Okay, so who wants to kill me for the last chapter? Haha, just to let everyone know, I'm a HUGE NaruxMai fan. So her relationship with Shouta is just for the time being, this is a very long fic, but you will love the ending, which is a very long time from now. What Mai is going through, relationship wise, is a "if you can't have the one you love, love the one you have" right now, she has Shouta. Plus I'm loving the tension it's starting to create as you will see in this chapter. I won't bore you with any more of my ranting enjoy the story and read the note at the end as told by the cast! Enjoy!
Chapter 1- Flowers
December 4:50 P.M. Thursday.
It wasn't a very good week for our favorite brunette. No, it was not. Not only was she late for work, as she sped down the crowded streets of Shibuya, but the power in her apartment complex went out during the night. She missed out on running with Tsubame and was late for her classes.
Her brush broke on her the day before so she's been forced to comb it with her fingers and throw it up in a sloppy bun for two days until she could get her paycheck on Friday and buy a new one after she paid her rent. One of her sets of uniforms shrunk in the wash and her school has the sizes on back order so she'll have to deal with two sets of her uniform until mid-January.
On top of it all, this week all of her teachers decided to have major exams this week. Test after brutal test, Mai didn't even get a chance to see her friends over the weekend, because she needed to study.
She skipped out on her appointment with Hozumi and her nightmares, though they never went away, were attacking her full force again. Had to be the stress of it all. To make matters worse, as the temperature was slowly getting colder, so was the rain. Soon it would be snow and that would hinder her commute to work even more.
Finally she made to the office, her face numb from the pelting of the near freezing rain that had just ended. Of course it just ended. Why would it continue now that she made to her destination?
So, no, this was not a good week for our favorite psychic. Not at all.
The ding of the bell announced her arrival, after having heard nothing from her employer or coworker for a moment she let out a breath of relief and began taking off her bag and coat. "Mai! You're late!"
She winced at the tone of his voice. Someone else wasn't having a good day either. "Sorry! I'll make your tea!" she shouted back, placing her coat on the hanger and bag by her desk. She headed for the kitchenette and filled the kettle. She could use a little tea as well; her body has been jittery and shaky all week. She reached into the cabinet to grab three cups when the kettle whistled and-
CRASH! SHATTER! BANG!
The ruckus was so loud, both the narcissist and his quiet assistant came out of their respected offices. There they found her kneeling on the floor picking up pieces of ceramic clay. Her boss knelt down in front of her and began helping, the tall Chinese assistant doing the same and even taking the pieces she had already collected. "Guys, really I can do it-" Mai argued, but as Naru threw away the broken cups, he knelt back down and grabbed her hands.
"You are a danger magnet," he commented, revealing some small cuts on her palms. He helped her to her feet and brought her over to the sink as Lin finished making the tea. "Lin, grab the first aid kit."
Wordlessly, the tall assistant walked over to the brunette's desk, where they conveniently keep the medical kit and came back. Naru hand just finished rinsing out the cuts on his assistant's hands. "This will sting," he warned as he used some hydrogen peroxide to help clean out the wounds.
"Nuh-" Mai whimpered, he was right, it did sting. Man she hated that stuff!
He quickly dried off her hands and wrapped them up in bandages. "They aren't deep, but you need to be more careful," Naru explained, crossing his arms once he was finished.
"I know," Mai sighed as her hands shakily accepted the cup of tea Lin handed her. She took a sip and shook her head. "This just hasn't been a good week."
"That doesn't excuse why you were late," he coldly replied.
"The power at my apartment went out last night, I ended up being late for school and they made me stay for afternoon cleanup and I had to speak with the guidance counselor. They just don't have good timing."
"Your personal life has nothing to do with your work life," he replied, heading for his office with his cup.
"You just asked me why I was late!" Mai argued, putting her cup on the counter. Lin had already gone back to his office.
"No, I just said you having a bad week doesn't excuse you being late." That cocky little-
DING-DING. DING-DING.
The door had opened and it was Mai's turn to put her customer service face on. "Welcome to Shibuya Psychic Research, is there anything I can help you-" She stopped mid-sentence when she saw just who was at the door.
