Oh, my. It seems as though I've caused many of you to hate Naru... poor him. Never was my intention, and I think that the next chapter would clerify some of it. Also, most of you thinks that a bigger mystery is lurking behind the spirit's identity. Again, you'll find answers in this chapter, but from your knowledge of Naru (that he's unfortunately always right) and Mai's emotional attachment to people, what do you think will happen?

Read on and find out.


Chapter 6

Day 5, night.

Noll was staring at the data pad in his hands, uncomprehending and uncaring, comfortable with being immersed in his own dark mood. Lin and Yasuhara were re-watching the footage from the first day, from when Mai and him had ran across the spirit in the storage basement, Hara-san was talking quietly with John and Matsuzaki-san and Bou-san were standing close together and probably laughing at him and Hara-san for their previous actions.

But Noll was busy being angry at Mai. Why did she have to do that? Why did she have to confess her feelings for his brother to him and break the precious balance they had developed when he had offered her a job upon his return to Japan?

He really should be concentrating on the exorcism, he knew. He was wasting valuable time, giving the spirit time to recover. They needed to exorcise all of the insignificant spirits before they could touch Asagiri Sanae, and he wanted to complete this task while she was still confused.

But one look at his pathetic team showed him that he had no one to turn to. After returning from their rest, his mediums and psychics were still exhausted from the unusually intense use of their clerical powers and were not keen on resuming the exorcism. They had all had tea – which Noll didn't touch seeing as it was made by Hara-san – and were content to talk quietly amongst themselves and keep away from Noll's path.

That aside, Hara-san was injured. Her eye was swelling from the scratch she had received when they had first begun to exorcise the spirits, and the sleep and her continuing fatigue seemed to have made the bruise stand out more. Noll had checked it himself, concerned that it might be similar to the five parallel gashes that were still stinging on his cheek, but even after he had rubbed Hara-san's makeup away he could see only one.

Hara-san had blushed under his wandering fingers, and Noll could tell that she was happy to be touched by him like that, even if it was purely professional. As opposed to Mai's stammered, infuriating speech, Hara-san was very straightforward in revealing her affection for him. He was very straightforward as well when he told her that he was not interested, but that didn't seem to deter her. She was still smiling sweetly at him, but it only served to further anger him because it reminded him of Mai's confession.

Mai, who got under his skin. Who could make him lose control even though he had spent most of his life training to retain it at all cost. Who could goad him into doing things he would never normally do. For whom he would risk everything. Who could wrestle a smile out of him almost against his will. Who was so confused she didn't even know who she loved, and he had to suffer the brunt of it.

Noll clenched his teeth.

He had read her. He had always respected other people's privacy and refrained from using his psychometry on them without their consent unless they were in danger, but Mai had a tendency to make him lost his painstakingly achieved self control and he couldn't resist. And what he had seen was the spark that had set fire to his ever boiling anger and resentment.

He knew that in her visions Mai was experiencing Asagiri Sanae's life as if it was her own, and that she had felt the love Asagiri Sanae felt as if it was hers. And that the person who starred as Mai's lover in her visions was Gene, which led the foolish girl to confess her misguided love to Noll. She was projecting it, and if he cared he would probably pity her for the hardship she faced when she had to work with someone whose face was identical to the dead person she truly loved.

The first time she had said those words to him, Noll had bottled his own hurt feelings inside and asked her who it was that she truly loved. After all, she couldn't possibly be in love with him. He had done nothing but mock her, insult her and irritate her. He had stayed by her side when she cried, and he had assured her that she would see his brother again.

They were both confused at the time, Noll from finding his brother's body and from discovered that his brother still lingered on this side of the spiritual world and was in contact with his assistant. And Mai from discovering that Noll hadn't the ability to project his spirit into her dreams and that the kind person she was meeting there was actually his dead twin brother.

He had assured her that she would see his brother again, and every word was like poison in his mouth. For the first time in his life he was angry at Gene to the point of hating him. Why must he take the only thing Noll had ever truly wanted, when he wasn't even alive to enjoy it?

