The Inconveniences: Prologue

-

"Hey, Naru," Mai smiled. She kicked the door closed and took her shoes off in a hurry, skillfully balancing the grocery bags in her arms at the same time. "I'm back from the store. They didn't have the usual kind of tea you like, so I got the next best thing, okay?"

"Mm," he grunted from within the confines of his room.

She rolled her eyes and set the overfull plastic bags on the kitchen counter, beginning to unload them.

This was normal everyday life for them. It had been for almost a week.

After Mai had lost both of her keys (cough), she talked it over with Naru, who also thought it was a good idea for her to move in.

His condo was closer to the office and her school…In other words, both of them benefited in some way. Mai got free transportation to school and to the office (courtesy of either Lin or Naru–whichever was available), and her boss got tea almost 24/7.

Mai was also content with fixing dinner every night (her cooking skills were improving), did her own laundry, and cleaned the dishes (plus practically everything else in the apartment) in exchange for no rent.

For Narcissistic Naru, it was a very good deal.

"Would you like some right now? I'm making some anyway–"

She stifled a gasp as she came in contact with her boss's broad chest. His tired, sapphire eyes gazed down at her. "You still have boxes to unpack, right? I'll take care of the tea and put the groceries away."

She blushed. Now that they were living together, Mai got to see sides of him she bet no one else ever had. He walked around the condo bare-foot, with his shirt un-tucked, and his first few shirt buttons unbuttoned. He didn't seem tense; he was more relaxed.

"Uh, okay…Thank you."

After squeezing around him, she slowly but surely made her way to the slightly dusty guest room. Naru had told her that the landlord offered this specific condo to him for a discount so he thought why not. It's a good thing he did, too.

Boxes seemed like they were stacked up to the ceiling. Mai sighed. She had a lot of work to do.

As she unpacked her boxes, putting all of the contents in their rightful places, she listened to the noises that were being produced from outside of her room. The rustling of plastic, the opening and closing of the refrigerator and pantry doors, hasty footsteps as the kettle went off with a loud shriek, the soft clank of porcelain as Naru set the teacups onto their respectful plates, and finally, the opening of her door.

Mai turned and smiled up at him, grunting as she stood up to take her tea from him. "Thanks."

He nodded, glancing around her new room. "You barely got anything done. For someone who used to live alone, you sure do have a lot of stuff."

Mai blushed, hitting him on the arm playfully. "Well, that's none of your business," she retorted tritely.

Naru rolled his eyes and walked out of her room. He stopped before he got too far away and turned to face her once more. "You should try going to bed at a more reasonable time tonight," he suggested.

Mai was really late when it came to her homework (or anything for that matter), so she had been staying up late to try and finish it before 1 o'clock, though sometimes she'd go over her time-limit. Naru could see it in her eyes when she woke up. They were all red, with black circles around them.

The girl huffed. "You too. You've pulled all-nighters for the past three days, Naru. I'm not the only one that needs their sleep."

"Yes, ma'am," Naru called sarcastically.

Mai replied by sticking her tongue out.

-

Mai yawned and stretched back in her chair. She had finally finished her homework for the next four school days! The thought of it made her happier than she assumed it would.

She craned her neck to look back at her silver alarm clock–one of the few things she had managed to unpack. Its neon green lights read 1:34 AM.

Mai vaguely wondered if Naru was still awake. She tippy-toed into the living room, looking for a sign that her boss might be up. When she couldn't find any, she stealthily slid over towards Naru's bedroom door, peaking in.

There he was, sound asleep with his head lying on his desk in, what Mai thought, was a seemingly painful position. She stifled a giggle at his peaceful expression which was illuminated by the lamp above him. By the looks of it, Naru had probably fallen asleep in less comfortable locations before.

She smiled lovingly, pulling a blanket off of his bed, and draping it over his shoulders, finally turning off the light and wandering back into her room.

It's a good thing she decided to move in. Without her, Naru would probably be sick in bed, especially with the winter season coming up once again. Mai suddenly wondered if he knew how to cook–well; he already made that clear the last time he was over at her place…

Sure, he knew how to cook, but what about his laundry? He seemed well kept, though…very well kept.

Was there anything he couldn't do besides making tea?

No, Naru was Naru. He could do anything he set him mind to.

-

Early that morning, Naru's alarm went off at exactly 6:00 AM, waking him with a jerk. He frowned and stretched, rubbing his tired eyes.

What time had he gone to sleep? He couldn't member.

As he sat up, the warmth that surrounded his body disappeared. Naru looked behind him finding the blanket that had mysteriously teleported from his bed onto him. He didn't remember falling asleep with it. Nor could he remember ever turning off his lamp.

Naru cracked a smile.

Well, those were just the conveniences of having your assistant live with you.

Little did he know that many inconveniences await the two of them.

So many people asked for a sequel to The Sweet Taste of Death, so here it is. I started to think about Naru and Mai living together and all I could imagine was how convenient, yet inconvenient it would be.

This fanfic will technically be a series of 99 random one-shots and will be updated sporadically. Not only will it be a challenge for me to write, but also a challenge for you to read. Though, I was wondering…for the chapter name, should I just put chapter 1, chapter 2, etc.? Or what the chapter will be about?

Let me know!