Chapter 5: Goodbye, Naru

A/N: Naru is finally having some interaction with Mai; YAY. Poor Mai is just so dense sometimes.

On another note, I have a new Naru/Mai fic up on my profile (shameless advertising here, I know) along with a Yasu/Mai one-shot. Do check them out if you want to!

As usual, a big thank you for every review, favorite, alert and for simply giving this fic a chance! I appreciate them a lot, trust me.

I hope you guys enjoy this chapter, and now...

Onwards!

"My head feels heavy," Mai complained as she stretched on the couch before she started to retie her bun. "I wanna sleep." They'd been pouring themselves over the available information they had of the Woods, but it didn't seem to be much. Eventually, they had both deduced that this case wasn't going to surmount to much - there were more reasons than not for non-supernatural occurrences.

Yasuhara yawned, fixing his spectacles as his fingers pressed down on a few more keys. "I think we're about done with the report, anyway."

Mai gave a little cheer; she was looking forward to a break for some time already. Pushing herself up on the couch, she took a quick glance at the clock. "It's already three, Yasu." She opened the fridge but found nothing appealing for her growling stomach. "Order takeaway? There's nothing much in this junk."

"Mai, aren't you the female? You should stock it up, you know," Yasuhara teased, a smirk playing on his lips as he brushed past the scowling girl in front of the fridge to get a cup of water. "I'll order. What'd you like? Chinese? Or pizza?"

Mai tapped her chin thoughtfully as one leg slammed the refrigerator door shut, "Chinese! I want fried rice!"

Yasuhara made the 'okay' gesture. She beamed in response. God, she was starving! She hoped the food would come soon. With that thought in mind, she shuffled back to the couch, Yasuhara close behind her as she peered at the screen again. "You know, in the worst case scenario, given the amount of money Stella has in her bank, they can always move to a better place, no?"

"Moving isn't always the best option," Yasuhara said, yawning again, "darn, I'm beat."

There was a comfortable silence as Mai opened a new window when there was a sudden prod to her side.

She squealed, clambering away from him instinctively. "Yasu!"

"Sorry," he said, obviously meaning otherwise, "but you made me late this morning."

Mai's face paled and she swallowed instinctively. Oh, crap. "Sorry, Yasu! I promise I will wake up earlier tomorrow!"

She knew that Yasuhara would mind especially since it was their first day, but still.. Gah. She sighed. "I owe you one, okay?"

Yasuhara's spectacles glinted, almost deviously and Mai resisted the urge to faceplant herself on the floor. It seemed as if he had a plan for her already. As she was wondering whether it would be chores or books, he laid his head on her shoulder, closing his eyes, obviously too tired to voice out his request. "I will get the favor back from you another day."

He opened an eye. "Or you can always be my temporary pillow." He wiggled his eyebrows at her. She quickly stifled her own giggles; she didn't want to encourage his antics.

So instead, she opted for rolling her eyes and whacking a cushion at his grin. "Shut up and just sleep, idiot."

"I haven't ordered food yet," he murmured, his words growing increasingly slurred as Mai re-read the report they had typed up the past few hours. She ignored his weak protest and patted on his head to reassure him. He needed his sleep for sure. She felt a yawn widening her mouth - and she needed hers, too. Quickly, she saved the document and leaned back on the couch, eyes staring up blankly at the ceiling.

Yasuhara continued breathing slowly and peacefully on her shoulder. She chanced a look at his face and grinned at how angelic he appeared. If only she had a camera right now, she would have captured this. "Ah," she sighed, feeling the onset of her headache because of her unrest last night. She rubbed her temples, frustrated. "I should just let it get to me last night."

Sleep paralysis was a usual thing for her to experience, and it grew in numbers whenever she didn't have enough sleep or when she had too much stress. During work periods, having it was both tiring and advantageous. Sleep paralysis helped her to get her to astral project in a less difficult manner and she only had to concentrate on getting out of her body at the right moment. Usually, astral projecting would take more work, but sleep paralysis helped to make it easier. However, it didn't mean she appreciate having it - it was absolutely annoying when she wanted proper rest and it disturbed her.

She covered her mouth when she yawned. "I should nap a bit too," she muttered to herself, stretching and reaching for some cushions to plop herself up comfortably.

Knock, knock.

"Taniyama-san?"

Mai jerked in surprise. Luella? She glanced at the sleeping Yasuhara on her shoulder - crap, she didn't want to wake him up either. "Yasu! Luella is here!"

"Luaala?"

She smacked her hand on her forehead. "Never mind. Just continue sleeping."

"Taniyama-san, Yasuhara-kun, are you in?"

"Yes!" She yelled back as she set Yasuhara carefully down on the couch, bringing a cushion under his head. He wasn't talking anymore and was probably reverting back to dream state already. Oh well, he would wake up later.

