A/N: OK everyone, I'm feeling kinda weird about writing this chapter because one – Naru is going to get smashed (so drunk I think that 'smashed' is a more appropriate word to use…), so un-funnily OOC and the whole 'in between' scene… ok, I'm just being squeamish about writing this chapter cuz my friend is sooo going to bag me out about being dirty . You know who you are so don't you dare bag me out about this chapter. You even asked for it. The first part would be IC but after that it'll be downhill. So if you aren't very fond of OOC please skip this chapter!! Lin/Kenji's POV will come by the next chapter (hopefully) and perhaps even getting some of the old team back together by then too… OK and onto the story!
7 years ago…
"Naru! I'm leaving now!" Seventeen-year-old Mai calls out as she reached for her scarf. Her boss, a normally emotionless lump of human comes out from his office when he heard her announcing her leave.
"Where are you going?" He asked her icily, noticing that she had her scarf on already.
"Out. I already told you I was going to take today off." You better thank me for staying in the morning. Mai thinks mutinously.
"Thank you for staying this morning Mai." Her boss intones dryly. She claps her hands to her mouth.
"Did I just say that?" She asked going red, and it wasn't attributed to the warm clothes she was wearing.
"Yes. Don't change the subject. Where are you going?" He asked single-mindedly.
"Out. I already said." She said trying to aim for the flippant voice but failing miserably.
"Out where?" He stood there in front of her and the door with his arms folded. Her face falls and she whines,
"Out with a friend! What is with you and my private life?!"
"What friend?" He asked coldly.
"My friend."
"What kind of a friend?" He asked bluntly.
"None of your business!" Mai retorts, blushing to the roots of her hair getting embarrassed.
"It is because you are taking off work hours to see that friend."
"Well I need a life too you know! And if you HAVE to know he's my boyfriend OK? Happy? We arranged this over a week ago, so it's not something that I conveniently made up to ditch work!" He ignored her outburst and said in his 'pissed off' boss voice.
"If you haven't noticed Mai we have a case on at the moment and we're leaving in half an hour to the client's home. By which time I need you. So if you say you are just going out with the sole intention of having fun I am not going to allow you." She blinks once, then twice. Her boss has never said that much in such a short period of time either.
"Eahh!!! But that's not fair! I told you over a WEEK AGO!!" She complains loudly trailing after her boss who was ignoring her. He goes back into his office and rudely slammed the door shut in her face. Anger boiled up in her like a dangerous substance in a chemical reaction.
"I'M GOING NOW! I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU THINK NARU! YOU CAN'T ORDER MY LIFE TOO YOU KNOW!" Livid she stormed to the front door. Naru opened his office door an informed her coolly,
"If you step out there, don't bother coming back for the remainder of this case. You're off it." She spun around her brown hair flicking everywhere and her eyes shooting sparks.
"FINE! LIKE YOU EVER NEEDED ME IN ANY OF THE CASES!" She wretched the door open and stormed out angrily slamming the door shut behind her.
Naru stared at the closed door long after Mai had left cursing himself for being so brash. He needed her on cases! She could often find what was wrong or what was causing the problem long before any tests could be done. He snapped himself out of his stupor and marched back into his office to see if there was anything he could do about the lack of staff.
He shuts his door loudly and Lin pokes his head out from behind his office door to check out what all the commotion was about but was greeted by an empty hall way and not a soul in sight.
---
The cool wind rippled through the trees swirling the many lost autumn leaves around her.
"I don't think we should be together any more Mai." She hides the pain behind steel walls and says cheerfully,
"That's OK. It's alright if you don't want to see me any more." To everyone else she seems nonchalant but to a certain someone it is easily seen that she was really hurt.
"Thanks for understanding Mai." He turns around and walks away from her, but she stays where she is until she can no longer see him.
"There goes another one…" She sighs, clutching her arm for support. She sat down on a near by bench and stared off into space.
