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Mai and Naru were on their way home now as late evening set in. The day went...okay with some more arguments here and there and Naru showing Mai all the work he has to do. Naru still refused to learn anything of Mai's job despite it defeating the purpose of maintaining appearances.
Mai sighed and flopped onto the couch tiredly when they got in.
"I'm so sleepy..." Mai whined.
"But what are we having for dinner?" Naru asked, getting his stack of take-out menus from the kitchen.
Mai groaned. "Not take-out again! Don't tell me, you can't cook, can you?" Naru's eyes widened a fraction and turned away from Mai. Is he embarrassed?! Mai started to smile but hide it behind her hand so Naru wouldn't see.
"You can't, can you?" She asked softly. Naru's shoulders slumped and he shook his head.
"Hey, it's alright, everyone has to start somewhere right?!" She reassured. "Do you want to come and learn? We can make something simple."
"There's hardly anything in the kitchen."
"Okay then Naru, the first step shall be shopping. Luckily I saw a store a few streets away that will be open." Mai said checking her watch and seeing it was seven. "We need to be going now. Come on!" She ordered as she stood up, pushed Naru out the door and locked it.
"What are we even buying?" Naru whined, unsure of this whole 'let's cook a meal' plan.
"I don't know, we'll figure that out when we get there." Mai replied nonchalantly.
"Do you do this often? Randomly go to the store without a clue of what you want?" He questioned.
"Yeah, basically." She mumbled. "I usually just get enough food to last me a couple days. I mean I don't really cook since it's just me but yes I know how to."
"That wasn't exactly what I asked." Naru let out a sigh. "Okay, what do you want to make? I guess that's an easier question to answer."
Mai huffed. "What I (mean) is, is that I get whatever I feel like for those couple days!" Mai said realizing that her answer did come out in kind of the wrong way. "And I don't know...You're going to be cooking too so what do you want to cook for your first time?"
"How should I know what I want to cook? I've never done it before." Naru pointed out.
Mai sighed, exasperated. "Okay then...what's your favourite food? We can cook that."
"I like English food. I told you my favourites last night." He replied.
"I know Naru. I meant your favorite Japanese food!" Mai whined since Naru's misunderstanding everything she's saying. "I can't cook English food, you know." Naru shrugged at Mai and let out a sigh. Mai rolled her eyes. 'He's impossible!'
"This is idiocy." Naru muttered in English. Mai glared at Naru. He blinked. She didn't know what he said did she? Or did she just glare at him because he spoke in English? Naru gave her a 'what?' look and walked away from her. As they were almost to the store, Mai noticed people staring at her—all girls. A couple of them started batting their eyelashes at her.
"Do you have something in your eyes?" She asked them. They stopped and frowned at her. A couple other girls grabbed onto her arms, hugging her.
"May I help you?" Mai asked in a irritated and annoyed tone of voice.
Naru looked behind him at the sound of Mai's voice. Mai could have sworn she seen a smirk on that smug face of his. He decided to hang back for a little while and enjoy the entertainment provided, if of course it was to be anywhere near as spectacular as the show she gave of getting rid of Masako.
"Do you wanna go out sometime Handsome?" One of the girls purred at Mai.
"I'm out already; I'm going to the store." Mai informed. One of the other girls giggled.
"Not that type of going out silly. Do you wanna go out on a date...with me?" She asked.
"Hey, I saw him first!" Another girl protested.
"The hell you did, this stud is mine!" A fourth girl announced.
"Will you four quit it?!" Mai tried to shout over them, but they weren't listening to her, they were too busy fighting over her amongst themselves. Naru decided it was time to step in.
"There you are Honey; I thought you'd gotten lost." He cooed as he insinuated himself into the middle of the pack of girls and grabbed Mai's hand. "Excuse us Ladies; I need to take my Man-candy to the store." He said as he pushed back through the stunned girls and dragged Mai with him. Mai allowed herself to be dragged, a little shocked to know exactly what just happened.
"Ugh, I hope I never have to do that again, it was all kinds of wrong." Naru shuddered, dropping Mai's hand, as soon as they were out of earshot of the girls. Naru stood in front of Mai with his arms crossed. Mai looked up and met his gaze. 'Well, she's probably going to have a lot to say about this.' Naru thought.
"Man-candy?" Mai asked, not sure if to laugh or be disgusted. That wasn't what he expected her to say...
"Well what else was I supposed to call you? I don't go around calling guys anything if I can help it. This is just awkward, bleh!" Naru rambled.
Mai sighed. "Thanks anyways."
"You're welcome." Naru mumbled before turning in the direction of the store again.
Mai went to catch up with him. "So do you always get that?"
Naru just shrugged. "Comes with the territory of being handsome and mysterious I suppose."
Mai nodded. "I guess so." She replied absently.
