Disclaimer: We don't own Ghost Hunt!

~Jealousy in the Office~

Chapter 25

Mai didn't fight against him as they walked back to 'base' but was disappointed when he let go of her as they entered the rowdy room. The petite girl couldn't help but miss the feeling of him being undoubtedly close. Though despite him letting of her, he didn't actually move away from her. Furrowing her brows, Mai looked up at Naru to see what he had a scowl on his face. So she looked around the room to find the source of it, but she spotted it almost immediately. Takumi was there. And he'd noticed her too.

"Mai. Are you alright?" He asked, walking over to her and shooting a glare at Naru. Why did she have to be with that guy? All he did was get her into trouble.

"Uh...yeah, I'm fine..." Mai said, trying not to sound confused. What had Naru done this time? Or were they just getting at each other? They always seem to glare at each other whenever they're in sight of one another. She thought, mentally shrugging. "Did something happen? You seemed worried." Mai commented looking at Takumi in confusion. She gave a quick glance at Naru before flicking her gaze back to Takumi.

"Uh, no. It's nothing. You were just gone a while is all." He assured her.

"Oh..." Mai mumbled before thinking of an excuse. "I was just talking with your father." She said, which was true though. Just not the whole time. Takumi blinked at her.

"My father? Why?"

"I was just telling him that we cleansed your mother and that we'll be packing up and leaving soon." Mai answered honestly. He gave her a sheepish look.

"Oh, right. Of course." It made perfect sense. Why else would she be around his father?

"Yeah, we—" The brunette was cut off by Naru grasping her wrist again and pulling her behind him as he walked away from Takumi. "Hey! Naru!" Honestly what was he thinking now?

Naru ignored her protests and just continued dragging her away. He didn't release her until they both were safely at the monitors. Naru was as impassive as ever, pretending nothing happened. Mai puffed her cheeks out angrily. "Naru! What was that for?" She grumbled.

"We need to start taking down the equipment, not chit chatting."

Pouting the brunette began to help him. "That doesn't mean you can be so rude about it." She insisted. She mentally wondered when she suddenly started to defend Takumi and not find him as annoying... Or maybe it was just the fact that Naru needed to be nicer to people. But then again, this was Naru. Naru paused in his movements and turned towards the others to see them all staring at the two of them. He glared.

"What are you all standing around for? Get to work." He ordered, causing Mai mentally sigh. He definitely needed to work on how he spoke to people. As if hearing her thoughts, Naru turned to Mai and gave her an irritated look. Mai flushed slightly at being caught and quickly got back to work.

It didn't take too long for them to get everything packed up and Mai thankfully didn't break anything this time. Though with Takumi following her around, trying to help, she really did want to. As she placed the final monitor in the van, she turned to him with a strained look. "Takumi, I know you want to help, but I'm not disabled and am quite capable of handling a few tasks. I've been doing this a while now."

The green-eyed boy blinked in surprise. "It's a lot of work though..."

Swallowing a rude retort, Mai did her best to think of a way to reply kindly to that remark. She was not Naru, and there was no way she could reply like he did. He'd never let her live it down.

"Takumi, I'm really...grateful that you wanted to help me, but it's okay. I'm use to it, and it's not that much." She told him as politely as she could. She could feel Naru's gaze on them and shivered slightly at how cold it was.

"Do you intend to babble on all day?" He demanded. The brunette inwardly cringed at the tone of his voice. She turned towards him with a small, sheepish smile.

"No, no, of course not."

Takumi glared at him for interrupting. "Everything's packed up now. What are you so angry about?" He argued. Naru just continuing glaring at him as if he were stupid and it should obvious why he was angry. Mai sweatdropped as she watched them.

"Uh, Naru? Are we supposed to be leaving since the equipment is all packed up now?" She asked, trying to break them up. Naru shifted his gaze towards Mai and gave a nod. She mentally sighed in relief. This man would be the death of her and everyone she knew. "Alright, well..." Mai began to say goodbye to Takumi. He fidgeted slightly uncomfortable but unwilling to let her go yet—even if it wasn't really his choice. He opened his mouth to say something but instead found himself unsure of what to say.

"Uh, yeah. I guess I should be saying good-bye." He stated lamely. Mai couldn't help but let out a small chuckle.

"Bye, Takumi." She said before adding something a few moments later. "Advice for the future...stop with the cocky act around girls. It's not going to work." She gave a small smile. Before he could reply to her, that boyfriend of hers was dragging her away once more.

