Shellsan: It's been such a long time since I really wrote any fanfiction. Even though I intended to be better with updating this year as soon as school started back up things were so much more difficult. I'm not going to promise updates when I know that I may not be able to get to them but I am going to try to write more often. It's been much too long.
Mai: Shellsan doesn't own Ghost Hunt.
By the time they got back to the Davis' mansion, deposited the things they'd bought with Mai's stuff so no-one went looking through it all, (after spending much more time then either of them would like to admit looking for where exactly Mai's room was) and made their way back to the lounge where Mai could still feel their auras, it had been two and a half long, draining hours.
Opening the doors, Mai heard the distinct shout of her name before thin, petite arms were wrapping around her in a clingy fashion.
More then a little shocked, it took the brunette a moment to realise that it was Mrs Davis who had grabbed her.
Unsure of how to react to this, Mai sent a pleading look to the amused bystanders, namely Naru and Lin. As affectionate as the brunette was as a person, not even she made a habit out of hugging people unless she was much closer to them. What was she supposed to do in this situation?
Naru couldn't help but smirk at her predicament. Normally it was him stuck in his mother's hold and he found he much preferred being an onlooker in this situation.
After Mai glared at him for a while, the air in her lungs slowly disappearing, Naru finally relented and helped her out of the hold. Taking one last chance to smirk at the brunette, he turned to give his mother a pointed look. "I think you've managed to make Mai see your point. Perhaps you should let go of her now." He suggested.
For a moment, Luella stood there, still holding her close, before sighing and stepping back.
Mai had just breathed a sigh of relief before Luella began to ramble once more.
"I was so worried about you. I was just about to go looking for you since you'd been gone so long but they made me wait a little longer." She explained, pointing at Ayako and Bou-san who appeared to the they in the blonde haired woman's story.
The way she was referring to the couple make it almost sound like she was accusing them of a heinous crime, not making a logical point.
Nodding along, Mai couldn't help but sigh at this woman. She was so dramatic. But despite how exasperated Mai was beginning to feel, Luella's worry made her a little happy and she could help but giggle a little at the situation.
"Please calm down and think a little rationally Mrs Davis. You claimed it would take us a minimum of half an hour to walk into town, which means it's another half an hour back. That's a minimum of an hour just to get there-"
Yasu helpfully cut in to inform them at it had only take twenty minutes to get into town from the position next to Ayako on the couch that he had taken, making Mai huff a little in irritation. That would not help her cause.
"-And then we had to look around in an unfamiliar place. It was an interesting trip. Surely you can understand my curiosity of a new place?" She continued, playing off of what adventurous spirit she hoped Luella had. It had already been a good five minutes since the blonde began her ranting at this point after all. Even Martin was beginning to look a little put out by her speech.
For a moment Mai was worried that she had made a mistake. But once the English woman stopped for a second and let the information sink in there was a sigh from Luella and then a tired smile. "I guess so. My apologies."
Moving to sit back down next to her husband, she stopped for a moment before she swung back around, an odd determination in her eyes. "And call me Luella, please. None of this Mrs Davis stuff." Glancing at the others she smiled, "That applies to everyone."
Mai blinked for a moment in complete confusion, still trying to process what was being asked of her so suddenly. The way Naru's mother had swung around, she had been sure there was something important that the woman wanted to say. This was definitely not what she had imagined.
"Are you going to stand in the doorway all day or are you going to sit down?" Naru couldn't help but ask, raising a brow at the brunette.
Even after all this time she was still so easy to read. It was painfully obvious that she was still reeling and part of him almost worried that she'd fall over standing around confused like that.
He wouldn't put it past her.
Huffing, Mai grumbled about annoying narcissists under her breath as she took a seat next to John on one of the other couches.
It was silent for a moment, Martin and Luella watching the girl who had even their stoic son reacting in amusement.
"So, did you find everything you were after?" Luella inquired after taking a minute to reign in her more... unorthodox tendencies. "You never did explain what you wanted. And I didn't see you bring anything back with you."
