"Mai? MAI?!" a familiar voice cut through my dreaming. Yawning, I rubbed my eyes and looked into the cold eyes of my boss.

"Naru, why are you in my bedroom?" I thought I saw him try and suppress a chuckle. No, that couldn't be right. He doesn't laugh.

"You're in the office Mai. I would have woke you earlier, but since you were so soundly asleep, I thought I should just leave you here. After all, it's not like I was going anywhere. You weren't being left 's bread in the kitchen if you want to make some toast."

"Right." Was I imagining things, or was Naru being… nice? I yawned again.

"Mai, tea." I smiled. That was more like it, back to normal.

I thought about telling Naru that I thought I had had one of "those" dreams, but decided it was too early in the morning to be interrogated by my narcissistic jerk of a boss.

Just then, I heard the ringing of a bell and the door opened.

"Oh he Lin!" I said cheerily. "Would you like some tea?" He looked a little surprised to see me. Of course, that's why Naru let me stay, so I'd be on time for work!

"Mai… what are you doing here?" He asked, not seeming overly interested.

"Well… I was working late, filing and stuff, and I must have fallen asleep. Naru didn't wake me."

Lin chuckled.

"Well, it's probably just as well, because I could really do with a cup of tea, actually. Please" He added as an afterthought. I smiled. Lin was being unusually talkative today.

"Mai, where's my tea? Or can't you make tea and toast at the same time?" I growled under my breath as I went though to the kitchen.

"Toast?" Lin asked.

"For me." I replied.

Lin smiled to himself and shook his head. I wondered what he was thinking.

As I made the tea, I found myself trying to recall the dream I'd had.

There were two little girls, one of them about three years older than the other, and I had seen through the younger one's eyes. The older one was trying to protect her from something. The look in her eyes had been sad and desperate, and before them, was a figure. The older girl seemed to… growl at the figure, but then it morphed into… I couldn't remember…. A lizard? No, it was more like one of those dragons you saw at Chinese New Year. Maybe I should ask Lin? I shook my head at the thought. No, he'd ask me what was wrong… then Naru would find out.

I hurried through to give Naru his tea. He looked as if he was about to shout "Mai, tea" again.

He smiled to himself.

Wait, Naru just smiled?!

When he saw my incredulous expression, his face straightened. Shame. He looked much better when he smiled, like the Naru in my dreams. Dreams…

"Mai? You seem distracted, is something wrong?"

Why could he always pick up on that? Damn that narcissistic jerk! He had too much brain for his own good. Enough for two people. Three, maybe.

"Nothing, you idiot scientist." I muttered under my breath. To my surprise, Naru froze.

"What, what I say?"

"Where did you hear that?" I rolled my eyes, this was just like the first time I'd called him Naru. I wondered why that was... Oh well, I'd find out some day, I was sure.

"Well, I guess I can't have been the only one to call you that. Now, If you'd excuse me, I'd better go and give Lin his tea before it gets cold." To my surprise, when I opened the door, I found Monk.

"Bou-san?" I tried to make sense of what was happening.

"You listened in to our very uninteresting conversation?" I found myself laughing as I walked over to Lin's desk.

"Here's your tea, I hope it didn't get cold" I apologised, bowing.

He shook his head

"It's quite alright Mai, thank you."

I think Bou-san caught onto the same thing as me, because he was about as confused as I was with Lin's cheeriness.

"Lin, you're awful chatty this morning, are you ill or something?" Bou-san and I just laughed, and Lin even joined in.

"No it's just, someone that I know is coming for a visit, she thinks her house is haunted."

I heard footsteps come from Naru's office.

"I wasn't told about this. Who-"

He was cut off by the front door opening.

"Hello, is this Shibuya Psychic Research?" A friendly voice asked. I quickly went to meet her.

"Hello, my name is Taniyama Mai, this is Shibuya Psychic Research, how may I help you?"

I looked up from bowing, she looked as if she was about to cry. "Are you alright?"

"Oh, don't mind me, it's just… my little sister was called Mai."

"Oh, I'm sorry."

She shook her head.

"Lin! Naru!!" She said, running towards the two men she had mentioned. I found myself feeling jealous? Of someone like her hugging Naru.

"It's been a while, Aya."

Why did that name seem so familiar? I was sure I'd heard it somewhere before… Then I remembered.

"That was my mother's middle name" I said, remembering out loud. Aya looked at me strangely, and I think she was wondering whether or not to say anything.

