A/N: Here is the next chapter! It is actually longer this time! Yay! Please review!


Naru tapped his foot impatiently. It was already a little after nine in the morning and Mai was nowhere to be seen. Lin called her phone at quarter to…but there was no answer. Naru was torn between being totally and inescapably annoyed or heart shatteringly worried. He knew that Mai was not at her fullest by any means…what if something had happened to her? What if she had gotten sick or she was having another breakdown at her apartment…alone?

"Did you remind her yesterday of what time she was supposed to be here?" Ayako asked lazily. The miko knew that the young woman was perpetually late and given the time of morning it did not surprise her in the least that Mai was late. "She probably just over slept and then got tied up in traffic or something."

"Yeah, and giving the recent developments…" Bou-san added charismatically, "she is probably more scatter brained than usual!" He added in a wink at the end directed in Naru's direction. If Naru was lesser of a man he probably would have rolled his eyes at the gesture, but he was not and therefore the eye-roll remained in mind only.

"We should leave without her. If we don't leave soon then we will be late." Masako said in her deceivingly professional tone.

"We still have enough time to wait for a little longer…" John added in cheerfully trying to placate the situation. The tension in the room could have been cut with a knife…

Just as Naru stood, resolved to go search for the late girl, the door chime rang and Mai slowly entered the office. Everyone took note of her ragged appearance; it looked like she hadn't gotten a wink of sleep the entire night.

"Sorry I'm late…" Mai said tiredly. She let the duffle bag slung over her shoulder slide to the floor and she sat her backpack next to it as she stretched. "I didn't get much sleep last night…"

"We can tell!" Bou-san said a little louder than Mai would have liked. Her head was throbbing and her eyes hurt. She had spent the entire night packing and stacking boxes for the movers. She had finally finished only an hour or so before she was supposed to be at the office. "What kept you up?"

"Things." Mai said shortly not feeling like telling everyone that she was just kicked out of her apartment and had spent the whole night packing her belongings. "It's alright though…I can just sleep in the car…"

"I bet you stayed up all night playing video games!" Ayako laughed lightly as she got up from her seat. "Am I right?"

Mai laughed softly as well, "Yeah…something like that. Are you ready to leave?" She glanced at Naru; he was observing her intensely. Mai knew by now that he could pretty much tell when she was being honest…and he was giving her the look that told her he didn't believe a word of what she had said. Of course that was indeed the case, but Mai didn't feel like owning up to it just yet.

"We have been ready and waiting to leave you idiot. Let's go." Naru voiced, obviously annoyed as he too stood from his seat followed by the rest. "At this rate we are going to be late."

Mai sent him an apologetic look as they all made their way to the waiting vehicles, but he ignored it and ordered her wordlessly to take her seat in the van. Lin corresponded shortly with Bou-san as to the directions they were going to be taking; the monk was going to be following in his car with Ayako, Masako, and John.

Lin got into the driver's side of the van and Naru seated himself beside Mai in the passenger's seat. They were soon driving towards the inn; it was going to be a good three to four hour drive at the least…so they had plenty of time.

-----

"So…" Naru started while fixing the girl beside him with a sideways glare, "what really happened?"

"What do you mean?" Mai put on her best innocent face, though she knew that Naru no longer fell for it.

"What were you doing all night?" Naru turned to fix her with a full on glare. He was going to get the truth out of her if it was the last thing he did.

"I just couldn't fall asleep that's all…I mean don't you have nights that your mind just…won't shut off?" Mai sent a convincing look at Naru. It was partly true after all; she did have the whole night to think about things while she packed. The ring posed a constant source of distraction…and a constant source of thought.

"I suppose…" Naru replied slowly, "but I am surprised that something like that would keep someone as stupid as you awake." He smirked at the angry expression she was giving him; Mai really was cute when she was mad.

"You're an idiot!" Mai huffed in response. Leave it to Naru to say something like that.