"We have to go idiot." He heard him state. Takumi narrowed his eyes and scowled. Mai looked over at him and gave him a small smile, waving as she got into the vehicle. He waved back quickly, just in time for her to see a glimpse of it. Naru glared at the exchange before slamming his door shut.

Mai sighed at her boyfriend. He really was hopeless. Though since they wouldn't see Takumi again, maybe he wouldn't act like that anymore. At least she hoped not. This entire case had been a nightmare with how those two were acting.

Biting her lip, Mai glanced at Naru only to find him staring out the window as Lin began to drive away. It was unnervingly quiet as they rode and it wasn't long before the brunette found herself getting bored. With a huff, she squirmed around in her seat restlessly. Naru shot her a look.

"Stop that." He ordered. The brunette froze on the spot and looked at him sheepishly.

"I can't help it. I'm bored." She stated. Then she pouted a while later when Naru just continued staring at her. "Oh, come on, Naru." She whined.

"What is it you expect me to do?" Naru asked, raising a brow slightly. Mai crossed her arms and huffed.

"I don't know. Can't you think of anything fun? Talk with me or something." She grumbled. She knew it was unlikely, but it was still worth a shot. Naru gave her a look.

"Why would I waste my time talking to you when I could read over reports?" He asked. Mai's pout deepened.

"Because you can do those any time..." She mumbled. Naru pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration.

"I'd rather go home at a reasonable time thank-you." He clipped back.

"And I'd rather not be bored for the rest of the ride." Mai retorted nonchalantly. "You can do it tomorrow you know."

Glaring, he tried to keep calm. This girl's goal must be to make his life harder. "I have enough work to do as it is. I don't need anymore for tomorrow. Now stop bugging me. I'm sure you can find something to amuse yourself."

Mai surprisingly stayed silent. With her arms crossed, she quickly adverted her gaze else where, having been reminded of the fact that Naru already wasn't happy with her right now. It was mostly her fault though, so she couldn't really hold it against him. Toughing out the boredness would be her only option apparently. But after just another few minutes, that resolve was already weakening. Why did she have to ride with two statues? I should've went with Monk... Mai thought. But then again, did she want them grilling her for more information on what had happened earlier? She let out a small groan. She just couldn't win either way.

Shooting her another look, Naru sighed. "What are you groaning about now?"

Mai choose not to look at him. "Nothing, I wouldn't want to waste your time talking to you."

Naru tried not to flinch at his words being turned back onto himself. He didn't mean it like that... Now Mai was undoubtedly upset with him. Not to mention that she probably thinks that he's mad at her again. Naru pinched the bridge of his nose, pondering over what to do. What was his best course of action? Should he...apologise to her? No, she'd probably just think that he was either sick or lying. Besides Lin was there anyway. It was none of his business what was going on between the two of them.

He could already see the slight smirk on the Chinese man's face. Naru scowled as he secretly glared at him from over Mai's head so she couldn't see the exchange. There was no response from the other man, and he turned his attention towards more important things. Mai. She still was looking to the opposite direction of him and her arms were now crossed. He mentally sighed in irritation. What was he supposed to say to her? It appeared he already screwed up his words earlier.

Luckily for him they were nearly back to the office, and it wouldn't be long before he could try to talk to her away from prying ears. At least he hoped so. He had to catch her before, and in case, she decided to run off to her apartment.

As the vehicle stopped, he quickly got out and waited for Mai. Unfortunately she didn't pause to speak to him or even look at him. She only continued to walk around the back of the van as if he weren't there. Naru sighed.

"Mai." He called out to her.

"What?" She asked, standing beside Lin as he opened the back of the van.

"I want to see you in my office after the van is unloaded." He requested—or rather demanded. The brunette bit the inside of her cheek, but nonetheless gave a nod in reply. The idea of speaking to Naru when she knew that he was mad again made her nervous. What was he going to say to her? Chew her out for what happened at the Nakamura's, or scold her for being annoying during the ride back to the office? He wasn't going to fire her for being reckless again...was he? He wouldn't fire his own girlfriend though...right? Surely she's done a lot of other things that he would've fired her for...but he hadn't. Re-assuring herself with that information, she grabbed some of the equipment and began to put things away. Lin followed silently after her with his arms filled with equipment as well. It didn't take long to get everything unloaded, but Mai was moving as slowly as possible in order to slow the unpreventable meeting.

Suddenly she felt a hand on her shoulder, startling her out of her thoughts. She looked up to see Lin staring down at her.

"You'll just make him impatient." He warned nonchalantly. Mai sighed, her shoulders slumping.

