AN: Ok. I saw this word and I was hit with a burst of inspiration. Like, it was hurtling towards me at 500,000 mph. Unavoidable. Fatal shot. Or should I say, fatal thought? Oh, I slay me. Just kidding. I am fond of puns, though. Anyways, this is actually going to be more of a collection of various moments put together in a way that makes it seem like a one-shot, haha. I played around a bit with my writing style here, also. It was fun!

Expect the next one-shot very soon (within the next day or so), because there was another word that also gave me wonderful feelings. Read, review, enjoy!

EDIT: AmyNChan helpfully pointed out to me that I forgot to define this word pbthhh. It means "the conversion of something into its opposite". There you go! Happy reading :)

X

She hated him. Sure, that might just be her teenage hormones talking, but the guy was such a narcissistic prick and all higher-than-thou and just all in all an ass that she could hardly say otherwise. How dare he speak in that manner towards Kuroda-san? Not to mention that despicable smirk of his when he mentioned her intellectual "inferiority".

... Whatever that meant, anyways.

As she put on a calmer face and left the old school building that evening to meet up with Keiko and Michiru, hoping to laugh away her anger, she couldn't help but notice his derisive glances whenever she happened to stumble, or laugh just a little bit too loudly. Although he quickly looked away again once she had gathered the courage to return his glares. Hey, you couldn't really blame her for hesitating- despite how much of an asshole he was, he was still incredibly attractive and more-than-slightly intimidating.

After she and her two friends had gone sufficiently far enough from the building, Mai let out an obviously agitated sigh, prompting her friends to ask the question of concern which opened the floodgate of hatred. She stormed and raved and raged, indicating to her friends that she might be like this until the handsome- yet according to her, absolutely intolerable- ghost hunter was far, far away.

Keiko and Michiru simultaneously attempted to calm their seething friend down, patting her back, with the tallest of the trio hugging her in a motherly manner, but nothing seemed to have any effect upon the raging girl.

Mai did, however, come to the conclusion during this time that she was doomed.

XX

Mai begrudgingly came to realize that he wasn't all that bad, though she still felt justified in declaring that she disliked him. To be truthful, the only reason she stopped saying the word hate in the first place was because he was paying her, and it would make her appear ungrateful.

(That didn't mean she couldn't think it, however.)

(But if she did still think it, why would she take the job?)

(She's an orphan- what do you expect? She needs to to make money somehow.)

(But she didn't have to work for him, if it was truly so-)

Shut up shut up shut UP!

The spiritualists surrounding Mai stared at her in lieu of her sudden and seemingly unprovoked outburst, which had apparently escaped the safety of her brain and infiltrated the very real lobby. Coloring slightly, she shaked her head and signalled for them to carry on with their business, and to not mind her one little bit. She did, however, go over the points which had been presented by the part of her conscience so decidedly against her hating actually the narcissist. And thus was her discovery that, indeed, she didn't hate him at all. Rather, she was feeling indifferent towards him. Sure, he got on her nerves all the time, always had some sort of snarky quip used to put her down and raise himself up, but he also had those moments where even he had a heart, and even deigned to reveal it towards the other constantly present irregulars, as they had come to be known.

And these considerations informed the teenager that no, Naru wasn't that bad after all. In fact, he might even be rather charming, in his own conceited way.

XXX

Mai didn't know when it happened, or how it happened, but it did.

Takigawa suspected it was after the Kenji case, when Naru finally permitted a small party in his office in celebration of Christmas. Ayako thought it happened when they had been found together at the bottom of a manhole. John, being a romantic and optimist, had seen the first signs long before, when she had defended him against the miko and the monk. Yasuhara, despite entering the group much later than the rest, claimed to have foretold its occurrence in a dream he had 500 years ago. Masako chose to pretend it didn't exist- despite her refusal to acknowledge it not making any difference on the reality of the situation.

Whenever, however it happened, the fact is that it did. The fact, the most unfortunate, unpleasant, exciting fact, is that Mai had a crush on her arrogant boss. And what was even more unfortunate, unpleasant, and exciting is that while he didn't quite acknowledge that her feelings were there, he did seem to be paying special attention to her during the Urado case.

Or maybe that was just Takigawa, who was relaying the irregulars' speculations to the blushing and highly embarrassed girl, reading far too much into it.

XXXX

She had never felt more in love with him than at that moment.

It was a rather morbid realization, considering that he was in a hospital after using his PK, but it was the truth. Mai was the only one left in his room, staring at his sleeping figure (she couldn't help but giggle at the thought that if he were awake, he would most definitely comment on the awful color of the curtains), so terrifyingly alone with her thoughts and speculations, and with plenty of time to realize that she was so terribly in love. She had told him that she liked him a lot, that day so many months ago in the forest, Gene still both heavy in their minds, but the word love had not intruded her mind nor her words until that moment.

Buzzing for the nurse as soon as Naru opened his eyes, his long eyelashes fluttering slightly, Mai couldn't help but hope that maybe, just maybe, he might not think her too stupid for falling in love with him, for falling in love with the twin with the "worse" personality- though in truth, his narcissism had become to her not a matter of contempt or dislike, but rather a way for her to know that this was no dream, no adventure through the astral plane, but that he was her Naru, no matter how long she had to wait for his gratitude for the tea.