"I can't believe you actually suggested this. It's so forward of you Mai!" said Ayako amused. Chrome was blushing at some of the things they were looking at.

"Well we agreed to take it slow, but that doesn't mean I can't tease the guys a little. Besides, I'm going to be staying at the house for the weekend just to annoy the old hags. By that point they would have found out the hard way about Naru and Kyouya's interesting personalities..." said Mai sweetly.

"You know I had honest doubts about Yasuhara and Mukuro's comments about your trolling habits. But you're quite the devious one when you want to be, aren't you Mai?" said Ayako amused.

Not that the old women didn't have that coming. Mai was a nice girl and Mukuro kept the worst of it from bothering them. They had no right to kick her out like that.

"What do you mean, Ayako?" said Mai "innocently".

"Now I see why you and Yasu get along so well," said Ayako amused. "What exactly did you have in mind to cause the boy's brains to crash?"

Mai reached over to the racks and pulled out a shift.

"Something like this. I want it to be thin, but not see through. I usually wear a shirt and a pair of pajama bottoms to bed, so switching it up to something that shows a little more skin should suffice for now. Besides... my current set is almost in need of replacement."

"It is," agreed Chrome. Mai had a tendency to shop at second-hand stores, and she didn't really bother with clothes shopping. Mostly because she usually spent more on their food bill and rarely took time for herself.

Which was why Ayako was surprised Mai asked for her help shopping.

"Why not bring Masako with us?"

"She's still a Naru fan girl and I'm not about to drag her along with what I'm planning. Besides, can you really see her trying anything on in these stores and not being all shy about it? Even Chrome is better than her," said Mai flatly.

Ayako winced.

"Point. Wait... why bring Chrome with us?"

"She's starting to outgrow her current set, and she's semi-hoping to show it off to Mukuro at some point. I know she has a bit of a crush on him."

Chrome blushed but didn't deny that comment.

Mukuro wasn't helping matters with all the subtle flirting he did with her. So long as they didn't let it effect their professional life she was happy to ignore it.

"So Ayako, what do you think of this?"

Ayako grin.

"You'll send me the photos of their reaction to you in that, right?"

"Yup. I can't wait to see Naru's brain crash from too much stimulation."

Ayako chortled in agreement. This was going to be fun.

Mai took rather vindictive pleasure in visiting the house. Lin was going to be running a few errands and training with Fon for most of Sunday. And Kyouya... well he was going to be out and about biting anyone stupid enough to get his attention. He had been getting rusty from boredom in Namimori, so having fresh "hunting grounds" with an abundance of herbivores that didn't know their place was something he rather enjoyed.

So she was going to have most of the day off with her boyfriends, and would spend the night.

She was going to take advantage of the fact she was going to share the same bed as the boys to mess with them. The most they were going to do was cuddle though.

Naru was actually the more forward of the two when it came to physical affection. Gene was rather shy if it was anything more than a kiss on the cheek or a friendly hug. Which was somewhat ironic considering Gene was the more personable of the two.

Mai was humming to herself and enjoying the walk. She ignored her former neighbors with ease and knocked twice before going in after she heard Gene.

Boy, were those old ladies upset when they found out Mai actually owned the house and wasn't renting it like they thought. They legally had no grounds to kick her out, and now they were paying for it.

"Someone looks rather smug," said Lin when he saw her.

"I'll share the blackmail with you later."

"Do I want to know?"

"It's harmless, and not unless they haven't had the 'Talk' just yet."

Lin grimaced. He didn't need much more of a hint than that. He knew full well that the trio was "moving slow" for now, meaning that anything they planned to do would involve most of their clothes on and nothing outside of cuddling at the most.

The Davis were rather relieved to hear that, since while Luella did want grandchildren there was no point in having them this soon. They would rather that Mai and their sons enjoyed the whole 'dating' phase while they could.

Besides... Lin was providing enough blackmail to last them for years. Considering the sort of person Oliver was, they were enjoying this for as long as they could. The boy was entirely too serious for his own good.

Later that night...

"..."

Naru and Gene both made a rather odd sound when they saw Mai's new "nightgown". They hadn't thought twice about letting her share the room, since they weren't really inclined to get up to anything. That and they both had something of a secret addiction with holding her close.

