And here's the last chapter! Make sure to read my little ramble at the bottom if you liked this fanfiction because I'll be leaving the title of the next story in this series down there.
Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own Ghost Hunt. If I did, I would hire myself to write novels for the manga, because this was just too much fun to write.
The first thing that she heard was the incessant beep of something close to her head. She wished someone would turn it off. She couldn't sleep with it constantly interrupting her slumber. She struggled to open her eyes or her mouth or shake someone with her hand and tell them to turn the stupid beeper off, but she was too tired.
Voices came to her, too harsh, too loud. She winced and squirmed away from them. Something pressed her arm. It hurt, and she wanted to cry out, and the beeping was getting too loud and too fast, but then there was a brisk, hard, female voice, and the pressure left her arm. The beeping faded away, and she gratefully succumbed to the darkness again.
The next time she woke up, it was because of an awful nightmare. She couldn't move in the nightmare, couldn't see, couldn't hear, but something kept hurting her. Something that had been in the house. She couldn't remember what house, but there had been a house. She struggled against her state of unconsciousness before that hideous beeping started up fast and ugly in her ear again, getting faster and faster. It angered her and terrified her more than the last time. Someone yelled something, and thundering footsteps came close. Pain blossomed in her arm, and as it faded away to a throb, she passed back into a blissful, dreamless haze.
When she awoke for the third time, she felt much better. There were no nightmares, there was no pain. The incessant beeping was there, but if she focused on her breathing, she could drown it out.
Someone was stroking her hair gently. The hand was familiar and warm, and Mai was comforted. They moved to fix her blankets and then rested a hand on hers. Mai laid silently for a few minutes, not wanting to get up but knowing that if Ayako was there she would want to know what had happened.
What had happened...
Was Naru okay?
Was he?
Mai's eyes shot open. The beeping sped up and threatened to overwhelm her senses, too loud in her ear.
"Ayako!" she cried without thinking and squeezed her eyes shut. "Turn it off!"
Except her mouth and throat were so dry it came out as Aio, urn itof.
"MAI!" a different voice screamed at full volume. Mai winced as her head began to pound.
"Shut up, idiot!" Ayako hissed. "Control yourself!"
A hand clutched her arm tight. "Mai, talk to me, are you okay?"
Mai opened her eyes slowly. Light poured into them, blinding her. She shut them and tried to open them again. "I'm fine, Monk. No need to be so over-dramatic."
"Over-dramatic?" he asked, utterly bewildered. "You-you've been...dead…."
It wasn't so much his words as the tears in his eyes that suddenly terrified Mai. Her terror was short-lived, however. From nowhere, Ayako's bag materialized and smashed into Monk's forehead. He pitched backwards and fell hard on the floor, where he sat groaning and muttering angry things about the shrine priestess.
Ayako took his spot and put her gentle hands on either side of her face. "Mai, baby, are you okay? How are you? Feeling nauseous? Can you see me? Any double-vision?"
Mai shook her head. "I'm fine. Just a headache." She tried to shift and turn towards Ayako but found her hand stuck. She looked over and her eyes bulged out of her head.
"N-Naru!" she gasped.
He was sleeping in a chair at her side with his head on the edge of the hospital bed and his arms folded beneath his cheek. Her hand was caught under his arms.
"Yeah, that's him," Ayako said wearily. "He's been here the whole three days. He was turning into such a zombie that I gave him a sedative."
"Three days? Sedative?" Mai looked wildly between Ayako and Monk. "What happened?"
"Long story short, we found you and Naru passed out. We took you both to the hospital. Naru woke up on the way, you didn't. Everyone's been freaked out," Monk said in a rush. He crawled up to her bedside, massaging his head. "So tell me you're okay!" he wailed.
"Shut up!" Ayako's bag swung into his shoulder. "Mai has a headache, and Naru is sleeping! Do you have any common sense?"
