I DO NOT OWN NARUTO, ANY ASSOCIATIONS TO IT, AND I'M NOT GETTING PAID TO DO THIS! I ALSO DO NOT OWN ANY OF THE SONGS OR ANY ASSOCIATIONS TO THEM! I ALSO DO NOT OWN ANY OF THE STORES OR ASSOCIATIONS TO THEM! I JUST SHOP AT THEM!
"Damn it, I can't reach that shirt!" I yelled as I tried to jump to the top shelf, feeling like a Mexican jumping bean, for a shirt that I needed to put in a display case. I already had the display case opened up by the register, and we weren't open for business yet, so I could take all the time I wanted to get this damn shirt. I sprang up again, and watched my pink hair fly up past me, and then back down to my shoulders. I didn't bother looking at the shirt; I knew I wasn't going to be able to reach it without a ladder. I looked around me. No ladder. "Well, crap!" I walked away from the problem, back to the front counter where I left the display case open.
"Sakura, go get that shirt!" My boss screamed at me from her office.
"I'm on it," I repeated the answer that I had given her before when she told me to do it the first time. She scares me. I walked back into the storage room, and back to the accursed shelf. I pulled my shirt down to reach my baggy pants that clung to my waist, but it just sprang back up. I don't know why my boss insists I wear this stupid, too small shirt to work. Something about bringing in guys?
It was black with blood red short sleeves, and it had a Hot Topic logo on the front of it. It clung tight to my chest and exposed a small strip of my tummy. My co-worker doesn't have to wear a shirt like this. Where is he anyway?
I glared at the shelf. "Alright shirt, it's just you and me," I told it, like I expected it to respond to my threat (that's right; I talk to inanimate objects sometimes). I squatted down onto the floor and touched my hand to the ground like I was ready to run at someone with full speed, like a football player. I jumped up, and then heard an all too familiar voice behind me.
"What are you doing, Haruno?" It asked, sounding annoyed, careless, and amused at the same time.
I had gotten all of an inch off of the ground before I stopped in mid-air and my back crashed to the ground. I stared up at him, and then changed my stare to a glare. He gave me an innocent look (or as innocent as you can get when expression still say, "I don't care.").
"You didn't bother to help me Uchiha?" I asked coldly.
"You looked like you wear having fun," he mocked, and then smirked down at me.
"Ha ha," I sarcastically laughed as I picked myself up off the floor, and dusted myself off. As I did this, he walked over, and, with a light hop, grabbed the shirt I was beckoned to get.
"Is this the one you needed?" He asked, extending the shirt out to me.
"Show off," I muttered, snatched the shirt away from him, and stocked out of the room. I stuffed the shirt neatly into the display case and shut it tightly. "Alright," I sighed to myself in relief, completely forgetting the boy with raven hair behind me.
I hopped over the counter, grabbed the display case, and walked over to the wall where it would be hung. I saw a huge box, with different types of shirts in it, sitting on the ground in front of the wall with a ladder right beside it. "Now I find a ladder," I grumbled.
I grabbed the ladder, and set it up below the spot that I need to place the shirt in. Why did I have to put it on the top row? "Heaven loves screwing me over," I thought as I climbed the ladder with the display case held under my arm. I set the case up as it was supposed to be, trying to ignore the fact that my feet were not on the ground.
"Does it look crooked Sasuke?" I called to him, not turning around to see him. He didn't answer. "Sasuke?" I called again. Still no answer. "Stupid bastard with hair shaped like a chickens ass," I grumbled as I climbed back down the ladder. "I'll just go see for myself how it looks." Bad idea.
My foot missed a step halfway down the ladder. I fell backward, and descended my way to the floor by falling. "Great," I thought, "this is how I'm going to die; in a Hot Topic. What a pleasant funeral that will be." I took this time to look at the floor I had been dreading to look at before. It came closer and closer into view. I turned my head away. "I don't want to watch parts of me splatter everywhere."
I hit the ground, or what I thought was the ground, until I realized that the floor was too soft. I felt it with my hands. It felt like shirts. I looked around to see that I was sitting in the huge box of shirts I had seen before. "B-But, when I looked down, I saw the floor, not the box. Man, Heaven really does love screwing with me," I thought. I turned my head toward the ceiling, shook my fists in the air, and screamed, "What did I ever do to you?"
"Sakura?" That familiar voice again with an unchanged tone.
I turned my head to the voice, my fists still trembling in the air. Sasuke stared at me with one raised eyebrow. I glared back at him and dropped my fists. Where had he been when I needed him? If he had been there when I asked for him, none of this would have happened!
"So, what am I gonna do? Blame my clumsiness on Sasuke?" I asked myself inwardly.
CHA! If he would have been there to answer your question, you wouldn't have had to go down and look at it yourself.
I was right. If he would have answered, I wouldn't have been so angry, and I wouldn't have tripped. "It's settled," I thought, and nodded. "I'm going to blame this whole thing on Sasuke."
"Sakura?" He asked me again, a hint of annoyance in his voice.
"Where were you?" I scolded him.