Gene had always been the kind one. The sympathetic and the gentle one. Being a medium he related to people, while Noll related to science and facts. When faced with the choice of an identical package but two different personalities, most girls would choose Gene, and Noll never begrudged him for that. They were all gullible and annoying, and he had no particular interest in any of them.

But Mai got his attention from day one. She was the only one who wasn't deceived by his good looks, and was not afraid to dive headlong into an argument with him over something she thought was right, even if most of the time she stood very little chance of actually winning it. In spite of what he always told her she was, in fact, clever, and he admired her ability to be so passionate about everything and to sympathize with everyone.

And wasn't that the crux of the matter? Mai and Gene were so perfectly alike, that it was only reasonable that they would fall in love with each other. They would have made the perfect couple, had he been alive. They were practically made for each other, and what a tragedy it was that they met only after Gene had died, Noll thought bitterly.

He clenched his teeth so hard that a sharp spark of pain shot up his jaw and made him wince.

At least this farce wouldn't go on. Not after what he had said to Mai. He had been cruel, but even he had a limit. And Mai always knew exactly what to say to invoke a reaction from him, she just didn't expect that particular one. He would not play a substitute for his brother, not even for her.

Noll suddenly felt a small twinge in his stomach, the same one he had learned to identify with being next to his brother. Looking down, he realized that without noticing it his hand had come to rest on Matsuzaki-san's ceremonial mirror, and that the reflection moving in it was not his own.

After he had returned to Japan, he was overjoyed to discover that he could still contact Gene(1). Having his brother torn away from him had been a shock, and it had felt like his own heart was ripped out of his chest. When he had the vision of Gene dying, he was so affected by it and in so much pain that he turned catatonic for a whole day. He still had nightmares about it sometimes, and he was still learning to live with the absence of his other half who had balanced him in so many ways. Despite everything he had said, there was a part of him that was selfishly happy that Gene for some reason hadn't moved on.

But now, seeing Gene in the wake of Mai's confession, Noll seriously considered turning Matsuzaki-san's mirror over.

Noll stared, hostile and angry, at his brother's reflection. Gene didn't seem to notice since he kept trying to tell Noll something, but Noll couldn't hear him. The connection must be weak and Gene must be tired, since Noll could only see his brother's lips moving without a sound. He shook his head, signaling his brother that he didn't understand him, and not even making a particular effort to do so.

Gene glared at him and for a moment, Noll thought that his brother would fold his arms on his chest petulantly. He used to do it every time they fought when he was alive, and while Noll usually had no problems sitting in his chair and staring at the mirror, now he had more important things to do, with brooding being number one on his list.

Gene's patience seemed to finally snap. He lifted his hands for Noll to see, and used a basic, childish sign language to spell Noll a simple sentence.

M-a-i I-s I-n D-a-n-g-e-r.

Noll's eyes widened and he got up from his chair abruptly, the mirror and his brother's image forgotten.

"Oh? What's up, Naru-chan?" Bou-san asked, but Noll ignored him. He approached the monitors and immediately focused on the garden camera, where he had sent Mai to measure the temperatures in his anger.

The monitor was blinking a red message saying 'Error'.

"Lin, what happened to the garden camera?" Noll demanded of his assistant urgently. Lin turned to look at it, pausing the footage he and Yasuhara-san were watching, and gasped. Obviously, he had been unaware that the camera had stopped broadcasting.

Noll quickly rewound the tape, but the last of the video had been taken while the sun was still in the process of setting. Mai wasn't seen anywhere on it, and Noll wanted to curse himself for chasing Mai away to where their violent and dangerous spirit was.

"Boss?" Yasuhara-san asked, confused. However, his brilliant mind didn't take long to catch up, and he looked around quickly. "Where is Taniyama-san?" he asked sharply.

"In the garden," Noll replied, already making his way to the door.