Oliver couldn't help but think the same things from his single seat next to Lin. After they'd left, Luella had voiced a lot of worry and confusion about what they were up to and for once, he didn't have the answers to those questions. It was frustrating.
Flushing, Mai quickly shifted her gaze to the ground. She didn't know what to say in response to the underlying question. She was worried she'd ruin the surprise by saying something that Naru could interpret and come to a conclusion before she'd even started her experiment.
Glancing over to Naru out of the corner of her eye, she flushed when he caught her, lips twitching up the smallest bit, just enough for Mai to know that he was amused at her embarrassment. Her eyes quickly moved back to the floor, cheeks much pinker then before.
Luckily for her, the partner in crime she'd chosen did know how to get out of situations like this.
Grinning at Luella easily, he laughed at her suspicion. "We did get everything we wanted. It was a little hard finding our way around but we managed. You'd think Mai's instincts would keep her from always getting lost but apparently that isn't the case. But to answer your other question, we already dropped everything off in her room." He explained without really helping their curiosity any.
Masako gave Yasu a distasteful look. "What are you up to?" She demanded, eyes narrowed.
Yasu grinned mischievously. "I'm not up to anything. Mai on the other hand..."He trailed off, throwing the brunette under the bus without a second thought.
As soon as the words left his mouth, Mai's head snapped up, her eyes narrowed at his admission. What the hell was he thinking?
The look on his face was practically screaming 'it can't be helped' even though he knew very well that it could have been.
"Is that so?" Bou-san cut in curiously, looking at Mai.
"Care to fill everyone in on what you're up to Mai?" Ayako continued. After the last time Mai had pulled something like this, the red head wasn't sure if she was prepared to wait whatever these two were clearly up to, out. She feared very much for her clothing and hair.
At this point even John was looking at the brunette in curiosity, waiting for answers to their questions.
Biting her lip, Mai felt herself becoming more and more nervous. Getting up quickly, she made her escape to the door before anyone could stop her, shouting, "No!"
After the shock wore off, Yasu was the first to burst into laughter at the strange display just as the door swung shut behind her.
Soon after, the rest of them couldn't help but laugh as well.
Luella smiled at happy emotions this group were bringing with them. Glancing at Noll, she could now understand why he had been more reluctant then she would have expected to stay in London instead of returning to Japan.
When the laughter wore off, Martin couldn't help but put in his two cents. "Shouldn't someone go look for her?" He asked a little hesitantly.
Masako scoffed in response leaving John to smile kindly. "Mai will be fine. She's probably just walking around." He assured Martin.
Yasu smirked knowingly, a fact that Naru did not miss. It was obvious he knew where Mai would be right now. Part of him wanted to demand to be told but he didn't want to seem like he was curious, or even worse, worried. So he didn't.
Instead he listened to the group talk about what it was Mai could be up with constant looks towards Yasu and then, when they realised that the college student wasn't giving anything away, changing topic to questions about what sort of things Mai and Yasu would be studying while they were here.
All in all, Oliver was very glad when a maid came to get them for dinner, informing them that Mai was on her way already as well. This had them moving.
Sighing, Naru followed silently, blocking out the meaningless chatter. This had been a complete waste of a day when he could have finished some experiments or otherwise completed something productive.
As if sensing his sons thoughts, Martin held back a moment so that he could walk next to him.
"You know, your mother is happy that you chose to sit with us all afternoon, even if you were reluctant. Thankyou." He expressed.
Naru just grunted in response.
That was more then enough for his father.
~jUsTaLiNeBrEaK~
When they arrived at the dining room, Mai was already seated and clearly waiting for them all to arrive. Taking the same seats as earlier, Naru ended up sitting next to Mai once more.
It was amusing to see how much she was holding out from immediately starting to eat. Clearly the brunette was hungry after running around all afternoon.
"Idiot. Just start eating." He pushed, smirking at the flustered look that came over her.
For a moment she was going to argue but Lin who had heard them, nodded at her making the brunette huff. Is this what it had felt like when she'd forced the two of them to eat?
