About 30 years ago, two dead bodies were discovered in a desolated flat. One of a man, one of a woman. As it was found out later, both of them were husband and wife. After a thorough analysis of the bodies, it was determined that the wife had been strangled to death on the 10th of December, at approximately 11:30 pm. The husband, though, had died about three days later, some time on December the 13th. He apparently had committed suicide by slicing his throat with a sharp object.

There had been no witnesses of the incident and the neighbors had adamantly denied hearing any noises of a struggle. The investigation continued for about a few weeks and then the results were announced publicly.

"The husband had strangled his wife using the brute strength of his hands and then committed suicide. As of today, the motives are still unknown, as is the three day wait period unclear. Surprisingly enough, after two weeks of searching, we have not yet found a single fingerprint - other than on the bodies - in the whole flat, nor the object that the man had used to cut his throat. The peculiar thing is that most of the other residents of the house claim that the couple had been a pair of quiet, polite and humble people," - was the only comment on the case, made by a police officer in charge, directly to the media. A couple of days later, when the case was officially wrapped up for good, a small article regarding the incident was published in a few papers under the insignificant title of:

A Family Quarrel.

I could tell with only a mere glance - this was certainly that kind of a dream. The one that strangely kept reoccurring only at certain moments of my quite unnatural life. The sky and the earth had seemed to have dissipated into minuscule particles, no longer visible to the regular eye. It felt as if the air all around had been sucked out, leaving only the completely void space. And yet it was strangely peaceful, somehow. To me, anyway.

"Mai," a voice resonated through the empty space. "Do you hear me, Mai?" I turned, already feeling the giddy sensation of butterflies fluttering in the pit of my stomach. Idiot, feeling so excited over a dream.

"Naru." There's that smile again. Like usual, he was standing in front of me, a soft, comforting look on his face. I could never comprehend why I would dream of him and only him, almost every single time I fell asleep. That, or I never actually felt in the mood for putting effort into comprehending those kind of things.

Sure, there was that growing infatuation I had over the bastard, but I believe it was always safer to claim that he was appearing in my dreams for the sole purpose of aiding in the solving of mysteries. Of course, that wouldn't explain those particular times when his appearance in my dreams had nothing to do with the case but, heck, it wasn't like I was feeling anything that could be described as "serious" towards him.

He's a narcissist, for God's sake! What possibly could a self-respecting lady like me ever feel for an arrogant, egotistical liar, even if he did accidentally possess all the assets needed to make any woman drool and blush for no particular reason at the sight of him?

"Mai, you have to wake up," he said, a note of concern momentarily fleeing through his voice. I took the time to notice that he was standing closer to me than usual. Still, that wasn't the reason why shivers had suddenly decided to occupy themselves with traveling up and down my spine. It was the look in his eyes. He was still wearing the same welcoming smile, but now, his eyes harbored something else.

"You're in grave danger," he whispered, his eyes conveying a silent message. Now that I had finally noticed, I could tell he was, even if only a slight bit, more tense than usual.

"I am in danger?" I echoed stupidly, too busy studying his physique to think up a coherent answer. Surely, it wasn't every day you got to see a man as collected as him tense. Now that I had been working with (or, rather, for) him for almost a year, it was noticeably easier to read him. Except for the fact that he never ceased to amaze and surprise me with his reactions.

With Naru, it was always his gestures and the way his body moved and tensed due to certain circumstances. In no occasion so far had I managed to acquire more information from his facial expressions than his body language. Not that this kind of a fact is surprising in itself, is it? This is my boss we're talking about.

"Why? What is happening, Naru?"

"Mai, listen to me. It's dangerous here," the young man inched closer. "You must wake up and leave your flat right now."

Sure, with Naru, there were also some facial expressions that didn't even require translating. For example, it personally had always been clear to me that the occasional roll of the eyes meant either: a) Mai, get me a cup of tea; b) Mai, I'm not going to bother explaining this because you are too stupid to understand; c) Mai, you're late again, I thought I told you to call the client before you leave; and the slightly less popular - d) Your case does not interest me, but since I am a professional, I shall refrain from insulting you and settle with the standard "No".

That's Naru alright. Suddenly, I felt Naru's warm palm wrap around my wrist. Snapping out of my reverie, I gazed in to his eyes, my stomach sinking. I've no time for pondering, do I.

"Mai, I'm serious," this was the first time the Naru in my dreams and the real Naru looked so much alike, if that statement alone could make any sense, for they both looked like the other in almost every single aspect. "You have to wake up and leave. You're in danger." They were kind of the same person, too.

