A/N: I own nothing but the inconsistencies, odd characterizations, and bad premise...yet here you are! Please review!

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Part II

She had been in the bathroom for an extraordinary amount of time and Naru was considering going in after her and making sure she hadn't gotten herself possessed or lost in the plumbing.

He knew she couldn't be spending time in front of the mirror because there was no electricity and it was pitch black in the cabin, save for the light of the fire. If he considered it, maybe she really did get lost. After all, the girl was a misfortune magnet, prone to attacks, falls, and any number of mishaps. Still, he realized that barging into a bathroom was not really in the realm of necessity right now and Naru almost smirked, thinking how she would react to such an intrusion. It was almost welcome just to stop this awkward conversation.

He leaned back against the bed, checking his phone again for any service and finding none, trying to distract himself from the absurd mental acrobatics he'd been indulging in all night. Suffice it to say that this was unknown territory for him, though he knew better than to expect normalcy in his job—or around Mai.

Still, trapped in a cold cabin in the middle of a blizzard with a girl, expected to be confessional and amiable, was probably something out of his early nightmares. Noll Davis was decidedly not someone who indulged in the social or intimate and would have found thousands of other things that would have appealed to him more. Academic and intellectual engagements, research and thinking, investigating and hypothesizing, lectures—these were Naru's interests, his forays into a pleasurable experience and existence.

Still, he had to admit that tonight was shaping up to not be as unbearable as he'd originally feared, and he had to again admire Mai's uncanny ability to extract his more sociable side, despite his best intentions. Really, the girl was a nuisance in that way: worming, caring, sapping herself into his head and Naru didn't like it one bit.

Correction: Naru didn't like that he liked it, one bit.

The rub of it, as Gene would say, was that there was a strange modicum of relief that he gained around Mai. An amount of warmth that enveloped him and made him forget, even if for brief moments, all the much more important things about life. Reputations, research, work, and business all flickered away in the light of watching her tell an animated story, or flush prettily in annoyance. He didn't understand how or why and it made him feel out of his depth, something he was not accustomed to.

Because you love her, Gene's voice sang in his head and Naru scowled and pushed it back.

No, because I'm not as cold and calculating as everyone supposes, he retorted.

I never believed you were, brother.

Naru's scowl increased. Don't confuse your own feelings about Mai for mine, Gene.

There was no response and Naru smirked, glad to have won the argument. Until he realized he'd been talking to himself.

Damn it.

Gene's voice drifted in again, I've warned you before. You can't keep this up forever. Stop ignoring your feelings you idiot.

"You sound like Mai," Naru grumbled bitterly.

"Sorry?"

The young man's head snapped up and he saw that Mai had come out of the restroom and was standing near the bed, her back to the fire, giving him a confused stare. "Nothing," Naru sighed, promising himself pay Gene back for all of this trouble in the afterlife. In spades.

Mai didn't look convinced but shrugged and turned away from him.

Naru closed his eyes and laid down on the bed fully, "I pulled all of the blankets on here so we should be perfectly fine for the night."

Mai nodded, her back still to him, and Naru again almost smirked, knowing she was undoubtedly embarrassed about the prospect of sharing a bed with him. He, a far more mature and logical individual, was not flustered of this concept and, and was free to enjoy the discomfort it was causing Mai.

He watched as Mai's fingers grabbed either side of her sweater and began to lift the garment, his earlier smugness suddenly forgotten. A lead weight seemed to have landed in his gut.

Back still turned, Mai was unable to see the splay of emotions in his face as her sweater caught her long-sleeve undershirt and pulled it slightly upward, exposing pale and smooth skin before she was done, flinging the sweater off.

Naru slammed his eyes shut and turned his face to the ceiling, irritated that he was so easily distracted by something so simple and tame. It's not like she had flashed him. That mental image made him feel that pang again and he could swear he heard Gene snickering in his head and he was close to just punching his skull and knocking some sense into it before he remembered that he was Oliver Davis and not some immature teenager.

Wrong, that infuriating voice sang again and Naru scowled.

