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Chapter 10

Mai's POV

She pointed out where everything I was looking for was and I got to work. I quickly made it so I could hurry and help unload the equipment. I felt bad that I hadn't helped to put it in the van in the first place. Even if I was supposed to help this morning, I would've been late considering the...events that took place. I subconsciously caressed my cheek.

"Is everything alright?" Chise asked. I snapped out of my thoughts and turned to her startled as my eyes went wide.

"Oh, yes, everything's fine." I said. "I, um...I'd better go give Naru his tea." I smiled weakly and began to walk out of the kitchen.

"Mai, wait!" She called after me. I reluctantly stopped walking. I hoped she wouldn't say anything about my behaviour just now. Who knows what she might think. She might get the same idea as that cashier in the supermarket. I could not let her think Naru's hurting me.

"Yes...?" I asked. She can't, she couldn't have...

"You forgot the biscuits." She said.

"Oh." I let out a small, shaky breath before collecting the biscuits. "Thanks. I guess I forgot." I guess maybe she didn't notice my behaviour. She looked at me strangely before nodding in understanding. I blinked and frowned as she walked away from me. I wondered why she had given me such a funny look. Deciding not to worry with it now, I hurried back to base. Naru was waiting impatiently for his tea when I got there. I didn't see Lin anywhere so I figured he was already at the van. I gave Naru his tea which he gratefully took and walked back to the door.

"Where are you going, Mai?" Naru asked.

"To get the equipment." I answered in a 'duh!' tone.

"No need, the others are handling it."

"The others are here?" I asked before I shook my head. "Never mind. I want to, I didn't do it this morning." I explained.

"And yet there is nothing for you to do for as I said it has all been taken in hand." Naru replied. I exhaled in frustration.

"I'm just going to go see."

"Mai..." Naru growled in an equally frustrated tone.

"Is there something wrong with me helping?" I asked.

"There is when I've already told you not to."

"Well, why won't you let me?" I saw anger spark in his eyes at my persistent questioning. My eyes went wide a bit and I knew the color drained from my face. The anger slowly left Naru's eyes and a look of concern took its place. My heart slammed against my chest as I remembered what Fumito said. '...I taught you to be silent and do as you're told, but it seems you have forgotten...' I subconsciously took a step backwards as Naru took a step towards me. '...a lesson is in order I think...' I couldn't help but hear those words turning round and round in my mind followed by what happened next. Naru took another step. I immediately went into a sobbing mess.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to! I'm so sorry!"

"Mai, what on earth's the matter?" He asked softly as he quickly closed the distance between us and embraced me. He buried his hand in my hair. I flinched, genuinely afraid of what was going to happen. I tried to stop and tell myself that it was just Naru. My body had other ideas though and I started to shake uncontrollably.

"Mai, what's wrong?" Naru kept asking, his voice was full of concern. He tightened his grip on me as my legs felt like they would give out. I clamped my mouth shut as I knew if I opened it the only sound that would come out would be a scream. Naru gently kissed the top of my head. It calmed me a little, but my breaths were still coming in short panicky gasps. Surprisingly, in the midst of everything, I suddenly remembered that—with my crying—my makeup was probably ruined.

Now I was stuck. Naru would most definitely see and then he would insist I tell him what happened and I would most likely break down and tell him at this point then he'd insist on going through with marrying me and he'd grow bored and unhappy with me but be stuck for the rest of his life! And who knows what Fumito would do if he found out! The thoughts of all this made me panic even more. It felt like I was going to start hyperventilating…

"Do I really have to join in carrying this stuff?" I heard Ayako grumble. My eyes widened when I heard the others. No...no, no! They can't see me like this either. None of them can see my face especially Naru. I was so worried about the situation I was in right now. If they see me like this in Naru's arms then they're definitely going to question it. I need to run out as soon as the door opens...

"Mai, please tell me what's wrong." Naru murmured desperately. I heard the others right outside the door now. Then I heard another voice.

"Excuse me, folks, can I just get in there?" The door opened and the voice spoke again, this time to Naru. "Mr Shibuya, may I borrow your assistant for a few minutes?" Chise asked.

"Of course, Mrs Tanabe, but may I ask why?" Naru replied.

"I need her opinion on something." She answered. Naru released me and I felt Chise gently grab my hand. "Thank you, Mr Shibuya, I won't keep her long." Then she tugged me out of base. I was shocked to say the least. She led me towards the kitchen. I kept my head down all the way. I knew I looked absolutely horrible. She guided me to sit on a kitchen chair then sat on the one next to me.

