A/C - It took me forever to draft this because I wanted it to be realistic... and not forced. Then I thought: if we're dealing with Naru we might as well wait for the sky to fall down. So.. I've sped it up a bit, a little bit OOC. Enjoy!

Chapter 27 - I Want You to be Happy

NARU POV

He sat reading, as he did on most nights before falling asleep. It was a way to keep his mind active, to tire him out mentally so his physical body could relax. Tonight, however, it was counter intuitive. He couldn't seem to focus on the particular book of interest, by John Beloff.

His mind was spinning and it was not with the usual thoughts of the Lasser Glass, or his latest research.

Instead, he found his mind being plagued by thoughts of Mai.

When he and Lin picked her up, she seemed distracted. She had given him back his file on the Lasser Glass but did not say much on the ride home. Then, she was even quieter at home.

It was unusual and it bothered Naru.

Right now Mai was asleep in her room while Naru stayed on the couch. He argued with himself as to whether or not he should go in. Naru had, reluctantly over time, come to find sleeping with Mai was soothing. It seemed to ease some part of him that had not, quite, been able to relax before. As if just being near Mai could smooth out the rough edges of his darkness with her light.

"You idiot," Gene's voice said in his head. Naru knew his dead brother did not just come and go as he pleased and had hardly realized the small mirror, which he carried with him at all times, was now in his hand.

The mirror, Naru learned a few years ago, linked him and Gene permanently.

He turned the mirror up, looking into it and gazed into his reflection.

Blue-grey eyes stared back at him. Most people could not distinguish the twins from one another, they were completely identical expect for the fact that Naru's eyes were perpetually lighter than Gene's - which was odd because Gene always seemed to carry a brightness around him that Naru couldn't.

"You're wasting time." Gene urged and Naru frowned. "You should be with her."

"I'm not going to bother her," Naru said despite his resolve not to talk out loud. "I don't take pleasure in annoying other people."

"You do annoy other people," Gene clarified. "On a daily basis with your 'holier-than-thou' attitude. Just go in and talk to her."

"What would I talk to her about?"

"You know," said Gene, unhelpfully.

"If you're not going to contribute intelligently to this conversation than I'm going to cut the connection -"

"Tell her you want to stay," Gene interrupted Naru's threat and the younger brother scowled.

"Why on earth would I do that?" Naru blurted. Then, he added. "I can't stay in Japan."

"Then tell her you want to be with her, even if you're miles apart." said Gene, "be romantic."

That, for Naru, had been enough of Gene for one night. "I'm done here. Goodbye."

Before Naru could end the connection, Gene said: "For once can you just get over your stupid idiot-scientist tendencies and enjoy what you have? Especially when we are running on borrowed time."

Naru put the mirror face down on the table. There was silence.

He reluctantly thought that maybe Gene had a point. Though, Naru would never admit this - least of all to Gene.

He would find a way back to Mai because Gene was right, Naru did want to be with her - time was running out and Naru knew Gene was right about one thing.

They were running on borrowed time.

Naru glanced at his wallet and he couldn't shake the dark thoughts that began to plague him.

^.^

MAI POV

I was having a strange dream.

The content of it felt so real: pieces of my past fit together neatly, becoming a montage before my eyes. I watched the small, significant scenes of my past flash by.

Soon, I felt them shift - slowing from simply passing to pausing. That's when I knew I was no longer alone in my dream.

The only person I knew who could enter my dreams was Gene.

I turned to see him, trying to ignore the rising feeling in my gut. The last time I saw him Gene was without a doubt upset at me. I had never seen him so upset before and almost expected to see the same dark look in his eyes.

It wasn't there. Gene looked the same as always: tall and bright, a small smile on his face as he beheld me.

"Hi," I said, shyly.

"Hi."

My heart was pounding and I thought of all the horrible things we had said before. They welled up like a weight on my chest and I blurted: "I should have told you before making any deal."

Gene walked over to me, "It's not your fault. I understand why you did it."

"No," I corrected. "You don't but you will."

And so, I told him everything.

I told him about lying to Naru, about the connection between the Lasser Glass and the Xhiperian Amulet.

"They're connected." It wasn't exactly a question, I nodded anyways. "This man, Izanagi, he is the reason the connection begins in the first place."

For some reason it seemed as if this wasn't the first Gene had heard this, but I ignored the feeling in my gut.

Gene continued to talk out loud. "The Lasser Glass, the amulet and the existence of the anchor. He created an artificial portal to gain the lives of those who've passed on."

"Kitzune believes there's a way to break the portal." I explained. "He thinks if we restore the Lasser Glass and he has taken it away the curse cannot exist."

"But your soul is still tied to the curse." Gene noted and I felt the overwhelming feel of betrayal in his tone.