"Are you okay, Naru?" Mai asked. She was beside him now, legs underneath the covers and she was looking at his face in concern. "You seem flushed," she said, touching his forehead with a cool palm.

Naru grabbed her wrist and pushed it away as quickly as he could. "Fine," he snapped and Mai stiffened slightly before nodding.

She laid down as well, turning away from him. "Goodnight, Naru."

"Goodnight," he replied coolly.

In the quiet dark, alone with his thoughts, Naru listened to the howling of the wind outside and the steady, quick beat of his own heart in his ears. He remembered the last time he'd observed his emotions this intently: his brother's death. He'd laid in the dark then too, listening to his body and experiencing the way it was responding to his thoughts—the broad sweep of grief and regret and loneliness as it threaded itself around parts of his insides he knew the clinical names to, as if that told him anything. His mind was no help.

Not sure why he was doing it, or what he hoped to accomplish, Naru said, "I lied about having only talked to Gene once."

The words hung out in the dark and everything was still for a long moment before he felt the figure next to him stir and move. He kept his eyes on the ceiling, "He's in my head."

"In your head?" Mai said softly, her voice close, and he realized that she was facing the ceiling now as well.

"That's what that means, yes," he said. He could almost see her frown out of his periphery and was annoyed at himself for snapping, "He talks to me."

He heard Mai suck in a breath, "You—you mean he's with you? Like now?"

Naru nodded and said, "Yes."

Mai sat up and turned to him, her face a mask of worry that he could dimly see in the dark, "That's…that has to be difficult."

The young man shrugged, "It's good to hear his voice."

The brunette's eyes were soft and transfixing. She bit her lip and looked away and he had the sudden urge to get her attention.

"He does love you," he said and Mai's eyes rounded on him again.

Instead of blushing, however, as he'd expected, she simply nodded, "I know."

Years of practice had trained Naru at not being expressive, but he was sure his face betrayed his shock. Mai must have seen it too and she smiled slightly, "Gene is pretty open."

Naru had not known that she knew—had not known that even Gene, the person he thought he knew better than anyone, would confess like that. Maybe being a spirit had really changed him after all.

He sat up, "Maybe the knowledge that you love him will finally allow him to move on."

Mai was looking at him, frowning, "I'm not sure I understand. I don't…love Gene like that. I thought I made that clear…"

Naru snapped his head to her, something very heavy clenching in his stomach.

After a silence she continued, exasperated, "Gene and I care about each other but we don't…at least I don't." Her eyes were on her hands, clenched in her lap, "Naru, I told you the truth a year ago."

His body was responding to something his brain had not clearly articulated, because he was finding it very hard to work through what she was saying, much to his chagrin. If he was in a clearer state of mind, he would have tried to study himself—understand his unusual reactions and find a cause.

Naru took a steadying breath and looked at Mai in front of him, all bright eyes and open expression. Soon, he leaning towards her, the slight glow from the fire lighting his way.

"Wh—what are you doing?" she whispered, interrupting his advance.

Naru couldn't help but roll his eyes, "What does it look like I'm doing? I'm about to kiss you."

Mai sucked in a harsh breath, her eyes widening further, "W-why?"

Naru clenched his jaw, trying not to show his annoyance, "What do you mean, 'why'? Aren't you supposed to be the arbiter of all this emotion garbage? I'm sure you've already thought of some grand romantic explanation to go along with my actions so far."

He watched her mouth drop open in indignation. While he was amused at the expression, he probably should have figured that his comment would rile her up. She was, after all, very easy to fluster.

"'Grand romantic explanation'?!"

"Yes," he said factually, annoyed at having to elaborate, "You are wont to give meaning to simple acts and events in order to move through and understand the world. I suspect you've created some insipid image of me that is brooding and handsome and can be won through love or tears or something of the sort, that you've probably gotten from copious novels. I'm not really familiar with the mythology of the teenaged girl."

The scientist wondered if, perhaps, he'd gone a little too far, as the venomous look in her eyes was not coupled with the usual flush, but rather a stiff, white face.