"Mai..." She called me softly. "Do you want to talk to me about what's going on?" I immediately stiffened at her words. She laid a hand on my arm. "Mai..." Chise dipped her head down in front of my face to look at it. "I think you need someone to talk to about this and I promise whatever you tell me I won't share with your colleagues." She placed a finger on my chin to tilt my head up to look at her. Her eyes saddened as she reached over and tucked a strand of my hair behind my ear with her free hand.

"Who on earth would do this to you?" Chise murmured softly. "Please tell me it wasn't..."

"No!" I abruptly cut her off before she could even finish that sentence. "Naru would never ever hurt me!" I exclaimed, looking fearfully into her eyes. She nodded in understanding.

"Then who? How did this happen?" She asked.

"I...I..." I couldn't tell her...could I? I needed to tell someone though as she said. Honestly I don't know how much longer I could keep everything all bottled up. Tears started to roll down my cheeks.

"Oh, Mai..." Chise then drew me into a hug. "Please tell me what's happened. Maybe I can help or if I can't you still might feel better for telling someone all about it." Sniffing, I absent-mindedly nodded and then wiped my eyes. I looked at my hand and saw my makeup was smeared on it.

"Um...maybe now isn't such a good time..." I began hesitantly. I needed to think about this more. "I-I mean it'll take a long time to...to explain everything and Naru will probably come looking for me if I take too long..."

"You're worried about the bruises aren't you and people seeing them?"

"No one knows...no one can know, please!" I started to panic again as I looked up at her with pleading eyes.

"Nobody will." She said and grabbed a large cosmetics bag that I hadn't noticed sitting on the table. She got a cloth from out of it and stood up, going to the sink to wet it. When that was done she returned and gently started wiping my face with it. I winced and she mumbled an apology. She was very focused on her task. She held my chin and tilted my head to the left so she could get a better look at what she was doing. All while she was doing this I kept my gaze on my lap where my hands were folded together. When she was satisfied my face was clean she put the cloth away.

"There." She whispered before digging back into the cosmetic bag. I could hear all sorts of things rattling around inside it. Then she pulled out a lot of makeup which I could only guess was to put on my face. Surely I didn't need all that...did I? My bruises must have been worse than I thought. That worried me, I mean what if Naru saw...

My breath hitched in my throat at the thought. He can't see, he mustn't see. If he sees he'll definitely know...especially with my behaviour today. He can't know, he definitely can't know.

"Alright, Mai...can I do re-do your makeup now?" Chise asked. I nodded slowly. She gave me a small smile before getting to work. I have to say she was really gentle and I barely noticed what she was doing half the time. I just hope that everything will be covered up okay.

"There. All done." She announced. Then she handed me a small mirror for me to see myself. I looked normal. Completely and utterly normal. Not like I was savagely bruised, not like I was wearing makeup but just normal except for my busted lip. I placed the mirror down and gave Chise a tight hug in appreciation.

"Thank you so much, Mrs. Tanabe!"

"Call me Chise and you're welcome. Now would you like to tell me how that happened?" I looked down at my lap again and began wringing my hands.

"Um...like I said before, it's a long story and Naru's probably wondering about where I am... Can I take a rain check?" I glanced at her hopefully. She didn't look too pleased but nodded anyway. "I...I promise to tell you but..." I continued. I think what I needed was someone to at least talk to—to get everything off my chest. "You have to promise me you won't tell anyone in return..."

"I promise." Chise said simply. I hopped out of the chair after I gave a very small nod.

"I promise I'll tell you, just maybe later."

"Alright." Her voice was almost in a whisper. I had to get back to Naru, so I said my thanks again before hurrying back to base. Everyone was busy setting up the equipment when I got back. No one even seemed to notice I came in. I quietly sighed and went to sit down. I took a seat beside Masako, who not only was sitting around doing nothing, but she also had her eyes closed for whatever reason. My guess would be that she's trying to sense the spirit though. She has seemed to soften towards me since the chocolate factory case. I'm not sure why, but I'm glad she has. She cracked an eye open and looked at me then gave me a small smile. I did the same towards her.

"Sensing anything?" I asked. She took a slow deep breath before answering.

"Not yet." I nodded then took a quick glance at the others. They were all still fussing with the equipment. Ayako was yelling at Monk, telling him that he was doing it wrong when—in fact—he wasn't. Naru, Lin, and John meanwhile were setting everything up whilst Monk and Ayako continued to engage each other in their shouting match.

