She read the note aloud. "I thought you were cute and I really loved how you looked after me and my friend! Here's my number—call me sometime!" Right beside the note had been the receipt for his food, and right beside that was a two thousand yen banknote.
Her two friends stared at her—one irate, the other blushing and stuttering.
"What an asshole!" the former ground out. "What does he think, you're some cheap whore that he can buy with money?"
"U-um… m-maybe he was just-"
"I know, right?" She crumpled the note, shoving it into her pocket without a second thought. "I hate jerks that can walk in here and think they can get in my pants like that!"
"Sakura-san," the blushing girl mumbled. "Maybe he was-"
"I know what you're trying to say, Hinata." Sakura cut her off quickly. "But I highly doubt that. He looked native—and I told him how much I love this job. Why would he feel the need to tip? I did my job and that's that—like me and Ino said, he probably just wanted to fuck me and tried to bribe me into it. Hah! As if I'm going to call him!"
Hinata fell silent, biting her lip. Ino had put a hand on her hip, nodding approvingly. The sound of rain cascading into the windows of their cozy cafe filled the room—it was near empty, with less than a half dozen customers still filling the brightly colored tables and chairs. There they three stood, in their white uniforms, hands on their hips.
Funnily enough, it was nowhere near closing, and yet it was this slow. They still had a while to kill before even one of them got to go home; the rain was keeping the typical evening rush at bay, thankfully. Only two people had come in in the past thirty minutes—a certain blonde boy who the mere thought of made Sakura's blood boil, and a hunky, black haired god who had made Ino and Sakura (but, suspiciously, not Hinata) melt in their work shoes.
"I'm gonna go to the back," Sakura said suddenly. "Can you keep an eye on my tables for me, Ino?"
"Sure," the blonde said.
She made for the door that led to the back, pushing it open and disappearing through it. Behind her, Hinata and Ino struck up a quiet conversation as rain continued to pour against the windows.
Digging into her pocket, Sakura withdrew the crumpled note.
"I won't stand for this…!" she muttered solemnly, unfurling it and squinting at the number written down. "Let me see what he thinks when I give him a piece of my mind."
Tapping the number into her phone, she pressed it against her ear. Her heart thumped—cold logic was telling her to put the phone down, because calling a customer who had just left and bitching at them was a surefire way to get a guest complaint. But, her stubbornness prevailed, and she allowed it to ring once, twice…
Click.
"Hello?" a velvety voice said.
She melted.
"H-hello…" Sakura mumbled into the phone, cheeks pink.
Someone clicked their teeth on the other end of the line. "I didn't expect Naruto to actually get a call from you," the voice said. "You were our waitress, weren't you? Sakura, if I remember right."
"Y-yeah." She gulped. "Where-"
"We're at the school library," he replied. "Naruto fucked off somewhere for a few minutes and left his phone here—I answered it for him, obviously. Did you want me to take a message?" A pause. "Oh, right. This is probably about the tipping thing, isn't it?"
"Y-yeah…" Sakura repeated.
The man on the other end of the line sighed. "We get this a lot," he confessed. "Naruto's an idiot that can't remember not to leave a tip—I've never seen him leave that much, though."
"H-he does it often?"
There was a hum of affirmation. "Naruto was born here, but was raised in America," he said. "They have a very different culture there about tipping. He only moved back here right before he started college, so he hasn't quite gotten used to not leaving tips yet. It's gotten us quite a few dirty looks—not that I care."
Everyone had heard the stories. American tourists leaving tips for their servers—which wasn't really a necessary thing in Japan. In fact, some people saw it as an insult. Normally, they were politely refused. But, Sakura had presumed that he was from Japan and therefore well aware of how things worked…
"Oh fuck," Sakura said.
She'd been fuming for twenty minutes, ever since Naruto and his companion had paid for their coffee and left, and she'd seen the note and the tip. She had badmouthed him to her friends—hell, she'd risked getting a write up just to call him up and bitch at him!
