Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto (or anything that Kishimoto has a license to) in any manner. I claim ownership to the plotline, and my Original Characters Kaiken Akinara and Yahiko Kyourin.
A/N: Kaiken and Yahiko will be my two OCs for this story. This will be an AU story. I apologize for any OOCness beforehand.
Kaiken's POV
I sigh. Another boring night at the Konoha Oasis club. I lean on the dark wooden bar table, and glance around. It's the usual, I guess; Sakura and Ino are serving the bar's nightly patrons. Sai is reading up on some psychology book near the corner, and Sasuke is busying himself with organizing the bottles (for the fourteenth time already, sheesh). I see Ino talking (or maybe flirting) to one of the young males that had come over the other night. Sakura's cleaning up one of the other tables. I smirk as I see some older men leering at her as she bends over to reach for something underneath the table; they're going to get in trouble for that. Naruto's playing that weird song again. I swear, I really have to tell him to pick something else; my brain is getting messed up with that rhythm.
Oh, silly me, I forgot to introduce myself. Akinara Kaiken, one of the bartenders in the Konoha Oasis club. I work the night shift along with Sasuke and Sai. Sasuke came from a well-off family but rebelled against them for some reason I'm not quite sure about, but I do know that he's out for his brother, Itachi. As for Sai, he has a dark background that no one really mentions much around here. Even I can't tell you about that. All I can say is that he's learning how to cope with emotions and with socializing.
Sakura and Ino are our female servers for the tables. She and Ino are med students, and they're working the night shifts too, after their classes in the mornings. They have to wear this skimpy (it is, for me) uniform. Ino likes it since it shows a lot of her curves, but Sakura doesn't.
Naruto, our resident DJ, is the most energetic person I've ever met. That's why Tsunade had him on the sound system for the disco. I don't know how he does it, but he manages the sounds pretty well, which makes the customers come back for more disco nights here. But on other nights, he just plays random romantic stuff (he has a thing for Hinata, the accountant).
Tsunade's our big boss around here. She may have those huge…things, but, don't get me wrong; when she's angry, it's worse than hell. I swear. I almost got killed when I served some killer stuff instead of plain old Bloody Marys. I had no idea that someone had switched the tomato sauce with paint (what? It's red!). Luckily, we had Sakura and Ino around to help the poor customer out, and had only consumed a bit of the stuff.
Lee, Kiba, Shikamaru and Chouji are our bouncers—err, they prefer the term security personnel. Those four are the best people for the job. Chouji's a big man, but he is a really good guy; saved my butt a couple of times from fights. Shikamaru's cool. He's a real brainiac when it comes to technology, and because he always wants to avoid trouble, our bar may as well have the best security system around Tokyo. Lee and Kiba are like Naruto in a way; all energetic. But Tsunade had Lee on security because of his knowledge in martial arts (he teaches hand-to-hand combat during the mornings). Kiba seemed like a med student too, but I learned that was studying in vet school or something about animals. He was also athletic, as far as I heard, and that was the reason why he was placed on security too.
Because of this, security's real tight, but there were still some who get away with some things. Like the time when one of our old accountants, Kabuto, seemed to have embezzled money from the club for a drug dealer named Orochimaru. We didn't know how long this had been going on until Hinata and TenTen, our accountants, had noticed a big difference in our earnings. Shikamaru and Sasuke did a small investigation, and found out about the embezzlement. It turns out that Kabuto was 'paying' some random bank, and was taking 5% of all the earnings each day to that 'bank'. Was caught red-handed, but he had escaped.
I hear the doors opening, and the greetings Lee always screamed at the customers—"HAVE A GREAT YOUTHFUL EXPERIENCE!" I lean my head on my palm. Dear Kami, I wonder if we ever lose customers because of his 'youthfulness'. I swear, Gai is putting the worst things in his mind—
"Oi, Ken, it's your usual. Get them their sake, why don't you?" Sasuke spoke from the far end of the bar. I look at him, irritated. Why the hell would he—oh. The silver hair and the toothpick dude. I sigh, and grab the sake cups from the storage underneath the bar table. Once I rise up with the cups, they're already on the stools in front of me, waiting for their sake to be served.
