Disclaimer: Jetlag is a bitch. A vengeful bitch, I tell you.

Patches

(A.N.) I'm back! And here's a gift from me to all of you guys! This shot comes to you by way of prompts from allie and PsychicOtaku182 who wanted to see Naru taking care of an an injured by and first aid lessons respectively. And a big thanks to my beta, Moon Daisuki, as well as to all of you readers and reviewers. Please enjoy!

Glass windows shattered in their panes, raining sharp and deceptively delicate looking fragments onto the huddled patrons in the club. The electrical equipment on the stage was short-circuiting and throwing sparks everywhere. It was only a matter of time, Mai Taniyama figured, until something caught on fire.

Mai, her friend Yuki, and others all crouched on the floor of the karaoke bar. Using overturned tables as shields, they all watched, horrified, as objects flew through the air and broke against walls and people who didn't duck fast enough.

"Get down!" Yuki screamed, dragging Mai by the back of the shirt so that they were flat against the hard wood floor. Glass bottles flew inches over their heads and crashed against the wall, followed by one of the metal bar stools.

"We need to get out of here!" Mai yelled back to her friend as she covered her head with her arms.

"You don't say? And here I thought we could stay for a cup of tea." Sarcasm dripped from Yuki's reply in buckets and, despite the dismal situation, Mai had to chuckle.

Well, until a speaker nearly crushed her. Almost becoming a human pancake has a way of draining the humor from life.

Somebody get us out of here! Mai pled silently. We're going to lose limbs if this keeps up.

"Here!" Yuki called, shoving a plastic tray into Mai's shakinghands. "Hold it in front of you! We'll make a break for the door!"

"You can't be serious!" the brunette protested. "It's too far. We'd never make it!"

"Well, we can't just stay here, can we?! I happen to be fond of my head being attached to my body, thanks!"

"But at least we have some cover here!"

The table they were hiding behind was wrenched away, and out of their grasp.

"You were saying?" Yuki shot back dryly, eyebrows raised.

"Run."

They sprinted for the door.

Naru was irritated.

Very irritated.

I was Mai's day off and he didn't like it, not one little bit. It was as if the office was several degrees colder in her absence and Naru could have sworn, many times over in fact, that he'd heard her cheery voice echo through the stillness. He was haunted by Mai when she wasn't around, and it annoyed him.

He couldn't think straight when he didn't know where she was. Who knows what dangerous idiocy she was involved in? What trouble had she drawn to herself? Naru certainly didn't know, and it was killing him.

But he couldn't call her back into the office without due cause. If he did…

Unacceptable.

So, Naru coolly cast his eyes about, gauging the pile of papers on his desk and the necessity of having them filed right away. Deeming it a vitally important chore after a few moments of consideration, Naru all but snatched the phone from its cradle and dialed Mai's mobile number without hesitation.

The phone rang in his hands before he finished punching numbers.

Pick up! Pick up! Please pick up! Mai prayed silently, wiping at the blood dripping into her eye.

She and Yuki hadn't made it very far. Their escape had become impossible due to the flying debris and the rubble on the floor. Mai had tripped over some large splinters of wood that used to be a table, while Yuki had been violently body-checked by a full liqueur bottle. Ever now, minutes later, items were being hurled about the room and Mai saw no end to the ghost's tantrum. Only I could manage this, she thought, half terrified and half angry. Only I could walk into the one karaoke bar in the entire district of Shibuya with a temperamental ghost in residence. It figures.

Ankle throbbing and the newly acquired scratches on her cheek and forehead bleeding sluggishly, Mai hid behind another overturned table and pressed her cell phone desperately to her ear. From the corner of her eye, Mai could see Yuki cowering in one of the booths and holding her arm, which was undoubtedly broken, close to her chest. Please pick up! Please, Naru!

"Hello?" a blessedly cool and familiar voice finally answered.

"Oh, thank the gods!" Crying, Mai felt relief spread through her like a balm.

"Mai?"

"Yes, yes, it's me! Naru, I need help!"

"What are you talking about? Mai, where are you?"

"The karaoke place on Tenjin Street!"

A box of Pocari Sweat bottles dropped down out of nowhere, narrowly missing Mai's leg.

"What was that noise? Mai, what's going on?"

Mai opened her mouth to reply. She never saw the pipe until it was too late to get out of its way.

Unconscious, she slumped to the floor, phone sliding from her limp fingers.

