I decided very early on Saturday morning that I would never admit to how long it took me to get ready for my day with Naru. He had said to dress for a date. But I had never really been on a proper date before.

I decided against trousers. While they are practical, they weren't very cute. That narrowed it down to a skirt or a dress. A skirt would be less fuss but a dress would probably look nicer.

I ended up choosing a plain khaki mini skirt and matched it with a soft creamy-coloured cashmere jumper and my black winter boots with tights. My outfit wasn't too flashy, but I liked to think it looked like I'd made some effort. Plus, my winter boots were honestly the most comfortable things I had ever worn and would be easy to run in, if the situation arose. Not that I thought it would, but I never knew what to expect when it came to this man.

At 10am, a small red city car appeared outside my apartment and when I went down to it, Naru was sitting in the driver's seat. The first thing I noticed was that he wasn't wearing all black, but beige chinos and a navy shirt. It was weird to see him in clothing of a colour other than black.

"You have to be eighteen years old to have a driver's licence in Japan." I pointed out as I climbed in.

"What are you talking about?"

"You said you were seventeen?"

He pulled an aged black leather wallet out of his pocket and opened it. From inside, he produced a Japanese driving licence and passed it to me.

I took it and read the contents. It told me that he was eighteen years old as of about six months ago, that he'd had his licence for about three months and most confusingly, that his name was Narumi Kazuo.

"So were you lying before? Or is this lying?" I asked, frowning at him as he took it back.

"What did I say about questions you don't want to know the answer to?"

"But I do want to know the answer to this one." I protested.

But he didn't respond.

Instead, he started the car and began driving us to an unknown location.

"So am I to call you Narumi Kazuo? Or Shibuya Kazuya?" I asked, feeling this was a reasonable thing to question.

"Stick to Naru." He replied curtly.

"Is that a real nickname of yours? Only you seemed shocked when I first called you that."

But once again, he didn't answer me.

"Am I allowed to know what the plan is for the day?" I tried again after a short silence.

"We will be going to see three houses, and then going for a drink in a café."

"Why?"

"My parents are looking for somewhere to live around here; I am scouting the area for them." He said.

"Why am I coming though?"

"Don't you think it's natural for a young man to invite his girlfriend while doing these sorts of things? Besides, your input to the matter would no doubt be appreciated." He said and I spluttered in shock.

"What are you talking about?!" I replied quickly. "I am not your 'girlfriend'! I never agreed to that!"

If he hadn't been driving, I think he would have rolled his eyes.

"It's a cover Mai, for my real intentions, but it is the story we will be sticking to." He said coldly. "If you can't cope with that, then just stay quiet for the day."

"What are your real intentions?"

"You don't want to know the answer."

I scowled at him. I did want to know the answer and he full well knew it, but I didn't see any point in pushing the matter. So I tried another line of enquiry.

"You went through my entire apartment didn't you?" I didn't need him to answer this question, so I asked another. "Did you even go through my private things?"

"Like what?"

"Like my underwear?" I asked flippantly, hoping against hope that he hadn't.

I thought he wasn't going to answer, as he paused for a moment before speaking again.

"B60." He said and I felt my face burn as he reeled off my bra size.

"Anything could have been in that drawer!" I squealed at him. "I could have had my sanitary products in there for all you knew!"

"No, they were in the drawer underneath." He replied calmly, as if it didn't bother him.

"You jerk!" I folded my arms and stared out of the window, oblivious to the smirk on his face.

"So I am a jerk for looking in your underwear drawer? But not for breaking into your apartment, holding a knife to your throat or pointing a gun at you?" He asked, sounding amused.

"Yes." I huffed defiantly, not looking round.

"You need to sort out your priorities."

"My priorities are just fine."

He didn't say anything else until he had parked the car outside a large modern looking house.

"Stay in the car." He said. I turned to look at him, but he was pulling a pair of thin framed glasses out of a pocket and putting them on. He climbed out and walked around the car and opened the door for me. He offered me his hand and I took it.

The glasses had the effect of making him look older than he was – or rather how old I thought he was, as I could no longer be sure – but he certainly didn't look bad in them. Then again, this guy could probably look good in anything.

In the time it had taken him to walk around the car, he had hitched that fake smile of his back on his face.

Naru locked the car, and together we began to walk up the drive to the house. He had taken my hand and led me up the path, occasionally throwing glances down at me as if he was genuinely infatuated. I had a feeling that anyone looking at us wouldn't suspect a thing unless I did something daft and gave it away.

So I grinned back up at him, it wouldn't be so hard to pretend when I had such a handsome man holding my hand.

