DISCLAIMER: I do not (unfortunately) own Naruto or any of the characters…
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Sakura Haruno was never a rich girl. Sure, her parents had some money, but she was seventeen years old and currently had a huge crush on an untouchable boy. So strong was her crush that she went and got a job at the same café, the Hidden Leaf Café, that he worked in. Sakura was a junior at the local Konoha High School, where her crush just happened to graduate the year before. The grand prankster, bottom of his class, Naruto Uzumaki.
Naruto was that band geek. Well, he used to be, back in middle school, anyway. But by the time he graduated from high school, he had a dream; an impossible dream for someone of his genius, but a dream nonetheless. He dreamed of being the most famous musician.
And it was his punk clothes and ragged, ripped jeans that drew girls, including Sakura Haruno, to him.
He worked at the Hidden Leaf Café with Sakura and her hopeless romanticism. But apparently, after two years of working together, they decided on 'just friendship'.
So here Sakura was, at twelve o'clock on a Saturday night, shooing the final customer out of the café before beginning clean up. "Naruto!" shouted Sakura as she flipped her pretty pink hair. She turned to see, unsurprisingly, Naruto with his head on the counter, asleep. Sakura scoffed and walked over to her old crush. "Come on, sleeping beauty," she cooed angrily in his ear, "Wake up!"
"Five more minutes, mom," Naruto groaned subconsciously, shifting slightly in his sleep. Sakura sighed and gave him a harsh slap on the back of the head.
"Get up," she hissed between clenched teeth. Sakura never did have the best anger management, and it showed.
Naruto lifted his head, his perfect blue eyes held confusion. "I fell asleep didn't I?" he asked sheepishly as he flipped open his cell phone, checking the time. Sakura hesitated, biting her lower lip out of habit. She nodded slowly, "yeah,"
"Twenty minutes," Sakura said, checking her watch. Naruto cursed under his breath. Why did he always have to fall asleep on the job? If the café owner wasn't his old guardian, he'd have been fired years ago. Naruto sighed and reached under the counter for a bucket. He walked to the back 'employee's only' area, with Sakura tailing him. It was an unnecessarily cozy area, four lockers for employee belongings sat against one wall, a sink against another, and two large comfy chairs made up the first room. The second was strictly for storage.
Naruto filled the bucket up and grabbed two rags, taking one for himself and handing one to Sakura. Together, the two employees scrubbed the tables and counters silently, wondering when the other would start a conversation.
"So, what are you doing tomorrow, Sakura?" Naruto was the first to break the silence. Sakura mentally rejoiced, silence was awkward when spent with Naruto.
"Church, ugh!" she replied, sticking her tongue out in disgust. "after that, I don't know since Ino's not going to be in town,"
"Ino!" Naruto shouted as what seemed like a lightbulb went off over his head, "Shit!"
"What?"
Naruto checked his watch, "Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! I have to drive Ino to the apirport tomorrow," he remembered suddenly. "Think you can close up for me? I gotta go!"
Sakura sighed. Ino was her best friend, and after Naruto lost a bet to the blonde girl two weeks previously, he was in charge of driving her around for the month (she had yet to get her licence). And because Ino's father was the CEO of the Yamanaka corporation, a huge clothing designing company, Ino was her father's favorite model. As a tall fair-skinned blonde blmbshell, everybody loved her. So tomorrow, she would be flying out to Italy to join her father for a photo shoot in Venice.
It was, of course, Naruto's job to get Ino safely to the airport.
"Will do," Sakura nodded, honestly caring more about Ino getting safely to the airport the next morning than having Naruto go and get a good night's sleep. Naruto flashed her his signature smile and tossed his rag back into the sudsy bucket. He shrugged out of his café jacket and pulled an orange and blue plaid button-up shirt on.
Naruto grabbed his bag and walked towards the door, calling over his shoulder to sakura, "Thanks, girl, I owe you big-time!"
"No problem, Naru! Have a safe trip," Sakura called back, waving even though, unless he squinted into the glass doors, Naruto couldn't see her.
"Sure, sure!" Naruto was about to open the door when it swung open on it's own, and a tall, thin man walked into him.
"We're closed, can't you read the sign?" Naruto snapped, his cheerful mood suddenly ruined by this newcomer.
"I'm not here to buy anything," came the smooth reply. The man's voice was deep, but young. As he stepped into the light of the café, he looked less like a man and more like a teen Naruto's age. He had a thin figure, straight-leg jeans that wrapped perfectly around his legs, a dark gray v-neck t-shirt that hugged his chest, and a studded belt that rested on his thin hips. He rushed his long raven bangs from his face and gave Naruto a once over with his coal-black eyes.