"…but Mai…" He turned to look at her, "I thought we were past this already. I want you to be honest with me; tell me what troubles you, tell me what is on your mind…tell me the truth." He paused as he took in the girl's expression. She looked like a shocked cat that was torn between running away and scratching the hell out of something.

Did she really think she could fool him? He was much too clever for that. Since he realized his own feelings he had come to watch her, know her…and he knew her expressions. Mai couldn't lie for the life of her.

Mai gaped speechlessly. The van jostled as it hit a bump in the road, shaking Mai to the side and breaking her eye contact with Naru. "You know…it is not a one way street Naru…" she spoke softly but firmly. "It has to be reciprocal…I'm supposed to be your wife…or something. It is not fair that you seem to know everything that is on my mind yet I can never tell what you are thinking!"

Naru's eyes widened slightly. How did the conversation take such a turn? He only wanted to find out what she had done all night, yet now he was getting a peek at some of her true deep rooted concerns.

"You say you love me. You even go so far as to say you want me as your wife, yet you never tell me anything! You don't ask, you just do everything on your own!" Mai didn't want to say what she was saying, but she was. Lack of sleep, stress, and everything falling apart was taking its toll on Mai's sanity. "I want you to open up to me, Naru! I am pretty sure I want you to open up to me more than you want me to open up to you! Ever since that incident you have acted different around me…"

"Obviously" Naru replied indifferently. "You tried to kill yourself, almost died, and landed yourself in a coma."

"And I told you that I love you!" Mai interrupted before he could continue. "I told you that I know about your brother and I told you where to find him! Yet you haven't talked at all about it to me. You haven't said anything…even though I know you probably have a lot on your mind…yet I can't tell at all…" Mai sighed. She was so tired; tired of everything. She had struggled so hard to make headway in their relationship after she had gotten out of the hospital, yet it felt like they only taken a small step forward. Without communication…nothing could happen…nothing could be gained.

"How can I act the same as I used to?" Naru sighed, sounding as if he was trying to explain a complicated matter to a small child. "I realized that I love you after all. Of course I would change accordingly…"

Mai felt a little foolish. She knew she was being unreasonable and irrational…but she couldn't help it. The words just came out. "I'm sorry…" she said softly. "You don't have to respond to what I just said. I didn't mean to say all that…I…I'm just really tired."

Naru wasn't planning on responding anyway. He decided that he would leave that for later. He had already logged the gist of Mai's argument to memory and he would address it later at a more appropriate time.

Right now his most pressing concern was for Mai's well being. She looked half dead to say the least. Without any further delay he wrapped his left hand behind her head and quickly guided it down to his lap. "Sleep" he commanded sternly.

"Wha…" Mai stuttered out in a fluster. She was blushing furiously and her whole body was reacting to the warm hand that was resting atop her head. She felt tingly all over. There was no way she was going to be able to fall asleep in this position.

"Sleep" Naru commanded again as he slowly and gently massaged the head beneath his fingers. He felt Mai immediately relax at his touch and he smiled to himself. "Sleep…" he said again softly…soothingly.

Mai thought for sure there was no way she was going to be able to fall asleep while resting on Naru's lap…but she was starting to feel her eyelids getting heavy and her head getting foggy. No matter how much she tried to keep her eyes open they continued to drift close. Naru's smooth voice telling her to sleep seeped through her consciousness, urging her into slumber, coupled with the gentle pressure she was feeling on her head…Mai drifted off into a deep sleep before she even realized it.


A/N: Squeeeeeeee fluff. I just had to put some in...move that relationship along! I hope you all liked it! Let me know! Coming up next...THE CASE! Wooo!

Question: I am looking for name ideas for that horse of mine. Needs to start with a "Ma" or "Mi" sound and be a girl's name! Any ideas are welcome! Also, I am trying to figure out epilouge ideas for this story (if anyone wants one) so let me know if you have any ideas that you want to see happen! Thanks!