"Every time it's the same old thing, I wonder what is wrong with me. In the end I'm the loser." She lets out another depressed sigh.
'If you step out there, don't bother coming back for the remainder of this case. You're off it.'
Good God why did I disobey Naru and left? Now I have nowhere to go. I should have known that I was going to get dumped. I have nowhere to go and I'm thoroughly depressed. What I really need is a good case and Bou-San to make me feel better. She decided resolutely. But Naru banned me from the case… Aurgh!! Stuff it! I'm going to do something worth my time and make myself feel better! Mai jumped up from the bench and walked confidently in the direction of town.
---
That afternoon Naru was particularly irritated, he even got irritated enough to yell at the physics helping out on the case. The usually calm, cool unaffected Naru was being extremely explosive and especially reactive to the word 'Mai'.
"Hey, Naru where's Mai?" Bou-san asked unwisely while carrying some equipment.
"I don't know and I don't care." He snapped back sharply.
"Hey calm down. I was just asking about Mai…" Naru turned around and gave Bou-san a hard stare.
"I would appreciate it if you wouldn't mention her name around me again – at least for the remainder of this day. No make that the remainder of this CASE." He said coldly. Turning to the other physics he told them, "That goes for everybody."
"Oh…? What happened Naru?" Masako asked him sliding up next to him and holding onto his arm in quite a lecherous way.
"Nothing that concerns you Hara-san." He pried her hands off his arm and goes ahead of Lin to knock on the door.
Once the client opened the door he was all business. One could never guess that he was still fuming over Mai or that he was thoroughly pissed off at Masako making not-so-subtle-hints at him or that this case is turning out to be a really ugly one that will be taking up a lot of Naru's time and energy.
Damn it! What he really wanted to do was storm up and down the streets looking for Mai then hauling her back to work. Regardless of wether she was with her boyfriend or not. Remembering that little detail about the person she was meeting just served to irritate him even more.
"We'll see what we can do." Naru told the client, keeping a tight lid on his irritation from the client, not promising anything to them either. "Lin, come with me back to SPR. We need to finish off some paper work. Everyone else set up base. I'll return later."
Through out the day Naru worked restlessly along with Lin through the piles of paper work.
If Mai was here I could be attending to the case instead of doing all this paper work. Naru grumbled in his head working quickly through the papers.
"Black mood today Naru?" Lin asked turning his attention on a new set of papers.
"Nothing that concerns you greatly Lin." Came his cold swift rely.
The day passed quickly and soon it turned into evening, Lin had already finished his work for the day and turned to Naru.
"I'm going down to the base to check on the equipment. Are you coming?" Without looking up Naru gave his answer,
"No. Just send me the report I'll work on here."
"OK." Lin picked up his coat and shuts the door quietly behind him leaving the office even quieter than it was before. Naru sighed and kneaded his forehead. Why was it that he's noticing the silences more profoundly when Mai wasn't here? Nothing makes sense now. Naru shuts the folder with a loud snap and stood up.
It's about dinnertime anyway I'll go and have something for dinner. He shrugged on his coat and locked the front door behind him before heading down the flight of stairs down to the main street.
---
It's eight… What can I do now? Wondered Mai. I don't feel like going home, it's just too depressing on my own… Can't go back to SPR I bet anything at Naru is still there. Once she thought up Naru's name her mood became blacker.
Stuff that jerk. She glowers, a large cinema sign caught her attention and on an impulse she walked up to the ticket counter buying a ticket to a movie that her friends have been suggesting to her for a while. It's most probably a romantic soap but she didn't care. Anything to forget about Naru would work.
Half an hour into the movie and she was regretting her choice. It would have done her a lot more good if she had picked a horror or action flick instead of this mushy crying drama. She checked her watch – another hour and a half to go. She lets out an inward groan and sink further into her seat. Under normal circumstances – that is, she hadn't been dumped about eight hours ago and she still had her job to do, she would have enjoyed this film immensely. However her black mood after being dumped was not being helped by watching the fictitious characters go through the ups (mostly) and downs of love.