However seeing Mai in a thin shift with a hint of her underwear showing was not something they expected. Both of their brains went "blue screen of death" more than long enough for an impish Mai to take multiple pictures and save them to her online storage. And share them with Lin and Ayako... she could already hear the older woman cackling at their expressions.

Neither of them resisted when she pulled them close to the bed, though Naru recovered first. He hugged her from the front, his brain already overheating from this new stimulus while a blushing Gene laid on the opposite side. He was a little better than Noll, though he was still red in the face.

Mai was too busy trying not to laugh at their expressions to do anything else.

That was hilarious.

The next morning...

Mai's little prank backfired on her the next morning. She found herself sandwiched between the two and neither of them were inclined to move. And thanks to how thin the outfit was she could feel their reactions far more clearly than before.

It was somewhat gratifying knowing she could affect them like that...and a bit embarrassing. Rather than getting up she snuggled closer to Naru and Gene.

It wasn't until she saw the time that she started to have a minor freak out.

She was going to be so late for first period!

At school, near lunch...

"So Mai, why were you missing for all of first period this morning?" asked her friend.

She blushed horribly. Naru and Gene had shared a look and started teasing her the second they realized why she was panicking, making her almost late for her second class. Thankfully the first period had been self-study.

Well, turnabout was fair play and she could tell the twins were loosening up in their shared endeavor to make her blush like a tomato as payback for her minor prank.

"Oh now I have to know what happened to make you blush like that!" said another girl.

"I was wearing something to tease my boyfriend with when I spent the night over at his house, and he decided to get back at me by making all these comments about why I should just skip school today as payback," said Mai.

"You mean that total hottie Naru?" grinned the first girl.

"Wait, you spent the night at his house? What about his guardian?"

"Lin's not his guardian. He's his bodyguard/assistant, and he was out doing something else since he knew we weren't leaving the house for the rest of the night. So long as we don't get up to anything too bad he's content to let us have some alone time," said Mai.

"Lucky!"

"That and I promised him blackmail of Naru's face when he saw me in that negligee and little else. Naru totally went brain fried when he saw me in that!" laughed Mai.

"Share!"

Mai snickered and showed Naru (without Gene...she still hadn't mentioned Naru had an identical twin brother) when he saw her new sleepwear.

"Oh god... his face!" laughed her friends.

"He's totally loving the outfit!"

"He's a cuddle monster to boot," added Mai grinning.

They had to cut girl talk short for the rest of the afternoon, but the common consensus was that Mai was a very sneaky and lucky girl for snagging Naru like that.

Ayako was hugging Mai, while cackling at the pictures.

"That was hysterical. Did they really start flirting with you the next morning?"

"They tag teamed against me as payback," said Mai with a fake pout. Then she grinned. "Though they definitely liked the surprise, once they got over their shock."

"Wonder how they would react to the rest of the things you bought. Compared to them, that thing was pretty tame. And the less said about Chrome's picks the better!" snickered Ayako.

Naru, who had been passing by at the time took one look at the girl talk and what they were discussing before he actually went completely red in the face and walked away. Though it was more of a light jog.

Ayako saw it all and started howling with amusement.

Monk patted Naru and Gene on the shoulders with sympathy.

"I can't believe Mai sprung that surprise on you like that."

John was blushing too hard to comment. Though Yasuhara was snickering.

Gene grinned.

"We got her back though. We kept making comments about her skipping school for the day to stick around and tag teamed against her. She was as red as a tomato by the time she managed to leave."

Monk laughed.

"You didn't hear what they were talking about when I went in there to grab one of the snacks in the fridge," said Naru shuddering. "Apparently what we saw was tame compared to some of the other things Mai bought, from what Ayako said."

Monk snorted.

"Look at the bright side. At least you know she likes you two enough to buy things like that and show them off to get a rise out of you," said Monk. "And you at least have some male influences to counter their girl talk."

Naru shuddered at the thought of being swamped by mostly females. It had been bad enough in England when he had to play nice. Here he didn't have to put up with nearly as much nonsense.

"Yeah, the ratio of our team isn't completely skewed to one side or another. I mean Ayako, Chrome and Masako are all feminine enough to counter any of us, especially Mai. And that's not getting into skill level or abilities. They're able to balance us out without creating too big of a divide, which is pretty rare," said Gene.