"I could ask you the same thing regarding what happened with that guy at your school. If he hadn't tried it on with me I wouldn't have kicked him in the nuggets." He pointed out. Mai blinked. Did he just say what she thinks he said?
"Oh, ah, yeah...sometimes I guess..." She laughed nervously while rubbing the back of her head. Naru gave her a 'well, there you go then' look and continued walking.
"Yeah but they don't cling to me like those people did!" Mai huffed. "I don't see how you stand it!" They entered the store.
"Maybe we're just over-thinking this as we aren't used to being hit on by members of our own sex." Naru suggested.
"That's for sure! But I still don't see how you stand them clinging to you." She mumbled as she walked passed him.
"Usually I ignore them I guess." He replied then frowned slightly. "I've never really thought about it." He admitted.
Mai stopped walking and turned around to face him. "You've never noticed them doing that? That's strange considering you know everything I do."
"I do not know everything you do." Naru objected. "I'm just observant sometimes, like when you're late or disappear or fall asleep or haven't made my tea." He listed, practically naming everything Mai does. Mai just stared at him, her eye slowly twitching.
"What?" Naru asked innocently.
"You said you didn't take note of everything I do and yet you have just recited pretty much all I accomplish." Naru's eyes widened a bit before he denied it and hurried passed her.
"Don't you run away from me Naru. I will track you down." Mai called after him. Naru looked behind him and actually saw Mai chasing after him. He kept walking really fast—because running wasn't really his style—and went to the ground after he bumped into something. He looked up and saw a guy smiling down at him.
"Aw crap, not again!" He muttered as he struggled to his feet.
"Here let me help you." The guy said grabbing Naru's hand without waiting for an answer. Naru tried to tug it back but the guy's grip was too strong.
"So, what's your name?" He asked after pulling Naru to his feet whilst giving him an appreciative look-over. Mai smirked. He didn't help her with those girls for a while, just getting his entertainment out of it, so that's exactly what she's gonna do.
Naru jerked his hand free. "None of your business." He snapped.
"Oh, but I'm sure a gorgeous girl like you has an equally exquisite name." The guy continued. Naru just scowled at him. Mai had to give a small laugh at that.
"Please, I just want you to go out with me." The guy begged. Uh-oh, that was like the kiss of death, she should probably intervene before the guy gets his nuggets kicked in. Mai walked up to them and stood beside Naru. She gave her best glare to the guy, after all, she's supposed to be acting like the 'boyfriend' so she's gonna do it right and be protective! Or whatever guys do... 'Oh God, this is so not gonna sound right, but whatever.' Mai thought before turning her attention to Naru.
"Sweetheart, is this guy bothering you?" Mai asked as sincerely as possible.
The guy raised an eyebrow. "You're her boyfriend?" He asked in a 'You've got to be joking' kind of tone.
"Is there something wrong with that?" Mai hissed, deliberately avoiding answering the question. The guy just scoffed. "I asked if there was something wrong with that, now answer." Mai growled. Naru pinched Mai's arm telling her not to start something. Mai ignored him and continued glaring holes in the guy in front of her and Naru.
"Well as you can see I have a...boyfriend" Naru intervened. "So if you'll excuse us." Naru started pushing Mai away from the guy. Or at least he tried, Mai wasn't budging.
"No, I wanna know what he meant by his comment." She insisted.
"It doesn't matter." Naru hissed.
"It does to me." Mai argued.
"Why?" Naru snapped. "Mai let it go. You're not even a guy." He said lowly.
"So you aren't even the least bit curious about what he meant? You don't want to protect your honour at all?" Mai demanded.
"Look. Why don't you just ditch this guy and we'll leave." The guy winked at Naru. Naru gave him a scornful look before continuing to talk to Mai as though the guy hadn't spoken.
"I am not in the least bit interested in what he meant and my honour is in no way at risk from him as I have more manners, honour and integrity in one finger than he has brain cells." He stated firmly.
Mai thought for a moment before smirking. "Fine, I'll drop this only if you tell me why you know everything I do. We were talking about it before you started running off. I want an answer." Naru gave her a warning look.
"I am not discussing this." He said venomously.
"Oh come on! Why not? I just wanna know! If you don't tell me, I'll just be forced to call you a stalker." She teased. Though neither one noticed the guy that walked away from them in frustration from being ignored. Naru just gave her a 'not gonna happen' look.
Mai huffed. "Fine then...stalker." She crossed her arms and looked away from him.
"Whatever!" Naru mumbled as he went in the opposite direction to Mai. He felt like he needed a little time alone to think and Mai was driving him nuts! Mai glared angrily in the direction Naru went. Why does he have to be such a jerk?! She just wanted a simple answer! Naru wandered further and further away from her. Mai decided she was going to go ahead and buy some food before going to talk to Naru. They both needed to cool off. She selected a few easy to cook items like noodles and vegetables and some easy to cook meat before going to pay. That's when she noticed Naru had disappeared.
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