Silver hair and Toothpick are here every night, and they always come to me. They always drink sake, and stay until we close up. I really don't know why they are here. And I don't know much about them, either.
"The usual, Kaiken," Toothpick says, his stick bobbing up and down as he spoke. Silver hair looks at me lazily with that one eye of his. His other eye is blind, and he doesn't bother putting an eye patch on it. Instead, he just leaves it closed. Back then, I thought he had a bone to pick with me, but Toothpick explained that he just didn't like opening his other eye. It was scarred, but it wasn't stitched shut.
I nod, and turn to get some of the hot sake inside the steamer. I turn around and see Toothpick ogling a girl at the end of the bar, who is currently flirting with Sasuke. Silver hair is eyeing the tables again. I know that he had something for Sakura, but it always seemed that nothing was happening between them.
I pour the sake to the cups in front of them. Toothpick picks the cup while still looking at the girl. Silver hair is gazing at his cup as he swishes it around.
"I've been meaning to ask," I start to speak. Silver's lone eye looks at me lazily, as if he were bored. "I don't know your names."
I see his lips turning up to a smirk. "We've been your customers for a long time, Ken, and you decide to only ask that now?"
I had to laugh at the irony of the situation. "Well, I don't really talk to my customers that much. But you guys come here often. It's bad enough that I don't know your names."
His dark eye stares at me with interest. "Kakashi. This man here—he waves a thumb at his friend—is Genma."
I smile. I've heard of Shiranui Genma; he was one of the well known womanizers around the city. I heard that he could charm any woman into going on a date with him. And as soon as I turn to greet Genma, he had already gone to the other side of the bar. Sasuke shakes his head as he cleans one of the glasses with a white cloth. From the way it looked, Genma had already charmed the girl to submission.
"That was fast."
Kakashi laughs. "That's the way he works, Ken. He always manages to wile a girl to his arms with just a look."
I turn to him, smirking. "How about you? Any women?"
He averts his eye from me. "Hmm, maybe."
His eye gazes on his right side, as if he were using his peripheral vision to look for something. Coincidentally, Sakura is taking orders from a nearby table. I had to suppress a grin, because from the way Kakashi was eyeing Sakura, he looked pretty serious. He turns back to me, and sees my gaze on her. His eyes narrow. I can already tell what is going through his mind.
"I only look out for her well-being, Kakashi. All the girls here are like my sisters." That was the truth. I didn't want any trouble with him.
A relieved look washes over his face, even if it didn't look like it; it was inexistent to someone who didn't know him. But Kakashi and Genma had come here long enough for me to at least know their personalities, so at some point, I knew him.
"Well, except for Tsunade. She's just really my boss." I had to remark afterwards. I forgot about the other woman in the club.
He chuckles. "She still around here?"
I nod. "Pretty much is. Place keeps her busy."
The old men that had been leering at Sakura are now calling her to their table. Both of us watch as she heads over to them. I spot one old man's hand trying to grab her wrist, but she playfully avoids it, and walks off; a couple from the corner tables was ready to order, and was calling for her.
"I'll be right back," she says as she waves the old men off. They reluctantly let her go. I look back at Kakashi, and see his hand grip the sake cup. And it was cracking under the pressure.
"Kakashi-san?"
He turns to me, a glare in his eyes. I jump at the intensity of his stare. But it quickly disappears as he seems to recognize me. He stares at the semi-cracked cup in his hand.
"Ah, sorry." He scratches the back of his neck, and smiles embarrassingly. He puts the cup on the table. I grab another cup from the storage and pour some sake for him. He takes the new cup, and I place the cracked cup on the 'to be repaired' box. Kakashi had always broken a few cups of ours, and it was only now that I found out why. If I didn't fix the cups, Sai made new ones.
I hear Lee's greeting again. I cringe, but turn to the door to see who is walking in. To me, the man looks like a young traveler. He looks around, a bit hesitant, and then decides to approach us. He sits on the stools clumsily. Sasuke is attending to another customer, while Sai was mixing a few drinks. I turn to Kakashi; he nods. I think he already knew, so I head over to the new customer.
"What can I get for you, sir?" I ask the young man. He turns to me, looking like a deer caught at the headlights. He sighs.
"I'd like a cup of hot tea, please…" His voice is soft and shaky. I nod.