"Don't tell me…" Bou-san started, but Noll didn't stay in the room long enough to hear it. He was running to the garden faster than he had ever run before, everyone else in tow. It was good that they were, because if something happened, he didn't actually have the tools to deal with it himself.

Noll slid open the garden's shoji door so wildly that it nearly slid off its rail, but he was through it and rushing through the garden before it had even banged open against the frame.

If something happened to Mai…

Noll spotted Mai's prone body on the ground, and ran straight towards her. She was fine, thank goodness, and had not been dragged over the cliff, but she was also unconscious and he didn't know whether to be relieved or concerned that she had been found. What was wrong with her?

But looking up at the sky, Noll answered his own question. Obscuring the pale moon was a sinister black cloud that hovered next to the cliff's edge. She was here, Asagiri Sanae, and she must have something to do with Mai's unconsciousness because she would have dragged Mai over the cliff by now if she hadn't. Maybe she was also the reason Gene was unable to make himself heard in the mirror. She was powerful enough to block Gene, and who knew what else.

"Naru-bou, watch it!" Bou-san called behind him, and as Noll slowed down both he and Matsuzaki-san ran passed him, Matsuzaki-san nearly toppling over in her haste to kneel next to Mai. Bou-san ran past Mai and stopped next to the unconscious girl's head, already standing in position. John wasn't far behind him, his stole billowing behind him with the speed of his jog.

"Naumaku Sanmanda Bazara-"

"In the beginning was the-"

"Stop!" Hara-san's voice, short of breath but still sharper and louder than Noll had ever heard her use, caused both exorcists to stop mid-chant. "Mai's spirit is also up there!" she exclaimed, looking up at the darkness hovering ominously over the cliff's edge with tears in her eyes.

Noll could hear his teammate's shocked cries, but he didn't care. His own eyes widened with realization, and he was nearly physically sick with self hatred.

Why hadn't he figured it our before?


Mai looked at the figure in front of her, radiating unearthly light against the warm darkness that was wrapped around them both. She was beautiful, still dressed in her white uchikake and with her hair worn loose and carrying on unseen wind. Her large, brown eyes looked immensely sad and hurt. She had the look of someone who had been hurt by a loved one and yet, if asked, Mai was convinced that she would forgive him. There was a kind of vulnerability to her that Mai could relate to.

"I'm sorry," Mai said, sensing the need to apologize for having been witness to such a traumatic experience. She knew who the figure was because she had just seen her, but somehow she was feeling numb and pleasantly sluggish in the warm darkness.

The woman laughed, even though her eyes were sad beyond recovery. "Will you come to me and be with me?" the woman asked, reaching a hand for Mai. "You, who understand me so well?"

Mai looked at the woman. Did she understand her? She must have, or the woman wouldn't say that, but why?

With effort, Mai recalled her own mind succumbing to the inevitable truth about her own loved one's cruelty during the vision, and bowed her head. Tears she didn't fully understand threatened to spill from her eyes and she bit her lip, not answering.

"We have been through something similar. Come with me and I will be your support. You will know no pain. Like this, there is no more pain. You simply are," the woman said, her voice clear as bells and her eyes earnest and hopeful.

There was something wrong with what the woman said. Mai knew that, but her mind was so slow, like she was trying to fight off sleep, that she couldn't point out what it was. All she knew was that this woman was beckoning Mai to come with her, and that Mai's soul was weary from fighting and hurt from rejection.

She saw no reason to reject the woman's offer.


Noll gasped as he looked at the darkness looming above their heads. Why hadn't he realized it sooner? The reason why Asagiri Sanae was so quiet while they sapped her power from her was not because it was daylight, or because of Matsuzaki-san's chanting. It was because she had put her sights on Mai, who related to her and who felt what she had felt during her visions. She planned on using Mai's sympathy for her to lure her in and take Mai's own power.

And with Mai's latent power at the spirit's disposal it would be impossible to remove her.

