The Argument

A/N: This is my opinion on what could've happened on the case of the female ghost pouring pails of water on couples. I just couldn't resist.

Disclaimer: Mai and Naru kissed! - Oh, it didn't happen.

Mai watched mutely as Masako pulled Naru to her and yanked him to the opposite direction, going with the plan of luring the female ghost out. As they were about to disappear through the trees, she turned and gave such a triumphant smirk that she felt her body bristling.

Her eyebrows twitched furiously as she raised a clenched fist up, looking almost comical. Why did Naru agree in the first place? It didn't seem to be in his character to let himself get paired up with the obnoxious Masako. She huffed, a queasy feeling almost doubling her over as she watched the two walk away from the group.

"A packet of rice grains, please," Bou-san said to the vendor, handing him some coins and taking the packet from him, "Come on, Mai, let's go!"

She nodded, still a little down as Bou-san led her away to another direction, going for another clearing. As they walked in comfortable silence, Mai busied herself with evaluations on Naru's actions around Masako - it certainly wasn't ordinary for him.

Her eyes suddenly widened as a thought flashed past her head -

"What if Naru likes her?"

The monk arched a brow questioningly, "Huh?"

"Masako-san. Maybe Naru likes her. That's why he's being so considerate of her suggestions. He didn't even give it a second thought when I suggested this case, but he accepted it when she asked."

Bou-san stopped in his tracks and passed the packet of rice grains to his left hand before ruffling Mai's head with another. "Oy oy, Mai, can you really imagine Naru liking anybody?"

Mai thought about it for a moment; the image of a gentle smiling Naru taking a girl's hand, laughing and running towards the sunset suddenly appearing in her head -

No, no! That wasn't possible... Perhaps him making some tea for the girl he likes...? The image of Naru making his own tea is difficult; much less someone else's. Or, or, perhaps him smiling like Dream Naru as he held Masako-san's hand during dinner. The last thought brought her stomach to knots. She slouched over, sighing loudly,

"Masako-san is pretty and graceful, and he seems to accept her quite easily." Her gut knotted even more as she admitted her thoughts out loud and she felt her eyes tearing up a little. The possibility of the two getting together seemed very high, now that she thought about it.

"There, there! He can't possibly like Masako-san that way," Bou-san said cheerily, patting Mai's shoulder reassuringly, "I personally don't think Masako-san is his cup of tea. Now let's go feed some pigeons!"

She forced a laugh, nodding, but he could tell she wasn't convinced.

However, her face lit up as she spotted a flock of birds pecking at the ground when they reached the clearing and her tone brightened considerably, as she cheered, "Waaa! Bou-san, pass me some of the grains!"

The man laughed and shook some out of the packet before passing it to her. She walked as cautiously as she could towards the flock, afraid they would all fly off. She reached them and opened her palm, shaking it slightly in a pathetic attempt to make it more enticing for the birds, which apparently wasn't working very well. Other than them taking another step towards her and cocking their heads to the side, they didn't make any other move that they'd peck on the grains residing on her hand.

"Look, there're food here," she tried persuading them again softly, shaking her hand again and watching the birds continued to eye her, still seeming rather hesitant.

Bou-san tsked and shook his head, "Mai, it shouldn't be done that way," he said as he squatted down in front of the birds and sprinkled some rice grains on the ground. The birds immediately hopped towards his side and started pecking up their food.

He then shook the packet and some grains tumbled onto his open palm. He offered the food to the birds who accepted it willingly without much thought.

"Really, Bou-san!" Mai protested childishly, "you're snatching my birds!"

He chuckled heartily, not bothered by her comment at the slightest and threw some over to her side. Some birds made their way over to her too and she eyed him in an admonishing way before both of them laughed.

"Is this your first time feeding birds?" He asked, eyes on his opened palm, watching the pigeons feed, he fixed her with a steely glare, looking rather much like Naru,"you're rather amateurish."

"Seriously!" Mai huffed, swatting him on his shoulder playfully and he laughed.

"I was only joking -"

He jerked his head back to the source of the noise he heard, cutting off his sentence.

Mai froze.

