A/N: Thank you guys so much for your awesome reviews! :D Hopefully I'll live up to your expectations huhu~
Anyways, here's chapter 2, not much Sasuhina interaction but nevertheless important for the story!
She sighed, relishing the feel of being in uniform once again.
The "new restaurant smell" filling her nostrils, the sight of the kitchen before her eyes; it all felt too good. She strode dreamily to the kitchen entrance, her smile never leaving her lips.
"You must be Hinata-Chan!"
Hinata gasped when an exuberant blonde popped out from the kitchen entrance, startling the raven who's hands immediately went to her hat securing it in place.
"I am Uzumaki Naruto! The noodle chef!"
Warmth crept up her cheeks as she eyed the tanned blonde before her with sparkling blue eyes. He must be a fellow chef, judging by his attire. Woo~ She was really lucky to get this job!
When Hinata didn't reply, the blonde continued.
"I am you know... Sakura's er... friend." He winked.
Okay maybe she wasn't that lucky.
"O-Oh, I see." She smiled.
"T-Thank you so much for your help, Naruto-kun." She bowed.
Naruto blushed slightly and scratched the back of his head shyly.
"Well, ya know... it was nothing." He waved his hand dismissively.
"N-No really it was... very k-kind of you."
"Eh, he probably did it just to get into that girl's pants." A brunette piped in, flinging his arm around Naruto's shoulder and grinning sheepishly at the blushing blonde.
"O-Oi! It's nothing like that ya know!"
"Yeah, right." The man nudged Naruto playfully.
Hinata eyed him meekly, a little afraid of the new face. She tried her best to stay still when he turned to her.
"So, who's the – Whooaaaa, check out that rack." He whistled, pointing to her chest.
Hinata squeaked, blushing profusely before wrapping her arms around herself defensively.
"Oi, Kiba! What the hell do you think you're doing? Leave her alone ya know!"
"I am Inuzuka Kiba, and you are?" Kiba raised his brows flirtatiously, ignoring the blonde big mouth.
"I-I am Hyuuga Hinata. I-It's nice to meet y-you, Kiba-kun."
"Well aren't you a cutie!" Kiba's grin grew wider to the extent that he looked as if he were about to devour her. Hinata felt herself shrink into her clothes. She wasn't used to this kind of attention.
"Friends!" Yet another one joined in the merriment, placing his hands on both men's shoulders.
Hinata sighed in relief at the familiar face, not wanting to deal with more coy chefs.
"Have you forgotten that it is Motivating Monday?!" Lee exclaimed spiritedly, as he usually did.
Hinata watched with amusement as the two slumped, sighing exasperatedly.
"Ho, boy." Kiba rolled his eyes.
"Hey, uh, head chef? Do you think you could lay off the motivating just for one week? Hinata-Chan is new around here so she needs a little time to adjust and shit like that..." Naruto mumbled, trying to find whatever crap excuse he could use to shut this guy up.
Which was downright impossible, unfortunately for him.
"Nonsense, Naruto-kun! I believe it is my sole responsibility as the shinning and youthful head chef of Amaterasu to instil passion into and spur my fellow colleagues; old or new! It is important for all our futures and for the future of our restaurant that the spirit of – "
Lee was cut off in his speech as Naruto shrugged his hand off, while Kiba merely flicked it away.
"Yeah, yeah." Naruto huffed in defeat.
"Just keep your panties on, man." Kiba followed after Naruto, both headed towards the meeting hall looking sleepy.
Lee furrowed his thick brows as the two walked away from him, but then quickly directed his gaze to the newest member of Amaterasu. Hinata happened to like this Lee, finding him quite the character. With such weird and odd people like him around in this restaurant she was sure she would fit in perfectly here!
"Hinata-san, personally I would like to say I was rooting for you since the beginning! And also welcome to Amaterasu!" He bowed low, making Hinata blush.
"Ah, t-thank you, Lee-san. I-I am glad."
"Please do follow me to the meeting hall for the weekly motivational meeting."
"Oh, alright." The girl nodded
Hinata followed the man as he began walking, holding back her giggles as he briefed and talked to her animatedly. She was surprised by the way she felt so welcome and accepted so quickly considering how she was totally isolated and shunned for some reason in high school and culinary school, even by her family.
She shuddered as memories of years past haunted her at the thought of her schooling life.
She was the person who nobody cared to give a crack about, not even to know her name. That was probably the reason why they referred to her as chicken-wuss for the 5 years she was there in that hell hole. Well, that and probably the fact that she was a pretty big wuss.