"

The drive was extremely short, considering the distanced he needed to cover. Though that's what generally happens when you ignore traffic laws. All traffic laws. Like red lights. And speed limits. When Naru would later look back upon the memory, he would wonder if he'd ever seen Lin as pale as the man was in the passenger's seat during that perilous ride. But at the present moment, the black haired teen barely registered the existence of other people. All he was focused on behind his tight, controlled mask of expression was those final seconds on the phone with Mai. The dull thump. Her soft gasp of pain.

The lack of response afterwards.

Heart hammering in his chest, Naru braked suddenly when he spotted the karaoke bar. He didn't waste any time in exiting the van, and then dashing into the club.

Lin, on the other hand, was attempting to breathe again and to possibly restart his heart. "Next time," the sorcerer muttered under his breath, sliding out of the vehicle with much more surety than he felt, "I get to drive. He's mad. Absolutely mad. Who in the world gave him a driver's license?" A sudden realization struck Lin. Oh. Right. He doesn't have one. Not in this country anyway.

A faint smile graced his lips. Only Mai could get Naru to break the law.

She watched, intrigued, as the will-o-the-wisps swirled around her playfully. When they weren't harmful spirits trying to get her killed, Mai conclude that the little balls of light were rather endearing once you got used to them.

But what was she doing here? The last thing she remembered clearly was pleading with Naru to come rescue her. And then that pipe…

Oh. So that's what happened, Mai realized. Now that she remembered, she cursed her luck. How could so many seemingly random bad things happen to one person? It wasn't natural. Not in the slightest.

"Mai."

Completely delighted and unsurprised, Mai turned towards the voice and smiled warmly. "Hey, Naru."

Dream Naru, as Mai thought of him, smiled back gently, holding out a hand, which she took without hesitation. He may not have been her real Naru, but Dream Naru was a comfort all the same. It was nice to have reprieve from her controlled boss/crush once in a while. There was only so much a girl's ego could take, after all. Though she doubted she'd be happy with Dream Naru if she stayed for too long. She didn't want to live in a dream world. Reality may suck sometimes, but at least it was tangible.

"You need to wake up, you know," Dream Naru said conversationally as he led her through the swirling lights. "Things aren't going too well."

"Huh? You mean the ghost's rampage?" Mai felt silly as soon as the question escaped her lips. There wasn't anything else that wasn't going "too well" at the moment.

"Technically, it's a poltergeist," Dream Naru corrected patiently, "and that's part of it. Once he's calmed down a bit, though, he won't be too much trouble. A basic exorcism should be enough to take care of him."

"Oh." Mai blinked a few times. "Then what else is going badly?"

An amused, and somewhat secretive, grin twitched at Dream Naru's lips. "Nothing you personally should worry about. Now, wake up."

"But what—?"

"You'll be fine," he assured her, cutting through her words easily. "Just be patient with the botched first aid you're about to receive. He was never that brilliant at it since it requires actual human interaction. But don't worry, you won't need much more than some bandages, I think."

"He… What? Who are you..? Naru—."

Again, he interrupted her. "Go on. Wake up."

Mai woke up outside the club, wincing at the bright sunlight penetrating her eyes. A splitting pain burst through her skull as she opened her eyes and she groaned pitifully. She suspected that she'd have a really nasty looking bruise on her forehead for a while. "Ow," she moaned softly, pressing a hand against the injured spot.

"Stop moving," someone snapped at her. "You'll only succeed in making it worse, like always."

"Naru..?" Mai whispered, squinting against the spots that had begun obscuring her vision.

"Who else?" Naru asked, sounding mildly irritated. It was as if he blamed her for this little misadventure.

A sudden concern pushed her anger at the assumed unfair blame aside. "Where's Yuki?"

"Who?"

"My friend. She's still inside! I have to—Ah!" Trying to sit up had been a bad idea. A very, very bad idea.

"Idiot," Naru admonished coldly, steadying her with an arm around her shoulders. "I told you to hold still."

"But Yuki is…" Mai's speech capabilities shut down due to her close proximity to Naru. Like always.

"With Lin," Naru finished, eyeing the bruise on her forehead critically. "He's inside right now, taking care of the ghost."

"Poltergeist," Mai corrected without thinking, wincing as Naru probed the scratch on her cheek roughly. "Ow! Watch what you're doing, Naru!"

"Be quiet," he ordered, continuing his less than gentle examination of her various cuts and bruises. It wasn't as if he was deliberately trying to hurt her, he just wasn't all that skilled at things like this. Where's Matsuzaki-san when you need her? he wondered furiously, poking at Mai's swollen ankle. First aid is about the only thing she's good for.

"Hey! That hurts, you jerk!" Mai yelped. Trying to yank her ankle out of his grasp, she only managed to land herself flat on her back again. A flush crept up her neck and settled across her cheeks and the bridge of her nose. Why me?