"Who is after me, Naru?" I questioned, gulping down saliva in hopes of wetting my unexpectedly parched throat. What was he talking about? Sure, this wasn't the first time he was giving me a warning, but this was certainly the first time he was giving me a warning while looking so tense. I could practically imagine his shoulders screaming in pain from the way they looked completely stiff.

"Mai, there is no time to explain," his palm tightened around my wrist. It was only then when I finally registered (with shock, too) that this was also the first time that the Naru in my dreams was actually making direct contact with my skin. Something was definitely wrong with this whole situation. "There is something you must do."

"Yes?"

"Wake up, get outside as fast as you can and then, whatever you do," he made a short pause. "Do not sleep for three days."

"What?" Someone tell me I imagined that last part. There's a valid reason why I had never been able to diet successfully in my whole life. Ever. I seriously lack that important thing they call "self-restraint".

"Naru, why? What is going on?!" Surely, his hold on my wrist should have appeared unbearably tight by now, but all I could apparently feel at the moment was the tension radiating off of him in silent waves. Then again, concentrating on something else while being this close to him was never my forte. Reflexively, I blinked and a silent realization hit me. He was gone already, the darkness absorbing his stoic form completely.

I mean, cookies are one thing, but staying awake for three whole days can prove to be a tad bit more difficult.

"Naru?" I uttered, feeling completely baffled. Thoughts were still going through my mind in a complete disarray, but by now I had begun to take notice just how freezing cold the empty space felt around me. Really cold. Too cold. I could practically feel the deadly substance seeping into my body, sucking me void of my body warmth and making my bones feel as fragile as glass.

"Naru!" I'm cold. I turned, squinting my eyes, frantically trying to make out any kind of solid object in the darkness. What is it with all of this? I couldn't see anything. Absolutely nothing. I had no idea which way was "out", I couldn't even tell where was up or down. I was all alone, trapped in the darkness like a captured animal in a cage.

The steadily dropping temperature wasn't helping either. It took me some time to actually notice that I was beginning to shiver and so when I did, I wrapped my arms around myself in a last desperate hope of saving what was left of my body warmth.

Except that was when I heard the sound.

Silent, but distinguishable. The sound of footsteps. And they were undoubtedly getting closer to wherever I was standing which each passing second.

I turned again, rapidly, trying to stay as quiet as possible, as I looked around for the source of the noise. The problem was, I couldn't pinpoint it no matter how hard I strained my eyes to see. The sound of someone walking was somewhere close and then again, it was echoing all over. The only solution I had, it seemed, was the one that Naru had suggested. One little detail, though. How the hell was I supposed wake myself up in this kind of a situation?

And then it struck me. The footsteps had stopped.

Instinctively, I closed my eyes and started chanting my own kind of mantra in my mind. Wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up. I could distantly feel someone's slow breathing behind me, but I ignored it. Wake up, wake up, wake up. I didn't even know what I was scared of – for God's sake, I didn't even know whether the person, or whatever it was that was standing behind me, was a real threat, but all I knew was that it felt wrong. Wake up, wake up, wake up. Something was wrong. Even if it was pure instinct that was making me believe that, I chose to believe it.

And at that exact moment, the object of my unreasonably intense fear seemed to decide it was time to confirm my feverish thoughts.

I sensed it before I heard it – the sharp intake of breath and then the noise of stretching fabric.

My spine felt as if it was on the verge of snapping as I rapidly made it turn a full 180 degrees, finally acknowledging the fact that someone or something behind me wasn't just a part of my imagination. Or maybe it was and I was just too stupid to realize, but the only thought my mind seemed to be able to produce as I registered a pare of ghostly pale arms, with nails that vaguely resembled claws, stretching towards me, was:

Wake up, wake up, WAKE UP!

December 10th, 11:57 pm.

If there could possibly be anything worse then Naru's complete and total rudeness, narcissism, sarcasm and indifference to everything and everyone, it was this.

"So wait, you heard a voice in your sleep, telling you to stay awake for three days?"

And for the umpteenth time during the past hour I found myself answering the same question in the same desperate voice. Sure, the desperation then and the desperation now felt rather different, because back then I was intent on surviving and currently, I was having quite a difficult time, trying to restrain that throbbing vein in my temple.

"Yes, Bou-san," I managed, through clenched teeth. "And before you ask again – no, I don't have any indication as to what that cryptic warning could possibly mean."

Upon making contact with Houshou Takigawa's eyes, though, I felt a cold wave of regret wash over me, anger dissipating. I had no right to be rigorous towards him for asking that question. After all, I was the one who dialed his number in the middle of the night, bearing a desperate need for support of some kind. And not only did he answer to my plead, he immediately took it upon himself to do everything he can, to help me. Which is how we ended up here.