"I have a delivery." He was a young man, maybe early twenties. Dressed in a khaki and pale green uniform, the deliveryman held something very peculiar. A bouquet of flowers. "You wouldn't happen to be Taniyama Mai, would you?"
She could only nod as she spit out, "Yes, that's me."
The deliveryman smiled. "Well, a young man asked us to deliver this to you, said you could use a little cheering up." He handed her the bouquet and tipped his hat. "Have a good evening."
"T-thank you, you too!" The man left the office with Mai raising a brow at her unexpected gift. "Nee! Naru! Do we have a vase or something?"
"Why would you need a vase?" He came back out of his office to see her holding the flowers. He simply stared.
"Well? Do we have one?" Mai asked impatiently.
"Where did you get that?" was his response. Luckily, her co-assistant heard her request and came out of his office with a glass vase.
"Thank you, Lin," she replied with a smile. Wait. Does he just keep random vases in his office?
"You didn't answer my question." Naru obviously was not pleased with the unexpected event.
"You never answered mine," she retorted as Lin filled the vase with water and placed it on her desk. The two held a stare down. Who will win? Who will cave? Never mind we all know. "A delivery guy just came in and gave them to me."
Naru just remained silent and watched intently as his assistant pulled out a note.
Heard you were having a bad week. Thought something almost as beautiful as you might cheer you up. Call me tonight and let me know if we are still on for Saturday.
Hope to see you then!
Shouta
Mai smiled as she finished the note, of course with all the crap she deals with everyday she finally had something to look forward to. With her crazy schedule and these demanding exams, she had to cancel her date with her now boyfriend over the weekend. A promise had been made to meet up the following weekend for dinner and a surprise.
"I'll have to call him tonight," Mai said to herself, folding the note and put it in her school jacket pocket.
"Who would that be?" Naru asked. Oops, she forgot he was still there. Since when was he interested in her personal life?
"Wouldn't you like to know?" Mai smirked, for once having the upper hand. "I thought my personal life has nothing to do with my work life?"
"That was before your personal life interloped into your work life."
"I wouldn't say it interloped into here, it was a harmless gift."
"Who sent you the flowers?"
"Tell me who your parents are."
What?
That's right, it was a question that plagued her mind since the Urado case. It had been more than six months since and nearly two years since she started working for him. She deserved some answers, right?
Taken aback, Naru silenced himself. Lin, having known it would get heated, retreated back to his office a few minutes before and was sipping tea. Naru was a big boy, he could take care of himself, and Lin didn't want to be caught between their argument. Perhaps Madoka had returned, he should give her a call.
DING-DING. DING-DING.
"Good afternoon, ghost hunting bosses!" A rather chipper voice sounded as the ever-entertaining Yasuhara waltzed into Mai's office space. "I see Naru is finally giving you gifts! That's very sweet and romantic of you! If only Monk were that kind to me!"
"Naru didn't give me these flowers, Yasuhara," Mai shook her head and sweatdropped.
"Gasp! Then who sent you these flowers! How many admirers do you have!" Yasuhara was back to his old obnoxious self and Mai couldn't help but laugh, it seemed like a long time since she had seen that side of him.
"That's what I was trying to find out." Once again the stare down commenced, but with commentary from a certain college boy.
"Ooh! This is better than the fourth episode of 'Love Generation!'" he exclaimed, eagerly watching this confrontation.
"Since when do you watch soap operas?" Mai raised a brow earning a shrug from her friend.
"Satoshi got me into it."
"As in Kimura Satoshi? Kiko's brother?"
"That's the one!"
"What?"
"Kiko and Sakurako wanted to watch Bleach, but we weren't in the mood so we went into the other room and he happened to have it on DVD."
"What? When were you at Kiko's?"
"Over the weekend, I'm on winter break for the next couple weeks so we've been catching up whenever we have time."
"Oh that's cute, are you going to dump Monk for her?"
"What? How can you say such a thing? I could never betray my Monk like that!" The two burst into laughter after that statement, but after so much harassment about how she and Naru should be together, it was about time Yasuhara suffer the same sort of fate.
"If you're here to distract my assistant, I would appreciate it if you left so she could get back to work," Naru coldly interjected, heading for his office.