The birds stopped feeding on the food they brought with them and flapped their wings, escaping through the air.

"Bou-san, did you hear that?" Mai asked, edging closer to him, face pale and obviously terrified.

The bushes rustled again and Mai squeaked, "HIIEEEE!"

She launched onto Bou-san, hands clinging onto his coat as he remained in a defensive position, one arm around her body protectively as he focused on the moving leaves of the shrub.

"Meow!" A black cat leaped out gracefully and she screamed, burying her face in his chest. After a few seconds of silence, she slowly peeked up and saw a black cat scampering away, tail swishing behind it as it disappeared to the other side of the clearing. She suddenly felt ridiculous about her previous actions, feeling very much like a coward and was about pull away when she heard it.

"Hehehehehehe," someone giggled, "I spot another couple."

With that being said, a pail of water was dumped over them abruptly; the icy liquid drenching them thoroughly.

"Wha- what?" Mai managed to utter, still blinking and not absorbing what just happened.

"There!" The unmistakable voice of Masako broke into the clearing, startling Mai with a jolt and the couple watched the medium run towards them with Naru close behind her.

Mai pulled away from Bou-san's embrace and furrowed her brows; what were the two of them doing here?

Masako shouted, "She's standing behind them!"

The moment the words were out of her mouth, her head suddenly dropped down as if she had fallen asleep while standing, then she finally collapsed on the ground.

Bou-san and Mai immediately ran over to her, voice concerned, "Masako-san? Are you okay?"

John and Ayako ran into the clearing too, then, shocked when they discovered Masako lying unconscious on the ground.

"Masako-san!" Both of them called as they reached her. "What happened?"

Masako lifted her head up abruptly, her kimono sleeves flowing as she started cackling, an unknown glint in her eyes. John blinked, seeming a little shocked at her sudden outbust and Ayako fixed her narrowed eyes on her.

The three stared at her: Mai and Bou-san with confusion and Naru with a calculating expression on his face.

"Had she face-planted so hard on the ground that she finally went mental?" Mai asked the same question everyone - almost - was thinking in their heads.

"Maybe," Bou-san said, considering the laughing Masako seriously. Ayako nodded in agreement as she rubbed her fingers on her chin.

"She's possessed," Naru stated calmly.

An abrupt silence.

"Possessed?" The others exclaimed loudly, blinking as they watched her erratic actions.

"It does make sense," Ayako said, nodding her head - again, thoughtfully. "That was what I had deduced initially, unlike the stupid monk."

The monk narrowed his eyes, and retorted, "Right; did you think no one caught you agreeing to my statement earlier on?"

"Why, you -"

The priestess suddenly shuddered, feeling a freezing gaze raking over her. Slowly, she turned to see Masako - or rather, the ghost - standing there as if she was turned into stone. The silence suddenly seemed deafening as they stared at the quiet possessed medium who was eyeing them all with a disturbing glint in her eyes. Then she perked up and dashed towards Naru, throwing herself on him and rubbing her face on his shirt with a loopy grin on her face.

"Ahh! How handsome! I've always wanted to go on a date with guys like you!"

Mai felt as if a huge boulder had dropped on her head and cracked. As she watched the medium continue clinging on Naru shamelessly, her fists trembled and her head throbbed ferociously.

"Masako-san, you little - "

"Now, now," Bou-san said gently, holding her back with one arm around her shoulders, "she's possessed, don't be rash."

Naru's eyes flickered to the arm around the obviously agitated girl for a moment and his jaw twitched slightly, before he turned back to the starstruck girl still rubbing herself on his shirt, his face impassive.

Of course, there won't be any girls who are immune to my looks, he thought arrogantly, except perhaps, Mai. Her eyebrow had twitched a lot when he had entered the classroom and met her for the first time - an action that he discovered to be a showing sign of her being annoyed.

She was a little special, he supposed. Just a little.

"My, Bou-san, Mai, both of you are drenched!" Ayako-san suddenly exclaimed, eyes trailing up and down both of their wet forms,"goodness, what did you two do to invite her wrath? We weren't drenched at all!"

"That's probably because you were treating John like your pet dog," Naru said flatly, still acting as if the famous medium wasn't tugging on his front sleeves desperately to get his attention.

