Sakura was back at the cemetery twenty minutes early.
She had tried to waste as much time at her apartment as she could. She walked about picking up random things that she found lying around, dusted a few spots that she never had time to dust before, adjusted her hair in her ponytail a few times…but was just too anxious to start her new job.
When she pulled back into the parking lot, the sun was barely tipping over the trees around her, casting long, eerie shadows on the ground.
She walked into the office again to find Baki talking on the phone. She discreetly made her presence known and quietly closed the door behind her. Baki waved her in but continued to talk on the phone.
"That was your job." Baki said agitatedly. "He's your brother; I can't be responsible for damage control while I look after the three of you…"
He paused here and Sakura awkwardly looked around the office not wanting to eavesdrop but also finding no other way of avoiding it.
"I know you guys can take care of yourselves, I didn't say that you couldn't…"
Another pause but this time Baki took a deep inhale and let it out slowly.
"Okay, stop…I'm on my way home now. I'll be there in twenty minutes, don't do anything until I get there, alright?"
Whoever he was talking to must have agreed, because shortly afterward Baki hung up the phone.
Sighing and shrugging his shoulders at Sakura he said, "Sorry about that."
"It's no problem." Sakura responded awkwardly.
"I'm really sorry but I'm not going to be able to show you out to where you'll be staying every night…" Baki motioned to the phone. "Home issues."
Suddenly a ball of anxiety, Sakura put on the best smile that she could muster and managed to form the words, "it's alright."
"It's really easy though. Just take the paved road all the way to the back and you'll see a small house on your left. Everything you'll need will be inside and your coworker is already there to help you with any questions you might have." Pausing to sigh and pinch the bridge of his nose Baki added, "He spends so much time out there you'd think he wouldn't be able to cause as many problems at home…"
Sakura simply stared at him.
"I'm sorry," Baki said, holding his hands in the air, "I'm done venting. I'll see you in the morning."
He showed Sakura to the backroom and out the door that led directly into the cemetery grounds. The sun was lower now so the automatic lights that were alongside the road were beginning to kick on with a mechanical buzz.
Suddenly it dawned on her; she didn't know the name of the person she would be working with.
"What's my coworkers…" Sakura started to ask as she turned around in the doorway. But Baki was already gone. "…name." Sakura finished her sentence anyways and faced back to the cemetery that seemed to stretch on endlessly in front of her.
Shadows were slowly drifting across the well-kept lawn from the trees and headstones and Sakura took a brave step out onto the road that Baki had told her about and closed the door behind her. Twisting the knob, she realized that she was officially locked into the cemetery and Baki had failed to remember to give her a key.
I guess there's no turning back now, Sakura said to herself and shoved her hands deep into her jean pockets and began her journey through the cemetery.
She knew the cemetery was large, she just hadn't realized it was that large.
She felt as if she had been walking forever and she was still in the new part of the cemetery. The sun was now flirting dangerously with the horizon and unconsciously Sakura quickened her pace.
Night hung heavy in the air and Sakura was aware of every little noise that went on around her. She heard the loose rocks on the pavement crunch beneath her tennis shoes and the leaves rustling from the wind. The shadows surrounded her and seemed to be reaching out to grab her. A chill ran up Sakura's spine and goose bumps appeared up and down her arms and legs. An owl called into the night somewhere to her right and Sakura's eyes flicked to the sun which was now barely holding its head above the horizon. She willed herself not to run. She wouldn't allow it. Being a rational person, Sakura didn't believe in ghosts. That didn't mean however, that she wasn't completely freaked out. Clinging to the belief that the house shouldn't be much farther, and with the promise of a paycheck in a few weeks, she controlled herself to where she was only walking briskly.
The longer she walked, the stronger her flight instinct wanted to kick in. Willing herself not to listen to it, Sakura kept her eyes trained on the road ahead of her. The graves around her seemed to get more worn as she kept walking and in the distance she could see a dull light hanging from the side of a building.