In Naru's apartment.

"I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean that," I stammered, rising from my seat, the cruelness of my own actions terrifying me. "Really, I just–"

"No, it's fine, you're right," he whispered, the steady weight of his warm hands on my shoulders already steering me back to my seat. "I'm being ridiculous."

Dumbfounded, I watched his comforting smile, unexplainable knots tying and untying themselves at the pit of my stomach. Honestly, I couldn't think of anything to say and I wanted to say so much. What I felt for this good-humored fallow-haired monk had long ago passed the boundaries of gratitude alone. There was a reason, why I dialed his and no one else's phone tonight, I was just denying it.

"What do you reckon, Naru-bou?"

Blinking, I realized that Bou-san was no longer facing me. He was currently busy staring at my slightly-disgruntled boss, Shibuya Kazuya, an expectant look all over his face.

Not good.

"I think," the aforementioned young man said, turning on his heel to stare through the window, actually displaying mild irritation for the first time that evening. "There's a good chance that Mai simply had a nightmare."

Suddenly aware of the monk's grip tightening on my shoulders, I flashed him a warning look, opening my mouth to say something. Before I could, though, he had already expressed his thoughts, his voice considerably louder than before:

"And I think we've had enough experience concerning Mai's dreams to have to take each and every one of them seriously," he paused. "Even if we're not working on a case."

"Well, since you obviously have the situation all figured out," said Naru, now sounding thoroughly annoyed, "Why ask my opinion?"

"Are you implying that we're supposed to ignore the fact that she," he pointed at me, narrowing his eyes. "Your own assistant, had a warning to stay awake for three days, no matter what? Is that how you treat all of your employees?"

I was pretty sure that, at some point, Naru would throw us out of his apartment. I just never thought it would be this soon. Bou-san was threading on thin ice here – I had heard before, from Lin-san, that Naru was definitely not a morning person. And since "yesterday" was only about a half an hour ago, I figured it was as early in the morning as you could possibly get.

"Err.." I started, tentatively, unsure of what I was supposed to say.

"It is none of your concern, Takigawa-san, how I treat my employees," the narcissist said, his voice dangerously low. "But just to make sure this never comes up again, I have already – a half an hour ago, actually – made arrangements for Lin to find out as much as possible about the place, where Mai is currently taking residence. Even though there's a good chance it was an ordinary nightmare, if it wasn't, the three-day period is probably a way of preventing her from accidentally taking part in something that has happened before."

This time, I wasn't the only one who seemed to have no idea of how to reply. As the silence stretched, I found myself wondering again, if I should alter my own definition of the word "unpredictable". Since after every single conversation with Naru, it had the tendency to gain yet another meaning.

"In any case, we shall take precautions regarding Mai's dream," Naru's voice had now adopted a minuscule note of satisfaction – I could practically hear a smirk growing under his otherwise collected demeanor. "Each member of SPR will take shifts in watching her, since it would be impossible for Mai to stay alert on her own even if her life was in danger."

Ooh, the vein just made a spectacular reappearance.

"And you," you ostentatious little jerk, I thought, openly glaring at Naru's raised eyebrow, only distantly noting that I was once again on my feet, Bou-san's hands off of my shoulders."You couldn't refrain from being sardonic even if the whole world depended on it!"

If he wasn't going to blow his top, someone else would just have to do it in his place. And boy, would I be glad to do the honors. All those times he didn't say "please" when asking for tea, all those snide remarks, all the ordering around! I was going to make him regret it. Today.

Fuming, I watched as Naru simply stood there, regarding me with what looked like growing amusement. To say that his smirk made me downright pissed would be a rather harsh understatement. Reflexively, my eyes darted around the room, hands itching for some kind of a sharp object to implement attack with. There was no way I would win with words but I wasn't going down that easily!

"Right then," I jumped, turning rapidly, having completely forgotten the other male. "You take the first shift," the monk said, already making his way to the door with undisguised urgency.

"Huh?" I voiced, looking from Naru to Bou-san. Had I missed something? "Wait, where are you go–"

"There is no way," he whispered cautiously, still looking at Naru, rather than at me. "I'm spending the night with her, while she's radiating that much murderous intent."

And with that, he took one huge leap towards the door, disappearing behind it. Silent realization dawning upon me, I slowly turned to look at Naru, my ears feeling as if on fire all of a sudden. No way, no way, no way, no way, no way..

"So," the irresistibly handsome man said, the corner of his mouth twitching, every syllable laced with suggestiveness. "What would you like to do?"

This was going to be a long night.