MAI POV

I called him "Naru" because of his narcissistic personality.

But that night, he was anything but a narcissist. He was almost...self-concious.

I was working late one night. I watched the darkening sky with worry as I finished filing papers. Just as I was about to leave, I heard him call from the other room.

"Mai..." he said, somewhat feebly. "Tea." His tone made me obey immediately, but I was curious as to what could make him sound so troubled.

I placed the steaming cup on a silver tray and carried it into my boss's office, where he sat, at his desk, his head in his hands. I began to worry when I saw his expression. His eyes were closed, and his cheeks were flushed. He looked tired.

I set the cup down in front of him, and he looked startled and opened his eyes, as though he hadn't heard me coming.

"Naru," I asked, "are you alright?" He didn't answer me. I wasn't sure if heard me or if he was just ignoring me. "Where's Lin-san?" I asked. Maybe he'd know what to do.

"I sent him home." Naru said shortly, sipping his tea. His brow seemed to ease, and his face relaxed as he sipped at the hot beverage I'd brought him. I wondered why he'd do that. Lin never left before Naru.

"Oh, well, do you need anything else?" I asked quickly, eager to get home. It was late and I had school the next day. I hadn't had a chance to do any of my homework, either, so it was going to be a long night.

"No..." He sounded hesitant, as though he really did want to say something. But instead of saying it, his face turned red.

"Naru?"

"...Yes?"

"You're blushing."

"No I'm not."

"You are."

"I have no reason too. I'm not embarrassed or anything."

"Sure that's not a dirty novel you're reading upside-down?" I asked, pointing to the book he held in his hands the wrong way up. It wasn't a dirty novel, I was just teasing him. He threw the book away.

"Are you sick?" I asked. If he had a fever, that would explain his face turning red.

"No, I'm not. You can go home now, Mai."

"'Kay..." I headed toward the door, but as I put my hand on the knob, I turned back.

"Naru, are you really sure you don't want me to stay?" He didn't answer. "Naru?" I trotted back into the room. "Naru, the least you could do is answer me...Naru? Are you alright?" He was slumped over, his head on the desk. '

"Naru?" Maybe he was just tired.

But if he was tired, he should go home.

I walked over and put my hand on his shoulder, shaking gently to wake him. "Naru, go home if you're tired." He lifted his head to look at me, but his gorgeous purple eyes were hazy. His cheeks were still red, and there seemed to be a sheen of sweat covering his face and neck.

It's his own fault for wearing those dark clothes all the time. And that damn turtle-neck!

I placed my cool fingers on his forehead. Relief seemed to cross his face for a fleeting moment before fatigue returned, and he went back to looking overheated.

"Naru..." I said, exasperated, "You have a fever. Stop moving around." He was still walking, or trying to anyway. He was failing miserably. It was almost laughable. He looked like a little boy trying to get out of taking a bath.

Placing my hands on his shoulders, I forced him back into his chair. Once sitting, he no longer fought. He slumped a bit, his shoulders slouching.

"Naru...are you okay?" He was really hot...literally. I mean, yeah, he was good-looking, too, but I was being serious, get your mind out of the gutter. "Come on, Naru, let's get you home." I forced the tea down his throat and got his coat for him, pulling it on him with some difficulty. "Come on Naru, cooperate! Stand up..." He tried his best, and it was just enough for me to slip his arm over my shoulder. Now I could walk and support him at the same time.

Of course, it wasn't until ten minutes later that I realized I didn't know where he lived. I decided to just take him to my place.

He wasn't as heavy as I thought, or maybe I was just stronger than I thought. Whatever it was, it made it easy to get him out of the building and onto the streets. He was able to walk in a fairly straight line, so I didn't have to worry about getting hit by traffic. Unfortunately, halfway home, he started to sag a little, losing his energy and falling asleep.

"Hang in there, Naru!" We were a block and a half from my house. Just a little farther. I pulled him more onto my shoulder, and it made it a bit easier to walk.

I reached the door and fumbled for my keys, trying not to drop Naru. After many failed attempts and nearly dropping the keys, I finally got the door open, and I kicked it the rest of the way, struggling inside. I passed the couch and took him straigh to my room, putting him down as gently as I could on the bed. I pulled off his shoes and covered him up.

"Naru...you're burning up..." he wasn't getting any better. I put my jacket away, and got his off of him, throwing it over the back of a nearby chair. I pushed the hair back from his forehead and placed a cool, damp washcloth there, and while I waited for that to take effect, I went to change. The walk home had tired me out, so I got my pajamas on and readied the couch for myself. I wanted to wait, though, to see if Naru's fever would break.

I scurried to get fresh water for the washcloth every few minutes, but after an hour, there was no improvement. If anything, he'd gotten worse. "Oh no..." This wasn't good. I tried wracking my brain for anything I'd learned about fever...

"Sorry, Naru, please excuse me..." I pulled back the covers and propped him up, pulling off the turtleneck sweater he wore. Under that was a black button front and I undid the top two buttons. Hoping that would be more comfortable, I went to get more water.