"Well, anyway" She suddenly seemed all business. It was like she'd turned into Naru or something.

"I moved into this house about two months ago. I bought it on a whim, because people said it was haunted. Brought back memories."

"Would you like some tea?" I asked, not really wanting to be part of their reminiscing. That felt like it was private. But it was something of Naru's past, and I wasn't sure whether I wanted to know about it or not.

Sadly, I could still hear from the kitchen.

"But as time when by, it was a more malicious haunting than I thought. At first, I tried to deal with it myself-" She was a spiritualist?

"But when that didn't work, I emailed Lin, asking about it. I had no idea you guys had come to Japan again.""There are more supernatural occurrences here."

"Of course" But the tone of her voice seemed to imply that there was another reason. Wait, He'd left Japan? Oh yeah… I knew he'd been to England, he had accidentally mentioned it once, and said it was to study the language. Ugh, so many questions ran around in my head, and I knew, for some reason, that I shouldn't ask anyone.

"Mai, what's taking you so long with the tea?"

"Oh, right, I'm just coming!" I brought the tray out, with a cup for Aya. I smiled warmly at her. She returned my smile, if with difficulty.

"Well, I was wondering, would you take it?"

"I reckon I owe you anyway, so we have to take it."

Wait, Lin owes her? What did he owe her.

"Well, you see Mai, one time Lin lost his shiki, I helped him find them. His dad would have killed him if he lost them. So, I saved his life."

I nodded, unsure. His dad, hmm... And the thought of Lin losing something was just too funny. Aya stood, bowed and left.

"So we're taking the case then?" I asked, excited. We hadn't taken a case for a while. Way to go Lin. Naru and Lin looked at each other, and nodded at me.

"You know Mai…" Bou-san began. I wondered what he was going to say.

"Yes?" I asked, curious.

"That Aya person looks a lot like you, just about three years older." I was about to say that was ridiculous, just a coincidence, when I thought about the dream I'd had before I was so rudely awoken my my narcissistic jerk of a boss.

"Aya was the girl in my dream last night!"

All three men stared at me as if I were mad for a minute, before they realised that I was talking about one of "those" dreams.

"Mai…" Naru asked me carefully, chancing a shared glance with Lin. "What happened in your dream?"

"I just remembered something, I never got my toast. I can't tell you on an empty stomach.

Naru rolled his eyes.

"Monk, go make Mai some toast. And I suppose while your at it, get her some tea."

"Sure, but I wanna hear about this dream too!"

Naru sat me down on the sofa. He looked really worried. Oh how I wished Masako was here. She would be so jealous right now.

"Mai, stop thinking of how jealous Masako would be, and tell us about your dream."

Oh great, so He was a mind reader.

"No, I just had to read your face." I stuck my tongue out at him.

"Well…" I began, and I told him about everything, about the two little girls, and the shape shifting figure. But what I didn't tell them, was that I saw it all through the younger girl's eyes.

"And you were just watching, from the sidelines?" Damn, he knew just the questions to ask. I sighed and shook my head.

"No… I saw it through the younger girls perspective." I admitted, somewhat reluctantly.

Monk finally came through with the toast and tea.

"Thanks Bou-san" I said, eating the toast and realising just how hungry I was. I was glad he'd made three pieces. I gulped down the tea too, and ended up with hiccups.

Monk laughed.

"Well, that's what you get for glugging it down so fast, Mai!" I rolled my eyes.

" Shut -hic- up!" I whined.

"Mai." Naru addressed me quietly. "Come for a walk with me, I have something I need to tell you"

Monk and Lin both looked at him strangely. They looked at each other, and shared a knowing look. I hated those looks. I could feel myself going red.

"Strictly for professional reasons, yes?" I let out a sigh of relief when he nodded. I knew Bou-san would still tease me, but as long as I knew…

Before I knew what was happening, Naru took me by the arm and practically dragged me out of the door.

We walked along the streets in silence, until we got to a park. It was the same one we'd had that case at, not all that long ago.

"Well, at least we won't get drenched." I said. Naru gave me an odd look.

"Oh, the ghost that was here" He remembered quietly.

"You were with Masako then…" I trailed off, my voice caught in my throat.

"Mai…" He began.

"If you say anything nice I might just start thinking you're possessed." He laughed. He actually laughed.

"You think I'm not a nice person?"