"Actually, I do need to speak with you," Yasuhara quickly recovered. "It involves a case I think you might be interested in."
"Come into my office," Naru decided, heading there himself. "Mai, tea."
"You never even drank your cup in the first place!" Mai exclaimed.
"Tea."
Mai gave an obnoxiously deep bow. "You're wish is my command, you're majesty!" she spat with every ounce of sarcasm she could muster.
"That's all I ask," Naru retorted earning a glare from his assistant and a chuckle from the college student following him.
"That stupid, narcissistic, idiot scientist!" Mai grumbled as she remade tea, this time not shattering ceramic cups everywhere. "What the hell does he think I am? His servant?"
Nevertheless, she made the tea and placed three cups on a tray and headed for her employer's office. "Won't you reconsider?" Yasuhara pleaded.
Uh-oh, this can't be good, Mai almost winced as she handed her friends their cups.
"From the information you have given me, it doesn't seem as though it is a haunting," Naru retorted. "And you said so yourself, they have already gathered the help of another."
"Please, Naru, since this exorcist arrived, their activity has gotten worse. There are children involved, there are children getting hurt!"
"Children? Naru, I think you need to rethink the severity of this case!" Mai scolded.
"You have no idea what the case is. I don't like getting involved in someone else's cases if you haven't noticed." He was right; he had only ever entered someone else's case upon request or because of fraudulent activity. Remember the Prime Minister's mansion? "What kind of activity?" Now the case had peaked his interest.
"The students are becoming ill out of nowhere and in masses," the college student explained.
"It's flu season, it's not uncommon for anyone to get sick during this time of year."
"Not when fifteen students in a class of twenty-three, begin vomiting at the same time."
Now things were becoming interesting.
"What else is going on?"
"Seven students were sent to the hospital for accidents that happened on the playground. Broken arms, legs, one even had internal bleeding."
"When did this occur?"
"Over the course of three days, no one has a clear story. The children were fine until they weren't; they keep saying something attacked them. It's freaking my cousin out and my aunt doesn't want her going to the school until this is settled."
"What has your cousin experienced?"
"She feels very uneasy whenever she goes to school. She says she sees shadows roaming the hallways and classrooms. She hears voices when she is alone. She even said she saw Kaede."
"Who's Kaede?"
"A young boy who unfortunately passed away about a month ago. My cousin was never really friends with him, but seeing him now scares her tremendously."
"Have you spoken with the principal about this?" Naru finally asked, Mai couldn't help but smirk, she knew exactly where this was going.
"Yes, my aunt, knowing that I help you out on occasion, mentioned me to the principal and he actually called me last night. He is unsure if the exorcist he hired is really doing a good job, and would like a second opinion. I told him I couldn't speak with you until today, but he would like an answer tonight." He pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket. "Here's his contact information, he said he would still be in his office until eight tonight."
"I'll give him a call and discuss our options, if we have a deal, Mai will call you tonight." Naru agreed, dismissing them both.
"Thank you," Yasuhara replied, standing back up.
Once out of the room, Mai closed the door and let out a breath. "If that asshole didn't accept your case, I would've gone there myself!"
"Heh heh, not afraid to say that right outside his door?" Yasuhara laughed and Mai shook her head.
"I just need this week to be over," she sighed. "At least you're on break, mine doesn't start until the end of next week."
"And your teachers are all having their tests this week making your life a living hell, am I right?"
"Spot on as always, Yasuhara." The two laughed.
"So, on a serious note, who sent you the flowers?" he asked eyes wandering over to the bouquet.
"A boyfriend," she answered plainly.
"A boyfriend, oh?" Now that peaked his interest. "I'm afraid, I'm going to need his name, date of birth, place of birth, place of residence, driver's license number-"
"Going to run a full background check, are you?" Mai laughed and crossed her arms.
"Standard procedure, I assure you," he replied, giving a bow. Mai laughed.
"And I assure you, I'm not going to say a word!" she grinned.
"Oh come on! Give me a name!" he whined.
"That's for me to know and you to possibly find out."
"Do I know him?"
"Hmm…" Mai thought for a moment. "Yes."
"Okay, so now I have something to work with!"
"Don't you have a date with Kiko?" Mai stopped him with a roll of her eyes.
