Requested by CaitHawke4Ever. There will be a part two for this. I will do it much later. I don't know how good this is but I hope you all enjoy. Leave a comment about the next short story you would like to see. MWAH! ENJOY!
Oliver Davis had accepted his ultimate demise. Mai Taniyama.
He didn't know that he had romantic feelings for her at first. He understood he saw Mai as a friend and someone he could confide in. He had let go of the ridiculous assumption Mai was in love with Gene. If she has been, she would have let herself die to be with him; however, Mai was here. On earth…and now Oliver was very much aware of her presence.
It started simple. He considered the little things he knew would push any guy to the edge. It began in the office, one evening after an extremely rough case that had drained Naru both mentally and physically. To put in dumb terms: he was fucking exhausted. So, it was no surprise when he finally gave up on typing his report. His fingers had stretched over each key hundreds of times, never actually pushing on the buttons. He sighed and pushed the paper away before calling out to Mai.
"Mai, tea." It was his usual phrase. Nothing unusual about it. His voice hovered in the ear and It took a moment to hear a slur of curses and cabinet bangs from the kitchenette, causing a small quirk of the lips.
Naru would never confess to anyone that he enjoyed picking on his female assistant. Seeing as Mai ever truly got upset with him, he would continue.
Moments after it had quieted down, Mai pushed open the door, carrying a tray with two cups of tea. She made her way around to Naru, setting the saucer and cup clear of any important paper work. "Here you go boss…" Mai trailed off, bouncing on her heels. She had a nervous gaze as she looked at Naru.
Naru watched her from the corner of his eye for a second. He knew she had learned by now not to expect a thank you. So why was she still here?
"Can I help you Mai?" Naru asked, pulling himself into a straight position, not casting even a side glance to her.
"Uh…well I wanted to know if you would mind giving me a ride home today?" Mai looked down before she began explaining herself in a hurry. "It started raining really heavy a bit ago and some damage from the last storm has knocked out the tracks I would usually take home. I asked Lin and he said he wasn't going to leave until late, so he told me I should ask you since you said you would be leaving around 10!" Mai panted out in one breath, watching her boss for some sort of reaction.
Of course, there was none until he spoke up.
"I can drop you off on my way home. Since I am going in that direction either way." Naru said, picking up his tea and taking a quiet sip. "I expect you to be ready at 10." Mai began to thank him before she heard his next statement. "Seen as you like to mess around during office hours, making you wait to leave until ten isn't a bad idea."
Naru could see the blush of anger reach Mai's cheeks. However, this time she didn't stomp off. In fact, she looked grateful to Naru.
"Ill push that comment aside and thank you instead. I'm sorry to inconvenience you!" She had bowed and ran off.
Naru was taken back for a moment. The Mai he knew would have blown up, called him a narcissistic jerk, and slammed the door. He took a second to recover from the shock. She had been doing that a lot lately; repressing her anger. She never failed to awe him. She had grown since he had left for England. Upon his return after 6 months, he found a more mature version of Mai. She still made comments about Naru and would slur curses at him when he would do something "jerkish". Naru wondered what had happened to Mai to make her seem so…grown up.
After he had taken her home that night, he sat in his room, back tracking on his past with Mai. Mai wasn't one to hold back emotions that way. Could it be she was nervous he wouldn't give her a ride? No that wasn't it. Mai knew Naru wouldn't leave his assistant to walk in the rain. She could catch a cold than who would pick up her slack? Despite his curiosity, he let himself drift to sleep.
Moments after that seemed to come more often. Moments where his mind flickered to her. He left himself observe her. Before he had found his brother's body, Naru had never taken the time to OBSERVER Mai. Now he could remember little things about her that had no affect on how she performed her job.
