so I literally thought of this last night after reading the alphabiography of SPR -great way to pass the time by the way- and thinking about my other one shot which involves mai's pen pal, this is separate from that though it falls in the same category. ironically enough I had it just before I was about to fall asleep so I'll put this out there now: if I get enough calls for this I will complie all the pen pal one shots I've got in my head into an alphabet challenge format.
Disclaimer: I do not own Ghost Hunt, or the rights to any of the stories mentioned in this story though I do own copies of some of them...
Enjoy!
The first time Naru had seen it, he'd thought it a bit odd. Nevertheless, he said nothing. He had thought it would only be a one-time thing. But over the weeks, Naru noticed a pattern.
It seemed as though at the end of every week, just before he was to let them all go home, Mai would race over to the laptop situated on her desk. A few quick clicks on the mouse-pad, a few moments of rapid typing followed by Mai readying her things to go home and making one last pot of tea to steel her boss over before leaving for the weekend
A few days later, usually three at the most, a cardboard box would arrive at SPR's door addressed to one Mai Taniyama. Mai would be in early those days, waiting outside the door patiently with the box in her arms. When he let her in Mai would immediately stack it with her things and would not open it the entire day through. He doubted any of his other employees besides Lin knew about these packages of hers. Lin would not say a thing and Naru doubted that the other members of his company would be able to keep from pestering his young assistant about it.
Another thing he started to notice was that whenever they had a bit of downtime, whether on cases or at the office, Mai would always pull out a medium sized book with a red stretchy book cover over it and read whilst miming the words. However there were times where she was stuck on a word and spent a few moments looing it over before shrugging and continuing reading on. Her lips moved slowly, so slowly in fact, that Naru had a hard time figuring out what she was reading or if what she was reading was in an entirely different language. He also noticed that every so often Mai would make little notes in the books with a pencil she seemed to keep stored inside the part of the book cover that clung to the book, he noted it was often after the time she looked over a difficult word with a frown marring her adorable features.
One might wonder why he spent so much time observing his assistant if he was emotionally deficient and he always claimed to have so much work to do. The truth of the matter was that the emotions in him that had seemed to die with his brother were revived by the spunky brown-haired girl with cinnamon brown eyes that seemed slightly too large for her delicate face. That and it seemed as though Mai kept reading the same book over and over, hunting for a hidden meaning or maybe she was just trying to get the gist of the story and figured the repetition of the lines would eventually help her to understand.
It rather irked him that she was so stubborn she would not ask for help; his help to be exact. She knew he was a man of many accomplishments, one of which being a doctor at the age of fifteen. Certainly he could make sense of whatever book she was reading and explain it to her. Then again, he mused, whenever he did explain something to her she ended up getting mad because she thought he was treating her like an idiot for not knowing or understanding something he considered common knowledge.
It wasn't really that. Though he had a low tolerance for stupidity naivety was really the more accurate category Mai fell into. She had not been brought up by a church, monks, temple guardians, doctors, or really anyone in the field of parapsychology. It wasn't her fault that her previous knowledge of ghosts and spirits was limited to the stories she made up about them. That and Naru was just a naturally blunt man. He said it like it was and if you didn't like it you could take your bat and ball and go home.
Yet though he could understand why Mai might not want to ask him for help it didn't take the sting out of the fact she wasn't asking for it.
One day Naru decided to go out for lunch before Masako could get her hands on him. As he walked to the door he noticed Mai, with nothing either else or better to do; he couldn't decide, reading her red covered book for what must have been the twenty thousandth time. He also noticed that her usually slim book-bag was practically bursting at the seams. He knew her school didn't have enough time in the day for her to have enough classes which required books big enough to split her bag. He debated for a second before going over to his assistant. This patter had gone on long enough without answer.
"Mai," he began looking over at her as her eyes widened in surprise and she nearly dropped the book she was holding. "if you have so much homework to the point where your bag looks as though it's about to break, don't you think you should be completing it rather than read that same book again?"
"huh?" Mai tilted her head as she blinked in a nonplus for a few seconds. Damn her cuteness. "I haven't read this one before. It's new." She replied.
"I see you reading it every chance you can." Naru argued. "You always make notes in the margins and mime the words while you read. What I don't quite get is why you need to read it over and over rather than asking someone for help."
"Oh no." Mai said, a smile breaking out. "I don't read the same book over and over again. I just switch the book cover over to the new book so it stays somewhat safe considering I bring them on cases with me."
"Them?" Naru raised a brow.
"The books in my bag are from my pen-pal." Mai explained gesturing toward the holder of objects looking worn enough to fall apart.
Naru nodded, remembering her saying something about getting one a few months ago as part of a cultural connection program with a school in America.
"And while my pen-pal speaks Japanese and English fluently, I can only speak a little English and my reading isn't that good either." Mai continued. "So my pen-pal sent over some books she enjoyed reading when she was little to try and help me with it. The notes I make in the margins are for words I either don't know the meaning of or for the words I can't pronounce. I just put them there so I remember what to tell her when I email her."
"What man writes a children's book with word difficult to understand? They're made for five-year-olds." Naru wondered aloud.