"Actually, I do."
"So you guys are actually dating?"
"I wouldn't call it dating, per say."
"But you do like her."
"Of course I like her! You do too!"
"Yasuhara!"
"Oh gee, look at the time, I've got to run!" The college student ran out the door calling back, "Don't think I won't find out who it is!"
Mai burst into fits of laughter. "Poor Yasuhara," she commented getting to whatever work Naru had left her to do.
Shortly thereafter, Naru peaked his head out from his office. "Call Yasuhara and the others, we have a case starting Monday."
"Sure thing!" she replied grabbing the phone.
December Two Days Before Case, 7:00 P.M.
"So, what's this surprise you were talking about?" Mai asked as she got into her boyfriend's car.
"Well, you're in luck, we're going to the surprise first, then we'll get dinner," he teased, shifting into gear.
"Can I at least get a hint?" she asked, only to see him pull out a blindfold and hand it to her.
"Nope."
"I'm not putting this on." Mai raised a brow.
"I'm going to keep driving around in circles until you put it on," he said, as they passed her apartment complex again.
Mai pouted and put on the blindfold. "This is like the start of an 80s horror flick," she muttered. "Okay, I can't see a thing! Lead me to my doom!"
"Don't be so dramatic!" Shouta laughed. "You're going to love it."
"But I don't like surprises!"
"You'll like this one!"
"Shouta!"
"Okay, okay, we're here."
"Really?" she replied feeling the car come to a halt.
"Nope, just at a red light."
"Shouta! You jerk!" She somehow managed to elbow him.
"Hey! Fix your blindfold if you could elbow me you must be able to see out of it!"
"I just got lucky."
"Sure you did, now fix your blindfold." Mai rolled her eyes behind her blindfold. She didn't like surprises. She liked planning surprises for other people, but didn't like not knowing what exactly was going to happen. And the blindfold just made it worse. It was like being thrown into the darkness of her recurrent nightmares. It was a little unsettling. Finally the car came to a complete stop and Mai heard the gears change. "We're here! You can take off your blindfold now."
"Finally!" Mai exclaimed, her eyes having to adjust to the dim lighting. Shouta got out of the car and came around to open her door. "Thanks." She could finally see just where her boyfriend had taken her. "Shouta, you didn't…"
"It's the perfect time of year for this, don't you think?" he smiled, offering her a hand as she got out of the car. "Well? Are you up for it? Or shout we just get dinner or-"
Mai cut him off by going on her toes and giving him a kiss on the cheek. "I love it! Let's go!" she said, grabbing his hand and pulling him in the direction of the skating rink.
"I thought you didn't like surprises!" he laughed.
"I don't, but I love ice skating more!" she replied and looked up at him. "You need to be more sneaky with surprises for me, like your flowers for instance. I was never expecting them, never had a clue you were up to something and I loved them."
"So what you're saying is that I need to surprise you without telling you I'm going to surprise you?" he asked as he paid their entrance fee and went over to the skate rental.
"Basically."
"Then you do like surprises."
"Shut up."
Shouta just laughed as his girlfriend pouted and grabbed her skates. "I have to warn you though, I haven't skated in years."
"Neither have I, so we're both screwed!" They both laughed as they slowly balanced their way to the rink.
"Hey! This isn't so bad!" Shouta exclaimed, feeling very proud of himself as Mai turned around and skated back to him.
Mai shook her head and giggled. "You have to actually move in order to call it skating," she laughed, grabbing his hand.
"No, Mai! I'm quite content on standing here where I won't fall!" Shouta argued as Mai managed to pull him away from the wall.
She giggled like mad as he attempted to balance on the slippery ice. "Have you ever skated before?"
"I was seven the last time I went." He wobbled as Mai dragged him to the middle. She wobbled a little when they stopped but caught herself.
"Well, I haven't been since middle school, so like I said, we're both screwed," she laughed.
"Hey, you're fairing much better than I am."
"I guess you're just going to have to follow my lead," she teased.
"Oh really? Well, I thi-hey watch out!" Someone was speeding right toward the young man's date. As a reflex, Shouta grabbed Mai's arms and pulled her to him, out of the way of the speedy skater. Of course, his act, though chivalrous, turned clumsy when the slippery ice had it's way with the two teenagers. Shouta fell backwards with Mai landing on top of him. "Mai! Are you okay?"
