Chapter 10-Mai
Mai sat in the chair. Her heart was still hammering, and she was more than a little embarrassed to have found herself caught off guard once again by paranormal activity. But there was something steadying about sitting across for Naru and Lin. As if their own stoicism leaked out, building a bubble of emotional dampening to form around them. Most of the time it irritated her, but right now, she was grateful for it and the way it helped her make space to find the words she needed.
"I was playing on the floor with Akemi, Yuuki got up to leave, and then I felt it." She fumbled, unsure of how exactly to describe the unsettling feeling that had washed over her soon after Yuuki's departure.
"It was like someone was staring at me, I could feel their eyes, here." Mai shuddered and brought her hand between her shoulder blades. She fought the urge to scratch the uncomfortable itch that reformed at the memory. Mai kept her eyes on Naru. Watching him as he watched her back.
"Akemi started to whine, so I picked her up. Then the door slammed closed." Mai said, rubbing her hands over the gooseflesh that was rising back up on her skin. "It got so cold." She whispered, she could taste the cold on her tongue again. It was sharp and a little bit metallic.
Naru shifted in his seat, she could see he wanted to ask her to continue, but he held back. He fidgeted, just the smallest bit, when he got this way. The readjusting of body weight, a finger moving slowing up and down the length of its writing instrument. It didn't usually last long enough for others to notice. His impatience often got the better of him and he would just barrel forward with questions. Or demands. But sometimes he would fight it. Hence, the fidgeting.
Something about it pushed away the cold and helped her continue. "I heard a noise and turned around. Akemi's toys, we had just been playing with them, they were floating in the air. They flew at us," she flinched closing her eyes against an assault from the phantom objects.
"I screamed. Akemi was screaming. Everything was flying everywhere." Her heart was pounding. The rush of blood pounding in her ears drowning out the world once again. "I don't… I held Akemi against the wall so she wouldn't get hit. Something, something hit my back. Akemi just kept screaming."
Her hands squeezed her arms, her voice growing quicker and quicker. "She was crying, and it was so loud. I couldn't keep her safe. It was my fault. I couldn't breathe. It's my fault."
It's my fault. The words were battering around inside her skull stuck in a loop that pushed everything thing else out. "It's my fault."
"Shhh, Mai, it was a spirit." Ayako said. "Akemi is fine. Nothing is your fault."
But the voice wouldn't listen. It was crushing, pulling her under, It's my fault. She would drown if she didn't do something. She squeezed her fists. It wasn't true.
Stop it. Leave me alone.
It's my fault.
No, that's not true.
It's my fault.
"Just stop it!" Mai banged her fists against her legs. She gasped as the voice went silent, the pressure of its cries popping from her head like an overfilled balloon.
She cracked open an eye, the silence surrounding her confirming her suspicious that she had just yelled aloud. She looked around and, as she feared, everyone was staring at her. Well almost everyone, Naru was turned away. His jaw and shoulders were stiff. Had her display embarrassed him? Had she once again proven what a disappointment of an investigator she truly was?
"Naru?" She wasn't sure what kind of validation she had expected, but he offered no response, he didn't even look at her. And she flinched again.
"I think that is enough for now." Ayako said, resting her hands on Mai's shoulders with a small squeeze. "Mai, why don't you go lie down on the couch?"
But she didn't move. She needed him to say something.
It's my fault.
Mai gasped, her eyes going wide as she once again heard the voice. A voice, that didn't sound like her, it sounded like—
"Naru?" Mai asked again.
He brought a hand to his chin, only to pull it back with a silent hiss as his fingers brushed against the scrape there. Some dried blood peeled off with his fingers and new droplets were beading up to fill the space.
"Come on, Mai." Ayako gave her shoulder another squeeze.
"I'll make you something to drink." Yuuki said.
Mai looked at Naru for a moment longer, then turned to Yuuki with a nod. "Thank you." He smiled back before bounding from the room.
Ayako helped her up from her seat. Mai turned, taking in a deep breath. There it was again…
"Oh, wait," Mai said stopping Ayako from ushering her into the adjoining room. "Naru. There was one more thing."
