A game of spin the bottle and Mai sees the Davis house for the first time... awed .Week 3- Masako and John

"Oh wow! This is your house?!"

Naru sighed and stood aside so that Lin could carry his suitcase up the long pathway to his house. "No, Mai, this is our garage." He scathed, and when Mai turned to him, mouth open and wide-eyed, he smirked and raised an eyebrow. "Mai... it is the house... don't act stupid."

Mai nodded and pulled her suitcase up the path towards the door. The house itself was a three storey fairly modern-looking residence painted cream with wooden timbers and, Naru knew, at the back of the house was an extensive extension (lol) that had one entire wall made of glass, so that its inhabitants could easily enjoy the views of the Rutland countryside. The house was in a wooded area with views over a large body of water that Naru called "Rutland water".

"Naru... Is this where you grew up? No wonder you're such an egotistical..." The rest of her sentence was silenced as James clamped a firm hand over the girl's mouth and smiled happily at Martin and Luella.

"Lovely home you got 'ere." He complimented, and Martin laughed.

"Actually, Mai, this is our newest house; we bought it a year ago and added an extension to the back... our first home was in Yorkshire. This is... ah... more modern than our old house." He smiled and Naru continued.

"The other house was a bit bigger and had more land; mum inherited it from her grandfather, who won it whilst gambling." He nodded to the house in front of them. "This is now our summer house."

"Summer house?" Monk-san repeated and stared up at the house in awe. "So... the British branch of SPR is well funded?" He asked, and Masako smirked behind her kimono sleeve as her father coughed politely.

"Martin Davis... well done. You've had a bit of good luck since I first met you, haven't you?" He smiled. "Why, when I last visited, the mansion in Yorkshire was decidedly run down."

Luella laughed. "Oh, yes! We were in huge amounts of debt! But then word got out to the higher social classes about our success and soon they were paying much more than necessary... We bought all the best equipment and Martin decided to invest in some stocks which practically sky-rocketed within the month!"

"We were very lucky, weren't we, Noll?" Martin smiled and picked up his suitcase, prompting everyone, except Naru, who'd given his to Lin, to pick up their own and follow him into the house.

Naru smiled and nodded. "Yes father, we were." He noticed Mai struggling with her suitcase and sighed, about to help her and take the suitcase from her, but then paused, surprise at his own reaction. Before he could recover and take the suitcase anyway, James picked it up and laughed when she blushed, embarrassed.

"I've carried heavier things than that suitcase!" She protested; flustered that someone had noticed she needed help, and James sobered temporarily, glancing out of the corner of his eye at Naru, who pretended not to notice.

"I don't doubt it." He commented, following Martin and Luella up the pathway. "Let's go and unpack... we're here for the week right?"

Masako sent her partner in crime an enigmatic raised eyebrow which he smiled at. The priest walked close to the medium and murmured. "Maybe Naru's jealousy isn't unfounded."

"Oh?" She replied. The two walked behind everyone else and smirked at each other. "You mean James and Mai? No... Mai, definitely, only sees James as another brother figure."

John nodded. "Those are indeed Mai-san's feelings."

"James?" Masako gasped and eyed the fairer haired man in awe. "You analysed him?"

"No." John shrugged. "James is a catholic... and as a representative of the Catholic Church, I take confession." Masako stopped, just in front of the door, which was, she noted, a very nice oak.

She stared at the exorcist with something akin to shock, and he blushed a bit. "Aren't you sworn to secrecy?"

John smiled mysteriously. "I said nothing, Hara-san. I simply pointed out that Naru's jealousy may not be unfounded, Mai thinks of James as a brother, and that James recently sought my counsel in confession. Besides," He said, smiling serenely and walking into the Davis' house. "I'm no longer serving as a priest who takes confession; I am only an exorcist now."

Masako stared after him and let her cool mask of indifference slip. Clearly, there was more to John Brown the Australian exorcist than first appeared.

