Edit: Sorry about the mistake with the fever everyone :P And thanks to those who pointed it out
With Care
Mai had caught a cold, but she wouldn't admit it.
It had started with light coughing and a faint flush across her cheeks on her way to school. She regretted having gotten up that morning, but there was a new case to discuss at the office and she knew that if she slept in, it would be impossible to get up later on.
So groaning and cursing her workaholic boss, Mai had put on her school uniform and dragged herself to school (which had been a mile walk, to note). She didn't talk much, something that piqued her friend's curiosity and made them bait her until she snapped at them hoarsely, her hand going to her dry throat.
After that it had all gone down hill.
...
Mai walked into the office and Naru thought that she looked like a walking plague. He watched as she made her way to the cupboards, leaning heavily against the counter for support. Her hand was going for the cups…
"Mai?"
"…Yes?" He noted her late reaction.
"Don't make tea."
She let out hacking cough and let her backpack fall to the floor, disregarding the books that slid out of it at the impact. "Kay." The girl walked - no meandered- her way to the couches. Catching her breath, she picked up an information packet on the table and began to read through it.
Naru wondered, with her eyes glazed over and all, whether she was really reading the stuff. Every cough made him involuntarily flinch. The plague was spreading.
"Mai." He started, his eyes closed. "As it appears that you have a cold, I suggest that you take the rest of the week off."
"I don't have a cold. I can stay for the review of the case."
Naru raised an eyebrow, his gaze now directly on the young girl's defiant face. She was blinking hard to keep her eyes open. Her shallow breathing, flushed face, and his glare was more than enough to prove her wrong. Mai sighed, reluctantly placing the papers back on the low table.
"Fine. I'll go before the others arrive, then." She got up, faltering in her steps from standing up so soon again. Naru watched as she slowly packed her backpack and left the office without another word. He sat in the silence for a few moments, wondering if Mai had really been in the office at all.
He imagined her struggling down the street, getting on the crowded bus…
How far away did she live again?
Before he knew it Naru had grabbed his coat and left the office, wondering what it was that made him so damn concerned for her.
By the time he caught up to her Mai was sitting on the edge of the sidewalk in the midst of a coughing fit. It was on the tip of his tongue to admonish her for overexerting herself when she was sick, but then she looked up at him with those big eyes and Naru could only look back, an unfamiliar pain settling in his chest.
"…Naru?"
Her voice was so faint.
"I'm fine. I just need…needed to take a short break…is all."
Did she just say that she was fine?
She was far from it. Saying otherwise made him feel a type of anger for some reason. No, it wasn't anger. It was worry.
"The new case…everyone…" She offered him a small smile. "You should go back."
Go back?
She might as well have told him to exorcise a ghost on the spot.
"Let's go." Naru leaned down to help her up, placing a hand against her cheek and then her forehead to check her temperature. She was burning up already. The flu going around was a bad one, he'd heard. But watching Mai's bent over form, Naru realized that he didn't care if he caught it himself as long as it meant that Mai was in a bed with plenty of hot soup and medicine.
He took off his jacket and draped it over her shoulders. Immediately she pulled it tighter around herself. By the time she'd realized what Naru was doing, she was moving up the street on his back, her head resting on his shoulder. They traveled in silence for a considerate amount of time.
Mai wondered if he was irritated at her. Most likely, that was the case. But even thinking so, she couldn't help but blush red that wasn't due to her fever.
"I feel bad," She said, obviously a little disorientated
"You have a fever most likely 38 degrees Celsius. Of course you would -"
"I mean about you…taking me home," Mai said. She tried to make it sound like she was rolling her eyes as she said it, but expressing any emotion besides pain and exasperation seemed impossible at the moment. This definitely wasn't how she'd imagined how things would have happened if Naru'd ever offered her a ride home. She'd expected riding in a car, for one.
Mai fell silent again and it stayed that way for the next couple of blocks.
Her lack of conversation made Naru's eyes flicker back to her for a moment. Her eyelids were beginning to close. They fought back the temptation for another minute, but before long, there was the sound of consistent breathing. Her hand loosened its grip and slid from his shoulder a bit. Naru hitched her up and quickened his pace.
The backpack bumped awkwardly against his leg. As he continued walking and soon caught sight of Mai's apartment building, Naru couldn't help but wonder why that he wished, even if it were 15 more seconds, that the moment could last a bit longer. Even if it was by one more second.
...
So he'd found the key and gotten inside the apartment. (Very plain but quite fitting for a girl who lived on her own).
He knew what sort of reaction Mai would have for him setting foot inside, but he did so anyway without hesitation in his steady gait. Very quickly he found the futon inside the wardrobe and laid it out. And with care, he settled her down. Throughout it all, Mai remained asleep.
There were a number of problems that came next, which Naru could only sigh at. He rubbed a hand against his face realizing that he'd crossed a line he shouldn't have.
Now where was her phone?
...
Ayako's phone buzzed in her coat pocket just before landing a blow to the monk's head.
"Ah, I'm saved!"
She picked up with a smile when she saw that it was Mai's apartment number. The girl hadn't even left her home yet. But where was Naru? For him to be late without notice…
"Hello Mai?"
"Matsuzaki-san."
There was a long pause, during which everyone else turned their curious faces towards the shocked miko.
"I am Mai." Don't tell anyone.
"I beg your pardon?" She demanded. Mai's number, Naru's voice…
There was an impatient sight. "I'm over at Mai's apartment at the moment."
"And may I ask why?"
John asked meekly, "What is it Matsuzaki-san?"
She waved a hand at him, shaking her head. Ayako spoke back into the phone with a worried tone. "What's wrong? Did something happen?" She knew Naru's character, as well as Mai's. Absolutely nothing would have happened between them - nothing better have.
"Mai has a cold. I brought her home, but she needs to be further treated. Could you please inform everyone to meet back tomorrow and have you come over?"
Well Ayako was surprised for a number of reasons.
Was Naru actually being openly considerate for Mai? Another human being? He'd even pushed the meeting to tomorrow. Recovering from her momentary shock, Ayako agreed to do as he said and asked for her address, jotting it down and leaving behind the other SPR members with a large question mark above their heads.
...
For the week that Mai was absent from the office, the case was taken care of and it was Masako who came in everyday to make him tea. It was just the right taste to meet his expectations. But when Masako set down the cup, Naru felt the need to add a bit more of a harder tone than he would have used on Mai.
Masako didn't care if he didn't thank her. Didn't give up on trying to please him with favors or extra kind words.
A week passed by like that. 7 long days.
And Mai came back into the office with a glamorous smile, fully recovered. Her loud, cheery, annoying, caring voice filled the room up with a lively glow. When she looked at him, there was a cloud of embarrassment around her. He knew what was coming and yet felt the need to listen. His eyes remained locked with hers.
"Thank you Naru, for…well everything. And I'm sorry that I couldn't -"
"Mai."
"Yes?' She hesitated, ready for any sharp remark that he would make. But what came next ironically surprised her.
"Tea."
Mai laughed and nodded. "Okay!" And the way she set down the tea, waiting for the 'thank you' that would never come and then walking off with irritation, clicked everything back into place.
Naru felt himself relax the slightest bit in his seat. Because everything was back to how things should have been.
…I promise to update my other GH stories if any one is still interested in them lol Review please!