Disclaimer: We don't own Ghost Hunt!

~Jealousy in the Office~

Chapter 23

Mai shook slightly as she looked at Shika, but whether it was from nerves or her own anger, she wasn't sure. Ayako pushed Mai futher back behind her, and they began to back up.

"I would never steal Takumi away! Never!" The brunette shouted at her, surprised at how strong her voice sounded. But it was true though. She'd never ever try to 'take him away' much less date the guy. Besides, she has Naru now. Or at least she thinks she does. After this one though she wasn't enirely sure that she would. Suddenly, she felt sick to her stomach.

Oh dear Lord, what had she done?!

He would hate her for this. Of course she'd done it all for the sake of herself as much as she convinced herself it was for others. But that didn't make any better. How could she have been so stupid and selfish!? And now she was probably going to die from the ghost hands of Shika. Well, no time to worry about that now. She had made up her mind.

"Lies! You're just trying to save your own skin!" Shika yelled back at her. Mai sighed.

"I'm not! I would never do something like that. My only desire is that you see your son again." She tried, her voice slightly calmer now. Shika deeply scowled.

"Why?" She accused. Caught off guard at the question, Mai spluttered for a moment before gaining her bearings.

"Because I didn't get to see my father before he died." She muttered softly. "I know how it feels not remembering a parent or ever being able to talk to them... I just wanted to help Takumi to meet you." Shika's eyes widened in disbelief, and I could feel the shock momentarily slowing the anger that was coming off of her in waves.

"You just wanted—"

"MAI!" The brunette suddenly heard her boyfriend's voice. She visibly paled and turned to see him running towards her.

"Oh, crap..." Mai whispered quietly, just loud enough for Ayako to hear. Shika's eyes snapped towards Naru angrily for interrupting her. Mai cringed at the sight and took a few steps back. "Ayako, you need to stop Naru from coming over here!" She whispered hurriedly to the priestess. Narrowing her eyes, Ayako gave her an incredulous look.

"How? It's Naru!" She hissed back.

"I don't know, just do it!" Mai exclaimed, pushing Ayako in the direction of Naru, who was almost at them. She glared at Mai before turning to him and doing her best to look dignified. Naru glared harshly at the red-head as he tried to walk passed her. Nervously, Ayako stepped in front of him.

"You can't go any further."

"I can, and I will." He growled out. He made to step past her and was irritated further to realise that he wouldn't be let past that willingly.

"I'm sorry, Naru, but you can't." Ayako said. His eyebrow twitched in irritation.

"You can't tell me what to do. Move." He growled out through clenched teeth. He looked behind her at Mai, who was several paces away. His eyes flicked back to the priestess when she began to speak again.

"Mai...she said not to let you yet. Look, her plan was actually starting to go well before you came and yelled!" She told him in a hushed whisper. His eyes flashed in anger.

"What plan?" He hissed. "All I see is a bunch of hopeful idiots who are trying to get themselves killed."

"You think I wanted to do this?! Because I didn't!" Ayako shot back with a glare. "But haven't you learned by now that we should trust Mai's instincts? She wouldn't have went through with it in the end if she didn't think it'd work!"

With an irritated sigh, Naru pinched the bridge of his nose. "I trust Mai's instincts just fine. What I don't trust is that she can make rational decisions without them being affected by what she feels compelled to do regardless of her instincts." He impatiently tried to get to Mai again. The miko was just as intent on stopping him from going closer.

"If you go any closer then you'll risk Mai's life. She had the situation under control before you came." She hissed a little, trying to get him to understand what was going on.

The dark-haired man gritted his teeth, flicking his eyes back to his girlfriend to see her once again talking to the spirit. It was infuriating to say the least. How could he just stand there, only a several feet away from her, when her life is in danger? He would not—no, he could not do that. It was too risky. He needed to get Mai away from here as soon as possible. It was dangerous to be near this ghost. How could Mai have been so stupid as to think that she could handle the situation? How could he have been so stupid to let her leave base when he knew that she wanted to go through this 'plan' she had been talking about? If she could call it that anyway. It seemed like just a bunch of ideas thrown together. Though it was that idiot Takumi who planted the idea in her head to begin with.

He growled lowly at the thought of the idiot. Somehow, ever since they first met, he knew that Takumi would cause him only trouble. He should've done a better job at keeping Mai away from him. But that didn't make it his fault. He'd had other thoughts on his mind. Naru clenched his jaw.

"Mai, enough!" He shouted. If he couldn't reach her, then he could at least yell at her. He noticed her freeze for a moment, but she didn't show any other sign of acknowledging him. It was infuriating to say the least.

"Naru, be quiet!" Ayako hissed. "You doing that will just make the spirit more angry and she could possibly hurt Mai!"

He wanted to believe that she was wrong, but it couldn't be helped. If he were the reason Mai got hurt he couldn't live with himself. Damn it all... Mai was going to be in so much trouble after this was over.

From what he could tell Mai was attempting to quell the spirit's anger. He was amazed that she hadn't been injured yet. Though if she was, the spirit would immediately be terminated from both the living and the dead world by his own hands. Lin would yell at him for it later, but no matter what the Chinese man said, it's obvious that he would have done it anyway. When it comes to Mai, any other thought besides protecting her completely vanishes from his mind. It was almost as infuriating as the ones that he was protecting her from. It amazed him how someone like her could find themselves in trouble so often. He guessed that was what made her Mai though. And as irritable as it was at time, he could never change her—he would never want to. If even she did stupid things beyond belief, like right now. Thinking of which what the hell was she doing now?