He took notice of his lip balm that she used. It was some sort of organic honey and oil wax that he had later looking into on the internet and the convenience store down the road from his apartment. It was some odd company written in Kanji that used all-natural mixtures. It was meant to heal lips as well as make them softer. Mai seemed to have gotten the color ones, because every time she used it, her lips were a slight bit pinker than their natural color. Naru questioned as to why he would take notice of such a thing. He let it slide, brushing it off as his mind picking up on unimportant information.
Next it was the clothes she wore. It was mostly shorts, shirts with logos or solid colors, boots, and a jacket every so often. Due to it being summer however, she barley ever wore a jacket or anything more than a short-sleeved shirt. When the warmer weather really started to sink in, she would wear sandals or a pair of flats. It was interesting to see Mai float in, her sandal making squishy noises as she walked. He had even heard Lin let out a chuckle or two as Mai came through with Tea. Lin and himself now knew when she went to put things away in the filing cabinet or when she decided to make the occasional tea a bit earlier than expected.
After her clothes came her body. Her frame, hair, and skin to be more exact. This was the first time Naru had noticed just how short his assistant was. She had to be 5'4 or 5'5 at the most. Standing at 5'11, it was obvious Naru towered over her. Though, anyone could point out she was short. It wasn't until he took notice of just how appealing her looks were. She was no model, but she sure as hell was beautiful. Her hair had grown out a bit over the past months, now reaching her shoulders. Her eyes matched her hair; a very deep, shocking brown. He would look at her a lot of the time when he was talking to her, however, he never LOOKED at her. He suddenly caught himself staring into her eyes one afternoon. It was on a case when Mai began to get upset over an exorcism Naru was planning.
"Naru you can't just exorcise her! She doesn't even realize what she is doing! Maybe we can try and ta- "Naru had cut her off with harsh words he would regret later.
"She can't be saved Mai. If you used that brain of yours, you would know this is our only option." Naru's voice was harsh with a bit of a bite to it. He turned away from Mai to look at the screens. Monk and John had entered the room where the spirit was residing and were setting up for an exorcism.
"But Naru! What if we can talk sense into her? Help her move on peacefully!" Naru sighed and felt his irritation toward his assistant growing. He didn't bother to turn to her as he responded. "If I felt we could do so safely, I would have had someone do so. Stop questioning me!" Naru voice his frustration, seeing Mai flinch from the corner of his eyes. He didn't mean to sound so rough, but she continued to fight him on the subject.
The spirit, Hanakiri, had been haunting the tenants of the apartment for a while. The room Monk and John were currently in was where she was murdered. Months after her death, a new couple moved in and she possessed the woman to attack her husband. After that couple came a mother and her child. Both would hear knocking noises and voices whispering. They blew it off until one day that came home and the furniture in every room was flipped upside down. The police blew it off as a "robbery." Next was a single man who would feel scratches on his neck and back, his hair being pulled back randomly, and even got pushed down the stairs.
SPR had taken the job and only been at the location three days before Naru and Lin solved the case. All that was left to do was exorcise the spirit and pack up.
What Naru didn't expect was to see Mai run into the room the send the spirit made its appearance. She shouted to monk to stop, grabbing him on the shoulder.
"That idiot! What does she think she is doing?!" Naru huffed, moving past Lin and running into the hallway. It took him no time to get to the apartment the three were in. The second he reached the room, he yelled to Mai.
"Mai! Stop now! This isn't sa- "
Naru was cut off by Mai, who snapped her head to Naru's direction. "I refuse to let you exorcise her! I can do this Naru!" Mai screamed, her eyes flaring with determination, anger, and sadness. Naru stared into her eyes, watching them bounce from his face to his eyes.
She didn't back down. The air seemed to thicken around them, almost sparking as they tested each other. Naru found himself lost in her eyes. The deep brown pools held something dear to him. He stopped where he was and stepped back. He gave her the go ahead.
Mai smiled slightly, turning to the spirit who was causing the air in the room to drop to below freezing. Her dark aura reached out to Monk and John, almost challenging them to try and make her leave.