He turned to her this time, looking up at her with a critical gaze.
"I noticed it when I first got here and then later when I was setting stuff up." Mai took another deep sniff, but it was gone. She wondered if perhaps she had just imagined it. "I thought it was nothing, but now I remember it was there, again, in the nursery."
Naru was still watching her, waiting. His eyes were tight, and they seemed to want to wander away again. His interest in fact gathering at odds with his disdain at continuing to interact with her.
"Woodsmoke. I smelled burning wood," Mai answered. Naru blinked, his mouth opening as if to interject, but he closed it again. She felt like she was so close to something. But she was still missing the mark. And she wanted to prove to him that this whole experience wasn't just a waste of all their time.
"No, not burning," Mai shook her head. "It didn't smell like an active fire. Just the scent that lingers afterward. You know the one that gets in your hair and clothes. It stays forever."
Naru gave a quick nod and stood moving in the opposite direction of her and towards the monitors. Mai let Ayako start her towards the living room but spun around.
"Also," Mai said, catching the men's attention once again. "It was lonely."
"Lonely?" Naru looked at her blankly.
"I never felt lonely like that before. I felt like… like I was the only person in the world. No, that's not right either." She hugged herself one more. "I could hear the others, feel Akemi in my arms, but it didn't matter. It reminded me of Midori's, but not. It was as if there was a wall or, or something that was between me and them that made me feel like I would never actually reach them. I don't know. Forget that part. That was dumb. I'm going to lie down." Mai's voice faded as she finished and backed away.
Ayako turned her around and lead her to the couch, making sure Mai sat down before she stepped away again to rummage through their bags. Mai was still feeling like she was stuck on the edge of understanding something but every time she got closer, it would slip just a bit further away.
Mai looked back down to the base taking in a more complete view of Naru's disheveled appearance, the urge to ask about what had happened was strong. She couldn't see blood running down his neck so she had to assume that the cut on his chin had congealed once more, his slacks were torn and dirty, his hair tousled, and his rolled up black sleeves left smudged and scraped forearms bare. The contrast to his usual composed appearance made it feel almost as if he was someone new. Some mysterious, disheveled, stranger. Mai bit her lip, her eyes falling on the untucked corner of his oxford.
Almost as if her thoughts had brought his attention to the garment, Naru tugged at his shirt, pulling out what remained tucked in. A bright flash of pale skin contrasting the black clothes. Grey dust wafting up as he unconsciously tugged at the garment.
Catching herself swallowing as she worried her lip, Mai scowled. No, this was Naru. And she wasn't going to play the idiot like that again. She was just confused as to how someone could get that banged up and still somehow look good? So good.
She groaned and flopped down on the couch, shifting once, twice, desperate for a comfortable position. She squeezed her eyes shut and willed her brain to delete the image she had just seen. But it didn't take long for her to realize that resting on the couch was not going to happen. She was too jittery. Even if it was for a vastly different reason than five minutes earlier. There was no hope for rest.
"Mai, are you ready for your drink?" Yuuki asked, he and his shy smile graciously blocking Mai's view of most of the base as he stood before her holding out a mug.
A careful sip lead to a grateful swallow. It was hot cocoa and it was just the right temperature.
"I wasn't sure what you would like." Yuuki said crouching down to be even with her. "But I figured everybody likes hot chocolate right?"
"Thanks," Mai said smiling back. "It's wonderful," she added taking another sip.
"I, uh," Yuuki's eyes darted around the room and his voice dropped to a whisper. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have left you and Akemi. It's just a dumb story."
"No way. I won't believe that. I just hope I still get the chance to read it." Yuuki's blush grew and Mai beamed from behind the mug.
Yuuki's grin widened for a second, but then fell. "Maybe, maybe later."
"I'm sorry." Mai said.
"No, I already said I was the one who is sorry."
"I'm sorry about," Mai inclined her head towards Jack who was still resting in the arm chair. His tucked chin and light snores marking him as more successful at napping then Mai's own attempts had been.
Yuuki glanced over at Jack. "It's ok." He looked back at her clearly struggling with a follow up. "He seems, interesting."
