Meeting Keiko and Michiru was not as bad as I expected it to be. We met at a café with Ayako and Houshou still acting as my bodyguards.

Keiko told me all about her teaching training. She recounted several tales of her successfully teaching some small child a new thing and the satisfaction it gave her.

Michiru told me about working at the library, how Shuuya had proposed and all about her wedding. She brought photos to show me and pointed out the space they had left in the arrangements, just in case I came back.

I couldn't help but feel immensely guilty. These two young women had spent almost a quarter of their lives looking for me, when I had only really known them for just over a year before I went missing. It made me wonder if they had just been holding onto the idea of me as opposed to actual me.

"What was it like Mai?" Keiko asked quietly. I noticed both Houshou and Ayako start at the question.

"It's okay," I said to them. "They are right to be curious." I sighed. I wanted to tell my friends about all the things I had seen; the pyramids, the canals of Venice, lions in Africa, the rainforests and so on. But I couldn't. "It was very boring. I spent my life cleaning and making him tea." The latter part was somewhat true; Naru did like me to make him tea.

"So you were playing house?"

"Something like that."

"Had you been in Malaysia long?"

"No, we'd been on holiday there too," I told them, inventing wildly. "Most of the time we'd been somewhere in Europe I think, judging by the languages on the cleaning products and food he brought to the house. But in the last few years, he wanted to go places, so we did."

"It's lucky we found you then!" Michiru beamed.

"Yes," I agreed sadly. "Very lucky."

"Didn't you ever try to escape?" Keiko asked with wide eyes.

"No, he had a gun," I said. "I was too scared."

"Woah," my two friends said in unison.

"You've been so brave, Mai!" Keiko gushed. I smiled graciously, unsure of what to say.

As if he sensed my discomfort, Houshou stood up and declared it was time to go.

"Can we see you again?" Michiru asked.

"Possibly, keep in touch with the station and we might be able to arrange another meet," Ayako said sternly. "But Mai's safety comes first."

"Of course!" Keiko agreed. "Thank you, I'm so glad we saw you."

"Me too," I said, my smile widening.

Houshou and Ayako led me away to the car and we drove away.

"You've got a hospital appointment tomorrow by the way," Ayako told me as we were about half way home. "They want to do an ultrasound."

"Will I be able to have a picture? Of my baby?" I asked, perking up slightly.

"I'm sure if you ask nicely they'll print one out for you," Houshou said.

"Mai, I have a question, if you don't mind me asking?" Ayako said tentatively.

"Go ahead."

"How did you hide the morning sickness from him?" Ayako asked.

"I was lucky," I replied. "I only got it when I first woke up. Naru was never a morning person, and was often still asleep. I think he almost caught me once, but I just said it was the toilet making funny noises as I flushed."

"And he bought that?"

"He trusted me to tell him if it was something serious," I confessed. "I should have told him…" Yet more tears rose to my eyes.

"You need to stop blaming yourself for that, you know?" Ayako said.

I didn't say anything. I knew what Ayako had said was true, but it was difficult.


It'd been a while since Naru had found himself in this position; perched in a semi-abandoned building, sniper perched in front of him, the sight following his target in the dead of night.

"Does it bother you?" Mai had once asked him, referring to his countless kills.

"Not anymore," he had replied.

And it was true. He could still remember the nightmares from his first kill. He could remember how Gene had climbed into his bed and comforted him and then hadn't said a word about it. Gene had always been like that, knowing exactly what was needed.

Nightmares.

Naru refocused his eyes on his subject and pulled the trigger. He watched his victim fall to the ground, satisfied himself that the man was dead and began packing up his equipment.

Nightmares.

After Hara-san's death, Mai had been plagued by nightmares. It had lessened as the years went on, but had never stopped entirely. Naru had always been there to comfort her, but now…

He left the building and began walking down the street to the agreed meeting point. Lin picked him up as expected and they returned to the safe house.

"I'm going to bed," Naru told his two colleagues and was rewarded with two nods.

But once in his room, he pulled out a cheap phone and dialled.

"Yasuhara speaking."

"Mai has nightmares," Noll said. "Someone needs to be with her."

"You called me up just for that?"

"It's important, she needs someone with her if it happens," he said forcefully. "How is she doing for money? I will transfer funds if she needs anything."

"Are you alright?" Yasuhara's voice sounded concerned.

