This is the very last chapter of Heart of the tiger. I am deeply sorry...
No, actually I just changed my mind... This is not the last chapter... This is the second last chapter.
I am not going to write a sequel.
Jun means handsome in Chinese.
Please read and then review.
Lin...
I woke up to find Mai covered in blood. I roared and roared in pure anger. Vets tried to get to her but I stood over her and hissed and growled at them. Stay away. I roared. Just then Naru and Gene came running in. "Lin let them through." Naru ordered. I stayed there for a moment then stepped aside. Gene went over to Mai with the vets behind him.
Naru sat down next to me. "What happened?" He asked in a whisper. I shook my head to say that I didn't know.
After the vet checked her out they said "she only has minor cuts I have cleaned the wounds. Just keep them covered, especially the one around her neck." Gene nodded and stroked Mai's head. "Thank you." He whispered.
Once the vet team left we stayed and watched Mai sleep. "Gene, call John. We end this once and for all." Naru said. "And we are getting Mai and Lin out of here."
Keepers came in and carried Mai out in a stretcher to the van. People gasped in shock. "Is she alright?" One kid asked. "Yes, she will be alright. She has scratches everywhere." Gene replied as they got her in to the van and he jumped in with her.
One kid suddenly wrapped his arms around my neck. "I'm glad you're okay." He said against my fur. I purred and when he pulled away I licked his cheek. This kid came to the zoo every day to see me and Mai. He loves tigers. And he is an orphan. He brought a ticket every day just to pat us. Mai and I grew attached to the boy; we even started to play with him.
"Are they going home?" The boy asked. "Yes." Naru said bluntly. The boy looked sad. I butted my head against the boy's chest gently to try and cheer him up. Then I jumped in to the van.
"Wait, maybe you could give him a ride back to the orphanage..." The zoo owner said. Gene nodded and I grinned and picked the boy up in to the van. The boy squealed in delight. On the ride back the boy curled in to my side and patted Mai gently.
"I don't want to go back to the orphanage..." The boy suddenly whispered. "You're not." Naru said. We stared at the back of Naru's head, all except Gene. "What do you mean?" The boy asked.
"You know Madoka..." Gene said and the boy nodded. "Well she wants to adopt you. She is signing the adoption papers right now." Gene added with a smile.
"You mean I will have a family?" The boy, named Misko asked. Gene nodded. "And I will get to see Lin and Mai every day?" Misko asked. "Not every day. You will be travelling around the world though." Naru replied.
The boy squealed in delight making Mai jump awake. "Oh sorry Mai, I didn't mean to wake you." Mai yawned and placed her head on his lap.
I licked her ear and chuffed, how are you feeling? I asked. Hurts... But I'll be fine. It's a good thing that we heal faster than any man or tiger... I'm just tired. She replied before drifting in to dream land.
One month later...
I couldn't believe it. We didn't plan for it to happen. We were planning to wait... But it did happen... I'm going to be a father.
Don't get me wrong I'm happy and excited, so is Mai. It's just that shifters usually have triplets. And we are not sure if we can handle three children/cubs... Anyway Mai is going to have scan and a check up. Matsuzaki-san will be doing it.
After work we went to the hospital and waited for Matsuzaki-san. "We'll manage if it is triplets." Mai said
"Mai, Lin-san, follow me." Matsuzaki-san's came from nowhere. We stood up and followed her. "Okay Mai, lay down there and lift your shirt. Now this will be cold..." Matsuzaki-san applied some jelly like substance on to Mai's stomach.
And soon we could see our... "Twins" Matsuzaki-san whispered with a smile. I stared down at Mai with a smile she smiled back. "Would you like to know the gender?" Matsuzaki-san asked.
Mai nodded. "A girl and a boy." Matsuzaki-san said...
Ten months later...
Mai...
