Black Phantom:
Epilogue:
"Your mother is very... enthusiastic," Mai said the moment she and her fiancé returned to their shared apartment after a visit to his parents.
Naru groaned and deposited the cardboard box that his mother had given Mai on the floor and opened it to find that it was full of books.
"She nearly passed out in happiness when I told her that I had someone I liked and she wanted to fly you to England so we could have a wedding there and then, so consider yourself lucky," he warned as he picked out a book at random which turned out to be a brightly coloured bento book.
He handed it to Mai who flipped through it happily and found a bookmark halfway through the book.
"There's a section on how to make bentos for your husband..." Mai smiled and flipped it around to show Naru.
"Mum has really gone all out. Mai, if you ever make any of those I will dock your pay," he threatened.
He wasn't the type of husband that found heart shaped onigiri endearing, what had his mother been thinking?
"If you dock my pay, I will not make you a single cup of tea," Mai retorted confidently, she knew that the threat of no tea always worked on her fiancé.
"Just keep it low key," Naru said reluctantly and carried the box to the living room so he could sit comfortably and watch Mai go through the books.
"Ah!" Mai squealed as she picked another one out.
"What is it?" Naru asked amusedly. Knowing his mother it could be anything...
Immediately Mai hid it behind her back and grabbed another book at random.
"Mai..." the scientists said and leant down to grab it and found that it was a book on how to care for babies. He glanced down at the book that was currently in Mai's hand and noted that it was similarly titled. "She is serious about the grandchildren."
"Very serious."
"Lin is finding the situation very amusing," Naru changed the subject to distract Mai who got very jumpy when the subject of grandchildren was brought up. "He will regret it when he finds out that I know that he has a girlfriend."
This captured Mai's attention and she moved to sit down on the sofa next to him.
"Lin-san has a girlfriend? Why is he trying to keep it a secret?"
"Because she was my mentor."
Mai blinked in surprise, the subject of grandchildren completely forgotten.
"Really?"
"You should meet her at your bridal party; Madoka and my mother are friends," Naru explained. "Now that I have told you that, can you tell me what Bou-san and Yasuhara-san are planning for me?"
"For your stag party?" They aren't taking you anyway dodgy," Mai smirked. "Apparently Yasuhara wanted to test your faithfulness by taking you to a gay bar, but Bou-san and Lin-san didn't fall for it."
Seeing her fiancé's puzzled look, she expanded. "Yasuhara was going to use you to attract men- I don't like to give you a swelled head, but you aren't too bad looking."
Naru rolled his eyes, Yasuhara was incorrigible. "So, you think I'm handsome?" he returned to a more familiar tack and leaned closer to his future wife.
Having become accustomed to situations like this Mai knew better than to blush like a tomato and squirm away. She caught him by the chin and poked him in the cheek.
"Only when you smile properly."
Naturally Naru chose that moment to flash a heart stopping smile, causing her to blush uncontrollably and hide her face. Her fiancé pulled her closer.
"What have I told you about hiding your face?"
Mai mumbled something against him and he strained his ears to hear.
"Why is it always you? Why can't I make you blush?"
He smiled and patted her on the head. Assuming correctly that Mai wasn't really too annoyed with the situation, he whispered in her ear.
"You will have to try harder to make me blush..."
"Is that a challenge?" Mai demanded.
Naru simply smirked at her. "It is now."
Mai's body temperature rose and she wracked her brain for a comeback.
"You haven't seen me in my wedding dress yet," she winked. "It made Ayako cry and even Yasuhara said that I looked sexy and he isn't attracted to women. There!"
She pointed triumphantly and nodded to herself in satisfaction.
Her future husband hid a smile at her antics, deciding it would be more fun to continue riling her up and in any case; he could not let her win.
"You have not seen me in my wedding suit either," the former narcissist tilted his head to one side and winked. "Yasuhara-san said that I looked très sexy in it and my mother went through a whole box of tissues as she was crying in joy."
His answer caused Mai to falter and she frowned. Naru glanced at her, concerned that he might have gone too far this time.
"Mai-"
He was cut off by his fiancée leaning in suddenly and crushing her lips to his. She pulled away the moment he moved his lips to return the kiss and he found himself following her and instead of resuming contact with her lips, he was blocked by her hand.
"See, I just seduced you. You followed me when I moved away," she grinned happily.
Naru sighed in defeat. When Mai actually put her mind to it, the results were always surprising and seeing her triumphant smile at the end was always the best part so he didn't mind admitting defeat.
"You win," he informed her. "This round, at least."