When I came back, Naru had rolled over, meaning he'd gotten enough energy back to move on his own, but he was still burning up. I undid the rest of his short, apologizing again. I kept the blankets off of his chest and decided to wait it out.

This fever was really bad. What would happen if he didn't get better soon? He'd already fainted from anemia once in front of me, so he couldn't be in very good health. This fever could be detrimental.

"Stop it, Mai!" I scolded myself. "Fretting about this isn't going to help him! The best you can do it be strong and take care of him!" I started praying. And my hard work paid off. At an early hour in the morning, the fever broke. I left him where he was and slipped onto the couch for my own brief sleep. i'd made myself promise to wake up and cook breakfast for him.

NARU POV

I groaned. I wasn't a morning person, but I felt like I'd been hit by a truck. I rolled over and pressed my face into the pillow under my head, which was suspiciously squishier than normal...and didn't smell like my pillow. I cracked one eye open, and saw--to my horror--that I wasn't in my room.

I sat bolt upright. I was in...a girl's room...was this a dream, because that wasn't a place I was likely to go. I looked down.

"Where'd my shirt go?" I thought to myself, "And why am I all sweaty?" I was starting to panic, something I never did, so you knew something was wrong with me. Was I sick? Hallucinating? Was this a dream? A vision? Where was I? Why was I there?

The questions raced through my brain at a pace that made my head hurt, so I pushed them all aside. I smelled food on the air. Unsteadily, I rose form the bed and left the room, following the delicious scent of breakfast.

"Hello, Naru!" I heard an all-too-familiar voice say to me.

"Mai?" Mai was here? Cooking breakfast? In her pajamas? I put all my observations together, with my being half-naked, and my brain made a little click.

"Oh god, what have I done?" I thought. I put a hand on my forehead, trying to remember anything. Had I really...like I thought I did?

Honestly, I wasn't a perverse person. I wasn't the type to have very intimate relationships with anyone, so this came as a shock to me.

"What am I...doing here?" I asked, afraid of the answer. If we'd really...then she'd probably be mad that I didn't remember. But if we didn't, then it was a great question. "And where are my clothes?"

"Sit down," she commanded. I had not the energy to disobey. I sat in a chair at the table and she set a plate down in front of me, commanding me to eat. I did, but only a little.

"Will you answer my question, Mai? What the hell am I doing here? I don't remember anything that happened after I asked for tea yesterday..." Did she drug me? Should I be filing a rape case? Yeah, right, like Mai was strong enough to drag me here while I was drugged.

But that meant I must have gotten here of my own volition. Oh GOD. What had I done?

"You had a fever," she explained. "So I was going to take you home...but I don't know where you lived. SO I just took you here." She started to eat her pancakes.

"Where'd my shirt go?" I asked, looking around for it.

"I took it off. Sorry, it wasn't the most appropriate thing, but you were burning up and I got scared..." she trailed off. I think she might have been staring at my chest, but I pretended I didn't notice. "Anyway, your fever broke early this morning. I hope you're feeling okay today."

Well, fever explained why I was sweaty, shirtless, and felt dizzy, but I was still unsure of why I was in her house in her bed. Where had she slept?

"I hope I didn't inconvenience you too much..."

"Nah, the couch was comfy anyway." She took my plate as well as hers and washed them. "Your clothes are in my room somewhere, if you want, you can go get them." I got up and hurried back. I found my shirt under the bed and my coat thrown over the back of a chair. I pulled them on before going back out to the living room.

"Tea?" She surprised me, holding out a cup.

"Uh...sure, thanks..." she looked at me, wide-eyed. "What?" I asked, paranoid.

"Well, you've never thanked me before. For tea anyway. Wait, no, I don't think you've ever thanked me." She grinned. "That was a surprise!"

"Well...thank you...for taking care of me." He eyes got even bigger.

"Are you sure this isn't a joke or something? No one's gonna pop out from behind my couch and yell 'tricked ya!'"

"No, it's not," I replied shortly.

"Well..." she glances around to make sure. "I'm going to go get changed." She padded off, leaving me in the living room.

I hoped I hadn't done anything improper...I couldn't remember a thing. And she didn't seem like the type to tell me about what I'd done...recounting something like that wasn't Mai's style.

It was really warm. I pulled off my sweater, leaving just my button front. Normally, I buttoned it up all the way, but I was distracted, and didn't even notice.

Okay, I was confused with myself. I hoped I hadn't done anything, but at the same time, as I walked to put my cup down, and saw Mai in her room--thankfully completely dressed or I'd have had a problem--and wished there had been something. Was that even sane? Maybe I needed to get my head checked.

"Ready for work?" Mai asked suddenly. I hadn't noticed her come out of her room.

"Uh, yeah." I smiled, surprising her again. She walked to work with me that day, and I fought the urge to hold her hand.

It wasn't until later that I'd had it pointed out to me that my top two shirt buttons were undone.

Someone noticed. Oops.

A/N: Just something I kinda thought up. It took a different direction than I'd thought, but I think it still turned out pretty good. My first Ghost Hunt fic, and hopefully, you realized by now that it was NaruMai.

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