Chapter Twenty-six

April 25 7:30am

Naru walked into the office as usual, he waited until he hung his coat and got to his office that he crashed in his seat. He let out a long sigh , "well it looks like another day of no sleep- and Mai is at school!! I bet she is with Kouki." He imagined Mai walking into the school with her on his arm, and then thought about yesterday. "Why did I act like that- I- I never really ever felt that. Why do I still feel it now!" He slammed his hand down on his desk as hard as he possible could- well without pk. His breathing got heavy and shallow as his head began to throb from the mixture of emotions and the fact he stayed up all night thinking of what just happened.

After a minute of calming himself down he looked at his computer , "well she is my employ- it would be unprofessional to see if this little-occurrence ----affect her line of work."

He turned on the computer and went to a 'special' feature he had uploaded to his computer he 'obtained' years ago. He then typed in Kouki Sohma.

After about an hour of good searching he printed out so much stuff about him it could already be a biography on his life.

"Now lets see- Kouki Sohma, blood type o-, Asian, 5 7', hair dark brown, body type 'A', dark brown eyes, shoe size 10, double jointed, ski slope nose, square jaw, GPA 1.9 - how is that idiot even still in school- Mai is brighter than him. Favourite music screaming metal rock, favourite food style Thai. Is currently captain of his school's baseball team- pitcher, said to have a good curve ball. Best batter on the team- well that probably explains it- his dear coach is fighting to keep him in school. Has twenty-one piercings, is in his final year of high school. Career aptitude test said most likely to be fast food server, mail man, custodian, ice road trucker. Favourite colour purple- probably explains that stupid punky hair style he has. Has one traditional tattoo down right arm of an emperor's dragon in jet black. Applied for- zero universities- seriously, not even a misally community college. Has licence suspended until eighteen for seven traffic tickets?! Is currently seventeen with his birthday on December 28. Owns one motorcycle."

This made his stomach drop thinking of Mai on the back of a motorcycle, he shoved the image aside. He then looked over the list and found on think he defiantly did not like- how many girls he has dated, it was so much it was hard to believe. "I bet he doesn't even treat them like women! He is a lot of things- dunce, psychopath, womanizer, punk, trouble maker, thief, liar....,"

He then looked at his hands and saw several of the papers he was holding had been crumpled down into a perfectly packed ball. "Mai I knew you were a danger magnet, but this is one step too far."

He threw the ball in the trash along with the rest of the papers. As he threw the last paper he heard his door open with Lin peeping in , "we have a man here that says he wants to talk to you." Naru nodded, groaned and got up, then walked out of the dimly lit room.

Mai quickly sprang up as the class bell rang and ran out the door. She wanted to quickly meet up with Kouki, that and delude the stares she was getting about her new hair. She was walking faster and faster until something caught her by the waist and stopped. Kouki whispered in her ear , "you weren't trying to run from me were you Mai-chan." He then pressed his lips against Mai's, after a minute a teacher walked out and said , "alright- break it up, school is out, but that does not mean you can do this such behavior on school grounds.

Kouki finally let go after Mai weaseled out of his arms. He smirked , "sorry I couldn't help it." He then grabbed her hand , "come on."

They then began walking down the hall, after about a minute he said , "your being quiet."

"Maybe because you sucked all of the air out of me."

He grinned at her , "that's the spirit, now where do you want to go today."

She shrugged , "we can go to the strip mall and hang out there."

"Alright, cool."

"And Kouki."

"Yeah."

"Don't do that again."

He put on a puppy dog pout , "oh come on."

She smiled , "seriously."

They were then front of the school, near the sidewalk and he sighed , "fine, but I will do this,"

He stopped and leaned in to kiss, he was an inch away from her lips when Mai quickly turned to see a bolt of dark blue on the street stop in front of them. Kouki quickly turned as well to see it was a Corvette, obviously very well taken care of, and expensive. The driver's door then opened to reveal Naru.