"You didn't have to carry any of the equipment, did you Masako?" I asked.

"No, I was let off." She informed.

"Oh okay, I wasn't sure if you had to since I wasn't there to do it."

"May I ask why you didn't do it? It's unlike you not to."

"Well..." I sighed. "Naru wanted me to make him tea so I went with Mrs. Tanabe to the kitchen. When I came back I was going to go help the others, but Naru said it was 'all taken care of' and wouldn't let me go out of base!" I finished explaining.

"I see. That is most unlike him."

I nodded in agreement. "Yeah, and even when I asked him why, he wouldn't tell me." Masako looked rather intrigued by this news. Not that I'm surprised—Naru still orders me around on cases, like always, especially with the equipment so him not wanting me to this time is just...odd.

"Maybe he had an explanation for why he didn't want you to help, he just didn't want to inform you of it." She reasoned.

"Hmm, maybe..." I agreed. At this point in the conversation Monk finally spotted me.

"MAI!" He shouted jubilantly. Before I could even say anything I was swallowed into a hug. As usual it was near suffocating. In the background Naru's eyes caught mine as he watched me. He started to move towards us when Monk's hug began to go on a little too long.

"Takigawa." He spoke coldly causing Monk to stiffen. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Hugging my little Mai!" Monk loosened his grip on me to look at Naru. "I haven't seen her since yesterday!"

"That may be, but it gives you no right to practically asphyxiate her."

Monk moved his gaze to me. "I wasn't, right?" He asked, pouting.

"I've had worse." I smiled, not wanting to hurt his feelings. He began to smile when Ayako whacked him over the head with her handbag.

"It's nothing to smile about, you moron!" She said in irritation.

"Who said that's why I was smiling, you old hag?"

I heard Naru let out a deep breath of frustration. "Takigawa and Miss Matsuzaki, I believe you still have a job to do." They both looked at him sourly. But nonetheless they did as told, knowing there would be hell to pay if they didn't. Poor John was working in the corner while Monk had been squeezing the life out of me. Yasu's not here yet though. I'm not sure if I should be grateful for that or not. He still loves to rile Naru up by 'flirting' with me. I think Lin is the only one not affected by anyone's antics.

As Monk and Ayako had walked past Naru, he looked at me with a calculating look like he was trying to figure out what happened to me earlier. After a moment or two he shook his head as though he gave up and went over to Lin. I breathed in relief and some of the tension left my shoulders.

"Did something happen between you two?" Masako asked quietly from beside me.

"No, of course not..." I partially lied. It's not that anything bad exactly happened between us...it's just that I broke down crying in front of him. "Why do you ask?"

"He was looking at you rather intensely and also you seemed relieved when he took his attention away from you."

I silently cursed Masako's observation skills. "Um, well, I'm sure that was just because of our little argument about the equipment."

"I see." Masako said. I nodded and looked away hoping to get off the subject. "He really loves you, you know." She continued. "I've never seen him look at anyone the way he looks at you. It's like you have a key no-one else has." A small blush formed on my cheeks as I smiled. I looked at her.

"I...I'm not sure that's true or not..." I told her, a little embarrassed.

"Of course it's true." She said defiantly. "You don't think he'd give anyone else the same consideration do you?" I thought about it for a few moments. She was probably right. I remember Luella, Naru's mother, telling me I was special on many occasions because of that reason. She said that my being with him was the first time she's seen him smile since Gene's death.

I glanced over at Naru. He looked to be deep in conversation with Lin about something. I've never thought exactly how much I mean to Naru. I only know he means the world to me. I mean, yes, I know he really loves me, but I guess he does feel the same way about me as I do him. I still don't feel right about telling him what happened though. If I did Naru would probably go berserk. And if Fumito found out I told Naru... I involuntarily shivered. Also Naru would probably rush me to the nearest place to get married as soon as he heard, and I don't want him to do that. He had already said he thought we should wait. I don't want to make him rush into it when he's not ready for it. I let out a sigh as I didn't know what to do.

Naruisawesome: Ooh, do you think Mai's going to actually tell Chise everything?!

Treelow955: I hope so! She needs someone to talk to!

Naruisawesome: Mm, true!

Treelow955: Anyways, thank you for all your reviews!

Naruisawesome: Yep, they make us so happy!

Treelow955: So please review!