A/N: Hello there! Thought I'd try something a little different. Disclaimer - the title and summary are excerpts from a post in this wonderful little blog I absolutely adore: The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows. Go check it out! I might do other definitions sometime. If you have suggestions or particular words you would want me to write about, kindly let me know. :D I'll be honored.

It all started with Mai.

Naru sent the two of them to inspect a particular area of the house they were investigating at the time. He ordered Mai to take down room temperatures and him to exorcise any spirit they come across. Being the good friends they were, they bantered casually every step of the way, and he shared a comfortable moment with the cheerful brunette. That is, until she drops the proverbial bomb she didn't realize could have this much effect on him.

"At first, I thought you two would really hit it off, run away into the sunset, and make really destructive babies together."

Of course, she had meant for it to be a joke, but it tore open a wound he thought had already scarred. He had to laugh back at her, pretend it was nothing but a fleeting breeze blowing at his face and leaving. But unfortunately, it stayed with him until the wee hours of the morning, taunting him with melodramatic thoughts of what could have been.

They've been together for barely four months, and he knew it was getting too emotional for him to be hung over one woman whom he'd only been with for so long. They fought too much, bickered over nonsense, and waged war over the tiniest bit of detail. She made his blood boil, and vice versa, that what was once an interesting, passionate romance turned into nothing but a tiring debacle. It was unhealthy for them to continue on with a relationship that only threatened to destroy them both. He knew what had to be done, and apparently, she realized it too.

He and Ayako talked things through, and after one of the most profoundly moving conversations he'd ever had, they both decided to end things and go back to where they were before he confessed his feelings. Needless to say, it had been awkward at first, but then again, that happens to anyone who goes back to 'just friends' status after a failed relationship.

Now they were both okay, both moving on, both getting back into the game society calls dating. And he honestly thought he was past the moping stage.

Thanks a lot, Mai.

Now he's been haunted by thoughts of them still together. A little ways down the road, deeply in love, with a rock on her finger. Thoughts of the cliched what-ifs, of them finally getting past their differences and learning which battles are worth fighting over. What if they do mature enough to settle their disputes with calm civility? After all, isn't that the only reason why they broke it off in the first place? If they got past that, who knew what the two of them could have been?

It scared him sometimes. How much he wanted to know where his thoughts would lead to. It could be his subconscious telling him he actually wants to see where the two of them were heading towards. He was afraid he'll one day want her back. It scared him because what if one day, he'll wake up only to realize he was wrong to let her go? He was afraid that he would one day realize it was petty of him to simply end things just because of little misunderstandings. Isn't that what made him fall in love with her in the first place? That she had fire and that she was a fighter - that she matched the life in his eyes? She could have easily been his match.

He might have already found the love of his life. Only, he already let her go.