Mai couldn't contain the snort that barreled its way out of her. Red faced, she noticed over Yuuki's shoulder the collection of glares she had amassed. Ducking back behind Yuuki and her mug Mai took a series of deep gulps, draining the cup. "Interesting, is certainly a word."
She was saved from further explanation by Bou-san and John's return. "The Oshiro's are all packed up. I will get changed and head back upstairs." John said in English as he reached for his bag.
"Good." Naru said. "Bou-san I have something for you."
"What's up sensei?" Bou-san asked heading over to the monitors.
"In the woods behind the house, there is a well. I want you to take some rope and a torch and go take a look at it. I believe it is from a previous structure that was in this area." Bou-san nodded and headed for their equipment. After just a few steps he turned back to Naru.
"Do I just go straight out the back or…?" Bou-san asked.
Naru thought for a moment. "I suppose I could lead you back to it."
"Do you want me to wait until you get back to look this over?" Lin asked Naru.
Naru looked torn.
"I think I know the well you are talking about." Yuuki spoke up joining the other men. "It looks like a big green rock, right? There is a lot of broken wood by it."
"Yes."
"I can take him."
"I'll help!" Mai added.
"Absolutely not." Naru said leaning against the monitors' observation desk and looking over the papers in his hand.
"Naru."
"No whining Mai, you are supposed to be resting."
"I'm not whining." Mai whined. "I'm fine. I'm in better shape then you are."
Naru's eyes lifted from the paper. At least she had his attention.
"I mean, what happened to you?" Mai asked gesturing at Naru's tousled state which everyone else seemed more than content to ignore.
"Did you fall down that well or something?" Mai asked jokingly. Naru's glare was instantaneous. "Oh, oh my… you didn't—you did?" Mai's face split in a wide grin and she was almost sure that she heard a quiet snort erupt from behind the hand Bou-san had in front of his face.
"Bou-san," Oliver explained. "The masonry is very old and unstable. You will need to make sure to secure yourself elsewhere. In fact, Ayako you should go with them to assist."
Ayako's own look of amusement disappeared. "Why do I have to help them? I don't want to get all dirty. Can't John or Lin help?"
"No, John is performing an exorcism and Lin will be monitoring that data."
"I can help." Mai offered again, Naru couldn't ignore her forever.
"Mai, you will be assisting Lin." Naru told her.
"With what? He doesn't need my help to observe."
"Mai, you will be assisting Lin." Naru repeated, slower.
"I don't understand why I can't go." Mai could feel a rant coming on. Why didn't he trust her with anything anymore? She pointed out the back window. "I can help out there, I'm not as incomp—"
"Mai," Naru cut her off.
Mai clenched her fists and gritted her teeth. Ready for the counter argument. She wasn't going to let him win this time. She was ready to fight him.
"Tea." He finished and turned back to the monitors.
Mai reeled at the dismissal. So, this was it, she was just back to tea slave. Maybe this was it, the sign that she wasn't supposed to be here anymore.
The room was heavy with the a still silence. After a few more moments, Naru looked over his shoulder at Bou-san and added. "I recommend you head out soon, you will not have light for too much longer."
With a less than subtle foot stop Mai turned on her heels and headed for the kitchen.
Despite her unfamiliarity with the home Mai had made quick work of her task. She had hoped that the time and space would help to clear her head. But she only felt her anger boil with the water and steep with the tea. By the time she headed back to the base she was crosser than she had been when she left.
Lin offered her a silent nod as she set his drink down. Naru, of course, ignored her.
Mai sat on the couch.
She didn't watch as John did his exorcism.
She didn't help review tape of the activity.
She didn't assist.
Naru didn't scold her, and Mai's annoyance grew.
John came back and Jack, who had decided he had finished his nap, asked him to take him back upstairs so they could go over John's methods. A task that Mai felt would have been unnecessary if Jack had just decided to watch the exorcism for himself on the monitors. But she wasn't even going to attempt to point that out to Jack.
The base returned to silence, save for the light tapping of keys. Mai had started to really enjoy this type of silence, now it chafed.