"Good point."

Naru blinked. Exactly how did he end up having this weird discussion with them?

Gene noticed his look and snorted.

"Welcome to normal human interaction, Noll. This is what happens when you actually spend time outside of your labs long enough to actually connect with people and establish bonds," said Gene amused.

Naru did not look pleased.

"Oh no you don't. You do not get to go all Cloudy on us now that you're finally making progress from that shell you've built around yourself!" said Gene, pinching his brother's cheek.

"And you've taken to that terminology with far too much glee," said Naru with annoyance.

"If the shoe fits..." grinned Gene.

"You know you could get Mai back for her stunt," said Reborn smirking.

"I'm listening," said Naru. If Mai was going to start pulling stunts like this, then they would need all they help they could get to keep the playing ground level.

Lin certainly wasn't going to get involved, and Naru wasn't about to ask his parents or Madoka.

Monk, John and Yasuhara listened in to what Reborn was telling Naru and Gene to do in order to properly retaliate against Mai for her prank.

"I don't know whether to be impressed or worried," said Monk.

"Worried?" said Yasu.

"If this keeps up then Mai's chastity is toast," said Monk seriously, getting the other two males to blush.

"I thought they said they were going slow?" said John, changing the subject.

"Teenage hormones," said Monk shaking his head. "Though with Naru's control and the fact Gene's actually shy around girls he likes, I'd bet at least six months before they actually move to the next stage. Right now they seem to be figuring out what triggers to push."

"Mai truly is a remarkable person... to be able to handle so many personalities that most wouldn't be able to stand, especially when they conflict with each other," said Yasu.

"Yes, well that tends to happen when said person is a Sky. It's only natural for those people to collect others around them and provide a balance to their souls," said Fon calmly.

"Sky?" said Yasu.

"How to put it in a way that won't have Reborn after me later... You know those naturally charismatic people you can't help but look towards for advice without knowing why? The sort who draw in all sorts of people, both for good and bad reasons, that are natural leaders?" said Fon.

"Like Jeanne of Arc or Alexander the Great?" asked John.

"Exactly. People like that are often referred to as 'Skies', because they have a sort of natural charisma that the majority of humanity lack. The type of person who is a natural leader or 'focus' of a group. It means they have the ability to draw in others of like minds and hold them together like glue. At the same time being around them is something akin to 'spiritual glue'... they can hold the group together because they naturally act as a buffer between the various personalities," said Fon.

"And you're saying that Mai, not Naru is the 'leader' of our group?" said Monk.

"Mai defers to Naru more because she is well aware that she is not as experienced when it comes to her own powers and the subject matter. However when it comes to keeping everyone's spirit up and getting them to act as a unit, who is the first person that comes to mind to make the real decisions?"

"Mai," said Monk. Then he blinked and saw what Fon was saying. "Wait..."

"Naru might be the drifting cloud that provides experience, knowledge and a 'shield' for everyone to hide behind when things get dicey... but in a crisis Mai is the one who is the type to take charge and get everyone to work together best," said Fon simply. "To put it bluntly she is the 'heart' of the team."

Monk thought that one over and conceded his point.

When it came to soothing tempers and getting the likes of Masako or Mukuro to behave and work as a team, Mai was usually the first person to jump in and convince them it was in their best interest. Like when she got Masako to vent outside that creepy mansion, rather than risk going inside and wandering off for Urado to capture her.

"Actually you should consider yourselves quite fortunate. There are several people like Mai in Italy and most wouldn't dare consider living in a city like Tokyo. Most of them are safely hidden behind mansion walls with far too many bodyguards and have a self-entitled attitude because of their natural charisma," continued Fon. "Mai's much more down to earth and it's rather refreshing to be around. Most of the 'skies' I've met were very arrogant and seemed to think they could do whatever they pleased because they knew they had this special charisma."

"I completely agree. Her attitude is a nice change of pace compared to the brats that seem to think they can throw around their spiritual energies to ensnare people like us. She's actually the first one I've meet in years who hasn't tried to force a bond on either of us," said Reborn, having finished the planning session with the twins.

He was having a lot of fun with this.