A/N: All right, new chapter! Thanks to everyone who reviewed the first one :) This fandom's been with me since I finished middle school, and now I'm going into college – and it's always been a supportive one. Thank you so much from the bottom of my heart. Read on!

I guess this is goodbye, old pal,
You've been a perfect friend

"We're stranded out here." Takigawa's boisterous voice rang out over the car. Mai rolled her eyes.

"No shit, Sherlock," Ayako spoke the words on everyone's mind. Lin revved the van once more, only to deafen them all with a painful, drawn-out growl. Mai pulled her fingers from her ears and peeked around the corner.

Naru had his back facing her, his arms crossed. John looked about as lost as a puppy on a city street corner, and Ayako and Masako competed for who could look the most cross.

"We should try to fix the car as soon as possible. The client is waiting, after all," John said.

"And how are we to do that without any knowledge of repairing a dead engine?" Ayako bit back. John bowed his head, blue eyes flickering with hurt. Masako stepped in front of John and reengaged Ayako in their cross contest. The medium sniffed and the priestess rolled her eyes, only increasing the tension in the atmosphere.

"Who says we have no knowledge of fixing a dead engine?" Takigawa said, bursting forward. "We have four strapping young men here who are completely capable of fixing a car! And we have three… well, just the three of you women."

"Hey! I take insult to that!" Mai stepped out of her hiding spot and glared at the overzealous monk.

"It's true," Takigawa replied. The bitterness burned bright in his eyes, still reeling from their spat.

"Need I remind you, Takigawa, that your injured arm renders you useless as well." Whatever part of Mai's heart that was not yet against Naru's aggravating behavior this morning went out to him. She turned to beam at Naru and scowl at Takigawa.

"Just as useless as the women."

She snatched that solitary piece of her heart back.

"Hey!" Ayako retorted. "Excuse me, Naru, while these two girls couldn't put their decorated lunchboxes together" – Mai and Masako cried foul, but Ayako spoke out over them – "I however, am capable of handling tools."

"Are you?" Naru mused. "I was under the impression you could only maneuver your way into Bou-san's apartment in the dark."

Takigawa flushed red and Ayako snarled. She stamped forward on four-inch heels that Mai could just picture her puncturing Naru's chest with.

"Well, I could shove a wrench up your—"

"Did anyone else see that?" Masako gasped, staring out at the expanse of forest on the other side of the road.

"See what?" Ayako twirled to glare at Masako ruining her moment of pure, glorious hatred and possible revenge toward her boss who never seemed to know when to shut his snarky mouth.

"The forest… something lit up in there. I saw a huge flash of white light. Didn't anyone else see it?" Masako asked to her silent but fuming audience. Mai was hesitant to speak up, to vouch for Masako. Ayako was the first to recover her voice.

"Oh, stop pretending to see things. It was just lightning."

"Lightning but no thunder?" Mai countered before she realized she was coming to the rescue. Ayako swiveled around.

"Oh, you too, Mai? You're going to stoop to her level?" One perfect eyebrow rose.

"What is wrong with you today, Ayako?" Mai questioned, fists clenched. Her voice squeaked in the middle of her sentence. "Why are you being so cruel?"

"Today? How about every day?" Takigawa snorted. Ayako almost turned her fury on him again, but Mai's words caught her up short. At once she tried to make up for her behavior.

"Whatever it is, it's far away. Obviously nothing to worry about." Ayako pulled her hands through her long red hair and tossed it over her shoulders in an apparent display of glamor. The sun gleamed off her hair, and her obvious beauty radiated, but no siren's song was strong enough to distract from the anger and tension.

"Well, I want to see what it was," Masako declared.

"So do I!" Mai piped up.

"I'd prefer it if you didn't accompany me." Masako pursed her lips and stared at her brunette counterpart.

"I'd prefer it if you didn't tell me what to do," Mai mimicked her tone.

Mai locked her brown eyes with Masako's violet. The team stood there in silence, watching the two girls face off, before both huffed and turned away, headed toward the dense forest. Mai looked both ways before scampering across the obviously deserted street. Masako, on the other hand, glided across without even looking, nose raised in the air.

The girls went in two separate directions and disappeared.

"Aren't you going to go after her?" Takigawa shot at Naru.