After five years of getting her butt glued to her chair and being chosen to throw the garbage in her class every end of the week, she was glad to scoot on out of there and move on to culinary school... which turned out to be another nightmare. Only this time instead of glue on her chair they put glue into her muffin mix. The incident in which her supervisor had thrown those muffins to the wall and they actually bounced back and hit her in the eye never failed to send a chill down her spine and a familiar sting on her right eye even till this day.
Though all those years of torture was probably what changed her into the person she was today; always trying her best just to prove herself. She never wanted to be demeaned like that ever again. She would be the extraordinary chef she wanted to be, what others in her schooling life thought she could never be.
She stopped in her tracks the moment they'd arrived in the meeting hall. She shuddered once again, but this time it wasn't due to memories of the past but the sight of a very familiar dark haired man.
She felt like taking a fork and stabbing it ... anywhere on his body!
Look at him coolly standing there, staring at his wrist watch with one hand in his pocket; looking as if he hadn't a care in the world. Not caring or seeming the least bit guilty that his office was probably featured in a cleanliness campaign advertisement and he had asked his newly employed chef to clean it for him.
She turned away and clumsily scurried across the room as the man put his other hand in his pocket and started exploring the room with his eyes, not wanting to meet his gaze knowing that she'd probably fidget or trip over air under his intense eyes.
She bent her body down, trying to hide behind the small crowd of staff.
"Hinata-Chan!" Naruto screamed from his chair.
Well so much for going unnoticed.
Hinata didn't dare look to see if Sasuke had snapped his evil little head to her direction, plotting his next form of torture. For some reason, she felt like that man had something against her. Maybe it was because their hair was practically the same colour but hers looked better anyways.
She turned to source of the voice, smiling warmly at the blonde who was patting the seat in the middle of him and that Kiba fellow.
"Come here, we saved a seat for ya!"
Definitely nothing like high school.
She approached the two shyly, thanking them before talking her place in the middle seat smiling brightly.
"Just so you know, these things are boring as hell." Naruto threw his head back on his chair.
"I don't know how we come out of his talks alive." Kiba added, yawning.
Her pearlescent eyes then flickered to the man in the black suit, who was now seated in front of everybody with his arms and legs crossed and his eyes closed.
"I-I wonder w-why someone like Uchiha-san would agree to host motivational talks. He does seem like the kind of man who finds these things to be a waste of time."
She voiced out, her voice only audible to the two beside her.
"Heh, he does, he just agrees to this to shut that green bitch up." The brunette answered.
Hinata winced at the curse word.
"And the bastard sits through it because he likes watching our pitiful tortured faces when Lee drags on his crap, ya know. It amuses him." Naruto scowled.
"Once he even brought a camera and took pictures. The sly prick." Kiba joined Naruto, both giving the man nasty faces.
Hm, sounds a lot like him to her.
Lee was before the stand, holding his microphone in place, inhaling deeply as he prepared his voice for the pep talk.
"Friends," the man began. Most of them got into their comfortable positions, getting ready for a mid morning nap.
Sasuke eyed them with an amused smirk gracing his lips. The Monday motivational speeches never failed to reduce his stress levels. His eyes roamed the entire hall, taking note of all the faces holding back a snort as he caught sight of the gaping mouths and snot bubbles.
His eyes abruptly stopped though as he took in a rare sight.
Hinata sat straight even with the two idiots sitting by her sides sprawled out.
Her hands fisted and her eyes were peeled, a bright smile adorning her features.
He watched as she nodded in agreement with some of the things the psycho was spouting out and as her eyes flashed clear with emotion; a fiery passion each time he said some nonsense about achieving your dream or making food for the customers that tasted like it flew down from heaven and landed on to their plate.
Strange little idiot. The man mused.
The speech went on for a solid thirty minutes before Lee finally bid his thanks.
Hinata felt as though she was going to spontaneously combust as she realized that she had been the only one clapping for that motivational genius; attracting most of the attention and waking the staff up but earning her a blinding smile from the head chef. He was totally not appreciated in his own time. How could anyone not find that beautiful or motivating?
She sighed as the people around her got up, scratching their heads, yawning and stretching.
The staff here seemed really nice and friendly, but honestly they lacked a tremendous amount of enthusiasm.
Naruto and Kiba watched with half lidded eyes as Hinata stood up, folding her sleeves and placing her hands on her hips, nodding to herself. Well if everyone here lacked enthusiasm, she just has to have enough enthusiasm for all of them. She was seriously feeling pumped!