It was 8 o'clock, and everyone was sitting, relaxing in the lounge. Naru wondered, perhaps, if this could be called relaxing; he was on the sofa, sat next to Mai, finding, after his recent revelation, the seating arrangement mildly uncomfortable. It certainly didn't help that James was sat on the arm of the sofa by Mai, occasionally messing up her short brown hair, or pulling her into a brief hug.

It seemed that SPR's members generally understood the motives behind his actions in the last case, though Masako acted a little coldly towards him, the general atmosphere was relaxed around him. It was... unsettling... for Naru; his family and teammates and his... what was Mai classed as? They all relaxed around James, whose infectious smile and jovial personality rivalled those of Martin, Yasuhara and Takigawa, indeed, the four men had formed a sort of troupe during the day, teasing and pranking the other members of the household.

The group had now settled down, after allocating rooms and unpacking, and were gathered in the lounge, with an assortment of wines and other alcoholic beverages. Naru was drinking some German Kabinett wein as he watched Takigawa and James indulge in Guinness, Yasuhara was trying a glass of everything as Martin guided him around the bottles that had been brought out from the collection in the wine pantry. Martin himself was drinking some port that had been bottled in 1914; he had three more bottles in the pantry.

Hideki, Madoka and Luella were more than a little tipsy already and had only been drinking the light Chardonnay wines from France, as Ayako had opted for the more robust Merlot.

John had drunk one glass of Kabinett wein with Naru before refusing any more, and simply drank water as he watched the others. Lin and Masako had both decided to try some of the vodka brought from Russia when Martin had gone to a conference with Hideki Hara three years ago. Rin was holding several bottles of Smirnoff ice and grinning manically as she drank them... too quickly.

Mai had looked over the assortment of wines, beers and "others" in front of her with a wide-eyed bemused stare which Naru, despite his better judgement, found amusing. He allowed a quiet chuckle so soft that only she heard it, though everyone caught the smirk on his handsome face when Mai squeaked indignantly at his reaction.

"What?" She asked when the chatter in the room began to swell again and Naru sipped his Kabinett wein innocently... as innocently as one can do when trying desperately not to laugh at one's really cute-when-confused-or-angry assistant.

He chose to ignore her question and instead looked over the selection available, picking out a bottle of dry white port and pouring some into the girl's glass. "Have some of that." He said. "I think you'll like it." She blinked at him with large caramel eyes and then smiled that really wide smile she smiles when she's caught completely off-guard but the surprise is an exceptionally good one.

"Have you been keeping a special eye on her mannerisms?"

Gene...

"Noll?"

Why haven't you moved on yet?

"... And miss this party?"

His deceased twin had a point; Ayako was now sitting on monk-san's lap doing the hand movements to the Macarena as sung by Madoka and Luella. Martin was on Lin's laptop giggling at various ghost stories on the internet, with Lin and Hideki looking over his shoulder, John was staring incredulously at Masako as she tried to give him a lap-dance, which he kept pushing her away from, and James... was sitting, in the middle of the floor, looking intently at an empty vodka bottle. Rin was dancing to the Macarena as well... but on a coffee table.

Grimacing, and slightly afraid of what he'd see, Naru turned to look at Mai, who was surprisingly sober; he'd half-expected her to be running around topless or something...

"You HOPED she's be running around topless, Noll, there's a difference."

Quiet.

"Uh-huh! My point exactly. You are, despite how you try and hide it, a teenage boy... with hormones!"

Naru shook his head and instantly regretted it; suddenly the room seemed to sway and he realised, slightly dazedly, that he'd finished the Kabinett wein bottle... and a bottle of red port... and a whiskey. Ah...

"Naru?" A small voice asked from his right hand side, and he looked to see his assistant staring at him worriedly. "Are you okay?" She asked, and Naru nodded, not really trusting his mouth for words. Stop looking cute when I'm drunk. He thought, but of course, he couldn't say it aloud.