"A man by the name of Doctor Seuss." Mai replied.
Naru looked at her for a moment and tilted his head toward the ground with his eyes closed and a smile on his face. A genuine smile, the one Mai hadn't seen since the case at Yasuhara's school. He turned this smile on Mai, and the poor girl felt her face heat up.
"What's so funny?" Mai managed to ask without stuttering.
"Mai, if you had wanted children's books to aid you in learning English than the good doctor really isn't the best way to do so." Naru replied.
"Why?" Mai wanted to know.
"Mai, Dr. Seuss, first of all was a pen name for the man, and second of all he was one of the American authors who decided it would be more creative to invent words. Most of them have no real meaning whatsoever and the last time I checked none of them have a place in the English dictionary."
"Well, he wrote a lot so he must have been popular." Mai concluded.
"Naturally children like books with made up words because it appeals to their imagination." Naru replied. "Of course his books would be popular. Not to mention that children also like books that rhyme. Though really Mai, reading books like that at your age to help you with English, don't you think that's a bit childish?" he asked.
"Doctor's orders are…" Mai said going over and dumping the contents of her book bag out on the floor before Naru. "A daily dose of childishness to get rid of your grumpy stoicism mister." She finished happily.
Naru looked down at his feet. "And just what do expect me to do? Read all these to you and explain what they mean?"
Mai laughed. "No, but if you don't mind could you please help me sort out the books. I need to bring the ones I'm sending back tomorrow home today and then I'll come back for the rest." She explained.
"As long as this doesn't happen too often, my office is not a storage unit for its employees." Naru relented, sinking to his knees to aid Mai.
It was nearly two hours sorting through all the books, mostly because Mai had told Naru what words had troubled her in the books she'd already read and how her pen-pal had just laughed –so to speak- in her reply's. Naru took the time to explain the best he could, his memories of the books having been stored away for years. That only prompted Mai to interrogate him on why he'd be reading books like that in the first place. Seeing the pained look that flashed in his eyes Mai sought to dismiss it but he stopped her saying it was alright and that she didn't know.
The truth was Gene had always loved Dr. Seuss. Whenever it was his turn to have their mother read them a bedtime story for the night he'd always pick from the vast collection of Seuss books he'd acquired on their shared birthday, Christmas, and the anniversary of when the Davis' had adopted them. At the time Naru had been a bit too mature for his age to understand why his brother liked them so much but now, looking them over with Mai as they sorted them through, he could understand. Though there'd only been one particular Seuss work he'd taken a modicum of interest in he saw the reason why most people, even in their old age, liked them so much and considered them timeless. It was because reading those books brought the feeling of nostalgia.
Bringing people back to the very early days of their youth when the world wasn't so complicated. The days gone by when a pile of cardboard boxes became a castle, a white sheet from your parents bedroom became an embroidered gown with a silk train, a fistful of dandelions became a bouquet of the most fragrant flowers the earth had to offer, and a gossamer curtain attached to a plastic tiara became the veil of a princess bride. When the most you had to worry about was falling and getting what you had dubbed a booboo and needing mommy to come and kiss all better. It was all so much easier then. But Oliver, as he had been so named by his parents, had spent too much time reading more adult books that his imagination was pushed aside for solving problems and the veil of blissful oblivion created to protect children from the harsh realities of the world was shattered at an early age.
When they had cleaned up and straightened everything out Naru noticed it was close to closing time as it was and bid Mai goodnight sending her on her way with the books which needed to be packed. Making sure everything of his was in order he closed the door to his office and walked by the pile once more. Glancing at it and then glancing around to make sure no one was looking, Naru stooped and took the top two books of the pile, shoving them in the interior of his coat before walking through the door and locking it behind him.
Once in the safety of his apartment, Lin had gone out for business that day and wasn't expected home until late, Naru pulled out the books once more. When he and Mai had cleaned up he subtly yet successfully maneuvered these books so they'd be the last to be sorted and he would be the one to place them. He looked them over in his room and let the nostalgia he'd scoffed at as a child take hold.
In a matter of minutes, he'd finished reading his own personal favorite of Seuss' works. Oh the thinks you can think. And then he flipped through the first few pages of his brother's:
Congratulations! Today is your day. You're off to great places! You're off and away!
Scanning the words Naru remembered how Gene would always say the story with their mother, having memorized all the words to this particular story. He flipped to the very last page, the irony of its words not being lost on him now.
So… be your name be your name Buxbaum or Bixby or Bray
or Mordecai Ali Van Allen O'Shea,
you're off to Great Places!
Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting.
So...get on your way!
His thoughts turned to Gene; it was probably something his older brother would tell him in regards to Mai. He intended to follow his twin's advice. And from somewhere far from conscious human reach, Gene smiled.
so more fluff and learning more about naru than naruxmai, sorry about that. this seems kinda like a prequel to bubble wrap now that I think about it though so if you wanna go back and read that after finishing this.
at any rate, Review!
ps. I am having one of those weird days where I can't spell anything I type so if spell check didn't catch it I probably missed it and apologize in advance