"I'm just relieved," Monk grumbled, pulling himself to his feet. He leaned over quick and kissed Mai on the cheek. "I'll be right back. I gotta make some phone calls."
"I'll be right there, too," Ayako told him, and then turned back to Mai. She clutched her hand tight and smoothed her sheets restlessly. "Are you sure you're okay, Mai?"
"I'm fine, Ayako, I promise. No double vision."
Ayako held her hand a little tighter. She sounded desperate. "For real, Mai."
Mai took in her worried expression, the bags under her eyes, her terror, the careful clutching of her hand as if she might break it. She took a deep breath and blurted out, "I'll come home with you, Ayako."
Ayako suddenly met her eyes and looked at her sharply. "You better not just be saying that."
"I'm not."
Ayako's tiredness seemed to melt away. Her shoulders relaxed and her eyes became a little wet. She pressed Mai's hand against her forehead. "Thank you, Mai," she whispered, and Mai knew she wouldn't regret her decision. Ayako leaned forward to kiss her forehead and smoothed out her hair. Then she leaned away and patted her cheek, her eyes suddenly mischievous.
"Kiss him, Mai," she whispered, grinning widely.
Mai felt anxiety slowly spread through her. "Um, what-"
Ayako looked like a madwoman. "He loves you. He hasn't left your side at all. Lin tried to drag him away once, and he broke something with his PK."
"Ayako, I-"
"Don't be worried, Mai," Ayako murmured, and she left with a swish of her skirt.
The door closed behind her.
Mai was alone with her extremely hot and jerky boss.
She swallowed hard. He was knocked out, wasn't he? When had Ayako given him that sedative? Had she mentioned how long it had been? No - that didn't matter. Nothing was going to happen even if he woke up! Normal. Everything was normal. Totally normal.
Except her hand was falling asleep.
She tried to bear it for as long as she could, hoping against hope that Monk or Ayako would come back in and save her, but if she knew anything about those two, it was that they wouldn't.
Finally, the pins and needles drove her to start gently pulling her arm out from under him. She made it all the way out without any incident and was just heaving a sigh of relief when he stirred.
No, no, no, no!
Mai panicked, and the heart monitor attached to her finger sped up. She forced herself to take deep, slow breaths and focus on his deep and even breathing, the way his back rose and fell slowly.
Slowly.
She had to get that heart monitor off her finger.
He rose slowly and blinked at her once sleepily with a calm, gentle expression on his face before he recognized her and a curtain came down over his eyes. He brushed himself off and pushed away from the bed.
"You're awake," was all he said.
Mai deflated a little. She had been expecting more of a 'I'm-so-glad-you're-awake' remark. But who was she kidding? This was Naru the emotionless Narcissist.
"Yeah, I am."
There was an awkward silence in which Mai suddenly remembered the feeling of his hand on her cheek, the way his slim fingers rested against her face. She turned red and tried to ignore the rapid increase in the incessant beeping of the heart monitor. It was giving her away!
She had to say something, get her mind off that.
"I heard Ayako sedated you," she said, a small smile tugging at her mouth.
"Yes. It was not enjoyable."
Mai rolled her eyes. "It's not supposed to be enjoyable."
"I was aware of that."
Another awkward silence in which Naru's thank you to her confession rang in her head. She wished she could yank that damn monitor off her finger.
Naru's head whipped in the direction of the beeping machine. "Mai, are you alright? Should I call the doctor?"
"No, no," Mai said quickly, and tried to squish the butterflies in her stomach. It was easier to think of kissing him when his voice was soft and his smile was sweet and he was dying. She couldn't remember now why she had ever thought such a thing because now his voice was hard and his expression was cold and his eyes were closed off and it hurt.
"I am glad you are okay," she said hesitantly, not knowing how to reach him, how to reach inside of him and yank the nice Naru back out, the Naru she had seen down in the tunnel.
Naru only grunted noncommittally.