Naru snapped his furious gaze back to his girlfriend. Was she, moving closer to the spirit? And the look on her face wasn't what it was before... An uneasy feeling settled in his stomach. He couldn't understand what she was doing this for.

"I didn't want to help Mai do this any more than you do, just so you know..." Ayako began quietly as if sensing his thoughts. "But...she has her reasons for doing this. I just listened to her though, unlike you."

Taking a deep breath, he calmed himself and nodded. His posture was stiff, but he was calmer than before.

Mai glanced at Naru through the corner of her eyes and felt relief flood her. She was glad he decided not to drag her away from here, though she knew he wanted to do just that. Trying to focus on the task at hand, she stepped closer to Takumi's mother.

"Shika...please." She started off, hoping what Takumi said to her earlier would help. Her eyes locked on the spirit's and she could feel the anger and repulsion coming off Shika. She hadn't calmed in the slightest. Though, admittedly, that was probably Naru's fault since the spirit seemed to actually be calming down before he got there.

"How can you say that when you've brought that boy here to hurt me?!" She screeched.

"I didn't! I swear I didn't—he came on his own on! He didn't even know I was here." The brunette tried to smooth over. Shika looked dubious but said nothing. "I'm here to save you..." Mai said quietly, trying to stay calm. "Please, Shika, you need to cross over before you do get hurt."

Her eyes furrowed angrily. "You can't hurt me." She growled. "You don't have the ability or the desire."

"You're right—I don't, but my boyfriend back there sure does..." Mai confessed. "And he's really not happy with you because of what you did to me... But I don't care about that, I just want to keep you from getting hurt!"

Shika looked at Mai skeptically before shaking her head. "I won't leave my son again."

"I'll be fine, I promise." Takumi intervened, overcoming his shock of hearing Mai call Naru her 'boyfriend'. He hadn't realised that anything had happened during the time that he had been away from her. Which, admittedly, wasn't that long. They weren't already going out from the beginning, right? No, he was sure they hadn't. Mai hadn't denied him because she was with someone else. It was because she was in love with someone else. Now he guessed he didn't have a shot with her after all though, did he? Not that he really had before. She had easily deflected all of his attempts.

"How...how could you say that?!" Shika asked him, her eyes wide. Takumi blinked.

"I don't understand what you mean. How could I not?"

Shiki looked at him. "You can't believe that! You need me!" She shouted desperately.

"I...I've already been without you for over ten years now..." Takumi confessed, staring down at his feet before looking up at her. "I'm just glad I finally got to meet my mom."

Her eyes shone with tears. "B-but...you're sure you don't need me here. That man took you away."

Takumi gave a small, sad smile. "I know... I still get mad at him for it sometimes, but it's okay now. You don't need to stay here anymore." The nod she gave was slight, and if you weren't looking for it, you would have missed it completely.

"You went this long without me..." She muttered. He nodded again.

"I had to... and I still have to. Please."

Shika looked hurt, but she said nothing more. Feeling a little guilty while watching them converse, Mai tried to cheer her up.

"He'll always be your little boy." She commented. "Just like you'll always be his mother. That won't ever change."

Shika looked a little doubtful. "I hope so, but you never know. Someone may come along and try to replace me. Re-marrying isn't uncommon." She pointed out. Mai shook her head, smiling at her. She was thrilled they seemed to finally get through to her.

"No, that doesn't matter. You would be his only true mother."

Seemingly pleased by this thought, she turned back to her son for confirmation. "Is this true?" She inquired silently. Takumi nodded.

"Of course."

With a slight nod, Shika sighed. "I guess I should say thank you." She commented despite her clear reluctance. Mai smiled back at her.

"It's okay. I'm just happy we got to talk to you before they had gotten the chance to do the exorcism...that would've been horrible."

Shika's eyes flashed. "So you were prepared to force me away from my son." She sighed.

"I never wanted to, but every else planned on it because of the way you were... I'm sorry." Mai apologized carefully. After a moment the mother nodded.

"I understand." She relented. "I'm just worried about my son." She said, looking back at Takumi. Mai nodded.

"He'll be fine. You need to pass on." She assured the women with a smile. Shika didn't say anything, instead she reached up and laid her palm against Takumi's cheeks.

"Stay safe. I love you." She whispered into his ear as she lent over to hug him.

"I will." Takumi promised her. "...Mom."

Smiling happily, she turned to Mai. "How do I pass on?"

"Look around you for a bright, welcoming light. Mai smiled back softly. "And feel the warmth of it."

Shika nodded and tried to do as instructed. The room began to glow brightly, heat countering the previously cold room. Takumi stared in awe at seeing it become brighter. Turning to her son one final time, Shika smiled at him lovingly.

"I love you, my child. Goodbye."

"Bye..." Takumi gave a small smile with a wave, his voice barely audible.

And then, she was gone.

Mai let out a breath, her whole body relaxing, as relief flooded every inch of her body. Without a word spoken between her and Takumi, she turned around to face Naru and Ayako, who both had a look of shock on their faces. Her eyes immediately landed on her boyfriend and their gazes locked.

"I told you it would work."

Naruisawesome: Sooo, that's the end of the case...

MzShellSan: Yup. But we have some good, or bad, news for you guys. It depends on how you look at it lol.

Naruisawesome: This story will be coming to an end soon, seeing as how the case is over and all—

MzShellSan: —However, NIA and I decided to carry on with it just for a little longer. So, everyone, expect a little more jealousy soon~! ^_^

Naruisawesome: Hehe, I can't wait for it! XD Please review!