"Coming right up, sir." I head over to the steaming cabinet and take out a pot of tea. As I get a mug, I see Kakashi still eyeing Sakura's every move. I pour the tea in the mug, and bring both over to the new customer.
"Here you go, sir." He picks the mug and drinks it slowly. I glance around, and see some of our nightly patrons enter. I haven't heard Lee's greeting yet, so I assumed he had taken a break.
"Thank you for the tea…" the new customer whispers behind the mug. I gaze back at him and smile.
"You are welcome. If you need anything else, sir, please let me know. I'm Kaiken, the bartender for Konoha Oasis."
He places the mug on the table and looks at me, smiling feebly. "I'm Kyourin Yahiko. I come from Osaka, and was supposed to meet someone nearby today. He never showed up, I guess," he says.
"So how do you find Tokyo so far?"
"Well, it's big. I almost got lost, if I didn't have a map," he explains, showing me a new but slightly torn map. I take it from his hands, and see several markings of directions. I look back at Yahiko.
"Do you need help?" I know it's not obligatory, but the poor guy seems like he was still lost.
"Ah, it's okay! I found the place. Thank you for the offer, though." He starts to drink again, when I hear a cracking noise. I turn to Kakashi. His hand is bleeding, and I see the sake cup's remains fall on the ground. I follow his line of vision, and see one of the men who were leering at Sakura, now holding her wrist.
Now, I did say that I look out for all the girls in the club. But sometimes, there were conditions that had to go first before I can leave my post and defend Sakura. First, one of my customers is bleeding. Second, another hasn't paid yet. And third, that hold still didn't count for sexual harassment.
I grab an emergency first aid kit from the nearby counter and head to Kakashi. He was still glaring at the man who had held Sakura's hand. Luckily, another customer was calling her attention, so she had walked away from them. I tap Kakashi's shoulder, and I could swear he was tense.
"Uhm, Kakashi-san, your hand…"
He stiffens, and turns to me. His eyes look apologetic as he opens his hands, letting the broken pieces fall on the floor.
"Oh, I am so sorry, Ken. I didn't mean to."
I take his hand and start cleaning it for him. I took a couple of lessons from Ino and Sakura before hand, and I was glad that I did. I took out several pieces of the cup from his hand; it seemed that he had squeezed it too hard.
"It's alright. We can always make a new one."
He grins, still apologetic. "You're too kind, Ken. I'll just buy one—"
"Kaiken-san!" I hear a shout from the end of the table. It was Yahiko, and he was pointing at something. I follow his line of vision and see one of the old men actually grabbing Sakura's butt. Kakashi has also seen it, and before I could react, his hand was gone, and was headed over to the table.
"No, Kakashi, it's okay!" I hear Sakura plead as Kakashi took one more step closer. I start getting ready to back him up, when Kakashi suddenly throws a punch at the man that was groping Sakura. The man is thrown on the floor by the strength of the punch. His buddies stand up, ready to attack him.
Next thing I know, it's an all-out brawl. Kakashi was evading punches coming his way; Genma had also left his girl to fight with his friend. Lee, who had just come out of his break, decided to join in the "fight to show true youthfulness" or something like that. Sakura was cheering Kakashi on, even swinging a few punches along the way. Ino was dragging Shikamaru and Chouji to the scene, asking the two to stop the fight.
And it seems that it takes only one scream from Tsunade to stop them all.
"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE!"
We all turn to her; arms under her…chest and looking all deadly, while Shizune, TenTen and Hinata stand behind her.
"Shikamaru! Report!" She says, calling on her head of security. Shikamaru walks to her with a slight limp.
"One of those men harassed Sakura. Another customer punched him in the face."
Shizune's eyebrow rose. "Was that a report?"
Shikamaru stares at her, bored. "She asked me for a report. It generally means that she's asking about what's going on." The management staff walk back to the office as we start cleaning up.
I walk over to the mess of men. Chouji and Kiba where separating Kakashi and the man. The others were being tended by Sakura and Ino. Sasuke was putting the chairs upright, while Sai had gone to escort the other customers out. Sakura walks to Kakashi, and leads him to a spare chair, and starts to clean him up.
"Kakashi, will you just hold still?" Sakura pleads as she tries to dab a cottonball on Kakashi's head. He winces. I help another customer up, while listening in to the various conversations around me.
