No, there is no lemon/sex scene in this chapter. I don't write sex scenes. Just implied sex-because it happens. If you think I get too close to the edge, though, please let me know. It can be a tricky slope when you're trying to write realistically.

Chapter 1

Being the orphan that I was, I didn't have any family camping trips or could afford school outings to give me an excuse to visit the woods. Naru, being the workaholic that he was, organizing a work camping trip would have been like expecting John to organize a sorority frat party. All our cases had to do with homes or other buildings, so no mother nature there. The closest we got to anywhere 'wild' was on visits to particular shrines during investigations. With Naru out of the picture, there was Yasu, who was busy with school, Ayako and Takigawa had been particularly offline since they had hitched up about the same time Naru and I had, and Masako and Lin…yeah.

Which was why I rolled down the window and stuck my head out like a happy dog the moment the city vanished and trees swallowed us whole. My veil was safe inside, but my perfectly curled hair went ballistic. An hour of careful preening gone within seconds.

"This smells amazing!" I crowed.

Naru tugged me back down by the big white bow on my rump. "You're going to get your head swiped off."

I pouted at him. "No I won't. They just tell kids that so they won't do it."

"Gee, I wonder why."

So I compromised and stuck out my hand instead and had fun experimenting with the slip stream of air by sticking my fingers out flat like a duck bill or spread out like a parachute. Occasionally I'd make airplane noises and quiet 'ahhhs!' as though little people were being blown out my nails just so I could see Naru's cheek bunch up with a smile.

My fun came to an end when the autumn evening air started making my fingers go numb. Naru flicked on the heater as soon as I had the window up as well as some classical music I remembered him playing on occasion in the office. I didn't mind. I liked it. He had good taste. Though I was basically cool with any music as long as it wasn't American Country gone Christmas.

I always liked the smoothing effect night had on road trips. Colors dulled and angles softened till it was just the glow of the car console and the oncoming stars of other cars and streetlights. I slipped off my shoes and propped them up on the dashboard as I enjoyed my own contentment. Occasionally I'd strike up an idle conversation with Naru, but mostly I kept my eye on the signs. We had picked out an out of the way, small hot spring hotel for our honeymoon. On normal occasions we wouldn't be able to afford it, as one of its selling points was having limited number of rooms. But, yay, Naru's parents were loaded.

I also couldn't remember the last time I'd been to a hot spring.

When our trip finally started to take us onto side roads and the starlight of cars all but vanished, I put my feet down and hopped in place with little poofs of skirt. Some of it went flying onto Naru's lap.

"Calm down," he said, though he didn't sound that committed to his command.

"But I'm so excited!"

"What for? It's just a hot spring. And it can't be your excited for—"

Something flashed up in the headlights, tall, tall—a man, hunched and long.

Naru swerved. The tires squealed. I clung to the seat belt. Trees flash and spun and the force shoved me into the back of my seat—

And then it all stopped. Dirt clouded up the view in the headlights and Naru's fingers had gone impossibly white on the steering wheel.

"Mai? You alright?"

"Are they okay?"

"Mai—"

"Of course I'm fine—damn it, where are my shoes? Oooh, please, please let us not have killed someone!"

"Stay. I'll check."

I took up wide swathes of my dress to clench as he got out and closed the door behind him. He came out stark and strange in the dusty headlights wearing his white dress shirt and tux pants. When he vanished from view and into the darkness, I started digging through skirts to find my shoes again. I didn't know what use I'd be in heels, but I couldn't leave him alone to whatever was out there. Something unnerved me. An old instinct I had grown to respect curled restlessly in the pit of my stomach.

Just as I had my shoes on and my hand on the handle, Naru opened the door and fell back in.

"Nothing," he said, snapping in his belt.

"What?"

"There was nothing. Whoever they were, they were well enough to run off. I don't think we hit them anyways, we would have felt it."

"But he was right there in our faces. There's no way someone could just…dodge that."

Naru just twisted around to see out the back window as he reversed us out from the shrubbery and back onto the road. The branches of the trees that had managed to stretch through the dust reluctantly let us go and soon the black tarp was back beneath the wheels.

I found my hands sweating and twisted them in my skirts once more. "I've got an uneasy feeling."

"Natural or otherwise?"

"I think it's otherwise."

"Do you think we should call the cops when we get to the hotel? We're almost there, and even if we found them we're poorly equipped to help."