"I was…busy," he answered. He sounded as if he were trying to find the right word to describe what he was doing.
"Tch, yeah, right!" I scoffed. "What could you have possibly been doing? Anko-san told us she was going to an important business meeting, and we're still not open. Plus, you don't even have any work! Anko-san never gives you any work! She piles it all on me instead! I don't even understand why you work here anyway if you don't even do any work!" It felt good to scream all of this at him.
He glared at me. "What I'm dealing with is ten times worse than anything Anko can do to us put together." He barked at me.
"Try me," I insisted. I was going to win this fight. I've worked with him for two weeks and have never seen him lift a finger since he walked in the door.
"Sasuke-kun!" I heard a girly shriek come from the register.
Sasuke groaned. "Why can't she leave already?"
"W-What?" I was completely confused. "But we're not even open yet!"
Sasuke walked closer to me, sneaking as if he were hiding.
I gasped. "She's your girlfriend, isn't she?" I yelled in disgust. "You know no one's allowed in here before we open." That was it, he crossed the line there.
Sasuke made a strange sound in the back of his throat. "One," he stated, "she is not my girlfriend." He spat out the word. "Two, I hate her guts. And three, I want her out of here. She crawled through the vents somehow." He shuddered.
"Oh," was all I could manage to say. Guilt trip. "I-I'm sorry." I mentally punched myself in the gut for stuttering.
"Just stay quiet while your back here," he directed me. "I want her in here as much as you do, and if you tell her I went somewhere else, she'll leave."
"What is she, president of your fan club?" I asked jokingly.
"Yes," Sasuke shuddered.
"Oh… alright. But, what do I tell her?"
"Tell her I went to a funeral, and I won't be back until next week," Sasuke sounded so sure that this would work.
"What if she asked who died?" I had to make sure I had every detail planned out if I wanted this bitch to leave. I was terrible at making things up on the spot.
"Tell her… my brother's best friend Lee died. She only knows the stuff about my brother that relates to me."
"Got it. What do you want me to do if she asks anything else?"
"Make something up," he told me with a nod. How did I know he was going to say that?
I sighed. "Whatever," was all I said. I crawled out of the box I forgot I was in, and went to go confront the intruder.
I turned the corner to see a red headed girl wearing glasses sitting on top of the counter. She wore a mini-skirt and a tight brown shirt. She made a disgusted sound in the back of her throat.
"Ugh, who are you?" She asked me in a disgusted tone. "And where's my Sasuke-kun."
"Hi," I said, trying to ignore her rude comments. "Sasuke just came to drop off his stuff today. He just left to go to a funeral, and I'm afraid he won't be back until next week." I gave her a reassuring smile, even though it was a smile of accomplishment. "Sorry," I added, even though I knew I wasn't.
"Wait," she said, and hopped off of the counter. Note to self: disinfect the counter. "Really? Who died?"
"His brother's best friend Lee died, and he's dragging Sasuke to the funeral," I made it sound as believable as I could. The other girls will be so proud of me.
She stared me down. "I'm sorry to hear that. Well, if you hear anything from Sasuke, tell him Karin's sorry, and if he needs someone to turn to, I'm always available." She turned and strutted out the back door.
I ran and locked it quickly. I let out a sigh of relief. "Okay Sasuke," I called to him. "She's gone."
Sasuke turned the corner and walked over to the counter. He leaned against it, and said, "Thank Kami, that chick scares the shit out of me."
I giggled. "I never thought I'd hear that coming from you," I told him. "You know, you owe me big time." He so had to pay me back for confronting a bitch like that.
"Well, you were complaining about how I never have any work and Anko piles it all on you, so, what if I help you?" He offered.
"Sounds good enough for me." I said, and smiled. I walked over to him. "Equal shares," I stuck out my hand for him to shake it.
He looked at me and nodded, completely ignoring my friendly handshake. "Equal shares." He confirmed. I dropped my hand.
"So, what did you do to the ceiling?" He asked curiously.
"Huh?" was my answer. What a random question.
"You asked the ceiling what you did to it, and you were angrily shaking your fists in the air," he said casually, as if this were no out of the ordinary question. "What did you do to it?"
I laughed sheepishly. "Oh, that? Nothing. I was just having…" I thought of the perfect word to describe it. "A moment," was what I came up with.
"You seem to be having a lot of those today," was all he said.
I laughed another sheepish laugh. How embarrassing and just down right weird to turn a corner and see a girl yelling at the innocent ceiling.
"So, is there anything else you have to do?" He asked, bringing me back from the flashback I was having of my time in that box of shirts.
"Hmm," I thought. I casually looked at the display case I just hung up. "Perfectly straight," I confirmed inwardly. "Well, I do have to fold all of those shirts in that huge box back there," I remembered.
"Oh, right," he said, remembering the box. "The one you had your ass in."
I laughed weakly. "Yeah, that's the one." I led him back to it, and we both got down on out knees on either side of it. We started folding random shirts and sliding them on their appropriate shelves in silence.
"So, how does it feel to work?" I asked, trying to start a conversation with him. Believe me, it is not easy.
