December 24th

Mai stared down at her dream journal unsure of what to write. Gene had not appeared. Instead, she had dreamt of flashing blue eyes and skin stroking skin. It had not been the first time she'd had a lewd dream about her boss; she was of an age where she'd had more of them than she felt fully comfortable with. But never before had her mind been able to supply certain sensory things that she'd only newly discovered.

Nor had she ever had to write them down.

With a sigh, she finally wrote the date and then, "Naru- adult type touching". Hopefully, no one would read it or ask if they did and she tried to put it from her mind. Not entirely successfully.

About an hour later, she was walking into the office). A quick glance told her that Naru hadn't come in yet (he typically locked the door behind him when he came in) so she relaxed slightly before going to start the tea. It had just come to a boil when he opened the door and she smiled at his timing.

"Tea will be ready in just a moment," she said, poking her head out of the kitchenette before a blush had her looking away from him.

"Bring yourself some," he nodded, heading straight to his office without any further comment, like he hadn't kissed her senseless the night before. Mai didn't know if she was irritated with him or envious of his calm. She already had the sinking feeling that whatever it was that was happening between them would involve his narcissism, or at least arrogance, just increasing.

She had barely set down the tea when he began interrogating her.

"Did Gene show up?"

Mai shook her head. "No. I couldn't sense anything of him."

He nodded, typing a few quick notes. "Any dreams at all?"

She flushed in embarrassment at the idea of sharing that with him. After a moment of not answering, he looked up and she could feel her mortification grow at the seemingly knowing way he quirked his eyebrow.

"Nothing out of the ordinary," she stammered, cursing her choice of words when his lips curved into a telling smile.

"So, just a dream you'd had before then?" he murmured, clearly enjoying himself.

"Yes", she sighed, sitting back in her chair. Something about that look made him even more attractive and Mai knew she was in for a long fight. Whether or not her heart could take it would be something else entirely.

Thankfully, he did not continue to press her on the topic. Instead, he spent the next few moments typing while she sipped her tea and calmed down, memories of the night before making that difficult.

"Gene has agreed to contact you here. While I am eager to see results, I think sleep aids would impact your receptiveness to his influence. You have permission to nap if you feel the need."

Mai rolled her eyes, her hands going to smooth down the new skirt she had chosen to wear that day. She could lie and say she had tried to look nicer than usual because she was set to go out to lunch with Keiko and Michiru, but the truth was, after the night before, she simply wanted to look nice for him.

Not that he noticed.

"I will go finish the case audit I started yesterday then," she murmured standing up. "That will surely put me to sleep." With a subtle – totally not on purpose- swish of her skirt, she exited his office and went about opening the business up.

~o~o~O~o~o~

Oliver knew he was playing with fire.

Mai had not been the only one whose sleep was disturbed by the events of the night before. The extra care she had taken with her appearance and the flare of her unseasonably short skirt made him sadly tempted to repeat the…experiment. He sat staring at the closed door, mind contemplating actions in which such a skirt would be useful before he stopped himself with a sigh.

For weeks, ever since the Incident, he had contemplated his relationship with the girl. It was clear that she truly did have feelings for him. It was also clear that they experienced physical chemistry. However, he did have to question himself on how much his growing desire to kiss the affectionate brunette came from emotional attachment and how much came from being a teenage boy at his sexual prime.

Oliver had never been comfortable with relationships. His short foray into dating during his early teens had been largely uninspiring and more often than not any girl who showed an interest him switched to Gene when they realized they could have the same handsome face with a drastically better personality. He had considered the matter over for at least a decade. By then, hopefully the women around him wouldn't be quite so shallow and vapid

And then he'd met Mai.

Despite the fact that his family and work associates thought he had no understanding of his own emotions, Oliver had never been one to lie to himself. Psychometry had forced every feeling in the world on him at some point or another. He recognized love when he felt it. Not that he would claim that he fell in love with her immediately.

It had been pretty quickly though.