"Yes, Mai, I'm fine. You're looking a bit flushed though." He murmured, touching her cheek slightly, noticing how it reddened at his touch, and then mentally berated himself for acting so rashly; if... if he wanted to move forwards with the girl (which would probably be unwise and unprofessional... and against his character) he should deliberate each move before making it, like a game of chess.

"Oh! I know!" James finally looked up from his empty bottle. "Let's play a game!"

"A game!" Luella laughed, nodding vigorously. "Oh yes! Martin, what game should we play?" She moved to wrap her arms around her husband's shoulders and giggled. James stood up proudly and held the bottle high in the air.

"Spin the bottle!!" He shouted, to a chorus of giggles and clapping. Naru groaned; this was getting out of hand now... but he couldn't be bothered to stop it.

Everyone gathered in a circle except for Martin, Luella and Hideki. Hideki decided that he was most likely drunk (because the room was spinning again) and lumbered off to bed, and the Davis', much to Naru's horror, simply started kissing each other on the sofa.

"How do you play?" Lin asked, joining the circle, and Madoka smirked, swaying a little on the spot. Rin giggled and shook her head, slinging an arm over James' shoulder.

Naru was sat between Mai and Yasuhara, on Mai's other side was James, who sat with Rin, then Lin, then Madoka, then Masako, then John, then Ayako, then Takigawa, then Yasuhara.

The first person to spin was James.

Gene smiled as he watched James spin the empty bottle, and, had anyone seen him at that moment, they would have been... slightly worried; he looked almost malicious.

Even more so when he changed the direction of the spinning bottle... he looked downright evil. He watched his brother's face intently as the bottle came to rest on the girl between them, and he wasn't disappointed; Naru paled and turned to stare at James accusingly, and Gene chuckled darkly to himself; he was fairly sure that his brother wouldn't have reacted that way unless drunk... if he was sober, he'd have glared darkly instead of that horrified, wide-eyed expression he was wearing now.

The pale boy relaxed again when James simply gave Mai a peck on the cheek, but then it was Mai's turn to spin, and Naru promptly freaked out again... as much of a freak out as Naru would do... even a drunk Naru couldn't lose his composure completely.

"This game is stupid." Naru muttered, but then stopped when he saw where the bottle pointed. (A/N- where else?) It was pointing directly, straight on, at him.

"This is ridiculously fun." Gene laughed.

Rin- We have a very special guest(s) today so be nice to them :P I don't care if you don't know them or understand who they are but... these are characters from my manga... wasureta! First... a warm welcome for the young girl desperately trying to build a life with people who know more about the darkness of her past than she does... AALYIA!

Aalyia- I have a dark past?

Kioku- No. Shut up Rin.

Rin- ehehehe... sorry... next is Kioku who...

Kioku- I'd really rather you didn't tell them about me.

Rin- But... you're one of the mainest characters! (whispers- The man she loved left their organisation and turned evil... though it gets complicated when you realsie that the evil one is a different person completely and the man she loves is locked away, trying to escape and use his powers for the good guys!)

Kioku- What are you whispering about?

Rin- Ki-Ki! You're so cold . Next up... I'll only introduce one more... Kioku's little brother, and Aalyia's best friend (cough) love interest (cough) JUNAI!

Kioku- What now?

Aalyia- Sorry about Kioku... she's really nice when you get to know her.

Junai- Hehe... no she's not...

Kioku- I'm right here... (sweatdrop as Junai and Aalyia grin innocently at her) Brats.

Junai- I'm just messing, Ki-ki! I loove you really!

Kioku- After all I've done for you brats...

Aalyia- Ehehe... (dances to Caramelldansen)

Junai- Danse mit aus! (also dances)

Rin- Hehe sorry about that... I love my manga :P I'm talking to publishers at the moment so... if it gets published, you all must buy the books!

Junai- REVIEW!! Caramelldansen!!