Naru poked absentmindedly at the thick scab forming on his knee. Mai had first caught him fussing with his wounds while he had been watching the exorcism and he had continued doing so periodically for the last hour. Fed up, Mai walked over and put the first-aid kit next to him.
But she did not offer to help him.
She couldn't bring herself to head back to the couch, so she drifted over to the window. She wondered if the others had found the well. What had it looked like? Was it as much of a mess as Naru? And how could Naru of all people have fallen in a well? If anything, that seemed like something she would have done.
The sun was below the treeline now, the dark of twilight dripping down to consume the fiery glow that crept up from among the trees. It waved with the movement of the trees, flickering, surrounding her everywhere she looked. If they had just let her go. She could feel the heat of the fire by her feet, the warm slickness of her arms and face. If you had just listened. Why wouldn't anyone listen? "Please, let me go…"
The light flicked on above her and Mai jumped.
"Sorry 'bout that." John said.
Mai took a step closer to the window
"It's Okay." Mai turned back to the room And was surprised to see that it was only she, John, and Lin. Well, the three of them and the first aid kit. Her eyes narrowed. Why that stubborn, narcissistic— Where had he gone anyway? She'd hadn't even heard Naru leave. How long had she been staring out that window?
She gave the window one last glance. Shades of maroon and indigo filled the horizon, with bright lines and blots of cerulean and orange rimming the lower edge. But the colors made her uncomfortable, so she drew her gaze further up, looking instead into the black. Where dim pin pricks of white had begun to force their way into view. When had it gotten so dark? Where were the others?
"Did you need to go somewhere, Mai?" John's question pulled her attention back from the window.
"What?" She sent him a reassuring smile. John was looking a bit on the nervous side and Mai didn't want him to worry needlessly if she could help prevent it. "I wonder when the others will be back."
"Soon, I am sure. It has been over two hours since they left." John smiled back, but Mai felt that it was missing something. She didn't want to pry, so she didn't say anything. "Hey, I wanted to say you did a great job earlier."
"What, at not doing anything?" Mai said. The complement reanimating all the feeling of inadequacy that she had some how managed to forget in the last two hours.
John's face fell and she immediately felt even more terrible. John was not the person to take out her frustrations on. "Sorry." She added, hanging her head.
"No worries, Mai. But I meant with Akemi. You were really great with her."
"Yes." Lin's heavy baritone added, causing Mai to jump a second time.
"Oh." Mai flushed. "I uh, was just doing what I could, right?"
Lin turned towards her, "You handled a dangerous and terrifying situation very well, especially with the baby complicating things."
Mai blinked, she wasn't prepared for this praise. In fact, she wasn't sure if she would ever be ready to hear it from Lin.
"Yes, you are very good with children Mai." John added.
"I love kids." Mai said, happy for a chance to shift the subject. "Though I worry that I will drop the babies. They are just so squirmy."
"Well, I for one think you will be a wonderful mother." John said.
"Eventually." Lin added.
"Oh yeah." Mai laughed. "That's going to be a long, long time from now."
"Yes, focus on you for now." John agreed.
"Yeah, I mean I got to get a good job before I could even afford to start saving up for it. Plus, I guess I would have to get married or something. I wonder if you don't have to be married?" Mai brought a hand to her chin as she mulled over the logistics.
John coughed, his eyes wide. Lin had a small smirk on his face.
Mai gasped as she thought back on what she had said. "Oh, no, no no no. Not like that." Mai waved her arms in protest. "I just, I plan on adopting."
Mai was not expecting the shock she saw on the men's faces. Was adopting odd?
"That's very,"' John fumbled for the right word, "thoughtful of you Mai. Are you sure?"
"I think so." Mai replied, confused by the question.
"After I lost my Mom, things went kind of…" It was Mai's turn to search for her words. "numb for a while. It was like I couldn't reach the rest of the world."
She pointed across the room, "they were there." Pulling her hand to her chest she added, "and I was…" Mai stared down at her empty hand. "Someplace else."
"Mai…" John began softly, but Mai continued before he could stop her.
