'The Only Exception'

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Ghost Hunt because then it would be much weird than it is now.

A/N: Umm...hey, just decided to take a break from 'Click' and try this one-shot that came solely on impulse – I don't even know why I wrote it – on a whim though. Expect total randomness and no plot. So if you're in a mood to handle randomness go ahead and proceed with reading. If you like it then leave a favorite/review. I appreciate all comments :D

Leaving. He was leaving Japan...finally.

For him, leaving had been the most difficult part of his whole plan – watching her face out of the corner of his eyes as she just stared at the oh-so-interesting floor of the airport, avoiding his gaze resolutely...it was much more difficult than he had anticipated. His calculations hadn't summed up to this strange feeling of regret and he wasn't ready to face it...a slight guilt at leaving this place, it wasn't predicted and Oliver Davis wasn't a person who liked unpredicted things.

Mai, however, was an exception to this theory – like she had always been to his other theories, that made it harder for him to judge and he hated not having control over everything, it was just not him.

"It was a pleasure working with you all." He didn't even have to try to keep his voice neutral...it came out like it usually did; baritone, clipped, cold and he liked it that way, it kept people at an arm's length. This had been his methodology for treating people as far as he could recall and he was used to the way he was almost a robot – mental intelligence outshining all humans yet whose emotional reservoir was completely non-existent. This was better – he argued with himself – it kept people away.

And out of his reach – not that he wanted to be close or anything to people. They were pumpkins after all, not worth his time at any cost. Mai, he noted with irritation, also surpassed this ingenious theory because now as he shamelessly gazed at her face – he felt...lost; for lack of a better word. He just mapped the small details of her face in the back of his mind, knowing that it was the last time he would see her ever and that just made the irritating twinging of his heart restart with renewed vigor.

"Take care, Naru." She was blushing like a ripe tomato and quivering slightly, he noticed with slight satisfaction – he had that affect on her. "Take care Lin-san."

But then, perhaps, Gene had the same effect on her...it was most likely, after all he resembled that ridiculous 'Prince Charming' every girl conjured up in her fantasy. Why would Mai be any different?

He resisted the urge to snort. He would have if Lin wasn't looming above him like a shadow, after all he wouldn't give the Chinese anything that might seem report worthy to his 'beloved' Madoka. Although Naru wouldn't tell anyone but he secretly enjoyed the days when Lin's ankle was injured and he was in the hospital, at least he had gotten some amount of freedom all thanks to Mai.

"Flight 101 is ready for take-off. Passengers for the flight please head towards -"

He tuned out the noise that echoed around the air-port; somehow for a ridiculously short moment everything in his brain froze as the impact of his decision dawned on him.

He was leaving Japan. He was leaving SPR. He was leaving...Mai.

Move your damned feet Oliver. A sharp, cold voice nagged at the back of his mind. Go to those terminal gates, don't look back. Don't look back.

'Don't-look-back' kept repeating in his brain as if his pride was singing an annoying mantra, over and over, again and again. He tried to convince himself that he needed one last look and he'd move but it was as if his eyes had been glued to her. It was most inconvenient and he tried to get his feet to move towards the terminal gates but they defied him...just like the irrational side of his brain.

They wanted to stay...he wanted to stay, but-

She likes Gene, she loves Gene – don't let this fool you Oliver, ever. Gene means everything to her not you...she is substituting, like the others. She is no different.

"You will receive your pay-check in two days. Goodbye."

It was the same, it would always be the same for him...everybody was the same. He was a shadow, a replica, a substitution and it would be better if he didn't allow the stupid, irrational part of his mind interfere with his IQ Levels. He could manage this – he had always kept this feeling undercover, now was no different, he just had to board that plane and everything would be back to normal. He could go to work and complete the book he'd been writing and spend his life as if there hadn't been this interlude. He could do this, he had done it always, he could do it now as well.

He was heading towards the plane, Lin following him and Naru heard the Chinese sigh slowly and silently mutter to him.

"Noll, is something wrong?"

Naru wasn't taken aback at all – Lin knew him closely, one of the few people who did but that didn't mean he shared every single detail with Lin. Nobody need know anything about his out-of-shape feelings, they would go back to normal once in England.

"No. I'm just thinking about the prospects England holds for my research, now that Gene will be buried."