Mai lifted her head from his chest and began to laugh. It was utterly ridiculous, the position they were in. Her boyfriend gave her an odd look but she scooted herself up and planted one on his lips. "I'm fine, what about you?" she asked nonchalantly as skaters either stared or weaved around them.
Shouta let his head fall back on the ice and started laughing. Their clumsiness was ridiculous and the fact that they were still tangled on the ice was hilarious. Yet no one came to assist them, they were in their own little world and couldn't be happier.
The night ended without any more clumsy mishaps by either one of the lovebirds. It was late and Shouta had just reached the front of Mai's apartment complex and parked. Mai turned to him and unbuckled her seatbelt. "Thank you," she said.
"You're welcome, anytime."
"No, really, thank you," she continued, grabbing his hand. "This has been a pretty rough week, but you dealt with it all and took me out tonight on an amazing date. I really needed it. To let go and forget about everything and-"
She was stopped when his hand reached under her chin and tilted her head up. Two lips pressed against hers and she was caught off-guard but melted into the kiss. After a moment, he pulled away. "You talk too much," he said with a smirk.
"You got that off of some American movie, didn't you?" She smirked back.
"Can you blame me?"
Mai reached an arm behind his neck and pulled him close for another kiss. She laughed and shook her head. "You are so cheesy." He laughed at her comment and kissed her again.
Well, at least her night ended well.
December Day 1, 12:30 P.M.
Well, Mai still had a few exams to be taken care of before her break officially began, but since she didn't wish to wait until after the holiday to complete them, she struck a deal with her teachers. She would leave class at lunchtime and take her remaining exams in the morning, then one of her friends would drive her over to the elementary school.
So, Mai waited outside her school for Lin's van to pull up. She had just taken two exams, English and Literature; she hadn't felt so mentally drained in a long time. Even as she stood out there, leaning against the gate, she felt her eyes slowly drooping…
"Mai! Wake up!" a voice called out, startling the girl from her resting state.
"Yasuhara? What are you doing here?" she asked, realizing it wasn't her co-assistant's van that had stopped in front of her.
"The future is in trouble and your psychic abilities are the only hope that your future self has left!" he teased, putting the car in park. "Why else would I be here?"
Mai rolled her eyes as she got into the passenger seat. "Well, in what sort of trouble is my future self in?"
"Some breakup you are going through and Naru is trying to show you that he's not like the old one, but she needs you to tell her that Naru is really your soul mate! We don't have much time!"
"You've been watching too much 'Love Generation,'" Mai concluded.
"I finished that on Friday, now I'm into 'The Great Doctor.'"
"Now you're into K-dramas?"
"I'm very impressed that you knew what that was! I never knew there was someone close to me that shared my love of dramas! We need a marathon night!"
"Yasuhara, you're jumping to conclusions…" Mai sighed and shook her head.
"Then we can invite our boyfriends for cuddle sessions!"
"Yasuhara!" Mai warned, shaking her head. "I'm not into K-dramas, my friend Michiru is, if anything invite her for a marathon night."
"Now that's an idea!"
"What are we going to do with you?" Mai laughed finally.
"Well, I hope you feed me and make sure I don't go to the dark side of those skeptics! It would be high school all over again."
"Yeah, like Ryokuryou," she replied remembering that case. Another thing came to mind as the car stopped at a red light. "Hey, why did Kiko leave?"
"Leave?"
"The school," she elaborated, as the light turned green. "It's green." The car was in motion again. "I mean, I know Ryokuryou wasn't exactly the most comfortable place for her, because she's a psychic, but there had to be an exact reason why she left."
"I don't know," Yasuhara replied, almost too quickly. "Ryokuryou wasn't a welcoming place for her, or any of us really. It wasn't until her last few weeks at the school that we actually became friends, then she left no warning whatsoever."
"That's a little odd, don't you think?"
"I think that's something you should probably ask her about. It's more her business than mine," he answered, as he pulled up to the school.
"So you do know something more." Mai got out of the car once her friend had parked. He gave her an odd look.