"If you just controlled your temper..." Sakura started to preach. I hear Kakashi sigh. I help Sasuke with the cleaning as I listen more.
"What? How do you expect me to let that man pass by with that grab—"
"Shikamaru and Chouji can handle that, and Kaiken-kun will take care of it! Geez," she complains as she wipes the blood off his face. I had to laugh; Kakashi looked like a child who was being punished for being naughty. I turn to pick up a chair near the two. When I look back at them, Kakashi was pouting. I start laughing.
"What's so funny, Kaiken-kun?" Sakura asks me. Kakashi pouts more, and turns away from me.
"Sorry Sakura-chan...Kakashi-san just looked like..." and I start laughing more. It was unbelievably funny; the cool Kakashi, acting all serious and stoic, and pouting because Sakura was giving him a motherly sermon.
"Pfft. He's always like that—" Sakura stops. I stop laughing as well. Everyone stops and turns to her.
"What do you mean, 'always'?" I ask. I knew Kakashi-san was always eyeing her, but I never thought that they would be actually interacting with each other. Scratch that, why do they act like they know each other so well? Was there something going on that we weren't aware of?
I see Sakura's cheeks turn pink. Yep, there was something going on. "Uh, well, uhm..."
"We're dating." I turn to Kakashi. His face had turned on its serious look, but there was a light trace of pink on his cheeks.
"Well, that's a surprise," Shikamaru states, then goes off to the front doors. I never noticed him come out. Man, that guy can be sneaky.
"I knew there was something going on," Sasuke comments as he walks back to the bar. "I can't believe how you two managed to keep that a secret for so long."
Sai looks like he was surprised. "I thought relationships were supposed to be seen? What is 'public display of affection' then?"
I bonk him on the head. "It differs from each couple. Don't rely on those books."
After giving an overall check on the dining area, I start to walk back to the bar to clean up.
"Uhm, miss—"
CRASH!
I turn and see Yahiko fly to one of the tables. Another look reveals Kakashi's outstretched hand and Sakura's surprised expression. And on the floor, an apron; one of the clothes on the waitress uniform. I immediately run to the man.
"Yahiko-san! Are you alright?" I ask as I try to get him up. He rubs his head, and nods dizzily.
"I-I'm sorry..." he mutters. I hear a groan from behind, and see Sakura's arm raised up. A small bump rose from Kakashi's head. She approaches Yahiko and starts to check on him.
"I'm so sorry sir! He didn't mean that! He's just one of those possessive, overprotective types..." Sakura speaks. There was a menacing tone in her voice as she spoke the last sentence. "Thank you for returning my apron, too!"
"It's okay...I really didn't mean to tap your shoulder—"
"He got jealous over a shoulder tap?" I ask Sakura. I glance back at Kakashi, who was nursing his head bump.
"He did. Geez! He's always like that!"
"So that's why a lot of our sake cups are ruined..." Sai comments from his post. Sakura stops from inspecting Yahiko. She marches back to Kakashi.
"So it was you who ruined all our cups?! DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH IT COSTS US TO GET THOSE?!"
"Sa-Sakura, I'm sorry..." Kakashi mutters. But it seemed like Sakura wasn't letting him escape her wrath any time soon.
"What's up guys? Anything happen here?" Naruto suddenly appears out of nowhere. My palm connected with my head. Where the heck was he?
Sakura's evil glare passed from Kakashi to Naruto. When he sees her gaze, Naruto suddenly looks like he wants to run away. Far, far away.
"Narutoooo..."
I sigh. I can only smile at these situations. I turn to Yahiko, who seemed pretty worried. I lead him back to the bar, where he could finish his tea in peace.
Yep, it was definitely the usual night here in Konoha Oasis.
A/N: Phew. Finally. I'm finding it hard to write humor, as I'm used to romance. Gah. I'm sorry; it really feels so crappy to me!
This story was inspired by Nickelback's song, Next Contestant. I'm really avoiding songfics XD
Akinara Kaiken is from another story of mine, but in a different anime. Just a little fact I'd like to share.
Please have mercy, as I am still studying humor. It's really hard to write, for me _
I'd appreciate any constructive criticism and comments!