I remained utterly silent because I was too much of a coward to answer him.

"I'm not mad," Gene said after a long pause. There was a strange look that passed over his face I couldn't seem to read. "You should know that the spirit world wouldn't care if you died. The Spirit Guardians, especially Kitzune, just see you as another soul. They don't understand that when you die, you'll be missed or -" Gene cut off his words, clenching his jaw as he took a deep, steadying breath.

"I was hurt that you decided to do that."

"I know." Then, more honestly I said. "It scares me to think that… maybe in a week I won't be here. That I won't be able to be with Naru. Or I won't finish school and get to see my friends. I'll just be… here."

There it was, the first time I had spoken those kind of things out loud to anyone. The first time I've talked about all those things I would miss if I were to die because of this curse. It felt selfish, it felt like I shouldn't feel guilty because this was my fault.

"Naru stayed with me," I said as a way of coping with the overwhelming blackness that threatened. I had felt this dark feeling before, had let it take over my life for nearly four years.

I had the scars to prove it.

"I know," Gene said.

"He makes me happy."

"I know."

The hard realization set in: I wouldn't see Naru again. I wouldn't even get to see him in my dreams.

A tear escaped, then another and another.

Before I could stop them, a trembling sadness over took. It bent me forward into Gene and I gripped his forearm. He felt solid from under my hands and I sobbed into his chest. I felt his arm around me, a hand in my hair, gently smoothing it down.

"I don't want to die."

The gut wrenching sobs forced the words out, the awful and selfish truth. But I couldn't stop it from becoming every part of what I was feeling now: despair.

I wanted to live. I wanted to grow old and have a future.

I didn't want to die.

I woke up in a single jolt and was surprised to find a warm body pressing into me.

I took several deep breaths before I realized I had woken up, was now on the ground with Naru holding me in my room. Just as Gene had been holding me on that spirit realm.

Slowly, Naru leaned back. "Are you alright?"

I nodded, not completely sure what 'alright' was. I tried recollecting my thoughts. I had been dreaming, hadn't I? Or was that confession real?

Frantically, I tried to recall if I said anything out loud. Did Naru hear me?

"Would you like some tea?"

Afraid my voice would break, I nodded and Naru hesitated. "Can you stand?"

He didn't wait for me to answer before he slid an arm under my own arm and helped me to my feet. He helped me to the edge of the bed before standing tall again.

"I'll just be a moment."

I watched Naru leave the room and sat in unnerving silence until he returned.

"Here." He handed me a cup of tea. "Still having nightmares?"

"It wasn't a nightmare," I said quietly, in a raspy voice. "It felt real."

I gripped the cup, not caring that the hot tea inside was burning my palms. It definitely wasn't a nightmare.

"You're fine, Mai." Naru reassured me. He seemed to hesitate on his next words. "Do you want me to stay here again?"

For a moment I had misunderstood and thought he was talking about leaving Japan, until I realized that was not what he meant. It had been so long I had forgotten about the times he would sleep in here with me. It hadn't been romantic or sexual. Instead, it was a form of physical comfort I hadn't known I needed. It had helped me stay asleep at night.

It had helped keep the nightmares at bay.

"It's up to you." I took a sip of my tea. Naru had made it the perfect temperature so I could drink it quickly, but it wasn't too cold. When I was through, I placed the cup on my night table and not sure what to do next, I awkwardly settled myself back into bed. "Thank you for the tea."

He nodded, and I saw him eye the opposite side of the bed carefully. I could see from the look in his blue eyes that he had made up his mind. Naru walked to the lights, flicking them off and I heard him come back to the bed.

Slowly, the mattress shifted as he settled in.

It felt nice to feel him beside me and smiled. I relished the thought of his warmth beside me again.

Daringly, I turned to face him. I could see his outline in the dark, could see the profile of his face as he laid on his back and faced the ceiling.

"Do you remember the first time you offered to stay with me? We laid just like this."

I don't know why I bothered recalling that, but some part of me couldn't help but bring it up.

"I do." Naru answered. "You were staring at me the whole time."

"I did not," I defended myself. "I was afraid you might not have liked being so close to me and I tried not to move around at all."

Naru stayed silent, I continued talking. "I wouldn't make you do anything you didn't want to. If you don't want to stay…"

"That's the problem." Naru said, "I want to stay."

I heard him sigh before I felt him shift, turning on his side to face me. I almost jerked backwards, he was so close to me now, I could feel his breath on my face. My eyes, now adjusted to the darkness, could make out his face inches from my own.

"What's so wrong with that?"

Instead of answering me, Naru raised his hand and brought it slowly to my face, cupping it. The feel of his skin made me flinch.

Quickly, he pulled back his hand. "Did that hurt?"

"No," I said breathlessly. "No, it's just… unexpected."