"What did you just say?" Ayako-san yelled, her teeth chattering with anger as she raised her fist up, ready to teach him some respect he should have for his elders.

"Ah, but this boy is right!" The medium said, eyes still starry as she gazed at Naru like a fangirl. "However," she gestured to Bou-san and Mai, "the two of them actually looked like a couple. They'd hugged, and he looked as if he'd protect her.." The medium trailed off and pulled away from Naru as her eyes suddenly got distant, as if losing herself in memories.

"That was a little out of the job requirement," Naru said, his tone seeming colder than usual as his eyes flashed with something unidentifiable.

"Hugging? I didn't know we've to do that," Ayako teased, a brow arched. Then she sneezed. The group suddenly rubbed their arms, feeling an icy breeze whisk past them, though they were all wearing their coats.

"Gosh, what's with the sudden coldness?" Ayako complained, rubbing her nose.

Naru folded his arms, eyes now hard on the ghost; a stoic yet calculating expression on his face. He looked like his normal self again.

Mai blinked; was she just imagining it?

"I hate it! I don't like couples! I'll make them unhappy!" The medium continued hysterically, arms flailing dramatically as her tone took on one of a child's. "I'll break them up!"

Mai tried to smile, her eyebrow twitching a bit, "Err, but we aren't together."

The ghost ignored her denial and started on her tale on why she hated couples - it struck a sense of justice in Mai and she detested the man who cheated on her, though she found the way she died - a little, uh, humorous.

She suddenly felt mean. She gave herself a little lecture on how wrong it was to think of anything concerning spirits as funny and gave herself a good mental slap.

Meanwhile, the apparent distraught spirit rambled on about her tragic love story in Masako's appearance; the clumsy movements of her arms, the weird way her eyeballs roll up when she was feeling particularly angsty and the disturbing face when she cackled contrasting Masako's delicate features and looking awkward with the beautiful kimono donned on.

\\\\\+\\\\\

"We got revenge on that asshole, after all!" Ayako cheered, pumping her fist up in the air.

"And the credit should go to Mai for suggesting the revenge plan that worked brilliantly," Bou-san said, chuckling when he saw said girl's face redden.

"That was nothing, really! It was successful with all of your help."

"Of course; an amateur wouldn't have handled things that smoothly," a cold voice entered the conversation and everyone turned to see Naru looking at them with a hard glint in his eyes, arm folded before his chest, "and I really do suggest all of you to stop treating this place as a coffee shop and go somewhere else to spend your plentiful time."

Ayako-chan reacted terribly to his insult as usual, and Bou-san pulled her back with John desperately trying to placate her. Naru didn't spare the agitated priestess a second glance as he made his way back to his office.

Mai flinched at his blunt words which sparked off something in her: did he really look down on her that much? Was she that much of an eyesore for him? Then he should've kicked her out of his office when he had the chance. Her eyes narrowed on the raven-haired teen, her lips pursed as she stood to face Naru.

"You should really try being nicer to others!" Mai exclaimed, fists clenching by her sides.

"Then I should have an appropriate partner for me to do so. And so far, I can only find that partner in the mirror."

"You're horribly narcissistic," Mai retorted, folding her arms with a huff.

"And if you had spent the time arguing with me to study, perhaps you wouldn't have such an obvious lack of competency."

Mai's eyes flashed. "You jerk, - "

"Calm down, kids," Bou-san interrupted, standing between the two teenagers, a smile on his face as he tried to appease the situation, which apparently wasn't helping because Naru fixed his steely glare on him, then.

"And of course, this case would've be done faster if you'd been more alert and not busy hugging Mai," he said coldly.

Bou-san blinked, absorbing his words. Blinked again. Then he growled, "What? You annoying brat! You were there too!"

"I don't have the time to argue with you," he said frostily, and continued his way back to his office, not sparing them a second glance.

"Naru is being particularly angsty today," Ayako noted absently and Mai turned to look at the elder woman who continued sipping her tea. So it wasn't just her who felt that way.