"I lived with a teacher at first. There were people who watched over me. Made sure I was safe." Her attention stayed fixed to her palm. Her voice strong despite the quiver that seemed to want to take it over. "But they weren't family, you know. They felt different. Separate." John and Lin waited, silent and still.
"But then I came here and there it was." Mai smiled, her eyes glassy.
"There what was Mai?" John asked.
"Family." Mai answered, her fingers curling closed. "Like it had just been sitting here, waiting for me." Lifting her gaze from her clenched fist, she looked out the window. Unable to meet the gaze of the men in the room.
"I really liked it," she whispered. "Having a family again." Her voice broke and she worried her lip for a moment before she could continue. "I realized I wanted to make sure someone else could feel like that." She pushed the words out, the self-consciousness beginning to creep up her arms and legs. Freezing her in place.
"I've never felt like it would have to come from my body for me to feel like a child was mine. So, I decided I would do my part to…" Something pushed on her throat. "To give someone else that second chance." Mai took a deep breath, blinking her eyes against their sting.
She hadn't meant to go that far. Once she had started though…
Mai felt the heat rise in her face as she wiped at it with her sleeve. She couldn't help but notice the silence of the room now. It was louder than she remembered it ever being.
"But, I mean, you're right. I'm too young to have really thought about it that much so, who knows." She added, hoping to pull back whatever it was that she had just unleashed into the room.
It took her some time, but eventually she was able to turn back to John. Her fingers still tingling. But, before she could apologize for her rant she found herself crushed and dangling between long strong arms. She looked at John in front of her for help. Had Bou-san snuck in here?
Tears fell silently down John's face and he sniffed, "No fair Lin, I was gonna hug her."
Mai's eyes widened and her throat froze in its attempt to recall air back into her body. Lin was hugging her. Lin. The strangeness intensified as John just shrugged and pressed himself against her front. Squeezing his arms in beside Lin's to reach her back. What was happening? Mai quickly realized it didn't matter and she let out a deep breath, comfortably squished between them.
Too soon, Mai could feel Lin's arms attempt to unravel themselves without causing her to drop to the floor. John took the cue and stepped back as well. Assisting Lin with lowering her to the ground.
John wiped at his face and put a hand on her shoulder. "Mai, you are a gift."
Mai felt her embarrassment return tenfold. She searched the room for something, anything else to shift attentions her lip trapped between her front teeth.
"Mai," Lin began. Mai wasn't sure if she could handle any more attention. "I finished my drink some time ago and I was wondering if you would be so kind as to make me some more?"
Mai sighed deeply. Too exhausted to temper her relief. "I would be happy to," she said with a grateful smile, gathered up the cups and headed for the hall.
She had only just made it out of the room when a shadow brought Mai to an abrupt halt. She was about to apologize when every muscle in her body went taut.
She couldn't move.
Not with Naru so close that she could smell the soap and moisture that still clung to him.
Running into him was the last thing she wanted right now. And so close. If she looked up would he see how puffy her eyes must have been? Would he even notice? Did she want him to? She wasn't sure, but she was sure that she didn't want to look in his eyes.
She could feel the weight of his stare on her shoulders and she knew that if she looked up now there was something in that stare that would crush her. It would tear open all those emotions she had just managed to board back up. And crying in front of her obnoxious boss was not something she planned on adding to her evening calendar.
So, she held her eyes steady, refusing to allow them to drift up. From this vantage point she could see the collar of his shirt, the top button of which he had forgone buttoning for the time being. And the bottom half of his face.
The glob of blood on his chin was gone. The flesh was still raw, but the sticky mass had been washed away. This close, with its shell removed, Mai could see the soft, pink of the inflamed flesh punctuated by individual dots of red.
A bead of water slid down to the point of his chin, spreading and diluting the red across the pink.
Intrigued, Mai followed the path the liquid had left upward. She watched, spellbound, as another bead of water gathered at the tip of his bangs. Soon, it too grew too heavy for its perch and fell. Landing on the edge of his eyelashes before sliding, unnoticed, down his face. She swallowed and, too late, realized her mistake.