Hurriedly, she scrambled for her keys and with mildly trembling fingers, unlocked the wooden door. "Luella, I'm sorry for the wait! Come -" Mai's heart gave a little jolt when she noticed a dark-haired teenager behind Luella and looking like he wanted to be somewhere else at this very moment. She felt herself frowning at his expression even though she didn't comment. "Come on in."

"Sorry for troubling you! I'd have called but I realized I didn't have your number," Luella admitted sheepishly, poking her head in curiously and looking around her living room. "Wow, this place looks pretty good."

Mai beamed as she locked the door behind them. "Yep, it is."

"Where's Yasuhara-kun?" She noticed Luella looking at Naru when she asked and wondered why. "He's sleeping on the couch. Stayed up too late last night, I reckon."

"Oh?"

"He was reading some theory book," Mai explained, gesturing for them to have a seat in the other couch. "What would you like? Some tea?"

"Sure, that'd be great!" Luella said, a bright smile on her face as she set the package in her hands down on the table.

Mai turned to Naru, forcing her expression to remain neutral. "And you, Naru?"

"Tea."

The monosyllable he uttered was enough to bring memories back and she averted her gaze away from his stoic face. He was steepling his fingers on his lap and already looking bored. Really, he wasn't the type to pay a social visit so why was he here? Somehow, she wouldn't put it past Luella to force him to go along with her, though for whatever reason, she wasn't sure. She looked at the cupboards in the kitchen, wondering where she placed the brand of tea.

Remembering where it was, she tiptoed, struggling to reach for the kitchen cabinet where she knew she kept Earl Grey tea when her hands stopped reaching for the cabinet and faltered momentarily.

Oh god, why did she reach for that reflexively? He wasn't her boss anymore and it didn't matter what kind of tea he drinks. She didn't have to comply to his tastes and preferences. She felt a scowl twisting on her face. Despite herself, she was still struggling to reach for the damned cabinet. Damn it! "One last time, and I'm getting the tea he hates," she grumbled to herself as she missed the latch of the cabinet again.

"Argh!" She stumbled back, losing her footing and flailed her arms around her helplessly - she could only hope she doesn't fall too hard on the floor. She certainly didn't want Naru to come in and see her sprawled on the floor ungracefully. He would probably have an insufferable smirk on his face if he happened to see that. However, before she could hit on the cold hard surface, someone had already caught her, his long fingers wrapping around both her arms and steadying her.

Tingles shot up from where he grabbed her despite the layer of cloth that separated their skin. "Be careful," he muttered stiffly from behind her, releasing his grasp. Her heart was thudding madly in her chest and her face was heating up like nobody's business. She could feel the hotness of her cheeks as she pressed her palms on them.

"T - Thank you," she managed to stutter out, albeit nervously, not daring to turn to face him. She was standing there, fingers gripping the edge of the kitchen counter and waiting for him to leave; but she could feel his eyes boring holes into her back. "I can handle this myself," she said after a moment of silence. Her heart was still slamming furiously against her ribs and she took a deep breath in a pathetic attempt to calm it down.

"What were you reaching for?" He was close to her again, his breath making the hair on the back of her neck stand.

"Obviously tea packets," she retorted instinctively. When she realized that he wasn't going to leave, she busied herself with pouring hot water into four cups and tiptoed again to attempt to reach for the cabinet again. Argh, fine. She gave up; no Earl Grey for a certain narcissist, then. But before she could back down and squat down to search for other types of tea, one hand trapped her from the left and the other was already opening the cabinet.

She took a sharp intake of air at his close proximity. He was going to send her heart on overdrive if he continued and she wasn't even sure if he was aware of it. She swallowed hard as she felt his arm brushing against hers, heart leaping to her throat.

"I'm assuming you're searching for Earl Grey," he said, voice still cold, but there was a tinge of amusement Mai could detect. She felt her own eyebrow twitch in mild annoyance.

"No," she snapped, eyes catching his dark grey ones, "I'm searching for chrysanthemum."

There was a moment of silence as their eyes connected.

"There's only Earl Grey here," he said after a moment, not looking away.

Stupid Mai! "My memory is horrible, in case you have forgotten."

He didn't say anything in response. "I will get this since you've it in your hand already," Mai said, feeling the silence stretch awkwardly between them. How long had it been for them to be alone like this? Ever since she confessed, they didn't...

She pulled the packet out of his long fingers, careful not to touch him and started preparing the tea. "If you don't mind," she said, voice a little high-pitched because of her tenseness, "I would appreciate if you can just wait out there with Luella."