Salvation! Sakura cheered to herself and quickened her pace to all but a trot to reach it.
As she got closer to the house, however, her goose bumps returned. It looked like it was straight out of any horror film that Sakura had ever seen.
The house was clearly dilapidated. Large pieces of wood were falling off the sides and the gutter was hanging by a thread…literally.
It looked like someone had recently fixed the roof with slabs of wood because it was lighter than the rest of the house and stuck out like a sore thumb. The windows also had similar colored wood nailed to the frame, forming an 'x'. Light leaked out from the parts that weren't covered by the wood, giving Sakura the hope that there was someone with a pulse inside.
Bugs danced around a buglight like drunken ballerinas. Every once in a while, one of them would get too close to the bulb and would go down in smoke after a short zapping noise.
As Sakura neared the porch, the heavy smell of cigarettes clung tightly to the dead night air like a lover, offering her physical evidence that someone breathing had recently been in the area…Sakura could not have been more elated by this notion.
"The cemetery is closed." She heard a quiet yet authorative voice say somewhere around her. Sakura turned to face the cemetery and peered hard into the deep shadows surrounding her. Even though she strained her eyes as hard as she could, she couldn't make out anyone who could have said that.
A careful footstep and the roof creaking above her is what originally froze her to the spot. Someone was above her, probably watching her every move since she entered into the cemetery…even if she had wanted to run at that point, her nervous system simply would not allow it.
Against her better judgment, Sakura slowly turned around and lifted her gaze to where she heard the footstep.
The sight that was before her is the other reason why her legs petrified to the spot.
There, standing on the dilapidated roof, stood the outline of what she assumed was the owner of the voice.
Blacked out from the moon behind him, she could only see his silhouette, but she could make out the disheveled hair that was on top of his head and the baggy clothes that clung loosely to his body. His voice was deep and calm yet commanded authority to anyone he talked to. And, unfortunately for Sakura, that someone was her at the moment.
"You're not supposed to be here." Sakura watched as the living shadow moved its arms and crossed them in front of his chest.
Gulping down the surprise in her throat she responded, "I am supposed to be here. I'm the new hire; Baki might have mentioned me to you…"
Silence greeted her as the reply and Sakura uncomfortably shifted her weight from one foot to the other.
The living shadow uncrossed its arms and reached into a pocket, pulling out a box. Sakura squinted her eyes through the darkness and watched as a light quickly appeared and disappeared only giving her a moment's glance of the shadow's face.
She heard him inhale deeply and then exhale a plume of smoke into the muggy summer night's air. They were at a standstill. Neither figure moving, neither talking, just staring at each other silently, taking in the other's presence.
Sakura watched as the figure on the roof slowly took deep pulls off of his cigarette, momentarily lighting up his face. The sharp angles of his cheekbones and nose that Sakura could make out with the limited light led her to believe that maybe this guy truly was a ghost...she had never seen a man with such pronounced features. The only thing she was sure of from the quick glimpses of his face that she got was that his eyes were on her…staring at her, studying her, sizing her up.
What seemed like forever, but in reality was only a few minutes, the figure flicked his cigarette butt to the ground a few inches from where Sakura was standing.
"He didn't mention anything about a new hire." The figure said.
Swallowing once again, Sakura responded, "Well, he figured you needed help, so he hired me on."
"I don't need help. Go home." With that said, the man gracefully jumped from the roof, landing on the ground as silent as a cat. He didn't even look at her as he turned around and walked into the house, closing the creaky door behind him with a loud slam.
Sakura was dumbstruck. Was this guy dense? The cemetery was huge! It wasn't humanly possible to watch the entire place for intruders. Not wanting to cause friction with her new coworker, and also not wanting to be a doormat for anyone, Sakura followed suit into the house as well.