The night before the wedding was a nervous time for Naru. The ponytailed monk had come to their apartment to pick him up and had told Mai that he was taking Naru to a rock concert, which was torture itself for Naru, but instead of being taken to anywhere that resembled the venue for a concert he was currently in Bou-san's apartment being stared down by Yasuhara and the monk.
He threw an imploring glance at Lin who was sitting in the corner reading a book on Omnouji.
"I'm not your bodyguard anymore, Noll," Lin said before glancing down at the book.
Yasuhara waved his hand dismissively. "We're not going to murder you, Naru-chan. You just have to promise not to tell Mai-chan what happened here."
Naru began to feel even more nervous now that he didn't have Lin as backup.
"...I promise."
Bou-san's frown broke into a grin and he patted Naru on the shoulder.
"Good boy. We are planning on returning this to your apartment when you're away on your honeymoon so don't worry."
Naru's eyes slid to the cardboard box on the floor next to the sofa with Mai's name scrawled on it in black marker.
"We've also got Bou-san's collection, considering that he's only known Mai since high school the collection is pretty large," Yasuhara pointed to a glass fronted cabinet in the corner.
Naru felt like he was missing something rather major so he leaned down and opened the box to discover that it was full of photo albums. He pulled out one at random to find an old photo of a very young and rosy cheeked Mai beaming at the camera.
"Mai...?"
Yasuhara grinned at him. "Instead of taking you out somewhere wild, we decided to show you Mai's past. I think almost every moment since she met Ayako and Bou-san has been recorded. Before that there aren't many photos."
The scientist sat himself down on the sofa with a stack of photo albums.
"I suppose it is not a bad idea..."
Everyone in the room exchanged looks and smiled. The former traffic warden picked up a disk from a disk rack and waved it at Naru.
"Bou-san even followed Mai on her first date with me and filmed, do you want to see?"
Inevitably all he received was a withering glance that said "do you want to keep your job?"
"I was concerned about leaving Jou-chan alone with you," Bou-san muttered under his breath.
Naru was struck by a sudden thought. "My mother isn't showing Mai childhood photos of me, is she?"
"Probably," Yasuhara smirked. "She did help Bou-san plan this and I've noticed that he now has a DVD marked "PK demonstration" in his collection..."
The scientist sighed. Right now Mai was probably giggling herself silly over photos of him and Gene and his mother was likely to have kindly included the one of him at Halloween being terrified by a trick-or-treater dressed up as a ghost.
The remainder of the evening was spent watching Mai's life unfold through photos and videos that the monk and priestess had taken. All the cases that they had ever taken on were also documented which should have been the most interesting for Naru, but he was enjoying watching Mai more.
Some of the things that he watched her do on camera, like interrupting exorcisms and running into rooms alone that were filled with dangerous spirits, made him reconsider employing her at SPR, but as he watched more cases unfold and Mai's progression into a more competent investigator, he felt more at ease with taking her on cases with him and about hiring the monk and priestess part time due to the fact that they were surprisingly competent when it came to the supernatural, although Matsuzaki had declared every single case to be the work of an earthbound spirit.
The sun was shining brightly in London and the tourists were out in droves. Trafalgar Square was no exception and people were taking photos and milling around the statues and bronze lions which decorated the square. However one area of the square was relatively tourist free due to the presence of a young man completely dressed in black despite the sun and had cold blue eyes causing all passer bys to maintain a two metre distance. Standing next to him, undeterred by his demeanour was a younger woman with short brown hair with a ring on her finger that matched his.
"Don't gawk like that Mai, you look like a tourist- tourists attract pickpockets," Naru warned Mai in what he considered to be a caring manner as she stared wide eyed at the giant lion statue in front of them.
Mai put her camera down and shot him a dirty look.
Her new husband decided it would best to rectify his statement. "You are not a tourist, Mai; you're married to me after all."
She smiled broadly and resumed taking photos before turning to Naru who blanched at the shining gleam in her eye, knowing exactly what she wanted.
"No Mai, I will not climb onto the statue and pose for a photo," he said and glared at her. Whilst it was true that most people visiting Trafalgar Square did it, it did not mean that he was going to.
"I'll buy you that tea I saw you eyeing up when we passed that specialist tea shop earlier," she hinted.
Naru considered for a second. "Well I'm not going to pose."
He climbed onto the lion statue still managing to look graceful despite the size of the statue and the slippery surface. Earlier Mai had needed a leg up from him and had nearly flashed her underwear.
As soon as Mai had taken the photo he jumped down and walked briskly off in the direction of the teashop leaving Mai to run after him exasperatedly.
