1. Chapter 1 (1/2)

summary: naru has a problem with mai. she has a new hobby. one that is driving him mad. sequel to 'it's gonna be me', but from naru's point of view.

disclaimer: i do not own ghost hunt, nor the title song that was written by sting and performed by the police. and of course i don't own the other song that gets used in this, though i cannot tell you what it is at the moment, but just remember i don't own it.

author's notes: so i know i said that mai's songfic was going to be a one time thing, but naru demanded that he get his chance to have a stab at the whole "baring of feelings". he did of course scoff while saying such a thing, but he's getting his chance. you don't need to have read it's gonna be me, but it will make this one make more sense if you have. i hope that you all will enjoy it!

every

eath you take

looking back on it, he supposed that, really, he had no one to blame but himself for the predicament he was now in. he should never have encouraged his perky assistant in any way, especially not when it came to something that would so obviously-and terribly!-affect him. and it was affecting him. he couldn't seem to get away from the problem now. it followed him into his office, onto their cases. hell, lin had even decided to help out his new nemesis and add to his torture. the only thing that helped him get through these long, agonizing days was the constant injection of caffeine that he was swallowing down in cup after cup of tea.

now surely, you must be asking 'what could possibly bother the great narcissist, the only one that has a glare to put death to shame?' well, simply put: his little cinnamon haired assistant's new hobby. and what was that? music.

yes, it wasn't a new boyfriend-he definitely had scared away a good few potentials-nor was it the oh so annoying habit his regular colleagues had of turning his office into a café. it was just simply that mai had decided to take up on his advice.

mai listening to naru's advice, surely not, the world cannot be at an end already. but she had, and he dearly wished he had kept his mouth sealed. it had been such a small, hardly even thought through comment! he just couldn't stand to hear that nonsensical boy pop band playing any longer. how she could have thought that that racket was music was beyond him. but he should have just kept his mouth shut and endured it. because surely, if he had, then this torment would now be at an end.

but alas, he had to open his big mouth and tell her, 'if you're going to force me to listen to american music, at least make it good'. how could he have possibly known the pain that would come out of it? day after day, that quickly turned into weeks, of new; american, english, swedish; music being played. apparently it didn't matter what country she had gotten it from, just that it was in english. and any time that he opened his mouth and commented that it was distracting and quite possibly making her even more stupid than she already was, well, the pixie-like girl would simply smile innocently and say, "but naru-chan, you told me to. and you are always complaining about how i never try to learn english. now i am."

and to make it worse, lin was now on her side! the man that his parents sent to help him, to assist him! he had crossed over to the other side, the traitor! and the tall chinese man found his suffering far too amusing, snidely pointing out that having some music playing put the clients at ease.

ha! since when did he care whether or not the clients were at ease? were not they lucky enough that he decided to accept some of their cases?

but that was wandering too far from his current displeasure. today was another new song, one that he had to admit was not terrible… that is, if one only heard it once in a while.

his dark eye

ow twitched as the song started itself over once more.

oh, his pretty little assistant couldn't be content to listen to many different songs. no, she insisted that she needed to learn the song before she moved onto a new one. therefore naru was left having to listen to the same song for hours-sometimes days!-on end.

this particular selection was just baffling to him. it wasn't even a happy song, nor one about mushy confessions of love! it was a really rather disturbing choice, he thought!

ah, and there it starts again, just in time for him to hear it louder as his assistant walked into his office.

"naru-chan! i

ought you your tea. i figured it's been a while since you've yelled at me for some this afternoon, so you must be starting to go through withdrawal already!" she set his cup down before him and then hugged the tray to her chest, her

ight

own eyes staring expectantly at him as she smiled, rocking on her heels and waiting for a response that would never pass his lips.

oh, but bless her. beloved tea

ought to him just when he thought he might go insane! he stilled after taking a calming sip, shaking his head at himself. clearly the music was getting to him more than he thought if he was so thankful that she was doing one of her jobs.

the petite

unette cleared her throat and he looked up, one jet

ow raised in question. "is there something you need mai, or am i really so handsome that you can't stand to look away?"

he concealed a smirk as she

istled in anger, her nails digging into the plastic of the tray she was carrying. he certainly did enjoy pushing her buttons.

"aren't englishmen supposed to be well-mannered?"