Mai sighed and sank into her bed. "Well, I am glad!" she said forcefully. "I was so worried about you. You were kind of breathing, but then…I don't know, Naru. It was like you were slipping away while I watched."
Naru abruptly stood up and turned and in that instant, Mai thought she was going to lose him all over again and she grabbed him by the sleeve and yanked him so he sat back down hard on his seat. She was so terrified he would yank away from her again that she didn't loosen her grip and rushed over her words.
"Naru, can you - I mean -" Mai sucked in a deep breath. Any second now he would tear away from her. She clutched him tighter. "I thought you were going to die!" she blurted out, not knowing what else to say.
She thought she must have said the wrong thing because he removed her hand from his sleeve, but he didn't move. He stared at her blankets blankly. "I thought you were going to die, too."
Mai almost giggled at how emotionless someone could be when talking about death and then controlled herself. Maybe the morphine was getting to her. She sucked in a breath and forced a straight face.
He murmured something, and Mai strained her neck forward to hear him. "What, Naru?"
He turned to look at her, and his expression was contorted. "How could you?" he hissed.
"How could I what?"
"How could you do something without any prior practice or knowledge as to what would happen if you did it? What kind of logic is that?"
Mai hardly understood what he was saying past his huge complicated sentence, but suddenly, her mind flashed back to when she had pressed every last ounce of her energy into the boy in front of her. The boy she was head over heels in love with. Her face flushed with frustration. Was he that dumb?
"How could I not?" she demanded. "How could I - when I - when you -"
Her angry flush turned into an embarrassed one.
"When I-" She couldn't get it out of her mouth. Not again. Not a third time.
But Naru - cold, arrogant Naru - did it for her. "When you meant it?"
The monitor sped up again. "I - well - I mean, it's -" Mai stumbled over her words, trying to think of an acceptable answer when she decided she had had enough. She threw up her hands. "Of course, Naru! What do you think? No - don't answer that, you jerk! You almost died and you don't know how worried and desperate I was! I would've done anything! And you - you -"
She had him by the front of his shirt before she realized it and was panting in his perfect face. And you don't even know how much I love you was on the tip of her tongue but she couldn't get it out, couldn't confess.
Kiss him, Mai.
The hell with it.
She kissed him then, kissed him long and hard, trying to memorize the feel of his cheek and his mouth and the little breath that he let out when their lips met. She tried to memorize the warmth of his face and the way she could feel his heat through his shirt and the way her knuckles rested against his chest as she gripped his collar. She tried to memorize the way she could feel his heartbeat in his mouth, in her own mouth.
She broke away and released his shirt, shoving him back a little in her embarrassment, trying to look anywhere but Naru.
She had just lost all self-control.
This was not going to end well.
She was going to die.
"I'm sorry, Naru!" she cried. "Please don't fire me! I mean, I wouldn't blame you, but I really love researching this stuff and learning new things and working with everyone and -"
"Mai." Naru's voice cut in, soft and slow. She turned to look at him to find that he was - smiling a little? "I'm not going to fire you."
"Oh." Mai relaxed and then tensed up and looked away again. "I'm sorry."
"Don't be."
The heart monitor began its traitorous beeping again.
"If you really meant it about me and Gene-"
It beeped faster.
"I did."
"Then don't be. Unless…" His breath caught. "You won't do it again."
Mai could feel her face turning purple. The blood was roaring in her ears so loudly she could no longer hear the monitor.
"Mai, you need to control your breathing or the doctor is going to come in."
"Naru!" Mai whined, the awkward moment gone. "Why do you have to do that? You always ruin your nice moments!"
"Mai, the doctor is Ayako."
Mai's heart dropped. "Oh, no."
Just as Naru predicted, Ayako burst in at that moment, followed by Monk and Yasu. "NARU!" she yelled. "WHY DID I GIVE YOU A SEDATIVE? YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE ANTAGONIZING HER!"
Naru stood up and walked away from her bed. "She is antagonizing herself," he said coolly, and walked out the door.
