Mai slid from the counter behind him, as the oven beeped became distracted with it for an unnecessarily long time.

"I'm so happy!" she cried. "After Gene I thought you would never climb out of your hole. But then! I walk in on you and this pretty little lady almost making me grandchildren on the counter!" she was almost moved to tears. "This is the best birthday present ever." She winked at Mai. "I'll leave you two alone." And with that she was gone.

Mai sighed setting the last tray of 'Chop Stick Roll's' out to cool. She had made almost 400.

"How many people is your mother expecting?" she asked turning to face him, obviously she wasn't sure what had just happened. He snuck an arm around her and plucked a cooled pastry from a pile and took a bite.

"This is pretty good." He mumbled through food before inhaling the rest. "Mom probably invited 100 people maybe more.

"Naru." She said still fiddling with the ends of her skirt.

Naru took her hand in his for her eyes attention. "I wasn't faking it Mai." He kissed her head, her cheek, her neck, her collar bone.

"Naru." She gasped stopping his travels.

He groaned and pulled away. "I wish I didn't need a shower."

"Well you stink." Mai confirmed. "If you hurry there will be hot tea waiting."

For the first time, in a long time, Naru's smile reached his eyes before he turned from the kitchen. Mai smiled to herself, that smile may have been just for her.

By the time Naru had returned Mai had started the second pot of tea, she had drank it all herself. God I'm turning into Naru. She thought sighing as he came up behind her eyeing the tea pot. He had dressed himself in all black again, the sun was setting and party guests had already begun to fill the back yard. She made his tea, which earned him a thankful nod.

"Help me carry the trays." She said taking the smaller one for herself. He followed her out the kitchens French doors leading outside. Luella applauded them, smiling mischievously at Naru before ordering Martin to take the tray from Mai.

Naru followed Martin and Luella took Mai's hand leaning in close. "Thank you."

"For what?" Mai asked confused.

"For making him happy, I haven't seen him smile about anything for a long time. Especially after Gene." She said a touch of sadness taking her voice. "Naru mentioned he had visited your dreams once or twice until they found him?" she asked hopefully taking Mai's arm.

She nodded tears brimming in her eyes. "He loved you all so much. He didn't even have to say it, I could feel it. He was especially worried about Naru." Luella let a few tears slide before smiling and laughing, then wiping them away. Martin appeared at her side instantly at his wife's distress, Naru eyeing me behind him carefully. He took her somewhere to sit and Naru, with hands in pockets raised a brow.

"She asked me about Gene." Mai said wiping a few tears away herself.

Naru nodded, passive face as always. "What did you tell her?" he asked as a glimmer of something flashed behind his eyes.

Mai sighed a small laugh and touched his face. "Gene loved you all so much, and he was especially worried about you." She fiddled with the collar of his shirt for a moment, for no reason, it was perfect already. He leaned forward and kissed her head gently. "Thank you for that."

Just as he said that, Luella's massive cake was rolled out by Martin, on it a picture of Luella, Martin, Gene and Naru.

Naru went to his mother's side and kissed her head; she was so happy and blew out a candle. Naru returned with two small pieces of cake, red velvet.

She smiled. The party went on well after sunset, almost 10:00 before everyone was gone and the food wrapped and stored away. Mai had already showered and changed into her shorts and a loose fitting T when she noticed Naru was still standing outside, in his party cloths.

She made him a cup of tea, being careful not to wake Martin or Luella.

"Naru." She said from a few feet behind him. He turned with a masked face and sighed shrugging off his jacket and handing to her, also taking the tea. It was a little nippy so Mai shrugged into the coat it smelled like tea and aftershave, with a hint of brooding. This was defiantly Naru's jacket.

"Why are you out here so late?" Mai asked beside him as he slowly drank his tea.

"Well I'm drinking tea and being chivalrous as I let you borrow my coat." He smirked and took another sip.

Mai sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "You look tired."