Inside was a little better looking than the outside, but not by much. The floors were made of old wood but were covered with random sized and colored rugs. The walls were old and had peeling, sickly yellow wallpaper on them. Sakura could barely make out the faded flower pattern on them. There was a small T.V., a radio, a kitchen, and a bathroom. There was a set of stairs that led upstairs to what Sakura assumed was the bedrooms. There were random buckets placed sporadically around the house in order to catch water from the spots where the roof leaked. Old pictures hung on the wall of people Sakura didn't know, and the lighting was so bad that dark shadows sprung up behind any object that was large enough to cast one.
The man that was on the roof was now sitting on a beat up and filthy couch. Sakura watched as he placed yet another cigarette in his mouth and once again brought out his silver zippo in order to light it.
Although the lighting was hideously bad, she could now make out his features.
His hair was even more disheveled then she had first thought it was and was unnaturally red. He had dark circles around the brightest greenish-blue eyes she had ever seen on a person, and his bones stuck out in sharp angles, only accentuated by the lean, hard muscles that visibly moved and shifted with everyone movement that he made. His skin was pale…too pale; as if he was a living, breathing, walking ghost. Her eyes were drawn to a red tattoo on his forehead. She recognized it as a kanji, but hadn't the slightest clue of what it meant.
The same chill that she had gotten earlier while she was standing outside crept its way back up her spine, and Sakura noticed that the man had paused in lighting his cigarette and was staring at her too.
Feeling the blood begin to rush to her cheeks, she willed it back down and stared right back at him; the whole time fighting the urge to look at anything but him. He only stopped looking at her to light his cigarette. She watched as he smoothly flicked open his zippo and lighted it with ease. Bringing the flame to the cigarette, he breathed in deeply and then with another smooth motion, flicked the lighter closed.
Sighing as he exhaled his initial pull, he said, "I thought I told you I didn't need help."
Shaking her out of her reverie, Sakura responded, "But Baki said…"
"It doesn't matter what that idiot said," the man interrupted. "I work the night shift. I'm the only person that works the night shift. End of story."
Clenching her jaw tightly and fighting hard against her anger, Sakura said as calmly as she could, "Well, it doesn't matter what you think. You're not the boss."
Cold eyes greeted hers and the goose bumps returned on her arms again. "You won't last a week." Is all that he said before he leaned back against the couch and stared at the ceiling, calmly taking pulls from his dwindling cigarette.
To say that Sakura felt awkward would be an understatement. Not wanting to sit anywhere near the frustrating man, Sakura decided that standing was the best choice. But at the same time, she didn't want him to think that he was winning this obvious power struggle by making her stand. Debating between the two decisions for a while, Sakura hadn't noticed that the redhead was moving.
The hissing noise of the still lit butt being put out in a glass half-full of water brought her out of her inner debate. The redhead got up, grabbed a black hoodie and moved to the door without even acknowledging her presence. Pausing at the door to put his hoodie on, something outside caught his attention and Sakura noticed headlights driving down the road that she had walked on to get to the house.
She heard the redhead mutter something incoherent and watched as he casually leaned against the frame of the door, watching the car approach. She watched as he lazily pulled yet another cigarette out of his pack and lit it.
Of course I get to work with a chain smoker… she complained to herself as her medical knowledge of all the dangers of smoking flooded her head without thought.
"Fuck it." The redhead said as he casually pushed himself off the doorframe and swiftly stepped off of the porch. The thick darkness swiftly gobbled him up and Sakura quickly lost all track of him.
A few seconds later, the car came screeching and skidding to a halt in front of the old house and Sakura watched as a blonde woman all but jumped out of the car. She came up to the house with all the force and authority of a tornado.
Pushing past Sakura without even a thought, the blonde rampaged through the house. She pushed open doors only to slam them shut again. She pounded up the stairs and Sakura heard the woman's every movement on the ceiling above her. She heard things crashing and the blonde swearing loudly. Obviously not finding what she was looking for, the blonde pounded back down the stairs and turned her fury to Sakura.
"Where is he?" she all but yelled.