Mai stared after him sadly, a little disappointed at the way he could go back to his cold, demeaning self to quickly. Had she really just kissed him?
Had she?
Had it even meant anything to him? Did he indirectly tell her to do it again?
"Mai."
"Mai!"
Ayako was calling her name.
Mai blinked. "Yes?"
"Are you alright? Did anything happen?"
Mai turned maroon and looked anywhere but Ayako. Could she tell? Was there something on her lips? Her face?
"N-nothing!" she squeaked.
Ayako suddenly grinned. "You kissed him?"
Mai clapped her hands to her heated face. "I didn't mean to!"
"WHAT?" Monk hollered. "YOU DID WHAT?"
"I swear I didn't mean to!" Mai cried. "It just - I mean -" She looked at Ayako accusingly. "You told me to!"
"And look where it got you," Ayako said smugly. "Everything's fine. He's not going to fire you."
Mai looked at her in horror. "You were listening?"
"Yeah," Ayako said offhandedly, "but I didn't think you would kiss him that fast."
"I did!" Yasu said excitedly. He turned to Monk. "I win."
Mai slumped down into her bed and tried to drown herself in the white hospital sheets. "I hate all of you."
"You love Naru though."
Mai groaned.
She was released from the hospital later that day. Not surprisingly, Naru was nowhere to be seen, but since Lin had come in to see her, Mai supposed he had to be close. She ached to see him, to force him to give her a straight answer, to know even if it meant that he would tell her kissing her had been a mistake and he didn't want her.
She went back to SPR the next day to find it empty save for Naru and Lin, with Naru holed up in his office, furiously typing away. He didn't ask for tea, not having heard her come in, but she made it anyway. She first left Lin a cup on his desk and then went in to see Naru.
He glanced up at her when she came in and then went back to typing. Mai was a little put off, but she had kissed him once and he had asked her to do it again, and she wasn't going to give up until she did.
She left the teacup away from his laptop where it wouldn't tip over and ruin his oh-so-important research. When she lingered, he looked up at her questioningly.
"Is there something -"
But Mai was at his side in that instant, and one hand was on his shoulder, pushing him so his chair turned to face her and she leaned down, kissed him quick on the mouth, and then hastily stepped back. Her heart was in her throat and her stomach was in her chest and her brain probably somewhere in her toes but she plastered a defiant expression on her face and forced herself to look at him.
He looked…a little sad. She silently waited for him to speak.
He sighed a little. "Mai," he began, and fixed his eyes on a spot beyond her head. "I can't be him."
Mai snorted and tried not to laugh at the ridiculousness of his statement. "Obviously."
"And I don't know the first thing about - about…you know."
"I know."
"And I'm a narcissist."
"That was never a problem."
"And I'm married to my work."
"Oh, well."
"And I can't always be kind and mushy for you."
Mai stuck her nose in the air. "I'll make you be."
Naru looked at her now, and a small smile tugged at his lips."So if you really -"
"Shut up, Naru," she said fiercely, and kissed him again, and this time, he kissed her back.
Oh. I just feel like a huge mushy ball of...mush.
Fast fact: this is the first ever not-short-story that I have finished writing to completion because it's just so hard to figure this stuff out.
Thanks to everyone who reviewed/read/helped me out in general with this story. A special thanks to The Night Whisperer, who left me a review on every single one of my chapters and really made me feel like I was doing something right, and thanks to all those who left comments when I had questions about uploading pictures and errors and just basically everything about using this site.
It has been a fun six months and I really am looking forward to writing the next story! It won't be as intense or as long as this one because I really put my heart and soul and every last idea of mine into "The Tanaka House Terror," but for those of you who do you want to read it, I've put up the first chapter of "Doubles at the Daichi Hotel."
I'm off to fix all those grammar, punctuation, and spelling errors I made in writing this story because I was rereading a few chapters and there were a TON of errors. Sigh.
Peace out!