She checked behind her when there was no reply and realized he was already gone. She bit down on her lip as her vision started to blur. She quickly wiped the tears away with the back of her hand, bewildered and flustered to discover that she was tearing up. She had already decided that he wasn't going to upset her anymore and she was going to stick to the little promise she had made for herself.

Even with her inner turmoil, she could feel her heart give a little clench as she remembered how close behind her he was.

\\\\\+\\\\\

"Oh, Mai!" Yasuhara's cheerful voice greeted her as she carried the tray out to the living room. "You sure took your time, eh!"

She rolled her eyes. "You could've came to help if you know you're going to complain."

"Noll," Mai could hear Luella's disapproval. "Didn't I ask you to help her?"

"Oh, no," Mai hurriedly denied, "he did help. I just wanted to do it myself."

Yasuhara was looking at her strangely and there was something in his eyes that bothered her and she could tell he wasn't about to let it go. Quickly, she looked away, suddenly unsure of what she should say. "Well, well, we better enjoy the tea Mai took hours to brew in the dear kitchen of hers!" Yasuhara declared brightly, handing out the cups to everyone.

Luella giggled as she took the cup from him. "My, aren't you charming, Yasuhara-kun!"

"Just call me Yasuhara," he said, winking at her, "beautiful ladies like you don't have to bother with suffixes."

Luella's cheeks reddened as she beamed with his praise. "Aren't you a ladies man?"

"I'm not," he said, chuckling as he took a sip of tea, arm slinging around Mai. She looked at him strangely; he normally didn't display any affectionate gestures in front of the others.

Luella's eyes landed on his arm and Mai flicked it. "Yasu, seriously."

"Mai, you're heartless," Yasuhara grumbled, rubbing the sore spot. Luella burst out laughing at their interaction.

"You two are really close!"

Mai grinned. "Yep! He's my best friend."

"Were you two already this close in SPR?"

Mai shook her head. "It was after - " she stopped herself when she realized what she was about to say. Instinctively, her eyes met Naru's. His face revealed nothing, but his stormy grey orbs looked almost angry as he seemed to urge her to complete her sentence. What in the hell was he angry for? He was the one who left! "I mean, after Japan's SPR closed, I coincidentally met Yasu and we just got along from there."

"Ah," Luella said, nodding. She seemed like she had something to ask, but stopped herself. Instead, the elder woman pushed the package forward. "Here. I baked some cookies and there were some extras."

"Oh!" Mai gasped in delight: she loved homemade cookies! "Thank you so much, Luella!"

"It's no problem, Taniyama-san," Luella said, smiling.

"Call me Mai, please," Mai said, eyeing the cookie package almost hungrily.

"Just open it if you want to try it," Naru said, face phlegmatic.

"I will try it later."

"You looked ready to rip the package open."

Mai could feel her own brows twitching again. "I haven't had lunch yet, what do you expect?"

"No lunch yet at this hour? I thought a few years would make you take care of yourself better, but it turns out you're still the same," he said callously, glancing at his watch and ignoring Mai's glares skillfully. "I need to get back to the branch, Mother."

Luella pouted, looking almost disappointed.

"Luella, you can stay here for dinner if you want to," Mai offered; she wouldn't mind the presence of another female in the house. Plus, Luella had a really pleasant, motherly aura around her. "But we're ordering a takeaway, if you don't mind."

"Yes, I will stay!" Luella said enthusiastically. "I don't mind a takeaway!" She turned to Naru who was looking at her, face still schooled to an emotionless mask. "Help me tell Martin, would you?"

He nodded wordlessly, then jerked his head to the door. "I need to go."

Flustered, Mai stood up and almost knocked over her teacup. She winced, embarrassed at herself and hurried to the door, leaving Luella and Yasuhara to discuss about some sightseeing place in England.

Her hands shook a little as she slotted the key into the lock and heard a soft 'click'. Pulling the door open for him, she refused to look at Naru as she focused on the spot on the wall behind him. He turned to leave and as she was cursing him mentally for not even biding farewell, he turned and their eyes met for the third time that day.

"Bye, Mai."

His voice was unusually soft, though still with a hard edge to it, but she could feel her face heating up again.

She waved, not trusting her voice to say 'goodbye' - she was sure it would crack or something even more embarrassing might happen. Her eyes averted to the ground, too timid to meet his.

There was a pause and she saw him still standing there, and something told her that he was about to say something. But he held it back and instead, turned to proceed his way down. As she watched his back disappear down the corridor, she felt her gut knot as she released a heavy breath.

"Goodbye, Naru," she whispered.

A/N: Naru X Mai moments, like F-I-N-A-L-LY. And my exams are finished, so I managed to get this chapter out before school life catches up again! Leave me a review to tell me your thoughts; feedback is always appreciated.

May Dream!Naru (or Gene) visit your dreams tonight.

-mysticflakes