Naruto narrowed his own eyes, "Well, if you're here cuz you're lost, sorry, we don't give out directions,"
"I wouldn't trust you to get me anywhere, anyway, Dobe," the boy replied swiftly, letting his hands drop from across his chest into his pockets.
"What did you call me?"
"Are you deaf?" the boy asked, "I called you Dobe,"
"Well don't,"
"Boys, please!" Sakura spoke up for the first time since the raven entered the café, "Naruto, calm down," she whispered, placing her rag gently back into the bucket and began removing displays from the counter as she spoke. "Now," she turned to the raven, "Who are you and why have you come to our small hole-in-the-wall café? You said you weren't looking to buy anything, so—"
The boy nodded, cutting her off, "I'm with Sharingan Entertainment, and we're scheduled to film a movie in this city," he explained, "I'm scouting areas for filming, and we're in need of a small café where most of the scenes take place,"
"What kind of movie," asked Naruto in a cool voice, he raised one eyebrow.
"Romantic comedy,"
"What do we get in return?"
The raven shrugged, "A generous donation,"
"Sakura, is it just me, or does this not seem like a good idea?" Naruto hissed loudly across the café, voicing his discomfort about the raven-haired teen's request.
The raven sighed and pulled his wallet out of his back pocket. At first, Naruto thought he was going to hand them a check, but he flipped the black leather wallet open and showed Naruto his identification card.
"Sasuke… Uchiha… actor…?" Naruto read off the card. Sakura's head peaked over the counter from where she was arranging the displays on a shelf.
"Sasuke Uchiha?" she repeated in a high voice, "the Sasuke Uchiha?"
"No, I'm the boy next door," Sasuke said with heavy sarcasm. Naruto turned back to the raven in time to see his eyes roll dramatically.
"Naruto, we have to accept!" Sakura squeaked. If she had crushed on Naruto in the past, this boy was of her most sacred dreams. Naruto only rolled his eyes.
"We should talk to Iruka about this," Naruto warned.
"It would be good business for a shitty café like this," Sasuke put in, "This was the exact café described in Kakashi's script… or, at least, close enough. If the movie isn't filmed here, it would be a waist of space,"
"Yeah, Naruto," Sakura begged, "I'm sure Iruka won't mind; you two are like family!"
"Naruto sighed, he didn't know what the hell happened, but two hours later, as he climbed into bed, he reflected back on the out-of-the-world deal he just made with the famous actor, Sasuke Uchiha.
xxx
The next morning was hell. Naruto almost overslept, if Ino hadn't called him to remind him to wear non-ripped jeans, he never would have woken up.
The blonde could remember nothing about the night before, except that he had agreed to the craziest deal he had ever bothered to make. He smirked. Unreal. That's what it was; completely unreal.
Naruto reached Ino's house with five minutes to spare. She was, of course, already waiting for him at the Yamanaka Estate golden front gates.
Ino was looking flawless. Her long blonde hair was up in its usual sleek ponytail, her bangs covering one periwinkle eye. Her thin frame was covered with a pretty billowing white sundress that was tied at the waist with a golden belt. she reminded Naruto of a Grecian woman, even her golden gladiator flats looked as if they were straight from ancient times.
"Lookin' good, Ino!" Naruto commented as Ino climbed into the car, placing her large, golden, coach bag on her lap.
Ino smiled, "Thanks a bunch for this, Naruto," she said in her musical voice. Naruto fancied Ino, not just because she was a sweet, independent woman, but because, unlike Sakura or TenTen, Ino was sophisticated enough that she never spoke in what he called 'girl language'; The language of valley girl accents and over usage of the word 'like'.
"No problem," he smirked backing out of the white-graveled driveway, "Anything for a pretty girl,"
Ino giggled, "You like it?" she asked, reffering to her summery ensemble.
Naruto stuck his tongue out, "very lady-like," he complimented, laughing at how much like gentleman he sounded. Ino laughed too, digging around in her purse, pulling out a small, white compact mirror to check her makeup. She fixed one strand of hair, smiled, then put the mirror away.
Another thing Naruto loved about Ino: she didn't spend hours looking in a mirror, and didn't wear too much heavy makeup, just enough pink blush and golden, earthy eye shadow.
"You look great," Naruto complimented yet again, this time about Ino's makeup choices.
"Not too much?" Ino asked, turning to Naruto at a red light.
"Nah," he shook his head, 'Just enough. Venice is going to love you!" the two of them laughed.
"Now I know it looks terrible," Ino joked.
Naruto feigned hurt, "You don't trust me?" he asked, pretending to tear at the eyes.