A woman, presumably the estate agent, greeted us at the house and showed us round. I let Naru deal with all the questions and merely peered around curiously. I did throw in the odd comment about how nice everything looked, but I stayed out of any serious conversation.

After about twenty minutes, we left.

Naru lead me back to the car and opened my door for me again. Then he joined me in the car and drove off.

"Well done." He said.

"I don't understand." I replied.

"That doesn't surprise me, but what don't you understand?"

"Why everyone else doesn't see though your smile." Before he said anything though, I continued. "Your mouth might be smiling, but your eyes are always cold."

Once again, he didn't reply.

A few minutes later, we parked again and repeated the whole façade.

Between the second and third properties, we did not speak at all. I think he was annoyed at me for pointing out the flaw in his facial expressions.

However, when we reached the last house, the aura around Naru changed slightly. His interest seemed slightly more genuine than before.

"You like this place?" I asked as we walked up to the front door.

"It's a beautiful setting, don't you think?" He replied. It was true, the area was nice.

A woman not much older than me answered the door.

"Hello, I am Morishita Noriko." She greeted us. "The estate agent couldn't make it, but please come in anyway."

Once inside we slipped off our shoes and put on guest slippers.

"I would offer to show you around, but I'm afraid I've hurt my ankle, so please just take yourselves around." She said, indicating her bandaged ankle. "When you've finished, I'll be in here if you have any questions." She pointed to the lounge. "Take as much time as you need."

Her eyes also didn't match her smile, but not in the same way Naru's did. His eyes were cold; this woman's eyes were full of sadness.

So we began our way around the house. It was larger than the other two properties we'd seen that morning. I glanced around almost empty rooms; they had obviously already begun moving out. The only room that seemed untouched was that of a child. There were toys all over the floor, and a blonde doll sitting on the bed. Naru entered this room and headed straight for the window to admire the view, but I took more notice of the drawings that had been stuck up on the wall.

One that caught my eye was of a girl with brown hair holding the hand of a blonde haired girl in a reddish dress. Behind them were lots of other stick figure children. At the top of the crayon drawing read 'Ayami and Minnie and our friends' in childish hiragana.

"What do you think?" Naru asked, holding his hand out to indicate he wanted me to join him. I took his hand and looked out of the window. You could see the entire street from this point.

"It's a good view."

"It is." He agreed and then led me back out of the room and down to the lounge.

"Are you done already?" Morishita-san asked.

"Almost, do you mind if I look around the garden?" Naru asked.

"Go ahead; the key should be in the lock." She replied. Naru let go of my hand and headed towards the back door, I was about to follow but then hesitated.

"What's the asking price?" I asked in hope of working out what sort of money Naru had, if he was really thinking about purchasing this place for some reason. Morishita-san replied with a surprisingly small quantity. "Why is it so low?"

"We are looking for a quick sell." She said sadly, but continued at my confused expression. "My niece died a few weeks ago. We have no need for such a big house without her here."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be, it was an accident." She said with a sad smile. "Ayami-chan was always a lively child, but she wasn't the strongest swimmer. I had told her so many times not to play around that pond…" She trailed off. "Your boyfriend? He had the same dead look in his eyes as I see in my brother's, has he lost someone recently?"

Her question threw me slightly; I had always viewed Naru's expression as cold and unfeeling, never as 'dead'. Perhaps Morishita-san had a point…

"No, that's just how his face is." I replied with a wry smile.

Before anything else could be said though, Naru had reappeared.

"Well I've seen everything I want to, are you content Mai?"

"Yes." I turned back to Morishita-san. "Thank you very much."

She made to get up from the sofa, but Naru halted her movements.

"Its fine, we'll show ourselves out. You should rest that ankle."

"Thank you." She replied gratefully and we left her in the living room.

However as we opened the door to leave, someone was already standing there, hand poised as if about to knock. He was a short man, not much older than I was, with blonde hair and baby blue eyes. He was dressed conservatively, but smiling none the less.

"I'm looking for Morishita Noriko-san?" He asked in what I guessed to be a Kansai accent.

We were saved the trouble of answering though, as Morishita-san had hobbled over.

"Father John! Thank you so much for coming to visit." She said. We bowed and left, leaving Morishita-san to her next guest.

Once back in the car, Naru removed the glasses and pocketed them.

"Did you know about her niece?"

"That she drowned in the garden pond? Of course."

"It's horrible." I shuddered at the thought. Drowning had to be a horrible way to go. Though perhaps burning would be worse.

Naru did say anything, but instead drove us to yet another location. It was nearing lunchtime.

"Where are we going now?"

"A café."

"Why?"

"Because my mother would call me a lousy date if I didn't take you to lunch after dragging you around several houses." Naru said coldly. "And some of us have standards we like to meet."