Every girl his own age that he'd met had only liked him for his looks. As soon as he let go of any pretense of civility - or they met Gene – those girls disappeared. Truthfully, he had never minded. They were almost unfailingly vacuous, insipid, and shallow.

Mai, though, had never seemed affected by his looks. He had almost been surprised to find out that she found him attractive – and pleased if he were honest. She saw him for his personality and challenged him – one of the few who did. Within the first two days of knowing her, he'd realized that she wasn't shallow, she wasn't insipid, and, no matter how much he enjoyed teasing her, she wasn't vacuous either. In fact, he had reason to believe that she was relatively smart. Despite his criticism, she learned quickly for someone with no formal training, previous experience, or interest.

Add in that she was physically attractive and Gene would have laughed at how doomed he was.

Yet, right when he'd been coming to find her, to say he was leaving but not forever, he'd found out that she'd been in contact with Gene the whole time. That shock and past experience made him ask, almost without thinking.

"Me or Gene?"

He'd decided then and there to forget his feelings. Even then, that decision hadn't seemed to really matter. The sudden loss of her near constant company felt like a physical ache in the weeks after he'd returned to England. Even as he felt joy and frustration at her letters as they piled up neatly on his desk, unable to destroy them, unable to reply, the ache remained. He'd been determined to let go, to get over her, and, when he returned to Japan, he would treat her as he always had. It was not her fault she'd fallen for his brother and he would not punish her for it. He knew how charming Gene could be.

And then that one letter had come. He'd read it about a thousand times until it was past memorization. Still, he told himself, she was probably just feeling lonely or nostalgic. He would not deny their friendship and her emotional nature. Despite what the letter said, he had been certain that she was still confused.

Never had he been happier to be wrong.

With a sigh, Oliver stood and crossed to the bookshelf. He was still playing with fire and he knew it. He knew that starting a relationship would be considered the next logical step. Yet, he was not confident in his ability to be in one. As much as his thoughts had been on doing all sorts of physical things with Mai, he knew the way things worked. If he went much farther down that road, he was opening them both up to hurt.

You're thinking too hard.

The voice sounded like Gene, even if it shouldn't be possible. It was most likely his own mind – and, also, most likely correct.

Oliver knew that he would not be comfortable in a typical relationship but, a small part of him argued, Mai probably knew that, too. She knew him better than he was comfortable with. Yet, she still stuck around.

Maybe it was time to stop thinking so hard.

Plus, making Mai blush was already proving to be more entertaining than making her frustrated.

With a small smile, he finally started working.

~o~o~O~o~o~

"Well, it looks like our visits will have to be chaperoned by my brother."

Mai laughed from where she sat next to Gene. "I'm just glad that I don't have to be in danger to talk to you."

"That is a plus."

The brunette opened her mouth to speak then hesitated before sighing. "Gene…?"

"Yes, Mai?"

"How many girlfriends has Naru had?"

"None actually."

Surprised, Mai whipped her head to look at him. "Really?! But he's so good looking!"

"And you think he'd tolerate a girl who was just concerned with his looks?"

"Well…no." She sighed. "I'm just…."

"Don't worry, Mai. Just be patient. He's as awkward as they come."

Mai laughed. "I guess...I guess I've waited this long. What's a little longer?"

Gene smiled at her. "Thank you."

She blushed but nodded silently, feeling better that the person who knew him best had confidence in the issue.

"Now, why don't we get started on your training before someone wakes you up demanding tea?"

Mai laughed as the two happily started their work.

~o~o~O~o~o~

Oliver found Mai sleeping on her desk around an hour after she returned from her lunch with her friends. When she'd asked if she could take a two-hour lunch, he spent a long moment considering it. She was looking up to him with such hopeful eyes that he found himself fighting the urge to drag her back into his office for an entirely different set of lunch plans. Finally, he'd agreed.

"Only because you came in early and will most likely be working late. Don't think I'll be so lenient next time."