He also suspected that she would be a lot less likely to let him kiss her if he insulted her very way of being. Opening his mouth to say something to balm her anger, he was interrupted by the girl in question's low voice.

"That is enough." Naru's mouth tightened: he was not one who liked to be intimidated, but he realized that Mai was not doing this to banter, or argue. She was drawing a line.

"You are welcome to insult a lot of things," she said, "And, in fact, you have. But you do not tell me what I feel or imagine, even if you are the subject!"

Naru didn't respond, taking in her ire and considering. He realized that if their situations were reversed, and she'd acted as he had, he would never have forgiven her for her insinuations. The thought was bitter, as empathy tends to be, and Naru was uncomfortable. It seemed, in this light, that he really hadn't extended Mai even that common courtesy of respect.

"I'm sorry," he said and some of the fire went out of her eyes before she shook her head.

"Don't, it's not in you nature," she grit out.

He sighed, "Mai, that was cruel and unjustified for me to say. I am sorry."

Her anger seemed to completely disappear and Naru wondered why he'd never apologized to her before—this was a lot easier, and less unpleasant, than he imagined.

Mai nodded and Naru could see the tell-tale blush in her cheeks again as she avoided his gaze. His eyes had adjusted to the limited light but even so he couldn't quite make out the expression in her face. Naru would have thought that impossible until today: usually the girl was so simple to comprehend and here he was again, in unknown territory. It did not bode well for him.

Still avoiding his eyes, she lay down again and closed her eyes and Naru could not fault her. This was an utter debacle of tangled conversation and misunderstandings and it was best to keep silent and forget. To sleep and wake up and find the others, and solve this haunting, and go back to real life and predictable schedules and interactions. Naru laid down as well and closed his eyes.

But then Mai sighed, like a prelude, and he could almost hear the strain of her breathing. "Do…do you want to hear a ghost story?"

Naru didn't speak and she seemed to take his silence as permission.

"I used to think…I once believed I was haunted by the spirits of my parents."

The silence after this stretched itself in the dark. He heard her swallow, "I'd always believed in ghosts. And after they died…I felt like they were there, and I would sometimes think my mother was brushing my hair at night. Or smell my dad's cologne when I walked into the bathroom."

Pause.

"I kept losing things and I had convinced myself that they were moving around in there, trying to tell me something." Her breath was harsher, "A—and I talked to them, played music for them, left windows open so they could leave whenever they wanted…I was stupid, I know."

She laughed, strained, "I didn't know anything about spirits then and that it doesn't work like that. Eventually I realized that they weren't there and that I was…making up a story for myself. I wanted them around so badly—"

Pause.

"They hadn't stayed behind and, I know I shouldn't wish that—especially now—but it took me a long time to be okay with that—that I wasn't unfinished business for them."

Her voice was chocked, "The ghost story had a perfectly reasonable explanation: a silly girl wanted to believe in a fantasy."

She took a breath, "And so I thought that I had learned my lesson then…until you."

She stopped talking and they were both still except for their breathing—uneven and hitched in the now barely flickering light of the fireplace.

The sensations that had been building in his chest, constricting his air, took hold with renewed vigor and Naru felt as if there was a spirit or a force or something pressing around them in the small room, sucking the oxygen away. Facts and figures were running across his head—information that was attaching and placing itself in congruent alignment, shaping out a pattern of things. Strange details that made sense about his interactions with Mai: her shrewdness and skepticism, her loyalty and kindness, why she accepted this job, why she felt what she did…for him. Her hurt at his accusations about her off-base imagination.

He was a shadow over her before she could fully look at him, turning on her back, and he decided he needed more evidence from himself because these feelings cursing through his body were starting to make sense…and he needed proof. Naru looked quizzically at her large amber eyes, staring at him with something like shock and wonder, the way the edge of her teeth was visible in her parted mouth. A staggering breath escaped her.

Naru moved.