"What makes you say that?"
"You answered too quickly and said it was her business not yours, after you said you don't know. Which can only imply that you know something more," she deducted; her friend chuckled and locked his car. "Why are you laughing?"
"Because, you sounded like a female version of Naru." Mai's jaw dropped.
"Hey! I'm not that bad!"
"I never said it was a bad thing," he answered heading into the school.
"Still, comparing me to that narcissist is just cruel."
"Don't think of it as being compared to a narcissist, think of it as being compared to a genius."
"Oh really?" Mai scoffed, crossing her arms and catching up to the college student. "You can't be serious."
"Well, you've work with Naru for what eighteen months?"
"Actually, twenty."
"He's starting to rub off on you."
"Don't tell me that! He's a total jerk."
"Maybe, but he is very intelligent and has shown impressive deductive reasoning skills in the time I've worked with him," he continued as they walked through the hallway. "Skills you have taken up on as well."
"Well, I'm not an idiot." She grumbled as she could see one room with an open door. That must be Base.
"No, but you have shown to be very naïve, a phase you seem to be growing out of."
"Naïve?"
"Yup, it's not a bad thing, it just makes you adorable."
"Why thank you…I think…" The two walked into Base to find Naru, Lin, and John in the room. "Where are Monk and Ayako and Masako?"
"Ayako and Masako will be arriving shortly, Monk will be with them tomorrow," Naru answered. "Yasuhara-san, is your cousin here today?"
"Yes, she is, I managed to convince her and my aunt to bring her in today because we were conducting our investigation."
"Bring her here, I have a few questions I'd like to ask her," Naru ordered, turning to the priest and his young assistant. "I need you two to find out if any other children had any experiences and bring them here as well. Father Brown, you have the list the principal gave you, right?"
"Yes, right here," he answered.
"Once we have our witness testimonies we'll figure out what we can debunk from there. We need to solve this case as quickly and quietly as possible, Matsuoka-san wants as little of this as possible to make it to the media and outside sources," Naru ordered and the group split off in their own directions.
Mai walked down the hall with John, wow, she hadn't seen him in nearly two months! She missed the calm sweet presence the young priest brought with him wherever he went. "How was the baptism?" she finally asked, recalling the baby that was born during a case they had a while back.
"It was a lovely ceremony," John commented with a smile. "The Ishikawa family give their best wishes for everyone and were a little disappointed that we all couldn't make it."
"We had a last minute case, I wish I could have made it," Mai replied with a sigh. "I've never witnessed a baptism before. I know I'm not Christian or anything, but I'd like a chance to see how one is done."
"The next time I'm to perform one, I'll be sure you're there," he smiled.
"Aw, thanks, John! Now who do we need to talk to?"
"Well, the first teacher we should be speaking with is Yamauchi-san, room 3B."
"Sounds good to me," Mai replied as she knocked on the door of the classroom. "Yamauchi-san?" she asked when a woman answered the door. "Could we have a word with you for just a moment, please?"
"Yes, of course."
Mai: *blushes*
Me: What's wrong, Mai? Not used to having a boyfriend?
Mai: Shut up!
Monk: Ugh I think I'm going to be sick
THUNK!
Monk: Ow!
Ayako: Quit being such a dumbass! *shakes her head and smiles at the crowd* Thank you for reading this chapter! We hop you enjoyed it!
Monk: Quit sounding so fake!
THUNK!
Monk:sdfjksdhfserjefjdknf
Masako: Thank you for your reviews, favorites, follows, and support so far. Next month will mark Dangerous Souls's third birthday!
Yasuhara: And this story is far from over! We are mentioning the anniversary now, because Kiki may not be able to update on the anniversary due to school
John: Kiki cannot thank you enough for all of your support and she hopes you continue to support her and this fic for chapters to come.
Lin: Also, Kiki would like to make an announcement that due to the stress of 12 hour school/work days five days a week and nonstop homework on the weekends, she may not make another update until December when the semester is over.
Kiki: but let that stop you from reviewing or sending me messages I really do like to hear what you think and if you do send me a message it will probably take me a few days to get back to you but I always make an attempt to get back to you! Naru! Your cue!
Naru: Review...
jaa nee!