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Chapter 7

Naru was pleased with himself. He had gotten Yasuhara out of the way painlessly (well, painlessly for HIM), and he might even get some useful information out of the shrine's library—a win-win situation. He didn't envy Yasuhara dealing with that library, it sounded extensive, with some really old materials. He really was interested in what was in there, but his own skill in reading kanji just wasn't up to dealing with it. Yet. He was working on it—such a limitation chafed at him. On one hand, it was rather pleasant to have Mai read the texts he couldn't decipher to him; on the other, it was embarrassing.

His pleasure at confounding Yasuhara almost made up for the ungodly hour, as he whisked a sleepy, yawning Mai out the van after giving final instructions to Lin. He snickered inwardly as he imagined Yasuhara's expression when faced with the task. Lin was a little apprehensive about letting Naru loose, unsupervised, on Tokyo in the van—Naru hadn't been driving all that long, and his style was more élan that precision.

The case was one he wouldn't have dreamed of taking, if he didn't really want an excuse to be out of the office. It only took a few hours to confirm that the old apartment building was not haunted—the strange whispering and gurgling noises some of the residents heard could be attributed to the old piping, which had several insecure connections. A bit of duct tape and an adjuration to call a proper plumber and they were done.

They returned before noon to a mercifully Yasuhara-free office, and Naru left a drowsy Mai at the front desk, snoozing over some files, with a reminder of that they were going out for 'research' in the evening. He may have somewhat misled Mai about the nature of the research they were doing—if she thought the film was a documentary, well, he hadn't really said as much. If she thought Lin was going too, so much the better.

Mai was delighted when she saw which movie it was they were seeing; it was, she said, one that she'd really wanted to watch. Her enthusiasm effectively distracted her from the realization that she was alone, with Naru, in a dark movie theater. Naru didn't really care for this sort of movie—it was all atmosphere, and superficial scares, without any real exploration of the phenomenon of hauntings or the psychology behind spirits. He began to see the attraction, however, when Mai gave a startled squeak about fifteen minutes in, with the sudden appearance of an apparition on the screen, and clutched his arm. She kept hold of him even after it was gone, and hid her face in his shoulder at moments of particular suspense. Naru found the movie itself tedious and pointless, but he rather enjoyed the warm feel of Mai's hands on his arm, and the feeling it gave him when she hid against him. She never would have acted like that outside of the dark of the theater—well, okay, yes, she would, but he didn't get to enjoy it when they were actually facing something threatening—and in spite of himself, he found he liked it.

Mai didn't resist when he steered her into a noodle shop after the show. He would have preferred something nicer, with more atmosphere, but he knew Mai would balk at too expensive a place. There would be time for that later. They discussed the representation of paranormal activity in the film, and the possibility that movies could actually shape real hauntings. Mai was animated, and made several good points—between enthusing about the actors and slurping down noodles. She was adorably flushed and bright-eyed, and Naru enjoyed himself a lot more than he ever thought he would, though he would have died before admitting it.

On the way back to towards Mai's apartment, he kept her hand tucked in the crook of his arm, and glancing down at her bright, happy face, Naru was seized by an unusual feeling of recklessness. It was too early, it was ahead of schedule…but she was just so cute. It was aggravating. It was not fair—nothing short of small puppies should be that cute, and he really didn't care for small puppies. As the paused in front of Mai's door, he gave in to temptation and, leaning down, he closed his eyes and brushed her lips with his own.

Mai froze in shock for a moment, before making a strange little noise in her throat and softening. She was warm, so very warm, and she trembled slightly under his caress. It was with regret that Naru drew back after a brief moment—he didn't dare go any further. Not yet.

If the sensation of kissing her had been pleasant, seeing her reaction to him sang through his blood like champagne. She was flushed, her eyes wide and dark, and her lips slightly parted. As he watched, the tip of her tongue darted out to wet her lips, as if to taste his kiss. He wanted to kiss her again, to press against her, and…well, that was the problem. They were both woefully short on romantic experience. He didn't know much about kissing and such things, and he wasn't entirely sure about where things progressed from there. He knew the mechanics of intimacy, of course—but he was rather foggy on how you got from here to there, even if either of them had been ready for something like that. He needed to read up on the subject. There had to be books, right?

He watched her fumble with her keys, and after a moment took them from her and opened the door. She muttered something incoherent and continued to stand there, so he briefly brushed her cheek with his fingers, pushing back a lock of hair, and gently pushed her inside.

"I'll see you in the morning," he said, keeping his voice as normal as he could. "Don't be late."

With that, he shut the door. He waited a moment, and when he didn't hear any sound, said, "Lock the door, dummy."

That got a response—the lock clicked with a sharp snick, and he could hear her muttering fiercely. Probably calling him every name in the book. He smiled slightly, and retreated with a mixture of satisfaction and regret, his hands in his pockets. That had been ahead of schedule, but had gone better than he could have hoped. He didn't even get slapped.

Next Chapter: Naru's smug. Mai's confused. Lin's amused. And poor Yasuhara still hasn't escaped from the library. Final chapter!