All over an innocent mistake.
Guilt swirled in her gut.
"Well, I'm going to assume that's sorted out then," the man said. "If you want, I'll tell him you called."
"N-no…" Sakura mumbled. "That- that won't be necessary."
"Alright then."
Without a simple 'goodbye', the line went dead.
Sakura rubbed the bridge of her nose.
It appeared she'd have a little explaining to do to her friends standing in the cafe. As she went back to the front, she saw a few customers walking through the door—the rain had lightened, and Ino and Hinata had sprung to greet and talk to them and those who had already sat down. Sakura went into action as well, and the rest of her workday was spent in a blur.
There was the ching of a bell at the front of the cafe. Sakura glanced up—after that, a knot clenched in her gut.
Today, there was only two waitresses around—her and Ino. But Ino was busy with a few groups of people who had camped out in the building to get away from the ever present rain, so Sakura was more or less on her own.
And it appeared she'd have to deal with the two men who had just walked in the door.
Disappearing into the back for a moment, Sakura went to find her purse, which was stowed in a cupboard, normally only retrieved at the end of her shift. She pulled out her pocketbook—then, she withdrew a crumpled two thousand yen note.
Going back to the front, she was all smiles as she approached the table, two thousand yen note in hand.
"Here," she said, sliding it in front of the blonde male. "I—I didn't get a chance to tell you yesterday, that I don't want this."
Naruto blinked up at her. His companion, dark haired and handsome as ever, smirked slightly, averting his gaze.
"Why not—" Naruto paused. Then, he looked horror struck. "Oh—oh shit! I'm sorry, I-I forgot that…" He fell quiet. "My bad! Really, I didn't mean to insult you or anything. No wonder you didn't call me."
She bit her lip, praying that the other man-
"She did call you, idiot." Right on cue.
"What? She did? When?" Naruto blurted.
"Yesterday, right after we left here," the man said. "She called when you went to go harass Akimichi and Nara at the library."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because." The dark haired man's lip curled upward. "She called to bitch you out for leaving a tip—that is, until I kindly explained to her the fact that you didn't know any better and why that was."
"Oh." His head drooped slightly—then sprung right back up. "Well, you shoulda told me she'd called, asshole!"
The man shrugged, then looked at Sakura. "Same thing as yesterday," he said simply. Which wasn't difficult to remember—coffee, black and steaming hot.
"Oh, yeah. Me too!" Green tea for Naruto. Easy to make. It had taken them five minutes to drink it last time—they'd only stayed a bit longer because Sakura and Naruto had talked for a bit about a university professor they'd both had, but not at the same time.
"Coming right up," Sakura said, all smiles once more.
Green tea and black, hot coffee—she was back at the table in less than two minutes, sporting two mugs. Naruto thanked her, the other man nodded. They began to talk quietly and Sakura drifted away, still feeling slightly guilty. She'd told Ino the truth about why Naruto had tipped her, but even then she'd seen the blonde shoot him a nasty look or two. Ino was never the type to not hold a grudge.
Sakura bit her lip. This time, she deliberately avoided their table—only coming over because the dark haired man requested a refill of his coffee. They loitered for about ten minutes, before getting up to leave. Sakura purposefully looked away as they got up, cringing slightly as the bell at the front rung again and they disappeared into the rain.
She hadn't gotten them their bill—but, she figured they'd paid in cash.
Reluctantly trudging back over to the table, Sakura stopped just beside him. And glared at the money on the table.
Yes, there was money for the coffee and the tea. Right there—the exact amount. But right beside it, there was not just the same two thousand yen note, but also another one on top of it. And beside it, a note.
'See you tomorrow! ;-)'
"That dickhead!" Sakura growled. "Jokes on him, though..."
After all, she didn't work tomorrow.
But, she knew exactly where Naruto and his friend would be going, if they followed the same pattern as yesterday. And today, her shift was due to end in twenty minutes, her relief being already there but lounging in the corner.
