The Impossible

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Ghost Hunt.

It was supposed to be impossible. She was alive and he was… Politely put, the problem was that they existed on different planes of existence. He lived in Limbo and while the alliteration was charming, Mai couldn't be expected to accompany him ethically speaking, and Gene, whatever the circumstances, wasn't unkind. He'd confided in his brother one day through the portal they'd set up in Noll's bedroom. Typically, his brother had fixed him with a cold stare and then went back to the case file even as he kept the mental link between them open with one hand resting on the mirror on the table. "Since when did you ever need my permission to do anything?" Gene had smiled at that. "You know…because… you're her unofficial guardian this side of the veil? And that you like her?"

Noll had so far listened to his brother's awkward confession without a word and a stony face but now he scowled. "Not as much as you," he eventually said.

Gene sighed. It was probably going to be all the approval he'll get. His brother won't admit it, but Mai was very likely the first person outside of their own small circle that he'd let in. Sure enough, Noll who wasn't above lecturing his own superiors, had no problem giving his brother an earful.

"Hey, you're younger than me," Gene grumbled in a feeble attempt to stall the volume of nagging. "You sound like Lin."

His twin shut the file with a snap that even he could almost psychically hear and lifted the mirror so that they were eye to eye. Noll's blue eye glared formidably at him. "And you sound like an idiot." His twin merely smiled in retaliation at him. Naru looked away. He'd missed that slightly loopy smile. He could imitate it to perfection of course, but there hadn't been a reason to after Gene had crossed over.

"Noll."

The sound of Gene calling him drew him back to his literal twin reflected in the glass. His brother was waiting patiently for an answer.

"You are a pain."

"Better me than you," Gene answered, smiling vaguely into the distance. Oliver huffed, letting air out in a single breath, shoulders sagging in defeat. "Don't say I didn't say that it wouldn't be difficult."

"Ok, I won't."

Noll, of course, glared. "It'll be near impossible, you know."

He nodded. "I know."

His brother sighed and graced his solemn reflection with a rare smile. Nobody said it was entirely impossible...

He couldn't pinpoint the exact moment she'd caught his eye differently, but he did remember the conversation that had led him to disrupting Noll's busy existence.

"You could try resurrecting me," he suggested one day – or night rather. They were strolling along the surf of a beach, the waves glittering in perpetual twilight. Mai, who had been kicking the water in the dreamscape stopped with her foot poised midair and gaped at him with her jaw open. Chuckling, he closed it for her. "Just joking," he said hastily and offered her his arm. She reddened, but took hold of his elbow anyway, steadying herself as she slipped her shoes on.

"No, you weren't," she answered as, hooked arm in arm, they climbed slowly up to the hut at the end of the beach.

He stroked her hair lightly. "Why do I deserve someone like you?"

"Hai?"

"I mean… I'm dead." He watched as she wrinkled her brow in thought. They were nearing the hut now and Gene could make out the individual planks of wood. He waved his free hand in front of her. "You're taking a little too long to answer that," he teased. She huffed noisily.

"I was thinking."

"Is it that hard to find some nicety to describe me? The girls in school all kinda had crushes on me…"

She snorted faintly and muttered something he couldn't catch.

"Excuse me?"

"I said, not that you'd cared. You two probably stuck to yourselves."

"Hmm. Well. I admit we are a cut above the rest." He grinned. "But there was one girl. She was really pretty and quite smart too and her hair smelt like strawberry."

Mai scowled at him. It was, he thought, rather ego-inflating to see her mildly jealous. "I never got round to asking her out," he clarified politely.

"Humph," was all she said before plonking rather ungracefully on the deck of the beach hut. He went and sat down next to her, sighing wistfully. Her caramel-warm eyes regarded him with catlike suspicion and then when he smiled at her innocently, she snorted again, her nose in the air.

The next time they met in a dream, there was a distinctly fruity whiff about her. Gene noticed when he kissed her cheek in greeting, sitting on the same dream-beach.

"Strawberry?"

"Shut up," she replied, but blushed anyway when he tugged playfully at the edge of her frilly blouse before kissing her again, this time much more suggestively.

"I've been thinking," she said when later on, they had stretched out side by side to better admire the sky filled with coloured lights. "What did you mean by trying to resurrect you?"

He turned his head to look at her. "I was just wishing that I could be with you when you're awake too."