"Shibuya-san," Masako suddenly called out, standing up in one fluid motion. Mai blinked at the sudden gracefulness - the two women were really completely two different people. "Let's go for dinner tonight."

The young boss stared at Masako for a moment, the medium seeming to convey something with her brows arched.

The room was hushed immediately and Mai laughed at her open request internally: Naru would definitely not accept the -

"I'll get my coat," he said, walking over to the hanger.

The consenting reply made the remaining occupants shout, "Eh?"

"Really, you shouldn't be surprised," Masako said, a smirk tugging on her face as she slid her arm slyly around Naru's, shooting a furious Mai a triumphant look, "we've gone out many times for movies and meals." She leaned her face on his arm.

Mai gritted her teeth as Naru glanced at her for a second then turned away when Masako tugged him out of the office. Oh, if only she could get her hands on that woman! But despite the outright cry of battle, Mai couldn't bring herself to stop them - it wasn't as if any of them would bother with her anyway. However, she felt a fire burning her insides as she watched them leave.

"Wow, did you see that?" Ayako asked after the door clicked shut, "Masako-san is definitely blackmailing him."

The monk laughed, slapping his thigh, "Are you serious? That kid? Never!"

"But I believe it's rather plausible," John disagreed, "or she could be acting as a patron of some sort."

"A patron?" Both adults in the room choked and spluttered, and Mai tuned out the conversation - it wasn't doing any better to her.

The argument became heated and when Mai turned slightly to the window, she caught sight of Masako leaning against Naru's arm in a movement so much like a lover's that she felt something boiling her stomach. She watched as Masako seemed to pull him closer and whisper something in his ear. She watched as the medium giggled into the long sleeves of her kimono. She watched as Naru focused his attention on her, though his lips didn't seem to be moving.

Her eyelids drooped for a bit as she felt her eyes sting and she swallowed the lump in her throat. A heavy sigh escaped from between her lips: the two of them did look very good together, though. But she wanted so much to be with Naru right now - instead of watching the couple walk further and further away from her view. She tried to suppress the clenching of her gut as the thought replayed itself in her head numerous times.

"Mai!" Bou-san's cheery voice broke into her thoughts and she suddenly felt him pressing down on her head. "Let's go on a date too!"

Mai looked up at him, eyes wide and slow at grasping his words.

"We should finish off our day as a couple. Those two shouldn't be the only ones to enjoy themselves. So cheer up, Mai," Bou-san said, giving her a gentle smile.

His attempt to make her feel better worked; and she threw herself in his arms joyfully, words stumbling out of her mouth carelessly, "I love you, Bou-san!"

He scratched the back of his head and chuckled as he patted her back. Ayako watched him with a glint in her eye. "My, Bou-san, I never dubbed you for the lollicon type."

"Because I never was!"

"Ah, really?"

"At least I have a date today, unlike a certain Obaa-san," he said, his eyes narrowing on hers.

A growl erupted from her in response. "Who're you talking about, Oji-san? I've a date too."

Mai and John exchanged an amused look: She basically just admitted she was the 'old lady' the monk was indirectly talking about. Both of them giggled; then decided it wasn't appropriate for them to state that out loud.

"Oh, really?" The monk arched a brow, his tone challenging. "Lin-san is busy working and I reckon he wouldn't go out with you even if he is free."

Her eyes flashed. "I wasn't referring to him!" She tugged the disorientated John to her side roughly, "I'm going with him!"

John gaped, "Eh? Me?" He pointed to himself. Ayako nodded firmly, her sharp eyes seeming to threaten him death should he reject her. A sweat drop almost seemed to drip down from his hairline and a smile tugged up Mai's lips involuntarily.

John started chuckling rather awkwardly while scratching the back of the head, "Uh, yeah, of course."

Mai laughed at their exchange. She couldn't be luckier: her friends were wonderful, cared about her and made her laugh. She couldn't wish for anything more.

\\\\\+\\\\\

Naru returned from the dinner with Masako, face indifferent as his eyes darted around the room. Lin walked out of his office, catching his eye.

"They're already out."

"They normally stay much later," Naru said as he made his way to the wooden table and picked up one of the files.