And now, somehow strangely – to him these prospects for research didn't seem as bright as they previously were...not at all.

It was raining too heavily in London.

The raindrops pelted noisily against the glass windows of his room and he pinched the bridge of his nose in irritation, the rain was distracting him...it was too much to bear.

"Noll, dear." His mother stuck her head inside his room, tentatively. "Dear do you want anything...tea perhaps?"

Five months had passed since he had returned to England but he didn't understand why his mother said that 'he had left a part of him in Japan'. Her comment made him slightly uneasy as if he knew the interpretation but didn't want to know what it meant. Needless to say that he hadn't drunk a cup of tea in the past five months and had refused to tell why his sudden addiction to the beverage had ended.

He also didn't understand why Madoka and Lin smirked at him whenever he refused a cup of tea. What had they brewed in their brains because whatever it was, it had brain-washed his parents as well...completely.

"No."

He noticed her apprehension at his monosyllabic answer and pursed his lips, trying hard not to sigh.

"I'm fine Mother, I don't need anything."

She simply frowned at him and exited the room leaving Naru to dwell on the hundred thoughts that scurried in his mind. His feelings (that had recently gained energy) were also making it almost impossible to get his brain to work properly and concentrate. And then there was the loud rain outside; how could he possibly focus on his work with the noise it was making. Actually he was just accusing the poor rain – his 'focus' rested with a brunette who he was thinking about...much to his annoyance.

Mai loved rain – she would yell in happiness and stare in wonder as it fell when they were in Japan, he had always known that she would, given her errant moods but her love for rain outshone everything. Then she also loved dancing in the rain and the last time he had seen her twirling around in the office's terrace he had been seized by an urge to join her...not that he ever would.

"Come on Naru!" She had shouted, drenched from head to toe, the rain drops shining like little crystals in her brown hair. "Look it's raining!"

"Mai, stop being a child and come inside, I don't want my assistant sick and at home for a week."

He remembered Takigawa asking Mai why she loved when it rained, his office had always been the venue of stupidity but that day he had unintentionally strained his ears to hear Mai's answer.

She had said that it was cool, calm and cold and she loved it because it drenched everything, it made life more beautiful. Her answer had surprised him and he had leaned back in his chair to go over it when he heard Yasuhara say something.

"Oooh," The collegiate had cooed at her. "Like Big Boss? Ah, Mai-chan?!"

The room than burst into laughter and he could sense Mai's furious blush from his office as she stumbled over her words and tried to hide her indignation. One feeling that day had astonished him; satisfaction. He had felt satisfied.

Now when he thought back to that day, he reached another conclusion about his clumsy assistant – she was fire; passionate, red, burning and warming those around her, she was wild and she had set fire to the rain that he was. There was no denying it. This girl was something he never knew and she was outside the equation he had chalked for the average people. She was, once again, an exception to his rules and theories which made him yearn to know more about her, solve her and design a solution for her and make a hypothesis which she could never prove wrong.

Oliver Davis hadn't been a stranger to nightmares in his life, being a psychic, he had often faced several agonizing situations but he had learnt to keep his emotions in check. The Psychometry he performed was frightening enough to give him nightmares and so he had been fifty shades of people in those dreams of his; he had killed people, been the victim, mutilated bodies, abused, been abused and God knows what else on this countless list. Yet he had now come face to face with the worst of all these dreams; one dream that shook him and left him disorientated.

He had watched her die.

She had been walking at first, then out of nowhere he saw a car approaching wildly, it's tyres screeching and then the next thing he saw was the car devouring Mai's small form, crushing it beneath the rubber tyres. He had heard a sickening crunch that indicated that her bones were breaking slowly and then quite suddenly, his world shattered, his dream exploded, he...

He heard her agonizing scream.

And then he had woken up, sweating, his breathing shallow and his eyes wide open as he tried to jostle with the hundred fears that seemed to eat him. She was alive, he comforted himself, Taniyama Mai wouldn't die easily, she was alive.

He had then, fallen asleep, thinking about her and taking comfort in the thought that her stubborn nature would at least protect her. He would protect her, always, he would be there...

He was dreaming again, but this time it was different, it didn't feel like a dream – he felt as if he was in someone's body, as if the feelings that ran through him belonged to another person.