Half an hour later she decided to leave the cinema; this wasn't worth her time. It didn't even help her forget even momentarily about Naru, as she left the theatre she threw her ticket in a near by bin, a dark cloud flowing her every step.
Why me? She moans to herself. Several passer-bys gave her a strange look. She slapped her hands to her face. I said that out loud didn't I? She wandered around the shopping area for a while before deciding to head home. It's nearly ten and there isn't anything left to do. Shops are closing and the crowd of people are thinning out.
---
At the office Naru is left sitting on his own after returning from having dinner, paper work still on the table but his mind was far from what he was holding in his hands. He spent the whole day in constant activity to keep his mind from straying to what Mai had said before, but now in the total silence of his office and the outside world slowing down to just a trickle of activity he couldn't stop himself turning over her words in his mind.
'…My boyfriend…' She has a boyfriend huh? Why didn't I ever know that? How long have they been together for? I shouldn't want to know! He berates himself. Why should I care anyway? What she chooses to do in her own time is all good and fine, but not in work time!
The more he thought about it the more worked up and agitated he became.
Calm… I need to calm down. I've never worked myself up this much before, what is happening now? As if to contradict himself he suddenly thought, God Dammnit! That woman pisses me off so much! He slammed his fist on the table and stood up abruptly.
Calm, calm, calm…
That was his mantra but he only got through half a minute until he felt pissed off not only at Mai but himself too.
At this rate, she's going to be the death of me. He went into the kitchenette, opened and closed all the cupboards and drawers to settle his restlessness. On the bottom cupboard he found a bottle of un-opened wine.
What is this doing here? No one here drinks, not even Lin. Alcohol. If I can't make myself stop thinking about Mai, alcohol will. He turned the bottle around; total alcohol content read 8 percent. Perfect. That should make any thinking process slow down by more than half. Take this as a drugging effect and not really something recreational. He told himself while going through the utensils before finding a cork opener.
He pours himself a glass toasting to the silence. Desperate times call for desperate measures. He downed the whole glass in two gulps and winced at the liquid going down. He wasn't a strong drinker and has only drunk once before and that was only one flute of champagne.
After a few more glasses it was much easier to drink it down in one go and he could feel himself go sluggish.
That's great. It really is working.
---
Oh joy. Mai thought dryly. I've walked myself down to SPR and I didn't even notice it. If she had a near by wall she would have smashed her head on the wall repeatedly. She glanced down on her watch it's nearly ten. Surely no one would be there right? Even Naru would have gone home by then… I'll just take a look and get some stuff that I could do later at home without coming back to get.
She climbed the staircase up to the office with an increasing sense of urgency. There was something very wrong and she can feel it, but she has no idea what was compelling her up the steps faster. Once she reached the front door she took in a deep breath to steady herself and slowly inserted the key into the lock and turned the lock. It wasn't locked at all. In her surprise she opened the door in haste slamming the back of the door onto the wall. She winced at the loud slam and thought, Naru won't be too happy with the marks tomorrow… She cautiously looked around the darken room with only some light spilling out from the kitchenette. The eerie lighting gave every object extra shadows and the whole room a sense of creepiness that ate through her stomach.
Just my imagination running wild. Mai chided herself barely suppressing the inward shudder. A shadow moving at the corner of her eye made her jump.
"Ahh!"
"Mai… Is that you…?" Her heart still thumping away she answered to the all too familiar voice.
"N-Naru, what are you doing here?" She reached over to the wall and flicked on the main lights, banishing the shadows.
"Finishing some work…" There was a noticeable slur in his words and when Mai looked closely she could see a bottle of wine on the coffee table and one glass.
"What are you doing?" Mai asked him incredulously all thoughts of work cleared from her mind.
