Altering Years || Ghost Hunt || Mai x Naru || MATURE

Altering Years

Chapter Seventeen - Hospitalization Room For Two (Part One) **NOT EDITED**

Mood - Jane XO - Lies </3

~Mai~

I yawn loudly, not bothering to hold it back, sun shining brightly in my face. Where am I? This isn't my room, nor the hotel I was in. I look around, dazed; still reeling from what happened with Naru at the ward. I hear an obnoxious beeping next to me and look over to see a heart monitor.

Oh, Naru and I fainted, that's why I'm here. Where is he then? I look to my right and see him laying in a hospital bed like me, dressed in all white, also like me--on his laptop. I feel myself slowly get irked that he's acting so casual.

"You should really yawn quieter in the morning." Naru voices, turning to face me, face blank.

"Man, you're still rude after being possessed. I was hoping for some peace." I grumble, sitting up carefully, an IV in my arm. "It's bad enough that we're both in here."

"Mai, thank you."

I tense at his praise, Naru not one to do that often. "For uh- For what?" I stammer, Naru shutting his laptop with ease.

"For helping me get through the possession. I more than likely would've died if you didn't help." Naru sighs, annoyed with me no doubt for having him explain.

"It's nothing really, Naru. Like I said at that one case a while back, I'm not going to let you die." I remind him, making him turn to look at me, my hand currently in my hair from ruffling it.

I watch easily as a small smile breaks out across his face, his hand going up to cover it. "What's so funny?" I bite, crossing my arms at him.

"You have some drool on the corner of your mouth." Naru smugly states, giving me a look of amusement.

"Excuse me? I do not!" I huff, turning away from him, my face slightly red. I hear my heart monitor go up at a higher pace from embarrassment.

"What is that? Is someone embarrassed?" Naru teases, loud shouts from Monk able to be heard from down the hall.

"Come on, let us see them! They're our friends!" Monk complains, footsteps echoing through the halls.

"No, in fact. I'm not embarrassed. I'm just frustrated." I argue, wiping at the corners of my mouth with my hand, trying to make the drool go away.

Naru just shakes his head and sips at his tea, that I just now noticed. He's scrunching his nose up at it, it must not be to his standards. As soon as I think those words, a nurse walks in.

"Excuse me, ma'am? I'm sorry to interrupt you, but the next time you make his tea, could you make it with one sugar and less water?" I inquire, the nurse nearly dropping her clipboard as she looks at Naru, no doubt surprised.

"Well, good morning to you too, Mai. Uhm, sure I can." the nurse walks over to Naru, my smile at doing something never fading. I turn towards Naru to find him looking at me, a curiosity written deep within his eyes.

"You must be on lucky young man to have a girl that amazing. You make such a cute couple."

As soon as the nurse voices her opinion, I start coughing while laughing. "Oh no, we're not a couple. I'm simply his assistant." I explain, her eyes wide.

"Oh? I'm sorry for the misunderstanding. If you both are feeling well enough, I can have your friends' come in to see you?" the nurse asks the both of us.

"No, we're still not feeling up to it. Tell them to come back in a few hours or tomorrow." Naru states before I can agree, causing me to glare at him.

The nurse leaves after checking to make sure we're both okay, deciding to keep us in the hospital for the rest of today, allowing us to leave tomorrow.

"I would've enjoyed seeing our friends' you know," I complain, looking over at Naru who has some fresh tea, the way he likes it.

"I already have one ignorant person to deal with at the moment, so I wouldn't have." Naru sighs, looking over at me, all humor gone.

"Why do I even bother?" I shout, rolling over, my back facing him, suddenly emotional.

Naru stays quiet after that, leaving me to myself. I feel my eyes start watering at his blunt response earlier, annoyed, mad, and just plain sad.

I sniffle as quietly as possible, not wanting him to hear me at the moment. His bed makes a noise, followed by the sound of the door shutting. I ignore it and keep facing the way I am, my bed suddenly dipping. I feel my heart rate pick up, the heart monitor going wild.

I tense my body more when I feel an arm go around me, the familiar smell of Naru's day old cologne hitting my nose. I ignore it the best I can until he chuckles, causing me to sigh.

"You're nervous." Naru teases quietly, his body resting next to mine.

"No, I'm not. I'm mad." I complain, trying to act calm.

"You're not mad, you're nervous. You weren't mad at me at all, just stressed out." Naru teases again.

Is this Naru's way of making me feel better? It has to be, he's done it before. "That wasn't funny." I argue, still refusing to look at him.

"It was to me. I was joking." Naru tries explaining. I shake my head and close my eyes, feeling drowsiness hit me.

"Whatever, I'm taking a nap."

"That'd be a good idea. You're probably still tired from trying to help me earlier."

I don't listen to him speak anymore. I tune him out and focus on my breathing, Naru no longer need his IV machine, probably having been up way earlier than me knowing him.

"I'm sorry." Naru mumbles casually, thinking I'm asleep.

I raise an eyebrow, peaking my open trying to hear more. "I know I should be nicer to you considering your inbetween thinking about what you want to do, especially since you've helped me a lot lately with cases. I'm just not good at being nice."

I smile and doze off peacefully.