Moreover, to get to that kind of power, she would have to kill Mai.

"Mai! Come back here this instant!" Hara-san seemed to be following the same line of thought as he was because she walked forward and pointed at the ground with a firm finger, taking the tone one would use when speaking to an unruly child.

"Is she's still up there?" Matsuzaki-san asked, near panic, while she cradled Mai's body against her chest. Mai's brown hair was in disarray and fell into her face, and Matsuzaki-san kept patting it agitatedly in an attempt to get it to lie back down. "Mai! Come back! Please!" she begged the darkness.

"Mai!" Bou-san was yelling abruptly, and Noll heard a note of panic in his voice. "Jou-chan, please come back!"

"Mai-san, it's dangerous! You much return immediately!" John made to reach out with his hand, but thought better of it and instead used his voice to try and call Mai back. "She doesn't mean you well, Mai-san!"

"Taniyama-san! If you stay there you will die!" even Lin sounded alarmed, his shoulders and back tense and ready to leap to action. But unlike all the others, he was bluntly stating the truth, and Yasuhara-san next to him looked pale and frustrated at his words.

"Hara-san, anything?" Yasuhara-san asked the medium worriedly.

Noll looked at her as well, but she was pale and worried, her eyes fixed on the sky where Mai probably was. She shook her head jerkily, not even bothering to look back at any of them. "No, we're not reaching her. She is befuddled by the spirit. I don't know how that came to be, but she is under the spirit's control," she said in a trembling voice, and the entire group turned as one to look at the sky again, frightened.

"Mai!"

"Mai-san!"

"Mai!"

"Taniyama-san!"

"Mai!"

"Taniyama-san!"

Noll simply stared up at the sky, allowing the concerned, sharp words to slide past him. He couldn't see her, and he had no tools with which to deal with this situation. He couldn't exorcise the spirit, nor could he jump over Mai and save her. He was powerless to help, and it was rapidly frying his self control just like the fear of losing Mai was rapidly frying his usual reserve.


Mai looked down at the people calling her. She had a feeling that she knew them, but she didn't remember from where. A memory was trying to surface, but Mai's mind was still numb and lethargic, and she was unable to form the images properly.

"Won't you come?" the woman before her asked once more, and Mai nodded. She looked back at the people below but when nothing came to her, she turned her back to them. She had no reason to go down there.


"MAI!" Hara-san's scream was so loud that Noll nearly winced.

"What is it, Masako?" Bou-san demanded of the medium, his frustration over being unable to see Mai's spirit evident in his ferocious frown. Noll also turned, watching Hara-san go so pale that John reached out for her with a steadying hand.

She fell into John's arms and he eased her to the ground, and when she looked back up at them her face was tear-stained. "She turned away," Hara-san said brokenly. "Mai does not recognize us, and she turned away from us. She has no reason to return to us!" Hara-san cried, and buried her face in her hands.

"Wha…" Matsuzaki-san's mouth opened in horror. "Why doesn't she recognize us? What kind of a hold does that damn thing have over her?" she demanded, her anger fueled by her fear.

Hara-san made an attempt to control her sobs and shook her head in response. John was still crouching next to her, but his eyes went back and forth between his charge and the looming darkness next to them. "I don't know. It could be anything, from Mai's visions into the past to some sorrow inside her that the spirit is taking advantage of," Hara-san said chokingly.

"Sorrow?" Bou-san sounded suspicious. "When we saw Mai on her way to the garden, didn't she look upset? Did something happen between you and her, Naru?" he asked, so sharp and angry he hadn't used any endearing suffixes, but Noll wasn't paying attention.

"And why would she go to the garden on her own?" Matsuzaki-san demanded, no less sharply, finding an outlet for her anxiety in blaming him. "Answer us!"

Noll didn't even hear them. Hara-san's words were echoing in his ears. He knew what Mai's sorrow was, and suddenly knew what the spirit's hold on Mai was too. Hadn't they both suffered disappointment by the hands of someone they cared about? It was this that made for a common base between them and allowed the spirit to draw Mai to her.