She strode towards the exit, feeling more confident and excited than she had ever been in months.
"Did you get that yesterday?"
Hinata's movements came to a complete halt, her body wrecking with nervousness as her brain identified the voice. She turned to the direction of the voice, feeling proud of herself for not jumping out of her skin as she looked straight into her stoic boss's eyes.
Man, was he scary.
"Wha-What?" Was all she could manage to get out of her lips.
The man rolled his eyes and sighed.
"That." He pointed to her now exposed bandage on her right hand.
"You got it when you were cleaning my office." He said it more as a statement than a question.
She blinked and furrowed her eyebrows at him.
"Y-Yes."
How did he know that?
"How?"
"I-I was closing your air conditioner and I fell from the stool and s-scratched my hand on the edge of your desk..."
Sasuke's eyebrows furrowed as he examined her hand and for awhile she actually thought he seemed guilty about it. She felt a slight tug on her lips at the thought. Maybe the man wasn't as bad as she thought.
"Clumsy idiot. Watch where you injure yourself. You got blood all over my new carpet."
Hinata gaped. Or maybe he was worse.
"Geez... what kind of a walnut does this kind of crap?"
Did he just call her a walnut?!
"I-It was an accident, s-sir! T-The air conditioner was quite high and I-I am q-quite short and-"
"I don't like whiny idiots as much as I dislike clumsy walnuts."
Hinata's head immediately dropped as she took the blow. It only took a few seconds for him to ruin her gleaming enthusiasm.
He is a totally steam cutter.
Sasuke sighed as he watched her, noting her obvious reactions. She was too easy to tease.
"My office was really clean this morning. It was a pleasant surprise."
Sasuke raised a brow as Hinata's head shot back up, smiling.
"R-Really?"
"Yes. Well except for that stain."
Total. Steam cutter.
"But you did good, Hyuuga. Good job."
His eyes danced with amusement as the girl reacted as she usually did when praised. Her eyes sparkled, her smile widened and even a light blush appeared on her porcelain cheeks. How fun it was to play with this girl.
"T-Thank you, Uchiha-san."
"You wouldn't mind cleaning up for me every end of the week as would you?"
At that her smile faltered.
"W-Well actually I –"
"That's great. Big help Hyuuga, glad I hired you."
"B-But I – " She was silenced almost immediately as his large hand patted her head, as though she was a child. She blushed and she sunk into her collar, wishing she could just teleport away from him.
"Y-yes sir." She sighed.
"Oh, and remember what I told you yesterday."
"Huh? Oh! I-If I have the energy and strength to flap my er, g-gums I should direct it to my s-slow moving arms."
Sasuke's eyebrow twitched.
"That. And?"
Hinata squinted, trying to recall his words from yesterday.
"Ah! There is no room for s-screw up here in Amaterasu."
"Right. So make sure you don't "accidently" mix your blood in with something in there today got it? Screw up once and I'll replace you in a heartbeat. It's not like you're special or anything."
He smirked triumphantly as he watched her face redden with anger. Unbeknownst to him, the words stung her more than he had intended.
Hinata's right hand twitched uncontrollably, wanting so badly to pull on his bangs.
"G-Got it. Sir."
The man turned with grace Hinata wished she had, and went out through the exit without a second glance in her direction.
Sasuke smirked as he headed towards his office, thinking about his clean desk with newfound interest. Oh yes, she was definitely a fun and easy target. He wondered what else he could get her to do...
"Yosh! Let's all do our best today!" Lee exclaimed.
The fellow chefs prepared themselves as they usually did, though Hinata stood in place, tapping her foot like crazy as she bit on her lower lip angrily; thinking about a certain Uchiha Sasuke.
He degraded her. He didn't respect her. He didn't accept her the way she wanted him to.
He was a prick, the worst kind but he was still her boss. She wanted her boss to have nothing but praise for her, not the opposite!
Her grip on the counter became knuckle white as she thought about him; his dark face, his stupid stare, his stupid mouth producing nasty remarks about her and her cooking.
The one thing she knew she wasn't and wouldn't allow herself to be just a normal chef. Her boss implying as such made her blood boil.
More than wanting him to respect her, she wanted to prove him wrong. She wasn't just a normal chef that you could find anywhere; sure she probably graduated from a low ranking culinary school but that didn't mean she couldn't have wicked skills in the kitchen.
That moment as she stood in her new, very own counter, Hinata vowed that by the end of the week, she would make that man eat his words whether he liked it or not.
It was funny how her hatred for this man served as an odd form of motivation for the girl.
