No one can prepare you for the world

It was as if all of the luck that had escaped Naru his whole life rushed back to greet him for the first five minutes in the forest.

He found Mai.

He actually ran right into her, and after a collision, found himself blinking the stars from his eyes. Mai groaned, pressing her palm against her temple. She opened her eyes and began to apologize.

"I'm so—oh, wait. It's just you," she deadpanned. Mai pushed herself off the ground, dusted herself off, and pivoted on her heel.

"Mai," Naru said, making her stop short.

"Yes?" she replied without turning around. Naru stood, trying to piece the words together in his head.

"You should stay. With me. Here."

"Oh, I should, should I?" Mai mocked his voice with frightening accuracy. "What makes you think I want to do that?"

"Because you're you."

Mai turned around and stared up at him. Once she determined that he hadn't meant that as at least a direct insult, she let her guard drop a bit.

"Well, let's not just stand here. Come on, sit down, next to me." Mai grabbed his hand and pulled them down against a tree. Mai nearly rested her head against his arm, but remembered how angry she was. Naru's heart tugged downward as she pulled away.

"So… is everyone else just waiting around until Lin gets the car started again?" Mai asked. Her eyes darted around the trees and up to the morning sky.

"Ah, no, actually. Everyone followed you into the forest. One by one, but… they're all in here somewhere." Naru glanced at Mai and followed her flitting gaze. "I was actually surprised when I ran into you first. You went off first, so you should have been the farthest away… not to mention I thought you would have tried to get away from the lot of us as fast as you could."

Mai rolled her eyes, but she still didn't look at him. She was watching, waiting for something in the trees. For once, Naru didn't like her silence. Not when he was talking right at her, trying to illicit some sort of response other than derision.

"So how exactly were you the first one I found?" Naru finally asked her. Mai sat up straight, as if snapped from a dream.

"Well… to be honest I think I've been going in circles for a while. These trees all look the same."

Naru covered up the hint of a smile on his face by looking the other way. "Trees do tend to look very similar."

Mai smacked him on the arm, but he was grateful for the response.

"Have yourun into anyone else?" Naru continued.

"No," Mai replied, sitting back. She admitted defeat against her search and flicked her attention to Naru. "Why? Are you actually concerned about them?" Her sarcasm was deep, especially for her. "Because I would love to bear witness to the day that the great Oliver Davis actually cared about someone other than himself—"

"No." He cut her off with a snarl. Her disapproving look made him rethink his words – unfortunately in the wrong direction. "Lin seemed to be under the impression that if Takigawa found you, he would convince you to break up with me."

Mai pursed her lips. "Who says I need Takigawa to convince me of that? You were the one acting all possessive."

"I am your boyfriend."

"But I am not your possession," Mai shot back. "A girlfriend and a possession are two very different things, and you would do well to remember those differences."

"I know the differences," Naru ground out. The bark scratched at the back of his neck, dew dripping down his collar. Mai waited.

"Really? Well, then, do explain," she challenged. "How to treat a girlfriend and how to treat a possession. By Dr. Oliver Davis."

Rubbing his credentials in his face bolstered her drive. Naru clenched his jaw and looked the other way. Mai slouched beside him, biting down on her chapped lip.

"Look, I'll put it this way. Naru, do you ever see or hear me complain about all of the women who practically throw themselves at your feet when they see you? Nearly every young woman under the age of thirty who comes to request our services attempts to flirt with you – and don't think you can get away with saying 'I don't believe I've ever noticed that' in your scientific voice, because we both know that's bullshit – and I don't say one word."

He stopped. Mai searched his face for the silent response. She saw it and proceeded to tell him what, exactly, she saw.

"The answer is no, because I know that, even though you are quite the thick-headed idiot, I know you're not that thick-headed. You have a moral code. I trust you, so I don't say one word about it."

"You just have."

His brain was working in the wrong direction today. He quickly tried to rearrange his response in his mind, a more calm, calculated, thoughtful response, but Mai got her words out first.

Mai gave an aggravated groan. "You know what I mean! Stop acting like a child!"

Naru snapped his jaw shut before something else uneducated came out of his mouth again. Mai glanced down at her knees. Her eyebrows drew together and she breathed in a long, steady breath.

"You really don't trust me, Naru?" Mai said, but her voice came out as more of a squeak. Naru jerked his head up to attention. "Because that's what it seems like to me. That you don't trust me enough to be faithful."