Regardless of what Mai truly felt, she believed that it was Noll she was in love with. His rejection must have made her vulnerable, and her natural instinct to trust people and relate to them was all it took for her to fall into Asagiri Sanae's hands. Untrained and uncontrolled, she had allowed her spirit to wander away from her body and straight into the trap laid out for her.

It was because of him that she was in this predicament in the first place.

And he was the only one who could fix it.

Noll was a proud creature. He knew that, and was told that often. But when he first met Mai and talked to her about his job and the amount of success he had had in his work, he was not trying to brag. He was delivering accurate data but, having not known him very well at the time, Mai had decided that he was a show-off and a narcissist. Ever since she had let that fact slip, he enjoyed behaving according to her expectations. He was never a narcissist but the occasional comment would set Mai off on an angry tirade and he would always find himself fighting with his traitorous, suddenly-prone-to-smiling mouth.

But he would never deny that he was proud. He had no reason to, seeing as he had every reason to be proud. And so, when Mai had confessed her love to him for the first time and he had asked her who was it that she truly loved, all he could think of was that if she would only love him, he would bow his proud back to her as low as she would ask.

Now she wasn't there to ask, but it didn't matter. Even if she loved Gene, he loved her and he was responsible for her well being. What good would his pride do if he couldn't save the one thing that mattered to him the most?

Noll looked down only to see an angry Bou-san standing practically in his face and speaking to him in a harsh tone. "…my curse will haunt you down to the rest of your bloodline…" Bou-san faltered when Noll side-stepped him without so much as a glance and came to stand next to Mai's body, still cradled in Matsuzaki-san's protective grasp.

His teammates all quieted down when he knelt next to Mai and took her frozen hand in his, holding their joined hands close to his heart. He couldn't lose her. He wouldn't, not if he could help it.

"Mai, come back to me," he looked up at the darkness, focusing on nothing in particular but still no less intense. "I don't want to lose you, Mai. Come back!" he called at the darkness, hoping she would hear. That his words would reach her.

In the stunned silence that followed his words, his whisper was clearly heard, he knew. He didn't care.

"Please."


"I don't want to lose you, Mai. Come back!"

Mai started when she heard the new voice calling her. Something about that voice was familiar, and it caused her heart to beat faster. Who was he, and why was he invoking such a reaction in her?

"Please."

That word brought recognition like an explosion of light in Mai's head.

Naru! And Bou-san, Ayako, John, Masako, and even Lin and Yasuhara! They were all looking up at her, all wanting her back.

Even Naru… after everything he had said? But then, Mai had never heard him asking something of someone like that, or seen such an intent expression on his face. Why? Hadn't he rejected her?

"Come to me!" the woman before her, Asagiri Sanae, demanded. She was not so beautiful and fragile as she had seemed before, and Mai fought against the strange pull she felt coming from her. The darkness around her was now freezing cold and Mai shivered, taking a step back.

"Do you not hate him?" Asagiri Sanae demanded, and there was so much loathing in her voice and eyes that Mai instinctively recoiled. She looked down at Naru who, she now saw, was holding her physical hand against his heart, and smiled sadly.

"No," Mai answered. She was angry at him for breaking her heart, and she was furious that he had lied about the reasons he did it. She was hurt by his cruel words and definitely thought that someone should teach him some manners, but she didn't hate him. Hating and being hated was unnatural. If they all kept on hating, then wouldn't nobody ever be able to move on? What would become of humanity then?

That aside, she loved Naru. She was angry and insulted and hurt by him, but she would never hate him. Wasn't this the essence of loving someone? And now, Naru wanted her to come back - all of her friends did. Even if Naru didn't accept her feelings, for him to go to such lengths to save her meant something too.

Mai turned towards her friends, but stopped to look over her shoulder at Asagiri Sanae. "I don't hate him. I could never hate him, even though he hurt me!" she exclaimed.

