Title: Roommates Diary I - New Routines (Part IV)
Author: ficeler37
Note: Don't own Mai-Hime. I'll let Sunrise take the credit.
Rating: PG
Word count: 1596
Summary: Ninja Kenta. Shiznat finishes moving in. Dinner for two.
A/N: This chapter is a little different from my usual chapters because I pressed the fast forward button a couple of times while writing. Hopefully that won't be too distracting. I just had ideas for little scenes in my head. I realized today that I write about Natsuki's inner thoughts more often that I write Shizuru's. Considering my own preference for the characters, definitely interesting indeed...
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With his body conveniently hidden behind a queen size bed floor sample, Kenta looks up at the now smiling Natsuki who is waving to someone a couple aisles away. "Dude, why am I hiding?" On second thought, I've never been someone's dirty little secret. This is kinda cool.
Green eyes never leaving the Kyoto beauty for a second, Natsuki tries to minimize the movement of her mouth as she whispers to the crouching figure. "With Shizuru's photographic memory, she's going to recognize you from the amusement park. Like you saw earlier, I'm not exactly the most sociable person on the planet. What is she going to think when she sees us talking to each other?" I'm probably over-reacting, but I just don't want to give Shizuru the wrong idea …
Thinking back to the apparent killer intent behind the chestnut haired girl's smile at the park, Kenta can only shudder at the memory. "Okay, you have a point. Here." He scribbles his name and phone number on a trash receipt on the floor and shoves the paper into the back pocket of Natsuki's biker suit. "Listen, Kuga. You seem like a cool person. If you need relationship advice or just wanna chill and talk about your third base experience, give me a call."
"Fuck, did you just slap my butt?" Argh, if only Shizuru wasn't coming this way, I would have kicked your ass so hard that you'd triple your pants size by the end of the day!
"What can I say? You do have the nicest ass in town. (Wink) Peace out." Kenta does a ninja roll on the floor towards a stack of dressers and disappears from Natsuki's sight.
THAT IDIOT! No matter how great of a job Natsuki did to keep the smile on her face, she could not fight back the pink shade on her cheeks brought on by her anger. At least he left before Shizuru got here. I hope she won't notice my …
"Ara, is Natsuki blushing?" On the way over, Shizuru has noticed the frozen expression plastered on the blue haired girl's face. Something must have happened while I was at the check stand.
One simple question is enough to send Natsuki's heart racing. Deny everything! Act normal! "Really? That's weird. I was just reading a magazine."
"Hm ... " Natsuki is obviously hiding something from me. But do I want to pressure her into telling the truth?... That is not really my style. "Were you reading something naughty?"
"Shizuru!" As if they'd sell porno magazines at Fukea!
After their bed purchase, the girls have decided that Shizuru would go back to her apartment to pack her bags while Natsuki would head back to hers to clean out her study room. The plan was for Shizuru to take a taxi to meet up with Natsuki later at their new home. The consensus was not immediate, but Shizuru ended the discussion citing the inefficiency of Natsuki's motorcycle in transporting her suitcases.
A couple minutes later as Natsuki drops off Shizuru, the older girl had to swear on her tea leaves that she would not forget to bring the mayonnaise over before Natsuki agrees to leave. While Shizuru walks towards her apartment, the younger girl vigilantly scans the area for suspicious mousy looking men with the scenes of this morning playing in her head. It is only after Natsuki loses sight of her best friend that she starts her engine with a sigh of relief.
Stepping into her apartment, Natsuki empties her pockets routinely next to the phone. Looking down at the crumbled receipt with barely legible handwriting, something catches her eyes all of a sudden. Wait, his last name is Eto. Why does that name sound so familiar?
Her train of thought is disrupted by the sudden ringing of the apparatus in front of her. It can't be the tattoo guy calling me, right? Duh, I didn't give him my phone number. "Hello?"
"Natsuki, it's me. Bad news. People from Fukea just called, and they said their delivery truck broke down and they won't be able to bring us the queen size bed till tomorrow afternoon. Maybe I should just stay in my apartment tonight …"
"No!" Natsuki quickly covers her mouth, surprised by her own outburst. Why do I feel like she might just call off the whole moving in thing if she stays at her apartment for the night? Stop being so insecure, Natsuki! But still … "Why don't you sleep in my bed tonight and I'll crash on my couch? Let's just get the moving in over with today. Since we have school tomorrow, we'll probably be busy." Nice save, Natsuki!
