Amare:

Chapter 1:

Case Day:

Day 4:

02:30am:

Amore. The word struck a certain nerve in Oliver's mind...and heart. For a man who was objective, technical, precise, and logical in everything that he did, the word held little to no value. It would have been true if that had been said two years or so ago, when he had first come to Japan in search of Gene's body. Though, right now...he wasn't so sure. If asked to answer in an elaborate way, he would have said that no such thing as amore existed in his life – or ever will.

These would be just words, though. You could trust these words all you want, but only he knew what really lied beneath the stone-cold wall that was his heart. Though, he liked to think otherwise.

A scientist, he argued, didn't have time for such nonsensical things. It was for people with no higher purpose in their lives than eating, drinking or any sort of average thing that he didn't care about. If he was anything, he wasn't average. Time wastage wasn't in his blood, and yet...

Anything average was a waste of time. Like driving a car; he preferred somebody else to do it whilst he was purposefully invested in anything which wasn't considered wastage of time. Another average thing was... (He's trailing off on purpose)

He pushed the flickering memory away from his mind. He noted with ire the restlessness that had been stored away in his legs since that dreadful day one week ago.

Also, anything associated with average was average. A fine example would be the things that were associated with amore, like...

The restlessness in his legs seemed to distract him of his current job of reading the case file, and watching the monitors. He debated whether or not to change his position. He was a man of habit, though. Change did not suit him in any way. Least of all did the subtle changes in the valves of his heart give him anything to be assured of – or distracted seemed to be an appropriate word. He decided against moving from his 'comfortable' soft. He told himself that he was comfortable, even though he felt nothing of the sort.

A movement in the monitors...

His head snapped up to the monitor that gave a live feed of the staircase down the hallway. Someone was descending the stairs...Mai. His eyes narrowed down perceptively in displeasure. The thing related to his amore. Average. He snorted; all sleepiness (if there had been any) was now gone, only to be replaced by an excited hum somewhere on the edges of his mind. His heart seemed to string together – too powerfully for his liking. He wasn't stranger to such sensations any longer – his vexation was obvious when he thought of that.

His eyes were solely concentrated on the face casted in green light due to the lack of brightness out in the hallway. She was coming here. He ignored his amore, and went back to what he had been doing. He found soon enough (like on several other occasions) that complete concentration wasn't possible while he was knee deep in amore, and the thing connected to it.

He watched as she took a turn after descending the stairs. His frown deepened. The direction that she had taken wouldn't lead her here – perhaps, the bathroom?

He ignored whatever 'average' thing he felt as of then. He went back to file reading, his mood souring by the seconds.

amore wasn't something which he understood. A poor show on behalf of the person who prided himself on being a scientist. He knew the definition alright, and understood it better than most people would have ever wanted to understand. It was the thing itself, however, that he couldn't grasp worth a damn.

amore was hell... all the more reason to avoid it. Even though he had found countless of reasons why he should avoid and eradicate amore, he was finding it impossible to do as such. He was facing a tough opponent.

Apparently, the reason why he wasn't feeling too benevolent towards amore was connected to that dreadful day one week ago. He knew, that despite his efforts he would never get that event out of his mind for good days to come.

That was because one week ago, he and Mai had...kissed.

He wasn't proud of it. It had been a complete accident, an accident that must have surprised Mai as much as it had done him. He cursed the complex strings of fate that had been playing him, and an innocent Mai.

It had been a normal day at the office. Mai had come in as usual, he had demanded for his tea as usual, she had been sarcastic towards him as usual, he had ignored her as usual, she had stomped away from his office in annoyance as usual, and their routine had carried out as usual. Until it had been closing time, that is.

He had heard the greeting that she had had said to him and Lin during the time. He had got out of his chair, to remind her of something (he forgot what it was), and told her to wait when he had exited his office. He had walked towards a curious-eyed Mai full of confidence and authority. His magnificent posture had been maintained, until...Mai had tripped on her own two feet (he cursed her clumsiness) and collided heavily with his body.

That moment, was the moment when everything that he had welled up in concerns about Mai and her feelings for his brother had came crashing down on the two of them like an earthquake. Mai had muttered a quick apology and had made to move away from him. It was then, out of pure impulse he had tugged her back to his chest, and their lips had connected in a sensation that he was never likely to forget – warm, supple, and gentle –

He had been the first one to register what had had happened, and he had pulled away from her in a rare bout of panic, and had locked himself up in his office, leaving a lonely, confused, bewildered Mai behind in his wake. For the first time in his life hadn't known what had happened, or what he should do in such a situation.

No doubt that much awkwardness would have ensued. True, that. Though, the awkwardness, and tension had been a little too much for either of them to handle. For the first time he had been subjected to such nerves.

Up till now, neither of them had shared over a couple of words with each other that could be remotely considered friendly or anything which they had shared in the past. He would be uncharacteristic if he said that he missed that in the slightest – which he really did.

He froze when there was a creak from behind him. He dreaded who it was.

"Naru...?"

The tiny, confused voice of Mai reached his ears, and yet he didn't turn around immediately. His heart was banging against his ribs as it had done when he had been intimately invested in Mai. He clenched his fist, and closed his eyes wishing to subdue the moment when he would have to look into those brown orbs of hers.

The next set of words that she uttered paralyzed him with complete shock.

"Where am I?"

A/N: Amore means love in Latin. Amare means to love ;)

So, this a two-shot or three-shot centered around everybody's and mine favourite couple.

Anyways, for readers of my other fanfiction Love Bound: Night Calling.

Chapter 9 is taking up a quite a lot of time because of the need of carrying out extensive research in to the history of Japan, and planning. You'll be glad to hear that I already have written over 4000 words for it, and wouldn't post it till I have a generous amount of it written out – maybe 10000 words or so?