Shakily, I lifted my own hand to Naru's face. I felt his breath deepen as I laid it on his jaw, cupping his face as I once had when we stood toe-to-toe in the living room.

"Does that hurt?" I whispered.

"No."

However, just like before, I felt Naru struggle beneath my touch. Like he might pull away. His heart was beating rapidly under his fine skin, though his breathing remained controlled. "I find it difficult to... let go of the control."

To distract him I said, "You said that you thought about me. Is that true?"

"I do think about you."

I was too nervous to ask, so instead I said, "And?"

"And?"

"You can't do that," I warned in a low voice, pulling back my hand. "You can't dodge my questions."

"I recall telling you that if you wanted answers, you would have to ask the question."

"You still haven't told me how you feel about us."

"That's not a question," Naru said.

"Naru -"

I swear I could feel him smirking as he turned to lay on his back, "Get some sleep."

I wanted to argue that he still hadn't answered my question until I felt his fingers slowly found mine. Slowly, he curved them into my own and a feather light feeling filled me up inside.

"Goodnight, Mai." he said.

"Goodnight."

^.^

It wasn't possible for me to not feel anything but utter happiness the next morning.

My happiness intensified when I saw Naru prowl out of the room, his hair in a mess on top of his head from sleep. It was the weekend and I was in such a delighted mood I had made breakfast, complete with coffee and tea.

"Morning!" I platted the last of the sausage and hash browns. We never ate this kind of stuff during the week, but it felt incredibly private to spoil Naru with his favorite foods.

"This is unusual," Naru sat, grabbing chopsticks. "What's the occasion?"

"Nothing special," I also dug in. "Did you hear back from the museum?"

Unlike me, Naru cut his sausage into bite-sized pieces. I had just stabbed it through and started eating from either side.

"No," he said. "They're probably unsure how to handle my request."

"I guess it's not every day they have famous researchers asking to take home their Lasser Glass." I joked.

"I guess not."

I decided to change the topic, "by the way I won't be home tonight. Yasu wants to hang out and see a movie."

"I'll also be late," Naru said.

"Oh," I said, intrigued by what Naru could possibly be doing. "Will you be out late with Lin?"

I had said it because it felt like such an Naru thing to do. A more amusing thought was Naru having a date. It was unthinkable and completely not possible.

My heart dropped when Naru said, "I have a last minute engagement tonight."

I lowered my food, fully aware that my mouth was wide open. Naru noticed this too. "Your mouth is hanging open."

"You have a date?" I couldn't believe I was saying those words out loud.

Naru gave me an amused look, "You also have a date."

"With Yasu!" I exclaimed. I didn't bother to add that I was not the most interesting gender choice for Yasu's tastes.

Naru seemed to let my annoyance continue for another moment before he continued drinking his tea.

I blushed, thinking to myself how silly it was to believe Naru didn't have the right to see anyone else but me. There was nothing between us that made him exclusively special to me...right?

It bothered me for the rest of the day that Naru had some unknown date.

^.^

"You've been holding out on me, Taniyama." Yasu accused as we walked to the restaurant. "Kissing the boss this entire time and I haven't even heard of this until now!"

I nudged him with my elbow. "I've been kissing him, not the other way around. He's been the usual grumpy Naru."

I didn't include the little sleepover's Naru's had in my room. Specifically the one last night where Naru and I fell asleep hand-in-hand. It felt intimate, something probably entirely unknown to Naru.

Yasu grinned at me. "It makes sense now, why he was so moody and out of sorts last week."

"Maybe."

He noticed my sudden change in mood. "What's wrong?"

"It's just... I think Naru has a date with someone. I feel like I'm being jealous and I have no right to be. Then I think about things between us... should I talk to him about it?"

Yasu hesitated briefly, "well I wouldn't worry about it too much. He might be doing someone a favor.."

"A favor?"

Yasu changed the topic abruptly and his smile turned into something dreamier. "Oh, so Bou-san and I have been going steady for a week now. He's been so...great."

I squeezed his hand, "That's awesome, Yasu! I'm happy for the both of you."

He squeezed my hand back. "And hopefully you'll be happy with me when you learn I haven't been entirely truthful to you."

"What are you talking about?"

Suddenly, I understood.

From in front of us, I saw a familiar tall, handsome figure waiting outside of the restaurant.

I halted, tugging on Yasu's arm. "Wait, why is Naru here?"

Yasu laughed nervously and feigned confusion. "I completely forgot to mention but I can't make it to our date anymore."

"Yasu -"

"I did find another dashingly handsome companion for you though. He doesn't have the same charm as me, but he'll do as a replacement."

'I have a last minute engagement tonight'

How long did Naru know he was crashing my plans tonight? I recall he had found my reaction so amusing, as if he was in on some kind of secret.