"Drinking…" She hurried to his side and picked up the bottle of wine reading the label.
"Did you drink all this yourself?!" She held up the bottle and shook it around to demonstrate how empty it was by the hollow slushing sounds that came from the bottle.
"Pretty much…" Furiously Mai picked up the glass and the bottle walking into the kitchenette tipping the rest of the wine down the sink. She marched back to where Naru was sitting and turned her anger on him.
"What do you think you were DOING?! You could have gotten really sick! Not to mention you'll have a very nice hangover tomorrow!"
"I'm fine…" He slurred out and stood up swaying dangerously on the one spot. Mai pushed him back down onto his seat and ordered him to stay where he was. She poured him a glass of water and made him drink it down and repeated it several times.
"One whole bottle of wine. That's just great. Who knows how long it'll take you to get over it? And you're DRUNK. Why did you even start drinking anyway?" Mai asked him flopping onto the couch next to him.
"It's your fault." He slurred.
"MY FAULT?! Oh now you have the cheek to blame it on me!" Her anger fuelled by her unresolved emotional state from this afternoon snowballed now under stress.
"If you didn't have to go off when I needed you on the case it wouldn't have been a problem. But you had to go and see your boyfriend." He said sardonically.
"What does it have to do with you anyway?!" She asked him thoroughly pissed off. He grabbed her hand tightly and pulled her closer to him, and in that moment she could have been tricked into thinking he wasn't really drunk. His eyes were clear with conviction as he said,
"It has everything to do with me." And just as abruptly as when he took up her hand he dropped it and slumped back onto the couch. She was far too angry and tired to get embarrassed. The whole day had just drained her of her charitably.
"It's the alcohol talking. Don't even bother saying anything in your defence right now. You can't even handle any complex thoughts at the moment so don't even bother saying anything." She stood up and asked him,
"Where do you live? I'm going to haul you back home and you better be grateful." She snapped irritably at him.
"What's the matter?" He asked trying not to slur his words. "You don't sound like yourself."
"Give it a rest Naru. You won't even remember this tomorrow." She went into his office and dug through his files finding his address on a bank statement he left in his drawer.
She waved the piece of paper in front of him and asked him,
"Is this where you live?" She shoved the paper into his hands and waited for his answer.
"Yes…" She checked her watch – 10.20. It'll be too late there won't be any taxis operating now. She looked at him thinking hard.
"All right. We're walking you home. This doesn't look too far from here." She grabbed his coat and tossed it at him.
"Put it on. We're going. I can only hope that the cold air will sober you up." She opened the door and went to Naru's side helping him into his coat. She slung his arm around her shoulder and heaved him up.
"Come on, move your legs. I can't carry you. Good God Naru, you are so heavy, what do you eat?!" She pulled his half conscious form out the front door before locking the door behind her.
While walking Mai kept him talking just so that he wouldn't fall a sleep on her, the cold did nothing to improve her mood and she just kept firing questions at him to make sure he stayed awake.
"What were you doing at the office at this time?"
"I told you… I was finishing some work…" She re-adjust his arm on her shoulder and pulled him up again as he was slipping down.
"Yeah and what work requires you to drink yourself drunk?" She asked scornfully.
"I just wanted to ignore… a lot of things…"
"What's gotten into you Naru? You never ignore anything."
"I realised… That I really can't do anything about some things and I'd much rather ignore them."
"Alcohol as a means of ignoring something is definitely not good for your health. And the next day you wake up to the same problem and a throbbing headache."
"What about you… Don't you ever ignore anything?"
"I do. But I don't solve them by ignoring them do I? Come on, wake up a little more. I can't carry you." She shook him a little before pulling him up to stop him from slipping down.
"What happened today Mai?" His words meshing together.
"What happened what?"
"With your boyfriend I mean…" Her grip on his arm tightens but he doesn't say a word about it.
"Nothing. It's none of your business anyway."
