Chapter 10: Case Closed!

Mai POV

As soon as Misao's spirit left, I felt Kiyomi start to wake up.

"Kiyomi, careful," I told her.

"What happened?" She asked, her voice sounded raspy and dry.

"Misao possesed you and tried to kill Naru, but luckily I got here in time and managed to purify her spirit."

"Oh," she responded. Kiyomi started to sit up. With Naru's help, she was able to stand.

"You alright?" I asked her.

"I think so."

"KIYOMI!"

All three of us looked across the lake and saw Hirohisa waving at his wife. Kumiko and Otsu were at their father's side, waving at their mother as well.

"Hirohisa…."

"Go." I smiled at her. "They need you right now."

Kiyomi smiled at Naru and I before slowly making her way to her family.

"Mai," Naru said, taking my hand into his, "you did it."

"It was hard. I can't imagine feeling like this every case."

"Feeling like..?"

"Like if I don't do something or make some sort of plan, that I would lose you. I… I can't even tell you what I felt when I realized you were gone."

Naru pulled me into a hug. "That's how I always feel whenever you get taken or hurt. Like I'm helpless in protecting you."

"But you're not Naru. You always save me in the end. And you always will. Just like, if this happens again, I'll always save you. I can't stand thinking that if I don't save you, I won't ever see you again. I can't imagine living without you, Naru."

I pulled away slightly to look into his beautiful blue eyes. "I love you."

Naru looked back into my eyes as my words hung in the air. He wasn't going to say it. I know that. But I know that he feels the same way.

Naru leaned in towards my face. I was expecting another peck on the forehead, but even Naru surprises me. Instead of feeling his lips on my forehead, I felt them on my lips. Very softly and tenderly, Naru kissed me. Before he could pull away, I responded and kissed him back with the same softness.

The kiss only lasted for a moment, but it felt as if we were like that for much longer.

Naru placed his forehead against mine. "I love you, too Mai."

…

Naru and I walked back into base, hand in hand, to let everyone know what happened. Kiyomi and her family were in the base when we arrived.

"MAI!" Bous-San and Ayako shouted. "Are you alright?"

"How'd it go?" Yasu asked.

I smiled as Naru squeezed my hand, encouraging me to retell how Misao and her children were purified.

…

Naru POV

As Mai stood next to me, retelling how she was able to purify Misao, I could not help but feel more pride than I've ever felt before. I've been full of pride many times before, but pride in myself. This time, the pride I felt was towards Mai and what she was able to accomplish. Sure, I felt prideful of her when she was running to my rescue. But, at this moment, after seeing the work she did to purify Misao, I was overflowing with pride. But even more so, I was overflowing with love. I never knew I could love someone as much as I love Mai.

I also never knew what is was like to kiss someone, let alone want to kiss someone. But with Mai, it just comes naturally. I know I surprised her with that, but her quick response delighted me. Kissing Mai was one of the most pleasant feelings I've ever experienced. I am tempted to take her lips once again right now, but that would be very unprofessional to do in front of the clients and the JSPR irregulars. Also, it would be very uncharacteristic of me to do in front of people in general.

As Mai finished, I just looked at her. No emotion showing on my face, only in my eyes. Mai is the only one who knows those small things about me. My eyes are able to show emotion while my face is stone cold. I bet the irregulars just thought I was watching Mai tell her story, but I was letting her know how proud I am of her and how much I love her.

Mai looked at me and smiled. She knew and responded with a squeeze to my hand.

I looked at everyone in the base and started giving my usual orders.

"Lin, make sure you have all of Mai's statement recorded as well as Mrs. Akiyama's. I will send you mine later. Yasuhara and Father Brown, please start packing up the base. Miss Matsuzaki, Miss Hara and Takigawa, go and collect the cameras and bring them back here to be packed up. Mai, Tea." I looked her in the eye. Please, my eyes added.

She nodded and went to the kitchen. I walked over to the Akiyama's and sat across from them as my team got to work dismantling our equipment. "I would like for you all to give Lin any extra information."

"Of course, Mr. Shibuya," Mr. Akiyama responded. "Thank you so much for taking care of our ghost problem."

"It's what we do, Mr. Akiyama."

…

On the ride back, Mai leaned against me as she fell asleep, her head resting on my shoulder. I looked at her face and saw a beautiful and peaceful smile grace her lips.

"That was a very sweet thing you did, Noll."

I looked over at Lin. "What do you mean?"

"The rest of the gang watched the happy reunion of the Akiyama family and went outside to check on Ms. Kiyomi, but I stayed at the monitors to make sure everything was recorded."

"You saw…."

Lin smirked. "Yes. It's refreshing to see you like this."

"Did you keep…"

"No. I erased everything that was not relevant to the case. Besides, I only saw you lean in to kiss Mai. I turned the screen off after that. I figured you would want that to be a moment just for you two. That and if Madoka walked in and saw you two kissing on the monitors, she would of flipped and recorded it then sent it to your mother."

I groaned. My mother did not need to see Mai and I kiss. Especially our first kiss.

