Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I do not own Ghost Hunt. If I did, Naru and Mai would have been together a LOOOONG time ago, and my life would be 1 bazillion times better.

The girl walked slowly along in the garden, flowers blooming from the buds as she ran her hands along them.

"Naru, where are you?" Mai called softly. She heard a rustle and turned, blushing slightly at her boss' rare smile.

Taniyama Mai waited for Naru to say something to her, he rarely entered into her dreams without giving her information about a case, whether SPR was involved with it right now, or was going to be.

Unbeknownst to the petite girl, Naru's twin opened his mouth as if he wished to tell her something. Yet instead of helpful, reassuring words, out came loud, irritating, sirens.

Mai furiously looked around, anxious to know where the sound came from. While she looked, behind her, Naru's brother, the garden and the sub-consciousness called sleep faded away.

Mai turned on her side and moaned as she swatted her alarm clock off the nightstand. Lately, her dreams had been interrupted just before Naru could tell her anything. It was extremely frustrating for the girl, and it made her worry, because she thought her powers were fading like the dreams had.

She bolted upright in bed as her alarm clock hit the floor and yanked its own cord out of the wall.

'Great' Mai thought sarcastically as she ran towards the kitchen to see what time it was. 'Crap! It's already

6:45!' Like usual, Mai was going to be late for work. Naru liked her to be there at 7 o' clock sharp, but she

never got there until at least 7:04, which left Naru with the job of reprimanding her every morning

about the importance of punctuality.

Naru's small assistant dashed to the shower, tearing off her clothes as she went and letting them lay where

they fell.

Naru looked nervously at his shaking hands that were trying to organize SPR's old cases. He glanced at the

small clock that rested on his desk--7:06. Naru sighed. 'Mai, why can't you be on time even once?'

Naru hated disciplining Mai. It stabbed him like a knife when he saw her typical defeated look--head down,

shoulders slumped, eyes boring holes into her shoes. But it had to be done in order to keep up his

emotionless charade.

'Ahh but today will be different' Naru told himself smugly. Today he was going to tell her. There were no

appointments scheduled to meet with potential clients with boring cases, Ayako and Bou-san were both

visiting family, and Masako had a special T.V. appearance to go to. As for Lin, he could easily be counted

on to stay in his office.

Naru felt a rush of emotion as his assistant yanked the door to SPR open and ran inside,

panting heavily. He heard her hesitate as she passed the door to his office, no doubt waiting for the all-too

familiar command.

"Mai. Tea." Naru called, a little less demanding than usual.

Mai noticed that his voice wasn't as strong as it usually was in the morning. 'Nah it can't be. Geez you

baka. It's Naru we're talking about!' Mai finished her thought with a pivot as she headed towards the

kitchen to bring her boss his precious tea.

She prepared the hot drink quickly, lest he ask again, the impatient jerk. Mai snorted as she heard the

expected voice, telling her to hurry up and stop wasting his time.

Mai wasn't the only one who noticed Naru wasn't as strong in his demands this morning. Lin smiled slightly

as he heard his young boss' wavering voice. He knew there was only one thing that could make

Naru feel so emotional and upset his little I-care-about-no-one-but-myself farce.

The tall, strong, and silent man wondered if today would be the day Naru was planning to tell her…

Just in case, Lin sent a quick email to Madoka. Better safe than sorry!

Mai finished up Naru's tea, and poured an extra cup for Lin, in case he wanted one. She walked over to

Naru's office and knocked softly on the door calling, "Naru? I have your tea."

Naru grunted in response as Mai walked in and set the steaming tea on his desk and stood back, waiting for

some sort of acknowledgement. Naru glanced up at her with a look that clearly said, "Why are you still

here?"

Utterly annoyed by her boss' obvious lack of the ability to be polite, or even thankful, Mai stalked out of his

office grumbling about her "stupid narcissistic tea-addicted jerk" of a boss.

Naru winced as Mai slammed the thin wooden door behind her. It was all part of the charade. But later.

Later he would tell her how he really felt.

A grumpy Mai walked to the kitchen to receive Lin's tea when she saw the tall man slip out of the kitchen,

carrying the cup of tea she had readied for him. Mai's confused look settled on Lin, asking for an

explanation, while he replied with a shrug, and a look telling her she had taken too long to bring it to him.

'Damn men!' Mai thought viciously as she poured a third cup of tea and brought it to her desk, which

happened to be filled with information Naru wanted her to organize. The small girl sighed as she sat and

reluctantly began to organize the numerous files.

Back in the privacy of his office, Lin let out a small giggle as he replied to Madoka's request with: Mission

Complete.

Mai sighed and sat back in her chair. After three agonizing hours of organizing files, she had finally

finished. 'Hmm Naru probably will want more tea soon so I should go make him some.'

"Naru?" Mai knocked on the door to his office. "More tea?"

"Hai." Naru replied in his usual monotonous tone. He listened patiently as Mai's light footsteps got quieter

and quieter as she skipped towards the kitchen. 'Now is my chance.' Naru told himself confidently. He

pushed back his chair and stood up slowly. Mimicking a snail's pace, he edged towards the door of his

office until he was standing directly in front of it.

Naru lifted his hand and rested it on the doorknob. It was now or never. Shibuya Kazuya took a deep breath

and turned the doorknob, pushing open the door.

A/N: Yay! I did it! Push the little green button and tell me what you think!!! I'm open for criticism, but please be nice about it! See you in Chapter 2! ;D