Author and character conversation--
Between mysexeyedwardcullen (msec) and 120(cvb):
msec – Hey we are back!! Finally…
cvb – It's seriously not our fault guys.
msec – No it is not. I'm sorry to announce but Chloebuggy has been…how should I put it??
cvb – Killed in an "hypothetical" car accident *laughs*
msec - *laughs* But seriously how should I put it?
cvb – How about her chapters have been discontinued because she has been so busy and from now on it is just us.
msec – Yep that's it.
Naru – Well it's about time you got back.
cvb – Aaaawwww, I knew you missed us. ^_^
Naru – I wouldn't say that. You just left me alone with Mai and her stupidity.
Mai – I'm not stupid! How dare you call me stupid!! *tries to hit Naru but he dodges easily*
Naru – Then explain why it is taking you so long to answer a simple question??
Mai - *silence* *cricket, cricket* Maybe I don't want to answer you!!
msec – Now calm down everyone.
Naru – You will not tell me to calm done!
msec – Oh, yes I will.
Naru - *glares* No you will not.
msec – I can make your life Washington if you don't listen to me and so can she. Remember we are the authors to this story, right cvb?
cvb – Of course we can. We can even take away his tea.
msec – Or we could call Lin? After all Naru's father did send Lin to watch over him.
Naru – I don't need a babysitter!
cvb – Oh, sure. I mean that's why you had to go to the hospital like what, seven billion times. That's a statement not a question.
Naru – It wasn't seven billion. It was four.
msec – Well anyway, this is not all about you Naru. Where are Lin and Aya now that we mention it? *starts looking around*
cvb – He is probably with Aya. Cause you know that he llllllllllooooooooovvvvvvveeeeesssss her. *hehe*
msec – That is very true. Well anyway to all our fans and readers thank you for waiting. We are terribly sorry that it took us this long to update. You can blame chloebuggy for that.
cvb – Yes, do blame her.
Naru and Mai – So when is the story going to start?
cvb – Right now!!! ENJOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
…………………………………………………………………………………………….
Naru narrowed his eyes at Mai's lack of answer. She avoided his gaze, intent on not answering his question. He was about to ask her again but she was interupted by Bou-san calling her name.
"Hey Mai, come help me with," Bou-san raised his eyebrows. "Did I interupt something?"
Naru glared at the monk. "No." He took a couple steps back from Mai, steps he didn't even realize he'd taken. Mai looked at Bou-san flustered, she'd taken steps forward as well. How odd.
"N-no," Mai walked over to Bou-san, who looked unnaturally pleased.
"Oh sure." Bou-san grinned mischeviously. "No, you continue with whatever you were doing and I'll just ask Aya-chan."
Mai was about to argue but Bou-san had closed the door, giving Mai a wink before he left.
Mai turned to look at Naru, but he was already back to looking at cameras, completely impassive as ever.
.xXx.
Aya pulled the hair out of her face and occupied herself by making tea. It didn't help that ghost thoughts were constantly being whispered in her head, making it almost impossible to concentrate on the task at hand. She dropped the cup she had in her hands and grinned.
'Naru!' She said surprised. 'I didn't know you felt that way about Mai!'
She could've sworn she'd heard Naru swear under his breath. 'I don't.'
She giggled to no one in particular. 'Sure and I'm a magical fairy.'
Aya didn't even notice Lin watching her from the doorway. She bent over to pick up the pieces of glass, laughing to herself about Naru and his obvious love for Mai. Lin smiled at Aya. It bugged him that he couldn't make her smile like that. The comment he'd made earlier... It had just come out. He hadn't meant it.
Meanwhile Naru's response was making her blush. He'd said that she was in love with Lin. Lin of all people. She paused, contemplating on whether or not that was true. She didn't think he liked her all that much.
'You'd have to be blind not to notice that he likes you.' Naru muttered.
