Narumai? Narumai.

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Disclaimer: Don't own Ghost Hunt.

It once again came down to this. The face-off like they had for every case, the shouting, the insulting, cruel things they both said. Mai glared at him, legs spread, hands clenched into fists, teeth bared. Naru returned her glare with a cold, cold look in his eyes.

Mai's right hand was bleeding, trickling down her wrist and dripping onto the floor of the SPR office. The long sleeve of her shirt was ripped from the elbow down and a number of red marks lay across her arm. The cut was from an accident on a case; the red marks on her skin were Naru's doing.

There had been a distinct chill between the two during the last few hours of the case; with every passing minute, the ice thickened. Now that they were alone...

"Are you in your right mind, Naru?!" Mai yelled furiously. Naru blinked slowly, once.

"I don't see why you're are so angry." He replied in a biting tone of voice. Mai winced slightly; it was always worse this way. She would wait with bated breath for the day he lost control.

"Don't." she snarled, stepping closer to him and raising a finger. "Don't play that whole 'I-don't-see' nonsense. They were my friends! And you put them in danger!" she stabbed him in the chest with her finger. "Just so you could solve your little mystery!" She poked him again.

Naru grabbed her wrist and moved it away from his body. Mai tried to pull free from his vice-like grip, but failed. She gritted her teeth when his finger dug into her injury.

"They're the ones who came to me with this case." he said coldly. "They're the ones who offered to help. I told them that it was dangerous, but they were insistent. It's not my fault that your friends are as thickheaded as you, Mai. Always swooning over the likes of me and Lin and Takigawa."

That stung. Badly. Mai's eyes began to burn and she jiggled her wrist. "Let go of me, you narcissistic bastard."

Naru's midnight blue eyes narrowed and Mai gasped, suddenly quaking with fear. "N-Naru you're h-hurting m-me," she whimpered as his grip tightened. He ignored her and just looked at her with that cold glint.

"I should make you apologize for that." he hissed and a white light began to shine behind his eyeballs. Mai's eyes widened in fear; the case of the Yoshimi family came flooding back: The blood, the murders, the pain... Naru's glowing white eyes.

"N-Naru, l-let go o-of me," she whispered in an uncontrollably shaky voice, the tears finally starting to fall. "You're h-hurting m-me, Naru."

He seemed to come out of whatever took him over when he heard her voice shake and saw the tears fall. The cold glint disappeared, replaced with a flash of something, and then disbelief. He looked down at the hand he was gripping tightly, the blood from her gash coating his fingers and trickling down his hand. Mai looked down at their feet, almost toe to toe with each other.

They stayed like that for what seemed like an hour and then Naru opened his mouth but no sound came out. He shut it then tried to speak again, failing yet another time. His grip slackened and Mai immediately pulled away and made for the door. His fingers passed over her wrist and clamped down on her hand, halting her in her tracks.

"Mai..." he said hoarsely, but she just sniffed and untangled their hands.

She left without even saying goodnight.

Naru still couldn't believe what had happened. The main door slammed shut and sent his mind reeling.

He'd hurt her. He'd assaulted her. He'd bruised her. He'd caused her pain. He'd terrified her.

He collapsed in a chair, staring off into space, wide-eyed. What had just happened? He was bandaging her hand, then they were arguing and he said some cruel stuff. She was trying not to cry...

Let go of me, you narcissistic bastard.

A cold chill swept over him. Never, ever, before had he ever lost control like that, especially not over something so petty. He obviously got annoyed but that... that was just pure fury that had been coursing through his veins.

Yes, he had touched her before, grabbed her arm or something but never in a way that either hurt her or marked her. And for the first time, he had done both. He lost control. He pushed her further away.

Naru rested his arms on his knees and dangled his head between his legs, fingers clutching at his black locks. He'd seen the marks on her arm, red lines stark against her creamy pale skin. Marks he'd left on her.

Naru groaned and leaned back against the chair, shutting his eyes and trying to forget about the incident. He would apologize, he told himself sternly. There was no way he would leave her thinking he was a dominating and abusive boy. Despite his best efforts to block her out, he could still see Mai's tear streaked face, the fear and the horror that was etched into the lines of her face.

He opened his eyes and sat up, rubbing his jaw. When he looked up, he noticed Mai's jacket draped across the small table in the corner. He shook his head in distaste; the baka had forgotten it. He thought of going after her and giving it to her then gave up the idea; she would probably just stalk away from him. Then again it was the middle of November and she wasn't wearing much-

Naru's eyes widened. Mai's image flashed across his eyes; the full sleeved shirt she was wearing was torn till her right shoulder and had various rips in the back and the neckline sagged, her skirt was tiny- too small to be worn in the winter's- and she wasn't even wearing stockings. He stood up so fast, his chair fell over backwards and he shot out of the door.