That's right. That was what was wrong with what Asagiri Sanae told her before. Even in the spiritual world, there were still emotions. And Asagiri Sanae was surrounded by the darkness of her grudge and hate. Mai never wanted to become such a thing. To hate and be hated for all eternity… it was sad.


Hara-san gasped suddenly. "Mai is looking at us!" she said excitedly, wiping her wet face clumsily with a handkerchief John held out for her. "Mai! Please come back!"

Noll's hand tightened on Mai's.

"Mai!"


Mai turned to face Asagiri Sanae head on. "I love Naru. It doesn't matter what he does, I will always love him. Aren't you the same?" she asked the spirit.

Asagiri Sanae's pretty face distorted with an ugly expression. "How can I be the same? I was betrayed by my sister and my husband-to-be! I can feel nothing but hatred!" she cried, the darkness around her thickening.

"You were betrayed, I know," Mai said, folding her palms over her heart. Seeing that vision broke her heart, especially knowing how much Asagiri Sanae loved the man she was supposed to marry. "But you also loved him, didn't you? And if he would have asked, you would have forgiven him for all the wrongs he had done to you," Mai stated. She remembered the vulnerable expression she had seen on the spirit's face just after the vision ended. She was sad beyond recovery, but her love for the undeserving Ichinomiya-sama ran as deeply as her sorrow and shone in her eyes still.

"I would never do such a thing!" Asagiri Sanae shrieked, cruel and nearly insane in her vehemence. "I have no love in me remaining to allow me to forgive him!"

"I don't believe that. And furthermore, you have spent so long hating, and have caused so much harm… you can continue doing so for another hundred generations and still not be happy. All you would feel is hatred and sadness, and you will cause others sadness and make others hate you… what good would that do?" Mai cried passionately.

"You said that what you have gone through left you unable to feel anything but hatred, but how are you different? You made so many women feel the same, separating them from the people they loved… if you know how painful it is to feel this way, why would you make them go through it as well? You were hurt when your sister, whom you loved, said that she hated you, but if you continue the way you are now you'll be hated by everyone. And that's… its just sad!" Mai was short of breath by the end of her heartfelt speech, her hand fisted against her side and her eyes staring solemnly at Asagiri Sanae.

"I… I would never be a part of that!" Mai declared finally, defiantly.

Before she turned her back on the spirit, she could see endless sorrow and pain in her eyes again.


Day 5, night.

Mai felt someone's arms around her, and someone holding her hand. She was cold and her head hurt, but there was a warm body cradling her and a gentle hand stroking her hair. She took a deep breath and opened her eyes, looking straight up at Ayako.

"Mai!" Ayako exclaimed, surprised and relieved at the same time. "Are you alright?" she asked, her hands skimming Mai's forehead, cheeks and pulse point with the efficiency of a doctor.

"Taniyama-san!" Yasuhara was bending over her, and someone was helping her stand up on unsteady legs. Everyone was looking at her with relief and Mai smiled, a warm feeling coiling in her chest. She was back with her friends again.

"Takigawa-san, now is our chance!" Lin called sharply, interrupting the reunion, and Bou-san tore his almost starved gaze from Mai and turned to look back at the darkness looming in the sky above their heads, frowning so fiercely that Ayako and Mai gasped. Mai had seen him frowning this fiercely only once before when he had been hurt by those white lights during the Yoshimi case.

"You're right," Bou-san said, his voice nearly raw with anger. "On Habahaba Kyuuta Sabataruma Sabasaba Kitsudokan Tatsuri Tutabotitsu Takimei Karasantan Uenbi SOWAKA!"

And then, just like that, the darkness in the sky dissipated and the sky was clear and calm once again. The breeze that blew past them was warm in comparison to the coldness from before, and the moon over their heads only contributed to the serenity that suddenly enveloped the mountain. The air was clean, almost as if Bou-san not only exorcised the place but also purified it.

