New Memories (Ghost Hunt Fan-Fic) (HIATUS)

Chapter 27: Cooking 101

Naru's P.O.V.

"Well, you guys can leave dinner to me! Seeing as how neither of you can cook anything besides rice or Ramen." Mai says.

Gene smiles wickedly before shoving me over by Mai. "No, he'll help."

"What?"

He whispered, "Here's your chance." Then he leaves. I sigh, turning my head back in Mai's direction.

She turns on a stove and places a pan with oil over it.

I decide to watch her and make sure she doesn't accidentally dunk her face into anything hot.

While the oil's heating, she busies herself by mincing onion, tomatoes, and peppers, and then putting rice into the rice maker.

"So Naru," she calls out, surprising me. "How come you don't know how to cook? You have this fancy place after all, and I'm fairly certain there have been maids and chefs around."

I stiff up, glancing away arrogantly. "I didn't think learning the culinary arts would benefit me. While Gene was wasting his time practicing making cookies and mozzarella sticks, I began meditation."

"Ah."

Then she turned around. "Wait, you mean Gene can cook?! Awh man. Then dinner would've been perfectly fine in Gene's hands, not mine."

"In my opinion, the result of your cooking skills are more satisfying."

She blushes, and continues to tend to the now boiling oil, stirring in the vegetables. "Aye Naru, why don't you come over here and give cooking a try?"

"I'll pass."

"No, I insist." She drags me from against the countertop to in front of the stove. Then she gives me that wooden-brown-stick-spatula thing and gestures for me to stir the mix. I look at her and then the food. Rolling my eyes, I stick the spatula in the pan and roll it around.

"No!" Mai cries, placing her hand on mine. My body gets tense from such close interaction, and I try to lean closer to the stew, but that seems to go unnoticed by her as she leads my hand back over the pan with the spatula, guiding it to carefully stir.

"See, you're getting the hang of it! Now fix your posture. You're leaning over it so closely you might fall in!" She cries, moving me back a little. I straighten. I can feel her move behind me, using her hands to guide my back and arms up in a way that felt more comfortable than the bent position from before. I blush as she holds me in place.

"Lord knows if I let you go, you'll slowly start leaning over the pan again." Mai laughs. Am I the only one feeling all sweaty? No, It must be from all the heat from the stove. Not to mention Mai's body heat.

I feel my blush darken. Mai tells me to continue stirring while she checks on the salmon in the groiler.

In that short time, I try to gather my composure. "Well the stew looks just about done, Naru you can turn the stove off." I exhale in slight relief and disappointment.

"Now go set the table." I scowl.

Mai's P.O.V.

After sending Naru to fix up the table, I turn to my own thoughts. That was nice. Y'know, to hang around Naru like a normal person.

I'll just ignore the fact that while I was holding him I was doing this weird sniffing thing. Smelling him, I guess. Also, I was blushing. And thinking impure thoughts. Practically humping him in my mind.

But hey! Can ya blame me? Naru is Naru and I love/hate him so much. He just doesn't know that. Yet. I plan to tell him in the upcoming month or two, when I finally get the courage. It's been bothering me for a while now that I still think about what happened in Japan the last time I was here with him.

My rejection.

And what bothers me even more is that he might reject me again...

(A/N) Its a filler, but I figured I needed to put some romance in here, if y'know what I mean. *wINK, wiNK* 😉 But stay tuned for the next update, which, knowing me, will probably be in 2033. Jk, but I'll try to get at least 2 chapters done before the end August. "try"