A/N: Hello, everyone. It's my first Ghost Hunt fic. I hope you all like it.

She saw through him.

The first time he met her, she saw right through him. He thought he had fooled everyone with his acting, with his fake smile. He was a great actor when he needed to be, not to mention people would look at his handsome face and automatically assume he was a good guy. It was one of the perks of being good looking, people were so busy staring at his face to notice anything else, even when he was being a first class jerk. They were simply dazzled.

Mai was not. He hadn't paid the slightest attention to her when all the other girls were busy fawning over him, his focus on trying to detect if any of the paranormal stories they shared were true.

It was only when Mai questioned him about which grade he was from that he noticed she was suspicious of him. She had seen right through him, his face wasn't enough in to fooling her.

He had gone with the charade anyway.

He did not understand why, but that brown haired girl lingered on his mind for rest of the day.

Great, she dubbed him Naru. Naru . Narcissistic.

He had been startled when he first heard her call him that, mistakenly hearing Noll in place of Naru.

Or maybe he had wanted to.

It's been a long time since anyone had called him Noll.

He didn't really need her to work for him.

His equipments were insured and he never really had someone else other than Lin working as assistant for him.

He just wanted her to work for him.

She was intelligent.

Not in the way he was. Not academically intelligent- her knowledge about spirits were practically none.

She was intelligent in people's kind of way.

Maybe it was because of her intuition too, but she always saw through people, maybe it was her compassionate nature.

He didn't know what it was, but it came in handy at the rarest of occasions.

They were stuck inside a manhole.

He had made sure to remove the rubble before they fell.

He didn't care much about what happened to him, but he could not let Mai get hurt. Never.

She was so predictable. He could not keep his amusement at bay while looking at her.

The stages of her emotions were written so clearly across her face. Mai, was always positive, never allowing herself to be depressed longer than necessary. But they would be stuck in here for a long time and how long would her positivism last?

He decided he did not want Mai to look depressed like she was a moment ago any more. So, he showed her his coin, performed magic tricks for her, and she was in a good mood in no time.

That stupid Ghost came back again.

He had to protect Mai. Mai should not get hurt, at all cost.

He had lost Gene. He wasn't going to loose her to.

Then again, she wasn't really his to loose.

Sometimes, he wished she would just trust him.

She has known him for quite long, longer than the other members of SPR; she should know that he would try his best not to let the students get hurt.

Instead she just took it that he didn't care. He, the fool, instead of correcting her assumptions-got into a fight with her instead.

It's just that, her not trusting him rattled him.

She even called him a murderer.

It was only after the case was solved that he was able to calm down.

He knew Mai. She was too compassionate, as compassionate as Gene, maybe even more than him.

Of course she got carried away with her emotions.

Still, somewhere in the back of his mind, it still hurt.

She shouldn't give up on other people so easily, he told her that.

What he really meant was, don't give up on me so easily. Don't give up on me at all, ever.

She reprimanded him for not accepting her apology in return. Trust the girl to scold you even when she was wrong.

He had chuckled in return then.

There was no point an accepting an apology when you have already forgiven someone.

And with Mai, he would always forgive her.

He offered her tea.

That's all he could do.

He can't protect her from her dreams. He can't protect her from that terrible dream, but at least he could calm her down, offer her comfort.

It was after a long time, he felt the need to comfort someone. He had wanted to place his arms around her and bury her in his chest then. She had looked so forlorn.

He couldn't, of course. She had others there who could provide her that sort of comfort. He wasn't needed.

He wanted to hug her anyway.

The need to do that sickened him. He abhorred physical contact. Why was he so eager to hug Mai then?

What was wrong with him?

He knew the answer to that. He just didn't want to accept it.

He was here for a purpose. He had to complete it. He couldn't let himself get distracted.

He couldn't fall in love.

He fell in love anyway.

He was the one who was always protecting people, always saving them.

She saved him this time.

Again he had wished to hug her, but settled for muttering good job.

He was in love. He has been in love for a very long time, since he met her.

He was just too stubborn to accept it.

"Is it me or Gene?" He asked her, giving her one of his rare smiles.

Gene used to smile a lot. He didn't.

He had asked her knowing very well that it couldn't be him. It could never be him.

Gene was the good brother. He was the bad one. Except for his face they had nothing in common. And there was nothing to like in Oliver Davis other than his face.

Why would Mai fall for him when she knew the better one?

She couldn't, of course.

When she was unable to answer him, he knew he was right.

He was always right.

This was the first time he had wanted to be wrong.

When he came back to Japan six months later, there was a lot of tension between Mai and him.

They acted normal on the outside, but they both knew they were tiptoeing around each other, tiptoeing around the topic of her feelings, his rejection of her.

That's what she thought. That he rejected her.

She didn't understand that the one who had been rejected was him.

She barged into his office room one morning, unable to take the tension prevalent between them anymore.

She confidently sat in front of him and ordered him to look at her.

He sighed and put his work away, looking at her in the eye.

"Listen to me, and listen well Oliver Davis," Mai said, her eyes fierce. Why was she so mad?

"I don't regret it. I don't regret anything. I don't regret meeting you, meeting Gene or confessing to you." She blushed at the last part.

Where was she going with this?

"But I do regret one thing." She didn't let her gaze waver from his deep blue eyes, "I regret not answering your question that day."

"What question?" He pretended to be ignorant to what she was talking about. He didn't want to hear the answer. He didn't want to be rejected all over again. He hoped she got the hint that he didn't want to talk.

Mai went on, "You know what I mean."

Realizing there was no way around; he sighed and slumped on his chair. "And?"

Mai took a deep breath. "It's you."

Silence. No one said anything for a long time.

Mai got up, defeated, assuming Naru wasn't interested. "That's all. That's all I wanted to say. That it's you. It's always been you."

She walked over to the door and placed her hand on the door handle. That's when she heard Naru's voice, right behind her. "Wait."

She whirled around. "What? It's okay Naru. You don't have to console me. You don't have to do anything. It's okay. I just wanted you to know my feelings. That's all. It's all right." She realized she was babbling.

"Just let me go," She pleaded.

Naru has placed both his hand on either side of her then and was leaning forward towards her.

Before Mai could process what was happening, she was being kissed. Kissed by Naru.

She felt herself respond to him. Her hands which were on her sides till then, moved to his neck, then his hair on its own accord. She threaded her fingers through his hair, enjoying how silky it was.

She had no idea how much time passed, nor did Naru.

When they finally released each other, he finally gave his answer.

"It's always been you."

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