"They're off on a date," Lin supplied carelessly as he started to make tea, then raised the teapot in a questioning gesture to Naru who nodded.

A moment of silence ensued as Lin checked the temperature of the hot water, knowing the young boss was very particular about his tea. Pulling out a teabag, he busied himself with preparing the hot beverage.

Naru slammed the file shut. "The noisy monk and the useless priestess?"

"No," Lin said, setting the teacup in front of his boss, a knowing look flickering past his face, "Mai and the monk."

Something seemed to flashed past the teen's stormy eyes and he didn't bother to answer as he sipped the hot steaming liquid.

"I'll be returning to my office," Lin said, "call me if you need me."

The assistant walked back to his office and left the door ajar, his eyes darting back to watch the impassive look on his boss's face. After a few moments, he sighed, realizing he probably wouldn't catch anything off about his boss and returned to his work.

Naru stood after the omnoyouji had averted his attention away from him, his face phlegmatic. He walked to his bookshelf, pulling out a leather-clad book, looking like his normal self - however, his knuckles turned white as he gripped the book unusually hard.

\\\\\+\\\\\

Mai set the teacup before Naru, who barely glanced up at her as he reached for it and took a sip of his tea. Mai looked at him with an expectant look on her face, hands gripping the round tray.

After a minute of her boring gaze, Naru looked up from his paperwork,"I didn't hire you to stare at me. I've more than enough people to do the job without me paying them."

Mai's eyes widened and huffed indignantly,"I wasn't staring, you insufferable, egotistical jerk. You should at least have some basic courtesy!"

"Do check the dictionary for the definition of staring. I believe it would state something close to someone having eye contact with another longer than necessary."

"That wasn't the main point, jerk! Say 'thank you' at least." At Naru's icy stare, she remained unaffected and poked her tongue out at him. "For someone who thinks he is so perfect, I honestly think Bou-san is much better."

"Oh?" His tone didn't betray his feelings at the slightest and he thumbed through his files, looking totally disinterested in her claim. "If you're done talking, you may leave."

Mai glared at him, bristling visibly - he was seriously too full of himself! What had got him so into himself? And what did she exactly see in this over-confident and pompous teen who was too handsome for his own good?

As if detecting her thoughts, his beautiful ocean deep eyes caught hers and it made her breath catch in her throat. His long lashes made his eyes look more alluring as they seemed to suck her in; the flustered female tried to collect her cool desperately. She swallowed hard as he held her gaze intently, feeling the mass rush of blood to her cheeks - damnit, why did he choose now of all times to look at her?

"I believe you wouldn't be of much help if you stayed here," he said coldly, "it's a Saturday. Go home and build up your intelligence; perhaps you'd be of better help the next case."

"My intelligence is none of your concern, I am doing fine. You're such a jerk! You should seriously learn from Bou-san!" The words were shooting out of her mouth without much thought and her clenched fists trembled uncontrollably by her sides, "he is so gentle and sensitive when he knows I'm upset. But you- " she jabbed her finger at him, "you only know how to make people feel worse about themselves!"

The breeze from outdoors rushed past her bare arms and raised goosebumps in their wake. Mai shivered, feeling as if the temperature of the room had dropped by several degrees - it was a definite indication that he was getting annoyed.

Naru slammed his palms on his table as he stood, his file rising and falling back to its place, startling Mai, her arms jerking up; but it was as good - at least she finally got something out of this narcissistic person.

"I hit the nail right on the head, didn't I?" She glared at him as he walked around the table edge and closer to her. "You -"

"The date yesterday must have been so sweet that you're so taken with him," he snarled, eyes hard as he reached Mai, "but do keep these feelings under control."

Mai's eyes hardened as well; and she retorted harshly, refusing to back down from her stand as she jerked her chin up loftily, "At least I'm better than someone who goes off on a date with a certain medium in front of his coworkers."

"Really," Naru said, his tone now taking a dangerous edge as he took another step closer, now only an inch away from Mai, who was momentarily surprised by their close proximity.

"Says the one who was gushing about the noisy monk," he said icily, eyes darkening by a hue. His words brought a new red to her cheeks and she hurriedly snapped,

"I wasn't gushing, I was stating how nice you could've been if you tried." She puffed her cheeks like a petulant child.