"Of course."

"You miss her, don't you?"

"Just keep her safe."


The following day I left the hospital clutching a print out of my baby. I didn't ask if it was a girl or a boy, I didn't want to know. The photo was grainy but I could make out the head and the body and the woman performing the ultrasound insisted that a certain grainy patch on the head was my baby's ear, but that my baby couldn't hear yet.

Ayako was cooing over the photo too. It was almost disturbing how she could be this professional and slightly scary detective one minute and the next be all giggly over an ultrasound scan. But I was grateful for her and Houshou accompanying me.

However when we arrived back at the safe house, our shared good mood was ruined. Yasuhara was waiting for us.

"Pack, you need to move," he told us seriously.

"What? Why?" I asked, still clutching my baby's photo.

Yasuhara responded by passing his smartphone to me, it was opened to an internet news article entitled 'Taniyama Tells All'.

"What?" Ayako sounded confused. "But she hasn't spoken to anyone?"

"I know who it was," I said sadly as I scanned the contents of the article. "It must have been Keiko or Michiru."

"How do you know?" Houshou asked and I passed him the phone.

"It mentions that I thought I was in Europe, I only ever told them that lie."

It felt like the bottom of my stomach had just fallen away. Which of my friends had betrayed me? Had it been deliberate? Or had someone else been listening into our conversation?

"Let's go and pack," Yasuhara said, taking his phone back. "I'll come with you."

I nodded and followed him up to my room.

"I'm sorry about this Mai, I know we are being over cautious here but I promised someone I would keep you safe," Yasuhara said quietly as I packed my belongings into a holdall. "Is this your baby?"

I looked up; he had picked up the photo.

"Yes," I said and moved round to stand beside him. "That's an ear." I pointed.

"That's amazing," he whispered. "You're astounding, you know?"

"Is Naru alright?" I asked quietly.

"I think so," Yasuhara told me. "He misses you."

"How long until I can see him?"

"He has a job to do," he replied. "Once he's done that, then we can arrange some things."

"Could you tell him for me?" I asked. I had thought about it, if I wasn't going to see him for months I didn't want him to see me and be shocked. I wanted him to know, even if I couldn't tell him myself.

"Martin has asked me not to, not until after this job."

I couldn't help but noticed his tone of voice. Yasuhara obviously did not like the man's decision.

"Then don't tell him," I said with a grin and indicated the photo. "Show him."

Yasuhara smirked at my suggestion and pulled out his phone to snap a picture of the ultrasound.

"He's going undercover so I can't promise it will be any time soon, but I will try," he said.

Smiling, I threw my arms around him and hugged Yasuhara tightly.

"Thank you."

"You're going to get me into a lot of trouble, I hope you realise." He sighed. "Now get packing."

The new safe house was very much like the first. It was plain and in a nice family area.

I had tucked the grainy photo into Naru's jacket with his note and placed the jacket on my bedpost. It was odd; I wanted nothing more than to hold the jacket close, because it still smelt like him. Yet at the same time, I worried that if I touched it too much, the smell would disappear.

As I lay in bed that night, I ran my hand over my stomach. I hadn't thought I was showing yet, but there was definitely some sort of bump there, though it could probably have been mistaken for a full stomach.

My mind returned to my two friends. I was glad I hadn't told them about my pregnancy, especially if one of them was leaking things to the press. But that thought alone made me want to cry. If they had been looking for me for so long, why would they betray me now?

I sincerely hoped it had been some sort of mistake or accident, but if my time with Naru had taught me anything, it was that the human race could be utterly despicable.


Author's note: And by the human race, I mean me (and Amy for the suggestion of The Bad Thing).

"if u dont hurry up and write more your of the storyit is going to come off the front page" Thank you so much daniail for your concern, this is a bit issue, because this fandom updates so fast!

"r u still in school" sammoy, no, I am actually at university right now. But I had my last exam for the year earlier today! Yay!

"how u a tek so long" kim, how u a rite so bad

"Madoko n Lin a gwane wid thing lol!" Amoy, just what?

And to everyone else, I will update when I want to with the amount of words I choose to update. Jeesh.

Anyway, so as I said before... MY EXAMS ARE OVER! I plan on spending most of tomorrow writing/planning so yay!

Please review with your predictions! And if there is any scene's you'd particularly like to see, please let me know!