Her brilliant smile had been almost enough to compensate for Yasuhara's pointed comment.

"Staying late, huh?"

"Yasu!" Mai had laughed, gathering her things. Still, both men could see her faint blush.

The comment had been a passing throw away from the college student and Oliver could only sigh at the way he'd narrowed his eyes at her blush.

Things would probably not remain private for long.

This was only confirmed by the gleam in Yasuhara's eyes when Oliver asked him how long she'd been sleeping.

"About thirty minutes. I think her friends slipped her some alcohol."

"Alarming," Oliver commented dryly. "Once she wakes up, have her come talk to me."

"Letting her sleep on the job, Big Boss?"

Oliver knew better than to rise to the bait, but also knew that if he said nothing the older boy would take it upon himself to meddle.

"We are attempting to do controlled experiments on her abilities. She has permission to sleep today."

Yasuhara's eyes turned thoughtful. "Ah, I'm glad. I think it would be better for Taniyama-san to have better control. She did not say much while you were gone, but I know it worried her."

Oliver considered him for a moment. Despite the other man's humor, Oliver appreciated his dedication both to his work and to his friends. Once again the idea struck him that Martin would appreciate someone of Yasuhara's talents and Oliver was grateful that he himself had stumbled across them.

Once the moment passed, Oliver nodded and returned to his office leaving the other man to ponder over the unusual behavior.

Later….

Mai yawned as she sat in the chair at Naru's desk. Grateful that she had chosen a spiral type of notebook over a more diary style, she'd turned to the final third to write down some of what Gene had told her in their first training session. It had been interesting but also complicated and she wanted to write it down before she forgot. As it was, the two customers and interviews that had come after waking from her nap had made it difficult for her to take the time until they had finally closed the office for the night.

At the moment, Mai was alone in the office as Naru was discussing a couple of things with Lin about the two cases. It felt weird to Mai even though she had been given permission to enter the office more freely now that his identity was no longer a secret from her. He'd still always been in the room and, now, it felt like she was sitting in a lion's den waiting for it to return, knowing it might attack.

Shaking the thought away, Mai finished her notes before glancing around the tidy desk. The notebook did not have dividers and she wanted something to make it easy for her to flip to her notes. Spotting a stack of sticky notes, Mai stood up and reached across the desk to grab one.

"I would have thought at your age you knew better than to bend over when wearing a skirt, Mai."

Squeaking in surprise as she quickly straightened, Mai turned to face Naru who stood in the doorway. Her heart beat faster as she met his eyes, the midnight blue making her feel like prey caught unawares.

"Um, I needed a divider for my notes," she answered, inanely holding up her notebook and feeling slightly out of breath as he closed the door and came over.

"What for?"

"I, um, wanted to divide my dream journal so that I could take notes from my training sessions with Gene."

At her words, the predatory gleam left his eyes and turned thoughtful. "So, you were able to contact him?"

"Yes," Mai affirmed. "I was coming to tell you when the first client came in."

Naru nodded before taking a seat and opening his digital notes on their experiments.

"Don't you normally prefer to take paper notes?" she asked, casually as she returned to her seat.

"Typically, but as this does concern Gene eventually my parents will want information. While I do not feel like including them at this time, it is still easier to prepare ahead."

Mai nodded, understanding.

"Elaborate: did this contact feel different from usual?"

"No, aside of maybe a lack of stress or worry of being attacked by something," she chuckled. "Apart from that, it felt typical. Like one of my astral projection dreams maybe."

"How long would you say it felt like?"

The question startled Mai. "Oh? I mean Yasu told me I slept for a little less than an hour."

Naru shook his head. "Anyone above a certain age knows that dream time is different than standard time. As you experienced it, how long do you think the connection lasted.

She tilted her head to the side as she considered. "Probably a couple of hours. I would say that it felt like multiple class times worth of lecture and discussion."

"Professor Gene," Naru murmured with a smirk as he noted things down.

