14AmyChan: Okay, so this is the last of it!
Naru: Finally...
14AmyChan: I'm not sure how it came out, but I hope you like it! I don't own Ghost Hunt!
Law (n): a statement regarded as an absolute truth or a rule enforced by a greater authority.
Oliver had returned to Japan for several reasons. One was that the cases were vastly more interesting, as evidenced by his first case upon returning. It had been a combination of both human and supernatural interference, though it had been speckled by the interference of an incompetent undercover detective whose beliefs swayed in the breeze.
Another was that he had missed running the show on his own. In Japan, he had complete control over the cases they took, and had a responsibility to all who were on his team. It was something that he had missed somehow, and he was grateful when he was permitted to return upon giving these reasons to his parents.
The last reason was entirely selfish on his part. While he had a strong theory that Mai had affections for Gene, he could not keep away from her forever. He would have nightmares each night of the girl finding yet another way to get herself into trouble, and without him to protect her, she may join her grave far too early. That trouble-seeking ability of hers that had intrigued him once upon a time was now haunting him. He had returned to ensure himself that she was safe.
Of course, no one else knew of this. His observations on his own heart and his theory on Mai's had always been kept private, and no one else knew of them. This was how he liked it.
For five years, this was how things had gone. He kept an eye on Mai, content to keep her safe from potential harm. Whenever she glanced at him when she ought not to have, he wondered if she were seeing Gene. To help dispel any illusion that she might have, he would not smile at her, not has he had on that day. Even though there were some times where he wished to do so.
"Mai, tea!" Oliver called when he thought she had been quiet for too long. The girl could be quite a danger to herself and to others, and he had to make sure she was all right without allowing her to figure out his intentions.
He waited for a short while, curious. Yes, he heard that she was moving, so she had not fallen asleep—a habit that the girl still had not kicked—but it was far too quiet. She was not bustling, not cursing his name, not even clinking the china loudly in frustration. He was certain that if he did not keep the door in the corner of his eye he would not have even noticed her come in. She was so silent.
She turned and began to move out of the office, just as silently, when she suddenly stopped. She turned to him, careful confusion and a small—yet obviously faux—smile over her features.
"Yes, Naru?" she asked, and it was then that the boy realized he had called out for her to wait.
It can't be helped, I suppose, he thought as he gestured for her to sit down. She did so with the slightest of hesitancies, but otherwise with no fight. As her eyes diverted towards her lap, his eyes narrowed.
"Your behavior for the past two weeks has been…odd," he stated professionally, only hesitating at the end to find a suitable word. He could not tell her that it was worrisome, simply odd. Mai took it all in silence.
She expected him to explain.
He expected her to explain.
The office was quiet for a few more moments before she finally said something.
"I simply have a lot on my mind," she admitted, looking down. Oliver could not get a decent look at her eyes, that from which most of Mai's secrets spilled. He could, however, tell a lot from what she was not saying, how she sat, and how she responded.
"I see," he mused, observing her. The confidence that she had built on the last few years was dampened, but not gone. She was sitting tall, but her head was down. Oliver could see that she had an urge to bite her lip, a nervous tick that she had.
Why is she nervous…? he thought, but what was more disturbing to him was the fact that she was not extruding her normal fighting spirit and that she refused to look at him. His frown deepened.
"What's troubling you?" he asked. He did not explain the question, as he felt he had no reason to explain. Even if he had wanted to explain, Mai was too quick in her response.
"It won't interfere with work, I promise," she hastily said, obviously hoping to avert the question. The raven haired man would have none of it.
"In case you haven't noticed, it is affecting your work," he mentioned. "It is interfering with your normal behavior patterns and causing worry in all of your coworkers. I do believe that the Takigawas have already tried talking to you about it, yet you have only brushed them off. As well as Hara-san, Father Brown, Yasuhara-san, and even Lin."
Mai's eyes snapped up for a moment before returning to her lap, though Oliver had already seen.
She was frightened.
The young man clenched his fist. He did not want to see her afraid, or scared. Part of his reason in returning was to protect her from such things, but there was only so much he could do as her boss, and only a little more as her friend.
"What are you afraid of?" he asked, forcing his voice to remain calm. An almost imperceptible shake of Mai's head prompted him to ask the question again. "Mai, what is it that's scaring you?"
Oliver did not know if it were the rewording of the question or the softer tone with which he had said it, but he finally coaxed out an answer.
"I'm not afraid," she whispered. She then cleared her throat and continued. "I'm not afraid. I've just been thinking."
"About something that scares you?" he pressed. She shook her head before fiddling with her fingers on her lap. Oliver noted in the back of his mind that she wore no jewelry.
"About something I regret."
Her words puzzled him, and given that she would not look at him he could not pick up any answers from within her cinnamon orbs of vision. Oliver was left completely clueless, but he wanted to help. Somehow, he wanted to help if only to bring his normal Mai back.
"Did something happen recently?" he asked, trying to root out the source of the problem that she was so hesitant to reveal. She shook her head.
"No, it happened a long while ago," she admitted. Oliver was confused.
"Then why is it bothering you now instead of then?" he asked. The lack of formal language caused Mai's eyes to flicker up again once more before fleeing to her lap again.
Surprise.
"A lot of things hit me at once then, and I couldn't deal with it all. By the time I wanted to deal with my regret, I thought it would be better if I tried to forget about it and move on," she explained. Oliver thought about this for a moment. Clearly, he was making more progress than the rest of the team as to the cause of Mai's behavior, but he was unsure if this were because she trusted him, because he was making her tell him, or because he was a part of the problem.