She sat up at that, a strange look crossing her face. "Oh no, you can't," she said with such firmness that he was stung. A wicked grin split her face. "Because you're too good for me. I won't be able to run away from you if you were there all the time."

This time, he blushes. "You flatter me," he answered gently, pulling her closer to him, and discreetly tugging down her blouse chastely at the same time. Their hands touch and she buries her nose sleepily in his hair. "That's because you're the best. And besides, Naru'll just breathe down our necks."

"That might be true," he admitted, grinning sheepishly.

Gene hadn't acquired his reputation for sticking his nose where it didn't belong by doing nothing. He had been following his brother worriedly when he felt for the first time, her call for help. Noll hadn't noticed him yet and Gene bit his lip indecisively. While he had always watched each case in concern, it'll always been only Noll especially, but now there was the two of them to watch over. Moreover, Mai had rather inconveniently been separated from the others by an angry zombie that was rattling at the door to the cupboard she'd found refuge in, which made following both his idiot scientist brother and her not merely difficult but impossible. He sighed, silently apologized to Noll and hoped he would soon realise that his party was one short before phasing through several walls directly to the room Mai was in. Ignoring the vengeful creature that was battering the door in vain, he simply drifted into the cupboard – right into her arms, which had been raised in defence.

"Ouch," she winced and then stared openly at him. She could see the blurred shape of the door through him, but other than that, he seemed solid. "Did I just touch you?"

"More like poked me in the ribs," he said, smiling broadly. "Got a few minutes? I want to try something."

"Try what?"

Giving the zombie behind him a stern warning stare through the crack in the door, he kissed her full on the lips. "This."

Mai rolled her eyes. "Flirt. Much as I want to be with you, I prefer to stay alive, thank you."

"Ah yes," he answered eyeing the door again before turning back to her, his arm bracing the back of the cupboard behind Mai.

They looked at each other.

"I can send it away," he said simply. "Easily."

His remark was met by a raised eyebrow.

"And if it doesn't work I can defend myself. I've been training."

"Then I see no reason why we shouldn't," he said, still grinning hopefully. The battering seemed fainter already. Mai was prettily flushed and he could trace the line of her jaw with his finger. It was slightly transparent, but then, she didn't seem to mind…

Naru had been the first to notice that Mai wasn't in fact dutifully following them and that Gene's presence had upped and disappeared abruptly. That was also when Lin stopped, a ear cocked alertly to the sound of banging coming from somewhere to their right. It sounded exactly like what an angry zombie would be doing to a wooden door.

They ran back.

The zombie seemed to be tiring when they arrived. In fact, it seemed almost put out. Exorcising it would be a painfully easy task and if they hadn't needed the funds, Naru wouldn't even have taken up the case. As it was, Lin disposed of it with one of his shiki.

"Mai! Are you in there?"

No answer. Then, there was a loud thump, as if something heavy had been dropped.

"Stand back," Lin warned sharply and threw his weight on the doors. Mai squeaked. Lin coughed. Naru stared stonily. They later all agreed not to have seen either Mai's hitched up skirt or the vaguely male-shaped shadow that hovered in embarrassment in the background.

"I swear, it was an accident. I would have told you I could manifest in the physical world but I was already in the cupboard…"

Naru raised a sceptical brow.

"I would have! You know me!"

His brother's brow only went higher and then relenting, Naru set the mirror back down on the table. "I believe you. You look too idiotic to be lying."

"So I do have your permission?"

"It's not like I can stop you," he answered sourly before abruptly turning thoughtful. "If she dreams long enough you two could experience a lifetime together in one night." It was a possibility Gene hadn't considered.

I knew I could rely on you, he sent across the mirror to Noll. One moment. There was something he simply had to do while this ability lasted.

Naru watched as his reflection walked to the edge of the small mirror and then disappear. It was mildly disconcerting to be staring into an empty glass surface but then his attention was taken up by the fact that he was no longer alone in the room. Someone else was there. He couldn't see Gene but he felt the smooth rush of air anyway as his brother crossed the room swiftly and planted him a kiss on his forehead. He stiffened.

"So that you won't feel neglected," he distinctly heard his brother say cheekily, before the presence faded away.

"You still owe me," he muttered, but Gene had left by then.

This time, they were walking down a narrow dirt path. Mai had complained that the beach depressed her, and so they were here in a different space instead. Personally, Gene was inclined to agree with her. The gray, clammy sand made a bleak landscape when contrasted with…

"Strawberry fields?" He regarded her in amusement.

