This is what you'd call a 'sorta not really' sequel to my one-shot, 'Two Thousand Yen'. Read that story if you want a complete picture of what's going on, though you should be able to figure out the basics just by reading this. This will be multiple chapters long. Enjoy!
Ring.
She looked up, mouth half-open in greeting. "Welcome—" she began, before pausing, eyes widening a tad.
A man shuffled into the cafe, slid himself in a booth, and proceeded to pull out his phone and begin to type something into it.
She blinked.
After dropping off a refill of water at the single table she had, the woman wiped her hands off on her apron, then timidly stepped over to where the man had sat down.
"I—I'm sorry, but Sakura-san isn't here to-today," said the waitress.
He glanced up at her, brow knitted together.
"Okay?" he said, voice low.
She stared at him for a long, awkward moment, mouth slightly open. "W-well," she said. "Wouldn't you and Naruto-kun prefer her as a waitress?"
The man couldn't help but chuckle. "Not me." He put away his phone, folding his hands upon the table. "If you're the only person here, then I suppose you'll have to serve me."
She gulped. "I-I suppose so." She gave a little cough, clearing her throat, before starting thusly, "H-hello, I'm H-Hinata and I'll—"
He raised a hand. "I already know who you are," said the man. "You already know what I want to drink. Cut the theatrics."
Hinata frowned. "Very w-well," mumbled the woman.
Pulling his phone back out, he focused on that as she strode away. A moment later she returned, coffee in hand, and set it down in front of him.
"Enjoy," she said quickly, before speeding away as her other table waved her down.
Five minutes later, she came back to check on him; he hadn't finished a third of his coffee. She made to simply leave him be—she figured he liked his privacy—but, something kept her rooted to the floor beside him. A question that was on the tip of her tongue.
"W-where's Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked, anxiety creeping into her tone as the man's dark gaze swiveled up to stare right into her eyes.
"Sick," he said simply.
"Oh."
She bit her lip.
"Y-you still decided to come here?" The words came spilling forth before she could stop them. "W-without him?"
He shrugged.
"The coffee's good," was his reply.
Hinata nodded slowly. "I-I'll leave you to it," she mumbled, tip-toeing away rather awkwardly.
Her other table paid then left, leaving her with just the man in the restaurant. She went into the back. Her bag was resting, nestled in a corner—she reached into it, pulling out her phone.
She went to her contacts, tapped the phone icon beside a specific one, then put the cellphone to her ear.
It was nearly five rings before someone picked up the phone.
"Hello?" said a man on the other end of the line.
Hinata blinked.
She'd called Sakura. Her very female friend.
But she also recognized the voice.
"N-Naruto-kun?" Hinata said, voice a whisper.
"Hey, uh… Hinata... what are ya callin' Sakura-chan for?"
She froze. "To talk t-to h-her," Hinata managed to get out.
"Sorry, she's a bit—uh, preoccupied." A pause—she could imagine the cheshire grin on his face. "Actually, she's about to be very preoccupied, so—"
"You idiot!" a voice roared in the background. There was the sound of Naruto wheezing, likely from being punched in the gut, and then the phone was taken away from him. "Hey, Hinata; what'd you need?"
"Oh, I-I was just calling to… check up on you. I thought you were sick."
"Nah. That'd suck, wouldn't it? My first day off in ages and I get sick!" She laughed. "I'm just 'hanging out' with my boyfriend." Another chuckle, this one mildly lecherous. "How are things there?"
"F-fine."
"Good, good," said Sakura. "Ah—stop that, you, I'm on the phone!"
"S-Sakura-san?"
"Sorry, Hinata, I gotta go." Sakura's voice sounded a little strained, wavering between frustration and—pleasure? "Talk to you later, okay?"
"Okay—"
Click. The line went dead.
Hinata lowered the phone.
Her heart thumped in her chest—her fingers tightened around her cellphone to the point where her wrist shook violently.
When she came out of the back, there was still just the man in the building; no one else had come in.
She looked composed—natural. She was a waitress, she knew how to leave that sort of stuff away from the job she did.
The man glanced up. Dark hair gleaming in the light, looking almost blue for a moment. His coal colored eyes stared right into her soul… she stopped in her tracks as she turned toward him.
After a moment, his gaze let up. A compression that had settled over chest lightened—with a sigh of relief, she disappeared into the back once more, to get him a refill of the coffee she'd noticed he had finished.
When she came back out into the front, however, he'd gone.
