4 Moving

The day had finally come – Natsuo had barely been able to wait ever since he and Rui had decided to live together. But now – after what had seemed like an eternity of waiting and had actually been no more than two weeks – he held a pair of keys in his hands. Tsutaya had delivered on his promise, and he had done so surprisingly fast. Natsuo hadn't actually seen the apartment yet, but he trusted that his editor wouldn't have gotten him some old dump. It wasn't located in a shady neighborhood too. He had called Rui straight after fetching the keys and they had decided they would move in together this very evening. Tsutaya had told him that the apartment was completely furnished, so they only had to take their personal belongings with them. Natsuo had just finished packing the few things he had taken with him on his abrupt departure and the essentials his parents had sent him on his request. He had calmed their worries regarding his sudden departure with an at least not completely unrealistic story about how he had gotten an opportunity to accompany an author he admired to New York on very short notice.

Now he would meet up with Rui at her room and they would head to their new shared home. When Natsuo arrived at Rui's room she wasn't finished with packing yet.

He had probably come a little early and she had only gotten home from work in the late afternoon. Waiting a little was no problem at all though, and he was even too euphoric to mind the constant teasing from Rui's roommate and her boyfriend. He would get to live together with Rui – and with no one else there to interfere.

When Rui had finished packing they got going. Natsuo helped carry Rui's luggage – not that she had too much to carry it herself, but he just felt like helping. The usually so calm and rather inexpressive Rui seemed excited too.

"Oh yeah" Natsuo stopped "I have something for you."

Rui stopped too, looking at him curiously. He grabbed something small from his pocket and held it to her "Your key."

Rui looked at it for a moment, then slowly took it, held it in front of her face and looked at it some more "We're really doing it, aren't we? We're really moving in together!" she mumbled.

"We are!" Natsuo replied and kissed her "We really are!".

The building their new apartment was located in seemed pretty nice. It wasn't special in any way, but it looked appealing enough, especially through Natsuo's and Rui's glasses of happiness and excitement. They didn't speak a word on their way through the stairway and the corridors. They just silently walked alongside each other until they came to a halt in front of the door – their new door. After standing there for a moment, Natsuo asked "Do you want to open it?"

"Let's open it together!"

Rui unlocked the door, but didn't open it. Instead, she placed her hand on the handle and looked at Natsuo expectantly until he placed his hand an hers. Together, they opened the door and entered their new home. It was a simple, but nice apartment. After a small entrance area it opened up into a living room with large windows. In one corner there was a small kitchen and two doors led to the bathroom and the bedroom respectively. The furniture was nothing special, but in good style.

After having inspected the rooms together, Rui and Natsuo fetched their luggage they had left in front of the door and sat down on a sofa in the living room. Rui rested her head on Natsuo's shoulder while he put an arm around Rui and rested his head on hers.

"It's nice." Rui said in a quiet, but happy voice

"I think so too. Even though I think I would like it everywhere as long as I'm with you. But I really do like it as well." He pressed her against him. "Wouldn't you prefer a larger kitchen though?"

"It would be nice, but this one will suffice. The one in my previous room wasn't very big either."

They just sat there for a couple of minutes, happy just by being close to each other.

"We should start to unpack." Rui said a little hesitantly "It's evening already after all"

"We also should buy something to eat before the stores close. Wanna go together? We can unpack after that."

The young couple proceeded to buy at least a few groceries so the fridge wouldn't be empty, unpacked the more important things and had a delicious dinner Rui masterfully put together even in the small kitchen.

"Hey, Rui?" Natsuo asked, his face a little redder than usually.

"Yes?"

"I was thinking we could inaugurate out new bath. It's been a demanding day."

Rui's cheeks, too, became a little red

"We can, if you want to"

Hearing her passive answer, Natsuo became a little worried Rui didn't actually want to take a bath together right now "I definitely want to. But we don't have to if you don't feel like it. I would never force..."

"Don't make me say it!" Rui interrupted him, her face glowing red "Of course I want to!"

"It's gotten pretty late. Let's go to bed." Natsuo said after a most enjoyable bath.

Natsuo and Rui stood in front of their bed. There was only one. It was big enough for two, but still, it was only one bed. Rui lay down. She didn't seem bothered at all. Looking at him expectantly, she asked "What's the matter? It's not like we've never slept in the same bed before."

Natsuo lay down as well "You're right. It's just.. from now on we'll do it every day!"

Rui pouted a little bit "And that's a problem?"

Natsuo gently turned her head so he could look her in the eyes "No, quite the contrary. It's almost to good to be true."