"Mai, Kairi is chewing on the carpet again." I heard Ayako call out. I sighed and followed Koujo down the stairs and Koujo picked Kairi up and cradled her in to his chest. Kairi and Jun have just changed in to their tiger forms for the first time and Koujo and I are taking them out for a few days.
"We should be back in a few days Ayako." I said giving her a hug. "In time for the wedding?" She asked.
"I wouldn't miss your wedding for the world." I replied. "I really wish that you and Lin didn't elope..." Ayako whined for the hundredth time. "And let you, Madoka, Luella make a big deal about me and Koujo tying the knot... No thank you. You know that I hate people fussing over me... Koujo doesn't like it either."
Houshou and Ayako have finally admitted their feelings and just two months ago he asked her to marry him. And just after that Koujo asked me to marry him. And we eloped last week with Naru, Gene and Martin as our witnesses and Kairi and Jun were with us as well of course.
"Mum, and Madoka are still moping about you two eloping." Naru said, coming in to the house with Gene. Gene took Jun from me and held him to his chest. Naru took Kairi from Koujo so we can change forms.
"They are acting as if Naru or I were getting married." Gene said laughing. "Okay, let's get going." Lin said and he shifted in to his tiger form. I followed suit.
Gene put Jun down on the ground and Naru placed Kairi next to him. The twins didn't move from their spot. "Why aren't they moving?" Ayako asked with a frown. "They haven't seen their parent's other form." Naru replied.
"They are scared." Gene said. I called out to my little shaking little cubs. Kairi's eyes perked up and she ran towards me. Koujo lowered his head and licked her than turned to Jun who now hid behind Naru's legs. Koujo gave a little chuff. "Come on, my little man..." Koujo always calls him that.
Jun moved away from Naru and watched his father for a minute and then he pounced on to his father's back. Soon Koujo was leading us to a safe spot for Kairi and Jun could play. When we found a spot Koujo and I sat on top of a small hill so we could watch them.
Lin...
Kairi and Jun played all day and when they got hungry they came up to us and nudged Mai in the stomach, telling her that they were hungry. How did they know to go to Mai when they are hungry..? I asked myself as Mai laid down on her side and let the twins suckle. I watched in amazement.
Even in their tiger forms they are still greedy little piglets. But they are my greedy little piglets. Mine and Mai's... Mai... My mate, my lover, my wife... I sighed in content and began to groom her. Soon everyone was purring in content...
Jun and Kairi fell asleep right after their meal. I picked up Kairi and Mai picked up Jun and we carried them to the cave where Mai and I became full mates and where Jun and Kairi were conceived nine months ago.
Mai curled around the twins and I curled around Mai. The next morning I woke up before the twins and Mai and decided to go hunting. I caught a deer and took it back to the cave where Mai was still asleep but the twins were feeding greedily as always.
I grunted a hello to my cubs and they stopped feeding and came running over to me. They pulled on the deer's hoof in a tug of war.
They didn't know that the deer is food. To them it was a toy. Soon they got bored and went back to feeding. I dropped the deer and nudged Mai a wake...
Three years later...
"Koujo, we have a client." I heard Mai knock on my door. I stood up and grabbed my laptop and left the room. Jun was at his mother's desk drawing and Kairi was on the couch on Gene's lap.
"Naru, our three o'clock appointment is here." Mai knocked on Naru's door. When Naru came out Jun bounced on Naru's lap. "Whenever your ready." Gene smiled at the lady.
"I'm Hisami Tsukino, my husband and I just recently brought this large house for our growing family and for the first couple of weeks everything was wonderful... the kids playing in the pool, my husband working in his study and me in the kitchen. One night I was cooking dinner with my daughter's help and I opened the cupboard door to get the salt out and there was a head. I screamed and slammed the door closed. My husband came running in and asked what was wrong I told him and he opened the door but there was nothing there...
He said that I was just seeing things because I was tired so he took over the cooking. When he opened the cupboard again it was there. He slammed it closed and then opened it but it was gone.