"I can't help it... I don't want to know what he's going to say...

With a sigh, he removed his hand from her shoulder and began walking away. "That's too bad. I'd rather not deal with an irritated Naru anymore than I have to. And if you decide to argue...try not to shout too loud." He stated. As Lin went into the building, Mai hesitated near the van. Did she really have to? Maybe she could slip out without him noticing? No, that would put her in more trouble than she already was. With a resigned sigh, she trekked into SPR and to the door of Naru's office. After a slight hesitation, she knocked quietly.

"Come in." Naru's voice reached her ears. With a deep breath, she slowly pushed the door open and stepped inside. She closed the door behind her, her gaze on the floor.

"What did you want to see me about?" She asked, not daring to look up. The dark-haired man sighed.

"Please sit down, Mai."

Not wanting to make him even angrier, the brunette shuffled over to one of the seats and did as she was told. Her hands folded nervously in her lap, she bit lip, refusing to look at him. Naru watched her carefully from his seat and mentally cringed at how she looked. Ever since she surprisingly crossed the spirit over, she kept acting as if he'd verbally abuse her or something of the sort. It was never his intention to make her feel that way, but he couldn't help it.

"...Just go ahead and yell at me and whatever else you're going to do." Mai's quiet voice met his ears. Naru froze in shock for a moment before breaking out of his stupor and pinching the bridge of his nose in irritation.

"I already told you I wasn't mad at you. I just need to know that you won't do something so reckless again." He started, trying to keep his emotions in check.

"I was just helping her."

Naru could feel his anger rising again and he did his best to suppress it. "You were putting yourself in unnecessary danger."

"Unnecessary?" Mai finally looked up at him suddenly becoming annoyed just as he was. "You were going to exorcise her when there obviously was no reason to. You wouldn't even listen to me—to try something else besides that."

Glaring, Naru's fists clenched. "Why do you think I didn't want to? You could have gotten yourself killed! Do you know how that made me feel? How stupid are you to think that you're someone who I can replace so easily? Because if that's what you think, then maybe you shouldn't be here." He stated curtly, a blank mask falling onto his face. The distressed brunette's eyes widened as she stared at him, tears filling her eyes. She tried to quickly force herself to calm down and reminded herself that this was Naru and that he didn't handle emotions very well. Surely he...he didn't mean what he said? Worrying about someone wasn't one of his specialties so he had to be turning that worry into anger...right?

"...You don't mean that." She finally spoke albeit quietly, referring to the latter sentence and hoping she chose the right words to say. Naru didn't reply, too shocked at his own words to speak and still too stunned to follow Mai after she ran out of his office with tears streaming down her face.

"What did you do?" He heard Lin's voice in his doorway a few moments later. Naru let his head fall into his hands.

"I think I just told Mai that I didn't need her." He whispered. Lin closed his eyes, resisting the strong urge to hit his charge on his head. He had heard yelling, as he expected, but he couldn't ever make out any of the words. Not that he was listening in or anything...

"Noll, I'll only say this once: Fix it before you regret it. Don't let everything that happened between you two, specifically this case," Lin warned, referring to the two teens finally becoming couple. "go to waste."

The teen shook his head slightly. "I'm not stupid enough to do that, but she probably hates me. I doubt she'd want to see me right now. I'll talk to her tomorrow." He sighed.

"Tomorrow could be too late you know, and besides, she could never hate you and vice versa." Lin stated. Gritting his teeth, Naru mentally disagreed but didn't voice his opinion. Of course he'd never feel that towards Mai, but he couldn't say the same about her. He'd said some terrible things to her this time around. Things that he would never forgive himself for saying. Sure, the first few things he unexpectedly said were true. Mai wasn't someone who could be easily replaced in his life. In fact she could never be replaced at all. But that last thing he said to her...

It was more than terrible, it was cruel. If Mai forgave him after something like that easily, it would be a miracle, in fact he was hoping she'd forgive him at all. He was just so frustrated that Mai obviously didn't value her life as she should that the words came out uncontrollably. Mentally groaning, Naru forced himself to stop running in mental circles. Tomorrow. He assured himself. I can make things right tomorrow.

In the back of his mind he only hoped it wouldn't be too late.

Naruisawesome: Ehe... *cough*

MzShellSan: Well...hope you enjoyed!

Naruisawesome: Why would you say that? Of course they didn't enjoy it...

MzShellSan: *shrugs* Some might have even though they're fighting right now...

Naruisawesome: *sighs* Umm...please review. ^_^;