Her scarf and gloves were still on the counter, as was her purse. The room was silent and dark, save for the muted television. With his heart crawling up his throat, he turned to the television. The newsman was grimly relaying the news of the most recent incident; the rape gang that had sprung up a few weeks ago had left two women defiled and hospitalized. And all their targets had been around the area where Mai lived.

Images of the women were displayed on the television; bruised and battered, some comatose... some impregnated. One dead. Naru didn't see anything else before he sprinted for the main door and didn't even bother closing it as he jumped steps and hit the pavement at full speed. His brain was screaming, pumping his legs to run faster, forcing the cold air in and out of his lungs.

Mai...

She would be alright. She had to be alright. He'd kill them all if she wasn't, he'd hunt down every last one and slaughter them. The brunette had worked for him for three years now, and she wasn't that small, skinny sixteen year old girl now. Naru had noticed everything; she had grown her hair out slightly, and her body had matured greatly. She had the curves that women envied and men wanted, the skin that was considered fair, not too pale, not too brown, and ever since she had started wearing lipgloss the shape of her lips had become very prominent.

At nineteen, she was a specimen. And a target.

Mai knew a spell to exorcize a ghost or spirit, but never had any of them taught her how to defend herself physically. And Naru was the one who would be to blame, because he was the one who should have taught her or at least made sure she had an escort home for the night. But no, he let her leave dressed like that, completely defenseless.

At twenty, he was infatuated. And crazy in love.

He was the only one who should be allowed to touch her, and he swore that he would make sure that it stayed that way.

Mai started panicking about fifteen minutes after she realized that she was sopping wet, sparsely clad and shivering. Not to add that her apartment was still quite far away and that all the taxis and buses had stopped thanks to the horrendous weather.

Not to add that the area she was currently walking through seemed to have experienced a blackout.

She shivered and ducked her head, trying to keep herself warm as she trudged through the dark and frozen streets. Damn that Naru, if he hadn't been acting it all up she wouldn't have been so upset and left her stuff behind.

"And what's with him all of a sudden?" she mumbled to herself. "Going all crazy and over bossy and..." She muttered a stream of profanities aimed his way.

Cold wind blew and the brunette shivered and stopped in her tracks. The streets were extremely silent, the only sound being her loud and shaky breathing and the rustling of trees. She shuddered; Naru like that was terrifying. What had happened to him all of a sudden? He'd never lost control like that before.

Mai involuntarily shivered again, only this time it was different. Her heart started pounding and her sixth sense kicked in making her hyper-aware of her surroundings. She felt a little queasy like those times when she could sense the presence of a ghost...

Only this time it wasn't a spirit or a ghost. This time, a living thing was making her feel strange.

Not wanting to waste anymore time, Mai started walking again, unconsciously going a little faster. Her feet pattered against the pavement, quiet and barely noticeable. But then she heard it: heavier and slower footsteps trying to keep time with her own. She stopped suddenly and so did the stalker. Again, she walked forward but stopped after five steps; this time the stalker was unprepared and he skidded to an unsteady halt.

And then the stalker was running, the footsteps increasing in pace. Mai shot forward, heart beating in her throat as she sprinted down the sidewalk. She didn't care about where she was going, not caring that she could fall and hurt herself or anything else. Adrenaline pumped in her veins; her body was its puppet.

The sound grew louder and louder and suddenly she felt fingers brush her back. Her heart leaped to her throat and she put on a burst of speed. Unfortunately for her, Mai's ankle twisted on the slippery pavement and she felt herself falling face first, unable to stop herself.

"Naru." she gasped as the floor came towards her face. Strong arms wrapped around her waist and the owner of the arms grunted when their knees hit the floor on either side of her to stop her from smashing her face in. For a moment it was all so familiar: the grip, the feel of his shirt sleeve and his smell of cologne and tea...

And then it was all gone when the owner of the arms turned her over and pushed her against the pavement and pinned her wrists on either side of her. Mai looked up and her heart skipped a beat because she didn't know the stranger who was currently straddling her. He was a very scary looking man with something more than lust in his eyes.

"Well, hello beautiful." he whispered and ran his fingers across her cheek. A scream erupted from Mai's throat but were effectively cut off when the man forced his lips on hers.

Yea... it kinda took a dark turn right? Well, let's just leave it at that till now. I think you guys might want to know what happens next so...

If I get five reviews, I'll post the next chapter :)

R&R!