She called in a favor with her relief. Once upon a time, she had taken one of her shifts so she could go out with her boyfriend—and now, she was cashing it in. Thus, Sakura got to leave fifteen minutes early with the time it took to get out of her uniform and out of the building.
The pink haired girl sprinted through the rain, gritting her teeth. Thankfully, the library wasn't too far from the cafe where she worked.
Bursting through the double doors, she was confronted immediately by a shushing motion from the librarian. Flashing her library card at the elderly woman, Sakura hurried up the stairs, so that she could take up a position on an upper floor and better see where they were.
The library was one of those old-school places—all hardwood and leather chairs. Warm. Comfortable. She liked a place where she could sit down in a chair and feel it creak, where the books hummed with knowledge and the floor squeaked beneath her feet.
Once she was at the top of the squeaky stairs, she peered through the rather expansive library. And there, tucked away in a corner, was Naruto and his friend. Quite obvious to be seen owing to Naruto's bright hair.
She went there as fast as she could manage. Naruto's friend saw her—but, predictably, said nothing as she crept up behind the blonde, rain-soaked and livid. She yanked the two two thousand yen notes from her pocket, green eyes alight.
"What do you think 'I don't want this' means?" she growled.
Naruto jumped about a meter into the air, flipping a book over and knocking another onto the floor for good measure.
"Sakura-chan!" he said. "You scared me."
'Chan?' she thought dangerously.
Naruto recoiled as she threw the money in his face. "I don't want your damn tip!" she said.
"Well, how else am I supposed to do something for you?" he asked.
"You don't! That's the point!" Sakura continued to glare at him.
The blonde's friend leaned forward slightly. "Of course, you could stop yelling in the middle of a library and take her out to eat or something, moron."
Both of them froze in their tracks.
Sakura's eyes narrowed dangerously. "I know you probably won't give up on the stupid tipping thing. So, fine. Dinner it is! But only once! Come on you idiot!" She grasped him by the arm, quite literally yanking him out of his chair and pulling him behind her. Naruto mouthed 'thank you' to his friend, who merely returned to his studying.
They found a nice place to eat—nothing flashy. A simple ramen shop. It was as warm as the library, with a homely atmosphere. The stools at the front were well-used and squeaked when you turned them a little, the chopstick packages were a pain to open, and the steam from inside the shop spilled out into the eating area… but it felt nice.
"Hey, Naruto!" a young woman said. "What can I get ya today—the usual?"
"Sure, Ayame." Naruto grinned. "And she's gonna get—"
"The miso ramen." Sakura's curt response made Naruto grin all the more.
He ate his ramen, she ate hers. She'd raised her eyebrows slightly when he'd ordered two more bowls before she was done with her first and only one; thankfully, he didn't order any more. And they even talked a little—a lot, actually. Sakura couldn't help but bite her lip and look away as he stared at her with those big, blue eyes of his.
At the end of the meal, they had to pay, obviously. Sakura was about to fork over her own money—Naruto slid two, crumpled two thousand yen notes across to Ayame, who swiped them up and handed him exact change without being prompted.
"No tip?" Ayame said, batting her eyelashes teasingly.
Naruto chuckled. "I learned my lesson there," he said, standing up. Sakura giggled—Naruto walked with a spring to his step as they made their way out of the shop. It had stopped raining in the time they'd been in there.
The blonde turned to her.
"So," Naruto said. "Do you work tomorrow?"
"Not tomorrow." Sakura's green eyes twinkled. "But, I do work the day after."
"It's a date!" He grinned and sped off.
"It's not a date!" she insisted to his back, but she could only smile as Sakura heard him laugh in response.
Stuffing her hands into her pockets, Sakura turned and walked off, a warmth in her gut. And it wasn't from the ramen, either.
Thanks for reading. I'd really appreciate if you left me a review telling me what you thought of the story; I don't fancy continuing this story, but who knows? If I get enough positive encouragement, I may write another one shot or a short story.