Casting that thought away, she finally began to grab from the table, filling her plate and eating like she had been starved.
Oliver rolled his eyes at her antics, grabbing a significantly smaller amount for his plate and beginning to eat in a much more civilised manner.
The meal was filled with meaningless chatter and plenty of laughter. When everyone else was almost finished however, Mai excused herself, smiling brightly.
Naru narrowed his eyes as he watched her leave the room. He could feel curiosity rearing it's irritating head and could practically hear his brother screaming at him to go and find out what was going on.
Ignoring the feeling, he simply waited the evening out. There was no reason to find out what was going on. None.
~LaTeRtHaTnIgHt~
After finishing their food, the group once again found themselves sitting in one of the living areas, chatting away. Sometime in the past hour Yasu had managed to slip out without anyone noticing and it had left almost everyone worried about what he was up to. It didn't take a genius to figure out that he had gone to Mai.
Not that they had to wait long. Not fifteen minutes later, Mai made her way into the room carrying two trays of... something. No-one could really tell due to the metal coverings, but Yasu was carrying the same thing.
Placing them on the table, Mai grinned at the silence that had fallen over the room but made no attempt to enlighten them on the situation.
"Are you going to explain this any time soon or as we supposed to guess what you've been wasting the afternoon on?" Naru asked after realising that no-one else was going to make a comment. His voice was cold but for someone like Mai whose lifeline had been her ability to sense what kind of mood her previous boss was in, the curiosity was obvious.
Even though Mai knew she was baited with the comments, she couldn't help but glare slightly at Naru in response. "Just for that comment, you get nothing after all." She decided.
Yasu stifled his laughter from beside her knowing she didn't mean it.
"After putting this much effort into whatever this is, I highly doubt that." Oliver retorted.
Mai crossed her arms ibut didn't deign him with a response. It wasn't like he wasn't right.
"Just hurry up already." Snapped an impatient Miko. She'd been listening to their cryptic talk all day and she was well and truly over it.
Deciding that she'd teased them for long enough, Mai pulled off two of the metal lids to reveal a bunch of tea pots and some small, almost shot sized glasses. The two that Yasu had opened were the same.
Everyone stared at the trays in confusion, unsure of what exactly was going on. The feeling of confusing them had Mai feeling elated. Mentally she considered it a victory against the great Naru but otherwise she was determined to maintain a relatively business like nature.
"What exactly is this?" Lin inquired. Thus far he'd been pretty silent. Mai as a person used to do similar things in the office from time to time, surprising Noll and himself with small things from time to time claiming that it was 'necessary to stop them from turning into emotionless rocks'. In reality the brunette just enjoyed giving people things and surprising them.
But she'd never done something like this.
Glancing at his young charge, he could tell the same conclusion had been reached.
Not to mention the way she'd set it up. It reminded the Chinese man of an experiment.
Noticing the looks, Mai smiled brightly. "As you can see, there are various hot drinks laid out on these trays and a bunch of small glasses. I want you all to try each one and tell me which one was your favourite and if you hated one, which one it was." She informed them.
"So this is another experiment?" John assumed, still a little confused.
Mai tilted her head a little. "Kind of? But i'll leave that part to Yasu. All you have to do is try the drinks and enjoy." She grinned brightly.
This response seemed to placate the priest well enough.
Seeing no objections, Mai began to fill up a line of the glasses with the first drink, a blueberry infused tea. With Yasu's help, Mai distributed them around the room before making Yasu take one himself.
It was silent as the drinks were sipped, disappearing quickly. Taking the glasses, from them, she stacked them up on the tray before pouring them all some water.
"I don't want the flavours to intermingle so please drink this before you take the next sample." Mai explained.
This continued until various options had been enjoyed including a cherry infused tea, raspberry infused tea, hot chocolate made from scratch, a vanilla version as made from scratch and coffee. The only one left was mint. From the moment Mai began pouring the mint infused tea, the room filled with the smell causing the occupants all to relax almost instantly.