"It is when you're giving me a bruise because of what that bastard did to you." She loosened her grip on his arm,
"Sorry. I've just had a bad day. Nothing that concerns you." Although if you didn't ban me from the case I might feel that little bit better. Naru chuckled and said,
"I regretted I banned you from the case."
"Did I just say that out loud?" She moaned and he just chuckled some more. "I take that as a 'yes' then." She said dryly but he still kept on laughing.
"If you keep laughing at me I will drop you on the floor and leave you here." She threatened pulling him along. His head dropped onto her shoulder and he became heavier.
"Naru! OI! Wake up!"
"Oh right… Why'd you have to be with him…?" He mumbled his words becoming indistinguishable but Mai caught it all. He struggled to move his feet and almost trips over himself. She heaved him up and shook him up.
"Come on, just a little bit more Naru. Stay awake."
"Are other people better than me Mai?" He asked her completely oblivious to her struggling under his weight.
"What, you mean as in personality wise? Yes other people are better than you. At least they aren't so narcissistic about themselves."
"No," He lifted his head to look at Mai struggling to find the right words. "I meant, are other people better for you than I am?"
"Why don't you ask yourself that Naru?" She asked him briskly.
"I think… I have but I don't know…"
"No one will be good for me until they can understand and accept me as I am Naru. And no one has been able to accept and understand where I'm coming from…" Bitter sadness clouds her eyes, she furiously blinks away the tears threatening to over spill and keeps her sadness bottled up for now.
"If I promise to understand and accept you will you do the same for me?"
"I don't know what you're on about Naru. Just get a lot of sleep and let the alcohol wear off."
She stopped in front of a house and asked Naru,
"Is this where you live?" Naru lifted his head with much effort and nods. "Give me the keys."
"In my pocket… on my left…" Mai struggled to fish out his keys while keeping a hand on his arm around her neck to stop him from dropping to the ground. She found the keys and opened the front door; most of the lights were on and warm air greeted her as she pulled Naru through the door, shutting it behind her once he was in. She walked into the living room and with a loud thud dropped him onto the couch.
"You can sleep it off here. Just drag your sorry arse to your room when you've come to a little more." She turned to leave but he held onto her jacket.
"Don't go yet." He breathed out, eyes closed.
"It's late Naru. I have to go home." She said almost whining.
"It's too late to go home yourself. Stay a little while with me." She was reluctant to go and the warm air was enveloping her in its comforting warmth. She relented and sat next to Naru. He leaned on her shoulder and said quietly,
"Thank you." For what seemed like an eternity they sat together, Naru leaning on her. Just before she drifted to sleep he stirred and woke her up.
"Naru? Are you OK now?" He held onto her arm,
"No… It's just uncomfortable here…" She heaved a sigh.
"The things I do just for you. God I'm tired. Where's your room Naru?"
"Upstairs the second door on the left…" He mumbled his head falling heavily to one side. She loosened his hold on her arm and stood up, pulling his arm up.
"Come on. Get up. My charitable side hasn't gone to the dogs yet apparently." He stood up sluggishly and leaned on Mai as she walked him up the stairs.
She opened his door wide and dragged him in before pulling him to his bed, it was near pitch black in his room save for the streams of light coming in from the windows. She had to get used to the darkness before dropping him on the bed. She pushed his legs on the bed and pulled the covers over him.
"Go sleep. I'm going now. But I'll leave the aspirins on your bed side table before I go." As she turned to leave he pulled her back.
"Don't go…"
"I'm just going to get some aspirin."
"But you'll go after that."
"I'll come and see you tomorrow."
"Just don't go… Sleep with me…" A furious shade of red engulfs her face.
"I – I – I can't sleep with you!"
"Please don't leave Mai…" He slowly got up trying to get his balance. When he was sitting up he took both of her hands in his and pulled her closer.
