Chapter 2

Mai froze. Naru had kissed her! This really wasn't where she saw this conversation going, but his actions had changed everything. Naru's face was blank before her, waiting.

They sat there in silence staring at each other for a whole minute.

"I want you Mai." He said in a low voice, then turned his head away and added: "I'll pretend to be Gene if you want." Mai could see the pain and desperation in his eyes, that he would stoop to pretending to be his older and more likeable brother.

"Why would you do that?" Mai asked, if it hadn't been so serious, she would have laughed. "Naru, you were the one who decided I loved him. And I did, but never in that way."

Naru looked back around at her, his eyes full of hope.

"Gene was right; you really are an idiot scientist. I love you, not him."

Naru's face underwent a series of changes, first incredulous, then happy, then the arrogant smirk Mai knew all too well was back. He leant forwards again and kissed her again, more passionately this time.

Mai surrendered herself to the feeling and kissed him back. This had to be a dream, a wonderful dream. When they broke apart, Naru led Mai by the hand to her bedroom and pushed her towards the bed, on which she sat awkwardly.

Naru indicated she should move on to the bed further, so she shuffled back. Then he climbed on the bed and straddled Mai, still in his towel. Naru kissed Mai again, mentally noting that this seemed to be a good way of keeping his assistant quiet. He tried hard not to think about how he should not be doing this with his assistant. But it wasn't his assistant, it was Mai and this would possibly be the last chance he had. Slowly he moved his kisses to her neck, starting just under her ear and heard her moan, which sent a shudder down his own spine.

Still caressing her with his lips, his hands started to work on removing her clothes. Once he had undone all the buttons on her nightshirt, he felt Mai freeze up as he tried to remove her from it. She wasn't wearing anything underneath and seemed to be self-conscious about that fact.

Naru sat up and looked at her, Mai had moved her arms to cover her chest.

"What's wrong?" He asked, trying not to look too worried.

"I'm not pretty enough for you." Mai mumbled. She wasn't making eye contact and a dull red flush was creeping up her cheeks.

Naru sighed; he pulled the towel from around his waist and threw it on the floor. He took Mai's hand in his own and placed it on his erect manhood.

"That is there because of you, idiot. Now stop saying you aren't pretty enough. You are perfect." Mai thought he sounded almost insulted that he would settle for anything else.

Slowly, Mai removed her night shirt, noticing how soft the sheets were on her back. Naru threw the shirt on the floor with the towel and then returned to kissing her. He was trailing his kisses down her neck just to hear her moan again, he'd found a sensitive spot 2 inches below her ear. His hands were gently caressing her breasts.

Mai, on the other hand, had no idea what she should be doing. She wanted him to enjoy this too, but he kept distracting her with his kisses. How was she supposed to think of something to do when he wouldn't let her think straight? His mouth had reached her nipples and he was playing with them with his tongue. Whoever knew that could feel so nice?

Mai felt Naru's hands removing her pyjama bottoms and her underwear with ease. Then he guided her hands back to his manhood and wrapped them around it. Silently thanking Naru for his guidance, she begun to play with it for a few minutes, trying to find a rhythm, but was continually preoccupied by what Naru was doing. Then he was wrenched from her grip as Naru's kisses went lower down her belly. He pushed her legs apart and Mai gave no resistance. She had read about things like this, and was trying not to ruin her chance to try them. Naru's tongue was dancing over her, but she couldn't feel its individual movement, just the beautifully warm feeling it gave her. She closed her eyes and moaned again, clutching the sheets on either side of her body trying hard not to squirm. Where had he learnt this?

But suddenly, the feeling stopped, and faded away. Mai opened her eyes and relaxed her grip on the sheets. The nervous look had returned to Naru's face.

"What's wrong?" She asked, annoyed that he had stopped.

"Are you sure about this?" He asked tentatively. "Do you want to…?" He couldn't seem to put the idea into words.

"Yes Naru." Mai met his eyes and smiled. This was a very good dream. She pulled him closer and kissed him. "Go on." She said, trying to sound seductive.

As she felt him enter her, she couldn't help but gasp. Mai tried not to focus how weird and uncomfortable it felt, having him inside her. Instinctively, she had grabbed hold of him, pulling the warmth of his body closer to her. When Naru started to move gradually, the weirdness began to subside to a better feeling. Naru wanted to kiss her again, but he didn't want to stop hearing the mumbling sounds of enjoyment escaping Mai's lips. He wondered briefly if she was trying to be quiet.

Mai was oblivious to Naru's thoughts, her eyes were closed and her nails were digging into Naru's back, holding him in a rhythm that she never wanted to end. She wanted to tell him how good it felt, but no words seemed good enough. An intense feeling was growing inside her and she wasn't sure how long it could continue before exploding.

"I think I'm going to…" She started to mumble. But Naru had sped up. He too could barely contain the sensation and joy of having Mai. She was holding tighter to him, her breathing getting faster and shallower, feeling the pleasure grow and grow until –

"Oh!" She tried desperately not to scream, her body was arching beneath him and she felt him spasm. He was grunting in a satisfied manner as he climaxed inside her. Mai held onto Naru as he relaxed, then let go as he climbed off and fell down beside her. They lay in silence for a few minutes, both breathing heavily. Mai wanted to laugh, she had just done it with her boss.

"Naru?" A thought came to Mai.

"Hmm?"

"Was that your first time?" Mai asked, not looking at him.

"Of course it was." He said, in his 'stop being stupid' voice. He paused. "Was it yours?"