"We shrugged it off, thinking that we just imagined it there because we were watched a horror movie last night and because we were tired.
Three nights after that my son Kenji woke up screaming my husband an I ran in to his room and asked him what the matter was and he pointed to his window and sure enough there was a woman there watching. She had blood all over her cloths.
And just last night something dragged my daughter Keiko from her bed and tried to get her in to the closet. My husband said to come here for help." The woman went on to tell us what happened to her family. The story even made me shiver in horror.
Naru turned to Gene who nodded. "We will be there in a couple of hours. We will need one large room for our base and three sleeping rooms. Get the rooms ready and then go and go out for dinner. Whatever it is, it is causing your family harm. And I don't think that it is a good idea to wait until we get there."
"Thank you so much. So in a couple of hours we will meet you at my house?" The client asked to make sure. "Yes." Naru nodded. The client thanked us and left. Normally Naru would tell the client that we'd be there in the morning. But the story that the client told me sounded like it came from a horror movie so and the spirit, or whatever it is its harming children. And since Naru is the godfather of Kairi and Jun, he would want to get rid of this spirit or ghost as soon as possible, before it harms anybody else.
Some time later we arrived at the house. And the owners were waiting for us in their car...
Mai...
I walked down the hallway and as I walked I felt as though I was being watched. "Naru, Gene, it feels like something is watching me..." I whispered in to the walkie talkie. "Come back to the base." Naru said.
"No stay there Lin is on his way to you." Gene said. Soon Koujo was at my side. "Don't let go of my hand not matter what." He whispered and I nodded. We walked past a door and I suddenly felt the hair on my arms and the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. "Koujo, stop..." I whispered and went back to the door.
"Which room is this?" I asked him. "It leads to the basement." Koujo replied and tried to open the door but it was looked. "Naru, can you the husband up here please?" Koujo said in to the walkie talkie.
A minute later the husband came up. "What's in here?" I asked as soon as he stopped right next to me. "I don't know. We couldn't find the key." The husband replied. "Hear that Naru?" Koujo asked. "Yes, Hara-san, Brown-san and Bou-san are searching the house." Naru replied. "Keep looking around in the mean time." He added.
We looked around the house. "What exactly does Miss Taniyama-san do?" I heard the husband asked in a whisper. "It's Mai Lin. Mai is my wife." Koujo almost growled out. "Oh I'm sorry..." The husband rubbed the back of his neck.
Lin...
Mai is my wife... I like the sound of that. "I'm sorry." The man said again rubbing the back of his neck. I sighed. "It's fine. We have only just married." I replied. "Congratulations. And you have children?" I nodded with a smile. "Twins, they are two years old." I can't stop smiling.
"If you and your wife are here, who is looking after them?" The man asked. "A friend. She will bring them over in the morning." Madoka is looking after them until we get the gist (as Mai puts it) of the case and we know what we are dealing with. I explained that the husband and he said, "Ahh, that's a good idea. But why don't you just leave them with the friend until you have solved the case?"
I shrugged. "You can't bare to be apart from them for so long can you?" I didn't say anything but the husband knew. "First time dad. I was like that when my daughter was born."
"Koujo, in here." Mai called out. How on earth did she get so far ahead of me? I asked myself as I jogged over to her. When I reached her she was holding up a key. "Naru, call the others off the search I think Mai as found the key."
"What is it that your wife does?" The husband asked. "Always seems to amaze me everyday." I whispered with a smile. We went back to the door. And Mai was about to put the key in to the lock when she stopped. "I don't think we should open this door. I have a bad feeling..." Mai whispered. "Stay there Lin, Mai we are all coming." Gene's voice came from the walkie talkie.
Everyone except Naru and Gene came in to view. And once we were all together Mai put the key in to the keyhole and turned the key.
And the door unlocked and we opened the door to find...
This is not the last chapter. I changed my mind. This is the second last chapter.
I will update soon.