"No, I…" I glanced back out the window. The night that had once been charming to me now seemed just dark, and I couldn't help but wonder what was beyond the tree trunks. I regretted saying anything to Naru, who was likely to worry in quiet over it. "It's probably nothing. Yeah, we'll tell someone. I didn't think there'd be any homeless up here."

Naru snorted. "Those kinds of people are everywhere. It was most likely some, what do the American's call them, hippies? Ate one too many mushrooms and happened to cart across the street as we were passing."

Comforted by this thought, I all but forgot about the incident by the time we rolled up to the hotel. It looked just as it had in the pictures: a traditional Japanese bathhouse tucked away in the woods. On walking in with our bags over Naru's shoulders, every eye in the room turned to stare. It didn't last long as a man wearing what looked to be the hotel's uniform shirt offered to take the bags from Naru and a lady at the desk came around like a chittering bird getting busy to make the nest.

"Don't tell me, you must be the Davis's! Please, right this way. Our best suite is already prepared."

Naru told her about the man we almost hit and she promised to call the authorities on it before leading us away, followed by more employees than I thought necessary to show someone to a room. My excitement was being dampened by this attention. Even after being exposed to the Davis's money for the past few months, seeing the evidence of it still gave me the urge to crawl into a thrift store somewhere so I could breathe reasonable air. And always, the thought would burst in 'how many months of utilities and food could I get with this?'

The suite didn't help. It wasn't a hotel room, it was a freaking apartment done in the old Japanese world style, sliding doors, low setting furniture, water paint artwork and all.

She asked when we would like to have dinner, Naru gave her a time, and then, indicating a map and other brochure like instructions on the dark wood table in the middle of some sofas, the lot of them actually bowed and backed out of the doors like that—as though we were some shogun or feudal era lord.

The moment the door was closed and he saw my face, he laughed. I put my fingers to my cheeks to feel an all too familiar gawk and was confused. What was so funny? He'd seen this look plenty of times.

"Really, Mai," he reached out and tugged on a messy curl of my hair. "You shouldn't have stuck your head out the window."

"Ha. Give me that bag, I'm getting out of this dress."

He handed it to me, something twitching at the hinge of his jaw. "Do you need help reaching the zipper?"

"It's not a zipper, it's some sort of lace-up-tie thing, but yeah." I turned around and pulled back my hair. "Try to be quick." Because I had to pee, bad. Rule number one of road trips: once you reached your destination, you always had to pee. Like gravity itself.

Once he undid my dress, he barely had the time to brush his fingers across my bare shoulder before I flounced off to the bathroom, where I locked the door and peeled out of my gossamer wedding gown. Only once I'd gotten to my porcelain throne did I take the time to appreciate the opulent bathroom. Polished slate lined the walls and floor, and the shower doors were made of clear glass with gold handles. Three showerheads all faced one another from their individual walls, and a dark slate counter held up two sinks.

In the wide mirrors above the sinks I got sight of what it was Naru was laughing at, and blanched. Hairspray, curls, and seventy-mile-per-hour winds made a nest. I might as well have tried to lose my virginity to a ravenous wolf-like groom in our tiny rented Toyota for all those poor hot spring workers knew.

My reflection now blushing like a cherry, I groaned and bent myself over the sink.

There was a knock at the door. "You done yet? I need to use the restroom."

"Yeah, just give me a moment."

Figuring I could take a shower once Naru had finished with his own business, I got out my PJs, not even bothering with the silky lace thing Naru had gotten me when I had demanded he replace a pair of pajama bottoms that had gotten ruined on a case. I was so not in the mood to try and be sexy.

He had the gall to chuckle when I came out with an arm thrown over my head.

"It's not that bad."

In response I glared. "Just go pee already. I'm going to find me a spring to drown in."

He gave my arm a squeeze before closing the bathroom door behind him. I went to the tables to pick up a brochure, suddenly feeling all the fatigue and hunger that my euphoria had kept from my mind. I only read the first few sentences before I gave up on that idea and tried to remember what time Naru had asked for dinner. I remembered that I thought it was rather late, like…an hour or so from now?

When I heard the shower turn on from within the bathroom, I wilted.

"That was my idea," I grumbled, letting my bag slip from my shoulder. Then, staring at the open purple canvas, a piece of that silky lace sticking out from the zipper mouth, a tentative idea came to my mind. I checked the windows as though the crazy hobo we'd almost hit would have his face stuck against the glass. Sure there were no hobos, just the haze of steam and wood walls (wait, did we have our own personal spring?), I eased off my pajamas and underwear with shaking hands. With my skin prickling with goose flesh, I went to the bathroom. The moment I realized I hadn't thought to see if he had locked the door or not, the door slid open.