"If I sleep….*sip*…"

"What?" she asked touching his arm, she had never seen Naru cry before. But sure enough a tear had streaked free. He dropped his empty cup defeated and looked down at Mai helplessly as his mask crashed down around them.

Her heart stopped and she took his head in her hands, as she did he crumpled to the ground and wrapped his arms around her waist, burying his face against her. She stroked his hair and tried to calm him the best she could. "What is it Naru?" she asked sadly. "Why are you sad?"

"I miss him."

She loosened his arms and knelt in front of him. "Of course you do, so do your parents. I miss my parents too. We all miss somebody Naru, but you have to talk about it to get past it." She cupped his face again and he gripped her wrists. "I felt his pain." He whispered harshly. "How could I ever talk to my parents about that?"

"Then talk to me? Come up to your room and talk to me." Mai insisted, after a few moments he nodded and picked up the tea cup.

She helped him up to his room, discarding the tea cup at the base of the stairs. He sat on his bed, with a numb look of defeat on his face. She raided his closet until she found a t-shirt and sweat pants. He nodded in approval standing. She watched in a fiery blush as he stripped his pants and slipped into the sweats before her, it didn't last long but she saw his boxers.

He chuckled lightly and fumbled with his buttons. After a few failed attempts he groaned and stopped. Mai smiled and released each button easily and slid the shirt down his arms. When she looked up she saw Naru looking at her in the same way he had in the kitchen.

Gently she handed him a shirt, which he took with no argument and sat on the foot of his bed again, hanging his head low. Mai sat beside him and touched his back. "Do you want to talk now or later?" he shook his head. "Do you want me to stay." To her everlasting surprise he nodded and yanked at the covers until they came loose and crawled under his bed. Mai did the same, before she laid back Naru snaked a hand around her waist guiding her closer to him.

After a moment, Mai settled into his arm and Naru's breath evened out. She watched him for a long time, occasionally brushing hair from his eyes before following him in sleep.

The next morning Mai woke up first, somehow Naru and gotten both arms around her waist and was almost lying on top of her with his head tucked against her neck. She smiled and stroked his hair again, causing him to stir, sun streaming into the room.

"Mai?" he grumbled through a morning voice.

"Yes?" she asked

"Tea" Instead of her usual vile language she laughed and began to untangle herself which made his grip tighten. "Later." He smiled against her neck and started to kiss her. He barely got two kisses in before Luella knocked at the door.

"Wake up you two! Or don't, it's all about the grandchildren!" she laughed happily. "Breakfast will be ready soon!"

Naru ignored her and continued to nip at Mai's neck causing a few uncontrollable gasps every few seconds.

"N..Naru." she squeaked as he nipped her ear. Her stomach growled the words she couldn't get out and he chuckled softly. "I'll get you later." He whispered kissing her lips once, holding it for a moment and releasing her.

She laughed lightly and wiggled out from under him padding across the room. She'd gotten halfway to the kitchen when Naru ran up behind her and she groaned.

"You never go anywhere without being dressed." She said seeing his pajamas.

"Maybe I'm hoping you'll invite me into your shower." He whispered against her hair, without giving her a chance to respond he entered the dining room with Mai trailing behind him. Martin looked up and smiled, obviously Luella had informed him of their son's latest exploits.

"Mai, your treat last night was delicious!" Luella said smiling, Martin grumbled a "here here."

Mai giggled and bowed slightly. "Thank you it was my pleasure."

"Did your mother teach you that recipe?"

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Naru shaking his head trying to ward her off, Luella obviously confused. "It's fine Naru, yes Luella she did teach me before she died." Mai yawned so her English sounded groggy.

"Oh dear." Luella said obviously saddened by this new information.

"And your father?" Martin asked putting away his paper.

"Also gone, he died when I was very young. I have my own apartment now." Mai said avoiding the 'where are your grandparents, aunts, uncles or cousins?' question.

Luella merely nodded. "Well that's a shame, your mother would have been proud of you no doubt though!" she said trying to cheer Mai's spirits.