"Hana you have to stop! You are only hurting yourself the more you stay here! How many more innocent people will you hurt?" Mai said, moving toward the spirit, her warmth reaching out to her.
"They get to live happy lives while I stay here. He killed me in cold blood! I had a life! Friends and Family!" The spirit screamed, pushing Mai back into monk with her fore.
"So do these people, Hana! They have families." Mai returned, looking slightly sad for the spirit. "I know what that man did to you! I saw it Hana. It wasn't fair. That doesn't mean yo-gah!" Mai was cut off as Hana threw her back into the wall, walking toward her.
Monk held up his beads, only to be stopped by Mai. "You don't know anything! You don't have to watch your family grow old and forget you!"
"They won't forget you Hana. They love you deeply and wish they could've saved you. Your father regrets ever letting you leave home and live on your own." The spirit paused, its eyes widening behind her curtain of hair.
"I can…go?" The spirit asked, looking up to Mai who was lifting herself off the ground.
"You just have to find the light. Go towards it and your grandmother will be waiting…." Mai said, watching as the spirit looked around before she walked toward an invisible light. "Thank you. For setting my spirit free." She said, as she ascended into the air, the light engulfing her body.
Mai smiled, waving as the spirit left. The room began to warm up as the dense air suddenly felt lighter and holy.
That was the first time Naru had seen her eyes sparkle like that. Well, the first time HE saw it. The others talked all the time about Mai's sparkling eyes and how they were her best feature. She usually just blushed and ignored them, changing the subject.
Than he noticed things about himself. Like the fact that no matter what, he could never get tired of teasing her. He always found her reactions intriguing and found himself teasing her just to get the rise out of her. Than her noticed how often her took her side. Or how he called her by her first name. There was the way he reacted when she got hurt or when she was upset. Everything she did, he had a reaction to. He loved her smile and hated when someone made her cry. He often wanted to comfort her when she was upset, but never had the courage to hold her.
So that is why today, when Naru called for his tea, he told her to sit down. He would profess his feelings to her. He knew she wouldn't turn them away.
"Mai, have a seat for a second." Naru stated, setting aside his notebook as the girl sat down in the chair across from his desk.
"Is something wrong, Naru?" Mai asked, looking worried and confused as she stared into the face of her employer.
"Mai, I would like to ask you to join me this evening for dinner." Naru stated, stand up and crossing around the desk to stand in front of her. He let himself lean back on his desk, his arms crossed as he awaited her reaction.
A blush spread across Mai's cheeks. He was standing above her, watching her; waiting for an answer. She stood up as well, smoothing out her shirt.
"Why do you want me to ha- "Mai was cut off by Naru placing a hand on her shoulder and sitting her back down. Gently, of course.
Mai didn't know what to think. His face held his usual, unamused look, but his eyes betrayed him. His eyes held concern and anxiety, like what he was asking could be turned down. He looked worried and his stance was rigid. He was obviously trying to get the upper hand over her.
"I have noticed…feelings? Feelings for you that I have never felt for anyone. I can only identify them as me wanting to court you so, I would ap…id be honored if you would allow me to accompany you to dinner tonight." Naru said, leaning onto a knee to look Mai in the face. "Do you understand."
Mai's face was turned hundreds of shades of red and blue from the embarrassment and the lack of oxygen. She let her eyes stare at her lap before nodding, looking anywhere but his face. "You would…like to uh…a date?" Mai stuttered out, looking up through her bangs.
Naru let his face fall, a smile reaching across his lips. "Yes Mai. A date." He confirmed, pulling himself and Mai into a standing position.
"If you, however, already have arra-."
"I don't!" Mai screamed, waving her hands around, looking up at Naru with a bright grin. "I would love to go to dinner with you."
One can only assume by the way the two were acting the next day that the date went well. The regulars of SPR never asked. They could all tell by the smirk on Lin's face that things had finally transpired.
I hope you enjoyed! Mwah!