him into a lich? Now I feel like I have another reason to constantly be comparing it to the Urado case." Mai shook for a minute as the information passed through her.

She jumped when there was a knock at her door. She took a deep breath to answer it to John who was asking after some articles of clothing for Akane. Mai made quick work of grabbing some essentials for their new charge and returned to Naru. "You said you found out about the jar also."

"Oh yes there is great reason that this lich is warning you away from the jar. The jar is called a phylactery. It is what contains his power. It also contains his soul." Noll watched Mai as she thought this through.

"Before you said something about his soul I thought we would have to smash it to send him away. But now...smashing it sounds like the worse thing we could do."

"I think time will tell. We have yet to be called into any case that might involve this lich. But once we do I believe having a solid amount of information and planning is paramount to solving that case with the smallest amount of difficulty possible." Noll tried to stress that they would both take this on but he again underestimated her constant underlining compassion for others.

"Yes, I don't want to lose anyone like we did on previous cases. I know I keep making the comparison but constantly the Urado case comes to mind." Mai's fingers begin to shake as she dives into the memories of those that disappeared during the Urado case.

"I say trust your instinct because something also tells me that this case will be quite similar, and we will want to be prepared when the time does come."

"Perhaps we can make a list of ways we might be able to take care of the phylactery." Mai suggests softly.

"Yes, that would be a good idea." Noll nods back at her. Then he does something he knew she would never expect. He grabs her shaking hand in his own attempting to reassure her. "We should get back to the others and go over the new case more closely since we were interrupted."

Mai nods and they both go back downstairs together.

John opens the door to his apartment and immediately his ears notice that the shower is no longer running. So he turns around to smile gently at Akane. She is now wearing his clothing, and he knows they don't quite suit her. But he finds the visual endearing nonetheless. He hands her the pile that Mai gave him. "I picked up these from Mai for you. I am sure they will be better then what I could supply you."

Akane is still obviously out of sorts but she smiles up at his kindness. "You all have been so kind. I don't even know where I can begin to say thank you."

John chuckled slight. "I think you just did."

Akane softly giggles in response and John finds the sound quite charming. "I'm glad that Mai thought to include a hair dryer." She held up the contraption that was on the top of the pile Mai gave him. "One thing I am immensely thankful for is you offering up the shower to me. But I hate wet hair. Give me a few minutes and I will be right back then perhaps you can give me a tour of the building."

Outwardly emotionally Akane seems to have bounced back. John was worried that she might have been pushing herself however. He had yet to feel like himself again and it had been months. How could Akane feel like herself again in only a half an hour or so? There was also the extreme possibility that she wasn't being herself. There was no way of knowing since he only just met her within this past hour. But he mostly had the feeling that she was simply putting on a brave face toward a group of strangers that offered her kindness, food, and shelter.

The click of the hair dryer shutting off penetrated his thoughts and a few moments later Akane returned through the bathroom door. He felt his jaw drop as he took in her true beauty for the first time. Her hair was a golden brown in color and it reached just past her shoulders. Curls spiraled down the sides of her face and against her cheekbones. The lightness of her hair tone now made several freckles that he had not notice were there before stand out to him. "Um, you do know that if you keep your mouth open like that bugs are bound to fly into it?"

John snapped his mouth shut and turned on his heel. He cleared his throat before asking,"Let's go on the tour now shall we?"

Before I get into the important news I just wanted to stop and thank everyone for following and voting on this story.  Obviously I personally love Ghost Hunt and think it is exceptionally underrated so I am so thankful to discover those who also love the show/manga as equally, or maybe even more so than I do.  The fact that you all are enjoying the story so much puts such a huge smile on my face and kind of makes me want to update more often than I do.

That being said let me quickly go over my original plan for updates.  I have three different stories I am currently writing fanfiction wise so I have been rotating out which stories I am going to update.  That means originally I was updating this story every third week on Friday mornings.  But also before putting them up on wattpad I have been waiting until I have 5 chapters written, at least, before posting any chapter at all.  If I can get ahead somewhere between 8-10 chapters I may start posting biweekly instead of every third week.  So as of right now unless I get enough chapters pre-written the next chapter should be up the 28th.   If I get it up on the 21st then expect me to be updating biweekly instead.  :)

Thanks so much for your support!