He felt sad, something that was embedded in his real self so he didn't usually feel this way, he felt weary too and he knew that in his own body he never felt fatigue unless he had been doing something tiring. So, the question arose that whose body was he inhabiting? And just like that, the answer came to him...simple yet frightening.

Mai, he was in her body.

His suspicions proved true when he heard the sound of screeching tyres approaching and then saw the oncoming car with his mouth dry and his brain rapidly forming new thoughts; horror filled thoughts, his fears. Soon enough the car hit Mai and he automatically felt her fall on the ground due to the impact, he felt the car's horrendous sounds echoing everywhere and then quite suddenly everything around him exploded.

He heard a sickening noise – bones breaking.

He heard her sharp intake of breath.

He heard her scream.

And he just felt the sensations helplessly – his brain tired and numb, he waited for the dream to end, he waited to wake up but it never happened.

The blackness around him stretched on and on and on, until he felt dèja-vu wash over him in quantum waves.

He had experienced Gene's death in the same way.

Quite suddenly, the blackness around him ebbed away and he sighed in relief, waiting to wake up but the next thing he saw was enough to make him yell, make his brain burst into a thousand scraps of glass.

Green mist surrounded him, creeping over, abhorrent green indicating the end of his dream and indicating something else – much more meaningful. Gene's death had been in the same way, the same green color had overtaken everything and Gene had died.

Did this mean that Mai had died in reality too?

Mai was dying...Mai had really died.

Vaguely, in his semi-conscious state he felt glass shattering somewhere and his PK roaring around his body as his control slowly slipped.

Mai couldn't die...

Mai would never die!

His world was spinning and he was falling now, endlessly through different memories; meeting her, riling her, drinking her tea, their fights, their...

His head processed different sounds; Mai's screams, glass breaking and everything around him cracking. His whole being felt on fire, his head was numb and his eyes were wide as he vibrated in pain and agony, he kept falling and falling in circles, round and round and round until his whole being erupted.

Until darkness had welcomed him.

"Noll, there is something bothering you." Luella peered at him closely over her half-moon spectacles and her mouth formed into a flat line, obviously displeased with Naru's secrecy.

"It's nothing." He toyed with the food but didn't feel like eating it, not after his latest nightmares in which he had killed Mai with his own hands. How could he possibly eat something when he was clearly under the impression that there was blood on his hands.

"There is something." Martin spoke up and Naru decided not to show his surprise, after all Martin rarely pushed Naru to do something. "Noll, it looks like you haven't had a decent sleep in months, you barely eat these days, you haven't had tea since you came from Japan and then you are shouting in your dreams. What is wrong?"

He did not shout in his sleep, and he did eat food and he did sleep, tea was a side-factor – his parents were just overreacting, not that he blamed them for this...God knows what Madoka had plated in their heads.

"I do not shout in my sleep, Father." He resolutely replied and was again mildly taken aback when Martin's gaze burned in him and raised an eyebrow. "It's Gene's death..."

Luella scoffed as she pierced the lettuce leaf with her fork. She looked clearly unconvinced with the pretext he provided but her eyes were soft as she looked up at him.

"Noll, I am a psychologist." She bit her lip and struggled for words. "You were mourning for your brother before you left Japan. You haven't been mourning for Gene these last six months, there is something you're bothered with."

He frowned and raised an eyebrow at her. Of course, he still mourned his brother – he had died, his twin had died, how could he possibly ever get over that fact?

"Oh please Noll, I am your mother – I know these things."

He sighed and then decided that the only way to get out of this conversation was to voice out his true thoughts, after all knowing Luella she would push the answer out of him anyway. With her, resistance was futile.

"I want to go back to Japan."

Luella gasped and looked at him with disbelief while Martin took off his glasses and rubbed his forehead, looking very tired.

"Why?"

Naru paused for a moment, considering his options – there were a lot of reasons for going back to Japan...there was tea, SPR, paranormal activity and many other contributing factors.

"Japan has more paranormal activity than England. I want to continue running SPR over there."

"You miss Japan?"

He winced at the word 'miss', there was nothing about Japan that he missed because no matter how attached he was to his work – he didn't miss the ghosts he exorcised.

"I don't miss Japan, it just holds more prospects for my research than England."