He didn't look the tiny bit appeased.

Another step closer.

"I- I was merely stating the facts! B- Bou-san is better," Mai said, words not articulating clearly as she'd like, a little disorientated as she took a step back; and he took another forward in response. She shivered involuntarily again: it felt as if it was freezing.

"I just thought - thought -" she stumbled over her words, eyes blinking furiously as she backed away from him - then finding herself smacking against a concrete wall. She let out a surprised 'oof' in response, but he didn't stop his advancing; stormy blue eyes alive with a predatory glint. Her gut stirred with a feeling of anticipation, but she had no idea what to expect.

"Thought what?" He queried coolly, the unidentifiable emotion flashing past his eyes - same as the one she noticed when they were in the park yesterday.

She angled her face away and tried to edge past him but he slammed his arm on either side of her face, trapping her effectively. She looked up to his seemingly darkening eyes, filled with trepidation - what was he about to do? "I just thought - " what did she think? Her mind was a useless blank and she couldn't even find any words to cover up, "that, uh," Shit, shit, shit! Why couldn't she think of anything to say?

She took a deep breath for courage, and a refreshing scent of woods after rain washed over her. His sweet scent was doing no good in helping her. Gulping, her heart pounding furiously in her chest, she opened her mouth to try say something more but nothing came out. She could think of no snide comebacks when he was staring at her like- like... like that!

"You said you are smart," he murmured, a corner of his lips tugging up, "let's test you."

His lips touched the shell of her ear barely, fanning her sensitive skin and making her feel hot and all strange as her blush deepened. "Naru - "

"What do you think I'm about to do... Mai?" He asked, his tone now dark as he breathed by her neck; her name rolled off his tongue beautifully. She took in a sharp intake of air and could hear her heart pounding in her ears, a squeak escaping from between her lips as her gut clenched even more so.

"Answer me," he murmured; sounding low and husky, caressed her heated skin, making her squirm. He was ordering her as usual, and this time she was too much of an incoherent mess to argue, and she could only blink and fumble for words.

"I - I don't know," she gasped out and he pushed off, putting enough distance between them, to stare into her; his eyes stormy and darkening, alike to grey swirlpools, the intense and heated gaze almost melting her into a puddle. Her innocent chocolate brown orbs stared up at him like a Bambi, mouth falling slightly open as she took in another quick breath.

"I expected that," he said, tone not lofty as she had anticipated, instead sounding warm and almost endearing, though a smirk curled his lips. He leaned forward, brushing her ear with his curved lips intentionally, and she bit her lip to muffle her squeak. The contact made tingles travel from her spine to her toes and she could feel the area where his lip touched heat up even more. "Can you guess now?"

She didn't answer, knowing she was fighting a losing battle but she stubbornly refused to outright admit it, her chocolate brown orbs catching his unintentionally when he angled his face slightly from her neck to meet her eyes.

The birds that usually chirped noisily on the branches outside the windows seemed abnormally silent. A gentle breeze rustled the leaves of the tree. The only sound that could be heard was the ticking of the clock.

He had gone silent and the smug smirk once curving his lips was gone. The way he was looking at her made her feel self-conscious as red blossomed in her cheeks for the umpteenth time today - it was as if he could grasp her emotions completely. But she couldn't avert her eyes away from his.

At that very moment, she knew she had never been so focused on anyone else: she had always known his features were gorgeous; his silky black hair glossy and perfect; his eyes an alluring shade of grey. But now when she was this close, she suddenly realized how there were green and grey specks in the deep blue orbs, how his long lashes curved and cast a shadow on his cheekbones and how lush his lips looked.

Another breeze made the curtains ripple and a strand of hair fell to his eyes. Her eyes concentrated on the black lock, her slightly trembling fingers reaching for it as if hypnotized and brushed it away when he caught her wrist. A thrill jolted up to her spine and she gasped, her lips parting slightly when he yanked her to him.

Then his lips were already on hers.

She didn't even have the time to blink as their mouths locked together in a heated exchange. She gasped as one arm wrapped around her waist and his free hand reached to tug on her hair, their bodies pressed hotly against each other.