Naru stared at her in a way that she couldn't understand. Shock seemed a part of it. Not that she could blame him after their near collision. But there was something else, something she couldn't figure out.
Anger? Fear? Concern? None of those felt right. None of those made any sense. The gaze was intense, but its meaning was lost. It was as if it was in her peripheral vision or on the tip of her tongue. It was so close, yet unreachable.
He was so close, yet unreachable.
Mai wished he would say something, her fingertips tingled with the urge to run them along the path of that water droplet. Her arms wanted to wrap around him, just squeeze him and tell him that it was all going to be okay, like she had told him back in his office, it was going to be okay.
"Mai," Naru's voice was a whisper and it caused a small shiver to run down her spine.
She gulped. "Yes, Naru?" She felt her feet lifting beneath her, her weight shifting to her toes as she began to pull closer.
"Tea."
Her feet dropped back to the floor as her eyes saw the empty mug he held up. Mai willed herself not to grab it and smash it on the floor just to spite him.
How could she have forgotten? Again. How could she have let herself been pulled into these romantic delusions? Again. Tea. Tea! That was all he saw when he looked at her.
Taking the proffered cup, Mai stepped around her insufferable employer and headed for the kitchen. How was it that he even had it? Had he really brought the mug with him to the bathroom? What a complete—
"Oh and Mai," Naru called after her. Mai stopped, but she refused to turn to him. "Don't take too long, I need you to do the temperature readings for this evening before it gets too late."
Mai twitched, the porcelain creaking precariously in her tightening hands as she continued.
For the second time in as many hours Mai found herself furious and in the kitchen.
Despite Naru's request to the contrary, no, in fact it was purely because of that request, Mai had decided that the tea could wait.
Instead she sat at the small table in the room. Once again forced to ask herself why she was here. She rested her head against the tabletop and sighed. It wasn't long before she could feel herself dozing, the room fading as the nothingness closed in around her.
It was hot. So hot. And she couldn't breathe.
Why was he angry?
Had she not done what he had asked?
She had made it quiet. So very quiet. Why was he—
"Hey Mai, wake up." A familiar voice drew Mai away from the dream, a gentle shaking shuffling off the remaining darkness. Opening her eyes Mai saw a more unkempt than usual looking Bou-san watching over her. His hair was half out of his ponytail, long wispy strains sticking to the side of a grime and sweat covered cheek.
Mai reached for the glass in his hand and drained the cold liquid. Why was it so hot?
"Yes, Mai, please help yourself." Bou-san said sarcastically.
"Sorry." Mai pushed out between deep breaths. "Just… really… thirsty."
"I can see that. You are sweating like crazy."
Mai cringed. She could feel it now, the wetness causing her hair and clothes to stick to her.
"You ok?" Bou-san asked.
"Yeah." Mai brushed the question off as she rose. How long had she been asleep? What had she been dreaming about? And why was it so hot in here? She pulled open the window. Relaxing with a sigh as the cool night breeze flowed over her.
She rested against the sill, so the air could continue to slide down her back, and looked at Bou-san refilling his glass. Wait, Bou-san! That meant they were back from the well.
"So, what did you guys find?" Mai asked. Excited to have the case to once again focus on.
Bou-san shrugged. "Broken old well. Not all that exciting. It wasn't much more than a pile of rubble with a hole in the middle. Though Yuuki said that it didn't use to look like that. Sounds like Naru really did a number on it." He took a deep drink.
"I did find an old sliver thing; Ayako thinks it was a rattle. It was mostly rust at this point. But it looks like it might have been pretty fancy back in the day. It was stuck in a gap in the rocks some ways down. What little sliver was left reflected my light when I was waving it around down there."
"Did you give it to Naru? Maybe he can do a reading on it and see if it has anything to do with the case."
Bou-san finished off his drink. "Of course. But it was a non-starter."
"He didn't see anything?"
"He said he wouldn't read it."
"He what?"