'You'd have to be stupid not to notice that you like Mai.' She retorted. She laughed and turned her head to the side, noticing a pair of black shoes. Her eyes widened.
"What exactly are you laughing at?" Lin asked, wincing at his tone. It came out so harsh.
"Maybe I'm laughing at you!" She snapped, narrowing her eyes. That settled it, she knew Lin definitely didn't like her.
He narrowed his eyes in return. "Well then maybe you sho-"
"Hey Aya, oh." Bou-san narrowed his eyes. Aya was on the floor and Lin was looking down at her, angry. Not the best position to be in. "What is going on?!"
Lin's and Aya's eyes widened. Aya hopped up and smiled at Bou-san.
"Nothing!" She looked at Lin. "I just dropped my cup and Lin was asking me if I needed any help."
Lin nodded, deciding that the best thing to do was to not say anything on the situation. He forced a smile.
Bou-san narrowed his eyes. "That didn't sound like a polite 'do you need any help'." He said accusingly.
"It wasn't what you think it was." Lin explained, cutting off Aya. She glared at him. "She dropped her cup and began laughing at something and I asked her what she was laughing at. I suppose it came out a little rudely."
"A little?" She scoffed. He narrowed his eyes.
"You aren't helping." He said flatly. She blushed and laughed nervously.
Bou-san raised his eyebrows, gaining a mischevious grin. A grin that neither Lin or Aya were comfortable with. Bou-san nodded.
"I was just wondering if you'd help me with something but I can ask Ayako." He smiled at Aya and muttered something under his breath.
"What was that?!" Aya's face turned bright red.
"Nothing, nothing." Bou-san raised his hands in defeat. "Just keep flirting with Lin."
Lin's eyes widened. Had she been flirting with him? Well in that case... He gave Aya a charming smile after Bou-san had exited the room.
Aya's heart-rate picked up. Something about his smile...
'See, I told you.' Naru said mockingly. 'You're in love with my assisstant.'
Aya blushed. Maybe he was right. Lin, content with her reaction, walked away. The smile still lingering on his lips.
'Of course I am.' Naru said playfully. 'I tend to be right often.'
'You tend to be annoying often.' She sniffed. She leaned on the counter. She hadn't felt this way in years, swooning over a guy just wasn't something she did. She smiled and played with the necklace Houshou had given her when she was little, she was indeed in love with that tall, sometimes mean, silent, incredibly handsome, and stoic man.
"Great." She muttered, turning away to finish picking up her cup. "Just what I need."
.xXx.
"Mai, would you help me make dinner?" Aya asked. She smiled at Mai, who readily accepted the request.
They worked in silence for awhile, when the dinner preparation was completely finished they finally spoke.
"Do you want me to call the others in?" Mai asked.
"No, it's fine, I already talked to Naru." Aya answered automatically. Mai looked at her confused. "I-I mean, I already told him we were making dinner."
Mai nodded. She sat the plates on the table and Naru was the first to enter. He still wanted to know why she hadn't answered his question. It was a simple question to answer. Unless she... No. He told himself. He wouldn't go there. She loved his brother.
'Hey you have a brother?' Aya asked. 'What's his name?'
'None of your business.' He snapped. 'And don't bring it up to anyone.'
Aya, who was in the kitchen still, paused. Why didn't he want anyone to know about his brother? She concentrated on Naru and his thoughts, ignoring his insistance for her to stop.
Nothing came up, he was too strong for her to penetrate his mind. She sighed, brushing the hair out of her face. She'd find out who his brother was one way or another.
"Darn." She whispered.
'What did you see?' He asked, somewhat nervous.
'Nothing.' She said smoothly, the lie coming out naturally this time. There was no way she was telling him that his mind was too strong. 'Just the first time you saw Mai.'
She could've sworn he let out a sigh of relief. She decided that maybe the guy named Oliver in his dream was possibly him. But she didn't know why he'd want to change his name from Oliver to Kazuya.