The black material of his shirt was thin, and she could feel his muscles rippling as he pulled her closer, and her hands buried themselves in his hair, enjoying the soft silky feeling. Her heart was ramming so hard against her ribs she was afraid that he could hear her, but all worrying thoughts disappeared when he sucked on her bottom lip and she moaned, pulling him closer -

"I'd suggest moving from the compromising position before the others get here." Lin's voice was like a cold bucket of water washing over them.

As abruptly as it began, they both pulled away from each other as if they'd been burned: Mai breathing rather heavily and Naru looking as stoic as usual, save for the lightest of red colouring his cheeks.

"Lin-san!" Mai gasped, realization dawning on her of what he had probably witnessed, "we - uh, we - "

"Of course, it was only a suggestion," Lin added, and Mai could spot a shadow of a smirk on the usually stoic male's face.

"Just relax, Mai," Naru said rather calmly as he walked over to take a cup of tea from Lin, shooting him a warning glance before taking a sip of tea.

Lin folded his arms. "I have already seen everything anyway." If Mai didn't know better, she'd have thought he sounded smug as he eyed Naru who was ignoring him blatantly.

Mai was beyond embarrassed, her cheeks hot to touch even to her as she buried her face in her palms, groaning in shame. How was she going to look at Lin with a straight face ever again?

The door swung open then and the merry group trooped in, laughing and chattering- then halted in their tracks when they suddenly noticed the abnormal atmosphere.

"What happened?" Bou-san asked when he caught sight of the short-haired female looking mortified and her cheeks flushed, her lips looking suspiciously swollen, "are you okay?"

Clink!

Naru placed the cup down on its place with more force than necessary, the impact echoing throughout the room and making some of them wince.

"Did you do something to make her upset?" Bou-san demanded, stepping away from Mai.

"I believe it's the opposite of that," he said nonchalantly as he returned back to his table. Mai almost choked on her spit.

"It's nothing, Bou-san," Mai said desperately, cursing Naru in her head, still trying to regain her composure, "I was just embarrassed."

He gave her a concerned look and she nodded to affirm his unspoken question. He patted her head affectionately.

"Again, this place isn't a coffee shop," Naru stated coldly, obviously unhappy with their presence.

"To think we brought you a client!" Ayako huffed indignantly as she pushed a sweating bald man forward, who dabbed his head fervently. John followed closely behind, giving the man an encouraging smile.

"Uh, hi, I'm Shizuka Santa, ni- nice t-to meet you," he introduced himself, shoving his handkerchief back to his coat pocket with trembling hands.

Naru stared at him for a moment, then turned to Mai, who suddenly found the ceiling very interesting. Wow, the beige colour suddenly seemed nice and pretty - well, she could consider it for her own apartment -

"Mai, tea."

She averted her eyes to him almost immediately, irritation levels rising; was he going to treat her the same as always? He eyed her with an impassive face as if saying, "Get to work, useless girl" and when she was about to retort -

Both corners of his lips tilted up just barely to the gentle smile she was used to seeing on Dream Naru's face. His eyes noticeably soften just by the tiniest bit and she took another sharp intake of air. Her eyes widened and her face felt as if it had exploded as she spluttered incoherently. Her heart felt as if it was lifted up by a thin string and she just knew she was going to be suffering from heart failure if this continued on.

"Tea, Mai," Naru repeated as if he was speaking to a toddler, his face now schooled back to an emotionless mask, gesturing for the nervous client to join him on the sofa. Mai scampered away to the kitchen, her face still a dark shade of red as she pressed her clammy hands against her hot cheeks and she did a little spazz in the kitchen. She didn't even care about his condescending tone after.

Naru. Smiled.

She couldn't help squealing again.

Lin coughed as subtly as he could.

A/N: End of one-shot. I hope you enjoyed it. Honestly, both the anime and the manga contained so many potential moments for Naru to show even the slightest hint of jealousy, but it was always only Mai who is on the suffering end. The poor girl.

Please click on the green button below to tell me your thoughts..

...Maybe a smiling Naru (Or Gene) will visit your dreams tonight.

-MF