I scowled at Yasu as we stopped in front of Naru.

"Now that the cat is out of the bag," Yasu said. "You two kids have fun tonight! And remember, the movie is at nine: so don't be late."

"Wait, Yasu -"

"Bye!" Yasu waved, obviously ignoring me and taking off in the opposite direction.

Naru and I stood alone together.

I rubbed my temples, feeling a sudden headache coming on. "I don't know how he got you to do this, but I know you probably just want to go home."

"I don't mind."

"It's a horror movie," I eyed him. "You hate those movies because they're predictable."

"You love those movies," Naru countered. Then, he said again. "I don't mind."

"Are you...sure?"

"If this makes you happy," Naru said, moving close to me. He took his hand out of a pocket of his dark jacket. "It can't be that bad."

He offered his arm, the same way he had when we met his parents.

It almost felt like I was dreaming. Naru sleeping beside me again, holding my hand, going out for dinner and watching a horror film.

This felt unreal, like a living fantasy.

"Tell me how Yasu roped you into this," I said as we walked.

"He asked if I were free to take his place tonight." Naru said like it was the most simplest thing in the world. "I said yes."

"Yeah, but tell me why!"

Now, Naru's lips half pulled up. "I can't give you the reason's why Yasuhara does any of the things he does."

It was such a Naru answer that I scowled - then laughed. It felt good to laugh and hangout with Naru like this. Different, but nice.

Though, Naru had his own quirks that I had started to take notice of. Like how he disliked conversation during dinner because he preferred to fully appreciate the taste of his food. Or, his cynical amusement at pointing out every 'scary' part of the horror movie.

At one point during a suspenseful part of the film, Naru leaned into me and whispered, "Do you think the ghost will conveniently appear behind the door?"

"Shut up," I nudged him (as I would Yasu) and heard him chuckle deeply before returning to his seat.

I was disappointed to know that Naru's assumption was right. It made the scene even less scarier.

The night carried on like this. Naru remained relaxed the entire time. Which was strange because I always saw him on edge, with some kind of barbed comment.

There was none of that though. He seemed as if he was thoroughly enjoying himself.

I didn't want the night to end, it felt like I was Cinderella. As if at the stroke of midnight this could all disappear.

"Are you enjoying yourself?" Naru asked at one point during our walk home. We had been holding hands and I was lost in thought, trying to catalog every single moment in my head. I wondered if Naru was this charming for Masako when they went out.

I blushed, "is it that obvious?"

"You're easy to read." Naru gave me a sidelong glance. "You show everything on your face."

"I guess I do." I smiled, thinking back to the time he had first told me that. We had fallen down a manhole and Naru was trying to cheer me up. "I guess you'll see the disappointment on my face when I wake up and this is all gone."

Naru slowed to a stop, a crinkle in his eyebrows. "What do you mean?"

"I mean when you leave." I looked at our entwined hand, smoothing my thumb over his, much larger, knuckles. "It'll be like before right? You'll go back to England, or where ever it was you were, and I'll stay here."

I felt Naru's eyes on me the entire time as I continued. "It's not a bad thing because I'll be alright this time. I feel like I'm in a much better place mentally and spiritually. Everything will be okay this time and it's all thanks to you."

"It won't be like before," Naru said quietly. "You're right, I will have to leave but it won't be like the past."

"What do you mean?"

"I want to stay in contact with you."

I gained the courage I needed to look at him, into those burning blue eyes. Had he been watching me the whole time? Of course he was, I thought. Naru always seemed to watch me. I was breathing very shallow when he shifted closer, making his height an offering, not a threat.

As I once had that night in my living room. My chest rose and fell.

Maybe it was the way he was looking at me, the burning in his blue eyes - or maybe it was the overwhelming feeling stirring inside of me - that made me suddenly long for Naru's lips on mine again.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

"I want to kiss you," I blurted, breathlessly. Then I blushed and looked away. "I'm sorry. I-I don't know where that came from I... must be tired."

"It's alright," Naru said. His hand tightened on mine. "Tell me what is it you want, Mai?"

His tone made my spine shiver, and I shuddered out a breath. I licked my lips, daring to look back up to his.

He waited, patiently.

It's selfish to say what I wanted, what I truly wanted, because I would have to face the reality that I could never have it.

I wanted Naru. I loved Naru.

The heard reality is that I would never have Naru, and that was too sad of a thought.

There was still something else that I had wanted - was still the truth.

"I want you to be happy." I said, echoing Naru's words from earlier tonight.

He smiled. When Naru smiled it was like day break, as if the sun was spilling across the earth's surface and lit up the sky with an array of colors.

It was beautiful.

Naru said, "I am happy."

Then, he leaned down slowly and kissed me.

^.^