Surprised by the sudden and unexpected anger, Sakura's vocal chords seemed to be frozen in her throat. Unable to answer verbally, she simply pointed out the door.
"Shit!" the blonde yelled and ran out onto the porch, squinting and straining her eyes hard into the pitch black surrounding them.
Sakura stood rigidly as she watched the woman's shoulders fall in defeat and waited to see what the woman would do next.
Sighing and turning around, the blonde walked up to Sakura with her hands placed firmly on her hips and asked, "Who are you?"
Clearing her throat to kick her vocal chords back into gear, Sakura answered, "My name's Sakura…I'm the new hire."
The change in the strange woman's aura threw Sakura into a tailspin. The woman's hands dropped from her hips to her sides, her eyes grew warmer, and the trace of a smile even graced her lips.
"So you're the new hire? Baki told me all about it. My name's Temari, it's nice to meet you."
Still cautious of the previous furry, Sakura hesitantly smiled back at her. "How do you know Baki?"
Dismissing the question with a wave of her hand, Temari simply answered, "It's a long story." Walking over to the couch and sitting heavily down on it, she said letting out a deep sigh, "So you're going to be working with my brother, huh?"
Laughing slightly, Sakura answered, "If that rude mass of flesh is what you call a brother, then yes, I guess I am."
Temari let out a chuckle and nodded in agreement with her. "I am unfortunate enough to call him a brother, that's for sure. He didn't do anything to you, did he?"
The seriousness of the question unnerved Sakura, it was almost as if the woman was expecting him to do something to harm her.
Sakura slowly shook her head 'no' and answered, "Not unless you count being a complete asshole."
"Well that's to be expected of him. In fact, I would be more worried if he was nice to you."
"Do you work the night shift too?" Sakura asked hopefully. Maybe she would have at least one person here to keep her sane during her shift.
"No I don't, but my other brother Kankurou works the day shift. Gaara is usually the only one here at night. But now that you're here too, I'm sure that will screw up all of his plans and habits."
Images of chain-smoking flooded Sakura's mind and she silently wondered what else the redhead did that would be considered a 'habit'.
"So if you don't work here, why are you here?" Sakura asked suspiciously.
Sighing again and leaning forward to place her elbows on her knees, Temari answered, "In truth, I came out here because Baki told me he had a new hire starting tonight and I wanted to rush out here before you quit. Gaara can be a little rough around the edges, but Baki really needs an extra person on at night and I just wanted to make sure he didn't lose another person."
"Another person? It's happened before I take it?" Sakura asked.
Temari nodded, "It's happened quite a few times actually. Gaara likes being alone and will go out of his way to make you quit. Pushing buttons is one of his specialties, besides his abrasive nature."
Sakura worried her lip with her teeth and nodded in agreement.
Temari let out a low chuckle and stood up from the couch. "But don't worry, he's really not all that bad once you get to know him. He's just had a lot of bad things come his way in the past and the result is the man you saw earlier."
Taking out a pen from her back pocket, Temari grabbed Sakura's hand and scribbled down a phone number.
"I have to go now, but that's my number. If anything happens or you just want to talk in order to not have your shift suffered through in silence, feel free to call me."
Sakura nodded and thanked the blonde genuinely.
Temari walked out the door and threw a backwards wave at Sakura. Getting back into her car as swiftly as she had gotten out of it, she roared her car to life and sped off down the road.
Watching the car brake lights quickly dissipate into the depths of the cemetery, Sakura sighed and looked at the number on her hand. At least I have some sort of outlet besides bashing some heads in.
"Would you come on? We have work to do."
Sakura jumped in surprise as she was abruptly pulled out of her thoughts to find the man she now knew as Gaara standing in front of her with his arms folded tightly in front of his chest.
Wanting to tear him a new one, yet not wanting a confrontation on her very first day of work, Sakura bit her tongue and walked out of the door behind Gaara.
I'm definitely not getting paid enough. She thought to herself as she too was swallowed whole by the darkness of the night around them.