"If you don't hold still, I will restrain you," Naru informed her, frown in place.

"You have an awful bedside manner," Mai shot back. "I hope you never have plans to become a doctor, you'd be terrible at it."

He decided that replying to her barb would be beneath him, so instead Naru asked, "Can you stand?"

"Of course. My ankle is only twisted and the size of a grapefruit, and I've only been smacked in the head with a pipe. No problem."

That blow to the head must have addled her brains. I wasn't even aware Mai knew what sarcasm was, let alone how to use it, Naru muses silently, resisting the urge to smile. Now that he was assured of her well being—more or less, anyway—he could act as he usually did. Without breaking traffic laws and having his heart pound uncomfortably in his chest. Which was good. Very good. He was, however, still feeling a little murderous. Naru hated feeling out of control, feeling afraid. It was severely inconvenient and, in his case, dangerous.

Wordlessly, Naru picked Mai up, ignoring her startled and embarrassed protests, and loaded her into the passenger's side of the van, shutting her in. He then went into the decimated karaoke bar and informed Lin that he was taking Mai back to SPR, as she seemed to have no serious injuries. Others hadn't been so lucky, Naru observed, seeing one man with a compound leg fracture. The bone poking out of the man's skin was disturbing to behold.

"I'll stay behind and wait for the ambulances," Lin replied, also surveying the damage. "I'll take the subway back." The sorcerer caught the eye of a young teenage girl, Mai's friend Yuki, and smiled faintly. The injured girl had threatened him with bodily harm if he didn't let Mai and Naru have some "alone time".

"Fine." Naru didn't particularly care what Lin did, truthfully. It wasn't as if there was case to work on at the moment.

Without saying farewell, Naru left the club and climbed into the driver's seat of the van, perhaps slamming the door harder than necessary. Mai jumped at the sudden noise, startled by the straining muscles in Naru's wrists. Her eyes flicked from his wrists to his face, noting that the tightened tendons were the only indication of Naru's feelings. I wonder what he's so angry about. Probably about having to come rescue me, again, I guess. Mai just barely suppressed a dejected sigh.

Naru turned the ignition and, much slower this time, drove back to SPR.

oOo

Anyone who passed by the SPR office would have been highly suspicious due to the pain-filled yelps and small, surprised screams. Those with imaginations could imagine a grisly murder taking place or, for those of dirtier minds, perhaps some kinky sex was going on behind closed doors. However, they would have all been disappointed to discover that it was only the ordinary event of first aid gone wrong.

"That hurts!" Mai protested for the millionth time, throwing her head back out of Naru's reach.

"Would you rather bleed all over the place?" Naru asked coldly, anger coiling in his chest.

"If it would mean that I could get away from your attempts at first aid, then yes!" the injured girl snarled. "Just give me the kit, Naru! I'm better at this than you are!"

"I doubt that."

"I at least can't be any worse!"

"I doubt that as well."

"You arrogant, son of a—Ow!" Naru had cut her off, pressing a disinfectant soaked gauze pad against her cheek.

Holding the gauze pad steady, Naru said expressionlessly, "If this is what you do to yourself by just walking into a club, there is no chance that I'm letting you near scissors and long strips of cloth. You'd murder yourself. Then I'd have to go through the ridiculous process of finding another assistant, which is something that I don't have the time for." Nor do I have the heart…

"You're a sadist," Mai accused darkly, wondering why he was still pushing the pad against her skin. "And you're giving me a new bruise. You don't have to be so rough, you know. The disinfectant will clean the scratch without you forcing it directly into my face."

The pressure on her cheek eased and Naru raised a questioning eyebrow.

"Much better," Mai mumbled, mostly to herself. Her memory rang with Dream Naru's request that she be patient. How in the world could he have predicted this? Surely a conjured spirit guide, a creation of her own mind, couldn't have known Naru would be this terrible at bandaging up a few cuts and scrapes. It was impossible. Right?

Endeavoring to prove that he could perform first aid as well as anyone, Naru used a gentler touch to wipe the smears of blood off of Mai's face. Without the crimson stains, she didn't look so hurt and a knot loosened in his chest. The cut on her forehead was rather small and the one on her cheek shallow. The bruise from the pipe was dark purple, but Mai didn't seem to be disoriented or nauseous, so the blow couldn't have been as serious as he'd first assumed. The worst injury, he supposed, was her twisted ankle, which was, as Mai had so correctly named it, the size of a grapefruit. But it wasn't turning black, so nothing was broken. At least, that's what Mai had shouted at him when he'd suggested she should get X-rays.

