Disclaimer: We don't own Ghost Hunt!

~Jealousy in the office~

Chapter 8

Mai sighed in warmth before opening her eyes and looking for the source. Surprisingly, she found herself tightly tucked in a cozy blanket.

"I don't remember..." She trailed off. Mai blinked and frowned in confusion. Suddenly someone burst into the room.

"Mai, are you...awake...?" The person stopped when they saw she was awake. Mai smiled.

"Yeah, Ayako I am. I just woke up though... Do you know what time it is?" Mai asked her. Ayako rolled her eyes.

"It's ten o'clock." She informed. Mai's eyes widened in utter panic and she jumped out of bed.

"What?! Why didn't anyone tell me?! Naru's going to kill me!" Mai shouted as she went to her suitcase to get some clothes for the day. Ayako laughed.

"Calm down. He said to let you sleep in because you'd be tired after...yesterday." She smiled at the younger girl. "I think he was apologising." Mai paused for a moment before turning around to face Ayako. She flushed in embarrassment.

"W-What?"

Ayako smirked. "Come on, Mai. You know as well as I do that he almost never does something like that."

"W-What exactly did he say?" Mai's blush deepened. Ayako raised an eyebrow.

"What do you mean? He demanded that we let you sleep. This is still Naru."

"O-Oh...right..." Mai laughed nervously. "I'll get ready and make him some tea then..."

"Good idea. He's been a little irritable at the moment..." Ayako sighed. Then Mai laughed at her words.

"Tell him I'll be right there." She waved it off. The elder woman nodded before leaving Mai to get changed. Mai sighed and then began to get dressed for the day. Afterwards, she quickly went to the kitchen to prepare Naru's tea. She was surprised he had lasted this long in the morning without it. She was even more surprised at the kind gesture of allowing her to get some extra rest. It was something she really needed. Maybe she should do something to show her appreciation... Mai sighed. What could she do though?

Picking up the tea, she made her way to the base. All throughout the walk there, she pondered over what she should do. When she reached the base door she mentally groaned. She still hadn't thought of anything she could do for him. When she walked in she saw Naru and Lin at the monitors. Naru had his back turned towards her so he hadn't noticed her come in yet. Careful not to spill any tea, she walked over to him quietly and placed the tea right in front of him, inwardly laughing when she saw a slight jump. She smiled at him when he turned to look at her.

Without a second thought he took the tea off the table, careful not to seem any more rude than usual, before taking a long sip and mentally sighing. He hadn't quite anticipated how horrible the tea withdrawal of a few hours would be. Mai tried to repress a giggle from the expression Naru had. Sadly, she failed and Naru heard the small and undeniably cute sound she made causing him to glare at her for more than one reason.

"Mai-"

"Thank you." She promptly interrupted him. Naru gave her an annoyed look at being cut off.

"What for?" He asked, curious to see where this was going.

"For letting me get some extra rest." She answered. "And...I'm sorry about yesterday..." Inwardly groaning, Naru nodded. Hopefully she would realise that now wasn't the time. Mai blinked when she noticed what Naru was doing on the monitors. She looked at it before flicking her gaze back into him. "Did something happen?"

Naru rolled his eyes at her. "Just because I'm doing my job doesn't mean something has happened."

"Then what's that?" She demanded pointing to the screen. It showed that the temperature was real low in the area Mai was in about an hour after she had gone to sleep last night. Turning back to the screen, he realised she was right. His eyes furrowed in concentration. It seemed that the temperatures stayed down since then also.

"Lin." Naru called. The Chinese man nodded before leaving the room.

"What?" Mai asked, puzzled. "Did you not notice it before? Where's Lin going?" She inquired, full of questions so early in the morning.

"Are you that stupid? Lin's going to check out what's going on." Masako scoffed from over the room. Mai twirled around and glared at the medium.

"I didn't ask you!" She shouted. Masako covered her mouth as she smirked.

"Who said that Naru was actually going to answer you?" She asked. Mai gritted her teeth in anger.

"Ma-sa-ko!" She started to charge over to her, but Naru placed a hand on her arm to stop her. "Let me go, Naru!" She demanded. She struggled to get her arm free.

"Mai, sit down." Naru could only sigh at the girl. Mai huffed as she glared at Masako, refusing to listen. "Mai." Naru said more firmly. Mai simply ignored him and continued to struggle, determined to show Masako just how much she disliked her snobbish attitude. Naru pulled on Mai's arm—annoyed at her stubborness—making her stumble back.

"Why are you on her side?!" She accused, slightly jealous. Cue Masako's smirk widening.

"Mai calm down. I'm not on anyone's 'side'." Naru said, now looking at the monitors again since Lin was on the screen now. The brunette snatched her arm away from Naru none too gently.

"What do you mean you—?!" Mai began to yell, but John cut her off.

"Now, let's all just try to calm down." He stated, carefully placing his hand on Mai's arm.

"But-but he..." Mai pouted, turning to Naru. John simply smiled and shook his head at her. Mai pouted even more that her bottom lip was sticking out. Her eyes shifted to Masako. "Can I at least get her?"

John shook his head. "Thou shalt not take vengeance or hold a grudge against one another." He recited. Mai glared at Naru and Masako before sighing.

"Fine." She muttered crossing her arms in annoyance. "Stupid narcissist...picks her over me." She mumbled quietly, trying to hide her sadness. Naru inwardly sighed. He had—once again—upset Mai. It hadn't even been a full day yet either! And what was worse was she thought he picked...Masako. He mentally shivered. She was the last person he would ever go out with. Or at least by choice.