'Well hurry up. Lin looks sad.' Naru was back to his usual mocking self. She glared at the wall, hoping that Naru was on the other end recieving the glare.
She walked out, a smile plastered on her face. Naru looked at her suspicously but she ignored him. Ayako and Bou-san walked in with John and Masako. She smiled at them as well.
Aya hatched an idea. "Mai, you don't sit there."
"Then where will I sit?" Mai looked at her cautiously. Masako was already seated next to Naru.
"Masako, get up." Aya ordered. "Houshou, go sit where Mai is sitting."
Surprisingly, everyone obeyed her.
"Mai," She said smiling. "Go sit next to Naru."
Mai blushed and Naru glared at Aya. Bou-san sat next to Ayako now, which Aya thought was pretty cute. She had heard lots of stories about Ayako. If only Bou-san would admit that he liked her.
"Then where will you sit?" Naru said almost mockingly. "There's an open seat by Lin."
Aya's face turned bright red. Lin gave Naru a fierce glare. Well, two could play at this game.
She smiled cunningly as she sat beside Lin. "I made six Japanese dishes." Aya explained. "And two Chinese dishes. I don't know about you," She smiled at Lin. "but, I prefer Chinese food over Japanese."
Lin nodded absentmindedly and she smirked at Naru. "Of course, you wanted to sit beside Mai right Naru?"
Naru just blinked. "Maybe you could teach her coherent sentences, it's beyond me."
Mai gasped. "Jerk!"
"Yes?" He answered with a smirk. Aya rolled her eyes.
'When you like someone you aren't supposed to tell them off.' Aya said in his mind while the others ate. Mai made it her goal not to look or speak to Naru throughout dinner. She was doing a great job too.
'Mai is a special case.' Naru replied. He looked at Mai, his smirk widening at the blush that crept up her face. He had that effect on her.
Aya snorted. 'You're a special case if you think she's going to take that forever.'
Naru shot her a glare but he didn't respond. He just didn't want to admit that maybe, just maybe, Aya had a point.
.xXx.
Aya sat up straight in her tiny little sleeping area. She definitely wasn't able to fall asleep and Naru wasn't dreaming tonight so she couldn't hitch a ride there. She rubbed her eyes and looked at the sleeping faces around her. She wrinkled her nose, something smelled like Chinese tea.
.xXx.
Aya walked down the hallway, a little drowsy. Her stomach was really the one guiding her throughout the hallways. She found herself in the kitchen, Lin was pouring himself a cup of her tea. Her tea. She giggled.
"Oh no you don't." She told herself. "No giggling."
Lin looked up, his eyes widening a little. "What are you doing up?"
She snapped out of her daze. "I couldn't sleep. And that tea smells really good."
Lin held out the cup for her. "Here, take this one."
She took it with a small thank you. He couldn't help but stare, she was beautiful in her pajamas. They weren't anything special but right now Lin would say, to himself of course, that she was beautiful in just about everything.
"Thanks Lin." She said, hopping up. She yawned.
"You're welcome Aya." He smiled mentally at the lack of 'san' at the end of his name. She spun around on her heel and left without another word, to engrossed in the fact that he hadn't used 'san' at the end of her name.
.xXx.
Mai woke up to the sound of people aruging. She walked through the door to find a distressed Aya, an angry Naru, and two people she'd never seen before in her life. Ayako, Masako, and Yasu came out behind her.
"Where's everybody else?" Mai asked.
Naru looked at her, mildly annoyed. "They're checking out the train tracks."
"What happened?" Mai asked. The woman was crying her eyes out while the man was looking quite angry at the fact that Naru was taking his time answering him.
"A little girl wondered in here this morning and she dissappeared." Naru frowned. "No one has seen her since."
Mai looked at Aya, bewildered. "I haven't heard anything." Aya said softly.
"Mai, take care of this, I'm going to check something out." Naru walked away from the distressed couple. "And make me some tea."