"Yes." Mai said. Naru pulled her closer to him and she rested her head on his shoulder. He kissed her forehead gently.

"We should go to sleep." Naru stated after a few minutes. He got up and passed Mai her night clothes, before leaving the room. Sitting up, Mai looked down at the sheets. There was a stain where they had been lying and Mai was suddenly very aware of the sticky fluids on her legs and crotch. Quickly, she got off the bed and ran into the adjoining bathroom. Grabbing the toilet paper, she wiped herself down and then took some more paper back to try and wipe the sheets. It didn't make much difference, so Mai got dressed and then tried again, but to no avail.

"Just leave it." Naru had reappeared in the doorway in the black lounge pants he had been wearing earlier. He turned off the light and got into bed. Mai scrambled in the other side.

"I'm sorry about the sheets." She said into the silence.

"I can get new ones." Naru said. "It was worth a set of sheets." He turned over to lay with his back to her. Mai continued to lie on her back, staring at the ceiling.

"Are we together now?" Mai asked a while later, but she got no answer. Turning over she propped herself up and saw that Naru was asleep, his body rising and falling slowly. A single tear leaked from her eye. She blinked away the leak and tried not to think about the mush of emotions fighting in her heart. She didn't regret what had happened, it had been wonderful. But she wished that she knew better what the whole thing meant for them.

With an uneasy heart, slowly, she fell asleep.

When Mai woke, Naru was no longer beside her. She got up and headed towards the bathroom. Her body felt achy, but the hot water from the shower helped. Once dressed, she packed her things up and brought her bags out to the living room. Naru was eating cereal from a bowl. He didn't look up as Mai came in.

"Help yourself." He muttered between mouthfuls.

"Are you okay?" Mai asked tentatively, not moving any closer.

"I'm fine." He looked up, face blank.

"Are we together now?" Mai asked nervously, repeating her question from the previous night. There was no reply. "Naru?"

"I don't want to answer that." Naru finished his breakfast and dumped the bowl in the sink. "Are you eating or not?" He asked.

"No." Mai said, holding back tears. What did his answer mean?

"Then let's go."

They drove in silence. And when they arrived at the office, Naru retreated straight to his own office, without even asking for tea. Mai stared after him, unsure of what she had done wrong. She walked sluggishly to her own desk and sat down.

Lin arrived 20 minutes after Mai and Naru did. He looked surprised that Mai was in so early, but did not say anything. Naru's assistant wasn't sure what to do. She had checked her emails, and then tidied the communal area. It wasn't until almost 11o'clock that Naru opened his office door.

"Mai, tea." He said.

She jumped up and went to the kitchen. Once it was ready, she took the tea through on a tray and placed it on Naru's desk, but he wasn't sitting in his chair.

The door closed behind her and she spun on the spot to face Naru.

"I wanted to tell you myself." He said; his face blank. "I am returning to England."

"For how long?" Mai asked, trying hard to keep her own face empty of emotion. "Is SPR closing?"

"Six months. And no, Madoka-san and Lin will be leading the team."

Mai nodded and swallowed, feelings of anger and resentment rose up inside her.

"So what was last night then?" She asked.

"What do you mean?" He retorted. "It was what it was. I'm sure your education taught you about the birds and the bees."

"So I was whoring myself out for a place to sleep? And to think I thought you cared. You lied to me! You bastard!" Mai stepped forward and smiled through her tears, then slapped Naru as hard as she could. She had expected him to try and stop her, but he took the hit with no hint of shock on his beautifully blank facade. The blow rung in her ears but Mai didn't wait for him to say anything and left the office. She grabbed her coat and told Lin she was going to stock up on tea. She had to get out of there.

By the time she returned, arms laden with bags of tea and biscuits, Madoka was at the SPR office and talking to Naru.

"… I would advise you get the whole team together sometime soon to get everyone up to speed. Listen to Lin and Mai's advice on what cases to take. They should know by now whether or not it would be worth it." Naru sounded like he was listing things.

"Oliver, it'll be fine. I know what I am doing." Madoka reassured him.

"You have my number if you need it." He paused. "I should head off. Goodbye Madoka." Mai heard Naru leave his office, but did not look up from her book.

"Goodbye Lin."

"Safe flight and good luck." Lin replied.

Mai could feel Naru's eyes on her, but she did not look up from her desk, where she was pretending to read. There was a pause, then the front door closed. He was gone.

"Have you two had a fight?" Madoka asked from the doorway.

"I don't want to talk about it." Mai said. She knew she was being uncharacteristically down, but she'd had enough of the day and it wasn't even lunchtime.

"He'll be back soon enough!" Madoka said cheerfully, thinking this would help.

"I don't give a shit if he ever comes back again. Can I go home? Only I'm moving into my new apartment today and if we don't have a case…" Mai snapped. "Sorry." She said at the look on Madoka's face.

"Of course you can." Said Madoka softly. She watched as Mai gathered her things and left, then turned to Lin. "What happened between those two?"

"He only told her this morning I think." Lin replied. "Come on; let's look at these new case files."

"But surely she knows why? That it's for the best?" Madoka enquired.

"As if Naru would tell her the reason, what if it doesn't go right?" Lin explained. "If it doesn't work, he won't want her to know. He'll want to show off to her if it does work. He'd rather it was a surprise. Besides, there is a significant chance he won't come back, what he's trying is dangerous."

"He's an idiot." Madoka grabbed a case proposal and started to read.

"Yes I believe that's why she slapped him." Lin agreed.