There was money for coffee on the table, the exact amount it cost.
Hinata frowned slightly. Something was nagging at her, but she couldn't put her finger on what exactly.
As she gently picked up the money the man had left, that sound popped into her head again. Of Sakura's lecherous giggle, of Naruto acting so happy, so free, so sated.
She blinked.
And found that she'd crushed the bills into a ball in her hand.
Eyes watery, she disappeared into the back, hastily unfolding the money, cringing at the wrinkles she had made.
Thank God her shift wasn't to last much longer, she thought.
The next day, it was her and her friend Ino on the floor in the afternoon. Sakura and another girl had worked the morning. It wasn't that busy— actually, it seemed that Hinata was to be allowed to go home before long.
"Come on, people!" muttered an irate Ino, who was sitting in a corner of the room with Hinata, adjusting her long and luscious blonde hair, which was done up in a ponytail. "It's bright and beautiful outside—just come in!"
Hinata scanned the room carefully, ensuring that the two tables she had didn't need anything. She was used to her blonde co-worker's rants about people not coming in—she did the same thing, but opposite, when too many people came in. She'd long since learned to simply go along with whatever she was saying.
The door rang; Ino and Hinata both threw their gaze to the front.
The man was there, Naruto's friend. Hinata swore that Ino was drooling over him, her friend's eyes not hesitating in the least to drink in the man's gorgeous fair skin and dark eyes.
He hesitated at the door. His gaze flitted from side to side. Then, he looked at Hinata—then at Ino. With Ino, he gave a tiny shake of his head, though the girl in question seemed not to notice. With Hinata, he gave a look of—pleading? At least, as pleading as someone like that could get.
Naruto had been in there with that man so many times that the two of them both knew how sections worked; when two servers were on, the place was essentially divided in half between the two of them. But there was nothing that could tell him which was Ino's and which was Hinata's—and it was clear which he wanted.
Hinata almost felt… pity.
She didn't want to sentence him to being drooled over by Ino for the few minutes he was.
So, she made eye contact with him, shaking and turning pale as she did so. She could hear Ino whispering, almost hypnotically—"Sit in my section, sit in my section, pleeeeaasseee…"
Hinata swallowed.
Her friend or this stranger? Ino would be a little disappointed about not getting him, but her giving him to Ino could potentially ruin his entire day.
She directed her gaze to her own section. Then made eye contact with the man and nodded.
He gave her something of an appreciative look, but crossing the room and sliding into an empty booth. Ino wilted. "Aww," she mumbled.
Hinata disappeared into the back. A moment later, she returned with the same coffee the man always ordered, gently sliding it in front of him.
"Thanks," said the man.
She blinked.
"H-huh?"
"For not making me suffer with Ino." A pause as he took a sip of his drink. "The day before yesterday, I came in and she was the only person here." He frowned. "I think you get the idea."
"I-I see," mumbled Hinata. She fidgeted with the end of her cream-white skirt. "W-why—" She found herself freezing as the man looked up at her. The words got stuck in her throat.
"Why what?" he asked.
She was stuck between two options: asking the question she'd meant to ask, or running in the other direction. And while the latter was rather tempting, she was a professional, and this was a paying customer. She couldn't afford to make him uncomfortable.
"W-why did y-you l-lie yesterday?" Hinata blurted.
"Lie?"
"A-about S-Sakura-san being sick." She swallowed once more. "I called h-her before y-you left, and she was with… N-Naruto-kun."
The man closed his eyes.
"Great," he said at long last. "I try to be considerate for once and it backfires."
"H-huh?"
He looked up at her. "Did you want me to tell you that the idiot and his girlfriend were off screwing each other?"
She paused. "Y-yes, I—" Another pause. "... no…" she admitted reluctantly. "Y-you know, t-that's their personal business and I w-wouldn't have wanted t-to intrude on them or anything!"
"Or," the man said, "you're in love with that idiot, Naruto."
In the span of a few milliseconds, her face turned from a cutesy pink to not red, not crimson, but a vibrant vermillion. The chefs in the back could have used her cheeks to cook eggs.
"W-w-w-w-what…?" she stammered out. "W-what w-would make you t-think t-that?!"
"It's not exactly subtle," the man said patronizingly. "I remember you waiting on Naruto and I the few times we came in and Sakura was too swamped with her own tables to take us. It was obvious to me then, and it's only gotten more obvious."
"M-more obvious?"