He kept his eyes open as he leaned down, his nose scraping against hers as he aligned their mouths and pressed. Her own eyes had shut and he watched from too close to see, the way her brows twitched at his touch, cheeks trembled. She felt far too soft to be real and Naru moved his lips over hers, testing if maybe he would just pass through her.

The feeling was strange and not altogether unpleasant, though Naru wasn't sure he was supposed to be experiencing anything more. He pulled back slightly and felt her breath fan against his skin and it was the first tingling sensation he'd felt so far. He frowned and studied her face (which was astoundingly red) and her eyes opened again under his scrutiny.

"Naru," she said softly and his attention was back on her mouth, deciding that maybe he hadn't been thorough with it the first time, because people put a lot of stock in kissing and right now he just wanted something to ease this pain in his chest. He bent his head again and, this time, Mai met him, her lips wet. Her breath pressed into him and Naru saw static or something like it, and he realized that he'd closed his eyes and this was much preferable. He pushed closer and that feeling in his chest was suddenly lighter because Mai was moving and her hands were on his shoulders and then, slowly, on his neck and Naru's mouth was working of its own accord, some instinct driving the car, and he was satisfied with how it was making Mai respond by releasing sighs through mouth and throat.

Experimentally, he let himself move his tongue and suddenly the world was an explosion of sound and light because goddamnit that was better and Mai seemed to agree because her voice was sending vibrations through their connected skin, her fingers light on his scalp, and he was pulling her closer.

Somehow they were both sitting up again, chest to chest, holding on and kissing and Naru realized that he'd gotten his proof, there was really nothing more he needed and it was really time to desist. And yet, when Mai pulled away for a breath he followed her, arms pulling her back against him, unable or unwilling to stop just yet, not when this was far preferable to intimate confessions or strained apologies. This was as good as banter—as fun as teasing her—and who knew that he'd be so decent at it?

Mai pulled back again and quickly turned her head when he tried to kiss her again, her face red, "Naru…I…"

But Naru wouldn't be dissuaded, not when he finally figured out what all this fuss was about. He attached himself again and Mai didn't even struggle, back to touching him, and the way her hands stroked down his chest made him take in a breath and move from her mouth to her cheek to her throat and back again. She moaned and moved even closer until she was almost sitting his lap. Naru had the sudden urge to bite her lip at the sound and didn't question it, the action causing more moans for his effort.

His fingers splayed against the small of her back and, through their movement and motion, her shirt rode up far enough for his cool fingers to feel heated skin. Mai gasped and stilled, pulling away from him in earnest.

"Sorry, Naru…I just…"

He watched her and waited but soon realized that she had nothing further to say. She wouldn't look at him and Naru supposed he ought to say something in order to take reigns of the situation.

"That was pleasant," he said, in his usual tone, and Mai's face turned to him, smiling slightly.

"Yeah?"

Naru just stared and Mai was back to coloring like a tomato. "I liked it too," she said quietly.

He couldn't help but smirk, "I suspected as much."

Mai scowled and looked down at her hands, lip between her teeth, "Do…does it mean something?"

Naru raised an eyebrow, "You mean, do I go around randomly snogging unsuspecting girls?" Her face was angry again and Naru thought it was just too easy.

"Certainly it means something," he said calmly, "Though I'm undecided as to what."

Mai was avoiding his eyes, and it annoyed him. "Can I ask why? You kissed me, I mean?"

Naru was irritated—not at her, but at himself. He really…didn't know why. Just that it seemed…

The young man sighed, "That is a complicated question."

Mai's head was tilted and her face had gone blank, "Do you like me?"

Naru felt something shift in his chest and he was sure that he would be bruised from all of these pangs in the morning, "Don't be coy, Mai. It doesn't suit you." At her annoyed flash of anger he paused before relenting, "Though, I suppose, that's a feasible hypothesis."

The brunette sighed but nodded, flopping back down on the bed, "You are an enigma, Noll Davis."

Naru frowned at the name, concentrating on that look on her face, which he could no longer read, and that skin of her throat-soft enough to call him back.

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A/N: Part III is coming...as long as we're in agreement that there should be more. With that bribe...please review? :)