"Thank you Lin."

"You should rest now, Noll. I'll wake you up before we get to Shibuya."

I nod as I leaned my head back on the head rest. I placed my arm around Mai and held her tightly. I felt her snuggle her head into my chest. As sleep finally took over, I knew I had a genuine smile on my lips. A smile only Mai could put there.

…

Mai POV

I woke on the astral plane. What was I doing here now?

"Mai!" Gene called from behind me. I turned and smiled at Naru's brother.

"It worked!" I exclaimed. "I seriously cannot believe that worked."

"I never doubted you for a second, Mai. Noll has taught you well."

"True, he has," I said, trying to hold a grin back as the moment Naru kissed me kept replaying in my mind.

"Mai…. Did my brother do something?"

"What makes you ask that?"

"Your cheeks are as red as Ayako's hair and I can tell your holding back a smile."

"How…"

"Spirit guide, Mai. I know things. And, you're quite easy to read. Well, once someone knows your signs that is."

"My signs?"

"Yeah. Haven't you noticed that you can tell things about people once you've known them long enough?"

"Yeah."

That's when it clicked for me. Wow. I really can be slow at times.

"Oh," I said.

Gene chuckled. "So, tell me. What did my little brother do?"

I felt my face become redder. "Gene, I don't ki…." I slapped my hands on my mouth. Do I really need to be telling Naru's twin brother we kissed?

But, Gene figured out what I was going to say and I swear his eyes would pop out of his head. "No way. My baby brother kissed a girl?!"

I rolled my eyes at Gene. "Can you not tell him about you knowing. Please. It probably was a spur of the moment thing. I'm sure he won't be kissing me again anytime soon."

Gene's eyebrow rose at that statement. "You have no idea what's going on in his mind Mai. Trust me. I can get inside his mind easily, and right before I pulled you here, I was in his mind. All he thought about was…"

I shot my hands to my ears. "I don't wanna know!"

"Why not?"

"Because, if he want's me to know, he'll tell me. That's the agreement we have."

Gene rolled his eyes at me this time and sighed. "Fine. Then I won't tell you that Noll was thinking about kissing you again. And again. And ag…"

"Bye Gene!"

And I ran. It's not like I didn't want to hear that. It's just… something I feel that only Naru and I should share. But knowing that he was thinking about kissing me again made me heart flutter. I truly do love that idiot scientist. And I know he loves me.

…

"Mai…" I heard Naru's voice as I started to wake up again. ""We're almost at the office."

I opened my eyes and saw that I was curled up on Naru's lap as he leaned against the window. I blinked the sleep out of my eyes as I looked at him.

"Nice nap?" He asked me.

"Mmhm."

I scooted off of him so he could sit right in his seat. Once he was settled, Naru took my hand, intertwined our fingers and gently rubbed his thumb across my knuckles as we pulled off the highway and onto the street that would lead us back to JSPR. I leaned against him and looked out the window, watching the buildings pass by.

As we pulled into the parking lot, I noticed the lights in JSPR were on. I didn't see Monk's car in the lot, so it couldn't be them. Naru noticed as well and opened the passenger door, pulling me out along with him.

We walked up the stairs and Naru slowly opened the door. I could feel him pulling some of his PK energy, storing it and getting ready to use it if needed.

"Naru, don't," I whispered.

"It's only a little bit Mai. Nothing that will hurt me or the people inside. Just enough to knock them out."

I nod hesitantly. Naru does have great control over his PK, but any time he goes to use it, it scares me. Seeing him in the hospital once before because of this was enough. I did not want to relive that again.

We walked slowly into the office. Suddenly, I heard a woman's voice.

"NOLL!"

I heard Naru groan as he realized who was here.

"Hello mother."

KassieMarie: And that's it! Final chapter to HHNFLAWS! I'm so sad this story is over! But! I'm not done! Oh no. Not by a long shot!

Naru: Great….

KassieMarie: Shut up Naru. Just because your parent's are in town does not give you the right to be Mr. Grouchy Pants.

Mai: She's got a point Naru.

Naru: But they're early. They were not suppose to be here for two more weeks.

KassieMarie: Parent's change their minds all the time.

Naru: *glares* You better have a good reason to bring them early.

KassieMarie: *smiles innocently* Of course I do!

Mai: Thank you all so very much for all the kind words! This case was stressful, but a successful one nonetheless.

KassieMarie: That's right! And I hope you all enjoyed Maru's first kiss. I know I was fangirling out while writing it.

Mai: Wait… Maru?

KassieMarie: The ship name for you and Naru that I made up. Like it?

Naru: Not really.

KassieMarie: Shut up Naru!

Mai: Well, I like it. Naru will just have to live with it.

KassieMarie: Thanks Mai!And thank you all once again! This has been my longest project EVER so far. This story literally spans 50 pages and in 13,542 words in length. Not including the A/N. That adds another 10 pages to the count. So, thank you all so much from the bottom of my heart to reading this story! I hope you enjoyed it am I will see you all again in the next installment of my Ghost Hunt series! Sayōnara!