Natsuki's suggestion inadvertently puts a smile of the Kyoto woman's face. "I feel bad making Natsuki sleep in the living room. Why don't you take the bed and I'll …"
"Ahhhh! Just come over already. We can discuss the sleeping arrangement later. I'll be seeing you tonight." Natsuki hangs up the phone before the other girl can reply. As long as I can get her butt over here, even if I have to sleep on the floor tonight, I can care less. Knowing Shizuru, she'll leave her apartment for sure after how I hung up on her.
Just as Natsuki predicted, Shizuru shows up at her front door with suitcases and plastic bags in hand later that night. Natsuki hurriedly takes over the bags and settles everything down in the newly cleaned out study room. Exiting Shizuru's new room, she searches for the other girl and hears sounds of cabinets opening and closing from the kitchen.
Poking her head out of the kitchen, Shizuru calls out to Natsuki with a solemn look on her face. "I hereby declare this kitchen my domain. Natsuki, you cannot live on mayonnaise and cup noodles alone. And what's the matter with all the beer in the fridge? From now on, I'll be in charge of stocking up your fridge and your food cabinets, any questions?" Hopefully Natsuki can kick off some of her horrendous eating habits with my supervision. I just want my Natsuki to be happy and healthy.
(Sigh) I half expected her to react this way. I guess there's really no way around it. "Okay …" Slumping her shoulders like a kid confessing her wrong-doings, Natsuki initiates her puppy eyes attack on the older girl. "Do I at least get to try the mayonnaise that you made me tonight?"
Stepping out of the kitchen with her own pink apron with bunnies in the front pouch, Shizuru replies with a smirk. "Only if you'd let me cook for you from now on." People don't change over night. The best I can do is to change her menu gradually. Ho ho, I'll take that bright smile on your face as a yes, my dear Natsuki. Tonight is a night of celebration. Why not indulge Natsuki a little?
So …CUTE!!! Unbeknownst to Shizuru, Natsuki's joyous expression is brought on by her fascination with Shizuru's new look. Shizuru will make a great wife one day. Ahhhh, I can't imagine any guy claiming her as a wife. Stop thinking about this, Natsuki. Now Shizuru has a concerned look on her face. Look what you have done! Smile, damnit!
Dinner was filled with amiable small talks and periodic laughter. For the entire meal, Natsuki was busy cleaning out the plates of seaweed flavored mayonnaise scrambled eggs, mango flavored mayonnaise popcorn shrimps, and wasabi flavored mayonnaise broccoli. Meanwhile Shizuru had prepared herself a nice bowl of rice soaked in green tea and was happy to keep her chopsticks away from the other three dishes she made.
Towards the end of the meal, Natsuki suddenly dumps some broccoli with light green creamy sauce into Shizuru's bowl. "I love your new creations. You have got to try it out!"
Observing the little chunks of creamy sauce floating defiantly on the surface of the green tea in her bowl, Shizuru feels like her stomach is doing somersaults against her will. "Uhm … I'm full. I think I'll go wash the dishes now." Yes, I made the dish. But I just can't deal with mayonnaise in my tea right now.
With the delicious mixture of mayonnaise stuffed in her mouth, Natsuki mumbles after a slight pause. "I'm almost done myself. Do you need help in the kitchen?"
"If Natsuki comes in to help me, I don't know if I can get out of the kitchen by the stroke of midnight." Reminiscing about the time when Natsuki almost burned down half of her own kitchen while trying to make a grilled ham and cheese sandwich, Shizuru is not so sure about her dish washing skills.
"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" Is this because she heard about the small fire in my kitchen? Damn Mai and her big mouth!
"It'll just be faster when I'm working alone. How about you go watch some TV and I'll come out later with some hot tea?"
A yielding nod and an apologetic smile later, Natsuki finds herself staring blankly at her flat screen TV, not caring about the fate of the characters in the show. I didn't ask her to move in with me to be my maid. (Sigh) Maybe I can ask Mai to give me some cooking lessons. That way Shizuru won't be stuck with the household chores all the time.
"Ow!" The pained cry is followed by the noise of metals clashing against each other.
"Shizuru!" Natsuki rushes to the kitchen with her heart pounding loudly in her ears.
TBC.
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A/N 2: As you can see, I've decided to let Kenta live for now and avoided a direct confrontation between Kenta and Kaichou-sama. If by now you still do not see the significance in Kenta's last name, please go back to chapter two. This relationship will prove very interesting in the future, haha.