"you think i am being rude?"

she rolled her eyes, "obviously."

"ah, how unfortunate."

she waited impatiently for him to continue, "well?"

he smirked a bit as he watched her over the rim of his teacup as he took another long drag of his drug of choice. "you do realize that you are my assistant, correct?"

her

ow wrinkled in confusion at this, but she nodded slowly.

"well, then there is no need for me to idly praise you simply for doing your job. get back to work."

she stared at him open mouthed for a few minutes, before huffing angrily and beginning to storm from the room, only to stop when he called out her name and turn back to him with a furious glare.

hmm, clearly she was learning a thing or two from him.

when he didn't speak right away she sighed deeply, "what naru?"

"out of purely scientific curiosity, why this song?"

the young girl blinked in surprise, her eyes widening a bit as she realized that her rather stoic boss had just asked her a question about the music that he always complained annoyed him so. "wh-what?" surely she had heard him wrong!

"are you deaf as well as stupid now? i asked you why you picked this song."

her scowl returned full force as she crossed her arms over her chest, her chin tucking stubbornly to her chest. "not that i need to explain myself to you, but i happen to find this song extremely romantic. yasu-kun explained it to me yesterday when we went out to lunch and i immediately fell in love with it."

naru stared blankly up at her, his head tilting to the side just enough to make his messy bangs fall in front of his piercing midnight eyes, causing the young girl to flush a soft red.

she found it… romantic?

"this song? you find this song romantic? you do realize what it is about, yes?"

mai nodded, a small, wistful smile spreading across her lips. "i do. he's promising that he'll always love her. no matter what."

naru fought the urge to roll his eyes. of course. she would be one of those that thought it so romantic. "you're wrong."

"excuse me?"

"this song is in no way romantic."

"just because you're a genius with science and most other subjects does not make you an expert on music, naru-chan! this song is romantic."

"no, it's not. the writer himself even says that it is not."

her eyes narrowed and she scowled at him, "oh really? then, oh wise one, enlighten me." she planted her feet firmly apart as she waited for his response.

"it's about a stalker."

"what? you can't really expect me to believe that!"

"you don't have to believe me, but i am right. think about the lyrics and you'll see."

her scowl deepened, "you know what naru-chan? i think you're just jaded. i think this song is romantic and no matter what you say it won't change my mind!" that said she turned and stomped from his office, slamming the thick wooden door behind her to close the issue. not even moments later the volume of the dreaded song increased, the books within his bookcase bouncing along to the rhythm.

naru sighed, using his thumb and pointer finger to knead at the tension headache he felt building up behind his eyes. was this torture never to cease?

and truly, how could she think it romantic? even with as dense as she tended to be, the lyrics were quite obvious in their meaning.

and dear lord, now he was listening to them! perhaps he should just grab the girl and drag her into his office to listen to him dissect it line by line to convince her!

every

eath you take

every move you make

it would serve her right after all she had put him through during their cases. it had become a fulltime job just having to get her out of trouble. he found his eyes searching her out all too often simply because she seemed to be a magnet for danger. even when he was not in the room with her, he would frequently check the monitors or send another with her to ensure her safety.

every bond you

eak

every step you take

and it wasn't even just spirits he had to worry about when it came to his petite assistant! she so easily became attached to all those around her. it happened all too often that he felt the urge to comfort her when they ended a case because she wouldn't get to be around her new found friends. or the fact that she mourned the loss of everyone that they learned had been lost. it didn't matter what sort of thing the spirit tried to do to her or any of them, once the

unette found out that it had gone through some sort of suffering she gave into the need to comfort it. and damn it, that was dangerous for many reasons!

as was the fact that she was, quite possibly, the clumsiest person he had ever met. perhaps she had done something extremely terrible in a past life that demanded punishment in this one, because whenever there was anything, anything, to fall down into or from, she managed it. find a well beneath a home that no one knows about, she's inside. an abandoned manhole near a school, been there. drop into the floor beneath a nurse's office, check.

i'll be watching you

and more often than not, for some unfathomable reason, he was always right behind her, shielding her and preventing her from getting herself killed.

he shoved a hand through his hair, forcing the locks into a state of chaotic disarray. didn't she realize how dangerous most of what she did was? how much she scared the others when she got hurt, or taken? how much he had come to worry about her?

every single day

every word you say