"You think I don't notice you staring at him from across the room whenever we're here?"
Her blush turned even more dark; if that was possible.
"E-enjoy your coffee, sir," Hinata stammered, before practically sprinting in the direction of the back.
He watched her go.
Poor thing.
Sure, he was grouchy and irritable, but even he wasn't the type to kick a whimpering puppy—at least, not on most days.
And Hinata..
Well, he had a soft spot for her. She reminded him, dimly, of his mother. And that went a long way for someone like him.
He took a sip of his coffee; good coffee, strong, too.
Great. He could almost hear his brother's voice in his head—'Maybe you ought to have been a little more tactful in that exchange, Sasuke.'
Maybe, but he wasn't exactly the type to exercise tact. Been there, done that—it wasn't for him.
Another sip of his coffee.
It was a few minutes before Hinata came back out. She was a pretty girl, Sasuke was forced to grudgingly admit. Big, innocent white eyes. The all-white clothes the waitresses wore suited her. They probably were given some freedom to wear what they wanted to—Sakura wore pants, Ino wore a short pencil skirt, while Hinata wore a skirt that went all the way down past her knees.
Sasuke couldn't deny that it suited her.
He eyed her for a moment; she was attending to her other tables, face still a tad red. She seemed to purposefully avoid even glancing in his general direction.
Another sip.
He pulled out his phone; Naruto had sent him a text. 'What u want, comin over l8r and im getting food from mcdonalds' it read.
Sasuke sighed. 'I don't like McDonalds, moron.' he replied.
'so? just pick something'
Another sigh. 'I don't remember the menu. Just get the least worst looking thing, I guess.' Send.
He looked up and all he saw was white.
Sasuke blinked.
"D-does h-he k-know?" stammered Hinata, who was standing just beside him. Her eyes were red.
"About?" Sasuke said. "Oh—right. No, he doesn't know a thing. I doubt he even knows…" He drifted off.
"K-knows w-what?"
"You don't want me to say," said Sasuke.
The look in her eyes told him 'no', but her lips said otherwise. "T-tell me."
Sasuke rubbed his forehead. "I doubt he even knows your name, to be honest."
Hinata frowned. "Y-yes h-he does," she insisted. "W-when I c-called S-Sakura-san, h-he picked up the phone and s-said my name!"
He pursed his lips together. This time, he had no need to even say the words—'You don't want me to tell say what the truth is.' But, she did.
"T-tell me," she repeated.
"He told me last night about him and Sakura's… personal time… being interrupted by you." A pause, and Sasuke looked her in the eye. "He mentioned that… the only reason he knew who you were was because of the caller ID. And that he didn't remember which one of Sakura's co-workers you were either."
There was a lump in her throat. "W-well, I—oh." Her knees shook. "H-he knows Ino's n-name…" was all she could manage to say.
"He does," Sasuke said.
Hinata hung her head.
Sasuke wasn't the empathizing type, but he tried to put himself in her shoes. To find out that someone you'd been in love with for a while now didn't even know your name... that had to be…
She turned and strode away, and though he couldn't see her face, Sasuke knew she was crying again.
He closed his eyes.
"I just wanted some coffee for God's sake…" he grumbled.
She didn't come back out for a while. By the time she was back, he had finished his coffee, left the money on the table, and left.
He was back, though, the very next day.
This time, it was only Sakura on the floor; it was slow, though, and she was lounging around in a corner when he pushed open the door.
"Sasuke-kun!" she greeted warmly, as he stepped up to a booth and slid into it. "Where's Naruto? He said he was coming."
"He'll be along in a little bit; he forgot something."
"Not surprising," said Sakura, smirking. "Same as usual, then?"
"Of course."
She was back in less than a minute with his coffee; he picked it up and took a sip. It was good as always.
"What did I want to tell you…?" Sakura tapped a finger against her chin thoughtfully. "Oh, right. Hinata wanted me to tell you—" Sasuke tensed, but Sakura seemed not to notice. "-that she says thank you."
Sasuke blinked.
"Really?"
Sakura nodded. "She didn't say what for, though." Another pause. "Oh, and she also made sure to mention that she'd be happy to serve you whenever you came in. So long as you… I don't know what she means by this… don't breathe a word about it to me or Naruto." Sakura pursed her lips together, tilting her head to the side curiously. "What's that mean, Sasuke?"
He paused, before taking a careful sip of his coffee.
"No idea," was his calm reply.
And she would get nothing else from him on the matter.