Ino laughed, causing Naruto to crack up as well, "Not at all, babe," she giggled as Naruto pulled into the airport's temporary parking. Ino blew a kiss to her driver, "Love you, baby!" Naruto smirked and got out of his own seat to unpack Ino's luggage from the trunk.
"Pink suitcases," he laughed, "that's so… you,"
"They were cute," Ino shrugged, "Plus, they were on sale so I had to get them.
Yet another thing Naruto loved about Ino: Her family was rolling in cash, but she only spent the money that she herself earned. Even if her parent's offered to pay for anything she wanted, she refused politely and bought it with her own money. Naruto loved her modesty.
"Thanks, Naruto, you can leave the bags here," Ino said once the duo had brought her bags into the airport. She was just about to go through the security lines, leaving Naruto behind when she looked over her shoulder, scrutinizing whatever was behind him.
Naruto had a sudden urge to turn around, but he held his ground, "What's going on?" he asked.
"Sasuke Uchiha's new movie is being filmed here in Konoha," Ino responded, still mesmerized by whatever was behind him. "He and Hinata Hyuuga play lovers who meet in a café,"
"That name sounds familiar," Naruto murmured. He scrunched his face up to think, but he couldn't place where he had heard the name before.
"Hinata Hyuuga? She's a really pretty actress slash singer, she has a really pretty voice, and I'd die to have her wardrobe," Ino fantasized. Naruto rolled his eyes, if Ino used her parent's money and resources, she could damn well own everything in Hinata's wardrobe and probably much more. But Ino was just too stubborn to let anyone help her pay for her things, saying it made clothes special knowing how hard she worked for them.
"No, not the girl,"
"Sasuke Uchiha?" Ino sighed, instantly infatuated at the sound of the name, "Of course, everybody has heard of Sasuke. His whole family is into acting and movie making. They're the richest family in the country, but I have to admit, his brother is much cuter,"
"Really?" Naruto feigned interest. When girls began talking about boys, he began tuning out.
"Of course! But the whole family is gorgeous, his mother is—Oh! My! God!" she sighed, "she's so pretty, you'd never know she was close to fifty years old!"
"Huh," Naruto grunted, he had long since tuned out.
"Oh my god! There he is!" Ino squealed. This time, Naruto did turn around to look at whoever Ino was gawking at.
"Who?"
"Sasuke Uchiha,"
"You mean that weedy dark-haired kid?" Naruto asked, "he looks familiar,"
"Sasuke Uchiha is not a 'weedy kid'!" Ino hissed, slapping Naruto's face lightly. The blonde shrugged; the boy looked pretty damn weedy to Naruto. "And he's looking over in this direction!" Ino squealed.
Naruto rolled his eyes, but composed himself enough to reply, "You are gorgeous, Ino," he laughed, patting her on the back.
The Uchiha was dressed in dirty, baggy jeans and an old, form-fitting undershirt that clung to his shoulders and hips perfectly. Naruto had to admit, he was pretty good looking for a boy. Almost feminine, actually. He had a large box of camera equipment in his arm, and was moving it to a large white moving truck outside.
He had, however, paused upon spotting a familiar blonde mop of hair from the previous night at the café. A certain mop of blonde hair, and piercing blue eyes that wouldn't leave his mind no matter how much he tried to force them out of his head last night.
Sasuke wasn't usually one for curiosity, and never really expressed much curiosity for anything. But those familiar blue eyes, the way they pierced him like they did last night, made him wonder why the blonde was even here in this vicinity.
"Dobe?"
Naruto was waving goodbye to Ino as she passed easily through security, when he heard the voice. He spun around to face the person who approached, "what the hell?" he snapped at the raven, "Why the hell are you here?"
"Camera crew needed my help, Dobe," Sasuke informed the blonde, his silky voice hid all traces of surprise perfectly. "But I believe I should be asking you the same question,"
"You're the guy from the café last night, right?"
Sasuke nodded once to confirm, "Was that your girlfriend?"
"Friend, actually, bastard," Naruto said, his eyes glued back on the spot where Ino had disappeared. He didn't bother to turn towards the raven when talking to him, "why are you helping the camera crew? Aren't you some fancy-shmancy actor or something?"
"The main cameraman is my cousin, so I'm helping him out," Sasuke replied, his icy voice had long since perfected the a-tonal pitch, "he strained a muscle in his shoulder, and I'm not just a lazy actor, Dobe,"
"Enough with the rude nicknames, Bastard,"
"Look who's talking, Dobe,"
"Don't call me that," Naruto spit in anger.
"Who said you had a choice?" Sasuke taunted, his voice still surprisingly monotone.