"Of course I trust you." Finally something coherent and intelligent.

"Then why did you act like this?"

"Because you told Yasuhara first. That is not something I would attribute to trusting."

Mai sighed. "Yes. I did. Okay, I did, I admit it. I just got a little freaked. It was a split second decision. I knew Yasuhara wouldn't go berserk and send ancient curses after the kid."

"I don't know how to cast ancient curses," Naru rebuffed.

"Yes, but Lin does, and you could very well ask him to teach you. You're a fast learner, so I wouldn't put anything past you." She lifted an eyebrow at him, causing him to laugh again.

"You've got to know that I wouldn't dare give up something I fought so hard for to begin with," Mai whispered so quietly that he couldn't be sure at first that she'd actually said it. He looked at her and found himself staring directly into her eyes, her mouth parted as she dwelled on her words.

"In the future, I promise that if someone asks me out again, I will tell you before I tell anyone else."

Naru nodded, accepting her proposition.

"And…?" Mai guided.

"And what?" Naru drew a blank. He'd gotten exactly what he wanted, and Mai hadn't ripped off his arm in the process.

"About the women throwing themselves at your feet?" Mai supplied. "I know you've got an ego to feed, but we need a compromise."

"Fine. I will make it known that it is not appropriate for women to, as you say, throw themselves at my feet, although I've never been witness to something quite like that."

Mai smiled.

"Thank you."

They were still holding hands.

"What did you even run out here for in the first place?" Naru asked, squaring his shoulders toward her. "I was more preoccupied with the smoking engine."

"More like you just didn't want to see me run the other way, you being all angry at me," Mai quipped, "because we also both know that you know absolutely nothing about cars."

"Is my overwhelming intelligence rubbing off on you?" he shot back at her, making the ends of her lips turn up.

"I don't know if you heard Masako, but we both saw these flashing lights. It was obviously more appealing to go find out what they were, rather than standing there, yelling at everyone else for being cruel or lying or hiding secrets…" Mai trailed off, sadness washing over her face. "So I went and didn't look back."

"Did you find anything?"

"Does it look like I found anything?" Mai answered with a question. "I haven't seen anything since I went in."

"Did it seem like it was a ghostly presence?" Naru continued.

"Oh, you're already in your idiot scientist mode, cracking down with all of these questions," Mai muttered under her breath. Naru's mind flickered to Gene. The nickname parroted in his ears. "Seeing as it's us, yes, I would assume it's some sort of ghost. Especially if only me and Masako saw it. We've seen loads of things before together when the rest of you didn't."

"I suppose you're right," Naru mused. "So then what could it have been?"

"I'd really rather not go and look right now. The sun's coming out, but it just seems to be getting colder." On cue, Mai shivered. On instinct, Naru tugged her into him. She blinked, caught off guard, but nuzzled closer once she realized what had happened.

"That could most definitely give us answers."

"So there's a ghost stalking some random forest and we just happen to fall right into its hands?" Mai wondered. "Doesn't that seem a little too coincidental?"

"Coincidence doesn't exist in my book."

Mai clicked her tongue once.

"Naru, can't we just ignore ghosts and ghost hunting and other occult and ethereal things that could very well want to kill us and just focus on… the peace of the moment?"

Naru was about to shoot her down, to blatantly ignore everything she just asked of him. After all, a ghost could have very well been on the loose, and it was his self-proclaimed job to stop them from causing any harm.

But then he made the mistake of looking at her. Mai played the oldest hand in the book – the puppy dogs eyes that were simply too irresistible. Naru sighed, slumping back.

"Fine. I'll stay. The light… whatever it is… can… wait," he managed to get out without utterly going back on his word. It killed him to say those words, but Mai grinned, delighted, and rested her head back on his chest. His resistance ebbed away.

"Thank you," she repeated, claiming a second victory in less than fifteen minutes. "Do you ever get the feeling that maybe, someday, we'll just need a vacation from all of this?"

"That's what England was for."

Mai went silent. Naru's expression remained stone-cold and Mai turned away.

"I don't plan on going back any time soon," he murmured. "I couldn't stay away."

This, at least, lightened her mood for a few sweet seconds.

But they couldn't stay out of trouble for long.