She blinked, her eyes widening in pseudo ingenuity. "I didn't do this."

"Oh really…"

They walked on companionably, the path winding on through the balmy night. He stopped though, when it took to hugging a small hill before them. The heat felt delicious and there was the sound of water somewhere, a hidden sprinkler that hissed pleasantly.

"This isn't going to go anywhere."

"Then we'll stay here," she answered.

"Here?" He gestured pointedly at the bare strip of brown gravel. "Mai…" She'd veered from the beaten path into the nearest patch of strawberries and he followed.

"Mai."

"I know," she whispered as they lay down on the ground. There was a catch in her voice. He understood her immediately. They would go nowhere, but then, it was only the present that mattered, right now. He silently began removing his shirt. Mai watched his movements and then a beat later, she pulled her blouse up as well. He drew her to him, his hands finding their way across her sides, gently brushing. Her legs curled hungrily around him and he could hear his breath catch. He ran his hand down her thigh, hitching her legs over his before pressing his tongue into her mouth. She tasted, not unexpectedly, of strawberries, and under that, something else. He was still trying to figure out what when her groping hand moved too closely to his groin and he snatched at it, panting. Mai pouted, but he didn't relent, pulling her hand up so that it was stretched over her head. He could see her muscles reacting to the tension, her ribs thrusting upwards. "Not yet," he murmured before running kisses down her pale skin, his free hand cupping her left breast as he sucked at her nipple. She moaned, her body pleasantly on fire as she pressed upwards into him, grating slightly at his hip. She'd heard how the bodies of couples seemed to fit into each other like matching pieces of a puzzle but she'd never really believed in it until now, when with her feet digging into grit and her hands tracing patterns on Gene's back, he slid into her.

She was tight, and he found himself aching with effort not to hurt her when her hands flowed shakily to the small of his back and she nudged him, her fingers kneading into the dip there encouragingly as she pushed him deeper into her. Her lips were parted slightly and a small moan escaped from them as he thrust fully into her, letting the force of it build up between them. Mai gasped, her entire frame trembling as he came hard inside her. Her knees threatened to fold, but Gene seemed to know anyway, his arms supporting her behind as she clung to him, riding out the waves of their desire. The entire world seemed to move with their rhythm as finally exhausted and sweat-stained she spooned up against him, his arms wrapped securely round her middle. Mai laughed suddenly.

"Hmm. A lesser man would be insulted but I'll ask you anyway what you found funny."

She twisted round to give him a quick kiss. "Nothing. Just that this seems very real. I mean," her cheeks reddened, "I'll probably need a shower when I wake up."

As it was, the sun was rising over the hill beyond, the first rays tinting the nearest strawberries. She blinked, staring at the light. Gene had scrambled up, an earnest expression gracing his features. He looked at her. "I've never seen the sunrise in here," he said, awed. As it rose, the light shifted from the strawberry patch to hit the path directly and dazzlingly. Mai shielded her eyes, but Gene was staring right at it, suddenly pensive. They watched as the day got brighter, but even after that, the path remained a shining golden ribbon that arced steadily and ever upwards into the blue sky.

The proverbial light at the end of the tunnel was underplaying the phenomenon they were witnessing. He took hold of her hand. Mai nodded. "I won't cry," she said, but her voice wobbled anyway and he pulled her into a hug.

"Thank you."

She sniffled, wiping at her tears ineffectively. "Meanie. I love you, you know."

"I know."

"It was impossible, after all."

"I know." His gaze was tender as she bawled into his chest, her shoulders shaking. When she finally looked up, her smile was watery.

"It was worth it while it lasted."

He nodded, still brushing her soft hair. "Very much worth it," he said as he gently released her. "Take care of the other idiot for me."

She snorted. "Who are you calling an idiot?"

"If it pleases you, you're definitely the prettier one."

This time, she chuckled. "Flirt."

"I won't say goodbye," he replied, raising her fingers to his lips chastely.

She nodded again, understanding. They'd always understood each other, perhaps a little too well. "I'll see you when I get there."

"When we get there."

Naru had arrived as well, standing a little apart. He wasn't smiling though and Gene stepped up, giving him a comforting hug. "I thought you've been wishing for this day," he remarked, unable to resist a stab at levity even though it was likely in bad taste. Noll pursed his lips in disapproval but he returned the hug anyway.

There would be time yet, when they could all three be together again.