"Thank you."

"So Noll" Martin said changing the subject behind his paper. "Are you going to take your girl out on the town?"

For a split second Mai thought he blushed, but by the time her eyes got there it had gone away. "As soon as were both dressed." He answered smiling.

Naru and his parents chatted in English for the rest of breakfast, slowly Mai lost any of the words she knew and was sitting surrounded by nonsense. So Mai finished her breakfast and excused herself to Naru's obvious disappointment for lack of shower invitation which only got h I'm a smirk from Mai.

Later Naru had once again opted for his black everything, Mai for another brightly colored skirt and top, like always. "How was your shower?" Mai asked grinning.

"Lonely." He sighed kissing her cheek.

They managed to sneak out of the house with no intervention from his mother or father, Mai giggled as they ran across the yard and heard his mother yell something inaudible from the window, it even got a laugh from Naru. It was a short laugh, but it was also a start.

After a few minutes of walking Naru started to glare then, almost possessively he grabbed her hand. "Naru?" she asked surprised. "Why are you upset?"

"Oh, nothing." He said as his metaphorical 'dark clouds' drifted away.

She raised an eyebrow but let it go. "So where are we going?" she tried to ignore the girls drooling from where they stood and focus on Naru.

"Somewhere." He said a smile playing on his lips but never quite revealed itself.

"NNNaaaaarruuuuu…" she whined letting out an exasperated sigh. "You're no fun.." she pouted.

"No fun?" he asked, amusement played across his eyes. "We'll see about that."

Mai's eyes widened in anticipation "Oh will we?" she asked

Naru smirked, not giving her any more information than that. They walked a few more feet before Mai's phone went off. They stopped so she could answer it.

"Hello?" she asked.

"MAI WHERE ARE YOU!"

"Monk? I'm in England." She said confused. "Why?"

"Oh, well I was going to come over and see how you were. Why are you in….are you with Naru?" suspicion creeping into his voice.

"Oh…well you see Monk.." she glanced at Naru who took the phone.

"Bou-san."

Mai heard a very loud, yelling Monk. Naru smiled slyly at me and sighed into the phone. "Mai can make her own choices." And he snapped her phone shut before handing it back to her. She rolled her eyes and stuffed it back into her skirt pocket.

"We're here." Naru said finally revealing his master plan.

"A tea shop?" Mai asked slowly looking around. It was nice, and its smell was intoxicating. "Naru if you wanted tea all you had to do was ask." She said crossing her arms.

"Mai I do believe you asked for fun." He said ushering her in towards a the counter.

"fun yes." She said smiling. "tea, no."

"Just trust me okay?" he asked turning towards the waiter who set down two cups of tea and a large basket of biscuits. "Enjoy."

"We didn't order." She said confused.

"Here, they bring you tea and if you like it they'll give you a name and if not they'll replace it until you find a tea you love. Then you can purchase said tea here."

"You brought me for tea tasting!" she said laughing before picking out a biscuit, still warm.

"Here." Naru said handing her honey. "Try it with this." He sipped his tea hesitantly and scrunched his nose. After a moment the waiter returned with a new cup of tea, Naru nodded.

Mai tried the honey dipped biscuit and smiled. "This is so good."

"Not all good food is sea food and rice related." Naru said smiling.

"You're Japanese Naru, embrace your culture." She said rolling her eyes, but still laughing.

"No." he said finally and smirked at his tea, it was good. Not as good as Mai's but.

They sat there for a long time, tasting tea and biscuits before Mai had successfully picked out three types of tea she wanted, and of course Naru bought them for her. Packing her load in a small bag Naru guided her further down the street, further from busy streets until they were just walking, silently, and she froze. Feelings of nausea overwhelmed Mai and she stumbled, only to be caught by Naru who lowered her to a bench

"Mai?" he sounded desperate, but she had no chance to respond before she slipped into a deep sleep, that's when the vision started.

PLEASE REVIEW! - to be continued-most likely later tonight...I have no life...