Nephrite smirked as the wind caught at his hair.
It was uncharacteristically tied half back, as it was a windy Sunday afternoon, and Naru had expressed satisfaction as seeing him wear his hair in this fashion previously.
It had seemed prudent to adopt it now, both for the practical reason of the wind, and because he was on his way to meet Naru for chocolate parfaits. It was a tradition of theirs; born of that conversation in the woods, the night he fully defected from the Dark Kingdom.
Chocolate parfaits were a favorite of Naru's.
He actually hated the awfully too sweet human made concoctions, but Naru liked them, for some unfathomable reason. And she would giggle in a way that made her nose scrunch up in the most becoming fashion if he took a bite of hers while they were out.
Nephrite was unsure if it was the face he made as a result of the parfait that made that magical sound emerge, or whether it was her delight at sharing an indirect kiss, but either way, the action brought forth her smile, and these days that was enough reason for him to do anything.
Nephrite reflected on exactly how far from being one of the feared Four of the Dark Kingdom that he had fallen, and smiled slowly.
His shoulder twinged as he swung his arms, but he continued to do so anyways. It wasn't often that people survived being pierced by the thorns that he'd been impaled with.
It was even less often that a human could muster the will power to pull them out.
But he had, and so had Naru.
The Sailor Senshi had arrived to slay the monsters, and all had been well.
Nephrite made his business these days as Genseki Nephrite, a corporate tycoon with a large interest in the buying and selling of rare gems and precious stones.
The business world was easy enough to navigate for one such as him; the politics of the cut-throat world of high-end jewelry was child's play after the similar, more deadly games of the Dark Kingdom.
At least in the human world, if he got stabbed in the back, he didn't have to worry about literally having a knife sticking out of him.
It was, freeing, to live as such.
And human money was so easy to make, for him.
But money, he learned the hard way, could cause just as much problems in the human world as power struggles could in the Dark Kingdom.
The first time Naru heard the amount inside his bank account in Japan; she's only gotten slightly wide eyed and then continued on with their conversation.
He's taken that to mean she wasn't satisfied with the amount inside, (though he had other, more expansive accounts in off shore sites) and had spent almost three months working double time to double it.
But there were only so many hours in the day, and he had ended up seeing less and less of Naru as the months went by.
And she was more and more sad eyed every time he did manage to see her.
He grew frantic.
What could she possibly want that he was not providing for her?!
Eventually, he grew desperate enough to ask Usagi what was troubling his sweet Naru.
It had been almost 55 days since he'd last heard her laugh, and he turned up at the Tsukino residence probably looking as if he was on the run from the Yakuza.
Usagi had, upon serving him tea (which apparently Mama Tsukino thought appropriate to spike with a healthy dash of whiskey) and hearing his tale, burst into tears, told him he was an idiot, and that Naru was worried that he was seeing someone else and was trying to find a way to break it to her.
He had been shocked into silence, aware that this was the most emotion he'd showed on his face to anyone except Naru.
Usagi had continued when he could only sit there and not notice his tea burning his hand.
Usagi had said that Naru was worried he has grown tired of her, that he was a handsome, wealthy man, and he had found a woman better suited to his position.
That was the conclusion she had drawn from the money in his account and his decreased time spent with her.
Nephrite had sat there, feeling like he'd taken a club over the head, until Usagi had pulled him to his feet, smoothed down his hair, and pushed him out her front door with the parting words, "Go find Naru-chan and explain, you idiot!"
He had looked down to find he was still holding his tea cup.
He'd sat it down on the front stoop, and went to go find Naru.
She'd cried when he'd explained, and he vowed then and there it would be the last time she would cry because of him.
That had been almost two years ago, when she was 16.
Nephrite smiled again as he contemplated that, to his knowledge, he had kept that vow.
He smiled wider at the thought.
The dark blue of his eyes caught the afternoon sun as he did so, and two junior high school girls walking by stumbled as a result.
He favored them with another smile, and watched in amusement as they turned red and turned to titter to themselves. They probably thought they were being subtle.
He shook his head in amusement as he continued on his way; they wore the uniform that Naru once wore, but had not for years.
She was about to graduate high school, and had turned 18 on January 1st of that year.
She had allowed her once shoulder length red-brown hair to grow almost to the tops of her thighs, and Nephrite felt no shame admitting to himself that he had fantasies of running his hands through her hair; he felt no shame mostly because she had just as much of a fascination with his hair as he did hers.
Nephrite blew his bangs out of his face as he stood across the street from their regular restaurant.
He was a bit earlier than usual, mostly because he was nervous.
Naru was of age, and while he was going to talk to her family, he wanted her answer, first.
He fingered the box in his pocket, and pulled it out with hands slightly unsteady.
The ring inside was white gold, and crusted with diamonds. The center piece was a silver crystal, cut to a faceted surface, and surrounded with black diamonds meant to imitate the crystal he had been carrying when he first started to fall in love with her.
He snapped it shut again.
He hoped she would like it.
He spotted red-brown hair down the street, and went to meet his destiny.