In fact, Mai seemed to know a lot about first aid. Which shouldn't have surprised him, he supposed. Naru suspected that Mai, being an orphan and as clumsy as she was, had to patch herself up constantly. How many times has she come in with bandages on her knees or braces wrapped around a wrist or some other joint? He'd always noticed the new injuries, but never commented on them. Takigawa usually asked the girl how she'd gotten hurt and Naru would wait for her answer. Always, it was that she fell or ran into some inanimate object. If she'd answered something different, then Naru would have taken action, but it was ridiculous to get too worked up over her accidents. That's what he told himself anyway.

He wasn't too successful in the "don't get worked up" department, but kept the fact to himself. Like always, Naru had a little complex about control.

"Um, you can stop now," Mai said softly, breaking into his thoughts. "I think you got all the blood." She watched, transfixed, as the faraway look in Naru's eyes disappeared and wondered what he'd been thinking. His overall expression hadn't changed, but she'd seen him retreat a little farther into his own thoughts. She could tell. She could always tell.

She blushed under the critical once over he gave her face, flinching in surprise when another piece of gauze was pressed over the line on her cheek. So caught up in her own trance, she'd forgotten that bandaging was next.

Naru cut a strip of medical tape from the roll and applied it over the gauze, trying to be careful and at the same time make the tape stick. Next, he applied a butterfly bandage to Mai's forehead, mindful of the hulking bruise. "Done," he declared, throwing wrappers and scraps and blood stained gauze into the trash.

Momentarily breathless from when Naru had leaned in close to apply the band aid to her head, Mai nodded and, after a couple tries, said, "Thanks." It came out less of a sincere confession of gratitude and more of a breathless sigh.

Naru frowned. Is she going to faint? I don't believe she's lost that much blood and she swore she wasn't feeling drowsy… He leaned forward to take a closer look at her face, examining it for any sign of distress.

What is he..? Mai felt her heart and stomach do strange, unnatural flip-flops. Her breath hitched in her chest.

Still frowning, Naru asked, "Are going to faint?"

And before she could think of anything else to say, she replied, "If you keep this up, I probably will."

For being a remarkably intelligent guy, Naru was also incredibly dense. Look at his initial attempts at first aid. Due to this unfortunate dense-ness, he did not quite pick up the exact meaning of Mai's statement. He thought she was referring to the abysmal first aid he'd performed.

But, just to clarify… "What are you babbling about?"

Mai blushed vividly. "N-nothing."

"I would rather know in advance before you pass out," he informed her, sounding annoyed. Again. He hated it when people gave evasive answered like "Nothing".

Then please move back so I can breathe again, she wanted to say, but the words stuck in her throat. Really, really, REALLY close… Mai had to remind herself to inhale, and had her heart almost stop again when the scent of black tea and detergent filled her nose. This is no fair!

"Mai?" Naru felt a stab of worry as the girl's eyes seemed to glaze over. Gently, he shook her shoulders, leaning in even closer in well hidden concern.

Mai's stomach dropped and her heart jumped into the vicinity of her throat. "F-fine!" Her voice was still breathy, though much more higher pitched with panic.

"You're an awful liar."

"And you're an awful doctor," she managed to retort, though it was devoid of bite.

"Are you still going to pass out?'

"Maybe."

"How certain is 'maybe'?"

Face bright red, Mai said, "Very probable." A wave of dizziness washed over her.

"You told me just a few minutes ago that you weren't feeling dizzy or faint. When did it start?" Naru's voice was clinical, but he felt anxiety creeping up on him. "You should have said something."

"It didn't start until just a couple minutes ago," Mai confessed, wishing whole-heartedly that he would back up and take his appealing Naru-scent with him.

"When I bandaged your head?"

"Yeah, about then." A new blush broke over her skin.

"Are you going to faint?"

"If you keep this up, I probably will."

His mind replayed the words for him unbidden. She couldn't possibly mean…

"Jou-chan!" The door to SPR burst open barely in time to admit a wildly concerned Takigawa. "Lin called and said you'd been hurt! Are you all right? Have you gone to the hospital? Are you—?"

"I'm okay, Monk-san!" Mai exclaimed, heading off the anxious bassist. "Naru just had to patch me up is all!"

Takigawa froze for a moment to consider all the aspects of that statement, and then smiled wolfishly. "Oh, really?"

Silently, Naru left the two of them to bicker at each other, laughing behind his controlled mask. I wonder if she really did mean…

Perhaps Naru should try to patch Mai up more often.

(A.N.) Please review!