"But lately I've been seeing that I can't just forget about it and move on," Mai continued, her hands now moving towards her now longer hair. Over the past five years it had grown halfway down her back. "So now I need to deal with it, but I don't know how to even start…"
"Does this regret involve someone else?" he asked. He had a sinking feeling in his gut when she nodded timidly, finally succumbing to biting her lip.
She's really nervous now. Why? he thought.
"Can you get a hold of that person?" he pressed. Mai nodded once more. Her hands stopped moving in her hair and she simply held it there. This was really scaring her. Oliver knew he should probably say something comforting, however…
"Then you should talk to that person, and sort out the event that has caused you regret," he stated as though it were a simple matter. Scientifically, it was a simple matter. She needed to clear the air with whoever had made her feel this regret. "Because if you don't, this feeling will only become stronger and stronger. It will infect everything you do."
Mai's hands were trembling, and Oliver hoped he had said the right thing. There was only so much he could do for her; he could not take her regret away. That was his place in her life.
The theory still reigned that was Gene's department.
Mai took a deep breath, and Oliver hoped she was at least thinking about doing as he suggested. She then whispered something, so low that he missed the first portion.
"…you."
"You're welcome," he responded and Mai's entire face snapped up in disbelief. What? He had a heart and he knew how to take gratitude every once in a while. "Now you should probably find that person and sort this out. Is this person far away?"
Mai shook her head, seemingly at a loss for words. Oliver sighed as he looked towards his coat thoughtfully. He was fully prepared to walk her to where she needed to go if need be. Anything to get his Mai back.
Even if she was technically not his.
"Then—"
"It's you," she repeated, slightly louder this time. Oliver's heart stopped for a moment, knowing instantly to what she was referring.
"You are regretful because of something I have done?" he inquired, attempting to stall and yet not quite knowing how. He supposed that beating around the bush was a happy medium.
Or a stupid one.
Before Oliver could shake the thought from his head, Mai responded, almost tripping over her words.
"Yes—well, no—I mean not totally—I mean you kinda started it—but that's not to say—I mean you just asked a question and I responded badly—but I know it's not gonna happen—I mean I know I'm not—what I mean to say is—ug!" Mai shook her head and placed her face into her palms, effectively hiding her face from Oliver. He, for his part, was very confused.
"Mai, you need to slow down and start from the beginning," he stated, almost robotically. His heart was beating wildly, wondering why on the face of this planet he was willing to hash through his pain again.
Fact: He would do anything for this girl. Even rehash emotional pain.
"You remember the beginning," she accused quietly. Oliver sighed.
"Between the two of us, there are several beginnings," he responded. There was the beginning meaning how they met, the beginning of their working relationship, the beginning of their new working relationship once they had discovered his identity, the beginning of their friendship. There were many to choose from. "Which one are you referring to?"
Though he already knew.
"You asked me if it was you or Gene," she said, somehow gaining her confidence. She took a deep breath and looked him in the eye. Oliver returned her stare, though a part of him wanted to lock this conversation away and throw the key in the rubbish. Instead, he nodded to show his remembrance of the event.
"Gene taught me and led me through your visions. He warned me of danger on cases and was generally kind to me," she explained, though her voice was trembling.
"That was Gene. That stupid medium never changed, not even after death," he jabbed. Doing that made it feel as though his brother were still around to return the volley. However, he was talking to Mai now. Not Gene, Mai.
The girl nodded. "Because he was kind to me, I looked for kindness in you," she explained. Oliver thought that perhaps this was going to be the point where she apologized again for mixing them up and giving her answer.
"I take it that you found none," he stated. Mai shook her head.
"It's not Gene's kindness that kept me coming to work, Naru," she said. "It was your own. You always look out for and protect others. You work your hardest to get things right the first time so no one gets hurt to need a second go-through. You're blunt and honest and sometimes you could use some people skills, but that's not to say that you're unkind."
"You're delusional," he denied, keeping his eye on the coat rack. But was she really? It was true that he often saved her when she needed it. It was correct that he cared for her, but there was no way the kindness that she spoke of was his own. It had to be Gene's.
Oliver was not kind.
"Maybe, but I know what I see in a person," she admitted. "No one is wholly good or wholly bad. Everyone has bits of both in them, and I happen to like the good parts of you as well as the bad."
"You said you would choose the good personality," he recalled as a standing point for his theory. Mai nodded.
"True, but what is your definition of a good personality? If social skills make a person good, then every con-man is a saint," she rebuked with a smile. Her ridiculous analogy made Oliver want to smirk, but now was not the time. "Naru is a good person with a good heart; he's just difficult to get to. And that's what makes him better to me."
Oliver wanted to stop everything for a moment and get his facts straight. Life was being unfair to him right now. He cared for her, and she was tempting his wise decision to not let her come any closer to him. He wanted to tell her that he accepted, but he found he could not. He had to be absolutely sure that she was not confusing the two of them. Beyond a shadow of a doubt, yet he could not think of a way—
Paff.
A photograph was set on his desk. Oliver turned to look and his eyes widened fractionally. Mai still had the picture he had given her as a comfort for Gene's passing onto the next stage of the afterlife. Her finger rested right above the head of his younger self.
"I choose Oliver," she stated. Oliver looked up into her eyes and saw that she was about ready to have a few tears spill over. The sight made him want to hold her close and provide her some sort of comfort, but he was still somewhat shell shocked. He could not move. "The answer is you. Now if you wish to reject me, please do it plainly so I can leave with no regrets."
As he looked at her, studying her, he came to another conclusion. His theory had been disproved by the very person who it revolved around.
"Mai," he stated firmly, his eyes now alight. He was going to set the record straight with her and tell her what he had just discovered.
The law of their hearts was that they loved one another. And that was how it was going to stay.
14AmyChan: Okay, all done~! *^_^*
Naru: ...
14AmyChan: Please read and review and I hope you liked it~! *^_^*