"Wait, don't they call you professor sometimes?" Mai asked suddenly. "Does that mean you teach?"

"Only small groups. Mostly I have produced textbooks."

Curiosity gleamed in Mai's eyes. "I know you wrote some essays – I actually read one while you were gone. It took forever. I should read your textbooks next!"

Naru gave her a long look and Mai could almost think he was embarrassed. Then he smirked.

"Why read a textbook when you could just talk to the author?"

"Because the author treats me like an idiot?" Mai frowned.

"Well, when you demonstrate you aren't, I would be happy to give you a few private lessons."

The way he stressed the word 'private' made Mai flush, but she simply nodded at the suggestion and he moved on without further comment.

"I believe then that we should still see if Gene can send you psychometry at a distance. It still might be different since he is technically borrowing from my powers.

Mai nodded. "What are you going to be reading?"

"I have a few things they sent to me recently. I could use those." Naru's voice seemed slightly hesitant.

"But they may be dangerous," she commented, finishing his thought. "Why don't you read something of mine? That way you aren't butting into someone else's business and it shouldn't be too dramatic."

Naru stared at her, openly surprised. "You do know that it means I will have access to your thoughts and feelings."

Mai flushed but met his eyes firmly as she nodded. "I have nothing to hide from you, Naru. Plus, aren't you likely to just read what happened today?"

"Typically, it is the most recent activity or the most significant," he murmured quietly. Something seemed different about him as he spoke and she cocked her head at him in curiosity. Then, within seconds, he was up, around the desk, and tugging her out of her chair.

Mai gasped as he pulled her to him, lacing his fingers through her hair as he brought his lips down on hers. If their first kiss had been desperate, and their second passionate, Mai would describe this one as possessive. When she didn't immediately open her mouth to him, he pulled her lower lip between his teeth, biting without pain. Once she opened to him, his tongue took possession of her mouth, his lips slanting over hers as his arms crushed her to him.

By the time they separated, one of his hands had found its way to her outer thigh just under her skirt and she had almost pulled his shirt free of his pants. The two stood there panting, foreheads pressed together and his other hand still caressing her cheek.

"Do you have any idea how unusual you are, Mai?" he murmured finally, eyes still closed. "I have had couples fight terribly at the very idea that I might tell one what the other thought or felt. And you…you just offer it up like it is nothing."

Mai brought both her hands to his face, asking him silently to look at her. When he finally did open his eyes, she could feel her eyes widen at the look of pure wonder that he gave her.

"Naru-Noll – Oliver – I told you already: I love you. I feel no reason to hide anything from you – you know most of it anyway. And, despite what you may say, I am not an idiot. I know that just by being around you, there is a chance that you might lose control and read one of my belongings. So, before it happens on accident, why not tell you to do it on purpose?"

His response was to kiss her again, a tender kiss full of something far gentler than anything that had gone before.

After a few minutes passed, the two stood in companionable silence as he leaned against the desk, his hands at her hips and hers idly stroking his hair. Mai could sense that he wanted to say something and was content to enjoy the moment, one she'd felt she'd been waiting a lifetime to have.

"I am not skilled with interpersonal relationships," he began after a while.

"No kidding."

He reached up to press a finger to her lips. "And I am a workaholic and I am going to continue to yell at you when I feel like you are being foolish or stubborn. I do not like public displays of affection and see little point to going on dates." Naru's lips curved into a self-deprecating smile. "I cannot imagine anyone in their right mind would want to deal with me on my good days much less my bad."

Mai snorted at that comment and he took his finger away.

"Still, if you would have me, I am yours." He let out a dry laugh. "Actually, judging by my inability to settle down and be productive when you aren't around, I guess I should say that I am yours regardless."

The smile Mai gave him then was radiant enough to make the sun jealous and she could feel the last of Naru's tension leave as he looked at her.

"Don't be an idiot, Naru," she murmured, drawing him in for another kiss.

Because only an idiot would not have known her answer.