"Young man, that's what you said to Lin when coming here. He told us."

Damn that Lin.

"Mother, what do you want me to say?"

"Oh just tell me why you want to return to Japan and I'll book you a flight."

"I told you Mother, it's research."

"You sound like Gene when he wanted to go on a date in the night and lied about it saying 'I'm-going-to-a-friend's-house-for-homework'. Do not use the research excuse with me."

But he wasn't going to go on a date, was he?

"Okay, change of tactics." Luella pushed her plate aside and leaned on the table, arms folded. "Who did you give the picture to?"

Oh no...this conversation was not taking a good turn. He would murder Madoka and Lin for spreading rumors behind his back. As much as he disliked it – he would now have to play dumb.

"What picture?" Smart move, he mentally patted himself on the back...very convincing.

"The picture of you and Gene."

He coughed and reached for a glass of water just to buy himself time to think of a logical answer to this question.

"A person."

Now, he was being extremely dumb. How idiotic could he get – his mother would now get even more suspicious.

"A person?" Luella snorted. "Of course, it's a person – you wouldn't give that picture to an animal."

"Precisely my point, Mother." He sneered. "Glad to see that we share the same perspectives."

His mother was obviously pissed now. Although 'pissed' just signified his degrading linguistic skills...all thanks to Mai.

"Oliver Davis." He could almost see the vein pop in her forehead as she glared at him. "Who. Was. The. Girl?"

"I never said it was a girl." He sighed to himself, playing innocent was the safest method to escape from Luella's Inquisition Institution.

"But I know it was a girl. What is her name?"

"She was my assistant."

"She is still your assistant – I heard that you are still sending her regular payment even though you are no longer her employer. Reasons?"

"She is an orphan and she is an idiot. If I don't send her the money then she'll likely end up in poverty and will be even more dumber than before. Her clumsiness knows no bounds and I make sure that she has enough money to pay for hospital bills."

"You care for Taniyama, don't you?"

Of course he cared for...wait...how did his mother remember Mai's name so clearly? She had only met Mai once and that hadn't been for more than five minutes, the conclusion was that Lin and Madoka had clearly been tipping Luella off.

"Mother, if you are satisfied then please book me a ticket to Japan – the sooner, the better."

She opened her mouth to retort but then quickly shut her mouth while gazing at Martin who was sighing and shaking his head; in resignation or in disappointment – he didn't know nor did he want to.

"Very well son," Martin, proceeded to stand from the table and pick up his coat. "I'll see that you and Lin depart as soon as possible."

"Thank you, Father."

All he cared for was that he was going to Japan...very soon.

Two weeks later.

Location: Japan – SPR Office.

"Well?" Mai tapped her foot against the floor, hugging the tray to her chest. "Do you have anything to say?"

"No. Just review the files on the table and send me a summary..."

Without even looking he knew that Mai's ears and nose were emitting smoke, her eyes were narrowed, hands were on her waist and her face was a very unique color of red. Now, she was mad, very, very mad.

And he liked it that way.

"Perhaps a thank-you? Or something like that? Eh Naru?"

He simply looked at her, an eye-brow raised and mouth pressed into a fake frown.

"No. You are dismissed."

Growling with indignation, seething before stomping on the ground rather too loud for his ear-drums, she then proceeded to exit his office in a rather unladylike manner with her hands balled into fists. Then as he had predicted she was swearing at him once safely outside his office.

"I swear, one day I'll spike his tea and then...then that narcissistic jerk will understand the meaning of mannerism and etiquette..."

Naru sighed to himself, leaning back in his chair as he silently opened a drawer in his desk. On the top lay a photo of him and Gene climbing on a tree. His expression mirrored annoyance while Gene looked absolutely ecstatic – for what reason...he couldn't remember, nor did he want to.

"Stupid medium," He muttered under his breath. "Why didn't any of the useless romance novels you and Luella gave me, tell me anything about dealing with such situations?"

Silence echoed in the room and for the first time he wanted someone to break it.

Naru just smirked meaninglessly, gazing first at the tea-cup and then the picture with a sardonic, sad look on his face as he stared at the picture of his dead brother.

"I wish you'd have told me that love was such a damned, irrational ideology."

And yet again – Mai was the only exception to all this.

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