"This is the kind of stuff I expected to do when I applied for a job here," he said in his usual tone. "Nothing out of the ordinary."
"Well, at least your not one of those spoiled guys who don't like to work," I said, trying to keep this conversation going.
"Hn," was his reply.
"What the hell was that? Did that come from him?" I looked around and listened closely. "It had to have."
"What time do we open again?" I asked. I'm forgetting everything today.
"After we eat," he said, not looking up for his folding.
"Oh," was all I could think of to reply. I'm running out of topics to discuss with him.
We folded the rest of the shirts in silence. Once they were all put away, we walked back to the counter, and I pulled out my lunch. He came up next to me and stood next to me behind the counter as we ate in silence.
"I can't stand the silence!" I screamed at myself. Even my thoughts had been silent. I sighed happily. "Much better," I thought.
We threw away or lunch, and I grabbed the keys to unlock the front gate. "Well, it's time to open," I sighed. Some of my customers are so whiney sometimes, that I just want to throw a bundle of random shirts at them, and scream, "Take this and like it!" I sighed. Unfortunately, I would never be able to do that unless I had another job lined up.
Just then, I heard something slam up against the gate. I jumped back, startled by the sound, and looked to see what it was.
Ino was slammed against the gate, her fingers clenching to it, as she said, "Let me in Sakura! I haven't talked to one of my friends today! I need girl talk!" She sounded as though this were her last dying wish. "Tenten, Temari, and Hinata all said they were to 'busy' to hang out with me today," she told me, putting the air quotes around the word busy, and then latching her fingers back onto the gate. "Hurry up and open," she begged.
"Fine, fine, I was just about to open up anyway. Step back," I told her, and shooed her away from the gate with a motion of my hand. I looked in my other hand for the keys. Either they turned invisible, or I had lost them. I was hoping on the first answer, even though I knew that the second answer was more likely. I sighed and looked around frantically.
"Sakura, are you going to open or not?" Ino asked, becoming impatient.
"Um… S-Sasuke?" I stuttered out of fear.
"Hm?"
"Have you seen the keys to unlock the gate?" I asked, still searching.
"Sakura, who are you talking to?" Ino asked suspiciously.
"Oh, for the love of Kami Ino! Zip it!" I yelled at her. I'll apologize later. "Man, oh man, Anko's gonna kill me!"
Sasuke was standing next to me now, searching with me. "I'll go to your funeral," was how he reassured me. I caught a glimpse of his face to see that he was smirking.
"Sakura, who's this?" Ino asked in an interested tone, obviously talking about Sasuke.
"In case my message wasn't clear before," I stated, "shut the hell up!" Again, I'll apologize later.
We were both on the floor now, searching high and low for the keys. My handy touched something furry, and it must've been black because it blended in with the floor. I almost screamed, but Sasuke covered my mouth before I could, so I only let out a small squeal.
"Fuzz," he told me, and flicked the little furry thing away.
I sighed in relief behind his hand. "Thank Kami," I said, and it sounded muffled from behind his hand. "Now I won't have to boil my hand."
Sasuke's hand recoiled away from me quickly.
"What?" I asked, worried.
"You spat on me," he told me, whipping his hand on his jeans.
"My bad," was all I managed to say. "Sasuke, do you realize how dead I'll be if I don't find the keys soon? Let alone, at all? We will have lost some sales if we don't open in the next…" I looked around for a clock. "Twenty minutes. And, if I don't find them at all, Anko will be furious!"
"Your worrying isn't helping anything," was his answer.
"This is all your fault Ino-pig!" I yelled at her. "If you weren't being such a drama queen, I never would have dropped the keys!"
"This isn't exactly the kind of girl talk I had in mind Forehead!" She yelled back.
Sasuke didn't say anything.
After a few minutes of frantically searching, the calm, soothing words came from Sasuke.
"Found them." He held up a set of five keys, all attached to a key ring. Relief washed through my body when I spotted the flower keychain Ino had given me next to the keys.
"Uchiha, Sasuke, you are the best!" I crawled over and threw my arms around his neck.
"Ow, Haruno! Let go! Ow!" was his response as he kept trying to push me away.
"Just hug me! Now, Anko isn't going to kill either of us! I'm sure if I told her you had some connection to this she'd kill you too!" I never unlatched my arms.
"She's met my brother, I don't think she would!" He sounded strangled.
I pulled away from him and gave him a sly grin. "But, your brother's at a funeral, remember?"
He smirked. "Oh, yeah."
"What are you guys talking about?" Ino yelled impatiently.
I extended my hand, palm up, toward Sasuke, and he dropped the keys in my hand. I walked over and unlocked the gate, sliding it up. Ino rushed in as soon as I was out of the way.
"Thanks Sasuke," I told him, slipping my keys into my pocket. "Now I owe you."
"Whatever," he said. "Don't worry about it."
"No, no. I'm going to," I insisted. "I'll cut back your work load and pile it all on me again."
"No," Sasuke said quickly. He smirked. "I'll think of something."
My eyes opened wide. "Should I be afraid?" I asked sheepishly.
He smirked. "Hn."