Naruto scoffed, "Whatever, bastard," he snapped. Sasuke shrugged, like he cared about what the Dobe had to say.
"Uchiha!" a loud voice snapped, "Dude, these boxes ain't gonna get inta that truck themselves! Let's go, kiddo!"
"You gotta go then?" Naruto asked, suddenly feeling quite stupid for asking. He braced himself for a snide comment that, surprisingly, never came.
"Yeah, Obito's pretty harsh about that," Sasuke shrugged, he ran a pale, practiced hand through his long, dark hair. "Not to mention, you're coming with,"
"What?"
"We'll follow you in the truck to café whats-it-called," Sasuke explained, quite pleased with the fact that he had created the plan off the top of his head. He turned to head back towards Obito and the rest of the boxes without waiting for Naruto's answer.
"It's the Hidden Leaf Café, you better remember that, cuz I'm not going to go find you if you get lost, Uchiha," Naruto threatened as he ran after the celebrity, not exactly caring that people were turning to look at the unlikely duo. "I'll chop off your balls if I have to go out of my way to rescue you, bastard,"
Sasuke smirked, this guy was pretty pathetically clueless to threaten an Uchiha. The raven smirked "Fine by me,"
xxx
The house was quiet with Naruto gone and moved out. Iruka missed the harebrained, hyperactive teen on quiet Sunday mornings such as this.
Normally, the brunette man was against watching television, which was the reason he only had one small, black and white, fuzzy tv in the whole house. It was an old tube tv from the eighties, but it worked just fine with the help of bunny-eared antennas.
Iruka flipped the news on and settled down onto his couch, his bowl of Wheaties in his hand.
"…day when Sasuke Uchiha's new movie finally, after two weeks of scouting, has found a final location for filming,"
Iruka rolled his eyes and closed them. He had no interest in the celebrity world.
"Kakashi Hatake, writer and producer, had high expectations"
"Yes tis small café on Third and Leaf Streets is almost exactly as I planned the set in my head…" Kakashi was saying from inside the television box.
Iruka's eyes opened wide. Did he say Third Street? Leaf Street? And why was, in the background, someone who looked much like Iruka's adopted son, waving at the camera like a maniac?
Perhaps because that was, indeed, his café! Iruka flipped the television off and got up, abandoning his Wheaties on the coffee table. He rushed outside in a frenzy, almost forgetting his car ceys until he realized that starting the car without them was an impossible task.
Ten minutes later, Iruka parked and walked up to a very excited Sakura and Naruto as they watched the cameramen set up for blocking.
"Naruto!"
xxx
Sasuke had just explained how the actual filming would be happening in a few weeks, and at the moment, the cameramen were setting up cameras to begin rehersals and blocking. Most of it flew over the blonde's head, but it all seemed very intense and exciting.
"Naruto!" Naruto jumped at the sound of his name right behind him. He spun around nervously.
"I-Iruka!" he said, his shocked voice much higher than usual. Sakura, beside him, turned around to face her boss as well, a look of pure embarrassment on her face. "I…uh… surprise!"
"May I aks what is going on?" Iruka asked in a dangerously quiet whisper. Naruto shivered at his old guardian's anger.
"Go ahead," Naruto mumbled, meekly, unsure whether he could even answer without being scared shitless.
"What the hell is going on?" Iruka shouted, attracting the attention of the cameramen and the first unit workers.
A silver haired man stood up from one of the chairs right outside the café, "Your employees must not have told you that we were filming our new movie, 'Café Konoha' here," the man said in a very bored voice as he approached Iruka and his two employees (who, by the way, were secretly very relieved that the man had come to relieve them of having to tell Iruka alone,)
"No they most certainly did not!" Iruka turned back to look at Naruto and Sakura, both of whom were shuffling their feet in embarrassment.
"Toldja we should have asked him" Naruto mumbled so only Sakura could hear. She nodded in agreement as she examined the dirt on her sneakers.
"Well," the silver-haired man sighed, "I'm the script writer, and producer, Kakashi Hatake," he held his hand out to Iruka who blushed lightly.
"Iruka Umino," he mumbled, clearly self-conscious at the sight of the man now working on a movie at his café.
"Well, Iruka Umino, how about we have some coffee together," Kakashi offered.
"Well, I… um," Iruka's blush got deeper as Naruto stepped up and nudged him forward. "I-I guess one cup," he trailed off, giving in with a scarlet face.
"Good," Kakashi smiled sweetly, flipping his long silver hair to the side where it covered his left eye. "This, I feel, is going to be the start of a beautiful… relationship," he chuckled.
Iruka had to step back and breath deeply, trying to force the blush to fade from his face before he followed Kakashi into the café. How wonderful…
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