A crushing fear gripped her heart, sending the pulse to her fists. She clenched down on Naru's coat and right hand, emitting an unwanted yelp. There directly in front of them was Urado, on bloody, bony fingers, famished hands and knees. Mai couldn't move. The demon dragged his body toward them, white eyes bugging out of the decrepit skull. Blood dripped into the leaves, sliding off his mummified body.

Mai clung to Naru and buried her face in his coat.

"What? What is it? Mai, what is it?" He shook her, snapping her out of her state. Urado was gone. Mai blinked, trying to rid the mere idea of the demon – the demon they burned, along with his house and victims – from her memory. But she'd had that nightmare more than once – Naru had witnessed the aftermath of those nightmares more than once. She could have sworn he recognized the signs.

He waited for her to tell him.

"I… I just… I saw…" Mai mumbled. "But… no. It couldn't have been. You would have seen it, too."

"Seen what, Mai?" Naru insisted, hating the fear in her voice. He was here, so he needed to make sure she was safe.

"I just had this weird feeling come over me. Like… all of my fears, all at once, slammed me hard in the chest."

"Do you feel all right now?" he replied immediately, searching her for any sign of harm.

"Y-yeah. I'm fine. It was here and gone."

"Are you sure you didn't see anything? Anything at all?"

Mai paused. She could tell him. Those blue eyes… God, she wanted to tell him.

Urado's locked stare burned into her mind's eye and sent chills down her spine. Those nightmares had never stopped.

"I did see…"

Mai let her voice fade out and gazed around them.

He saw it this time, saw why Mai had run off into the forest out of sheer curiosity. The green flash swarmed the trees in a matter of seconds, blinding them, chilling the air. Mai gripped his hand again, gaping. It was gone before he had the chance to really examine it.

Naru jumped up, sending a frightened and confused Mai toppling over on her side. He spun in a circle, his jacket billowing out behind him, trying to find the source.

"That was it. Did you see it that time?"

"Of course I saw it that time," Mai snapped back, sitting upright after he had let her fall over. She dusted the twigs, leaves, and dirt from her sleeve and stood with him. They stood back to back to view the forest, searching for any other signs.

"Where did it come from?"

"…all over," Mai finally said, glancing around them. "It wasn't just some blinking green flashlight… it was like it was all around us. It lit up the forest, just like I first saw."

Naru remembered that the rest of their crew all wandered around this forest as well. He spun to Mai and gripped her shoulders to twirl her toward him.

"Do you think everyone else saw it this time, too?" he demanded, looking right into her eyes. She nodded, her expression solemn. She still wasn't convinced that the green light wasn't connected to the solid dose of fear, and her gut feeling was never wrong.

"You'd have to be blind to miss something like that."

"So then everyone else will be looking too. They'll want to know what it is, too."

"We should split up," Mai offered. "Maybe we'll find it faster that way, whatever it is."

"No. You will stay with me," Naru said. He collected Mai's left hand in his right again, just as Mai's jaw dropped. "You are going to stay with me so you don't manage to put yourself in some ridiculous danger like all of the times before. I just don't see how you haven't learned by now."

By now, Naru was muttering to himself, too self-absorbed in the notion that there was a new ghost to discover to realize that his brunette girlfriend was three seconds away from detonation.

She could have understood if Naru had said he just wanted her to be with him because, oh, they were a couple. Or if he just needed her by his side. Those excuses were simple enough, and Mai would have taken them in stride, even if they weren't the complete reason.

But the degradation—

"Ugh! I don't get it!" Mai tossed his hand from hers, sending it slamming back to his side. "This is what I just can't stand about you! You're calm and comforting one second, and then when you realize that no one's yelling at you, you think you can go and be all condescending again! Well, I'm sick of it! I have better things to do! Goodbye!"

The whole world crowded in on Naru as she went stomping off on her own among the shadowed forest and tall trees. It was getting colder out there, even though the day stretched on. He took two strides after her.

"You're going to get lost out there! You're going to get hurt!" He didn't want her in danger. He didn't need her in danger. He had already put up so much of a fight for this, just like her.

From what he could still see of her, she threw up a hand and brushed him off. If that was the last thing he was ever going to say to her, after watching her retreating back walk away into some dark forest where bright lights flashed once to lure two young women into its clutches, he hated himself for it.

"Mai! Mai!"

But she was gone.

No one stays untainted by the world

A/N: Thanks to Amthyst, nicomwaah, polaracebear, Chrysanthia-Sunshine, and Guest for reviewing last chapter! Please review and tell me what you thought! There's plenty more to come :)