In the short time the shower had been on the bathroom had filled with steam. Naru was turned from me, his head bowed into the triple streams of water, scrubbing out suds from his hair. It was the strangest of thrills to trace the pale curves and lines of his backside, knowing that I was allowed to it—even welcomed to it. He was mine.

The crashing water over his head hid the sound of the bathroom door closing and the whisper of the shower's glass door. Since there were three shower heads, facing one another or not, I was able to get my head under the water before he even realized I was there.

He didn't turn around right away. I could see his shoulders doing the see-saw little twitch they did when he was nervous. I tried not to look it myself as I flattened as much of the curly-wind-hazard of my hair as I could.

"Sorry, I just can't stand the idea of anyone seeing my hair like this again," I said, a little too quickly. "Once I'm done washing my hair I can get out."

"No, it's fine." He even stepped away a bit to give me some room, shoulders continuing to move as though to hunch, then being refused by his pride and falling down. "Can…can I turn around?"

I considered telling him no, suddenly afraid of what he'd think. What if there was something weird about my body? It wasn't like I'd know, I thought girls were gross to look at—or, at least, not, you know…attractive. Not like the smooth hills of his back muscles and broad shoulders that promised to curl a chest about me. Or how long and lean his legs were without having to sacrifice said muscle—and every muscle promised strength, of tight embraces, of something…something I couldn't yet explain.

But it was going to happen eventually. "If you give me the shampoo, yes."

He picked up the bottle from somewhere by his feet and turned, handing it to me. No one's eyes burned as much as his did as they scanned me from toe to head in the second it took me to take the shampoo from him. I caught a glimpse of his front as well and found myself somewhat disgusted by his own hidden part and busied myself with lathering up my hair to ignore it. I knew guys' parts had that general shape but I didn't think it would—

Naru suddenly dropped to his haunches, knees pinched together, face hidden in his arms.

I flinched and got lavender scented suds in my eyes. Ahck! Owie owie owie.

"Naru? What's wrong?"

When he didn't respond, I started to feel alarmed. I had never—he had never done anything like this before, nor could I even see him doing so. It was almost as though he were trying to hide—oh no, did he see me and was disgusted too? Did he somehow read my mind when I saw his…bit? Did he—

Afraid I might just flee the bathroom bawling, I crouched down too. "I-am I that gross?"

His had snapped up. "No!" On seeing my face, his head hunched back. Trickles of soapy water ran along the valleys of his face, creating little waterfalls off his long lashes. His dark blue eyes shivered as they jumped over my features, my hair, my shoulders, and then to his knees. "No, no, don't ever—you're beautiful. So beautiful."

A hot, liquid feeling curled up my back and pooled in my pelvis and thighs. I cocked my head to the side, frowning. "Then what's with…?"

His chin ducked lower and I couldn't make out his eyes behind his lashes and their waterfalls. He almost seemed to be trying to hug himself into the smallest ball possible. I couldn't help myself from reaching out to touch one of the round rivets of his shoulder and bicep.

"I don't know what to do," he whispered. I almost didn't hear him above the noise of the crashing water. "You're so beautiful, and I just…I don't know what to do."

His voice actually pitched at the end, growing into a child-like whine. No one would ever hear this. No one would even think that the proud, intelligent, cool Naru would be capable of such a noise.

Except me.

The warmth, the affection for this boy, overwhelmed me and I had to embrace him. I felt that if I opened my mouth love would float out in a cross between a song and a laugh. My Naru. My precious Oliver Davis. May every good thing bless you, please, because I never wanted anyone to be so happy as I wanted Naru to be then. I would have given anything—my life, my dignity, my hopes, just for his sincere smile.

"That's okay," I managed. "You don't have to know. It's not like I've done this before either. Just do what you feel like doing."

"But what about what you want? What…what do you want me to do?" Since I had my arms about his shoulders, his mouth had been pressed against the curve of my neck, and its movement as he spoke made me shiver.

"I don't expect anything. I am just so, so happy right now, just like this. You're mine now, you know that? My Naru."

He gave a puff of air across my skin in amusement, but I could feel him relaxing into my embrace. "It would sound more romantic if you called me by my actual name."

"Oliver."

I could feel his smile. "Mai."

To any of you who get a copy of "Erase Me" or "Out of Duat" (my published books), PLEASE leave a review so others can find my book as well! And let me know what you think. ^.^