But wanna guess who would be his first choice?

It would be the clumsy assistant who was sitting on the nearby couch pouting cutely.

He was definitely going to have to set things straight soon. Preferably before Masako pulled anymore stunts. He must have been more deep in his thoughts than he thought because Lin came back into base at that moment.

"Naru."

Naru looked over to him. "What did you find out?"

"My shiki are definitely sensing a very malicious spirit." Lin stated while Naru nodded.

"I thought so."

"Naru..." Lin called again. When he had the young man's attention he quickly glanced at Mai. Naru looked up, snapping out of his thoughts and followed his gaze. All he saw was Mai still slightly pouting. What was new? Naru glanced back at Lin, who walked closer to him.

"It seems the spirit had an attachment to Mai last night." The Chinese man whispered to him. Naru sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance. Do you always have to attract danger?

"Mai." He called her. Mai slightly perked up at hearing him say her name, hoping he'd give some thing to do—or that he would apologize and say he was on her side. But that one was unlikely.

"Yes, Naru?"

"Come with me." He stated walking towards the door. Mai wanted to ask why, but she didn't want to take the risk of getting yelled at, so she just did as told. Together they made their way down the halls to a room not too far away. Naru let Mai go in first and he followed behind.

"Naru, what are we doing here?" Mai asked after she entered the room. Her boss closed the door and turned to face her. He seemed to be...worried. No, that can't be right. Why would he be worried? "Naru...?" Mai asked again when he said nothing. She was confused why he would drag her in here. Couldn't he have just said what he needed to say in base? The man sighed, running a hand through his hair in both frustration and annoyance.

"Mai..." Naru started walking up to her. "You're not to leave mine or Lin's side for the rest of the case, do you understand?" Mai gulped feeling increasingly nervous due to the proximity.

"W-why?" She managed to stutter out.

"It appears that the spirit was attached to you last night." He answered. Taking a step back, she tilted her head in confusion.

"Wouldn't I have realised it though?"

"It was after you had already fallen asleep."

Mai shivered. "Somehow I don't find that very safe." She muttered. Naru couldn't disagree with her there.

"So now that you understand that, we can move onto other matters." He stated, shifting discreetly.

"What 'other matters'?" Mai inquired in confusion, furrowing her brows. Again, the man in front of her shifted.

"I wanted to explain to you that I wasn't on Miss Hara's side earlier."

"Oh..." Mai adverted her gaze from him. "Naru, it's fine, really..."

"Mai, look at me." He demanded, wanting her to at least notice how serious he was. Mai reluctantly shifted her gaze back to him. She nearly fell backwards at the look on his face. W-What in the...? Mai thought in herself, shocked. His face was stern but it was his eyes that she was amazed at. Normally his eyes were cold, but right now, she could see how sincere he was being and how worried he actually was. It was...touching.

"N-Naru..." She whispered. Said man was quite nervous. He doesn't usually let his guard down for anyone. But...it seems Mai's always an exception. Not that it should surprise him, given the feelings he felt towards her. Naru mentally sighed. She would definitely be the death of him. Mai tilted her head at Naru, her eyes still wide. "Naru... I'm not exactly sure what your relationship with Masako is but-" Mai began only to get cut off by her boss.

"There is nothing going on between Miss Hara and I."

Mai blinked in surprise at his sudden bluntness. Then she began to smile as she registered his words.

"Oh." She commented, trying to hide her happiness. She would have sighed in relief had it not been for the fact that even though Naru wasn't dating Masako, he probably wouldn't even consider dating her. Mai's smile faltered.

This wasn't missed by Naru's keen eye. What could possibly be going through that mind of hers? He would never be able to understand what went through Mai's mind. He just hoped it wasn't something bad at the moment... She had been through enough in the past day.

"Mai, what's wrong?" He asked, making sure what it was that was bothering her. Mai looked at him surprised.

"What do you mean?" She inquired, shifting from one leg to the other while biting her lip.

"Your expression changed really fast. That usually only happens when you're too deep in thought." He replied, staring at her. He saw her smiling, which he took as a sign that she was really happy he wasn't with Masako, but why is she frowning like this now? He hoped that he didn't do something to her again without even knowing it. "Mai?" He asked again. He needed to know what she was thinking so he wouldn't be worried. The brunette looked at the ground, refusing to meet his eyes.

"I-I was just thinking about the case." She lied. Naru narrowed his eyes.

"Really? What about it?"

"Umm...the ghost? That was...uh, following me?"

Naru raised an eyebrow. "When did I say the ghost was following you?"

Mai's eyes twitched a bit at her slip-up. "Fine, attached to me then. Same difference."

"Having something attached to you and following you are completely different."

"Whatever." Mai waved it off as she began to walk to the door. "We should go back now..."

"Mai." Naru warned, grabbing her arm lightly. She stopped walking, but she kept her back to him. "Tell me the truth." Naru requested.

"I did." Mai simply stated. Naru resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

"No, you didn't. You're lying to me."

"What does it matter?!" The petite girl suddenly blurted, yanking her arm away from him and turning to face him. "Why do you care so much?"

Naruisawesome: Ooh, what do you think Naru's answer will be?

MzShellSan: Give her a heart felt confession of his undying love for her?!

Naruisawesome: ...Isn't that a bit-

MzShellSan: *interrupts* Of course not!

Naruisawesome: Okaaaay then...

MzShellSan: Please review everyone! ^_^