Bou-san straightened, looking back and forth between his still interlaced fingers and the sky. He seemed disturbed. He was still breathing hard from the release of such a great power from within him, but he hadn't dropped his guard and Mai felt Ayako pulling her further into the safe haven of the older woman's arms.

"Don't get me wrong here, but wasn't that too easy?" Bou-san asked suspiciously, looking around him.

"Are you sure that she's gone?" Ayako asked, but it was Masako who nodded.

"She is gone. And with her gone, the remaining spirits that were trapped here were freed to pass on and leave this place as well," Masako confirmed, also looking around them.

"After all the trouble we've been through to get to a point where we could exorcise her, and now she's gone with only one try?" John asked, dismayed.

But Mai knew the truth. This was her intuition at work, and she was sure of it just like she was sure that Kasai-san was not the one who cursed her fellow students during the Yuasa case, and that taking on this case was dangerous. She smiled sadly, looking down at the ground.

"She wanted to go," Mai said quietly.

Ayako looked down at her, surprised. "How do you know?" she asked.

"Because she was hurting and sad. She let herself be removed, she wanted this to end," Mai said, by way of explanation. She didn't know if it was clear enough, but it was all she could offer.

"And you were the one who told her that continuing as she had would not make amends for the past, aren't you?" Masako asked, no hint of haughtiness or sarcasm in her voice, and Mai simply nodded.

This wasn't the way she wanted things to end. Bou-san's chant, powerful as it was, due to it being fueled by his anger, was meant to remove Asagiri Sanae by way of Jorei but never stood a chance of succeeding on its own. In the end, Asagiri Sanae had allowed herself to be killed. She had ceased to exist, and would never be able to pass on. Mai guessed that she had been stuck on the mountain with her grudge for so long, that she didn't even know how to pass on anymore and had become a land bound spirit. And in the end, what happened to her was for the best. Such an existence was a miserable one.

"Mai, you idiot," Masako said, anger in her voice, and Mai raised surprised eyes at her, wondering where that came from. "Even someone as dim as you should have known better than to allow such an atrocious spirit to draw you in," she chided, lifting her nose high in the air with disdain, and Mai smiled. Masako really was worried, if she had allowed her emotions to get the better of her.

"You really had us scared for a moment, jou-chan," Bou-san said, turning to look at Mai with a frown on his face.

"Yes, when I saw you on the ground I thought that you had already died," Ayako said, voice uncharacteristically soft and subdued. She released Mai and was now looking at her with relieved eyes.

"And you didn't even hear us calling, at first," John added.

"When Masako told us that you had nothing to keep you here, I thought that I had truly lost you, Mai," Bou-san added, his voice gruff and subdued as well, and Mai waved her hands at him.

"That's not true!" she exclaimed. She couldn't let her friends keep on thinking that. "I… well, I didn't even remember who I was or who you were. It was like my mind was blocked and uncooperative… but it's because I have all of you that I came back!" she emphasized. "Your calls made me remember it. Even Naru's…" Mai trailed off. That's right, Naru was also there.

She turned to look at Naru, for the first time since waking up. Somehow, in the rush of getting her back on her feet, their hands disengaged, and while her teammates and friends were all reprimanding her Naru stood behind Ayako and her and remained silent.

Mai smiled sadly, moving two steps closer to him and raising her eyes to look at his pale figure draped in black. She wanted to assure him that she understood why he did what he did. "I know that you were concerned for me because I'm still your responsibility," she started. Naru was looking at her in a weird way, an expression on his face like nothing Mai had ever seen before. She had no idea if he was angry at her or maybe simply thinking that she's stupid like he usually did, so she plowed on. "I know that you didn't mean it in any other way, I just wanted to let you know I und-"

Mai's words were cut off when warm, dry lips descended on hers while long, slender fingers cupped her cheeks in a strong grip and angled her head to get better access to her mouth. She looked up, surprised, straight into Naru's blue eyes so close to hers, and gasped. Naru drank her gasp greedily, the opening of her mouth under his allowing him to send his tongue passed her lips, and the warmth of him nearly made Mai melt.