"Why would I do that?" Naru replied, glancing into the dead car, rather than looking remotely concerned about the fact that Mai had just deserted them for a glittery forest.

"Because you have an incredibly accident-prone girlfriend that I'm pretty damn sure you don't want to lose in a forest in the middle of nowhere."

"I have no need to retrieve Mai only to hear her nag me incessantly," Naru said, indifferent. "She'll return on her own."

"You really are a pretentious jackass." Takigawa jabbed his young boss in the chest with one finger.

"You're very original," Naru drawled, pushing Takigawa's hand away. Takigawa's lip curled into a scowl.

"Mai should have said yes to that guy. He woulda treated her better than you ever have."

Naru's jaw clenched, but he didn't react. He knew better than to react. Takigawa breathed in triumph.

"I'll go after them," Ayako blurted. Takigawa and John both jerked their attention back to her.

"Are you actually feeling some remorse, you old hag?" Takigawa said. Fire burned in Ayako's eyes, and instinctively, Takigawa stepped away.

"God, no. But finding the two of them is far more promising than being here with the likes of you."

Her heels clicked all the way across the street. They saw her hair flick left before she disappeared into the brush.

"Welp, John, we've managed to make three very angry women disappear into a forest, all within twenty minutes. I'd say that's a job well done." Takigawa clapped John on the back, making John stumble forward.

"You're going to go after them, aren't you?" John predicted without a second to lose. Those blue eyes just seemed to know everything.

"Yes, of course I'm going to go after them," Takigawa rushed his words, suddenly frantic. He pulled up with his palms on his hairline, drawing his whole face taut. "I'm not Naru. Are you coming with me? We can probably find them faster if we split up."

"Sure. I'd really hate to see them get lost out there." John tossed his head back to Naru and Lin. "But how are we going to get out of here? Shibuya-san might need our help."

"Easy." Takigawa winked. He turned back to the silent pair.

"Hey, Naru—" Takigawa did a little jig, hopping from foot to foot like a five-year-old boy "—nature's calling."

Naru rolled his eyes and turned away, waving a hand. Takigawa took that as a cue to leave, racing across the street.

"And I'm, ah, going to look for water," John said, voice soft. Naru's gaze flicked toward him and then flicked away.

As if right on cue, the engine coughed smoke and sputtered.

"…it looks like we're going to be here for a while anyway."

John followed Takigawa across the street.

"They can't possibly think I believed that," Naru muttered.

Lin hunched over the engine of the car, peering through wires and gears to figure out what exactly went wrong. It looked like he was having no such luck.

"I believe all they care about is the fact that you let them go," Lin replied, not bothering to look up. To Naru, fixing the engine was about as foreign as intimate matters between Mai and himself. Naru was just as useless as he described the women to be. In any case, Naru stood there just so he could feel like he was doing something while Lin did all the dirty work.

"Then it's a win-win situation. I get to be rid of them, and they get to go find the women."

"All right," Lin huffed, pulling his head out from under the hood. "I know you're a brilliant scientist, but you're dense when it comes to things like this. So let me explain."

"There's nothing to explain."

Lin continued like Naru hadn't said a thing. "Mai took the chance to go into that forest because she was angry at you—"

"Technically she was angry at everyone—"

"—and now Takigawa is going after her. Didn't he just say to you that Mai should have chosen the boy who asked her out?"

"Yes. But we all know she didn't."

Lin restrained himself from rolling his eyes. "So if Takigawa finds Mai, he will most likely convince her to break ties with you and pursue someone who actually has her best wishes in mind."

Naru stared.

"Someone who cares enough about her to not leave her for dead in the forest." Lin crushed the greasy washcloth in one fist.

"He's going to change her mind."

"What do I care?"

Lin threw the cloth on the ground and stared his young boss in the eye.

"I know that you do."

"Oh, please."

Lin sighed. "Don't be a prat, Naru."

Naru scowled, uncrossed his arms, and marched away toward the forest. On the other side of the street, Naru swiveled around again to call out, "There are times when I wish that we hadn't come back from England."

He disappeared into the forest before Lin could figure a solid reply.

Wishes may bring problems
Such that you regret them
Better that though
Than to never get them

A/N: Please review and tell me what you thought!