"I hate being alone. I've never been alone Mai, and sometimes it hurts so much I don't even sleep. I know you have someone else you like Mai but just stay with me for tonight… please…" He lets her hand go and cupped her face in his hands before kissing her gently. Shock makes her stay still for a moment until her brain kicked in.
NARU IS KISSING ME!! AGHHHH!!!
She tried to break away but he held onto her until her brain completely gave way to what her heart really wanted.
---
A/N: OK to keep this story under the 'T' rating I won't be writing anything else soo use your imagination… I know everyone has a very good and fertile imagination so imagine away. And I don't wish to scar anyone for life either…
---
Such a sweet smell… Naru instinctively moved closer to the source of the smell to find himself bumping into something hard yet soft at the same time. He slowly opened his eyes to see brown hair, everything to him was still fuzzy and lacking any realism. I must be dreaming… That's Mai's smell… His arms tighten around a warm and soft body. It must be the alcohol… He decided fuzzily before cuddling into her and falling back to sleep before the throbbing headache could set in.
---
Sunlight slowly filtered through the window disturbing Mai from her sleep. Her eyelids flutter open before closing them again to block out the light.
Where am I? She closed her eyes and thought for a moment until everything came back. Then she wished she didn't remember anything at all. Holding in a wince she opened her eyes again blinking a few times to get used to the bright light.
A thick cover ensconced her in and a warm body was holding hers protectively. Mai closed her eyes for a moment trying to recall when was the last time she felt so comfortable and protected. She could find none and desperately fought to imprint this feeling into her heart forever. She turned around slow and gently as to not wake him up, the last thing she wanted was for him to wake up, his arm still around her waist tightened when she moved.
She rested her head on her arm and just watched him sleep. He looks so peaceful when he's asleep… So beautiful… Mai thought tenderly. Then another thought started to fester in her mind and no amount of ignoring would do it any good.
He won't remember anything when he wakes up. I don't even think he'll remember me taking him home… Biting down on her bottom lip she carefully lifted his arm off hers and replaced her body with a pillow. He resisted for a moment before accepting the pillow in lieu of her body. She breathed a sigh of relief. At least she could leave without him noticing.
Using the edge of the blanket to cover herself in so she wouldn't feel the cold she reached out for the nearest shirt to wear. It was a large white button down shirt, which surprised her. Naru never wore anything that wasn't black out. He probably wore that at home when there's no one around. She thought pulling on the shirt before buttoning up several buttons and quietly moving around to pick up her own clothes. She decided that she couldn't get changed while Naru's sleeping form was just a few feet away. So she bundled up her clothes and quietly slipped out of his room, making her way down to the main bathroom to get changed.
The feeling of familiarity around the house gave her the chills, she found the bathroom with no problem and she didn't even have to look through cupboards and drawers to find the aspirin. It was located on the top of the fridge.
The kitchen was kept clean and tidy, there wasn't any clutter on the bench tops not even glasses or mugs. And yet without even looking Mai found a clean glass and a jug of water. Shaking off the goose bumps she poured herself a glass of water before drinking it all in one go and leaving it in the sink, reminding herself to clean it up later.
In a clean glass she poured a glass of water and carried it up with the aspirins to Naru's room. Gently she sets the glass of water and aspirin on his bedside table and quickly wrote out a note holding it down with the glass of water and aspirins.
Take the aspirins and have more sleep. Don't bother coming in today. I'll make up something for you.
Mai.
She brushed his hair out of his face with the back of her hand and smiled down at him.
"Sleep well Naru…" Hesitatingly she bent down and kissed him, whispering, "I love you…" He stirred in his sleep before settling back to sleep. She breathed out a sigh of relief again. He didn't wake up.
She picked up her scarf and coat from the living room where she left it before leaving the house shutting the door quietly behind her.
A/N: Please don't kill me! I know that some people will be put off by how badly OCC I've written this chapter but I've given it my best shot!! Hope you enjoyed this chapter anyway… Please leave a review too! Whoa… This is one long chapter… O.o