Mai had no idea what was going on, but Naru's lips on hers were unrelenting in continuing the light pressure and sensual movement and his tongue showed no signed of stopping from exploring the inside of her mouth. She closed her eyes and raised her hands hesitantly to his face, fingers moving over five o'clock shadow and healing scabs and burying themselves in thick, silky hair that wasn't entirely straight. The point of contact between them was warm and pleasant, sending Mai's nerves tingling when Naru's thumbs brushed her jaw-line, and got even better when Naru shifted his hold on her and crushed her body against his tall, solid frame.

Just when Mai thought that she was going to die a happy death by suffocation while receiving her first kiss, Naru released her lips and allowed her to take a single deep breath before kissing her gently again, and a second time before letting her go completely. He slowly pulled away and was probably aware that she had regained the strength back in her legs because as soon as she had he pushed her to arms length. They were alone in the garden, their teammates having gone back while they were preoccupied with each other, though Mai had no idea when that had happened or how long their kiss had lasted.

Naru stood tall in front of her, his hair falling into his eyes and hiding them from sight but his mouth, while kiss bruised, was an unhappy line. "I did it for the exact same reasons you thought I didn't. I care about you, Mai. Even if you love my brother, I can only hope that you will learn to love me as well," he said, voice pitched low and slightly hoarse, and Mai gasped. Was this the proud Naru she had always known?

Her astonishment lasted for about a second before her anger was rekindled. She put her hands on her hips and frowned at Naru. "This again?" she asked, annoyed, in imitation of his words to her from earlier. "I know that you think that I'm stupid but I'm not stupid enough not to know my own feelings. Why would I love Gene, I don't even know him!" she told Naru pointedly. Really, kissing her and then saying such things, he really hadn't heard of things called atmosphere and the right place and time, had he?

"I know my own brother, Mai. He was kind and empathetic and always smiled at everyone. It was easy to fall in love with him. In comparison, I'm not an easy person to like," Naru said, and Mai had a feeling that he was clenching his teeth.

She huffed. "And what meaning would his smiles have? He's not you, so even though his smiles are nice it means a whole lot more when you're the one who wears them," she stood firm on this point, but when Naru remained stubbornly silent, she sighed. Did he think so little of himself so as not to believe that she could love him? In a way, it was endearing.

"I have never had a personal conversation with Gene. He's my teacher and my guide. It was exciting only as long as I thought that it was you in my dreams. He may be nice and caring and kind, but so can you. You're also annoying, self-centered and overconfident, but I wouldn't have you any other way!" Mai said defiantly, looking at Naru the entire time.

When Naru finally raised his eyes to meet hers, he looked completely taken aback. She had caught him off guard, and the hope and disbelief she saw shining in his eyes caused a thrill to run down her back. The more of himself he revealed to her the more deeply she fell in love with him, and how happy she was to feel it in reality as well.

"I love you. I don't know how much clearer I can make this," she said, folding her arms over her chest and sighing. If this didn't get though to him, nothing probably would.

Suddenly she was being held again, Naru's arms wrapping around her and bringing her to rest against his chest while one hand was burying itself in her hair. "Then don't ever leave me," Naru's unusually earnest voice said straight into her ear.

Mai smiled, unfolding her arms and wrapping them around Naru's back, burrowing her face against his warm shirt. "I won't," she stated confidently, and he hooked a finger under her chin and lifted her head to kiss her once more, this kiss full of promises for the future.


A/N:

Hold on - an epilogue is on its way! :))

(1) The novels reveal that Naru, after returning Gene's body home, was able to contact Gene if he focused his thoughts on him. Also, if Gene entered a mirror he could see the real world through it, and if Naru touched the mirror with Gene in it, they could even communicate. In truth, when Gene first entered Mai's dreams he was actually trying to contact Naru. It only took him three years to figure out how to do it.