"I gave it to him, he held it for half a second, and then he put it down. I asked if he was going to check it. And he just said 'no' in that 'you are dismissed' voice that he does." Bou-san shrugged and deposited himself in the chair Mai had just vacated. "Not going to lie, I was pretty bummed. I wanted to see him do it. I wonder if he goes all limp or something?"
"I just—" Mai's sentence was lost to the force of her own indigent rage. "That's it!" With a foot stomp that left her numb to the hip Mai headed back to the base. She was really beginning to hate the path between the two rooms.
"Naru!" She shouted as she entered the room. "What the actual hell?" For once she could not care any less about all the faces that turned to her.
"Whoa there little miss," Jack said. "That's not how nice girls start a conversation. How about you go eat some chocolate and take it down a notch or two?"
Mai seethed. What, the hell, had he just…said?
Mai was ready to tell Jack exactly how nice girls started a conversation. But Naru interrupted, "Jack, I believe she was addressing me. I will take it from here." Naru headed towards Mai, his voice and steps brisk.
"I think it's past time you teach your staff—"
"I think," Naru stopped walking and looked back at Jack. "I have another matter to attend to right now, Jack. You and I can address your concerns with my management style at a later date." Naru glared at the older man for a moment before Jack stepped away with a grunt.
Naru finished closing the gap between he and Mai, his fingers wrapping around her upper arm, pulling her along with him as he worked to put more distance between himself and the rest of the group.
"Don't grab me, Naru." Mai said shaking off his grip.
"I am so sorry," he sneered back. And with a ridiculous flourish he added, "If you would be so kind as to accompany me to the adjoining room, Taniyama-san. Perhaps there we could attempt something that might at least resemble a conversation."
Mai huffed, but lead him out of the study, through the living room and into the foyer. Not really concerned with privacy anyway, that was as far as she made it before she turned back. "Why are you determined to make this case impossible?"
"Me?" Naru looked at her in disbelief. "I'm not the one who has spent the entire time that they were supposed to be working playing house."
"Playing house!" Mai spat. "I only watched that baby because no one seemed to think that I was capable of doing anything else. Watch the baby, Mai. Make Tea, Mai. Should I make you a nice curry, like a good little woman while I'm at it? Or maybe I could wash the clothes for all of you."
"Mai, you are being absurd." Naru said, his voice once again infuriatingly neutral.
"I'm being absurd! I am?" Mai scoffed, throwing her hands up. "We used to be a team Naru. What happened?" She tried to catch his eye, but he seemed intensely focused on the rack full of shoes behind her.
"Do you even remember the Sasakuras?" Mai asked.
"Of course I remember." He replied offhandedly.
"You remember me saving your sorry butt?" She asked, pressing a finger into his chest.
"I remember you deliberately disobeying me." He chided, knocking the offending appendage away.
"Are you serious? I think your time away may have frazzled that big brain of yours."
"I think that if it is matter of recall between the two of our minds, I am inclined to trust my own."
Mai shook her head. She felt the next question slip out before she could stop it. "What are you even doing here, Naru?"
Naru, for once, had the decency to look taken aback. But he recovered quickly. "You think I want to be here? I have legitimate research I should be working on. Instead, I'm stuck here, babysitting a group of amateur psychics."
She had expected it, forced it if she was being honest with herself, but she still bit her lip to hold back the tremble the reply produced.
"Naru, do us all a favor." Mai's voice was hot and cold. It grated against her throat as she ripped out the words and it finally pulled his attention back to her. "This time, when you leave, don't come back!"
He stared at her, his eyes widening for half a second before they narrowed even further. His jaw pressed tightly closed and he took a deep breath. Then the words oozed from his mouth, dark and cruel. "I wouldn't dream of it."
Her hand rose on instinct, ready to bat away the pain, but she caught it, pulling it to her chest with the other. Taut fingers dug into flesh and the thin material of her shirt lest they should get the chance to break free and do something that deep down she knew she would regret later.
Spinning on her heels she headed towards the dining room.
"Where are you going, Mai?" Naru called after her, his voice still sharp.
"I forgot to make your damned tea." Mai shot back before slamming the kitchen door behind her, done.
A/N: technical and developmental edits 2/22/19