"Naru?!"

He looked at her and grabbed Mai by the arm , "you have to come into work this instant."

She began tugging at her arm , "no wait- what are you doing."

He looked at her in a glare , "no questions just get in the car, " his voice sounded extra demanding.

He opened the passenger seat and she said , "alright, alright I will get in- god.- jerk."

She then got in as the door slammed as she got in and buckled herself in.

Naru then went to the drivers side and began driving smoothly away, leaving Kouki in the dust, lost, confused, and angry.

Mai looked at Naru and said , "what is this about!"

"....."

"What is this about!!"

He slightly turned to her , "a very important case, is that enough."

"Well couldn't you have waited for me to come in one time."

He shook his head , "no Mai I already called everyone- they should be coming right now, now shush."

She then settled back in the seat , "oh." After a minute she was looking at the car, black Corinthian leather seats, and everything top of the line in the car. It finally sunk into her she never rode in a sports car before. "How did he afford this?!" She looked at the stereo system, which looked as though it has never been touched once in it's life. She slowly inched her hand to turn the button on, just as she was about to he looked at her hand and she jolted it back.

He then looked at her face and said , "yes Mai this is my car, and yes I bought it ."

She blushed slightly , "how did you know."

"Every question that has never came through your lips are programed on your face."

She blushed even more , "they are?"

"Didn't we already have this conversation once Mai- don't waste my time on your stupidity."

"Ah- hey!"

"Well don't get mad at me for being honest Mai."

She shot a glare and him , "hummmmmph."

He then turned the radio on , "maybe that can pacify her for the time being."

After a minute he glanced at her, and felt slightly amused to see that it had worked. "She seems really happy right now."

He drove on until he got to a large parking area a few lots from SPR. "Alright, come on Mai."

When she got out he locked the car and put the keys in his pocket.

Mai looked back at the car as it beeped , "why blue- I mean it is a pretty shade of blue, but I don't know I would expect it to be black. Like his clothes...," She then remembered the night she saw him in pajamas, they were blue as well with white trim.

She looked up at Naru who was walking right beside her , "there really is more to you than meets the eye isn't there."

Her heart began pounding as she looked at him, the blue of the car matched his eyes perfectly. The color of it brought his eyes out easily, as it radiated off his ivory skin.

Naru said , "what, is my face to beautiful to turn away from."

Mai quickly looked away when he said that, much to his amusementas she did, "stupid narcissist."

He then looked away as they walked up the stairs to the SPR office.

He opened the door to hear the voices behind it, just chatting about their lives- it wasn't until the door was open in full view they all stopped talking and looked their way.

John thought to himself , "alright I did not see that coming."

They both walked in, and Naru went to sit to the common area and barked for tea.

Everyone in the mean time stared at him, he just looked directly at them as if it was nothing in the world, by the time Mai came back to the room they lost interest in seeing Naru and Mai walk in and turned to her hair.

Mai said , "What? I can't have a different hairstyle."

Bou-san smiled while holding Ayako's hand , "no- it looks good kid- it's just, don't give us a heart attack by changing like that again."

"Alright fine- so you and Ayako are still putting up with each other."

Naru then pretended to clear his throat , "I believe I called you all here for work- talk about your personal life when you are not on my time."

They all then took a seat, Mai went to her usual seat, which had now been taken by Masako. She stared in shock , "Masako- what ...," Masako then looked to her left and it finally came to Mai that the seat next to Naru was open.

"Mai would you sit, I don't care where just sit, " said her boss as he looked through the fresh file.

She nodded and walked past John and Bou-san and went to the seat.

Ayako then sighed , "alright so what's the big deal about this case."

Naru then looked up at the impatient women and slid the open file on the coffee table with newspaper clippings and morgue notices in it, along with some photos of some bodies and said before taking a sip of tea, "Does thirty-three deaths from one work place in eleven months interest you?"