A group of Japanese tourists who had been lurking a few metres away, sighed deeply, having witnessed the whole scene. The red haired woman of the trio pulled off her sunglasses and headscarf and the ponytailed man pulled down the hood of his jacket.
"That Naru, who does he think he is?" Bou-san grumbled. "I know he's always a bit cranky, but it's too much to be that mean to his wife on his honeymoon."
Ayako nodded vigorously.
The final member of the trio spoke up shrewdly. "I think that he noticed we've been following them all day and dragged Mai off so no one would see him being nice to her."
"Do you really think so, shonen?" Bou-san asked doubtfully.
"In addition, I think I spotted a woman that looked exactly like his mother," Yasuhara added, glancing around the square carefully. "She was carrying a camera with a telescopic lens. It's no wonder Naru ran away..."
Mai caught up with Naru as he was crossing the road, noting that he seemed to be looking around carefully. She assumed that he was looking for herm but he showed no reaction when she caught up with him and all he did was grab her hand and continue glancing around.
"Naru, is there something wrong?" she asked wonderingly.
He glanced across the road again and seemed to relax. "I'm find now. There's no one following us."
"There was before?"
It dawned on Mai that Naru was right. London was a densely busy city, like Tokyo, but she had seen several people more than once. A woman wearing sunglasses and a head scarf, a man in a hooded jacket, a younger man with a cap on his head and woman carrying a camera with a very long lens.
"Is it the MI6?" she questioned worriedly. "Did they find out about Kuro Kaitou?"
Naru looked amused. "Mai, it's just Matsuzaki-san, Bou-san, Yasuhara-san and my mother."
"I didn't know they were in England..." Mai said. "Is that why you have been unwilling to pose for photos or smile today?"
Naru nodded. "I apologise, it has not been a good honeymoon so far."
"It's okay. You can make it up to me now that no one is following us."
"I will. I think we should go somewhere more peaceful," he said. "I haven't been out in London properly for years so I forgot it was so busy. I know the best place to go and no one will think to look for us there."
An hour's walk later with Naru keeping hold of her hand all the way as they navigated through busy streets, the married couple at a large open space with rolling green hills and several large pools of water that looked attractive to Mai after a whole day of trudging around the city under the hot sun. She faintly recognised it as being Hampstead Heath.
They walked through the park at a slow pace so they could gaze at the scenery and Mai nervously looking around for sighs of cherry blossoms, their encounter with the Sakurazukamori at Ueno Park and Gene's body not forgotten. Eventually Naru stopped at an unoccupied bench overlooking the lake and they sat down.
"Gene and I came here sometimes alone to get some peace and we practised our PK once in a more deserted area," Naru said after a moment of silence. "It was a secret between us, however I don't think he would mind me telling you."
"I'm glad I did technically meet him even if it was a dream and I thought it was you."
"If it was not for him Kuro Kaitou would not have been created and I would have never met you," he sighed. "Something good came out of a bad situation."
Mai decided that a change in subject would be for the better. Naru often looked sad and distant whenever Gene was mentioned.
"Naru, if we had a child would it be psychic or have PK?"
Strangely enough it pulled Naru's mind off the track it had been following after talking about Gene and he stared his wife straight in the eye.
"...Are you pregnant?"
Mai waved her hands and shook her head frantically. "No! I was just interested."
"I'm not sure, it all depends on rules of inheritance. If we had several children one might have PK, one might be psychic and one could be normal. There is one thing to be sure of," he paused.
"What is it?"
"Twins."
Mai paled at the thought of her first pregnancy being twins and Naru caught her by the chin.
"Mai, it's fine; I will be there for you. You definitely will not be allowed on any cases though- there have been cases of spirits attacking pregnant women. My mother may say that she wants grandchildren, but there is not a time limit. You don't have to worry."
"That's reassuring," she smiled and leaned in closer to Naru to give him a kiss on the cheek which is returned. Once they were alone Naru was fairly affectionate much to her surprise and smiled very frequently which had been the most surprising thing about dating and marrying him.
Although he was sometimes cold and regularly called her an idiot and made derogatory references to her intelligence and annoyed her, she always knew he would protect her and he did actually love her. Another fact that made her content with her life was that she didn't know anyone else that was married to a former Phantom Thief and a famous scientist.
I apologise for the lateness, this chapter went through a lot of changes before I was finally satisfied with it.
I haven't properly been in London since I was 8, but Trafalgar Square hasn't changed in the basics and the lions are still there and I did some research by watching SHINee's trip to London. :D