"Is that a real mother?" I asked, not expecting a reply, but he surprised me.

"Of sorts."

And I was so shocked; I didn't think to ask anything else.

Not long after that, we arrived at a café. Naru bought us lunch and drinks and we ate mostly in silence.

However, just when we were about to leave, two people entered the café that I certainly wasn't expecting to see: Keiko and Michiru.

"Mai! You didn't say you were going to be here!" Keiko exclaimed. "And you're with Shibuya-senpai!"

My two friends sat down with us before I could protest.

"Explain!" Michiru demanded mischievously of me.

"We were just getting some lunch…" I stuttered in shock, gesturing to our empty plates. Fortunately Naru took over for me.

"I asked Mai for some help and she was kind enough to assist me. This lunch is my way of thanking her." He said, smiling charmingly.

"You didn't tell us he was taking you on a date!"

"It's not a date!" I protested as Naru spoke over me.

"I only invited her yesterday."

It was then that I realised that these two did not know that he was my new boss. I had told them both I had got a new job to explain my absence from after school meet ups, but never told them more than it was a job filling things in an office in Shibuya.

"Aww, that's so kind of you!" Michiru gushed. "Especially after the week she's had! Did she tell you about her new boss?"

"No, she didn't." And Naru looked at me. I looked away, my cheeks burning from embarrassment.

"She was telling us about him yesterday lunch!" Keiko continued. "About how he's a bossy know-it-all who's been working her to death!"

"Really?" Naru sounded amused. "What else did she say about him?" He made eye contact with me and I figured I had probably just lost my job.

"Not a lot." Keiko surmised. "She spent the rest of lunch fuming; practically had steam coming out of her ears!" She giggled.

"So what are you two doing here?" I asked, trying desperately to change the subject and salvage my job.

"Just grabbing a drink before we go shopping!"

"That sounds fun."

"Well I better be off." Naru said. "Would you me to take you home?" He asked me.

"Oh yes, don't let us interrupt your date!" Keiko and Michiru both got up and waved goodbye before heading towards the counter. I saw Keiko mouth the words 'tell us about it later'.

I groaned and followed Naru out.

"You know they are going to be teasing me for ages about this?" I said to him as we climbed back in the car.

"So?"

"So? It's embarrassing!"

But Naru only rolled his eyes and started driving.

He parked outside my apartment, but prevented me from getting out of the car.

"I need you to promise me something."

"Okay?"

"If anyone asks about me, tell them the truth, no matter what." He said seriously, staring at the steering wheel. I had a feeling he definitely wasn't talking about Keiko and Michiru, but something a lot more serious.

"Okay." I agreed nervously. "Is that why you won't tell me things? So I can't tell others?"

"Partly." He said quietly. "Mostly to protect you."

He climbed out of the car before I could say anything and walked me up to my front door.

"You didn't have to walk me up." I said quietly.

"If this was a real date I would have to."

"If this was a real date you would have to kiss me goodbye." I said without thinking. Then realised the implications of what I had just said and hastily rectified the matter. "Good thing it isn't a real-"

But he had cut me off with a soft kiss on the cheek.

"You can have tomorrow off as I suspect you will need that long to stop blushing. Besides I wouldn't want to work you to death now, would I? I'll see you on Monday." He said, and with that, he turned and walked away.

I held a hand up to my cheek and touched the spot where he his lips had touched me.

Later on though, thinking back on the events of the day, that as he was leaving, I might've seen him smile.

Author's note: I actually made a list of things so I wouldn't forget everything I wanted to say.

1) To everyone who has reviewed as a Guest, seriously, get yourself an account! It means you get email updates every time one of the stories you follow updates. Also, it means I can answer your questions privately! It's good all round!

2) Someone asked about my update plan. Basically, I write whenever I have free time or am avoiding real work and upload once I have over 1500 words or have reached a good ending point. Uni starts again this week, so I doubt I will get something up every day, but I will try not to make you wait too long!

3) Someone asked about Mai learning English/getting other abilities. She already learns English at school, so I don't know if she's going to make extra effort. As for other abilities - there's no psychic stuff going on here - I'm sure she might end up picking up one or two skills. But I don't want to make her suddenly amazing at fighting or something daft like that, it wouldn't be realistic!

4) B60 bra size in Japan relates to 28B in UK/US sizes, just for reference. I figured Mai is pretty small generally so it would fit.

5) Finally, do you ever get the idea that some people don't read author notes? I have received a few reviews on the last chapter of Emails saying things like "I can't wait for the next chapter" and they don't seem to realise that it's finished... *awkward*.

ANYWAY PLEASE REVIEW :)