"You're a narcissistic, idiotic, scientist jerk!" I replied. But I couldn't help but wish he would smile. He looked so handsome when he smiled.

"But you think I look handsome when I smile." He smirked.

I stuck out my tongue.

"I guess you overheard Bou-san say that one day."

"Actually, Lin heard him and told me."

"So what, you're stalking me?" I asked, completely horrified. What if Naru really turned out to be one of those scary possessive people…

Oh, he's scary and possessive alright, but in a good way. Don't you worry, that idiot scientist cares about you too much to hurt you.

Okay, now that was weird.

"Mai? Are you okay? Why'd you stop?"

I shook my head, I was really freaked out. The voice sounded like Naru's. but not Naru's.

"What's the matter?" He asked, genuinely concerned.

"I thought… I thought I heard a voice in my head" I started crying. Naru was probably wondering what the hell to do with me. Nobody else was around at this time of day. Just as well too. Or else Naru would have died of embarrassment.

"Naru?" We heard a familiar voice, but Naru wasn't paying attention.

"Mai? What did it sound like?" I thought about it for a while. What was I going to tell him?

"Like… the person that's in my dreams, that sort of… guides me." He nodded.

"What did he say?" Naru asked.

"Naru!" Masako yelled again, and when she saw me practically curled up in a ball, she looked confused.

"Well… it was weird, it was just, I was thinking about whether you could be like all scary and possessive, and then he said 'Oh, he's scary and possessive alright, but in a good way. Don't you worry, that idiot scientist cares about you too much to hurt you.'"

"He actually said idiot scientist?" Naru asked, seeming nervous. I nodded. He seemed to be thinking.

"So this person it your dreams, it must be someone who knows me, and who is dead."

But that couldn't be right… Naru wasn't dead. Naru sighed. "Let's get you home Mai, I'll carry you."

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Masako's face fall.

"Oh, Miss Hara, would you be so kind as to drop into the office and say I'm taking Mai home, I think she needs to lie down."

Masako nodded as scurried away, probably hiding tears.

"Naru, I'll be fine!" I protested, but he wasn't having any of it. He carried me on his back to my apartment. How did he…

Never mind, Naru always knew everything about everybody. Well, almost everything.

WHen we reached my house, I realised my keys were still at the office. But Naru just turned the handle and it opened. I was sureI'd locked it when I'd last been home...

He sat me down on my bed. How he opened the door I don't know, but he did. Before he could ask me anything else, I beat him to the punch.

"What was it you were going to tell me, what was the whole walk supposed to be about?" He smiled.

"You're getting smarter each day."

"Stop side-stepping the question!" I replied angrily, though I felt more flattered than anything.

"Mai… I believe that you are Aya's younger sister." He told me in a whisper, even though nobody else was around.

What????? I stared at him in utter confusion. What the hell was he saying?

A/N: Well, I hope everyone enjoys the first chapter! If I can, I'll have chapter two done either later today or tomorrow. After that, who knows? Because everyone knows I love leaving you guys with stories I never finish XD

So please read and review and add my story to your faves if you like it! I hope I got the characters right. I know Naru and Lin aren't exactly acting themselves, but they had their reasons. And is Aya really Mai's sister? Not telling :D Yet...

And Ayako, John and Yasu should appear over the course of the next few chapters :D I don't know where about, because so far, I'm just winging it.

Of course, most of you probably already know who "dream Naru" is, but I wanted to make this before the love confession thing XD

Naru: ....

Mai: yeah, you just didn't want things to be awkward between me and Naru.

Me: Things are always awkward between you two. Ah... first love!

Bou-san: *nodnod*

Mai: Bou-san!

Bou-san: If i don't agree with her, she might kill me off... or something.

Me: Aww, Bou-san, I love travis Willingham too much to kill off any characters he's dubbed :D You like dogs Monk?

Bou-san: I love dogs!

Me: *rofl*

Naru: I trust you won't make us act out of character for *too* much longer. *evil Naru glare of doom*

Me: You kidding? I'm gonna have you snog Mai!

Mai: WHAT?!

Me: jokes, but I tell you, it will happen one day, whether you're in character or not! *evillaughofdoom!*

Bou-san: I'm gonna go find Lin...

Me:.... please don't set his shiki on me.... I know karate... and other dangerous sounding words... like... kill off bou-san.

Bou-san: *freezes in tracks*

Well, until chapter two folks!