Mai mentally applauded herself for choosing to save this one for last.
Handing them out, this time she kept an even closer eye on Naru for his reaction. Before this test even began she had made her predictions for which flavour each person would prefer but when it came to Naru it was more like confirming a suspicion she had long since discovered.
There was a long silence while everyone enjoyed the taste of the final tea.
Almost too soon, Bou-san was up out of his seat and pulling Mai into a bone-crushing hug. "They were all so delicious Mai." He complimented her. "You should have just told us what you were planning. The old hag was worried you were going to pull a stunt like last time. I should have known that if it was you leading the surprise it wouldn't be anything horrible."
Struggling to breath, Mai tried to escape his hold. "Let go of me, old man!" She shouted.
Almost scandalised, the monk let go and stepped back with a very Yasu like expression on his face. "You think I'm old?" He asked.
Masako cover her mouth but it was clear she was smirking. "Everyone thinks that. You and that old hag."
Before an all out war could erupt over the comment, Martin cleared his throat. "As amusing as it is to watch you argue I'm afraid time has flown by. It's getting late and you've had a long day. Perhaps it would be best for everyone to turn in for the night." He suggested.
Luella looked up at the clock before nodding in agreement. "Yes. I must admit this is already way past my bedtime so I'll be heading off for the night. The drinks were lovely my dear – especially the raspberry infused one. Not a fan of the coffee though." She informed smiling.
Madoka nodded in agreement, pushing up from her own position next to Lin. "I'd have to agree with Luella on the teas. Off to bed with me now."
Slowly, one after the other everyone left, thanking Mai and informing her of what she wanted to know. By the time it was just Naru and her left in the room she was practically beaming in happiness. Not only had she managed to create some new drinks that would be perfect for her cafe, but she had also been able to guess every person correct.
Shaking his head at Mai, Naru sighed. "What are you so happy for idiot? Hurry up and go to bed." He ordered.
Mai's smile softened when she looked at Naru. Despite being so angry with him when they'd first seen each other again after so long, she couldn't help but feel like almost nothing had changed. And besides, it wasn't in her nature to hold a grudge. Love on the other hand appeared to be something she held onto for much longer if the fluttering in her stomach was anything to go off of.
"I'm not tired." The brunette disagreed. Swallowing nervously, she looked at the wall beside Naru. "Would you take a walk with me? Madoka mentioned some gardens but I wasn't sure how to get to them and I didn't want to get lost..."
The excuse was flimsy at best but Oliver wasn't particularly against accepting it at the moment. "Why would you ask so late? Stupid."
Huffing, Mai pouted. "I just wanted to see what they'd look like at night. You don't have to." She grumbled. "I'll go on my own then."
The thought of Mai wandering around at this time of the night by herself even if they were on private property was enough to have Naru close to a headache, not to mention how much later i'd be after she managed to find them. The chances of her managing to get out there without getting lost were slim at best.
Sighing, he stepped out into the hallway. "Come on."
Shellsan: And there you guys go. Originally this chapter was over 4000 words so I had to cut it down, however that means I have 1000 words of pure fluff already written to start the next chapter off. I'm hoping to have another update for you all within the week since I'm on holidays but because I have a job, still no promises. Also, when I was reading over this entire fanfiction, I found there were more then a few mistakes in the first few chapters – seriously how did you guys deal? O.O- and I may get around to editing them in future but for now I'm going to leave them as and focus on making the next chapters better then ever before. In saying that, I hope I juggled everyone okay. I always find it difficult to make sure everyone gets there time when the entire SPR group is in the scene and this time there was Madoka, Luella and Martin as well so it was hard to move between them all. Regardless I hope you enjoyed though!
Mai: Also, Shellsan would like you all to know that she has planned out where she wants to go from here and the story will soon be moving forward again soon -unlike the various filler-esk and informational chapters that seem to be getting written lately.
Gene: Please leave a review and let Shellsan know what you thought. If you do, I promise interesting communication between myself and Noll in the coming chapters *winks*